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Mother Thanks NYPD Officers Who Helped Deliver Her Baby on Sidewalk; Millions of Americans Facing Severe Weather Threat; Keir Starmer Says U.K. Working With Allies to Reopen Strait of Hormuz; Some Allies Dismiss Trump's Call for Help in Strait of Hormuz; Airport Lines Grow as TSA Workers Go Unpaid From Government Shutdown; Cuba's Electrical Grid Suffers Total Collapse. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 16, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- to lay down on a discarded cushioned bench outside her building. That is when multiple officers from New York's 42nd Precinct stepped in to help deliver Zenovia.

One officer ended up swaddling the newborn in his jacket, inspiring Legette to give Zenovia the middle name of Remy, the swaddling officer's last name. If I had a cap, I would tip it. Unbelievable way to start that life. Hats off to those officers.

New hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Coalition of the Unwilling. President Trump is calling on U.S. allies to help safeguard traffic in the Strait of Hormuz as gas prices in the U.S. tick up to their highest since 2023. No quiet quitting at U.S. airports, everyone is noticing the long lines as TSA agents call out sick or quit.

Lawmakers seem to have no answers for the shutdown that is causing a crisis for travelers. And three-quarters of the country facing severe and potentially hazardous weather, everything from tornadoes to ice and snowstorms to threats from high winds or even fire.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

JIMENEZ: All right, we're going to start with breaking news on the war with Iran. President Trump, just a short time ago, lashing out at U.S. allies who today aren't really going with his demands for help in the Strait of Hormuz.

The president at one point saying, for 40 years, we're protecting you and you don't want to get involved in something that's very minor, to use his words. But then, moments later, he dismissed the idea of even needing help at all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We don't need anybody. We're the strongest nation in the world. We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don't need them.

But, it's interesting, I'm almost doing it in some cases, not because we need them, but because I want to find out how they react. Because I've been saying for years that if we ever did need them, they won't be there. Not all of them, but they won't be there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Let's get right to CNN's Kevin Liptak, who's live at the White House for us. So, Kevin, what more did he say here? What stood out to you?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and he's essentially framing this as a loyalty exercise for American allies, even as you hear nation after nation be either non-committal to his demands for help in the Strait of Hormuz, or outright reject his demands that they use their own warships to escort oil tankers through that waterway.

And he's making sort of two arguments here. One is that because other nations rely on oil that flows through the Strait more than the United States does, they need to take more responsibility for ensuring that it opens back up. But two, that because the U.S. has been the backbone of these defensive alliances like NATO for so long, that it is essentially owed these countries' participations.

Now, this is sort of the first time that the president has shown any eagerness whatsoever to get other countries involved in this conflict with Iran. In the lead-up to this war, the president really made no attempt to gain their buy-in. Many said that they were surprised when the war began two weeks ago.

The president, in his little press conference earlier, was asked about a few specific countries and their relative levels of participation, including the French president Emmanuel Macron. Listen to what he said about the French president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: On a scale of zero to ten, I'd say he's been an eight. Not perfect, but it's France.

(LAUGH)

TRUMP: We don't expect perfect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you confident that France will help with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz?

TRUMP: Yeah, I mean, sure. He's going to -- I think he's going to help. I mean, I'll let you know. I spoke to him yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: He was far more critical about the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, who the president also spoke with last evening, saying that he didn't understand why Starmer needed to meet with his officials to discuss any of this. Now, the president did say that there were numerous countries "on their way to help in this endeavor." He didn't say who they were, but he said he would provide a list at a later date. Don't worry.

JIMENEZ: Also putting pressure on some of those Eastern Asian countries, as the Japanese prime minister is expected to visit as well. Kevin Liptak, really appreciate the reporting. Brianna?

KEILAR: U.S. allies are responding as President Trump ramps up pressure on them to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. Let's go now to CNN International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson, who is live from Kuwait for us. Nic, does it appear that maybe some countries can be swayed here?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Look, I think they can be ultimately. And we heard from the European High Representative on Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, early in the day saying it is an economic need and it is a need to open the Straits of Hormuz.

So I think everyone agrees that there is a need for that. But it's how to get there. Keir Starmer also spoke about it today. The British prime minister also saying that, ultimately, that's the direction the world has to -- that's the direction the U.K. has to go and that the Straits of Hormuz will have to open. This is how he framed it.

