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Officer Who Staged Suicide Planned Hit; Carly Fiorina Face Critics on "The View"; Evidence Shows Bomb Took Down MetroJet. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 06, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:09] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: A small-town police officer's scheme to fake his own death to cover up his embezzlement continues to get even more horrifying. CNN learned not only are his widow and son possibly involved in this whole thing and now under investigation, but detectives say this veteran officer tried to put a hit on a city administrator. The target of this alleged plan, Fox Lake village administrator, Ann Marrin.

Rosa Flores has more details for us.

ROSA FLORES, CNN ANCHOR: Brooke, sources confirming to CNN that the lieutenant's widow and son are being investigated for possibly being involved in the embezzlement of thousands of dollars. Now remember, messages released by authorities that were deleted and then recovered? Now sources tell us that those exchanges were actually with widow and the son as well.

But perhaps the most shocking revelation here is the idea that the lieutenant was exploring, thinking about killing the village administrator. This is all according to authorities. Authorities shared with us the text message that revealed to them the biggest clue. I'm going to read it for you. Quote, "Close to entertaining a meeting with a mutual acquaintance of ours with the word 'white' in their nickname." Now authorities say that "white" is actually a code word for a high-ranking gang member.

It took a lot of police work, but officers found that gang member. They questioned them, they tell us, and the gang member denied any involvement. He said he never had a conversation with him.

But imagine being that village administrator that then learns that there had been a hit against her life. She responded to those allegations. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN MARRIN, FOX LAKE VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR: I was stunned, absolutely stunned. It's definitely not a good feeling. And it's very scarily in the same sense as well. It's almost surreal. We had very little conversation. And the ones were about the Explorer programs and things like that. It was very minimal and always very pleasant. There weren't any bad words exchanged. It was very surprising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And yet another twist. Investigators tell us they found cocaine in an unmarked evidence bag inside the lieutenant's desk in his office. They searched for a case that he was working that involved cocaine. They tried to figure out where that cocaine came from and what he wanted it for. All their theories went cold, but they did worry about the possibility that he could have planted it in the office of the administrator because of what was revealed in those text messages. They investigated that lead and say that lead also went cold -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Rosa Flores, thank you so much.

Next, she'd like to be president. Carly Fiorina joined "The View" this morning, one week after they criticized her face, calling it demented, saying there should be a Halloween mask for it. What did she say to them? We'll have a spokeswoman join me after this quick break.

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[14:39:13] BALDWIN: Republican presidential hopeful, Carly Fiorina, appearing this morning on "The View" to confront the hosts who had said a week ago that her face looked demented during the most recent Republican debate. Those comments didn't sit very well with many female viewers. To be honest, including myself. If you have an issue with someone running for president, take issue with something substantive. That's it. I move on.

Carly Fiorina shot back at the hosts as "liberal feminists." And today the two sides seemingly declared a truce, that is until Whoopi suggested she needed a thicker skin in the face of comedians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER CEO, HEWLETT- PACKARD: Hey, if you meant your comment about my face being demented and a Halloween mask as humorous, so be it. I guess you misinterpreted Donald Trump's comments and thought those weren't humorous.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, THE VIEW: No, no, no, no.

(CROSSTALK)

FIORINA: You never took him to task.

(CROSSTALK)

FIORINA: I am making a different point. And the different point is this. I think that there are real issues in this nation that we ought to be able to discuss in a fact-based, civil fashion.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [14:40:24] BALDWIN: Joining me to talk about this is Nan Hayworth, a former Congresswoman and also the co-chair for Carly for America.

Congresswoman, thanks to see you again. Welcome back.

NAN HAYWORTH, CO-CHAIR, CARLY FOR AMERICA & FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN: Thanks, you, too.

BALDWIN: First of all, why did Carly Fiorina want to be "The View" after what they said? Did want to get on there and say her peace, want an apology, what was it?

HAYWORTH: Carly Fiorina today had taken the opportunity to take on the litany of the left. She has real substance and grace and. A sense of humor. And what she said today was, look, let's concentrate on the substance on the real issues that face us all. Not on petty concerns like the kind of comments they made after the debate and not a single issue just about gender. That was their litany. And Carly made the point with grace and good humor that we have to talk about a number of things that can't wait, jobs, the economy, ISIS.

BALDWIN: I agree with her on substantive issues, but on the flip side, the ladies of "The View" had a point in this. Roll this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA FARIS, CO-HOST, THE VIEW: I know you use the unfortunate situation with Donald Trump to your Benefit. You were making lemonade out of lemons and using the feud with "The View" as well as part of your fundraising campaign. There's a video going out. But you're trying to make lemonade out of lemons here, aren't you?

FIORINA: So you're telling me you guys are lemons?

FARIS: I'm just saying.

(CROSSTALK)

FARIS: That is a funny, actually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I'm not going to use the lemonade analogy, but I think the women have a point. It helps Carly Fiorina that they are talking about her. They talked about her last week. We're sitting here talking about her. They had had her on "The View." It does help raise her profile. I am sure the ratings will be solid. Don't they have a point?

HAYWORTH: To raise your profile, you have to be able to rise to the occasion. That's the beautiful part about Carly Fiorina. When you talk about the challenges, talk about lemons into lemonade, Carly Fiorina has faced breast cancer, the loss of a daughter, the challenges of rising from secretary to CEO at a time when executives were not always taken seriously. And she has spoke of that eloquently. She had an opportunity today. She made and took that opportunity to make sure that people know. We have a lot to talk about it. And she's sounding very presidential, I think.

