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Post-debate Confidence from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders; Joe Biden to Decide Campaign Run Within Days; New Details About the Days Before Odom Collapsed; Fear and Anxiety Spreading in Israel; Obama Delays Drawdown Until Late 2016;Scottish Nurse Hospitalized for Ebola Relapse; Afghan Smugglers Demand Big Bucks from Refugees; Oscar Pistorius Getting Out of Jail; "Homeland" TV Set Hijacked by Graffiti Artists. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 16, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:11] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, Biden his time no more. Sources tell CNN the U.S. vice president will decide within days whether to run for the White House.
SESAY: Plus, inside the $10,000 a night brothel where former NBA star Lamar Odom was found unconscious.
VAUSE: And the blade runner Oscar Pistorius to be released from prison to house arrest one year after being sentenced for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
SESAY: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. begins right now.
The long-awaited and much-anticipated announcement by Joe Biden on a run for the presidency could come by this weekend. A senior official within the Democratic Party has told CNN the U.S. vice president is expected to make a decision within three days.
SESAY: There is still no word on what that decision will be, but Mr. Biden has made it clear his family is on board for a third run for the White House.
We begin this hour with Jim Acosta reporting from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Feeling some post-debate confidence, Hillary Clinton looked like she was test-driving running mates, snagging the endorsement of rising Democratic star and possible vice presidential pick, Housing Secretary Julian Castro.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love being La Hillary.
ACOSTA: Earlier in the day, at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Clinton accused Republicans of parroting Donald Trump on a crucial issue for Latino voters: immigration.
CLINTON: They all, to a degree or so, sound like him. They just don't have the pizzazz and the hair.
ACOSTA: Her campaign is also hammering the GOP over comments made by Republican Congressman Richard Hanna, two weeks after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy seemed to suggest that the committee investigating Benghazi was designed to damage Clinton, and on the heels of whistleblower Major Bradley Podliska's claims to CNN's Jake Tapper that the committee is out to get her.
MAJOR BRADLEY PODLISKA, FORMER RESEARCHER FOR BENGHAZI COMMITTEE: I think that there is a big part of this investigation that was designed to go after people and an individual, Hillary Clinton.
ACOSTA: The Clinton campaign fired back, saying the Benghazi inquiry has zero credibility left.
Aiming for a different kind of credibility, Clinton's rival, Bernie Sanders, showed off his dance moves on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."
ELLEN DEGENERES, TALK SHOW HOST: Have you ever been in handcuffs?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. I don't know exactly what you mean by that.
ACOSTA: Joe Biden was doing some tap dancing of his own, avoiding questions once again about whether he will run for president.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you made your decision yet? Is there still an opening for you in the race, sir?
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm here to greet President Park. I'll talk to you all about that later.
ACOSTA: Feeding the conventional wisdom in Washington, the vice president's window of opportunity is closing.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: The Las Vegas debate CNN moderated is a historic moment for Hillary Clinton. It reminded people why she is good and formidable. And I think it lessens the chances that Biden could enter.
BIDEN: Hey, how are you?
ACOSTA: But Biden supporters argue there is still space for the vice president to join the race.
STEVEN SCHALE, DRAFT BIDEN STRATEGIST: With the stature he would bring to the race, the minute he got in the race the entire narrative would change and we'd start talking about the first debate in Iowa in November. ACOSTA: Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Will he or won't he? We're joined now by our senior reporter for Media and Politics, Dylan Byers.
Dylan, welcome.
DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER, MEDIA AND POLITICS: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: OK. So now the question is, if he says yes, and it looks like he will, he's actually hitting the phones, making phone calls himself saying if, not whether he should actually make this run for the White House. Has he left it too late?
BYERS: Yes, I mean, I think most Democratic strategists would say the time for entry would have been about three or four weeks ago. So when he first started teasing out this idea that he might run you were looking at a landscape where Hillary Clinton was declining in the polls, she had no momentum. The questions about her e-mail use, Benghazi, all of that was sort of in the air, and she had yet to demonstrate that she actually deserved to be the presumptive Democratic nominee.
In the wake of this debate and in the wake of, you know, the Benghazi accusations losing steam there's really no reason for Joe Biden to enter unless he really, really wants it, and I think that's the only way you're going to see him get into this race.
SESAY: Let's say he really, really wants it and he does jump in, what happens to the race given where Hillary stands right now? How does it change the contours, the dynamics of the race?
