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First Bodies Return to Land; Finding Out the Cause of Crash; Crews Rescue Divers Trapped by Snow; Security Tightened for Times Square Celebrations; FBI Stands Firm Sony Hack By North Korea; Indonesian Official: Sonar Detected Wreckage

Aired December 31, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

ROMANS: Helping people everybody next year, lower gas prices, jobs coming back, the stock market has helped rich people, it's helped investors. We want that to broaden out so that everyone has a better chance.

PEREIRA: Here's a better 2015.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There we go. New Year.

ROMANS: Happy New Year, everyone. Thanks for watching. Time for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happy new year to all of you, too. Thanks so much.

PEREIRA: You too, love.

COSTELLO: NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin this hour with the search for answers in the AirAsia plane crash and the heartbreaking return of its first victims.

Here is the haunting image, as stark as it is, simple wooden boxes bearing bleak numbers, 001 and 002, the first of 162 people that need to be recovered. But those efforts are now hindered just hours ago bad weather descended on the search area in the Java Sea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think that the numbers of bodies recovered will be growing rapidly soon?

MUHAMMAD HERNANTO, CHIEF OF SEARCH AND RESCUE AGENCY (Through Translator): We don't know. Because the victims, I believe most of them are still inside the aircraft, and they have their safety belts buckled. We hope that the evacuation process will go fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: CNN's Gary Tuchman is in Surabaya where the doomed flight began and where the victims will make their final journey home.

TUCHMAN: Carol, 10 bodies have now been recovered from this AirAsia plane. But that means there are still 152 souls who have not been recovered. Behind me the crisis center at this airport where their loved ones took off from, people getting counseling, getting religious counseling, getting food, water, watching newscasts, hoping for any word about the recovery of the bodies of their loved ones.

Most of them have come to terms with the fact that their loved ones did not survive this terrible accident.

Right now there's no longer a mystery about where this plane went down. There's still plenty of mystery about why it went down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): This morning, the first group of recovered passengers arriving in Surabaya, in an emotional ceremony, in caskets marked 001 and 002. This is Indonesian authorities focus on pinpointing the exact location of AirAsia Flight 8501. Officials confirming sonar imagery located wreckage believed to be from the aircraft, submerged at the bottom of the Java Sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going to be a particular interest is what parts of the airplane are there, the wings, the tile, to sort of try and understand whether the plane broke up in flight or remained intact.

TUCHMAN: Other reports suggest the plane may be lying upside down, according to "The Wall Street Journal." On Tuesday, recovery teams bring in pieces of debris ashore, along with the remains of six passengers and a flight attendant.

Authorities now faced with a gruesome task, recovering more of the passengers from the wreckage, and identifying the bodies for grief- stricken families, but some still hold onto hope. One woman with six family members on board telling CNN, there is nothing confirmed as far as what happened to the passengers, and we are still hoping there is a miracle, and they survive.

At the crisis center here in Surabaya, relatives gather for a prayer service inside the airport. Next, the hunt for clues. Answers as to what brought down AirAsia 8501. Likely contained in the plane's flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, otherwise known as the black boxes located in the tail section of the aircraft.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm hoping by first thing next week that we're going to have a very clear picture of what happened to this airplane because the industry absolutely needs to know urgency what went wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Here at the Surabaya Airport most of the day this crisis center was filled with family members, more than 100 at times but they are now moving out, moving to a new center that's being set up at a hospital about an hour away from here where their loved one's bodies will be brought -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Gary Tuchman, reporting.

Trying to pinpoint the exact resting place of Flight 8501 is an enormous challenge. Waters in the Java Sea are about 100 feet deep. To put that into perspective, that's about the height of a 10-story building. Adding to the difficulty rough weather which has already forced crews to halt the search today. Despite the challenges, though, finding all of the wreckage could help solve what happened during the flight's final moments.

CNN's Tom Foreman has more for you.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol, there are really three layers of the physical search right now, the one we've been talking about a lot is really the first layer. We talk about where the plane took off, where it disappeared. We talk about the search areas and where we have debris on the surface in these roiling waters of the Java Sea.

It's the first layer because it is the top of the water but it's very important. Why is it so important? Because those pieces that they find on the top, even if they don't tell a whole lot about what happened to the plane are indicators because when you move down into the second layer of the search, the water column below, and you start comparing the location of those pieces to the water currents, which way they're moving underneath there.

