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At Least 68 Killed in Nepal's Worst Airplane Crash in 30 Years; 30 Dead, Dozens Missing after Russian Missile Strike on Apartment Building; Biden Says US at Inflection Point in MLK, Jr. Tribute. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 15, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

JAY WITHEY, HELPED SAVE PEOPLE DURING BLIZZARD: I think -- I think this is all just coming together as a bigger story that Buffalo really is, you know, the City of Good Neighbors and we're unbeatable. You know, we're just a different breed over here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Yes, Jay Withey, a very fun chat with him. Have fun going to the Super Bowl.

Thanks, everybody for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The CNN NEWSROOM continues with Jim Acosta right now.

[15:00:25]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington, and we begin with tragedy in Nepal.

At least 68 people are dead and the country's worst plane crash in 30 years. Search and rescue teams were at the site and will be back there at daylight on Monday. Four people are still unaccounted for, and now the search for answers begins.

This is apparently just moments before the crash, take a look at this. The plane rolling on its side while flying low over a populated area and then this.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

ACOSTA: Our Vedika Sud is following this story and she joins me now.

Vedika, that video shows some really unusual movements by the plane just before it crashed. What more are you learning?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Quite a rare video there, isn't it, Jim? You barely see such videos just before a plane crash, but that was caught on camera. We believe that is just moments before the plane crashed.

Now according to officials, 68 bodies have been recovered, four yet to be recovered, and search efforts have stopped for the day and they will resume Monday morning, local time in Nepal.

The Prime Minister has ordered a probe in Nepal and a probe report is expected in the next 45 days. Now officials don't know why this plane crashed, but what we do know is that most of the people on the plane were from Nepal, there were about 15 foreign nationals on the plane as well.

What we also know is that this plane took off at about 10:30 local time in Nepal, Sunday morning, and about 18 minutes into its flight path, it lost contact with the Pokhara Airport where it was about to land and fell into a gorge.

Now, it has been very difficult for search and rescue efforts. The First Responders have been trying to ensure that they recover as many bodies as possible, but it's a treacherous terrain. And most of the plane crashes that we know that happened in the Somalian nation are due to inclement weather and the treacherous terrain. We are yet to understand what really went wrong here.

There is a day of mourning that has been announced Monday in Nepal, and Yeti Airlines will also not be flying any planes tomorrow. They are mourning the death of at least 68 passengers who were onboard that plane -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Vedika Sud, thank you very much for that update. We'll stay on top of it. Appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

And joining me now is CNN transportation analyst, Mary Schiavo, who was the Inspector General at the US Department of Transportation.

Mary, I want to play this video again that apparently showed the plane right before it crashed. Obviously, this is a problem. What stands out to you in this video?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, two things. First of all, it does look like a classic stall where you lose aerodynamic lift over your wings. The nose goes up, they look to be traveling very slowly, and then the left wing falls down. That's a classic stall.

But we also saw this in a crash that CNN covered way back in 2015, I think it was called Trans Asia, and in that case, they had one of the engines that was shut down. And so they weren't getting a symmetric lift. But it does appear to be a stall in that particular footage that we can see in those airframes.

ACOSTA: And what do you think investigators are going to be looking at? We understand that this is going to start up again Monday morning at daybreak, what will they be looking for?

SCHIAVO: Well, you know, first and foremost, they're looking for the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder and they're also looking at the operational history of the airline and the aircraft. They will first and foremost go to grab the maintenance records to get the downloads of all the maintenance on the plane, the training records of the pilot. Now, there is information on the internet, who knows if it's accurate

or not, that it was an experienced captain of 25 years and a first officer of one year. That's a kind of unusual pairing, but not necessarily if the first officer was still getting instruction. And also interestingly, the US Federal Aviation Administration had just done a review of Nepal aviation safety as part of a process the US does to evaluate other nations to see if their airlines can fly to the United States.

They weren't done with their evaluation yet, but the Nepal Airlines could not travel to the EU because of a prior international civil aviation organization review of safety and they weren't able to fly to the EU, so there was a lot going on in Nepal and like I said, there was hope with the FAA evaluation that they could soon be flying other places, but this crash will certainly put a damper on that.

[15:05:19]

ACOSTA: And Mary, Nepal is often referred to as one of the riskiest places on earth to fly. Vedika was mentioning the terrain a few moments ago. Tell us more.

