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Supreme Court Deals Blow to Affirmative Action; Legal Window Opens for MH-370 Lawsuits; DNA Test to Reveal is U.S. Killed Wahishi; Obama Heads to Asia as North Korea Threatens Nuclear Tests; Obama to Visit Washington State Mudslide Victim Families; San Jose Will Not Press Charges Against Stowaway.

Aired April 22, 2014 - 13:30   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

A major case, a big decision a short time ago. The U.S. Supreme Court dealt another blow to affirmative action programs. The justices voted 6-2 to uphold the controversial Michigan law that does away with racial consideration in college admissions.

Let's bring in our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns.

Joe, this is essentially a road map for other states potentially to do the same. Give us the background of what happened.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think that's right. It's a setback for civil rights groups. As you mentioned, it wasn't even close. A 6-2 vote with Breyer joining in agreement with the more conservative justices on the court. Justice Elena Kagan did not vote. An important case because it asked an important question and the court came up with an equal uncomplicated issue. The question was whether it was OK for federal courts to strike down a state referendum approved by state voters to stop the use of racial preferences in the admissions process for state universities. The ruling says, no, there's nothing in the Constitution, or in past Supreme Court cases, that allows the courts to override the will of the voters in the state of Michigan -- Wolf?

BLITZER: What's the reaction been so far from the minority, the minority justices on this major decision?

JOHNS: Absolutely. As you might imagine, there was a powerful dissent read from the bench from Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying the court allowed voters in Michigan to do what the Constitution Court forbids in doing -- what she essentially mentioned, an end run, if you will, around equal protection for minorities. Her dissent from the bench and written decision was, frankly, so long and pointed that the chief justice actually took issue with it -- Wolf?

BLITZER: It's an interesting moment. Elena Kagan didn't participate because she was, what, solicitor general in the Justice Department?

JOHNS: Yeah. Right.

BLITZER: So she recused herself, right?

JOHNS: Yeah, that's the presumption. There's a long list of cases that she would have had, or at least come into contact with, while she was solicitor general, and would have recused herself for that reason.

BLITZER: A major decision by the Supreme Court.

Joe Johns, reporting for us. Thanks very much.

Let's turn now to the hunt for flight 370. A cyclone in the Indian Ocean has halted most of the surface search today. But this also marks the beginning of the 47th day since the plane went missing. That means a legal window is now open that allows relatives of those on board to file lawsuits in the United States.

Sarah Bajc, the partner of an American passenger on the plane, says it's too soon to contemplate that. She wants more answers first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH BAJC, PARTNER OF FLIGHT 370 PASSENGER PHILIP WOOD: Now they're trying to put our family members in coffins again. I mean, there's not the slightest bit of evidence that this flight has even crashed. There's no wreckage. There's no sightings. There's nothing at all that could be deemed to be actual fact. It's only conjecture at this point. So that's why the family members are trying to go back to square one, to day one, and we want the Malaysian government to open up the data that should have been opened up within days the investigation starting to a third party, independent, yet still confidential group whose qualified to assess the data.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in our panel of experts. Joining us now, Peter Goelz, CNN aviation analyst, a former NTSB managing director; and our law enforcement analyst, Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI.

Now that there's a legal window, will this put pressure on the Malaysians and others to put more information to the families?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I don't know if they'll release more information but certainly the Malaysians should be attempting to provide more financial assistance. Many people -- you know, some might be able to afford to not have a death certificate, not have insurance claim, not have a greater amount of money. But many, these were the principal bread runners of many families, and they may need to go forward now, even if -- even if the plane is still a mystery and the whereabouts are a mystery and all of that, there has to be a number of people that are hurting financially.

BLITZER: She also said something -- Sarah Bajc -- very interesting, that lawyers are rushing over there. They want clients. They want to start representing. They smell the potential for a lot of cash. You see that. You've dealt with this kind of situation before. PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, that's right, in the U.S., the lawyers are prohibited from soliciting family members on domestic crashes for a period of time. I think it's six weeks. That window is now open. And it's a natural function. Lawyers are going to want to represent people and they're going to look for the deepest pocket.

BLITZER: Here's what's going on right now, based on everything I could tell. They haven't found the plane. They haven't found the black boxes. They haven't found any wreckage whatsoever. And that is fueling all sorts of wild scenarios out there once again, and further tormenting, I suspect, those families.

