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5 Dead After Amazon Cargo Plane Overshoots Runway, Crashed into Cars; 2 Hurt as Armed Man Charges at Ohio Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee Amy Acton; Trump Administration Makes New Appeal to Supreme Court on Mail-In Voting; FCC May Warn Broadcasters About Fake Polls Ahead of Midterms. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 07, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm related, I'm the niece, I'm the grandchild of someone who worked at Windows of the World.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People will reach out to me through social media or through someone they know, and they'll say that my grandfather worked there. And then they say, what can you tell me about them? I'm always touched by that because it's how we connect as people.

And then I start to feel like somehow, I'm part of their family.

BERMAN: Which is so important.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The story of people who lost so much, the families who lost so much, the nation who lost so much, came together to rebuild and to go on again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN (on camera): The all new CNN film Top of the World premieres tonight at 8 and tomorrow on the CNN app. It is really wonderful. Make sure to see it.

Brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

All right, breaking news. Five people dead after a cargo plane overshoots a runway. CNN is on the scene with the very latest on this investigation.

Breaking overnight, new details emerging about the armed suspect accused of lunging at a candidate for governor in Ohio, injuring several people at a campaign event.

And then dozens arrested in Los Angeles. Police using tow trucks and apparently high technology to break up a street takeover.

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning one of the big questions out there today. What caused a plane to barrel off a Miami runway, slam into multiple cars and then burst into flames? And why didn't the pilots call for help beforehand?

Investigators are digging into what led to this Amazon cargo plane crash at Miami International Airport. Five people were killed in that. Five others injured.

This is a witnesses video. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! Oh!

(PLAN CRASH)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: While the plane was arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it overshot the runway, more than 60 fire and rescue units were dispatched to the scene at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCH: Guy, 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 at 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 that the pilots never declared a mayday or an emergency before landing. The NTSB and FAA now, of course, investigating.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean live at the scene at Miami International Airport. What's the very latest on this this morning? The video just awful to watch.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The video is very telling, Sara. And you heard that scanner audio in which firefighters referred to Northwest 67th Avenue. That is it behind me here, about four lanes wide.

That is the road that the 767 came off of Runway 30 here at Miami International Airport, across the road, then into the parking lot behind this Amazon warehouse behind me. The crash scene about a quarter mile behind me right now. And we're anticipating hearing from the National Transportation Safety Board later today.

National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy will brief the media at some point today. Of course, investigators are taking in so much information right now, including that video taken from on the tarmac at Miami International Airport, showing this plane coming in high and fast. The video is very interesting. When you interpolate some of the landmarks nearby, it appears that this plane had not really begun decelerating as it passed the airport radar. That's two thirds of the way down the runway. The details now starting to tell the story of what is called an unstable approach, this airplane coming in too high and too fast.

The preliminary data is also very interesting. You mentioned that the plane went off the end of the runway, according to Flight Radar 24, going about 112 knots, 130 miles per hour. But the data also shows about halfway down the runway, the airplane was still going about 170 knots or 200 miles per hour.

Too, too fast. And investigators will want to know the data on their own from the black boxes from the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. That will be so telling here.

Did the pilots realize that they had made an error coming into land here at Miami International Airport? So many details still yet to unfold here. So many questions for investigators to answer.

[08:05:00]

One big question is why this runway, with so much development just off of the end here, did not have what's called Engineered Materials Arresting System, or EMAS. That's a bed of crushable cement that the FAA has promoted for years at the ends of runways that are upping its roads and large developments like this.

Clearly, this airplane was going very, very fast as it went off the end of the runway. We know that Amazon Air, which this airplane is branded as, although this was a contractor operating this plane, 21 Air, the CEO of that company, Keith Winters, says they're fully cooperating with this investigation, which is still at its very early phases, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and I think you mentioned that 67, which is where the plane kind of went over, that's still closed this morning. I think I see the crime scene tape across it. Thank you for keeping us updated on all that's going on there at Miami International Airport and the area around it. Appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: Right this morning, a 38-year-old man is facing charges after allegedly rushing at Ohio's Democratic gubernatorial candidate at a fair. Police say Patrick Havas pushed through the crowd as Amy Acton was speaking. Two people were knocked down and injured after Havas was arrested.

