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Obama to Head to Saudi Arabia Tuesday; Video Claims Japanese ISIS Hostage Killed; Spain Arrests Four in Possible Terror Cell; 40 Million in Path of Severe Winter Storm; GOP Presidential Hopefuls Speak In Iowa; Vaccine Debate Rages As Outbreak Spreads; Did Patriots Deliberately Alter Footballs?

Aired January 24, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed a lot going on around the world and here in the nation, and so many mourning the loss of Ernie Banks. We're going to also reveal a conversation I had with him last year. And certainly hearts are very heavy.

And of course we're going to take you across the globe so much like you said, Christi. Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and now also we're learning information as it pertains to ISIS and the two Japanese who have been held hostage.

It is the 11:00 eastern coast hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The Newsroom starts right now.

All right, we're following several developing stories this morning. President Obama will head to Saudi Arabia Tuesday in order to pay respects to the family of the late King Abdullah and meet with the newly appointed King Salman.

And we're also waiting to learn the fate of two Japanese men being held by ISIS who threatened them with beheading unless their country pays $200 million ransom.

All of this is happening as the U.S. watches the disintegrating situation in one of its most important allies in the Middle East, Yemen, which has offered critical help fighting the Al Qaeda affiliate there.

CNN's Erin McPike is at the White House this morning and global affairs correspondent Elise Labott is in Jerusalem.

Elise let's begin with you. The President is now going to Saudi Arabia; Vice President Joe Biden had been scheduled to go. Explain the switch and why this is so important for the President of the United States to pay respects in Saudi Arabia?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Originally, when the arrangements were being made for King Abdullah's funeral, because of the President's trip to India he didn't think he would be able to make it in time. But now that the program has been set and world leaders now are coming for several days pay their respects to the new King Salman, President Obama was able to put his schedule in a new way and he is a canceling a trip to the Taj Mahal something he really wanted to do during his trip to India.

But now he will in effect go to Saudi Arabia and pay his respects to King Salman for the death of his brother and kind of kiss the ring, if you will, of this new Saudi king. The relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia so important, particularly in this time of regional chaos, but it's a relationship that also has faced a lot of turmoil.

King Abdullah has complained and criticized President Obama because he didn't think President Obama paid enough attention to the region, wasn't hearing enough of Saudi concerns, particularly about getting rid of Syrian president Bashar al Assad. He was very wary about the U.S. negotiations with Iran but in recent months things have improved a little bit with the U.S. campaign against ISIS, that Saudi Arabia has been participating in as well.

So what President Obama really needs to do is solidify his relationship with the new king and get the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia back on a new footing.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's also Elise, bring in Erin McPike who's at the White House. So Erin -- you know, Very clear why the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is important and needs to continue to be so. This was a relatively expected decision for this president to make or was it a difficult one for this White House?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For President Obama to go to Saudi Arabia, to pay his respects?

WHITFIELD: Of course.

MCPIKE: Well listen, this was a decision that was made overnight when they looked at the schedule more closely and as Elise mentioned President Obama is not going to the Taj Mahal now and Vice President Biden was originally schedules to go. But now he is saying back here for the President to go. We don't know why this was made at the last minute. But do remember back to two weeks ago when the United States did not send a high profile official, neither President Obama nor Vice President Biden to Paris for that massive rally and got a lot of criticism for that.

So it's possible that that could have weighed into some sort of decision here. But I would also point out with respect to Saudi Arabia, it is a critical ally of the United States in the region, especially in the war on ISIS and I say that because you remember back to September, it was a major announcement when Saudi Arabia said that they would be contributing to air strikes against some ISIS targets and also Saudi Arabia is hosting U.S. and coalition efforts to train Syrian and opposition fighters in the ground war on ISIS and really helping out those efforts. So it's critical for President Obama to pay his respects here -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Elise, back to you in Jerusalem, what has been the reaction to the death of King Abdullah?

LABOTT: Well, it's surprising, Fred. I mean look, the Israeli public is very cynical, a lot of quips on social media about how there's a perceived double standard for the United States treatment towards Saudi Arabia despite its poor human rights record.

