[Natalie Allen, Cnn Anchor:] And welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world, I'm Natalie Allen. And we're following breaking news out of Iran. A passenger plane carrying 66 people has reportedly crashed. It was flying from the capital, Tehran, to Yasuj, an area to the south. Let's check in with our senior international correspondent, Sam Kiley, in Abu Dhabi. He's following developments. Sam, what more do we know about the area where this plane went down?
[Sam Kiley, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] It's extremely mountainous. Local authorities say that the aircraft went down in an area known as the Dena Mountain. Now this is this one mountain alone has 40, that's 4-0, peaks over 4,000 meters. That is over 12,000 feet. And aircraft, a helicopter sent to as part of a rescue attempt or an attempt to find the wreckage and look for any survivors, was actually forced back by bad weather. This aircraft took off at 7:55 local time and disappeared from radar, we understand, about 50 minutes later, which would dovetail with its disappearance near Semirom. Authorities are saying they think it went down 120 kilometers from Semirom in a small village in the mountains. But they haven't been able to get to it and the assumption is that all of those on board most likely have perished in this aircraft crash, which comes amid the continuing concern in aviation circles in Iran that the lifting or easing of sanctions against that country, in return for it suspending its nuclear weapons program, is not filtering through in terms of spare parts and improved maintenance. That is not to say, however, that there is any link established at all, yet, between the disappearance of this aircraft and any mechanical failure.
[Allen:] Well, we have seen protests by Iranians, saying that they want more resources to stay in their country and spend them domestically. Yet again, as you say, we don't know the cause of this crash. Was there any hint or anything, do we know, from the cockpit, of trouble?
[Kiley:] There hasn't been yet any indication that there was a mayday signal or a communication expressing concern on behalf of the captain. The aircraft company has released a photograph, showing a man in late middle age, clearly a veteran captain. So there is no yet, so far, rather, any indication of perhaps mechanical failure or even bad weather. This aircraft simply, at the moment, vanished from radar and is believed to have gone down in this highly mountainous area, in an area that is, at the moment, blighted by bad weather and that is hampering retrieval of such things, such as the black box, which will be fitted to this French-made twin turboprop aircraft.
[Allen:] So you say it went down 50 minutes after takeoff. Is this a routine flight? And how far into the flight would that mean it crashed? How long was it supposed to take it to fly to Yasuj, do we know?
[Kiley:] Well, it's a little over an hour's flight or a little bit more than that to Yasuj. We can see from the direction of travel between the capital, Tehran, and Yasuj, where it went down or rather disappeared from radar, is on the normal flight path, albeit, perhaps, a little close nobody's quite sure, at least I'm not quite sure about whether or not the aircraft would have gone over that mountain range or around it. It's a pretty complex flying environment. But nonetheless, there's nothing to indicate that it was very far off track. And it was pretty much on time. It disappeared from radar. We don't know whether that was the moment of which it crashed or whether that was some other kind of possible failure. Of course, all of these sorts of details, if they find the black box, the flight recording apparatus that's on board these commercial airliners, particularly those fitted and manufactured in Europe, as this one was, that kind of information will emerge, no doubt. But for now, it appears that it was on a pretty routine flight from Tehran and has crashed en route in this very difficult mountainous area blighted by bad weather.
[Allen:] We hope the weather clears so they can reach the wreckage. Thank you so much. We'll stay in touch with you, Sam Kiley, covering the story for us. Thank you, Sam. On other news we're following, one day after 13 Russian operatives were charged with meddling in the U.S. presidential election and just three days after 17 students and faculty were slaughtered in cold blood by a young man with an assault rifle in Florida, U.S. president Donald Trump inexplicably linked the two events. In fact, he suggested the Russia investigation may have been to blame for the FBI failing to follow up on a tip about the Florida shooter. Late Saturday, he tweeted this, "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. There is no collusion." The president has yet to even acknowledge the Russian meddling, putting him at odds with his national security adviser. Listen to what H.R. McMaster said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
[Lt. Gen. H.r. Mcmaster, National Security Advisor:] As you can see with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain.
