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CNN International: U.S. House Speaker Pushes Hardline Bill During Border Visit; Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley Vying for Second Place; Records Show Runway Warning Lights Out of Service at Japan Airport. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 04, 2024 - 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: Donald Trump is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Colorado ruling that removed him from the state's 2024 primary ballot. In part, his attorney says that the constitution's so- called insurrectionist ban does not apply to the presidency.
Former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, along with Britain's Prince Andrew, are among the names appearing in newly unsealed documents in the Jeffrey Epstein defamation case. But neither Clinton nor Trump have been accused of any wrongdoing related to the convicted sex offender, and Prince Andrew has denied allegations made against him.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and dozens of House Republicans visited Texas's border with Mexico on Wednesday to put pressure on the White House and President Biden's border policies. It's an area where tens of thousands of migrants have been crossing into the United States.
FOSTER: Johnson is pushing for a hardline immigration bill called HR2, among other things. It'll renew construction of the wall on the border with Mexico and raise the bar on who's eligible for asylum in the U.S.
NOBILO: But the White House and Democratic leaders call it draconian and a non-starter. The House Speaker shared with CNN what he heard from local officials in Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA) U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: What the White House is proposing is more money to process and allow more illegals into the country. We need to do the opposite of that.
You don't need to take my word for it. Listen to the deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, who was with us last night, and he told us in his own words, he said: It's as if I'm at an open fire hydrant. I don't need more buckets to dump the water. He said, I need to turn the flow off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, CNN's Ed Lavandera has the latest from Eagle Pass in Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Migrants crossed the Rio Grande into the United States as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson looks on during the Republicans' tour of the southern border. To highlight a crisis, he says the Biden administration is doing nothing to fix.
Migrants have crossed into the United States by the thousands, more than 225,000 alone in December, the highest monthly surge recorded since the year 2000.
JOHNSON: America is at a breaking point with record levels of illegal immigration. And today, we got a firsthand look at the damage and the chaos the border catastrophe is causing in all of our communities.
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. SECURITY SECRETARY: We have a broken immigration system. That is the one single fact about which everyone agrees.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Droves of migrants have come through this crossing in Eagle Pass, Texas, despite the miles of razor wire, shipping containers and other barriers built up along the border. A former Democratic state lawmaker in Eagle Pass, Texas, says Republicans' efforts to deter migration aren't working either.
PONCHO NEVAREZ, FORMER TEXAS STATE DEMOCRAT: Anybody that's walked or ridden a train car 3,000 miles and been robbed, beaten and raped to make it to that side right there, do you think this is going to stop them? And the answer to that, as we already know, is a big no.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The White House is increasingly facing pressure from both Republicans and Democratic mayors and governors on the need for real solutions to the immigration crisis. And the Republican governor of Texas keeps ramping up the pressure as well, transporting tens of thousands of migrants unannounced to urban cities and blue states, straining their resources. Most migrants say they're just trying to escape the hardships they left behind.
Like Kenny Contreras from Ecuador, who says his country is plagued by violence and extortion. And this migrant from Liberia who says he spent $15,000 to reach the U.S. border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. has been my dream country since I was a young kid, you know?
JOHNSON: It's estimated that nearly 170 countries have people coming in and flowing across this border.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Senate leaders are working toward a possible deal to change current immigration law, including the possibility of expedited removals of migrants who cross illegally and tightening rules on granting asylum.
The House speaker tells CNN's Jake Tapper the problem cannot be solved by allocating more money to the border.
JOHNSON: These are policy choices that got us in this situation. And what we're demanding is that the policies change.
LAVANDERA: What you did not hear from House Republicans in Eagle Pass is a willingness to negotiate on immigration reform. And, also, many Republicans also saying that they're not necessarily willing to sign on to the Senate border security bill compromise, and that they're willing to shut down the government to get what they want in terms of border security.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The Biden administration is suing the state of Texas over the state's controversial immigration law set to go into effect in March. The law gives local authorities the power to arrest and order the deportation of migrants.
NOBILO: However, enforcement of immigration law is a federal responsibility, and the Biden administration argues the new Texas measure is unconstitutional.
FOSTER: It's one of several controversial actions taken by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Republican governor has made it a practice to send asylum seekers to Democrat-led states and cities as a rebuke of the Biden administration's policies.
[04:35:00]
NOBILO: New York City has received thousands of migrants sent from Texas.