BYERS: Well, the number one thing that has to happen is that Joe Biden has to demonstrate why he's there, what he offers that Hillary doesn't offer, because now if she is a candidate with some momentum behind her, if people were really impressed by her performance at the debate then you have to say why you're there. And I think what Biden would do in that scenario is say look, I'm a better steward of Obama's legacy, number one.
[00:05:07] And number two, he would say, I don't come with the baggage that you come with. Right? The Clinton baggage, the e-mail-baggage, the Benghazi baggage. But again I just think Hillary has made such a compelling case this week that it makes it harder for him to sort of hit home on those points.
SESAY: So does it have to --
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: Does that mean the race would have to go negative in that case for Biden to have an impact? BYERS: Well, it's going to be very hard for it to go negative now
because of what Bernie Sanders did on Tuesday night which was very interesting. He came to Hillary Clinton's defense on the e-mail issue. He might have neutered some of the energy in his own campaign but he also set a much more civil tone for the campaign.
VAUSE: Very quickly, on the other side of the aisle, the GOP, the frontrunners, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, threatening to boycott the next Republican debate. It's on CNBC. They're not the only candidates who are unhappy with this format by CNBC.
BYERS: No, there are a number of candidates who are unhappy with it. They don't want the debate to go too long. They don't want it to go over two hours. And they also want time for opening and closing statements. But if you do -- if you satisfy both of those demands what you're looking at is actually less than 90 minutes of an actual debate for at least 10 candidates on that stage. So it's -- you know, I think CNBC, the host of that debate, will give some leeway on one -- you know, one issue or another but they can't do both of those things.
SESAY: And Dylan, we can't let you go without talking about the third quarter fundraising numbers. They're just in. And when you look at them, they're good again for those outsider candidates.
BYERS: They're really good. Ben Carson raising $20 million. Far more than what Jeb Bush was able to raise. So that raises some serious questions for Jeb Bush. And then again also good for Hillary Clinton who's showing that she's raising more money than absolutely anyone. And then of course there's Donald Trump, who is not taking outside donations but has plenty of money on hand.
VAUSE: He doesn't need a dime. He raised about $3.9 million.
SESAY: Yes.
BYERS: Oh yes.
VAUSE: OK, Dylan, great to speak with you.
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: Thanks for coming in and spending time with us.
SESAY: Thank you.
BYERS: Thanks so much for having me.
SESAY: Now family and friends of Lamar Odom aren't releasing any information about the medical condition of the former basketball and TV reality star.
VAUSE: His estranged wife Khloe Kardashian has remained by his side since he was rushed to a Las Vegas hospital on Tuesday.
We get more now from Kyung Lah. KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Isha, this investigation
is continuing. Meanwhile, Odom remains in the hospital. His condition extremely guarded.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please hurry. He's got blood coming out of his nose, white stuff coming out of his mouth. I can't get him to wake up. He's like -- almost not breathing.
LAH (voice-over): Before that emergency call to save Lamar Odom's life, the weekend is said to have begun as an escape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody just came up to me and said that he apparently had some cocaine on him, that he did this on Saturday.
LAH: Saturday, the day Odom arrives at the Love Ranch brothel. Police say witnesses told them the former NBA and reality TV star did cocaine that day, but it's unclear when. He arrives with the brothel's general manager, who picks him up in Las Vegas and drives him to Crystal, Nevada.
TJ MOORE, LOVE RANCH GENERAL MANAGER: He did not indicate what he was getting away from, but he was very adamant about no phone calls, don't acknowledge that he was here. He just wanted some rest and relaxation.
LAH: According to ranch employees, Odom spends time in the bar, but mainly here in the VIP suite. The ranch owner says Odom paid $75,000 for the room and two women, periodically taking herbal Viagra, not the prescription pill, but an over-the-counter supplement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something called Reload 72-hour strong sexual performance enhancer for men. I mean, this is some sort of packaged supplement and they said he's taken a bunch of these.
LAH: Ranch worker Richard Hunter says Odom purchased Reload at the brothel.
RICHARD HUNTER, LOVE RANCH EMPLOYEE: They were ballparking like maybe 10 over three days or something like that.
LAH: On Monday, two women working at the ranch leave Odom in his room.
HUNTER: That was Monday night, and they said, you know, we'll see when you get up. Because he had not -- he still had kind of an open- ended stay, he hadn't really said when he was going to be leaving.
LAH: The pair return around 3:15 Tuesday afternoon and find him unresponsive.
