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Flight 370 Report Released; Florida Inmates Missing; Toronto Mayor Makes Announcement

Aired May 01, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Poppy Harlow, in for Brooke Baldwin.

Thanks so much for joining me.

Breaking news today: Malaysia finally releasing that report on Flight 370's disappearance, but instead of ending questions about their competence in all of this, it just raises more. Not only did it take 17 minutes for officials to notice the plane had vanished from radar, but an official rescue operation was not launched for another four hours.

I want you to take a look at something. We're going to talk about this for this hour. This is a preliminary report breaking down the play by play of March 8. That was the day that Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur. This is a report. We're going to talk about it with our experts, took off from Kuala Lumpur, vanished with 239 souls on board.

Also, the Malaysian government accustomed to keeping things like this pretty under wraps, also officially released the cargo and passenger manifests, saying where everyone was seated on that plane, our experts saying they think that is -- shows how germane they believe that is in this investigation.

From Kuala Lumpur, I want to go to Will Ripley.

Will, thank you for joining us. I appreciate it.

And I was listening to you a little bit earlier, and you were talking about just how much more this really brings it home for people seeing the passenger list, seeing 2-year-olds sitting near the back of the plane on that list. How are the families reacting to finally getting this information?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

Aside from all of the headlines, that four-hour delay, the confusion about where the plane was, one thing that we did learn today is a little bit more about -- about the human impact of this, because when you see these names and you see where these people were sitting on the plane, you know that there were children on the plane. You see 2- year-olds, 3-year-olds. And then you see older folks.

And you see people of all ages. And you paint this picture on your head. If you have ever been a plane, you can kind of imagine what it must have looked like in there on March 8. This is the red-eye flight taking off from Kuala Lumpur. They thought they were going to Beijing.

They had people waiting for them in Beijing. And they never made it to Beijing. Where did they go? We just don't know right now. We don't have answers because we still, eight weeks into this, have not found one single piece of the plane and we really don't have any verifiable proof that the plane is sitting in the search area, where countless hours and millions of dollars have already been spent searching.

So you have these families in Beijing who were told today that they basically have to get out of the hotels they have been living in for nearly two months now because of the fact that...

HARLOW: Right.

RIPLEY: ... the airline wants them to go home and take in information from there.

And, as you can imagine, for some of these people, you can see on the video just how devastating physically it was. People were rocking back and forth. They were shaken by this, because now they have to go home. They don't have the support network of being able to get together and necessarily meet with the other families that are going through this.

Now they have to go back to their houses. And then they are being told, but we will -- we will make arrangements to start sending out payments to you in the interim, so a devastating blow on many levels today, and still so many unanswered questions, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes. We appreciate the report live from Kuala Lumpur. Will Ripley, thank you.

And I want to bring in our experts.

Let's talk about this with CNN aviation analysts Jeff Wise and also Michael Kay, who is a retired Royal Air Force pilot.

To you first, Michael. I mean, when you look at this, it took officials six hours to say that Air France 447 had gone missing, but when they issued a report a month later, it was 128-pages long. As I read this report this morning, I said, what else? Why don't we know more or why don't they at least admit for the families we know that there are more questions you have, here is why we can't answer X, Y, and Z?

MICHAEL KAY, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, it's really interesting you bring up the Air France 447 piece, actually, because there are lessons identified that were brought up by the head of the -- aeronautical czar of French of -- the French Civil Aviation Authority.

And one of them was -- I'm just going to read this out to you -- it was the apparent unwillingness of air traffic control units to accept responsibility for the declaration of an emergency. And that's what we're talking about here with Malaysia 370. We are talking about an almost five-hour span...

HARLOW: Right.

KAY: ... of when 370 disappeared off secondary surveillance radar to when the (INAUDIBLE) was activated.

Now, what that means in real terms is that if you imagine the last point of contact, and then drawing an arc out, it travels at about 300 miles an hour. Five hours, that's about 1,500 miles. That's a 1,500- mile radius. And then you draw that circle.

That's an area of around six million square miles. So, the quicker that the search-and-rescue authorities can be alerted, the smaller that area becomes when it comes to looking for the actual airplane itself.

