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Recovery Efforts For Plane That Crashed In Indonesia Suspended For Tonight; Raging Flames in The Northwest; A Warning From Pyongyang; Latest Election News. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 16, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello again and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Recovery efforts for a passenger plane that crashed in Indonesia today have been suspended for the night.

Transportation officials say the wreckage has been found in a mountainous area in the Oktabe district of Papua province. Confirmation that the plane was found came shortly after villagers reported seeing the aircraft crash into a mountain.

The search for the plane has been suspended until daybreak because of thunderstorms in the area.

CNN's Kathy Novak joins me.

So, Kathy, we're what - only another hour or so away from daybreak or perhaps when they all start to get back out there. What are they up against?

KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. It's about that amount of time now and they're sending out six aircrafts we're told that will be combing an area of about 900 square nautical miles around the area where these villagers have reported the plane has gone down. The search and rescue officials will be working on the assumption that the plane has indeed crashed, looking for debris and any sign of burning wood. What the villagers were not able to tell the officials is - was - if there were any sign of survivors so that will be the foremost in people's minds, certainly of the families of the 54 people onboard - 44 adults, five crew and five children. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. So what are the obstacles - because we are talking about a mountainous region? What kind of equipment do they have to conduct these searches or even carry-out recovery efforts?

NOVAK: Very mountainous region, we're told, about 12,000 feet above sea level, very rugged terrain, small runways. It's small aircrafts that usually operate in this area and that's the very reason that people take these internal flights - these short, domestic flights between cities because it is often so impassable. A lot of areas you just can't get to by road so a lot of these small aircraft will operate in these areas. And what we also know is some planes have gone down in the past and the wreckage has never been found. So they're searching by air. We have - we know that there are six aircrafts that are going to be sent out and really hoping that they can find any sign of this aircraft.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathy Novak, thank you so much.

All right. Now, to the intense battle raging in the northwest.

Firefighters are trying to beat back a series of wildfires in three states. Residents in Idaho, Washington state and California have been forced to evacuate and at least 50 homes in Idaho alone have now been destroyed.

CNN's Nick Valencia with me with more on all of this.

A tough blaze for all of these states to battle.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pacific Northwest especially hard- hit. It seems like we're talking a lot about fires this year. It's because we are - evacuations are just - really, a lot of evacuations. 1500 people in Washington state. And also the acreage is growing. Just yesterday, Idaho, the fire there that they're trying to contain - 265,000 acres. Today, more than 20,000 acres more burned.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

VALENCIA (VOICEOVER): Against a majestic mountainous backdrop, the flames rage - forcing evacuations in Chelan County, Washington.

MATTHEW ANDERSON, LOCAL RESIDENT: I was literally outrunning flames at 60 miles an hour. This whole ridge was on fire. This - that whole hillside there. This whole hillside was on fire last night. It was nuts.

VALENCIA (VOICEOVER): Local resident Matthew Anderson watched as dozens of fires swallowed the hillside.

ANDERSON: It's crazy.

VALENCIA (VOICEOVER): At least 100 structures have burned. Power is knocked out for most of the 9,000 residents in the area.

DEAN FOX, RESIDENT OF CANYON CITY, OREGON: There's - I don't know how many - hundreds of people affected here, the other side.

VALENCIA (VOICEOVER): Just to the south in Canyon Creek, Oregon, a lightning fire has left more than 20 homes burned with at least 34,000 acres lost and still limited containment. Resident Dean Fox says the fight to save what's left has been exhausting.

FOX: We would have to keep hosing ourself down because it was so hot.

VALENCIA (VOICEOVER): This fire season has been devastating, especially in the west where already, more than 6.5 million acres have burned. That's about the size of New Hampshire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just devastation for these people.

VALENCIA (VOICEOVER): Idaho has been among the hardest hit. This ranch outside of Boise - charred and caked with ash from the (inaudible) fire which has burned more than 265,000 acres. Containment is just at 25 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --just ripping up this hillside.

