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New Day Sunday

Search and Recovery Continues for Flight 8501; Funerals of Police Officer Wenjian Liu; Mike Huckabee Makes First Step as Potential Presidential Candidate

Aired January 04, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: New overnight, more bodies were found and nine victims have now been identified including the flight attendant who wasn't wearing a seatbelt.

Why these new developments could be key in telling us what happened to AirAsia Flight 8501.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, police officers from around the country will pay the respect this morning to one of the two officers gunned down in New York while sitting in their police cruiser.

BLACKWELL: Also this morning, the NTSB heads to the crash site in Kentucky where a plane went down killing four people onboard. Will they learn how a seven-year-old girl miraculously walked away?

PAUL: Well, I hope Sunday's been good to you so far, though it's early.

BLACKWELL: Which is the few hours early.

PAUL: Yeah, this hour. I'm Christi Paul, we are glad to have you.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. 6:00 here on the East Coast, and this morning the waters of the Java Sea are offering up new clues into what could have happened to AirAsia flight 8501 and would cause it to fall out of the sky with 162 passengers and crew on board.

PAUL: Yeah, the clues are coming in from the victims that are being recovered as well as the debris from that plane. Here's what we know this morning. Three more bodies have now been found, which means 34 victims are recovered.

BLACKWELL: Also, the search area is widening. Let's take a look here. You can see it here. It's been extended eastward. And that's because searchers say objects and bodies that may now be drifting with the current.

PAUL: This is new video I want to show you here of what we received overnight. Search teams as they prepare to go back out. We're also learning three more bodies have now been identified as well. So again that brings the total to nine.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Gary Tuchman is in the Indonesian city of Surabaya where AirAsia flight 8501 took off one week ago.

Gary, tell us more about these victims who have just been identified. What are we learning about them?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. We're now at a total as you say, of nine victims being identified. And one of the victims identified today, a few days ago we interviewed a young man named Eric. Eric had six relatives on the plane. He had his grandmother. He had an aunt and uncle. And he had three cousins. While his aunt was found and identified yesterday and today one of his cousins was identified. A little girl, a ten-year-old Stevie. She was identified because her relatives here said that she was wearing one of her favorite shirts, a Minnie Mouse shirt and her body was found. She was wearing a Minnie Mouse shirt. And it's chilling (INAUIDBLE) when you talk about that.

In addition to the discovery, and the identification of Stevie, an identification was made today for a second flight attendant, one of the male flight attendants. There were four female flight attendants, one male flight attendant. So, now two flight attendants have been identified. Keep in mind, only nine people of the 162 people on the plane have been identified. Two of them are flight attendants, which leads to the possibility that these flight attendants, as would be customary, might not have had their seatbelts on because they are working on the plane. There might have been turbulence at the time. And it's very likely that passengers were asked to put seat belts on. But often, flight attendants don't have the seatbelts on because they're making sure other people do, and the bodies that have been found, the bodies that floated away from the plane. Thee of the other people that have been recovered, a total of 31 people official total right now have been recovered were found still in their seats, the seats got away from the plane. And they were still strapped to their seats. Authorities here, Victor and Christi, do believe that most of the people who still need to be recovered are in their seats in the plane but they haven't been able to get to that plane yet even though the water is not that deep. It's only about 100 feet deep.

BLACKWELL: Gary, we know the black boxes, they have not yet been found or recovered. But the pieces, and even the victims here, they offer some clues of possibly what happened, what caused this crash. What are investigators learning from what they found thus far?

TUCHMAN: Well, they're learning a lot. And that's because five large pieces of the plane have been found. The largest is 60 feet long. So, keep in mind, that's like the size from the ground to a six story building. It's a huge piece. And also as we said, the bodies have been found intact. And it's believed bodies are still in their seats. That indicates to Indonesian officials that this plane did not explode in the sky. There wasn't a rapid depressurization, which would have blown the plane to lots of little pieces and they believe, they don't know for sure, and they won't know for sure until at least until they find the two black boxes, but they believe right now that there was engine failure due to icing which caused a stall which caused the plane to go down very fast to the water. That's what they think. That's what they -- that the evidence, that's what the evidence points to right now. Like you said, they haven't heard any of the pingers. They haven't got to the black boxes yet. Most batteries on the pingers which get you the black boxes, are only designed to last for 30 days from the time of the accident. And that was exactly a week ago today. So it was only 23 days more battery power left.