FOSTER: Well, we are on the cusp of the first nominating contest in the Republican race for the White House, the Iowa caucuses, which are now less than two weeks away.
NOBILO: And December polling from the Des Moines Register newspaper, NBC News and Mediacom shows Trump still has a commanding lead over all his challenges, despite refusing to take part in any debates.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny picks up this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Time is running short in the race for second place. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis --
RON DESANTIS, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What you're able to do in Iowa is going to reverberate all across this country.
ZELENY (voice-over): -- and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They don't see the momentum we have on the ground. We've got it in Iowa. We've got it in New Hampshire.
ZELENY (voice-over): Not only locked in a bitter fight for the Republican nomination, but for the right to confront Donald Trump head on. Their collision course, escalating for months, has left Trump in a front-runner's lane of his own, much to the frustration of Republicans like Chris Garcia, who saw DeSantis today in Iowa.
CHRIS GARCIA, IOWA VOTER: I think he needs to go after Trump, and I don't see him doing it.
ZELENY (voice-over): Garcia asked DeSantis why he had gone soft on Trump, a question the governor took issue with.
DESANTIS: I've articulated all the differences time and time again on the campaign trail.
ZELENY (voice-over): When we caught up with Garcia, he told us he wanted to see DeSantis fight harder.
GARCIA: He's going after Nikki Haley quite a bit in ads.
ZELENY: What do you think about that?
GARCIA: Yeah, that's fine, but Nikki Haley isn't the leader. You know, Donald Trump is. So that's where it needs to be.
ZELENY (voice-over): Twelve days before Iowa opens the voting in the GOP primary, Trump holds a commanding lead, yet he's emerged nearly unscathed, at least in the onslaught of attack ads from his rivals.
DeSantis and two allied groups supporting his candidacy spent $7.6 million targeting Haley last year in Iowa alone, compared to less than 500,000 aimed at Trump. For her part, Haley and her leading super PAC spent nearly $10 million targeting DeSantis, and only $1.5 million at Trump. It's a dizzying back and forth with allies of Haley mocking DeSantis.
ANNOUNCER, VOICE OVER AD: You can't beat Trump by trying to be Trump.
ZELENY (voice-over): And belittling the management of his campaign and super PAC.
ANNOUNCER, VOICE OVER AD: In a world of chaos, the last thing America needs is another dumpster fire.
ZELENY (voice-over): Supporters of DeSantis casting Haley as a flip- flopper.
ANNOUNCER, VOICE OVER AD: Don't believe a thing Nikki Haley says. She doesn't.
ZELENY (voice-over): And falsely tying her to big-name Democrats.
ANNOUNCER, VOICE OVER AD: Just like Hillary Clinton, Nikki Haley shouldn't be president.
ZELENY: Has Trump been the beneficiary of this back and forth between Haley and DeSantis?
BOB VANDER PLAATS, PRESIDENT, IOWA FAMILY LEADER: Well, I think he's been the beneficiary at some point, because obviously, the former president has gone after Governor DeSantis a lot. Has spent millions of dollars against him.
ZELENY: All year long.
PLAATS: All year long. He's called him names. And now the same thing with Nikki Haley as well.
ZELENY (voice-over): Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Iowa Christian leader who endorsed DeSantis, said it's a delicate dance facing all candidates. How to confront the former president, who still wields such loyalty in the GOP.
PLAATS: If you're ever going to try to peel away the Trump voter to come to you, you can't alienate them. OK, so that's an issue.
ZELENY (voice-over): Haley is closing strong, raising $24 million in the final quarter of last year, more than double her previous quarter.
DOUG STOUT, IOWA VOTER: I've decided we need a governor as a Republican nominee.
ZELENY (voice-over): Doug Stout has studied all the candidates, and for now is still torn between DeSantis and Haley.
STOUT: It's bad that it's kind of devolved into something where they both seem to be fighting for second. They're not fighting for second, they're fighting for president.
ZELENY: And Haley is entering the final stretch of this campaign with a stronger financial footing than she ever expected possible. Certainly, a reverse of fortunes between her and Ron DeSantis, who has led the fundraising throughout the course of last year. But for all of that, the race for second place is still the undercard. Donald Trump, the commanding leader in this race, he'll be campaigning here on Friday.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Des Moines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: And be sure to stay with CNN tonight for back-to-back town halls live from Des Moines, Iowa. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will go first, followed by former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. It all starts tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(DEFENDANT ATTACKS JUDGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Now, a Nevada man is due in court today after a violent outburst caught on video.
