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New Day Sunday

U.S., India Finalize Nuclear Deal; ISIS Wants Prisoner Swap; Pats' Coach Doubles Down on Innocence

Aired January 25, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Hesitation to escalate and move forward when it comes to a military response by the United States.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: We'll talk more about this throughout the morning. We continue now with NEW DAY.

(MUSIC)

BLACKWELL: Right now, President Obama in India. The major news, an agreement between the two countries on nuclear.

MALVEAUX: Plus, it looks like ISIS has pulled its ransom demand after claiming it executed one of those Japanese hostages. Well, now, they want a prison swap.

BLACKWELL: And the Super Bowl just a week away. But everyone is talking about deflate-gate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BELICHICK, HEAD COACH, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: At no time was there any intent whatsoever to try to compromise the integrity of the game or to gain an advantage. Quite the opposite. We feel like we followed the rules of the game to the letter in our preparations, in our procedures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: New England's coach is doubling down on his team's innocence.

(MUSIC)

BLACKWELL: Good to be with you this morning. I'm Victor Blackwell.

MALVEAUX: And I'm Suzanne Malveaux, in for Christi Paul. Good to be here.

BLACKWELL: Welcome.

A new era is dawning in the U.S. relationship with India. Just moments ago, President Obama wrapped up a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and addressed climate change and ironing out nuclear cooperation between the two nations. President Obama arrived in New Delhi this morning and greeted by Modi on the tarmac. This is his second visit to the nation.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk more about the president's visit with our White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski who is live from New Delhi and our CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes on the phone from Washington.

So, Michelle, we want to start off with you. We just heard this wrapping up here. They each took one question apiece and it lasted for about 40 minutes or so. What was the takeaway that you got from President Obama? Because he was asked a number of things, but, more specifically, on some of the crises that we have seen, particularly out of Yemen.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it's clear that they covered a range of topics -- everything that we expected, everything that's important in that bilateral relationship. But the real headline is the reaching of an agreement, not signed on the dotted line yet. It doesn't sound like.

But what President Obama defined as a breakthrough understanding in the civil nuclear agreement, the ability of companies in the United States to participate in India, to build nuclear reactors without threat of liability or problems happening down the road. Now, they said that this was under discussion, that is moving forward. Again, they called it a before the accident but they're going to need to take further steps before it's fully implemented.

Other agreements in the areas in defense cooperation and defense technology, also climate change and lifting people out of poverty in India. It sounds like there is a deepening cooperation in all of these areas. But nothing to the point of being signed, sealed, and delivered.

I think it was telling that the White House didn't put out any big announcements or fact sheets, you know, with different points spelled out ahead of this press conference. It sounds like they have reached agreements but we're waiting to see full implementation on some of these -- Suzanne.

BLACKWELL: And, of course, those details are the most important part.

Let's go to Tom now.

We were having a conversation just before the top of the hour about Yemen specifically, Tom. And the question from the "A.P." that the president has lauded the accomplishments there in Yemen but as we all know, Yemen has, in many ways, fallen apart. You got the president, the prime minister, the cabinet resigning. The president said, hopefully, he'll be able to cooperate with the government there. This quote, "The model we have is the model we will have to work with."

What is that model and it seems to defy credulity that there will be communications with whatever this "new government", quote/unquote, will be in Yemen?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Victor, that is still, you know, a huge question. You've had the Houthi rebels basically take over Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, a couple of months ago and yet they did not depose the president of the country or the cabinet. They chose to resign later on and we're not sure if that is going to stand or not.

So, the Houthis have been in a position they could have completely taken over and said that's it, you know, engineered a coup and they haven't.

The other issue is, the Houthis have been fighting with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and the now, ISIS is trying to gain a foothold on the soil of Yemen, trying to recruit there. So, it will be interesting, because the Houthis that are a Shia-backed organization basically, Shia Muslim, against the Sunni Muslim groups like AQAP and ISIS, so it creates an interesting dilemma.

Secondly, all of the security measures for the United States in Yemen aren't based entirely on Yemen. Saudi Arabia intelligence, the Saudis have extensive coverage in there and in the past, they have infiltrated AQAP as evidenced by they helped defeat the blot to send the cartridge bombs made in Yemen and shipped all over Europe with one of the bombs detected in London on its way to a Jewish community center in Saudi. So, Saudi intelligence has penetrated AQAP in the past, and, you know, we have been able to take advantage of that. So, there are more intelligence assets still in place than we may realize.

