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Debris Component Number Matches Boeing 777; Debris Consistent With Missing Plane Model; Donald Trump Takes Break At Scotland Golf Tournament; Rand Paul Live; Plane Debris Found off Island in Indian Ocean; Trump Visits Scotland. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 30, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

And we begin with breaking news. There are new indications that debris found off the coast of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean could be from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The passenger plane with 239 people on board disappeared 16 months ago.

A source now telling CNN a component number stenciled on the debris corresponds to the schematic drawings of a Boeing 777 part. MH370 is the only Boeing 777 that crashed over water and is unaccountable for.

Earlier, a source said officials believe the debris is from the aircraft's flaperon. That's part of the wing. It's the part of the wing that helps control the plane's movement.

Teams of investigators from Malaysia Airlines are headed to Reunion Island tomorrow and to Paris tonight. The island where the debris washed up is French territory. The search area for MH370 is in the southern Indian Ocean about 2,300 miles from where the debris washed up. But an Australian official tells our Alisyn Camerota he's confident the search is focused in the right area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Were you convinced it was still the right place to be searching off the west coast of Australia where you were?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): (INAUDIBLE) is based very much on a very close and on the expert analysis of the satellite data associated with the aircraft, the so-called (INAUDIBLE.) And that the aircraft will be found quite close to the (INAUDIBLE) so we have a high degree of confidence in our search area and a high degree of confidence in the vessels and the people and the equipment that we're using to search that area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're using our extensive resources to cover this story like only CNN can with our reporters and experts. They are spread around the world.

Let's begin on Reunion Island right now which is in the Indian Ocean about 450 miles off the Madagascar's coast. That's where CNN's Robyn Kriel has been gathering more details on the plane debris that was found. Robin, what's the very latest? What can you tell us?

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's nighttime here in Reunion. In fact, it's just gotten to 9:00 p.m. local time. And the search has been suspended because there's not a whole lot to see in the dark. They were using at least one helicopter to fly up and down the beaches where -- near where this plane debris was found, if it does indeed turn out to be what everyone assumes that it is, at this point. A piece of, as you said, a flaperon, perhaps even the piece of the Boeing 777 that is missing.

Wolf, as I said, one helicopter flying up and down the beach. Also, police asking, imploring locals to come forward if they have seen similar pieces of debris floating to the beach in recent days, as well as to keep their eyes on the horizon, as it were, searching for more debris. We are also expecting a Malaysian vessel to come here, that's according to the Malaysian prime minister, to be able to help the search and rescue, recovery rather, efforts in the coming days -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Robyn, how remote is this beach area there where you are on Reunion Island? Because there's a lot of hope that maybe other undiscovered wreckage could be found.

KRIEL: It is very remote. The closest island is Marisia (ph). The closest very large island is Madagascar which is -- both are remote in themselves. And that's why it's taken, I believe, investigators so long to get here. Malaysian investigators due to arrive tomorrow, that's according to the Malaysians themselves. So, it -- the whole operation has really taken quite a while to get -- to get off its feet just because of how far away everything is.

But the island itself, Wolf, a volcanic island so even the beaches are difficult to access. Getting to Sin Andre (ph) beach where this piece of debris was found, you have to walk a very long time across very craggy rocks and that's why it's useful using something like a helicopter that can fly up and down searching for debris because simply getting there by feet -- by foot if there is more debris that's washed up is sometimes even dangerous.

BLITZER: Yes, it certainly is. All right, Robyn, thank you very much.

Malaysia, France, Australia, they are all involved in the search of MH370. But who's in charge of the investigation? Our Aviation Correspondent Rene Marsh is joining us right now. Rene, do we know who is actually taking the lead in this investigation right now?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, because of aviation and international aviation laws, we know that the Malaysian authorities, they have the lead in the investigation. So, they're the ones who essentially make this decision that we are going to send this piece of a wing to a specific lab. And, you know, you said off the top that it looks like things are moving towards France and that this piece will be sent to a lab there.

[13:05:04] But, Wolf, I've been on the phone all morning talking to some sources and there's a difference in the tone yesterday compared to today. Yesterday, the initial assessment and the wording used is that looking at the photo and looking at the images that we're seeing there on the screen, they believe that this looked like a part of a 777.

