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Plane Crashes in Virginia; Ukraine has Sabotage Agents inside Russia; Ukrainian Video Urges Silence; Haley Makes Case for Supporting Ukraine; Migrants Flown to California by Private Jet. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 05, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:29]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Fighter jets are scrambled and a sonic boom rattles the nation's capital. The pilot of a private jet is unresponsive and now the NTSB is investigating after that plane crashed in Virginia.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: At least 275 people killed, more than a thousand others are injured after 20 train cars dreidel during a collision in India. Ahead, the latest on the search and rescue efforts there.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In a few hours, tech giant Apple expected to make a major announcement. What new feature is coming to your phone, your home, your eyeballs.

This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: Today, officials with the NTSB are on the ground in Stanton, Virginia, investigating what led to a private plane crash. A plane that just before the crash was intercepted by U.S. fighter jets for violating restricted air space over Washington, D.C. The plane was a Cessna 560 Citation, similar to what you're looking at here.

It took off from an airport in Elizabethtown, Tennessee, at 1:13 yesterday afternoon. It was bound for Long Island, New York, you can see there. But according to flight data, the plane never landed, and instead it turned around over Long Island. And then at 3:05 p.m., it flew over D.C.'s restricted air space.

U.S. Capitol Police placed the Capitol complex on an evaluated alert and officials tried but were unable to make contact with the pilot. That is when F-16s were scrambled to intercept the plane when they were -- and they were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds in order to get there in time, which created a sonic boom that was heard and felt across the Washington area.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: According to officials, those F-16s reached the Cessna around 3:20 p.m., and the jets, they even set off flares in an effort to get the pilot's attention. They never made contact and the Cessna eventually crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia.

CNN's Brian Todd is near the site of the crash. He's joining us now.

Brian, where do things stand with this investigation now?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, we've got some new information for you this morning. I just spoke to a group of first responders who were the first people on the scene of that plane crash. And to give you a sense of what they were up against, I'm going to take you to my right, your left. We're going to pan into that ravine up there. You can see how steep the terrain is over here and you can see the patchy fog that has settled in over that little valley area, that ravine area there. That is what they were up against. That fog was here last night when the first responders got here.

What they told us was that they had to leave their vehicles not too far from where I'm standing here, just up the road a bit. And they left their vehicles at just before 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. It then took them two hours, fully two hours to walk into those mountains, in very steep terrain. And they've described it as sometimes being at an angle like this, more severe than a 45-degree angle.

Getting to that site, it took them more than two hours. They arrived on the scene of the plane crash they said just after 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. And what they found was a very grisly scene. One of the first responders said there were maybe four or five recognizable pieces of wreckage there, but then he said, beyond that, nothing bigger than your arm. They did find human remains, but, again, nothing really recognizable there.

And they believe that the plane -- they said that the plane left a crater in the ground. They believe that what -- based on what they saw there, that the plane went in at a very steeping angle and then it took them several hours to kind of process their way through the scene and then get back to their vehicles. They did not get back to their vehicles until about 11:15 p.m. last night.

So, the trek to get in there was dangerous and arduous. And when they got there, they found really just a lot of small, small pieces of wreckage.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And that investigation continues. NTSB back on site today.

Brian Todd is there.

Thank you, Brian.

Sara.

SIDNER: Now to a CNN exclusive. Ukraine has a network of secret agents working inside Russia and helping to sabotage Russian forces. That is according to U.S. intelligence services. And we're also told that Ukraine is arming these agents with drones. U.S. officials believe these pro-Ukrainian agents inside Russia may have been behind this drone attack in Moscow earlier last month.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us now with this exclusive reporting.

[09:05:03]

First of all, great job on the reporting. Second of all, what do we know about these cells that are set up to sabotage Russia?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara, so what we're learning from U.S. officials who described the intelligence to us is that these cells are basically made up of pro Ukrainian sympathizers, as well as agents who are well-trained in this style of warfare. And what we're told is that these attacks really have become a lot more brazen over the last month. There has been a steady drumbeat of strikes against Russian targets over the last year, including fuel depots, railways, pipelines.

