Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

At Least 21 Killed in Taiwan Plane Crash; Seven Killed When New York Train Slams into Jeep; Jordan Hangs Two Jailed Terrorists; Jordanian Pilot Burned Alive by ISIS; U.S. Condemns Killing of Jordanian Pilot

Aired February 4, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: TransAsia turboprop plane crash-landing into a river in Taiwan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least 12 are dead, but scores still missing.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: A devastatingly ugly situation to see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a passenger that ran past me. He had blood on his face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was panic going on towards the front of the train.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were trapped inside, multiple fatalities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ISIS released a 22-minute video of Jordanian pilot Lieutenant Moaz Al-Kasasbeh being burned alive.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jordan has executed two terrorists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: We do have three breaking news stories this morning at home and abroad. To our viewers in the U.S. and around the world, good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, February 4th, just before 6:00 in the east.

Jordan is retaliating against ISIS after a captive pilot was burned alive. Jordan has executed two terrorist prisoners as a result. They are promising this is only the beginning. We're going to have more on that in a moment, but first we're following two horrific crashes.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We are. The first is a spectacular plane crash in Taiwan. It was caught on a car's dash cam. We'll show you that video. And the other is a fiery rush hour train crashing just north of New York City. So we start with the deadly passenger plane crash that killed at least

21 people. These terrifying moments captured on this video you're about to see. Look at this. It shows the plane falling out of the sky moments after takeoff, striking that bridge and narrowly missing buildings in Taipei before plunging into a river.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: So the search for the victims continues at this hour. There are survivors. A bit of glimmer of hope there. We begin our coverage with CNN's David McKenzie in Beijing with the breaking details -- David.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Michaela. Incredible that survivors walked out, in some cases from this plane, right after takeoff in Taipei, Taiwan. As you saw from that incredible footage, the plane dropping down, cartwheeling and smashing into a highway and then plunging into a river near Taipei.

Several people were able to leave. Scores of rescuers went to the scene by boat, by any other means necessary and pulled people out of the wreckage. Tragically, some 21 people have died, according to authorities. They have managed to retrieve the flight data recorders, so we can get

some sense of what exactly happened. But this morning crash must have just shocked residents in Taipei, all caught on that camera right from the car on the highway -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much. We'll keep monitoring that situation. I know you've been updating the numbers. We'll be back with you.

Now, in New York state we had the deadliest crash in the history of the Metro-North train line. Seven people are dead after a passenger train slammed into a Jeep right at the height of rush hour.

Deb Feyerick joins us from the crash site in Valhalla, New York. Deb, what's the latest?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, you can see the train behind me. This is actually the tail end of the train. The smell of smoke still very, very heavy in the air. This is a very popular commuter line that goes to the suburbs. It was leaving Manhattan last night.

NTSB investigators are on their way. They're expected to arrive here sometime later in the morning.

Key to this investigation is how and why that Jeep Cherokee got stuck on the tracks. It's been very, very icy out here, but that car made it onto the tracks when the guardrail closed. Take a listen to some of the witnesses who talked to us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): This morning, commuters in New York reeling after a train crash left seven people dead, at least a dozen injured Tuesday evening. MARC WELTE, METRO-NORTH PASSENGER: There was a passenger that ran

past me. He had blood on his face. And people were pulling the windows off, trying to get out through the emergency windows. Screaming, yelling, it was just total panic.

FEYERICK: It was rush hour just around 7 p.m., when this Metro-North train traveling on the tracks north of New York City, heading from Grand Central Terminal to Valhalla, collided with an SUV.

FRED BUONOCORE, METRO-NORTH PASSENGER: You could tell there was panic going on towards the front of the train. Like "Walk balk, walk back, walk back."

FEYERICK: According to Metro Transit Authority officials, the gate at the train crossing closed down on the SUV. The female driver got out to look at the rear of her Jeep Cherokee, and that's when the train struck.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was an explosion. People were trapped inside, so there were multiple fatalities. Then there was smoke in the head car, and we saw a couple of flames.

DEVON CHAMPAGNE, METRO-NORTH PASSENGER: But we were able to get off in time. But, I mean, it was scary.

FEYERICK: The explosion leaving behind a plume of smoke billowing from the cabs. About 650 people aboard.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: The third rail of the track came up from the explosion and went right through the car. So it is truly a devastatingly ugly situation to see.

FEYERICK: The driver of that SUV and six train passengers killed. The NTSB sending a go team to investigate the crash later today.

