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Clinton Versus Sanders in MSNBC Debate; Trump Focuesd on New Hampshire; Alarm Over Rapidly Spreading Zika Virus; CTE Highlighted in Film "Concussion"; Anderson Cooper Debuts "Nothing Left Unsaid". Aired 12-1a ET

Aired February 5, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


[00:00:26] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers all around the world, great to have you with us; I'm John Vause. You're watching "CNN Newsroom," live from Los Angeles. (HEADLINES) Joining me now, here in Los Angeles, Democratic Strategist Matthew Littman; LA Times Political Writer Seema Mehta; and in Durham, New Hampshire, CNN Political Reporter, Eric Bradner.

Eric, kick it off with you. Get to the big picture here: boy what a different debate it was not having Martin O'Malley on stage. No filter, just these two candidates going after each other. How was it from there?

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Absolutely; that was about the five most intense moments of any presidential debate so far, with Clinton really laying into Sanders one on one. Martin O'Malley wasn't there to sort of interject this time. It was just these two trading punches. It was really intense. It was clear that Clinton has decided enough is enough. It's time to extinguish the Bern; right? She is, sort of making a bet she can pick up a few points in New Hampshire, maybe stop Bernie Sanders momentum nationwide, by really going after him hard right now rather than playing the long game, knowing that she has advantages with minority voters, that sort of thing as the democratic race moves into other states.

So she really came out swinging, but Bernie Sanders was ready to give it right back and his answer sort of demonstrates his appeal and also shows the risk that Hillary Clinton was taking here. A lot of Sanders supporters entered this race, perhaps not Hillary Clinton's biggest fans but not disliking her. Now that she's making it more personal, she really risks turning some of those young voters against her. She's betting that it's worth it, but she's going to really anger a lot of Sanders' supporters after tonight's debate.

VAUSE: Okay; Eric, stay with us, because we'll pick up on that point. So Matt, as a strategist, as someone who knows how Hillary Clinton campaigns, knows what she has to do to win this nomination, do you think having those personal attacks against Bernie Sanders will actually damage her at a long run or is it at a point now where it had gone on for such a long she had no choice but to come out swinging like she did tonight? MATT LITTMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: More no choice. I think she

probably took a look at some of her answers at the CNN Town Hall and realized she could improve upon a couple of those answers tonight. I think on the Wall Street issue she is right to go after Sanders on that issue. He really is trying to say something about her. He's kind of denying it there but it's some old school, dirty politics. I agree with her on that.

I like the fact that she fought back. I think it's about time she fought back. I think it's ridiculous that he's kind of accusing her of a form of corruption. She is the sen - she was the senator of New York. Wall Street is one of her constituents. There's nothing wrong with also representing it. It is a big employer in the area. To say that she's corrupt, which is really what he's trying to get at, is absolutely wrong. I think she's doing a good job on that one.

VAUSE: And Seema it's interesting to see how these rebuttals and talking points evolve over time. Last night she sort of fumbled the whole issue of speakers fees. Do you think she had it in the bag tonight?

SEEMA MEHTA, WRITER, "THE L.A. TIMES": I think she did come in prepared to [00:05:02] aggressively confront him, and she had to confront him. I mean, he's leading her by like 30 points; but I think we should also remember that New Hampshire has been kind to the Clintons over the years. Bill Clinton had his comeback, he was the comeback kid after his second-place finish to Paul (Inaudible), 1992. Last time around, after she had that embarrassing loss in Iowa, she beat then Senator Obama and that was sort of her - that gave her campaign new legs. So New Hampshire, I think, can provide a turning point for her, even if she doesn't come in first.

VAUSE: Yes, okay, well, Wall Street, it's shaky ground for Clinton. Foreign policy a shaky ground for Bernie Sanders. He tried to play the Iraq War vote again. You voted for the Iraq War, I didn't very much like the entire campaign in 2008 of Barack Obama. Again, seeing how these sort of campaigns evolve, it seems Clinton seemed ready for it. This was her answer tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) DEMOCRACTIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Where we have a different background on this issue is we differed on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like ISIS. Not only did I vote against that war, I helped lead the opposition.

HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS. We have to look at the threats that we face right now and we have to be prepared to take them on and defeat them.

[Applause and Cheers]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And again, Matt, last night we talked about when she dealt with it during the Town Hall, she went into way too much detail, she was blaming George W. Bush, he misled us all. No one really bought that. Tonight, a much better response.

LITTMAN: Yes, a much better response. One thing that's interesting is I don't believe that Bernie Sanders has any foreign policy advisors on his campaign. Your reporter, you may know better than I do, but I believe he literally has zero foreign policy advisors, and it kind of shows. I think he wants to talk about Wall Street. He wants to talk about campaign finance reform. When it gets into foreign policy, not really his comfort zone. Hillary is very comfortable. She was Secretary of State. She's obviously very well versed in these issues. He's not. He always wants to turn it into a conversation about campaign or finance or that type of thing. I think on the foreign policy he's got some real room to improve.

VAUSE: Because he lacks in enthusiasm too. I mean, he's all fired up when it comes to income and equality.

MEHTA: Right.

VAUSE: I mean, and you can tell he's just not interested in it.

MEHTA: I think there's two things that were notable about that exchange: (1) is that it took Hillary Clinton eight years to come up with a response to the question about her Iraq vote, and, (2) it was more than an hour in before democrats had foreign policy questions, which is such a contrast from the republicans which is, any republican debate, from the first minute, the first answer, the first question is about foreign policy.

LITTMAN: That's because the republicans say that's the issues they care about the most.

MEHTA: Right; exactly.

LITTMAN: For the democrats it's about four or fifth on the list.

MEHTA. Exactly.

VAUSE: So obviously two very different parties.

LITTMAN: Right.

VAUSE: It's going to make for an interesting election when we finally get to the general election. You know, this debate also tackled that whole issue of who's a progressive and who's not. This time it sort of moved on to who is part of the establishment and who is not. This is the exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and, by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment.

CLINTON: Honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president as exemplifying the establishment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This seems to me that the -- sort of the equivalent Republican argument of who's a rhino, you know, republican in name only. So how does this go down when people are tuning in to see this argument between these two?

LITTMAN: This is the one that bother me the most, as a Clinton supporter, that she's being accused of not being somebody who is liberal or gets things done. Remember, Clinton started out working for the Children's Defense Fund, going door to door to find out why disabled kids weren't in school. This was part of a big historic study. That wasn't the establishment. Hillary was the first person to do healthcare reform, or to take a shot at it. The establishment was totally against what she was doing. She's been first in a lot of these things.

For Sanders to say that she's just part of the establishment basically doesn't want to get things done, that really bothers me.

MEHTA: And it shows how rested voters on both sides of the aisle are, because to be establishment it was a dirty word on the republican side. Now it's a dirty word on the democratic side.

VAUSE: I thought she is bristled at that.

MEHTA: Right; she really did.

LITTMAN: I'm offended for her.

VAUSE: Let's get back to Eric in New Hampshire because, Eric, there was no mention at all, no individual attacks on any Republican who is actually running for president here. There was that mention by Bernie Sanders, right at the end that, you know, Hillary and Bernie would be 100 times better. I thought that was quite telling because they steered clear of that. Why do you think that was the case Eric?

BRADNER: Yes, absolutely. Remember the first months of this campaign when Hillary Clinton was attacking, by name, her republican opponents: Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, on the campaign trail all the time, but literally went months without saying Bernie Sanders' name. Tonight it was all about each other. It was like the two -- it was like they were finally ready to have the fistfight that they've been wanting to have for a long time now and it reflects a close race; right? This is what happens when an underdog all of a sudden is surging and is about to sort of knock off the frontrunner.

[00:10:03] So Hillary Clinton is feeling threatened right now. She's responding to this threat by sort of bristling, as you said, at a lot of Sanders' policy ideas. You see these exchanges where Sanders says okay, this is a great idea and the crowd roars in approval and Clinton says I agree and here's how I would get it done and crickets; right? She seems frustrated by that and so -

She had a -- a line tonight that I thought was telling when she said -- she said a progressive is someone who makes progress. first of all, that was an effort to sort of redefine herself politically but it was also an expression of frustration that she's been feeling. That's sort of why she's willing to mix it up with Bernie now.

