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New Day Sunday

MH370 Interim Report Reveals Chaos, Confusion; Police: Teen Killed By Officer Was Unarmed; Obama Speaks Out on Clinton's Emails; Nemtsov Murder Suspects in Court

Aired March 08, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with breaking news. So grateful to have your company as always. I'm Christi Paul.

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Joe Johns, in for Victor Blackwell.

PAUL: Yes, chaos, confusion and human error.

JOHNS: We're learning new information about missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Today marks the one year mark since the Boeing 777 disappeared with 239 people on board. A new report from the Malaysian government was just released.

Here's some of the important findings. There's no evidence that the pilots or the crew were unstable.

PAUL: The pinger batteries on the underwater locator beacon had already expired because of a maintenance mix-up. That would have helped find obviously the flight data recorder.

JOHNS: Officials say there's no evidence of any unusual engine behavior and during the flight's final hours there was chaos, confusing communication between radar operators and air traffic control.

PAUL: Listen, we're going to take a look at the report in a minute, a closer look and break it up.

But, first, a lot of these families of flight 370 are gathering this morning for a vigil at Kuala Lumpur where that doomed flight took off.

CNN's Anna Coren is live there.

Anna, I know they were given access to this report before the public was. What is their reaction to it?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi, from the families we are speaks to, some of them are saying it is meaningless. It does not say where their loved ones are or what happened to those on board MH-370. So a great deal of frustration at a time when they are grieving.

Others are angry about the timing of this report, saying it's very insensitive, inappropriate to be releasing it on this particular day. But it's an independent report by a body of seven international organizations, air accident investigations organization from all around the world. As far as these families are concerned, Christi, it really sheds no light whatsoever as to where their families are.

And at the end of the day, that's what they need to know, those desperate answers. One of those people being Danica Weeks whose husband Paul was aboard MH370. Take a listen to what she told me earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANICA WEEKS, HUSBAND WAS ON FLIGHT 370: I'll never stop searching for him. He gave everything to us. He is amazing. And so, if I know if the shoe was on the other foot, he wouldn't stop looking for me. And I'll never stop looking for him either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Well, Danica, like so many other families concerned that once the search of the priority zone is completed by the end of May, that the search will be called off. It's really a grave fear. The Malaysian prime minister coming out today saying that Malaysia is committed to the search. You know, the world deserves answers. The families deserve answers to what is the greatest aviation mystery ever -- Christi.

PAUL: It is a mystery. Everybody is curious about it. But at the end of the day, it is these families that matter so much. It's hard to see what they're going through. But, boy, you understand it.

Anna Coren, great story. Thank you so much.

JOHNS: Now, while Malaysian officials say they are still committed to finding Flight 370, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the search simply cannot go on forever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: It can't go on forever, but as long as there are reasonable leads, the search will go on. We've got 60,000 square kilometers that is the subject of this search. If that's unsuccessful, there's another 60,000 square kilometers that we intend to search. As a segue, we're reasonably confident of finding the plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So, now, let's bring in CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo.

Thanks for joining us. Good Sunday morning.

What's your reaction to the Australian prime minister's comments?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think he's being brutally honest. It truly can't go on forever. It's a matter of resources and also a matter of they've scoured or they will have scoured the most promising area based on the Inmarsat data, which isn't a lot of data to go on. And the one thing that the report did point out, that it was utter confusion and that confusion helped add to the mystery because they were searching in the wrong areas at first. The Malaysian government was not fully forthcoming on some of the radar information.

So I think Tony Abbott's being -- wrong day I suppose to be this bluntly honest, but it won't go on forever.

JOHNS: There was confusion and there was also apparently some serious human error -- expired pinger batteries, miscommunication between radar operators and air traffic control.

What do you think the aviation industry can learn from this even though the plane hasn't been found yet?

SCHIAVO: Well, many things. The aviation industry can learn that in this day and age, it is ridiculous for a modern jet liner not to be equipped to be visible and seen, even after a tragedy befalls it -- meaning it needs to have a continuous download from the aircraft as to location. There are recommendations like that now afoot. Obviously it can't help this plane, but that was first and foremost in that this plane shouldn't be flying around and literally be invisible, unless they communicate with air traffic control.

And I think the other thing that was most troubling to me is that they didn't comply with the battery requirements. I don't know if that would have made a difference because, remember, the Malaysia government did not tell the searchers right away, for four days they searched in the South China Sea and then the Malaysian government said we saw the plane go up and around Indonesia. And that really delayed the search.

And then, people might remember they also thought they had pings in one area of the search and it turned out not to be pings at all, it was the wrong frequency.

