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Runway Collision at LaGuardia; Aaron Barker is Interviewed about ICE Helping TSA; Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) is Interviewed about Iran; Americans on Trump and the Economy; Supreme Court Takes up Mail-in Ballots Dispute. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 23, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:35]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, all air traffic has stopped at New York's LaGuardia Airport after a deadly collision overnight. An Air Canada passenger plane slamming into a fire truck on the runway. The pilot and copilot, both killed. Seventy- two passengers and four crew members were on board. Forty-one people were taken to hospitals. The injured include two people inside the fire truck that was hit. Officials say LaGuardia will be closed until at least 2:00 this afternoon.

And, just in, data shows the plane was going more than 100 miles per hour when it hit the fire truck.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joins us now.

Pete, you know so much about what happens in the skies. How in the world could this have happened?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: A really horrible confluence of events here, Sara, that this fire truck, as part of the LaGuardia Airport Fire Department, was responding to a separate incident, an aborted takeoff on a United Airlines flight, and had been told by air traffic controllers controlling the ground there, they call them ground controllers, to taxi across Runway Four at LaGuardia at taxiway delta, which is about halfway down the runway. And it appears that this Air Canada Express Flight 8646, operated by Jazz Aviation, hit that fire truck essentially dead on. Envision a t-bone collision of a car that you may have seen. And this collision happened with a lot of force. We've been able to look at the granular data from Flight Radar 24. That this collision occurred at about 90 knots. Knots are the unit used to describe speed in aviation. That's about 104 miles an hour. So, this is like a really hard car crash that you may have seen at highway speed, two cars hitting at 50 miles an hour each. That's what this would be like.

The big question now for investigators is really in the communication. Was the controller at the time of this crash in the air traffic control tower at LaGuardia overworked or fatigued? It was late at night, about 11:30 p.m. They will want to know, of course, about the conditions at the airport itself. Didn't seem like weather was a factor. We know that there was some weather moving through at the time, but it wasn't very severe at the time, although that's, of course, what investigators will also look into.

[08:35:01]

And then, of course, they will pull the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. We know from the Reagan National Airport collision, January 29, 2025, that killed 67 people, only a few spots from here, only a few miles from here, is that pilots are laser focused on the runway as they are landing. So, did they see this collision that was about to occur in front of them? And did the firefighters on board that airport rescue and firefighting service truck have any inclination that they were in the wrong spot at the wrong time? This is so symptomatic of an aviation system that has been bursting at the seams. Air traffic controllers have been overworked for years. There is a massive shortage of air traffic controllers, although we know from the Federal Aviation Administration data that LaGuardia tower, which is considered to be one of the highest risk, highest workloads, toughest jobs in the air traffic control system is at or near full staffing. Of course, that is something that investigators will look into as well as they are on the scene now.

We do know that the airport is closed until at least 2:00 p.m. I would anticipate it being closed even longer, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes. And that's going to affect traffic all across, not just New York, but across the country with 900 or so flights coming in and out of there on a daily basis.

Pete Muntean, thank you for walking us through that. A really horrific crash there this morning at LaGuardia.

Erica

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sara, thanks.

We're also following this breaking news this morning. Security checkpoint lines at Atlanta's airport seen spilling outside today. ICE agents are also now on hand at Atlanta's airport. This is at the discretion of the Trump administration, sending those federal agents to 13 airports across the country. They say they're going to help ease these hour's long delays that we've been looking at and sharing with you over the last several days. TSA agents, of course, are going now again, without pay as this partial government shutdown continues. The Transportation secretary says it makes sense here to bring in ICE to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: TSA agents are law enforcement. They know how to pat people down. They know how to run the x-ray machines because they are, again, under Homeland Security with TSA. So, if we can bring in other assets and tools to assist TSA to get rid of these lines, yes, I think that makes a lot of sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Now, since the start of the shutdown, DHS is reporting more than 400 TSA workers have quit.