But the reaction of the government has been pretty extraordinary. Former president Shimon Perez was in Davos yesterday and he called the death of King Abdullah a loss for the region and a loss for peace in the Middle East. You know, King Abdullah had put forth that Arab Peace Initiative trying to get all Arab states to formalize relations with Israel in the event of a Palestinian state. That never happened, but now the new president has basically said that calling King Abdullah a balanced and responsible leader, someone who promoted a positive vision for the region, someone who was a protector of Jerusalem, as a custodian of the holy sites and also someone that could have a hand in peace.

And so I think that's really interesting because nowadays Saudi Arabia and Israel not the enemies that they used to be. A lot of common cause in this new region particularly see the threat of Iran in the same way, ISIS -- I think there's a you know, very quiet relationship, maybe secret talks and a begrudging respect of one another, even if that doesn't play out to the public. So I think the Israelis are trying to send a message to this new king that we're not your enemy and we can have common cause in this tumultuous region.

WHITFIELD: All right. Elise Labott and Erin McPike, thanks so much to both of you ladies -- appreciate it. We'll check back with you momentarily.

And now this breaking news we want to share with you. One of the Japanese hostages held by ISIS may have been killed. Let's get to Will Ripley now in Tokyo with the latest. What are you hearing, Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, this is now on wall-to- wall coverage on all of the major Japanese networks and what they are showing is a photo of the hostage, the freelance journalist Kenji Goto holding up another photo which appears to be claims to be the decapitated body of Haruna Yukawa, the Japanese man who was captured in August and then appeared this week in an ISIS video with Kenji Goto as an ISIS executioner stood between them demanding $200 million from the Japanese government.

Now, this new video is different from other ISIS videos that we have seen. It is an audio recording of a voice claiming to be Kenji Goto and it features a still photo, the still photo that I ascribe to you and in this recording, Kenji Goto blames Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for not responding to the demands of ISIS within 72 hours and he says "Abe has killed Yukawa and I could be next."

However, he also says that ISIS is now no longer demanding money, but instead, a prisoner exchange and he mentions convicted terrorist Sajida al Rashawi a name that may be familiar to some because of her role in the 2005 Amman bombings in Jordan. She was actually sentenced to death by hanging but has been appealing her sentence for a number of years now.

We know that within the past few hours, Prime Minister Abe was on the phone with the King of Jordan, Jordan is where this terrorist that ISIS is demanding be released is being held in prison. And so as we put the pieces together, it seems as if Abe was in communication with the King of Jordan earlier this evening, that this video and the ISIS supporter who posted the video claims that it was passed along to the family of Kenji Goto and to the Japanese government at some point within the last several hours.

But this video, again, doesn't have the slick high polished production quality of other ISIS videos. It's just an audio recording, a still picture. There is no ISIS insignia on the screen burned in; the ISIS logo that we see on all of their videos. So we need to say here that there are some intelligence analysts who are reviewing this right now and they are skeptical about the video's authenticity.

If you see the photo now starting to circulate on-line, hopefully the blurred version because clearly it's a very graphic image that Kenji Goto is holding if indeed it is Haruna Yukawa's body with his head placed on the body -- I apologize for the graphic description, I know that this is daytime in the United States and maybe we should -- if you have your kids you might want to take them away from the screen, but we need to report what is being put out there right now.

Obviously very devastating news for the family of Yukawa; Kenji Goto saying in the video that there is still hope for him, Fredricka, if the ISIS demands of this prisoner exchange are met.

WHITFIELD: Terribly sad. Will Ripley, thank you so much. Stick around, however. And again, CNN has not authenticated the video that you speak of and we are not showing it. It is too gruesome, to gratuitous at this juncture, so we understand that these are graphic details that may be very difficult for many of our viewers to stomach.

Meantime let's go to Jomana Karadsheh who is in Amman, Jordan. And so maybe Jomana Karadsheh, you can explain a little bit more what Will was talking about, which is now this potential -- this proposed prisoner swap and that the King of Jordan may have been involved in conversations as well as now ISIS demanding a prisoner swap of someone who is being held there in Jordan.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, Jordan has been in close contact with Japan since that initial deadline earlier this week was issued by ISIS. The deputy foreign minister of Japan has been heading a crisis in operations center that has been set up at the Japanese embassy in Amman but officials both the Japanese officials here in Jordan, and the Jordanian government, have been really tight lipped about what is going on behind the scenes.

