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Trump, Mamdani Meet for First Time on Mayor's Home Turf; Trump Says Proposed Triumphal Arch Will Double as Military Complex; Fiber Cut Triggers FAA Equipment Outage, Major Airport Delays. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 21, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Just minutes from now, President Trump is set to meet with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, despite their significant political differences, the two leaders have maintained a surprisingly amicable relationship. And today will mark their third face-to-face meeting.

Let's talk about this now with S.E. Cupp. She's a CNN political commentator. We're also joined by Christine Quinn, a former New York City Council speaker, who is currently the chair of the New York State Democratic Party Executive Committee. All right, Christine, I wonder what you're looking for in this meeting.

[15:35:00]

And just how significant is it for President Trump to be going to Gracie Manor to meet with the mayor? The last president to do so was Ronald Reagan.

CHRISTINE QUINN, (D) FORMER NYC COUNCIL SPEAKER: It's been a long time since any mayor has been at Gracie Mansion, and I think it's really a big deal because in the other meetings, the mayor has gone to the White House. And it's a little unusual, if you think about it, for President Trump, who's so into signs of respect, et cetera, to go to somebody else's turf, even though he's in town for the U.N. You know, I hope the mayor continues the conversation around needing federal support, around transportation issues, and also around the Sunnyside Yards, which gives us a great potential for more housing and more affordable housing. And I really applaud the mayor for engaging with anyone and everyone who can help New Yorkers.

SANCHEZ: I see this relationship between the two of them is fascinating, right? Trump has referred to Mamdani as my little communist. He's tried to use the mayor as a, you know, a foil linking his politics to Democrats across the country as he's warning of, you know, a radical left takeover of institutions and government.

But he's also referred to Mamdani as a very rational person. And there he is in the Oval Office shaking his hand, the two of them smiling and laughing together. How do you think Trump views New York City's mayor? S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, it is an interesting relationship. And I think Mamdani has figured out, you know, how to play to Trump's ego and really work him. He understands how to appeal to him.

The last time Trump had him in the White House, in the Oval Office, Mamdani opened by talking about building, building in New York City. That's something that Trump knows and really appreciates. So Mamdani has been pretty skilled in dealing with Trump.

But I just want to, to your point, Boris, the using Mamdani as a foil, Trump has done that. We know why he's done that. That is an understandable play for Republicans to paint all of Democrats with the sort of DSA brush.

But I just want to, I just want to give you two numbers, OK? The latest polling we have for Zohran Mamdani's approval came from a Siena poll in August. It was 69 percent.

His approval is at 69 percent. Donald Trump's latest polling came out today. It's at 29 percent.

There's a 40-point differential between the way New Yorkers view the way Zohran Mamdani has led that city and the way the country views the way Donald Trump has led the country. I'm not sure that that gives Trump the upper hand in this meeting. And I'm not sure how successful using Mamdani as a foil has been through this midterm election cycle.

KEILAR: Yes, I mean, S.E., just to follow. Sorry, Christine, go on.

QUINN: The other thing I think that draws the two together, but I agree with S.E., it is a very odd bromance going on here. But I think, you know, Donald Trump likes winners. And Zohran Mamdani, you know, coming out of nowhere in the election, somebody who had been written off much as Trump was and Trump won, and then winning and winning big, that's the kind of, you know, persona that Donald Trump is drawn to.

And I think the numbers that S.E. just smartly shared also shows another reason why he's meeting with him when he's in town, because Mamdani is up and is kind of winning the public sentiment at the moment.

KEILAR: Yes, Christine, I do wonder if you are here in a midterm election where Republicans are trying this sort of play to vilify Democratic Socialists or people who are adjacent, right, to Democratic Socialists. I wonder if you have President Trump, you know, going to Gracie Mansion, meeting with Mamdani, does it take away some of the bite of that to have him, you know, rolling into his house and hanging out with him?

QUINN: Well, look, that and also the mayor calling, sorry, the president calling the mayor rational, that really sends a message, as does this, the third meeting, that people who are from the Democratic Socialists of America wing of the party can get things done, can operate at the highest level, and can be seen as both very progressive, but also rational and effective. SANCHEZ: S.E., obviously this is going to be the first day of Trump being in New York. He's headed to the U.N. General Assembly, he's going to make a speech as well. What are you going to be watching for?

CUPP: Well, I mean, there's a lot going on for Trump.

[15:40:00]

You know, putting aside what's going on in our world with the media, you know, Trump needs to use this audience in an effective way because his audience share might have just shrunk a little thanks to his own doing. So listen, there is a lot he could say to help Republicans right now win their elections in the midterms.