Joining me now, one of the many agents -- TSA agents being impacted by all of this, Aaron Barker. He's a TSA employee and also president of the TSA union that represents Georgia's TSA workers.

Aaron, we appreciate you taking the time to join us.

You just heard those comments there from Secretary Duffy. He said, look, they know how to pat people down. They know how to deal with, you know, some of the security screening that you do as a TSA agent, which I should point out, you go through extensive training for. Do you agree that these ICE agents could be brought in? Would you be comfortable with them joining you there at the security checkpoint in that -- in that manner?

AARON BARKER, PRESIDENT, AFGE LOCAL 554: I don't agree with that. You know, we have extensive training, as you just stated. And it takes months to be able to -- and even after months of training, there's still things that you encounter that you don't see every day or situations that arise that don't come up every day. So, to just throw them on the checkpoint like that, I think that that is a recipe for disaster. It's going to create chaos. So, I do not agree with that comment.

HILL: There's also some mixed messaging here, right, because we're hearing that from Secretary Duffy. But then Tom Homan, who's overseeing this deployment, he has said, look, this is just to help for functions that they're not -- that ICE agents are not trained for. He says, you know, this could help with maybe security lines. So, we're seeing that in Atlanta. My colleagues there on the ground saying ICE agents are outside the security checkpoint. I guess essentially it could be sort of a crowd control situation. Does that help, though, in your view, when it comes to wait times?

BARKER: No. In Atlanta there are people already out there directing the lines and directing passengers to navigate the airport. I don't think that that helps. I think that would probably put more passengers on the edge, just from my experience and talking with family and friends, I don't think that's a welcomed thing there by the -- by the traveling public.

HILL: What have you been told by your bosses about these ICE agents who, again, are already there on the ground in Atlanta, and what their role will be, and how that is supposed to work with your role?

BARKER: They have not spoken to me directly. I'm actually not in Atlanta today. I'm visiting one of my other airports in Savannah. And basically it's just the same thing that you said as far as I know, they will just be walking and monitoring the line, so to speak.

HILL: The union had called this ICE deployment a, quote, "dangerous escalation."

[08:40:02]

Do you agree with that assessment?

BARKER: I do think that it is concerning. I don't necessarily think it's dangerous. I do think that it's concerning for the traveling public to have ICE there just based off of what's being circulated in the media.

HILL: OK.

BARKER: So, I -- I do think that it could potentially be dangerous.

HILL: Aaron, what is the biggest challenge for you and your colleagues today?

BARKER: Not receiving a paycheck. Having to show up every day, to complete the mission and -- for the oath that we took, you know, as public servants and to not receive a paycheck. You know, it's very disheartening. People are upset, very stressed out, because our lawmakers are not doing the job that they were elected to do.

HILL: Aaron, we appreciate you taking the time to join us and let's hope soon that we're talking about you getting some back pay. Thank you, as always.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thanks, Erica.

All right, this just in to us right now, Iran is now denying that they are in talks with Washington. This is just an hour after President Trump claimed the U.S. has had productive conversations with Tehran. According to Iranian state affiliated media outlets, Iran accused Trump of trying to lower energy prices and buy time for military plans. Earlier this morning, Trump said he was putting military strikes on Iran's power plants on hold for at least five days, pending the outcome of these talks. That is what he put on Truth Social.

Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts.

Thank you so much.

OK, so we just got this in, that Iran is denying that they're having talks with the president -- or with the president's people. What do you make of all this? Because the president has backtracked on a deadline to what he called obliterate power plants in Iran if they didn't open the Strait of Hormuz.

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): Sara, good morning. Thanks for having me on.

The president has backtracked on almost all of the original strategic rationale that he dripped out to the American public after the war started. I'm sure there are back channel conversations happening between Iran and the administration right now, but the reason we are hearing Iran flex this way is because they have a new strategic asset. When this war began, Israel and the United States had air dominance over Iran. Now that this war is three weeks old, they still have air dominance, but Iran also now has its own strategic asset, which is sea denial. Iran has demonstrated to the world that it can selectively close the Strait of Hormuz to international oil transit. And that is spiraling global markets. And Iran understands that while it is operationally under stress from the tempo and the kinetics from Israel and the United States, it is strategically actually in a stronger position now than it was three weeks ago. This president has failed in this mission.

