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Trump to File Appeals For Ballot Access; Harvard University President Set to Resign; Rochester Car Crash Investigation; Deadly Plane Collision at Tokyo Airport. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 02, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:23]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A Japanese airliner burst into flames at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, streaking down the runway on fire. Authorities say passengers had just 90 seconds to escape after the jet collided with an earthquake relief plane.

So, how did this happen? We're going to talk with a retired pilot.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And some new details on a New Year's Day crash that killed two people in Upstate New York. Police say the driver packed his car with gas canisters before he plowed into a crowd. What we're learning about him straight ahead.

KEILAR: And bracing for a battle. Former President Trump expected to file appeals today as he fights to keep his name on ballots in Colorado and Maine.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar with Boris Sanchez back here in Washington.

And there has been a second tragedy that is rocking Japan in as many days. Just one day after that 7.5-magnitude quake on its west coast, the country is now mourning five members of its Coast Guard killed in this, a fiery plane crash at Tokyo's Haneda International Airport. This was around 4:45 p.m. local time today, a camera catching the moment of contact, you see it there, as Japan Airlines Flight 516 hit a smaller Coast Guard plane that was actually headed to help with that quake recovery.

Japan's public broadcast reporting the Coast Guard captain is now in critical condition.

SANCHEZ: Perhaps the most remarkable part of this story is that there were no fatalities, only injuries, reported on that airliner.

We're learning all 379 passengers and crew escaped with just 90 seconds to get off the massive Airbus. Eight babies were among those evacuated. It really is an unbelievable escape. Video shows smoke entering the cabin, one passenger telling CNN they didn't actually feel a shock or anything, as he was not scared.

He -- quote -- said: "We could smell smoke, but passengers were not panicked." You hear some of the fear in their voices, despite that quote there, though.

Let's get to CNN's Richard Quest. He's an aviation expert.

Richard, it is astounding, 369 passengers, 12 crew, a huge flight, and they all made it out.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Yes, and that's because this is what's supposed to happen in what's known as a survivable accident.

You obviously have those cases where the plane hits a mountain and no one's going to live, but then you have these cases. Here, you have the plane landing on the runway, hits the Coast Guard aircraft, and then sets on fire. But the plane, with its composite materials, its fire- retardant fabrics, the entire structure of the aircraft is designed to withstand those flames to allow those on board to get off.

Now, if you are in one of those fairly rare scenarios, survivable accidents, then you have got 90 seconds. The regulations say the plane needs to be evacuated within 90 seconds of all passengers where half the doors are inoperable, and that seems to have been what happens here.

Because of the way the flames were coming from, they were told they could only open those doors at the front of the aircraft. And we have seen it before, Air France landing in Toronto some years ago. It was a very similar situation. Plane caught on fire, everybody got off.

The issue here will be why the A350 and the Dash, Coast Guard Dash, were both on the runway at the same time. That is the cause. That's what's going to be investigated.

SANCHEZ: Richard Quest, thank you so much for the update.

We want to bring in Les Abend now. He's a retired Boeing 777 captain who flew for American Airlines.

KEILAR: All right, Les, we have all seen this video. It's really amazing. We have heard from authorities. What questions do you still have, though?

LES ABEND, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "FLYING": Well, Brianna, this is -- this accident's very reminiscent of something that happened about 32 years ago in L.A., where a U.S. Air 737 actually just about landed on top of a much smaller Metroliner aircraft, propeller turboprop aircraft.

And it just sort of -- my gut feel, and we're all speculating now at this point -- but my gut feel is that the controller may have lost track of the fact that they had an aircraft, and this would be that Dash 8, that Coast Guard aircraft that was on the runway -- may have lost track of the fact that he was on the same runway where that Airbus A350 that was evacuated ended up having a collision the ground with that -- with that airplane.

[13:05:23]

So they may have -- two airplanes on the runway just doesn't -- at the same time just doesn't work.

SANCHEZ: Well, on that note, Les, there were preliminary reports indicating that the pilots of the Japan Airlines flight didn't see any aircraft on the runway before they were landing.

How does that happen?

ABEND: Yes.

And this is once again similar to that 1991 accident in LAX, is that, because it's got a smaller profile, and we were put -- we were talking with darkness around -- a lot of the lights are not that visible. The Dash 8 against a background of a -- of that runway may not have been visual to the crew.

