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Glitches For Boeing 787; AIG Might Sue Government over Bailout; Judge Ends NYPD's Stop and Frisk; Gun Task Force Reaches Out To NRA; Military Spouse Club Denies Lesbian

Aired January 08, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It is supposed to be the future of air travel, yet another major problem with the Dreamliner jet is raising eyebrows all around the world.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

You bailed them out. Now AIG execs are thinking about suing their savior.

A man wins the lottery, and a month later, he's dead of cyanide poisoning. We're on the case.

And as Joe Biden huddles behind closed doors on the issue of gun control, Gabby Giffords and Michael Bloomberg begin their fight against the NRA.

Good to be with you here on this Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And I want to begin with the plane Boeing says will define the future of the air travel. But for the last month or so, have you been following this with us, the 787 Dreamliner has made most of its headlines really for all these mechanical problems. Here is just the latest.

Just a couple of hours ago, this Japan Airline 787 was preparing to leave Boston when it started leaking fuel. So guess what happened? The flight had to be canceled.

And just yesterday morning, same airport, Boston's Logan Airport, a small fire broke out on yet another Japan Airlines 787, just about 30 minutes after its arrival from Tokyo. All the passengers and crew, they had already left the plane, but there's still a lot to talk about when we talk about what's supposed to be this revolutionary jet.

Let me begin with Sandra Endo. She is watching today's issue for us from Washington.

Sandra, what happened now?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, well, it's a new day and new problem for Boeing's marquis airplane. The 787 Dreamliner, just before noon Tuesday, the pilots of JAL Flight 007, scheduled nonstop from Boston Logan Airport to Tokyo, reported a fuel leak on the runway. The plane was towed back to the gate while crews worked to clean up the mess. The plane had 181 passengers and crew on board. And just yesterday, at this same Boston airport, a different Japan Airline Boeing 787 Dreamliner caught fire. The cause, batteries located in the belly of the plane used to start an auxiliary power unit, which provides electricity to the plane while on the ground.

And it's the latest in a series of black eyes for Boeing's much heralded advanced airplane that recently debuted. And the plane is the first commercial airline to be made mostly of carbon composites or plastic. And the materials mean it's a lighter plane that Boeing says will use less fuel than conventional airliners.

But after years of production delays, including a test flight that caught fire, the airplane has suffered more embarrassing setbacks in recent weeks. Last month, a United Airlines Dreamliner flying from Houston to Chicago diverted to New Orleans after the crew reported an electrical problem. In September, after federal inspectors forced inspections on all 787s in the air, inspectors found engine cracks on two different 787s, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK, example after example after example here of these issues. Sandra Endo, thank you.

I just want to bring in Chad Myers.

And, Chad, when she -- you know, she's ticking off these issues. I'm looking down here. You have the fuel leak today, the electrical fire yesterday. I see three other examples. What's going on?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you have to kind of take a deep breath and realize that this plane is under a microscope. Everything that this plane does wrong is going to be reported. Everything that a 737 does wrong is not going to be reported.

BALDWIN: They're touting this as the jet of the future, redefining air travel, revolutionary.

MYERS: And it's not 20 years old. You know, I mean this plane only has a few years under its belt, literally almost less than that. I never buy the first year the car is redesigned either. So there are some growing pains with this. But they are big pains. This is the issue.

BALDWIN: But they're -- it's one thing to have a glitch on a car and say my right, you know, taillight isn't working.

MYERS: Correct.

BALDWIN: It's quite another to have a glitch on a plane when I'm 30,000 feet up in the air. Granted that hasn't happened yet. But right after they hop off the plane after Tokyo.

MYERS: Auxiliary battery, though, yesterday. This battery was not used during air flight. This battery is only used when it's on the ground. So this affect only would have happened essentially on the ground when the battery was going to be charged, being used, whatever discharged.

BALDWIN: OK. OK. MYERS: Today, the fuel leak is a little bit different because there had been two other fuel leaks involved with this plane. Two different incidents. Two different anomalies of venting, we'll do it that way. And has been (ph) incorrectly assembled fuel lines. Well, that's an issue for me. User airplane error, what all of this is adding up to is that they're slightly getting a black eye at Boeing and they have to work on this.

BALDWIN: Tell me more about these planes. What makes them special. Where did they fly? Et cetera.

