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Water Leak on Plane; New Airport Security Measures

Aired July 02, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

The season's first named storm is getting stronger and inching closer to North Carolina's coast. Tropical Storm Arthur remains on track to make landfall Friday morning for that holiday, for that Fourth of July.

It will have an impact, severe rain, potential flooding, hazardous conditions on the roads and on the beaches.

Our team is watching this thing for us ahead of this holiday.

We have CNN's Joe Johns in the Outer Banks, Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina, Chad Myers here in the studio watching this.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Speaking of that picture-perfect beautiful blue sky over my colleague Joe Johns there in Kill Devil Hills, gorgeous.

People are out and about and rightfully so today, but how aware are they of what's a coming?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're aware, all right.

I think people out here know to watch the news, watch the weather reports, and keep an eye on the skies. I can tell you while there is a bright sun, there is also a pretty good breeze.

And you take a look south of here, there is a flag in the distance. Even beyond that flag well down the coast is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore is actually planning on closing the beaches around 9:00 this evening.

The lifeguards are already off-duty as of noon Eastern time here. Just take a look down here at the beach, though. This is a reality check. You can see all of the people out there enjoying the great weather here in North Carolina.

There are some concerns, though, especially about the Fourth of July. Officials in some of the towns here are already talking about moving their fireworks displays from Friday, which is the Fourth of July, to Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. There are also some concerns, of course, about the beaches, about

erosion, for example, when that wind starts whipping up and pushing sand out onto the roads, making the roads impassable. The situation though here in North Carolina as it stands right now, Brooke, the weather is pretty good.

People are watching the skies for sure, thinking about changing their plans if they have to, but for a lot of people because it's the end of the week, either they will end their trips early or start their trips late. It's not that big of a deal for people staying seven days. For people staying a couple days, it might be a big problem on the Fourth of July holiday -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Well, enjoy those blue skies for now. Joe Johns and Chad Myers, thank you.

And, of course, you can always go to CNN.com for the latest, as we track Arthur through the next bit of the week.

Meantime, the Army's Bowe Bergdahl, who apparently wandered away from his base in Afghanistan, resulting in five years as an enemy captive, now is wandering San Antonio. He is supervised. This is all part of his so-called reintegration.

You remember this video, Bergdahl, end of this exchange that ended in his imprisonment May 32. The Army says that during his jaunts through San Antonio, Bergdahl sometimes wears his uniform, sometimes not. He has even been recognized and had his hand shaken by members of the public.

Remember, members of Bergdahl's unit have described him quite clearly as a deserter. But the Army says for now his recovery from captivity is the number one priority.

Terry Lyles is with me now from Miami. We have talked to Terry before about this Bergdahl case. He is a psychologist and combat stress coach.

So, Terry Lyles, welcome back.

Terry, can you hear me?

I'm going to try this one more time.

Terry Lyles, it's Brooke on CNN. Do you got me?

OK, we're going to move along, we're going to come back, we're going to fix that. It's live TV. What are you going to do?

The floor of a plane headed to Australia looked more like a river when it suddenly started flooding midflight. Have you seen this? Look at the aisle. Here you go on the plane. This happened early this morning. The floor of the flight washed out. Flight attendants scrambled and they tried to use blankets just to soak up some of the water, but the plane actually had to turn around and head back to LAX.

Qantas Airlines has issued an apology and insists there were no safety concerns here.

Sara Sidner is following this one for us from Los Angeles.

And, Sara Sidner, do we know where this happened and where all the water came from?

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke, you think you have technical problems, imagine being on this flight 35,000 feet in the air.

For the passengers, it was really scary and I think also for the crew. They were wondering where this was all coming from. Qantas has said yes, we did spring a leak and they're not exactly sure exactly where that was and what it was, but they're contacting Airbus to try and figure all of those details out.

In the meantime, you had people talking about this and you saw those pictures there and in one of the picture is an actress from the show "Community." Her name is Yvette Nicole Brown.

She talked about what it was like on that flight. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YVETTE NICOLE BROWN, ACTRESS: It seemed like a problem to me is because water and electricity. All I kept thinking about is, we're over the Pacific, and I'm in something that is full of electricity and there's water. And the other thing is, this is a double-decker plane, so I wondering where the water was going, because it flowed by us, but I'm thinking there are people below us.

