Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Search for Missing Airliner; Oil Slicks Spotted in South China Sea; Obama Names Key Calls Today on Ukraine; Interview with Garry Kasparov; Blade Runner Trial

Aired March 08, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thanks so much, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

All right. Don't forget, Daylight Saving Time starts tomorrow morning so set your clock back one hour tonight before you go to bed.

All right. We have much more straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM and it all begins right now.

Hello, again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Here are the top stories we're following in the CNN NEWSROOM.

An agonizing wait for hundreds of families whose loved ones were on a missing jet liner. We have the latest information on the ongoing search for the plane and the possibility that two passengers may have been using stolen passports.

And the crisis in Ukraine is heating up. Russia is accused of carrying out more aggressive bullying tactics against Ukrainian military. And European observers get another unfriendly greeting by the Crimean -- at the Crimean border, I should say.

And back here in the U.S., a mother seen driving her children into the Atlantic Ocean faces now attempted murder charges. Hear what she allegedly told her children during those terrifying moments and the disturbing revelations about her mental state.

First up, the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and new questions about the identities of two passengers on board. The Boeing 777 vanished not long after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday. It was headed to Beijing with 239 people on board. Most of them Chinese nationals. At least three Americans are among the passengers.

State media in Vietnam and China say the jet has crashed. But Malaysian authorities are not confirming that. Rescue crews from across the region are now searching an area in the South China Sea under darkness. Search helicopters and airplanes are also being deployed.

This is new video from those operations. A Vietnamese plane spotted traces of oil in the waters of that search area. Officials say the oil slicks are between six and nine miles long.

We have correspondents and analysts covering this story from all angles. Tom Fuentes in Washington, Jim Clancy in Kuala Lumpur.

Let's start with Rene Marsh, joining us by phone in Washington.

So, Rene, there has been some confusion surrounding the identities of two of the passengers. Malaysia Airlines saying that there is an Austrian passenger and an Italian passenger on board this missing jet, but Austria and Italy are denying that because of the issue of passports, one stolen or lost and possibly replaced.

Explain to us what's going on here?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (via phone): That's the big question that investigators have and it's something that people are really zeroing in on here. If indeed those passports were lost and stolen, were they reported lost and stolen. The authorities are saying that they were, so the question now becomes, how did someone get on board this Malaysia Airlines plane with these documents that should not have been valid.

This is a question that investigators really want to get to the bottom of and so how will they get to the bottom of this at this point? Because as I speak to you, this plane is still categorized as missing, Fred, so, you know, I spoke with one expert. He says one of the major points of access or points of information for investigators is going to be going back to that airport.

They're going to want to see surveillance video from these airports. Who went through that security line. Who got on this plane. Who was using that passport to get on to this flight if it was not indeed a valid passport. That will be a part of the investigation. We do know that from our correspondence here in the D.C. bureau, our national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, did reach out to the State Department and the U.S. officials.

They are aware of this and they say that they are looking into this issue, Fred. But this -- this investigation is going to be huge. It's not only about who are these two people who got on with these alleged, you know, invalid passports, but there's so much more to this. Not only going to want to know who was on the plane, but they're also going to want to know what was on the plane.

What kind of cargo was being carried in the belly of the plane. So they're going to want to want that cargo manifest. You know, was there undeclared hazardous material that may have caused an issue here? They're going to be working that angle while simultaneously looking at the maintenance records of this plane as well, Fred.

I mean, this is investigation is going to be so complex. You just mentioned off of the top, the search area, the rescue teams, they're focused on over the walker right now. So that's what will make this investigation --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MARSH: -- so very complex because they're search focus is over the sea. So much more complex that what we saw in Aseana, the most recent 777 disaster that happened in San Francisco. I mean, when you think about the geographic locations here, Aseana was on land. It was in the U.S. It was at an airport. It was not in a remote area. In a matter of hours, we saw investigators, they were on the scene and they collecting evidence.

