Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Two Killed, Dozens Injured In Runway Collision At LaGuardia Airport; Trump Postpones Military Strikes On Iranian Power Plants; Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) On Trump Saying No DHS Deal Unless Democrats Agree To Pass Voting Bill. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 23, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:55]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, the deadly collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada plane were killed when the aircraft slammed into a fire truck on the runway. Seventy-two passengers and four crew were on that flight. Forty-one people were taken to the hospital. Two people inside the fire truck that was hit were also hospitalized.

The big question: How could this happen?

Let's look at the layout of the airport. You can see here the fire station is located beside the runway. The emergency fire truck at the center of the crash had to cross that runway to reach a different plane that had declared an emergency on the other side of the airport. Now the fire truck was cleared by air traffic control to cross the runway just moments before that inbound Air Canada plane landed causing the deadly collision.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has been live at LaGuardia all morning. Shimon, the airport is closed until 2:00. What else are you learning this morning about this crash and about those who were injured?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So nine people as of this morning remain in the hospital. Forty-one were treated -- transported to the hospital, then the executive director for the Port Authority that runs the airports here said that nine remain hospital -- hospitalized. So we're trying to learn more on their conditions. Of course, we're trying to learn more about the pilot and co-pilot that were killed here.

Very key things that you already have brought up -- investigators and the Port Authority officials already spoke about. You know, one of the most significant things here is that this collision -- this crash occurs during landing -- as the plane is coming in for a landing. We heard from a passenger who said that they could feel the pilots braking. It was like a hard brake as they were coming in for that landing.

Behind us here this morning we've been watching investigators and rescue workers here work the scene going through what's left of this plane. The entire nose of this plane was smashed -- the sheer force of this collision. And the fire truck that you talked about -- the truck is completely on its side. The two officers that were inside that truck -- they are at the hospital with serious injuries, but they're expected to survive.

The other thing I want to point out from the executive director of the Port Authority. I asked her this morning if there were any concerns, conditions that anyone reported. Anything abnormal going on here at the airport as this plane was coming in for a landing. She told me there was not. That's certainly something that's going to factor into what the NTSB here investigates and looks at, and we hope to hear from them here soon.

SIDNER: Yeah, it is really hard to look at those pictures. But the fact that you're saying the passengers noticed that they were slamming on the brakes -- that the pilots were slamming on -- they may have saved a lot of people because they were going a lot slower than they may have been had they not done so. But we will wait for the NTSB to kind of figure this all out as to how exactly this all happened.

Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much for your reporting there from LaGuardia Airport -- Erica.

[07:35:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Also with us this hour CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean. So Pete, when we look at what else happened here -- so Shimon was just saying he spoke with the head of the Port Authority saying there were no abnormal conditions. There are questions though about what the communication was from the controllers to both the aircraft and the fire truck.

Is that the central question this morning?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It is the central question, Erica, and some major questions now about the interplay that took place between air traffic control and this flight -- Air Canada Express flight 8646 that was coming in to land on LaGuardia's runway four.

We have now the granular data from Flightradar 24 which shows piece- by-piece and second-by-second this collision that occurred as this plane had just touched down at LaGuardia and was decelerating. The data shows from Flightradar 24 that this collision looks like it occurred at about 90 knots, which is about 104 miles an hour.

I want you to think about a really hard car crash that you may have seen. That is what we saw here on the runway at LaGuardia. This was not some sort of fender-bender at the airport between a vehicle and an airplane. This was a high-speed collision, really symptomatic of an aviation system that is bursting at the seams right now. Air traffic controllers are overworked, often working six-day weeks of 10-hour shifts.

Also, there are initial reports that this one air traffic controller was working two positions at the time. We still need to confirm that. We have reached out to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union representing air traffic controllers. They are not commenting on this because it is an open investigation.

Of course, the National Transportation Safety Board will leave no stone unturned as they look into this. The aircraft, the equipment, the pilots, and the environment -- those are all the things they will look into.

We know that the environment was the big thing here. The weather at the time of the crash was pretty good. We have pulled the weather report data from the time of the crash. It looks like the visibility was OK. That probably did not inhibit the pilots' ability to see the crash that was unfolding in front of them.

But like the midair collision we saw here at Reagan National Airport, pilots on landing are laser-focused on the runway in front of them. It is not clear if they saw this fire truck that essentially pulled out in front of them at the midway point of runway four and caused this essential T-bone collision on the runway, Erica.

HILL: Pete, we're tight on time but I just want to clarify one thing you said. This question of whether there was maybe one person manning both controls, meaning the control power who would speak to the trucks on the ground and air traffic control who would be speaking to the planes. Typically those would be two different people?

