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Former Senator Ted Stevens Killed in Plane Crash; Charlie Rangel Speaks Out; House Democrats Pass Jobs Bill
Aired August 10, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
And we are going to begin this RICK'S LIST with breaking news, getting new details right now on the plane crash that has taken the life of former Senator Ted Stevens. Stevens, the longest living Republican senator in U.S. history, gained the national spotlight with his proposal of the so-called bridge to nowhere, many of you had heard.
Eight or nine people were award this flight, by the way. Five people were killed, including former Senator Stevens. Also on this plane with Stevens, former NASA Chief, you remember him, Sean O'Keefe, who we had seen so many times here on CNN, news briefs, news conferences from NASA, from Texas and Florida.
We do not now, at least at this time -- and this is part of the story that we're still trying to work our way through -- at this point, CNN cannot confirm whether or not O'Keefe has survived this crash.
I want to bring a couple of people in.
Chad Myers is going to be joining me here in just a little bit. And Chad's going to be taking us through -- hi, Chad. Chad's going to be taking us through the part of the story that makes us understand what happened. I mean, what kind of plane was this? What kind of topography are we dealing with? How many planes make these kinds of landings in that area?
And he's going to take us through all that.
But, before we do that, Chad, I want to bring in Michael Carey. He's a reporter with "The Anchorage Daily News." And he's joining us by phone.
Hey, Michael, are you there?
MICHAEL CAREY, "THE ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS": I am here.
SANCHEZ: What's the latest that you're hearing there about this plane crash? And can you at this time confirm or has your publication yet confirmed anything on O'Keefe?
CAREY: No, that's still out. It's clear that everyone, that the government or the officials or just the fellow passengers know the names of the dead, and they're in sorting out the process of notifying people and trying to put together what happened.
SANCHEZ: Eight or nine on board and five people, we understand, were killed?
CAREY: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So, you're saying, we can quantify it. We just don't know -- we can't put names on them yet, right?
CAREY: Although many news organizations are now saying it's a certainty that Stevens is deceased, was killed in this crash. And I'm writing a column for tomorrow that assumes that.
SANCHEZ: Yes, we here at CNN have been waiting a long time, because we have been -- we have actually had a correspondent or one of our CNN employees talking to one of the family members who was denying for a long time, even when some people were going with the story, that it had been confirmed.
So, we held off. But now we have been reporting that, in fact, former Senator of Alaska Ted Stevens has died in this plane crash.
What can you tell us about the plane crash itself? What can you tell us about this area?
CAREY: Well, first of all, Dillingham, I have flown in there several times. And if the weather is bad or difficult, this could be a dangerous place, particularly if they weren't landing at the Dillingham Airport, if they were landing at some small field. My understanding is they were on their way to a fishing lodge.
On the other hand, experienced pilots fly out there all the time. There's some question right this moment here about who the pilot was and was it the regular pilot.
SANCHEZ: Why is that a question? Why is that important to the story?
CAREY: The importance would be the level of experience and knowledge the pilot had of perhaps both the aircraft and the region.
SANCHEZ: How hazardous a landing would this be?
CAREY: I don't know what field they were landing at. But under -- in very bad weather or poor visibility -- I mean, the story I was told -- and I guess I'm assuming, because it was by a veteran reporter -- is they flew right into the side of a mountain.
How you would do that, I don't know.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, this plane is designed to land on the water, right, to land on the lake itself?
CAREY: I don't know if they were on floats either. Pardon my ignorance on that. But there just have been a whole bunch of things that are not forthcoming that we want to know.
SANCHEZ: No, I understand. Look, and it's not like we're talking about a part of the country where everyone has easy access to. That's the reason...
CAREY: Yes, and that's one of the things that happened here. From the point of view of rescuers, of getting information, it's all been very difficult because of the terrain and the surrounding circumstances.
SANCHEZ: How do you even get to this? I imagine you guys have covered this kind of area before. This is where people go to get away. It's very remote, to do salmon fishing, et cetera.
CAREY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: How do you even get to this area? How are reporters going to be able to get out there?
CAREY: Well, there's regularly scheduled air flights from Dillingham that would go several times a day, Dillingham being the largest community of a few thousand, a very old and venerable fishing community, commercial fishing community.
But we have chartered airplanes and gone to places like this to investigate incidents.
SANCHEZ: Eight or nine people on board the flight, five people apparently killed. We're still trying to get a lot of the details sorted through.
I want to bring in Chad Myers now.
Chad, maybe you can help us with this. Can you show us where we're even talking about? Because most of us down here in the Lower 48 don't have a visual script, as Marshall McLuhan would say, about this area. Can you take us through it?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, most of us in the Lower 48 have no idea what these pilots go through to land those float planes on the water day after day, hour after hour...
SANCHEZ: Really?
