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New Day Sunday

Obama, Modi Hope for Better U.S.-India Ties; ISIS Wants Prisoner Swap; New Attempt to Lift AirAsia Flight 8501 Fails

Aired January 25, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Suzanne Malveaux, in for Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

This new era is a dawning in the U.S. relationship with India, according to those two leaders. A short time ago, President Obama wrapped up a joint conference there. They addressed everything from climate change to better nuclear cooperation.

President Obama arrived in New Delhi this morning, as we said greeted by Modi at the tarmac. This is not the usual protocol, that's why we point it out. But it shows that they actually had a personal affinity for one another.

MALVEAUX: President Obama will be the first U.S. leader to attend India's republic day parade tomorrow. That's the special occasion. Also, the first U.S. president to visit India twice.

So, I want to go to White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski in New Delhi.

And, Michelle, we followed this earlier this morning, very early, as a matter of fact. What was the highlight, the take away that you heard from the press conference?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESONDENT: Hi, Suzanne. Well, both sides wanted to highlight the deepening of this relationship and cooperation on a number of levels -- civil nuclear agreement that they're working on, climate change, counter terror, you name it.

But when it came time for questions, the big questions facing Obama have been elsewhere, namely, what to do about Russia in Crimea and the escalation there? What to do about Yemen and the breakdown of the government and continued U.S. counterterrorism efforts?

Here's what the president said on Yemen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With regard to Yemen, my top priority has and always will be to make sure that our people on the ground in Yemen are safe. That's something that we have been emphasizing for the last several months and builds on the work that we've been doing over the last several years. It is a dangerous country in a dangerous part of the world.

A second priority is to maintain our counterterrorism pressure on al Qaeda in Yemen, and we have been doing that. And I saw some news reports that suggested somehow that that counter terrorism activity had been suspended. That is not accurate. We continue to go after high value targets inside of Yemen and we will continue to maintain the pressure that's required to keep the American people safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: So, the emphasis there were that efforts would continue in regards to both Yemen and Russia and diplomatic efforts as well. President Obama pretty much said what is the alternative? Would it be getting involved militarily? That would mean massive U.S. military deployments in perpetuity, and that, he said, is not the way to go on these matters -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Michelle, he talked about the Middle East and the situation there. He also talked about the situation with Ukraine, the fact that you had the shelling that happened had past week. Many civilians were killed by these separatists.

And what was he going to do regarding Russia's President Vladimir Putin? Either to punish him and whether military action would be something that would be a possibility? And he said, no, there were other options shy of a military response. How did he frame that?

KOSINSKI: Right. Same thing, I mean, it's that question that keeps coming up about sanctions not changing Russia's behavior. The escalation keeps happening, even sometimes right after another round of sanctions.

So, the question was, what do we change in the way the U.S. deals with the situation? And President Obama responded again by saying, you know, what would that change be? If you mean militarily, that's not the way to do things, to get involved in these things militarily would be a big mistake.

He said that the way is to mainly support Ukraine, its sovereignty and in some cases possibly militarily down the road, but the president didn't get into detail on either the Ukraine question or Yemen, saying only that it's about diplomacy and support and continuing what the U.S. has been doing.

MALVEAUX: All right. Michelle, good to see you. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Another big story we're following this morning, ISIS issuing a new ultimatum to spare the life of a Japanese hostage.

BLACKWELL: Yes, in return for hostage Kenji Goto's freedom, the militants are demanding that a convicted terrorist be freed from a Jordanian jail. She's been in prison in Jordan since 2005, after she tried to blow up a wedding party, at a hotel in Amman.

MALVEAUX: And yesterday, this chilling video emerged indicating that ISIS has beheaded its other Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa. (INAUDIBLE) to try to rescue him, Goto, rather, the other one, after Yukawa was captured, and his father says he wishes he could hold his son in his arms again.

He spoke on Japanese TV and requested that his face not be shown.

(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)

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's bring Haras Rafiq. He's the managing director of the Quilliam Foundation, which works to counter terrorism and extremism.

ISIS initially demanded $200 million and now it says no ransom, free this prisoner. Are you surprised by the shift?

HARAS RAFIQ, QUILLIAM FOUNDATION: I'm not, actually. I think in reality what's happened is this particular audio yesterday was released probably by accident. If we look at when it was first released, there are a lot of ISIL supporters rejecting its authenticity. ISIL is trying to maximize the terror, the publicity, whole exposure that they can from the remaining hostages that they have in captivity.

So, I think that, first of all, this is a potential event. Secondly, in reality we don't even actually know whether the remaining Japanese hostage is still alive. We know that when the first video was actually filmed it was filmed with a green screen so we don't actually know what's actually happening in the area, whether these people are still alive, or whether ISIL actually wants this female jihadi released or they expect her to be released.

BLACKWELL: The significance of the $200 million figure and this hostage because the $200 million, the same amount Japan pledged to Syrian civil war refugees, and now ISIS is demanding the release of this failed suicide bomber who they call an imprisoned sister.