MYERS: They are light. They are fast. They are quiet. There's so much going into the -- just the intake of the air, it's the -- the plane is just -- it's almost whisper quiet when you're inside. It's made of composite, so it's lighter. It flies with less fuel. Now that fuel is so expensive, that is a bigger deal. A lot of these planes, though, go overseas. This was going Boston-Tokyo.

Here's the issue. Do you really want to be in the middle of the Alaskan Ocean, you know, 5,000 miles from anywhere else -- well, maybe not. Five hundred, whatever -- and then you have an issue like this. Maybe shorter haul flights will have to take -- where you can actually divert if you have to. This is -- this is a little bit of a black eye. I understand.

BALDWIN: Yes. Not in the Atlantic Ocean (INAUDIBLE).

MYERS: And we're not going to say anything bad about the plane until we figure out what happened, because a few other things were mechanic error. You know, not plane's fault, people's fault.

BALDWIN: We'll find out. We'll find out. We'll stay on it.

MYERS: But that's training.

BALDWIN: And I love -- yes. They'd love to have us stop talking about it, I'm sure.

MYERS: I know.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, thank you. Thank you for that.

MYERS: Sure.

BALDWIN: Now to the company here that -- the company synonymous with the kind of reckless decision making that characterized the nation's financial meltdown and it almost dragged the American economy right on down with it. AIG bailed out to the tune of $182 billion. Remember that was back in 2008. Fast forward to today. And AIG directors are thinking about joining a lawsuit against the government. A suit that claims the rescue was, well, too painful for AIG stockholders.

Stephen Moore, let me welcome you back. Thanks for joining me today.

STEPHEN MOORE, SR. ECONOMICS WRITER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Hi, Brooke. Great to be with you. BALDWIN: Senior economics writer at "The Wall Street Journal."

OK, Steven Moore, taxpayers. They bail out AIG. Now AIG may be suing the taxpayers, i.e. you and me. What's the deal?

MOORE: Yes, it sounds like one of those no good deal goes unpunished stories because, you're right, the federal government stepped in with $180 billion bailout, that was in late 2008 during the height of the financial crisis, and now it's actually a healthy company again. It's been nursed back to profitability.

And -- but, you know, look, the alternative to this bailout would have been almost certainly federal bankruptcy court. And the issue here, just to give both sides of the story --

BALDWIN: Sure.

MOORE: Is that the directors and some of the shareholders are saying, well, wait a minute, we might have actually come out better if we had gone into federal bankruptcy court than the deal we got in terms of the return on the stock that we got with this bailout. Because what happened was the federal government became the 70 percent shareholder -- you know, majority shareholder in the company. Hank Greenberg, who was the former chairman of the company, is one of the people leading these -- this lawsuit.

BALDWIN: Right. Wouldn't this lawsuit then -- and I read the criticism -- that this could potentially, you know, highlight the unintended consequences of the government intervening and bailing this company out?

MOORE: Well, I was never for the bailout in the first place. I mean the company is doing much better financially right now. The real question is, if it had gone through a normal bankruptcy court, you know, would the company have maybe revived itself in a way that shareholders would have been better.

Here's one of the complaints, Brooke, is the shareholders are saying, look, we never got to vote on this. You know, that this was sort of forced upon us. The board approved it, but the shareholders are saying, we never approved it and we own the company. It's -- the other one interesting point that Hank Greenberg made, he said yesterday in the press that the federal government was a loan shark because they charged 14 percent interest on the loan they gave to AIG to bail it out.

BALDWIN: I've got a question for you about Hank Greenberg. But I just want to play this clip because, you know, part of this is -- has to do with image, right?

MOORE: Right.

BALDWIN: So all of this comes, Stephen, as AIG, they're running these TV ads basically bragging about how they recently repaid their loans to the American people. Here's part of it.

MOORE: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a leading global insurance company based right here in America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've repaid every dollar America lent us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything, plus a profit of more than $22 billion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For the American people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You know, basic PR 101, you know, you're running these kinds of ads because you have a huge image problem, right?

MOORE: That's right.

BALDWIN: So then let's take it a step further. How would the lawsuit help with the -- any kind of PR problem they may have?

MOORE: Well, it is a good PR, you know, gambit. They say thank you to the American taxpayers for bailing them out. So I think it's a kind of wise marketing scheme. What's interesting about it again, let's go back to the point, the 70 percent of -- about two-thirds of this insurance company is owned by the federal government. So it's the federal government essentially thanking itself for bailing it out.

