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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Nurse Refuses Ebola Quarantine; Khorasan Terrorists Survive U.S. Airstrikes; Giants Win World Series; Unusual Russian Flights Concern NATO

Aired October 30, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: a tense standoff between a nurse returned from treating Ebola patients in West Africa and the state of Maine. Kaci Hickox refusing to follow a mandatory quarantine as police gathered around her house. We'll tell you what she said overnight.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New information that high profile terrorists targeted by U.S. air strikes in Syria have survived and could be actively plotting against America.

BERMAN: And the San Francisco Giants, World Series champions! You see it happen right there. One of the greatest pitching performances on the history of earth and in the history of earth and World Series. There's a lot of champagne there.

ROMANS: You're a little tired. You know?

BERMAN: You can't play these games at night.

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

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, October 30th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Let's begin with the nurse -- a nurse who volunteered to fight Ebola in Africa now fighting a quarantine order in her home state of Maine. Is Kaci Hickox battling for civil rights or is she endangering the public?

Hickox has no Ebola symptoms, no symptoms. She has tested negative for the virus twice, but Maine health officials want her to remain isolated in her home. They say they'll seek a court order to make sure it happens. Overnight with her boyfriend at her side, Hickox told reporters she will not let her civil rights be violated by a policy that, quote, "is not science-based".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KACI HICKOX, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS NURSE: It is not my intention to put anyone at risk in the community. We have been in negotiations all day with the state of Maine and tried to resolve this amicably, but they will not allow me to leave my house and have any interaction with the public even though I am completely healthily and symptom-free. I am frustrated by this fact and I have been told that the attorney general's intention is to file legal action against me and if this does occur, then I will challenge those legal actions.

I'm fighting for something much more than myself. There are so many aid workers coming back. Doctors Without Borders estimated that 20 American aid workers are coming back from the Ebola response in the next month. And it scares me to think of how they're going to be treated and how they're going to feel. When we let stigmatization wins, we all lose.

MARY MAYHEW, MAINE HEALTH COMMISSIONER: There are other cases where individuals have not tested positive, did not believe that they were symptomatic, and quickly developed symptoms while they were out in the public and have since been hospitalized. I do not understand why this common-sense approach to ask someone to stay in their home for 21 days during the incubation period, why that is not a reasonable request.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Hickox says she is not sure what she's going to do today, whether she will go to the nearby town of Fort Kent. She says she's only thinking five minutes ahead at this point.

BERMAN: Such a debate right now.

President Obama is emphasizing the need for science-based response to the Ebola situation. Planked by health care workers and Ebola survivor at the White House, the president praised their bravery in traveling to West Africa to fight the deadly disease and touted the federal guidelines and emphasize monitoring over quarantine. He also said that the United States must lead in the fight against Ebola and warn that there could be more cases in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want America to understand the truth is that until we stop this outbreak in West Africa, we may continue to see individual cases in America in the weeks and months ahead, because that's the nature of today's world. We can't hermetically seal ourselves off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The freelance news cameraman who survived Ebola now says he understands the suffering of those he did stories about in West Africa. Ashoka Mukpo spoke with CNN's Don Lemon on Wednesday. Mukpo fell ill one day into a shoot in Liberia for NBC News, who's airlifted to Nebraska Medical Center where he suffered through the worse of the disease there and recovered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHOKA MUKPO, FORMER EBOLA PATIENT: I used to see people who would be laying in front of treatment centers trying to get admitted. And, you know, they are just laying out on the ground in the gravel and in the sun. I used to look at them and say, my God, you can't sit up at least. And once I was sick, I completely understood. You just have absolutely no energy to walk three feet which feels like you ran a marathon.

I feel pretty good. I'm happy to be alive. Lucky that I'm around family and friends. I'm back home and it's a good feeling to be where I am right now, especially considering where I've been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The only remaining Ebola patient in the United States now, Dr. Craig Spencer, is in critical but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital in New York. The New York City Health Department released a statement Wednesday night. It called Spencer a hero, praised him for fully cooperating with an investigation into his movements around the city after he returns from Guinea.

