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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Measles Continues To Spread In California; NFL Commissioner Holds Press Conference Before Super Bowl; Mitt Romney Declines Presidential Run in 2016; More Snow for Boston; In Aaron Hernandez' Court; Suge Knight Faces Serious Charges in a Fatal Hit-and-Run

Aired January 30, 2015 - 20:00   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.

We begin with breaking news on the measles outbreak that began in California and is still spreading tonight. State health officials say the number of measles cases in California has risen to 91 with 54 cases now linked to the outbreak at Disneyland. The CDC says measles cases have been reported in 14 states this month with most tied to that Disneyland outbreak.

Now, in Arizona with the super bowl just two days away, there are growing concerns the virus could spread further when expected million people converge for the game. A lot more on that in a moment.

In Arizona, seven measles cases have been linked to the Disneyland outbreak and state officials are monitoring 1,000 people who have had contact with those patients. Among those now at risk, a toddler in Phoenix. Their stories are window into what's driving this outbreak and who may pay the price.

Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One family in double danger. Last week, 3-year-old Maggie Jacks and her little brother Eli were exposed to measles at this clinic near Phoenix, Arizona. Now Eli just ten months old and too young to be vaccinated is showing signs of the virus which can cause deafness, brain damage or even death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm obviously scared. I send out texts to my family and my facebook messages and I say, please pray for my son.

COHEN: If Eli does have measles, it's quite likely he gave it to his sister and could be in grave danger because Maggie has leukemia. Her immune system wiped out by chemotherapy which also would have pretty much wiped out any immunity from her own measles vaccine.

What is your biggest fear for Maggie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My biggest fear is that I lose my child. Or short of that, she gets a severe case and becomes deaf. I mean, my family has been through enough in the last six months. I mean, I know there are worse out there, but we've had a rough go of it and I don't want her to have to go through anything else.

COHEN: We talked to the Centers for Disease Control and they told us to not get anywhere near Eli or Maggie, so we have asked their parents to take cell phone video for us. We're also not going to get near their father. And that's because like many adults, he has only limited immunity to the measles. We can talk to their mother, however, because blood tests show that she does have full immunity.

And this is how the Jacks children were put in danger. Four members of one Arizona family went to Disneyland in December. They refused to vaccinate their children and they came down with measles and went to the clinic. That family gave measles to a woman at the clinic and she, in turn, exposed 195 children including Maggie and Eli.

What would you say to that family if you could talk to them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your children don't live in your little bubble. Your children live in a big bubble and my children live inside that big bubble with your children. If you don't vaccinate your kids, fine. Don't take them to Disneyland.

COHEN: Health authorities aren't naming the family a vaccine refusers, but we spoke with this man, Dr. Jack Wilson, an Arizona physician who refuses to vaccinate young sons because he said vaccines are toxics.

Could you live with yourself if your child got another child sick, I mean really sick, got complications or death, could you live with yourself if that happened?

DR. JACK WILSON, PHYSICIAN: I could live with myself very easily. It's a very unfortunate thing that people die. But unfortunately, people die and I'm not going to put my child at risk to save another child. I'm not going to sacrifice the well being of my child. My child is pure. It's not my responsibility to be protecting their child.

COHEN: Tim Jacks, a pediatrician, says the pain brought on by vaccine refusers implanted double whammy on top of his daughter's cancer.

DR. TIM JACKS, PEDIATRICIAN: It's a big deal emotionally. Looking back, it brings to mind some of the same feelings we had when we first got Maggie's diagnosis.

COHEN: For now, they can just pray their doctor recovers from leukemia and doesn't get measles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Elizabeth, I mean, just unbelievable that their family of four going to Disneyland and going to a clinic, get one person infected and that person then exposes more than 100 others. I mean, just explain again how easy it is to pass along measles. COHEN: Right. So Anderson, you and I spent a lot of time this fall

talking about Ebola and how you had to have close contact, live with someone, eat with someone. That is the opposite with measles, which one of the most contagious viruses known to man.

If, you know, you sneeze, if you cough, that can give someone measles. If I had measles and I was in the room, and I left that room and you entered that room two hours later, you could still get measles from me, even though I'm not even in the room anymore.

