"Saturday Night Live" Star in Critical Condition after Deadly Multiple Car Collision on New Jersey Turnpike; Sergeant Bergdahl's Recuperating In U.S. Military Hospital in Germany
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, on a Saturday. Certainly not news anybody wants to wake up to. I'm Christi Paul.</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. 6:00 here on NEW DAY SATURDAY, and the breaking news is happening along the New Jersey Turnpike in Mercer County where actor/comedian Tracy Morgan was involved in a very serious auto accident.</s>PAUL: Yeah, New Jersey officials just telling us that this is just actually very, very early in the game here. But, Jersey officials telling us that the star is in critical condition at a hospital. Details are still coming in. As I said, the word of this is just coming in to us here. Not clear whether he was traveling alone. We don't even know if he was behind the wheel. But Sergeant First Class Gregory William, New Jersey state police with us here to tell us more about this. Gregory, can you let us know more about what you have heard this morning? When did it happen?</s>GREGORY WILLIAMS, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE: Yes. Well, it's all preliminary information, active investigation now. 1:00 a.m. this morning on the New Jersey turnpike, 71.5 northbound, which is I-95 here in New Jersey. Six-vehicle accident, two tractor trailers involved. Comedian actor Tracy Morgan was involved, he is in intensive care at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. Looks like two tractor trailers, a limo bus, SUV, limo bus overturned. Tracy Morgan was in the limo bus, but he is alive, he is in intensive care. That Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, preliminary right now, and it's possibly just one fatality. And the roads are closed. Heavy diversion at 7 at northbound. And this accident occurred between 7a and 8a northbound on the New Jersey Turnpike. And right now that's basically what we have, all we have.</s>PAUL: Sergeant, do you have any indication as to the cause?</s>WILLIAMS: The cause of the accident, we do not have that. It's under investigation. Active investigation.</s>BLACKWELL: Sergeant, the one fatality was that a passenger or the driver of this limo bus?</s>WILLIAMS: Do not know whether or not it was a passenger or driver. Believed to be a passenger, also.</s>BLACKWELL: But inside the limo bus?</s>WILLIAMS: Inside the limo bus.</s>BLACKWELL: OK.</s>PAUL: What are the kind of injuries do you know of?</s>WILLIAMS: Well, seven people have been taken to the hospital, all injuries are unknown at this time.</s>BLACKWELL: Are those seven people all passengers, drivers inside this limo bus?</s>WILLIAMS: Unknown whether or not they are drivers or passengers, but just seven persons have been taken to the hospital.</s>BLACKWELL: At this point, is there any way to know if alcohol was involved? If - we talked about cause, but if there's any element of being drunk or anything at this hour of the night?</s>WILLIAMS: No, at this time, there's no way of really knowing whether or not alcohol was involved, as of yet. I do not have that information right now. The information that I have doesn't indicate that.</s>PAUL: Sergeant Williams, do you know how many people were in that limo bus with Tracy Morgan?</s>WILLIAMS: Do not have the exact number on that, but seven of those persons were transported to the hospital.</s>PAUL: OK, so what - at what stage are you right now? What is happening there on the freeway as we speak?</s>WILLIAMS: As we speak, the turnpike, northbound, is shut down. The road is closed for this investigation between 7a and 8a northbound on the turnpike.</s>BLACKWELL: That critical condition characterization of Tracy Morgan's condition, at what hour did you get that? How old or new is that?</s>WILLIAMS: This is the latest information that I received probably about 45 minutes ago. He is in intensive care at Robert Wood Johnson.</s>PAUL: All righty. And did you say it happened around 1:00 a.m.?</s>WILLIAMS:  1: 00 a.m. is when the original accident occurred this morning.</s>PAUL: Do we know if he or any of the seven people taken to the hospital are in or are in need of surgery of any kind?</s>WILLIAMS: I do not have that information.</s>PAUL: OK, but six vehicles you said were involved in this accident and again, two were tractor trailers?</s>WILLIAMS: Yes. Yes. Six vehicles, two tractor trailers and that limo bus is also included in that.</s>PAUL: You said the limo bus overturned. Did any other vehicles overturn? I mean I'm just trying to get a good sense of what you are dealing with at the scene.</s>WILLIAMS: Yes, the limo bus is the only vehicle that overturned. Looks like the tractor trailer may have - one of the tractor trailers may have rear ended that limo bus. It's all preliminary at this time.</s>BLACKWELL: And are there three other vehicles that are involved, because we know the two tractor trailers, the limo bus, you say, a total of six, no injuries to any drivers or passengers in those other three vehicles?</s>WILLIAMS: That is not clear as right now. I believe all the injuries are from that overturned limo bus.</s>BLACKWELL: OK.</s>PAUL: OK.</s>BLACKWELL: Do we know how many people were on board that bus?</s>WILLIAMS: I do not have that exact number right now.</s>PAUL: All right. Well, again, listen, if you are just joining us, we want to get you caught up here. A very serious situation on the turnpike there in New Jersey between 7a and 8a northbound. The turnpike is closed because of a very serious accident involving six people - or six vehicles, I should say, rather. One of them was a limo bus where Tracy Morgan, you know him as an actor and alum of "</s>SNL." BLACKWELL: "30 Rock" as well.</s>PAUL: He's in critical condition right now and in intensive care in a hospital in New Jersey along with seven other people who were transported to the hospital as well. We do not know their conditions. There is not a cause, yet, given as this is an active investigation. And as I said, the turnpike is closed in that area. But, involving two tractor trailers and the sergeant there, Sergeant Gregory Williams, and we thank you so much for being with us, sergeant. Telling us that it is believed at least one of those tractor trailers may have rear ended that limo bus which then flipped over.