DISPATCHER: Is he conscious?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. LAH: About 18 minutes later, the first ambulance arrives at the
secluded brothel. Paramedics drive Odom to the nearest hospital then transfer him to Sunrise Medical Center, traveling by ambulance, Odom too tall to fit into a helicopter. His estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, rushing to be by his side, followed by her family, captured in this photo. Odom's own children arriving to visit their ill father.
Turning to social media for support, Kourtney Kardashian tweeting this picture of her child and Odom, "Believing in the power of prayer for this beautiful soul."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAH: Two years ago, the FDA issued a warning about Reload, telling consumers that this is unregulated, that it essentially has the same ingredients as Viagra and can lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Telling consumers that if they happen to have Reload to throw it in the trash -- John, Isha.
[01:10:13] SESAY: Our thanks to Kyung Lah for that report.
Well, according to the brothel's general manager, Odom spent $75,000 on a VIP suite and women.
VAUSE: And we should say that brothels and prostitution are in fact legal in Nevada and Randi Kaye takes us now inside the Love Ranch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, is about a 90-minute drive from Las Vegas. TJ Moore is the general manager and was one of the people who tried to save Lamar Odom.
(On camera): So this is the bedroom where Lamar Odom would have been staying?
MOORE: This is the bedroom where he stayed.
KAYE (voice-over): She took us into the VIP suite where Odom stayed, the owner's suite reserved for special guests. The rate is at least $10,000 per night. The ranch says Odom spent about $75,000 here before they found him unconscious.
(On camera): How did he look to you?
MOORE: He was on his back. He had foam coming out of his mouth and a little blood coming out of his nose. And I got him rolled over on his right side and he did have a bunch of fluid come out of his mouth. But I knew from previous experience that I had to get him on his side.
KAYE: So he would have been -- was he on this side of the bed or on that side?
MOORE: He was on this side of the bed. And I was letting him know it was TJ.
KAYE (voice-over): TJ had driven Odom to the ranch on Saturday.
(On camera): What did you guys talk about?
MOORE: About everything, about the brothel. We talked, he told me about his life. He told me about a lot of the sadness, losing his mom at an early age, being raised by his grandmother. We talked about baseball because I'm a baseball fan.
KAYE: How was his demeanor?
MOORE: He was relaxed. He was very comfortable. I was really surprised because he was so easy to talk to. It felt like -- it felt like I had known him for a long time.
KAYE (voice-over): TJ says Odom told her he wanted to have some fun. That fun, she says, included taking sexual enhancement supplements, sold here in this souvenir case.
(On camera): Is this where you would also sell -- I know the ranch sells herbal Viagra?
MOORE: Yes. This is where do that. And they were actually good until 2016 and '17, but I have pulled them from the case.
KAYE (voice-over): Turns out CNN has learned it is neither herbal or Viagra.
Back in his VIP suite, Odom picked out the women he wanted.
(On camera): So for most people you don't do the lineup in the actual suite but for him you did the lineup in here.
MOORE: For him, that was his preference.
KAYE: So he requested that?
MOORE: Yes.
KAYE: What, he sat on the couch and lined the girls --
MOORE: He sat on the couch and then the ladies lined up right here all the way across in front of him. I introduced the ladies. I said, this is Lamar, ladies. Please introduce yourself.
KAYE (voice-over): TJ says Odom hang out in his suite with two women he chose but also in the Love Ranch's bar, where TJ says he played YouTube videos and talked. And some time after leaving that bar, Lamar Odom collapsed in his room.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Crystal, Nevada.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A lot of details. SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: A lot of uncomfortable details in that report.
OK. Emergency officials are working to rescue drivers stranded in a mudslide north of Los Angeles. Trucks and cars have been buried and this heavy rainfall has come for a region which is in the midst of a severe drought.
SESAY: A major interstate is partially shut down. The traffic is backed up. More potential flooding in Los Angeles County is possible Friday afternoon.
VAUSE: Meteorologist Karen Maginnis joins us with more details on this bad weather. This is the thing we're going to see more often I guess as we head into winter because we are expecting a wet winter for California.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And there are a couple of components to that, John, and that is because most of the state is in some sort of drought situation, most of the area between severe and exceptionally dry. But we've got different pictures as to what has happened on the ground. They are saying about 100 cars were stuck in the mud.
This rain came down so quickly. But it wasn't just the mud and the sudden rainfall. There was also hail, a report of a tornado, and they were rescuing people out of this muck along Interstate 5. Also just to the east of Interstate 5 in an area right around Lake Hughes.
There you can see a first responder that is bringing a young child off of those dangerous road conditions.
