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Interview with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): Supreme Court Rejects Trump Plan to Limit Mail-In Voting in Midterms; Trump Rejects Warnings on AI Danger as a Hoax; FBI Director Patel Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee; Families of Victims in DC Midair Collision to Call for Safety Reforms; Sacramento Woman Fatally Shot by Alleged Stalker. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired September 15, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The show, "Widows Bay," on the wild horror/dark comedy set in New England. The show picked up 14 trophies including Best Actor for Matthew Rhys. He also won for the limited series "The Beast in Me," making him the first man to win two lead actor categories in the same year.

HBO's "The Pitt" also took home Best Drama Series and actor Noah Wiley took home Best Lead Actor in a Drama. No man, though, got a bigger standing ovation than Michael J. Fox, who accepted the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his work in Parkinson's research.

He thanked the crowd for being so open to him, continuing to act as he battles the disease.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Supreme setback. The highest court in the land tells the president he can't use the post office to restrict mail-in voting in this election. We are standing by this morning for new presidential reaction.

And brand new reporting from the Pentagon reveals a first real look at just how much damage has been done to U.S. forces and weapons stockpiles in the war in Iran. Why some of the setbacks could be permanent?

And when simply being awake is a basic job requirement. New video appears to show a driver falling asleep, bus driver, just before crashing into a tree.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: All right, it's been a standby this morning to see what the president says now. We're standing by for the first reaction and response from the White House after the Supreme Court rejected the president's plan to impose new limits on how people mail-in vote this November midterm. The unsigned opinion from the Supreme Court justices blocks that order that would have given the U.S. Postal Service power to withhold potentially millions of ballots. The timing of all this is clearly obviously significant with some states already sending out ballots, others starting this week.

Some state elections officials have told CNN that the president's plan was going to be creating chaos for them to try to basically rebuild the railroad while they're in the midst of rolling these things out. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas were the only two to publicly dissent and side with the president on this.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed by President Trump, suggested that the president's order might be legal, but wrote, quote, state and local election officials do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections. The question now, what happens now? Could the administration try again?

We will see -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

Joining me now is Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. He is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Thank you for being here.

Just going on what's happened with the Supreme Court, are Democrats prepared for the Trump administration to potentially push for changes to mail-in ballot systems again, but this time for the next election, the 2028 presidential election?

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: We are prepared for the likelihood that this president will do everything in his power to discourage people from voting, to not count the votes that are cast, to question the qualifications of voters at every level. He is desperate because he knows that this is a referendum on his leadership and he is doing poorly with the American people. So he's trying to put his own political stamp on this election and discourage people from voting.

It's not working.

SIDNER: Look, you just mentioned some of the things that you see that the president is doing and there's a new whistleblower who has come forward saying that federal agents may have broken state laws scouring personal voter information to try and find non-citizen voters. The accusation also includes that the agents may be using dubious data in order to do this. Do Democrats have a plan to secure voter rights?

Do you think this is something that needs to be brought up in Congress and have something done, a law put forward on this?

DURBIN: We have tried to bring this up a number of times. The right to vote is critical to citizenship and this president is clearly on a mission to discourage people from voting and to not count all the votes that are cast. I think this is the most serious challenge to our basic constitutional form of government since the Civil War.

I think it's that serious. And yes, we're doing everything we can, but as a minority party, we need more votes. [08:05:00]

SIDNER: You have had this week a round of top tech leaders warning that AI could end humanity as we know it and that regulation must happen and fast. But the president is calling their description a hoax. Here's some of what he said on the social media site.

"The only control or guardrails that AI needs is a strong and smart, high IQ President, and the USA has that in spades." It says, "The Trump administration has stopped AI people from doing bad or potentially bad things like Dario from Anthropic, who is now pretending to be a perfect little angel. He has come out saying, look, something must be done. Regulation must happen."

If this is as dangerous as the tech industry is telling us, shouldn't this be a top priority for Congress?

DURBIN: Absolutely. And for this president to assert once again, he's a stable genius and we shouldn't worry a bit when the experts in the field tell us that there could be disastrous consequences if we don't get involved in the progress of this scientific investigation. Listen, we've asked on the Democratic side in the Senate through Senator Schumer for a briefing, a bipartisan briefing this week to sit down and quickly get the lay of the land as to what we're doing to protect the American people from this threat.

