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U.S. Detected Heat Flash on Russian Jet While Midair; No Evidence TSA Screening Works?; Donald Trump Launches New Attacks Against Rivals; 9-Year-Old Shot to Death in Chicago Alley; Cosby to Testify in Janice Dickinson Suit. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 03, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. I'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Thank you so much for joining me.

We do begin with breaking news on that Russian airliner crash that killed all 224 people aboard. Just minutes ago sources told CNN that a U.S. military satellite has come to the chilling conclusion. Whatever catastrophe doomed that plane happened in midair. And the so-called heat flash suggests an in-flight explosion of some kind.

CNN's Barbara Starr is working her sources. She joins us live from the Pentagon. Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Let's start right at the beginning. A U.S. military satellite flying over Sinai at the time of this incident picked up a heat flash. This is an infrared signature. You basically have a heat indicator that is significantly different than the natural environment. So something very hot pops out on the satellite imagery.

Now the U.S. officials have determined that this pop out of this heat signature happened in midair. Not when the plane hit the ground. They saw that as well. But the first indication of a heat signature happened in midair. That indicates a catastrophic event in midair.

So now what do we know? We know that the U.S. has basically ruled out a missile strike. There is no technical data from the satellite to indicate that a missile was launched.

What kind of catastrophic event in midair could have caused this? Could it have been some kind of mechanical failure? Yes, perhaps. All of that being looked at certainly by Egyptian and Russian authorities.

But what if an engine or a fuel tank had suddenly exploded in such a violent manner? We do not know the answer to that. It is possible. All options are on the table. But to be clear, one of the things the U.S. now is looking at is, does any of this technical evidence, does any other intelligence point to the possibility of a bomb?

We want to be very clear. There is no direct evidence at this point. No one has come to any conclusions. But I can tell you that the U.S. intelligence community looking at this very closely because there has been that claim of responsibility by ISIS. It's a question now, could ISIS? Could some other group have had the capability to get a bomb on a plane in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt when this plane took off?

It's a question the U.S. wants an answer to obviously as everybody does because if ISIS were to have that capability, if some other group has that capability, that's something the U.S. very much needs to know and needs to know quick -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You got that right. Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon. Thank you.

Also new this morning, and this is disturbing, too. In line of what Barbara just said, congressional investigators here in the United States are about to reveal a scathing report on the TSA security measures like body scans. Of course those body scans designed to keep us safe when we get on board a plane. The bottom line, though, there is absolutely no evidence those measures actually work.

CNN's Rene Marsh is our aviation and government regulation correspondent. She has details on that report. And Richard Quest will break -- will break down what this all means.

I want to begin with you, though, Rene. Take it away.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the TSA, as you know, is the agency in charge of protecting aviation from a terrorist attack. And there will be -- this agency will be getting a lashing on Capitol Hill in just a matter of minutes. The Government Accountability Office just released a report this morning highlighting the agency's shortcomings, saying TSA has not evaluated the effectiveness of new screening technologies. TSA has no consistent performance measures for its secure flight programs, which essentially matches passengers' names against terror watch lists and TSA failed to use data to identify opportunities for improvement.

As you know since September 11th. Billions of dollars have been spent on aviation security. And GAO will tell Congress today there is no solid proof that TSA's screening methods are effective. Also the Department of Homeland Securities inspector general will be on Capitol Hill. He will also discuss security gaps discovered in an earlier covert testing that happened this year in which they tested TSA agents at eight different airports and TSA agents most of the times, they were unable to detect fake bombs at those checkpoints.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Rene, I find that very disturbing. I want to bring in Richard Quest now.

So, Richard, put this into perspective. Why am I even bothering to walk through the metal detector?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Now you've got to -- you've got to distinguish here, Carol, between the equipment, the procedures and the way they are being used. [09:05:10] Now you remember earlier this year the scandal with the TSA

when the head was reassigned because, as Rene was talking about, the TSA staff were unable in the majority of cases of pat-downs and inspections to discover bombs and other equipment as that were being used for tests. So the fact that the GAO has come out with this report is if you like heaping further injury on to insult of what we already know about the TSA, which is that they would appear to have a systemic issue in how they go about their business.

