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Fugitive Killed in Shootout with Police; Plane Catches Fire Before Takeoff; Iranian-American Businessman Arrested in Iran; Leaked Bush Document Trashes Rubio. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 30, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Six-day manhunt for a Kentucky fugitive is over.

[05:58:48] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's happening in this world? What's going on around here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The citizens of this community need to rest and rest assured that their law-enforcement agencies are doing their job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine's on fire! Engine's on fire!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just saw the fire. People started freaking out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You opened the door. Let the chute out. The chute opened to the side where the flames were.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the most part, our patients are stable. We're just handling them as they come.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not about the big personalities on the stage. It's not about the performance. It's about leadership.

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What it's turned into is a gotcha. That's silly.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to run for president aggressively.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who won the debate?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira. CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Friday. Happy Halloween. Good morning

to you. And your NEW DAY. It's Friday, October 30, 6 a.m. in the east. And we do have breaking news for you this morning. A massive six-day mass -- manhunt for a dangerous fugitive, spanning several states, over now. The suspect was wanted for shooting a Tennessee police officer during a traffic stop and then firing at a Kentucky trooper who tried to stop him.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So this morning, Kentucky State Police confirming he was killed in an overnight shootout, ending days of high drama. Let's get right to Boris Sanchez with all of the breaking details.

How did this go down?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was harrowing. Definitely harrowing. This morning, the search is finally over. Kentucky State Police confirming that Floyd Ray Cook, the fugitive wanted in the shooting of a Tennessee police officer, is dead.

The 62-year-old is a convicted rapist and robber. He had been on the run since Saturday, when he shot Ahscari Valencia during a traffic stop in Putnam County, Tennessee. Fortunately, the officer was reportedly wearing a bulletproof vest. And he was released from the hospital later that night in good condition.

Cook then fled to Kentucky, where he was involved in a second shooting with law-enforcement officers, escaping on foot to area of Highway 61 near the Tennessee/Kentucky border.

Police closed in on Cook after he stopped at a home and asked a couple for a ride. They recognized him, refused his request, and immediately called police.

As the days passed and police continued to search the area, two state troopers and one marshal encountered the fugitive as they were scanning an embankment off of Highway 61. Cook apparently had a handgun and shot at the officers, who fired back, fatally wounding him. Fortunately, none of those officers were hurt.

And now the residents of both Tennessee and Kentucky can rest assured that this man is done.

PEREIRA: Yes, the end of a six-day manhunt. My goodness. All right, Boris, thank you so much for that.

NTSB investigators this morning are trying to determine what caused a passenger airplane to catch fire moments before it took off in Ft. Lauderdale. Those terrifying moments and frantic evacuation all caught on tape.

What caused the 767 with more than 100 passengers to ignite and quickly fill with smoke? Alina Machado is live from Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport this morning with the very latest.

What are they learning, Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michaela, the investigation into what went wrong here is still in its early stages. But authorities here say there is no doubt that a major disaster was averted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO (voice-over): Terrifying video capturing flames and smoke shooting out of Dynamic Air Flight 405, just before takeoff. Passengers forced to escape the burning plane down evacuation chutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard a loud bang, turned around, saw the lights. Saw flames, ran to the front of the aircraft.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just saw the fire. People started freaking out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Screams and people crying, and I didn't know how to react.

MACHADO: Now, NTSB investigators trying to determine why the Boeing 767's left engine began leaking fuel just before takeoff, bursting into flames. A pilot trailing Flight 405 was the first to spot trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dynamic is -- out of the left engine it looks like it's leaking a lot of -- I don't know if it's fuel, but there's fluid leaking out of the left engine.

MACHADO: Moments later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Engine's on fire! Engine's on fire!

MACHADO: Emergency responders arriving at the scene within minutes, dowsing the engine with foam and extinguishing the fire. Passengers on planes nearby capturing the chaos. Seventeen people injured in the melee were hospitalized, including one child and a trauma patient.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of them are musculoskeletal. Ankles, knees, elbows.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abrasions. Fractures. In general, everybody was very nervous and shaken up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attention at the airport. Attention at the airport.

MACHADO: The incident closing Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International airport for hours, leading to 219 flight delays and 43 canceled flights.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: Now a few hours after the incident, the airport partially re-opened this morning. We've learned that both runways are back up and running here at Ft. Lauderdale International Airport -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alina. Thank you very much.