BERMAN: There is surprising news from Liberia this morning, perhaps some good news. The number of Ebola cases there seems to be dropping. That is according to the World Health Organization. The thing is, officials there not sure if there are actually fewer cases or if sick people have stopped going to the hospital or if overwhelmed health workers stopped reporting cases.

The WHO says 521 workers have been infected with Ebola. And 272 of these health care workers have died, which it makes it all the more heroic that so many brave doctors and nurses volunteer for this duty.

CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Switzerland where the Red Cross trains health workers on their way to some of these nations and where a new Ebola vaccine is due to start testing this week -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, the hospital behind here has been chosen by the World Health Organization to test on human volunteers, about 250 human volunteers. The first of the drugs that is being made to treat Ebola. Vaccines made available to treat Ebola.

This has been an accelerated process, is what they call phase one where they look at the safety and the dosing levels. But if all goes well, they will have results by December and by early next year, they could go to phase three, skipping phase two, going to phase three, testing in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Thousands of people could get the vaccine there. Health care workers would be first in line for it.

And if that goes well, they could upping dosing levels and capabilities to a wider vaccine program by April next year, John.

BERMAN: Nic, you were talking to the medical workers on the way and those fighting Ebola in West Africa. What do they think about the quarantine debate going on in the United States right now?

ROBERTSON: Yes, the headline on that is none that I talked to, whether officials at the World Health Organization and experienced doctors giving the training and training program here that we witnessed yesterday or the doctors part of the training program on the way to West Africa, none of them agreed with it. This is a big picture according to the World Health Organization. There are 1,500 health care workers to be needed to contain and get on top of the crisis. They are woefully short of that number right now.

The training course was for 32 doctors only, doctors, nurses, other health care professionals. They really need to ramp up and encourage more people to join and go to West Africa. And they say the quarantine regulations will put people off because they don't believe they are scientifically necessary, medically necessary.

And the idea for some people to spend four weeks in West Africa treating Ebola and to come home and have another three weeks under quarantine, that sure that will put some of these health care workers off from going just when they need them most, John.

BERMAN: Obviously, the goals seem to be at odds with each other in some cases. Nic Robertson for us in Switzerland, thanks so much, Nick.

ROMANS: All right. We are learning about new worries in the U.S. intelligence this morning. There are deep concerns that the first U.S. airstrikes in Syria last month did not kill key terrorist operatives -- operatives with special skills who could be actively plotting against the United States.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has those details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, U.S. officials are telling CNN's Pam Brown and myself that they now believe two key operatives are still alive. Two al Qaeda operatives belonging to the so-called Khorasan group, the leader of the group, a man al- Fadhli, and a French jihadist named David Drugeon. They are concerned about these people because they have the ability to work to make non- detectible bombs that can get past airport screening and they also have the ability to recruit European jihadists, bring them to Syria, and train them, send them back to Europe, and possibly send them on to the United States.

The Khorasan group these men belong to has been a big concern for the U.S. It has been labeled an imminent threat to the U.S. because of this very capability.

The U.S. attacked the Khorasan group on September 22nd with almost 50 tomahawk cruise missiles a number of sites. They had always worried that they didn't get these two men. They don't know if they left the site before the strike began or if possibly they are injured.

But this is the clearest acknowledgment we have now that the U.S. believed both of these very dangerous operatives are still alive -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Barbara Starr for that. All right. Overnight, Jerusalem on edge. A very tense situation

there. Police have killed a suspect in the drive-by shooting of an Israeli activist.

Counterterror unit surrounded the home of the suspect. This is a man suspected of shooting a controversial activist. Police shot the suspect after they say he opened fire.

Now, the man who was injured in the drive-by shooting is in serious condition in Jerusalem hospital. This is the guy who speaks out in favor of giving Israeli Jews access to the temple mound. He takes some (INAUDIBLE) up there. He is very controversial.

