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Haley Heads To SC With Wind In Her Sails; Russian Military Plane With 74 Aboard Crashes Near Ukraine Border; Alaska Airlines CEO: Loose Bolts Found On "Many" Boeing 737 MAX 9s; U.N. Refugee Agency: "Mass Casualties" After Its Shelter In Gaza Hit; Markets Open Higher After Dow Slips Below Record High. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 24, 2024 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:12]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nikki Haley says she's heading to South Carolina tonight with the wind in her sails. But what she's facing still is a second loss to Donald Trump and another one on its way as they head to Nevada. Still, Nikki Haley's confident tone last night in New Hampshire clearly seems to have gotten under Donald Trump's skin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I said, wow, she's doing like a speech like she won. She didn't win. She lost.

Let's not have somebody take a victory when she had a very bad night. She had a very bad night.

I find in life you can't let people get away with bullshit, okay? You can't. You just can't do that. When I watched her, the fancy dress -- that probably wasn't so fancy -- come up, I said, what's she doing? We won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: With me now is Melinda Tourangeau, life-long Republican in New Hampshire, who became a volunteer with the Women for Nikki Coalition.

Melinda, thank you for coming in. How are you feeling today about last night?

MELINDA TOURANGEAU, VOLUNTEER, WOMEN FOR NIKKI: I'm feeling very good about it, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Why?

TOURANGEAU: It's been an extraordinary 48 hours.

Nikki defines what winning means. I'm happy with that. That's the sign of a strong and transformational leader. And she really feels like she has closed the gap and she has the momentum to continue to do that. There are 48 states left. This is going to be very interesting. BOLDUAN: Why do you think she fell short in New Hampshire?

TOURANGEAU: Well, fell short. She did close the gap. But perhaps -- I happen to know yesterday at the polls a woman came up to me very sheepishly and admitted she had forgotten to change her party ticket so she could vote for Nikki. I do wonder how many of those happened. Thankfully, we didn't have weather. We did have an excellent turnout.

I do believe the independents helped her quite a bit. There does appear to be a strong support for Trump that I just don't understand. The man did a great job for us 2016 to 2020, although he did rack up a big bill, $8 trillion.

But this support for him is almost cult-like. The people who I greeted yesterday, the Nikki fans were two thumbs up. Trump fans got quite vulgar sometimes. I don't understand what all this malice is for.

And we just don't need more of this chaos. His support while strong is not the attitude we need for this country right now or anymore.

BOLDUAN: As you noted, Nikki Haley is moving on to South Carolina. She says she's committing. This is going -- she said multiple times, this is a marathon, not a sprint, in terms of the primary calendar.

Melinda, you -- I asked -- I spoke to a lot of voters in New Hampshire yesterday about if it is a struggle or the kind of their thinking, if it does end up coming down to being a general election of Donald Trump versus Joe Biden, what you will do? Have you decided that?

TOURANGEAU: Me personally, what I would do, Kate, I will hang my head low, I will leave my morals and my ethics at the door and with a sick feeling in my stomach, I will go to the polls and vote once again for former President Trump. But I will do it with reluctance.

BOLDUAN: It's interesting. I heard that from many people who said they were supporting Nikki Haley. Does that add to a sense of inevitability around Donald Trump do you think, that choice?

TOURANGEAU: No, I don't think so. No. There's an energy here, Kate. You said you were here. I hope you felt it.

It's extraordinary. I have never felt anything like it for any presidential candidate in the 30 1/2 years that I have lived in this state. Nikki engenders respect and trust and a sense of camaraderie.

She's a transformational leader. She makes people feel good about themselves. That galvanizes everyone. And then the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.

That's what I'm seeing from Nikki, which is why she's not thwarted by yesterday's result, why she keeps looking forward, why she keeps painting her vision of the future in many different ways for different audiences so that they can all buy in, so they hear it the way they want to hear it.

[09:35:00] That is the sign of a transformational leader. The qualities of a transformational leader are rare, and they really cannot be defended against. So, that's what I see happening going forward.

BOLDUAN: The chairwoman of the Republican national committee -- she spoke last night. She very clearly seemed to suggest she does not think Nikki Haley has a -- has a path. She said that very clearly, suggesting that it might be time for Haley to bow out. Let me play this for you, Melinda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONNA MCDANIEL, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRWOMAN: I'm looking at the math and path going forward. I don't see it for Nikki Haley. I think she's run a great campaign. But I do think there's a message that's coming out from the voters which is very clear. We need to unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What's your message as a Republican voter to the Republican National Committee this morning after that?

TOURANGEAU: Please reconsider your options. I have to repeat what Nikki has been saying because I feel so strongly about it. We do not need the divisiveness and the chaos. My first priority in this country is reunification. This has just been decimating to the morale and the respect for our country.

