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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Congress Invites Netanyahu to Speak Without Consulting White House; Interview with Sen. Cory Gardner Official: Alarms Heard On Airasia Black Boxes; YouTube Stars To Question President Obama

Aired January 21, 2015 - 16:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, SPORTS COLUMNIST: So I also think there is the big issue of the integrity of the league. Earlier this season, as the season began, of course, we were met with one of the biggest stories we have ever covered, the Ray Rice incident, the elevator video, everyone knows what happened from that point on. Much more serious than this story. But nonetheless, once again, here we are talking about the integrity of the National Football League, so I do believe that is an important issue.

TAPPER: More than three years ago, Tom Brady told WEEI in Boston that he likes deflated footballs. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY: He spikes it every time he scores, so I don't know if that's flagrant or what. You know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't you spike it every time you score?

BRADY: Yes, which happens like once every three years.

(LAUGHTER)

BRADY: When Gronk scores, it's like eight touchdowns a year, he spikes the ball, and it deflates the ball, which I love that, because I like the deflated ball. But I feel bad for that football, because he puts everything he can into those spikes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Is that significant at all or does every quarterback really like deflated footballs?

BRENNAN: Well, I think everything is significant as we proceed to look into this story and find out if it's a big deal or if it's not. But the word is that Aaron Rodgers likes the footballs that he throws to be overinflated. So now, throw that into the mix.

I think that as I said, from the reporting I think we are all doing now, trying to figure this out, and what a window by the way into the world of the NFL. Who knew -- I have covered the league for years, and I had no idea that all of these nuances were all about inflating or deflating a football. But I think as we continue to find out about it, it could have a little bit of an impact, or it could just be part of this where everyone's got the wink and the nod issue, except for the fact as you pointed out, Belichick's history, the Patriots' history, and that's why people are taking this seriously.

TAPPER: Christine Brennan, thank you so much.

In our politics lead, even some Democrats are now openly criticizing President Obama over his Iran sanction veto threat. And the speaker of the House is joining in. He's inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress about the threat from Iran. Is Boehner trying to teach the president a lesson? How is the White House responding? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to "The Lead." The politics lead now. Call it unusual, call it unprecedented, call it just plain weird. Today Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted an invitation to appear before Congress next month to speak in favor of a legislation that would push new sanctions against Iran. Here's the thing that's weird, though. It was Republican House Speaker John Boehner who extended the invitation, not the White House, and the move follows these comments made by President Obama during last night's State of the Union address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Between now and this spring, we have a chance to negotiate a comprehensive agreement that prevents a nuclear armed Iran, secures America and our allies, including Israel, while avoiding yet another Middle East conflict. That's why I will veto any new sanctions bill that threatens to undo this progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash is here now to explain what's weird. It's not weird for Netanyahu to be speaking before a joint meeting of Congress. He's done that before. It's the way this went down that's raised eyebrows. Explain.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The reason is because it is tradition, whether protocol or not, for Congress to check with the White House before they invite a foreign leader to speak to a joint meeting of Congress. That did not happen here. Republicans on the Hill admit it did not happen here, intentionally, because they were trying to get the Israeli prime minister to come and speak on behalf of their position, which was the opposite of what you just heard from the president. They want, the Israelis want Congress to pass stiffer sanctions against Iran. The same sanctions the president is saying don't do.

TAPPER: The Israelis feel that a nuclear weapon armed Iran is an existential threat to their country. In fact, you asked House Speaker John Boehner about this earlier. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Is this just a way to sort of poke the president in the eye on an issue like Iran, where you know he very much opposes what you want to do?

BOEHNER: I did not consult with the White House. The Congress can make this decision on its own. I don't believe I'm poking anyone in the eye. There is a serious threat that exists in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: But he had to have known this would ruffle feathers. The White House saying this is departure from protocol for a visiting world leader to not go to the White House first.

BASH: Of course, and there are so many layers of drama and intrigue here, because as you well know, you have covered this White House, there is a long history of tension between the men, Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama, ever since the scolding that Netanyahu gave to the president publicly in the Oval Office, and there were all kinds of incidents since then. So there is the personal attention and then there's the tension right now because of this issue and the sort of chess match that Boehner is clearly playing right now.

TAPPER: Dana Bash, thank you so much. The White House said it was a departure from protocol by the Israelis. The administration says they normally hear from foreign countries' leaders when they are planning to dispatch and come to the United States. So how effective will this move be in swaying Congress? Could it derail the administration's negotiations with Iran?

I'm joined right now by Republican Senator Corey Gardner from Colorado, he is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and I should note, his wife just had their third baby just a few weeks ago. Congratulations, Senator.

SEN. CORY GARDNER (R), COLORADO: Thank you very much. She's an amazing lady, very busy while I'm here in Washington.

TAPPER: All right. Hopefully you will be busy, too, in a couple of days. Senator Gardner, I want to ask you, the White House is saying that this invitation by Speaker Boehner to Prime Minister Netanyahu was a breach of protocol. The normal procedure is a -- would-be visiting world leader would contact the White House first. What's your response?