</s>BLACKWELL: One fatality in this accident. And we know that again, Tracy Morgan, comedian, well known for his work on the series "30 Rock" and "Saturday Night Live." In intensive care right now at Robin Wood Johnson Hospital in New Jersey. Of course, we will continue to follow the story and get you the very latest on his condition that intensive care and critical condition status update is according to the sergeant 45 minutes old. So, the very latest after this 1:00 a.m. car crash. We'll continue to follow and get you more as we get more in. Also this morning, the big story that people have been talking about for a couple of days now and President Obama making some news just hours ago with this fire back at his critics on Capitol Hill.</s>PAUL: He actually told that NBC News that he would do the prisoner swap for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl all over again, if he had to.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: By definition, you don't do prisoner exchanges with your friends, you do them with your enemies.</s>PAUL: That even though the Taliban, the release of five Taliban detainees, as you know, has sparked an outcry from Republicans and Democrats both including some of the president's staunchest allies.</s>BLACKWELL: We are also learning dramatic new details about Bergdahl's five years in captivity. Let's go first to CNN's Erin McPike for more on President Obama's defense of that deal.</s>ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Obama returns to Washington from a whirlwind European tour facing a growing storm over last week's dramatic release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. A key question in this NBC News interview, why didn't he tell Congress beforehand?</s>OBAMA: We saw an opportunity and we took it. And I make no apologies for it, the main concern was is that we had to act fast in a delicate situation that required no publicity.</s>MCPIKE: Sources say the Taliban didn't threaten to kill Bergdahl as administration officials suggested to senators. And lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are skeptical including Democrat Dianne Feinstein who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. She told Bloomberg News.</s>SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA) INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIR: I don't think there was a credible threat, that - but I don't know. I have no information that there was.</s>MCPIKE: What's more, lawmakers from both parties don't buy the administration's initial explanation that Bergdahl's health was urgently deteriorating. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is under pressure to release the proof of life video of Bergdahl from last December that the White House showed Senators to make that case. Despite the shifting stories and growing political backlash, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended the president telling ABC News ....</s>HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If you look at what the factors were going into the decision, of course there are competing interests and values. I mean one of our values is we bring everybody home off the battlefield the best we can. It doesn't matter how they ended up in a prisoner of war situation.</s>MCPIKE: But even General Jim Jones, one of President Obama's former national security advisers has questioned the deal telling CNN ...</s>GENERAL JIM JONES: I come down on the side that you don't negotiate with terrorists. I think that's a rock solid principle. And I think once you show that there's weakness there, that you open the door for possibly other bad things to happen.</s>MCPIKE: Erin McPike, CNN, the White House.</s>BLACKWELL: Bowe Bergdahl is recovering now at an American military hospital in Germany. And doctors say he's in stable condition, continues to improve as well, but is not ready to travel back to the</s>U.S. PAUL: CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is live from Landstuhl, Germany. Matthew, so good to see you this morning. Have doctors released any sort of gauge or time frame as to when Bergdahl may be able to head home?</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. We have been consistently asking them, Christi, to give us some kind of time frame, just for a guidance, just for a logistical purposes. And they are not being able to do that, they are saying, look, there's no predetermined time frame, which they are operating on. It all depends on the pace of his healing, Sergeant Bergdahl's healing. On the pace of his reintegration. It's a very structured approach here at the Landstuhl regional medical facility, which is U.S. military hospital in southern Germany where Sergeant Bergdahl is being treated. A very structured approach to his reintegration, it involves very careful assessment of his medical needs, because of patient's privacy laws, they are not going into detail about what is wrong with him. Only saying that part of his treatment is to address the nutritional and dietary shortcomings that have emerged from being in captivity for nearly five years. With the Taliban, and also we can have any other issues. There's also the psychological issue they are looking at, clearly having been in such a difficult situation for so long. It will have had an enormous psychological toll. And until that comfortable, that is stabilized, they are not going to move to the third phase - reintegration would be Sergeant Bergdahl going back to the United States, Christi.</s>BLACKWELL: There are always the scars one can see and those that one cannot see. Matthew Chance reporting for us this morning. Matthew, thank you. Also, police say it was very close to being a catastrophe. A man in Georgia straps himself down with grenades and guns and a mindset to kill. We have got a live report, next.