Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Three Agents Out of Secret Service; Plane Over Gulf, Expected to Crash; Remembering Dick Clark; Cessna Crashes In The Gulf; Romney: No Apology For Success; Syrian Cease-Fire Not Working; India's ICBM Test A Success

Aired April 19, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, it's 12:00 noon, 9:00 a.m. on the West Coast, I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

I want to get you up to speed for this Thursday, April 19th.

The man charged with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin's death will fight for bail tomorrow. George Zimmerman will see a new judge at the bond hearing. The original judge, you see here, she has stepped aside because after possible conflict of interest.

And as George Zimmerman gets closer to trial, Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law also may be on trial. Zimmerman's arrest was delayed after he claimed self-defense under that law. Florida Governor Rick Scott has tapped his lieutenant governor to lead a task force that's going to examine the state's gun law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one. Now, one, two, three --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: This is India, and that is a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile -- yes, capable of carrying a nuke. It is just a test launch -- a big success according to Indian officials, but they say the blast off and flight went exactly as planned. The missile reportedly has 3,000-mile range. Right now, only five countries have these.

So what does it mean for us here in the United States? We're going to talk about that in a couple minutes.

And you're looking at live pictures now. This is from Chantilly, Virginia. This is where the space shuttle Discovery is getting a warm welcome at the Smithsonian. It's the shuttle program's oldest vehicle. It's going to replace the shuttle Enterprise which now heads to New York.

Astronaut John Glenn, he is the featured speaker.

Next hour, Pat Summitt, she's going to hold a news conference on her decision to resign as University of Tennessee women's basketball coach. She is stepping down eight months after revealing she's suffering from early onset Alzheimer's. We're going it bring you her remarks live.

Ted Nugent, he's got some explaining to do. Secret service agents are going to meet the rock star, the outspoken conservative, in person today. They want to know what did he mean by something he said at an NRA gathering. Nugent said, quote, these were his words, "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year."

So that was last weekend. He told a radio interviewer that he is now looking forward to meeting with the Secret Service.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TED NUGENT, MUSICIAN: Yes, we actually have heard from the Secret Service. And they have a duty, I salute them and support them, and I'm looking forward to our meeting tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a fine gathering.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Secret Service also in the news today for a very different reason, as you know. Congress wants to learn more about what happened last week in Colombia. Members of the president's advance security team were involved in a dispute with prostitutes in a hotel.

Heads have already rolled. You've got three Secret Service agents that are out.

Earlier, we talked to a news reporter who interviewed one of the women in Colombia. Now, she said she did business with one of the American agents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM NEUMAN, NEW YORK TIMES (via telephone): They sort of knock on the door. She said they were discreet and, you know, weren't trying to make a scene. But they spent a couple hours trying to coax this guy to open his door and according to her, he wouldn't even say a word.

And finally, she gets fed up and goes to leave, and then runs into a police officer in the hotel. Tells him the story, and he goes back with her, and then you have this bizarre scene where you've got two Colombian police officers now, these two prostitutes, hotel security guy shows up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in White House correspondent Brianna Keilar from Washington.

So, Brianna, what do we know about, first of all, the agents who lost their jobs over the scandal?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, we know two of them are supervisors, long-time Secret Service agents. One with 26 years of experience who decided to go ahead and retire when he learned the agency was moving to fire him, another with 20 years of experience that the agency is moving to fire who has not stepped down, and then also a relative newcomer to the agency who decided to go ahead and resign.

But among the three, two who have considerable number of years in the agency.

MALVEAUX: Do we have any new details today about what they have learned about what actually took place?

KEILAR: No. We do know that the Secret Service is expected to announce an external review board to look at some of the standards and ethics and really figure out, Suzanne, if this is a one-time thing for if this has been a systemic problem among the agency.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk about something else, the Keystone oil pipeline, a very controversial issue. President Obama shot down the permit to build it. But I understand the company is now trying to get around that.

Can they do that? What are they actually proposing?

KEILAR: Well, what the company, TransCanada, has done is they've submitted a new route to the state of Nebraska. They've gone ahead and done this. And what it does is it moves the initially proposed route to the east so that it's -- to the east of the environmentally sensitive sand hills of Nebraska, east of this aqua fir that provides a lot of water supply for the state.

Because, remember, it was the Republican governor's objections because of those concerns that President Obama cited, Suzanne, when he denied the permit in November. So, at this point, though, the governor of Nebraska really appears to be on board with expediting it at least at the state level. You know, it appears Nebraska will be moving forward as quickly as possible.