A. CUOMO: When you look at the damage done, it's actually amazing that not more people were hurt on that train.

FEYERICK: This deadly train collision comes on the heels of a November NTSB report finding that five Metro-North accidents that killed six and injured more than 100 passengers were all preventable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Now service on this line is going to be disrupted, certainly for a day as investigators come and try to figure out exactly what was going on with the signals, with the icing going on on the tracks. Again, this is one of the deadliest in Metro-North history -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Deb Feyerick, thanks so much for all that background. Let's bring in Mary Schiavo -- she's a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation -- to talk about both these crashes.

Good morning, Mary. MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: What have we been able to learn? Let's start with the Metro-North train crash. You heard Deb just talk about there are questions about the signals. There's questions about icing. What have we learned about the cause of this train crash?

SCHIAVO: Well, we won't have any kind of definitive cause until the NTSB, of course, reviews the train recorders -- they're similar to the black boxes on the airplanes -- and also is able to talk to the train staff and the many witnesses.

But what people don't realize is that the signals at the crossings can be run by someone and can be maintained and looked after by someone other than the train crossing the track. So it would depend who had the responsibility for those crossing signals. And of course, there's lots to look at. Did the lights give the warning? Was there any kind of an oral warning. Was this an area where the train was allowed to whistle or not allowed to whistle? There are lots of requirements on when you can blow the train whistle, when you're supposed to blow the train whistle. And also, was the train traveling at the proper speed to give the traffic time to cross over the crossing?

So there's so many questions that can be answered. And most likely they will be, including by the recording equipment on the train and then by examining when the crossing was last maintained and when the signals were last checked. And the gates were last checked.

CAMEROTA: Some of the passengers on the train have given very interesting eye-witness testimony. What they describe is that the train came to a complete halt. They didn't know that it had hit anything. The train just came to a dead stop. And then they heard over the loudspeakers someone say the train has struck a car. They smelled gas fumes. But they got no further instructions. They didn't know what else to do. That is a real flaw in a safety plan.

SCHIAVO: Exactly. I mean, for example, on the airlines, to compare to a different transportation mode, there are many, many drills and exercises and requirements on evacuation. But similarly, on the plane, the pilot gives the evacuation order, and we don't know what was going on yet. I mean, certainly there should be other personnel on the train in the cab of that train. But yes, there should have been instructions and how to get out.

But on the trains, they don't do the safety drills like you do on the aircraft every time you board the plane, and perhaps that's something the NTSB should look into. But just about a month ago the NTSB on its 10 most wanted list said rail passenger, rail safety is one of the most important things to improve safety in the United States. It's on their most wanted list.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Because we know these passengers, it sounds like that died on the train, it wasn't necessarily from the impact. It was from the fire and the fumes.

SCHIAVO: Right. CAMEROTA: Let's talk about this very dramatic airplane crash that's happened overnight. This is a TransAir flight that happened in Taiwan. This is breaking news, so obviously, the numbers are fluid. Look at this, Mary. Look at this dramatic video that was caught on dash cam of the plane coming down. Do we know what happened?

SCHIAVO: Well, you know, I don't have the best eyesight in the world. You know, the glasses work, but it looks to me like one of the propellers was not turning on that little tiny footage. Now it's hard to see, but that would explain why they weren't able to control it.

And of course, you're supposed to, pilots are supposed to be trained to fly with one engine, including bringing it in safely, if they had lost that other engine. But it looks to me like they might have lost one of the engines, which would explain what's going on. What would not explain, of course, is why they lost an engine. Why this airline -- this is the second crash this airline has had in as many years. And what's going on with the training and maintenance at this airline.

And by the way, that airplane, the ATR, does not fly, largely is not in service, in the United States for lots of issues, not -- including icing issues in the past. So there's a lot of issues there. But I suspect that they're having an engine problem.

CAMEROTA: Mary, I don't know if you have a monitor in your studio, but the video is so dramatic. You see a parent holding a baby. I mean, part of this, not only of the plane coming down is so shocking. But then of the rescue. At this hour, of course these numbers are fluid, but 21 people died here, 15 were injured. But it's amazing, because we can see all of the survivors of this. That people would survive this plane crash.

SCHIAVO: Yes, what people don't realize is in, on average, in plane crashes, over half of the people survive. Even horrific crashes. And so, the key is to be able, of course, to get out and to make that escape. And that's why there's so many interesting parallels between the two tragedies this morning. Getting out is the key in any train crash or plane crash. And that's why it's important that you do everything you can for transportation modes to make accidents survival, to make crashes survivable, and that includes escape routes and practice.

