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Legionnaires Outbreak in South Bronx; Battle for Democratic Nomination Heating Up; Baby Abandoned in Toilet in China. Aired 1:30-2 ET
Aired August 04, 2015 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00] DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: That's a very good question. You see new cases because the incubation period from the time you get exposed to the time you get infected is anywhere from two to four 14-days. So if I were to get exposed today, I could get sick anywhere up to two weeks from now. So even though the towers might get decontaminated tomorrow, you can get sick several days afterwards because of the relatively long incubation period.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Anthony Fauci, thanks so much for coming on with us. Really appreciate it.
FAUCI: Thank you.
KEILAR: Still ahead, the Democratic race for the nomination, starting to heat up, the gloves starting to come off as Hillary Clinton throws a jab at rival Bernie Sanders.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:35:10] KEILAR: While this week's Republican debate has garnered a great deal of attention, the Democratic race is also heating up. In a new poll from NBC and the "Wall Street Journal," voters' view of Hillary Clinton down from June to July. While Clinton's favorability numbers are dropping, support for Bernie Sanders is growing. More than 100,000 people tuned into his nationwide simulcast last week, adding the possibility of Vice President Joe Biden entering the race, a lot of talk about that perhaps, you have a pretty interesting dynamic. I want to bring in our panel.
I want to bring in my panel. I'm joined by CNN political commentator, Van Jones; Republican consultant, Alex Castellanos; and we have former Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm, joining us from Berkeley, California.
Van, we saw Hillary Clinton say during a discussion with the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. This is a bit of a hit against Bernie Sanders. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: This is fuelled in large measure by young people. And it is a particular development in the civil rights movement that deserves our support. By that, I mean there are some who say, well, you know, racism is a result of economic inequality. I don't believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: "There are some who say" -- now she doesn't say Bernie Sanders, but that is in the parentheses there, right? Why go after him?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is smart on her part. Our party has three different factions. There's the more mainstream moderate faction. She's associated with that. There is this populist economic faction, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, de Blasio, but -- and Sanders is already there. The danger is can Sanders tap into the third part of the party, this rising racial justice, young movement, Black Lives Matter, the dreamers. If Sanders can connect with that, he is going to be able a threat to her. He made a huge mistake when he gave a speech that implied that, hey, economics is all that matters, racism is secondary. She's trying to capitalize on that and stop him, head him off at the pass. If Bernie Sanders can tap into that young momentum, she's in big trouble and she knows it.
KEILAR: Even though she's not using his name, and when I interviewed her in Iowa, I asked her straight up about Bernie Sanders multiple times, won't use his name. You think this is a good thing for him?
ALEX CASTELLANOS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: It's telling. How do you know somebody is a serious opponent? You attack them. How do you know they are a threat? You have to deal with them. So Bernie Sanders is growing, and it's a smart thing for Hillary, but she has no choice now but to confront Bernie Sanders.
KEILAR: Let's talk about a possible Joe Biden candidacy. Jennifer -- Governor Granholm, you were Vice President Biden's debate prep partner back in 2008. Do you have insight into whether he might run, whether he should run?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, (D), FORMER MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: No, I don't honestly, have any insight into whether he will.
Let me just say, everybody, Team Clinton, Team Sanders, the Democratic party, we all love Joe Biden. Love him. Let him make his decision in n whatever time he needs to make it. He's going to make his decision to the best way that meets the needs of his family, given what he's gone through.
KEILAR: That's right.
We understand from reporting from Maureen Dowd that this is something Beau Biden, who recently passed away, requested of him, wanted for him to do this. I know that will weigh heavily on his decision.
If he does run, Governor, how does he gate lock on donors? And on organization when Hillary Clinton is -- she's got a lock on it.
GRANHOLM: She has got such a huge amount of support. Even in that NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll that you cited earlier. I mean, she is 31 points ahead of the rest of the Democratic field with everybody included so it's a -- it would be a tough row for anybody to get in against somebody who is formidable. That being said, I know that Team Clinton welcomes the competition from anybody and is not afraid of that. And will be doing but what they do best, which is to run their own race.
KEILAR: She said it will be a competitive primary. But I think it's become more competitive than she probably thought.
