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Kildee Wants Amir Hekmati Released Before Iran Nuke Deal; Terror Plot Foiled in Paris; Hundreds of Migrants Rescue after Mediterranean Crossing; United Flight Diverted After Door Opens, Passengers Lose Consciousness; Drone Carrying Radioactivity Material Traces, Camera Lands On Japanese Prime Minister's Roof. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 22, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:03] REP. DAN KILDEE, D-MICHIGAN: Went back for the first time, accepted his Iranian passport as a condition of going, because under Iranian law, he is an Iranian citizen. That's the key to his conviction, the fact that he, under their law, is an Iranian citizen and served in the U.S. military, means he was cooperating with a hostile government. Here we are negotiating with this country. The fact that they would hold that charge over his head even as unbelievable as that law might be, the fact they would hold that charge over his head while at the same time are negotiating with the American government and others on their nuclear capability, I think is a bit in Congress.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Have you had any conversations at all with Iranian officials to make the case? I know out on the web, social media, you've been working hard to generate support for Amir Hekmati.

KILDEE: I wouldn't want to characterize all the discussions but we've had many informal channels we have pursued and the Iranian government has gotten the message very clearly that in order for them to be treated as a member of the global community, even to take a step toward the global community, they have to release these Americans. They cannot hold these Americans and be considered legitimate and through all the channels that we've used, some you've referred to, we've made that point very clear.

BLITZER: And when the family understandably so frustrated, so angry they want their brother, their son, back home, when they complain that they're not necessarily getting enough support from the U.S. government, you say?

KILDEE: Well, here's the thing, if I were them I would be saying the same thing. I feel like every day, everyone in the U.S. government should wake up and say to themselves, what can I do to get these Americans home. I think about it the same way as if he were my own son. I would not want him to be forgotten. So, you know, I've called upon our administration to do more and I'm doing that not just because his family is asking me to, I think it's important.

BLITZER: Dan Kildee, thanks for joining us.

KILDEE: Thank you. BLITZER: Good luck. Let's hope Amir Hekmati is out of there soon because obviously he's only 31 years old.

KILDEE: 31 years old.

BLITZER: He's a young guy, a long life ahead of him.

Thank you.

KILDEE: Thank you.

BLITZER: Besides Amir Hekmati there are three other Americans being held in Iran, Jason Rezaian, a journalist, held there for about nine months. He's charged with espionage, cooperating with an enemy government. Saeed Abedini is a Christian pastor held there for two and a half years for alleged preaching. Then there's a retired FBI agent, Robert Levinson, who disappeared while working there. He had previously worked for the FBI and it's believed he's being held in Iran, although in this particular case, the Iranians have never acknowledged Robert Levinson is in their custody.

Coming up, a plot to attack churches around Paris foiled, a terror suspect in custody, and the unlikely phone call that sent police straight to his doorstep.

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[13:36:40] BLITZER: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington

This just in to CNN. We're seeing now for the first time a striking picture released in the trial of the Boston bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, of him giving the middle finger to a jailhouse camera. We will show it to you right now. Take a look at this, taken in a jail cell during his first arraignment back in 2013. At a holding cell at the courthouse. The jury today by the way is in the sentencing phase of his trial. They heard from a deputy U.S. Marshal who witnessed this. Tsarnaev faces the death penalty for the attack at the Boston Marathon, which left three people dead and scores of people injured.

We go to Paris where police say they filed an imminent terror plot three months after the massacre at the "Charlie Hebdo" cafe, and the suspect this time, a 24-year-old, I.T. student, who was allegedly planning an attack on one or two churches. The suspect also linked in the weekend murder of a woman. This, as we learn police flagged him as a security risk last year.

Let's go live to CNN's Nic Robertson joining us live from London.

It was bizarre turn of events, Nic, that led to his arrest, right?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it was. This is surely a bungled terror plot if ever there was one. He shot himself in the leg, called for an ambulance. When the police came they realized there was something suspicious about him the way he was acting. He had the blood on his clothes of the woman who was found shot dead a little while earlier. He resisted when the police wanted to search his vehicle. When they went too his vehicle, they found three rounds, three magazines full of ammunition, 9 millimeter pistol, satellite navigation system into which was programmed the coordinates of the church. And this church, according to police, they discovered, he had actually been in conversation with a man in Syria, they say, who directed him to attack this church. So it's certainly on the surface right now looks as if the police have narrowly through this man's incompetence, narrowly averted what could have been a terrible and very bloody attack.

