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NEW DAY SUNDAY

More Bodies Found a Week After Jet Vanishes; Funeral for Slain Officer Today 11AM ET; Huckabee Leaves FOX News to Mull 2016

Aired January 4, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Searchers just found another body in the Java Sea as they look for crash victims of AirAsia Flight 8501.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Now, four bodies have been recovered so far just today, which brings the number of victims found to 35.

BLACKWELL: And nine of those 35 have been identified. One is a 10-year-old girl. Her nickname is Stevie (ph). You see her at the bottom of your screen here with her familiarly. She was wearing her favorite Minnie Mouse T-shirt on that doomed flight.

PAUL: Now, as the search continues, Indonesian officials say there is a strong possibility the plane's engine iced due to weather and that the icing led to the aircraft stalling. But they say they cannot be confirming that without the black boxes, which we have to point out are still missing.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it's been one week since 8501 vanished. And for relatives on those onboard, it's been eternity. That said, 35 bodies, as we've said, have been recovered and search crews continue to comb the Java Sea.

Joining us now is our aviation analyst Jeff Wise, author of "Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind and Danger."

Jeff, I want to get to something -- we've been soliciting questions from our viewers on Twitter. And although we're hearing from Indonesian officials that they believe the engine iced over and then the engine stalled, we've got one person who says engines don't ice over, wings ice over. Explain that if you would.

JEFF WISE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Right. The main danger posed by icing is indeed you get accumulations of ice on the leading edge of the wing. For instance if, you're flying through a cloud and the droplets of super cold water adhere to the leading edge and it turns to ice, you get huge chunks of ice forming that, destroys the aerodynamic lift. The wing can eventually stall. You remember the famous Colgan Air crash where a plane accumulated so much ice on approach to landing that it stalled and essentially fell out of the sky. I don't know why the Indonesians say they believe this happened.

We just don't have enough data. There is a bunch of things based on the limited amount of information available so far. It would be very difficult to jump to any kind of conclusions right now. I think sounds more like speculation to me.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And, of course, we won't get any concrete answers until these black boxes are discovered and the data is analyzed. But setting aside MH370, because that was maybe a once in history disappearance of a plane with nothing is discovered, how would you describe the pace of this recovery effort thus far?

WISE: It's a little unusual. The debris and bodies were found pretty quickly, within 2 1/2 days they started to find this debris floating on the surface.

There is almost two searches going on in parallel. You have the stuff floating on the surface and it's generally day by day drifting eastward.

And then you also have a search for stuff on the bottom of the ocean that presumably is close to where the plane impacted water. That should have stayed put. You have the large pieces of the plane like the engines and landing gear and so forth. Hopefully the tail section of the black boxes is quite close there as well.

And so, we hear some talk about search areas. It's not always entirely clear what they're searching for where. But at this point, what is really important is to find that stuff on the bottom of the ocean on the sea bed where the black boxes are going to be. That's where the answers are going to be.

BLACKWELL: And, of course, the divers can't go in because the water is just too rough there. And some of the aircraft are often turned back. How troubling could these ocean currents be as they continue to, I guess, as -- I guess was Tom Fuentes who described it, these breadcrumbs a Jacuzzi are sloshed around.

WISE: Right. So, the breadcrumbs in the Jacuzzi analogy I guess sort of apply to these as each day goes by, it is less and less useful in trying to determine the impact point which as I said is where you want to look for the black box material.

So, they really should be looking at -- and I'm sure they are, looking at that radar data, trying to determine where the plane was last known to be. Most -- historically, most loss of control accidents wound up with the plane being within 25 miles of the last known location. If the wing came off, if there were severe icing that brought the plane down or other struck structural failure, it should be close to that point.

And what you'd want to be doing normally -- we don't really have a clear window into what they're doing at this point, but you should be dragging a pinger locator back and forth listening for the pingers, the acoustic pingers attached to the black boxes. That's how you can most easily find them. Now, there have been many cases where the pingers don't work for

whatever reason. In which case you won't be able to find the pingers. In Air France 447, the pingers turned out not to be working, and so then you might do a side scan sonar search going up and down and just taking images of the bottom.

