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@THISHOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

CDC's Tom Frieden to Testify on Capitol Hill; Christine Romans Traces Her Roots

Aired October 16, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE: We never talked about Ebola and we probably should have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never talked about it prior to Mr. Duncan arriving?

UNIDENTIFIED NURSE: No. We never had a discussion. They gave us an optional seminar to go to, just informational, not hands-on. I just don't think any facility in this country is prepared for that at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Sean Kaufman, we appreciate it. Hope to stay in communication with you in the coming: That was a colleague of the two Dallas nurses now infected with Ebola after treating a Liberian man who lost his battle with the virus. That nurse claims inadequate training, sparking serious questions about the federal agency charged with managing Ebola in the United States.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: @THISHOUR the man who has become the face of the federal response is gearing up to face questions on Capitol Hill. CDC director, Tom Frieden, is scheduled to testify at noon before a House subcommittee. As of now, at least two Republican Congressmen are calling for his resignation.

PEREIRA: But is that the solution?

Joining us, are political commentators, Reihan Salam and Sally Kohn.

Good to have you both here.

I was thinking, Reihan, it seems we go to the head and say "off with their heads" and find a new leader. Is that the right answer here?

REIHAN SALAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's about accountability. Whether or not you're directly responsible for what happened and this is a very challenging situation, it's a why of demonstrating that you're the captain and you're going to take the hit. I think it does make sense for that reason. BERMAN: Sally, one of the things that's happened here is the response

has stumbled at best. At this Texas hospital, he was turned away, Thomas Eric Duncan turned away, then admitted. Once admitted, two health care workers infected. People say it didn't go as it was supposed to go. They have lost faith in the system that we were told was in place beforehand. So if you are the president now, how do you restore that faith?

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Let's be clear -- and there's reasons we don't want to overreact and spread panic. We should be clear in Nebraska and in Atlanta, they have handled these cases well. So to say there's an outbreak, to say there's a danger, we need to be doing more. We are doing more. Let's be really careful and temp down the panic, number one.

Number two, if we're going to talk about the politics of this, we have to be clear that conservatives have for 40 years been bashing and slashing government and then suddenly are complaining when it's not there and up to the task. So there is -- is a repercussion of a culture. We had Ted Cruz in an op-ed for CNN said Americans don't really trust government to be there in a crisis. Well, no crap, they don't. He's been telling them not to trust government ever since he got in office. If we want government to be here, it's called a public health crisis for a reason. The private hospital failed. If we want government to work, we have to invest in government and believe in government and not be kicking and passing it.

SALAM: But past legislation called for spending to be $300 million higher than President Obama requested for the CDC. There are plenty of conservatives that believe government is bloated. They also believe there are certain core functions of government that ought to be undertaken with great seriousness and ought to be done well and they are willing to fund those sources. In fact, many people complain that Republicans are very happy to finance defense, right, and spend vast sums of money on it and also on things like the CDC because that is a core function of government. When you expand too greatly, you actually neglect those core functions.

(CROSSTALK)

SALAM: -- what a Republican Congress passed --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: No surprise. They don't agree on this one. I'm wondering if they'll agree on this issue. We've heard some voices calling, in fact, John Boehner, pushing for a travel ban from West Africa. I'm wondering if you think, Reihan, it's the right thing to do.

I'll start with you, Sally. Is it the right thing to do or is it perception versus reality? Is it going to make people feel better or put people at risk of being cut off from the supplies, et cetera?

KOHN: Public health experts and public health economists, they all agree this is a risky thing to do, not only because it is an impediment to people going there to actually help, but you start to further cripple the region economically. We should know countries like England, France, that have a higher likelihood of seeing people infected arriving in the country, to impose a travel ban. It also incentivizes people to lie about where they've been. They can go to other countries, people who have means, who want to come to countries where they can get better care. We don't want that to happen. Let's not over react. Let's not start calling for heads and drastic measures and over politicizing this issue.

PEREIRA: Riehan?

SALAM: I think airport screening tends to be very expensive and very ineffective. I think many hawks, like myself, believe you ought to fight ISIS in Iraq. Simply you have to fight Ebola where the crisis is raging. I think that's the way you have to think about it. I agree the travel ban is not the idea.

PEREIRA: You agree!

KOHN: I agree with that.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Thank you guys for being here.

PEREIRA: All right, less than an hour from now, the CDC Director Tom Frieden is due to face the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee. We'll be joined by a key director at the National Institutes of Health and several other administration officials at the helm of the Ebola fight. That will start around noon eastern. CNN will bring it to you here live.

BERMAN: Also ahead this hour, we'll take a look back at a very personal journey from a very awesome person who comes from a very awesome family. Learn the story behind Christine Romans.

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PEREIRA: What a beautiful thing we're doing at CNN as we explore our roots. Our "Early Start" colleague, Christine Romans, can trace back who she is today all the way back to a brave young woman who left Denmark with a single suitcase, came to America 150 years ago.