BLACKWELL: All right. Thank you so much, Tom Fuentes and Michelle Kosinski. And we know that the president is cutting meeting the new king, Salman, and then, obviously, will be part of the conversation.

MALVEAUX: A very important meeting. In fact, he's going to really have to figure out what the cooperation is going to be with Saudi Arabia when it comes to dealing with ISIS, and those terrorists and hope it's consistent with the previous regime.

But in India, President Obama reaching out to another world leader, an ally, that is Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. They spoke by phone following the killing of a Japanese hostage by ISIS in Syria. The president expressed condolences to the people of Japan.

And he also issued a statement. He said this. He said, "We will work together to bring the perpetrators of these murders to justice and we will continue to take decisive action to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL."

Another big story we are following this morning: ISIS now issuing a new ultimatum to spare the life of the surviving Japanese hostage, we are talking about Kenji Goto. Militants, they are now demanding the release of a convicted terrorist and she has been in prison in Jordan since 2005 after she tried to blow up a wedding party at a hotel in Amman.

I want to bring in our CNN's Will Ripley in Tokyo to tell us more about the new demand by ISIS and whether or not we think that the Japanese are going to respond to this. How they might respond and who this figure is -- Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, as you know, demanding the release of the Japanese hostage is unrealistic if not more so than demanding $200 million from the Japanese government, which was their first demand in the previous video. The reason she is a high profile terrorist who has been held in prison in Jordan, as you said, for nearly a decade. A country which is just now begun reinstated the death penalty after many years because she was actually sentenced to death.

So, to ask, first of all, Japan would have to -- would have to ask Jordan to release one of their highest level prisoners who potentially could be facing execution in exchange for a single journalist from Japan who chose to enter Syria to save his friend but, nonetheless he made the choice and it's a single hostage. Normally, if you're talking about a prisoner exchange you would release if it was one high level terrorist, they'd be a group of hostages released and that's not what ISIS is offering in this case.

So, as you imagine, Suzanne, very grave fears here for the safety of Kenji Goto, the one remaining hostage who is still live alive.

MALVEAUX: And, Will, what do we know about -- I mean, clearly, this is a tragedy for the family of that Japanese hostage who was killed, as well as the country and the world watching. What happens to this next person? Has there been any response from the family of that hostage who lost his life?

RIPLEY: Haruna Yukawa's father is now speaking out and to give you an indication of Japanese culture, there is a lot of shame when somebody is taken hostage in another country. It's why you heard Kenji Goto's mother apologizing for the inconvenience that her son caused, just hours before that deadline when he was threatened to be executed.

And now, we are hearing from Yukawa's father who didn't want to show his face on camera but you can hear the emotion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHOICHI YUKAWA, MURDERED HOSTAGE'S FATHER (through translator): I have been praying such a thing would not happen but, unfortunately, it has finally come to pass and my heart aches. I feel so guilty that Mr. Goto has been detained and threatened death after he had entered there to rescue my son at the risk of his life. I wish him to be released and return to Japan immediately and continue his activity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Suzanne, Kenji Goto has a wife and two young daughters, including a newborn, who are in Japan right now, very uncertain about the fate of their father. It's just tragic.

MALVEAUX: It is so sad.

And, Will, they were given 72 hours a deadline for that ransom. Is there any deadline for producing this hostage swap or that is just open-ended?

RIPLEY: If you listen to the new video, there is no time frame and what that means is that ISIS intends to hold on to Kenji Goto until such a time that either a deal is worked out and he's released or they feel he's no longer valuable to them.

MALVEAUX: Will Ripley, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right. So, we talk about, first, ISIS wanted $200 million and ransom. Now, it wanted its attempted suicide bomber free. We'll look into why she is so important to ISIS ahead.

MALVEAUX: Plus, divers finally lift AirAsia wreckage up from the bottom of the Java Sea, but a major snag halting that operation. Up next, why recovery teams might soon be changing their strategy nearly a month after the plane fell from the sky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Thirteen minutes after the hour now. One Japanese hostage has been beheaded by ISIS in Syria.

MALVEAUX: Another is now being used as a bargaining chip by those militants. They are demanding Jordan free a failed suicide bomber. She's been in a Jordanian jail. This is since 2005.