VALENCIA (VOICEOVER): In drought-stricken California, the fires are out of control. Fuelled by high heat and wind, the cabin fire has devoured 1400 acres in Angeles National Forest. Hundreds of firefighters have worked for days to stop it - 10 of them have been injured in the process.

(END VIDEO)

[16:05:03]

VALENCIA: And it (inaudible) be a very tough week ahead, especially in California and Washington. It's supposed to be especially hot in that Washington area. And of course, the last four years in California, the drought has contributed to what we're now seeing there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: How struck are resource?

VALENCIA: Well, we have hundreds of firefighters. We're talking about 700 firefighters and they're bringing them in all throughout the state, from northern California to help out there in southern California. So they are very strapped for resources. A great point.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Nick Valencia. Appreciate it.

All right. We're going to talk more about this.

Laura Ruse is with us. Her family escaped the wildfire in Chelan, Washington.

So, Laura, your parents' home - do I have this right - was actually destroyed? Tell us what happened and how your family was able to get out.

LAURA RUESS (ON THE PHONE): Well, it started in the morning. We watched it. And then the wind changed in the afternoon and we had our vehicle packed and the firefighters came and we had to leave. The fire came down the canyon in both sides of the canyon, up and around, and had we waited five minutes longer, we wouldn't - probably not have gotten out (inaudible) covered the road, (inaudible) out.

WHITFIELD: So, in some cases - sorry, Laura. In some cases, there were lightning strikes that sparked some of the fires. Is that your understanding about what happened in the area of your family home?

RUESS: Yes. Yes. Multiple lightning strikes all over the Chelan area.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. So then, it seemed to have moved very quickly. I mean, thank goodness you all were out - be able to get out with your lives. You mentioned people - you were all gathering things and firefighters came and said it's time to get out. But is there an estimate you can give me on how quickly it seemed to - this fire seemed to be fueled and make its way to your home?

RUESS: Oh. The winds are kicking up at about 35, 40 miles an hour and it - we saw it come down the canyon and we said, "Oh, got to go, got to go." By the time we each got into our car and my dad had - is like a stroke survivor and so we had to escort him into his car. He did not want to leave the house. He was so confused. And we said, "Time to go, dad. Time to go." These firemen all came down and physically put him in his car. (Inaudible) we drove out and by the time we go down the road, it was in the pasture, in the yard. It was all over and that was it. The whole place - it basically melted.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. That had to be so frightening as you were driving out and seeing the flames essentially licking at your property. What did that feel like? How in danger - how fearful did you feel?

RUESS: Oh, it was - it was like no other feeling that you ever have. I mean, it's a flight for your life and at that point, you're just here to save your life and material possessions are just material possessions and now, it's just like a moonscape. Just all the trees - every tree is just nothing but black and everything melted. All the metals just melted. It's - everything is gone. It's - there are no words to describe the fear because you feel the heat and the wind and the flames - it - the flames were just like all over and you're just driving down the road and you look back in the rearview mirror and there's where you just got done driving is in flames.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. Wow. So incredible - I'm so glad you and the family got out safely. So sorry for your material losses but thank you so much for joining us and again...

RUESS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: --our hopes and prayers for you and the family on the days forward. Thanks so much.

All right. Still ahead, overseas, Kim Jong-Un - he is at it again. North Korea issuing a direct threat against the United States over planned military exercises. We'll break it down next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:10:01]

WHITFIELD: North Korea is threatening to attack the U.S. with "tremendous muscle" unless it cancels joint military exercises with South Korea like these from 2013. They're scheduled to begin tomorrow. The U.S. state department says the exercises are transparent, defensive in nature and aimed at improving South Korea's readiness.

Joining me now is North Korean expert, Professor Han Park.

Good to see you again. So after a recent trip that you mentioned to North Korea, you say now the regime is even more dangerous than ever before. Why is that? PROFESSOR HAN PARK, NORTH KOREAN EXPERT: Oh, because Kim Jong-Un is leader. Domestically, he is in the process of solidifying his power so it's important for him to show to his followers his resolve and should maintain credibility. So he cannot issue all these so-called "empty provocative remarks" and so on. So this time, I feel it's a little more dangerous and more uncertainty, especially given his youthful age.