[Allen:] But Mr. McMaster's candor prompted this sharp rebuke from the U.S. president. He said, "General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only collusion was between Russia and Crooked H., the DNC and the Dems." All of those claims, we must say, are unsubstantiated. The federal indictment is a thick document, full of rich detail about how the Russians carried out such an elaborate campaign of disinformation. CNN's Polo Sandoval breaks it down for us.
[Polo Sandoval, Cnn Correspondent:] These 37 pages allege Russians went a very long way in their attempt to interfere with U.S. democracy. According to the federal indictment, Russians operating out of this St. Petersburg troll farm launched a misinformation campaign to wreck havoc on America's political system.
[Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General:] The Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine;dependence and democracy. We must not allow them to succeed.
[Sandoval:] Examples of the alleged misinformation campaign include allegations of voter fraud by the Democratic Party and the purchase of advertisements to further promote the allegations on Facebook. The pages were even designed to look like they were run by real Americans and focus on issues in American life, race relations, immigration and of course, then candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Facebook estimates close to 126 million Americans may have been exposed to this and other propaganda. Federal investigators say the group behind it is the Internet Research Agency link today the Kremlin. Russia has denied any involvement in the U.S. elections. At the security conference Saturday Russia's foreign minister again dismissed those claims.
[Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Minister Of Foreign Affairs:] I have no response. Until we see the facts, everything else is just blather.
[Sandoval:] Then there are the rallies. In May 2016, a small group of anti-Islamic protests gathered outside a Muslim community center in Houston, Texas. Situation grew intense with counter rally. The very month of the election, both pro and anti-Trump demonstrations were held in New York. U.S. prosecutors say both events were organized by this same troll group half a world away in St. Petersburg. Russians traveled to the U.S. on a fact finding mission in 2014, say prosecutors. It would be the foundation of a massive operation brought to light in recent months and described in detail in these 37 pages Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
[Allen:] Let's talk about the indictment with Peter Matthews, a political analyst and professor of political science at Cypress College. Thanks so much for joining us, Peter.
[Peter Matthews, Cypress College:] Good to be here.
[Allen:] Well, Republican senator Lindsey Graham has said, Mr. Trump, the president, has a blind spot when it comes to Russia. Why does it seem like the president is incapable of saying anything negative about Russia or condemning Russia, when he easily attacked our allies, like the U.K., for example?
[Matthews:] It seems very strange from those of us looking from the outside objectively. And we're really wondering, maybe he had an inclination toward working things out with Russia when he came into office. But also we know that he's had investments. He's had private loans given to him for his businesses from Russian entities. And I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it but we have to look at that. He's very loath to criticize Mr. Putin or Russia policies, many times, maybe he has an inclination to want to work things out and reset the button. On the other hand maybe there's personal interests there involved. And that's very problematic, very concerning if that's the case.
[Allen:] Is there anything Congress can do to force President Trump's hand, vis-a-vis sanctions against Russia?
[Matthews:] Well, he's the executive branch leader. So he's got to implement what Congress actually has passed. If he refuses to do so, the only thing ultimately they could do to get him to do more of what they need him to do and what we need him to do is to impeach him and then eventually remove him if the Senate agrees to remove him after the House impeaches him. There's very little other recourse that the Congress has. He is the executive branch, the chief administrator, chief bureaucrat, chief executive to carry out the policies. If he doesn't want to do them or he wants to do them half-heartedly or turn them in a different direction, presidents often do that, actually.
[Allen:] Let's talk about the other topic that is dominating the news this week, the mass shooting at the high school in Parkland, Florida. President Trump visited victims and first responders following the massacre and today he spoke with the Parkland mayor. He also tweeted this, "Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. There is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud."
[Matthews:] I knew he was trying to connect the two. I knew he would try to connect the two. And it's just despicable in my view that he would do that. Instead he should stop underfunding the FBI. He should bring in more funds, rather than giving tax cuts to the superrich like he did in this plan that was just passed by him and the Congress and bring the funds in to hire more law enforcement, more FBI agents, more school safety measures, like having checks, you know, real safety checks with metal detectors in schools, as well as background checks and stopping those with a mental illness from owning or from having these guns. In fact, he reversed an Obama era ruling just a year ago, when President Obama made it more difficult for those with mental illness to be able to purchase a gun. Trump rescinded that executive order, just the opposite of what he's talking the other direction. So I think that was just very wrong for him to bring in the FBI and blame them for what happened there in that
[Allen:] Right. They did admit a mistake in not following up on that. The president has not mentioned guns in all of this. And many lawmakers haven't either. Vigils were held this weekend, though, with students calling out lawmakers over gun laws in the United States. Let's listen.
