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Flight 370 Report; Clippers Buyers; Benghazi E-mails; Human Factor

Aired May 01, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Excellent work. Thank you very much.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. "Newsroom" with Pamela Brown starts right now.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Pamela Brown, in for Brooke Baldwin. Thanks so much for being here with us.

First, to a huge development in the Malaysia Airlines mystery. A bombshell revelation from the Malaysians. Not only did it take 17 minutes to notice a plane was gone from radar, but no one bothered to launch an official rescue operation for another four hours. All this coming out of Malaysia's preliminary report on Flight 370, finally released by transportation officials after some 50 days of mounting pressure to reveal what they knew all along. The families hearing a newer, clearer version of the communication between Flight 370 cockpit and the control tower, including these, the final words spoken by the two men piloting this plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOWER: Malaysian 370 contact Ho Chi Minh 123 decimal 9, good night.

PLANE: Good night Malaysian 370.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So most experts describe that as normal and routine, but it's what happened after the plane vanished that is definitely not normal and definitely not routine. Joining me now to discuss this more from Kuala Lumpur, Will Ripley. He's been following this story for us.

And, Will, this report looks like a chain reaction of missteps, oversight and confusion. What else was released alongside this report and what's been the response so far?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, you had these five pages here which kind of lay out the facts of this case as they know them and make a safety recommendation. But then you have these supplemental documents that describe what happened during that four hour gap.

You know, at 1:19, when you heard that voice from the cockpit say "good night Malaysia 370," there was no indication that just two minutes later that plane's transponders, the devices that help the plane communicate with computers on the ground, they would be switched off, essentially the plane disappeared from radar and then 17 minutes before anybody noticed it was actually the Vietnam air traffic control that checked in and said, what's going on with 370, and that's when K.L. realized, hey, it's no longer on our radar screen. So there was a 17 minute gap there.

But more troubling, according to many experts, including our own Richard Quest, is that four hour period before search planes were launched. That was 5:30 in the morning. Even though they knew for hours that something was wrong, there was so much confusion. At one point, Kuala Lumpur actually was told by Malaysia Airlines that the plane might be in Cambodian air space. That turned out not to be the case. But it created a lot of confusion. There was a lot of back and forth. A lot of wasted time before there was actually a plane sent up to get in the air and look for the aircraft with 239 people that was by then very far off course, flying somewhere, we still don't know where. Almost eight weeks into this, we don't have the answer to the biggest question of all, Pamela, which is, where did this plane go, why, and where is it right now? We still don't have a single piece of the plane. That's the answer that the families need that they're not going to find in this report.

BROWN: No. And fueling the fire for the families, Will, is the fact that after the relatives of Flight 370 were told to go home, which I believe happened just in the past 24 hours, what happened? They were clearly visibly upset.

RIPLEY: Oh, yes, it was a very emotional scene according to our CNN crews in Beijing. Not to mention the fact that this report was released in English and many of the families were telling us they had not yet seen a mandarin translation of the report, so they actually couldn't read it for themselves. But, yes, they were told within a week they have to leave the hotels where many of them have been staying and getting updates.

They were told to get updates from the comfort of their homes. And they were also told that once they were home, steps would be made to start handing out those preliminary payments, the payments to help tide them over. This, they say, that it was not - it would not affect their ability to get paid from an eventual settlement that may come from this. But, yes, you know, obviously that's difficult news for any family, especially when they still have so many questions that haven't been answered.

BROWN: Tough to see these images with one family member just rocking back and forth. You can just see the agonizing pain.

Will Ripley, thank you for that report. We appreciate it.

And let's take these new developments to our experts now. Jeff Wise, CNN aviation analyst, and CNN's aviation correspondent Richard Quest joins us now.

So, Richard, let's start off talking about that 17 minute gap when essentially the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control contacted Kuala Lumpur 17 minutes after the transponder turned off and said, hey, where did the plane go? How unusual is that? What's your reaction?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's at the outer extremes of what one might have expected, but I'm not unduly concerned just on that particular point. I am concerned that both air traffic controllers did notice that the plane did - vanished from radar. That is unusual. One of the controllers said she'd never seen anything like it in 18 years, or is reported to have said that. But that really is, if you like, the fog of the moment. That is all the sort of areas - you know, you see something you don't recognize, well, fire it up. We've got to give a little bit of leeway, if you like, a little bit of understanding of the reality of the situation.

