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Five Dead, Five Injured After Amazon Cargo Plane Overruns Miami Runway; Trump Administration Makes New Appeal To Supreme Court To Restrict Mail Voting; Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) On U.S. Envoys Push For Peace In Visit To Russia And Ukraine. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 07, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:30:33]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning a terrifying and deadly accident at Miami International Airport. Investigators working to determine why an Amazon cargo plane overran the runway, careening into cars, bursting into flames. Five people are dead, five others injured in this accident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Amazon jet overrunning runway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Bleep). Oh my (bleep) God. (Bleep). Oh, (bleep).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Wow.

New details about its speed when it landed -- data showing it was going about 130 miles per hour before it crossed a busy road and struck multiple vehicles before catching fire there. A review of air traffic control audio by CNN shows the pilots didn't declare any emergency before the landing.

Joining us now is safety analyst David Soucie. Glad to have you on with us today. I don't think that is David, though. However, I think that -- oh, do we have him? OK, now there he is. There he is. David, it's good to see you. I'm glad to see you here.

Look, we just mentioned that CNN listened to this air traffic control audio, and the pilots did not declare an emergency. So what does that tell you?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST, FORMER FAA SAFETY INSPECTOR: Well, it tells you that something very unexpected happened right at the runway. It looks to me, as you look at that video as an investigator, what I'd be looking at is what information did they have before they landed. Obviously, they weren't expecting that the turbulence that caused the aircraft to what we call just float, basically. You're trying to land. If you look at the angle of the aircraft as it's coming into land, typically the nose would be higher than what you see there. It comes in very, very flat.

And so what you want to do normally is to get the trucks down onto the -- onto the air -- onto the runway and then the nose down onto the runway solidly because then you have three ways to slow down the aircraft.

You have spoilers that slow down the aircraft in flight. They're called speed brakes. And then you also have the brakes on the wheels and tires. And then thirdly, you have the thrust reversers, which changes the thrust from forward thrust to backward thrust to slow the aircraft. None of those things work unless you're firmly down on the runway, and that did not happen in this case.

SIDNER: That is really good observation and the video, of course, helping everyone, including investigators, figure out exactly what happened here.

I do want to ask you what you think are potentially the big problems here. Could there have been brakes problem, tire problem, landing speed issue or weather? Are any of those a potential factor in what happened here?

SOUCIE: Well, I would focus on weather at this point because I had a friend that was on the airplane that just landed four minutes before this aircraft on the same runway. He called me. He's a professional pilot. He called me. He said, look, when he landed, they came in -- well, he didn't land, but when he was in the aircraft that landed, he came in just normal approach. But about 100 feet above the ground, they experienced -- they experienced a terrible push from the left and then again from the right and the aircraft had -- appeared to be almost out of control, as he said. He said it was a "very sporty landing," as he put it.

But that aircraft at that point had experienced what we would call turbulence or it's a wind shear where it's almost like a tornado but it's laying on its side. It's constantly moving air underneath the airplane so -- and he said that basically that's what he felt happened on that airplane.

Now here's the part that bothers me is I listen to the air traffic control after the fact and that airplane didn't make any communication back to the tower to say, hey, we have this problem. The tower didn't make any communication that I could find back to this airplane to say, hey, there's going to be some turbulence here. There's going to be some problems.

And that is the responsibility of that air traffic controller to monitor what they call the LLWAS. It's the low level wind shear advisory system. The LLWAS will tell them that this is what's happening down there at the low levels.

The general weather seemed OK --

SIDNER: Yeah.

SOUCIE: -- but it had changed very quickly. It changed just a few minutes before that. Maybe 20 minutes before that it was only three knots of wind. But at the time of this accident it was 26 knots of gusted wind and that gusted wind coming at 190 degrees -- it changed direction too. So now a portion of that wind is behind the airplane and -- which is a terrible situation as a pilot to be in.

[07:35:11]

You want to land into the wind for a nice, controlled landing. But at this point it shifted suddenly, and it went back to the back of the airplane, which causes it to float, as I mentioned.

