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Mother of One Passenger Suffers in Silence; Lawyers Ready to File Suit Over Missing Jet; Four Weeks Now Since Jet Vanished; Letterman's Leaving

Aired April 04, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Now in the mystery surrounding Flight 370, it is the one thing that we know for sure. The words spoken in the cockpit before the plane disappeared from radar. A transcript of those remarks released earlier this week.

But today, Malaysian officials have denied a request by families to hear the audio. They say it is part of the ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, Australia says it will continue the search for as long as there is hope of finding the aircraft. Today that hope rests on this ship, "The Ocean Shield" it's called and the pinger locator right there that's aboard this is hunting for the plane's black boxes.

Now the chief saying his focus remains on the aircraft and that reports on criminal investigation are not relevant to his team's work.

Let's talk more now about Malaysia's decision to deny the family's request to hear the audio. Mary Schiavo is CNN aviation analyst and also the former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation and Tom Fuentes is CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director.

Tom, to you first. Does this make sense to you? They've already released the transcripts. How would releasing the actual audio hinder the investigation?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning Brianna. I think the -- you know the -- I think of it is that there might be something, a noise heard or a click or something that might cause people to believe that the cockpit door opened and closed or -- or there was an alarm was going off or something else that was going on that you know that they don't want the audio heard at this point. And they may never want it heard. We don't know that yet.

KEILAR: Is that what you think, Mary? That no matter what time that is on this audio, it's just going to prompt rampant speculation?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Not at all. In the United States, we have two different recordings that are very common in the aircraft. One is of course the cockpit voice recorder which we don't have here which one of the black boxes and black box and then of course air traffic control tape which is what these are. We take the position that air traffic control tapes are public, because it happens over the public air waves. And you can get them.

You can FOIA them and here they go online almost immediately. And I don't think that it's the kind of you know, the kind of detail and the kind of sounds et cetera that you would hear in a cockpit voice recorder. And so I think it's really unreasonable to deny it to the family members. And I can't imagine that they would be able to hear the kind of details they are discussing, I think they are just keeping control on the investigation.

And of course it's you know it's their investigation. They can do that. But it would never happen in this country.

KEILAR: Do you see it that way, Tom, when you're seeing the difference between perhaps how the U.S. or other countries would handle this. Malaysian officials have already had such delays, been criticized for how they've handled this. Is this just kind of another one of those things?

FUENTES: Well, it is and Mary is exactly right. It wouldn't be handled that way in this country. The recordings would be released very quickly. Everyone would be able to hear what's going on. But there are -- there are a lot of aspects of this criminal investigation part of it and the aviation part for that matter that they have not released that we might have released much sooner to our public.

So it is a different system. They have a different philosophy, if you will, of how they are going to release information and different legal requirements. And you know they are not used to this. And unfortunately, over the years, we have developed how we respond and how we handle releasing information to the media in this country.

And as Mary points out, we have freedom of information act.

SCHIAVO: Yes.

FUENTES: And the government knows, it is going to have to release it pretty soon anyway. So go ahead and do it.

KEILAR: Yes and even you see this in some of American airlines for instance practices a buddy system where you always have a couple of people in the cockpit. I know that's more of a frequent practice here. Not so much obviously not the case when it comes to Malaysia Airlines.

Mary, when you listen to Angus Houston, who is heading up Australia's search efforts, he has said that criminal investigations aren't relevant to the search. Does that just tell you that no matter what the cause here, the recovery mission is the same or should we read something else into that.

SCHIAVO: That's right. No I think that's exactly right. No matter they believe the cause is and it's actually helpful I think to the investigation that Australia is not accepting, you know buying into or denying either it's a criminal cause or not a criminal cause.

I think it helps to give the world reassurance in their focus. Their job is to search you know, as the Australian Prime Minister said, until hell freezes over and find that wreckage in those black boxes. And I think if anything, it boosts their credibility. We -- we look at Angus telling us that. And we say yes he's got one mission and he is going to do it.

So I think it's a wise decision to say that.

KEILAR: Yes one mission: find it. Mary Schiavo thank you so much.

SCHIAVO: That's right.

KEILAR: Tom Fuentes thank you. We really appreciate it.

Now after four weeks, the families are still suffering from the weight and the lack of answers here. But one mother endured an additional layer of suffering -- the suggestion that her son might have had something to do with the jet's disappearance.