JONES: I've been on TV people are saying, Biden, don't run, don't run, it will mess up your legacy. But something is happening out there. On my social people media, people came back saying, hey, you are wrong. We want Joe Biden in. They're could be something developing because Hillary Clinton's numbers are weak, that not only does he want to do it but --
(CROSSTALK)
[13:40:09] GRANHOLM: Wait. Wait. Van? Van?
(CROSSTALK)
GRANHOLM: Her numbers aren't weak, though. She's 31 points up the rest of the field.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: -- and people are asked, does she care about basically what you care about. She's struggling but, look, she's way ahead of Bernie Sanders.
GRANHOLM: Way ahead.
CASTELLANOS: There's this thing in politics called voters --
(LAUGHTER)
CASTELLANOS: -- and some candidates --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Tell me, Alex.
CASTELLANOS: There's a lot of --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: There's million upon millions.
CASTELLANOS: And it turns out that some candidates are better at connecting with them than others. When there's a populist fire, frankly, in both parties, you have to connect with that. Hillary has many great qualities -- strength, perseverance -- but she is not a people person. She does not -- she has a certain regal quality to her. Her first TV spot is designed to humanize her with the shocking news that she has a mother. So very mechanical kind of candidate. Joe Biden is about 150 percent human. He is a people guy. He's very accessible that way. So I think he goes at that populist fire. It works for him.
KEILAR: And I know that's why you think he has a lane, but from Republicans perspective, what do Republicans think about a Biden candidacy?
CASTELLANOS: Well, it's always entertaining. But frankly --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: So they welcome it? Do they think they will meet Joe Biden?
CASTELLANOS: This will surely kill Joe Biden. If you ask anybody in the Senate, he's a guy in who keeps his word. That's the first thing I heard when I went to Washington 40 years ago. He's entertaining. He's erratic.
JONES: They would tear him apart on --
CASTELLANOS: He's erratic.
JONES: It would be a grab bag for Republicans to pull out every goofy thing he's ever done.
CASTELLANOS: I gave up. I gave up trying to pick your opponent.
JONES: Yeah.
CASTELLANOS: It never works out.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: I see you're on opposite sides of the fight.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Unfortunately, I have to leave it there, Van. But we will talk more about that in the days to come.
Alex Castellanos, Van Jones, Governor Granholm, thanks to all of you. Really appreciate you being here.
And for latest in politics, head to CNNpolitics.com. Great conversation there.
Still ahead, a disturbing discovery in a public toilet in China. A baby struggling to survive moments after birth. We'll take you there live. There is also a bigger issue, and we'll discuss that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:46:54] KEILAR: We turn to a heartbreaking story out of Beijing. Police say a newborn baby girl, abandoned face down. They found her in a public toilet.
As CNN's Will Ripley shows us, the rescue was caught on tape.
And we warn you, some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SHOUTING)
RIPLEY (voice-over): No child should come into the world like this.
(SHOUTING)
RIPLEY: Pulled from a public toilet by a Beijing police officer. Neighboring called when they heard the newborn crying. Wrapped in a blanket, she's safe, her mother gone.
"I think it's brutal for a mother to do this," says Sui Wenguo, who cleans the toilets.
He says a young woman walked out alone just minutes before neighbors heard the crying.
"She was acting normally," he says.
Thousands of people live in of this back alley. Nobody recognized the woman who left before the police arrived.
(on camera): When the breeze blows through these narrow back alleys, especially on hot summer days it carries with it the stench from the single public restroom everybody here shares. And when you step inside, the smell, the heat, is that much more intense. And you look at these holes in the ground and you think, this is where a little girl, a baby, came into the world.
(voice-over): A migrant construction worker from eastern China heard his neighbors calling for help. He followed police into the toilet, pulled out his phone and started recording. He asked us not to show his face.
"I feel so torn and sad," he says. "Words can't describe it. How could something like this happen?"
Parents abandon thousands of babies each year in China. Children left in trash bins or toilets are the rare, worst cases.
In 2013, rescuers saved another newborn, a boy found alive inside a toilet pipe. His 22-year-old single mother told police it was an accident and she was embarrassed. The boy survived. Others have not. The Chinese government set up what they call baby hatches for parents to leave unwanted children, but they're so overwhelmed, workers have to turn many parents away. Experts say nearly all abandoned children have disabilities or medical conditions. Most end up in orphanages. Parents who can't afford health care may feel they have no other choice.
(on camera): Can you ever forget seeing something like that?
