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West Virginia Water Contamination; Fallout from New Jersey Bridge Scandal; Sperm Switched for Couple Who Used In Vitro; Winter Olympics Security Concerns

Aired January 10, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Brianna Keilar, thank you so much.

Good afternoon, everyone. Happy Friday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Not exactly a happy Friday for a lot of people in West Virginia as I speak. More than 300,000 people, they can't use their tap water to bathe, drink, cook, or wash. This is happening in West Virginia because of this chemical leak. It infiltrated a nearby water treatment plant at the capital city of Charleston. And this is so serious the U.S. attorney is investigating here.

Take a look at the map with me. Nine counties in the southwestern part of the state are currently affected. Even President Obama is stepping in, declaring this incident a federal emergency.

Let me take you back to yesterday. That's when this began when the leak spilled into the Elk River and made its way downstream. The spill came from this 48,000 gallon tank at the chemical storage facility Freedom Industries. This is a mile away from the West Virginia American Water Company and it set off an odor that's been described as black licorice. That's when authorities knew something was up, that something was wrong.

The big problem here is that officials say they can't tell how much it's leaked into the water system. And until they can figure that out, folks are strongly urged to heed this warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF MCINTYRE, PRESIDENT, WEST VIRGINIA WATER COMPANY: If you are one of those customers, do not use this water. The only appropriate use is toilet flushing. So flushing your commode will be appropriate, but don't make baby formula with it, don't brush your teeth with it, don't wash with it, don't shower with it, don't drink it. You can't just boil it. So it's not a boil water advisory. It's a do not use advisory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You hear that? Toilet flushing, that's it. Officials say if people come into contact with the full strength of this chemical, the skin or eyes could become itchy and irritated and it could possibly be harmful if you drink the stuff. It is that bad. Meantime, testing of the water is under way with help from the Army Corps of Engineers. As for where people in West Virginia can get their water, FEMA now has dispatched 75 truckloads of bottled water, and you look at these pictures, just think about it. There has been a run on water in all the local grocery stores.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now it's under chaos. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you see people just grabbing every ice bag they can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. It's about gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you've got to close off one end of the store because people are just grabbing --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's grabbing -- they're taking off the door left and right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is actually the third place I've been through trying to get water. So I've resorted to ice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do about showering or feeding the baby?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, honey, you go melt this down. That's what you're going to do you did back in the olden days. Put a little tub, put them in there. And just take a -- you know, like a bird bath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That's where they're getting the water. They're going to melt the ice.

Officials say they have no timeline of when this whole thing will be over and this statement just in from the company responsible for the spill. Again this is from Freedom Industries. I want to read for you.

Quote, "Since the discovery of the leak, safety for residents in Kanawha and surrounding counties has been Freedom Industries' first priority. We have been working with local and federal regulatory safety," and goes on, "environmental entities to fix the issue. Our team has been working around the clock since the discovery to contain the leak to prevent further contamination."

Joining me now from Charleston is our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and also by phone, Kent Carper, he is the president of the Kanawha County Commission going around today, making sure people are doing their jobs and testing the stuff.

But, Elizabeth, first to you. Tell me more about what you've learned today, what kind of chemical this is and how sick you can get if you ingest it. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Brooke, I actually went to the Freedom Industries site and when they say black licorice, they are not kidding. You go there, it's such an overwhelming smell. It actually kind of makes you feel a little nauseous. You don't feel like you're at a candy store. It doesn't smell good. It really smells bad. And so what we've learned, you alluded to this when you spoke earlier. We know that if you are exposed to this, if you touch or drink this chemical, which apparently is called crude MCHM, that's what it's known as, that you could get sick if you touch it or if you drink it.

Here's the thing, though, Brooke. People who are touching it or drinking it now, I mean, hopefully they are not now, but who have been in the past, say, 24 hours, they -- if they're getting it in a very diluted form, and so we don't know what it could do to them because it is so diluted.

