Heartpounding near misses for a u. S. Plane in less than a month. The really scary part, these happened so much more often than you probably ever realized. And the pop culture. Xmen is going to rule the box office. One of the years most anticipated films opens everywhere. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. We begin with the world lead. Should people who live in glass houses throw stones . Putin accusing president obama of hypocrisy. At an economic conference, putin said this about president obama. Translator who is he to judge . Seriously, who is he to judge . If he wants to judge, he should work in a courthouse. Prorussian rebels going on in Eastern Ukraine. Putin denies that. His comments come two days before ukrainians are supposed to go to the polls to select a new president to replace the prorussia head of state who fled the country in february. While all of that is going on, so is this. Gunfire between the royalist military and separatists left at least 32 people dead, including 30 rebels and soldiers. Even if ukrainians make it to the polls, will their votes even count . That is a ballot box being smashed in donetsk. Putin characterizes the conflict as a fullscale civil war but claims that russia will accept the legitimacy of ukraines elections on sunday. Translator we understand. Without a doubt we will treat the people of ukraine with respect. Jim sciutto is live in Eastern Ukraine. Jim, how dangerous is it going to be just to vote in ukraine this weekend . Reporter well, jake, the contrast is jarring. We were in kiev yesterday. Its calm. The barricades there, they really just are backdrops for tourist photos. We drove 20 minutes outside the city and came to election headquarters there that had been attacked by prorussian militants, closed and burned their election materials. One man said that armed guards came in with machine guns and forced them to destroy their election materials and thats a number of stories that you can hear. More than 30 People Killed in several clashes between the Ukrainian Military and its that kind of contrast that can be very jarring here. These are just two regions of the country that are experiencing this kind of violence in number but that violence is getting worse as the election approaches. We are only 40 hours away and these have been the two most violent days of the crisis so far. Jim, what do we know, what do you hear about russias involvement in the violence in ukraine . Reporter well, kwwhat u. S. Officials will say is that they are coordinating the pro russia separatists. Authorities in kiev say that russia has even more involvement in kiev. And when we spoke to the Election Commissioner, for instance, outside of donetsk today regarding the headquarters shut down here, he said that the masked uniformed men who came into his Election Commission in the last 24 hours, he believes were russian, based on the weapons they were carrying and the kinds of uniforms they were wearing. We dont know that for sure. But you hear that from a number of ukrainian authorities. That is their fear. At a minimum, even u. S. Officials will say they believe the russians are directing them at a maximum to a larger degree they will talk about russians on the ground. Thats certainly an accusation that you hear very widely here, particularly in the eastern part of the country. Jim sciutto in Eastern Ukraine, stay safe. Thank you so much. Just a little refresher. Heres what president obama said earlier this month on what the Obama Administration would do if russia did not deescalate the situation in Eastern Ukraine . If they disrupt this months president ial election, we will move quickly on additional steps, including further sanctions that will impose greater costs. Escalating violence in Eastern Ukraine, putin calling the ousted ukrainian president the legitimate leader, would that be disrupting elections . Joining me now is the deputy spokeswoman for the state department marie hart, thank you for joining me. You heard president obama say that these separatists are, quote, russianbacked groups and are, quote, heavily armed militants receiving significant support from russia. So isnt russia meddling in this election . Absolutely. This election is going to happen. A vast majority of ukraine i know you just spoke to jim sciutto on the ground. Its calm. A vast majority of polling places, there is no violence. Its calm. People are going to vote. There are a few isolated places where prorussian separate tiis are trying to disrupt the election. If putin says he will honor the result of this election, then he needs to use his influence to make sure it goes forward without the kind of violence we have seen. If he doesnt do that, we are absolutely ready to impose greater costs, including sectoral sanctions so he really has a choice to make. He has made a choice, marie. Thats the point. President obama said if there is meddling in the elections, there will be tougher sanctions. You just said that russia has been meddling. Where are the tougher sanctions . We can put on sanctions very quickly. We want to see how the election goes on sunday. As a said, in a vast majority of 200 polling places, only 18 of them have experienced what weve seen what jim reported on in terms of the violence and real disruption. So ukraine is going to vote on sunday and they are going to pick a new president , a new leader. Look, if we see this russia meddling continuing, well look for costs. And i would look for them very soon after the election if thats the case. I dont understand why you said if we see the meddling continuing there will be costs. Why are there not already costs . Putin and russia have already crossed the red line that president obama set earlier this month. Well, weve