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Five Dead After Amazon Cargo Plane Overshoots Runway, Crashes into Cars; Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) Blasts Ex-Aide Who Say He's Indifferent Toward His Work; Two Hurt as Armed Man Charges at Ohio Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 07, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news, an Amazon cargo plane overshoots a runway, crashes into cars, bursts into flames. Five people are killed. We are on the scene in Miami as federal investigators begin trying to figure out exactly what went wrong here.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN exclusive, Senator John Fetterman fires back at former staffers who say he hates the day-to-day work of being a senator.

And then bracing for impact, Hurricane Lowell set to make landfall. We've got the latest storm track.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: All right. We've got you some new details this morning on the investigation into that deadly crash at Miami International Airport involving an Amazon cargo plane. Five people were killed, five others injured after the plane overran the runway, crossed a busy road, and crashed into multiple vehicles.

Witnesses captured the terrifying moment.

And then you see how it lights on fire there. The plane was arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it crashed. More than 60 fire and rescue units had to race to that scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, the plane's on fire. Plane's on fire. Put your game faces on. This aircraft overrun the runway. It crossed 67th Avenue. It struck a truck. We do have a patient on the ground. We're looking and surveying the area for more patients.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Flight data shows the plane was going nearly 130 miles per hour when it skidded off that runway, and CNN's review of air traffic control audio has found the pilots never declared a mayday before landing. The NTSB and FAA, of course, now investigating. CNN Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean is live at Miami International Airport. What are you learning this morning, Pete?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, let me give you a layout of the scene here. We're just by West 67th Avenue behind me. That is the road, about four lanes wide, where this Boeing 767 came careening across around 2:00 P.M. yesterday afternoon.

This is the Amazon warehouse. Also off my shoulder, behind that is the actual crash site in the parking lot, where you see this airplane come to rest. Of course, National Transportation Safety Board investigators really have their work cut out for them today. We will hear from the NTSB today in a preliminary press conference, including NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy.

The video that is coming in is very telling and really tells a story of this cargo plane coming in too high and too fast. You can see in the video taken from the ramp on the south side of Runway 30 here at Miami International Airport where this plane still hadn't fully touched down, was going a pretty good clip about two-thirds of the way down the runway.

We're able to interpolate that by the location of the airport radar, which is also on the airport itself. The last data point of this airplane was it going off of the end of the runway, according to preliminary data from flight tracking sites, going at about 112 knots. That's about 130 miles per hour.

The earlier data said the plane was at the halfway point of the runway at 170 knots, about 200 miles an hour. So, this is really telling the story of what is called an unstable approach. That's what pilots know it as, a plane coming in too high and too fast, and then leading to what is officially known here as a runway excursion, the top cause of incidents involving commercial flights worldwide.

Of course, investigators will want to see the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. We will see if they were able to recover those today. That will be very telling for investigators. They will be able to get some key clues here.

Of course, big, big questions about why this runway did not have what's called Engineered Materials Arresting System, or EMAS, a bed of crushable cement that could have arrested or slowed this plane as it went off the end of the runway.

The operator of this plane, 21 Air, that is the contractor for Amazon, CEO Keith Winter said they're fully complying with this investigation. Still a lot to come out as this is only in the early stages.

[07:05:02]

Sara?

SIDNER: Yes, Miami International Airport, such an incredibly busy airport with planes from all over the world, and not having those barriers is a question that a lot of people may be wanting to understand and know why that is the case there.

Pete Muntean, thank you so much. Great reporting from you there live on the scene. John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a CNN exclusive. In an interview with our Manu Raju, Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania is slamming some of his former aides, calling them disgruntled staffers who are trying to ruin his reputation.

Now, this is in response to a Wall Street Journal article that reports a series of text messages and accounts from former staffers of Fetterman, accusing the senator of skipping constituent meetings and showing indifference to the job. In one text message from last September, Fetterman asked his staff why he had to keep having to meet with officials from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, known as CHOP, quote, because they're worried about Medicaid cuts, an aide said. Fetterman responded, quote, well, I'm not.

Now, in his response to CNN, Fetterman said, quote, I made a dumb joke, and for that, I sincerely apologize. And he pointed to a post on X meeting with hospital officials and said, I've met with their team virtually and in person. My office and I always have and always will advocate for CHOP, support their requests, and any other needs that we can assist with. Fetterman calls all the allegations from the former staff, quote, lies, half-truths, and innuendos.

With us now, the Washington bureau chief for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Tia Mitchell. Tia, great to see you this morning.