So, please, if you are convinced that President Trump is the right answer, I'm asking you to reconsider. Go meet Nikki. When you meet her, I think you would be inclined to change your mind.

So, please don't believe the lies. There's so much here to be gained by having an accountant in the White House who has foreign experience. And quite frankly, we would be the 60th nation in the United Nations to have a female leader. It's time.

BOLDUAN: You are looking for reunification. The Republican National Committee seems to have a different idea in this primary of what unifying means going forward for the party.

Melinda, thank you for coming in.

John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It was not just one plane with loose bolts, that Alaska Airlines flight. Just how big this issue seems to be with a certain line of aircraft?

Gas prices, they have fallen, 401(k)s are climbing, mortgage rates are dipping. Is the U.S. economy at a turning point?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:41:52] BOLDUAN: This morning, Boeing's CEO is doing damage control, meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill about that terrifying incident midair when a door plug panel blew off an Alaska Airlines flight leaving a gaping hole and forcing an emergency landing.

Now, the FAA wants to know what Boeing is doing to ensure its planes are safe. Here's the CEO of Alaska Airlines just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN MINICUCCI, CEO, ALASKA AIRLINES: We found some loose bolts on many of our MAX 9s.

REPORTER: Many?

MINICUCCI: Yeah. Those are things that are going to be rectified through the inspection process.

Boeing is better than this. Flight 1282 should never have happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Pete Muntean has joined us now. He's got more on this.

Pete, what is the FAA saying about that?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the plot thickening all the time here, Kate, and the comments from Alaska's CEO are just further confirmation of possible quality control issues at Boeing when building the 737 MAX 9. The head of the FAA just told me in the first one on one interview since the Alaska 1282 incident that quality control is where his investigation is now focused.

Remember, the FAA has grounded the MAX 9 in the U.S. as it figures out exactly how airlines should inspect their planes for problems. The FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told me that the door plug is a good design but only when it's properly executed. A big caveat there, the bolts that hold the door plug in place on the plane, they are key. There are four of them. If they're not installed, the door can shimmy out of its retaining grooves and shoot off with explosive force like we saw on January 5th.

Here is the sound bite from the FAA administrator saying quality control is now the focus of its investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WHITAKER, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: We know this particular design has been in other aircraft that are not the MAX, that have millions of hours of operation. There's a fair amount of comfort around the design and everything that we are seeing is confirming that. So, it really takes us to production, manufacturing, maintenance, those issues and ensuring pieces are where they need to be and all the bolts are if place.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MUNTEAN: So, they're zeroing in on the cost here. The FAA now has inspectors on site, on the ground at Boeing's plant in Renton, Washington. The goal, to increase the scrutiny on where the production problems might be occurring. The FAA also now has a sampling of data from a quarter of the MAX 9s in the U.S. So, looking at measurements from the data before it issues any order to un-ground the planes.

By the way, I asked the FAA chief if the flying public should be afraid of the MAX 9. He told me the FAA will not let the plane in the air until they are convinced this issue is taken care of.

On the Boeing side of things, Boeing made an announcement last night it will do a one-day pause for quality control tomorrow. That will mean workers breaking into groups, work sessions on quality, and the Boeing CEO is meeting with top lawmakers on Capitol Hill today.

[09:45:02]

Those are closed-door meetings, Kate.

BOLDUAN: The plot thickening is right. I mean, quality control has never meant so much, I don't think.

Pete, thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right. With us now, CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector, David Soucie.

David, a paraphrase here from the FAA. Nothing wrong with door plugs, per se, but you have to install them right. I mean, that sort of sounds like how I put together my lawnmower. How concerned should I be with that statement?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, it's concerning it's down to that granular of a level right now. And the FAA needs to step up the process to see the processes within Boeing are satisfactory, which it sounds like they're not. So, that's where they're focusing right now, how do they get into that safety and risk assessment and mitigation?

BERMAN: So, how would you assess how Boeing is doing in what they were doing? I was interested to hear, they are taking a day office retreat to talk about safety.

SOUCIE: Yeah, that's a good point, John. What that is part of is the safety management system. What the safety management system does it assure Boeing continuously improves their safety programs. So, that's what they are doing.

And this is routine. They do that every time there's a shift change, they do a review to see if there's anything that should be improved. That's part of the overall safety management system.

Now, why that failed when it went outside of their local inspection process, that's what's in question now. So, they need to look beyond just the internal, which obviously, there was issues there, but also the incoming. Did they inspect the parts properly had they came in? Are they inspecting parts properly when they go out? So, that's the part that they're focusing on right now on this temporary shutdown.

