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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Republicans Attack Obama Ebola Plan; Ferguson Officer Feared for His Life; U.S. Airstrikes Pound ISIS in Syria

Aired October 20, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. Dozens of people in the clear as those in contact with the now deceased first Ebola patient in the U.S. are told they are no longer at risk of contracting the disease.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hannah Graham's family waits for answers as police thinks the discovery this weekend may help bring closure.

ROMANS: Anger and mistrust building again in Ferguson again as shocking details are released in the shooting death of Michael Brown.

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

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour this Monday morning.

ROMANS: Breaking overnight dozens of people in Dallas who were forced into quarantine after coming into contact with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, those people are now getting an all clear this morning. Forty-eight of them declared infection free. They can end their seclusion today. It has been 21 days of monitoring.

Duncan's loved ones remembering him at a service in North Carolina on Saturday. While on Sunday, cruise ship passengers who endured an Ebola scare disembarked in Galveston. A fellow passenger, who is a lab supervisor at a Dallas hospital where Duncan was treated and later died, that lab supervisor voluntarily isolated herself on board. Her Ebola test came back negative.

BERMAN: The Obama administration's response to Ebola is under fire this morning. Congressional Republicans are attacking both the president's choice of Ebola czar Ron Klain and his persistence to a travel ban from West Africa.

CNN's Erin McPike has more from the White House.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, despite the fact that the administration is stepping up its efforts on Ebola, they're still getting growing criticism on two fronts. The first is their choice of Ron Klain as the so-called Ebola czar. Republicans are saying that he is a political pick because he has no experience in public health. The second is that there are growing calls for a travel ban, something that the White House has largely dismissed.

Listen here to Republican Senator Ted Cruz on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" on Sunday making that case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: The first argument about the screen doesn't make since because they don't work during the 21-day incubation period. And the second argument that they make is they say a travel ban would prevent health care relief workers from arriving in West Africa.

No one is talking about banning flights into West Africa. Of course, physicians and nurses and health care workers should be allowed to go in there and we can send them in on charter flights or military C-130 aircraft with appropriate safety precautions.

That's very different from saying commercial airliners should fly day after day after day with hundreds of passengers connecting with thousands of passengers coming from around the country. The arguments they are giving don't make sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Now the administration has mostly shut the door on the travel ban because they say that people who are potentially affected in West Africa could still get to the United States by evading screenings after sneaking into potential other countries.

But what the administration has done after a series of high-level meetings this weekend is convening a 30-person military, quote, "Quick Strike Team," that's going to be made of five doctors, 20 nurses and five trainers who are available to deploy anywhere in the United States within about 72 hours of the suspected Ebola case so that they can treat it and help hospitals deal with that case -- John and Christine.

ROMANS: From the White House. Thanks for that, Erin.

European foreign ministers meet today with an eye of ramping up the EU response to Ebola, as well as to ISIS. British Prime Minister David Cameron calling for the European Union to put $1.3 billion and 2,000 aide workers into the fight against the disease.

In Spain, nurse's aide Teresa Romero Ramos was cleared of having Ebola on Sunday. She's going to remain in the hospital for at least a few more days to recover from an Ebola related chest infection.

Now scammers are cashing in on growing Ebola worries. Products claiming to prevent or cure Ebola have started popping up. Part of course an unfortunate trend. When a disaster happens, con artists prey on people's emotions.

The FDA asking everyone to remember there is no cure for Ebola. Any product that claims otherwise is a scam.

The Better Business Bureau warning about fake fund-raisers. Several donation pages surfaced falsely claiming to raise funds for victims and scammers have even started telephone campaigns pretending to be from legitimate organizations.

Time for an EARLY START on your money. U.S. stock futures pointing higher right now signaling what could be a good start to a week after last week's crazy ride.

BERMAN: I'll take it.

ROMANS: The Dow had its second best day of the year on Friday, but still finishes for the week down about 1 percent.

BERMAN: All right. Positive identification could come as early as today on human remains found over the weekend. That police suspect is 18-year-old Hannah Graham. The University of Virginia student vanished five weeks ago. After the remains were located, the missing person's investigation became something of a death investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF TIM LONGO, CHARLOTTESVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Detective Sergeant James Mooney and the Charlottesville Police Department made a very difficult phone call and reached out to John and Susan Graham to share with them this preliminary discovery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The remains were found on an abandoned property near Charlottesville. Authorities hope it gives Hannah's family some relief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. DALE TERRY, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, VIRGINIA SHERIFF'S OFFICE: We stayed positive, stayed upbeat. You know, we were here for a mission and that mission was to bring closure. We are hoping that that's what we have done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Thirty-two-year-old Jesse Matthew Jr. is in custody charged in connection with Hannah Graham's disappearance. He has also been linked to the murder of Virginia Tech student in 2009.

