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Pentagon Faces Questions Over Silence On Austin's Illness; Pentagon Orders Review Of Communications Procedures When Defense Secy Is Unable To Perform Duties; Secy Of State: U.S. Stopped "Biggest" Attack Yet In Red Sea; IDF Claims 150 "Terror Targets" Hit In Gaza Over The Past Day; Boeing CEO Admits "Mistake" After Door Plug Rips Off Midflight. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 10, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:19]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We want to give you a look live at the debate stage in Des Moines, Iowa. This is at Drake University where CNN's Republican presidential debate is taking place tonight.

There, you see Nikki Haley doing a walk-through with CNBC bureau chief, Sam Fiest. I imagine he's walking her through some of where the moderators are going to be, where the crowd is going to be. And we might see questions potentially from the audience.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That's right. Listen, they have time constrictions. They need to know where the moderators are going to be. There are a lot of lights pointing on them.

So it's nice to have a moment to acclimate to what the stage is going to be like so that maybe they cannot think too much about that. They can think about what they want to say to caucus goers.

[13:35:58]

SANCHEZ: Right. And all eyes will be on Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis as they try to cancel each other out to become the front runner, the front runner rival to the real front runner in the primary thus far, former President Donald Trump.

We will keep an eye on this and bring you the very latest from Iowa.

But we do want to push to the White House because we are learning that senior White House officials actually asked the Pentagon to release a statement on the secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, and his hospitalization.

And the Pentagon is still facing questions about why it took so long to inform the White House and other national security leaders that the defense secretary had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

KEILAR: Our Pentagon correspondent, Oren Liebermann, is with us now on this. Oren, tell us what is happening at this point? What is the Pentagon doing to make sure this doesn't happen again?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris and Brianna, the key effort there is to make sure that this 30-day review of notification procedures is moving forward.

That was ordered by the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's chief of staff to make sure this doesn't happen again, a situation where Austin is in the hospital for an extended period of time, he was under general anesthesia when he came in on December 22nd.

And though there had been a transfer or a delegation of responsibilities, nobody knew in the first instance that he was under general anesthesia, it seems.

And then it took days the second time when he went back on New Year's Day for others to find out, including President Joe Biden.

And we also learned from the administration officials that when he went in, after he had been in for several days, and word started getting out -- for example, the president only found out after he had been there for three days.

But the national security advisor and the White House chief of staff urged the Pentagon to make a statement and make a public disclosure. It would still take, at that point, another 24 hours for that statement to come out late on a Friday evening.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon pushing on this narrative a little bit, saying this effort was underway here.

The statement from the Pentagon press secretary, Major General Pat Ryder, he says, "On the afternoon of January 4th, the deputy secretary and secretary of defense's chief of staff immediately engaged on the drafting of a public statement and congressional outreach.

"This was a logical next step and a part of a coordinated effort that involved multiple stakeholders to include the White House."

Boris, Brianna, the problems here, those will continue to come to light.

What is obvious here and how much of a problem this was in terms of the failure of notification, and on top of that, nobody knew that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in early December until effectively, yesterday.

KEILAR: All right, Oren, thank you so much for that. We continue to follow that out of the Pentagon.

It's one of the largest attacks yet by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. The U.S. Navy shooting down 21 missiles and drones. And Secretary of State Antony Blinken is warning now that there will be consequences for these attacks. Plus, Boeing's CEO now acknowledging a quote, "mistake," after Alaska

Airline's terrifying midflight incident where the door plug blew off as the plane was in the air. What the NTSB is saying about that comment. That's ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:42:27]

SANCHEZ: A quick update for you now from the White House, where press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, was giving a briefing to the press and she was asked about Hunter Biden's surprise appearance before the House Oversight Committee today.

He didn't actually appear to answer their questions but he showed up during a hearing without members being aware that he was going to be there, at least according to those members.

Let's listen to what Karine Jean-Pierre said to reporters moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was though White House informed that Hunter Biden would be showing up at the House Oversight hearing on Capitol Hill?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So here's what I'll say and I've said it many times before. Hunter, as you all know, is a private citizen. He's not a member of this White House.

He makes his own decisions, like he did today, about how to respond to Congress.

And so I would refer you, any further questions, any additional questions about this process, to -- certainly, I would refer you to Hunter's representatives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So no direct answer as to whether the White House was aware that Hunter Biden was going to show up on Capitol Hill today.

Brianna?

KEILAR: So we are following escalating tensions in the Red Sea right now. The U.S., defending itself against what the secretary of state called the biggest attack yet by Iranian-backed militants.

The Pentagon reporting Houthi fighters launched a barrage of weapons from Yemen and the U.S. Navy responded. They shot down 18 one-way attack drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense says its guided missile destroyer assisted the U.S. It released these images today. And today, a military spokesman for the Houthis confirming that this,

quote, "coordinated offensive," as he put it, was targeting the U.S., specifically, in response to an attack last week when American military helicopters sank three Houthi boats and killed those onboard during an attack they were doing.

A short time ago, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had this to say.

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ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: If these attacks continue, as they did yesterday, there will be consequences. Again, this represents a clear threat to the interest of countries around the world. And it's important the international community come together and respond to this.

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KEILAR: Let's talk more about this now with CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

Thank you so much for taking us through this here.

Why is this attack that we are seeing different than other ones?

[13:45:01]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think one of the big things, Brianna, is the fact that the way in which they put everything together. You've got 18 drones that are going one way. Their sole mission is to blow up the things they are targeting. Then you have cruise missiles and one ballistic missile.

