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Russian Plane Crash In Egypt Kills All 224 Onboard; U.S. Sending Special Ops Troops To Aid Syrian Rebels; Sanders: Get Muslim Nations Involved In Syria; GOP Campaigns Meet Sunday, Demand Debate Changes; Black Lives Matter Protestors Dusrput Hillary Clinton Event; Shortened Prison Terms for Non-Violent Crimes Examined. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired October 31, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:07] IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now, they're going through the really gruesome task of trying to identify the people, so they can be reunited with their loved ones.

This plane took off from Sharm el-Sheikh, was in the air about 20 minutes, hit the cruising altitude of over 30,000 feet. That's when they lost contact, lost radar with it. So those black boxes will be instrumental in trying to figure out what exactly took place to have this airplane come crashing down -- Fredricka.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Right. It will be interesting to see how difficult it might be to locate those boxes. Still unclear whether, you know, the debris field is very wide or whether it's in a condensed location. All right, thank you so much, Ian Lee. Keep us posted there from Cairo.

Let's bring in our CNN aviation analyst, Les Abend. He's also a pilot and contributing editor of "Flying" magazine. So Les, when we hear these details, again, a lot of it can't be confirmed because it's still very early in the investigation, but 20 minutes into flight, you described earlier at 30,000 feet, that is a calm space.

Very seldom do really big problems occur there, especially without a pilot being able to convey that. So, from what you've heard, do you have kind of a gut sense of the direction this investigation might go?

LES ABEND, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: You know, it's hard to say. We've been saying all along, Fredricka, you know, we're at the speculative point. This is a crash investigation and they're going to follow ICAO standards, the Egyptians.

They'll bring in third parties to the investigation that involve airbus, the engine manufacturer, and anybody involved with this particular flight will be involved with the investigation.

Assuming they follow the ICAO, the International Civil Aviation Organization guidelines. That being said, at cruise altitude, yes, a multitude of things can go wrong, there's just no way of saying it until we have all the data from the cockpit voice recorder and the digital flight data recorder.

But that being said, if -- and I'm not implying this, but if the engines just failed, let's say that's a problem, that airplane can go 90 miles. That's plenty of time. It can actually glide 90 miles. That's plenty of time to troubleshoot your problems and check your checklist.

So what disturbs me, at cruise altitude, something radical, something catastrophic may have occurred for this airplane to all of a sudden very rapidly end up at that particular crash site.

WHITFIELD: And then talk about the investigative body. We heard Ian say, Russian authorities, Egyptian authorities, is there kind of an international body of investigators that would also be on the ground to try to discern what happened and when?

ABEND: Well, for all intents and purposes, this occurred in Egyptian air space. So this is up to the Egyptians to organize this particular accident investigation, and it is up to them, whether they want to include other investigative bodies.

The Russians, I would assume, it would be a custom to involve that government and anybody else even the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB here in the United States could be involved on a consulting basis.

But all of these parties get together and all of these experts get together and they go through a very organized process on how to begin this accident investigation. Right now, the concern is for the families.

Recovering, unfortunately, the bodies and getting the loved ones, the friends, and the family involved, so that they have some sort of conclusion to what occurred and then we go into the investigation itself.

WHITFIELD: And this will be a painstaking investigation. All right, Les Abend, thank you so much.

All right, straight ahead, their way or the highway? The Republican National Committee is suspending its next debate with NBC. We'll discuss that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:07:25]

WHITFIELD: All right. U.S. troops are heading to Syria to help in the fight against ISIS. Less than 50 special operation soldiers will be heading, as early as next week, to Kurdish-controlled territory in Northern Syria.

But it still appears to be a change in strategy for President Obama, who said just two years ago, that the U.S. would have no boots on the ground in that country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: As a general rule, I don't rule things out as commander-in-chief. Because circumstances change, I do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in Syria, American boots on the ground in Syria, would not only be good for America, but also would be good for Syria.

