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EgyptAir Search Intensifies, Terror Suspected; Presidential Candidates Argue over EgyptAir Flight 804 Disappearance; Flight 804 Family Members Wait and Hope for Answers. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired May 20, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause, live in Los Angeles, where it's just gone 10:00 on a Thursday night.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Isha Sesay. Our breaking news: Crews are searching the Mediterranean Sea for any sign of EgyptAir flight 804. The airline now says debris found earlier did not come the missing jet.

VAUSE: A terror attack has not been ruled out, but officials say they don't have any evidence to support that just yet. The airbus A-320 made stops in Eritrea and Tunisia on Wednesday before leaving for Cairo. From there, it flew to Paris, where airline says the jet passed all maintenance checks.

SESAY: CNN has reporters across the region, covering this breaking story from every angle.

VAUSE: Max Foster is live for us in Paris, Becky Anderson is Cairo, and CNN's aviation correspondent, Richard Quest, is in Beijing. Let's start with you, Becky. What do we have now on the latest for the search for the debris? It has been daylight there now off the Egyptian coast, I guess, for a couple of hours.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And in a reported statement, the Egyptian president has demanded that this search be intensified and that all necessary measures, he said, be taken by the relevant authorities -- that being the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Navy and the Air Force. The Egyptians being helped by the Greeks and by the U.S., by Britain, by France, and some help from the Cypriots and the Italians, we are told, as well. This is still a search and rescue mission, which must provide some comfort for the families of these 66 people who were on that plane, many of whom were here.

Family members were here, at the international airport, yesterday at the EgyptAir facility behind me. Composed, we are told; although, very frustrated by the discrepancies, at times, they were being given. Remember that EgyptAir Vice Chairman had to roll back on an earlier statement yesterday when they thought they had found some debris in this search, only to say later in the day that he, and I quote, "stands corrected" on that. Very frustrating for family members. But, as we wake up here now -- and it's 7:00 in the morning -- one

assumes those family members will be being looked after once again today. There were medics here to provide some comfort and support for them yesterday. As the search continues -- so the U.S., for example, has a P-3 Orion aircraft in the area. The U.K. offering support from naval vessels. There is a very busy environment, so far as shipping is concerned, in that part of the Mediterranean, as well. The weather conditions are good. So as things stand at present, with a demand from the president here to intensify that search, it does continue as an official search and rescue effort. John?

VAUSE: Okay, Becky, thank you.

SESAY: Yeah, Becky, thank you for that. Stand by for us in Cairo. Let's go to Paris, where Max Foster is there for us. And Mas, what can you tell us about the role French authorities are playing in the search for debris?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've sent a team of investigators from the air traffic accident investigation team here in France over to Egypt to get involved in that investigation, that is being led by the Egyptian authorities, of course. But, also an airbus technician, as well, to offer any advice on the aircraft involved here. As you understand it, in pretty good condition -- actually, relatively new in aircraft terms, as well. So Airbus, pretty confident at this point that the plane was in fairly good condition. We also know that the French intelligence services are coordinating with the Egyptian intelligence services and the American intelligence services, as well, to see whether or not there's anything in this suggestion that sabotage might be involved, as well. The flight, of course, taking off from here, (inaudible), initially as it headed towards Cairo.

VAUSE: Okay, Max, thank you. Let's go to Richard Quest now, who is in Beijing this hour. Richard, it now seems that everything depends on finding that debris, finding the wreckage. Once they find that, that seems that it will determine the direction the investigation will take.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Completely. We've sort of stretched this every which way and backwards. And if you take the security issue, in the absence of any evidence coming out of Paris, or Eritrea, or Tunis, any claims of responsibility from Al Qaeda or from ISIS -- in the absence of anything else on that side, you really are waiting for either human intelligence or, on the mechanical front, to find out from the black boxes. And the mechanical issue has to be very much -- whether at the forefront, it's got to be there because there are very strong cases where planes have fallen out of the sky because something goes wrong and the pilots, then, mishandle and then disrupt the aircraft in the way they're flying it. We won't know until we get to the bottom of the sea and we pick up those black boxes.

