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Subpoenas Issued in Probe of 737 Max; Floodwaters Swamp Midwest Towns and Highways; Saudi Crown Price Authorized Team to Silence Dissenters; Trump Slams GM over Cuts. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 18, 2019 - 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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[09:31:56] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, federal officials are investigating the FAA. According to "The Wall Street Journal," the Transportation Department inspector general is looking into the FAA's approval of the Boeing 737 Max jet that, of course, has been involved in those two deadly crashes in a matter of just five months.

My colleague Tom Foreman joins me now.

This is really important. What is the FAA looking for here? I mean why are they concerned?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's really unusual, too. Essentially what we're being told here is that after the Lion Air crash, what "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting, which happened in Indonesia last fall, this investigation was started by the Department of Transportation looking at the FAA's procedures for approving this new system that was involved with the Max jet's line of planes. It was an automatic correction system if the plane started nosing up too much.

Basically what "The Wall Street Journal" article is saying is that more and more of the approval relied upon Boeing actually doing the test and Boeing saying it was safe and the FAA saying, fine, you need to rush this plane out. We're just going to get it out there. That's basically the gist of that story.

Now, we haven't been able to independently confirm any of that. And it's important, even though we haven't had a response from the FAA directly to this or the Department of Transportation, the FAA did issue a statement that said the FAA's aircraft certification processes are well established and have consistently produced safe aircraft designs. The 737 Max certification program followed the standard certification process.

So the bottom line is, this does not seem to be tied to the Ethiopian crash at this point, but was based on questions about the Lion Air crash and whether or not this federal agency was feeling too overburdened, to whatever, that it allowed Boeing itself to say, OK, our new system on this plane will be fine., and then arguably it was not. HARLOW: And on top of this, I mean you have Ethiopia's transportation

minister saying that the plane's flight data recorder shows similarities with the crash of the model Boeing 737 Max 8 in October. Do you know at this point, Tom, what the similarities are that these two black boxes now show?

FOREMAN: Well, they're the patterns of flight which we know from the satellite analysis, which would also be reflected in the flight data recorder, possibly even in the voice recorder if they were talking about it. What do we know about those patterns of flight? We know that because of the design of these new jets, there was a tendency for the nose to come up. So an automatic system was installed to bring the nose back down. But, a lot of reporting since then has suggested that if this system is not essentially working properly, if it gets false readings from faulty sensors or a faulty sensor at the front of the plane, it can make it nose much more steeply down and the pilots are unable to overcome that.

So in terms of the evidence, one of the questions is, is this idea that they found a jack screw tied to the rear fins on the plane, I guess I'll call them, the parts that make the plane go into that dive, suggesting that they were sharply angled downward at the time, which, of course, would make the plane dive into the ground.

[09:35:09] There is so much that we're going to have to unpack about all of this, Poppy, but it is not going away any time soon. And the questions are just multiplying seemingly by the day.

HARLOW: They are, and they need answers quickly.

Tom, thank you for the reporting. Tom Foreman in Washington.

At least three people are dead after devastating flooding in the Midwest. Next, where millions need to be on alert for flood warnings in the coming days.

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HARLOW: Rising flood waters in the Midwest are surrounding towns, swamping highways and shattering records. At least three people we know have been killed in Nebraska and Iowa. Millions of other Americans are under flood warnings. And the water is expected to keep rising this week.

[09:40:07] Let's go to my colleague, Stephanie Elam. She's in Winslow, Nebraska.

Sudden, furious and still threatening, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very much so, Poppy. And you can see it in different parts of the state where the rivers are cresting and others are still yet to crest. And if you look behind me, that's the town of Winslow that is completely cut off right now because of floodwaters. And this is a situation across the eastern part of the state.

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ELAM (voice over): A race against time for emergency crews across Nebraska after historic flooding left much of the state under water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never seen anything like this. It's a stunning amount of water.

ELAM: By air, the National Guard using helicopters to access those cut off by floodwaters. This infrared video showing guardsmen and Omaha police rescuing two people stranded on top of a pickup. On land, first responders navigating through dangerous rising water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where these people are being rescued, it's probably six, eight foot high.

ELAM: Rescuing hundreds of trapped residents and evacuating others before it's too late.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If we decided to stay, we would just be stuck there until the water went down.