MYERS: ... flight after flight. The plane was built in 1957. You see how long the nose is? It almost looks like a ridiculously long nose, like a Pinocchio nose. That's a turbine engine that had been upgraded from Texas Turbine Company that will make that plane basically as good, as urban, as new as a brand-new plane off the shelf.
Now, OK, the airframe is old, but that doesn't make that plane any less stable or any -- in fact, probably more stable because it has been around for so very long. I say that in jest.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Just one prop in the front?
MYERS: Well, yes, it's just one prop.
And then take a look at the topography here. This is one of the pictures we have seen. I have also seen some pictures from behind the pilot looking at the cockpit itself. And the cockpit does have some glass in it, which means that there are some instruments in the plane. This guy just wasn't flying blind here around. There's a GPS over on the right when we were looking at it from the inside as well. But the topography is very rugged. It is almost like a fjord in some spots.
Let me go over here. I will take you to this -- to Lake Nerka and to Dillingham.
SANCHEZ: And, Michael, you hang on. Hang on with us, Michael. We may want to come back to you, Chad and I.
Go ahead.
MYERS: This won't take long, because my producer is going to just move this ahead. Dillingham, Lake Nerka, very topographic -- very rough terrain from this. Only a 35-mile-per-hour flight -- 35- mile flight from Lake Nerka where, they were going, the CGI cabins up here. And there are cabins -- there is a cabin every once in a while along the lake here, Lake Nerka.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: And then far, far off toward to the northeast of there is still Anchorage, Alaska. So, this is, yes, still significantly far away. We know, though, somewhere between Dillingham there and Nerka here that you can just see how rough the topography is there.
And if you had quarter-mile visibility, like they were reporting, the National Guard was having trouble getting to this site, quarter- mile visibility, ceilings between 100 and 500 feet, which means the mountains are much higher than that. You're going to have to fly around that mountain. You certainly can't fly over it if you can't see it.
And then the visibility with wind now at wind to 20 to 30 miles per hour, Rick, so it was a rough night. No fun.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Can you go back on that, zoom out, as they say, just so we can get a big picture of the area that we're talking about here?
MYERS: Sure.
SANCHEZ: I can picture Alaska. But I certainly can't picture these fjords as, you referred to them...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: ... part of Alaska.
MYERS: Keep on going out there.
So, we're talking about -- everybody knows about the most dangerous catch, you know, "The Deadliest Catch." That's over in this area here.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: That Discovery Channel show.
MYERS: The Discovery Channel has a show catching crabs.
And then up here, this would be Anchorage right through here. Fairbanks and Denali still farther up. So, farther -- far away -- I can make this line here -- this would be the flight from Anchorage over to Dillingham, and then just a quick hop, a 30-minute top, maybe 20-minute top hop. Even by the time you taxi, get out, get in the water, and then land in the lake, it's not a very long flight.
And these guys just got in trouble between that short little hop between where they are already came from compared to where they were going to.
SANCHEZ: Landing in that little freshwater lake you showed us right there on top of that little button right there. That's interesting. Yes, there it is.
MYERS: It isn't hard. It happens -- people get mail by these planes. People take their kids to school by these float planes in Alaska. This is just how it happens.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting.
Michael, you still with us?
CAREY: Yes, I wanted to add one thing briefly. OK?
SANCHEZ: Yes, please.
MYERS: Go ahead.
CAREY: Your colleague was just great. He did a very nice job of describing the topography and the scene around Dillingham.
I would add one thing personally. I once flew out there, and it was so foggy, we were going to land at Dillingham (AUDIO GAP) airport, that we never got there. We just had to go back to Anchorage. And, of course, that reflects on the judgment of the pilot and the decisions he made. And there's going to be -- no disrespect to the people who were on that plane, but there are going to be a lot of questions about that in the near future.
SANCHEZ: Well, this brings back -- and thanks, Michael. We appreciate that. We appreciate you adding that to the mix here.
That does bring up the question of whether or not this pilot was instrument-trained. You brought that up. There is a difference between...
CAREY: I think he would have to be trained to fly that airplane. I don't think they would let him fly it...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: You would almost have to be, right? But then we get to the question of proficiency.
There are people who are very proficient flying in clouds where they can't see and they trust their instruments, and like everything else I imagine there are other pilots who are not as proficient, right? And that's not to make judgments. It's just a fact.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: I honestly couldn't tell what the glass was. We call instruments glass, because they're not like big circles that show you whether you're going left, up or down, left to right. You can picture those round little instruments as you look into the cockpit as you get into a plane...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Right. It's what you use to avoid the vertigo situation.
MYERS: Right. But there are significant pieces of equipment that can be bolted on, literally upgraded to a plane, because this wasn't in 1957. You upgrade these planes to get certain amounts of instrumentation to the plane itself. And I just -- from the small little picture I have, there is a passenger, an old passenger, in the back of this plane from I don't know how many flights ago it was, took a picture of the pilot, and I can see through the door into the front.
