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Official: 'Increasingly Confident' Debris is from MH370; U.S. Intel: MH370 Deliberately Steered Off-Course; Surveillance Video Captures Gunman in Movie Theater; Donald Trump Ready for Presidential Debate? Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 31, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good night. Malaysian three-seven-zero.

[05:58:16] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: American intelligence suggests someone veered MH370 off course.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most likely theory would be intentional interference by the -- by its pilot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On Reunion Island in the western Indian Ocean, new debris has washed ashore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first real evidence that there's a possibility that a part of the aircraft may have been found.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Until we have a body, we cannot -- we can't give up hoping.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One week before the first Republican presidential debate, Trump is still making waves.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They debate all over the place, and nothing happens. Politicians, all talk, no action. Our country's going to hell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chilling moment a gunman opened fire in a Louisiana theater.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shot right at people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need everybody over here. Send anybody you got.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, July 31, 6 a.m. in the east. Chris Cuomo is on assignment for us, and John Berman is here. It's great to have you here. We do begin with breaking news. Officials say that they are

increasingly confident that the plane debris that washed up near Madagascar is, in fact, from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The piece of the wing recovered heads to France today for crash investigators to analyze and make a definitive identification.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: More than 16 months since MH370 vanished, we still do not know why. The U.S. intelligence reports suggest it was likely that someone in the cockpit deliberately caused that flight to go off course.

We have this story covered from every angle the way CNN can. Let's bring in our global coverage with senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir, live on Reunion Island -- Nima.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Well, it does feel like, for the families, at least, there is starting to feel like there's a glimmer of hope. We headed down to the beach where new debris has been turning up. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARREN TRUSS, AUSTRIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: There's strong evidence to suggest that the wreckage found on Reunion Island does come from a Boeing 777. That has not yet been confirmed.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): The wreckage discovered on this remote beach on Reunion Island may possibly belong to missing Malaysian airliner, MH370. Boeing investigators say they're confident the mysterious airplane part comes from a 777.

Beach clean-up crews discovered the wreckage on Wednesday, locating the flaperon along the shore. A flaperon is part of an airplane wing. And investigators say the photos match schematic drawings from a Boeing 777. They say photos also show a stenciled number that corresponds to a 777, as well.

TRUSS: It's only a very small part of the aircraft, but it could be a very important piece of evidence.

ELBAGIR: Also washing ashore, remnants of what appear to be a suitcase. Though there is skepticism that this piece of luggage may come from MH370, island police confirm it is being included in the investigation. This wreckage discovered almost a year and a half after MH370 disappeared, located more than 2,300 nautical miles away from the current search zone off Australia's west coast.

TRUSS: The fact that this wreckage was sighted on the northern part of the Reunion Island is consistent with the current -- the current movements.

ELBAGIR: As investigators in France await the arrival of the debris, a U.S. intelligence assessment suggests someone in MH370's cockpit may deliberately have set the plane off course. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: So the investigators that we've been speaking to, of course, nobody wants to be responsible for giving any false hope to families that have already suffered so much. But there is a sense that, when you retrace that current, that perhaps this could quite possibly be MH370. But it's going to be all about what happens when this finally gets to Balma, just outside of Toulouse tomorrow morning, John.

BERMAN: The first tangible clue after more than 500 days. Nima Elbagir in Reunion, thanks so much.

So that wing that washed ashore -- that wing part that washed ashore, as Nima said, heads to France today to be analyzed by French investigators. So how long will it take before they find out whether it belongs to MH370 or not? CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is live in Toulouse in France with more.

Good morning, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. As Nima just said, it is actually quite a journey from Reunion Island out here to the south of France. What's going to happen is that that part is going to be on about an 11-hour flight from the southern Indian Ocean here to Paris, first of all. It's going to arrive in Paris sometime on Saturday and then possibly be brought down here to the south of France, to Toulouse, on Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

Now, the lab where this is going to happen is called the DGA lab. And it's a French military installation, but it's also one of the premier laboratories in all of Europe to deal with accident investigations.

