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Reagan Presidential Library Evacuated Over Fire Danger; Hurricane-Force Winds Stoke Flames Threatening Homes; First Images From Raid That Killed ISIS Leader Released; Issue Of Missing Words From Transcript Of Ukraine Call; House To Formalize Impeachment Proceedings Thursday; Protesters Plan Masquerade Halloween March. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 31, 2019 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Studio Seven at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta. Ahead this hour, California fire emergency. Hurricane-force winds and low humidity, the fire crews struggling to contain at least ten major outbreaks. At one point the Reagan Presidential Library was under threat. And across the state, tens of thousands of people including these patients from a care facility are on the move.

Plus, also this hour, the Baghdadi raid. New video shows how the leader of ISIS was taken down by U.S. Delta Force Commandos.

At this hour, fires are broken out in the residential areas of South Los Angeles well cross California. Hurricane-force winds and burn dry conditions continue to fuel this fire emergency with at least ten major fires now burning out of control. The worst outbreaks are the states north and the south with slow progress being made. Tens of thousands of people are under mandatory evacuation orders.

At one point on Wednesday, the fire threaten the Reagan Presidential Library in the northwest of Los Angeles. CNN's Bill Weir reports now from there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: We're obviously right here in front of the Reagan Library Statue of the President on horseback here. Interesting that when they dedicated this building, they hosted firefighters who saved this place from a threatening wildfire like this.

Reagan's own Malibu ranch burned down back in the day. Fire is always part of this landscape. But the organizers here, the folks at the museum say they've never seen anything like this. Get a load of this valley, when we arrived about 90 minutes ago, it was burning on the far ridgeline. And it just that short amount of time this 60 mile an hour set out of gust, push this thing all the way up.

And the fire crews just pulled out of there because they have neighborhoods below us that are now in danger. But you can see these hotspots kicking back up just within the last few minutes since the fire CAL FIRE pulled out of here. It's really astounding. The speed and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana gust, CAL FIRE has never managed to contain this kind of fire in the history of the state. All they can do is wait for the weather to shift.

This one was about 15 acres when we started. Now it's in the hundreds of acres and headed towards the rest of the Simi Valley more residential areas here. They does -- the library itself they believe is pretty safe. Obviously, the crews wouldn't pull back. It's fireproof, it's earthquake-proof. What's interesting is that every year they bring in herds of goats, they eat the vegetation and clear defensible space around this precious home. There's so much memorabilia and pieces of the National Archives as well.

But man, look at this moonscape. It's reminiscent of the Woolsey fire in Malibu just last year when we saw so much in Calabasas and that area burn. There's still the Getty fire to worry about in the hills of Los Angeles. We heard of another fire outbreak in Riverside County. That's a couple of hours from here as well. And that's not to mention all the fires that are still raging up north in Northern California as Pacific Gas and Electric has those rolling blackouts out of fear of yet another electrical spark here.

But we're going to follow this one. It feels like a library and the museum is safer now. So we're going to follow this one down into Simi Valley and check on proof of life among the folks, the ranchers, so much wildlife, or so much livestock in this area that they're evacuating as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thanks to Bill Weir for that report. Let's go to Meteorologist Derek Van Dam right now for more on the forecast because obviously everything now just depends on the weather.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, absolutely. And you can just imagine, John, the precision it takes for these pilots to airdrop this fire retardant on the fires here. They're attacking these fires from the ground and from the air so well too. I mean this shot just tells it all and bombs up. The piece there really was quite extraordinary.

Now, look at the threats here going forward for the day today. Into Friday morning, still an extremely critical fire danger expected for Ventura Los Angeles County southward towards the border of the U.S. and Mexico wind gusts nearing hurricane forces you've mentioned already, but it's the relative humidity values that are astounding.

We're talking five to 10 percent range. That is bone dry people. And if you calculate the size of Ventura in Los Angeles County, we're talking Tokyo soul, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. That just gives you an idea of the scope of what these firefighters have to deal with in terms of the red flag fire danger that is in place.

