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Intensifying Pressure for DHS Deal; Hours-Long Wait at Airports; Flights Canceled at LaGuardia; Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) is Interviewed about Aviation; Updates in the War in Iran. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 25, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: White House grounds. Since then we've seen it be a respite for first families, a soccer field for Barron Trump, a pen for the Biden's dog, until it was demolished this fall.

Now there are no plans to move this garden to another location. Some of the trees and shrubbery are going to be incorporated, and that iconic I.M.Pei design pergola is going to be preserved, according to a White House official. But these new plans show very little visual reference to the Kennedy garden, and her grandson is taking issue with that.

We heard from Jack Schlossberg, who's running for Congress. He told me, "President Trump has a deep obsession with my family. From the East Wing, to the Rose Garden, the Kennedy Garden to the plane, the list goes on. But he is attacking all families each and every day with higher costs, careless war and a deep corruption. My grandmother believed in the people of this nation. Every single person. She wanted us to see gardens and color ant the brightness of life. What we have now is darkness."

Now, this new design was presented at a meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission. And where this garden once was, there's going to be just a staircase and a brick patio. Landscape architects also taking issue with the asymmetry of the new circular design. I spoke with Charles Birnbaum. He literally wrote the rule book on gardens here. He said this design would never have been approved on his watch at the National Park Service.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Betsy, really appreciate it. Thank you.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the pressure is on for lawmakers to make a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security before they leave D.C. for a two week recess, the same day TSA workers are set to miss yet another paycheck.

And at least 1,000 American troops are on standby to deploy to the Middle East, even as President Trump says talks with the -- to end the war with Iran are going well. His vice president and secretary of state are leading those negotiations.

And the Philadelphia International Airport is celebrating National Cheesesteak Day today, trying to get a delicious world record. Did they make it?

John and Kate are out today. I'm Sara Sidner, with Erica Hill. And this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

HILL: This morning, tens of thousands of TSA workers and travelers nationwide are hoping for a breakthrough on Capitol Hill, where a funding deal is -- well, there still isn't one. Senate Republicans have proposed to a plan that would fund critical parts of DHS, including TSA. Those TSA workers have now gone unpaid for weeks. In a concession to Democrats, they would separate out funding for immigration enforcement by adding it to a separate bill later. Democrats, though, are signaling, that is not enough. All of this, of course, also playing out, as Sara mentioned, as lawmakers are set to go on a two week recess in a matter of days.

Meantime, the impact at airports, security wait times, well, kind of depends where you are and when you're there. In Houston, for example, at Bush Intercontinental Airport, the report there, a wait of at least four hours this morning.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is there standing by. We're going to get to Ed in just a minute with a closer look at what's happening on the ground (ph).

I want to begin with CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House, because, Alayna, the administration also weighing in. Is President Trump supporting any sort of a deal at this point?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he hasn't endorsed it. And that comes despite, Erica, a group of Republicans coming to the White House here on Monday and trying to convince him to get behind this proposed deal. Now, I will say, we saw, in the immediate aftermath of that meeting, some of the senators coming out and saying that they had a deal in hand and that they were going to move forward with it. But the president has so far been, I'd say, less than enthusiastic when it comes to this. And yesterday telling reporters essentially that whatever deal ultimately is decided, he's not going to be happy.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: well, I don't want to comment until I see the deal. But as you know, they're negotiating a deal. I guess they're getting fairly close. But I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, the reason for that, of course, is because the SAVE America Act, which was initially tied to the DHS funding and the Republicans plans to try and reopen it, that is a bill that one White House official told me that the president is essentially hell bent on passing. Of course, he's meeting reality right now. And it's something essentially that the Senate majority leader, John Thune, has been trying to impart on the president for weeks now. And, of course, now they're saying that they're going to try and get some of this done in a separate bill, known as a reconciliation bill, but that faces steep hurdles as well.

All to say, we are at day 39 of this shutdown. As you mentioned, you're going to get to Ed soon, this is having an incredible impact on airports across the country. And also comes, of course, as the United States is currently at war with Iran, leading to concerns as well about the Department of Homeland Security's ability to continue operations here on the ground on that front.

[09:05:04]

All to say, this is messy. It's not completely decided how this is going to go yet. And still, Republicans waiting for a more, you know, full-throated endorsement from the president on this front.

Erica.

HILL: Yes. When he says he doesn't like any sort of deal when he hasn't even seen a deal, it makes you wonder if that endorsement would ever come.

Alayna, thank you.

As Layna mentioned, Ed is on the ground in Houston for us. Four hour wait times. We see people outside. There should be cars where they are slowly weaving their way through lines, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Erica. You know, at this point we're kind of looking for slivers of good news here whenever we can find them. So, there's eight lanes of traffic here for the passengers. And two of them have kind of opened up. So that means that all of this -- the lines that have gone back downstairs into the baggage claim area and then wind through there and then into the basement area, it seems, at least for the moment, a little bit of reprieve. But the international airport here in Houston is showing that the wait time at this terminal is still about three hours.