Police say they found several weapons on him. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is here with the latest on this. What have you learned this morning, Gloria?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, and yesterday when we first learned about this event, it immediately raised red flags. And we were getting a lot of information because, yet again, it's another instance of apparent political violence that we are seeing, which we have been seeing so much of in the country in the last few years. This happened at the Canfield County Fair in Ohio, where, as you said, Amy Acton had been campaigning for the day on Sunday.

The Mahoning County Sheriff, where this happened, has identified the suspect as 38-year-old Patrick Havas. As you said, he was immediately arrested on site, and he has been charged with two counts of assault as well as one count of disorderly conduct. When police arrested him, they found two firearms as well as brass knuckles on him.

Now, we're told that Havas allegedly entered the Mahoning County Democratic Party tent, which was at this fair. That's where the candidate was speaking. She was addressing the crowd as this man made his way into the tent.

He pushed through the crowd. As he was doing so, he appeared to be recording the incident, and that's when he tried to lunge at Amy Acton. Her security detail was able to intercept and stop him, and that's when he was taken into custody.

During that scuffle, there were two older people that were knocked to the ground, and that's where some of the injuries came from. I want to play you some sound from some of the witnesses that were there and saw what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, as you know, John, Acton is the former health director in Ohio. She's also the Democratic nominee facing off against the Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in what is expected to be a really closely watched race for governor in Ohio. Her campaign issued a statement shortly after this incident yesterday, saying, "While attending the Canfield Fair, an armed individual 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, he actually was also supposed to be campaigning and was expected to appear at this fair. He also issued a statement in his campaign condemning this incident saying, "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, again, while no one was hurt, we're seeing more of these events. Unfortunately, again, yesterday when we first learned of it, just concern. And I think we're still trying to learn more about the suspect and perhaps what his motivations might be.

BERMAN: Yes, carrying weapons in Ohio, not in and of itself illegal, but obviously want to learn more about this situation. Gloria, thank you very much for that report -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, just ahead, the Trump administration doubling down on its push to try to make over mail-in voting before the midterms, a showdown brewing at the Supreme Court after it put forth another request for an emergency hearing.

And a CNN exclusive, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman breaking his silence, firing back at former staffers who say he simply doesn't want to do the work required of being a senator. What he's saying this morning?

Plus, a trooper comes to the rescue of the cutest puppy in the world. Oh, we found him just in a little cage at a rest stop.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, the Trump administration has renewed its appeal to the Supreme Court to allow new post office rules limiting voting by mail. This comes as the midterms are less now than two months away. North Carolina already started sending out mail-in ballots and more states will follow suit in the coming days and weeks.

CNN's Betsy Klein is at the White House this morning.

[08:15:00]

Give us some sense of this new push, this new push towards the Supreme Court to try to get a decision here, really wanting to sort of upend the way that mail-in ballots work when it goes through the post office.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Erin, time is clearly of the essence here. President Trump has spent years making unsubstantiated claims about illegal voting by mail and he has really targeted mail-in voting during his second term. And we saw that back in March as he issued this executive order laying out new mail-in voting requirements.

Among them, it requires the U.S. Postal Service to get this sweeping power to withhold delivery of mail-in ballots. It requires state and local election officials to upload lists of mail voters to a special portal. It also requires special barcodes on envelopes for tracking.

And of course, this was immediately challenged in court by dozens of states. The Supreme Court is now considering an emergency appeal that would allow the U.S. Postal Service to implement the rule before the November midterm elections, which of course are less than two months away now. And some states, including North Carolina, have started that mail-in ballot process.

Many election officials are arguing that it's already too late to implement this. The Trump administration arguing for the urgency here. I want to read to you a little bit from this emergency filing sent on Sunday. The Department of Justice says quote, "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 rule's requirements, each day the injunction is in place risks sowing confusion and chaos because the injunction makes those preparatory steps voluntary rather than mandatory." We should note that mail-in voting is becoming increasingly popular.

Nearly 50 million Americans voted by mail in the 2024 election. And according to an analysis from Pew Research, roughly a majority of those voters voted Democrat by mail. And the states and voting rights groups now have until Wednesday to respond to the Department of Justice.