CNN's Sara Sidner spoke exclusively with that mother and she is joining me now. Sara what did she tell you?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Brianna, you know how the other families are frustrated with the information. But at least they are getting the information, those who are in Beijing and those here in Kuala Lumpur. This mother cannot be here and she's hearing nothing and the waiting and watching is killing her she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER (voice over): This mother is tormented by the words she saw used in conjunction with her son -- terrorism and suspect. She has asked us not to show her face for fear her family will be harassed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son isn't a bad boy. He wanted to study. He wanted to work and he wants to be free.

SIDNER: Her eldest son is Pouri Nour Mohammadi initially suspected in the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-370. The Iranian teenager and his friend managed to board the flight with stolen passports. Investigators later determined they had nothing to do with the flight's disappearance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought maybe they caught him in the airport.

SIDNER (on camera): Were you hoping they had caught him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

SIDNER (voice over): It turns out Nour Mohammadi was trying to leave Iran quickly to be with his mother who has cancer. She needed his help. Because he is 18 years old, she couldn't bring him to Germany legally, where she is awaiting refugee status along with his younger brother. So Pouri decided the quickest way to get to his mom was to use a stolen passport.

(on camera): Did you think that you were going to die? Is that why you wanted him with you and he wants to be with you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. That sickness reminds me, we have short time, short time.

SIDNER (voice over): Shorter than she could ever have imagined.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To lose your son is hard for every mother. But I'm here alone.

SIDNER: She can't travel to Malaysia to be close to the investigation and information like the other families of passengers aboard MH-370. She is also still undergoing cancer treatment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These three weeks was more difficult than the rest of my life. I need to know what happened.

SIDNER: After reading our story about her eldest son online, she decided to speak to us via Skype.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt that you understand me. I felt you near me. I appreciate you.

SIDNER: Thank you.

A mother with no support system at home crushed by the burden of waiting to find out what happened to her firstborn son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: She says no one has contacted her. She has received no information, for example, from Malaysian Airlines. Malaysian Airlines saying they have not contacted her. And she feels deeply hurt. She feels that nobody cares about her -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Sara Sidner -- thank you so much.

Now still to come, lawyers are fighting for the chance to represent these families of those on board Flight 370. Jean Casarez is following the complex case -- Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The families wait. They wonder. They have no answers. But something new has entered into the equations, the lawyers. We'll have more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: When the families are ready, there is no doubt that many will fight for financial compensation. And already, teams of lawyers are waiting in the wings. They are gearing up to go after the airline and other companies who may have played a role in Flight 370s disappearance. Jean Casarez is joining me now with more on why this case is so complicated. Jean how are you expecting this will play out?

CASAREZ: Oh well it already has started to play out. You know it's so complicated emotionally. But it's also very complicated legally. And think about it you've lost someone that you are close to -- in the blink of an eye, they are gone. And then a lawyer comes up to you and says look, I can launch an investigation. I can get all the answers and I'll only take one-third of any moneys you recover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ (voice over): The images are heart-wrenching. Families of the missing slowly coming to terms with what is beginning to seem inevitable.

MD NOR YUSOF, CHAIRMAN MALAYSIA AIRLINES: We must now accept the painful reality that the aircraft is now lost.

CASAREZ: But there is also another group on sight waiting anxiously -- the lawyers, ready to scoop up clients and begin the long battle for financial compensation.

JUSTIN GREEN, AVIATION LAWYER: Right now, in Malaysia, in China, the families are being misled by some very unethical U.S. lawyers.

CASAREZ: Attorney Justin Green has tried aviation cases for 17 years. Green says he is aware of multiple U.S. law firms who are in Asia right now soliciting families from Flight MH370 earlier than United States law and ethical rules would permit.

GREEN: These lawyers launched within days, maybe even hours, of a crash -- ambulance chasers, in essence. But they are ambulance chasers on a global scale.

CASAREZ: How high are the stakes: a possibly limitless windfall of millions, perhaps even billions of dollars in cases that could potentially be brought against Malaysia Airlines and Boeing, among others. But a legal victory is by no means guaranteed.

(on camera): And there are many legal challenges that grieving family members may not understand. They can recover some moneys $100,000- 160,000 with a death certificate but to really be compensated, they've got to show airline responsibility for the disaster. Where is that evidence? And for the manufacturer of Boeing, the same thing, what evidence shows their wrongdoing?