MALVEAUX: Do we think, Brianna, this is going to make this any more likely, that the president is going to approve the proposal, and talk a little bit about whether or not this is before or after with this election.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, I think the time line, the expectation is it would be after the election. This certainly would, it appears, alleviate some of the president's concerns that he cited when he rejected this initial permit.

But what you have going on here, Suzanne, is President Obama has kept really all of his options open for the Keystone XL pipeline permit coming from Canada down into the U.S. And, frankly, by doing that he's ticked off quite a lot of people -- from environmentalists who don't want the pollution that it will create, to Democrats up on the Hill on both sides of the issue, to some parts of labor who want the jobs from this pipeline, to Canada that's now looking at other purchasers of oil should this not go through.

It seems, Suzanne, that really maybe the only contingent that is quite happy with all of this and the sort of, I guess, political opportunity it's presenting are Republicans because this is very much become the centerpiece of their criticism of the president's energy policies.

We're expecting shortly for Jay Carney to be doing his briefing. It won't be a surprise if he gets asked about this.

And what could be a sign of how difficult this is for the White House in an election year, the White House doesn't answer questions about this generally, referring them to the state department, and it's really tough to get the State Department on the phone about this.

MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you very much, Brianna. Appreciate it.

We've got some breaking news here we want to bring to you. This is a story that we're just beginning to learn some of the details. There is an unconscious pilot who is on a plane in the Gulf of Mexico.

I want to bring in Chad Myers.

Chad, what do we understand -- where is this guy? What kind of plane? Is he alone? What do we know?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We know a single pilot left from Louisiana on the way to Florida. We're going to be very careful here. As we know, the people -- the family members, the loved ones of the pilot have not been notified yet. The plane is fogged over, iced over according to two F-15 jets that have been flying alongside this plane trying to contact the pilot, trying to say, hey, what's going on?

At this point in time, the pilot is unconscious. He's been circling -- the plane has been circling on its own over the Gulf of Mexico for quite some time.

We have a graphic. It's called GR-118, guys. We can put that on and show the circle. As it left Louisiana and went over toward Florida. The circle is on the bottom.

It's almost like a plane circling because the airport is closed. Just around and around and around. There you go. The pink circles there, around and around and around.

The pilot was doing great on the way to Florida and then some place somewhere in the middle of the flight became unconscious. Whether the autopilot wasn't on or whatever it was, but the pilot went up to 32,000 feet. It's very high for this plane. It's a Cessna, twin-engine Cessna and now it's getting close to the ground, only about 11,000 feet.

What we're hoping is there might have been an oxygen issue with this airplane and because the plane is still flying and getting below 10,000 feet, the pilot, if still breathing, could actually regain consciousness because there's now enough oxygen inside the plane for him to be breathing and get his wits back.

MALVEAUX: Do we know if he's alone in the plane?

MYERS: He's alone.

MALVEAUX: Are there other passengers?

MYERS: He is alone.

MALVEAUX: He is alone.

MYERS: We confirmed that from where he took off.

MALVEAUX: And they still believe there's the possibility he could wake up and --

MYERS: I believe that.

MALVEAUX: -- and land this plane on his own?

MYERS: The issue with this plane at this point in time, this plane only has about 10 or 15 minutes at most of fuel left. He's more than 10 or 15 minutes from any airport still being over the Gulf of Mexico. If he makes up, he's going to have to try to make an emergency water landing.

MALVEAUX: If he doesn't wake up, is there any way of rescuing him. You say you have those two fighters -- those planes that --

MYERS: There's nothing we can do.

A serious airplane, there's actually a parachute in some serious airplanes. This is a multi-engine, many seats -- eight or 10 people can get in this airplane. It's a big plane. It's a half a million dollar airplane.

It's a beautiful plane. Twin engines, you see about five windows on the side of the plane, and there's nothing that you can do.

It's almost like when Payne Stewart lost conscious because of oxygen. The plane just literally had to run out of fuel and hope it didn't crash, but when Payne Stewart's plane came down, it didn't come down gracefully. It came down in a ball.

MALVEAUX: Is three any way even if he doesn't regain consciousness and the plane goes down in the water, he could still survive a water crash?

MYERS: Yes, sure. Absolutely. You know, the plane is probably not upside down. It's been circling around and around and around going down. Not in a pinwheel, not a nose dive. Around and around and around.

And if it continues to do that and does not run out of fuel, then it could actually make a water landing on its own. The odds are not good.

