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Second Delta Stowaway Incident As Unticketed Passenger Nabbed In Seattle; Storms Could Cause Major Delays On One Of 2024's Busiest Travel Days; Second Black Box Recovered In Deadly Kazakhstan Plane Crash; CDC: Bird Flu Virus In First Severe Human Case Showed Mutations; South Korean Parliament Votes To Impeach Acting President. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 27, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:02]

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, Donald Trump also did not win youth by 34 percent. That's just right, right? Quantifiably not true. So we should all remember that.

Lastly, for the Democrats, the Democrats are looking for a place to be reformers. It's not about left versus right all the time. It's about insiders versus outsiders. Reforming the Supreme Court is one of these issues that's very hot with young people. And if Democrats pick up that mantle, it's a way to get on sides with the voters they need in the future.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you to our entire panel. Thank you for joining us this morning. Appreciate the conversation.

I'm Danny Freeman.

CNN NEWS CENTRAL is going to start right now.

(MUSIC)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A Christmas Eve stowaway. A second incident for Delta of someone sneaking onto a flight without a ticket. How this happened again after that incident that you're looking at right there in just a month?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. The second black box has been recovered from a downed passenger jet. A U.S. official now weighing in. Early indications suggest Russia caused the deadly crash.

And chaotic scenes as South Korea's parliament votes to impeach the prime minister and acting president less than two weeks after impeaching the president.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan. John Berman is out today.

This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(MUSIC) BOLDUAN: Right. So new this morning, a stowaway discovered on a Delta flight moments before takeoff. Yes, another one. Same airline, different departure city and different destination. In case you were wondering, this time, it happened on Christmas Eve in Seattle.

And Delta says the Honolulu bound flight left. The gate was taxiing when the person was discovered. Now, this is the second time in a matter of weeks that Delta is dealing with this.

And you'll remember the saga just before Thanksgiving, when this woman was snuck onto a Paris-bound Delta flight and made it all the way to Paris, which then triggered weeks of drama to get her back to the states to face charges.

CNN's Carlos Suarez is at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport.

Carlos, what are you learning about this latest incident?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, good morning.

So it appears that this passenger was able to get past a TSA security checkpoint without a boarding pass the night before this Christmas Eve flight, as you mentioned. This flight was from Seattle to Honolulu. It was delta flight 487. This passenger was able to get past the security checkpoint the night before this flight. And then the day of the flight, the passenger is able to get on board this plane without a ticket.

Now, at some point, as the aircraft was taxiing out for departure, the crew there identified that this passenger did not have a ticket, and so they went back to the gate and somehow the passenger was able to get off the plane before authorities arrived there, though, they were able to take that passenger into custody in a bathroom at this airport in Seattle.

Now, Delta, of course, was quick to put out a statement saying in part, quote, that as there are no matters more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have an unticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended the passenger, whose identity has not been released, Kate, was arrested and charged with trespassing -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: You lay out the details that are known perfectly, but there are a lot of questions still that need to be known about how this happened, how that person was able to get off and then be found in a bathroom later because he got off before the authorities even showed up to the flight. Tons of questions. Much more to come clearly on this.

But also today I am noticing quite a bit of activity around you my friend. This is also one of the busiest travel days of the year. How's it looking from the worlds busiest airport?

SUAREZ: Yes, Kate, so no doubt. Of course, the next couple of days are going to be quite busy at airports across the country, including here in Atlanta. In fact, the next couple of days are really the top three days for air travel across the U.S. here at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson international airport. The folks out here tell us that they expect to have well over 357,000 passengers come through this airport today alone, making it the busiest travel day of the year for this airport.

Of course, it wouldn't be a holiday travel season without talk of cancellations and delays. Yesterday, we had nearly 800 flights across the U.S. that were canceled. A quick look at the flight board. According to FlightAware, at this hour, that number is creeping up. We're at about 300 flights that have been canceled, in large part because we have some bad weather that is going to move across the south.

[07:05:02]

So for folks that are going to be traveling today, in the next couple of days, just keep in mind that it's going to be busy -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Carlos, thank you very much.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. As millions get ready to head home or travel for their New Year's destination fun, severe storms could hamper travel. Strong tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail expected to hit the south this weekend. Then those severe storms will head east.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa joining us now with the very latest on this.

Where are the worst storms expected to originate? And then of course, I think there will be a shift.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Today, were really worried about the south and then going into tomorrow, the Pacific Northwest will continue to be a problem through the weekend as well. We already had some problems on the ground in Dallas yesterday because of some heavy rain. You had some ground stops at both airports.

Today, expecting some problems across the South, could be some delays from New Orleans to Atlanta because of the storm. That will continue to swirl. And then the atmospheric river doesn't stop along the West Coast. We'll continue with some rain and snow from Seattle down towards Portland and San Francisco as well.

