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Manhunt for Suspect who Shot Police Officer Ends; Plane's Engine Catches Fire before Takeoff; Republican Presidential Candidate Return to Campaigning after Debate; Bush Scrambles to Reassure Donors. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 30, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People started freaking out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You open the door. Let the chute out. The chute opened to the sides where the flames were.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Screams and people crying, I didn't know how to react.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is not about the big personalities on the stage. It is not about performance. It is about leadership.

BEN CARSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's turned into is a gotcha. That's silly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to run for president aggressively.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who won the debate?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Sweet Lou. He actually dresses like that every day.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I don't if you can see, he's wearing his Elvis glasses.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I require that for me, my camera.

CUOMO: I think he has some extra Michaela hair on the side for the Elvis side burns. I've been collecting it in a bag for when the eventual happens. I'm going to get it stitched right in.

All right, so we do have breaking news for you this morning, a massive six-day man hunt for an armed and dangerous fugitive now over. And it happened in dramatic fashion with authorities. The suspect was wanted for shooting a Tennessee police officer during a traffic stop, then firing at the Kentucky state trooper. For the story, CNN's Boris Sanchez is here with us now. What do we know?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. It was a harrowing ordeal and ended obviously in gunfire. The search, though, finally over, Kentucky state police confirming that Floyd Ray Cook, the fugitive wanted in the shooting of a Tennessee police officer, is dead. The 62-year-old, a convicted of rapist and robber, he had been on the run since Saturday when he shot Officer Ahscari Valencia during a traffic stop in Putnam County, Tennessee. The officer, fortunately was wearing a bullet proof vest and he was released from the hospital later that night in good condition.

Cook then fled to Kentucky where he was involved in a second shooting with law enforcement officers, escaping on foot to the area of Highway 61, the border between Kentucky and Tennessee. Police closed in on cook after he stopped at a home and asked a couple for a ride. They recognized him, refused his request, and immediately called police. Days past and police continued to search the area. And then at about 12:20 this morning, two state troopers and one U.S. marshal encountered him as they were searching. Cook apparently had a handgun and shot at the officers, who fired back, fatally wounding him. Finally a nightmare for these neighbors ends.

PEREIRA: That is good news. Thank you very much. NTSB investigators are trying to work out what caused a passenger airplane to catch fire minutes before it took off. This terrifying moments and frantic evacuation unfolding, caught on video at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International airport. It's where we find CNN's Alina Machado with the very latest for us. Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. Authorities say there is still a lot of questions surrounding what went wrong here with flight 405. But there is no doubt that a major disaster was averted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: Terrifying video capturing flames and smoke shooting out of dynamic air flight 405 just before takeoff. Passengers forced to escape the burning plane down evacuation chutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard a loud bang, turned around. Saw the lights. Saw flames. Ran to the front of the aircraft.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just saw the fire. People started freaking out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Screams and people crying. And I didn't know how to react.

MACHADO: Now NTSB investigators try to determine why the Boeing 767's left engine began leaking fuel just before takeoff, bursting into flames. A pilot trailing flight 405 was the first to spot trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like it's leaking a lot of -- I don't know if it's fuel. Fluid out of the left engine.

MACHADO: Moments later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine's on fire. Engine's on fire.

MACHADO: Emergency responders arriving within minutes dousing the engine with foam and extinguishing the fire. Passengers on planes nearby capturing the chaos, 17 people injured in the melee were hospitalized, including one child and a trauma patient.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most are musculoskeletal, ankles, knees, elbows.

DR. JULIE PHILLIPS, HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER: Abrasions, a fracture. But in general everybody was very nervous and shaken up.

MACHADO: The incident closing Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International airport for hours, leading to 219 flight the delays and 43 canceled flights.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: The airport is now open. Both runways are up and running. And according to a statement posted by Dynamic International Airways, the airline plans to resume regular schedule today. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Alna, thank you very much. Let's bring in CNN Aviation Analyst Mary Schiavo. She's the former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, also an attorney who represents victims and families after airplane disasters. And, again, this phrase "blessing in disguise." Obviously we don't want to see planes on fire. We don't want people to get hurt. But you are saying this is a wakeup call. How so?

[08:05:13] MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it's a wakeup call because when an airline has a troubled track record, things like bankruptcies. This particular airline was booted from Brazil. They voluntarily tendered their certificate. Then they got it back again. And they just emerged from an involuntary bankruptcy, meaning their creditors put them into it on October 26, just this week.