BLACKWELL: And hopefully the weather continues to at least today it seems as if it cooperated in this search. Hopefully there are some more clear days ahead. Gary Tuchman in Surabaya for us, Gary, thank you.

PAUL: And search and rescue teams have extended the zone that they're scouring for flight 8501. I want to talk to aviation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo. Mary, good morning to you. Thank you for being with us.

I want to talk about this priority search area again. It does remain the same. But I want to throw a map up here. So can see - the red zone where four large metal objects were found yesterday, that's there. But officials extended the search zone you see there to the east. That's the red box to the right. Based on predictions that wreckage has drifted with those currents. I'm wondering that we just heard Gary Tuchman say they believe that this belly of the plane in some ways is intact and that people are left in their seats there and that's where they are. Is it wise to extend that search zone? Would the belly of the plane, if it is in a large piece, would it have drifted much, Mary?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Right. Well, the belly of the plane, the large piece would not have drifted. That will be resting on the ocean floor. But they have to extend the search area because of the currents. As the days go by, the possibility of finding bodies and where they will find bodies will expand with the expansion of the - basically the float zones or the current zones of the water. So they have to do that to make sure they don't miss recovering any of the bodies or pieces of plane that may have floated. But at this point the pieces of the plane other than a few objects will largely have sunken to the bottom and bodies will be sinking at this point as well.

So they're going to have to look on the shores as well and they could enlist the population as well to be on the lookout on the shores. But the big pieces of the plane will remain on the ocean floor where they are. They won't move around at this point.

PAUL: OK. I want to talk about something else that Gary mentioned. This report that they suspect icing might have been the culprit here. That the engine had failure due to icing. If that is the case, if that's what they're examining now, does that modify the investigation in any way?

SCHIAVO: No, not really. Because it's not just the icing that brings down the plane. They're pretty tough planes. They can take, it can still fly with some icing on it. What would have happened is you would still have the aerodynamic stall meaning that the plane can't move forward. And there were also reports of the dramatic climb in altitude and then a rapid dissent which could have also caused an engine flame out. Or loss of your engines. So, for whatever reason, they believe that there was an aerodynamic stall which would result in the plane plummeting to earth. So, they are going to approach the investigation either way. Because what they're going to be looking for is, you know, what happened, caused it to stall. And that will be, if that's what happened, that will be clearly delineated on the black boxes, on the flight data recorder and probably even on warning sounds in the cockpit, warning alarms that would have gone off on the cockpit voice recorder - recording.

PAUL: All right. Mary Schiavo, we appreciate it so much. Thank you. And just to let you know, Mary is going to be back next hour. So, we have more that we can talk to her about. If you have any questions, just go ahead and tweet it to us. We want to make sure we get your questions the answer.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, the hashtag 8501qs. And we'll get through as many as we can.

You know, weather has played such a major role in not we believe thus far, investigators believe in the crash, but also in the search. So let's talk of meteorologist Karen Maginnis for the latest on the search conditions. Because we've got new video of the waves, and it shows the dangerous condition of the water. It's improving, but still it's not calm enough for divers, Karen. On the surface it appears better. Not underneath. Tell us more about what the search crews are dealing with.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Christi and Victor, you are absolutely right. I was just speaking with my meteorologist producer and we were looking at the data. There are white caps. The seas are still rough. They may not be 13 to 18 feet like we had been seeing over the previous week. But they're still pretty rough. We're looking at about eight to ten foot wave heights here. So this is not conducive for as thorough a search as they would like to do. A forecast had been for improving weather. It has improved. But this is far, far from ideal conditions. There's also a pretty heavy current here. The water is fairly shallow. And so, you get this movement of water moving between these two pieces of landmass. And so it can be fairly stiff. And this area that they're searching, as I mentioned, we were looking at white caps. And it looks like the wave heights picked up and then we're in monsoon season.

