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NTSB Takes Lead On Plane Crash Near Jamaica; Obama: Golfing After Foley Statement Bad Idea; Will And Kate Expecting Royal Baby Number Two

Aired September 08, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: The National Transportation Safety Board is taking the lead on investigating the plane that crashed off the coast of Jamaica last week after mysteriously flying for hours unresponsive prompting U.S. and Cuban military jets to trail it.

The NTSB will step in only when and if this plane is recovered and will not play a role in the search and rescue. Meanwhile, weather has forced the U.S. Coast Guard and Jamaica Defense Force to suspend their searches for signs of the plane or the passengers on board.

The aircraft here owned by a state developer, Larry Glazer and his wife crashed into the Caribbean. We watched this for two hours on Friday. This 14 miles off Port Antonio in Jamaica after the pilot told an air traffic controller something was wrong as it flew south over the Eastern U.S.

And this one arguable the greatest of aviation mysteries in history, the disappearance of Malaysian Air Flight 370. You were with us this whole story began six months ago today as a puzzling news bulletin, this passenger jet, this 777 jet with 239 people on board vanished from radar screens as it was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Was it a terrorist attack? Was there some sort of mechanical failure that led to the crash? Did the plane go down over land or water? Were there any survivors? Many figured the answers would come after searchers found the aircraft or its wreckage.

And here we are half a year later and it remains a mystery. Not a single piece -- not a single speck of debris of this plane has been discovered but the search continues.

The president of the United States once compared militants in Iraq and Syria, like ISIS to a JV team. It is a comment that he has acknowledged is perhaps not the right thing. One that is haunting him as he prepares to lay out a battle against ISIS, lay out a strategy Wednesday.

We don't actually know what time of day. At some point on Wednesday, he'll be doing that strategy speech. We'll break down the politics of that fight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: As President Obama prepares to tell the nation, really the world, what he will do about ISIS, some reflection now on what he could have done better in the crisis.

The president admitted on "Meet the Press" Sunday that he should have known better than to go golfing immediately after speaking about the beheading of an American journalist, James Foley. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You know, it is always a challenge when you're supposed to be on vacation because you're followed everywhere. Part of what I love is a vacation from the press. I should have anticipated the optics, but part of this job is also the theatre. Part of it is how are you -- it's not something that always comes naturally to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right. Let's talk about that a little bit more with my colleagues and "CROSSFIRE" co-hosts, S.E. Cupp and Van Jones. Welcome you two.

All right. Van, you're up first. This president used to be your boss. I'm going for you first. Since when did this president who rose to power with exceptional communication skills, et cetera, not become comfortable with the theatre of a presidency?

VAN JONES, CO-HOST, CNN "CROSSFIRE": Well, I mean, first of all, there's optics and there's reality. This is to make that we understand -- remember, the reality was the president had just taken the fight to the enemy. He was bombing them. He was pushing them back.

These are cowards and they are butchers and they took an innocent person and took his life in response to the fact this president was actually leaning forward and dealing with them. So that's the reality.

And then after he spoke and I thought very well to the butchering and murder of these cowards against an American, he went back to his normal schedule. It might have been a mistake, but it doesn't take away from the fact this president is engaging the enemy.

BALDWIN: Do you think it was a mistake though? I mean, couldn't he have said I was wrong. I should not have done that.

JONES: I think he tried to say it yesterday. Let's just be clear before S.E. takes him to task. This is a president that has taken 92 days of vacation. At this point, George Bush had taken 364 days of vacation.

So you got a president working four times fewer vacation than George W. Bush. I think we need to remember that there's a right-wing myth that all he's doing is golfing and that's not true.

BALDWIN: All right, S.E. that's huge, jump in.

S.E. CUPP, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": I don't care how many vacation days he takes. He's free to golf and he's free to spend his vacations any way he wants. To white wash and rewrite history and pretend to the American people and Chuck Todd that he's not good at anticipating the optics of politics is preposterous.

Mr. President, have you met you? This is a president who was largely elected not because of any experience he had, but because he was good at the optics of politics. So I mean it was a mistake. He was right to acknowledge it was a mistake. But let's not pretend this doesn't come naturally to him. It's one of the few things that he does very well generally.

BALDWIN: So there was mistake about the issue of golf that Chuck asked about and also the JV comment he made talking about ISIS back in January. This is what the president said back then.

"If a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant. I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a Bin Laden and a network that's actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadist who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes often sectarian."

Now let's be clear. The president says he wasn't referring specifically to the Islamic State, but "Politifact" calls the president's JV clarification on "Meet the Press" false saying it's pretty clear this is the group that was being referenced in the conversation. So what was the president trying to do there, Van?

JONES: Well, look, I think that obviously he regrets that mistake. I will give S.E. credit. She's been banging the drum about this for a long time. Other people, I think, needed a little bit more persuading including the vast majority of the American people.

Do we want to get back involved in a shooting war over there? I will say this, though, you know, we might be missing something. This is actually rare moment in national unity. Everyone from the far left to Rand Paul to president to most Republicans are saying that we have to do something about ISIS.

I think, you know, we can pick apart to say something he might have regretted weeks ago. The country is coming together now to confront this threat.

CUPP: Yes, you know, the president again can try to white wash this. He underestimated the threat, the seriousness of ISIS plain and simple. That's just the fact of it. There's really no rewriting it. But to Van's point, I think he's right. The country has come together. Our international allies seem to be aware of the threat of ISIS.

