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Authorities to Address Victims' Families Soon; Iran Talks Deadline Nears; Lubitz Treated for "Suicidal Tendencies"; Manhunt for Escaped Prisoner in Virginia. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 31, 2015 - 09:005   ET

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


[09:00:17] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks so much. NEWSROOM starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

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

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Francois Hollande speaking right now in Berlin. Merkel addressed the Germanwings crash just moments ago. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (Through Translator): I would like to welcome our French guests and everybody and the French President Hollande -- Monsieur Hollande. And would like to thank everybody who worked with us.

First of all, we spoke in memory of the horrible catastrophe, the crash of the Germanwings flight. And France and the French president and all the ministers and everybody else, we thanked very much. We also a thanked everybody in the region in France who helped with such a big heart, did the recovery, the salvaging and also welcomed all the victims or the relatives of the victims.

They are all in such a horrible situation. And this shows the French- German friendship. I very much thank all people in that region, all people in France who helped everybody who has lost loved ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. Angela Merkel thanking everyone who helped Germany through this terrible, terrible time.

Let's head to the Alps now where authorities are planning to address the family members of the Germanwings victims at any moment now.

Erin McLaughlin is covering that angle for us.

Hi, Erin. ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. There is so much

grief, so much sorrow here in Vernet. Local officials say some 26 relatives or families of victims in the area, some six nationalities. The families and friends of the victims have been coming here to visit a small memorial site just behind me. You can see there, it's covered by police and fire vehicles in order to ensure their privacy for these visits.

Yesterday, the family of 68-year-old Carol Friday, her 29-year-old son Greig, were here. They were on board Flight 9525. Her brother, Malcolm Coram, his daughters Philipa and Georgena were here. They came all the way from Australia with flowers and messages from home. They said they are so grief-stricken, too grief-stricken they said, to understand or comprehend what happened. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALCOLM CORAM, VICTIM'S BROTHER: I now know the true meaning of the word grief-stricken. My nephew Greig was my godson and my daughter's soul mate for their whole lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe down the track we can process the anger. We're thinking that someone did this on purpose. But it's too much for our family at this stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, many of these families say that they would like to visit the crash site. And so local authorities have begun to build a road to the site, just over half a mile long. They finished the path this morning. It's not quite ready for vehicles. They still need to pave it. But that path is now being used for the recovery effort.

The weather has been problematic here in the French Alps. It's been incredibly windy. So today not a single chopper taking to the skies. Authorities say they want to make sure there is not another air disaster in the area. And so they've been accessing for the first time the site, walking along this path, to continue with their very important work, the recovery of human remains.

Authorities saying that so far they have been able to identify the remains of 78 victims. And they are -- there is this worry that the crash, the impact of the crash was so devastating they may not be able to identify everyone who was on board that plane, that the victims, some of them, may forever remain a part of the landscape you see behind me.

And that's really why the families have been saying it's so important for them to be able to eventually use that road to get to the site to be as close to their loved ones as possible -- Carol.

[09:05:10] COSTELLO: All right. Erin McLaughlin reporting live for us this morning.

In other news the clock is ticking and the tensions are climbing in the U.S.-led nuclear talks with Iran. There is now less than eight hours for Secretary of State John Kerry to hammer out a tentative deal with Iran. And even Kerry admits there are tricky issues that could stand in the way.

There's still big differences on several key points including limits on Iran advancing its nuclear technology in the final years of the deal. Also how quickly the U.N. sanctions would be lifted and whether those sanctions will snap back into place if Iran violates the deal. The State Department is keeping expectations in check. Spokeswoman Marie Harf puts the odds of a tentative deal at, quote, "a 50-50 chance."

So let's dig deeper with someone who knows exactly what world leaders are up against as they scramble to strike a deal. The former Iranian nuclear negotiations, Seyed Hossein Mousavian. He's also the author of "Iran and the United States: An Insider's View on the Failed Path and the Road to Peace."

Thank you so much for joining us, sir.

SEYED HOSSEIN MOUSAVIAN, FORMER IRANIAN NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR: Thank you. Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Bottom line here, if there is no deal, Iran will continue to build a bomb. Is that right?