VAUSE: Absolutely, and not a big difference when we compare the democratic side to the republican side. Bernie Sanders was asked about any problems with the Iowa vote. He was very magnanimous, if you like, and he said it's not a big deal. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I think where we now stand, correct me if I'm wrong, I have 20 delegates. we need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. This is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates with the Des Moines Register said -- I think there were half a dozen coin flicks. A fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted it will break roughly even.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Very quickly, Seema, my last question to you, a supremely confident Bernie Sanders or just being a nice guy?

MEHTA: I think he's fairly confident. I mean, Iowa, any way you look at it, Iowa is a victory for him. Even if she gets another delegate or two, I mean, the fact that he caught up to her there, that just sets the tone for the -

VAUSE: We're out of time, so we'll leave it there. Matt, Seema, and Eric there, in New Hampshire, thank you all. Appreciate it.

Okay; to the Republican side now. Marco Rubio has surged into second place in New Hampshire, that's according to our latest CNN/WMUR poll. Donald Trump still leading though, 29-percent. Rubio moved up to 18- percent. The Iowa caucus winner, Ted Cruz, falling to third place with 18-percent. Ohio governor, John Kasich 12-percent and former Florida governor, Jeb Bush, sitting there on 10-percent.

Donald Trump was campaigning in Exeter and Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Thursday. He says he's focused on winning the state's primary on Tuesday but Trump says he's not paying much attention to the polls. Yeah, right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Marco Rubio has now jumped to second place. Do you think he's more of a threat than Ted Cruz?

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know. I mean, it could be somebody out of the pack and I'm watching your stuff every night and I'm saying wow, who's going to be moving? I've been doing well, I guess, in the polls we do pretty well, but I don't know who's second. Are you saying that Rubio came in second now or he's -

Yes, he did; he came in second. TRUMP: It was sort of funny because in Iowa, he was third and I was second and they said he did fantastically well and me, they were sort of disappointed. I don't even know why they were disappointed because I got, actually, the most votes in the history of the Iowa -- you know, for the republicans -

COOPER: Huge turnout.

TRUMP: -- and we had a huge turnout. It was really a tremendous -- I mean, I really -- I must say I really enjoyed Iowa, but this is -- there's a different feeling here. This is an amazing feeling with the people, with the crowds. You probably saw the crowd I had this morning it was incredible.

COOPER: How important is it for you to win here?

TRUMP: Well, I'd love to win because I like to win. I mean, my life is about winning. I don't like to lose.

COOPER: I've heard that about you.

TRUMP: You know, it's your definition of win, you know, when you come in second out of 11 people, actually 17 because we started off with 17. so let's say you're second out of 17. I would consider that good, but no, I would love to be number one in New Hampshire. I think it would send a great signal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Okay, short break; but when we come back we'll have more on the republican side of the presidential race. We'll hear from supporters from both Donald Trump as well as Ted Cruz. We'll also have Donald Trump's campaign highlighting, yes, diversity. Also, former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter declares his support, kind of, for one of the leading republicans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:18:05] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Donald Trump says he's moving on from his second place finish in the Iowa caucuses and he is now focused on New Hampshire. In fact, we're seeing a very different Donald Trump over the past 24 hours, and for more on that joining me now is Andy Dean who is president -- or former president of Trump Productions and obviously a Donald Trump supporter and Ann-Marie Murrell, who is the editor-in-chief of Politichicks, and also a Ted Cruz supporter.

Great to have you guys here. It's going to be fun. Andy, we're see ago very different Donald Trump. He's out, he's doing meet and greets, he's doing what's called retail politics --

ANDY DEAN, FORMER PRESIDENT, TRUMP PRODUCTIONS: Right.

VAUSE: -- and I want to play this for you, too. It's his latest campaign ad.

(Trump Advertisement Plays)

VAUSE: Okay. That looks like a Benneton ad. Where's Donald Trump? What have you guys done with him because that's not the Donald Trump we've known over the last six months.