Now, but of course since we don't know that's why they shut down the water system and that's why they said don't drink it, don't boil it and try to drink it, don't do anything except for flush it down the toilet.

BALDWIN: OK. Elizabeth, stand by.

Kent Carper, to you on the phone, Kanawha County Commission, but I'm also just curious, as we start this conversation, do you live in Kanawha County? I mean, is this personally affecting you and your home water?

KENT CARPER, KANAWHA COUNTY COMMISSION: I've lived here my whole life. I'm a former police chief. Yes, I do live right here in Charleston- Kanawha County. Yes, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So this is affecting you. So, Mr. Carper, talk to me about how you've been spending your day, making sure people are testing this stuff. And how are these -- they testing this?

CARPER: Well, the water company has a responsibility because this chemical got in to their system. Freedom Industries put the chemical there. There'll be plenty of time later to decide how much (INAUDIBLE) belongs to everyone. What we're trying to do and what we did immediately last night to identify critical risk individuals. People in nursing homes, hospitals and things like that.

We've done that. We saw to it as early as 7:00 or 8:00 last night. That the nursing homes, hospital, folks at risk got the water. And we began to process -- unfortunately we had a lot of practice during the (INAUDIBLE), began the process of requesting and seeing to it that we were able to get water, set up water deployment stations throughout our county.

This is a nine-county area dealing with over 300,000 people. So it's a large scale. The frustrating part to everyone. I can't say enough good about Governor Tomlin and his work. The frustrating part is -- I think the frustration going to turn the pure anger, there is no indication whatsoever how long this will take. BALDWIN: That's the thing.

CARPER: The water just in itself --

BALDWIN: That's the thing because you can't tell you don't yet know when this is out of the water system. Right?

CARPER: The testing protocols -- there are no testing protocols for this type of chemical.

BALDWIN: Wow.

CARPER: In a public water system. You don't put a chemical like this. It's used in the coal processing industry. It's not designed to be dumped into a water system for human consumption. So there are no protocols. And the protocols that seem to be the closest indicates that the amount of this chemical that was in the water system is much higher than, say, for human consumption, or even human need, human contact.

I'm not aware, and I've had a lot of experience in this area. I am not aware of ever having a do not use issue.

BALDWIN: This could be a first.

CARPER: I do not use way beyond (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: Right. Sure. For all these different counties. And let me just ask you, I lived in West Virginia, I lived in Putnam Country for three years working in TV. This would have been affected me. And West Virginians are wonderful, warm people, but you mentioned, you know, frustration could quickly turn into anger. Is there panic?

CARPER: Brooke, you used to interview me all the time, remember?

BALDWIN: I do.

CARPER: And -- yes. Yes. And there's not (INAUDIBLE) obviously with seniors, some have sensitive issues, we're dealing with that. We've got a pretty decent system here. For things like this as you'll recall.

BALDWIN: Yes.

CARPER: Because we are still an area that had, like, chemical activity, so we have unfortunately practice for this area. But this is different for us. I did a National Prayers Conference today and I've said it then, I'm not going to waste anybody's time talking about how great everybody is working together. It's what we're paid to do.

BALDWIN: Yes.

CARPER: But this is a significant issue and how long it's going to last, Brooke, I don't know.

BALDWIN: Yes, I know. CARPER: We are preparing for a long duration event.

BALDWIN: Good luck, keep us posted. We'll keep up the discussion. Nice to talk to you. It has been years.

Kent Carper and Elizabeth Cohen, both in West Virginia for us right now.

The Justice Department meantime is putting itself on a collision course with Utah over same-sex marriage. Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that as far as the feds are concerned, some 1300 same- sex marriages recently performed in Utah are legally valid.

You know the story. These same-sex couples, they rushed to get married back in December, after a federal judge overturned the state's constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a man and a woman. The Supreme Court then stepped in on Monday, they put that ruling on hold, prompting Utah to nix recognition of the marriages performed already.

