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Video Shows Crew Member Escape Cargo Plane Moments After Deadly Crash; Trade War Escalates as Canada Slaps Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Goods; Trump to Host First Responders Ahead of 25th Anniversary of 9/11. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 08, 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 overnight, Canada strikes back, hitting the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs on some $20 billion worth of goods. We're breaking down what the escalating tariff war with one of America's neighbors and closest allies means for you.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's new video from that deadly cargo plane crash in Miami. A crew member is seen jumping from the aircraft moments after it overshot that runway and slammed into several cars. Federal investigators are on the scene trying to determine what went so wrong.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A Ferrari bursts into flames during a championship race, trapping the driver inside. The rival who pulled over to save his life.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: All right. Right now in Miami, the NTSB is on the ground, and they are working to determine what exactly went so wrong to cause an Amazon cargo plane to overshoot the runway and end with five people dead, all of them in cars on the ground that the plane crashed into before it came to a stop.

This morning, there's also new video and a new angle of the crash from moments after. It appears to show a member of the crew on that plane jumping from it to escape the fire, and, well, you see the dark smoke pouring from it.

CNN's Pete Muntean has been on the ground live at Miami International Airport with much more. Pete, what is the latest?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, the NTSB says that this is still a recovery mission right now, and crews are on the scene here saying that they are de-fueling the plane because there is still plenty of fuel on board, and fuel is everywhere, according to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy.

The NTSB, along with 30 other investigators, toured the scene yesterday for the first time. They say they are inspecting for the perishable evidence before they move this plane away. It'll be here about a week, Homendy says.

They also have recovered the black boxes on the plane, so critical to this investigation, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. Those were both taken to the NTSB's recorder laboratory on a 7:22 P.M. flight last night.

The NTSB also taking in so much of this digital evidence, and we have this new angle from the ground here, Northwest 67th Avenue. That is the road that goes behind me on the west side of the airport that this Boeing 767 plowed through before coming to rest in a parking lot. And you can see one of the members of the crew apparently evacuating this plane to safety as the right wing of the airplane is on fire.

Now, I asked NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy to describe this scene for me. She said this was very tough to see, that this plane hit a seven- passenger van, a Ford Econoline. Totally destroyed, she said. And I want you to listen to how she describes the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: I would describe it in word, one word of devastating, utter devastation. I mean, you can see in the, on the paved surface tire marks that continues through the grass. There's debris everywhere. The Econoline van is torn apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: That van was on a perimeter road about 1,500 feet away from the threshold of the runway.

The company that operates it, Professional Ocean Cleaning Service, we have not heard back from them, even though CNN has reached out to them. That is a company that cleans aircraft here at Miami International Airport.

The last critical piece of data is that this airplane exited the runway, according to open source data, at 130 miles per hour, way too fast, and investigators will want to know why this attempted landing clearly went so horribly wrong. There was a thunderstorm taking place at the time not far away from the airport that could have affected the wind at the time of this crash, and the videos showing the landing show this plane touching down very, very far down the runway. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And when you even -- some -- even much slower than that -- what that van being hit by that plane at those speeds just shows why Homendy was almost lost for words there in trying to describe what happened.

Pete, thank you so much. Pete's been on the ground. He's going to keep tracking this for us. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Breaking overnight, Canada hitting back against President Trump's escalating trade war, billions of dollars in tariffs on goods from the U.S. are now in effect, up to 50 percent on American goods with steel, aluminum, dairy, and apparel among the hardest hit. The new measures cover roughly $20 billion in goods, and it comes after trade talks between the two countries fell apart last month.

Now, President Trump is making more threats, threatening to ban the sale of Canadian Bombardier jets in the US, the latest jab in a trade war that included the president signing an order to rename Lake Ontario Lake America.

CNN's Matt Egan is joining me now. Look, they could not come to an agreement, and now this has happened. Canada has made good on its promise and has imposed these large tariffs on the U.S.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Sara, we do have more shots fired in this brewing trade war, and as you mentioned overnight, Canada following through on its threat to slap these tariffs on American-made goods. So, as you mentioned, this is a 15 to 50 percent tariff on U.S.-made goods. This impacts about $20 billion of made in America goods.

