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New Day

Obama: Ebola Czar "May Make Sense"; Uncle of Nurse With Ebola Speaks Out; CBS and HBO to Offer Streaming TV Services; Anthony Bourdain Travels to Vietnam

Aired October 17, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A recall from Chrysler to tell you about this morning -- 900,000 vehicles, most in the U.S., are affected. Certain Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler sedans dating back to 2011 could have issues with the alternators; that could cause those vehicles to crash. And some Jeep Wranglers from 2011-2013, they have a problem with heated power mirrors that could cause a fire. So far, one accident has been reported. We'll keep an eye on that for you.

Federal investigators will be on the scene this morning of a train wreck in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. A sight-seeing train full of passengers collided head-on with a freight train Thursday about 20 miles from Fayetteville. 44 total injuries were reported, five of them serious. We'll continue to monitor that situation.

Something a little lighter now, a bear cub and momma bear together this morning after the little one got trapped inside a dumpster in Pasadena, California. California wildlife officials say the cub was trying to jump out. It was heard crying.

Took a while, but officials finally were able to free the cub. After the ordeal, they were spotted chilling near a pool in the neighborhood before heading back to the foothills. What's weird to me is this about six blocks from where I used to live in Pasadena.

It's not completely unfamiliar. You've got the Angeles National Forest, so the bears do come down looking for food. They've been spotted chilling in people's pools. There you go. Imagine, going for a dip and now, somebody beat me to it.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Bears are not your friends.

PEREIRA: No, they're not.

ALISYN CAMEROTA: Even cute, little, cuddly ones.

CUOMO: Big claws open you like a can of tuna. Moving on, the Ebola situation started in Texas, but the fear and demands for action are certainly nationwide. So President Obama is once again in the crosshairs, looking for new ways to contain the spread of the virus in the U.S. Now initially, he said we don't need a czar.

CAMEROTA: I remember.

CUOMO: Now he seems to be saying, well, maybe we do. Initially it was, forget about the flight thing. It's not going to happen. Now he says he's not philosophically opposed to it. What's going to happen here? How does he make people feel confident in his leadership?

Let's get experts to discuss, CNN political commentator, editor in chief of the "Daily Beast," John Avalon and CNN political commentator and political anchor at "New York One News," Mr. Errol Louis. Headline, October surprise, is this going to be the pivot issue for the mid-term elections? Mr. Avalon, I see you wincing.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What a terrible surprise Ebola on a plane from Cleveland is. Look this is definitely becoming an issue that's preoccupying people. We're fighting not only Ebola, but really fear and that can drive people's emotions and affect elections.

The problem the president has right now is it appears to be an unsteadiness -- an attempt to adjustment strategy to facts on the ground can come across as sort of a red-line problem. You said one thing, now you're changing.

And it will be an issue, already candidates were mentioning on the campaign trail. When you start throwing out things like quarantine and banned flights, that's playing to people's fears, this will be a factor.

CAMEROTA: Errol, let's listen to what the president said about the possibility of appointing a czar yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They may make sense for us to have one person in part just so that after this initial surge of activity, we can have a more regular process just to make sure that we're crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's going forward. If I appoint somebody, I'll let you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Errol? Why all the deliberating? Isn't it easy to appoint one point person?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know that it makes any sense. This is the problem here. The optics, what will satisfy people, that now we've got an Ebola czar. Well, the secretary of Health and Human Services is sitting right there.

The head of the CDC, a man of enormous experience sitting right next to him. He's got his national security adviser, who is also part of the meeting. These are people who command vast resources and have great deal of experience.

CAMEROTA: But they've messed up.

LOUIS: But the so-called czar is this person -- well look, I think we have an Ebola czar, his name is Barack Obama, he's the president of the United States, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, can he mobilize the resources that are need. The notion of doing something just so people can feel good, can he get a Hollywood actor stand in and say I'm the czar.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's get the actor.

AVLON: Politics is perception. And I think part of the problem is, is you've got a bunch of different agencies that running in, alphabet soup, creating confusion, no one is sure who is the point person on the ground as well in terms of the public.

That's why appointing a czar after Hurricane Katrina. There's when everyone was politicizing czars in the past, the unelected individuals with vaguely Russian associations. Now they desperately want him. But there is a need, an atomic crisis to know exactly who is in charge. They have to have responsibility as well as authority.

CUOMO: I'm surprised to hear you say it, Errol, I got to be honest because you cut through political hype as well as anybody. And there's a lot of it going on here. Why are people afraid? Because they think they're going get Ebola? Not really.

They think they can't trust the people who are supposed to keep them safe from Ebola. They think Texas will be replicated, because there's too much excusing the actions, instead of changing the actions. Why wouldn't you put somebody in charge and say we're doing something?

LOUIS: If you think about it, you've got health systems, transportation systems, education systems to the extent that some of these involve kids going into schools. The notion that you could just find somebody, I don't know the name of that person, who can somehow cut through all of these things.

There's an international dimension that also includes diplomacy. Fighting the battle is not going to take place here. Three cases in a nation of 300 million people is not a severe emergency. That you can't, that you can deal with here. You have to get the people over to Liberia, to Sierra Leone.