BLITZER: What do we know about the woman who was killed?

ROBERTSON: She's a professional, 32 years old. She had -- has a 5- year-old daughter. She was sitting in her car, her vehicle, she had come to Paris to take part in some professional training, the police say. They're not clear yet why this 24-year-old Algerian man, this I.T. student, decided to shoot her before going ahead with his other attack. They're still investigating that. But perhaps -- the shooting of her, perhaps, led to the -- how he shot himself and then the thwarting of the whole attack altogether -- Wolf?

[11:39:38] BLITZER: Nic Robertson, what a story that is. Thank very much. I'm sure we'll get more information in the hours ahead.

Meanwhile, hundreds of migrants arrived today in Italy rescued after a disastrous crossing of the Mediterranean, that tragedy pushing some politicians in Europe to demand action before one more life is lost at sea.

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BLITZER: Hundreds more migrants arrived in Italy earlier today. They survived the desperate voyage across the Mediterranean, a voyage that has left almost 1800 dead or missing this year alone. Those who make it to safety say they took the dangerous journey in search of better lives for themselves and their families.

CNN's Karl Penhaul has been talking with the migrants, listening to their stories, and he's joining us live from Catania in Italy right now.

Karl, tell us what you're hearing from these people who have arrived, specifically the people who arrived there today?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, today, Wolf, Italian officials were keen to keep the media from talking to the migrants to find out about their journey. They were putting the priority on getting them through medical checks and identified and processed for the start of their asylum applications to begin. Nevertheless, aide workers went inside the tents where they were being looked after and they came out and have told us first of all harrowing stories from Egyptians, Syrians, Somalis who say they were at sea for up to 20s days in a fishing boat, the first sailed from Egypt then towards the coast of Libya and then the migrants had to transfer to a different fishing boat even more unseaworthy than the previous one. This is a tactic that officials say is being used by people, smugglers to try to keep the authorities off their tracks. But the migrants that were on those boats said they didn't have adequate food and water. The good news is, of course, that these ones all reached Italy alive, escaping civil war in sir why as you can imagine, poverty, a picture that is repeated across the board -- Wolf?

BLITZER: I understand, Karl, there were more rescues at sea today. What do we know about those?

[13:45:04] PENHAUL: Hour by hour, you just get the impression that this migrant crisis is escalating. This morning as you point out, we saw 446 migrants being brought ashore on the Italian mainland this afternoon, another rescue bringing 500 migrants ashore, and now as night falls, we're awaiting the arrival of more than 200 other migrants all in a day over 1,000 migrants arriving on Italian shores. That is a huge tide of humanity being pushed towards the shores of Europe -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Certainly is. It's so, so dangerous.

All right. Karl, thank you very much.

Coming up, another dangerous story we're following. The rooftop security scare in Japan. Get this, how did a drone with radioactive material land on top of a major government office building? Plus, what else that drone was carrying. We'll have details. We're going live to Japan. Will Ripley is standing by.

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BLITZER: All right. We're just getting this into CNN. A United flight leaving Chicago was just diverted to Buffalo after declaring an emergency in the middle of a flight. The door opened, the cabin lost air pressure. Several passengers apparently lost consciousness, but the plane landed safely. We're told by a spokeswoman from Sky West airlines, saying that "Sky West flight 5622, operating as United Express from Chicago to Hartford, diverted to Buffalo after a passenger lost consciousness. The flight landed safely in Buffalo, where the passenger received medical attention before being released. We're working to accommodate the 75 passengers on another aircraft to Hartford."

Mary Schiavo is joining us on the phone right how it.

Obviously, sketchy information right now. We don't have a lot of details. Based on what we've just reported, what's your analysis?

