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New Day Saturday

Doctors: Nurse Nina Pham "Doing Well"; NYT: Officer Wilson Fired Gun Twice In Car; What Can Be Done To Stop Ebola?; Ebola's Impact on the Obama Presidency; Researchers: Ebola Can Spread in Air

Aired October 18, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We don't want you to miss a thing. We're so glad you're here. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Eight o'clock here now on the East Coast, just coming up on 8:00 actually.

PAUL: Yes, and there is a new point man in charge of the U.S. fight against Ebola.

BLACKWELL: He is Ron Klain, a long time aide to Vice President Joe Biden. His former chief of staff there. Some Republicans are not happy that he doesn't have public health experience.

PAUL: A Dallas lab worker, who may have had indirect contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberia man who died of Ebola is still in voluntary isolation on a cruise ship, in a cabin there. The Carnival ship Magic could not get permission to dock in Belize or in Mexico. Another passenger spoke to CNN though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC LUPHER, CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER (via telephone): I think it's more of a holy cow, we're on a boat with an Ebola scare. You know, I don't think it's, I need to get off of here. I'm going to get sick.

They never said "Ebola." They said the hospital several times where this person worked, but never said the word Ebola. Not sure why. Maybe they didn't want to cause panic on the boat, but clearly everybody knew what they were talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Look at these new pictures of Nina Pham. She's on a private CDC jet that took her from Dallas to Maryland. He's one of the two nurses who contracted Ebola after treating Duncan. The other nurse, Amber Vinson, she is being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

PAUL: So obviously we are covering the Ebola story from all angles here. CNN's Erin McPike is in Washington. Athena Jones is in Bethesda, Maryland.

BLACKWELL: Let's start in Washington and get more on the nation's new so-called Ebola czar from Erin McPike. She's live at the White House this morning. Erin, good morning.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning to you. You may remember after the president took office in 2009 and Congress passed the stimulus package, it was Ron Klain who was the point person responsible for overseeing the distribution of that funding and that is the point that the White House is making, that Ron Klain has a lot of experience in government.

Well, listen here to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest press that case yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think what you can assume Mr. Klain's role will be will be an important high level implementation role and ultimately, it will be his responsibility to make sure that all of the government agencies who are responsible for aspects of this response, that their efforts are carefully integrated. He will also be playing a role in making sure the decisions get made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Earnest also made the point that Klain has a lot of good relationships on Capitol Hill but, of course, that was no consolation to Republicans. We got a number of statements very quickly after they confirmed this pick that Republicans were upset that he didn't have this background in public health.

And I want to read one of those statements to you. It comes from Congressman Ed Royce. He is a Republican who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and he said, quote, "I have to ask why the president didn't pick an individual with a noteworthy infectious disease or public health background."

That is the point that we are hearing from a lot of Republicans. They are saying that this is purely political -- Christi and Victor.

BLACKWELL: Erin, it seems -- and tell me if there's anything more to support this more than the statements we are hearing that the White House is a little less absolute about not implementing a travel ban. What are you hearing?

MCPIKE: Victor, for the most part, that is correct. We have heard from the White House senior adviser to the president, Dan Pfeiffer as well as Dr. Tom Frieden, who is, of course, the director of the CDC, and the point that they are making is that even if they did implement some sort of travel ban to the countries that are affected in West Africa.

That people in those countries would sneak into other countries and then find ways to travel into the United States anyway. We have also heard from Secretary of State John Kerry and he is essentially shifting the blame to other countries for having even weaker responses -- Christi and Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Erin McPike there in Washington for us, thank you so much.

PAUL: Let's talk about Nurse Nina Pham now. CNN's Athena Jones is outside the National Institutes of Health in Maryland where she is being treated. So what is the latest, Athena, on her condition, not just physically but emotionally as well?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christie. She's been here at the Special Clinical Studies Unit for just over 30 hours. We haven't gotten an update this morning on her condition, but doctors did tell us that we would get updates when her condition changes.

And so the latest we know on her is that she's in fair condition. She's stable. She's resting comfortably. She's able to sit up. She is eating, able to interact with her caregivers and that she's in good spirits.