There is like a staircase behind us, and sure enough it became like a downpour for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You might be wondering where all of this water comes from on a flight.

It's likely for things such as the toilets so you can wash your hands and use the toilet. Nobody complained of any smells or anything like that, so it may be just clean water. The pipe broke somewhere on the flight.

We did hear from Qantas, as you mentioned, and they said, look, it wasn't a danger to those in flight, but we talked with some experts, aviation experts, and they said, well, actually, if some of that water had seeped into the electrical systems, it could have been a real problem.

But they were only an hour into this flight. Remember, Brooke, this was a 14 hour flight from here in Los Angeles all of the way to Melbourne, Australia. They had to do that turnaround. Everyone was safe and everybody got off and I think some folks will be heading back there to Melbourne now -- Brooke. BALDWIN: Thank goodness. I had no idea there was so much water

potentially on a plane. Sara Sidner, thank you so much for me in Los Angeles.

And let's go back. I think we have him now, Terry Lyles in Miami talking about Bowe Bergdahl. He's now walking out and about in public, being recognized by some civilians in San Antonio, where he's being treated.

Terry Lyles, let's try this again. Can you hear me?

TERRY LYLES, PSYCHOLOGIST: I can hear you now. It's also raining and flooding in Miami. So, you know what? We got water.

BALDWIN: We were just talking about Arthur. There you go. We can have your reporting on the weather, but we won't.

LYLES: I know.

BALDWIN: Let me just begin by asking you when it comes to the case of Bowe Bergdahl, and him walking about, going to restaurants, going to supermarkets, is this standard procedure, what they're doing with him, taking him out in public?

LYLES: It is and it's a slow process because -- and we don't really know what he has been through. We're not really privy to his exact debriefing examples that he's been through in protocols, but they're trying to help him to acclimate.

So, any disaster I have ever gone to and come back home from, it is slow, and he has been in captivity for five years, so I'm sure they're trying to be very, very careful and take it slowly to make sure that he acclimates without having any reoccurrences mentally, emotionally or physically of what happened.

BALDWIN: Here's what interesting, because according to our reporting, he has been out and about sometimes in civilian clothing, sometimes in his uniform.

In those cases, some people have actually recognized Bowe Bergdahl. They walked up to him, they have offered him their hand, shaken his hand. Psychologically, I'm curious, Terry, what happens if someone comes up to him and says, you deserted?

LYLES: Yes. And, you know, like we have talked before, I try to report on the human side of it.

Like you're saying, he is in uniform one day, perhaps civilian clothes another day. I think they're trying to also help him to acclimate that he is a returning soldier. He also has a life that he's acclimating to here.

But if someone approaches him, all he can do is just try to just receive that and I'm sure they will be briefing him on how to absorb that kind of information and process it, because whether he's guilty, not guilty, that will all come up later. And everyone is going to have an opinion. But that is part of the thick skin training he will have to go through to really acclimate.

BALDWIN: The whole process we're told by an Army official it will actually be over in just a couple of weeks, and does that seem short for you? He was with the Taliban for five years?

LYLES: I mean, typically -- he has been in the States for about 10 days and he was in Germany for a period of time.

So, probably when it's all over it will probably be four to six weeks and that is probably good enough to get him started. But, again, we don't really know the depth of what he is really going through and every case is different. They will take it very carefully step by step to see how he is adapting and acclimating to his environment. And they won't let him go until he is ready, I'm sure.

BALDWIN: OK, Terry Lyles, psychologist and combat stress coach, as always, thank you and thank you for rolling with the punches today, and appreciate it.

LYLES: You're welcome. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, double-check your phone bill. Do you know what all of those charges are? One major company now accused of hitting their customers with hundreds of millions of dollars in false fees. So, what charges should you be on the lookout for? We will walk you through that.

Also, it's the case that has shocked the country, two 12-year-old girls accused of trying to kill their friend in an attempt to impress this fictional character called Slenderman. So today a judge ruled that one of the suspects, one of these young girls, is mentally incompetent to stand trial.

How did they come to that conclusion and how does that impact the case? We will talk to Nancy Grace about that coming up here. Stay with me. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Got a cell phone? You have to pay attention to this. Flirting tips, horoscopes, celebrity gossip, did you know now that T- Mobile is accused of charging fees for obviously totally bogus text messages?