So these are warning flags for the FAA as to when an airline might be in trouble. This is a tiny little airline, only flew a couple of places. But the FAA usually puts airlines like this under a special watch. And there is no indication they had it under special watch. And the reason is because this is when safety gets compromised. When you don't have enough money to run your operation and you are running a spotty record, which I think in my opinion this is, that is when you get worried about problems happening. And fortunately this was one contained this time.

CUOMO: Well, we have to wait on the investigation, as always. You always suggest we have to see why this happened and what accountability there is. But when you look at the video there are, again, red flags of a different nature that go up in terms of what happened and what didn't happen. Take us through it.

SCHIAVO: On the video you can see a lot of issues that bring up issues of training. For example, on which doors you instruct the passengers to enter. Remember, it's the flight attendants that are supposed to help instruct the passengers what to open and what to do. Sometimes passengers do open doors if they shouldn't. But they should have evacuated on the side away from the fire.

Now, one of the slides hasn't deployed on the side away from the fire. That actually sadly is pretty typical. In any crash you learn and you learn a little too late that some of your slides don't work. There has been a problem, for example, in the Asian case in San Francisco not all the slides worked. And in other cases you see that happen.

But you also don't see flight attendants or the crew at the bottom of the slides helping people get off the slides. And that is one thing they are supposed to do. They are supposed to very loudly and forcefully bark those orders. But they are also supposed to help people get off the slide. So there is a lot of things that make me suggest that the FAA might also want to look at training in addition to maintenance and the finances of that carrier.

CUOMO: And also you have the warning systems, right? How did this plane get discovered to be leaking. Not by the systems on board. Not by the pilot as we understand, but by another pilot, right?

SCHIAVO: Right. And that is a huge clue too, because often -- not often, but probably about once a month or so, aircraft do experience something called an uncontained engine failure. And that is where the engine itself comes apart and shrapnel busts through the housing of the engine and can cut fuel lines et cetera. But that's loud. The pilot would have known that. And if they had a fire or problems with the engine before there should have been warning lights and there are also fire bottles --

CUOMO: Well, the pilot also said he saw leaking fuel on that plane. Not the pilot of the Dynamic Airlines Plane but another pilot. How unusual is that? And is that something the plane should have been telling the pilot itself?

SCHIAVO: No, leaking fuel is kind of tough. And we also don't know when it started. Something might have come loose after they started the engines. So that is a little tougher. It might have been slow leak and then all of a sudden something cut loose. But that is a tough one. And the pilot behind this plane truly did save them, without a doubt. In about three or four seconds after takeoff, it would have been too late.

CUOMO: Now, what are going to be the rights and remedies for the people on this plane? There were injuries, thank God there were no fatalities, but now what?

SCHIAVO: It is going to be a little different on this because this was technically an international flight. So the things we talked about with Malaysia 370 will come into play, and that is an international treaty that sets forth the rights and remedies for the passengers as against the airline.

If it turns out to be an aircraft problem and the airline does not own this aircraft, if that's the case here, then it would also be a regular U.S. claim, a U.S. suit against the owner and maintenance facility or maintainer of the aircraft and the engine. And, who knows, maybe the engine was recently worked on or replaced. Not likely because the plane's really old. At 29 years old this is tired iron.

CUOMO: "Tired iron," that's an interesting phrase.

SCHIAVO: That's what we call it.

CUOMO: So what happens now right away? Anything? I know the investigation takes time, but is there a probation here or no because accidents like this happen and they don't restrict other airlines? So what happens?

SCHIAVO: Well, for the airline, sadly nothing unless the FAA issues some emergency orders. I actually think one would be called for, but that is up to the FAA. The FAA could call for an immediate inspection, stand down, et cetera. They have not done that. So the airline gets to go on as if this hasn't happened.

They do have to have a required amount of insurance. So their insurers will now step in with their lawyers and start looking out for what the passengers need, et cetera. They do owe these passengers immediate payments under the treaty and under the practice in the United States to take care of their immediate needs. And then the passengers will each have to bring their own separate action for their own injuries and redress. It is always a separate action. It is never a class action.

CUOMO: We'll stay on it, Mary Schiavo, and we'll come to you with the latest developments, because, as you said, this one could have been a lot worse and maybe an indication of problems to come. Thank you very much. Have a happy Halloween. Alisyn?