We know that her mother and her sister are in the area to offer their support. So doctors said that this is someone who is being constantly cheered up.

Now I can tell you, she's being cared for by a team of highly trained, highly specialized nurses, doctors, technicians and other experts and these nurses are working in two 12-hour shifts. There are about four or five nurses on each shift.

Anytime anyone has to go into the room where Nina Pham is being kept in isolation, they have to go in pairs. This is the buddy system and it's being done out of abundance of caution to make sure that there's no breach in protocols.

Of course, the nurses are wearing these highly protective gears, this hazmat suits and want to make sure that each nurse is looking out for the other to make sure there are no gaps in those suits, to make sure the nurses themselves are not exposed to this virus.

Now doctors would not make any predictions on how Nina Pham will fair, but asked if this illness is something you can recover from. Here's what Dr. Anthony Fauci said. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: When you say recoverable, in the sense of recovery, absolutely. We fully intend to have this patient walk out of this hospital and we'll do everything we possibly can to make that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And, of course, this hospital has a lot of experience treating the sickest people that come to this hospital, the sickest patients. And I should mention that one of the patients who has recovered from Ebola, we're talking about Dr. Kent Brantly, who was stricken with the illness while in Africa and recovered.

Nina Pham received a transfusion -- a blood donation from Dr. Brantly. He has donated his blood to several other patients and so that's one of the experimental treatments that we know that Miss Pham has gotten and doctors say that they are open to others.

Now as I mentioned, we'll be getting updates when there's a change in her condition. Also, doctors have said that they are talking with her just about how much information they can share with the press and the public without violating her patient privacy and confidentiality. So that's what we know now -- Christi.

PAUL: OK, good to know. Athena Jones, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right, now to a story we've been keeping a really close eye on. "The New York Times" this morning is reporting new details about the death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer.

PAUL: It's giving Officer Darren Wilson's side of the story in more detail and also chronicling forensic tests on his car. CNN national reporter, Nick Valencia, is live for us from Dallas and we're also joined on the phone by CNN legal analyst, Danny Cevallos. Thank you both so much for being with us.

Nick, let's go to your first, what do you know about the details of this report?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: Good morning, Christi. This is a new detail released by the "New York Times," a new report. We should mention that CNN cannot independently confirm these details.

But as you mentioned, it seems to back up the story of Officer Darren Wilson that Michael Brown, who was shot and killed by Wilson, reached into the car and that there was a struggle that ensued.

The newspaper goes on to cite forensic evidence saying that blood of Michael Brown was found on the gun, uniform, and police cruiser. "The New York Times" also reports that the gun went off at least two times in that car with one shot hitting Michael Brown in the arm and the other bullet missing.

I was there in Ferguson last month as well as many other CNN reporters and it was a very tense situation and it still is. Much was made about what happened outside the car with Mike Brown supporters saying that his hands were up when the officer shot him.

We know that from autopsy, Mike Brown was shot at least six times including twice in the head. Now today, this morning, this "New York Times" report makes a lot about what happened inside that car. Now, we haven't heard yet the reaction from Ferguson, but there's no telling what kind of reaction it will ensue to the conversation.

Again, I should mention, Christi and Victor, a very tense situation already in Ferguson. Now, this new report this morning, "The New York Times" is detailing what happened inside that car, again, CNN cannot independently confirm any of those details citing unnamed government officials familiar with this investigation -- Christi.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's go now to Danny Cevallos who is on the phone with us. Danny, I want to separate here the forensic report results from the narrative and we could bring them back together a little later.

But let's start with the forensics. The FBI testing, according to this report from "The New York Times," that the gun was fired twice inside the cruiser, once shooting Michael Brown in the arm and the other shot missing.

Is there any way, if those tests prove to be -- if the report proves to be accurate from "The New York Times," that you see this going to -- and with charges against this officer?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST (via telephone): Well, two narratives sort of emerge. If it's proven, if it's demonstrated that there really was a positive gunshot residue test and the gun was fired in the car and there was blood in the car.

