>> so there is new cockpit audio. the crew was cleared to land. we know there is an investigation underway. what more do we know at this hour? >> it seems as if this investigation is focusing now on that japan coast guard aircraft. what were they doing on the runway? did they disregard an instruction from air traffic control or were different people within air traffic control not communicating in the same way to these planes? the pilots in the cockpit of this a-350, they looked down the runway and they didn't see there was another much smaller aircraft on the runway until it was too late. >> really appreciate it. thank you. thanks to all of you for joining us. "ac360" starts right now. tonight on "360," breaking news after he was kicked off the brat, i'll get the reaction.

also, chris christie joins me with the iowa caucuses growing closer and any challengers' chances growing slimmer. and you likely saw the japan these crash. new details on how every one of the nearly 400 people of the airliner got out alive. good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin with breaking news. the start of a year which will be unlikefully in american political and legal constitutional history. a former president running for office again facing 91 state and felony charges, also two civil trials and fighting efforts in several states to remove him from the ballot. that's where we start. we're also waiting for his appeal in a similar case in colorado and a filing on the question of whether a former president can even be prosecuted for actions taken while in objection. in addition the former president is spinning fresh conspiracies

about his legal troubles online. all of this with the iowa caucuses less than two weeks away. welcome to 2024. we'll speak with one of his challengers shortly. chris christie joins us here. first the maine case starts us off. what more do we know about the former president's appeal? >> tonight they're attacking the secretary of state of maine. she is a democrat. the process in maine is that the first stop for any questions about whether someone is eligible to appear on the ballot go to the secretary of state. now, in their appeal tonight, they argue that she was a biased decision maker who have should recused herself, had no legal authority, made multiple errors of law and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner. i understand her decision was based on section 3 of the 14th amendment of the united states constitution. this part of the constitution and who should enforce it, these questions have been litigated across multiple states.

colorado and maine opted to remove trump from the ballot. but the other states largely on procedural grounds have kept him on the ballot. they've also left open the possibility that this could be litigated through the general election. so unless the supreme court really steps in here and provides some guidance to the states on the meaning of this section, this is an issue that could hang over the entire 2024 race. >> when do we expect trump to file his appeal in the colorado case? >> i've been on the phone a large part of the day trying to get an answer to that very question. i can tell you it's been two weeks since the colorado supreme court removed trump from the ballot. they gave a deadline of january 4th for an appeal to be filed. if someone files an appeal then it will be stayed. it will be there until the supreme court weighs in. trump has not filed his appeal but colorado has filed an appeal and it is recognize as staying the case. it is expected that he will

appear on the primary ballot. he is expected to file his own appeal in that case but it is up clear when. again, two weeks have passed by. that's a lot of time. while many people do expect the supreme court will weigh in here, anderson, it's not clear how quickly they will do that. and there's pressure building for them to give some clarity at least before super tuesday. >> thanks very much. what is your part of this? >> good evening. first and foremost, people need to understand this is the appropriate process, for mr. trump to file an appeal in the superior court. his process was initiated when five registered maine voters brought a challenge to mr. trump's qualifications after there were signatures for the ballot. under maine law, those challenges were entitled to a hering. an administrative hearing over which i was object gated to

preside in a very tight time line. now next step is superior court. with regard to the accusations of bias, i think it is really important to note my sole obligation is the oath i swore to uphold the constitution and to follow maine election laws. i was duty-bound by maine election laws which require this process, holding a hearing and giving a decision to ensure every candidate on the primary ballot meets the qualifications of the office they seek. i did my duty. now it goes to the court. that's why i stayed, suspended the effect of my decision penaltying the court appeal and i will uphold whatever is determined. >> so they're claiming you had no authority under any maine statute with the issues presented by the challengers in this case. you say it is simply not true. >> exactly.

