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Six U.S. Service Members Killed In Refueling Plane Crash; Hegseth Vows To Destroy Iran Military, Reopen Strait Of Hormuz; Israel Targets Area Near Site Of Rally In Tehran; Sources: Synagogue Attacker Shows Up In Federal Databases As Having Connections To "Known Of Suspected Terrorists"; Police: Person Arrested For Selling Rifle To Suspect In Deadly Shooting At Old Dominion University; FBI: Convicted ISIS Supporter Behind Deadly Shooting At Old Dominion; DOJ Files Reveal Sarah Ferguson Sought Epstein Advice; A Federal Judge Has Quashed Subpoenas In The Justice Department's Investigation Into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell; Judge Blocks Subpoenas Against Fed Chair Citing "Zero Evidence". Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 13, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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A new hour of CNN's NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Six U.S. service members killed after their refueling aircraft crashes in Iraq. The U.S. military says the incident was not due to hostile fire, though an Iranian proxy group is claiming responsibility. We'll break down the details there.

A local rabbi also praising the security team that killed an attacker who rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into a synagogue in Michigan. Investigators are looking into a possible tie between the suspect and Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.

And the FBI is investigating the shooting at Old Dominion University in Virginia as an act of terrorism, as we learn that a group of ROTC students leaped into action and subdued the attacker.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We start this hour with a search for answers. The Pentagon does not

yet have a reason for the deadly plane crash that killed six U.S. service members in Iraq. Earlier today it did confirm that the refueling aircraft was not shot down by hostile or friendly fire. What exactly went wrong, though, remains unclear.

We're seeing new images today of the other U.S. jet involved, and you can see in the very back of the plane on the tail, the second plane was damaged but was able to land safely. This morning President Trump suggested the war may soon come to an end, saying he will know it's over when he feels it in his bones.

Let's go live to Tel Aviv now with CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

And Jeremy, we also heard a lot from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well. Walk us through the latest.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. We heard from the Defense Secretary talking about the extent to which the United States has destroyed Iranian military capabilities so far, including its Navy, and yet at the same time he also made clear that the United States is still working to try and end what has effectively become an Iranian blockade of this Strait of Hormuz.

He didn't give a timeline for when the United States would be able to start escorting ships through that key strait through which about 20 percent of global trade actually passes through. He also talked, of course, about the deaths of these six U.S. service members aboard that refueling plane, saying war is hell, war is chaos, and bad things can happen.

The United States military says that it is investigating this tragic incident involving this refueling plane, but the Defense Secretary said that this was not a result of enemy or friendly fire. However, it's important to note that an Islamic insurgency group in Iraq, an Iranian proxy group, has claimed responsibility for downing that refueling plane, although they didn't provide any evidence for the claim.

What we do know is that the second refueling plane that was involved in this incident, it did land safely here at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, which has become a base for some of these -- these refueling aircraft. You can see in the image from that plane that part of its tail wing has basically been shorn off, what appears to be a part of this incident, perhaps involving some kind of a midair collision. Again, details are scant so far, but that plane did make it back safely with all of its crew alive on board.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy, walk us through the latest that you're learning regarding strikes across the region.

DIAMOND: Yes, Boris, well, the death toll has now risen to at least 2,000 people who've been killed in both Iran and Lebanon as a result of Israeli and U.S. strikes. The United States, of course, only striking in Iran, Israel striking in both countries. According to Iranian authorities, as recently as Wednesday, at least

1,300 people had been killed. The death toll is likely significantly higher at this point. And in Lebanon, we know of more than 700 casualties, including over a hundred 100 children, according to Lebanese health authorities.

We witnessed today as Iranian regime supporters held a rally in the capital city of Tehran that was attended, actually, by several senior Iranian officials in what is quite a remarkable show of defiance, given the fact that we know that Israel is actively targeting senior Iranian officials.

And just in the background of some of those images, you can see a fresh Israeli airstrike that targeted an internal security services checkpoint, the besiege checkpoint in the Iranian capital.

