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Trump Reignites Feud with Protesting NFL Players; NTSB Recovers Data from Plane Crash; Stolen Plane Raises Airport Security Questions; Tiger Woods Second at PGA; Brooks Koepka Wins PGA Championship; Baltimore Officer Resigns. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 13, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00] PARIS DENNARD, COMMISSIONER, PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON WHITE HOUSE FELLOWS: Lie of Bakari Sellers and others saying that they're not blacks in this administration. There are blacks in this administration serving in senior capacities and there are others across the (INAUDIBLE)

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Paris --

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hang on. Hang on. Hang on one second here. Hang on a second.

No one is peddling lies. We gave you -- we gave -- we gave you an opportunity --

DENNARD: There are -- there are lies. When you say -- excuse me, when you say that there are not anybody in the West Wing serving (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Hang on, Paris. Hang on. No, excuse me, Paris -- excuse me. I did not say anyone -- there was nobody in the West Wing. What Paris was saying, that there is no one who had their office in the West Wing currently serving the president. You pointed out that you can work for the administration without having your office in the West Wing, and then you listed several people who do not have their offices in the West Wing who currently serve this administration. Those people do serve this administration. You all have agreement that Jeron Smith (ph), who is one of these individuals without an office in the West Wing, is doing a very good job.

But, no one is peddling lies here. We gave you your chance to list these people who work in the administration. We thank you, as always, for being with us.

John Avlon, Bakari Sellers, we thank you as well.

We're doing to leave this discussion there. A lot more to discuss today. Appreciate it, gentlemen.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Also just ahead, another summit between North and South Korea is announced. What it could tell us about North Korea's commitment to denuclearization. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:13] BERMAN: Breaking news, North and South Korea announcing plans to hold another summit, this time in Pyongyang, next month. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expected to meet a third time since relations began to thaw in April. Details for the upcoming summit being hammered out this morning.

HILL: Defense Secretary James Mattis is sending one of his three star general to assist Saudi investigators in Yemen after a deadly air strike killed dozens of civilians, including 40 children on a school bus. It is believed to have been carried out by a U.S.-backed Saudi- led coalition. The U.N. says it was the wort attack on children since Yemen's brutal war escalated three years ago.

BERMAN: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro now says he is willing to accept the FBI's help to investigate an apparent assassination attempt. In a televised speech last night, Maduro also asked President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo what they were going to do with the terrorist groups that were involved. Maduro accuses Venezuelan opposition groups of masterminding the attempt on his life and claims the financers and planners live in Florida. While the U.S. has indicated it will cooperate with the investigation, CNN is unaware of a formal FBI offer.

HILL: New security questions after an airline workers steals a plane from a major airport. The chief question, of course, how did this happen?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:25] BERMAN: The FBI has located human remains inside the wreckage of a plane stolen by an airline employee in Seattle. Investigators have also recovered the flight data recorder and components of the cockpit voice recorder.

CNN's Dan Simon has the very latest from Seattle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Is he OK?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's just after 7:30, Friday night at Sea-Tac Airport when Horizon Air ground worker Richard Russell steals the plane Q400 turbo prop and takes it for a deadly joyride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now he's just flying around and he just needs some help controlling his aircraft.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not me. I don't need that much help. I've played some video games before.

SIMON: A calm air traffic controller tries to persuades Russell to attempt a landing, advising that a military air base is in his vicinity. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is the -- the runway just off your right side

in about a mile. DO you see that? That's the -- that's the -- that's McChord Field.

RUSSELL: Oh, man, those guys would rough me up if I tried landing there. I think I'd -- I think I might mess something up there too. I wouldn't want to do that.

SIMON: But it becomes increasingly clear --

RUSSELL: This is probably like jail time for life, huh? I mean I would hope it is for a guy like me.

SIMON: That Russell has no intention of making it out live.

RUSSELL: I think I'm going to try to do a barrel role. And if that goes good, then I'm just going to nose down and call it a night.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guys, he's coming this way. He's doing a weave. What do we do?

SIMON: Russell, who officials believe had no experience flying a plane, makes treacherous loops as armed F-15s scramble to prevent massive casualties on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Rich, this is Captain Bill. Congratulations, you did that, now let's -- let's try to land that airplane safely and not hurt anybody on the ground.

