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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Ebola Crisis Growing; Republicans Demand Ebola Travel Ban; ISIS Forces Nearing Baghdad; Protesters, Hong Kong Leaders to Talk?; Royals Advance to World Series

Aired October 16, 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 HOST: New questions this morning about Ebola. The second nurse with the deadly virus now being treated in Atlanta. That as a controversy swirls around why she flew on a commercial flight and the CDC okayed her to travel or not.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And growing demand for a ban on flights from West Africa into the United States. The White House says it's not on the table.

All right. Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: Great to see you today. I'm John Berman. It is Thursday, October 16th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And we do have breaking news overnight. The second Dallas nurse to come down with Ebola has now been moved to Atlanta for treatment. That amid controversy over her previous air travel.

Twenty-nine-year-old Amber Vinson was part of the team that took care of Thomas Eric Duncan. He, of course, is the man from Liberia who died in Dallas from Ebola last week.

But now, there are serious questions why Amber took a flight from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday when she had a temperature of 99.5.

ROMANS: CDC Director Thomas Frieden said she never, never should have set foot on an airplane after taking care of Duncan, knowing that another nurse, Nina Pham had already been diagnosed with Ebola.

But a federal official tells CNN that Vinson informed the CDC of her travel plans and was not told she shouldn't fly.

The CDC is reaching out to each of the 132 other people on Vinson's flight. It says the risk that any of them were infected with Ebola is, quote, "extremely low". The CDC is also considering adding 76 hospital employees on the government's no-fly list now.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Dallas with more on Vinson's case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the second worker Amber Vinson was moved from Dallas to Emory University in Atlanta where she will begin her treatment, this morning, continue her treatment here this morning. But she was moved on the very day that much bigger questions are now being raised about how well-prepared these health care workers that treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient that died of Ebola last week here at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

A prominent nurses union, a national union, saying that the health care team was simply not given the proper protocols, not prepared to handle the situation in which they were entering. A lot of questions about the protective gear that they were wearing, and whether or not that could have been a failure in that area is what led to their infection.

CDC investigators say they're really concentrating on the first two or three days that Thomas Eric Duncan was brought here to the hospital where sometimes the health care workers were wearing two or three layers of protective gear and in some cases had skin that was exposed. So, that's one of the areas they're focusing on.

The hospital officials have not commented directly on these allegations, only have said that the safety and care of their employees is a top priority -- Christine and John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Ed Lavandera, thanks for that.

Now, Amber Vinson's flight from Ohio to Texas is sparking Ebola fear in both states. Two schools in Belton, Texas, are closed because a pair of students flew on the same flight as Vinson. In suburban Cleveland, two schools in the Solon School District closed today because a staff member traveled from Dallas, home to Ohio, on a different flight than Vinson, but quote, "perhaps the same aircraft." Schools in both districts will be cleaned and disinfected.

BERMAN: Look, I understand why people are concerned. But I think medical experts tell you this is an overabundance of caution there. That those measures are not necessary.

ROMANS: On Capitol Hill later this morning, a House committee is holding a special hearing on the Ebola situation in Texas. Among those under the microscope, CDC Director Thomas Frieden. And a top official from Dallas Health Presbyterian Hospital has now submitted written testimony saying, quote, "We are deeply sorry for failing to initially diagnose Thomas Eric Duncan with Ebola."

BERMAN: Congressional Republicans are demanding further action against Ebola. House Speaker John Boehner says the White House needs to consider a travel ban from West African nations dealing with Ebola right now. Pennsylvania Congressman Bill Schuster and Tom Marino, along with South Dakota Senator John Thune are all joining this call. Marino is also demanding the immediate resignation of CDC Director Tom Frieden.

The White House said on Wednesday that a West Africa travel ban is, quote, "not on the table" at this point.

ROMANS: All right. Four major U.S. airports will begin enhanced Ebola screenings Monday. Newark, Washington Dulles, Chicago's O'Hare, and Hartsfield-Jackson are going to join New York's Kennedy Airport which begun the screening on Saturday. Passengers arriving from those three West African countries at the center of the outbreak, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, they will undergo increased scrutiny, including they'll have their temperature taken. They'll have to answer some questions.

