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CNN NEWSROOM

Yemen's Government Falls to Rebel Group; America's Top Arab Ally Has a New Leader; Measles Cases Linked to Disneyland Spreading; New Details About AirAsia Flight Timeline

Aired January 23, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Yemen falls. A Saudi king dies and a deadline passes.

Chaos and confusion in the Middle East. Yemen's president resigns and a power vacuum takes hold.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: So the question now is, what happens next? Who does the U.S. deal with?

COSTELLO: America cutting embassy staff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we ought to get our people out. I don't want to see a hostage situation.

COSTELLO: And Saudi's King Abdullah dies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The succession is going to be very important.

COSTELLO: A key ally. The 90-year-old leader being laid to rest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was probably the most progressive and liberal minded king of Saudi Arabia since the early 1970s.

COSTELLO: This morning new concerns about the stability of the volatile region.

And fate unknown. Two Japanese men held by ISIS.

JUNKO ISHIDO, SON HELD HOSTAGE BY ISIS (Through Translator): Kenji is not an enemy of Islamic States.

COSTELLO: Pleas from a mother this morning as the deadline passes.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are serious fears here in Tokyo that perhaps ISIS never really intended to negotiate.

COSTELLO: A tense and delicate situation playing out on the world stage.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin this morning with a deteriorating situation in Yemen. As the Houthi rebels take control of the capital city of Sana'a, the U.S. State Department is starting to withdraw embassy staff because of concerns over safety, but despite the risks, officials say the offices are still open and they're still operating.

Let's learn more from our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. You know, the embassy there in Sana'a was already on what's called an ordered departure which gets rid of virtually all nonessential staff. They took an additional step yesterday and into today which is to bring it down to even a smaller skeletal staff. Just a few dozen left there.

You know, this is an important mission for the U.S., both in political terms, an ally in the fight for terror, but certainly military terms as well. Cooperation in the drone campaign, particularly in the southern part of the country targeting AQAP, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. So it's a staff that you want there, but really the danger reached such a level that the administration, the State Department decided to take this additional step and they're prepared to completely close the embassy if necessary, but that's something -- it's a step they haven't taken yet.

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to talk -- we're going to talk more about that in just a bit so stick around.

Jim Sciutto, thank you so much.

Because adding to U.S. concerns in this very volatile region, neighboring Saudi Arabia has a new leader. This morning America's top ally in the Arab world bids farewell to King Abdullah who has led the oil rich country for -- for just over 19 years. His 79-year-old brother inherits the throne and with it concerns about his own health and questions about his future dealings with Washington.

CNN's Becky Anderson joins us live from Abu Dhabi with more.

Hi, Becky.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's certainly a man with experience both on the domestic and international stage and the view seems to be that King Salman, who has succeeded King Abdullah, will be looking for stability and for clarity about what happens next for the Saudi kingdom.

He is one of the sons of the founders, but the more interesting side to this transition, and it was extremely quick, within an hour of King Abdullah's death, is that the first of the grandsons of the founder of the kingdom, and this is important, the prince, he is Salman's nephew. A man by the name of Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. And remember that name. He's from the Ministry of Intelligence. He's been appointed second deputy prime minister and future crown prince.

And that means you've got a 55-year-old second in line to the throne and so potentially the first grandson of, as I say, the founder to take to the throne. He's U.S. educated, has excellent ties to Washington, and is known for being the main force behind Saudi's war on al Qaeda in the kingdom between 2003 and 2006. Not suggesting that he is in charge, suggesting that he could be very soon the heir to the throne.

And do remember that King Salman is 79 and is said to be suffering from dementia. So it is clear at this stage internally they are looking for what will happen down the road, and that is very important to a key ally like Washington.

COSTELLO: All right. Becky Anderson reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

As I said, the king's death could not come at a worse time. Yemen is in chaos. And if you take a look at the map, Saudi Arabia is surrounded by terrorist states, Yemen to the south, Iraq and Syria to the north, Libya not far away. Keep in mind the Saudis are allies in the U.S. war on terror so let's talk about this.

