Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Chelsea Clinton's New Role; Next Steps in MH370 Search; Son of Flight 370 Passenger: "We Are Still Waiting For the Truth"; Divers Reach Second Floor of Sunken Ferry, But Find Nothing

Aired April 18, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

OPERATOR: What did the bus hit?

CALLER: It hit on the -- I guess the left side? It hit the --

OPERATOR: Can you just -- with one or two words, tell me what the bus hit?

CALLER: The bus hit the FedEx truck. The FedEx truck hit into us.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Terrifying moments. Investigators now returned to the scene north of Sacramento trying to reconstruct parts of that deadly collision.

A potentially big advance in the use of stem cells. Scientists have for first time cloned cells from two adults. The largest goal is to match stem cells with person's DNA in order to treat diseases including heart disease and blindness. These developments are expected to spark a new round of ethical questions about whether human cells should be cloned.

Those are your headlines, guys.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much.

So, we have big news coming from the house of Clinton -- Chelsea Clinton expecting her first child later this year. She made this surprise announcement at a Clinton Foundation event in New York sitting right beside the former secretary of state, now expectant grandmother, Hillary Clinton.

So, will the news affect her decision to seek another title?

Let's go to Brianna Keilar in Washington with much more.

First and foremost, the announcement is more important than any presidential announcement. Can we agree with that?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I completely agree with you on that, Kate. And it's so exciting to kind of cover a political story like this, or of a feel good one, right? So, in October, Chelsea actually told "Glamour" magazine she and her husband Marc Mezvinsky had decided that 2014 was the year of the baby. So this wasn't completely unexpected. But I tell you, it sure caught a lot of folks by surprise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): Chelsea Clinton dropping a bombshell at a Clinton Foundation event in New York.

CHELSEA CLINTON, FORMER FIRST DAUGHTER: Marc and I are very excited that we have our first child arriving later this year. And --

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

KEILAR: And so are Chelsea's parents. "My most exciting title yet, grandmother to be," tweeted Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton said, "Excited to add a new line to my Twitter bio, grandfather-to-be."

But perhaps they should have said, it's about time. After all, they've been dropping hints for years now. Just months after Chelsea and Marc Mezvinsky's 2010 wedding --

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: I'd like to be a grandfather. I have nothing to do with that achievement but I would like it.

KEILAR: This in January.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I really -- I really can't wait, to be honest.

KEILAR: And just last month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You and the president will have another child, any more children?

(LAUGHTER)

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, no, but I wouldn't mind -- I wouldn't mind one of those grandchildren that I hear so much about.

KEILAR: As Chelsea gets ready for motherhood, political circles are buzzing ability how this might affect a potential Hillary Clinton run for president in 2016. In September, CBS News' Charlie Rose asked the former president this --

CHARLIE ROSE, CBS NEWS: Do you think she would rather be, today, she can do both, president or grandmother?

BILL CLINTON: If you ask her, I think she'd say grandmother.

KEILAR: But many close to Hillary Clinton say it's not a neither/or and that having a grandchild just might make the legacy as the first female president that much more alluring.

HILLARY CLINTON: And one day I hope to take my grandchildren to visit Israel to see this country that I care so much about.

KEILAR: A trip that would be even more special if she's in the White House. But first things first -- planning for baby's arrival this fall.

CHELSEA CLINTON: I just hope that I will be as good a mom to my child and hopefully children, as my mom was to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: So, baby is expected this fall, Kate. No word on exactly when or if it's a boy or a girl. But either way, no more not so subtle hints from Grandma and Grandpa Clinton.

BOLDUAN: I mean, I remember, Brianna, right when she was talking about leaving the State Department that was the one thing on the priority list, all of her aides whenever we talked to them, she needs a grandchild, she needs a grandchild.

KEILAR: Yes, let me tell you, I could have made like a seven-minute piece of all the hints that they dropped. I had to cut a ton of stuff out because they just over and over would say, we want a grandkid.

BOLDUAN: That's right. As well they deserve, very exciting news. It's nice to cover a happy political news, right?

