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New Day

New Traveler Screening Precautions; Off-Duty Police Officer Shoots and Kills Teen in St. Louis; Mother of ISIS Hostage Makes Desperate Plea

Aired October 09, 2014 - 07:00   ET

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

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Why did Texas Health Presbyterian wait five days before asking the FDA for permission to use an experimental medication? Other patients in the United States, they all got their experimental medications immediately.

Also questions about why he didn't get a blood donation from an Ebola survivor. It's thought that such a donation can actually help Ebola patients recover more quickly from their disease. So those questions still remain. The family definitely wants some answers.

Now you mentioned the sheriff's deputy. I think it's important to say here that this deputy never had contact with Duncan. He does not have a fever. The Texas department of health says in that situation there's no risk for Ebola. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: But Elizabeth, as you know, the growing concern is do we really know to a medical certainty, how you get it and how you don't? Who is at risk and who isn't? And even if they do know to a medical certainly, it does seem that they cast a wide net every time somebody winds up being infected with the virus, and that also fuels doubts as well. But thank you very much for the reporting.

Now in terms of the reaction, starting Saturday, every passenger arriving at New York's JFK airport from West Africa will be screened for Ebola. Now that means face-to-face questioning and temperature checks. The same kind of screenings will begin at Newark, Dulles, O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson airports next week. Let's go to our aviation correspondent Rene Marsh live from Dulles international airport in Virginia. Rene, do you see any preparations in place? What's the buzz there?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't see anything in place. But we do know that if things are going to roll out on Saturday that this morning preparations are under way, Chris. We can tell you that, as you mentioned, the tougher screening, it means it's going to be very detailed questions for people coming from very specific countries, three countries that have been impacted by Ebola.

And you mentioned the temperature checks. We know that customs officers will be using something like this. No need to make contact with a passenger. But they will be screening them to determine if they have a fever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: In just days, ramped-up screening of passengers will begin at New York's JFK airport and expanding to Atlanta, Newark, Chicago, and here at Washington, Dulles. The five airports receive about 95 percent of the 150 passengers arriving in the U.S. every day from Ebola hot spots -- Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Under the new screening measures, all passengers traveling from those countries will have their temperatures checked with a laser thermometer. No touching necessary, just held close to the forehead. A new CDC questionnaire must also be filled out upon landing.

AMESH ADAJA, MD, UPMC CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: There's a 21 day incubation period. People may not have a fever when they're passing through the airport. And invariably when a case comes through, people are going to ask, you know, we had this temperature screening set up, why did this happen? And I'm telling people that it's completely predictable that it will happen because this is not a foolproof way to prevent Ebola from coming into the country.

MARSH: Similar screening is already in place in West Africa. But the goal of these new U.S. checks is to identify passengers airport officials missed or who develop symptoms while traveling.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is an additional layer of screening that can be targeted to that small population in a way that will enhance security, but also minimize disruption to the broader traveling public.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well the CDC says one out of 500 travelers they do indeed have a fever if they are traveling from West Africa. But they say many of those cases it turns out to be malaria. So as the custom and border patrol officers, they are taking temperatures, there's no doubt they're going to find people with a fever, but it won't necessarily be Ebola. That being said, the reason for the delay in why we won't see these measures in place until Saturday, we are told that the customs officers, they have to be trained and briefed on all of the new procedures. Chris?

CUOMO: You have to deal with the training, you have to deal with the false positives, and many are saying, Rene, as you know, if it's important enough to screen, why not just ban travel until the virus is under control? And that's part of the controversy. Thank you for the reporting this morning. Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris, let's talk about what airports are going to look like come this Saturday. How practical is this plan? And will it keep more cases of Ebola out of the country? CNN's Aviation Correspondent Richard Quest, is joining us from Washington with more. Richard, great to see you.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: So explain what it's going to look like here at JFK on Saturday? QUEST: Well, it's very straightforward, because what will happen is

that the passengers disembarking from aircraft, the information the authorities already have, from the advanced passenger information, from the questionnaires filled out. They will be hived off. They will then be separated, segregated, and questioned.

At that point, a laser type thermometer very similar to the one like this that you can just buy over the counter but a more sophisticated version, crucial to note, no contact when you take the temperature, absolutely no contact. And if you see an elevated number, I'm pretty normal this morning, at least on the temperature scale, if you see an abnormal number or there's reason to believe from the questioning that this person has been in the area, or has been in contact with somebody, then this is where it gets crucial, Alisyn. The person is then segregated even further, and no longer CBP, but now being dealt with by CDC people, Centers for Disease Control, and they will determine whether they need to be quarantined, further investigation, or allowed to travel on with information.