BLACKWELL: So, let's learn more about her.

Joining us now, CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes.

MALVEAUX: Also joining us, Foria Younis, the founder and CEO of South Asian Middle East Consultants.

So, I want to start with you. Are you surprised now that ISIS is changing its tactic here from a ransom demand that was $200 million now to this prison swap? What does that mean?

FORIA YOUNIS, FOUNDER & CEO, SOUTH ASIA MIDDLE EAST CONSULTANTS: Well, I think they realize there was probably not much chance that the $200 million would be given up by Japan and especially, you know, with the international pressure not to pay ransoms for terrorists.

So, they also had this other lady Sajida who was involved in one of the biggest terrorist attacks in Jordan and her husband and some of her family members are involved in some of these terrorist groups over there. So I think what they decided to do is let's switch it up and try to get this lady released from Jordanian prison.

BLACKWELL: Tom, I imagine this swap is a non-starter as well for Japan but this video we see that was produced by is, the latest video from is, shows the surviving hostage. A little different from the other video released by ISIS. No logos, no execution. No footage there.

Why do you think that is? Are they worried about being tracked now?

FUENTES: Well, I'm sure they are worried about it, Victor, but, you know, not worried about it enough to not continue what they have been doing with capturing hostages, holding them and then getting the publicity that we want out of it and then killing, you know, as needed. But I agree that this is going to be a nonstarter negotiating this particular hostage for, you know, a terrorist in Jordan.

And don't forget, Jordan has one of their pilots in custody of ISIS whose plane went down over their territory. So, if there is any bargains going to be struck with Jordan -- between Jordan and ISIS, it's going to include their pilot, not the woman that did the attack 10 years ago.

MALVEAUX: So, Ms. Younis, let's talk about some of the details behind that. Both of you have said this is a nonstarter, but describe for us why that is the case. Because I would imagine that this suicide bomber whom ISIS wants out of this prison in Jordan, that there would be -- if they decided that this would be something they could do, some negotiations that would take place between Jordan and Japan to get her free and that there would be a process they would follow.

Can you walk us through that if this is something they think is doable?

YOUNIS: Well, yes. Prisoner swaps are done. They are done in the region and done elsewhere in the world.

But this Jordanian prisoner is probably the biggest terrorist prisoner that Jordan has. I mean, there was, I think, 57 people killed in Jordan in 2005. Three separate U.S.-based hotels were attacked, and this was the only suicide bomber that her belt failed to detonate and they had her within custody, I think, within 12 hours of the attempted attack.

So, in order, to release her it's just going to require I think a lot more than just this one Japanese hostage. So, I think that's one of the reasons why it's going to make it so difficult to have this prisoner exchange.

BLACKWELL: Tom, let's talk about strategy quickly. This woman is considered an imprisoned sister. And we talk so much about the role of women in ISIS. There was also this woman Shannon Conley who was sentenced to four years for wanting to join ISIS.

Is this woman being used as a way to deepen those ranks of women around the world to join this group?

FUENTES: Well, certainly, they want to recruit women. They have been trying to get people to go there as war brides or, you know, in some support fashion of the male fighters that are on the front lines of ISIS. So, I think this is something that they have wanted to do for a long time. As you've seen, the Boumeddiene case out of Paris that women are very dangerous because they can kind of slip under the radar a little bit as they move around in these societies and can help recruit other women and other men, and in some cases, be more of a leader than we even realize from the outside.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and I wonder if she was chosen specifically because she was a woman.

Tom Fuentes, Foria Younis, thank you so much.

FUENTES: Thank you.

YOUNIS: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: It has been almost a month since AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed. Well, now, divers are scrambling to lift the wreckage from out from under the Java Sea. But will the current strategy actually work? Well, next, we're going to have the latest on the investigation as families of the victims are still waiting for answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Recovery teams finally raise the submerged fuselage of AirAsia Flight 8501 to the surface of the Java Sea. But then, the ropes snapped and it went back down to the bottom of the sea.

MALVEAUX: So, now, official are re-evaluating that strategy.

We want to talk more about the recovery operation with CNN's Saima Mohsin, who is live this morning from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Tell us a little bit about what has happened over the last several hours, and why this has been so, so difficult to bring this up.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Suzanne, it's been a really disconcerting couple of days here, in fact, in Indonesia, making that attempt to raise the fuselage in its entirety. Something they were hoping to avoid, of course. They were hoping to recover all of the victims' bodies without having to do this and then they decided they will have to do it.