Now, that is a big number. However, I should note that this is one of the deepest trading relationships in the world. And so this represents less than 10 percent of what Canada buys every year from the United States. Still, though, we're talking about significant tariffs. It's going to impact a range of U.S. industry, starting with 50 percent tariffs on U.S.-made steel and aluminum. But we're also looking at double-digit tariffs on dairy, agricultural equipment, electronics, paper, and appliances as well.

And, look, this is not a trivial matter because Canada is the number one foreign buyer in most U.S. states. And so the risk here from a U.S. perspective is that we start to see less foreign demand, right? If Canada starts buying less goods that are made in America, you could have a situation where it actually hurts some American companies. Some of them might have to pull back on the hours for their workers, or some of them could even have to lay off some workers as well.

And Canadian officials, they have said that they calibrated these tariffs with the design on the political consequences here, the political implications, right? So, they're targeting industries and companies and states that matter in the upcoming midterm election, right? That is not lost on officials in Ottawa.

However, they did spare at least one key U.S. industry. That's the seafood industry. So, that's worth keeping an eye on. But then you see the president also stepping up the pressure on Canada, threatening to ban Bombardier, saying that he's not going to let Bombardier sell its U.S. aircraft in America if they're not made in the United States.

And so look, Sara, now we wait and see what the next shoe to drop is in this trade war that looks like it's just heating up further.

SIDNER: Yes, the back and forth with a neighbor and ally. We will see how this affects consumers as well. We'll talk about that soon.

Matt Egan, thank you so much.

EGAN: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: John?

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, the defense attorney for Lindsay Clancy is speaking out in his first interview since the mistrial.

Starting today, millions of Epstein files are going on tour across the United States.

And breaking just a short time ago, a new brazen art heist, four priceless works swiped from the Renoir Museum, but two were dropped during the getaway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: Friday marks 25 years since the September 11th attacks, and this morning, President Trump is hosting an event with first responders. A 21-foot steel beam recovered from the south tower of the World Trade Center will be brought to the White House.

CNN's Alayna Treene is there this morning. Good morning, Alayna. What's in store for today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, John, this is the first of several different events that people here at the White House are planning to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. As you mentioned, John, the president will be hosting this special event on the White House Ellipse, just behind the main building of the White House, and it will feature a steel beam recovered from the collapse of the World Trade Center's southern tower.

Now, this is part of a Tunnel to Towers event, and it's also part of the Steel Across America campaign. It's essentially a tour that travels across the country to commemorate 9/11 and the people who were killed that day. The beam itself is 21 feet long and 16,900 pounds of steel. So, this is going to be a huge beam that we're going to see erected on the South Lawn today as part of this event.

We're also told that first responders from FDNY, the New York City Fire Department, also the Washington, D.C. Fire Department, representatives from Tunnel to Towers Foundation, and administration officials will be part of this event. We're also told that the president himself is expected to speak, as is the Tunnel to Towers Foundation chairman and CEO, Frank Siller.

Siller's brother, Stephen Siller, was an FDNY firefighter who was killed that day on 9/11, helping respond to the attacks.

Now, I will say this is just one -- as I mentioned, one of many different plans that the president has to commemorate this anniversary. I'd note that the president, obviously a native New Yorker, he was originally planning to go to New York City on Friday, go to the World Trade Center, and be there for the memorial that they're planning to hold for the 25 years since the attack.

However, plans have since changed, and now the president is expected to speak at the Pentagon on Friday. I'm told that's in part because when you're at the World Trade Center, when you're at Ground Zero the museum and the memorial that just puts that on doesn't allow politicians to be -- to speak, and the president wanted to give remarks to mark the occasion.

[07:15:08]

So, he's expected to speak at the Pentagon on Friday. We're told that the vice president, J.D. Vance, will be speaking in New York -- or, excuse me, he won't be speaking. He'll be attending that Ground Zero ceremony in New York. So, you're going to see a lot of officials kind of fanned out across some of the major areas on Friday to mark this, but all of it starting today. John?

BERMAN: Yes, a very poignant week to be sure. Alayna Treena at the White House this morning. Thanks so much for that report. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John. Hurricane Lowell is barreling towards Hawaii, leading to Hawaii's first tornado watch in recorded history. We're tracking that storm there.

