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Judge Denies Jay-Z's Efforts to Dismiss Rape Case; Stowaway Caught on Delta Flight; Second Black Box Recovered From Plane Crash. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 27, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:22]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Investigators now have their hands on a second black box recovered from the sight of that fiery plane crash in Central Asia. And we're now hearing from some survivors as they recount their harrowing experience.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Plus, a judge rejects Jay-Z's efforts to dismiss the civil suit accusing him of raping a 13-year-old girl. We will show you some of the scathing language used by the judge in that decision.

And mortgage rates jump yet again, reaching their highest level in months. Ahead, what this could mean for prospective buyers looking to purchase a home in the new year.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

HILL: And thanks for joining us on this Friday. I'm Erica Hill, alongside Jessica Dean, here in New York. So nice to be with you.

Investigators working now to determine what caused that deadly plane crash in Kazakstan. And the first -- for the first time, we're actually hearing from one of the 29 people who were on board that plane and survived. You're looking at video of a survivor praying during the flight.

He tells Reuters he heard a loud bang, then the plane started to behave -- quote -- "unnaturally." He didn't think he would survive.

DEAN: And his account could bolster one of the leading theories about what went wrong, Azerbaijan Airlines saying the plane experienced -- quote -- "physical and technical external interference" before it went down.

A U.S. official previously said Russian air defenses may have mistakenly targeted that plane; 38 people died in the crash. Investigators have in the meantime recovered the plane's second black box.

CNN's Nada Bashir is joining us now with more on this.

So, Nada, the question now is how long before we know what's on the data recorders and also what else are we hearing from that survivor?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: That's right. There's a lot of pressure on the investigators now to come to some sort of conclusion as to what led to this fatal crash.

As you mentioned, those two black boxes have now been recovered. And authorities say it could take about two weeks to fully examine the data collected by the black boxes. That is, of course, flight data, and potentially also internal recordings from within the cockpit.

But there have been a lot of questions swirling, a lot of speculation around the possible causes. And we have been learning more from authorities since that crash.

Take a listen to this eyewitness account from one of the passengers recording the final moments of that flight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUBHONKUL RAKHIMOV, PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR (through translator): When the first bang happened, I looked around, quickly assessed the situation and thought that the plane was going to fall apart.

A couple more seconds passed, but it didn't fall apart. Another minute passed, not even a minute,a few more seconds passed, but it didn't fall apart. I thought that I should start praying now. I started saying words. I started to remember the almighty.

I thought that those were probably my last words. So I thought I need to get ready for a meeting with the almighty. So, while this meeting hasn't happened yet, I thought I needed to earn more favor from him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Of course, remarkably, 29 people out of 67 on board managed to survive that deadly crash.

And we have seen images emerging of the aftermath, the wreckage upon that landing, the tail end of the flight seemingly somewhat intact, although upturned, as survivors were able to scramble out of the wreckage. But images and video appears to show perforations and holes in the fuselage, which may suggest shrapnel impacting the body of the plane there.

So, that will be a key line of inquiry. And, as you mentioned, there have been suggestions from one U.S. official, as well as some unnamed sources speaking to Reuters, that this may have been the result of Russian anti-aircraft air defense systems.

Now, that is a huge point of concern, given the drone activity in the area of this flight path. It is understood that, shortly before the crash occurred, there had been drone strikes in Southern Russia, that this may have been something that impacted the flight, may have led to the flight path being rerouted, and the pilots, of course, attempting to make that emergency landing in the Kazakh city of Aktau, as opposed to Grozny in the Chechen region of Russia, where it was supposedly intended to land there.

So, a series of questions as to what this could mean and what, of course, investigators will be looking at. We know, of course, that the Kazakh government has set up and established a commission to investigate this crash. They will be working, of course, with experts from Azerbaijan, Kazakstan and Russia to take a look at the evidence that they have at hand at the moment, as well as aircraft and airline manufacturers as well, focusing on the details there.

But, again, a series of questions raising concerns, of course, for the region in which this flight was traveling and the safety precautions taken by airlines when traveling in this region.

[13:05:05]

HILL: Well, and to that point, Nada, we are also hearing that some flights have actually been suspended two different parts of Russia. Is that all over potential security concerns?

