Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

13 Dead as Jet Engulfed in Fireball Makes Emergency Landing; Trump Thinks Robert Mueller Should Not Testify in Congress; Pete Buttigieg Focuses on Outreach to Black Voters in South Carolina. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired May 5, 2019 - 16:00   ET

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


[16:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Then W. Kamau Bell heads to Tacoma with the red neck revolt on an all new episode of "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA" at 10:00 Eastern only on CNN.

The next hour of the NEWSROOM starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

WHITFIELD: All right, hello, again, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We're following breaking news this Sunday. And stunning video of a commercial jet engulfed in flames as it lands at a Moscow airport. Russian state media reports 13 people are dead and several others injured. The video shows the plane clearly on fire and clouds of smoke billowing out. Seventy-eight people were on board when the plane hit the runway. And of course you could see people eventually running from the plane after getting off the slide. Many of them with luggage in hand. Russia's state news agency says President Vladimir Putin is ordering a full investigation into the crash.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen joining me right now.

So, Fred, the plane left the airport in Moscow only to turn around with trouble.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Fredricka. It turned around after only a couple of minutes. And certainly looking at that video it seems almost a surprise that anybody would have walked away from that crash alive.

You could see the plane coming down at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, it actually took off from that airport only a couple of hours before that incident there happened. It then comes to a screeching halt and seems to somehow slide off the tarmac absolutely engulfed in a ball of fire. And as you said, people then running out of the plane.

Now apparently what happened is that it took off a couple of minutes later. It declared an emergency and decided to return back to that airport, to Sheremetyevo airport. It's unclear what exactly caused all that. The plane then touched down about 26 or 28 minutes after it had taken off. And so far what the Russian investigators are saying is they say that those engines caught on fire after the plane hit the ground.

So it could have been somewhat of a hard landing. But again, at this point in time, that investigation is still very much ongoing. Unfortunately, of course, 13 people were killed in that incident. That's what the Russian authorities are saying so far, including two children.

Now that jet in question is actually a Russian-built jet. It's called a Sukhoi Superjet 100. It's been in commercial service for a couple of years. I've been looking at that particular plane that took off there earlier today and apparently that's only been in service for a little under two years in that Russian airline. And so far again unclear how exactly this happened, why exactly this emergency happened.

There are some who are saying that the weather in and around that airport could have played a role. And again it took off from that airport only a couple of hours, Fredricka, before that incident happened. And certainly there were some thunderstorms that were forecast for that area for the late afternoon exactly when that incident took place. Whether or not that played a role at this point in time still unclear.

But as you've noted Vladimir Putin saying, the Russian authorities are saying, that there is going to be a very thorough investigation into what exactly happened to that plane. Obviously unfortunately for those people who perished as that plane there made that hard landing.

WHITFIELD: And in fact, Fred, calling it a criminal investigation is that standard because of, you know, the casualty rate?

PLEITGEN: Yes. Yes, that's exactly it. The casualty rate is exactly the reason why the Russians have launched that criminal investigations part of Russian law. And it says endangering the safety of transport and causing more than two people to be killed in an incident. And that's the reason why this is a criminal investigation to see whether or not any sort of safety standards may have been breached to see whether or not some of the reason may have played a role in that plane coming down.

Of course, these investigations, as we know, Fredricka, they do tend to take a long time. And for investigators who are going to have to try and, you know, piece things back together to look at the wreckage of that plane, we see the aftermath of that plane, at least the back half of the aircraft seems to be completely destroyed. The tail fin seems to be completely missing. Everything behind the area of the engines seems to have been completely destroyed by that fire.

So certainly you can see that investigators are going to have a very, very difficult time piecing through all of that. Of course, they are also going to be interviewing all the people who survived that crash to try and find out from them whether or not there was some sort of incident mid-air that caused all that to happen. Again, only a couple of minutes after the plane took off, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fred Pleitgen, incredible images there. Thank you. From Moscow.

I want to bring in now David Soucie. He is a former FAA safety inspector and the author of a book on the disappearance of Flight 370.