(WEATHER REPORT)
[01:15:35] MAGINNIS: Isha, John, back to you guys.
SESAY: Karen Maginnis, appreciate it. Thank you so much. We'll continue to follow events on the ground here in Los Angeles and hope it improves very, very soon.
Next on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., the U.N. prepares to meet on the wave of violence in Israel. We're live from a neighborhood in Jerusalem.
VAUSE: Also ahead, America's longest war will get a little longer. Details on President Obama's announcement on Afghanistan. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rachel Nichols with your CNN World Sport headline.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has described the Football Association's decision to hand him a provisional one-match stadium band as, quote, "absolutely astonishing." Mourinho also described the fine he received after the recent home defeat to South Hampton as, quote, "a disgrace" and suggested he's only surprised that the FA has not demanded he start wearing an electronic tag.
UEFA has said it supports its suspended president Michel Platini's right to defend himself against corruption allegations. That's following an emergency meeting in Nyon, Switzerland on Thursday. Secretary General Gianni Infantino said UEFA supports Platini's right to due process. A fair trial and the opportunity to clear his name in reference to Platini being investigated over a $2 million payment made to him by FIFA President Sepp Blatter in 2011 for consultancy work performed years earlier.
Rory McIlroy is getting an early jump on the new golf season by competing in the Frys.com Open in California. It's a fresh start for the Irishman, who was sidelined for almost two months with injury and then saw Jordan Spieth and Jason Day pass him in the rankings. McIlroy shot a 4 under 68 in his opening round. Just one bogey, five birdies. He's five shots off the lead heading into Friday's round two.
That's a look at your sports headlines. I'm Rachel Nichols.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Hello, everyone. The U.N. Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the recent wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
[01:20:03] VAUSE: Tensions are high in Israel. And as Ben Wedeman reports, Israelis with gun licenses are being encouraged to carry their firearms in public.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Almost two weeks of lone wolf attacks and once again Jerusalem is on edge. Daily, city residents either witness scenes like these or see them on TV. For those who lived through previous waves of violence, there's a sense of deja vu.
YISCAH SMITH, JERUSALEM RESIDENT: I remember riding on the buses then and it's a similar feeling as now. It's almost like we're looking like this around us more, not knowing if that really would help but just more conscientious of when we're walking, when we're talking like right now I'm more aware with my peripheral vision.
WEDEMAN: Sharon Gat served in the Israeli Special Forces for more than 20 years and now runs a company providing weapons training for security guards and ordinary people.
SHARON GAT, CALIBER 3: The civilians that come over here are under a lot of pressure. People want to protect themselves, protect their families. They feel they cannot walk without a weapon in the streets because the attack can come from anywhere.
WEDEMAN: The Israeli government has made it easier for citizens to obtain weapons licenses. Less lethal means of defense are available but they are selling out.
(On camera): Alon, do you have any pepper spray?
ALON IZENBERG, TUFA'AT TEVA: No, I don't have. It's empty.
WEDEMAN: All sold out?
IZENBERG: Sold out. Don't have it in are the right now. Maybe next week maybe. We can open it and you can if somebody attacks you spike it. It's a self-defense tool. It's good for a woman, for girls. It's cheap and it's very easy to use with this.
WEDEMAN: Such things may help adults but the sense of vulnerability, especially for the young, is more difficult to address.
NAOMI BAUM, PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, acknowledge that it is scary. It is scary. I'm scared. You're scared. We're all scared. But we don't let that fear paralyze us.
WEDEMAN: Psychologist Naomi Baum has been treating trauma victims for almost 20 years. Her advice to parents.
BAUM: Try to keep routine as much as possible, regular meal times, regular bedtimes, reading books, doing all the things that you do with your children within your level of comfort.
WEDEMAN: A level of comfort that falls with every new attack.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: CNN's Erin McLaughlin joins us now from Jerusalem.
Erin, you're in a neighborhood in Jerusalem. Set the scene for us. Is security being stepped up ahead of Friday prayers?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Isha. Well, I'm here at the entrance to Palestinian neighborhood of Issawiya. And let me just show you what's going on. You see here on this road a series of cement blocks. They're there to prevent vehicles from getting in and out. The border police here have set up a checkpoint. And there is a line of Palestinians waiting to leave their neighborhood to go to work, to go to prayers.
And what's happening is one by one they approach the police and the police ask to see their identification. If it was a young Palestinian man they -- we've seen them ask them to hold up their shirt, hold up their trousers, the bottom of their trousers to show that they don't -- that they aren't carrying any weapons. They've also been questioning them, asking them where are they going, when are they coming back, who are they going to be seeing. Many of the Palestinians we see walk sort of cursing under their breath after this happens.