Let's bring in CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo. She's the former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, and she also is an attorney who represents victims and families after airplane disasters.

Let's combine those two fortes this morning, if we should, Mary. Now you actually said something very provocative here, that this may have been a blessing in disguise, of course, not for the people who are victimized, but for drawing attention to this airline. Why?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: This morning, alarm bells need to be going off all over the FAA. Because this was an airline with a very troubled and short history, even before this happened. It first got its certificate to fly in 2010.

And since that time, it's had trouble. It was kicked out of Brazil in 2014. It was put into involuntary bankruptcy just this year. Tendered its own certificate, meaning it gave up its right to fly in the United States last year. And this is a terrible track record for an airline.

And what the FAA is supposed to do, is an airline in financial trouble is supposed to be put under a special watch. That was developed after the ValuJet tragedy in Florida. And that airline had a track record not exactly like this but similar to this. And so the FAA has to watch these kinds of airlines very closely. It doesn't appear that they were.

CUOMO: All right. Now let's just get everybody else read in here. If they lost their license to fly in the United States -- I'm just reading the time line here -- if the license was withdrawn for the U.S. in August 20, 2014, why are they flying in the United States? How did -- what happened?

[06:05:15] SCHIAVO: Trick known to the airline industry. If you're in trouble or you've got some difficulties going on, and you think the FAA might swoop down and revoke your license, what you do if you're a troubled airline is you voluntarily tender your license back to the FAA. They say, "Here you guys. You can have it for a while."

And then that means that you can have it back when you're ready, and you don't have to be recertified by the Federal Aviation Administration. ValuJet did that.

CUOMO: So you're saying that this was a way of escaping the kind of scrutiny that you think is necessary. So why -- what the good news is here, we understand from the first responders, that something that looks like it should have been sure disaster was averted. What was critical in this situation in terms of making this less than it appeared? SCHIAVO: Well, you know, exactly. This was a disaster. You

know, ten seconds to a disaster. Had they reached a speed of 160 miles per hour, 140 knots on that runway, they would have had to have lifted off, and they would have been a danger -- not only everyone on the plane could have been lost but the people over whose heads they were flying.

So you're absolutely right. I mean, this was a few seconds away from a disaster. Kudos to the firefighters and to the pilot behind them. But today, the FAA needs to mobilize a special emphasis program to look at this carrier.

By the way, this was a very light load. They might have lifted off even before that point in the runway. So they were just seconds to spare.

CUOMO: Dark smoke, often an indication of fuel. There is the report that another pilot saw jet fuel coming out of it. How difficult is that kind of problem to happen? Like, you know, what is the frequency that fuel leaks out of the wing, ostensibly where one of these supplemental tanks is?

SCHIAVO: Well, fuel leaking from the wings is -- you know, it's not an everyday occurrence. That's why you have on everyone's checklist, that's why it's the first thing you're taught in flight school. You do a walk-around and look at the plane.

And you look for obvious leaks, exactly situations like this, hydraulic fluid or fuel. And you want to do that before you get in the plane and turn anything on. And presumably they did that here and did not see any kind of leaks.

Now, there are some exceptions when you don't have to do a walk- around. But presumably they did that. So when they started the engines, one can assume that something came loose, which is going to lead the NTSB to look for a maintenance problem. They'll be looking at the maintenance records. The FAA guidelines are when an airline is in financial trouble, maintenance is often, not always, maintenance is often one of those things that get skimped on. Why? Because passengers can't see it.

CUOMO: And it is expensive, and that comes down to how you check.

I want to play something here that I just think will be interesting to people. Play a little bit of the air traffic controller tape about how this got identified. Just because of the randomness of it. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, dynamic out much the left engine it looks like it's leaking a lot of -- I don't know if it's fuel. It's fluid that's leaking out of the left engine. Engine's on fire! Engine's on fire!

(END VIDEO CLIP) CUOMO: So this -- the air traffic controller is there, what,

looking out at the runway and just sees that something is leaking out of it and then it lights on fire? I mean, how do they assess this kind of risk? What is the watch system there? You know, how are you supposed to detect this? Is it just up to somebody just catching a glimpse of it?

SCHIAVO: Exactly. In this case it was the pilot behind him. That person gets a huge kudos and shout out to that person.

