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11th Child Dies In Virus Outbreak At New Jersey Health Center; President Trump Reverses, Saying "Probably" Won't Sit For Mueller Interview; Mother Of Newborn Describes Daring Escape From Camp Fire. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 19, 2018 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:33:30] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll is climbing in a virus outbreak at a pediatric center in New Jersey. Eleven children have now died from the adenovirus. It has made nearly three dozen other children sick.

So what is this virus and what do parents need to know this morning?

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta with the very latest.

What is this, Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a virus that typically doesn't make people particularly sick but it can in certain cases, as we're learning.

The first case was actually back in September -- September 26th, so we're nearly two months into this. As you mentioned, 11 children have died, 34 adults and other -- 34 children and other adults are also sick, and parents and family members are starting to really demand answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): This is Elizabeth Poulos' sweet 16 party inside the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in New Jersey.

Elizabeth was born with a medical condition requiring her to fight for her life every single day. Breathing tubes, feeding tubes -- those were the norm.

Elizabeth's mom, Kristine Deleg, says it all started on October second. Her daughter began running a fever and was taken to a nearby hospital for emergency care.

KRISTINE DELEG, MOTHER IN ELIZABETH POULOS: It was a virus they told me that she had. Adenovirus, they call it -- yes. I was like, wait, what is this? I never of this.

GUPTA: Elizabeth had always struggled with respiratory issues so adenovirus was one of the worst viruses she could have contracted. DELEG: At that point, from what I understood, it could be days, it could be weeks or months. We didn't know how long she was going to have.

[07:35:04] Are you smiling?

GUPTA: Laboratory tests confirmed Elizabeth had adenovirus on October fifth, her mother said. State health officials said they weren't alerted until October ninth. And parents of other children in the facility said they weren't notified until about 10 days after that -- an apparent breakdown in communications which had never before been a problem for Kristine.

Parents of other kids who got sick said they didn't know their children were at risk and couldn't take measures to protect them.

DR. SHEREEF ELNAHAL, COMMISSIONER, NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: The grief and hardship that families are experiencing right now is unthinkable.

GUPTA: At a press conference on Friday, New Jersey Health Commissioner, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, said the facility has until this Wednesday to isolate the infected patients.

ELNAHAL: Our ongoing analysis of the situation has revealed that the limitations of the facilities there and being able to do that has accounted for among the most major reasons for the outbreak being as severe as it has been and the outcomes we have seen.

GUPTA: Wanaque has denied multiple requests for an interview.

For most people who contract adenovirus, the illness is mild. But for people with weakened immune systems or existing respiratory issues, like Elizabeth, they can be much worse. Elizabeth died. She was just 16 years old.

DELEG: Four fifty-seven a.m. on the morning of the 23rd I get the phone call. The words you never want to hear, I heard it.

I miss her. I had her for 16 years and one month, exactly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (on camera): And now, Kristine says her focus has really been on the other families of the -- of the ill children inside this facility.

The Department of Health and Infectious Disease specialists are on site. One of the tasks they've had is that simply separate the children and now those adults who are ill from those who are not because this is a contagious virus.

So even to get to this point has taken nearly two months and I think that's why we're seeing so many cases.

CAMEROTA: So, Sanjay, is there any way to predict how long this outbreak could last?

GUPTA: The way to think about these types of outbreaks, whatever the pathogen -- adenovirus, Ebola, whatever it may be -- you look at how long -- the incubation period, which is how long somebody has before they get sick. You get exposed, you get sick -- what's the time in between?

In this case, it can be up to 14 days and in this case, then you'd basically double it -- so, 28 days. So, 28 days after the last confirmed case is when you can say this is over. We just had cases last week, so this is going to be going on through the holidays as far as we can tell for sure.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, it's so scary. Well, Sanjay, thank you for alerting us to this.

GUPTA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: John --

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

The president says he is done with Robert Mueller's questions, but will his written answers be enough to satisfy looking into Russian interference in the elections?

A member of the House Intelligence Committee joins us, next.