SCHIAVO: Well, it is, but so much of the tragedy, so many of the other accidents are related to the mountainous terrain related to weather, sometimes related to equipment.

It is some criticism of the operators in the area for training for the condition and the maintenance on the equipment, et cetera, but usually when there is an accident in Nepal, it's related to the terrain and the weather, just punishing weather and there is really -- there is a lack of places in certain parts of Nepal to set down if you are having a problem.

But none of those factors were present in this one, at least that we can tell at this point. This, I say, does look like a classic stall, but we did, you know what CNN covered a number of years back, one that looked very similar. They had the same kind of tape, where he had lost an engine.

So the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder will give the investigators that answer. They'll probably download it if they can find it probably by tomorrow or the next day and they will know right away.

ACOSTA: All right, Mary Schiavo. Thanks as always, we appreciate it.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

ACOSTA: And another tragedy to tell you about from the University of Georgia just hours after they celebrated winning college football's National Championship, the Georgia Bulldogs' offensive lineman, Devin Willock and team staff member Chandler LeCroy died in a car crash early this morning. Two other people in the vehicle were injured, and CNN's Isabel Rosales joins me now from Athens, Georgia.

Isabel, this is just awful, awful news. What more can you tell us? ISABEL ROSALES, CNN REPORTER: Yes, just a horrible, horrible

situation happening here, Jim.

We did get this afternoon a statement from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, but we are here at the crash site, seeing for ourselves what happened bright and early this morning.

It all started 2:45 in the morning right behind me on this road, just on this curb. For some reason the car that they were in left the roadway hitting this power pole right behind me and just in the past two hours, utility crews replacing that power pole, but that is not where the car stopped.

In fact it kept going, and you can see this downed tree branch right here and the car kept just going beyond that. You'll see police tape over here to the left and it hit that tree right there, that sturdy trunk and continued on to that apartment building right there.

You can see where they've removed the door and have boarded it up. That is where the car -- the back end of the car finished.

So Devin Willock, 20 years old, just 20 years old, he died immediately. Chandler LeCroy, 24 years old, the recruiting staff member, she was rushed to the hospital and later died there.

The two other staff members, we are hearing that they are in stable condition, one with minor injuries, another seriously hurt.

Now according to the football roster, Willock was an offensive lineman from New Milford, New Jersey, redshirt sophomore, he played every game this year.

Jim we got a statement from Kirby Smart. That's the head football coach. Here is what he said: "We are all heartbroken and devastated with the loss of Devin Whitlock and Chandler LeCroy. Devin was an outstanding young man in every way and was always smiling. He was a great teammate and a joy to coach. Chandler was a valuable member of our football staff, and brought an incredible attitude and energy every single day."

I did speak with a neighbor here, Jim, part of this apartment complex who came out and saw the aftermath of this crash. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CECILEY PANGBUM, ATHENS RESIDENT: I don't know how two people actually survived that. Like that car, like dented like a tin can. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Yes, and Jim just to make this horrible dark situation even worse, just hours before this crash, the team was just so happy. They were celebrating the national championship victory with a parade right here in Athens, Georgia where I'm at, just smiling, shaking hands with the crowd, cheering, celebrating just their amazing victory. We are hearing from the university from UGA that they are offering up,

Jim, medical and mental health personnel to help the staff here, those in the football program, just deal with this grief -- Jim.

[15:10:00]

ACOSTA: All right, Isabel Rosales, terrible, terrible news. Our thoughts are with those families and that whole community there. We appreciate it very much.

And now to Ukraine, where the desperate search for survivors is still underway after a Russian missile hit and apartment building in Dnipro. This incredible video shows rescuers delicately pulling a woman from the rubble of the building, what's left of it, nine stories tall.

The death toll is now 30 people killed and will likely rise. Dnipro's Mayor says chances of finding survivors in the wreckage is minimal. Obviously, when you look at the situation there, there is no doubt about that, and at least 40 people are still missing.

Amid the death and devastation, we are also seeing signs of perseverance and resolve like this. A small child helping to clean up after the strike, calmly dumping the debris into a pile as chaos continues around her.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Dnipro, Ukraine for us.

Fred, just an unbelievable level of devastation there. I know you've seen this scene time and again, what more can you tell us?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, Jim, I think one way to describe it as almost an apocalyptic scene that we're seeing on the ground here in Dnipro.

In fact, I'm going to get out of your way so you can see what's actually going on, because you're absolutely right that the rescue effort is still going on. There are still rescuers who are sifting through that debris that you see there.

