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Commuter Plane Lands on Virginia Road After Dulles Takeoff; Senator Tim Scott Backs Trump, Setback for Nikki Haley; Sports Illustrated Future Uncertain, Layoffs Follow Missed Payments; Wayfair to Make 1600 Job Cuts, 13% Workforce Reduction Due to Overhiring. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 19, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: We are following some breaking news out of the nation's capital. A small commuter plane, which just took off from Dulles Airport, landed on a Virginia roadway.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, pretty amazing here. CNN's Pete Muntean joining us now as we look at these pictures. That is the plane there in the sort of upper left-hand side of this parkway. Tell us what you're learning here, Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You can see all the lights and sirens there from Loudoun County officials in Virginia. This plane just took off from Dulles International Airport on runway 30 there. That's to the northwest. Apparently had an issue almost right away. And there were no other better landing spots other than the Loudoun County Parkway there at Arcola Drive. Put it down pretty easily, it looks like. And we're hearing from the air traffic control audio that the pilot reported to the tower at Dulles that there were two pilots and five passengers on board. Apparently, they are all okay.

The latest from Dulles International Airport is that the airport is still open right now as they are starting the initial investigation on this. You can kind of see the silhouette of the Cessna caravan there. This is not a private plane. This is a commuter airliner operated by a company called Southern Airways Express. They operate flights on the east coast between Dulles. This flight was on its way to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but only made it to about 850 feet. And according to the flight tracking data that we've been able to look at already, the plane made a little bit of a right turn and then a descending left turn to go south on the Loudoun County Parkway there.

Roads are often the last resort for pilots if you have a bit of an engine problem or an engine failure. You have to be going the same speed as traffic. You have to find a bit of an opening there. A lot of other concerns. And instead of landing on the runway, even though it looks like a runway, you've got to be worried about wires. You have to be worried about telephone poles. You have to be worried about streetlights. Obviously, there is a streetlight right there. It doesn't look like all that much damage to the airplane right now, although this is still preliminary. And you can see the fire trucks and ambulances still rolling up to the scene. This only happened less than an hour ago, according to the latest from Dulles International Airport and the Virginia Department of Transportation as we're able to see on this traffic camera right now, live.

SANCHEZ: Pete, you noted a number of things there. One thing we have to mention, obviously, the weather in D.C. Tricky.

(CROSSTALK)

MUNTEAN: Yeah, it's not very good right now.

SANCHEZ: Tricky today, and especially for a small plane. As a pilot yourself, I'm wondering what kind of an impact the snow that we're seeing in D.C. could have.

MUNTEAN: Well, obviously, you need to be able to see where you're going to go to land. And so it doesn't seem like they were all that high, and the visibility was at least good enough for them to see the road in front of them. And so, so long as you can see it and line up with it, it looks like a runway, may as well try it. So, the impossible turn is what it's called, typically when you have an engine failure in a single-engine airplane like this. This is not an airplane that has two engines. It can't keep climbing. It can't keep flying on one. Once the engine quits, the airplane turns into a glider, using the potential energy that you have in altitude, turning that into kinetic energy coming down to land.

And so if you try and turn back, it can be very dangerous. So usually you try and make turns only a little bit to the left, a little bit to the right. In this case, it was a left turn, straight right up with Loudoun County Parkway there, and it was a very successful one at that. This is what the FAA is calling a hard landing. I'd call it a good landing.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Yeah. Phew.

MUNTEAN: Anyone you can walk away from. So, this one is pretty good, and hats off to the crew for doing such a good job on this.

KEILAR: I'd say so. A glider in a snowstorm there. Okay, let's, there's another story I want to talk to you about, because a pretty frightening incident that we're following out of Miami, just moments after takeoff there, it was a Boeing cargo jet that was forced to make a fiery emergency landing after an engine malfunctioned.

MUNTEAN: This is, well, it rains and pours on this beat. So this was something that happened late last night. This Atlas Air cargo flight, a 747-8 freighter, just took off from Miami International Airport around 10:40 last night. This is over a neighborhood near Miami Beach, and somebody captured this. You can see the fire and sparks trailing, and we know initially from the FAA that there was a post-flight inspection done on this plane after another successful emergency landing, a bit of a theme there. And they were able to tell, there was a softball-sized hole in the engine near the second engine, the number two engine on a 747.

There are four engines, so this is the engine that is closest to the fuselage on the left wing. You can see it there. It should highlight here in a second. So, the question now is whether or not this was a bird strike, whether or not that softball-sized hole was because of something else, because of the debris from the engine failure itself. I want you to listen now to the air traffic control audio and the calm of the crew declaring an emergency, emergency to the air traffic controllers back in Miami, saying we need to come back and land. Listen.