article one of the constitution delegates to the state to administer elections. and state legislatures may delegate to the secretary of state which the maine legislature has done under title 21 a. and under that process, i am prohibited, whether it is placing an 18-year-old on the ballot or a noncitizen on the ballot or someone who has served two terms like barack obama or george w. bush, or someone who does not meet the constitutional qualifications of the office. and section 14 of the amendment is not an option. constitutional qualifications are not a menu. i was duty-bound to hold that hearing and issue a decision. >> right. the former president is saying that he is taking an issue with the process claiming he was not given adequate time and opportunity to present a defense. >> that is not correct. so this is very clear in my 34-page opinion which is on the

maine secretary of state website for those who may wish to read. this hearing followed the process under maine law. the administrative procedure act which mandates, and i quote, all parties present, be a toibl present evidence and arguments on all issues at the hearing to call and examine witnesses, to make oral cross-examination of any person present for testifying. mr. trump was afforded those opportunities at the hearing. >> so how quickly do you think this would make its way through maine's court system? would you be opposed to the u.s. supreme court intervening sooner rather than later? >> we would welcome the u.s. supreme court making a ruling. i will uphold whatever the courts determine and acting quickly to resolve this. i think it is in the best interests. that being said, our process in maine is to go to superior court. mr. trump has filed that appeal tonight. the superior court under statute

must rule by january 17th. and then it can go to the maine judicial supreme court and then to the u.s. supreme court. we're on a very compressed time line. and that was part of the requirements under statute. once the challengers filed that challenge, we're within five days of certifying, they had to file within five days. i had to hold that hearing within five days and issue a decision. >> i appreciate your time tonight. thank you. >> thank you. >> with us now, former nixon white house counsellor john dean and a teacher at the school of law. >> i thought the way she laid out what her responsibility is and the authority is under maine's law was very persuasive. and i read her opinion. a lengthy, thorough opinion, which is also quite persuasive on what the authority is that's delegated to her under maine law

to make decisions about who is qualified to be on the ballot once there has been a challenge lodged as this was here. what she said is she is required to determine whether somebody in fact is qualified and that includes the disqualifications. she sets forth in her opinion that she repeated tonight. she provided the process that statute required to the former president and the other side during that. and there's no suggestion of what in particular he was deprived of the opportunity to present by way of evidence or argument. she gave him every opportunity including to supplement at the end of the hearing. i haven't seen anything persuasive on the trump side about how he was deprived of the opportunity to present specific arguments before her. the larger question that loom here as in colorado and all the other states is under the u.s. constitution, do states, whether it is delegated to the secretary of state in maine or to state

courts, have the authority to make determinations of who is qualified or not. those are questions the supreme court will have to decide. >> do you believe the former president's argument that the secretary of state of maine doesn't have that legal authority? >> it's not clear at all that she does not have that authority. under the maine law, it is clear she does. as the presser pointed out. and trump is really just throwing everything he has against the wall to see if anything will stick. it's that kind of very brief, very broad attack on her decision-making. i don't really expect it to go very far. the superior court is a middle level court. it is will probably go to the supreme court of maine to resolve some of the issues if the u.s. supreme court doesn't intervene first. >> section three of the 14th amendment. the sticking point is it does not specifically mention the president as one of the officers

prohibited from seeking office. >> yes. that's one of the reasons why the trial-level court in colorado found trump was not disqualified. the colorado supreme court disagreed with that. >> where do you stand on this? the argument is, they mention all these other people, it would seem, that the president would be somebody who couldn't do it. it doesn't specifically say so. >> the very persuasive argument that the presidency is conversation. in terms the person who takes the oath as the president, whether that qualifies as an office in section three, and the office of presidency in terms of what you can then be elected to. i'm persuaded by the arguments that the presidency is encompassed within that section but there are so many other legal questions including what is the definition of insurrection for purposes of section three? did trump as a factual matter

and legal matter engage in insurrection however that is defined. and then do states have the authority to make those determinations, or is that something that only federal courts can decide after this. these are all open, novel legal questions. the u.s. supreme court needs to settle those. in the meantime, the decision maker who are authorized by their state's laws to make these decisions have to act. they have to make the decisions in the interim. >> john, i'm sure you saw the question of whether trump has immunity for anything he did as president. how do you expect this particular supreme court would rule on that? >> this, i don't think this supreme court wants to face that issue, frankly. they mate try to avoid it. i see no basis for the kind of immunity that trump is calling

for. it would be unprecedented, contrary to the rule of law. it would redefine the american presidency and it would have made nixon an innocent man. so i just don't think it will go anywhere. it's an overbroad attack on the rule of law. so my feeling is the supreme court won't buy it. >> i think on the law, on the merits, that the supreme court should rule against trump's claim of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution. in terms of a prediction whether the court will rule that and say that is actually how it will come out. >> do you think they will take it up? >> yes, i think they will take it up. >> thank you. coming up next, chris christie's take on all this and his role to president's only full-throated critics. later, allegations a agains

bob memenendez.