HARLOW: Jeff, we were talking about this just a few moments before the show started. You are not appalled or surprised that it took that four-hour time span between when they realized that it was missing to officially launching search-and-rescue.

JEFF WISE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, right.

It takes a certain amount of time to realize that someone is missing and not just hasn't dropped communications or -- remember, they slipped away over a stretch of ocean where radar coverage was spotty because they were very far from land. So, whoever did this -- and we are assuming that somebody did it -- they very cleverly did it at a place where they would be expect to drop out of the system anyway.

So, I don't see that as such a surprising thing. And to get more directly to your question, look, if they had done it super quick and they had managed to make all the calls that had to be made and cross all the I's -- T's and dot the I's...

HARLOW: Right.

WISE: ... that you have to do before you push that big red button that says let's launch all these planes and call in all these resources, it's not something to be done lightly.

HARLOW: Right.

WISE: Say you had done it in two hours, instead of four. Would that have really helped us out?

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Go ahead.

KAY: There is a guideline here. There is a guideline here, though, Jeff, and it's 30 minutes. You know and I know that the FAA have a 30-minute protocol to declare an aircraft overdue.

(CROSSTALK)

WISE: OK. But you don't send up aircraft. You start making calls. You say, where is it?

(CROSSTALK)

KAY: What that means is, is that if the aircraft does not pitch up on frequency Ho Chi Minh or it doesn't pitch up with a geographical location, phone calls start to be made.

(CROSSTALK)

WISE: But that's not the same as launching massive air assets.

HARLOW: At 1:21 a.m., when the plane disappears from radar, first of all, air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh should have been contacted by that point in time. There is no mention in this report of the military's role, if anything, that night.

You think, Jeff, that the fact that they released the passenger list and where they were sitting is critical in how they're looking at this investigation, because you said you haven't seen that before in reports like this.

WISE: It's not something you normally see in a preliminary report.

And it indicates that, look, they have said all along they feel like this was an intentional act. Now, did the captain do it? Did the co- pilot do it? And did somebody amongst the passengers do it?

And if so, where was that person or persons sitting? At this point, it's just opening a question, rather than answering a question. But it's quite interesting and I think it will bear some looking at in time ahead.

HARLOW: Michael, I want to get to your point about this. You have said that you don't think Malaysia should be held to the same standards or is held to the same standards as the United States in a situation like this. That surprised me. Why?

KAY: Look, Malaysia has a defense budget and it will apportion its money in the areas where it has assessed the risk.

If you look at America, if you look at the U.K. since World War II, with the Cold War, it has had Russian aircraft prodding its airspace for over 40 years. That means America and the U.K. will have developed their IADS, their integrated air defense systems, to a point where it will expect that to happen on a daily basis.

If you then overlap on that 9/11 and the new world order, Malaysia haven't had any of this. So, why would Malaysia apportion significant amounts of money, billions of dollars, to something that is relatively low-risk in that part of the world?

HARLOW: We have to wrap up, but the one thing that does come out in this report in terms of a recommendation is calling for real-time tracking of airplanes. In a word, is that a good idea, Jeff and Michael?

WISE: Personally, I think it's hard to justify making any recommendation, especially an expensive one. We don't know what happened to this plane. We don't know what the problem is...

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: So that's a no in one word?

WISE: No.

KAY: The technology is there. There problem is, ATSB, it goes through a transponder, and the transponder is a single point of failure. Let's look at the transponders and let's work out a way that we don't need to turn them off.

HARLOW: Should we do this real-time tracking, yes, no?

KAY: It's happening.

HARLOW: It wasn't happening here.

KAY: No, the technology is in the pipeline, but the transponder, which can be turned off, is the single point of failure that it uses. That's the area we need to zone in on.

HARLOW: So that should change?

KAY: Absolutely.

HARLOW: All right. We appreciate the time and the expertise. Wish we could go much longer. Thank you both.

All right. Coming up here, charming with a short temper, that is how one woman who has dealt with Donald Sterling describes his demeanor to me next, why she says Sterling chewed her out over the phone.

