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Family Seeks Answers in Vaping Death; Wildfire Evacuee Gives Birth at Hotel; October Jobs Report; Warren Releases Plan to Pay for Medicare for All. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 01, 2019 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In her home state of Georgia.

MAGGIE DAVIS, MARY KERRIE DAVIS' DAUGHTER: I think it was to a point where she was vaping more than she had ever smokes cigarettes. And then last year she started smoking THC products very heavily, more so than nicotine.

DR. ANNE SHUCHAT, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CDC: I hope that we'll get to answers quickly, but I think we need to be very attentive to this issue over the long haul.

GUPTA: A long haul that could deny the Davis family and countless others closure and possibly a chance to save others.

DAVIS: I just want people to know that they're not invincible to falling victim to the same thing my mom did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: So, Sanjay, this family is still waiting to find out whether or death was caused by vaping or not. Why has this been so hard to determine?

GUPTA: You know, it's interesting. I think, in part, it's just a challenging medical investigation because this is a new illness. There's several different types of things that people vape. Trying to put that together.

But I do, John, give you a couple of points of context quickly. You know, e-cigarettes, these nicotine delivery devices, they've been around, you know, really since 2007, 12, 13 years now in this country. And we haven't heard of these mysterious illnesses before now. So what's happening is a relatively acute thing. And I think that's an important piece of context.

Also, you know, so many of these illnesses and deaths seem to be related to THC cartridges, you know, cannabis cartridges. The problem, John, as you know, many states, this is illegal. So patient comes in says, yes, I've been vaping. Asked what they've been vaping. If they're in a state that's illegal, how likely are they to be forthcoming with this? Maybe, maybe not. But the point is that it just makes the investigation that much more challenging.

In the end, it may not be one single thing that they're dealing with. It could be a variety of things. That makes the thing more challenging. But, still, this is an acute phenomenon, John, that's happening.

AVLON: Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Really scary. Sanjay, thank you very much.

All right, breaking overnight, another wildfire in southern California burning nearly 10,000 acres. This one in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles. Ferocious winds are fueling these fires up and down the state. We've been covering it all week. One of the biggest fires, the Kincade Fire, has forced nearly 200,000 people to evacuate their homes in northern California. Among them, Rachel and James Page, who evacuated to a Napa hotel and that's where they gave birth to their baby girl Penelope a couple of days ago.

James, Rachel, great to see you guys. And great to see Penelope. She looks like she's pleasantly napping there. How are you guys doing?

RACHEL PAGE, WILDFIRE EVACUEE WHO GAVE BIRTH IN HOTEL ROOM: She is, yes. We're good. We're doing really good, especially because we were able to go back to our home. So that's been really nice for us to be able to get settled in.

CAMEROTA: So, Rachel, you were very pregnant, obviously, when you were forced to evacuate on, I guess, Saturday.

R. PAGE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: You looked around for a place to go.

R. PAGE: Yes.

CAMEROTA: You considered a midwife center, as I understand it, but that place also had to be evacuated. So you went to a hotel. And how soon after that did you give birth?

R. PAGE: I checked in Sunday night and gave birth Monday afternoon.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. Now, James, as we understand it, the hotel did not know that Rachel was giving birth until some of the surrounding rooms began reporting hearing screams coming from your room.

JAMES PAGE, FATHER WHO HELPED DELIVER BABY IN HOTEL ROOM: Yes. Yes. Yes, exactly. So it wasn't until we were just about finished, like it was right at the end when we actually got a call from the hotel saying that they heard -- they got a noise complaint. And they wanted to just check in and make sure everything was OK. And our midwives answered the phone and were like, oh, yes, no, we're fine. We just had a baby.

R. PAGE: Yes. CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. I mean, that had to be a little alarming for the people in the next rooms who were overhearing some of this.

R. PAGE: I would imagine so. I was -- I was not quiet. So I'm sure it was alarming to them.

CAMEROTA: And, Rachel, I mean, you know, not to get gross, but we've all seen those local news reports of like the horrifying things that are in hotel rooms. This must not have been the most hygienic place to give birth?

R. PAGE: Well, I mean, it's certainly something I thought about and I wanted to make sure at least we were at a hotel that was really, I thought, was really nice. So I thought about where we could go. And so I felt really good that it was a nice, clean place. So I thought it was OK.

[08:35:01]

CAMEROTA: Did you leave an extra big tip for the maid in that room after this?

R. PAGE: Well, actually, our midwives did like all of the cleanup. You would -- you would never know that anyone gave birth in there.

