Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

U.S. Military Helicopter Missing in Nepal; Obama: Poverty Remains a Huge Problem. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 12, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: And I think we have to stake a strong look at not only countering the narrative but also continuing to find ways to expose the networks that ISIS is using.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: General Hertling, thank very much.

Bobby Goesh, thanks to you as well.

Coming up, we have breaking news coming into CNN. A U.S. military helicopter is now missing in Nepal. We'll have details right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: I want to get right to the breaking news. Barbara Starr is over at the Pentagon and has disturbing information coming in from the U.S. military on what's going on, the U.S. military effort to help people in Nepal.

Barbara, what are you learning?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A short time ago, the U.S. declared a U.S. Marine corps helicopter missing in Nepal. There's a good deal we do not know about this situation, but here's what we know. It is a UH 1Y Huey. There may have been eight military personnel or other aide workers on board. It has gone missing in a remote area of Nepal. "Declared missing" are the words that the U.S. Pacific Command is using. They are calling it an emergency. Search operations are under way to try and locate this helicopter and the personnel on board, who are obviously there as part of a larger military mission to help with earthquake relief.

But here's the situation on the ground at this hour. It is now dark. Searching for this helicopter in these remote areas, very tough geography, very tough flying conditions for any other helicopters going into search. They simply can't do it in the dark. They are looking for any sensors coming from this helicopter that will help them locate it.

There are two options here. It is possible the helicopter simply made some sort of controlled landing, if you will, something happened the pilot had to put down in a remote area and is finding it difficult to undertake communications to get word out as to where they are. If it has turned out to be a crash situation, a U.S. military official telling me, they think there would be some kind of locater beacon emerging from the helicopter that would help them find it in the dark. But again, what they don't know right now is, with the mountains, with the tough geography there, if that beacon is emitting perhaps it is being blocked by a mountain that the helicopter may be near.

So you -- we're very aware that U.S. military families, Marine Corps families may be watching this report and distressed to hear that some of their loved ones are on as missing helicopter. But the reality is, at this hour, the Pentagon, the U.S. military has declared this helicopter missing. They are searching for it and, right now, there are no answers about the fate of this helicopter or those on board -- Wolf?

[13:36:28] BLITZER: And this helicopter, this Marine helicopter -- General Hertling, you're familiar with it. It's a Marine light attack helicopter, the Huey, UH 1Y, and as Barbara points out, eight people can be on board. You're very familiar with this helicopter. We know there are several hundred military personnel helping in the humanitarian mission in Nepal right now, but tell us a little bit more about what they're doing?

HERTLING: Well, the UH 1, first of all, is right. That's the Marine version of a light utility helicopter. It's called Huey. It has twin engines, upgrading from the old Hueys, which many people remember from the Vietnam era. They're pretty powerful piece of kit for the Marine Corps.

All of what Barbara reported is correct. It appears they were helping the relief victims. And they do have beacons on board, they have air crew survivability vests they wear that will give off signals, blinking lights. But if it landed in a mountainous area, a hard landing, they're probably down and can't get over the ridges of the mountain with their communications packages. And I think that, you know, whereas it may be dark now, they may be sending folks up, depending on what the weather conditions are like. But any time you get in the mountains you need powerful aircraft.

There are about 300 U.S. personnel, combination of the Marine Expeditionary Force out of Pacific Command, but also some Army Special Forces soldiers that were in Nepal when the earthquake hit that are continuing to provide relief efforts over the last several weeks. So all these folks are contributing, as they always do, to humanitarian relief and it's unfortunate that this helicopter did go down.

