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Boeing CEO On Capitol Hill As New Whistleblower Surfaces; President Joe Biden To Announce Legal Protections For Undocumented Spouses; Immigration Among Top Issues For Voters In 2024; Boeing CEO Testifies Amid Questions About Safety Issues. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 18, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:51]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Buckle up, this could get very ugly for Boeing, the plane maker CEO about to go face-to-face with lawmakers who just released new whistleblower claims that the company hid bad parts. We're following this live on Capitol Hill.

And also this hour, President Biden making a serious play for Latino voters in key battleground states. He's set to announce a new executive action that could offer deportation protections to hundreds of thousands of people. We're live from the White House.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And the White House says there's a cheap fake problem, accusing right-wing media of using manipulated videos to make the president look bad.

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

KEILAR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar, alongside Boris Sanchez. And we are watching two big stories this hour.

Right now, the CEO of Boeing who is about to testify on Capitol Hill, and this is expected to be a tense hearing about safety of these airliners.

Also soon, President Biden will declare a new sweeping executive order that will protect undocumented spouses and children of American citizens.

We do begin with Boeing where any minute now, its chief executive Dave Calhoun is going to be speaking before a Senate subcommittee that is investigating the troubled company.

SANCHEZ: His prepared statement shows that Calhoun will seemingly understate the problems plaguing the aerospace giant as, "far from perfect." This comes as there are more stunning allegations for him to respond to a new whistleblower from Boeing's quality control unit, says the company tried to hide questionable parts that likely ended up on its airplanes.

CNN's Pete Muntean is live for us outside the hearing room. So, Pete, what more can we expect to hear from Boeing CEO?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The Chair of the Senate subcommittee as Senator Richard Blumenthal just walked in here, we are moments away from gaveling into this hearing. And he said to me that this is a moment of reckoning for Boeing that Boeing must change its culture because there have been failings after failings of Boeing not only back to the 737 Max 9 door plug blow up back on January 5th, but also going back to the Max 8 crashes of 2018 and 2019.

Critic after critic in this hearing, not only the senators who will be on the DEAS (ph) but also in the audience, the families of those 737 Max 8 victims, 346 people killed in those crashes abroad, and they just held a press conference prior to the start of this hearing.

I want you to listen now to the mother of Samya Stumo, she was killed in that 2019 Ethiopian air crash. And she says that Boeing is incapable of cultural change, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADIA MILLERON, DAUGHTER SAMYA STUMO KILLED IN 2019 737 MAX 9 CRASH: Every single rubric that he has in place to push for safety he had in place five years ago. It's just that they don't follow it.

So, when they get pressed for time, and they need to produce a lot of planes quickly. They throw all of their safety rubrics out the window, and they tell the people that work at Boeing, don't pay attention to that, don't pay attention to that, we need to produce planes faster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun walked into this hearing at the top of last hour and he said that he will acknowledge the families of the 737 Max 8 crashes. Not only his -- in his opening remarks, but he also said he is here for the case of transparency and that he wants to testify.

By the way, this is the first time that he is testifying in front of lawmakers on Capitol Hill since that door plugged blowout back on January 5th.

What is also interesting here is that there will be new whistleblowers coming forward. And Senator Blumenthal says that he has spoken to this new whistleblower Sam Mohawk, he is a quality assurance inspector at Boeing's Renton Washington plant, that's the plant that builds the 737 Max 9, the plane that left the factory that went to Alaska Airlines without the critical door plug bolts installed.

He says that Boeing is not able to keep track of parts that do not conform to its own standards.

[14:05:06]

Now, Boeing remains on the defense here saying that it always takes these employee concerns seriously and that it encourages employees to speak up it says it is reviewing these claims right now. Although Blumenthal says this worker was encouraged to speak up, instead he was told to shut up.

KEILAR: I mean, this is -- this is quite a hearing, Pete, and behind the day as -- or not the day as I should say, but where we're seeing the Boeing CEO, you have the victim fam -- victim's family members holding up signs. They have some of them red blood on their hands to make a point. I mean, they -- we see what is really the -- at stake here.

MUNTEAN: Moment of reckoning that Senator Blumenthal said is probably the perfect way of putting this because this has really been coming to a head for such a long time for Boeing, negative headline after negative headline.

A lot of people conflate one off safety issues on board commercial airliners with Boeing issues. But there have been quality issues over and over again at Boeing not only with the 737 line, but also with a 787 line and whistleblowers coming forward there.

Also on the 777 line and whistleblowers coming forward on that plant as well. They build those planes at a separate plant from the Renton plant that builds the 737. They built those at the Everett plant in Washington.

