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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Race Against Time in Ebola Case; Terror in the Homeland; ISIS Continues to Gain Ground; Same-Sex Marriage Legalized in More States

Aired October 07, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A race against time. This morning, the Ebola patient in Dallas undergoing experimental treatment as his condition remains critical. And a new Ebola case discovered in Spain that has officials puzzled. What the government may do to contain the virus and fear of the American people.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Terror in the homeland. An American teen charged with trying to join ISIS. The details of this plan revealed.

Also, intense fighting gripping the streets of Syria as ISIS continues its push for control over a key city. What's at stake in the major land grab. We're live.

ROMANS: And the Supreme Court makes an unexpected decision by choosing not to weigh in on same-sex marriage cases. The decision could clear the path for gay and lesbian couples to marry across the nation.

BERMAN: Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It's Tuesday, October 7th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

BERMAN: Great to have you back this morning.

ROMANS: Thank you.

BERMAN: There is a ray of hope this morning for the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.

While in Spain, a nurse who treated an Ebola victim and in the room with that patient just twice has tested positive for Ebola. She is listed in stable condition.

Back here in the U.S., officials are struggling to contain both the virus and public fear over its spread and the fallout from a response that was uneven to put it nicely.

Well, Thomas Eric Duncan is treated in a Dallas hospital. The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, says there is only so much state government can do. Governor Perry is calling for the federal government to increase border screening and quarantine.

Duncan is still in critical condition, but he is now getting experimental treatment that doctors hope might save his life. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in Dallas with

more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, a nurse's assistant in Spain has become the first person to contract Ebola outside of West Africa in this outbreak. Now, the authorities, she was using full protective equipment. So, it's not clear how she came down with the virus.

Back in the United States, President Obama held important meetings with top public health officials, calling for additional screening measures in the U.S. and abroad at airports. He repeated that the chances of an epidemic here in the United States are extremely low.

Here in Dallas, authorities are monitoring 48 people who had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan. Seven of them are hospital workers. You had relatively high risk contacts with him, as well as three family members who had high risk contacts, and 38 others like people who live in his apartment complex who had lower risk contact. And a Presbyterian hospital in Dallas, we've learned that Duncan has been receiving an experimental medication called Brincidofovir.

It's been used for other viruses. They hope that it will work against Ebola by going in and actually stopping it from replicating inside his body.

But Duncan was sick for 10 days before he got started on this drug, so it's not clear that it will work -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Elizabeth Cohen -- thank you for that, Elizabeth.

Now, as campaign season enters its final month, the administration is under pressure to show it has Ebola under control, putting into consideration among other things, the kind of tougher screening measures that Governor Perry is calling for.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski is at the White House with that part of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine.

The president met with his national security team, including the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. They say they are treating this as a top national security priority. What they wanted to do was look at the measures in place not only for stopping the spread of Ebola in West Africa, but preventing it from taking hold here and see if there's anything additional that needs to be done.

Also, of course, they wanted to reassure the American public. Here is what some of what President Obama said.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The good news is it's not an airborne disease. We are familiar with the protocols that are needed to isolate and greatly reduce the risks of anybody catching this disease. But it requires us to follow those protocols strictly. And that's exactly what we are in the process of doing.

KOSINSKI: Still, we know they are considering additional screening of people as they arrive into the United States.

The administration has already expanded screenings of people within Ebola-affected countries, as they get on planes bound for here. And that includes asking them question, taking their temperatures. The administration says that's already prevented dozens and dozens of people from getting on planes and landing in the United States when they were judged to be possibly at risk.

The problem, of course, with screenings, it assumes people are telling the truth and that they're showing symptoms. It doesn't account for the people who come here and then exhibit symptoms, and that's exactly what we saw happened with the Dallas case.

We asked that question of the administration, you know, that seems like a risk that this country is willing to take, right?

