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FAA Equipment Outage Causing Ground Stops, Delays At NE Airport; Soon: Trump Arrives In NYC For U.N. General Assembly; States Reach Deal With Paramount On Warner Bros. Discovery Merger; Patrick Clancy Opens Up About The Deaths Of His Three Children: Lindsay Remembered Killings "Like A Dream"; Patrick Clancy Recalls Holding His Son Callan As He Died. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 21, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brody was a beloved athlete, a football player, a star player in his community, and it was after Brody's death in March that the community really woke up and started to look at each other, parents comparing their notes and seeing what could it be that had gone wrong.

Now, Brianna, their efforts have gained some visibility for the -- for their cause. They've gotten the Department of Public Health here in California to launch an investigation. The first question that they need to determine is whether or not this is an unusual situation, an unusual rate of these cancers, and then they can determine if there is an environmental cause looking at air, soil, pollution, everything in that community, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, parents already trying to do that. They're desperate and concerned that there may be something unusual here, so we'll wait to see what that brings. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for that report.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're tracking significant delays at several major airports in the Northeast after construction workers accidentally cut a fiber cable, a problem that could have big consequences for anyone traveling today.

Plus, a merger that's going to reshape Hollywood: Paramount and several states reaching a deal clearing the way for the company to merge with CNN's parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery.

And President Trump seems to have a new rationale for his Triumphal Arch that's set to loom over Arlington National Cemetery. He says it could also be used as a sniper's nest and ammunition dump.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN, ground stops reported at major airports across the Northeast causing significant delays. Travel being impacted at Newark Liberty, Teterboro, Philadelphia International, LaGuardia, JFK as well. The FAA says a fiber cable was accidentally cut at a construction site in New Jersey leading to these problems. CNN Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joins us now over the phone.

Pete, what have you learned?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, we have to talk first about the impact here, and it's huge. Right now, Newark tops of all airports worldwide when it comes to cancellations and delays, 183 flights canceled from Newark today, 97 flights delayed. We're talking about a third of all flights canceled there, about 50 percent of all flights impacted at Newark today.

Also, Philadelphia topping the list, Boston, which was the subject of an earlier ground stop, now no longer on a ground stop on the list. Just got a tweet from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in which he says that this was because of an Amtrak construction crew that accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey, which caused a telecom outage and forced the FAA to pause flights briefly in the Northeast. This is all taking place at what is called Philadelphia TRACON, Terminal Radar Approach Control.

That is the facility that has been really a hot button in the Trump administration's push to modernize the air traffic control system nationwide. Last year, there was problems with fiber cable -- or rather copper cables that went to the facility which moved from New York about a year earlier. This facility has been really a -- a -- a center of -- an epicenter of problems for a while now.

The good news is that flights are resuming in small doses, resuming at LaGuardia and at Philadelphia, but flights into Newark, JFK, Peterborough, which is a huge general aviation airport in New Jersey just outside of New York, those are all still paused.

This is a huge ripple effect, though, and we talked a bit about the earlier impact on everything in the New York area, but this will also impact connecting flights. We see that when -- there's a huge bottleneck in the air traffic control system, it can really trickle down nationwide, so this will mean a huge and wide-ranging, tough day for air travel nationwide today.

We also have this new statement from Verizon, because the initial rumor was that this was caused by Verizon, Verizon patently disputing that, saying they have a fiber cable running adjacent to an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey, and its construction contractors were working in an area and dug up a cable.

Verizon facilities, according to this statement, were fully functional up to that point. Verizon bears no responsibility for the incident, according to this statement. "We immediately deployed our technicians to the scene," Verizon says. "We and our partners are actively working to repair the damaged cable and restore connectivity as quickly as possible."

You know, the air traffic control system in the United States very frequently runs on very outdated and aging equipment. This has been a huge focus on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and a huge focus of the Trump administration. They've already used about $12.5 billion to upgrade the air traffic control system in the United States.

[15:05:04]

Now, they're going to Congress for $10 billion, and the timing here is especially rich today. The Transportation Secretary announced that A.I. tools would help flow traffic in the D.C. area, and that was a new announcement by the Transportation Secretary today. The timing is -- is somewhat ironic, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was asked about this during that press conference making that announcement. He said that the Transportation Department is focused on making these fixes.

SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, thank you so much for the update. Keep us posted if you hear more. Brianna?