MOUSAVIAN: I don't believe Iran would continue to build nuclear bomb, but Iran would continue its peaceful nuclear program without any limits.

COSTELLO: Without any limits. So they would continue to build this nuclear bomb. And what if the United States Congress and the United Nations imposed more sanctions on Iran, would that stop them?

MOUSAVIAN: No. Don't get me wrong. Iran would continue its nuclear program within the framework of nonproliferation treaty, which would remain peaceful but would not accept any further limits beyond NPT. However, I believe the chance is high. They are working to reach a statement to be issued either today or tomorrow.

To my understanding the nuclear talks have reached to no return point and the two sides will agree either today or tomorrow on a joint statement declaring major progress already they have made, they have achieved. And some disputes left to be negotiated in order to reach final comprehensive agreement by June, July 2015.

COSTELLO: And that's despite, you know, the supreme commander really has control over this, the Ayatollah. And I'm looking at his Twitter feed. He recently tweeted this, "The U.S. should know that the people of Iran wouldn't submit to bullying and negotiators follow the nation in disallowing anyone to bully them."

So are you saying that the Ayatollah, even though he feels like this about the United States and the negotiators, has been won over?

MOUSAVIAN: I think American officials and the world powers, they understand very well the supreme leader has very powerfully supported the nuclear team and the nuclear talks. Here is the point. From the day one, Iran and the world powers, they have agreed the final deal would be within the framework of nonproliferation treaty.

I can say by confidence -- with confidence that today there is no more dispute left between Iran and the world powers on every verification measure, transparency measures within the framework of nonproliferation treaty NPT. The disputed issues are all about the U.S. and the world powers demand beyond nonproliferation treaty. However, Iranians, they have shown flexibility for a number of years to go beyond NPT for confidence building measures assuring the international community that they would never be after nuclear bombs.

Here is the point of Iranian supreme leaders. He has no problem with all measures within international rules and regulations. Even he has accepted some measures as confidence building beyond nonproliferation treaty for specific years. But he's not going to accept many, many excessive demands far, far beyond international rules and regulations.

[09:10:05] COSTELLO: I guess my final question is this. If some sort of framework is achieved by the end of the day and some sort of agreement is reached by the end of June, can the United States and other nations trust Iran to keep its part of the deal?

MOUSAVIAN: Since Joint Plan of Action has been signed in November 2013, the U.S. and the world powers and the International Atomic Energy Agency, they have all confirmed that Iran has fully comprehensively implemented the Joint Plan of Action for about 18 months. Therefore, there is a great trust in the U.S. administration that if there is a deal Iranians would be permitted and they would implement.

I believe the deal is enriched. They have some inches to announce a final statement. I believe this would be the beginning of an end to 35 years of Iran-U.S. hostility. This would be a big achieve for stability in the region and for international peace and security.

COSTELLO: Seyed Hossein Mousavian, thank you so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

MOUSAVIAN: Thank you very much.

COSTELLO: The Iranian nuclear talks have become a central priority in President Obama's second term. And new polls show strong public sentiment on the issue as a well.

CNN's senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta joins us live with that part of the story.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. If the White House was looking for some good news this morning as these four ministers are scrambling to work out a deal in Switzerland they did get some in this new "Washington Post"- ABC News poll. We'll put the numbers up on screen. It's a pretty widespread support for a deal with Iran to constrain its

nuclear program. 59 percent in favor, 31 percent against. But if you look at these other numbers in the poll, there is some skepticism as to whether or not Iran will hold up its end of the agreement. 59 percent of Americans say they're not confident in this poll that Iran will stop developing a nuclear weapon as a result of this deal and 37 percent say they are confident.

And, Carol, I can tell you from talking to administration officials this morning, we're not even sure we're going to get a deal later on today. I heard the former Iranian negotiator saying that he thinks there will be one with. But I talked to an official earlier this morning who said we don't have an agreement yet, we're not sure we're going to get one. But keep in mind if a deal can be reached the White House is now planning to really pursue a big time sales pitch up on Capitol Hill.