KEILAR: Sure is, sure is.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Brianna. Great to see you.

KEILAR: Good to see you.

BOLDUAN: And this all does come at the same time Hillary Clinton has announced the title of her very new book. It's called "Hard Choices." That is just being announced and covers her time as secretary of state. So that's to look forward to, too.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: As opposed to her decision to run for president which is an obvious choice. She has to run.

BOLDUAN: Is that -- does that go under the category of hard choices?

CUOMO: She will be holding the baby. You know, she'd be the grandma, but she's running with the baby. I'm much more excited about your baby, by the way.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

CUOMO: Clinton baby, smitten baby, I'm all about the Bolduan baby.

And how about some good weather? We've got Easter weekend coming. It's got to be good. I got to get plants in the ground. I got get to both in the water Easter, my kids.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Susie homemaker over here.

BOLDUAN: Babies and planting.

CUOMO: Bring good news. The season of rebirth and renewal.

(CROSSTALK)

PETERSONS: Yes. It's a good thing.

All right. Here's what we're talking about. Temperatures are rebounding. It is still cold but it's going to be changing very quickly. Hello, just in time for the weekend.

But nonetheless, today east coast, 10 degrees below normal. Look at the difference. By tomorrow, talking about above average. Who doesn't love the 70s? D.C. are hitting the 70 mark. Notice here still cold though, that's out towards the southeast Atlanta, 13 degrees below normal.

There's a reason for this. So, let's talk about where the real weather is this weekend. Notice, we also talk about the gulf. We see a wave of energy go over the gulf. You always see it pull up this moisture.

Look at really blow up, that warm humid air is perfect for thunderstorms and unfortunately that's where we're looking at heavy amounts of rain, even flooding as we got through the next several days.

Good three, four inches for Charleston and Tallahassee. And keep in mind, it has already been a rainy season, seeing three to six inches in the Southeast. This is not good news.

We're halfway through April and several inches over the average. We're going to be adding more to this. The flooding concerns there are going to be high.

So what do we care about Easter, right? Let's watch the storm. Don't worry, it's going to move offshore, just barely, some showers along the actual coastline in the southeast, and maybe a 20 percent chance of Wisconsin back through Texas for tiny pop-up thunderstorms.

Most of you are going to be dry. It's going to be beautiful. Temperatures around average. Maybe a little soggy on the grass on the southeast but at least the rain for the most part kicking out of here. For once, that's all good.

BOLDUAN: For once, there, just drop the mike. That's when you drop the Mike, Indra.

CUOMO: Appreciate it, appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, another day passes with no sign of wreckage for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. If nothing is found in the coming days, the search area could multiply 20 times over. So, what are the difficulties ahead? We're going to show you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Six weeks into the search for Flight 370, Malaysia now considering putting more assets in the water to assist. And also, Australian authorities suggesting their best leads may be exhausted within a week or so.

So, what is the backup plan for investigators if the Bluefin-21 doesn't find anything? Let's talk about it with David Soucie back with us again, CNN safety analyst, as well as a former FAA inspector.

So, David, let's first talk about where we are now and then where we could be if they decide to go on to a different phase.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Right.

BOLDUAN: The focus of the search, where is the pings were located, our yellow dot.

SOUCIE: Right.

BOLDUAN: So let's throw out that animation of where the pings are and also then the search area around it and where the Ocean Shield is focusing. It's a relatively small area compared to what we were looking at. It's about 500 square miles.

SOUCIE: Right. Right.

BOLDUAN: How long, first off, do you think they should be continuing to search that area? They've only searched a fraction of it so far.

SOUCIE: They have.

And what we've got back so far from what they searched, there's a couple of pieces of good information about what kind of ground we're looking at searching. How much silt is there, how many rocks are there. And from that, you can say if there's something manmade in there it's going to be identifiable pretty easily. So that's a good piece of information.

But yet, to continue that out, they're saying about a week, by then they will have covered an area to be able to say it's not here or it is here.

BOLDUAN: Because you do wonder when time is an issue, you know, you've got a lot of resources at play here. When does the law of diminishing returns kick in in this one area?