So, David, good to see you. Earlier I spoke with, you know, variety of experts who say this looks like a fuel line, you know, fire. What's your assessment when you look at this?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: It certainly does because of the fact that there's so much flames, just horrific to watch that video.

[16:05:05] So surprised that there's only 13 deaths being reported at this point. Very surprising.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So what does it say to you that once this, you know, plane comes to a stop and, you know, passengers get on the chute and they exit, that you're looking at flames and smoke from the engine all the way to the rear?

SOUCIE: Well, it appears to me either a fuel line like you said before or a fuel leak, a rupture in a fuel tank which can happen on a hard landing, too. So that -- those both of the things will be -- they'll be delving into that, but what's more interesting to me at this point as far as the investigation goes, if you look at the attitude, the flight attitude of the aircraft as it goes down the runway, it's very, very nose high, even after the nose wheel touches the ground which indicates to me that the landing gear was not fully extended and that the aircraft landed on its belly without full landing gear underneath it. So that's what I would be looking at first.

WHITFIELD: So that contributes to the fire and the smoke in your view then?

SOUCIE: Yes, it would because at that point it's literally landing on its belly and the engines are being dragged along the ground. And that can cause those engines to then rapture. The fuel lines and the fuel supplies to it can -- which carries all the fuel. The pressure is there so it then it would continually fuel that fire.

WHITFIELD: So how would the investigation, you know, try to get to the bottom of this with that kind of, you know, destruction, you know, of -- you know, key piece of evidence, the entire plane and the boxes, aren't they usually in the tail? At least one of them.

SOUCIE: Well, the cockpit voice recorders are going to be very important here, but because a lot of times when you interview the pilots after this type of event, they're not real clear obviously. They've gone through a lot.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

SOUCIE: So they're not real clear on what exactly happened. So the cockpit voice recorders come really into play right now and I'm sure they're looking at those. The flight data recorder would tell them what's happened to the fuel pressure. So if there's a ruptured fuel line, those fuel pressures would be lowered. They'd be flowing faster out through the engine, so the pressures would change.

There's a lot of information that can be gained. There's 10,000 data points in those flight data recorders that are taking anything from the vibration levels, the fuel pressure levels and the movements of the cockpit and what's happening in the cockpit as well. A lot of information there and they will be able to narrow this down pretty quickly.

WHITFIELD: And those recorders would be able to document what may have happened, what -- you know, what precipitated a fire in an engine.

SOUCIE: It could very well. It doesn't necessarily mean that it will. I did read one Russian report that talked about lightning that the aircraft suffered lightning strike. I want to make real clear to the viewers out there that an aircraft get hit by lightning more often than you might know. And they're equipped to handle that. Rarely if ever, I don't even know of any investigation I have done where lightning has actually caused a fire on board the aircraft. So I wanted to kind of put -- discuss that piece just briefly.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it. All right. David Soucie, thank you so much.

SOUCIE: All right. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, President Trump says Bob Mueller should not testify before Congress. This as Democrats say they have invited Mueller to Capitol Hill just 10 days from now. So why the change of tune from the president? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:11:48] WHITFIELD: All right. We're following new developments, President Trump saying today he does not think that Robert Mueller should testify before Congress, tweeting moments ago and slamming Democrats for pushing for Mueller to testify saying, quoting now, "Are they looking for a re-do because they hated seeing the strong no collusion conclusion? There was no crime except on the other side, incredibly not covered in the report, and no obstruction. Bob Mueller should not testify. No re-dos for the Dems."

Well, that contradicts what the president said just days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, should Mueller testify? Would you like to see him testify?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know. That's up to our attorney general who I think has done a fantastic job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in Boris Sanchez at the White House where the president is now weighing in on calls for Mueller to testify, thumbs down from the president.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Fred. Despite what you heard there from the president on Friday saying that it would be up to Attorney General William Barr to determine whether it would be appropriate for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. Now we're hearing President Trump clarify his feelings in this tweet saying flat-out Bob Mueller should not testify.