You're also seeing a lot of smoke rising up from that debris. That's because it is still smoldering underneath. And you're also absolutely correct, Jim, to point out that the Ukrainians are saying they believe that right now the chances of finding anyone still alive in there are really minimal also, because the temperatures here are very cold, and so anybody who is underneath that rubble would probably not survive for very long.

Nevertheless, a couple of minutes ago, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he came out and said that he wants them to save as many lives as possible and that the effort that you're seeing on here right now is going to continue most probably throughout this entire night as these workers are working around the clock.

But we can also see, Jim, that this building was not just destroyed, it was completely annihilated. It is destroyed down to the ground, and the Ukrainians say the reason for that is the cruise missile that the Russians used to hit this building, they say, Jim, is one that is actually designed to destroy aircraft carriers. It's called the KH-22. It was developed during the time of the Soviet Union and apparently, it is a pretty inaccurate weapon, which obviously if you shoot it at a city, and Dnipro is the second or this is a third largest, I'm sorry, city in Ukraine, the chances of something happening on the scale of what you're seeing behind me is very large.

That's why the Ukrainians have, of course, come out and condemned what happened here. They call this terrorism on the part of the Russians.

We've been looking for some sort of reaction coming from the Russian Federation. So far, we haven't heard anything specifically about the strike. They did put out a military update earlier today, where they confirmed that they had been striking what they call command and control positions inside Ukraine and critical infrastructure. They made no mention of this particular strike that we're seeing right here.

But of course, the Ukrainians are saying in light of what we've seen here, that they want more air defense weapons, more modern air defense weapons, we of course, know that there are already Ukrainians who are training on the US-made Patriot systems to try and prevent something like what we're seeing right here behind me from happening, at least on the scale in the future, because the scene here, of course, is one of devastation.

I can tell you from having been here, throughout this evening, Jim, that there were people here who were looking at the scene and who were breaking down and crying, because obviously they knew folks who were, who may have been inside this building, and they go past here every day, and this is certainly something that for a lot of people is something that is extremely traumatizing.

Nevertheless, the folks that we spoke to, they say they are obviously going to persevere through all of this and will not be defeated by attacks like the one that we are seeing unfold or that we saw here unfold over this weekend -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Just incredible, Fred. I mean, when you say that this is a type of missile used to sink in aircraft carrier, and then it was fired into a city like that, it is just sickening.

Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much for your time. Thanks for that perspective. We appreciate it.

Today at Ebenezer Baptist Church, President Biden hammering the message to choose democracy over autocracy in remarks to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King, they will both join me live to talk about all this next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:36] ACOSTA: President Biden says America is facing a battle for its soul.

Today, he became the first sitting President to deliver remarks during a Sunday service at the historic Atlanta Church once led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Today would have been Dr. King's 94th birthday.

Biden spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church and made clear this moment in America as a time of choice for this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I stand here at a critical juncture for the United States and the world in my view. A lot of what I've -- some of my colleagues retired hear me saying, but we are at what we call an inflection point.

We are in one of those points in world history where what happens the last few years will happen in the next six or eight years are going to determine what the world looks like for the next 30 to 40 years.

It happened after World War Two. It is happening again. The world is changing.

There is much at stake, much at stake.

And you know, the fact is that this is the time of choosing. This is a time of choosing, the direct choices we have.

Are we a people who will choose democracy over autocracy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:20:01]

ACOSTA: And joining me now to talk about this, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s son, Martin Luther King III and his wife Arndrea Waters King.

Thanks to both you for being with us. We appreciate it very much. It's an honor to have you both here in the studio. This is great.

ARNDREA WATERS KING, ACTIVIST: Thank you for having us.

ACOSTA: Yes, absolutely.

ACOSTA: Give us an idea of the significance of having a sitting President, President Biden, speak at the historic church your father once led?

MARTIN LUTHER KING, III, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS LEADER: Well, first of all, I think that anytime the President of the United States, wherever he goes, is significant, but this actually as dad's birthday, that's what makes it the most significant, the actual, the King Holiday observed tomorrow, which actually is Arndrea's birthday.

ACOSTA: Oh, very good. There you go. MARTIN LUTHER KING, III: But yet, the President spoke today and told

the nation about what we must do in terms of protecting, preserving, and uplifting democracy.

