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Current State of Search for Flight 370; Nevada Rancher Says He's Not a Racist; Chinese Families of Flight 370 Passengers Protest at Malaysian Embassy; Catholics Head to Rome for Rare Double Pope Canonization
Aired April 25, 2014 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL KAY, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Now that time has passed and the decision that angus Houston had to make was, when he transfers the ping locator to the bluefin, which searches for ocean debris.
And at that moment, Angus Houston knew that we were in this for the long time. And that's where we're in at the moment. We're in for the long search.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: They were hoping this was the haystack.
Simon, we know this may not be the luckiest 13th try to find something, be it wreckage or a black box, so now we're hearing possible talk of using a deep- towed submersible like the Orion to scope out this wider area.
Can you just explain to me how this Orion would world?
SIMON BOXALL, CNN OCEANOGRAPHER, THE NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY CENTER: The problem so far is that the bluefin is a fantastic piece of kit, but it doesn't give live data and it's not that powerful. It's relying on battery power, so it's not (inaudible) signal.
As we've heard, they are going enlarge the search area anyway, but the advantage of using a deep-towed side-scan is you get more detail. You can see more structure on the seabed.
And, you know, it may well be that they missed it first time around. Bear in mind that the Air France discovery on the Atlantic when it crashed into the Atlantic a few years ago, that took two years to find, and they knew pretty much where it had gone down.
And they actually passed right over it the first time around --
BALDWIN: Right.
BOXALL: -- simply because they didn't have the right kit. They weren't necessarily picking up the debris on the seabed.
So It may take several passes, and certainly with a new kit going in the chances of finding it are improved, but it's still quite a colossal task. You know, it's still very early days.
BALDWIN: That's the encouraging part at least about Air France 447. They still found that piece of the plane, days out, unlike this situation.
They went away. They regrouped, fresh eyes, recalibrated and came back with the Remora and the Remus-6000, and they found what we now know became the black boxes.
And, Michael, back to you, because we know, too, that Boeing has a shareholders meeting next week, the manufacturers of this 777.
Families are turning to them for answers. Do you think anything will come out of the meeting?
KAY: I don't, and I don't think it should, actually. I think where we should be focusing our efforts at the moment, Brooke, is with the preliminary report.
Now, you know, 49, 50 days of an investigation, it's been shrouded with mystery and controversy, and we all know there was a lack of transparency with the way the Malaysians conducted it from the outset.
Angus Houston then brilliantly came in, introduced transparency, the press conferences, and kind of recovered the credibility of the investigation if you like.
So I think we need to get a quick win here. I think Malaysia would be clever and wise to introduce the preliminary report to the public, only because it's not going to say too much.
It's basic facts. It's not conclusions. It's not analysis. It's not probable causes. It probably won't contain the Inmarsat analysis.
But it will be something which indicates that Malaysia is getting its act in order, it's starting to introduce transparency, and it will set the foundations moving forward in the long term.
BALDWIN: And according to Richard Quest who sat down with the Malaysian p.m., you know, this preliminary report may be the beginning of more information sharing from the Malaysian government. We shall see.
Simon Boxall and Michael Kay, thank so much for joining me.
KAY: Good to see you, Brooke. Thanks.
BALDWIN: Coming up, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaking his mind about everything from cattle to the federal government, and now race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLIVEN BUNDY, NEVADA RANCHER: And I've often wondered, were they better off as slaves picking cotton and having family lives and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidies?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Our own Bill Weir talked to Mr. Bundy last night. What an interview that was, 10, 12 minutes long. Got a lot to talk to you about, Mr. Weir.
He's joining me live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN.
Let me take you now back to this rogue rancher who has become an oddity, shall we say, for the Republican Party. Now they're trying to overcome this.
Cliven Bundy's racist comments have sent his former supporters now running away from him. Bundy seen here tried to explain his comments and the much bigger story, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL WEIR, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN TONIGHT": At the same time, you're grazing your cows on public land for free, so how are you not a welfare queen in a cowboy hat?
BUNDY: I might be, but I'll tell you I'm producing something for America.
WEIR: How does it feel to be abandoned by your friends on Fox? The only reason we could get you on is because they didn't call.
