Return to Transcripts main page
CNN NEWSROOM
Five U.S. Troops Killed By Friendly Fire; Bergdahl Deal Angers Reps Despite Briefing; Audit: 120,000 Plus Vets Waiting Or Never Got Care; Police: Driver Charged In Tracy Morgan Crash Was Awake For More Than 24 Hours; Morgan Crash Fuels Debate Over Trucker Fatigue; Boehner: "I Was Never Briefed" On Bergdahl; FAA Approves First Commercial Drone Flights
Aired June 10, 2014 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're on our way to Vegas, baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Breaking this morning, brand new details about the Las Vegas cop killers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel sorry for any federal agents that want to come in here and try to push us around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: This is Jared and Amanda Miller, a self-branded revolution backed by swastikas and hate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A picture from Facebook shows the couple's affection for the Joker from "The Batman" series."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The (inaudible) scapegoat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now they're saying that Secretary Hagel may be (inaudible)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Startling new claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very concerned about how many people knew about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The Bergdahl exchange front and center this hour on Capitol Hill.
Startling video obtained by TMZ. Tracy Morgan being pulled from the van the night he was critically injured.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: When you were in the spotlight as a woman, you know you're being judged constantly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The Hillary Clinton interview everyone is talking about.
DIANE SAWYER, ABC HOST: How is your health?
CLINTON: It's very good. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The run for the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When are you going to decide whether you're running for president?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And Benghazi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Anything you personally should have been doing to make it safer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin with breaking news out of Afghanistan and the deadliest day for U.S. troops there in six months. Five American troops died along with an Afghan soldier when a coalition air strike mistakenly hit the allied troops. Authorities now suspect friendly fire killed these people. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon to tell us more. Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. This took place in Southern Afghanistan. By all accounts the U.S. troops were on a security mission along with the Afghans in advance of Saturday's elections in that country. They came into contact with the enemy. They called in for air support and somehow -- it is all under investigation -- apparently a coalition aircraft believed to be a U.S. B-1 bomber when it launched its air strike, it hit the friendly troops on the ground.
That is what we know at this hour. The investigation is under way as to what happened and the total scope of this incident. We're told five U.S. troops and of course their families now being notified -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning.
Also happening now, behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, Pentagon officials are briefing the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Bowe Bergdahl swap. The case has stirred outrage among lawmakers in both parties. Last night, members of the House of Representatives were briefed and many left even more angry over the White House's secret deal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REPRESENTATIVE ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: I think people probably are leaving there even more disappointed than they walked in.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sounds like you are?
KINZINGER: Yes. I expected something but I got nothing.
REPRESENTATIVE MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: I think it's safe to say on both the Republican and Democrat side people were extremely disappointed. They were underwhelmed.
REPRESENTATIVE PETE KING (R), NEW YORK: If anything, I am more concerned. Probably the most distressing thing and disturbing thing I heard was at least 80 to 90 people in the administration were aware of this proposed deal and yet they couldn't notify anybody in Congress.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Our chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill to cover this closed door meeting. It just seems to be getting worse.
BASH: It does and I can tell you that as we speak, the entire House Republican caucus is meeting as they do regularly and our Deirdre Walsh who is standing outside the door reports that when mentioned of this briefing that you just showed last night happened, there were boos in the caucus. Perhaps that's not surprising given how quickly partisan much of this has become.
But what isn't partisan and what's really bipartisan is the concept of notification that the White House didn't from the perspective of many lawmakers in both parties properly notify members of Congress. I want you to listen to Democrat Adam Schiff on Erin Burnett last night.
COSTELLO: I don't think we have him.
BASH: Pardon me. I'll just briefly paraphrase what he said, Carol. He said that it doesn't sit well with him as Peter King said that 80 to 90 members of the administration broadly knew about it and Congress wasn't properly briefed. He made another important point. That is the reason lawmakers were given they didn't know is because the administration simply said they can't trust Congress because leaks would happen.
He said you know what? Much of the leaks, perhaps many of the leaks, on the national security level in recent years has not come from Congress, but rather from the administration itself.
COSTELLO: Let me run this by you too because there is some talk that Chuck Hagel is now being made a scapegoat in this swap. So listen to this and then we'll talk about it on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPRESENTATIVE BUCK MCKEON (R), CALIFORNIA: I just heard the last question was who made this decision? They indicated Secretary Hagel. I asked, I said, now wait a minute. Are you saying Secretary Hagel made this decision or was this the president of the United States? It was the president of the United States that came out with the Bergdahls and took all the credit and now there's been pushback. He's moving away from it. Secretary Hagel. I don't think so. I think this is the president's decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So what do you think? I actually asked Congressman Schiff about this very thing. He said, well, of course, the defense secretary would factor into this decision, but that doesn't mean he made the final decision. So what are you hearing?
