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239 People On Board Missing Airliner; Rand Paul Wins CPAC Straw Poll; Kerry Issues New Warming to Lavrov

Aired March 08, 2014 - 19:00   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto, in today for Don Lemon.

That commercial airliner is still missing a full day after it lost contact with the ground. In the past few minutes, we have heard from the U.S.-based company that says that 20 of its employees were on the plane. 12 were Malaysian and eight are Chinese. This statement from the CEO of Freescale Semiconductor in Austin, Texas, says, "At present, we are solely focused on our employees and their families. Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this tragic event."

It is daybreak now and the area where the Malaysian airlines flight had lost contact, the plane took off from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, with 239 passengers and crew on board. No wreckage has turned up, but one clue is giving searchers a bad feeling about this flight, several miles of oil slick have been spotted in the gulf of Thailand on the general flight plan that that flight was on and looks possibly like jet fuel.

CNN's Andrew Stevens is with me now in Beijing, the destination of that flight.

Andrew, with those families there, a gutting, painful moment for them, are they getting any new information? And has anybody from the airline used the word "crash" in their discussions with the families?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not so far, Jim. Malaysian Airlines is being very, very cautious of any linkage at this stage with that fuel slick that has been spotted by a Vietnamese reconnaissance plane and the actual crash of Flight MH-370. They're not linking the two. Malaysians are certainly not linking these two together at the moment.

But as you point out, having that sort of evidence in that region, does give a very, very worrying tone to the developments which will occur over the next few hours. What we do know is that two Chinese warships have been dispatched to that area. One of them is called a dock loading ship, and it is basically amphibious assault ships. It's one of the biggest ships in the Chinese navy. That's carrying a big medical team. It's carrying underwater detection. It's carrying divers and helicopters.

Now, the area where the slick is, it's actually quite shallow. It's up to 70 meters or so deep, which could make it more quick to discovering wreckage on the seabed there. But certainly the families of the passengers on that plane, 120 family members of passengers have gathered here in Beijing. There were 154 Chinese nationals on the plane altogether.

Malaysian Airlines is saying that their focused right now on very much not only seeing what is happening in that area of sea, but also on looking after the families of these victims.

Listen to what one of the senior managers at Malaysian Airlines had to say a couple of hours ago.

SCIUTTO: Sorry, Andrew. We don't have that sound. Maybe you can paraphrase what he said, as they are dribbling out information to the family members.

STEVENS: Yes, Jim, sure. Basically, they were saying that our priority very much is with caring for the families and doing whatever we can to help the families in this incredibly difficult and tough period they are facing. Malaysian Airlines has reached out to have contacted all next off kin of the 239 passengers on that plane. It has offered them the flights to either Beijing or to Kuala Lumpur so they can all be together.

Malaysian Airlines also said that if a crash site is identified, they will take the family members to that crash site to let them see with their own eyes where their loved ones may be resting. At this stage though, Jim, very little concrete information coming out. So, the day has just begun here, and the search gets ever more intense. We are waiting now for further details.

SCIUTTO: Well, such a difficult period there. You're right in the middle of them and seeing those families and part of it is just not getting information. Very hard. Thanks very much Andrew Stevens in Beijing, the destination, again of that missing plane.

Now, something unusual also has officials concerned about this missing flight. Two people whose names were on the passenger manifest were not on the plane at all. They say that their passports were stolen. That means two people walked on that flight with passports not issued to them.

We spoke earlier to our law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes. He told me that's definitely getting a close look now as investigators look into this flight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Jim, it's a very important issue to try to resolve of who used those passports to get on the plane and why. In a case like this, yes, it is too early to speculate. However, the law enforcement, and the intelligence community can't wait until pieces of the plane are recovered or the flight data recorder or the voice cockpit recorders are recovered and analyzed. And then a month, a year or two years from now decide, oh, guess what, it was terrorism, we better start looking at that. They need to look at every possible issue right now. MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER TRANSPORTATION DEPT. INSPECTOR GENERAL: We learned a lot of lessons and one, previous bombers and terrorists have traveled on foreign or fake passports -- not foreign -- but fake passports, including very significant bombers connected with the 9/11 terrorism, and also it concerns me where the plane was headed. I mean, I have gotten Chinese visas, and they are exacting and it takes time and it's not a bad process, but you don't up and decide to fly into Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

SCIUTTO: And the investigation into the flight is just beginning. Back here in the U.S., Senator Rand Paul is number one again at the Washington area gathering of conservative activists known as CPAC. The Kentucky Republican ran away with the straw poll for the second year in a row picking up 31 percent of the votes among conservative activists.