I'm joined now by former CIA counterterrorism official and CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd, and our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto is back with us.

Welcome to both of you.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

PHILIP MUDD, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICIAL: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.

Phil, I'll start with you. Chaos reigns. Oil prices are dropping. What does the king's death mean?

MUDD: One of the things you've got to think about here is we've heard the word stability now since the king's death. From the Saudi perspective, change is bad. You look at what's happened in Libya, in Egypt, in Syria, in Iraq, in every circumstance and now in Yemen to the south. When you see change you see instability.

For a monarchy that's been around for decades and that watches this instability on the outside of the Arab world, they want stability to rein and part of stability means talking to the Americans about common interests in places like Iraq and Syria against ISIS and in Yemen where we both have a common interest in ensuring that we fight against the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the south. So despite some of the differences in Egypt, on oil prices, on what's

happening with the Iranian nuclear program, I think there will be conversations with the Americans about keeping things cool in the critical areas of Iraq, Syria, and Yemen to the south of Saudi Arabia.

COSTELLO: Well, Jim, you would think Saudi Arabia would already be doing all of those things. But I think in many American's minds, Saudi Arabia isn't doing nearly enough even when its own interests are at stake.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's interesting. I was speaking to Senator Richard Burr, and he's the new Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, this weekend and he made the point that, you know, in this battle against groups such as ISIS and AQAP, ideology is arguably as important as military action and Saudi Arabia, while it's a military partner, feeds, he says, the extremism. It helps fund the madrazas around the region that create the jihadis.

You know, on a week when you have the attacks in Paris you had the Saudis flogging a blogger, 1,000 lashes for beginning a debate online about extremism within the kingdom. So you have this contradiction there. And that's something that U.S. and Western officials have wanted that Saudi Arabia to address.

That said, on the military side Saudi Arabia has been a great partner of the U.S. and I think that while you do have change there in the leadership, you do have consistency -- now King Salman, the new crown prince, you know, consistency ideologically. And I think Becky made a good point about lining up the deputy crown prince. The first of this next generation. The grandsons of the Saudi founder. Someone who himself has been key in the fight against Al Qaeda. That's a sign of stability going forward in that part of the relationship.

COSTELLO: As far as specifically what the United States is doing to fight terrorism within Yemen, which is now in chaos, it could dissolve into a civil war, we just don't know yet, the U.S. embassy there is in part being evacuated, right, but we'll have personnel who stays.

So specifically, Phil, what is America doing militarily, so to speak, in Yemen to fight terrorism?

MUDD: To understand the problem of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula you've got to -- in counterterrorism operations understand the leadership, understand the players. The primary purpose of drone strikes against Al Qaeda in Yemen will be to eliminate the kind of leadership that creates terror cells that staged attacks in places like France.

So the criticality of the embassy is to work with the security services in Yemen to say, can we collect enough intelligence to map the leadership of Al Qaeda in Yemen so that we can eliminate them with drones, with Yemeni military or security operations?

So the problem today, Carol, to cut to the chase is, what security service are you going to work with? Is the security service focused on the fight against al Qaeda? Are they focused on what appears to be an emerging civil war in Yemen? There's a vacuum there so if I'm in the embassy, I'm sitting here and saying, who's my partner if the government falls? Who am I going to work with to try to collect the intelligence to map the al Qaeda presence?

COSTELLO: So, Jim, because of what Phil just said, many Americans are wondering why we're keeping any personnel inside that embassy in Yemen.

SCIUTTO: It's a fair question. You know, and keep in mind, it is down. It is a skeletal staff. They have two U.S. warships off the coast for a military evacuation if necessary. They're prepared if it reaches a point where they think that their lives are in danger. And keep in mind that the Houthi rebels are not seen as a threat. They've given assurances. They don't have the U.S. in their targets, in their crosshairs.

But why do you want to keep people there? Because this is an important military relationship. You need that cooperation with the government to carry on the drone program which puts enormous pressure on AQAP, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, there.

