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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Mario Cuomo Dead at 82; Mourning the Victims of Flight 8501; Recovering the Victims Of Flight 8501
Aired January 02, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The search intensifying this morning for the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501. Investigators scouring the sea to find the jetliner's black boxes, the key to figuring out what caused that plane to crash. This as more bodies are recovered and identified. Family members of those on board share who the tragedy is taking its toll on them. Team coverage breaking down our big story ahead.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New York and our own family in mourning, Governor Mario Cuomo has died at the age of 82. We will take a look back at his greatest accomplishments and the legacy he leaves behind.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour. Up first, New Yorkers and the nation mourning the death of Mario Cuomo, the father of New York's current governor and of course, CNN "NEW DAY" anchor, Chris Cuomo, our friend, died of heart failure Thursday at the age of 82.
Mario Cuomo served three terms as governor of New York passed away just hours after his son was inaugurated for a second time. The senior Cuomo was more than a political icon.
In his day, he was the soul of the Democratic Party best known for his soaring and often fiery speeches. Let's gets more on the life and legacy of Mario Cuomo from CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM" (voice-over): New York Governor Mario Cuomo burst on the national political stage with his keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
GOVERNOR MARIO CUOMO: We proclaim as loudly as we can the utter insanity of nuclear proliferation and the need for nuclear freeze if only to affirm the simple truth that peace is better than war because life is better than death.
BLITZER: It was so powerful, so well delivered, that it rocketed Cuomo to instant political fame. His political appearance even led some party faithful to wonder whether Cuomo wanted to be president himself. CUOMO: I have been thinking about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you think about it anymore?
CUOMO: I'll try, Sam, to keep it out of my mind.
BLITZER: But it was that kind of indecisiveness that frustrated Democrats, especially those on the more liberal end and garnered Cuomo the nickname, fair or not, Hamlet on the Hudson. Ultimately Cuomo chose not to run for president.
CUOMO: Has nothing to do with my chances. It has everything to do with my job as governor. I don't see that I can do both. Therefore, I will not pursue the presidency.
BLITZER: Mario Matthew Cuomo was born in New York City in 1932 in the apartment above his father's grocery store. His Italian immigrant heritage helped shape Cuomo's values, which centered around family, education, and the law.
After a brief shot at a minor league baseball career, Cuomo pursued a law degree graduating top of his class from St. John's University. The allure of public service was strong.
But early attempts at seeking political office ended in defeat. His first electoral success came in 1978 as running mate to Governor Hugh Carey. Four years later, Carey stepped aside. Cuomo then entered the race for governor and won.
It is a position he held for 12 years, winning two more terms handily by emphasizing lower taxes, balanced budgets, public education, and affirmative action. In 1993, he passed up the chance to be appointed to the Supreme Court choosing instead to run for a fourth term as governor.
CUOMO: It would have been wonderful to be a Supreme Court justice in many ways. It was more important to me to try to run and win again because I thought I could serve better as governor than as a Supreme Court justice.
BLITZER: But Cuomo lost that race to newcomer, George Pataki. He later said after 12 years, voters were ready for a change. The constants in his life were faith and family. Cuomo was Catholic and married for over six decades to the love of his life, Matilda.
The couple raised five children including Maria, who is the wife of the fashion designer, Kenneth Cole, Andrew Cuomo, who followed in his father's footsteps as governor of New York as well as journalist and CNN anchor, Chris Cuomo.
In later years, Cuomo hosted a radio show, returned to the private sector as an attorney and author, and continued to speak out for the party he loved and the causes he held close to his heart. Asked once how he wanted to be remembered.
CUOMO: One of the simple things I wanted to achieve is I want to be governor. I want to be the hardest working than ever was. I want people to say there was an honest person.
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ROMANS: That was Wolf Blitzer reporting. Mario Cuomo died in his Manhattan home with his family by his side. President Obama called him a champion of progressive values with an unflinching voice for tolerance and dignity. He is survived by his wife, five children, and 14 grandchildren.
