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New Day

Sen. Elizabeth Warren And Husband Open Up About 2020 Race; Former British Prime Minister David Cameron Live On New Day; Researchers Race To Find Cause Of Vaping-Related Illnesses. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 01, 2019 - 07:30   ET

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


[07:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- and it's a really good day. We actually do doubles at Fresh Pond. That means we go early in the morning and again just before it's dark if we can make that work in the schedule.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Is there anything you could tell us about the senator that we don't know about?

WARREN: Oh, probably, there's a lot. Wait just a minute.

BRUCE MANN, ELIZABETH WARREN'S HUSBAND: Oh, yes, right. No, I --

LEE (on camera): Just something the average person --

MANN: That's right.

LEE (on camera): -- wouldn't know about Sen. Warren.

MANN: Oh, gosh -- umm.

LEE (on camera): Oh, my goodness.

MANN: Oh, to the rescue. To the rescue.

LEE (voice-over): Bailey is also the reason for Mann's recent visit to the emergency room.

MANN: He was playing with another dog until the play stopped and the other dog attacked him. But, Bailey was handling himself fine but nonetheless, I waded in and my hand caught on his harness and broke a bone.

LEE (voice-over): Warren and her husband both use the same word to describe the campaign.

LEE (on camera): The day that you announced your campaign --

WARREN: Yes. LEE (on camera): -- it was New Year's Eve.

WARREN: Yes.

LEE (on camera): You had a press conference right outside of this house --

WARREN: Right outside.

MANN: Yes.

LEE (on camera): -- with Bailey.

And at the very end, I think a reporter turned to you and asked for a comment. And you said we've been married a long time and it's always been an adventure, so this is just another one. How is that adventure going?

MANN: Really extraordinarily well and it's even more of an adventure. Back then, I had no idea what it would look like, only that we would do it. And so, the -- every part of it remains an adventure. So, I stand by my statement.

LEE (on camera): Senator?

WARREN: Oh, yes. I can do this adventure because we do it together. It's true.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, they are just waiting on the adorable meter -- very high there.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to talk about shorts. I think that that goes beyond adorable to inappropriate, but --

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, what I think they were saying is that they have been together because of the intellectual stimulation that they felt upon hearing him in class and the physical attraction.

BERMAN: And shorts.

LEE: And, yes --

CAMEROTA: Well --

LEE: -- definitely the physical attraction -- yes.

CAMEROTA: I mean, they were clear about that.

LEE: And look, I don't know if this came through but obviously, we talk about a lot about Sen. Warren, the candidate, having so much energy. Like, you see it when she's out on the trail. The photo lines that she takes -- always high energy.

Her husband, Bruce, is kind of the opposite. He's quieter. They're both intellectuals, obviously, but you can tell that their personalities are different.

And what I was told just talking to colleagues, friends, and obviously, talking to the couple, he is sort of the one way in which she is able to decompress, especially when she's out on the campaign trail. If you ever see her pacing around the hotel grounds, the hotel lobby getting her steps in and she's on the phone, she's talking to her husband.

And I think that's a part of the campaign that is worth exploring because it has so much to do with how these candidates sort of stay sane out on the campaign trail.

BERMAN: I had never heard him speak as much as he did there. That was a really, really interesting interview, MJ. Thank you very much.

LEE: It was.

CAMEROTA: Thank you for bringing that to us.

BERMAN: All right, we are very excited about our next guest.

Less than a month until Britain could crash out of the European Union, former British Prime Minister David Cameron is here. He tells us what he thinks will happen next. Also, did he ever happen to call a foreign leader, say, to dig up dirt on a political opponent? Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:37:34]

CAMEROTA: A top U.S. ally is dealing with its own political firestorm. The U.K. is set to leave the European Union at the end of this month, something Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to happen with or without a deal -- a Brexit deal. And he spoke about this just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: The most important thing is that we bust out of the so-called backstop arrangements which keep the U.K. locked in.