The storm that we're watching across the South will continue to pump some strong and severe storms that will be possible. Right now, we don't have too much in the way of watches. A lot of these storms have kind of degraded on the overnight, but by tomorrow, we're really worried about this outbreak of severe weather. That's likely we have a level three out of five, enhanced risk of severe weather there in that bullseye from Louisiana into Mississippi.

And then it switches east as we go into Sunday. You can see that bullseye across the southeast from Charlotte down towards the Florida Gulf Coast. Now, we're looking at that threat for tornadoes could be on the

stronger side. We're talking about EF2 or greater possible. It is December, right. So we don't usually talk about tornadoes, let alone tornadoes this strong in December. When we're talking about, you know, tornadoes in December, it's not impossible. It is on the more rare side.

But if you're going to get them, they are most likely along the Gulf Coast. Texas and Louisiana already had reported tornadoes from yesterday.

If you look at from the entire year, December is one of the least likely months that we can get tornadoes. You can see averaging 43 in the month, much, much less compared to the nearly 200 over 200 in the spring months of March and April. And this year has just been so incredibly active. We've had, almost 2,000 tornadoes since January 1st, way above the average.

So as we continue to go through the day today, those showers and storms will continue to fire up a line of storms that can bring you the damaging winds, the large hail, and some of those tornadoes that pushes east going into tomorrow. With that even greater severe threat, you can see those storms. Look at them blowing up and igniting.

And a lot of that rain starts to push to the east. So by the weekend, we're looking at more of those problem spots up and down the east coast. As these storms continue to shift east, look at where we can find some moderate delays from Washington, D.C. up to New York by Sunday.

Also notice the Pacific Northwest is nonstop with headaches because of the rain, the snow, and the gusty winds that continue as that atmospheric river really just doesn't let up -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yeah, it's rough out there.

All right. Thank you so much, Elisa Raffa. Thank you. Appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Kate, coming up for us, a second black box now recovered from the crash site in central Asia, just as some of the survivors of that fiery crash arrived back in Azerbaijan, where the flight originated.

Plus, a judge rejecting Jay-Z's move to dismiss the sexual assault lawsuit against him. And that judge also had some harsh words for Jay- Z's attorney in the process.

And an amazing moment caught on camera. A dog missing for more than a week returns home and rings the doorbell.

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[07:12:56]

SIDNER: All right. Breaking overnight, the second black box has been recovered from the wreckage of that deadly Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan. Those boxes will likely play very key roles in determining the cause of the crash. As a U.S. official now saying that Russia's air defense system may be to blame for bringing that plane down.

Thirty-eight people were killed in that devastating crash. But remarkably, 29 others survived. This morning we are seeing the first images of 12 of those survivors arriving back in Azerbaijan. Five of them in, quote, serious but stable condition.

CNN's Nada Bashir is joining me now from London.

Nada, new information is coming in every minute this morning about what happened. What are you learning?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We are continuously getting updates from the authorities there. Just in the last few moments. Azerbaijan's state news agency reporting, citing Azerbaijan airlines, that they have found that the plane may have faced an external physical and technical interference. So that may be a crucial part of this investigation as investigators and officials and authorities continue to examine the evidence.

And as you mentioned, Sara, they have now, of course, located the second black box, both of those black boxes will be crucial in piecing together those final moments of the flight, providing flight data as well as recordings from within the cockpit. But we have heard from authorities saying that it could take around two weeks before they are able actually to fully assess the data included in those black boxes. So it may be a while before we have any information on that front.

But, of course, we are learning more details around what may have caused the plane crash. There has been a lot of speculation as to what led to this fatal crash, early reports, of course, that the plane may have collided with a flock of birds. There were also questions around nearby drone activity. The crash, of course, occurred shortly after a drone strike in southern Russia.

But now, as you mentioned, we have heard from one U.S. official who has said that this crash may have been caused by Russian anti-aircraft systems.

[07:15:06]

Now, this, of course, echoes earlier reporting that we had heard from Reuters, citing multiple unnamed sources familiar with the ongoing investigation, that that plane crash was in fact caused by Russian air defense systems. There is speculation that this may have been a case of mistaken identity, with Russia perhaps attempting to target what it believed to be Ukrainian drones, but clearly not the case.

But again, we are still waiting for those firm and final conclusions by the investigative body. A commission has been set up by the Kazakh government, and there have been calls for people not to speculate. But as you can imagine, a lot of questions as to what led to this deadly crash.

SIDNER: Absolutely. Nada Bashir, thank you so much. And we'll be discussing this more in the coming hour.

