Return to Transcripts main page

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER

Train Wreck; Travel Warnings; ISIS Recruits; NTSB Heads to Train Wreck Site; Teenagers Flew to Turkey Last Week

Aired February 24, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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


JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: A wrong turn turning a morning commute into a gruesome disaster.

I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD.

The national lead. Fire officials says his Ford pickup truck got trapped on the tracks before a Metrolink speared it, sending passengers flying, four of those passengers, their lives in the balance as we speak. But did California officials know that this crossing was potentially unsafe?

The world lead. London police say these three teenagers are in Syria, potentially with the terrorists of ISIS. And now investigators say they were likely lured by another young woman from the U.K., seduced by their warped ideology.

And the politics lead. This is the fabulous life of an Illinois congressman, chartered flights, concerts, all documented in jealousy- inducing glory on Instagram. But now congressional investigators want to know if the congressman for any of it with your money.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN's breaking news.

TAPPER: Good afternoon. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We are going to begin today with some breaking news in our world lead. Just a few minutes ago, the U.S. State Department releasing three travel alerts at the same time, telling Americans, defer any travel plans to Algeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Right now, the official advisories cite ongoing security concerns in those countries, or perhaps more importantly this is also being issued, a very alarming warning out of Afghanistan. An emergency alert went out to all Americans inside that country, warning about potential attacks in Kabul.

I want to go right to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Barbara, what is the State Department saying specifically about this Afghanistan alert, as well as these three other travel alerts?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jake, some very alarming language about the travel warning for Afghanistan.

The State Department saying, and I want to quote, that it's saying, "As of late February 2015, militants plan to conduct multiple imminent attacks against an unspecified target or targets in Kabul. There is no further information regarding the timing, the target, location or method of any planned attacks."

The State Department is saying that there is intelligence that attacks are planned in Kabul city, the capital of Afghanistan, warning all Americans there about that. Now, this comes at the same time that the Pentagon and the Obama administration is rethinking the U.S. military drawdown in Afghanistan.

There are just about 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan now. They are expected under the current plan to go down to zero by January 2017. That now is being rethought here at the Pentagon, in no small part because of the security situation. As you say, Jake, the other warnings are also being issued, a renewal of existing warnings.

TAPPER: Showing at the very least that in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, the threats there that we heard about last August remain in place. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you so much.

We will turn to our national lead. Right now, four Americans are fighting for their lives, three of them at California's Ventura County Medical Center, according to the hospital. They were all on their way to work early this morning before 6:00 a.m. local time riding Metrolink's train 102 passing through Oxnard, California, just about 60 miles outside of Los Angeles, when the train slammed into a produce truck stuck on the tracks.

And this was the fiery result, that truck devoured by flames. An Oxnard Fire Department official says the train was cruising along at about 80 miles per hour when it collided into the truck. On impact, three cars turned over like discarded toys. The only reason the cars didn't fold in is because of this new shock absorption system put in the Metrolink cars just this past year.

Still, emergency crews triaged patients on tarps spread out on roads next to the tracks. It seems frankly something of a minor miracle that 23 people escaped the wreck physically unharmed. And right now in addition to the three people in critical condition, Ventura County Medical Center says it treated six others hurt in the crash with injuries ranging from head trauma to broken ribs to spinal fractures.

Let's go right to Kyung Lah. She's on East Fifth Street in Oxnard, California, the site of the crash.

Kyung, we heard from the Oxnard fire chief and the police department just about an hour ago. You were there. What did they have to say about the crash?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they were expressing a good deal of relief and, frankly, the same sort of surprise that you have, Jake, that it could have been so much worse.

In the predawn hours, a driver somehow got confused and made the wrong turn on these railroad tracks right into the path of this oncoming train. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did what we could, and we're lucky, lucky we survived.

LAH (voice-over): Emergency crews raced to the scene where the commuter train flew off the tracks near Oxnard, about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just seemed like slow motion. It seemed like it took forever.

LAH: Forty-nine people were on board, 28 of them injured, a triage unit treating them on the side of the tracks, many victims wrapped in blankets before being taken to hospitals. Five cars derailed, three of which came to rest on their sides.