Now, those two narratives are either that Officer Brown decided very early on to shoot Michael Brown for no reason and pull him into the car. I think that may be a little more difficult for people to believe.

On the other hand, it does go towards supporting Officer Darren Wilson's version of the story. So I think now we're moving farther and farther away from potential charges against Darren Wilson if this report is accurate.

Because not only does it demonstrate the possibility of a scuffle in the car or exacerbate the seriousness of it, but it also backs up Officer Wilson's story and refutes Dorian Johnson's version to some degree.

And I think from the beginning, Dorian Johnson's version of the story while very different from Officer Wilson's has over time been chipped away by the actual forensics, by the actual physical evidence, the circumstantial evidence.

So the more we see that circumstantial forensic evidence refute or align with a particular witnesses' version of the story, including Officer Wilson's, the farther we're getting away from Officer Wilson being indicted.

PAUL: OK, so Nick, let's talk about that because the details in this are very different, obviously, from what witnesses say that they saw happen on that day. Have you heard of any witnesses coming out saying that they saw a struggle in the car or are all of these witnesses people who perhaps, if there was such a struggle, missed that part of it and just saw the aftermath?

VALENCIA: Well, we heard a lot of conversations while we were there, some people saying that they saw that struggle and other people saying that that never happened, saying that Darren Wilson was the aggressor.

Principally Dorian Johnson who Danny Cellavos was just talking about who was walking with Mike Brown, who said that Darren Wilson was the aggressor, that Darren Wilson threw the door into them, nearly hit them, came inches away with his car. The fact though is that there's no videotape -- there's a videotape of the shooting, but this is what happened afterwards. The shooting of Mike Brown's body after the shooting, I should say, lying in the street.

There's no video of what happened. So this really is has been played and nuanced to the conversation and the facts will come out and he did nothing wrong during this incident.

And while we hear that side of the story, again, this other narrative, the other side of the story from Mike Brown supporters saying that there's a culture of indifference there, there's injustice, that those in the community there in Ferguson especially from the African- American community.

Feel that they are racially profiled and targeted and that Mike Brown is a microcosm of a larger issue of indifference there in Ferguson, so just different sides of the story.

Now this "New York Times'" report this morning, Christi and Victor, it seems to back up Darren Wilson's side of the story. The report goes on to say that they don't believe Darren Wilson has done anything or violated any civil rights.

Again, the sourcing on this, CNN cannot independently confirm "New York Times" citing unnamed government officials who have knowledge of this investigation -- Victor, Christi.

PAUL: All right, well, we'll see what the reaction is to this as the day unfolds. Nick Valencia, thank you so much, Nick.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, also, to Danny Cevallos joining us on the phone.

Ebola's arrival in the United States has fast-tracked the race to find a cure.

PAUL: Yes. So we're going to talk to an epidemiologist about the chance of finding a real viable vaccine here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: You know, Hawaii is not used to seeing one big storm a year, much less three.

BLACKWELL: Yes, but this hurricane season has certainly been atypical for Hawaii and it's not the only place threatened by a hurricane right now. CNN's Chad Myers is following two storms, one of which slammed into Bermuda overnight. What is next for these storms?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we've got a couple of storms. You said I was ready for my package to run. Bermuda got a direct hit last night. The eyewall went right over the center of the island and then the south part of the island.

I want to show you what the wind speeds look like for Bermuda last night. They started ramping up and it had gust to 79 miles per hour then it went all the way down to 29 and for a moment it was down to 10 miles an hour and then gusts up to 113 as the storm went by.

Here's what Hawaii looks like and this is good news for Hawaii I'm telling you, Ana is going to miss the island. This was a much bigger storm three days ago with a 90-mile-per-hour storm making landfall in Hilo, according to the models. They are not always right.

And we're happy because that storm is well down to the south. Here's Hawaii for you right now. Since 1959, Hawaii has had 12 storms, only 12 within 60 miles of making landfall.

And if you talk to anybody in Hawaii or at least Kauai, only three storms making landfall in the past 55 years that seems unreasonable considering they are just sitting out there waiting to get hit. The storms go south and north or by the time they get to Hawaii, they just fizzle out, Guys.