But in this incident, you know, it's still a big mystery. They still haven't even been able to locate the plane or the passengers at this hour, so with the focus and if the focus truly turns out to be over water and if it turns out to be that kind of investigation, the tough task, Fred, is going to be finding the wreckage.

WHITFIELD: Right.

MARSH: They're going to need sonar equipment just to locate where this wreckage was. The most important piece of evidence is going to be what people often call those black boxes. The data recorders. There is no telling how long that could take. When you look at Air France Flight 447, that went down in the Atlantic. They did not find those recorders for nearly two years later. So that just goes to show how complex this possibly could be.

WHITFIELD: And so the difference in, say, that Air France flight when the depths, you know, were very great, whereas here in the South China Sea, if it did go down in the area that at least Vietnamese authorities seem to believe right now, it's much more shallow water. Detecting that ping in that plane might be a little bit easier.

Is it your understanding that, Rene, the reason why the NTSB would be involved in this because there are three Americans on board? Or is it simply the interest of any airline that would go down in any part of the world that the NTSB would want to be part of the investigation?

MARSH: Right, so, Fred, we were in contact with the NTSB yesterday and their official comment is that they're closely monitoring the situation. They haven't said that they are officially participating in the investigation. That being said, we do believe that they will be participating in that investigation.

Here's a -- there's a few things that come into play here. The airplane, the Boeing 777, it was manufactured here in the United States. So, you know, the NTSB would want to know exactly what happened here if it had something to do with the plane, they would have an interest in learning what factors here were as far as this crash goes.

Also, you know, I spoke to several experts who bring up the point that in this region, they may not necessarily have the same kind of resources that the United States have when it comes to investigating this sort of crash. So usually what would happen is the bigger country with the more -- with more money and more resources would step in to really be -- take a really prominent role in this investigation, so again, we do expect, although we haven't heard that a team has been sent there yet, we do expect the NTSB will be investigating or in some way be part of this investigation -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Rene. Let me bring in Tom Fuentes because, Tom, still perplexing and very interesting and mysterious is the issue of two passengers who would be on the manifest with names that match an Italian and an Austrian whose passports have been stolen or lost or missing for some time. So apparently, at least with the Italian, apparently, there have been some contact made to the person who has that Italian name.

Family members who say as far as they understand, that person is fine and actually traveling in another part of Asia but that that passport was lost or stolen in Malaysia last August and a new one had already been distributed to that passenger and were they able to freely travel now. So talk to me about the importance of if the names are on this manifesto and these people were able to get on the plane with the passport, with these names, tell me how concerning this is potentially to you.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Fredricka, that's just one aspect of many that are concerning. And, you know, so many simultaneous aspects of the investigation are going to go forward, such as what actually caused the plane to come out of the sky and crash. If it did crash into the ocean, did the pilot fly it into the ocean on purpose? Did it have a catastrophic mechanical failure that was not human error but just something wrong with the aircraft?

Was it sabotage? Was it an explosion? Was it terrorism? So that all is a factor for the plane itself. But in terms of the passengers, the authorities of many countries, every country listed as having a citizen on that plane, will be working together to verify the identity of every single person. So that means -- and the majority of the persons were more than 150 Chinese citizens, so there -- that will require a lot of work on the part of the Chinese to verify each person's identity that was listed as being on the aircraft as well as all of the other passengers including the Americans that were on that flight.

So identifying each person, identifying all the aspects concerning the aircraft except itself are very crucial. And so far no terrorist organization has risen up and taken credit that's been reported. So it still -- you know, again, it remains a very deep mystery concerning the people on that aircraft and the aircraft itself.

WHITFIELD: And so you see this as equal priorities. Of course, you know, finding the plane, finding out why it went down and then finding out why the manifest would have names of people who don't necessarily match the identities of the passengers.

FUENTES: Right. But they don't do one and then wait until that's completed and then do the next one.

WHITFIELD: It's all simultaneous.

FUENTES: This is all occurring simultaneously and it's being -- you know, it's bringing to bear the resources of every country in this situation that might have had someone on that aircraft including the United States, including China, including Malaysia, who would be a directly involved in this. And their crash experts as well, so the NTSB, because there are Americans on that aircraft, they typically get invited by the country that owns the aircraft to say, please help us, you have the resources and experience, expertise, please come here and work on this crash with our authorities.