The Metrolink train hit a produce truck that was parked on the tracks, decimating it. The truck was split into two pieces, flung about 100 feet apart. Questions remain, namely, why was this truck on the tracks? Amazingly, the driver, a 54-year-old man working for a Yuma, Arizona, produce service firm, is OK.

He told investigators that he had mistakenly turned onto the tracks, believing he was turning onto a highway. He drove about 50 yards on the tracks before getting stuck. When he saw the train coming, he left the truck and called 911. He's being checked out at a hospital and is not in police custody.

A police official says the incident is still under investigation. A Metrolink spokesman says the train's cars did not collapse because of collision energy management technology, which keeps the train car from crumpling, probably saving lives, he said. The trains are also equipped with windows that emergency personnel can easily remove to evacuate passengers.

The National Transportation Safety Board launched a go team of investigators expected to arrive on the scene this evening.

ROBERT SUMWALT, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD MEMBER: The types of things they will be looking at, among others, will be highway factors, survivability, crashworthiness, human performance.

LAH: In 2014, there were 239 fatal train crashes on highway crossings nationwide, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. In California, the same year, there were 29 fatal highway crossing train crashes. That's the most for any single state.

SUMWALT: And certainly we are concerned with grade crossing accidents. We certainly want to find out everything that we can about this event. Were the grade crossing arms -- did the grade crossing arms signal? Did they operate at intended? We intend to find that out.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LAH: And how on earth did this driver, certainly going to be a big question, how he could have confused that railroad track for a roadway. We are told that the driver is cooperating. He was found about one to two miles away walking on foot after this crash, disoriented and certainly confused -- Jake.

TAPPER: A horrible story, but certainly it could have been much, much worse.

Kyung Lah in Oxnard, California, thanks so much.

Let's go to Keana Grey. She was in the second car that derailed this morning.

Keana, first of all, how are you doing? Are you OK?

KEANA GREY, CRASH SURVIVOR: I'm feeling OK. But I'm still in shock.

TAPPER: You saw this all unfold not just in front of your eyes, all around you. When did you first know something was wrong?

GREY: I had taken the train once before, and these quick movements it was making didn't seem right. And I had looked outside my window and I could already see the first car going off to the side.

TAPPER: Oh, my God, that must have just been absolutely terrifying.

GREY: Yes, very surreal.

TAPPER: Do you know what happened to any other passengers who were riding in your car? Do you know how they are doing?

GREY: The gentlemen behind me were doing OK enough that they didn't want to go to the hospital. I don't know about the other passengers.

TAPPER: I don't know how much you have heard about this, but this Metrolink train on which you were riding had been in the last year outfitted with a special new shock absorption system, which may have saved many, many lives today. I don't know if you experienced that at all or if the train just seemed sturdier. Have you heard about this?

GREY: I have not heard about this. If we're talking about safety, I wouldn't have expected anything like this. So, right in the moment, I was thinking, where is my seat belt?

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Yes.

How quickly did emergency crews get there? And what can you tell us about the triage, the care for the victims of this crash that happened?

GREY: Well, it took maybe less than seven minutes, but right when I was walking outside of the car, there was already field workers from the other side of the street who were helping to get people out. TAPPER: All right. Well, Keana Grey, we are so glad and grateful

that you are OK. And, obviously, we're praying for the other survivors, especially those who are at the hospital. Thank you so much for your time.

GREY: Thank you.

TAPPER: The safety record of this commuter train almost immediately came into question. This is not the first time Metrolink has been involved in a high-profile crash.

Today, special shock absorbent technology saved lives, but what could prevent a deadly scene the next time a train in California or anywhere else goes off the tracks? We will talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We're going to continue with our national lead. You're looking at live pictures from California, from Oxnard, where that horrific train crash happened earlier today. Federal investigators, of course, now looking into that Metrolink commuter train hitting a produce truck parked on the tracks. As you can see in these pictures, five of the train's cars derailed, dozens of passengers sent to the hospital.

Now, of course, the National Transportation Safety Board is heading to the site of the wreck, this crash comes not even one month after six were killed in New York when a passenger train there collided with an SUV.