DEAN: He's keeping it positive. we like the poll results, where they're at right now, with CNN we're up 11 points and then the UMASS/LOWELL poll, which just came out a couple of hours ago, has Donald Trump up 20 points over Marco Rubio so I think he's in a good position a couple of days before the vote. So he's playing it positive and hopefully next week we'll get good results.

VAUSE: Obviously he's a smart guy. He learns as he goes. Did he have to make some changes?

DEAN: Yes, look, he didn't win Iowa. So when you don't win you make some changes and that will hopefully get a victory in New Hampshire. Then, actually, tomorrow he'll be in New Hampshire and South Carolina. South Carolina votes after that. I think that's a good state for Donald as well.

[00:20:04] VAUSE: So, Ann Marie, the complaining we heard from Donald Trump after that result in Iowa, it left him open to a lot of attacks, not just from Ted Cruz, but also from Jeb Bush. Let's listen to this. He was piling on as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R-FL) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He lost, and he better get used to it. This is called politics and whatever the Cruz campaign did may not have been completely above board, who knows. I don't -- you know, I'm focused on New Hampshire here; but do over, give me a break. you know, put your big boy pants on, Don, Donald, and get on with it, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANN-MARIE MURRELL, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, POLITICHICKS: Wow!

VAUSE: Put your big boy pants on. I mean, do you think regardless of whatever your guy did, Ted Cruz, do you think that, you know, Donald Trump play it badly, in complaining about the result sf.

MURRELL: Absolutely, he went ballistic. When you look at exactly what happened, there are allegations that the initial report that CNN reported came from Dr. Ben Carson's camp. So then I was watching it live as all the tweets ensued thereafter, and it was coming from both left and right. It was all over the place. It was Rubio's campaign too that was tweeting out the same information. Good for Jeb Bush for sticking up for somebody.

The one thing I will say about Donald Trump is I am grateful he's in this, because if it weren't for him we would be - I would be in here probably having to talk about Jeb Bush instead of Ted Cruz.

DEAN: Well it's good to see Jeb Bush with a little more energy there, but also, a news flash, he also lost Iowa but lost it very badly and he's going to lose New Hampshire very badly. But, a quick correction on the time line with the Ted Cruz stuff.

MURRELL: Mm-hmm.

DEAN: So there was a CNN report that Carson was going to go back to Florida to do some laundry, get a change of close. But then the Carson campaign was very clear he was still in this -

VAUSE: Exactly, yes.

DEAN: But then the Cruz campaign didn't let the precincts know that there was this correction that Carson was still in this. So they took advantage of some news timing. It's politics; they did that. What concerns me though are the mailings that went out with the voter violations. That's some messy stuff, which I think is voter intimidation.

VAUSE: Yes, it's politics. It's -- sometimes it gets a little nasty. Andy, not a whole lot of high profile endorsements for Donald Trump, but we do have one tonight. Let's listen to this endorsement, sort of.

DEAN: Okay, very good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. JIMMY CARTER: If I had a choice between Cruz and Trump, I think I would choose Trump. The reason is that Trump has proven already that he's completely malleable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Okay, this -

DEAN: It's the endorsement nobody wants.

VAUSE: Yeah.

DEAN: We'll ignore that one.

VAUSE: You guys jumped on this one.

MURRELL: The word malleable, I don't think anyone on either side of the fence wants their candidate to be called malleable.

VAUSE: Especially by Jimmy Carter -

DEAN: Yes.

MURRELL: Yes.

VAUSE: -- for the Republicans.

DEAN: You don't want Jimmy Carter in the same sentence with your candidate; yes. MURRELL: No.

VAUSE: Okay; we've talked about Jeb Bush. He has a new ad out and it's actually not from him. It's by his Super PAC. Let's play a little bit of that, because I thought this was interesting.

DEAN: Okay.

(Jeb Bush Commercial Plays)

VAUSE: You're sighing, Ann-Marie. Why are you sighing?

MURRELL: Well, it seems like the only endorsements he's really getting are from his family members. It's a little sad.

DEAN: It's depressing.

MURRELL: I'm going to tell you this.

VAUSE: But George Bush, has he remained popular in the republican party? Does he carry weight still because a lot of people outside of the republican party may say really?