This is a series of measures that have been put in place at entrances like this in Palestinian neighborhoods across east Jerusalem. It's meant to help stop the wave of violence that has been seen, the lone wolf style stabbing attacks that have plagued the city of late. Israelis saying that it's a necessary security measure but Palestinians we've been talking to reacting in outrage. They say it's a humiliation. They say that it's a form of collective punishment.
Now yesterday there was a press conference Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave answered questions from journalists. One of the journalists said -- pointed out that it seemed that he was dividing the city. I want you to take a listen to how he responded to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We're not going to divide the city any more than people who are putting curfew in neighborhoods and towns in Europe or in the United States on occasion are dividing those cities. So don't get swept away, don't carried away. Don't build your hopes high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLAUGHLIN: And checkpoints are one of a series of measures put in place by government officials including increasing the number of police in Jerusalem and cities across Israel, and many Israelis say that it's not enough, they want to see more, they want to see the bloodshed stop.
[01:25:16] SESAY: Erin McLaughlin joining us there from Jerusalem. Erin, we appreciate the update. Thanks so much.
VAUSE: The longest war in U.S. history will continue on for a little longer. President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that he will keep nearly 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan until late next year.
SESAY: Mr. Obama says the formal combat mission there has ended but the job is not done.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the Taliban showed their biggest win in years, briefly taking over a city in northern Afghanistan, and an ISIS and al Qaeda continue expanding their ranks across Afghanistan, President Obama says the situation is still too dangerous to cut the size of U.S. forces still fighting in the country's longest war.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bottom line is in key areas of the country, the security situation is still very fragile. And in some places, there's risk of deterioration.
STARR: The administration had sought to end U.S. involvement in the 14-year war that began less than one month after the 9/11 attacks. The plan had been to cut dramatically the number of troops next year. Now the 9800 troops will remain through most or all of 2016, dropping to 5500 in 2017.
GEN. JOHN CAMPBELL, COMMANDER, U.S. FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN: The Afghan Security Forces' uneven performance in this fighting season also underscores that their shortfalls will persist well beyond this year.
STARR: The country remains fragile. The Taliban in a surprise attack last month seized Kunduz, a major city in Afghanistan. In the fight to push the Taliban back, a U.S. airstrike hit a hospital, killing doctors and patients. And just last weekend, U.S. forces participated in a huge raid on an al Qaeda training site. While touted as a success, it shows extremists are still operating there.
The four-star commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan had made clear he was not ready for a quick drawdown.
SEN. ANGUS KING (I), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: In your professional military judgment, conditions on the ground at the present time would require some revision of the withdrawal plan?
CAMPBELL: I will stop my foot, sir.
STARR: Some Republican presidential candidates want more troops, President Obama's decision not the final word.
OBAMA: I suspect that we will continue to evaluate this going forward, as will the next president. And as conditions improve, we will be in position to make further adjustments.
STARR (on camera): So the nation's longest war not over yet. And a lot of concern that ISIS is now digging in in Afghanistan.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A short break here on CNN. When we come back, South Africa's blade runner is about to get out of prison. But Oscar Pistorius won't be totally free. Details when we come back.
SESAY: Plus, a nurse suffers a frightening relapse months after she thought she was recovered. Coming up, details on the deadly Ebola virus and just how long it can stay a threat.
Do stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:56] VAUSE: It's just gone 10:30 here on the West coast of the United States, and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay.
The headlines this hour, the U.N. Security Council plans to meet Friday to discuss the recent wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. An Israeli spokesman says eight Israelis have been killed since the violence began earlier this month. The Palestinian Health Ministry reports that 34 Palestinians have been killed during that time.
VAUSE: Former basketball and reality TV star, Lamar Odom's, medical condition remains unclear at this hour. Officials and family members are not releasing any information. Odom was rushed to a Las Vegas hospital after he was found unresponsive at a brothel in Nevada on Tuesday.
SESAY: Emergency officials are racing to rescue drivers stranded in a mudslide north of Los Angeles. Look at this new video. It shows people waiting for help. A child was rescued. And cars and trucks are half buried there. A major interstate is partially shut down. The heavy rainfall came even though the region is seeing a severe drought. Incredible pictures there. We'll stay on top of that situation for you.
A new study confirms what doctors have feared, the deadly Ebola virus can still live in survivors after their symptoms go away.