BLITZER: We're showing a picture of what the helicopter looks like. This is not the obviously exact helicopter but what that Huey helicopter looks like. We are going to be speaking this hour with the U.S. military commander on the ground in Nepal conducting this operation, Brigadier General Paul Kennedy. But unfortunately we have not been able to speak to him, probably because of this emergency that's underway. We're told that the joint task force personnel are responding to this emergency, a missing U.S. helicopter, this Marine Corps Huey helicopter that could accommodate eight people on board. We'll stay on top of this story for you and get more information. There's other news we're following, including here in the United

States. President Obama is now 618 days away from retirement, running out of time to shape his legacy. How will the president be remembered after he leaves the White House? He's taking steps right now. We'll explain what's going on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:42:17] BLITZER: We're following the breaking news out of Nepal. A U.S. military helicopter is now missing. This is a U.S. Marine Corps light attack helicopter called a Huey. And the military says it went missing, responding to an emergency. As many as eight people could be on board this helicopter. The helicopter, according to the Pentagon, was part of a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operation in support of the recent Nepal earthquakes, another one, another major earthquake, a lot more people are dead and injured. The U.S. military has about 300 personnel on the ground in Nepal helping with this relief operation, this humanitarian operation. We'll get more information. A major investigation is under way there. They're searching for the helicopter. We'll get more information an update you on what's going on.

Other news we're following in the United States, 50 years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared the war on poverty and still remains a huge problem in the United States. President Obama stressed that point at a poverty summit here in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that we are at a moment, in part, of what's happened in Baltimore and Ferguson and other places but, in part, because a growing awareness of inequality in our society, where it may be possible not only to row focus attention on the issue of poverty, but maybe to bridge some of the gaps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's discuss what's going on with our senior political analyst, editorial director for "The National Journal," Ron Brownstein; and our CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

It's an important issue, Ron, poverty in America. People don't realize how significant it is. Why does he decide to raise the issue?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, THE NATIONAL JOURNAL: The first thing the trends have been daunting really in this century. Under the good economy in the 1990s, under Bill Clinton, the number in poverty declined seven million, but under George W. Bush increased by eight million, and under Obama it's increased another six million. We're up significantly to 45 million in poverty.

The other thing is the issue not only the breadth but the depth. This is something the president talked about. The areas of concentrated poverty are increasing. Look at the data on school kids today, three- quarters of African-American kids in public schools, two-thirds of Latino, attend schools where a majority of their classmates qualify as poor under the guidelines. You see in Baltimore and Ferguson the consequences. The president talked about this a lot, intensive poverty.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: More and more people on food stamps with young kids wouldn't have food if it weren't for the government giving food stamps out so they could eat.

[13:45:01] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. The president said class segregation is the new racial segregation. At this point, you know, he mentioned Baltimore, he mentioned Ferguson. At this point in his presidency, he's in the final stretch of his presidency. Here he is, first African-American president, talking about income inequality in terms of the middle class, and I think, at this point, they're saying, you know what, and he is saying this is very personal to him because he is from Chicago. He grew up in the south side, so his -- you know, his feeling is you know what, I -- this is something I owe it to myself to do and I owe it to my country to do, it talk about an issue that isn't going to get any -- win him any popularity contests but it's important in terms of looking at the broader problems we have in this country with race.

BROWNSTEIN: One thing that's interesting about this, look forward to 2016, two Republicans in Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, in their own ways, are comfortable talking about these issues than the last few Republican nominees. Jeb Bush, in his interview yesterday that got a lot of attention with Meghan Kelly, he really made a forceful critique of liberal approaches and Rubio has his own. The Democrats will face a -- more of a debate and dialog than they've had in the last few presidential races because there are some Republicans who I think more comfortable addressing this.

BORGER: John Kasich, of Ohio, talks about bringing people out of the shadows as he calls it, so they have a government approach to dealing with poverty and you do see it become more bipartisan at this point.

BLITZER: We're hearing both the president and the first lady as they wrap up eight years in the White House, getting more and more personal. We heard the first lady the other day get very personal at that commencement speech at Tuskegee University. She, by the way, is the one who grew up on the south side of Chicago.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: Sorry.

BLITZER: He grew up in Hawaii.

BORGER: He taught in Chicago. Sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He lived in the south side, represented the south side of Chicago when he was a politician.

BORGER: Organized the south side, yeah.

BLITZER: But listen to what he said at Georgetown University today, because he's increasingly speaking in first-person sort of momento moments. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I am a black man who grew up without a father and I know the cost that I paid for that. And I also know that I had the capacity to break that cycle and, as a consequence, I think my daughters are better off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You agree, Gloria? He and the first lady are becoming increasingly more personal about some of their private moments?