Now that is not the same thing as saying the scanners that they are using are ineffective or useless. They are being -- they are pretty much the same scanners used around the world. So what the authorities and the administration is going to have to look at very closely indeed is just how much of this is at the TSA's door? How much are they being officious, rather than being efficient? And how much do they actually need to make sure they do the job that Americans expect them do properly?

COSTELLO: OK. Back to you, Rene. So this report is going to be revealed to Congress later this morning. So after it is, we know what it says already. I'm sure they do, too. So what will be done henceforth? What is solution?

MARSH: You're right. Well, that's really the purpose of what we're going to see on Capitol Hill today is hashing out and essentially putting TSA on the spot to say, look, these are the deficiencies that we found. What are you going to do about it? We do know that the new head of TSA will be present at this hearing when it gets under way at around 10:00. So he will be on the hot seat. Lawmakers will be asking him point-blank to all of these deficiencies brought up not only by GAO but by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, how will you address it?

And that's what we'll be waiting to see. I will point out that because it is under new leadership there is some optimism that things will turn around but as many have said they've got a long way to go, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Rene Marsh, Richard Quest, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Ben Carson puts Donald Trump in an unfamiliar spot. He's not winning. Now the Donald is launching a new round of attacks on his GOP rivals.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:11:44] COSTELLO: Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump is firing from all cylinders this morning and in all directions as Ben Carson cements his lead in the GOP race. Trump now unleashing a new wave of attacks against his competitors. Punching up to hit Carson and also taking a swing at Marco Rubio who is now in the double digits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that Ben just doesn't have the experience. You know, I'm going to make the greatest deals you've ever seen on trade. We're going to run the military properly. I'm going to take care of the vets. Ben can't do those things. Ben cannot deal on trade. Ben cannot deal with --

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Why not?

TRUMP: It's not his thing, George. You know, you're born with it. It's not his thing. He hasn't got the temperament for it. It's not the right thing for him.

STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of Democrats I talk to think Marco Rubio is the toughest nominee for the Republicans. Why are they wrong?

TRUMP: I don't see it. I don't see it. I'm not a fan. And you know what, I'm doing business --

STEPHANOPOULOS: You said he's over rated.

TRUMP: Let me -- I think he's over rated, and I'm also saying he's a lightweight. I think he's a lightweight. You know, I think Putin would eat him alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This latest round of attacks coming on the same day Trump unveils his brand new book. I'd like to read you an excerpt right now. Quote, "I use the media the way the media uses me. To attract attention. Once I have that attention it's up to me to use it to my advantage."

And I must say, he's quite good at that.

Let's bring in CNN's Athena Jones. She joins us now from the campaign trail in Tampa. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. He is good at getting attention. Donald Trump has a lot to say about his opponents. He also responded to President Obama who mocked the Republicans' complaints about the debates during a Democratic fundraiser last night in New York.

President Obama said look, these GOP candidates are talking tough about folks like Russian president Vladimir Putin and yet they can't handle the CNBC debate moderators. If you can't handle those moderators then Russia and China aren't going to be too worried about you.

Take a listen to how Donald Trump responded to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He can't handle the country. I mean, he's doing a terrible job running the country. So he may say the Republicans don't get along on a debate. And it's not us. I mean, we're being asked very rude questions. Many of them directed at me to be honest with you. But he's having a hard time -- not a hard time. He cannot handle the country. He is doing a terrible, terrible job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So Trump says President Obama is doing a terrible job. He also said in that interview that Hillary Clinton did a terrible job at secretary of state and that he expects her to be the nominee, unless she's indicted. That's a reference to this private e-mail server issue. Trump also said that he expects himself to be the nominee for the Republicans. But all of this is coming, as you mentioned, we have a second national poll showing Ben Carson has pulled ahead of Trump.

This is the new NBC-"Wall Street Journal" poll. I believe we can put that up on the screen. You can see Carson in the lead at 29 percent. Trump six points behind him at 23 percent. And there is Marco Rubio in third place at 11 percent. So it's interesting to see Trump responding to these competitors beginning to surge and maybe challenge him a bit for that frontrunner status -- Carol.