CAMEROTA: I see you have your thermometer, I have my own thermometer here. What you're saying is it will never touch the person's head or body. It will held a few inches away from them and it can read the temperature in a space of I guess a few seconds. And if they are determined to have a temperature then once they go to the CDC line, do they go to a doctor? Do they get treatment? And how do they determine, as Rene Marsh was just saying, what they're suffering from? Maybe they have a temperature for a different reason.

QUEST: I think you have to put it in perspective. This is not about punishment. This is not about finding somebody and locking them up. This is about finding the person who might be infected. Now, the temperature frankly will be a one way of doing it. But let's say you're in the early stages of incubation. You don't have an elevated temperature. But on your form you have said you've been to one of the affected areas or you have been in that particular region. Then the CDC starts questioning you. Where have you been? Who have you been in contact with? What was your business there? Were you a health worker? Were you a banker doing meetings whatever it might be?

And from that information, you're building up a picture of the person. This is not, let's be quite clear, Alisyn, this is not a one size fits all. You have to investigate the passengers and it won't be easy. And you have to make the determination. And as the CDC said themselves it is not 100 percent guaranteed.

CAMEROTA: And, Richard, I was very surprised to hear that 150 passengers a day come into the United States from those Ebola hot spots of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. That's a lot of passengers, what if they don't come into one of these five airports, JFK, Atlanta, Newark, Chicago, or Washington Dulles?

QUEST: Well, experience suggests that's where they're going to come, and that's because it's the major hubs of the European carriers and the U.S. carriers. Remember there's maybe one direct flight from that particular part of the world, not necessarily from the immediate affected countries. You would transit Heathrow, Charles De Gaulle, Frankfurt or probably

Brussels, which are the main transit points, and you're going to come into Kennedy, Newark, Dulles, Chicago O'Hare. Yes, in theory you could go into London and you could go into San Francisco, Los Angeles, or somewhere else. But you're looking at the main picture overall.

Look, you never going to be able to get the person who is so determined that they're going to get in somehow. That's not what this is about. The determined person, miscreant, who wants to avoid detection, that's the danger. What you're aiming for is the traveler who doesn't know, the traveler who is feeling unwell. The majority of cases, that's how they'll come.

CAMEROTA: All right, Richard Quest, thanks so much for the information this morning. It was great to see you. Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: Outrage in St. Louis after another teenager is killed by a police officer. Just like the Michael Brown case, the officer is white, the teen is black. Angry protesters gathered in the streets shouting and chanting profanity toward the police. But in this case officials say the teen was the one who fired first and the off-duty officer was acting in self-defense. Rosa Flores is here with the latest. Rosa?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, not only are protesters hitting the streets, they're going to Twitter to express their outrage. And so are local leaders, one of them saying "At the scene of yet another young man's death." Now police defending their position, saying the teen tussled with the officer, ran off, then turned back and fired at least three shots at police.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Overnight, protests erupt in St. Louis, angry residents charging at police, kicking at police cars, shattering windows and shouting for police to leave their neighborhood.

This after an 18-year-old black man was shot and killed by an off-duty St. Louis police officer Wednesday night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You all just killed that little boy!

FLORES: According to the St. Louis police department, the 32-year-old officer, a white male and a six-year veteran of the force, was off- duty in uniform working for a security agency on neighborhood patrol when he came across three black men who started running from the officer's vehicle. Police say eventually one of them fired shots at the officer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A police officer tonight chased an individual who was armed with a gun. The individual shot at the officer at least three times, and the officer returned fire.

FLORES: Authorities confirm the officer shot at the suspect 17 times. The officer was not hurt, and police say a .9-millimeter gun was recovered from the scene. This shooting happening just miles away from where Michael Brown, who was unarmed, was shot two months ago, and just ahead of a weekend of resistance in St. Louis where activists will push for movement in the investigation into that case. All this as demonstrators continue in a community already reeling and seeking answers to another young man's death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Think about your own child.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Emotions were already expected to erupt this weekend with protesters asking for the end of racial profiling, the end of police violence, and a change in the prosecutor in the Michael Brown case. Now thousands were expected to attend. It's unclear how many more will show up as a result of the new shooting. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Rosa, thank you very much. We'll stay on that story to be sure.

There's a lot of news this morning. Let's get you to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: There certainly is. It's 11 minutes past the hour. Here are your headlines. Embarrassing new revelations surrounding the 2012 Secret Service prostitution scandal. Despite repeated denials by the Obama administration, the "Washington Post" reports a White House aide had a prostitute staying with him at his hotel during President Obama's trip to Colombia. Senior officials were allegedly told about it. That aide now reportedly works full- time at the State Department. His father is a prominent Democratic donor.