VAUSE: There is one case, a Scottish nurse, who doctors thought was cured, but she relapsed earlier this week and is now in critical condition.
CNN's Diana Magnay has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nine months after making what seemed like a full recovery from Ebola, Scottish nurse, Pauline Cafferky, is in critical condition in London's Royal Free Hospital with complications related to the virus. She contracted Ebola when she was volunteering in Sierra Leone last year, spending three weeks in isolation before being declared Ebola free in January.
She spoke then of how unpredictable the virus can be.
PAULINE CAFFERKY, NURSE & EBOLA PATIENT: You don't know what way it's going to go. Obviously at the back of my mind I'd seen all that could potentially happen to me and did happen to me.
MAGNAY: Scientists don't know why the virus stays dormant in a small number of survivors, but they know that it does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know that the Ebola virus, or at least the virus genes of the Ebola, can hang around in patients who've recovered from the infection. And it looks as though this is what's happened in this particular case.
MAGNAY: In December last year, two months after he'd recovered from Ebola, U.S. Doctor Ian Crozier started to experience pain and blurred vision in his eyes.
DR. IAN CROZIER, EBOLA PATIENT: As my sight started to go bad, it became clear that this was a very different animal and that it was aggressive and whatever had been unleashed in my eye was not going away quickly. And one morning, as this progress evolved, I woke up and realized that my blue eye had turned bright green.
MAGNAY: Tests showed that his eye cavity was riddled with Ebola but there was no trace of it in his tears or on the surface of the eye.
Scientists don't know where else the virus may persist. Certain chambers in the body where the immune system can't reach, like the central nervous system or cavities in the joints.
[01:35:02] A study published on Wednesday found Ebola present in semen nine months after infection, and in Liberia there has been one suspected case of sexual transmission from an Ebola survivor to his partner. And it's possible that the virus lingers elsewhere, in bodily fluids less easy to test.
(on camera): It's not clear what role the Ebola virus is playing in Pauline Cafferkey's illness. It is possible she has other complications, a post-infection issue maybe made worse by the presence of Ebola, a challenge for doctors writing the rule book on a virus which may transform and mutate in the months that it lies dormant.
(voice-over): Last month, Liberia was declared Ebola-free, and in Guinea and Sierra Leone, there have been just a handful of cases each week for the last 11 weeks, a massive reduction at the tail end of this epidemic.
But as Pauline Cafferkey's relapse shows, the virus can still linger, a malignant presence in the bodies of survivors who thought they'd passed the worst.
Diana Magnay, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, for more on how the Ebola virus can relapse, we're joined by Dr. Caitlin Reed. She's an infectious disease specialist with Olive View UCLA Medical Center.
We're so thrilled you're here with us this evening to talk about the situation.
Because it's all become very muddled, all of a sudden, what has happened to this British nurse, and thrown into question this whole issue of long-term immunity if you survived Ebola. Talk to us about that and what we're looking at here.
DR. CAITLIN REED, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, OLIVE VIEW UCLA MEDICAL CENTER: We still believe that Ebola survivors do have long- term immunity. What's been realized over the last year or so is that there are some Ebola survivors who may have certain parts of their bodies in which Ebola can persist for a period of time. These areas like the brain, the eye, the testes, these are what we call immunologically protected areas. These areas may, because they're separated from the general immune system, they may be areas that are somewhat protected and the virus can persist or hang out a little bit longer, maybe some months. And we know this because in another case Dr. Crozier, who was infected and medically evacuated to Emory and made a full recovery, no longer had the virus in his bodily fluids, in his blood. Several months later he developed Ebola in his eye. And when they sampled the eye fluid, there was actually live virus in the eye. But there was no virus in the tears or the surface of the eye. So he couldn't have transmitted the virus to anybody else. And then he eventually recovered from that. And so it may be that there are certain parts of the body in which Ebola can persist for longer until eventually immune control is achieved over those areas.
VAUSE: Let me ask you this question. Is one of the problems we have right now knowing what happens, post-Ebola, up until this point, there haven't been a lot of people who survived Ebola. So you haven't had a chance to look at how people cope. We know there are some nasty side effects if you get through it, but that's kind of about it, isn't it?
REED: It's true that in previous outbreaks they were very small and they were in very rural and small villages --
VAUSE: With high fatality rates.
