Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

The Politics of Measles; France Cracks Down on Terrorism; Snow- Weary Boston Now Faces Flash Freeze; Aaron Hernandez Trial: Victim's Mother, Girlfriend to Testify Today

Aired February 3, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, the politics of measles.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: I've heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who'd wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines.

COSTELLO: From the brink of extinction to front and center for 2016 contenders.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well.

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton tweeting the earth is round, the sky is blue, and vaccines work. We're separating fact from fiction as the outbreak grows.

Also, a flash freeze threat in Boston.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It has now been the snowiest seven- day stretch ever here in Boston.

COSTELLO: The Pats' victory day parade postponed. The northeast shivering.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: If you want to walk to work and still talk when you get there, bundle up your face, bundle up everything, bundle up the pets this morning.

COSTELLO: In New York, a ball of fire. Erupting from a manhole as the city tries to thaw out.

Plus, Whitney Houston's daughter fighting for her life. On a ventilator days after being found face down in her bathtub.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Today she suffered several seizures along with opening and closing her eyes.

COSTELLO: New details from intensive care. Eerily similar to a 2012 health scare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came and he got me. I wasn't breathing. My heart stopped. It think I had, like, the seizure or something.

COSTELLO: Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin this morning with the measles outbreak that is making its way across the United States. Fourteen states now reporting cases and now politicians are weighing in. You knew it was coming. Measles vaccines have become partisan. Even though there is nothing remotely medically controversial about vaccinating your child.

Still the libertarian leading Republican senator, Rand Paul, told CNBC, quote, "Vaccinations are an issue of freedom."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: I've heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking, normal children who'd wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. I'm not arguing vaccines are a bad idea. I think they're a good thing, but I think the parents should have some input.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta says Rand's assertions are absolutely untrue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't know what causes autism. I mean, that's fair to say. We're not sure in the scientific community what causes autism, but we know that vaccines do not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Yet politicians who are not medical doctors can't keep quiet.

While visiting a British facility where they make vaccines, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said parents should have some measure of choice in the matter and then later he walked back his comments.

Democrat Hillary Clinton weighed in, too, tweeting, quote, "The science is clear, the earth is round, the sky is blue, and vaccines work. Let's protect all our kids. Grandmother knows best."

True, but perhaps that tweet should have been directed at the mostly wealthy liberal parents and Hollywood types who falsely believe vaccinations cause autism. So let's talk about all of this. Brianna Keilar is our senior

political correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is our senior medical correspondent, and senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta joins us, too.

Because I understand, Jim, you're getting news from the White House about the immunization program?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. You know, we've been talking about the president's 2016 budget and a lot of numbers in there, but one number that stands out this morning because of this conversation about vaccines, a $50 million decrease in the president's 2016 budget for the immunization program.

Now White House official confirming this in just the last several minutes, but this official cautions that they believe that insurance expansion under Obamacare will lead to an expansion of immunizations for children.

This official also notes, Carol, that there is a $128 million increase in a separate vaccines for children program. So the White House obviously later on today will be taking some questions about this because as this conversation is going, there's some dollars and cents to all of this as well.

It's important to note the president talked about this in that interview with NBC before the Super Bowl in which he said that there is every good reason in the world for children to be vaccinated. There are no good reasons for them not to be. So the White House is definitely going to be drawn into this debate as we move forward here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And of course, Brianna, the president said that today but he hasn't always thought that, right?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No. That's right. Now he says the science is indisputable, which I -- you know, you heard Sanjay say that. You hear scientists, you heard doctors say that, the science is indisputable on vaccines. But it was a different story back in 2008 not just for then Senator Obama but also Hillary Clinton. He was definitely equivocated more. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Autism I think is a prime candidate where we've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Nobody knows exactly why. There are some people who are suspicious that it's connected to vaccines and triggers, but -- this person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now this person included, he did seem to be pointing to someone in the audience, but he said the science is inconclusive. And, Carol, thinking back years, that was seized on at the time

because of what he had said. At the same time, remember, this was 2008. The '98 study that really started the backlash against vaccines had really been discredited by 2004. So the science was pretty settled in 2008.