The Federal Trade Commission filed this lawsuit yesterday, alleging T- Mobile raked in hundreds of millions of dollars through these charges. Now, the FTC says T-Mobile allegedly concealed the charges on your monthly bills. T-Mobile's CEO says the lawsuit is "unfounded" and without merit.

And now to this one. Two 12-year-old girls allegedly stabbed their friend 19 times, their alleged inspiration, this, a quest to please this fictional and quite honestly creepy Slenderman, a character in horror stories they read online.

And so now one of the girls has just been found mentally incompetent by a doctor. A judge ordering more testing and a competency hearing.

The knife in those 19 attempts, those 19 stabbing attempts, just missed that 12-year-old victim's heart. She has been recovering at home.

But let's talk about this court hearing with HLN host Nancy Grace.

Nancy, it is not often that you hear about teenagers being ruled incompetent. How do you arrive at that kind of conclusion?

NANCY GRACE, HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Good question.

In all of the years I prosecuted, including juvenile cases, I never had a single juvenile that was deemed incompetent or insane.

BALDWIN: Wow.

GRACE: Not that I won the incompetency hearing. It was never even brought up.

And I would like to point out that, according to police, the attack on their 12-year-old friend after a birthday sleepover was planned for months by these two girls, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser.

Now, the hearings today were held separately, although if I were trying the case as a prosecutor, I would definitely try them together and let them stew in the same pot. The incompetency has been raised on Morgan Geyser.

Now, here's thing. Remember Elizabeth Smart? The wife of her kidnapper, Wanda Barzee, claimed she was incompetent. Guess what they did? They treated her behind bars until she got competent and then they tried her.

BALDWIN: Interesting. Interesting.

GRACE: Let's think about that for a moment.

BALDWIN: So might that happen with this teenager?

GRACE: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. She can be treated until she is competent and then she can stand trial.

But I will tell you where all this is headed.

BALDWIN: Where?

GRACE: They're raising incompetency, they're raising mental defect, because they want this case, more than anything, taken out of adult court and put back in juvenile court.

You know why? Because the minimum you can serve in juvenile court on stabbing the little girl nearly dead, leaving her for dead is one year. Maximum for them will be 13 years when they turn 25. Calculate. They have been in jail a month. By the time this goes to trial, they will have a year under their belt. They could walk free if this is sent back to juvenile.

BALDWIN: Wow, OK, which is what you're saying probably they're going for.

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: That's what this is all about.

BALDWIN: You mentioned the premeditation. I remember one of the girls even brought a picture of her family because they truly believed they were just going to kill little girl allegedly and walk off into the forest to find this fictional character.

Let me end with this. How does this mental incompetency affect the other teenager girl's case?

GRACE: Not at all.

And remember mental incompetency simply means you're unable to fruitfully assist your attorney in your defense at trial. It's not insanity, that you're insane at the time of the act. So, there's a very subtle, but important difference between incompetency and insanity. As of yet, nobody said the word insanity.

BALDWIN: It's interesting that you say that you would try them together.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: We will watch it.

GRACE: Oh, yes.

BALDWIN: Nancy Grace, as always, thank you so much. We watch you on HLN every night 8:00 Eastern, Nancy Grace.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Coming up, clashes breaking out in Jerusalem and a CNN correspondent is actually caught in the middle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm going to spin the camera around very briefly here. Ooh, excuse me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The latest outbreak of violence coming after the body now of a Palestinian teenager has been discovered. Was this a revenge killing after the deaths, the bodies of these three Israeli teenagers were discovered this week? How far could the situation there escalate? We will talk to our correspondent in Jerusalem.

Plus, a massive explosion, look at this, of a food truck. Despite what you're looking at, no one died, thank goodness. Police though are now explaining what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just into the CNN, we are now learning the new airport security measures that could take effect. We're learning that could happen in the coming days. While officials are telling CNN there is no imminent threat or plot, CNN did learn that the focus will be on a new generation of terror bombs, explosives specifically designed by al Qaeda terrorists to elude current airport security screenings.

So, Evan Perez, let me go straight to you in D.C.

What have you learned?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, know that the homeland security secretary, Jeh Johnson, has just issued a public statement in which he says that he has directed TSA to implement enhanced security measures in the coming days at certain overseas airports with direct flights to the United States.

"We will work to ensure these necessary steps pose as few disruptions to travelers as possible. We're sharing recent and relevant information with our foreign allies and are consulting the aviation industry."