We heard recently that just today, the problem was apparently that visibility is very bad. They sent dives down to try to visually identify the parts of the aircraft. The divers couldn't because the visibility is so bad.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WISE: Side scan sonar should be able to take images nevertheless. They don't require optical visibility. They use sound. They should be able to use the pieces anyway it seems to me.

BLACKWELL: And hopefully for the families who are waiting there in Surabaya for the answers, they'll be able to employ all the resources to get the victims recovered and salvage the parts of the plane to get some answers soon.

Jeff Wise, thanks for speaking with us this morning.

WISE: My pleasure, thank you.

PAUL: Now, here are five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.

Number one, in about 3 1/2 hours at this point, friends and family are going to gather in New York to say good-bye to Officer Wenjian Liu. Liu is one of two police officers ambushed and then shot and killed by a lone gunman back in December.

Yesterday, police lined the streets during his wake. Take a look at these pictures.

Today's ceremony is expected to include traditions from Liu's Chinese heritage including Buddhist monks.

BLACKWELL: Number two, North Korea is slamming the U.S. over the new economic sanctions, an official statement that warns "groundlessly stirring up bad blood toward North Korea would only harden its will and resolution." Washington cracked down concluding that North Korea was behind the massive hack of Sony Pictures, which produced "The Interview", the comedy about a plot to kill North Korea's leader.

PAUL: Number three, jury selection in the trial of Boston marathon terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev begins tomorrow. The 21- year-old is accused of being a willful conspirator of mass destruction in a deadly attack that killed three people and injured 264 more back in April of 2013. Defense attorneys suggest he was controlled by his older brother who was killed in a confrontation with police three days after that bombing.

BLACKWELL: Number four, an American health care worker who had high risk exposure as it's characterized to Ebola in West Africa is due to arrive today in the U.S. the patient will be treated at Nebraska medical center, one of just four U.S. hospitals with biocontainment units. The facility's director said the patient who is working in Sierra Leone is not sick and, therefore, not contagious.

PAUL: And number five, if you have not just peeked outside today, check your nose, it's going to be cold. Severe cold, in fact. There is a front pushing east threatening to bring what could be the coldest temperatures this winter. In fact, for all of our friends in Minneapolis and Chicago, your temperatures in the next few days could feel, get this, 20 to 30 degrees below zero. Bundle up.

BLACKWELL: All right, a sea of dark blue will fill the streets of New York in just a few hours, 3 1/2 hours from now, as police officers prepare to say good-bye to one of their own.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Forty-two minutes past the hour right now. You know, it was supposed to be just another day on the job when two officers were killed on the job. Today, friends, family, colleagues all saying good-bye to Officer Liu at a private funeral in New York. Here's some live pictures, where the services are going to be held in just about 3 1/2 hours.

Liu was just 12 years old, though, when his parents immigrated to the United States from China. And today's funeral will combine traditions from his Chinese heritage as well as traditions among the NYPD.

I want to show you the scene yesterday. Mourners gathered for a ceremonial burning of paper and money. This is a way to pay it forward to the deceased.

I want to talk to Harold Thomas now. He's a retired police officer with NYPD.

We're so appreciative to have you here. Thank you for being here.

I'm wondering and we're so sorry to all of you because I know that as a fellow police officer, you feel this loss deeply. Help us understand what it's like for you and for the force to be at today's services.

HAROLD THOMAS, RETIRED NYPD POLICE OFFICER: Well, as a recently retired detective with the NYPD, I just retired in February. I did 29 1/2 years.

And when it tragedy happened, it was like losing a family member. It just really hurts and it's overwhelming.

PAUL: You know, I read that there are at least 20 officers from Los Angeles Police Department there to support you. And one of them was quoted as saying, we're not here for politics, we're here solely for the Liu family and the NYPD brothers and sisters. What it is like to see this contingent of officers from around

the country come in for this?