BASH: Well, what Buck McKeon, the armed services chair in the House said later on CNN last night and this morning again that he's worried that Chuck Hagel is becoming a scapegoat that the president since this has become so controversial is trying to sort of back out of taking credit or responsibility from this.
I will tell you that another lawmaker in this closed door briefing last night told me that the impression that he got and this is a Republican I've talked to, was that Chuck Hagel decided was in his final decision was that the five Gitmo detainees who were released were not an imminent threat to the United States. That was his decision and then the broader mission was of course the commander in chief's decision.
But it certainly is interesting and I should say Chuck Hagel is actually going to be on Capitol Hill in a public session tomorrow, and Buck McKeon, the Armed Services chair is the one holding the hearing. It will be very interesting to hear what Chuck Hagel says for himself.
COSTELLO: Yes, expect that to be one feisty meeting. Dana Bash, thanks so much.
Also this morning, senators on Capitol Hill are calling for a criminal investigation by the FBI after an internal audit revealed more than 120,000 veterans are either waiting for or never received care from the VA. The VA acting inspector general says his office is looking into scheduling problems at 69 VA facilities now.
All of this happening as lawmakers prepare to bring a bill to the House floor that would allow veterans on waiting lists to get treatment outside of the VA system. Let's bring in CNN senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns to tell us more. Good morning, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The Veterans Access To Care Act, which is coming up on the House floor this morning, would require the VA to offer non-VA care at the department's expense to any enrolled veteran who cannot get an appointment within VA wait time goals or lives more than 40 miles from a VA medical facility.
The bill would ban bonuses for all VA employees and require an independent assessment of Veterans Health Administration performance. This is all an indication of the pressure that continues to build on the Hill on this issue. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPRESENTATIVE MIKE MICHAUD, RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS: Going to get to the bottom of this. We want those that are responsible for Phoenix and other facilities to be held accountable and that means criminal prosecution. We are definitely going to move with criminal prosecution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: So these findings from this report that came out say that 731 medical facilities were reviewed, found more than 57,000 veterans waiting to be scheduled for care on top of that almost 64,000 veterans have been enrolled over the last ten years. Haven't got in for an appointment. The review found that the VA's 14-day goal for scheduling initial appointments was simply not attainable -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Joe Johns reporting live from Washington for us. Thank you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, police say the trucker charged in the Tracy Morgan crash was awake for more than 24 hours before he got behind the wheel. We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You're looking at the regular press briefing of John Boehner. As you know, the House members are talking. We expect that reporters will ask questions of the House speaker shortly and those questions will be about the Bowe Bergdahl swap. When John Boehner gets into that subject matter, of course, we'll take you back to Capitol Hill to listen in.
In other news this morning, was the trucker charged in the Tracy Morgan crash sleep deprived? Police say Kevin Roper was awake for more than 24 hours before the wreck. His employer, Walmart, is saying Roper followed federal law and he did not drive more than 11 hours in a shift.
But while the Walmart statement denies Roper was working for 24 hours straight, there's no mention of how long he was actually awake. Now, the dangers of sleep deprivation among professional truck drivers are raised on National Institutes of Health web site article.
The study found that deficits in reaction time after 28 hours without sleep were similar to that of a person with a 0.10 blood alcohol content. That means you're pretty darn drunk if you have that in your blood.
CNN's Nischelle Turner joins us with the latest on Tracy Morgan's condition and also some new details about the accident and the truck driver. Good morning.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Yes, I just read a 2012 piece that our Mary Schiavo wrote yesterday and it floored me with some of the things that she was talking about when drivers get drowsy, how it can equate to, you know, poor reaction times and things like that.
But now we are seeing video from the crash that injured Tracy Morgan coming out now. It's a cell phone video age. You know it was a matter of time before we saw this video from the crash scene. This depicts the horror and chaos of the night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER (voice-over): Startling video obtained by TMZ shows actor, Tracy Morgan, being pulled from the Mercedes limo van the night he was critically injured. A publicist for the former "30 Rock" star says Morgan, a father of four, is in critical, but stable, condition dispelling amputation rumors following surgery on a broken leg saying those rumors are, quote, "completely fabricated."
And now new details from a criminal complaint say the driver of the truck that hit Morgan and others hadn't slept for a period in excess of 24 hours, possibly the cause of the crash.
MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR AND LEGAL ANALYST: There are very strict federal laws that -- that dictate what drivers can do and what they can't do and they just went into effect. You don't drive for more than eight hours in a row. You got to take a 30-minute break and in a 14-hour day of working, you can't be behind the wheel for more than 11 hours.
TURNER: The 35-year-old Kevin Roper is being charged with vehicular homicide for operating a vehicle recklessly and charged with assault by auto on those injured in the accident including Morgan. The limo driver described the chaos after the crash by phone to ABC. TYRONE GALE, LIMO DRIVER (via telephone): I climbed around and heard Tracy screaming for help, but I couldn't reach him and pull him. I don't know if we flipped several times or one time.
TURNER: The van was overturned and crushed by the impact from the truck. Morgan's friend comedian, James McNair, known as Jimmy Mac, was killed in the wreck.
TRACY MORGAN, COMEDIAN: Live from New York, it's Saturday night!
TURNER: Morgan shot to fame as a long time cast member on "SNL." His cast mate Seth Meyers spoke to CNN's Jake Tapper about his friend.
SETH MEYERS, HOST LATE NIGHT: Certainly our thoughts and prayers from everybody on the staff. Tracy was a vet at "SNL" when I started and always looked out for me, so I'm definitely thinking of him now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TURNER: Kevin Roper turned himself into police on Saturday. He was released on $50,000 bail. He'll be in court on Wednesday to answer the charges and be arraigned and with what he's being charged with, which is one count of vehicular homicide and four counts of injury by auto, if convicted, Carol, he could face up to 13 years in jail.
COSTELLO: Nischelle Turner reporting live for us this morning. While we don't yet know all of the details of this crash, there's no denying that truck driver fatigue is one of the biggest threats on the road today.
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, quote, "Fatigue is a leading factor in large truck crashes." In 2012 alone, there were 317,000 large truck crashes in the United States, 3,464 were fatal.
So let's talk about this. Bill Graves is the president and CEO of the American Trucking Association. Good morning, Bill.
BILL GRAVES, PRESIDENT AND CEO, AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATION: Hi. Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Just talk to me from a truck driver's perspective. Why is fatigue such a big problem on our roadways? What's the biggest factor at play here?
GRAVES: I don't know that we would probably agree that it's as big a factor as it is probably being characterized at this moment. In fact, we think probably fatigue plays a role in about 10 percent of all fatal accidents. We think speed, inattentive driving, a number of other factors, lack of enforcement of laws on our nation's highways, is a much larger contributing factor.
I would also point out, Carol, in the statistical data while there were less than 4,000 fatal accidents involving commercial vehicles. The data shows somewhere in the neighborhood of 66 percent to 75 percent of those were not the fault of the commercial vehicle driver. Unfortunately and we have to admit as a nation, we had 33,000 almost 34,000 fatal accidents in 2012. So our universe is a big part of it. But there is a whole lot of inappropriate behavior going on, on the nation's highways above and beyond commercial vehicles.
COSTELLO: I hear you, but the National Transportation Safety Board would disagree that driver fatigue is not a big problem. Not just among truck drivers but among all drivers. I mean, if you drive eight hours in a row without taking a break, to me that's a lot of driving for one day. Who can possibly do that day after day after day and not suffer from fatigue?
GRAVES: Well, actually, millions of drivers do it on a regular basis. There are 3 million, 4 million commercial vehicle drivers driving each and every day on the nation's highways. It's essentially how we move the commerce of this country. For the most part, the safety record is quite good. This is obviously one of those really horrific examples of someone who made some really poor decisions and shouldn't have been behind the wheel at the time of this accident.
COSTELLO: Do you think there's any pressure from employers for drivers to get there quicker and faster and they drive longer than they should?
GRAVES: Well, this goes to the heart of the current debate we're having over hours of service here in Washington, D.C. We actually think the current rule encourages or forces drivers to be out on the road when they otherwise would rather not be. This gets very complicated into what's called a restart provision, but essentially we think drivers ought to have the flexibility to rest and get off the road whenever they would like to.
And because of the quirk in the way the current legislation is written a driver gets penalized in effect if he doesn't keep driving because he can only take that rest period once every 168 hours of both duty and rest cycle. If he gets down in the weeds.
We've been arguing we ought to roll back to a previous set of rules still require 34 hours of rest at the end of a duty cycle, still gives everybody an opportunity to get off the road, but isn't as prescriptive is the government is currently requiring.
COSTELLO: With publicity surrounding this accident, I'm not sure it will be successful, but we'll see. Bill Graves, President and CEO of the American Trucking Association. Thank you so much for your insight. I do appreciate it.