BORGER: Some of the most memorable things he's done have to do with my brother's keeper. This is very important to him, this notion of fatherless young men, growing up in poverty, cycle of poverty repeating itself, crime as a result. This is something he clearly cares about. You see him sitting at Georgetown today, more professorial, more relaxed, not a huge speech setting.

BROWNSTEIN: Correcting Bob Putnam about the experience of African- Americans in 1960s.

BORGER: Of African-Americans. We now know his library is going to Chicago. I think what you're seeing now is the Barack Obama that in many ways was afraid to kind of tip toe out a little bit during the first term. He had huge things he needed to get done, health care reform. He couldn't afford to discontract in any way.

BLITZER: An economy near disaster.

BORGER: Right, exactly.

BROWNSTEIN: One interesting thing about those comments, a lot of ways, most ways, President Obama is different than Bill Clinton in his approach to politics but on this issue he talked about one of the things he said, we don't need an either or, we need a both and conversation. Talks a about taking responsibility from your actions, criticisms from the left in the African-American community and defending himself saying it is appropriate to talk about kind of people stepping up and doing the right thing, but also to talk about the kind of communal responsibility. He had a pointed line. He said there are 25 hedge fund managers in America that make more than all kindergarten teachers combined. He was tough in defending the activist government and the idea that you can demand individual responsibility as you talk about that.

BLITZER: All right. We will continue, obviously, this conversation down the road.

Gloria Borger and Ron Brownstein, thank you.

We're also getting a rare glimpse into the North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Un's regime. A defector is revealing what Kim Jong-Un has done even to his own family to hold on to power. That report is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:53:05] BLITZER: In an exclusive interview, a North Korean defector has revealed the sinister and ruthless side of the Dictator Kim Jong-Un. The former senior official tells CNN Kim Jong-Un plans to hold onto power at any cost. Not even his own family, they say, is safe.

Here's CNN's Paula Hancocks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Being part of the family is not enough to save your life in North Korea. Arrested, tried, and executed in less than a week, the brutal demise of Kim Jong-Un's uncle, Chang, shocked the world in 2013. CNN has learned the leader's aunt, the wife of Chang, may have suffered the same fate.

This man is believed to be the highest level official to escape North Korea in years. We're hiding his identity and calling him Park to protect his friends and family in Pyongyang.

In his first-ever interview, he tells us that he believes Chang was poisoned on orders from her nephew, Kim Jong-Un.

She was furious after her husband's death, he says. She disappeared from view, guards surrounded her home. She spent month expressing her anger. The late leader, Kim Jong-Il, gave her sister significant power. She and her husband were handpicked to guide his son in his early years, but the leader soon decided he did not want their help.

On May 5th or 6th of last year, Park says, Kim Jong-Un ordered her to be killed. Only her bodyguard, unit 974, knew this. Now senior officials also know she was poisoned.

As for his uncle, publicly, Kim Jong-Un calls him scum and said he was trying to overthrow the government. Park says the issues began with the defection of the economy. A year and a half into his reign, Park tells me, he said Kim Jong-Un wanted to build a ski resort and water park. Chang, the uncle, wanted to rebuild the economy first. That is where the friction began. Park says the skew resort is effectively what signed Chang's death warrant.

Chang was allegedly executed in an underground secret room, according to park. Few know exactly how he died. He tells us Chang's aides were killed far more publicly. His close aides were executed, he says, not with an ordinary gun but by four-barrel machine guns.

Much of what Park tells us cannot be independently confirmed. North Korea is one of the most closed and repressive societies in the world.

(APPLAUSE)

HANCOCKS (on camera): Park paints a picture of a brutal dictator whose actions have shocked even the North Korean elite. A young man willing to kill family members if they don't see eye to eye.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[13:55:50] BLITZER: Thank you very much, Paul, for that report.

That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern, later today in "The Situation Room." We'll have more on what's going on in North Korea.

For our international viewers, "AMANPOUR" is next.

For our viewers here in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin will start right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:59:54] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you very much for being with me.

Just a quick heads up. Shortly, live during the show, we will learn whether or not a police officer will be charged in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager in Wisconsin. Tensions have been building in this particular community for weeks and weeks now as these protesters and Tony Robinson's family are demanding answer.