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Trump Wants Georgia Election Case Dismissed, On Claims Of Presidential Immunity; NTSB: Plane Had 3 Previous Pressurization Issues Before Incident; Source: Senior Hezbollah Commander Killed In Israeli Strike In Lebanon. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 08, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: This is the same type of argument a federal appeals court will hear tomorrow.

SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: Plus, an explosive decompression, the door plug of an Alaska Airlines flight blows off mid flight leaving a refrigerator sized hole in the plane. That missing piece has now been found, new details on the aircraft and the investigation.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: It is the final week before the Iowa caucuses and one new and late addition to the campaign trail, severe winter weather campaign events already being canceled. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

And new this morning, Donald Trump is asking a judge to throw out the case against him in Georgia. Attorneys for Trump had filed a motion seeking to have the entire case dismissed arguing that he's protected from prosecution by presidential immunity. That should of course sound familiar. He's made similar claims in the federal election subversion case against him. CNN's Nick Valencia has much more on this outside the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta. Nick, what are you learning about this new move from Trump's legal team?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Kate. This is a significant filing, but frankly one that we had been anticipating him to do here in his Georgia case. And as you mentioned, very similar to the legal argument that he's making in his federal case, a hearing for that will be held tomorrow and he is expected to be there in person. But this is what he's saying in part of this 140-page legal filing here in Georgia, his attorney Steven Sadow writing here that the indictment in this case charges President Trump for acts that lie at the heart of his official responsibilities as President. He goes on to say, the indictment is barred by presidential immunity and should be dismissed with prejudice.

They're also going on to say that a state, the state does not reserve the right to charge a president that is something that should be delegated to them. This filing, we're still going through it over 140 pages. But frankly, as I mentioned, one that we had been anticipating him to argue here it comes among a slew of motions that he's presenting today. They're also compelling the DA to try to get some evidence from the January 6th Select Committee that they believe is out there and that they would like to see. But the most significant filing, of course, is this dismissal or push to dismiss his case here in Georgia because of presidential immunity. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Nick, thank you so much for the update.

SIDNER: All right, we've now learned that the plane that had a door plug blown out mid flight, leaving behind a gigantic hole in the aircraft was barred from doing long haul flights over water. The NTSB has confirmed that Alaska Airlines set up certain flight restrictions for the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet because of warning lights. In the days leading up to this terrifying flight, a pressurization warning light lit up three separate times on this particular aircraft.

Now, it is important to note the NTSB says this may not in the end be related, but they are certainly looking into it. And we lead off with CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean and CNN's Mike Valera, who is outside the airport in Portland. Mike, just stand by for a second for us. I want to start with you Pete. What is the very latest on the investigation as they have now found this huge piece of the plane that has fallen into someone's backyard?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: A bit of a mixed bag, Sara. But good news, bad news. The good news, we have found the smoking gun, the piece that violently ripped off of at this Boeing 737 Max 9 has been located, discovered in the backyard of a Portland school teacher named, Bob. The part is known as a door plug. It fills a spot where an optional door could be installed at the Boeing factory. The NTSB is retrieving it right now. They will bring it back to Portland International Airport, match it up with the plane and then send it to NTSB's metallurgy lab here in D.C.

Finding this is key because it will hold some major clues. Was this a mechanical failure? Was this a manufacturing defect by Boeing or its contractors? One thing that is missing from this investigation, the audio from the cockpit voice recorder. It automatically overrides every two hours and the circuit breaker that would have stopped that override simply was not pulled by Alaska Airlines in time to keep anything good.

The communications between the pilots, the noise of the explosion, the alerts on the flight decks, all of that sound is now lost. And NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy tells me that is a really disappointing development.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NTSB: If that communication is not recorded, that is unfortunately a loss for us and a loss for FAA and a loss for safety because that information is key, not just for our investigation, but for improving aviation safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: There is a proposed FAA rule to change how long information is retained on CVRs from two hours to 25 hours but only on new airplanes. Pilots Unions really chafe at the thought. This has come up repeatedly though especially in recent incidents, the rash of those runaway close calls last year. Homendy says this latest incident once again proves that the recording rules needed to be changed yesterday. Sara?