COSTELLO: No, I was just going through the list. So he thinks Hillary Clinton did a terrible job.

[09:15:01] And Obama is doing a terrible job. He thinks Marco Rubio is overrated and a lightweight. He thinks Marco Rubio - no, Marco Rubio is a lightweight, I'm sorry. And Ben Carson can't negotiate and Jeb Bush should just jump -- get out of the race right now.

I wonder, does he think anybody is doing a good job with anything?

JONES: You know, that's a very good question, because Trump, you often hear him say, oh, you know, I have a lot of opinions, but I'm not going to share them, and then he goes ahead and shares them, but mostly on the negative side.

I can't recall him, maybe you can, Carol, him complimenting anyone, or certainly not complimenting any of his competitors, at least not so far, certainly not in a way that has stood out or been memorable to viewers like me -- Carol.

COSTELLO: He was complementary of his daughter. I do remember that. Athena Jones reporting live from Tampa -- thank you.

A quick programming note for you: the Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush will sit down for a one-on-one interview. You can see that tonight on "THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER". That's at 5:00 Eastern Time.

Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Chicago with three fundraisers on her schedule. Last night, she met up with a group of African American mothers who have all lost children to fatal shootings. Among them were the mothers of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. The women left the meeting impressed by Clinton's commitment to stop the bloodshed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SAMARIA RICE, MOTHER OF TAMIR RICE: I felt that she was very sincere. And I do feel that she listened. She made a lot of great points. Now we're looking for action.

SYBRINA FULTON, MOTHER OF TRAYVON MARTIN: It was very powerful meeting. It was very powerful.

MARIA HAMILTON, MOTHER OF DANTRE HAMILTON: She didn't make any promises. We have literature and language from Hillary stating what they are planning to do if she is elected for president. But we didn't anything that was grounded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Not far from where Clinton was meeting with those mothers, a nine-year-old boy was gunned down in an alley near his grandmother's house. His name was Tyshawn Lee and he dreamed one day of joining the NBA. His basketball was lying near his body. Two churches have reportedly offered rewards.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Chicago with more on this tragic case.

Good morning.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Police this morning trying to figure out if this was a case of "wrong person at the wrong time" or if this was a targeted shooting. But regardless here, regardless of what the investigation reveals, it is definitely a case that has a mother in mourning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLA LEE, MOTHER OF 9-YEAR-OLD SHOOTING VICTIM: I don't have my baby no more. He's a good kid. He don't deserve that. He don't deserve that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, here is what we know from authorities. This nine-year- old was using this alley to get a shortcut from point A to point B. Now, police say that at about 4:30, an altercation broke out in this alley, shots were fired. And that's when they found this nine-year- old boy on the ground with multiple shots to the upper body. That's when neighbors called the police.

Investigators arrived on the scene, scoured the scene, collected evidence for hours, interviewed people trying to find a motive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DEAN ANDREWS, CHICAGO POLICE: It is unclear if this was a targeted incident for a tragic case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. At this time, we do not have a concrete motive. But we will be working around the clock to find out more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Police do tell me that the shots that hit this little boy were at close range. But again, they don't have a motive at this time. They are still investigating and there are no suspects identified -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rosa Flores reporting live this morning.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM, Janice Dickinson gets her day in court. A judge ruled Bill Cosby must testify in her defamation lawsuit. The woman who will be firing off tough questions to Cosby joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:23:41] COSTELLO: Bill Cosby is once again being forced to face tough questioning. The comedian and his former lawyer will soon testify under oath in a defamation lawsuit brought by former supermodel Janice Dickinson. Dickinson claims she was defamed by Cosby because he publicly accused her of lying about being drugged and raped by the comedian back in 1982.

In July, Dickinson appeared on CNN. This is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANICE DICKINSON, COSBY ACCUSER: There is no way to put into words the depth of misery, pain and humiliation that I have -- that I and the other women and all women and men that have gone through unconsented, nonconsensual drugs and rape. It's -- it altered my behavior. My family has been embarrassed and humiliated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The deposition is set to take place by November 25th. Cosby's team say they will appeal, saying it was legally incorrect to allow the deposition to go forward.