We've ended one war in Iraq. We're ending another in Afghanistan and the American people have the good sense to know, we cannot resolve the underlying conflict in Syria with our military.

This is not something that we are using as an excuse for military action. I was elected to end wars, not start them.

I don't think we should remove another dictator with force. We learned from Iraq that doing so makes us responsible for all that comes next. Nobody suggests that us being involved in a land war in Syria would necessarily accomplish this goal.

Across the border in Syria, we have ramped up our military assistance to the Syrian opposition.

There are always circumstances in which the United States might need to deploy U.S. ground troops.

Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group.

We are prepared to work both diplomatic and where we can, support moderate opposition that can help convince the Russians and the Iranians to put pressure on Assad, for a transition. But that what we are not going to do is to try to reinsert ourselves in a military campaign inside of Syria.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The United States recognizes that we're -- that boots on the ground will be required to stabilize the situation inside of Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, that's kind of an assessment of the message coming out of the White House in recent years.

Meanwhile, on the campaign trail for the White House, Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, just spoke in Concord, New Hampshire, and he just spoke about this very situation in Syria and how he would handle it as president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I would be doing on Syria is number one, demanding that a coalition come together, including the Muslim nations in the region, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Kuwait. [12:10:12] For them to start getting active and much more active, in the fight against ISIS. At the end of the day, this war against ISIS will be won by those Muslim nations, who are fighting for the soul of Islam, who are prepared to get into the ground and take on ISIS with American support, and with the support of other western democracies.

I voted against the war in Iraq, because I feared, very much, a perpetual warfare in that part of the world. So my view is that the United States should be supportive. We should be working with our allies in Europe and elsewhere.

But that at the end of the day, it is going to have to be the countries in that region, who are going to have to stand up and take on ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail. Let's talk more about this, with military expert, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, CNN military analyst, and a former U.S. military attache in the Middle East including Syria. Good to see you again, and former Army intelligence officer and retired Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer. Good to see you, as well.

OK, so I wonder to you first, Colonel Shaffer, does it seem like there's a contradictory message coming from the White House or is it a distinction about the roles the U.S. military would play?

LT. COL. TONY SHAFFER (RETIRED), FORMER ARMY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Both. They've muddled the message. Never promise something that you are not sure about. And we all knew that to do effective military operations, you have to have what we call, boots on the ground.

With that said, this is not the return of a large land army to Iraq or the region. I think we are moving in the right direction. I actually agree with Bernie Sanders on what he's saying.

We have to encourage and put together, and we've talked about this over the past year, an Arab NATO, if you will, for them to do their job with our leadership. I think that's the direction we're finally going.

With that said, there are some things we must do directly with special operations forces. I think that's what you see, in and out with the entry of General Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chief.

And I know he's relooking at the entire strategy from soup to nuts. I think you're going to see a strange in strategy for the better.

WHITFIELD: And earlier, Colonel Francona, when we spoke earlier, you said, this is not necessarily a change in strategy, but a change in tactics. Further explain the difference between the two.

LT. COL RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The strategy is what you want to achieve and that's to degrade and defeat ISIL. That's been the strategy all along. But how do you do that? And I think we're constantly evolving, how we're attacking this problem.

And I think the realization in Washington, and I think Tony's right because General Dunford has made some real solid advice to the president and said, you've got to get a handle on ISIS in Syria.

And that was going to require boots on the ground because air strikes can only do so much when they're not controlled by American troops on the ground. I think we're going toward that.

So I think this is a positive move. But we're just changing the tactics of what we've been trying to do all along, but not very successfully.

WHITFIELD: And then Colonel Francona, you don't see this as a replacement for continued air strikes, but a supplement and a very important one, at that?

FRANCONA: I think it's going to make it more effective. Once those Special Forces troops get into Syria and start working with the locals, they will train them to better call in air strikes.