RUSSELL: All right, ah, damnit, I don't know, man, I don't know.

SIMON: Moments before crashing into a small forested island, the 29- year-old says his good-byes.

RUSSELL: I've got a lot of people that care about me, and it's going to disappoint them to hear that I did this. I would like to apologize to each and every one of them. I'm just a broken guy. I got a few screws loose, I guess. Never really knew it until now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: People who worked with Russell say that he was a good friend, was a very hard worker, and also had a great sense of humor. They say they never detected any mental illness.

Erica.

HILL: Dan, appreciate it.

The incident raising obviously some very serious security questions.

Joining me now, CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo, former inspector general at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Mary, when we look at this, the big question for people this morning is, is how does this happen? Not only getting in the plane, but being able to pilot this plane down the runway and making it into the air. That is troubling to say the least.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, it's the intersection of three loopholes really. We have a lot of different laws aimed at safety, security and sanity, but the laws for mental health screening pretty much are limited to the 160,000 commercial pilots. They have to have a physical, an airmen's medical, before flying, and they have to report to the FAA to keep their certificates, medications, mental health issues, you know, drugs for depression, et cetera, whereas the 900,000 airplane workers have an employment check, a background check and a fingerprint check, but don't have that kind of screening.

HILL: Do you think that needs to be added?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think that Congress will be considering that. And it's going to have to be Congress that acts.

Last year they came out with a report, it was a very alarming report. In fact, it was aimed at security and the security from terrorism. And this report found that there were 73 people on a terrorist watch list who worked at U.S. airports. And so it was very much looking at that aspect. And this person had no -- there's no indication that there was anything like that.

But it does point out a gaping hole, and that is that persons who are working at the airport and have access to aircraft also could have terror ties, as Congress reported last year, then it's a loophole we have to close. And if it's a mental health loophole, we have to look at that as well for people who have access to aircraft.

HILL: It also just makes you think about the security in general of the tarmac. I mean you think about the serial stowaway, you think about other things that happen. It would seem that that is a major -- you said the intersection of three loopholes in terms of security, but this seems to be a glaring opening when it comes to opportunity.

[06:45:00] SCHIAVO: It is. And you're exactly right. And that's why many reports have addressed it. I mean after September 11, 2001, the issue was addressed because there were some airport workers who couldn't be identified and, of course, they didn't go through screening, which was -- you know, screening was pretty much non- existent. We went through screening, but it wasn't very good. And now the report last year from Congress, the House Committee on Homeland Security, said that of the 900,000 airport workers in America, very few of them go through security and some go through no security. So it's a -- it's a big problem and I think that Congress is going to have to address it because TSA really can't take this on without Congress support.

HILL: Well, and in terms of TSA, we have reporting obviously from our Rene Marsh different ideas that would be looked at, and including there was even some discussion of eliminating security at smaller airports in this country, which raises the question as to whether security is actually a priority today. What's your sense?

SCHIAVO: Well -- right. No, I think we're backsliding. You know the problem is, is security in this country, we always look at the last attack. I mean so the -- and TSA has fallen guilty to this as well. So the last attack was hijackers taking planes and using them as tactical weapons to crash into buildings. And so we're forgetting about, what? We're forgetting about, you know, guns and knives. We're forgetting about other people attack aviation besides just terrorists. About a third of the attacks since the 1930s, about a third of the attacks on aviation were not politically related or not terrorist related. They were people doing crazy things. Sometimes for insurance money.

So, no, to leave loopholes in the system and to say, well, we don't need security at small airports is just crazy. Crazy

HILL: And, as you point out, the criticism has been that the security measures are reactionary as opposed to proactive. We'll see if this changes anything.

Mary, always appreciate your insight and perspective. Thank you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, Tiger Woods back a major, but could he catch one of golf's young stars? Another question, are we really focused on the right person here? Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:57] BERMAN: So for a moment yesterday, it looked like Tiger Woods might, might just pull this thing off, but then a really good golfer got in his way at the PGA championship.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.