WHITFIELD: So you did - you are underscoring that there has been a pattern of provocative kind of remarks and threats. But then, thankfully, nothing severe has happened. What would be that moment or what would be the impetus in your view as to why he would carry through with his threat?

PARK: Because he's still not very solidified in terms of his foreign power base. He is in the process of that. So it's a very important for him to gather his followers and make sure that they are absolutely loyal to him. So that is so important for him to maintain credibility among the militaries and top leaders especially on his side. So this is a domestic climate the countries has (inaudible) it tremendously. We have to pay attention to that.

WHITFIELD: So what would - in your view - would Kim Jong-Un feel that he would gain if you were to carry out any of the threats because it's a country already in isolation and carrying through a threat to the U.S. or even the neighbor of Japan would get him what?

PARK: I - it's not really his calculation. It's more psychological, emotional situation and that is he has - so he feels he has nothing more to lose. All the sanctions they had to then consider have been applied. And he thinks (inaudible) almost suicide - the kind of mentality running there. Him and among his followers.

[16:15:03]

So those people who have some different pragmatic ideas - they're not speaking out, they're not going to do anything underground or anything. There is no such thing as underground in the North Korean politics. So this time, we have to pay attention with our resources, our wisdom together, analyze this psychologically, more scientifically the North Korean inclinations. It's not unlike North Korea may evoke provocative military the next few days.

WHITFIELD: Professor Han Park, thank you so much. Appreciate your point of view.

PARK: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, Hillary Clinton spending some time in Martha's Vineyard with President Obama. Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta joining us live there.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. That's right. They spent a bit of time last night here in Martha's Vineyard but the real attraction here was President Obama out on the golf course with former president Bill Clinton. Do you think they talked about Hillary Clinton's campaign for president? We'll be talking about that in just a few moments.

(COMMERCIAL BERAK)

WHITFIELD: All right.

President Barack Obama took some time out for his golf with some high profile guests this weekend. President Bill Clinton dropped by Martha's Vineyard where the Obama family is vacationing.

[16:20:02]

Hillary joined them last night after something in Iowa.

So what are those conversations like?

Joining me right now from Martha's Vineyard, it's CNN's senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

So are they spilling the beans? Are they telling you anything about what they're chatting about on the greens?

ACOSTA: Fredricka, they're keeping those conversations as secret as their golf scores. That's right, here in Martha's Vineyard. No leaks at this point though from the links and I tried my best to get on the golf course to no avail. But I think you have to - I think you have to expect that President Clinton and President Obama were talking politics so we're talking a little shop out of the golf course yesterday. We have no confirmation of that but they've had these rare opportunities over the last several years to have these conversations from time to time. And Hillary Clinton did drop in later yesterday for Vernon Jordan's party last night here on Martha's Vineyard. That was a big affair here on the island. Vernon Jordan - a long time fixture in Democratic politics, turned 80 years old. Hillary Clinton was there. Valerie Jarrett was there.

There was a whole slew of people from inside Obamaworld and Clintonworld where there and there were some pictures that were posted on Facebook of the two being there at the same events. And, Fredricka, this is a very different dynamic inside these two worlds when you compare it to what we saw last year. Remember last year, Hillary Clinton gave that interview to the Atlantic Magazine when she criticized some of the president's foreign policy, when the president and his foreign policy team used to use the phrase, "Don't do stupid stuff" when talking about not getting involved in Middle Eastern wars. Hillary Clinton told the Atlantic Magazine that was not a organizing principle and so that was taken as some criticism. They had to hug it out at that Vernon Jordan party a year ago.

But you don't really sense overt tension between these two camps right now. As a matter of fact, there are so many people Obama-people working inside Hillary Clinton's campaign right now. It's almost as if she is inheriting the Obama mantle going into this campaign. Neither side will admit to that but there are people inside the White House and top Democratic officials that I've talked to who say that Hillary Clinton is seen as somebody who will expand and protect President Obama's legacy. So I imagine there were some conversations swirling about all of those topics but no leaks from the golf course or from the dinner last year on any of that, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Oh, well. To be a fly on the wall, huh? All right.