It's not clear what Jordan can offer because Jordan it itself has been dealing with its own hostage situation with Jordanian pilot, Moaz Kasasbeh whose jet crashed in ISIS territory near Raqqa in Syria back in December. And ISIS has been holding that pilot since.

Now there has been some sort of speculation that possibly Jordan has some sort of channels for any possible talks reaching out to ISIS for the Japanese hostages but this has not been confirmed here. Now, the demand as you mentioned is for the release of Sajida Rashawi. He was a member of a husband and wife team who were involved in a series of near simultaneous coordinated attacks on three Jordanian hotels on November 9th, 2005.

Now her explosive vest failed to detonate at that wedding party here in Amman at that hotel. She fled, she was captured by authorities and in 2006 she was sentenced to death. But Fred, Jordan for nearly eight years more than eight years, really had halted the death sentence and just resumed back in December. Now Jordan official position has always been that he will not cave into such demands, that he will not negotiate for terrorists. So -- a tough position for Jordan here.

We have been trying to reach the government spokesman to get their comment on this. It is unclear yet. It is important to also note that Sajida Rashawi, the history here, she is believed to have been part of the team that was sent by the leader and the founder of al Qaeda in Iraq, that is the predecessor of ISIS, to carry out those attacks. Her brother was believed to be a close associate of Zarqawi. So Zarqawi a key figure who was killed in 2006 by the U.S. military in Iraq -- still a prominent figure for ISIS right now. So we will keep you posted on what the Jordanian government might say in the coming hours about this -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jomana -- thanks so much. Stick around. Of course, for viewers who are just joining, a video does claim that one of the Japanese hostages being held by ISIS has been executed. There is a video but CNN has not been able to authenticate it and we've also made the decision that it's too gratuitous and certainly too graphic to be sharing with our viewers.

Meantime let's continue this conversation and the dynamics of the demands now being made by ISIS. First $200 million in exchange for the release of the two Japanese, and now ISIS saying in exchange of the release of a prisoner being held in Jordan; a prisoner held in Jordan they will release the remaining living Japanese hostage.

Let's bring in CNN global affairs analyst and contributing writer for the "Daily Beast", Kimberly Dozier. And we call upon you, Kimberly, because you have great expertise in that region and also the dynamics of counterterrorism efforts and terrorist groups and their activity. Now we're talking about ISIS changing the demands, mid-stream now, at the same time, claiming that one of the hostages has been killed. Are we also seeing that ISIS perhaps is emboldened, feels that they're in an emboldened place now to be able to make new demands and perhaps they have some leverage here?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, what it could indicate is that they have through back channel communications with the Japanese government realized they're not going to get $200 million. But they thought ok, what is another thing within their purview to deliver. How about a hostage, a female hostage, that -- I'm sorry a female prisoner that has been held in the region and is another symbol of their power.

All along, what you've seen behind the scenes is this planning by ISIS to find a way to stay in the media's eye.

I mean they've had the Japanese hostages for a while, but they strategically released that video and those demands you notice right after al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was getting all the attention for the "Charlie Hebdo" massacre.

So now we see them changing mid-stream in terms of their demands, but one thing that could indicate perhaps that they've been weakened is the change in the media content, the way they've delivered this message. The U.S. military has said that they have taken out thousands possibly up to 6,000 members of ISIS, including a lot of their leadership. It's just possible that they did manage to strike either someone who had the expertise to film and edit these kind of slick messages putting them together, they also might have taken out some of the transmission points or the computers and equipment used to send those messages. So that's all of those possibilities out there, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And so more on this media savviness, so to speak, we've heard Will Ripley talking about an audio recording of one of the Japanese Kenji Goto making a plea to the Japanese prime minister, shaming the Japanese government so to speak for not giving up the money. This, too, kind of speaks to the manipulation of media that ISIS has become very good at doing.

DOZIER: Absolutely. They staged these messages, spacing them out, so that every time their popularity begins to wane in terms of number of YouTube hits or however they're sending these messages out on jihadi forums this puts them back in the headlines again.

