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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Officials Tracing All Ebola Patient's Contacts; Secret Service Blunders; ISIS Advancing on the Turkish Border; Protests Swell in Hong Kong on National Day; Royals Rally, Win A.L. Wild Card

Aired October 01, 2014 - 05:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll see if that every changes.

EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Ebola has reached the United States. A Texas man testing positive for the deadly virus. Now, the frantic search to find anyone that patient had contact with before he was hospitalized. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live with the very latest.

BERMAN: A new shocking Secret Service blunder. A missing -- an unauthorized man riding in an elevator with the president. This as the agency's director gets grilled by Congress over a different security scare. Is the first family really safe?

ROMANS: The war on ISIS intensifies as the terrorists gain new ground, moving closer this morning to crucial cities in Syria and Iraq. We're live with the latest on the ground.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. A lot of news today. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. Great to see you this morning. It's Wednesday, October 1st. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And this morning in Texas, doctors and officials are scrambling to react to a scenario that they really did fear for so long. And now, the race is on to contain the possible spread of this virus that has killed thousands in West Africa and has no known cure.

As we speak, this new patient is being treated in isolation in a hospital in Texas. Really health officials all over the country right now working on this case, concerned about this case.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us live from outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Sanjay, what can you tell us about this case?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are getting some details, John, about what happened here. This was a person who is in Liberia, got on a plane on the 19th of September. At that time, felt well, had no evidence of sickness, wasn't feeling anything, landed the on the 20th of September in the United States, got off the plane and was still feeling fine. But it was four days later, the person started to feel sick.

Two days after that, this is now the 26th of September. That's when they really started to -- they went out and sought care at a hospital. So, apparently, their symptoms got worse. They did not get admitted at that time or have any blood sent for testing. Two days after that, the person came back to the hospital now by ambulance quite sick. That prompted testing of the person and that test came back as positive for Ebola.

So, John, this is the first person in the United States diagnosed with Ebola here. As you well know, John, there have been other patients who have come from other countries but they've already been diagnosed with Ebola at that time. They came here for treatment.

Concerns, obviously, John, around this, you know, in some ways this wasn't unexpected that this would happen, that you'd get somebody landing in the United States and then being diagnosed. The question is what's going to happen to try and prevent it from turning into an outbreak.

Dr. Tom Frieden who is the head of Centers for Disease Control talked about that specifically. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR, CDC: I have no doubt that we'll stop this in its track it's in U.S. But I also have no doubt as long as the outbreak continues in Africa, we need to be on our guard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: So, you know, very clear words, John. I think important words to hear. While the problem is obviously continuing to grow in West Africa, the head of the CDC believes that, you know, with what we know, implementing resources here in the United States, this isn't going to turn into an outbreak in this country, John.

BERMAN: Sanjay, you make a great point. You told us this was going to happen, that it was likely someone would come on a plane from African to the United States and end up being diagnosed with Ebola. The question now with this patient is, those four days between when he first went to the hospital saying he felt sick and presumably had symptoms, and four days later when he was finally admitted. So, what happens now?

Is every person this guy came in contact with over those four days might be at risk?

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, I don't want to overstate that, John, but that is exactly the way that they approach this. They have to assume that while he was sick, and he came in contact with people, those people have to be found. And they are at risk. And they need to be monitored.

Now, this is very important. You know, we ask the folks from the Centers for Disease Control about this. This is called contact tracing. It involves actually going door to door and finding people may have come in contact with this person and then telling them that, you know, they've come in contact with this person, and they need to monitor their temperature for 21 days. If they have any signs of fever, then that prompts further evaluation. They might get tested at that point for Ebola.

But it's a big arduous, laborious process. It could be done but it takes time. If any of those people, who are contacts get sick, then he got to find out who their contacts were. You sort of get the idea.

I want to show you a brief animation, sort of -- I don't know if you can see this, John, of what we're talking about here. This is sort of what it looked like after sometime when they actually traced these Ebola outbreaks. You have an individual. They may have family members around them. If the family member then gets sick, you have to trace all that person's contacts. It goes on and on.

And that's part of what was not happening well in West Africa. That's probably why this number has increase. But again, they think they can really do that well here in the United States.

