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Philadelphia Train Crash; Passenger Speaks About Crash; Amtrak Service Vital to Economy; Texas Lawmakers Considering Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Licenses. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 13, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:08] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Alright, we are live in Philadelphia, the site of a horrible train derailment. An Amtrak train on its way to Washington, D.C., to New York, it went off the tracks here in Philadelphia. All 243 onboard not yet accounted for. A press conference is coming up or at least it's expected to be on in about an hour and a half from now. We do know that six people lost their lives so far in this. Over 140 were sent to the hospital.

But again, the main headline is that they have not accounted for everything and everybody. You can see over my shoulder. The first responders are still going in and out. They've brought in heavy equipment to right a couple of these train cars because they're still looking for people there.

Now, earlier this morning in terms of clues as to why this happened, the NTSB has a go team that's on the grounded here now. Investigators are looking at it. They have possibilities. And one big clue is something CNN got first this morning, which is surveillance video of the moments when these cars started to go off the rails.

Let's bring in Sara Sidner with more on that.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we were on top of the CSS International. It is a business that is literally right next to the tracks. It's just a few feet away. They have a little video camera that captured the train this morning - or the - last night, actually, when this all happened. I want to let you look at that video now. This is from surveillance video from this business. You'll see at the very top of your screen, you'll see some movement. That is the train going by. It looks like it's going at a certain speed. It's not going slowly by any means. And then you will start seeing flashes of light. A few seconds after that train leaves the frame, you see a few flashes of light, one after the other and it seems they get bigger and bigger and bigger. And apparently residents saw that more than they heard the crash, they saw that light first and were surprised by it.

Now I want to let you see what it looks like in the daytime. So we're standing here where the surveillance camera was. Now you're seeing the aftermath of all of those flashes. You're seeing the remains of those seven cars from the train that toppled over and derailed. The very last one you can see leaning way to the right. And it is just after a curve, there is a very strong curve there, and it's just at the end of that curve that we're seeing all of these trains sort of jumbled up in a mess. We're also seeing a lot of investigators now on the ground looking at the tracks, looking in the trains. There are helicopters above as well trying to get some view as to what's going on.

But, Chris, what a mess, and so sad that so many people have lost their lives here.

Chris.

CUOMO: Yes. And, you know what we're hearing from the first responders who are coming in and out and the investigators is that they can't believe that it wasn't worse, that people walked out. And one of them is with me right now. Her name is Beth Davidz.

We talked to you earlier this morning. So many people are checking in to make sure that you're OK and you got - you're still here, which concerned me when I heard it from the producers, but we got you a ride home. You're going to get home, right?

BETH DAVIDZ, AMTRAK PASSENGER: Yes. Yes. I'm just kind of killing time waiting for a ride.

CUOMO: How's your head physically and emotionally?

DAVIDZ: I mean -- I mean I think right now I'm just sore. Right now it just feels like, you know, I just got beat up a little by the train. Other than that, I mean like right now I mean I haven't really thought about it more. I mean it's been kind of - I mean part of the reason I'm still here, too, is that kind of filling it with action is a lot easier to deal with -

CUOMO: A little bit of a distraction?

DAVIDZ: Yes, because, I mean - I mean everywhere from just the little things, you know, and you take it - I mean I came out of the car with my phone and a shoe. So like, you know, figuring out how I'm going to get back to New York.

CUOMO: Well, that part we have figured out.

DAVIDZ: Right.

CUOMO: So you're going to get home.

DAVIDZ: (INAUDIBLE) -

CUOMO: And you do know you do have to check in with - with your doctor when you get home because, you know, you've got a good lump on the side of your head, you know?

DAVIDZ: Yes. Right. Right. Yes, so, I mean, I have a prescription and I mean I have the papers. So, yes, I mean, obviously, I'm going to get it checked out. I mean right now it's just kind of about getting home and like just having it - being able to just have a good, long conversation with my family.

[08:35:03] CUOMO: And I know that you've been talking to other people who made it off the train who you didn't know before but now you do have one of those unique bonds that is often the silver lining coming through something so bad.