You have to fight the thing where it is and even that is not going to look like the Hollywood version we would all like to see. It's not going to be people jumping out of you know, parachuting out of planes. It's going to be knocking on doors.

CUOMO: Making sure they have the treatment.

CAMEROTA: And yet there is confusion about the virus and about what the administration is saying, about how dangerous the virus is. Listen to Senator Rand Paul. He put a finer point on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: -- they say, don't worry, it's only mixture of bodily fluids to direct contact. So what are you thinking? I'm thinking like aids, you don't get aids at a cocktail party. So my level of alarm goes down.

If I'm treating somebody or looking at them or I'm thinking, it's like AIDS, I'm not going to get it. But it really isn't like AIDS, then they'll say in a little lower voice, but direct contact can be 3 feet from somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: It has been confusing the message, John?

AVLON: I mean, initially, of course, we were told this wouldn't be an issue in the United States. That it wouldn't be an issue on planes, you see nurses at a hospital getting it and now there's a panic about planes.

The fact that the nurse who went to Cleveland was apparently told by the CDC, you're fine to fly. That's a big problem when it comes to instilling confidence. But this is a moment -- the AIDS parallel is interesting, right?

Because we have had pandemic panics i the past where we've done irrational things that ultimately were proven not to be right, where we talked about quarantining people, where we talked about all sorts of measures that were not wise or science-based.

You need to respect the fact that people feel fear, but then you need to confront that fear with facts if we're going to contain this.

CAMEROTA: John Avlon, Errol Louis, thank you so much.

CUOMO: They get the double amen because you're right and now that politics is involved in this, it gets even scarier. I'll tell you that.

All right, so who are we going to talk to? We're going to talk to the uncle of the second Texas nurse infected with Ebola, Amber Vinson. Was she sick when she boarded flights to and from Ohio? That's the key question now.

The CDC told her about that and we're also going to find out how she's doing from him. So stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Nina Pham, the first nurse to contract Ebola in Texas has been flown to the NIH in Maryland to continue her treatment. Now the uncle of the second nurse to get sick, Amber Vinson, is trying to set the record straight about her.

Now his name is Lawrence Vinson. He spoke exclusively with Don Lemon. He says his niece never called the CDC before boarding a plane as was widely reported. Why does he want you to know this? Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: We have to ask you this, which is information that we got earlier regarding her, is that the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurse, Amber Vinson, said she felt fatigue, muscle ache and malaise while she was in Cleveland and on a flight home. A federal official with direct knowledge of the case tells CNN. Did she exhibit any symptoms? Did she feel fatigued when she was on her way home?

LAWRENCE VINSON, AMBER VINSON'S UNCLE: She never conveyed that to me.

LEMON: It has been said that she contacted the CDC and asked about whether she should get on a plane because she had a temperature of 99.5. Is that correct?

VINSON: So -- no. That's not accurate at all. Amber -- when the first nurse became symptomatic, Amber was already in Ohio. And I guess health officials in Texas started to reach out to other nurses that were a part of the care team.

And so the -- the actual situation was that the nurses -- that team had been told to monitor their own temperature. There wasn't a reporting requirement.

LEMON: So they got in touch with Amber, right, while she was in Ohio?

VINSON: That's correct. And asked her, had she been monitoring her temperature and how did she feel, and she told them that she was feeling fine. When someone followed up with her Monday, just when she was getting ready to fly, she reported what her temperature was. And that she was on a return flight that afternoon and so someone in Texas said, wait, let me check and made several calls to the CDC.

LEMON: So Mr. Vinson, at no point to your knowledge, did she ever contacted the CDC? Someone, a health worker in Dallas contacted the CDC for her?

VINSON: Absolutely. To my knowledge, there's, yes, no point that she directly contact the CDC.

LEMON: And so that person from Texas got back to her and said what to her?

VINSON: After multiple calls, the CDC said that it was OK for her to fly.

LEMON: And so, she flew and came home. Not until Tuesday did she start to feel exhibit any symptoms.

VINSON: That's correct. That's correct. So, yes, if, if in hindsight someone decides that there should have been flight restrictions, that's fine, but to misrepresent and to say restrictions were in place when they actually weren't, is inappropriate.

LEMON: Some of the nurses have shared and said they never felt as if they were in any imminent danger, because the hospital conveyed to them because of the precautions, the protocol, the suits and what have you, the gloves, everything in place, that they were fine. They weren't under quarantine. They were just asked to monitor their temperature twice a day. So she --

VINSON: Absolutely.

LEMON: You're saying Amber didn't feel she was putting anyone in danger, is that correct?

VINSON: That's correct. You know, they were given gear that was supposed to provide isolation and they were given protocols to follow. That they were led -- that they believed would protect them. And I believe that, you know, that was the feeling and the intent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Well, it is being called a dream for TV lovers, HBO is set to launch a stand-alone streaming service and CBS is expected to do the same. What does this mean and how much will it cost?

CUOMO: Why do you need that? When you have CNN go? Why do you need anything else?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: It could potentially be a binge watcher's dream. CBS and HBO are getting ready to launch standalone streaming services. What is the cost to consumers? How is it going to change the way we watch television?

