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CNN International: FAA Nominee Grilled as Airport Near- Collisions Mount; Eli Lilly to Cap Insulin Prices in U.S. at $35 a Month; Republicans Grill Garland Over High-Profile Probes; Iranian Media; Iranian Schoolgirls Targeted in Alleged Poisonings; Bola Ahmed Tinubu Elected Next President. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 02, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up-to-date with our top stories this hour.
Severe weather moving east and at least 40 storms being reported across the U.S. overnight. More than 1 million people in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee are under tornado watches right now.
And the FBI has arrested a 49-year-old man in Pennsylvania for allegedly trying to bring explosives in a suitcase on to a flight to Florida. Marc Muffley faces two charges and will appear in court today.
The NTSB is joining an investigation into the latest close call at U.S. airports. It involves two jets that were reportedly just seconds away from colliding at Boston's Logan International Airport on Monday. It was the fifth time this year that planes came close to a collision on the nation's runways. And the incident led to a sharp questioning in a congressional hearing for the man tapped to lead the FAA. Pete Muntean has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the latest dangerous close call at a major airport, and now lawmakers want answers.
SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): Recent incidents have shaken the public's confidence.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Monday night, a JetBlue flight and a private Learjet nearly collided on crisscrossing runways at Boston Logan International Airport.
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: This was a mistake that was made by the pilot, and it was caught by air traffic control.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The Federal Aviation Administration says as JetBlue flight 206 was coming into land, the Learjet took off from an intersecting runway. Air traffic control recordings detail the JetBlue crew being advised to abort their landing. The FAA classifying the move as evasive action.
JETBLUE PILOT: Clear to land 4 right, JetBlue 206.
CONTROLLER: JetBlue 206 go around.
206 fly runway heading, maintain 3,000.
JETBLUE PILOT: Runway heading up to -- say again the altitude.
CONTROLLER: Three thousand.
JETBLUE PILOT: Three thousand, JetBlue 206.
MUNTEAN: Worse yet, the FAA says the Learjet did not have takeoff clearance. The crew was told to line up and wait, according to the FAA, on the runway for the landing JetBlue flight but began a takeoff role instead. Air traffic control brought the JetBlue flight back in for a safe landing. All on board unharmed.
ADAM JOHNSON, PASSENGER ON JETBLUE FLIGHT: The pilots did a really incredible job. I mean, we came in, it was a scary situation, but it was very smooth.
[04:35:00]
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The incident is the fifth of its type this year following similar close calls at New York's JFK, Austin, Honolulu, and Burbank, one of many challenges facing the FAA still without a permanent leader. Wednesday senators took up the nomination of Phil Washington to head the agency but called into question his lack of aviation safety experience.
SEN. Ted CRUZ (R-TX): Have you ever flown a plane?
PHIL WASHINGTON, FAA ADMINISTRATOR NOMINEE: Thank you for the question, Senator. No, I have never flown a plane.
Aviation right now, we cannot think about doing things the old way. And so, I think that a fresh perspective is needed. Obviously, safety is number one.
MUNTEAN: A confirmed leader of the FAA will have to answer for why so many of these incidents are happening lately. The overall number of runway incursions nationwide went up in 2022. In this latest incident flight radar 24 says these planes came as close as 565 feet to one another, we're talking less than two football fields or at those speeds only seconds apart.
Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is capping the price Americans will pay for a common form of insulin. Out of pocket costs will be limited to $35 a month for people with private insurance. At certain pharmacies the uninsured would also pay $35 or less a month. Under a different program, according to the American Diabetes Association, the average price of insulin nearly tripled in the U.S. between 2002 and 2013, making it unaffordable for many.
American women on the whole are more educated than their male counterparts but their salaries definitely don't reflect that despite greater awareness of the gender pay gap. A New Study from Pew Research shows it has barely moved really in the last two decades. In 2002 women on average earned about $0.80 for each dollar a man took home.
But last year U.S. women still only netted about $0.82 on average. Pew found the pay gap is stuck in a holding pattern with women's earnings stubbornly ranging from $0.80-$0.85 to the dollar. The possible reasons include discrimination and women putting careers on hold to raise children.
Hundreds of Iranian students have been sickened in a wave of alleged poisonings targeting schoolgirls. A live report coming up when CNN NEWSROOM returns.
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland faced hours of hostile questioning by Republican Senators on Wednesday over the sensitive high-profile investigations under way at the Justice Department. CNN's Paula Reid has more on the fiery exchanges as Garland tried to stand his ground.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Attorney General Merrick Garland faced furious lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): You are the attorney general of the United States. You are in charge of the Justice Department, and yes, sir, you are responsible. So, give me an answer.