All right. Samples of the bird flu taken from the first severe human case in the United States, shows signs of mutations that could make it easier for that virus to spread. We have details from a brand new CDC report.

And a delivery driver under arrest after police say she stabbed a pregnant woman 14 times over a bad tip.

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[07:20:34]

BOLDUAN: So new this morning, the CDC is now saying a sample the first severe human case of bird flu in the United States shows new mutations of the virus. But despite the new find, the CDC -- CDC still maintains that the risk to the general public remains low.

Let's bring in CNN's Meg -- CNN's Meg Tirrell for much more on this.

And this mutation in the virus, what exactly does it mean, Meg? What are you learning?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kate.

So, first, the good news. This is a mutation that they've observed or a set of mutations they've observed in this hospitalized patient in Louisiana that seems confined to this patient in Louisiana. They did not find these this set of mutations in the birds from which they think that this virus was this patient was infected. And there is no evidence that this has been passed on.

So that is the good news. The more concerning news, and that's using sort of CDC's term, they say this is concerning. This shows that the virus has potentially mutated in this patient to give it a better way to potentially infect the upper respiratory cells in humans. We haven't seen human to human transmission of this bird flu virus. And a big reason for that is it's not very good at infecting the cells in our upper airway, our nose and our throat, for example.

And so what they're seeing is that in this patient who's been hospitalized, the virus mutated in this way to sort of gain these mutations. And these are similar mutations to ones seen in a patient who was hospitalized in Canada as well. And so this has not spread beyond this patient that we know of. So the CDC still says the risk to the public is low, but it shows that it can potentially do this. And we should be trying to limit the virus's spread to people from animals as much as we can.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, exactly. And thank God for the CDC for tracking this and finding the mutations so they can try to get in front of it. And on -- and in terms of tracking and trying to get in front of -- well, let's call it pandemics. You also have some really interesting new reporting about work that researchers are doing on the beaches of New Jersey to try and beat the next pandemic. What's this all about? TIRRELL: Yeah. So we need to know what's going on with this virus, not just in people, but of course, in the hosts that keep giving it to people or giving it to things around people from which we end up getting it. And those, of course, are birds.

So our colleague Brenda Goodman did this fabulous report. It's on CNN.com. There's beautiful footage of these beaches where every May, researchers return because horseshoe crabs are mating and laying eggs. And what that does is brings hundreds of thousands of birds of all kinds of different species to these beaches in Cape May, New Jersey, where they poop a lot after they eat those eggs. And that poop, these researchers say, is really a treasure trove for research about viruses. And so they collect hundreds of samples from this bird poop, and then they sequence it in labs, and they figure out if there are flu viruses in there.

Now they did this last May. They did not find H5N1 in those samples. However, they have been doing more research in ducks around the country, and they did find it in ducks in Tennessee in November and December.

And all of this research really gives us an idea of where H5N1 is in birds, how its getting introduced into our bird populations in the United States as these birds travel really long distances in their migratory patterns. And so this really gives us an insight into what's going on with this virus that, unfortunately, is swirling all around us and unfortunately causing these -- these risks that scientists are quite worried about.

BOLDUAN: So fascinating. It's great to see. Meg, thank you so much for that.

We're also following some breaking news out of South Korea. Lawmakers there vote to impeach the acting president in a rowdy session of parliament. Its the second major impeachment of the country's leader in just two weeks. What this growing political crisis for one of Americas closest allies now means.

And look at the seven stocks driving nearly all of the recent market gains and what has them soaring.

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[07:28:31]

SIDNER: The political crisis deepening this morning in South Korea after parliament voted overnight to impeach the acting president. This is happening barely two weeks after lawmakers impeached the president and stripped him of his powers after he briefly ordered martial law.

Now the country is on its second acting president in less than 14 days.

CNN international correspondent Hanako Montgomery joins us now.

What led up to what happened and then what happens next? HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Sara.

I mean, we're talking about two impeachment votes in the span of less than two weeks. I mean, this is unprecedented not only for South Korea, but also, frankly, much of the democratic world. Now, there are a number of reasons why the Acting President Han Duck Soo was voted to be impeached today.

But what really stood out is actually what the main opposition party leader said during today's vote. Give this a listen.

(BEGIN VIDOE CLIP)

LEE JAE-MYUNG, SOUTH KOREAN OPPOSITION LEADER: We will remove Yoon Suk Yeol from office, uproot his loyalist forces and fully suppress the insurrection. Until that moment, we will pool all our resources and fulfill our historic responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MONTGOMERY: Now, some background on the events leading up to today's vote. As you described, South Korea was plunged into a political crisis earlier this month when the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, declared a very short lived martial law. Then shortly two weeks after that, the country's parliament voted to impeach the president, and he was stripped of his duties.

But in order for the formal impeachment process.