That's a key partnership. We saw what AQAP is capable of in Paris so, yes, there is a danger, but there's also a danger in leaving going forward because you do want to keep pressure on that group there and without a U.S. presence on the ground it's really -- it's really hard to do that.

COSTELLO: All right. I'll have to leave it there.

Jim Sciutto, Phil Mudd, thanks so much.

The fate of two Japanese hostages held by ISIS unknown this morning after a deadline to pay a $200 million ransom has apparently passed. The men shown here in Iraq last summer were featured in a video released by ISIS earlier this week.

Just hours before that deadline an ISIS spokesman telling a Japanese broadcaster that a statement about the hostages would be released. That statement has yet to come.

Now one of these men's mothers is making a desperate plea for her son's life while trying to appeal to his -- or captors in the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISHIDO (Through Translator): To all members of ISIS, Kenji is not an enemy of ISIS. I really think he is a man who is able to help you as your friend once you get to know him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Since August ISIS has issued multiple videos featuring brutal beheadings, among them five Western captives including three Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: Still to come this hour, health alert. Measles outbreak.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any compliance base with a lot of people. If you have somebody that's infectious and you're not protected, there's a 90 percent chance that you're going to come down with the disease.

COSTELLO: New details and new cases this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They should get protected because it is in our community.

COSTELLO: What you need to know to protect you and your family.

Also, Tom Brady, deflate-gate and ISIS?

BRADY: This isn't ISIS. You know, no one is dying.

COSTELLO: The press conference everybody's talking about.

BRADY: I have no knowledge of anything. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing.

COSTELLO: As other quarterbacks call him out.

TROY AIKMAN: It's obvious that Tom Brady has something to do with this.

COSTELLO: First in a country mile. The case of whodunit on the 50 yard line.

NEWSROOM back after a break.

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": Tom Brady had a press conference. He doesn't want anyone touching the balls or rubbing the balls because the balls are perfect.

(LAUGHTER)

Then members of the press took a 45-minute giggle break.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The measles outbreak in California is getting worse. At the center of controversy, Disneyland, and the state's loophole law allowing parents to opt out a child's vaccine.

Health officers confirmed 59 cases of measles in the state, 42 directly linked to Disneyland. Vaccination status is known for 34 cases.

Here's how those numbers break down. Twenty-eight were unvaccinated, one had received one dose and five had received two or more.

In the meantime, publications are taking on the issue. "The Washington Post" cleverly giving a voice to the germ itself. The op- ed explores one valiant virus' dream that he, too, will one day go to Disneyland, writing, quote, "doctors call people who don't get vaccines stupid. That sounds like bullying to me. These doctors sound less like medical professionals and more like meanies."

Let's talk about this decision to vaccinate or not. Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Remember that the threat of Ebola captured the world's attention, in part because there is no vaccine or treatment. While outbreaks of mumps, measles and whooping cough have returned and health experts say it's fueled by people not getting vaccinated. For example, in 17 states less than 90 percent of children were vaccinated for measles in 2013. And that makes it less effective for everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all immune if all of us who are strong are protected and then the weak among us are protected also because we surround them and the bad germs can't find them. We ward them off.

GUPTA: So, why the reluctance?

Well, some parents believe that vaccines may be linked to autism but remember the 1998 study that made that claim was completely discredited.

Others are concerned about the use of mercury, but that hasn't been used as a preservative in routine childhood vaccines since 2001.

There are also some who feel the CDC recommendations are motivated by the money the agency makes from vaccine manufacturers. The CDC says that is just incorrect.

Some parents say it's simply too many shots, more than 20 vaccines by the age of 1. So, they choose to use a delayed schedule.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some mothers are concerned doing all those vaccinations simultaneously. Won't that in some way harm the baby?

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the pediatricians who care for those children, assure you that they're safe and effective.

GUPTA: In 2014, according to the CDC, there were 644 cases of measles in 27 states. That's the largest number since the year 2000 when the disease was considered eliminated. The U.S. had over 48,000 cases of whooping cough in 2012. The highest recorded since 1955.

