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Six Dead, 146 Hospitalized After Amtrak Crash; Interview with Josh Earnest; House Bill Aims To Cut Millions From Amtrak Budget. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 13, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R-TX), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY: It's what I think Director James Comey talked about. You know, we're trying to find needles in the haystack and the needles are going dark and it's because of this encryption phenomenon that we can't track their movements. Now, the two cases in Garland fortunately we were able to track over the internet. It's textbook law enforcement at its best.

We relayed the information to the Garland Police. They were waiting for the individuals and then they stopped them. But when their encryption goes dark, we can't follow their tracks and movements here in the United States. This is sort of a new phenomenon where they're using the internet as a weapon.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So what do we do about that dark space that's unchartable?

MCCAUL: Well, that's actually a very touchy subject between, you know, law enforcement and companies, software companies, companies like Apple that have the iPhones. Do we want a back door in an iPhone where the government can go in to track movements if they have probable cause? And I know the director of the FBI and local law enforcement wants that capability.

CAMEROTA: And are you pushing for that?

MCCAUL: Well, with the new technology I think we're having a debate in the Congress about, you know, privacy versus security. And do we want law enforcement to have the ability to track that. I air on the side of safety and security, but there are many who would balance privacy over that. I think that's going to be a really healthy debate we're going to have.

CAMEROTA: Yes, we sure are having that debate right now. All right, Congressman Mike McCaul, thanks so much for coming on and sharing with us what you know about the dark web. Again, it's on CNN.com and a fascinating read. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

MCCAUL: Thanks for having me.

CAMEROTA: Let's go out to Chris at the crash site in Philadelphia -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Alisyn, information is coming in from the first responders who are still on the scene. They are looking at speed. They are looking at human error and they're looking at track defect or obstacle.

Those are all just possibilities right now. We're going to give you the latest on where they're headed and the latest on the fate of all 243 that were onboard this train. Still not all accounted for. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could see the blood on people's faces.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were flying around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just kind of praying like please make it stop, please make it stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:42]

CUOMO: I'm Chris Cuomo. We are live in Philadelphia following breaking developments after a deadly Amtrak crash. Now six people have lost their lives. As many as 150 others went to the hospital. Here's what happened.

There was a train on the way from Washington, D.C. to New York City. As it got into Philadelphia it went off the tracks in horrible fashion. There were 243 on board including passengers and crew. Not all are accounted for yet.

Right now over our shoulder there are hundreds of first responders and rescuers dealing with what you see on your screen right now. Seven cars in this train went off the track, different stages of destruction.

Some of them so mangled they have a piece of a bridge that went right through the middle of one of them. The wreckage is literally so twisted up that rescuers working through the night and now into the morning are still looking through it to make sure that nobody else is there.

Of course, because tracks have been twisted into ribbons the service between Philadelphia and New York and is part of the northeast corridor of rail travel suspended until further notice.

There's also a special hotline for people who need information. There are a lot of loved ones out there who haven't been in contact with people who are on this train because they lost their phones. That number is 1-800-523-9101. It's on your screen, 1-800-523-9101.

This is still a very fluid situation. The NTSB is sending a go-team. They should be here now, but it's very early on because first responders are still going through that wreckage looking for people. Again, 243 were onboard. We do know six people lost their lives, one in the hospital overnight.

But many are critically injured and not all are accounted for. So what happened? The big question of course is why even though first responders are dealing with the urgency of the moment, investigators are starting to look at whether this was about speed, whether this was about a track impediment, whether this was about human error.

They're all possibilities right now but no clear answers. However, there are some clues coming out. CNN's Sara Sidner has surveillance video that we got moments ago that captures moments before this crash. Sara, what do we see here and how is it going to be helpful?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me show you first where we are. We're on top of CSS International and the camera that caught the surveillance video that we just showed you first here on CNN is just over my right shoulder just there on the building looking down. And I'll show you now where.