So, this is really a big thing here for Boeing. And also, it's something that acknowledged by CEO Dave Calhoun, he says that Boeing will change its culture, that it's been listening to the concerns, although we will see if that is the case.

There were a lot of questions immediately after the door plug blow out, whether or not heads would roll at the top. He is letting go of that top post at Boeing, said to retire at the end of this year, although not without one more blasting from (AUDIO GAP).

KEILAR: Yes, indeed.

SANCHEZ: It looks like we're having trouble with Pete's signal there. We should point out Senator Blumenthal said that he anticipates there could be potential prosecution of Boeing depending on where the investigations go.

KEILAR: That's right. This is --- it's very serious at this point, right? So, they've been put on warning.

Now to the other big story that is happening this hour. Any moment now, President Biden will unveil a sweeping new executive action protecting hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants -- immigrant -- protecting hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants from being deported, excuse me.

And this provides legal protections for about half a million families and roughly 50,000 children. It comes just two weeks after Biden filed a different executive action on immigration that severely restricted asylum seekers.

SANCHEZ: This new order happens at a pivotal moment. This is obviously at the heat of the 2024 presidential race. And next week, Biden and Trump are set to face off in a historic

presidential debate right here on CNN, by the way at 9:00 p.m. with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderating.

Immigration, of course, will be a major topic. So, let's get the view from the White House now with CNN's Kayla Tausche. So, Kayla, walk us through the details in this new executive action.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, soon as you mentioned, President Biden is going to authorize undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens, as well as their children to be able to apply for lawful residence under this sweeping new program.

The Biden administration says that there are a few parameters that must be met. First, those couples must have been married preceding today. And also, those individuals must have been in the United States at least 10 years up until this point.

The application process is going to be open a little bit later this summer. And the administration estimates that it would impact 500,000 spouses and up to 50,000 non-citizen children. That compares to more than 800,000 individuals who are allowed to work freely and stay in the country under the DACA program under President Obama's action in 2012.

So, you can see the scope of this program is rather large.

Now, the individuals who are married to U.S. citizens were technically eligible for green cards previously, but under prior law, they would have to leave the U.S. to apply for that authorization. And if they were found to have stayed in the U.S. unlawfully, they would have had to remain outside the U.S. for more than a decade.

That is why the Biden campaign amplified this policy. In a statement earlier today from a campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez saying simply, families belong together and trying to distinguish what President Biden is doing from the policy that President Trump espoused during his term, where he separated families at the border.

But the distinction of the eligibility on green cards is one reason why the Biden team believes that this action may survive any legal challenges that are sure to be brought, as have been brought on any immigration action that has been taken by the executive branch under presidents of either party.

[14:10:10]

But there are a few motivations here for the Biden team. They want to quell that frustration from immigration advocacy groups over those restrictions on asylum. They want to neutralize immigration as an election issue, especially going into the debate. And they also want to boost the economy. And they believe that as many experts do too that, allowing half a million people to apply for better paying jobs would do just that. Brianna and Boris.

SANCHEZ: Kayla Tausche live for us at the White House. Thank you so much.

So, let's go through the polling numbers on immigration and get perspective on the politics too. I'm joined on set by Kristian Ramos, a former spokesman for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And we can start off with CNN SENIOR Data Reporter Harry Enten live for us in New York.

Harry, what do the numbers show about American's views on immigration and how have those views evolved over time?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes, Boris, you know, I'm a big fan of timelines, of chronology and how things can change over time and this says a lot.

Favor deporting all living in the U.S. illegally. Now, I should note that the 2024 questions specified undocumented immigrants specifically, but still the timeline here. Oh, my goodness gracious.

In 2016, it was just 40 percent who favored deporting all living in the U.S. illegally. Look at where we are in 2024, 62 percent in a read -- recent CBS News YouGov poll.

So, what we're seeing is much more hawkish views on illegal immigration in the American public at large and perhaps not so surprisingly, look at this question, which compares 2020 and 2024 at this point.

All right, Biden versus Trump on immigration, August of 2020. Look at this. Biden was favored by seven points on immigration, look at where we are in May of 2024. Donald Trump is favored by 11 points.

So, what we're seeing is those more hawkish views on illegal immigration, translating when American voters are looking at Biden versus Trump on the issue of immigration, with Trump being the beneficiary.

SANCHEZ: Kristian, I'm not sure if viewers heard it, but you let out a sigh when you saw those numbers comparing Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024. What do you think of these numbers?

KRISTIAN RAMOS, FORMER SPOKESMAN, CONGRESSIONAL HISPANIC CAUCUS: Well, I was sighing because I feel like those numbers are grossly misleading, right?