already imposed a number of costs on president obama on the inner circle and russian economy. Every Economic Indicator is negative and shows that they have an impact. We have sanctions waiting but what were really focused on now, jake, is on sundays elections Going Forward and well take whatever steps we have to take after that and president putin should know were absolutely ready to do so. I want to play more of the conversation that putin had today. He said this about the u. S. role in ukraine and the sanctions you refer to. Translator i think european and u. S. Partners are largely responsible for what has happened. They want to shift the responsibility to us for what they have done. These actions are illegal and worsen our international relations. So the u. S. , according to putin, is responsible for what he calls a coup. This does not sound like somebody who is being pushed to work on such situation. When is the last time secretary kerry spoke with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov . What is illegal here was russias actions to annex crimea. They are the one who is are blatantly in violation of International Law right now. Those are just the latest in a set of pretty ridiculous comments by president putin but we are engaged with them. There is a diplomatic offering up here. Russia has a choice. They can continue down the path look, were playing a long game here. If they want to keep playing this game, they will be isolated, their economy will be cut off and well impose more costs. Secretary kerry is focused on it right now and diplomats are focused on it and we have to see actions on the ground in order to have any chance of that moving forward. Maria, before you go, i want to ask you something that your boss secretary of state john kerry said about the u. S. Role in nigeria. Lets play that tape. Boko haram, nigeria, only the United States is there offering the assistance to help find those young women. Other countries not only arent there and invited, but they are not even there. Thats not actually true. Uk is there. France is there. Israel has offered. China has offered. Did the secretary misspeak . No, jake. What he was referring to obviously weve been very clear about the role that the uk and other partners have played in helping find these girls in nigeria. What he was referring to is that the country is like russia. He was referring to the fact that countries like russia are not the partner of if ifirst re. The United States is. Whether its a tsunami, earthquake, the United States has unique capabilities to bring to bear all around the world and were the partner that the people want there. Obviously around the uk and france, they are doing other work but what he was really referring to was russia and china. They dont have the same capabilities and they are just not the same kind of partner that we are all across the world. Marie harf with the state department, thank you. Thanks, jake. Coming up, two planes collide within feet. An air Traffic Controller makes a critical error and its the first time that planes have almost crashed into each other. A nightmare in arizona as residents are forced to run from the flames. Stay with us. If you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, like me, and youre talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic. This is humira. This is humira helping to relieve my pain. This is humira helping me lay the groundwork. This is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. Doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. Blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening Heart Failure have occurred. Before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. Ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Take the next step. Talk to your doctor. This is humira at work. No matter what kind of business you own, at t Business Experts can help keep it running. Seamlessly. So you can get back to what you love. When everyone and everything works together, business just sings. Cozy or cool . Or woof . Everything exactly the way you want is. Until boom, its bedtime. Your mattress its a battleground of thwarted desire. Enter the sleep number bed, designed to let couples sleep together in individualized comfort. Hes the softy his sleep number setting is 35. Youre the rock at 60. And snoring . Sleep numbers even got an adjustment for that. You can only find sleep number at a sleep number store. Hurry in for memorial day weekend savings. All beds are on sale, starting at just 649. 99. Know better sleep with sleep number. Welcome back to the lead, im jake tapper. Time now for the national lead. For the fourth time in one month were learning about a close call between two jetliners that could have but thankfully did not end in disaster. This one happened at houston george bushs continental airport on may 9th when two United Airlines were taking off and were directed to fly towards each other. Cnns aviation correspondent rene marsh is joining us. How did that happen . That is the bottom line. It shouldnt have happened but it did happen. Were talking about a plane on the wrong path and were told that it was an air Traffic Controller new in this position that directed one of the planes to take a wrong turn. This evening, the faa is trying to figure out why it happened. An air Traffic Controller in training directs a united jetliner to turn putting it on a possible collision with another jet taking off from the airport. Seconds later, according to the faa, the controller realizes his mistake. Stop your turn. Stop your climb and stop your turn united 601. Reporter the two flights less than a mile away. Listen to stunned pilots second later. I had no idea what was going on in the tower but it was