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tv   Chris Jansing Reports  MSNBC  January 30, 2025 10:00am-11:00am PST

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learned that president trump is also installed. people who have ties to elon musk and congressman jim jordan into top fbi roles. that happening today. what do we know? >> yeah, we reported this last night, ken delaney and myself. it's very unusual to have that sort of people coming into those positions because typically the only really, quote unquote political position is the director within the fbi. not you don't usually have this this circumstance where people are coming from, jim jordan's committee and then coming into the bureau even before, you know, the leadership is really confirmed here. so was quite a little unusual circumstance there. >> all right. ryan nobles, ryan riley and frank figliuzzi, thank you all for joining us. that does it for me this hour. i'll see you back here tomorrow. same time and same place, 10 a.m. eastern. my usual show, chris jansing reports, starts right now. >> good day. i'm chris jansing, live in virginia. i'm along the
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potomac river on what can only be described as an incredibly busy news day in washington, d.c. it includes two critical confirmation hearings on capitol hill, but it is also the worst u.s. air disaster in more than 20 years. that played out on top of the potomac river, which is right behind me right now. people 67, all 67 people are believed dead following a mid-air collision between an american airlines flight out of wichita, kansas, and an army black hawk helicopter near reagan national airport. you can see a moment that is caught on video. i think we can show that to you. both aircraft plunging into the water behind me and triggering a massive search and rescue effort. at least 300 people responded, fighting freezing temperatures, heavy wind and ice as they tried to find anyone who may have survived the crash. but it was not to be. early this morning,
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officials confirmed this is no longer a rescue operation, but a recovery operation. so far, officially, 28 bodies have been pulled from the water, 27 from the plane, one from the military aircraft from the helicopter. president biden talked about the disaster just a short time ago. >> we do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and i think we'll probably state those opinions now, but we'll find out how this disaster occurred and we'll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. >> the ntsb is now taking over this investigation to figure out why it occurred, because as officials this morning made clear, the fact that these two aircraft were in close proximity was not unusual. in fact, the new transportation secretary, sean duffy, said this morning that everything was normal right
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up until the moment the two collided. >> this was a clear night last night. the helicopter was in a standard pattern. the american airlines flight coming in to land was in a standard flight pattern. as it was coming into dca, so this was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at dca. there's a procedure in place because this happens every day. something went wrong here. i look forward to the time and point when we can give you that information, but i don't want to comment on that right now. what i've seen so far do i think this was preventable? absolutely. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez joins me now. gabe, what's the very latest that we're hearing from officials here? >> hi, chris. well. >> this is. >> a. >> very fast. >> moving investigation. >> obviously, as you know. >> and earlier. >> today, we did hear from. >> local authorities about some. >> of. >> what, you know, where this is
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going. you mentioned the. ntsb taking over the investigation. >> we do. >> expect to. >> hear from. ntsb officials in a news conference in just a short time. a short time. >> ago, we did. >> hear from the president. he confirmed that there are no survivors here. that is what. >> we had heard. >> earlier today. we believed that this. >> that this. >> these two. aircraft went down. and this has now shifted from a rescue mission to a recovery mission. as you said, chris, this has just been devastating. for so many, so many families that are waiting to hear. >> a word. >> we're also learning more about the victims here and involved members of the figure skating community. according to. >> the skate. >> club of boston, the ceo, at least six members of that organization are part of this, and up to 14 figure skaters. were involved in this. many were coming back from a training. >> camp in wichita, kansas. >> we also understand from russian state media that at least a few of them may have also been russian figure skaters as well. still, the questions right now involve. >> what caused. >> this to happen? it's really
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baffling, chris, because the helicopter, the military. aircraft and the jetliner were both in communication with air. traffic controllers. now, the president suggested a short time ago that this may have been some sort of pilot problem. >> on behalf. >> of the military aircraft. we do not have confirmation of that. we have not heard from the ntsb. and, as you know, having covered so many disasters and, you know, also plane crashes before. the ntsb is extremely careful, especially in the early stages. >> of the. >> investigation, not to get out in front of the facts. so we're hoping to learn more from federal authorities, from the ntsb, perhaps in a news conference within the next hour or so. but as you mentioned right now, we know 67 people were killed in this tragedy, 60 passengers and four crew members and then three people on that black hawk helicopter. just a devastating day all around. wichita's mayor saying that that city's hearts are heavy and they are also planning a prayer service, a memorial service