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in our former colleague and also aviation analyst Miles O'Brien who is on the phone.

MYERS: Oh, great. Fantastic.

MALVEAUX: Miles, great to have you here.

MILES O'BRIEN, AVIATION ANALYST (via telephone): Good to be with you, Suzanne and Chad.

MALVEAUX: What do you know about what's taking place here?

O'BRIEN: Well, I'm a little new to the story but a Cessna 421, it's a light twin engine aircraft. The fact that it is circling is of interest to me.

If the pilot is incapacitated and the plane is holding altitude, we would presume it would also hold heading, which is what would be the case if you had the autopilot on. The fact that it is in a circle situation and still holding altitude is kind of interesting, but -- so perhaps it's not being controlled by the autopilot right now. It's hard to say.

It's possible that you can have the autopilot hold altitude but not heading. Unclear, of course, what the case is here.

There aren't a lot of options, frankly, for, you know, the F-15s in this case or whatever aircraft are going to be intercepting. It's not like the movies where they hop in the back and climb in the airplane and save the day.

Generally speaking, these kinds of things tend to happen in situations where for whatever reason there's a loss of pressurization or oxygen, and the pilot becomes incapacitated. At 28,000 feet, you don't have an awful lot of useful consciousness without support of oxygen or being in a pressurized aircraft.

And so we've seen this happen before. You know, what comes to mind perhaps most celebrated case is the Payne Stewart incident several years ago which involved a small business jet where there was some sort of decompression problem. I can't remember the exact details of it now, but the plane flew a good chunk of the country from Florida northbound before ultimately it ran out of fuel and crashed.

So it's not a very -- I wouldn't say it's a great survivable situation. If a pilot is incapacitated at 28,000 feet and he's alone, there aren't a lot of options for resuscitating him and getting him back flying.

MALVEAUX: Hey, Miles, I don't even know if this is possible, but is there a way you can actually key into the autopilot remotely? Is there any way anybody could take over control of the plane, the autopilot that's on now?

O'BRIEN: No. There's no way to do that on a typical plane. I mean, you know, obviously the military has all kinds of craft that it rigs up for remote control capability for target practice and so forth, but in the case of a Cessna-421 there's no way to do that. There's no capability.

MYERS: Miles, I remember you had a Cirrus. I don't know if you still do or not. Is there a way to do that remotely and operate the parachute in a Cirrus?

O'BRIEN: You know, it's interesting. I do still own my cirrus. And we had an incident with a Cirrus not too long ago where a pilot was -- the Cirrus is not a pressurized craft, so if you fly above 12,500 feet is exactly -- is the official threshold, pilots are supposed to be on oxygen.

There was a pilot in a turbo charged Cirrus which allows it to fly higher altitude but with oxygen, and he, in fact, ran out of oxygen, became incapacitated. The plane ultimately crashed, and a lot of us in the Cirrus community were saying, gosh, wouldn't it be nice if there were some sort of, if you will, a dead man stick on that airplane so the parachute would deploy if you became incapacitated.

But in this case, the Cessna 421, there's no parachute for the aircraft as the Cirrus has. So that's not even an option.

MALVEAUX: All right. We're going to take a quick break. We're going to follow this breaking news story. A plane in danger, a pilot unconscious in his plane over the Gulf of Mexico. We're going to have more after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Following a breaking news story, a plane in danger over the Gulf of Mexico -- a pilot who is unconscious. We know there were two fighter jets who were flying along who actually watched and saw the pilot was unconscious.

Chad, you've got some more information about what's happening here.

MYERS: When the F-15s pulled up alongside the plane, they found that the windows in the plane were fogged up. They were iced up. It could be from the inside or from the outside, probably from the outside because it was up so high. It was over 32,000 feet tall.

Now we just realized that the transponder is no longer transponding to our digital path. So, it's gone. The flight explorer quite aware, they all now believe the plane has landed. Landed is the keyword because it was nowhere near land. It was over the water. But the plane is not any longer transponding.

MALVEAUX: Do we know if the plane has crashed or do we think that -- it could have landed safely and the pilot could be OK still? Do we know?

MYERS: Possibly, it would be a water landing. The F-15s are very close and they will notify NORAD and they'll the authorities very quickly. We just don't know right now.

MALVEAUX: And we don't know what the state of the pilot is, but we know the plane is now down.

MYERS: The plane is not transponding any longer. That's all I can tell you. I don't know what that means. Power is out, transponder turned off, many things could do this.

