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Jordan Unleashes First Wave of New Strikes; Secret Service Wants Charges for Drone Flyer; "Inside" the Wild World of Zoos; "Fresh Off the Boat" Premiered Last Night; How Do You Define Your Identity?

Aired February 05, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The Obama administration is wrestling with two international crises and both seem to grow more menacing by the minute. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Ukraine as the fighting there intensifies between the United States ally and pro- Russian forces; one State Department source calling the situation there "dire". Secretary Kerry is awaiting the arrival of other leaders. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel meeting with NATO allies in Belgium. Ukraine also fueling debate here, along with concerns, that maybe the military alliance should be more focused on radical jihadists.

And right now the war on ISIS escalates to a new level. Jordan unleashes its first wave of new air strikes on ISIS and could energize the U.S.-led offensive on the terror group.

Let's begin in Jordan and its capital city. CNN's Atika Shubert is in Amman where fighter jets were spotted overhead earlier today. Hi -- Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi -- Carol. We actually saw those fighter jets and we now know that the strikes against ISIS were timed with the visit of King Abdullah to the family of Muath al-Kasaesbeh, that Jordanian pilot who was murdered in that brutal video by ISIS. We have -- CNN has spoken to Saif al-Kasaesbeh, the father of the pilot. And he says that King Abdullah told him personally that the fighters jets that flew overhead today were returning from their mission, striking ISIS targets in Raqqa, obviously the ISIS stronghold in Syria.

So it does appear Jordan has unleashed that retaliation against ISIS. We are, however, still waiting for more details from the Jordanian military -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. So I'll ask you a question anyway. Do we know how long these air strikes will continue?

SHUBERT: We don't know exactly. But the Jordanian air force has been asking to do -- fly more missions and fly more missions striking not just stationary targets but also possibly targets of opportunity which may mean, for example, hitting at the command structure of ISIS. But Jordan has made it very clear that it is not intimidated by this video. In fact it is redoubling its efforts to hit back at ISIS and to hit hard.

COSTELLO: All right. CNN's Atika Shubert reporting live from Amman, Jordan -- thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: why the man who crashed his drone on the White House lawn could now face federal charges. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: He says a technical glitch caused his drone to crash land on the White House lawn. He's apologized to President Obama and the First Family. Now the Secret Service wants to press charges.

Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has more for us this morning. Good morning -- Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

That's right. I was told by a law enforcement official earlier this morning that the Secret Service is recommending charges to the U.S. Attorney's office here Washington that Shawn Usman, the man who was operating that drone that crash landed here at the White House last week, that he be charged in the case. Secret service is saying he could be charged with a violation of national defense air space.

What is curious about that, Carol, is that that law, I'm told by a law enforcement official, typically applies to aircraft and not small drones or quad copters like this one in this case. And so it does make it somewhat difficult for the U.S. Attorney's office to decide exactly how to proceed in this case. And I've been told by a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office that they have not yet made a decision as to whether they will bring charges.

But we do have a statement from the man's attorney. He has hired an attorney. He does works for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency which does makes this case somewhat sensitive for him.

Here's the statement from the attorney. "Shawn Usman is an accomplished scientist and dedicated public servant. Many of the public reports of his actions with respect to this incident are inaccurate."

And Carol -- I did I talk to a friend of Mr. Usman over the weekend and he does yes, Usman is apologetic. He wants to apologize to the First Family, he feels bad about this. And the way he explains it, he was trying to fly this drone outside of his apartment window which is just several blocks from the White House and it inexplicably took off according to this friend.

And what's, you know, interesting about that is if you go online and Google this and look into this, you know, this has occurred -- this has occurred with other users of this particular drone. As a matter of fact, "The Wall Street Journal" did a big story about it back in December, talked to the chief executive of this company about this problem.

And so that's the explanation coming from the drone operator, whether or not that will wash with federal prosecutors -- that remains to be seen -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So there's rumors out there that this drone operator was a little drunk are not true?

ACOSTA: Well, you know, the friend says, and I talked to him extensively about this over the weekend. We should mention I did reach out to Shawn Usman. He does not want to comment. But his friend says, he doesn't want to be named, that his friend Shawn Usman was drinking earlier in the evening, but by the time he was trying to fly this drone outside of his apartment window that alcohol was not a factor at that time.

So the whole drinking and droning thing that became sort of a buzzword or buzz term last week is not applicable in this case according to the gentleman's friend -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta, many thanks.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's true a day at the zoo can be a great family outing but behind the scenes it can be a very dangerous job. In the new episode of "INSIDE MAN" Morgan Spurlock learns the dos and don'ts of gorilla feeding.