PAUL: Good for them.

BLACKWELL: Absolutely, Chad Myers, thank you so much.

PAUL: Thanks, Chad. We're going to get back to this morning's top story, Ebola and the continued effort to stop the deadly virus from spreading around the world.

BLACKWELL: Joining us is Dr. Amesh Adalja, he is with the Infectious Disease Society of America. I want to start with the FDA's clearance of trials for a new drug, Chimerix, I believe it is. What do you think about now this push to get something on the market to treat this virus?

DR. AMESH ADALJA, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SOCIETY OF AMERICA: It's clearly a high demand for these drugs and they've been used on an experimental basis and a handful of patient. We clearly need to have these counter measures and these anti-virals available.

Because as this outbreak continues, we may get more imported cases and we have areas in Africa that may be able to use these drugs and the quicker we have these drugs, the better. We still need to do low tech public health prevention to stop this outbreak, but it's great to have these drugs.

PAUL: Doctor, how much experimental treatment is readily available?

ADALJA: It's a very, very scarce resource and it's trickling in. So that's why you see some patients getting one drug and other patients getting another drug. It's really a matter of what is available and what the patient consents to because these are experimental drugs.

The patients and the hospitals have to agree to give it on an experimental basis. We don't have safety data in humans yet although we have good animal data.

BLACKWELL: So the World Health Organization has congratulated Senegal and declared the Ebola outbreak over there. I know there are geopolitical differences between Senegal and the U.S., but what, if anything, can the United States learn from that country?

ADALJA: We can learn that a very fast prompt response that isolated the contacts and kept the patients safe and from infecting others can work. And we've known that, this is the 25th Ebola outbreak, 24 times this has worked. You just need a minimal amount of public health infrastructure to do it. If Senegal can do it, the U.S. surely can.

PAUL: So where do you think the U.S. dropped the ball here? We knew that it was happening in the three countries in West Africa.

ADALJA: We're seeing now today is a ripple effect from an error that happened at the first presentation of Mr. Duncan to Texas Presbyterian Hospital when the diagnosis was missed. He was sent home and not only enlarged his contact circle but got sicker. Then he comes back in, gets admitted to the ICU, has this heroic

measures to save his life, put on the mechanic ventilator, getting continuous dialysis, which are all things that have blood and body fluid exposure risks, much higher than we've ever seen with another Ebola patient.

Then we have two health care workers infected and so it's a ripple effect that we've seen. Now that's where the ball really was dropped because travel history was not part of the treatment decision making on the visit to the emergency department.

PAUL: Well, and of course, the protocols, the fact that people say there didn't seem to be enough or any at the end of the day, especially for that hospital. Dr. Amesh Adalja, we appreciate your insight. Thank you, sir.

BLACKWELL: Well, as we said, pressure is mounting to find a vaccine to stop the spread of Ebola. We'll talk to a researcher who is already working on a potential cure and hear his thoughts on the current epidemic devastating parts of West Africa.

PAUL: Leave it to Washington to turn the Ebola crisis into a case of political mudslinging. The political fallout, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It's 24 minutes past the hour and the race is on to find a vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus. One drug, though, ZMapp was used to treat two Americans who contracted the diseases and they've recovered. Supplies ran out, though.

Joining me is Thomas Geisbert, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas at Galveston. He's conducted extensive research on the Ebola virus and biosafety containment. Thank you so much for being with us, sir.

PROFESSOR THOMAS GEISBERT, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MEDICAL BRANCH AT GALVESTON: Thank you for having me.

PAUL: Sure. So let me ask you, first of all, how soon do you think it will be before we likely see an Ebola vaccine? GEISBERT: I think it's going to be sometime next year. We've made a lot of progress over the last five to ten years in developing vaccines that can protect laboratory animals including non-human primates against Ebola.

In fact, there are at least four or five different vaccines that can do that and at least three of those currently have been moved forward by the government. Two of those are currently in phase one clinical trial and a third will be in clinical trials hopefully next year.