CAMEROTA: It sounds like investigators will be looking at all of that in the days to come. Mary Schiavo, thanks so much for your expertise.

Let's go over to Michaela.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn. We have more breaking news, Jordan taking decisive action, hanging two jailed al Qaeda terrorists in retaliation for the barbaric murder of a captured Jordanian pilot. ISIS burned him alive in a cage, then released the gruesome video for the world to see.

CNN has every angle of the story covered. We begin with Atika Shubert in Amman, Jordan -- Atika.

ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christina [SIC]. I'm here, actually, where prayers just took place. And you can see behind me here some of the banners that are still up that said farewell to the pilot but also "we are all martyrs," showing solidarity for him.

And these are the kinds of things we've been seeing all across the city. This sort of spontaneous support by people. In fact there are people lined up at the airport right now, waiting for the arrival of the king, to show their support to him as well and their anger for what's happened.

So if ISIS's goal was to try and divide opinion here in Jordan, it does not seem to be working. I spoke to one man who said that he believes this will become a turning point in which not only does Jordanian public opinion turn united against ISIS, but that this will turn the opinion throughout the Arab world.

PEREIRA: All right. Atika Shubert reporting. Thank you so much for that.

CUOMO: All right. We're getting a little sense of what it's like on the streets there in Jordan right now. The big question: what will happen next? Let's bring in Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

There are some obvious questions here. What will the Jordanians do? What does this mean for the region? Is it a tipping point? And most importantly to people in the U.S., is there going to be a change here at the Pentagon? What do you hear?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Well, what we do know this morning is that U.S. and Jordanian intelligence services are now scouring every frame of that horrific video for any clues about the identities of the perpetrators.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): ISIS released a 22-minute video of Jordanian pilot Lieutenant Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh being burned alive in a locked steel cage, CNN choosing not to show the gruesome video.

KARIMA BENNOUNE, AUTHOR, "YOUR FATWA DOES NOT APPLY HERE": It's truly horrifying. When you watch the video that's meant to inflict terror.

STARR: Jordan announced the murder likely took place a month ago, soon after the 27-year-old's F-16 crashed in northern Syria, an ISIS stronghold.

Recently, ISIS threatened to kill the pilot if Jordan didn't release Sajida al-Rishawi, the failed Iraqi suicide bomber who attacked a wedding party in Jordan nearly a decade ago. Al-Rishawi, one of the two, already on Death Row, put to death by Jordan.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: I think the executions were more to satisfy the demand for action of the king.

STARR; News of the pilot's death coming as Jordan's King Abdullah was visiting Washington.

KING ABDULLAH, JORDAN: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

STARR: In a message recorded before rushing home, the king called for Jordanians to, quote, "stand together and show the mettle of the Jordanian people in unity, determination and resolve." President Obama and other U.S. officials expressing solidarity with this close ally in the U.S.-led military coalition to degrade and eventually defeat ISIS.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And there is some speculation, as for what is next, that Jordan may now step up its airstrikes against ISIS targets. Something the coalition would support -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Barbara Starr, thank you so much for that reporting. So how will the U.S. and our allies respond to this sickening action by ISIS? Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta joins us now from the White House with more.

What are they saying, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, in response to this latest brutal execution video, President Obama is once again vowing to defeat this terrorist group. I talked to a U.S. official last night who predicted the killing of that Jordanian pilot, Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh, will backfire on ISIS.

This official went on to say the administration believes this horrific video will only strengthen the resolve of the Jordanians. That is a pretty clear indication from the White House that Jordan is likely to ramp up efforts in the anti-ISIS coalition.

And last night the president met with Jordan's King Abdullah here in the White House, in the Oval Office. And only hours after meeting those two -- those two leaders met, two al Qaeda prisoners in Jordan were executed.

We'll hear more about the administration's plans for taking on ISIS when the president's nominee for defense secretary, Ash Carter, has a hearing up on Capitol Hill. In a questionnaire completed by Ash Carter, he was asked what the president means when he says the U.S. will defeat ISIS. Carter responded, I believe, that ISIL must no longer be a threat to Iraq, the region, and the United States and our partners. Make no mistake, Michaela, there will be lots of questions for Ash Carter about the administration's strategy for dealing with ISIS later on today.