pretty gnarly looking. Reporter putting a spotlight on something that actually happens every day. In the skies over the pacific, at new yorks jfk and newark. Hes real close. Reporter the rules of separation in the skies breached. The faas latest numbers show planes came too close nearly 4400 times in one year. 41 of them deemed highrisk events. They are scary and unacceptable but theres a backup system and people are safe. Reporter its an air traffic system under stress. Increasing air traffic and a potential shortage of controllers. Almost thousands need to be hired and trained over the next seven years. Some experts worry the agencys new hiring practices could make matters worse. The agency no longer gives preference to recent graduates from aviation colleges. Just last month, a government auditor said he would study controller Staffing Levels and the impact of retirement. But incidents where planes get too close are not necessarily controller mistakes. This could occur through a controller making an error, through a pilot making a mistake. But remember, there is avionics on board, particularly one called Collision Avoidance assistance. Reporter the faa says it has taken steps to prevent any similar occurrences in the future but they didnt say what those steps were. These air Traffic Controllers are trained in realtime. We do know an instructor was there at the moment this incident happened ready to step in, if needed. But the trainee realized the mistake immediately and corrected the problem immediately. We do know that the flights continued safely to their destinations. Still, when you hear this sort of thing, its very disturbing. Its horrifying. Four in one month. Is there any repurchaercussions . Is. Any accountability behind the scenes . There was a controller caught sleeping and that controller in that instance was fired. But when you have an instance where there were mistakes made, its a nonpunitive system. The faa does not fire people because they made these mistakes. And the reason for that is because there are so few accidents. When you consider all of the manies that take off and land every single day, there are not that many crashes. So they need all of the information that they can gather and the only way to get that information is through incidents like this. So if there are things that they can correct, theyd remember get it from the people right there in the field without, of course, punishing them for reporting it. Still scary. Rene marsh, thank you so much. At least four close calls in the last few weeks, at least that we know about. Joining me now was bob richards. An air Traffic Controller in chicago at Ohare Airport for 20 years. Secrets from the tower is your new book. This appears to be operator error from the air Traffic Controller who was in training. He had someone with him. How does that work if a trainee makes a mistake . Its still on the onus of the trainer to correct it and its still his responsibility ultimately. The trainee is not going to suffer discipline consequences. In that sense, if youre looking at that, that is what is going to happen. In this situation, there is always going to be human involvement and when the human involvement occurs, theres always going to be a chance of mistake. The beautiful thing about it all, though, is we have so many backup plans to this. We have other pilots, other systems and like in chicago ohare, for instance, we have a local monitor position where someone actually plugs in and monitors the position if its a crossing runway situation. My guess is after Something Like this they may be doing something for opposition. How long is an air Traffic Controller in training . It depends on if hes in the tower involvement, if its busy, a place like chicago oral los angeles, he could be training anywhere from one year to two years. If its in albany, new york, it could be six months. If hes in the center environment, higher altitude, cleveland, it could be two to three years. You dont just hire somebody and they walk in and take over. Thats what i wanted to ask. How much latitude and independence do trainees have . Is it an occasional check in . Absolutely. Trainees are watched at all time because the person responsible is the person who is plugged in with him at that time. In some cases they are monitored by a monitor position as well. How concerned should flyers be about this . Considering the amount of airplanes that we move throughout the country, we went through a period of not one commercial fatality and then that led up to the San Francisco incident. But we have the safest system in the world. Irregardless there is going to be mistakes made but it doesnt really even compare with the numbers that were talking about. There are one of those asds, when you see as many airplanes there at a time, 5, 6,000 at a time, it just staggers the mind to understand how we do as well as we have over the past 20 years. Bob richards, thank you so much. When we come back, massive flames as hundreds of firefighters fight what seems to be a losing battle and the weather is just making it that much worse. John boehner accused of personally blocking immigration reform. His response . Its the president s fault. Our politics lead is coming up. Predibut, manufacturings a prettin the United States do. Means advanced technology. We learned that Technology Allows us to be craft oriented. No ones losing their job. Theres no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. The technology is actually creating new jobs. Siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. [ male announcer ] since we began, mercedesbenz has pioneered many breakthroughs. Breakthroughs in design. Breakthroughs in safety. 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