BERMAN: It was her great, great grandmother. She was great, as you will soon see. For a journalist used to telling other people's stories, delving into her own past for Christine was a revelation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This is Iowa. This is where I'm from, corn fields and family. And every few years, we all get together --

(SHOUTING)

ROMANS: -- all the grandkids and great grandkids and my grandma.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: This is a picture you gave me.

SHIRLEY JEAN PETERSON, GRANDMOTHER OF CHRISTINE ROMANS: That's a lot of years ago.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: How old do you think you were?

PETERSON: Probably 17.

ROMANS: My grandmother's name is Shirley Jean Peterson. She remembers her grandma, Ana Peterson, someone they called Bedstemor, the Danish word for grandmother.

I know how much you loved your grandma. And I loved my grandma. So tell me what your Bedstemor meant to you?

PETERSON: She was a second mother. She was a great grandma. I just loved her dearly.

ROMANS: We've grown up with a lot of stories about Ana Peterson, an ordinary young woman, very simple means, who took a chance and has basically built my family. I would have nothing. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for a chance a poor girl in Denmark took 150 years ago.

We followed in the footsteps of your grandmother, and I wanted to show you the book we made.

It's here in Iowa with my grandmother where I reveal what I learned about Bedstemor, something I could only find out by going back to her homeland.

Good-bye, New York, we're going to Bedstemor's town, Denmark, here we come.

This is in Copenhagen. April and I.

I couldn't visit without my younger sister, April.

(MUSIC)

ROMANS: A place central to our family history.

Delicious?

SISTER OF CHRISTINE ROMANS: I like that one.

ROMANS: Our people were sustained by this.

SISTER OF CHRISTINE ROMANS: I like that one.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: But it's here inside the Danish National Archives where I learned the most.

This is the former royal of archives. They have all the information here. This woman walked us through.

Charlotte Jenson works in archival development.

CHARLOTTE JENSON, ARCHIVAL DEVELOPMENT: The archives can help us find the past we didn't know existed. Let's take a look.

ROMANS: Let's take a look.

JENSON: This is actually her baptism.

ROMANS: Ana, spelled A-N-E in Danish, was baptized in 1866.

Look at the lights inside.

In a beautiful church about an hour outside of Copenhagen, Denmark's rich countryside where she would spend the first 20 years of her life.

JENSON: The church was built in 1100, the oldest parts of it.

ROMANS: It's beautiful.

JENSON: That's where she was baptized, plus this is from 1650.

ROMANS: 1650.

JENSON: Yes.

When the baptism is finished, then I say the prayer, Amen.

ROMANS: Amen.

Tell me about how, when you would pray together, you would sleep with her and pray together.

PETERSON: We would get on our knees by the bed and we'd both say our prayers. And Bedstemor one night said -- I was about 10 at this time -- she said, "Lord, I'm ready to come home, call me any time." And I'm sitting beside her with my hands folded and I'm saying, "Not tonight, not tonight."

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: She was ready to go to the Lord and you were not ready to have her die in your bed.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: This is the kind of house she would have lived in.

PETERSON: Yes. Yes.

JENSON: They would have rented a little room there.

This is a laborer's home.

JENSON: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Let's go inside.

JENSON: Yes.

ROMANS: So this would be typical. This would be the kitchen over here, and everyone would eat and sleep and dress all in one room.

JENSON: Yes. Yes.

Something like a table, an oven, a bed, a cupboard, stuff like that, very basic things. They didn't have much.

ROMANS: She would have had a Bible and a candlestick probably for sure.

It's like going back in time.

JENSON: Yeah, but if you want to do time travel and really go back to the 1800s, we need some accessories.

ROMANS: Let's do it.

JENSON: You put that on first, we don't want you to get cold. Now you are ready to go back to 1880.

Then we have a wonderful dish of cold porridge. Here you go. You might have had a little look, a little warm milk if you had milk, if you have milk.

(CROSSTALK)

JENSON: Or a hot beer.

ROMANS: I could use a hot beer.

(LAUGHTER)

PETERSON: Honestly.

ROMANS: They had fresh vegetables in the summer but they didn't have much else.

PETERSON: No, they didn't.

ROMANS: This was her school. This was her teacher.

This is where Ana would have gone to school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that was the school of Ana. It is almost like it was at that time. The school was made so they could work, also. Sometimes they had to work half a day and go to school, but you would be taking care of the geese.

ROMANS: When she was 5, she lived with the neighbor people to take care of the geese, keep the geese out of the garden.

PETERSON: Can you imagine that?

ROMANS: And she told me the geese would get her down and slap her with their wings and she would cry for her mother.

PETERSON: But it was a tough life then you know.

ROMANS: We learned a lot about Ana's brothers and sisters. We know from the census list from 1860 to 1890, she had 10 brothers and sisters. Three of them died when they were very young.