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today in wichita, kansas. chris. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you so much for that. i want to bring in jeff guzzetti. he's a former faa and ntsb investigator, as well as an msnbc aviation analyst. again, president trump held a press conference. he seemed to indicate that he had more insights than perhaps officials did, or at least have said publicly. let me play a little bit of what he had to say. >> the helicopter had vision of the plane because you had vision of it all the way. perfect vision of it all the way from at kennedy center, where the tape was taken. and for some reason there weren't adjustments made. again, you could have slowed down the helicopter substantially. you could have stopped the helicopter. you could have gone up, you could have gone down. you could have gone straight up, straight down. you could have turned. you could have done a million different maneuvers. for some reason, it just kept going and then made a slight turn at the very end. and
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there was by that time it was too late. >> jeff. >> what do you make of his assessment? >> well. >> i you know, i guess there is some initial information to indicate that the helicopter pilot was alerted to the crash airplane, but we don't know if the helicopter pilot saw that particular airplane. we just don't know that they may have seen something else. so i just think that the president got a little bit too up front and too simplified with regards to this particular accident. were they on night vision goggles? were they at the proper altitude? did the pilot see the proper target that was called out to him? we just don't know. at this time. >> he says past experience shows us that it takes long, sometimes years, to come to a final determination from the ntsb about what happened. and people deserve to know. but is there danger in coming to a conclusion
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too fast? >> yes, i believe there is danger in coming to a conclusion too fast. in fact, the international civil aviation organization standards for accident investigation says that there shall be one voice of the investigation and it shall put out confirmed facts to preserve the integrity of the investigation. and i don't think that's what happened here with this press conference. you know, chris, in 35 years of accident investigation, i've never seen a press conference quite like this. in the wake of an accident. >> let me play some sound from air traffic controllers. this is the folks who witnessed exactly what happened with this crash. take a listen. >> sarah jane flight. >> 500 d.o.j. >> crash crash crash. crash crash, crash. >> i just saw. >> a fireball. >> and then it was just. >> gone. >> so i haven't. >> seen. >> anything since they hit the
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river. but it was a crash and a helicopter that hit. i would say maybe a half mile off the approach end of 33. >> does that give us any early clues about what might have happened here? >> not really. it gives us a clue that the controller did make a communication to the helicopter, but we really need to listen to a lot more of that videotape. how busy was the controller? was the helicopter communicating long before the collision? did the helicopter clearly indicate to the controller that he had the crash in sight? i think right after that piece that you just played, there is some communication about. yeah, have it in sight. visual separation, i think is what the helicopter pilot may have said now, it may have been another pilot. you know, that's what the investigators are going to carefully vet the accuracy of these communications and, and when they're sure of who said what and when, that's when we'll
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really be able to piece together this mystery. >> we mentioned the ntsb is in charge of this investigation, and we now do have official confirmation from them that they're going to update us on everything that's going on at 245 eastern time this afternoon. so about an hour and a half or so from now is when that is scheduled. but in the meantime, let me ask you about how they prioritize, because the suggestion i heard this morning was, first and foremost, they want to recover the victims. and obviously they are still finding parts of both of the planes. significant parts have already been found, but what is the priority right now? what is the ntsb doing? and does the investigation in some ways take a second spot to making sure that the bodies are recovered? >> i think what you said, chris, is correct. i think at this point, the recovery of the bodies are going to be the primary concern. the ntsb is not going to want to fiddle around
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with wreckage, with human remains around there. and they want to they're very good at treating the families with respect. and so i think they're going to let the recovery effort continue. now, that's not to say that they can they might be able to do two things at once while they're doing body recovery, that you could have a couple of divers retrieving the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, as long as it doesn't interfere with the body recovery and happens concurrently with that. i think the ntsb would would allow that to happen. but in terms of massive movements of the wreckage and recovering the wreckage, that's going to happen after the bodies have been recovered. >> jeff guzzetti, thank you so much. your expertise is invaluable at a time like this. we appreciate it. my next guest was actually just heading to bed when he heard the crash happened right outside his window, and then filmed the video that you see here showing the massive
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emergency response on the potomac. abadi ismail joins me now. thank you so much for being here. abadi, walk us through the moment you heard the collision. and did you have any idea what was going on? >> thank you for having me. >> it was somewhere around. >> 8:50 p.m. >> when i was ready to go to bed, and all of a sudden i. hear loud, bang, bang, something i've never experienced. >> in my life. something more. >> like a war zone, a. movie action. it caught my attention. >> i turned around, i looked at. >> the window where you. >> see the. >> entire potomac river right here, reagan. >> airport, the military base. >> i looked and all i could see at that point it was smokes where you see the helicopter was that. so i was looking i was trying to get a sense of what's happening. i got a goosebumps. it was sincerely terrifying. we. there is a power plant at the south side of the river. so my thinking maybe it's a an explosion at the power plant.
