Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Nurse Nina Pham Arrives At NIH; Growing Ebola Concerns; ISIS Forces Pushed Back in Kobani; Pistorius Back in Court; The Giants Win the Pennant
Aired October 17, 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: Breaking overnight: the first nurse in Dallas to get Ebola now in Maryland for treatment at the National Institutes of Health. And we hear from here straight from her hospital bed, amazing words for the first time.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And now concerns about the second nurse who flew on a plane with Ebola. Was she feeling sick while visiting family in Ohio or on the way back to Dallas? Could more people than we thought been exposed?
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: Every morning, there are new questions.
I'm John Berman. It is Friday, October 17th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
And we do start with the breaking news overnight. The first nurse infected in Dallas with Ebola, Nina Pham, she is now in Maryland. She arrived overnight. She was taken by ambulance to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.
And now, we're also getting our first glimpse of Pham. Now, this video was taken in Texas just before she left. Her doctor made a video and uploaded it to YouTube. Pham asked him to.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GARY WEINSTEIN: Thanks for getting well. Thanks for being part of the voluntary team to take care of our first patient. It means a lot. This has been a huge effort by all of you guys. We're really proud of you.
NINA PHAM: I love you guys.
Come to Maryland, everybody.
WEINSTEIN: Party, party in Maryland?
PHAM: Party in Maryland.
WEINSTEIN: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: I'm no doctor, but the best thing I can see there is a laugh from Nina Pham.
ROMANS: She is sitting up.
BERMAN: That's terrific. I hope that improves from here.
CNN's Brian Todd now is outside the hospital where Pham is being treated at this moment in Maryland with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nina Pham, the 26-year-old nurse who contracted the Ebola virus from patient Thomas Eric Duncan, has arrived here at National Institute of Health right behind me. Got here a short time ago and is treated in Building 10. This is the special clinical studies unit at NIH. It's a high containment isolation unit where she will be treated indefinitely until her recovery is complete.
This unit is very highly specialized. Everybody who comes in contact with Nina Pham will wear hazmat gear, will be wearing isolation gowns, special gowns, things like that.
Also, the air inside her room is highly isolated. They are running what they call powered air purifying respirators in her room. No air from the outside will get into her room and her room's air will not get to the outside.
So, this unit is very highly specialized. This is where she's going to be receiving treatment over the next several days and weeks.
As to the actual treatment she'll be getting, that's classified. Officials here will not reveal to us the specific drug protocols or other specific treatment that she'll be getting.
But we can tell you is that the NIH, this facility, is now on the frontlines of the fight against Ebola on two different fronts. Number one, they are treating Nina Pham here, but this facility is testing out an Ebola vaccine -- one of two places in the United States testing the vaccine out for the first time on humans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Brian Todd, thanks for that.
Now, there are contradictory reports this morning about just when the second nurse infected with Ebola, Amber Vinson started to feel sick. Now, Vinson's uncle said she was fine the whole time in Cleveland. But a federal official with knowledge of the case tells CNN Vinson felt fatigued and achy while in Ohio on Friday or Saturday.
The prospect that she might have been contagious earlier has led officials to reach out to passengers on Vinson's flight to Cleveland, in addition to those who flew back with her to Texas. A bridal shop Vinson visited in Ohio has closed as a precaution, and at least eight people she came in contact with in Ohio are under self quarantine today.
BERMAN: A nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian is slamming the hospitals readiness to treat the Ebola patient it received and now the ones who come down with the virus, while treating the one patient that did arrive there.
Briana Aguirre told Anderson Cooper Thursday night that the hospital failed to provide its staff the training and protective equipment they needed to contain the virus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIANA AGUIRRE, TEXAS HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN NURSE: I feel like if you are in there with an Ebola patient and your life is on the line and your family safety is at risk, you should have the number to anyone. You should have the number to Obama administration to get you whatever it need -- you need to perform that job safely. And that I'm not satisfied with any answer that the hospital has to offer at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Texas Health Presbyterian responded with a statement saying it is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for its employees. It also adds, and this is interesting given the outcry, that it has a strict non-retaliation policy on employee feedback.
ROMANS: President Obama says the travel ban to the U.S. from Ebola- stricken countries in West Africa is not the way to go. The president met Thursday with CDC Director Tom Frieden, Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco and others.