BALDWIN: OK. So that's one way to look at it. But at the same time, if the ads are good PR, what about a lawsuit? How is that for their image?

MOORE: Well, the people who are bringing the lawsuit are the shareholders who feel like they got screwed here and that they didn't get the return that they should. I mean this is really the --

BALDWIN: Is this personal for them? Is this personal for Hank Greenberg, you think?

MOORE: It might be. I mean I can't say because I don't know his motivation. He's a good business man and he likes to make money and he feels he got shafted here, as do many other shareholders. The federal government, by the way, is going to make out pretty well here because the stock has gone up in value. So it's interesting that the federal government may be the one institution more than any that comes out smelling like a rose here.

BALDWIN: Stephen Moore. Thank you, sir. Good to see you.

MOORE: OK. Great to see you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just into us here at CNN, a major decision about your privacy. We're talking about the New York Police Department's stop and frisk policy. Today, a judge ruling that parts of it are unconstitutional. I want to bring in CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin, who is in New York.

And, Sunny, there's a personal story here at the center of this whole thing. This woman and her three sons, they say they have been stopped outside their privately owned apartment building for no reason.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST (via telephone): That's right. And that was the basis of this lawsuit. I mean the judge felt that this is not the type of experience private citizens should have in their private residential building on a daily basis. So she did rule -- this is Judge Shira Scheindlin, who's known -- she's a federal judge whose known for this -- her aggressive interpretation of the law. And she says, you know, the NYPD's practice of stopping people just suspected of trespassing outside their private home, that's unconstitutional. The Fourth Amendment protects us against this behavior. Because, generally, if a police officer wants to stop you, they have to have a reasonable suspicion, right?

BALDWIN: Right.

HOSTIN: A suspicion based on some reason that you are trespassing, that you're doing something untoward. Well, what was happening under this program that the police instituted was people were just, as they walked in and out of these buildings, were stopped.

Now, this is a major, major blow, Brooke, to Mayor Bloomberg's administration because they claim that it is very difficult to police these buildings. That these buildings have been crime ridden. A lot of drug sales. But this judge says, no, this is not how this should be done.

And this is the first of three cases that she has before her stemming from New York's stop and frisk program. So this is a monumental win on the other side of Mayor Bloomberg's administration.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you.

HOSTIN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, Gabby Giffords and Michael Bloomberg, speaking of the mayor of New York, here launching their fight against the NRA. You are about to hear the former congresswoman explain what she wants to do today.

And this comes as we get word who Joe Biden is meeting with behind closed doors here on gun control. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Want to quote you something that Gabby Giffords wrote in this morning's "USA Today." She wrote this. "In response to a horrific series of shootings that has shown terror in our communities, Congress has done something quite extraordinary -- nothing at all." Now the former congresswoman, who died nearly in that Tucson shooting rampage two years ago today, is out to change that. Today she and her husband, Astronaut Mark Kelly, launched Americans for Responsible Solutions. It's an effort to raise money and laws for gun control. Since Tucson, there have been 11 more mass shootings. The couple spoke with ABC's Diane Sawyer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: We saw you in Newtown. How was Newtown?

GABBY GIFFORDS, FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN: Tough.

MARK KELLY, GABBY GIFFORDS' HUSBAND: It brought back a lot of memories about what that was like for us some -- two years ago today. And you hope that this kind of thing doesn't happen again. But you know what, I have a gun. Gabby and I are both gun owners. We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment. But we've got to do something to keep the guns from getting into the wrong hands.

SAWYER: When it can happen to children in a classroom, it's time to say --

GIFFORDS: Enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And they're not the only ones to use the mass shooting in Tucson to mobilize the gun control movement. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, with his group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, released an ad today. And in this ad, it features the mother -- do you remember nine- year-old Christina Taylor Green? The youngest person killed in that attack in Tucson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROXANNA GREEN, MOTHER OF CHRISTINA TAYLOR GREEN: My nine-year-old daughter was murdered in the Tucson shooting. I have one question for our political leaders. When will you find the courage to stand up to the gun lobby? Whose child has to die next?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Her mother, Roxanna Green, there, will be talking with me in the next hour. Stay tuned for that.