Now the U.S. Has said this is partly because they're trying to recruit followers to take the place of all of those fighters who have been killed on the battlefield. The U.S. also announced this week that it is a stepped up attacks in the area around Mosul, possibly foreshadowing a move to drive ISIS or attempt to drive ISIS out of that city so if you are on a U.S. counterterrorism side and you're looking at this and looking for signs of hope that something is working, if ISIS is changing what and how it does things, that could indicate it's losing some of the personnel it needs to operate the way it has until now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fascinating stuff. Thank you so much. Also very sad. Kimberly Dozier, appreciate it. We'll check back with you.

And we'll be right back/ with much more from the NEWSROOM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. New developments now out of Spain this morning. Police have arrested four men they believe may have been plotting a terror attack similar to the one carried out at the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine office in Paris.

CNN's Al Goodman is in Madrid for us. What can you tell us about this investigation this early in the investigation?

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi -- Fredricka. Well, the big difference with these arrests this day are that in the difference is that the recent arrests have been on terror cells that were supposedly recruiting people to send over to fight with ISIS, for instance, in Syria or Iraq. But these men apparently were plotting an attack and the interior minister talked about this. He doesn't talk about every run-of-the-mill arrest.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORGE FERNANDEZ DIAZ, SPAIN INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): What is especially noteworthy with the breakup of this cell are the many parallels with the attacks in Paris recently carried out against the "Charlie Hebdo" magazine. They are two pairs of brothers strongly radicalized with a lot of military, physical and mental training and willing to carry out an attack, and according to the police, to blow themselves up while trying that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOODMAN: now, these arrests were taking place in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta -- that's on the north coast of Morocco. In raids the police found military uniforms, hoods, knives, and a gun. They're trying to find out if there was a deeper infrastructure that would have allowed them to carry out an attack -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then Al, now there's another location that police have identified. Are they looking at a connection here?

GOODMAN: Well, I think you're referring to the other Spanish enclave called Malia also on Morocco's north coast. These have really been seen as hotbeds of potential terrorism by Spanish authorities because it's an easy way, just across the border from Morocco and those little strips of land right there on the Mediterranean you're in Spain, you're in Europe, and if you can get across to the mainland to the rest of the continent that's a big problem. There are Muslim communities there, mainly law abiding but police have been finding increasingly cells that they say are comprised of militants, terrorists and that's what they're trying to crack down on -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted. Thanks so much, Al Goodman, in Madrid.

All right. Coming up in the next hour, I'll talk to former U.S. ambassador Joe Wilson, I'll ask him about the new developments from Saudi Arabia to now even more U.S. troops in an advisory role to Iraq and Yemen.

Also, still ahead, 40 million Americans dealing with nasty storms today -- some areas getting up to eight inches of snow. Other places getting freezing rain and sleet. You're looking at live pictures right now from Hartford, Connecticut. We'll tell you when the storm might be moving out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Big number, 40 million Americans are getting another dose of severe winter weather. It is January after all, but this is pretty nasty stuff if you're trying to get around. Live pictures right now, pretty nasty conditions in the northeast; winter storm warnings in effect from West Virginia to Maine, a state that could see up to 10 inches of snow.

Travel is going to be a little dicey but that's Hartford, Connecticut people. They are very hardy. I used to live in Connecticut. So you know, this amount snow it doesn't really look too bad for them right now. Karen, what's next?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It doesn't. The problem is, Fred, as you well know, you can handle snow, you can handle somewhat the rain, but it's going to be that icy mix that's going to be very problematic. 40 million people in line to be somehow affected by this system. And it's racing up the Eastern Seaboard, that I-95 corridor, that's what you've heard about for days now.

This is the dividing line between who gets the ice, who gets the snow and who gets all that icy mix. I just took a look at Newark, New Jersey. You're expecting 5 to 6 inches of snowfall. Here's some of the snowfall accumulations already. Highland Lakes, New Jersey, 9 inches. So it's really going to be hit or miss. Some areas could pick up a couple inches. Other areas are going to be walloped, could see about a foot, but that's going to be interior sections and higher elevations.

We move further to the north look at Boston, under the sun here -- under the gun, rather, with no sun and lots of snow -- exactly. For New York City, you've got the rain, you've got the ice. Looks like you're going to see it off and on today. May continue with that rainfall and then see that snow start to move on in. New York City, Central Park, two and a half inches of snowfall already. And we are -- yes it actually is beautiful. I think we have a picture coming out of Columbus Circle. And it looks pretty nice but you can imagine the quagmire that happens here and forget about getting a taxi. This is not going to

(CROSSTALK)

MAGINNIS: That I-95 corridor and you're right Fred. Thank goodness it is Saturday because if we were looking at a weekday this would be really much more severely impacted.