BUNDY: I think maybe they misunderstood me a bit. I have no doubt that he would support me if he understand really what's in my heart and I think he does understand me. I don't think there's a question there.
WEIR: They called you ignorant, racist, repugnant and despicable.
BUNDY: Well, I hope I'm not that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And now Bill Weir, good enough to join me, nodding his head, watching this over, I'm sure you've seen this a few times now and have gotten a few e-mails and tweets on this.
WEIR: Yeah.
BALDWIN: I don't even know what to say. Like what was that?
WEIR: You know what's so interesting is, Brooke, that these are the moments, these are the characters that help us define our boundaries in society, right?
I think most people when you understand that due to a painful history that African-Americans would prefer not to be referred to as "the negro" and certainly not suggested that they would be better off with chickens and a garden and something to do in the old slavery South, most people avoid that just out of deference to their fellow humans.
But, you know, America was built by rebels, and Mr. Bundy is a rebel not only against the federal sovereignty but against political correctness, as well.
But what's interesting is at the nut of this story is also this very valid frustration with big government and how much of that gets stripped away when he says something that is so repugnant to so many folks.
BALDWIN: So many people have come and heard his rallying cry and are now there in Nevada in Bunkerville, and here he was this morning talking to Chris Cuomo, and he pulled off his cowboy boot and tried to made some kind of joke about sticking his foot in his mouth.
I think we can all agree he's wrong on the law. He's wrong on race. But is it cultural ignorance as well?
WEIR: Yeah. I don't know how many African-American friends that the Bundys have. He basically prefaced that who rant about I'll tell you what I know about the negro, based on I guess he had driven by a housing project or something in Las Vegas.
So, yeah, I don't know, but he also has a gentleman who's going to join us on "CNN TONIGHT," Jason Bullock. I think you had him on the show. This is a veteran African-American who went down there when he heard about his plight and is standing by him as his bodyguard.
And so there's a lot of different layers to this, but really for me the story is the political one and how much power our competitors over at Fox News have. Roger Ailes decided that this guy would be canonized as a symbol as a John Wayne-esque symbol of rugged individualism and striking back against the man.
BALDWIN: Backfire.
WEIR: Yeah. With that -- you know, without doing that, but if they were equal -- I guess if they were evenhanded in that approach, like for example, again, tonight on "CNN TONIGHT," I'm doing a piece on John McTiernan, a film director.
He made "Die Hard," "Hunt for Red October," "Thomas Crown Affair." He spent a year in prison after allegedly lying to an FBI on one phone call, and he went to prison, is outraged at the federal government, outraged at prosecutors for locking black and brown men, egregious sentences for minimal drug crimes, and so he's got legitimate anger against the feds.
But you're not going to hear that side on Fox.
BALDWIN: But we'll hear it on CNN and that's why we're watching you tonight.
Bill Weir, thank you so much. What an interview last night, we'll watch you, "CNN TONIGHT." Thank you, thank you, thank you.
WEIR: My pleasure.
BALDWIN: Coming up here, families of those missing on Flight 370, venting their anger, venting their frustration, here they are marching in the middle of the night. They say they will not leave until the Malaysian ambassador speaks to them.
And later we will take you live to Rome where this weekend Pope Francis is set to canonize not just one but two popes at the very same time. This is history.
Stay right here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Now that this missing plane here, the hunt for Flight 370 may be entering another phase altogether if this underwater drone, the Bluefin-21, can't find a trace of the plane.
It's already scoured 95 percent of its target area there on the ocean floor, the southern Indian Ocean, and authorities are focusing now on what they will do if and when it comes up empty.
Earlier a number of family members of those passengers on board gathered at the Malaysian embassy in Beijing demanding answers. They say they won't leave until the ambassador comes out and talks to them.
CNN senior international Ivan Watson is there. Ivan?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's shortly after 1:30 in the morning in Beijing, and we're witnessing something that's pretty unusual for this tightly controlled city.
There are hundreds and hundreds of uniformed police, dozens of police vehicles, and they have all deployed around the embassy of Malaysia in response to an unusual act of civil disobedience.