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you make of the maine secretary of state's argument about what she did and the trump filing. >> i think that there's an interesting legal argument to be made here. i think the problem is, as a practical matter, excluding people from the ballot in this way is going to cause even more tumult in an already really divided country. i don't want to be interpreted because it is not in support of donald trump as you can probably tell. the idea that the voters should be making this call. when you have something that is as indecisive as what her argument was, i think it is hard to have courts do it. we'll see. it will go to the u.s. supreme court at some point. >> as for the legal argument about whether the former president has immunity -- >> it's ridiculous. a ridiculous argument. i think it will be dismissed really quickly. i don't think he has any legal basis. >> do you think the supreme court will take it up? >> i think they may just give at this time back of their hand and deny and say forget it and go with the lower court rulings.

i just don't believe that there's any real argument. think about the practicality of it. that a president could literally do anything. and if he wasn't impeached and removed for it, he escapes all type of criminal or civil legal liability. it doesn't make any sense. >> ambassador haley has said she would pardon donald trump. what is in the best interests of the country and not letting an 80-year-old man sitting in jail. what is in the best interests is so the country can move on as a country. >> that's just her doing what she does which is, she doesn't want to offend anyone. the fact is, she knows better. as a governor. you can't make these decisions on pardons before you here what the trial is, what the evidence is. >> you've made the point in the past that a pardon requires remorse, or requires an acknowledgement that what you did is wrong. >> acceptance of responsibility. he'll never accept responsibility. he never has, never will. she's pandering.

>> do you think she's running to be vice president? >> i think she would be more than happy to take it. my evidence for that is that she won't say she wouldn't. ron desantis has said under no circumstances would he take it. i've said under no circumstances would i take it. why won't she say it? i think that the only reason, you've watched politics long enough to know. when one of us doesn't rule something out, they're ruling it in. this is the problem with her now is that she wants to be everything to everybody. and with the slavery question last week exposes a much bigger problem. if you want to beat donald trump, you have to take him on. when is that coming? you can't say you'll pardon him. you can't refuse to deny you would be his vice president. >> they're running attack ads. haley and desantis against each other. >> that's what i am on the debate stage. they're acting like it is a race between them. the race for second place. what's going on is the race for

2028. that's what it is. they're trying to position themselves best for 2028. and i think four more years of either donald trump or joe biden as president would be disastrous for this country and we have to win now. >> i want to play a little bit of what governor chris sununu of new hampshire said. he endorsed haley but about your candidacy over the weekend. >> chris christie is a friend. but his race is at an absolute dead end. this is a two-person race. between trump and nikki haley. everyone understands that. he knows his voters are all coming over to nikki haley. the only person who wants chris christie to stay in the race is donald trump. >> whenever someone says he's a friend but, i always wonder. >> yeah. the life in is about to be stuck in. it's, since chris started to work for nikki haley and bec becoming for her, chris sununu was one of the most vocal people

against donald trump. he went to one of the big media events and used incredible object sents that i can't repeat on the air to describe what he thought of donald trump's mental state. he has said that donald trump is you unfit. all thing his candidate is unwilling to say. chris sununu has said that the states should decide abortions. nikki haley is in favor of a six-week ban. he's abandoned that as well. the shame of this is is that chris has abandoned his principles to try to get himself some political favor inside his own state. i get it. >> you don'ted he picked her because he thinks these one who can win? >> no. i don't think that. i think he picked her based on polling at that moment. if you base your choice, which is with a i believe you should do, who do you think is the person who can really beat donald trump and who wants to beat donald trump? i would ask governor sununu. what indications does he have that she wants to beat donald trump? by the way, how does chris

