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7 People Remain on Board Hijacked Plane; Trump Defends Attack on Cruz's Wife; Clinton & Sanders Battle Over New York Debate; Suspect in Custody After Causing Scare at Capitol. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 29, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Questions now being raised again about airport security. Will negotiators be able to resolve this peacefully? That's the question. Let's bring in our international correspondent, CNN's Ian Lee. He's joining us now live from Cairo. What's the latest, Ian?

[07:00:19] IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, we do have those seven people who are still being held hostage. There are three foreigners. They have not given the nationalities of those foreigners. We're also hearing that the pilot, the co-pilot, a stewardess, as well as the person who is being described as a security official who is on this plane. Not much else has been given about his role on that plane.

But seven people still being held hostage in Larnaca. The flight originated at about 6:30 this morning, coming here to Cairo, a 45- minute flight. Just minutes into it, though, the hijacker told the pilot that he had a bomb, that he wanted the plane diverted to Europe.

Well, the plane didn't have enough fuel, so it diverted to Larnaca. It's been on the tarmac for about six hours now as officials try to negotiate with him. The motive, as we're learning from Cyprian officials, is that it is a domestic dispute, possibly, of some sort. The man wants to talk to his ex-wife, according to Cyprian officials.

Egyptian officials have also cast doubt on this explosive device, this explosive belt that the hijacker says that he has. They say they don't believe it is real, although officials aren't taking any chances right now. They are talking to the hijacker, trying to calm him down, trying, really, to resolve this peacefully -- Don.

LEMON: Ian, thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Joining us now is David Soucie, CNN aviation analyst and former FAA accident investigator and inspector. And CNN law enforcement analyst, former FBI special agent and former air marshal Jonathan Gilliam. Good morning to both of you gentlemen.

I want to start with your reaction to the hijacking. Egyptian officials are saying this is not terror-related but, instead, motivated by personal factors as you heard, an incident related to the hijacker's ex-wife. But one analyst is calling this a more old- fashioned type of terrorist. Do you agree with that, Jonathan? JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I mean, I guess we can

call it old-fashioned in the way a long time way back when people used to hijack planes to get from somewhere like Cuba to the United States. As we can see, that's pretty dangerous to do that now, because not only will law enforcement react to it, but passengers on the plane can react to it.

And I'm kind of surprised, in this area where this actually happened that passengers didn't immediately get involved. I'm not sure what the guy said on the plane. But this is interesting, because we don't want to fall back into the mind-set completely that if somebody gets up and says, "We're not -- I'm not here to kill anybody. I just want to get to my wife" to sit back and just say, "OK, we'll let him do that." We don't know what excuse terrorists are going to use.

And in this case it looks like it's not a terrorist. But we, as passengers we need to be very careful with how we react.

LEMON: You know, David, there was the flight from New York to Egypt that was delayed because of security concerns. Now that flight has taken off on its way to Egypt now. Egypt is insisting, though, that the airports are safe, that tourists should come back. But this incident, it's certainly going to raise a lot of questions about just how safe the country is and its air travel as well, correct?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It is. It's going to have a great impact on that, Don.

One of the things to remember about this, as Jonathan pointed out, is that the people that are on board this airplane are part of the safety system. The fact that they didn't react is a little concerning to me. But that doesn't reflect poorly on Egypt, necessarily.

What worries me about Egypt's particular safety concerns at the airport are the fact that they have been studying this for three or four months now since the earlier -- when the Russian airplane had a bomb on board. Now since that time, there has been changes in the employee screening at their airports, which is exactly how that bomb got on board.

So it's a time now to highlight the fact that they haven't taken those measures necessary to make sure nothing has happened there. They need to get it done, and they need to get it done quickly and get that out to the people so that they understand that improvement have been made.

LEMON: All right. Let's talk about that a little bit more, David. At this time officials don't know whether the hijacker really had an explosive belt, as he claimed he did. But they are treating it as if it is real.

If this man had explosives, how would he have managed to get it through Egyptian security and get it on board a plane?

SOUCIE: The same way that the canister of 2.2 pounds of TNT explosives got on board the Russian airplane, which was through employees that were not screened on a day-to-day basis as passengers are at the airport security, and this is not uncommon. It's the same way in the United States. When someone comes in as an employee, you're screened as employee, very seriously screened, but your background, your mental attitude, those sorts of things when you're hired. After that, they don't. Things change in people's lives and change the way that they view their world.