BASHIR: Yes, absolutely.

Azerbaijan Airlines has now suspended flights from its capital, Baku, to at least seven cities in Russia. And I think what is important to underscore here is that we have heard today from Azerbaijan Airlines saying that they believe the flight was impacted by external physical and technical interferences, again leading some to believe this may have been the cause, caused by air defense systems, Russian air defense systems.

So, a huge point of concern, particularly as we are seeing drone activity in the area, questions around whether the plane was targeted by mistake, given Ukrainian drone strikes in the area.

We know, of course, that airports in this region have previously been forced to close as a result. And so there are questions around the safety precautions being taken for flights traveling in this region. There had been some suggestion by Russian aviation authorities that, because of these concerns, that the flight was unable to actually travel to the Grozny region, that the airspace should have been closed or pilots would have been advised to travel elsewhere or avoid this particular airspace.

We'd heard shortly after the plane crash occurred from one Ukrainian security and defense official accusing Russia of failing to close airspace in this area.

So, again, a number of questions still to be answered. That will be the focus of investigations. At this stage, there is no clear conclusion being offered by investigators, but we will be waiting for updates from them as they come in.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Nada, appreciate it. Thank you.

Also joining us this hour, CNN aviation analyst Peter Goelz, who was a managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board. Peter, good to have you back with us today.

I was struck by too we also heard from Kazakstan's minister of transport, noting a Kazakh control center had received a signal from Russia about 45 minutes before the plane crash saying that the flight was being diverted. Is there anything in that timeline that stands out to you?

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, I think there's two things going on here.

One is, the Russian official statements are all being designed to divert attention from their responsibility for this tragedy. And there was clearly drone activity. The fog of war was involved surrounding Grozny. The air defense units were responding, and this plane should have never been allowed to take off to fly to Grozny.

There was simply too much military activity taking place. But for the Russian to acknowledge that, to close the airspace would have been a tremendous loss of face. They want to minimize the ability of Ukraine to disrupt their systems.

So this is -- everything is building towards the explanation that the air defense units around Grozny shot this plane down.

DEAN: Yes, and to that point, a passenger spoke of this loud bang as approached -- as the plane approached Grozny. And then the plane, he says, began to behave unnaturally. What does that tell you?

GOELZ: Well, it means that a -- these anti-aircraft missiles explode in the proximity of their target and damage it severely.

So, the plane started to lose control. Probably, its hydraulics were damaged. The pilots began that struggle to control it. And the passengers -- everything that we have seen so far indicates that this was a shoot-down.

And, today, Admiral Kirby, the White House security spokesman, also implied that this was a shoot-down. And you can be sure that American intelligence has been monitoring the communications in Russia, and they know what's going on.

So, the Kazakstan government has got their hands full running this investigation. They have got the two black boxes. The most important will be the voice recorder. That will tell us -- one, it will identify where the explosion took place. There are multiple microphones in the cockpit. They can determine the location of a sound outside the cockpit.

The second is, it will tell us what they knew was going on and what their plans were to try and save their aircraft.

HILL: Our colleague Nada Bashir was just noting it will probably be about two weeks before we have that information from the black boxes. How much of it do you think will be made public? And by that, I mean how confident are you that we will get the full findings of this investigation?

GOELZ: Well, as I say, Kazakstan is in a tough position.

[13:10:00]

They are responsible for conducting this investigation because the plane crashed on their territory. They probably do not have the technical expertise to download the data from either box. They will have to reach out to another entity. Could be the United States. Could be the U.K. Could be France. Could be Japan or Australia. Could also be the Russians.

If it is the Russians, that will throw more question into the candor in which this data will reveal. They will have the responsibility to issue a report within 30 days that gives the basics of this accident. And I think Kazakstan has the ability to do it, but it will be a challenge.

DEAN: Yes, we're going to have to wait and see exactly how much of that information we get.

Peter Goelz, stand by because we want to come back to you to get some more analysis.

I want to tell everyone about another story back here in the U.S., where another stowaway passenger has been caught on board a Delta Air Lines flight. Now, this is the second time in weeks that an unticketed person has snuck onto a Delta flight.

