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New Day Sunday

Pilots Identified In Deadly Spaceship Crash; Tribal Leader Fighters Ready to Strike ISIS; What To Watch For In Midterm Elections; Battling The ISIS Recruiting Machine

Aired November 02, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, are you up bright and early, and you've got a whole extra morning to brag about it.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

PAUL: I'm Christi Paul. It's good to be back with you.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 6:00, 6:00 now. We hate daylight saving time in the spring, but love it in the fall.

PAUL: Listen. We need to start with some overnight developments in the Virgin Galactic disaster want to tell you about, of course, the one that killed a pilot and injured another.

BLACKWELL: We're learning it could take up to a year before investigators learn what happened during Friday's test flight. This space plane broke apart after detaching from the mothership, The White Knight, above the Mojave Desert. Investigators have now identified the two brave pilots on board.

PAUL: Officials say 39-year-old Michael Asbury, who was killed, had nearly 2,000 hours of flight experience.

BLACKWELL: The second pilot, 43-year-old Peter Siebold, survived and is recovering in the hospital. Overnight, the head of the NTSB said critical data on board will likely help answer the question, what went wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER HART, ACTING CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: Because it was a test flight, it was heavily documented in ways we don't normally see. We know of six cameras on the vehicle itself, six non-volatile sources of information on the vehicle itself.

Three cameras on the mothership, the White Knight, telemetry was over 1,000 parameters that will give us extensive information. There was a range camera at Edwards Air Force Base that we'll be using that had visual contact with the aircraft.

The wreckage is located in a large area oriented northeast to southwest about 5 miles from end to end. And when the wreckage is disbursed like that, that indicates the likelihood of in-flight break up.

The question is, have we interviewed the surviving pilot, we have not, because the surviving pilot is not medically -- the doctors do not recommend that we do an interview at this date.

So we are in contact with the surviving pilot's wife, and we don't want to interview that pilot before the pilot is ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Virgin Galactic owner, Richard Branson, of course, is expressing his sympathy to the pilots and also vowing to find answers here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD BRANSON, CEO, VIRGIN GALACTIC: The bravery of test pilots generally cannot be overstated. Nobody underestimates the risks involved in space travel. And we're not going to push on blindly, to do so would be an insult to all those affected by this tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: No doubt investigators have a lot of work, a big job ahead of them as they're trying to comb through these pieces left there on the Mojave Desert floor, they're trying to put together the answer to what happened. What caused something like this?

PAUL: CNN's Stephanie Elam has more from the crash site in the Mojave Desert. Good morning, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've now learned more about the pilots. We can now tell you that the pilot who lost his life, his name was Michael Asbury. He was 39 years old.

The pilot who survived the crashed although he has minor to major injuries, his name is Peter Siebold and he is 43 years old.

At this point, we know that the entire Virgin Galactic community is trying to figure out what happens from here on out. This set back is huge, not just because of the fact that they lost this spacecraft, but because of the loss of life.

So what happens going forward depends upon what the NTSB discovers, now the NTSB did arrive in the desert and they are looking into this crash. This is the first space craft-related crash that they are taking the lead on although they were a part of the "Columbia" crash and the "Challenger crash" as well.

So they said they had a little more than a dozen people that are here and perhaps a little bit more than they would normally have at a plane crash because it is slightly different.

But they are encouraged because it is a test flight that hopefully the data that Virgin Galactic was gathering might help give them clues as to what exactly went on. Now as far as the company is concerned, Sir Richard Branson was here and he did convey concern over the loss of life and what this will mean for the project.

But it was clear that he very much would like to see these commercial flights into space to continue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANSON: Yesterday, we fell short. We'll now comprehensively assess the results of the crash and determine to learn from this and move forward together as a group of friends and a company.

As I say that we owe it to our test pilots to find out exactly what went wrong and once we found out what went wrong, if we can overcome it, we can make absolutely certain that the dream lives on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: At this point, they are really focusing on what went wrong in this accident. And they do plan on moving forward. What that plan looks like going forward, that's what everyone would like to know.

BLACKWELL: All right, Stephanie Elam, thank you so much. And be sure to stay with us. Later this hour, we'll take you inside Virgin Galactic's manufacturing facility.

Earlier this year, CNN's Rachel Crain, got a chance to go into this area where SpaceshipTwo and other space planes are built. We'll take you there.

PAUL: Let's go to Iraq now. Tens of thousands of Sunni tribes say they are ready now and willing to take on ISIS, but they want help from the Iraqi government and the U.S.

A tribal leader says the militants abducted at least 50 of the tribesmen and it's feared they've been killed along with hundreds of others just this week.

CNN's senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is joining us now from Southeastern Turkey. Nick, thanks so much for being with us.