So, there are a lot of missteps. And the pinger batteries might not have made a difference in the long run anyway, but they shouldn't ever be allowed to be expired.

JOHNS: Interesting what this report is saying and not saying. Officials say the pilot and the crew showed no unusual signs of stress. Does that rule out, for example, true pilot error or pilot suicide?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think it does because you need to have evidence of a crime if you're saying a crime was committed, and right now, there's no evidence of any crime. There's no evidence of pilot suicide. There's no evidence of sabotage or hijacking. There just simply isn't any criminal evidence to be following criminal leads which, of course, brings the search back to the possibility of a mechanical failure or catastrophic failure.

For those we know something happened to the plane. There isn't a lot of evidence of what happened. We know something happened because it went missing. So, it comes back some to the earliest -- in many ways to the earliest leads, the garbled transmission that another plane heard, the fact that they know for certain that it turned back. That's about all that they have other than the Inmarsat data but there is no evidence of a crime certainly that I see.

JOHNS: Right. So, along those lines though, I think you have to ask the question, clearly there was a duty here to protect the people in this plane. Clearly, someone did not, you know, sort of live up to the expectations what was required handling these people and that raises the issue, at least, of criminal negligence in the minds of some.

Do you see the possibility of that, potential charges at least for criminal negligence because of so many things that apparently went wrong and humans were at the root of it?

SCHIAVO: Well, it would depend on which nation was going to do that. Surprisingly, in the United States, the Federal Aviation Commission, criminal negligence charges should not be brought in an aviation -- civil aviation accident where there isn't criminal behavior such as, you know, terrorism, sabotage --

JOHNS: Intent.

SCHIAVO: -- things of that sort.

But certainly, so much went wrong here. Unfortunately, for folks who are interested in criminal charges, a lot of it was the fall of the Malaysian government, which, of course, can't be charged with the crime. So, I think there was certainly enough to go around that you would say it was egregious, and wanton and willful negligence at a minimum.

JOHNS: Mary Schiavo, thank you so much for that. Good seeing you again.

SCHIAVO: You, too. Thank you.

PAUL: We've got new audio for you in the case of a police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager. Take a listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Shots fired. Shots fired.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Shots fired.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Shots fired.

DISPATCHER: Shot. Shots fired.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Shots fired. An ambulance. At least one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Coming up, you're going to hear how it all unfolded the night of the shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Twelve minutes past the hour now.

We're gathering new information about the shooting death of a 19-year-old killed by police in Madison, Wisconsin. An officer shot Tony Robinson to death Friday night after responding to a disturbance call. Investigators say the officer fired his weapon after Robinson attacked him.

PAUL: According to public records, Robinson, he's got a bit of a background. He pled guilty last year to armed robbery. But we want to point out he was unarmed when he was killed Friday night. Madison police chief says the fact that he has a checkered past should not matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MIKE KOVAL, MADISON, WISCONSIN: I frankly think it is for our purposes today wholly inappropriate and I am not going to blemish anyone's character, particularly one as young as his and over the circumstances of what his family has dealt with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN's Rosa Flores is joining us live from Madison, Wisconsin.

And, Rosa, I see there are still police behind you. Is that the scene there behind you?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, and it's very telling given that this incident happened Friday evening.

But I want to start with the mother in this case, the mother of this teen, because at the end of the day there is a mother waking up this morning who doesn't have her son anymore. I talked to her yesterday afternoon briefly and she just mentioned that she is devastated by what has happened, describes her son as a gentle giant because he was about 6'4", 200 pounds. He graduated from high school last year.

Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREA IRWIN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: My son has never been a violent person, never, and to die in such a violent, violent way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And, you know, she also tells me that she's a bit disturbed by what police are saying, how they're describing her son because they're painting a very different picture. They're painting a very different picture as to what happened behind me.

Let me set the scene for you. You can see there's a small memorial. There's police officers still securing the scene, crime scene tape.

Now, here's what we know from police. Friday evening police say that multiple calls came in to dispatch about Robinson. Now, he's 19 years old, and these callers were saying that -- allegedly that he was weaving in and out of traffic, that he was dodging cars and that there was an alleged battery incident.

Well, this is where things escalate. You see the house that you're seeing on your screen as you take a look. Officer Matt Kenny responded to the house. As he responded to the house, according to police, he hears a commotion inside. He forces through the door.

And if you look carefully behind me, you'll see that that door is still taped off. There's plastic that's covering that particular door.

Well, he goes in, according to police, there's some sort of scuffle and that's when the deadly shots were fired.