The good news, if such there be in this tragedy, is that those black boxes are well and truly designed and constructed for much greater forces than they will have felt on this. Think about German Wings, when the plane slammed into the mountain side at speed, and the black boxes survived that. So I'm encouraged to think that once they've located the debris, then they find the fuselage, then they get the black boxes.

SESAY: All right Richard Guest, we appreciate it. Thank you. Let's go back to Becky Anderson, there in Cairo. Becky, as you well know, this disappearance of the EgyptAir flight, shining a light on Egyptian authorities just months after they faced criticism for how they handled the aftermath of that metro jet crash back in October over the Sinai. What's the view of how Egyptian authorities are handling the situation this time?

ANDERSON: Well, I think the received wisdom, both here and in other places, is that they are doing what they can at this point. This is a flight that left Charles de Gaulle Airport and that never arrived. Here, the security for which, the maintenance for which, was outside of Egypt.

I mean, clearly, with 30 Egyptian passengers onboard, there is an awful lot of pressure on the authorities here to work out exactly what happened. And there's so much confusion, of course, and more questions than answers. We know that Egypt air flight 804, disappeared en route from Charles de Gaulle to Cairo on Thursday with 66 people onboard. The early theory of U.S. government officials is this was terrorism -- this was a plane taken down by a bomb. But frankly, authorities there and here, have no evidence to substantiate that. In fact, one source told CNN this theory is based on conjecture at this point, because, as they put it, the plane fell out of the sky, but there's no smoking gun yet, Isha.

Egypt's view is that the cause is more likely to be terrorism than a technical issue. Quite an admission given that it took months by authorities here to admit to what had happened with the metro jet flight. But different circumstances -- and I think this speaks to your question -- different circumstances. This is a flight that was inbound. An EgyptAir flight, for sure, but a flight that was inbound from France. There's been much discrepancy from authorities as to the details that they know. Just remember, you know, yesterday -- Thursday -- and this has now been a story that has been in the mix for 24 hours. It was only 24 hours ago -- pretty much now -- that we got the first details that this flight had disappeared. Greek authorities have the plane disappearing from the radar at between 2:29 a.m. on Thursday and 2:37, when they say it served 90 degrees to the left and 360 to the right, before disappearing. That is coming from Greek authorities.

The discrepancies, I have to say, have come from Greek authorities. The Egyptian aviation minister, though, giving a whole other timeline of events, so far as what happened with the plane. There were reports, as we've suggested that debris had been found. That has now been rode back on. That discrepancy, of course, did come from the mouth of the Vice Chair of the EgyptAir business. But, again, information, one assumes, that came from the Greek authorities.

What we do know is that the pilots aboard were very experienced. They've been identified, according to reports, as Mohamed Saeed Shaqeer, and Mohammed Mamdouh Ahmed Asem (ph). And, as we've been reporting, the majority of the 66 people onboard that flight from France and from Egypt -- thirty Egyptians and 15 French. We're outside, as you know, the EgyptAir facility, where many of the family members gathered yesterday. We are told they were -- some of them put up in a facility -- hotels close to here. A very calm and controlled environment here yesterday.

But clearly, a lot of frustration, as the relatives learned of details, only to find out that authorities were rowing back on details as the day continued. What they will hold on to, Isha, is this continues to be a search and rescue effort -- an enormous one. The Egyptians and the Greeks, supported by the U.S., by France, by Britain, by Italy and by Cyprus. Isha?

VAUSE: Okay, from Cairo, we'll go to Max Foster there in Paris airport. And Max, just to pick up on something that Becky said, the fact that the Egyptians took such a long time to come out with the metro jet accident -- the terror attack and claiming it was, in fact, a terror attack -- the fact that that took off from an Egyptian airport, this took out from a Paris airport. Clearly the Egyptians are seeing that there's a problem with the Parisian part -- with the Parisian side of the equation. What, exactly, are the French investigators looking at now at Charles de Gaulle?