Of course, when the attorney general was asked about this, he did not see it the way that the president does in this tweet about a re-do for Democrats. Listen to what the attorney general actually said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): What about Bob Mueller? Should he be allowed to testify before this --

WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I've already said publicly I have no objection to him.

DURBIN: And Don McGahn, should he be allowed to testify?

BARR: That's a call for the president to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The president, of course, has said that he does not want Don McGahn, the former White House counsel to testify. Now as for the reason why President Trump would not want Bob Mueller to go public before the House Judiciary Committee, there's a number of embarrassing details in the Mueller report about aides ignoring the president, suggestions that witnesses may have destroyed evidence.

Of course, those 10 or so incidents when the president tried to interfere in the special counsel's probe and further, of course, that letter that Robert Mueller wrote to the attorney general outlining what he saw as mischaracterizations in the letter that Attorney General William Barr wrote about the Mueller report before it was ultimately released.

You can bet the White House does not want Robert Mueller publicly digging into what he saw as an inaccurate portrayal of his findings in the final report, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Boris Sanchez, thank you so much.

Let's talk further on all this. With me now is Ron Brownstein, senior editor for the Atlantic and a CNN senior political analyst. Also joining me Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst.

Good so see you both.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Fred. WHITFIELD: All right. So, Ron, you first. The president, you know,

has said the Mueller report exonerates him, so why now would he not want Bob Mueller to elaborate in Congress?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, two reasons. One, because the report goes out of its way to say it specifically does not exonerate him on the questions of obstruction of justice in particular, and even on the questions of cooperation with the Russians, you know, they acknowledge that there were points that they could not unravel, that they reached dead ends. And then secondly the president --

WHITFIELD: But he's known that.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

WHITFIELD: He's known that over the past few weeks.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Exactly.

WHITFIELD: And just in a matter of days he changed his mind publicly.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, look, I mean, I think that the president understands the power of the televised image and having Bob Mueller spend a day in front of the House, talking about the report in a much more full way than obviously William Barr has done without the kind of the spin that the attorney general has put on it is not something that the president wants to see and he certainly doesn't want Don McGahn testifying about what he testified to Mueller about.

[16:15:19] So I think this is going to be a very consequential fight and one that is as much a test I think for Bob Mueller on what he is willing to do to defend the kind of the inaccuracy of his own findings, as it is for the likely -- perhaps for the legal system as well.

WHITFIELD: Might the president, Ron, have been influenced by Barr's, you know, testimony this past week and that gave now the president pause or, you know, helped to underscore the power of testimony on the Hill?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Possibly. I mean, look, I mean, I think that the -- you know, the administration has very successfully managed the first month of the Mueller report. And as I've said before, I think in some ways Bob Mueller has looked a little bit like a man out of time over the last several weeks since he finished his report. In that, he kind of assumed that he was still playing by the rules that governed Washington while he was kind of the hay day of his career and that the attorney general would play straight with him, that a president would -- those are not the rules of today's hyper partisan Washington.

They are not the rules particularly kind of the Trump era. And the thought that an attorney general would characterize, you know, put such a severe spin on his report, I think, did not fully occur to him. Even his response, a private letter that, you know, still was not made public for weeks allowing the attorney general to shape the narrative. Bob Mueller now has a chance to explain to the country exactly what he thought of the evidence that he unearthed. And as I said, I think it is as much a test of him as anyone else whether he finds a way to avail himself of that opportunity.

WHITFIELD: And so, Renato, this was the attorney general before the Senate, a Senate committee earlier this week. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DURBIN: What about Bob Mueller, should he be allowed to testify?

BARR: I've already said publicly I have no objection to him.

DURBIN: And Don McGahn, should he be allowed to testify?

BARR: Well, that's a call for the president to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Renato, will it be the president's call in terms of stopping Bob Mueller from testifying?

RENATO MARIOTTI, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't see any legal basis for the president to stop Bob Mueller from testifying. He wasn't an adviser of the president. He wasn't engaged in deliberative conversations with the president that there'd be some executive privilege over. I don't just -- I don't see any way in which Trump can do this which makes the tweet very bizarre from my perspective. He's showing a fear of Mueller testifying and he's not going to be able to do anything about it.