SANCHEZ: Through his point of view.
MYERS: Through his point of view, and I can see this little piece of glass, but I can't tell what it is. That's...
SANCHEZ: Well, that's kind of telling in and of itself.
All right, here's what we're going to do. We're going to stay all over this story.
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: You let us know whatever else you have got. Michael is going to be following the story there for us in Alaska. We have got correspondents, of course, in Washington, D.C. We're getting reaction. As soon as we get word about the condition of O'Keefe, we will bring you that story, former NASA Chief Sean O'Keefe, of course.
And as the developments warrant it, this is going to be a fluid story that we're going to be bringing you over the next several hours.
We're also getting a lot of very important tweets on this story from people in Washington who want their reaction heard as well who are relevant to this story. We will share those with you.
Meanwhile, take a look at this video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: If it is the judgment of people here, for whatever reason, that I resign, then, heck, have the Ethics Committee expedite this. Don't leave me swinging in the wind until November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Wow. Did you see this? This is Charlie Rangel, and he is putting up one hell of a fight. He was defiant. He was angry. He went off, as they say, on the House floor.
He's telling his fellow lawmakers that he's not going to be stepping away, not without a fight. He's going to challenge these ethics charges against him. You have got to see what's going on here. Also, we're going to have the very latest on that.
And this -- have you ever heard about this? Pretty soon in New York, people will see ads featuring the image of a plane flying toward the World Trade Center. This is part of an explosive controversy involving the proposed Islamic center and the mosque near ground zero. Wait until you hear what else is going to be featured on those ads.
This is RICK'S LIST. Man, we have got a lot coming your way today. It suddenly is a very busy day. And we're going to have it for you as we list it on your national conversation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back to RICK'S LIST. So glad you're here.
Some sad news to report to you as we move forward with the very latest on this breaking story about the death of Senator Ted Stevens.
Before we do anything else, I want to take you to the Twitter board now, because we're getting a lot of reaction and news. The first thing we want to do is bring you a tweet from one of our colleagues. This is Mark Preston. You have seen him here on "Preston on Politics" here on RICK'S LIST in the past. He just sent this information out. We hadn't -- we hadn't been able to confirm this. But now we can. And here it is. "Stevens' family has been notified of his death," this according to Mark Preston, who spoke with his COS -- COS, chief of staff, obviously. His former chief of staff was telling that to CNN.
So, we wanted to bring you that information before we move forward.
There's something. Do we have him on the phone? Yes, we have got a chance now to talk to Dennis DeConcini. You all know Dennis DeConcini, former Democratic senator from the state of Arizona, held office from 1977 to 1995.
And he's good enough to join us now on the phone. As a matter of fact, the former senator had just been in some conversations with Ted Stevens.
Senator DeConcini are you there, sir?
DENNIS DECONCINI, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Yes, I am, Rick. I am here. Nice to talk to you.
SANCHEZ: Likewise. I understand that you guys were planning a retreat yourselves, right, you and Senator Stevens?
DECONCINI: Well, yes. I had just been contacted by his staff to see if I wanted to go on a CODEL of former members to China in November. And I said, yes. And I wrote him a note about it, said, thanks for thinking of us. We look forward to seeing you.
And just three days ago, three days ago, I got a handwritten note from him, saying: Look forward to seeing you. I'm on my way to a fishing trip in Alaska. I will call you when I get back.
I had dinner with him in April in Washington. And though we're on the different parties, we worked together on a lot of issues. And he was very helpful to Arizona for my veterans and my...
SANCHEZ: No doubt.
DECONCINI: ... Native Americans and different projects that he would go along with.
And, for that, I'm always indebted to him. And I knew his family. He married his second wife after his first wife was killed in a crash.
SANCHEZ: That's what I'm interested in. By the way, since you're one of the few people who had been talking to him of late, he had been pretty much out of the spotlight, except, of course, there in Alaska. How did you find him? How was he getting along? What were his spirits like? Had he resigned himself -- go ahead.
(CROSSTALK) DECONCINI: When I went to a dinner -- it was a dinner for former Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada, who we were all friends in the Senate and other Republicans.
SANCHEZ: Remember him well.
DECONCINI: I'm one of the six Democrats that were invited to this dinner with a bunch of Republicans, because we were friends and we worked on a lot of Western issues. And Ted Stevens was there, and he seemed to be doing relatively well, considering all the tragedy or difficulties he had been through.
I talked to him right after they dismissed the charges, and he was elated that that had happened. But I remember him saying, well, you know, those things take a toll on you. Then I -- and I said, yes, I know what you mean.
So, he was -- Ted, I knew him pretty well. We weren't close, intimate friends. But we would have dinner together and we traveled together. He was a tough guy. He was a strong man. And he believed in his state and he believed, because it was a small state, it needed attention.