BERMAN: So, health ministers from the European Union are meeting today to discuss tightening screening from people traveling from Ebola-stricken nations. Also this morning, the World Health Organization will announce a check list of Ebola preparedness best practices that all nations should meet.

Following these developments, CNN's Al Goodman in Madrid. Madrid is also, of course, where a Spanish nurse is fighting Ebola right now.

Al, do we have an update on her condition?

AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She's in the hospital behind me. Doctors say she is stable, but serious. They are happy she has made it past the two-week mark, which is a good marker for Ebola patients. They are working on trying to clear up her lungs right now.

Now, in terms of the airport screening, two European Union nations, Britain and France already announced screening there to try to stop the spread of Ebola. But the meeting of the health ministers from all 28 European nations is trying to get a coordinated response. There are really close ties between some European Union nations and Africa. Trade ties, former colonial ties.

There is concern that passengers coming up from places like Paris, Charles de Gaulle airport could then get on a connecting flight to Hungary. There are some African nations who don't have direct delights to Europe, but they do through Morocco. They got off a plane, change a plane in Morocco and go all over the European Union.

So, this is what they're trying to do -- beef up the airport screening here in the most affected countries in Africa, beef up the screening here in Europe as well -- John.

BERMAN: Al Goodman for us in Madrid, a lot of these countries facing the same questions right now. Our thanks to you, Al.

ROMANS: All right. Time for an EARLY START on money.

Investors sold stocks with a vengeance. Right now, U.S. stock futures barely budging, a pause at least, from huge swings yesterday. The Dow plunged 460 points before bouncing back to end down 173 points or about 1 percent. Frenzied selling in stocks and a rush into the safety of the bond market. The ten-year treasury yield below 2 percent for the first time since last year. What's wrong? Europe's economy has stalled. China's growth is

slowing. Here in the U.S., retail sales unexpectedly shrank last month.

As if those market moves aren't enough, at the same time, oil prices plunging.

Look at this, about $80 a barrel right now. It was $107 over the summer. A couple of things, we are producing a lot here in the U.S. I mean, the United States is now energy independent almost. I mean, you know, not a net importer. And you got slowing global growth. Both of those things can send oil prices down sharply. Really wild when you look across all the major markets.

BERMAN: Geopolitical implications of that as well.

ROMANS: And your gas bill is going to be shorter, smaller.

BERMAN: Indeed.

Let's check in with Chad Myers right now for an EARLY START on our forecast. Chad is deeply concerned about your shoes this morning.

(LAUGHTER)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No leather on the bottom of your new Johnston and Murphy's, I hope, this morning.

You know what? It's going to be a wet commute in New York. That always helps. So, maybe today is a train day if you are commuting to New York City. Boston, you're going to get a wet commute home. But the rain will move out of the New York City later on this afternoon. Philadelphia and D.C., you are already dried out. A decent commute for you there.

A cool down for the weekend after the rain comes in today. An inch or two into parts of Connecticut, Upstate New York, all the way into Down East, Maine. So, some of that could be very heavy at times today. Sixty-nine is the high today, 70 in D.C., 68 in Atlanta, and 80 in Tampa.

Here's your chill down, your cool down for the weekend, a major cold front coming through. You'll go from the 70s where you are now, the high on Sunday in the city, 58 and 53, right around the LaGuardia, 58 for D.C., and 57 will be the high there if you take a trip to Cincinnati or if you're waking up there this morning.

Here is Gonzalo. This is a storm that was a category four last night. Now, a category three, headed to Bermuda. We'll keep watching it for you, and also, Ana didn't develop overnight into a hurricane. That's good news. That update in 30 minutes.

Guys, back to you.

BERMAN: All right. Chad, thanks so much. ROMANS: All right. Fighters in a key Syrian border town gaining

ground against ISIS, as the top U.S. general says troops on the ground in Iraq are not out of the question to fight the terror group.

And police and protesters clash in Hong Kong overnight as demonstrators try to re-take a main thoroughfare. We'll talk about what is sparking this new round of violence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: We are following a lot of developments in the Ebola situation here in the United States and around the world this morning.

But, first, ISIS forces are closing in or at least moving a little closer to Baghdad this morning. The terror group has armored vehicles, tanks, and heavy weapons building up in Anbar province. That is about 25 miles west of the Iraqi capital.