PEREIRA: A much-needed strategy, to be sure. All right, Jim Acosta. Thank you for that.

A former al Qaeda operative is making new allegations from behind bars. In new testimony Zacarias Moussaoui, the man described as the 20th 9/11 hijacker, claims that several prominent members of the Saudi Arabia's royal family financially supported al Qaeda in the '90s.

In a statement, the Saudi embassy in Washington says there's no evidence to support his claim. Moussaoui is serving a life sentence for conspiring to kill Americans as part of the 9/11 attacks.

CAMEROTA: As Jim Acosta just mentioned, today is the confirmation hearing for former deputy defense secretary Ash Carter to become the next Pentagon chief.

In written comments to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carter says that he will focus on keeping Islamic State militants from keeping a foothold in Afghanistan. He even said he'd consider changing the president's plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan if conditions warrant.

CUOMO: More trouble for Lance Armstrong. Police say he tried to pin a recent hit-and-run on his girlfriend. They say Armstrong hit two parked cars after a night of partying in December, then fled the scene. But he and his girlfriend agreed that she would take the blame. She admits as much, saying they did it to avoid publicity. No one was hurt in the crash. Damage was done to the parked cars and Armstrong's credibility, such as it is.

PEREIRA: You know, what a tangled web we weave, right? She said she had teenagers and wanted to avoid all that publicity and shame it would bring to the family if he were arrested. Yet, she now has besmirched her own reputation. I mean, it's such a mess.

CAMEROTA: Is it possible he hasn't learned his lesson about lying?

CUOMO: Is it possible?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: He was in an interview with the BBC where he said, "I would do it all again." He may benefit a little bit from context in that statement, but not really. And those who are against him, his critics, say this is what he does. He does what he has to do to protect himself, and that's what made his crimes in sport worse than others.

PEREIRA: All right. We're going to get back to the top story now that Jordan has hanged two jailed terrorists in retaliation for the brutal murder of a pilot. The world is bracing for the next move by ISIS. The question is will there be more bloodshed? We're going to talk about it with our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Jordan says an eye for an eye, executing two jailed terrorists just after, hours after ISIS released a video showing a captured Jordanian fighter pilot being burned alive. We are not going to show you that video, obviously. But we are going to report on the situation, because what happens next is key.

U.S. officials believe the pilot was killed last month, long before those failed negotiations began for the pilot's release. So what is next for Jordan, for the region, for the United States?

Let's bring in CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour.

Christiane, the best hope here is that this is a tipping point. Do you think it could be? And if so, what would that mean?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's interesting. I know a lot of people are looking at that. Obviously, clearly, what ISIS is trying to do is both have this extreme sort of public relations offensive. What it's trying to do is get more recruits, and it's trying to get these members of the coalition to stop being members of the coalition.

Jordan has said categorically that categorically that it will remain in the coalition and step up its actions against ISIS. The father of this, this pilot who's been so savagely killed has said that he wants Jordan to annihilate -- that's the word he used, to annihilate ISIS. And there's been other reaction. For instance, the grand imam, at what is the Sunni center of learning in the world of the al-Azar mosque in Egypt, says that these terrorists should be crucified, killed.

So there is from those areas a pushback, very, very strong pushback against what ISIS has done.

CAMEROTA: And in fact, Christiane, we have heard from analysts who say that even ultra-radicals, even al Qaeda or ISIS sympathizers, have said that this brutality has been taken to a new level with the release of this sickening video of this assassination. So is it galvanizing people in a different way than the previous brutality that we saw from ISIS had?

AMANPOUR: I really do think we have to wait and see. Because it's very nebulous to know exactly who's pushing back and who isn't. You know, people who don't believe in this violent ideology, obviously, are sickened by it. And we've seen some of that reaction online. People who are psychopathic themselves, and I use that word advisedly. And I'll tell you why in a second. Think that this perhaps is part of their gory diet that they like to see and its this bloodlust cult that is simply unleashed now, which looks leaderless, which looks like it is just thrashing around and trying to do whatever it can to stay in the limelight.

I mean, why, for instance, did they go through this very cynical charade of using the Jordanian pilot in this attempt at a prisoner swap, when they knew they'd killed him already? To keep this in the public. You know, they killed the two Japanese. I spoke to a very senior Japanese official who said this will not sway Japan's desire to remain part of not the military coalition, but to keep helping, for instance, the refugees and to keep pursuing terrorists, as he put it to me.