Where I think you have a much more difficult situation is as the hours go by and you start getting the misinformation or the wrong information and nobody ever seems to get to grips with the fact that they don't know where this plane is and haven't heard from it for some three or four hours. That's not a Malaysia problem, it's not a Vietnam problem, it's an air traffic control problem.

BROWN: Yes, let's talk about that, because you talk about the fog. And it's understandable in those first minutes when all of a sudden the plane disappears from radar. But it's hard to accept it when so many hours go by. And I've been looking over the communication right here between air traffic control during those confusing moments and they talk about - this Malaysia Airlines talking about how they believe the plane was in Cambodia. We believe that to be erroneous, obviously. So it seems like, Jeff, some valuable time was wasted here in those critical moments.

JEFF WISE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I really couldn't disagree more strongly. You see, something like this - very similar to this happened in the case of Air France 447. It's very, very unusual. In fact, it's unprecedented that something like this would happen where either the crew or some skilled pilots who were aboard abduct, abscond with an airplane. And so, you know, the plane goes -- isn't where it's supposed to be. What you see from this document is a series of increasingly worried and distressed calls between various air traffic controllers asking one another, where is this plane? Have you seen it? And, yes, you get -- a rumor crops up that has to be quashed. That takes some time. But this is what happens when a very unusual, unprecedented situation crops up and they have to figure out what happened. They're scratching their heads, they're having to figure it out, and so it takes that much time, that's all.

BROWN: Right. And - and your point -

WISE: You don't - look, if you lose your wallet, you don't call the cops right away.

QUEST: I'm going to disagree. I disagree very strongly with Jeff on this. And the reason I disagree with Jeff is, Air France 447, which took six hours before they did this. I agree that you don't call the cops straight away, but certainly, by the time you get to three hours in and four hours in and, Jeff, look closely at these times. We've got gaps of 37 minutes, 16 minutes, 29 minutes, 44 minutes when seemingly nothing is happening and that plane is still flying somewhere else. Are you suggesting that that is reasonable?

WISE: Well, what if it has been two and a half hours instead of four hours, or whatever you think the minimum conceivable amount of time it would take to go from noticing that the plane isn't where you think it's supposed to be to calling out a search and rescue operation, which is a panic button that you have to think twice about hitting. You're talking about the commission of millions of dollars and assets from various countries. And you think - four hours is pretty (INAUDIBLE).

QUEST: I'll tell you when they do. I'll tell you when they do it. I'll tell you when they do it. They do it at 2:18. They do it - or, for example, they queried (ph) if the flight was supposed to be in Cambodia. (INAUDIBLE) confirmed was only through Vietnam. Had checked. No information. No contact. Ho Chi Minh confirmed radar contact was lost after (INAUDIBLE). K.L. queried -

BROWN: But - but -

WISE: Can I try -

BROWN: Richard, let me ask you this, because we talk about the search and rescue. Clearly the search was underway not long after that plane went off the radar. So, don't they at least have to have some understanding of where that plane may be? In fact, during those four hours, it was still up in the air, right, Richard?

QUEST: I think it's - and, Jeff has a point. Look, if we're talking an hour, an hour and a half, two hours even and nobody really knows, in the fog of the moment, it's understandable that this happens. But I cannot see that it is justifiable to go four hours and nobody says we need to elevate this much higher. There isn't anything in this document that suggests a moment of crisis about this.

WISE: Can I suggest one other factor that I think is very important and has maybe been overlooked? Remember that this plane disappeared at a very convenient, one might say, point where the radar coverage tends to drop off anyway. Not all the time, but from time to time the plane near this Agari (ph) waypoint starts to drop off from the land based radar coverage. So if someone was taking this, as indeed the Malaysians assume it was taken, then this would be a very clever time to do it because if the - you -- it drops away from secondary radar, not through nefarious purposes but because - simply because it's far enough away from land that that might expect to be - to happen anyway. And so I think there's another factor here which is that they might have seen the signal, the symbol for the plane drop off of their radar screen and not assume that it's for - because the transponder was turned off.