DEAN: Look, I think Barbara Bush is the most popular member of the Bush family and she six months ago was telling Jeb not to run. He should have listened to mom because she's the smart one.

VAUSE: (Inaudible) Bush never carried New Hampshire in 2000. He lost it to Kerry in 2000 -

DEAN: McCain in 2000. That's right.

VAUSE: But he lost it in the general to John Kerry.

DEAN: Right.

VAUSE: So why would you roll out George W. Bush, the man responsible for the Iraq War and the economic collapse?

MURRELL: Before the 2012 elections, a deep insider in the Republican Party told me that 2016 was going to be Jeb Bush's. And, again, if it hadn't been for Donald Trump, it would be Jeb Bush. He would have been McCain/Romney/Bush. At the time I remember laughing at this very nice gentleman saying there's no way that America would accept another Bush. especially after George W., --

VAUSE: Absolutely.

MURRELL: -- and unfortunate -- I think he's still expecting both Cruz and Trump to fall and then he's still going to get to sweep in there and scoop up the remains.

[00:25:01] VAUSE: Steven Bradbury, the great Australian ice skater who made the finals because three other people got knocked out for drug tests --

MURRELL: There you go.

VAUSE: -- and then everyone fell in the finals and he won a gold medal.

DEAN: Right.

VAUSE: The polls though, very quickly for Ted Cruz. Do you think Ted Cruz has taken a hit because of all the stuff out of Iowa and because essentially New Hampshire is not his kind of electorate?

MURRELL: Well New Hampshire, he probably wouldn't have won New Hampshire no matter what. No, I think he's going to do really, really well. He's got this amazing grass roots campaign. He's going directly to the people. He's not spending a fortune on hiring people to speak for him. He's just -- he's just really doing this -- the way I'm looking at this, no disrespect, this is kind of a tortoise and hare race -

VAUSE: Yes.

MURRELL: -- and Senator Cruz is the tortoise, slow and steady, and I think he's going to do really well.

VAUSE: Last word, okay. Thank you both for coming in.

DEAN: You've got it. Thank you very much.

VAUSE: Appreciate it. We'll take a quick break. A public health emergency has been declared in Florida. When we come back, that's happened after a spike in the cases of the Zika virus. Could this be the tip of the iceberg? Also, we'll talk with a family living with the neurological disorder linked to the Zika virus. Find out how their embracing life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:00] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody; you're watching "CNN Newsroom", live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour: (HEADLINES)

There's alarm over the rapidly spreading Zika virus, which has grown dramatically in the United States over the past 24 hours. On Thursday Florida expanded its public health emergency after the number of Zika cases went from nine to twelve in just one day. They're all travel related and so far no pregnant women are among those infected. A staggering 80-percent of those who do have this disease don't show any symptoms.

Health officials are not sure of the link between the Zika and microcephaly, where babies are born with unusually small heads and with brain damage. Brazil has recently seen a surge in the number of these birth defects in the areas where the Zika has been found. Microcephaly can be caused by a variety of factors, like genetics, and sometimes there's no explanation at all and that was the case with the Hartley family. Gwen, her husband Scott, her two daughters Clair and Lola, are with us

now from Wichita, Kansas. Both girls were born with microcephaly. Thank you for being with us. It's great to talk with you.

Gwen, it seems the whole world is finding out about microcephaly, but you and your family, guys have been living with it now for what, 15 years?

GWEN HARTLEY, DAUGHTERS WITH MICROCEPHALY: Yes, that's correct.

VAUSE: How difficult has it been? What are the challenges?

HARTLEY: The challenges have been, actually, many. We've dealt with everything from, you know, cerebral palsy with the girls' seizure activity, feeding difficulties, food allergies. I could keep going. There's a lot of little struggles, but we have found ways to deal with those in a natural way and the girls are actually thriving.

VAUSE: When Clair was born doctors told you she wouldn't make it past her first birthday?

HARTLEY: That's correct.

VAUSE: That must have been awful to hear. This is your second child. You have Cal, who is 17, and you know, has no problems, but obviously when Clair was born and they told you that she had these issues, what was your reaction?

