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New Day

NASA Rocket Explodes in Fireball; Royals Force World Series Game 7; CNN Poll: 62 Percent Say Economy is Poor

Aired October 29, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Marvel announcing the third installment into the "Avengers" franchise, will be broken into two films.

Plan your schedule now, Alisyn and Chris, 2018, 2019, I hear teen outing.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Nothing says diversity like a blonde, blue-eyed female.

PEREIRA: Well, the fact that it's a female.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It's never enough. It's never enough. Never enough.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Black Panther.

CUOMO: One of the movies is "Iron Man Versus Captain America," who wins?

PEREIRA: Ironman. Am I Americant?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Time to move on.

Let's move on to the unmanned NASA rocket that was contracted by NASA. Remember, it was designed by a private company. But here's what matters. It exploded seconds after lift-off Tuesday night. Created this fireball over the skies of eastern Virginia. Here it is, take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be loud!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Geez!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: People came from all over the East Coast to watch it. This is not what they wanted to see. The rocket was carrying supplies to the International Space Station, like $200 million worth. But what really matters is no one was on the rocket. No one was injured in this explosion.

This morning, investigators are sifting through the wreckage, that's how they'll figure out why this happened.

Joining us to discuss, CNN space analyst Miles O'Brien, and former astronaut and International Space Station commander, Leroy Chiao.

So thank you very much, gentlemen, for being here.

Miles, let's start with the obvious -- why did this happen?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE ANALYST: Well, we don't know yet. But if you look at what happens about 15 seconds after lift-off, as I think the term that Frank Culbertson put it with orbital sciences, he says it seems to disassemble. In other words, something fell off the rocket. Some sort of hard failure of a turbo pump or something along those lines is where investigators will begin looking. And after that happens, you'll notice that the rocket plume changes color and then shortly thereafter things go very badly.

CUOMO: Leroy Chiao.

O'BRIEN: So, it's very early to say beyond that.

CUOMO: Thank you, Miles. Look, we'll learn more as they get the pieces obviously. That's the way they have to figure out a puzzle like this.

But, Leroy Chiao, let me ask you this, help me understand this -- range safety was initiated at about 20 seconds. Observed something wrong at 10 to 12 seconds, so sent signal to destruct the rocket, the launch rocket.

That was from the press conference. What does that mean?

LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, every rocket has a range safety package on it, which is basically a series of charges that will basically terminate the flight and it will blow up the rocket, in case the rocket veers off-course and starts heading for a populated area, or something like, then the range folks can destroy it before it can get somewhere like that and cause damage.

But I agree with Miles, it looks like something, something happened at the aft-end of the vehicle. The range safety signal may have been sent. But it probably was sent after the fact. I mean looked to me from the video like the rocket was already coming apart by the time the signal was sent.

CUOMO: I'm trying to get straight on what happened. Miles, does it mean that this rocket just self-destructed? Or does it mean that someone noticed that something was going wrong and they sent the signal for it to self-destruct?

O'BRIEN: Well, I think it's a little bit of both. It probably would have self-destructed on its own. The procedure, though, is when things go horribly wrong, you push the red button and you hit the self-destruct button, because as Leroy points out, a rocket that has asymmetrical thrust or thrust that you don't expect or can't control can be a very dangerous thing indeed. You had about a 1,400 square- mile exclusion zone around the launch pad. You certainly don't want it veering off toward the west into populated areas. That's why they do this with an abundance of caution.

CUOMO: Leroy, I'm hearing that this is the same type of technology that the space shuttle had. What does that mean exactly? Help us to understand this.

CHIAO: Well, every vehicle that launches out of the U.S. is going to have a range safety package on it, including the space shuttle, which was quite controversial at the time. But -- and you saw it after the Challenger accident, the range safety was initiated on the solid rocket boosters. So, if you go back and look at that video, you can see where the size of those boosters were opened up after the fact. But yes, even the space shuttle had a range safety package on it.

CUOMO: I mean, obviously, it would be controversial, especially if there were people on board. But we have to remember, a rocket becomes a missile if it goes off-course, especially with these types of fuel systems it has on it.

Leroy, what does this mean -- classified crypto equipment on board, what is that?