[14:05:09]

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNKNOWN: Mayday, Mayday, Giant 095 heavy engine fire. We have five souls on board and we have about five hours of fuel on board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: So they came back in and landed on runway nine there in Miami. No problem to the airplane or to the crew. Everyone was able to walk away from this one just okay. Run by Atlas Air. It's an airline you may have not heard of, although they have a lot of airplanes. Actually, the most 747s of any carrier in the world right now. They actually took delivery of the last 747 off the production line, the Queen of the Skies, only back a year ago, almost exactly to the day. So they're flying everywhere, mostly overnight, and that's exactly what we saw here. They were able to handle this engine issue and fire pretty easily and put it back down on the ground.

SANCHEZ: Glad that it is good news. You mentioned, Pete, that being on the aviation beat keeps you busy at times. There was another issue with a hole on a plane --

(CROSSTALK)

MUNTEANL Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- not that long ago. Is this related to the Max nine issue at all?

MUNTEAN: It happens to be related only because they are Boeing airplanes. But other than that, that is the only similarity here. The issue that happened on Alaska flight 1282. That was a 737 Max nine, a relatively new plane. This plane was built in 2015, and this will probably likely come down to maybe an engine issue. Of course, the NTSB and FAA investigating. They will, of course, want to talk to General Electric, which is the company that built the engine on this 747 in this incident in Miami. Not to be confused with the Alaska Airlines incident that was out in Oregon two weeks ago today.

SANCHEZ: A lot of incidents. We got to slow down the airline incident. So, you can take a day off. (CROSSTALK)

KEILR: Stop it. Stop it. (ph)

MUNTEAN: Yeah. Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

MUNTEAN: Anytime.

SANCHEZ: So, things are heating up in New Hampshire with a big primary coming on Tuesday. And as the campaign calendar runs parallel to and collides with Donald Trump's courtroom calendar, Attorney General Merrick Garland is sending out a clear message about this unprecedented test to the nation's justice system.

KEILAR: Yeah, that's right. In a CNN exclusive. Yeah. Garland said he agrees with the special counsel's call for a speedy trial in the Trump election subversion case. He argues that the public interest requires it. We have CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid, who is on this for us. Paula, it's a touchy issue. They don't say election. Right. He doesn't saying that. Jack Smith hasn't said that. But I think we know that's sort of what they're getting at. This should be something the voters get to see before the election.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. That's what they've said indirectly. And even some folks on Trump's legal team have conceded. Yes, absolutely. We know the special counsel is trying to bring this before the November 2024 election. And there are two big questions. The first is, okay, how far are you willing to start a trial? How far into the election cycle? ight. Because historically, the Justice Department has had a rule not to take any investigative steps in cases that are in any way able to influence the election. But those are investigative steps that doesn't necessarily apply. But those are investigative steps that doesn't necessarily apply to a trial. It's once again a place we've never been before when it comes to potentially the presidential candidate.

And that's what Evan, our colleague Evan Perez, was trying to get at with the attorney general. Asking one, okay, is there a cutoff for how late you'd allow the special counsel to bring a trial? And also this other question of did it take too long to bring these cases to get folks into sort of this time crunch? Well, let's take a listen to what the attorney general told our colleague.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTIC CORRESPONDENT: Is there a date in your mind where it might be too late to bring these trials to fruition? Again, to stay out of out of the way of the elections as the department policies?

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I just say, you know, what I said, which is that the cases were brought last year. Prosecutor has urged speedy trials, with which I agree. And this is now in the hands of the judicial system, not in our hands. PEREZ: Do you do you look and looking back now, do you think that the department took too long to bring these cases, maybe?

GARLAND: Special prosecutors followed the facts and the law. They brought cases when they thought they were ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: All right, that's pretty much a standard answer for most questions related to the special counsel, right? They follow the facts and the law. He's not willing to weigh in on this question of, hey, did you take too much time? Did you put yourself in a position where it's possible these cases we knew there was going to be litigation? We knew there were going to be appeals makes it so that these may not go before November and also how late in the calendar would you be open to a trial starting in August or September, because then you could have, right, the nominee for the presidency having to sit in a courtroom. It's a really difficult situation and something that the attorney general would likely probably want to avoid. But again, Evan gave him a chance to weigh in. He opted not to.