But the most likely thing is that it's in the water.

MALVEAUX: So at this point, it would become a rescue mission?

MYERS: Correct.

MALVEAUX: OK.

MYERS: We hope and the F-15s know exactly where it is.

MALVEAUX: OK. When we get more information, Chad, we'll get back to you. Obviously, a story we hope he's OK but it doesn't sound good. All right. Thank you, Chad. Appreciate it.

Today, Americans everywhere, they're remembering the life and legacy of Dick Clark.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

MALVEAUX: Clark died yesterday after suffering a massive heart attack. He brought music to the masses with his hugely popular show "American Bandstand," and the show ran for more than 30 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CLARK, TV HOST: We presented over 10,000 musical performances on that show and included with practically everybody you ever heard of who ever made a record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: One of those 10,000 performances, Gladys Knight and the Pips. This is from 1985.

And joining us by phone a Gladys Knight herself, one of my all- time favorites.

It's just so wonderful even just to talk to you here. Tell us a little bit about your own recollections of Dick Clark. I understand you appeared on "American Bandstand" twice?

GLADYS KNIGHT, SINGER (via telephone): Yes. Good morning, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Good morning.

KNIGHT: It was quite a dream come true for us, you know? We were building our career, even during that time, even though we had started so many, many years ago, and Dick Clark and the "American Bandstand" was, of course, something we aspired to do, and we finally got that opportunity.

And when we got there, I was very impressed how, if humble is a good word that Dick Clark was even though he had a number one running show. And after that meeting the first time on "American Bandstand" and we did get a chance to come back. Our relationship grew, and I came to know him as the man he was, you know?

One of the most important things that I think we shared was he came to us when he was getting ready to do the American Music Awards, and we had gotten to be pretty hot by that time, and I think it was the Aladdin Casino, I'm not absolutely sure.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

KNIGHT: But we were performing somewhere, and he flew in to talk to us because you've heard people say how meticulous he is about his --

MALVEAUX: Right.

KNIGHT: That's how meticulous he was about the things that he produced and the things that he did. And we were nominated at that time for four American Music Awards.

MALVEAUX: Wow.

KNIGHT: And he did not want that show to come off without the artist that was, you know, nominated for four American Music Awards being there.

And somebody saying, well, unfortunately, they're not here tonight.

He made arrangements for us to be there, and we were so happy to do it. We did our gig, flew in, and did his and came back and the promoter was very happy to allow us to do that and that was the beginning of our relationship. And he used us in so many, many, many, many things after that, as well as being a friend and a confidant and very approachable. That's what I loved about Dick.

MALVEAUX: And, Ms. Knight, you talk a little bit about it was the '50s or '60s at a time when he really opened the doors to a lot of African-American performers and really put them front stage and bridged in some ways the racial divide during that time.

KNIGHT: Absolutely. Well, I'm very glad that he was able to see things like that, and you have to remember that, you know, there was another show that was coming along at that time, you know, called "Soul Train."

MALVEAUX: "Soul Train," you and I talked about that when Don Cornelius passed. That's right.

KNIGHT: Yes. And Dick is so observant, not that he ever at any time did not want African-Americans on the show, it just wasn't the layout at that time, you know? But he was brave, and he was forthcoming, and he started that progress as far as "American Bandstand" was concerned, and we loved it. We loved it.

MALVEAUX: We're watching video now of the two of you together, and you look absolutely beautiful and thrilled to be there. I want to ask you a little bit about, you know, "Bandstand" was back then, now you are "Dancing with the Stars." We have been watching, and you did a mean samba.

How are you feeling?

KNIGHT: Oh, my goodness, I mean, that is so hard!

MALVEAUX: You look good out there.

KNIGHT: I am having the best time. I am. I'm having the best time.

And I'm going to use this moment to thank all those people that have kept me on that show because I'm telling you, it's been the vote that has kept me there. So thank you, guys, for loving me like that.

MALVEAUX: Gladys, we all love you. Thank you for joining us and sharing your memories about Dick Clark. We really appreciate it.

KNIGHT: Thank you so much. He was amazing.

MALVEAUX: Thank you.

So what are your favorite Dick Clark memories? Watch me here on CNN for more on the story. Tweet me so you can get your thoughts @SuzanneMalveaux and like me on Facebook.com/SuzanneCNN.