Now, Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey not ruling out completely, refusing to rule out 100 percent the possibility of recommending combat troops in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I cannot foresee a case where we should reintroduce large ground combat forces into Iraq. But, again, war is discovery. ISIL is a national security threat. If we get to that point, I'll make the recommendation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And it's his job to make recommendations and to keep options open.

U.S. defense officials continue to say that the chances of an overthrow of Baghdad are very remote, a Shia city.

ROMANS: The U.S.-led air strikes are pounding ISIS positions in Iraq and northern Syria. The Pentagon rolling out the official name for this offensive Wednesday. It's called "Operation Inherent Resolve". Thirty-nine airstrikes in all over the last two days. Many of them hitting ISIS targets near the northern Syrian town of Kobani where Kurdish forces are fighting hard to keep the extremist from seizing control.

I want to bring in senior correspondent Arwa Damon is there, live for us from the Syria-Turkey border this morning.

Good morning, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.

Those airstrikes do seem to have at the very least for the time being allowed the YPG fighters, the Kurdish fighting force, to at least maintain some of the key front lines preventing ISIS from moving forward towards that ever so critical border crossing with Turkey. If they had managed to take over that border crossing, one Kurdish fighter we spoke to said that Kobani would effectively fall. That for now is holding.

And when it comes to the frontlines, especially to the west and to southwest, some of the Kurdish fighters we have been speaking to are saying they have managed to a certain degree to push ISIS back.

But the key issue here is and continues to be this problem of resupply. The Kurds that are fighting inside want to see some sort of weapons corridor opened up so that they can begin receiving that heavy weaponry they say they need to really deal a significant blow to the ISIS fighters because they have tanks, and the Kurds quite simply do not have the kind of equipment needed to take on tanks even in street- to-street combat.

They do believe that they have managed to make some gains, but this is a battle field whose frontlines are continuously moving. And if they want to make a long-term gains against the ISIS fighters, they're going to need to not just need airstrikes, but that vital additional support, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Vital additional support.

Arwa Damon, thank you for that, Arwa.

BERMAN: Some news breaking overnight in Hong Kong. The chief executive there opening the door to talks with protesters, saying that he hopes the government can meet with students who are demanding democratic reforms as early as next week. This comes after a new tense confrontation between demonstrators and police in that Chinese- controlled city.

Let's go to Manisha Tank live in Hong Kong for us this morning.

Good morning, Manisha.

MANISHA TANK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John.

That's right. We've had the press conference with C.Y. Leung. And this is the first time that we've heard from the chief executive since a video emerged, disturbing video, showing seven plain-clothes police officers beating an activist who had already been retrained. This is gone up on the Internet. There are views of the particular clip.

And this, clearly, there's been outrage from pro-democracy groups here about, and even Amnesty International and U.S. State Department have commented on what they have been seeing here in Hong Kong. But as to that briefing, he didn't really make much mention of that video, he only refer to a question and said that, yes, there would be in place procedures for the investigation that's going on into it.

Meanwhile, about that dialogue, he said that middlemen are talking to the student groups about getting that dialogue going. The dialogue was meant to happen between Carrie Lam and the students, the Hong Kong federation students. Carrie Lam is C.Y. Leung's deputy. If the dialogue happened, it could start as early as next week --

John.

BERMAN: All right. Manisha Tank in Hong Kong for us, thanks so much. We will keep an eye on that.

The sentencing arguments for Oscar Pistorius, they are on this morning. The prosecution pressing for the athlete to get prison time for shooting and killing Reeva Steenkamp. On Wednesday, her cousin took the stand recounting the horrifying moments she found out that Reeva died. Pistorius killed Steenkamp last Valentine's Day, he said after mistaking her for an intruder.

ROMANS: New details this morning about the investigation into the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. The "St. Louis Post Dispatch" talked with one witness who says he testified before the grand jury. He says Officer Darren Wilson did not shoot until the unarmed teen turned toward him. That Brown's arms were out at his sides, not high in the air, and that he staggered toward Wilson despite orders to stop. The grand jury trying to decide if the officer should face criminal charges.

