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Trump: U.S. "Will Take Over The Gaza Strip" and "Own It"; At Least 3 Suspects Accused Of Impersonating ICE Agents; NTSB Wants More Proof Helicopter Flying Too High At Time Of Crash; Satellite Images Show China Building A Giant Laser Facility. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired February 05, 2025 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
JAMES ZOGBY, PRESIDENT, ASIAN-AMERICAN INSTITUTE: -- Palestinians would not be able to go back. Based on that, many people in my community couldn't vote for -- for -- for Kamala Harris.
I did, I endorsed her. I encouraged people to vote for her. I encouraged people to think of the consequences of another Donald Trump administration. Many of them didn't. Many of them stayed home. And some of them voted for Donald Trump.
But they are now feeling, very clearly, that they made a big mistake. And, you know, sort of like the -- the kid who gets in trouble and his parents send him to his room and he goes out there and starts throwing stuff around.
At the end of throwing stuff around in a peak of anger, all he's got is a mess. And that's what we've got here. People didn't vote for Kamala Harris. They voted for Donald Trump. They had their tantrum.
And now look what we got. We got a crazy man in the White House who's doing and projecting things that are really, really problematic.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: James Zogby, thank you so much for being with us. We do appreciate it.
ZOGBY: Thank you.
KEILAR: Coming up, officials in three states are accusing multiple suspects of impersonating federal immigration officers. What we're learning about their arrest just ahead.
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[13:35:42]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: With the backdrop of this widespread immigration -- immigration crackdown, officials in at least three states have accused multiple suspects of impersonating federal immigration officers.
The three men, seen here, we're arrested in South Carolina, North Carolina and on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia. Officials say the man accused in South Carolina was caught on video
allegedly detaining a group of Latino men.
Here is some of that footage. And we should warn you, you may find it disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got caught, whoa.
Where are you from? Mexico. You from Mexico? You're going back to Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I can't. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. La, la, la, la, la. I don't be speaking that Pig Latin in this country, whoa. Don't be speaking that Pig Latin here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: CNN's Gloria Pazmino is on the story for us.
And, Gloria, the South Carolina suspect, already bonded out of jail, and his family is now speaking out. What are they saying?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, they've said that this man, who is seen on this video, has been suffering from some mental health challenges. And they attribute this as the reason for what we see on that video, which, as you said, Boris, is extremely disturbing.
Also in the video, you can see that he is taunting these workers who are sitting inside of a car. At one point, he even reaches into the car and takes their keys away. He tells them that they're not allowed to drive.
And he says that they have to speak English. This is a language that advocates have told me in the past few days is directly reflecting what's coming out of the White House and this Trump administration.
And they say that they are worried that more incidents like this are going to continue to happen because people may feel emboldened to do certain things that they are clearly not allowed to do, like we saw in this incident.
So we have this in South Carolina, which is where it took place. Then we have another incident in North Carolina. A man was arrested after he sexually assaulted a woman after telling her that he was going to deport her if he did not, if she did not agree to have sex with him.
And then in another case in Philadelphia, two men attempted to gain access to a residence hall on the campus of Temple University. One of them has been arrested.
But as I said, many of the advocates I've been speaking to say that this community, already scared of actual law enforcement, now, also, this a concern that might make them afraid to actually reach out to law enforcement.
SANCHEZ: And Gloria, has ICE responded to these incidents?
PAZMINO: So, Boris, that's really important because we see just how much ICE activity has been happening around the country. They are doing these enforcement actions.
And we actually did just get a statement from ICE, who told me that, "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents are highly trained and dedicated professionals who are sworn to uphold the law, protect American people, and support U.S. national security interests.
"ICE strongly condemns the impersonation of its officers or agents. This action is not only dangerous, but illegal."
Boris, I should also mention that the man who we saw in that video, where he is taunting the workers, has been charged with three counts of kidnaping as well as impersonating an officer. So some real consequences of the actions.
Advocates, reminding people that they have rights in these types of incidents. People are allowed to record the interaction. People are allowed to ask an officer to identify themselves. And as we have said, they are also allowed to see a warrant in the case of an arrest.
Of course, assuming that the person who is stopping them is actually the person who they say they are, not like in this instance where this man was impersonating an officer -- Boris?
SANCHEZ: Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for the reporting.
[13:39:46]
Up next, the NTSB releasing new details about last week's deadly mid- air collision. And it's raising questions about the data that air traffic controllers we're actually seeing at the time of the crash. We'll be right back.
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KEILAR: One week after that deadly mid-air collision over the Potomac River, newly released data from ground-based radar suggests the Army helicopter was higher than it was supposed to be when it collided with the American airlines passenger plane. But the NTSB does want more proof.
CNN's Pete Muntean is live for us at Reagan National Airport.
