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NTSB Issues Urgent Safety Recommendations, Says Helicopter Routes Near DC Airport Pose Safety Risk; Months After Floods, NC Businesses Now Fear Trump Cuts; Trump Speaks Amid Trade War and Market Volatility. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 11, 2025 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Just moments ago the NTSB announced urgent safety recommendations at Reagan National Airport here in Washington DC or just outside of Washington DC all in response of course to that deadly crash involving an American Airlines jet and a military Blackhawk helicopter back in January.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: All 67 people on board the aircraft were killed in the midair collision making it the country's deadliest aviation accident in almost two decades. CNN's Pete Muntean was at today's news conference.

[15:35:00]

Bring us up to speed with what they shared.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The sad takeaway here, Boris and Brianna, is that the National Transportation Safety Board laid out that helicopters were able to fly too close to flights arriving and departing Reagan National Airport for years. And now the NTSB has issued a pair of urgent safety recommendations calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to fix this fast.

The NTSB pointed out the narrative once again that the Army Black Hawk helicopter was on something called Helicopter Route 4 that runs north- south down the Potomac River just east of Reagan National Airport. American Airlines Flight 5342 was lined up to land only moments away from touching down on DCA's Runway 33. That collision happened at about 300 feet above the ground, the helicopter striking the jet's right side.

And NTSB Chair Homendy, Jennifer Homendy, brought up this new chart which shows the descent path of planes going into 33 and the helicopter route location. They were separated by only 75 feet of altitude. She said that was much too close, and I asked her to contextualize that and how she felt that essentially a flaw in the design was responsible for an accident waiting to happen here.

Listen to what NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: It does make me angry, but it also makes me feel incredibly devastated for families that are grieving because they lost loved ones. It shouldn't take a tragedy like this to occur. Unfortunately, one did, and so we are calling on action, but there clearly were indicators where safety trending could have occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Two new incredible pieces of data here from the NTSB that close calls between commercial flights at National Airport and helicopters were happening with startling regularity, and the NTSB studied this. They said between October 2021 and December of 2024, helicopters and commercial flights at National Airport came within one mile of each other 15,000 times over that three-year period. Over that same period of time, helicopters and airplanes arriving at National Airport came within 1,500 feet or about a quarter mile apart 85 times.

So the narrative here is that there were close calls between helicopters and airplanes over and over again in this airspace. Now the NTSB has put it on the Federal Aviation Administration to act here, and we are anticipating hearing from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy at the top of the hour.

KEILAR: And, Pete, we know they reduced the staffing at the air traffic control tower. Was that an issue that night?

MUNTEAN: This is something that Chair Homendy touched on briefly. The findings earlier, before today's preliminary report release, was that the controllers combined two positions in the control tower not long before the crash. At about 8:40, the crash occurred at about 8:50 in the evening. Now the NTSB chair says that that combination of those two positions happened earlier in the day. It's something they are still looking into, and right now there is no assignment of blame here, no finding of probable cause just yet, although the NTSB chair did laud Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for opening up air traffic controller hiring and essentially fast-tracking that to try and get more controllers into the pipeline. Many of them are working mandatory six-day weeks of 10-hour shifts, mandatory overtime.

They are stretched to the limit right now.

KEILAR: All right. Pete Muntean, thank you for the latest there, and we will be right back.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Sweeping cuts from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency are having some unexpected ripple effects.

KEILAR: In North Carolina, business owners already struggling to recover from Hurricane Helene are worried about the cuts. CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir traveled to Asheville to speak to residents who are trying to rebuild their economy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll lift it up onto my knee and then kind of scoop into it.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's chilly and the leaves have yet to bud. But these campers are giddy to spend four nights in Smoky Mountain nature.

HANSAL PATEL, HIKER: Pretty excited. Let's do this.

WEIR: Have you done anything like this before?

PATEL: No.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like not at all.

PATEL: Not at all. I mean, we hike, right? But like. But this is the first time at a campsite.