MUNTEAN: Typically, two different people, although sometimes positions are combined at times of low traffic, usually late at night or overnight. That is something, of course, we'll be pressing on.

It was the case here in the Reagan National Airport collision of just over a year ago -- January 29, 2025. One controller was working not only airplanes in the area but also helicopters in the area.

HILL: Right.

MUNTEAN: And at some point, air traffic control facilities, like towers, will combine the tower control -- they call that local, meaning airplanes in the area -- and ground control, meaning airplanes and vehicles on the ground. It's a very, very dynamic environment.

And we know that this occurred also at night -- late a night. And so investigators will also want to know about the fatigue, the level of alertness of the pilots, and also the level of alertness of the air traffic controllers who there in the tower cab at the time of this collision.

HILL: Yeah, all right.

Pete, really appreciate it. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Erica.

New this morning gas prices are up again as the war in Iran causes a major disruption in the oil industry. U.S. crude oil is hovering now just below $90 a barrel. So not as high as it has gone but still high after President Trump walked back his deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that the ongoing talks between the United States and Iran could end the war.

The big question now: How high will gas prices climb as the national average inches closer to $4.00 a gallon?

One expert is telling CNN that high gas prices now "may just be the tip of the iceberg" and will likely last into summer.

CNN senior business reporter David Goldman joins us now. So this could cause a little confusion. We just got the president coming out on his Truth Social saying he is going to -- they're having talks with Iran. Things look like they are going in a good direction. And so this deadline that he has imposed, he is kind of walking that back.

So you would think, OK, well then maybe the markets are reacting to that, and gas prices will come down. Is that the case or no?

[07:40:00]

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, oil is coming down but remember, gas prices don't follow oil automatically.

SIDNER: Yeah.

GOLDMAN: There's a lot of inputs. Gas is about 50 percent crude; the rest is other, you know, materials.

But the other thing that you need to remember is that there's rockets and feathers in the gas market. It takes off like a rocket and when it comes down, it comes down very, very slowly. Don't expect gas to come down even tomorrow necessarily. It could be quite some time, and we might even still get higher gas prices before we start seeing lower gas prices.

SIDNER: This talk about this -- these prices being high into the summer. I don't know how high. We all cannot predict that. Is that still something that could happen?

GOLDMAN: Absolutely. I mean, so if you look at it there's a few ways to understand how high gas prices will go. So there's one school of thought that says well, if you look at where oil was before, gas should be around that.

So in 2022, you had a situation where when we were at the same oil price, gas was significantly higher.

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: It was around $4.65.

But then there's another way to look at it. It's that, you know, every $10.00 you get about 24 cents in gas prices. So that's another way to look at it. We'll be looking at all those numbers.

SIDNER: So every $10.00 in the rise of crude you see about 24 cents extra.

GOLDMAN: And we are much higher than that right now.

SIDNER: Right.

GOLDMAN: So we don't know.

SIDNER: All right, we'll have to wait and see. A lot of people frustrated with that for sure.

David Goldman, we're glad to see you this morning.

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

SIDNER: Erica.

HILL: We do have some breaking news to tell you about on that front. The president just posting moments ago he has now decided to "postpone any and all military strikes on Iranian power plants after two days of talks with Iran." This, of course comes after the president had issued an ultimatum. He was demanding Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz by tonight or he warned that they would be risking strikes on their power plants.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House this morning. So the president's message this morning is the window is now a little wider in terms of that deadline. What else in terms of these talks, Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and that I think is what is most extraordinary about this post that we've gotten from the president. Until now we did not understand that the U.S. and Iran were speaking at all over the course of this now three week long conflict. Now the president says that these conversations are underway. And so you can start to see and to start envision how potentially there is a diplomatic route to de-escalation that we did not know of until, you know, 10 minutes ago before the president was posting this.

And I'll read you a little bit of what he said. He said, he's "...pleased to report that the United States and the country of Iran have had over the last two days very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East."

The president goes on to say that "Based on the tenor and tone of these in-depth, detailed, and constructive conversations, which will continue through the week, I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussion."

So you do see the president opening the window of this ultimatum that he had set on Iran that he would strike power plants in that country if it did not reopen that very critical Strait of Hormuz where all those energy tankers are waiting to go through. It's causing the price of oil to spike. Iran had threatened very severe retaliation not only on energy strikes but also on facilities in the Gulf.

Now, some big questions remain, namely who the U.S. is talking to because remember, the president had said that the Iranian leaders that he thought he could work with had been killed. Now he says that those conversations are ongoing and according to him very fruitful.

And so a very significant development I think this morning and does lead you to believe that the president has -- or is at least searching for something of an off-ramp here.