SIDNER: Let me ask you about what we heard from the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte. He talked about some of the help that may be coming to open the strait from European allies. But he also talked about his support of what President Trump is doing.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: If Iran would have the nuclear capability, including together with the missile capability, it will be a direct threat, an existential threat to Israel, to the region, to Europe, to the stability in the world. So, the president doing this is crucial. And I've seen the polling, but I really hope the American people will be with him because he is doing this to make the whole world safer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The NATO secretary general says the president doing this is crucial. Do you agree with him?

AUCHINCLOSS: I agree that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. I agree that its ballistic missile regime is a threat to the regional stability, which is why the 12-day war last year, while it was not authorized by Congress, and I was clear that that was not constitutionally not acceptable, was a strategic success in that it was a one-two punch in which Israel first took out Iranian air defenses, and the United States then buried a nuclear reactor, although not the actual uranium, underneath the mountain. The world is safer if Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. The world is safer if its ballistic missile capability is degraded.

The world is not safer, however, with a 56-year-old ayatollah replacing an 86-year-old ayatollah. The world is not safer with Iran able to close the Strait of Hormuz at will and thereby have a strategic deterrent to further airstrikes. And the world is not safer with a hardened, more hardline regime that feels under stress and wants to lash out. This president did not actually lay open his strategic plans for scrutiny and detect errors of judgment before launching this war.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about Congress' role, because the threat of troops on the ground is not gone. The president just sent 2,000 Marines to the area, which begs the question as to what Congress' role should be there.

[08:45:05]

I want you to listen to how Republican Speaker Mike Johnson sees it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If there are ground troops -- should they come to Congress first if there are ground troops?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Again, all the details matter. This -- if we're completing the mission and it's a limited scope, then that's not a declaration of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Are we at war? What do you think of his assessment?

AUCHINCLOSS: Yes, we're at war. What a shameful statement from the leader of Article One. Details. He thinks it's details to have thousands of Marines supported by air and naval assets launch an amphibious assault against the Iranian shoreline and islands in the Strait of Hormuz, which would invite retaliation with rocket fire, with drones and require reinforcement and resupply. And that's not a detail, that is a quagmire waiting to happen. And this speaker continuously sidelines Congress from doing its constitutional responsibility of working the will of the American public, exhausted by these forever wars in the Middle East.

There absolutely should not be boots on the ground because the Marine Corps, if it gets that mission from the commander in chief, Sara, it's going to complete it. It will -- it will take those islands. The Marines do not leave missions incomplete. But then you have boots on the ground for 15 to 30 days. And, what next? That is how endless wars start.

SIDNER: Congressman Auchincloss, I know that you served in Afghanistan, a place that went on and on and on, and now the Taliban is still in control. So, you have grave concerns about what is happening there in Iran and what may happen going forward. We'll be checking with you again on all these things. We appreciate you coming on this morning.

Erica.

HILL: Well, we have seen the headlines. You're feeling them, I'm sure, personally in your wallet. Whether it's gas prices or groceries, prices are going up. And the conversation around the economy is, frankly, louder than ever.

So, how do Americans really feel about the economy now under President Trump? Who better to ask than CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten, here to run the numbers for us.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes. HILL: So, where do things stand? And I guess, how has that standing changed for President Trump when it comes to the economy?

ENTEN: You know, if I was a member of the White House, these are the numbers that would make me go, yikes. And if I was a Republican member of Congress, I would want to run. But there, truthfully, is no place to hide because, just take a look here. OK, Trump will or is making you financially worse off, better off? The reason he was re-elected to a second term back in October of 2024 is the plurality of set that Trump's policies would make them better off, 44 percent to 38 percent who say worse off. Come up to this side of the screen. That worse off, up like a rocket. We're talking 53 percent.