WHITFIELD: So then it will be particularly bad if Barr suddenly changes his mind now and puts an obstacle in place for Bob Mueller to testify when he's already testified that he wouldn't have a problem with it.

What do you see, you know, potentially happening if Barr suddenly changes his mind and stops Mueller?

MARIOTTI: What I would see -- sure. What I would see happening is Mueller within some reasonable period of time leaving the Justice Department, as I imagine he was planning to do any way. And then after that, there would be no obstacle. There's no way they can prevent a former employee from testifying.

I think this is absolutely a losing move for them unless they think that a month of delay or a few weeks of delay is going to be to their benefit.

WHITFIELD: So then what would -- wouldn't that be the same, I guess, explanation for Don McGahn? I mean, he is now, you know, a private citizen? Nothing stops him then from testifying.

MARIOTTI: Well, certainly I think that the executive privilege claim that the White House has is totally bogus and wouldn't hold up in court. However, they do have a colorful claim. In other words, with a straight face they could say that there's some executive privilege issue. And McGahn, don't forget he's a conservative foot soldier who has come up through the ranks and has frankly been a big proponent of the Trump administration, has continued to praise the president after leaving the administration.

So he could say, look, even though I'm not required to, given that there's this concern over executive privilege, I'm not going to comply with the subpoena until that is resolved.

WHITFIELD: OK, so, Ron, just moments ago Congressman Adam Schiff, you know, responded to the president's tweet earlier about, you know, Mueller shouldn't be allowed to testify or shouldn't testify and so Schiff says, "Today Trump announced he is opposed to Mueller testifying before Congress, before the American people. He also opposes letting McGahn appear. Barr's testimony alone designed to protect Trump isn't going to cut it. They will testify. The American people deserve the truth."

So, Ron, it appears Democrats, you know, determined to have Mueller, you know, perhaps even the White House counsel, you know, Don McGahn testify.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: What can we expect in the coming days? We know there's the, you know, Mueller report deadline by 9:00 a.m., you know, unredacted, but really what potentially could happen next in all of this?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, this is -- this is just one front in what is becoming an epic and historic confrontation over the ability of Congress to perform oversight on the executive branch because the administration is not only fighting McGahn, fighting Mueller, not providing the unredacted Mueller report, but a whole array of other issues.

[16:20:11] They are blocking officials from testifying about the census, from about security clearances, and the White House --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So it's only underscoring --

BROWNSTEIN: -- providing the president's taxes. Yes.

WHITFIELD: It's only underscoring the whole hiding issue. I mean --

BROWNSTEIN: Right. It is.

WHITFIELD: This makes it worse for the president, doesn't it?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, it -- from perception perhaps. But in reality, Democrats have to find a way to enforce this. And what's really -- you know, and that means the courts. What's really striking in all of this, Fred, is the Republicans in Congress in essence siding with the president and essentially allowing and supporting the executive branch, undermining the oversight authority of Congress.

It is really astounding I think to see in particular some of the Republican senators who have been there for many years not raising more objections to this kind of systematic stonewalling of oversight and, you know, we're going to see. I mean, many of these issues are going to go to the courts. Is John Roberts and the four other Republican appointed Supreme Court justices going to support the, you know, oversight authority of Congress in the end?

Will the administration negotiate out some of these issues? We are in a broad front crisis here, I think, that is going to, I think, have lasting impact on the ability of Congress to exert its historic oversight functions over the executive branch.

WHITFIELD: All right. We will leave it there, gentlemen. Ron Brownstein, Renato Mariotti, thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

MARIOTTI: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, Democratic candidates out across the country today shoring up support ahead of those critical and crucial first debates this summer. How they're trying to breakthrough to voters amid a very crowded Democratic field next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:25:26] WHITFIELD: Former Vice President Joe Biden is calling President Trump a, quote, "clown." He gave him the nickname right after telling voters he wouldn't get into a, quote, "mud wrestling match with Trump." Biden spent the weekend in early voting state of South Carolina.

Pete Buttigieg is there as well, kicking off a two-day swing. He is trying to connect with black voters who will play a key role in determining who will get the 2020 nomination, especially in South Carolina.

