Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Markwayne Mullin Set to Become DHS Secretary; U.S. Reaching Out to Iran For Talks?; LaGuardia Crash Investigation; Airport Delays Grow. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 24, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:47]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A possible deal to end the ordeal, the White House leaning toward an agreement that would end the partial government shutdown and get TSA agents paid, hopefully ending the agonizing lines at some checkpoints that are taking passengers hours and hours to get through.

Meantime, we're standing by for a critical piece of evidence in that deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport. Investigators are expected to provide a readout from the cockpit voice recorder of the Air Canada jet that slammed into a fire truck while landing. What it could tell us about the timeline.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And wagering on war. A CNN exclusive on how a single trader made nearly a million dollars from dozens of well- timed bets on U.S. and Israeli military actions against Iran.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Houston has a problem. Right now, Bush Airport is ground zero for agonizing wait times for travelers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm frustrated.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I have got about an hour to catch my flight here. But all this is unnecessary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday we got caught, so we had to miss our flight, but today been crazy.

LAVANDERA: Here a second time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have been on here for like three hours, but now they say we have about another hour. I hope we can hurry up and get out of here, though.

LAVANDERA: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All that misery is piling even more pressure on lawmakers to strike a funding deal as TSA agents go another day without pay and as ICE agents spend a second day patrolling the terminals.

A White House source telling CNN that a new plan from Senate Republicans seems to be acceptable, though Democrats have demands on immigration enforcement and President Trump has demands on his own.

First, let's get right to CNN's Ed Lavandera, who's at Houston's Bush Airport.

Ed, we heard you speaking to passengers there. A lot of frustration. Have things gotten any easier for them?

LAVANDERA: No, the wait times here at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston still about 240 minutes.

What is really complicating things is that there are normally about nine TSA security checkpoints that people can go through. They are down to two. We are in terminal E. This is one of them. If you are at this point, you are in the homestretch of making this line, but we will take you on a dizzy trip here as the line winds its way around, back over and this side and then over here outside.

You have to go outside as well. Then there's an escalator that takes you down to a level. This little part of the terminal, you can see, these people you see down there on the floor below, they're hoping to get to where we are.

And what's even more incredible, Boris, is that the people there started on a floor below that. You have to take another escalator down into a subterranean level where the subway tram system is that connects people between terminals here at this airport. And that's where the line starts.

So, a great deal of frustration, and it's kind of hard to escape the politics of this moment for a lot of folks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like going through a Third World country.

LAVANDERA: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LAVANDERA: Just annoyed. You're that annoyed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's sad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were prepared for it, but... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But it's sad that we're three, going to be 3.5, four hours getting through a line, and we're supposed to be what we're supposed to be.

LAVANDERA: Yes. Are you going to miss your flight or are you going to...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we're not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got here in plenty in time. Our flight's not until tomorrow.

LAVANDERA: Who do you blame for all this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it's the government in general.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: In fairness, we have heard from another number of passengers who blame Democrats for all of this, the politics of this very difficult to escape.

But, by and large, Boris and Brianna, people kind of trying to think about that as little as possible, trying to make the best of this difficult situation. But the lengths that people are going to ensure that they catch their flights is really staggering. We talked to one guy who has a 6:00 p.m. flight, and he got here at 7:00 this morning. He's flying to Trinidad.

He missed his flight yesterday, and he told me that there was no way that was going to happen again today. So he's getting here almost 12 hours ahead of his flight.

[13:05:03]

SANCHEZ: Wild. I hope he can spend some time in the lounge or getting a good snack. That is rough.

Ed Lavandera, live for us in Houston, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Any moment, the NTSB is expected to provide an update on the investigation into that deadly collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Right now, investigators are securing the runway where the Air Canada plane slammed into an airport fire truck on Sunday night. And we have also learned that authorities have recovered and are analyzing the plane's cockpit voice recorder. In the meantime, video footage and air traffic control audio is giving

us a clearer picture of just how quickly this tragedy unfolded. At approximately 11:35 p.m. Eastern time, the control tower clears the Air Canada flight to land. At 11:36, the tower grants the truck permission to cross the runway in an intersecting taxiway.

Seconds later, the tower urgently and repeatedly tells the fire truck to stop. About a minute later, the collision occurs.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is at LaGuardia Airport, is with us now?

Pete, what's the latest on the investigation?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big headline here, Brianna from NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy is that it is way too early to assign blame for this crash on any one specific thing.

We are about to get this update from the National Transportation Safety Board, in which they are telling us that they will give us an initial readout on what it was on the cockpit voice recorder from the Air Canada Express flight behind me.

By the way, we have seen some activity on the scene here today, folks in yellow emergency fluorescent vests walking around, kneeling around the airplane. We know that the NTSB did an on-foot survey of the crash site here just yesterday.