HILL: Wow.

ENTEN: Wow. Exactly right. Wow. Fifty-three percent of Americans now say that Trump's policies make them worse off, compared to just 18 percent. Just 18 percent who say better off. So that six point plurality in favor of better off back in October of 2024 has become a 35 point plurality in terms of worse off. Again, these are numbers that would make me go, yikes, if I were in the White House.

HILL: So, what about independents, because I know we always like to focus on independents to get a real sense of where they are. How do they feel?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. You think these numbers are bad, Erica Hill? Take a look among independents. They're even worse.

Take a look here. Hello. OK, independents. Trump will or is making you --

HILL: Yikes.

ENTEN: Yes. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. October of 2024, the slight plurality, though, within the margin of error said better off, 40 percent, worse off, 38 percent. Now just 13 percent, a very unlucky 13 indeed of independents say that Trump's policies are making you financially better off compared to 60, three in five independents who say worse off, worse off. That is now a 47-point majority in favor of worse off compared to a two point plurality in favor of better off back in October of 2024. That is a 50-point -- a near 50-point switcheroo to the worse off side among independents who ultimately decide elections in this country. And that's why I said, if you're a Republican member of Congress, you want to run. But there's, truthfully, no place to hide.

HILL: No place to hide.

All right, you love a little history. I love a little history.

ENTEN: Yes.

HILL: Put this in some historical perspective? It's easy for me to say on a Monday morning. Harry, you do the talking now.

ENTEN: I will do all the talking. That has never been an issue for me.

Look --

SIDNER: Never has been.

ENTEN: That's exactly right, Sara Sidner. Exactly right. My eighth grade history teacher, Thomas Gatch (ph), loved me in history, although sometimes I was a little too talkative in class.

SIDNER: Uh-huh.

HILL: Shocking.

ENTEN: I know. Shocking. Twenty-first century economic net approval rating at this point in term two independents, Trump is historic at this point. Look at this, 48 points underwater. Double as bad as Obama was. Double digits worse than George W. Bush was at this point. I was even looking back to the 80s. He's worse than Ronald Reagan. Any president in the last 50 years in terms of his economic net approval rating among independents at this point in a second term.

Again, you can run, but the truth is, there's no place to hide if you're a Republican running for re-election.

HILL: I like the way you act this out.

ENTEN: Yes. Act out. Talking.

HILL: This leg out, crouching (ph) guys.

ENTEN: I -- Steve Shabon (ph), my --

HILL: He has so many skills, you guys. So many.

SIDNER: He's like Broadway on TV, right?

HILL: He is a little bit Broadway. Oh, his jazz hands.

SIDNER: He's a little Broadway on TV.

ENTEN: You know -- you know my friend Alex Burns (ph) is over there.

[08:50:00]

SIDNER: I know. I know.

ENTEN: Phil Birch (ph), runs the place.

SIDNER: And, look, your history teacher would be proud of you --

ENTEN: Thank you.

SIDNER: But he's probably still saying, yes, you know.

ENTEN: A little much.

HILL: Talks a little much.

ENTEN: A little much.

HILL: Yes.

ENTEN: A little much.

SIDNER: We still love it, Harry. Thank you both.

ENTEN: Thanks.

SIDNER: All right, today, the Supreme Court weighing in on a case that could affect mail-in voting in the midterm elections. You want to hear this story.

And the Florida Gators busting brackets, breaking my heart into two. The stunning upset that eliminated the defending national champs. That story and more ahead.

ENTEN: (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: It's -- it's hard.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Happening today, the Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments on whether states can continue counting mail-in ballots after Election Day. That is as long as they're postmarked by Election Day. And this is a case that could reshape how those votes are counted nationwide.

So, at the center of the dispute here is a Mississippi law which allows state ballots that are postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive (ph) afterwards.