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, while the Republican presidential candidates back on the trail this morning except Marco Rubio whose campaign has released a statement saying he is flying back to Capitol Hill. This while Jeb Bush tries to reassure supporters his campaign is alive and well. CNN's political reporter Sara Murray joins us this morning from Reno, Nevada, where Donald Trump campaigned last night. A lot to talk about this morning, Sara. What's the latest?

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Alisyn. Everyone is jockeying in the wake of this last debate, Jeb Bush trying to calm his supporters, Donald Trump trying to get back on top, and Marco Rubio trying to capitalize on his big night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not on life support. We have the most money. We have the greatest organization.

MURRAY: Jeb Bush promising to be more forceful after an underwhelming debate performance. Bush reaching out to reassure skittish voters. BUSH: We got eight more debates. I'm going to have to do what other

candidates do, which is rudely interrupt. And hopefully the debate moderators will ask better questions, as well. It's going fine.

TRUMP: Who saw the debate last night?

(APPLAUSE)

MURRAY: Donald Trump declaring victory.

TRUMP: And who won the debate?

(APPLAUSE)

MURRAY: Once again touting online surveys deeming him the winner.

TRUMP: We won every online poll. We won Drudge, "TIME" magazine every week, every time we have it.

MURRAY: While on Twitter attacking critics, calling "Politico" losers after the news outlet declared his debate performance, quote, "downright demur." But some candidates are calling for changes to upcoming debates.

BEN CARSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidates. And what it's turned into is a gotcha.

MURRAY: Several Republican presidential campaigns will meet on Sunday in Washington in hopes of gaining more control over the debate process.

CUOMO: The people of New Jersey have determined I'm successful. They elected me twice.

MURRAY: This as an editorial in the "New York Times" is calling for Governor Christie to drop out, telling him to go home and focus on troubles in New Jersey rather than his, quote, "vanity project presidential run."

CHRISTIE: I'll tell you what, I take a deep bow. If the "New York times" hates me that mean I'm really getting someplace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: It's telling that Marco Rubio did cancel his first stop in Iowa today to go back to Washington D.C. for a Senate votes. Even though a lot of people thought he sort dispatched those attacks during the debate, the change in schedule makes me think that maybe there was a little bit of sting behind those, Michaela.

PEREIRA: Interesting to see what happened after that third debate, Sara. Thank you so much.

Diplomatic efforts beginning anew this morning to bring peace to Syria. The U.S., Russia, and for the first time Iran among those taking part. In an exclusive interview with our Jim Sciutto, U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper weighs in on Moscow's escalating military presence in Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Director Clapper has said one of toughest jobs he has to do is judging the intentions of foreign leaders, in effect trying to read their minds. And he says that is particularly hard with Russian President Vladimir Putin because he has such a small group of advisers advising him or challenging him. He says he's in a decisional bubble. But Clapper has been in intelligence for decades. He does this all the time. So I asked for his best assessment. And he was frankly dismissive. He called him opportunistic, impulsive, particularly with his moves in Syria. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR: We are expected to know that a decision has been made by a foreign head of state before he makes it. Putin is case in point. I think he's very impulsive, very opportunistic. It is a debate, but I personally question whether he has a long-term strategy. And I think his intervention is -- into Syria is another manifestation of that. Those things are hard to predict when there is a very, very -- in his case a very, very small cloister of people around him. Unlike our president, he is not subjected to a steady stream of bad news. That is not a good thing for his intelligence services to do.

So he's very much I think in a sort of a decisional bubble.

[08:15:04] And he makes these decisions on -- pretty much on his own.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Do you think he has a plan for Syria?

CLAPPER: What his long-term plan is? I'm not sure he has one. I think he's kind of winging this day to day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I asked Director Clapper if he, if the intelligence community was caught off guard, surprised by Russia's ramping up of military action in Syria in recent weeks and he said no. They saw it coming and they warned the president. Back to you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jim, thank you very much.

Also want to tell you this morning that rockets slamming into Iraq's Camp Liberty. That is going on and an Iranian refugee near Baghdad airport, that same locale. Iraqi police say at least three soldiers and 20 Iranian refugees are dead.