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maybe it's a military drill at the military base i could not think or fathom for a second that that could be a plane crash, not actually a plane crash, but helicopter colliding with a commercial plane crash. it's crazy. it's insane. i wonder if the helicopter was was equipped with any sort of missiles to make. that sounds a lot more horrifying than what it really is to cover up on, on on the location. there's a lot of air traffic here. and since there are three airports here, the air force one is also here. so it's a heavy air traffic area. in a normal day you see plenty of helicopters flying around the anacostia river toward the potomac river and the washington channel. and we're talking about anywhere from the helicopter, from the marine one helicopter to the cia helicopters to channel news helicopters, a lot of
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helicopters flying in a very low altitude. i talked and i spoke with a friend of mine who is a who's a pilot at jetblue, and she said, always the plane has the right of way when it comes to traffic and on air. at this case, i think the plane did not have the right of way. and it seems like, you know, there is some confusion from the air traffic control and also the helicopter. so it's an unfortunate scene to just witness what we witnessed right now since inauguration day till today. you notice. >> if i can. sorry. i just want to ask you about that scene because we heard from the press conference this morning that very quickly, 300 different emergency workers were brought in. and of course, among them boats, divers. and i wonder what you saw in the aftermath in terms of the emergency response and what you've been seeing since then? >> it took them a few minutes, 5 to 10 minutes. when i start seeing boats launching or being
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deployed from the dc pd station at the wharf. also, other boats leaving from the anacostia river, and then boats are coming from the south channel of the river. we're talking about u.s. coast guard dc. park, dc, pd fire trucks that is bombarding the runway, and also the military base. it was huge in seen in the in the potomac right around 9 p.m. and that's when i really took the videos around 8:50 p.m. or 855, to be more precise. i it's i can't fathom how scary the scene was around 9 p.m. plenty of, you know. what we say like source resources from the dc been launched to the sites. the most difficult thing is the water is frozen. so you
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can imagine i've seen a lot of airboats, airboats, they float over ice and some of the areas of the river is still have ice since inauguration day, so that adds more difficulties not just to the diver, but also to the mission, to the recovery mission. as we hear now, it's a recovery mission. this water, the potomac river, has a very strong stream going south river. so if you think about the timeline, the timeline that the plane crashed around 8:50 p.m. last night and we're going to 1:15 p.m. that's over 15, 16 hours. so you can think that some of the remains, human bodies, fuselage have already drifted south of the river by miles. so i would expect that the search and rescue or the at least the recovery mission right now, expands beyond the recovery site. going south side, the south side of the potomac by miles, 5 to 6 miles a day. at this point.
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>> abadi, this is something that happened not just in your view, but it feels like virtually in your backyard. and as you say, there's always flights. there's three airports there. this is just something you're used to hearing or seeing every day. how are you doing and how are your neighbors who you've spoken to doing right now? >> yeah. so i am exactly at buzzard point. so the area has been completely shut down for operations. dc are, you know, blocking the area. i couldn't get to the office today because of the, the, the situation that is happening. it's horrifying to think for a second that a plane crashed in the dc area. when you see marine one is flying here consistently and frequently, cia helicopters fly on a low altitude military. helicopters that flies all the time on a low altitude. we're talking about
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1000ft at the most. it's low, it's very low. and they fly up and down the river on a daily basis. so it wasn't unusual to see the helicopter flying in low altitude. but but the bomb, the bang, the traffic in the river, the conversation on the news. they called it quickly. it's a recovery mission. it just tells you how horrifying the situation is right now. and to be quite frankly, i am not sure how the mid-air collision happened between a flight that is normally flying on a specific route. you know, most of the flights flying to dc, they have a specific route, whether they're flying north to south or south to north. so that, you know, hopefully we'll hear more investigation. and what's the conclusion of the investigation from the faa, american airlines, reagan airport and so forth? >> thank you so much for taking the time about isil for talking
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to us. i can't imagine what these last 16 hours have been like for you. so thank you so much. we want to take you now to massachusetts. and that is where nancy kerrigan, a well known usa figure skater, tenley albright and other skating officials are reacting to what has happened to their u.s. figure skating community. let's listen in. >> with the proper. >> discipline and techniques that would carry them. >> through the sport forever. and they were very good at that. the han family. we watched gina just grow up here from just a tiny little tyke into this amazingly mature 13 year old where you wouldn't even think was 13, a great performer, a great competitor and off the ice, a great kid. you know, i think, as we. >> would say. >> some circles would. say raised, right. just a really good kid, great parents. and we talk a lot about the athletes, but i think we're going to. miss
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their. moms as much. just really good people. >> reaction to. >> this tragedy. >> and how do you process it? >> you step. >> to the mic. >> yeah. much like everyone. >> here. >> has been saying, is. not sure. >> how to process it. >> oh, shoot. i'm sorry. okay. which is why i'm here. >> many of. >> you may know my. >> husband is my. >> agent and he keeps getting calls to do interviews, and i thought that was weird. i didn't feel like it was great. >> to be home. >> and have. >> doing interviews for this. and so i called ellen. i'm like, what are you doing? >> i think. >> we just all need. >> to. >> go together. and she said, let me. >> call my mom. >> and so. we're like, okay, we'll. >> meet you in an hour. >> and we just wanted to be here.