Brussels' customs union, commercial trade policy, and regulatory. All the laws that come from Brussels under the backstop, we would have to accept a huge proportion of them. We would have to accept but without any say in the making of those laws.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The British government plans to publish its proposals for an amended Brexit agreement in the coming days.

Joining us to talk about this and much more, David Cameron, the former British prime minister. He is the author of the new book, "For the Record." Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for being with us this morning.

DAVID CAMERON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER, AUTHOR, "FOR THE RECORD": Great to be with you -- thank you.

BERMAN: If we could just take a giant step back and reflect for a moment on the fact that two of the world's great democracies, the United States and the United Kingdom, are in turmoil right now, whether it be an impeaching inquiry or an imminent Brexit. It's quite a stunning place to be.

What are your thoughts on that?

CAMERON: Well, I think there's some similar background in both countries to Brexit and to what happened with the election of President Trump. We both suffered very badly in that 2007-2008 crash. I think the effect of that of economic dislocation and I think, for some, a bit of cultural dislocation, too, and the new way the media works -- I think that has caused our politics to change quite a lot.

CAMEROTA: So you think that it's just a tumultuous time? I mean, is that what you think is happening?

CAMERON: Well, I think you see all over the world, not just the U.S. and the U.K. You do see a rise of populism. You've seen it in Italy, you've seen it in France, you've seen it elsewhere.

CAMEROTA: And because of instability -- I mean, what do you think is behind that rise in populism?

CAMERON: I think what's behind it is people feeling economically left behind in too many of our towns and cities and parts of our country. I think levels of immigration have been very high and that's led to some sense of cultural instability as well.

And I think what politicians need to do is not complain about these trends but actually deal with the causes. Let's demonstrate that we can have proper immigration control and make it fair.

Let's make sure our economies are working for the lowest pay. Let's cut taxes for the lowest paid. Let's increase minimum wages as Boris Johnson just announced yesterday in the U.K. Let's make sure we don't leave people behind.

Those are the causes of some of these things. But, of course, there are other causes, too.

[07:40:02]

I mean, Brexit -- while I was on the opposite side of the campaign, I wanted Britain to stay.

There have been concerns for many years that the European Union had become too big, too bossy, too interfering -- too much of a political union. And my renegotiation was an attempt to say let's stay in for the trade and the cooperation, but let's not have too much of a country called the European Union. But ultimately, I was unsuccessful in that.

BERMAN: And I want to talk much more about Brexit in a second, but I promised people in the tease that I would ask you this.

Again, as someone who led a great democracy, what's your take on a president or a leader calling another leader and saying dig up dirt on my political opponent?

CAMERON: Well, it's a conversation that I would never -- I never had and never would have. But I'm going to restrict myself a little bit in what I say because our countries do have an amazing relationship and I want that to continue, whoever is the president, whoever is the prime minister. And over-commenting on each other's domestic politics sometimes doesn't help that relationship to flourish.

BERMAN: But you did answer the question right there. You said it's a conversation I never had or never would have. Why not?

CAMERON: Well, I don't think it would be right to do so. You know, we should fight our political battles at home using conventional weapons rather than seeking assistance elsewhere. It just doesn't seem right to me.

CAMEROTA: Are you surprised that President Trump finds himself in this current state where an impeachment inquiry is beginning?

CAMERON: Well, he has changed the rules of politics quite a lot. I think -- I mean, I don't want to sound like -- you know, an old politician looking back, but he's broken a lot of the rules about things you can say and things you can do and get away with.

And -- but in the end, we live in democracies. If you don't like an outcome you have to vote against it and you have to mobilize, and that's the case with what's happening in the United Kingdom or what's happening in the United States.

BERMAN: I was actually struck -- in your book -- and this is page 690 of your book -- you tell a story about President Obama comparing Trump -- this is before he was inaugurated -- to Vladimir Putin. Can you explain that?

CAMERON: I think that was a speech at the NATO conference -- I think, in Warsaw -- if I remember rightly. And what Barack was saying was that there are some ugly trends in our politics in terms of the rise of populism. And I think Barack and I were agreeing at this conference that you have to -- you have to attack those in two ways.

