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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Returning Ebola Workers Face Quarantine; Teen Wounded in School Shooting Dies; Jed Bush for President in 2016?
Aired October 27, 2014 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Fears of Ebola spreading in America, creating new controversy. The White House butting heads with governors for imposing a mandatory quarantine for all U.S. healthcare workers returning treating Ebola patients in West Africa. This as one healthy but quarantined nurse speaks out, describing her isolation as inhumane. New developments overnight, ahead.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: a second person shot in the Washington high school cafeteria dies overnight, as new details about this attack come to light.
ROMANS: Jeb Bush for president? His son fuelling speculation about a 2016 White House run. What he had to say about it, ahead.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It is Monday. Really Monday. October 27th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.
ROMANS: You don't have to say that again.
BERMAN: This morning, there is major controversy, some confusion and really ever-changing policies over how medical personnel returning from the Ebola outbreak zone in West Africa should be treated once they get back here to the United States.
New York state is now backing off the mandatory 21-hospital stay announced Friday night. It will allow patients to be quarantined at home. This is a change of a change.
New Jersey is also clarifying its quarantine, allowing patients to be confined at home if possible. Of course, a nurse right now quarantined in a New Jersey hospital tent with no showers and only portable toilets. She is blasting New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for diagnosing her as sick even though he is not a doctor.
The symptoms of the doctor being treated for Ebola in a New York hospital, the symptoms have increased. And officials at Bellevue now say Dr. Craig Spencer looked better on Sunday than he did on Saturday, though his condition is still serious but stable.
CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more now from Bellevue. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, here at Bellevue, Dr. Craig Spencer is now in serious condition, doctors say. He has moved into the next phase of his illness. He now has gastrointestinal symptoms.
He is getting a blood transfusion, a plasma transfusion actually from Nancy Writebol. She's an Ebola survivor who is treated at Emory University. He is also getting an anti-viral medication. His doctors aren't saying exactly what, but likely is experimental medication. It may be Brincidofovir, which is a medicine that's been given to other Ebola patients.
And here in New York and New Jersey, the quarantine controversy rages on. At the center of it, a nurse named Kaci Hickox. She flew from Sierra Leone into Newark airport on Friday. She wasn't sick, she was feeling fine, but she was sent to the hospital where she is remained in isolation.
She doesn't have a temperature. She's tested negative for Ebola twice. She says she's feeling her fine but her spirit is sometimes low.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KACI HICKOX, QUARANTINED NURSE: Everyone keeping asking how are you feeling physically. I feel fine physically. I don't think most people understand what it's like to be alone in a tent and to know there's nothing wrong with you and decisions are being made that don't make sense and show no compassion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: After I spoke with Hickox, I spoke with Dr. Rick Sacra. He's a health care worker who's worked in West Africa and an Ebola survivor. He says he doesn't understand why Hickox is being quarantined. She doesn't have Ebola, she is not sick, so how could she possible give the disease to anyone? But Governor Chris Christie says he's protecting the public health -- Christine, John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that, Elizabeth.
Now, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo still standing by their decision to quarantine anyone in their states from West African countries where they had direct contact with Ebola patients, even though they have clarified the stay can be at home, if possible.
But the Obama administration is pushing back this morning, arguing that what they view as unnecessary quarantines will discourage health care workers from fighting Ebola at its source.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I'm sorry if she was inconvenienced. The inconvenience that could occur from having folks symptomatic and ill out among the public is a much, much greater concern of mine.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW JERSEY: We are staying one step ahead. We are doing everything possible. Some people will say we're being too cautious. I'll take that criticism because that's better than the alternative.
SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: We need to find a way when they come home that they are treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they had done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The Texas nurses who cared for the first Ebola patient in the United States, Thomas Eric Duncan, say they confronted major obstacles, including inadequate protection guidelines from the CDC and lies that Duncan told about his exposure to the virus.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurses tell CBS that Duncan initially told him he had come from Africa, only later specifying Liberia. And they say he misled officials about other possible sources of exposure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS: What information was it that he denied to the health officials?