The Supreme Court is going to be making a decision relatively quickly here. The White House is watching this very, very closely -- Sara.

SIDNER: Betsy Klein, I do appreciate you working on a holiday just like us. We extra are thankful that you're there outside the White House for us this morning.

All right, the FCC may take action against broadcasters who air what the agency termed fake polls. Now they're deciding what's real and what's not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: You piece of s***! Piece of s***! Good, good, good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Well, that was video showing the moment a Colorado murder suspect who was out on a $3 million bond allegedly fled the scene of a car accident. The new details that we're learning on this incident and what happened to him up next.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, what sure seems like a new warning from the FCC. The chair of the Federal Communications Commission says the agency may issue new guidance about what he calls fake polls ahead of the midterms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENDAN CARR, FCC CHAIRMAN: President Trump is over the target and we're looking at a lot of actions. For instance, there's a lot of interest right now in fake polls that are out there. And so the FCC may put guidance out soon to remind broadcasters about their obligations with respect to not airing fake polls, particularly if they're done to suppress -- suppress people heading into the fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter for the latest on this. So what's he talking about here, Brian?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, there are some genuine problems with polling these days, but it's not up to the government to police polls. And so I think what we see here from Brendan Carr is his attempt to thread the needle, given that President Trump basically told him to take action. The president posted a week ago on true social saying these fake polls are a huge problem.

He blamed the Democrats and he said FCC to the rescue. But in reality, there's very little that the FCC could actually do in order to have any influence over this matter. So you hear Carr over the weekend saying, hey, we might weigh in, we might remind broadcasters of their responsibility.

But that actually speaks to how little power Brendan Carr has in this case. This is what happens oftentimes when the president will issue some kind of directive and then an agency has to scramble to respond and try to figure out what to do. What I hear, though, in the president's words and in Carr's words is a pre-reaction or, you know, a prebuttal to what's expected to be a blue wave in the midterms.

Of course, there's an expectation about Democratic gains in a couple of months, a lot of concern among Republicans about that. And so there is a lot of chatter about polls right now. And we've heard this from the president in the past, this idea of suppression polls that are meant to discourage Republicans from turning out.

I think we're probably going to hear more about this from Trump in the next weeks ahead. But the bottom line is the government can do very little, basically nothing, to pressure broadcasters. However, the FCC does have that open investigation into Disney.

And so that's an example of how it is using pressure to punish broadcasters' parent companies -- John.

BERMAN: And what polls are we talking about here? Are we talking about polls that the president doesn't like, that show him with low approval ratings? Or are we talking about, you know, absolutely illegitimate polls that are, you know, shams?

STELTER: There is a real problem right now, a genuine problem with polling. And I think experts on both sides of the aisle agree on that. In some recent Democratic primaries, the results in states like Wisconsin wildly differed from what the pre-election polls showed would happen.

Some campaigns on the left have been using unreliable polls to make it appear like they have momentum. There's been some straight up lying going on. Here's what the New York Times recently described the problems.

Quote, "This year, several Democratic campaigns have seized on unreliable polls to push the perception that their candidates are surging to try to solidify support, attract donors, and scare off rivals." And to some degree, this has been going on for a long time, both on the left and the right. But you know, this year, it's been especially intense.

The Los Angeles Times recently discovered a totally made up poll that was taken seriously by the city's mayor because it showed her ahead. The website that made up that poll said it was a short-term social experiment. And unfortunately, there's a lot of this going on right now.

The president uses polls to try to manipulate appearances of his support. We see Democrats doing it as well. So what can we all do?

I think we have to be skeptical of any single poll, especially right now. The president uses polls to try to manipulate appearances of his support. We see Democrats doing it as well.

[08:25:00]

So what can we all do? I think we have to be skeptical of any single poll, especially outliers. We have to look at what the consensus shows.

And best of all, John, hardest to do, wait for the actual results in the midterms in a couple of months.

BERMAN: We could do that too. All right, Brian Stelter, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

A mother charged after allegedly killing her two year old child. The reported links to the Lindsay Clancy trial.

And then a street takeover in Los Angeles, hundreds of cars and more than 700 people blocking the streets.

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