And what they're going to do here with that part when it comes is, of course, they're going to look at any markings. They're going to look at any numbers that are on that part. But they're also going to analyze the metal of that part to try and find out, of course, what kind of plane it came from, whether it actually came from MH370, but also how long it's been in the water.

And also very importantly, whether or not there might have been some sort of occurrence when the plane was in the air. Was there an explosion or something similar, or did it break off on impact with water?

So all this is analysis that's going to happen. We're hearing it's going to happen here next week. Unclear how long all of this is going to take and whether or not the investigators are going to be giving any sort of updates along the way.

And interestingly enough, that suitcase that was also found there on the beach is also coming to France. And that's going to be analyzed at a lab just outside of Paris, Alisyn. CAMEROTA: That could be another interesting piece of the puzzle,

Fred. We'll try to get the answers during the next couple of hours. Thanks for that.

Meanwhile, the overarching question: why did this crash happen? U.S. intelligence agencies remain focused on the cockpit this morning, sticking behind the theory that someone caused the flight to change course before it simply vanished.

CNN's Rene Marsh is live in Washington with details on that preliminary assessment. What are they saying, Rene?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, this morning, sources are telling CNN's Evan Perez an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies says that someone in the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 deliberately directed the aircraft's movements before it disappeared.

Now, the assessment is based on satellite and other available -- other available evidence. We do know that analysts looked at the multiple course changes that the aircraft made after it deviated from that scheduled course going from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Now, analysts determined that the flight path was the result, most likely, of someone in the cockpit deliberately programming the aircraft to fly towards very specific way points, crossing Indonesian territory and eventually going toward the South Indian Ocean.

[06:05:22] Now this was an assessment done for internal U.S. government purposes. It is totally separate from the investigation led by Malaysian authorities. We should point out: Malaysian investigators found no proof of wrongdoing by the airplane's crew.

However, the recent discovery of this debris really gives investigators hope that they can now possibly find the wreckage and, more crucially, the black boxes. Those intelligence sources also telling Evan Perez, without that, they likely will not be able to make a definitive conclusion about what happened to 370 -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Rene. Thank you for that.

Meanwhile, for the families of the 239 lives aboard Flight 370, the wait for answers is agonizing. Remember, more than 500 days. A group of Chinese families are now banding together, saying they will not accept anything but 100 percent certainty that the piece of the wing is from MH370.

Will Ripley is live for us in Beijing with that part of the story for us -- Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, there are a growing number of families who, in addition to all of the emotion and all of the grief that they're dealing with all over again.

In fact, we sat down with one woman today who lost her only daughter in the disappearance of Flight 370. And she sobbed and looked as if she had just been hit with the news all over again, even though it's been more than 500 days. She said not a minute goes by that she doesn't grieve for her daughter and hope and pray that she might still come home.

But another thing that's happening now, is the families are starting to talk about the legal issue here, the compensation. Malaysia Airlines initially offered about 50,000 U.S. dollars in initial compensation to the families. But most who are talking to say unless they were in dire financial straits, they didn't take that money, because they want the freedom to sue as this moves forward.

And there's a growing list of families right now that are saying if this debris is confirmed to be from MH370, they will band together to take legal action against Malaysian [SIC] Airlines and will try to prove that somehow the airline was negligent and owes the families a large amount of compensation.

So that's one story that we're going to be following very closely, especially as word does come in whether this debris is confirmed, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Well, thanks so much. Keep us updated.

So for more analysis on all this, let's bring in Mary Schiavo. She's our CNN transportation analyst and the former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation; and Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. Ladies, thanks so much for being here. It's great to get both of your expertise this morning.