SIDIA ROSE, TEXAS HEALTH PRESBYTERIAN NURSE: About his travels, about his -- him burying his pregnant daughter who died in child birth. He denied that. He said that's not true.
PELLEY: So, he wasn't honest with them?
ROSE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Thomas Eric Duncan's fiancee is struggling to put her life back together with the help of her church. More than a week after passing the 21-day isolation period for Ebola, Louise Troh, her sons and nephews are still looking for a new place to live. Troh's pastor told "The Dallas Morning News" that landlords are reluctant to rent to them, that's awful, and that nearly all the family's belongings were destroyed in a decontamination process.
ROMANS: All right. This morning, we are learning about the deadly attack at Canada's National War Memorial. Police say the gunman prepared a video of himself that they say shows he was driven by ideological and political motives. Officials say they're investigating Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's interactions with numerous people in the days leading up to the shooting. They're trying to determine whether those people had anything to do with the attack. BERMAN: A changing of the guard at Afghanistan. U.S. Marines and
British troops are officially ending their combat operations in one area, transferring Camp Leatherneck and Bastion to Afghan control on ceremonious on Sunday. The flags were lowered there for the first time, last time I should say, marking this military milestone. All British troops and most U.S. combat troops will soon be going home.
There's a warm welcome home for Jeff Fowle, the Ohio man detained in North Korea for nearly six months, and his family attended church services at Urbancrest Baptist Church on Sunday. Churchgoers applauded as the family took the stage and participated in a moment of prayer. Fowle was arrested and detained in North Korea for leaving a bible at a sailors club.
ROMANS: All right. Seven minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this Monday morning.
U.S. stock futures pointing higher. Last week, the best week of the year for stocks. The Dow climbed 425 points last week. That's about 2.6 percent in just one week. The S&P 500 did even better. The S&P added 4 percent, more than 4 percent last week. Strong corporate earnings is the reason.
This week, one of the Federal Reserve's programs that propped up stocks in financial crisis, that program comes to an end. The Fed will stop the bond buying stimulus program, as the announcement expected this week. The Central Bank still keeping interest rates near zero. That is another form of stimulus. And with global growth, don't expect that to change before next year.
But a changing, really history being written. Never done this before. We are getting out of the business of the stimulus of this type.
BERMAN: Speaking of history, not since 1992 have we seen Bush versus Clinton. But it could happen again, only this time it would be Jeb Bush facing Hillary Clinton. There has been plenty of speculation about both being potential candidates in their parties. On Sunday, Jeb's son, George P. Bush, in an ABC interview gave the clearest sign yet of what he thinks his father is thinking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Is your dad going to run for president?
GEORGE P. BUSH, SON OF JEB BUSH: I think he's still assessing it.
INTERVIEWER: Do you think it is more than 50 percent or less than 50 percent?
BUSH: I think it's more than likely that he is giving this a serious thought in moving forward.
INTERVIEWER: More than likely that he'll run?
BUSH: That he'll run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Jeb's oldest son is involved in a campaign of his own this year. George P. Bush is running for Texas land commissioner.
Happening right now, Iraq's army making gains on the fight against ISIS. We'll take you live to Baghdad, ahead.
ROMANS: Plus, breaking news this morning: a second victim of the Friday's school shooting, she dies overnight. All the new developments after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: New developments this morning in the battle against ISIS. A Syrian opposition group says ISIS fighters comprised a vast majority of those killed in the militant group's fight to take the strategic city of Kobani. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says of 815 people who died in the fighting, 481 were ISIS, 21 were Kurdish civilians, the rest were Kurdish fighters.
Meanwhile in Iraq, two strategic towns have been retaken by Kurdish and Iraqi troops.
International correspondent Ben Wedeman live this morning in Baghdad with more for us.
Good morning, Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.
What this action took place just south of Baghdad, in a place called (INAUDIBLE) where Iraqi army and militia men retook four villages in that area after about a two-day battle. And, of course, on the Iraqi media, this is being trumpeted as a victory over ISIS. There are claims that they either killed or captured hundreds of ISIS fighters.