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MORGAN SPURLOCK, CNN HOST: Anything I should know before we get started of things that I should or shouldn't do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something really important is direct eye contact in primate culture is considered a threat. While you and I talk with direct eye contact, it's actually a threat for them.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you usually look chest high on them or directly past them.

One always seems to fall out. The first thing we do, I checked on the way down, I made sure all the cages are locked.

SPURLOCK: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They come into these individual stalls and eat their dinner or breakfast, depending on time of day. I'll let you operate the door if you'd like.

SPURLOCK: And there he is. Whoa, he's pursing his lip.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's called a threat face. They stand very rigid and very tall and then purse their lips really very tight.

And then -- when you give them things, you want to make sure that your fingers don't cross and they can just take it from you.

SPURLOCK: How about a banana? And then there's that. I've never been so happy to have a fence next to me in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Morgan Spurlock joins me now. I can't tell you how much that scene reminded me of "Planet of the Apes".

SPURLOCK: Yes, right.

COSTELLO: I expected the gorilla to like to start talking in human talk and like shooting at you.

SPURLOCK: It's all fun and games until they get guns.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Why didn't that gorilla like you? You didn't look at them in the eye.

SPURLOCK: No, but they are -- that's part of what being a gorilla is, they posture, they want to like -- they want to express their dominance. They want to make sure that you know they're in charge. And so that's why they slam against the cage. They make these threat movements, yes. It's intimidating. It is intimidating.

COSTELLO: I cannot wait to watch your show because you kind of go in depth about why we have zoos. Like why we feel the need to see these animals in captivity.

SPURLOCK: Yes. And there continues to be a question of should we continue to have animals in captivity? There's a lot of debate around this. You see a lot of animal rights activists say zoos have kind of outlived their purpose. In a time when we couldn't travel the world, we would see them on the Internet or, you know, on television.

Zoos kind of served a major purpose but a lot of people say this education, zoos are still valuable. It's important for us to kind of see these animals in a habitat. But if it's not their natural habitat the question is, is this the best for their animals?

COSTELLO: I find it difficult to go to zoos because the animals are just kind of laying around. Some of them are sleeping, they're not moving.

SPURLOCK: Yes. Not a lot of running.

COSTELLO: No. Not a lot of running. So is there any way to determine whether these animals are actually happy?

SPURLOCK: That's a great question. I was at the Detroit Zoo which is probably one of the best run zoos in the country. And they do a lot of studies just to basically assess animal happiness or kind of animal fulfillment. Sometimes they learn that these animals aren't as happy as they should be. In fact a few years ago, Winky and Wanda -- they're two elephants, they decided to get rid of and basically send them off to a sanctuary in California where they could have a much more fulfilling life.

COSTELLO: Oh.

SPURLOCK: Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: That makes me so sad. But I know that zoos try to make it like their natural habitat. Like the San Diego Zoo is fantastic. And you go there and say they must be happy because there's grass and trees and it's beautiful.

SPURLOCK: It's beautiful. Yes.

COSTELLO: But you can't escape the feeling of, I'd much rather be in Africa and see these animals running free -- something I've never done.

SPURLOCK: And most of us never will. I mean that's the fact that most of us will never get to see them in their natural habitat. But as long as we continue to eliminate and encroach on their natural habitat and basically eliminate it, we're going to need zoos because where else are we going to put these animals. And once you raise an animal in captivity, they can't go back into the wild.

COSTELLO: So what did you take away when all was said and done?

SPURLOCK: I mean what you hope is that we continue to look at zoos and look at these types of environments as a place that will benefit animals. And you know, hopefully in time there will be places that are much more for the animals than they are for you and I.

COSTELLO: I hope so.

SPURLOCK: Yes.

COSTELLO: Morgan Spurlock, thanks so much.

SPURLOCK: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I appreciate it.

You can watch "INSIDE MAN" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In Taiwan a remarkable rescue unfolds in the middle of tragedy. A child pulled from the wreckage of that TransAsia plane crash seemingly unharmed and rescuers rushed the young child to safety.

Hard to fathom he was inside this plane. By now, you've probably seen the video that captures the plane clipping a taxi, hitting a bridge and then crashing into the river below. The taxi driver survives, calling his company moments later.

(VIDEO CLIP OF TAXI DRIVER CALLING HIS COMPANY ABOUT THE TRANSASIA FLIGHT CRASH)

COSTELLO: It's amazing. He survived without injury. As for why that plane crashed, that remains mystery this morning.