We took a look at Philadelphia. They're reporting probably the biggest or the longest delays. But also Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, Philadelphia, as I mentioned, is one of the worst areas but all the which from West Virginia and North Carolina, where some of those higher elevations are looking at significant snowfall, with what will be another clipper system on top of this you've already got the snowfall, 6 to 10 inches as we go north of Boston into Vermont, New Hampshire, into Maine, down east, 4 to 8 inches expected there.

But then here comes the clipper. What's the clipper? This is our nor'easter. We go way out here across the Midwest into the Great Lakes. That's the clipper system that will bring those temperatures, yes you're riding, right along the freezing line. But we see that clipper system move in, Sunday going into Monday, high temperatures, Fred, in the teens in some areas.

WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh. Yes. So that's where the black ice comes in to play.

MAGINNIS: Yes, it is.

WHITFIELD: That's where it gets dangerous right in time for that commute. Next 48 to 72 hours, very messy across that corridor.

Ok. Folks go over their contingency plans now.

All right Karen. Thanks for the warning -- appreciate it.

Still ahead it's who's who in Iowa today. Potential Republican pres candidates trying get a leg up in what's expected to be a very crowded field for the presidency. We'll go live to the Iowa Freedom Summit -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Good morning again, everyone. Welcome. I'm Fredricka Witfield.

Republican presidential hopefuls are gathering in Iowa today for the Iowa Freedom Summit. The summit is organized by Iowa Congressman Steve King and Citizens United, a conservative non-profit organization.

It's a way to bring activists together with conservative leaders and there are several big names scheduled to speak. They include Ben Carson, Chris Christie and Sarah Palin. Some of the top contenders who are not there, talking contenders for 2016 potential run, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul.

CNN's political director, David Chalian, is at the summit in Des Moines. Good to see you. All right, let's start with who is not there. Is it the case those four candidates that I mentioned are not looking for support from the conservative base or is it that they already have the financial infrastructure in place and they don't need this?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No, they need it. Every candidate needs it. I do think that they'll have plenty of opportunities for the year ahead to meet with these conservative activists here. This is the first cattle call. It is sort of the starting line of the 2016 race for the White House.

And I have no doubt that all the candidates not here, mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, you mentioned, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, will have plenty of time to meet with these folks. You mentioned Congressman Steve King as one of the hosts here.

When he took the stage earlier, Fred, he said he thinks the next president of the United States will be on the stage today. So that was a little sort of elbow to those other candidates not here today.

WHITFIELD: A little slight there. So Chris Christie, perhaps he stands the best chance out of the field right now in that he seems to be able to benefit from the kind of moderate support and maybe some conservatives, but is he kind of, you know, the unusual one here, since this is the place that is most appealing to conservatives and he's kind of on the fence or some would say he's straddling the fence of both?

CHALIAN: I think most of the candidates are going to jump into the pool are going to likely spend time in Iowa, compete in Iowa, the folks here take their role very seriously at being first in the nation and like poking and prodding the candidates.

Chris Christie, I do think all eyes are sort on him today because he does come from that same sort of establishment wing of the party like Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, who are not here, so he does have a moment here to sort of be from that establishment side, but try to appeal to the conservative base here.

These are the activists who really show up to the caucuses a year from now and you can't really win the Iowa caucuses without having some appeal across the whole spectrum of the party.

Chris Christie is aware of that and that's why I think you see him out here today. It will be interesting to hear his message because you're right this is not normally his sort of base audience.

WHITFIELD: Because I guess people think or maybe the, you know, conventional wisdom is, you have to appeal to Iowa, you have to do well in Iowa in order to do well, whether it be during a primary season or even when it comes down to the big race?

CHALIAN: Well, Iowa serves sort of as a win wing factor in the field. We know that the last two winners in the Iowa caucuses on the Republican sides, Mike Huckabee in 2008, Rick Santorum in 2012, they did not go on to win the nomination, obviously, and sort of come out of that Evangelical Christian conservative social base of the party, but nonetheless, it does play a role.

