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New Day

Wrecking of Missing U.S. Helicopter Found; Train Accelerated in Final Minute Before Crash; ABC Anchor Caught in Clinton Conflict of Interest. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 15, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:33:30] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We do have breaking news. The U.S. helicopter that went missing while delivering aid to earthquake survivors in Nepal has finally been found. A Nepali official says three bodies are seen around what appears to be wreckage of that chopper. It's spotted in the steep mountainside east of Katmandu. There were six U.S. Marines and two Nepali soldiers all on board, they're all believed lost.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Back here at home, NTSB officials say Amtrak train 188 accelerated from 70 to over 100 miles an hour in that final minute before Tuesday's deadly crash. Amtrak's CEO now says that technology that could have been -- could have prevented the disaster captured in this newly obtained surveillance video will be installed on the Northeast corridor by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the funeral for the first of eight victims, Midshipman Justin Zemser, will be held today on long island.

CUOMO: A bill that will give Congress the ability to review and potentially reject any nuclear deal with Iran is now on President Obama's desk. The House overwhelmingly passing legislation on Thursday. The Senate did the same last week. The bill gives Congress 30 days to review a final nuclear deal.

Now, during that time, President Obama is unable to temporarily waive any U.S. sanctions on Iran that were passed by Congress.

PEREIRA: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will preside over the appeal of Tom Brady's four-game suspension stemming from deflategate. The players association had requested that a neutral third party hear the appeal, but Goodell decided to appoint himself. Patriots quarterback is hoping to get that suspension shortened or even erased.

[06:35:01] The commissioner will hear Brady's appeal within ten days.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's get to meteorologist Jennifer Gray for a look at the weekend forecast.

Good news, please.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I wish I had better news because it looks like we are going to see severe weather once again beginning today and then lasting into Saturday, even Sunday. A lot of these areas very similar to locations we saw severe weather last weekend. We're talking about portions of Nebraska, up into South Dakota including North Platte, Rapid City could be in the storms as well. We do have that warm, humid gulf air coming in from the South colliding with that cooler air from the north.

We have a little upper level support. It's going to fire off some of these storms especially as we get in this afternoon and again on Saturday afternoon. This is Saturday at 10:00 p.m. and you can see those storms firing up around the plains. Here's your forecast for Saturday. And if you see that orange area right through Oklahoma City, north of Dallas, Dodge City, very similar to locations last week were also going to be watching for additional flooding especially in portions of Oklahoma and Texas where they've already received so much rain during the last week -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Yes. OK. Thanks for that look. We'll keep our fingers crossed that it isn't as bad as it looks like it could be.

All right. ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos under fire for not revealing $75,000 in donations he made to the Clinton Foundation. Could his job be in jeopardy? We'll tell you what his bosses at ABC are saying, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:40:32] SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: For the last year or so, we haven't gone on particularly since it's looked like a contest where I may be in the contest against Hillary Clinton. We've made the decision that he's too close to the Clintons to really give an objective interview.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That was GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul admitting he's avoided interviews with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos. This as the former Clinton adviser has apologized for not disclosing $75,000 he made in donations to the Clinton Foundation over a three- year period.

I want to talk about what's at stake with CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter, who's been working the phones on this.

It's so interesting, too close to the foundation or too close to Clintons. I remember back when they were first considering him for the job some 20 years ago. That was the discussion among the journalists at the time.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Right.

PEREIRA: Has it come back to bite him? And is it going to be lasting? STELTER: Credibility is at stake here because for almost 20 years,

he's built up a lot of credibility as a journalist. He's been able to transition like almost no one else has from politics to journalism and now one of the biggest stars in all of television news.

It feels like this was a self-inflicted wound, you know? People are confused by why he could be tone deaf enough to make these donations. Given that the foundation's one of a kind, yes, it's a charity.

PEREIRA: Right. With their name on it.

STELTER: It's a charity with a political dynasty involved here.

We all knew even in 2012 when this first donation was made that Hillary Clinton might be running for president now.

PEREIRA: We should also point out, it's been publicly posted on the foundation's Web site.

STELTER: It's kind of hidden in plain site when it was reported.

PEREIRA: Let's read his apology for not disclosing. This is from Stephanopoulos, "I gave the donations for the right reasons, for the best of intentions to support causes I believe in. In retrospect I realize I should have gone above and beyond that, just to avoid anything that would even raise any possible appearance of a conflict."

That's a very good point to make. It might be a fine point and I'm not trying to be a Stephanopoulos apologist, that's hard to say. It didn't go to a general fund. It wasn't a blank check. He says he chose specifically deforestation and HIV research and AIDS research, because those were things that matter to him.

There are many other charities could have done the same work.

STELTER: There are. He says he's made a lot of donations in recent years. This is just a small slice of the donation he's made. If you hear that then say to yourself why bother giving a little money to the Clinton Foundation.

I asked him yesterday, were you still listed by the foundation? Did somebody call you up one of the Clintons or one of their staffers and asked you? He said, I don't know. He said, I don't know. I think he would remember if Bill or Hillary Clinton had called him.

PEREIRA: I think he would.