They can help give you an idea through reverse engineering where they came from if they floated up from the debris on the bottom because that third layer, the bottom, is where you really have to get to reach the important pieces out there.

What are we talking about? When you're trying to figure out what happened to a plane, you want to know what happened to the critical systems, what happened to the wings? What happened to the tail? What happened to the engines at 9,000 pounds each, where is the flight data recorder? Where is the voice recorder? What was going on with the electronics, almost all of those are heavy bits that once they hit the water will go straight down, here we're talking about 80, 100 feet down.

It's not that far to go and they're not moving. They may be buried a little bit by sediment but they're right there and all of that matter because if you can pull it all together, you can get a picture of what happens and we know that because it's happened before.

When TWA 800 went down off Long Island it took many months of people diving there and robotics and everything else but they were able to recover 95 percent of that plane. That's how they were able to put it together and figure out exactly what happened. That's what you do to figure out if there was a fire, whether it broke up on impact or whether it landed intact and just sank. That's what they're hoping for here. And in these conditions, Carol, maybe with luck they'll get the

evidence they need to know what happened.

COSTELLO: We hope so.

Tom Foreman, reporting.

A treacherous new year in Southern California where powerful winds have toppled trees and deep snow has snarled traffic in a very scary way. 139 people were actually stranded in their cars overnight in the San Bernardino Mountains. Rescue crews had to be called in to get them out of harm's way.

The San Bernardino County Fire Department tweeted these pictures of the rescues. Crews used snow cats, truck-sized vehicles designed to move heavy snow to pluck people to safety.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in foothills of the San Bernardino National Forest with more.

Good morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. I just want to give you some idea of what they're dealing with in the higher elevations that are very hard to get to. This is some of the ice that dropped off a couple of the cars that have been driving down that, one just behind me still has a bit of snow on it. It wasn't that much snow.

A lot of people are saying, you know. wait a minute, this was only a foot of snow, but you have to understand the terrain that people were dealing with and if they didn't have, if it caught them by surprise and they didn't have chains on their wheels, they would slide and that's what happened in some cases. They were hitting each other, there were accidents and then people literally got stuck in their cars as the snow was coming down.

Now it's not happening right now, but the other thing that people have been dealing with is very strong gusts of wind. We were unable to go up to the higher elevations, partly because the road was closed out and partly because as soon as it opened, the wind gusts were just too strong. They were knocking our car about. A lot of folks are having to deal with these kinds of conditions and it is extremely cold out here.

Lot of Californians not so used to the cold, at least as cold as it's gotten. So look, what's happening now is at least those people have been rescued. They are in shelters, and that's the latest on the situation here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So the people who are rescued from their cars, who stayed in their cars overnight, waiting to be rescued, they're in shelters now? Will they make it home in time for New Year's?

Oh, Sara Sidner is frozen there. Not in the literal sense, which is a good thing but we lost Sara. Hopefully those people will get home in time for New Year's Day.

California is not the only state being blasted by horrible weather this New Year's Eve. Temperatures could fall 20 or 30 degrees below average in many parts of the country.

Oh, Chad, I almost don't want to talk about this.

(LAUGHTER)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I don't even want to talk about it. I want to say United States is not the only country seeing snow right now because it is snowing east of Tijuana, Mexico, in the mountains south and southeast of San Diego. That's how far south this cold air is. It's 33 with cloudy skies in Vegas right now. They think they could see some snow especially on the mountains around Vegas.

Seven million people right now from California to Texas under winter storm warnings. Some people could get 16 inches of snow.

Now you have to understand the people that got stuck yesterday, most of them were out playing in the snow anyway. They went to go to the ski resorts to go play in it and they got stuck coming home. So if you're going to play in it, at least plan on being there for a couple of days because a foot and a half even in Colorado will make the roads very, very slow.

Some lake-effect snow into Buffalo, Watertown, coming up here for the next couple of days. We have winter storm advisories, lake-effect snow warnings going on here, probably six to 10 inches in some spots, and south of Watertown a foot and a half of snow.