HARTLEY: It was very hard to deal with initially. We both -- it's really hard to put into words. It was pretty soul crushing for me. I remember feeling like I couldn't breathe. I remember my husband Scott was physically ill hearing the news. It was -- I'm going to get emotional talking about it. It was just -- it was a very, very hard time for our family.

SCOTT HARTLEY: I mean, obviously it's -- I mean, nobody would wish this upon their kids, by any means, but it was very crushing to begin with, but I mean, you kind of roll with the punches. You kind of have to, you don't have many choices.

VAUSE: One thing I've noticed is that, Gwen and Scott, you have this blog and you post a lot of video. There's a lot of stuff on YouTube and there was one clip which I saw that I'm going to play now and I'm going to ask you about it on the other side. It's when Clair cried for the first time. This is it.

HARLEY: You all better? You're so sad. That's so sad.

VAUSE: That was a moment which you said meant so much. Obviously it was so sad, but it was incredibly meaningful as well. Why is that?

HARTLEY: Well, for me it was meaningful because it was one of the first time that she ever communicated with us. She doesn't cry hardly ever and at that point I probably could count on one hand the number of times she'd ever cried [00:35:00] and so for us, seeing that communication, whether it was positive or negative, it was -- it was something, and it was basically a way that she could communicate with us and it felt good to know that we had got to hear her voice. So for me, it was very touching and it was hard to hear, but it also was beautiful because it was her.

VAUSE: Yes; I was also reading your blog and you're pretty blunt with some of the things you put out there, which is great. I want to read something which you wrote. You posted this: "We know that we are basically a walking freak show when we go out in public, as we have not one tiny headed, non-mobile, one nonverbal dwarf, but two. We feel the pity and the judgment. We hear the comments, questions and remarks and see the stares, elbow nudging and sheer surprise and none of this matters to us, because we love our life."

I think it's an incredibly powerful message that you put out there. A lot of people may find it difficult to understand how you could embrace this and this is also for you too, Scott and a lot of people may also find it difficult to understand why you decided to have a second child after Clair was born five years and you had Lola.

HARTLEY: Right. I think we're pretty out there, as far as our feelings go, and Scott's pretty much the same way; but, yeah, the whole thing, for me, my blog is therapeutic so I write because it helps me process what I'm feeling in my emotions so I feel like if I don't be honest with myself about my feelings then it's not healthy. So for me, dealing with it that way has been really, really positive for me.

HARTLEY: Well, I think, you know, everybody has their thing.

HARTLEY: Right.

HARTLEY: You know, everybody in life, raising a typical child is not easy. So raising a kid with special needs is obviously difficult, but it's -- has its own positives and negatives, just like anything else. So you kind of just take it and go with it. That's kind of what we've done.

VAUSE: Very quickly, Scott and Gwen, what are the positives? Can you give me some of the positive moments?

HARTLEY: Specific moments? I guess for me I've been seeing a lot of physical development with both girls and that has been awesome. Clair's been working on standing and weight-bearing through her legs, kneeling, tall-kneeling; getting into a crawling position. She's been working with one arm on making choices so that she can communicate with us.

With Lola I've seen a lot of positive changes with her as far as her awareness. Being able to interact more with her world. Her vision has been a huge improvement lately. If I have somebody come over that's new and I happen to pass her over or it's time for physical therapy and she says come here Lola, it's your turn and I pass her to her, she looks up to her face and she can actually see who's getting her now, and it's really cool to see her actually care about her surroundings. So I've been really happy with that. VAUSE: Well, now, everyone seems to be talking about microcephaly so maybe there will be a little bit more understanding out there, maybe not the stares and the nudges as we go forward. Thank you so much to all of you for coming in. It's been great to speak with you.

HARTLEY: Thank you.

HARTLEY: Thanks for having us.

HARTLEY: Thank you so much.

VAUSE: And with that we will take a short break here. When we come back, a potential break through on the deadly brain disease affecting so many NFL players. We'll have a close up look when "CNN Newsroom"

continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:41:41] VAUSE: Well, as sports fans gear up for Super Bowl Sunday we're learning about another former NFL player who suffered from a degenerative brain disease. Scientists believe former Oakland Raiders Quarterback Ken Stabler, who died in July, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. It's a brain disease believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head. Dozens of ex-football players have struggled with this as well.