SANCHEZ: There is the issue of timing as to when Trump may be trailed --

(CROSSTALK)

REID: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: -- if it goes that direction. But then there's also the question of whether he's going to appear in the primary ballot on certain states. The Supreme Court. Weighing that now, any word on when we might see a decision?

[14:10:19]

REID: So there are going to be oral arguments on this in early February, February 8th. This is huge. This is the biggest election case the Supreme Court has considered since Bush v. Gore. And the question is whether states can remove Trump from their ballot based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the so-called insurrectionist ban. And last night, the Trump team filed their brief before the Supreme Court, expanding on the argument that they're going to make before the justices in just a few weeks. And they argue that, look, you can't strip voters of their choice of candidate. They say, quote, doing that would, quote, threaten to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans and promise to unleash chaos and bedlam if other state courts and state officials follow Colorado's and exclude the likely Republican presidential nominee from their ballots.

Of course, this is an appeal of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to remove him from the ballot. Now, some folks really emphasize the language there, chaos and bedlam being unleashed because that echoes, of course, things that Trump said in the lead up to January 6th, which helped to promote violence. Now, it is also true, though, if the Supreme Court were to allow each of the 50 states to handle this issue in terms of who appears in the ballots individually, it would be chaotic and it would be incredibly confusing, which is why we do expect the Supreme Court will weigh in here.

And of all of Trump's legal cases and legal issues, this is the one where most legal experts agree he has the greatest chance of success. It is expected that the justices will be unlikely to issue a sweeping ruling that would take away the choice from voters, especially based on this constitutional language where we're seeing even courts within the same states can't agree on exactly what it means. So, this is a huge case to watch.

KEILAR: Yeah, we will be watching it. Paula, thank you so much for taking us through all of that. Just four days before the Republican primary now in New Hampshire and a potential boost for the candidate who polls show does not need it. And that, of course, is the former president. A source says that the president is not going to be in power until the next election. But he says tonight he will be endorsed by Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.

SANCHEZ: Notably a state that Nikki Haley's campaign has high expectations for. She was governor there, right? Today, she, Trump and Ron DeSantis are all stumping in New Hampshire, trying to win over undecided voters. Haley's hoping a strong showing in the state, which has a larger share of independents and moderates, will set the stage for a two person race between her and Trump the rest of the way. Let's go now to CNN's Elena Treen and Omar Jimenez on the trail in New Hampshire. Elena, let's start with you. How big a blow is this endorsement by Tim Scott to Nikki Haley?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a massive blow, Boris and Brianna. And look, the two of them both hail from the same state, South Carolina, a state that Nikki Haley and her campaign very much, as you mentioned, have high expectations for. And remember, Haley, when she was governor of South Carolina, she was the one who actually appointed Tim Scott to the Senate in 2012. And his endorsement was highly coveted by all of these candidates. And I know from my conversations with Trump's advisers, that they had been talking and pursuing Tim Scott's endorsement for several weeks.

And the timing here was really, I think, interesting to note. And also part of why this is a blow to Haley, because he could have waited until South Carolina to roll out this endorsement of Donald Trump. But he's doing it just four days before the New Hampshire primary, where Haley and her team have very high expectations as well for how she will perform in the state. And by giving his endorsement to Trump so early, it does allow the Trump campaign to try to paint her as not being viewed as highly by some members of her own state. Now, I also want to point out just, you know, how Donald Trump and his team may want to use Tim Scott on the trail.

His endorsement is one thing, but also having him as a potential surrogate would also be a huge boost to the Trump campaign. We know that they're relying heavily on other surrogates from South Carolina, people like Governor Henry McMaster and Senator Lindsey Graham, to help attack Nikki Haley as well in their efforts to beat her when it comes closer to New Hampshire. So, I think a big endorsement for Donald Trump and, yes, definitely a blow for Nikki Haley's campaign.

KEILAR: And she's saying, Alayna, I guess, that the fellas are going to do what the fellas are going to do. That's her reaction to it.

TREENE: That's right. We just got a statement from the Haley campaign responding to this. She said, quote, interesting that Trump's lining up with all the Washington insiders when he claimed he wanted to drain the swamp. But the fellas are going to do what the fellas are going to do. And that's how Haley framed it. And she's kind of used this rhetoric and this language before when trying to take shots at Donald Trump, trying to paint him as not the outsider that he wants to be seen, but as being part of the Washington establishment. And in doing so, she's also painting Tim Scott as that as well, saying that, look, he's being backed by people who are long have been in the establishment, a key senator. And that's how she's framing this. I also just want to mention that she was actually asked about this as well. His expected endorsement tonight when she was leaving a diner earlier at a campaign stop, asked by reporters what was her response. She initially dodged those questions and said she didn't really want to answer and she was waiting to see what he would do. But of course, a much more strong reaction in that statement that we received just moments ago.