GARDNER: Again, the Congress, the legislative branch is an equal power to the president. The speaker of the House has the right to invite speakers to address Congress, his House. The fact is the president came to the -- before the Congress last night in his State of the Union address and told us a number of things that he was going to do with or without Congress, and so I don't understand how the president is suddenly offended that Congress is actually exercising its prerogative.

TAPPER: Last week, the British Prime Minister David Cameron echoed what President Obama has been saying, that further sanctions against Iran or even the threat of those sanctions could hurt this international coalition that's negotiating with Iran to try to prevent them from pursuing nuclear weapons any further than they already have. Why take the risk? It's not as if getting a sanctions bill to the president's desk would be a heavy lift.

GARDNER: We continue to have discussions on sanctions against Iran. The fact is there are sanctions, in fact, at the hearing this morning I asked about new sanctions going forward on Iran due to state- sponsored terrorism and human rights violations. And so sanctions will continue to pile up on Iran even during the negotiations on the joint agreement.

But the question is this to the administration. During our Foreign Relations Committee hearing today, what about the opportunity for Congress to approve the agreement? The hesitation from the administration to say that we would have the same rights as a Congress, as it sounds like they will have in Iran to approve any agreement by their elected officials as well, the administration is hesitating to give us that acknowledgment.

TAPPER: I want to get your response to the president's State of the Union address. Some Republicans have taken issue with moments during last night's speech when they didn't care for the president's tone. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: If a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, I will veto it. If you truly believe you can work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, try it. I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda -- I know, because I won both of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: There were other moments in the speech that were more conciliatory. But what did you think?

GARDNER: For the first part of what you just played back, the president missed an opportunity. In fact, I think the speech may have been written by two different speechwriters. The first part talking about veto threats, things that he knew would not receive the support of the majority in the House, the new majority in the Senate. And then the second part of the speech where he talked about why can't we all get along.

So I think there are two different themes coming out of a very confused and partisan State of the Union address.

Now, the part that got a lot of laughter there, look, there were people who applauded the president when he said he had no more campaigns to run. I think he had a pretty good comeback there.

TAPPER: A Republican consultant told me just minutes ago that she hated the moment when President Obama said it's time for women to get equal pay, followed by the visual of Vice President Biden standing and applauding and House Speaker John Boehner just sitting there. When you ran for the Senate last year, you did a great job, an effective job of countering the war on women attacks. What do you and your fellow Republicans need to do to reach out to women voters and avoid optics like the one we saw last night?

GARDNER: Our message in Colorado worked, and it will work around the country, when we talk about presenting greater economic opportunity, greater jobs. No one has been hurt more by the failed economy and the failed economics of Barack Obama than women around this country, who can't find the kind of work that they are looking for, can't find the kind of job with pay they need to help make ends meet for their families. That's the kind of message we took to Coloradans was we can do better, we can get people back to work, we can make sure the labor participation rate amongst women is actually where it should be in terms of more people in the work force because those jobs are available. We do it through comprehensive tax reform, lowering taxes, not just on some and increasing taxes on others.

TAPPER: But why not support equal pay?

GARDNER: I think that we should do more than equal pay. We ought to make sure that people have far more pay than they are earning now. Look, I want women to earn as much as possible. Each and every day, more than anybody. The fact that we can make sure that we have -- I have two daughters now. Making sure that we have the opportunity for women, it's the law (ph) of the land right now for equal pay, but if you look at the White House, if you look at the White House, they aren't even paying women equal to what they pay men. We ran an entire campaign where my opponent was not paying women in his office equal to what he was paying men. So it's a disingenuous argument they are making when the very economic policies that he was espousing are the economic policies that are hurting women around the country.

TAPPER: Senator Cory Gardner, thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it. Congratulations again.

GARDNER: Thank you.

TAPPER: Coming up, the final minutes of AirAsia flight 8501. Alarms going off in the cockpit as the pilots made a very risky move. Now we are learning that the plane's engines stalled midair. But what made it stall?

Plus, why did the president of the United States agree to do an interview with a 19-year-old Internet star who gives advice on hair, makeup and fashion? That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. In world news, we learned that the pilots of Airasia Flight 8501 may have known that their plane was climbing at a rapid speed before it went down in the Java Sea.

Investigators say alarms in the cockpit were sounding. This as the plane shot up 6,000 feet per minute before it stalled. Aviation experts say a commercial airliner is not designed to climb that fast.