And so you can see in the video, even in the middle of the runway, this airplane was 154 knots, which at that point it should be firmly on the ground, thrust reversers deployed -- everything slowing that airplane down, but halfway through the runway, it was still going fast.

SIDNER: Yeah.

You mentioned all the different scenarios and in Miami, we know how the weather shifts and changes very quickly with those thunderstorms that we often get as well.

And you've also mentioned in the past that this is one of the most common Things that happens -- accidents that happen is upon landing and overshooting a runway. I know we've talked about that in the past.

David Soucie, it's so good to have you here. Thank you so much. There was a little glitchiness there that was not AI. It was just a glitch in technology, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It was Sara's electromagnetic field.

All right. This morning, the Trump administration has renewed its appeal to the Supreme Court to allow new post office rules for mail-in voting. States have already begun sending out mail ballots. Voting by mail has tripled over the last 20 years.

Let's get right to CNN's Betsy Klein at the White House for what the White House is hoping for here with the Supreme Court.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, John, President Trump has spent years making unsubstantiated claims about illegal mail-in voting, and he has made targeting mail-in voting a major priority in his second term.

And we saw that back in March when he issued this executive order that lays out new mail-in voting requirements. What this does is give the U.S. Postal Service sweeping power to withhold the delivery of mail-in ballots. And among the requirements, state and local election officials have to upload lists of mail voters to a special portal. It also requires a special barcode on envelopes for tracking.

Now, not surprisingly, this was immediately challenged in court by dozens of states. And the Supreme Court is now considering an emergency appeal to allow the U.S. Postal Service to implement this rule before the midterm elections, which of course are less than two months away now.

Now, many election officials are arguing that it is already too late to implement this, but the Trump administration in this new emergency filing is really stressing the urgency here.

I want to read to you a little bit from it. They say, "Once those ballot envelopes enter the mail stream, there is no retrieving them. And while the injunction allows the Postal Service and the states to continue taking steps to ensure that their envelopes satisfy the rules requirements, each day the injunction is in place risks sowing confusion and chaos because the injunction makes those preparatory steps voluntary rather than mandatory."

And as you mentioned, mail-in ballots have already gone out in one state, North Carolina. They're expected to go out in a number of states in the coming days here. And nearly 50 million Americans voted by mail in the 2024 election. According to research from Pew, a majority of voters who did so did vote for Democratic candidates.

But the states and voting rights groups now have until Wednesday to respond. The Supreme Court tracking this quite closely, as is the White House, John.

BERMAN: Yeah, we'll see how quickly the Supreme Court processes this and issues a ruling.

Betsy Klein at the White House. Thank you very much.

All right. This morning new reporting from Politico on Sen. Bernie Sanders and his outsized role in the midterms. Sanders has spoken at 63 rallies and endorsed more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot this cycle. And of course, there has been a swing in some races towards the progressive left candidates that Bernie Sanders very much supports.

With us now Will Steakin, co-author of the new Politico Playbook and behind some of this really terrific reporting on Bernie Sanders.

And this article starts off with this sort of claim from a former aide of Sanders that compared Bernie to Barry Goldwater. Sort of the John the Baptist in the Republican Party in the 1960s, crushed in the 1964 presidential election, but ultimately his ideas prevailed. Sort of lost the battle, won the war.

What did Sen. Sanders think about this comparison?

WILL STEAKIN, CO-AUTHOR, POLITICO PLAYBOOK (via Webex by Cisco): That's right. I mean, as you can imagine, the senator is not one to, you know, look back on his legacy. He's completely focused on the issues. But I did get him to talk about it a little bit.

And, you know, I think what-- the reason I wrote the piece is I feel like we're, you know, 10 years since he announced his run in 2016 -- his presidential run, which kind of kicked off this progressive movement that the country hadn't really seen before. It's kind of cresting at a moment when also its leader, Bernie

Sanders, is potentially moving away from the spotlight. Not yet, but right -- like he's not going to run for president in 2028, we don't think. He's at least suggested he won't run. And so who is going to take up that mantle is kind of the big question on the left.