Down on to the tracks. So that camera captured in the dark at about 9:23:40 captured the train flying by. I want to show you that video now so you can see at the very top of your screen you should be able to see. It looks kind of light a white light. It's going full on.

Then a few seconds later you will see the flashes, one after the other after the other after the other. And that is the moment of impact. That is when the derailment happened when those seven cars ended upcoming off the tracks. Some of them went topsy-turvy.

Some of them fell over on their side. A couple are leaning very far to the right. And one of them looks like it has just been broken open. It just mangled metal. Now we're back on camera. And this is the scene live.

So this is the train was coming left to right and you can see the very end of the train. It was going northbound. You can see the end of the train there. What we've been seeing all morning, Chris, is there have been investigators out here looking very closely over and over and over again walking along the tracks and looking closely at the tracks doing what looked like measurements.

This was from, you know, very early in the morning to all the way through to when light came. There are fewer people than we've seen all day. This is the fewest people we've seen out here. They may be on the other side of this wreckage.

But certainly the scene still very much active. And we are standing on the roof here so that we can give you a view of all that is going on from this angle -- Chris.

CUOMO: And that's going to be very helpful, Sara, because we're hearing from investigators that all 243 not accounted for, the reason obvious when we're looking at what's on the screen in terms of the wreckage.

[07:40:01] Literally part of a bridge went through one of those cars. It disintegrated because of the force involved. And they are saying the types of positions and the amount of wreckage is telling a story for them about why this happened.

Trains can go in excess of 100 miles an hour. They're supposed to be going much more slowly in residential and commercial areas like this. This is also the site of a horrible crash from 1940, the same curve in the 1940s, 79 people lost their lives. So that's playing into the investigation as well.

But the real headline here is how many survived. Right now the count is six people lost their lives, but for anybody to have walked away here is approaching what we will refer to as a miracle in a situation like this.

Earlier we spoke with one of those survivors, Beth David, so happy to be walking away, but was still very clearly shaken up after being treated at a local hospital. Here was her experience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH DAVIDZ, AMTRAK PASSENGER: I was stuck at the bottom of -- I mean, I was on the third car. So we had to actually climb out the top of the window to get out. There were people next to me, a woman was stuck underneath some seats helping another woman out who was there.

I mean, some people were helping. Some people were looking for the exits. Then we started like looking for an exit and we climbed out because we smelled smoke, we had to jump off the top, which was like eight feet, I had one shoe. When you see the other cars you feel thankful, I mean, people weren't coming out of those cars.

CUOMO: It's amazing though that so many of you made it out of what we understand right now. We know people are still unaccounted for. But to just hear that so far it is a handful of people who lost their lives, you're saying it really could have been so much worse from what you felt and what you saw.

DAVIZ: I mean, just kind of looking, I mean, at the first two cars but you know that just kind of moment decision which car should I sit in it seems so trivial. I was on the phone call so that's the reason why I wasn't in the second car, I went to the third.

I mean, but that trivial decision, I mean, like could have, you know, at least prevented like other injuries. Still shaken up. It was actually like that first moment of seeing those crumpled cars in front of you. I mean, you just feel thankful.

And actually I think in that moment when I was kind of tumbling, I really thought this might be the end. I mean, there's no way to know in the darkness. So, I mean, just being able to taste dirt is lovely because you knew you were alive and OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Literally thrown out of their seats, Mich and Alisyn, guiding themselves by the lights of their iPhones and trying to find a way in the dark to safety. It is amazing how many people made it through and as we know the rescuers right now still going through the wreckage. All 243 not yet accounted for.

CAMEROTA: Chris, when we had the two victims here onset, one of whom was your friend, they talked about the impact being so strong two women were thrust up from their seats into the luggage racks overhead. So you can just imagine what in the chaos they were finding people all over the place. Do we know how many people at this hour are still unaccounted for?

