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Nearly 400 Survive Collision, Coast Guard Tragedy; Claudine Gay Steps Down Amid Controversies; Hamas Leader Killed In Beirut, Iran's Naval Move; Russian Strikes Escalate, Iran's Involvement Raises Concerns. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 03, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:16]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for joining us on CNN News Central. It's the top of the hour and we're tracking some breaking news. The president of Harvard, Claudine Gay, has announced that she is resigning after just six months on the job. Gay had been under pressure to step down ever since her congressional testimony last month about anti-Semitism on campus.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And she was also being investigated for plagiarism and recently requested corrections to some of her academic work. CNN's Matt Egan is following this story for us. Matt, what's happening here? Tell us the latest. Tell us what's next.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Brianna, Boris, Claudine Gay is resigning after a tumultuous six months at the helm of one of America's most prestigious universities. Now, Gay described this decision as, quote, difficult beyond words. But she said it was one made with deep love for Harvard. In a statement to the Harvard community, she wrote that after consultation with members of the corporation, it has become clear that it is in the best interest of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than the individual.

Now, this comes just three weeks after the Harvard Corporation issued its unanimous support for Gay. Now, they've accepted the resignation of Gay, who we should note is the first black president in Harvard's nearly 400-year history. Also, just the second woman to lead Harvard. And the Harvard Crimson notes that this marks the shortest presidency in Harvard's history. Now, let me read you what the Harvard Corporation, which is the board that controls the school, said they put out their own statement, and they said that Gay did acknowledge and take responsibility for some of her mistakes. They also said that she's shown remarkable resilience in the face of what they described as deeply personal and sustained attacks.

They note that some of these attacks played out in public and that it came in the form of repugnant and, in some cases, racist vitriol directed at her through disgraceful emails and phone calls, and they said they condemn those attacks in the strong possible terms. The Harvard Corporation also announced that the school's president, Alan Garber, has agreed to become the school's interim president until a permanent one is named.

So, how did we get here? Of course, it's just been such a tumultuous period for Harvard. The school's initial response to the October 7th attacks by Hamas against Israel was criticized. It's was not condemning Hamas in forceful enough terms. That criticism even came from the Harvard Corporation. And then, of course, there was the hearing just last month before lawmakers where Claudine Gay, she struggled to answer a question about whether or not calls for genocide against Jews would violate the school's code of conduct.

Now, Gay apologized for her testimony, and her answers were pretty similar to the leaders of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania. And perhaps the last straw has been questioned. There's been a lot of questions around Claudine Gay's academic career, her academic writings. There's been charges of plagiarism. She's been forced to issue corrections to multiple writings. And that has raised questions about whether or not there's a double standard at Harvard. And all of this, of course, has done some damage to the Harvard brand, which I mentioned is really one of the most prestigious in American universities. And so, after all of that, Claudine Gay has decided that she's stepping down and the leaders of Harvard have decided they're going to accept that resignation. Boris and Brianna.

[14:05:19]

KEILAR: All right, Matt Egan, thank you so much. Joining us now is Harvard student and Hillel president Jacob Miller. Jacob, thank you so much for being with us. Last time we spoke, which was just days after Claudine Gay's Hill testimony, you didn't think it was necessary that she resigned. We should be clear, a lot has developed since then. What's your reaction to this news?

JACOB MILLER, HARVARD STUDENT AND HILLEL PRESIDENT: Well, thank you for having me. I was very surprised by the news. We didn't see this coming. Although, you know, in the face of all these new plagiarism allegations, you know, it didn't, you know, it shouldn't have taken us totally by surprise. But, you know, this is, it's a very short tenure for a president. And, you know, I wasn't totally expecting this.

KEILAR: So, you're surprised by this. Your main concern in this, obviously, as we have been speaking, has been her handling of anti- Semitism on campus, the way her testimony went on Capitol Hill. Ultimately, it may have been this drip, drip, drip on the plagiarism issue that sunk her. What do you think about that?

MILLER: I mean, I think, frankly, it was a one-two punch. You know, first, she appeared before Congress with that disastrous testimony. And then after that, all these plagiarism allegations came out. And I think it was a combination of these two factors that kind of led to this massive, you know, outcry in public, which, you know, eventually led today to her resignation. So, I think both those factors are important. You know, as a Jewish student, I've been very dismayed by the university's response to the anti-Semitism on campus. It's not just about her. It's about the whole university. And it's about, you know, a broader discourse of anti-Semitism in general. And, you know, I think this attention needs to see, you know, serious, that this matter deserves serious attention.