BERMAN: It's a big arduous task as you say, but doable and help officials seem confident they can get it done, particularly with the resources available here. Still, something we have to watch very, very closely.

Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much for being with us. We'll check back in with you in a little bit.

ROMANS: All right. Excuse me, five minutes past the hour.

We're learning this morning of another shocking breach of security just a few feet from the president. A private security contractor with a gun sharing an elevator with President Obama when he visited the CDC in Atlanta two weeks ago. This is a violation of Secret Service protocol. The revelation Tuesday seems to conflict with testimony, given at a congressional hearing just hours earlier.

Testimony by Secret Service Director Julia Pierson, she testified she briefs the president on every serious breach, and the only briefing she's given him is the one related to the fence jumper Omar Gonzalez. At Tuesday's hearing, Pierson was given a bipartisan thrashing by members of the House oversight committee over the September 19th White House intrusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CA), HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Why was there no guard stationed at the front door of the White House?

REP. STEPHEN LYNCH (D), MASSACHUSETTS: This is -- the Secret Service against one individual with mental illness. And you lost. You lost. And you had three shots at this guy.

REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE (D), TEXAS: I wonder if there is a fitness problem here. Chasing this gentleman who could not capture, all six of them in this picture, could not capture him.

JULIA PIERSON, SECRET SERVICE DIRECTOR: We're all outraged within the Secret Service of how this -- how this incident came to pass. And that is why I have asked for a full review. It's obvious. It is obvious that mistakes were made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: She was brought in because there were other scandals she was trying to clean up, history of scandals in the Secret Service.

We're also learning now details about the agent who finally tackled Gonzalez in the East Room. "The Washington Post" reporting that the agent was a member of the Obama daughters detail who had just gone off duty. So, not even on duty.

Gonzalez is scheduled for arraignment in a D.C. courtroom this afternoon.

But Julia Pierson was brought in because the Secret Service was under intense scrutiny because of -- shall we say escapades and scandals while the Secret Service were doing advance work for president when he was going to foreign countries. People thought that was a security risk.

BERMAN: Brutal questioning at Congress. No thrashing like a bipartisan thrashing.

ROMANS: Whoo!

BERMAN: That is what happened -- whoo! There's more to come, I assure you.

The U.S.-led coalition keeping the pressure on ISIS this morning with one of the heaviest rounds of bombings since the war was expanded to include targets in Syria one week ago.

A total of 11 airstrikes in Syria, 11 in Iraq over this 24-hour period. Some hitting targets around Kobani. That is the town in Syria near the Turkish border. ISIS fighters have been advancing on that city. It is a Kurdish city. And those advances have shaken up the Turkish government. The Turkish parliament debating whether or not to send ground troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria. That would be a major development.

Britain, meanwhile, carrying out its first airstrike against ISIS in Iraq on Tuesday, four days after its parliament authorized airstrikes.

CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now from Iraq with the latest.

Good morning, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John.

Well, since we last spoke, we've learned that there have been another series of British airstrikes in Iraq overnight. According to the British ministry of defense, two RAF tornadoes hit a command and control center and two ISIS vehicles to the west Baghdad. Certainly that san area where Iraqi security forces, the army and militias are under pressure from ISIS, which has continued to conduct hit-and-run attacks on the defensive shield, the defensive belt, around Baghdad.

Meanwhile, in Kobani, that town on the Syrian/Turkish border there is fighting ongoing as we speak. It does appear that despite the efforts of Kurdish militias in that area, that ISIS is still able to move forward. And that, despite the intensification of U.S. airstrikes in that area really underscoring the problems when you're trying to fight ISIS, when you're only hitting them from the air, John.

BERMAN: All right. That's the bigger problem here, battling this terror group.

Ben Wedeman for us live in Iraq this morning -- thanks so much, Ben.

ROMANS: All right. About 10 minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Wednesday morning.

European stocks mixed, U.S. stocks futures barely moving. It is the first day of a new trading month. And the last month was not so great. The Dow fell slightly. The S&P 500 lost 1 1/2 percent, the worst performance since January. The NASDAQ lost 2 percent last month.

October, historically the scary month for stocks, the crash of 1929, the Black Monday of 2008, and even 2011.