And that's what happened here in Egypt before in the Sharm el-Sheikh incident, is that employees change their mind. And they come in, and they are not screened on a day-to-day basis. If they have their badge, they're allowed to go through security. They're allowed to come in. They are constantly bring things in like soda cans and other things that go in for sales at the airports. Those are not screened. And they need to be. And that's the biggest vulnerability, not only in Egypt but in every airport.

LEMON: You just took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to ask you about them, because we see them when we're going in the airports here. You see the employees jumping through line. You know, they show their I.D.s and they go right through. You see them going right onto the tarmac and what have you. Is that our biggest vulnerability? The screening, or at least the lack of screening, in some cases, of employees?

GILLIAM: Well, I would say that's -- and especially overseas, it's a huge concern. I mean, look, even here in the United States, gun smuggling by employees through the airline system. So employees -- and I've done threat assessments on airports and having been an air marshal. I'll tell you that the unease I always had is who is supplying these planes with food? Who's getting hired to do that? Who's cleaning the planes? Who's working in and around this airport and may have access to there, because ultimately, I know this sounds a little strange.

But what happened in Brussels was an example of one of those security checkpoints for those security barriers working. Because if there's going to be a bomb off, we would rather have it in the lobby. Unfortunately, there's a lot of people get killed. But you don't want that bomb getting onto a plane because then that becomes a force multiplier for the terrorists.

LEMON: At this point, there are still hostages onboard. Negotiations are still in progress. How does that play out now?

GILLIAM: Well, because this appears to be an emotionally disturbed person, you don't want to just engage this with aggressiveness. I think this is going to be something that they could end up talking the person off.

But, again, we have to make sure that this is not terrorism. Just because somebody is on a plane saying that they want to see their ex- wife doesn't mean they don't have an ulterior motive.

LEMON: Jonathan, David, thank you very much.

Michaela, over to you. PEREIRA: All right. We go to politics now. In less than 13 hours,

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich will take the stage in Milwaukee for a live CNN town hall event. And with one week to go before the Wisconsin primary, the top two Republicans, they're tearing into each other like never before. So what can we expect tonight?

Phil Mattingly live in Milwaukee ahead of the big event. Kind of feels like a big event, doesn't it?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No question about it, Michaela. Let's look at the last five or six days of this Republican. You have these increased personal attacks. You've got lawsuit threats. And you really have the most in-depth illuminating look into how Donald Trump views foreign policy. All of that to be unpacked in depth on the stage behind me tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY (voice-over): All three GOP delegates converging on the battleground state, Wisconsin, for tonight's CNN town hall, a week before voters head to the polls in the high-stakes primary.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump receiving a hostile reception Monday, protesters demanding Trump cancel a rally later today, saying to, quote, "Keep hate out of our state."

Popular Wisconsin conservative radio host Charlie Sykes, who has endorsed Ted Cruz, also giving Trump the cold shoulder.

CHARLIE SYKES, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST: Mr. Trump, before you called into my show, did you know that I'm a #NeverTrump guy?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That, I didn't know.

MATTINGLY: An opening act for a state with 42 delegates at stake and a strong anti-Trump movement.

SYKES: Here in Wisconsin we value things like civility, decency and actual conservative principles. So let's possibly make some news.

MATTINGLY: Trump continuing to defend his campaign's attacks on Ted Cruz and his wife, Heidi, again blaming Cruz for a super PAC ad in Utah that featured Trump's wife, Melania.

TRUMP (via phone): He owes me an apology, because what he did was wrong. He sent out a picture to people in Utah.

SYKES: Well, actually, he didn't, and you know that he didn't. You know that it was a super PAC.

TRUMP: I know that he knew about it.

MATTINGLY: In an interview with CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, Cruz laying down another challenge to Trump.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have heard that you wanted to meet Donald Trump one on one.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes.

SERFATY: Why?

CRUZ: CNN has two town halls back to back. An hour with me, an hour with Donald Trump. The exact same location. We should make it a debate. Let's make it a two-hour debate. Let's combine our events.

MATTINGLY: And Ohio Governor John Kasich attacking both of his opponents on their foreign policy positions.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've got one guy saying we should patrol Muslim neighborhoods, and the other one say we should have a religious test. It's not good foreign policy.