But even Hillary Clinton who is now saying the earth is round, vaccines work, at the time she was asked by an autism group with a questionnaire about the link between vaccines and autism and she said that she was committed to really funding or finding the causes, the environmental causes of autism, and that included vaccines. So you're seeing, you know, a different story years ago from even these Democrats.

COSTELLO: It's just so confusing, right? So, Jim, I'll toss this one by you. So the president today says get your kids vaccinated.

ACOSTA: Right.

COSTELLO: And some Republicans say, maybe you should have the freedom not to get your kids vaccinated. But other Republicans like Mike Huckabee, Scott Walker and Ben Carter -- Ben Carson, rather, says you very should much get your kids vaccinated. There's just no controversy about this.

ACOSTA: Yes.

COSTELLO: So when it comes to Rand Paul is it more a libertarian question?

ACOSTA: I think it is. And I -- you know, I have to think by the end of this day there is going to be some sort of clarifying statement from Senator Rand Paul on this. I mean, that kind of -- that kind of comment that he made on CNBC I think is going to grab a lot of people as just being irresponsible, especially when he's a doctor.

And, you know, Chris Christie when he started this conversation in London when he made those comments, you know, I had a Republican -- a top Republican strategist last night e-mail me and say that this is very much like the Mitt Romney situation at the Olympics back in 2012.

Remember when Mitt Romney got in all of that trouble when he went to London and made those comments about the Olympics and just got in a lot of hot water. Chris Christie goes to London and gets himself into a lot of hot water on this vaccine issue. And it's just -- it's a subject that has parents very emotional because a lot of people feel like it is just irresponsible not to vaccinate your kids.

Now keep in mind there are sometimes medically important reason, perhaps a child's immune system is so diminished by battling cancer and so forth that they can't be vaccinated, but by and large the scientific community has spoken and it is vitally important for people to get their kids vaccinated.

COSTELLO: And, Elizabeth, are doctors becoming concerned that measles, you know, are becoming a political issue? ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. I

mean, they want this to be incredibly clear, vaccines work and vaccines don't cause autism. I mean, really doctors will say we don't need Rand Paul chiming in here nor do we need Chris Christie. This is a scientific issue and the science is clear.

Take a look at this graph. All the way to the right is the number of measles case that we've had in 2015. So one month into the year we've had that many cases. More than most years in an entire year. And you see that big spike in 2014. There was an outbreak in Ohio last year. But I'll tell you, if we keep going at this rate we're going to see an enormous number of measles cases this year.

COSTELLO: So tell us what it means for those of us who have already had a measles vaccination. Should we get another one?

COHEN: Well, if you were born 1990 or after then you likely got two shots. And two shots gives full immunity. If you were born before 1990 it gets very, very tricky because most of us born before 1990 only got one shot. That may be enough. That may do the trick, but it might not.

So if you are near any of these people with measles, if you were, for example, on that Amtrak train in New York where a Bard College student was on there and that student has measles, you should go to your doctor, and say, look, do I need a second shot? Many doctors will say, look, just get the second shot, it's not going to hurt you, and you will then be, you know, sure that you have immunity.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks to all of you, Elizabeth Cohen, Brianna Keilar, and Jim Acosta.

Coming up a little later in the hour, I'll talk to a daycare worker who started Operation Wipeout. She's on a mission to keep her facility safe from measles outbreak one antiseptic wipe at a time. That's just ahead in the NEWSROOM.

In other news this morning, nearly a month after the deadly Paris attack, French Police today say they've arrested eight people accused of being linked to the recruitment of young jihadists and deploying them to Syria for a holy war.