CHIAO: That's a new one for me. My best guess on it would be some kind of a communication scrambler for telemetry, but I don't know. You know, the space station as you know is a civil space station. There's no military activity going on board the station. So, it wouldn't be some kind of a defense or a military kind of a thing that was being sent to the station.

CUOMO: Miles, I heard you clearing your throat, which is the international media signal for I know the answer to this.

So, when we hear classified crypto equipment, it doesn't mean spy stuff or anything like that?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: That's the conspiracy theory. They had to destroy it because they had the secret stuff on.

O'BRIEN: Please don't take us to the grassy knoll on this one right now, Chris.

CUOMO: Good.

O'BRIEN: This is -- this is most likely and I don't know for certain, but I think Leroy is correct. You have -- you know, rockets don't carry black boxes, they send telemetry down. Black boxes are on the ground. Mission control watches all the time and the communication back and forth between the rocket and the ground is tremendous. If you could hack into that that would be a very bad thing. So, you

would want to encrypt that communication. So I think they want to find that box because it is probably a sensitive box. But let's remember, the space station is not spying on anybody.

CUOMO: All right. And it is a huge international effort. You have over a dozen countries involved. The U.S. and Russia take the lead. But this is about as cooperative as these types of high-end missions have ever gotten.

So gentlemen, thank you very much for the perspective. Obviously, as we learn more about why this happened, we can then better have the discussion about what it means for the privatization of space missions in the U.S.

But, Leroy Chiao and Miles O'Brien, always a pleasure. Thank you, gentlemen.

O'BRIEN: Thank you. Good to be with you.

CUOMO: All right. Sports time, big, big story. So many had the Giants sealing it up in historic fashion.

CAMEROTA: Not in my household.

CUOMO: However -- now winner take all, game seven, Andy Scholes is here, and he's got the "Bleacher Report", who saw this coming.

But now, it's as big a moment you get in the World Series.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Sure, Chris. Exciting stuff.

You know, you play 162 games in the regular season. You got the wild card, division series, championship series, it comes down to one game tonight.

The Royals kept their World Series dreams alive in game six, by absolutely crushing the Giants. The bats just exploded in the second inning, they scored seven runs, the Giants -- didn't know what hit them. Royals shut out San Francisco 10-0.

I have a great stat for you, Chris, I know you look stat. Since 1980, the Royals are the ninth home team to win game six when down 3-2 in the World Series. All of the previous eight have gone on to win game seven.

CUOMO: How many of them?

SCHOLES: Every single one.

CUOMO: That hurts.

SCHOLES: So, history is on the Royals side. First pitch for a little after 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

All right. College football playoff committee releasing their first- ever poll, no surprise who is on top, the Mississippi state bulldogs come in number one the inaugural rankings. They are followed by defending champs Florida State, Auburn, Ole Miss, three of the four top teams coming from the SEC West. Just incredible. One division dominating the rankings right now.

All right. The NBA season tipping off on TNT last night with the crew from "Inside the NBA" doing their show live from Times Square, Ernie, Kenny, Shaq and Charles having a grand old time with all the fans in New York City. On the court, world champion San Antonio Spurs receiving their brand new shiny diamond championship rings before their game with the Mavs, a good night all around. Tony Parker hit a late three to give the spurs the win on the opening night.

In the night cap, Kobe Bryant made his return to action, gets into it with his old friend, Dwight Howard under the basket. Gets a little chippy. Kobe mouths, try me and Dwight responds -- come on, man. You know me. Rockets ended up beating the Lakers, 108-90.

A tough night all-around in L.A., their stud rookie, Julius Randle, broke his leg in the fourth quarter. Had to be carted off. Very first game in the NBA. I hate to say it, Michaela, it will be a rough season.

CUOMO: Even with the black mamba, he looked good.

SCHOLES: Nineteen points. Not bad.

PEREIRA: You forget, Clipper fan.

SCHOLES: Oh, you're a Clipper fan now? You switched?

PEREIRA: No, no. Back up.

CUOMO: She's the only positive sports fan, she's the universal donor.

PEREIRA: Go back on the tape.

SCHOLES: Five years ago, you're a Clippers fan.