I know that these tribesmen are saying that they need weapons. Is the Iraqi government willing and able to arm them, first of all?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's an extraordinarily complex question, exactly, what the Iraqi government is willing to do. They have on the surface said they need to be behind the movements.

It would be Sunni tribes disgruntled with ISIS running the areas they live in and deciding to rise up and turn against them. That hasn't happened. It's going to be very hard for the Iraqi government to re- establish control over Sunni areas. But the same Sunni areas distrusted the government of Maliki, the former prime minister. The new prime minister, are they able to rebuild that trust? Well, they've been slow, certainly, to do it so far.

So deep concerns unless this tribe near hit in Anbar, who are facing the most pressure at the moment, only this morning through early morning yesterday, 50 tribesmen of theirs were abducted by ISIS and the faces of women and children are unknown.

Unless this tribe and the other tribes contemplating action against ISIS get solid support from the Iraqi government, it will be very hard for them to effectively intervene and this is key to the entire strategy.

If such tribes like this have historically resisted al Qaeda in the past and now feel great anger towards ISIS, that they're left hanging by the Iraqi government that would be a major failing in a potential anti-ISIS strategy in Iraq.

PAUL: So, Nick, what do you think the U.S. can do to provide help in this instance?

WALSH: Well, they might send advisers to Anbar to try and bolster the Iraqi security forces there. They have dropped in 7,000 Halal meals to the area near where these tribes are located to try and assist them with the most immediate humanitarian needs of feeding themselves.

But so long as the U.S. doesn't to put boots on the ground and I think many observers say too that it's going to be dependent on these Sunni tribes and the Iraqi government to get together and decide to push against ISIS themselves.

That, so far, has been an elusive prospect. There is more pressure on everybody to try and push each time reports of massacres like this, these 50 tribesmen make up hundreds who have been disappeared or killed by ISIS in the past week or so in that area.

Each time these reports come through, the urgency mounts. The real question, when (inaudible) concrete action on the ground, each week that slips by without some kind of cohesive strategy makes it so much harder for the reality of a Sunni uprising against ISIS to actually happen in an effective way.

PAUL: All right, Nick Payton Walsh, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, so we're just two days out from the mid-term elections now. We understand life gets busy. There's been a lot going on.

And if you feel like you are a bit out of the loop, we've got you covered. Primer on what's at stake and what the candidates are asking for specifically. Why they want your vote. PAUL: Why it's so important? Do you see that cut on Eric Frein's nose? A U.S. Marshall who helped catch the accused cop killer is now telling us how the guy ended up with that gash.

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BLACKWELL: Welcome back to NEW DAY. It's 12 minutes after the hour now. Let's get you caught up with the "Morning Read."

PAUL: A Marine reservist jailed for seven months in Mexico waking up a free man this morning in the U.S. Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi was home in South Florida yesterday after his release on humanitarian grounds. There he is. His lawyer tells CNN if the case had gone to trial, Tahmooressi would have won.

BLACKWELL: Those cuts on the bridge of accused cop killer, Eric Frein's nose, they got them when a team of U.S. Marshals in Pennsylvania captured him after seven weeks of searching.

Here's the story. One of the marshals who helped detain Frein tells CNN he was found chest down, but looking up. The following protocol, officers forced his face into the asphalt so he couldn't anticipate their next move.

PAUL: Let's talk some biz here, let me ask what would you do with $4 billion? Because that's how much Tuesday's midterm elections are projected to cost. A quarter of it is dark money. That means it was paid by anonymous sources, how about 25 F-18 fighter jets, maybe a grade school for 12,000 students or 100 clinics to treat Ebola.

BLACKWELL: In sports, about 50,000 runners are lacing up right now on Staten Island, the start of the New York City marathon is just about three hours away. Some of the celebrities due to tackle this will 26.2 through the city's five boroughs.

We have tennis star, Caroline Wozniacki, former NFL running back, Tiki Barber, actress, Terri Hatcher and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

PAUL: They're bundling up, too. Is it chilly? Race organizers issued a weather warning. We know meteorologist, Jennifer Gray has that. I do have to give a shout out to my friend, Erica, who is running. Good luck my friend.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good luck to all the runners. Hats off to them. It is going to be cold, already starting out cold with a wind chill. Feels like 35 right now in New York City, but at least we're not dealing with the rain.

All the rain has pushed out of the city. We're dealing with those winds, 15-mile-per-hour winds right now in New York with gusts up to 25.

And that marathon official forecast, here we go, that first wave at 9:40 this morning. Winds will be out of the north-northwest at 22 miles per hour. Temperatures will be at 43. With the winds, it's going to feel much cooler. You get between the buildings and it funnels through as well. It's going to be chilly. Good luck to all the runners.