Yet the Chinese probably doing the same thing. You have Boeing itself, the manufacturer, wanting to know what happened to their aircraft. You have Rolls Royce, who made the engines of that aircraft in the United Kingdom, they may want to participate and send their engineers.

WHITFIELD: Sure.

FUENTES: So this is going to be a multinational effort and it's going to be an extensive investigation to get to the bottom of this.

WHITFIELD: And a multi-pronged one at that.

All right, Tom Fuentes, thank you so much.

Meantime, we just got new video in showing the Vietnamese plane crew that spotted oil slicks in the South China Sea suspected to be coming from the missing Malaysian airliner. At least according to Vietnamese authorities. Reports tonight that the oil slicks are between six and nine miles long.

CNN's Jim Clancy is joining us live from Kuala Lumpur which is where this plane originated.

So, Jim, are you hearing anything more definitive as to whether this plane simply went off radar one hour or two hours after takeoff or was there a different time frame that's being examined now?

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that's the same time frame that's being examined right now. Very quickly that it seems to just disappear. And that has authorities here baffled, concerned, and of course, the families grief stricken.

We're at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It's behind me here. The families have been sequestered away from the media. They are awaiting word. Everyone is awaiting word. The CEO of Malaysia Airlines saying we're not ruling anything out here as they look at this.

Now this oil slick that -- two of them that have been reported, that came from Vietnamese search aircraft. And they indicated that they thought this might be typical for a plane like this one. And so they were making the presumption, if you will, that this was linked to the crash, that this could be the crash site.

Some 90 miles south of To Chu Island which is off the southern coast of Vietnam. That is a lead that is going to be obviously strongly pursued when daylight comes across this region in about five hours' time. They'll have more search planes up. They'll have vessels out in the water. They're going to try to pinpoint where exactly the plane went down. They don't know that yet -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: OK. And they're at the airport. You mentioned that there were a number of loved ones that are at a nearby location. What, if anything is being said by them about what they're hearing from the airlines or investigators? What is this like for them?

CLANCY: Nothing, you know. They are just completely smothered in grief. They have been left here for more than 24 hours. No word from their families. Obviously, hope is fading of finding this aircraft, their loved ones alive and well. They know that. They want some closure. They want some -- they want some answers that might help them to understand what has happened. Where their loved ones might be.

What is the possibility that they would even be able to recover their bodies. They don't have the answers to any of that.

And. Fredricka, perhaps the question that baffles the most, the one that they're asking themselves, the most difficult one that may never been answered is why -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jim Clancy, thank you so much. Keep us posted there from Kuala Lumpur.

All right. Making her first court appearance in the U.S., the mother charged with attempted murder after driving her van into the ocean with her children inside. We'll tell you what happened next.

And desperate families wait for that news about their loved ones on board that missing Malaysian airliner. More coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: New developments on the crisis in Ukraine. President Obama has been on a series of phone calls with European leaders this morning according to the White House.

Erin McPike is live for us now in Washington.

So, Erin, what do you know about these calls?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, what we do know is the president is vacationing with his family right now in Key Largo, but he is staying on top of the situation in Ukraine and he called this morning British Prime Minister David Cameron as well as the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the French President Francois Hollande.

Now the White House plans to issue a read out of these calls later in the afternoon, but what we do know is that U.S. leaders are looking for the support of the European Union in the event that they do need to press forward with sanctions against Russia.

Now, on top of that, the president also held a conference call with the presidents of the three Baltic states, the president of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Now this is important because the leaders of all of those Baltic states are concerned that -- the Baltic states, of course, border Russia, so they're concerned about the activity there.

We do know that the United States has six F-15 fighter jets in Lithuania right now for NATO Air Policing exercises and there's also been some discussion of sending troops and F-16 fighter jets to Poland. More on that, obviously, but the White House once they do give us the read out of those calls, we will bring it to you -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And what else is potentially next?