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>> and be part. of our community. i've never seen. anyone love skating as much as these. >> two, and. >> that's why i think it hurts so much. >> and i mean everything. tenley's always here supporting. >> the kids, and anytime. >> i've been able to be here. >> and. >> watch them grow. >> the kids here really work hard. >> their parents. >> work hard to be here. >> but. >> i. >> just, i feel for. the athletes. >> the skaters. >> and their families. but anyone that was on that plane. >> not just the skaters. because it's. >> just such a tragic event and. we've been. >> through tragedies before, as. >> americans, as. >> people, and. we are strong. >> and i guess it's how we respond. >> to it. and so my response. >> was. >> to be with. >> people i care about and i love. >> and need. >> i needed support. so that's
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why i'm here. and i don't. >> know. >> a little bit at a time. i think it's a shock. i was. >> watching, i wasn't. >> woken up. >> in the morning and so i was watching like all night. so i probably looked. >> tired, but. >> and then when you find. >> out. >> you know, you know, some of the people on the plane as. even a bigger blow. >> we just wish them well. and like the families, the. >> courage and the. >> strength to make. >> the. >> next steps. >> i don't. >> know how you look at people. >> go through tragedies. >> and. >> you wonder, how do they do it? i don't know. >> but we're so strong. >> somehow we have a reservoir. >> to dig from, and. >> each one of them. >> are strong enough to. get through. >> this somehow. it will take time. >> but look. >> beside you. there's somebody that cares. and i don't know, tell people around you that you love. them because you just never know. don't forget to say it. >> could you reflect on vadim
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and zhenya? >> what kind of. >> coaches they were, and would you work with them? >> i, i never worked with them. >> i mean, we were at the olympics together, but 94, i was. >> kind of busy. >> myself and. >> sort of separated from a lot. >> of what. >> was going on. >> but, i mean, i've seen them. >> a. >> lot of times. >> here and there. over the. >> years, but everything you've heard of them, like maybe being a little tough but with. >> a. >> smile on their face and like all anytime i walked in. oh, hi. it's so good to see you. it's like always welcoming and happy to see one another. and, like, just. >> to think, to walk in. >> here and not see. >> that is i think would be very strange for everybody that comes here, especially those that are here day in and day out. and it's going to be hard. and i. >> always feel. >> like, what am i doing? i don't come to the skating club. all the. >> time, but it was. >> the only place i thought i should be right now. i did. >> not expect this. >> it's deadly, i'm not.
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>> sure, but. but we just. >> wanted to be here. with each other and for doug. we watched doug's interview and that helped us. >> it did help. >> thank you. >> yeah, it's there. >> are so many memories and. >> and just. >> just having seen. >> the skaters competing. and knowing. >> that max is now he made. >> he did so well. >> in. >> in the nationals. he's made the. >> world team as. >> an alternate. and then spencer who was. in your ice show. >> could you could you tell. me what you tell us what you told me about? >> you had a great story. >> my company. does free. >> outdoor shows. >> around. >> the city. nancy's hosted. >> and starred in many of them, and spencer was in his first show with our company this past december in. >> kendall. >> square in cambridge. and he'd
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never done a professional show before. it was a new experience for him. he was nervous, and. >> then after. >> the show ended, he came over and. >> he was beaming. his kid was so talented. >> he only started skating a few years ago, and he. >> had all. >> of his triples. and not just that, but this natural, natural grace and beauty and understanding of ice and speed. >> and his positions were. >> just so gorgeous. and he came to me and smiling ear to. >> ear, saying. i get. >> it now. i understand. and he. >> started to discover. >> this connection with the audience and. that joy that he was giving to other people. through his gift and. >> he said. >> please let me skate again with you next year. i had already reached out to people like doug webster, who is the artistic director.
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>> of ice dance international, and said. >> you've got to keep your eye on this kid. you're going to want him. >> for your company. >> he was just brilliant. >> and so kind. >> and he was great backstage. that matters. >> to me even more. >> than the on stage. >> talent of. >> these kids. and i. >> and we watched him here. >> yeah. >> i don't understand. i don't. >> understand. this is really praying for his family. all of them. for all of you. yes, i do definitely. i've never seen somebody come to it so. >> fast and so naturally. >> so naturally. >> he was three years ago. mia, do you. >> know ben? three years ago. >> that's unheard of. >> i mean, these kids can make it look really easy when they're doing. >> and those are really members
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of usa skating royalty. tenley albright, who was the first american woman to win a gold medal in figure skating. and she went on to be a success, as so many of these dedicated athletes do. she went to harvard medical school, became a surgeon. that was her daughter who spoke last. and many of you will recognize nancy kerrigan. for a long time, she was the face of figure skating. and she said, as tenley albright said, we just wanted to come to this rink in norwood, massachusetts, to be together. i worked alongside some of these folks when i covered various winter olympic games, and i can tell you that nancy kerrigan feels exactly how you see her right there. she feels this sport extremely deeply. she's never left it. she's encouraged. so many young skaters. i've seen her react if they have a great program or not, a great program. and so when you see members of your own community whose lives
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were cut so short in such a shocking way, they are just trying to process this along with everybody else. again, we have learned that 14 of the nation's elite skaters are among the 60 passengers who were on board that american eagle flight. i want to bring in nbc's emilie ikeda. also with us is nbc's antonia hylton, who is live in wichita, kansas. that is where the flight originated, because that was the place that hosted the u.s. figure skating championships, as well as a training program for young elite skaters. emily, let me start with you. what else do we know about the victims? >> well. >> i think what was so palpable. >> in that news conference hearing from the ice skating community. >> is just how. >> close knit of a community it is. we're talking about elite skaters that are going to the same club six, seven times a week. so they're seeing each other at competitions almost every day in the gym. and it's not. >> just the athletes. >> that were on the flight. >> but. >> also their parents and
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coaches here in the d.c. area. but we're also learning in the boston area, as you heard there, that one club, the skating club of boston, hit so hard, feeling the impacts of it with six people from that club who died on the american airlines flight, including two athletes, gina hahn and her mom jen was also on the flight. also, spencer lane, who we're told was around 16 years of age, and his mom, christine, was on the flight. two coaches, renowned russian skaters vadim naumov and zhenya shishkova, who moved to the u.s. in 1998 and then started coaching at that boston club in 2017. they are, as i said, renowned skaters, former world champions. here's more from how the ice skating community is impacted. take a listen. >> we came here. >> because we. >> needed to be together.
