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Investigation Intensifies Into What Caused Fatal Crash; Trump Baselessly Blames DEI Initiatives For Air Disaster; Israel Condemns Chaotic Scenes At Hostage Release Site. Contentious Hearings for Patel, Gabbard, RFK Jr.; All 67 People Onboard Plane & Helicopter Presumed Dead; Trump Immigration Crackdown Has Some Migrants Reconsidering; FireAid Concerts Raising Money for Relief Efforts. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 31, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: No survivors, only questions. How could two aircraft collide midair in highly controlled airspace?
Hello, I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: It's an all hands on -- on deck event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: According to one source, the air traffic controller was doing two jobs when the crash happened at Reagan National Airport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What evidence have you seen to support these claims?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It just could have been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It could have been, but it wasn't. And there is no evidence that President Trump has that Democrats and diversity are to blame. There's only evidence behind that claim he made while bodies were being pulled from the water. Also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Whoever dares to harm our hostages will pay the price. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: An outraged Israeli prime minister with a blunt warning after two Israeli hostages were forced to walk through a Palestinian mob to reach the Red Cross.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: The search for how is now underway after Wednesday's fatal midair collision in Washington, the first in the U.S. in almost 50 years. How could it happen now, leaving 67 passengers and crews on a commercial flight and military helicopter presumed dead? And how could the deadliest aviation crash in the U.S. in 23 years happen in one of the most heavily controlled pieces of airspace in the world?
Investigators have now recovered the cockpit voice recorder as well as the flight data recorder from the American Airlines passenger jet. So far, more than 40 bodies have been pulled from the Potomac River, according to a source familiar with recovery efforts. Fourteen others remain missing. The rest are believed trapped inside wreckage and inaccessible to divers. A salvage crane is now on site and expected to be operational in two days to help recover the last of the bodies. But at this hour, all recovery work is on hold because of dark and dangerous conditions.
The investigation, though, only just beginning. And at this early stage, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board says nothing has been ruled out. The American Airlines passenger jet with -- which crashed had taken off from Wichita in Kansas. Only recently, the airline celebrated the first anniversary of direct flights from there to the nation's capital. For the very latest now on the crash investigation is CNN's Danny Freeman.
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DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A massive investigation underway tonight into exactly how Wednesday's deadly airline collision could have happened.
JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: We're here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation.
FREEMAN (voice-over): An air traffic control source telling CNN there was just one air traffic controller working two different tower positions at the time of the midair crash. While the source says this is not uncommon, a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration internal report said staffing was, quote, not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic. The National Transportation Safety Board reiterated their investigation is just beginning.
HOMENDY: As part of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine and the environment. So we will look at all the humans that were involved in this accident. Again, we will look at the aircraft, we will look at the helicopter, we will look at the environment in which they were operating in. That is part of -- that is standard in any part of our investigation.
FREEMAN (voice-over): American Eagle Flight 5342 took off from Wichita, Kansas at 5:18 Wednesday afternoon without issue. The regional jet operated by PSA Airlines directed to land at Washington's Reagan National Airport Runway 33.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Runway 33, cleared to land.
FREEMAN (voice-over): At the same time, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, call sign PAT 25, was flying over the Potomac on a routine training mission. The control tower told the helicopter to pass behind the jet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT 25, do you have the CRJ in sight?
PAT 25, pass behind the CRJ.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT 25 has aircraft in sight, request visual separation.
FREEMAN (voice-over): But despite the Black Hawk pilot acknowledging the plane ahead, just before 8:50 p.m. the two collided in midair resulting in a fireball.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crash, crash, crash. This is an alert 3.
ABADI ISMAIL, PLANE CRASH WITNESS: So it was somewhere around 8:50 p.m. I was in my living room when I hear two bang, bang around 8:50 p.m. It was loud, it was unusual, it was something you only hear on video games, on movies, something I have never experienced.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Hundreds of first responders now working nearly 24 hours to try to recover the victims in the icy Potomac River.
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[01:05:03]
VAUSE: The crash investigation is led by the NTSB, but will involve officials from American Airlines. The manufacturers of the plane and the helicopter, the U.S. military and others, dozens of experts examining every piece of wreckage and debris, listening to every recording of every conversation leading up to the crash, and more, a process which could take months, probably longer. But less than 24 hours after this tragedy, the U.S. President already knew what caused the collision, blaming his Democratic predecessors, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and their diversity, equity and inclusion hiring policy for federal workers.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.
TRUMP: Because I have common sense, OK? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Within his first few days in office, President Trump signed executive orders banning DEI programs throughout the federal government, including the Transportation Department. And he called the former Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, a disaster. Buttigieg called Trump's remarks despicable, adding that as families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. Meanwhile, President Trump suggested he has no intention of visiting the site of this disaster.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a plan to go visit the site?
TRUMP: I have a -- I have a plan to visit, not the site, because what it -- you tell me what's the site, the water?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or to meet with the first responders down there?
TRUMP: I don't have a plan to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Juliette Kayyem is a CNN national security analyst and a former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security. She is with us this hour from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Welcome back.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: OK, so just hours after the midair crash, U.S. President knew who and what to blame. Here he is.
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TRUMP: I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first. Then they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen. They actually came out with a directive too white and we want the people that are competent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So this is the president railing against DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices, which is something which he's been on about for quite some time as partly to blame for this crash, if not entirely to blame for this crash. For context here, can you remember any other U.S. president politicizing a national tragedy while the bodies of the victims were still being recovered from the scene?
KAYYEM: No. I mean, it is -- it -- it was embarrassing, honestly. I know we're supposed to be used to this behavior, but this is a country in mourning. Midair crashes don't happen very often. Overnight, Donald Trump had posted on social media a sort of strange kind of operational critique of what the helicopter pilot may or may have done. He sort of got into the weeds. By the next day, I think he needed to find blame rather than trying to leave some time for people to understand actually what happened, let the investigation go forward.
VAUSE: And during that news conference, CNN's Kaitlan Collins actually pushed President Trump on accusations and how quickly they were coming from the presidency. Here she is.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Even yet know the names of the 67 people who were killed, and -- and you are blaming Democrats and DEI policies and air traffic control and seemingly the member of the U.S. military who was flying that Black Hawk helicopter. Don't you think you're getting ahead of the investigation right now?
TRUMP: No. I don't think so at all. I don't think with the names of the people. You mean the names on -- of the people that are on the plane, you think that's going to make a difference?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: At this point, anything and everything can make a difference. No one, not even the president of the United States --
KAYYEM: Yes.
VAUSE: -- knows precisely who or exactly what to blame for this accident. And at the same time, do his remarks attributing blame have in any kind of nuanced way an influence over the outcome of the investigation?
KAYYEM: It could. I mean I think part of it is just the distraction factor right now. Look, we, there's only -- there's -- there's not that many pieces to investigate. There is a pilot on the airplane, a pilot in the helicopter, and -- and some number of people in the control tower. And so this will be an investigation that can be determined. Did the helicopter pilot make a mistake? Did the pilot, was he on the wrong runway at the wrong time? Or was air traffic control in error in terms of -- of -- of what -- of where each plane, where -- where each the plane or the helicopter was?
All of that will be knowable relatively quickly. And the fact that the President is blaming some -- some policy that he described incorrectly anyway, that really is just about race. I mean, this is, he's essentially suggesting that women and African Americans and -- and -- and I don't know who else were flying the planes. I don't think we know that. And I actually don't think it's true. It -- it's just a -- it's just a bizarre way to go about the investigation.
[01:10:10]
VAUSE: And the day after Donald Trump was sworn into office, he signed an executive order banning DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration. Now, one stated reason for that was because it penalized this hardworking Americans who want to serve in the FAA but are unable to do so as they lack a requisite disability, sorry, a lack of requisite disability or skin color. FAA employees must hold the qualifications and have the ability to perform their jobs to the highest possible standard of excellence, this order goes on to say.
This goes to that very mistaken belief that someone employed as part of a DEI program is not as good, not as competent as everyone else. It's just not true. And especially so for jobs like in the FAA, like in air traffic control, where lives are at risk.
KAYYEM: That's exactly right. The -- the -- the assumption that an organization that has a DEI program somehow loses its standards is an assumption that's pushed Donald Trump, but also a lot of people in sort of the corporate world and the tech world about, well, it's not merit based. And what they're -- they're -- they're essentially, they're too privileged to see that the access to these jobs tends to be limited unless you open up the lens. And that is why these jobs have been traditionally white males.
The purpose of opening the lens isn't to lower the quality of what it means to be a pilot or an air traffic controller, or some of these people might be custodians at the FAA, we don't even know. But what it does mean is that you're opening up the lens.
VAUSE: Yes. We've talked about the role a president has to play as comforter-in-chief during these moments of tragedy. Here's Ronald Reagan after the space shuttle Challenger exploded.
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RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Also, Bill Clinton, days after the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To all those carrying on this dangerous work, to the families and loved ones of those still missing, our prayers are with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Explain just how important is it for a president to be calm, measured, reassuring and unifying in moments like these?
KAYYEM: Yes. It's -- it's essential. I mean, we often say in sort of crisis communication that the only job of a leader, especially a president, is to provide facts and give hope. Those are the two things that -- that the public requires, that the public demands and that the public deserves.
VAUSE: Juliette, thank you so much. We appreciate the analysis and the facts and the insight. Good to see you. Thank you.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
VAUSE: Among the passengers on the American Airlines flight were prominent members of the ice skating community heading home from a national development camp held in Wichita, Kansas. More details now from CNN's Ed Lavandera.
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NANCY KERRIGAN, 1994 OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST: We just wanted to be here with each other.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six members of the Skating Club of Boston died Wednesday. Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan came together with the Boston skating community after the unimaginable tragedy.
KERRIGAN: I'm not sure how to process it.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Among the 67 victims of the deadly collision, two teenage figure skaters, Spencer Lane.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you please welcome to the ice, Gina Hahn.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): And Gina Hahn.
DOUG ZEGHIBE, CEO, SKATING CLUB OF BOSTON: We watched Gina just grow up here from just a tiny little tyke into this amazingly mature 13- year-old. And we talk a lot about the athletes, but I think we're going to miss their moms as much. Just really good people.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Their mothers were also on the plane. Along with two coaches from Boston, 1994 World Figure Skating Pairs Champions, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
DR. TENLEY ALBRIGHT, SKATING CLUB OF BOSTON: I really can't believe that it happened because I picture them right here. The coaches always stood at that entrance. The skaters just flew all over the ice doing remarkable things, inspiring all of us.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): They were just a handful of a larger group of skaters on American Eagle Flight 5342.
ZEGHIBE: Fourteen skaters returning home from the National Development Camp at Wichita, Kansas put on by U.S. Figure skating were lost in the plane crash.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The Russian couple's son, Maxim, returned home on an earlier flight. Just medaled at the U.S. Men's Figure Skating Championship over the weekend. An eerie silence at the Wichita Ice Center as the magnitude of the loss keeps growing. A mourner left a simple tribute on the bare ice. Days after an intense three-day training took place here.
JEFF WINCH, FRIEND OF VICTIM: They're some of my daughter's best friends. LAVANDERA (voice-over): One of the crash victims was playing a video game with this man's 10-year-old daughter from the plane just before the accident occurred.
[01:15:07]
ALEXIS WINCH, FRIEND OF VICTIM: She would always be there to talk to me.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Tragedy has struck this skating community before, in 1961 when the entire Boston Club's team was killed in a plane crash heading to the World Championships. Other victims in Wednesday's crash over the Potomac River were three U.S. service members aboard the Black Hawk helicopter and four crew members on the plane that left Wichita, including American Airlines flight attendant Ian Epstein, First Officer Samuel Lilley and Captain Jonathan Campos.
MAYOR LILY WU, WICHITA, KANSAS: This is a terrible tragedy that will unite those in Washington, D.C. and Wichita, Kansas forever.
LAVANDERA: Several city officials told us it was a huge deal that Wichita got to host the U.S. World Figure Skating Championship this past weekend. The event left a jubilant feeling as so many people got to see world class skaters and even the possibility of some future Olympians, which makes the pain of what happened Wednesday night in Washington even much more to bear.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Wichita, Kansas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back, a chaotic hostage release in Gaza brings harsh criticism from Israel's prime minister and a delay in freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
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VAUSE: Three Israelis and five Thai nationals are celebrating their first full day of freedom after being held hostage for more than 15 months in Gaza. Releases six hostages held by Hamas went smoothly, but the other two hostages held by the militant group Islamic Jihad, well, they were forced to walk through a mob of Palestinians to reach waiting Red Cross vehicles. It was chaotic and distressing and a moment of freedom which drew outrage from many in Israel. CNN's Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond has our report.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the chaotic final moments of Israeli hostage Arbel Yehud's 15 months in captivity. Flanked by masked militants, the 29-year-old appears terrified as she is hustled through a raucous crowd in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis. Red Cross vehicles and her freedom are just steps away. In Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, Israelis watch with dreaded anticipation as the scene unfolds live on television. Minutes later, Yehud is handed over to Red Cross officials. Gadi Moses is next. Amid a sea of militants wearing the green and yellow bandanas of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the 80-year-old hostage is handed over to the Red Cross.
The Israeli prime minister condemning the chaotic scene, calling it yet more proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the Hamas terrorist organization, demanding that the mediators ensure that such horrific scenes do not recur.
In response, the prime minister delaying the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners, driving Palestinian youths into the streets. Amid clashes, at least three Palestinians are shot by Israeli forces, according to the Palestine Red Crescent.
Hours later, the buses emerged from Ofer Prison. Of the 110 prisoners being released, 32 were serving life sentences, including several responsible for deadly attacks on Israeli civilians. Thirty children were also released. They had all been arrested in the last two years, some held without charge, none convicted of a crime.
In Israel, emotional reunions as three Israelis held hostage by Hamas, including the Israeli soldier, Agam Berger, were reunited with their families. Five Thai hostages were also released, freed in addition to the 33 Israeli hostages being released during the six-week ceasefire.
President Trump's Middle East envoy also making an appearance at Hostage Square.
STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY: President Trump is committed to -- to doing everything possible to help the families.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Indicating one of two Americans set to be released in the coming weeks will be freed on Saturday.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When hundreds of thousands of Palestinians set out mostly on foot to return to their homes in northern Gaza, there is no way they knew what not to expect. Israel's military offensive has been relentless. But even then, once they arrived, the reality of what they found and the realization of what they'd lost when they got there was overwhelming for many. Here's CNN's Paula Hancocks.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The week started with such hope. Around half a million displaced placed Palestinians heading home to northern Gaza by any way possible. Once an hour's drive, now a journey that can take days.
This woman says my house is completely destroyed, but I am still returning. But even knowing their home was gone did not prepare some for the brutal reality of Israel's airstrikes.
If I knew it was like this, I wouldn't have come back, says Hamis Emara (ph). Emara (ph) says he lost around 50 members of his extended family in the first month of the war. His father and brother are still under this rubble. He was pulled out alive. He finds his father's medication, his mother's knitting.
[01:25:10]
I waited so long for a daughter, he says. A week after she was born, she and her mother were gone. I don't even have a photograph of her. His other brother holds his daughter, who he says has shrapnel in her stomach and leg. He asks his nephew Walid (ph), where is Mama? Walid (ph) says his mother is in heaven, he says, with his aunts, uncles, grandfather. No one is left.
Memories of home are now of death and trauma. But until he finds and buries his family, Emara (ph) says he will not leave. My honest advice is do not travel north, he says. There's no sign of life, no electricity, no water, no food. Fatima Abdel Hadi (ph) agrees. She travelled this week to what was left of her home in Beit Hanoun. She's now returned south to the school she's been sheltering in for almost a year and a half.
We're so sad about the destruction we saw, she says. It used to be a city. It's now just rubble. We'll stay in this school until they make us leave. This school, like many used as shelters is run by UNRWA. Israel has now banned the U.N. agency, accusing it of ties to Hamas, an accusation UNRWA denies.
Najuan (ph) stands in line for food coupons at the school turned shelter. She says, if it wasn't for UNRWA, we would not survive, from education to health to food. Israel says UNRWA's role in Gaza will be phased out and replaced by other U.N. agencies. The celebrations of the cease fire just days ago are now a distant memory, replaced by the bitter realization that all they knew has gone.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In a moment, showdowns on Capitol Hill. The U.S. President's most controversial department choices face some sharp questions during their confirmation hearings, even from their own Republican Party.
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VAUSE: Three of the most controversial nominees put forward by Donald Trump face bipartisan grilling during confirmation hearings on Thursday.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped to lead health policy, was pressed on his controversial anti-vaccine views by one Republican senator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA}: Will you reassure mothers unequivocally and without qualification, that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism?
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., NOMINEE FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Senator, I am not going into the agency with any --
CASSIDY: That's kind of a yes or no question because -- so if you're because the data is there and that's kind of a yes or no.
And I don't mean to cut you off, but that really is a yes or no.
KENNEDY: If the data is there, I will Absolutely do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, Trump's choice for National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard, faced questions on her views about Russian aggression and U.S. government surveillance. She also appeared evasive when asked about the intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MICHAEL BENNETT (D-CO): Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?
That is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high.
TULSI GABBARD, NOMINEE FOR DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Senator, as someone who has served --
BENNETT: Your answer is yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?
GABBARD: As someone who has --
(CROSSTALKING)
GABBARD: -- worn my uniform in combat, I understand how critical our national security.
BENNETT: Apparently you don't. Apparently you don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And the nominee for FBI director, a position which lasts for ten years. Kash Patel was questioned about earlier threats to prosecute so-called deep state enemies of Donald Trump.
He refused to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election, but he did not support the president's mass pardons for the January 6th rioters.
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SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): I concede he has the authority. I'm asking, was he wrong to do it?
KASH PATEL, NOMINEE FOR FBI DIRECTOR: And as we discussed in our private meeting, Senator, I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement. And I have, including in that group, specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on January 6th.
And I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Joining us now is CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. He's also author of "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion and America's Struggle to Defend the West".
Welcome back, David. Good to see you.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be with you.
Ok, so even before Thursday's confirmation hearing, Trump's choice for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, was at the center of a lot of controversy. And during the hearing, she seemed to start off pretty strong.
Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABBARD: I want to warn the American people who are watching at home, you may hear lies and smears in this hearing that will challenge my loyalty to and my love for our country.
The fact is, what truly unsettles my political opponents is I refuse to be their puppet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:34:54]
VAUSE: Kind of went downhill after that. And it was her support for Edward Snowden, the former NSA worker turned mass leaker for WikiLeaks, which seemed to be the biggest concern among the senators from both parties there.
So what were their concerns there, and how did she handle those questions?
SANGER: Well, you know, when Edward Snowden's documents came out, she was one of his biggest defenders and made the point, not wrongly, that he had exposed activities that some believed were illegal.
I'm not sure that much of what he showed was clearly illegal. And Congress later on closed up some loopholes that was exposed.
But the very fact that he had trafficked in classified data and then been praised by Tulsi Gabbard didn't go over well with the Intelligence Committee that was there.
VAUSE: And out of all the nominees though, that Trump has put forward, is Gabbard the one which the Senate is sort of most likely to reject? Is that even possible here?
SANGER: It is possible. If so, it's going to be a very narrow thing. You'll remember that just a few days ago when Pete Hegseth got confirmed for the Defense job. They lost -- he lost three Republicans and J.D. Vance, the vice president, had to cast the tie-breaking vote. Because it was 50-50. That was the first time in decades that had happened for any nominee for a cabinet post.
For Tulsi Gabbard, if she loses four Republicans and there are four who say they have doubts, then I think it's possible that she could entirely lose.
VAUSE: Then there was Kash Patel likely to be the next director of the FBI, a position that lasts for ten years.
That's after a lot of rewriting of history. He's no longer embracing QAnon's far-right conspiracy theories. The Capitol police were not cowards in uniform, and the FBI is not a cesspool -- all the things he said in the past.
But perhaps most notable, he would not acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. And yet he made this commitment.
Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATEL: There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI should I be confirmed as the FBI director. I told you that in your office. And I'll tell you that again today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: To me, his testimony was kind of mixed. There's a lot of sort of, you know, I did that then, but it's out of context. But then we had this statement about, you know, there will be no politicization.
But does that come down to basically his definition of politicization? Because what is a legitimate investigation of a former president is seen very differently by Mr. Patel?
SANGER: Yes. It's fairly easy for him to say that any investigation is warranted and nonpolitical. And of course, he criticized the Biden administration whenever they made that argument.
Look, the Senate's got to decide which Kash Patel they believe, whether or not they believe what he said when he was out of power and making declarations on podcasts and other forms about what the Biden administration was doing and what he would do if he ever got back -- if he ever got into power. At the same time, you know, it's Kash Patel who probably has the
largest ability to affect day to day policy and cause a lot of disruptions for his political adversaries because he can start an FBI investigation even if it never really gets finished.
VAUSE: I want to finish up with your question to President Trump at the White House briefing on the mid-air collision over Reagan National Airport. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANGER: Mr. President, you have, today blamed the diversity elements, but then told us that you weren't sure that the controllers made any mistake. You then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones who made the mistake.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's all under investigation.
SANGER: I understand that. That's why I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.
TRUMP: Because I have common sense, ok. And unfortunately, a lot of people don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It was extraordinary to me. And as best you can, what does he actually mean by that? He has common sense.
SANGER: Well, he -- I guess what it means, and I can't read his mind. I guess what it means is that he believes that he has looked at the situation and immediately understands what the root causes of that horrific crash, mid-air crash was all about.
[01:39:46}
SANGER: But so far, you know, we've listened to the tape of the controllers. It -- clearly the controllers want -- asked the helicopter pilots, do you see this Canada Air regional jet? They acknowledged they did. And then they told them to go around behind it and you saw the result instead.
So it's not as if the air controllers weren't doing their job.
VAUSE: David, thank you so much for being with us. And it's great to see you, as always. Thank you.
SANGER: Always great to be with you.
VAUSE: The NTSB is expected to deliver an initial report into the cause of the crash within 30 days. For now, though, Reagan National Airport has reopened and recovery efforts remain on hold.
All of this stands in stark contrast to the terrifying moments, just as that midair collision happened.
CNN's Brian Todd has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of first responders continue to take part in a massive recovery operation on the Potomac River following a deadly mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crash, crash, crash. This is an alert 3 crash, crash, crash. This is an alert 3.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's the alert 3.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is off the approach into runway 33. Approach into the runway 33. Helicopter crash.
TODD: Within minutes after the fireball was spotted in the skies near Washington's Reagan National Airport, the first emergency personnel arrived to the crash site on the Potomac River, eventually numbering nearly 300.
Crews immediately got into the water in what the D.C. Fire chief called a dangerous situation.
CHIEF JOHN CONNOLLY, D.C. FIRE AND EMS: I think it's an extremely complex operation. Not only are we only diving in one site, we're diving in two. We're working around jagged metal, which is hard on our divers' protective equipment, and were working in a contaminated environment that involves jet fuel. So it doesn't get any harder than that.
TODD: The president of the Firefighters Association says at one point there were close to 50 divers in the water. Water that had temperatures in 30s and 40s, and they had a lot working against them.
EDWARD KELLY, GENERAL PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS: The swift current was a challenge. Searching the fuselage, there's a lot of sharp objects in the cockpit.
So it was a very difficult and risky and dangerous rescue attempt.
TODD: All the dive crews are searching in an area where the water is about waist deep, and also has pieces of ice and debris floating in it.
DR. BEN ABO, EMS AND DISASTER PHYSICIAN: You have hypothermia to deal with. You have to have dehydration. We all have to deal with all the elements coming together in something that's already very technical, very hazardous, and just truly very dangerous.
STEVE SAINT-AMOUR, PLANE CRASH RECOVERY SPECIALIST: What we have up here is a piece of fuselage.
TODD: Salvage expert Steve Saint-Amour has handled more than a hundred operations to recover bodies and debris from plane crashes. He believes the divers in this operation are facing some unique dangers.
SAINT-AMOUR: You have an aircraft that, you know, has, you know, essentially disintegrated and, you know, wherever the fuselage is broken, you know, it's a sharp edge.
You know, it'd be like working, you know, in the middle of, you know, a thousand razor blades. The hazard of cutting yourself is significant.
TODD: Another challenge, the murkiness of the water.
SAINT-AMOUR: A lot of what the divers are going to be doing is by, you know, tactile, you know, touching and feeling their way, and that's definitely going to present a problem.
But with that acoustic camera, they will be able to get a really, you know, reasonable image of what it is that they're working on.
TODD: Steve Saint-Amour says at this stage, the divers and other first responders are contending not only with physical challenges, but also with emotional exhaustion. He says in operations like this, with a lot of public attention, they know that people want answers and that puts more pressure on them to complete the recovery.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Coming to America, how some would-be immigrants are now rethinking those plans amid Donald Trump's crackdown.
More on that story in a moment.
[01:43:39]
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VAUSE: It seems word about Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration has traveled quickly.
Less than a week after border agents began rounding up and deporting undocumented migrants, CNN's David Culver reports some in Guatemala City who are planning to come to the United States now have second thoughts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When we ask Annie and her partner Francisco, why they left Honduras, he shows us.
That was six months ago that he was attacked by gangs with a machete. He said after that, they've decided we're up and going.
We meet the pair at a bus terminal in Guatemala City. In years past, migrants passing through here had only one destination in mind, the U.S. But that's now changing. They've been following on the news about all the deportation flights.
And they're hearing about the situation in the U.S. right now. And so for them, that's enough motivation to keep them going no further north than Mexico, assuming they can find work.
With no money for a bus ticket, they say they'll walk a couple of hours to a local migrant shelter. We plan to meet up with them early the next morning.
Here we are just before 6:00 in the morning. Just waiting on the priest who runs this shelter to let him know that we're out front.
So there's about 60 migrants here from overnight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't see a lot of people. Really.
CULVER: The numbers are down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Numbers are down.
CULVER: So do you think the messaging from the Trump administration is being received by migrants?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. For now.
[01:49:49]
CULVER: Venezuela, Honduras, Honduras,
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ecuador.
CULVER: Ecuador.
Fueling up before continuing their journeys, I ask where they're headed. Surprised to hear one person shout --
"I'm headed back," he tells me.
He was in Mexico City for a year, originally from Venezuela. He's here in Guatemala saying he's going to Costa Rica.
And he's not the only one rerouting.
Why are you going back to Colombia?
"After President Trump closed the CBP One app, they decided, ok, we need to go back to our country.
And so to be back here now, will you stay here?
ORLANDO CHAJCHIC, DEPORTED FROM U.S. TO GUATEMALA: Oh, yes. I'm going to stay here.
CULVER: You won't go back to the U.S.?
CHAJCHIC: No. CULVER: Orlando Chajchic (ph) called Dallas, Texas home for more than
20 years. He was deported three weeks ago under President Biden.
With other migrants, when they ask you, or should we try, should we go to the U.S.? Because you have an experience that maybe they have no knowledge of.
CHAJCHIC: My advice would be, right now it's better you stay where you stay because you're going to be wasting the little money that you have right now, especially when you go with family, with little kids.
CULVER: From Venezuela. We meet Manuel and Waleska and their three young boys.
You're going to claim asylum here in Guatemala. You're not going to try to cross to the U.S.?
It's too dangerous.
The expense and risk of deportation too high. And yet they don't totally fault President Trump.
She says there are definitely bad people that she believes are in the U.S., but she hopes that they could separate between the good and the bad.
Yebit (ph) and his friend Patrick tell us they fled death threats in west Africa. Now they too are reassessing next steps.
YEBIT PRYDE, CAMEROONIAN MIGRANT: I don't want to enter into U.S. illegally.
CULVER: What if there is no legal pathway to get in?
PRYDE: Then I must have to choose any of the South American countries to seek for an asylum there.
CULVER: For Patrick, the thought of giving up on the U.S. is crushing. You're feeling a lot of emotion.
Just before they're about to head out, we finally spot Annie and Francisco.
They're going to walk for 11 days to the border city.
No longer bound for the same destination they all now head in different directions. Perhaps proof that migration never really stops. It only finds new roads.
Of the 60 or so migrants who were in that shelter today, all of them had initially intended, so they tell us, to go to the U.S. But because of the change in migration policies and because of the risk of deportation now from the U.S., only two of them say that they're going to try to move forward with entering the United States.
The others say they're going to try to find another country to call home.
David Culver, CNN -- Guatemala City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In a moment here on CNN, the biggest names in music performing together to help their home town devastated by wildfires.
That story is next.
(MUSIC)
[01:53:18]
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VAUSE: Some of the biggest names in music came together to perform on Thursday night to help the victims of the Los Angeles wildfires.
(MUSIC)
VAUSE: Yes, that's Rod Stewart and his hair performing for an audience which included first responders and those who lost their homes in the fires. Billie Eilish, Pink and Lady Gaga were also on stage at some point.
To donate, please go to fireandla.org -- fireAidla.org I should say.
CNN's Marybel Gonzalez has more now on the fires and the efforts to help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't lose me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I promise I won't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't worry. Don't worry.
MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the Eaton Fire exploded in Altadena on January 8th, residents including this 100-year-old woman were guided out of their homes as thick smoke from the fire moved in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my gosh.
GONZALEZ: The historic wildfires fueled by hurricane like winds ravaged through entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles County.
ROBERT LARA, LOST HOME IN FIRE: This was a passport. So now, I don't even have a passport.
GONZALEZ: Considered among the most destructive and deadliest in the state's history, the Eaton and Palisades Fires claimed at least 29 lives. And collectively destroyed more than 16,000 structures.
In this time of need, hundreds coming together to help those affected. JOSE VELAZQUEZ, ORGANIZED DONATION SITE: We'll be here until
everything runs out or until the community doesn't need it anymore.
GONZALEZ: And now, a benefit concert to help those who lost everything. For many who lost their homes, churches and businesses during this disaster, now another trial ahead of them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a lot of people are in that boat right now where maybe the fires have gone away but there's just so much that comes after.
GONZALEZ: What took days to burn will likely take years to rebuild.
KATHRYN BARGER, LOS ANGELES COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVIVORS: Once debris is cleared, the rebuilding process begins and the planning and design can start now.
GONZALEZ: I'm Marybel Gonzalez reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: China's spring festival gala was treated to a futuristic performance this week.
In case you didn't spot it, it's a team of robots. They're decked out in bright colors, dancing alongside their human counterparts.
They did synchronized steps to a folk dance, which is popular across northern China. The gala is a major cultural symbol celebrating Chinese New Year as well as the spring festival.
And on that, I'd like to wish you a very good weekend. Thank you for watching.
I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues after a short break with Kim Brunhuber.
See you next week.
[01:58:21]
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