CUOMO: We do not know. You know, I'll tell you it's not a promising sign when you see an M.E.'s van going by, the medical examiner. We don't know what the state of the scene is in terms of their ability to get through everything.

A lot of the pieces we're told by investigators very heavy. So they're going to have to pick it up to some sensitivity of what they may find underneath. Whether it's literally finding somebody who didn't make it or maybe someone could be alive. It's a very fluid situation.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Super fluid. And I'm thinking about the people you spoke to there and also the ones we had here how they are sort of trembling thinking they could have made a decision that could have changed the outcome of this for them.

Chris, we'll be back with you in a moment and we'll have more for you on the deadly Amtrak derailment coming up here on CNN. The big question on the minds of so many right now, what can be done to make sure that rail commuters are safe? We're going to ask that question to the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:47:34] CAMEROTA: We are following breaking news out of Philadelphia, a train derailment killing six people at least and injuring 146 others. We're joined now by white House Press Secretary Josh Earnest. Josh, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY this morning.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So, Josh, sadly this is not the first train derailment that we have reported on this year. In fact, according to the Federal Railroad Administration there have been nine Amtrak derailments just this year alone. They say that Amtrak in particular derailments have been increasing over the past few years. What can the government do about this?

EARNEST: Well, first, Alisyn, we've had Department of Transportation employees, investigators who've been on the seen since overnight trying to determine exactly what happened just north of Philadelphia last night.

And obviously our thoughts and prayers are with the families of everybody who is affected by this terrible crash overnight. We're trying to figure out what happened and hard at work doing just that.

The president has been a long-time advocate for investing in our infrastructure and making sure we have the kind of 21st Century infrastructure we know will be critical to the success of our country.

And we know the Department of Transportation takes very seriously the responsibility that they have to ensure the safety of the traveling public.

If there's an opportunity for us to make further investments in our infrastructure that would safeguard the public, we need to make the safety and positive economic benefit in terms of creating jobs and stimulating economic growth across the country.

CAMEROTA: Look, it's interesting you talk about the investment because right now the House Appropriations Committee is working on this markup for fiscal 2016, a bill that would actually cut millions of dollars to Amtrak. Is that the right answer cutting their funds right now?

EARNEST: Well, just yesterday the president's budget director sent a letter to House appropriators raising concerns about this because it did so substantially underfund common sense investments and transportation infrastructure we know are both good for the economy in terms of ensuring we can get our good support in an efficient way.

That we can move our goods around the country in an efficient way, but also we can make sure that the traveling public is safe. We also know that these kinds of investments are really good for the economy. That they create jobs in the short term and lay the foundation for long term economic growth.

So this is a common sense kind of thing. It shouldn't be a partisan thing, and after all there is no such thing as a Democratic bridge or Republican bridge.

[07:50:04] But rather these are the kinds of bridges and railways and runways that benefit all Americans.

CAMEROTA: Sure, but you know, Josh, by the same token, Amtrak has $1.4 billion annually, so are they not investing enough into safety?

EARNEST: Well, again, we will find out what happened to this specific crash. There is clearly more that can be done when we are talking about a railway infrastructure that is decades old. If there are better investments we can make in terms of the upgrading the structure to make it more safe, I am confident that will be on the minds of not just the investigators, but also the leadership in the Transportation Department.

CAMEROTA: OK, Josh, let's talk about the other big story going on today, and of course, that's the trade deal, the Transpacific Partnership, President Obama has invested a lot of time into this, and yet Democrats don't seem to like it. Democrats are the impediment for this moving forward. They say that this will hurt American jobs. What's the White House response?

EARNEST: Well, the Alisyn, what the president, the reason the president is pursuing this specific trade agreement is because it will be good for American jobs, for middle class American families, and that if the United States doesn't engage in the Asia-Pacific region, we will see China come in and write the rules of the road in a way that further disadvantage American businesses and further disadvantages American workers.