HILL: This latest incident happened on Christmas Eve in Seattle. It was for a flight that was heading to Hawaii from Seattle.

According to officials, the stowaway actually went through security screening, went through the TSA without a boarding pass, and was able to board the plane without a ticket. The flight was actually taxiing on the runway, about to take off when the crew learned that there was an unticketed passenger on board.

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

So, pick up the story, if you would, for us from there. So they realize there's someone on the plane. What happened next?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica and Jessica, it's an incredible story really when you come to think about it because this passenger was able to clear this TSA security checkpoint, according to officials, the night before this passenger boarded this flight on Christmas Eve, meaning that this passenger spent some time, perhaps several hours, in a terminal.

Exactly just how long this person was there, exactly what they were doing is still unclear. Officials have not provided any other information that. We know that this -- the flight was taxing out for departure when, as you noted, the flight crew realized that they had someone on board that should not be on board. And so they decide to come back to the gate.

And we're told that, when they get to the gate, the door of the plane is opened and that the passenger runs out of the aircraft. Law enforcement had not arrived at the gate just yet. And so officials had to rely on some surveillance video to figure out exactly where this passenger ran towards.

And this person was taken into custody, we're told, inside of a bathroom. Now, Delta released the statement shortly after all of this, saying in part -- quote -- "As there are no matters more important than safety and security, Delta people followed procedures to have a non-ticketed passenger removed from the flight and then apprehended."

They went on to apologize to their customers for all this. Jessica and Erica, a lot of unanswered questions and all of this, including the identity of this passenger. Officials have not released that piece of information.

All we know is that this person was taken into custody and is being detained on a criminal trespassing charge.

DEAN: And, Carlos, before we let you go, today is one of the busiest travel days of the year. You are at the busiest airport in the world, but I'm looking behind you and it seems like there aren't crazy lines, at least where you're standing. How is it?

SUAREZ: So far, so good.

The wait time right now here in Atlanta is about five minutes, which really is not too bad. Airport officials out here expect when the day ends out here that more than 357,000 passengers will have traveled through Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, making it the busiest travel day for this airport in the entire year.

But, again, it's not too bad out here.As for the overall picture on the number of flights that have been canceled or delayed, so far today, well over 3,400 flights have been delayed and the number of canceled flights right now stands at least 96.

DEAN: All right, but five minutes, not bad.

HILL: That's not bad at all.

DEAN: Not bad.

HILL: That's kind of a dream.

(LAUGHTER)

DEAN: I know.

Carlos, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Back with us now, CNN aviation analyst Peter Goelz.

Thanks so much for staying with us, Peter. I want to talk now about this story that Carlos was just walking us through. Does it alarm you that another traveler has now been able to get through TSA and board a Delta flight without a ticket? We're thinking back to the one that was going to Paris back on November 26.

GOELZ: Well, any time you have a breach of security, it's concerning.

I mean, but let's put it into a little bit of a context. One is, America, the United States, has the most complex aviation airport system in the world, with millions of passengers clearing it each year. And the security of our flights is not dependent on simply the checkpoint that TSA runs or the gate checkpoint that the airlines run.

[13:15:14]

There is a layered process. And probably the most important part of that security process is intelligence, that the -- there are intelligence screening going on all the time. Now, in this case, clearly, TSA slipped up at the initial checkpoint. And the gate agents slipped up.

Now, the flight attendants on board the aircraft to Hawaii realized when they did their final count as they were taxiing out that they had one more passenger than they were supposed to, and they pulled the plug.

Now, there was a little bit of a Keystone Cop operation when they got back to the gateway, but that's simply something that's going to have to be evaluated and changed. I think, today, TSA supervisors are watching their screenings carefully. Delta and every other major airline are reviewing their gate agent procedures, and the counts that take place inside the aircraft are going to be done twice.

HILL: So, to your point, though, about what you have dubbed the Keystone Cop operation, that also threw me a little bit, because the fact that -- so they realize there's an extra person on the plane. They come back to the gate.

And, as Carlos said, they let this person off the plane. But the fact that law enforcement wasn't there waiting to apprehend this person, they then had to find him in a bathroom,is that not concerning at all?

GOELZ: It is.