[11:05:16]

SIDNER: It's really terrifying, the thought of what happened on the plane and thank goodness, nobody was injured or killed. I want to go to you now, Mike. You were there actually, when the NTSB got word is that right, of the discovery of this piece of evidence? What was that like?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara. It was an amazing moment. It was an instant of joy and elation. We're wrapping up the news conference just before 9:00 p.m. local time. You know, everybody is packing up their laptops. And then the chair of the NTSB who Pete just referred to, the soundbite that we just heard from, she comes back into the room and says nobody moved, we have breaking news. And then I asked her, you found the door plug didn't you?

No response, cameras come back on, two minutes later she announces, we have found the door plug and later says, blessings to Bob, the hero of the hour finding that 63 pound portion of the aircraft. But also Sara there are two other individuals who managed to find other items that were sucked out of the cabin Friday evening when this accident took place. We're talking about one person who found an iPhone that fell 16,000 feet in their yard and then a second person, our new friend, Sean Bates, who heard the NTSB and the news conferences we've been covering over the weekend saying that they needed the public's help to find this missing door plug.

So Sean decides to take a lovely Sunday afternoon walk in the search zone of Cedar Hills, Oregon about 15 minutes from where we're standing right now. Looks on the side of the road, finds a phone, thought it was tossed out of some guy's car, opens it up. And he sees a notification from Alaska Airlines. He filmed a TikTok. This is part of it watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN BATES, MAY HAVE RECOVERED EVIDENCE FROM FLIGHT: I found a phone sitting on the side of the road that had apparently fallen 16,000 feet. It was still pretty clean, no scratches on it, sitting under a bush and it didn't have a screen lock on it. So I opened it up and it was in airplane mode with a travel confirmation and baggage claim for Alaska 1282.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So Sara, an extraordinary human dimension wrapping up quickly what else is happening here on the ground in Portland, the right hand side of the door plug which is on the aircraft right now, that's going to be removed so that they can compare the two, the one that blew off compared to the one that is still in the aircraft. And also two of the flight attendants and the forward part of the aircraft were interviewed over the weekend. The remaining two flight attendants who are in the AF section, they are going to be interviewed here in Portland as well just two of the main items in this huge to do as investigators need to complete here in Oregon. Sara?

SIDNER: So much of this is so incredible. First of all, that nobody was injured, which is the number one most important thing. But that they found a cell phone and that Bob who is by the way, a school teacher in Portland is the hero of the story, finding that piece of evidence. This is pretty incredible. And we'll be watching this. I know Pete, you'll be watching this as well, to find out exactly what happened here and the sort of stopping of the 737 Max 9, that's a big deal. There's a lot of flights canceled. We will be watching all of this and I know you'll be on it. Thank you to both of you. John?

BERMAN: All right with me now CNN safety analyst, former FAA safety inspector David Soucie. David, they recovered the door, this is what the door would look like, or the plug I should say, when it's on the plane. This is what it looks like when it's missing. Now that they have that plug, we understand they're going to take it back to the plane trying to fit it back into the missing hole that you just saw there. And one other thing they're going to do is they're going to pair it to the plug on the other side of the plane. What will they be looking for there, David?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, any kind of disruption to the metal structure at all, there's some fittings that are attached. And you can see in that one picture with it missing, then the upper left hand corner, there's a pin, and you can see that that it's a stainless steel pin that sticks out, have to look real closely. But you can see that it's been twisted and broken in some manner. So let's -- we're -- I'm excited to see what they find out here.

BERMAN: And we also are hearing that they're looking into or continuing to look into these warning lights that had been going on including the day before. How likely is it that that's totally unrelated to what happened?

SOUCIE: Well, you can see that in the announcement by Chairman -- Chairwoman Homendy. You can see that she's hedging on this. She's saying, well, these lights went on. We have no indication that they had anything to do with this, but it'd be pretty strange if it had nothing to do with it because it is about pressurization. And so the fact is that once she looks into those maintenance records, she's going to look for two things. One is, how did they respond to that warning? Did they just simply say, hey, that it was probably an indication light? Did the mechanics just reset that indication light? Or did they do what they're supposed to do, which as a previous mechanic myself, I know that what you have to do is not just assume it's indication, you have to take that aircraft in, repressurize it on the ground and see if there's leaks and test for those leaks before you just return it to service. So she'll be looking really closely to see if they did that properly.