ELAM: At least two people have been killed, including James Wilke (ph), a farmer who died after a bridge went out while he was on the way to help stranded rescuers. The flooding, the result of last week's bomb cyclone which caused the Missouri River to rise to record levels. The rushing water causing levees to overflow. This video showing a bridge on Highway 12 split in half by the floodwaters and carried downstream. Destroyed asphalt making that same highway impassable. The runway at Offutt Air Force Base also covered in floodwaters.

Nebraska's governor touring the state evaluating the devastating damage.

GOV. PETE RICKETTS (R), NEBRASKA: This has probably been the, you know, the most severe widespread flooding we've had most -- you know, as far as the -- the part of the state that's been impacted we've had in the last half century.

ELAM: Sandbags stacked high outside homes as a last-ditch effort for residents here. Some people already using everything. Their belongings spotted floating in the murky overflow. For others already evacuated, the fear of returning home to nothing, unbearable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You see it on the news for other people and you couldn't imagine it until it happens to you. And then it's like, yes, you know how they feel.

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ELAM: And, Poppy, I want to show you what's happening out here. You see this little whirlpool that has started to present itself here on the side of this roadway. Well, if you look around, it's going underneath this road here, and it is messing up the infrastructure. You saw that in the story that we just put up there for you. It is ripping up this road here and then shooting the water out with some intensity on the other side. This is part of the reason why they're telling people to stay off of roads that they say are not safe because they may look like you could drive on it but you never know. This road could become very compromised and it could be a very deadly situation. So this is what they're dealing with all across Nebraska right now, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Wow. That really exemplifies exactly what's going on. And I know, as you said, the threat is going to continue.

Stephanie, thank you to you and your team for being there in Nebraska for us this morning.

A new report exposes a secretive campaign approved by the Saudi crown prince to silence dissidents. We're going to talk to one of the reporters who broke this extraordinary story, next.

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[09:47:58] HARLOW: All right, welcome back.

This morning, a new, stunning report in "The New York Times," chilling details about a secret campaign authorized by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to silence dissenters. The campaign includes what American officials call a rapid intervention team. They carried out surveillance, kidnapping, detention and torture of Saudi citizens over a year before the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist.

Joining me now is Mark Mazzetti, Washington investigative correspondent for "The Times." He co-wrote the piece.

It is -- it is stunning and people should read the entire thing, but let's just tick through some of the big headlines here.

The, you know, the rogue interrogations that were happening before and have continued since Khashoggi's murder. This rapid intervention team, this calculated effort to silence dissenters, is it still happening?

MARK MAZZETTI, WASHINGTON INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": It appears certainly that the detention and the interrogations are continuing as has become recently public regarding the women's rights activists. This campaign might have been scaled back some because of the outrage over Khashoggi's killing. But a lot of these same practices appear to continue.

And what we tried to point out in this story was, it's increasingly becoming clear that the killing of Jamal Khashoggi was not a one-off. It was portrayed as such a time. It was -- it was rogue actors who acted outside of the boundaries of their -- of their guidance. Yet clearly this was going on for some time. Dozens of operations. It was all part of a pretty calculated campaign authorized by the crown prince.

HARLOW: Let me read everyone one of the parts that struck us the most. And this is about the female activists that are targets of this team. Quote, some of the women were frequently taken downstairs for interrogation, which includes beatings, electric shocks, waterboarding and threats of rape or murder. I mean, this is under the leadership -- I say that parenthetically --

of, you know, of a Saudi crown prince who led the right for women to drive, for example, who has really pushed this public image of being a reformer, of being a progressive, while this is happening to women at the same time.

[09:50:11] MAZZETTI: Right. And that's kind of one of one of the most discordented (ph) things about all of this. The crown prince has portrayed himself as a modernizing force, has won kudos in the United States, in Europe, elsewhere, for doing things like pushing the right of women to drive.

At the same time, there is this crackdown going on, on women's rights activists, including some of the same activists who pushed for women to drive at secret locations inside Saudi Arabia and some of this is just now emerging also because their family members are courageous enough to speak out. So we increasingly are seeing that this is all of a piece this campaign. The details are just -- which are really starting to just emerge now.

HARLOW: Part of your reporting comes from American intelligence officials. And the president has repeatedly countered what his own intelligence teams have said, saying there's not conclusive evidence here tying MBS to the Khashoggi murder. But the administration continues to maintain that despite even what you found here and what you're reporting.