PAUL: I want to ask you a question we just talked about, drugmaker, Chimerix, got authorization from the FDA to test experimental anti- viral drugs on patients. How much faith do you have in their anti- viral?

GEISBERT: I'm not really familiar with the Chimerix product. It's my understanding that it has not been tested in lab animals yet like the two other products, the ZMapp and as your previous guest said we really don't know for sure whether ZMapp resulted in the survival of the patients it's been given to.

The other drug is from TKM Ebola from Tekmura that was used in Dr. Sacra in Nebraska and several other patients. Those two drugs both - in fact the only two drugs to completely protect nonhuman primates against Ebola in a biosafety level for laboratory. So I would consider those the two lead candidates. I'm really not familiar with Chimerix.

PAUL: OK, so those are two lead candidates, why is it taking so long to get more supplies of the drug made?

GEISBERT: I think it's just a situation where, you know, you have to go through a process to license a drug or vaccine against Ebola. It falls under what we call the FDA animal rule. It's sort of complex and there really weren't supplies available. ZMapp ran out. It was a situation where when the outbreak started and took off. There really were not enough of either one of those drugs.

PAUL: All right. So Professor Geisbert, is there anything that you see that would be most promising that you would put your full faith in at this point?

GEISBERT: I think it's going to take some time. I still think there's no substitute for just basic, good outbreak response and control and quarantine of patients in the affected area and really using that to break the chain of transmission.

I do think we've made a tremendous amount of progress on medical counter measures and hopefully in the near future we'll have those. And we've seen with the patients that came to the United States the good medical care, also, may very well have played a role in the better outcome that has appears to have occurred in the patients that came here.

PAUL: So do you feel more confident in the medical system now that a czar has been named? GEISBERT: You know, that's a political question and I prefer to defer that to the politicians.

PAUL: Got you. Understandable. Professor Thomas Geisbert, we appreciate your time. Thank you.

GEISBERT: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So we'll talk more about that. The White House pushing back against critics and finally naming Ron Klain as that Ebola czar, but why the wait? We'll talk about the political fallout over the Ebola crisis in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: 8:31 right now and so glad to have your company. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: And I'm Victor Blackwell.

As soon as today we could see new guidelines from the CDC on protective gear for healthcare workers dealing with Ebola patients.

PAUL: It's safe criticism after two nurses who treated the Liberian man who died of Ebola contracted the virus themselves.

BLACKWELL: We have new pictures from inside the CDC's private Gulfstream jet that one of those nurses, Nina Pham, took from Dallas to the National Institutes of Health, that's in Maryland. During Thursday's three-hour flight, Pham flew in the back of the plane in a specialized containment tent.

You know the Ebola crisis and President Obama's handling of it are taking a big political toll. Recent polls show his approval rating has hit an all-time low. Now just 40 percent of Americans think he's doing a good job according to this ABC News/Washington Post poll. And just 39 percent have a favorable view of the Democratic Party.

So let's talk about it. Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman and Crystal Wright, editor of conservativeblackchick.com are with us. Other issues have contributed to the decline of his approval rating, including his handling of this conflict with ISIS.

But I want to start with you, Robert. How big of a problem is this Ebola response and what someone called bungling response from the government? How big of a problem is that for the President?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, first of all, let's put this in proper perspective. While no one can excuse the mistakes that were made by the CDC, it's important to understand that we know the protocols that work. Our military people and our brave health professionals are working overseas with Ebola patients and not contracting or being exposed to the virus. And we know the protocols that do in fact work here in the United States.

There were two mistakes made, two people were exposed but by and large, the checking at the airports, the protocols do work effectively.

But the reality here is, of course, you don't vote for the CDC director. You don't vote for the NIH director. You vote for the President. So yes, he does take a hit.

I'll tell you what is keeping Democrats very much competitive in this as unpopular as our ratings may be at 39 percent rating like you say, the Republicans favorability is at 33 percent and they're unfavorables are at 52 percent and that's because they are focusing on just protesting President Obama without -- as the "Wall Street Journal" pointed out, their failure to have an agenda for the future of the country. Maybe President Obama is not going to be enough.