And sometimes he went overboard when it came to the bridge to no place. But I was there and I saw the clinics that he built for veterans and for Native Americans and for the safety of oil drillers there, as well as highways and bridges and dams and stuff for his state.
SANCHEZ: Geez.
DECONCINI: He represented that state. We used to kid him and say, they're going to change the name of that state to Stevens because you have done so much for it.
SANCHEZ: Well, they did with part of the state already, places like the airport in Anchorage, for example.
DECONCINI: That's right.
SANCHEZ: By the way, I'm listening to you. Our viewers appreciate the fact that you're going to be one of the many voices that we're going to be hearing today here on CNN on the unfortunate death of former Senator Ted Stevens.
And I hear all that rustling sound in the background. Where are you, by the way? I'm always interested.
DECONCINI: Well, I'm in Mission Beach, California. That's in San Diego. And there's a little bit of -- there's a roller coaster here and there's a little bit of a bar -- afternoon bar drinking, and that's why I'm trying to walk away from it.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, I understand. Well, listen, we always appreciate when someone like you is able to pick up the phone and give us a call.
DECONCINI: You're welcome. And it was nice -- it's nice to talk to you. And thank you for -- I'm very saddened, very saddened for his family. It's a big loss...
SANCHEZ: Senator...
DECONCINI: ... 86 or any age.
DECONCINI: And the other people that were on that plane, I knew quite a few of them. And I just hope that they, including Sean O'Keefe and another fellow that I don't want to mention his name, because it hasn't been confirmed, but I'm just so sad about that whole tragedy.
Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Yes, we're being real careful about what we report when. Even after we think we have nailed it down, we want to make sure we do this as responsibly as we can.
(CROSSTALK)
DECONCINI: I know.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Senator DeConcini, thank you, sir, for taking time to talk to us.
DECONCINI: Nice talking to you, Rick.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: We appreciate that.
DECONCINI: Bye, now.
SANCHEZ: By the way, another big story that we're following for you right now, New York Islamic Center and mosque controversy is back on the LIST today, because opponents are saying they want to put up a sign on New York City buses. The signs are controversial, to say the very least.
Here it is. Take a look at this. You see that on the left right there? If you look at that carefully, you see a plane that is heading for one of Twin Towers. On the right, you see another high-rise. It's labeled WTC Mega-Mosque. The words "Why There?" and "Ground Zero" are emblazoned across the bus ad. See that?
Now, the question to you is obviously, is that too inflammatory? You tell me. By the way, the Transit Authority allowed the ad because they were threatened with a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.
But this, I should tell you, is not the first controversial ad about this mosque. In fact, here, take a look at this TV ad here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
NARRATOR: A mosque at Ground Zero must not stand. The political class says nothing. The politicians are doing nothing to stop it. But we Americans will be heard. Join the fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Well, what happened to that? We finished watching that? All right, see? See who it's sponsored by right there? Two television networks turned that ad down because it was too inflammatory. The ad was paid for by the National Republican Trust Political Action Committee.
It contains graphic footage of the 9/11 attacks. Both CBS and NBC said no.
Coming up tonight on RICK'S LIST prime time at 8:00 Eastern, former Governor George Pataki is going to join me right now for a very frank and very spirited discussion about this national controversy involving this mosque, RICK'S LIST, your national conversation, in prime time.
Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: I am not going to agree to any violation that I have not committed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Uh-oh. This is Congresswoman Maxine Waters. She's on the record today as well. She's saying Karl Rove's people is why she's being investigated, Karl Rove's people. And wait until you hear who else she's blaming. That's ahead right here on the LIST.
Also, her fellow Democratic congressman, have you ever heard about this? If you're just now getting home from work, you have got to hang tight, folks. Charlie Rangel takes his message to the House floor, and this is one hell of a speech. This is a gut-check from this guy, a gut-check specifically for Democrats. So, how's this going to play out?
Stay right there. RICK'S LIST continues. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Just to catch you up on the big story that we're following right now, in case you are just getting home from work or getting back in the house and turning on your TV, CNN has, in fact, confirmed that former Senator of Alaska Ted Stevens has, in fact, passed away in that plane crash that we have been following for you for the better part of the last four hours now.
It's been kind of hit or miss trying to get the information because it's such an isolated part of the world up there, this little lake in the middle of Alaska, as Chad Myers has taken us through. There's a lot of -- there may be some other dignitaries on that plane.
Remember former NASA Chief Sean O'Keefe? He's on the plane as well. And we have not yet been able to confirm whether or not he has survived the plane crash. But we have got a ton of information coming in. And as we get this stuff, we're going to process it for you and bring you the information.