Well, they said, look, tens of thousands of people have arrived in America from African countries over last six months. There has only been one case of Ebola diagnosed within the United States. They feel like even though there were missteps in Dallas, the American system and the measures that are there are working. They say working well.

They also point to the capability of the American medical system. And that's one reason why they say they are not considering a travel ban to or from those countries, at least not right now -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Thanks to Michelle Kosinski for that.

This morning, the battle for the Syrian city of Kobani has turned into a desperate street fight. The black ISIS flag is now flying over a hill on the eastern side of that town. Witnesses say that many fighters on both sides have been killed. There are no exact numbers available.

If Kobani falls, it means that ISIS would gain control of a large swath of territory from its self-declared capital of Raqqa, to Kobani on the Turkish border. That's about 60 miles away.

Would-be refugees are pressed up against the fence on the border with Turkey, but right now, Turkish troops are barring them from crossing and they are literally watching the city of Kobani fall.

Meanwhile in Iraq, U.S. forces have started using Apache helicopters for the first time. The Apache AH64s are more vulnerable to ground fire than fighter jets. But a senior Pentagon official says they are needed because ISIS forces are close to Iraqi troops and helicopters can fly low striking with precision. The official says the Apaches hit four targets northeast of Fallujah over the weekend, including one large and two small ISIS units. That same official says ISIS is continuing to advance in Anbar province. That's about 30 miles west of Baghdad.

Our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is live now in Baghdad.

And, Ben, I know you have been with the Iraqi forces and have been trying to get a sense of how they are fairing against the ISIS fighters.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I would say they sort of get mixed grades out in the western perimeter of Baghdad where we spent several hours yesterday. In that particular area, it doesn't seem that ISIS is focusing. The soldiers and officers out there told me they take occasional pot shots from ISIS snipers. Sometimes, mortar rounds incoming.

But ISIS' current efforts are focused on the towns within Anbar province like Ramadi. They took the town of Hid (ph) a few days ago. So, they seem to be trying to consolidate their presence in Anbar. But, of course, Anbar is really just next to Baghdad. Where we were is very near the airport.

The worry is at some point, ISIS is going to finish taking those Anbar towns and cities and focus on the airport, which, of course, is the only way out by air from Baghdad. If that airport were to be closed down for any reason, all it takes is just one or two incoming rounds of artillery or mortar fire, then that would pose a serious crisis for this city of several million people -- John.

BERMAN: That airport has been such a focal point for battles over the last 11, 12 years. Our Ben Wedeman in Baghdad -- thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. In Chicago, a Chicago teen stands charged with trying to join ISIS. The FBI arrested Mohammed Hamzah Kahn at the O'Hare International Airport on Saturday. Officials say the 19-year- old bought a round trip ticket to Istanbul. They say Kahn also left behind a three-page note for his parents writing that he was leaving the U.S., he was on the way to join the terrorists. In the note, he allegedly invited his parents to join him, warning them not to tell anyone about his travel plans.

BERMAN: Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the decisions made by President Obama over the years have made the current fight against ISIS more difficult. In a "USA Today" interview, Panetta says the president could have pushed Iraq to allow a residual U.S. force to remain when troops withdrew in 2011. He says that rejecting the advice of top aides, including himself, including arming Syrian rebels two years ago was also a mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I do think that we would be in a better position to kind of know whether or not there is a moderate element in the rebel forces that are confronting Assad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Panetta does have praise for the president, too, saying he could still have a great legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PANETTA: The next two and a half years will tell us a lot about his legacy. Look, the first two and a half years and the time I spent there, I thought he was a strong leader on security issues. He supported our operations at the CIA, even strengthened them. I think he was tough on terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know, Leon Panetta I think is a walnut farmer in California. The 76-years old says he has no plans to go back to Washington. He says his goal is to stay on the arm and deal with a different kind of nut, than he has in Washington.

Later this morning on "NEW DAY", CNN's Gloria Borger sits down with Leon Panetta. A really interesting interview. That is in the 8:00 hour of "NEW DAY."