MCPIKE: Well, again, the White House is going to be releasing the read out of these calls later this afternoon. So we don't know yet what the next steps are. What we do know is that diplomatic talks right now haven't really yielded results so that's why they're looking at a variety of options.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Erin McPike at the White House.

All right. A former world chess champion is now an outspoken critic of Russia's Vladimir Putin. Has Ukraine become his new pawn? Garry Kasparov joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Today in Ukraine, a growing standoff over Crimea shows no signs of letting up. An unmarked convoy of about 70 military vehicles was spotted on a road leading through Crimea's capital city today. Crimean officials say it's believed to be carrying Russian soldiers.

Also today, military observers from Europe were not allowed into Crimea for the third time in a row.

All this is happening just a week ahead of a vote for Crimean independence from Ukraine. Russia's parliament has said it supports that vote.

While Russia's move into Crimea may have come as a surprise to many, it was no surprise to one outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. Garry Kasparov became famous in the 1980s as the world's youngest chess champion in history. But after retiring in 2005, he became Putin's most vocal critic and has faced persecution in Russia.

He's joining me now live from New York.

So you've been saying you don't think Putin is going to stop with Crimea. What do you suppose he's up to in your view?

GARRY KASPAROV, CHAIRMAN, THE HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION: Look, we have to state plainly that Russia, again, has invaded a sovereign country, an excellent territory. The first time Putin did it in 2008, de facto part of the territory of the Republic of Georgia. And I think that now if we follow Putin's remarks and statements issued by Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia -- Putin's Russia does not recognize the legitimate government of Ukraine in Kiev and Putin openly stated that Russia had legitimate, quote-unquote, "interests" in the eastern and southern of Ukraine, though this region showed no appetite of cooperating with Russia.

WHITFIELD: Talk to me about the fear Ukrainians or even those in Crimea have of Putin and would they acquiesce because of that fear? Would they simply give in?

KASPAROV: Look, Crimea is occupied now by Russian troops. And I think it's just a mockery. I don't think we can call it a referendum. Because referendum means that you will have both parties campaigning, presenting their point of views, having dialogue. But there's no dialogue at the point of a gun.

And just having 10 days, it offers no time even to prepare the proper ballots. So we all know the results and, you know, Putin's officials there very -- experienced in falsifying results from Russia and I think they will definitely use this experience in Crimea.

WHITFIELD: So, right now, the West is contemplating sanctions as its most powerful tool in this crisis. Putin keeps saying that he doesn't care about the West sanctions.

Can he be hurt by these sanctions or is it really an effort that will only kind of exacerbate this situation and perhaps he would want to then cut off gas supplies to Europe or even seize Western assets in Russia?

KASPAROV: OK, let's remember that pipelines, they were both ways. Putin sells gas to Europe but Europe pays. And Putin's economy, Russian economy today is not in a good shape and without revenues from oil and gas, it may last for two or three months, and then go belly up.

Also, talking about seizing Western assets in Russia, yes, I'm sure we're talking about billions of dollars, but on the opposite side, we have hundreds of billions of dollars allocated by First Russian Oligarchs but most important, Russian state companies, Rosneft, Gazprom, Sberbank and a Russian trade bank.

If worse comes to worst, the West has very powerful weapons to send Putin not just a message, but actually to create greater chaos in -- among Putin's ranks and files.

WHITFIELD: And there is a vote coming up in about a week, calling for a separation from Crimea. What do you think the outcome is going to be?

KASPAROV: We know the outcome because Russian parliament already announced annexation. So it's -- we should not only look on the March 16 as something serious as a day in transition Crimea from one sovereign country to another. It's (INAUDIBLE) because it's being -- de facto occupied by Russian troops and Russian parliament made no excuses by passing the law that will make Crimea the -- Russian territory.

But I expect that neither European Union nor the United States will ever recognize the results of this annexation.

WHITFIELD: And just on a personal note, you left Russia last year, correct? And do you ever see yourself going back?

