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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Questions Swirl over Mishandling of Ebola; Baghdad Rocked by ISIS Car Bombs; Pistorius Back in Cout

Aired October 17, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. The first Texas nurse to contract Ebola in the U.S. has been moved to a new treatment center in Maryland. And we hear from Nina Pham for the first time in her own words as she fights for her life.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So is it time for an Ebola czar? President Obama opening the door to appointing someone to lead the charge in the fight against the deadly virus?

Plus, why he will not budge on banning flights from West Africa, at least not yet.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday. Finally. It is 30 minutes past the hour, 5:30 in the East.

Let's begin with breaking news this morning. Overnight, the first Dallas nurse infected with Ebola, Nina Pham, she arrived in Maryland. She was taken by ambulance to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda.

We're also getting our first glimpse of Pham in her Texas hospital room. This is where her doctor made a video and uploaded it to YouTube at Pham's request. You can see it here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. GARY WEINSTEIN, NIH: Thanks for being part of the voluntary team to take care of our first patient.

NINA PHAM, NURSE INFECTED WITH EBOLA: Yes.

WEINSTEIN: It means a lot. This has been a huge effort by all of you guys.

PHAM: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't cry. Don't cry.

WEINSTEIN: Yes. We're really proud of you. Hi.

PHAM: Come to Maryland, everybody. WEINSTEIN: Party, party in Maryland?

PHAM: Party in Maryland.

WEINSTEIN: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Two things about that. She's holding up -- holding up her head. She's laughing. It really shows -- looks like they're a team here trying to fight this.

BERMAN: Love to hear the laughter.

ROMANS: This is before she left for Maryland.

CNN's Brian Todd is outside the hospital in Maryland where Pham is being treated. He's got more for us this morning.

(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 Institutes of Health right behind me. Got here a short time ago and is being treated at 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 be wearing hazmat gear, they'll be wearing isolation gowns, special equipment, 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. That means essentially that 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 what 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 also 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)

BERMAN: Very important work. Our thanks to Brian Todd.

All right. This morning there are contradictory reports about just when the second Texas nurse infected with Ebola, Amber Vinson, just when she started to feel sick. Vinson's uncle says she was fine the whole time she was in Cleveland, but a federal official with knowledge of the case tell CNN that Vinson felt fatigued and achy while in Ohio on Friday or Saturday.

The prospect that she might have been contagious earlier has led health officials to reach out to passengers on Vinson's flight to Cleveland, in addition to those who flew back with her to Texas. While that's going on, a bridal shop that Vinson visited in Ohio has closed as a precaution. She was in Ohio to plan her wedding. At least eight people she came in contact with in Ohio are under self- quarantine.

ROMANS: A nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian slamming the hospital's readiness to treat the Ebola patients it received. Briana Aguirre told Anderson Cooper Thursday night that the hospital failed to provide its staff training and the protective gear 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 -- you need to perform that job safely. And I -- I'm not satisfied with any answer that the hospital has to offer at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Texas Health Presbyterian responding with a statement saying it is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for its employees. It adds that it has a strict non-retaliation policy on employee feedback.

BERMAN: All right. An American passenger on a cruise ship now docked in Belize has entered voluntary quarantine for Ebola. That is according to a statement on the Facebook page of the Belize government. The Associated Press says the unidentified passenger is a Dallas health care worker who handled the lab specimen carrying Ebola. The statement from Belize says a passenger is considered at very low risk for the disease. It has no Ebola symptoms. Belize says it has decided not, not to help evacuate the passenger.

President Obama says a ban on travel to the United States from the Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa is not the way to go. The president met on Thursday with CDC director Tom Frieden, Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco, also others. Afterwards he told reporters that a travel ban might create more problems than it solves, although he did maybe leave the door slightly 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)

BERMAN: The president also did not rule out appointing an Ebola czar. He says it might be appropriate to appoint an additional person beyond Tom Frieden. Lisa Monaco and the others are already working on the Ebola issue.

ROMANS: CDC Director Tom Frieden faced a tough grilling on Capitol Hill yesterday. House members from both sides of the aisle pressing him to explain just to how two Texas nurses could have contracted Ebola caring for a patient and how the federal government will prevent a larger outbreak of the deadly disease.

(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?

DR. TOM FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: The investigation is ongoing. We've identified some possible causes. We're not waiting for the investigation to be completed.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: So we don't know?

FRIEDEN: We're immediately implementing --

JOHNSON: We don't know. OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Other news. ISIS militants trying to make good on a vow to destabilize Baghdad. They set off two huge car bombs in a Shiite neighborhood, killing at least 14 civilians, wounding another 34. That's -- and according to police, militant attacks elsewhere in Iraq killed dozens more.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is live for us now in Baghdad.

Ben, what's the latest this morning?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is exactly that, John, that ISIS continues to conduct this campaign of urban terror every single day, setting off car bombs in crowded areas and at checkpoints and suicide bombers as well.