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>> we're family. >> and it's a community. >> and this was a group that had been flying from, as you mentioned, wichita, kansas here after a national development camp. so we're talking about a lot of young rising stars in the ice skating community. on the heels of the national championships that happened over the weekend. and as we've been reporting throughout the day, the recovery efforts still a massive effort, still underway as they continue to try to pull the remains, the bodies, to pull them into a temporary morgue not far from here on a helipad to reunite them with their families. >> chris. >> emily, thank you for that. let's go to wichita now and talk to antonia. antonia is a point of enormous pride for a small city to get a u.s. figure skating championship. i'm close to the folks who got it last year in columbus, ohio. i know what it meant to them. they spent years and years putting in the work to try to get it, and when they did, to have such a success was extraordinary.
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that's what wichita was feeling. they were feeling the pride of the eyes of the figure skating world on them. to have such a successful event. i can't even imagine what this has done to that community. tell us what you're learning there. >> well. >> chris, i'm going to speak a bit low because there is a vigil happening behind me here with members of that community that you just described, people who are close to some of the people who were on this flight, a faith leaders of all different backgrounds who are in touch with everyone from the top leadership in this city, down to the families that make up these communities here. and they're in mourning together right now. what i would describe as a community that's in complete and utter shock, that has in many cases, people described to me, just been unable to sleep because of this news. and, you know, this is a city that's also only about 500,000 people. so
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you're talking about a small city already where people are about 2 to 3 degrees of separation from each other, and then you're talking about another subset of sport that has this tight knit culture of kids who get up at the crack of dawn to compete at the highest levels. the mayor spoke about the fact that some of these children were future olympians, people who people in this community were rooting for, were invested in their friends, were here to cheer them on, their parents here, their coaches invested in them. and then, of course, there are other wichita families that they're starting to identify that were on these flights. but the other thing that we heard from officials this morning and all throughout the day, is that they want to be really careful right now because while they have been able to identify people, say, out of the boston area or in some other communities is taking a bit longer to get in touch with some people based here in wichita. and so they want the media to be very careful to not get ahead of their ability to notify the families. take a listen to some of what mayor wu here shared this morning. >> here today. it was.
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>> truly an honor to have future olympians and those. >> who are. >> at the highest competition level. >> of figure skating. >> right here. in the air capital. we were so excited. >> to have the. >> opportunity to host the national championship. right now. we're just waiting for more information. >> from u.s. figure. >> skating that we can release. but right now. >> we're just. >> hoping and praying again. >> we've had communication from our. >> federal and chris, to give you a sense of the feeling and the scene here. there is this vigil happening behind me here. i hope you can see through the door that it is standing room. only hundreds of people seated, dozens and dozens more standing around trying to be part of this community moment to support each other, to offer their condolences, their love to the families and communities and kids affected by all of this. but what i keep hearing from people is that they think this pain is going to be with them, not just for weeks and days to
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come, but for years. this is a tight knit place, and they're really just at the very beginning of this long process. chris. >> antonia hylton, thank you for that. and coming up next, the difficult conditions on the water for divers still trying to recover the bodies of those lost in the deadliest u.s. air disaster since 2001. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. our friend sold their policy to help pay their medical bills, and that got me thinking. maybe selling our policy could help with our retirement. i'm skeptical, so i did some research and called coventry direct. they explained life insurance is a valuable asset that can be sold. we learned we could sell all of our policy, or keep part of it with no future payments. who knew? we sold our
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>> million. >> coin bonus jackpot. party a. >> party. >> in every spin. >> flight operations at reagan national airport were suspended after last night's deadly crash over the potomac, but have since resumed. as of roughly two hours ago. i want to bring in adam tusk. he's a transportation reporter for news four, our nbc affiliate here in washington, dc. and if i may, one of the best aviation reporters anywhere. so let me start with the basics, because i'm watching a plane from southwest take off right now. it was closed until 11:00 eastern time this morning.
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according to flightaware, there have been more than 500 cancellations, i guess. not surprising because their flights didn't get in last night and this morning they can't go out. but what do we know? >> yeah, i mean, there were over. >> a dozen flights delayed just from diverted just here. >> from reagan national. >> airport last night to dulles international airport. and anyone who's ever been through a snowstorm, a. potential situation where these planes get. out of order, you know that it takes time. >> to get them back. >> into the proper order to where the system. >> can get back in place. it's almost like a folding a deck of. >> cards perfectly together, right? they all. >> have to match. >> up, but once. >> you start pulling. >> out cards. >> then they're all over the place and scattered. and some. >> of. >> these planes. >> they could have. >> been diverted to other places. i just talked to a traveler. >> inside the terminal. >> who has to. >> fly up to new. >> york to then. >> fly down to nashville. >> she's been delayed. >> and i also want to. say just, you know, before we get into all this, it's heartbreaking. this entire thing is heartbreaking. we were here about an hour after this happened last night. >> chris.