They know lawmakers are skeptical. Talked to a White House official yesterday who said yes, expect a high-level robust consultations to occur between the White House, potentially the president, and senior lawmakers up on Capitol Hill. And so what we may see at the end of the day, and keep in mind this may go down to the wire. We may not get something until something like midnight later tonight.

The White House is planning to really kick it into high gear and try to sell this up on Capitol Hill because they know that lawmakers are very, very skeptical about this deal -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta reporting live from the White House.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:45] COSTELLO: All right. Let's head back to the base of the French Alps. This is -- this is a local authority talking to the families of the victims on that Germanwings flight. Let's listen.

PATRICIA WILLAERT, SPOKESWOMAN FOR PREFECTURE (through translator): Because we also this Friday is also a bank holiday in Spain and Germany. So we'll set up facilities because we will have individuals who are coming, people coming every day, representatives of different -- there are 20 different nationalities.

So, we will ensure that we have all the means possible to listen to them by respecting their privacy and their suffering and that's what I wanted to say to you. I don't know if you have any questions.

COSTELLO: All right. The family members are asking questions of this local authority because they want a better pathway closer to the crash site so they can visit the place where their loved ones died. We'll keep you posted on what's said in this news conference.

Going on, though, with the investigation, -- the German newspaper "Bild" says Andreas Lubitz, the copilot, was afraid he would lose his pilot's license and that's why he crashed the plane. Investigators aren't exactly confirming that, but they do say Lubitz suffered from depression and had suicidal tendencies. The trouble is, the aviation authority didn't know it despite asking Lubitz and other personnel about their mental health.

A German aviation source tells CNN Lubitz passed he is annual recertification test last summer, that's after Lubitz filled out this questionnaire provided by aviation authorities. Some of the questions -- do you have any psychological, psychiatric or neurological diseases? Are you taking any medication? Have you ever attempted suicide?

Now, if you wanted to keep your job, would you answer "yes" to any of those questions?

Let's talk about that with CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo.

Hi, Mary.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Hi there. Good to be with you.

COSTELLO: Good to have you here. I should also mention, you are the former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Do American pilots fill out similar questionnaires?

SCHIAVO: Almost exactly. On this form it's question 47. It asks the pilots about psychiatric problems. It is a total voluntary disclosure system. They don't have to provide medical records or provide a release to the medical examiner, the flight physician to go get other medical records.

COSTELLO: I'd like to believe in the good of people and if you are suffering a psychiatric disorder you would say "yes" on the questionnaire. But I'm doubting that happens in every case.

SCHIAVO: No, it's very are common that people don't disclose it. One way you can tell that is, for example, if you go to the National Transportation Safety Board database of accident investigations. I won't say it's common but it's certainly not rare that when they do the toxicology screens on pilots in accidents, they often find pilots have in their system other drugs including anti-depressants and other medications that they have not reported to the FAA. And clearly, it's a violation of the law.

You know, this is a tox screen on a dead person. So, there isn't anything you're going to do about it at that point.

[09:20:01] But if it's any indication of the rates of not reporting among the living, it's pretty high. And then, when I was inspector general, we did a big nationwide push to try to clean up the pilot self-reporting, because if you lie on that form, it's actually a felony. It's a false statement to the government.

We found, for example, pilots also didn't report drunk driving convictions and other run-ins with the law, any kind of domestic abuse situations where they had been suspected of violent behavior. So, failing to report things on those forms was rampant, widespread

and the FAA just really just didn't get that concerned about it.

COSTELLO: Just -- of course, you know, you think about it from the other side. It's easy to say mental health records should be available to your employer. But when all is said and done, many employees wouldn't like employers in their medical histories.

So, what's the answer?

SCHIAVO: Well, the answer is the midway. After all, you get your medical. You get your medical certification from a flight physician.

It's a doctor. You go to this doctor. And I think that this doctor has to have access to the medical records. So, I think part of the examination if the doctor has a concern, the doctor -- the pilot should have to give access to the medical records or there is a much easier way.

And already, pilots are subject to pre-hire drug screens and random drug testing during their careers. But that's only for illegal substances, pot, cocaine, meth, et cetera, or alcohol. If you added a full tox screen you could tell they were taking anti-psychotic, anti- depressants and other medications that they haven't reported.