BERMAN: He would like to say, Mario Cuomo did, you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose, and he did both. He really did do both, but it's a wonderful saying and what a wonderful life.
All right, 35 minutes after the hour. Now to the latest on the search for Airasia Flight 8501, the bodies of 22 victims have now been recovered as officials pinpoint a most probable area where they expect to find the jetliner.
It's a 2,000 square mile section of the Java Sea. Ships equipped with sensitive underwater listening devices are now in that search area trying to find the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Airbus 32, as Indonesians endure the agonizing task of burying the first of the 162 victims.
David Molko is tracking the latest developments for us live from Surabaya, Indonesia. David, what is the latest on the search and how the families are coping?
DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, John, good afternoon from here in Surabaya. It is just past 5:00 in the evening on Friday here. Thunderstorms rolling through, just an indication of how quick the weather is to change out in the search zone.
Conditions equally if not more so challenging, 2 meter to 3 meter waves making it difficult for divers to get in and out of the water, but let's start here behind me. This is the family crisis center where we have been reporting from.
Next door, the police hospital and it was just a few hours ago that three additional passengers and crew on board that Airasia Flight 8501 were identified by authorities. I will read their names for you.
Grayson Herbert Linaksita, Kevin Alexander Soetjipto, and Khairunnisa Haidar Fauci, she was known as Nisa by her family, 22 years old. She was a flight attendant for Airasia, had been working for them for about two years. Moved over here to Surabaya across the whole country of Indonesia because she wanted to travel and she loved to fly.
John, I was able to meet with her parents this morning, her mother, father and two older brothers and also a couple of cousins and her boyfriend here in Surabaya. We were at their hotel looking at Instagram photos of her.
This was a beautiful young woman who clearly was in her mother's words, living her dream. During that interview, we got a phone call. They had to come here to the crisis center to identify their daughter's remains.
And a short time later, they were handed over in a solemn ceremony. We expect that they will travel home either tonight or tomorrow to bury their daughter, absolutely heartbreaking afternoon here -- John.
BERMAN: So many families in that country and that city where you are will have to go through. David, what is the latest from the search zone itself?
MOLKO: John, 22 bodies have been recovered at this point. Weather challenging, as I mentioned, but the fact is they are still able to recover bodies and debris. It is kind of a fluid situation with a lot of numbers coming in.
Big international effort, the United States involved, Singapore and Malaysia and Japan, South Korea, all involved in the recovery efforts to not only find the victims, but also try to find the bulk of the aircraft wreckage.
One of the things they are trying to do now is try to find the black boxes. They may be with the main part of the wreckage. They may not be, but they have underwater microphones or towed pinger locaters.
You may remember those terms last year, March and April, for the search for the Malaysia airlines flight. Those are underwater listening devices that are listening for the pings that the black boxes emit being towed through the water.
Relatively shallow depths there, you know, in the 100 foot range, but listening for those pings. The important thing, John, is that the batteries on those pingers are only rated for a month, you know, six or seven days in now, that means over three weeks left for them to find those black boxes.
If they don't find the wreckage or blacks boxes by the time the batteries run out, we are certainly a long way from that, but if they don't, the task becomes much more challenging. Certainly the story here this evening in Surabaya, though, is the identification of three more victims -- John.
BERMAN: All right, David Molko, thanks for being there for the terrific work from Surabaya.
ROMANS: A grim scene in Western Borneo where one by one the bodies of the victims of Flight 8501 are being brought before making the final trip home where hundreds of grieving loved ones and friends are waiting to say a final goodbye. Let's get more on this from CNN's Paula Hancocks.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Down on the port of the west coast of Borneo. As you can see preparations are underway for one of the search vessels to head out to try to the search location and try and locate some of those bodies and also some of the debris.
This is a police boat. It will have search and rescue on board. Some of the divers will be on board as well. They have been out a couple of times. Many of them say they could not get in the water. It was simply too dangerous.
Today, they have waves of over 4 meters or 30-feet high. It is too dangerous for them to get in. One diver said he would be giving up his life if he tried to do that. They are frustrated.