MATTINGLY: All while Trump threatens to sue over delegate allegiances in Louisiana, the state Trump won but Cruz could walk away with more delegates. The Texas senator brushing off Trump's litigation threats.

[07:10:06] CRUZ: Who cares? He can threaten whoever he likes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Now Michaela, tonight really an important opening act. Seven days of intense campaigning here in Wisconsin. This state, particularly the southeastern part really kind of population driven, does have a more fervent anti-Trump movement. How that -- reacts how that works over the next couple days will be fascinating to watch. And it's not just the voters you have to look at. It's also the candidates.

John Kasich, trying behind the scenes to get to that crucial campaign to work with him to try and block Donald Trump. That's according to his chief strategist, John Weaver. He been trying to bring Mitt Romney, 2012 Republican nominee, into the fold to recruit Ted Cruz's campaign for that assistance. Up to this point, Michaela, Ted Cruz's campaign rejecting those entreaties. At this point, Ted Cruz sees John Kasich purely as a spoiler. Just wants him out of the race, not cooperating as they try and stop Donald Trump -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: So fascinating all the machinations going on behind the scenes. And you'll be there watching it all happen.

And we remind you tonight, CNN, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Donald Trump all take part in the GOP town hall in Wisconsin a week before the primary there. That prime-time event will be moderated by Anderson Cooper, 8 Eastern right here on CNN.

CAMEROTA: Start popping the popcorn. Well, Bernie Sanders wants to debate Hillary Clinton in New York. Hillary Clinton's camp, though, says she's not interested in another debate, unless Bernie Sanders changes his tone.

CNN's Chris Frates live in Washington, D.C., with the very latest. Hi, Chris. CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.

So Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are crisscrossing the Cheesehead State today ahead of the next big primary on Tuesday. And after a good weekend, Sanders is looking to extend his winning streak to four. Clinton's campaign is managing expectations, knowing she loved Wisconsin by double digits eight years ago. Here's what she told a crowd yesterday at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Somebody asked me, so why are you going to Madison? I said, "Well, why wouldn't I?"

They said, "Well, that's a place where your opponent is very competitive."

I said, "Yes, that's true. But I'm here, because not only do I want to compete for every vote, I respect the people of Madison and Dane County."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Liberal enclaves like Madison and the state's majority white population work in Sanders' favor as he tries to grab as many of Wisconsin's 86 delegates as possible.

Because even after his sweeping wins this weekend, Sanders still lags Clinton by about 240 delegates. So going forward, Sanders needs to continue to put up huge numbers. He has to win 75 percent of the delegates left to clinch the nomination.

Clinton, on the other hand, needs to win just 35 percent of the delegates remaining to become the nominee. So Sanders' strategy rests largely on winning Wisconsin and then upsetting Clinton two weeks later in her adopted home state of New York.

And he's already calling on her to debate him in the Empire State, a possibility Clinton's camp has not yet ruled out, but Clinton, she's really tried to focus her fire on Republicans. Yesterday in Wisconsin she slammed the GOP for blocking President Obama's Supreme Court pick and questioned the kind of justice a President Trump would pick.

But with an eye-were popping 247 delegates at stake next month, and that's second really only to California, Clinton may be forced to refocus on Sanders. And the race could quickly become the nastiest Democratic knife fight we've seen so far this election season, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh, boy. OK, Chris. Thanks so much for all of that.

And tonight Bernie Sanders sits down with CNN's Erin Burnett on "OUTFRONT." That's at 7 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

LEMON: Now I want to go to Capitol Hill, where police were forced to take action after a man took out what appeared to be a weapon at a Capitol's visitor center -- the Capitol's Visitors Center. The suspect now facing charges. And it's not -- excuse me. It's not his first run-in with Capitol police. Our CNN senior political politics [SIC] reporter is Manu Raju. Forgive me, it is early this morning. He is live from Capitol Hill.

Good morning to you, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. That's exactly right.

Larry Russell Dawson, a 66-year-old man, was charged with two crimes yesterday, with assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a police officer, after he had entered that Capitol Visitors Center complex yesterday with a firearm.

At that point the security detector caught him with the firearm. He waved that gun around, and he pointed his firearm at a police officer. He was shot. Mr. Dawson was then transferred to a local hospital where emergency surgery was performed.

