Jeb Bush on Iraq War; NTSB Official: Track Technology Could Have Prevented Crash; Is Engineer to Blame for High-Speed Crash?
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Eight people now dead from that Philadelphia train wreck that the engineer claims he cannot remember. I'm Jake Tapper. This is THE LEAD. The national lead: the death toll rising in that Amtrak disaster in Philadelphia, an eighth body found today. Eight more people -- six more people, rather, remain in critical condition. This hour, Amtrak's CEO reacts to this disaster only on CNN. Passengers were simply catapulted. They were not in seat belts, because there aren't any seat belts. It's something most of us never think about with our laptops out and earbuds in. How do you survive when a train flies off the tracks? Well, a safety expert will be here to offer some tips that might surprise you. And the politics lead. His last name is Bush. He had to know they were coming, questions about his brother's decision to invade Iraq. Today, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush finally gave a definitive answer. Has he finally found an exit strategy from this issue? Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We are going to begin with the national lead and some breaking news, the death toll regrettably rising after that Amtrak train flew off the tracks in Philadelphia,the mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, a short time ago, announcing an eighth victim was pulled from the wreckage, thank you -- thanks to a rescue dog. With at least 200 injured and six remaining in critical condition, many with rib cage injuries and fractures from being thrown around a train going 106 miles per hour around a 50 mile-per-hour curve, according to the National Transportation Safety Board investigators, just minutes ago, we learned the identity of another one of the victims, Laura Finamore, a native New Yorker, just 47 years old. Mayor Nutter today also offering a little positive news, that passengers whose whereabouts had remained an emotionally painful mystery up until today are thankfully now all accounted for. Meantime, the lawyer for the train's engineer is speaking out and saying that right now the man who was at the controls claims he does not recall the crash.</s>QUESTION: Has your client given you any explanation for why the train was going so fast?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has not. He has -- I believe as a result of the concussion, he has absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the events. I'm told that his memory is likely to return as the concussion symptoms subside.</s>TAPPER: CNN's Rene Marsh is live for CNN in Philadelphia. Rene, just minutes ago, you spoke with Amtrak's CEO, his first comments on camera at the crash site. What did he have to say?</s>RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we now know what Amtrak's CEO does not believe caused this crash. He does not believe deteriorating railways is the cause here. He is very confident about the condition of these tracks, and, as you mentioned, this is the first time he is speaking out since this fatal crash.</s>JOSEPH BOARDMAN, CEO, AMTRAK: So this was the Frankford curve.</s>MARSH (voice-over): Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman at the crash site where New York-bound Train Number 188 jumped the tracks, the locomotive still on site, and steps away, a mountain of shredded, twisted metal from the damped cars.</s>BOARDMAN: You're heartbroken. You're sick to your stomach. And certainly you don't have something like this. This hasn't happened on the Northeast Corridor for 28 years.</s>MARSH (on camera): When you heard the news, 106 miles per hour in a 50 mile-per-hour zone, what was your initial feeling?</s>BOARDMAN: Well, we knew that that was too fast. Certainly, right away, we knew that.</s>MARSH (voice-over): Thursday morning, an eighth body was discovered.</s>DERRICK SAWYER, PHILADELPHIA FIRE COMMISSIONER: The dog hit on a couple of spots, and we were able to find one other passenger in the wreckage.</s>MARSH: Authorities now say all 243 people on board have been accounted for. As crews work to repair the tracks, the NTSB investigation continues. They have taken 3-D imaging of the cars and continue to analyze the train's recorders. The other high priority? Interviewing the train's crew, including the engineer, 32-year-old Brandon Bostian.</s>ROBERT SUMWALT, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD MEMBER: Certainly, he's not compelled to talk to the NTSB. We hope that we would have that opportunity. If we can't talk to him, then we certainly will use other means to try and piece together this puzzle.</s>MARSH: Meantime, some are questioning why Amtrak didn't install special technology on the tracks that would have automatically slowed the speeding train. (on camera): What do you say to people who say, if it was installed, it could have prevented this fatal accident?</s>BOARDMAN: I would say that, had it been installed, it would have prevented this accident, because that's what I have been saying for a long period of time.</s>MARSH: And we went on to ask him, I mean, if he does believe in positive train control, this technology to slow the train, why wasn't it done in this section of the track? He says it's a combination of time and money. You know, it just is a situation where they hadn't gotten to implementing that sort of technology in this area -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right, Rene, thank you so much. Joining me now from Philadelphia is NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt. Mr. Sumwalt, thanks so much for joining us. First, give us an update, if you would. Where are we now in this investigation?