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Planes Nearly Collide Over N.J. Runway; China Furious with U.S. Over Hacking Charges; Primary Day

Aired May 20, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I hope you're feeling very well today. Congratulations, you guys.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good head shape. Good hair. Good cheeks.

INDRA PETERSONS, METEOROLOGIST: Good head shape?

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Pure adorable.

CUOMO: I have a weird shape. I still do. Coming up on the "NEWSROOM" a lot of stories to get to so let's get you right to Carol Costello -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: What's in the water up there?

CUOMO: I don't know.

BOLDUAN: I don't know, Carol. Don't come to New York.

CUOMO: I can take it.

COSTELLO: I know. The sunset baby made me hurt.

(LAUGHTER)

Thanks to all of you. Have a great day.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Primary care. Is the Tea Party wheezing and staggering into today's elections? Right now voters are heading to the polls in six states and there are big stakes for all the rest of us come November. I think this is the opening act to the 2016 presidential elections.

At stake today, control of the Senate. Republicans have their best chance of winning back the majority since they lost it in 2006. Democrats hold a majority and could lose control of the chamber if they drop six seats. The other big story for today, a true test of the Tea Party. Mainstream GOP fighting back and launching a strong counteroffensive. Our political team is covering all of the angles. Let's start with Dana Bash, though, she's covering today's headline match-up in Kentucky, and it's an exciting one -- Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, because Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, is really fighting a two-front war. Today is primary day, as you said. He is expected to beat out and best his Republican challenger, the one from the right, and his focus has already been on the real challenge he thinks he has, which is November. His Democratic opponent.

And the way he is describing it and laying it out for voters here is very interesting, because it's along the lines of what you just laid out. The whole battle for control of the Senate, and the big picture. He's being really blunt about it. He is saying that he believes that the best way for Kentuckians to have good representation here is to make him majority leader. And the worst thing for them is to have somebody instead of him with no experience and with no clout.

I put that to him when I caught up with him yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH (on camera): Your likely Democratic opponent says you're exactly what's wrong with Washington. You're the personification of gridlock.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: Look, we'll get into the debate and the general election tomorrow, but I think what Kentuckians have to decide is which direction they want the country to take. You know? Do we want to go in a different direction, or do we want Harry Reid to continue to be the majority leader?

Do we want to vote for Barack Obama in a state that he carried four out of 120 counties? That's what's really at stake in the fall election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now we talked about the fact that the president is unpopular here. That's definitely true, and that's what he is banking on, linking the Democrat Alison Grimes with the problem that he has, is that he's unpopular, too, and he's very well known. He's served here for 30 years. So that's what he's up against, and that is certainly what Alison Grimes, the Democrat, and even the Republican Matt Bevin, they're both trying to hit Mitch McConnell.

COSTELLO: Right. So Mitch McConnell will likely win the Republican primary and then he'll probably go up against Alison Grimes, who's the Democrat. She's the first female to run a senator from Kentucky. She's running virtually unopposed, right? What is she saying?

BASH: She's really trying to lay out the contrast in a way that's very clear when you look and when you listen to them, but you're trying to hit it home. The idea that she's 35 years old, she's never been to Washington and she's running against a 17-year-old -- excuse me, a 72-year-old man who has had three decades in the Senate.

Listen to the way that she tried to stir up the crowd in her headquarters last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALISON LUNDERGAN GRIMES (D), KENTUCKY SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm hoping that you will spread the word all across not just Jefferson County but the Commonwealth of Kentucky that this woman, while she's not an empty dress, she's not a cheerleader, she's not a rubber stamp, she's an independent Kentucky woman that stands on her own two feet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Wow.

BASH: Now she's leaning big time into the idea of appealing to women, not just because of her gender but because she says that Mitch McConnell has been wrong for female voters here in Kentucky on issues like pay equality, and votes like that in the Senate, and the other interesting dynamic on the trail here, Carol, is that Mitch McConnell has had at his side pretty much at all times his wife Elaine Chao, who is pretty established in her own right. She was a Bush cabinet secretary.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: A strong woman in her own right. Dana Bash, reporting live from Kentucky this morning.

Just a little farther south in Georgia, another Republican battle royal. Five candidates vying for a chance to fill the seat being vacated by retiring senator Saxby Chambliss. But when the polls closed, the Tea Party candidate may be on the losing end. Interesting because Georgia has anchored the Tea Party movement the past five years.

CNN national political reporting Peter Hamby joins me now.

Peter, this race has been called a free for all and one of the leading non-Tea Party candidates actually gained traction with talk of uniting the Republican Party. That really resonated with Republican voters here.

PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. The message that you're hearing from the front running candidates in Georgia is that they are conservative but they can win. You mentioned the Tea Party candidates in that race. Paul Brown, Phil Gingrey, these are two very conservative congressmen that if you talk to Republicans in Washington, gosh, six months ago, they were terrified that one of these guys could slip into a runoff and become the Republican nominee against the likely Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn and really alienate women voters to social conservative stands, but it hasn't shaped up that way.

Look, the establishment isn't really super thrilled with the three candidates who are in the lead right now. David Perdue, a wealthy self-funding businessman, you also have Carol Handel, the former secretary of the state of Georgia, and Jack Kingston who's raised a lot of money. He's another congressman.

So they have emerged at the front with the race that we're looking at today is the race for second place. Perdue has spent a lot of money, he is widely expected to finish in first. There's a jumpball in second place between Kingston and Karen Handel.

I am really fascinated by Karen Handel if she does make a runoff here. She's backed by Sarah Palin, Erik Erickson, the conservative blogger, Rick Santorum, she is a conservative but she is also a woman. If she somehow emerges as the Republican nominee against Nunn, that would be a really fascinating dynamic to watch, you know, as we talk about the sort of Democratic attacks on the war on women, Karen Handel says she'll be able to neutralize that because she's a woman.

But Republicans are also consider Nunn to be a pretty formidable candidate who will be tough to beat in the fall. But like Kentucky, as Dana was reporting it's going to be tough for any Democrat in the Obama era to win in the south -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Right. But speaking about the primary, the two establishment Republicans now in the lead and were waiting -- are waiting to see what the results are with Karen Handel, the Tea Party candidate, and backed by Sarah Palin.

Peter Hamby, many thanks to you.

You know, we keep talking about these losses that the Tea Party will suffer. And some people say hey, that will be a sign of the death of the Tea Party. Well, I've got two words for you . That would be Rand Paul. Rand Paul. Tea Party darling tied with Jeb Bush as the leading GOP candidate for president.

So let's talk about that. Will Cain is a CNN commentator and columnist for "The Blaze," Maria Cardona is a CNN political strategist and Democratic strategist.

So what the Tea Party may do poorly electorally in the primaries today, but its influence has certainly moved the winning candidates to the right. Is that win enough for Tea Party -- for the Tea Party?

WILL CAIN, CNN COMMENTATOR: Yes. I think in order to answer that question, Carol, you have to also understand we also have to define what is the Tea Party. As you noted, by the way, the media in general likes to impose themes, overarching themes on primary day. Election days like this in a very popular theme I think within the media circle would be the death of the Tea Party.

But what is the Tea Party? In 2010 I was very passionate about, excited about the Tea Party, because it was an accountability mechanism. A reminder. You stand for principles, politicians, put we move on. And it's had some hiccup, the Tea Party hat, and we turned things into these horse race politics establishment. It turns reaction, establishment versus Tea Party. I'm not sure that's what it was and I would just offer to your point, Carol, these pieces of evidence. Thom Tillis in North Carolina was supposedly the establishment candidate. Can't get much more conservative than him. In Arkansas, Tom Cotton, he is the Republican candidate, establishment. Can't get much more conservative than him.

So the reminder is still there. The accountability mechanism is still there. You stand for principles. And if that's not good enough for you, if none of this convinces you, wait until 2016.

COSTELLO: OK. So --

CAIN: And it will be Rand Paul in the horse race.

COSTELLO: So let me -- let me present an example of what you're talking about, Will. So I'd like to focus on Kentucky for just a minute and Mitch McConnell's primary run against the Tea Party candidate there Matt Bevin.

CAIN: Right.

MCCONNELL: McConnell is the minority leader and frankly he talks like a Tea Party guy, even though he's establishment. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: What he's really saying here is, you don't want a debate at all. International with presidential appointment. Just sit down, shut up and rubber stamp everything, everyone the president sends up here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He's talking about Harry Reid there. Still, McConnell is an establishment Republican and he certainly took no chances. Spent at least $35 million to beat the Tea Party candidate Bevin, who also spent millions of dollars, and if you add it up, the total output for a seat in Kentucky is $100 million. That would be a record.

So, Maria, what does that tell you about the Tea Party in general and establishment Republicans?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it tells you, Carol, that the Tea Party is actually very much alive and doing very well, because what have they done? They've actually co-opted the establishment. This is not longer your father's GOP establishment. They don't really exist.