DAVIDZ: Right. I mean - because I mean this is definitely like - I mean just even like after that moment of shock, I mean you're just kind of in the train together. I mean you know that you shared the experience together, I mean. So, I mean, like you don't really know what you're feeling. It's just like you know that you have a connection. So I think there's moments when we were - once we had climbed out of the car, walking down, I mean somebody borrowed my phone and we just, you know, we just hugged because, you know, we just had this moment and we thank God we're - we're here.

And there's also moments that like in the - in the police car - wagon there, I mean everyone just kind of exchanging their stories. I mean some of the things - like this really messed up my travel plans. So like, you know, the whole - just that moment, are you - like are you OK? It's like people just taking time out to ask if others are OK.

CUOMO: And time will help and time will hurt in terms of kind of bringing home to you what you just lived through.

DAVIDZ: Right.

CUOMO: But the bottom line is, you did live through it, and that's kind of a miracle looking at that train.

DAVIDZ: Yes. Yes. Yes, I mean, that was - like that was one of the first things like coming out, I mean just having the whole shock of the whole thing and then coming out and seeing the first two cars, I mean, because once - it was just like this split decision that I decided to go in the third car instead of the second because I was on the phone. But I mean, yes, I don't know quite what it is. I mean right now it's easy to think about logistics. I mean -

CUOMO: Keep it simple.

DAVIDZ: Keep it simple.

CUOMO: You know you needed to get something to eat. You got something to eat. You need to get home. We're going to get you home.

DAVIDZ: Right.

CUOMO: And then you've got to get to the doctor and make sure that you don't have a concussion, you don't start to feel dizzy and those kinds of things.

DAVIDZ: Right. Right.

CUOMO: Because you've got to stay on top of it. You know, you made it through something really violent. We're showing live pictures of the scene right now. They're bringing in heavy equipment to go through the train. They want to make sure that everybody's accounted for.

DAVIDZ: Yes.

CUOMO: Because they don't know yet. And we know that what we've learned so far is that not everybody made it out, Beth.

DAVIDZ: Yes.

CUOMO: So you've got to see yourself as fortunate.

DAVIDZ: Yes. I mean you could kind of see - I mean as soon as we were on the top, you could just see those first two cars and you kind of knew that there was going to be (INAUDIBLE) just looking at it. So, I mean, but, I mean, I can't quite look at the pictures of what the train crash was and understand that I was there. it still feels like it should be somebody else's life. I mean that's what everybody says, so -

CUOMO: I know that you're raw. I see it - I see it in your eyes. I mean you're going to be OK and we're watching you.

DAVIDZ: Yes.

CUOMO: I was surprised to hear that you were still here, but we'll get you home and -

DAVIDZ: Yes. Yes.

CUOMO: Look, this is - this is as good as it gets in a situation like this, you know?

DAVIDZ: Yes, so -

CUOMO: To have a couple of bumps on the outside is certainly worth it.

DAVIDZ: Right.

CUOMO: Thank you for coming back to me, my friend.

DAVIDZ: OK. No problem.

CUOMO: Stay here with me. I want to make sure I know where you are (INAUDIBLE).

We're going to stay on top of the investigation. But you know what's going on here, this is not a situation where everybody got to walk away the way Beth did. Not everybody is accounted for yet. And we're going to ask the immediate questions and also the bigger questions about why this happened. And it is something that could have been avoided? Is that true? We'll take you through all of that.

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[08:41:40] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things you need to know for your new day. Obviously at number one, at least six people killed in that Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia, 150 others have been hospitalized. Federal investigators are arriving this morning on scene to try and work out exactly what went wrong.

The search for a U.S. military helicopter in Nepal is resuming this morning. Six U.S. Marines and two Nepalese service members were on board and they were delivering humanitarian aid following that powerful earthquake in the region Tuesday.

North Korea publicly executed the country's defense minister. This is according to spies in the south. He was allegedly executed after falling asleep during a meeting with leader Kim Jong-un and apparently not following Kim's orders on several occasions.

President Obama hosting six Arab leaders in Washington today. The king of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain backing out at the last minute. On the agenda, a new missile defense system for America's Middle East allies.

New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady has until 5:00 p.m. Thursday to submit an appeal of his four game deflate-gate suspension. An appeal hearing would then be held within 10 days.

For more on the five things to know, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Now, obviously, we know - we - time for "CNN Money Now." Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here.