Secretary of State John Kerry's condemning Thursday's fatal attack. This morning, an Iraqi Shia militia, the Al Mukhtar reportedly claiming responsibility. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: An Iowa boss driver arrested for

allegedly endangering and assaulting a 15-year-old special needs student on the school bus. Part of this incident was caught on cellphone cameras by the other kids on the bus. We'll show that to you now.

Police say 61-year-old Robert -- oh my gosh -- Scarborough physically grabbed the student and pulled him out of his seat Thursday when the student did not follow seating instructions. This is him yelling at other students there.

They also said that he struck the student in the head and pushed him to the floor. Several kids got off the bus at the next stop and reported the incident.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: And they are so young too, what's really interesting. And you look at some of the kids that are standing up. That student is said to have some challenges already. And obviously that driver is going to be in a whole lot of trouble for not handling the situation properly at all.

CUOMO: Good for the kids.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely.

CUOMO: Telling them it was wrong. You can't do that. Taking out their phones.

PEREIRA: And reporting it immediately, yeah.

CAMEROTA: It doesn't matter how young you are. You know when you see something that isn't right. Those kids did the right thing.

CUOMO: Good for them. Good for them for standing up for their friend also. We'll follow all that and see what happens to the driver.

All right. Let's take a little break here.

Calls are getting louder for GOP candidates to drop out of the race. "The New York Times" even calling out Governor Chris Christie who seemed like he just had a high point in the last debate. So, is anyone going to listen? Is this too soon?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:07] CAMEROTA: Jeb Bush's campaign scrambling this morning to reassure donors that Jeb can turn it around after the debate. And now, some of the other campaigns are planning a meeting for Sunday because they want changes to the debate process.

So, here this morning to talk about all of this are CNN political commentator and Republican strategist, Kevin Madden, and CNN political commentator and op-ed columnist for "The New York Times", Charles Blow.

Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here. Charles, I want to start with you. Let me play for you what Jeb Bush said to reporters about how he's going to change moving forward. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, we got eight more debates. I'm going to have to do what other candidates do, which is rudely interrupt, not answer the questions that are asked, and hopefully the debate moderators will actually ask for substantive questions as well. It's going fine.

REPORTER: Are you having any fun?

BUSH: Oh yes. You saw it. Having lots of fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. In case that audio was bad, in case you couldn't hear it, his new plan in case you couldn't hear it, his new plan for the debates is to rudely interrupt and not answer the questions that are asked.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: That doesn't sound like a winning strategy.

CUOMO: Or maybe he's been facetious.

CAMEROTA: Maybe he's been sarcastic. But the question what was the takeaway? What are you going to do now?

CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. I mean, you have to understand there's a tremendous amount of frustration in Jeb Bush's part. He cannot move those numbers out of the single digits no matter what he does. The kind of unserious candidates, a as they see them, as I see them quite frankly are the people who have been leading in the polls, have been leading the last hundred days in the polls.

And so, he was the presumptive nominee even before the process got started. So, there is a tremendous amount of frustration that he's not able to get any traction and this just may not be his cycle. Who knows? You know, there is a lot of time to go. And there is no pressure on him in any way to leave this race. So he'll be here for a while.

CAMEROTA: Because he has money.

BLOW: He has money.

CUOMO: Madden, what is your take on this, in quotes, "leaked document" from the Jeb powwow showing how he's going to go after Marco Rubio. Do you believe it was leaked? And what's your take of what's in it?

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I do -- from what I heard that they strategically leaked it out there to reporters so they could start driving some narratives involved in it, right?

CAMEROTA: You're vindicated.

MADDEN: But I'm actually surprised by it, because I -- I think what it says about the campaign which is, you know, that they are getting so bogged down in tactics and they are losing a bigger message. And I think some of those tactics -- you know, I think they send a lot of the wrong message to reporters. And it's surprising to see right now at this point.

CAMEROTA: Well, this is what Chris is talking about. This is the 112th leaked document that Chris and Kevin think was strategically leaked to show how they are going to go after Marco Rubio. And there are some interesting tidbit --

BLOW: What is a strategic leak? You just give it out?

CUOMO: What you do is you have someone say, here it is. And it looks like it is going to be exposing to the campaign. But all the points in it, you know, are bad for Rubio and then you have the media talking about what it says in this document.

CAMEROTA: In particular one of the bad points. I'll just take -- whatever you leak to me I just run with, you know? This was leaked to "U.S. News and World Report". We have our hands on it.