But, you know, people are watching, that posed a danger to all airplanes at the airport that day. And air traffic controllers have other things to do besides just watch. Once they give them the clearances and they have to hand them off to departure control once they're already on their roll, et cetera.

You know, the air traffic controllers aren't always watching. So in this case, it was the pilot behind them, you know, a very important spot and sighting. You do have warning lights in the cockpit, and the pilot does have fire bottles that you can pull, fire engines. Apparently, the fire bottles did not extinguish. If they pulled them, did not extinguish the fire. So I think the NTSB is going to be looking at maintenance and where the plane last was and who last touched it in the maintenance shop.

CUOMO: And if all of it is true, as we understand it right now, of course, the investigation is ongoing. That means that this pilot saw it when the pilots in the actual plane were not aware. You're saying as this investigation starts, you're encouraging people to follow the money on the regulatory side. So let's see where it leads.

Mary Schiavo, thank you very much, as always -- Alisyn.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right. Some breaking news overnight from Capitol Hill. The Senate went into session into the wee hours of this morning, giving final approval to that bipartisan budget deal that prevents a default and lifts the threat of a government shutdown.

Republican senators and presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Rand Paul forcing this rare overnight session by filibustering this bill. But that filibuster failed, and the bill now goes to President Obama now who is expected to sign it.

[06:10:07] PEREIRA: Pressure building for Jeb Bush after critics called his performance during this week's debate uneven at best. The former Florida governor now trying to reassure donors that his campaign is not in trouble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Look, we've got eight more debates. I'm going to have to do what the other candidates do, which is rudely interrupt, not answer the questions that are asked. Hopefully, the debate moderators will actually ask more substantive questions. It's going fine. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: The next GOP debate is scheduled for November 10.

CUOMO: Also breaking overnight, an Iranian-American businessman, now the fourth person holding dual citizenship to be arrested in Iran. Word of the arrest coming just as a new round of Syrian peace talks gets under way in Austria, with Iran at the negotiating table for the first time.

Let's check in with CNN's Frederik Pleitgen in Vienna. This will certainly now be on the table for discussion. What are you hearing?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it will be, and it already has been, Chris. So what we know is that last night, Secretary of State Kerry, when he got here, met with the Iranian foreign minister, who of course, is at negotiations about Syria for the very first time.

And one of the things that the State Department said the two men talked about, was the Americans who are detained in Iran. Those with dual citizenship, of course.

Now, we know about this most recent case, about Mr. Siamak Namazi. Apparently, he was taken by the Iranian authorities about two weeks ago. His passport was first taken away. Then he was taken to the Evin Prison.

There's very little other information. We know, for instance, from the case of Jason Rezaian that the Iranians don't usually put out press releases or any sort of other information as to what these people are allegedly being charged with.

But what we've seen in the past, Chris, was that a lot of these negotiations, like the ones about the nuclear agreement, also the ones about Syria, very much depend on a very good working relationship that Secretary of State Kerry has with the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif. And that, of course, is something that will certainly take a hit over this most recent incident with that U.S. citizen being detained.

And of course, these negotiations here are very, very complicated. You have the Iranians here, who support Bashar al-Assad; the Russians, as well. On the other side, you have the Saudis and the Turks who very much want Bashar al-Assad to step down. That's going to be the main stumbling block.

The future of the Assad regime, of Bashar al-Assad himself, will he have to step down? Will there be some sort of transitional process? No one really believes that there is going to be any sort of agreement at these talks today. But what we're hearing from senior diplomats is the fact that these talks are taking place at all, that you have the Iranians and the Saudis sitting in the same room, trying to find a solution, that in itself is already progress, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. There you go, Fred. Thanks so much for breaking that down for us.

All right. Back here at home, Marco Rubio may be rising while Jeb Bush fights the perception of a campaign crisis. Our panel next on the shifting landscape in the presidential race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:47] CAMEROTA: All right. A lot of interesting tidbits in politics this morning. Jeb Bush trying to reassure his donors after that lackluster debate performance. Also a leaked damning document revealing his strategy against Marco Rubio.

Here to dive in this morning is CNN political reporter Sara Murray; and CNN political commentator and political anchor for New York One, Errol Louis. Great to have both of you.

Errol, this 112-page document from the Bush campaign reveals the strategy against Marco Rubio. And there's some interesting morsels in here. Let me read some to you.

It says Marco's "tomorrow versus yesterday argument will be widely ridiculed by the media while running against the first woman president." That's a funny prediction.