[14:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Now, we've already acted alongside other countries to release emergency oil stocks at a level that is completely unprecedented. But ultimately, we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability in the market. That is not a simple task.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Look, and he went on to say as well that he owes it to British service personnel that when he takes a decision that could put them in harm's way, he says there needs to be a clear legal basis for it and a clear goal provided.

And I think this is really a reference to British position, or his view at least, that that hasn't been clearly articulated, that a legal position hasn't been clearly given by the White House yet. He said this is under discussion. He said no decision has been made yet.

And I think this point about discussion is the indication that they're heading in the right direction. And I think as well, when you hear the British prime minister say that he needs to find, if he's going to put troops in harm's way, he needs to find the proper basis for doing that. When he says when I'm going to put, or when I'm going to make a decision to put them in harm's way, I think signals that ultimately, days perhaps, that that decision will be coming.

And he'll want to refer back to we've looked at it. He's in a difficult position. The British public are not in favor of the war at the moment, by and large. They're not in favor in part because of what President Trump has said about British troop service in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

There's not a huge groundswell of public opinion that's positive for President Trump at the moment. And that puts Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, who faces very important local elections in the U.K. in the next couple of months, in a difficult position.

When it comes to the Europeans, they do have some naval assets in the region already. But the French President, Emmanuel Macron, has said what we have in place already, which is a small force of three figures off the coast of Yemen, isn't sufficient for what's required.

So even when countries have decided that they're going to commit, they still have to get the actual resources into the region. And that's something that the British have been very publicly failing to do for a number of reasons so far.

KEILAR: Nic Robertson, live for us from Kuwait, thank you.

And still to come, long lines of disgruntled air travelers in airports across the country as a result of the DHS shutdown. It could get a lot worse now that hundreds of TSA agents have quit. Plus, an Afghan father of six who helped U.S. Special Forces and fled the Taliban dies less than a day after ICE detained him. Now his family and advocates demand answers from DHS.

And then later, we're tracking a powerful, widespread storm that has millions in the mid-Atlantic on alert for tornadoes right now. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:12:52]

JIMENEZ: Travelers are telling CNN today they are "over it," as security wait times doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in some airports across the country. And that's in part because of TSA workers calling out as they're working without pay due to the partial government shutdown.

This weekend, Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy confirmed 300 TSA members have actually quit amid this impasse. And moments ago, a TSA union official in Atlanta spoke or talked about the hardships his members are facing, saying they've now missed two paychecks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON BARKER, PRESIDENT, AFGE LOCAL 554: Many are coping with eviction notices, vehicle repossessions, empty refrigerators, and overdrawn bank accounts. Every available financial option has been exhausted. Yet, these officers are still coming to work to protect the traveling public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Joining me now is Michael Konopasek, Spokesman for the Denver International Airport. The airport actually sent out a tweet recently looking for gas and grocery gift cards for TSA workers. So I want to ask you about that just to start out.

I mean, can you just tell me what drove the decision to make you all say, well, we actually should be requesting gift cards and donations for some of these TSA workers?

MICHAEL KONOPASEK, SPOKESMAN, DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: Yeah, well, first, thanks for having me on. You know, we work with these TSA workers. We know them. We see them every day. And we know that they're struggling right now. They're coming to work. They're not getting paid.

And so the last time that this government shutdown happened, we stood up a food pantry. And this time, the leadership at Denver International Airport met with local TSA leadership to try to figure out exactly what would be needed this time. And that's where we determined that the gas cards and also the grocery store gift cards would be most helpful during this time.

So we put the call out. We have a drop box in the center of the terminal over at our cell phone lot. And we were confident and now pleased to see that the community is really stepping up. And they are providing these gift cards to help these TSA workers.

JIMENEZ: And as I understand, you correct me if I'm wrong, in that the previous shutdown, obviously it stretched for a record amount of time.

[14:15:00]

And we still saw some of the same missed paychecks, things like that. What makes this one different enough to where you all felt you needed to cross that threshold? Well, we actually need to step in and help some of these workers out ourselves.

KONOPASEK: Yeah, well, we learn things, of course, when we experience them, right? And so the food pantry, we thought was helpful. It was a success. We did see a lot of gratitude from our TSA colleagues, but this allows more flexibility, right? If you have the gift card, you can go ahead and get exactly what you want from the grocery store, what your family might need.

And also the gas gift cards make a big difference as well, because again, they're coming to work, they're not being paid and they need to get to work. So we thought that that would be the most helpful.

JIMENEZ: And you know, on the consumer and flyer side of things, obviously there have been effects that have trickled down to them. Every airport has seen sort of its version of effects from the shutdown in their own ways.

