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Trump Admin to Cut Flights At 40 Airports If Shutdown Drags On; Democrats Plot Next Steps in Shutdown Fight After Election Wins; Dash- Cam Video Shows UPS Plan With Missing Engine Before Crash. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired November 06, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking now, Hurricane Melissa, the most powerful storm on Earth this year, is set to make landfall. This is clearly not what is happening this morning, but there is a huge problem at airports. They are planning to cut about 10 percent of the staffs, and that means that there are going to be huge delays potentially on Friday. So, you have to be aware if you're going to be traveling, you need to know what is going to happen on Friday with staffing.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's also new video in of that deadly UPS plane crash in Kentucky. The black box data recorders now recovered from the wreckage. What all of this could tell investigators about what led to this tragedy.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: And take a look at this, a fireball shooting into the sky of New York City. We'll talk about what caused this.

You're watching CNN News Central. I'm Jessica Dean, along with Sara and Kate. John's out today. We'll see you on the other side.

SIDNER: All right. This morning, millions of Americans are on the verge of a potential travel nightmare as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history stretched in to day 37. Now, unless this standoff ends, the FAA is planning to slash air traffic across the country, cutting thousands of flights per day that begins tomorrow.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said flight capacity will be reduced by 10 percent at 40 major airports. It is not clear which airports would be impacted though. We're expecting a list to come out today.

Air traffic controllers are working without pay during this shutdown in incredibly stressful jobs and staffing shortages have already been snarling flights for weeks.

Now, CNN's Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean is joining us now. I began this show with my own glitch in my head, and I'm not nearly as stressed out as these air traffic controllers. How bad could this get when you're talking about a 10 percent reduction in workforce over 40 major airports? PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: We're talking an impact on tens of millions of travelers here who received emails about this from airlines overnight. This is the most direct consequence, Sara, of the government shutdown on air travel and airlines were really blindsided by this announcement. I'm told carriers were given less than an hour's notice that the FAA would move to cut flight capacity nation by tomorrow morning.

Here is the reasoning from the Trump administration. Air traffic controllers are about to get a second $0 paycheck, and Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy says that stress in the national airspace system is making it unsafe.

Here's what's happening. If there is no deal to reopen the federal government by Friday, the FAA will cut airline traffic by 10 percent at 40 of the country's busiest airports. And FAA source tells me the list includes what are known as the core 30 airports. Those are the 30 busiest, most operationally significant airports in the United States. FAA Administrator Brian Bedford says the cuts are based on pilot safety reports, not input from the controllers these cuts are supposed to protect. And right now, air traffic controllers rank and file controllers are telling me there's a lot of confusion about how this will be implemented.

In making this announcement, here is what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said about his rationale.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We're noticing that there's additional pressure that's building in the system, and, again, our priority is to make sure that you're safe. And so we're going to talk about additional measures that we are going to take that's going to reduce their risk profile in the national airspace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: You can bet that airlines are reacting to this in a big way. And in a company-wide memo, United Airline CEO Scott Kirby says these cuts will be significant and significantly disrupt air travel at major hubs and is warning that passengers should prepare for delays and cancelations starting on Friday. United says it is, quote, actively coordinating schedules and is urging the government to reach a deal immediately.

Meanwhile, Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle called the plan unsustainable, saying, quote, you cannot run the national airspace like this. This is not how a modern aviation system functions. He even went as far to say that you should book a backup ticket on a separate airline. That just underscores how unprecedented this move is. The U.S. handles about 45,000 flights on an average day. A 10 percent cut would mean 4,500 flights removed daily, which is worse than the worst cancelation day of the last year, every day, until the shutdown ends.

[07:05:06]

It's huge.

The political re reality here is also huge. Never in modern aviation history has U.S airspace capacity been reduced for the political fight. And the pressure is now on and the clock is very much ticking toward Friday morning. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes, it is very much on Congress, but it is on the administration as well, as people become more and more frustrated. We're looking at pictures. I know you've seen them from Houston, where there are insane lines have been in place for a couple of days now. There is a lot to unpack here. But the biggest thing that you said is travelers need to beware. This is going to have a major impact.

Pete Muntean, it is always a pleasure. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: It's one of those things that's -- how do you prepare? Like it's -- you can say prepare, book a backup ticket, but I mean three hours in security, it's -- there is no way to prepare. This is happening.