She just denied the man's request for probation on charges of attempted battery with substantial bodily harm.
NOBILO: The court says the judge and one of the marshals who came to her defense were injured. The 30-year-old defendant is now facing three additional counts of battery on a protected person.
FOSTER: Extraordinary.
NOBILO: It really is staggering how he thought that would end up in a better situation.
FOSTER: Working, yes, in this case.
[04:40:00]
NOBILO: Just ahead, runway lights reportedly out of service for two days before two planes collided in Tokyo. The latest on the investigation is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The death toll from the major earthquake in Japan on New Year's Day has risen to 81, as the search continues for survivors. Officials say at least 79 people are still missing from Ishikawa Prefecture on the west coast.
NOBILO: But bad weather, impassable roads and frequent aftershocks are making the search more difficult. The full extent of the damage is still unknown, and officials fear time is running out to save any remaining survivors who would have been trapped for three days now since the disaster.
And investigators in Japan have new clues about what may have caused that deadly collision at a Tokyo airport. According to NHK, the pilots on the Japan Airlines passenger jet say they didn't see the smaller Coast Guard plane on the runway before the collision.
FOSTER: And records show runway warning lights had been out of service and for several days, CNN's Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As investigators sift through the charred wreckage, new information on what may have caused this horrific, deadly accident, when a Japan Airlines passenger plane collided on the runway at Haneda Airport with a Japanese Coast Guard plane.
Publicly available records show that red warning lights embedded in the tarmac, lights designed to stop pilots from mistakenly taxiing onto active runways, were broken at Haneda Airport for seven days leading up to the accident, and on the day of the accident. Five crew members aboard the Coast Guard plane were killed, one injured. And another possible clue to the tragedy. Japanese officials have just released a transcript covering over four minutes of communications between air traffic control and the two planes involved. Just moments before the collision, the control tower says to the Coast Guard plane, referring to its tail number, quote, JA722A, Tokyo Tower, good evening, number one, taxi to holding point C5.
[04:45:05]
CNN's analysis indicates that's likely a command to taxi to a point short of the runway, but not on the runway. But CNN analysts say the command is usually more specific, telling a taxiing plane to, quote, hold short of crossing another runway.
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: If they were holding short of the runway, they should not have been on the runway, or they should have not been landing there.
TODD (voice-over): According to the transcript, the Coast Guard plane seems to acknowledge the control tower's command. The Coast Guard crew responding, quote, taxi to holding point C5, JA722A, number one, thank you.
We have also learned from Japan Airlines that the inflight announcement system on the passenger plane malfunctioned during the evacuation. So, the cabin crew used a megaphone and their own voices to direct people off the burning aircraft. Everyone on board, nearly 400 people, survived.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: A lot of us were skeptical on these big, wide-bodied aircraft, whether it really was practical to get some group that large out of an aircraft in that much time. And here we have a real-life demonstration that it can be done.
TODD (voice-over): Japan Airlines passengers giving new accounts of their ordeal.
TSUBASA SAWADS, JAPAN AIRLINES PASSENGER (through translator): I heard an explosion about 10 minutes after we all got off the plane. We would have been in trouble if we had left even a little late.
TODD (voice-over): Passengers themselves receiving praise from safety experts.
PETER GOETZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: Had the passengers, for instance, not followed instructions and tried to take overhead luggage with them or tried to, you know, pick up this stuff that they had left under their seats, people would have died.
TODD: Safety experts are also pointing to other factors which could have saved lives aboard that passenger plane, factors of aircraft design. They say that Airbus, like other modern passenger planes, now has less toxic, less flammable materials inside the cabin. And they say the actual skin of many of these aircraft is now more fire- resistant.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: CNN's Marc Stewart joins us now. Marc, often with tragic aircraft accidents, it's a confluence of circumstances that contribute to the disaster. Is that the sense you're getting from the evidence that's emerging?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Bianca. When investigators sit down at the table, they're going to look at a number of things. They're going to look at those transcripts that Brian Todd was talking about from air traffic control.
They're also going to look at this runway light issue and see if the warnings there were sufficient. But a big piece of this pie, if you will, is going to be the black boxes of the different aircraft.
So far, the black box of the Japan Coast Guard plane has been found, but the one from the Japan Airlines Airbus A350 still has not been located. And the black box will tell us two things.