As you can see here, he was well ahead of the competition. Texas Senator Ted Cruz came in second, far behind with 11 percent. Dr. Ben Carson third, followed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Senator Rick Santorum and Wisconsin Governor Scott Warren (ph), both received just 7 percent.

President Obama spending much of the day on the phone today with his counterparts, talking about the situation in Ukraine. We'll get details from the White House about those calls, and what everybody is talking about at South by Southwest. The house that is being dubbed the home of the future.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

The Ukrainian crisis is getting more volatile with fresh rounds of bullying from Pro-Russian forces in Crimea.

Secretary of State John Kerry issued a new warning to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Kerry says Russia's continued military escalation, his words, may soon close any available space for diplomacy.

Earlier today, Lavrov insisted Russia was not militarily involved in the standoff.

In Crimea, masked troops seized control of a military office in region's capital, Simferopol. And President Obama called six world leaders today about the Ukraine crisis.

Erin McPike has more details on the president's calls.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While the president has been vacationing this weekend with his family in Florida, he is also traveling with deputy national security adviser Tony Blinken, so he can closely monitor the situation in Ukraine, and to that end, he placed calls to a number of foreign leaders this morning. He spoke with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and French President Francois Hollande.

And the readout of these calls was just as much about ramping up the pressure on Russia, as it was about providing assistance to Ukraine. Now, another important detail of the calls is that all of these leaders rejected the proposed referendum in Crimea for next Sunday that would allow Crimea to secede from Ukraine. They essentially said that that violates Ukraine's constitution.

Now, President Obama also held a conference call with the president of the three Baltic states, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, to reaffirm the United States' military assistance to that region. The United States has provided six U.S. fighter jets to the region right now. The leaders of those states are essentially concerned because they border Russia, and they're concerned about all of this activity.

Now, on top of that, Secretary of State John Kerry also called Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov today, and he said that if the provocation continues, then there is no room for a diplomatic solution.

The United States has remained optimistic about solving the crisis through diplomacy, but it's clear that the tension has been ratcheted up this weekend.

Erin McPike, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Well, "New York Times" columnist Nicholas Kristof is weighing in on critics who said President Obama's so-called weakness in foreign policy led to the current situation in Ukraine.

Rosa Flores spoke with Kristof and she joins me now from New York.

It sounds like he's pushing back against that argument?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He definitely is, Jim. Good evening.

Now, he is saying that all of this talk about President Obama's weaknesses leading President Putin to take over Crimea is unfounded. He said that the facts are just not there. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLAS KRISTOF, NEW YORK TIMES: There is plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize President Obama's foreign policy. In the case of Syria, there isn't really much of a policy. He has appointed some really weak ambassadors.

But in the case of Ukraine, it is not that his weakness led President Putin to do anything there. I think that the notion that somehow Obama weakness led Putin to seize Crimea is just completely unsupported by the facts. FLORES: And what about the response from the U.S. and also from European leaders? I know that will there is a lot of moving parts here, and the responses also count a lot, and how would you rate the responses?

KRISTOF: Well, you know, clearly much less will in the West to act than there is in Russia. Ukraine is something that Russia cares an awful lot more than the United States does or that Germany does, and a lot of the things that Europe in particular could do to make Russia hurt economically would also hurt Europeans. And at a time when the European economy is weak, they don't want to undermine their own economic prospects, and it would be great if we could see more German leadership on this issue.

I think that would raise the cost for Russia a lot more effectively than anything that we in the U.S. could do alone. I'm skeptical that Germany is going to show that much leadership for that reason, that it's looking after its own narrow economic interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, he also mentioned something else that really stood out to me, and that was -- he said it's not just practical for Crimea to join Russia, and, Jim, I had not thought about this, but he said, it is the little things that you've got to look at. And he said things like power, water, communications, and they all come from Ukraine, so what would happen if there was an annexation. He says it's a very interesting question, and, of course, we don't know the answer to that at this point in time, but he points it out as something that definitely would be considered.