FOSTER: Well, they are looking at the terror angle and that's because if there is a possible terror link here, they need to act very early on it in order to get all the intelligence relating to it and to act on it, because if someone was involved here in Paris, they could get a very long way away -- (inaudible) act in just a few days. There, no doubt, will be a -- security forces are looking at any sort of terror links to the plane today. So they're looking for the weak links, really. You have to consider that the plane, in the 24 hours before it was here in Paris, it was also in Tunisia and Eritrea. But, if there was a device onboard, it would be likely have been spotted before the plane got here. We're told the plane was sweeped here.

And, really, security levels here at Charles de Gaulle are unprecedented levels after a series of terror attacks in Europe. Every time there's been one -- for after the November attacks here, they ramped up security even further. So, everyone finds it extraordinary that those security measures could have been breached. If they were, then you look towards the humans involved here. The human error that might have been -- or the human weakness in the chain that might be there. So they'll look at ground staff, air crew and passengers -- anyone that had contact with that plane while it was on the ground here in Paris. So the focus on those investigations are there, but they're not revealing details of them as yet, John.

VAUSE: Okay, Max. Thank you.

SESAY: Max, thank you. Back to Richard Guest in Beijing.

Richard, let me ask you this -- if authorities do conclude that it was, in fact, an act of terrorism that brought this plane down, how much does that complicate the investigation procedurally and In terms of the parties that then become involved? QUEST: Not hugely. I mean, in the sense that, if it turns out to be

terrorism, you're really looking for the culprit. And if you look at metro jet, where there's been arrests in Sharm el Sheikh, you're looking to try and follow back where did the device go onto the aircraft. The moment it becomes -- to the specifics of your point, the moment it becomes a criminal case -- one of murder -- then prosecutorial authorities get involved. You have not only got the Egyptians, but also the French criminal prosecutors will be heavily involved because of the numbers of French people. And, in fact, every nation who had citizens onboard, their prosecutorial authorities will be onboard. But the goal will be to find the culprit who put the device on the plane. So, to the specifics of your question, if there -- if it is deemed to have been terrorism or a bomb, then the criminal prosecution comes first. Simultaneously and concurrently, the investigation into what happened continues from the aviation point of view.

SESAY: All right. Our Richard Quest there with important perspective. Richard, appreciate it. Thank you.

VAUSE: Please stay with us. Max and Becky will be back for more of our breaking news coverage after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Just gone 10:18 on a Thursday night. You're watching CNN's live coverage of the search for the EgyptAir flight 804, missing since Thursday morning with 66 people on board.

SESAY: Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister said it's more likely that a terror attack took down the jet, rather than technical issues. Maintenance checks done before the plane took off didn't turn up any problems. U.S. officials are working on the theory that the bomb brought the plane down, but say that could change.

Max Foster and Becky Anderson are back with us.

VAUSE: And here in Los Angeles, CNN law enforcement contributor and former FBI agent, Steve Moore. Let's start with, though, with Becky in Cairo. And Becky, of course, this theory that this plane was brought down by an act of terrorism -- no concrete proof but, of course, the Egyptians do have a huge problem right now with ISIS and with terrorism, which is there is so much suspicion.

ANDERSON: That's right. And we were talking a little earlier about, perhaps, the surprise by many about just how quick the Egyptians have been to suggest that this is likely a terror act, rather than a technical issue, given that it took so long after of the metro jet situation back in November for the Egyptians to actually admit to this being terrorism. We did learn yesterday -- and I think this is important, John, to point out -- that the chief prosecutor here in Egypt has referred the case to the state security prosecutor, suggesting that very early on, within the first 24 hours, that this case is to be considered a criminal investigation.