KEILAR: This hour, President Trump is expected to arrive in New York City as a whirlwind week of diplomacy begins. First up, he's meeting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Tomorrow, he takes the stage at the U.N. General Assembly. World leaders on edge as conflicts in the Middle East and in Ukraine escalate. And then by Wednesday, he'll be back in D.C. greeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is following the President's very busy week. She's very busy as well because of it. First, what's the President saying ahead of his remarks at the U.N.?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a lot that we're tracking here. He is now on his way to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, and he's going to be giving those remarks tomorrow. That's when a lot of this takes place. He's going to have multiple meetings with foreign leaders. '

And according to a senior White House official, that speech, at least in part, will focus in on the conflict in Iran, which is now stretching toward its seven-month mark. This is a conflict that Trump said could last several weeks. It has gone on for months. And poll after poll here has shown that Americans are not happy with the way that he's handled that conflict so far. So, that will be part of it.

And then, there's the conflict in Ukraine. We know that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he spoke with Trump actually over the weekend. They had an important conversation. He expects that there could be some change in this -- in this next step. He alluded to that. And then, Trump took to social media earlier today. This is his latest on that conflict.

And I want to read part of that to you. He said, quote, "Russia has unfortunately lost control of its diesel oil industry due to its war with Ukraine. A large number of their diesel refineries have been blown up and are at least temporarily out of commission. This ridiculous and never-ending war with Ukraine must be ended."

So again, Zelenskyy and Trump are expected to meet at some point in New York. This comes not long after special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met both in Kiev and in Moscow with leaders there. And at the time, the White House said that those talks were substantive. They also said that they would be able to give an update in the coming weeks.

Then, he gets back here to Washington, that's when he hosts a state visit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. They're going to have a formal state dinner. Both are expected to give remarks. And they're a major topic, top of mind. Trump has made it clear he wants to be outpacing China when it comes to A.I., even though we have heard just a growing number of concerns from lawmakers, former A.I. employees, and even leaders at A.I. companies about the rapid growth in that industry.

KEILAR: There's so many critical meetings that he has, and we don't know what's going to happen. It's going to be very important to see what the outcomes of these key meetings are. He also has one, though, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, right, and he's going to his house for this.

BENBROOK: That's coming first. And we have seen these two meet, but those other meetings have been here in Washington. This one is going to be at the mayoral residence there in Manhattan. It's going to be on Mamdani's home turf. The White House has confirmed the meetings taking place, but they didn't give a lot of details.

The Mayor's office, though, did say that it's going to focus in on key issues that impact people there in the city and then the state of New York as a whole.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking for all of those. Julia, thank you so much.

BENBROOK: Thank you.

KEILAR: A potentially historic merger just moved one step closer to completion. A group of state attorneys general reaching a deal with Paramount that should allow its merger with Warner Brothers Discovery to go forward.

SANCHEZ: The deal combines two of the world's biggest media companies, including CNN's parent company, Warner Brothers Discovery. CNN's Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter, joins us now.

Brian, you're now getting to see the details of the agreement. First, let's talk about the news business for these companies, how it impacts the news business.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right. Once this merger takes effect, Paramount's news division, CBS News, and this network, CNN, will most likely be brought together in some form. I don't know if we should call it a merger yet or something else, but there will be some sort of combination.

We know that in part because some of the state attorneys general that were suing to block the deal tried to get Paramount to promise not to merge the two news divisions, and Paramount declined to do so. So, Paramount will likely try to seek cost savings by merging CBS News and CNN, although that may not happen right away.

Bringing CBS and CNN together has been an idea for decades. Past owners of these brands talked about doing it, but nobody ever actually pulled it off. So, now that may move forward. And there are concerns, of course, and there have been for months, about Paramount. Lots of merger opponents, especially in L.A. and in New York, have spoken out against the deal because of Paramount's close ties to the Trump administration.

[15:10:04]

So, it's notable that this afternoon's agreement in the settlement, the actual language of the settlement, includes something being called an editorial independence board. It's being set up, it says, to protect both CNN and CBS News from corporate interference. This board will be made up of five journalists, either retired or active, and it will be able to resolve disputes and set standards for the organizations.

Of course, there's a lot of details that still need to be worked out. We're talking about legal language that's been accepted, but what will it mean in practice? How will it work? Nobody knows. Right now, it's unclear who will even run any combination of CBS News and CNN.