KEILAR: There were people in her corner who felt that she was targeted as well because she's a Black woman. And I mean, we should be clear there, multiple things can be true here, right? That obviously, when you look at her work, there are incredibly alarming things about things that have been borrowed or copied or plagiarized here. Lots of questions raised about how she handled the question of anti-Semitism. How are you sort of making sense of all of that?

MILLER: You know, there are so many forces out there, and she has definitely faced racist attacks, too. You know, from my perspective, this is all, you know, university politics. It doesn't really affect my day-to-day life. What matters for me is the anti-Semitism on campus. When there are students who are chanting for an intifada, when there are students who are posting on social media that they think Jews control social media, when there are students who are championing terrorism and posting, you know, pictures of emojis of, you know, heads of babies separated from their torsos, that's what affects me, and that's what affects my peers. Not, you know, the politics of the president. And so, you know, Claudine Gay's resignation is not going to solve the issue of anti-Semitism on campus. We need a definitive culture shift.

KEILAR: So I wonder, do you have faith that this step means the school will be taking seriously that fixing of campus culture that you're talking about? Do you anticipate having conversations with the new interim president, Alan Garber, about this?

MILLER: You know, it's hard to tell exactly where things are going to go from here, but I have spoken with, I guess, now President Garber in the past, and, you know, he's been very attentive to the issue, and so I am optimistic that we'll continue to work with university leadership and now President Garber to help combat the hatred that's now become, a commonplace on Harvard's campus.

KEILAR: Have you been speaking with other students? What are they saying? I know it's sort of hard to gauge maybe right now around the holidays, but what's the mood about all of this?

MILLER: Well, I mean, my phone's blown up after this news about the president's resignation. You know, I think a lot of Jewish students were very dissatisfied. You know, people have kind of become disillusioned with the discourse that's going on. And, you know, I think people just, want campus to return, you know, back to how it was, but also to improve beyond that, because there was anti-Semitism that existed before October 7th, and the war in Israel just kind of took it to the floor.

KEILAR: Jacob, we appreciate the ongoing conversation. Thank you so much. Obviously, a lot of focus on Harvard, and we thank you for being with us.

MILLER: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now to some stunning new developments out of the Middle East. Hamas has now confirmed that one of its senior leaders, this man, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in Beirut. The terror group says that an Israeli airstrike caused the explosion, but so far, Israeli's military has not commented on the strike.

[14:10:19]

Local news outlets say that at least four people were killed at the site of the explosion that reportedly targeted an office building belonging to Hamas. Let's bring in CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton for some analysis. Colonel Leighton let's get back to that map, because since October 7th, we'd seen some exchange of fire between Lebanon and Israel or Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. But this is in Beirut. This is a different level of attack, right?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Exactly, Boris, because Beirut is right about here where that B is in Lebanon. And what this means, of course, is halfway up the coastline of Lebanon. And it also shows that not only is everything at risk here along the border, but it's also at risk all the way up to Lebanon where you have all these groups in not just Hamas, but also Hezbollah has headquarters there. And, of course, southern Lebanon is filled with Hezbollah forces as well as other forces. And that makes Israel's northern border quite vulnerable.

SANCHEZ: So, al - Arouri was a significant figure. Several years ago, the United States put out a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture. What's the significance of him being eliminated?

LEIGHTON: So, this is really significant because al - Arouri, Boris, was the head of their political wing, and he was also a founder of their military wing. So, he had his hands throughout Hamas's organization. He led a lot of the forces. He was responsible for many of the terrorist attacks that Hamas did commit and probably had a hand on the October 7th attacks as well.

SANCHEZ: Notably, this comes as we're looking at Iran's movements in the Red Sea. We've been talking about a potential escalation. Obviously, the Israeli attack in Lebanon is significant. This area has been seeing a lot of activity. So now Iran is sending a military destroyer there. What does it mean for the conflict?