GOELZ: And that is exaggerated by the internet and by bloggers. This has got to be a torturous time for the family members. But as Tom said, there's got to be an avenue for those families that need it to secure some financial assistance during this time. They may not want a death certificate or perhaps a temporary one but they need financial support.

BLITZER: Do you would think that would be a goodwill gesture for Malaysia Airline and from the Malaysian government and others just to show their support for these families?

FUENTES: Certainly. That's the minimum they could do is to go ahead. Under the conventions that exist, they'll probably have to give at least $175,000, if not more later. Why wait until later? Why wait until they're forced to do it? Do it now and show good faith to the family.

BLITZER: The weather's horrible now once again, a tropical cyclone in the area. If there was anything floating around, a cyclone is going to disperse that big time. And finding anything on the surface clearly is going to be a major problem, if it's even possible.

GOELZ: Well, it's been a major problem from day one. That's why they haven't found anything. I think the cyclone gives the search team a chance to reassess, put the planes on the ground, start thinking about what is the long-term strategy to try and find this plane. Putting planes up, searching after not one but two cyclones have passed through the area is a fool's errand.

BLITZER: You know this. You used to work at the FBI. In the intelligence community, there's a group of experts, they work on an issue, they come up with an ideas, they're not panning out. They bring in Team B, a fresh set of minds, to come in, look at all the evidence, and very often they come up with some new information. They come up with something that Team A didn't even think about. Is it time to do that?

FUENTES: What we don't know if there is a Team B that can look at the Inmarsat data. That's a private satellite company. We don't know if they've already had every person that would be knowledgeable to make the computations, to say where it went in the Indian Ocean. We don't know if there's anybody else that would know their system that could do that. Obviously, radar examiners to look at the Malaysia Airlines there or Indonesia, who we haven't heard from, or Vietnam, or Thailand. There are radar experts throughout the world. But the Inmarsat is a private company with their own system. We don't know how many more mathematicians they have at that company that can take a fresh look.

BLITZER: What do you think about a Team B?

GOELZ: Well, I believe that's the way to go. The problem is that the Malaysians, for better or for worse, are seen as compromised. This has not been seen as an independent investigation. And it's been caught up in politics. It's been caught up in defense issues. They need to have a clean look and a clean team.

BLITZER: It's interesting, because this is the Malaysia Airlines plane. But a U.S.-made plane, a Boeing 777, the jet engines were, what, Rolls Royce.

FUENTES: Rolls Royce.

BLITZER: British. You've got multinational operations under way now. Does that underscore the need for international cooperation or is there going to be some rivalry going on here?

FUENTES: It certainly would underscore the need for it, if the Malaysians choose to pursue it. You know, everyone's offering to help that they need. Whether they take it is another matter. And what they choose to put out publicly about the results of their investigation is another matter as well. They've shown that they're not willing to put out any -- you know, what often is already done in U.S. cases, they've not choose be to do it.

BLITZER: Tom, Peter, we'll see you later in "The Situation Room." Thanks very much for joining us.

Up next, dozens of militants were taken out in Yemen, but now officials want to know if they got one potential target known as the master bomb maker. Stand by. New information coming in right now.

And they have dug through mud, logs and debris. One month after a mountainside plunged into the town of Oso, crews continue their grueling search for the missing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Right now, there's new information on that massive anti- terror operation in Yemen. Officials now say as many as 65 militants were killed but they're now wondering about one person in particular. They're doing some major DNA testing right now.

Our Mohammed Jamjoom has reported on all of this, has some new information.

Mohammed, what do you have?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, al Nasir Wahishi, who is the top bomb maker for AQAP --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

JAMJOOM: Exactly. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which is base in Yemen. You name any plot targeting the U.S. from Yemen within past few years, it has his fingerprints on it. A high-value target in Yemen that U.S. and Yemeni officials have been trying to capture or kill him for quite some time. There's speculation perhaps he was killed in these strikes. Today, the first public acknowledgement from a Yemeni official, just a short while ago, they're telling me because one of the militants that was killed in a firefight the other night was actually a Saudi, they believe he was a high-value target, they're looking into the possible that perhaps al Nasir Wahishi was killed. If that were the case, that would be a huge success for the Yemenis, for the U.S. It will take some time, a couple of days, before the DNA tests are finalized.