So, the Journal came with the receipts, the text messages. Fetterman is striking back, saying this is all about staff who don't like him. How do you think this will play in the Commonwealth?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-COUNSTITUTION: So, good morning. I think it's playing, this is something voters are going to have to decide in two years, whether they think Fetterman should remain in this Senate seat.

And what's becoming apparent, it's not just one or two people, even though that's how he's trying to describe it. Even if you say it's exaggerated or the text messages are taking out of, being taken out of context, which is which is what Senator Fetterman is saying, you cannot ignore the fact that now this is a new wave of staffers.

So, his original staffers were responsible for some of the articles we saw, you know, a year ago, two years ago. This is now another round of staffers. He's having these same problems, the same complaints, the same concerns over and over again from the people who are working right beside him.

BERMAN: I have another one of these exchanges I'm going to read. This is number three in the control room. This is about a funeral for three police officers killed near York, Pennsylvania. The text message is Fetterman basically said, it's three hours long? He was concerned about the reported length of it. Three hours, he asks. Staffer replies, yes, it's a very formal ceremony and the equivalent of three separate funerals. Fetterman replied, this may be a non-starter. In other words, responding to the length of the funeral.

Now, in the statement to Manu, he said, On the day of the tragedy, we privately ordered flowers to be delivered for their families and expressed my condolences publicly, he said, citing a post on X expressing his grief. In June of this year, I privately attended a Tunnel to the Towers fundraiser in New York for the -- in York for the families. I met with their chief and family members directly to express my personal condolences.

Look, the backdrop of this for John Fetterman was, of course, the fact that at this point he has a way higher favorability among Republicans than Democrats, and I think there are national Democrats concerned that he might up and switch parties.

MITCHELL: Well, you know, first of all, if he switches parties, to me, that would be quite astounding because, yes, he agrees with Republicans on some foreign policy issues, particularly when it comes with our relationship with Israel.

But on a lot of policies, we talked about the Medicaid cuts that the Children's Hospital was concerned about, he does not agree with Republicans. So, is he willing to leave the Democratic Party over this split on Israel when just about everything else he agrees with Democrats on? That would be interesting to me.

But, again, Fetterman gets -- he's his own guy. He can do what he wants. The question will be, how will voters in Pennsylvania respond? And remember, if he runs for re-election, he's got to win a primary first. So, if it's Democratic voters that are most disappointed in him, it might be hard for him to get on the ballot because if he doesn't win a primary, does he want to run as a Republican? I don't know if Republicans would trust that.

So, he's got some, some decisions to make on his own. And then he's going to have to let the decisions he makes stand with voters and see what they say.

BERMAN: And, of course, these same aides, some of whom released those texts to the Journal, say there could be more coming as soon as next week.

Tia Mitchell, great to see you, thank you very much.

Breaking overnight, new details about the armed suspect accused of lunging at the Democratic nominee for governor in Ohio at a rally.

[07:10:05]

And President Trump hits a new record low in new poll numbers, dropping significantly among his own base.

And at least ten people are dead after a fireworks explosion during a church festival for a patron saint.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SIDNER: This morning, an Ohio man is in custody and faces charges after police say he charged towards Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee Amy Acton. Now, it happened at a fair in Canfield yesterday as Acton was speaking to a crowd inside the county Democratic Party tent. She wasn't hurt in the incident, but several bystanders were knocked down and injured.

[07:15:02]

After the man was arrested, authorities say they found several weapons on him.

Gloria Pazmino joining us now. What are you learning about how this all went down and about the suspect who is now in jail?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, and even though there were no major injuries, it was certainly a very scary incident for both the candidate and for the bystanders who were there at the fair. As you said, it happened at the Canfield County Fair in Ohio, where Amy Acton had been campaigning for the day.

Now, this is in Mahoning County, and the sheriff there has identified the suspect as 38-year-old Patrick Havas. He was immediately arrested on site, and he has been charged with two counts of assault and disorderly conduct. And when police arrested him, they found two firearms on him, as well as a pair of brass knuckles.

Now, law enforcement says that Havas entered the Mahoning County Democratic Party tent at this fair.

At the time that he entered, Amy Acton was addressing the crowd, and he pushed his way through the crowd, and that's where he tried to lunge at her. That's when Acton's security detail intervened, and they were able to knock him down. But in that scuffle, there were several people who were knocked down, including some elderly folks who were there.