There's this story, too. Tom Tancredo has just jumped into the race for Colorado governor. He says that he wants to deny public schooling to kids of illegal immigrants. You know the controversy with the 14th Amendment, right? Well, this takes it a step further. And I want to get back to that in just a little bit.
But, first, the other big story that we have been following today, did you get a hold of Charlie Rangel today? Charles Rangel goes on the House floor today and makes this impassioned speech in defense of himself in connection with the House ethics case. He makes this defiant speech on the House floor.
In fact, here, let's take a look at some of this. People were glued to the TV. It was carried live on all three cable channels. Here's a taste.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANGEL: They followed me on vacation. They followed me when I was doing business at the airport, the outside where I live. It's kind of rough.
I'm sensitive to your feelings and the hard work by the Ethics Committee, but this has to stop some time. It has to stop, one month, one year, two years, primaries, election. And all I'm saying is, I deserve and demand the right to be heard.
And I am not asking for leniency. I'm asking for exposure of the facts. They have made a decision. I want you to make a decision. Hey, I'm 80 years old. All my life has been, from the beginning, public service. That's all I have ever done. Been in the Army. Been a state legislator. Been a federal prosecutor, 40 years here.
And all I'm saying is, if it is the judgment of people here, for whatever reason, that I resign, then, heck, have the Ethics Committee expedite this. Don't leave me swinging in the wind until November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Wowie. Wowie.
Jessica Yellin is joining us now from Denver.
You had to see some of that. Look, bottom line, this guy's not going down without a fight and that could be a big problem for Democrats. Take us through this, would you?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, look, he is in a primary. He is worried about his career and his reputation.
And when politicians are under attack, they often go on the offense. And there are two ways they do it. They attack the media or they attack the process. And clearly Charlie Rangel has decided to attack the process.
Several Democrats have called for him to resign. The president didn't, but came pretty close. And Rangel clearly is not going to do that and he wants to show that he is swinging here. Obviously not ideal for Democrats, who promised to drain the swamp. They don't want to see this play out right before an important November election.
But it looks like it's going to, and Charlie Rangel is ready to get in the boxing ring -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Well, I'll tell you, this is interesting to watch. You're right. He was defiant. He was impassioned. He says, I don't care, I'm not going along, I'm not doing what you guys want me to do, not unless somebody sits down and hears me out first. And it sounds to me like he's saying, if you don't hear me out, I'm going to keep on fighting and this will be conflictive, especially for the Democratic Party.
Let's move on to another guy who is conflictive for the Republican Party now. Tom Tancredo, he is -- it looks like he is upping ante when it comes to the 14th Amendment controversy around the country. He's now proposing no school for illegal immigrants and he's jumping into the race there in Colorado, is he not?
YELLIN: That's right, Rick.
He's been one of those outspoken anti-illegal immigration crusaders and he now has entered the governor's race in Colorado as part of a third party. He's challenging Republicans and he's making immigration a big issue here. He says that the fight over the 14th Amendment is a ruse, it will never come to pass.
And, instead, he has a different option. He wants to take this issue to the courts to decide who is and isn't a citizen. I asked him how. Here's what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: So, what you think should be litigated is the way we're currently interpreting the amendment?
TOM TANCREDO (R), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Oh, absolutely, because it is just that. It is an interpretation. It is not anything that a court has ruled on.
YELLIN: So, would Congress need to pass a law clarifying the amendment? Is that what you would support? TANCREDO: Well, here's what could happen.
A state, Colorado maybe, a governor, could possibly force the issue through the school foundation act, through the mechanism that we use to fund education. We could say, for instance, that we are not going to provide support for people -- the children of people who are here illegally. We're not going to do that.
That would immediately start a lawsuit, just like that. And hopefully would get to the Supreme Court right away. I would be happy to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Rick, he says that this is not about ethnicity, this is not about Latinos. This is about obeying the law.
SANCHEZ: Talk about throwing a wrench into the operation. My thanks to you, Jessica. I should let our viewers know you're there in Colorado because you are going to be Jane on the spot for us tonight with the very latest on the primaries that are coming out of Colorado tonight.
I want to let you know from a programming standpoint, we're going to be bringing you up to date on what's going on in Connecticut where there's a primary as well.
Now, take a look at this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHARLIE RANGEL, (D) NEW YORK: And I am not asking for leniency. I'm asking for exposure of the facts. They've made a decision. I want you to make a decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, let me just stop real quick here. You know this story. I told you about it a little while ago. Roger, if you could, come back to me full. I think we've got something to report now and I want to get to it as soon as I possibly can.
If you don't mind, I need to get into my e-mail, because I was just sent something by one of my colleagues, and wouldn't you know, my e-mail is -- Andreas, did you just send this to me?
OK. Here we go. This is Reuters reporting this. This has not yet been confirmed by CNN, but I'll bring you the information as it's being reported now by Reuters news agency.