BLITZER: I assume they have the DNA so they can check if the Saudi was killed. Because it could be another Saudi as well in Yemen. It could be another Saudi as well.

JAMJOOM: A very good point. Some have said to me perhaps as many as half the number of the AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, militants in Yemen, were Saudis. It's no surprise Saudis would have been killed in this operation. The fact that the Yemenis are feeling more confident about expressing this, that perhaps al Nasir Wahishi was killed, that would be a major hit and that would have the potential of maybe degrading this organization quite a bit.

BLITZER: 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis, too, so there are Saudis who are obviously always involved. They were clearly, though -- when the U.S. sells in those drones, those hellfire missiles, cooperating with the Yemeni ground forces, if you will, when they go in there in an operation like this, it's clearly designed to take out what they call high-value targets.

JAMJOOM: It is. It's to take out high-value targets but one the problems in both the U.S. government and the Yemeni government in their cooperation in counter-terror efforts have had is even when they've gotten high-value targets, it hasn't degraded the capabilities of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is a country where it's a perfect environment. There's so many hideouts and there's a weak central government, a perfect environment for a group like this to thrive. The drone strikes have been fueling anti-American sentiment. That's a great recruiting effort on behalf of AQAP. They've been able to swell their ranks. The people support them, get more militants in there. Many analysts are saying despite years of drone strikes and taking out high-value targets, this group is as strong and dangerous as ever.

What I've been told today is, in fact, the reason this operation was launched wasn't just to take out high-value targets but it was also to go after their hideouts, camps, training centers, and really try to vanquish their base of operation.

BLITZER: They got Wahishi, the master bomb maker. I suspect they might put out a statement saying they've killed a murderer and all of that as they've done in the past when U.S. drone strikes have killed a high-value target.

Mohammed Jamjoom, thanks for your reporting.

JAMJOOM: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up after the break, North Korea threatening to conduct a new nuclear test, this time as President Obama prepares to visit South Korea. We'll have a report from Seoul. That's coming up.

And in Washington State, while the scene is heartbreaking and the search is painstaking, crews forge on. They're looking for those lost in last month's landslide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President Obama leaves tomorrow on a six-day trip to Asia. His visit comes just as North Korea is threatening another nuclear test.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has the latest from Seoul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is stepped up activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site in the northeast of North Korea. This is according to South Korea's minister of defense, telling CNN that all that North Korea has left to make is the political decision. Now, we understand from the spokesman that they have yet to dig the entrance to this underground tunnel and then to seal it up, but we understand that that would not take very long. So South Korea says it is watching the situation around the clock and it is stepping up its own military preparedness.

Now, certainly, the timing is interesting. The U.S. president, Barack Obama, is heading to the region this week. He is heading to Seoul on Friday. North Korea's foreign ministry mentioned this trip calling it, quote, "a reactionary and dangerous one."

Now, just last month, North Korea did say that it may carry out a different kind of nuclear test. It said it would do that if it felt it was being pushed to do so by the United States. Experts are assuming this new kind of test may be uranium tests as opposed to plutonium, which the previously week underground nuclear tests were.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: President Obama left on the Asia trip earlier this morning, leaving the White House. Besides South Korea, the president has stops planned for Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines. This is the trip canceled around the time of the government shutdown in October.

Before he reaches Asia, the president will make one stop right here in the United States. He'll visit Washington State where it's been one month since the devastating mudslide that killed dozens. Crews are still combing through mud, debris, trying to find the missing.

As CNN's Ana Cabrera shows us, it's a painstaking search, emotionally and physically.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is this the last zone to be searched?

BEN WOODWARD, SEARCHER: No. It's not the last zone.

CABRERA (voice-over): The work seems never-ending. It's been one month since a mountainside plunged into the town of Oso, Washington. Searcher Ben Woodward took us right into the heart of the slide.

(on camera): What was here before the landslide?

WOODWARD: Houses, sparse houses, trees.

CABRERA (voice-over): We walked along what was once a highway. The surroundings don't resemble the community that once flourished here. Yet, this is progress.