Ad it's a grand operation. You can just imagine how large the fuselage is and how heavy it is. The interesting thing is that they have been attaching a giant balloon pumping it up. They have been successful, the divers going down in the sea.

And, today, not only do they manage to raise it but as you just said, it actually was visible. They thought they had it and then one of the belts snapped. So, it seems it's not actually the balloon that isn't big enough or able to float it to the top but it's the belts that are strapped around the fuselage and the balloon that keep on giving way, incredibly disconcerting and disheartening. You can imagine the families of the victims on board AirAsia 8501 holding on to that.

What they are saying they have to look at the strategy again and we know they were trying to reinforce the belts and work around that. But it's nightfall now and bad weather so they have had to stop for the day -- Suzanne, Victor.

MALVEAUX: Saima, I can't imagine what that could would be like. Those families simply waiting and watching as time and time again, they try another method and seems to rudimentary. Thank you for your report this morning.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's talk about this recovery operation more with CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, also the former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

So, Mary, the wreckage was at the surface of the water when one of those lift ropes snapped. Let's get to the basic element here. This is not the first plane to have crashed. The water is not terribly deep.

What is the primary hurdle here? Is it the technology? Is it the approach? The human resources? Why can't they get this up?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, the folks there on the scene in the Indonesian water say it is the condition and choppiness of the water. And you're exactly right. There have been many accidents that have gone down in the water and other places in the world.

But what's different about this one is the length of the piece they are trying to bring up. It is a hundred foot long piece. I think it's about 26, 27 meters long. This is a very large piece. Ordinarily when the planes go down they aren't in this large of a piece and it's much broken up.

The TWA 800 off the coast of New York, the pieces were much smaller and they brought that up with grappling equipment. The recovery ships were the navy ships and they were able to bring it up with big hooks.

So, here, it's a little different, because it's such a large piece. Unfortunately, with ropes breaking, I mean, that must be terrible on the families because every time that happens, of course, there is danger of more damage and more loss of remains.

BLACKWELL: So, how many times and for how long do you think they will try this approach with these balloons and these ropes until they say we have to try something else? And what are those other options?

SCHIAVO: Well, the other options would be to bring in different kind of ships and equipment. For example, the United States has a couple of ships, one is called the Grapple, one is called the Grasp, and they have large underwater literally grasp and grapple equipment and that so bring up sunken subs and things like that. That equipment is not on the scene.

I think the problem once they brought it up and now it's settled back to the ocean floor and I believe some remains, at least one body did come out and they did recover that, but every time this happened, there is more disruption. So I think at this time it's really more to bring it up for the bodies. I'm fairly certain that the investigators now with the black boxes and flight data recorder have a really good idea what happened and probably know the cause of this crash. They just haven't released it.

But I think they will try this once more. The rope breaking was unfortunate. And the goal is clearly to get the remains -- not necessarily just the fuselage but there is not a lot of telltale information about the cause of the crash on the fuselage. But it's a big piece.

BLACKWELL: And, of course, the families have been waiting for a month now to have those victims come home.

Mary Schiavo, aviation analyst, thank you so much, Mary. You have so many titles. Aviation analyst with us, thank you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: In one week, the New England Patriots is going to square with the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

BLACKWELL: Yes, but one thing for sure, the footballs will be under a lot of scrutiny. Even NBC "Saturday Night Live," of course, they are taking a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did Tom Brady at any point instruct you to take air out of those footballs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This man is a saint! But do you think you can do what he does? He has won three Super Bowls! Six, if you include the losses! This man is a legend! A hero! And one day, he is going to be the father of my child!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, what?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We are going to talk about the "SNL" deflate-gate clip, next on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Super Bowl XLIX just one week away. But deflate-gate is number one and still already in full swing with everyone and the New England Patriots maintaining their innocence.

BLACKWELL: You know a story has everyone talking with "Saturday Night Live" takes a shot at it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sure you have questions but I'd rather leave those questions to the person who did it, Tom Brady.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: We will take a longer look at the "SNL" sketch on deflate-gate in just a minute.

The questions here, of course, let's get to the serious element here. Was it the weather or did someone intentionally deflate 11 of the 12 footballs provided by the Patriots in last week's AFC championship title game?