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Official: Salvage Of Wreckage Expected To Begin Tomorrow; Official: Two Coast Guard Cutters Now At Crash Site; Sources: FBI Agents Who Worked On Jan. 6 and Trump Probes Expected To Be Fired Today; Families, Friends Honor The 67 People Killed In DC Tragedy; Civil Rights Attorney & Two Young Legal Associates On Flight. Aired 3- 3:30p ET
Aired January 31, 2025 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHAD KENDALL, FORMER COMMERCIAL AIRLINE PILOT: This is a meticulous time for the efforts of the personnel working through these very difficult situations to be able to get through the recovery period, and that is going to take some time to do.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: David, one thing that stood out to me during this press briefing, there were a lot of questions about the airspace around DCA and just how busy it is, how much activity there is going on, how that presents potentially a challenge to keep track of all the moving parts around that area, and the vice president of the airport was trying to clarify that the purview of the airport is essentially what is on the ground, that the FAA regulates the actual airspace itself. When you think about how this effort to figure out what happened moves forward, what do you think it would look like for the FAA and officials at DCA to reconsider how a number of things move about that airspace, whether it's commercial flights, private flights, army or military aircraft, and then obviously drones and other things. How do they go about negotiating that question?
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, there really is no negotiation. The FAA controls the airspace, period, around the entire United States. So, anything above your head belongs to the FAA. There's no question about that. So, what that tells me then is I think one of the guests or one of the people on the news there were asking: Where does the buck stop? Who's responsible?
The FAA is responsible. They're responsible for the regulations that keep our airspace safe. The NTSB is responsible for determining what causes the accident, what the proximate cause is from the people, the machines and the environment. And then at that point, that goes to a recommendation to the FAA.
My question, the big question I have right now, is once those recommendations come forth, and I have all the confidence in the NTSB to come up with meaningful recommendations. Well, my concern is we have a brand-new FAA administrator. We have a brand-new Department of Transportation secretary, so those are the two people who will have to support the FAA and say, yes, we will stand behind you and we will make sure that you are empowered to make those decisions, such as restricting these airplanes from coming in and out. Chad had mentioned, you know, maybe it'll take a while to get it back to normal. I hope it doesn't. I hope it never gets back to normal. In fact, this airport should have been closed when Dulles was built in 1964.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes. And look, the fact is, those of us who live in Washington, D.C., we love how close DCA is because you can be there in 15 minutes and you can fly out. If you are trying to get somewhere, you frequently want to go to DCA. It makes your commute. You get home to your kids a lot faster. You get home to your dog a lot faster.
But, Chad, what we saw in this press conference, too, was this tension about how many flights there are, because - and you even had a question teed up for the airport official and he wasn't swinging at it about you have taken the position that there shouldn't be more flights, even as we have seen lawmakers lobby for there to be more flights.
Just explain to people who are not familiar with this airport, this this runway that was being used was kind of the - it's sort of the - it's like the extra side runway. It's a smaller one that regional jets can use. And this airplane had been asked to swing around. But it's not it's not the main runway that might have provided a less complicated situation here.
KENDALL: Sure, that runway is a crosswind runway for the airport. It is not the primary north-south runway. It is normal operations for those types of aircraft to use that runway. Sometimes that's requested by air traffic control for aircraft to use Runway 33 if they're trying to have an aircraft depart, Runway 1. So air traffic control may request that. Sometimes pilots request that runway.
And I think, you know, everything should be scrutinized. That's what happens in the period of an investigation that we review procedures. We review rules. We review policy and we should scrutinize every piece of this to make travel safer in and out of this airport. And certainly reviewing number of flights, operation of flights. But right now, operations around the airport. I agree with this pause that's occurred at the airport as far as helicopter operations that as we go through this review period that we do a stand down on those operations and we determine how to make the airspace safer.
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That is the goal of the FAA. That is their mission. That is the mission of pilots flying is safe operations of their airplanes. But scrutinization of all of these processes and everything airspace around the airport should be done at this point as we determine the why and the cause of this accident to ensure that this is not going to happen again.