KASPAROV: Yes. I'm sure eventually, I will come back, but today, I'm afraid one would retreat.

WHITFIELD: Garry Kasparov, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.

KASPAROV: Thanks for inviting me.

WHITFIELD: All right. And we're getting new information about who might have been on that missing airliner. The latest on the sear for that missing plane next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Here's what we know about that missing Malaysian airliner. The Malaysian Air Boeing 777 vanished not long after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday. It was headed to Beijing with 239 people on board. Most of the passengers are Chinese nationals. At least three Americans are on board.

Rescue crews from across the region are now searching an area of the South China Sea under darkness. Search helicopters and airplanes are also being deployed.

This is new video from those operations. Vietnamese planes spotted traces of oil in the water. Officials say the oil slicks are between six and nine miles long.

All right. Joining me now on the phone, aviation expert, Jim Tilmon.

Let's talk about these oil slicks on the South China Sea. What needs to happen next to find out if indeed those are markers that the plane went down there?

JIM TILMON, AVIATION EXPERT: Well, it's just -- Fredricka, that's kind of a simple matter of checking out those oil slicks and find out what kind of oil are we talking about. Is it GT4 kerosene or is it just some kind of other oil that came from some boats or whatever. That would first of all give us an indication of what kind of a slick it is. And, you know, you could end up with having oil slicks from almost any number of different sources.

The fact is there does present a real possibility. That we're hovering over the accident site. The thing is a puzzle of enormous proportions with all kinds of different scenarios that may be applicable.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So give us an idea --

TILMON: It's getting through a waiting game. WHITFIELD: Yes. When you --

TILMON: How soon and how sure can we be of what we're learning and it has to be absolutely horrible for the surviving families to go through this period, but there's nothing else we can do about it.

WHITFIELD: Right, so when you're dealing with something of this magnitude, help us understand how investigators go about trying to locate this plane. We know that one Vietnamese plane, you know, was flying over, had -- saw the oil slicks and has reported that information and these images, but what kind of apparatus, what kind of detail is being used here to try to ascertain the whereabouts of a plane that has simply vanished, when it would be premature at this point to just simply rely on the pings, but what are the other indicators and what kind of apparatus is being used to try and locate this plane?

TILMON: The wreckage will talk to us. It has pings, they call them, that will beep every so often. The only -- one of the only limitations to that is if this wreckage is in a trench of some kind and kind of buried in terms of direct line of sight, it may very well make a difference, but those things are very, very helpful.

And if you remember the Air France crash from some time ago out in the middle of the Atlantic. We learned a lot in making that search and everything else and I'm sure a lot of that technology will be put to use here in this situation.

WHITFIELD: Like what are some of the things that you recall that may have been learned from that Air France plane disappearance? It took two years before they were able to, you know, find larger pieces of the wreckage and piece together what happened.

(CROSSTALK)

TILMON: Well, one of the first things, I think --

WHITFIELD: But what was learned from that that could be applied here?

TILMON: One of the first things I learned from it is don't give up, I mean, because there were a number of times when some experts, what else, said, you know, this is a lost cause. We'll never find any part of it to give us information. But the folks that really were into that study really never faltered. They kept going and kept going and it was a very, very difficult search, but they did get the information they wanted to find.

So part of it is just being willing to pay the price of whatever it costs in order to get to the bottom of this thing. The instruments are very, very sophisticated. They are all kinds of submersible vehicles that can go pretty deep depths to study what's on the ocean floor. There are some very, very sophisticated diving equipments that can be brought to bear.

I mean I think we're going to be benefitting from some very, very fantastic technology to find the airplane where ever it is. WHITFIELD: OK. Jim Tilmon, thanks so much for your expertise. Appreciate it.

Also, overseas, riveting testimony in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial. What a security guard said that could hurt the case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Now to that dramatic end to a full week of testimony in the trial of Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius. He is charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. A neighbor testified she heard a woman scream for help, and then a man scream for help. That was before the witness heard gun shots.

And a security guard said Pistorius told him, quote, "Everything is fine," before carrying his girlfriend's body downstairs.