Hold on, I'm not done. They want to point out that Marco Rubio has never been in charge of anything larger than two dozen people. Here's a juicy one. "Those who have looked into the Marco's background in the past have been concerned with what they found."

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Aha! Very interesting stuff. Look, it's a path to victory. I think the whole thing, the whole 112-page document, which is available online for free, is fascinating. And the parts about Marco Rubio, in particular, are a path to victory. They're making the case for how Jeb Bush can win.

Now, you can pick those apart. Some of those I agree with. Some of those I don't agree with. I think there is probably a case to be made for change and for saying that what's wrong with Washington requires somebody from outside Washington to change it. And Hillary Clinton is part of Washington. Very plausible. Some of this other stuff, I'm not so sure.

CUOMO: So Sara, color me cynical but damning, leaked. Jeb Bush now has the narrative from "Man, did he stink at the debate" to "all the reasons Marco Rubio shouldn't be president." This was a pretty good idea, putting this document out there, wasn't it?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it could be potentially helpful for Jeb, but I think the risk for him is that a lot of Jeb's donors also like Marco Rubio. A lot of people who are looking at Jeb also like Marco Rubio.

I've talked to a number of them over the last couple days, who aren't particularly excited to see this battle between the two guys. And they think it looks a little bit unseemly for Jeb, the mentor, to be going after Rubio, even though a lot of people, you know, believe that he might have to take him out if Jeb really does want to be president.

CUOMO: Well, I mean, look, that's the nature of politics. It's not about making friends.

But I have to tell you, Errol, the Marco moment was Jeb Bush does what you're supposed to do: You go at your opponent. His tone, the empathy that he seemed to have displayed as a real friend. Because I've got to tell you. People don't respond to attacks that way. When you're like, "Hey, you should quit your job." No one's like "Why are you saying this? You know, you don't have to do this."

CAMEROTA: I'm going to use that with you.

CUOMO: But really -- that's right. I'm going to say, please don't go anywhere.

The idea of Marco breaking through because of the empathy, because of how he was saying things, how does he now capitalize on that going forward to avoid the Fiorina slump?

LOUIS: Well, he's sort of put that particular issue behind him. I think he made a pretty cogent case that there are lots of people who, when they're running for president -- including Barack Obama, including Hillary Clinton -- and also serving in the Senate, they're going to miss a lot of votes. John Kerry, he named all of the right names. So I think he's put that issue behind him.

[06:20:03] CUOMO: And "The Sentinel," "The Orlando Sentinel" op- ed, they didn't come up with a great theory of the case for why he's missing votes in a way that makes him different than other people who miss votes. He just missed more votes, you could argue, right? Like, it's usually, like, 1.2 percent. He's at 12 percent of votes missed. He's in a very high percentile. But why he's missing them, it's hard to question his rationale, which is "I'm running for president. You know, I don't want to miss votes, but I don't want Hillary for president."

CAMEROTA: Yes, but you have a day job. Focus on your day job.

CUOMO: It's not unusual for a guy to skimp on the job.

LOUIS: And let's keep in mind, I mean, you've got to also sort of bring the thing all the way home. You've got to say, well, because you missed this vote...

CUOMO: That's right.

LOUIS: ... now we have a problem in a certain corner of Florida.

CUOMO: Good point, good point.

LOUIS: ... as opposed to "You failed to name a bunch of post offices."

CAMEROTA: Hold on a second. I want to get back to this leaked document. I like your theory, OK, that maybe it wasn't leaked. But it does feel...

CUOMO: What's bad in this for Jeb?

CAMEROTA: I find some of it sort of illicit. It's a little voyeuristic to be able to peer into the campaign.

CUOMO: Are there any pictures in there?

CAMEROTA: It feels like that a little bit.

CUOMO: It feels like --

CAMEROTA: I mean, like, for instance, the one that I read about how, you know, Marco will be widely ridiculed by the media. You know, who predicted that? The media isn't widely ridiculing Marco's strategy. That seems like -- you said it was a path to success, Errol, but it seems like a flawed path to success.

LOUIS: It's an argument. They're trying to re-assure their donors. They're trying to reassure their donors.

I was -- I was impressed, actually, because a lot of it tracks some of the analysis that I and other journalists have made, which is that he's got a pretty serious ground operation. He's got a lot of endorsements, which actually count for a lot at this stage of the game. He's got a ton of money. He's done a lot of messaging. You know, it sort of shows that they really are sort of taking this seriously and that what you see in the debate isn't really the whole story.