Joining me now CNN's Rene Marsh -- Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVT. REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, you know, today's derailment is one in the latest of a string of high-profile disasters on the track. So, this evening, we look at railroad safety across the nation. Is it safe enough?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (voice-over): At the start of rush hour, this Ventura line commuter train slams into a truck on the tracks. It's reminiscent of this fatal Metro-North track earlier this month, the train ramming an SUV sitting on the track. And last week, a massive fireball erupted on the tracks in West Virginia after an oil tanker train derailed.

Federal statistics show in 2014, more than 10,000 incidents happened on railroad track in the U.S., 239 people were killed at railroad crossings.

Larry Mann is the author of the Federal Rail Safety Act. He says the number is too high.

LARRY MANN, RAILWAY EXPERT: Too many are being injured and killed at crossings this year. Looking just at the deaths, it's more than four per week. In my judgment, many are preventable, and it's inexcusable. MARSH: This crash test shows special technology on board can save

lives. A system called Crash Energy Management is installed on the train on the bottom. Compare the difference at impact. Metrolink in California was one of the first rail systems in the nation to get the system on the rails. That likely saved many lives today.

JEFF LUSTGARTEN, METROLINK SPOKESMAN: Metrolink invested largely in technology in our passenger cars that would allow when an incident does occur, a collision occurs, that the energy from that impact would go outward as opposed to inward to hopefully prevent any crumpling of the cars.

MARSH: Positive train control is another system that could prevent disaster on the tracks. GPS technology monitors trains and the system can automatically stop the train, preventing collision or derailment. The technology is not yet widely used.

(on camera): The technology is out there, but it's not being used because it comes down to the bottom line.

MANN: Yes.

MARSH: And that's sad because that could mean the difference between life and death.

MANN: Of course. It is the difference between life and death. We have seen it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, to be clear, positive train control would not have necessarily prevented this particular accident. That technology monitors train speed and position. So, if it's going really fast, for example, the train would stop.

But the point is, there is technology out there to address various safety issues on the tracks. But, again, it's not something that you see widely used.

TAPPER: And is that, Rene, just because it's expensive and people don't want to pay for it? Is that the only reason?

MARSH: Unfortunately, it does come down to the bottom line. Cost is a major factor. I mean, it is slowly being implemented. We're seeing this technology appearing on different commuter trains. But, again, nowhere near widely used, nowhere near 100 percent.

And the question is, who's to blame here? And the safety advocate blames three people, Congress for not providing enough funding to make this possible. He also blames the industry, saying they're not investing enough in the safety issue as well. And he also blames the regulators.

TAPPER: That's very interesting. You can see from what happened today that the shock absorbers potentially save lives.

MARSH: They work.

TAPPER: Absolutely. Rene Marsh, thank you so much.

I want to bring in the mayor of Oxnard, California. That's the town where this crash happened shortly before 6:00 a.m. local time.

Mayor Tim Flynn -- sir, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.

What can you tell us about what happened? There still are unanswered questions and I'm sure you could help clear up for us.

MAYOR TIMOTHY FLYNN, OXNARD, CALIFORNIA: Well, shortly before 6:00 a.m., we had a commuter train heading to Los Angeles and it collided with a truck. Even though there were injuries, it could have been much worse had that commuter train left just an hour or two later. It really highlights the fact of what's been discussed before, that all across this country and Oxnard is not unique. We have these type of accidents. Congress does need to act. And that's what's important.

TAPPER: What is your understanding of the condition of the victims? We've heard that several of them are in very serious condition.

FLYNN: Well, I'm not getting updated reports on their condition. I just know that a couple of people were injured critically. Hopefully most of the others are not injured critically and will be released from the hospital. But I don't have updated information on that. We're just glad that there are no fatalities.

TAPPER: We heard from Kyung Lah, our reporter out there, that the driver of this produce truck said that he thought he was turning onto the highway when he turned onto the train tracks. Is that credible in your estimation?

FLYNN: Well, I can't really speculate on that. I would say that it occurred at approximately 5:45 in the morning, so it was dark. And it wasn't a highway. It's actually a road. It's a state highway but it's actually a two-lane road.