And this, of course, is in concert with its current push to take all of Anbar Province. They now control at least 80 percent of that. That's Iraq's biggest province. Now -- we're now seeing intense fighting in a town called Amriyat al-Fallujah, which is about 40 miles to the west of here.

Now when you speak to U.S. officials and others, they still seem confident that ISIS is not going to attempt for a variety of reasons relating to the size of the capital and the makeup of its population, that they're not going to attack Baghdad itself. But they certainly are putting a lot of pressure on the perimeters -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Ben Wedeman for us inside Baghdad. Thanks so much, Ben.

ROMANS: Time for an EARLY START on your money.

This morning stocks are rebounding from a tough week. European shares much higher right now. U.S. stock futures -- look at that, they're pointing higher as well. If it holds, it could be a very good day for stocks or maybe just another crazy of frenzy trading. Because look at this, yesterday, the Dow plunged 200 points. Then it bounced back and closed down just 25 points, six days in a row of losses.

The market rebounded after comments from the president of the St. Louis Fed. He said the Federal Reserve should consider extending its bond buying program. You know, that's a stimulus. It was scheduled to end this month.

Another move we're watching this morning, oil prices up a bit. $83 a barrel right now. They have been plunging for months falling as global demand weakens. Yesterday, though, oil prices starting to tick up just a little bit.

BERMAN: All right. Big news out in the Atlantic. A hurricane heading right toward Bermuda this morning.

Chad Myers with an early look on the forecast.

Good morning, Chad.

ROMANS: Hey, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. You know, our biggest storm since 2011 in the Atlantic. And it's headed right to Bermuda. I don't see how it misses it right now. There is the eye of the storm. And that's Bermuda heading right that way. They could actually get the center of the eye which means they'll get winds from one way for a while. The winds will stop and then the winds will continue from the other direction as the eyewall goes over it.

Major waves. 40-foot waves. 10 to 15 foot storm surge. And a lot of wind damages. Well, I know Bermuda is built like a rock because it is. And so are the buildings there. But still at 130-mile-per-hour storm, there will certainly be significant damage in Bermuda.

Now for Hawaii, Ana has turned to the left and should miss all of the Hawaiian islands. And only in the cone would be Kauai at this point in time. Now that doesn't mean you're not going to get flooding rain falling. A little bit of wind. But it does mean you're not going to get the eye like Bermuda.

High pressure for the East Coast. High pressure for the Midwest. Great flying condition today if you're headed home and I hope you are -- John, Christine.

ROMANS: Great flying conditions today. That's good on Friday. Yes.

BERMAN: I'll fly home.

ROMANS: Thanks.

After days of testimony, prosecution will wrap up its case against Oscar Pistorius today. But when the judge hands down the track star's sentence, could threats against him affect her ruling?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: This morning, the prosecution expected to wrap up its case in Oscar Pistorius' sentencing hearing. On Thursday, Reeva Steenkamp's cousin said the athlete should be locked up. But the defense argues Pistorius' disability will make too vulnerable in prison.

Let's go to CNN international correspondent Diana Magnay. She's live in Pretoria with the latest.

We saw him, his demeanor, earlier today. He was crying. It's obviously the very last stages of this trial. A very broken looking man. Is there a good chance he's going to end up in prison?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's so hard to read what Judge Masipa will do. She's such a closed book. Anytime she's really shown emotion in this trial, Christine, is yesterday when it was her birthday and the whole court clapped and she smiled.

She will hand down sentencing, we believe, on Tuesday. And we're just hearing the prosecutor Gerrie Nel wrap up his closing argument which is based on that testimony from the cousin Kim Martin. He says the fact that she said he should go to jail trounces any other evidence. And he was also talking about the money that Pistorius offered the family as a settlement to their civil lawsuit.

He said that because it came between verdict and sentencing, it was clearly an attempt to influence the settlement.

He is still talking. Earlier we heard from Barry Roux in defense of Oscar Pistorius, a no jail time. Just custodial -- correction services or house arrest and community service. And he said, look at other cases of culpable homicide in this country where people have killed family members mistakenly believing them to have been burglars. They didn't get custodial sentences. Why should Pistorius -- Christine.

ROMANS: Diana Magnay, Pretoria, South Africa, thanks, Diana.

BERMAN: All right. Developing news in Hong Kong this morning. Hundreds of police with shields and wire cutters launched a dawn raid on a protest camp that has been blocking a major intersection for nearly three weeks. They tore down tents and barricades and tried to open the area back up to traffic. Many of the pro-democracy protesters were caught off guard. They did

not put up resistance. They still do occupy a major thoroughfare near that city's financial district.

ROMANS: The youngest son of Vice President Joe Biden was discharged from the Navy Reserves back in February. That was after testing positive for cocaine. U.S. officials confirming that.

