Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

ISIS Seizing Control of Kobani; Interview with Pentagon Spokesman, Admiral John Kirby; Nurse with Ebola Says She Followed Protocols

Aired October 8, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, October 8th, 8:00 in the East, I'm Chris Cuomo.

Welcome to you as well, Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you. Great to be here.

CUOMO: We have a development in the war, a strategic town in northern Syria is about to fall into the hands of ISIS. Tens of thousands of Kurds have already fled Kobani for Turkey. Now, this happening despite a series of coalition airstrikes overnight.

The U.S. says it will not be able to stop the extremists from overrunning the town. Meanwhile, the FBI is turning to the public for help as agents try to identify this American-sounding man appearing in an ISIS propaganda video. Have a listen for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They lied! Malahi. We are the harshest towards the Kufar. And the flames of war are only beginning to intensify.

And we're here with the soldiers of Bashar. You can see them now digging their own graves in the very place where they were stationed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Horrible message, of course. You can see the body. A little bit of the eyes and, of course, the voice, and that's what the FBI is banking on.

In a moment, we're going to talk with Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

But, first, let's get to Pamela Brown in Washington.

Pamela, what's the latest? PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The fact that the FBI is

turning to the public really shows the urgency here, Chris. And this is happening after the FBI spent the past several weeks trying to figure out the identity of this ISIS terrorist with the North American accent, committing war crimes on camera as we saw.

And this is someone who could have a Western passport, some who could return and cause harm, someone who could be a recruiting magnate for Westerners and that's why this is so concerning. And it appears this is someone who is not on the FBI's radar.

We heard the FBI Director James Comey say in a recent "60 Minutes" interview that his big fear is what he doesn't know, not knowing about Americans who are currently fighting with ISIS, those who may have fallen through the cracks. Ever since the man we see in this video heard speaking fluent English in the ISIS propaganda video, intelligence officials began using voice analysis to trace his accent, facial recognition, relying on human sources. But scrutinizing everything, it's still unclear who this man is and where he comes from.

So, of course, the hope here is that a member of the public will recognize his voice, perhaps even recognize his distinct features there with his eyes, his eyebrows, those features covered up by the mask, body language, mannerisms, anything like that and then send a tip into the FBI -- Chris.

CUOMO: Well, Pamela, reaching out to the public often bears fruit. So, we'll have to see what happens on that. Thank you for the reporting.

Let's bring in Pentagon press secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby.

Admiral, good to have you as always.

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Thank you very much.

CUOMO: And let's check off the different news items that we have here. The FBI asking for help, looking for this man in the propaganda video. Do you see this as a useful tactic? Have they hit a dead end? What do you make of it?

KIRBY: No. I mean, we're not law enforcement experts at the Pentagon.

CUOMO: Right.

KIRBY: But, certainly, we support these efforts by the FBI, and we think this is smart for them to do this, because you just never know who might have a tip, who might have a little bit of information. This gets at the larger issue of foreign fighters that so many Western countries are concerned about.

CUOMO: I'm asking you because obviously these guys involved in the war that you are fighting for the United States.

So, let's turn to Kobani. Is Kobani a key city that is showing that air strikes not enough to stop ISIS?

KIRBY: Kobani, let me try to take that in two parts. Kobani is a border town, as you know. It is not necessarily a strategically significant border town for ISIL, because that border is porous already as it is.

It is, however, territory they want to grab that, they want, and they want this victory. That's pretty clear. So, nobody's taken it lightly, as you reported yourself, Chris. We've been taking five air strikes the night before last in one night alone to try to slow these guys down.

But as we've said all along, and this gets to my second point, air power alone, military power alone is not going to be enough to stop these guys. It's got to be a whole of government and interagency and multinational approach. And what frankly needs to happen is their ideology needs to be defeated and that can only be done but good governance. That takes time, it takes efforts, it takes patience, but I think we all need to set expectations here for the limits of air power alone.