Afterward, he told reports a travel might create more problems than it solved. But he left the door open to the possibility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't have a philosophical objection necessarily to a travel ban if that is the thing that is going to keep the American people safe. The problem is, is that in all the discussions I've had thus far with experts in the field, experts in infectious disease, is that a travel ban is less effective than the measures that we are currently instituting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president also did not rule out appointing an Ebola czar. He said it may be appropriate to appoint an additional person behind those there that you see in the room, Frieden and Monaco and others already working on the issue.
BERMAN: Now, CDC Director Tom Frieden faced a tough grilling on Capitol Hill. House members from really both parties pressed Frieden to explain how two Texas nurses could have come down with Ebola while caring for a patient, and how the federal government will prevent more people from catching Ebola.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BILL JOHNSON (R), OHIO: Was it a breakdown in the training of the protocol? Do we know whether or not the protocol works?
FRIEDEN: The investigation is ongoing. We identified some possible causes. We're not waiting for the investigation to be --
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNSON: So, we don't know.
FRIEDEN: We're immediately --
JOHNSON: We don't know. OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Ebola fears heightening in Europe. Four new suspected cases have been reported. Two of three people who were admitted to the hospital in Spain on Thursday tested negative. They remain under quarantine. None of the cases confirmed yet, but all have a link to a possible source of infection.
Standing by live in Madrid is CNN's Al Goodman.
Al, bring us up to speed.
AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That possible source of infection is the only single case one confirmed case. That's the nurse's aide Teresa Romero who's in the hospital behind me now.
The four people who were suspicions cases, two have done those tests. The initial tests are negative. They remain in isolation for several days waiting for a second test. One person, a man, had been in the ambulance, the same ambulance earlier this month that Teresa Romero, the confirmed case, took from her home to another hospital where it was confirmed she had the Ebola virus.
Meanwhile, that ambulance kept doing its service and it took up other patients, including this man who's now come in here. In total, Christine, there are now more than 85 people in Spain who are under Ebola watch. Most of them with -- all of them without symptoms except Teresa Romero. Most in homes, about a fourth of them in hospitals -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Al Goodman for us in Madrid -- thank you, Al.
BERMAN: One of the other major news this morning. Stepped up U.S. airstrikes, pushing back ISIS forces in the city of Kobani. The Kurdish fighters inside Kobani seem to be benefitting from the air support keeping extremists from taking over that city. Pentagon officials still say it is possible that Kobani will fall to ISIS, but a Pentagon spokesperson, Rear Admiral John Kirby, insists the airstrikes are making a difference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: We have definitely made it harder for ISIL to sustain itself and to operate. They are continuing to feel the pressure, which is one of the reasons why we think they're going after Kobani so badly. I mean, I think part of it is they really want a win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: CNN has learned that a State Department official met last weekend with representatives of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party. It's interesting, that group has been fighting ISIS on the ground in Kobani.
Now, it is not clear whether the United States is prepared to offer military assistance, direct assistance to that group. But it is a now diplomatic avenue open to forces on the ground fighting inside Syria.
I want to bring in Nick Paton Walsh live from the Turkey-Syria border with Kobani right behind him.
Good morning, Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, a comparatively quiet morning so far. We understand overnight, there had been clashes to the far east of the city and to the south. I have just heard what sounded like exchange of heavy gunfire over to the west hill that the Kurds took a few days ago. Yes, in the last 72 hours, we have known over 50 coalition air strikes that have hit this town. It has been remarkable to observe, the extent of the fire power deployed against the town where a week ago officials were saying it was not that strategically significant. Something changed in the U.S. calculations. The situation changed where the Kurds were confident and can hold for now while TV cameras are on that city.
Kobani is a benefit for the U.S. as it tries to talk out operations with Turkey and the issue of what to do with the Kurdish city which is no longer the center of the situation. You mentioned that a senior U.S. official has met with the representative of the Syrian Kurdish group. That, of course, may irritate Ankara because they consider align to other Turkish Kurds who they consider to be terrorist.
But really the U.S. is exploring all avenues and it seems for now, air power is slowing ISIS advance, if not certainly pushing them back. Have to see if it holds, John.
BERMAN: Have to see if it holds. Have to see if it continues to turn the tide there.
Nick Paton Walsh for us right on the border, appreciate it, Nick.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money. Trying to cap a week of crazy on Wall Street. Right now, U.S. stock futures are higher. If that holds, it could be a good day for stocks to end a very crazy week.