When you talk to voters and you say, do you want to fix our broken immigration system? Overwhelming support, right?

When you talk about giving people a pathway to citizenship, providing legal status for folks who have been here for 10 years or over, those numbers are much higher for Democrats for the president. Talking about a comprehensive immigration reform, fixing a broken immigration system is wildly popular with voters all over the country, which is why I feel so great about the president's executive action today, which I think is the right move and is incredibly powerful.

SANCHEZ: It comes on the heels of that executive action two weeks ago that restricted asylum for certain asylum seekers. Do you see that and this paired together as sort of an admission from the White House that there has been a sea change on this issue?

RAMOS: Not at all. Look, Joe Biden legitimately wants to solve this immigration issue. He wants to find a way to provide solutions for those here, provides solutions at our southern border. He doesn't want to play politics on this thing.

Unlike President Donald Trump, who literally told the people in his party in Congress that, you know, the place where we need to solve these issues, not to act on this issue, because it would hurt him politically.

When you have the speaker of the House saying we can't act on this because it would hurt President Trump politically, that is somebody playing politics and with President Joe Biden, he is trying to find solutions because he understands that this is a problem that the American people want to solve in a humane, positive way.

SANCHEZ: I should note, even that bipartisan bill had aspects to it that a lot of Democrats were opposed to because it was more restrictionist on immigration.

I want to pivot to Harry because Harry, you have some numbers showing how Hispanic voters in particular feel about the issue of immigration and whose approach they trust more. What can you tell us?

ENTEN: Yes, Boris, I think this question sort of gets that just frustration, frustration among Hispanics nationwide that they don't necessarily like either of the two guys.

Hispanics, who is good on immigration? The leader here is neither at 31 percent, Donald Trump comes in at 29 percent. That's ahead of Joe Biden's 22 percent.

But again, this 31 percent that say neither I think sort of speaks to the fact that neither men's approaches is in the vote -- in the minds of Hispanic voters necessarily where they want to go.

But again, more number here for Joe Biden. And again, look at this trend line, favor deporting all living in the U.S. illegally. This is among Hispanic registered voters.

[14:15:00]

In 2016, it was 19 percent. Look at where we are in 2024, 53 percent.

And yes, of course, this is just one question. You can ask the question different ways and get different results, but again, the trend line here as I think what is so worrying to Democrats and immigration advocates at large.

SANCHEZ: Kristian, what do you think of those numbers? Because it doesn't seem like voters are -- specifically, Hispanic voters that the Biden administration is concerned about, some erosion toward the Trump camp. It doesn't seem like they've been more receptive to his immigration policies, at least before these executive orders were issued.

RAMOS: Look, I think we're all hitting on the same thing, frustration. Voters are frustrated that the no action has been taken. Why is there been no action taken? Have you seen what has happened to the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan? This party has done a complete 180.

Lindsey Graham is now for mass deportations. This was a guy who went out there and passionately fought for DACA for passing a pathway to citizenship.

Marco Rubio, the architect in the Gang of Six (ph) for immigration reform many years ago, running to be the vice president for Donald Trump, the guy who is quoting Hitler, the guy who is saying that we need to -- the immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country.

The reason we have not had action on immigration reform is because of the Republican Party. Joe Biden has been willing to upset some members of his -- of his coalition of voters to try to get a deal on immigration reform. He is putting things out there now that are humane and positive, that are trying to find solutions to help people.

On my way over here, when I was taking my taxi over here, the driver that I was -- that took me here, he is in a mixed status family, he would actually benefit from what Joe Biden just did today. This is not just some issue that's numbers and statistics, this is about people. This is about families. This is about providing solutions, and helping make our country better.

Immigrants provide $7 trillion in economic wealth to this country. We should be finding ways to bring -- to help them, not hurt them.

SANCHEZ: Kristian Ramos, Harry Enten, we appreciate the conversation. Thank you both so much.

Still to come, we're following what's already a tense hearing on Capitol Hill where Boeing CEO is now face-to-face with angry lawmakers and the relatives of its crash victims.

Plus, a rare trip to Pyongyang for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He just landed in North Korea for the first time in more than two decades as U.S. officials are sounding the alarm over North Korean support for Russia's war machine in Ukraine.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back in just moments.

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[14:22:29]

KEILAR: Let's go to Capitol Hill where the embattled CEO of Boeing is actually speaking to the victim's families right now in the hearing room.

DAVE CALHOUN, CEO, BOEING: Nearly every second, a Boeing Commercial or defense product takes off and lands somewhere around the world, making us responsible for the safety of millions of passengers and flight crews every day, including our men and women in uniform.