CNN's Sanjay Gupta spent some time with the family of another former NFL player to help us understand the impact of this disease. As Sanjay shows us, CTE may trigger depression, disorientation and aggression as it did with former linebacker Fred McNeil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPO)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The night before he passed he was watching Monday Night Football and he had his UCLA slippers under his bed. He loved the game and he was proud of what he did.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even to the very end of his life, former Minnesota Vikings Linebacker Fred McNeil loved football.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a monster. He was a monster indeed, like, all over the field; first one to the ball.

GUPTA: Despite how much of his life football later took from him.

TIA MCNEILL, WIFE, FRED MCNEILL: Fred did everything he was --you know, he played ball, went to law school, prepared for life after football. you know, we had the kids, you know, it was a good life.

GUPTA: McNeil played in two Super Bowls, was really no ordinary player. His sons say no ordinary man.

FRED MCNEILL, JR, SON: He was a best friend of ours. Our first best friend. He was like superman.

MCNEILL: And then it changed.

GUPTA: It changed. CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy entered their lives. Of course at the time they had no idea what was happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember we were playing basketball, me and him, we kind of got into an argument while playing and -- and he started getting aggressive with me.

MCNEILL, JR.: There was maybe two moments where he lost it and punched holes in the walls and it was like, wow.

GUPTA: CTE can hit hard and fast. McNeil, just in his 40s lost his job as a lawyer, filed for bankruptcy, and lost the home.

SON: I had a conversation with my mom and I said you know, I think something's going on. He needs to go see a doctor, a therapist, figure out what it is.

GUPTA: "It" is something I noticed myself when I first met Fred back in 2010.

Just talking to you I can tell that it's a little bit difficult for him; and do you remember my name?

FRED MCNEILL, NFL LINEBACKER, MINNESOTA VIKINGS: Sanjay.

GUPTA: Oh, got it. Rage, memory loss, depression.

MCNEILL, JR: Yes.

GUPTA: Did your father have all three of those?

MCNEILL, JR.: Definitely. Definitely. Yes, he -- that was another point of worry for us, because there was times when he would talk about ending it and we were like, no way, this is not -- this is not our dad.

GUPTA: But it was their dad, a different dad and it was easy to be angry with him. after all, they didn't know he had CTE. It couldn't be diagnosed until after his death.

And you also made the decision to have Fred's brain donated after he passed away.

MCNEILL: Well, I had made the decision early on, but yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first thing I want to show you is this.

GUPTA: Now, for the first time, she is seeing her husband's brain and exactly what football did to it.

DR. BENNETT OMALU: All the brown blotches you're seeing (inaudible), which is a protein we see in CTE.

GUPTA: Dr. Bennett Omalu, recently made famous when Will Smith portrayed him in the movie "Concussion."

OMALU: If you look at his hippocampus, this is the part of the brain that controls his memory. He had significant memory impairment.

GUPTA: You can see how CTE ravaged McNeil's brain but perhaps even more remarkable, Dr. Omalu he tells us he already knew Fred McNeil had CTE before he died. How? Using a PET Scan technology he helped develop and partly owns.

OMALU: You can see the red areas is identifying the (inaudible) in his brain.

GUPTA: If it is true, Fred McNeil would be the first person in the world to have his CTE diagnosed while alive and then confirmed with an autopsy after his death.

MCNEILL: It explains a lot because I am seeing a lot of the (inaudible) protein.

GUPTA: But it is early -- too early. Just 14 NFL players, including Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett have been examined using this technology. Only McNeil's diagnosis has been confirmed. The question is, will the test be able to distinguish CTE from other dementias like Alzheimer's?

MCNEILL: Fred played in the first ten years of the League. So this is what, Super Bowl 50 is coming. Okay. So I know there's a huge number of players and families between, you know that point and now when Fred first started playing that are going to be experiencing this and it's important to have information for them to get help and support

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, still to come here, CNN's Anderson Cooper goes on the record about his world famous mom and the new documentary about her famous life. Plus, a blow to fans of the iconic 1970s band. When we come back, details on the death of "Earth, Wind and Fire" Cofounder, Maurice White.