Last year, we were involved, Arndrea and I, and our organization, in a campaign to get voting rights extended. We did not succeed. And so we have to keep doing this work.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you about that, Arndrea. Black voters, particularly Black female voters were crucial in securing Biden's bid for the White House. The voting bloc was also crucial in the Midterms.

Are you satisfied? Should Black women be satisfied with the job President Biden has done?

ARNDREA WATERS KING: I will be satisfied completely when we truly have the beloved community of which Martin Luther King, Jr. talk and spoke about and Coretta Scott King, and one of the things that I like to say in that beloved community is the place where the magic of little Black girls is no longer ignored, and the power of Black women is no longer denied.

We certainly have a ways to go until we get to that point, but the strength and the power of Black women, you know, we have the fortitude and the tenacity to keep going.

But what we also are saying is to our country, we've always stood up for democracy, now this country must also stand up for us.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. And I want to talk to you both about this disturbing incident that happened just in the last several days. It's a story we're updating over the weekend.

Nearly two weeks ago, another Black young man died after being tased by the Los Angeles Police Department, 31-year-old father and English teacher, Keenan Anderson, we're showing his picture on screen here, suffered a cardiac arrest after being tased multiple times.

His cousin is actually one of the cofounders of the Black Lives Matter organization. Let me show you the body camera footage that shows part of what happened.

I want to warn our viewers, this is disturbing to watch. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: Turn over on your stomach right now.

OFFICER: Watch your elbow, partner.

KEENAN ANDERSON: They're trying to George Floyd me. They're trying to George Floyd me.

OFFICER: Stop it. Stop it. I am going to tase you. Okay. Stop it or I'm going to tase you. Stop it or I'm going to tase you. Stop resisting. Please stop resisting. ANDERSON: Please, please, please.

OFFICER: All right, I am a -- I'm going to tase him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Martin, why does this keep happening?

MARTIN LUTHER KING III: You know, you want to think that there is no regard for human beings, it happens more so around Black and Brown communities than any other community. Perhaps there's something else.

But we have got to learn. There used to be a way to arrest people, apprehend them in a civil way, even if they are still moving. I don't know what -- I couldn't tell him that he was doing something. He wasn't stopping, but you know, I don't know what it feels like and I don't want to know what it feels like to be tased.

ACOSTA: Right.

MARTIN LUTHER KING III: But if you feel you are wrongly stopped, then what other recourse do you have? I mean, he didn't have any weapons. So why did they have to do that? Why did they not just call in reinforcements to attempt to apprehend and then arrest him if he needed to be arrested?

But the fact of the matter is, when this results in a death, this is beyond unacceptable. We've got to do a better job, and I don't know if it's training. I don't know if it's recruiting different people, but it is probably a combination of all of those things

ACOSTA: Arndrea, what do you think? He was tased multiple times.

ARNDREA WATERS KING: As a mother, the thing that I immediately think about is the mental health and the trauma of our children.

You know, we have to continually watch this, our children have to watch this. And then of course, if in fact, you know, I look forward to a time when we don't have to have the talk with our Black children.

But you know, obviously when they see things like this, then there is almost a reoccurring of trauma, and then if there are encounters that they have with law enforcement, they already are afraid and frightened. So I think that you know, obviously there are legal things that we need to make sure, and protections that we need to have, but we also need to protect the mental health of our children.

[15:25:00]

ACOSTA: That's such an important point.

Martin, you tweeted this touching family photo today just to shift gears, I want to show this, and you wrote that your father would be proud of our progress, but deeply disappointed by some of our failures. And perhaps we just talked about one of those failures a few moments ago, there are many that go beyond that. Can you expand on your thoughts? What do you mean?

MARTIN LUTHER KING III: You know, every year, we come to January and observe the King Holiday, and the question always is, well, have we achieved the dream? And the reality is no, we haven't. When we look at poverty, racism, and violence, the triple evils that he wanted to eradicate.

It does not mean we won't and can't, it just means that we're not there yet. And unfortunately, it feels like we have a long way to go. And so we can redouble, quadruple our efforts every year. It's wonderful because January, we can start anew. It is like New Year's resolutions, you may not have achieved them, but every year, you start anew, and that's what we have to do.

We've got to recommit, refocus, talk about bringing the nation together, not being at odds. We are so much better than the behavior we exhibit.

ACOSTA: That healing is desperately needed today. We've seen that need time and again, but it means so much to us that you both came in today to speak with us on your father's birthday. I'm glad you pointed that out. Today is his birthday. And tomorrow is your birthday.