We've got cold air that's set up across the Rockies, high pressure to low pressure. That is the way that the wind moves. And it gets increased as the temperatures drop across the Rockies. And there is a temperature gradient and that is really what helps funnel Santa Ana winds across the south. They're called Diablo winds and the north, Santa Ana winds in the south. And these have been responsible for over 10 large active wildfires, not to mention the ongoing climate crisis that we are battling over the western U.S.

Here's the latest updated figures. You can see zero percent containment. Now on the easy fire, we do have some progress there in the Kincaid fire which is good news, but the wind still gusting out of the north-northeast. And that means that is due offshore. That is classic Santa Ana winds set up again nearing 100 kilometers per hour at times.

And this picture says it all. Those are flames jumping over highway or Freeway 23 in Los Angeles County, and this is causing additional spot fires. They have been known to take embers from the tops of these mountainsides and actually sending them over a kilometer in front of the original fire, John. And that has been responsible for creating the spot fires that are a kilometer in advance of where the firefighters are battling currently right now, so dangerous a situation to say the least.

VAUSE: OK, yes, certainly. Thank you, Derek. We appreciate the update. We have new details on the U.S. raid which led to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Pentagon has declassified video of the operation from the past weekend.

In the late-night raid, U.S. commandos swooped in on the ISIS leader's compound in northwest Syria coming under fire from the ground. You can see special ops forces running into the compound where they fired on five ISIS members, four women and a man who refused to surrender.

The Pentagon says 11 children were rescued and the commandos then discovered Baghdadi actually crawled into a hole, they say, with two small children or three, as was earlier reported. Baghdadi eventually blew himself up. But the U.S. general who made the announcement could not confirm if he was whimpering and crying as President Trump had claimed.

An airstrike later reduced the compound to rubble so it would not be a place of worship or a shrine for Baghdadi's followers. He warned ISIS will likely try to strike back after all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We suspect they will try some form of retribution attack. And will -- we are postured and prepared to -- and postured and prepared for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN National Security Analyst and former CIA operative Bob Baer is with us now from Santa Barbara in California. So Bob, you know, the release of the images by the Pentagon, I guess, is significant in itself, and we'll get to that in a moment, but the photos and the videos, they -- it seems pretty standard stuff as a gunfight of the compound. There's no sign of Baghdadi or no clear sign anyway. I am I missing something? What did I see?

BOB BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think what we're really seeing is we didn't see the intelligence they were operating off of. I mean, their decision, for instance, to breach the wall, I think that occurred, and the fact that they went into a hostile area that they could outshoot these people.

So we're not seeing a lot of that. We're not seeing the backup forces. But this is really a dicey operation. When you're doing an entry like this, John, the whole idea is to go in quietly with no warning, overwhelm the house with as little gunfire as possible and get out quickly.

Clearly, they had to fight their way in. It's a big deal. It's -- this is -- you know, I think it's it was better planned, and at the end, they did a better job than (INAUDIBLE).

VAUSE: Along with the video, General McKenzie actually released some new details about the raid. And this was the stuff that I thought was actually kind of you know, even more interesting than actually looking at the images. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: While the assault force was securing the remains, they also secured whatever documentation and electronics we could find, which was substantial. The assault force then left the compound and return to their helicopters with the two detainees that I've already mentioned. After our forces were safely off the objective, U.S. forces employed precision standoff munitions to destroy the compound and its comments -- and its contents, pardon me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: OK, so two detainees presumably because they're inside the compound with Baghdadi. They're close to him. That can be of high value. Also, whatever that can be extracted from the you know, the computers and the hard drives, whatever it is that they got. I'm just wondering, is that the real success here of this raid at least in terms of the bigger fight against ISIS?

BAER: I think it's a success. I mean, anytime you can get computers, and you combine them with other data you have and put this and algorithms, you could locate sleeper cells, presumably. You know, somebody like this on the run, can't resist keeping control and keeping control of the details, thumb drives, computers, paper, the rest of it.

Clearly, this man thought he was going to get away and who knows what he -- we don't know and nobody knows right now what was -- what's on those computers, but it's significant. And that's what you want to do. You're just standing in a place like that and then you go to the next raid, and the next one, and you have more documents and more documents until you close these movements down.