HILL: Yeah, absolutely, and we will see what more we learn about that potential off-ramp.

Kevin, I really appreciate it. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Joining us now, CNN senior military analyst and the former Supreme Allied commander of NATO, Admiral James Stavridis. Thank you so much for being here.

This just came in to us this morning. The president saying look, we're having talks and they're going well.

What that -- is that a surprise to you because a lot of people don't realize that oftentimes, even in the midst of war, there are always sort of talks going on? But there is the issue of who is leading Iran. Apparently, they know who that is and they've been talking to them.

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, VICE CHAIRMAN, THE CARLYLE GROUP (via Webex by Cisco): Well, first and foremost, let's all just say wow -- are we allowed to have some good news for at least one minute? And, you know, it's going to be a rollercoaster, but I think this is good news. And Sara, you're exactly right. There's almost always kind of at least backchannel conversations. I've been hearing about them from several sources.

And here is what you want to watch as this rollercoaster unfolds. I'll give you three things to watch.

[07:45:05]

Number one, where are, literally, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff because they are the ones who are going to be the U.S. side of this? Keep an eye on their normal counterparty. The Iranian foreign minister is still alive by all accounts. Abbas Araghchi is his name. So watch those three. Where are they? Are they popping up, for example, in a place like Geneva?

Number two, watch the Marines. The Marines are still kind of chugging along toward the Gulf. The first big Marine force gets there in seven days and another one right behind it, two to three weeks later.

And then number three, all eyes are going to continue to be on the Strait of Hormuz. Again, this is good news. But we just heard from our gas guy, and he laid out pretty clearly the strait is going to have to open before this is really going to turn into good news. But bottom line Sara, yeah, it's always better to be talk, talk, talk than bombs away.

SIDNER: Look, you have -- we have heard from Rutte, who is the head of NATO, saying that he thinks that this was a good move on the part of Trump -- and when I say this was a good move, the move to strike Iran and go after its nuclear capability. But he also says that there is going to be some cooperation from Europe to try to open the strait.

What would this mean? How would this work?

STAVRIDIS: I think the Europeans are going to kind of find a place where they're not launching strikes against Iran. In other words, you're not going to see French and British jets flying alongside of American and Israeli jets.

But look to the sea. You know the admiral is going to say this. But I think what the Europeans are going to do is contribute maritime assets. Let's say mind sweepers. They're very good at that. You're showing a picture now of the Strait of Hormuz. Got to keep that open and clear. European mine sweepers can help.

And then if we get to the point of escorting tankers in and out of the strait -- yes, the Europeans have very good frigates, destroyers, even air defense cruisers. Those could be used in an escort role.

So there's plenty the Europeans can do and I think Secretary-General Mark Rutte, former prime minister of the Netherlands, knows this landscape intimately. He's seeking to get the Europeans into a helpful position without obligating them to conduct these strikes.

SIDNER: We will have to wait and see. But for now it looks like there are some talks happening and as you say, that's good news. Talking is better than fighting, generally speaking, Admiral.

Thank you so much. I do appreciate it.

All right. Just ahead, masked arsonists burn up several ambulances outside of a synagogue. Now it's being investigated as an antisemitic attack.

And the Guthrie family has a new message to their community as the search for Nancy Guthrie stretches into the seventh week. We'll have the message ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:25]

HILL: The breaking news as we continue to keep a watch on airports around the country. The security checkpoint lines are actually starting outside, then winding through Atlanta's airport multiple times.

Also happening at Atlanta's airport this morning, ICE agents are on hand to reportedly help ease the hours long delays we've been reporting on for days now. The wait times, of course, ballooning amid the partial government shutdown. TSA agents are working without pay. They're also battling staffing shortages as colleagues call out. Hundreds have resigned.

As of this morning there doesn't appear to be an end in sight. President Trump threatening yesterday that he would not support any deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security which, of course, allocates funding to TSA, until lawmakers pass the unrelated Save Act.

Senator Majority Leader John Thune said they're "hitting pause" on DHS funding talks as Democrats prepare a counter on the latest offer from the White House.

Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire. Congresswoman, it's good to have you with us this morning.

I do want to get to DHS funding in just a moment but the president tweeting just a short time ago as we're looking at what is happening in Iran. He is citing productive conversations that were had over the weekend and says that tonight's deadline that he had put in place is now off. He says he's going to hold off on military strikes against Iranian power and energy sites for five days.

Do you see this as a potential diplomatic off-ramp at this point?

REP. MAGGIE GOODLANDER (D-NH): Well Erica, thanks so much for having me.