COOPER: I'm surprise bid the doctor, you know, who refuses to vaccinate kids because I mean, again, there's no medical evidence that, you know, in pure reviewed studies that show there is a danger from these vaccines. We've reported this over and over and over again. And for him to say his child is pure and not really seem to be all that concerned about others in the community, it just, it's an odd way to look at citizenship.

I guess I mean in Phoenix, where obviously the super bowl is taking place on Sunday, is there concern among health officials there about the possibility of measles spreading?

COHEN: Yes, we talked to folks at the CDC and the state, Arizona state health department, county health department. You know, they don't seem panicked about it, but they do seem concerned in the same way they're concerned about the flu and other diseases. Really, all they can do, Anderson is to tell people don't come to the super bowl if you're feeling ill.

But Anderson, here's the problem. You can spread measles and not even really feel sick or maybe have just a runny nose and a headache. Like yes, if you paid for super bowl tickets and you have a runny nose, you're still going to show up. So, that is the real concern. You can spread measles, even if you just feel a little bit sick.

COOPER: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, I appreciate the report. Thanks very much.

And with the super bowl, with just two days away, there is more than measles in the headlines. The NFL commissioner said the league is looking to allegations that the Patriots footballs were deflated the air to see championship and will enforce the rules. Roger Goodell spoke with reporters at the annual pre-super bowl news conference today. He said no judgments have been made yet about so-called deflate gate and didn't want to jeopardize the investigation by speculating.

CNN's sports' Rachel Nichols was there and had this exchange with the commissioner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN ANCHOR, UNGUARDED WITH RACHEL NICHOLS: Roger, you guys have faced a lot of problems over the past year that have a really wide range, but a lot of the issues have in common is the conflict of interest. When you do something like hire an outside investigator, like Ted Wells, into the Patriots investigation, you're still paying him and Robert Kraft, who owns the patriots, still paying you. So even when you do everything right in one of those situations, it opens you guys up to a credibility gap with some of the public and even with some of most of your high profile players. What guys can you do in the future to mitigate the coNFLict of interest issues?

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: Well, Rachel, I don't agree with a lot of the assumptions you make in your question. I think we have had people with uncompromising integrity. Robert Muller, an example, who I think you asked me the same question last fall with a coNFLict of interest. Their integrity is impeccable.

Somebody has to pay them, Rachel. So unless you're volunteering which I don't think you are, we will do that, but we have the responsibility to protect the integrity of the league whether we have an owner that's being investigated or commissioner that's being investigated. They're done with the highest level of integrity and quality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Rachel Nichols joins me now from Phoenix.

I'm curious, what did you think of the response? Because he seemed sort of, you know, irritated.

NICHOLS: Yes, it was just surprising and disappointing, frankly. This is an issue that has been brought up time and time again in the NFL community just to this week at the NFL's largest event. One of their most high profile players, Richard Sherman in the Seattle Seahawks said he thought there was a coNFLict of interest between Roger Goodell and one of the owners, Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots and the investigation into deflate gate.

This keeps coming up. And it is a way that the NFL keeps getting into its own way because when they are legitimately doing, honorable investigation. They don't separate themselves enough sometimes for the general public or sometimes even their own players to think that they are doing a good enough job.

So what I was hoping Roger Goodell would say is hey, we're looking into ways to fix this problem. We want to earn back the public trust. He didn't choose to take that opportunity, hopefully will in the future.

COOPER: I mean, in the ball controversy, I mean, his relationship with Robert Kraft I guess has been raised as you mentioned. It's well known he has a very close relationship with him, right?

NICHOLS: Yes. There is a recent "GQ" article that referred to Robert Kraft as, quote, "the assistant commissioner" according to an executive in Goodell's own office. So this keeps coming up. We have the Baltimore Ravens organization attend Ray Rice's disciplinary hearing. Well guess what, the Baltimore Ravens, they have a vested interest in whether Ray Rice gets punished harshly or not or whether he comes back on the field for them. There's all kinds of issues, there is on a thread throughout all of

these situations that the NFL has faced where they have coNFLict of interest problems. And if they could separate those out a little more, then they might be able to solve these issues more quickly and not have their own players taking pawn shots at them.