We also know the NTSB will give us an initial readout of what the data is from the air traffic control tower when it comes to staffing. There have been so many rumors about that circulating online about whether or not one or multiple people were responsible for just one or two positions.

Still unclear there, but the NTSB says it is going through the time cards and the sign-in sheets for the control tower to pinpoint, say, whether or not so many people were in the tower at the specific moment of this collision. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said still very early, a lot of preliminary data, and there's leaving no stone unturned.

Listen to what she said in the press conference in which the NTSB planted the flag here yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: We have a lot of data right now, a lot of information, including information on tower staffing, but the NTSB deals in facts. We don't speculate. We don't take one person at their word. We verify that information carefully before we provide it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Two other big pieces of data here.

The FAA is now doing a review at its tech center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, of the system here called ADS-B Ex. That is an early collision warning system, a ground radar for collisions that could take place on the ground here. Still unclear if it was a factor in this case.

Also, we are getting reports of anonymous pilot safety reports where they said that there were problems here at LaGuardia, that they essentially said the airport was at capacity. They were worried there could be a collision like the midair collision at Reagan National Airport January 29, 2025 that killed 67 people.

A lot of big questions here, Brianna, about what was taking place in the fire truck itself that was crossing Runway 4 here behind me at Taxiway Delta. That's four taxiways up about halfway down this 7,000- foot-long runway.

The incident that they were responding to was on this side of the airfield where I am. Their firehouse is on the other side of the airfield and the runway. That's what they were going back to. Big questions about whether or not they simply became complacent as they walked -- or -- sorry -- drove across these runway with regularity.

A lot of big questions about whether or not they were able to see the collision that was potentially unfolding in front of them. It begs pointing out, though. The Oshkosh Striker truck, this truck that was being used to cross the runway here, has pretty good visibility from the front seat, a lot of windows, making it pretty easy for a firefighter to see what was taking place.

No doubt the NTSB will talk to those firefighters who were on board that truck who miraculously survived this crash.

KEILAR: Yes, so important.

Pete, thank you for the latest there from LaGuardia. We appreciate it.

Still to come: Besides waiting longer to travel, prepare to pay more to fly, a major airline warning it may need to raise ticket costs to keep up with rising fuel prices.

[13:10:05]

And one day after President Trump touted progress in talks with Tehran, an Iranian source tells CNN there has been outreach, but no full-on negotiations. We're following the latest from the region.

Plus, making money off of war. How a Polymarket trader made nearly $1 million betting on military action again and again.

We will have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news on talks to end the war with Iran. A senior Iranian source tells CNN that there has been outreach between the U.S. and Iran in recent days initiated by Washington.

[13:15:03] The source says that Tehran is willing to listen to sustainable proposals to end the war, but adds that Iran is not asking for a meeting or direct talks with the United States. Meantime, Iran and Israel continue to trade attacks. Israel says that Iran launched seven waves of missiles since midnight.

And there's new drone videos showing a heavily damaged building in Tel Aviv. Israel is also stepping up its attacks on Hezbollah targets in Beirut and ordering the destruction of all bridges connecting Southern Lebanon with the rest of the country.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now live from Tel Aviv.

So, Jeremy, what more do we know about this outreach between Iran and the United States?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, yesterday, there were real questions about whether that outreach had even taken place, whether President Trump was just kind of overplaying the extent of the diplomacy that is actually in action.

And now at least we have a clearer sense that there is clearly some diplomatic outreach, both the United States and Iran, sources in both countries confirming that there has been an effort to initiate negotiations between these two sides.

But still there are major questions about how concrete these negotiations actually are and whether we will actually see an in- person meeting later this week, an Iranian source now telling our Fred Pleitgen that there has been outreach that was initiated by the United States, but that it hasn't yet reached the level of full-on negotiations.

But this source did specify that this would be about reaching a comprehensive end to the war, a full-on agreement, which, of course, we know President Trump has also talked about seeking here.

But it's important to note that the individual rumor to have been contacted by the United States, and that is the Iranian speaker of the Parliament, Mohammad Ghalibaf, he has put out messages staking out a very hard line on any potential talks here, saying -- quote -- "Our people demand the complete and humiliating punishments of the aggressors. No negotiations with America have taken place. Fake news is intended to manipulate financial and oil markets and to escape the quagmire in which America and Israel are trapped."

So that is the public-facing posture at least of this very influential speaker of the Parliament in Iran. Now, as far as the Israelis are concerned, publicly, again we're seeing a different message from what we're hearing privately.

Publicly, we heard the Israeli prime minister yesterday making clear that President Trump believes this is the opportunity, this is the moment to convert those military successes in Iran into kind of a long-term agreement here to preserve both countries' national security interests.

But, privately, Israeli officials are very skeptical about the existence of these negotiations with Iran, skeptical both that they are very concrete at this moment, saying that they're really not that substantial as of yet, and also skeptical that the Iranians are in a position to compromise at this stage.