ARNDREA WATERS KING: It is.

ACOSTA: Happy birthday to you.

ARNDREA WATERS KINGS: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Arndrea and Martin, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

MARTIN LUTHER KING III: Thank you.

ARNDREA WATERS KINGS: Thank you.

ACOSTA: As always, it is great to see you.

Coming up, two Presidents, but all but certainly candidates in 2024 it seems, now both are under investigation by Special Counsels. We'll talk about that, next, the legal and political ramifications that are on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:10]

ACOSTA: The saga around President Biden's handling of classified documents is growing after the White House announced Saturday that five more pages were discovered at Biden's home in Delaware. It brings the total to roughly 20 classified records found there and in Biden's private office in Washington.

The President finds himself under the microscope by a Special Counsel and also via House Republicans who downplayed the much bigger trove of more than 300 classified documents found at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Here was Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): At the end of the day, my biggest concern isn't the classified documents to be honest with you, my concern is how there is such a discrepancy in how former President Trump was treated by raiding Mar-a-Lago, by getting the security cameras, by taking pictures of documents on the floor, by going through Melania's closet versus Joe Biden, they are like, okay, your personal lawyers who don't have security clearance, yes, they can go through, they can just keep looking and keep looking and you know, determine whatever is there. That's not equal treatment.

With respect to investigating President Trump, there have been so many investigations of President Trump. I don't feel like we need to spend a whole lot of time investigating President Trump because the Democrats have done that for the past six years. So, no one has been investigated more than Donald Trump. Who hasn't been investigated is Joe Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining me now, CNN legal analyst and former White House Ethics czar, Norm Eisen.

Norm, great to see you.

What's your reaction to what Comer was saying? He is essentially saying they're not going to investigate former President Trump over his handling of documents, but they're going to investigate President Biden, and I suppose also your sense of what he is saying in terms of, you know, they did this raid and the search over at Mar-a-Lago, but not at the Biden home. Obviously, we have big differences between these two cases.

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's important that he started by saying he wasn't concerned about the Biden handling of the documents as much as he was about the disparity, Jim.

Joe Biden is very unlikely to ever be in the kind of criminal trouble that Donald Trump is in because of his document handling, and it is the differences between the two. People are saying it's apples and oranges. It's beyond that. It's apples and elephants, Jim.

Donald Trump had a persistent pattern, not just the larger quantity, 300 versus approximately 20, but he had a pattern of fighting with and frustrating the efforts to investigate these documents.

He said, they were his. He forced the Department of Justice after many months of wrangling to serve that search warrant and to do this search that Chairman Comer was talking about, whereas Joe Biden has been cooperating. Now, it hasn't been perfect in every way. We both went to the White

House to work every day for a period of time. We know that it is complicated handling these things. I think there are good reasons for the way the White House has handled it. But no, I do not agree that there is any parity between the two. Donald Trump's legal exposure, much more severe.

ACOSTA: But the drip, drip, drip of okay, we found documents on this day and the Biden team, you know, announcing this weekend that more documents were found.

Does that -- I mean, obviously you were fine with an investigation occurring at the Department of Justice, Special Counsel or even up on Capitol Hill. I mean, that is something that is sort of standard operating procedure in Washington with this type of investigation.

EISEN: Well, people differ about whether we should have a Special Counsel or not, because some said look, there is no evidence of any crime by Joe Biden, so what's the predicate, the basis to appoint a Special Counsel?

I did embrace the appointment of a Special Counsel, wrote about it on CNN Opinion because we need answers to these questions.

[15:35:10]

EISEN: But we're already starting to get more details, Jim. They've come out just this weekend, explaining the reasons for the drip, drip, drip.

For example, when Biden's lawyers first discovered these documents, they were legitimately concerned as they should be, not with PR, not with the public spin. Tell NARA, the National Records Administrator who is responsible for this, tell DOJ, work with DOJ to secure and investigate.

If they had spoken up, then there might have been a risk of tipping the hand to witnesses of obstruction of justice. And similarly, there are good reasons for the choices they've made at every step along the way. We may not agree with every one of them, but there are good reasons.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you about the George Santos controversy. I want to have you weigh in on the embattled Republican Congressman who is resisting these calls to resign despite revelations he lied about his Jewish heritage, education, career, even about being a college volleyball star, which in the world of Washington lies, I think, is a new one. This is what House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is saying about all this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): He's got a long way to go to earn trust. But the one thing I do know is you apply the Constitution equal to all Americans.

