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Search for Black Boxes; Clinton and Trump Spar; Interview with Rep. Brad Sherman; Baltimore Officer Trial; Padres Apologize for Glitch. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired May 23, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:30:11] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning to you. I'm Pamela Brown, in for Carol Costello. Thanks for being here with us.
A submarine has now joined the hunt in the Mediterranean Sea for the flight data and voice recorders that could reveal what caused the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian aviation official who said terror was likely, now taking a more cautious tone, warning the media not to jump to conclusions about what happened.
Let's bring in CNN's Nic Robertson. He is in Alexandria, Egypt, where the search is underway for more wreckage.
What have we learned, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, Pam, the very latest we have is that a French patrol vessel has now joined the Egyptian ships in the search. On board it has a small submarine capable of descending to a depth of 1,000 meters. It has two specialist divers on board as well as, most importantly, acoustic detection systems. They can detect the pings that come from the transmitters that are attached to the black boxes that get triggered when the plane hits the water. So these are very, very important right now for the Egyptian navy to have these. They don't have them themselves. And right now all that focus is on the seabed.
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ROBERTSON (voice-over): Thousands of feet below the Mediterranean Sea, the search for EgyptAir 804 continues. Egypt deploying a submarine, scouring the bottom of the ocean floor, 200 miles off the coast of Alexandria, hoping to retrieve the plane's black boxes in waters nearly two miles deep in some parts.
PILOT: Hello, hello, EgyptAir 804 flight level 370.
ROBERTSON: This is audio recordings of the two men flying the doomed flight are released. The pilot making this final, now haunting call into air traffic control.
PILOT: Thank you so much. Good day, have a good night. ROBERTSON: Just minutes before falling off radar.
TURKISH 814: 804, this is Turkish 814. How do you read me?
ROBERTSON: Flight data obtained by CNN indicate multiple smoke alerts occurring near the cockpit minutes before the crash. The smoke indicators providing a new clue for investigators. Was it mechanical failure or something deliberate, like terrorism, that made Flight 804 suddenly drop 38,000 feet out of the sky?
SAMEH SHOUKRY, EGYPT FOREIGN MINISTER: That is certainly an important element in a jigsaw puzzle that has to be fully compiled.
ROBERTSON: A French official telling passengers' families that no theory had been ruled out.
SHERIF FATHI, EGYPTIAN CIVIL AVIATION MINISTER: We cannot, at this stage, come up with any conclusion. Stop making, how do you call it, speculations without having facts.
ROBERTSON: Wreckage found over the weekend, reminders of the 66 lives lost, including a purse and a child's pink backpack.
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ROBERTSON: And what the French are also telling us is very cautionary as well at the moment. That is they think now their ships involved, the search could take days or even weeks. They won't even be putting their submarine or those acoustic detection devices in the water yet because they say they just haven't close enough located precisely where the plane went down, Pam.
BROWN: Yes, it could be some time before we have the answers we need here. Nic Robertson, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there.
So the big question, what is behind the fate of this crashed EgyptAir flight? Was it a mechanical failure or terrorism?
Joining me now to discuss, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo.
Mary, thank you for coming on.
So over the weekend we learned that the plane sent these automatic messages that we just heard about in Nic's report about smoke near the cockpit minutes before it crashed. There were also these indications of a heated window in the cockpit. What could cause this? What does all of that tell you?
MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, based on prior accident reports, there had been a problem reported on this window heater in Airbus models 320 and 330. And what happened was the connector, literally a wiring joint, had problems with both the insulation, the connector ports and the wiring. And what happened was these windows overheated. Curiously, it usually happened at 37,000 to 39,000 feet. The
Australians issued warnings on all the Australian fleets. They replaced the windows. But the European Union hadn't acted on that, didn't make it mandatory. So that is one thing that could have caused this alert, this window heat alert to go off, is that a short and overheating of those windows.
BROWN: So, in your view, what we know now, does all of this information rule out the possibility of a bomb or is it just too premature to do that?
SCHIAVO: No, it's too premature to do that. And it's really important to leave both options on the table because no matter which way this disaster, this tragedy goes, important problems have been highlighted. Just shocking security lapses at Charles de Gaulle Airport, which need to be -- be closed. You know, graffiti on an airplane saying we will bring you -- you know, bring it down. Eighty-five people with suspected terror links with security badges in the airport. Those loopholes must be closed and all options must be on the table for the investigation.
[09:35:21] But, the information over the weekend showed some interesting developments. For example, the ACARS messages, the automated warnings that the plane sends back to its message base, actually came -- apparently came -- now all this depends if this information is correct as being reported, but it came before that left-hand turn was executed by the pilots, which is a standard measure to get off the airwave if you're having trouble. So they might have been experiencing trouble longer than we thought.