BLACKWELL: Robert I hear that -- I hear that but people don't vote for the party as a whole. They vote for one candidate or another. And if you look at the matchups, Crystal, the races that are most important for the Democrats to keep the senate, the Democrats are having some difficulty.

CRYSTAL WRIGHT, CONSERVATIVEBLACKSHICK.COM: The Democrats are woefully lagging behind. And I don't -- I don't know what polls Robert is reading but the President's I would say colossal fumble of the Ebola crisis is not helping the situation. Look, with each passing day, the Republicans are going to gain control of the senate because the American people want at least somebody -- a party in Congress that can blunt the President's policy mistakes.

But going back to Ebola, I mean what looks -- the house had a hearing, Victor, this week and there were six different heads of agencies testifying, including CDC director Tom Frieden. And what was apparently clear is that all those government heads, nobody has control of the situation and what does the President do? He's the commander-in-chief. He hires an Ebola czar with no disease experience, Ron Klain. He has no medical background.

I think the President needs to command. He needs to tell Tom Frieden to get a handle on the situation. There's no national standard of control for the hospitals. And I don't think -- I think the American people are seeing each passing day that this president is just not doing his job.

I mean, the fact that he's --

ZIMMERMAN: First of all -- first of all Crystal --

WRIGHT: Robert, I didn't interrupt you. Let me finish.

ZIMMERMAN: Ok, let's stick with facts.

WRIGHT: Right, I'm going to go with facts so stop interrupting for a second. The President finally cancels fundraising trips this week but the day after Thomas Duncan died, he flew off to California to yuck it up with Gwyneth Paltrow.

I mean Victor it just looks like nobody is in charge and it's really frightening that we went in a two-week period from patient zero to now three patients and counting. I think the American people want leadership.

BLACKWELL: All right.

ZIMMERMAN: Excuse me -- excuse me Crystal.

BLACKWELL: Robert.

ZIMMERMAN: First of all, Crystal, if you're so focused on having a medical professional in charge, that person is called the surgeon general and maybe you could --

WRIGHT: It's called Tom Frieden.

ZIMMERMAN: Excuse me Crystal -- maybe you could reach out to the Republican senate that in fact refuses to confirm the surgeon general because the NRA opposes his gun policy, as if that has any relevance at all.

WRIGHT: What's the senator --

ZIMMERMAN: Let's also remember Ron Klain is probably the best

WRIGHT: Robert --

BLACKWELL: Hold on Crystal. You were criticizing him for interrupting you. Go ahead Robert.

WRIGHT: Ok.

ZIMMERMAN: Also -- let's also understand Ron Klain is probably the best person that you could have in that position as an Ebola czar because he's had the experience of working in every branch of government handling complex inter-governmental agencies. And as far as polling goes Crystal, I recommend you to a new app called polltracker.com that lists all the latest polling and maybe I'd also recommend perhaps dramamine to help you deal with your spinning.

BLACKWELL: Ok. Before we get into the dramamine, let me ask specifically about this. Crystal, you criticize the President, you saying that he's not in control here.

WRIGHT: Right.

BLACKWELL: But there are also Republicans who have said some things that don't really reassure the public. You have Kentucky Senator Rand Paul saying that you can catch Ebola at a cocktail party. And then you have the governor of Georgia, Nathan Deals saying that he's been reassured by his commissioner of health in Georgia that water will kill it.

WRIGHT: Right. Well, look, all those remarks by Republicans I would say are stupid and negligent. But let's go back to something that Robert pointed out. He talked about the credentials of Ron Klain, the Ebola czar with no medical experience that even Democrats and Republicans alike, of course, are saying, why appoint this guy? And let's go back to Ron Klain was responsible for recommending to the White House that they back the Solyndra loan. You know, the failed Solyndra energy company? Ron Klain is a government bureaucrat.

Tom Frieden, at the Centers for Disease Control, Robert, I don't know if you know what that means. That means they are supposed to control and contain infectious disease. He's the best qualified person, he either needs to be held accountable by the President or terminated.