ACOSTA: That's right. That's right.

WHITFIELD: David Acosta, thank so much. Maybe next time, they'll allow you when you ask. You never know what happens.

All right. Well, as Hillary Clinton is on the Vineyard, the chatter is ramping up over whether Joe Biden will also jump into the race.

The South Carolina Post and Courier, in fact, stepped up the pressure with an editorial encouraging Biden to run, saying, "Run, Joe Biden. Run." Wow. And Biden's advisors are telling him that he needs to make a decision by October 1st.

So what's it going to be?

Joining me right now from New York to talk about this is political strategist (inaudible) Brian Morgenstern and with him is columnist and author, Ellis Henican.

All right. Gentlemen, good to see you again. OK. Well, subtle, the Post and courier is not so, Brian, do you think this is something that Joe Biden is seriously considering that maybe he might meet an October 1st deadline and I wonder what conversation was like on the golf course between the Clintons and Obama.

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: It's hard to believe it didn't come up, right?

WHITFIELD: It had to.

MORGENSTERN: It must have. Regarding the - first of all, I think that Joe Biden is obviously very interested. This is a guy who's wanted to be president for many, many decades. And the October 1st deadline is for among other reasons, fundraising and organizationally and also being able to get on the ballot. Being able to get on ballots across this country takes forever. Tons of petitions, signatures. It's very expensive. It's quite a process. So he can't dither forever. I think more likely than not, he jumps in and that means he's going to have to do it fairly soon in order to be on ballots.

WHITFIELD: Oh. But oh my gosh, Ellis, I mean, you just heard Jim Acosta where he said a number of people who are working for the Obama campaign are now working for Hillary Clinton. So - I mean - speak to the loyalty conflict. If Joe Biden were to jump in, I would imagine a lot of folks from the Obama White House would want to be working for Joe Biden. But, I mean, they may be torn because Hillary Clinton made the bid first.

ELLIS HENICAN, COLUMNIST: Right. Up until now, Fred, and that was the only viable place for Obama staffers to go. But hey, if Uncle Joe is jumping in, that just changed a lot of things. I mean, Jim Acosta made another point I thought that was very smart, which is if there really is a Clintonworld and an Obamaworld and the relationships between the two principles - very complicated. I mean, Obama's certainly prepared to support Hillary for president. But if Joe were running, he might be a better carrier of that legacy.

WHITFIELD: But have we really even heard out loud President Obama say anything about throwing his support behind Hillary Clinton for president?

[16:25:08]

HENICAN: No. No. I mean, we assume - we assume if she's the one.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And I think that kind of deafening silence - and this is just me. I'm not trying to play (inaudible) as you guy are legitimately so - it makes me wonder whether he too is waiting for Joe Biden and then he will be torn who does he best support.

MORGENSTERN: Well, it's an interesting question. I mean, to the point of whether Obama's sort of really gotten behind Hillary, he did do that sort of - really softball interview when she was leaving her position as Secretary of State. He said things like, "I know she would make a great candidate" and saying she's qualified and things like that. But you're right in that the endorsement hasn't been (inaudible) and look, a month or two months or three months in the lifetime in politics and look at the - what she's facing right now - an FBI investigation, tremendous trust gap in her poll numbers. A gap in really the number of people who think that she cares about people like them - remember President Obama won largely because he was really great in that category in sort of identifying with voters on a very personal level. She's not so great at that. Guess who's better at that than her? Joe Biden. And few people are better at that anybody, frankly, then Joe Biden. He's...

HENICAN: Yes, but, Brian, I mean, the corpse is not exactly cold yet. I mean, she's still 30 points ahead of the polls. I mean, come on. Let's slow this train down a little bit here.

MORGENSTERN: But she - she was 30 points up in the polls against Barack Obama in October, (inaudible) in August. In October last time around, she was 30 points up and she still lost. So it is an open field. If he wants to get in there, there's a real opportunity.