[14:15:19]

KEILAR: And Trump stepping up his attacks on her, right?

TREENE: He is. And I think there's a lot of reasons for it. Trump has been escalating his attacks on the campaign trail, as well as in several of his interviews. Virtually every chance he has to undercut her, he is taking. And that's for a couple of reasons. One reason is his team is very closely watching how Nikki Haley is doing in the polls, watching her narrow the gap with him in the state. And that is a concern to the Trump campaign, according to my conversations with their team. But the other complicating factor is they acknowledge that New Hampshire is a very different style of a primary, very different from Iowa.

It's a primary that is very different from Iowa. It's a primary that is very different from Iowa. It's not a caucus. They also allow undeclared voters, their terms for independent voters to vote and participate in the primary. And that is a concern for Trump's campaign. They recognize that poll after poll shows that Nikki Haley does very well with those independent and moderate voters. And so, looking to attack her any chance they can and try to undercut her with that voting block in specific.

SANCHEZ: Let's go to Omar now, because Omar, you're in Goffstown, New Hampshire, and there was supposed to be a debate there last night that got canceled. Haley has been sharpening her criticisms of Donald Trump specifically for not debating her, for dodging her on the debate stage, right?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're expecting here -- you're right. There was supposed to be a debate here last night. There's even still some signage up advertising the debate happening here. So that gives you an idea of how much there is an expectation for this to happen. Ron de Santis is getting ready to have an event here, a press availability a little bit later this afternoon, where, based on his previous comments, I suspect he will likely mention the fact that he was the only person that agreed to debate on Thursday night.

The reason why it essentially didn't happen was obviously Trump was invited. He has ducked all debates throughout this campaign cycle. But Nikki Haley made the decision after Iowa that the next time she was going to debate was either going to be with former President Trump on the stage or if she were to be the nominee against current President Joe Biden. So that's why that did not happen. But of course, now in these in this final stretch, Haley has been training her aim specifically on the person to beat here, which is the former president. Take a listen to some of what she said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, PRESIDENTAL CANDIDATE (R): There are multiple instances that we need to start asking Donald Trump the questions and stop taking what he's saying to be golden. The fact that Donald Trump's lying, it's another reason why he won't debate me because he knows I'll call him out on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And her games, her campaign has postured that because he has trained so much of his attention on her. So that he is clearly feeling threatened by this. And I should also note it is a shift in tone from before Haley sort of criticizing Trump and Biden together as one. And yesterday we really saw for the first time her going directly at Trump and staying on him when she aims that way.

SANCHEZ: Omar Jimenez, Alayna Treene from New Hampshire. Thank you both. Let's discuss now with veteran pollster and communication strategist Frank Luntz. He is also in New Hampshire. Frank, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. This Tim Scott endorsement of Donald Trump. Haley reacting to it saying that the fellows are going to do what the fellows are going to do effectively. How big is this in the calculus of things when it comes not only to New Hampshire, but South Carolina as well?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: Well, the truth is it doesn't matter at all in New Hampshire. And it matters to a tremendous degree in South Carolina. Tim Scott is probably the most popular politician in South Carolina. His word means something. People attend his events. He's very credible. And so, I'm sure that the Haley campaign is hurting right now, hoping that they would have gotten their local senator to make that endorsement.

KEILAR: Yeah, certainly. It's got to hurt. I know you spoke to voters before and after the town hall here. What were some of the biggest takeaways that you got there, Frank?

LUNTZ: They're looking for clarity. They're not looking for soundbites anymore. New Hampshireites (ph) tend to make the decision in the, in the last week. That's exactly why they showed up for the CNN town hall. And for the most part, they really did like what they heard. Here's the challenge for her. The Trump vote is so intense in the sessions I've had over the last 48 hours. There is no weakening among them. So, she has to pick up everyone who isn't Donald Trump, backing Donald Trump. And it's very hard to do when you can't get that one-to- one confrontation going.

[14:19:59]

Second is that a whole lot of people who are voting for her will not vote for Donald Trump in November, which I think is significant because it suggests that there are Biden people who won't back him. There are Trump people who won't back him. There's a lot of shifting that's going on right now in the American electorate as they begin to take this presidential race seriously. It's more than just what the candidates say. It's what the voters want to hear. And there is a large segment of New Hampshire voters who are independent, non- aligned, and they don't know who they're gonna vote for in November, let alone next Tuesday night.