Now, we were down in that area yesterday. And it did seem, however, that the bulk of the fighting was not being done by the Iraqi army, but rather by these Shia militias, which have a rather dubious history in the past. They often bring their own sectarian baggage with them and have very bad relations with the Sunni residence of areas that they sort of retake from ISIS in the past.
Now elsewhere in Iraq, we have seen some gains by the Peshmerga, the Kurdish fighters in the north who have retaken the town of Zumar (ph), which is to the west of Mosul. Mosul, of course, being Iraq's second largest city and it's been under occupation by ISIS since June. The tactic there is to try to cut off Mosul from the rest of the areas occupied by ISIS. And we've heard American officials, coalition officials in the past talking about a long-term plan to try to retake Mosul. But they say that may take as much as a year to get everything in place and to retake that city of 2 million people.
So, some small gains being made on the ground, but ISIS is continuing to take more territory in Anbar province where the last we heard there, ISIS currently controls more than 80 percent of that territory. Anbar, of course, being Iraq's largest province and just west of Baghdad -- Christine.
ROMANS: That's to the west of Baghdad.
All right. Ben Wedeman for us this morning in Baghdad -- thank you, Ben.
BERMAN: Forty minutes after the hour.
Breaking overnight: a 14-year-old girl who was wounded in the Washington high school shooting has died. Gia Soriano had been in critical condition with head injuries. She succumbed to her wounds Sunday night. Her family says they are devastated by this senseless tragedy. Another student died at the scene on Friday.
People who knew her describe her as vibrant and larger than life. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was part of our family.
REPORTER: Tell me about her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The goofy girl. Loving. Air head. She just brought happiness. She was just a beautiful soul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Senseless.
Police now trying to piece together a motive here. Three other Marysville-Pilchuck High School students are still in the hospital fighting for their lives. Two of them are the shooter's cousins.
ROMANS: Friends and family coming together to pay tribute to Hannah Graham. A memorial was set up Sunday on the campus of the University of Virginia. Students came by throughout the day, leaving flowers in memory of the sophomore, a young woman who vanished last month. Human remains believed to belong to the 18-year-old were found October 18th, but they have not yet been formally identified.
BERMAN: The six-week manhunt for the accused Pennsylvania cop killer Eric Frein goes on. Police, though, may have a new lead. They are testing blood found in a woman's backyard over the weekend to see if it belongs to Frein. He is wanted for ambushing two Pennsylvania state troopers last month, killing one and critically injuring the other. Authorities believe they have spotted Frein several times in the Pocono Mountain Region, but he has managed to elude capture.
ROMANS: Four members of Florida's A&M University accused of a hazing ritual will stand trial for manslaughter today. Officials say the suspects would beat the hazing targets with mallets, fists and drum sticks. They are accused of killing drum major Robert Champion nearly three years ago. After his death, the band was suspended for a year. The university's president resigned.
BERMAN: Jodi Arias will be back in court today as her death penalty retrial sentencing phase resumes in Phoenix with more testimony from state witnesses. The 34-year-old Arias has already been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of former boyfriend Travis Alexander, but the jury deadlocked on the issue of the death penalty which has triggered this retrial sentencing.
ROMANS: Evacuation concerns in Hawaii as lava races toward villages in the Puna region in the big island as lava flows away from the Kilauea volcano. The U.S. Geological Service said the flow, it begun in June. It's still moving at 15 yards an hour. Lava has already destroyed a cemetery in Pahoa and is moving close to a main road there.
BERMAN: Pretty, but dangerous.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: Let's get an early look at the weather now with Karen Maginnis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, we are looking at a much better day into the Northeast and New England. We had showers and some gusty winds. But now, that area of low pressure is beginning to push away into the Canadian Maritimes and your temperatures are going to be seasonably cool.