Hunter Biden putting out a statement saying he's embarrassed by his actions. He respects the Navy's decision to -- he came out of the Reserves. He did not address why he was discharged. The 44-year-old Biden is now a managing partner at an investment firm.

BERMAN: Let's see a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo joins us now.

Good morning, Chris.

ROMANS: Hey, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Good morning, Espinosa. Good morning, Christine. How are you?

ROMANS: Great.

CUOMO: You made my mother cry yesterday, Christine. High bar. No, it isn't. She cries at anything. But she loved the story and so did everybody else.

Can't wait for John's today. My man Baroque.

All right. There are lots of questions this morning. And we're going to assess the latest developments in this Ebola scare. It is certainly that. Now we have both infected nurses out of Dallas. The issue becomes containment. Right?

Officials are scouring Cleveland for people who flew on Amber Vinson's flights in and out of Ohio. They are caught, they're caught in a situation here. They don't think people could have gotten the virus from her, but they have to be sure. And that makes people even more scared. We'll discuss all that.

Also, we're going to speak with the Congressman who led Thursday's hearing on Capitol Hill where the CDC chief came under heavy fire. We're also going to discuss the latest with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. All the newest information on the way right at the top of the hour, my friends.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Chris. Nice to see you. Can't wait to see you. 8:00, right? 8:00 hour?

BERMAN: Something like 8:35.

ROMANS: All right.

BERMAN: Barring international developments. CUOMO: Exactly knew the time.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, guys.

Forty-seven minutes after the hour. The FBI worried about making smartphones too secure. Why authorities say data encryption could hurt criminal investigations, even let suspects walk free.

BERMAN: And you will never guess who was on the latest Wheaties box. I should say. Not an Olympian, but a diplomat. It's really awesome. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: So there has been another Kim Jong-un sighting. North Korea's state media releasing this photo of the reclusive leader, giving what they're calling field guidance at a newly built residential district. Now there really is no way to verify truly when this picture was taken.

Kim had not been seen in public since early September, which fueled speculation about his health and whether he even still is in power.

ROMANS: Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, they are meeting on the sidelines of a Europe-Asia summit in Milan today. The two leaders looking to repair a faltering cease-fire in eastern Ukraine with repeated violations in the -- in the fighting between a pro-Russian separatist from Ukraine's military. Earlier this week Putin announced Russian troops near the Ukraine border would be pulled back.

BERMAN: The head of the FBI is warning the encryption in some cell phones could hamper criminal investigations. FBI director James Comey is calling for a legislative fix to restrict technology companies' growing use of encryption that they put in there to protect user privacy. The FBI Director said if nothing is done, investigators will not be able to get forensic data to solve crimes.

ROMANS: I want pedophiles to be caught. I also want my privacy.

BERMAN: It is a tough call. Less privacy on cell phones.

ROMANS: All right, 52 minutes past the hour. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright going where no diplomat has gone before. She is the new face of Wheaties. Albright tweeted a picture of herself on the Wheaties box saying, "I just finished my breakfast of champions. Thank you."

The honor usually reserved for star athletes. But General Mills says the champion is also a person who looks inside and challenges their personal best.

BERMAN: You know, fiber is very important in diplomacy.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: So it is fitting.

ROMANS: Intestinal fortitude.

BERMAN: All right. Just a few minutes before the hour right now.

Apple unveiling a new iPad. Is it worth the hype? You're going to want to see this. We're going to get an EARLY START on your money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

How do you cap a crazy week? Maybe with a big bounce back. European stocks are much higher. U.S. stock futures sharply higher as well. If it holds, it could be a good day of stocks or just another crazy day of trading. It remains to be seen.

Yesterday the Dow plunged 200 points before bouncing back. It closed down just 25 points. But it was six days in a row of losses.

The market rebounded after comments from the president of the St. Louis Fed. He said the Federal Reserve should consider extending its bond buying program scheduled to end this month.

Let's talk about the new iPad. Apple unveiling new iPads but investors don't seem to be wowed, at least not yet. The new iPad Air and the iPad Mini come with touch ID fingerprint sensors which can be used online with Apple Pay launching on Monday. Synergy. They are thinner, faster and have better cameras.

Just like you, John Berman.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: And Apple stock fell after that announcement. IPad sales have slumped in recent quarters.

Smartphones getting bigger. Some think tablets are redundant.

BERMAN: I do think a big part of it is that tablets are expensive. And you want to hang on to them for longer. So you'll keep your iPad for three years, four years.

ROMANS: Right.

BERMAN: As opposed to the a year and a half, two years for a cell phone.

All right, guys. There is a lot of news this morning. More questions surfacing about the second Ebola nurse from Texas.

ROMANS: Right.

BERMAN: Just when did she start to feel sick? This is very important. Could she have exposed more people than initially thought.

"NEW DAY" will be covering that and very much more starting right now.