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CNN NEWSROOM

WHO: Three to Four Million Zika Cases Possible in Americas; Stumping in Iowa; Interview with Gov. Rick Snyder; Affluenza Teen Returning to U.S. 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 28, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


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[10:30:12] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining.

Three to four million Zika cases possible in the Americas: that frightening prediction is from the World Health Organization speaking about the Zika virus this morning. The organization, holding a virtual press conference in Geneva right. The level of alarm now extremely high -- Zika is linked to devastating birth defects and even death in babies.

CNN's Rafael Romo is in Atlanta with more on this. Good morning.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Carol -- good morning. The head of the World Health Organization says the Zika virus is now spreading explosively -- those are his words -- around the Americas. Some of the most affected areas are in South America, especially countries like Brazil where 1.5 million infections were reported last year.

Now let's talk about the mosquito that carries the virus. The Zika virus is transmitted by a very aggressive biter -- Carol, Aedis Aegypti mosquito. This mosquito feeds mostly during the day so bed nets won't help as much.

But the main concern for health authorities is that Zika has been linked to a condition called microcephaly. This is a neurological condition that results in babies being born with abnormally small heads and sometimes even causes death.

Brazil has reported 4,000 cases of microcephaly. So far there have been about 20 cases in the continental U.S. in states like Florida, Texas, and Illinois. And when it comes to microcephaly, only one case, and this happened in Hawaii.

Now, there's an emergency meeting, as you were saying before. They're going to discuss what can we do about this disease? But again, it's rapidly spreading throughout the Americas, and it has already reached the United States -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Frightening. Rafael Romo -- thanks so much.

Coming up in the NEWSROOM all eyes might be on the Republicans tonight, but Democrats are blanketing Iowa as we speak.

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[10:31:17] COSTELLO: All right.

There's a live press going on right now in Nassau County, New York. That's in Long Island. Health officials are announcing that there's one known case of Zika virus there, and there are three cases of Zika virus in New York City.

We don't know much beyond that, but of course, we're monitoring this press conference and when we hear more information, of course, we'll pass it along.

In other news this hour -- at the top of the hour Bernie Sanders ramps up a busy day of Democrats campaigning in Iowa. Nearly a dozen events in all, as Sanders and Hillary Clinton try to break their statistical tie before Monday's caucuses.

Bill Clinton also on the stump, holding four separate events for his wife. The Democrats fighting for attention as Donald Trump and his debate boycott, once again, rules the news cycle.

CNN Politics executive editor, Mark Preston, live in Des Moines with more on that. Good morning.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Hey, good morning -- Carol.

Yes, they're crisscrossing the state right now, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders trying to get the last bit of momentum and last bit of support they can. And as you said, they brought in the heavy weight for the Clinton campaign, Bill Clinton here too, trying to rally support for his wife's candidacy -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I just wondered is Bill Clinton drawing massive crowds. I mean what do the crowds look like, do you know?

PRESTON: He does very well. He does very well. Listen, Bill Clinton is still beloved by the Democratic faithful, the loyal faithful certainly. And, you know, Bill Clinton is still a rock star in many ways in the Democratic Party.

You know, we talk about who is the strongest surrogate to have on the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton is very lucky to have Bill Clinton on the campaign trail for her certainly in these closing days -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. And I ask you that because Bernie Sanders is easily attracting such enthusiastic crowds -- large crowds. In fact, last hour I spoke with the actress, Susan Sarandon who, as you know, is in Iowa campaigning for Bernie Sanders. I asked her, as a feminist icon, why she's not rallying behind Hillary Clinton. Here's what she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SUSAN SARANDON, BERNIE SANDERS SUPPORTER: Bernie Sanders consistently has represented everything that I'm interested in and that I care about. He wants change. He doesn't want business as usual. And quite frankly, you know, the most important foreign affairs move that have happened in my lifetime which was the vote to go into Iraq, she failed me. And I feel that that wasn't just a mistake -- that was a disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So when you talk about the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, that vote for the Iraq war by Hillary Clinton, that still has -- that's still impactful on her race for president today.

PRESTON: It certainly does, and when you're talking about star power, you see the likes of Susan Sarandon, Will Ferrell and others have rallied behind Sanders candidacy. When you talk about liberalism and the Democratic Party, you know, it's very well deep-rooted in Hollywood.

But to your point about the Iraq war vote, that is still a sticking point right now that liberals are still upset at Hillary Clinton for making that vote even though she has said she now regrets doing it.

But on the other side of it, as much as we're seeing Hollywood go toward Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton still doing well in many ways with stars. We've seen Katy Perry on the campaign stump, specifically for Hillary Clinton and why that's important is that Katy Perry can reach a younger demographic, a younger woman voter, Carol, that Hillary Clinton's campaign is trying to drive out and try to break history as the first woman president.

COSTELLO: All right. Mark Preston, live from Des Moines, Iowa. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, more than 100 children in Flint suffering from lead poisoning. And there could be hundreds more.