The immigration reform fight goes on and on and on in Washington. Maybe it will never end. Who knows? What is happening though is an examination of who we are. Who is us? How do we define our identity? Are we all simply American as Bobby Jindal suggests or do our collective ethnic backgrounds in part make us quintessentially American?

It's what the new ABC sit.com "Fresh off the Boat" explored last night. Like the comedy "Black-ish" and the coming TBS documentary, "The Italian American". It will delve into how much cultural diversity should matter when it comes to being American.

I sat down with the young star of "Fresh off the Boat" Hudson Yang and asked him what he thought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I'll ask you a hard question, do you think of yourself as Chinese American or just American or does it matter to you?

HUDSON YANG, ACTOR: I don't really care. I mean if I was any other race, it wouldn't matter to me. But being Asian or being Asian- American, it's the same, and it's really fun and cool.

When you get to do something like this, like Jeremy Lin, how he became a professional basketball player or like how I became part of the show or how they had the all American girl 20 years ago, all of this is -- just being part of it is amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He was something. I've always considered myself Italian American. I believe my immigrant grandparents and their traditions played a big part in who I became. Eric Liu, who wrote "A Chinaman's Chance", sat down with me to talk about his own identity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: What is us?

ERIC LIU, AUTHOR, "A CHINAMAN'S CHANCE: You know, I think this is the great American question. There used to be a notion that when you said American and do the word association game, a picture popped into your head of white male actually -- right.

And well into the 21st century, that picture doesn't cut it anymore. You feel comfortable saying I'm 100 percent Italian. When you say that, people listening don't say, oh, wow, she's a foreigner. Oh wow, maybe she's not loyal to the United States. People get what you're saying. Your 100 percent Italian is about as American as saying it.

If I were to say here I'm 100 percent Chinese, right, and then you cut to the next news story and about Chinese espionage or whatever it is, suddenly that's a different thing. Asian-Americans have not yet been fully integrated into American life where you can just so confidently assert that.

And so I think it's especially important for those of us with Asian descent to own it.

COSTELLO: I think many Americans have the idea that Asians aren't discriminated against. We want them in this country. They're smart, they know math.

LIU: There are a whole lot of Asian-Americans today who don't at all fit that stereotype. Within the Chinese-American community, there are today half a million Chinese Americans who are living in poverty with deep social dysfunctions and challenges. That's not just part of the model minority stereotype.

COSTELLO: And I know you get this all the time. People ask you where you're from and you'll say --

LIU: I'll say I'm from Poughkeepsie, New York -- right.

COSTELLO: Poughkeepsie. But then they'll go, but where are you from?

LIU: Yes. Yes. Where are you really from?

COSTELLO: That has to be most annoying.

LIU: A lot of Asian-Americans are presumed foreign until proven otherwise. And there's variations on that theme -- right. I mean sometimes it's, gosh, your English is so good to which your answer is, I should hope so, I've been speaking it since I could talk. I mean I've had a lot of practice.

COSTELLO: What goes through your mind as you listen to these debates among our lawmakers and our president when it comes to talking about immigration?

LIU: This isn't just a matter of compassion for these people. This is a matter of making sure America wins. To me we have this competitive advantage. I think about this a lot as a Chinese American because we're in an age where China is rising and everybody thinks, wow, China is going to be the next great nation and number one economically and whatever.

I don't sweat that because the United States retains this deep enduring advantage which you can boil down this way. America makes Chinese Americans. China does not make American-Chinese. China does not want to or know how to. It's not wired to take people from other parts of the planet, fuse them and integrate them into their society and allow them to change that society. That's what we do here. That's our advantage if we don't blow it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I wrote an op-ed on American identity. If you want to check it out, go to CNN.com/opinion or you can check it out on my Facebook page, facebook.com/CarolCNN.

And please comment because I always like to hear what you have to say.

All right. Let's check some top stories at 58 minutes past.

Suge Knight is back in custody after being released from the hospital. The rap mogul suffered an anxiety attack in court on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to murder and other charges in a hit-and-run.

Pope Francis is hosting a Google plus chat. The tech savvy pontiff is interacting right now with kids around the world. The students are sharing glimpses into their lives and telling the Pope their dreams for the future.

Meet the newest face or should I say body of sports illustrated clad in a string bikini, 27-year-old Ashley Graham's curves are making quite the splash. She is the first plus size model to grace the pages of their annual swimsuit issue.

I don't think she's plus size. She looks absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

Another hour of NEWSROOM straight ahead.