LEIGHTON: So, this is very interesting because right here, this point right in this area, this is the Bab el-Mandeb. This is the narrowest point where the Red Sea comes into the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. This area is very easily controlled by forces in Lebanon as well, excuse me, in Yemen, as well as anybody else. So that's why the U.S. has deployed forces throughout this region. And the Iranians are now responding to this by sending their destroyer that allows them to have more coordination with the Houthis who are based in Yemen and of course are a major proxy of the Iranians in this area. So, what we're talking about here is Iran exercising influence throughout the southern area, the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, as well as all the way up the Red Sea, potentially.

SANCHEZ: I wonder, Colonel, how this might affect the situation in the Middle East? This might be related to the U.S. pulling the USS Gerald Ford out of the region. It was on an eight-month mission across the world, essentially, but now it's headed back home to Virginia.

LEIGHTON: So there are some logistical considerations when it comes to deploying ships like the aircraft carriers like the Ford. It had been extended for several months in its deployments. It also, of course, needs to replenish itself. So, I would say, yes, there are some issues that are related to this in terms of influence, but the U.S. is not going to be without a presence, a naval presence in this area. And it's going to be critically important for them to continue that because it needs to be there and where the U.S. Navy needs to be there in order to secure global shipping throughout the Red Sea and, of course, the Suez Canal area.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, the USS Eisenhower not that far away from the area. I do want to point out that Iran also has its fingerprints on what's happening in Ukraine. They've helped supplement Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And we saw some recent airstrikes. At least five people were killed, another 112 injured during Russian missile attacks around Kyiv. There's been an escalation recently in these Russian attacks. Why?

LEIGHTON: So this is really significant because the Iranians, of course, are providing the shaded drones, among other things, to the Russians. And when you look at all the different things that have happened around Kyiv, you've got airstrikes not only in the center of Kyiv, but in places like Vyshneve and the Fastiv district, and, of course, over in Kharkiv, which is Ukraine's second-largest city. And what this means is that both Russia and Iran are working together to try to really create havoc within Ukraine.

And what that means from a Ukrainian perspective is all of their infrastructure is at risk. Their critical infrastructure for the winter, the heating capacity, the power capacity, all of those things are at risk because the Iranians are providing the Russians with these weapons. And they're doing it quite frequently and at a very high volume.

SANCHEZ: A lot happening across the world. Colonel Cedric Leighton, we appreciate getting your perspective on all of it. Thanks so much.

LEIGHTON: Thank you so much, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Still plenty more news to come on CNN News Central. Hundreds of people barely escaping with their lives. Look at this video. A Japanese airliner bursting into flames after colliding with another plane on the runway

[14:15:19]

So, what went tragically wrong here? We'll break it down. Plus, the FBI says there is no evidence of a terror plot in this fiery New Year's Day crash in upstate New York. We have the latest details on this investigation. And after a groundbreaking procedure, doctors say that a young patient's new heart valves are growing as he grows. This is a pediatric heart transplant. More on why it's a huge advancement when we come back.

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SANCHEZ: We have an amazing escape to share with you today. In Japan, nearly 400 people made it out of a burning plane alive. They only had about 90 seconds to get out before this inferno overtook a massive Airbus plane. The Japan Airlines jet burst into flames after it hit a smaller Coast Guard plane at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo. You see here, cameras capture the moment of impact. Watching this video, the airliner continues to move as the flame intensifies beneath it. One passenger noted that fire was coming out of the engines. Local reports say that 17 people were hurt, on the passenger plane, no one was killed.

[14:20:00]

KEILAR: That's right, five members of the coast guard in the other plane, they did die in this, and a coast guard captain is in critical condition, according to Japan's public broadcaster NHK. This is the second major tragedy to hit Japan in as many days; that deadly 7.5 magnitude earthquake rocked its west coast on New Year's Day. The coast guard plane was actually flying out to help in recovery efforts.

Joining us now, we have CNN's Richard Quest, an aviation analyst, Miles O'Brien with us. Richard, this was so remarkable, though, that so many people were able to get out alive. Explain to us how this all happened.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Well, the plane, the 350, landed, and for whatever reason, there was a dash on the runway. There'll be something wrong there. I mean, it'll either be air traffic control gave a wrong instruction or it'll be one of the pilots missing, misheard, or misunderstood. So, we know where the error is; the error is going to be at that early part. But then, once the 350 has hit the dash and it is now on fire, this is where the both the miraculous and the ordinary hit together. In a sense, this is what is supposed to happen. The plane is meant to be able to go on fire for at least 90 seconds, and everybody is supposed to be getting off safe and sound.