PAUL: Amen to that. All right, Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: All right, now to politics, midterm elections just two day as way. Polls open on Election Day in about 49 hours. So many races, so close and the prize is control of the Senate, of course.

PAUL: There are so many different ways that this thing can go. So our Tom Foreman has a virtual look at what we really need to watch for come Tuesday.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are three key things we're watching in this midterm and the first is right here in the U.S. Senate. The Democrats have been in charge. We're showing them here in blue along with the two independents caucus with them in purple.

The Republicans are expected to gain some seats here. The Democrats are expected to lose some, but control of this chamber is going to come down to nine or ten very close races and the Democrats have to win six or more of them if they want to remain in power here.

On the other side of the rotunda, the second thing we're looking at, which is the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republicans have had the majority here. That is not expected to change. The question is will they lose some seats or, more likely, will they pick up some, and if so, how?

If they do it with Tea Party help that could set up divisions within the Republican Party that the Democrats might be able to exploit even from their minority position, which brings us to the third thing we're looking at which is the White House reaction to all of this.

If the president comes out swinging over a big loss and he completely alienates the Republicans, they have a perfect excuse then to say we're going to make you the lamest of lame duck presidents with control of both chambers.

If, however, he's too conciliatory toward the Republicans, he could dispirit his own party and that could make it very tough for any other Democrat who wants to win the White House in 2016.

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BLACKWELL: All right. Tom Foreman, we'll have a really interesting conversation with the leader of the college Republicans and the young Democrats. That's coming up later in the show.

They are the millennials who could make a huge difference. So we are going to talk about that and a programming reminder, get all your election night coverage on CNN this Tuesday beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. PAUL: ISIS has become really adept at recruiting fighters. But I know a lot of you are wondering how do they do it so well? We're going to show you how it uses one important tool to look for a cause and why it's so different.

Also, we want to talk about this tragedy at sea. It's off the coast of San Francisco. A rogue wave crashes into a boat full of passengers who apparently were not wearing lifejackets.

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BLACKWELL: It's 21 after the hour now. So many people are asking how is ISIS able to recruit all around the world? Well, we've learned that, you know, one of the effective weapons in their arsenal is the internet.

PAUL: Yes, and the thing is this terror group is mastering art of recruiting fighters from around the world by grabbing their attention like a sci-fi movie. The difference is this is real. Here's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The propaganda videos have all the high production of American TV. Complete with English from a Canadian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I originally come from Canada.

LAH: Even the action movie special effects western audiences know. Then there's this one, a movie trailer. "Coming soon," it ends. While this may verge on near parody, ISIS and its social media message have been surprisingly attractive and effective.

Authorities say Ottawa gunman, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau wanted to go to Syria. He was in the Canadian capital trying to get a passport. It's not yet clear what motivated his attack.

Just days ago three unidentified teenage girls, two age 15 and one 17, after apparently talking online with ISIS recruiters fly from Denver with plans to join ISIS. They're stopped in Germany.

Douglas Macarthur McCain grows up a basketball-loving kid in suburban Minneapolis. He joins ISIS in Syria and died there, all westerners and not isolated cases. Intelligence experts say 1,000 westerners have joined ISIS, more than 100 of them American.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: ISIS is reaching out to people on social media, in real-time, interacting with them in real- time.

LAH (on camera): The way law enforcement has traditionally dealt with homegrown terror, surveillance, busts, indictments, well, here in Southern California Muslim-American leaders say in the age of social media, you simply cannot arrest your way out of this problem. If you want to defeat it, help must come from the community. (voice-over): After the Boston marathon bombing, the Muslim Public Affairs Council rolled out the safe spaces initiative. Modeled after a gang prevention program, the idea is to work on prevention in places like mosques, intervene, and if necessary call the police.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Crazy Loco from Pasadena and Pink Lady.

LAH: These men who claim to be Los Angeles gang members shot video of themselves in Syria fighting for the Assad regime, not ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Still gang banging (inaudible), homey, got the g- dog, homey.

LAH: But the root of the problem is the same, the disenfranchised latching on to a radical idea. Now the community leaders say the U.S. government appears to be changing its strategy.

SALAM AL-MARAYATI, MUSLIM PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL: Surveillance hasn't worked. Profiling hasn't worked. So let's try this.

LAH (on camera): Are you encouraged by that change?

AL-MARAYATI: Yes. Very encouraged, but I just feel like it's not happening fast enough.

LAH (voice-over): ISIS moving at the speed of social media, law enforcement fighting to keep up. Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: In Egypt, a video of a same sex wedding ceremony goes viral. And now eight men face the next three years behind bars.

PAUL: Plus, CNN got access into Virgin Galactic's secretive manufacturing facility. We have a behind the scenes look for you at where this doomed space shift two test planes was built.

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