CUOMO: She's wearing royal blue, was Giants fan, royal blue.

PEREIRA: Don't talk to people in Los Angeles.

CAMEROTA: I believe her, not fair-weather fan. I believe this.

Andy, thanks. Thanks so much.

CUOMO: As the real as they get.

Also, the "Bleacher Report" website go there for information about Gordie Howe, we have information that he suffered a stroke. We know everybody cares about him, wishes him well. Give as you flash of the Sox. I'll take the beating for the time.

SCHOLES: All right. In honor of King James going home, I'm rocking the Cavaliers sock -- (CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Nice sock on the ample calf. Man law.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Andy, thank you for that.

Meanwhile, eight people with Ebola have now been cured in the United States. Does this mean doctors have the upper hand on the deadly virus? Or are we still facing the risk of a domestic outbreak?

A leading infectious disease specialist is here with a status report on Ebola.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. We are down to one patient being treated for Ebola currently in the United States, a doctor here in New York.

So, let's bring in from Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Amesh Adalja. Now, he's a representative of the Infectious Disease Society of America.

We have three big points to cover this morning, Doctor, that will bring us up to date. One, we are down to one patient, OK? That means we've had great success in treating patients here in the U.S. with Ebola, specifically at Emory. They have successfully treated four patients.

Have we learned something about how to combat this virus? Or is it just reaffirming what we already knew?

DR. AMESH ADALJA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: We hadn't really treated Ebola patients in sophisticated intensive care unit settings. With the patients at Emory and Nebraska and NIH, what we're finding is that aggressive fluid resuscitation, giving fluids to replace fluids lost during nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, as well as keep the electrolytes balanced can make a lot of the difference, and maybe making a difference between life or death, and that's really something that we learned just during this outbreak.

CUOMO: And it's also so damn sad it shows that the simplest care could stop so many deaths in West Africa.

And that takes us to point number two. It's not about a magic drug or a magic cure, sophisticated treatment. It's about just having people on the ground with the infrastructure to do the right thing.

How soon until we see efforts in Liberia that are ongoing making a difference?

ADALJA: I think it's going to be months before we actually get, catch up with this virus. It had a three-month head start before we knew what was going on in Guinea. It's taking a while to get these Ebola treatment units built. And we still have a lot of infrastructure problems there. And until those Ebola treatment units are available, where people can

be cared for in a safe manner, we're still going to see new cases. But it's essential that we actually get -- try to get ahead of the virus, it will continue to put the world at risk until we stop it at its source.

CUOMO: The major push-back is, you're over-hyping this, Ebola cases have been going on for decades, nothing is different now. You just seem to care. That's not true. Why?

ADALJA: Well, this outbreak occurred in West Africa, which never had an Ebola case before. Three months late to figure it out and it spread across three countries very quickly. And then had imported cases into Nigeria and Senegal.

What we know is these countries have very little infrastructure, it's likely that without any outside help, this would continue to burn on and may become a chronic problem for them like other diseases are. And we don't want that to happen, because Ebola is such a disruptive force in these countries that are really on the precipice of collapse.

We'll, hospitals in the United States will continue to have to be on alert for imported cases. We face no threat of a generalized outbreak, because it's just not contagious. But in those settings, we still would get imported cases and keep everybody on high alert. We need to get to the source of this outbreak and actually stop it, to remove all risk.

CUOMO: In other words, if you do not stop it there. You will have it here. The question is how often and how many.

Last point -- the dirty word for you, Amesh -- quarantine. We're now seeing the Pentagon is doing 21 -- they're calling mandatory monitoring, whatever they want to call it it's a quarantine. We're seeing it in different states this kid in Connecticut who doesn't have Ebola, they're under quarantine.

It does seem that the policy is moving towards safe rather than sorry. How do you square that with your feelings about science?

ADALJA: It still doesn't make sense based on the transmission dynamics of this virus and I know that the Pentagon's policy is under review by Secretary Hagel so that may change.

People can't transmit Ebola unless they actually have symptoms. What I favor and what a lot of other professional societies favor is to actively monitor these people, so that they're on the radar of local and public health and actually base it on the risk. Did someone get a needle stick? Was someone treating patients without personal protective equipment? Was somebody having no risk?