Today, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux set out to find exactly what the crew might have experienced. Suzanne, new information revealed about the plane's black box that may play a major role here.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really does in this investigation because what we learned is Indonesian officials say that the cockpit voice recorder reveals alarms and warnings that were going off indicating that the plane was possibly stalling. The flight data recorder contains the plane's speed and altitude

during that time. It reveals a steep climb and then a descent. So earlier today I got into a flight simulator to learn firsthand what might have taken place in Flight 8501's last moments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): In the terrifying last moments of Airasia Flight 8501, sounds of alarms going off in the cockpit can be heard on the plane's black boxes according to the Indonesian transportation minister. At first the plane rapidly climbs at a rate of 6,000 feet per minute.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Passengers would have been driven down into their seats. They would have felt very heavy, they would have felt like they weighed twice what they do, but they wouldn't have blacked out.

MALVEAUX: Seconds later, the aircraft stalls, then starts to fall. In an A-320, a stall warning sounds like this.

IGNASIUS JONAN, INDONESIA MINISTER OF TRANSPORTATION (through translation): It's descending 1,500 feet within 6 seconds. So the flight keeps descending faster until the point of 24,000 feet, and radar cannot detect it.

MALVEAUX: At that point, Flight 8501 crashes into the Java Sea. Using a flight simulator, flying instructor, Curt Tucker of Freeway Aviation, shows me what happens when a plane stalls.

(on camera): OK, this is the stall?

CURT TUCKER, FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR, FREEWAY AVIATION: That's the stall warning. Now regardless of how much we pull back, we cannot get the airplane to stay flying. Now we have to push down --

MALVEAUX: This is unnatural, right? For a pilot to put his nose down toward the ground to get out of a stall, that requires training because it's pretty scary.

TUCKER: It does require training. It's a little counterintuitive.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): Tucker says the treacherous weather could have made recovering from the stall impossible.

TUCKER: It's not uncommon to get severe updrafts inside of a thunderstorm or something like that where it can be very disorienting to the pilot.

MALVEAUX: Meanwhile, the biggest piece of wreckage from the plane remains at the bottom of the ocean, where investigators suspect many of the bodies are trapped inside. Bad weather continues to make the recovery effort difficult.

SUPRIYADI, INDONESIAN SEARCH AND RESCUE (through translator): Still quite high wind speeds out there, 10 to 20 knots, and waves of two to three meters high. We still can dive, but it's hard to reach the sea bed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Meanwhile, the head of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee says the preliminary report on Airasia Flight 8501 will be issued next week. That is 30 days after the crash, that's required by the International Civil Aviation Organization, but it is not going to be made public. Only the final report must be shared and investigators have up to a year to do that.

TAPPER: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up, let's be honest. I'm guessing if anyone can get a truly candid answer out of President Obama, it's this woman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have been asked to interview POTUS, the president of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: She is one of three YouTube sensations who are about to interview President Obama. Who are they, why were they picked? That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Today's Pop Lead, this just in. This whole internet thing seems to be catching on. We all know TV is not the only way viewers get their information these days.

So for those who spend hours a day scrolling Facebook or watching online videos, the White House has a new plan. President Obama is turning to some of the biggest stars online, no matter their style, to get his message across.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is you OK? Is you good? I wanted to know.

TAPPER (voice-over): This is called the cinnamon challenge by Glozell and her big behind earrings. And this woman jamming the label of a spice into her mouth, believe it or not, will be interviewing President Obama tomorrow at the White House and so will Bethany Mota. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guys, what are you doing in my room?

TAPPER: She's a California teen perhaps best known for dishing advice on hair, makeup, fashion and DIY projects.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lately, I have just been like buying little things and doing little DIY projects.

TAPPER: Also joining the ranks of presidential interviewers alongside names like Murrow and Jennings and Brinkley, Hank Green. He's part of the brother duo "Blog Brothers."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are starting to look at topics that are a little more off the beaten path. We just started anatomy and physiology.

TAPPER: The Blog Brothers have a collection of 26 YouTube channels about science and education and more. So you are probably asking yourself why, why is the president meeting with these stars of YouTube to chat about the quote, top concerns facing them and their audiences?

Well, it's not really all that complicated. Glozell's super-sized cinnamon challenge was viewed 42 million times on YouTube. Her channel on the site has more than three million subscribers and claims half a billion clicks. She is the self-described queen of YouTube.

Bethany's channel has more than eight million subscribers. She has amassed more than 600 million clicks since joining in 2009 and the Blog Brothers, 890 million clicks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My subscribers want to know about education.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lack of jobs for college graduates.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The economy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Racial profiling. That's a good one.

TAPPER: Some in the White House press corps like CNN's Jim Acosta have some questions about tomorrow's YouTube livestream.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm just curious, was Charlie Bit My Finger or David After Dentist not available or?

TAPPER: While the White House press secretary claimed to be unfamiliar with David After Dentist, a viral smash, but he did suggest to the room full of reporters from an apparently bygone era of television, radio and printed words on dead trees that the inter-webs is the future, dummies.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is part of an integrated communication strategy to make sure the American people understand exactly what the president's fighting for in Washington, D.C.

TAPPER: YouTube and the White House say they will also talk about initiatives the president put forward in last night's State Of The Union. No word yet if the president will take part in the cinnamon challenge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Forty two million. That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Turning you over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."