Let's listen to some bystanders who were there and witnessed the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOCCIERI (D), OHIO STATE HOUSE CANDIDATE AND FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: All of a sudden, some -- a very frightening incident happened. An armed individual came barreling through the crowd, pushing people out of the way actually knocked down a couple senior citizens and elderly people in the crowd right in front of Dr. Acton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now Sara, as you know, Amy Acton is the former health director in Ohio. She is the Democratic nominee facing off against the Republican, Vivek Ramaswamy, in the closely watched race for governor in Ohio. Her campaign issued a statement yesterday after the incident thanking law enforcement for their action saying that, an armed individual had lunged at Dr. Acton, injuring multiple people. Dr. Acton and Eric are grateful for the swift and decisive action of law enforcement and are praying for the recovery of those injured.

Now, Vivek Ramaswamy, as I said, the Republican, had also been scheduled to attend this fair and address the crowd there. He also issued -- his campaign issued a statement condemning this attack, saying that candidates should be able to meet with voters without having to worry about threats or violence. What happened today is completely unacceptable and has no place in politics, and we hope that no one was hurt.

Now, Sara, as I said in the beginning, even though no one was significantly hurt, a very scary incident, also what appears to be yet another instance of political violence, which we have seen so much of in the last few years. We've had attempts on President Trump. We've seen other instances of political violence against candidates, and especially scary in these sort of open air settings where people are walking around and certainly just a scary situation for these candidates, and waiting to learn more, perhaps if we can, about the motivations, if any, of this individual.

SIDNER: It's certainly on the mind in speaking to some, you know, people in Congress. It's on the mind of people. This is one of the things they have to consider when they decide to run, which is really, really disturbing.

Thank you so much, Gloria, for your reporting. I appreciate it.

All right, ahead, Hawaii under a state of emergency now as Hurricane Lowell takes aim at the island. We are tracking the storm.

And the Trump administration doubling down in its effort to get the Supreme Court involved in its new mail-in ballot rules just weeks before Election Day.

Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. Happening now, Hawaii under a state of emergency bracing for Hurricane Lowell, now a Category 3 storm. There are concerns of flashfloods and mudslides with several roads in Oahu already inundated.

Let's get right to CNN's Derek Van Dam, who is tracking this storm for us. When are we talking about landfall? Where and how bad, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Landfall unlikely, but there are new developments that people need to know about that happened overnight just within the past hour or so. We've got these forecast track updates from the National Hurricane Center. They have now issued a hurricane warning for all of Kauai County, and here's the reason why.

So you're looking at the satellite loop. Pay attention to the movement right there, north-northeast, okay? So it started its eventual northerly move, which was forecast, but now we're starting to get a little bit more of a, a trajectory like this. That's going to bring it closer to the westernmost islands of Hawaii. This is Kauai right here, Kauai County. Still a Category 3 hurricane, so that makes it a major hurricane.

But let me show you the difference in the forecast tracks over the past several runs. This is the current forecast track for Lowell. That is the center point of the storm where it's expected to go. But look at as we go back in time, these are the last ten model runs. You can see how further west it was just even yesterday.

So, now we've got this closer approach to the westernmost islands, and that's why the National Hurricane Center has upgraded this to a hurricane warning for all of Kauai County. This will make a very close pass to the area about 100 miles offshore with that core of the most powerful winds.

But, of course, with winds, tropical storm force winds extending about 175 miles from the center, we'll likely feel tropical storm force winds and hurricane force gusts, especially in some of those higher elevations. That's mountainous terrain, so the leeward and the windward sides will have some interactions there.

Not to mention the heavier rainfall. Now, we're edging closer to the core of the heaviest rain. So, that will bring a significant flashflood threat to Kauai County even into portions of Maui.

[07:25:04]

And then we remember how susceptible the Big Island is because of the previous hurricane that sideswiped this area, bringing heavy rain and flash flooding. So, the ground is saturated. An additional foot-plus of rain is possible, especially in some of those localized mountainous areas, that all funnels down to the communities below. That is why we're concerned about not only the flash flooding but also the mudslides. It's already raining.

This is just basically the outer rain bands, the current radar very busy. And, yes, that is going to be a concern for so many people here across Hawaii. We'll monitor this very closely. John?

BERMAN: Let's hope it's done with those rightward shifts, right? No more moving to the right there because then it gets more problematic.

VAN DAM: Exactly.

BERMAN: All right. Derek Van Dam, thank you very much for that.

We got new information out of the crash at Miami's airport that left five people dead with huge impacts on flights throughout the southeast.

And Bad Bunny makes Emmy history for his Super Bowl halftime show.

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