THOMAS: Like I said, the word I can think of is overwhelming. And almost 30 years I've been to numerous police funerals. And when I used to go, I would wear my uniform even though I was a detective most of my time in a police department, because I wanted the family to see that blue, to see all of the officers that came out to show respects, to see, you know, that the officer did not die in vain. And --

PAUL: And I know we mentioned earlier, we were talking about the Police Commissioner Bill Bratton who issued this memo to officers requesting respect at this weekend's service. This, of course, coming from Officer Ramos' funeral when he was laid to rest. We saw police officers turn their backs on the mayor as he spoke.

I'm wondering -- did you agree with what they felt was obviously their obligation to silently voice their anger and frustration with the mayor?

THOMAS: I mean, I agree with them speaking out, but that wasn't the place. There is a time and place for everything.

The family invited the mayor to come and speak. And, you know, first of all, I have to say that I think New York City Police Department is the greatest police department in the country. And New York City police officers should be the highest paid.

But, you know, like any other department, they're not perfect. And that goes to show the way they acted that day was embarrassing. Actually, it seemed like they were trying to bully the mayor, acting like a gang. And that was sworn to protect the citizens from gangs and violence and stuff like that. And it really wasn't a good showing, if you ask me.

PAUL: So, you assume they will respect the wishes of the commissioner today?

THOMAS: Well, I would hope so.

PAUL: OK.

THOMAS: If not the wishes of the commissioner, the family, the family of Detective Ramos invited the mayor and the family, obviously, of Police Officer Liu, Detective Liu, they invited the mayor.

So, out of respect for the family, they should hold off on any type of protest. Today is not the day for that. Like the commissioner said.

PAUL: All right. Well, Detective Thomas, we appreciate you taking the time to be here for us. Thank you so much.

THOMAS: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. It's back to work for President Obama. His Hawaiian vacation is over. Right now he's headed back to Washington.

So, once he's back in the White House, what is he going to do? What's at the top of his agenda for 2015? We have a live report from the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Aloha. In Hawaii, that also means goodbye. And that's what the Obamas were saying early this morning, they're they go, bidding farewell to their annual vacations on the island and headed back to Washington and to New Republican majorities in the House and the Senate.

Our Erin McPike is at the White House right now.

So, a lot of pressure to the Republicans, I know, won their seat by really slamming the president's agenda. How does he plan to approach this new Congress?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, he has been making clear that he is very willing to exercise his veto plan and while he was travelling in Hawaii, White House spokesman Eric Schultz spoke to our Jim Acosta about that. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC SCHULTZ, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: The president has been clear that there are some bright lines that he doesn't want to see roll back. That includes the Affordable Care Act, that includes immigration, that includes the progress we've made on climate. So, the president has zero interest in re-litigating the old ideological battles of the past. And what he's focused on is taking bold decisive action to help build on middle class progressive we've seen over the past few years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: And the very first thing we're looking for in the next couple of weeks is the Keystone XL pipeline, Republicans are looking to move that. They think they can approve, but the president may very well veto that, too, Christi and Victor.

PAUL: All righty. Erin McPike, appreciate the report. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. Huckabee, out. The former Arkansas governor surprised fans by leaving his FOX News TV show last night. Why? Well, to contemplate another run for the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Mike Huckabee is considering another run at the White House. Nearly seven years after bowing out of the 2008 presidential campaign, the former Arkansas governor ended his weekend on FOX News last night to contemplate throwing his hat back into the ring. Huckabee said his presidential consideration put the network in a top position. So, he decided to halt the program.

CNNPolitics.com senior correspondent Chris Moody joins me now to talk about this.

Things are starting to heat up, at least for the Republicans. We're seeing former Florida Governor Jeb Bush already announcing that he's decided to actively explore a presidential bid, and now, Huckabee.