And the president's idea is let's engage with Asia-Pacific countries. Let's get them to raise their labor standards. Let's get them to raise their environmental standards and start to level the playing field with business that's done in the United States.

And if we level that playing field, all of the benefits associated with the U.S. economy will give American workers and American businesses a competetive advantage an allow them to compete in the international economy.

If we can open up access to global markets for American goods and American services, the president is confident that American business is going to win that competition and that's going to be good for the economy. It's going to create jobs.

CAMEROTA: As you know, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts doesn't like this deal and she and the president have been in a bit of a verbal sparring match over this and fellow Democrats are saying the president actually went too far in criticizing Senator Warren.

He said, quote, "She is a politician like anyone else." Let me read to you what Senator Sherrod Brown said to "Politico" yesterday. He said, "I think by just calling her another politician, I am not going to get into more details, I think referring as her first name, might not have done that for a male senator, I have said enough."

In other words, he is suggesting that it was a sexist comment that the president said.

EARNEST: Yes, Alisyn, I saw that and I think that's a pretty difficult thing to explain when you consider that the president actually is on a first-name basis with Senator Warren. Senator Warren used to work for the president and the administration.

The president also frequently refers to senators by their first names and I can point you to a number of references where the president has referred to Sherrod Brown as Sherrod in a number of public settings so --

CAMEROTA: But did the president go too far in this verbal sparring match with Senator Warren? Not in a sexist way, just in terms of get into the public battle?

EARNEST: Look, I think what we prize in our democracy is a robust debate of issues that are important to the country, and this is an important issue to the country in the mind of the president. We have a basic choice to face about whether the United States is going to try to retract from the global economy.

And try to dig a mote around the United States and try to protect us from the influence of the international economy, and that's a path that many Democrats support, and they think engaging in the economic competition around the world will put the United States to a disadvantage and cost more companies to shift their jobs overseas.

The fact is if you write the most progressive trade agreement like the president is trying to reach that races environmental standards and labor standards, and enforces both of them that what we'll actually see is that American companies are going to create American jobs.

Because they want to make sure that they have the capacity to compete around the world, and that's what Nike announced when the president traveled out to the west coast at the end of last week basically suggesting if we enact this Asia-Pacific trade agreement, Nike won't create jobs overseas but here in America.

CAMEROTA: Josh Earnest, we always appreciate a robust debate here on NEW DAY. Thank you so much for being on.

EARNEST: Thanks for the opportunity, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn, we are going to continue to follow the breaking news, the latest for you in the deadly Amtrak train derailment. We are live from the scene in Philadelphia. Investigators are combing through the wreckage to find out what went so horribly wrong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:29]

CUOMO: I'm Chris Cuomo in Philadelphia. You are watching NEW DAY and we have breaking news as you just heard. There has been a horrible train crash, Amtrak train on its way from Washington, D.C. to New York when it got into Philadelphia, which is where we are, it went off the tracks.

Investigators are trying to figure out why. We know there were 243 passengers and crew on board. Six people have been confirmed to lost their lives, and 146 taken to the hospital, and the big headline remain is that not all 243 have been accounted for.

Investigators are looking into why this happened, but as you see and looking at these pictures, some of the cars in this seven-line train were so mangled that the rescuers and first responders on your screen are still going through wreckage.

We are still seeing vans from the medical examiners office going through as they are trying to figure out who may still be among the wreckage you are looking at right now.

Again, six people have been confirmed to have lost their lives, and it's still a very fluid situation. We are getting clues as to why this happened. Speed is being referred to and this stretch of track is being referred to and the human error and infrastructure.

But there was surveillance video that was captured that you are looking at right now. This was from a camera live rolling, and you will see flashes of sparks as cars go by, and we believe it's the disconnection of the track showing just how instantaneous this was.

People inside telling us stories about how one moment everything was normal the next moment it went dark, some felt leaning, others were tossed up into the luggage compartment.