Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

U.S. Using Satellites To Help Find Plane; Another Clinton Doc; Scott Brown Teases NH Run; Inside A Boeing 777; 911 Call In Road Rage Death

Aired March 14, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Want to bring you up to date on the breaking news on the search for Malaysia flight 370. Reuters reports the plane may have been deliberately flown toward the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean and is citing unknown radar data. Those islands are a few hundred miles northwest of the plane's last known location between Malaysia and Vietnam.

But earlier on NEW DAY, a witness that lives on those islands said the plane is not there, simply not on those islands. This after a senior official told CNN there is a significant likelihood that the plane is at the bottom of the ocean. Now, that's based on electronic signals that the plane kept sending after it lost contact indicating it kept on flying for up to five hours.

As they have said much of the week, Malaysian authorities are denying some of these reports. But also, they're not elaborating on others. And now with this search now expanding east and further west, the U.S. is stepping in to help. We know that the Navy destroyer, the USS Kidd, from the U.S. Pacific fleet is heading for the Indian Ocean. American experts are using their satellites to try and locate this plane.

Additionally reports out of China are pointing to the activity on the sea floor hours after the plane went missing although that location is not anywhere near the islands the plane was apparently flying towards. That gives you sort of a breakdown of where we are right now -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We'll continue the job of cultivating information and seeing what is actually fact in the search for Flight 370. But there is some big political news this morning as well. Let's get to "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with Mr. John King -- John.

JOHN KING, HOST, CNN'S "INSIDE POLITICS": Good morning, Chris. We'll get back to you quickly so you can continue that remarkable work on this sad mystery, where is that plane. We'll be back to you in just a minute. But it's also a very, very busy day to go inside politics.

Let's start with this, new documents released today, 4,000 pages from the Bill Clinton presidential files. The question is, will we learn anything that could impact Hillary Clinton's White House ambitions. With me this morning to share their reporting and their insight, Julie Pace of the "Associated Press," Robert Costa of the "Washington Post."

Four thousand pages, Julie. The health care files from 1994. There was Hillary care before there was Obamacare. The 2000 recounts, west wing documents about what they thought about what was happening in Florida in Bush V Gore. What are you looking for?

JULIE PACE, CNN INSIDE POLITICS CONTRIBUTOR: I actually think that the 2000 election campaign is going to be the most interesting part of this file. Maybe not for Hillary herself, but just as a political reporter, we all remember what was that like, the recount. Al Gore's relationship with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton at that time was a bit strained. So I think that's where we're going to get a lot of our best information today.

KING: So great material maybe for new history books, new profiles to be written maybe about Mrs. Clinton, but anything that's going to show up in a political ad should she run?

ROBERT COSTA, "WASHINGTON POST": I think Hillary Clinton really has to be worried about the health care files from the early 1990s. Republicans are trying to tie her to Obamacare. Republicans really believe come 2016 health care will still be a big issue. Can they tie Clinton to it? These documents will tell us.

KING: Another big event today will be in New Hampshire on Sunday. When we first reported this on "INSIDE POLITICS," I called them Hamlet on the (Marimak), former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown has been talking finally about jumping into the New Hampshire Senate race, a Democratic incumbent there. He's been talking about building a staff. Today we're told he's going to announce he's forming an exploratory committee.

So Senator Brown, Robert, jumping in here. For one thing, it expands the map. A couple of months ago, the Democrats were defending nine or 10 seats, now they are defending maybe 12 or 13 seats. It expands the map, increases the odds of a Republican Senate.

COSTA: I think Scott Brown has been enjoying retirement. We've seen him play a guitar with Cheap Trick. He's had a lot of fun outside of the Senate chamber. However, this is a real winnable seat. I think Scott Brown is very tempted to run. That's why he is forming an exploratory committee.

KING: Tempted to run, Julie, but a lot of Republicans up there are frustrated because he's toyed with this for a while. He appears to be in now, but he is still only doing an exploratory.

PACE: Sure. There are a lot of moves that he is taking that make you think this is for real this time. But when you talk to Republicans they say that until Scott Brown is standing on a podium with flags behind him and his family next to him, they're not going to believe it for sure.

KING: Well, we'll know a little bit more later this afternoon. Let's move on. The president of course wants Congress to pass an aid package and a sanctions package because of the crisis with Ukraine to stand up to Russia if you will. Some Republicans are blocking that. John McCain, listen here. He's hopping mad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: You can call yourself Republicans. That's fine because that's your voter registration. Don't call yourself Reagan Republicans. Ronald Reagan would never let this -- this kind of aggression go unresponded to by the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What's this about, Robert Costa? We've seen this foreign policy debate in the Republican Party, the growing libertarian streak, the non-interventionist streak, people who stand up to the more muscular foreign policy that McCain has advocated for years. How significant is this divide?