COOPER: There's also been questions raised about the timeline of this investigation. I mean, is this really something that is going to take as long as the NFL seems to say, some people raise cards and suggesting that they just want to basically kind, you know, kick down the field, pass the super bowl so they can get the attention of it for the super bowl?

NICHOLS: Well, Tom Brady certainly raised a lot of eyebrows when four days after this incident was supposed to have happened. He said no one from the NFL had even reached out to talk to him yet. They are going to talk to the Patriots players after the super bowl. There's a lot of people with raised eyebrows there and then there's people on the other side, Patriots fans are saying, wait a minute, the NFL doesn't have any proof here. They're going after our team in an unfair way.

Again, you are inviting questions if the process is muddy. If you can clear up the process, people then are more accepting of the results when they eventually come.

COOPER: Rachel Nichols, good to have you on. Thank you very much, Rachel.

There are all sorts of theories about how those footballs may have been deflated. We thought we'd ask the people who actually make them to weigh in. Gary Tuchman went to small town in Ohio. That's the birthplace of every football use in the NFL and here's what he found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before any NFL player receives a football from his quarterback, his team receives the footballs from here. The Wilson sporting goods football factory, in tiny Ada, Ohio, where every single football that's used at an NFL game or NFL practice is manufactured. And it's been that way for 74 seasons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Putting the laces in and just one long lace.

TUCHMAN: Donna Putnam is closing in on 30 years with Wilson. She's aware of the scandal now known as deflate gate. She's heard speculation maybe the football lost air due to changing temperature or weather. No way, she said.

DONNA PUTNAM, EMPLOYEE, WILSON SPORTING GOOD: This ball will not leak unless you put a needle in it and let the air out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am responsible for all the football production that comes out of this facility. TUCHMAN: Dan Regue (ph) is the factory manager, a 34-year-old

veteran, a former high school wide receiver who wants to be diplomatic in the midst of this NFL investigation, but also doesn't want people blaming his football.

So the quality control of these balls, are they manufactured in such a way that they should not lose air on their own when they're brought to an NFL arena and played in cold or snowy weather?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is correct.

TUCHMAN: So they are manufacture to hold the proper amount of psi at all times?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's correct.

TUCHMAN: This is the only factory in the world where the sole business is the manufacturer footballs. About 3,000 to 4,000 balls made here each day and about 15 percent of them go to NFL teams.

About 50 percent of the footballs go to teams range from college to pea wee. In another 35 percent are sold in stores and online. And they include these, official super bowl XLIX game balls and 108 of them have been sent to the super bowl site to Arizona.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes me very proud and excited to see the footballs on the field thinking maybe I sewed that ball that they're playing with.

TUCHMAN: Each ball sent to NFL teams is calibrated with the proper air pressure for NFL games. There are a lot of uncertainties on the playing field. But here in Ada, Ohio, they say there's no uncertainties about their football. You take pride in the ball.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

TUCHMAN: You don't blame the ball.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not.

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Ada, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: All right, quick reminder. You can make sure you set your DVR. You can watch "360" whenever you want.

Up next tonight, defense secretary Chuck Hagel, speaking to CNN, raised the possibility of American troops back on the front lines in Iraq and that's far from all he's saying that got people talking tonight.

Also, the fallout from Mitt Romney's surprise announcement that he will not make a third run for the White House. And we safe to say not with a lot of political professionals the expected to hear certainly. Details on that ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Breaking news tonight. Outgoing defense secretary Chuck Hagel, who came in to the job as a maverick, appears to be leaving as one as well. He is speaking out in at least some of what he's saying and may not be so eagerly received to the White House. He has talked to talked to our Barbara Starr who joins us now.

So, in terms of what he said, what did you tell you that surprised you, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was pretty extraordinary, Anderson. He only has a few more days in office. We start talking about the release of detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

The secretary of defense has to approve all of those due to national security concerns is it safe to let people these out of Gitmo? The secretary for the first time talking about his friction with the White House, the pressure he's being getting on this very question. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Not everyone at the White House has agreed with me.

STARR: On what part of this?

HAGEL: Probably on the phase of releases.

STARR: Because you've been cautious?

HAGEL: Because I had the responsibility and I play my own game here. And that is because by law, I am the one official in government charged with certification with release of detainees. I take that responsibility very seriously.