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[07:41:29] BERMAN: President Trump, in the clearest terms yet, says he will likely not sit down for an interview with special prosecutor Robert Mueller's team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR, FOX NEWS SUNDAY: No --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we've wasted enough time on this witch hunt. And the answer is probably, we're finished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "Probably, we're finished."

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. He is a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us.

Do you think that Robert Mueller should issue a subpoena --

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL), MEMBER, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Good morning.

BERMAN: -- to force the president to testify?

QUIGLEY: Well, I thought he should in the first place. I think he was doing everything he possibly could to show respect for the White House.

I think a lot of this will depend on the answers that the president has given to the Mueller investigation. But I do believe that the investigation has absolutely every right to subpoena the president to sit down answer these questions.

The Supreme Court has ruled twice now on civil matters and we'd assume a criminal matter has a greater emphasis that the president is not above the law and has to answer these questions.

BERMAN: Of course, my understanding is that now, the acting attorney general Matt Whitaker would have to approve any subpoena.

Do you believe that this man would approve such a thing?

QUIGLEY: You know, I heard what the president said about Mr. Whitaker and his efforts here. He said he wouldn't attempt to influence his decisions. The double-speak runs long and hard here.

He put someone in place who has been openly critical of the Mueller investigation, firing Mr. Sessions or forcing him out. He put someone in place he knows who will do his bidding, then he says he won't interfere with him.

The American public needs to be aware that the risk of constitutional crisis is great. That Senate Republican leadership has failed to step up. The only Republican senator I know who has stood up is, unfortunately, going to be leaving the chamber come the end of the year.

BERMAN: Have you see any evidence yet Congressman because Matt Whitaker has been in place now for, I guess, nearly two weeks. It will be two weeks on Wednesday, and that's period of time for the special counsel to take action.

Have you seen any evidence that he has interfered with the investigation at all?

QUIGLEY: No. It's, I think, a timing sequence that the president is aware of. He has long shown his ability, desires, willingness to fire Mr. Mueller. I think he was held back by his own administration.

He finally, right after the election, decided the best thing he could do was to get rid of Mr. Sessions. They put someone in place who has been critical of the investigation. And I think, quite honestly and quite cynically, they are waiting a short period of time before Mr. Whitaker does something following the president's orders.

BERMAN: OK, but just to be clear because I do want to get this out there, you have seen no evidence that Whitaker --

QUIGLEY: Sure. BERMAN: -- has done anything yet, correct?

QUIGLEY: That's correct.

BERMAN: OK.

I want to put up on screen so our audience can see it, what the president wrote about the man who will be chairman of your committee, Adam Schiff.

TEXT: "So funny to see little Adam Schitt (D-CA) talking about the fact that acting attorney general Matt Whitaker was not approved by the Senate, but not mentioning the fact that Bob Mueller (who is highly conflicted) was not approved by the Senate!"

BERMAN: He basically went after Adam Schiff for criticizing the acting attorney general and also compared the acting attorney general to the special counsel Robert Mueller.

The president incorrectly brought up the fact that Mueller was not approved by the Senate. He doesn't need to be approved by the Senate. Of course, Mueller was approved by the Senate when he was running the FBI, but leave that aside.

What do you make of the new nickname that the president has given the man who will be your chairman?

[07:45:04] QUIGLEY: Yes, I feel like I'm back in seventh grade here where we have juvenile name-calling. This is important stuff. We're talking about protecting the rule of law and the best the president can do is start calling people names. It's extraordinary at this point in time.

Again, I encourage the American public -- this is the time to focus. The president waited until after the midterm to take these actions and to start going after the next chairman.

We have important stuff to do. National security issues --

BERMAN: Yes.

QUIGLEY: -- that we need to work on on a bipartisan basis. We need to restore the fractured relationship with the Intelligence Community -- the community that keeps us safe.

We need to protect the Mueller investigation, determine where the House and Senate investigations have left off, what work still remains to be done. And in the midst of all this, the president resorts to such actions. It's extraordinary.

BERMAN: So you sat through the House Intelligence investigation for the last two years when Republicans ran it. Now, the Democrats will be in charge.

What do you think are the one or two areas you want to go back again and refocus on that you think, in your mind, were missed opportunities?

