Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Rough Day for Stocks; Lubitz Investigation Continues; Rebels' Strongholds Pounded; Manhunt for Kenyan Terror Mastermind Intensifies; NCAA Championship Tonight. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 06, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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


ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And as we hear the folks here at the New York Stock Exchange clapping, not thinking there's a lot to be cheerful about, especially when you look at that dismal jobs report that came out on Friday. Investors are expected to hit the sell button today because of that disappointing jobs report that showed only 126,000 jobs were added to the economy in March, compared to an expected 244,000.

(OPENING BELL RINGING)

[09:30:02] And although it could be just a fluke, it is causing concern because the worry is that it's creating doubt about the strength of the economy. For one, you look at GDP last year, losing steam, and (ph) the last three months of last year. Business spending is also slowing down. You look at the last three durable goods reports, they disappointed as well. Also, the effective lower gas prices seems to be losing its cachet with consumers. Retail sales have been down in the last three months as well.

So, the opening bell has rung. We do see those red arrows. We do see the bigger indices dropping ever so slightly. It could be a rough day. Ah, but, Carol, it is baseball's opening day. I want to go to the podium, if you can show it. We've got some of Major League Baseball's former players. We've got the Yankees represented. We've got the Mets represented. But, so sorry, Charlie, so sorry, Carol, not the Tigers represented today on that podium.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, that is just wrong! But at least they're celebrating baseball on opening day, a sure sign of spring, and we all love that, especially in light of this terrible winter we've all suffered.

KOSIK: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

KOSIK: You got it.

COSTELLO: Another sure sign of spring. I want to take you live to the South Lawn of the White House. Yes, they're getting ready for the big Easter Egg Roll. At 10:30 Eastern Time, the president and the first lady will make a few remarks and that weird looking White House bunny will appear. Did you catch "The Washington Post" article on how creepy the White House Easter Bunny is? And when you see him, you'll know what I'm talking about. But, seriously, the president and the first lady will make some remarks. The first daughters will pop out. And, of course, when this thing starts in earnest, we'll take you back live to the White House. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:23] COSTELLO: More new details about what the co-pilot was searching online in the weeks leading up to the Germanwings crash. According to the German newspaper "Bild," Andreas Lubitz used the username "Skydevil" to log on to a computer and he searched terms like bipolarity and manic depression. This comes as the German Aviation Authority tells Reuters that they had, quote, "no impression at all" about Lubitz' medical background prior to the crash.

So let's talk about this. Aviation attorney Justin Green joins me, as does CNN safety analyst David Soucie.

Welcome to both of you.

JUSTIN GREEN, AVIATION ATTORNEY: Thank you, Carol.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: It's just -- it's still incredible to me, David, that no one knew at Lufthansa or at Germanwings that this guy had a problem.

SOUCIE: It is. It's amazing that they didn't. But we have to think about this in two ways. One is, did they notice something? But two is, did they notice something severe enough to actually bring it to the authorities or to bring it to the airline? So this is something that's going to be -- really have to changed or look at is, when -- at what point do you say he's not fit? There's no real litmus test that says, this guy's crazy, we need to get him out of here.

COSTELLO: Yes, but, obviously, Justin, he spent a long time researching stuff online. He even had a name, "Skydevil."

GREEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: I don't know what to make of that.

GREEN: Well, I think what's important to note is that Lufthansa runs the flight school that this guy was trained at. And during his training at that flight school, he had to take a leave of absence because of psychological issues. And apparently he told them when he came back that he had suffered a severe case of depression. And at the time, the reports have come out, that he also had suicidal ideation at least at that point. And the question -- what's going to be interesting to find out from the investigation is what the airline did before -- and this is all before he was hired. So what did they do in terms of their initial screening? Is this guy a guy that you want in the cockpit of an airplane?

COSTELLO: What do you suppose they did in their initial screening, David? SOUCIE: In their initial screening, what they would have done is,

especially after he came back and he had this bout of severe depression, there are programs to deal with that within the airline community and there are programs to make sure that they've gone through cycle tests -- psychological testing. What's going to be very imperative here is, did the airline take those steps to try to mitigate that problem before they put him back online? If they did not, then that airline is going to be solely responsible for what happened. If they did, if they followed the procedures, that's when the regulators have to step in and say, are the regulations sufficient? Is there something we need to do to improve the regulations? So that's going to be the determiner right there.

COSTELLO: So, Justin, you're an aviation attorney. Even if they followed the rules, do you ever put a guy who had suicidal thoughts in the cockpit of a plane?

GREEN: Well, you know, it's -- it -- what has to be understood is that the rules that the FAA puts out are minimum standards. The actual act that gives the FAA the authority to issue regulation says issue minimum standards. The airlines are the people that sell the tickets. The airlines are responsible for the safety of their passengers. And the airlines don't fly to the FAA's minimum standards, but they are required to at least meet the minimum standards.