REED: -- in Africa, with high fatality rates and minimal advanced medical technology and abilities to diagnose these things. Those who survived, even if they did have some of these long-term complications, we probably didn't know about it. And there are now over 17,000 survivors in West Africa, and there are a lot of complaints of some post-Ebola issues, eye problems, joint and muscle aches and rashes and things like that. It's just now that we have a larger pool of people who have survived and can be further investigated to better understand the virus and its characteristics.
SESAY: The British newspaper "The Guardian" is reporting that a group of some 60 women, several dozen women, was discovered in Guinea, and even though they had been exposed to the virus for a prolonged period of time, hadn't fallen ill, so basically had some kind of immunity to it. They will obviously be a group that will be studied very, very closely but the immediate question becomes why is it they didn't fall ill? What are the theories behind that?
REED: There are several theories. One is there is that there is some aspect of their genetic composition that rendered them immune to the virus or that allowed them to have a very robust immune response really early on and so they -- although they were exposed they were not infected with the virus. Another is perhaps they were infected by some other related virus in the past and had some partial immunity, which may have conferred protection. And then there's the fact that we just don't know a lot about what protects people. So there may be some genetic issues. There may be some other unknown factors that can explain why, despite intensive exposure to the virus, they were not infected. There also sometimes are people who are infected but they don't develop the severe clinical syndrome. We call that a subclinical infection. Maybe they infected, had a really mild illness, didn't really realize it and developed immunity from that.
So there's a lot of theories, but at this point, it's not really well understood why some people who were intensively exposed, didn't become sick.
[01:40:13] VAUSE: Dr. Reed, thanks for coming in.
REED: Thank you.
VAUSE: We appreciate the expert analysis.
SESAY: Thank you very much.
REED: Oh, thank you.
SESAY: Thank you.
REED: It's my pleasure.
SESAY: Turning the page now, refugees smuggled for profits. Still to come on NEWSROOM, L.A., you'll hear from an Afghan smuggler who demands big bucks for safe passage to Europe.
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SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. Now to the refugee crisis gripping parts of the world. Many desperate Afghans are among the migrants currently flooding into Europe.
VAUSE: CNN's Nic Robertson met a people smuggler getting Afghans out of their war-torn country. And as Nic tells us in this exclusive report, it's a risky journey which comes at a high price.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I'm meeting with a people smuggler.
(on camera): How many people have you taken to Europe?
(voice-over): "1,500 to Germany in the past six months," he tells me, "the most popular destination."
We can't show his face because what he does is illegal.
UNIDENTIFIED REFUGEE SMUGGLER (through translation): We take people to Germany on three different routes. Via the sea for $7,000, we take people by road and foot for $9,000, and we take people by air for $20,000.
ROBERTSON: Top dollar, he tells me, buys a black-market visa and direct flights. Anything less could cost your life.
UNIDENTIFIED REFUGEE SMUGGLER (through translation): We have had our clients injured and even killed along this journey. Just 15 days ago, 70 people were caught by Iranians and deported from the Turkish border, which included 15 of my clients.
ROBERTSON: But there are plenty here who are ready to take the risk. Before dawn, the line outside Kabul's passport office stretches several blocks. People worried about the faltering economy, worried about war. [01:45:05] (on camera): Getting a passport has never been so
popular, people here say. These lines, never so long. Precisely how many plan to flee is hard to nail down, but early estimates this year already say the number of Afghans arriving in Europe is second only to the number of Syrians. And how they get there starts right here.
(voice-over): Omar Sabor runs the passport office.
(on camera): How many people are applying for passports every day?
OMAR SABOR, DIRECTOR, KABUL PASSPORT OFFICE: Every day, more than 7,000 or 6,000 people.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): None here are ready to admit their plans. But Sabor knows many will leave.
He tells me, since Europe opened its doors to refugees, we've seen a direct increase in the number of people applying for passports. For the smuggler, each passport holder is a business opportunity.
UNIDENTIFIED REFUGEE SMUGGLER (through translation): They leave their money with a trusted person, f For instance, a money dealer. As soon as the person reaches his destination, then he calls the money dealer to give us the money.
ROBERTSON: But as he explains, if the person doesn't get through, he still gets paid.
UNIDENTIFIED REFUGEE SMUGGLER (through translation): Our rule is that we try three times, but if the person couldn't reach his destination after three attempts, he has to pay us.
ROBERTSON: The surest certainty, it seems, smugglers always win.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A parole board in South Africa is putting the Blade Runner under house arrest next Tuesday for the next four years. Oscar Pistorius served one year of his five-year-long prison sentence.
SESAY: The double amputee will now also be subject to gun prohibitions and must continue psychotherapy. The former Olympian was sentenced last year for the culpable homicide of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in 2014.
