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Iranian President, Foreign Minister Die in Helicopter Crash; Effort Underway to Refloat Ship that Hit Baltimore Bridge. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired May 20, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Monday, May 20th. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING, breaking news out of Iran. President Ebrahim Raisi killed in a helicopter crash. New developments ahead.

[05:59:32]

Michael Cohen returning to the stand. Lawyers for Donald Trump trying to continue to discredit him.

And attempts to refloat the cargo ship that collided with the Key Bridge in Baltimore are underway right now.

All right, 6 a.m. here in Washington. A live look at the White House on this Monday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Wonderful to have you with us. It is just before 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. And we're going to start with breaking news out of Iran this morning.

That nation's president, Ebrahim Raisi, killed Sunday morning when his helicopter crashed in a remote area. Iran's foreign minister and other government officials were also on board after an event near the border with Azerbaijan.

Rescuers reached the crash site overnight, and there were no survivors.

Iran's government immediately calling an urgent meeting to determine the way forward. We're going to start here this morning with David Sanger. He is White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times" and the author of the book, "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West."

David, good morning. I'm very grateful to have you here this morning.

Big picture, let's talk about who this man was, what he meant in the region, and what this turn of events means for all of the tensions that have been swirling in recent months.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, good morning, Kasie.

You know, it's obviously, a great tragedy that this helicopter went down. And it was pretty clear by late yesterday, just from the silence of the Iranian officials, that they had very little hope that there would be any survivors.

Raisi himself was a very conservative cleric who came in very close to the supreme leader of the country. The president of Iran is the No. 2 official. Obviously, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is the -- the most important decision-maker.

But the two were very close, and he came in to basically run the crackdowns that we have seen on dissent and human rights. He accelerated the support for terror groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the arming of the Houthis.

He became -- made the decisions, along with the ayatollah, to support Russia in the war in Ukraine. And of course, Iran has now become a major supplier of the drones and many other weapons systems that they're using.

And he has accelerated, but not put into overdrive, the nuclear program.

So the question for the United States now is, does the ailing ayatollah Khamenei, who's now in his mid-80s, choose somebody or designate -- there will be an election, but it's obviously not an open one. Choose somebody who will follow in that same path?

HUNT: David, what do you make of the fact that we seem to be hearing from state TV that this was something that should be blamed on the weather, that there is no sense at this time that there were -- there was foul play?

We're hearing that from the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, a member of the Gang of Eight here at home. But that also seems to be the story that is being pushed forward on Iranian state TV, which is something our other national security analysts have noted as remarkable and important.

What is your view of it?

SANGER: It is remarkable, because, for all of the steps that I mentioned before, one of the things that we noticed about President Raisi's government is that they didn't want to tip into a general war with the United States, with Israel. They understood what the impact of that would be.

Even last week, there were some indirect talks in Qatar with the United States, just to make sure that this didn't all spin out of control.

So as soon as this helicopter went down, obviously, the country was rife for all kinds of conspiracy theories. And I'm sure we will hear some, particularly from the right-wingers in Iran.

But all you had to do was look at the photos of the rescuers trying to make it up that mountainside in this, you know, pea soup of a fog, and it seemed pretty clear that weather could well have had a lot to do with this. HUNT: Yes. David, stand by for me for a second. I want to bring in

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen, who is live for us. He's actually reporting on assignment in Poland right now.

But Fred, you have traveled to Iran recently. And I wanted to get your perspective on these unfolding events and also kind of just check in with the latest on what we know at this hour.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Kasie.

Well, we know that right now, what the Iranians are essentially trying to do is trying to get the bodies away from that crash site and -- and bring them back to first Tabriz, which is where that chopper actually was supposed to be going. And then of course, Tehran and for any sort of other sort of burial ceremonies that are going to take place in the next couple of days.

[06:05:03]

And I think, on the one hand, of course, you have the whole aftermath of this crash, which of course, was a huge shock to the whole power structure of the Islamic Republic.

But then also, you have the leadership of the Islamic Republic, namely the supreme leader himself, already thinking about how things move along now in the future.

One of the things that I thought was quite interesting, because this chopper essentially disappeared off all the radars at pretty much noon time, 1:30 p.m. yesterday. It took them a long time to get to that crash site. David was talking about it. The atrocious weather conditions out there.

And then, of course, also the fact that it's mountainous, very difficult terrain, as well.

But you already had the supreme leader coming out, chairing a meeting of Iran's national security council. And there, on the one hand, of course, back at that point in time saying that everybody was praying that those onboard the helicopter would -- would be found alive.

But then also already looking towards the future and saying, Look, everybody needs to be assured that there is not going to be a break in the government, that all the government services and everything will continue as they had before; that there's going to be that continuity.