[01:10:10] VAUSE: I'm just curious because you know, there's a lot of talk about this right being brought forward because of the Turkish offensive which was green-lighted by the President. Was this sort of raid essentially the timeline move forward because would the U.S. intelligence have just sat there watching Baghdadi and sort of, you know, essentially gathering more and more information intelligence about the ISIS network? And has that -- it seems that opportunity is now being lost?

BAER: Well, it's always lost when you're -- when you pull troops out of an area. It's amazing once you have our military in an area, how much better the intelligence becomes. If you're looking at a place like this from the other side of the border with binoculars, it's very hard to understand what's going on.

You know, in a raid like this, there were probably multiple sources that were helping them confirm the information and plan the attack and it was clearly done on very, very good intelligence. But once we pull our troops out, that really limits our, you know, understanding of the battlefield.

VAUSE: But my question, in terms of timing, it seems like the U.S. had to head force because of the you know, withdrawal from northern Syria. Would it have been better for U.S. intelligence if they sit back, monitored Baghdadi, essentially gathered more and more intelligence about the ISIS network and had been a lot more effective over a longer period of time, rather than being forced to go in now at this point and to decapitate the head of the terror group?

BAER: Well, John, I can speculate on this. Trump got so much flak for pulling out of Syria, and he needed to overcome this and change the subject. And he may have rushed this raid, and maybe the military wasn't ready. Maybe they were going to have multiple raids. We don't know at this point.

But clearly, the timing makes it very suspicious that the President said oh, I made a mistake. I better greenlight this. He apparently had been approached before. And let's be frank about it. It was a risky raid. It was risky on Trump's part and it was risky on the military's. And it speaks to the capabilities of Delta Force, which is just, I've never seen anything like it.

I worked with them many years ago and they've clearly gotten so much better, so much more experienced. And to go in and make a hit like that with no casualties, no injuries is amazing.

VAUSE: Yes. Bob, we'll leave it there. We're out of time but thanks so much. Good to see you.

BAER: Thanks.

VAUSE: The U.S. President has awarded the Medal of Honor, the military's highest decoration to Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Matthew Williams for heroism in Afghanistan. But instead of tweeting a picture of Williams, the president retweeted a Photoshopped image with the hero dog from the Baghdadi raid being honored. In another tweet, Trump named the dog as Conan and said he would soon

leave the Middle East for the White House. The edited photo appears used image from 2017 when retired Army Medic James McCloughan was honored for saving the lives of ten men during the Vietnam War.

According to the New York Times, McCloughan laughs when he saw the canine version and was not offended adding that Conan is part of a team of brave people. He deserved to be honored.

Still to come, U.S. House set for a pivotal vote in the coming hours, one which will bring the impeachment inquiry from behind closed doors and into the public. Also head, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): So you're saying you're not giving up any compensation at all. You're continuing to work and make $30 million a year after this horrific two accidents that caused all these people's relatives to go to disappear, to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Another fiery exchanged between Boeing CEO and U.S. lawmakers who grilled Dennis Muilenburg over two deadly crashes of Boeing 737 Max airline. More on that also ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:15:00]

VAN DAM: Dramatic picture of the firefighting efforts ongoing across Southern California. You can see some of the firefighting engines here in the foreground with, of course, the fire bombers in the background there, trying to dump their retardant on the fires that are ongoing across the area, trying to douse the flames and trying to get ahead of the advancing fire threat throughout this area. Still extremely critical for the day on Thursday, especially across Ventura into Los Angeles counties. Winds gusting upwards of 60 to 65 miles per hour, nearly 100 kilometers per hour.