And it -- I'm not going to start pointing fingers at this point because it could have been either the controller or the pilot that may have not known that they were cleared to land or didn't get a clearance to land, which is standard procedure.

But it seems to me that this collision somehow may have been avoidable. But it's tough to see an airplane at night sitting on a runway. It blends in.

KEILAR: I think it's such a tragedy. And that is increasingly so because they were on their way to help in another tragedy.

But what's really amazing about this, of course, is the evacuation of the large commercial liner here. What do you make of how quickly people were able to get off of that plane?

ABEND: Well, I'm glad you bring that up, and what Richard brought up as far as the evacuation tests that are performed to make sure that this -- that can happen just the way it did.

There's a lot of commendation that should go to that crew, especially the cabin crew. They're hair-triggered to get people off the airplane in an unusual circumstance like this. And they did their jobs. They got them out of the exits that could be utilized due to a fire situation. And then the cockpit crew had a evacuation checklist to go through, which part of it is to get -- is to shut those engines down and shut fuel to those engines, so it doesn't continue to burn with fuel in the wing tanks.

SANCHEZ: Now, Les, as for the five fatalities, they were in the Coast Guard aircraft that was on the runway. Why did that happen on that craft versus the much larger Japan Airlines flight?

ABEND: Well, I would think that this collision probably rendered that airplane completely -- it may have just obliterated that airplane, as it did in that accident that I pointed out back in 1991, where procedures were changed, by the way, Boris.

So I'm just thinking that they -- there was just a limited amount of exits available on that Dash 8. It's a much smaller aircraft compared to the Airbus A350.

KEILAR: All right, Les, we appreciate your expertise on this. Unbelievable to watch this. Thank you.

ABEND: Thank you.

KEILAR: Now to the aftermath of Japan's deadly quake.

SANCHEZ: Yes, today, new images are coming in from some of the worst- hit areas on the country's western coast. Look at that. You can see building after building turned into giant piles of debris.

This is what rescuers now have to sift through as they race to find any survivors, who may still be trapped. Surveys from the air earlier today reveal that some fires are still burning. The earthquake toppled private homes, damaged roadways. And, more than a day later, there's still limited access to many of the hardest-hit areas.

One concern, though, has been removed. The weather service has since lifted tsunami warnings for the area.

KEILAR: And to Rochester, New York, now, where police have released new details about a fiery crash that killed two people and injured nine others outside a concert just about an hour into the new year.

Days earlier, investigators say the suspect here, Michael Avery, rented an SUV and bought gasoline and several gas containers.

SANCHEZ: Police believe that Avery later drove that rented vehicle to the concert and sped up before slamming into another car and plowing into the crowd. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY BALL, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: So far, we have uncovered no evidence of an ideology and no nexus to terrorism, either international or domestic.

The FBI and our Joint Terrorism Task Force will see this investigation through to its end with the RPD and our law enforcement partners. But, again, that's not abnormal. It's something we do in all cases such as this one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Brynn Gingras has been following the latest developments.

So, Brynn, we're learning the suspect later died. Where does the investigation stand right now?

[13:10:00]

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's still a lot of questions to be answered, Boris and Brianna, like, why did this person, Michael Avery, target this particular concert venue, particularly when he's not even from Rochester? He came from Syracuse, as we have learned throughout this investigation.

Why at this time? Why this method, right? Those are all still the questions that are still being asked by both federal authorities, like you just saw there, members from the Joint Terrorism Task Force, as well as the FBI and local authorities there in Rochester.

But in that news conference that we had earlier this morning, we did learn a lot about Michael Avery, 35-year-old from Syracuse, New York. Investigators say he traveled from Syracuse on December 27, checked into a hotel -- there you see it -- on December 27 in Rochester, then rented an SUV from a nearby airport car rental place and then, on the day of the attack, actually went around to several different locations by himself.

You see in the surveillance video right there -- or picture right there purchasing gas canisters and the gasoline. And then what authorities say happened really just an hour into the New Year's Day, when these concertgoers, about 1,000 of them, were leaving the venue, authorities say he plowed into that crowd, hitting a rideshare car carrying two people, who were killed immediately on impact.

With all those gas can and canisters, there was this huge explosion. So, a lot of questions still here. We know that search warrants have been executed on the hotel room, on the vehicles involved, and still nothing is really pointing to a motive here.