SOUCIE: Look, this is the most prevalent lead and we've been saying that all along, following the most prevalent lead in a chain of events. And so, this has got it down to that. I'm still very confident because of the pings that they will find something there. It's just that at some point you have to say we looked at it and they won't say, we've looked at it until they've completed all of it. The diminishing returns come in after they've exhausted that complete area. BOLDUAN: So when we hit that point and they get to the point where they say we want to regroup as the Australian prime minister said, at some point, we will get there, suggesting it might be in a week. What are the options for plan B? One that is discussed is expanding the search area, pretty dramatically.

SOUCIE: Very dramatically.

BOLDUAN: I mean, we're talking about, we started with 500 square miles of where we were focused, and then talking about an area 370 square miles by 30 -- 370 miles by 30 miles which is about 11,000 square miles.

SOUCIE: That's right.

BOLDUAN: Which is helping me put that all into context and give it some perspective that is like talking about the state of Massachusetts is a bigger area and the area we're searching now, just a fraction.

SOUCIE: Small sliver of it, that's all it is.

BOLDUAN: Of the state.

SOUCIE: Right.

BOLDUAN: How do you begin that search? That sure seems to be initiated like a big step backward.

SOUCIE: Well, and it is. It's a huge step -- a huge hit to this investigation. And you can tell that they are thinking about that because they're talking about bringing in more AUVs.

When they first starred the admission, they said we need one because they were going for a pinpoint. They had the target and they knew where they were going to go and that's all they needed was one. Now, if they expand to 11,000, I don't know if we have enough AUVs to cover that. It's an enormous area.

BOLDUAN: Do you have any guess what the timing would be in cover that? We are entering winter at some point so it's going to stop.

SOUCIE: Especially on these regions down in here where it's going to get very cold. It's going to be a problem for the winter. It's a challenge already. You can tell we've had three or four missions -- four missions now. Two of them were called back because of problems that they had which were to be expected. But if you multiply that times three or four AUVs out there you're going to have the same kind of difficulty.

BOLDUAN: Is there another option for a plan B to reassess and take on another targeted area that maybe is the second best lead? Instead of expanding it so -- by so much?

SOUCIE: Well, remember, we talk about this being a chain of events, and the chain of assumptions and a chain of calculations.

BOLDUAN: From the very beginning.

SOUCIE: All of the way from the beginning. And we talked a little bit about a white sheet planning. What white sheet planning does is take you back to the beginning and re-challenge all the assumptions. If you're going to go back to that step, do the 11,000, at that point, I would also go back and check to see how much confidence you have from the Malaysian targets, from the turn that was made, to the Inmarsat data.

Remember, the Inmarsat data is reliant on the fact they believe on those radar hits that they had from up north.

BOLDUAN: There are a lot of assumptions that they have to work with because there's so little information.

SOUCIE: Yes, and not a high level of confidence in any of those assumptions. In an investigation, you want to have the highest level of confidence you can in each assumption.

BOLDUAN: With this in mind, do you take this as, when we talk about moving from the smaller area, the focused area to the larger area, the idea of that if they could move in that direction, do you think that suggests they are pessimistic about the search because you're still confident in this area?

SOUCIE: I am, and as are the searchers there. The people that I'm talking to that are there are still confident in those pings. They believe in them. They think that it's there. So --

BOLDUAN: Does it more speak to the fact that we're 40 days in and they're kind of getting beat up with questions constantly?

SOUCIE: Probably. I'm a little confused about the prime minister's lack of confidence in what's going on. It's almost like he's hedging a bet, you know? So I'm a little confused about that because the people that I'm talking to there looking for the ship -- looking for the airplane, they're still confident that they're going to find it out there and confident in the fact that those were, indeed, pings from the aircraft.

BOLDUAN: I think at this point they deserve the benefit of the doubt and the fact that they -- they are the ones that know the ,most so we need to give them that time.

SOUCIE: Let's let them finish the strategy. Let's them finish it out.

BOLDUAN: And they're only a fraction of the way there.