BROWN: Right, because that does happen and this is unprecedented. But, still, all I can say, if I was a passenger on a missing plane or something happened, I would want to feel like there was a sense of urgency and that people were coming to look for me. So, Jeff Wise, Richard Quest, thank you very much for offering your perspective. I look forward to continuing that debate. But we have to move forward now. Just ahead, a group of NBA owners hopping on a conference call any moment now to discuss the fate of Donald Sterling and now some of America's richest people are lining up for the chance to buy the L.A. Clippers, including Oprah. But Sterling reportedly says he's not selling.

Also, inside the bizarre and contentious relationship between Sterling's allege mistress and his wife. So CNN did some digging.

Plus, as dangerous floodwaters rip through large sections of the country, three inmates missing after an explosion inside a jail. We'll take you there, live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: All right. Now to getting Donald Sterling completely out of the NBA. First there was that announcement. Now comes the action. Today, the first formal move goes into play on pushing the 80-year-old billionaire to sell the L.A. Clippers. This after Sterling's voice was recorded saying his girlfriend shouldn't bring black people to games. Members of the NBA owners advisory finance committee, that's the people who own these teams, are having a conference call this afternoon, working to officially put Sterling on notice. And if Sterling obeys, the question is, who will come bidding? Well, this is what Magic Johnson had to say when asked if he might buy the Clippers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EARVIN "MAGIC" JOHNSON, NBA HALL OF FAMER & ENTREPRENEUR: I will be owning an NBA team sometime. It has to be the right situation. Is the Clippers the right situation? Of course. It's one of the premium franchises. He's made money, despite of what we think of him, he's done a good job with his business. So we just have to wait and see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Kind of open ended there. CNN's Stephanie Elam is in Los Angeles for us.

So, Stephanie, Magic Johnson, who we just heard there, just one of a string of potential buyers. We're going to get to that in just a moment. But first, let's talk about the fact that the Clippers are in game six of the playoffs tonight against the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers had a great turnout Tuesday. What's expected there tonight?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you had a sellout crowd at Staples, Pamela, on Tuesday. The issue now though is that they go back to Oakland where, at the coliseum, they sell out all the time, no matter who they're playing with. So we don't get such a good barometer of how Clippers fans will be there. But, overall, I did see a lot of people, when I was at game four in Oakland, who were Warriors fans that were supporting the team. Obviously Clippers fans as well. The energy on the court on Tuesday night was really electric in Staples. They do feel like the momentum - the difference this time is that they don't have this issue hanging over their heads, they can focus on the basketball, Pamela.

BROWN: All right, so let's get back to the buyers. That's what a lot of people are talking about today, Stephanie. And if Sterling does cooperate, there's some rumors swirling around that there's a trio of billionaires that may give him an offer. Tell us about that.

ELAM: Yes, there are people out there that are richer and have more money and maybe have a lot of connections just as well that would be interested in buying the Clippers, namely Oprah wanting to work with David Geffen, who's a media mogul, and also Larry Ellison, who is the man behind Oracle. So you're talking about some Silicon Valley money there. In fact, of those three, he would be the richest at more than $50 billion at his disposal. But all three of these people are richer than Donald Sterling. But looking to come together, the three of them, and put in an offer for the Clippers if this does happen.

One thing I should point out too here, that no matter what happens, if Donald Sterling sells this team, he is going to make a whole lot of money. He bought the team in 1981 for about $12 million. It is now estimated to be worth about $575 million. But because there could be a bidding war, the team could go for about a billion. You're talking about a playoff team. You're talking about Los Angeles. The interest there is heavy. So this number could be very high, Pamela.

BROWN: But, of course, chump change for the folks you just mentioned there. All right, Stephanie Elam, thank you so much.

And just ahead, one lawmaker says the NFL could learn something about race from Adam Silver and the NBA. We're going to debate this coming up.

Plus, a general admits the U.S. military could have done more to save Americans during the attack in Benghazi. And that admission has Republicans livid. We'll hear the emotional back and forth up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The U.S. military could have done more to save Americans killed during the attack in Benghazi. That from one of the men in charge at the time and Republicans are livid. Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in that 2012 attack. And you may remember, Susan Rice, who was U.N. ambassador at the time, got a lot of heat for blaming the attack on a protest over an anti-Muslim movie during her appearances on five Sunday morning talk shows. Now e- mails sent to Rice from top White House aide Ben Rhodes before those appearances reveals the White House made a hard push for her to relay that account, which later proved to be untrue.

