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New Day Saturday

LAX Shooter in Police Custody; Red Sox Parade Kicks Off; Finding a Fix for Obamacare

Aired November 02, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. 9:00 here on the East Coast. We've got our eye on the big celebration in Boston of course this morning. This is NEW DAY SATURDAY.

But also, Los Angeles International Airport, it is open for business today but it -- it's going to be difficult, an especially difficult day for both the workers and the travelers.

You're looking live at LAX now on the west coast. It is 6:00 a.m.. Yesterday's shooting affected more than 167,000 travelers and LAX will have to cope with flights while Terminal 3 remains shut down.

KOSIK: And CNN's Dan Simon joins me from Los Angeles right now. Good morning to you, Dan. Any idea, at this point when terminal three is going to re-open?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Alison. Just had some passenger ask me that exact question as they were walking the sidewalk here. And to be honest, we don't know when that terminal will re-open.

At one point we were told that passengers would be able to go in this morning and retrieve some of their belongings, you know, all the bags that have been left behind. But that apparently has been put on hold as the FBI still investigates. I should tell you, as for the rest of the airport, it's opening, it's functioning normally. But terminal 3 remains closed.

KOSIK: Dan, are there still signs of yesterday's chaos around the airport? Anything specific that you're seeing?

SIMON: No. I mean, if you look around, it seems to be pretty much normal. We're seeing planes both take off and land. We should point out, though, that we just got updated numbers. We've had more than 1,500 flights impacted in some fashion as a result of the shooting. And that equates to more than 167,000 passengers who were impacted in some fashion. Of course, those who really felt it the most were those who were in terminal 3. I want you to listen now to one person who described the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ran out onto tarmac and away from the - the terminal where the shooting was happening. And as I was running, the police came toward me and, you know, in their cars racing toward me. They jumped out of the cars, pulled their guns, said, hands up. Hands up. Get down on the ground and face down.

I mean, from their perspective, I was the first guy running away from this running across the tarmac which is obviously not normal. So I laid down on the ground. Basically they just came over to me and said, stay down. Stay down. They didn't ask me any questions and put me in handcuffs and basically just said, stay there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: As for the alleged shooter himself, Paul Ciancia, we know that he took several rounds in the chest. At this point we do not have his condition. Alison.

KOSIK: OK. Dan Simon at LAX this morning. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: And we've got new information on the suspect. CNN has learned he may be a conspiracy theorist. Authorities say that they recovered materials from him that contained a rant referencing the new world order which conspiracy theorists believe is an elite group bent on world domination.

This morning the suspect is in police custody. This video, look at it. This was shot exclusively by CNN affiliate, KCAL-KCBS. It shows what appears to be the suspect handcuffed to a gurney arriving at a hospital. Now the FBI has identified the shooter as 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia. He lives in L.A., he's from New Jersey.

Authorities also say materials they found on him expressed anti- government sentiments and anger targeted at the TSA.

KOSIK: And for a lot of people at LAX, the only plan when they heard those gunshots was, run, and run fast. Some had no idea where to go, what to do. Did the airport let them down? Let's ask Edward Miceli. He's an airport safety expert and joins me now from Miami.

Edward, good morning to you. On a scale of one to 10, what do you think? How was the response by LAX security yesterday?

EDWARD MICELI, AIRPORT SECURITY EXPERT: Good morning, Alison. I think the response from one to 10 was actually a 10. Every major airport in the United States has the highest concentration of law enforcement personnel between TSA, local police, and customs and border protection. It's just a matter of seconds before local and law enforcement police can apprehend a suspect.

KOSIK: What should someone do if they're caught in a situation like what happened on Friday?

MICELI: Well, this is a matter of instinct. The first thing that a human being tends to do is actually to take cover and/or to run away perhaps. And in this case, many people decided to start running. And this could be a problem because if you have law enforcement engaging in a shooting with a suspect, there could be stray bullets flying all over and passengers can be hit. But again this is just a matter of how each individual reacts to the specific situation.