So what this means is that they are coordinating their actions. So this has all the hallmarks of Iran guiding the Houthis in a way that allows them to put these coordinated attacks together.

The fact it was a coordinated attack means that it's much more sophisticated than the attacks that occurred before.

KEILAR: When we hear something has gotten bigger, you know, this is the biggest attack we've seen yet, when you look at the broader zone of conflict here -- and we have these concerns about this escalating into a broader conflict -- what are you keeping an eye on?

LEIGHTON: I'm keeping an eye on all of the different things, especially not only in the Red Sea right here, Brianna.

But also what's happening in Gaza, of course, what's happening on Israel's northern border because Hezbollah is sitting right up there in southern Lebanon. Plus, what's going on in the West Bank.

But then there's a broader picture to look at as well. And that's what's happening in places like Iraq and Iran, where the U.S. can get heavily involved in what is going on in Iraq as well as in Syria. Plus, of course, there's the domestic issue that Iran seems to be dealing with, with ISIS and with all of the other different regime challengers that are out there in Iran.

So all of this is really an explosive tinderbox and it could very well become quite a major issue for us on several different fronts.

KEILAR: You mentioned Gaza. Let's take a look if we can. This is the IDF in Gaza. Let's take a look at the damage analysis that we are seeing.

All of the red is the damage from the war. We see them in the south. You are seeing that the concentration, of course, is in northern Gaza, around Gaza City there.

As Israel is entering a new phase in the war, what are you looking toward? And do you think that we are going to see a lot more red on the map or is that going to be minimized?

LEIGHTON: One of the key things to think about with this map is the red stuff is everything that occurred until December 24th. The yellow stuff, these yellow dots, that is new damage that occurred up to January 5th. So we are going to see a lot of yellow and red in all of these different areas.

Of course, as you pointed out, what happened in the north was really the first thing that the Israelis concentrated on. But notice what's going on.

Even today, we have a lot of reports from the Israelis that there are attacks going on here, that they are concentrating their efforts in all of these different areas.

And the idea here is to root out the remnants of Hamas, as they have moved from the north into the central part and into the south.

So I think in all of these different areas, you are going to see attacks, including in the south right here, which is, of course, right along the Egyptian border.

KEILAR: Seeing a lot of yellow there. And of course, that's just here in the last couple of weeks.

Cedric, thank you for taking us through that. We appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: And NTSB expanding its investigation after that in-flight blowout with a door plug on an Alaskan Airlines flight. This is happening. And you have Boeing's CEO telling employees that the company is acknowledging a mistake. What is the mistake, though? We will discuss that, next.

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[13:52:46] SANCHEZ: The contractor that builds the Boeing 737 Max-9 fuselage say it's now part of a federal investigation into that Alaska Airlines midflight blowout.

This, as the top safety investigator probing the incident is now cautioning against rushing to allow the plane model to fly again.

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JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: We know what broke. We need to understand how it broke.

But I would recommend that they not put those back in service until they absolutely know how this occurred. That will tell them what inspections need to take place and what repairs need to take place.

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KEILAR: Yesterday, during an all-staff safety meeting, Boeing's CEO acknowledging what he calls a mistake that contributed to the door plug ripping off of the plane.

For now, the FAA says it's going to keep most Boeing 737 Max-9 jets grounded because Boeing's inspection plan needs revisions.

Let's bring in CNN's Pete Muntean.

What more are you learning about where this investigation stands and what that mistake is that he is referring to?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The developments keep coming and the mistake is an interesting way of phrasing this. We'll get to that in a second.

Alaska Airlines just announced that it will not fly its 65 Boeing 737 Max-9s through Saturday. So we will likely see more cancellations and impact as a result of Friday's dramatic in-flight blowout.

The Max-9 remains grounded across the United States as airlines await inspections that have been mandated by the FAA.

And we also just learned this. Spirit AeroSystems is now a part of the NTSB investigation. That's the contractor that builds the Max-9 fuselage for Boeing.

And we are now hearing from Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun for the first and only interview since Alaska flight 1282.

Calhoun acknowledged yesterday in a closed-door meeting with Boeing employees that Boeing made a mistake but he did not say exactly what the mistake is.

And now Calhoun is qualifying. In a CNBC interview, Calhoun says it was the door plug coming off that was the mistake.

[13:54:58] I want you to listen to what Calhoun told Boeing employees during that closed-door meeting yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE CALHOUN, BOEING CEO: I've got kids. I've got grandkids. So do you. This stuff matters. Everything matters. Every detail matters.

We are going to approach this, number one, acknowledging our mistake. We are going to approach it with 100 percent and with complete transparency every step of the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Still a very controlled media message from Boeing.

One question that investigators will ask Boeing is whether or not they had previous problems with the door plug. That's the part on the left side of Alaska 1282 that shot off with an explosive bang.

Remember, this is a door visible from the outside of the plane. Normal window walled-in seats on the inside of the plane.

What is critical here are the bolts that essentially keep this part from shooting off.

Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines say they discovered loose bolts as they prepare for these FAA mandated inspections. United noted possible installation problems.

Today, Boeing CEO Calhoun said the tolerances on the bolts are measured in millimeters, not centimeters, and this unnamed mistake should have never escaped its quality control.

SANCHEZ: To be fairly precise, that they are looking at millimeters, not centimeters.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, thanks so much for the update.

MUNTEAN: Anytime, yes.

SANCHEZ: So today, Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance on Capitol Hill and then made a swift exit. We will follow new reaction on this in just moments.

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