</s>SUMWALT: Well, today, Jake, is a really busy day for us. We're getting a lot done. We have interviewed the -- or I'm sorry -- we have reviewed the forward-facing video camera. We are in the process of further evaluating the data that we got from the event recorders. We're making arrangements for the brake tests of the train, doing 3-D laser scanning of the railcars, so very busy day today.</s>TAPPER: Explain what that means, 3-D laser scanning of the railcars.</s>SUMWALT: Yes. We're able to take a -- basically a camera, if you will, on a transit and take multiple pictures from multiple angles of the railcar. That allows us that, after we leave here, after the railcars are moved, we can virtually walk through those cars, look at things, take dimensions, and walk through it on our computer desktop.</s>TAPPER: Fascinating. Is there anything that you have learned from the black boxes or the front-facing video camera that you can tell us?</s>SUMWALT: At this point, there's nothing new to report, but I'm very optimistic that we will be able to provide information later today.</s>TAPPER: I want to play for you some of what Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said referring to the engineer. Take a listen.</s>MICHAEL NUTTER (D), MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA: Clearly, he was reckless and irresponsible in his actions. I don't know what was going on with him. I don't know what was going on in the cab. But there's really no excuse that could be offered, literally, unless he had a heart attack.</s>TAPPER: A short time ago, Mayor Nutter clarified to say he was speaking from the heart, but he called the engineer reckless and irresponsible, said there's really no explanation. What's your reaction to what Mayor Nutter had to say?</s>SUMWALT: Well, I want to start by saying that we really appreciate all the cooperation we have gotten from the city of Philadelphia, from the mayor's office and the mayor himself. And the thing is, is that we don't want to prejudge the investigation, and I will just leave it at that. We want to make comments that are based on fact and then carefully analyze it. So, you know, we would encourage people not to draw -- not a rush to judgment. And the mayor and I have spoken about that, and he's explained that he's rolled those comments back a little bit.</s>TAPPER: The attorney for the engineer says that the engineer claims he has no recollection of the crash. Do you believe him?</s>SUMWALT: Well, it's certainly not uncommon. How many people do we know that have been in car crashes, for example, that say, I don't remember the accident? That's not uncommon. We have been through a traumatic event, and the brain wants to protect us by filtering out those bad memories. And so that's not uncommon, and I hope that, when we do interview him, some of that memory will have come back.</s>TAPPER: When do you expect to hear from him, to speak with him? Today, tomorrow?</s>SUMWALT: Well, we're not expecting it to be done today, but we want to do it sooner than later. And I think by the time I meet with the investigator in charge later today, I should have an idea of what that timeline is. It's important to give the person time to convalesce. He's been through a traumatic event, and it's also important not to wait too long, because memory -- memory and perceptions change over time. So we want to do it just as soon as we're able to do it.</s>TAPPER: Is there any other explanation beyond operator error that could explain how a train could all of a sudden be going 106 miles an hour in a 50 mile-per-hour area?</s>SUMWALT: Well, certainly, the things that we usually look at, and just big categories are generally speaking the human, the machine and the environment. When I talk about environment, we're talking about things like visibility and rain and sleet and snow. And, obviously, we didn't have rain, sleet or snow the other night, but we want to make sure that visibility or whatever was not a factor. When it comes to the mechanical issues, we want to look at the mechanical conditioning of the train, the braking system, the mechanics of the track, the signal system. And finally, when it comes to the human, we're talking about the human performance, the -- was fatigue an issue? Were distractions an issue? Was the engineer on a cell phone? So, those are generally the three disciplines that we're going to look at in trying to put together a puzzle such as this.</s>TAPPER: Mayor Nutter announced not long ago that as far as Philadelphia knows, the city of Philadelphia knows, everyone has now been accounted for. How is that changing your investigation at this point?</s>SUMWALT: Well, it will allow us greater access to the site. And that's one significant area that it will change our investigation. But, frankly, we have not really been held up on that. We have not gotten in there and gotten really up close and personal with documenting some of that wreckage. But we have been doing a lot of other things up to this point.</s>TAPPER: Robert Sumwalt of the NTSB, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.</s>SUMWALT: Thank you, Jake.</s>TAPPER: The stretch of track where this crash happened did not have new technology that would have automatically slowed the train down. Exactly how does this technology work? Why is there not more of it out there? And if you're in a derailment, certain spots where you sit on a train may actually increase your chances of escaping serious injury. That's next.