[07:40:08]

And as you said, Sen. Sanders is still the most prominent, most sought-after endorsement on the left, bigger than anyone. And he still is running as if-- he's 85. He's running like he's 35 to campaign for folks.

And, you know, so I wanted to kind of talk to him about, you know, where he sees things going. There's obviously a lot of speculation that maybe it's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Someone like Ro Khanna is another name that really wants to try to put up that mantle potentially in 2028. So we'll have to see. But at least for right now, the senator is dead set on not talking about that, even though he's doing the work to try to build the bench to see, you know, which progressives kind of take over for him once he does exit the stage.

BERMAN: I'm smiling because that was my favorite part of the article, when he lashed out at you for asking a completely reasonable and straightforward question, which is basically, you know, who's next? What did he accuse you of when you asked that perfectly reasonable, straightforward question?

STEAKIN: Yeah. As I said, the senator, you know -- he likes to stick to the issues. And so he -- I asked him, you know, who he thought, and he said, "I'm a beltway pundit." I did -- I was going to remind him he was speaking to Politico, which obviously, we deal with politics, but I didn't quite throw that back at him.

But, you know, again, he is who he is, and that's why I think-- that's also why I think voters love him so much, is that he is dead-set focused on, you know, Medicare for All and going after the oligarchs.

And, again, you know, I was talking to a couple of progressives, and one of them reminded me, you know, Mayor Mamdani in New York gets all this praise for staying on message and focused on affordability. That kind of started with Bernie Sanders. Get Bernie Sanders in an interview and try to talk to him about that's not related to those issues, he will throw an insult, and he will get right back to the issues he wants to talk about. So I wasn't necessarily surprised, but I had to do my job as a journalist, obviously.

BERMAN: Typical inside-the-beltway political pundit. You have seen the name of the publication, haven't you, Sen. Sanders? This isn't Field & Stream you're talking to here.

I appreciate your time, Will Steakin. The article is terrific. Thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Nice to see you guys. All right. Overnight, Ukraine says it responded to multiple Russian strikes, including an attack on an oil refinery. This comes as we're learning new details about a new push by the Trump administration to try and end this war. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meeting Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for their first visit to Kyiv since the war began.

And Zelenskyy just posted this quote. "We had substantive discussions about our air defense needs, the relevant technological cooperation, and the winter package we need."

Witkoff and Kushner came to Kyiv straight from Moscow, where they held a three-hour meeting Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by a dinner with him.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. He is the co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus. Thank you for being here on this Labor Day. You are laboring and we do appreciate that.

Look, we're hearing from Steve Witkoff, who said that they had substantive talks and are confident of a good resolution.

Are you confident of a good resolution with this particular negotiating team?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL) (via Webex by Cisco): Well, look, you said that this is their first trip to Kyiv since the war started, despite the fact that they've been to Moscow several times. We're hearing from the Russians that they're also talking with the Russians about economic possibilities between the U.S. and Putin's government. It doesn't sound like our priorities are in the right place.

We know Putin understands one thing, and that is strength. He certainly doesn't see it from the Trump administration. What would show some strength is actually helping Ukraine with its air defense, helping them with their grit as the winter season comes out, and forcing Putin to recognize that we're in this for the long run because frankly, he shows that he can outlast the U.S. and its lack of will on this issue.

SIDNER: At some point, President Trump was seemingly going to, or at least he intimated that he was going to potentially give Ukraine technology for Patriot missiles.

Do you know where that stands now?

QUIGLEY: Well look, we hear that he's thought about doing this. The fact of the matter is that's something we should have done a long time ago. And any effort in that vein is going to take Kyiv a very, very long time to take place. There's much more that we can do in the meantime that deals with air defense.

And we should also pass a sanctions bill -- something that would actually impact the Russian economy. We're starting to see strains there and that the U.S. joined in that effort. I think Putin has to reconsider continuing the war. But doing -- you know, doing what we're doing isn't changing.

[07:45:10]

We haven't heard Russia come off its maximalist conditions to end this war at all. In fact, they seem to be hyper-focused on not just keeping the land they've already taken in this war, but taking additional land that Ukraine still controls.