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>> the emergency. response that. >> was out here. >> was overwhelming. dozens and dozens of emergency personnel. and your heart goes out for everyone who's involved here. >> i mean, let's talk about the emotional reaction to this, because, frankly, and i lived in dc for something close to three years. and in terms of convenience, if you live in washington, if you work for the federal government, this is about as easy as it gets. you come in, the planes go in, they go out. you get through very quickly. but it is also and we've talked about this a lot. this is one of the most complicated, busiest areas. of course, all the things that are going on with restricted airspace because of the white house, the pentagon, on and on. what are you just hearing from folks who use this airport all the time? >> yeah, the. >> interesting thing, if i can put it that way, about all of this. >> is. >> what happened. >> last night, happens. every day here. there are flights coming and going. >> this is by. >> all accounts and measures, the busiest runway in america, runway one at reagan national airport. lax is only the second
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one. and that's because this. >> airport is. >> so small. there's only such a limited amount of space for planes to take off and land. now, that being said, runway one is not where this incident happened last night. that flight was actually diverted to a much shorter runway at reagan national airport, which is known as runway 33. and so. that that plane last night would have been taking a different trajectory. if we could look behind. >> us. >> it would have been coming from over those trees, over the water, and then trying to land here at reagan national. whereas a lot of times planes are coming and going like this side to side, not necessarily from here. >> it's not. >> so just so people have a point of reference, because i don't know if they can see that big white building that you see there is the main terminal and it says you can't see it, but but. >> the plane. >> is taking off on runway one. >> alaska is taking off on runway one. so it would have been coming in. >> at a different angle. would have had. >> to. >> scurry around. >> now, the reason that you do that. >> is. >> because runway one is very busy, and we're talking. >> about how congested. >> it is around here, but. >> it's a much shorter runway. >> you have to get in and get
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out quickly. and clearly there was a miscommunication between this plane. >> as it. >> rerouted to get into reagan national airport. and what was going on with. >> that black hawk helicopter. >> i know you have a day job, but it's nice of you to come over and spend some time talking about this. it's good to see you. i wish it wasn't going. >> to be so. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much, adam. i want to bring in bobby scully, a diving and salvage officer who worked on two major recovery efforts involving twa flight 800. that was back in 1996 and the uss cole in 2000. bobby, thank you for joining us. and i want to set the stage for what recovery crews are dealing with. so let me play some of what officials said at the press conference this morning. >> we have located the two aircrafts, the fuselage of the american airlines plane was inverted. it's been located in three different sections. it's in about waist deep water. so
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that recovery is going to go on today. >> it's a lot of touch and feel in the different parts of the plane or in the helicopter. and the crash area is a little spread out. >> so waist deep water, three different section sections, a lot of touch and feel. explain to us exactly what's going on in the waters. >> well, thanks for having me, chris. and again, my condolences go out to the families also. it's just heartbreaking and i hate that we're here again doing this. it's a little bit like we were up in baltimore just, you know, a little while ago, except that it's a lot more tragedy. they're in. shallow water, which makes it a little bit easier, but it's in the dark, cold waters of the potomac, and they're dealing with current as well. and just. as the chief said, it's a lot of touch and feel. so imagine you're in a dark room with all the lights. >> off. >> and you just have to walk
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around in your your cold diving suit, which is like being in your winter garments, your heavy winter coat, and your heavy winter gloves, trying to maneuver around. but you're in your your dive gear, breathing. >> in either. >> scuba or. a hard hat, and you're down there and you're. looking as hard as you can, working. >> as. >> hard as you can, because your primary mission is to recover those victims for. >> those families. >> and you have three with the three free fields. you're looking in different areas with razor sharp. metal from where the aircraft. >> broke apart. >> which again. >> is a. >> hazard to the. >> divers and all. >> that aviation wire coming off. the aircraft. >> which is. >> causing. >> you know. >> which is a cause of. fouling for the divers. so of. >> course it's. >> a. >> little. bit hazardous. for the divers. but the mission, the primary mission. >> is recovering those victims, and that's what they're down there to do.