I have to head to Washington now as I told you House Speaker John Boehner is taking questions from reporters. We expect those reporters to be asking about the Bowe Bergdahl swap. Let's listen in.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Six months before Osama Bin Laden was taken down, I was briefed on this. I was briefed multiple times over the course of the six months. I was given a heads up several days before this happened. And so this idea of that they couldn't trust us to not leak things is just not true. And it wasn't just me. There were other members of the leadership who were well aware of the planning and the activities that were going in to this effort.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were briefed on the possibility of this swap and the administration did talk about a five for one swap.
BOEHNER: That's not true. I was never briefed about a five to one swap. Nor were there any names. There was a discussion several years ago about efforts to get Bergdahl back. We're glad that he's back. I was never briefed on any specific negotiation and again, this goes back years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard that Congress was not kept in the loop. What have you said to the White House? What have you said to the Defense Department saying, look, we have a role in this as Congress and we need to be told?
BOEHNER: We're glad that Bergdahl is back, but the biggest issue here is the violation of a policy that the United States has had for many, many years that we don't negotiate with terrorists. The fact is that we have violated that policy and as a result we've made Americans less safe here and all around the world. And we're going to pay for this. There is not any doubt in my mind there are going to be cost of lives -- lost lives that come out of this.
COSTELLO: All right, let's step away from this and bring in our congressional correspondent Dana Bash. I'm just wondering, bipartisan outrage at President Obama for not conferring with Congress before that swap was made, but the question is where does it all go from here?
BASH: That is a good question and, you know, probably not very far except to have this open discussion about why there isn't the trust that the administration should have in Congress as an equal branch of government to have this information, to know about this information. You know, the administration argues as they did again last night that they were worried about leaks and they thought that Sergeant Bergdahl's life was in danger and that's why they didn't do it.
I just want to underscore what we just heard from John Boehner. We've had some written statements from the House speaker, but this is the first time we heard him speak publicly. House was in recess last week. The fact that he revealed for the first time that he knew six months before the Bin Laden raid that it was a possibility and he was briefed multiple times and even in his words got a heads-up several days before is sort of indicative of the fact that they do trust in some respects.
He is the highest ranking Republican and the way it's supposed to work is leadership, he's among the leaders, and the top intelligence committee chair and ranking are supposed to know these things at the very least. Deirdre Walsh who was pressing him on the obvious and important question, which is administration argues that Congress did know that the possibility of this Bergdahl swap was in the works for some time. His answer was interesting. He says he didn't know that there was a five to one swap. He was never told that. So that is some new information that we got from the House speaker. I will just say that, you know, there is a difference certainly the amount of classified information could be similar, but there is a difference in telling Congress you'll go get the most wanted man on the planet, which is not controversial.
And telling them that you're going to swap five Gitmo detainees for one U.S. soldier, which is controversial. So there are different reasons, I'm sure inside the administration, for telling Congress about Bin Laden and not so much about a controversial swap.
COSTELLO: Like you said, Chuck Hagel will be on the hot seat tomorrow. Lawmakers will be asking him questions and it should be a very interesting day. Dana Bash, many thanks.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, drones may soon be flying high in a sky near you. Up next, why the FAA just approved the first commercial drone flights in the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It seems like drones are everywhere these days from the military and companies like retail giant, Amazon, want to use drones to deliver your orders. The movie industry also wants to start using drones for filming. One company wanted to deliver beer with drones. Now the FAA has stepped in OK'ing the use of commercial drone flights. All of those things may soon come true. Rene Marsh has it all. Good morning.
RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time that the FAA has authorized a company to fly commercial drone over land. Now, the FAA has given energy company, BP, and Arrow Environment, which operates what's called unmanned aircraft systems, also known as drones, the green light to fly this and you're looking at it.
A 4.5-foot long drone in Alaska. It can be hand launched like you see the person doing there in that photo. It has a wing span of nine feet. It will be flying at low altitude, but it will always have to be within the operator's sight. It will be used to survey BP pipe lines, roads and equipment. We know that will happen in Alaska, a very remote area.
It is one of the largest oil fields in the U.S. right now though. We should point out that drones are not allowed for commercial use unless the FAA approves it. The only other commercial drone the agency has approved is one that is flying in the arctic, but big picture here.
This is really just a small step toward that big goal of fully integrating drones into our airspace. As you know, the FAA estimates, get this, in the next five years as many as 7,500 drones could be flying in the U.S. airspace at any given time. So they want to make sure you could do this in a safe way.