PETERSON: Oh!

JENSON: It's a little tragic story.

They died almost on the same day. They died one day after another and were buried in the same way. They died from the croup.

ROMANS: Oh, they both got sick --

JENSON: Both died.

ROMANS: Ana would have been 10 years old.

PETERSON: Bedstemor never told me that.

ROMANS: This is more about Ana's father.

By the time Ana was 12, Danish records show, her father made a living by breaking stone.

JENSON: Breaking stone is not making a career.

ROMANS: Hard labor. Day labor.

JENSON: Very hard labor and not very well paid and not very well looked upon. It was the kind of job you would get if you couldn't really get anything else.

We can also see this person actually got welfare.

ROMANS: So this explains to you why in 1886 his daughter, Ana, left the country. She had to go make a living for herself.

Here is her immigration paper.

Ana arrived at the port of New York on October 14th, 1886, when she was just 20 years old, two weeks before the dedication of the Statute of liberty.

She was a single female. She had one bag with her.

PETERSON: Can you imagine coming with one bag to a new world? I can't.

ROMANS: My great, great grandmother eventually settled in western Iowa and married Hans Olson, this guy with the handlebar mustache.

Hi, it's so nice to meet you.

MICHELLE ERCANBRACK, HISTORIAN, ANCESTRY.COM: Nice to meet you.

ROMANS: Back in New York, Michele Ienbrock, at ancestry.com historian, found the most moving document of all.

ERCANBRACK: We talk about, still, after all these years, the identity of her buying tickets.

ROMANS: They called it best and worst traveling ticket. She saved her money and would send a ticket back to Denmark.

PETERSON: They had to come and stay at her house and learn English and learn a trade and then they returned the money for the ticket and another ticket went to Denmark.

ROMANS: Asks, who paid your passage?

She recovered a 1930 passenger list for Ana's nephew. Carl Peterson's ticket to America, paid for in full by his aunt, Ana. Proof of her generosity for years to come.

Wow. That's so -- you always heard about the ticket for all those years, but then to see it.

Do you think Bedstemor, do you think Ana would be proud of the family that has grown up behind her?

PETERSON: Oh, she would be very proud. I often wish she could see my kids.

(SHOUTING)

ROMANS: Ana lived to be 92 years old.

As a reporter, as a journalist, I interview and write about news all the time. But in my family the real newsmaker was just an ordinary girl who had the courage to leave everything she knew and start all over again in America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: What a tremendous, tremendous story.

Ahead, @THISHOUR, Christine Romans will be here in studio and talk about what it was like for her to delve into this tremendous legacy.

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BERMAN: So we just saw a remarkable story from Christine Romans tracing her roots, finding the facts out about her grandmother's grandmother, and Christine is here joining us to talk about it.

I feel in a way, like I've lived through this because I've heard you talking about this for months and months. This was so special to you because this was about your grandmother to a certain extent.

ROMANS: Yeah.

BERMAN: And what she always talked about and what she knew in her story. I am dying to know what she thinks.

ROMANS: My grandma -- so I have a wonderful relationship with my grandmother and I've heard all of these stories about her grandmother for so many years, but to be able to go back and find the facts behind the stories. First of all my grandmother would be a beautiful journalist because she got all her facts right, the stories about the traveling ticket, going back and helping her nieces an nephews get to this country, all of that is true, the stories about what it was like to live with a peasant girl with no means in the countryside. True. I can't confirm first person but sources tell me my grandmother says she looks old in the story and I have to say --

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Not at all.

ROMANS: Everyone says she's America's grandma. Everyone loves my grandma. To be able to tell this story through her was important to me.

PEREIRA: What a gift. I felt that one of the things that resonated with you was this beautiful thing of the traveling ticket. I think that's remarkable.

ROMANS: Yeah.

PEREIRA: That somebody did that for future generations?

ROMANS: You know, one thing that was moving finding out she lost three of her siblings. I never knew that. My grandmother never new that. There were 10 children, three died, two within a day of each other with the croup. So sad. My grandmother's mother came to America when she was 20, and spent the rest of her life getting tickets for her nieces and nephews of her surviving siblings, she got them to come to America to come here too. They learned English, lived with her.

Look at the census records. It's remarkable. She always had a Danish boarder in her house into her old age because she was paying it forward. The original paying it forward.

BERMAN: Your story and Denmark, Christine Romans, even better than Legos. Thank you for sharing with us.

ROMANS: Herrings, shops and Legos.

BERMAN: Go on-line and check out, because there's so much more information.

ROMANS: Behind-the-scenes pictures. PEREIRA: but tomorrow. We're finding out about somebody else's.

John Berman will share his story. And next Tuesday, watch a prime time Roots special, "Our Journeys Home," 9:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN.

BERMAN: That's all for us @THISHOUR.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.