Right now, they're using what we call offset targeting using GPS and it's really not that effective. But you can get American troops in there using real laser designators and target designators and show these guys how to do this properly, it can leverage the air strikes.

We get lots of aircraft in the area, we just don't have good effective targeting.

WHITFIELD: And then Colonel Shaffer, we're talking about U.S. troops who would be supporting assisting moderate opposition forces. Do you worry at all that it is still difficult to identify the motivation, identify those who make up this, you know, moderate opposition force?

SHAFFER: Let me say, I agree with everything that Rick just said. Tactically, we're doing this, and to your point, regarding the tactical recruitment of individuals. Look, there's no such thing as moderate Islamic radicals. We have to step away from that.

I think what we have to recognize is that the Kurds, who are a mishmash of Christians, of Muslims, and of others, actually as a culture do want to support us. By the way, they've been the most effective proxy fighting force we have.

So I think as much as anything, this is a wake-up to the reality which we face. We cannot simply go in there and hope to recruit people to oppose Assad. We have to work with those who have a natural instinct to oppose them, and whose goals a little bit different than Assad and they want eventually their own freedom.

With that said, they clearly are the only ones who actually have been fighting and effectively so, that we need to go in with. And I think that's another reason we're going in with them now, to actually increase our ability to do air strikes, as well as increase our ability to do direct action strikes within Syria against ISIS command and control. [12:15:11] WHITFIELD: All right, Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer and Lt. Col. Rick Francona, thank you, Gentleman. Appreciate it.

All right, straight ahead, their way or the highway? The Republican National Committee suspending its next debate with NBC. We'll discuss that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: More details and new images now after that Russian plane crashes in Egypt. You're looking at still images there, bodies that have been removed from the crash site by the help of the Egyptian military. These images are from Suez, Egypt, about 20 miles outside of the debris site.

CNN's Ian Lee is live for us now in Cairo with more on what we're seeing and what investigators are able to determine at this juncture -- Ian.

LEE: Yes, a lot of these bodies now coming in to the morgues. There's Egyptian officials say that the morgues in Suez, as well as here in Cairo, will be used to house the bodies.

Officials now are going to try to identify them as well, a very gruesome task, after this accident. Still, they're searching through the wreckage, trying to find, you know, what went wrong.

[12:20:05] Locating those black boxes, and also making sure that they can account for all 224 people that were onboard this flight. You know, the Egyptian prime minister, we're expecting, they say shortly to have a press conference coming out to give us more details, more information about what exactly happened.

Right now, we're also hearing on social media claims allegedly by ISIS that they were responsible for bringing down a plane. Egyptian officials and Russian officials have disputed this claim.

We should be very skeptical as well because it would take a sophisticated weapon to do something like that. Something that for me, we haven't seen this type of weapon in the Sinai Peninsula, but that is something we're also following right now.

WHITFIELD: And Ian, is it being explained or conveyed to you the difficulties of trying to get to the debris site for Egyptian authorities?

LEE: Well, this plane crashed in North Central Sinai. I think we have pictures of just kind of the terrain of Sinai. It is very mountainous. You have steep, rugged, rocky cliffs and peaks, and so if this plane did crash near there, into any of this, into the peaks into this area, which we're hearing from Egyptian officials.

It will be very slow and very slow process, trying to gather all this evidence. Gather the remains, and really trying to piece together this crash. And as you can see right now, it is dark now, which will make it even more difficult trying to find all these pieces and evidence.

WHITFIELD: Presumably even suspending the search or the recovery efforts until daylight. All right, Ian Lee, thank you so much. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:11]

WHITFIELD: All right, the Trump campaign and eight other campaigns are expected to join forces Sunday to try to solve the issue that they all believe is plaguing the presidential race. Political debates.

This, of course, following widespread criticism that Wednesday's debate questions on CNBC were unfair and the Republican National Committee says it is suspending its partnership with NBC, which would have aired the GOP debate February 26th.