[11:10:23]

BERMAN: And David, again, as we look at this, again, just what went on, as this plug blew out of the plane there, what questions, what are the big questions you have in the investigation?

SOUCIE: Who touched it last, John, that's what I want to know, who touched that door last. And we can't assume that it just came from the factory this way, because it flew for many weeks without any problems whatsoever. In addition, sometimes these aircraft are delivered without the interiors. And when you install those new interiors with all the seats and that sort of thing, that door does come off and used as a service access, so you can use that to move seats in and out and that sort of thing.

So it's highly possible that someone else touched this before or after it was delivered. I don't know that. I'm speculating. But that's a possibility that needs to be looked into with the NTSB.

BERMAN: You want to know when the last time it was touched and who touched it. How often these door plugs that go in, how often are they manipulated? Can they go weeks, months years without ever being disturbed at all?

SOUCIE: They can go for months for sure. And depends on hours, there's a required inspection to remove there to loosen the door to have it drop back. It drops back about 15 degrees. And then you can inspect all the fittings, all the alignment pins, and the mounts and the stops and all of that. So you can inspect it, and it does get inspected routinely. But I don't know if it would have been inspected within this eight or 10 week period. But again, we'll find out when it was inspected and when it was last looked at.

BERMAN: Again, this is a diagram of what this plug looks like. It's basically just like a door that goes in there full time. But you can see, it's not totally simple. There are all different pieces and parts right here. David, where are you on the cockpit voice recorder that will not be helpful in any way in this investigation?

SOUCIE: Well, you know, I've been a proponent of extending that time for a long time as well. However, here's the problem. The FAA only talks -- only can mandate safety critical items. So this is a post- accident item. The cockpit voice recorder is not required for safe flight. And the FAA publishes minimum standards. That's what they're there for. And so that's, to make that a minimum standard when it's not a safety critical item is a hard sell.

BERMAN: I get it. It's maybe not a safety critical item for this flight but maybe the next one in the hundreds and thousands after that it could be helpful for. David Soucie, as always, great to see you. Thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And new this morning, the president's son, President Biden's son, is at risk of being held in contempt of Congress now. The new move by House Republicans against Hunter Biden.

Plus, Donald Trump's balancing act facing voters and charges at the same time. This week alone, it's really on display, planning to split time between the campaign trail and the courtroom.

And an Israeli drone strike kills a senior Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon today. What this means for fears of a new front opening up in Israel's war to take out Hamas?

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[11:18:01]

BOLDUAN: A senior Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon today, this is according to Lebanese security source and Hezbollah. He is the most senior Hezbollah militant to be killed by Israel since they began exchanging fire on the Israel Lebanese border on October 8th just after the Hamas terror attack on Israel. CNN's Nada Bashir is in Beirut, Lebanon with more on this. Nada, what more are you learning, what more details are coming in about this strike and this militant?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Look, this is certainly raising concerns of the escalation of tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, particularly around Lebanon southern border where we have, as you mentioned, seen an escalation of exchanges of fire on either side of the border from the outset of the war in Gaza. Now, of course, as you mentioned, this is perhaps the most senior member of Hezbollah, a senior commander to have been targeted and killed since the beginning of the war.

We of course, learn from a Lebanese security source that he was struck his car targeted by an Israeli drone strike in a part of Southern Lebanon where of course Hezbollah is known to operate. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military, no comments from them just yet. But of course, this comes off the back of weeks of escalating tensions. And in fact, over the weekend, and just in the last 24 hours, we have seen that exchange of fire intensifying with either side, targeting military positions, including Hezbollah targeting a military surveillance side of the Israeli military, a key, a primary target for Hezbollah.

The IDF in return saying that it had targeted a Hezbollah military compound in the southern area of Lebanon near that border region. But of course, this all comes off the back of that apparent Israeli strike in the suburbs of southern Beirut here in Lebanon, where we did see a senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri killed in that strike, a moment that was described by Hamas as a cowardly assassination and one that has triggered a response by Hezbollah, a preliminary response however has to be said the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, speaking just last week say that if Israel seeks to wage war on Lebanon, the response from Hezbollah would be in his words, limitless. Nada Bashir, thank you.