And, obviously, Christine, we're taking a look at our breaking news. Amtrak is so very vital to the Northeast.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is. You know, this is the busiest train route in America, Michaela. It connects America's political hub to its financial hub. That northeast corridor vital to the economics of the region. Every day about 750,000 trips made on the northeast corridor. About 2,100 passenger trains.

It's vital but it's not profitable. Amtrak notoriously loses money every year. Last year it lost $227 million. That was the smallest loss, though, in decades. Amtrak has been vocal about needing more help from the government, more funding. It say infrastructure specifically on the northeast corridor desperately needs work. And, of course, we don't know what caused that train to derail last night, but certainly investigators will be looking at conditions on that track. And it all feeds into the big debate over how America is going to fund its big projects, it's big, important projects, like infrastructure and mass transit.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. I mean Amtrak already gets so much money, Congress is considering cutting some of it, but not for safety.

PEREIRA: Yes, so much (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: Could they do more with what they have or is this one - it's a very big country. They lose about $7 on average per passenger. How do you turn that around?

PEREIRA: Well, and so many people relying on rail because the airline prices -

ROMANS: Right.

PEREIRA: And we've all seen the tickets go up. And if you're going on those short hops, Amtrak makes a whole lot of sense.

ROMANS: Obviously public transportation and sound, safe public transportation is a national strategy. The debate for paying for it, of course, caught in Congress.

PEREIRA: Wow.

CAMEROTA: Right. Right. So Congress will be debating that. Thanks so much, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: All right, well, several Republican lawmakers in Texas are gearing up for a fight today ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage.

[08:44:30] We're talking with Texas' attorney general about what he is trying to do this week.

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CAMEROTA: We'll get back to our breaking news in a moment but first another important story, because lawmakers in Texas are considering a measure today that would ban state employees from issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

Let's bring in the Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton. Mr. Paxton, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

KEN PAXON, TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Hey Alisyn, thanks for having me on.

CAMEROTA: OK, so you are trying to block same-sex marriage in Texas. This is a bill, a house bill. Let me read a portion of the language for our viewers. "An employee or official of this state may not issue, enforce, or recognize a marriage license or declaration of informal marriage for a union other than a union between one man and one woman."

And Mr. Paxton, we know that the legislature is taking it up this week, but the question is about timing. Why would Texas do this today as opposed to waiting a few weeks for the Supreme Court to decide about the law of the land?

PAXTON: Well, first, let me give you a little background. We passed the constitutional amendment in 2005. It was overwhelmingly approved by voters. I believe the number was 76 percent defining marriage between a man and woman. And so that's our background here. The legislature was also obviously involved in passing that with over two- thirds in both houses. The reason they're having to work on legislation now, our session only lasts 140 days every two years, and so whatever needs to be done has to finish the next two and half to three weeks, and so if that legislation, whatever it is, is not passed in the next two and a half to three weeks, it doesn't matter what happens with the Supreme Court. There's no real opportunity to pass legislation on any issue.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Paxton, it's interesting that you talk about how Texans define marriage. Because there's also polls that suggest, and I think we have, this is a Texas same-sex marriage poll, and this is an interesting one.

[08:50:06] Now, this is a year old, I'll grant you, but it's the only Texas-wide poll that we could find. And what we found is that your state is divided right down the middle in terms of support for same- sex marriage -- 48 percent support it, and 47 percent oppose it. Now of course that was a year ago, and what -- if Texas follows national trend lines, we have seen support tick up for same-sex marriage.

So again, your state is an interesting case study there, that it's so divided. So why pass a law that would apply to everyone?

PAXTON: I think it goes back again to, whatever the polling is, the real poll is always what happens on election day, and the voters had an opportunity several years ago to make their decision on what they wanted on this issue. And it wasn't a close decision. It was, as I said, it was over 3/4 of the voters decided that they wanted to put this in the constitution. So my job as Attorney General, and the job of the legislature, is to really follow the will of the people, enforce the laws that we have. This is both in statute and in our constitution, and so that's my job and that's the job of the legislature.

CAMEROTA: So if the legislature today or this week does pass that house bill, and the governor then goes along with it, then what happens weeks from now if the Supreme Court goes in the way of being in favor of same-sex marriage?