Does this new demand carry the same symbolism?

RAFIQ: Absolutely. I think first of all, the symbolism is around an amount. Do ISIL actually need $200 million? Well, perhaps not at this moment in time. So, it's symbolism. You're absolutely right.

Secondly, the female jihadi that's imprisoned in Jordan had some very, very close links with the leadership of ISIL before they became ISIL, before the rise of al Qaeda in Iraq. She's the sister of one of the lieutenants of the then leader Zarqawi who was killed in a drone attack and so was lieutenant. So, I think there is symbolism and affinity to this particular woman because of her links of the very upper echelon of the ISIL leadership.

BLACKWELL: And that she's a woman, right? I mean, she's not the only woman around the world with ties to ISIS. But as they deepen their ranks with women to fight for the release of a woman has its own value.

RAFIQ: Oh, absolutely. ISIL as we know are recruiting women to come into the territory, build their state, become jihadi brides, become religious police. This is their way of showing other potential women that want to join them here we are standing up for our female sisters. In one hand it also is a way of reaching out to the potential women in the area. And also potentially to become even suicide bombers because let's not forget that this female that we want released was wearing a belt, a suicide vest and belt and tried to detonate and kill people in a suicide operation.

So, it's sort of yes, we support women, we want you to come and join us. But also, potentially, be like this particular woman.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the payment of that ransom, a nonstarter for Japan and likely this hostage exchange also a nonstarter.

Haras Rafiq, thank you so much.

RAFIQ: My pleasure.

MALVEAUX: Searchers finally raised the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501 to the surface. But a major hurdle now brings this operation to a stop. Up next, we're going to show you new photos of the search as divers scramble to recover the plane nearly a month after it fell from the sky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back.

We've got new details about AirAsia Flight 8501. Today, search crews were finally able to pull this wreckage up to the surface, but progress was cut short when a rope snapped sending the fuselage straight back to the ocean floor. These are new pictures from some of the operations there.

In the photo, you can actually see the lift balloon that's being used to raise the plane up. Well, now this is the same technique that was used to raise the plane's tale out from under the java sea. This is a much harder job because the size, the weight of the main fuselage much bigger.

I want to get our latest information. CNN's Saima Mohsin who is live this morning from Jakarta, Indonesia.

And, first of all, I mean, it's got to be heartbreaking, right, for these families watching this unfold all morning. And there's a sense of hope and then it is dashed when you have that fuselage that never comes up to the surface completely.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We can only begin to imagine, Suzanne, how they must be feeling. They were told that the mission was and the priority was to recover the victim's bodies. They've been waiting now for almost a month for AirAsia Flight 8501 it was missing and then was found crashed into the Java Sea on the 28th of December when it first took off.

We're almost a month on now. They've had a long ordeal of waiting, false starts as well, divers trying to get into the java sea facing choppy waters. We're told today, Suzanne, the waves were reaching heights of four or five meters, incredibly high winds. We had a storm here in Jakarta as well, so we know the weather is pretty bad so we can only know it was worse out to sea.

So, finally this weekend, officials decided rather than try and recover the bodies one by one or however they do that, they'll try to lift this fuselage.

Now, as you say, it's a big hunk, chunky piece of the plane. They're using what is effectively a Teton balloon to lift it to the top and of course yesterday they made their first attempt. It took them four hours. Divers went down into the sea. They attached it using belts and cross ropes. It took them four hours to even just fill it with air.

And again, the same procedure today, and then right at the last minute this plane, the fuselage came up to the surface. We've got some pictures of the balloon, we've got some pictures of that operation, and then it fell. You can just imagine the heart break. And all those people working on the operation, how they must have fell.

Now, just some new information we got just as you were coming to me, Suzanne, is the belts are now trying to be strengthened and reinforced. That's exactly what they're going to do at first light in the morning, and also there is concern about the state of the fuselage itself.

We've been told by one official involved in this rescue and recovery operation that the fuselage is damaged. It's incredibly fragile and there are concerns about whether it will perhaps stay intact or the nature of how delicate the operation is. All of this just gives you an idea of how cumbersome and delicate simultaneously it is -- Suzanne, Victor.

MALVEAUX: Yes, Saima, thank you so much for the new information there.

I mean, it's hard to imagine when you think about this, Victor, because we're talking about like a belt --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MALVEAUX: -- breaking. It seems so fundamental, rudimentary, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's not technologically as this, tied to a balloon and lifted to the surface.

Let's talk about two of the elements that we got from Saima, the strengthening and reinforcing of the rope and damage to the fuselage.

We have on the phone with us, CNN safety analyst and author of the new book, "Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Why It Disappeared", David Soucie.

David, I want to start with the rope strengthening and reinforcement. Is it wise to continue with this strategy of tying to this Teton balloon, or should they abandon this approach and try something else?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST (via telephone): I really don't know that they have many options, Victor. The fuselage itself, my colleagues are telling me, it's filled with wires and it's incredibly dangerous to attempt one by one extraction of bodies. That will be highly dangerous. That's the only other option they have.