Police say that now, after he is in more stable condition -- he right now he is in critical but stable condition. Once he has an ability to face his charges, he will go to D.C. superior court and face his charges.

Now, Mr. Dawson has actually a troubled legal past, including in October 2015 when he came to the House floor and said, "I'm a prophet of God." He was removed from the House and arrested at that time. And these are questions that will be going forward about how he got so close, how he almost entered the Capitol Visitors Center complex.

[07:15:08] We will see how this plays out. Right now, he's expected two charges. Capitol police have charged him with two crimes because of his effort to try to enter with a firearm -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Certainly some frightening moments there. Well done pushing through that with all the noise behind you there in the busy capital. Appreciate it, Manu.

Governor -- Georgia Governor Nathan Diehl reaching for his veto pen, putting a stop to the so-called Religious Liberty Bill. Georgia is a welcoming state, and the House bill giving faith-based organizations the right to deny services and jobs to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered residents calls that character into question. Governor Diehl, a Republican, was under intense pressure from corporations threatening to pull their business out of his state.

CAMEROTA: The Secret Service denying a push to allow guns at this summer's Republican National Convention. An online push to allow guns at the Cleveland convention had picked up steam. But the Secret Service says, no, only law enforcement personnel will be allowed to carry firearms inside the Quicken Loan Arena, which also does not allow weapons inside for any event.

LEMON: All right, everyone. You've got to look at your TV. Did you guys see this?

CAMEROTA: No. We were asleep.

PEREIRA: I waited to see it with your narration.

LEMON: So awesome. Geraldo Rivera tries to redeem himself on "Dancing with the Stars" by doing The Donald.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS JOURNALIST: Vladimir, hi. It's Donald. That was huge. It was huge. Can you hold on for a second. Melania.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Anyway, you saw Geraldo try to do his...

PEREIRA: No words, people.

CAMEROTA: Wait a minute.

LEMON: ... best Trump impression.

CAMEROTA: I can't tell if I can't turn away or if I should turn away.

PEREIRA: I love how they tried to blend his moustache with his skin tone so it wouldn't be as obvious.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my.

LEMON: Anyways. You get the point.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.

PEREIRA: All right. We'll leave that and carry on with...

LEMON: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa.

Back up. Back up. Look at that. I mean, the orange face paint.

CAMEROTA: I know, I mean...

LEMON: Do you think he's going to be the first to get booted? What do you think?

CAMEROTA: I think that -- I don't want to do a spoiler alert, because I think something did happen last night.

PEREIRA: Oh.

LEMON: Really?

PEREIRA: People are watching their DVRs right now. CAMEROTA: I know, so I don't want to say it. But Geraldo is a

wonderful, wonderful guy. He was game to do this. And whatever happened, happened.

PEREIRA: All right. We'll live that now. And people can continue to watch it later. But we want to bring you up to date, the very latest on the EgyptAir hijacking and hostage standoff. It is ongoing in Cyprus at this hour.

Also, the Republicans ready to duke it out in Wisconsin. Ted Cruz, John Kasich, are ready to team up take down Donald Trump, the real one, not the Geraldo version? Insight from Wisconsin's former governor, Tommy Thompson, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:59] CAMEROTA: The state of Wisconsin could be pivotal in the race for president. The three GOP candidates will be in Milwaukee for tonight's CNN town hall. We're one week from that state's primary.

Joining us is now is former Wisconsin governor, Tommy Thompson. He held the office of governor longer than anyone else. He is a Kasich supporter, serving as Wisconsin chair for the Kasich campaign.

Good morning, Governor.

TOMMY THOMPSON, FORMER WISCONSIN GOVERNOR: Good morning, Alisyn. And how are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm doing well.

THOMPSON: And welcome to Wisconsin.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. I know all eyes on your state, and I want to ask you about a strategy that apparently the Kasich campaign is floating. They might be looking to coordinate with the Cruz campaign in a sort of divide-and-conquer strategy, particularly in Wisconsin, where they each sort of agree that they'll win some districts or focus on some districts in order to deny Donald Trump a win. What do you think of that strategy?

THOMPSON: Well, I don't think it's a strategy. I think it may evolve into that, because that may be the way the voters eventually vote. But it's not a concerted effort that the candidates have sat down and says, "We're going to divide up the state this way. You take that congressional district. I'll take another." That's not the case.