The voters of his district have elected him. He is seated. He is part of the Republican Conference.

There are concerns with it, so he will go before Ethics. If anything is found to be of wrong, he will be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean, what do you think this investigation should look like? And what do you make of -- I mean, yes, there have been some Republican House members who have come out and said, yes, Santos should resign, but it's not exactly the whole conference.

EISEN: Well, the reality is that Kevin McCarthy is clinging to a precarious four-vote margin to hang on, so he can't afford to spare George Santos.

In fairness, the entire Republican political community of his home district came out and denounced him, other Republicans have spoken out. Here is the fallacies in Kevin McCarthy's argument.

Number one, he says the voters have elected him, but Jim, they elected him on a parcel of lies. He lied about everything. It was a false representation. If that was a car, you send it back as a lemon.

And then number two --

ACOSTA: I think, if I were a voter, though, I would have raised an eyebrow over the volleyball claim. I mean, you know that --

EISEN: Yes.

ACOSTA: That one seems pretty obvious, but --

EISEN: Look, that was a bad one. They're all bad. But number two, the more important point because what is done and done electorally, the danger of having him there, he is now going to be privy even though he is not going to be on the most sensitive Committees, he is going to get Committee assignments.

He is going to be in meetings, in rooms, in the caucus, where some very sensitive information is being parlayed. And I know as an Ambassador, if somebody lied this way, security risk, Jim.

So the danger of having him there is what we should focus on. Totally irresponsible to allow him to continue to walk the Halls of Congress and the Republican caucus.

ACOSTA: All right, Norm Eisen, thank you very much. Great to see you, sir. Appreciate it.

Another Royal memoir. Yes. What Prince Harry is now saying about a potential second tell-all book mere days after "Spare" was released.

Make sure to tune in tonight when pop culture impresario, Andy Cohen and the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten join Chris Wallace for a new episode of "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" That's tonight at seven right here on CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Just days after the release of his bombshell tell-all about the Royal family, Prince Harry says he has enough material for another book after cutting his memoir in half.

The Duke of Sussex spoke to "The Daily Telegraph" telling the paper he held back certain disclosures about his father, King Charles and his brother, William, the Prince of Wales because he felt they would never have forgiven him if they were made public.

Just a reminder of what Harry already has revealed in his book, "Spare" that he was physically attacked by William during a fight about Meghan Markle, that he and his brother begged their father not to marry Camila, that he used cocaine at the age of 17, did a stint in rehab, that Will and Kate encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a party, and that his father would joke about rumors that Harry's real father was someone else.

Joining me now to talk about this, Princess Diana's former Private Secretary, Patrick Jephson.

Patrick, great to see you again. Thanks for your time.

Buckingham Palace, no surprises has refused comment. But what is going on, in your sense, behind closed doors and how they are responding to all of this?

PATRICK JEPHSON, PRINCESS DIANA'S FORMER PRIVATE SECRETARY: Well, Jim, it's beginning to look a little like a high stakes game of Royal poker. There are rumors of potential peace talks between the Montecito branch and the Windsor branch, and we might look at this as people are staking out their positions before any of these talks get going.

Look, it's a long shot, that anything might be achieved, but somebody has to try, and I think this is Harry or somebody on his behalf making the point that you ain't seen nothing yet. Because there is no doubt, he has got half a lifetime's worth of potentially incriminating or least embarrassing information that he could share if in some way, he isn't persuaded to keep his mouth shut.

ACOSTA: And he also says he felt a responsibility to reform the monarchy for the sake of his brother's three children, at least one of whom he said would end up a spare like him.

Based on everything you experienced with Princess Diana, her relationship with monarchy and the media, what would you say to Prince Harry? What do you think about what he's been up to?

[15:45:02]

JEPHSON: I think it's important to read his book in order to see a lot of these very sensational disclosures in context.

You're right, he does talk about all the things you listed in the introduction and quite a lot more, and to understand them, to understand the context, I think it's important to see things far as you can through Harry's eyes.

Now, Buckingham Palace isn't particularly good at seeing things through other people's eyes. In discussions, he tends not to be the one who makes the compromise. That's part of the point of being Royal, people tend to let you write the script.