[15:05:07]

The Israeli military says right now that it is conducting yet another fresh wave of airstrikes following ballistic missile fire from Iran, targeting population centers here in Israel. Several fires broke out on the outskirts of Tel Aviv as a result of what appears to be Iran's latest use of cluster munitions outfitted to the tops of these ballistic missiles, an effort by Iran to try and break through Israel's sophisticated air defenses, though no casualties were reported as a result of that latest barrage tonight. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond for us in Tel Aviv, thank you. Jessica.

DEAN: All right, this just in. Law enforcement officials telling CNN the man accused of ramming his vehicle into the Detroit area synagogue preschool shows up in federal government databases as having connections to, quote, "known or suspected terrorists connected with Hezbollah in Lebanon." I want to go to CNN's Whitney Wild, who has been covering this for us.

Obviously, Whitney, this is a key detail now showing up in federal databases as having known connections to -- to Hezbollah.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, we are, you know, moment by moment getting a better picture of who this person was and what was going on in his life prior to this incident. This is reporting, according to CNN's John Miller, that his last foreign travel back to Lebanon, where he was born, was in 2019. And according to John Miller's sources, he was coming back to the United States through Atlanta when he was stopped by Customs and Border Protection.

And in an interview with those agents, he said that the purpose of the travel was to go back for a hair transplant. They looked through his phone, and it was during this inspection of the phone that individuals who were known or suspected members of Hezbollah were found within his contacts. It is not clear who those contacts were or what Mohamad -- we now know Ayman Mohamad Ghazali's connection to those people was.

But again, it is bringing greater clarity to this entire person. And what we also know is within the last week, this is according to U.S. officials here, as well as a mayor in Lebanon, he had family who was killed in this really airstrike. Two of his brothers were killed, a niece and nephew were killed, two sisters-in-law were injured, and his parents were injured.

This fact pattern here as well -- you know, when you couple that with the rise in anti-Semitism, in many ways, his case represents what we know happens quite often, which is someone has a major life event before a mass casualty incident like this could have been had it not been for the heroic actions of the security officers.

So, we are continuing to learn more about this, but law enforcement reluctant to detail a motive other than what we are starting to piece together over the last 24 hours. Back to you.

DEAN: Yes, and this is a key, key detail in all of that. I'm sure there will be more to come. Whitney Wild there in Michigan with the very latest for us, thank you so much.

And still to come here, what we're learning about another terror suspect, this one who opened fire at Old Dominion University and killed a distinguished ROTC instructor.

Plus, we'll explain why the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is impacting your local gas station.

And a little later, new CNN reporting on how rescuers responding to deadly tornadoes are operating without a critical tornado tracking tool. We'll explain that and much more coming up here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: Breaking news on that deadly shooting at Old Dominion University. Police say they've now arrested a person on federal charges for allegedly selling the rifle used in yesterday's attack. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terror, and the school now says that Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, was enrolled as an active student there. CNN's Brian Todd has more details from the suspect's hometown of Sterling, Virginia.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're getting new details about the Old Dominion University gunman from court documents, from other sources, and from neighbors of his and his families here in Sterling, Virginia, where he lived. According to court documents, the CNN has reviewed the suspect, identified as 36-year-old, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Sierra Leone.

Now, we do know that he spent about seven years in prison -- almost seven years in prison, after pleading guilty to trying to help the terror group ISIS. According to authorities, at the time he was arrested in 2016, he tried to procure weapons for an ISIS attack. He is a former member of the Virginia National Guard.

And according to neighbors, this is a family who -- who he lived with here in Sterling, in a townhouse here, who did not interact very much at all with the community. One neighbor described walking past Mohamed Jalloh on walks in the neighborhood, saying that when he would say hi to him, that Jalloh would not engage at all, wouldn't say hi, would just look down to the ground. He said that happened on multiple occasions.

Neighbors described the family as being a large extended family, many members of -- of which lived in this townhouse behind me here in Sterling, Virginia, which -- with people always coming and going, but neighbors said that the -- the family didn't really interact very much at all with the neighbors. They said that they often -- they sometimes would have a -- a large party at the house with loud music, but other than that, they just did not interact at all with members of the community.

[15:15:03]

Neighbors also expressing some frustration that he spent this time in prison for collaborating with ISIS and was allowed to come back here. One neighborhood saying he was surprised that they released him and let him come back and live in the neighborhood with everybody else here. Back to you, guys.

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Brian Todd for that report.