For now there is no suspected link to the January attacks, but you may remember the Kouachi brothers who carried out the massacre at the "Charlie Hebdo" offices. They, too, were French jihadists and also suspected of having ties to Syria.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is following the story for us from London.

Good morning.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol. And clearly after that big attack that happened in Paris just last month the French authorities are continuing to crack down on jihadism there in France. In fact they have more than 160 cases that they're investigating right now involving more than 500 people and they've also already made more than 160 arrests in total.

So clearly they're taking this very, very seriously. Also, there's going to be a decree that's going to be coming out tomorrow by the French government. That also has to do with anti-terror measures mainly focused on the Internet, on stopping Internet recruitment, Internet jihadism, also the glorification of jihadi things on the Internet.

And the French say they're also going to try to push the EU for tougher legislation, for instance, to make airlines keep passenger lists longer so that movements to possible terror activities can be better traced.

There's an interesting quote that came out from the French Interior minister who is of course their top official to fighting terrorism, and he says, "For us the fight against terrorism is a race against time. We're fully determined."

So the French showing that they've seen what's going on and they are very, very committed to making this fight against terrorism not only a priority in France but, indeed, in Europe as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Fredrik Pleitgen, reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's not just the snow, it's the deep freeze.

Alexandra Field live in Boston this morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Carol. We're already looking at more snow than the city has ever seen fall in a single week. And now as the temperatures dip into the single digits, more problems.

We'll talk about that coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Well, poor Boston. The snow on the ground can be measured in feet and not inches, but the big problem today will be the deep freeze. Whew.

The city now reeling from a new threat, a flash freeze. So, we're going to talk about that in a minute.

But, first, we've got to talk about the record-setting amount of snow. A staggering 40 inches of snow have fallen over the past week beating the closest runner up by 9 inches. It's just insane.

CNN's Alexandra Field live in Boston to tell us more.

Good morning, Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It really is insane when you put it in those terms. But the most snow

that Boston has ever seen in a week. The most snow that Boston has seen in a ten-day period. Since January 1st, the city has seen 50 inches of snow. All of it piled up on these sidewalks right now.

But really, the bigger concern beyond this amount of snow which is well above the average that you would see in an entire winter here in Boston is the fact that the temperatures have plummeted, it's causing concerns. It's also causing the city to delay their big plans for a celebration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): Overnight, a fatal deep freeze stunning the Northeast. Dangerous trifecta of high winds, over a foot of snow in some parts and below freezing temperatures from New Jersey to Maine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're asking people if you can stay off the roads.

FIELD: Boston declared a snow emergency once again, setting a record for the snowiest week in the city's history. The new fear ice, as accidents litter the roadways.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In New Jersey, it's icy rain, which makes the roads like impassible.

FIELD: The New England Patriots' parade postponed. And scores of schools closed. Many not for snow but --

TODD O'SHELL, FREEPORT, PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL DISTRICT: It's more of an ice day. Concerned about the driveways, sidewalks, the areas of students are getting on the bus.

FIELD: In Maine, wind gusts produced bitterly cold wind chills up to 20 degrees below zero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've soon a lot of people slip and fall. I've seen the buses slip back down the street.

FIELD: Other states dropped to the single digits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can't really see the road right now. Everything is all like blurry.

FIELD: West of Boston, treacherous conditions on the roads causing these teens to lose control of their ATV, sliding into a parked car.

In Rye, New York, a mini van losing control on a major highway careening into a previous ice-related accident killing the other two drivers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Horrible. Horrible. People have to slow down.

FIELD: In Vermont, several snow plows were hit while trying to clear roadways, one slammed by a passing 18-wheeler. Another driver trapped for 40 minutes after hitting a plow truck and had to be removed with the Jaws of Life.

UNIDENTIFEID MALE: Treat the roads with caution. If you have to go out, go slow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: If all had gone according to plan, I would be here in Copley square surrounded by thousands of people now who would be waiting to see the Patriots ride by in their celebratory parade. That was the plan. The city worked really hard to get that parade going today.