But since that May 3rd strike on the Kremlin, that drone strike, U.S. have really noticed an uptick here. And they do attribute that drone strike to these pro-Ukrainian partisans who are working for the Ukrainians to carry out these strikes inside Russia. It is unclear whether all of the drone strikes that we have seen over the course of the last several weeks can be attributed to that - those sabotage cells inside Ukraine.

But it's also really interesting because we are told that they are being given drones by the Ukrainians. And we know that Ukraine has a very sophisticated and well-honed drone manufacturing industry, that they are really ramping up. And so it is unclear how they're actually getting those drones into Russia. However, we are told that there are really well-practiced smuggling routes between Ukraine and Russia that may have allowed the Ukrainians to give these drones to the partisans here.

So, it really is an interesting window into just how Ukraine is bringing war to Russia directly, Sara.

SIDNER: Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, Russia claims it has thwarted what is calls a large scale Ukrainian offensive in the southern Donetsk region. That is in - was in the eastern part of the country there. The Russian defense ministry released video that it says shows a skirmish with Ukrainian forces. Moscow says Ukrainian troops tried and failed to push through a front line area with tanks and armored vehicles. Ukrainians officials say they have no information on the incident.

Ukraine has been signaling a major counter offensive for weeks but in a new video circulated on social media Ukrainian soldiers are urging everyone to stay quiet. You can see that, shhh, say the soldiers.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in Kyiv for us this morning.

So, Fred, the Russians are making sounds now that some kind of Ukrainian effort has begun. Is this, could this be the counter offensive?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very, very difficult to say, John, but certainly you're absolutely right that the Russians came out actually late last night and put out that video that you were just showing, and you were just talking about as well, saying that they had thwarted a large-scale attack, as they put it, by the Ukrainians. They claim that they took out 16 Ukrainian tanks, also a bunch of infantry fighting vehicles, and a bunch of Ukrainian soldiers as well. I think they were talking about around 250 Ukrainian soldiers. As you said, so far no information whatsoever coming from the Ukrainian side.

It's quite interesting though because earlier today, in fact not long ago, another Russian official from that area where all this is going on, he claimed that there was another Ukrainian attack that happened this morning, this time larger in scale. And he claims that the Ukrainians are trying to advance through Russian positions and get all the way down to the Sea of Azov.

Now, of course, they are very far away from making that happen. But if they did manage to do that, it would be a huge breakthrough for the Ukrainians because then they could cut off the land corridor of the Russians have form Russian territory all the way to Crimea. Again, right now all this seems to be in the early stages if it's something that is actually going on. And, of course, we had that complete radio silence there coming from the Ukrainians. You just showed that ad. That certainly was something that caused a lot of chuckles here in Ukraine over this weekend when it was released. The message of that, by the way is, plans love silence, John.

BERMAN: Plans love silence.

So, Fred, over the last several weeks there's been a lot of focus inside Russia, in the Belgorod region, which is just north of the Ukrainian border, not far from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. What's going on there today?

PLEITGEN: Yes, same stuff still going on and the Russians still not being able to come to terms with it. In fact, just a couple of minutes ago the governor of that region, he came out and said that overnight some 600 projectiles were fired by, as he put it, from the Ukrainian side towards the territory, which is around the town of Shebecona (ph), which is right next to the border between Ukraine and Russia. Now that, of course, includes various munitions, can include mortars, can include artillery, but also bullets as well. But certainly there is a lot going on there and those pro-Russian fighters - those Russian fighters, anti-Putin Russian fighters, who have been on the ground there, they claim that they're still in part of that area. Very difficult to discern. But one of the things that certainly seems to be the case is that the Russians are on the backfoot.

BERMAN: Look, one thing that is also for certain, there has been an uptick in activity across the region.

Frederik Pleitgen, in Kyiv for us this morning. Fred, keep us posted.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley making her pitch to voters during a CNN town hall last night.

[09:10:05]

And during the big event in Iowa, the former South Carolina governor broke with her former boss, Donald Trump, on several topics. Also differentiating herself from another leading Republican candidate, Ron DeSantis. Here's one example on U.S. support for Ukraine.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is bigger than Ukraine. This is a war about freedom. And it's one we have to win. A win for Ukraine is a win for all of us because tyrants tell us exactly what they're going to do. What we heard, China said they were going to take Hong Kong. They did it. Russia said they were going to invade Ukraine. We watched that happen. China says Taiwan's next. We better believe them. Russia said Poland and the Baltics are next. If that happens, we're looking at a world war. This is about preventing war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Kristen Holmes has much more on the town hall and everything that happened and what it means now.