A letter to the chairman of NBC News states why the RNC is pulling out. Saying this, quote, "The CNBC Network is one of your media properties and it's handing of the debate was conducted in bad faith.

Joining me right now, senior media correspondent, and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter. All right, so, Brian, what does this mean, this suspension that the debate will happen, just perhaps on another network, or that a debate won't happen?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's what the RNC says. They say they're intending to go forward with the debate on that day with their conservative media partner, "National Review," but not with NBC.

The truth is, this could be worked out, this could be settled in the next weeks or months, but right now everything's in a holding pattern. I just checked in with the RNC and NBC News. There are no new developments because they're waiting for this big campaign meeting we mentioned.

There's really nothing like it we've seen in the past. Representatives of many of the GOP campaigns, large and small, are all convening tomorrow night to talk about what they want out of future debates.

One thing they want are fewer gotcha questions. They don't want to be treated unfairly. They don't want to feel disrespected on stage. Some of these campaigns want shorter debates. Some of them want longer debates. Some of them want more time, less time.

I'm not sure how much common ground these campaigns will be able to find, but basically, the future of all of the debates is somewhat up in the air. We know Fox Business has one in two weeks. We know CNN has one in December.

There are several debates scheduled in the coming months, and I they will all go forward, but right now there's a lot of questions about what these campaigns want and how hard they're going to fight against this liberal media bias that they're accusing the media of.

WHITFIELD: But does it seem like these candidates or the camps are kind of preaching to the choir because there are media amongst themselves. Apparently Ben Carson was instrumental in getting this meeting to happen tomorrow Sunday, but the RNC is not part of the discussions. So they are going to talk about it amongst themselves and then what?

STELTER: They're going to vent, come up with ideas and proposals for how they want future debates to be structured. For example, Carson's campaign wants much longer opening statements, basically, a series of speeches by each candidate.

Well, I can tell you, television networks are not going to be in fair of that idea. These are supposed to be debates, not speeches, debates. We're supposed to see the candidates interacting.

We're supposed to be able to test them with provocative questions. I think there were legitimate issues about the tone of CNBC's debate. There were legitimate issues about how out of control and unwieldy it seemed.

We should share what NBC said, by the way. They said they were disappointed by this decision to suspend the debate, but they'll work with the Republican Party in good faith in order to move forward with it.

And you know what they mentioned, it was very interesting, Fredricka. They pointed out their other debate partner is Telemundo. Telemundo is a big Spanish language broadcaster.

And there's been so much talk for months about how important it is for the GOP to reach out to Hispanic voters. Basically NBC is saying, if we don't have a debate with you, you're to the going to reach our Spanish language viewers, either.

WHITFIELD: It's all about leveraging.

STELTER: On all sides.

WHITFIELD: Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

STELTER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Let's talk more about this. Joining me right now, CNN political contributor, Democrat, Bakari Sellers, and Katrina Pearson, a national Tea Party leader and a former Republican congressional candidate. Good to see both of you.

So Bakari, let me begin with you. So you just heard my segment with Brian Stelter there. It's about leveraging these candidates, saying they want to leverage their points of view.

The RNC is not going to be part of that meeting tomorrow, Monday, but clearly, all sides will end up talking together. And it's NBC who says, wait a minute, are you sure about this? Let's re-think this. So, who wins in this kind of dialogue and what's going on? This is very unusual.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This is very unusual. But one of the things that the Republican Party has to do is be very careful. They have to find a delicate balance because they risk alienating the voters that they need to have to win next November.

Everyone knows that they need to expand outreach. That they actually need to have outreach and what it appears to be is that the Republican Party wants to have a debate in the echo chamber that's moderated by Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.

And that's what the American public is getting from this. And the CNBC moderators and the production was not the best in the world. But another question arises, if you can't handle CNBC moderators, how will you handle other leaders in the free world?