You have several dozen relatives of Chinese passengers of missing Malaysian Air Flight 370 who are holding a silent protest, we can't see it, the police aren't letting us see it, in front of the gates of the Malaysian embassy. That protest is vastly outnumbered by the police presence.
Thursday's drama began with an angry confrontation with representatives of Malaysian Airlines, relatives of Flight 370 passengers demanding an audience from Malaysian embassy officials and requesting details about the investigation into the plane.
Amid tears and fury, an elderly man collapses. The standoff in a hotel conference room goes on for nearly eight hours until families suddenly decide to walk out into the night.
They push past police on a midnight march to the embassy of Malaysia, an unusual late-night procession followed closely by squad cars.
What do you concretely want from the Malaysian government right now?
STEVEN WANG, SON OF PASSENGER: The truth, the thing they're hiding.
WATSON: It's around 2:00 in the morning, and the police have kept us away from the silent protests at the gates of the Malaysian embassy in what they describe as the journalist section, this roped-off-piece of sidewalk.
The next of kin have clearly been pushed to the limits by this ordeal. More than 45 days since the plane disappeared and since their loved ones went missing, and this midnight march to the Malaysian embassy feels like an act of pure desperation.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Millions of faithful are heading to Rome, Italy, to see two of the most influential popes of the 20th century become saints.
Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II will be celebrated in a mass of canonization, presiding Pope Francis and his predecessor, retired Pope Benedict XVI.
This double ceremony has never been done before, and so CNN political commentator Ana Navarro traveled all the way there to witness this amazing celebration. She was kind enough to leave her beautiful Italian dinner early enough to talk to me on TV.
And, so, Ana, just being there right now, in and around Vatican City, what's it like to know that you'll bear witness to something so historic?
Ana Navarro, can you hear me? I know Rome, Italy, is a little bit of a ways away. Can you hear me?
We're going to get her. Quick break. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: OK. Second time's a charm. Let's try again. To Rome we go to my colleague, to CNN political commentator Ana Navarro, there in Rome.
And talking about this double canonization, Ana, over the weekend you are there to bear witness to, what is it like just knowing that you'll see history?
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's a very special moment here in Rome.
Remember, Brooke, this is a city that has been built on history, and certainly you can feel that sense of history in Rome this weekend.
It's a very special moment, and you know, I've run into so many political friends here because, remember, John Paul II, in particular, meant so much, not just spiritually but also politically. He helped so much in what was the fall of communism.
BALDWIN: The -- it's John Paul II and it's also John Paul XXIII becoming saints, officially, on Sunday. And we know that this double canonization was actually Pope Francis' idea.
Why do you suppose he wanted to do this? Just -- this pope just keeps making headlines, doesn't he?
NAVARRO: This pope keeps making the world smile. He keeps breaking barriers. He keeps breaking borders. He is so accessible.
And, you know, Brooke, I also get the sense he's in a hurry. He's got a lot to do. He's a 78-year-old pontiff, and he wants to get a lot done in his term.
He's a reformer. You can feel it in the air. He's a person that loves the people and that loves the church, and you can just feel that in everything he does.
BALDWIN: In 60 seconds, tell me, I don't know how long you have been in Rome for this historic trip, but just in talking to people, what does the energy around Vatican City feel like ahead of the weekend?
NAVARRO: There are tons of people streaming into Rome, a lot of them from Poland, the home country of John Paul II, a lot from America.
I can tell you that every friend of mine, and including myself, the planes we came on were full of people coming to this canonization, many from Europe.
So there is a lot of energy, a lot of expectation, a lot of Catholic fervor. It's a feel-good week for Rome, for Catholics, for people that knew and loved the two popes.
BALDWIN: OK, Ana Navarro, have a wonderful weekend there in Vatican City, in Rome, again, witnessing this historic canonization of two of the most popular, influential popes. Ana, thank you so much.
We are just seconds away from the Closing Bell, a lot of red on the screen here, the Dow down just about 150 here as we approach 4:00 Eastern.
It has just been sort of up and down really for the month of April and really this week. Mainly a lot of the red is because of concerns about escalating tensions in Ukraine.
That does it for me on this Friday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin here at the CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you back here next week.
But stay right here. CNN continues with Jake Tapper and "THE LEAD."