CUOMO: All right. So, let's discuss the limits, Admiral, because when you say it takes time, I share that assumption that that means the political change, the economic change, the cultural battle over this soul of Islam, that's what is needed to take its own due process so that you can crush extremism that way. But the airstrikes were supposed to be effective very early on, and it does raise the question of, at what point do you think that you will have to go to the president of the United States and say we need to have the best fighters in the world on the ground there, or this isn't going to get done?

KIRBY: Well, first of all, the air strikes in Syria were always designed and still designed, I might add, to get at this group's ability to sustain itself. These are strikes of a little bit more strategic nature than some of the strikes we've been taking inside Iraq, that are more dynamic, going after vehicles and that kind of thing. Not that we aren't doing that in Syria, not that we haven't tried to do that around Kobani, to do what we can.

But the campaign inside Syria is designed to get at this group's ability to sustain to recruit, to train, to equip itself to finance itself.

To your second question, commander in chief has been pretty clear there's not going to be a return of U.S. ground troops in a combat role in this fight. And what we do believe and what we have said is you do need competent ground forces. Those ground forces are best when they're indigenous ground forces, people that know the ground, know the culture, know the tribes, know the situation. And that's why we're the questioning ready to get this train and equip program up and running in Saudi Arabia for a moderate Syrian opposition. That, too, will take time.

Chris, I think it's important for people to understand the concept of time here. This is a long, difficult effort. We've been trying to say that as much as we can and while air strikes are dynamic and they're exciting and you can see the effects when bombs hit the ground, and you've got video coming out of Kobani --

CUOMO: Right.

KIRBY: -- I know all of this is unfolding in real time but people need to understand we need strategic patience here. This group is not going to go away tomorrow and Kobani may fall. We can't predict whether it will or won't. There will be other towns that they will threaten and that they take. It's going to take a little bit time.

CUOMO: And one of the reasons there's increased urgency surrounding Kobani is because there is media there. You're watching that in more real time.

KIRBY: Absolutely.

CUOMO: It speaks to a different conversation about the need to have this monitored on the ground by the media and others, and that will have to evolve with the situation as well.

Now, one of the things that will give a president a chance to keep U.S. military out of this, because if you ask anybody, that's in doubt, I know it's been said, admiral, but what's said and done is often different in Washington, Turkey -- Turkey has one of the strongest armies in the world, certainly in NATO, and they got the authorization to put boots on the ground, they're lining up tanks across the border from Kobani.

Where are their ground troops?

KIRBY: Well, they are across the border, as you rightly said, and we are in active consultations with Turkey about what they will or won't do, what they're willing to do, what they're capable of doing. It is true they've got forces across the border and they are observing the situation in Kobani as well. Obviously, they could be of help but this is a decision that the Turks have to make, the Turkish government has to make, the Turkish people have to be behind it and right now, I think they're still debating that question.

CUOMO: Because they certainly fit the description of what you want there, indigenous fighters who know the ground, who have motivation to fight, who are well-organized and certainly superior to the enemy. But if they don't get involved, I think we all know which way that's going to lead in terms of the only other fighters available that are capable enough.

Let me ask you about a different front you're fighting against Ebola. This situation with the nurse in Spain, an auxiliary nurse, that he's not to diminish her position, but she was not someone in direct contact with the immediate treatment of the patients. It sounds a lot like what you describe as the role that troops will be in, they're not going to be directly treating Ebola patients, but they will be there -- and it speaks to how easily you can catch this even if you're not on the "front line" in quotes.

Does it give you pause for concern about what we're getting our troops into?

KIRBY: This deadly disease has given us pause from the very beginning, Chris. I can tell you that.

You saw General Rodriguez here in our briefing room yesterday talking to reporters about all the precautions and the procedures and the protocols that we're going to be putting our troops through before they actually get there, while they're there every day, constant monitoring and then after they leave, and making sure that they're probably monitored and cared for, for a period of time when they come home.