Juliette, I want to start with you, because I know that you've spoken to some of your national security contacts. What makes analysts at this point so certain that this was a deliberate act of some kind?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think certainty might be a little bit strong. But let me just tell you, just putting it in perspective. Airplanes don't go missing. I mean, I know we spent a lot of time on airplane accidents. They're still a rarity. And in most instances, you can find out what happened relatively soon, whether it's the pilot error or something with the airplane. So any good investigation will start from the premise that something went terribly amiss, and that might involve a human factor.

Over the course of several months and looking at the flight patterns, it looked like there was at least some deliberate movement from the cockpit. And so what they're going to do now is based on that assumption that this was something -- something was going on in the cockpit; see if there's evidence to suggest that that's not true. In other words, the going suspicion will be something was happening in the cockpit.

And maybe if something is found to prove otherwise, you know, whether it's the airplane or something else, then there will be a new theory. But I have to agree with investigators, since this is so rare, that something was going on in the cockpit. CAMEROTA: And Mary, why wouldn't this just be some sort of

catastrophic mechanical event?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, it could be. You know, the interesting thing about this alleged leaked report is the United States of America is one of seven nations participating in the investigation. And the investigation has released almost 1,000 pages. These are all the reports.

And we don't mention that, and it's not mentioned at all in the report. So I think it is -- it is people saying, "We don't know what caused

this plane to go missing and go down, so it must have been someone in the cockpit doing something nefarious." And you can't make that leap in an investigation.

So I think that everything is still on the table. It still could be a mechanical; it could be a problem with pilot incapacitation. Everything's still on the table. And this -- if the United States had anything to offer, they should have offered it to the investigation of which they were a party.

CAMEROTA: But Mary, I want to stick with you for one second, because you have so much experience with plane crashes. The piece that appears to be from the plane, the piece of debris, the flap, what does that suggest to you?

[06:10:12] SCHIAVO: Well, that's hugely important, and it will be greatly analyzed, because on that piece could be lots of telltale evidence. Not only will they look at how the crash sequence unfolded, and you can tell from even a small piece, for example, if the plane was turning and spiraling when it went into the ocean.

This particular piece had an air winds directive on it, which is a warning from the manufacturer, from Boeing, that the pins, the -- literally the bolts holding it on were weak. So this could have come off in the crash sequence. Maybe this part never went to the bottom with the rest of it if those bolts holding it on were weak.

CAMEROTA: They will look for residues from any kind of explosion. They will see if there's any kind of marking or pitting; chemicals which probably would be washed off in the water by now. So they have the potential to find out a lot about how the plane got down. It probably won't tell them anything about why the plane crashed.

CAMEROTA: So Juliette, back to the investigation. There are, as Mary just said, so many different countries involved in this. We know that this piece is going to Toulouse, France, where it is expected to arrive tomorrow, where it will be analyzed.

But you know, the families of the victims on board here, they have felt that the Malaysian authorities have been less than straightforward with them. How will the U.S. make sure that we're getting to the bottom of this and getting the answers? KAYYEM: Well, in some ways -- one, it will just be there's a

bunch of countries dealing with the investigation who have citizens who also perished on that flight; and so that is, you know, they have standing, so to speak, in these investigations.

I will say one thing to this about Malaysia and Malaysia Airways. Being someone who's been in crisis management a lot and advises companies, Malaysia Airways' public statements defending their crew, that nothing went wrong with their crew, that they're totally -- you know, that -- that they're defending them already is a bad move on all parts. It is going to not only hurt the families, what it does is focuses an investigation or makes them focus an investigation away from, potentially, pilot or someone else on the airplane doing something amiss.

So if I were Malaysia Airways, I would now begin to say, "All bets are off. Let's let this investigation go forward in every way."

And as Mary says, we still don't know why, and malfeasance is just one of several explanations. But Malaysia Airways has cut off, in many ways, by their big defense, open-mindedness. And that's what Malaysia and Malaysia Airways need at this stage.

CAMEROTA: Mary, what do you think about how they've handled it?

SCHIAVO: Well, at first, I mean, the biggest problem was they totally excluded the families. They didn't do the briefings. You know, the National Transportation Safety Board, our investigative body, actually has an office that's supposed to brief the families.