So, to forecast in between the showers is extraordinarily difficult. There you can see just how troublesome this would be, not just for the ocean going vessels, but for the helicopters and the aircraft in the skies. Although it does look to be a little bit better. We know at the time of the crash we were looking at monsoon thunderstorms, heavy precipitation thunderstorms which would make visibility very poor and the forecast is come and go. It's good and bad. And the wind looks to be between five and ten miles an hour, occasionally gusty. That's what they don't want right now, Christi and Victor. I wish I had some better news in the forecast. It's just not there.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, so do all those search teams. Karen Maginnis, thank you so much.

PAUL: We know today it's going to be a sea of dark blue filling the streets of New York. Of course, talking about police officers who are preparing to say good-bye to one of their comrades who people respect Police Commissioner Bill Bratton's call to respect today's services.

BLACKWELL: Plus, she survived the unthinkable. A seven-year-old girl, she not only survived the plane crash, but she got up and she walked away from this crash after both of her parents were killed. We're learning more about how that happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Look at this, mourners gathering last night for a ceremonial burning of paper and money, this was to honor Officer Wenjian Liu. The tradition is considered a way to pay it forward to the diseased. I didn't know about that. You are seeing it there

And you know this morning thousands are going to gather in Brooklyn as they say there are official good-byes to Officer Liu, one of two officers ambushed and killed by a lone gunman in the streets of New York. Now, later this morning, Liu is going to be laid to rest at a funeral in Brooklyn. I want to show you the scene yesterday as police officers lined those streets. This was during a private wake. Among those in attendance, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. Well, today, as the community prepares to say good bye, both officers are being remembered as men who loved their community and loved their job. CNN's Randi Kaye has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were partners on patrol, Officer Wenjian Liu, a seven-year veteran of the NYPD and Officer Raphael Ramos who first joined the department in 2012. Both were assigned to the 84 precinct in downtown Brooklyn.

Officer Ramos worked as a school security officer before joining the NYPD and reportedly loved the Mets. He was married with two children. Officer Liu who was 32 had been married just a couple of months, described by some around the neighborhood as quiet and in love. His parents are from China and according to media reports, he was their only son. One friend of Liu's summed up his passion for police work in "The New York Times." "I know that being a cop is dangerous, but I must do it." Officer Liu had said. If I don't do it and you don't do it, then who is going to do it?" Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: You know, Officer Liu was just 12 years old when his parents immigrated to the United States from China. Today's funeral services will combine traditions from his Chinese heritage including Buddhist monks. Now, as we mentioned, mourners gathered yesterday for that ceremonial burning of paper and money, the tradition consider it a way to pay it forward for the deceased.

Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is sending a stern message to the force. He's requested that police officers show respect despite ongoing anger toward Mayor de Blasio. You'll remember, police turned their backs on the mayor two weeks ago during the funeral for Officer Ramos. Now, let's talk more with CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes.

Tom, you've attended these ceremonies. With so many people there often logistics can get in the way of the mood, the message. What is it like? Tell us what that experience is like.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Victor, it's usually pretty emotional and especially, you know, for all of the police that attend these, it's a very emotional type setting for them to be at and honor their fallen officer and especially, you know, if an officer - It's hard enough if it's a colleague that, you know, dies of natural causes. But if it's an officer who is fallen in the line of duty, especially at the hands of a murderer, it's even more so.

BLACKWELL: Tom, we talked about just for a moment there the police commissioner Bill Bratton issued that memo to officers Friday requesting respect at this weekend's services saying that it's for grieving not for airing grievances. Do you expect that there will be any display despite that request from the commissioner?

FUENTES: I don't think there will today. And I think that those words coming from the commissioner will have, I believe, will have an impact. Simply because the commissioner is not a politician. He's not just saying it for political purposes. He's been there. He worked his way up as a street cop. Long career, distinguished career in law enforcement. I think that even younger officers that don't remember what it was like for Commissioner Bratton or guys like me that were on the street as uniformed cops in the '70s, it was a very difficult time. We were spat on, we were called pigs, there was huge disrespect for authority. This was, you know, the Vietnam War protests and anti-government, anti-authority protests were in full swing. And law enforcement was very disrespected. So he's been there. He's been in the situation of being on the street as a cop in difficult times. And I think that alone will earn him a great deal of respect from the officers that work for him.