So, right now, I think they're doing the right thing. One of the things they're telling me they've done, where the straps contact the fuselage, there was bare metal cutting into the straps before, they've reinforced that by putting plastic between the straps and the aircraft itself so as it comes up there's going to be movement between those straps.

There's going to be erosion. There's going to be cutting basically through those straps so with this rubber it will prevent that. So, I think that now it'll be a much higher success rate.

BLACKWELL: Beyond damage to the ropes, let's talk about damage to the fuselage. It is fragile as we heard from Saima. It has been damaged. How concerned are you about that?

SOUCIE: Very concerned. The rate at which it rises, we had mentioned before that took four hours to fill that back. That's not because it takes that long, it's the fact that you have to do it slowly so that it only maintains enough buoyancy to ascend at a certain rate. If you fill it too quickly, it brings the aircraft up too far and starts breaking the aircraft apart.

So, it's a very slow, methodical process and I'm very concerned about that. The balloon has to be secured in several areas as closely as three or four feet with those straps sometimes in some areas of the aircraft where it's already been -- where the structure's been broken.

BLACKWELL: All right. They will again try as the sunrises there over the Java Sea. David Soucie, thank you so much.

SOUCIE: Thank you, Victor, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Next, we're going to go inside one of the largest independent film festivals in the U.S. Got to love this story. Absolutely love it.

BLACKWELL: Yes. We'll take a look at a movie that's causing some controversy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Park City, Utah, transformed Hollywood for at least a few days.

MALVEAUX: I love this story.

Stars packed into the small ski town catch the Sundance festival.

Our CNN's Stephanie Elam, she's got the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne and Victor, Sundance is in full effect. It's all about the premiers, parties. Stars are everywhere.

But that doesn't mean it's all fun and games. There's also some focus on some controversial films, including "A Prophet's Prey", which takes a look at Warren Jeff's of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nearly 40 years in the religion, things started to change. Once Warren took over and started imposing all kinds of at this tyrannical mind control things on the congregation and my children. So, I left without my children because I was deemed not worthy, and so I remain very discrete because I did not want Warren to have any excuse from this apostate to break up their families.

ELAM: This movie takes a look at the controversy about how he's been able to continue to operate and to continue to lead this church despite some very negative claims. This is what the director, who I had a chance to speak with, Amy Berg, this is what she had to say about it.

AMY BERG, DIRECTOR, "A PROPHET'S PREY": I didn't understand how this person who had seemed so lacking dynamics was ruling over 10,000 people and it's like this really big cult and they're existing for many years. You know, they're doing all these things that are so fundamentally wrong and illegal, and how are they existing today.

ELAM: A controversial topic, but there are other films, including comedies of all kinds. But the week is really just getting started, there are many more films that are still going to be debuted here at Sundance -- Victor and Suzanne.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Stephanie. Appreciate it. Looking forward to seeing a lot of those films.

BLACKWELL: Hey, we have some video you need to see.

MALVEAUX: This is an attack in Ukraine caught on tape. We've got details up ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Here's a look at other stories developing now.

Fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukraine forces is intensifying once again.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BLACKWELL: This is amateur video that shows a rocket attack on the streets of Mariupol. At least 30 people have been killed, two of them children. More than 102 people were injured. One person was arrested in connection with the attack. This video shows how dangerous of a situation it is there. The ministry further stated the situation was under control and urged residents not to panic but to rely on information from official sources only.

MALVEAUX: Secretary of State John Kerry calling for increased international pressure on Russia and is demanding that Moscow end its support for rebels in the region. President Obama says the U.S. will continue counter terrorism efforts in Yemen. At a joint statement with India's prime minister he said Washington is concerned about the fragile situation there.

The Yemeni government has collapsed and rebels are in the capital. The power vacuum is deepening as the country's parliament postponed a special session today on the Yemeni president's resignation.

BLACKWELL: Investigators are looking into a bomb threat made on Twitter that forced fighter jets to escort two Atlanta bound planes. The fighter jets were called up after authorities deemed the threat to be credible. Both the Southwest and Delta flights landed safely and were taking to a remote runway where they were searched by bomb sniffing dogs. The good news is no explosives were found.

MALVEAUX: And talk show pioneer Joe Franklin has died. He is credited with developing the modern talk show format. "The Joe Franklin Show" aired locally in New York City but was well known enough to be carried on "Saturday Night Live" and even mentioned on "The Simpsons." he often joked his show was full of washed up celebrities and many up and coming ones as well. Joe Franklin was 88 years old.

Well, thank you for starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, INSIDE POLITICS: The Republican class of 2016 shares a big Iowa stage.

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: If you're not afraid to go big and go bold, you can actually get results.

KING: But two big names don't show. Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush aren't talking much about their face to face.

JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: We talked about -- talked about the Patriots. We talked a little bit about politics, not as much as you might imagine.

KING: Plus, the president promises his final two years will be a fight for the middle class.