A lot of talk lately about working moms, stay-at-home moms. Made us think about our producers on this show team who go home to their kids when they leave here, start a second shift as moms. So we sent a cameraman to see what their day is like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: CNN Depth -- the ongoing political debate over working moms versus stay-at-home moms. It's something every mom can weigh in on.

So, I decided to focus on the moms who work right here on my team with me.

We have three women who juggle motherhood and demanding careers here at CNN. My executive producer Tenisha Bell, my senior producer Katie Baratone, and producer writer, Brenda Bush.

Here is a day in the life. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TENISHA BELL, CNN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Good morning. It's way too early. Come on in.

I'm Tenisha Bell, and I'm an executive producer for CNN with the Suzanne Malveaux team, which means we get up pretty early.

Hello. Hi.

I am a working mom. I have a 15-month-old, Aidan Bell (ph), who keeps me busy.

I usually start e-mailing pretty early. It's already like 5:40 and I'm already sending my team out two e-mails.

Right about now is when I feel the guilt that most moms feel which is dropping their baby off, all day with someone else. Bye-bye. The first three months of dropping Aidan off down here, I probably cried coming down the street every day.

It's a lot to juggle, but I wouldn't trade it. I love it. I enjoy it. I have a great team at work.

KATIE BARATONE ZWERK, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: I'm Katie Baratone. I'm a senior producer for Suzanne Malveaux and I'm also a mom.

It's about 3:00 right now in the afternoon. I have been up since 3:45 this morning. Got to get up early and get ready to go to work, so I don't see Carter, my son, until now. I haven't seen him since last night.

So this is the best part of my day.

Can ma have a hug? Oh, thank you. Kissy? Oh, that's my boy.

Are you ready to go home and play?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes.

ZWERK: OK, throw it to mama. I got it.

In the midst of all this, I still need to be checking in with work. Since I last checked, I have gotten 50 e-mails, so we're preparing for the day tomorrow, which is --

UNIDENTIFIED KID: All gone.

ZWERK: It's all gone. Kind of a day in the life of trying to work and keep this guy happy and fed.

BRENDA BUSH, CNN WRITER/PRODUCER: I'm Brenda Bush. I have five children. I'm a writer producer at CNN.

You would think that by child number five, you would be ready to leave the house, but I remember going to work and feeling so guilty because I was still nursing her and I just didn't want to leave her, and by the time my work day ended, I was running across the bridge to the parking lot in tears and I was still nursing her so I was crying, I was just a mess, and I thought, I can't do this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn't ask for a better mother. I really couldn't.

BUSH: I work because I have to work. If I don't work, they don't eat, and they eat a lot.

BELL: I enjoy what I do. I enjoy being a mom. I enjoy being a wife. So it's just a matter of the balance.

ZWERK: I love these moments. I cherish these moments the best, right, booboo?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: Yes.

BUSH: I have five favorites.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: I love those women. They are amazing, amazing women. I admire them so much, what they are able to do to work here and then take it home and be the mothers -- the wonderful women and mothers and parents they are. So thank you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: -- much what they are able to do to work here and then take it home and be the mothers, the wonderful women and mothers and parents they are. So thank you.

What do you think? What is the toughest and most satisfying thing about being a mom? Watch me here on CNN, more for this story. Tweet me so we can get your thoughts @suzannemalveaux and like me on facebook.com/suzannecnn. I'm going to read some of your responses in the next hour.

President Obama tells a crowd he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Mitt Romney is taking it personally. We're going to hear what he said in response. Plus, who is on the short list to be Romney's running mate.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Time for the "Help Desk" where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Gary Schatsky is a financial planner and president of objectiveadvice.com.

Carmen Wong Ulrich is the president of Alta Wealth Management. Thank you for coming in. Gary, first question for you. John in Georgia wrote in that he wants to start a college savings plan for his grandson and he wants to know what his options are.

GARY SCHATSKY, FINANCIAL PLANNER: Great. Well, first of all, I'd add my son to that list so he can set up two.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMAEL: And my daughter.

SCHATSKY: You've got a lot of choices. First of all, the simple one is you can is set it up as a gift to minors type of an account. Of course, the downside to that is the child has access to it at either 18 or 21 in most states.

HARLOW: Whether they go to college or not.

SCHATSKY: Precisely right. But the interesting thing about that is the first set of interest dividends and capital gains will be tax- free, close to $1,000. So you can have each and every year have the money grow on a tax-free basis, which could be attractive, but you don't have control.

The other fantastic choice is a 529 college savings plan. Now, each state has these 529 plans. The beauty of them is the money grows tax deferred and if it's used for college, that he is no tax on the growth. And some states give you an extra tax incentive to participate.