With me now is Janice Dickinson's Lisa Bloom. She's also a legal analyst for Avvo.

Welcome.

LISA BLOOM, ATTORNEY FOR JANICE DICKINSON: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Lisa, first of all, is Janice ready for this?

[09:25:02] BLOOM: Janice is absolutely ready for this. Janice is strong. She has her tough days like all survivors of sexual assault do. But she was absolutely elated by the court's decision yesterday.

COSTELLO: I understand the scope of the questions in both depositions is limited. So, what topics will be out of bounds?

BLOOM: Well, we got everything we asked for yesterday. And my legal team and I spent a lot of time and effort on this motion. And this is a great victory for us and for Janice. We asked for limited deposition that this early phase of the

litigation on the legal issue of malice. In a defamation case where somebody like Janice who's a celebrity is suing, we have to show malice, which means that the statements that Mr. Cosby and his attorney made about her calling her a liar after she came forward with her rape disclosure like fifty other women, we have to show that they knew that was false or that they should have known it was false. In the case of the attorney, that he failed to do an appropriate investigation.

He came out the same day and attacked Janice Dickinson the same day she came forward, November 18th, 2014. He contend he failed do an appropriate investigation. He failed to consider Mr. Cosby's own admissions in depositions in 2005. And we think we have a pretty strong position. But I look forward to personally taking Mr. Cosby's deposition and his attorney's deposition to gather more evidence in support of Ms. Dickinson's case.

COSTELLO: OK. So, I understand what you just said. But can you also question Mr. Cosby or his attorney about what happened back in 1982?

BLOOM: I think it's very likely that I can. Because, you know, it is going to depend sort of on the flow of the questioning. And I don't want to reveal now and all the questions that I'm going to ask and give a script to the other side so that they can prepare. But I think it is very likely, because in a defamation case truth is a defense. And if Mr. Cosby is going to claim that he did not rape Ms. Dickinson, then I think it is appropriate line of inquiry at a pretrial deposition.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So, you are also going depose the attorney, but he's Cosby's attorney and there is attorney-client privilege. So, does the attorney have to answer your questions.

BLOOM: Well, he certainly does not have to answer about attorney/client privilege. And I respect that. And listen, I've taken probably hundreds of depositions in my career over the last 30 years, I understand the attorney-client privilege.

But the attorney-client privilege does not apply to attorneys speaking to third parties like the media. It doesn't apply to attorneys speaking to people other than the client such as publicist. It doesn't apply to an attorney writing up a press release and sending it out. I think there will be a lot of areas of the inquiry that will be appropriate and allowed.

COSTELLO: So you could ask something like, you know, you said in a press release that ms. Dickinson was lying about what happened in 1982 and you can kind of poke him on what and get him to say whatever, correct?

BLOOM: That's right. And I can also ask about the investigation that did. So the attorney submitted a declaration in the case which is a written statement. Every he wrote is a fruitful line of inquiry. I can ask about all of that. We don't is have to just accept what he said. Of course, it is very easy to sit down and write a statement and edit and make it the way you want it. It is another to answer tough questions under cross examination and that's what the judge yesterday said that I am entitled to do.

COSTELLO: All right. Lisa Bloom. Thank you so much. I appreciate you being here.

BLOOM: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

A revolt by the Republican presidential candidates fizzles. Yes they meant to trash the liberal media and their so called gotcha questions. But they failed to negotiate a better debate for all. The fact was not lost on President Obama or his audience, wealthy Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Have you noticed that every one of the candidates say Obama's weak. He's -- you know, Putin's kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he's going to straighten out. Just looking at him, I'm going to -- he's going to be --

(LAUGHTER)

And then it turns out they can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators in a debate.

(APPLAUSE)

If you can't handle those guys, you know, then I don't think the Chinese and Russians are going to be too worried about you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh politics.

Seriously though, the candidates intended to send a letter to the debate moderators like CNN demanding no gotcha question, opening and closing statements, and even a say in who asks them questions.