It's very cold everywhere. At least it's below normal about everywhere. 75 percent of the country today will be below normal. The high, Minneapolis, 15, Chicago 22, Kansas City 24, obviously it cools down a lot overnight and close to midnight, New York City, if you're watching the ball got drop here right around the freezing mark. Atlanta, the peach drop here, got 50 degrees. Nice in Miami and also in the Key West. Temperatures there in the upper 70s, back out to the west.

Dry Seattle, Portland, and also even all the way down even into Medford, and we'll see temperatures nice in L.A., although east of there in the mountains usually you're going to see the snow, maybe St. George and the Four Corners but L.A. at least right there in the Mason 58 -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was stuck on the 70s in Miami because that sounds awfully nice.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: It's an hour and 45-minute flight from here.

COSTELLO: Let's go.

Chad Myers, thanks so much. MYERS: You, too.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, protests of police brutality expected to ring in the new year across the country.

CNN's Rosa Flores will have the story for us from New York's Times Square.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is traditionally a night of champagne, fireworks and smooches, but this year protests are planned in several U.S. cities. The group called Stop Mass Incarceration is now calling for a nationwide demonstrations to protest recent police brutality, but in Boston the mayor is delivering a strong message to another online group. He's asking activists to hold off on a planned die-in during tonight's festivities.

And in New York City amidst celebratory anticipation, the relationship between police and Mayor Bill de Blasio remains tense and when I say tense I mean tense. The "New York Times" reporting New York city police are carrying their solidarity tantrum to new and dangerous levels. Statistics suggest cops are walking off the job and no longer making low-level arrests.

"The New York Post" reporting Tuesday for the week starting December 22nd, days after two officers were executed, traffic citations have fallen by 94 percent over the same period last year. Parking violations are down 92 percent and drug arrests are down 84 percent.

Still, New York City Police say they'll keep revelers safe in Times Square tonight and that might not be easy.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in the crowd right now. Good morning.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Here is the biggest takeaway from the NYPD. They say that the experience here in Times Square in New York City will be the same like every other year.

Take a look. You can already see revelers arriving from every corner of the world. Of course, they're here to ring in the New Year. As for the new security measures -- yes, behind the scenes the NYPD telling us that they will have heightened security, more eyes and ears on the street, and they will also be monitoring social media.

Social media, why? Because of the threats coming in to NYPD officers following the ambush killing of two of their own.

We talked to the NYPD and here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JAMES O'NEILL, NYPD: As with any New Year's Eve detail, we're absolutely concerned about the security of everyone there, including the police officers. So, there is obviously a heightened sense of security during this detail, so as we turn the police officers out, we remind them they have to look out for each other and work together and make sure we all stay safe throughout this great event tomorrow night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, because of those threats, because of those two police officers who were gunned down, there has been an outburst of protests in this city. Now, the NYPD also telling us that they have a special detail ready to go at a moment's notice if a protest erupts -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rosa Flores reporting live from Times Square this morning, thanks so much.

OK, let's talk about the fun part of New Year's Eve because I invite to you keep it here on CNN. You can ring in 2015 with Anderson Cooper along with Kathy Griffin, and you know that's sure to be crazy?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHY GRIFFIN: I handcuffed myself to Anderson Cooper. You guys like did it! And I don't have the key at all.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: This is truly my worst nightmare.

GRIFFIN: We're together forever. If I can't have you, no one can.

COOPER: I will gnaw off my hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's the PG-rated version. Catch tonight's special starting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern but you don't have to wait for the fun. Head over to CNN.com/NYE. The fun has already started there.

We may still have a few hours left in 2014, but as I take to you a break, look at the celebrations already happening around the world, like this one in Sydney, Australia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The FBI is standing firm on its original assessment that North Korea is behind that massive hack on Sony. This despite a cyber security firm claiming it was a disgruntled former Sony employee responsible and not the rogue nation.

CNN justice reporter Evan Perez joins us now more.

And the FBI says -- I mean, it met with Norse. Why even meet with Norse, this company who says it was an inside job, if Norse didn't have a point?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Carol, they were sort of in a tough place, right, because this company's getting a lot of publicity trying to bring doubts upon the FBI's case and if they didn't meet with them, they would be accused of ignoring perhaps valuable evidence. So, what they did was meet with them in a field office down in St. Louis, which is normal.