KOSIK: How hard do you think it was for the police yesterday in this incident to sort of size up what was going on and try to get control of the situation?

MICELI: The police handled it very, very well. And again, we have to understand and - the public, the general public needs to realize that this is a public place. The incident happened outside the passenger checkpoint security area, also known as a sterile area. So it could have happened at a shopping mall, at a parking lot.

And again, the difference between these two places that I just mentioned and the airport is the fact that local police are there within seconds. And they handled it perfect. From what we have seen on the video shots, they handled it very, very good. And thank god nobody else got injured.

KOSIK: You know, a lot of people are suggesting that the TSA, the officers, should actually be armed. Do you think that's a good solution? But you know, would that create more of a crossfire and possibly ending with more victims if there are more officers with weapons?

MICELI: It's hard to predict. Every law enforcement officer that's trained in weapons handling should know exactly know how to handle not only the weapon but the specific situation. I do believe that customs and border protection agents do have guns and even some TSA officers do carry guns as well. Like I said before, this individual or these individuals have a lot of training, including facing situations that are very critical.

KOSIK: OK. Edward Miceli in Miami, thanks so much for your time.

MICELI: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Hundreds of people, they were caught in the chaos yesterday. We've seen the video. Most of the airport was evacuated. People were not sure what was happening. They just heard, run, get out. They followed the crowd.

Airport officials say more than 1,500 flights and 167,000 passengers were impacted. One of them, Natalie Morin (ph). She was supposed to fly for San Francisco for a grad school interview. The area was evacuated. She was pushed the out of the airport and she took pictures of all the chaos for CNN's I-report. We're fortunate to have Natalie on the phone.

Natalie, could you describe - we're looking at the pictures. Describe the scene in the terminal for us.

NATALIE MORIN (PH), CNN I-REPORTER: Well, I was sitting on the bench outside of my gate. And all the sudden there was a flood of people that came in. And a lot of us thought maybe there's a plane that had just debarked or something. There was no word over the loud speakers or anything, you just heard people saying, shooter, shooter. There's a shooter in the other terminal. And so, we didn't know how to react. A lot of us just kind of got up and were shuffling around. But some people lined up near a gate and thinking that was an exit or lined up near the emergency exit. But honestly, everybody was very confused. And none of the agents who worked there knew what to do.

People were reacting in their own ways. They were either yelling. One person even yelled, bomb. Because they thought the security clicking going off was some kind of threat. And there was some people acting like this was just another LAX inconvenience. And AS for me, I was very scared because I didn't know what was going on. We had no information. And we were finally told to go on the tarmac outside.

And when we saw the helicopters flying overhead and, you know, word that the shooter was still at large, you know, we were - we didn't really know how to react. I took to twitter to see what was going on. But it was definitely a novel experience.

BLACKWELL: We had right before you - I don't know if you heard it, a security expert who rated the law enforcement's response at a 10. You're saying that the officials there at the airport, maybe not law enforcement, just the workers for the airports, that they didn't give you much information you were out on that tarmac how long?

MORIN (PH): I was out on that tarmac for probably about half an hour. Half an hour or a little bit more. And we didn't get word about anything. Any official update until we were taken from the tarmac to a wing of the international airport - I mean the international terminal.

And two hours after waiting in the international terminal, we got one Southwest agent who gave us an update. But honestly, it was a very, very long time. So a lot of people were kept in the dark until then or just heard from word of mouth what was going on.

BLACKWELL: We've been listening to a lot of stories this morning from all of the different perspectives. Natalie Morin (ph), one of our CNN I-reporters. Thank you so much for your story and the photographs. And good luck on your grad school interviews.

MORIN (PH): Thank you.

KOSIK: OK. Next we turn to another big story of the day. The Red Sox victory parade. A live report from Boston coming up next.