Let us ask Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES." This is interesting. So let's talk about pros, cons, advantages, HBO doing it, CBS who I didn't think would be doing this. They've not been a bring proponent of the web TV marriage.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: CBS is the most traditional of the broadcast networks. He said I was a skeptic internally but my team answered all the questions I had, all of the holes I tried to poke in ideas, they came back with responses. He came away convinced it would work.

He says it is like a $6 a month product, additive for people that don't have CBS at home, gives them a way to watch it. Of course, you can watch it for free with rabbit ears. What people want is to watch it on their phone and tablets and that's what they're enabling for the first time.

PEREIRA: It's interesting the difference between young and old, too. I think the young people love to stream and the older folks are like I just want it the way I know it, right?

STELTER: Well, the vast majority of people watch TV the way the way now, through cable or satellite. Lot of young people watch via cable and satellite, 100 million homes in America have cable. Broadband are the streamer, the people only relying on Netflix, Hulu or piracy.

In some cases it's watching illegally and these companies want you to watch legally why HBO will sell a version of HBO over the internet. "The Game of Thrones" one of the most pirated shows. If they can get to you pay for the privilege that would be a much better situation. So what we're seeing is media companies, which mostly rely on cable right now coming up with some alternate ways so they're placing multiple bets on the boards, kind of like in a roulette table, $100 on black is cable, but putting $10 on red to be safe or ten on double zero to be safe. No matter how the world changes they're safe.

CAMEROTA: I like the metaphor. This is live. You can watch this live. This isn't downloading something from Netflix.

STELTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: This is a whole new world where you watch it as it happens.

STELTER: Right, CBS live stream the network or catch up on "The Good Wife" a day later on demand. Most people want to watch most of the shows on demand. "How To Get Away With Murder" is the biggest new show of the season. It's my personal favorite right now.

You know, it gained like 7 million viewers from on demand viewing. That's a trend these companies can't stop. It's why CNN has CNN go, the app where you can watch the last 24 hours of our channel.

CUOMO: I like that, CNN go, the best product out there.

STELTER: It actually is you need that people want live and on demand.

CUOMO: He said something controversial, though, his favorite new show of the season. I love Viola Davis. She's amazing. What is your favorite show of the season right now?

CAMEROTA: I don't watch television. I really don't.

CUOMO: The big brain. The big brain.

CAMEROTA: I love television. It's not -- we go to bed at 6:00 p.m.

CUOMO: That's why you stream and have on demand. Don't you listen to the man with the nice socks?

PEREIRA: Transparent, I just found it on Amazon.

STELTER: You need to start bingeing now.

CAMEROTA: I did, it's done and now I have nothing to watch. Here's the bit, the a la cart.

STELTER: It's a dirty word saying a la cart and if you start to break up the bundle that CNN. And others benefit from right now.

PEREIRA: Pick and choose.

STELTER: It gets expensive. CBS, HBO, Netflix, I don't believe the bundle will break up too much. I believe we'll have smaller packages. Some might choose to have 50 channels instead of 250 channels. The channels that get squeezed are way down your cable dial that you never watch. Not a good time to be those channels, but as long as you have a big brand like a CBS or HBO, I believe they are going to be pretty safe in this new world. People really want those programs.

That's why my biggest show before "How To Get Away With Murder" was "the leftovers." Next I'll watch "Transparent" on Amazon. Doesn't matter where they come from as long as I can watch when I want.

CAMEROTA: Brian Stelter, thank you.

I watch this next show on this week's Emmy-award winning "PARTS UNKNOWN." Anthony Bourdain takes us to one of his favorite destinations, Vietnam. What culinary treasures did he uncover?

PEREIRA: Delicious.

CAMEROTA: Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST (voice-over): Goiwe is a traditional dish seldom made because of its complexity and the time needed to do it right. Fish stock is made from Kabong, a fish from the perfume river. Pineapples, onion, chilies, shallots and corian, rice noodle, ginger, red chili, garlic.

Layer of rice noodle, banana flour, then the prongs, garnishes. The strained fish stock is brought to the table with the salad in separate bowls and combined just before eating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spicy for you?

BOURDAIN (on camera): No, it's good. Love it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very spicy.

BOURDAIN: No, I like it. What I found when I first came to this part of the world, Vietnam in particular, my palette changed. I needed an elevated level of chilies and heat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Only he can say that, that deadpan, "I needed an elevated level of chilis."

CAMEROTA: I'm hungry.

CUOMO: Be sure to watch him "UNKNOWN: VIETNAM" Sunday night 9:00 Eastern.

PEREIRA: Sounds good.

CUOMO: It will be delicious.

So we are all over the Ebola situation answering the questions that you have. Overnight look at this, new video released, that's Nina Pham, leaving a very emotional message from her hospital bed. Look at what her existence is right now.

Now she's now in Maryland receiving specialized treatment. We'll tell you about it. Also an airline is scrambling to alert more passengers who may have come in contact with the infected nurse on a flight, this as Obama doubles down and considers appointing and Ebola czar after all. Is that the right move? Stick with us for the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)