He has not been shrunk a little thanks to his own doing. So listen, there is a lot he could say to help Republicans right now win their elections in the midterms. He has not been very -- he has not been very helpful.

And the fact of the matter is, while he's in town for UNGA, the only people mad that he is meeting with Mamdani are his own. His own people, you've got Laura Loomer, Steve Bannon, Sid Rosenberg, they're very angry that he's having this meeting with Zohran Mamdani. So he'll have to, he'll have to contend with his own -- with his own base and his own fans for the decisions that he is making.

KEILAR: And he's, S.E., he's got such a busy week, right, of very important issues. He's got to communicate on the Iran war. He's meeting with China.

We're in the middle of this, like, inflection point with AI. And he's picking fights with the media. The pool is disrupted over it.

You've got the Kennedy Center stuff. I mean, what are you making of where he is prioritizing his attention? And are you seeing it through anything other than an emotional lens, or do you see it sort of strategic on his part?

CUPP: No, I mean, listen, I have a show called Battleground Midterms where we talk to voters all day long. And we are hearing from voters on a constant basis, even three-time Trump voters. They don't understand what he's doing.

Because the ballroom stuff, the media stuff, you know, even the Canada trade war and the tariffs, it doesn't make sense to them. It's not resonating. They don't see any positive impact over the past two years from going to war with Iran, from picking a fight with Greenland.

They just don't feel any of the effect of it other than negative. And so they're wondering, what is he doing? Where is his head?

It's clearly not on winning the midterms, but it really, more importantly, hasn't been on solving their problems. So, you know, he seems to be kind of tuning all of that noise out. I don't think that's going to be a successful play for him.

And as you say, Brianna, he's got a lot on his plate this week, but in general.

KEILAR: Yes. S.E., Christine, thank you so much to both of you. Really appreciate it.

And still to come, President Trump giving a brand new justification for building, as we mentioned, his triumphal arch across from Arlington National Cemetery. We'll have details next.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Trump says his latest project to change the skyline of the nation's capital won't just be for show. He is now arguing that his so-called triumphal arch will also be a military complex.

SANCHEZ: The president says his proposed 250-foot-tall arch directly across from Arlington National Cemetery will be used to store ammunition, drones and even serve as a sniper's post.

With us now to discuss, CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel Leighton, great to see you as always.

So the president says the arch is going to house these drones and snipers and sniper ammunition. How does that make sense from a strategic standpoint?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Boris, it doesn't. It's one of the oddest things I've heard when it comes to this kind of a monument. You know, when you look at any kind of defensive position or any reason for this, drones are in places, protective drones would be in places where they can actually do some good.

You would be looking at them interfering with the flight patterns, for example, at Reagan National Airport. You would certainly be wondering where these snipers are supposed to do their work and for what purpose they would be doing their work. So there is no military reason that I understand for these things to be on any building of this type or any structure of this type.

The only time that an arch of its type was used in a way for military purposes that I've been able to find was in 1871 when the French used the Arc de Triomphe as a position for artillery when they had the Paris Commune and there was civil strife in Paris. But that is the only time that a structure of this type has been used for any kind of military purpose like that.

KEILAR: So there is reason to question what he's doing, because as he's saying that this was at the quote, strong request of the U.S. military, he also used similar kind of late game explanations to explain the ballroom and why it needed to -- the East Wing needed to be converted to the ballroom, saying that it served a national security purpose. Is that real as you see it or is that just trying to make these controversial projects more palatable? Does it seem real?

LEIGHTON: I think it's trying to make them more palatable because when you look at the White House, when you look at the East Wing and the ballroom, there was -- there is a military complex underneath that structure. There is a security area for the National Security Council and the National Command Authority. So that exists.

There is nothing new about that. Now, they may be making modifications and modernizing things, sure, that happens all the time, but there is no reason to justify the kind of construction, if you want to call it that, that has been going on there. When it comes to this particular structure, this proposed structure, there is, I would like to see the military justification for it because, you know, looking at these kinds of things in the past, I have never seen a justification that would fit for this.

SANCHEZ: There's also what it looms over, and that's Arlington National Cemetery.

[15:50:00]

It not only disrupts the sight line from the cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, which has a historic symbolism to it, but also, they're planning an observation deck, which the administration has now changed to a military observation deck, and that would give sight to ceremonies that are happening at the cemetery at very sensitive times for these military families.