But I want you to hear from what police are saying at this point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SMITH, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, POLICE CHIEF: Although the motive behind the crime remains unknown, the conversations we have had with his family so far leads us to believe that Avery may have been suffering from possible undiagnosed mental health issues.

At this time, we have not been able to identify that there was anyone else involved in the crime or that it was part of a larger plot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: And so, yes, it does seem like they're trying to figure out, again, all the pieces, trying to put that together as far as a motive is concerned, but all the indications pointing at it doesn't seem like this was a larger plot, but, still, a lot of questions need to be answered.

And at the end of the day, guys, two people killed here, just as they were starting out on their New Year's, and one person actually injured pretty badly as well.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Brynn Gingras, thanks so much for the update. Keep us posted on what more we learn.

Let's dig deeper now with former FBI Executive Assistant Director for Intelligence Joshua Skule. He's also the president of Bow Wave LLC.

Josh, thank you so much for being with us.

So, police say they have not identified a link to terrorism. What questions do you think investigators are working through to establish any kind of connection to terrorism right now?

JOSHUA SKULE, PRESIDENT, BOW WAVE LLC: So I think the investigators are looking at any motive for this attack.

It is very logical for the Joint Terrorism Task Force to be involved, when you look at what we know right now. He had 12 canisters. He used the vehicle as a weapon to conduct an attack on a mass gathering. We have seen, unfortunately, attacks like that across the world and here in the United States multiple times over the past several years.

KEILAR: And we see the FBI saying it's still investigating this as possible domestic terrorism.

Do you see this as similar to other acts of domestic terrorism, or do you see this similar instead to other mass casualty events like mass shootings?

SKULE: Initially, my gut tells me this would be looked at as a terrorism event.

And I want to be careful. Whether it was domestic or international, they are looking at the ideology, on what drove this individual to target this event, why this method. He clearly went into some planning multiple days, if not weeks before.

Additionally, they have his journal, so they're going to look at what triggered him to go and do this.

SANCHEZ: Josh, in the days before the crash, police say that the suspect traveled to Rochester from Syracuse, rented a car. As you noted, he bought the gas and gas canisters.

What does that tell you? Was there anything to you that stood out about him targeting this specific venue?

SKULE: Well, the only thing that stands out to me, it was probably because it was a soft target, Boris.

And that is, while there's law enforcement there, there's a mass gathering of people, easy access for vehicles. Clearly, he has done some preplanning, which was really driving investigators to what drove him to do this, not just target that venue, but also why conduct this attack, which goes back to the ideology.

KEILAR: And there was no suicide note, despite some initial reports here, no journal that was found.

The suspect later died at the hospital. What are the challenges here for investigators? How can they find a motive?

SKULE: So, they will be interviewing family, as they have already done, who came out and said he had suffered from some mental health, friends, co-workers, colleagues.

But they will also be looking at his phone records, any social media, any writing. We talked about a search warrant at the hotel. Undoubtedly, they will be doing a search warrant in every place that he had access to, to include his home, to see anything that they can link together to see what drove him to do this heinous act.

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KEILAR: All right, Joshua Skule, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: fighting the bans. Donald Trump's lawyers are expected to appeal rulings that scrubbed him from the Colorado and Maine primary ballots, some legal challenges for the former president ahead.

KEILAR: Plus, a new Axios report -- pardon me -- says Israel rejected a deal by Hamas to free the remaining hostages. So where do the two sides stand?

We will talk to the journalist who is behind that report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news just into CNN.

Harvard President Claudine Gay is set to resign today. That is according to "The Harvard Crimson."

KEILAR: Let's go straight to CNN's Matt Egan.

Matt, what can you tell us about that?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, "The Harvard Crimson" is reporting that Claudine Gay is set to resign today, marking the shortest tenure of a presidency in the university's nearly-400 year history.

We have not independently confirmed that. We have reached out to Harvard. We have yet to hear back. But we know that Claudine Gay is under enormous pressure here. There's been so many things that have gone wrong in just the last few months.

The initial response to the October 7 attack was criticized even by Harvard officials. We also know that the testimony before Congress last month was widely criticized as well. That was viewed as a disaster. Now, Gay did apologize, but the criticism continued.