Kelly Phelps is a CNN legal analyst and with the University of Cape Town Law Faculty.

All right, good to see you, Kelly. So what do you believe was the biggest headline from this first week of trial?

KELLY PHELPS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, there were a number of memorable moments. I think, first of all, the fact that the states claim -- the defense claim is based on the fact that Mr. Pistorius sounds like a woman when he screams. And I think the first time this was heard in court, people reacted that it was quite implausible, but then you had the second witness, the neighbor, Estelle Van Der Merwe, that come on the stand and actually, although she was testifying for the state, she said in part of her testimony that she heard a woman screaming.

She asked her husband to check who it was and he came back and said it was Oscar Pistorius. And she said, oh, I thought it was a woman screaming. So already seem to be these competing versions of events managing to gain some traction in the court.

WHITFIELD: So what would that mean? What would be the interpretation of these kind of details from the eyewitness or ear witnesses?

PHELPS: Well, it's important because it plays into the two opposing versions of events that are being put forward. The defense have always argued that Mr. Pistorius himself was hysterical in the aftermath once he realized what had happened and what had cried out for help and we've seen some of the state witnesses attest to having heard a man's voice crying out for help.

On the other hand, that states are claiming that there was a fight, a heated fight, and that Mr. Pistorius took the decision to kill Reeva Steenkamp in cold blood. Now if her voice had been heard screaming for help then that would start supporting the state's version of events, so this issue of the pitch of his voice and whether it was indeed her voice or his voice is really a crucial piece of evidence in sorting out these different versions. WHITFIELD: And then there's also the issue of the security guard who had testimony speaking to Pistorius saying everything is fine. And then moments after that, carrying the body of Reeva Steenkamp. But that doesn't seem to compute either.

PHELPS: No, and certainly, I think the security guard was the strongest state witness so far. The defense will no doubt continue their cross-examination of him on Monday because they need to gain some traction with his testimony, but it remains to be seen. There is some contradiction there. Yes, he said Mr. Pistorius said security, everything is fine, but in the same breath, he also said that he could hear Pistorius was crying on the phone. So we still haven't quite worked out what the circumstances of that were yet.

WHITFIELD: OK. Kelly Phelps, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

All right, next, more coverage on the search for that missing Boeing 777 over the South China Sea. And why the investigation is turning to stolen passports?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Happening right now, the search is under way for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The Boeing 777 vanished not long after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday. It was headed to Beijing with 239 people on board, most of them Chinese citizens. At least three Americans were among the passengers.

State media in Vietnam and China say the jet has crashed but Malaysian authorities are not confirming that yet. Rescue crews from across the region are now searching an area out of the South China Sea and the Chinese government has sent a diving and salvaging team off the coast of Vietnam.

Search helicopters and airplanes are also being deployed. A Vietnamese plane spotted traces of oil in the waters over the search area, and now there have been some questions about just who might have been onboard this jet. Italian Police say one man listed on the manifest who did not board the flight had his passport stolen last August in Malaysia.

Let's go now to Jim Sciutto, our chief national security correspondent who is on the phone with us.

So, Jim, about the stolen passport. Questions and concerns are now arising from it?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No question. You know, from the beginning it raises questions because a plane disappears in the skies, on its ascend, or near the end of its descent without any stress -- without any distress call. It's early, though. So whether mechanical or another explanation, you're not going to get any definitive answers now.

But certainly you have two passengers onboard. One -- one using an Austrian passport, another using an Italian passport. We're hearing from Austrian and Italian authorities that the two passengers identified on the plane were not on the plane, that they're safe and sound back in their home countries or traveling elsewhere, and they reported that the passports had been stolen. So there were two passengers on that plane were traveling with stolen passports and that raises questions. Why would you be traveling under a false identity?

You know, it's too early to say if there's a nexus to terrorism. I spoke to U.S. -- officials today. They said they're aware of those reports of false or stolen passports. They're tracking them, they say, at this point. And I'm quoting from this intelligence official that there's no nexus to terrorism but that is by no means definitive so it's certainly a path, an explanation that they're exploring.