STELTER: I also don't think they would have called him for $25,000 frankly, a lot more money comes into this foundation, many millions from foreign governments. But that's why this is now a scandal about the foundation. This foundation's been in the news for weeks now and the fact that Stephanopoulos did not disclose his involvement, that is really why this is an issue and why he's having to apologize.

PEREIRA: Add to that, April 28th I believe wasn't he just on "The Daily Show"? STELTER: Yes.

PEREIRA: I think we have the sound from that. Take a listen because this is also going to come in to be an issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: But everybody also knows when those donors give that money and President Clinton or someone they get a picture with him, there's a hope that that's going to lead to something.

JON STEWART, THE DAILY SHOW: Of course.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And that's what you have to be careful of. Even if you don't get an action, what you get is access and influence that comes with access, and that's got to shape the thinking of politicians. I think that's what opened issues about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: He was on "The Daily Show" talking about the CGI Foundation and the donations and the controversy that was brewing there, yet he didn't disclose this and some are going to say, look, you should have come out and said I've donated or something.

STELTER: Exactly. He's talking in that sound bite about the idea when you give money to somebody like the Clintons, you're expecting something in return. I said to him, how do you explain your donations? He says, it's a different matter of scale. I was giving thousands, not millions. If you're giving millions, maybe you expect something in return.

But that kind of rings hollow to a lot of people. We saw Rand Paul and other Republicans yesterday --

PEREIRA: Yes, so how bad is the fallout going to be here?

STELTER: Stephanopoulos said right away I'm not going to moderate the primary debate I was hoping to moderate next February. That was the one stand he did take.

PEREIRA: And then there was this from Conn Carroll saying, "I'm not going to let my boss go on ABC until Stephanopoulos recuses himself."

STELTER: From all election coverage, and that's the line that's now been drawn. He says he won't monitor a debate but he will continue to cover the election. He believes that he can prove everyday that he can cover the election every day fairly. He's the guy that's supposed to be announcing the new president in 2016. He's the guy that will be leading election coverage that night.

PEREIRA: What else did he say? Is he going to make a statement to?

STELTER: He is going to apologize today. He may also address it on hl show Sunday. The question now I think is whether prominent Republicans, prominent conservatives are going to go -- you know, are going to support him, or are going to tacitly support him.

[06:45:04] He has a lot of friends that are Republicans. A lot of people believe he has a lot of credibility and that's not been squandered. He has Mitch McConnell on this show this weekend. That will be an early test for the Republicans.

PEREIRA: All right. Brian, very hot topic right now. We'll be watching it -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Mich. So could a series of brutal acts including the reported brutal public execution of North Korea's defense minister all be signs that Kim Jong-un is losing it? Former Ambassador Bill Richardson who knows North Korea very well will give us his take.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:34] CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

There are troubling, troubling questions about the alleged public execution of North Korea's defense minister. I mean, just executing someone alone should be but how this was done with heavy artillery and why this was done because he fell asleep at a meeting. If any or all of this is true it just shows what is believed to be a pattern of brutality and instability on the part of Kim Jong-un, of course the leader of North Korea.

Let's get perspective from Bill Richardson, former ambassador for the United Nations and former governor of New Mexico. Now, over the years he's visited and negotiated with North Korea several times.

While the governor is known to be a very thoughtful person, I will tell you there is a big satellite delay her, and that's why there will be a pause between questions and answers.

But, Governor, give us your take on whether or not all of what we're hearing is a true reflection of what seems to be madness.

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR: Well, there seems to be a lot of uncertainty instability about Kim Jong-un. First, my take is that it shows with these executions, these purges the fact that Kim Jong-un did not go to Moscow as planned recently to meet with Putin shows that he's being challenged internally. The fact that the execution of the defense chief, the military's the most powerful institution in North Korea shows that he's being challenged, internally.

The second thing that I see out of this Kim Jong-un's inexperience. Kind of madness as you described, he didn't know how to govern, how to deal with problems, internal problems, by executing, by purging, by sowing fear in the leadership. He's going to create a lot of enemies that are going to continue to challenge him. And be a problem in his leadership. So, the danger, though, Chris, is that they have ten nuclear weapons.

They have missiles. We have 28,000 American troops in the region. So we should care about what happens.

CUOMO: Well, if these reports are true, I mean that he's executed 500 junior to senior officials in the way that he's done it, starts to make that stupid movie "The Interview" look like a documentary about this guy.

Is there any chance this is hype, Governor, designed by the North Korean propaganda machine to make this man look in their own perverse view as powerful?

You still got me, Gov?

I don't think we have him.

We'll try and get the satellite communication better because there are important questions, and if you can answer them as well as the governor.

This is going to be a big story going forward and we're going to report on it as we can. But there's other news for you, so let's get right to that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: The U.S. military helicopter that went missing in Nepal finally been found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Six U.S. marines, two Nepali soldiers.