The Israeli government has closed the temple mound this morning in the middle of the rising tensions, which come as Israel has announced plans to build 1,000 housing units, settlements, in East Jerusalem. United Nations officials warn in an emergency Security Council meeting that this plan could ultimately make a Palestinian state unviable. The United States warns this could escalate tensions at a time when they are already tense enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There is a close relationship with the United States and Israel. But that close relationship does not mean that we paper over our differences. The fact is, the United States has repeatedly made clear our view that settlement activity is illegitimate and only serves to complicate efforts to achieve a two-state solution in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Troops serving in Iraq will be checked for chemical exposure, according to "The New York Times". The Pentagon will offer medical exams and long-term health monitoring for soldiers who are exposed to chemical weapons like nerve and mustard gas. The report by the paper found service members and veterans were exposed to those dangerous chemicals in a secret arsenal built by Saddam Hussein as they were looking for weapons of mass destruction.

Time for an early start in your money this morning. So, the Fed has ended its controversial the stimulus. What now?

U.S. stocks futures looking a little bit higher right now. Stocks closed down a bit yesterday. The Fed ending that six-year bond buying stimulus program, but keeping interest rates very, very low. So, many people are saying the training wheels are not necessarily off the American economy just yet.

The Fed's decision marks just how far we have come since the financial crisis. The program, that bond buying program started in November of 2008 to prop up the flailing economy, and the housing market. The unemployment rate is now 5.9 percent, the lowest since the Fed program begun.

The challenge now, interest rates. Investors were prepared for the ending of the quantitative easing. Interest rates are expected to stay near zero until the middle of next year. The Fed yesterday noting steady improvement in the economy, somewhere that could mean a rate hike sooner than expected.

So, the training wheels I would say are still on the American economy. Those near zero interest rates is a stimulus in its own right. Now, we have to see what happens.

BERMAN: And that will keep on going at least until next year.

The San Francisco Giants, World Series champions for the third time in the last five seasons. With that catch, Pablo Sandoval (INAUDIBLE) and they win. They beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in a winner-take- all game seven.

And, man, oh, man, is Madison Bumgarner a good pitcher? He pitched five scoreless innings in relief, after pitching a complete game just two days ago. This guy -- if you look at the numbers, folks, he is best World Series pitcher ever. Tweet me if you think I'm wrong and I will deride you.

This is the first time that a road team has won the World Series game 7 since 1979. You know, the Kansas City Royals had a great season, a great post-season. So, too, did the Giants. But you just cannot get through Madison Bumgarner who is ridiculously good.

ROMANS: Shoo-in for MVP.

BERMAN: He did win the World Series MVP. And there's no question about it. They had the thing printed well before, no doubt.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that.

Fourteen minutes past the hour. The war on ISIS intensifies in the key Syrian city of Kobani. Hundreds of fighters from Iraq joining this battle. Will it be enough?

We're live on the ground.

BERMAN: Plus. We're going to tell you what we're learning more about the NASA rocket explosion. That's right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Could this be Kobani's best hope against ISIS. Kurdish fighters from Iraq have arrived in Turkey, near the Syrian border town. Syrian rebel forces entered Kobani on Wednesday. One rebel leader says the terrorists control half of Kobani. U.S.-led air strikes haven't been able to drive them completely out.

We're going to get the latest now from our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh at the Syrian border with Turkey.

This is a really symbolic battle, too. Just a couple of weeks ago, Nick, we were hearing from American officials that Kobani wasn't a strategic importance for the American coalition efforts in Syria. But we know there is a lot of movement on the ground to keep this town out of ISIS' hands.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It will be on the first list of strategic towns, of course, in Syria, that does not fall into ISIS' hand, but clearly has become that simply by the level of exposure the fight for this town has had internationally. ISIS don't want to be seeing to be losing. They did that slick propaganda video with the British hostage speaking under duress days ago.

The Syrian Kurds need this town as part of their broader desire for an independent state near Turkey. And, of course, the U.S. now is using the cameras trained on airstrikes to deliver a psychological blow against ISIS, too.

But the reality on the ground is they need the reinforcements. A surprise yesterday morning when it was Syrian rebels that Turkey allowed through first. They weren't really what the Syrian Kurds have been hoping for. And now, we know a 300, 400, 500 meters away from where I'm standing over there half a mile or so, there's a police station where there are some, if not all of the Peshmerga who traveled by road across Turkey, a lengthy journey. Turkish critics asking why it took so long, meeting up to those who flew in, and then we think perhaps at some point, either during daylight or during the cover of night, they will move into Kobani.