One, by stressing we are liberal democracies. We have the rule of law. This is a great strength for us. Our diversity -- our cultural diversity is a strength for our countries. Stand up for your principles.

But at the same time, you have got to address the causes that are making the populists popular in the first place.

CAMEROTA: What do you think about the closeness that President Trump has wanted to cultivate with Vladimir Putin?

CAMERON: Well, I have to have a relationship with Vladimir Putin. And I think it's right to try and have a relationship because you've got to talk about Syria, you've got talk about ISIS, you've got to deal with terrorism.

But clearly, with Putin, there are some very clear lines you need to draw, and the clearest of lines is in Europe. It is wrong to redraw Europe boundaries by force. And I think what Barack Obama and I did with other European leaders and putting in place sanctions straightway when that happened actually did stop Putin from going further.

So you have to have a very tough approach with Putin while trying to have a relationship, by all means.

BERMAN: Brexit -- now, you write, "I do not regret holding the referendum. But I deeply regret the result, and I still think Brexit is the wrong path for our country."

You're a month away at this point from this. Is there a binary choice or what's the decision? Is it Brexit or -- I don't get what you think will happen?

CAMERON: What I think ought to happen is the prime minister should go to Brussels, which he's going to do, and try and negotiate a withdrawal agreement, and then take that agreement back to Parliament and pass it. And then, Britain leaves the European Union with an agreement. That would fulfill the 2016 referendum.

Even though it's the outcome I didn't want, we are a democracy. Nine out of 10 members of Parliament voted to have this referendum. It was in my manifesto that delivered an actual victory. We had record turnout in that referendum.

So that's the best way of delivering the referendum result.

Now, Parliament has passed a law saying that the government should not exit with a no-deal exit, and I think they need to obey that law. I think no-deal exit would be bad for our economy. It would be bad for the United Kingdom.

So the best outcome is a deal that goes through. If that doesn't work, we can't go on blocked as we are.

We've had three years of not being able to go forward or backwards and in the end, there are only sort of three ways out of it. You can have a deal that goes through, you can have a general election and see if that changes the makeup of Parliament so that you can get a deal through, or you could have a second referendum.

And I think while that's not the first choice you shouldn't, at this stage, be ruling things out because we've got to get out of this blockage. We can't go on for more and more months without resolving this one way or the other.

[07:45:00] CAMEROTA: Former Prime Minister David Cameron.

The book, again, is "For the Record." I also use it as a barbell at the gym. It is a great read and helpful for lots of things.

CAMERON: It could have been longer, I can tell you that.

CAMEROTA: I bet it could.

BERMAN: A lot of work went into this and there's a lot of really interesting stuff in here.

CAMERON: Three years of work -- thank you.

BERMAN: Thank you so much for being with us.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much. Great to have here in the studio.

BERMAN: All right, we have a health alert this morning if you take Zantac. Why some major retailers are pulling the popular drug off their shelves.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:02]

BERMAN: All right.

This morning, we're learning a Nebraska man is the 14th person to die in the U.S. from vaping. The CDC now reports more than 800 documented cases of vaping-related illnesses.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta talked to researchers working to pinpoint the cause of these illnesses. Dr. Gupta joins us now with the very latest on that -- Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, and there's been 46 states now where people have gotten ill as well, so that gives you an idea of the scope of this.

John, you know, we talk about the fact that there are sort of two separate issues really at play here with regard to vaping. One we talked about yesterday, which is the concern about youth nicotine addiction.

But today, we want to talk about, as you say, this sort of -- what's been called the mystery illness. What exactly is making people sick or even dying. It's an ongoing investigation but here's what we've learned so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAM HERGENREDER, VAPER: I had the shivers and I couldn't control it, so I would just randomly convulse.

GUPTA (voice-over): His is a story now repeated hundreds of times around the country.

HERGENREDER: I couldn't control myself.

GUPTA (voice-over): Young, healthy, and then suddenly struggling for his life.

POLLY HERGENREDER, ADAM'S MOTHER: To be laying in a bed and not being able to breathe, it's every parents' nightmare.