REID (voice-over): His first appearance before Congress this year comes amid high- profile investigations into President Biden and former President Trump and their handling of classified documents. Garland warning that he would not reveal details of any ongoing probes.
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: So that we do not jeopardize the viability of our investigations and the civil liberties of our citizens.
REID (voice-over): But Garland was willing to explain why he has not appointed a special counsel to handle an investigation into Hunter Biden focused on taxes and other issues.
GARLAND: I promised to leave the matter of Hunter Biden in the hands of U.S. attorney for the district of Delaware who was appointed in the previous administration. REID (voice-over): But after months of Republicans railing against the FBI for its search in Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, they didn't bring it up until four hours in.
GARLAND: I approve the decision to seek a search warrant after probable cause was --
HAWLEY: Overruling the FBI agents who did not want to do so.
REID (voice-over): Republicans' slammed Garland alleging the Justice Department properly leaked information about high profile investigations.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Among other things, I believe you very much want to indict Donald J. Trump. When it politically benefited the effort to go after and charge Donald Trump, DOJ leaked, when it potentially harmed the Democrat president, DOJ did not leak. Does that strike you as at all a double standard?
GARLAND: Leaks under all circumstances are inappropriate and they are not directed by anyone in the Justice Department.
REID (voice-over): Garland repeatedly defended the department against accusations of partisanship.
GARLAND: I also want to at least respond to your characterization of the department, which I vigorously disagree with. I believe the men and women of the department pursue their work everything single day in a nonpartisan and appropriate way.
REID (voice-over): As Republicans hammered him on protests at the homes of Supreme Court justices and other conservative causes.
CRUZ: Your failure to act to protect the safety of the justices and their families was an obvious product of political bias.
REID (voice-over): Garland saying his decision to have U.S. Marshals protect the justices 24/7 was unprecedented.
GARLAND: Senator, you asked me whether I sat on my hands, and quite the opposite. I send 70 United States marshals to defend --
CRUZ: Let me try again. Has the Department of Justice brought even a single case under the statute? So, yes/no question. It is not a give a speech on the other things you did.
GARLAND: The job of the United States Marshals is to defend the lives --
CRUZ: So, the answer is, no?
GARLAND: -- is to defend the lives of the justices and that is their number one priority.
REID: Amid all the partisan bickering, there was one clear area of bipartisan consensus. Leaders of the committee from both parties and the Attorney General all agree we must do more to combat fentanyl.
Now Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of course, got the Attorney General to admit that the current approach just isn't working and the Attorney General said that he would welcome more resources from Congress for this fight.
Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The U.S. Air Force has fired six people after their units failed nuclear weapons safety inspections. Two commanders and four of their subordinates were let go after failing to ensure the weapons stockpile was safe and secure at all times. There's no indication the failure was directly related to the direct handling of a nuclear weapon.
But the global strike command spokesman said, quote, we have deliberate and discipline inspection protocols and we expect 100 percent compliance and anything less then 100 percent compliance is unacceptable. It's that important to us.
Thankfully.
Now, Iranian media are reporting a disturbing rash of alleged poisonings at girls' schools across the country.
[04:45:00]
An Iranian lawmaker says nearly 900 students are being treated for poisonings over the past three months. No deaths have been reported, but victims apparently experienced muscle weakness, nausea and fatigue. And there's speculation it may be part of a campaign by Islamic hardliners to shuts down the schools for girls. Iran's education minister says a task force is investigating. CNN's chief international investigative correspondent Nima Elbagir has taken balling this for us. Take us through what you found Nima.
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's really interesting is that although this had kind of broken through into global public opinion over the last week, these incidents have been happening since the end of November. And many parents speak about in essence being gas lit by Iranian employees.
At one-point last week the health minister said that this is paranoia. That these incidents are being triggered by rumors and allegations. And it's really only in the last day or two when the shear weight of the numbers, almost 1,000 students, finally has the state begun speaking more concretely about what needs to happen.
But we have been able to communicate with some of the students who were themselves targeted, some of the parents. And it's really heartbreaking because there is so much confusion. We can actually show some video of the aftermath of a recent attack yesterday in which over 100 students were taken -- you see there a schoolgirl taken out in a stretcher just absolutely distraught. Because there is really no understanding of what this could be and it
is against the backdrop of Iranian women, young women, schoolgirls speaking out, fighting for their rights. And there is a concern that this could be some sort of retribution or some sort of way of bringing them back into line. Parents are as you can understand just absolutely beside themselves.