STARR: Have you had pressure?

We've had a lot of conversations.

HAGEL: We have had a lot of conversations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: A lot of conversations. He also talked to you, Barbara, about putting U.S. troops on the ground in the fight against ISIS.

STARR: This is the other big ongoing question around the Pentagon. Will the Pentagon, will military commanders give President Obama a recommendation that a small number of U.S. troops should go on the front lines with Iraqi forces to help them locate targets, do that kind of thing.

Hagel said that it could happen. He's not, you know, he is leaving office so it won't be his recommendation, but he pointed out not ready yet to make the recommendation but that it could happen. He talked about a small group forward deploy. That alone would be very significant and there are other ongoing military commanders, General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, General Austin, the head of the U.S. central command that are also raising this prospect. It's not a done deal, but it's one more voice indicating that recommendation could wind up going to President Obama.

COOPER: All right, Barbara Starr, appreciate it. Thanks.

He is the Republican presidential politics tonight, but third time will not be the charm for Mitt Romney. On the other hand, nor will he be a three-time losing.

This morning on a conference call after several weeks in strong signals that he would be launching their presidential run, former Massachusetts governor instead shut the door on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: I've been asked and will certainly be asked again if there are any circumstances, whatsoever that might develop, that could change my mind. That seems unlikely. Accordingly, I'm not organizing the PAC or taking donations. I'm not hiring a campaign team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well tonight, his (INAUDIBLE) says he is both sad about the decision and relieved other Republican hopefuls, no doubt, they are just plain relieved.

Joining us with more on the reaction and repercussion is Dana Bash.

So Dana, just three weeks ago, I mean, it seems like Mitt Romney indicated he was going to run. What happened between then and now?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He did what Mitt Romney is known to do. The invoked at the data He gathered data, first of all. Had his closest advisors, long time friends and confidants, not only do polling but also more importantly gather information from key supporters, key donors in states around the country that he would need in order to wage a viable third run for the Republican nomination.

And at the end of the day, what many of his advisors insist is that the data looked OK. It was a doable path. That there was a way forward for him. But the bottom line is that, you know, some of the baggage that he is hearing and 47 percent moment and other issues and what's something we're not going to be able to shake -- shaken off, I should say.

So, at the end of the day, Mitt Romney actually did something, Anderson, which he is not known to do, which is instead of his head in the data, he actually also went with his heart. Which is his family, you know, he's been through this twice before, would have to go through another grueling process. He would have to go through another grueling process. So we're told his wife Anne was firmly behind him and at least some of his sons, he just decided it was too much and it was time to let somebody else try.

COOPER: In terms of establishing candidates, I mean, I'm guess you could say it helped Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, is there any sense whom Romney might end up here and support behind?

BASH: I'm told no one. Tonight, on Friday night, he is actually having dinner with Chris Christie in New York City. But I'm told that it's because this was something that was planned long ago, that they're actual friends, not political friends but like real friends. So that's why this dinner is taking place.

He is, I'm told, not going to formally endorse Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, anybody, at least in the near future because he was to kind of let the process play out. It will be interesting to see though how he wants to kind of fit into the dialogue about the Republican party because his advisors I talked to who have been talking to him say that he still does very much want to be involved. It's kind of hard to do that during the primary process which is very long without picking somebody. So we'll see how he does that.

COOPER: All right, fascinating stuff. Dana Bash, thanks.

Well, there is a lot ahead tonight, including the last thing that people in snow covered New England need right now. A new storm hitting as we speak. We will take you where it is happening and bring you the latest forecast.

And later, Suge Knight in a fatal hit and run, the question was it intentional or a terrible accident? And will the driver's history of violence and prison time make a difference in time in court? Sunny Hostin, Mark Geragos debate the case when we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back.

Many, many summers ago, you may remember they teased the sequel to movie "Jaws" with the tag line just when you thought it was safe to go into the water. Well tonight, with beach front town, looks like the one in "Jaws," still feeling the bite from a massive winter storm. And just when you thought it was safe to go back outside, there's a sequel. Like "Jaws 2," it's not quite as scary as the original. Also like "Jaws 2," could be a big of a mess.