And a race car erupts into a ball of flames. Check out what happens here, the incredible moment where a fellow driver jumped into action and, thank goodness, ended up saving his fellow competitor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: So, happening now, Hurricane Lowell is just lashing Hawaii. Big rains, high winds, which, of course, mean dangerous surf. Hawaii County is under a hurricane warning and a tornado watch. This is the first tornado watch issued by the National Weather Service in Hawaii since the office opened back in the 1940s.

Let me play for you some video that we just got in from a reporter in Hawaii this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at this storm surge. It's crashing over this berm right now. We're on the south-facing beaches, and this is where they expected it to be the worst. And with this storm surge and the rising water, it's bringing with it a ton of debris, flooding everything in its path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Derek Van Dam tracking this story for us and tracking the storm for us. Tell us what you're seeing right now, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So, we've got the combination of storm surge, but also the heavy rainfall that's cascading down the tall mountain peaks across Kauai County, right? So, this is the latest satellite imagery with the radar overlaid. Keep in mind the Kauai radar site has been down through the duration of this event, so we're picking up on radar sites that are far to the east.

We're not getting an accurate representation of this. But the latest point where this was actually tracked was its greatest or its closest approach to Niihau Island, that's still within Kauai County, was less than 50 miles. So, that is a very close call for a direct hit. But we don't believe there was a landfall at this stage from everything that we can gather.

Regardless, this is not the time to head outside. The winds are still gusting to hurricane force. Look at on Kauai Island. We're gusting to 75 miles per hour at the airport. Even towards Honolulu, we're nearing tropical storm force. How long will we be in that? Well, the yellow line here represents the tropical storm conditions with the hurricane force gusts well to the north and west.

This is going to exit the region by about daybreak. So, the sun comes up, and conditions start to improve dramatically. Remember, it's the middle of the night for Hawaii.

Regardless, the damage has already been done. We've got 90 percent of customers without power across Kauai County. Throughout Oahu, roughly 9 percent of customers without electricity this morning. Of course, it's warm, it's wet, it's dark, and that can make things a little bit scarier, too, to step outside.

You see the radar here. It is very active still, but this is interesting. This popped up overnight, the first tornado watch to be issued for the Hawaiian Islands. It's really saying something. But because of this -- so I'll go back to the radar here so you can see it. Because we're on this right quadrant of the storm, we call this the dirty side of the hurricane.

Remember, in the northern hemisphere, we rotate in a counterclockwise direction. So, this is where the spin-ups occur. We get the quick- acting tornadoes. They're usually generally re- relatively weak, but they can cause damage, and they have been known to obviously create some problems on the ground.

There's a lot of swell associated with this. People experiencing that, timing that with high tide, the storm surge, the push of the ocean, and two to four inches. I mean, you saw that reporter just a moment ago before me. She saw some of the results of the storm surge. Still, those south-facing beaches across Niihau and Kauai Island are the most vulnerable. Some of these low-lying areas where a lot of communities reside could obviously still see some water on normally dry ground.

This storm is going to race to the north over the coming days, kind of weaken as it does so, and become more of a fish food, not much threat to the islands after this. But still enhanced rainfall in the days to come on the trailing edge of this. That means flash flooding still a possibility for the next 24 hours or so. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, and right now they are in the middle of it. All right, Derek, thank you so much. Derek's watching this one very closely, especially with what radar is available right now.

Also ahead for us today, more than 3 million documents from the Epstein files are on the move. The mobile Epstein Library that begins its journey now across the country. What's going on here?

And Hunter Biden reportedly planning to launch a meme coin inspired by his infamous laptop.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: It is the day after Labor Day, and that means two things. Number one, no more wearing white, and, number two, the unofficial kickoff of the general election campaign season. And Republicans, they're holding their first ever midterm convention. This starts tomorrow in Dallas. President Trump and Vice President Vance, they will headline.

President Trump speaks both nights, Wednesday and Thursday. The stakes here incredibly high with control of Congress hanging in the balance.

Joining me now is Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat from Virginia. Congressman, great to see you this morning.

What do you think the impact will be of President Trump putting himself front and center in these midterm elections?

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): President Trump putting himself front and center and making himself the face of these midterms is great news for us as Democrats because he's historically unpopular, his policies have been a complete failure, and he'll remind voters that Republicans in Congress have rubber-stamped him this last year and a half, and they will continue to if they stay in the majority.

[07:30:02]

So, we see this as a good development.

BERMAN: Why shouldn't Democrats do something like this, have a midterm convention?