So, we are, and have heard, reports that there has been a statement from the president here demanding that the search be intensified and that every effort be made by the civil aviation authorities, by the Navy and by the Air Force to recover -- if that is the situation -- this plan; or, as it sounds at present, to rescue those involved. And this continues, of course, to be a search and rescue effort. But you are absolutely right to point out, this is just another issue for the Egyptians, as it were, already grappling with so much when it comes to terrorism, not least in the Sinai Peninsula. This is a country that sits on the border -- an incredibly porous border with Libya, for example. And we are well aware of the activity there and what is a very chaotic civil war being fought on the ground, and slippage across that border.

So the -- this -- the timing of this couldn't be worse for the Egyptians, clearly. But I think, you know, many experts pointing out the speed at which the Egyptians are trying to at least be ahead of what is going on here, as it were, so far as this search and rescue -- search and rescue is concerned, and the rowing back on details, which has caused so much frustration, not least for the family members here. One assumes that they are working very hard to make sure that that doesn't happen again in the following 24 hours. The search continues. Egypt and Greece being supported by Britain, by France, by the U.S., by the Italians and the Cypriots. So officially, still a search and rescue operation. But, yeah -- I mean, very, very difficult times for the Egyptians, John.

VAUSE: Okay Becky, thanks.

SESAY: Yes, thank you, Becky. Steve, want to bring you in here. How do the investigators go about definitively reaching the conclusion about whether or not this was terrorism?

STEVE MOORE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's going to be in the debris. And sadly, it's going to be in, even, the passengers. If this was a bomb that went off, there will be tell-tale signs -- chemical residue; there will be flash burns; there will be parts of bombs, potentially. Depending on where the bomb or IED was, if one was there, you would find pieces of this debris in luggage or, sadly, in human bodies. So you are bringing everything up, and you are x-raying all the bodies and all the luggage, and you are looking desperately for that.

VAUSE: It's all pretty grim.

SESAY: It is.

VAUSE: You mentioned last hour, the place to start looking for any clues at this point, would be the -- at Charles de Gaulle airport. Max Foster is actually live there this hour. Max, Charles de Gaulle airport is seen as being the possible weak link in all of this if, in fact, it was a terrorist attack. And that's despite what was meant to be a fairly big increase in security, and a fairly substantial review of security, after the Paris terror attacks.

FOSTER: Well, absolutely. And after the Brussels attacks, as well. Unprecedented levels of security, at the moment, which is why many commentators here find it extraordinary that a device could possibly get onboard. But there are always humans involved in these situations, which are why investigations are very much focused on the ground crew, the air crew, and the passengers, as well. There was a complete security sweep of the aircraft when it came in here to the airport, so the suggestion being that there wasn't a device onboard when it arrived here. And people find it extraordinary that there might be one that was on it when it left.

The Paris prosecutor's office, which oversees any sort of terror investigations, is investigating; but it, pointedly, not mentioned terror. And we're talking 24 hours after the incident; how much can we read into that? Well, it's difficult to tell because, obviously, if they do -- if they are chasing any sort of terror suspects of any kind, they want to keep that under wraps -- they don't want to alert the media about that. So we're not being told much at this point; but, certainly, officially, no word yet on any terror suspicions coming out from the French authorities.

SESAY: All right. Max Foster there at the airport in Paris -- at Charles de Gaulle. Max, appreciate it. Thank you.

Let's go back to Steve. Steve, let me ask you this, we heard Max talking about the ramping of security there at Charles de Gaulle airport; but, more generally speaking, what is the threat level posed to aviation -- aviation travel -- by groups by ISIS and Al Qaeda?

MOORE: Well, clearly, ISIS and Al Qaeda have both decided that this is the gold standard of terrorism for them. This is the big hit. Everybody has got their goals. This is their bucket list. So, yes, it is -- it is threatened because they have decided that's their target. And we will be as safe as we have the courage to be. When you have, as we had last year, 70 airport workers at Charles de Gaulle -- or at the Paris airports -- removed for ties to Islamic radicalism, and we find that some are still employed at the airport because of employment law, then what you're saying is that we don't have the backbone to protect you.