As for efforts to try to end this shutdown finally, there is talk of talk, talk of deals emerging perhaps, but just as quickly, some Democrats feeling emboldened after Tuesday's sweeping election victories say, now is not the time to give in actually. Here is Senator Bernie Sanders on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): There is a revolt against Trumpism. I think Democrats have the momentum. And now what has got to happen is Trump has got to come to the table and say, okay, let's make sure that premiums do not go up. That's to make sure that we do not throw millions of people off. After he does that, we can end the shutdown tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us now is Stef Kight, she's a politics reporter with Axios. What are you hearing about talks just among Democrats or just talks in general? What's the vibe? What are you getting?

STEF KIGHT, POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: You know, at the start of the week on Monday, it seemed that we were moving pretty quickly towards some kind of a deal. We started getting a framework for what a deal would look like, what it seemed that at least a handful of moderate Democrats would be willing to vote for to open the government and move forward on some of these other issues. But then two big moments happened, of course, Tuesday night, a Democrat swept in Virginia, in New Jersey and California.

And that's really emboldened parts of the Democratic Party, to Senator Bernie Sanders point. It's emboldened, many of them to keep going, to not cave yet and to not distract from the fact that their party is really riding a high right now. They want to keep the focus on them fighting Trump and moving forward. There are still some Democrats who are willing to work with Republicans. There are still ongoing conversations happening and there will be a key meeting with Senate Democrats today where we expect the caucus to really hash out what the path forward is, how long they want to delay their, any decision to vote to reopen the government. So, today's going to be a key day.

The other thing that happened yesterday was that President Trump blamed Republicans for the shutdown. Behind closed doors, he said the shutdown has been worse for Republicans than Democrats. He also, again, put pressure on Republicans to end the filibuster.

This has kind of sown tension within Republicans who felt like they were actually, you know, doing well when it comes to the shutdown politics. Republicans were continuing to say that they felt that, you know, Democrats were at fault for the shutdown. And the American people were hearing that. Trump completely undermined that message and that has sown, you know, some discord within Republicans as well.

BOLDUAN: When it comes to the filibuster, it is interesting. It does seem the one place that has really shown a bridge too far for Senate Republicans.

KIGHT: It's true. Most Republicans in the Senate, you know, believe that the filibuster is important to maintain. Senate leadership certainly has been clear that they don't intend to move on ending the filibuster or changing filibuster rules. Majority Leader John Thune has made this point on several occasions and he is backed up by others in leadership.

However, we are starting to hear from more, you know, rank and file Republicans who are more open to at least looking at changes to the filibuster. We heard from a few of them yesterday after Trump made his speech, both on T.V. and then again behind closed doors. People like Senator Ron Johnson, who, up until then, hadn't been really willing to consider ending the filibuster, Senator Tommy Tuberville, and even Senator John Cornyn, who is really an institutionalist, but he is up for reelection, he was another one who said he'd consider changing the filibuster rules.

BOLDUAN: Cornyn is a bit of a surprising one on that, as you point out.

Stef, thank you so much. Today, A, we've said this a million times, this does seem a critical day and what direction this is going to tip this week, especially when hardship is going to hit in another wave starting tomorrow. It's good to see you, Stef. Thank you. Jessica?

DEAN: New video just released showing moments before that devastating UPS plane crash in Kentucky, appearing to show the plane completely without one engine.

[07:10:00]

And could Elon Musk become the world's first trillionaire? It's a lot of zeros in that number. And Japan is sending in troops to tackle a growing deadly problem in their country, bears.

More than that when we come back.

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DEAN: This morning, stunning new footage appears to show the engine missing on the UPS cargo plane just as it crashes in Louisville, Kentucky. The plane is coming down and you see the left engine is already gone. NTSB investigators say it detached during takeoff. That engine later found on the runway. The crash killed at least 12 people. It destroyed multiple businesses. We've also learned the plane left behind a debris field about a half mile long. That includes nearly a 300 foot-long gash on the roof of a UPS warehouse.

Let's go to CNN's Leigh Waldman. She's in Louisville this morning. Leigh, obviously investigators are now on site trying to get all of the details.

[07:15:01]

What are you learning?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, like you mentioned they got on site here yesterday, so today will be their first full day conducting that step-by-step walkthrough of this massive debris field that's left behind from this devastating crash here. We know at this point, they have recovered the black boxes from those planes. NTSB telling us that the boxes did suffer heat, but they're built to withstand that.

They can still gather data from it. They're also asking people who live around here who have surveillance cameras to share those videos with them, calling those valuable assets. It's something they're going to be analyzing to try and determine a probable cause of what went wrong here. And we mentioned that video of what appears to show the engine off of that plane, the NTSB, confirming that.

And last night as we were here, we saw part of that engine actually being hauled away on the back of a truck here. It's all part of this extensive investigative process that the NTSB is going through here. We're hoping to hear more from them today about this ongoing investigation.