Over at Terminal A, it just showed up on the -- on the website for the airport, that the line over there is about 35 minutes. We'll see if that holds, because just a little while ago it was showing that it was four hours. So, not sure what's going on there.

But, you know, the one thing that we hear from passengers is that the line keeps moving. But I guess when you're covering this much distance in an airport, you're really getting a ton of steps in when you're watching -- navigating these lines here. But it has been an intense few days here at the airport as passengers have been navigating and trying to figure out the best way to get through this nightmare of a security line here at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. We've heard from people talking about getting here seven, eight hours. I talked to one man who was here almost 12 hours before his flight yesterday. So many people have missed flights. People have been staying and sleeping at the airport on the other side of security as well.

And airport officials here put out a video talking about the challenges that they're facing getting all of these people through the security lines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SZCZESNIAK, DIRECTOR OF AVIATION FOR HOUSTON AIRPORTS: Here at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, we typically operate 37 TSA checkpoint lanes. At this point, TSA is only able to staff somewhere between a third to 50 percent of them. So, that's 100 percent spring break loads going through the airport, being processed through less than 50 percent of our TSA lanes. That is not sustainable.

Just yesterday, I watched an officer receive a gas card from one of our partners. They had tears in their eyes knowing that they could fill up their tank to get home and come back to work to help keep these lines moving. That's the reality right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: So, Erica, just to be clear, this is the line that is spilling out of the terminal. This isn't even close to where they need to end up. If you look back in through the glass, it might be hard to see through the reflection there, but the line goes back in there and it snakes back and forth several more times before you even get into the -- even anywhere close to the security area. So, these people are probably looking for more at about a two hour wait still before they make it to the TSA security check line. So, we'll continue monitoring it and hopefully things improve a little bit or at least maintain where they're at because it hasn't been as bad as it was yesterday. But we'll see if that holds.

HILL: Yes, I'm going to -- I'm going to stick with you on this, two of those eight lines outside have cleared out. So, that is a win. We'll take the small wins. Ed, thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: You know, it's not a win, though, it's hot. They're having a heat wave too.

HILL: Hot.

SIDNER: So, you've got the two things, hot and humid.

HILL: Yes. It's rough.

SIDNER: It's rough out there. All right, thank you so much, Erica.

Hundreds of flights are canceled at another airport. That's LaGuardia in New York. The runway is still closed where the wreckage of that deadly collision occurred. The runway where that crash happened is just one of two at the airport. NTSB is in the depths of its investigation to find out what went wrong with communication in this deadly crash between Air Canada regional jet and a fire truck.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is joining us now from LaGuardia.

What are you learning as this investigation goes on? That runway still closed, causing a lot of flights to be canceled.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: A lot of delays, Sara. And that runway will remain closed until at least Friday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The scene behind me right now, now filled with flatbed trucks, a cherry picker, a backhoe. It seems that all the equipment is gelling around the Air Canada express flight to try and clear the runway to get this runway reopened, as investigators have essentially provided their most significant update yet about the factors that go in to this crash, essentially underscoring that there was a skeleton crew in the air traffic control tower here at LaGuardia at the time of this collision late Sunday, that there were only two people, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, in the control tower.

[09:10:06]

One controller performing the role of what's called the local controller, meaning responsible for airplanes taking off and landing, the separation of airplanes on the runway, and the immediate airspace around the airport. And then another person, the second person, a supervisor responsible for overseeing the entire operation, but also providing flights their route clearances for their full flight.

What is still unclear to the NTSB is which of those two people were performing the role of what's called ground control. And that is so key here. That is the person who is typically responsible for all of the movements on taxiways of airplanes and vehicles.

And I want you to listen now to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. She says they're going to dig into who was responsible for ground control. And I asked her if it is a safe practice for only two people in the tower to be responsible for all the flights here at one of the busiest airports in the country.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: That is in the standard operating procedures for LaGuardia.

Our air traffic control team has stated this is a problem that -- this is a concern for them for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MUNTEAN: One more major finding here from the National Transportation Safety Board, and it's important to underscore, these are very early, very preliminary findings. But the NTSB says that the fire truck that was in this collision did not have a transponder, meaning the ground collision warning system designed to avoid the exact collision that occurred here, did not warn controllers in the tower of the danger that was playing out in front of them. That is something that the NTSB Chair Homendy says really needs to change. It is only an FAA recommendation for ground vehicles to have a transponder. It is not a requirement.