Look at the last line in the next page I want to show you. "Those who have looked into Marco's background in the past have been concerned with what they found." Charles, what they seem to be suggesting is that when he went through the vetting process for Romney, that they dug up something that was incriminating. Now, the Romney campaign came out last night and said that's erroneous. We did not find anything that was disqualifying.

Where does that leave us?

BLOW: I wouldn't know, Madden. I mean, Madden would know, right?

CAMEROTA: Yes. Chime in. So, what is that all about?

MADDEN: No, it is true. I mean, they are trying to raise all of these questions about Marco Rubio in hope the media gives him a little more scrutiny. But, you know, I think it's harder when you have Beth Meyers who is the campaign manager come out and dispute that.

[08:25:02] And so much of what we remember about Marco Rubio on the campaign in 2012 was just how good he was at offering a message on the economy, how much of a strong validator he was with things like middle class economics.

So, the Bush campaign is trying to drive this. This is the sort of contrast that they want. It will be interesting to see whether or not it's effective.

CUOMO: Let's put Dr. Ben Carson up there with his "gotcha" thing, which I still think is going to be a gift by the end of the week, and you're going to see it everywhere. But this takes us into this window and these campaigns getting together to fight a common foe which is us. They want the debates to be different. Literally, the campaigns are getting together.

Listen to why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidates and get to know what's behind them and what they're thinking process is and philosophy is. And what's has turned into is a gotcha. That's silly, and that's not really helpful for anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLOW: Actually, Ben Carson is not helpful to anybody. If Ben Carson would not have said a word on that stage if he had not forced to, he did not interject a single time during that debate what anybody else said, right?

So, Ben Carson, if you are not going to press him, he's not going say a word on a debate stage. And that means that you have to push a little bit.

You know, where the CNBC moderators the best moderators? I don't think so. I think they could have done a better job of the debate. And I think there were some instances with them trying to pit them against each other. And I never like that part of a debate.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BLOW: However, the questions that were asked specifically to him were not about pitting against anybody else. They were asking him about really legitimate issues and particularly about that supplement company and whether or not he had a relationship with them. And his answer seems a little fuzzy based on the reporting that has been done since then.

CAMEROTA: But, look, it's not just Ben Carson and it's not just the candidates. It's a lot of Republicans think the questions weren't fair and that questions weren't about substance and certainly not about the economy. That they were questions designed to gin up, you know, the anger.

BLOW: Some of them were about to gin up anger. But some of were very substantive. They have really, like kind of an extended debate about economic issues and I think that that was really helpful, you know, for people who pay attention to actually policy issues. It was really heavy on policy.

MADDEN: I think --

CUOMO: Kevin, have you ever heard of the campaigns getting together like this? I don't remember anything else like it. I mean, they certainly all get together to argue about what will be the debate format and timing and who's where. That's typical. But this is atypical.

MADDEN: Yes, I think people would be surprised actually how much I think the campaigns who spend every day at each other's throats actually do talk when it comes to negotiating the -- some of the guidelines of some of these debates.

But I think one of the difficult things here for me is envisioning the campaigns somehow resting control of this away from the RNC or any of the networks and started to manage this on their own.

CAMEROTA: But, Kevin, I mean, Donald Trump was threatening --

(CROSSTALK)

MADDEN: It is like a full time job. The folks here who do a great job at CNN can tell you that. I can't see how the debates would be able to do that -- I'm sorry, how the campaigns would be able to do that.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, look, but Donald Trump was threatening to not be in it if he didn't get his way in terms of the time. Maybe he would do something like that again. We just --

MADDEN: He would have missed a huge opportunity. I mean, 13 million people wouldn't have had Donald Trump on stage. So, it would have been a risk on his part had he done that.

BLOW: And Trump had a leverage going into the first debate that he is losing, right? If he misses a debate at this point, it's a loss for him. It is actually not a loss for the network whoever is hosting.

MADDEN: Donald Trump would probably argue to all of us the only reason they have 13 million people is because of Donald Trump.

CAMEROTA: Right. He does argue that and with some evidence.

Kevin Madden, Charles Blow, thanks so much for the insight.

MADDEN: Great to be with you.

CAMEROTA: Have a great weekend.

Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn.

As the U.S. and Iran quotient over Syria, another Iranian American is being held in Iran. How is this going to affect those peace talks?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)