It is very real. It's being brought to us by people who are experts in the field. And the president's sloughing it off does not give me any confidence whatsoever.

SIDNER: Look, Congress does not tend to move very quickly, especially now. So is there any chance that you will be able to do this in time as these AI companies and leaders are saying it's got to be done quickly?

DURBIN: Well, you put your finger on it, and you can understand that when the House of Representatives is leaving this week until after the election and the Senate has a couple of weeks of business under this Republican leadership, there's little time for us to act. That's why I think Senator Schumer's plea to the administration to give us a briefing on this as quickly as possible on a bipartisan basis. It is timely and important that we do it now.

SIDNER: Look, you're going to have a hearing shortly. So thank you for being here right now to question FBI Director Kash Patel. What are the questions that you think need to be answered and that the American public need to know?

DURBIN: Kash Patel is unqualified to lead the FBI. I voted against his nomination, and he has proven it in the time that he served as head of that agency. This is one of those highly respected law enforcement agencies in the world.

He has dragged it into the dirt. The men and women who are risking their lives to keep us safe in law enforcement deserve better. They're being used for political purposes.

They're pursuing political conspiracies at Patel's direction. And he is trying to lead a lifestyle with the plane given him as head of the FBI that basically might validate the playboy of the Western world, but it makes no sense when it comes to keeping America safe.

SIDNER: What do you want to know from him? What is something that is glaring to you that he is doing that you disagree with and think is dangerous?

DURBIN: Let's try this one. You remember when people were being killed in the streets of Minneapolis and Chicago and other cities by DHS and ICE agents? Do you remember the investigation that followed?

Of course you don't because there was no investigation. There's been a belief that if it's being done by the Trump administration, they should not be held accountable. My question to him is why?

If you're head of the investigative agency, when federal agents kill people in the streets for simply demonstrating, why aren't you following up on this? That's one of the first items of priority.

SIDNER: And certainly in Minneapolis, in the state of Minnesota, the state is looking into one of those cases, investigating it, but not the federal government. Senator Dick Durbin, thank you so much for taking the time this morning. We will look forward to taking your hearing live for a bit.

We appreciate you -- John.

BERMAN: All right, a woman killed by a man police say stalked her for months, going as far as getting a copy of her key and breaking into her apartment before gunning her down.

And then don't look up for the first time really, the U.S. military confirms the existence of weapons in space.

And a suspect crashes a stolen car. But wait, there's more. He then steals a police cruiser and ends up crashing into a house with people sleeping inside. That's a busy day.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, the families of victims of the deadly midair collision near Reagan National Airport, those families will be on Capitol Hill. They're expected to call for aviation safety reforms. The crash between a Blackhawk helicopter and passenger jet killed 67 people.

CNN's Pete Muntean, who has been covering the story since the accident itself, every aspect of the investigation. Pete is with us this morning. What do we expect to see today, Pete?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, nearly 600 days since that crash. And this is a big increase in pressure to make major aviation safety changes that haven't been implemented in the aftermath. The families of those killed on American Eagle Flight 5342 will be joined today by about a dozen members of Congress, including Senator Ted Cruz, who's the top Republican on the Senate committee overseeing the FAA.

He's been out front and calling for the FAA to further mandate the technology called ADS-B in. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy says it could have alerted the passenger jet crew 59 seconds before impact, the helicopter crew 48 seconds before impact. Requiring ADS-B in was one of the NTSB's 50 safety recommendations after this crash.

[08:15:00]

And now, in a new letter to FAA Administrator Brian Bedford, Homendy says she is, quote, disappointed that the FAA did not commit to such recommendations after this crash. And now, in a new letter to FAA Administrator Brian Bedford, Homendy says she is, quote, "... disappointed that the FAA did not commit to such a requirement." Remember, the NTSB cannot make safety changes on its own.

It can only recommend changes. And a mandate like this would have to come from the FAA or an act of Congress. The FAA has an -- sorry, the NTSB, rather, has classified the FAA's response to this recommendation as open, unacceptable response.