Also, straight ahead here in the NEWSROOM, the search for three missing inmates after a powerful explosion at a Florida jail. So, did they escape? Are they dead? Or are they trapped somewhere inside? What police are saying -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Now to getting Donald Sterling completely out of the NBA.

First, there was the announcement. Now comes action. Today, the first formal move comes into play on pushing the 80-year-old billionaire to sell his L.A. Clippers, this after Sterling's voice was recorded saying his girlfriend shouldn't bring black people to games.

The members of the NBA owners advisory finance committee, that is owners of those 10 teams you see on your screen, they are the people whose teams are having a conference call. They're having a conference call this afternoon working to officially put Sterling on notice. And if Sterling complies or is forced to sell, 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, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I will be owning an NBA team at some time. It has to be the right situation. Is the Clippers the right situation? Of course. It's one of the premier franchises. He had made money. Despite of what we think of him, he has done a good job with his business. So we just have to wait and see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Wait and see, sound words to follow, because reports -- some reports are saying Donald Sterling may not be willing to sell his team.

I spoke with one woman who interviewed the billionaire several times over the phones. Kerry Dolan is with Forbes Weather. She helps track the wealth of all these billionaires. And she told me she was once a bit of a target of Sterling's temper. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY DOLAN, FORBES MEDIA: He can be charming. He also has a very short temper. I have had the experience of being chewed out by Mr. Sterling on the phone because he disagreed with our net worth estimate for him.

He says the team is worth more than "Forbes" has valued it at and that his real estate worth more than "Forbes" has valued it at. But he won't supply details on just how many apartments he owns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: By the way, "Forbes" values Donald Sterling's wealth at $1.9 billion.

With us now, CNN's Rachel Nichols, who I don't think has slept since this news broke.

But appreciate you coming on with us.

Talk to us about what is happening this afternoon with these 10 team owners in this conference call. What have you heard?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, if anyone valued me at $1.9 billion, I wouldn't start quibbling over decimal points. But that's an entirely different issue.

HARLOW: Right.

NICHOLS: I can tell you that the NBA's advisory committee, which is roughly about one-third of the ownership, they are having a call this afternoon to discuss giving Donald Sterling formal notice.

This is now part of the legal procedure that is laid out in the NBA constitution. They have a certain amount of time to give him formal notice. Then he has five days to respond to that notice. Then, within 10 days, they have to hold this vote and board of governors meeting.

HARLOW: OK.

NICHOLS: That's the process sent out in the NBA constitution. They need a 75 percent, three-quarters vote to separate from his team and there are 10 different criteria they can use to do that.

Adam Silver has obviously put a ton of public pressure on these owners. Right?

HARLOW: Right.

NICHOLS: He basically threw down the gauntlet at that news conference.

And now in all of these different cities, the fan bases, the players on those teams, they are expecting the owner of their team to vote Donald Sterling out. And there are owners like Vivek Ranadive in Sacramento who have said, hey, we expect this to actually be unanimous.

But here is the issue. Even if it is unanimous, if it's they do get the three-quarters vote -- and, by the way, Donald Sterling is going to try to some do some lobbying among his fellow owners in the next few days. He has been an owner for more than 30 years. You certainly expect him to try to pull a couple of old favors with some of his old friends.

HARLOW: Right.

NICHOLS: But even if he is completely unsuccessful, then this could move to the courts. And Donald Sterling doesn't have a great chance of winning in the court, but he does potentially have enough of a case to tie this up for a very long time. And he has a history of doing this, Poppy.

HARLOW: Well, that's exactly what I wanted to ask you, right, because if anyone is going to make this long, drawn-out litigation, some could say it might be Donald Sterling showing his history of going after the NBA even when he has violated the constitution in the past, right?

NICHOLS: Absolutely.

And, look, courts are very reluctant to get involved in internal sports matters because those are all subject to arbitration. That being said, we have seen Sterling do this before. And one of the ways you can do it go after the antitrust issues here, which goes outside of that arbitration.