Everybody, you know, if you call up the FBI and say you have information about a crime, they'll give you a meeting. So, it's not a very abnormal situation. What is abnormal is for this company to make a publicity push, putting out a press release about the meeting.

Now, you know, the FBI is calling these claims to be frankly bunk. You know, they think that this company has only one small part of this hack that it's been focusing on, which is this alleged action of a former employee, disgruntled employee. The FBI says, however, that the hackers for sure stole the credentials of a system administrator.

You and I talked about that, somebody who had free reign of the computer system at Sony, and they also say that the hackers again from North Korea routed the attack through about a dozen countries, Carol. So, that was designed to make it look like it was coming from somewhere else.

And, finally, they say there was some telltale signs in the malware code that showed, you know, characters from either China or North Korea, which again, you know, from their alphabet, which shows you that they believe that these hackers were trying to mask where this thing was coming from, but again, according to the FBI, had some telltale signals that came directly from that country.

COSTELLO: So, are you calling out no, and saying they're on a big PR campaign to make themselves look better and to get more business?

PEREZ: I'm not exactly saying that but one of the things successful about this, everyone knows what this company's name is. I'd never heard of them before this whole series of announcements.

COSTELLO: Evan Perez, thanks so much.

He is a political guy that Evan.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM: the first victims of the AirAsia crash come home and the search is at the start of the monsoon season. We'll have the latest for you from Indonesia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

In Indonesia, the monsoon season rolls in. The bleak reality of the AirAsia crash hits home. The first victims arrive onshore include wooden boxes labeled 001 and 002. Grim reminders of the 160 other victims, as bad weather descends on the Java Sea.

Also this morning, conflicting information in the search for answers. One official saying sonar may have located underwater wreckage, but the airline is now downplaying that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TONY FERNANDES, CEO AIRASIA: Search and rescue team is doing a fantastic job, and they're narrowing the search. They are feeling more comfortable that they are beginning to know where it is but there is no confirmation of them, no sonar, nothing. Some visual identification, but nothing confirmed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Paula Hancocks is live with the latest.

So, what do they know, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, at this point they're saying that the focus is on finding the passengers and the crew. Ten bodies we understand at this point have been retrieved, and we know that two of them have already come through here. We are in Kalimantan on the west coast, about 110 nautical miles away from the crash site. This is where the bodies are brought first, treated and prepared and then they are -- they basically have the initial identification here before being sent to Surabaya and the families.

You saw those two coffins arriving earlier today. We understand there are obviously more bodies that will be coming here in the near future. Now, what they do here is they basically treat the body and they also try and make some kind of identification, for example, how tall the person is, whether they're male, female, any identifying marks, any visual identification they can give. Remember, the families themselves were asked for recent photos, they were asked for any details that could help the identification.

And then also the hospital director tells us that they have representatives from five different religions, giving prayers over the bodies. They don't know the religion of that person. They're then put in a casket and sent to Surabaya to be reunited with their loved ones -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Paula Hancocks reporting live from Indonesia.

As I said, the weather is really bad in that part of the world so let's head to Atlanta and check in with Chad Myers. It's raining heavily now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, at night, Carol, when the sun sets the rain goes away, but what good is that, because it's dark. In the morning, when you want to get out there and do something, that's when these storms are popping up. It has happened like this now every single day for the past three days. I back you up, when sunrise happened, look how big the weather was up here a couple of storms in the search box here.

But now, to where we are now things are calmed down, the skies are clear, and it's dark. So they can't do anything. And then at least they can't see from helicopters and from planes so here we are, not a cloud in the sky really, not a rain shower in the sky, wake up tomorrow morning, what's there, another batch of storms. Tomorrow night, more clear skies. The next morning, more storms. It's

just going to get annoying to these researchers and these rescuers trying to find this because it is going to be one day after another where we think we have a window and those windows close on them as soon as the sun rises.

In fact, right over that box right there, this is precip accumulation. There's going to be four inches of rain over the entire box over the next 72 hours. So it just comes and it goes and it comes at the very, very wrong time. Something else that's coming, wind. A wind of 40 to 50 miles per hour. That will make waves 20 feet high and white caps. So if you're looking for something like a white piece of a plane, what's going to make it worse? White caps. So you can't tell what's a white cap and what's a white piece. This is very difficult right now.

COSTELLO: All right, Chad Myers, thanks so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.