Congress, I think, bipartisan fashion understand the threat of ISIS. Unfortunately, this is all in spite of anything that President Obama has done or said. The rhetoric of the past two years from President Obama on al Qaeda, on Syria, on Iraq, on terrorism has flown in the face of this new strategy of his.

If we have anyone to thank for convincing the American people Congress and our allies that the threat of ISIS is real, it's ISIS themselves, unfortunately for Mr. Foley and Sotloff.

ISIS has proven an uncanny ability to follow through on their threats in a way that President Obama has not. So ISIS has done a lot of the work of convincing people for President Obama and for other leaders around the world.

BALDWIN: Quickly, Van.

JONES: I just think the president has been right where the American people were. Nobody in the country including the folks in Congress wanted to go to war in Syria a year ago. The country has moved forward. The president has moved forward. We need to stand together now.

BALDWIN: Van and S.E., thank you both very much. The president will speak Wednesday on his strategy to fight and ultimately destroy ISIS.

Coming up, some positive news for you on a Monday. There will be a new prince or perhaps princess at Buckingham Palace. Will baby mania be everybody bit as crazy this time around? What does it mean for the line to the throne? We'll discuss that coming up.

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BALDWIN: There is some big news coming out of the royal palace. Another royal baby is on the way. Prince William and Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second child.

A royal source telling our royal correspondent, Max Foster that she isn't even 12-weeks pregnant yet, but she is being treated for acute morning sickness. Keep in mind, this is the same condition she endured with her first child, Prince George.

It kept her actually from attending an event today with her husband who confirmed the pregnancy to the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE WILLIAM: She's feeling OK though. It's been a tricky few days, week or so but it's great news. Early days but we hope things settle down and she feels a bit better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now from London, the author of "Kate, The Future Queen," CNN royal commentator, Katie Nicholl. Katie, here we are royal bump watch part two. Tell me about the excitement.

KATIE NICHOLL, AUTHOR, "KATE: THE FUTURE QUEEN": I don't know if you can hear me because I'm having a bad line down this end in London, but yes, amazing news really today. We didn't expect an announcement to come quite this quickly. I was told the couple were trying this summer and sure enough I think things happened a little sooner than they realized they might have done.

As a planned trip that's coming up in just a few days' time and the big question is Kate going to undertake that? It's her overseas tour in behalf of the queen. There's a big question mark over it. Yes, it's great news, but it's not come at the best time.

BALDWIN: I don't know if you can still hear me. I'll throw another question at you and we'll wing it if you can or can't. These things can't always be timed. How does this affect the issues of lineage and Prince Harry? He's bumped a little bit, now isn't he?

NICHOLL: He is going to be bumped. I can hear you perfectly. He's going to be bumped because after the birth of Prince George who then took the place of third in line and bumped Harry down a notch, Harry is going to be bumped down another notch. You know what?

It's probably come as great news to Prince Harry. Not only will he be an uncle again, which is a role that he relishes to date, but actually the pressure is off him. We'll see a lot of Prince Harry over the coming days.

One of the reasons this announcement was unexpected is because Prince Harry is about to turn 30 and about to host the games, biggest highlight of his career thus far. Very much coming out of the shadows in his own right but he was interviewed today and he made a comment that he was pleased he was being demoted down to fourth in line to the throne.

BALDWIN: Can't believe he's just turning 30, seeing a little bit more of Prince Harry in the next couple of days, that's OK. Katie Nicholl, thank you so much for joining me from London. I appreciate it. We'll be talking as the royal bump continues the bump watch.

Coming up on CNN, you will not often see presidents having quite as much fun as these two did today, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush cracking one another up. Why? What's this about? That's coming up.

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BALDWIN: Just wanted to share this video with you. You have Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, like old friends. They appeared in Washington today. Now both men have their presidencies behind them, focused on perhaps their legacies, maybe grandkids, grandkids-to-be. Conversations were definitely so friendly. They appeared to announce a new leadership program through their respective foundations. But that didn't stop the two of them from making some laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: We were laughing about going to restaurants and having to spend our time taking selfies with people.

FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: At least they're still asking, you know?

CLINTON: That's right. But it's like -- used to be, people, they want to have a record of shaking your hand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no presidential leadership scholarship programs when you were growing up?

BUSH: Yes, there was, George H.W. Bush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's exactly where I was going.

BUSH: You need to disguise your questions a little better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: President Bush later gave President Clinton advice on becoming a grandparent telling him to be, quote, "The lowest person in the pecking order in your family."

Coming up, NBA owner is selling his team because of some racially insensitive comments. He made those in an e-mail. While the owner of the Hawks is putting his team on the block, admitting he made a mistake when he hit "send." Hear what he wrote ahead.

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BALDWIN: Got some news for you before I let you go, on the NBA. Some insensitive comments by another owner. Atlanta Hawks Bruce Levenson says he's selling his interest in the team because of an e-mail he wrote back in 2012. He was complaining about the Hawk's inability to draw more white fans.

He wrote, quote, "I start looking around our arena during games and notice the following, it's 70 percent black. Cheerleaders are black, the music is hip-hop. At the bars, it's 90 percent black. There are few fathers and sons at the games.

We are doing after-game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip-hop or gospel. My theory is the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base." Levenson has since apologized and he says he is embarrassed.

Thanks for watching. I'm Brooke Baldwin. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.