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Japanese Coast Guard Crew Killed in Collision; New York Car Crash Investigated as Terrorism; Trump to Fights Colorado and Maine Decisions. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 02, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:52]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Moment of impact. A jet carrying nearly 400 people bursts into flames after a deadly runway crash. Passengers recorded the terrifying rush to escape. So, how did this happen?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Back in the U.S., was it terrorism? The FBI is now investigating a deadly crash outside a popular concert venue in New York state. The disturbing discovery as emergency crews rushed in, and the note the driver allegedly left behind.

BERMAN: Any minute now Donald Trump expected to file appeals as he fights to keep his name on multiple 2024 ballots. The major legal action expected today.

Sara and Kate are away. I'm John Berman, with Rahel Solomon. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SOLOMON: We want to begin this hour with breaking news out of Japan. A Japan airlines plane bursts into flames after it collided with a Japanese coast guard aircraft on the runway in Tokyo. This new video shows the moment of impact after the passenger jet landed at the airport just hours ago.

And you can see in the video the Japan Airlines plane bursting into flames as it goes down the runway there. Crew members on the coast guard plane were killed. The captain is in critical condition. The crew were preparing to fly to western Japan to try to help with earthquake relief. Nearly 400 passengers and crew were on the Japan Airlines flight. They were able to escape. Seventeen people reportedly were hurt.

Let's bring in CNN's Will Ripley. He joins us live from Tokyo.

So, Will, what's the latest here? What are you learning?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, just within the last couple of hours the Japanese prime minister sending his condolences to the families of those five coast guard crew members. The coast guard has a base right next to the Haneda Airport, which sits in the heart of Tokyo, just 15 or 20 minutes' drive from where I'm standing right now. It's one of the best airports to fly into in Japan because of its centralized location right on the bay and you have a beautiful view of the city when you fly in.

But on this very busy day, a day that hours after Japan was rocked by a massive earthquake you had this coast guard crew, six people on the plane total, trying to get relief supplies to areas hard hit that desperately need the help.

And at the same time you had a packed Japan Airlines jet that was arriving from Sapporo, which was right in the prime of their tourist season up there on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. This plane had 367 people on board, including eight children under the age of two. So, you had parents with their kids, you had 12 crew members and a fully packed plane. And just before 6:00 p.m. local time, as this aircraft was landing on the runway, the coast guard aircraft was also on the same runway.

How did that happen? That is the focus - and going to be the focus of an extensive investigation here in Tokyo. A nation that prides itself on public transportation safety. A nation that's never had a single fatality in decades of running bullet trains at hundreds of miles an hour. And yet somehow, for whatever reason, that reason to be determined, these two aircraft had a very, very violent collision that resulted in a huge fireball.

Both of the planes were in flames in a matter of seconds. And passengers who were on the Japan airlines jet described black smoke filling the cabin. They were terrified. Parents, you know, trying to keep their kids as safe as they could, wondering if they were going to make it out alive. A lot of passengers saying they just didn't think that they would, especially when the exit doors, according to the passengers, in the rear and middle parts of the aircraft were not working properly.

But yet, through the front exit doors, and there's video of this that's emerging on social media, people, one by one, streamed out of each side of the front of the aircraft. And in just a matter of seconds, all 400 or so people who were on that aircraft made it off alive. Seventeen of them in the hospital with injuries. But an extraordinary thing when you look at that video of that plane that was then very quickly fully engulfed in flames, still smoldering on the runway. It took firefighters well over an hour to get the fire under control.

Haneda Airport, a very busy hub, of course shut down right now and likely to be shut down for quite some time as they investigate exactly how this happened, as they look into the cause of this.

[09:05:05]

But still the fact that so many people, hundreds of people, were able to walk away, even as Japan mourns the loss of these five coast guard crew members, it is truly a remarkable moment at the beginning of 2024, which has been very rough for Japan given the earthquake first and then this collision on the runway right in the heart of the Japanese capital, Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yes, certainly a - just a really dark period for Japan. But as you say, just remarkable that hundreds of people were able to escape those flames.

Will Ripley live for us there in Tokyo.

Will, thank you.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean.

And, Pete, when you look at those pictures, when you see that plane in flames, it's a near miracle that everyone on board was able to get out. What do you see when you look at it?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: What I see, and you see the impact there in the first two seconds of that video, is really a wakeup call, not only for aviation in Japan, but also around the world and especially in the United States. We'll get to that in a second.