There are heat sensors and fire sensors in the electronics bay. There's not fire suppression. But the pilots would have known about a fire there unless it was a smoldering fire. And the lavatory sensors are optical. Meaning, they sense debris, mist, smoke, something in the air. So it does look like whatever it was started in the cockpit and whatever it was certainly did not blow the plane apart instantaneous, like a Pan-Am 103 bombing, or like a TW 800 mechanical center wing tank explosion. It took longer than we thought.
BROWN: And, of course, the search is on for the flight data recorders. How key will that be in bringing us closer to answers?
SCHIAVO: That is just absolutely the key. No matter which way it is, terrorism or mechanical, it's vitally, vitally important to get those black boxes to save future lives. And I've worked with hundreds of families over the years from air crashes and their one wish is always to prevent something like that happening again. So whether it is terrorism or mechanical, those black boxes probably hold the only answer. Airbus issued a statement over the weekend saying they can't make sense of these messages either. So we really have to have both the cockpit voice recording, which will have the -- what the pilots were doing in those last six or so minutes, and the flight data recorder will tell us, truly, which event happened first. And that probably holds the key.
BROWN: All right, Mary Schiavo, thank you very much. SCHIAVO: Thank you.
BROWN: And still to come on this Monday, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton readying for a political battle of the ages. But with record unfavorability on both sides, will the rhetoric alienate or galvanize voters?
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[09:41:43] BROWN: Well, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are giving a preview now of what their highly anticipated November showdown will look like. Both sides coming out swinging over the tone and the language on display in this ruckus primary season.
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HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And as we go through this campaign, we're going to be demonstrating the hollowness of his rhetoric and the danger of a lot of what he has said.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): Our country's in trouble. ISIS is laughing at us. And they see somebody like Hillary Clinton, who, you know, reads off her teleprompter and copies my expressions. I mean she copied exactly what I said about her. Two days later she said the same thing. I mean come up with your own expressions. But, you know, no imagination.
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BROWN: All right, joining me now, Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California. He is a member of the House foreign Affairs and Financial Services Committee and he is also a supporter of Hillary Clinton.
Congressman, thank you for coming on.
REP. BRAD SHERMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: Good to be with you.
BROWN: So we just head what Donald Trump said, that ISIS is laughing at us. Over the weekend he tweeted, "crooked Hillary Clinton's foreign interventions unleashed ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Libya. She is reckless and dangerous." Just today dozens of people died in the region. You're a Clinton supporter. How do you respond to Trump's attacks?
SHERMAN: I think that Donald Trump offers criticism, but doesn't offer new policy. He implies that -- he (INAUDIBLE) claims that if he's elected president, he'll sweep away ISIS right away. So I asked him to come bring his secret plan for eliminating ISIS quickly to the Foreign Affairs Committee so that we could hear it in confidential session. We've gotten no response. And that's because he has no plan. His only plan is say something outrageous and upsetting and then walk it back.
His statements that he would ban all Muslims, every single Muslim from crossing the U.S. border, is going to be a terrible burden on him if he becomes president of the United States. Now, I know he's tried to walk it back, but when you say that American service men who are serving us abroad can't come back to their homes because of their religion, when you say that we cannot meet with prime ministers and kings and generals from the Arab world who are our allies because we won't let them land at our airports, that is not only insulting, it's practically ridiculous.
BROWN: And in your view, how is that rhetoric impacting U.S. relations with foreign countries?
SHERMAN: Well, right now he's not president. And I don't think the world believes he's going to become president. So I think he's a modest embarrassment to those of us conducting foreign policy around the world, especially our diplomats. But I -- I shudder to think what would happen if he became president and he had to -- had to go on an apology tour for saying to every one of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world that they can't enter the United States, even if they are with us as allies fighting our enemies.
BROWN: But you can't ignore the fact that he's certainly tapped into something with millions of people who support him. We're now seeing Republican rank and file coalescing around him. Meantime, on the Democratic side, it's a different story. Bernie Sanders continues his fight. He's come out saying that he is supporting the opponent of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and that there are issues within the DNC leadership. How much does that division within the Democratic Party concern you in terms of Hillary Clinton?
[09:45:15] SHERMAN: Parties go through this until the very last primary that is contested. Look at all the terrible things that the Republican candidates said about each other and now about a week or so after the last Republican opponent throws in the towel, Donald Trump is getting a bounce in the polls because while he may not have united all Republican elites and certainly not a lot of foreign policy experts, he's uniting Republican voters. That same bump will be available to Hillary Clinton when the race is over. The race isn't over until there's a concession. And I don't expect that to happen until the middle of June. So we have another few weeks where this race is going to be contested. Bernie has every right to contest it. And that's what he's decided to do.