SIDNER: The Trump administration has filed yet another emergency motion. They filed it Sunday trying to get the mail-in ballot overhaul in place before the midterm election.

Why do you think there is a rush to do this before the midterms?

QUIGLEY: I think they believe they're going to get their ass kicked in the midterms, and this is the president's last-ditch effort to make voting as difficult as possible for every American. The fact is, some of these ballots are already starting to get mailed out, as we've seen in, I believe, Carolina. So create as much confusion as possible.

The president's speech just a month ago, he intimated that he would question this election. I was in the room on January 6 when the president threatened something. I think you should believe him.

I think this is just one effort among many, the president will do to try to make this election as difficult as possible, if not try to discredit it or even halt and create extraordinary chaos. When we said -- when we say to ourselves, well, nothing like that could happen -- well, no one imagined that January 6 could happen. Do I think this is a president who will call out the National Guard or confiscate -- attempt to confiscate ballot boxes? I just think this is a warning to the American people what the president is capable of doing in the midterms.

SIDNER: All right.

I do want to get to what is happening with your fellow Democrat who is -- serves in the Senate, John Fetterman. His former staffers have put out many different accusations against him that he's lazy. He doesn't want to do the job of a senator. He gives some examples.

The Wall Street Journal reporting he skipped a meeting with three wheelchair bound veterans who had a meeting with him saying he was sick but then ended up on Fox News an hour after that meeting was supposed to happen.

In a text message from last September, Fetterman asked his staff why he had to keep having to meet with officials from a children's hospital, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Three police officers were killed near Fetterman's hometown of York last September and he backed out of attending the funeral because in his response it was three hours long and that was too long.

Fetterman has responded to all of this, saying, "Per usual -- lies, half-truths, innuendo, smears and anonymous..." You know, things are being said about him and "No matter how many smears or stories," he says he's "proud to continue to deliver for Pennsylvania."

Is he delivering for Pennsylvania? Are you worried about his role now as a Democratic senator in what could be a time after the midterms where he's a swing vote?

QUIGLEY: Look, I think issues like this are of concern and should be investigated. I think it should be done on a bipartisan basis. One of the leading Republicans there has been missing in action with almost no information about his true health concerns. So regardless of party, concerns about a performance or capabilities of any elected official should be investigated, but we should do it on an equal basis.

SIDNER: It is good to talk to you. Thank you for being here working when a lot of people aren't. We are too. Thank you, Mike. Appreciate it, Congressman -- John.

BERMAN: I noticed the same thing.

All right. This morning it is getting a lot more expensive to buy a house or refinance a mortgage. Mortgage rates have surged to their highest level of the year. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is now 6.71 percent. That is the highest level since 2025.

Many economists had expected mortgage rates to fall this year and for a time they did, but the war in Iran partially upended that. Economists at Redfin expect mortgage rates to stay in the upper and mid- six percent range for the rest of the year.

At least 10 people are dead after a fireworks explosion near a church during a religious festival. And a first look at a secret documentary about Theranos founder and convicted felon, Elizabeth Holmes.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:54:00]

BERMAN: All right. There have been college football games pretty much around the clock for the last six days, and there are still more today, I think. And in many of these games, the clocks actually work.

Let's get right to CNN's Coy Wire for all the latest action. I love the games, and I love the controversy, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, don't we love it all? This is just an incredible first full weekend of college football.

And Notre Dame -- last night they played. And I remember last season they missed the college football playoff. They skipped the bowl game -- chose to do that -- and apparently, they spent the whole offseason plotting revenge. The Irish entered this season as the biggest preseason favorite to win the title in 20 years.

Notre Dame took to Lambeau Field and facing Wisconsin. They -- the two tied at halftime. It was 13 to 10. But then the Irish hit the Cheeseheads with the afterburners -- offense, special teams and defense. DJ McKinney says I'll take that 55-yard pick six to the house. Notre Dame rolls 41 to 13. They're 6-1 odds favorites to win it all entering this season.