Japan Airlines Flight 516. This was an Airbus A-350. Only two years old. Came into land on Runday 34 right there at Haneda.

What is interesting here is that we know from the track of the plane that this plane was coming into land the plane behind it had to go around. We do not know the track specifically because there's no data available from that Japan coast guard Dash-8 airplane. Six people on board, five of them are dead. We know that the captain of that flight is in critical condition.

What is really striking to me is the communication and the coordination by the crew that made this evacuation so successful. Not just the pilots, but all of the crew, the flight attendants especially. Japan prides itself on efficiency. They got these people out in a very short period of time.

There you can see the two airplanes. And this big size difference here. A Dash-8 is a much smaller airplane, although it clearly did a lot of damage to the front of that Airbus A-350. This is the first time a Airbus A-350 has ever experienced a hull loss. Meaning the airplane is completely destroyed.

What is clear right now is that there was a huge safety failure here in a culture that is incredibly safety conscious. The Japanese airlines had a spate of accidents in the '80s and '90s. They really cleaned up their act. But is also clear is that this was something where there was an airplane in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now the question is where the confusion took place. Was it confusion on the part of air traffic control, or was it confusion by one of the crews involved in that Japan coast guard flight or in that Japan Airlines flight.

So, this is something that investigators really need to look at. And of course they will listen to the air traffic control tapes and the communication there to see if anything was garbled.

What is really interesting here in the United States is that there has been incident after incident of airplanes in the wrong place at the wrong time on the surface of an airport. They are known officially as a runway incursion. An we have seen seven of these incidents get so serious that the National Transportation Safety Board has been involved. JFK, Austin, Boston, Burbank, the list goes on.

This incident really immediately reminds me of the Austin incident where a FedEx flight was coming in to land at Austin-Bergstrom last February. A Southwest Airlines flight was lined up on the runway ready to take off. It was in bad weather conditions. It was dark. It was before dawn. And the FedEx crew caught the error and went around.

In this case, of course, it was dark. It was about 5:47 p.m. local time. Although the weather was pretty good. And now the question is whether or not this Japan Airlines flight crew was able to see this plane in front of them and why it was there.

So, a lot of big questions here and investigators really have their work cut out for them, John.

BERMAN: And, no doubt, there are lessons here for the airlines and for air traffic control people, but also maybe for passengers here. And I don't mean to be preachy, but this really does emphasize the need to listen when they are telling you where the exits are at the beginning of your flight.

MUNTEAN: Well, of course you want to have a good situational and special awareness any time you're on a commercial airliner. And this is why the flight crew not only reenforces this to you in the safety briefing and tries to get you to pay attention, but also they train for this over and over again, these evacuations, not only onboard the airplane itself, but also in buildings and big cabin simulators. They train for inflating these emergency slides for an evacuation such as this.

What is so incredible is that this took place without any injury to anybody on board. Three hundred and sixty-nine people on board. Nobody seriously hurt. Nobody died.

This is something that keeps coming up in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization process as they get their money from Congress. And there is a push to restudy the evacuation of commercial flights in the United States. And some have said, especially those in the Senate have said they really need to look at this because the simulation that was taken place that the FAA did was too sanitized.

[09:10:08]

There -- it wasn't very well representative of just the entire flying public. That they may have not included everybody, like those with disabilities or people who are old, or people who were young. It is striking to me here in this incident that some were very, very young on board this flight and they were able to get out OK.

Also reenforces, John, as you mentioned, listen to the flight crew. Leave your stuff behind when you have to evacuate. That only slows things down. It's really important just to get up and go. Get to the emergency exit and get out.

BERMAN: All right, still more to learn here. Pete, we'll let you go work your sources.

Pete Muntean, thank you very much.

SOLOMON: And let's discuss this more and get more analysis on this. Miles O'Brien joining us now. He's a CNN aviation and aerospace analyst.

Miles, good to see you today, unfortunately certainly a dark day for Japan.

But just your initial read. I mean what do you think happened here?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, Rahel, you know, there are many, many layers of safety build into the system. And we got down to the absolute last layer here in this one, which was the possibility of an orderly evacuation. And I don't want to - I think we can't underscore enough how successful that evacuations was. The crew did a great job getting them off. And if any group of people collectively would listen to a flight crew and do what they're told and follow the rules, it is the people of Japan, anybody who's lived there and knows the culture there, they do, in fact, listen to rules and follow rules. So, that was really fantastic. And there was a great demonstration of the possibilities there.