[10:40:00] Poppy Harlow sit down with the Michigan governor, Rick Snyder.

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COSTELLO: New this morning, the owner of the Detroit Pistons is pledging $10 million to Flint, Michigan as the city battles a crisis over lead contaminated water. In the meantime, filmmaker and Flint native Michael Moore tells CNN there's a cover up at play, one that goes all the way to the Michigan governor's office.

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MICHAEL MOORE, FILMMAKER: He is covering up. The people of Flint know this. The fact that he hasn't replaced a single lead pipe, not a single lead pipe, since this came to light. He's known about this, we know of, at least since last February. Why wouldn't you know that there's a possibility there's lead in the

water would you allow the people to keep drinking the water? This causes permanent brain damage. That brain damage is irreversible. There's no medicine, there's nothing to help the children.

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COSTELLO: The Michigan Governor Rick Snyder could be called to Washington next week. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee said he wants to have a hearing over the contamination as soon as Wednesday.

[10:45:08] Poppy Harlow sat down with Governor Snyder trying to get answers about how Flint's lead problem spiraled out of control.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can the people of Flint today, as we sit here -- can they drink the water?

GOV. RICK SNYDER (R), MICHIGAN: No. We don't want them to. And that's the terrible tragedy of all this.

HARLOW: This morning as the people of Flint wait and wonder if they've been poisoned by the lead in their water, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder admits he failed them and promises to fix the crisis.

All medical experts agree no level of lead ingestion by anyone, especially children under the age of six is ok.

SNYDER: That's correct.

HARLOW: You said last week over 100 children here in Flint have high levels of lead in their blood. How many kids is it as we sit here today?

SNYDER: It's about 100 some if you go back over the last couple of years.

HARLOW: You're saying there's 100 children, as of now, and there may be many, many more.

SNYDER: There could be many more and we're assuming that.

HARLOW: A local pediatrician, one of the first to discover the lead in the water here, calls the impact on the children irreversible and multigenerational.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha told me that what can be done is that you can minimize the impact through early literature programs, universal preschool, access to healthy food so say the calcium binds instead of the lead to the child's bones, et cetera, mental health services. She put a price tag on that, Governor and she told me it's going to cost $100 million just to do that. Will you make sure they get $100 million? SNYDER: I'm not sure she would know how to put the price tag. I have

reviewed recommendations she's made, and actually a number of those actions we were already working on doing in Flint.

HARLOW: She's done the analysis. I'm asking you again, $100 million -- will you make sure they get it if that's what they need?

SNYDER: Well, we're making sure they get what they need.

HARLOW: A 2011 study found water from the Flint River would have to be treated with an anti-corrosive agent to be safe to drink. To do that would have only cost $100 a day, but that was never done.

I was speaking with a young man this morning. He said to me, they put money over people, and he said the black lives and the poor white lives weren't worth it. When you look at the numbers, $100 a day, what happened?

SNYDER: Well, that's the failure point. I mean in terms of cost structures, $100 a day, this is where the huge error was. There were people that were subject matter experts in this that didn't believe that needed to be done. That was a huge mistake. That was part of the fundamental mistake in this whole situation.

HARLOW: What needed to be done -- why? That money was --

SNYDER: Well again -- in terms of -- no, not on that point.

HARLOW: -- given priority here over these people.

SNYDER: Not at all. This is where the investigations will follow up, and all those, in terms of the details of all that, and we're cooperating with all those investigations because I want to find out what went on. I want the facts out there.

HARLOW: The kids were being poisoned by the water they were drinking here. The EPA knew about it. Your spokesman -- you former spokesman knew about it in July of 2015 and sent an e-mail about it, and you didn't declare a state of emergency until January of this year. Why did it take so long?

SNYDER: Actually I learned about it in October, and I took action immediately then offering filters, working with people on getting water, on doing water testing. Again, we needed to do more, though. As soon as I learned about it, we took dramatic action.

HARLOW: Why not just immediately replace all of the lead pipes?

SNYDER: That's a question you can ask across the country and the challenge of that is -- that's not a short -- that's not a short-term project.

HARLOW: But I'm asking you because Flint has had people poisoned.

SNYDER: That's not a short-term project in terms of ripping up all the infrastructure, replacing all that. That can take an extended period of time.

HARLOW: Your former spokesman wrote an e-mail back in July of 2015. Here's part of it.

"I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint. These folks are scared and worried about health impacts and they're basically getting blown off by us. You have said since then that you knew about that e-mail. And that you were made aware of that. Why not act then?

SNYDER: The experts came back from both the Department of Environmental Quality, and Health and Human Services to say they didn't see a problem with lead in the water or lead in the blood.

HARLOW: Folks here did. They were getting rashes. Their kids were having rashes. The water was discolored.

SNYDER: Let me finish -- Poppy.

I mean that makes you feel terrible. I mean I wish we would have done something different.

HARLOW: As the scope of the crisis has grown, residents have rallies demanding the governor step down.