But, today, the language is a bit stronger. They say that they see a component number that correlates with a 777 part. So, that is more tangible. That is evidence that says, look, not only does it look like it, but it has a number on it that makes them believe that this is a 777.

BLITZER: This component number is on this flaperon, whatever it's called, this piece of this wing. And at -- when they build this plane, that number is basically installed on this part of the wing?

MARSH: As it's been described to us, Boeing will, oftentimes -- you're looking at a stencil. A local newspaper published a picture of the number we are talking about here. And, oftentimes, Boeing will stencil in a number on its different components of the different parts of the aircraft. And we were able to get ahold of the maintenance manual.

And what's telling here, and this is new because we just literally, before we got on the air, were able to find the page in the maintenance manual that corresponds to this individual part, the flaperon. And the number in the maintenance manual matches the number that's been published on these Web sites. So, yet another piece of evidence here that makes it look like this is, indeed, a part of a 777.

BLITZER: So, a part of a 777 but they haven't necessarily -- that number is 657BB. That's the component number. That's on all flaperons for all 777s or just this particular Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 777?

MARSH: You know, let's just say, in layman's terms, let's say you get something from the store and you have to put it together. And you get maybe an image that looks similar to what you just saw on the screen there. And in order to put it together, you see part one, part two, part three. And you use those numbers in order to affix whatever it is you're putting together. It's similar to that. You will have this maintenance manual with specific numbers that correlate to specific parts of the aircraft and that's what we're looking at.

And, at this point, we're seeing two numbers. The one that's found on the actual debris matching up with the number that we see in the maintenance manual which, again, is just another layer here. But you're right, no one has come out and officially said, this is MH370. But, you know, behind the scenes, when you talk to people, you say, number one, you know that there's only one 777 missing in this section of the world. If this is indeed the 777, I guess it begs the question, well, if it's not MH370, what other aircraft would this be?

BLITZER: So, the clues are clearly beginning to add up that this is the real deal but we'll wait for the official word.

MARSH: Yes.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Rene, for that.

Families and friends of MH370, passengers and crew, they have wondered for more than a year what happened to their loved ones. Sara Bajc spoke with AC 360s Anderson Cooper about her partner, Philip Wood, who was on the flight. She explained what it would be -- what it would mean to her if the wreckage proves to be from Flight 370.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA BAJC: If, ultimately, this is a piece of the wing, then that little thread of hope that I've been holding on to will have to break. And reality will have to take over. But, yes, up until now, I and most of the family members have continued to believe that, until we have a body, we can't -- we can't give up hoping that they'll still come back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Families in China, they're, of course, also very closely watching the debris investigation. CNN's Will Ripley is joining us now live from Beijing. Will, what are the families saying? What are you hearing?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than 150 Chinese were on Flight 370, Wolf. And the families are quite frustrated right now because their assistance center that was open here in Beijing has long been closed. Their hot line is no longer operational. And so, they learned about this from media reports. They're getting no official information from the Chinese government.

Malaysia Airlines is now providing them with any updates. And they're desperate for information right now. They're also quite skeptical because they've been down this road before where there have been reports of possible debris fields. There were lots of false leads. And yes, still, here we are some 500 days on, and now this is the first likely piece of the plane, physical piece of the plane.

But family members that we're talking to, they're still asking questions. Even if this is, perhaps, a piece of the wing, where is the rest of the plane? Where is the proof that their loved ones are still not alive somewhere? They're really holding onto that, even now, almost 17 months on -- Wolf.

[13:10:04] BLITZER: All right, thanks very much. We'll stay in very close touch with you as well. Our hearts go out to those families. A hundred fifty Chinese, as you point out, were on that MH370 flight that was supposed to go from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing but, obviously, never made it. Much more coverage coming up on what could be a major development in the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. We're going to ask our panel of experts what this single piece of debris could tell us about the plane's final moments.

Also coming up, Donald Trump, he's taking a break from an overseas golf tournament right now in Scotland to talk diplomacy and how he and Vladimir Putin would, quote, "get along great." We're going live to Scotland for a full report.

And later, Republican presidential candidate, Rand Paul, joins me live. We're going to talk about his latest efforts to defund Planned Parenthood here in the United States, also the latest poll numbers, his thoughts on Donald Trump, and immigration and a whole lot more.