Aerospace safety is built on a robust industry wide system that relies on self-disclosure, accountability, and continuous learning. This scrutiny to be held to the very highest standard is fundamental to why commercial aviation is by far the safest mode of transportation today.

I come from this industry. And I know full well that this is an industry where we simply must get it right every single time. I've served as president and CEO of Boeing since January of 2020 following these tragic accidents.

I joined the aviation industry as president and CEO of G.E. Aircraft Engines. My introduction to aerospace safety was after the tragic accident in 1989 of United Airlines Flight 232 in Sioux City, Iowa, due to an uncontained engine failure. It led to sweeping changes in our industry's safety management processes and contributed significantly to flight safety going forward.

And from this experience, I understand the gravity of Boeing's role in upholding the integrity of aerospace safety in our industry.

We deeply regret the impact that the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 accident had on Alaska Airlines' team and its passengers, and we are grateful to the pilots and crew for safely landing the plane. We are thankful that there were no fatalities.

From the beginning, we took responsibility and cooperated transparently with the NTSB and the FAA in their respective investigations.

And our factories and in our supply chain, we took immediate action to ensure the specific circumstances that led to this accident could never happen again.

[14:25:00]

Importantly, we went beyond to look comprehensively at our quality and manufacturing systems and we slowed things down dramatically.

To launch this more comprehensive look, we've held stand downs in our plants, and we have listened to our employees and acted on their ideas. We have brought in an independent quality expert to assess our processes. And we have announced our intention to re-acquire Spirit AeroSystems, the manufacturer of our fuselage.

In consideration of these inputs, Boeing developed a comprehensive safety and quality action plan with very specific metrics, which we will use to hold ourselves accountable and the FAA will use to provide the oversight required.

Most importantly, it is our people. Over 170,000 around the world who are our greatest strength. We've asked every one of our employees to consider themselves an aviation safety advocate. We are committed to making sure every employee feels empowered to speak up if they see a problem. We also have strict policies that prohibit retaliation against

employees who come forward. It is our job to listen, regardless of how we obtain feedback, and handle it with the seriousness it deserves.

Much has been said about Boeing's culture. We've heard those concerns loud and clear. Our culture is far from perfect, but we are taking action and we are making progress.

We understand the gravity, and we are committed to moving forward with transparency and accountability, while elevating employee engagement every step of the way.

Our airplanes have carried the equivalent of more than double the population of the planet. Getting this right is critical for our company, it's critical for our customers who fly our planes every day, and it's critical for our country.

We are part of a global ecosystem composed of manufacturers, suppliers, airlines, airports, air traffic controllers, and regulators and they're all committed to learning from every incident.

It is this relentless focus on improvement that has led to our industry's unparalleled safety record. And it is with that mindset, we are taking comprehensive action to strengthen safety and quality.

And, we know, as America's premier aerospace manufacturer, this is what you and the flying public have every right to expect from us.

And thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Howard and I will be happy to take your questions.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Thank you, Mr. Calhoun. We will have seven minute rounds. I'll begin.

Mr. Calhoun, more than five years after the Max crashes. You're once again making promises and seeming commitments. They seem highly aspirational. They are very general to correct course.

Do you think Boeing has done enough today to make those kinds of corrections? And what would you say to the whistleblowers who have come forward and face retaliation?

CALHOUN: Senator, thank you for the question. I asked myself that question every day. Have we done enough?

I will remind everyone the findings in the accidents and we all participated in the investigative work. We saw the conclusions by virtue of the NTSB reports and the local regulators reports. These issues were attributed to the development of the airplane and a software package referred to as MCAS. And then we took responsibility for that error.

BLUMENTHAL: You accept that Boeing was responsible for those crashes in 346?

CALHOUN: I accept it. MCAS and Boeing are responsible for those crashes. Yes, sir.

BLUMENTHAL: Has enough been done to date already?

CALHOUN: So, this is -- this is the answer to that question, the development process for an airplane starts with an engineering effort.

So, we have revamped our engineering effort at large. We have created a series of design practices including a new one referred to as human factors. It speaks directly to the work that needed to be done to prevent MCAS from creating the environment that face -- that those pilots faced at that moment.

So, we did that, we established a safety management system. We learned from the FAA and from our airline customers what it was and how to implement it.

We've been listening to it. We tune that safety management system into every airplane that flies every second of every day, so that we could learn from those airplanes.

BLUMENTHAL: Let me be more specific and I apologize for interrupting.

CALHOUN: Please.

BLUMENTHAL: But we are limited in terms of time. Boeing has a code of conduct that states and I quote, "I will never retaliate against or punish anyone who speaks up to --