It's known as a survivable accident, and the moment you get a survivable accident like this, the regulations say with half the doors inoperable, you have to be able to evacuate the aircraft within 90 seconds. We saw it with an Air France A340 some years ago in Toronto, similar case. And I think that the tragedy, well, the awfulness of the mistake that caused it, followed by the tragedy of those who died on the coast guard plane, can only be matched by putting it bluntly. The system worked. It got people of the planes. It's a miracle, yes. But this is what's supposed to happen in these scenarios. It's miraculous, nonetheless.

SANCHEZ: A best-case scenario given sadly the fatalities on the coast guard plane for the ariline. Richard, thank you so much for the update. Miles, a passenger on the plane said that they did not "feel a shock or anything"; they only realized that the plane was a problem right before the announcement to evacuate. How do you see this as the system functioning as it's supposed to when it seems crazy that you see the flames coming out from the bottom of the plane, and everyone made it out okay?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yeah, I mean, obviously something went wrong here or you wouldn't be talking about it. But the fact that everybody got out is an extraordinary thing. I don't necessarily believe in miracles. This is a lot of hard work and planning and design work. For decades, the aviation industry has been focused on reducing the flammability of interior cabin materials, the upholstery on the seats and the inside cabin walls themselves. That has bought some time for passengers, assuming there is an orderly evacuation.

Let's give a hat tip to the cabin flight crew for making sure that that happened, that people didn't reach up for their carry-on bags, that they just went down those slides and did it in 90 seconds. It was a textbook case. You couldn't come up with a simulation that was better. But we will ultimately find out why these two planes were in the same place at the same time causing this. It could have been so much worse.

KEILAR: Miles, it's also interesting to note that not all of these slides deployed, right? They weren't all used. How does that happen? Is that something that, is that built into the system or is that a human decision?

O'BRIEN: Well, that could very well be a human decision in this case. One of the things that flight crews are trained in is, if you think about a little bit of common sense, if you see fire, don't open those doors. You open the doors away from what appears to be burning or what seemed to be the safest doors. You don't need all the doors open, as Richard pointed out. Well, the regulations are designed. That people should be able to get off. And that was, you know, we're talking 300 plus people, almost 400 people on board in total, should be able to get off without all the doors open.

So, I wouldn't focus too much on that. The other thing is, too, the nose gear collapsed. And that could have some impact on the ability of those slides to operate properly. You saw the rear slide was quite precipitous because of that nose down configuration. And yet it did its job. So I think overall, what you have here is a demonstration, a demonstration of the capabilities in a dire emergency with a survivable crash that you can get people out. And I think a lot of people in the aviation world are glad to see that in spite of all we saw.

[14:25:19]

SANCHEZ: Miles, as you pointed out, there will be an investigation and hopefully we'll learn exactly what went wrong. But given what we've seen on previous occasions, and Richard was alluding to a similar crash that happened last decade, how likely is it that some miscommunication with air traffic control took place, whether by the operators or by the pilots?

O'BRIEN: I think, Boris, you can take that one to the bank. There's confusion here. You have one frequency, one air traffic controller talking to the landing aircraft. On another frequency is another air traffic controller talking to the aircraft on the ground. And there can be confusion. It's dark. Throw in one other factor here. How long was that flight crew on that Coast Guard aircraft flying? Had they done repeated missions to Niigata that day? Were they tired? Were they stressed? One other factor to consider, and these are the things that we look at in aviation to improve it.

The Airbus A350 is one of the first airliners with dual head-up displays. That's a little piece of glass that appears in front of the crew and overlays crucial information, flight data information, sort of augmented information, so they don't have to keep looking down at the instruments as they land. Well, an unintended consequence of that safety measure is it makes it harder to see what is a pretty dark aircraft that might be beneath you. So, maybe there'll be a recommendation that the landing pilot has the head-up display, and the non-landing pilot, the one who's monitoring, doesn't use the head-up display. Things like this are what make aviation safe for the next time.

KEILAR: That is a really interesting point that not many people would think of. Miles, thank you for that, Miles O'Brien. Still ahead, former President Trump could at any moment appeal the rulings in Colorado and Maine banning him from primary ballots. We'll talk to the official who removed the former president in Maine. And a missing foreign exchange student has been found safe in Utah. Officials say he and his family were the victims of a cyber-kidnapping scam. Well, more on that when we come back.

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