Kristen, it seems like - it sounds like Haley made a strong impression with the voters in the room last night, but how well did she find herself differentiating herself from Donald Trump?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, we heard from one person in the room saying that Haley was a breath of fresh air. And this opportunity, this town hall, was really an opportunity for Haley to reach a broader audience and, as you say, differentiate herself from her former boss. We have to keep in mind here that Haley was the first candidate to announce that she'd be running in 2024 as a presidential candidate after Donald Trump. And really at this early stage has yet to see her campaign take off, particularly as Ron DeSantis and Trump have taken up much of the oxygen in the race.

Now, it wasn't just foreign policy, Ukraine, as you said, in which she used these issues to differentiate herself from these two men. Another one we heard was entitlement programs. Both Trump and DeSantis decide -- despite previously saying otherwise, now say they wouldn't touch Social Security or Medicare. Haley, last night, said that you have to make changes in order to actually protect these programs.

And when you talk about differentiating yourself from Donald Trump, you look here, many of the times during this town hall she actually sounded like an old school Republican, and Bush era Republican, before we saw that Trump takeover.

Now, I will note that she didn't use this opportunity in any way to rabidly attack her former boss, but she didn't totally avoid it otherwise.

I want you to listen to what she said when Jake asked her last night about Trump recently congratulating North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un on his position of the World Health Organization.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean Kim Jong-un is a thug. And if you see what he has done to his own people in North Korea, when money went to North Korea, it didn't go to feed their people, it went to feed their nuclear program. There's nothing good or decent about Kim Jong-un.

I don't think we ever should congratulate dictators. Congratulate our friends, don't congratulate our enemies. It emboldens them when we do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And obviously, as we know, while in office, former President Trump, and after being in office, he has praised or congratulated dictators on a normal basis. But, of course, Kate, the question still remains, even after last night's town hall, whether or not Haley can actually break through in what's expected to be, particularly after this week, a very crowded Republican field.

BOLDUAN: Kristen Holmes, it's good to see you, as always. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: Thanks, Kate.

New this morning, trains are running again after a deadly train cash in Indiana that claimed 275 lives. One of the worst train wrecks in the country's history. The latest on that investigation.

Plus, who's responsible for sending a plane full of migrants from Texas to Sacramento?

And how China is responding to this close encounter of the Taiwan Strait between one of its warships and a U.S. destroyer.

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[09:18:09]

BOLDUAN: On the radar this hour, two people are still missing eight days after that partial building collapse in Davenport, Iowa. Crews were able to recover the body of one victim, Branden Colvin Sr. His son, who had been sleeping outside the site for days, received the news just hours before his high school graduation. He told CNN this, I walked across the stage knowing my dad is proud of me and will forever be proud of me.

The FBI is headed to Capitol Hill today to share information from a whistleblower about President Biden. The top Republican and Democrat on the House Oversight Committee will be receiving a briefing about a document containing allegations from an unnamed whistleblower alleging Biden was involved in a criminal scheme with a foreign national during his time as vice president. The FBI and prosecutors who previously reviewed the information could not corroborate the claims.

And Instagram has lifted its ban on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Democratic presidential candidate was kicked off the platform two years ago for repeatedly spreading debunked claims about Covid-19. Now that anti-vaccine - the anti-vaccine activist has -- now that the anti-vaccine activist has launched his presidential bid. Instagram's parent company, Meta, says his account has been reinstated. Kennedy is also planning to do a live audio chat today on Twitter with none other than Elon Musk.

Sara.

SIDNER: Train traffic has finally resumed this morning on both tracks involved in Friday's deadly crash in India. At least 275 people were killed and more than 100,000 people injured in that derailment. Investigators believe it was caused by an electronic signal failure. An investigation is underway to confirm their belief that a passenger train was mistakenly diverted to an occupied track. More than 20 cars derailed in the incident.

Our Ivan Watson is in India and went and visited the crash site.