BLACKWELL: And one year into his second term, how is President Obama doing? Should his legacy be judged by how well Obamacare does? That conversation ahead with the story and Douglas Brinkley.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: And the crowds I think are getting bigger out there. You're looking at Boston. A live look as they prepare for the Red Sox victory parade this morning.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that win, especially after last season was unexpected. Folks calling it historic. This will be the big celebration as fans line up to celebrate the World Series win in Boston.

KOSIK: So, yes that beginning in less than an hour. The remarkable, historic, unexpected Red Sox World Series parade kicking off. Everybody getting ready. You know, it's really taken on a bigger meaning than just the game of baseball, hasn't?

BLACKWELL: It's true. Today is all about the city healing from April's marathon bombing.

KOSIK: CNN's Alexandra Field is live in Boston now. Alexandra, good morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison. The team is gathered at Fenway right now. They're getting ready to kick off a parade that will take them through the streets of Boston. And check out what is happening on the streets of Boston right now. You can see the fans, they are flooding the streets, they are five, six, seven, eight deep lining Boylston Street out here. They're waiting to catch a glimpse of the world championship team as they make their way through town for this parade that is the excitement around town this morning.

We're also told that the team will stop at the marathon finish line for a tribute to marathon survivors. Here is what one marathon survivor is saying about that this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEATHER ABBOTT, BOMBING SURVIVOR: It felt like, you know, we were a city that had such a tragedy happen. And we were able to kind of be resilient and - and heal over the course of the baseball season coincidentally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: It's important to point out that the spot we're in right now where all these fans are gathering this morning is not far from the spot where those twin explosions happened on marathon Monday. So the fact that so many people are feeling comfortable being out here this morning to celebrate their team, to celebrate their city is a real testament to their resilience and this city's comeback. Alison, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Alexandra Field in Boston, thank you. And of course, we're going to continue to cover the parade live when it starts in just under an hour. And you can also check out the paraded on cnn.com/live.

Still to come on "New Day," the big story still developing overnight. Chaos, and the fear and the confusion. That's how witnesses described the deadly scene at the airport in Los Angeles.

KOSIK: Up next we're going to take you to one of the busiest airports in the world where many people are asking, is airport security tight enough?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's being called Terror in the Terminal. Officials say 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia entered LAX Friday, pulled an assault rifle out of the his bag and started shooting. One person was killed and several others were wounded.

KOSIK: Now some people are asking whether airport security needs to be even tighter. CNN's Nick Valencia is at the world's busiest airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson. Nick, good morning to you. What's security looking like this morning?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison. When we were here yesterday, we saw a lot of airport official quickly scurrying along those who are dropping off friends or family on the side here on the airport but today it seems to be sort of back to normal. In fact, we did a little tour inside there a little while ago. Security lines are moving at a faster than normal pace. And also, if we just step aside and pan out, you can see, Alison and Victor, that traffic here is very light for the world's busiest airport. It's a lighter than normal weekend according to air lines that we've spoken to.

We have talked to passengers that say what happened at yesterday's - what happened at LAX yesterday is definitely impacting their travel plans. Some people are quite nervous actually about traveling this morning. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYMYRA MILINHOUSE, TRAVELER: Hopefully nothing happens. I'm praying that nothing happens and I'm praying for the people over at LAX. It was very tragic what happened. But I think that, as you can see, everyone else is going to continue their flights as well. Hopefully nothing happens and hopefully the nation will be able to come together on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: And people are continuing their flights this morning. Things business as usual here at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Though airport officials do tell us that they've increased the presence of plain clothed officers. So even if we can't see the added beefed-up security, they're telling us it's definitely there. Alison, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Nick Valencia at, as we said, the world's busiest airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson. Thank you very much.

And still to come on "New Day," after an embarrassing start for healthcare.gov, Silicon Valley comes to Washington's rescue. But is the site too far gone to be fixed?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Millions of Americans are visiting healthcare.gov, which is great news. Unfortunately the site was only designed to handle six users at a time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: So it turns out that "SNL" wasn't only funny, but it was right. With the same six users. I can't believe it, you know. Tune to "SNL" for our real news, right?