(voice over): In fact, one firm already initiated a suit in Illinois. The judge threw it out as improper and warned attorneys not to do it again.

GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST: These families don't have closure.

CASAREZ: Psychiatrist Gail Saltz, says the lack of answers makes grieving relatives especially vulnerable.

SALTZ: So if someone comes in and says, well we have someone to hold accountable right. We're going to -- we're going to hold the airline accountable or this country accountable and we're going to sue them and punish them for what happened. That unfortunately is very appealing to anyone who is struggling with, you know, I want someone to be responsible for this. I want to blame them and I want them to pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Dr. Gail Saltz tells me that families really have to mourn right now. They have to accept the loss and understand the loss that they shouldn't make any major decisions that have to do with money. And that the statistics also are that they should wait one year actually before making any major life decisions, which would include a lawsuit. And under the Montreal Convention, Brianna they can have two years before they file suit.

KEILAR: Yes way to hear that sounds like very good advice Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

Now still to come, planes and ships aiding in the search for the debris from Flight 370 as the search for the black boxes goes under water now. Martin Savidge is live with Mitchell Casado in the flight simulator.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna, yes one question being asked. Why no debris? Is it possible a jumbo jet can go down without creating a massive debris field?

We'll show you one possibility coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Nearly a month now into the investigation and still no credible signs of where Flight 370 might be. Investigators have yet to find any debris from the plane. But the chief coordinator says that it is still a possibility that something will surface during the search.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGUS HOUSTON, CHIEF SEARCH COORDINATOR: I think there is still a great possibility of finding something on the surface. There is lots of things in aircraft that float. I mean, in previous searches, life jackets have appeared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But what if the plane did not break apart, allowing things to float?

CNN correspondent, Martin Savidge and pilot, Mitchell Casado, joining me now from inside a flight simulator in Canada. What do you think about this, Martin? Is this a possibility?

SAVIDGE: It is a possibility to a point, Brianna. I mean I think a lot of people believe that when a 777 runs out of fuel as 370 is though to have done that it simply would nose dive into the ocean far below and create this huge debris field.

Let me show you one example. We will have Mitchell shut the engines off and in this way give us the indication of a fuel running out from the airplane. You do that by simply using the fuel cutoffs here. As a result, the engines -- there are only two on this aircraft, one in either wing. Begin to shut down.

Mitchell, you can point this out so we can see on the radar.

MITCHELL CASADO, PILOT TRAINER: All these numbers decreasing here. This means the engines are winding down.

SAVIDGE: So it seems that we don't have any power. And of course, without power gravity takes over. And here's the part I want you to take note of is the fact that even without engines, we have turned off the automatic pilot, but we are one huge glider and not unstable at all.

Mitchell is not touching the controls. I'm not touching them and there is no automatic pilot that is flying this aircraft. It is built to be stable even without power, even as a glider. Even though we are still descending and we are -- I mean there is no way to avoid that.

CASADO: Gravity is pushing us down. It is inevitable.

SAVIDGE: So we are going to hit the ocean but don't think of it as that it's a nose dive or that it's some wild turn down into the water. It could be a gradual descent. But here's the thing, what happens when we get down to the water if there is no one controlling the aircraft?

CASADO: You know the idea with this thing is you always want to have the minimum descent rate -- very shallow rate of descent. And if no one is controlling the plane, we are going to hit at 22,000 plus feet per minute and that's very violent.

SAVIDGE: It's deeply devastating.

CASADO: Yes.

SAVIDGE: But it wouldn't be just this sort of dive from altitude. Instead, it would be more like a tumble. That could explain possibly why there isn't this dramatic debris field. It would still be tragic for the passengers on board but it may not create this massive field of leftovers from a demolished aircraft. So that's one theory -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, really could just be even a needle in a haystack.

Martin Savidge, Mitchell Casado -- thank you guys so much.

Now, we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Say it isn't so, Dave. The comedian who rewrote the script for late night TV has now composed a swan song. David Letterman announced last night that he will retire from CBS "The Late Show" sometime in 2015. CNN entertainment correspondent Nischelle turner here to celebrate the legend of Letterman. It's kind of sad Nischelle.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I know. I hate to be Debbie Downer, Brianna but it is so. He is retiring. He announced it matter of factly like Dave does, with a little of slick humor thrown in. But he did say in all seriousness that he and Les Moonves, the head of CBS had talked about this before and Dave felt like now is time to start winding down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: It's been great. You've been great. The network has been great, but I'm retiring.