So, a lot more to be determined, but we do know that these two companies are trying to merge the parent companies in early October. What it means for the news divisions, honestly, that's going to be worked out a little bit later on down the line.

KEILAR: So, we're also, Brian, talking about two huge movie studios, Paramount and Warner Bros. How does this impact them?

STELTER: And Paramount is agreeing to spend more on film production in the U.S. than it otherwise would. It is also reaffirming its commitment to 30 theatrical releases in theaters per year. This is something CEO David Ellison's talked a lot about. He wants, he says, to invest in the film business, including in the U.S.

So, there are some commitments that California AG Rob Bonta is celebrating about investment and commitments to California. This will presumably quiet all the talk about Paramount maybe moving out of California. But there are many critics of Bonta who say he has caved by not accepting stronger settlement terms.

Moments ago in a memo inside CBS and inside Paramount, David Ellison wrote to staff saying, quote, "there is still work to get this deal across the finish line, but we are excited to bring these two iconic companies together." He says it means, quote, "more opportunity for our creatives, production crews and employees across the business and more great entertainment for audiences everywhere."

One practical likely scenario involves bringing together Paramount Plus and HBO Max. So, if you're one of those viewers like me who has seven or eight streaming services, two of those probably coming together, not right away, but in the medium to long term.

KEILAR: All right, Brian Stelter, thank you so much for the latest there.

Still to come, three national news outlets, including CNN, filing a First Amendment lawsuit against the Trump administration to restore their access to the White House.

SANCHEZ: Plus, Patrick Clancy sitting down for an interview after the murder case against his former wife ended in a mistrial. We have details on that.

And later, a completely new justification from President Trump. What he now says is one of the reasons behind a Triumphal Arch he wants to build in D.C. That and much more coming your way next.

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[15:17:02]

SANCHEZ: A hearing is set for Wednesday on an emergency restraining order request filed by CNN, MS NOW, and Politico against the Trump administration. The news outlets are suing to regain access after being booted from the White House grounds by the President. The lawsuit says in part, quote, "this ban could not be a more direct assault on the First Amendment nor a more blatant violation of our most fundamental constitutional principles." Let's get the latest from CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent, Katelyn Polantz.

Katelyn, I apologize for laughing, but there's a very loud sound above us. I'm not sure if the viewers can hear it, but we certainly can.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: I can hear it.

SANCHEZ: Nevertheless, today the President denied his actions violate the First Amendment. So, what can we expect from this hearing?

POLANTZ: This hearing, it's going to be an important one, and it's one where the judge could move very quickly. This is a hearing where both sides, the Justice Department representing the Trump administration and the White House that have issued this ban, and the lawyers for CNN, MS NOW, Politico, they're going to be arguing about the Constitution, the First Amendment, the free press, and the constitutional guarantees of due process.

That's a lot of legal constitutional ...

SANCHEZ: Ground to cover, yes.

POLANTZ: ... ground to cover. But the two basic tenets around this, the things that the court have found previously, including this judge, is that you can't just toss a member of the news media out of the White House grounds because you don't like what they're printing, what they're broadcasting, what their stories are. That would be the sort of thing that's protected by the First Amendment.

As far as due process, the courts have found over and over again that if a reporter loses their press pass very abruptly because the White House just doesn't want them to have it anymore or the Secret Service doesn't want them to have it, that can't really happen that quickly. There has to be some notification, some discussion. That is not what has happened here, at least on the facts so far. But we are going to wait and see what the Justice Department argues. They're supposed to be filing something tomorrow during the day, and so we'll see more of what their legal reasoning may be even after President Donald Trump, he said it was because of negative stories.

SANCHEZ: Negative stories. So, how soon could the judge rule? What happens in the meantime? Would CNN somehow be granted access to the White House before there's a ruling?

POLANTZ: Oh, Boris, the -- those are all things that I cannot get in front of the court on, but Wednesday could be very exciting.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

POLANTZ: The hearing is scheduled Wednesday at 3.30 P.M. The hearing is before Judge Tim Kelly. He is a Trump appointee, and on some cases in this administration, we've seen him move quite slowly. This is not one where he's moved slowly, and in fact, today he said he has that argument from CNN, from MS NOW, from Politico before him. Just a couple minutes ago, he said he wants to have the Justice Department respond tomorrow, and he wants this hearing on Wednesday. It is for emergency action. He could do something from the bench that day, and if he does, that follows very closely to the -- to the timeline of the case he had before him in 2018 when Jim Acosta, working for CNN, lost his press credentials.