And the humidity here is just bone dry. And of course, we've got lots of vegetation here that's extremely dry as well. So, just fanning the flames. We also have extreme fire conditions across the extreme Southern sections of California near the Mexico border. On the flipside of this system, we have cold air across the Rockies. So cold that it snowed across Denver once again, that delayed and canceled many flights. That storm is racing to the north and east. It will impact the Great Lakes as well as the East Coast through the course of the day. Today, was snow from Chicago into Grand Rapids, Michigan. Keep in mind, this is a popular holiday in the United States that being Halloween, so they're going to deal with a few flakes of snow in the air with winter weather advisories in place. 21 for New York, one degrees for Chicago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: Well, the U.S. House will vote in the coming hours to

formalize the impeachment inquiry. There continues to be a steady stream of key witnesses confirming accounts that the Trump administration for months applied pressure to Ukraine. Two State Department employees gave closed-door testimony on Wednesday. One says in July, she learned the White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had placed a hold on military aid to Ukraine. And he did it on orders of President Donald Trump. The second witness detailed concerns that Rudy Giuliani, the President's personal lawyer was becoming an obstacle to official U.S. policy on Ukraine.

And Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor John Bolton has been asked to testify next week, but his lawyer says, Bolton will only show if subpoenaed.

Nathan Gonzalez is a CNN Political Analyst, as well as the editor and publisher of Inside Elections, he's with us from Washington. OK, Nathan, I want to start with those missing words because according to Colonel Vindman's testimony, the name of the energy company where Hunter Biden was working, Burisma, was (INAUDIBLE) simply the company and our reference to Joe Biden -- a Joe Biden tape was removed altogether. The significance of that is that, what, it changes the entire nature of the conversation from, what, specifically focusing on a political rival, sort of just and then tell you about corruption, in general. How does -- how does this work?

NATHAN GONZALES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it not only changes some of the specifics, but it also cast more doubt about the document itself, and what the White House -- steps at the White House may have taken to obscure part of the conversation. So, in a way, I think it just reinforces the case that Democrats are trying to make that there was a wrongdoing, that this was an abuse of power that the President was asking for things. And this just adds more detail to the things that he was, you know, allegedly asking for in this conversation.

VAUSE: Potentially, are these missing words on a part with the 18-1/2 minutes of missing audio tape from Richard Nixon?

GONZALES: Well, it's, you know, there -- we don't -- we have a small sample size when it comes to these impeachment proceedings.

VAUSE: That's true.

GONZALES: So, it's easy -- it's easy to go back to that. But I, you know, unless there's some groundbreaking revelation, I don't think we're going to get tapes, we're probably not going to get a precise word transcript, which is why this issue is so important because there isn't going to be that word for word. So, we're putting different people's testimony or words against each other.

[01:20:04]

VAUSE: And, you know, if you take President Trump at face value that he's just this corruption fighter, in almost three years, has his administration showing the same level of concern about corruption in any other country as it has about Ukraine. It seems there's more focused on corruption in Ukraine than corruption within his own cabinet.

GONZALES: Yes, you know, it is interesting that the President particularly when it comes to Ukraine or in other issues, his obsession with Russia and Vladimir Putin, you know, he tends to go down these very narrow track. Once he sets his mind on something, that's where he is, and he wants to get more information. And so, it is -- I don't believe that there are accidents in politics, and I don't believe -- even though the President can be sometimes portrayed as kind of off the wall or saying things off the cuff, I believe there's an intentionality to him, and that there -- when he have these conversations, he's -- he knows what he's doing.

VAUSE: Well, two weeks ago, with that in mind, the President was asked about the possibility of his former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, testifying before Congress. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you concerned that Bolton could be called testify in your impeachment inquiry?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, look, John Bolton, I get along well with him. Some people didn't, some people didn't like John Bolton. I actually got along with him pretty well. It just didn't work out. I don't know that he got along with Rudy Giuliani.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, Bolton has now been asked to appear, reported he won't show unless subpoenaed, but that answer from Trump seems especially telling now that we know more details about, you know, Rudy "Hand Grenade" Giuliani and that right-wing spec down he had with John Bolton over Ukraine.