SOUCIE: That's right.

BOLDUAN: So we've got time to do that. David, always great to see you. Thank you so much.

Chris? CUOMO: All right, Kate, we're going to take a break here. When we come back, the depth of the search is nothing compared to the depth of the pain and frustration that people with loved ones on Flight 370 are still feeling.

Coming up, a plea from a man who spent nearly seven weeks wondering what happened to his mom.

Plus, the latest on divers' efforts inside that sunken ship. Hundreds are missing. Many are teens. We'll get the latest for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back. As the search for Flight 370 moves into its seventh week now, family members of passengers and crew are left with even more pain and uncertainty and certainly more questions.

One of those family members was kind enough to join us this morning. Steve Wang, his mother was on board Flight 370.

Steve, thank you so much for joining us. I want to ask how you and the other family members are doing.

STEVE WANG, MOTHER WAS PASSENGER ON FLIGTH 370: Well, we are still waiting for the -- for the truth, for this couple of days. The question is quite simple, that what happens to the plan and what happens with our loved ones, that is what we have to every day.

PEREIRA: Yeah, every day, and I imagine that wait is agonizing for you. We understand that this week there was to be a teleconference between Malaysian authorities and some of the family members, but that was interrupted. The link somehow didn't work, and family members stormed out of the meeting. Give us a sense of the emotion that was in the room that day.

WANG: Well, you know, the meeting's supposed to -- you know, we request that -- and they promised that there will be a technical team. We will have the meeting every five days. But there are more (ph) than seven and eight days.

And after that, they -- they finally accepted. We had a video conference. But the conference will be held at the park. But they haven't said that before. You know, there is usually a meeting set up maybe half an hour earlier. You know, even earlier, like one hour. But at 11 o'clock, they even didn't set up the computer.

PEREIRA: Right.

WANG: And they just take 20 minutes for the system, but it still doesn't work. So that is not -- that shows that they don't have the sincere about helping us to have the communication, I think.

PEREIRA: I hear the frustration in your voice. I hear it, Steven. You and the other family members are not feeling trust right now towards the authorities or the airline right now, are you? WANG: Yes, of course, definitely. From the first day to now, they never tell us any truths. That is most important thing. And, you know, we ask several question, only technical questions. It is not blaming or something like that, like the member from the black box. All their answer, you know, when we ask 10 questions, seven or eight answers is that it is under investigation. And the rest is, "I don't know". So we are really doubt that whether they can't answer the question or they do not want to answer the question.

PEREIRA: You and a group of other family members have come together. You're alluding to the questions you presented the Malaysian investigators, a list of 26 questions. So you have not received any answers to those questions beyond, "This is part of an ongoing investigation"?

WANG: Yeah, there are no official answers to these questions, to now we have ask it for more than 10 days.

PEREIRA: What is the most important question you want answered, Steve?

WANG: Well, many. There are some key points. The first is that the voice record from the tower and -- the tower and the plane. They have give us a text record, but they refuse to give us a voice record. We are really -- why? You know, it is secret. You (inaudible) a text to us, but you didn't, so that's the question why you didn't give us a voice.

And another is that mainly about the ELT, why it doesn't work. It should be the most important system on the plane when it had an accident.

PEREIRA: We understand Malaysian Airline officials are expected to fly to Beijing to meet with you and some of the other family members. Aside from answering some of those questions, what are you hoping to hear from them?

WANG: The truth, the exact answer instead of, "It is still under investigation." If it is under investigation, you should give us a reason why you cannot give it to us. You know, we are all reasonable people. If it is -- we would rather have bad influence to the investigation, we will not ask such kind of questions. But, you know, you cannot use that word just as excuse.

PEREIRA: We understand that the Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has said the search, they may they have to regroup if they do not find anything in the next few days. How do you feel about the search efforts right now? Aside from the investigation, talk about the search efforts. How do you feel about that Australian-led effort?

WANG: Well, we really appreciate that they are -- for their help and for the help of the whole world. But we think that the underwater search is very important, but, you know, we should also send planes and ships to find if someone was on the sea.