[11:20:16]

SIDNER: All right, joining me now is retired brigadier general Mark Kimmitt. Thank you so much for being here. You just heard from Nada, the response limitless after a source telling us that a senior member of Hezbollah has been killed in an Israeli strike. What's your reaction to this? And what might this mean for the region?

BRIGADIER GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, first of all, I think it's surprising that Israel has gone into Lebanon, not only to kill Hamas senior leader, but in this case, Hezbollah leader, but Hassan Nasrallah remains the canary in the coal mine. He be at this point continues to talk about solidarity with Gaza. He now is using words like limitless, which seems to be more propaganda than reality.

But I think as long as Iran is holding Hezbollah back, I think we'll probably see this tit for tat exchange. But this is what the U.S. has asked Israel to do, quit doing the large scale conventional operations and start low scale targeting operations. And that's what the Israeli is about shifted their operations north to do.

SIDNER: When you consider that, though, that if they are starting to be very targeted, but targeted not in the Israeli territories or not in, for example, you know, places where that Israel has governance over but in other countries, is that going to send this signal that there is going to be a wider conflagration here that keeps happening?

KIMMITT: No, I think the signal they're sending now is very much the same signal the United States has said, which is we will go after terrorists anywhere in the world without regards to geography. Yes, there is a risk that this might inflame the situation, escalate the situation. But if you asked me today, I'd say probably not, but things could change.

SIDNER: We know that Antony Blinken is back in the region, again. He has touched base with Arab Gulf leaders to send a similar message about fears of expand, of the expanding conflict. I'm curious what you think he might be able to achieve, as he's talks to the leaders of these different countries, including Jordan?

KIMMITT: Well, I think his public statements are going to be that we're trying to reduce the violence. We're trying to come to a ceasefire. We're trying to get the hostages back. But I actually think probably non-public conversations are even more important. And I think his most important message is going to be, look, when this is all over, let's get back to the process of Israeli consolidation, Israeli recognition, because that's the only way to pre-October 7th situation was going well, let's try to get back to that, whether he can achieve that or not has yet to be seen.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about something that has just come out from Al Jazeera, which is accusing Israel of purposely killing two of his journalists that worked for Al Jazeera. They released a statement accusing Israel of systematically targeting journalists. There are, of course, two kinds of wars going on here. There is the horror of the physical war that has taken so many lives. And then there is the information war. What do you see in all this in this accusation? What might that mean for Israel?

KIMMITT: Well, again, this is part of the information war. But everybody knows that Al Jazeera has been blaming purposeful attacks on journalists for years, the U.S. in 2003 tech, I was accused of specifically ordering a strike against Ahmed Mansour in Fallujah. So I think everybody recognizes and stunned by the fact that journalists are casualties of war. But I don't think that any reasonable force would actually be targeting journalists.

SIDNER: General Mark Kimmitt, thank you so much for your analysis. I really appreciate it. John?

BERMAN: All right, the new resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress, the process this now sets off. And is Donald Trump immune from the actions he took on January 6th. This is what a federal appeals court will hear arguments on tomorrow. And it's the focus of a brand new filing in Georgia as well.

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[11:29:12]

BERMAN: New this morning, a first look at the contempt of Congress resolution targeting the president's son, Hunter Biden. This was just released by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer. I understand, Manu Raju I should say, with us, our chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju is here. Manu, I understand this is a 19-page document. What's inside?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT & ANCHOR: Yes, detailing why the Republicans on the committee believe that the president's son should be held in contempt of Congress. Recall that he had been faced a subpoena to appear behind closed doors in mid- September asking for him to come and appear before a deposition. He did not do that. In fact, he demanded that if you were to testify, it happened publicly.

Instead, he went before the cameras and said that he would not sit down behind closed doors accusing Republicans of seeking to simply cherry pick his testimony providing a misleading narrative about what he intended to say. But the Republicans believe that his testimony will be key to their impeachment investigation against his father, President Joe Biden.