COSTA: I was at the capital yesterday and speaking with House Republicans. This is not really about ideology, it's really about money. House Republicans, especially the conservative wing, they're resistant to giving this kind of money to foreign projects. And that's why they are not supporting it.

KING: Listen here, Julie. Let's get the White House perspective because Lindsey Graham who has a Tea Party challenger back home doesn't appear to be troubled at the moment, but listen to him here very quickly telling his old Senate friend, John Kerry, now secretary of state, how can I help you, buddy?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Let me know what I can do to help you with Boehner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That might hurt Lindsay Graham back home, but how does the White House view this?

PACE: Well, the White House looks at this and says, you have Democrats and Republicans who agree that the United States needs to send some kind of financial assistance to Ukraine. Ukraine is caught in this battle between east and west. This whole thing started because Russia was offering Ukraine quite a lot of money. They say, what kind of signal does this send to Ukraine when the United States Congress can't get their act together on a billion dollars loan guarantee. They're saying let's get this done and sent to Ukraine that the United States will support them.

KING: The president of the United States, we've talked about how this is a year of politics not governing. Both parties claimed to their base. The president of the United States now apparently going to try to change his own policy, Julie. The Latino community has been furious for years saying President Obama has deported more undocumented workers than President Bush did. Now the president's all of a sudden saying what can we do to alleviate this? Is this anything more than you need the base to turn out? PACE: This is a really interesting announcement. The White House put this as one line in a read out from a meeting the president had with Hispanic lawmakers. Basically they're saying we're going to review our deportation policy. We are going to see if there is a way to do this more humanely.

We don't know details about that. We don't know whether that's going to actually significantly cut down on the number of deportations. It does show us though that immigration reform is not going to happen this year. The president knows that.

And the White House has to show the Hispanic community and Democratic lawmakers that he's going to be able to take action on his own even if this significant legislation is basically dead in the water.

KING: Do we think it's a big change of heart? The president suddenly thinks my policy is wrong or we think it's just raw politics?

COSTA: I think it's smart politics. I think with House Republicans continuing to look immigration reform. They're not sure how to move forward. The White House is saying 2014 is coming up. We are struggling on issues such as the affordable care act. Let's go to immigration. Let's hit them on that and that's why they're telling Hispanic lawmakers they'll move on the policy.

KING: You mentioned the questions about Scott Brown. A lot of comments coming in from Latino community saying that's nice to hear you talking about that Mr. President, let's see you do it. They want to see action.

PACE: They want to see action on this. I think that's where the big question is going to be. Is this just a statement, a review that's going to happen without a lot of teeth to it or are we going to see the numbers of deportations actually going down.

KING: So Chris Christie has had trouble because of the bridge-gate investigation, but he has still continued to have his town halls around the state of New Jersey. I don't know whether you guys think this is a good thing. Is this back to normal or is this proof that he's going to be dogged. He has a town hall yesterday and lo and behold, hecklers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard for a state home mom.

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Listen, let me just -- good, I'm glad you do. Either sit down and keep quiet or get out, one of the other. We're done with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: In a way, Robert, isn't that the return of the old Chris Christie who was known before for being very tough. Now he has a national audience watching him to see if he can survive this and be a 2016 contender. COSTA: I've been to a few of these Christie town halls over the past few months. I think what Christie has to be careful about right now is these hecklers are going to keep coming and they're just trying to get under his skin. The minute he has a reaction. That's going to send a signal to a lot of national Republicans that he may have trouble on the trail.

PACE: I do think what's interesting about this though is those kinds of moments, pre-Bridgegate, were the things that people loved about Chris Christie. That he had this raw reaction to hecklers, that he was willing to take people on. How does he balance trying to make sure that he's not over the top in his reaction with maintaining some of that authenticity that's what put him in the spotlight in the first place?

KING: It's a tough one. Can he be himself, his old self when he has all this new attention? Robert, Julie, thanks for coming in. Chris, Michael and John, back to you. Interested in your take on that one whether Christie can show his temper or whether he has to be Joe cool at the moment.