sununu defend what she said on civil war? i don't understand it. at the end of it, she gave an answer that is typical of someone who has been pandering to a certain couldnstituency in south carolina. if you go back to what she said when she was running for governor in 2010, she said the civil war was an argument between change and tradition. >> right. >> what is that tradition? enslaving people? i think it is between right and wrong. and our party was founded -- >> she points out, she took down the confederate flag. >> she took it from one part of the state house grounds and put it in the museum. congratulations. okay. i'm not saying she's a racist. let's be clear. i've known her for 13 years and there's not a racist bone in her body. what she is is a panderer. in this context, that's just as bad. >> bob menendez, what do you make of him?

if if the allegations are true -- >> when i was u.s. attorney for seven years in new jersey, one of the thing that shocked me the most was how cheaply could you buy a politician. $5,000 in cash in an envelope could get most elected officials -- >> is that right? >> oh, yeah. it was amazing to me. the fbi would say let's start with $5,000. who would throw their life away for $5,000? you look at bob menendez. let's make this clear. he has been a completely unethical, unprincipled politician for the entire time i've known him and i've known him over 20 years. he's never known principles. think about what he said after he got a hung jury in the last trial. he went out and said i know other people are out there trying to dig my political grave. i know who you are and i'll remember. this was a guy not grateful over the fact that he had just dodged a bullet. his conduct afterwards indicates that's exactly what he meant. he went right back to, according

to the indictment, committing crimes. and selling out this country as the chairman of the senate of foreign relations committee. look, the thing i'm disappointed about in the democratic party, at least the republicans removed george santos. where are the democrats in the united states senate with removing this guy? this is now a second superseding indictment. a third set of charges. he was using his position of leadership and intelligence information in the united states senate to enrich himself and his wife. i don't understand how chuck schumer can't to go mitch mcconnell and say, look, we need to have a vote to kick him out. to have him in there and to have him have access to that information, who knows what he's doing now to try to pay his legal fees? >> thanks. more on senator menendez coming up. also, claudine gay was the first black woman to serve as president of harvard. after her disastrous appearance

on capitol hill, she's out after only six months on t the job. dedetails of h her dowownfall, . to duckduckgo on all your devie

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and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. after weeks of controversy over testimony at harvard claudine gay said she has planss to step down as president of harvard university. she was only on the job for six months. she's the second ivy league

president to resign in the wake of testimony last month that critics did not speak out enough. the damage was done. in a letter she released today, she called the decision to resign difficult beyond words. she also said the controversy had subjected her to quote, personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus. >> reporter: the harvard president's writing came to light with eight of her papers found to have instances of it according to the free beacon. conservative media had been unearthing them in gay's past works. one example, an entire paragraph lifted almost verbatim in her dissertation without citation. another example first reported monday. several sentences from a 999 book appeared in a 2001 article written by gay but she failed to

use quotation marks or cite the works in two passages. it came amidst controversy over her handling of antisemitic incidents on the campus and a widely criticized congressional hearing about it on december 5th. gay along with the presidents of m.i.t. and upenn gave an answer that was widely considered too legal and completely tone deaf. >> the answer is yes, calling for the genocide of jews violates harvard code of conduct, correct. >> again, it depends on the context. >> reporter: fallout from the hearing resulted in the resignation of the upenn president. the house republican caucus leader wasting no time responding to today's events. >> as a harvard graduate myself, we have seen a failure of leadership from claudine gay, a failure of more leadership. this accountability would not have happened were it not for

that congressional hearing. >> reporter: stefanik underscoring her investigation will continue. gay's tenure as president was the shortest in harvard's nearly 400-year history. she was the school's first black president and only the second woman at the helm. in larry to the harvard community, she wrote that her exit came with a heavy heart. it has become clear that it is in the best interests of harvard to resign so they can navigate the moment of challenge on the focus on the institution rather than any individual. harvard announced late today that garver who currently serves as provost will step in as interim president while acknowledging gay's commit many to the school. it is with that overarching consideration in mind that we've accepted gay's resignation, adding, we do so with sorrow.