You have to show that you can compete here, you do have to show that you can take all the questions, sorry about that, you have to take all the questions from people, whether at the state fair or events like this, you can't just bypass it, but it's not necessarily needed a win here to win the nomination.

WHITFIELD: All right. I love it. Good stuff. David, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Let's talk more about this Iowa Freedom Summit and then like kind of go into the whole race for the 2016. Joining us from our Washington newsroom, Chris Moody and Stephen Collinson, both political correspondents for CNN digital.

So Stephen, to you first, is Chris Christie trying to have it both ways, so to speak, to appeal to the conservative base, but at the same time, also appeal to the moderates?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR REPORTER, CNN POLITICS: Yes, the answer would be to that question. It's a kind of tried and trusted way of running for president. You have to win the nomination first, you have to appeal to activists before you can go into the general election and appeal to a wider audience.

Chris Christie, it's interesting he's here, because he does have to build some ties with the Evangelical social conservative base, which is not really his natural constituency. You know, he needs to show in the Iowa caucuses -- doesn't necessarily need to win it, but he needs to show he's competitive.

If he doesn't do so he has a bad showing, that kind of puts him in a difficult position going into the New Hampshire primary, primaries like Florida and South Carolina, where other candidates like Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney might be strong.

So if he doesn't do well in Iowa, he's under pressure and the other thing is, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how this New Jersey brash political persona plays in a more sort of genteel political constituency.

WHITFIELD: So Chris, how much does this summit matter not just for Chris Christi, but for all of those who did show up?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, CNNPOLITICS.COM: In the grand scheme of things, we've got a year to go before the first caucus and almost two years before the election, not very much. As David mentioned from Iowa, these possible candidates will have plenty of time to be prodded as he said by Iowans.

Maybe Steve King will hold it against a couple of them for not showing up, but I think that they -- Iowans are going to get their fill of these folks and they'll have plenty of opportunities for sure.

WHITFIELD: All right. Chris Moody, Stephen Collinson, thanks so much to both of you gentlemen. Appreciate it. The race is on, isn't it?

All right, Democrats have announced their convention plans. Party officials say they will nominate their 2016 presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention the week, mark your calendars, of July 25th, but guess what, still undecided the where.

Columbus, Ohio, New York, Philadelphia are all contenders, which city will be hosting the DNC? The Republicans have already chosen the place and the dates for its festivities, the Republican convention will be held July 18th through 21st in Cleveland, Ohio.

All right, still ahead, an outbreak of measles that started at Disneyland of all places before Christmas and guess what, now it's spread to seven states. Schools and hospitals are on alert, as health officials try to stop this spread of the virus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, now California is facing its biggest measles outbreak in 15 years. There have been 68 cases so far, most of them are linked to Disneyland in Anaheim. Cases have spread to several states, the latest Nebraska and Nevada. Mexico has also been hit. Measles is a respiratory disease caused by a virus and spread through the air. It was thought to be eliminated back in 2000, but now the disease has surfaced again. Health officials say one reason is the rising number of unvaccinated children. Here's CNN's Paul Vercammen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Health officials traced the measles outbreak here to the middle of December.

DR. ERIC HANDLER, ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA HEALTH OFFICE: We have it throughout the county. Initially it was in Disneyland, but now people need to be concerned that if they're not protected that they should get protected because it is in our community. VERCAMMEN: What's frustrating health officials in Orange County, home

to Disneyland, is most of the cases here involved people who did not get measles shots.

HANDLER: It's such a serious disease that if you got the vaccination, it protects you, so why aren't we doing that?

VERCAMMEN: It's a question that hangs in the air here like the measles itself. The disease is airborne, no hand shake or touching is required to spread the disease.

HANDLER: Any confined space with a lot of people, if you have somebody that's infectious and you're not protected there's a 90 percent chance that you're going to come down with the disease.

VERCAMMEN: That makes a theme park a good incubator with lots of people in closed spaces. Orange County says six measles patients are Disneyland employees. The theme park said in a statement, "It raised awareness with employees called cast members about the outbreak, offered vaccinations, and immunity tests.

Disneyland added any cast member who may have come in contact with those who tested positive for measles was put on paid leave until their test results come back.

One measles patient is a student at nearby Huntington Beach High School. Officials report 24 classmates were told to stay home because they were not vaccinated and had close contact with the measles patient.