And I think you will see some heads roll because of that. That is absolutely unacceptable. But, again, remember, I mean, this is a layered approach. And the final line of defense is the cockpit door, which is armored and cannot be opened from the outside.

So, I mean, there are multiple steps to protect passengers that take place every time a plane takes off. But this -- these two failures were unacceptable.

HILL: Peter Goelz, always good to have you here. Thank you.

GOELZ: Thank you. HILL: Still ahead: dismissal denied, a judge allowing an alleged rape

case against music mogul Jay-Z involving a 13-year-old -- a woman who was 13 at the time to move forward, the judge not holding back either in issuing that decision.

DEAN: Plus, if you're in the market to buy a home in 2025, you may want to keep a close eye on mortgage rates, because they are hitting highs not seen in months. We will show you what's behind the surge.

That's ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:21:43]

HILL: A judge today denying efforts by rapper Jay-Z to dismiss a rape case against him, ruling that that lawsuit, which was filed by Jane Doe, can in fact proceed. She alleged she was raped 24 years ago by Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs after the MTV Video Music Awards, when she was just 13 years old.

DEAN: Jay-Z, whose legal name is Shawn Carter, has aggressively denied the accusations and wants her to reveal her identity publicly. His legal team denies that he has sexually assaulted anyone.

Joining us now is CNN's Lisa Respers France.

And, Lisa, the judge ruled the accuser may remain anonymous, at least for now, as this case proceeds. And then the judge very strongly criticized Jay-Z's lawyer.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, SENIOR PRODUCER, CNN DIGITAL: Yes, it sounds like the judge feels like Jay-Z's legal team has been overly aggressive with some of their filings.

And we have a little bit of what the judge said in the order, I mean, which was equally strong, strong language. The judge, said Carter's lawyer's "relentless filing of combative motions containing inflammatory language and ad hominem attacks is inappropriate, a waste of judicial resources and a tactic unlikely to benefit his client. The court will not fast-track the judicial process merely because counsel demands it."

So the judge had some strong words to say about the way these things have been proceeding. And it absolutely is a tough case all around.

HILL: Yes, it certainly is.

What about comment in the wake of this from Jay-Z and his legal team?

RESPERS FRANCE: Yes, we haven't gotten comment yet from Jay-Z and his legal team, but in the past, as you mentioned earlier, they absolutely have said that this did not happen. They also have been pointing out the inconsistencies in the accuser's story. The accuser in an interview has acknowledged that, yes, there are some

inconsistencies, but she says that she's absolutely standing by the story. So, yes.

HILL: All right, Lisa, I appreciate the updates. Thank you.

RESPERS FRANCE: Thank you.

HILL: Also with us, legal analyst and trial attorney Mercedes Colwin.

So, Mercedes, when we look at this, in terms of the judge's decision here to allow Jane Doe to remain anonymous, at least for now, as Lisa just referenced, she did actually do an interview. She did an interview with NBC. If you were her attorney, knowing that she wants to remain anonymous, would you have advised her to do that interview, even with her identity concealed? Could it work against her?

MERCEDES COLWIN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That is such a great question. It certainly smacks in the face, if you're going to proceed anonymously, why are you then giving these types of interviews?

It was definitely a risk and a risk, frankly, as a seasoned lawyer, not worth taking. Any time that you interface with the media, you could be asked a question that you're not prepared for, and it could harm you, because these types of inconsistent statements, even though she's not under oath, she's not in a formal proceeding, she's not in court, she's not being examined by the opposing side, those inconsistent statements can be used against her at a later date.

It was a very tremendous risk, and a risk that could have really defeated her motion to proceed anonymously.

DEAN: And, Mercedes, in a criminal trial, you have a fundamental right to face your accuser at that trial, but this is a civil trial. How is that different?

COLWIN: Well, there's definitely a different burden. There's a burden of proof. Obviously, in a criminal proceeding, it's beyond a reasonable doubt. In a civil proceeding, it's more likely than not.

So it's a very, very different standard. That's why that Jay-Z, whether or not he has criminal charges at some point later in the future, he will have to sit down for a deposition in the civil proceeding. He wouldn't be subject to that examination in a criminal proceeding.