But help us understand. What is Huckabee doing? He hasn't said he's going to run. There's no exploratory committee. What is he doing?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is action time right now for those who are even thinking about running for president. At a certain point, for most of these guys, they have to quit their job, and that was especially true for Huckabee, who had a contract with FOX News and they have a policy that if you're thinking about running for president, or if you're starting an exploratory committee, you're out the door. Sorry, you can't work for the news organization and also look and run for president.

So, he cut those ties pretty early to give him really free space to do what he needs in order to possibly make a run here in the next year.

BLACKWELL: He's got to determine if there's a path to the nomination and also if he will be able to secure the funds which was a problem a great start in 2008, winning the Iowa caucuses. Do you think he'll go through with running?

MOODY: You know, he's been talking about this, thinking about this, and discussing it with his advisers for a really long time. And I think he will move forward. He gave up a really nice contract at FOX News. He's had a pretty nice life since he ran for president last time and he's making sacrifices right now that would suggest that he is running for president. And in 2008, he did surprise a lot of people, just as a guy named Barack Obama did by winning those Iowa caucuses.

So, I think by dropping out of FOX, he does see a path forward and he's going to be continuing to talk to people. He's going to be traveling to Iowa to see if he's got a shot here in the next cycle.

BLACKWELL: Chris, let's look at the latest CNN/ORC poll. You know it well. Jeb Bush is the clear Republican presidential front runner, nearly a quarter of the support, 23 percent of Republicans surveyed. You see near the bottom of this list Governor Huckabee trailing in fourth place with 6 percent.

What are his challenges if he decided to run?

MOODY: He's got quite a few. Now, Mike Huckabee is very strong with the social conservatives. Those are the folks that he rallied in Iowa to win the caucuses back in 2008. But with the economic conservatives, he's really got trouble. If you look back at his record as governor of Arkansas, a lot of economic conservative groups and libertarian groups pointed at something that's not a very good sign for him. The Cato Institute, they rate governors on an A to F scale, and they gave him an F when he was governor. He's also picking up a lot of criticism from the free market group, the Club for Growth. And those folks are going to come after him pretty hard and his opponents are going to put to those studies, and say hey, you might have talked a good game when you had a TV show. But when you were actually governing, you were not so true to your conservative principles.

So, I think that's something he's really going to have to overcome.

BLACKWELL: So, his record is what it is. The studies will be what they will be. What has to be different? Just the other candidates on the stage, or does the governor himself have to be a bit different?

MOODY: Well, the next cycle, of course, is going to be different than 2008 was. Iowa, I think, is going to be much more difficult for him. There's a deep bench in the Republican Party right now particularly gunning for the social conservative votes, not only Huckabee, but you got Rick Santorum who won in the last cycle, still a presence there. Dr. Ben Carson can possibly rally people, and even a Rand Paul who has libertarian has spent the past several years reaching out to social conservatives. And, yes, they are listening, and he's got a message that I think will resonate with them as well.

So, he's going to have a real uphill climb here, but that's what caucuses are all about, and I think it's going to be quite exciting to watch. We're going to kick off in the next couple of weeks, there's going to be a forum for candidates that Mike Huckabee will attend in Iowa and I think that will give people a really good first shot to see these guys in the person.

BLACKWELL: Action time as you call it, Chris. Action time, people need to make some decision.

CNNPolitics.com's Chris Moody, thank you so much.

MOODY: Thank you.

PAUL: Well, thank you so much for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: The next hour of your NEW DAY starts now.

(MUSIC)

PAUL: Today, we're following developments on two big stories. Hours from now Officer Wenjian Liu, one of two police officers ambushed and gunned down in the streets of New York will be laid to rest. We're going to take you there live with our team of reporters.

BLACKWELL: Our big story, the search for the victims and the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501. Searches today have recovered four bodies from the Java Sea. That brings the total number of victims found so far to 35. Nine of them have been identified, including a 10-year-old girl. We'll take you live to Indonesia in just a few minutes.

PAUL: You're waking up to Sunday morning and we're certainly glad that you're spending some of it with us. I'm Christi Paul.