WHITFIELD: And you are now exhibiting to an -- so I want you Katrina, OK. So you don't like the questions. But then as a candidate perhaps you can leverage the situation by saying "All right, I don't like the question but I'm going to turn it around. And you are now exhibiting to an audience that you are able to think quickly on your feet, you know.

[12:30:18] And change the situation to your advantage because this is almost like a test, would it not be? You know could you use this as a platform to say, this is the kind of test that I would be confronted with if in the White House.

I would have to leverage the situation to my advantage. Why wouldn't these candidates just take that approach?

KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL TEA PARTY LEADER: Well, I think what happened is, they took advantage of the approach that these moderates did have. I mean, all of them had a great night up against the media. But I don't think that world leaders behave and speak like those moderators did. They don't talk in terms of comic books and morality, which is what we saw during the debate.

And I do think that the Republicans have leverage, because after all, even though it's a debate, we're also talking about television, which means ratings.

And everyone knows the party can bring some ratings when you have Donald Trump at center stage. So I do think they're going to get some of their demands met.

WHITFIELD: OK, let's shift gears a little bit on the Democratic side. Hillary Clinton just wrapped up a rally in Charleston, South Carolina. But it was her visit in Atlanta that got a different kind of coverage -- there were members of the black lives matter movement that interrupted her speech for about 25 minutes at the Clark Atlanta University appearance.

Clinton responded by stating those concerns are a priority for her. The concerns that people who were a part of this movement expressed they wanted. She said, "Well, if you just give me a moment, I'll let you know how I plan to address it." This is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Losing the power of the feelings that come forward. And yes, they do. Yes, they do. Yes, they do. And I'm going to talk a lot about that in a minute.

So I'm sorry, you know, I appreciate their passion, but I'm sorry they didn't listen, because some of what they've been demanding I am offering and intend to fight for as president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So Bakari, how do you suppose she handled it there? I mean she had that to say, but also in the audience, quite the contrast. You had some of the civil rights foot soldiers who were right there. You had John Lewis, you had Andy Young, who were also trying to say, "Wait a minute, OK, we're all about protests, we understand the movement. But this is not the place. And this is more interruptive than it is one that advances a cause. What do you think about that?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, it's a different question. So let me answer the first one first.

She did very well in her response. In fact, her platform as it develops, since her first speech at Brooking Institute has really been fleshed out. She talks about banning the box, she talks about ending racial profiling, and she talks about remitting the disparities between crack and cocaine sentencing, which has been devastating to the African-American community.

But what you also saw yesterday in Atlanta is something that Hillary Clinton and their campaign has to grapple with. It's something that no candidate has done well. And it's very generational.

I think John Lewis and Andy Young will actually tell you that. It's something they saw during the civil rights movement. I call myself a son of the civil rights movement. My father was a member of snake. And you saw these same schisms then. The Black Lives Matter Movement is not going anywhere.

But Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley and all 25 candidates on the Republican side are have to learn to adjust to this movement, because they're pushing people to talk about their issues.

And some people may have a problem with the protests happening. But no one has a problem with the message.

WHITFIELD: OK, and Katrina, this is a challenge, as Bakari said, for all candidates. They have to figure out the best way in which to handle moments like this and to address the concerns.

PIERSON: Well, I fundamentally disagree with some of the messaging, considering that many of these organizations, including Black Lives Matter, are targeting police officers. So, no, not everyone agrees with the message that this group is sending. And I thought the headlines were going to be Hillary Clinton ejects protesters from event, because when Republicans eject people that's all over the news.

This is a group that is very hostile and very divisive. And Hillary Clinton, just in her first debate performance, talked about, she wanted to bring everyone together. And aligning with groups like Black Lives Matter is going to do just the opposite.

WHITFIELD: All right.

SELLERS: I have to just say something.

WHITFIELD: Go ahead.

SELLERS: To say this group is targeting police officers, it's false on its face and asinine and just not truth.