There is another perhaps surprising voice on Green's side. Retired General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. top commander in Afghanistan who left back in 2010. Well, just this morning, on MSNBC, he said the kinds of weapons his troops used should not, I repeat, should not be used on the streets of America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.), FORMER TOP U.S. COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: We've got to look at the situation in America. The number of people in America killed by firearms is extraordinary compared to other nations. And I don't think we're a blood thirsty culture. And so I think that we need to look at everything we can do to safeguard our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now, the growing momentum for gun control is coming out of the most recent massacre, the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. An event that shook a normally poised president. Remember this, wiped a tear away, later announced a task force to curb gun violence to be led by Vice President Joe Biden. One of the vice president's first moves, extending an invitation to the NRA.

Let me take you to Washington and talk to CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser.

And, Paul, just what is the task force hoping to get out of approaching the NRA?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I think what they want to do here is get voices and get voices of all sides in the gun argument here, Brooke, and that's why the NRA was given an invitation. Take a listen to Jay Carney, White House press secretary. He was asked about the NRA attending these meeting, these meetings this week, at the news conference just a little while ago. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The vice president's group has invited a number of organizations and individuals to participate in meetings. They include gun owners, and groups that represent gun owners, groups that represent sports men and sports women. The NRA has certainly been one of the groups -- one of the many groups invited. I would leave it to those groups themselves to decide whether to say whether -- to make any comment on their attendance in those meetings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: And the NRA did make a comment. Here's what a spokesman from the NRA said just a little while ago. It says the group did receive an invitation late Friday and that "we are sending a rep to hear what they have to say."

Now, they're not the only major gun rights group that will be there. The National Shooting Sports Foundation will also be attending the meetings, which are tomorrow and Thursday. That group, by the way, Brooke, happens to be headquartered in Newtown, Connecticut. Of course, the site of Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Well, you know, I remember not soon after Newtown happened, you know, Wayne LaPierre came out, right, and he gave that news conference. The NRA broke its silence basically saying that they think that it's a good idea, that it's the main idea to arm -- have armed guards at every school. What about the president? What does he say about that?

STEINHAUSER: He talked about that in an interview on "Meet The Press" recently just in the last week, and he was a little skeptical of the NRA's approach there. But, Carney, today in the White House briefing, said that the White House, the president, vice president, didn't want to prejudge any recommendations from any of the groups that will be taking part in these meetings tomorrow and Thursday.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll be covering it, I know. Paul Steinhauser, thank you very much.

And, you know, the governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, he is speaking, giving his state of the state. We just want to play a little clip of that, speaking about how really Sandy wreaked havoc on his state. Keep in mind, his approval rating, 72 percent. Here he is, the governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Just three months ago we were proceeding normally with our lives, getting ready for a national election, and the holidays to follow. Then Sandy hit. Sandy was worst storm to strike New Jersey in our history. Three hundred and forty-six thousand homes were damaged or destroyed. Nearly 7 million people and over 1,000 schools were without power. One hundred and sixteen thousand New Jerseyians were evacuated or displaced from their homes. Forty-one thousand families are still displaced from their homes today.

Sandy may have damaged our homes and our infrastructure, but it did not destroy our spirit. The people of New Jersey have come together as never before, across party lines, across ideological lines, across ages and races and background, from all parts of our state, even from out of state, everyone has come together. So, today, let me start this address with a set of thanks from me on behalf of the people of this great state.

First, I want to thank the brave first responders, the National Guard, and emergency management experts from around this state who prepared us for this storm, and kept us safe in its aftermath.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Christie giving his state of the state there in Trenton, New Jersey. We're going to talk a little bit more about the uber popular governor coming up a little later this hour here on the show.

But coming up next, I want you to meet someone. We're going to tell this story about this lesbian. She is married to a lieutenant colonel in the Army. Says a support group for spouses told her "you can't join." She is Ashley Broadway (ph). She's about to reveal the reason the club gave to her. Don't miss this conversation, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, just like any other military wife, Ashley Broadway spends her life on bases all around the world. She's caring for her son and spending months separated from her spouse. But, what makes her different from most military wives, she's married to a woman. Her partner of 15 years is Lieutenant Colonel Heather Mack (ph). Now living on the Ft. Bragg base in North Carolina. Ashley Broadway found out about a social support group. It's called the Association of Braggs' Officers Spouses. She tried to join, wanted to meet other spouses like her, participate in events around the base, but she was denied. Ashley Broadway joins me now from Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Ashley, welcome to you.

ASHLEY BROADWAY, DENIED ADMISSION TO OFFICERS' SPOUSE CLUB: Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: Let me just begin with this club. They said you can't join. What was the explanation they gave you as to why?