WEIR (voice-over): It's been almost six months since a monster named Hurricane Helene ripped through Appalachia, devastating mountain towns reliant on outdoor tourism.

WEIR: Thousands of miles of roads and trails are impacted, right?

JOHN PATE, LEAD GUIDE, WILDLAND TREKKING, INTREPID TRAVEL: Yes, over I think it's 2,000 landslides.

PATE: A beautiful wide open view.

WEIR (voice-over): John Pate guided the last group out before the storm hit and then used his wilderness skills on a week of sleepless search and rescue. So now guiding the first trip back feels like a win.

PATE: To build that passion for a region that has been isolated in so many ways culturally, economically, geographically by hurricanes, it's a really big honor.

[15:45:00]

Maybe second only to being able to help people during the floods themselves.

WEIR: There is a lot of pristine wilderness, but some rivers in this world famous whitewater spot are choked with debris. They've got whitewater guides out there trying to clean up, give them a paycheck. But there's so much uncertainty heading into a season so dependent on tourism.

CHRIS WEBSTER, CO-OWNER, GENERAL MANAGER, SECOND GEAR: I wanted to make it clear that Asheville is open. WEIR (voice-over): For over 20 years, the Second Gear was a Mecca for hikers and kayakers until Helene made it a metaphor for the increasing challenges of running an outdoor business on an overheating planet.

WEIR: I remember your shop when it was down on the river, in a place like this wants to be down on the river.

WEBSTER: Oh my God, yes, it was great. Yes.

WEIR: Would you go back there if you could?

WEBSTER: Not a chance.

WEIR: Not a chance. You've been changed by --

WEBSTER: It rocked me, man.

SCOTT CUNDY, CO-FOUNDER, WILDLAND TREKKING, INTREPID TRAVEL: In the last three years, we've lost over $1 million to climate change related disasters.

WEIR (on camera): Scott Cundy is the co-founder of Wildland Trekking, which leads thousands of adventure trips a year in and around America's national parks. And in addition to the more dangerous climate events, he's worried that the threats and cuts from President Donald Trump and Elon Musk will lead to chaos in national parks this summer, and destruction to pristine lands forever.

CUNDY: We're getting call after call. People are concerned. Are the parks going to be open? You know, is -- is my trip going to run? Am I going to be able -- are we going to be able to get permits?

WEIR: And you got Canadian customers who just don't want to come.

CUNDY: We have -- Canadian customers that are flat out canceling. They don't feel safe in the United States. The ability to take care of these parks, the ability to have the law enforcement in place, the rangers in place to make sure these places are -- are well-stewarded, to me, that's what's most at risk right now, is that were going to open the floodgates to everybody coming but were not going to have the infrastructure and the personnel to take care of the places.

WEIR (voice-over): So in the meantime, they say it is still vital for folks of all skill sets to get together in nature, to remind yourself what's worth protecting.

PATE: We need people to come back because were having a hard time getting federal funds dispersed in the way they ought to be. And so we need more people to know that and talk about it. And we need them in the same way we've always needed them in that beauty in this place is a -- is in the eyes of the beholder.

The more people that look at it, they're kind to it and soft on it. They look at it. I think it makes the place more beautiful.

PATEL: Like the hiking community is unbelievable. WEIR: Yes.

PATEL: Like we're walking past people with dogs and kids and family and they're all smiling and happy, helping each other out. So like, for us, this is what we want it to be like.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Bill Weir for that report.

We actually want to take you straight to the White House where moments ago, President Trump, alongside Elon Musk, was speaking to reporters. Let's listen.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... taking our jobs back. And one of the things I'll say, by the way, speaking of Tesla, he manufactures more cars. I mean, he opened this incredible plant, one of the largest plants in the world, in Texas. Could you talk about that, Elon?