PIERSON: So the video of the protest is not out there, doesn't exist? Calling to the death of policers that doesn't exist?

WHITFIELD: I don't think there's any documentation calling for the death of police officers, though Katrina?

SELLERS: There's not.

PIERSON: They're out there all the time calling for violence against the police officers, all the time.

SELLERS: No, they're not, all they're simply saying is they want police officers to stop killing young unarmed black people. Katrina, if you have a problem with that, then so be it. But actually the Democratic...

[12:35:07] PIERSON: It's not just black people, though. Police brutality is not reserved for just black people. I hate to break that to you.

SELLERS: We know, because I've been the one who's championing Zachary Hammond and we would love if you came to South Carolina and champion his message, too, because, yes, police brutality is something that is cross-racial. But even more importantly this is a Democratic Party is the only party that dealing with. In fact the Republican Party gave 47 seconds to this in one of their debates and who's by scott walker and Andrew Lewis (Ph) he didn't even mention black people.

PIERSON: But there are several Republicans that are addressing sentencing reform as well.

WHITFIELD: OK, I think your exchange exemplifies why perhaps we need to have another segment that is focused primarily on that.

And we want to make sure that, you know, we have a signal that is clear, so we can hear clearly both of your points of view because it is a very important matter. And like you said, Bakari, it is something that has real staying power on the campaign trail and perhaps even beyond.

All right, Katrina Pierson, Bakari Sellers, again I'd love to have you all back and we'll talk further about this. Thanks so much.

PIERSON: Thank you.

SELLERS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL BOBBITT, CO-FOUNDER OF MOVE LOOT: We wanted to make used furniture cool. I'm Bill Bobbitt, co-founder of Move Loot. Was the first online marketplace for buying and selling secondhand home goods.

[12:39:59] The four of us came together as friends to start the company. We all moved from different parts of the country and had visible processes on both the selling and buying ends. I figured there had to be a better way.

So we started in San Francisco in just a small storage unit. We did all the moves ourselves and then we graduated to a real warehouse, where we have loading docks.

If you want to get rid of your furniture, we come and take all of it and then we post it on our site and sell it on your behalf. And for a buyer, it's like an e-commerce experience, and we can deliver it next day.

The app is great for both perusing furniture and also selling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I found this dresser and you know, the whole idea that it's going to come delivered, especially with me being on crutches, sounded amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Enjoy your loot.

BOBBITT: Our biggest way of growth is word of mouth. And that couldn't happen without social media.

We've been growing over 40 percent each month. We hope to be in every city. We founded this with a strong environment event. If someone puts a piece of furniture on to the curb, it's likely going to go to the dump.

We've already diverted over 400 tons of furniture to landfills. It further adds to the mission of making commerce sustainable. And that's really what we stand for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, more than 6,600 prisoners, all federal, non- violent drug felons, are being released this weekend. Their sentences have been reduced to deal with prison overcrowding and ease severe penalties given to non-violent drug offenders over the last three decades.

It's the largest mass release of federal prisoners and it will be followed by an even bigger release in the coming months.

CNN's Jean Casarez takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Samuel Hamilton spent 32 years in prison and when he got out a year ago, adjusting was difficult.

SAMUEL HAMILTON, FORMERLY INCARCERATED: So many people, you know, just so many people moving at one time, and just crossing the street. I chose everything with caution.

CASAREZ: And even though Hamilton had gotten a master's degree behind bars, it didn't seem to matter as he tried to get back into the workforce.

HAMILTON: You find yourself not getting the job just because of your criminal history.

CASAREZ: And believe it or not, a job isn't the biggest hurdle after you gain your freedom.

What do you see as the biggest challenge?

STANLEY RICHARDS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, THE FORTUNE SOCIETY: Housing.

We see so many people coming home without housing.

CASAREZ: This weekend, those challenges will become a reality for thousands of federal felons in this country, released to communities around the nation, which could lead to 40,000 out over the next several years.