And part of the problem is they were so secretive. And they simply though they did not have to impart information to a very, you know, hungry world waiting for information.

And that also led to a lot of conspiracy theories. And some of the theories on the table really have no legs at all, no evidence to back it up. They're still conspiracy theories.

So I think it's very important to keep everything on the table; and we can only hope that this piece will offer some clues as to why, not just how the plane went down. We just have nothing but one piece of an aircraft.

CAMEROTA: Mary, very quickly, we also have this -- a piece of a suitcase. Do you believe that this also came from MH370? And does it stand to reason that, if one piece of debris washed up 2,300 miles away from where the investigators are searching, that we'll see other pieces soon?

SCHIAVO: Yes. I mean, if the suitcase is connected, and there's an awful lot of trash in this ocean gyre, as we've seen. There were so many false starts when pieces were spotted, and it turned out to be ocean junk. But if there's one on that shore, the really important thing right now is to comb those shores of not only Reunion, Madagascar, everything in the area. Because it's a huge, it's like a 250 -- 2,500-mile gyre. And so debris could be everywhere. Getting additional pieces could be so vital. But unfortunately,

the black boxes do not float. Those cannot be found anywhere except on the ocean floor.

CAMEROTA: Mary Schiavo, Juliette Kayyem, thanks so much for all of the information this morning.

We'll have much more, of course, on our continuing coverage of the story throughout the morning.

One quick programming note for you: Be sure to tune in tonight for a "CNN Special Report," "Vanished: The Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370." That's at 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. We'll get back to that news. But we have some breaking news overnight.

A Palestinian toddler was killed in an attack on his home in the West Bank. Israeli police say Jewish settlers set the 18-month-old boy's home on fire. His parents and brother were severely injured. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the attack as an act of terror.

[06:15:06] More unrest in the region: a vicious attack at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem. A knife-wielding assailant stabbed six people. Police say that attacker was recently released from prison, having served ten years for stabbing marchers at another gay pride in Jerusalem.

BERMAN: Chilling new video. A 911 call capturing the panic and fear from last week's deadly shooting inside a Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater. CNN's Ed Lavandera with this new evidence.

Good morning, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, it is a terrifying glimpse into the moments that led up to this horrific shooting inside that theater in Lafayette.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Chilling new surveillance video shows Louisiana shooter John Russell Houser buying his movie ticket, calmly walking past a concession stand and right down the hall, straight into Theater 14.

Less than 15 minutes into the movie, Houser pulls out a .40 caliber handgun and fires off at least 13 rounds. These are the frantic 911 calls that began pouring in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a shooting at Grand 16.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shot right at people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's two people shot. Two people are shot.

LAVANDERA: Police raced to the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need everybody over here. Send everybody you got.

LAVANDERA: Police say the shooter initially tried to escape by blending into the fleeing crowd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody hang on. He is inside. He is reloading. We have an active shooter here.

LAVANDERA: The presence of law enforcement caused him to turn the gun on himself, according to officials, but not before killing these two women and injuring nine more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suspect is down. Suspect is down. We have seven more victims inside with gunshot wounds.

LAVANDERA: Thursday night in Lafayette, hundreds attended celebration in remembrance of the two victims just one week after their tragic deaths.

DONDIE BREAUX, MOTHER OF VICTIM: Just want to say thank you to everyone involved in finding my daughter on that horrible day.

LAVANDERA: The community-wide event titled Unite, Honor, Heal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): God's grace will lead me home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And the main question still left unanswered for many of the victims' families and those wounded in this tragic attack, why this man, described as a drifter from Alabama, chose Lafayette and chose that theater, those questions still remain unanswered.

CAMEROTA: Those "whys" are always the question. So rarely do we get those answers. Ed, thanks so much for that.