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>> so they got a little bit of better weather today. the sun has been shining, at least on and off the weather. obviously the water is still cold, but some more bad weather is coming in. there may be even some rain or heavy rain later tonight, including an increase in the winds, which seem to be picking up just a little bit right now. how does that increase the difficulty for those divers? i assume they're going to continue to stay in those waters, or is there a point at which they can't? >> there's going to be some limitations on current, depending on what kind of diving equipment that they're using. >> i suspect. >> that they're going to operate as as long as they can, depending on the temperatures. the part of the problem is the, the, the conditions on. the surface for the people that are in those boats that. >> are tending the divers or. supporting the divers as the temperatures drop. >> and we all know what the conditions are in dc as the temperatures drop and the winds
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pick up. >> is that. >> the conditions for those. people supporting the divers are going to get pretty bad. and at some point they're going to have to. >> make the. >> call of. how long they can. >> keep those people out. >> there without having to bring them. >> back to. shore and possibly rotating them out. >> to warm them up or, or to take care. >> of them. they're going to have foul. >> weather gear and. >> work as long. >> as they can. >> but those are the type of things that the, the supervisors, the leadership are going to have to decide. >> how many people. >> they. have that. >> they. >> can rotate out there until. >> they have to pull them in. >> and take care of their. >> well-being before they can get. >> more people out. i'm sure they have a lot of first responders that they're going to rotate. >> through and try. >> to keep operations going as long as possible, but in these. >> conditions. >> in the middle of the winter on the potomac, that's the type of things that they have to take into consideration until they can get all the victims recovered and then work on
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whether they have to start bringing aircraft equipment up or aircraft parts and pieces up for the national transportation safety board's. >> investigation, which is, i'm sure, the next part, as well as the black boxes, if they haven't already recovered those. so it's a long haul. it's going to take them, you know, days, maybe weeks, i imagine days in this case, since they. know the location of the. >> aircraft. >> the current could become an issue to if some of the victims have been broken free of the aircraft. >> bobby scully, thank you so much. we do appreciate your time. and joining me now is dave statler, founder of statler 911 and a long time reporter in washington, dc who covered the 1982 plane crash on the potomac. dave, thank you so much for being here. obviously, you have a lot of experience covering
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accidents. the one in washington that goes back decades. i wonder what your sense is of this crash and how this response unfolded. >> well. >> there were lessons. >> learned in 1982. >> when air florida crashed. just north of. >> the scene, about. >> a mile and a half. >> and actually hit the 14th street bridge. one of the big differences between the two responses and air florida. >> there. >> were actually rescues. >> there were five people of the. >> 79 on the. >> aircraft that. >> were. >> in the. >> potomac river. >> between the spans of the 14th. >> street bridge, and. >> i'm. >> sure some. >> people remember the us park. >> eagle. >> helicopter swooping down and rescuing those people. but there were a lot of things that did happen then that shouldn't have happened in 1982. a lack of cooperation between dc. >> and virginia. >> fire departments. they learned. >> lessons, then. >> they learned lessons. >> in 2001 with the 911 response to the pentagon. and much of that came into play last night and today. as those agreements. >> in place and. i would say.
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>> the washington area, the national capital region, is probably the best prepared in the country to handle anything like this. >> the question is, of course, now what can be done to try to make sure that this doesn't happen again? eric, air flights have been extraordinarily safe in this country. what we saw last night was extremely rare. but what do you imagine the conversations will be like around this? and i don't want to get ahead of what any investigation finds, but i'm wondering what your impressions were since back for the last crash, lessons were learned and changes were made. >> i would say, you. >> know. >> that's 43. >> years ago. the technology has changed. there's better technology. but we still, in this case, ended up with two aircraft in the same place. >> that shouldn't have been. >> we see these helicopters flying. >> all over here. >> all the time. i live. right across from the pentagon. they fly at my. >> level about. >> 160ft above. above the ground. i see them, they do so
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without. problems most of the time. there have been some near misses in the past, but we've gone a long time before something like this. has happened. or since something like this has happened. so i think people are going to look closely. the interaction between the aircraft on. >> this busiest. >> runway, as adam tuss. >> talked about. >> and these helicopters, many of them military, that are flying around here and how they interact. and i think there's going to be a. >> lot. >> of questions asked. >> dave sater, thank you so much. and i just want to remind our viewers that coming up just about an hour from now at 245, the ntsb is going to hold another press conference. so we may get more information about the investigation, as well as the recovery of the victims of this crash. and still to come, why president trump is now blaming dui policies for that deadly midair collision on the potomac. his response when asked, where is the evidence? asked, where is the evidence? we'll go liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i saved hundreds.
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instantly. when you. >> play your first $5. >> lineup, prize picks run your game. >> today. >> just moments after president trump offered his condolences and a moment of silence for the victims of the potomac collision, he suggested, without evidence, that die policies from
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the previous biden administration somehow played a role in the crash. >> the faa is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency's website. can you imagine? >> nbc's yamiche alcindor is reporting from washington for us. yamiche, what more can you tell us about what the president had to say? >> well, president trump began by acknowledging the sadness that our nation is feeling, as you said. and he pledged to find out what happened with this plane collision as soon as possible. but then he made a hard pivot and started attacking democrats, including former presidents obama and biden and former secretary of transportation pete buttigieg. and he said that diversity programs he believed were to blame for part of this plane collision, without offering any evidence to how he got to that conclusion. after he made those
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statements, a reporter questioned him about how he came to that conclusion. take a listen to that. >> are you saying. >> this crash. >> was. >> somehow caused. >> and the result of diversity hiring? and what evidence. >> have you seen. >> to support. >> these claims? >> it just could have been we have a high standard. we've had a higher, much higher standard than anybody else. and there are things where you have to go by brainpower. you have to go by psychological quality. and psychological quality is a very important element of it. these are various very powerful tests that we put to use. and they were terminated by biden. and biden went by a standard that's the exact opposite. >> as you know, president trump has made a very clear part of his campaign. and then now his administration attacking diversity, equity and inclusion programs. but again, there's no evidence that that played a part in this plane collision. but he also went after pete buttigieg, the former treasury secretary, transportation secretary by
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name, pete buttigieg, responded in a tweet saying this despicable. as families grieve, trump should be leading, not lying. we put safety first. drove down close calls, grew air traffic control and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch, president trump now oversees the military and the faa. one of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. time for the president to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again. so there you have the former transportation secretary, pete buttigieg, wasting no time pushing back on president trump, blaming democrats and politics for why this plane collision happened. there are a lot of questions about how this happened. there's a lot of sadness in our nation, so there's a lot to still dig into here. but that is, of course, what president trump is saying right now. chris. >> yamiche alcindor, thank you for that. and joining us now is former acting director of the faa, billy nolan. thank you for being here. and i wonder what
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your response is to president trump suggesting that somehow they are active, the faa is actively recruiting workers who suffer mental or physical conditions under a diversity hiring initiative. >> well, thanks for. >> having me. >> look, let me. >> just say, you know, my. >> focus has. >> been across the. >> arc of my. >> career about. >> how to improve safety. >> how to. >> improve, you know, the work that we do. and that's what i did during. >> my time as. >> acting faa administrator. >> i was very proud and honored to do that. >> had some. >> some strong quality people. >> i commend the. >> president for. >> the announcement. >> today of. >> chris rocheleau. >> who i've worked. >> closely with. >> is a. >> is a wonderful. leader as. the new. >> acting administrator, which then gives the administration time to think about who will be that. next leader, but. >> where we are. >> i want to just stop. >> and take a. >> moment to say. >> i, you know, i offer my. >> sincere sympathies. i spent a career at. >> american airlines. >> so. >> you know.