I was looking at Denver's wait times. They seem to be OK right now, but can you just put into perspective a little bit the impact this has had on your airport and sort of how these other airports are interconnected with your operations there?

KONOPASEK: Yeah, so we have been seeing reports just like everyone else from across the country where there have been issues with longer lines. Thankfully, we have not been experiencing that in Denver.

Our TSA workers are showing up to work here in Denver, but of course it's a day-by-day situation, right? And the longer this goes on, the more unknowns as we push forward through this. And we want to make sure that they have what they need to be able to get to work and be supported.

But right now, yeah, if you were to go to flydenver.com right now, you would see minimal wait times, five minutes at the most to get through right now. And that has typically been what we have been seeing throughout this partial government shutdown.

JIMENEZ: As you talk about those dynamics are ones that are pretty fragile right now, can change from day to day and of course going from location to location. Obviously, at the center of this is this stalled debate over DHS, ICE reform, things like that. Do you have a message to lawmakers right now who have not been able to move forward with negotiations, but at the same time are affecting operations like yours, both in form of workers and travelers every day?

KONOPASEK: What we can say is, we can't control what happens in Washington. Of course, we don't like seeing this. We don't want to have the TSA workers not receiving paychecks, but what we can control is what we can do to try to help them right here, right now.

And so that is where we felt the need to go ahead and put out a press release, talk to you all. And again, thanks for helping us spread the word to make sure that people, when they're at the airport, before they get to the airport, they know that they can bring those gift cards with them if they desire, and there will be a place where they'll be able to donate those gift cards.

And for those outside of the Denver Metro, we would encourage those people to reach out to their local airports and see perhaps if they have something going on and what they might be doing to help the TSA workers.

JIMENEZ: Michael Konopasek, appreciate you taking the time and keep us posted as those donations come in. We want to stay on top of that and see what people are sending in. Appreciate the time.

All right, still to come, strong storms with the potential for tornadoes rolling into Washington and Philadelphia this afternoon. We're tracking the danger for millions across the region. And later, closing arguments are underway in the murder trial of the Utah mom accused of fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl.

We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:23:09]

KEILAR: Around 75 percent of the U.S. population is feeling the effects of a powerful storm system, including us, right now here in D.C. Millions of people up and down the East Coast are under tornado watches and that includes cities like Philadelphia, D.C. and Baltimore.

In the Midwest, that same system is bringing blizzard-like conditions. Several locations there are already seeing as much as 30 inches of snow. And that's causing some pretty dangerous conditions on the roads. Along with impacts to travel, we're also seeing hundreds of thousands of people without power. There's school closures across several states as well.

Let's go live now to CNN Meteorologist, Chris Warren, who is following the latest forecast. I can tell you we are hearing the rain. We can hear it on the top of the studio. So it's starting to get underway here. Where's the worst hitting?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, this is a massive storm. And some of the worst of the weather right now in terms of the severe thunderstorms happening where the red is located. But also at the same time, this big system still with blizzard warnings in effect and eventually freezing temperatures return to the south.

But over the next several minutes, couple of hours, even few hours, the main threats, damaging winds, tornadoes and a lot of lightning with these thunderstorms. Now ahead of the main line, it is possible there could be a few of the stronger tornadoes. Haven't seen any yet so far. So we're keeping an eye on this.

Could see some of the stronger, possibly long-track tornadoes. But the more widespread threat is going to be this line of storms and any of these individual thunderstorms will bring with it some very strong, possibly hurricane-force winds. And even in the south, after the rain and the storms come by, some snow falling in Tennessee, northern Georgia and Alabama with some snow showers continuing through the Ohio Valley.

[14:25:00]

But as far as that severe weather threat goes, it does include tornado watches from Florida all the way up to New Jersey, including the mid- Atlantic. These orange outlined areas are severe thunderstorm warnings where some of the stronger winds and possibly some hail will be associated with these storms. And right now, moving through the D.C. area, some of these strong storms, also expecting a line later on.

And then again, Brianna, after these storms move through, over the next few hours, much colder air, in some cases 20, 40, almost 50 degrees colder than what we've seen in just the past 24 hours.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be keeping our eyes out for that. Chris Warren, thank you so much.

Still to come, President Trump says numerous allies are on the way to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but he won't say which ones. We'll discuss.

And Breaking News into CNN, Cuba's electrical grid has suffered a complete and total collapse. This is according to the country's power operator. It's the first nationwide blackout since the U.S. effectively shut off the flow of oil to Cuba.

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