ELON MUSK, SENIOR ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, it's worth noting that the Tesla cars have the most U.S. content of any cars on the market, so they're the most American-made. We have the biggest factory and the most advanced automotive factory in Texas that we've opened and continue to expand and so this is very much, these are great products. The Model S is won best car ever.

SANCHEZ: We've been listening to Musk and Trump talking about Tesla vehicles. This comes as the stock has declined in recent days. On social media, Trump posted that he would be buying a Tesla to show his support for Musk.

Trump also answered questions about markets where he blamed former President Biden for how they've been teetering in recent days despite his changes to trade policy.

Also about the ceasefire that Ukraine just agreed to, saying that now his administration is working on getting Russia to agree. We're going to keep monitoring these remarks and bring you the latest as we get it.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll be back in just a few minutes.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: A rather unusual scene here in Washington, D.C. at what is really the latest Tesla dealership on the South Lawn of the White House because President Trump has -- he said he'll buy a Tesla to support Elon Musk as the company has been struggling. And he's also taking questions about other important topics. Let's listen in.

TRUMP: ... by Mexico. But we've been treated very unfairly by every country all over the world. The European Union is horrible. Horrible. And we're going to get it back. And I have a choice. I could just coast. And eventually there'd be a blow-up down the road. Maybe a long way.

But we owe $36 trillion. And we're going to get it back. We're the biggest. We're the best. And I'm very optimistic. I have to tell you. I'm very optimistic about the country. Much more optimistic this way than if I did it the easy way. I could have done it the easy way. I could have coasted.

Biden left us a mess. He left us tremendous inflation, tremendously high costs of products. He left us a mess. But he also left us a mess with millions of people that poured into our country that are criminals. Millions of those people happen to be criminals.

And we're looking for them all over the place. We're looking for them. And Homan and Christie are doing an incredible job.

But he left us a horrible situation. And we're changing it. But one of the things we're changing is we're going to make our country really wealthy again. We're going to bring our jobs back. Right now we're like a chicken that's being plucked at from all over the world. We're not going to let that happen anymore.

But very importantly, and I said it, Ukraine. Ceasefire. Ukraine. Ceasefire. Just agreed to a little while ago.

[15:55:00]

Now we have to go to Russia, and hope president -- hopefully President Putin will agree to that also. And we can get this show on the road. We can get this horrible war. We're 2-3,000 soldiers a week. Every week 2-3-4,000 sometimes. I get the reports.

And they're not American soldiers. They're Ukrainian and they're Russian. But people are being killed outside of that. People are being killed in the cities as things explode throughout the cities. And we want to get that war over with. So I think it's a very big ==

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you talk to President Putin about that?

TRUMP: I think it's a big difference between the last visit you saw at the Oval Office. That's a total ceasefire. Ukraine has agreed to it, and hopefully Russia will agree to it. We're going to meet with them later on today and tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be able to wipe out a deal. But I think the ceasefire is very important. If we can get Russia to do it, that'll be great.

If we can't, we just keep going on and people are going to get killed, lots of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Zelenskyy invited back to the White House?

TRUMP: Sure, absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, you mentioned the ups and downs in the stock market. You said it'll go up, it'll go down. But do you and your tariff policies right now bear any responsibility for the turmoil we're seeing this week?

TRUMP: No, I think Biden gave us a horrible economy, he gave us horrible inflation, and I think the market was going to go very, very bad. If anything, I have a lot of very smart people, friends of mine and great businessmen. They're now investing because of what I'm doing.

Because long-term, what I'm doing is making our country strong again. Financially strong, militarily strong, and strong -- if we want to get away. Remember this, we have wars. When I left, we had no wars. We didn't have Ukraine and Russia, we didn't have October 7th, we didn't have that disaster that took place with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and you look at what's happened there. We caught the major terrorists, which Biden wouldn't have caught.

Why didn't he catch them? I caught them. Five weeks into the presidency, I caught the man responsible for Abbey Gate, and he's going to pay hell right now. He's a bad dude, he's a bad guy. But we didn't have these problems.