Yesterday, the Dow plunged 200 points and bounced back. It closed down just 25. Six days in a row of loses.
That market rebound happened after comments from the president of the St. Louis Fed. He said the Federal Reserve should consider continuing stimulus, extending stimulus, extending its bond buying program that scheduled to end right now, to end this month.
Stocks have not actually notched that true correction investors have been expecting. That a 10 percent drop. It hasn't happened in two years. The Dow and the S&P 500 are down about 7 percent from last month's highs. The NASDAQ briefly hit correction territory yesterday, but quickly bounced back from those levels.
BERMAN: Interesting. One more day. Let's get through this week.
ROMANS: I know.
BERMAN: All right. Eleven minutes after the hour.
A hurricane heading right toward Bermuda this morning, a major hurricane.
Chad Myers now with an EARLY START on the forecast.
Good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. Good morning, Christine.
A very -- I mean, we're talking big category three minor category for hurricane, right on that edge, 135 miles per hour this morning with a very large eye and awful lot of wind pressure and also some eventually flooding here in Bermuda. But the storm surge that we're worried about, there will be waves probably 30 to 40 feet high crashing over Bermuda as a category three, 120-mile-per-hour direct hit. The eye may go over Bermuda later on today with waves of 35 to 40 feet.
Now, Ana, out in the Pacific for you to still awake in Hawaii, that thing really did not do much overnight. That's right. Now, it's still forecast to be a hurricane, a category one hurricane. But it's now forecast to say south of Hilo, south of Honolulu and south of all of the islands. So, lots of waves, a little bit of flooding, but hat looks like the big story, not a direct hit like Bermuda is going to get.
A great weekend coming up in the Northeast. A good day to fly today as well out of the Northeast. Everything looks great there. Highs, though, in New York, by Sunday, 53.
BERMAN: That's not high. Nothing high about that, Chad.
MYERS: Yes.
ROMANS: Cold, but clear. We'll take it. Thanks, Chad. MYERS: You're welcome.
ROMANS: Today, the prosecution expected to finish up the case against Oscar Pistorius. When will the Blade Runner finally be sentenced? We have a live report in just a few moments.
BERMAN: And there's a Biden family scandal. It's not something over what the vice president said. One of his sons has been forced out of the Navy for drug use.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
BERMAN: This morning, the prosecution is expected to wrap up the sentencing face of the Oscar Pistorius trial. On Thursday, Reeva Steenkamp's cousin said the athlete should be locked, but the defense argues that his disability would make him too vulnerable in prison.
We want to go to CNN legal analyst Kelly Phelps live in Pretoria with the very latest.
Kelly, tell us what's going on in court right now.
KELLY PHELPS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the court is just in a break at the moment. But Mr. Roux has finished his final push for the defense, trying to convince the court the judge should issue a non- custodial sentence. And Mr. Nel has just started his arguments and very clearly stating the turn that he believes prison is the only appropriate punishment in this case.
BERMAN: It's really interesting. It seems that his celebrity, the celebrity of Oscar Pistorius, is central to both sides now of the argument in the sentencing phase. The prosecution saying he should not get special treatment because he's celebrity, and the defense is saying because of this now notoriety or ignonimity that has come his way during the trial, he needs to be treated differently.
PHELPS: Yes, absolutely. The defense took pains to point out a number of other cases that are substantially similar to Pistorius' case where a non-custodial sentence was given, in order precisely to make the point that he would not be getting special treatment if he were not sent to prison.
BERMAN: And what about the guidelines, Kelly? We've spoken about this and I think we're struck everyday by just how different this system is in South Africa. In the United States, for some crimes, there are sentencing guidelines. Any official parameters here for how long he could or might serve in prison?
PHELPS: No. There are no statutory parameters. There are only common law parameters. In other words, she is bound by the guidance issued from other cases that have come before. It can be anything from a non-custodial sentence, community supervision, to a very steep period of imprisonment for example, the cases that got eight years. So, it's all down to both legal teams now to convince her where on that very broad spectrum this case should be placed.
BERMAN: And just quickly, you know, his demeanor has been an issue from the very beginning in this trial. What's it like right now?
