[Baldwin:] Got some more breaking news for you on this Thursday afternoon. Four people are missing after this deadly plane crash. Four were killed, five were injured after this small plane went right into this building near the Wichita, Kansas, airport. This plane apparently lost engine power on takeoff, slammed into the building. And you can just see the massive, massive plumes of smoke here from a distance. A lot of unknowns at this point. We don't know how many people were on this plane. We do know that three of the injured are listed in critical condition. So let's get straight to Captain Doug Nolte with the Wichita Police Department. And, captain, let's just begin with, we know what happened to the plane, but were there people working inside of this building? I mean what's the status on those missing and injured?
[Capt. Doug Nolte, Wichita Police Department:] Yes. There were some people in the building. There was approximately 100 people who were reported in the building at the time of the crash and we're still looking for four of those. So, this could have been a lot worse than it was.
[Baldwin:] Had the plane taken off from the airport or was it trying to land?
[Nolte:] Well, at this point we aren't sure if the plane was landing or take off. That's part of the ongoing investigation. But we know it was doing one of the two when it slammed into the building.
[Baldwin:] And what exactly was this building? I'm reading it was a flight safety building. What does that mean?
[Nolte:] The flight safety building had some simulators that train pilots in it and we believe that that was what was happening is some train some pilots were being trained. When the plane struck the building, it hit the roof and it collapsed in on the building. So, as you can imagine, there's quite a bit of confusion from the people that were in the building, witnesses that were telling us what was going on, and we're trying to sort through all of that now to kind of get everyone accounted for and figure out exactly what happened.
[Baldwin:] Before I let you go, captain, I understand you're right there on the scene. Can you just describe it for me?
[Nolte:] You know, it's unfortunate that first of all we've got four confirmed dead. We want to just reach out to the families and people involved in that, and it's always heart wrenching when there's people involved that die. But secondly, it's, you know, it's incidents like this when they happen, people want answers as quick as they can, so it's confusing and that's kind of what we've run into. Fortunately right now, things have stabilized and we're able to get into more of an investigative approach on it.
[Baldwin:] Four dead, five hurt, four missing there in Wichita. Captain Doug Nolte with the police department, thank you so much for hoping on the phone. We'll stay in close contact with you and hopefully those four missing are a-OK. Thank you, sir, so much.
[Nolte:] Thank you.
[Baldwin:] For the very first time, an active CEO of a Fortune 500 company has publicly acknowledged that he's gay. Apple's Tim Cook just made his announcement in the new issue of "Bloomberg Business Week." But the reaction to it is divided, especially online. On one end of the spectrum you have people saluting Cook for being visible in a world that is full of homophobia. On the other end, people just don't understand why coming out in 2014 should even be news in the first place. But to Cook it means this. Let me quote him from his opinion piece. "I am proud to be gay and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me. I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefitted from the sacrifices of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, then it's worth the tradeoff with my own privacy." How about that? CNN's Poppy Harlow is joining me now. And I have to be totally transparent, we had a huge, you know, just discussion in my own meeting as to whether or not this is news, right?
[Poppy Harlow, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes. A good discussion to have.
[Baldwin:] But it's kind of a big deal. He's the CEO of Apple.
[Harlow:] I think there's a few reasons. He's the first active duty CEO of one of the biggest, most recognizable companies in the world. He rarely talks, that's another reason. He rarely gives interviews. Certainly never talks about himself.
[Baldwin:] Yes.
[Harlow:] And this is something that he didn't want to do for a long time. He said, I'm deeply private. I just didn't want to do this. But then he said, as you read in the statement, that if this changes the lives of one other person that feels more comfortable coming out at work, then it is worth it. What stood out to me in this op-ed, Brooke, he said being gay has given him a deeper understanding of being a minority.
[Baldwin:] Yes.
[Harlow:] Didn't that stand out to you?
[Baldwin:] Yes.
[Harlow:] That's he's more empathetic and that has given him a richer life. And that struck me because here's a white male CEO in corporate America, who's not a minority in that way, but is in this way. And he can understand people better. I want to play some sound for everyone from another CEO, Lord Browne, he was the CEO of the oil giant BP. He didn't come out until after he resigned from office as CEO and he says he regrets it. Here's why.
[Baldwin:] OK. Interesting.
[Richard Quest, Anchor, Cnn's "quest Means Business":] Do you think you would have been a better CEO if you had been out?
[John Browne, Former Ceo Of Bp:] I think I would have had better relationships with people. One of my friends, who I talk about talked to in this book, a woman, a bisexual woman, always said she said to me, we knew there was something wrong because you were so reserved and reserved people do not share what they do outside business with other members of the team. And, of course, all straight people share that. They have photographs on their desk. They have a wedding ring. They talk about the weekends. I didn't talk about any of that because it was so complicated to talk about it in a way which did not make me seem gay.
[Harlow:] What he's saying is he could not be his full self at work and he would have been a better leader if he had been his full self. And I've reported a lot on this this issue. We did a big piece on it. And they say those signs in corporate America on the walls, the diversity council meetings are good, but they're not nearly enough if it doesn't come from the top.
[Baldwin:] Also I think something he alluded to in the piece and something you and I were talking about in commercial, I don't think a lot of people realize that there are laws on the books what is it, the majority of the states?
[Harlow:] Twenty-nine states.
[Baldwin:] You can fire somebody for sexual orientation.
[Harlow:] Yes. Yes.
[Baldwin:] Did you know that?
[Harlow:] Twenty-nine states, folks. I mean most companies many companies have rules that say, we don't do this, we won't do this at this company. But even some Fortune 100 companies in America do not have those rules on the books and that means that people that are gay go to work every single day, some of them feeling like I may get fired because I'm gay. I spent time interviewing a young man who works for one of those companies and he said he is so torn because he feels like if he comes out then maybe he will lose his job or not get promoted, but at the same time he said, I know that I'm not getting promoted now because I'm so reserved, I'm not social with people, I don't really tell them who I am. So he's stuck in a hard place. So I wonder how this announcement certainly makes him feel. I mean this is the reality still in 2014. There's a law to try to change that but it's stuck in Congress.
[Baldwin:] But I think what makes this also so unique is that he said it's a gift. It's a gift.
[Harlow:] A gift from God. That's what he said.
[Baldwin:] Poppy Harlow
[Harlow:] Thank you.
[Baldwin:] Thank you. Coming up next, just heartbreaking photos showing the devastating extent of the death and destruction caused by the Ebola virus in places like Liberia. My next guest was there. He captured these stunning images and he'll join me here live to talk about what it was like and what he feared the most while there and after coming home to the states. Don't miss this.