WHITFIELD: And I spoke with, you know, Tom Fuentes, formerly of the FBI earlier and he says all of these, I guess, arms of this investigation will be taking place simultaneously. Trying to figure the whole passport discrepancy, trying to locate the plane, trying to discern whether the oil slicks that the Vietnamese authorities say they saw is indeed a marker for where this plane may have gone down.

To what extent will U.S. authorities try to be involved here, in not only trying to figure out this whole passport discrepancy, if that really is a factor here, you know, in addition to trying to discern where this plane is? What happened? How it fell out of the sky?

SCIUTTO: Well, they're certainly be involved on a number of levels. One, it's a Boeing airplane. So Boeing -- the company is going to be involved, to look and see, to share information if there was anything mechanical. They're going to know the plane best. So they will be involved.

And then from a government -- from an official perspective, the U.S. has a number of cooperative relationships when it comes to terrorism where countries in the region. There are in the region terrorist threats, Malaysia, Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, al Qaeda groups, there have been previous plots in Asia.

So you have cooperative relationships with these countries and the U.S. would certainly be offering help and in tracking reports and helping to investigate. And so that's the way they would be involved. But clearly, the leadership will come from Malaysia. The Malaysian flagship airline -- state airline and it crashed off the waters of Malaysia and Vietnam, so they would be leading and of course most passengers, Chinese.

That said, there are Americans onboard. So you also have a U.S. government interest, the U.S. State Department interest in the safety of Americans who are living abroad.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jim Sciutto, thanks so much for your insight. Appreciate it.

All right. Meantime, "CHICAGOLAND" is CNN's newest original series and it's quite riveting. One man featured in the film has a reputation for lowering violence, but can he do that in the deadly streets of Chicago? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. We're just moments away from a look at "YOUR MONEY."

CNN's chief business correspondent and host of "YOUR MONEY" Christine Romans is standing by in New York.

Christine, what's on tap?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. The legal marijuana industry has too much money and nowhere to put it. I'm going to tell you why the big banks so far are just saying no.

Plus, your exclusive look inside a house that would make George Jetson jealous. That's all coming up next on "YOUR MONEY."

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Christine Romans. And we'll be watching.

All right. We'll have much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM coming up at 2:30 Eastern. Meantime in CNN's newest original series "CHICAGOLAND" we get a chance to witness a city undergoing some pretty tough changes.

Fighting for a safer Chicago is Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy, who Mayor Rahm Emanuel brought from New York. McCarthy says the city's gun violence is bad but it's getting better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY MCCARTHY, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: My biggest issue in Chicago is dealing with gangs, guns and the press. It's not cultural change in this department, it's not acceptance as an outsider. None of those things. They all pale in comparisons to those challenges right there, and the media, they keep talking about the rising toll of gun violence in Chicago while the numbers are going in the other direction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While the press continues to focus on Chicago's violence, there's actually been a decline. In 2012, there were 161 murders in the first quarter. In 2013, there were 93. That's more than a 40 percent reduction.

MCCARTHY: We're taking a more holistic approach to crime reduction here in Chicago that I think has been done in most places in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you trying to achieve?

MCCARTHY: I'm trying to save the world. Can't you tell?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That, too, but --

MCCARTHY: Yes. Well, right now I'm trying to save Chicago. So here's --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to save Chicago? Any particular part of Chicago?

MCCARTHY: All of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. You can watch "CHICAGOLAND" right here on CNN tonight at 8:00 Eastern Time, 7:00 Central.

And we're closely following the disappearance of that Malaysian jetliner and will have the latest at 2:30 Eastern Time and we'll also show you the home of the future. Everything from brewing coffee to planning your commute to work and maybe all of it run by your smartphone.

Then in the 3:00 Eastern hour of the NEWSROOM a professional prankster pulls a stunt on a homeless man that drove him to tears of joy. This story will make your day, too, and maybe you need have hankies handy.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "YOUR MONEY" starts right now.

END