VAUSE: Okay, we're getting to -- so, I guess, the politics of it all now -- and the practicalities, as well. But I just want to get back Back on something, which you mentioned earlier about, you know, where this bomb may have been -- if, in fact, it was a bomb -- I have to keep saying that because we don't know. If it was a bomb, where the blast happened on the plane will tell a lot. If it was in the cargo hold or in the main cabin, that, then, gives you kind of a lead on how it got there.

MOORE: Yes. You will find the smallest pieces will be nearest the bomb because that has the biggest concussion. You will also find -- you know, people have been saying, "well, if there's an explosive decompression, the airplane comes apart." No, that's not true anymore. We saw the Hawaii plane where the roof came off. Likely, to take an airplane down, you're going to have to have a lot of explosives, probably near the center part.

VAUSE: So it's -- what I was getting to, though, is if it's in the cargo, it was smuggled onboard by cargo handlers, is my take. If it's in the main cabin, was on somebody's person, I guess, is the distinction which I'm trying to get to.

MOORE: I see what you're saying. I would kind of think that this is something that was detonated in the cabin. That's just -- just a hunch.

SESAY: And to pick up on that, how much explosive would you need to bring down a plane?

MOORE: It depends on what you use. But if -- say if you have plastic explosives, you might need a pound or two.

SESAY: (Inaudible) an issue of detection, is why I bring that up.

MOORE: Exactly. It's either there, or you could even have a mechanic put it up in -- in the wheel well right before it takes off. There are so many possibilities.

SESAY: And, again, we need to stress, we do not know.

MOORE: We do not.

SESAY: We don't know what happened in this aircraft --

MOORE: Absolutely.

SESAY: -- and if, indeed, it was a bomb or if it was an act of terrorism. We keep saying that.

VAUSE: It is a working theory by the Americans and by the Egyptians, so that's where -- that's why we keep bringing it up.

Steve, as always, fantastic.

SESAY: Thank you.

Well, we're going to take a short break. Max and Becky back with much more of our breaking news coverage right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:47] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. It's just gone 10:30 on a Thursday evening here on the West coast.

Right now, massive searches under way for any sign of EgyptAir flight 804. The airline said that debris found earlier in the Mediterranean Sea did not come from the jet. Air traffic controllers lost contract with the plane early Thursday as it flew from Paris to Cairo with 66 people onboard. VAUSE: Speculation has centered on the possibility the plane was a

target of a terrorist attack. Most of the passengers onboard were Egyptian and French nationals.

SESAY: CNN has reporters positioned across the region covering the story for us. Max Foster in Paris, Becky Anderson is in Cairo, Egypt.

VAUSE: And former NTSB investigator, Alan Diehl, joins us from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He's the author of "Air Safety Investigators: Using Science to Save Lives One Crash at a Time."

SESAY: Alan, let's begin with you.

We asked you last hour whether you were surprised they hadn't found anything of yet of this missing aircraft. Talk to us about the challenges and the investigators, the authorities are facing in this search.

ALAN DIEHL, FORMER NTSB INVESTIGATOR & AUTHOR: We talked about, if it was a terrorist act and it did explode, this is a perfect place for it to occur because it's -- the water makes it so much more difficult for it to, one, spot the wreckage. Not everything is going to float. That provides a very large challenge. It will be probably days before they spot wreckage, and I'm guessing, weeks before they recover most of it, and months before they analyze it. This will be a long process. And MetroJet, that tragedy fortunately occurred over a dry desert area. And in weeks, the Russians said we found evidence of a pyrotechnic device. That's not going to be the case here, probably, unless you get a piece of floating wreckage that has signature marks of an explosion, either residue or pitting or the kind of burning that you see with high-energy explosives.

VAUSE: Alan, stay with us.

Becky Anderson is in Cairo.

Becky, talk about the logistics of the search and the countries involved and the area they're looking at right now.