The U.S. sentencing commission amended federal guidelines last year to reduce prison sentences of federal drug felons an average of 18 percent. And its target date, November 1st.

Nationwide, Texas will receive the most inmates, followed by Florida and Iowa.

Cocaine convictions account for almost 50 percent of the inmates to be released, followed by methamphetamine, marijuana, and heroin.

A lot of people think that crime is going to go up with all these inmates coming out.

RICHARDS: I doubt it. But don't know. If it does, it will be because the conditions on the ground in our communities are so dire.

We have so much poverty. We have so much hopelessness. We have so much homelessness. CASAREZ: New York Police Commissioner, Bill Bratton agrees.

BILL BRATTON, NYPD COMMISSIONER: After all, the bureau cannot hide and work (ph) for all officers. So who's going to watch these people when they go out on parole?

CASAREZ: And it isn't the first time. In 2007, changes in sentencing guidelines from federal crack cocaine convictions resulted in reducing sentences for over 16,000 federal drug offenders.

A five-year study by the U.S. Sentencing Commission compared those released early to inmates who had served their entire sentence before the new guidelines were in place.

The study found that both groups re-offended at similar rates, so who benefits from a sentence reduction? The prisoner or the Bureau of Prisons?

Judge Jack Weinstein is a sitting federal judge in New York who has had to make sentence reduction decisions. A top priority, he says, is safety of the community.

JACK B. WEINSTEIN, JUDGE U.S. DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF N.Y.: And the first question the judge asks himself is if I release this person now or shorten the sentence, will he be a greater danger to the community?

And the statistics say very clearly, no.

CASAREZ: Twenty-five percent of those coming out are non-citizens. In a statement to CNN, U.S. Immigration and customs enforcement tells us, it will take 1,700 of those released into custody by next week. And they will likely be deported.

Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, let's bring in our legal guys. Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor, joining us from Cleveland, good to see you.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredricka.

[12:45:00] WHITFIELD: And Richard Herman a New York Criminal Defense Attorney and Law Professor joining us from Miami. Good to see you, as well.

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK, gentlemen. I have cough drop in my mouth. So hopefully as I talk, it doesn't come flying out of my mouth or anything like that. So that's my trick. But you all are my treat on this Halloween. So let's talk about this. Avery, you first, you know, this prisoner release, it helps ease the whole prison overcrowding problem.

FRIEDMAN: Right.

WHITFIELD: But at the same time, does it make a very big statement about the laws that helped many of these prisoners get there?

FRIEDMAN: Well, it does. I think there's a balance that had to be met. Overcrowding versus preparation for reintegration, reentry into the community and frankly, with the change in sentencing guidelines, with the release of these prisoners, there really is very little attention paid to the necessity of having a good re-integration problem. Without parole officers, without social services, let me tell you something, Fredricka, I appreciate the importance of freedom, but with recidivism and the likelihood of many of these ex-inmates coming back. I think we have a very serious societal problem.

WHITFIELD: And you heard from Bratton there, who said, his big concern, too, is there aren't enough parole officers to help in this re-integration. So then, you know, Richard, would it be helpful or is it the case that many of these people who are released, perhaps their records are expunged of their conviction? Because job is going to be the big obstacle, right?

HERMAN: Yeah, I mean.

WHITFIELD: Trying to get a job after you've been released from prison.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: You'll never expunge these convictions, they'll always be of record. But here's the situation Fred. They come out after 10 to15 years in prison, it's very, very hard to adapt. They come out upset with a chip on their shoulder, a lot of them. And a lot of them, as Avery said, end up back in the can after a short period of time. But the issue here, Fred, is the federal sentencing guidelines. That's where the reform has to be. Not only in drug cases, but also in white- collar cases.

WHITFIELD: Well, that's why I wonder if this is a prelude to that.