BERMAN: Stop it, stop it.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: It's true, but look at what's happening. This is the S&P 500 since March 2009. This is currently the fourth largest bull market. There has not been a true correction, a 10 percent pullback since 2011.

You've got this big argument, is it time for a pullback? Or are stocks going to keep rising as the economy continues to improve? That is --

BERMAN: I am in favor of the keep rising scenario.

ROMANS: S&P 500 is up 7 percent for the year. So, your two 529s are in good shape. >

BERMAN: Thank goodness. That's the goal.

ROMANS: All right. Happening now: Hong Kong protesters defying calls to clear out. They are demanding change. This is the politest gathering of tens of thousands of people I've ever seen, and it is really making waves around the world. We're live in the middle of that protest.

BERMAN: Plus, the man accused abducting missing student Hannah Graham linked possibly to the rape and murder of another girl, and now being investigated in a third case. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Fourteen minutes past the hour.

Today is national day in China, but protesters not taking a holiday in Hong Kong. It is supposed to be a day of celebration from Beijing to Hong Kong, and all across the country. If anything, though, crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators are growing because more people are off work.

CNN's Andrew Stevens is live with us again this morning from the middle of all of these very polite protests.

Good morning, Andrew.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine, this is exactly what Beijing did not want to happen particularly (AUDIO GAP) on national day. (AUDIO GAP)

Tens of thousands of Hong Kongers, not just students, which they could perhaps dismiss as hotheads or radicals, but much, much broader section of Hong Kong's side, supporting people who have been here in the past three days, supporting them in their bid (AUDIO GAP) democratic change here in Hong Kong which would require (AUDIO GAP)

Hong Kong leadership says this is not going to happen what we kept thinking repeatedly from Beijing and from Hong Kong that this is an illegal gathering. This is considered unlawful, these people here. So, therefore, we will not listen to them.

The protesters, the protest leaders on the other hand say they will continue to stay here, they will continue to fight. There is no dialogue which strikes me as extraordinary. There is no dialogue between the Hong Kong government and the protest leaders that I'm aware of and we have been trying to track this down. One Hong Kong leader said to me, it is up to the Hong Kong leadership to speak to the entire community here, not just the leaders.

So, as it stands, Christine, it's a standoff -- as you say, a very peaceful standoff, a very good-natured standoff. Everybody is looking out for each other at the moment.

Also, there's a reason for this peacefulness. They don't want to give the Hong Kong police, any opportunity, any reason, any trigger, to actually come in. But if you look at the crowds here, you can't imagine anybody successfully with this sheer number of people.

Tomorrow is a holiday as well. So, likely the same amount of numbers as we're getting today.

Just finally, I'd just like to say, Christine, looking around this crowd in front of me, I cannot see one single Hong Kong police uniform. They have backed right off. They're letting people have their moments, Christine.

ROMANS: Having their moment. And what a big moment it is.

Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong for us -- thank you so much, Andrew.

BERMAN: What a picture there.

ROMANS: Unbelievable.

BERMAN: The man suspected in the disappearance of UVA student Hannah Graham has now been linked to another case. Investigators in Virginia say Jesse Matthew could be linked to the 2009 murder of 22-year-old Cassandra Morton. On Monday, Virginia state police say Matthew's arrest provided a forensic link to the death of 20-year-old Morgan Harrington. Connect the dots here. She went missing after attending a concert at UVA in 2009.

Harrington's mother spoke to Anderson Cooper about Matthew's arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIL HARRINGTON, MORGAN'S MOTHER: I don't have any desire or need to tear him limb from limb or hurt him. I just want to prevent him from hurting anybody else. And that, I am vehement to do. I don't really feel angry because I -- my mind just -- I can't comprehend how somebody could hurt and, you know, killed our beautiful Morgan. I mean, it's unfathomable to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The Campbell County sheriff said they're trying to find any evidence that places Matthew in the town where Morton's body was found in 2009.

ROMANS: All right. Eighteen minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your forecast.

Indra Petersons has that.

Hey, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. A couple light showers, very easy to see when you take a look at the map. Yes, you got showers there, but notice the big picture. Definitely seeing a lot of action right smack in the middle of the country. This is going to be the story we'll be watching over the next several days.