SCIUTTO: No, a fair question and raises the question that you could have an effective takeover without a official takeover, and the Russians having so many troops there that they are effectively in charge, but they're not, you know, keeping the lights on, right?

FLORES: Right. Exactly. And what if you cut the lights or cut the power and the communication, and what happens there? That's one of the things that he raises the questions, and he says, you know, Ukraine has probably thought about that, but it would be the diplomatic thing to do, probably not. It would probably enrage the Russians.

And so, again, he says, definitely something to consider. We take those little things for granted, Jim, but you know that they are important.

SCIUTTO: Yes, we do. I mean, it is an immensely complicated situation there.

Thanks very much to Rosa Flores, talking to Nick Kristof of "The New York Times".

FLORES: You're welcome.

SCIUTTO: Back here at home, it's being called the home of the future. It brews your coffee, gives you the traffic report. It even tells you the weather outside. Next, the home that you wish you lived in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

The pregnant woman accused of trying to drown her children by driving her minivan into an ocean appeared in a Florida courtroom today. Eboni Wilkerson appeared in a bond hearing four days after this dramatic incident on Daytona Beach. She faces three counts of first- degree murder, and could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison. The judge set the bond at $1.2 million, since Tuesday, we learned Wilkerson checked herself out of a hospital before the apparent suicide attempt. Her sister urged her to seek help, worried she could be a danger to herself and her children.

Police in Pontiac, Michigan, say a tragic set of events is the reason a woman's body wasn't found for more than five years. A handy man eventually found her mummified body in a garage. She had her sister but they haven't spoken in years, her bills paid automatically, with the account of tens of thousands of dollars and didn't dry for years. A neighbor apparently also cut her grass, so the house was even kept tidy, too, while the mail went to the post office.

The police are treating the death as a possible homicide to help preserve the crime scene.

And wake up and you are home, and your home wakes up with you. Open up your eyes and the light turns on. There's no need to check for the weather, your home tells you what's it like outside before you even open the door.

Welcome to the home of the future.

CNN's Laurie Segall has a rare look at what a home connected to the Internet looks like -- Laurie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE SEGALL, CNNMONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: We are here at the South by Southwest. And the idea of this festival is to really talk about the technology of the future.

And a huge trend we're seeing is the idea that tech is moving beyond your smartphone and there are some very cool applications. We actually had an exclusive look at an Internet connected home. It sounds crazy. Check it out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to the home of the future.

SEGALL (voice-over): From the moment you step out of bed.

(MUSIC)

SEGALL: In this house, everything is connected by smartphone. It's owned by tech entrepreneur Matt Mullenweg, an investor in Smart Things, the company responsible for all the technology. (on camera): If your home is smart, what can you do? How does it know you're awake?

ALEX HAWKINSON, CEO AND FOUNDER, SMARTTHINGS: Yes. It senses motion or you can say good morning, by hitting the bottom on the (INAUDIBLE) and then opening it up, and then you can see the house sensing that the lights are coming on in the bedroom.

SEGALL (voice-over): And walk into the kitchen.

VOICE: We have started to brew the coffee for you.

SEGALL (on camera): And the coffee is actually brewing behind me?

HAWKINSON: Coffee is actually brewing now.

SEGALL (voice-over): How is your commute? Your kitchen lamp will tell you. Green means no traffic.

HAWKINSON: And you put in the commute pattern and it will check the traffic and tell you with this lamp to change colors based on the timing of your commute.

SEGALL: Your home can even tell you the forecast. Just open the door.

VOICE: The current temperature is 53 degrees.

SEGALL: SmartThings makes use of a hub almost like a router, once it is installed, you can download different apps on the SmartThings platform to control different devices.

HAWKINSON: Your home becomes programmable, in the same way you put apps on your phone, you can even install on the app what kind of coffee you want brewed in the morning.

SEGALL: It seems like something out of science fiction.

But it's just part of the morning routine for Matt.