BLACKWELL: Last 15 seconds to you Robert. Last 15, then we've got to go.

(CROSSTALK)

ZIMMERMAN: Crystal, to combat the Ebola crisis, we have to work with Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, Department of Transportation -- so many different levels of government. That's where Ron Klain is experienced, both formerly chairing the judiciary committee as chief of staff, being the chief of staff to two former presidents, overseeing complex operations.

That's what Ron Klain makes him so critical here and makes him so qualified to help. You don't need him looking at a microscope, you need him bringing heads -- banging heads together and getting results. He's the perfect person for this position. So I think that's where we should -- that's where we should be focusing on getting the job done and let's just take maybe in this case --

WRIGHT: The job is not getting done.

ZIMMERMAN: -- Crystal, some anger management therapy might be helpful, too.

WRIGHT: I'm not angry.

BLACKWELL: Crystal Wright, Robert Zimmerman -- we've got to wrap it there. Thank you very much, both of you for making it really interesting this morning.

WRIGHT: Thank you -- Victor.

Zimmerman: Good morning.

PAUL: Speaking of interesting, presidents get treated to dinner all the time, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Well, you know, what about when they are asked to pay and can't.

PAUL: Your credit card is denied.

BLACKWELL: Yes, President Obama had an embarrassing moment when that happened to him last month in New York. We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: 42 minutes past the hour. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

Here are five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.

Up first, two weeks after ISIS threats, the terrorist released a video threatening to kill an American hostage, Abdul-Rahman Kassig, dozens of people from his hometown gather to pray for his safe release -- that was yesterday. Kassig's parents also attended this service. The former army ranger was captured last year while doing humanitarian work in Syria.

PAUL: Number two, the man who shot a teen over loud music in Florida had been sentenced to life in prison without parole. That's Michael Dunn you see there. He was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Jordan Davis in 2012. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty in this case.

BLACKWELL: Number three -- Alaska, Wyoming and Arizona have become the latest states to allow same-sex marriage. The move came in Alaska after the Supreme Court refused to block a ruling that struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Federal judges made the decision in Wyoming and Arizona the same -- and barring any more legal intervention 31 states, rather, now allow same-sex marriage up from 19 states at the beginning of the month.

PAUL: Number four -- San Diego State University are trying to contact students who may have been in contact with an 18-year-old who died from meningitis yesterday. Sarah Seltzer was admitted to a hospital Tuesday with flu-like symptoms and she just died yesterday. So as many as 400 people may have been exposed to that deadly bacteria. Meningitis can be treated, remember, with antibiotics if it's caught quickly enough.

And number five, President Obama had a bit of a surprise while dining out with the First Lady last month. He was in New York City at a restaurant there. His credit card was a no-go -- declined. He says it's because he doesn't use it enough.

Well, not to worry, Mrs. Obama was able to cover the bill. The President told the story while signing an executive order protecting against identity theft.

PAUL: Leave it to the First Lady to come to the rescue.

BLACKWELL: Her card works.

PAUL: Can you imagine being the server? Mr. President --

BLACKWELL: Mr. President, sorry about that --

PAUL: Just about every major health and medical organization in the world insists that Ebola can only spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. BLACKWELL: Yes, but there are some researchers now who argue that the

virus has the potential to spread through the air. One joins us next to explain.

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1950

PAUL: Well, controlling Ebola has been a global struggle, hasn't it? Managing the misinformation about the deadly virus seems nearly impossible. Right now, we know that it's spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids such as blood. But some researchers argue the virus has the potential to spread through the air.

Lisa Brosseau is a professor from the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Thank you so much, Professor, for being us.

I do want to read for our viewers, part of a piece that you wrote for Center for the Infectious Disease Research Center at the University of Minnesota here. And I quote, "We believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients." What is it about those studies that make you so certain?

LISA BROSSEAU, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO: Good morning, Christi.

PAUL: Good morning.