So, I can't -- I really can't say what he was thinking and what happened. But at 5:45, you can't see very well. Maybe he was half- asleep.

TAPPER: What are local emergency management teams doing right now?

FLYNN: Well, Ventura County has emergency management as well as the state of California, and there are also federal agencies here. I think they're assessing not only what took place here and the accident but how to get this intersection once again open so that it's safe and clearing the debris.

TAPPER: Mayor Flynn, the Federal Railroad Administration says that the Rice Avenue crossing is the 23rd most likely in California to see an accident. You spoke at this presser and said two people had already been killed at this process crossing. Moving forward, do you think it's important for Oxnard to do something, to fix this dangerous crossing?

FLYNN: Well, Oxnard actually is doing something, Jake, but it's going to cost $30 million to do it. That is a flyover here at this street. Once that flyover is in place, obviously this intersection is not going to be on that list.

But $30 million is daunting for a local community the size of the city of Oxnard, and, again, that's why the Congress of the United States -- I know everybody blames Congress for everything that we have. But given these competing priorities I think 10,000 incidents a year in 2014 is unacceptably high.

TAPPER: So, you're calling on Congress to give you money to help save lives at this crossing.

FLYNN: Well, if it's not Congress, I don't think it's going to come from the state of California. We'll take it from anyone we can get it from. But, again, federal transportation is critical, and we know that we have infrastructure issues and deficits in funding. Hopefully now that the wars are winding down overseas we can re-devote those critical resources to fixing infrastructure and, in particular, bridges in and around railroads -- railroad crossings.

TAPPER: All right. Mayor Tim Flynn of Oxnard, California, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate talking to you.

FLYNN: Thank you, Jake. I appreciate it.

TAPPER: In our world lead. Could it be too late for three British teens possibly lured to join ISIS? We'll have the latest intelligence that track their movements to Syria.

Plus, some 90 Christians, women and children included, kidnapped in the middle of the night. ISIS claims responsibility for the attack. We'll get a live report on what can be done to try to rescue these innocents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Our world lead today: British intelligence officials say they now believe the three teenage girls who fled England have crossed the border from Turkey into Syria where they intend to join ISIS. Surveillance cameras at London's Gatwick Airport captured the students, two of them 15 and one 16, before they boarded a flight to Turkey.

CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown joins us live.

Pamela, the girls have not been seen nor heard from in seven days. How did British intelligence come to this conclusion?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not saying how. All they're saying is that they have reason to believe that these three girls, these three teenage girls, 15 and 16 years old, crossed from Turkey into Syria. And really, one of the only ways that they can know that is from Turkish intelligence.

We know Turkish police have somewhat of a handle on the smuggling routes there. There must have been some intelligence indicating that the girls had made it over into Syria. And, of course, Jake, this was British officials' worst fear here, that they would make it into Syria, which is a black hole.

And from there, it's going to be much harder if not impossible to find the girls and bring them home. There has been an effort across the board from the girls' families, from British officials reaching out through social media, trying to plea -- you know, send a plea to these girls, come home, Syria is dangerous, this is not a place you want to be.

But now, we're learning from London police that there is indication -- there are indications they made it over there. Very troubling, Jake.

TAPPER: Do we have any more information on how these three teenage girls may have become radicalized?

BROWN: There are indications that it happened online just through looking at their social media chat. So, the school principal where they went to school said, we don't allow any of our students to go on social media here at school. So, basically trying to deflect the blame they could have been radicalized in school because we know one of their classmates made it over to Syria in December.

We know through their social media chats that one of the girls was corresponding with Aqsa Mahmood, she's a 19-year-old who went to Syria a little over a year ago and has been a big recruiter for ISIS. And so, one of the girls had been in touch with her. So, perhaps she had an influence in radicalizing them. There are site where we're seeing a lot of these young people, Jake, be radicalized, where you see the way they talk change and evolve into them wanting to all of a sudden go to ISIS. And so, there's belief that perhaps that may have played a role.

It's troubling, and this is a trend that we're seeing, Jake, with young people here in the U.S. and really around the world, being lured to go to Syria and to fight with ISIS.