BERMAN: All right. The contentious governor's race in Florida got really weird during a debate last night. The Republican incumbent Rick Scott and the Democratic challenger, the former governor, Charlie Crist, they were set to face-off at Broward College. But when the debate was supposed to start, the governor refused to come on stage because Charlie Crist had a small electric fan under his podium.

This is what the moderator told the audience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MODERATOR: The Scott campaign say that there should be no fan. Somehow there is a fan there and for that reason, ladies and gentlemen, I am being told that Governor Scott -- will not join us for this debate.

(BOOS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: There are no fans apparently in Florida politics.

Now, Governor Scott finally did emerge seven minutes later. Just left Charlie Crist on the stage for seven minutes or the stage empty while there was this conversation about a fan. The candidates, once they started, attacking each other, which has been the hallmark of this really pretty nasty campaign.

ROMANS: This is how you have to have, (INAUDIBLE), and you have the cold water, and warm water, and this is you and all of your demands? That's really interesting.

BERMAN: It's crazy.

ROMANS: All right. Eighteen minutes past the hour.

It was nearly 30 years in the making, but the Royals are going to the World Series. Andy Scholes has all the details in the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Good morning, Kansas City. Or are you still awake? Because for the first time in 29 years, you and your Royals are heading to the World Series.

ROMANS: Twenty-nine years. Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, guys.

This has just been an incredible run. The Royals are the first team ever to start a post-season with eight straight wins. For more wins and they're going to be World Series champions. Just unbelievable to think about. Not Kauffman Stadium was rocking last night. Fans have the brooms out, looking for the sweep of the Orioles.

And right away, the Orioles, I mean, the Royals, they jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first inning after a throwing error by the Orioles. And, you know, that's all Kansas City would need in this game. They're pitching and defense was fantastic. Once again, Alex Gordon with a play of the game, crushing into the wall, to rob JJ Hardy in an extra hit in the fifth. They would win this one 2-1.

And after spending nearly three decades as one of the worst teams in baseball, the Royals are heading to the World Series.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX GORDON, ROYALS OUTFIELDER: It's been an amazing run. I mean, this is great. You know, we have been playing pretty good baseball. So, it's nothing better when you win.

ERIC HOSMER, ROYALS FIRST BASEMAN: These guys every day come to play, and there's -- if they don't do it offensively, they do it defensively with the gloves and playing for three games and you got guys stepping up right now.

NED YOST, ROYALS MANAGER: This is a wonderful time for North America to watch our team and I think that have fallen in love with our team. They just love the way we play the game. I think it was a great experience for our players, but I think that we made a bunch of new fans throughout the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: The last time the Royals were in the World Series, "Back to the Future" was the top grossing movie in the country and Ronald Reagan was in his second term as president. So, it's safe to say, many Kansas City fans have been waiting their entire lives for this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has been 29 years. We have been waiting. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once in a lifetime.

(CHEERS)

PAUL RUDD: I'm going to be partying at my mom's house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Is everybody invited or just a select group?

RUDD: Party at my mom's. She's out of town. I've got a keg. It will be sweet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: In case you didn't know, that was actor Paul Rudd. I bet that was a pretty fun party.

The Cardinals and Giants were squaring off in game four of the NLCS last night. Barry Bonds, the '90s version, was on hand to throw out the first pitch. And this one was tied in the sixth. That is when the cardinals go for the double play. But once again, an error in the field cost them big time. Giants scored the go-ahead run on the play. They would hold on to win the game 6-4.

San Francisco now leads the series 3-1. So, barring a Cardinals comeback, you're going not going to be getting your rematch of the I- 70 World Series in 1985, guys, between the Royals and the Cardinals. It looks like it's going to be Royals, Giants and some powerful forces that are going to be in play in this one, guys.

Of course, the Royals have not lost a game in this post-season, but the Giants, they win the World Series in even years. They won in 2010, 2012, and it looks like they're going to be heading back this year. So, we'll have to see. It's going to be a good series, I think.

BERMAN: Andy Scholes counting on numerology to make his World Series picks. All right. Andy, thanks so much. By the way, the people of St. Louis are cursing you right now for doubting their ability to come back.

ROMANS: Thanks, Andy.

All right. Twenty-five minutes past the hour. Why was a nurse who just treated an Ebola patient able to fly on a commercial plane? Is it time for the CDC to change the rules? Complete coverage of the Ebola crisis in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)