And there is a really terrifying parallel which is what happened at the girls' school in Afghanistan when students suddenly were taken ill there. That was a lot more physically traumatic than what we're seeing here so far. But the context is just so incredibly troubling.
FOSTER: OK, Nima thank you for bring it to us.
Protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to weaken the judiciary intensified on Wednesday. In Tel Aviv Police clashed with demonstrators trying to block a major intersection. Authorities fired stun grenades in an effort to clear the crowds. A local hospital said at least 11 people were treated for injuries. And protestors surrounded the salon where the Prime Minister's wife was getting her hair done. She was eventually safely out of the building by the police.
The man convicted of assassinating U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy will stay behind bars in California for at least three more years. On Wednesday, Sirhan Sirhan was again denied parole. This was his 17th bid for release. The decision came more than a year after his parole approved but later revoked by the state governor. Kennedy was shot and killed during his presidential campaign in Los Angeles in 1968.
Still to come, many Nigerians are protesting the election of their new president with some planning to fight the results in court. We're live in Lagos after the break.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The U.S. congratulating Nigerian officials on the results of last weekend's presidential election. Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the ruling All-Progressives Congress party was declared the winner on Wednesday with almost 37 percent of the vote. But many Nigerians are still angry claiming this election was stolen. CNN's Larry Madowo joins me live from Lagos with more. They're taking it to court -- Larry.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max. The Labour Party that is Peter Obi's party had said that they will contest this in court. It'll go up to the court of appeal, but it does not have a record, it has never overturned an election in Nigeria and it suffers a credibility confidence crisis. Not that many people saying it's independent enough to do so.
However, Bola Ahmed Tinubu believes that this election was credible, free and fair no matter what somebody says and he made that point in his acceptance speech. He went on to accept his certificate of return, that is the official document that recognizes that he won the election. However, he did also acknowledge that not everybody is happy. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOLA TINUBU, NIGERIA'S PRESIDENT ELECT: I know many did not vote for me. And you are disappointed that your candidate is not where I stand now. I understand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADOWO: The Nigerian President elect says they have only one country. And he has also reached out to the people that ran against him asking them to join hands to build back the broken pieces of the country.
But this election is now coming into criticism from multiple angles. It's not just the disenfranchised voters or the opposition parties, the Labour Party and the People's Democratic Party that are upset about it. The list of condemnation from observer groups, independent bodies, local and external is growing. We're talking about a group of seven civil organizations called the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, that said it was not credible. We've seen a stinging criticism for instance for the EU Observer Mission, from the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute and that well I don't know he saying stands for legitimacy of Bola Tinubu presidency and the election that INEC claim. However they also did get a big boost, congratulatory notes from both the U.S. and U.K., which gave them this international stamp of approval that they badly need to convince the nation that they will be leading it.
FOSTER: OK, Larry in Lagos, thank you.
Prince Harry and Meghan have been asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage -- their official U.K. residence -- according to their spokesperson. No official reason was given but it comes after those explosive revelations about the royal family in Prince Harry's memoir. And the "Sun" newspaper reports King Charles has offered the house to his brother Prince Andrew.
[04:55:00]
No comment from Buckingham Palace. Harry and Meghan have cottage sparingly since ditching the royal duties and moving to the U.S. in 2020.
And the show will not go on for Justin Bieber. Fan sites say the pop singer has cancel the remainder of his world tour dates and his website doesn't list any future shows. And ticket retailer say all concerts in the U.S., across Europe and in Thailand have been canceled. Bieber first announced that he was taking a break from touring in June. He blamed Ramsay Hunt syndrome which left his face partially paralyzed. He later played shows in July but took another break in September. Bieber hasn't commented on the tour cancellation.
In the NBA Kevin Durant made his debut with the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night. He was in the starting lineup and played the first game since early January. He was out nearly two months with a knee injury and during that time, he was traded to Phoenix from the Brooklyn Nets. In his return to action, Durant scored 23 points and six rebounds. Phoenix went on to beat the Charlotte Hornets 105-91.
Now did you see kissing planets on Wednesday night? That's what some are calling the unique placement in the sky of Jupiter and Venus. The two planets are set to pass each other in what is called a conjunction. Jupiter will appear to shift westward and Venus in the other direction. Right now, Jupiter and Venus are the brightest objects that you can see here after the moon. If you missed it Wednesday night, it will still be viewable to the naked eye tonight.
Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is up next here on CNN.
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