ROMANS: The president of New Hampshire's Keene College says any student involved in turning the city's Annual Pumpkin Festival into chaos, those students will be held responsible for their actions. Officials say rowdy crowds threw rocks and bottles, and set fires, overturned cars. Police in riot gear responded with tear gas and pepper spray.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got hit. It was a Jack Daniels bottle across the face. Yes, I was in the health center for a little bit, but I left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys just came in with shields, started, I don't know, tear gassing me. It's crazy. Crazy stuff, real, real crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's ridiculous. It's not pumpkin fest. I'm from Rhode Island. This is supposed to be a fun weekend but it's stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Very stupid. At least 30 people injured. Police report they made dozens of arrests. Some of the Keene College students blamed the unrest on out-of-towners.

You know at my alma mater I would say they cancelled their annual spring festival last year because every few years there are these, you know, spontaneous riots happened over and over again. They finally had to cancel. It's hard explain what is the combustible combination that makes it --

BERMAN: Well, I know one of the combustible ingredients, shall we say -- look, there's video of this. So if you're on that video doing stupid things, chances are you're going to get caught.

ROMANS: Yes. Your parents are going to be furious. And you still have to pay your student loan.

All right. Indra Petersons has an EARLY START on your forecast this morning.

Hi, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. It feels like a Monday. But, you know, today is actually kind of like the best day of the week, which is a sad thing. It would mean the nor'easter is going to be headed our way at least into the northeast, right?

Look at the temperatures that have already settled in to start your morning off. Cold in New York City, 43 degrees. Boston into the 40s. Upstate New York in the 30s right now. So yes, frost and freeze advisories are out. Meanwhile, the highs even as we go through the afternoon, look at Boston, only looking for 58 degrees today. So all this cold air, this is going to play into the story as we go really almost as early as tomorrow.

That cold pool of air next to a low that's building up off the coastline. That pressure difference sets up that nor'easter. So you will have very persistent strong winds coming out of the northeast. Doesn't stop there. All that wind coming off of the ocean, of course, means heavy amounts of rain and even some concerns for flooding.

So here we go. Tuesday, Wednesday and even Thursday, we're still going to be talking about this. Think about flight delays and all the concerns we're talking about in those region as the system makes its way. So heavy amounts of rain. Several inches really kind of starting maybe some scattered showers. Tuesday really overnight, Tuesday, lasting through Wednesday and Thursday is where we will see the heaviest amounts of rain, add in the wind.

Not too bad right now. We're talking about 15, 20-mile-per-hour winds. But as you look at that pressure difference strengthen, there go the winds. They go up as well to even 40, 50-mile-an-hour winds will be out there by the time we get it through Wednesday and Thursday.

We certainly made it. So flights, I'm pretty sure, going to be a little bit affected.

BERMAN: You make it sound so nice.

(LAUGHTER)

PETERSONS: Right? I mean, so what, perfect, right?

BERMAN: Right.

ROMANS: Thanks, Indra.

BERMAN: All right. Coming up, fury in Ferguson, Missouri, as new details emerge about blood found on Officer Wilson's gun.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Frustration and anger building again in Ferguson, Missouri. According to "The New York Times", Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson has told investigators he feared for his life when he shot and killed Michael Brown. New details about forensic evidence in that case seem to support his story.

Let's get more this morning from Ted Rowlands.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, good morning. Tensions remain high here in Ferguson as people wait for the grand jury's decision on whether or not to indict Officer Darren Wilson.

Also, people are reacting to this weekend's reporting. "The New York Times" reports that Mike Brown's blood was found on the gun of Officer Darren Wilson. Also, blood was on Officer Wilson's uniform and on the inside panel of Officer Wilson's police vehicle.

Also, "The New York Times" reporting that Officer Wilson actually testified in front of the grand jury, that is deciding whether or not to indict him, basically giving an opportunity to tell his side of the story. And his side of the story of course is that Mike Brown was the aggressor, especially in the early meeting between the two.

That Mike Brown pinned Officer Wilson into the vehicle. Officer Wilson also saying that Mike Brown punched him, scratched him and went for his gun, which could have potentially put his life in danger.

Now people here on the ground, in Ferguson, specifically, the people in his neighborhood, in fact over the weekend we were talking to them at the memorial for Mike Brown. They are skeptical. In fact, they've lost faith in the system. They believe that there's a very good chance there won't be an indictment because it's being done this investigation in secret during -- with the secret grand jury.