Still ahead, in public, she criticized Jeffrey Epstein, but in private, she praised him and asked him for money. The new revelations in the Epstein files about Sarah Ferguson's relationship with the convicted sex offender when we come back.

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[15:20:10]

DEAN: We are learning new details about the relationship between the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and former Duchess, Sarah Ferguson. CNN reviewed more Epstein files released by the DOJ that show Ferguson not only sought advice from the late financier, but that she showered him with praise, asked him to borrow money, even joked about the two of them getting married. Ferguson has not been accused of crimes related to Epstein. CNN Senior National Enterprise Correspondent, M.J. Lee, is here with more reporting on this.

M.J., I know you've been digging into this. Tell us more about the friendship and what you learned.

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Sarah Ferguson had, in years past, publicly addressed her association with Jeffrey Epstein, but what's interesting is that in these new release files from the DOJ, we get this whole new picture of the two people's relationship going back years. Nicky Robertson and I looked through dozens of messages that Epstein and Ferguson had exchanged around 2009 to 2012. And this is what we learned, first of all, Fergie had a lot of affection for Jeffrey Epstein, at least in the emails that she wrote to him. Look at this email from April of 2009. This, by the way, was when

Epstein was serving jail time for having procured prostitution from a minor. She wrote, "My dear spectacular and special friend Jeffrey, you are legend and I'm so proud of you. Thanks for being such a good friend."

She once described him as the brother I have always wished for, joked at times that he should just go ahead and marry her.

The second dynamic that I think is really interesting from these files is that she really leaned on Epstein for financial advice and asked him for money. For example, in the fall of 2009, she says, you know, I urgently need 20,000 pounds for rent. Any advice on how I could get that kind of money?

In 2010, she's asking to borrow 50- to a hundred thousand U.S. dollars. And then, she also, at one point, suggested that Epstein should employ her as a house assistant.

Look at this email: "I'm the most capable and desperately need the money, please, Jeffery, thank about it."

And I think one of the things that's really the most damning is that in 2011, she actually criticized Epstein in a public interview, saying, "I abhor pedophilia. I will have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein again."

But when you look into the files, you see that she was actually privately apologizing to Epstein for having made those comments, asking for his forgiveness, saying, I didn't actually call you the P word. And I should just stress, you know, Ferguson is not somebody that has been accused of any crimes related to Epstein. And just because your name is in the files doesn't necessarily mean you've done anything wrong. But it is all so fascinating and really important because she is one of the many people that we are now -- now finding out, thanks to these files from the DOJ.

She did once have a much more intimate relationship and friendship with Jeffrey Epstein than we ever could have publicly known.

DEAN: Yes, for sure. Really fascinating stuff. All right, M.J. Lee, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

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[15:27:39]

SANCHEZ: Breaking news into CNN. A federal judge has quashed subpoenas in the Justice Department's investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The case centered around Powell's testimony on a renovation project at Fed headquarters. Powell claims the criminal investigation is political retaliation for his refusal to lower interest rates as President Trump has pressured him to do.

DEAN: CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid is breaking this story for us. Paula, tell us what you know.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And Jess, this is significant because here we have a federal judge admonishing the Trump Justice Department for its criminal investigation into the Fed Chair. Now, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington had opened a criminal investigation into Powell, and as part of that, they issued two subpoenas to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, seeking records related to its renovation of some buildings and testimony that Powell had given about those renovations.

And not surprisingly, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors moved to quash or knock down those subpoenas. And in this blistering opinion, the judge concludes that, quote, "A mountain of evidence suggests that the government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning. On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual. The Court, therefore, finds that these subpoenas were issued for an improper purpose and will quash them."

This really striking language from a federal judge, and of course, this decision comes amid larger concerns about weaponization at the Trump Justice Department. We know from our reporting that the President has expressed frustration.

SANCHEZ: Let's go to -- let's go to Jeanine Pirro, who was giving a press conference on this news as we speak. Let's listen.

JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: It seemed to go into a black hole, especially in D.C., where no one is held accountable. One of the age-old tools that all prosecutors have to investigate any crime, including cost overruns, is a grand jury subpoena. Today, however, in Washington, an activist judge has taken that tool away from us.

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