But sometimes they have to sit and wait and hope for a break in the weather so that they can try and bring back more bodies and bring some closure to those distraught families. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Indonesia.
BERMAN: All right, the waiting has just been sheer agony for the loved ones of the victims of Flight 8501. Listen to this young man explain how his mother is coping after losing his aunt, grandmother and several other family members on that flight.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My mother is still a mess. She couldn't think straight. All she does is cry and she just looks lost. She is emotionless. Whenever we talk to her, she just stares and we keep praying every night. I think most of our family is in this stage that we are unwell.
Some of us get sick. Even one of my brothers is hospitalized yesterday. We just are in a stage where we hope everything will end soon and we will know this stage of our family will end soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: It's so hard for those families and the weather making things all that much more difficult. They just can't get in that search area as much as they like to now. What does the weather hold for the next few days? Let's go to Ivan Cabrera.
IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Torrential downpours continue and have continued over the last couple of days. That will be the forecast here as we continue with the very heavy monsoonal rains in this part of the world.
It's very typical, in fact, the wettest months across this region in December and January, which we're in now. So this is certainly nothing unusual here. Look at these downpours right on top of the area where we've had the, of course, area of interest here because of the debris being found here.
This is where the three ships are. That is where the divers are standing by to try to get in, very murky waters here. So it's very difficult as well. These thunderstorms have been producing incredible winds anywhere from 50 to 60 miles an hour as far as the wind speed. And that's been churning up the seas so it has been a mess.
Here is the forecast in the next 48 hours. There will be a few breaks I think drier weather on Saturday. That is not to say that it will be completely dry.
We will have a few showers and storms around, but it won't be as wet as we will have it on Sunday because by then, we will have the torrential downpours continuing across the region. This is the time of year we get the monsoon rains and certainly in the next couple of days will not be different -- John and Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Ivan Cabrera, thank you for that. We will be covering the latest on Airasia Flight 8501 all morning long. But first, an investigation now launched into a deadly and tragic New Year's stampede. What we are now learning next.
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ROMANS: Search teams may be closing in on the wreckage of Airasia Flight 8501. Officials have now pinpointed a most probable area where they expect to find the jetliner. It's a 2,000-square mile section of the Java Sea.
Meanwhile, ships equipped with sensitive underwater listening gear are now in the search zone. Twenty two of the 162 people on board have been recovered. The first of many funerals has just been held in Indonesia.
The president of China has ordered an investigation into the New Year's Eve stampede that killed 36 people in Shanghai. Families are still searching local hospitals for their loved ones. It is unclear what caused the stampede.
Witnesses say someone tossed coupons out a window that looked like dollar bills triggering the crash. Others say too many people crowding the city's waterfront.
The U.S. and its allies are bombarding ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq. At least 29 airstrikes have been conducted just since Wednesday. Meanwhile, there are significant developments in the bloody struggle for Kobani. ISIS extremists losing ground. Kurdish forces now controlling 70 percent of the strategic northern Syrian city on the Turkish border.
President Obama plans to pull back in 2015 when it comes to taking executive action. According to the "Wall Street Journal," the White House will lean more on the Republican-controlled Congress to advance key policies.
The president recently angered Republicans by using his executive authority to bypass Congress on immigration reform and normalizing ties with Cuba.
Millions of Americans could be in for an expensive surprise this tax season, a dramatic decrease in the size of their tax refund. Those who received subsidies under the Obamacare Act could owe the IRS because credits they received to offset their insurance premiums were too large.
As many as half of the nearly million Americans, who got subsidies may have to pay the government back for the overpayment, the original overpayment, people who did not have health insurance in 2014 will also face a fine. Time for an EARLY START on your money this morning, it likes a good start to 2015 for the stock market. U.S. stock futures are higher here, very good last year, very good last year for investors. Dow gained 7.5 percent. The S&P 500 climbed 11.4 percent. The Nasdaq up 13.4 percent. S&p on top of huge gains last year and the year before.