BALDWIN: Sounding presidential, your opinion. Others would disagree. Rising to the occasion, she was fantastic in that initial debate at our Reagan debate she did really well. We were almost using her name as a verb. But then you look at her now. Our latest CNN poll, her numbers are at 4 percent. She was pretty flat at that last debate. A lot of people sort of asking other than just this flap with "The View," where is Carly Fiorina and the debate next week? How does she break out?

HAYWORTH: If you look at the substance that she discussed during that debate, she was entirely on message and solid. She has real solutions.

BALDWIN: She was criticized in the wake of that.

HAYWORTH: I would take issue with premise that it she failed to perform. I think those of us, who have seen audiences, she's connecting with audiences on the ground wherever she goes. She's in New Hampshire. She's in Iowa. She's in South Carolina. And she's been in New York. She's doing well.

BALDWIN: What does she do on that stage next week for that debate to truly punch forward and have that moment that we saw her have weeks ago? Because it wasn't there last week.

HAYWORTH: But what we have seen with Carly, and I do think we saw it in the last debate. We have seen it today on "The View." She will take any question, any time from any audience and I think that's a wonderful quality. So he she has said, bring it on. She didn't emerge from the debate and complain about the moderators. She said, look, I am here to take on the issues. She has the knowledge and the intellect and the agility and the grace and good humor to do just that. I think that's what we're going to see next week.

[14:45:18] BALDWIN: Nan Hayworth, Congresswoman Hayworth, thank you so much.

HAYWORTH: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I appreciate your time.

Next here, we are just learning U.S. airport security about to get a bit of a shakeup overseas in the wake of that Russian passenger plane that broke to pieces over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. More on those details.

Also ahead, on the Republican race for president, Ben Carson is defending these tales of his violent past in an interview this morning. We'll play that for you. If you have not seen it, you really need to. Stay with me.

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[14:50:03] BALDWIN: Tesla's CEO Elon Musk believes electric cars are the way of the future. But car buyers are worried about running out of battery on the road.

Our digital correspondent, Rachel Crane, reports, a lab may have just discovered the cure for the so-called range anxiety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA & SPACEX: The most important thing that needs to happen is the transition of transportation to electric so we can stop burning oil. That's the most important thing that needs to happen. We'll see interesting things happen in the coming years.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oil is not sustainable. The solution, electric. But it has its physical limitations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest challenge right now is what we call range. It means people are really worried about this new technology and feel like they are stranded. Their battery is empty and can't go any further. That's the number one reason they won't buy an electric vehicle. This technology can revolutionize that.

CRANE: The technology class he's referring to is called dynamic wireless charging. It works just like the wireless Internet, but instead of getting you online, it charges your car as you drive.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a testing facility run by the U.S. government. Their mission is to solve the world's transportation problems. And that means convincing automakers, consumers and taxpayers that it's worth it to rip up America's interstates.

(on camera): Who do you retrofit roads to become wireless charging stations?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the scenarios is the coil would be embedded in the roadway. This would be on the under side of the vehicle and this it one would be the one that's embedded in the vehicle's system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you assume that it costs about $2 million per mile, it would be about $80 billion. And you would have the entire interstate equipped with this technology, that enables you to always leave the interstate with a full tank of electricity in your battery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Let's get straight to breaking news. I've just been handed this news. This is from European investigators as it pertains to the downed Russian passenger plane. We have been hearing from U.K. and U.S. Intelligence, pointing to sources close to the investigation believing it was indeed a bomb placed on that plane that blew up in the sky over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Egypt and Russia have been saying elsewhere. Investigators are categorically saying the crash is not an accident.

Just reading what I have been handed. The investigators say the cockpit voice recorder -- this is the first we're hearing from this. The voice recorder shows an exPLOsion and the flight data recorder confirms that the exPLOsion is not accidental. There's not any sign of mechanical malfunction during the first minutes of the flight. Everything is fine during the first 24 minutes and then, in a fraction of a second, it's a blackout with no parameters, no more conversation, and now investigators are convinced there was a bomb on board that plane.

We're working on getting voices on this. Much more on the breaking story, when we come back.

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[14:58:06] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Breaking news here as we start the next hour on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

This is big. The deadly downing of that Russian airliner over Egypt was not an accident. This is what we are also now hearing from an affiliate citing European investigators. Recordings on the black box here, the flight data recorder, on these boxes, revealing the sound of an exPLOsion, heard from the cockpit on board this MetroJet aircraft before it crashed into the Sinai while an examination of the flight data recorder shows no sign of mechanical malfunction. All of this backs up the suspicions we have been hearing from the United States and U.K. that someone got a bomb on this plane.

Richard Quest is joining me; Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst; and also CNN's Fred Pleitgen is standing by in London.

A lot of pieces to this.

Richard, first to you.

So cockpit voice recorder, tell me about what they are finding.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: If the report is true, and there's no reason to believe it's not, what they are saying is that on the cockpit voice recorder there is a split second of noise and parameters before the thing just goes dead. The power is cut. And this is exactly the same as we saw with MH-17 and --

BALDWIN: Over Ukraine.

QUEST: -- over Ukraine, and TW-800 off the Long Island Sound. It's this split second and it's a millisecond where you hear an exPLOsion of some description. And you see all the parameters go haywire before the power is completely lost.

Now, if this report is accurate, they have now analyzed that, seen what it says on the CVR, heard it, and they can identify it. Because if the plane was just flying along and something went wrong, it would be several minutes before the plane fell out of the sky, even if there was a catastrophic failure of the airplane. It wouldn't just be that --