[08:55:04]

Mississippi's Republican attorney general is defending that law, while Republicans who are aligned with the president argue that federal law requires votes to be received by Election Day.

Joining us now, CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladek.

Steve, always good to talk to you.

So, in terms of what we're seeing here, it's important to note, this could have massive, wide-reaching implications. It's not just Mississippi. I believe there's more than a dozen states that would potentially be impacted.

Walk us through what is, in fact, at stake.

STEVE VLADEK, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Yes, Erica, that's right. I mean there are 14 states as of now that allow voters to cast mail-in ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and received within a short period thereafter. Erica, of course, that makes some sense. The voter can't control how long the mail takes. All they can control is when they go to the post office. If the Supreme Court were to side with the federal appeals court in New Orleans, which is what, you know, held that this was unlawful, that would mean voters in all 14 of those states, not just Mississippi, would have to make sure they cast their ballots by mail far enough in advance of election day that they're definitely received by Election Day. And, of course, again, that's not something the voters have a lot of control over.

HILL: Yes, especially when we're talking about voters from overseas. I mean even voters locally, right? You can't control how long it takes.

The opponents here argue that agreeing with the administration would potentially impact mail in voting across the board, which we know the president routinely rails against. They also say that this could impact early in-person voting. Do you agree?

VLADEK: I do. I mean so the theory behind this, Erica, is a bit hyper literal, which is that the statute Congress enacted way back in 1845, which says Election Day is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, that that's the only day people can vote on. That hasn't been true since 1845. I mean this is a novel argument for a statute that's been on the books for over 180 years, and it wouldn't be limited to mail-in ballots. I mean by that logic, when Congress passed that statute 181 years ago, it was saying the only day on which anyone is allowed to cast a ballot is that first Tuesday after the first Monday.

Erica, there's a reason why we've never interpreted that law that way. It's also a reason why I think the Supreme Court had to take this case once you had a federal appeals court coming out the other way.

HILL: This also calls into question, right, the federal and state laws and federal election laws trumping some of those state laws. What else do you see it setting up for us?

VLADEK: Yes, I mean, I think, you know, we're in the middle of this big, national conversation about who should be in charge of the rules for elections. Historically, Congress has left most of that power to local and state authorities. We're seeing, of course, unprecedented efforts by the president to try to claim that the president somehow has the authority to set rules. That's never been true.

Here we have, you know, Erica, a very modest rule that Congress set 180 years ago that the election day is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That is about as far as Congress has gone. You know, if the Supreme Court were to read into this statute a whole lot of what the lawyers would call preemptive effect, barring states from having alternative approaches, one concern is that that could enable additional arguments about how very modest, very procedural federal rules regarding elections might also interfere with state and local laws.

And, Erica, the last thing anyone should want, Democrats, Republicans or independents, is confusion about when we're supposed to vote, about how we're supposed to vote. And so I think part of the question before the Supreme Court this morning is not just the narrow specific, does Election Day mean mail-in ballots have to be received by Election Day question, but rather a broader question of whether we're going to disrupt rules and understandings about how Americans vote that have been settled for more than a century at this point.

HILL: Yes, a lot of questions there, that is for sure.

Steve, always good to talk to you. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Erica.

A replica of Christopher Columbus statue toppled and thrown into Baltimore Harbor during the George Floyd racial injustice protest has been installed on White House grounds. President Trump is actively pushing to re-install statutes and conservative monuments removed after the 2020 mass demonstrations. Trump praised Columbus, who was Italian, falsely credited with discovering America, as a visionary and American hero, and described the protesters who removed the statue as anti-American rioters.

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, dozens were injured yesterday after a charter bus carrying 54 passengers crashed off an interstate exit ramp. The bus was traveling from Chicago to a casino in Michigan. Thirty-three people had to be taken to the hospital. Two injuries are considered serious. Police say they have video of the crash and they are investigating how and why this happened.

[09:00:05]

All right, the field of 64, now just 16. And zero perfect