Lawmakers have looked into this issue. And at the same time, we also have these plagiarism allegations that have swirled around Claudine Gay. Now, it added all up. And that has proven to be, apparently, according to "The Harvard Crimson," too much for Claudine Gay's presidency to survive.

And according to the paper, she does plan to step down today.

SANCHEZ: Matt, it does stand out that this announcement is coming just three weeks after the Harvard Corporation, which is the university's highest governing body, announced that they would unanimously support her after they had extensive deliberations following her testimony before Congress.

It drew a lot of criticism. But is it fair to say that combining that with the plagiarism allegations, it was simply too much for her to overcome? It seems like they were in a different position three weeks ago.

EGAN: Boris, you're right.

It was just three weeks ago that the Harvard Corporation, the university's top governing board, announced its unanimous support for Claudine Gay. This news makes you wonder just how unanimous that support really was and how much depth there was to that support.

As you mentioned this, is really a combination of multiple factors, right? It was the fact that the university's response to October 7 was criticized as not condemning Hamas forcefully enough. The Harvard Corporation actually criticized Claudine Gay's initial response.

And then you throw on top of that the testimony, right? That -- it was more than four hours of testimony before lawmakers. But it really just came down to a precious few minutes where Claudine Gay and the leaders of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, they struggled to answer a question that a lot of people thought would be a simple one to answer.

Is calling for the genocide of Jews against the school's code of conduct? And they all -- they all fumbled that response. And then you layer on top of that these plagiarism allegations, where Claudine Gay has had to issue corrections, multiple corrections.

Now, we should note that Claudine Gay has not been accused of stealing anyone's ideas in any of her writings. She's been accused of sort of a -- more like a copying other people's writings without attribution. So it's been more sloppy attribution than stealing anyone's ideas.

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But, nonetheless, you put all of that together, and you throw on top the political pressure and also the pressure from donors. In just the last few days, we have heard from another powerful donor threatening to -- actually promising to hold off donations to the school.

So when you add all that up, it seems as though it's been more than Claudine Gay's presidency could survive. And this is a tough moment for one of the most prestigious universities in America. Its brand has clearly taken a very big hit in just the past few months. KEILAR: Yes, there had been a reduction in early application, right?

We had seen that and that had raised some questions about whether this was affecting the brand and how people who are -- want to go to what is the best college in America, whether they were seeing it differently.

There was also the political overtones here, Matt, which is that Congress, the House of Representatives, Republican oversight, had decided to join in investigating this, which was rather unusual and added sort of another tension to this discussion over her tenure.

EGAN: Yes, absolutely, Brianna.

It is worth noting that this has all become so politicized, like a lot of things in society. This has been caught up by politics, and even the plagiarism allegations. I mean, some of those initial allegations around plagiarism, those really came from activists, not activists who were fired up about academic citation. It was really right-wing activists who feel that a lot of these Ivy League presidents are too liberal.

And so that's where some of this initial concern about her academic writing came from. And to your point about the brand, the Harvard brand, we did see that early applications to Harvard, they fell by 17 percent year over year. A lot of the other schools, including even the University of Pennsylvania, they didn't see that kind of a drop.

Now, we should note that the cutoff date for early applications at Harvard, that was November 1. So that would predate the hearing that has gotten so much attention. It would also predate the plagiarism issues. But, still, it does sort of raise this concern about what all of this attention, all this controversy has done to the Harvard brand.

And at some point, you got to imagine that the officials that run the school, the Harvard Corporation, the members of that powerful board, they had to decide whether or not they wanted to stand by Claudine Gay. And, again, according to "The Harvard Crimson," they have decided that they don't want to.

KEILAR: It did not predate that controversy, certainly, over student groups facing backlash for signing on to a statement that was anti- Israel.

So, you see -- I'm very glad you pointed out the timeline on that, Matt, because it is incredibly important to see what may and may not have affected this, but so many things going on as Harvard has become politicized here.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Matt Egan, we're going to stay on top of this story. We look forward to what Claudine Gay herself has to say in the statement that we anticipate coming later today following her resignation.

Matt Egan, thanks so much for the latest details on that breaking news.

EGAN: Thank you. SANCHEZ: So, today, Donald Trump's lawyers are expected to file a

pair of appeals to keep his name on the 2024 primary ballot in two states. That major legal filing could be in front of the courts at any moment.