PAUL SHAFFER, CO-HOST: This is -- really?

LETTERMAN: Yes.

SHAFFER: This is -- this is -- you actually did this?

LETTERMAN: Yes, I did.

TURNER (voice over): The latest late night shakeup. David Letterman, late night television's longest running host surprised his audience Thursday night by announcing he's signing off next year. After 33 years, the 66-year-old host is retiring when his contract expires in 2015.

LETTERMAN: Thank you. Thanks to everybody.

TURNER: The surprise announcement comes less than two months after his new top-rated competitor, Jimmy Fallon, took the reins of NBC's "Tonight" show, at times nearly doubling the late night veteran in ratings.

JIMMY FALLON, TALK SHOW HOST: I'm Jimmy Fallon and I'll be your host for now.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Letterman still had an impressive audience every night at CBS. But he wasn't creating lots of new fans all the time the way that somebody like Jimmy Fallon is.

LETTERMAN: Portions of Indiana at one time yesterday were under a flash flood warning.

TURNER: Letterman started off as a weather man in Indianapolis. He launched "Late Night with David Letterman" on NBC in 1982 following "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" -- Letterman's idol.

Always the heir apparent for when Carson retired Letterman was stunned when NBC instead chose Jay Leno, sparking a rivalry that spanned more than two decades.

BILL CARTER, REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": They never told Dave that they had made this deal with Jay. And it was a huge blowup because Letterman felt like they stabbed him in the back.

TURNER: Letterman's heated departure from NBC led to the creation of "The Late Show" on CBS in 1993 taking Leno head on.

LETTERMAN: How are things at the White House -- OK?

TURNER: For 21 years he's been hosting stupid humans, pet tricks, singers, and some of the biggest stars.

LETTERMAN: You thought I was an --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

TURNER: And delivering his signature top ten list.

LETTERMAN: Look at, it's the top ten list. Let's go.

TURNER: But it hasn't been all jokes. He took us through life changing heart surgery in 2000. His first show after the 9/11 attacks serving as a key moment to help Americans move forward.

LETTERMAN: If you didn't believe it before, you can absolutely believe it now. New York City is the greatest city in the world.

TURNER: Through all the ups and downs, Letterman continued to do what he loved, his run behind the desk eclipsing Johnny Carson's 30-year reign on late night -- truly an end of an era.

LETTERMAN: I said when this show stops being fun, I will retire ten years later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: And that's Dave. I love seeing those old clips, though. Everybody might be wondering, Brianna, you know, who is going to be his successor? Some people might think Craig Ferguson, because he hosts the late, late show after Letterman. That would be the easy choice. But there are a lot of industry folks that aren't really sold on the fact that he can carry the franchise against a Jimmy Fallon or a Jimmy Kimmel.

Other names that have been thrown in are Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert. I say, what about the ladies? I don't think it's a coincidence really, Brianna, that Chelsea Handler just announced last week that she is leaving E! when her contract's up in nine month. And there are many people that believe she's a little too blue or risky for broadcast television.

KEILAR: Yes.

TURNER: And that is actually watered down what her go-to humor us. But hey, you never know -- maybe.

KEILAR: Making herself available maybe. And real quick, Nischelle, what about the West Coast's love for late night? What about moving it to L.A.?

TURNER: Yes, you know, L.A. wasn't happy when Leno retired and "The Tonight Show" came back to New York because it lost a lot of jobs. It lost a little bit of prestige. So Mayor Garcetti, Eric Garcetti yesterday sent a letter to Les Moonves and said, he is sorry that Dave is retiring but when you make the replacement, how about bringing the show back to L.A. because we want it here?

KEILAR: Hey, bring it here. TURNER: So yes, they would like "Late Night" back in L.A. to kind of complete and fill that void where Jay left and so we'll have to see. We'll have -- it could because they could get a comedian now that loves being in Los Angeles.

KEILAR: Maybe a gal. You never know. Nischelle Turner thanks so much.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Brianna Keilar.

"@ THIS HOUR" with Berman and Michaela starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: A microphone and a robot join the hunt for Flight 370 as the search goes under water.