High anxiety here that has nothing to do with thrill rides and health officials say the tension and outbreak could have been avoided with measles shots. Paul Vercammen, CNN, Anaheim.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, so let's talk more about a vaccination concern. Joining me now is Dr. Seema Yasmin, a former CDC disease detective. So how big of a problem is this? Are we talking about the number of unvaccinated children that, too, is spreading along with the spread of the measles? DR. SEEMA YASMIN, FORMER CDC DISEASE DETECTIVE: Absolutely, Fredricka. This anti-vaccine movement has really taken hold. We know as of now about 90 percent of kids in the U.S. especially young kids have had their two MMR shots.

They're pretty well protected against the measles virus, but there is another 10 percent who are not protected and that's looking at the country as a whole.

What my concern is when you zoom in and look at statewide numbers or even county numbers, you see these real hot spots where many, many people in those communities have not been vaccinated. It makes it so easy for outbreaks to spread in those areas.

WHITFIELD: So I understand that this is airborne, Paul did a great job of explaining how the spread is happening. What confuses me still, is if it has been eliminated in the U.S., the measles according to studies in the year 2000, what is the source of the measles so that those who have been unvaccinated in this country are then able to get it?

I mean, is it the belief that someone from overseas, a country they don't necessarily vaccinate, may have had measles come to the United States, it helps being spread, or is there some other way in which measles, you know, germinates and can be spread and caught?

YASMIN: I think one of two ways. It could be it was a foreign traveler in Disneyland and then passed the virus to other people or could have been an American who was not properly vaccinated and who traveled overseas to an area and then picked up the measles that way.

It's so important to remember that measles is very contagious. If you're not vaccinated and walk into a room even two hours after someone with measles has walked out of that room nine times out of ten you're going to catch the virus. It's very contagious.

It survives in the air, on surfaces, for about two hours and it just spreads like wildfire. We're seeing that now, 68 cases in California, but total 80 cases of measles in this outbreak, California health officials say expect to see more.

WHITFIELD: And I imagine as a doctor, you're going to use this as a study as to why you believe everyone should be vaccinated.

YASMIN: Absolutely. It's so important to protect people especially young kids. They can get permanent deafness from measles. They can suffer brain swelling and they can even die. So it's not a trivial illness.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Seema Yasmin, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it from Dallas.

YASMIN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, have you heard enough of the whole football thing? Deflate-gate and the nightmare scenario the NFL might face now, if the Patriots beat the Seahawks come Super Bowl Sunday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, hard to believe, we are just eight days away from Super Bowl Sunday. And weather in Glendale, Arizona is supposed to be perfect, 72 degrees with zero chance of rain. But that doesn't mean there won't be a storm of controversy.

Deflate-gate is still hovering over the NFL after the league finally released a statement on the football's views by the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game. Here now is Rachel Nichols.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Yes, well, Fred, after days of speculation, plenty of fodder for the New York tabloid headline writers and an entire nation of people discussing how many pounds per square inch of pressure of football really needs. Finally have some new facts to throw into this equation here, courtesy of the NFL.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICHOLS (voice-over): After five days of headlines and controversy, over deflate-gate, the NFL finally broke its silence, releasing a statement confirming the New England Patriots were, in fact, using underinflated footballs in the first half of their AFC championship win over the Indianapolis Colts.

The NFL also confirmed officials inspected the footballs prior to the game and found them to be within the rules then. So now the question becomes, how did the air escape those footballs? And who, if anyone, is responsible?

The NFL says it's been investigating that since Sunday speaking with more than 40 people, both in and out of Patriots' organization. On Thursday, quarterback, Tom Brady said he had not yet spoken to investigators. But both he and Head Coach Bill Belichick insisted they had nothing to do with the under-inflated footballs.

TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: I didn't alter the ball in any way.

BILL BELICHICK, HEAD COACH, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: To tell you that in my entire coaching career, I have never talked to any player, staff member, about football air pressure.

BRADY: I have no knowledge of anything.

BELICHICK: I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing.

NICHOLS: But several former players have expressed skepticism.