So, today on The Hill, some fiery and emotional exchanges between lawmakers and a former Obama administration official, including this one. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: We didn't run to the sound of the guns. They were issuing press releases. We had Americans dying. We had dead people. We had wounded people. And our military didn't try to engage in that fight. Would you disagree with that?

BRIG. GEN. ROBERT LOVELL, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Four individuals died, sir, we obviously did not respond in time to get there.

CHAFFETZ: Could we have?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gentleman's time has expired. Go ahead.

LOVELL: We may have been able to, but we'll never know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, how's the White House explaining why it never revealed these e-mails? CNN's senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta joins me now to discuss.

Hi there, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Pamela.

That's right, at issue is this e-mail that was obtained earlier this week by the conservative group Judicial Watch. It shows some of the talking points that were prepared for the U.N. ambassador at the time, Susan Rice -- she's now the national security advisor to the president -- to talk about what happened in the attack on the U.S. mission at Benghazi. And lawmakers up on Capitol Hill, Republicans up on Capitol Hill thought that all of these e-mails, all of these talking points had been produced, had been turned over to lawmakers and then low and behold this e-mail surfaces and it says that one of the goals for Susan Rice's appearance was to underscore, quote, "that these protests were rooted in an Internet video and not a broader failure of policy."

Of course, you know, if we go back in time to that fall of 2012, Republicans were accusing the president and the administration at that time of covering up the true nature of the Benghazi attack, that it was really more about terrorism, and that the Obama administration was blaming it on this Internet video, this anti-Islamic Internet video. And so seizing on this new e-mail today, Darrell Issa, on the House Oversight Committee up on Capitol Hill, accused the White House of perhaps doing something criminal here in withholding and hiding this document, keeping this document, the e-mail, secret. I asked Jay Carney about that at the briefing earlier this afternoon. Here is what the White House press secretary had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What we have seen since hours after the attack, after the attack, beginning with a statement by the Republican nominee for president, is an attempt by Republicans to politicize a tragedy. And that continues today and yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, what this new e-mail has done, Pamela, is basically reignite the controversy over Benghazi. The House speaker, John Boehner, now calling for Secretary of State John Kerry to come and testify on Capitol Hill to explain these new documents. And just getting back to what exactly happened on the night of September 12 - or, excuse me, September 11, 2012. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, I asked him about this. The Obama administration, to this day, Pamela, still does not have a firm grasp or understanding as to what happened, what led to the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and those other Americans. They still believe that there was an attack on this U.S. mission, that there were extremists involved, but they still don't have all the details behind what exactly happened.

Pamela.

BROWN: Jim Acosta, thank you.

And just ahead, Donald Sterling's wife of 50 years and his mistress in a love triangle with high legal stakes. So, what is the real story here? We're going to sort it out for you.

And next, new information in the search for missing Flight 370. The last recorded words from the cockpit and what Malaysian authorities say needs to happen to prevent a tragedy like this in the future. Back right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Back to the major developments in the search for missing Flight 370 in just a moment. But first, a painter doesn't let her disease keep her from pushing the envelope. Dr. Sanjay Gupta with this week's "Human Factor."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For as long as she can remember, Natalie Irish has been passionate about art. But when she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 18, even that became a struggle for her.

NATALIE IRISH, TYPE 1 DIABETIC: I can't keep my eyes open. I can't focus on my art classes. Went to the doctor and they said, check your blood sugar, sent me immediately to the emergency room.

GUPTA: Turns out her blood sugar was seven times higher than normal and doctors were surprised she hadn't lapsed into a diabetic coma.

IRISH: Everything changed. My priorities, the way I ate, the way I lived my life, it just -- starting from scratch.

GUPTA: Not long after, something else changed too, her style of art.

IRISH: I was going to see a band. I was going to a show and I put on my red lipstick and I blotted it on a piece of tissue and saw a lip print and I'm pretty sure there was an actual light bulb. And I was like, oh, I can paint with that.

GUPTA: That's right. She paints with her lips.