[07:55:05]

Now Louisville-Ole Miss the only top 25 match at the young season and it delivered, Louisville quarterback Lincoln Kienholz's 300 yards passing, two touchdowns, and this rushing touchdown to tie it with about 90 seconds to go.

But Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss had himself a day -- 330 yards, four total touchdowns -- and gives his kicker a chance on the final drive. Lucas Carneiro from 48 yards out is money. Ole Miss survives in a thriller 41 to 38.

Ben Shelton blasting his way into the U.S. Open quarterfinals with a sledgehammer, dismantling Stefano Tsitsipas in straight sets. He's one of three American men into the quarter so far. Next comes Carlos Alcaraz. Shelton promised fireworks after this win. Power versus power. Pass the popcorn, John. This match will be on Tuesday.

Let's go to the diamond real quick where Pete Crow-Armstrong and homers go together like teenagers and cracked iPhone screens. The 24- year-old becomes the first Cub in 21 years to reach 40 home runs in a season. The Cubs lost to Miami 10-3, but PCA's campaign for MVP continues.

Now, this was all the talk on the weekend. Western Michigan thought they'd pulled off the upset of the year when Michigan's Hail Mary sails out of bounds Saturday night. The ball hits the defender's hands after he was out of bounds. Clock seemingly reading all zeros, John. Broncos celebrating. Coaches on the field. But after review, officials determined there was still a sliver of time remaining.

So Michigan's Bryce Underwood says let's try that again. He launches 47 yards to JJ Buchanan for the touchdown. Michigan wins 13 to 12. The confusion, the broadcast clock appeared to hit zero but the Big 10 says replays showed the play was dead with one second still on the official stadium clock. The Mac reviewed the Big 10's video and audio and accepted the ruling. Western Michigan says it will not appeal, so the results stand.

John, one second, an extra Hail Mary. Western Michigan went from celebrating to heartbreak. College football, you are glorious.

BERMAN: Yeah, yeah -- clocks, not so much. That whole thing was a little weird. A little weird, Coy. That's all I'm saying. But it was an exciting finish. Thank you very much.

WIRE: You got it.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: A little weird, just like all of us.

BERMAN: Exactly.

SIDNER: Thank you, John. All right. Ahead, Bad Bunny adding to his long list of accolades. He's

now an Emmy Award winner thanks to his Super Bowl halftime show. It picked up seven creative arts Emmy wins, including outstanding music, direction, and outstanding choreography. It was cool. That brings him halfway to an EGOT. He's already had six Grammys.

All right. Also on our radar, a new documentary is giving the world another look at the convicted Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes. The film, called "You Can See Everything," had its surprise world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Clip from "You Can See Everything."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You can feel that tension. Comedian Nathan Fielder, the film's co-director, is known for his deadpan, bone-dry sense of humor.

A documentary about Holmes has been rumored for years for this project, which was filmed largely in secret. Fielder lived with Holmes and her family in the weeks before she was sent to prison. The film is expected to be released in theaters in October.

All right, we are gonna throw it over to John.

BERMAN: All right. Tonight, an all-new CNN film "TOP OF THE WORLD" tells a story of Windows on the World, the legendary restaurant atop the World Trade Center that became one of the country's most celebrated dining destinations. The attacks on September 11, 2001 killed 79 restaurant employees and 91 guests.

I sat down with Michael LaMonica, the restaurant's former executive chef, to reflect on the legacy 25 years later.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

It's the 25th anniversary, obviously, of September 11th, but the 50th anniversary of the creation of Windows on the World.

How would you want it to be remembered?

MICHAEL LAMONICA, FORMER CHEF, WINDOWS ON THE WORLD: You know, Windows would still be there today had we not suffered this horrendous day. It stood as a beacon on New York. It was welcoming to all, and I think that that hospitality is what we can offer anybody anywhere in any time in life.

BERMAN: We're 25 years on, which feels like a long time, but there's still a connection there. And I know that there are people who reach out to you and say hey I'm related. I'm the niece, I'm the grandchild of someone who worked at Windows in the World.

LAMONICA: People will reach out to me through social media or through someone they know, and they'll say that my grandfather worked there.