But at the last minute the mayor had to step back, assess the conditions and decide he couldn't put thousands of people with the snow banks so high, the weather so cold. The thought was, it just isn't going to work, postponed it a day.

So, instead, those thousands of people you should see them here tomorrow for the Patriots' parade, Carol.

COSTELLO: It will be just as good tomorrow.

Alexandra Field reporting live from Boston -- thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the Aaron Hernandez trial gets underway. Once again, the victim's mother due to take the stand. As you can see, she fled the courtroom in tears the other day. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: As Boston clears snow to welcome home their Super Bowl champs, a former Patriots' player heads back to court. The Aaron Hernandez murder trial resuming this morning. The victim's girlfriend Shaneah Jenkins is expected to take the stand once again. Last week, she described Odin Lloyd and Hernandez's relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was his relationship with the defendant at that time?

SHANEAH JENKINS, ODIN LLOYD'S GIRLFRIEND: At that time, I don't know that they really had one. It was just whenever they were around each other they were cordial and fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In terms of their acquaintance or being friendly, how do describe that? At the time, you said at some point now, Odin Lloyd was murdered?

JENKINS: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what date was that?

JENKINS: The 17th of June.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Prior to that date, how would you have described their relationship?

JENKINS: Like beginning stages of a friendship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Odin Lloyd's mother is also expected to testify today. So, let's talk about this.

I'm joined by criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Anne Bremner, and CNN legal analyst and criminal defense lawyer, Danny Cevallos.

Welcome to both of you.

Anne, I want to start --

ANNE BREMNER, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Good morning.

COSTELO: Good morning.

Anne, I want to start with you. Why is it important that Aaron Hernandez and Odin Lloyd weren't the greatest of friends?

BREMNER: Well, because if they weren't the greatest of friends, then you basically have the prosecution's theory of him participating in covering up the killing, that he wouldn't do that to his best friend. The defense, of course, came forward and saying they were close, they're very good friends. And it's the $40 million question. Why would Hernandez give up a $40 million contract to kill his best friend, when there's no motive, there's no evidence, there's no eye witnesses, there's no exculpatory statements? So, very important to both sides.

COSTELLO: Very important. Something just seems -- well, painful to me, actually. I'll pose this question to you, Danny. Odin Lloyd's girlfriend is the sister of Aaron Hernandez's fiancee. So, in essence, she's testifying against her sister indirectly, right?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, family torn apart. Absolutely, yes. They appear to be at this stage opposed to each other, but we don't ultimately know what both of them are going to say.

COSTELLO: We suspect, though, that Odin Lloyd's girlfriend is going to say that she saw her sister carry some object down to the basement after Aaron Hernandez texted her, right, Ann?

BREMNER: That's right. The fact is she had a hearing on the 7th about immunity, because remember, she was convicted of 23 counts of perjury. She may come in, Shayanna, the sister, fiancee of Hernandez, and testify she got rid of the gun. But at a minimum, we're going to hear from her sister, Shaneah, excuse me, the name was similar, that at least this was seen. And that's important because there's no murder weapon yet in this case.

COSTELLO: Right. And I also understand, Danny, that prosecutors say Aaron Hernandez's fiancee had what appeared to be a lock box and she took it to the car and drove away. But they haven't found the gun. Does that matter?

CEVALLOS: It matters. If this was a weak prosecution case, it might matter. But there is a lot of talk about, well, the prosecution has a real problem, they don't have a murder weapon.

I've got news for you, murder weapons disappear all the time in cases like this.

COSTELLO: All the time.

CEVALLOS: In fact, bodies disappear sometimes and you can have a conviction where there is no body. It is possible.

So, understanding that only in the mob movies where the guy whacked somebody and then leaves the gun do people not try to get rid of weapons. Weapons disappear all the time. The notion that a jury is not permitted to draw an inference based on circumstantial evidence which in this case appears to be four men go to a field, one ends up riddled in bullets, and just because you can't find a gun doesn't mean you can't infer that a gun was used. It absolutely was used and the prosecution is going to introduce a lot of circumstantial evidence to bolster the fact that a gun was used, which we know, and the man that used it and disposed of it was Hernandez.