Police in Pennsylvania reveal the chilling contents of handwritten notes apparently left behind in the woods by suspected cop killer Eric Frein. The notes describe the ambush of two state troopers last month. I'll give you an excerpt. "Friday, September 12th, got a shot around 11:00 p.m. Took it. He dropped. I took a follow-up shot on his head/neck area. He was still and quiet after that." Frein remains at large.

The Nobel Pprize in literature just awarded to French author Patrick Modiano. The 69-year-old Modiano was a favorite to win the prize. He's the 11th French writer to win.

Wow, how about this, a San Jose, California homeowner got more than he bargained for. A motion detector alarm in a surveillance camera went off this week. It turns out a mountain lion, a puma, a cougar, whatever you call it, was on his car right in front of his home. The surveillance video captures the lion climbing on his car, standing around for a while, checking out the scenery before heading off. Neighbors believe it came from the Alameda County Quicksilver Park which has open space and trails nearby. You know, I remember being in California and waking up to see that the neighbor's cat, you would see paw prints all over your windshield, and what have you. But those paw prints would be pretty big.

CUOMO: When they're a size 12 Nike -- CAMEROTA: This is the scary wildlife edition of NEW DAY. First the

great white mouth.

PEREIRA: Do you think Indra would wrestle these things?

CUOMO: She would go out there to see how close she could get. How often do we have a situation where there's a dangerous wild animal and people feel this compulsion to go out and get as close as possible?

PEREIRA: It happened at 3:00 a.m. Thankfully most people would have been asleep.

CUOMO: Remember the famous one of the guy who had to get that close to the deer and it reared up and started smacking him and it went viral all over the place.

CAMEROTA: You like that one. He's like reenacting that one.

CUOMO: I liked it. He was OK. The best part was it was a guy getting beat down by his buck and the wife was the one videoing it. Don't help him. Just document him getting the epic beat-down for his stupidity.

CAMEROTA: What does that tell you? Meanwhile we have to tell but this. It's a dramatic plea from the mother of an American hostage being held by ISIS. She is reaching out directly to the terror group's leader, asking to speak with him. Will her plea have any impact?

CUOMO: CNN has new poll numbers for you about some surprisingly tight races in Kansas and Alaska. What does that mean for control of the Senate? We have a man who knows. His name is John King, and he will tell it you on "INSIDE POLITICS."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: We want to tell you about this desperate plea from the mother of an American whose life is being threatened by ISIS. Paula Kassig was trying to contact ISIS leaders about the fate of her son, Abdul- Rahman Kassig. She says in a tweet, quote, I'm trying to get in touch with the Islamic State about my son's fate. I'm an old woman and Abdul-Rahman Kassig is my only child. My husband and I are on our own, with no help from the government. We would like to talk to you. How can we reach you?

This, as the Syrian border town of Kobani continues to dangle by a thread, nearby Turkey, literally the other side of the border, doing nothing to stop it. There are high-level talks, though, in Turkey set for today to try to coax more involvement in the coalition on their behalf. So let's bring in Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense Of Democracies. Daveed, thank you for joining us. You understand the desperation of this family. You understand their sense of estrangement from the American government. We've heard this before, where families don't feel enough is being done. But reaching out directly to ISIS, is this a tactic that is worth it? DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, SENIOR FELLOW, FOUNDATION FOR THE DEFENSE OF

DEMOCRACIES: It was something that happened before, actually, in Steven Sotloff's case, his mother did something very similar, issuing a direct appeal by video to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Whether it's worth it or not, I think if you're in that position where your son is being held by ISIS, where they've beheaded so many people before, it's going to be a tactic that you'll try out of desperation.

CUOMO: Is there any reason to believe that these masked men have any mercy in them at all? Is there any case where they have ever exceeded to the wishes of anybody in the name of virtue?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Well, they do have one release to their credit. They have a few releases to their credit. This is something that actually is mentioned in the video by one of their hostages, by James Cantlie. He talks about, at the very beginning, how the U.S. and the U.K. have this strategy of not negotiating with the Islamic State, while other countries engage in negotiations. It's definitely designed to place the burden for the deaths on the hands of the U.S. and the U.K. government. But as to whether they have mercy, no.

You mentioned before, the name of the hostage that's being used, Abdul-Rahman Kassig, that, of course, is not his birth name. His birth name is Peter Kassig. His mother is using his name upon his conversion to Islam, which came under ISIS' captivity. Now people will ask, well is it genuine, is it not genuine? I don't want to speculate on that, obviously, because he is still being held and as far as we know, he is still alive. But I will say that ISIS bragged that both Sotloff and James Foley had been converted to Islam and yet they beheaded them anyway, which really speaks to, No. 1, their lack of mercy and No. 2, the fact that they are violating even their very own strict and harsh interpretation of Sharia Law.