CAMEROTA: OK, because...

THOMPSON: We sincerely believe in the John Kasich...

CAMEROTA: Well, just to...

THOMPSON: Go ahead.

CAMEROTA: Just to clarify that, because our Dana Bash said that there might -- there was, actually, an effort to coordinate behind -- in back channels and sort of do that but that the Ted Cruz campaign wasn't interested.

THOMPSON: Well -- well, Ted Cruz may not be interested. John Kasich isn't, as well. That's just somebody's figment of their imagination. We are campaigning hard. We want to win the state of Wisconsin. We think we can. We think Wisconsin is set up very nicely for John Kasich. It's a very well-informed electorate. And as you know, Wisconsin is one of those states that you really don't know how the people are going to vote.

Humphrey did well in the state. Kennedy made the state. The one that allowed him to become president of the United States. Lyndon Johnson dropped out before he came to Wisconsin.

Wisconsin is a very independent state. And when you look at the candidates, Kasich has the pedigree, the credentials to be the best candidate. And when people are saying, you know, a vote for Kasich is a vote, really for Donald Trump, it's really not the case.

I think a vote for Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is a vote for Hillary Clinton. Because the big race, the big contest is the presidential election. And John Kasich is the only one of the three candidates that definitely will defeat Hillary Clinton. That's why I think people in the state of Wisconsin should take a real hard look. And I think they will. And I think they will eventually come to the conclusion John Kasich is the best qualified and is the one that can really do the best job going against Hillary Clinton.

CAMEROTA: OK. And just to be clear, it was John Weaver, one of the top Kasich aides, who told CNN that he did think that there were states where it made sense for them to coordinate.

But to your larger point about how some people are saying that John Kasich is a spoiler. In fact, Ted Cruz is saying that John Kasich is a spoiler. So let me play that for you and get you to respond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right now Kasich's role is really being a spoiler. Kasich benefits Donald Trump. And Mitt Romney said just a couple of days ago that a vote for John Kasich is a vote for Donald Trump. And the reason is, look, Trump has a hard ceiling of 35 to 40 percent that he has real trouble crossing. And head to head, we not only beat Donald; we beat him badly. We beat him by double digits.

What Kasich can do is pull enough votes away to let Trump win with a plurality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, Governor, what do you think of that math?

THOMPSON: I think, you know, that Ted Cruz is trying to get as many votes as he possibly can and try to get away from John Kasich. I think the most obvious and probably the most successful thing about this is that John Kasich, if you look at him, I think a vote for Ted Cruz is actually a vote for Hillary Clinton. I don't think Ted Cruz can beat Hillary Clinton, and that's what I'm in it for. I want us to win the -- not only the state of Wisconsin, but I want to win the big prize, the presidential one.

And I know John Kasich head to head is the best candidate the Republicans could put up in order to defeat Hillary Clinton. So therefore, if you vote for Ted Cruz or for Donald Trump, you're actually voting for Hillary Clinton, because she has a better chance to become the president. That, I think, is the biggest mistake and the biggest problem.

CAMEROTA: Governor, who is Governor Scott Walker going to endorse today?

THOMPSON: He's going to vote for -- he's going to -- I don't know who he's going to vote for. But all indications are...

CAMEROTA: Who's he going to endorse?

THOMPSON: ... he's going to endorse Ted Cruz. He's going to endorse Ted Cruz. But I think, you know, so be it. The truth of the matter is, he -- the people of the state of Wisconsin really don't look so much as to the endorsements, even though I think they should when I'm endorsing somebody. But that's my own personal opinion of myself.

But the truth of the matter is that John Kasich is -- is a great candidate. And I think John Kasich can stand on his own record. And I think that's what people in the state of Wisconsin are going to be looking at. And I think he definitely has got a great shot in the great state of Wisconsin.

CAMEROTA: Governor Tommy Thompson, great to have you on NEW DAY this morning. Thank you.

THOMPSON: Thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: Let's get to Don.

LEMON: All right, Alisyn, thank you very much.

Back to our breaking news now this morning. That hijacked EgyptAir flight forced to divert to Cyprus. You're looking live at pictures right now. Just moments ago, it appeared that people ran off of this plane. We're working to confirm those details for you. We'll get some new information; we'll update you on the other side of this break. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)