Yes, Northeast, light rain today, that's not a biggie. We're going to watch again as the threat for severe weather starts to expand. Make its way into the Midwest today and tomorrow. Eventually even bring the rainy weather to the Northeast by the weekend.

Yes, our good luck is definitely over. Here we go. Severe storms today, definitely kind of looking around the Midwest and towards the plains there. That is only going to expand as we get into tomorrow.

Look at this widespread amount of severe weather we're going to be talking about. We talk about Chicago, unfortunately was not in the weather threat. Today, it is. That means even more delays possible, even extending all the way back in through Texas. So, this is the big storm making its way across the country.

The other thing is: talk about a flip-flop, we're going to take the warm air that is nice last weekend in the Northeast. Now, all that cool air is going to be rushing right behind that cold front. So, you're going to see this nice temperature drop over the next several days, going to take sometime, but notice, nice and above normal, here's today, into tomorrow, same thing. You get towards the weekend, right behind that front, you can start to see temperatures going down.

I think you know the pattern for us, for the weekend, yesterday -- last weekend, like 85. Kind of like 65 in the Northeast. It's not bad but it's not 85 either.

ROMANS: Right, sweatshirt weather.

BERMAN: It's fall.

ROMANS: Football weather.

BERMAN: Let's talk about fall. What a fall classic we are seeing right now, baseball playoffs, unbelievable. And they just started.

Kansas City Royals fans, they waited three decades to see that right there. And it happened, oh, my goodness, did it happen late.

Andy Scholes has the highlights and the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So, if you're in Kansas City right now, chances are you are still awake because there's just no way you could possibly fall asleep over what happened overnight. The Kansas City Royals have been waiting for this moment for 29 years.

ROMANS: They rode an emotional rollercoaster in last night's wildcard game against Oakland.

And Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Good morning, guys.

Yes, the Royals, they are back in the postseason for the first time since 1985. Everyone in Kansas City has royals fever right now, even the police department is locked into these games. They tweeted last night, we really need everyone to not commit crimes and drive safely right now. We'd like to hear the royals clinch this.

Now, the royals taking on the A's in the one-game winner-take-all, A.L. wildcard game. Man, this game was a nail-biter. The Royals, they fell behind but fought back to tie the game and send it into extra innings, pick it up, top of the 12. The A's would regain the lead on this RBI single.

Fans thinking the team's run might be over before it even got started. But the Royals fought back again. They tied the game. Two outs. Salvador Perez, the hero with this walk-off single.

The Royals win it 9-8 in one exciting game. They'll move to face the Angels in divisional series. Pirates and Giants score off tonight in the N.L. wildcard game.

Olympic swimming champ Michael Phelps is apologizing for his DUI arrest in Baltimore. Police say Phelps was driving 84 miles an hour in a 45-mile-an-hour zone Tuesday morning and failed a series of sobriety tests. Afterwards, Phelps took to Twitter and wrote, "I understand the severity of my actions and take full responsibility. I know these words may not mean much right now, but I am deeply sorry to everyone I have let down.

This is the second dui charge for Phelps, the first came back in 1994 when he was 19 years old. Phelps retired from competitive swimming after 2012 Olympic Games, but he is currently making a comeback to the sport.

Trending on bleacherreport.com this morning is the FCC's vote to eliminate its sports blackout rules. That doesn't mean the NFL can't still black out games, they can, but they won't have the backing from the FCC anymore. This is an old blackout rule that was put in place so teams could sell out their games. It doesn't come into play much anymore. Only 2 of the 256 games last year were blacked out.

In other FCC news, guys, chairman Tom Wheeler said they're considering a petition that would make the name Redskins an obscene slur. Now, if that's accepted that means we couldn't say it anymore on TV. That would actually put real pressure on Dan Snyder to change the name.

ROMANS: Interesting.

BERMAN: That will be interesting to see, the federal government doing what it can, it seems.

Andy Scholes, great to see you.

SCHOLES: Have a good one, guys.

BERMAN: Congratulations to everyone in Kansas City. Enjoy it.

ROMANS: And criminals please take time off.

BERMAN: No crime so we can watch baseball.

ROMANS: Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. the patient now in isolation. Investigators search for anyone he came in contact with before he was hospitalized. We have the details of that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)