VAUSE: For more now on Pistorius' legal future, William Booth joins us on the line. He's a criminal lawyer. He is in Cape Town, South Africa.
So, William, this seems like an incredibly lenient sentence, just shy of a year in jail, he's going home. Is this how South African law works for everybody?
WILLIAMS BOOTH, CRIMINAL TRIAL ATTORNEY (voice-over): Well, it is a kind of sentence that is handed down for other offenders. It's not just an Oscar Pistorius sentence. But it isn't a particularly heavy sentence because he is going to be released and then he is under strict supervision of the Department of corrections. That is, under house arrest, he does community service programs, and he has to be subjected to various other programs including anger management. But he is outside in the community. But --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Sorry to interrupt you. So there are essentially no restrictions? You're saying there's essentially no restrictions? He can pretty much go about as much as he wants?
BOOTH: No, no, there are restrictions. He's under house arrest. And he has to attend various community-based programs. He has to do community service. Then there are various other programs at the Department of Corrections. Those might include anger management courses. He has to do psychotherapy. He's not allowed to possess firearms. All of that. So those, you know, place him under a very tight regime and under tight control from the Department of correctional services.
VAUSE: The prosecution is appealing this verdict. That's a pretty hard road for them. They have to prove the judge made an error in law, right?
BOOTH: That is precisely so. That appeal is due to be heard in the middle of November at the supreme court of appeal. And they've got leave to appeal. If the conviction is in fact overturned then the court can relook at the sentence or send the case back to the court of first instance and have them relook at the sentence. The sentence could then be increased. Oscar could then receive direct imprisonment, a further period of up to 15 years. So he could be back and then the whole correctional supervision falls by the way. The prison situation has got nothing to do with the appeal because nobody knows exactly what's going to happen and what the results will come out of the supreme court of appeals ruling.
VAUSE: OK, William, thank you for that.
William Booth, criminal lawyer, joining us on the line from Cape Town in South Africa.
Bottom line, Oscar Pistorius goes home, Reeva Steenkamp is still dead.
A short break here. When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, some graffiti artists have hijacked the set of a hit TV show after they say that program repeatedly misrepresented the Middle East.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[01:51:15] KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hello. I'm CNN Meteorologist Karen MaGinnis. This is your "Weather Watch."
(WEATHER REPORT)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Graffiti artists hired to make the set of the U.S. Spy series "Homeland" look authentic actually ended up hacking it and I think making it look even more authentic.
SESAY: They spray-painted subversive messages in Arabic, including one calling the show racist. And the graffiti even made it into the episode and made it on the air.
Ian Lee speaks to one of the artists.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Homeland" has been hijacked -- by graffiti. The Showtime series hired street artists to give their set of a Syrian refugee camp a more authentic feel. But they flipped the script, tagging things like "Homeland is racist" and "Homeland is a joke but we aren't laughing." Here it says "Homeland is a watermelon."
HEBA AMIN, ARTIST: When you say something is Batikh, or something is watermelon, you're basically saying it's a sham, it's a joke, it's not to be taken seriously.
LEE: Egyptian Heba Amin was one of the artists involved. When they realized nobody from the show was double-checking, they took creative license.
AMIN: Well, in previous, you know, seasons they had many, many mistakes in regards to cultural references, in regards to language. So it seems that they don't have a thorough research team.
LEE: The series, which follows CIA agent, Carrie Mathisen, played by Claire Danes, has been criticized by distorting the Middle East. Countries even threatened to sue.
(SHOUTING)
[01:55:12] LEE: Here the series depicts Beirut's Hamra Street as dangerous, full of violent militia men. In reality, the strip in the Lebanese capital is famous for its cafes, restaurants and nightlife.
AMIN: It's to really open this dialogue of the lack of awareness that people have of how these images are incredibly dangerous and really have a real world impact, even if it's a fictional story and if these are fictional characters.
LEE: "Homeland's" co-creator, Alex Ganza, told CNN, "We wish we'd caught these images before they made it to air. However, as "Homeland" always strives to be subversive in its own right and a stimulus for conversation, we can't help but admire this act of artistic sabotage." AMIN: I'm an artist, and so there is this huge tradition of
subversive art and activist art, and that's a scene that I'm very much involved in.
LEE: A key part of street art provoking conversation.
Ian Lee, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: What else were they going to say?
VAUSE: They handled it well.
SESAY: Yeah, they did.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause.
Stay with us. The news continues with Natalie Allen after the break.
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