CUOMO: If nothing else, this is an indication of the fact that they are not true Islam, they are a perversion of it and blaming Islam for the actions and existence of ISIS is just inaccurate. You have to blame the people because they've perverted the faith. Alright, so that's that situation. Let's now move into the military side of this. Kobani, up for grabs on the border Between Syria and Turkey. Turkey, Turkey, was big headline, Daveed. We sat here, we talked about how great this development is. One of the biggest armies in the world. One of the biggest in NATO. They know the ground, they know the situation, the politics. It's their faith that they're fighting for -- nothing. What's going on?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: There's complexity there. This is not at all excuse the Turks, because this is one of the most macabre things that I have seen. They're literally on the border, watching the slaughter of Kobani coming. You've already had large numbers of Kurds massacred. But you do have some complexity on Turkey's side. For one thing, they don't actually speak the language. They don't have a lot of Arabic speakers, Turkish is a different language than Arabic. If they enter with ground forces into Syria, it's a complex situation, they wouldn't just be fighting ISIS, but you have a variety of other factions, you have other Jihadist groups, you have -- CUOMO: Right, Daveed, but this isn't about dialogue, this is about knowing the terrain. This is their land. And they are just sitting there and watching. Is that because it is the Kurds? Do they want the Kurds to die?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: I wouldn't, I wouldn't make an accusation that's that harsh. But look, I think that they are extraordinarily insensitive to what's happening to the Kurds. The Kurds have always been a marginalized minority within Turkey. You've had their own situation with the militant group, the PKK, which is a Kurdish separatist organization, that certainly explains some of their awful hesitance in this case.

CUOMO: Alright so, you have General John Allen, he's leading the coalition on the U.S. side, he's going over to cut a deal, essentially, right? We're saying he's talking to Turkey about future involvement. Further involvement. That's cutting a deal. What do you have to give Turkey to get them doing the fighting on the ground that is desperately needed?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: That's an excellent question. Part of the answer, I think, lies in the fact that Turkey has much more of a stake in this than the United States does. This is happening right on their border. Now Turkey has said that they want the U.S. to have a comprehensive plan, they also want the U.S. to go after Assad. That's probably going to be a part of their negotiating position.

CUOMO: Going after Assad. Any chance that the U.S. says fine, you go after Assad while you're fighting the other guys? Go after whoever you want, but just get in there and fight?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Certainly the U.S. will say that. If you look at the statement from the Turkish Prime Minister from Erdogan, he is demanding boots on the ground, but it's someone else's boots. He actually wants the United States to broaden its mission and to go after Assad. That's part of the price that, at least the Turks at the very outset, are going to try to extract for the U.S. to be involved. Now it's also possible, I should note, that ISIS will cross the Turkish Red Line. You have one of the Ottoman sultans, too cause it's very close by. If they destroy that, that would be a Red Line, that would pebbly force involvement, regardless of what the United States does.

CUOMO: And you do have ISIS now taunting Turkey. And as you said, this goes to the heart. The main question in this situation, whose war is it? Is it a fight for the soul of Islam or is it an extension of the U.S. fight against terror? People say it's both, but it has to be more one than the other, and it hasn't been decided yet to anybody's satisfaction. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, thank you for the perspective, as always. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Hey, Chris. Listen to this interesting plan to fight Ebola -- send actors into hospitals pretending to have symptoms, to see how the hospitals handle it. This actually happened. And we'll tell you how it went when the doctor joins us live.

And, being president has its perks. What's the best thing about not being president? Bill Clinton has that answer on "INSIDE POLITICS."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Here is a look at your headlines at half past the hour. A Dallas Sheriff's deputy is being tested for Ebola. The risk is said to be low. However, he was in the apartment of Thomas Eric Duncan who became the first person to die of Ebola on American soil.

A new development, five major airports are set to start screening travelers from three West African nations. That will begin with JFK on Saturday. There will be four other airports following suit.

Some chilling details this morning about the attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over EASTERN Ukraine. The Dutch foreign minister said on a talk show that rescuers found one of the victims with an oxygen mask over his mouth. Now, this flies against the theory that none of the 298 people aboard knew the missile was coming. You recall that jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July.

The head of Homeland Security insisting ISIS fighters have not infiltrated the United States through the Mexican border. Jeh Johnson on CNN blasting California Congressman Duncan Hunter, who publicly claimed at least 10 ISIS fighters have been stopped by border patrol agents and more are getting through.

JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We're vigilant in looking out for individuals of suspicion who may be crossing our border and we have no specific intelligence that ISIL is plotting to come into the homeland through our southern border. But we're constantly on the lookout.

(END VIDEOCLIP)