ANDERSON: It's a huge area, isn't it? The countries involved, Egypt, Greece, the U.S., France, Prague providing support, Britain, providing some support, Cyprus and Italy. And president here has demanded the intensification of that search, pulling resources from civil aviation here from the army and the navy.

And the case, or the investigation, interestingly, has been referred by the chief prosecutor, to the state security prosecutor, suggesting, John, this is, now, very quickly by the Egyptians being considered a criminal investigation. They have already admitted in the early hours, that they see this as likely terrorism, rather than a technical fault. And pulling in all resources to get the search-and-rescue intensified in what is a huge area there, in the Mediterranean. And we've been pointing out there's also enormous traffic in that area. It's a huge shipping area. So, there will be a massive effort going on, which will be great for the relatives of the 66 people onboard, as they wake up this morning, 24 hours on from the first news they got that their family members were aboard a flight that had disappeared. We're at the EgyptAir facility, which was set up as a crisis management situation yesterday. There were medics here. There was support for those who are still waiting to find out where their relatives are. Search-and-rescue, officially, as we say. So, things continue.

But it is important to point out just how quickly Egyptian authorities are veering towards treating this as a possible terrorism situation, given -- and I think your guest is pointing this out -- given it was months, as many six months before the investigation into the MetroJet was referred to state security -- John?

[01:35:32] VAUSE: OK, Becky, thank you.

SESAY: Yeah, Becky, thank you.

Let's go to Paris and join Max Foster.

Max, we know the aircraft that disappeared, on Wednesday, made stops in Tunis. What do we know of investigations taking place in those countries? In terms of who had access to the aircraft while on the ground there?

FOSTER: All of the passengers left the plane when it arrived here in Paris end simply because all the passengers left the plane when it arrived here in Paris and a whole new set of passengers that weren't originally on it went back on. And there was a security sweep, as well, in-between. The focus is whether or not a device could have gotten on the plane at this point by any people who were in contact with that plane, as it was here, at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Becky was talking how the level of investigation has ramped up in Egypt and some possible terror links here. And the police are involved. The prosecutor's office is also involved. But they're not talking about terror. It's the level of investigation that we saw here after the Paris attacks. And it's 24 hours since this incident happened. So there's no indication, officially at least, that this looks like a terror-related incident, which would suggest sabotage on the plane. Certainly, behind the scenes, they are preparing for possible outcomes that suggest that. They have to act on these things very early. They have to get that intelligence together very early. Various agencies involved here. And the French intelligence agencies, we're told, from Washington, are liaisoning with U.S. and Egyptian intelligence. So we do know they're looking at all avenues here. But they're not highlighting the terror angle at the moment.

VAUSE: OK, Max, thank you.

Alan Diehl, when they recover some of the debris, what will they be looking for to find out if this is a bomb blast, as opposed to some other catastrophic event that brought this plane down.

DIEHL: There's material signatures, John. Bomb blasts, explosive residue, they leave burning and they leave high-velocity pitting, where mechanical failures tend to be slow-bending, rounded failures. They can tell if it's an overload failure or fatigue or corrosion failure. All of that happens when you take the debris, the wreckage and put it in the lab under a micron microscope. Not only do you to separate the bomb versus the mechanical failure, you have to establish what caused the mechanical failure. This is going to be complex process.

John, I worked on a couple of Boeings that ended up in the water. And trust me, if the wreckage is in the water, it's going to be a longer effort, a much longer effort to find it and recover it and carefully examine it -- John?

SESAY: Alan, as you talk about the complexity, there's a lot to interpret. We know the Egyptians are taking the lead in this investigation. How confident are you for them to handle this the right way?