BERMAN: David Soucie, always great to see you, my friend. Thank you so much.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right. Coming up, we are following breaking news. The U.N. is reporting one of its buildings in Gaza housing thousands of people was just hit. We're going to have new details coming in. We're going to bring those to you.

Also want to show you a live look at the markets right now. You can see, they are up as your 401(k) is having a banner year. We're going to break down the positive sides for the economy right now, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:05]

BERMAN: All right. Breaking news from the Middle East this morning, the U.N. relief agency in Gaza says one of its buildings that was housing thousands of displaced people in southern Gaza was struck. It happened they say not far from Khan Younis, you can see in southern Gaza, where there's been a lot of activity.

CNN's Nic Robertson who appears to be in Tel Aviv joins us with the latest.

Nic, what have you learned?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Tens of thousands of people, we understand, from the U.N. in that building, John, where they were taking shelter, we know that in that area of Khan Younis, there's been an uptick in IDF military activity. They say they've been going after terror cells and ramping up weapons caches.

We know that around that building, there are a couple of principal hospitals, they fall in an area that the IDF, this morning, told residents that they needed to evacuate because military activities were picking up in that area. This strike that the U.N. official is speaking about, we don't know how many casualties, but they are describing it as a mass casualty event.

There have been a number of times before where U.N. safe shelters have been struck, and because there are a lot of displaced people crowded and crammed into these often ramshackle buildings, way more than would normally be present in these types of buildings the casualty tolls have been very high in the past, and it appears potentially that's what we are dealing with right now.

According to one person in that U.N. camp he says that they can see tanks, Israeli tanks right outside of this building -- this shelter area, and that there are people around him to have shrapnel injuries, those nearby hospitals as well have been describing a situation where they have been under instructions to evacuate, but have not been able to evacuate because it's too dangerous. That there are hundreds of people in these hospitals who have infectious diseases, there are pregnant women, people there who just can't get to the hospital for the dialysis they need to get.

So, this is an area that is right, if you will, at the focus of IDF activity at the moment. The IDF today saying they had encircled Khan Younis. The situation in this building, again, we don't have precise details of the number of casualties. We expect to get that.

But it is relatively unusual for the U.N. to release a tweet like this, and draw attention to a situation like this. It is indicative of the concerns that they have at that location for a high number of casualties.

BERMAN: All right. Nic Robertson, we'll let you work your sources to find out what you can about the details. Let us know when you hear more. Thank you very much.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: We've got much more on that for sure. We'll have more details.

Let's take a look at this. A look at the markets right now, opening higher this morning, so far, on their way to maybe what could be another record day on Wall Street. We shall watch, track and see. The Dow hit a new record Monday, S&P hit a fresh record yesterday and it's not just stocks, a number of factors are pointing to a strong economy right now.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more on this.

It's not just Wall Street. It's also main street. What are you seeing?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: We're watching Wall Street right now because the Dow, the S&P opening higher, potentially on their way to another record led by what's called the magnificent seven. These are seven stocks that really rise and fall on the market follows in sync.

But for the average American if they're watching the stock market they may be really excited about their 401(k), but if you don't have a 401(k), there are other ways that you can kind of tell the economy is roaring, and moving in a really good direction, gas prices are a big way that everyday Americans feel every single day.

Just how much they're spending, gas prices today, $3.09. From a year ago, $3.45. That's significant savings at the pump.

And mortgage rates, many people have been out of the home buying markets, can't afford a mortgage. Mortgage rates coming in at 6.6 percent, that's the lowest since May of 2023.

And also, consumer sentiment. That is how people are feeling about the economy.

BOLDUAN: We were hearing a lot about that in New Hampshire. YURKEVICH: In New Hampshire.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

YURKEVICH: So I don't know if people were saying they feel a little bit better but that's what we're seeing at least.

BOLDUAN: There's a range for sure. What are you hearing now?

YURKEVICH: Yeah, we're seeing in the numbers that the University of Michigan takes every single month that people are feeling better about the economy, up 13 percent in the beginning of January, up 29 percent over two months.

That is significant, it is not where we were, though, pre-pandemic and that is why you still have many Americans, many families still feeling the pinch of higher prices. We know inflation is certainly cooling, however we're not going back to 2019 prices. We're never going to get there again.

So, people may be still struggling where we are, we still need to cool a little bit in order for people to be at a more comfortable level but Wall Street and main street certainly moving in the right direction.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, cooling, but how fast and how fast do people feel it. That is a huge question we're hearing. I mean, that's going to have its ripple effects in this political season for sure.

It's good to see you, thank you.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John?

BERMAN: With a flurry of new developments in the Republican presidential campaign in the last hour, Nikki Haley on her way back home to South Carolina, we have new reporting on what she plans to do next.

And the razor wire can be cut. What U.S. border officials are telling CNN after the Biden administration's Supreme Court victory.

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