BROADWAY: Well, actually, Brooke, it took about three weeks for them to give me a clear answer. It was kind of back and forth, we need to check with this person, we need to check with that person. And then my initial answer was, because I don't have a military issued I.D.

BALDWIN: So, let me just explain this to people who don't understand. You know, you can be gay and serve in the military, but under the Defense of Marriage Act, the military doesn't recognize same sex marriage. So you talk about this military I.D. This is one of the benefits that, you know, let's say a husband and a wife spouse would get, but not you in your situation. But from what I understand, you believe this is much more than not having an I.D.

BROADWAY: I do believe that. But one thing I would like to state to the audience is the Pentagon, the Department of Defense, and the Obama administration can, right now, put into place that we can be issued military I.D.s. We just can't be issued benefits where there's financial ties to it. So, you know, with a stroke of a pen, this military I.D. could be a nonissue.

But back to, you know, your question. You know, the conversation with the group was, can you access base? Yes, I can, through my caregiver pass. And then initially it was the military I.D. You know, according to their website, and according to their FaceBook, at the time, it said nothing about a military I.D. All it mentioned was a spouse, you know, requirement of being a military spouse.

BALDWIN: So then what's the issue, ultimately, you think?

BROADWAY: So, I mean, I believe -- I believe it's because I am in a same sex marriage and, you know, I try to, you know, ask the president and the board members to call me so that we could discuss this, you know, further. I never heard anybody. And then I went, you know, to basically the Internet and wrote an open letter. And then from there, I heard from people all over the world, other gay and lesbian service members and their families, and through my organization that I work with, American Military Partners Associations, you know, more people were stepping up and saying, yes, I've been discriminated against because of various reasons. I mean -- BALDWIN: Well, let me jump in, because if we throw out the word discriminate, we -- you know, from what we can tell, and let me just tell everyone, because, CNN, we tried reaching out to the club here, to talk to people, to try to get their side and explanation and we got a no comment. And we went a little further. And if you go on the club's home page, and let me just read -- I know, Ashley, you've seen this. "In response to recent interest in the membership requirements of our organization, we will review the issue at our next board meeting." I don't know when the next board meeting is, but apparently this is a private group, so, you know, higher ups at Ft. Bragg can't necessarily step in. This isn't a military entity. So, where does this stand right now, bottom line?

BROADWAY: Actually, you know, I would like to say to Colonel Sanborn's (ph) office, he's the garrison commander at Ft. Bragg, he actually -- I -- with my requesting, tried to mediate a meeting between myself and the organization so that we could sit down and try and discuss, you know, the issue at hand. Unfortunately, the 18th Airborne Corps' office under General Alan (ph), the JAG, which is basically the Judge Advocate's office, has basically stepped in and told Colonel Sanborn and Ft. Bragg officials that they are not to mediate a meeting and basically were just stating that, you know, for legal issues, which I still don't understand that.

BALDWIN: So let me just ask you this. Because you're here on CNN. You know, you're getting all kinds of attention for your just simply wanting to join this spousal support group. What if they finally say, OK, Ashley Broadway, you can join? Would you still want to?

BROADWAY: I would go tomorrow, Brooke. I would love to. I mean, I was an educator for 13 years. I volunteered at, you know, wherever we were stationed, I was a volunteer of some sort. And, you know, between my educational background, my volunteerism, my energy, my enthusiasm to help all military families, I would be absolutely elated to. And, if anything, I would like to, you know, be a part of the group so that they can see that my family is no different than their family. We go through the same things. Our loved ones are deployed. You know, we have times of separations. We -- you know, we -- our kids miss their parent, whether it's their mom or their father that's deployed. We go through the --

BALDWIN: We will follow up. We will follow up with you, Ashley Broadway. We will see if what happens, what happens for you. Let us know, OK. Stay in touch.

BROADWAY: Thank you. I will. Thank you for your time, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Ashley, thank you.

Now I want you to take a look at this piece of video, because this man climbs on top of this roller coaster. Does this look familiar? New Jersey roller coaster here. Seaside Heights. Jumps down into a police boat. But wait until you hear why he was there in the first place.

Plus, the granddaddy of all tech events. The Consumer Electronics Show happening now in Vegas. We will show you -- a little show and tell for you this afternoon. Some must have gadgets, right after this.

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