One, it will tell us exactly what was said in the cockpit moments up to the impact -- what was said in the moments and minutes really up to that moment of impact.
It will also tell us things about how high each aircraft was flying and at the different speeds. So that's going to be critical.
Even though we have seen this horrible scene of wreckage and destruction, these black boxes are made to withstand the most intense impact, the most intense flames. So that has been a priority today and will be into the future until it is located.
I should also point out that even though the scene seems to be pretty calm right now, there is an investigation taking place that is having an impact on operations at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, which is the busiest airport in Tokyo. So, we are seeing some flight delays. We are seeing some cancellations.
In addition, this is pretty extraordinary, but Japan Airlines has recognized that people may simply not want to fly at this time. They may feel very unsettled. So, they are offering passengers the chance to cancel their flights or delay their flights until they feel more comfortable.
But if there's one thing to look for in the days and hours ahead, it's going to be the locating, the location of the black box from that Japan Airlines Airbus -- Max and Bianca.
NOBILO: Marc Stewart in Seoul, thank you very much for joining us.
NOBILO: Coming up, how a kid from Oklahoma apparently managed to do what no human had done before, making history in the game of Tetris.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: There is a new world darts champion and you missed it.
NOBILO: I did. Did you watch the whole thing?
FOSTER: I watched most of it. I had to go to bed because I had to do this show. I think most of the U.K. were watching. We don't normally.
28-year-old Luke Humphreys took the crown at the end of Wednesday's tournament, but he is not the center of attention. Fans are more interested in the 16-year-old who stole the show, taking second place after a sensational run-up to the championship. Even Humphreys praised his young rival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUKE HUMPHRIES, 2024 WORLD DARTS CHAMPION: Honestly, in the back of my mind throughout the whole of it, I am just thinking, get this one now because he is going to dominate world darts soon. So, you know, he's an incredible player. And you know, when I was on the brink of sort of winning there, he just showed relentless. And you know, I was really, really proud of the performance there. I felt a bit tired in between a little bit. He is an incredible talent. And you know, I had to win this one tonight and he's going to win plenty, I am sure.
LIKE LITTLER, RUNNER-UP, 2024 WORLD DARTS CHAMPIONSHIP: It has been unbelievable. The one negative was I lost too many legs with my throw, so Luke would break me. The hopes that I would turn it around.
[04:55:00]
So, that is the only negative. I just could not hold my own throw and win. Every game has been good, just that one really annoyed me, especially the three missed. So, to keep it going, that is what the crowd wanted, but fair play to Luke, he deserves it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: A very magnanimous and sportsmanly exchange from both of them there.
Luke Littler was relatively unknown before the event, but recently won a Youth Darts Championship. Fans have dubbed him Luke the Nuke after his explosive rise.
FOSTER: He has a big "nuke" written across his back.
NOBILO: Does he? Also it would not help the winner getting a clip, the fact that they do both have the same first name, Luke Humphries and Luke Littler.
FOSTER: Yes. And the crowd was unbelievable.
Stories in the Spotlight. They said it was impossible, but after 34 years, someone has finally beaten Tetris on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it was a 13-year-old.
NOBILO: It's so infectious when you see someone getting that excited. It took Willis Gibson 38 minutes to reach a level that no human has ever reached before, and to play the game until it glitched out and hit its kill screen. So far, the only other player to beat the game was AI, which got to level 236 by manipulating the game parameters. That's concerning.
FOSTER: The beauty of being able to film yourself as well. If that wasn't filmed by him, we would never have known.
NOBILO: I'm a bit worried about AI manipulating Tetris game parameters. What does that augur for the future?
FOSTER: Yes.
NOBILO: Maybe not to think about right now.
Two new baby panda twins are making their debut at a zoo in South Korea, which is a far cuddlier, more pleasant topic.
FOSTER: They're very dangerous in the wild.
NOBILO: The cubs, named Rui Bao and Hui Bao, are six months old, and the youngest members of the panda family at the Everland Amusement Park.
FOSTER: Zookeepers say the pandas will only be released to the public -- released to the public? I hope not. For a few hours, every morning with their mother while they get used to the exposure, obviously, in a pen.
Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. Pretty black and white, that story.
NOBILO: Just hilarious.
FOSTER: Brilliant.
NOBILO: They're so cute. I'm Bianca Nobilo, next to this jokester over here, Max Foster.
"EARLY START" is up next right here on CNN. We'll see you tomorrow.
[05:00:00]