MATT MULLENWEG, TECH ENTREPRENEUR: What I see happening in the sort of connected homes is that right now it's an expensive system and that's all being radically (INAUDIBLE) where now you can buy these little cheap devices, install it from your smartphone and it will be a platform for it.

SEGALL: The tech is also being used to keep your kids safe.

VOICE: The medical cabinet has been open.

SEGALL: And here's the cool one. Your connected home plays your music of choice when you step inside.

(MUSIC)

SEGALL: It's part of a larger trend of technology moving beyond your smartphone.

(on camera): It's almost like when you look at the app, you are texting with your home.

HAWKINSON: And yes, we wanted to make it intuitive. So, to make it easy, people are used to texting with each other, and we give your home a voice. We call it hello home, and you can say good morning and you can say good night and have it react around you.

SEGALL (on camera): This whole trend is called the Internet of Thing. It's fascinating. Now, I should mention, we are going live from the chaotic studios and essentially, this is an office space full -- I call them mad scientists. They're building out conversation starting technology.

So, if you take a look behind, there's actually a drone that has the ability to stun someone. We saw a demo of that. We're going to have that for you tomorrow.

You know, it sounds unbelievable, but the idea of South by Southwest is to have a conversation about the future, and, you know, what technology is going to be big in where we are headed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Well, if you have seen the movie "Her", it sounds very familiar. That's Laurie Segall down there at South by Southwest.

An unsuspecting homeless man and unlucky lottery ticket and a hidden camera recording the whole thing.

Next, an encounter that will bring tears to your eyes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Well, maybe it was a prank, but it was far from mean. Jeanne Moos has a story of how an unlucky lottery ticket may have changed homeless man's life forever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a story of a homeless man who got pranked with a losing lottery ticket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, today, I'm going to make him think he just won the lottery.

MOOS: But don't worry, he's still a winner. It is a good deed prank and this is the prankster.

Normally, Rahat (ph) is doing things like dressing up in a car seat costume so he can scare fast food workers as the invisible driver.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yo. Oh, my God, really?

MOOS: But instead of a laugh, expect a tear when Rahat pranks a homeless man with a good reputation who had been hanging around a Virginia shopping center.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't really have any money to give you. But I do have this winning lottery ticket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's cool, my friend.

MOOS: They head for a nearby deli to cash in the ticket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The store clerk is in on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guess what? You got $1,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're kidding me, right?

MOOS: As the clerk counts out 10 $100s -- the man stares at the cash, stunned into silence and then --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to share it, my friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, come on. That's all yours, man.

I was really thrown off because I did not expect somebody to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to share with you, big guy.

MOOS: When Rahat insists he keep all of the money, the camera mounted on Rahat's sunglasses catches the eyes of the homeless guy welling up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here.

MOOS: And when they were done hugging, it wasn't just the homeless man who had to wipe his eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get out of here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never never had a friend, has somebody do what you did back there.

MOOS: He was not aware that Rahat was recording everything.

(on camera): Eric the homeless guy now knows that there's a video. But what he still doesn't know is that the lottery ticket wasn't a winner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't want to really ruin the moment of him winning the lottery ticket. I wanted him to just like capture that moment, that memory.

MOOS (voice-over): Rahat says he's going to break it to him soon. Though most think the video is touching, some have qualms.

(on camera): Good deeds on camera or exploiting people as props, was the headline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not just going to give him the $1,000 and just walk away and say, hey, have a great day. MOOS (voice-over): Rahat set up a fundraising site for Eric. In less than a day, it totaled over $6,000 and counting. Eric didn't win the lotto but he did hit the jackpot.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Great story.

And how much money has been raised for Eric? The crowd funding Web site Fundly has totaled $29,000 in donations.

So, insomniacs, some good news for you. You've just got one less hour tonight before dawn. It is Daylight Savings Time. So, at 2:00, those clocks go forward an hour, spring forwards. So, if your phone alarm is set to go off at the same time every Sunday, and you wake up tired, you know why.

I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Please stay with CNN and CNN.com for the latest on that missing passenger plane, as well as ongoing developments in Ukraine.

Meantime, CNN "Spotlight: The Oscar Pistorius Trial" begins right now.