And last year, there are over 1,000 cases of mumps in the United States. More than double the year before. The outbreak even sidelined 15 professional hockey players, a rising tide of cases that all could have been prevented.

(END VIDEOTAPE) GUPTA: Carol, I do want to point something else out as well. Just how protected are you against a measles virus? If you're an adult and you got the measles shot and then a booster shot, you should be protected. If you're not sure about that, you can get a blood test from your doctor and find out how many antibodies you have in your blood. That will give you an idea how much protection you have.

You could just get another booster shot as well, which is what some doctors are advising their patients to do if they're unclear. Carol, we'll keep an eye on this. As more details come to us, we'll bring them to you.

COSTELLO: We appreciate that, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, $48,000 worth of crystal meth. That's how much this drone was carrying when it crashed south of the U.S. border.

Up next, we'll talk to a former international drug smuggler about how dealers are using this new technology.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We have disturbing new details about the final moment inside the cockpit of AirAsia Flight 8501. Officials said the plain climbed rapidly and then stalled shortly before this crashed, killing all 162 people on board.

Here's what we now know. At 6:14 in the morning, the cockpit asked for permission to climb and turn left. They cockpit had only permission to turn, not to go up any higher. Three minutes later the plane deviates from the flight path. It climbs at a rate of 1,400 feet per minute. It then reaches maximum altitude at more than 37,000 feet. That's pretty much as high as that plane can go.

At 6:18 the plane simply vanishes from the radar; 6:19 would be the last known detection from the aircraft.

So, let's bring in CNN's aviation analyst Mary Schiavo. She joins us on the phone.

Hi, Mary.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST (via telephone): Good morning.

COSTELLO: So what can you dell us about this time line? It appears everything happened very quickly, correct?

SCHIAVO: Very, very quickly. I think once they hit the stall, which is what happened when they climbed so rapidly and dramatically and they reached the top of their -- that's the top of the performance ceiling on this Airbus and they really -- if they lose altitude, it doesn't have a lot of we'll say wiggle room, it doesn't have a lot of give anymore.

In fact, that area of the performance on the performance charts for the aircraft is actually called coffin corner because any mistake can be so deadly.

So, once it stalled what appeared happened is it really was falling -- pretty much falling flat or I don't think it was in a dive. It could have been in a dive but it was literally falling from the sky like a leaf. There was at that point I don't think really anything this pilot could have done to recover once it was in that terrible of a stall.

COSTELLO: So, at one point it appears to me that the plane climbed almost 6,000 feet in less than a minute. How fast would the plane be going?

SCHIAVO: That's three times what this air bus should have been doing. At these altitudes the maximum climb rate is about somewhere between 12 -- 1,250 to 1,800 feet per minute, so doing 6,000 was beyond what the plane could do on its own, beyond what it should have been doing, and it could have obviously caused great damage to the plane, if that's what it was really doing.

Of course, what it could have been doing is having been caught in a horrific updraft so the instruments would have been reading that it was climbing on engine power when, in fact, it was a variance on what was actually happening with the weather.

But either way, what that meant is it was -- it was going up way too fast and then it reached a maximum ceiling. At that point mostly the engines ingested horrific amounts of rain which caused both engines to fail. They already would know that from downloading the flight data information.

It's unfortunate the families won't have that until they decide to release it, but once it stalled and entered the fall it --

COSTELLO: Are you still with me, Mary?

We lost Mary. I apologize for that. But, again, we're finding out new information about how the AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed. And Mary said it went into that unnatural climb at a speed too great for that aircraft to handle and it simply crashed into the ocean. The whole incident probably took less than five or six minutes. We'll keep you posted.

Still to come on the NEWSROOM, Bill Belichick said he didn't do it. The same answer from Tom Brady.

So, Andy Scholes, are we any closer to finding out what happened at deflate-gate?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Sure doesn't look like it, Carol. Apparently, no one knows anything. We'll examine what Brady said and when the balls may have been tampered with when NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)