The Japanese prime minister said he would never forgive what had happened to the two Japanese citizens.

So in that regard, it's very, very much concentrated people's minds to keep fighting ISIS. ISIS, as you know, is losing territory. Maybe not so much in Syria, although it lost Kobani on the border. But is being pushed back in Iraq. And a lot of their people have been -- have been killed.

CUOMO: Right, but Christiane, as you well know and you teach us all the time, this war is not about what happens on the battlefield. It is about where this idea comes from, where the extremism is engendered.

So the question is, while we don't know what it's going to mean for radicals in general, for Jordan, Jordan has a very mixed population there, as you know, in terms of how they feel about ISIS. Do you think this could change that? And if so, what might it enable Jordan to do now that it hasn't done to this point?

AMANPOUR: Well, look, you know, who knows? Jordan is not the senior member of this coalition. Jordan has been a staunch -- a staunch supporter of the west in fighting terrorism. It's joined the coalition. But I mean, it's part of -- I mean, the real heavyweight is the United States. And some of the western allies who have been bombing. Jordan is there, but you know, I don't know, frankly, what more it can do, other than drop bombs.

CUOMO: But the U.S. is not growing ISIS fighters the way countries in that region are. So it really is about those countries stepping up. Do you think this may push that type of behavior?

AMANPOUR: I think what we're seeing from Jordan right now is a sort of solidifying their unity around the government and basically say we have to go after these people. So I think that's very important. That is coming from the family and from the tribes.

So given that that is coming from them, after they had demonstrated and suggested that you know, this war was not their war. And that they, you know, not necessarily all pro-the-coalition, the killing of this pilot has solidified, at least for the moment, this unity around the king.

And I guess the answer really is to that question, whether the king can persuade his people that fighting ISIS is more -- is more important than allowing ISIS to come to Jordan and kill its people. So I think that's where the king has to really negotiate this and persuade them that it's more dangerous to get out of the coalition than it is to stay in the coalition.

CAMEROTA: And Christiane...

AMANPOUR: When we talk about the Islamic -- go ahead. CAMEROTA: Well, I was going to say we understand that you recently

interviewed...

AMANPOUR: Yes.

CAMEROTA: ... a man who was taken hostage by ISIS. What did he share about their motivation now?

AMANPOUR: Well, exactly. You know, when we talk about what motivates them, he was telling me, this is a colleague of mine, a reporter who I've known since Bosnia. He was arrested, captured by ISIS about a year ago, and was released last April.

He was in captivity with James Foley, with Steven Sotloff, with Peter Kassig, all the American who have been slaughtered, also with the Brits who have been slaughtered. And they were held by some of these foreign jihadis, in other words, this guy, Jihadi John and others, who have been notorious now. And he said has said a couple of things: A, they're very violent; and he used the word "psychopathic." These people have come from criminal backgrounds in the west; Have gone over to, you know, use their criminality and give it, you know, maximum exposure and action now with ISIS.

They were the cruelest of the cruel, he said. And they treated the hostages very harshly, particularly James Foley.

But he also said, importantly, this had nothing to do with Islam. They never talked about Islam. They never talked about the Koran. They never tried to persuade them that this was about some kind of Islam. He said this was very, very political. Why are you killing Muslims? We're going to kill you, we hate the west, we hate democracy.

That's what was going on amongst this group of jihadis. So I think that was, you know, quite an important revelation into their motivation.

CAMEROTA: That is very instructive, and we're basically out of time. But how did he get out?

AMANPOUR: Well, I think ransom was paid. He doesn't know for sure. But if you remember, this happened before the west started bombing ISIS, before ISIS took Mosul and before there was a campaign. He believes that, had he been part of the hostages who remained after, you know, July, after June, when the bombing of ISIS started, there's no way he would have got out.

CUOMO: All right, Christiane, thank you very much. Obviously, this is far from the end of this situation. We look on calling you again very soon.

And look, you heard what Christiane said. The guys didn't mention Islam a lot when they were talking to the prisoners. That squares with what we just saw in this video. Because burning someone alive isn't just an obvious crime against humanity. It's very much against the tenets of Islam. Burning as retribution or punishment is solely reserved -- well, it's solely reserved for God. So they're doing something that doesn't square with any tenet of the religion.

PEREIRA: All right. From that we're going to turn to Boston. Quite a day there after an epic Super Bowl win, an epic snow, the city of Boston finally ready to celebrate their Patriots. We're going to take you live to the parade route ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)