Harry is not going to be intimidated. That's plain, he is angry. And I think that before there can be talks, certainly before there could be any meaningful resolution, people are going to have to listen to him seriously, including his suggestion that there might be things they could do to reform themselves, do things better, so that the next generation doesn't suffer the way he describes.

It is tragic, that his parents, both of them, cooperated with tell-all books, both of them made TV programs intended to elicit sympathy for their plight. Now it's being visited on the next generation. I think Harry is right, it would be good to stop it here before it goes on to future generations.

ACOSTA: And Harry wrote a lot about Princess Diana's death. You know, I think that's one of the most moving, things that have come out in all of this, including the guilt he felt at not being able to show the same emotion as the mourners outside, that for a time, he believed she was alive, and just in hiding until she could come get him.

He even wrote about reenacting the drive through the Paris tunnel where she died. Did any of that surprise you?

JEPHSON: What surprised me, Jim was how moving it was. I appreciate he had a very good ghostwriter. But you can tell the bits that are authentic Harry, the descriptions of his feelings, the sensations, the sights, the sounds, the smells, these are very raw.

And for anybody who's lost a parent, young, I think a lot of what he describes will ring a bell, it's very moving. And I think, therefore that just out of sheer courtesy, we should give him the benefit of quite a lot of doubt. I don't believe he is making up any of this stuff. It may be his truth, and therefore not the whole truth. But it doesn't mean that it isn't true to him or indeed, in some respects, true in the most objective sense.

ACOSTA: And what do you think happens at the coronation of King Charles, later this year? There have been a lot of discussion about this. Do Harry and Meghan attend? What will the reception be like if they if they do show up?

JEPHSON: It's true that I think their popularity in the UK is at an all-time low. There are many people saying that if they come to the coronation, it will suffer as, you know, it's supposed to be the most solemn occasion in both Church and State. And Harry and Meghan, as things currently stand would be a distraction.

If they go there'll be a distraction. If they don't go, they will be a distraction. It'll just be a matter of the Palace managing as best they can how this particular distraction doesn't in any sense devalue the importance of what's being done in Westminster Abbey. ACOSTA: All right, Patrick Jephson, thanks so much for your

expertise. We appreciate the time. Thanks so much.

JEPHSON: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Coming up, promising signs about progress in the fight against cancer in the US, that's next.

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ACOSTA: A near miss between two passenger airliners at New York's busy JFK International Airport has both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board wanting answers. The close call occurred Friday evening. This animation you're looking at shows how close this was to being a tragedy.

The FAA says the crew of a departing Delta flight with 151 people on board aborted its takeoff stopping within a thousand feet of an American Airlines jet that was taxiing on the same runway. Listen to the tower audio.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delta 1943 cancel takeoff plans. Delta 1943 cancel takeoff plans.

Right there with Delta 1943.

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ACOSTA: Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident.

Now to signs of progress in the fight against cancer. A new report from the American Cancer Society shows that the rate of people dying of cancer in the US is on the decline, falling 33 percent in the last three decades.

CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard breaks all of it down.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: This new report from the American Cancer Society shows we have made steady progress in getting our nation's cancer death rate to decline in the past three decades. That's in part due to advancements in treatment. We have fewer people smoking, which is a risk factor for cancer. We also have an HPV vaccine, which offers some protection against cervical cancer, and we're detecting cancers early. All of those factors have played a role in what the head of the American Cancer Society calls meaningful gains. Have a listen.

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KAREN E. KNUDSEN, CEO, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: There's new revelations for prevention, for early detection and for treatment have resulted in true meaningful gains in many of the 200 diseases that we call cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD: And while that's good news, when you really look at the numbers, there is still room for improvement in certain areas.

[15:55:03]

HOWARD: So the data show that as a nation, we have seen our cancer death rate declined by 33 percent since 1991, but we also see some racial disparities continue. The death rate in the Black community is still 12 percent higher, which shows there are some inequities that still needs to be addressed.

We also are seeing increases in the incidence of certain cancer cases. We are seeing more breast cancer, more uterine cancer, more prostate cancer, and overall the lifetime probability of being diagnosed with any invasive cancer is 41 percent for men, 39 percent for women.

Researchers say, there is still room for improvement there as well.

Back to you.

ACOSTA: All right, thanks very much for that.

Coming up, officials in Nepal are now searching for answers for why a plane carrying 72 people crashed 18 minutes after takeoff. What a new video is showing what happened just moments before the crash.

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