They're saying the chief executive of European aerospace giant North America Sean O'Keefe, former NASA chief, has survived the plane crash in southwestern Alaska. This is according to a source that was briefed on the matter and has cold Reuters that, again, let me repeat this so we're clear, Sean O'Keefe, former NASA chief, has, according to Reuters and their sources, survived the plane crash in southwestern Alaska. This is the first that we're reporting on this.
Stay with us. We're going to be right back and bring you more on this story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We've got another breaking news story to bring you now. This is information that my colleague Brianna Keilar has been following throughout the course of the day. This is a $26 billion spending bill that's been coming up today for a final vote.
And the reason this is important is, the Dems have been trying to make sure they can get this through, they say, to avoid further cutbacks and to avoid teacher layoffs, to be more specific.
Let me bring in Brianna so she can bring us up to date on what's happening.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And not just that, Rick. This is what Democrats and Republicans came back from recess to vote on. This passed 247-161. It was almost a completely party line vote, Democrats voting for it, Republicans against it.
And what it is, it's essentially a Democratic backed jobs bill -- $10 billion for teachers to prevent layoffs that could happen, and also for teachers who may have been laid off to get them back in the classroom, and also $16 billion to go to help states with their Medicaid costs.
SANCHEZ: Brianna Keilar with the very latest on that breaking news story, that the spending bill is approved. Thank you, Brianna.
I want to bring your attention once again on the situation going on in Alaska. A deadly plane crash there has taken the life of former Senator Ted Stevens.
I've just been told by my producers in the control room that we are about to hear a news brief that is going to be coming in, I understand, from Anchorage. The governor of Alaska is about to brief the media. And I believe that we're going to be able to play some of this for you as it comes in.
This is the governor of Alaska, once again, bringing us up to date on what really has been a bit of a mysterious story. We at CNN have confirmed, in fact, that Senator Ted Stevens has died in this plane crash. But there were as many as eight or nine other people.
Sean O'Keefe, another person known to many of us, seen on the television screens across America here on CNN and on other networks as the chief of NASA was also on board that plane. Reuters is now reporting in fact that he has survived the plane crash. There's Sean O'Keefe with former president George W. Bush.
We're also being told -- let me just check on this to make absolutely certain on a note that I got from one of my producers a little while ago. His son was also on the plane. Sean O'Keefe's son was also on the plane.
And I'll just go ahead and ask you, Andreas, tell me in my ear. I want to get this right. Is he reportedly, according to Reuters, to have survived the plane crash as well?
OK, Reuters is reporting now that both Sean O'Keefe and his son have, in fact, survived this plane crash. We don't know at this point the number of casualties. We're told as many as four or five fatalities in this case. We don't know what the conditions are, obviously. And we're still waiting to get even more information as we take you up there.
President Obama, I understand, has now sent a statement. I understand that's coming across as we speak, so if you'll bear with me just a moment, I'll get back to my e-mail, which seems to be coming up a little slow on this computer, once again.
This is a statement from the president of the United States just moments ago on the apparent death of Ted Stevens.
I'll tell you what, the Alaska news conference is getting started right now. Here is the governor. Let's take it live. Go ahead, Roger. Take this for us.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
GOV. SEAN PARNELL (R), ALASKA: -- Commissioner Joe Masters, Department of Public Safety, Major General Katkus Alaska National Guard, and Colonel Holloway from public safety.
We Alaskans have of late been -- we lost a C-17 crew just a few weeks ago. And today, it is with deep sadness that I acknowledge the loss of Senator Ted Stevens. He perished along with four others in a plane crash on Monday evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with Stevens' family, all the crash victims and all their families.
Before I go any further, there has been a tremendous response from our state government as well as the federal government. I want to thank General Katkus and the Alaskan National Guard for their swift response to the crash site. I want to thank the coast guard for their assistance at the federal level.
I thank GCI who have handled their employees and their family members have handled incident response from location. And it's a sad day for the GCI family as well.
I want to turn for a moment to the life and legacy of Senator Ted Stevens. He -- how can we summarize six decades of service? He joined the army and served with the flying tigers during World War II. He served in our state legislature, served in the U.S. Senate, was elected six times, six consecutive terms.
He fought hard for our future in Alaska. We are better off for him having served us. Ted Stevens seemed larger than life than anybody who knew him knew him that way. He built Alaska and he stood for Alaska and he fought for Alaskans. Ted was a lion who retreated before nothing. He was a devoted husband to his first wife, Ann, who passed away in 1978, as well as to Katherine, his wife of 30 years, a loving father and grandfather, a good friend and a true Alaskan. His leadership in Alaska will live on in future generations. And I have got to tell you, he will be deeply missed here and well beyond.
I want to turn this over to General Katkus to speak to the rescue efforts that have gone before and also what's to come as well. General?