BLACKWELL: Help us understand what the officers are thinking about - you were in the uniform in the police department. When something like this happens, of course, we know that it's an inherently dangerous job. But does that change the approach to the job? Is there a heightened sense of sensitivity or fear?

FUENTES: No. Because this happens on a regular basis. So you can't. You know, you're taught in the academy. I was 21 years old when I went through the police academy. You're taught all the many different ways you can be killed. All of the cautions you should take. All of the efforts you should make to try to control situations when you're on the street and exposed like you are in uniform. Walking around, riding around, sitting around, whatever. You're still a target if somebody wants to make you one. And you learn all of that. And you're taught all of that. It doesn't cripple you. If it does, get out of the profession. So, you know, there's a reasonable fear. There is a reasonable precaution that you take, reasonable approach to dealing with all people under all circumstances. And, you know, these things occur on such a regular basis that you just can't, you know, and even when something happens and you say OK I'm going to be more careful, you know, really after a few days, it goes back to normal. Your normal training, your normal reactions to situations come back.

BLACKWELL: All right, Tom, the funeral for Officer Liu is at 11:00 this morning. This now part of the national conversation, of course, after those two officers were killed in the cruiser. We'll continue to talk throughout the morning about not just the officer experience, but what the deaths of these two officers means to the larger law enforcement community. Tom, thanks.

FUENTES: Thank you, Victor.

PAUL: So, we do want to get you caught up with the morning read as well. Other things that are going on.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, 20 minutes after the hour. The first African- American ever to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate has died. Edward Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts was regarded as a trailblazer on both sides of the aisle. President Obama hailed Brooke as someone who led -- this is a quote, "an extraordinary life of public service." Brooke passed away of natural causes yesterday morning at his home in Florida. He was 95 years old.

PAUL: And New York Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke publicly for the first time about his father's death. He spoke to reporters yesterday outside the wake for one of the two NYPD police officers who were fatally shot last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK: And today is not the day for my dad. We're going to have his wake and his funeral. But I can say I miss him already. There is a hole in my heart that I fear is going to be there forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Mario Cuomo served three terms as governor of New York. He died Thursday at the age of 82 - with his family.

BLACKWELL: Certainly. Certainly. Mike Huckabee, will he be the choice for 2016? The former Arkansas governor has ended his weekend program on Fox News. That happened last night because he's actively contemplating another run for the White House. Huckabee said his presidential consideration put the network in a tough position so he decided to halt the program. He's expected to make an official decision this spring. And of course, we'll have more coverage on Huckabee. We'll talk about it later in the hour.

PAUL: And in sports, the Carolina Panthers knocked the Arizona Cardinals out of the playoffs yesterday. Historic 27-16 wild card win here. According to ESPN, the Panthers held Arizona to 78 yards. That is the fewest yards ever allowed in an NFL postseason game. And in the second wild card matchup, Victor?

BLACKWELL: The Baltimore Ravens rolled over the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-17 to advance in the playoffs. Go ahead.

PAUL: NFL action continues today with the Cincinnati Bengals facing off with the ending with Colts at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. I just wanted to give you your glory there for a minute.

BLACKWELL: Thank you for that. Thank you.

Still, this fan chicken watched those - and packed them away for next season.

Severe weather causing problems across the country especially the Deep South. Where at least one possible tornado touched down ripping part power lines and trees in Bailey, Mississippi. Look at this. Huge mess here. Good news is no reports of any serious injuries.

PAUL: A terribly brave little girl, that's how a man who lives here in the Kentucky wilderness as you see here in his house describes the seven-year-old who knocked on his front door yesterday after she walked away from a plane crash that killed her family. We have more of this amazing story of survival for you coming up. Stay close

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Investigators are expected to head out again this morning to the scene of yesterday's fatal plane crash in Kentucky that both led to tragic and miraculous endings. Four people were killed and when this twin engine piper went down in rugged terrain. You see the plane here, and then there was this girl, her mom and dad, sister and a cousin perished, but the seven-year-old girl managed to save herself. National reporter Nick Valencia talked with a man who found this terribly brave little girl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At home in rural Kentucky, Larry Wilkins finished watching the local evening news when his dog started barking.

