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Amazon CEO: Drones Will Be as Common as Mail Trucks; Trigana Airline's Safety Record Under Scrutiny; 'Straight Outta Compton' Tops Box Office; Disney Announces 'Star Wars' Theme Parks. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 17, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: This - we - we have something we haven't addressed as a malaise in this country. By - we watched as several presidents, a couple of them I can think of, apologize to sometimes entire continents. And, you know, we went into Iraq and liberated Iraq. Our flag went up the flag pole and lasted less than an hour and it came back down again. We've had a secretary of state who wouldn't wear an American flag on her lapel because she didn't want to insult people in the world. I can't imagine an administration that's run by someone like Donald Trump that would be all over the world with flags on their lapels, proud of who we are again.

So I'd say this, there's something he's tapped into here and we - nobody knows how long this will last. We've never seen anything like this before. But he has happen tapped into the - the discontent in America, the malaise within America, the dis - the people who are fed up. They're fed up with political correctness. They're fed up with the disrespect for the rule of law. They're fed up with the delusion of Americanism. And they want cultural continuity. They want English as the official language. They want free enterprise to be something we can be proud of again. And they want to be done with an administration that's been punishing big business. It's important for all business to be profitable. That's the engine that drives the freedom that we have.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Understood.

KING: And there's a robust America there that needs to be tapped into. And that's why I think he's got the support he has and why that helicopter landed a little ways away from me the other day.

CUOMO: Congressman King, thank you for coming on, speaking your piece and enjoy the fair. Appreciate it, sir.

KING: Thank you, Chris. I appreciate it a lot.

CUOMO: Absolutely.

Mic.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a crash - a passenger jet crashed this weekend in Indonesia. Fifty-four people on board. Ahead on NEW DAY, in the wake of several crashes in that part of the world, we're going to take a closer look at that airline's safety record.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:39] PEREIRA: All right, here we go with the five things to know for your new day.

At number one, Donald Trump unveiling plans and details of his immigration reform plan which includes eliminating birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.

Bad weather is now preventing crews searching for a missing plane in Indonesia. Search crews did spot debris from the air before this bad weather moved in. Fifty-four people were on board.

Eight states in the west are now dealing with deadly and growing wildfires. Hot weather slowing efforts to slow them down. More than a million acres have burned so far.

The White House is expected to announce a new initiative to combat use of heroin today. The plan reportedly aims to shift the focus from punishment to treatment of addicts.

Australian Jason Day winning his first career major championship! He's the first golfer to finish 20 under par in a major tournament. Congratulations to him!

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

Chris.

CUOMO: Thank you very much, Mic.

It is now time for "CNN Money Now." Chief business correspondent Christine Romans in our Money Center.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

CUOMO: Huge news about the job market, or should I say #huge (ph).

ROMANS: Yes. A great new study, you guys, this morning. Great news for millennial college graduates. Good jobs are back! Almost half of the jobs added since 2010 were high-wage jobs. This is a brand new study from Georgetown University. It found those jobs pay more than $53,000 a year. Those jobs, about half of the jobs since the great recession was over, concentrated in managerial roles, science and technology and health care. Almost all of those jobs went to college grads.

Amazon drones will someday be as common as mail trucks. That's according to Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos. He told "The Telegraph" of London that sky highways of drones are still years away. Not because of technology, but because regulators are in the way. They just haven't caught on yet. But they will be as ubiquitous as a mail truck eventually, Chris.

CUOMO: I believe you as soon as you explain to me what ubiquitous means. All right, so the search for that suspended - it's been suspended for that plane that went down in Indonesia. Why? Well, they did see some debris, but they had real weather problems and investigators are trying to determine why the jet went down. It's going to take some time, but we'll tell you the latest when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:41:55] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Searchers spotted debris from a missing Indonesia airliner with 54 people on board. How will officials determine what caused this disaster, and why was this airline even flying with its poor safety record?

Let's bring in David Soucie. He's our CNN aviation analyst and former FAA accident investigator and inspector.

Good morning. David, this airline has a terrible safety record. It has lost - or been involved in 19 serious safety incidents, whatever that means. They say that they've lost eight whole planes in those 19. Meaning, I guess, irreparable damage. Europe has banned this airline, Trigana, from flying in or out of Europe. Why was this airline still flying?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, that - that is the problem, really, honestly, Alisyn. This airline should not have been flying. There should be people who are aware of the fact that this safety record is so bad. ICAO has been under close surveillance of this airline and of the entire region. In fact, the Indonesia air safety system is under great pressure because of its expanded growth. It's growing so quickly. The economy there is getting such that there's a lot of more - a lot more middle class people that are flying now. So they - they're having a hard time keeping up with the demand and thereby the regulatory oversight is also having a difficult time with this particular airline.