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[00:51:15] VAUSE: Some sad news for fans of Earth, Wind and Fire. The musical group's founder and leader Maurice White has died. White is credited with building the enduring band that cranked out some of the great hit songs of the 1970s including "September" and "Shining Star". The Apollo Theatre, in New York's Harlem District honored white on its famous marquee. Maurice White was diagnosed years ago with Parkinson's. He was 74.

Long time CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has carved out a distinguished career with this network in his own right. What you may not know is that he is the son of one of the most famous women in the world, Gloria Vanderbilt. He explores his mother's storied life in a new documentary. The film premiered last weekend at the "Sundance Film Festival" in Park City, Utah. Anderson sat down with Stephanie Elam.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It seems like you've gotten more open about your family life; is that true?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: yeah, I think early on in my career I didn't want to know who my mom was, frankly, because I didn't want people to think oh, that's the son of, as opposed to somebody who had done something in their own right. So for a long time I would never talk about my mom at all and a lot of people didn't know who my mom was and I'm very glad I had the last name cooper.

ELAM: You could fly under the radar.

COOPER: My mom will be 92 soon and you know, she's led this extraordinary life and I don't think the public persona that some people may view is very different than who she really is and so that's sort of what the film

is about.

ELAM: And you literally interviewed your mother?

COOPER: I did. I did, yes. I mean, I approached HBO about doing this and Liz Garbez, who is an incredible director, signed on and you know, they had full control to kind of make the film they wanted. I was just -- I was the interviewer and it was kind of surreal.

ELAM: You've been interviewing her -

COOPER: Yes.

ELAM: -- and keeping tapes and all this for decades, right?

COOPER: I've got boxes and boxes of films and interviews and stuff in storage that I've done with her over the years. Actually the film starts off with video that I shot the year I graduated college. I had no memory that I had it. I literally handed over all these boxes to the director and she found this incredible stuff.

ELAM: People think those who come from immense wealth are somehow not touched by pain and not touched by sadness, but yet you and your mother have dealt with great sadness in your life and its kind of colored the lens through which she's approached the world.

COOPER: Yes, without a doubt. I mean, she's - there's this strain of sadness throughout her whole life that I always saw as a kid. It was kind of the shadow that passed behind her eyes, and I never knew exactly what it was. From the time she was born -- she's actually, you now, I was trying to think of who has been more famous for more years than my mom and really nobody alive today has been as famous for as long as she was. From the time she was born she was making headlines, and most of it not of her doing, but it's -- it's something that's always been there with her and I wanted to kind of explore that sadness and see -- see what the sort of the inherent contradictions in her life are. ELAM: And how does she feel about this project?

COOPER: She loves the film. She really is very moved by it. I mean, she likes that it's honest. When I approached her I was, like, you know, mom, we're talking about an actual real film. No makeup, not -

ELAM: Not glamorous.

COOPER: You're not going to be looking good. This is just you as I see you when I come and visit you and she was up for it. She revealed everything.

ELAM: So if there's one thing that you hope people take away about who your mom is, especially since you've got so many people who know who you are but they don't know the legacy of your mom -

COOPER: I just think she's just led this extraordinary life. She's led [00:55:02] this life on an epic scale of great love and great loss and -- and tragedies and triumphs. I used to watch old movies with my mom and I'd be like - you know, like Robin Hood, with Errol Flynn, and I'd be like, Mom, did you ever know Flynn? And she'd be like oh, yes.

ELAM: She's got a story about everybody.

COOPER: Turns out she hooked up with Errol Flynn and, like, Marlon Brando -

ELAM: And this is in the movie?

COOPER: Oh, yea, -- and Frank Sinatra, and I was like mom, who did you not hook up with back in Hollywood back in those days? But she's got incredible stories and she's the most -- at 92, she's the most youthful person I know and the most like modern and open to new ideas and open to new experiences, which is really cool and I think that comes out in the film.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: She looks great for 92. "Nothing Left Unsaid" will air in April on HBO. Thank you for watching "CNN Newsroom", live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. I'll be back with another hour of news after a short break. You're watching CNN.

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