LEIGHTON: And that would be a real disservice to those military families because that moment of grief, when you lay someone to rest, is really a difficult time for the family anyways, and to have people, even from a distance, intruding on that ceremony is a disservice to them. It's almost sacrilegious. And so when you look at these types of plans and you see what other countries have done with facilities of this type, they will use these as civilian observation points, but they're not in the line of sight.

I drove that line of sight today. It is a most magnificent view. If you're heading toward the Lincoln Memorial and you look in your rear view mirror, you can see this absolutely perfect line to Arlington House, to the Women's Memorial, to all of those areas, and then you look ahead and you see the Lincoln Memorial if you're heading into Washington.

And it is absolutely beautiful. It is a pristine view, and it is a view that really, for aesthetic reasons, as well as for, you know, the reasons of propriety, it should not be changed.

KEILAR: Keeping this picture up, I just want to be very clear to people who may not be familiar with Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia. You kind of can't quite make it out, but what we're talking about is the space about between where this photo is being taken and that entrance to the cemetery at the end. In the middle is a traffic circle.

It's almost like in a little bit of a depression. If you look at it, you can see just a little bit of green there. It's not that big, Cedric. LEIGHTON: Right.

KEILAR: It's also a thoroughfare. Even though it takes you from Washington into the cemetery, there are then also, it's a big commute to the left and the right in this photo of people coming from Virginia to D.C. and vice versa. It works right now.

It's hard to see how it would work with so much construction.

LEIGHTON: It's really difficult to imagine, because when you look at, you know, these pictures that we have here, you can see it is, you know, would really interrupt the flow of traffic. And the other thing that's really important for major funerals, this is the area that would be used, for example, for a state funeral. And, you know, when John F. Kennedy's casket was brought to his final resting place, it came through this area.

And that would really disturb the flow of a procession like that. And it would also really create some difficulties, you know, in everyday life for everyday commuters as well. So this is, you know, there's some dangers here to putting this out here from an aesthetic standpoint and certainly from the standpoint of the families who have loved ones at Arlington National Cemetery.

KEILAR: Yes, listening to them. That's very interesting to hear what they have to say. Colonel Leighton, thank you.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still to come, an update on the ground stops and lengthy delays impacting several major airports in the Northeast.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Before we go this afternoon, we want to update you on the breaking news. Flights delayed or grounded after a construction crew cut through a fiber cable in New Jersey, damaging some FAA equipment.

KEILAR: That's right. The disruption is now bringing several major airports to a standstill. CNN's Omar Jimenez is keeping an eye on this.

Omar, this is pretty big here.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's affecting a lot of major airports in the Northeast, all citing this equipment outage. So it could be in the form of delays by hours or in terms of full ground stops like we've Newark, New Jersey, also in Teterboro, New Jersey. And we're also seeing one updated for Philadelphia as well.

And then when you look at the delays on top of that, I mean, we're seeing delays. Teterboro, for example, says their average delay is 360 minutes, which if you're doing the math, that is six hours that we are talking about here. And then a place like Newark at full ground stop. You mentioned some of what we heard -- some of what we heard from the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, to this point, who said an Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey, which caused a telecom outage and forced FAA to pause flights in the Northeast. And Verizon also put out a statement saying that they have a fiber cable that was running adjacent to an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey and construction contractors dug up and cut the cable. And so, obviously, it was a little bit of confusion as these airports, major ones, were trying to figure out what was going on.

And I just want to play a little bit of that audio from an exchange happening in Philadelphia between a pilot and an air traffic controller as they try to navigate this in real time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERSON 1: Clarence Brickyard, 4639. We saw there was a ground stop due to equipment outage. Do you have any information for us?

PERSON 2: Yeah, man, nothing works. Let's see. Here at Philly, we lost, well, we got like a bunch of thousand extra data tags on all of our radars. Our weather doesn't work. A couple of frequencies over in the Potsdam sector in New York Center doesn't work.

I think that's it.

PERSON 1: Jeez. OK, yeah, and -- you're expecting it then sounds like it's going to be worse than that 11:15 a.m. update?

PERSON 2: Dude, probably.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Again, they're finding that out in real time as these airports, on top of that, LaGuardia, JFK, and others experiencing delays because of this equipment outage. So if you're flying, especially into or out of those areas, you better check your stuff because this might go on for a while, yes.

KEILAR: Yes. To quote that air traffic controller, dude, probably. Going to keep going on.

All right. Omar, thank you so much. Obviously a very busy day on THE ARENA with Kasie. We're going --

SANCHEZ: It's Brianna's birthday. Sing with me. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you.

KEILAR: "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END