The other thing to think about here, Rahel, is, there have been decades of work on the part of the FAA and other organizations to reduce the flammability of the materials that are inside the cabin of an aircraft. And this is an example here, I think, of the success there, that it holds off potential danger from the toxic fumes and the flames. Enough time to get passengers off if they listen to the rules.

So, we can take that aways as a half full look at it. But clearly there's some dramatic failure in the system here, which will have to be identified and worked on.

SOLOMON: And how do they do that? I mean once they identify the causes here, walk us through how they officially investigate this.

O'BRIEN: Well, you've got three main parties here. You've got the flight crew aboard the Airbus A-350. You have apparently the surviving pilot, the coast guard pilot on the Dash-8, the smaller aircraft And you have the air traffic controllers up there in the control tower. And each of them will have a story to tell. They'll be interviewed separately.

And, of course, on top of that what you have are lots of recordings. Recordings of the air traffic control communications and the cockpit voice record on the Airbus A-350. I'm not sure if that Japanese coast guard craft was similarly equipped. We'll have to see about that.

But the parties involved, the people who made the decisions in this case are all present and with us still to sort of sort out what happened. Where the confusion happened. As Pete pointed out, it was good weather, but it was nighttime. It's the busiest airport in the Pacific Rim, in the middle of a terrible disaster. A lot of adrenaline going, I'm sure, with that coast guard crew trying to get needed relief supplies up to the stricken region. So, there are a lot of subtle human factors here that need to be addressed.

SOLOMON: Miles O'Brien, we appreciate the time and the insights today. Thank you, Miles.

O'BRIEN: You're welcome, Rahel.

BERMAN: All right, a car crashes into another vehicle, then plows into a crowd outside a concert in New York. Two people are dead. Why the FBI is now investigating this case as possible domestic terrorism.

Breaking overnight, a political leader stabbed in the neck at a campaign event. He just got out of surgery. We're learning new details about the attacker.

Crews racing to rescue more than 100 people trapped in the deadly earthquake in Japan. Tens of thousands still without power.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:00]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

This morning the FBI is investigating a fiery crash outside a New Year's Eve concert in upstate New York as domestic terrorism. Two people were killed, another five were hurt. It happened outside the Kodak Center in Rochester early Monday as people were coming out of the concert. Police say that a Ford SUV slammed into another car that was leaving the parking lot and both vehicles then plowed into the crowd burst into flames. After the flames were out, first responders found at least a dozen gas canisters in and around the Ford SUV.

Let's bring in CNN's Brynn Gingras, who's been following this all morning.

So, Brynn, I mean, what more can you share, one, about the investigation, but also the suspect?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we're learning a lot from sources. But you just pointed out two very important things that, you know, have triggered in their minds, like, this could possibly be domestic terrorism. The fact that there were gas canisters, the fact that a car is plowed through a group of people. And also, in their investigation, sources are telling us that they have found a suicide note at this suspect's hotel room, as well as a journal.

Now, domestic terrorism is a big umbrella, we have to keep that in mind, because there has to be some sort of ideology in order to make it domestic terrorism. So, when they identified this suspect, as we've been told by sources, as Michael Avery, who's actually from Syracuse but was staying in a hotel in Rochester, there must have been something in the, you know, social media accounts, in that note, in the journal, communications with their family members, that sort of triggered, like, this could possibly be domestic terrorism and that's why JTTF is also involved in this investigation. Now, listen, we're about to get an update on this investigation in

about 45 minutes or so. So, we'll see where it goes from here. But the initial facts about this, let me tell you about it. It was really just about an hour into the new year in Rochester, as Rahel said, at the Kodak Center. About a thousand people were leaving this venue when this SUV plowed into another car that was trying to exit the venue. Two people inside that car were killed. Others who were on the sidewalk just trying to cross the crosswalk were injured, as well as the driver of that SUV, seriously injured. Again, his name is Michael Avery.

[09:20:01]

Unclear right now his status.

But I want you to hear from one concert goer who was trying to leave the venue and what they saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAYLE SHALVOY, CONCERTGOER: When we did finally get outside and you saw the carnage of the cars and the one car burnt up and car pieces everywhere and -- it was surreal to think, wow, this happened right here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: And you can hear and see the pictures of what this explosion caused with all those gas canisters in the area. So, the FBI is investigating. JTTF involved as well. And, again, we're getting a news conference in just about an hour to get some details of exactly what happened here. But two people killed in an incident. That, of course, we know law enforcement in heightened alert right now -

SOLOMON: Right. Right.