MARK BRUNELL, 19-YEAR VETERAN NFL QUARTERBACK: Those balls were deflated. Somebody had to do it. And I don't believe there's an equipment manager in the NFL that would on his own initiative deflate a ball without the starting quarterback's approval. I just -- I just didn't believe what Tom Brady had to say. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): It's obvious that Tom Brady had something to do with this or the balls had been deflated. That doesn't happen unless the quarterback wants that to happen, I can assure you of that.

NICHOLS: Brady also has his defenders including staunch support in his own locker room.

VINCE WILFORK, PATRIOTS DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: Tom is a big boy. He knows how to handle all situations, so he'll handle this with class, like he always does. For him to be attacked the way he did, trust me, we've been attacked plenty of times around here, individually and as an organization, and as a team. So it's not our first rodeo.

NICHOLS: Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft, is pledging complete transparency and cooperation with investigators, which include Ted Wells, the high-profile criminal attorney, who last season wrote the NFL's report on the Miami Dolphins' bullying scandal.

The Miami investigation took about three months and Wells inclusion here could be a signal that this too will be a prolonged affair. That's key, since being able to say there's an ongoing investigation will allow the Patriots and Commissioner Roger Goodell, to sidestep questions about it in the week leading up to the Super Bowl. Of course, that doesn't mean the questions won't keep coming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NICHOLS: And one of those questions is what kind of punishment we're talking about if the NFL does, in fact, find that the Patriots actively cheated here. Now, the minimum the team could be fined is $25,000.

But the expectation is that if there is tangible proof, the consequences would be much more significant, more like hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, confiscated draft picks, possibly even suspensions, especially considering Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were so absolute in their news conferences the other day.

If the NFL finds out they were lying, the league will certainly put the hammer down. But all of that, Fred, is a pretty big if. To do any of that, someone will need to provide evidence this was an intentional effort to cheat the rules. And so far, no one has surfaced with any.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rachel Nichols, thanks so much. Of course, what's the hammer that it could potential lay down.

The NFL, by the way, says it has already conducted some 40 interviews about the deflated footballs and has hired a firm with forensic expertise to review pertinent electronic and video information.

All right, baseball Hall-Of-Famer, Ernie Banks, has passed away. As the Chicago Cubs' first African-American player, Banks became known as the greatest player in franchise history. He was awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. The president and Mrs. Obama issued this statement saying, quote, "Michelle and I send our condolences to the family of Ernie Banks and to every Chicagoan and baseball fan who loved him. Somewhere the sun is shining, the air is fresh, his team is behind him, and Mr. Class, Mr. Cub, is already to play too."

Ernie Banks never played in a World Series, of his presidential medal, he said, however, quote, "This takes the place for me." Mr. Cub was 83 years old.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Photographs. They capture that moment in time and we all cherish them. We share these moments with family and friends show them a photo album of our favorite holiday pics.

(on camera): When the digital camera got rid of film, e-mailing photos became the way we shared memories and we thought it couldn't get any easier. Then came the smartphone with the camera built in.

(voice-over): With the smartphone came the explosion of social media sites. They allowed us to share our photos with the world, faster than you can say cheese! The future could look like this sharing a different kind of photo, one that's 3D.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holographic technology works on the principle of defraction. Defraction happens when light comes along and bounces off structures that are about the same size as the light. And if you can design these structures very carefully, then you can persuade the light to do fantastic things like form images.

QUEST: Holoxica is developing technology that could take our snaps of skylines, statues and even spacemen into the third dimension.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that the future of the photo lies in three dimensions, rather than two, just because the world we live in is in three dimensions, and three dimensional images have far greater impact on our visual system.

QUEST: Our love of taking a snap, a photo, a memory. That will never change. It's the way we share them that certainly will.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories now. A federal judge has sentenced a Colorado teenager to four years in prison for attempting to become an ISIS bride and wage jihad in the Middle East.

The judge cited the need to send a harsh message to would-be jihad jihadists. Shannon Conley pleaded guilty to giving support to ISIS, but insists she has changed since then and is not a danger to society.

U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a case that could start a new chapter in the capital punishment debate. It concerns last year's botched execution that left an inmate to die slowly, gasping for breath. Other inmates sued, saying Oklahoma's lethal injection protocol amounts to unusual punishment. The first component in the three-stage injection fails to maintain unconsciousness.

And the FAA is warning airlines to keep passengers from putting electronic cigarettes in check baggage due to a potential fire hazard.