I think one of the things that the leadership right now is trying to project is stability in the wake of all of this, because I think there's two points, too. As David was talking about, and he's absolutely right.

Of course, President Raisi is the second most important figure in the country, the most -- the second most important decision maker. But we also have to keep in mind that the foreign minister of the country, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, was also killed on that crash, and he was absolutely instrumental to forming of Iran's foreign policy. Very often, of course, at odds and against the United States, but definitely something -- someone who had the reins of Iran's foreign ministry.

And of course, also someone who was very important in the past couple of weeks, as we almost got to that war between Israel and Iran, which of course, could have been catastrophic for that region.

So you not only have the head of government of Iran being killed, but also pretty much the architect of the current foreign policy of Iran, as well. In the wake of that, the Iranians, of course, right now are trying to project that stability, while at the same time, I know from on-the-ground that, of course, the whole country is put into a morning mode now. You have black flags popping up pretty much everywhere.

And one of the most important places is actually in a place called Mashhad in the East of Iran, which is, of course, one of those spiritual centers, but also is essentially the home area of Ebrahim Raisi, where he comes from religiously; and of course, where he comes from politically, as well, Kasie.

HUNT: All right, Fred Pleitgen for us. Fred, thanks for scrambling to get up for us.

And David Sanger, I really appreciate you joining us here to kick off the show, as well. Thanks to you both.

SANGER: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Coming up here, lawyers for Donald Trump, hoping to hammer Michael Cohen's credibility when he returns to the stand just hours from now.

Plus, Donald Trump suggesting there could be a three-term president if he wins in November. We'll talk about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:12:27]

HUNT: All right, welcome back. We're going to dive right back into our breaking news this morning. The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

He was one of nine people onboard a helicopter that crashed over the weekend in a remote part of the country. Iran reports there were no survivors.

Matthew Chance looks back on Raisi's life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was a staunch critic of the West, even seen as a possible successor to the Iranian supreme leader. Ebrahim Raisi came to power in 2021, winning an election with a record low turnout. And for three years, enacting policies that made him a polarizing figure at home and abroad.

His presidency saw a dangerous escalation in tensions with Israel. In April, he supported a major attack against the country in an unprecedented response to a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria, which killed several Iranian commanders.

Throughout Raisi's presidency, Iran pressed ahead with its nuclear program, violating an international agreement, while blaming the U.S. for withdrawing and European states for not living up to their end of the deal.

Tehran also supplied lethal drone technology to Russia, fueling the conflict in Ukraine, allowing Moscow to strike deep behind the front lines.

Meanwhile, at home, Raisi oversaw a brutal crackdown on dissent, suppressing a 2022 uprising sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman in the custody of Iran's religious Morality Police.

It all cemented his status as a loyal hardliner, potentially in line to succeed Iran's 85-year-old supreme leader. President Raisi's sudden death plunges that succession into chaos.

Raisi died along with his minister of foreign affairs, Hossein Amir- Abdollahian. The top Iranian diplomat took office in 2021 after a long career with the foreign ministry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: All right. That was CNN's Matthew Chance for us.

I want to bring our panel in now: Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor; Stephen Collinson, a CNN politics senior reporter. Matt Gorman is here. He's former advisor for Tim Scott's presidential campaign. And Karen Finney, a CNN political commentator.

[06:15:06]

I want to start with you, Stephen. You are the man who looks at kind of the big picture here for us. And right now, what we have coming in are statements from Hamas, mourning this man; Hezbollah mourning this man; the Russians mourning this man. And of course, we heard Matthew's reporting about the way he approached the country, the death of Mahsa Amini, in particular, galvanizing the streets of Iran.

How do you see his death impacting broadly what -- this has been an incredibly tense period of time in the region and with the United States.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I think those messages explain the axis of power that Iran has created, not just throughout the Middle East, but its closer relationships now with Russia; the way it's factored into Putin's campaign in Ukraine, with the supply of drones and everything like this.

I don't think we should expect any change to Iran's policy domestically or internationally, or indeed to American policy.

Raisi was a very repressive figure domestically, as you pointed out. The lesson of history is that, when there is political uncertainty in Iran, that leads to more repression.

Having said that, this has been a time of great upheaval. You talked about those demonstrations. There was an Islamic State terror attack on Iran, which was a great embarrassment to the regime very recently.

We had this shooting war, unprecedented, between Israel and Iran.

And this will factor in, I think, to the succession of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Raisi was seen as a potential successor. That was going to happen anyway. The ayatollah is 85. He's very sickly. This could kind of bring all that forward, and we could see a front-loading of that succession crisis.