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>> my heart breaks. for american. >> and. >> for the psa team and. our our collective focus now is to work very closely together. >> and you now have. >> the national transportation safety board on point, and. >> we will get the. >> answer, answers. >> that all of us are so desperately seeking. so i would say. >> let's let that process play itself out. and then. >> in due time, and i don't think it will take that long, to be quite honest. but right now we are in that recovery phase of recovering the bodies of the victims and getting, you know, securing the this airplane and this helicopter and then really digging into what the root cause is. the ntsb is an exceptional organization, and they are very good. in fact, they're the best. in the world, by billy nolan's estimation, at what they do. and they will get to the bottom of this. and you've got all the stakeholders around the table you heard from. see, from robert
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isom at american, all of us. it's all about coming together. we've had this incredible 16 year run of a really good safety record, worked very hard to drive down the number of close calls. so when something like this happens, we, you know, we step back and say, look, we're not going to rest on our record. we're going to continue to dive in, figure out what happened, why it went wrong, and how do we prevent that going forward. that's what we owe certainly to the families, and that's what we owe to the american people. >> air travel is safe. this is the first major crash like this that we've seen in the united states in 16 years. having said that, we also see that it has been an incredibly busy time for air travel. post-covid summer after summer, we have seen more people flying, more planes in the air, more concerns, frankly, being expressed in some cities, including this one, that maybe some of these airports are at
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critical mass. what do you see? can you say to the american public that you believe that flying is safe and are there things that that you would say? well, let me ask it this way. if there are more flights and more people flying, is there inherently more risk? >> no. it depends. so let's just unpack what you just said there. right. so since 2009, february 12th, was the colgan air crash. in that 16 years, the us alone has flown roughly 13.5, almost 14 billion, with a b billion passengers in that time. so i would say that that's a strong, resilient system. it doesn't mean that there's no opportunity to step back, take a look. you know, the faa has worked very hard to drive down the number of close calls. that was some work that that i certainly did that administrator whitaker continue. and i expect and, you know, acting administrator rocheleau to continue this effort. right. look at what the data, look at what we have. we want to we
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should have and we will continue to grow the best we have, the most complex airspace system in the world, bar none. i had the honor and pleasure of working with senator cruz, working with, you know, senator cantwell, working with house dni, you know, chairman graves and ranking member larson, right, about how we deliver to the faa the funding, the resources that is stable, that it needs, that as our airspace grows with the number of entrants, you look at 45, 50,000 flights. we've got new entrants coming to the market. we want to leverage technology. there are some brilliant minds out there who are doing things in the ai space. so we do have a we're at this inflection point. so with this, you know, tragedy, let's not lose sight that we should take the moment and take the opportunity to say, can we do better? and if so, let's let's set about making that our national priority. >> billy nolan, former acting faa administrator. thank you for
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joining us today. and we'll have much more of our breaking news coverage to come on the deadly plane and helicopter crash over the potomac. we're expecting an update from the ntsb in this next hour, and we'll have it for you after this quick break. >> can you imagine. doing this? >> would you like to receive a discount. >> or pay the. >> full price? >> full price? >> kind of ridiculous, right? well. >> so is not taking. >> advantage of an aarp membership because. aarp has. a ridiculous offer. >> just $15 the first year with automatic renewal. plus a second. >> membership free. >> that is ridiculous. >> so take advantage of hundreds of programs, services, and discounts from aarp. >> like financial. >> tools, job. >> resources, and the fraud watch network that. >> helps you spot and. >> avoid scams, plus discounts on gas. >> cell phone plans. >> and streaming services. and know this. >> your membership matters. >> as aarp. >> advocates on important. issues like health care, social.

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