[13:11:07]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:10] BLITZER: We're following the breaking news, investigators moving a step closer to determining whether debris found off an island in the Indian Ocean is, in fact, from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. A source telling CNN a component number sketched on the debris corresponds to schematic drawings of a Boeing 777 part. MH-370 is the only Boeing 777 that crashed over water and is unaccounted for.

Mary Schiavo's a CNN aviation analyst, former inspector general with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Bill Palmer is a commercial pilot, author of "Understand Air France 447," and Tom Fuentes is a CNN law enforcement analyst, former FBI assistant director.

Guys, thanks very much for joining us.

Mary, how significant are these latest developments on Reunion Island off the coast of Madagascar?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, they're hugely significant because that is all that we have. You know, I like to remind people that Pan Am 103, the turning point, the significant piece there was the size of a thumbnail. So this piece will be extremely well analyzed. They will do everything from look at the stresses on it, the tear marks, the barnacles, any sand or other materials embedded with the barnacles. They will look to see if there is any kind of pitting marks, if there's any fire, explosion, anything at all. They will cover every square micron of this to look for clues.

BLITZER: Bill, if it's confirmed that the debris is, in fact, from MH- 370, what happens next?

Bill, can you hear me?

BILL PALMER, COMMERCIAL PILOT: Oh, I'm sorry. What -- well --

BLITZER: What happens next if it's --

PALMER: It's going to be difficult. BLITZER: If it's confirmed that this is debris from the plane, what happens next?

PALMER: I'm sure they'll do -- investigate the part to see, you know, metallurgical stresses, what happened there. Tracing it back to where it started is going to be a little bit more difficult. You know, it's been about 12,400 hours since the crash. The Indian Ocean is only less than 4,000 miles wide. So it's probably floated around the Indian Ocean several times before it landed on shore and off the east coast of Madagascar.

Where the other parts are, we don't know. You know, so hopefully they'll -- they'll find some more. They could be almost anywhere, you know, on the shore of the Indian Ocean, off the western coast of India, off of Ethiopia, anywhere around there. There's -- you know, the way that the currents flow, it's going to be very, very difficult to trace that back to try to pinpoint a position, unfortunately.

BLITZER: Mary, even if they do a full discovery and a full examination of this one part, this flaperon, this part of the wing's plane, can they determine, based on that alone, whether the plane crashed due to mechanical failure or foul play?

SCHIAVO: No, they can get a good idea of the forces exerted on the plane when it hit the water. The size of the piece suggests that it didn't fall, you know, a straight dive in from say 36,000 feet. The pieces on the accidents like that that I've worked are very small. Everyone knows what the image, for example, of Germanwings wreckage looks like. So a fall from that high, if it was a stall and a straight dive in, they'd be smaller pieces. So they have a clue as to the configuration of the plane when it hit the water, but, of course, not why it was in that situation.

BLITZER: The investigators, and there are a lot of them, Tom, that are looking right now. There's Malaysian authorities, French authorities, Boeing officials presumably are taking a very close look at all of this. Representatives from the U.S. government. Are they working together? Are they coordinating? Australian officials. Are they -- or is this sort of a competition underway right now?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I don't think it's a competition, Wolf, but I think, you know, how many people do you actually need to look at that piece of wing and figure it out? First of all, to look at the identification numbers, verify it's from MH- 370, and then look at the -- the metallurgy of it, how did it rip away from the main part of the wing. And then, you know, the skin itself and the interior of it, is there any indication of explosives, of fire, of some other chemical residue that would indicate something bad happened to the plane, in addition to crashing into the ocean.

BLITZER: Bill, the working assumption is, it is from -- from that Boeing 777, the MH-370 plane. I assume the Boeing experts who are taking a very close look at it, maybe not necessarily in person, but the hi-definition video that they're seeing, the photography, the still photos they're seeing. They basically have got a pretty good idea that this is, in fact, part of that plane, right? PALMER: As far as I know, yes. I mean what other 777 could it be from?

It should have a serial number on it as well, I suspect, and then they'll be able to tell for sure.

BLITZER: What's the difference between that component number that we've seen now, that number 657BB, and a serial number? Explain that difference.

[13:20:08] PALMER: A component number, you know, could be the same component number on 10,000 pieces that you manufacture. But a serial number would be unique to each individual one. So with a serial number, they should be able to tell, you know, which plane it was from, which wing it was from, the history of it, when it was manufactured, when it was put on, taken off, inspected. Every detail of it.