They are concerned of what will happen if there is no indictment not only in their neighborhood, in their city, but in cities across the country.

The grand jury is still investigating. We do expect according to the St. Louis County prosecutor, a decision one way or another sometime between now and the middle of November -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Ted Rowlands for that report.

All right. Forty-three minutes after the hour.

BERMAN: This morning, they are breathing a sigh of relief on Mars. After a comet named Siding Spring buzzed the Red Planet, what NASA says is the closest fly-by ever recorded. The comet got within 87,000 miles of Mars.

ROMANS: That's speeding distance.

BERMAN: It really is. It may not seen much to you, but it was enough to make NASA hide its Mars rover and orbiters on the other side of the planet.

Now there is one man who fears no comet. That is CNN's Chris Cuomo to tell us what's coming up on "NEW DAY."

Good morning, Chris.

ROMANS: Hey, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: I -- when I hear that comets are coming, I run to the location hoping I'll be able to catch them and throw them back into the atmosphere.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: He wants an interview.

CUOMO: Well, I separated my shoulder on Friday. Not a lot of comet throwing. Right now I couldn't even throw a softball, it turns out.

All right. So overnight, guys, there's some breaking news and we're going to be following it for you. The people close to Thomas Eric Duncan, remember him, he is on your screen right now, the Ebola patient who died. They are now out of quarantine. The 21-day period we keep talking about. So did they make it safely? We're very happy that they did but why did they not contract it and the nurses did?

We're going to explain that this morning. We'll try and figure it out anyway.

Plus the Pentagon is announcing it has created a rapid response team to help health care workers, these quick strike teams, so new cases of the virus are diagnosed, they'll fly it out at locations to get into that hospital. Why, though? Are they going to take the place of normal staff? How is it going to work?

So we have a lot to cover. We're going to talk to Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We're going to have a Pentagon spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, who speaks for the Pentagon.

And we have the author of to coin the phrase "Hot Zone." All about Ebola. Twenty years ago. He's going to weigh in on how what's happening today matches up with what he foresaw two decades ago.

BERMAN: Interesting. It'll be interesting.

Thanks so much, Chris. Looking forward to it.

ROMANS: Thanks, Chris. Sorry to hear about your shoulder.

CUOMO: Thank you, Christine.

BERMAN: I am, too. Ask Sanjay about it.

CUOMO: You like it.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: All right. Going to Iraq now. Pushing the enemy back. U.S. airstrikes aiding local forces in the fight for Kobani. But will it be enough to keep ISIS from a huge land grab.

We're live in the region next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Kurdish fighters in Syria expressing gratitude this morning for U.S. military aide to help push back ISIS. Now relentless U.S. airstrikes also helping to keep ISIS from overrunning the town of Kobani. Dozens of ISIS troops reportedly killed over the weekend. The American air support is helping Kurdish fighters on the ground push the enemy back.

Meanwhile, U.S. cargo planes are delivering desperately needed weapons and medical supplies to resupply those Kurdish soldiers in this last ditch attempt to help to keep the critical northern Syrian town from falling. The move the fighters say will help greatly.

I want to bring in Nick Paton Walsh who's live from the Turkey-Syria border and somewhere behind you is where those pallets of supplies were dropped over night. Supplies that were desperately needed for the fighters inside Kobani.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine. And we don't see the pallets ourselves that clearly as far as we can tell but they would probably have dropped over the west of the city and the less contested areas held by the Kurds. 27 bundles. Ammunition, food, medical supplies. Three separate C-130 aircrafts dropping that aid off. And we're also hearing now from Turkish Foreign Ministry according to

Reuters. They are saying that in fact they have allowed Iraqi Kurdish fighters to come from the Kurdish areas of Iraq, Peshmerga to come through Turkey to in fact enter Kobani and assist with the fighting there. That's according to Reuters.

A remarkable move by the Turkish government. Barack Obama called his Turkish counterpart, Mr. Erdogan, early on last night and we understand expressed their intention to make this air drop. You can imagine that work necessarily Ankara, the (INAUDIBLE) very much because they consider those Syrian Kurds here to be allied to Turkish Kurds who they consider terrorists in many ways.

But the fact they are actually allowing Iraqi Kurds, enormously a complex mix here, but Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga in to assist to fight Kobani a big move by Turkey, perhaps in response to U.S. pressure. And of course this, and many say, will help tie all these different Kurdish factions together in resisting ISIS. They all face a common enemy here.