HARLOW: All right, and Carmen, your question comes from Beverly in California. Beverly wrote in, we're going through a short sale. How can we prevent our credit score from imploding?

CARMEN WONG ULRICH, PRESIDENT, ALTA WEALTH MANAGEMENT: My dear, that may not be preventable, however, on your credit report it will be noted that it is a settled debt. So there will be a difference.

You will be able to show lenders in the future that this was not something you walked away from. You didn't foreclosure on the house. You didn't walk away from your debt. You actually got it settled.

So that's very important to understand because when it comes to buying a new home or getting a new loan, you're about five years more likely -- two years to get a new home if you short sale, probably five to seven maybe if you walk away.

So it looks better on your credit report. Your credit risk score will need to recover, but you know, the sooner you do it, the sooner it will recover.

HARLOW: All right, great advice. Guys, thank you. If you've got a question you want answered, send us an e-mail anytime to the CNN "Help Desk" at cnn.com

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Following a breaking news story. More about the plane that hit trouble over the Gulf of Mexico. I want to bring in Chad Myers. Chad, you have some more details on what is taking place now.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Just to kind of wrap this up for everyone. About four hours ago, a plane left Louisiana on the way to Florida. At some point in the middle of the flight, the pilot became unconscious.

We know that because the plane circles and circled for a couple hours. Finally now, it has been confirmed by the Coast Guard that is the plane is in the water. The plane did crash off the west coast of Florida.

MALVEAUX: I understand there were two fighter jets that were actually flying observing the pilot. Do they have any information in terms of his condition or how he's doing?

MYERS: I haven't heard anything about the plane, how it hit the water. If it hit the water gracefully, and that's possible, even without a pilot piloting it, but obviously coast guard on the way to figure this out.

The jets were scrambled and they looked at the pilot. They looked at the plane. The plane was iced over. They couldn't see in the windows. They tried to radio the pilot so they knew he was unconscious.

MALVEAUX: Do they have any idea what the plane looked like now? Isn't it in pieces? Is it solid?

MYERS: We don't know. All I can say is that, we were watching it minute by minute. We can watch every little dot where that plane is, what elevation, what airspeed. It appears that the plane ran out of fuel almost 20 minutes before it hit the water.

So it started to glide slope down and down and down and here's what happened to the plane. It was leaving Louisiana, here is flight explorer. It was spinning around. This is the history of what the plane was doing.

This is how the plane was circling around and it's not doing anything except circles in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. A lot like what you would do if your airport is closed for a thunderstorm. You would just sit and waste time literally.

Well, the pilot was not in control of the airplane at this time. The pilot was incapacitated. This plane was only doing what it could do, whether the pilot was slumped over the controls. The plane spun and spun and spun until it ran out of fuel.

MALVEAUX: The pilot was alone.

MYERS: That is correct. That has been confirmed from where the plane took off. We're being very careful. The loved ones of the pilot have not been notified yet.

MALVEAUX: And we still don't know the pilot's condition.

MYERS: Correct.

MALVEAUX: All right, Chad, thank you. Appreciate the update.

Silver spoons, the back and forth over money, wealth, and the role it's playing in the presidential campaign. Today, Mitt Romney fired back at this comment from President Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Michelle wasn't, but somebody gave us a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: You're going to hear Romney's response in just a minute. But first, I want to bring our political panel, Republican Rachel Compose Duffy of lagerforcatholicvote.org and Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons. Good to see you both here. Let's bring in how Romney responded to the president's comments. This is on Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, the president is really taking aim at anybody he can find these days. In fact, in my case I'm certainly not going to apologize for my dad and his success in life.

He was born poor. He worked his way to become very successful despite the fact that he didn't have a college degree and one of the things he wanted to do was provide for me and for my brother and sisters.

I'm not going to apologize for my dad's success, but I know the president likes to attack fellow Americans. He's always looking for a scapegoat, particularly those who have been successful like my dad.

I'm not going to rise to that. This is a time for us to solve problems. This is not a time for us to be attacking people. We should be attacking problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Rachel, I do want to start with you here because I want to understand, do we think that this is really going to be a very important issue for voters? Are they going to be paying attention to the life stories? How these two men got to where they are? Why is that significant?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think it matters because we're sort of living in this 99/1 percent framework or narrative that the Democrats have set, and I really -- I mean, Jamal is the communications expert.