(voice-over): "I'll remember it for the rest of my life" he says.
Police are still looking for this newborn's mother, a woman who left her baby alone, helpless, flushed down the toilet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Will Ripley joining me now from Beijing.
Will, this story is so hard to watch, and yet it also talks about -- it sort of reveals a bigger problem that is happening in China. You mentioned it in your piece. But tell us in this case, how is the baby doing? What's her condition?
[13:50:06] RIPLEY: At last check of the hospitals, she's in stable condition, which is remarkable given the fact that she was upside down, almost wedged in that drain, and the police were fearful if they had waited a few more minutes she might not have made it. So stable condition. She has some infections she's being treated for. And she doesn't even have a name yet. She's already been through all of this, and she joins some 100,000 other abandoned children in China.
KEILAR: 100,000.
Will Ripley for us from China. Thank you so much.
Up next, another stunning rescue five years later. We'll catch up with some of the Chilean miners whose dramatic rescue captured the attention of the world. Stay with us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:55:00] KEILAR: It's been five years since 33 Chilean miners were trapped in a collapsed mine. More than half a mile underground, hope for their survival was slim.
In a new CNN special report, CNN's Rosa Flores looks back at that dangerous rescue operation that saved the miners' lives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURENCE GOLBORNE, FORMER MINING MINISTER (through translation): Around 6:00 a.m., I received a phone call.
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the drillers, who believed they finally busted through to the mine.
GOLBORNE: I got up here without showering, without anything. I went nearly to the side.
FLORES (on camera): So the miners down there started screaming saying, "We're found," (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plan is that somebody will take a big piece of steel and start whacking the drill bit and sure enough the drill operator is hearing this kind of echoing coming up.
FLORES (voice-over): Rescuers take several thundershowers, pull up the bit.
GOLBORNE: The hammer came out with a cross painted in red and I said to one of them, "It's painted." They said, "Yes, that wasn't there! I said, "Are you sure?" "Yes, minister, I'm sure."
(LAUGHTER)
There wasn't anything. And then, in the hammer, there was tied a plastic bag with a message inside.
FLORES: It's a note from one miner to his wife. Then workers noticed something else.
GOLBORNE: And we start digging and we took the paper and opened and I see the message.
(CHEERING)
FLORES: A message that triggers an impossible rescue.
(on camera): Did you ever think, darn, this is not going to happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every minute of everyday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Rosa Flores joins us now from New York.
I got goose bumps twice watching that, Rosa. The recounting of this story that gripped the world is just amazing. So tell us what now, what happened to the miners after this rescue?
FLORES: For the miners, fame came without fortune, Brianna. They're having financial troubles. They're having psychological issues as well. A lot of them are drawn back to dark places imagine what they went to for 69 days underground. So a lot of them are still struggling. No, one of the amazing things that we're able to do in this special report is we take you through their stories. So these miners opened their house to us. They tell us their stories. They tell us details that they haven't shared before. Doctors that were there also share details that they hadn't shared before. The president opens up and offers not only details but video as well. So even if you think you know the story, you're going to learn something while you watch this. And let me tell you something, you're also going to feel. Grab a hanky. It is a roller coaster of emotions because we take you through what these men were living for those 69 days. Just to give you a little glimpse, you know that recording of the rescue where they're pulled out of the ground one by one and a billion people were watching this. For a moment in time, people were actually watching a replay, Brianna. A lot of people don't know that. The president explains to us what happened. One of the miners underground actually repaired the cable that was crushed because there was an actual collapse underground when this rescue was happening. So there's a lot of details that really you're going to feel like you're going to learn something new when you watch this special report.
KEILAR: And real quick, before I let you go, because I have to see this report, too, why did these miners say that they wanted to really get their story out there?
FLORES: You know, for different miners, there's different reasons. One of them is very much a historian and feels that, by telling the story, it frees him from those dark places that he's pulled into when he's alone or at night when he's having nightmares. For others, it's because it's important for the world to remember what they did and what they accomplished, and it gives them a sense of accomplishment. So for different miners, it means different things. But overall, it's an incredible story to share.
KEILAR: Rosa Flores, thank you so much.
The CNN special report, "A Miner Miracle, Five Years after the Chilean Rescue," airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern in the United States, right here on CNN.
That's it for me. I'm Briana Keilar.
"Amanpour" is next for our international viewers. And for our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.