PHELPS: He was incredibly emotional when Barry Roux was speaking about the impact of the case has had on him. He has seemed to gather himself again. In fact, when Nel started with his characteristic aggression, it seemed to bring anger out in Mr. Pistorius as well.
BERMAN: All right. Kelly Phelps for us in Pretoria. Thank you so much. We will, of course, be checking back in with you over the next few days as this sentence comes down.
ROMANS: Developing news in Hong Kong this morning. Hundreds of police with shields and wire cutters launched a dawn raid on a protest camp blocking a major intersection for nearly three weeks. Police tore down tents and barricades and tried to open this area back up to traffic. Many of the pro-democracy protesters, they did not put up any resistance. They do still occupy a major thoroughfare near the city's financial district.
BERMAN: The youngest son of Vice President Joe Biden was discharged from the Navy in February for testing positive for cocaine. U.S. officials confirmed that to CNN. Hunter Biden put out a statement saying he is embarrassed by his actions and that he respects the Navy's decision. He did not address why he was discharged.
The 44-year-old Biden is now a managing partner at an investment firm.
ROMANS: All right. Nineteen minutes past the hour.
The World Series is set. The Giants taking on the Royals. Andy Scholes has the details in the "Bleacher Report", next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: So, the World Series is now set. It will be the San Francisco Giants battling the Kansas City Royals. Why? Well, the Giants won the National League Championship Series in dramatic fashion last night.
ROMANS: Andy Scholes has the "Bleacher Report".
Tell us about it. Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, guys.
You know, it looks like the Giants as if unbeatable in the even years. They won the World Series in 2010 and again in 2012. And, hey, they are heading back again this year.
Now, the Cardinals were six outs away from sending the series back to St. Louis. But at the bottom of the eighth, Michael Morris hit a pinch hit solo home run to tie the game at 3. In the bottom of the ninth, Travis Ishikawa gets a hold on this one, set a three-run walk- off home run to win the National League Championship Series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRAVIS ISHIKAWA, GIANTS OUTFIELDER: Going crazy, and so, my thought was, OK, if this gets out, it is fantastic. And, you know, I don't remember touching third, I don't remember touching home. The last thing I remember -- the next thing I remember was being thrown down with my jersey ripped off and finally -- I was so out of breath from yelling and screaming. I had to have guys help me stand back up to finish celebrating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: The Giants will face the Royals in the second ever all wild card World Series. Game one is Tuesday at 8:00 Eastern.
Patriots and Jets are renewing their AFC East rivalry on Thursday night football. Tom Brady looking for the second game in a row, he threw three touchdowns, including this one in the fourth quarter to Danny Amendola. The Jets actually had a chance to win this game, but Nick Folk's 58-yard field goal was blocked as time run out. New England wins 27-25. They're now 5-2, while the Jets fall to a dreadful 1-6.
Florida State prepares for their huge match up with Notre Dame this weekend. Questions continue to arise around Jameis Winston autographs. According to ESPN, the owner of the authentication company JSA says no one from Florida State has contacted him about the Winston signatures. Right now, the Web site has more than 2,000 Winston items that were authenticated. Florida State does not comment on compliance investigations.
On a much lighter note, a 16-year-old Texas girl won a contest with two potential prizes. You either get $10,000 or you get to meet Brazilian soccer star Neymar. Well, Rhiannon Conelley says this was a no-brainer. She's going to meet Neymar. Pretty remarkable, the teenager chose a life experience over 10k. But she does have big plans for this meeting. Guys, Rhiannon says she's going to ask Neymar to marry her.
BERMAN: We wish her the best of luck.
SCHOLES: What would you do, John? Would you take lunch with Tom Brady or 10k?
BERMAN: Oh, I talk lunch with Tom Brady. I would not end at just lunch. I would not settle for just lunch.
ROMANS: How far would you go, a million? A million dollars?
BERMAN: I know what you're saying here, how far would you go, Tom Brady?
ROMANS: Wait, Tom Brady or a million?
BERMAN: Tom Brady, Tom Brady.
ROMANS: Oh, man. You're right, take the experience over the cash dollar thing. SCHOLES: Can't put a value on it.
ROMANS: Experience over cash always better.
BERMAN: Thanks so much.
SCHOLES: All right.
ROMANS: Twenty-six minutes after the hour. The first nurse to catch Ebola in the U.S. may have been -- has been moved overnight to a new treatment facility. We're going to hear from her for the very first time on this new video.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