CNN political reporter Vanessa Yurkevich is in North Charleston for us, an event next hour.

So what's going on? What will be the message?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Hi, Fred. Yes, that's right. He's here in North Charleston, South Carolina, where almost 50 percent of the population is African-American. And I'm told by his campaign he's going to continue to push what he calls his agenda for black America. He's going to be laying out five pillars, those include housing, health care, education, entrepreneurship and criminal justice reform. He's also going to take questions from the audience here. He wants to hear from them about what they would like to see in their community.

Now Pete Buttigieg has acknowledged that he is having a tougher time connecting with more of a diverse audience. And he's hoping to see that diversity here this evening. According to a recent CNN poll, he's in the top five in terms of Democratic presidential candidates. He's polling at about 7 percent. But when you look at him compared to where he is polling with non-whites, he's polling only at about 3 percent.

So we started to get the ball rolling last week. We saw him meet with Reverend Al Sharpton at the famed Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem and that is a traditional stop for many Democratic presidential candidates who are in the race.

He also this morning met with another heavy hitter before coming here. He made an unannounced stop in Plains, Georgia. He met with former President Carter. He met with him at his home. They then went to church together and they finished off the afternoon with lunch together in Georgia.

So now he's making his way here over to North Charleston where he's going to speak to this audience and hoping that he'll be able to connect to that African-American community on some of the issues that are really important to them -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.

All right. Jobs, jobs, jobs. President Trump is riding the high off the blockbuster jobs report and we're getting a look at brand new poll numbers. Find out how many Americans approve of the way the president is handling the economy.

[16:30:01] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. President Trump riding the high off a blockbuster jobs report, 263,000 jobs added in April, shattering expectations. And the unemployment rate falling to 3.6 percent, the lowest since 1969, that report comes on the heels of impressive GDP growth. A new poll just released today showing that 51 percent of people approve of the way President Trump is handling the economy.

CNN talked to enthusiastic Democratic voters and asked them if they believe the president deserves credit for the economy, and here is their take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA LEMON, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I think he gets a little bit of credit. But the economy is a cycle. It was on the upswing when he took office. And it's continued to go that way, and that's great.

DAVID EDMOND, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: Past administration's policies are just now catching up with the president that left, so we haven't seen what is coming up with this person in office. It's yet to be realized.

LUCINDA BUTLER, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: President Trump gets no credit for the economy being where it is now, because it was the previous office that started this ball to rolling. ANGEL JEFFCOAT-ROBINSON, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I think that Trump is

working really hard to undo a lot of the progresses that we've made in the time, a lot of reasons why we are doing well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk more on this. Joining me right now John Hope Bryant, he is the Founder and CEO of Operation Hope, an organization working to disrupt poverty and empower inclusion for low and moderate income youths and adults. He's also a member of the President's Advisory Counsel on Financial Capability and a best selling author.

The list is long. His latest book called The Memo, Five Rules for Your Economic Liberation, all right, good to see you.

JOHN HOPE BRYANT, OPERATION HOPE FOUNDER AND CEO: Good to see you -- former member of the president's counsel.

WHITFIELD: A former -- OK. That's right.

BRYANT: Three presidents.

WHITFIELD: If you were to advise the president right now on how to use these numbers to his advantage, he says he's going to run on it. You know, for re-election, what would you say he needs to zero in on?

BRYANT: I think he needs to acknowledge the gap.

WHITFIELD: What do you mean by that?

BRYANT: Well, so Chris Rock once said I ain't never been to jail. Not supposed to go to jail. You don't get credit for doing what you're supposed to do or not doing what you shouldn't be doing.

WHITFIELD: So you're saying he should be maintaining an inherited good economy.

BRYANT: Yes. And give him credit and his administration's credit for the fact that deregulation and the tax break did give the economy a bump. And these new jobs by way, the growth seems to be real. But the gaps are unbelievable.

WHITFIELD: And what do you mean by those gaps?