BROWN: And both Trump and Clinton have record high unfavorable ratings in these latest polls that came out. Clinton responded to this and said that basically these polls so far mean nothing this far out, five months out from the general election. Is she right or is this something that she needs to worry about right now?
SHERMAN: This is like the first inning of a tied baseball game. There's a long way to go. And I think that the fact that Trump has gone up a little bit is that bump that he gets because his opponents threw in the towel. You'll look at how much Americans respected and approved of Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state and you realize that when she's actually engaged in public service, we have tremendous respect for Hillary Clinton. It's just now when she's subject, as she has been at various times since 1992, to this huge barrage of negatives, it does have an effect.
So I would expect that the Trump campaign will be ugly. It was ugly against his fellow Republicans. And I suspect that it will drive up both his negatives and her negatives even higher than they are now.
BROWN: All right.
SHERMAN: But the Trump campaign is a negative campaign.
BROWN: Wow! All right, Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California, thank you.
SHERMAN: Thank you.
BROWN: And still ahead, the verdict in the second Freddie Gray trial. Will a Baltimore police officer be found guilty of assault?
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[09:52:03] BROWN: We're a few minutes away now from a verdict in the second trial related to the death of Freddie Gray. Baltimore Police Officer Edward Nero was charged with second degree assault. He allegedly touched Gray during an arrest that prosecutors say was illegal. And he's also accused of reckless endangerment for not putting a seat belt on him. Gray died from a broken back after being shackled without a seat belt in a police van. CNN national correspondent Miguel Marquez joins us from right outside the courthouse.
Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's also charged with two counts of misconduct in office for those same incidents. In that famous video that we see of the arrest of Mr. Gray, Mr. Nero was identified in court as one of those that moved Mr. Gray from the sidewalk into that van. What is interesting about what this judge has been asked to decide, this is a bench trial, no jury, so this will be a fairly quick decision about 10:30 Eastern Time when the judge takes the bench. What is interesting about this is that the prosecution says that this was a lawful stop of Mr. Gray, a detention of Mr. Gray until some point, they say, that it became unlawful, that he was handcuffed, that he was held down, and then he was -- when he was moved into that van.
Mr. Nero's lawyers argue that Mr. Nero wasn't there at the initial takedown of Mr. Gray but only came along later. The prosecutor says that wasn't true. His defense basically saying he had very little to do with this arrest. He only was there to prop Mr. Gray up, talk to him. He seemed fine, they say. And then he moved him into the van. When he moved him into that van, they stay, he did not either seat belt Mr. Gray or put -- or ask for a seat belt to be put on him and that's the reckless endangerment.
Pamela.
BROWN: All right, we'll be waiting for that verdict. Miguel Marquez,, thank you so much.
And meantime, in other news in this Monday morning, quarterback Tom Brady's legal team is appealing a four-game suspension imposed by the NFL over the deflategate scandal. His attorneys will file a petition today asking a U.S. appeals court to rehear his case. Last month a panel of judges ruled in favor of the NFL and reinstated Brady's suspension.
Well, this was supposed to be a big night for the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus. They were invited to sing the national anthem on LGBT pride night before the Padres game. Well, then, as they were ready to start singing, something went wrong. CNN's Coy Wire is here to tell us about that and what exactly happened, who is taking the blame.
Coy, what went down?
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Pam, we're talking about the 100- member award winning San Diego Gay Men's Chorus. All set to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Petco Park Saturday night, Padres taking on the Dodgers. But before they could sing a single note, this happened.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you see, by the dawn's early light. What so proudly we hail --
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WIRE: Unable to perform, drowned out by a prerecorded track of a woman singing the national anthem instead. One hundred men, mortified, standing there for the entire song, then escorted off the field with no explanation. Chorus members said that some of the fans in the stands were shouting homophobic slurs as the men exited the field, yelling things like "you sing like a girl."
[09:55:17] Now, the Padres have apologized, said it wasn't done on purpose, and that they've disciplined an employee and stopped working with a contractor who were responsible for that marring performance. Now, the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus still wants answers. They're calling for a full investigation by the Padres and Major League Baseball. Was this malicious intent? Anti-gay discrimination? That's what they want to know. Or was this a hate crime?
Bill Bean, Major League Baseball's VP of social responsibility, who happens to be openly gay, released a statement in support of the Padres saying, "I can assure you that they have made every effort to include the LGBT community and champion equality in MLB for each and every one of us." He went on to say, "I would hope that the community recognizes that error and intent are not related." And the padres did tweet yesterday that they have extended an offer for the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus to perform at a later date.
BROWN: But just bizarre that they left the song play on and then they escorted them off the field. Keep us posted on how this plays out. Coy Wire, thank you so much.
WIRE: You're welcome.
BROWN: And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins after a break.
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