BLITZER: Would a piece of this wing, like this flaperon, which apparently they've discovered, would it have, in addition to the component number, some serial number on that?

PALMER: I believe so, but I'm not knowledgeable on exactly that part and where it would be or what it would look like as far as a serial number.

BLITZER: And maybe it potentially could have been washed off, Mary, after 16 months at sea floating around, right?

SCHIAVO: Well, probably not.

PALMER: Possibly --

SCHIAVO: I had occasion to do some work on the crash of Japan Airlines 123 up on Mount Taka (ph). And literally 10 years later, there were still some parts on the mountain and you could see the parts and the serial numbers on those pieces. So -- and particularly if they're on the inside. And these -- the numbers that he's referring to would be on the inside as well. And they're very unique. Only Boeing and the manufacture of these parts for Boeing, I think it was Vought, can use those numbers. So they will have definite confirmation with the combination of those numbers. They're very specific and you have to have them.

BLITZER: Do you agree, Tom?

FUENTES: Absolutely. When parts are stamped into an aircraft or even automobile parts, the stamping process compresses the molecules below the surface. So even if somebody tried to scrape away the numbers off the top, the metallurgist can examine it and determine what's below, which parts of the molecules have been compressed downward and they can bring that up and retrieve the numbers.

BLITZER: All right, good to know. Hopefully they'll find that serial number and make that official confirmation.

We have a lot more to report on what's going on. Our coverage of the developments for the search of MH-370 will continue. But first, Donald Trump, he's in Scotland right now for a golf

tournament. It hasn't stopped him from talking about diplomacy, his thoughts on Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin and a whole lot more. We're going live to Scotland when we come back.

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[13:26:33] BLITZER: Just one week before the first Republican presidential debate. A new Republican poll shows Donald Trump is not only leading the pack, he's breaking away from it. A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump with 20 percent right now. His nearest rival is not former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, but the current Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, with 13 percent. But there is a little bit of a flipside. Trump tops the list of candidates Republican voters say they definitely could not support. Thirty percent say they would not back him, while 15 percent say they couldn't support New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Right now, Trump, by the way, is taking a break from his campaign trail here in the United States. He's visiting Scotland for the start of the Women's British Open. It's being played on his golf course. Trump used the opportunity to talk to the British press and he was on, once again, quite a roll.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For the last few months I've been, I hate to use the words, I've been a politician, because I talk about politicians, all talk, no action. They don't get the job done. They're terrible. Our country is going to hell.

I'm not known as a politically correct person for good reason. I think there's been too much diplomacy. I think there's been too much. I think we're so politically correct in our country that people are sick of it and things aren't getting done. So I don't think -- certainly you want to be diplomatic. I mean we're diplomatic in our country and everybody hates us all over the world.

I would say that President Obama is incompetent. I think he's done a terrible job as president. I think I'd get along very well with Vladimir Putin. I just think so. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. She was the worst secretary of state in the history of our country. The world blew apart during her reign, now she wants to be president.

A poll just came out, a major poll, of all the Republican candidates, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're number one.

TRUMP: No, no, with Hispanics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

TRUMP: Who's number one with Hispanics?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Trump. Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you told me that earlier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our international correspond Max Foster. He's on the seen over there in Turnberry, in Scotland.

So, Max, Donald Trump, obviously, never short on words. What kind of reaction is he getting where you are?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was interesting. I mean we did cover all his he bases in that press conference. But to his credit, what he was doing is just opening himself up to all of these questions that were being thrown at him and he was answering them. So it was quite extraordinary, going from everything from big game poaching to world peace, at one point. It's quite extraordinary.

But it's interesting speaking to people here because his guests on the golf course really praise his work in terms of being a business leader, creating jobs and also promoting the game. A lot of them do have major issues, though, with his political views, but somehow they manage to separate those. A lot of people describing him as a joke, but at the same time saying he's very welcome here. Here are two ladies I spoke to at a restaurant last night and they really encapsulate the positive uniting feeling of Trump in this part of the world.

BLITZER: All right, Max. Max Foster on the scene for us. We'll stay in touch with you. Max, thank you very much. Much more on Donald Trump, of course, coming up here on CNN.

When we come back, an exclusive interview with another Republican presidential candidate, Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator, standing by to join me live.

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