[09:20:03]

First of all, can you give us a sense of what you're learning now and just what it looked like. This is the worst tragedy that we've seen in India in a very long time.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it sure is. To give you some context and for the viewers, Sara, I'm at a railroad station in the countryside. This is kind of what it looks like here. It also happens to be just down the railroad tracks within sight of where the recovery effort is still ongoing. Down these tracks, where those lights are in the distance, that's where you have armies of workers and police and the military and construction machinery that have been hard at work reopening the railroad after the deadliest train disaster that India has seen really in modern history.

It happened just Friday night, and yet, in the last hour, we've seen at least four trains go back and forth, up and down these tracks, showing you the speed at which they've reopened the railroads.

Why? Well, they're essential. More than 13 million people a day move around in India on the trains. And the government wants to really modernize this system. So, the day after the train crash, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, was supposed to be inaugurating a brand-new high-speed train. Instead, he had to rush here and inspect the rescue effort, meet with some of the survivors.

To date now, even though the railroads are reopened, there are still dozens of families still looking for missing loved ones. At least 275 people killed. So this underscores a real problem that India faces. It has aging infrastructure, as you can see here. It wants to modernize rapidly, and yet what are you to do? You have to do something to improve the safety record otherwise you could have repeats of the kind of terrible disaster that took place here where you had a very crowded passenger train and it slammed into a parked cargo train just down the road here due to some kind of switching malfunction. And then the cars, the train wagons that were knocked off their tracks, they hit another train that was coming from the opposite direction. That and the death toll have really shocked nation.

Sara.

SIDNER: It is really devastating to see, Ivan Watson, with more than a billion people, and a crumbling infrastructure, hard to see those images. I appreciate you live there from Bhubaneswar, India. Appreciate. It.

John.

BERMAN: So, this morning, California officials are investigating how a group of 16 migrants arrived in Sacramento by private jet after entering the U.S. through Texas. According to Governor Gavin Newsom, the migrants who range in age from 20 to 30 years old were dumped on the doorsteps of a local church with just their backpacks. Potential charges could be filed against those who paid for the group's travel and misled the migrants with false promises.

CNN's Isabel Rosales joins us now.

Isabel, what - what's the latest on who sent them and why?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John.

So, CNN spoke to the man leading this investigation out of California, working to answer who paid for this flight and whether these migrants were tricked into getting on that plane. And that person is Attorney General Bob -- Rob Bonta. And he told CNN that he believes the state of Florida is behind this. And that is because these migrants had documents that supposedly came from Florida government.

Plus, he's also pointing the finger at a vendor, Vertal (ph) Systems Company Inc. That is the same aviation company behind the last round of migrant flights in fall of last year where 50 or so migrants were sent over to Martha's Vineyard, paid for by Florida taxpayers.

Listen to what else the attorney general had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB BONTA (D), CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's very strange. At best it's potentially illegal. It could violate criminal laws. It could violate civil laws.

We want accountability. We want the end to this morally bankrupt practice that hurts people, treats them as pawns, weaponizes human beings, and represents the worst of who we can be. It's inhumane, it's abusive, it's exploitive for political points, and it's not who we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And let me give you a little bit of background on what we know about their journey. This is 16 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia. They were taken from El Paso, Texas. They were bussed over to New Mexico, then from there on a plane over to California and then bussed to Sacramento, dropped off on the front steps of a church.

I spoke with one of the non-profits helping them, Sacramento ACT. Cecilia Flores (ph), she's been working with these migrants. And she says that the migrants told her that representatives for a private contractor said, hey, if you want to move to a migrant center, if you volunteer for this, we will help you to get a job. We will help you get free resources, including food and shelter.

[09:25:03]

Then, when they were dropped off, the driver rang the doorbell to this church and said, hey, we'll be right back, but then the bus took off and never came back.

John.

BERMAN: All right, so arriving in Texas, bussed through New Mexico, potentially paid for by Florida. I think a lot more to come here.

Isabel Rosales, thank you so much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And coming up for us, could this be the biggest announcement from Apple in years? Where the company is -- what the company is set to unveil that could be the biggest product launch since the Apple Watch.

And a new exclusive interview with Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley. What he's telling CNN about Ukraine's ability to take on Russia.

We'll be right back.

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