The NTSB says they are going to interview the controllers who were in the tower at the time of this crash. Those interviews started late yesterday. They will also be interviewing the firefighters, the two firefighters on board that fire truck. Miraculously, they survived this crash and they could have key details for investigators here.

SIDNER: So many details. So many things went wrong. And you can hear on the audio that we've all heard from the controller saying, stop, stop, stop to the truck at some point but it was just too late, the plane was going more than 100 miles an hour and that collision happened. Really hard to watch, but good that they're getting to the bottom of it. Thank you so much, Pete Muntean, for your expertise on this.

Erica.

HILL: Thanks, Sara.

Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas.

Congressman, it's good to have you with us.

I just want to pick up where Sara and Pete left off there. If we talk about what happened at LaGuardia. I know you have been pushing for years and raising concerns about staffing for air traffic controllers. They're getting paid right now, but has enough been done at this point based on, as well, what we know about what happened in these early stages of the investigation at LaGuardia. Is enough being done across the country to shore up that staffing? It's been so hard to get people to take those jobs and get them trained and up to speed in time.

REP. LLOYD DOGGETT (D-TX): No, not enough is being done. And, of course, as you'll recall, until the tragedy in Washington over the Potomac, President Trump and his DOGE approach was actually to cut the Department of Transportation in this area. We lost some of our supporting staff that they did actually eliminate and then restored them. But we need more air traffic controllers.

In my hometown of Austin, we're at half of what we need. I've been demanding this going back actually to the Biden administration, but we've not gotten the help from the Trump administration we need to have an adequate supply of air traffic controllers.

And then this finding that you've just reported on of not having a transponder on a moving vehicle across a runway is really troubling. I think every airport is going to have to evaluate what they're doing and if there's anything moving on a runway, it certainly needs to be connected to the communication system for the tower.

HILL: Yes, questions about why that transponder was not on that fire truck so that they could see it.

When we look at where things stand with airports today, a major focus, as you know, on the fact that TSA is not getting paid right now. We see the wait times for passengers. We hear from people who are directly impacted.

In terms of this potential proposal, which the president is apparently not a fan of, how long are Democrats willing to hold out here? How long can TSA workers continue not to get paid? They're facing their second now missed paycheck, full paycheck.

DOGGETT: Well, this is an outrageous situation. These TSA officers should be paid today. That's what we Democrats have been asking for, straight up and down votes on paying the TSA officials. We've already lost 400 of them that have quit as a result of this tragedy.

[09:15:00]

The real problem we have here is not any different than Trump's reckless war in Iran or his denial of health care to millions of Americans, or the brutality of ICE. Our Republican colleagues cannot do anything without Trump's blessing. And he refuses to bless this deal. That's the core of the problem. He actually, a day or two ago, said he wouldn't approve any deal unless he got his legislative proposal to disenfranchise millions of Americans from the upcoming election. And my guess is that after his loss last night in the legislative district that represents Mar-a-Lago, he'll be pushing that even harder, that the only way he and Republicans can prevail in the fall is if they eliminate a good portion of the electorate.

I'm concerned about the TSA situation. These huge lines and inconvenience and the hardship on the TSA officers. But we've got to have the president support this before we can get the proposal adopted unless a couple of courageous Republicans will step out and support our proposal to pay TSA now.

HILL: I just spoke with Sara Nelson, who's the president of the Flight Attendants Association, and she expressed to me very clearly, politicians need to get on board, no matter which side of the aisle they're on. She says this is a national security risk.

And this is, frankly, what our CNN teams have been hearing at airports across the country. They don't really care if there's a "D" or an "R" next to your name, they just want this taken care of. Do you agree with Sara Nelson that this is, in fact, a national security risk?

DOGGETT: Well, I did not see that at the Austin airport or at the Washington, D.C., airport, Reagan, when I was here last week leaving Washington. But certainly when you have lines four or five hours, perhaps there's a rush and the danger that something will slip through. My concern is the hardship on both the traveler and the hardship on

the TSA officer, and that if President Trump would get involved and support an agreement to fund TSA we could get this done immediately. We certainly shouldn't be leaving Washington for two weeks without resolving this problem.

HILL: And that was my next question. So, thank you for thinking of and answering it.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett, appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you.

DOGGETT: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, coming up, we are learning at least a thousand troops from the 82nd Airborne are now on standby to deploy to the Middle East. What does this say about where the war is headed?

And a landmark ruling. Meta found liable for failing to protect children from predators on its platform, but is the legal fight over?

And it's the day baseball fans have waited months for, opening day. Ladies and gentlemen, the new robot empire the league will officially roll out tonight.

Those stories and more ahead.

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[09:22:04]

SIDNER: All right, we've got some new developments this morning in the war with Iran. Sources telling us about a thousand paratroopers with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division are on standby to deploy to the Middle East. That's in addition to the thousands of U.S. forces, including 2,000 Marines, already headed to the region.