GUPTA (voice-over): It is cases like Adam Hergenreder's that have prompted the Centers for Disease Control to now open their emergency operations center.

GUPTO (on camera): I'm used to it being activated around things like Ebola or hurricanes and things like that. Why vaping?

DR. ANNE SCHUCHAT, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: The outbreak of pulmonary injury associated with vaping or e-cigarettes is an emergency. We're seeing young people become critically ill and die.

GUPTA (voice-over): Most frightening, eight weeks into the investigation no one knows exactly why.

SCHUCHAT: It's important to say that no single product, substance, brand or additive is linked to all the cases right now. And what is on a label may not actually be what the product is.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Our guidance is quite simple -- don't do it. Don't do it because we don't know that it is safe.

GUPTA (on camera): Why did you do it?

JAY JENKINS, VAPER: I didn't think there was any risk in trying it. I'd never heard about anybody having any negative effects from it, so I thought that I had nothing to lose.

GUPTA (voice-over): Last year, Jay Jenkins and a friend drove to a convenience store and bought a product labeled CBD, called Yolo -- Yolo, meaning you only live once -- and they vaped it.

JENKINS: I took two puffs off of it. The next thing I know I'm feeling crazy, not thinking straight, and not being able to move.

GUPTA (voice-over): Within seconds, Jay lost consciousness and started to have frightening hallucinations. His friend drove him to Lexington Medical Center where he started having seizures and breathing difficulties.

JENKINS: I thought that I was in hell and that I was already dead.

GUPTA (voice-over): So what did cause Jay to react so violently? It's what Professor Michelle Peace has been trying to answer.

GUPTA (on camera): They call it the vape lab? Is that what happens?

MICHELLE PEACE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF FORENSIC SCIENCE, VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY: Well, originally, we called it the vape lab.

GUPTA (voice-over): What her lab and others have shown is that two- thirds of these products are not what they seem. Some have THC, some have other things.

Jay Jenkins, he had vaped a totally synthetic substance. It had no CBD whatsoever and no way to know who manufactured it.

GUPTA (on camera): Is the CBD supply chain safe?

PEACE: There are pockets or lanes in the supply chain that, right now, probably cannot be trusted. Identifying those lanes, good luck.

SCHUCHAT: I think that for the consumer, you really need to be aware right now. Something is leading to death in a number of people and leaving otherwise healthy young people to be hospitalized in intensive care on mechanical ventilators.

GUPTA (voice-over): We just don't know what it is. But a possible hint, according to the CDC, nearly 80 percent of people reported using vape products containing THC, whereas just 16 percent reported using nicotine-only vape products.

And keep in mind, because THC is illegal in many states, there might be many more people who used it but won't admit it.

JULIE ZIMMERMAN, PROFESSOR OF CHEMICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, YALE UNIVERSITY: And science says that what's in that liquid isn't necessarily the same composition that's in the vaper.

GUPTA (voice-over): Julie Zimmerman is part of the team of Yale researchers focused on the chemical and physical reactions when people vape.

ZIMMERMAN: There are chemical reactions happening in that solution after the manufacturer mixes the chemicals, even without any heating. The FDA actually regulates them and calls them generally regarded as safe, but that designation is for eating ingestion, not for inhalation -- breathing them into your lungs.

GUPTA (on camera): You sort of super-heat these chemicals with these heavy metal coils. You sort of atomize these molecules. They get back into your lungs, they reaccumulate or re-congeal.

[07:55:04]

I mean, I don't know what that does to the body, just like they didn't know what cigarettes did to the body when they first came out.

Does that part of it worry you?

DR. MICHAEL SIEGEL, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: So, it worries me, for sure, because we don't know the long-term effects. But it doesn't worry me for smokers.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Michael Siegel is a professor of public health at Boston University.

SIEGEL: It doesn't worry me for smokers because I know that one out of every two of them is going to die from smoking if they continue to smoke.

GUPTA (on camera): If you can't be certain that something is safe right now, would the CDC recommend, at least for the time being, that people just not do it?