We're taking this very seriously. Now it is true that our troops by and large will not have any contact with Ebola patients and they won't be involved in any treatment. They are engineers, logisticians who were trying to, you know, set the ground so that these hospital units can be built.

But we are mindful that the disease itself is a security threat to our folks and we're going to take it very, very seriously.

CUOMO: And to be fair, the auxiliary nurse was dealing with patients in a way that you are not seeing for the U.S. troops. But it just raises the specter of concern.

Admiral Kirby --

KIRBY: Absolutely.

CUOMO: -- always good to have you on NEW DAY. And as always CNN stands at the ready to cover the situation abroad, wherever the mission takes us. Thank you, sir.

KIRBY: Thanks, Chris. You bet.

CUOMO: Mick, over to you.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Chris.

Here are your headlines at this hour:

Syrian officials coming clean about four previously undisclosed chemical weapons facilities, a special representative, the United Nations secretary-general has alerted now the Security Council. This news now raising concerns that ISIS could get their hands on the remaining stockpiles a year after U.N. joint mission set out to destroy them.

A stark reminder of the danger posed by fighting wildfires. An air tanker fighting a wildfire in Yosemite National Park has crashed. Officials say the pilot was killed. The Cal Fire ST2 tanker crashed into a steep canyon Tuesday afternoon. Witnesses say the pilot was trying to position the plain to drop retardant on flames when he crashed. Pieces of that aircraft rained down on a nearby highway and nearly struck a team of firefighters in the area. The San Francisco Giants advancing to the National League Championship

Series with a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals last night. They're looking to win the World Series for oh, just a third time since 2010. The Giants will face the St. Louis Cardinals, who are after their third World Series since 2006. The Cards knocked out the Dodgers with a 3-2 win earlier on Tuesday.

You think they're excited? Maybe a little bit?

Check this out.

CUOMO: What is that?

PEREIRA: That is -- thanks for asking, Chris -- a lunar eclipse in the skies of the United States overnight into the early morning hours referred to as a "Blood Moon".

CUOMO: Scary.

PEREIRA: Turns a reddish orange, nothing fearsome there.

The second in the series of four blood moons. Next ones are in April and September of next year.

If you missed it don't worry, Indra is here.

Apparently, some of our viewers are sending in great images they caught.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is a great. I get to live vicariously through video because we're literally in the studio.

But, yes, a lot of people are concerned because the weather was kind of tricky out there. But, yes, here are some shots I'm going to show them to you right now.

Here's the first one coming out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Looks like October. Eerie.

CUOMO: Instagram filter on that?

PETERSONS: They say no but who knows.

Here's Dallas, Texas, you can see the light coming up on it, this is a perfect shot, that's I think my favorite.

Out of Victor, New York, Brian Greenberg (ph) sent us this one. You can see the definition there on the moon.

CUOMO: I can see the man in it.

CAMEROTA: You can see the cheese.

PETERSONS: And my favorite also, we have video by the White House. So, yes, look at that shot, actually nice live video there. Keep in mind at 7:24 the Blood Moon ended. It has to be a total lunar eclipse so this is what you see, a live shot. You still have an eclipse going on, it doesn't look that blood moon orange.

PEREIRA: Two more chances next year you can see the blood moon.

PETERSONS: A little time to wait.

PEREIRA: Awesome, Indra. Thanks for that.

PETERSONS: Thanks to everyone else.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: Thanks to you.

We're going to give you the latest in the fight against Ebola. An infected NBC cameraman is getting what could be a magic bullet in the form of another man's blood.

Meanwhile, the nurse in Spain who got sick says she did everything right and still got the virus. Now, her dog may have to die because of its ability to communicate the virus. What's going on?

CAMEROTA: Plus, the video you're all talking about, what caused these police officers to lose their cool. We'll show you again, in case you missed it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Authorities say her dog will have to be put down over concerns that it may be spreading the disease.

So, let's get to all of this with Al Goodman. He's live in Madrid. CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. And Dr. Irwin Redlener, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University.