CAMEROTA: Wow. Wow.

Well, what a story of an evacuation. I mean everybody has, you know, such dramatic stories of having to be evacuated, but yours really takes the case.

James and Rachel and Penelope, we're so glad that the baby's OK. Thank you for sharing your personal story with us.

R. PAGE: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Great to talk to those guys. Oh, my gosh.

AVLON: And welcome to the world, baby Penelope.

All right, breaking news, the October jobs report just released. Got the new numbers when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:41:19]

CAMEROTA: OK, breaking money news. The October jobs report is out. And it's better than expected, despite the General Motors strikes.

AVLON: How about that.

CAMEROTA: So CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here with the numbers.

What are you seeing? CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, outside of manufacturing you saw some steady hiring again in the month, and 128,000 net new jobs. And just for point of reference, August and September were revised higher. So later in the summer, it was a little more robust than we had thought. You have companies who are still out there trying to hire, and that is pushing the unemployment rate still near this 50-year low. It ticked up to 3.6 percent. This is low, 3.6 percent. Why would it go up? About 325,000 people came into the labor market. And that's something you can expect to see ten years into an economic recovery. Ten years into a jobs expansion. People who have been out of the labor market not looking are now like, hey, maybe this is my time to get back in.

Where is the hiring? We saw it in food services, restaurants and bars. We saw business, 22,000 jobs there. Manufacturing, that, folks, is that GM strike. That GM strike, as you know, was six weeks long, it was nearly 50,000 workers. And this is what it looks like for manufacturing jobs. Boom. We've been concerned about this recession in manufacturing. We're going to get another really important manufacturing number later this morning to tell us about the health of the manufacturing sector. But all of that over there is because of that GM strike.

Let's look at the average. Really important to see where we stand here. Right now, for the year, on average, about 167,000 net new jobs each month. You can see that that is still steady hiring. That is still companies are, you know, filling out their payrolls, but it's not quite as robust as we've seen in the past few years, you guys.

AVLON: Wow.

CAMEROTA: Christine, thank you very much for those hot off the presses numbers.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

AVLON: Wow, how about those jobs. Got to love it.

All right, young people in rural New Mexico have a safe haven from the opioid epidemic. A place where they can find their talents and a sense of hope thanks to one of this year's top ten CNN Hero. Meet Roger Montoya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER MONTOYA, CNN HERO: Many of our kids come to us traumatized. We create a healthy environment where young people can discover themselves and a way to contribute.

Long neck. Just find the length.

When I see a child's face and spirit come to life, I don't need any more evidence. I know that that kind of joy is what will save them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Roger's program, Moving Arts Espanola, has helped more than 5,000 children and youth. Go to cnnheroes.com right now to vote for him or any of your favorite top ten heroes to be 2019 CNN Hero of the Year. Vote now at cnnheroes.com.

CAMEROTA: OK, breaking news, Senator Elizabeth Warren revealing how she would pay for Medicare for all. We have the details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:35]

CAMEROTA: Breaking political news. Senator Elizabeth Warren has released her plan detailing how she would pay for Medicare for all.

MJ Lee has been following this. She joins us now with the numbers.

Tell us about the plan, MJ.

MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elizabeth Warren finally putting out the details of how she would pay for Medicare for all. This, of course, comes after she has faced intense criticism over the last few weeks for not having a plan on how to pay for Medicare for all. And she has been dodging one particular question of whether middle class taxes would go up under Medicare for all. And she is now attempting to answer that question with a resounding no. She says we don't need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance Medicare for all.

So if we want to just quickly talk over the numbers here, the price tag that she is putting on Medicare for all in new federal spending over ten years is $20.5 trillion. And you see there a list of different ways in which she hopes to get to that $20.5 trillion, including employers continuing to contribute. That makes up for about half of the total.

And then there's a lot of cracking down on tax evasion and fraud. And then, as she has done throughout the year as a presidential candidate, going after the big corporations and the financial sector. You see there that she says around $3.8 trillion would come from that.

And also she's beefing up her signature wealth tax. That plan is already out, but she is now saying she's adding to that by making billionaires pay a little bit more than she had originally said.