Right now, the blanket quarantine doesn't make any gradations and restricts people's --

CUOMO: The only point, the only point I have is this, just quickly -- why is it not worth being safe rather than sorry? It's just 21 days. If can you do it at home and you still get paid, it's not the worst thing, is it?

ADALJA: Because -- I think it's not, I think it is a bad thing. Because it doesn't, it doesn't actually reflect the science there. If there's no need to do the quarantine because of the transmission of the virus, then why do it? It just adds to the panic and makes people have this misperception of threat with Ebola.

CUOMO: OK. Dr. Amesh Adalja, always appreciate the perspective. Thank you for helping us out on the big points this morning.

ADALJA: Thank you.

CUOMO: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK. Chris, terrorism, the economy, Ebola. Many issues are on the minds of voters six days before elections. But according to a new CNN poll, there's one issue that matters most, and it could just decide the key races. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We have brand new CNN/ORC polls released this hour, hot off the presses. Two-thirds of the American public feel that the economy is still doing poorly. You can see on your screen. That's 62 percent.

But more people are optimistic about the future. And the economy is the number one issue for voters.

So what does that mean for the mid-term elections next Tuesday?

Let's ask our guests, John Avlon. He's a CNN senior political analyst, and the editor in chief of "The Daily Beast", and Margaret Hoover is a CNN political commentator and Republican consultant.

Great to have you guys.

JOHN AVLON, THE DAILY BEAST: Good morning.

MARGARET HOOVER, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: So that's a bit of a confusing mixed message, we feel that the economy is doing poorly, but Americans are optimistic that next year, the economy will be doing well.

So, John, does that work for Democrats and incumbents or does it not work for incumbents?

AVLON: I mean, look, this is a tough year for Democrats and incumbents, just period. But it shows the kind of state of the economy being influx. It shows the gap between Wall Street's rocket- like recovery, and Main Street still struggling.

It also shows that people believe things will get better it makes it harder to go into the booth with a sense of absolute anger against incumbents. It's a sign of the times. The economy is working for some, but Main Street is still struggling.

HOOVER: I don't know. The part inside me says they think it's going to get better because they know Republicans are going to have the Senate.

AVLON: Oh, I wouldn't say that.

CUOMO: How does it get better if the Republicans get the Senate? What happens? Let's say you win? They all go to you. You have the Senate, you have the House.

HOOVER: You want to know?

CUOMO: Yes.

HOOVER: We pass serious tax legislation that's going to simplify the tax code. That might have helped us get out of the recession a lot sooner than it did pass legislation to streamline energy renaissance that's happening across the country, where the federal government is in the way. That's been the number one provider of jobs in industry across the country.

CAMEROTA: And the president will go along with those things?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: He had never been for those.

HOOVER: Here's the question -- if the Republicans win the Senate, the president has an opportunity to either have a lame duck last two years, or pass some legislation that could be part of his legacy because he has passed exactly nothing. In the last six years.

CUOMO: Why?

HOOVER: Except for the Affordable Care Act, which is enormously unpopular.

CUOMO: Why has he passed nothing? Because your strategy has been don't le let him pass anything.

HOOVER: You know, the last I checked, the Senate is run by the Democrats. So, there is not --

CUOMO: But there's not enough leverage.

John, that's the point. What really changes here? Let's say the Republicans win, you lose, however it's not a big-enough margin to swing things past filibuster, so what happens.

AVLON: The filibuster-proof margin is still there.

CUOMO: I like the laundry list that we just laid out there.

HOOVER: I got more.

AVLON: I'm all in favor of tax simplification, there's a question whether that's geared towards strengthening the middle class.

The question is, right now, the middle class struggling, has been for decade, what can be done to help? And what's the policy agenda behind that?

I would like to think if the Republicans win the Senate and the House, they would find a way to work with the presidents. But the Republicans will admit basically they've got a crazy caucus and the sanity caucus. And the question is, whether the sanity caucus outweighs the crazy caucus? Will they support measures that work with the president or will the prospect be political kryptonite to them?

HOOVER: Back to the economy.

AVLON: OK.