Doctor, I want to start with you, with the breaking news, that the patient, the NBC freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo is going to be getting this blood transfusion from Brantly. Why will that work?

DR. IRWIN REDLENER, NATIONAL CENTER FOR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Well, among other things, it's important to try various ways of approaching the disease. In this particular case, it's presumed that antibodies that were built up by Brantly will actually help any other new patient because it will help specifically attack that virus.

We don't know whether that's going to work, or it's going to work in some patients or not others. That's not clear yet.

CAMEROTA: So, in other words, that's better than just finding a family member with his blood type that has healthy blood.

REDLENER: Right, because we want in the blood of somebody who survived Ebola to make sure that there isn't something in that blood specifically antibodies to the virus that might help this person. CAMEROTA: Elizabeth, let's talk about the patient Thomas Duncan, who

we understand is struggling to survive, do we know if he got a blood transfusion?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: His family members say that he has not gotten a transfusion, that it was discussed, but never truly considered. His family says that's because the doctors said, look, it's not proven to be effective but as we just heard from Dr. Redlener, you know, it's important to consider everything. There is really no such thing as a proven and effective Ebola treatment. Yet, we've seen the doctors at Emory, the doctors at Nebraska, really, you know, you go out of their way to try approaches like this blood transfusion.

CAMEROTA: Doctor, shouldn't they be trying everything?

REDLENER: Well, you try everything but as Elizabeth just said it's not clear exactly what is going to work.

And the other thing that's important to remember is that very good supportive treatment especially keeping patients hydrated seems to be a critical factor here.

One of the reasons that people are having so much trouble dealing with this in Africa is that even the basic care of a very sick patient like hydration and other supportive care is just not available readily.

CAMEROTA: We also know Ashoka Mukpo is going to be receiving the experimental drug Brincidofovir? Do we know if that has actually worked on anyone yet?

REDLENER: Well, that drug was developed as we now know for a variety of different viral illnesses, and not specifically for Ebola. Again, it's one of the things we want to try, it's a very effective antiviral drug. We think so far, all the studies are certainly in. But if we wanted the things in the array of possibilities that people with Ebola should have a chance to be tried on.

CAMEROTA: Elizabeth, has that been tried on Mr. Duncan?

COHEN: Yes, he's been getting it since Saturday although his family wonders why it took nearly a nearly a week to get Brincidofovir, whereas the other patients got their experimental drugs immediately. The hospital says they've been in constant contact with the CDC and Emory, trying to figure out what to do. But the reality is it took them almost a week to get him Brincidofovir.

CAMEROTA: All right. I want to bring in Al Goodman, because we want to talk about what's happening in Spain as well with the nurse, the first person to contract Ebola outside of Africa.

So, Al, as we were talking about the nurse gave a very brief one- minute interview to this print reporter who managed to get her to answer the phone in which he asked her, do you think you followed proper protocol while treating Ebola-stricken patients. She says "I did." He says, "How were you able to contract Ebola?" She says, "I can't tell you, I have no clue."

What's the latest at the hospital?

AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest at the hospital is that the key people in this Ebola crisis in Spain are in here, not only the nurse's assistant who is the only confirmed case but her husband who is under close watch, along with some others, as potential cases.

And right behind me right now there is a media scrum, some hospital officials have just come out for the first time all day to brief and we'll get information on what they had to say but as you can see, how starved everyone is for information.

Now, about 30 minutes from where I'm standing in a southern suburb of Madrid is where their family pet is, this dog that officials in Madrid are considering putting to sleep on fear it might spread the Ebola virus. And the couple here in the hospital have used contact with the media and social media to try to drum up a campaign to try to save the life of the dog saying the dog shouldn't have to pay. Out in front of their home in that southern suburb there's been a demonstration in favor of keeping the dog alive.

So, a lot of angles here, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Doctor, what do you think about the dog? Does it need to be put down?