A number of the residents that I've spoken with in Flint have said ultimately they want accountability. Governor -- will you resign?

SNYDER: No. Again, I think it's normal the right action, if you have a problem that happened from people that you're responsible for, you go solve it. You don't walk away from it.

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[10:50:02] HARLOW: And Carol, and when you look at the money so far, $28 million has been committed to help the people of Flint -- the governor going back for more money.

You heard from that doctor who has estimated it will take $100 million just to give the children that have been poisoned by the lead the help that they need -- early education programs, the proper nutrition, et cetera.

In terms of replacing those lead pipes, the governor did tell me they are absolutely looking at that. They're seeing if it's possible, what they can do -- the cost of that according to the EPA, somewhere between $50 and $75 million. I can tell you that the governor told me he will be spending a lot more time here in Flint with the people working to help them as much as possible -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Poppy Harlow reporting this morning -- thank you. You can catch the full interview with Governor Snyder this weekend on NEWSROOM. That starts at 3:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.

All right. This news just in to CNN: we're learning that Senator Bernie Sanders will release his medical records today. That's according to his campaign manager. It said the records will show that the 74-year-old Democrat is in good health and will be signed by the attending physician of the Senate who has treated Sanders for years. We'll keep you posted.

Also just in to CNN, this is breaking news. You're looking at brand new video of Ethan Couch leaving Mexico early this morning heading back to the United States. This is the first video we've seen of the teenager since he fled across the border with his mother.

Couch is expected to land in Texas within the hour.

CNN's Ed Lavandera on the phone covering this for us this morning. Hi -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hi Carol -- as we reported yesterday, over the last couple of days, Ethan Couch's Mexican attorney has dropped all of the efforts to essentially block his extradition from Mexico back to the United States. And that's why we're seeing the movement of Ethan Couch there.

Remember his mother was brought back several weeks ago, and now Ethan Couch will be landing back here and into the custody of Texas law enforcement officials. All of this comes as prosecutors and law enforcement there in Fort Worth are still in the process of trying to move Ethan Couch's criminal juvenile case.

Remember, he was convicted in the deadly drunk driving accident back in 2013 that killed four people. And there was a great deal of controversy surrounding the ten-year probation sentence which Ethan Couch was given in.

Now prosecutor there, as we've been reporting, want to move his case from the juvenile system into the adult system. And they say that they want to see that because if he breaks probation once again, they're able to give him a much tougher sentence this time around.

But now the big news here this morning, Ethan Couch, after more than a month in Mexico, is headed back this way.

COSTELLO: All right. Ed Lavandera, reporting from Dallas.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, new video of the drug lord, El Chapo forced to give fingerprints, to give blood and pose for a new mug shot just as he's being fast tracked to the United States.

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[10:57:14] COSTELLO: Right now the "Washington Post" is getting ready to dedicate its new headquarters in Washington. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to speak there next hour.

Freed "Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian was given a standing ovation when he visited the newspaper yesterday with his wife. That's the "Post" CEO Jeff Bezos between them.

Rezaian spent about a year and a half in Iran's infamous Evin Prison. Also held there was American Matthew Trevithick. He told Anderson Cooper that prison officials tried to get him to confess without telling him he was about to be freed.

MATTHEW TREVITHICK, SPENT 41 DAYS IN IRANIAN PRISON: They come back into the room, and I look right in the camera and I say I've said everything I have to say. And I stand up and turn my back to the camera, and you know, you have the cognition going, your inner critic of Matt, what are you doing? What are you doing?

This could be a very bad decision. I really just felt like it was the right thing to do. I gave into it. It was kind of a surge of confidence. I gave in to it against, probably my better judgment. I believed the threats that they were saying. And I turned my back, and they kept saying, well, you've made a very bad decision now.

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COSTELLO: He was one of five Americans released from Iranian jails two weeks ago.

Mexico is releasing new video showing the drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman after his capture earlier this month. Guzman is being shown -- is shown being fingerprinted, having blood drawn and getting a new mug shot. Mexican authorities captured Guzman at a house on the Pacific Coast about six months after his daring escape from a maximum security prison near Mexico City.

Mexico's president is working to extradite El Chapo to the United States as soon as possible.

Residents of Ferguson, Missouri have until February 9th to comment on a proposed agreement between the city and the Justice Department about reforms in the police department and court system. Last year the Justice Department determined a pattern and practice of discrimination by officers after the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. That incident set off months of unrest.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: We've got breaking news at this hour. Hello everyone, I'm Kate Bolduan.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: And I'm John Berman, the breaking news is this. Just moments ago we learned that Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont, presidential candidate, will release his medical records today. Why is this an issue? Well it's an issue for every presidential candidate. Bernie Sanders -- 74 years old -- something that he knows that the voters want to learn about.

BOLDUAN: Let's get started with our Jeff Zeleny who broke this news for us. He is in Des Moines, Iowa where the Bernie Sanders campaign is right now. We're waiting for an even to take place as we speak.