But I would really encourage Mitt Romney to talk about all the great -- there are a lot of rich kids that end up being lazy and spoiled, and clearly this guy is a hard-working guy.

He learned a really great work ethic from his dad. I think these are all great things he can talk about. Nobody should be judged because their parents have money or don't have money. MALVEAUX: Jamal, it's not the first time that the president has talked about not having a silver spoon in his mouth. He outlined, laid out his life story in the 2008 campaign pretty clearly that he's from humble means. Do we think he's going to amp this argument up here? Is there any reason for him to do that now?

JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, Suzanne, I'm not sure the president was taking after Mitt Romney and his father. You're down there in Atlanta. I did a lot of work in the south and my friends down there would say it's the hit dog that hollers, the stuck pig that squeals.

If you're guilty and you know it clap your hands. I think Mitt Romney may be feeling a little pressure on this point that the president may not have intended to make.

In fact, if you go to the second line after the slip we showed, he starts to talk -- the whole point of this is making sure everybody else in America has the same kind of chance he and Michelle had and people in that audience had.

And that's the point I think the president is really trying to drive home. It isn't just about him and his wife. This is about making sure every American has a chance to do well and we all have to pull together for that.

MALVEAUX: All right, let's turn the corner here because this is always the fun game we love to play, the speculation about who is going to be the VP and Stephen Colbert had a good riff on this. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: Maybe Romney should go with something blander like a headless Joseph A. Bank mannequin or a rice cake or a heel of white bread. No, they're all too fascinating. Damn it. Who can Mitt Romney find who won't overshadow him? Wait! That's it! The perfect ticket, Romney/Romney's shadow 2012.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right, all kidding aside, there are some serious names being tossed around. We have Condoleezza Rice, Rick Santorum, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie among them. But the poll, the new CNN poll shows that is Rice on top with 26 percent followed by Santorum and then Rubio and Christie are tied at 14 percent. What do you think, Rachel?

RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY, BLOGGER/WRITER, CATHOLICVOTE.ORG: Well, look, Rubio, Paul Ryan, -- I'm their huge fan, but I really think that Susana Martinez, the governor of New Mexico is a more interesting and a better choice for the GOP than Condoleezza Rice, no offense to Condoleezza.

She's wonderful, but, you know, the governor -- Governor Susana Martinez hits a lot of demos. She's a woman. She's Hispanic and those are certainly demographics that we need to reach out to.

MALVEAUX: OK, so we're throwing another name in the race there. Jamal, that would be a pretty tough ticket, don't you think? Romney/Rice, I mean, how would Obama go against that?

SIMMONS: Well, you know, I think, first of all, I think Rachel is not wrong with her suggestion of Governor Martinez. The problem for Governor Martinez is Governor Palin. Governor Martinez is very new to the political scene so I think people may have caution about throwing somebody that new on the national stage.

But, you know, Condi Rice for policy perspective would make a very interesting choice, obviously also demographically. The question though is what is she like as a politician, which none of us really know.

It's very different. I used to work for Wesley Clark. I know how difficult it is to go from being a policy figure or a military figure into the political arena. It can be tough for Condi Rice.

MALVEAUX: All right, we're going to see how this plays out. I love that game. Jamal, Rachel, great to have you both.

DUFFY: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: The U.N. blasting Syria for not sticking to a ceasefire. Top diplomats, including Hillary Clinton, are in Paris. They are weighing in the next move. She spoke with CNN. We're going to hear what she thinks.

Also coming up, this weekend on CNN's "NEXT LIST" making pie in the sky dreams a reality in the world of architecture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Modern buildings have degenerated into these big, boring boxes, and all the quality that makes the space inhabitable is this onslaught of machinery that pumps air and light into the building.

So what we're interested in is what you could call engineering without engines. Essentially we use contemporary technology, our capacity to simulate and calculate the performance of a building, to put the attribute into the actual design of the building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Syrian cease-fire is not working. The U.N. says troops and weapons have not been pulled out of towns, as the Syrian government promised. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Wolf Blitzer and hinted that the Assad regime may one day have to answer for its brutal campaign of violence. But her first concern is putting an end to the killing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: If the Assad regime were to say, OK, we agree, we're going to do everything that Kofi Annan asked us to do, that would be our focus, not some future maybe unlikely outcome in terms of criminal accountability. What I'm interested in is, let's stop the violence, let's start the political transition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Ivan Watson is joining us from Istanbul in Turkey, where there are a lot of Syrians who are trying to escape the violence in their home country.