And, in fact, some Israeli officials are speculating that President Trump may just be trying to buy time for the next phase of the war. Indeed, as these talks are happening or the potential of negotiations is happening, we know that the United States is sending thousands of Marines to the Middle East to prepare for the possibility of a ground operation in Iran.

We know that's something President Trump is considering, certainly something that he hasn't taken off the table. The Israelis also have special operations options in mind that they have been considering. And so it's clear that there is the potential for diplomacy.

A few days are being allowed to scope that out and see whether there's any "there" there. But, ultimately, it's also clear that plan B is being prepared. And that could very well involve an escalation of this conflict -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond live for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much for the update.

Up next: from senator to secretary. Moments from now, Markwayne Mullin will find himself on the other side of a government shutdown as he takes over the Department of Homeland Security.

Plus, incredibly well-timed bets on the Iran war raising serious questions. We have a CNN exclusive report on how someone has made nearly a million dollars wagering on war.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:23:48]

KEILAR: Moments from now, one of the largest federal agencies in the U.S. will have a new leader. Markwayne Mullin will be sworn in as secretary of homeland security.

SANCHEZ: And he's taking over DHS at a tumultuous time. A partial government shutdown is causing chaos, as we have shown you, at U.S. airports, with lawmakers locked in a standoff over DHS funding because of its controversial immigration crackdown.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now.

Priscilla, clearly, Mullin has a big job ahead. How's he planning to tackle his first day on the job?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A big job at the federal agency that is at the core of one of the president's domestic priorities, being cracking down on immigration.

So what I have been told by my sources is that he is spending most of the day in briefings, just getting read in on the department and its multiple mission sets. One of them is immigration, but, of course, Department of Homeland Security does so much more than that with 260,000 employees.

He's also making some personnel changes. So he brought some of his staff from the Senate to the Department of Homeland Security. We're also expecting to see the deputy secretary return. He had been tapped to be the ambassador to El Salvador and had gone through his hearings on the Senate for that.

Now it appears he's going to go back to the Department of Homeland Security in that deputy role. But, of course, we also know that Mullin, in anticipation of this, had already been having conversations with agency heads. He's been talking to Tom Homan, the White House border czar, daily, if not multiple times a day.

[13:25:08]

That, in and of itself, is a huge difference because Homan and Kristi Noem did not really have a relationship. They did not talk with one another. So the era that Homeland Security officials are expecting here is one that is more in sync with the White House, where both the Department of Homeland Security and the White House are working together in how they're carrying out immigration enforcement, that they are both on the same page.

And I think that part is key here. There is no indication that there is a softening here of the immigration crackdown. Mullin, of course, is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump. However, stylistically, it may look different. Tom Homan, for example, has always talked about targeted immigration enforcement, similar to the way that he has often operated as a veteran law enforcement official.

So that is what we're expecting to see too with Mullin, that they will be on the same page on that front. But, again, he's also coming into this job with a shutdown still in effect. Part of his work force is not being paid right now. There's the long lines at TSA.

But this is the reality of the role of DHS secretary, is that it is often caught in the middle. Under the first Trump administration, I covered five secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security. So it is not an easy task, but the president has called him a friend multiple times and has said that he has full confidence in Mullin as secretary.

KEILAR: And he's given up a job in the Senate just, at the very beginning of that job in the Senate to do this. And, as you said, you covered many secretaries of homeland security.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: So, as he is, I think, hoping maybe for a longer term than, say, a Kristi Noem, how do you think he is going to differentiate himself?

ALVAREZ: Well, during his confirmation hearing, he said that he didn't want DHS to be in the headline six months from now. We will see if that happens. That was different than what we were seeing over the last year, right, because there were those broad immigration sweeps happening in cities by Gregory Bovino, who is also retiring, by the way.

And he had the stamp of approval by Kristi Noem. So we will see how that part of that works out. But in terms of how he's differentiating himself, he says, for example, he's going to get rid of the contracting policy that Kristi Noem had. She had to approve everything over $100,000. He wants to scrap that.

He also, again, wants immigration enforcement officers to be assisting other law enforcement officers as well, so more communication with localities. So he's already signaled that there are differences here. But at the end of the day, the leadership on immigration is the same. And that, of course, is White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

He is the architect of the Trump administration's hard-line policies. So the question will ultimately be, if Mullin and Homan are on the same page, are they also on the same page with Stephen Miller? There's been no indication otherwise, but that's always where the tensions tend to lie as these policies are rolled out by the White House, particularly ahead of the midterms, particularly as the president wants to make gains on his deportation campaign.

KEILAR: Priscilla, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

And next: An explosion and a fire at one of the nation's largest oil refineries could send gas prices even higher.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)