So here the airline doesn't have an obligation to hire a pilot who has a license. An airline can basically find out as much as they want -- it wants about a pilot. In this case, with -- the only thing they really know about him is he's young, he successfully completed their training program, but he couldn't finish it without taking a break for psychological reasons. And I think that there's going to be a big question about whether this airline or any airline would have hired someone with his record.

COSTELLO: All right, Justin Green, David Soucie, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

SOUCIE: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an American is killed in the escalating violence in Yemen. Up next, CNN takes you inside the capital.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:28] COSTELLO: An American man is among the hundreds dead after fierce fighting in Yemen. Jamal al-Labani, a gas station owner who lived in California, was planning to bring his pregnant wife and young daughter back to the United States. Those dreams shattered after he was killed by a mortar strike while leaving a mosque. He's the first American to be killed by the escalating violence in that war-torn country.

In the meantime, millions of residents are without power as Saudi-led airstrikes continue to pound rebel fighters. And an International Red Cross plane carrying nearly 50 tons of medical supplies has been grounded.

Let's talk more about all of this and bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir. She just got back from an exclusive look at the capital city of Sanaa.

What did you see?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we went in with an Indian aircraft that's trying to evacuate as many of both their nationals and really pretty much anyone who can just get to the airport. And you can imagine, there are quite a few wanting to do that.

It flew in. it had negotiated a very tight window with the Saudi air force. And we felt every single minute of that as we came in to land. There was just this real sense of the devastation, a real sense of the fear just coming off of Sanaa, as you saw it coming in. No one on the streets, no cars, no people. In that window of respite from aerial bombardment by the Saudi air force, people really were trying just to catch their breath.

And we waited and waited. And then suddenly those that we were here to evacuate, that the Indian air force, I should day, was there to evacuate, they were finally allowed to approach that plane. They could only bring on what they could physically carry and they ran on to that plane, Carol. So many of them we spoke to said they couldn't believe that this ordeal was finally over. But as you said, there are so many still inside Yemen, still unable to get to these evacuation points, still horrifyingly trapped.

COSTELLO: So why was -- why was this Red Cross plane grounded then?

ELBAGIR: Well, it is still here in Djibouti and they're not -- they're not giving really any more details than that other than the fact that it wasn't allowed to fly. But this has been something that both the Red Cross and MSF Doctors Without Borders have been raising continuously over the last few day, that they are not being grounded a humanitarian access corridor. I mean even for the flight that we were on to get in and get out, there was so much negotiations, so much red tape, so many areas in which error could cost human lives. And that just -- a lot of these aid agencies are saying isn't acceptable and so many people don't have access to any kind of aid. They don't have access to decent health care. They don't have power. And they're suffering every single day.

[09:45:13] COSTELLO: Nima Elbagir reporting live from Djibouti this morning, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the manhunt for the mastermind of Kenya's campus slaughter. We're on the ground in Kenya, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Right now, a massive manhunt is underway to try to find the mastermind of that vicious terror attack in Kenya. More than 140 people dead after al Shabaab militants stormed a university. Kenyan officials now offering up a $215,000 reward for this man, Mohamed Mohamud. The senior al Shabaab leader is believed to have an extensive terror network. His primary role, to coordinate crossings along the Kenyan border. Plus, new details about another gunman, homegrown terrorist and the son of a high ranking government official. All of this as Kenya's military strikes back, bombing two al Shabaab camps in Somalia.

CNN's Christian Purefoy has more from Kenya.

CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kenyan authorities have named what they say is the mastermind behind the attack that killed 147 people in Garissa University. He's a man in charge of the militia along the long, porous border of Somalia and cross border attack into Kenya. But here's what we know so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:50:00] PUREFOY (voice-over): This morning, Kenya on heightened alert. Even Easter prayers, shaken.

The security checks outside churches. Kenyan forces on guard after the terrorist group al Shabaab threatened, quote, "another bloodbath," over the weekend. Relatives, grieving, in complete anguish as Kenyan forces remain on the lookout for the al Shabaab militant behind the Garissa University attack that killed nearly 150 people.

The government says Mohamed Mohamud, wanted for a bounty of more than $200,000, is the mastermind. Known by other aliases, the former religious teacher is the regional al Shabaab commander in the Juba region of Somalia. According to a ministry document given to CNN, the al Qaeda linked militant is in charge of external operations against Kenya.

Garissa sits on one of the longest religious fault lines in the world. A largely Christian sub-Saharan Africa to the south and a mostly Muslim population to the north.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our forefathers bled and died for this nation and we will do everything to defend our way of life.