KEILAR: Yes. David Soucie, Chad Kendall, thank you so much. Really interesting to see if that capacity of this airport perhaps remains this way indefinitely reduced. We're also following - and I do want to mention, as you're looking there, pictures, we saw some activity on the Potomac.
But we're also following some breaking news out of the Department of Justice and reports of a coming purge. There are dozens of FBI agents who investigated the January 6th insurrection and other Trump-related cases. And they are expected to be fired today, according to sources who have been briefed on the matter.
SANCHEZ: For years, Trump has falsely accused agents of abuse for the way they carried out a court ordered search of his Mar-a-Lago property and he's long vowed retribution despite failing to prove any wrongdoing. CNN Senior Justice Correspondent, Evan Perez, broke this reporting.
Evan, what are you learning?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, this is a - an extension of a purge that began last week within minutes after the new interim leaders of the Justice Department arrived. Some of the career folks started getting e-mails advising them that they were being reassigned.
And so what we now know is that this has now extended across the street from the Justice Department headquarters to the FBI. And so, we reported yesterday on a number of leaders who were advised that they were being told to either retire, resign or be fired by Monday. And so now they've gone down to the agents, some of the agents who worked on the Mar-a-Lago investigation, the January 6 investigation. That is now the focus.
We're talking about dozens of agents who could be affected by this. And we - our understanding is that this is being done today. By the end of today, these folks will be notified. Now, what's notable here, obviously, is that these are not the lawyers and some of the people that Donald Trump has mostly focused his ire. A lot of this - we're talking about now - are agents who really don't have a choice about the about the cases that they were assigned, right? And the people who carried out, the agents who carried out the search at Mar-a-Lago a couple of years ago, you know, they were acting under a court order from a judge and under the supervision of the lawyers.
So, that's one of the reasons why you see certainly it's a pushback from FBI agents and from the FBI Agents Association, which says that this is an outrageous action by some of the interim leadership. Keep in mind, Pamela Bondi, who is the nominee for the attorney general, she hasn't gotten her final vote in the Senate. We expect that that could happen next week in the coming days, so she is not there yet.
Right now, we're having acting officials at the Justice Department who are carrying out this purge. Again, it began with some of the lawyers across the street of the Justice Department and now has expanded to include some of the line agents, people like on the lower levels who simply have no choice in the assignments that they're given.
Now, one of the things we should keep in mind is that, you know, you're talking about agents who are working cases right now, and so there is going to be impact. Are there going to be investigations that are ongoing that might be affected and that might be stopped or paused because of some of the removals of these people? Is there a terrorist attack that could be in the works right now that may not be caught because agents are being affected by this? We'll see if that indeed is what happens. But that is what we know at this hour. Again, this purge expanding across to the FBI, again, dozens of agents that could be affected.
KEILAR: Yes, even the appearance of it could be a problem.
Is it legal, Evan? I mean, if they have a leg to stand on to pursue a Department of Labor dispute or ultimately a lawsuit, is that - it's just - so we should note that for federal employees, they do have recourse just like employees in private companies.
PEREZ: Right, exactly. There are recourses and we expect that certainly the agents that are affected - we know agents, especially if their pensions are being taken away, that is certainly reason for you to file a lawsuit. We expect that the agents association will be very, very much affected by this. Agents are being told that, you know, again, if they're affected and if they believe they're being wrongly targeted, that they should take all the recourses, which includes, of course, seeking to suing the federal government for being removed.
Because at this point, what we're - what agents were being told is what we've heard career officials are being told in the last few days, which is that the President believes that because they were involved, investigations that involved him, that he cannot trust them to carry out his agenda.
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And so that's the simple reason. You know, talk about weaponization, which is Donald Trump's campaign promise that he was going to end weaponization of the Justice Department and at the FBI. If you talk to the agents and the folks who are getting - who are on the receiving end of this right now, they look at it as a kind of weaponization that is being directed at them.
SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thank you so much for the reporting.
I want to bring in retired FBI supervisory agent Steve Moore.
Steve, I wonder what your reaction to this is and whether, to Evan's point, these agents even had a say in what cases and what investigations they were assigned.
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, no, you don't have a say generally in what cases you're assigned. I mean, your supervisor assigns them to you and you don't, you know, you just see what comes on your desk. And it's even more haphazard - not haphazard - but it's even more one-of-a-kind situations when you're asked to go on a search warrant, what - or told - say, I've got a search warrant. This is my case. I've got a search warrant. I can't search a place all by myself. So, I'll ask to have 10 or 11 agents, possibly not even on my squad, not even investigating the things that I'm investigating assigned for a day for that search warrant. They don't - you know, all FBI agents know how to do a search warrant. And so you would have 10 or 11 agents who might not even be working these types of cases. They could be health care fraud people and they're going to be out on that search. So, to target them is - if that's what's going to happen here, that's bizarre and I troubling beyond words.
KEILAR: Steve, if you're someone, you know, you're in the rank and file in the FBI. What is the takeaways you're watching this happen.
MOORE: The takeaways are somewhat ironic, seeing as how the field agents probably supported Trump ideologically, maybe not some of the things he did, but ideologically, there's probably a more conservative base in the FBI agent ranks and it's ironic that they would be the ones taking the hits for this.
The other the other thing is, first of all, Brianna, the FBI does not have civil service protections, FBI agents. FBI agents are appointed positions and so they go under the same provisions as Department of Justice heads and things like that, where there has to be an investigation. There is a process.
And so, the agents on the - in the field are probably saying, yes, we agree that, you know, that due process has to be ensured. But you can't have due process, you can't have the rule of law being enforced by removing due process. It's at loggerheads. And so, it's kind of an irony here that not going through the procedure, which is going to - which is going to make this juicy to go to court, is going - is just in such conflict with what they say they're trying to achieve.
KEILAR: So - and then just really quickly, Steve, do they - so do they have the same kind of resource recourse that other federal employees have or no?
MOORE: Not the same ones, no. You have recourse, but it's - it can be much more arbitrary, much more in the direction of at will employment as opposed to civil service protections. But the FBI has always been careful to investigate prior to making statements, and FBI has some good investigators, and when - and they get rid of agents every year for cause.
But for political reasons, this is kind of chilling. This is like 1800 South America in some ways. And I think the fact that this is being - that this is happening before the new director has even been appointed indicates that no investigations, official investigations have been done. And I understand some people won't trust those, but you got to trust the system or the system isn't your friend.
SANCHEZ: Wow. Steve Moore, on that note, we'll end the conversation there. Thanks so much for sharing your perspective.
MOORE: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Still to come, a groom to be pilot, the daughter of Indian immigrants, friends on an annual hunting trip and figure skating champions, we're learning more about those who were lost aboard the American Airlines jet and the U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter that collided over the Potomac.
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Their stories in just moments.
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KEILAR: We do have some new information about some of the 67 victims who were killed in this midair collision. We have CNN's Eva McKend with us now in this story. And Eva, so many of these passengers with so much life ahead of them, promising futures, what are you learning?
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, with each passing hour, we're learning additional names and stories just because of the volume and the scale of this tragedy.
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Among the victims were these remarkable young attorneys, young lawyers just starting their careers. A Harvard trained civil rights attorney, Kiah Duggins. She was working for Civil Rights Corps when she was at Harvard. She served as the president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, so that tells you a lot, right, working for legal aid. This was someone who was justice minded and worried about severely low income and marginalized folks. That's the kind of life that she lived.
She also served as a White House intern under the Obama administration and spent nearly a year in Taiwan teaching English through a Fulbright program, so just a remarkable story.