PEREIRA: Steve Wang, we send you our best thoughts and prayers to you and the other family members that have this agonizing wait ahead of them. We hope you get some answers very soon. Thank you very much for joining us on NEW DAY.

WANG: Thank you. Thank you.

PEREIRA: Chris, Kate?

CUOMO: All right, Mick, thanks for that.

There's a lot of news to get to this morning, including the latest on the search for survivors on the sunken ship. There are concerning developments in the hunt for Flight 370 as well. And a lot of other news. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Divers in South Korea have finally made their way into the ship's hull.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There could very well be air pockets and people have been known to survive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if the result is tragedy, I want to hear the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The hunt for Flight 370 missing now for 42 days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No objects of interest found in anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's anything is to be found on the surface, they will find it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crisis in Ukraine, anti-Semitic fliers demanding Jews register.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is not just intolerable, it's grotesque.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It is good Friday, April 18th. Now 7:00 in the east.

And there is breaking news about that capsized South Korean ferry. The ship is now completely under water, making the rescue effort even more urgent. And the pain of this situation is taking its toll. We just learned a vice principal rescued from the ship has apparently hanged himself. He was found near where the families are gathering.

The latest on the search is that divers still looking for some 270 people, many of them high school students, managed to get to the boat's second deck, but rough waters forced them back out.

International correspondent Paula Hancocks is in Jindo, South Korea. Paula? PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, we have understood that those divers did get to the second floor, but they didn't find anything at all. They did, though, manage to secure a guideline to that area, which will obviously help the future divers trying to get to the third floor and also the cafeteria area, which at one point was considered important. The hope was there was going to be an air pocket there.

But as you say, the boat is now under water. We do know that the search and rescue operation has managed to pump some oxygen inside the ship. Now, the reasoning behind this, they say, is just in case there are survivors stuck in an air pocket, they want to make sure they have enough air in there.

But the weather is still not cooperating. The seas are rough. The winds are high. And that is making things extremely difficult for these divers to try and be able to infiltrate exactly where they need get to. So the death toll is at 28.

As you say, also, the deputy principal from the school, one of those rescued from the ship itself, does, it appears -- have committed suicide. It's under investigation at this point, but this happened just in the last few hours. So another tragedy to add to this tragedy.

Third night in a row that these parents behind me are sitting on the harbor, sitting by the water's edge, looking out to sea, praying that their children are OK.

Kate, back to you.

BOLDUAN: You can only imagine that wait is beyond excruciating. Paula Hancocks, thank you very much for bringing us updates on that capsized ferry from South Korea this morning.

Let's turn now to the search for Malaysia Flight 370. Malaysia -- the Malaysian government is looking at the possibility of including more underwater assets in the search. This comes as the Bluefin-21 is back in the water right now on its fifth mission. But so far, no signs of any wreckage.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin is live in Perth, Australia, and now six weeks after the plane disappeared with the latest on the search. Erin?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. That's right, Malaysia's acting transportation minister this morning tweeting out that they're exploring the possibility of deploying more underwater autonomous vehicles to help with this search.

Meanwhile, overnight, the Bluefin-21 exploring new depths. It traveled some 4.7 kilometers underneath the ocean's surface. It was previously thought that it could only travel 4.5. Now, it's very important that it's able to go into deeper waters. You may remember it had cut its first mission short.

This is really critical area. It's the area they believe that most likely find the black box based on that very detailed acoustic analysis of pings. So it's a good sign it was able to go deeper into the waters overnight as part of that fourth dive.

But after four complete missions, no signs, as far as we know, of missing Malaysian Flight 370. Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, earlier quoted as saying that within the week they will have exhausted their more promising leads, and then they'll need to assess any next steps. All eyes right now on the fifth mission as we understand, still under way. We'll bring you more information as we get it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right. Erin, thank you very much for the latest on the search from Perth, Australia.

Let's bring in two of our experts to help sort out the latest developments. David Gallo, a CNN analyst and a former director of Air France -- France -- search for Air France Flight 447 and David Soucie.