I had no inflation. I had a great economy. He gave you high prices. You couldn't buy bacon, you couldn't buy anything.

And also, I inherited a situation with eggs. The price of eggs was through the roof. Well, now, the price of eggs has come down a lot.

Interest rates have come down. Gasoline prices have come down. It's all coming down. It's all a beautiful thing. I can do it the right way or the wrong way. We're doing it the right way.

And I have tremendous confidence in this country and the people of this country. Tremendous confidence. Much more so than if I sat back for four years and had a good time in the Oval Office.

I want to look at cars.

MUSK: Mr. President, I have an announcement to make that would be helpful. I want to say, as a function of the great policies of President Trump and his administration, and as an act of faith in America, Tesla is going to double vehicle output in the United States within the next two years. Double.

TRUMP: It's a big deal. That's good. Thank you. And, by the way, he makes one car.

This one I don't understand. This one I don't want, but that's OK. Without a steering wheel. It comes out next year, right? Explain that, please.

MUSK: Yes, so well, the Cybercab starts production in Texas next year, and it's self-driving. We have so much confidence in the self-driving nature of it that it will actually not have a steering wheel. It will not have pedals. It will either self-drive or not drive at all. But it will self-drive. TRUMP: And I'm going to pass on that particular one..

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before this event today, when's the last time you bought a new car?

TRUMP: Well, I buy a lot through my children because they run the company now. I used to buy a lot. I haven't bought a new car in a long time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was your first car?

TRUMP: The only thing I know -- the only think I know is the Beast. I got a big car with very thick windows and thick side panels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that going electric? Is that going electric?

TRUMP: We buy a lot of cars. Actually, I bought this one for Kai.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you remember your first car?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Giving you his decision about the electricity surcharge, and you said you were pleased about that. Will you make a different decision now about the tariffs on Canada? Will you reduce it?

TRUMP: I'm looking at that. Probably so, yes. He was a gentleman. Look, I said it before. We give Canada $200 billion a year. We subsidize Canada between all of the things we give them and trade. We don't have to have cars made in Canada. We don't have to have lumber from Canada. We have tremendous lumber. We have tremendous trees.

All I have to do is unfreeze them from some of the restrictions that were put. I can do that with an executive order.

We don't need energy. We have more energy than anybody else in the world. So we spend $200 billion a year subsidizing Canada. We don't have to do that.

[16:00:00]

And frankly, the way that gets solved is Canada should honestly become our 51st state. We wouldn't have a northern border problem. We wouldn't have a tariff problem.

They don't have much. They spend very little, as you know, the least of almost anybody on military, and we spend the most of anybody in military. We have a great military. And we built the military during my first time. We're going to have to rebuild it a little bit again. Not that much. But we're going to have to rebuild it a little bit again.

But Canada would be great as our cherished 51st day. You wouldn't have to worry about borders. You wouldn't have to worry about anything.

By the way, Canada is very highly taxed, and we're very low tax. We're considered a low tax nation because of me, because I cut the taxes so low. So the people of Canada would pay much less tax. It makes a lot of sense.

And by the way, when you take away that artificial line that looks like it was done with a ruler, and that's what it was. Some guy sat there years ago, and they said rock.

Well, when you take away that and you look at that beautiful formation of Canada and the United States, there is no place anywhere on in the world that looks like that. And then if you add Greenland, that's I mean, that's pretty going.

MUSK: It's going to look beautiful.

TRUMP: OK, I'm going to look at this I'm going to make a decision. Do you want to hear what my decision? OK, what's your best of these cars? What do you think?

MUSK: Well, the car that I drive is the Model S.

TRUMP: Which is that one?

MUSK: That red one in the middle.

TRUMP: I like that, yes.

MUSK: Yes, it's it's it's zero to 60 miles an hour in two seconds. It's faster than a Ferrari.

TRUMP: I don't know if my people can handle it. They're going to -- Jeff, they're going to be using it more. I'm not allowed to use it.

END