So, these families have a lot of new firepower now. The House and Senate have both passed separate aviation safety bills that include ADS-B in requirements, but the two chambers have not yet agreed on a final bill to send to the president. FAA Administrator Brian Bedford did not respond in a letter to the NTSB on its open recommendations, did not address the call for ADS-B in.

He is on the Hill today in a House appropriations hearing about upgrading the nation's air traffic control system. Another big push born out of this crash. He said that he needs another $10 billion to do that.

He'll likely be asked about these open NTSB recommendations -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, people pushing for some of these changes for a long time now. Pete Muntean, great to see you. Thank you for sharing your reporting on this -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: There's a new report out giving a first look into -- a real first official look, if you will, into how much the Iran war is costing and how much damage it is doing to U.S. troops, resources, assets, and the footprint overseas. This is coming from the Pentagon's official watchdog. That's coming up.

Plus, California governor is now talking about 2028. A lot of people are paying attention. Which Democrat, Gavin Newsom, says he would not run against?

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So this morning police say a woman in California was killed by a man who had stalked her for months and it's now triggering a kind of national debate and a much needed discussion. The suspect is an undocumented immigrant who took his own life after police tracked him down. DHS is blaming California's sanctuary policies, while the woman's grieving family is asking if more could have been done.

CNN's Nick Watt has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We'll get to the politics in a second, but the facts are these. Shalini Thakur was 38 years old, shot dead, broad daylight, 3 o'clock in the afternoon at a mall in California. Now the Sacramento County Sheriff released a grainy surveillance camera video of the incident.

They say that Thakur was accosted by this man who had been stalking her, they say, for months, accosted. She tried to run. He drew a firearm, shot her.

She hit the ground. He shot her again. Rohit Rohit, the suspect here, allegedly fled the scene. He was tracked by police using license plate recognition and he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Now, the stalking allegedly began back in January. Apparently, Rohit had put an air tag in Thakur's car to track her. At one point, he showed up, had a key to her apartment and got in.

On another occasion, he apparently let air out of her car tires, then followed her to work to act the knight in shining armor and to help her. She did have a restraining order against him since May.

Now, the politics of the case are these. Rohit Rohit, this young man, allegedly came from India in 2023 and was an undocumented migrant in this country. The DHS gave a statement to CNN that reads, in part, "This tragedy would have been completely avoided if it weren't for the Biden administration releasing this killer into our country."

Governor Gavin Newsom, his office, clapped back with this, telling us, "Trying to turn a horrific act of stalking and domestic violence into an indictment of California's sanctuary policies is not supported by the evidence and distracts from the real issues this case raises."

Now, it's worth noting that undocumented migrants are arrested at a rate of less than half that of native-born Americans for violent and drug-related crimes. Now, Thakur's family on a GoFundMe described her as a caring, loving, selfless and generous young woman, dead at 38, killed allegedly by a man who had been stalking her for months.

Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Awful story. All right, ahead, we are standing by for FBI Director Kash Patel to arrive on Capitol Hill as he prepares to face questions from Senate lawmakers. Will there be fireworks like the last time he was on the Hill?

And a terrifying crash, a bus driver falling asleep at the wheel for a while. What happened to passengers on board after this crash?

Those stories and more ahead.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: President Trump trying to rally to get voters to the polls ahead of the midterms. Obviously, hoping to do that for Republicans. Going as far as this promise of $5,000 to all American adults if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate come November.

A key reason the president could be digging in on this promise, his poll numbers. And rapidly declining numbers among some of the demographics that helped him win in 24. A notable area would be one in particular -- working class Latinos.

CNN's Harry Enten running the numbers on this one. So, how much ground has he lost here?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Oh my goodness gracious. Oy, oy, oy. No bueno if you're the president of the United States.

Because just take a look here. Working class Latinos. He had a massive breakthrough in 2024.

He won working class Latinos. He won non-college Latino voters by a point over Kamala Harris. That's a major breakthrough for a Republican president or Republican running for president.

But that win that he had. Adios amigos. Goodbye. See you later.

Look at his net approval rating now at an average of polls. CNN, SSRS polls across 2026.

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