GONZALES: Yes, you know, it is interesting that he didn't completely throw Bolton under the -- under the bus. You know, the President always likes to portray confidence, and in that particular answer, it wasn't as confident as what you see in other -- you know, see him in other settings, particularly when he's on a rally stage. So, it'll be interesting. I feel like with each witness or with each person that comes forward to testify, I'm not sure there's anything that's going to sway the Democrats. I think that they just feel like they're adding on evidence to make their case, whereas in Republicans, they're not going to be persuaded by these individuals because they've already determined that the whole process is a scam.

VAUSE: Well, if Bolton does appear, it seems that his testimony will be public by the sounds of things because on Thursday, the House will vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry moving from closed-door hearings to public testimony. But what is interesting is that not every Democrat is on board with this. Listen to the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): We don't need to vote tomorrow. He court

has indicated that we can proceed as we have been proceeding. However, what Jerry didn't mention is we are contemplating changing from what is essentially the investigatory phase of this matter into the open hearing public hearing phase of the consideration of whether or not there is evidence to believe that the President has committed high crimes and misdemeanors. And in that public hearing, we want to make sure and that everybody understands, this is going to be due process, it's going to be fair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And he also has kind of conceded that he wasn't too sure that every Democrat would be onboard with this vote. It seems is this a reflection of divisions within the Democrats behind the scenes because Speaker Nancy Pelosi, you know, she's all for this move. It basically undercut a Republican talking point.

GONZALES: Well, Democrats have really rallied or unified behind this next step. Even in the last 24 hours, some of those House members that represent some of the most vulnerable congressional districts that have been reluctant are largely onboard. I think there's just a couple that have -- that have not signed on to this -- to this -- to this next step. They have the votes to move to the next step. And I think it's the right move, particularly for independent voters. You know, Republicans have already made up their mind, but you know, Republicans, their argument is that it's secret, it's behind closed doors. Republicans can't get in, even though that's not true. Some Republicans have been in on up to the process so far.

But this is saying, look, it's open, this is -- this is public now, the previous depositions are going to be made public. And I think that that will go a long way to taking some of the air out of the Republicans balloon for Independent voters.

VAUSE: And you know, we're out of time, Nathan, but you know, maybe they should be careful what they wish for. Do they really want all of this testimony out there for all the public to hear? I guess that's a conversation --

GONZALES: Yes. Well, I think the danger is that the media is going to latch on to this and so even if they want to -- Democrats want to also talk about health care or other issues, you know, this is going to be just a media show, and that's where everyone is going to want to talk about.

VAUSE: It would be the only show in town for a very long time to come, I think. Nathan, thank you. Good to see you.

GONZALES: Good to see you. Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, still to come, the cost of public unrest. Five months of demonstrations have sent Hong Kong into a recession, sparking fears on some business owners, they may have to close their doors for good.

[01:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Prodemocracy demonstrators in Hong Kong are planning a Halloween night protest complete with costumes and masks. City officials banned masks months ago, so it's unclear how all this will play out. What is clear, the latest economic numbers confirmed the high cost of five months of unrest, Hong Kong officially in recession. CNN's CNN Sherisse Pham with us now live from the financial hub. So -- OK, so we got the recession, we got the protests coming up. So, what's the latest though with the business community there? How are they dealing, you know, with this, like, two quarters of negative growth?

SHERISSE PHAM, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: The business community is starting to feel the impact of five months of protests, right? We've got stores that have had to close early or had to close for entire days because we have protesters targeting shops, targeting restaurants that they feel are unsympathetic with their cause, smashing in Windows, putting graffiti on the storefronts, and this has left employees to clean up the mess. And of course, these are going to have an impact on revenue and on numbers and also employment. We've already have -- we're already having reports of some sorts even having to shut down because of this political unrest. So, we've got the official estimates for the GDP coming out later this afternoon. Widely expected to report a consecutive quarter of decline, which means that the city is in a technical recession, its first recession, John, in a decade.

VAUSE: Very quickly, how much of this can be blamed directly on the protests, how much of this can be blamed on the trade war, you know, the U.S.-China trade war, the slowing global economy? There's a lot of factors at play here, not just the protests.

