As it entered that dangerous curve, weve actually learned now it sped up from 70 miles an hour to more than 100 miles an hour. It happened in just more than a minute. Bostian isnt saying much right now, as we mentioned, but his friends, his colleagues are speaking out on his behalf saying he never would have been deliberately reckless. It was a claim made by philadelphias mayor in the hours after that Train Derailment. Well hear from one of those friends in just a minute. First, lets go straight to the scene to my colleague, cnns erin mclaughlin, for more on the investigation today. There was some back and forth, but now this engineer he has agreed to talk to investigators, yes . Reporter yeah thats right, brooke. Ntsb investigators say when they do meet with 32yearold Brandon Bostian, theyre going to hand him a blank piece of paper and a pen and ask him to paint a picture of everything he remembers from that tragic night. His testimony really being seen as crucial in all of this. A key question at this point, of course is why did that train accelerate . The ntsb says they believe that a little over a minute prior to the crash, the train began to speed up at a time when it should have been slowing down. Just before it approached the curve, they say they believe the engineer hit the emergency brakes. At that point, it was too late. Seconds later, they say the train crashed. That timeline comes from a Detailed Analysis of footage that was obtained from the camera positioned at the front of the train. Of course that footage doesnt tell them why. They hope to learn more from bostian when they meet with him. But failing that they say they do have that black box, the data recorder that was on that train, and they can analyze information from that as well. I know youve been looking through some of bostians social media posts. Were trying to learn more about this train engineer. What did you find out, erin . Reporter bostian seems to have been someone whos very concerned with train safety. Hes very worried about that. In a series of online postings he sort of laments the fact that the railroads did not do more to were not more proactive in implementing Safety Systems such as the positive train control system the very same system the ntsb says could have potentially averted the amtrak 188 tragedy. Let me just read to you one of the postings that we believe was from bostian on a train forum, dated back to march 11th 2011. In that posting, he writes i wish the railroads had been more proactive in adopting active signaling systems from the getgo. Its easy for them to cry foul that the 2015 deadline is unreasonable. But the reality is that they have had nearly 100 years of opportunity to implement some sort of system to mitigate human error, but with a few notable exceptions have failed to do so. Hes referring there to the 2015 congressman dated deadline for the implementation of positive train control. Weve also been hearing from his friends, talking about just how important train safety was to him. All right. Erin mclaughlin thank you so much. Obviously hearing the train whistle, not everything shut down behind you. Thank you so much in philadelphia. Lets stay on this engineer Brandon Bostian. Were hearing more from his friends and acquaintances, who have been speaking out since this deadly crash. Earlier today, cnn heard from bostians best friend james wier. He and bostian had previously discussed the difficulty of this particular route, the northeast corridor. Just two hours after the crash, wier spoke to bostian in the hospital. He did not remember much. He couldnt remember much. He said he had some staples and some stitches and he was sore. He was in some pain. He was not at all sure of himself at that point. Just as far as what was going on i think he was still in shock. You could tell he was in shock. He did tell me it was a challenging route. He told me that its hard to stay on schedule all the time because he wants to make sure he takes the time to perform all of the safety requirements each and every trip. I dont think this is his fault. I dont believe its his fault. Brandons not the kind of guy, even if he was going through a hard time he would not do this. He would not let it affect his work. Bostian has told police he couldnt remember his speed, but we now know this train was barrelling into this curve at more than 100 Miles Per Hour before it derailed. The question was, is this acceleration a deliberate move . Could this have happened by accident . Lets go to the Southeastern Railroad museum where locomotive engineer Barrett Hayes is sitting there in the cab of this train. Barrett, thank you so much for coming on with me first of all. Yes, maam. My pleasure. I think our viewers can figure this out quickly. Youre sitting in a very different train than that train that derailed in philadelphia. In terms of the fundamentals of the role of an engineer they have to be pretty similar to where you are. Can you just walk me through the basics of the controls and just show me around a little bit. Sure. So right here is the throttle. This will one has eight notches on it. That controls your acceleration and speed. This is the reverser. This controls forward and reverse movement. Forward is up here neutral is here this is reverse. This is the independent brake. This controls only the brakes on the locomotive itself. This is the train brake. This controls the brakes on the train itself. The headlight switch is here. And this is the belt switch. Then the horn right here. Okay. Now that youve been to through that let me back you up to the first thing i think you pointed out, the accelerator. Now that we know this train did accelerate, i want you to show me exactly how one would accelerate a train. Were trying to figure out how this could have happened going there this curve. So in order to accelerate a train, youd have to physically open the throttle out like so. During acceleration you want to keep opening your