New Englanders who spent the week digging out from up to three feet of snow, some of them are now facing another foot of it or even more.

Miguel Marquez in Portland, Maine, tonight where is have been snowing off and on all night. More truce be on the way.

What's the latest there, Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we're going to need a bigger boat or at least a bigger snowplow here. There are about -- we are going to get about 10 to 12 inches here across Maine. The wind has started to kick up here in the last few minutes. So 10 to 12 inches in Maine. This time of year, isn't a lot. But the fact that they had two feet of snow.

This is about an eight-foot pile here right in downtown Portland. That's really slowing things down for folks here. They got another 10 inches tonight, perhaps. The snow is meant to be very heavy overnight. This wind and the piles of snow is what they're really concerned about and those temperatures, the temperatures down into the single digits and with the wind chill down below zero, way below zero.

The roads, the plows have been able to keep up with the roads for now. But with this wind coming in, with the temperatures dropping and more snow on the way, it is more and more difficult for them.

They don't allow any cars to park alongside of the road right now in the hope that the snowplows at night can get through here and pile up the snow off to the side and then move it out of town ahead of the next storm -- Anderson.

COOPER: And so, are people -- I mean, I see some cars moving by, people are allowed out on the roads, yes?

MARQUEZ: People are allowed out on the roads and it is pretty much life as normal here. People walking around saying, look, this is Maine. We can shrug this off. But the fact they've had storm after storm after storm, that's where it starts to get difficult for emergency workers and the plows and just general life. Fortunately, they haven't had a lot of electricity outages mainly because the snow here, it's very light. It is almost like champagne powder like, you know, the sort of ski type snow that you'd have out west. So they don't have that real icy stuff. If they get that, then they'll have a lot of power lines down and a lot more problems -- Anderson.

COOPER: Yes. A lot of problems indeed.

Miguel Marquez, thanks very much. Get warm. Appreciate it. Get some cocoa.

Unlike earlier this week, Chad Myers will not be in the cold up here. He is back in the comfort of the weather center in Atlanta. He joins us now.

Chad, I'm sure you're thankful for that. So where is this system head that Miguel was talking about?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So one that Miguel is in right now is going to St. John's, going to Halifax, maybe a freezing rain event for Halifax. And by the way, I have a Sunday afternoon plane ticket to New York. So I will be there for the next storm, Anderson, that is coming. You obvious standing up there at the top of the building again.

Here comes the snow, a gust of banger, all the way back down to Portland, Maine, just where it's been snowing all day long. There's the storm. It doesn't bomb apart, doesn't come completely unglued like the one for Massachusetts did last week. It is going to move on up into Atlantic Canada and finally, it will be long gone. This is the least of our problems. This is a dusting for Boston tonight and like you said, four to six inches where Miguel is right now at this point in time.

The next storm is just developing out to the West and it's going to encounter a very cold air mass. Here the winds for tomorrow morning, it will be 37 miles per hour. It was even a 40 in there at some point, in Boston tomorrow morning blowing in much colder air.

Look at New York City. By Monday morning, the low will be 7. So there's not going to be any mixing here. This is all going to be snow. The storm is starting in Phoenix, Arizona, right now. They had some rain for Super Bowl parties. We talked about that yesterday. But now, it's going to travel across the country and spread snow all the way from Chicago all the way back into Massachusetts, back into Boston and some of this snow will be very heavy. I don't have an exact track. I don't exactly know where this big band of snow will be, but it will be certainly through Chicago, through Cleveland, probably through Erie and into the Poconos. And that after that, that's still five, really, almost four and a half days away from now. We'll keep watching it. There's going to be a lot of piling up to do in Boston. But that's 12 to maybe more in Boston. If you already have three feet, where do you put it? How high do you have to keep throwing it as you're shoveling it? I don't think we need a bigger boat, we need a bigger shovel.

COOPER: All right, Chad.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: Thanks very much. Sadly, I will see you I guess on Monday in New York.

MYERS: That's right.

COOPER: All right, just ahead, the jurors in the Aaron Hernandez murder trial got a warning from the judge. Question is will they be allowed to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday? Plus rap mogul Suge Knight facing serious charges in a fatal hit-and-run. He turned himself in this morning. Details on the case ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)