MAJ. GEN. TOM KATKUS, ALASKA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: Good morning. I'm Major General Tom Katkus. I'm the commissioner for the department of military and veterans affairs and the adjunct general for the state of Alaska.
There's been a lot of activity involved in this (inaudible) I want to summarize what happened without going into excessive detail. The response, as you can imagine has been very, very intense. Our Rescue Coordination Center was notified of a downed aircraft about 7:30 last night.
Good Samaritans in the air that spotted the refugees of the aircraft. It was on a mountainside just north of Dillingham about 17 miles. The Rescue Coordination Center immediately rerouted the team and headed to that direction.
(inaudible) -- required the refueling attempts during the darkening hours (inaudible) -- the crew set into Dillingham. The weather had settled on to the crash site that prohibited any type of rescue effort into the evening. We put the crew down to rest in order for them to be prepared. The crew was going to be exhausted at 6:00 in the morning.
If weather didn't prove, we were prepared to bring in another crew to replace them.
(inaudible) -- the air National Guard members and helicopter lifted off into the clouds to get within access point (inaudible) -- and start assisting the survivors of the crash. The Coast Guard in conjunction -- the weather prohibited more than one aircraft operating at one time in the vicinity.
They worked and pulled four survivors from the wreckage, transported them back to Dillingham, and have loaded them onto a C-130 coast guard transportation back to the Anchorage area.
The weather has been extremely (inaudible) a factor in slowing the rescue. It's ongoing and the assets will remain on scene in support of the NTSB, the National Transportation folks coming up to investigate the crash accident.
With that, if there are any questions, I'd like to turn it over to Commissioner Masters (inaudible).
JOE MASTERS, ALASKA PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSIONER: Thank you, general. My name is Joe Masters. I'm commissioner for the Department of Public Safety for the state of Alaska.
And the primary role for the department of public safety is -- (inaudible) with the state of Alaska -- (inaudible) -- the initial assessment was conducted -- (inaudible) -- primary responsibility of the Alaska troopers in this case was the support of the NTSB -- (inaudible).
The rescue efforts are ongoing. We are not releasing any names of the persons other than the senator's. As we are able to make positive confirmations -- (inaudible).
In the immediate term, we're attempting to get troopers on scene and the Alaska National Guard is assisting us with helicopter deployment of our personnel as well as the medical examiner's office.
We also -- if weather is still an issue, are deploying a boat to bring troopers around through the water throughout, which would also require several miles of hiking to get into the scene. That's pretty much the base of information that I can give you at this point. Thank you.
PARNELL: Thank you, commissioner.
And so, as a state and as a country, in fact, as a world, as a globe, we are experiencing a tragedy. And as citizens of Alaska, we have a long road of grief to walk. And this is our time to come together and to walk together.
And so my call to Alaskans is really to just continue praying for these families, continue supporting them in every way we can. And let's open it up to your questions now as well.
QUESTION: What information can be given about the survivors?
PARNELL: At this point because notification has not been completed, all we have is confirmation of the number of survivors. Is that correct? Four survivors, apparently.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
PARNELL: We don't have that information.
QUESTION: What can you tell us about just what we know at this point about why the plane crashed?
PARNELL: I'm going to turn that over to Commissioner Masters. I know the details are not there at this point, but he can address the investigation going forward.
MASTERS: Actually, I'm not going to be able to give you any information other than it had crashed around 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. last night. The actual investigation of the crash and the factors that preceded the crash or contributed to the crash is going to be the responsibility of the National Transportation Safety Board, and their team of investigators is en route to the crash site as we speak. And it's my understanding that the National Transportation Safety Board is scheduling a conference for press availability this afternoon or this evening.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
HOLLOWAY: My name is Colonel Holloway with the Alaska state troopers. It looks like the best that we have so far is that at 7:00 p.m. we had information that there were bits of American aircraft in the area conducting a search for the downed aircraft. And then at 1930, approximately, they found the downed aircraft.
And that's about as close as we can get.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
HOLLOWAY: We don't know that at this point.
PARNELL: I can tell you a little bit of the timeframe for the Rescue Coordination Center. Most of the time that we receive an airplane accident, it's because a locator beacon has gone off. In this case, that was not the case.
I don't have the exact time, but in a relatively short amount of time, they identified the location of a crash site and called that information into the Rescue Coordination Center and we started to move forward on that.
The time we got people on the ground was a little after 7:00. Then they secured and treated the patients, lifted them out, and then the Coast Guard came in with their (inaudible), and they sat him on the ground and he assisted in the evacuation of the follow on patients from the (inaudible).
SANCHEZ: That's interesting. It's interesting to hear him say that they had to use swimmers to get to the accident scene. They say they found the plane thanks to Good Samaritans at 1930 military time.
For those of you catching this news conference perhaps late coming to us from Anchorage, hosted by governor of the state, they did not confirm that Sean O'Keefe has, in fact, survived this plane crash.