But very warm weather prevails across the Deep South, with temperatures running a good 10 to 20 degrees above where they should be for this time of year, like Atlanta, 85, Memphis, 84, Dallas, 85, not in a record-setting temperatures, but it is going to be very much not like the end of October. Temperatures holding on into the 60s, New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, 77, Minneapolis, 65.
But wait, it's going to be a frontal system that sweeps through and those temperatures all the way from Minneapolis and Duluth and Chicago and St. Louis are going to be much cooler. Well, just how much cooler? Take a look at this. Chicago goes from 77 to around 60 degrees. Minneapolis goes from 60s into the 40s. If you are traveling out west, 59 in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, 77, New York City on Tuesday, 71. Can't beat that.
Back to you guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Wow, drama there. Seventy-one degrees in New York City on Tuesday.
All right. Speaking of hot, the San Francisco Giants smoking hot, now just one win away from the third World Series title in five years. They crush the Royals last night, 5-0. It was all about their ace, Madison Bumgarner, who threw a complete game shutout. I think that's the first one since 2003 when Josh Beckett threw one. They lead the series 3-2.
Bumgarner is now officially the greatest World Series pitcher of all time, seriously. Look at his numbers over 30 innings. They are stunning. Four World Series wins over the last five years. Game six is Tuesday night in Kansas City. The next two games in Kansas City, they've got to win them both.
ROMANS: I know. We can talk, you know, let's face it, we can talk football and your Tom Brady later.
BERMAN: We can always talk about my Tom Brady.
ROMANS: Good night, Tom Brady.
All right. Nineteen minutes after the hour.
Boko Haram kidnapping dozens more children over the weekend as girls who manage to escape share their stories. We are live with that emotional story after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Ukraine is irreversibly on a path to Europe. That is the judgment of Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, where the exit polls from Sunday's parliamentary elections in hand. He says they show more than three quarters of voters cast ballots in favor of pro- Western candidates. Final results expected later this week. Eastern areas of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists and not really participating in the elections because of the ongoing violence there.
ROMANS: In Brazil, Brazil's incumbent president, Dilma Rousseff, winning reelection by the narrowest of margins following a bitter campaign. She defeated opposition candidate Aecio Neves in a presidential runoff, just over 51 percent of the vote. It is the tightest race Brazil has seen since the return of democracy three decades ago.
BERMAN: Hopes for a cease-fire of the Nigeria government claimed it negotiated with insurgents. Those hopes have dimmed this morning. Boko Haram kidnapped at least 30 boys and girls in the northeast Nigerian village of Mafa over the weekend. That is after they killed 17 in a nearby village and seized 60 women and girls from Christian villages in the neighboring state. The government had claimed that had a cease-fire. Boko Haram never confirmed it.
So, was this message ever true to begin with?
CNN's Isha Sesay is live at the Nigerian capital of Abuja this morning.
Good morning.
ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Good morning, Christine.
Fresh questions this morning about the credibility of the Nigerian claims they had a deal in place with Boko Haram after, as you mentioned, these fresh attacks. We are talking about young children taken off in the recent raid over the weekend. Boys as young as 13, girls as young as 11, we are told, taken in these raids Friday night into Saturday in the northeastern part of the country, the state of Borno, the same state with the 219 girls were taken early on this year.
John, the Nigerian government maintains that they still have a deal with Boko Haram and that the talks are still ongoing, going as far as to tell CNN that Boko Haram is denying responsibility for these latest attacks. Worth pointing out to our viewers, John, Boko Haram has not made any public statement about that ceasefire claim or about the latest attacks leaving many to ask questions which remain unanswered -- John.
BERMAN: There's certainly no confirmation of the ceasefire and no action that would indicate they think there's a ceasefire of any kind.
Isha Sesay on the ground for us in Nigeria -- thanks so much.
BERMAN: All right. Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
Growing controversy this morning over the treatment of U.S. medical workers returning home from treating Ebola patients in West Africa. Should these workers face mandatory quarantine? The White House butting heads with governors. And one nurse now in isolation in a tent in New Jersey shares her frustration ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