New this morning, Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beijing hosted the 2008 summer games, as you'll remember. So it's now the first city to be awarded both the Winter and the Summer Olympics. The Chinese beat out Kazakhstan. The International Olympic Committee says Beijing is reliable and safe choice, despite its lack of winter conditions.

PEREIRA: Real quick note from the Canadian. Lack of winter conditions?

BERMAN: Yes.

PEREIRA: They had problems with snow in Whistler, and Whistler is known for snow. It was just a dry year. They had problem with snow in whistler and they are known for snow. It was a dry year. They had to truck in snow. How are they going to manage it in China? BERMAN: The problem here is that no one wants the Olympics

anymore. No European city was in the finals. No North American city was in the finals there. It's too expensive, and democracies can't handle it anymore. They're going to have to bus more than 100 miles out of Beijing to do the mountain events.

PEREIRA: Wow. Incredible. Controversial, to say the least.

All right. Less than a week away from the first Republican presidential debate, Donald Trump claiming he's not even preparing. What are the other candidates doing? We'll take a look at that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:22:40] TRUMP: These guys debate. That's all they do is debate. They debate all over the place, and nothing happens. So I'm sort of the opposite. So I have no idea. I am who I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was Donald Trump downplaying expectations about what will happen during this upcoming debate. He's spending another day in Scotland today, instead of, he says, preparing for the big debate, which is now just days away.

BERMAN: A lot of primary voters in Scotland. Joining us now to talk about this, CNN political commentator, Republican consultant Margaret Hoover; and CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast," John Avlon. Thanks so much for being with us.

John, how does Donald Trump win this debate?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: By spending lots of time in Scotland.

You know, Donald Trump is not going to be preparing in any conventional sense that a politician does. I've done debate prep for presidential candidates. And it's a very thorough policy-based "How are you going to answer that question? How are you going to answer this?"

If you're Donald Trump, you feel, "Look, I'm succeeding in a really pretty large day just by being myself, and why start acting like a typical politician and caring about policies now?"

So, you know, the expectations are very low. To some extent, that benefits him. The question will be do the candidates try to define themselves or turn their fire on Trump? That will be one of the many things to watch for.

CAMEROTA: Margaret, we have an example of Donald Trump dealing with policy or issues. Here was how he responded to Dana Bash in terms of immigration. So tell us if this will pass muster at the debate. Watch this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You're supposed to come in legally. I would get people out, and I would have an expedited way of getting them back into the country so they can be legal. I want to move them out, and we're going to move them back in, and let them be legal. But they have to be in here legally.

DANA PERINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Legally...

TRUMP: Excuse me. Otherwise you don't have a country. You don't have a country. If people can just pour into the country illegally, you don't have a country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: "I'm going to get them out. I'm going to expedite getting them back in."

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: "But I actually like them. And so I actually want them here. I just want them here legally." In right-wing flak, that's what you call going mushy. Right? And that's exactly what the far right is going to think.

AVLON: They already are.

HOOVER: That is so not going to fly with the far-right-wing of the Republican Party.

However, this debate is not going to be a highly substantive policy oriented, really get into the weeds nuances, eyes glaze over kind of debate. There are ten people are on the stage. This is actually going to be about who can have the better soundbite, who can present themselves best; who comes off the best in terms of the performance.

[06:25:00] And it should be policy oriented. But the nature of it, because there are so many people, each person is going to get maybe about seven minutes throughout the course of the debate to actually say things.

CAMEROTA: So he's going to be able to just use sort of his style over substance.

HOOVER: I think his style is probably not going to change dramatically, and it's probably not going to hurt him, because this is what's helped him so far.

AVLON: Look, personality trumps policy in a bumper sticker world. The interview with Dana Bash was great, because it was transcendently, breathtakingly stupid. It was -- it was really impressive to see him just say, "I'm going to replace Obamacare. We've got to get rid of it. We're going to replace it with something terrific. Terrific." I mean, I'm just going to -- it's impressive in the audacity of it.

BERMAN: Because he figures that people will not hold him to the same standard, and so far, they're not.