Yes, this was such a good tournament and Tiger was so close. You know, I actually felt like I was back in college watching yesterday because Tiger was playing like Tiger from the mid-2000s. And he clearly has his swagger back. Check out Tiger arriving yesterday to the course, backwards cap, sunglasses, he was ready to go.

And Tiger's shooting his best final round ever in a major yesterday and he did it without hitting a fairway on the front 9. Here he is on 9. An incredible shot from next to the cart path. He would then sink the putt for birdie and give us that vintage Tiger fist pump.

But here are a couple moments that will probably haunt Tiger. On 11 his put ends up on the lip of the cup. How did that not go in? And then on 14, that on lipped out. If those both go down, who knows, maybe Tiger would your PGA champion. He finished strong with a long birdie on 18. He gave us another fist pump and the gallery went wild. Tiger ends up 14 under for the tournament, his lowest score in a major without winning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: I was always trailing, and it was a golf course in which I -- I couldn't sit still and make pars and be OK with it. I had to keep making birdies. I had to go get it and I tried.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And the only person standing in the way of Tiger winning his 15th major was Brooks Koepka. The two-time reigning U.S. Open champ, just unstoppable yesterday. Koepka has won two of his three majors he played in this year. The 28-year-old just the fifth golfer ever to win the U.S. Open and PGA championship in the same year. So, guys, he's clearly one of golf's brightest young stars.

But I'll tell you what, the drama of watching Tiger try to catch Koepka all afternoon, some of the best sports I've watched all year.

BERMAN: Yes, Andy Scholes, a great roundup. I personally wish that more attention yesterday would have been paid to Brooks Koepka, who was ridiculously good the whole time and I don't think was ever going to lose no matter what Tiger did. But it was a fascinating thing to watch, Andy.

SCHOLES: It certainly was, yes.

HILL: Just ahead, a Baltimore police officer resigns after this video of a beating goes viral.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:33] HILL: This cell phone video, which is disturbing to say the least, of a Baltimore police officer beating a man, when viral over the weekend. That officer no longer with the department. Baltimore Police tweeting it accepted his resignation and also that this is an active, criminal investigation.

CNN's Athena Jones joins us now with more.

It's remarkable that that even happened and yet, for many people, it's not.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, for many people it's not remarkable. But, look, this is upsetting to watch in this video, which lasts about 30 seconds. You can clearly see the officer shoving and then punching this man repeatedly, more than a dozen times. Eventually he tackles him to the ground, pins him down with is arm across his neck.

Now, police say this all happened on Saturday while officers were working a crime suppression detail in the neighborhood. They say that police encountered this man who one of them -- one of those two officers knew the man. They encountered him, spoke with him, released him, and then approached him again to give him a citizen's contact sheet. That's a sheet that officers are required to give to citizens any time they come into contact with a citizen for any length of time. Police say the situation escalated when the man did not want to provide identification as part of this citizen's contact sheet. You can hear him saying, for what, shouting for what at the officer at the beginning of the video.

Now, this man was not criminally charged. He was released. He was treated for his medical injuries -- or medically treated for his injuries.

But I should mention that Baltimore has long had problems with excessive use of force and discriminatory policing. These are problems that were spelled out in the 2016 Department of Justice report. We all remember the death in police custody of Freddie Grey back in 2015 and the -- an arrest that followed. And that Baltimore has been working with the federal government to reform its police department in the wake of that report. This new video shows there is a lot more work to be done. Baltimore's mayor, Catherine Pugh, tweeted she's demanding answers and accountability and said in a statement, we are working day and night to bring about a new era of community-based, constitutional policing and will not be deterred by this or any other instance that threatens our efforts to reestablish trust of all citizens in the Baltimore Police Department.

John.

BERMAN: All right, Athena, thanks so much. That video is deeply disturbing.

Thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Giuliani now maintaining that the president never had a conversation with James Comey about Michael Flynn.

[07:00:00] RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: They can say it's perjury if they elect to believe Comey instead of Trump.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: I think Omarosa has undercut her own credibility.

OMAROSA, FORMER TRUMP AIDE (ph): This is a White House where everybody lies. You have to have your own back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anti-racist protesters vastly outnumber the white supremacist folks