But President Trump has expressed optimism that a deal to end the war is in sight, and says that Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are leading these talks. Iran, however, has not publicly acknowledged any talks, and a spokesman for the Iranian military says the U.S. is essentially negotiating with itself.

Joining me now are retired Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson and CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger.

First to you, General Anderson, what does it tell you that there are 1,000 paratroopers who are preparing to deploy to the region, which could happen in the next 48 hours?

BRIG. GEN. STEVE ANDERSON, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, thank you, Sara. It seems -- it tells me that they're serious about conducting some kind of a ground operation in Iran. Why else would you be sending the immediate ready brigade from the 82nd Airborne? And, of course, that would be a tremendous logistics operation. I mean it would probably take 22 hours or so to actually deploy over there to some sort of a staging area. I imagine that would probably be al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. And they'd need to have a couple squadrons of C-130s in order to conduct some kind of an air assault into Kharg Island or one of the other islands in the Strait of Hormuz.

And, of course, we also know that there are two MEUs (ph) headed that way, one of which we believe the -- one MEU (ph) is at the mouth of the Persian Gulf right now probably. But, you know, this tells me that they're very serious about conducting ground operations. And all I can say is, if you liked Iraq and Afghanistan, Sara, you're going to love Iran.

SIDNER: Wow. That -- making that comparison, those two wars. Afghanistan did not end the way that the United States wanted to. Neither did Iraq.

Let me talk to you, David, about what you're hearing about the Saudi Arabia and its role in this. You've been doing some really great reporting about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. What are you telling -- what are you learning?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, what we're hearing is that the crown prince, who is the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, is like, Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel, arguing that if you're into this war, then you've got to go all in and defeat the Iranians abroad -- across a broad range of their capabilities so that they would not have the ability to project power out to the gulf, to Israel and so forth. The -- we've gotten very few details from the Saudi side.

[09:25:03]

They say they want to end the war quickly, which everybody does. But that's our understanding about the conversations that are taking place with MBS, as he is known, and the president. And it's very similar to what we're hearing as well about the background conversations with the prime minister.

I think to Steve's interesting point, I could imagine several things that you could use the 82nd Airborne for. One of them could be taking Kharg Island. The problem with Kharg Island, which is where the Iranians ship their oil is not taking it, it's holding it. And I could imagine them being used to help secure the strait or to try to get the nuclear material from Isfahan.

SIDNER: Well, those are three very distinctly different targets in distinctly different places.

SANGER: Yes.

SIDNER: Give me some sense, General, of what that would mean if indeed there are troops, U.S. troops on the ground trying to both, a, fight Iran and then hold the position that they're in.

ANDERSON: Well, to David's point, he's spot on target. I mean, and target's the operative word because that's what they do.

First of all, it'd be a difficult mission to deal with perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 Iranians that already live there. But think about all the issues that they're going to have to deal with. The weather to get in there. The booby traps that are probably going to be set. I mean the -- we're talking right now about taking Kharg Island. So are the Iranians. They know we're coming. Then they got mines, of course. All the asymmetric capabilities they have, such as drones and missiles. They'll probably be close enough to be within artillery range. They're only going to be about 15 miles from mainland Iran.

So, you know, it's going to be a very, very difficult issue. My problem is that, you know, once, as David said, once they're there, sure, we can probably see the island, but retaining it, that's going to be the long pole in the tent .

SIDNER: There are a lot of difficult decisions ultimately to be made here. We will see which ones are taken in the next few days. The president putting that five-day buffer before he says he's going to do some sort of attack. We will see.

Retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson and David Sanger, it is always a pleasure to talk to you both with your great analysis and reporting. Appreciate it.

All right, breaking news this morning, an American held captive by the Taliban now back finally on U.S. soil after being in their hands for a year.

(VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That was just last hour. We saw this happen live in San Antonio. Dennis Coyle, a 64 year old academic who has been studying in Afghanistan and working in Afghanistan for the past 20 years was greeted by his family after being imprisoned in Afghanistan for more than a year. He was held in near solitary confinement while never being charged with a crime, according to his family. Coyle had spent about 20 years working there. Moments ago his sister spoke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today's been the joyful day that we've gotten to bring our brother, Dennis Coyle, home after 422 days in captivity by the Taliban. We have special thanks for President Trump and his strength and tenacity to bring Dennis as the 105th hostage home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Wow. According to the U.S. official, nothing was traded or given to secure Coyle's freedom. There are at least two other U.S. citizens who remain detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Up ahead, NASA is rolling out their ambitious new plans to start building a base on the moon.

And how the longest line of Philadelphia's airport wasn't about security today. It was about something far more delicious, y'all, those Philly cheesesteaks. We'll explain why.

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