LARRY WILKINS, FOUND 7-YEAR OLD SURVIVOR: I went to the door and there was a little girl, about seven-year-old girl crying, not bad. Her lips was quivering pretty good, and she was pretty bloody. She had a bloody nose and her arms and legs were scratched up real bad. And she told me that her mom and dad was dead.

VALENCIA: The 7-year-old is the only survivor from a Friday night plane crash. Her mom, dad, sister and cousin dead after their small twin engine piper traveling from Florida crashed in the woods of western Kentucky. The fact the little girl survived is all the more incredible, Wilkins says, when considering what she had to do to get help.

WILKINS: She just walked three quarters of a mile through very, very rough territory and she was barefooted. She had one sock on her foot and that was all. And she was dressed for Florida, wearing shorts and light - just sort of blouse, no coat. VALENCIA: Wilkins said the 7-year-old likely spotted a light on at

his house and made her way towards it. A Kentucky state police officer who also helped the little girl seemed to speak for most when he said --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just really a miracle.

WILKINS: If you could see the terrain, you would realize how incredible it really was. She's a terribly brave little girl. I'll tell you that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: On Saturday the 7-year-old girl was released from the hospital and is expected to survive her nonlife threatening injuries. Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.

BLACKWELL: All right, Nick, thank you so much. Hey, next hour, we're going to talk with an aviation expert about what the NTSB will be looking for as the investigators head back to the crash scene this morning. And as we have said, some very rugged terrain. Stay with us for that.

PAUL: So let's move on to 8501 here. What happens once they actually find that missing airliner? How do you raise a plane from the bottom of the sea? We're talking to ocean experts David Gallo about that and about why in day eight, they still have not found the biggest chunk of this plane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The latest now on the hunt for the wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501 and its 162 passengers and crew.

PAUL: And this morning searchers have now recovered three more bodies from the murky waters of the Java Sea, which brings the total number of victims found to 34.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, and three more bodies have also been identified. One is that of a ten-year-old girl, you see her at the bottom of the screen with her family. Her nickname was Stevie.

PAUL: And the search continues. Indonesian officials say there is a very strong possibility that the plane's engine iced due to weather and that the icing is what led to the aircraft stalling. They say they cannot, however, confirm that without the black boxes which we do need to point out are still missing. So, as more victims and debris are found and recovered in the waters off Indonesia, it seems more and more likely that search crews ultimately will find flight 8501 at the bottom of the Java Sea. This is a relatively shallow body of water, about 100 to 150 feet deep, hopefully making the search and the salvage operation easier. But there are risks here. CNN's Joe Johns reports on what it may take to recover the plane from the sea floor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How do you pull a plane up from the bottom of the ocean?

PETER GOETZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: What you want to do first is to really map the entire accident scene.

JOHNS: We spoke with Peter Goetz, a former investigator with NTSB who worked on the recovery and rebuilding of TWA flight 800 that crashed after takeoff from New York City.

GOETZ: And you document everything until you really get the information off the data recorder and the voice recorder.

JOHNS: He says the site needs to be treated like a crime scene and mapping the debris field before removing objects could be key to finding out what happened. Then come the process of pulling up the giant pieces of debris from the bottom of the sea.

GOETZ: You would have a number of lifting cranes and you would have teams of divers. And the divers, of course, even working at 100 foot depth, you'll have to have decompression chambers.

JOHNS: A potentially slow process because divers can only remain at depth for short periods due to health concerns. But does Indonesia have the knowhow to carry off a recovery effort like this? There are still questions about the location of all the debris.

DAVID GALLO, WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE: It seems like a fairly small body of water, but when you are out there, it's huge.

JOHNS: David Gallo with Woods Holes Oceanographic.

GALLO: Usually you're extremely careful not to say that you found something until you ground truth it.

JOHNS: Woods Hole participated in the recovery effort in the crash of Air France flight 447 off Brazil's northeastern coast. Whose black boxes took almost two years to recover? Footnoting what a painstaking process this can be. Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Hey, we have got David Gallo of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with us now. David, you know, the poor visibility, strong currents in the Java Sea. Weather is better today, but still not great. It is causing so much of a problem to find what is left of this plane. How much more difficult does it become as the days go on and on to find maybe the smaller pieces of this plane?