SANCHEZ: Frank, I wanna pull on the thread of the first point that you made about that entrenchment of support with folks that are aligned with Donald Trump, because it sort of contrasts with something that Nikki Haley said last night that stood out to me. She said that essentially, that for voters, quote, at the end of the day, it's the drama and vengeance, vindictiveness that we want to get out of the way. But for many Trump supporters, the theme of retribution is strong, not just for losing in 2020, but in their eyes, for being abandoned by the establishment that goes back to 2015, right?

LUNTZ: You're correct about that. In fact, that's gonna be one of the hardest things for us analysts to track over time. It really isn't what the candidates say. It's what the voters hear. It isn't about the tone and demeanor of the candidates. It's about the tone and demeanor of the voters. Make no mistake, number one, they believe the future's gonna be more difficult than the present. Number two, they're very afraid for their children. Number three, inflation is not transitory. To them, affordability really does matter. And number four, they're struggling to find somebody that they trust and some source that they can really grab onto to know what is really happening, and what these candidates will really do. I've been doing this now for 30 years, and I've never seen this level of anxiety, of concern, and frankly, frustration with the political process.

KEILAR: Yeah, that says a lot. Frank, thank you so much, Frank, for talking with us. We're gonna see where folks shake out on primary day. It's going to be very interesting and potentially very consequential.

LUNTZ: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, we continue to follow our breaking news here. These are news still pictures of a small commuter plane. This is a commercial plane. This is a commuter plane here. It took off from Dulles Airport, one of the biggest airports here in the area of Washington, DC, and it landed on a roadway there.

SANCHEZ: Plus, the future of iconic magazine Sports Illustrated, now up in the air. This after the owner of the magazine and website laid off most of its staff.

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[14:25:09]

SANCHEZ: This just in. Major news about a historic, public publication. The future of Sports Illustrated is now uncertain.

KEILAR: Today we're learning that this iconic magazine and website has laid off most or probably all of its union represented staff. Let's get to CNN's Oliver Darcy on this story. Tell us what's going on here, Oliver.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: It's a really sad day for people who grew up with Sports Illustrated like myself. What's going on is it's a bit actually confusing. Basically, the publisher of this magazine didn't own the rights outright to publish Sports Illustrated. Those rights belong to another publisher called Authentic Brands Group. And the publisher, Arena, the Arena Group, they missed payments for the publishing rights to publish this magazine. And as a result, the company that actually owns those rights has revoked this company's ability to publish the magazine. And as a result of that, Arena Group, which does publish it or was publishing it, said that it is laying off its staff.

So it's unclear whether the owner of the actual publishing rights for Sports Illustrated is going to step in here and try to revive this paper. The staff is obviously calling for that. But right now, the owner is not saying anything. And the future of this iconic sports magazine is really in jeopardy.

KEILAR: All right, Oliver. It's really sad. Very sad. Thank you so much for that update. Oliver Darcy. Wayfair also announcing job cuts today. This is bad news here. The company says it's laying off more than 1600 of its employees, which amounts to 13 percent of Wayfair's global workforce.

SANCHEZ: The cuts come just weeks after CEO Neeraj Shah bluntly told employees they should work harder, longer and just more intensely and that laziness would not be rewarded. His comments, of course, sparked a viral backlash. Let's bring in CNN consumer reporter Nathaniel Meyersohn. Nathaniel, the employees were told to work harder. The company then announcing layoffs. Why is Wayfair doing this?

NATHANIEL MEYERSOHN, CNN CONSUMER REPORTER: Yeah, just a month later, Boris, after this, this memo. But Wayfair saying that it overhired during the pandemic. It has too many employees. And so, it's going to cut 13 percent of its staff. That's going to impact about 1650 employees. It's doing this to save money. But you think about the message that it sends. The CEO told them to work harder and kind of screw the work life balance. And then a month later, right after the holidays, it's firing employees.

Look, Wayfair, they're going to have to go out and hire employees in the future. And what type of message does it send for recruiting also existing employees? So just kind of a mess here we have at Wayfair. SANCHEZ: Nathaniel Meyersohn, a mess indeed. Thanks so much for the update. Still ahead, we're learning that President Biden just spoke with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It comes just after the Israeli leader said that he would be opposed to the two state solution, the creation of a Palestinian state after the war. Something that is directly in odds with U.S. policy. We'll discuss in just moments.

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