COSTELLO: OK. So, another piece of circumstantial evidence prosecutors have, Anne, of this in home video of Aaron Hernandez supposedly holding some dark object on his hand that appears to be a gun, but it's really not so clear.

BREMNER: Right. It appears to be a gun. It appears to be a Glock and the Glock's the murder weapon in this case.

But, you know, here's the thing of circumstantial evidence. Witnesses can and do lie, but evidence never lies. The evidence -- circumstantial evidence is as valid as direct evidence. I think it's more valid in a case like this because there's a mountain of it here.

And you put the pieces together. Four men leaving a car, three come back, you have the surveillance with the Glock, you have the casings of a .45 in the car, finger prints of the victim in the car and you got DNA at the scene. So, you know, it all pieces together for a very strong prosecution case.

And they're going to say that's a Glock. Why is he walking around his house with a gun. He dismantled that surveillance immediately after the killing. Why did he do that?

COSTELLO: All right. Hopefully, we'll find answers in ensuing days during the trial.

BREMNER: Yes.

COSTELLO: Anne Bremner, Danny Cevallos, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it. BREMNER: Thank you.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The United States is considering sending, quote, "defensive lethal aid" to Ukraine to help their escalating battle with pro-Russian rebels. The high stakes gamble would put anti-tank, anti-air and anti-mortar systems in the hands of Ukrainian fighters.

Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Kiev Thursday meeting President Petro Poroshenko and other top officials about the crisis. A fear in providing military aid is that Russia would counter and send similar support to the rebels, widening the conflict and putting millions of lives at risk.

But here's a look at why some in Washington say help is urgently needed. It's a before and after the destruction of Donetsk's once proud international airport. Just months ago, this airport was fully functioning and now dead bodies lie on the floor in the airport, and utter devastation remains.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh gained access to the airport or what remains of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nowhere has the fighting been fiercer in the worst war to hit Europe since the Balkans than here, Donetsk's once proud Sergey Prokofiev International Airport.

Ukraine's army is still shelling here, despite being pushed out of this former stronghold two weeks ago by these Russian-backed separatists, themselves heavily armed, this is their form of airport shuttle.

WALSH (on camera): We're moving now in an armored car towards the new terminal of the airport. Territory which the separatists have taken but is still regularly under fire from the Ukrainian military.

WALSH (voice-over): We pull into the airport long term underground parking.

WALSH (on camera): They're just saying there are occasionally shells still landing here.

WALSH (voice-over): The fight for here killed hundreds as Ukrainians used service tunnels to hold parts of the complex. The men claim these bodies were left in the Ukrainian retreat. The last call for passengers on this walkway passed months ago. These pictures from three years ago showing how it used to sparkle.

WALSH (on camera): Hard to imagine how just six months ago we were here flying out of Donetsk, this that was then a state of the art international terminal. Just look at the destruction and this symbolizes how far eastern Ukraine has fallen.

WALSH (voice-over): Mortars often fall here, so we move fast. They used to call this the new terminal, open two years ago for football fans coming to see the European championship. But that new found European optimism has evaporated. The war here is entering a new phase, with the heaviest of weapons and the random shelling of civilians in which victory has become more important than its spoils.

These men blame Barack Obama for this devastation. Russia blames NATO for fermenting this war. NATO says nonsense and that many of these fighters are actually Russian regular army. Blame, hatred and charred remains everywhere, but to Ukraine's bright hopes of modern prosperity, the gate is closed.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Donetsk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: As the anti-vaccine movement gains steam, we've seen an increase in cases of preventable diseases, including measles and whopping cough. And for one Michigan mother, it was finally too much. We'll talk to her in the next hour of NEWSROOM. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)