CAMEROTA: But, honestly, David, help us understand this, who's responsible for letting this airline still fly?

SOUCIE: The Indonesia government is 100 percent responsible for letting this airline fly. The ICAO sets rules and regulations, along with IATA, which is another alphabet soup organization, but basically we end up with all these organization. Who actually has responsibility, it comes down to that country. They have a lot of guidance, they have a lot of help as far as how they should be doing it. But again, that takes a cultural shift, which is still underway right now.

CAMEROTA: And, David, if you're a tourist, island hopping in that region, how do you ever know which airline you can get on that's safe?

SOUCIE: Well, there are ways to know. The ICAO websites and we'll get those as we go on today for people to understand where they should take those risks or where they shouldn't and who they should fly with. There are ratings for each airline and there are ratings that are available to the public for that. CAMEROTA: This is the third Indonesian crash in just eight months.

There was one, as you - this one that we're talking about, that happened August 16th. There was also one in December, 162 passengers were killed. And then in June, 135 passengers. Is this a more dangerous region than other places?

SOUCIE: There's no doubt in my mind. And I don't say that about anywhere, to be honest with you. I'm trying to work out in my mind why this airplane is - airline is flying right now. Indonesia has a lot of work to do. There are some safe airlines in this region, there really are, but there's some that have gone under the radar. They're in the middle of growth. They - they're trying to prioritize - the government's trying to prioritize how they do auditing on each airline. They only have so many people to do the audits, but they're not stepping up and saying, look, you just can't fly until we do our audits, and that's what needs to be done.

CAMEROTA: There were some locals, villagers, who reported seeing the crash and there has been some debris spotted but are searchers ever going to really find this plane?

[08:45:10] SOUCIE: Oh, yes, they are. The emergency locator transmitter - I've not - I haven't heard any reports of the fact that it was received -- but high likelihood that it was because they narrowed in on the location so quickly. So likely there is a response from the emergency locator transmitter, which responds to a rapid deceleration. So as soon as it hits the ground it's going to send out a signal that is received by 16 satellites that triangulate the position. So I really believe that this aircraft will be found. It may be found during their daylight hours, which is our evening time.

CAMEROTA: I just mean that it's so tough to get to. I mean, I think that they know where it went down, but, I just mean that it's so tough to get to. Will they be able to retrieve it to really find out what went wrong?

SOUCIE: Yes, they definitely will. The searchers that are going in there right now are equipped not only to respond to survivors and do triage there on site, but also to clear an area for a landing zone. That landing zone -- there will be an intense investigation. Most every part of this airplane will be found and relocated back to a laboratory where they'll determine exactly what the cause was.

CAMEROTA: OK. David Soucie, thanks so much for all the information. Always great to have your expertise.

SOUCIE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's get over to Michaela

PEREIRA: All right. Now for something a little different. A big box office debut for "Straight Outta Compton." The film focusing on a ground-breaking and sometimes controversial rap group amid '90s race relations. Well, that film appears to be striking quite a chord in the nation right now. We're going to discuss it ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(CLIP FROM "STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON")

[08:50:51] PEREIRA: That was a clip from the box office topper "Straight Outta Compton." The film profiles the groundbreaking, sometimes controversial, rap group called NWA who rallied against the police. The film, of course, comes at a time of tension between black communities and police while the tensions are hitting their peak.

Joining us now, CNN contributor and Entertainment Tonight host -- I got to yell it - Nischelle Turner, because she's way out west and CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

PEREIRA: Good morning to both of you.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Morning.

PEREIRA: Nischelle, I'm just - I'm looking at the box office results. Groundbreaking, sometimes controversial. This is a film that a lot of people have been waiting for. But it's so interesting to see it come at a time when we see what is going on with black lives matter, et cetera. All of that that is happening in the nation.

TURNER: Yes, I think you're right, Michaela. You know, fans of NWA who have known that the biopic was in the works have been waiting, kind of with bated breath, for two years for this movie. But I think what drove the box office a lot this weekend is the relevancy of the movie, which was, you know, based in the '80s in L.A. what was going on there. People still feel like it's relevant today so I think that drove some of the ticket sales this weekend.