The former president is hoping to reverse two state decisions, one by the Colorado Supreme Court, one by the Maine secretary of state, both disqualifying his candidacy under the 14th Amendment -- under the 14th Amendment's insurrectionist ban.

We have with us this afternoon one of the people who brought that successful challenge in Maine, former Republican State Senator Tom Saviello.

Tom, we're glad to have you.

I do want to again point out you are a Republican. You voted for Donald Trump twice. Now you say that he's -- quote -- "threatened the country" that you love.

I'm wondering what changed and why you're pursuing this, when polling indicates that he's the candidate that most Republicans want.

FMR. STATE SEN. TOM SAVIELLO (R-ME): January 6. When I sat and watched that take place, it literally made me sick to my stomach. And I felt I had to take some action. Wasn't sure what that was going to be.

I did a lot of studying on what the 14th Amendment, Section -- Amendment 14, Section 3 has to say. I did some work on trying to understand how that came into being and found out there were a lot of Mainers that were in the U.S. Senate at the time that helped developed it.

And then Colorado ruled by saying, yes, he did cause an insurrection. I also read Senator Collins' comments when they tried to impeach Mr. Trump or President Trump right after the insurrection. She even called it an insurrection.

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So, not knowing exactly what my path could be, I was given the opportunity, because, under Maine law, we actually have to have the secretary of state determine how the election is going to run. And she made the determination, obviously, in the hearing that Mr. Trump was not qualified, which is our secretary of state's job to do, based on causing the insurrection in Washington on January 6.

SANCHEZ: Well, Trump's team is upset about the fact that the secretary of state made this decision unilaterally.

Despite your pointing out that it is part of Maine law, they say that the will of voters shouldn't be decided by one person. What's your response?

SAVIELLO: Well, Maine has a law. We have to follow what our laws say on the book -- on the books.

And unless they want to -- there's two ways you can do this. You can change the law or you can change what's required by the state of Maine. One must not forget that the U.S. Congress -- and I don't know what year it was, certainly long before I came around -- delegated the responsibility of elections to the states.

And in the state of Maine, we delegated the election responsibilities to our secretary of state. And then we crafted laws that told her what -- her or him or whoever -- what they had to do when there was an example of someone applying or running for a certain political office. In this case, Mr. Trump came in to run for president.

She certified his application because he had enough petition signatures. But then, when we complained, which we were allowed to do under our constitutional rights and under Maine state law, she had a hearing, which was very fair, of which, interestingly enough, they brought no witnesses in.

They had very few pieces of information they came, and they objected to her participating after the hearing record was closed. I sometimes think they took us for granted, but, at the end of the day, she's simply following law.

So what's going to happen in Maine is that, because of Title 21A, it will now be referred to the Superior Court. And that now captures what has to be done. The superior court will take the arguments from both sides. And I was told today that, by January 17, the Superior Court will make a decision one way or the other.

Then, depending on what that decision is, it would be appealed to the Maine Supreme Court.

SANCHEZ: Right.

SAVIELLO: And then I'm not sure. And as I have talked to a lot of my friends that are judges and lawyers, we're not sure how it then goes up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But I believe, eventually, it will get there.

SANCHEZ: Well, I was going to ask about that, because you said that you believe strongly that Congress has given the rights over elections to states to handle.

But, obviously, the Supreme Court could weigh heavily on whether Trump appears on the primary ballot, not only in Maine, but also in Colorado, potentially in other states. What do you think is going to happen with your measure to remove Trump once it reaches the highest court in the United States?

SAVIELLO: Well, that is a great question, because I have asked a lot of people, could they sweep it out of our jurisdiction and take it on? The answer I was told was no.

They could do a couple of things. One, they could actually not take it up. They could turn around and say, you know what? The U.S. Congress has to change this law. They delegated that responsibility to the states. They could find a small piece of it that they want to address. As you may recall, in Colorado, the judge there basically said that he was not in an office, the president's position is not in an office and, therefore, this law does not apply to them.

Or they could take it head on as a particular issue that they want to try to define Amendment 14, Section 3 in completeness.

SANCHEZ: Tom Saviello, we have to leave the conversation there. We very much appreciate you sharing your perspective.

SAVIELLO: Thanks for asking. See you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still to come: Hamas says that one of its senior officials has been killed in Beirut.

KEILAR: That's right. He was considered one of the founding members of the group's military wing.

We will have more details ahead.

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