[Emma Gonzalez, Student:] If you don't do anything to prevent this from coming, from continuing to occur, that number of gunshot victims will go up and the number that they are worth will go down. And we will be worthless to you. To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA, shame on you. We know that they're claiming that there are mental health issues and I am not a psychologist but we need to pay attention to the fact that this isn't just a mental health issue. He wouldn't have harmed that many students with a knife.
[Delaney Tarr , Student:] I'm a high school senior, who, three days ago, was worried about which of my friends were going to receive flowers for Valentine's Day. I was focused on what I was going to be wearing to prom one week ago. My main concerns were my grades, college acceptance and my social life. Now I'm a high school senior who is worried about which memorials I need to place flowers at. Now I'm focused on what clothes I can wear so that I can run away from gunfire. My main concerns are funerals, gun control and whether or not I'm going to be shot wherever I go. My innocence, our innocence, has been taken from us.
[Allen:] These students are brave, they're outspoken and they're going directly to lawmakers. Could this be the massacre that's a tipping point?
[Matthews:] It certainly could, because especially if you have students who are so aware now. It's just heartbreaking to hear them and also encouraging to hear them come out with a real solutions, that it is gun control. We know statistically that where the states that have a high rate of gun ownership, there are far more gun related deaths. States with a lower rate of gun ownership there's lower gun related deaths as are true of nations across the world. So we have to have much stricter gun relations. Students are championing this now. And when students speak up, Natalie, things can really happen. And I'm very encouraged by these young women and
[Allen:] Right. And churches and concerts, it's an epidemic in this country. We'll wait and see and see if these students can make a difference to try to make this country safer. Professor Peter Matthews, thank you. We appreciate it.
[Matthews:] Thank you.
[Allen:] We continue to learn more about the confessed gunman, Nikolas Cruz. He's due back in court Monday. Defense attorneys say he will plead guilty, if he can avoid the death penalty. As of now, prosecutors are not ruling that out. We are also hearing from a friend of Cruz's, who says Cruz actually joked about school shootings.
[Gary Tuchman, Cnn Correspondent:] What would he say about school shootings?
[Allan Varela, Nikolas Cruz's Friend:] He would joke because we would be looking at photos. And he would joke about the photos and stuff. I really want to be there for him. I really did. I wish I felt like I could have stopped it. And I know it wasn't my fault, but I felt like I could have stopped him. I could have been there for him. Seventeen people wouldn't have lost their lives.
[Allen:] I feel for that young man there. There were other signs Cruz posted threats. Someone called the FBI last month, warning the shooter owned guns and wanted to kill. The bureau never followed up on that. And police were repeatedly called to his home over the past few years because of his violent outbursts. Many within that high school community remain in shock at this point. The principal of the school, Ty Thompson, posted this emotional message to his students.
[Ty Thompson, Principal, Stoneman Douglas High School:] Eagles, I promise you, I will hug each and every one of you, as many times as you need and I will hold you as long as you need me to, for all 3,300 of you and your families. And we will get through this together. Our community is strong, our students are strong, we will persevere in these trying times.
[Allen:] We continue to learn more about the victims and their bravery in the face of this horror. Among the 17 killed, geography teacher, Scott Beigel. Many of his students say he died a hero, saving others from the gunfire.
[Kelsey Friend, Stoneman Douglas Student:] Mr. Beigel was my hero and he still will forever be my hero. I will never forget the actions that he took for me and for fellow students in the classroom. And if his family is watching this, please know that your son or your brother was an amazing person and I am alive today because of him.
[Allen:] There are more stories of heroism. Aaron Feis, an assistant football coach, threw himself in front of his students, giving up his life to protect them.