REDLENER: There's little evidence that a dog actually carries Ebola. Other kinds of animals in the wild so-called bush meat animals can and do carry it. Dogs, virtually no evidence in the literature to support that.

I'm not clear myself why they just don't isolate or quarantine the dog for the 21 days and call it a day, but I don't know what to say about that. It's just kind of a bizarre twist to this complex Ebola tale.

CAMEROTA: We'll see if authorities change their mind.

Doctor, thanks for being here.

Elizabeth and Al, thanks so much for being with us.

Chris?

CUOMO: All right. Alisyn, we're going back to the story you'll hear about all day, a routine traffic stop ends in this. Watch what happens.

How did this situation go from a request for ID during a no seat belt traffic stop to this? He winds up being tased and pulled out of the passenger car. The couple claims cops used excessive force. Cops say they were forced to act. You hear both sides and you can decide.

Plus, a 29-year-old woman says she wants to end her life on her own terms before cancer does it for her. Her heartbreaking story and the law that gives her the choice, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Right on, here we go with the five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.

At number one: the FBI is turning to the public for helping identifying an English speaking jihadist in an ISIS video. This man with a North American accent presides over executions.

A terror plot aimed at Britain may have been foiled in its early stages. Police in London arresting four men Tuesday, specifics of the alleged plotter is scarce. However, the city's police commissioner calls it serious and a quite serious case.

An NBC cameraman who got Ebola in Africa getting a blood donation from Dr. Kent Brantly, an American missionary who as, as you'll recall, was cured of Ebola. Meanwhile, the Spanish nurse who contracted the virus says that she did follow protocol.

Americans Eric Betzig and William Mourner, along with German scientists Stefan Hell have scored the Nobel Prize in chemistry. The winners were identified for their work in optical microscopy.

And the National League Championship Series is set. The San Francisco Giants edged the Washington National 3-2 last night, to advance. The giants will then face the Cards who ousted the L.A. Dodgers.

We always update the five things to know. So, be sure to visit CNN.com, let me try it again, have I not been doing this for a year and a half? NewdayCNN.com for the very latest.

CUOMO: Strong.

PEREIRA: Oh my goodness, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: No, it's great. I like the twist. It's good.

It never hurts to try again.

Meanwhile, an Indiana police department is at the center of a federal lawsuit after a family says that officers resorted to excessive force during a routine traffic stop. This is the latest incident of alleged excessive force caught on tape. Police say they were doing what they had to do because the folks in the car would not cooperate.

CNN's Susan Candiotti takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police --

(SCREAMING)

(EXPLETIVE DELETED) SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An Indiana

couple says this 13-minute terrifying encounter with Hammond police was completely uncalled for. It began when officers pulled over Lisa Mahone and her front seat passenger for not wearing their seat belts.

LISA MAHONE, SUING HAMMOND POLICE DEPT. FOR EXCESSIVE FORCE: My mother is about to die. The man is outside of the car, hitting on the passenger window. All my windows is up. I feel like my life is in danger.

CANDIOTTI: The video recorded by her 14-year-old son in the back seat of the car, his 7-year-old sister next to him. During the stop, officers ask passenger Jamal Jones to get out of the car. Jones says he refused because he feared for his safety.

POLICE: Do you want your window broken?

MAHONE: No.

POLICE: I suggest you unlock the car because that's where we're at.

(CROSSTALK)

MAHONE: You all going to pull out guns and everything. I'm scared. You just pulled a gun out.

JAMAL JONES: I don't know you.

CANDIOTTI: The situation suddenly escalates.

POLICE: Are you going to open the door?

MAHONE: Why do you say somebody is not going to hurt you, people are getting shot by the police --

(SCREAMING)

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

CANDIOTTI: After breaking the window, police then tased Jamal, dragging him out of the vehicle.

JONES: That's when I got shot in my back with a taser, just tasered me and I started going, felt like my body was going to shut down.

CANDIOTTI: The couple has filed a lawsuit against the city of Hammond, saying the manner in which they were pulled over was, quote, "highly aggressive."