throttle like so. Then slow down start closing the throttle bit by bit. If youre trying to slow down youd also put on your train brake and try to keep your engine brakes off while youre doing so to keep the train stretched out so that way you dont cause discomfort for the passengers or damage the equipment. Oh wow. So its a couple steps just to do that one thing. Let me ask you, since were looking at a much older train, how similar would the throttle essentially, the function of the throttle, the back and the forth, accelerating, decelerate decelerating would that be the same as this 2014 amtrak model were talking about . The throttle has the same basic function on both locomotives. Its just for controlling your acceleration. But this again, is a different locomotive so its not going to be exactly identity lyly iedenticalidentical. But the function itself is the same. Theres a lot we still dont know about what happened here before this Train Derailment in philadelphia. Lets say this engineer fell asleep somehow obviously became unconscious, is it possible to accidently hit that throttle and speed up the train . In theory you could always by accidently hitting the throttle by actually physically opening it through some motion you could speed up the train. It would take some type of probably Conscious Movement to do so. Especially with this type of throttle. But in general, im not familiar with the type of throttle on that particular locomotive how easy it is to move. But in general, it would not be easy. Theres also been talk of like a dead man switch. Can you explain that to me . Maam . Hello . Barrett, its brooke. Youre on tv. Do you hear me . Can you give me a thumbs up . Okay. We lost him. Were going to work on that. Technology happens on live tv. Well move on. Well get him again. Barrett hayes there in duluth georgia. The engineers lawyer here says his client doesnt remember the crash. What about amnesia . Is that a viable defense . Well talk to a lawyer about that next. Also ahead, the future of train travel is a pod going more than 700 miles an hour. Makers of the hyperloop claim it doesnt risk human error. And the wreckage of the missing u. S. Helicopter in nepal has just been found. Were learning the fates of the six marines on board. Well, a mortgage shouldnt be a problem your credit is in pretty good shape. Pretty good . I know i have a 798 fico score thanks to the tools and help on experian. Com. Kaboom. Well, i just have a few other questions. Chuck, the only other question you need to ask is, what else can you do for me . Ill just take a water. Get your credit swagger on. Become a member of experian credit tracker and find out your fico score powered by experian. Fico scores are used in 90 of credit decisions. Building aircraft, the likes of which the world has never seen. This is what we do. Thats the value of performance. Northrop grumman. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. While we still dont know the cause of this weeks deadly derailment on the amtrak train in philadelphia, we know the train engineer Brandon Bostian sayings he quote, has absolutely no recollection whatsoever of what happened the night of the crash. The last thing he remembers, coming up on that curve, hitting the emergency brake trying to slow down. He says when he came to he pulled his phone out, turned it on, dialed 911, realizing the train had crashed. In the wake of this wreck, eight people are dead and more than 200 others were injured. There have been no charges filed against bostian, and he has agreed to talk to ntsb investigators. One question thats being thrown out there, could amnesia potentially be used as a defense in court . Joining me to discuss is cnn legal analyst and senior trial counselor paul callen. Its not like hes saying amnesia. Weve heard from doctors saying he could regain some of his memory. When would amnesia even been applicable . It really would never be applicable in a criminal case because, remember amnesia is just an inability to remember what happened. The real issue is what did happen. Was he using illegal substances . Was he aware of a Health Condition that would have caused him to be a danger in operating the train . Im not saying he did these things but those could be possibly criminal if they should develop. The mere fact he cannot remember it would not make him innocent or for that matter guilty of a crime. To be fair to him, we know hes given up blood samples. Thats for the toxicology report. We know hes given up his krfb to see if he was on the phone texting. His lawyer says it was off. Back to this point of saying he cant remember. How would that at all factor in if ntsb comes to him and even waits over a period of time hoping his memory returns and it doesnt. Then what . Well, you know from the standpoint of their investigation, of course its very troublesome. Also i would have to say even in terms of a criminal investigation, a lot of people are going to think its pretty fishy. He went to the hospital. He was released. He did have a number of stitches in his head but its rare for someone to have total amnesia in the presence just of a single concussion. But i will tell you, there was a case involving metro north here in manhattan, a train crash, people killed. The engineer said that he had sleep apnea and that it had caused him to pass out while operating the train. You know something, no criminal charges have been lodged in that case because it was apparently a Health Condition that he was unaware of. So you may see a claim like that in this case as well. All right. Paul thank you very much. Thank you. Some bad weather has forced search crews to abandon Recovery Efforts at the crash site of that u. S. Marine helicopter in nepal. The wreckage was discovered earlier today on a steep slope there in the himalayan mountains just east of the capital city kathmandu. The u. S. Military says it is unlikely anyone survived the crash. Weather permitting the recovery