CUOMO: Well, John, as one might expect, we were listening very intently back here in New York. We had two minds on it. You know, I think that he may not have to worry about it because of his numbers. I think that deal with hecklers, he's a tough guy. I think sometimes people want you to be quiet or get out.

KING: Be quiet or get out. That's I'm getting out --

PEREIRA: Let's use that theory right now.

CUOMO: Mich says that to me all the time.

PEREIRA: All right, John King, thanks so much for that.

CUOMO: We are going to take a break on NEW DAY, when we come back, we are searching for answers in the Flight 370 mystery just like you. What happens inside the cockpit of a Boeing 777 when it's in trouble? Do we know? We can know. We are going to take you inside a simulator to find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back. There have been lots of developments overnight in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. Reuters is reporting that the plane was flown intentionally toward the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean based on unnamed sources and radar data. A journalist there tells NEW DAY, we actually got him on the phone, and he says, quote, "There is no chance that a big plane landed there and that they have not heard any reports about anything hitting the surrounding waters."

Now despite all of the theories and new developments, we still are very locked down about what happened to the airplane. This morning, we are trying to pursue one particular angle. We are going to take you inside the Boeing 777. That was the plane that was in Flight 370, to get a better understanding of what the pilots may have experienced.

Joining us live from a cockpit simulator in Ontario are our CNN's own Martin Savage and pilot, Mitchell Casado, he trains pilots to fly 777s using these cockpit simulators. Martin, take it away.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Chris, what we wanted to do is we set this up to try to emulate everything we know about Flight 370 and where it was. We actually took off about 45 minutes ago from Kuala Lumpur. Of course, it's a simulation and we're coming on VTAD here. This was the point of last communication with the aircraft. In other words we're just a few miles away from that particular point in the flight. We are on automatic pilot. That's why we're not touching anything here.

You can see that we're at 287 knots and 35,000 feet. Again, exactly how everything was that night. And as you see, it is night. The night sky as we fly over the South China Sea. Let's point out some of the important equipment, the transponder. That's down here. It looked rather innocuous on the big dashboard here at the airplane, but it's vitally important.

Because this is what identifies to the ground that we are Flight 370, where we are, what altitude, we show up on radar. Can you turn it off? Yes, you can. How is it done? Like this. Basically three clicks to the left and now it's off. Mitchell Casado who is a playing the role of pilot here. Mitchell, you wouldn't do that would you?

MITCHELL CASADO, PILOT TRAINER, 777 COCKPIT SIMULATOR: You would never do that.

SAVIDGE: That would be considered absolutely a no go?

CASADO: That's insane to do that. The only time we turn it off, the only reason it has an off switch, is when we're on the ground, taxing off the runway, you're no longer a factor for any air traffic controllers, you turn it off.

SAVIDGE: If you turned off, what would happen?

CASADO: You get a challenge from the ground. They would think something really bad has happened.

SAVIDGE: We don't know if that actually happened, Chris. One last thing I'll you show about the transponder that you could use it for and that in a hostage situation. If somebody took control of the aircraft, it's possible to switch it back to normal and enter a code. I'm not going to tell you what the specific code is. But you can enter a code and immediately, this aircraft is transmitting that it's taken over.

So we also know that didn't happen. One last thing, taking the plane off course, you can do it, but -- there's an alarm. There's no way that you're going to do that without somebody knowing your plane is going off course -- Chris.

CUOMO: Martin, it's so good to have you there actually giving us some sense of what happens in the cockpit. Mitchell, let me ask you. We keep focusing on whether someone did something to turn off these transponders. How likely is it that not someone but something could cause the transponders to turn off in sequential order like that, one some 15 minutes after the other? How would that have worked?

CASADO: That is a very unlikely scenario. For the equipment to turn off systematically like that especially the transponder. The transponder draws about the least amount of electrical power of any system on this airplane. So it would stay on the longest. If there was an electrical problem. That would probably be the one that would stay on the longest, the last one to go out. It's very, very unlikely.

SAVIDGE: We've tried to go over the scenarios in any way to make them make sense. In your professional point of view, they just don't add up.

CASADO: It just can't. It's connected to a battery bus meaning that battery bus is on all the time hence hot. It would never happen. It would have to be a one in a billion chance.

SAVIDGE: And there's so many backup systems on this aircraft. It is such a safe plane. We can't stress that enough -- Chris.

CUOMO: We also can't stress that we know something happened and it wound up making this plane disappears. If this search continues, this is helpful to see how it works in that cockpit and what the possibilities are from the perspective of someone who trains people to fly it. Martin Savidge, thank you very much. Thank Mitchell for us as well. Mich, over to you.

