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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

New Hope for Ebola Patient; Terror in the Homeland; ISIS Flag Flying in Kobani; Harsh Words for the President

Aired October 07, 2014 - 04:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: 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.

Rick Perry, governor of Texas, where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan is being treated, he says there is only so much state government can do. Perry is calling for the federal government to increase border screening and quarantine. Duncan, meanwhile, still in critical condition in the Dallas hospital, but he's now getting an experimental treatment that doctors hope will save his life.

Our CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in Dallas for us this morning 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 at 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) JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, these Ebola fears happening in an election season, the election one month from today. The administration is under pressure to show that it has Ebola under control considering 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.

Now, 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)

ROMANS: All right. Our thanks to Michelle for that.

Let's turn now to the battle for the Syrian town of Kobani. It has turned into a desperate street fight. The black ISIS flag is now flying over the hill on the eastern side of Kobani. Witnesses say that many fighters on both sides have been killed. 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, about 60 miles away.

Right now, 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.

BERMAN: A Chicago teen is in custody charged with trying to join is. The FBI arrested Mohammed Hamzah Kahn at the O'Hare International Airport on Saturday. Officials say the 19-year-old had bought a round trip ticket to Istanbul, not clear who paid for the ticket exactly. They also say Kahn also left behind a three-page note for his parents writing that he was leaving the United States and on his way to join ISIS. In the note, he also allegedly invited his parents to join him, warning them not to tell anyone about his travel plans.

ROMANS: President Obama shifts into campaign mode today. He will headline fund-raisers in New York City and Connecticut for the Democratic National Committee. Meantime, Vice President Joe Biden heads west. He will attend a series of campaign events for Democratic congressional and state candidates in California.

BERMAN: Same sex couples can now marry in five more states because of a really historic non-action by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court did not weigh in on the issue of same-sex marriage again. This non- move legally cleared couples to 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: This is a little bit of an unexpected move by the justices. It could eventually allow gay couples to marry in a total of 30 states.

ROMANS: Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the decisions made by President Obama over the years have made the current fight against ISIS harder. 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. And 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)

ROMANS: Now, Panetta also had praise for the president, saying he could still have a great legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PANETTA: These next two and a half years will tell us a lot about his legacy. Look, the first four 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)

ROMANS: So, he is not doing those jobs anymore. So, why is he talking?

BERMAN: Why is he talking? He happens to have a book coming out which is why you generally hear these types of things. And later this morning, you will hear them on NEW DAY. CNN's Gloria Borger sits down with the former defense secretary and CIA chief. That is in the 8:00 hour of NEW DAY.

ROMANS: All right. Can't wait for that.

Time for an EARLY START on money this Tuesday morning. Global stocks are down and U.S. futures are also down following the drop in the markets yesterday. Something else that's falling, gas prices. Prices have slipped to the lowest levels of the year and they are on track, John, to drop even further.

Look at that. The average price for regular gas had its largest daily drop in 11 months Monday. You could think a mix of low oil prices. I mean, oil prices have been falling. There's good supply and falling demands. The national average currently just north of $3 a gallon. I saw it yesterday in Jersey at $2.95.

Analysts predict it's going to keep falling below $3. GasBuddy found --

BERMAN: That's crazy.

ROMANS: -- that almost 10 percent of stations nationwide are charging under $3 a gallon.

BERMAN: Remember that, when you complain six months from now when it goes up.

ROMANS: Hurricane season, we've got to get through hurricane season. If we can get through that without a storm or refinery problems, and if you don't have a flare up of problems in the Middle East, I know it sounds crazy to say, but so far, those global oil prices are not a concern in the Middle East.

BERMAN: So, are we going to have any storms coming in the near future?

Let's get an early start of the weather 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.

ROMANS: Good advice from Chad Myers, as often.

BERMAN: It is a great one already.

All right. As the United States continues efforts to eliminate ISIS in Iraq, a new strategy being used and this one may surprise you. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. We do have breaking news in Iraq in the battle against ISIS.

Word from the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar that 29 suspected ISIS militants have been killed, apparently in an air strike. Officials there in the hospital say they received the bodies this morning.

Now, U.S. forces have started using Apache helicopters for the first time in Iraq. The Apache AH64s, they 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 the helicopters can fly low and strike with greater 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.

A lot going on, obviously, including the breaking news, as we said, at least 29 militants apparently killed in Tal Afar.

Our Ben Wedeman monitoring all for us in Baghdad.

Good morning, Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

We understand that there were two coalition strikes on Tal Afar at about 4:00 a.m. local time. And according to medical sources there at the hospital, indeed, as you mentioned, 29 of them were killed.

Now, Tal Afar is a very strategic town because it's about midway between Mosul which is occupied by ISIS currently and the Syrian border. We know from Kurdish military officials that their aim is to try to cut off Mosul from Syria and therefore cut off the supply and logistical lines between Syria where ISIS is based with Raqqa and Euphrates. And so, this is really probably the focus of these airstrikes, as well as Kurdish Peshmerga and the Iraqi army moves as I said to cut off Mosul from its base of supplies -- John.

BERMAN: And, Ben, you had a chance to spend time with some of the Iraqi forces or at least see them in action, such a crucial part of the U.S.-led coalition there. They are the so-called boots on the ground battling ISIS. What's your assessment of how they are operating so far?

WEDEMAN: They are very shaky boots indeed, John. We have seen since June with the fall of Mosul and a string of cities in Iraq that they are really struggling to stop the advance of ISIS.