What has happened and we've seen if in races across the country is that we, quote/unquote, establishment candidates have gone so far to the right, they've co-opted all of the positions and the principles of the Tea Party candidates. So while, you know, quote/unquote, establishment candidates might be winning they're going to come to Washington with the same right-wing extreme positions that Democrats are going to frankly use in the fall in November to make the contrast that has worked very well for the party in terms of these candidates being out of the mainstream.

Not being in conjunction with representing the interests of middle- class Americans. I think that is going to be a winning argument both for Alison Grimes in Kentucky and Michelle Nunn in Georgia.

COSTELLO: OK. And, Will, I wanted to put this by you, in light of what Maria is saying. So Mitch McConnell will probably win the Republican Primary in Kentucky. He hasn't won yet, though. That will come tomorrow. But he's already campaigning against the Democratic candidate Alison Grimes. She's backed by the Clintons. Could she turn Kentucky blue?

CAIN: Well, look, I think Mitch McConnell, I don't know that he's the perfect example of the establishment moving to embrace the principles of the Tea Party. By the way, While Maria and I might agree that that is what's happened nationwide, we clearly disagree on whether or not that's a good or bad thing and whether I will help or hurt Republicans come November.

But here's what I would say about McConnell, Carol, he has been constantly underestimated. He was underestimated by Matt Bevin, he's (inaudible) within the chambers of the Senate. He works behind the scene, he owns the Republican Party of Kentucky. He has IOUs out of two across the state because he helped build that Republican Party. And I would suggest when it comes to November, Grimes better not underestimate him either.

(CROSSTALK)

Probably not.

CARDONA: And that's certainly -- and that's certainly something that she's not going to do. I think I think will's right. No underestimating Mitch McConnell. The fact of the matter is that today, Carol, Mitch McConnell is less popular in his own state than President Obama, and he's less popular than Obamacare. For god's sake, that is a very good starting position for Alison grimes to go into.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: OK. Well, we'll see what happens. And you know, I mentioned Rand Paul at the top. But he is a Tea Party darling and currently right now the favorite among the GOP to run for president and win.

CAIN: Right.

COSTELLO: So that's right.

CAIN: It's part of the Tea Party like that?

COSTELLO: Thanks to both of you.

CAIN: If you think the Tea Party is dead? Wait until 2016.

COSTELLO: OK. Got to go.

CARDONA: I agree with that.

COSTELLO: Aria Cardona, well said, many thank still to the come newsroom. New details about a scary close call between two jets that almost collided over the runway. CNN's Rene Marsh following that story for us. Good morning.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. These two passenger planes with passengers onboard come within yards of each other on the other side of the break we'll tell you what happens next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking some top stories at 16 minutes past.

The U.S. is keeping a minute by minute eye on Libya, ready to evacuate some 200 Americans from U.S. embassy in Tripoli as fierce fighting spreads. U.S. aircraft and heavily armed marines arrived overnight just to the north of a naval base in Italy. The V-22 Osprey planes can be in the air on six hours' notice.

Swiss bank Credit Suisse has pleaded guilty to federal charges it illegally allowed U.S. clients to evade taxes. According to the Justice Department, the bank operated an illegal cross-border banking business for decades helping thousands of clients conceal their income from the IRS. Credit Suisse will pay a total of $2.6 billion to the federal government and New York financial regulators as part of that settlement.

Another bizarre twist in the Oscar Pistorius murder trial. The judge has delayed the trial until June 30th while the former Olympian undergoes a month-long mental examination. Pistorius will be treated on out-patient basis. He can go home each day and has weekends free.

Just yards separated two planes from colliding over Newark airport last month. The NTSB just released new details about this near miss between a Boeing 737 and a smaller express jet. One plane was trying to land. The other was taking off.

CNN's Rene Marsh is tracking it all.

Scary stuff.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol. I can tell you at the closest point the two passenger planes about a half football field apart laterally and 135 yards apart vertically, and now, the NTSB and the FAA are investigating who's to blame for this near collision? Close calls like this usually come down to either pilot or controller error.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he was real close, sir. MARSH (voice-over): Audio revealing tense moments between the pilot and air traffic controllers when two commercial airliners nearly collide mid-air over Newark Airport last month.

UNIDENTIFIED CONTROLLER: Acey 4100. Traffic off your right, you have him in sight? Maintain visual.

MARSH: The controllers directing a United Airlines Boeing 737 to land just seconds before a smaller Express Jet was cleared for takeoff on an intersecting runway. The larger jet nearly on top of the plane when controllers tell it to circle the airport.

UNIDENTIFIED PILOT: Yes, we were putting the nose down and yes, he was real close.