HOOVER: So far they haven't.

BERMAN: So far they're not. And who knows if they ever will. We just don't know. We haven't seen this before. But look, I have to tell you, I never believed I would see him on a debate stage. I don't think you would find a political reporter who last year, two years ago, thought they'd never see him on the debate stage. So something different's happening now.

AVLON: So far, it's working out.

BERMAN: Let me ask you about the No. 10 seat at the -- at this debate here. Looks like John Kasich could be on the debate stage. This guy just got into the race. If he gets in, it means someone like Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, two people who've run for president before, won't be on the stage. It's a little bit of a blow for them.

AVLON: It's a major blow. Look, I mean, the people who aren't making the debate -- by the way, we should all make the extra effort to watch the secondary debate.

Are people who are three-term governors of America's second largest state. People who -- you know, Rick Santorum came in second last time. Stunning he's not making the ten. Chris Christie, looks like he'll make the debate. John Kasich, look, a policy-oriented governor, very successful House member before that, ran for president in 2000, and the debate's in his home state. It would be really embarrassing if he didn't make it.

But there are substantive people trying to run substantive campaigns who are being shut out by reality TV stars when it comes to running for president.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about Planned Parenthood, another topic that is in the news for the past couple weeks because of these controversial undercover videos that have been released. We will be having the men those videos on in our 8 a.m. hour, as a programming note.

But now, because of these videos, it's giving Republican senators in Congress a renewed desire to defund Planned Parenthood. They get about $520 million a year to Planned Parenthood. What do you think of that?

HOOVER: And which accounts for about 40 percent of their funding. Of course, what Republicans say is the money that goes towards that funding, while it isn't used on abortions, then goes to fund their other operations and so the money they get from private donations then funds abortions. So in a way, in a secondary way, we are supporting the largest abortion provider.

Here's what you need to know about anything that comes before the Senate and the House until the next election. Everything relates to the election. This is about setting the table on cultural issues for the 2016

campaign. And Republicans need a culture war issue in order to rile up their conservative base for the primaries, especially in Iowa and South Carolina and the southern states.

And abortion, especially, you all know my perspective on this. Abortion is a smarter play than LGBT rights because of where the country is. The country is more divided about abortion. It is a more nuanced issue, whereas on some of the other social issues, the right is litigating there is very little discrepancy in terms of where the public is.

HOOVER: I think -- I think two things to keep an eye on. First of all, if the Republicans shut down the government over there by attaching it to a spending bill, the center of gravity to the senators running for president will be to absolutely want that fight, even if it leads to something that will be overreach and create a backlash.

But Democrats who have anything good to say about this have a big problem, because abortion politics plays along these lines. If you seem extreme, you lose. And defending these videos, however taken out of context they may be, seems gruesome and puts the Democrats on defense. The way Republicans want to present Democrats is they are pro-abortion in all circumstances. These videos line up with that narrative.

CAMEROTA: So what's America supposed to do about that?

AVLON: The Bill Clinton formulation remains right: safe, legal and rare. Most Americans are in the middle on this. They are not fetishizing third-trimester abortions.

BERMAN: Most of the time, Democrats welcome the culture war, especially in a place, like you said. This one is more delicate, to be sure.

AVLON: Correct.

CAMEROTA: Margaret, John, have a great weekend.

BERMAN: Thanks, guys.

CAMEROTA: Coming up, in our 7 a.m. hour, we will talk more about the 2016 race with Republican presidential contender and former New York governor George Pataki. And in our 8 a.m. hour, as I mentioned, I will speak to the man who is behind those videos. He's part of the antiabortion group that's fueling the Planned Parenthood fire storm. Stay tuned for that.

Let's go to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Our other big story, we could soon find out whether debris found in the western Indian Ocean actually came from MH370. That discovery is triggering a flood of questions from your viewers. Could this be the clue that tells us what brought that jet liner down? Two of our aviation experts join us to answer some of your questions, next.

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