Now, when we were at the western defensive perimeter of Baghdad yesterday, we saw that they are holding the line. They complain about the lack of sort of sufficient air cover from coalition air strikes, about the lack of equipment they need to keep ISIS at bay. But they are managing to do it, they were telling us that their snipers fire on them occasionally, they take some incoming mortar rounds. But it appears until now, ISIS really isn't pushing to try to advance on that part of Baghdad.

Their focus is on a string of cities along the Euphrates River in Anbar province where, of course, there is a Sunni majority, there's a receptive local population. Now, what the Iraqi army is trying to do is improve its ties with Sunni tribes -- Sunni tribes which have basically militias of their own -- to try to join the fight against ISIS.

And until now, it's proven to be quite a challenge because many of these tribes have been alienated by the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad. So, the Americans -- we spoke to the retired General John Allen, who is the U.S. coordinator for the U.S. coalition against ISIS, he says the process of bringing the Sunni tribes back on board to fight ISIS is going to take time, it's going to be complicated and it's going to be expensive -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Ben Wedeman, our thanks to you. A very active morning in the battle against ISIS.

As Ben just reported just there, we did understand that 29 militants killed in the northern Iraqi city a short time ago. We're also getting reports of perhaps some shelling air fire in the Syrian city of Kobani. We'll find out more about that and get that to you as soon as we get details.

ROMANS: And reports that Turkish authorities on the border are getting very aggressive, keeping journalists and people away from right there on the border, as that action is happening.

BERMAN: Something's clearly going on.

ROMANS: All right. Forty-eight minutes past the hour.

Pro-democracy activists and government facing off in Hong Kong. What's the end game and could the end be near as the sudden change in tone sweeps the streets. That's next.

BERMAN: And new allegations of improper disposal of Ebola waste. Some claim the federal government has lowered the standards of disposal. How is this even allowed right now?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Welcome back.

This morning, to Hong Kong now where pro-democracy activists and government officials have agreed to several rounds of talks. This is a pretty significant change in tone for the government, which deemed the student protests illegal last week, dismissed it completely as illegal. Student leaders say the protests will continue until they have productive talks with the government. But the crowds are thinning at the protest site and the key road has been reopened to traffic.

BERMAN: New allegations this morning for 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. The current guidelines require hospital to treat and dispose of the infected materials on-site.

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

BERMAN: Dozens of potential jurors will be back in the Phoenix courtroom this morning, facing a grilling from the attorneys in the Jodi Arias sentencing retrial. About potential 100 jurors have been rejected because they saw too much coverage of the case or they have already formed a decision about here punishment. Arias is facing the death penalty from murdering her boyfriend. The first jury in the case was deadlocked on her sentence.

ROMANS: A week after his drunk driving arrest, Michael Phelps has been suspended from competition by USA Swimming for the next six months. As a result, the 22-time Olympic medalist will not represent the U.S. in next year's world championships, the most significant competition leading up to the Summer Games. A spokesman says Phelps accepts the punishment. The swimmer just announced he is entering a six-week treatment program.

BERMAN: A really tragic discovery in New York Central Park. That's a bear cub found dead underneath bushes. A dog walker stumbled upon the animal Sunday morning. Officials at the Central Park Zoo say there are no bears at the Central Park Zoo. So, it did not belong to them.

Police say the three-foot cub showed signed of trauma and lacerations. Now, it's possible some suggest it wandered into the park from somewhere, but perhaps more likely that someone, somehow, dumped it.

ROMANS: I mean, they do have bears in New Jersey, black bears in New Jersey. I mean, but the Lincoln Tunnel?

BERMAN: Way across the river, or walked through the tunnel, which is hard to imagine.

ROMANS: All right. Check out the New England Patriots cheerleaders. Those are the patriots wearing Cincinnati's jerseys during Sunday's game against the Bengals. They did it to show their support for 4- year-old Leah Still. She has cancer. Her father, Devon, has been added to the Bengal's practice squad and now is playing for the team.

He was originally added, John, so he could qualify for health insurance, but now, it turns he's pretty --

BERMAN: He's now playing. He is now starting.

ROMANS: After the game, Still tweeted the game, "We may not have won the game, but this will help her win her battle."

BERMAN: Such a classy move by the Bengals. That's the owner, Mike Brown, right there. ROMANS: All right. Ten cities lead the list this morning, the list of the most innovative places solving urban issues. We'll tell you if your city is on the list when we get an EARLY START on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning.

Stock futures lower. The market slipped yesterday after a rally at the end of last week. Investors cautious ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting. That comes out tomorrow, a lot of caution out there. Also tomorrow, the unofficial launch of third quarter earnings seasons for a lot of material for investors today.

All right. New York City is the most innovative city in America. That's according to a new project on the CNN Money, that tracks urban innovation across the country. CNN Money surveyed more than 50 cities in the U.S. to find the city that tackled issues with the most creative solutions. Those issues, include education, housing, infrastructure and job creation.

So, here are the top five. New York is number one, followed by Boston, John Berman, Portland, Chicago and Detroit.

BERMAN: Boston's way more innovative.

ROMANS: Actually, Chicago -- you know, Chicago is pretty innovative.

For the rest of the list, and more on urban innovation, check out the most innovative cities at CNNMoney.com.

The NBA scored the slam dunk with the $25 billion TV rights deal. Also banking points, LeBron James. That jumped revenue means the NBA can raise its salary cap for players.