HOOVER: Janet Yellen, the chair of the Federal Reserve says majority of Americans are experiencing stagnant living conditions. So, regardless of what the numbers say, the truth is most Americans, wages aren't going up. They haven't been. There's no sign that they're going to any time soon.

The fed continues to print money. The economy has the very lackluster recovery and people know that and they're still feeling that.

AVLON: Absolutely, but there's a burden of proof when it comes to policy. What is the Republican plan for dealing with inequality, for dealing with the middle class? Really. That's the problem. Bumper sticker works, but where's the actionable agenda?

HOOVER: I mean, the actual agenda is seriously, tax simplification would be an enormous burden off the economy.

AVLON: I don't think it's sufficient.

HOOVER: Also streamlining the energy sector. I feel like I'm repeating myself. Do you not listen to what I say?

AVLON: I do hear you. I just don't think that that's sufficient.

HOOVER: Simplification frankly. The Affordable Health Care Act is a huge burden for businesses. It's really stifling investment in businesses. Streamlining some of the extra taxes on the Affordable Care Act also will help businesses create more jobs.

AVLON: I'm all for tax simplification. I just don't know if that's going to be for the middle class.

CAMEROTA: Money is tight for candidates, Democratic candidates. They're having a hard time fundraising. Steve Israel, the head of the fundraising arm for the DCCC, he put out a statement, he said, well, he said it to "Politico", "I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it's a tough climate and it's getting tougher. It's the worst climate since 2010, but it's not as bad as 2010."

Some candidates are feeling pinched for money six days out. AVLON: Yes, I mean, that's both a bit of unusual honesty and also

strategic panic. I mean, Democrat emails have been trying to shake the money tree any way they can get it. This is the last week. Candidates are jittery, consultants are jittery, they want more money.

And the reality is in a six-year presidential term, you do face if you're in the president's party, significant headwinds, the average loss is 30 seats in the house and eight in the Senate. So yeah I'm not surprised that Democrats are getting nervous. So, I'm not surprised that the whole political money class is trying to get every last bit of cash they can.

HOOVER: What I'm seeing, watching a lot of these congressional races pretty closely, is they are -- the DCCC is taking money out of races that were going to be close seats that they were defending. D plus two seats, specifically in suburban areas around Illinois, part of New York. Seats they thought were going to be easier to defend, Republicans are going to win.

Think about what that does to a Republican Congress. If you have more Republicans picking up seats that were D plus two seats, that means John Boehner gets more moderate Republicans in his caucus, which may give him some leverage in terms of standing up to the Tea Party kind of caucus. It might mean a House of Representatives is a little bit less anti -- not anti-the president, but Boehner is able to sort of step out on some of the policy issues that aren't considered as crazy radical as the Tea Party caucus. Maybe we could even do have immigration --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Interesting. I like the glass half full.

HOOVER: So, no, this is actually the reform of Republican agenda taken back the House of Representatives. That's what I fully support.

If we could see people like Bob Dole, who lost his seat in 2012. The guy had has Mark Kirk's seat.

CUOMO: Don't give it all away. We've got to wait for election.

CAMEROTA: Margaret Hoover and John Avlon, great to see you guys. Thanks so much.

CUOMO: All right. The midterms are one of the stories we're following for you. A lot of news. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Three, two, one --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Antares rocket stalled, fell backward and exploded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something went wrong and we will find out what that is. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dramatic new security procedures that are about to

begin at U.S. government buildings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a precaution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's simply being safe rather than sorry.

UNIDENTIFEID MALE: Nurse Amber Vinson is heading home to Texas.

AMBER VINSON, NURSE: I'm so grateful to be well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Obama taking a not so veiled shot at Christie's Ebola quarantine plan.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don't just react based on our fears. We react based on facts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, welcome back to NEW DAY.

So much to talk about. I'm Alisyn Camerota alongside Chris Cuomo. We begin the hour with a failure to launch. Literally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: You can hear the bystanders saying oh God, oh God. It was so unexpected. This is an unmanned rocket we're happy to report, exploding seconds after lift-off Tuesday night. NASA and the rocket's builder, called Orbital Sciences are trying to determine this morning what caused this disaster.

CUOMO: It was carrying a $200 million payload. So it's going to raise new questions about privatizing space.