Now, we have to point out that Robinson was unarmed. Here's what police have to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOVAL: He was unarmed and that's going to make this all the more complicated for the investigators, for the public to accept, to understand that deadly force had to be used.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, as we take another live look, you still see the crime scene, the police cruiser, police still securing this scene. I've got to let you know that here in Wisconsin, by law, the police department that's involved in the officer involved shooting doesn't get to investigate themselves. In this particular case the investigation is being conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

PAUL: Hey, Rosa Flores, great reporting there for us. Thank you so much.

JOHNS: We're working on breaking developments out of Russia. New images being released of the suspects behind the assassination of a top Putin critic.

PAUL: And President Obama is speaking out for the first time regarding Hillary Clinton's e-mails. He says he first learned about the controversy from the media. So, is he backing his former top diplomat?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Hillary Clinton is not talking about the furor over her e-mails when she was secretary of state, but her former boss is. While Mrs. Clinton was silent about the e-mails when she was appearing in Miami last night, President Obama spoke out about it for the first time. Clinton has come under scrutiny for using a private e-mail account when she was secretary of state.

In an interview with CBS, the president said he's glad Clinton called on the State Department to release her e-mails. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hillary Clinton is and has been an outstanding public servant. She was a great secretary of state for me. The policy of my administration is to encourage transparency, and that's why my e-mails -- the BlackBerry I carry around -- all those records are available and archived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Michael Smerconish is hosting "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning, coming up at the top of the hour.

Michael, you've got an exclusive interview for a former ambassador who worked under Hillary Clinton. Let's talk about that.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey, Joe, I am really psyched about that. We have former ambassador to Kenya, Scott Gration. Gration says he was fired in part for handling his e-mail in the same way Secretary Clinton handled her e-mail. So, it raises questions as to whether there's a double standard in play here.

Also, today is the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. ground troops to land in Vietnam. We have former governor, former senator, Medal of Honor recipient, Bob Kerry, and author David Maraniss.

So, it should be a great program.

JOHNS: All right. Michael Smerconish, thanks so much for that.

Stay here for "STATE OF THE UNION". It starts at the top of the hour, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHNS: Got some breaking news to tell you about. You're looking at the first pictures we've seen of suspects accused of murdering Boris Nemtsov, a top Putin critic last week in Moscow. The men were brought to a Moscow court a little over an hour ago.

And while details about the suspects remain extremely vague, the TASS News Agency is reporting that a fifth suspect has been arrested for the assassination. One of these men is a former Chechen republic police officer.

PAUL: We'll continue to follow that, obviously, throughout the day.

I want to give you some other top stories.

First of all, police are stepping up patrol in a Dallas neighborhood after someone killed an Iraqi man outside his new American home. Thirty-six-year-old Ahmed al Jamawi (ph) stepped outside to watch his very first snowfall when someone shot him with a rifle. Investigators say there is no indication this was a hate crime but they also say they are not ruling that out. No arrest has been made.

A Spanish dolphin trainer accused on social media of abusing animals has been found dead. Jose Luis Barbero was found inside his car. Now, the Georgia aquarium had hired him to become its vice president but that was put on hold once this, as you see it here, grainy viral video triggered these abuse violations. A source tells CNN his death is being treated as a suicide.

And former Vice President Walter Mondale out of the hospital. He was admitted to the Mayo Clinic on Saturday with the flu. In a speech in Minneapolis, former President Jimmy Carter says the 87-year- old Mondale is doing just fine thankfully.

JOHNS: In just a few hours, thousands will hit the streets in order to mark the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma, Alabama.

PAUL: President Obama and the first family joined hands with civil rights leaders on the Edmund Pettus Bridge commemorating that historic moment yesterday.

JOHNS: John Lewis was there along with nearly 100 other lawmakers. Lewis and the president spoke at yesterday's events echoing similar thoughts, that there is room for improvement when it comes to race in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: Don't give up on things that have great meaning to you. Don't get lost in a sea of despair. We are one people, one family, the human family. We all live in the same house, the American house. There's still work left to be done.

OBAMA: It was not a clash of armies but a class of wills, a contest to determine the true meaning of America. What could more profoundly vindicate the idea of America than plain and humble people, unsung, the downtrodden, the dreamers not of high station, not born to wealth or privilege, not of one religious tradition but many, coming together to shape their country's course? What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: We still live in the same house, the American house.

We'll have live coverage of today's march in Selma later right here on CNN.

PAUL: Yes. Thank you so much for starting your morning with us. We hope you go out there and make some great memories today.

JOHNS: Thanks a lot.

"INSIDE POLITICS WITH JOHN KING" starts right now.

PAUL: Take care.