PHAM: That's right, Hong Kong was always going to be suffering from that one (inaudible) trade war and China's slowing economy

[01:30:00]

I've been talking to economists today, and they said that those two factors would have been enough to make Hong Kong's GDP shrink, but the protests, this ongoing political crisis, that is what has tipped Hong Kong into a recession. That is what is leading to a contraction, and they're saying that this pain isn't going to end anytime soon.

Full year figures for GDP, economists now saying it is probably going to be negative and it could continue into next year, John.

VAUSE: True. Thank you. I had my timing wrong. I thought those numbers had actually already come out, but I guess we're still waiting for the official figures, but we know they show a recession. Thanks for being with us, Sherisse. We appreciate the update.

Well, despite billions of dollars in government assistance as well as stimulus packages, the ongoing street violence in Hong Kong, as Sherisse mentioned, is threatening to ruin many of city's restaurants and hotels, all the shops there out of business. We get more now from CNN's Kristie Lu Stout.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Another week, another weekend of chaos. In scenes that have become all too familiar, hard line protestors vandalize shops and throw petrol bombs at police. Police respond with tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannon. Five months of ongoing protests have taken a toll on this city, hurting small businesses and costing people their jobs.

Jenny Chow is a shop owner in the flashpoint district of Tawang. This is where a teenage protestor was shot in the chest by police using a live round. She sells pillows and bags made out of leftover fabric. Since the protests, her sales have plummeted. She's making the tough decision to shut down.

JENNY CHOW, STRUGGLING SHOP OWNER: We don't have persons (ph), so no people's going out (ph), and no tourists because of they blocked the airport, so not so many tourists right now. So for me like dropping 90 percent. For most of our friends, they dropping at least 50 percent. They all have to like quick the pendency and stop the persons (ph).

STOUT: Hong Kong Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, says the impact of the protests on the economy is comprehensive as the city faces two consecutive quarters of contraction. That's the technical definition of a recession. Now, Hong Kong had already been hard hit by the U.S.- China trade war as well as China's slowing economy, but the ongoing and relentless protests have packed a devastating punch.

Violent clashes have forced stores and restaurants to close repeatedly and have turned visitors off from the city. Tourist numbers have plunged 37 percent year-on-year for the third quarter. The Hong Kong government is pumping $255 million to support small businesses and a $2.4 billion stimulus package to help safeguard jobs and provide relief, but that offers little relief to struggling business owners.

CHOW: The government fund is difficult for us to apply, and even though we apply it, there may be part of them of grants, part of them are loans. We don't know whether we can sustain to return to the loan, to pay back the loan.

STOUT: So in concrete terms, what additional political tools, what additional emergency measures do you plan to deploy to have order to be restored in Hong Kong?

CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Kristie, the situation we are now facing is anti-government violence. So the most effective solution is to tackle the violence head on. For the government to resort to measures that will appease the violent rioters, I don't think that is a solution.

STOUT: In Tawang, Jenny Chow is bracing for another weekend of chaos, dragging the economy and her dreams down with it. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Damning internal emails at Boeing are now public after another explosive testimony in Washington. In one dated more than a year before the 737 MAX was approved for flight, employees raised concerns about the flight control system blamed for the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airline crashes. A congressman read another email sent from an employee to the General Manager of the 737 program four months before the Lion Air crash. The email warned Boeing was building planes too quickly with fatigued employees.

[01:35:00]

It read in part, "frankly, right now all my internal warning bells are going off, and for the first time in my life I'm sorry to say that I'm hesitant about putting my family on a Boeing airplane. Nothing we do is so important that it's worth hurting someone."

During Wednesday's testimony, CEO Dennis Muilenburg admitted there were design issues with the 737, but he would not discuss details of his salary which he's received since the crashes which left 346 people dead.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): What does accountability mean? Are you taking a cut in pay? Are you working for free from now on until you can cheer this problem (ph)?

DENNIS MUILENBURG, BOEING CEO: It's not about the money for me. That's not why I came to Boeing -

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Are you giving up any money?

MUILENBURG: Congressman, by board will conduct a comprehensive review. That's -

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: So you're saying you're not giving up any compensation at all. You're continuing to work and make $30 million a year after this horrific two accidents that caused all these people's relatives to go, to disappear, to die. You're not taking a cut in pay at all?