GINGRAS: As we've been talking for several weeks now -

SOLOMON: Just hours into the new year.

GINGRAS: Hours into the new year.

SOLOMON: Yes.

GINGRAS: Not even an hour.

SOLOMON: Yes. Brynn Gingras, thank you.

GINGRAS: All right. Yes.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Juliette Kayyem, CNN's senior national security analyst, former assistant secretary of Department of Homeland Security.

Juliette, the details here.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: A car crash outside a New Year's Eve concert. Gas canisters found. A note found in the hotel room.

KAYYEM: Yes.

BERMAN: Fill in the blanks here. What raise this now to a domestic terror investigation? What does that change?

KAYYEM: Right. So right now - well it would change in terms of who is the lead investigator. Right now it will be the FBI. And that is right, right now. Look, they can always ratchet down. And the reason why that's the correct assessment is a couple of factors.

First of all, this is premeditated. This isn't an accident. We know it's premeditated just given the suicide note, but also earlier reporting of talk of - this is potentially a rental car. And so that is an attribute used by terrorists, domestic or international. And then, of course, the explosives or the gas tanks in the car that would have been -- resulted in a mass casualty event had he been successful. So, you're going to start there.

And then this is where we're careful. And there will be a press conference. We know who he is. We know he has a suicide note. And we know there's a reason why he committed suicide and also tried to kill others. We don't know if that was yet the sort of hate crime terror aspect to it that would justify a federal - continuing the federal investigation or does this become, you know, horrific nonetheless, a state investigation.

BERMAN: What could be in the note? Again, we don't have reporting on it, but what are the types of things that could be in the note, Juliette, that make it -- put it in the realm of domestic terror?

KAYYEM: Well, suicide often and mostly is a personal crime. I mean people do it, you know, by themselves. They -- or sometimes in, you know, a family incident, a murder-suicide. But sort of these spectacular suicides, so to speak, in other words this performative suicide, they're rare. And so you want to find out, what is it about his mental state that led him to do this. And that would be, who was he following on social media, what was he following, who was he communicating with, and what would be the motivation to commit suicide and to leave a suicide note behind in this fashion.

So, we - I - you know, the press conference is in about 45 minutes. We'll have a sense of - and what I'm looking at is, why does this continue to be a Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation and is that because there is something in the suicide note, or his family knew something about what that motivation would be.

That motivation, once again, could be a number of things. But particular to terrorism would be whether there's an international terror nexus, as we've been reporting on in terms of concerns about the war in the Middle East or, of course, a domestic terror nexus related to radicalization on the home front. So, lots to wait for. But this is - John, I will say, this is rare to have an - you know, a

series of planning for a suicide attack that would then result in a mass casualty event without some particular motivation that maybe extends beyond personal, a mental depression or something else.

BERMAN: And as Juliette said, we are expecting this news conference shortly.

KAYYEM: Yes.

BERMAN: One of the big questions, as Juliette outlined right there is, is this still a domestic terror investigation. And if so, why. The answer could be coming within minutes.

Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much, as always.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

SOLOMON: Well, still ahead for us, at any moment now, Donald Trump's lawyers are expected to appeal both Colorado and Maine's decisions to remove him from their primary ballots.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:58]

BERMAN: It could come at any time. Today, lawyers for Donald Trump are expected to appeal both decisions in Colorado and Maine. Those decisions to remove him from their primary ballots.

CNN's Zachary Cohen joins us now with what we expect to see over the next few hours.

Zach.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, John, we do expect Donald Trump's legal team to appeal both of these decisions, one from Colorado, the other from Maine. And the Colorado appeal will go to the U.S. Supreme Court, where, you know, they now have the option of taking up this question of whether or not Donald Trump can be removed from these primary ballots by state officials.

We've already heard from Colorado's secretary of state, who is encouraging the U.S. Supreme Court not only to take this up but to weigh in and weigh in quickly. She says, look, I have to certificate the names on these ballots by the end of this week and I need a definitive answer as to whether or not Donald Trump's name should be included in there. So, you get a sense of the urgency there that's coming from some of these election officials as this constitutional question hangs out there.

Now, we also expect that Trump's going to appeal this decision in Maine. That was made by the secretary of state there. You know, that appeal will go to state level courts. [09:30:01]

And we know that both decisions are on hold until the courts in both cases can sort of get this resolved. In Maine, the state level courts could resolve this.