BRYANT: Let me talk about the gap that affects all of us. Forty percent of these jobs are less than $15 an hour. They're hourly wages. And 15 percent -- sorry, 40 percent of all jobs are going to disappear completely in 15 years because of robotics and AI. So if you're driving a car or in a restaurant or anything that is customer service only, poof, they're gone. These jobs are -- first of all, 40 percent of the jobs what I call ghost jobs.

Here today, gone tomorrow without significant intervention and restraining. Number two, 55 rule. In Chicago, 5 percent of white men 20 to 24 out of work, out of school, 50 percent of black men in the same category, out of work, out of school. You can't avoid that.

[16:34:57] WHITFIELD: So the disparities are great, and you're not hearing from the president, or are you hoping to hear from the president how to close these gaps? Because you're calling these sub numbers. While these numbers are great, you know, just barely over three percent unemployment rate. There are great disparities in particular communities.

And, you know, the president boasts of African-American unemployment, low, low, low, but you're showing that depending on geographically where you are and what sex and what age group, it's not so great.

BRYANT: Fredricka, I don't want anybody boasting. This is no time to boast. We're all in serious pain right now. The difference is when white Americans has a headache, black and brown folks have pneumonia, but we're all sick. This is time to get busy. Though PhD's are good, but Ph-Do's are better. Show me. So there are qualified opportunity zones that came out of the bipartisan legislation -- Congress and the president signed it.

Everybody gets credit for that. Let's execute on that. Let's get job creation up through small business, through entrepreneurship, black- owned, and brown-owned businesses that create jobs. The best (Inaudible) of a bullet in the south side of Chicago is a job. So the pounding on the chest is nice theater, but it's not -- doesn't put a roof over anybody's head or pay a mortgage. That's really what I am talking about.

WHITFIELD: So what's your expectation over the next year and a half, you know, of campaigning, and the president says this will be a top priority?

BRYANT: I expect that all candidates recognize that whether you're white, black, red, brown, or yellow, you want to see more green. Americans want to see some more green, as in the color of U.S. currency. And they want us to start focusing on executing on an economy that is stabilized. And again, the jobs are real. We can't run out of steam.

We have to build on this to help the middle class that are struggling with too much. To understand -- I met one of the people in your staff, young Caucasian girl, brilliant. How did you get here? Internship, what do you need...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: You're talking about Grace.

BRYANT: She's Grace. What do we need? We need a massive tax incentive for corporations to create massive internships. Just like her. But if you're black and brown in the south side of Chicago or west side of Atlanta, all right, if you hang around nine broke people, you'll be the tenth.

WHITFIELD: You have got to be exposed to training, and so...

BRYANT: And relationship capital that can get you employed.

WHITFIELD: The president knows that, right? He's a businessman.

BRYANT: That's right.

WHITFIELD: How do you see -- because I am hearing a couple of different things. While, people are celebrating the economy, the numbers are good. I am not hearing a lot of hope coming from John Hope Bryant here. I am hearing that you are concerned about how to use some momentum, you know, how to constructively use what should be momentum coming from these numbers.

BRYANT: I am saying folks who want to talk about politics in the White House or in Washington, that's the stage for theater. You start talking about the economy, people's jobs. Let's take the theater out of it, and let's get real serious about this, because this is the whole ball game. We are living in a capitalist democracy. Underneath capitalism is democracy.

Even if you want to (Inaudible) like a socialist, you have to first collect it like a capitalist. We have to start turning young, black kids into proper capitalists by giving them financial literacy that they didn't get in the Freeman's Bank's default of 1865 with -- even President Lincoln realized that after the Civil War it was about economics, jobs, and opportunity to create this bank to teach free slaves about money.

He gets killed the next month. It's not like we got the memo on free enterprise and screwed it up. We just never got the memo. But right now, if you're middle class of any color, you got too much month at the end of your money, and you don't feel like you're...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: You need resources.

BRYANT: Yeah. So healthcare costs are going up, real estate costs are going up, education's become like a private asset. It should be a public good. Those three things are going up at six percent. Healthcare is going up at six percent a year. So we're celebrating 3.7 percent GDP growth, fantastic. But meanwhile, healthcare costs are going up to 6 to 8 percent.