PUREFOY: Meanwhile, Kenyan's interior ministry identifying another attacker, this man, an apparent home-grown terrorist, Kenyan Abdirahim Abdullahi. The 20 something son of a Kenyan government chief of Somali dissent. His father says his law graduate son has been missing since 2013, last working for a bank. The ministry says he disappeared to Somalia last year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PUREFOY: I think it's important that when we talk about these people and use phrases such as "mastermind," they are really just using the most basic means as possible to kill as many people as possible.

Back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, Christian Purefoy reporting for us this morning. One-on-one with NSA leaker Edward Snowden. A major get for "Last Week

Tonight" host John Oliver, who traveled all the way to Russia to ask Snowden some pretty tough questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN OLIVER, HOST, "LAST WEEK TONIGHT": How many of those documents have you actually read?

EDWARD SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER: I evaluated all of the documents that are in the archive.

OLIVER: You've read every single one?

SNOWDEN: Well, I do understand what I turned over.

OLIVER: But there's -- there's a difference between understanding what's in the documents and reading what's in the documents.

SNOWDEN: I recognize the concern.

OLIVER: Right, I'll give you because when -- when you're handing over thousands of NSA documents, the last thing you want to do is read them.

So "The New York Times" took a slide, didn't redact it properly and, in the end, it was possible for people to see that something was being used in Mosul on al Qaeda.

SNOWDEN: That is a problem.

OLIVE: Well, that's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It wasn't all serious, though. There were some lighter moments like when Oliver showed Snowden video of people being interviewed on the street in Times Square. Most of them had absolutely no idea who Snowden is.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, brackets are busted. An undefeated Kentucky is out. So who will be the men's basketball champs? The Badgers or the Blue Devils? CNN's Andy Scholes is in the thick of it in Indianapolis.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Good morning, Carol.

This should be a good one. Duke is trying to win Coach K his fifth national title, while the Wisconsin Badgers are trying to win their first championship in 74 years. We'll break down the star-studded matchup when NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:57:13] COSTELLO: Badgers versus blue Devils. It all comes down to this. We're just hours away from the tip-off in the national championship. Duke basketball royalty, Wisconsin bracket busters who upset the favorites and posted this vine (ph) of Badger mania. CNN's Andy Scholes is in Indianapolis this morning.

Good morning, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes, good morning, Carol.

And not many people picked this as their championship matchup, Duke versus Wisconsin. But not many of us, 99 percent of us didn't think this game was going to be the one in the championship. A lot of the people still thought Kentucky would be going for that perfect season but Wisconsin, they had other plans, pulling off that huge upset on Saturday night. You really got to give it to this Badgers team, they have played the highest possible seed in every one of their games so far in this tournament. Only three teams have done that and won the championship.

Now tonight's game, it features two of the biggest stars in college basketball. You've got Jahlil Okafor for Duke and Frank Kaminsky for Wisconsin. And Kaminsky's got an awesome nickname. The fans call him "Frank the tank." I've been walking around all weekend here at Indianapolis and hearing "Frank the tank" chants as I walk around.

Now, tonight, Duke is trying to win Coach K his fifth national championship while Wisconsin is trying to capture its first title in 74 years. If you're going to want to watch this one, you're going to have to stay up late. Tip-off is set for 9:18 Eastern on CBS.

Now after Kentucky's first loss of the season on Saturday, there was an incident in the post-game press conference that got a lot of people talking. Now, Kentucky players clearly frustrated after the perfect season came to an end. The Harrison twins, they're both -- they're starting guards, they didn't even shake hands with the Badgers players after the game on the court. They just left. Now, in the post-game press conference, Andrew Harrison, he was one of the players available to the media. And when a reporter was asking a question to Carl- Anthony Towns about Wisconsin star Frank Kaminsky, Harrison, while the question was being asked, had his hand over his mouth and he uttered an expletive and he used the n-word referring to Kaminsky. And the mike in front of him, well, it picked it up. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE SCHROEDER, "USA TODAY": George Schroeder, "USA Today." This is for Carl. I wonder if you could talk about Kaminsky and what makes him so difficult to defend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

SCHRODER: And what, if anything, is unique about defending him, the things he does. For Carl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now Harrison, realizing what had happened, apologized on Twitter saying, "first I want to apologize for my poor choice of words, using jest towards a player I respect and know. When I realized how this could be perceived, I immediately called big Frank to apologize and let him know I didn't mean any disrespect. We had a good conversation and I wished him good luck in the championship game on Monday." Now, Frank Kaminsky did talk about this on Sunday, Carol. He said he spoke with Harrison. All is forgiven. No big deal. Let's just move on.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now. (MUSIC)

[10:00:00] COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Obama fights back. The president pushing his Iran nuke deal, but can he sell it to members of his own party? We'll talk to one congressman who wasn't so sure.