DIEHL: They're taking the lead, but in most of these accidents now it's really an international inquiry. The NTSB will be there. The French VBA will certainly be there. I suspect it will be a number of accident investigation agencies from around the world, minimally, those three. The Egyptians are smart enough when to ask for help now. They did have that problem back in '99 when the NTSB was brought in concluded it was a co-pilot/suicide. We're not supposed to say this, but the co-pilot was supposedly a friend of President Mubarak. They flew together in the Egyptian air force. That put a lot of pressure on the Egyptian investigators to try to convince the NTSB not to come to that conclusion. And Mubarak had asked the NTSB or Clinton to have the -- President Clinton to have the NTSB run it, so, yeah, there can be complications, for investigations run by other countries. I think, in this case, with all of the consistency the Egyptians are going to get, and they're concern about terrorism, I think they will get to the bottom of it. Again, I may not as expeditiously as MetroJet, as I said, because that was in the desert and they had all the wreckage fairly quickly.

[01:40:15] VAUSE: Alan, interesting point you make about the politics that go on behind the scenes in this kinds of investigations that we never know about until after the event.

(CROSSTALK)

DIEHL: -- earlier, John. It can be a player, unfortunately.

VAUSE: Yeah, absolutely.

SESAY: Yeah, absolutely so.

Alan Diehl, we appreciate it.

Our thanks to Becky Anderson and Max Foster there. Thank you.

VAUSE: A short break. When we come back, the presidential candidates are arguing over the disappearance of EgyptAir flight 804. We'll tell you what they're saying in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Recapping our breaking news this hour. It's 10:43 on the West coast. The massive search continues in the Mediterranean Sea for any trace of EgyptAir flight 804. Egypt's civil aviation minister said the cause of the disaster is more likely to be terrorism than a technical issue.

SESAY: Maintenance checks of the plane were done on time and no snags were reported. Officials with knowledge of the investigation tell CNN checks of the passenger manifest so far have not come up with hits on terror watch lists.

VAUSE: U.S. Democrat presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, spoke about the EgyptAir disaster in an interview with CNN.

SESAY: She says the tragedy reinforces the need for a global effort to share intelligence and tighten airport security in a world that depends on air travel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It does appear that it was an act of terrorism. Exactly how, of course, the investigation will have to determine. But it, once again, shines a very bright light on the threats that we face from organized terror groups, ISIS, of course, but then there are other terror networks of terrorists that have to be hunted down and defeated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:45:05] VAUSE: Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, also sounded off on the EgyptAir disaster, first, on Twitter and, later, in a speech in New Jersey.

SESAY: He lashed out over the plane's disappearance and blasted Clinton at the same time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So today, we had a terrible tragedy, and she came up and said that Donald Trump talked about radical Islamic terrorism, which she doesn't want to use. She used a different term. And I'm saying to myself, what just happened about 12 hours ago? A plane got blown out of the sky. And if anybody thinks it doesn't get blown out of the sky, you're 100 percent wrong, folks, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us, CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein.

Ron, the change of tone between these two is incredible.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. Most of the initial reactions are it was terrorism. You see that put forward as a possibly theory by intelligence agencies and law enforcement. The fact that Donald Trump was so quick and so unequivocal is a reminder of how different he is than what we have seen in presidential candidates and presidents historically. Part of Trump's is unfiltered. To his voters, he is someone who will call it like it is and say whatever he believes. But presidents have to be measured in their words. It is going to be one of the issues about, can this broad, big, volcanic personality, fit into the confines of the president.

SESAY: Hillary Clinton pulling no punches, really coming out and saying he doesn't have the judgment for this and pointing the comments he's made about Muslims, saying that in itself is a danger to this country. Listen to what she had to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: When you run for president of the United States, the entire world is listening and watching. When you say we're going to bar all Muslims, you are sending a message to the Muslim world and you're also sending a message to the terrorists because we do now have evidence, we have seen how Donald Trump is being used to essentially be a recruiter for more people to join the cause of terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: She went after him hard. Ron, is this a turning point in this campaign?