[13:50:34] MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST (voice-over): Well, obviously it's a mechanical failure with the plane, but my analysis includes the passengers are very lucky. There have been cases in the past where the doors have failed in flight, and it resulted in the loss of plane. So it's very, very fortunate. Since the passengers did lose consciousness, obviously this happened when the flight was most likely above 10,000 feet. Losing a door while you're cruising in flight is extremely rare and has serious safety implications for this model of plane. I think the FAA better act immediately. I would be surprised and shocked, in fact, given this rare occurrence that they don't issue an emergency ground until they're all checked.

BLITZER: That's what they normally do in a situation like this. If, in fact, this plane with 75 or more passengers on board, if a plane like this does have an emergency situation, they lose air pressure, people faint or lose consciousness, they should ground the planes and check it out.

SCHIAVO: Oh, absolutely. Particularly since it happened in flight. It wasn't a situation where they were taxiing and got a door warning. This was one where it obviously was able to take off. They didn't get the door warning. The doors have warnings on them if they're not closed properly. This was something that happened in flight. It's very, very serious when this does occur. I would expect an emergency warning from the FAA. They should act immediately.

BLITZER: Because the statement from sky west airlines, sky west flight 5622, that's the flight operating as united express from Chicago to Hartford. The statement said a passenger lost consciousness, meaning when you read that, marry, a passenger. That means one passenger lost consciousness. There are other reports that maybe others lost consciousness as well. I don't know if you have any more information on that. If it's just one passenger who lost consciousness, perhaps because of faulty door opening midflight, that's obviously a big deal. But if a bunch of passengers lost consciousness, that becomes even more serious.

SCHIAVO: Even if no passengers lost consciousness, a commercial plane capable of carrying 75 or more passengers on board loses a door while at cruising altitude. And remember, to get to that point in the flight, they had to have taken off without any warning that the door had a problem. That's a huge, huge incident because in the past, having a door open in flight has actually caused planes to crash. And the fact that it happened during flight and they obviously hadn't gotten a warning, the warning lights didn't go off that the door was failing. That makes it so, so very serious. The fact that maybe one or four or more passed out is almost irrelevant. It's very sad and frightening. They could have died. But what's bad is the risk that poses to the structural integrity of the aircraft and the risk of the flight being lost.

BLITZER: Certainly is.

All right. We're going to stay on top of this story, Mary. Don't go too far away.

We'll take a quick break and be right back.

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[13:57:34] BLITZER: In a year that's already seen a drone crash on the lawn of the White House, a gyrocopter land on the lawn of the U.S. capital, there's word of another security scare involving an aerial vehicle, this time in Japan. Officials there want to know how a drone carrying traces of radioactivity material along with a camera and smoke flares wound up on the roof of the prime minister's office.

CNN's Will Ripley is following this story for us, joining us live from Tokyo.

Will, what do we know about this?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that within minutes of this drone sighting on the roof of the prime minister's office and residence -- this is the equivalent of a drone landing on the roof of the White House in the United States -- there were dozens of police officers on the rooftop investigating this. Within a few hours, they did determine that the drone and that bottle it had was containing radioactive material, cesium, the same material spewed into the environment after the Fukushima meltdown in 2011. Now, I mentioned Fukushima because on this day that this drone was discovered, a Japanese court approved -- it gave the green light to restarting two nuclear reactors here in Japan. That's a very controversial idea. It upsets many people who fear that nuclear energy is still too dangerous. Now you have a radioactive drone that has essentially landed in a place where the prime minister spends a lot of his time, even though he's out of the country right now. We don't know if that's connected, Wolf, but this is raising very serious concerns here in Tokyo. The chief cabinet minister today actually talked about the potential for terrorist activities as the result of drones. They're now going to be taking a look at the laws here to see whether they should restrict drone use in the air space. Right now, they're allowed to fly anywhere in Tokyo, including the prime minister's residence and government buildings as well -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Very quickly, Will, have authorities there said they have any idea who launched this drone?

RIPLEY: Right now, it's a total mystery. There was no note. As far as we know, no indication that anybody was responsible. So all they have to go on right now are the clues that may be contained in that camera that was on the drone and any other information they can determine as they continue to investigate.

[13:59:41] BLITZER: Wow. What a scary story.

We'll stay in touch with you, Will, for more information. A real mystery but very serious ramifications for people not only in Japan but all over the world.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.