WHITFIELD: OK. So we talk about the Post and Courier not being that subtle. I mean, that was just the headline but then this is what they said in the OpEd - "Democrats who want to keep the White House aren't just worried about Mrs. Clinton's ability to do so." They seen no electable alternative despite the big crowds lately flocking to hear self-described socialist, a senator Sanders. So the paper is going deep, is it not, Ellis, in trying to analyze the landscape and the real viability of the Democratic field?

HENICAN: Well, I think we know who one endorsement in the South Carolina primary will go toward if it comes to that. But you've got to think about the hardball political calculations here, right? I mean, the people on Biden are saying, "Black voters, LGBT voters, Jews, some Reagan Democrats - those might be the core." But I'll tell you what the real core is is Democrats who still love Obama. And there's a lot of them and if they look at Joe Biden and say, "He's a better messenger than Hillary is", (inaudible) the guy's got a pretty good running start, I think.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there. Ellis Henican, Brian Morgenstern, thanks so much, guys. Appreciate it. Always lots of fun.

All right.

And more seriously, parts of a plane that went missing in Indonesia have been found but the recovery search has been suspended. We'll tell you why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:17]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Recovery efforts for a passenger plane that crashed in Indonesia today have been suspended for the night. Transportation officials say the wreckage has been found in the Aktobe district of Papua Province. Confirmation that the plane was found came shortly after villagers reported seeing the aircraft crash into a mountain. The search for the plane has been suspended until daybreak because of thunderstorms in the area. Joining me right now is CNN Aviation Correspondent Richard Quest, and also CNN Aviation Analyst and experienced 777 Pilot Les Abend. All right, so Les the search has been suspended mostly because of bad weather and the fact that it's night fall. We're less than an hour away from daybreak. So there are no reports of fire or smoke from the wreckage. Do you believe that, you know, the lack of those kinds of signs should point them in a certain direction about what may have happened to that plane?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Fredricka, it's a good question, but it's really too early to tell. Witness testimony is often very speculative in nature and can be very sketchy. That's the worst part of the investigation to be on that party that's involved with witnesses and what they saw. If indeed there was smoke and fire or the absence thereof, all it could necessarily mean is that there was a limited amount of fuel onboard the aircraft. It's really hard to say. And we're dealing with very mountainous terrain, so it's the foliage may have hid some of the smoldering. At this point, we don't even know for sure whether the airplane has crashed, we'll just assume that. But at this point, it's just way too early to say what we might be finding.

WHITFIELD: And that's only because villagers reportedly said that they thought they actually saw it crash. But then Richard, I wonder, there are a couple of different investigations going on here, right? A, they have to locate this wreckage or investigate whether it indeed did crash into a mountain. But they're also very concerned -- one we thing the first priority is, if there are any survivors, if there are people to rescue, they've got to get to them. So how do they prioritize these issues?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's very simple. It's a different between an annex 12 and an annex 13 investigation. Annex 13 is the investigation that looks at what happened and how to prevent it from happening again, whereas number 12 looks at making sure you get to the people. They're the rules in looking at the treaty about getting to the rescue scene to see if there's anybody still alive. It's the difference between search and rescue, which is what they still are doing at the moment, versus search and recovery which is where you're looking to recover any of the remains in the wreckage. And at the moment, the priority absolutely without any shadow of doubt is first of all, to see are there any survivors. And only after you can be pretty certain that there are not, do you move to the next stage which is the retrieval of the black boxes.

WHITFIELD: And then Les, when you hear some of the numbers, that the plane was 27 years old, that the airline itself has had a number of incidents over a fairly short period of time, since 1992, that's what Richard was telling us earlier, does any of that strike you as particularly significant when you talk about a plane that's missing?