Lisa: We looked at a number of different studies, both animal studies and viability studies and information from outbreak epidemiologic investigations. And all of those studies suggested to us that, first of all, it was possible for the organism to remain viable in the air for a short period of time, up to an hour and a half. It was possible -- from what we know about aerosols, it's possible that vomiting and diarrhea and other emissions from the body can create aerosols. And it is also -- it does appear that there are receptors in the respiratory system that are targeted by the Ebola virus.

And all of those -- all of that added together suggested to us that there was the possibility for inhalation and then infection from Ebola virus particles.

PAUL: Ok. So do you believe that this is something that's been capable -- Ebola has been capable of, I suppose, spreading through the air for a long time now, or is this a more recent mutation?

BROSSEAU: I don't think this is a mutation. We talked about Ebola being opportunistic. And what actually concerned us was the number of infections that were occurring among health care workers and deaths in Africa. And that was actually the thing that prompted us to start looking more carefully at the literature.

So it wasn't actually concern about health care workers here in the United States as it was concern about health care workers in Western Africa who were experiencing what appeared to be fairly high levels of infection and death. And then -- so that's when we started to explore, is this -- is there a form of exposure that's happening that hasn't been considered?

PAUL: And real quickly, you say your solution is that health care workers should be wearing respirators, not face masks. How likely do you see that?

BROSSEAU: Well, if you look at the folks who are working at the University of Nebraska and the Emory bio-containment units, you'll notice that they are wearing respirators. They're wearing something called the powered-air purifying respirator. And that is actually the kind of respirator we recommended for protection because it offers a couple of extra benefits. It can offer some cooling and when you're wearing a lot of other personal protective equipment that can be a good -- an additional -- that can offer some additional ability to work for longer periods of time. And it also covers your head completely if you wear a hood or a helmet powered-air purifying respirator.

So, yes, we think you should be wearing a respirator. A surgical mask does not offer protection for the person wearing the mask.

PAUL: All right. Well, Professor Lisa Brosseau, we appreciate you being here. Thank you so much.

BROSSEAU: You're welcome. Thank you for inviting me.

PAUL: Sure.

Victor -- I do want to reiterate the CDC and World Health Organization do disagree with this. They say it cannot be transmitted via any airborne canal and I think it just speaks to the mystery that Ebola still is for a lot of us.

BLACKWELL: So many questions and as we heard earlier in the show, a lot of questions about why we're not hearing one voice and investing in science and the research.

All right. Christi, thank you so much.

Let's talk about this -- this wedding album for the social medial generation. In today's "Start Small, Think Big" we visited a business that's making that cardboard, disposable camera on a wedding reception table a thing of the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN MILLER, CO-FOUNDER, WEDPICS: People are always going to get married.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss --

MILLER: And the photo and video aspect of capturing the big day, there's a lot of weight on that. I'm Justin Miller, the CEO and co-founder of Wedpics.

We decided in early 2012 to focus solely on this wedding app so it enables every couple and all of their guests to collaboratively share their photos and videos running the entire wedding experience in a single private social album.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, everyone has their phones now and now we have all of the pictures to share with everyone else.

MILLER: Wedpics was originally derived from a previous photo-sharing app. So it's an idea that I originally came up with at a concert watching everybody take their own candid photos and videos. The company started in my basement. Pretty soon we had 12 people working there.

One day our local news came out and did a story on us and the day after that we get a knock on the door with somebody showing me an eviction notice.

The silver lining is that we landed our first local tech angel investor. When the wedding is over and the dust settles, what are you left with? The photos and videos and the memories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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PAUL: Ok, now to a developing story that we're keeping a close eye on this morning.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the "New York Times" is reporting new details on the death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer. It says that Officer Darren Wilson fired his gun twice inside his cruiser and forensic tests conducted by the FBI show that Brown's blood was found on the officer's gun, the uniform, and on the inside panel of the door of that cruiser.

The "Times" reports Wilson says he was pinned inside his car and feared for his life. His account of events contradicts what some witnesses have said. Brown's death led to weeks of protests in Ferguson.

We'll take a closer look at this report and bring you the very latest in the "CNN NEWSROOM" at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

PAUL: We will see you then at 10:00. But don't go anywhere because "SMERCONISH" starts right now.