HUNT: Right. And you mentioned kind of the continuation. And clearly, they seem to be trying to send that message by -- even in the fact that they're acknowledging, it seems, that weather was the cause of this. That they do want to continue on this track.

I think it's worth reminding everyone, especially as we are confronting the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza that Raisi was actually a Holocaust denier. This was what he told CBS back in September of 2013, I believe. Let's watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe the Holocaust happened? Thats six million Jews were slaughtered?

EBRAHIM RAISI, FORMER PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): Look, historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians. There are some signs that it happened. If so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And I'll correct myself. This was September 2022. So an extraordinary recent set of comments, where he says there that they should allow it to be investigated. Again, he's talking about the Holocaust.

This is what the U.S. Holocaust Memorial said at the time: "The Iranian government has a long history of denying the Holocaust and delegitimizing the state of Israel, putting the regime's unadulterated antisemitism on full display. History teaches us the dangers of ignoring antisemitism from any corner, but coming from a head of state, it is especially concerning and needs to be universally condemned."

Elliot Williams, I mean, big picture, as we are -- I mean, and as Stephen notes, if they're trying to continue all of this. I mean, this is the world in which we are living --

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.

HUNT: -- as these very present tensions continue to roil us.

WILLIAMS: I guess the question I have in picking up -- and I don't know if any of this has come across from your reporting, Stephen, but in terms of uncertainty, it's rare that there is a head of government who dies in office. It doesn't happen that often. They often, you know, seem to expire when their time is up.

And what are we hearing or understanding about a leadership vacuum at an influential country in the Middle East?

COLLINSON: I think the key here is that the supreme leader has all the power, ultimately -- in terms of foreign policy and domestic policy. He orchestrated the rise of Raisi, the last Iranian election, by a standard of elections that are very --

HUNT: Very closed.

COLLINSON: -- very repressive and very closed.

HUNT: Yes.

COLLINSON: This was even more so. So the power is still there, but to the point, the succession is unclear going forward into -- he was a new generation of the Islamic Revolution. And it's unclear at this point exactly who would follow that.

I expect we'll hear from U.S. conservatives, this is the time to put more pressure on Iran, to try to destabilize that regime. The issue there is that, you know, over the last 50 years, U.S. efforts to destabilize Iran have looked more optimistic than they actually turn out to be in practice.

HUNT: Right.

All right. We've got a lot more here. Up next, an attempt to refloat the cargo ship that crashed into Baltimore's Key Bridge. That is happening right now. We've got a live update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:24:08]

HUNT: All right. In the last hour, efforts to refloat the Dali container ship that hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore got underway.

Recovery teams are hoping to use peak high tide to refloat the ship and bring it back to port.

Our, Pete Muntean joins us now.

Pete, good morning to you. Walk us through the refloating process. What have we seen so far and what's next?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kasie.

You know, this is the most significant development yet in getting the port of Baltimore reopened. Remember, the Dali has been back there blocking the port of Baltimore as it leaves the shipping channel that goes into the Chesapeake Bay then beyond.

That is so important, because this is a place where goods, large and small, come through. We're talking things as small as spices, as big as cars. Fifteen thousand jobs directly impacted here.

You can see over my shoulder here the Dali and the hive of activity that is taking place here. We are seeing the police boats. We are seeing more activity happening this morning.

[06:25:05]

High tide occurred at 5:24 a.m., and that is what crews here are trying to take advantage of, although the work here really began overnight at 2 a.m. to try and bilge up some water that was onboard the ship. They've been trying to run tugboats up and down the channel here to make sure that it is clear. So, like, when they finally move this ship, that it will be OK.

There are about five times tugboats around the Dali right now to try and push and pull it into the Seagirt Terminal here in the port of Baltimore. That is where it left 55 days ago. And it has been blocking the port ever since.

Want you to listen now to Governor Wes Moore. He says the impact here will be felt in Baltimore and worldwide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD); I'm proud that -- that we're on track, that by the end of May, we'll have that federal channel reopened, and within -- within days, were going to have that massive vessel, the Dali, out of that federal channel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: We -- there was a hearing here in Capitol Hill last week, where we heard from investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The significant thing about the Dali is there were a total of four power failures onboard, two in port. And the head of the National Transportation Safety Board says she wants to know why the crew switched over to backup circuit breakers that had not been used for months.

So the investigation is still playing out here, Kasie. We are hearing though, that it will be 2028 before this bridge is fully rebuilt. This is just the first significant step on that years-long path. HUNT: Wow. It's going to be awhile. Pretty amazing pictures there.

Pete Muntean for us. Pete, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much.

All right, coming up next here, how will the U.S. government respond to the helicopter crash that killed Iran's president? We'll be live at the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]