[13:25:08]

There are very significant differences between the two. And the discovery, which is one of the reasons why his lawyers were so adamant of trying to get rid of the case in a procedural motion, which obviously has been defeated, but they were trying to avoid what discovery looks like.

Discovery is written questions, questions, examination that's under oath. He could be forced to testify. Now, if he says he takes the Fifth in a civil proceeding, he can actually be subject to an adverse inference. In a criminal proceeding, if ever there's one that manifests and he's subject to some sort of examination if he takes the stand, it can't be taken against him.

You can actually levy the Fifth Amendment in a criminal proceeding without there being any sort of adverse action by the court.

HILL: I want to get your take as well on the judge's comments or scathing criticism, as it's been referred to, for Jay-Z's attorney, Alex Spiro...

COLWIN: Sure.

HILL: ... talking about these aggressive legal filings, the personal attacks against the attorney for Jane Doe, even saying -- quote -- "Although Carter's attorney assails plaintiffs lawyers having a chronic inability to follow the rules, Carter's counsel has failed to abide by this court's clear rules."

I would imagine that, as an attorney, you do not want to be on the receiving end of criticism like that from a judge. Does anything about that surprise you that it would be so direct?

COLWIN: I'm not surprised at all. I'm mostly a federal practitioner, and I appear before Judge Torres. She is a tremendous jurist. She is a former President Obama appointee. She's been sitting on the bench since 2013. She has a lifetime appointment.

And in federal practice, any defense attorney will tell you the judges do not play. You are to comply with their individual judge's rules. You are to comply by the federal civil rules. And when you don't and you deviate, you are subject to this type of reaction by the federal judges.

She is a great jurist. I'm not surprised at all. And I know the defense team that Jay-Z and -- Shawn Carter, as he's known, his given name -- they're great lawyers. To try to push that envelope with this judge, they have overplayed their hand. She is a no-nonsense judge. And it's, frankly -- like she said, this doesn't benefit your client.

You need to abide by the rules. And if you don't, you will get this type of reaction. And at the end of the day, this is the same judge that's going to be making evidentiary rulings. So when you make these dispositive motions, when you try to defeat some sort of discovery, when you try to stop examination questions being asked of your client, she will be the ultimate decider as to whether or not those questions or the case proceeds.

So it is a very dangerous play to try to be that aggressive in that courtroom with this judge. It could absolutely backfire on the client.

DEAN: That's so interesting that you know this judge from having appeared before her.

COLWIN: I do.

DEAN: And that gives us such good context around this.

I also want to ask you about the accuser, who has had to confront some inconsistencies in her accusation.

COLWIN: Right.

DEAN: For example, her father says he doesn't remember picking her up at a gas station that night, as she's claimed. Benji Madden was not at the VMAs that year, while Jane Doe said she spoke to him there about his tattoo.

How does she address these? And what does that mean moving forward?

COLWIN: That's such a great question. I'm going to unpackage it, because it's not that clear-cut.

First off, I mean, it was -- she was having this conversation with the media, obviously not advisable to do so. But, having said that, putting back in her -- she was 13 years old, as she's alleged. She went through a traumatic experience, as she's alleged, such an incredibly traumatic experience.

The way that she can try to defeat those inconsistencies is have an expert talk about the trauma that she underwent, how young she was, that her recollection was faulty, not because it didn't happen, but because her recollection was so marred and skewed by the excessive trauma.

Now, as a defense attorney, this is gold. This is gold to have this type of inconsistency because, that's the type of inconsistency that you can use during cross-examination. And it's going to be a scorching cross-examination, knowing the lawyers that are representing Shawn Carter.

So she will be subject to that type of cross-examination. She will need some buffering through an expert that can assist her to explain away why those inconsistencies happen, especially the ones that you identified. Those are really significant inconsistencies, especially when you're talking about her father not remembering whatsoever that this took place, that he drove hours to get to his daughter.

So, that -- these type of inconsistencies can definitely be exploited by the other side. Buffering with an expert can assist her.

DEAN: All right, Mercedes Colwin, thanks so much for your analysis there. We really appreciate it.

Still ahead, we're going to take a closer look at the seven stocks driving nearly all of the recent gains in the stock market and what has them soaring.

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