Here's Eric Holder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I am confirming today that for purposes of federal law, these marriages will be recognized as lawful and considered eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Bottom line here, all those same-sex couples who rushed to the altar for now, their federal government says they are married and their state government says they're not.

We are expecting here any moment new documents on the bridge jam controversy that has embroiled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and possible presidential hopeful here. You've been following this with us. You know there are a lot of players involved in this. Let me just break this down.

The so-called Bridgegate started with an e-mail sent by this woman, Christie's deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, who CNN has learned may now be subpoenaed. That's just coming to us.

This is the e-mail. It read, quote, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." That e-mail was then sent to this man, David Wildstein, Christie's appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who then replied with two simple words, "Got it."

A month later this mysterious lane closure -- closures with an apparent bogus explanation snarling traffic on the George Washington Bridge which connects Fort Lee to Manhattan. The effects of the traffic jam lasted for days. It was a mess.

Why? Possibly retaliation against this man, this is the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, Mark Sokolich, who did not endorse Christie, but whatever the case, Christie spent 108 minutes yesterday in front of a lot of cameras denying any prior knowledge of this plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (D), NEW JERSEY: I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue. There is no way that anybody would think that I know about everything that's going on. I don't know what else to say except to tell them that I had no knowledge of this.

All I know is I don't know. I am humiliated by the fact that I did not know this. The answer as of right now is I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Both Wildstein and Kelly are no longer in their posts.

Joining me now, Mark Preston, our CNN political director.

And, Mark, we're waiting on this, what, 907 or so pages of these documents from the state legislative committee, waiting for this document dump. When do we -- when do we expect to get it? What could we be reading from the documents?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, Brooke, well, we're really looking to see from these documents when they finally are posted online is to color in the lines of this story that we still don't have all the answers for. You know, we certainly know that aides have been fired by Governor Christie. We know his deputy chief of staff has been fired. We know that a Port Authority staffer has left his job.

We also know politically that his top political aide has been asked to leave the Christie organization. We don't know exactly what's in the e-mails, but more perhaps to give us a little bit more color, maybe some more colorful language in these e-mails about why these lane closures were shut down.

BALDWIN: A lot of it was redacted so we wait to get those details from these documents at some point today. But let's fast forward here, Mark Preston. Just play along with me. Because when we talked about Chris Christie's political career and his possible presidential ambitions as many have been speculating, you know, his first nominating contest, you've been there in Iowa.

So at this stage in the game, is there any way we can know if this -- and let's take him at his word that he did not know anything about this until, you know, two mornings ago. Could it still hurt him there?

PRESTON: Well, here's what happens. Let's assume that we do take him at his word that these were rogue aides that went out and abused their own power, their ability to do this because they thought it was the right thing to do or for whatever reason, let's assume that Chris Christie does move beyond this in the sense that he actually did a very good job during those 108 minutes trying to defend himself, trying to sound more compassionate, trying to beat down this image, Brooke, that we think of him as a bully. However, where it does hurt him is that it has now opened the door to New Jersey. National news organizations are now flooding the state. They are trying to find out everything they can about Chris Christie.

We were going to do it anyway. There's no question about it. He is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. It's just now has accelerated it at this point. People want to know how Chris Christie interacts with local officials, how he interacts with voters, how he uses his staff to run the government.

These are all things that Chris Christie wanted to avoid certainly in the coming year, because in the coming year, he's overseeing the Republican Governors Association, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Right. The RGA.

PRESTON: This was -- this was going to allow him to travel the country, to raise money, to get cheats, to build a national organization. Now he's still going to be able to do that. At the same time people are going to be looking into every corner of his life.

BALDWIN: They will. Mark Preston, thank you.

There is political narrative, there is legal narrative, we'll delve into how this could affect him, whether there are civil charges, criminal charges, we'll talk legalities of this coming up here.