So people are running out of steam. They got too much -- they're in pain. They want to see real relief. They want to something other than just a speech. By the way, there are tools in place...

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Are you optimistic about that could happen?

BRYANT: Yeah, I see folks at Treasury doing the right thing.

WHITFIELD: OK.

BRYANT: I see folks (Inaudible) currency's office doing the right thing. Folks were just here in Washington -- in Atlanta talking about the qualified opportunity zones. But it's all in the execution. So I have reason to be optimistic, but he or she who should be given the leadership talent are those who create the jobs, not the promises for those.

WHITFIELD: All right. John Hope Bryant, you better be optimistic with that name.

BRYANT: I am a practical optimist.

WHITFIELD: All right, good to see you.

BRYANT: Thanks for all you do.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it. And we'll be right back.

[16:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Michael Cohen is getting ready to report to prison. Tomorrow, President Trump's former fixer begins a three-year sentence. Earlier this year, Cohen pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud charges, as well as campaign finance violations. CNN's Brynn Gingras takes a look at what Cohen can expect behind bars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The time has come for Michael Cohen to trade in his designer suits for prison garb. The former fixer to President Trump turned foe reports to the prison in Otisville, New York Monday, day one of his three-year sentence for several white collar crimes, including tax fraud and campaign finance violations.

Forbes Magazine rated the federal correctional facility one of America's 10 cushiest prisons in 2009. It houses 858 inmates, including doomed fire festival promoter Billy McFarland and former Jersey Shore cast member, Mike the Situation Sorrentino. Otisville is located 70 miles from New York City, tucked at the foot of the Catskill Mountains and is made up of two campuses, a medium and minimum security center.

The Bureau of Prisons which designates where inmates stay won't comment on where Cohen will be housed until he checks in. But according to the BOP website, Cohen's day will likely begin at 6:00 a.m. with a wakeup call and lights on, lights out at 11:30. His days will be made up of meals, work calls, unit sanitation, and leisure activity time, which depending on the campus, could include basketball, bocce ball, or horseshoes.

Perhaps a stark difference from the past year, where Cohen kept busy meeting with his lawyers, appearing in court, or testifying to Congress publicly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, I am here to tell the truth about Mr. Trump.

[16:45:06] GINGRAS: And behind closed doors in his efforts to clear his name and distance himself from the president. Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Still so much straight ahead in the Newsroom. But first, meet this week's CNN Hero a woman working to change the culture of an entire country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Ethiopia, most women and girls do not have access to sanitary pads. Many girls stay at home during their period. They're scared and ashamed. Half of the population is dealing with this issue, but no one is willing to talk about it. I knew that I have to make a product that helped these women and girls to get on with their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I want is all girls to have dignity, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So see how Freweini Mebrahtu's factory is empowering women, or to nominate your own CNN Hero, go to CNN Heroes.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:49:58] WHITFIELD: All right. Extraordinary new video we want to share with you of that horrific plane fire on a Moscow runway. As you will see, this video is now from the inside of the plane after the plane caught fire. And we want to caution you that the video may not be suited for all viewers. But this is video from inside the plane as it was still in the air. Take a look. Yes, Russian-state media reporting now 13 are dead, 78 people were on board when the plane hits the runways.

Russia state news agency says President Vladimir Putin is ordering a full investigation into the crash. We'll continue to follow the developments as we get it. Meantime, tonight on CNN, W. Kamau Bell is back with an all new episode of United Shades of America, and this week he is headed to Seattle to look at what white people in America are doing to become more involved in the fight against racism, white supremacy, and the rise of extremist groups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the conversation that you're having with people about whiteness?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean like we're not going to knock on a bunch of doors and say you want to come join anti-racist meeting. Those would be small meetings or meeting of the people already with us.

(CROSSTALK)

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA HOST: Well, we're all here again, everybody. Nancy thanks for bringing the cupcakes again. We always love your cupcakes, Nancy. Let's wrap this up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. That's not what we're doing.