ABEND: Well, the incidents that Richard had gone over, that he researched with reference to the all the incidents, that's very troubling to me. That says something that there's a training issue, pilots are not -- don't have enough experience. That is very troubling to me. The fact that the airplane's 27 years old -- listen, if they maintain an airplane appropriately, we in the states, we have a thing called progressive maintenance. I have a general aviation airplane that was built in 1973. It's still very airworthy airplane. Twenty seven years doesn't really set it back. What it says to me, though, about this particular airline, and Richard and I were doing some research together on this is that they are older airplanes. And it says they that they purchased them probably at a good price. They lease them at a good price. So yes, they are operating older equipment. But in aviation terms, it's almost like dog years.

WHITFIELD: All right. Les Abend, Richard Quest thanks so much, gentlemen, appreciate it.

All right, coming up, a marriage showdown in Kentucky where a court clerk is refusing to give out any marriage licenses because she does not believe in same-sex marriage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:39:32]

WHITFIELD: In Kentucky, the battle over issuing a same-sex marriage license is now spilling over to anyone who wants to get married. One clerk is holding couples hostage, refusing to issue any marriage licenses because she says issuing a same-sex marriage license violates her first amendment rights. Here is CNN's Ryan Nobles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the Supreme Court declared marriage a constitutional right regardless of sexual orientation, thousands of same-sex marriage couples rushed to their local clerk's offices and court houses to get married.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's wrong and these people are cruel to do this to us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that isn't the case for everyone. Rawlin County, Kentucky, David Moore and David Ermald are still waiting to be wed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Currently this morning, we're still on litigation, and we're still not issuing marriage licenses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moore and Ermald were turned away from the Rawlin County Clerk's Office run by Kim Davis. After ignoring direct orders from Kentucky's governor and a federal judge to issue licenses to same-sex couples, Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses to anyone, gay or straight. And is suing the governor claiming her religious rights are being denied.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a bigger battle then (Inaudible), one small county or two small counties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Davis isn't alone, 13 of Alabama's 67 counties have stopped issuing marriage licenses all together, which means the next stage of this battle is the courtroom. Across the country, same- sex couples have filed lawsuits designed to enforce the right to marry or to sue for damages because they believe their rights were denied.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to be the first people in the county to get married.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Granbury, Texas, Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton were initially denied a license by Hood County Clerk Katy Lang. Lang eventually allowed a deputy to the license, but Cato and Stapleton still sued for damages, that lawsuit is pending. And while obtaining a marriage license for the vast majority of gay couples is now not a problem, these few lingering battles sprinkled throughout the country could have a lasting impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Nobles, thank you so much for that report. And we'll be right back right after this.

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[16:46:23]

WHITFIELD: Civil Rights Leader, Julian Bond has died after a brief illness. He was 75 years old. Today, President Barack Obama phoned his widow offering gratitude for bond's lifetime of accomplishment. Here's a look back at his extraordinary life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was one of the youngest civil rights foot soldiers. Julian Bond's journey as an activist, poet, lawmaker, television commentator, and teacher was impressively significant, spanning decades. In the '60s, he was a student at Moorehouse College, when he became Co-Founder and Communications Director of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, serving alongside then fellow Co-Founder John Lewis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got others to join us by demonstrating that we were willing to risk our lives to help them. But they'd have to take a step too. They'd have to join us. And time, moment by moment, minute by minute, time by time, more and more people did until we had an effective organization.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Described as passionate about fighting discrimination, and any messages of white supremacy, he was also known for his wit, intellect, cool demeanor and good looks. He would be elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965, but would still encounter indignities at the start of what would become his 20- year service. His white colleagues in the house refused to let him take his seat because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. His critics accused him of being disloyal. A year later in 1966, the Supreme Court accused the legislature of violating his freedom of speech and ordered it to seat him.

He had also served in the Georgia Senate for years. A constant advocate of learning, the former lawmaker would teach at various universities including Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and most recently American University. He was Founding President of the Southern Poverty Law Center in the '70s. In a statement following his death, the SPLC said, with Julian's passing, the country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice. He advocated not just for African-Americans, but for every group.