PAXTON: I think it's really difficult -- first are all, we don't know that that's going to happen. Second of all, we don't know exactly how that opinion is going to be written, so that opinion could be written numerous ways, hundreds of different ways, and so it's really difficult to speculate about what happens in relation to a particular law.

In addition, we don't know what exactly the legislature is going to pass. We don't know if it's going to pass and we don't know whether there are going to be amendments or changes to it. So to try to match up two things that one hasn't passed and obviously the Supreme Court hasn't ruled, it's difficult to decide any determination about how that's going to work together.

CAMEROTA: But I mean, Texas would have to conform to the federal law, yes?

PAXTON: Well, I mean, if the Supreme Court is making a ruling on marriage, we deal with that all the time.

CAMEROTA: Meaning what? Meaning that you would -- that Texas would have to conform to the Supreme Court?

PAXTON: Again, we would have to see how it worked. We would have to see exactly how that opinion is written versus how this law is passed. Like I said, I don't know how the legislature or if the legislature is going to pass this law. I don't know in what form and I don't know what the opinion of the Supreme Court is going to be. And I don't know how those two will fit together or whether they're going to be in somehow direct opposition. There's literally no way to know.

CAMEROTA: Let me read to you what the lawyer for Lambda, which of course pushes for marriage equality, as they say, has said about this bill in Texas. They say, "The continued push for such blatantly discriminatory legislation illustrates that the Texas legislature is determined to demean LGBT people while confusing state employees who must follow the law set by the highest court in the country. The Texas legislature does not and should not get to pick and choose which parts of the U.S. Constitution it will follow."

There's a lot of messages in there. But let's talk about the one that says it's blatantly discriminatory. Isn't it discriminatory? Aren't you saying that the gays and lesbians in your state are not as valued as heterosexuals because they can't form into a union?

PAXTON: No, I think what -- I think what the legislature's trying to do -- obviously, I am not in the legislature and there's a lot of different opinions in the legislature, but what they have tried to do in the past, that's all I can go on, is they've tried to define marriage the way it's been defined since the beginning of this country and since the beginning of the formation of Texas. And so all the legislature has done in the past is try to reflect the values that have been in this state and this country for, you know, over two centuries.

CAMEROTA: And what about homosexuals that fall in love? What should they do?

PAXTON: Well, I mean, they have -- you know, they can do whatever they want, but the reality is marriage itself, right now in Texas, was defined by the people of Texas, as I said overwhelmingly, as between a man and woman. And that's the law of Texas. It's in our constitution. It's in our statues. And right now that's the law of Texas.

CAMEROTA: I mean, they can't really do whatever they want, as you've just said. Even in the language of this, it says that the state may not issue, enforce, or recognize a marriage license or a declaration of an informal marriage, for a union, other than a union between a man and one woman.

I mean, do you understand why gays in Texas would feel that that is discriminating against them?

PAXTON: Well, they can feel how they want. The reality is the voters of Texas have passed the law as it is. And I don't know how the statute's going to turn out. It can turn out exactly as you've read it, it could turn out very different. It may not pass. It's still not certain to me, with only two days left on the house calendar, which bills are going to pass and which are not going to pass.

[08:55:01] So it's easy to speculate, but it's very difficult to know exactly how this is going to turn out in Texas and with the United States Supreme Court later this month or next month.

CAMEROTA: Now, that's interesting. So it has until Thursday at midnight in Texas to pass or then it goes away, basically, for the rest of the year? So how do you think it's leaning?

PAXTON: Well, and it's not just the rest of the year. We only meet every other year. So if it doesn't pass now, our legislature, unless the governor calls us back for a special session, will not have another opportunity. This bill is in the house. There's not, as far as I know, not a similar version in the senate. So the house calendar has to be finished by Thursday at midnight, and if it isn't finished by then, then this bill doesn't pass.

CAMEROTA: All right, Attorney General Ken Paxton, thanks so much for all the information. Obviously we will be keeping an eye on what happens in the next 48 hours there in Texas. We appreciate you being on.

PAXTON: Thanks, Alisyn. Appreciate it.

PEREIRA: Back to our top story. Six people are dead in the train derailment in Philadelphia. We'll have much more on our breaking coverage with "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello, which begins right after the break.

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