ROMANS: President Obama shifted to campaign mode today. He'll headline fundraisers in New York City and Connecticut for the Democratic National Committee. Vice President Biden heads west where he'll attend a series of campaign events for Democratic congressional and state candidates in California.

BERMAN: By the way, New York and Connecticut are not exactly swing states. It shows where the president can and can't go in this campaign season.

A momentous non-action from the Supreme Court. Same sex couples can now marry in five more states. That is because the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to weigh in on the same-sex marriage for now. The move cleared the path for gay couples legally wed in Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)

MARK HERRING, VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Today's decision will change the lives of thousands of loving couples, their children and their families in a positive and transformative way. The rights and privileges of marriage, which are guaranteed to us by the United States Constitution, are now available to all loving, committed couples in Virginia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The unexpected non-action by the justices could eventually allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in a total of 30 states.

ROMANS: All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Tuesday morning. European stocks opened lower. Asian stocks closing the day mix. And the U.S. stocks set to open down after a drop yesterday.

The 2008 bailout of insurance giant AIG, it was designed as a punishment. That's what the former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told a U.S. court Monday. Paulson was testifying in a suit brought by the former CEO of AIG Hank Greenberg. A suit brought against the U.S. government.

The U.S. took an 80 percent stake in the company when they bailed out AIG for $182 billion of your taxpayer dollars. Greenberg his action short changed stockholders. Paulson is just the first in the line of star witnesses to defend the government's actions this week, including Paulson's successor Tim Geithner, and former Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke, all playing out in court. It will get a nice or not so nice replay of those dark days.

BERMAN: Yes, crazy, crazy days. It's interesting to relieve them.

All right. Twelve minutes after the hour right now.

I want to get an early look at our weather now with Chad Myers.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

Storms from yesterday are finally calming down a little bit this morning. Still, some showers expected across the Ohio Valley and into the Great Lakes. A cool day in the upper Midwest, hot across parts of Texas.

The next storm system, tropical system, coming up the west side of Mexico. It will eventually make landfall, not as a hurricane, but moisture in the desert southwest. That will cause more potential flash flooding there. Look at that, 96 in Dallas today, 84 in Memphis, 80 in Atlanta.

Pretty decent weather for tomorrow. Decent flying conditions I think just about everywhere. This is that rain we talked about. Those scattered storms.

The problem with those storms when they happened out there in the desert with tropical moisture, the storms don't move. And when they don't move, it continues to rain in the same spot and then eventually you get that potential for flash flooding.

Highs for tomorrow, cooling down to 91 in Dallas, 70 in New York City, and 71 in Boston. Enjoy your day. Make it a great one.

Back to you, guys.

BERMAN: Make it a great one.

ROMANS: Best advice there. BERMAN: Only because Chad told me to.

All right. Pro-democracy activists and the government in a faceoff in Hong Kong. Could the end now be near? As a sudden change in tone sweeps the streets. We'll take you live to Hong Kong.

ROMANS: Coming up on EARLY START, another high profile problem for the Secret Service. We've got those details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning in Hong Kong, pro-activists and government officials have agreed to several rounds of talks. Now, this is a significant change in tone for the government which deemed the student protests illegal just last week. So, will this framework for talks ends the standoff on the streets?

Our Andrew Stevens has been on the streets in Hong Kong.

Andrew, what's the latest?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, those talks are indeed expected to get underway in the next day or so. Certainly at this stage, it's not clear whether it will be resolved through negotiation or not, because publicly at least, neither the students nor the government are giving any ground whatsoever. And it doesn't seem to be a compromise at the moment.

But the students are asking for substantial change coming from the talks. The government is saying that we are sticking where we are which is basically, this is an unlawful gathering and we believe the process about the process about trying to get the new leaders in 2017 chosen is the right way to go. So, at this stage, it is not clear if there is a way out of this.