MAZZETTI: Yes. And this is one of the things that made the American intelligence agencies so confident that Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, had ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi because they had this evidence of all of these pervious operations. There was this very compelling body of evidence that this team, including some of the same people who killed Khashoggi, had been involved in these other operations.

And, as you said, this has created a big tension with the White House -- between the White House and the intelligence services. President Trump, in November, issued a statement which basically said, you know, Mohammed bin Salman, maybe he killed Khashoggi, maybe he didn't. We're never going to know. It's time to move on. But clearly the evidence just keeps mounting about not only the role of the senior Saudi leadership in Khashoggi's killing but in others as well.

HARLOW: Mark, it's really important reporting. Thank you for being here. I know you and your team worked very hard on this one. Appreciate it.

MAZZETTI: Thank you.

HARLOW: Sure.

The president is ripping on GM over and over again this weekend and again this morning for closing that plant in Ohio. Remember the president's promise about auto jobs and manufacturing in Ohio. Can he do anything here, though, to force GM's hand? A "Reality Check" on that ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:40] HARLOW: The bitter battle between the president and General Motors is in overdrive -- pun very much intended -- this morning. The president is demanding the automaker reopen the plant that it closed in Lordstown, Ohio, or sell it. Trump has repeatedly attacked GM and personally criticized CEO Mary Barra since the closure of four U.S. plants was announced.

Christine Romans, our chief business correspondent, is here with more.

Look, I mean this is just not up to the president.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. And that's exactly what GM is saying. I mean GM with a statement saying the ultimate future of the unallocated plants, like Lordstown, it's going to be resolved between GM and the union. The focus right now is reassigning workers from those idle plants to other facilities. That's what they're doing. They're not talking about re-opening this thing.

Now, how we got here. That Lordstown plant is a political loss for this president. He vowed to autoworkers that his policies would keep their jobs in America, those jobs in Ohio. Listen to him at a rally in Youngstown.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (July 25, 2017): I rode through your beautiful roads coming up from the airport. And I was -- I was looking at some of those big, once incredible job producer factories. And my wife, Melania, said, what happened? I said, those jobs have left Ohio. They're all coming back. They're all coming back. Coming back. Don't move. Don't sell your house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Even financial advice from the president. But the bully pulpit of the presidency, the Twitter megaphone, they did not trump the realities of global business. The gas powered sedan made here, that Chevy Cruze, wasn't a huge seller in the U.S. Gas-powered sedans are less popular than trucks and SUVs and they have the big profit margins. The future, as GM sees it, is an expensive transformation into electric vehicles and autonomous cars and trucks. Closing plants like Lordstown frees up investment for the future.

Now, when she announced that restructuring, GM's CEO Mary Barra called it, in business speak, right-sizing capacity for the realities of the marketplace. And, frankly, that's the most important thing here. The president demands that GM make a different vehicle there in Lordstown or sell the facility. And facing a political promise unkept, he cast around for blame, even criticizing the local union president, telling him to get his act together and produce. Those tactics, as you know, Poppy, familiar. Think Ford and Carrier, the air condition and furniture maker. The president leaned on them heavily to keep jobs from going to Mexico with mixed results.

HARLOW: Totally, because there's only so much you can do.

ROMANS: Right.

HARLOW: And, by the way, this is from like the ultimate capitalist, former businessman and CEO --

ROMANS: Right.

HARLOW: Who would hate to be threatened to do something that was not good for his business, by the way, from an American president.

ROMANS: Right.

HARLOW: But before you go, there are things that he is doing, this administration is doing, that have actually hurt the auto sector, as well.

ROMANS: That's right.

HARLOW: For example, the steel tariffs. The Ford CEO said last year it will cost them a billion bucks in profit.

ROMANS: Yes.

HARLOW: So the two -- I mean how do you square the circle here?

ROMANS: And GM has also said they've raised the prices -- they've raised costs for GM as well because of those -- of those import tariffs. There's also this other issue of the president is considering a flat tariff on all imported cars, much bigger than we have now, and is threatening the European Union with that. There's actually a -- you know, a national security study underway. And by the beginning of May he'll have to make a decision.

HARLOW: Thank you, Romans. We appreciate it very much. I think we're going to keep talking about this --

ROMANS: Yes.

HARLOW: Because I think he'll keep tweeting about this plant.

[10:00:07] All right, it is the top of the hour. 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

END