Look, the president hasn't explained why we abandoned diplomacy in the first place and why he launched this war of choice against Iran. He's created a global energy crisis that is hitting the bank accounts of the American people hard already at the gas pump, at the grocery store. It's hitting our family farmers as they prepare for the season ahead and fertilizer prices are through the roof.

This was a war of choice, and the president has not answered the most basic questions that any commander in chief must answer on the front end -- what are our objectives and how does this end well for the American people?

He's got to reopen the Strait of Hormuz -- that's now an imperative -- but that is a crisis of his own creation. And diplomacy, as we heard from Adm. Stavridis just a few minutes ago, should always be the path that we take before we launch a war. War has got to be out of necessity, not out of choice.

HILL: You mention those questions. I also want to talk about where we stood just prior to this Truth Social post from this morning. Iran, of course, had been threatening retaliatory strikes on Israeli infrastructure, on American interests. There have been concerns since the start of this war about potential cyberattacks.

[07:55:00]

Is the U.S. infrastructure potentially prepared for that possibility? GOODLANDER: Look, keeping our country safe and defending the homeland have no higher priority in Congress. When you start a war there are so many risks -- known risks and unknown risks.

And unfortunately the president did this without any warning to the United States Congress, which holds war powers under our Constitution. He did this without a warning to our allies. Our NATO allies were not consulted. Our allies across the region were not consulted or brought into this war of choice. And that is not a good place to put our country into without clear objectives, without a clear endgame, and with 13 Americans already having given their lives in this war.

These are choices the president has made, and he's got to bring an end to this chaos. He's got to be clear, and he's got to be in alignment with our Constitution.

HILL: You mentioned some of the questions that you have that you still want answered from the president and from this administration.

You serve on House Armed Services and you're a Navy veteran. As you noted last week, you're still waiting on the Defense Department's budget actually and this potential new ask could be as much as $200 billion for the war with Iran.

Have you been able to get any further clarification over what the potential funding request may be moving forward and for how long?

GOODLANDER: So far, I'm reading exactly what you're reading in the press. You know, the administration has not submitted its budget for the Department of Defense. It was due last month.

According to press reports they're going to be asking for a total of $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon. This is above and beyond anything we've ever seen before. On top of that, according to press reports last week, another $200 billion for this war without an end date, without a clear mission, without clear objectives.

Look, this is -- this is -- we know from history -- recent history -- last week marked the 23rd anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. We should learn the lessons of history. Trillions of dollars, thousands of American lives, and for what? The president has got to answer this.

What we see right now are clear costs of this war being borne by hardworking Americans, and who are the winners so far? Well, the winners are Vladimir Putin, who has been transformed from pariah to absolutely critical player in our global oil markets. And look, we've seen sanctions relief both on Vladimir Putin and for Iran -- for this Iranian regime -- sanctions relief. Decisions that this president has made in the course of this war of choice.

HILL: Congresswoman, we're getting a little tight on time, but I do want to get to you on where we stand with DHS. The president shutting it down on Sunday, essentially. We had heard some positive reports from Sen. Thune talking about this offer from the White House. It did offer some of the things Democrats were after -- were after, but the president says nothing's happening without the Save Act. What does that do right now? And what is the message then to, for example, these TSA workers and for the Americans who are frustrated at what they see at airports and frustrated for the folks who they see who are not getting paid?

GOODLANDER: This is another crisis of the president's own creation and his own choices. We've got a clear path here to fund the unfunded parts of DHS. There is no good reason that any TSA -- any man or woman working for TSA, for the Coast Guard, for FEMA, on our cyber defense, should be working without a paycheck.

And we have tried seven times between the House and the Senate to fund TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard. We've -- that is exactly what we're trying to do. And there is a petition on the floor of the House right now that would do exactly that. We need four Republicans to join us.

This is how we got the Epstein files Transparency Act across the finish line. This is how we extended the ACA premium tax credits last year. We got 17 Republicans to join us in that effort.

This is what we need to do in the House right now because no federal public servant who are doing some of the hardest jobs that we could ask anyone to do should be working without a paycheck. And by the way, no member of Congress should be paid while federal workers are working without pay.

But here's the bottom line. ICE and border patrol are funded at levels that we've never seen before. We're asking for basic guardrails -- common-sense guardrails that will keep our communities safe and that will keep law enforcement accountable to the American people. The president should not be standing in the way of this. We should -- we can do both and we must do both. This is so core to Congress' responsibility.

HILL: Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thanks, Erica.

On our radar for you this morning at least four ambulances belonging to a Jewish rescue organization were set on fire outside a synagogue in London today. People in the area, which is home to London's largest Jewish community, say they were woken up by loud explosions and the sound of firefighters rushing to the scene.