According to experts polled by CNN Money, the bull market still has some life left. It certainly is slowing down. They expect the S&P 500 to gain 6 percent by the end of the year. It's a solid increase. Not as much though in the past years. Obstacles to watch for this year, higher interest rates and sluggish growth around the globe.
It's 48 minutes past the hour. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Michaela joins us now. Hi, Michaela.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Happy New Year, Christine. We obviously are talking about today on "NEW DAY," a loss that hit so many of us here at CNN very hard. Mario Cuomo, former New York governor and longtime standard bearer for the Democratic Party, passed away New Year's day.
It happened hours after his son, Andrew, was inaugurated for a second term as New York's governor. But of course, the reason that it is hitting us so hard here is that Mario's other son is our dear friend and our colleague, Chris Cuomo.
We will have reaction to the governor's death. We will speak with some of the folks who worked with him and knew him so very well.
Obviously the other story that we are following are the big overnight developments in the ongoing search for Airasia Flight 8501. Crews are focusing on a 2,000 square foot mile section of the Java Sea. They focused on that area as being a probably place where they are going to find the wreckage.
We know more bodies have also been recovered. We will have the very latest on the efforts to bring those bodies home and lay to rest some of the victims now. "NEW DAY" of course, you will be joining us, Christine, as will John Berman at the top of the hour.
ROMANS: Thank you, Michaela. Boston preparing to try the young man accused in the deadly marathon bombing expected to start in just days. Will last-minute legal maneuvers delay the terror trial? That is next.
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ROMANS: Jury selection is expected to begin Monday in the trial of Boston marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev's lawyers had asked for more time to prepare for the trial because of the amount of evidence in the case. They asked for a venue change because they say an unbias jury will be impossible to seat in Boston. A federal judge denied both requests.
In Cleveland, a new investigation is in the works over the deadly police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and city officials want an outside agency that Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office to handle it. In fact, the city safety director says he wants an outside agency to handle all deadly use of force cases. A surveillance video from the last month's shooting shows Tamir being shot less than 2 seconds after a patrol car arrived on the scene.
This weekend, family and friends will gather to remember and say a final good-bye to NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu. His wake is scheduled for tomorrow. His funeral is on Sunday. Liu and his partner, Rafael Ramos, were assassinated last month while they sat in their patrol car. The gunman Ismaaiyl Brinsley, killed himself after walking into a subway station.
The field is set for the national championship. Ohio State erasing an early 15--point deficit to stun Alabama, 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl. The buckeyes rushing for 230 yards including an 85-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter to seal that win.
Ohio State will take on Oregon in the title game on January 12th. Ducks crushing defending champion, Florida State, 59-20 in the Rose Bowl. Oregon quarterback, Marcus Mariota outplaying Jameis Winston in the battle of the Heisman Trophy winners.
If you got a Son PlayStation over the holidays, you may not have had a chance to enjoy it because of hackers. Sony wants to make it up to you. I'll tell you how coming up next.
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ROMANS: Let's get an EARLY START on your money this first trading day of the new year. Stock futures pointing higher right now. Last year was a very, very good one for stocks. Dow gained 7.5 percent. Nasdaq and S&P 500 both saw a double digit gains.
What is in store for this year? According to experts polled by CNN Money, the market bull has life left, but slowing down. Those experts expect the S&P 500 expected to gain 6 percent by the end of the year.
ROMANS: Lots of Uber passengers starting the New Year with an Uber bill. Outrage riders are posting their New Year's bill on social media. Many spent over $100 for a lift. New Year's Eve is one of Uber's busiest days.
The company warned ahead of time of steep surge pricing. All riders have to confirm the higher price before ordering the car too. So those big bills while outrageous should not have been a surprise.
Sony once again doing damage control, hackers attacked the PlayStation network on Christmas day shutting it down for several days. Sony is offering new PlayStation Plus users a five-day extension on their membership plus 10 percent off store purchases on games and TV shows and movies. The hacker group Lizard Squad said it was part of a campaign for the service.
All right, New York in mourning, remembering former Governor Mario Cuomo. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