CUOMO: You've got to deliver, though, in the moments that count.

Sara Murray, what were you going to say in terms of -- the theory is, don't -- we're going to beat Marco, because his whole tomorrow night, not yesterday, he's going to be running against Hillary if he's the person. And she'll say, "No, I'm the future. I'm the first woman." That's bigger than any future Rubio has planned. What do you think of that?

MURRAY: Right. But I actually think that Rubio's argument that he's the future, not the past is a very cogent argument to make against a dynasty family.

Look, if you are sick of the Clintons, if you are sick of the Bushes, if you are looking at this race and saying, "Why can't we get a new face?" and then you're turning to Marco Rubio, I think this is going to be a powerful argument. He's not going out and attacking Hillary Clinton based on her gender. And of course, it is a big thing to become the first female president. He's not taking anything away from that.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

MURRAY: He's just saying, "Do we really want American politics to look like dynasty politics?" CAMEROTA: OK. Let's talk about post-debate, this shifting

landscape, if there is one. First, Rubio's advisers say the donor calls coming into the campaign now, they liken it to -- it's like drinking from a fire hydrant, they say.

CUOMO: Which you should not do, by the way.

CAMEROTA: That's how much money they claim they're getting. But let's move on to what Donald Trump and Ben Carson are saying. They are now, Errol, calling for possible new debate rules, whereby there's a litmus test for moderators. The moderators have to be registered Republicans. Donald Trump is calling for that.

Now you shake your head, because of course, that sounds absurd, though he did set some rules. He did ask CNBC to change the time, the length of the debate. So maybe he does have some clout in demanding things for future debates.

LOUIS: Let's keep in mind that all of the debates, all of the format, including the participants, was really approved in advance by the RNC. So, you know, if they're going to complain about this, they should be complaining to Reince Priebus. Keep in mind that, in an unprecedented way -- and I think we're going to see this even with CNN -- is that there has to be some conservative media organization sitting alongside all of the other journalists in order for it to sort of be an acceptable debate. I've never seen that before.

They've already gotten questions that, if they want to call them gotcha questions, if they're saying they don't like the format.

CAMEROTA: That's what they're saying.

LOUIS: Yes. But let's analyze why they're saying that. I mean, these so-called gotcha questions. Mannatech. You go out and you -- if you're Ben Carson, you go out and you promote this shady company that had to pay millions of dollars for false advertising. You're going to get questions about that. You're going to have to answer questions about that.

If you want -- you want the nuclear code, you want to be in charge of the armed forces of the United States, you're going to be asked questions about who are the heads of state? What do you think about foreign affairs?

If they don't like those questions, they can scream and rage and try and change the rules and try and change the moderators. They're still going to get the questions.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but I mean, they claim the gotcha questions are more like, are you a comic book? Is this a comic book election to you? Those -- those are the things that had nothing to do with the economy. But anyway.

LOUIS: That's poor moderating. You can't change that by rules.

CAMEROTA: There you go. Errol, Sara, thank you. Let's get over to Michaela for what else we're looking at.

PEREIRA: Yes, Alisyn, a profile in courage. A former U.S. Army specialist decides to join the fight against ISIS on his own. You may just not believe how he it. His remarkable story, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:29:05] PEREIRA: We are following breaking news. A six-day manhunt for a man accused of shooting a Tennessee officer ended in a deadly shootout in Kentucky early this morning. Two state troopers and a U.S. marshal tracked Floyd Ray Cook to a wooded area near the Tennessee border. As they closed in, police say Cook fired at them and missed. Those officers returned fire. Cook was pronounced dead at the scene.

The NTSB now investigating the terrifying engine fire on a Dynamic Airways flight at Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. That plane just minutes from takeoff for Venezuela. More than a dozen people were injured during the frantic evacuation. Those people were sent to the hospital.

The FAA says the pilot traveling behind Flight 405 reported that fuel was leaking for the aircraft -- from the aircraft before it ignited.

While Secretary of State John Kerry and other diplomats meet in Vienna to try to end the civil war in Syria, one former U.S. soldier is on the ground, battling ISIS alongside Kurdish fighters. He has a warning, though, for other Americans who might want to join him.

CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward now with this exclusive interview.