[15:20:07]

Judge Kelly got the complaint before him, the request for emergency action from CNN. He had a hearing within a couple days, two or three days, and then he ruled from the bench and said you can't revoke this. You have to return it to him at least temporarily. The White House very soon after that backed down, and Jim Acosta got access again to the White House.

SANCHEZ: We'll see what happens on Wednesday. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for that reporting. Apologies for that nine-inch nails concert happening in the background. I hope you can't hear that.

Nevertheless, plenty of news still to come. Don't go anywhere. CNN back in a moment with Patrick Clancy speaking up for the first time since his former wife, Lindsay Clancy, faced a mistrial.

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[15:25:24]

KEILAR: His ex-wife's murder trial gripped the nation and pushed the topic of postpartum mental health into the headlines. Now, for the first time, we're hearing from the man who lived through that tragedy. Patrick Clancy sitting down with CBS' 60 Minutes and here's what he says Lindsay Clancy told him when he asked her if she remembered killing their three children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK CLANCY, LINDSAY CLANCY'S FORMER HUSBAND: She said it was like a dream. And she remembered it much in the way you would remember a dream after waking up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Jean Casarez has followed this case from the very beginning.

Jean, what stood out to you in this interview?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So many things. One thing I -- I can tell you, and we knew this from the evidence, the other two children, Cora and Dawson, they were pronounced dead. But Callan, the eight- month-old, his heart continued to beat. He was flown to Boston Children's Hospital. What we didn't know was that Patrick went with him. And he was there, and he held his hand. He laid with him. He wrote notes to his other children because he didn't want them forgotten. And Callan died in his arms.

He also said that following that, he wanted to commit suicide. He just didn't even want to reach his 35th birthday. He knew he had to get out of there. So, he came to New York in April. And in May, it was Callan's to be his first birthday. And he wanted to do something. He didn't quite know what, but he decided he would go to church here in New York City. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: How do you celebrate your son's first birthday months after he's passed away? And so I go to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I light a candle. And I say, "I love you, buddy." And I walk out on Fifth Avenue. And I start crying my eyes out. And nobody cared.

ROSS DOUTHAT, CBS NEWS "60 MINUTES" HOST: And was that good? Were you grateful for that?

CLANCY: I thought this is where I need to be. I can grieve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And you may remember Patrick Clancy was the very first witness when this trial began. And I remember it. He testified on day one. Day two, he continued his testimony. And then it came time for the 911 call to be played. And I watched him stand up and walk out of the courtroom.

Well, what we didn't know is he was having a panic attack. He went in the back room. They called an ambulance to the courthouse. He was put in the ambulance. They wanted to treat him and give him medication. And he said, no, I've got to finish this testimony. I want to finish this testimony. And he refused any medication. And he went back in and finished his testimony. Let's listen to some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLANCY: We did take a break right before they played the 911 call, which I knew was going to be just horrific. And I went to a back room. And I started having this massive traumatic panic attack. My heart was pounding. And they put me in an ambulance. They offered me some medication, but I said I -- I don't want it because I want to go back and I want to finish this, so I can be done with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: You know, Brianna, he also said that afterwards he spoke with Postpartum International. He wanted to understand this because he didn't understand it. And he said he was really helped by psychiatrists, psychologists, and Postpartum International.

KEILAR: It's really unbelievable to hear from him. And we're learning Lindsay Clancy's defense is actually seeking more information on that one holdout juror in her trial.

CASAREZ: Absolutely.

KEILAR: What can you tell us about that, Jean?

CASAREZ: Well, they just filed this motion. They are asking for everything under the sun, first of all, to be preserved. His jury questionnaire, his answers, anything he filed, his jury summons. They also want any information that the prosecutors got back in February on the prospective jury pool. Then, he also wants preserved his phone records because there was one juror that said he wouldn't deliberate. He was just scribbling on his phone. They want everything from during the time of deliberations. They want surveillance video, police court video that was in the hallway outside of the jury deliberation room. They really, really continue to focus.

And -- and a week from today is the hearing, and this is going to be argued in that -- in that hearing.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking for that. Jean, thank you so much.

Coming up, President Trump is on his way to New York City to attend the United Nations General Assembly and meet with world leaders. First, though, he's going to stop at Gracie Mansion to meet with the city's mayor.

[15:30:00]

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