will resume tomorrow. Six u. S. Marines and two nepalese troops were delivering supplies to those victims of the massive earthquake when is the helicopter went down. For more information on how you can help the victims of the earthquakes in nepal, go to our impact your world side cnn. Com impact. Coming up next George Stephanopoulos apologizes this morning for contributions he made multiple times to the Clinton Global Foundation and recuses himself from moderating any president ial debates. Lets discuss that with michael smerconish. Plus as we continue talking about this amtrak train crash, the future of train travel did you know is a pod traveling more than 700 miles an hour. Makers of the hyperloop claim it doesnt risk human error. Well show you what that means coming up. dog mmm. This beneful is so good and healthy. Hey, you know what . We should just go ahead and have this for breakfast tomorrow. Would that be crazy . vo beneful original is a healthy blend your dog will love. With whole grains, real beef and accents of vegetables. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you tomorrow, mac. See you tomorrow, sam. Just another day at norfolk southern. Female announcer the mattress price wars are on at sleep train we challenged the manufacturers to offer even lower prices. Now its posturepedic vs. Beautyrest with big savings of up to 400 off. Serta icomfort and tempurpedic go headtohead with three years interestfree financing. Plus, free same day delivery setup, and removal of your old set. When brands compete, you save mattress price wars are on now at sleep train. Your ticket to a better nights sleep not such a good morning for George Stephanopoulos abcs chief anchor. He felt compelled to apologize, not just for failing to reveal he donated a total of 75,000 to the Clinton Foundation but also for donating in the first place. Early on in his career stephanopoulos did serve as Communications Director for bill clintons first president ial campaign. Ultimately he became a Senior Adviser in that administration. But i want you to hear this is stephanopoulos on Good Morning America today. Over the last several years ive made substantial donations to dozens of charities, including the Clinton Global Foundation. Those donations were a matter of Public Record but i should have made additional disclosures on air when we covered the foundation. And i now believe that directing personal donations to that foundation was a mistake. Even though i made them strictly to support work done to stop the spread of a. I. D. S. Help children and protect the environment in poor countries, i should have gone the extra mile to avoid even the appearance of a conflict. I apologize to all of you for failing to do that. Lets talk about this with cnn political commentator michael smerconish. You know listen heres the deal. Technically the clipnton foundation is a Charitable Organization though i know republicans would beg to differ. Do you think this is a serious mistake . Do you think this whole thing has just gotten blown up merely for political reasons . I think its a significant issue. I think its a legitimate serious issue in which hes mistaken. I would give him a pass brooke for having made the donations. I was surprised that in his apology this morning that he said he regretted making the donations and regretted the fact he hasnt made the disclosure. To me its principally a disclosure issue. He was a very harsh interrogator of Peter Schweitzer the author of clinton cash. I think he had an obligation to say, i personally contributed 75,000 to the Clinton Foundation. A lot of republicans have taken this and run with it. My question is actually also on the dem side. Looking ahead, if George Stephanopoulos and he covers politics extremely well but if he gets an interview with a highlevel democrat, not hillary clinton, if youre George Stephanopoulos are you going to go out of your way to prove youre in the in camp clinton . You and i are on the same wavelength. Hes said im opting out of the republican debates. He hasnt said anything relative to the fall. There are republicans who are calling for him to quote unquote sit this one out. Thats what one lawmaker said. As i was reading the stories, brooke like you i said to myself maybe its the democrats who should be hoping that he sits this one out because George Stephanopoulos if you remember in the 08 cycle, he was a very direct questioner of hillary clinton. So i dont know that you want to be the democratic candidate with him as the moderator, given hell feel the need perhaps to overcompensate for this. Wondering about. Just wondering about that side as well. That hasnt been discussed as much. Lets pivot to jeb bush shall we . It has been his fifth comment on one single issue in one week. Hes now saying, you know he would not have knowing what he knows now, he would not have pushed for the war in iraq. Heres what he said most recently. So heres the deal. If were all supposed to answer hypothetical questions, knowing what we know now, what would you have done i would have not engaged, i would not have gone into iraq. I think just to give him a little bit of credit this is someone whos definitely been putting himself out there. Hes been taking questions from media. Hes been taking questions from a 19yearold student. But when we go back to the original comment, which was when he was being interviewed by fox news channel, he said he misheard her, thus his response. Im wondering, though what do you think is at the heart of all this this week with him . Well i find it interesting he said, you know if im going to have to answer hypotheticals. Brooke the entire exercise is a hypothetical. This entire process until november of 2016 is a hypothetical of what if youre elected president , you know. What shocks me most about this is it was not a hardhitting question. It was not a gotcha question. It was put to him by megyn kelly at fox. It was a perfectly reasonable question. I