But certainly, negotiations have been welcomed here in Hong Kong. We're now on the second week of these protests. People are on the streets or where I have been in Mong Kok, which is the hard scrabble of working class area, is increasing sort of concerns that people need to get back to work. They need to clear the streets to get on with doing their business.

BERMAN: All right. Our Andrew Stevens on the streets of Hong Kong where people do seem soon to be getting back to business -- Andrew, our thanks to you.

ROMANS: New allegations of improper disposal of Ebola waste. Some claimed the federal government has lowered the standards for disposal. How it's been allowed right now? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: New allegations this morning from an emergency preparedness group that claims the government is not properly disposing of Ebola waste in Dallas. The health care coalition for emergency preparedness claims federal officials are lowering safety standards by allowing the hospital treating Thomas Eric Duncan to transport Ebola-infected materials away from the hospital. Current guidelines require hospital to treat and disposed infected materials on site.

BERMAN: A new potential embarrassment for the Secret Service. "The Washington Examiner" reports a top ranking agent who worked on President Obama protective detail had his gun stolen from his car at his home in 2009 and was never disciplined. In fact, he was reportedly promoted. The Secret Service has had several high profile problems involving stolen or misplaced handguns in just the last few years.

ROMANS: Dozens of potential jurors will be back in a Phoenix courtroom this morning facing a grilling from the attorneys in the Jodi Arias sentencing trial. About 100 potential jurors were rejected because of seeing too many media coverage of her case, or they had already form the decision about her punishment. Arias facing the death penalty for murdering her boyfriend. The first jury in the case was deadlocked on her sentence.

BERMAN: A week after his drunk driving arrest, Michael Phelps has been suspended from competition by USA Swimming, suspended for six months. As a result, the 22-time Olympic medalist will not get to represent the United States next year's world championships. That's the most significant competition leading up to the 2016 Summer Olympics.

A spokesperson says Phelps accepts the punishment. The swimmer just announced he was entering a six-week treatment program.

ROMANS: All right. A stunning discovery at New York Central Park. New York Central Park bear cub dead underneath some bushes. A dog walker stumbled upon the animal Monday morning. Officials at the Central Park Zoo are sure the bear did not belong to them.

BERMAN: They didn't have any bears at the time.

ROMANS: Police say the 3-foot cub showed sign of trauma and lacerations. They are not sure if it wandered in the park or someone put it there.

BERMAN: There'd been no bears in the park for a long, long time. It seems someone brought the thing there, which is really sad.

All right. I have a nice story for you. Look at the New England Patriots cheerleaders. Look at what they are wearing. Those are Cincinnati Bengals jerseys during Sunday's game when the patriots were playing the Bengals.

Why were they wearing the other team's jersey? Well, to show support for the 4-year-old Leah Still. She has cancer. Her father Devon has been added to the Bengals practice squad. Actually, he's now on the full roster. He plays for -- started the game for them. But he was added to the roster earlier this year, so they can qualify for insurance to take care of her.

The Bengals did a solid. It urns out he's a good player, though. After the game, still tweeted, "We may not have won the game, but this

definitely helps Leah win her battle." Very nice to see Patriots --

ROMANS: It really is. It really is. Best of luck to her.

All right. Coming up, Ebola in America. What progress has been made in the fight against the deadly virus and what the government wants to do to keep you safe -- after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: New hope for the Dallas patient stricken with Ebola. But a new case of Ebola surfaces in Spain. The first known case caught by someone outside of West Africa. A frightening development.

ROMANS: An American teen charged with trying to join ISIS, spelling out his intentions in a three-page letter. Details of his plans revealed.

Also, ISIS continues its push for a land grab of Kobani. We are live from the region.

BERMAN: And harsh words for President Obama from one of his own, Leon Panetta -- the former CIA chief and defense secretary. What he says the president has done wrong in the fight against ISIS.

ROMANS: All right. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is 29 minutes past the hour right now.

ROMANS: All right. Let's start with Ebola. The first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States has new reason to hope as officials struggle to contain both the virus and public fear over its spread.