HERMAN: You could be sentenced to 10 to 15, to 20 years in prison for a crime. And these drug cases, even if you were a low-level player, you get assigned the weight of the entire crime when the conspiracy, so you could have just driven a car or you could have just delivered one package.

FRIEDMAN: That's right.

HERMAN: And the next,you know, you're getting hit with 15 or 20 years in prison. So there is a recognition that these federal sentencing guidelines are out of whack, and you've got to revise them, Fred. It's a major issue in the United States right now.

WHITFIELD: Avery?

FRIEDMAN: Well, yeah, here's what's going on. There's a bipartisan effort, both in the House and the Senate, to recognize the folly, what are called mandatory minimums. People are going to jail for the kind of reason you just heard. I mean, they're driving a car they've got 15 years. So Congress really has to address the issue of being a little bit more realistic. At the time, Congress thought it was the right thing. Tough law and order. It didn't work. So ultimately, the burden falls back on Congress to address mandatory minimums and then deal with a release like this, where you'll have thousands back in society and without reintegration of processes set up.

WHITFIELD: We'll have to leave it right there. Avery Friedman and Richard Herman, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

FRIEDMAN: Happy Halloween.

WHITFIELD: And Happy Halloween.

HERMAN: Happy Halloween.

WHITFIELD: All right. In this Breaking News, we want to follow up now on that plane. The Russian plane going down in Egypt. Now an Egyptian official saying there is no evidence of any terrorist attack in that crash of that Russian jet this morning.

[12:48:47] The Egyptian airport official tells CNN that it was most likely a technical failure. And of course, we'll have more on this at the top of the hour, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Checking our top stories right now, two people are reported dead and another two are missing as raging floodwaters sweep through Texas. This video shows the San Marcos River overflowing with tree trunks and other debris shutting down major highways. The Houston fire department rescued more than 90 people from the rising waters overnight.

Investigators are looking into pyrotechnics as a cause for that deadly blaze inside a nightclub in Bucharest, Romania last night. At least 27 people are confirmed dead. More than 160 were hurt, many of them critically. And at least 300 people were inside that club when the fire broke out. Romanian officials have declared several days of mourning.

And a reminder for most of us here in the U.S., set your clocks back. One hour, fall back one hour tonight. One hour. The official end of daylight savings time ends at 2:00 a.m. that means an extra hour of sleep. That's a good way of looking at it, for everyone except for people, sorry, in Arizona and Hawaii. Those are the two states that remain on standard time year-round.

We've got so much more straight ahead in the newsroom right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BRONSTAD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. I'm David Bronstad. I'm an artist, designer and television host. I live in Miami Beach and am the addition hotel. This is my favorite place to be. You know what, if you think this is cool, just wait. A bowling alley in the hotel, in the basement? I can't handle it. I need a strike.

An ice skate ring in the basement of a hotel. I'm so terrified. On my ice blades.

[12:55:00] If you're like me, you are coming to Miami Beach to be on the beach. I mean, look at this place. It's gorgeous. It's fabulous. Have you seen my tan? Welcome to the Wynwood Walls. I mean, just look around us.

Beautiful murals, absolutely fantastic. There are so many international artists are represented here. And this is not your average graffiti. And this is what inspired this whole district.

This is truly one of Miami's most popular tourist destinations. And honestly, it's one of mine and -- oh, my gosh, do I look like that when I'm angry?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello again everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We begin with Breaking News and new details surrounding the crash of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt. While the cause of the crash is still unknown, the chief of the Egyptian airports company says there is no evidence of any terrorist action. And the plane most likely crashed due to a technical failure.

The Russian embassy in Cairo is reporting none of the 224 people onboard have survived. All passengers are believed to be Russian and Ukrainian. Investigators are transferring remains of passengers to an ambulance in Suez. CNN's Ian Lee is live for us right now in Cairo.

[13:00:06] So, Ian, tell us more about what they think may have happened to this plane in the very early stages now.