But there's also a very real impact to the community here, businesses surrounding the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, including a business that had a lot of damage to itself. The owner of that company, a recycling company, saying it was like hell's fury here after that plane crash. Take a listen to some of the heroics by his employees that he described to our Isabel Rosales.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN GARBER, CEO, GRADE A RECYCLING: One of our managers dove in the center of between two bales and had a ball of fire go over the top of him. And then he got up and ran out and he was very heroic because one of our customers was 95 percent burnt and he picked him up and brought him to safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: We've heard from hospital officials who say they have two people currently being treated for critical injuries because of burns. They've treated other people for blast injuries. As a result of this crash, 12 people are dead as a result of it. They fear that number is going to continue to rise. And, Jessica, something so heartbreaking here is that one of those victims is believed to be a young child.

DEAN: Yes, that is truly terrible. All right, Leigh Waldman for us with the latest out of Louisville, thank you. Sara?

SIDNER: That video is chilling.

All right, ahead, a choice by ICE ends up terrifying children in a Chicago, daycare teacher dragged out of her school, growing outrage in Chicago.

And this goal made hockey history. Here it is, the incredible milestone, on that ice there for star Alex Ovechkin.

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[07:22:12]

BOLDUAN: Sports time, friends. Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals just hit an incredible milestone. He is now the first NHL player ever to score 900 goals.

CNN's Andy Scholes is here with more. I almost said Alex Scholes. You are my Alex Ovechkin of sports. That's a lot of goals, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I appreciate that. Kate. I don't have 900 goals of -- I may have 900 segments though here on CNC (ph). But, you know, think about this Kate. You know, it's scoring 30 goals in a season. I mean, that's a really good year in the NHL. Ovechkin's basically now done that 30 times. He's the first ever to get to 900 goals. We may never see another. But the 40-year-old, he got the milestone goal in the second period last night against the Blues. Off the rebound, Ovechkin, look at this, a no-look backhander. All of his teammates run over to mob him to celebrate.

And, you know, that's a really cool puck to keep, right? Well look at this Blues goalie, Jordan Bennington, he grabbed the puck and stuffed it in his pants. What was he going to do with it? Maybe eBay? One of the refs eventually went over to him and said, hey, man, we know you have it. Cough it up. And Bennington went back into his pants and got it and gave it to the ref.

BOLDUAN: That's hilarious.

SCHOLES: Yes. Ovechkin eventually got that puck and took a picture with it in the locker room. The Capitals, they won that game by a final 6-1.

Now in the NBA, meanwhile, the Spurs and Lakers playing a wild one in L.A., Luka rallying Lakers from nine down in the fourth. He finished with 35 points. And this step back three here gave L.A. the lead with 2.5 to go. Time winding down in this one, Kelly Olynyk, he's going to get a put back here to get the Spurs back within two. But then look at Marcus Smart, he tries to inbound this ball really fast, never gets both of his feet out of bound. So, that's a turnover. Spurs, they get the ball with 1.2 seconds. Julian Champagnie, he got fouled. He missed the first though. He had to try to miss the second. Spurs almost tipped it in here at the buzzer. It's kind of chaotic there. Lakers, they survived, win their fifth in a row, 118-116.

Lakers now 7-2, which is their best start since 2019, despite LeBron not having taken the floor yet this season, and ESPN is reporting, LeBron will not be going on the five-game road trip. The Lakers are heading out for today. So, the earliest we could see LeBron return to action is November 18th when the Lakers host the Jazz.

All right, finally, Jaylen Brown with a historic game for the Celtics. He has 35 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 percent in only 25 minutes in the wind over the Wizards. Brown's the first Celtics player ever to do that in under 30 minutes. And a really funny moment in the third, Brown driving here, he gets bowed by Kyshawn George and his head hit George, and in the process, Brown smeared his hairline onto him. This is the third time it's happened this season.

[07:25:00]

Brown having some fun with the fact that this keeps going viral, though, posting the video on X, saying A.I. is getting out of hand.

So, you know, Kate, two things. I love that this keeps happening and I love that Jaylen Brown is having fun, making fun of himself online whenever it does happen.

BOLDUAN: I mean, that is -- that was good all across the board, from pantsing a puck to now the hair. I mean, this is all -- this is good stuff today. I love that. What was he going to do with the puck? Like, you were just going to let that linger? You were going to let that one linger? Yes, you were. Good to see you, my Alex Ovechkin, Andy Scholes. Jessica?

DEAN: Still ahead, after a series of violent bear attacks, one community is taking an unusual step to fight back. They are bringing in the military for this.

And the bizarre reason many are entering a lottery to determine where they'll be buried.

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