>> what more did harvard say about the decision to accept her resignation? >> that she will stay on the faculty at harvard. they also said a source close to dr. gay told matt egan that she made a decision to resign last week before the latest tranche of claims of plagiarism came out. the university clearly felt torn by this. they said that she suffered enormously. racist vitriol coming her way by phone call and emails. they felt very badly for her. she will stay on at harvard and they say the search for a new president will occur in due course. >> all right. thank you. earlier you heard governor chris christie call senator menendez a completely unethical, unprincipled politician. prosecutors are alleging a new superseding indictment that the

bribery and extortion scheme went on longer than first believed. now with the details. what are the newest allegations? >> not only did it go on longer than they believed but it involved a second foreign country. >> not just egypt. >> now they're alleging that he took steps favorable to qatar and that he did it help to obtain multimillion dollars. among the things prosecutors allege menendez did, that he set up introductions between the qatari royal family. that he then hamdi praise on the qataris and then in an encrypted message texted to the developer saying i'm about to issue this press release. you should tell the qataris and then they learned this favorable praise was coming. in addition, go when the developer was going to meet one of the qatari investors,

menendez reached out imploring on him that he thought it would be great if they could work this out. on it is all part of the scheme that they say he did to receive hundred of thousands in bribes. >> they say what he got from the qataris? or from this part of the scheme? >> they're saying that he got tickets for formula one grand prix races in 2022 and 2023, which menendez had requested and given to a relative of his. that doesn't sound like a lot of money but they say the developer had given menendez gold bars. this is part of the broader egyptian scheme as well. and there's a suggestion that he was offered a watch that could have been worth as much as $24,000. >> what kind of response has the senator made? >> nothing from the senator himself tonight. he has vigorously defended himself. his attorney did issue a statement saying the senator

acted appropriately saying despite what they touted in press releases, they don't have any of the evidence to back up the old or new allegations. they have a string of baseless assumptions and contacts between a senator and his constituent or foreign officials. menendez took part in this while on the senate foreign intelligence committee for most of the time including 2023, he was chairman of that committee and he is still receiving classified information. he has pleaded not guilty to the charges and he is set to go to trial in may. a strike in beirut, lebanon has killed one of its senior leaders. israel not taking responsibility. details of the strike ahead. and later, a deadly car crash after a new years concert in upstate new york killed two people. authorities working on a motive for the now deceased suspect.

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-hey, your mom and i procreated to that song. oh, ew! i think you've said enough. why don't we just switch to xfinity like everyone else? then you would know what year it was. i know what year it is. so far israel is not the taking any official responsibility for the images you see here, a strike in the suburbs of beirut that hassle

says killed one of its top officials. the most senior leader of hamas, killed since the october 7th terror attack. he has been designated a terrorist by the u.s. since 2015. after the strike, all enemies of israel would in their words perish. joined by "the new york times" magazine, the author of rise and kill first. israel's secret assassinations. do you think he was taken by surprise by what happened today? >> yes, for two main reasons. one is the location and second is the timing. the location is the quarter of beirut of hezbollah, the shiite organization, the axis of resistance of which the palestinians have jihad.

hezbollah are hosting hamas. they relocated from damascus to beirut for exactly the reason. and i think they believed that israel would not perform such an assassination. long ago, the written rules of the game were drawn between israel and hezbollah which israel can attack syria, kill iranians in lebanon and syria. after the israeli prime minister threatened to kill exactly the same in august, before the attack on hamas, they said they would not accept this. this is a crossing of a red line. so this is the second.

the hamas leaders believe as long as hamas is holding israeli hostages, they are safe. that israel would not go through this long quest of killing them as it has sworn to do until this is over. and apparently they were wrong and israel went to this. >> it is worth noting, there's the precision of this attack. i believe it was three people in that apartment. all of them linked together. not killing, as far as we know, any lebanese civilians. that's critical, isn't it? >> i think that israel did not accept responsibility, though u.s. official told "the new york times," my colleague eric schmidt, that it was israel. israel updated the u.s. that it is behind it. the first among many of future assassinations. it seemed someone took care that

only these three were killed trying to signal, this is not about you. this is about israel-hamas trying to lower the tension existing anywhere. and i think that also people in israel who feel or believe or assess that this inside beirut will put more pressure on countries like u.s. and france while trying to mediate hezbollah to find a political solution to the tension there. basically, signaling this could arrive to beirut. >> what was the role of this senior leader? i mean, he played a big role in the west bank, didn't he? >> yes. so he was the deputy political leader. the deputy, but his more important role was the military commander of the west bank. the equivalent of the number one military commander in gaza.