QUIGLEY: You know, I think there's any number of people who need to be subpoenaed because they refuse to answer questions. There are several people whose subsequent activities, revelations have come out.

BERMAN: Who?

QUIGLEY: We want to bring them back to answer questions.

BERMAN: Who?

QUIGLEY: Well, let me just finish the thought.

And we also have to talk about money laundering. And I think that's an issue that we have barely scratched the surface.

So there are any number of people who are less than candid with it. Mr. Cohen, I believe; the president's son; our friend from Blackwater, Erik Prince, who flatly refused to answer certain questions.

So let's see where those general investigations are. I do believe we need to focus on money laundering. Deutsche Bank financed the Trump finance world for the last 10 years before he became president. They were fined over $600 million for illegally laundering money with the Russians.

There's a lot of work to be done but I think we do it at a steady pace. Let's just look where the Senate investigation is, the House investigation left off before the Republicans shut it down. Let's see what work remains to be done and we'll take it up from there.

But more importantly, we need to protect the Mueller investigation.

BERMAN: You did raise the president's son, Donald Trump, Jr. You would like to see him before your committee again?

QUIGLEY: Well, I just think there's a number of things that have taken place.

Information we got about the Trump Tower meeting, for example. What the president knew about that meeting, when the president knew it, what communication took place between the president and his son. I just believe those issues were unclear when that line of questioning was completed.

But I think we take this at a steady pace. Let's just take what's left to be done and focus on that so the American public finds out exactly what took place and who was involved with the process.

BERMAN: Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. Thanks very much for being with us.

QUIGLEY: Good morning. Thank you, again.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, you have to hear this story. A mother gives birth and then she's forced to jump into a car with a stranger to escape the deadly California wildfires. The pact they made as they dodged the flames, next.

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[07:52:43] CAMEROTA: The wildfires in California forced a mother to make a life or death decision hours after giving birth. Rachelle Sanders delivered a healthy baby boy named Lincoln at a hospital in Paradise. Twelve hours later as the Camp Fire raced towards the hospital, the hospital staff said Rachelle and Lincoln need to flee. They jumped in a car with a stranger, a mechanical engineer with no medical training, and Rachelle made a pact with that driver, telling him that if it comes down to it, if you have to run, take the baby. Leave me behind.

Rachelle Sanders joins us now on the phone.

On my gosh, Rachelle, how scary. Tell us what that morning was like when you heard you had to flee the hospital.

RACHELLE SANDERS, FORCED TO LEAVE PARADISE, CALIFORNIA AFTER GIVING BIRTH (via telephone): Oh, it was -- at first, it seemed so surreal, but once we got outside and saw the absolute chaos it was absolutely terrifying.

CAMEROTA: And so, a guy named Dave -- I mean, I guess he was just a hospital worker but had no medical training -- he put you and the baby in his car and he was going to take you to the nearest hospital, which as we understand, was in Chico, 20 miles away.

How long did that trip take?

SANDERS: We left early that morning after the evacuation. They kind of rushed me toward the front of the evacuation line. We were trying to get to an ambulance and by the time we got there they were just putting patients into private vehicles other than police (ph).

So we left there and we were not able to arrive at Enloe until between 4:30 and 5:00 p.m.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh. So your trip for 20 miles took nine hours?

SANDERS: Oh, yes. We kept getting trapped by the fire and having to backtrack and wait, and go forward and wait, and several times we weren't sure. People were just abandoning their vehicles and running.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, Rachelle. That is so terrifying.

And so, what were you thinking during that -- those nine hours when you were trapped by flames and you had Lincoln in your lap? And what were you saying to Dave, the driver?

SANDERS: Mostly, I was praying and oftentimes, out loud, for both David and myself and the baby. CAMEROTA: And at what point did you make that pact with Dave? I mean, you -- did you say to him if we get trapped I want you to take the baby and run?

[07:55:02] SANDERS: Oh, yes. He actually asked me what I wanted to do because it was looking very grim. I had even called my dad on the phone and told him I wasn't sure what was going on but I loved him and I loved the family. And I didn't actually say goodbye but that was the intention of the call. We were -- we were really unsure that we would be able to get out of there.