Brooke, the concern is undetectable bombs that are being developed by AQAP, the al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen. The U.S. has been looking at intelligence for some time, and they have these concerns that these bombs are basically -- they could bypass our security procedures.

The DHS is now going to order additional screening measures at airports. We're told by sources that these are airports in the Middle East and Europe that are of concern. And what passengers might expect is that they be asked to take off their shoes perhaps or their devices might be checked. Perhaps they will have to go through an additional check before they get to their plane.

They are not going to be told to remove certain things from -- that they can't bring certain things on their planes, for instance. This is just really out of an abundance of caution that the DHS is doing this to try to counteract these measures by AQAP.

BALDWIN: OK. Again, from Jeh Johnson, international airports, maybe Middle East or Europe with direct flights to the U.S. in the coming days.

PEREZ: That's right.

BALDWIN: Evan Perez in Washington for me, Evan, thank you very much.

The U.S. has condemned the killing of a Palestinian teenager and sends condolences to his family. The 17-year-old's Palestinian's body was found today in a forest in Jerusalem. Israeli police are investigating whether his death could be possible re retaliation for recent murders of three Israeli teens. Jerusalem is on edge. Clashes are quickly escalating. In fact, our own crew, our correspondent Atika Shubert was covering the story and was in the middle of it for us. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Things are very tense here at the moment. In fact, I'm going to spin the camera around very briefly here. Ooh, excuse me. There is a lot of police trying to disperse us here. Sorry for all that noise, but it seems that they just let off a stun grenade near us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I should tell you coming out of that we know Atika and her crew they are OK.

The White House is encouraging both sides to act responsibly.

Let's go to Jerusalem to our senior international correspondent the , Ben Wedeman.

Ben, let's begin with the 17-year-old Palestinian, and what do you know about him, what do you know about the investigation into his death?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We spoke to his father this afternoon, and he told us that this young man, Mohammad Abu Khedair, went to the mosque at 4:00 in the morning to go to prayers and they said he was bundled by three men into a car and driven away.

They have no doubt in their minds, at least, that it was an abduction and a murder they say by Israelis. The Israeli authorities, of course, are investigating this. We have heard condemnations of his killing from Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem, as well as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

There have been suggestions that perhaps it was not a revenge killing, as many people believe, but it could have been some sort of family dispute, although the family itself flatly denies it. His body was found in a West Jerusalem forest apparently so badly mutilated that they didn't want the parents to see it.

However, they took DNA samples from the parents, and he was positively identified -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: It is tragic all the way around, the death of the Palestinian, these three Israeli teenagers.

In fact, we now have this chilling audio from a 911 call reportedly made by one of those Israeli teens before his murder. Israeli media reporting that this emergency call from Gilad Shaer was made when he realized what was happening to him in the midst of this kidnapping. Israeli authorities say they did not leak the audio. But CNN affiliate Channel 2 in Israel was one of the first to air this. Take a listen. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Hello. This is Udi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I have been abducted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Put your head down. Put your head down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Hello? Hello?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Put your head down. Hands down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Hello?

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Hello?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Ow!

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ben, we know that Israel very clearly from the get-go is putting all blame on Hamas, Hamas not taking responsibility. Who is?

WEDEMAN: Nobody has taken responsibility, at least nobody that anybody -- no credible claim has been made.

We have heard a variety of groups claiming responsibility, but most of them are largely unknown and have no track record. The Israelis continue to insist that Hamas was behind it. The two main suspects are residents of the city of Hebron, which is near where the kidnapping took place.

They do have ties with Hamas, but it's not altogether clear whether Hamas' leadership, its military leadership was at all involved in this. It may simply have been, in a matter of speaking, a target of opportunity that just appeared suddenly, so we don't know.

BALDWIN: OK, Ben Wedeman, in Jerusalem, thank you so much.

Coming up next here on CNN, a restaurant in Colorado getting a lot of attention for the reason you're looking at on your screen here. All the waitresses are packing heat. They have got guns in holsters while they're serving food and they have a very specific message they're trying to spread. We will talk live to the restaurant's owner about this happening in Colorado.

Also, a tragic story out of Pennsylvania. A middle school bans this girl struggling with depression from attending her own graduation. Her parents call school leaders begging for them to change their minds. Days later, this 14-year-old commits suicide and now the family is blaming the school. The family wants answers. Hear how school is responding next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)