Pete, what more are you learning from the NTSB?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The NTSB says, Brianna, no smoking gun just yet with that new data. No way to say for sure if there is any sort of big conclusion to draw here so far just yet. [13:44:59]
But the latest information from the NTSB is this radar data that shows that Blackhawk helicopter, at least according to radar screens here in the control tower, was being displayed at 300 feet.
The altitude restriction on the special helicopter corridor that goes through the airspace here at Reagan National Airport is limited to 200 feet.
So again, one big piece of data as more and more pieces of data essentially are being pulled off of the bottom of the Potomac River right now.
In fact the recovery operations has really shifted modes today. The floating crane and now flatbed trucks are on the shoreline here on the east side of the Reagan National Airport property.
And that is key to getting all of those parts that they've recovered from the Potomac into a hangar here at national airport. That's where they can begin the layout of all of the parts, the real big examination of all the forensic evidence here.
We know that they have recovered the tail just yesterday, a really symbolic piece of structure and wreckage from here at Reagan National Airport.
We also know from the NTSB they have recovered significant portions of the right wing, significant portions of the center part of the fuselage, some of the left wing, some of the left side of the fuselage and the cockpit.
Which will be so critical to figuring out the blind spots that may have existed and may have impacted the ability for the pilots to see or not see the collision that was unfolding in front of them.
The human toll here is really incredible. And the NTSB says they have 100 investigators here on site. Their work is really only just beginning. You have to think of the divers. You have to think of the salvage crews.
And one little bright spot I discovered here are the therapy dogs from Mutts on a Mission that have been visiting the first responders and all of the folks here helping out with this recovery effort.
This is Ghost and Hudson. They've been visiting every day here at national airport. And I've been talking to some of the workers here who are on the periphery of the recovery effort. They say their presence is so appreciated on this one-week mark, since that crash last Wednesday night at 8:50 p.m.
In just a little bit of time, 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, there will be a company wide moment of silence by American Airlines. A real heartfelt moment on the horizon here as we hit the one-week mark -- Brianna?
KEILAR: All right. We'll look to that. And, Pete, thank you for sharing those dogs with us. I think a moment
like that is so important for the folks who are working so hard and tirelessly on this ahead.
Ahead, a huge laser facility in China could be trying to help China realize the dream of limitless clean energy. It could also be a key part of a nuclear weapons research program. We'll have the latest on what these images from space can tell us.
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[13:52:15]
SANCHEZ: Some new satellite images appear to show a massive X-shaped laser facility to harness nuclear fusion under construction right now in China. It appears significantly larger than the most advanced nuclear research lab here in the United States.
KEILAR: Analysts say that this super-sized facility could be a sign that China is leaping ahead in the race toward nuclear fusion, which might give them a near limitless supply of clean energy and also amp up nuclear weapons development.
CNN's Bill Weir is here with more on this.
Bill, maybe not surprising here. The Chinese are being very secretive about this project. What are you learning about it?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: This is fascinating, Brianna. Satellites just first noticed this back in 2020, and it really ramped up during the pandemic.
But by all accounts, it looks like China is trying to catch up with the U.S. and Europe when it comes to nuclear fusion. That's the holy grail of clean energy.
Right now, we're all familiar with nuclear fission, the splitting of an atom, which is incredibly safe despite what happened in Chernobyl over time. But that still comes with the problem of maybe meltdowns. And also
that radioactive waste.
A nuclear fusion, which is smashing atoms together to get more energy out of it than goes in, kind of the way the sun works, would have no nuclear waste to go with it.
So that's why researchers have been chasing this dream for so long. And it looks like from that satellite photo, each of those four legs of the X is a different bay that holds a laser, and the target would be in the center.
The one I visited at Lawrence Livermore, the national ignition facility out in California, which successfully pulled off nuclear fusion for the first time, even for just less than a nanosecond, is that's -- this is the look at that one in Livermore. They use a round room with lasers pointing in from all different
directions to create that. This facility would be 50 percent bigger, possibly than the one in Livermore there as well.
But this is happening, guys, at a time when China is going all in on energy, and especially wind and solar. They installed more solar last year than the rest of the world combined. And it looks like they're trying to catch up on fusion as well.
SANCHEZ: Yes, Bill, it's also a time where China's global ambitions have rubbed up against the United States. This could also be something more ominous.
WEIR: Well, China is part of the nuclear nonproliferation, non-testing agreement. So like most countries, they can't fire off a test nuclear weapon. So any research is done in facilities like this.
The one in Livermore, most of the funding came from the Defense Department as you think about this. So that's a possibility. Something to think about.
One -- that possibility also scientists are talking about is they figured out a way to combine fission and fusion, which is something the rest of the world hasn't done. And if they unlock that, they could leapfrog the world in these two technologies combined.
[13:55:10]
SANCHEZ: Whoa. Yes. Intense.
Bill Weir, thanks so much for the reporting. Appreciate it.
Still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, it was the takeover announcement heard around the world. Could the U.S. really move into Gaza and try to transform the territory? What about the two million Palestinians living there right now? Details ahead.
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