BELL: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just finished knocking on 10,000 doors and basically asking people, what is it you're upset about or what is it that you want to change, or whatever the issue is and move people into a campaign to win. And then along the way, then we start to have the conversations around race. Did Muslims, you know, like, crash the economy? And like are black people pushing opioids into this part of the state?

Did undocumented immigrants, like, stash a bunch of money in corporate tax havens? No, and we found the enemy is not each other. Let's focus on the real villain in this story. And so -- but we can only do that, I believe, we like to start where people are at, work on what they want to work on, build a foundation or relationship, and then we can start to have a different conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, W. Kamau Bell, the Host of CNN's United Shades of America jointing me right now. Good to see you. So it really looks like you talked to a variety of people about what they are doing to fight, you know, racism, you know, white supremacy, and all that. Because I understand that a lot of times you go through the airport and people just approach you and say what is it that I can do, you know, to help fight racism. Tell me how this has evolved.

BELL: Let's be clear about that, Fredricka. I talk to lots of people, lots of different races. But usually, it's white people who say what can I do? How can I help? Usually people of color, we kind of know what we can do. So this is an episode for those white people to call not all white people and has a variety of white people who are getting involved, from George Gayle who is there with Alicia Garza, one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter.

(Inaudible) people's action then also like the John (Inaudible) sound John Brown Gun Club, which is like liberal, lefty, progressive white people with guns who are showing up when the alt-right shows up, the Neo-Nazi show up, they show up with their guns. So it's a wide range of things you can do.

WHITFIELD: So what did you personally learn from this, you know, from this mission and, you know, from what has fueled this mission in so many people?

BELL: You know what I learned is that people in communities feel like they cannot depend on political leaders or the government to save us from ourselves at this point. You know, we talked to a guy named Duke who is one of the members of the (Inaudible) John Brown Gun Club.

And he said he felt the need to stand up and use his Second Amendment rights to defend people in his neighborhoods, because he was seeing his neighborhoods with like, you know, anti-semitic things and racist things all around. And nobody was doing anything. And so the theme of this season in the United Shades, it's basically on us. It's on us to do it, because our elected officials aren't doing it.

WHITFIELD: And did any of these folks, you know, express to you what they're encountering? You know, are they met with, you know, dangers? Are they ostracized, you know, for doing what it is that they're doing, trying to fight racism?

BELL: Yeah. I mean all these people are dealing with the consequences. We talked to somebody from Antifa who talks about doxxing people and understands that means that they might be doxxed. We talked to people who are doing actions through art. Everybody who is doing this in the episode understands there are consequences, you know?

But they also understand they want to make their community better. And a lot of people we talked to are parents. And they're not doing this because they want to be heroes. They're doing these because they want better communities for their kids. You know what I am saying? I mean hate crimes are on the rise. And we have sort of waited for the government to step up and they haven't. And so people are doing it themselves.

WHITFIELD: So you also met with a member of Antifa, controversial, you know, anti-fascist group. A lot of confusion over what this group is all about. You hear the president, you know, using the word in lots of different ways. What did you discover?

[16:55:04] BELL: You know, I think people talk about Antifa like it's one group and it's really sort of a methodology, and really the word Antifa stands for anti-fascism, which I think we should all be against fascism. And yes, they use methods that not everybody uses. But they also are there -- the people I talk to are talking about defending the community.

And again, this is in ways that the government, the police often times is not defending our communities. So the person we talked to realize their methods are controversial, but they also were willing to show up and talk about it on camera.

WHITFIELD: All right. W. Kamau Bell, we always look forward it, and we love talking to you too about what to expect, eye opening on so many levels. Thank you. And be sure to tune in to an all new episode of United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell, premiering tonight 10:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN. And thank you so much for being with me this weekend. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The news continues with Ana Cabrera right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANA CABRERA, NEWSROOM ANCHOR: You're live in the CNN Newsroom. I am Ana Cabrera in New York. We begin this hour with breaking news out of Russia and a warning. What you are about to see is disturbing. This is out of Russia. That video taken inside a Russian passenger jet, showing the horror unfolding as a fireball erupts and engulfs the plane.