But a lot moving here today. That air drop showing how committed the United States are to assisting the Kurds here inside Kobani. And the same press release they mentioned, they put in 135 airstrikes in total to assist the fight in Kobani -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Maybe the tide will turn there. Thank you so much for that, Nick.

BERMAN: Fifty-one minutes after the hour.

BERMAN: A new weekend of violent clashes between pro-democracy protesters and police in Hong Kong. The demonstrators seizing back control of the city's busy Mong Kok District, after losing it a day earlier. At least 240 people were injured in the violence, including 18 police officers, 33 people were arrested. A two-hour meeting between the two sides are set for Tuesday. And get this, it is expected that this meeting will be broadcast live.

ROMANS: We may learn as early as tomorrow what Oscar Pistorius' fate will be. Closing arguments happen Friday and prosecutors are pushing for the athlete to be locked up for 10 years for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last Valentine's Day. Meantime, the defense argues he should not do time behind bars and instead should be sentenced to community service.

BERMAN: All right. Get ready for the Jodi Arias trial take two. The sentencing retrial in Arizona gets under way today. Up first is an evidentiary hearing. Opening statements set for Tuesday. A jury convicted Arias last year of murdering her boyfriend Travis Alexander back in 2008. But it was deadlocked on whether Arias should receive the death penalty.

ROMANS: All right. Apple rolling out its new payment system. So does it mean you can get rid of your wallet? We're going to get an EARLY START on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. It's Monday. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this week. Asian stocks ended their day higher. Japan's benchmark Nikkei, look at that, up 4 percent.

BERMAN: That's a lot.

ROMANS: It is. That's a big one day move. You know, but European stocks are not doing the same. They are down slightly right now. Look at it. U.S. stock futures are pointing higher after what was pretty much a crazy week last week. Crazy is a technical term in the market. The Dow rose 263 points Friday. The second best day of the year. But for the week, it was still down about 1 percent.

A lot of big wild swings last week. We've got a bunch of corporate data out this week. We're going to need strong numbers to send stocks higher here.

Two mortgage giants could soon loosen lending standards. According to the "Wall Street Journal" Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and private lenders are near a deal to lower restrictions on borrowers with weak credit. They're also considering programs to offer mortgages with down payments of as little as 3 percent.

After the financial crisis in 2008, lending standards became much higher.

BERMAN: Yes. What could possibly go wrong. Nothing.

ROMANS: Make it hard for many people to qualify for mortgages, but this deal expected later this week could raise concerns about repeating mistakes that led to the housing collapse.

I would say the most important thing is to make sure that they loosen lending standards for people with good credit.

BERMAN: Right.

ROMANS: Because -- even Ben Bernanke couldn't refinance his mortgage. The former Fed chief couldn't refinance his mortgage. He's probably a pretty safe bet.

Apple Pay is here today. The new mobile payment system is going to let shoppers buy items at more than 220,000 stores using an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. Apple partnering with most banks and the three major credit card networks. Plus some big retailers like McDonald's, Macy's, Whole Foods. So you don't need your wallet anymore. Right? This is the end of the traditional wallet? Not yet really. Many retailers including Wal-Mart are not on board. And other mobile payment platforms have not really gained that much traction.

BERMAN: I don't hear a great outcry for it yet. But maybe. Maybe it is coming.

ROMANS: Maybe. We'll have to see. BERMAN: All right. There is a lot of news to get to this morning.

Breaking news overnight on the Ebola front as dozens of quarantined people have reached an important milestone. They are now free to roam around. They are infection free.

"NEW DAY" is covering that and a whole lot more starting right now.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. The quarantine is now over for family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient who died. So they did not contract the deadly virus. But two nurses did. Why? This as the Pentagon prepares an emergency response team to tackle the virus.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And chilling discovery. Police are investigating the scene where human remains were found in the search for Hannah Graham. Is it the missing University of Virginia student?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Fear for his life. In his first public account on what happened, the police officer who killed Michael Brown says he felt threatened during a struggle with the unarmed teenager in his vehicle. What will Officer Wilson's testimony mean for the grand jury's decision?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to NEW DAY. It is Monday, October 20th, 6:00 in the East. I am Chris Cuomo, along with Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Happy Monday.

CUOMO: Happy Monday. It's good to be here with you.

And we do have news breaking overnight. The family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national who died of Ebola in a Dallas hospital, is showing no signs of infection after 21 days in isolation. That's the magic number, right? So they are now out of quarantine.

We're also seeing a new urgency in the Ebola fight. The Pentagon is assembling a domestic response team. Thirty medical experts ready to fly anywhere a new Ebola case surfaces.