And the other thing is, he just goes ahead and does what he wants. Remember, when he bought this team, they were the San Diego Clippers. They were based in San Diego. And here is something you can't do. You can't just pick up and move your team on your own, right, without approval of the NBA. That's pretty basic, right? You don't need a complicated constitution to know that.

HARLOW: Right.

NICHOLS: And yet that's exactly what he did, even after he had been expressly been told you can't move your team to L.A.

Once he did move the team to L.A., the NBA fined him $25 million. And what did Donald Sterling do? He took them to court. He sued them, countersued them for $100 million, even though again the rules were all clearly there. He just decided to tie this up in court.

And it became such a problem for the league to have one of their franchises in this state of flux like that, they ended up settling with him for $6 million. So, he got what he wanted and the fine that was going to be $25 million ended up only being $6 million.

HARLOW: Yes.

NICHOLS: That was a long time ago. And I don't know if, at 80 years old, he's going to fight in the same way he did when he was a much younger man. And, obviously, this is a much bigger deal with a lot more people involved and invested in it.

HARLOW: Right.

NICHOLS: But it goes to his state of mind.

And he is certainly somebody who does not go gently into the good night. And it's going to be fascinating here to see if he does it, because there are lawyers in the sports law community who think maybe he has case.

HARLOW: Yes. Yes. Well, you have met him. You know Donald Sterling better than a lot of us do. It's going to be interesting to watch.

Thanks for being on it, Rachel. Of course, we appreciate it.

Also, folks, remember to catch Rachel of course covering the week's top stories, this story front and center on "UNGUARDED" Friday night 10:30 Eastern, right.

Next in the NEWSROOM, more crack allegations against Toronto's mayor. A Canadian newspaper says it has new video with Rob Ford holding a pipe, and today the embattled mayor announced a major decision about his future.

Also, three inmates at a Florida jail missing after a powerful explosion. Did they escape? Did they die in the blast? Where are they? Police don't know. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, it has been almost a year since the international spotlight hit Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, and not in a good way.

But, today, Ford is finally doing today what many had predicted he would do for a long time. He is seeking help for alcohol abuse. Over the past year, Ford has been caught on camera dancing during a city council meeting, during a drinking and driving pantomime aimed at a rival politician during a council debate to strip him of his powers, also plowing down a fellow council member, he later apologized for that incident, and admitting to reporters that in the past he has smoked crack cocaine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO, CANADA: Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine. But no -- do I? Am I an addict? No.

(CROSSTALK)

FORD: Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors probably approximately about a year ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: But a report in Toronto's "Globe and Mail" appears to be what may have pushed Ford to get help now. The paper reports a new video. They report on a new video allegedly shot on Saturday in which Ford is seen allegedly smoking crack cocaine.

"The Globe and Mail" printed these photos from the video. We, of course, here at CNN cannot verify what was in the pipe he's holding or whether he smoked it.

But shortly after the report surfaced, Ford announced he's going to get help for alcohol abuse, saying -- quote -- "I have tried to deal with these issues by myself over the past year. I know that I need professional help and I am now 100 percent committed to getting myself right."

Ford's brother, Doug Ford, choked back tears during a news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG FORD, BROTHER OF ROB FORD: I love my brother. Hold on. I will continue to stand by my brother and his family throughout this difficult journey.

Please join me and keep Rob and his family in your prayers. In the interest of Rob's family, I ask the media, please respect his privacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Doug Ford says he feels a -- quote -- "sense of relief" that his brother will get help.

Meantime, three inmates are missing after a deadly explosion at a flood-damaged jail in Pensacola, Florida. A sheriff says he doesn't know if the missing inmates possibly escaped or if they were hurt or even killed. We do know that two other inmates died in the explosion. Dozens of people were injured. Authorities are carefully investigating the unstable jail. Well, coming up next, Malaysia releases its first report, first report into the missing plane. We're learning new information about what happened that fateful night. The report also details one recommendation to possibly prevent something like this from happening in the future.

And some big names with big bucks lining up to buy the L.A. Clippers, potentially. So, what does it take to be approved to buy an NBA team? Money? Reputation? A sports background? We're going to ask a big, a huge sports agent, who thinks he might know who the next owner of the Clippers will be.

That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)