[08:50:08]

Now, just to talk about the political significance of this. You all remember that earlier this week, Bernie Sanders, the author of Medicare for all, said himself that he doesn't think that it's necessary yet to put out a full funding explanation on Medicare for all, but now Warren is saying, because she has gotten so much criticism and questions that she wants to fight the misinformation with facts. And I just want to point out one very important detail from this new

plan. While it preserves all of the benefits that Bernie Sanders has laid out in his Medicare for all plan, Elizabeth Warren is now saying that she's actually going to put out another transition plan in the coming weeks. What this means is that her transition in getting to Medicare for all could be different from what Bernie Sanders has proposed. He has proposed a four-year transition. She could certainly put out something different. We just won't know for a couple of weeks according to Elizabeth Warren.

CAMEROTA: MJ, thank you very much for giving us that breaking news hot off the presses.

AVLON: Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is CNN political analyst David Gregory.

So, David, your snap analysis of Elizabeth Warren's plan that, as you know, has been sort of much demanded for her to spell out.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. And I think what's striking about that piece of it is that it's a very substantive call by some of her competitors who are running for president to say, look, we have a vision here. Is it a more progressive, some would argue radical vision of Medicare for all or is there a more progressive, a more conservative approach to expanding Obamacare?

I think what's difficult on the substantive front, without looking at it in specifics, is how she gets there. I think it's fanciful to say you're going to find money from people who avoid taxes, for example, to find your funding, or to beef up the wealth tax. I mean you know you just can't tax the rich to death and think that's how you're going to pay for everything. I think it's a dodge to say to folks who are middle class earners that you can have it and you can have it for nothing. There's going to be a tremendous impact on health care expenses, on the health care functioning of the system in our country moving to expanded health care for all.

The political piece of this is also interesting to me because I think what she is doing by doubling down on villainizing the rich and the wealthiest and saying we're just going to keep taxing, she is alienating those potential voters who were voters, you know, white collar voters, maybe Republican, but maybe totally opposed to Donald Trump or tired of Donald Trump. These were some of the voters who even voted for Barack Obama. I don't think they're going to vote for Elizabeth Warren. And I think that's another liability that she's doubling down on today.

AVLON: Well, David, we're going to have to go through all the details of this. It's hot off the presses. But certainly there are going to be a lot of political implications for the costs. But at least she has put forward a plan, and that kind of specificity is welcome.

Let's pivot over to impeachment. The big news of the week. You've made the point that part of this question will be whether Democrats can keep the focus on the president's actions and away from the heated passions surrounding the president.

My question to you is, how is that possible if Republicans are denying the basic underlying facts of his actions?

GREGORY: Well, I think it's tricky, but I think that what Democrats want to keep it focused there to say, even Nancy Pelosi, this is not what I wanted to do. It may be politically perilous. But his actions have forced our hand. And to say to Republicans, let's be clear, do you want even a Democratic president acting this way? Are you going to countenance this kind of behavior? I think we know that a lot of their piety and righteousness is hypocritical. They would not support that if a Democrat were doing this.

But I do think impeachment is part of a much larger fight over culture and identity in the country in the Trump era. Who are we and what kind of country are we going to be is really what the fight is about Donald Trump. And I think impeachment is becoming a proxy fight for that. That's the difficulty for Democrats because the polarization then lines up so cleanly if that's the case.

CAMEROTA: David Gregory, thank you very much for all of the analysis.

GREGORY: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: Have a great weekend.

GREGORY: You, too.

CAMEROTA: OK, "The Good Stuff" is next.

AVLON: Love it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:58:53]

CAMEROTA: Time now for "The Good Stuff."

A Pennsylvania boy's birthday was extra special thanks to an Arby's that went the extra mile. Jake Hart has downs syndrome and he's obsessed with Arby's. His mom thought that buying cups from one location would be a cool 12th birthday treat for him. But the workers there had other plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY HART, JAKE'S MOM: She called me a few days later and said, could you come in Saturday at 11:00, you know, we have something a little special for him we'd like to do. And when we walked in, it was mind blowing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: They threw a surprise birthday party for Jake. And they even made him an honorary employee, complete with a uniform. Jake's mom said he even ditched his original plan of dressing up as a Steelers football player for Halloween and wore this uniform instead.

AVLON: That's great.

CAMEROTA: That's wonderful. Oh, my gosh.

AVLON: How about it?

CAMEROTA: Good for Arby's.

AVLON: One at a time. Good for Arby's. (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: All right, have a great weekend, everybody. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thanks for being here today.

AVLON: Absolutely fun. Have a great weekend.

CAMEROTA: It was -- you too.

AVLON: All right.

CAMEROTA: Time now for CNN "NEWSROOM" with Jim Sciutto.

[09:00:05]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this Friday morning. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

END