WOODWARD: It was six foot underwater or so, right where we're standing.

CABRERA (on camera): Water and mud still creating the biggest challenges for these serve crews. We were told water was above my head when that landslide first hit. What they've had to do is create a water channel with pumps to be able to move the water out of this area, just to give search crews access to look here.

(voice-over): Special machinery like this floating excavator just arrived to help search for the missing.

(on camera): This gives you an idea of what search crews are up against -- logs, mud, piles of debris stacked 20 to 40 feet high in some places.

(voice-over): The slow, sloppy and dangerous work comes with an emotional toll. So far, at least 41 victims have been recovered in the disaster zone.

A Washington spruce tree left standing in the middle of the slide area, now serves as a makeshift memorial to hopper lives lost.

(voice-over): This is a special place for searchers out here.

WOODWARD: Absolutely.

CABRERA (voice-over): Woodward said it provides a source of strength for the ongoing recovery effort.

Ana Cabrera, CNN, Oso, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Still ahead, a 16-year-old boy survives a flight from California to Hawaii, supposedly, supposedly, in the wheel well of a plane. The death-defying feat casting a critical eye on security at San Jose's airport.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Time for "This Day in History." It was a dawn on April 22nd, 2000, immigration agents stormed a Miami home seizing six-year- old Cuban Elian Gonzalez. Elian was at the center of a heated U.S.- Cuban immigration controversy after found clinging to an inner tube off the coast of South Florida. His mother drowned in the attempt to flee Cuba. Elian was sent back to his father in Cuba just a couple of months after that raid, on "This Day in History."

Authorities in San Jose, California, say they will not press charges against the 16-year-old stowaway. The boy purportedly snuck into the wheel well of a Boeing 757 at the cities airport, flew to Hawaii, surviving against all odds. He's now with child welfare services.

CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The ground crew noticed him wandering the tarmac in Maui, disoriented. FBI special agent, Tom Simon, says this 16-year-old boy claimed to have ridden to Maui in the wheel well of a Hawaiian airlines 767 all the way from San Jose, California. The spokeswoman in San Jose said --

ROSEMARY BARNES, SAN JOSE AIRPORT SPOKESWOMAN: He's a lucky boy today.

TODD: Officials have reviewed surveillance video and said the teenager was seen hopping the fence at the San Jose Airport and walking across the tarmac toward the Hawaiian Airlines plane. The Maui Airport has footage of him crawling out of a wheel well. W

We went into the wheel well of a 707, smaller than the 767's wheel bag. But security expert, Rafi Ron, was able to show us how he could have wedged in.

RAFI RON, SECURITY EXPERT: In the wheel well, the center area could be key. The setup we have here, this is probably the best location for him at this time because that is where the space between the wheels would later on be positioned. And that ensures that there will be likely space for him to survive. Then, it can improve his position, once the gear is in.

TODD: Experts say if he did successfully stow away, it's almost miraculous. The wheel wells aren't heated or pressurized. At a cruising altitude of 30,000 to 38,000 feet, the cold air could have killed him.

LT. COL. MICHAEL KAY, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: At that height, you've got temperatures of around minus 45 to minus 55 degrees. Just to put that in perspective, skin freezes almost instantaneously around minus 44 degrees C.

TODD: A loss of oxygen at that altitude could have killed him unless his metabolism slowed enough for him not to need much oxygen.

The lack of security in San Jose is also being questioned in this case. Rafi Ron said the boy took advantage of the gap in the system.

RON: Many of our airports are not protecting the perimeter well enough to prevent an incident like this one.

TODD: The expert spokeswoman in San Jose says that facility exceeds requirements and has an excellent track record. The TSA is assisting the airport in its investigation.

(on camera): If this young man pulled this off, he would have beaten pretty long odds. According to the FAA, since 1947, 105 people have attempted to stow away in wheel wells of planes all over the world, and 80 of them have died.

Brian Todd, CNN, Chantilly, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's check in and see how the markets are doing today. There you see the Dow Jones up about 106 points. Mergers in the pharmaceutical sector sparked trading this morning. Also, earnings season is now in full swing. Wall Street so far has liked what it's seen. Dow Jones up at least today.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back, a special two-hour edition of "The Situation Room" later today, 5:00 p.m. eastern.

NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.