Still ahead, a story that absolutely shocked me this morning. I was drinking my morning coffee. There's a couple went through in vitro fertilization, IVF, two decades ago. They now have learned that the husband's sperm was switched with another man's. And now obviously there are concerns this sperm belonged to an employee at the clinic and there could be a lot of his kids out there.

You have to hear the story.

Also take a look at the big board here as we're looking at the Dow reacting to this morning's disappointing jobs report. But what's the reason behind the surprising results. We'll talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Listen to this one. Years after the birth of a child they now of course cherish, a couple has just learned they're the victims of a switch before birth. Somehow -- this is back in the early '90s -- the husband's sperm was switched with another man's as the couple went through in vitro fertilization, and now according to our affiliate KUTV, the family is afraid for other couples who also used the now closed Utah clinic.

More now from KUTV reporter Chris Jones who made up the names of these family members just to keep their identities concealed but watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told my husband, he said, you know, that sounds really interesting.

CHRIS JONES, KUTV REPORTER: For Paula and Jeff and their daughter, Ashley, it seems like so much fun. For $99 and a cheap swab, the Web site 23andme.com could trace your lineage back 10,000 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was looking forward to getting the results back.

JONES: When Paula eagerly looked at those results, Jeff and Ashley, she found --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt my stomach just drop.

JONES: -- were not related.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I brought that up and brought my daughter's and my husband's DNA up next to one another, that's what it said that there was -- they didn't share any DNA at all. And I said you're not going to believe it but it's showing that you are not related, that you share no DNA.

I said, are you thinking what I'm thinking? And he said, of course.

PRESTON: What they were thinking is about how Ashley was conceived. In the early '90s Jeff and Paula had trouble getting pregnant. So they received artificial insemination at Reproductive Medical Technologies, a clinic associated with the University of Utah.

And in 1992, Ashley was born, but now the question, who is her father? They thought is it possible that someone at the clinic made a mistake with their sample.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I had come to that realization that moment that -- what I was looking at was true and that the unthinkable and the unbelievable was true.

JONES: Paula, using the genealogy tracked down a cousin of Ashley's biological father who told her that this man, Thomas R. Lippert, had worked at the very clinic where Paula had been inseminated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I remember that he was at the front desk a lot of the time.

JONES: Lippert also worked in the lab and kept a collection of baby pictures behind his desk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was very proud of all those pictures. You know, he's -- almost seemed like a brag board up there.

JONES: Lippert's mother agreed to a DNA swab and the result confirms that Lippert is indeed Ashley's father. But how? Paula thinks Lippert switched his samples with Jeff's.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All those photos of the babies that he was so proud of, I said oh, my god, how many of those are his biological children? JONES: But this story only gets more stunning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Finding out who Tom Lippert was -- you know, was an absolute shock.

JONES: Tom Lippert, before working at RMT, from 1988 to 1994, was a college professor who served two years in prison for a high-profile kidnapping case that made national headlines. In 1975 he snatched up a college coed and kept her for three weeks. Allegedly conducting, quote, "love experiments" by keeping her in a black box and using electroshock therapy on her to make her fall in love with him. Famed attorney F. Lee Bailey represented him.

Paul and Jeff are speaking out. They think it's possible other couples may have been victims of Lippert's possible switches as well. But when it comes to their daughter, Ashley, Paula says she wouldn't change a thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I keep telling myself we wouldn't have our daughter if it wasn't what happened to us. So I just balance out everything with that and nothing is better than our daughter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Chris Jones reporting. Now KUTV reports that Thomas Lippert died, this is back in 1999, of liver problems and it's also important to note there is no proof that Lippert actually switched the sperm samples.

The University of Utah, which did not own but was connected to the clinic, is now investigating. Officials say it's possible the sperm sample was mislabeled.

Let me read you just part of the official statement that we got here at CNN. They say this. "In addition, there is no evidence to indicate the situation extends beyond the case in question. We want to help alleviate this distress by providing free paternity testing for RMTI clients who received artificial insemination between 1998 and 1993."