And I do think it's very interesting. You know, I spoke with Ice Cube and the cast of this film and asked them about the relevancy. And they said, you know, it's sad that in 2015 it's still mirroring what they believe was going on in the 1980s. So I think that it's, you know, kind of touching a nerve with people and moviegoers because they feel like this is what we're still living.

PEREIRA: So, Brian, I'm looking at some of the statistics. According to "The L.A. Times," 51 percent of the audience was under 30 - not a big surprise that 46 percent was black. What I found fascinating, 52 percent of the audience was female. I like that.

STELTER: Once again, moviegoers are proving to the studios that we're interested in more than just superhero movies.

PEREIRA: Isn't that an interesting time? Because we're supposed to be in summer blockbuster --

STELTER: That's right. Yeah. Variety called this the anti-superhero blockbuster.

PEREIRA: Nice. Could we be redefining that?

STELTER: Well, you know, we have this conversation sometimes as well when there are female-driven movies that do really well.

PEREIRA: This is no chick flick.

STELTER: That's right. Same issue when a film that's about minority issues, it's about the black community, it's about gangster rap comes out, you keep seeing this headlines saying surprising. It can almost be insulting. Why is it surprising that a movie like this would do well? Well, it's because, you know, it's - sometimes an easier bet in the minds of studio executives to go with another superheo flick.

When this movie makes $56 million in one weekend, compared to the expectations of $25 million, that is a surprise, but it's also good news for the marketplace because more of these kinds of movies will get made.

PEREIRA: Well, what I also appreciate hearing, Nischelle, is -- It seems a little early to be saying this, but I'm hearing that this could potentially be an Oscar contender.

TURNER: It's never too early to talk about the Oscars, Michaela, you know in my world! That's all I think about. You know, F. Gary Gray did a masterful job directing this. If when you look at this and you know his directing style, his fingerprints are all over the movie. And it's really, really good.

I know there's a lot of people out there who would have been fans of the movie, like myself, anyway because I did like the music of the era. But it's a really well done film. Acted, written, directed.

Now, listen, in August it's hard to talk about Oscars and it's hard to --

PEREIRA: Yes, it is.

TURNER: -- to say (INAUDIBLE). We said that about "The Butler," we said that about other movies that didn't necessarily translate. But I think it's worthy of that type of recognition, especially for F. Gary Gray. Sometimes things get lost in the mix, you know, when they're released in August. So you don't know. Yeah, "The Ides of March," I think, kind of debunked that lately. But - you know.

PEREIRA: Well, let me pivot to another thing that is getting people's attention. We'll keep our fingers crossed for sure there. Let me pivot to big news for any of us that are geeks. "Star Wars" and Disney --

TURNER: I am.

PEREIRA: There is going to be -- I know, guilty as charged. All three of us, I think, fall in that category -- A theme park based on "Star Wars." Brian, this is big news, they're talking like 14 acres, two parks each. Gigantic news.

STELTER: Yeah. Disney announced it over the weekend. They are making good on their purchase three years ago of Lucasfilm, you know, the creator of "Star Wars." [08:54:59] Three years ago they bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion. I

think they're going to prove that was a steal because you're going to see these parks, you're going to see more of the "Star Wars" movies beginning this December. They are rejuvenating this franchise in a way some people didn't think was possible.

PEREIRA: I'm not being a naysayer, because I am supportive of the idea, Nischelle, but is this a risky proposition when you think about how well people that know the "Star Wars" franchise, they know it better than some of the characters themselves and some of the people involved in the production. Is there a bit of risk in doing this?

TURNER: I think there is. And I think, you know, we made the point we were kind of discussing a little bit earlier, this is no longer, you know, from the mind of George Lucas, really, because he sold the company. I mean, he still, you know, his stamp is on it.

PEREIRA: Sure.

TURNER: So you're taking risk when you're stepping into this new category. Now, listen, kind of like NWA, I think that fans of the movie will be fans of the theme park as well. But I think it's a risk trying to put all your eggs in this type of basket because you just never know what you're going to get. Look at "Fantastic Four," it did not do well. They still haven't been able to make a great film from that franchise.

PEREIRA: I'm going to buy all three of us tickets, we'll go as a team outing. Nischelle Turner, great to have you with us. Brian Stelter, always a pleasure. Thanks so much for joining us to talk about it all.

We'll have all your top stories on NEWSROOM with Carol Costello right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump heads to court. It's not what you think. He's got jury duty and a plan to overhaul immigration.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to make a whole new set of standards.

COSTELLO: His plan for a border wall and overturning the law granting citizenship to people born in the United States.

TRUMP: They have to go.

COSTELLO: As a new poll cements his frontrunner status.