SCHUCHAT: What we're recommending is if you're concerned about your health risks in light of this investigation that you consider not using e-cigarettes or vaping products until we know more.

GUPTA (voice-over): It's a warning Jay Jenkins has heard.

JENKINS: I certainly won't do it again.

GUPTA (on camera): You won't?

JENKINS: I will not. I took a chance and lost once but luckily, they were able to safe my life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: One of the -- one of the concerns we've heard many times come up is where has the FDA been in all of this. I think it's safe to say that there is now a lot of traction -- a lot of movement.

FDA is looking on several fronts at regulation, including the type of product that Jay Jenkins took -- a CBD product -- which is legal federally because it's CBD hemp, but not well-regulated. So he bought a -- he bought a product from a -- from a convenience store and paid with a credit card. And yet, the product that was labeled CBD was not CBD at all. That's one of the problems the FDA is going to have to address, John.

BERMAN: Again, Sanjay, we're so glad you're on this story. Thank you for all of your reporting on this.

There is another major medical story we're reporting on this morning. We're learning that major drugstores here in the United States are pulling both the brand name Zantac and its generic forms from the shelves.

Why? What do consumers need to know here?

GUPTA: Well, this is interesting and this is a problem that we've heard before regarding this impurity called NDMA. It's actually shown up in other medications in the past at low levels and now seems to show up in the -- in the Zantac or ranitidine, which is the actual name for it.

It's a -- it's an impurity that in large amounts has been associated with cancer in animals. In low amounts in humans, we don't know. But these drugstores chains, including CVS, are being pretty cautious here. I will say that the FDA is being a little less concerned. They're basically saying look, these levels are such low amounts that the same amounts that are found in many common foods. So they say look, you can consider switching from Zantac to another over-the-counter medication if you're concerned. But the FDA seems less concerned.

My guess is that this is going to be off the market for a while. Hopefully, they'll figure out this impurity. And if this is a medication you're reliant on, I think it will probably come back at some point.

CAMEROTA: OK, Sanjay, thank you very much.

Oh, I'm talking now -- hi.

BERMAN: Well, this is just like the puppet.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. Thanks for all the information.

OK, now to this. This afternoon, New York Congressman Chris Collins, who you'll remember as the first congressman to endorse President Trump -- well, he's expected to plead guilty to insider trading charges.

CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us with more. What have you learned, Brynn?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, pleading guilty and resigning from Congress. Chris Collins' resignation from Congress is actually going to be effective this morning when it's addressed on the House floor.

And it's really a turn of events for a man who adamantly denied any wrongdoing multiple times, even as he battled to get reelected to his House seat last year.

The congressman from Upstate New York will plead guilty, as Alisyn said, this afternoon. To what charges is unclear. But last August, federal prosecutors accused him of giving inside trading information about an Australian biopharmaceutical company.

Now, Collins served on the board of that company and he essentially gave a heads-up to his son and an associate when the drug failed an important drug trial, allowing them to dump stock, according to prosecutors.

Now, prior to his change of heart, Collins pleaded not guilty to the original indictment and again when the charges were revised.

And he won reelection in 2018 even with this hanging over his head. Collins represents a historically red state district. Of course, as Alisyn said, he was the first congressman to endorse Donald Trump for president.

And, Collins' son and an associate who were charged with the congressman, are also expected to change their pleas later this week.

So we should learn more about this, this afternoon, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Brynn. I remember he would -- he's been on our program many times.

GINGRAS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: We've asked him, I think, specifically about this. It's interesting to see how this is all played out.

Thank you very much.

And thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you, "CNN NEWSROOM" with Christina McFarlane is next.

And for our U.S. viewers, a member of the House Intelligence Committee joins us next on their impeachment push.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're trying to find out about a whistleblower.

SEN. JOHN WARNER (D-VA): Any rational person would be concerned about the whistleblower's safety after the president's comments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president now has to worry about conversations that he's having with world leaders being leaked to the press. That is not good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that Mike Pompeo -

END