Now, remember, they can do them if they report the drug to the FAA and the FAA has a period of evaluation by a doctor, not the FAA -- the FAA doesn't have docs to do this. The doc will report you were able to fly with your anti-depressant or whatever else you need.

So, there is a way around it. It takes time. There is a way to be legal. So, saying you can't report and people won't take medicine, that's not the answer. There is an answer. But it's something the pilots have to do and work at.

COSTELLO: All right. Mary Schiavo, thanks as always. I appreciate it.

Still to come on the NEWSROOM, Indiana's governor standing firm on the state's controversial religious freedom law as the backlash spreads across the nation. Rosa Flores is in Indianapolis this morning.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning.

It is a race against the clock here in Indiana with Democrats asking for a swift repeal of the law. Republicans scrambling to change the language and hear this -- the governor announcing he will speak to reporters again. We'll let you know what we know, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:07] COSTELLO: A manhunt now under way for a prisoner who escaped from a Virginia hospital overnight. Fairfax County police say the suspect was being treated for a medical condition when he overpowered a security guard, stole his gun and then stole a car.

Let's bring in CNN's Athena Jones in Falls Church with more.

Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Police are searching for the suspect, Wossen Assaye. They say he carjacked a woman a couple of hours ago. Not far from this hospital, about three miles from the hospital. A woman, and he's now driving her 2002 silver Toyota Camry with Virginia license plates.

That's the latest information we have from the police on this very dramatic story that began unfolding very early this morning, just after 3:00 a.m.

This prisoner was being brought to the hospital for a medical treatment after attempting to harm himself. We understand that to be some sort of suicide attempt.

He was here in the custody of two private security guards from a private security company who were here escorting him to the hospital. He was able to during a struggle, take one of the guns from one of those security officers. During the struggle a shot was fired.

We understand -- we don't believe anyone was injured in that sentence. But he took the gun, made off with the gun in his hospital gown. Police are saying he's armed and dangerous and was last seen in a hospital gown alone carjacking this woman about three miles from here.

Now, police have also released in addition to a photo of this suspect Wossen Assaye. They released a photo of his girlfriend. They say that the suspect has a girlfriend and family members in the area, and may be trying to reach out to them or somehow connect with them.

We don't have the name of the girlfriend. Police haven't released her name, only her picture.

But that is what's going on this morning. It is a very intense time. The hospital was under lockdown for sometime. The area was shutdown, but now, this massive manhunt is out on the roads, looking for the escaped prisoner in the 2002 silver Toyota Camry -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Do we know what he was in prison for?

JONES: We know that he was arrested for bank robbery. He is a suspect in about a dozen bank robberies. The most recent one, he was arrested March 23rd, suspected of robbing the Apple Federal Credit Union in Alexandria, Virginia, which is not far from here.

In these bank robberies the suspect would apparently go in, use -- brandish a gun or hand over a note to get the money and then would escape on a bicycle. So, this is a very interesting, very dramatic case here of this suspect Wossen Assaye, suspected in several bank robberies, who was brought here overnight for treatment after trying to harm himself and managed to escape the custody of these private security guards, make up, and carjack a woman. That's who police are looking for in the silver Toyota Camry -- Carol. COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones, reporting life from Falls Church,

Virginia, this morning -- thank you.

The backlash over Indiana's religious freedom law is growing. And now, the Indianapolis city council can be added to the list.

In a 24-4 vote, the council opposing its own state law and urged the state legislature to amend civil rights law to include sexual orientation. The move drawing a standing ovation from those in attendance. City council joining with politicians, businesses and sports leaders from across the country in publicly condemning the law. Lawmakers issuing travel bans for taxpayer funded employees as sports leagues declared support for inclusion and top companies scaled back their presence in Indiana.

For his part the governor, Pence, continues to defend the law, telling "The Wall Street Journal", quote, "It doesn't discriminate." We're going to be hearing from the governor in just a few hours, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

But in a blunt headline, the Indianapolis star has a simple message for Governor Pence: fix this now.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Indianapolis with more.

Good morning.