the most wanted by israel. in a pack of cards that israeli intelligence printed, imitated what u.s. military has done in regard with the pictures of the hamas leaders, just to give an idea of how important he was. he was in charge of trying to inflame an intifada in the west bank and he was the core of the military activities and the funneling of military gear and equipment and funding from iran to hamas. and hamas would not be in the position to attack israel the way it is without him. >> does this impact hostage negotiations? >> hamas already said it will sever any kind of negotiations following that. and i saw this will affect the

negotiation. i think that, and hoping, of course, that hamas will not do anything horrible to the hostages. i think in the long run, hamas is not running those negotiations because it likes israel. if it has interest to reach some kind of negotiations, that they will go back and present the hamas interests to finalize it and stop the israeli occupation and ongoing invasion inside gaza. and if there's a will from hamas, i'm sure there will be a will from israel. i think both sides now have an interest to reach the return of the hostages and the retreat of the israeli soldiers from gaza. >> thank you so much for your reporting. appreciate it. to the investigation of this deadly crash that kill two

people and injured nine more as a crowd was leaving a concert in upstate new york. the 35-year-old suspect who caused the deadly crash has died. police and fbi are investigating a possible motive. tonight this photo of the girlfriend and boyfriend who died was released. 28-year-old justina hughes and 29-year-old joshua orr. where does the investigation stand? >> it's a big mystery, the motive here. a lot of questions as to why this individual chose this area. it is 90 minutes from syracuse. and it's clear there was some planning. he got to the area around wednesday. he was in a hotel. he then went a car. he drove his own car, this suv that he used in this attack. he bought gas. gasoline canisters and he filled them with gas. he spent several days kang this. it is not entirely clear to authorities why he was targeting this theater where this concert was going on.

why this area? family members of this individual, they've been cooperating with police and they say he's been suffering with mental illness but there is a will the more work for authorities to do. it certainly raised concerns of terrorism coming into the new years eve night. so far, authorities say they have no indication that this was any kind of terrorism. >> what do we know about the victims? >> they went to this concert. they were there celebrating. the parents and family members said they loved music. joshua orr, 29, interestingly enough, the family said he was an advocate for those struggling with mental illness. justina hughes, 28, an artist and loved the music. the families say they found peace in the fact that they were together in their last moments. the other thing they're saying, in many ways, they're heroes.

they stopped a worst attack. they had the uber that hired to take them home. in a way, that car shielded many other people from getting hurt. so it was just family, really remarkable statements from the families tonight. >> our thoughts are with them. >> a lot of questions as to why this happened. two planes collide and burst into flames in an airport in tokyo. five people killed on a japanese coast guard plane that was supposed to deliver earthquake supplies. amazingly, all 379 people survived on the other plane. we'll have the latest and how they got those people off so quickly.

in an airport in tokyo, investigators are trying to determine what a japan airlines plane collided with a coast guard aircraft. boast planes burst into flames. then the passenger plane kareemed.

inside passengers stayed calm as the cabin filled with smoke. they had just 90 seconds to get everybody all the plane, which they did. all 379 passengers and crew members, including eight children under the age of two safely evacuated. passengers said some exits weren't working. everyone went down an emergency chute down the front. five people on the coast guard plane were killed. the pilot is hospitalized with injuries. japan airlines says its crew was cleared to land before the collision. richard quest joins us more. it is just extraordinary. >> oh, extraordinary. let's look at the pictures and go through it. you see, first of all, the way the airbus 350 hits the dash. you know, at nighttime, would they have seen that plane on the runway? the dash had been cleared into the runway. they had been cleared. would they have seen it? i don't know. it's a crawl aircraft. the 350 is a very large