GALLO: Sure. Well, for the families involved, it's painfully difficult. Every minute that goes by is painful, let alone long days, but you know, even out there as part of the team, you feel that pressure. You want to be able to bring some closure to these families even though it's not much.

So, it does. The teams get out of rhythm. You just can't start and stop without disrupting. Because you want to be going 24/7 every single day. And this has been very disruptive so far. BLACKWELL: Yeah, you know, our Gary Tuchman, I'm not sure if you

heard his report, but he's there in Surabaya. And the Indonesian government, an agency says that aides concluded there is a very strong possibility the engine iced due to the weather there. And then the engine stalled. And then the plane crashed. Based on the limited clues and the black box has not been found. What we know and what has been found thus far, do you believe that the pieces and the clues correspond with that conclusion?

GALLO: Well, still, you know, you know, we don't have enough - I don't think enough evidence to say that. But certainly a possibility. And that just underscores the need to find those black boxes as soon as possible. So, two things are going on. One is finding and retrieving the bodies, two is the keep going on the investigation about why this plane crashed.

BLACKWELL: So, and there is recovery of bodies. We know that another flight attendant has been found. Another person who was apparently not wearing a seatbelt when this plane went down. Others have been found reportedly strapped into seats. Does that lead to any conclusion or any theory about what caused the plane to go down? Or is it still too early?

GALLO: Yeah, I know, Victor, you know, it does seem to lead to the conclusion that maybe this was an attempted landing on the surface of the ocean. But, you know, again, I think for me, it's a little bit too early to say.

BLACKWELL: All right. David Gallo, helping us understand what it takes to bring up these pieces and to find them and what they could possibly tell us about why the plane went down. David, thanks.

GALLO: You're very welcome, Victor.

PAUL: We want to get you your top five stories that you need to know on this new day. Number one, North Korea. It is slamming the U.S. regarding this new economic sanctions that have been imposed. Official statements accuse Washington of trying to "stifle Pyongyang and warn that, I'm quoting here, "groundlessly stirring up bad blood for North Korea would only harden its will and resolution." Now, Washington cracked down after concluding that North Korea was behind a massive hack at Sony Pictures which produced, of course, "The Interview," that comedy about a plot to kill North Korea's leader.

BLACKWELL: Number two now, later this morning, friends, family, fellow officers will gather in New York to say good-bye to Officer Wenjian Liu. He was one of the two police officers ambushed, shot and killed by a lone gunman back in December. Now yesterday police lined the streets during his wake. Today's ceremony though is expected to include traditions from Liu's Chinese heritage including Buddhist monks.

PAUL: Number three, jury selection in the trial of the Boston American terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev begins tomorrow. The 20- year old is accused of being a willful conspirator in destruction and the deadly attack that killed three people, you remember, and injured 264 others back in April of 2013. Now, Defense attorney has adjusted - he was controlled by his older brother Tamerlan who was killed in a confrontation with police three days after that bombing.

BLACKWELL: Four now, an American health care worker who had -- was being characterized as high risk exposure to Ebola in West Africa is due to arrive in the U.S. today. The patient will be treated at Nebraska Medical Center. It's just one of four U.S. hospitals with the biocontainment units. The facility's director said the patient who was working in Sierra Leone is not sick and not contagious.

PAUL: Number five, if you have not opened the door yet to let the dog out, and go out for a morning stroll. Bundle it up, people. Severe cold front pushing east threatening to bring what could be the coldest temperatures this winter. For instance, Minneapolis and Chicago, you folks, temperatures in the next few days could feel 20 to 30 degrees -- below zero! Ouch.

BLACKWELL: It take more than the robe when you head out this morning.

The former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has left his Fox News TV show that happened last night. Why? Well, he's contemplating another run for president. We'll talk about that in a moment. Plus, New York City says good-bye to one of its police officers at a ceremony as we said, to honor Wenjian Liu starts in a just a few hours. We're going to speak with the funeral director in just a few moments. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: So, Mike Huckabee is considering another run at the White House nearly seven years after bowing out of the 2008 presidential campaign. The former Arkansas governor ended his weekend program on Fox News last night so he can contemplate throwing his hat back in the ring. Huckabee said his presidential consideration put the network in a tough position. So he decided to halt his program. CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter joins me now for more. Good morning to you, Brian. So ...