And so, when that happened he asked me what do you want me to do? And I said I want you to take the baby and run. I cannot run. I just had surgery. I can't even walk. I don't what to do.

CAMEROTA: You had a -- we need to tell everybody -- I mean, you had a C-section. It's hard to -- it's hard to sit up after you have a C- section.

SANDERS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: You had intravenous lines still in --

SANDERS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- as I understand it. You flung them over the rearview mirror in the car.

SANDERS: Yes. We finally hung them up there. At first, I was just holding it because they just kind of shoved me in the car with all of this stuff. A gentleman that worked at the hospital kind of lifted me up and put me in the car and then -- yes, eventually, we just hung them on the rearview mirror because it wasn't really hanging or doing anything.

So, yes, he was able to actually try to get it to work again because for a while my I.V. wasn't even working and he worked -- that's how I found out he works on the equipment and things like that at the hospital.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh. And so, at that moment where you and he talked about what you might have to do -- I mean, were you thinking that you might not make it out alive?

SANDERS: Oh, there was -- yes, I thought I wasn't going to make it, for sure. I wasn't sure any of us were going to make it. It was very, very terrifying.

CAMEROTA: We've seen video -- I mean, we're seeing some of it right now on the screen -- of how the fire would be flanking the road. But then there were sometimes the fire was just across the road. And at that time -- I mean, we've heard other people who had to flee. They didn't know if their tires were going to melt. They didn't know if their gas tank was going to explode.

I mean, the idea that you had to endure this for nine hours is just chilling.

SANDERS: Yes. There were explosions constantly. There's a lot of propane tanks and stuff around Paradise. The whole area was just time where the flames would go all the way across the road. There were cars that people were abandoning and then the car would catch fire and explode.

CAMEROTA: Oh my God.

SANDERS: So you really had no idea, at any point in time, what was going to happen next. You didn't -- the wind was blowing so fast it just looked like a windstorm of fire.

CAMEROTA: At one point, you drove by your house and we have video of that.

SANDERS: Yes, we did. So once we got finished with the third turnaround -- because they kept redirecting us around the fire as we were getting trapped -- we actually ended up going back to the hospital where we started the evacuation that morning. Probably around 12:30-1:00 in the afternoon we went back to the hospital.

And the video that you are seeing about the trees and the emptiness and just the fireplaces that were standing, that was where my house used to be and my neighbor's homes used to be. So as I drove away the first time, the house was standing and not on fire.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh.

SANDERS: Within just a short period of time, driving back towards the hospital, it was like it never existed except for the fireplace.

CAMEROTA: That's what we can see. I mean, we can just see the chute -- the fire -- the chimney, I guess --

SANDERS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- and there's -- it's impossible to see your house.

Have you reconnected with Dave, the driver? Do you know who he is? Do you know how to find him?

SANDERS: I do a little bit. So he actually came and checked on me once we were safely admitted to the hospital and met with my husband. And my husband thanked him, of course.

And so we did get to see him again and he did come in and check on the baby and I once we were settled. And then he called later -- the hospital -- and the nurse asked if it would be OK if he contacted me.

So we spoke one time and he was -- I told him to reach out to me because we were not sure if his wife was safe. So he was also very concerned about his wife. I know her name was Bonnie. That's all I know about their family.

CAMEROTA: And do you know if she was safe? SANDERS: Yes. He found out she was safe. She was evacuated a different route but yes, she is safe.

CAMEROTA: Well, Rachelle -- I mean, we're so happy that you and baby Lincoln survived that ordeal even though your house didn't and obviously, your town hasn't. And you don't know what your future holds but I do know that you think that the real story here is the kindness of strangers, like Dave, who saved your life.

SANDERS: Absolutely -- absolutely it is. And there are stories like that all over the town of Paradise right now that are absolutely amazing. The way I word it to many of my family members and friends that live out of the area is never have I had a Thanksgiving come where I have had so little and felt more thankful and blessed.

CAMEROTA: Well, on that note, that is a beautiful message for all of us.