So we now know that on the day that the Obamacare launched, only six users successfully enrolled in the program.

BLACKWELL: OK. That was day one, six users. Day two, things got better, 248. But I mean, come on, that's barely a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of Americans without health insurance.

KOSIK: I know and CNN money technology correspondent Laurie Segall is following the story. Laurie, you know, part of the problem is just the website. What's being done to fix this thing?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we heard President Obama say he was going to bring the best and the brightest minds from Silicon Valley and now he finally getting an idea of who he brought in. And a lot of Silicon Valley giants, he's brought in Google, he's brought in Red Hat, Oracle, so some of these major Silicon Valley companies that he's expecting folks to come in and fix three things.

Essentially reliability, stability, and scalability. He has one guy they brought in. His name is Michael Dickerson, and Alison, he's a - he works at Google. He's actually a site reliability engineer. He's been there for seven years. He has worked with the Obama campaign before. So what these guys are going to be really doing is just trying to fix these bugs and do it in an efficient and quick way and get the site up and running. Because as we all know there are have been some major, major issues with this.

BLACKWELL: Yes, there are a lot of people wondering where were all of these people in the initial launch of the website. So if this isn't up and running soon, what's the impact?

SEGALL: You know, there could be a huge impact. Our own Wolf Blitzer, he actually spoke to the man who helped design both Obamacare and Romneycare and he asked what would happen if the website isn't up and running by the end of November? Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. JONATHAN GRUBER, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: If the website isn't operating fully for shopping by the end of November, that's a problem. I think these people who have to change policies, many times they are just being asked to change very similar policies with different name or slightly different deductible, but they do need to find them, and I agree. For those people, that minority of people that are seeing these cancellations, I think it would be a problem if it's not up and running by the end of November.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: And I'll say this because we think about Twitter and how it had some trouble scaling and all of us saw that cute little (INAUDIBLE). Well, this is just not the case. You know, people are very upset they can't sign on to the website because they're upset they can't find health insurance plans. The stakes are simply much higher here. And that's why you hear us talking about this more and more.

KOSIK: OK. Laurie Segall, thanks.

BLACKWELL: Excitement brewing in Boston. Yes, the much-anticipated Red Sox World Series parade starts in a little more than 30 minutes. Security, of course, is a priority. And the streets are expected to be packed. You can see people right now showing up already at Fenway Park.

More than three million fans showed up for their parade back in 2004. And of course stay with us because we're going to cover the parade when it kicks off at 10:00 Eastern and you can also check it out on cnn.com/live.

KOSIK: Say you're heading out to the parade, what is the weather going to look like? Let's ask meteorologist Alexandra Steele. Good morning, Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, good morning. A beautiful day for a parade. No question about it. Right now, 56 degrees. That's warmer than your average high this time of year. 64 this afternoon. You were in the 70s yesterday. 60s today. And beautiful conditions.

The front moves through and tomorrow temperatures drop into the 40s. So beautiful day today. Much cooler tomorrow. And Monday, 42 degrees. So you guys, beautiful afternoon, no question about it. Cloudy skies. Peaks of sun throughout the day. But very comfortable temperatures.

KOSIK: Couldn't ask for anything better.

BLACKWELL: Yes, really nice. Alexandra Steele, thank you so much.

Let's take a live look again at Boston. Because we are just about 30 minutes from the start of this celebration. This is the celebration for the Boston Red Sox winning the world series. Of course, they broke the curse back in 2004 and then won again in 2007. But this is the first time since 1918 -

KOSIK: And this parade route is going to pause at the marathon finish line and go passed it.

BLACKWELL: First time since 1918 that they've won at home, at Fenway Park. We had a conversation with Joe Castiglione, the voice of the Red Sox and we'll try to catch them and bring it to you. KOSIK: All right. Thanks for watching today. We're going to see you back here at the top of the hour.

BLACKWELL: But first, World series of poker champion, Annie Duke, takes a seat at Washington's highest stakes negotiation table. "Your Money" starts now.