Bad weather perhaps giving them some cover here right now. The Turkish military ling their way on the roads lining their way in. I've just heard a jet in the skies above.

The question, Christine, really is this is a lot of hardware, heavy weapons, vehicles that will go in with the Peshmerga. It is less manpower that will make the difference, but that equipment. Does ISIS have enough of a reinforcement available to send towards Kobani and continue the fight or do these reinforcements turn the balance? That's the key question for days ahead, Christine.

ROMANS: I know you will be asking and reporting it for us. Thank you so much, Nick.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, investigators from NASA and Orbital Sciences are assessing the damage after that unmanned rocket exploded seconds after launch Tuesday night at the Wallops Island facility in Virginia. Officials are urging the public to stay away from any rocket debris. That's good advice. Workers there are being kept from the blast site.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody's keeping fingers crossed that the damage is minimal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could potentially push us back. Our main concern is getting back in to assess the equipment that we have or if there was any damage from the blast.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: The Antares rocket had a $200 million payload, which included some 5,000 pounds of food, supplies and science experiments for the International Space Station crew.

Russian aggression not seen since the Cold War. Dozens of military aircraft flying out of bounds throughout Europe. NATO on alert this morning. So, is Russian air activity putting civilians at risk? We are live in Moscow, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: An unusual increase in Russian air activity over Europe raising concerns. NATO has intercepted more than a dozen Russian military aircraft. The Russian planes have not filed flight plans. They aren't maintaining radio contact with air controllers. That poses a risk to civilian flights.

Meantime, the White House has confirmed cyber attacks on unclassified computer networks. Some officials believe Russia could be involved.

Matthew Chance live in Moscow with more this morning.

What's going on here?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's just an illustration, isn't it, Christine, that despite the sanctions from the United States and European Union as well against Russian, it's not clipped Russia's military wings as it were.

We are seeing these air flights in international air space, I have to say, but towards NATO countries over the course of the past 36 hours. In fact, 26 aircraft have been monitored and intercepted by NATO war planes during that period, the most of any period in the past year. And indeed so far this year, there's been 100 intercepts like this, three times as many as last year according to NATO.

On the cyber warfare issue, the hacking into the White House computer, well, again, White House officials are saying off the record essentially that they believe that it's the Russians that are behind this and Russia, of course, been accused of cyber war campaigns against many European Union countries as well, against the NATO military alliance, against industrial facilities.

But in terms of strong evidence, there is not very much. We spoke to the Kremlin this morning over the White House cyber attack. And they say this, is there any evidence, we have been hearing groundless allegations against Russia recently, so we don't take them seriously unless representing with truths.

So, the Russians basically denying they've got anything to do with this.

ROMANS: Matthew, is this Vladimir Putin flexing his muscles? I mean, he's got a lot of economic trouble at home, right? And he's got an economy that is -- could be in recession, frankly. You've got oil prices falling, and he's got an economy that is built

on an expectation of $100 oil which he does not have. That's going to mean big cuts, big budget cuts for him if oil prices remain low. He's got sanctions imposed by the European Union and by the United States. Why flex his muscles here?

CHANCE: It's a good question and I think it's a demonstration by Vladimir Putin that he will not be cowered by these U.S. sanctions, by the international sanctions that had been placed upon me.

You are right. The economy is suffering badly partly because of the sanctions, the Russian ruble, the currency here, is at historic lows against the dollars. All sorts of terrible economic activity taking place. It could have big consequences for the people in the future.

But we are seeing flights towards NATO air space. We're seeing the cyber attacks as well. Vladimir Putin is not changing policies, it seems.

ROMANS: He's not.

All right. Matthew Chance for us this morning in Moscow -- thank you.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a standoff in Maine between a nurse who returned from treating Ebola patients and that state's government. Kaci Hickox refusing an order of 21-day quarantine because she says she is not sick. Police are now outside her home. She spoke out overnight. We'll tell you what she says she's gong to do today. That's right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)