aircraft. it is almost impossible to be able to say in that regard. then you got the plane careening down the runway and you have the cabin starting to fill up with smoke. this is the terrifying part. >> we see inside. they can actually see the fire. >> yeah. and what's interesting, of course, is everything in the aircraft, part of the aircraft, is made to be nonflammable. so it is not going to burn itself. but of course you have the bags. the plane will set on fire. but the nature and structure of the aircraft is it won't burn very fast in its own right. interestingly, you say about the number of exits. some people say that that 90 seconds that you talk about is the international standard. you have to be able to evacuate an aircraft within 90 seconds with half the exits inoperable. >> oh, really? >> yeah. now, in this case, they were deliberately not using the rear exits because that was where

they feared the fire was. remember, behind the engine. >> right. >> so they didn't want to use those rear exits. everybody was funneled through to the front. and i could be blah sa and say this is how it's supposed to be. but just like the miracle on the mud son, that's how it is supposed to be. >> it's the fact that people remained calm, didn't try to stop to grab baggage or put on their shoes. >> that's the killer. >> and there have been past incidents where people died because people stopped to get bags or whatever. >> people stopped to get bags. people stopped to get their passport, their phone. one famous incident of somebody taking the phone caught to take some snaps. no, i think what happened here. obviously it's japan and well structured. but i think here you have a very clear direction. the flames were not in the cabin during that evacuation. the smoke was there, but was not overwhelming. none of which detracts from the fact that they got everybody off

exactly as the regulators. you know, when they do these tests, the famous tests where they put everybody on a plane and then they throw them down the emergency exits quite quickly. when they do, the 380 is a famous one, you have to be very careful because people break legs when that happens. >> think about how long it takes to board an aircraft. >> i guarantee you, anderson, flames, smoke, noise, somebody at the front shouting get down, come on, get down. you'll be off in 90 seconds. >> richard quest, thank you. the coast guard plane was helping out with earthquake relief efforts. the quake hit japan's coast on new year's day. at least 62 people are now confirmed dead. what have you been seeing there? >> reporter: hi, anderson. so we just experienced one of the very powerful aftershocks. of course, there was that really

shocking initial earthquake on new year's day. but ever since, locals here haven't been able to sleep because of these very powerful aftershocks. i, myself, was woken up multiple times last night because of these tremors. but for locals here who call that place home, we experience that initial 7.5 earthquake. this has just compounded the trauma for them. we spoke to several survivors. and one woman told me how every time an aftershock happens, she gets back to that moment, that moment when she thought she and her children were going to die. she says she starts to shake. she can't eat. she can't sleep. we know these aftershocks are going to happen any time soon. we literally just experienced one. authorities warned a really large one could happen any day in the coming days. i also just want to show you why tens of thousands of people have been taking shelter at the centers rather than going home. we're just outside what we think used to be a warehouse.

but as you can see, the roof has come down. all these walls have collapsed. the furniture inside is just completely destroyed, completely wrecked. these traditional wooden japanese homes don't stand a chance when it comes to an earthquake of this magnitude. that's why tens of thousands of people are taking shelter at these centers. but they're running out of essential items like diapers. they don't have running water. there is no central heating. so they're crying out to authorities for any assistance they can get. the death toll is currently in the 60s, but japanese authorities fear this could be much, much higher as incoming rain means potential landslides, anderson. >> and are there still people missing? >> reporter: yes, there are still people missing. japanese authorities are currently trying to find those people missing. last we heard, last we confirmed at cnn, 120 people are still stuck underneath their homes. now, a lot of japanese

self-defense forces have been dispatched and trying to find those people stuck in their homes. they're trying to cut through the wood, trying to cut through these homes. but, of course, it's been difficult because all the roads leading to the worst affected areas have been blocked, have been destroyed by this powerful earthquake. so the japanese prime minister has dispatched all means necessary to get these people out. because it is so cold here, because incoming rain could mean landslides, we don't know how many people are going to survive. we don't know if we can get to them in time. >> appreciate you being there. thank you. the news continues. "the source" starts tomorrow. see you tomorrow. tonight, straight from "the source." donald trump formally challenging maine to remove him from the ballot. and we expect other legal challenges from his team any minute now. plus, a senior leader of hamas