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

PAUL: Things are heating up. We have got former, you know, Florida Governor Jeb Bush announcing that he decided to actively explore a presidential bid. Now Huckabee. Do you think that Huckabee had to leave that show before he announces whether he's going to run?

STELTER: He did. Partly because it's a policy of Fox News, which makes sense across the board. That if you're getting active about a presidential run or any political run, if you form an exploratory committee, for example, then you have to leave the network. A couple of months ago Ben Carson severed his ties with Fox because he's been contemplating a run and now Huckabee is doing the same. And there was some pressure on Huckabee and Fox to bring this to some sort of end. But it was still a surprise last night when he decided to announce this at the end of his show. It wasn't really previewed many hours ahead of time. He's not announcing a run today. He's not forming an exploratory committee. He said he's not going to make any decision until the end of the spring, until late spring, but now he can more actively talk to potential supporters, potential donors and that won't be awkward given his day job at Fox.

PAUL: What do you think needs to happen in order for him to run?

STELTER: You know, he had a very successful run in Iowa in 2008. And then his campaign sputtered after that. He decided not to run in 2012. So what he has to figure out in the next few months, is whether he can expand beyond Iowa, whether he can win enough social conservatives in other key early states in order to mount a run and whether the financial support is there to do so. But even the possibility does shake up the race. Because there are lots of other potential candidates all looking at each other trying to decide who's going to get in this race. They have to consider Huckabee's contribution as well. I don't think Huckabee was going to walk away from a hefty salary at Fox if he wasn't very serious about running.

PAUL: But I would think so. And there is this new CNN/ORC poll out there, Jeb Bush, the clear Republican presidential front-runner. He took nearly one quarter, 23 percent of Republicans who were surveyed, Huckabee trails in that particular poll in fourth with six percent. You know, you just mentioned that you don't think he would have left that lucrative salary and that, you know, what a lot of people are saying hey he has got 1.3 million people watching him. So, he has got a great audience there.

STELTER: Yeah, he sure does.

PAUL: What do you think - Yeah, I mean what do you think, looking at this poll was his motivation?

STELTER: He has, like you said, 1.3 million viewers a week. So, he had a platform that many of his rivals must have been envious of.

PAUL: Yeah.

STELTER: You know, too. Be on Fox every week, speaking to the conservative base was very valuable for Huckabee. He also has a new book coming out later this month. And that book tour will double as a sort of potential campaign tour for him to get some new practice out there on the road courting potential voters. But that poll is crucial to show Jeb Bush so far ahead of the rest of the pack is significant. Although I would say on the other hand, he's been getting a lot of press attention lately. Bush getting a lot of press attention lately and oftentimes these polls can change quite a bit based on whose name is being mentioned most often. Huckabee has a long standing amount of support among social conservatives. And that is what he would be tapping into, especially in Iowa in other early states.

PAUL: So do you think that maybe give me the one or two things you think that Huckabee has going for him as opposed to Jeb Bush that may have really encouraged this move by him.

STELTER: I felt even on his show last night what we saw from Huckabee was his Foxy style that appeals to lots and lots of voters. He was playing guitar with the band in the second to last segment on the show, and then shaking hands with his studio audience right after he made his announcement. He said as we say in television, stay tuned. There is more to come.

(LAUGHTER)

STELTER: So he's come awfully close already to saying that he does want to put his hat in the ring.

PAUL: All right. Brian Stelter, always good to see you. Thank you for being with us this morning.

STELTER: You too. Thanks.

PAUL: Sure.

BLACKWELL: Well, this morning police officers from across the country will pay their respects to one of the comrades, their comrades in New York. We'll talk to the funeral director where today's service will take place for Officer Wenjian Liu.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: You know, his family, the Officer Wenjian Liu, his family says that he had his dream job that's at least according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who attended yesterday's private wake. Liu is one of two officers ambushed and gunned down in the streets of New York last month. But today the funeral for Officer Liu is expected to include traditions from his Chinese heritage we've heard including Buddhist monks. You see here this was the scene last night as mourners gathered at a candlelight vigil. Joining us now over the phone is Joe Iavoli (ph), he is the funeral director where today's service will take place. I know you've got a busy morning ahead of you. So, I think you can speak with us this morning. Can you walk us through what we expect during today's funeral service?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, good morning. And it's a shame that it's this horrible tragedy that brought me here this morning. And all of our hearts and our condolences should be with the Liu family and the family of Officer Ramos and the entire New York City police department as well.