There's also Sarah Lee Best and Elizabeth Anne Keys. They were associates in the same law firm. They're being remembered as cherished members of their community. Keys was 33 years old, a Cincinnati native and went on to graduate from Tufts University in the Boston area. Sarah Lee Best is being remembered for her boundless curiosity, kindness and intelligence. And earlier we had the opportunity to hear from Keys' former principal. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY SPICHER, FORMER HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL FOR VICTIM ELIZABETH ANNE KEYS: She was just such a - such an outstanding student, outstanding young lady, you know, just the kind of person that we need many, many more of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKEND: And this is something that is just sticking with me, Boris and Brianna, that so many of the people, including all of the figure skaters, they were so young. They were just starting their lives and they lived remarkable lives. And so all that we can do in this moment is really remember them for how they lived.
SANCHEZ: Eva McKend, thanks so much for the update. KEILAR: The American Airlines plane that crashed left on Wednesday from Wichita, Kansas, a city that calls itself the air capital of the world because of its decades-long history of aviation manufacturing. Several of the victims of this tragedy were from Wichita or they were from the state of Kansas, and their deaths are hitting their communities very hard.
We're joined now by Reverend Jeff Gannon. He is the senior pastor at Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Wichita.
Reverend, thank you so much for being with us. We are so sorry for your communities lost. I know that you have parishioners from your church who knew people on the plane. What can you tell us about how it's impacting your community?
REV. JEFF GANNON, SENIOR PASTOR, CHAPEL HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: Well, the whole community has been affected. There is a stunned silence, if you will. People are just quiet. You go into a restaurant and there's just a stillness that is really awe invoking. And so, the whole community is just in grief and disbelief.
KEILAR: And we just heard about Kiah Duggins, a young Harvard trained civil rights attorney. She was returning home from visiting her family in Wichita. What are you hearing from people who knew her?
GANNON: Well, I have several parishioners who knew her well and were good friends with her. And so, because it has taken a while for us to really know who was on the plane, apart from the skaters, my parishioners are now reaching out to me and expressing their deep loss. As you have already reported so well, Ms. Duggins, incredibly bright and talented. And her father is a prominent physician here in town. Well respected. So, the whole community is feeling that loss, along with Grace Maxwell, another young woman.
So, we have many gifted people here in Wichita who go on and do great things in our world, in our nation. And so, we're all feeling it at a very deep level.
KEILAR: And I know you recently held a prayer vigil for all of the victims and a lot of people attended. Can you talk to us a little bit about just the role and the importance of faith in times of crisis like this and how people are sort of gravitating towards each other with that bond?
GANNON: Yes, I'm a firm believer, just like post 9/11. We need to come together. We need to have opportunity to be united in our grief and in our hope. And so the prayer vigil was an attempt to bring us together, all faiths. It was beautifully represented in so many wonderful ways by people of all ages and faith traditions. And in these moments of crisis, we come together as one people. And it's really a great opportunity for us to put aside our differences.
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It's an opportunity for us to say we are one in spirit, we are one in love and we're going to need each other in order to move forward with hope.
KEILAR: And several members of the skating community were on that plane. They just finished attending the U.S. Skating Championship, a skating camp in Wichita as well. I think a lot of people in D.C. here in Washington are feeling this because this is where we welcome so many visitors. These were some visitors to your community. I know they're not from Wichita, but just that community of bringing people in and you expect that they're going to come and go safely. Tell us about how much their losses have hurt.
GANNON: Well, the impact, again, is deep. It is heartfelt. And the skaters have been known as being incredible human beings. They were respectful. They were kind. They were just incredibly gracious. And so people all over our community have been talking about how deeply they were impacted by these young people from all over the world.
KEILAR: Reverend Jeff Gannon, thank you for being with us. Thank you for helping us keep the focus on the victims here. We know that not far from where I am right now, there are a lot of families who are grieving, looking for confirmation of their loved one's identities, having really the worst days of their life right now and we just want them to know that their loved ones are not being forgotten. And that is something we can all do right now.
GANNON: Thanks.
KEILAR: Reverend, thank you so much.
GANNON: Thanks.
KEILAR: We'll be right back.
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