You heard Secretary Clinton and other top diplomats, they're at this Friends of Syria meeting in Paris talking about what the next move should be. We know that Russia says if Syria's not involved in this, this is actually going to hurt efforts for peace. What do we know?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, the Russians have come out and they've basically accused the organizers of these so-called friends of Syria's meetings of further destabilizing the situation within Syria and also kind of subverting the authority of the U.N. Security Council. And, of course, these meetings started up because Russia was kind of systematically blocking resolutions to put additional pressure on the Syrian regime. That's why these governments have come up with this side venue, which has basically become an anti- Assad coalition.

But what's interesting is that again and again at these meetings, the western governments, the critics of the Assad regime say, hey, this is your last chance, President Assad, and then they don't really do anything. And they've issued a number of last chances so far.

MALVEAUX: So no teeth there in some of those threats.

We know that they have called to send more monitors on the ground, but there are already U.N. monitors there. What -- can they do anything to stop the violence?

WATSON: That's right, the U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, Suzanne, he just called for a force of 300 blue helmeted, unarmed military observers to be deployed in Syria. Right now there is a mission there, but can you believe it's only six people? Six guys who have been in place for a couple of days this week. They have perhaps the most unenviable job in the world.

We've witnessed them going to the southern flash point city of Terat (ph) today. There are activist videos of them quite literally being mobbed by hundreds if not thousands of demonstrators desperate to get their side of this story out. These are opponents of the Assad regime. We've also seen fighting breaking out, Suzanne, at a previous patrol that they tried to do in the Syrian capital, where you had a panicked stampede when gunshots broke out.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, Ivan Watson, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

A nuclear muscle flex by India now puts another super power in arm's reach. We're going to tell you what the missile launch means for American security.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Officials in India say they are one big step closer to joining what they call the ICBM club. I want you to watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one. Now (ph) one, two, three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: It is a long-range missile. India says it can fly 3,000 miles potentially with a nuclear warhead on board. If India puts long- range missiles in the military inventory, it will join just five other countries with that capability. Michael Holmes is here to explain that.

We know that India's already a nuclear power.

MICHAEL HOLMES ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Why was this a significant development?

HOLMES: Well, it's all about the regional geopolitics. You know they see their big threat, obviously, Pakistan and India do not get along. They don't play nice. But China also India sees as a regional threat (ph), if you like.

Now the thing with this particular missile, it's called the Agni V that was launched off India's east coast. It took about 20 minutes to reach its destination, which was somewhere near Indonesia. Because it can fly this far, it can reach Beijing, it can reach Shanghai. It's a deterrent for China. That's what India is thinking.

Look at the range of this thing. It goes nearly to Tehran, if you want to go in the other direction too. It's a -- it was a very successful launch apparently. So this thing works.

MALVEAUX: And why would India be concerned with a long-range missile. It looks like it's common enemies are right next door.

HOLMES: Yes, like we say, Pakistan right next door. It is the China angle and the fact that China has plenty of these missiles. India would be joining a club that includes China, of course. You have China, Russia, France, the U.K., and, of course, the United States as well, who have this capability of long-range missiles that could be armed with a warhead, with a nuclear warhead.

It's about making China know that we've got something, we could strike back if we needed to. Now, India's got a very firm we don't shoot first policy. China, their reaction was interesting. They basically blew it off. I mean the Chinese state television said it was a historic moment for India. It shows that India has joined the club of countries that have their own ballistic missiles. And they also added, it does not pose a threat in reality, which is a lot of Indian saw it as a bit of a, you know, a bit of a shoo away. They're saying, yes, if you shot it at us, it wouldn't matter, because we could knock it down. So India is -- China was basically brushing it off and saying, yes, it's fine for them, they can join the club. Nobody's particularly worried. India's been a very responsible nuclear (INAUDIBLE).

MALVEAUX: Is there any reason the Obama administration should be concerned about this?

HOLMES: I'm sure they knew it was going to happen before it happened. And, as I say, India is a nuclear power anyway. This just is part of their -- what they see as their deterrent capability. And as I've said, they've got a firm, we won't shoot first policy, which has been in place for many, many years.

MALVEAUX: All right, Michael Holmes, good to see you.

HOLMES: Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: So you've been sending me your thoughts about the toughest part of being a mom. And there's still time to let us know what you think. Watch me here on CNN for more on this story. Tweet me so we can get your thoughts @suzannemalveaux and like me on facebook.com/suzannecnn. We're going to read your comments coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)