BROWNSTEIN: It's a reflection of a growing urgency among Democrats. Some polls tightened. In a 25-second sound byte, you saw what her raise what the Democrats say are the two biggest vulnerabilities that Donald Trump faces. One, big portions of the country see him as xenophobic, nativist, even racist. And the second, the questions about this temperament. Those are the two core arguments you're going to hear raised against him. And the issue of the Muslim ban, which is popular among Republicans but not the public overall, is where the two lines of argument converge.

VAUSE: It's interesting because she made the accusation a few months ago. It wasn't accurate. But now, it is. The story has moved on. She went on and said he's not fit to be president. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Let me ask you, do you think that Donald Trump is qualified to be president?

CLINTON: No, I do not. And I think in this past week, whether it's attacking Great Britain, praising the leader of North Korea, a despotic dictator who has nuclear weapons, whether it's saying pull out of NATO, let other countries have nuclear weapons, the kinds of positions he is stating and the consequences of those positions and even the consequences of his statements are not just offensive to people, they are potentially dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: To look at this from the Trump campaign, from a Trump supporter point of view, they like that stuff. Why not talk to North Korea? No one else is. Let's give it a go.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. There's a change agent. He is someone out of the boundaries. But again, in politics, those trends are the weaknesses. For many voters, and possible, potentially, for women voters, the idea of Donald Trump, the unsettling part about him is, as president, you don't know what he will do. And he may seem too impulsive or erratic. "The New York Times" polls was very interesting. Both are comparably weak on sharing your values, comparably on are they honest, comparably strong on leadership, but she had a 21-point advantage on who has the temperament to be president. That's where they see -- as I said, one of the two biggest comparative advantages. Lots of problems in this race, with Hillary Clinton. But the idea that she is someone steady, tested and ready to be president, that's something they see as a comparative advantage.

SESAY: Yeah. She didn't just take on Donald Trump in this interview, she also had harsh words were the Bernie Sanders, basically saying it's time to get on board, I'm the nominee.

BROWNSTEIN: As I said before, Democrats are getting uneasy about where this is going. There's no question, this race is taking a toll on Hillary Clinton. I was talking to one Democrat today, who said there's no aspect of our public image that is probably in a stronger position now than before she started the race. The path for Bernie Sanders is almost mathematically impossible. She has won -- of the 20 largest states, 18 have voted, she's won 14 of them. He's winning mid size, non-diverse states primarily. She has not cracked the diversity of the Democratic nominee. She is going to be the nominee. And yet, his intensity, the conflict has ramped up again in the last few weeks in a way that is making more Democrats nervous, post Nevada, post some of these polls showing Donald Trump do better.

[01:50:45] VAUSE: Yeah, this feeling, stay in the race, but tone it down.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Yeah.

VAUSE: Ron Brownstein, good to speak with you. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Good to be here.

SESAY: Thank you.

OK, we'll turn back to the top story, the search for EgyptAir 804 right after this quick break.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. SESAY: Welcome back to our live breaking news coverage of that

missing EgyptAir flight. It's been and excruciating wait for the relatives of the 804 passengers. 33 of them were adults, one was a child and two were infants. Plus, there were three security personnel, five crew members in the cabin and two in the cockpit.

[01:55:12] VAUSE: 30 of the passengers were from Egypt, 15 from France. There were passengers from Iraq, U.K., Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, also Chad, Portugal, Algeria, Canada and Sudan.

And on Thursday, some of the family members of the missing gathered at Cairo's international airport hoping for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Greece says something. And here, they say something else. You don't know what's the truth. You have hope in God. We pray to God. We also, don't understand. We want to understand. Their words should have credibility. People are not all over the place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We are confused. We don't know the truth. Some say it fell in the city. Some say it's in the air. Some say it didn't fall. Some say the black box is communicating signals. But where is the truth? It's with God. We don't know anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: A very difficult time for these families.

VAUSE: Another difficult day ahead.

SESAY: Our hearts go out to them.

You're watching CNN breaking news coverage of EgyptAir flight 804. I'm Isha Sesay, in Los Angeles.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause.

Max Foster and Becky Anderson will join us with much more after a short break.

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[02:00:14] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.