PEREIRA: The burned wreckage, three bodies have been found.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The train's engineer agreeing to talk to the NTSB.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He does not remember deploying the emergency brake. We know that it was in fact deployed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The investigation all centers on what he is going to say.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Are you really going to ask such a stupid question? It's not about funding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Positive train control would have prevented this accident.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A growing country with a growing economy, we need to invest in the infrastructure that keeps us that way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A new sign of aggression from Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five of their warships firing on a cargo vessel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of uncertainty about what the Iranians are really up to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Good morning to you. Welcome back to your NEW DAY on this Friday. Alisyn Camerota is off this morning.

I want to start right now with breaking news. The U.S. military helicopter that went missing in Nepal while delivering aid to earthquake survivors it has been found.

CUOMO: And at that burned wreckage site in Nepali official says that three bodies have been found. We know there was six U.S. marines on board the doomed chopper when it vanished on Tuesday. Let's give you coverage of this.

We have CNN's Will Ripley in Katmandu with the breaking details -- Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, we're learning that the weather conditions are getting increasingly treacherous at this crash site about 21 miles east of the Katmandu airport where I am right now, this is the command center where search crews have been taking off for the past several days.

[06:55:07] And now, those crews have been focusing in on this area. A very steep mountainside, very difficult rugged terrain where the conditions have gotten so bad they may not be able to fly a helicopter in to recover the three bodies that have been found so far near the wreckage of this helicopter.

I flew over this area yesterday and I can tell you that not only is the terrain difficult but the extent of the devastation in this area is overwhelming. And what these marines and the two Nepali soldiers were doing is they were delivering humanitarian aid to people in some of these hard hit villages that are isolated and cut off right now because landslides have covered the roads and made them impassable. Helicopters are the only lifeline for these people.

Six U.S. marines, two Nepali soldiers were trying to do what they could help. They were joining the international relief effort and on their way back from one of those missions when they lost contact on Tuesday, and the sad confirmation coming from the U.S. joint task force that this was indeed the wreckage of a U.S. helicopter. But they still don't know the location of the other five people who were on board.

We're continuing to check and we'll let you know what we find out here. Back to you.

CUOMO: All right, Will, it's tough to hear but we have to know.

Let's keep talking about who these U.S. marines were on this missing helicopter. We're going to go to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Barbara, what do we know? BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. This

Marine Corps unit came originally from Camp Pendleton in San Diego, California. They had deployed to Japan for a six-month tour. When the earthquakes happened in Nepal, they were sent onto Nepal to be part of the relief effort.

Our understanding from the Pentagon is the marines had been delivering rice and tarps to some of those hard hit villages. They were on the ground when the Nepalese said to them, wait, there's another village nearby that needs help. They got back on board their helo and tried to make it to this second village when apparently they went down.

We have found to share with you from a friend of the Marine Corps pilot onboard, Chris Nogrin (ph). Have a listen to what his friend had to say about him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK BELL, FAMILY FRIEND OF MISSING PILOT: He's a great guy with a lot of passion. Always had a lot of passion in everything he done. He was doing what he loved most and that's being a pilot for the marines. I said a prayer real quick to hope everything's OK. So, it's hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: That, of course, was some comments from a friend before the crash site was located.

There had been a lot of hope at the Pentagon that they would find the crew alive, that maybe they just put the helicopter down, had some sort of hard but controlled landing and were unable to communicate because they couldn't get a signal out over those very steep mountains. But now six marine corps families across the country being notified of this very grim news. Back to you.

PEREIRA: Heartbreaking tragedy among already so much tragedy and devastation. All right, Barbara, thank you for that.

Turning now to the new developments in the moments leading up to this week's deadly Amtrak crash. The NTSB says it took only one minute for the train to accelerate from 70 to over 100 miles an hour ahead of that fateful curve.

CNN's government regulation correspondent Rene Marsh has more live from Philadelphia this morning -- Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Investigators say that at first search here no problems found with either the tracks or the signals. But new data from the video cameras onboard this Amtrak train show that just a minute before this crash the train was speeding up and not slowing down as it approached this curve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARSH (voice-over): Overnight crews continue to remove the seven cars one by one from the deadly crash site as the NTSB is eager to interview 32-year-old Brandon Bostian, the engineer at the controls of ill-fated Amtrak train 188.

ROBERT SUMWALT, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: We're very excited that he's agreed to talk to us. We plan to do it in the next few days.

STEFANIE MCGEE, FRIEND OF BRANDON BOSTIA: He's a sweet guy. He's a good, decent person.

MARSH: Friends of the engineer speaking out saying he would never do anything with negligent intent.

MCGEE: Just knowing how much he loves this job and how much it means to him and to have this happen is just got to be devastating.

MARSH: According to Bostian's attorney, the five-year veteran engineer did not have a pre-existing medical condition, was not impaired by alcohol or drugs and his cell phone was off as required by Amtrak.

SUMWALT: The train should not have even been going anything other than 50 miles an hour going into the curve.

MARSH: This as the NTSB says according to their initial investigation the train bizarrely accelerated from around 70 miles per hour to 100 in under a minute just before reaching the sharp turn. What happens next caught on surveillance camera from a nearby building. Watch as sparks fly at over 100 miles an hour, the deadly speed catapulting seven train cars and the engine off the tracks.

JOSEPH BOARDMAN, AMTRAK CEO: We will have positive train control on the Northeast corridor section by December 31st.