BLACKWELL: Absolutely. What is going to happen today at this funeral?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, all throughout the day yesterday and also this morning there will be ceremonial burning of replicas of worldly possessions made out of mostly paper and cardboard. We have a fireplace in the building and family members and friends will be taking part burning those items. Also there's a table in front of the deceased with food items, most of the food groups are represented. And those are placed there for the sustenance of deceased as he rises up in the afterlife.

BLACKWELL: You know, what we saw last week was the tens of thousands of officers were outside of the church there in Queens. And it was packed inside. How many are you expecting today? I understand that this family is asking for their privacy, but I'm sure that the funeral home will be filled, the church there will be filled. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. I expect to have about 600 in the building

and the police department is expecting anywhere from 20 to 25,000 outside of the building.

BLACKWELL: What about security? Is that something you're concerned about? And what security like at the funeral home?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, not at all. And credit should go to Tony Giorgio, who's the head of the ceremonial unit of the New York City police department as well as the community affairs division. Because they're really responsible for coordinating an event of this size. And without them, none of this would nearly be possible. It's a monumental task considering size and the scope of all this. And the pressure that they're under considering that they just lost two of their own.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, great loss not only for the officers, but for the city of New York. We saw that outpouring for Officer Ramos. We just saw some photographs of the mayor and the governor and police commissioner at the wake yesterday. Joe, I'm sure that all the people who are there who are attending today appreciate your service that you're offering for - for this officer. Thank you so much for spending a little time with us this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Take care.

BLACKWELL: You as well. And we'll have live coverage of the funeral beginning next hour. So stay with us.

PAUL: We are hearing new theories from Indonesian officials that we haven't heard before. They say now they may know what caused AirAsia flight 8501 to fall out of the sky. We'll tell you what they are saying and, of course, as more bodies are recovered. The black boxes are still missing along with it some answers. We're going to take you live to Indonesia at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: We are now to the CNN series "Ones to Watch" and the world of street art.

PAUL: Yeah, and this week's edition, we're going to go to Portugal with you to meet an artist making it big with an unusual set of tools, let's say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was always interested at this idea of you being something that destroys the city, that defaces the city, that thinks very well of the urban space that we're in.

I started to realize that I didn't want to paint over and to be one more layer on all these layers that are building up on the city every day. On a wall sometime you just need a tiny spark that ignites the explosion. It brings all these layers from 50 years ago back to the present. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Veels (ph) works with a licensed pyrotechnician

attaching calculated measures of dynamite to a drawing on a wall. Today he's working with an electric drill to carve out the face of a man he encounter in Lisbon a few months ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The idea is to sort of - you know, you keep on the everyday mural and you give him the space in the city, but it's also to make them invisible visible in a way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His recent solo show at a contemporary art museum in Lisbon was a sellout. And he's following on social media as rapidly rising.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think social media plays a really big role because it makes a link between you and your work and what you want to communicate about your work directly to the people that follow it.

As an artist that works in the public space and mostly seen as an outcast or someone that is defacing or taking value out of a place where he needs to form - makes you be an outsider. This makes you also look to different things that people usually do. For me, I think it was the catalyst to make me realize things in a different way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And you can watch the full episode at CNN.com/onestowatch.

PAUL: We are so glad to spend part of the morning with you here.

BLACKWELL: We've got more ahead on the next hour of your "NEW DAY", which starts right now.

New overnight, more bodies are found and nine victims have been identified including a flight attendant who was not wearing a seat belt. Why these new developments could be key in telling us what happened to AirAsia flight 8501.

PAUL: And police officers from across the country are paying their respects this morning to one of the two of officers gunned down in New York while they were simply sitting in a police cruiser.

All that more coming up for you here, but we're so grateful for your company as always on a Sunday morning. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. 7:00 exactly here on the East Coast.