The university adds, because of its association with and proximity to the clinic, it will also offer free testing to patients who received artificial insemination at the university's lab during that same time period.

Coming up, just in, the State Department issuing a travel alert to all Americans involving the Olympics in Russia. This as folks there are investigating six suspicious deaths, explosives found near those bodies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to some of the hottest stories in a flash "Rapid Fire," roll it.

We begin with a female diplomat who was arrest and strip-searched in New York. She is back in India and a U.S. official in India will head home. The Indian diplomat is accused of lying on her visa application about how much she paid her housekeeper. Remember she was kicked out of the U.S. after being indicted by a grand jury.

And today India told Washington to pull a diplomat from its New Delhi embassy. The State Department says it regrets the move but will comply.

And a police chase in Oregon takes a surprising turn when the suspect pops out of her car and jumps off the bridge. Watch this. Police say they tried to pull Rebecca Humphries over for minor traffic violation but after she sped off they realized the car was stolen. Watch the left side of your screen, rescue crews were able to get Humphries out of the water alive with only major injuries.

And the Saints take on the Seahawks tomorrow in the NFL playoffs. In the last two times New Orleans visited Seattle, Century Link Field was rocking. It was really rocking. It was really rocking. Not just noisy, loud enough this register earthquakes. So now equipment is actually in place to see if it happens again.

The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network has installed two portable sized seismometers. One is in a maintenance room, the other is in the stands, and we'll have to see what happens on Saturday.

Just in to CNN. Less than a month away now from the Winter Olympics, and the U.S. State Department has just issued a travel alert saying U.S. citizens planning to attend the game should remain attentive. This after six bullet-ridden bodies have been found near the host city of Sochi. And today it was revealed that right now the FBI says U.S. security personnel are already in Russia to help with security at the winter games.

But these six bodies were found in separate cars in three separate villages. Near two of the cars explosive devices. One of them even detonating as police were moving in.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has the latest on the security there ahead of the games in Sochi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the wake of twin terror bombings in Sochi's nearest major transport hub Volgograd where 34 people died, Russia's top Olympic official tells CNN he is convinced they've got their Olympic security formula right.

DIMITRY CHERNYSHENKO, PRESIDENT, OLYMPIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: It didn't change at all, our initial Olympic mode of -- in terms of screening and in terms of the security.

ROBERTSON: The Sochi security systems got a test from the top-down a year ago, he insists. President Putin oversaw rehearsals.

CHERNYSHENKO: It's a project number one in our country and it's under the permanent control of President Putin himself.

ROBERTSON: But on Wednesday and Thursday this week, barely 170 miles, 240 kilometers, away from the newly constructed Olympic village, six bodies were found in four vehicles, some rigged with explosives, one detonating as police approached.

New vehicle security checks just enforced in an exclusion zone around Sochi are designed to keep just such threats at bay. Officials here are holding their nerve.

CHERNYSHENKO: We hosted incredible amount of international testament, 2002 World Cup world championship was a great test for security.

ROBERTSON (on camera): But it's not enough for everyone. FBI Director James Comey says U.S. law enforcement and federal officials are already here in Russia, ready to assist American athletes in what he describes as a particularly challenging safety environment in Sochi.

(Voice-over): U.S. athletes can also count on security help from Global Rescue, a medical and security contractor that's no stranger to danger, airlifting Americans from Egypt during the Arab Spring in 2011.

Russian officials remain convinced they are ready, even though the latest shootings leave many more questions than answers.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Nic, thank you.

Coming up, a pregnant woman on life support. Her husband said he and his wife agreed they did not want to be kept alive by artificial means if and when they die here. But now the state of Texas says this woman must be kept alive for the sake of her unborn fetus. This story has ignited a huge debate. Who has the power to make decisions about life or death.

We'll discuss. Right after the break. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)