MUILENBURG: Congressman, again, our board will make those determinations.

COHEN: You're not accountable then.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

VAUSE: The problems with the 737 are now costing Boeing a fortune, and they can count that in the billions of dollars as CNN's Clare Sebastian reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The MAX uses 14 percent less fuel than current 737s. That's a lot less fuel. A lot less.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: From the beginning, the 737 MAX was marketed as a money saver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 737 8 can carry 12 more passengers -

SEBASTIAN: And it worked. By the start of this year, airlines had ordered more than 5,000 of them - Boeing's fastest-selling plane to date.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to be issuing an emergency order of prohibition to ground all flights.

SEBASTIAN: The global grounding in March in the wake of two deadly crashes turned any promise of cost efficiency on its head. Boeing's own costs, including customer compensation and higher production costs, have topped $9 billion.

RONALD EPSTEIN, SENIOR EQUITY ANALYST, BANK OF AMERICA: The 737's 40 percent of their earnings, a third of their cash flow. They're all of Boeing, right, so it's a big number. It's a big contributor to, you know, the profitability of the company.

SEBASTIAN: Since April, Boeing halted all deliveries and slowed production from 52 to 42 planes a month, finished aircraft piling up in employee parking lots. J.P. Morgan estimates that production slowdown shaved one to two-tenths of a percentage of U.S. economy growth in the second quarter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is enough to make - leave an imprint on the economic data. We don't think it's enough to really slow the expansion, but if we were to see productions slow or just hypothetically stop, that would have the potential to impact the suppliers and the employment at those suppliers.

SEBASTIAN: There are signs that's already happening. Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the plane's fuselage and relies on the 737 for 50 percent of its revenue, has embarked on a cost-cutting program including a hiring freeze and voluntarily retirements. General Electric, which makes the MAX's engine, says so far it's cost them $1 billion, though they are now seeing orders increase. And then there are the airlines.

EPSTEIN: At any given time one airplane might have upward of five different crews, so you're talking 10 to 15 pilots, you know, on some of those airplanes three to four flight attendants. So times five, right? So you have a large crew structure that's tied to that airplane that basically went on the beach (ph) at cost.

SEBASTIAN: American Airlines estimates it will cost them more than half a billion dollars this year. For European travel company, TUI, it's more than $300 million.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have removed the 24 MAX aircraft from service.

SEBASTIAN: Southwest, the plane's biggest customer, says the cost this year is north of $400 million. It's pilot's union is also suing Boeing, claiming $100 million in lost income. And the airline which only flies the 737, including older model, now said to be rethinking that exclusive relationship, a sign that even when the plane returns to the skies, this crisis may leave permanent damage. Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.

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VAUSE: Change of pace when we come back. Get ready for a little inspiration. After the break, meet the 2019 CNN heroes.

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VAUSE: It's that time of the year when CNN announces the top ten CNN heroes of 2019. They'll all receive a cash prize and a shot at the top honor CNN hero of the year which will earn them an additional $100,000 for their cause. And you get to help decide who that person will be. Here's Anderson Cooper.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Now that we've announced the top ten CNN heroes of 2019 it's time to show you how you can help decide who should be CNN hero of the year and receive $100,000 to continue their work. Just go to cnnheros.com where you can learn more about each hero and when you're ready just click on vote.

You get ten votes everyday to help support your heroes. That means you can cast all your votes for one hero or divide them among your favorites, to confirm your votes, just login using either your e-mail address or Facebook account. This year you can even double your votes by rallying your friends on social media.

Then on Sunday December 8th, join me, my friend and co-host Kelly Ripa as we reveal the 2019 CNN hero of the year live during the 13th annual CNN heroes and all-star tribute.

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VAUSE: All ten will be honored at the 13th annual CNN heroes and all- star tribute. I think Anderson just mentioned that. So, but join Anderson and special co-host Kelly Ripa live Sunday December 8th for an extraordinary night.

Thank you for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm John Vause. World Sports with Kate Riley is up next. Thanks for watching.

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