PEREIRA: That was fascinating. So glad to look inside that cockpit, even of a simulator. It really was illustrated. Thanks so much, Chris and Martin.

Next up on NEW DAY, we're going to have much more on this expanding search now for the Malaysian Airlines jet that is missing. But first, Pennsylvania State Police releasing surveillance video and a 911 call all in an effort to catch a road rage killer. We have the latest on that case just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. In just a few minutes, we will bring you up to date on the latest and the desperate search that's ongoing for Flight 370. But first we are following a few other headlines for you. We want to bring you an update now to a story that we have been following. We are hearing the final chilling words from a man who was killed in a road rage incident in Pennsylvania back in January. Police are now releasing surveillance video and the victim's 911 call all in an effort to catch a killer. CNN's Jean Casarez is following developments for us.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How can we forget this case, the Interstate 81 road rage case? You're driving on the interstate. You are just trying to go home and someone confronts you with road rage and here are the hard, cold facts. The killer of Timothy Davison has never been found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ (voice-over): Police are releasing for the first time surveillance video from those early morning hours of January 4th, minutes before Timothy Davison was murdered after being pursued along Interstate 81 while traveling home to Maine. Someone driving a dark pickup shot at and rammed his car into the median. Moments later Davison calls 911. The last time his voice is ever heard.

UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: OK. Were you the one that called about the Ford Ranger, right?

DAVISON: Yes, yes, yes. The one that just hit me.

UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: What do you mean they hit you? Hit you with the car?

DAVISON: Yes. Smashed me with car and pushed me across the median.

CASAREZ: The road rage killer is not finished. He makes a U-turn. Police say this video shows the killer's car now going southbound to carry out his crime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is actually a few hundred yards just north of Mr. Davison's vehicle. So, we're talking about literally moments before the fatal shots were fired.

CASAREZ: Vehicles including a semi-truck then approach the crime scene.

TROOPER ROBERT HICKS, PA STATE POLICE: We know that there were people out there at the time that probably have seen something regarding this case.

THERESA ALLOCCA, TIMOTHY DAVISON'S MOTHER: The killer is out there and two months have gone by and people get back into their routine and they think everything's OK. And that's why I want to keep it alive because those people are not safe.

CASAREZ: Theresa Allocca, Timothy's mother, is leading a crusade to find her son's killer. He was an avid outdoors man, loved his family, but was taken far too soon.

ALLOCCA: I woke up to a phone call your son is dead, someone shot him on the highway. I don't want another mother or brother, sister, aunt or uncle or grandparents to go through that. It's just horrific. This person needs to be caught before they ruin someone else's life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: Dark blue Ford Ranger, 1993 to 1997, $20,000 reward. The family has a web site and here's the thing that is so ironic. Timothy Davison was adamant against gun so adamant he had a tattoo on him that said, all we need is our arms.

PEREIRA: Jean Casarez, heart breaking story. Let's hope they track this person down.

COUMO: We'll take a break here on NEW DAY. When we come back, in the words of one U.S. Navy commander, the search for Malaysia Air Flight 370 has gone from a chess board to a football field. We will bring you the latest on the investigation.

And what the U.S. military is saying about new clues concerning the vanished jetliner.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The aircraft is still missing and the search area is expanding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Investigation breakthrough. Was missing Malaysia Flight 370 flown deliberately towards islands in the Indian Ocean? We have an incredible new report and now the search area has been expanded. Investigators are looking in the opposite direction, as well.

PEREIRA: What happened on board? Officials now believe Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may have been sending out electronic signals five hours after its last contact and there are new reports that two communication systems were turned off minutes apart. We have the very latest.

CUOMO: Face-to-face. Secretary of state Kerry meeting his Russian counterpart today. Can he convince Russia to pull out of Crimea before Sunday's crucial cession vote? Your NEW DAY continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is new day with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: We have breaking news. Good morning and welcome to NEW DAY. It's Friday, March 14th, 8:00 in the east and all about the search for Malaysia Flight 370. There is new fuel to the growing fire that the flight was deliberately flown off course. Reuters is reporting the plane was intentionally flown towards the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. That's northwest of the plane's last known location.

They cite radar data and says it appears deliberate because the plane appeared to follow a navigational path, but some of our experts say that could be a coincidence. Then a journalist from Andaman Islands told NEW DAY, there is no chance the plane is there. This all comes after a senior U.S. official told CNN, there is a, quote, "significant likelihood the plane is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean."