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CNN This Morning

NTSB Says, Plane Had Three Pressurization Issues Before Incident; GOP Candidates Crisscross Iowa One Week Until Caucuses; Supreme Court to Decide if Trump Can Be Barred from Office. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired January 08, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

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JUNIOR COLSON, MICHIGAN LINEBACKER: -- together, more trusting of a brotherhood.

[07:00:02]

So, I think it was -- I hate that we went through it, but it was great that we went through it, being able to allow us to be here in this moment, just nothing can affect us. It's always us against everybody.

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COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It will be Michigan against that undefeated Washington team. 21-game win streak, longest in the nation. Heisman finalist Michael Penix throwing to arguably the greatest receiving trio in the nation.

It is Michigan, favored by 4.5, even 5.5 points by some. The fans are pouring in from all over. It was a sea of blue, Phil Mattingly. And some wild fan named Dr. Sanjay Gupta on the plane behind me, he was raving about how he's going to be tailgating all day long here in the parking lot before today's game.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Sanjay is no longer somebody I will speak to in public from here on. I'm kidding. I can't wait to watch. Coy, we can't wait for all your reporting throughout the course of the next day. Thanks, man.

WIRE: Thank you.

MATTINGLY: And CNN This Morning continues right now.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: New images show the force of the failure on board Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some companies are temporarily suspending use of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets. The missing part of the aircraft has been found.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: We're going to go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All eyes are now on Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The final chance for the candidates to prove themselves in the first of the nation caucus state.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I kind of like being underestimated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're vying for second place and they're trying to ensure that the margin is defensible enough going into New Hampshire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not like 2016. He's not putting in that kind of time. It's because he doesn't need to.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They ought to release the J6 hostages. They've suffered enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The danger of Donald Trump is that he does not believe in rules and laws and norms and institutions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A key member of Trump's inner circle, Dan Scavino, had revealed new details about Trump's inaction on January 6th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the Trump whisperer. And if he's cooperating with the feds, Donald Trump is in real trouble.

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MATTINGLY: Well, good Monday morning, everyone. It's the top of the hour. I'm Phil Matting with Poppy Harlow in New York.

And we have a lot of big developments this morning as investigators try and figure out why a gaping hole blew open on an Alaska Airlines plane midflight after taking off from Portland. The NTSB says a crucial piece of the Boeing 737 MAX jet, the door plug, has been found in somebody's backyard.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Now, take a look at these new images from investigators. What you're seeing there is seat cushions and headrests ripped off by the explosive force of the depressurization in the cabin. The warning light previously went off on the same plane multiple times, including the day before the horrifying flight.

Alaska Airlines has restricted them from flying that plane on big flights, like long ones to Hawaii, for example, over the ocean in case they had to quickly land.

Listen to this passenger describe the moment the door plug blew out.

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EVAN SMITH, ALASKA AIRLINES PASSENGER: We heard a big loud bang to the left rear. We were like in row 20 and a whooshing sound and all the oxygen masks deployed. You could see later that there was a two- window section panel that blew up that's about as wide as a refrigerator.

And there was, I guess, a boy and his mother were sitting in that row, and his shirt was sucked off him and out of the plane, and his mother was holding on to him.

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HARLOW: Joining us now is the woman in charge of this investigation, Jennifer Homendy. She is the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board and was able to inspect the plane, actually walk through it. So, she has a lot of information. Thank you very much for being with us.

Let's begin with what you saw that we don't know more about when you walked through that plane. What do people have to know this morning?

HOMENDY: Yes, thank you very much for having me, Poppy. And it was described to us by the flight crew that it was a very violent, explosive event when it occurred. And you can see that from inside the aircraft.

Now, we were able to inspect the airframe itself from the exterior and found absolutely no structural damage to the airplane. So, that's a great thing. Inside, there was a lot of damage to non critical components, everything from paneling to trim to insulation coming out of the paneling, some separation of the plastic inside of the windows, although the seal and the glass windows themselves were still intact. And then, of course, you have the torquing of some of the seats in those rows. So, it must have been truly terrifying.

HARLOW: It's the size of a refrigerator, the hole on the plane while you're in the air going 400 miles an hour.

[07:05:02]

It's technically called a door plug. But that's the door. I mean, the door blew off, for all intents and purposes. I wondered you, now that they've found it, what will that tell you about if this could happen on other planes?

HOMENDY: Yes. And just to clarify, this is not an operational door inside the aircraft. Passengers would only see the paneling outside. You would see what looks like a door, the plug in the aircraft itself.

But from the time we got here, we began documenting the scene and looking at how the airframe is situated right now looking at everything, from witness marks and paint transfer on different components to try to begin analyzing what occurred.

Our focus right now is on this aircraft to determine what happened, how it happened and to prevent it from happening again. And once we determine that, we can see if there's a greater concern that we want to issue an urgent safety recommendation for.

HARLOW: So, talking about some potential warnings that this could happen, December 7th, and then, again, on January 3rd and January 4th, the depressurization warning light on this plane came on. And then it was inspected, and then it was reset, and then this plane was back in the air, but with conditions, right, that it couldn't do long haul flights over the ocean, like to Hawaii, in case it had to land.

After those three warnings, should this plane have ever been in the air?

HOMENDY: Yes, I mean, that's a great question because that is what we are looking at with Alaska right now and with Boeing right now. That alert that illuminated those three times certainly is very disconcerting to our investigators and we want to look at that, but it may have absolutely nothing to do with what occurred in the cabin of the aircraft on that -- during that event.

It did illuminate the flight crew had switched to a different mode because there is a backup system. And once they landed, it was tested, inspected, reset and put back in service. But as you said Alaska Air took some precautions to put some restrictions on where that could fly, and that's something where our systems crew is looking into.

HARLOW: But if there's a precaution on where a plane can fly, should that plane be flying anywhere?

HOMENDY: And that's what we're looking at. Alaska Air tells us the reason that was put in place is so that they could get to an airport if the light illuminated and could get repairs again. But it is something that is a concern for us. So, we're going to look.

But, again, I would just caution, it may have absolutely nothing to do with what occurred on that date.

HARLOW: No, fair, and I'm glad you point that out again. I was flying home last night with our two little kids right behind the same area as this plane, a different plane, but, still, it's all I could think about.

So, my question this morning is, is it safe for anyone to fly on these Boeing MAX jets right now?

HOMENDY: Our aviation system is the safest in the world. We are the gold standard for safety in our airspace. But we need to maintain that. And when an event occurs like this, it is up to us to take a close look at what happened to make sure we maintain safety in the air.

For this one, I will mention we're disappointed that the cockpit voice recorder was overwritten. We can learn a lot from that cockpit voice recorder. We have urged the FAA to extend the cockpit voice recorder time for 2 hours to 25 hours, because we want to hear communications, noise, alerts on the flight deck, which may help us prevent future tragedies.

HARLOW: Just so people understand, that is what sort of automatically happens on some of these planes that aren't the newest Is that every two hours it sort of resets and you want that to be extended much longer so that you can always hear in a situation like this. Just finally, with Boeing, there have been a number of Issues including two fatal crashes with the Boeing MAX line. Both of those crashes were caused in part because of the MCAS system, which they've changed But is there a bigger issue going on here at Boeing regarding safety?

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HOMENDY: Yes. We'll have to see that through the course of our investigation. In the past, when we've investigated, say, a malfunction on a plane just about a year ago, we found that we needed to go broader and look at repairs for all of the fleet. We may look at the manufacturer, the design of this aircraft, but we go where the evidence takes us.

HARLOW: We really appreciate all of this information this morning, Jennifer. Thanks to you and your team. And come back as you have more information.

HOMENDY: Thank you, Poppy.

MATTINGLY: Well, we're just one week from the Iowa caucuses what the candidates are doing to make their final pitch to voters.

HARLOW: Three years since the January 6th Capitol attack, new reporting shedding a lot of light on Donald Trump's mindset that day, what several former top Trump aides told federal investigators.

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MATTINGLY: Well, countdown is on. If you don't believe me, there's literally a wall behind me that's showing it to you. It's just a week until the Iowa caucuses.

Today, Vivek Ramaswamy crisscrossing the state with events. His GOP rival, Nikki Haley, she will be in Des Moines. And as caucus day gets close, the candidates hammering home the importance of voter turnout, as obviously that will make or break the momentum in the race.

CNN's Eva McKend is joining us live from Des Moines, Iowa. Eva, when it comes to how this all works right now, what are candidates looking for?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Phil, voters here that we speak to, they're still making up their minds. They take the fact that Iowa goes first very seriously. They're still betting these candidates. They know that if a candidate breaks through and does well here, they'll have significant momentum to move on to the other states.

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NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All eyes are now on Iowa. MCKEND (voice over): Haley, DeSantis, Ramaswamy and Trump all converged on Iowa over the weekend.

DESANTIS: Now is the time to be active. Now is the time where you guys can make a difference.

MCKEND: With just one week remaining before the Iowa caucus, the GOP candidates are pouring millions of dollars into the first voting state, flooding the airwaves in an attempt to challenge former President Trump's considerable lead in the polls.

TRUMP: Back stage, they say to me sometimes, sir, don't tell them that they're going to vote for you. That sounds so demeaning. I said, I got him $28 billion for their farmers. Of course, they're going to vote.

MCKEND: DeSantis and Haley could not avoid speaking about the frontrunner.

DESANTIS: I think if we're re-litigating the past elections, if it's about Donald Trump or his legal issues or criminal trials or all that stuff, I think it's going to be a really nasty election. I don't think that puts Republicans in a good position to win.

HALEY: He was really good at breaking things. He just wasn't good at fixing them.

MCKEND: Trump is looking for a decisive victory in the Hawkeye State after losing the Iowa caucus back in 2016.

However, Iowans are split on who they'll support.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's kindly likely that Trump will come out first.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be voting for DeSantis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to see Vivek Ramaswamy be in the race as long as he can be.

MCKEND: Trump held the rally in Iowa on the third anniversary of the January 6th Capitol attack, during which he gave his support for those jailed for their actions that day.

TRUMP: They ought to release the J6 hostages. They've suffered enough.

MCKEND: And raised eyebrows when he made this comment about the Civil War.

TRUMP: They could have been negotiated and they wouldn't have had that problem but it was a total -- it was a hell of a time.

MCKEND: This week, the former president will be toggling back and forth from the campaign trail to the courtroom with a jam-packed schedule. On Tuesday, he will be in a D.C. courtroom where opening arguments will be held on his immunity claim. On Wednesday, he will be back in Iowa for a town hall event. And on Thursday, he will be in a New York City courtroom where the closing arguments in the civil fraud case against him, his sons, and the Trump Organization will begin.

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MCKEND (on camera): And Phil and Poppy, a little bit of a wrinkle, it is expected to snow in the coming hours, and that's already leading to the cancellation of some events. And it comes at a time when candidates can ill-afford it. They are trying to use this final week to shake every hand, meet every voter. Phil, Poppy?

MATTINGLY: Eva McKend live for us in Des Moines, thank you.

HARLOW: Donald Trump trying to rewrite the history of January 6th, but there is new reporting from ABC News, and it really details the extent of Trump's failure to respond or try to calm the violence at the Capitol for hours, even when his own vice president was in harm's way.

And this is not coming from Trump critics. This is according to people under oath in his inner circle.

You remember those chants, hang Mike Pence. Well, according to sources familiar with Jack Smith's investigation, quote, former Trump aide Nick Luna told federal investigators that when Trump was informed that his vice president had to be rushed to a secure location, Trump responded saying, quote, so what? The sources also say that Luna told investigators that Trump showed he was, quote, capable of allowing harm to come to one of his closest allies at the time.

MATTINGLY: His aides and lawyers reportedly spent 20 minutes trying to persuade Trump to release a statement calming the crowd. It was no use. So, they chose to leave him alone. And that's when Trump himself tweeted that Pence, quote, didn't have the courage to do what should have been done.

Now, sources say former Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and others rushed back into the dining room, quote, to explain to Trump that a public attack on Pence was not what we needed.

[07:20:07]

And Trump responded, but it's true.

HARLOW: When Scavino talked to Trump that night, he told Trump, quote, this is all your legacy here. There's smoke coming out of the Capitol. But he said that legacy could remain intact if Trump took the right steps moving forward.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign now calls this report, quote, secondhand hearsay.

With us now, former Trump White House Press Secretary and Communications Director Stephanie Grisham. She was also chief of staff to Melania Trump and the author of the book, I'll Take Your Questions Now, What I Saw at the Trump White House.

Direct quotes from people under oath, does it track with what you experienced?

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning, guys. It absolutely tracks with everything that I experienced and heard and have been talking about ever since January 6th. Dan Scavino especially, he was at Trump's side 24/7. If they weren't together, Trump was calling him constantly. Dan was also really good at giving him some good advice, and he would oftentimes be one of the only people that Trump would listen to.

So, you know, I'm very hopeful that Dan has been telling the truth in testifying, but I'm also a little skeptical because they were very, very close for a very long time.

MATTINGLY: Stephanie, the comment that is relayed by Nick Luna about Trump responding, so what, when he was told that Pence had to be rushed to a secure location, sources said that Luna saw it as evidence that Trump was, quote, capable of allowing harm to come to one of his closest allies. Do you think that he was, that he was capable of that?

GRISHAM: Well, absolutely. He had no regard for anybody but himself that day. And the people who would do his bidding, meaning the people at the Capitol, hoping that they would stop the election from happening.

And, you know, again, Nick Luna, that's another great example of somebody who was by the president's side for all the time. He started out as his body man and then he moved into the outer Oval Office.

And Nick is a good guy. I believe that what he said was true and I believe know he definitely would be somebody who would cooperate, and I'm really glad to hear it.

HARLOW: Obviously, huge concern over what happened three years ago. But looking at how the American people feel now about what may happen after the next election is troubling. CBS did some really interesting polling in the last couple of days, and what they found is 49 percent, Stephanie, so about half the country is expecting violence from the side that loses in future elections. Look at those numbers. That is very concerning, and I wonder if it surprises you.

GRISHAM: It sadly doesn't. I mean, you know, we live in a split screen world right now. People watch know the Fox News of the world or they're watching maybe the MSNBCs of the world. And I think that's a problem. I think that the vitriol is just something terrible.

And I think that we should be talking about January 6th. I resigned that day. It was a horrible day for our country. But I also think that we should be looking forward at what a potential Trump presidency would look like. I think that's really important for people to understand.

We keep talking about democracy. Democracy is -- our way of life is going to be taken away. I don't think people understand by and large what that means and how it could affect them. I think that's something that should be talked about more.

HARLOW: So, how would you explain it to them? You were there. You were there until that day.

GRISHAM: Absolutely. I mean, I was there for six years. I started with him early on in 2015, and I was a true believer. I thought this man would come in and upend the politics of our country and the bureaucracy, and he sure did those things, but not in the way that I had envisioned.

And I think it's important for people who were like me or who are like me now, who really believe in him to understand how another Trump presidency will be.

So, what is democracy? That's the people having the freedom to act and speak freely. I think under Trump, you're not going to be able to do that or you are going to be able to do that as long as you're talking just about him in positive ways.

I think free press will be really something that's going to go by the wayside. I remember when I was press secretary, he wanted me to kick everybody off the White House grounds constantly. I think that's something that's going to happen. I think that we're going to be aligned with countries like China and Russia rather than our NATO allies.

So, I think it's important that people are understanding really how he's going to operate.

MATTINGLY: All right, Stephanie Grisham, thank you. The book is. I'll Take Your Questions Now, What I Saw at the Trump White House.

HARLOW: Exactly one month from today, the Supreme Court will review a potentially monumental question. Will Donald Trump be on the ballot in Colorado this fall?

MATTINGLY: And DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas heading to the southern border today as the House Republicans prepare to move forward with his impeachment. More on that ahead.

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[07:25:00]

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TRUMP: I just hope we get fair treatment, because if we don't, our country's in big, big trouble. Does everybody understand what I'm saying?

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HARLOW: Well, can former President Trump be barred from holding office? This is a question that the Supreme Court is going to have to address one month from today. The high court will review this unprecedented decision by the state of Colorado, their Supreme Court, that removes Trump from the state's ballot, citing the 14th Amendment's insurrection clause.

The court argued that Trump's actions on January 6 and in the days that followed, quote, constituted overt, voluntary and direct participation in an insurrection.

Let's turn to our Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig with much more on this. So, Supreme Court has to address this.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, they do, Poppy. So, our Latin legal word of the day is certiorari, which translates to they're taking the case. Important to know, it takes four of the nine justices to vote to take a case. Now, we don't know which four or how many or whether there was more than four. We never know that.

By the way, people are asking, will Justice Thomas recuse himself because his wife, Ginni, had some involvement in some of the events leading up to January 6th? The answer is no. It's up to him. He hasn't done so before. There's no reason to think he will do so today.

Now, if we look at the order the Supreme Court gave us on Friday night, saying they're taking the case, it's all about the scheduling. So, let's take a look at the calendar so we understand how this is going to play out over the next several weeks. January 18th, ten days from today, Donald Trump's brief is due. He goes first because he lost below.

[07:30:00]

Then January 31st, Colorado's brief is due. Then Trump gets a chance for a one last say, in what we call a reply brief on the 5th. And then big day to circle --