We will continue to get as much information as we possibly can on this ongoing story on the death of the former senator of Alaska onboard this plane crash that has taken place in a remote lake not far from Dillingham, Alaska. You're watching "RICK'S LIST." We'll take you through it. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. For those of you who are just joining us or are joining us late, welcome back to "RICK'S LIST." I'm Rick Sanchez.
I want to bring you up to date on some of the latest on senator Ted Stevens and a plane crash in Alaska. First of all, the White House has put out a statement. The president of the United States has issued this statement. I think we can put it up so you can see it, as a matter of fact. I'll read it to you from my laptop here just sent to me by the control room. I was going to read it to you earlier when we got into the coverage coming out of Anchorage.
Here we go -- "A decorated World War II veteran, Senator Ted Stevens devoted his career to serving the people of Alaska and fighting for our men and women in uniform. Michelle and I extend our condolences to the entire Stevens family and to the families of those who perished alongside senator Stevens in this terrible accident."
So there you go. That's the latest from there.
I want to bring in Mort Mason now. He's a pilot with experience flying these types of planes, and he's good enough to join us by phone. Mr. Mason, as you there, sir?
MORT MASON, FORMER ALASKA BUSH PILOT (via telephone): Yes, sir, I am.
SANCHEZ: We're just getting new information. For example, this. We're told the plane did not file a flight plan. Is that unusual?
MASON: No, not at all.
SANCHEZ: They don't need to.
MASON: No. And one of the problems is if you file one, if it's a VFR visual flight rules flight plan, you have to be able to close it when you land, and a lot of places you land out at a bush in Alaska, there are no facilities for that.
SANCHEZ: This is a plane that's essentially equipped to land on just about anything, but mostly on water, right?
MASON: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Now, it flew out at 2:00 p.m., we understand, from Lake Nerka. This is brand-new information we're getting in now, heading for an HRM camp on the Nushagak River. Are you familiar with that?
MASON: I'm familiar with the Nushagak River.
SANCHEZ: Pardon me, that's my pronunciation. I messed that up. Tell us about that.
MASON: The Nushagak River is a very good sized river. It comes from north and flows south and whips around west and flows into the bat at Dillingham.
SANCHEZ: Explain to our viewers or draw a picture as best you can how you can land a plane there and how difficult it would be?
MASON: It wouldn't be difficult at all until you get near the headwaters where you might not have enough deep water or straight stretches of water for an airplane the size of this otter. SANCHEZ: It wouldn't be the plane itself but the weather conditions that would cause problem?
MASON: I guess it would be the weather. On the other hand, there's every possibility for a mechanical problem.
SANCHEZ: Let me tell you what else we know. An alert notice was put out yesterday for the plane by the FAA yesterday afternoon. This is a notice to all aviators and airports to be on the lookout for aircraft with which radio contact had been lost. I imagine when they did this they knew there was a problem. How did they know?
MASON: They know because there was silence. The airplane probably didn't land where it was headed. I suspect that was Dillingham. That otter should have made radio communication both with the home base and folks at Dillingham.
SANCHEZ: How common are these flights?
MASON: Hundreds a day.
SANCHEZ: Really?
MASON: Yes.
SANCHEZ: On these little planes?
MASON: This was a little unique. It's a single engine airplane that originally came out with a 600 horsepower engine. This is a turbo, so it's bigger. It would comfortably carry 12 people, as I recall.
SANCHEZ: They're saying this had nine people onboard. They're saying that only four survived. How do you survive a plane crash like this, by the way?
MASON: Well, I don't know the particulars of the plane crash. I guess it's more a matter of luck on the part of passengers and perhaps skill on the part of the pilot, although this pilot must have been quite skillful. It's not just anybody who flies an airplane of that complexity.
SANCHEZ: Do you need to fly a plane like this usually in those conditions? They say it's oftentimes foggy and misty in those areas. Do you have to rely on your instruments rather than your eyes?
MASON: No. As a matter of fact, there's very few instrument facilities out there. Dillingham does have them, but nothing else in the neck of the woods where he was flying would have instrument facilities at all. So he'd be contact flying.
SANCHEZ: I'm wondering as I look at this plane crash and a lot of people at home are probably wondering as well -- why would people want so badly to get on a plane and go to that area. You've been there. Most of us haven't. What is it about the desolate part of that world that attracting so many people? MASON: Probably the fishing. You're looking at five species of Pacific salmon, huge rainbow trout, lake trout, all manners of fishing. It's the best in the world.
SANCHEZ: My thanks to you, Mr. Mason. You've been very kind to take us through this and give us some insight into something that for so many of us is not object a sad occasion but one we're trying to get more information. Mort mason obviously has a lot of experience with this.
MASON: Glad to do it, thank you.