Indeed, every person subject to oppression and discrimination, because he recognized the common humanity in us all. The Tennessee native was committed to civil rights in America and beyond. In 1985, he was arrested outside the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C. leading crowds protesting a parte that country's legalization of racial segregation. The human and civil rights icon served as Chairman of the NAACP for a decade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we do has not changed, we fight racial discrimination, but the way in which we do it has changed remarkably. We used to have a heavier reliance on the courts than we do today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Upon his passing in a Tweet, this message, the NAACP mourns the passing of Chairman Julian Bond, civil rights and titan and our brother. May he rest in eternal peace, Julian bond, dead at the age of 75, survived by his wife and five children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:55:01]

WHITFIELD: All right, they are the final protection against terror in the air. Armed federal air marshals are trained to react at a moment's notice to fight off any attempt on an airliner in flight. But a CNN investigation has uncovered evidence the air marshal sitting on your next flight may be sleep deprived, medicated, under the influence of alcohol, or worse, suicidal. Here's Senior Investigative Correspondent, Drew Griffin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On July 31st, 2013, a federal air marshal stepped outside this Syracuse, New York hotel, put his service pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. The suicide committed within hours of the armed air marshal's next scheduled mission to fly on a commercial U.S. air flight from Syracuse, New York, to Washington D.C. Since 2002, CNN has learned ten federal air marshals have committed suicide. Several more have died in questionable accidents. And some armed federal air marshals, sleep deprived and mentally exhausted from grueling flight schedules, are breaking down on assignments, turning to medications and alcohol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would I, sitting on a plane want a stressed out federal air marshal, potentially suicidal air marshal on that plane with me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You would not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sonia Hightower, a recently retired federal air marshal says the threat of a suicidal air marshal is just the beginning. On board an aircraft, the armed federal air marshal must respond at a moment's notice to any threat. Right now, she says, some air marshals are falling apart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Air marshals are exhausted. They're having memory loss. They're being forgetful. They can't move. They can't respond fast to things. And the agency was not prepared for someone to document that as well as Harvard did in their study.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is that study. It's from 2012. TSA commissioned it, got the results, and had it classified as sensitive security information. CNN obtained a copy of the report and the results are disturbing. Seventy five percent of air marshals, flying on domestic missions were sleep deficient. On international runs, the figure rose to more than 84 percent. In a job where it's critical to be alert and accurate at a moments notice, the study finds the acute and chronic lack of sleep substantially degrades a federal air marshal's ability to react and think quickly. And it gets even worse, the study conducted by the Division of Sleep Medicine in Brigham and Women's Hospital in Harvard Medical School, found half of federal air marshals take some medication or supplement to get to sleep. Others commented they turn to alcohol.

Federal air marshals responded to survey questions saying, most of the sleep patterns I have are broken. This is not healthy. I need to take sleep aids. Alcoholic drinks mixed with sleeping pills. One air marshal in response to a question asking if he consumed five or six drinks per week responded saying, give us a break Harvard, 8 to 12 per night on an overnighter, and the same just to sleep at home. The study says it is likely a significant proportion of air marshals suffer from undiagnosed sleep disorders and puts them at increased risk of self-injury, higher rates of fatigue-related motor vehicle accidents, and greater incidence of serious errors. We wanted to speak to the Federal Air Marshal Service about the

suicides but our interview request was turned down. Instead, the TSA issued this statement, saying it is committed to providing air marshals with the resources and support they need to carry out their mission and any loss of life is unacceptable. The statement goes onto say that the Air Marshal Service maintains a robust system of both medical, including mandatory physicals, and psychological assistance programs which are readily available to the workforce and their families. Drew Griffin, CNN, Orlando.

WHITFIELD: And in a recent hearing, the director of the Federal Air Marshals said his officers helped with on board medical emergencies and unruly passengers, but nothing about stopping a terrorist. The air marshals tell us they are misused insisting the idea of putting terror cops on planes was a knee-jerk reaction after 9/11 and has proven to be a poor use of their time and Americans' tax dollars. The Senate Homeland Security Committee is doing a review of the entire program.

All right, thanks so much for spending your day with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The next hour of the Newsroom begins right now with Poppy Harlow.