MARSH: At its closest point, the aircraft going 50 yards away from each other. Only about half a football field.

ARTHUR ROSENBERG, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: That Express Jet should have been held in essentially the ready to go position until the 737 had cleared that cross runway and made a safe landing and then taken off. The clearance for the Express Jet to take off never should have been given.

MARSH: This is the second time in recent weeks United Airlines has been involved in a nearly catastrophic collision. In April, a Boeing 757 flying over the Pacific nearly collided with another aircraft after climbing to the altitude controllers assigned them. The aircraft forced to plunge 600 feet in seconds.

KEVIN TOWNSEND, PASSENGER: I'm looking down the aisle, and there's, you know, hundreds of people in front of me, people start screaming. There's noises of things that weren't secured falling around.

MARSH: Where the error lies in these most recent near disasters still under investigation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, there was no damage reported to either aircraft, and this all ended without any injuries, Carol.

COSTELLO: How often do things like this happen?

MARSH: Well, you know, I spoke with the FAA about this, and as far as their statistics go, this is a pretty rare event. Especially when you consider how many planes actually take off every single day and land every single day. There aren't that many of these. That being said, I mean, when something like this happens, they take it very seriously.

That's why you see the NTSB and the FAA both investigating, because you just can't have the situation where you have passengers onboard and you have these planes coming so dangerously close together, especially with such congested airspace, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. I would say once too many, too. Rene Marsh, many thanks.

Still to come in NEWSROOM: China firing back hard against the United States for filing hacking charges against five of its military officers.

CNN's Alison Kosik following the latest developments for us.

Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

The alleged hackers are leaving at least six U.S. companies at risk. The big question, what could the Chinese potentially do with that information? Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: China's not so happy with the United States. It's summoned the U.S. ambassador to its foreign ministry and has threatened to scale back on providing global cyber security.

China is furious after the United States filing hacking charges against five of its military officers. Those officers accused stealing trade secrets from major American companies. China is warning this could severely damage ties between the two nations.

So, let's bring in CNN's Alison Kosik, and CNN justice reporter Evan Perez.

Welcome to you both.

Evan, I know you've been tracking China's response. What are they saying?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the Chinese say that not only is this going to harm relations, they've also suspended cooperation with the U.S. on a cyber security group that they had started out. Now, you know, this is an issue that obviously the U.S. has been warning about for years. They've said that the Chinese and the Chinese military in particular were spying on U.S. companies trying to steal secrets, to help out Chinese companies.

And so, these charges should not have been much of a surprise. The Chinese reaction, however, is that the U.S. is being hypocritical. They pointed out that Edward Snowden disclosures points that the NSA has been a big presence in China, spying on China and its universities and companies. So, they say that the U.S. is acting in a hypocritical manner.

COSTELLO: Well, I sort of understand that, but the United States isn't stealing trade secrets from Chinese companies.

So, Alison, get into that for us. What's China accused of doing?

KOSIK: Stealing golden secrets of the U.S. companies here in the U.S. I'm talking about intellectual property. Now, all this information is coming out in a 31-count indictment that really lays out the details. So, here are some of the big companies and unions even that the DOJ say were affected. Westinghouse, U.S. Steel, Alcoa, Solar World, Steel Workers Union.

So, what the U.S. is saying that the Chinese went ahead, for one, at Westinghouse, the Chinese stole blueprints to most of Westinghouse's high-tech nuclear power plants. Also, DOJ saying the Chinese found and broke into computer at U.S. Steel that control access to their buildings. DOJ also saying that the Chinese spied on e-mails at Alcoa and even took information from Solar World's computers about manufacturing plans and costs.

So, this is really stunning to hear this could have happened here and the big concern is, Carol, what China can potentially do with this information, because inside secrets can be a very, very powerful tool to anyone who gets their hands on them, especially when it involves these huge companies, because if you can figure out, say, how the world's most high-tech nuclear plant is built, the Chinese could go ahead, say they steal that, they could use that information to build their own plants, saving them time and money on research and development.

Here's another example for you. Getting secrets from Alcoa, let's say, could mean maybe figuring how our steel companies are able to make high-tech lightweight steel. Some U.S. manufacturers happen to do really well. So, you know, these trade secrets, they are worth a lot of money. They give that company and even country, the U.S., a competitive advantage. So, if a competitor gets a hold of sensitive information, it can wind up hurting U.S. jobs, and U.S. profits -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens. Alison Kosik, Evan Perez, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: it's been more than two months since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished. Now, Inmarsat now plans to reveal all of the plane's raw satellite data to the public. But will it help solve things? We'll talk, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)