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Flight to Tel Aviv Diverts to Saudi Arabia After Violent Incident; New York Attorney General to Review Cornell Response to Gang Rape Allegation; Trump Rejects Regulation of A.I. Despite Industry's Warnings. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 30, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, an international emergency. A pilot reportedly stabbed mid-flight with more than 160 passengers on board. An emergency landing after the plane dropped 17,000 feet in minutes, fighter jets scrambled, and now questions about possible terrorism.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also, new developments out of Cornell University, the D.A. hopes to interview Jane Doe as soon as today, and the New York Attorney General is now reviewing the school's initial response to the alleged gang rape.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And look at this, a dash cam catching the moment a bolt of lightning strikes a woman on a motorcycle. What happened here and how she's doing this morning.

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

BERMAN: And the breaking news this morning, an international emergency at 34,000 feet after one pilot was apparently stabbed by the other. This was a Flydubai flight from the UAE bound for Tel Aviv. It made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, reportedly with more than 160 passengers on board.

Now, Israeli fighter jets were scrambled in response to an emergency signal. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, now says the situation is under control. The mother of a woman who was on the flight tells reporters what her daughter said happened during the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YASMIN ABUKASIS, DAUGHTER ON FLIGHT: The plane started to lose control. So, all the people, they screamed, the things that are going. And after a few minutes two other pilots, they took the shlita, the control. And few Israelis, they run away to the guy. He took a knife and tried to kill the pilots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, the aircraft rapidly lost speed. It dropped more than 17,000 feet in two minutes. As of now, no injuries have been reported.

I want to get right to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who is live in Jerusalem this morning with the very latest. Jeremy, what have you learned?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: John, an extraordinarily dramatic incident that took place on this flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv. It all happened in the skies over Saudi Arabia mid-flight as it appears that the co-pilot of this aircraft attempted to stab the captain of the plane. Somehow, it seems that passengers were able to get into the cockpit and subdue the assailant in this case, who it appears all indications point to this having been the co-pilot of this flight.

As this was all happening, you can see in the flight radar data from this flight 17,000-foot drop of this plane in just about two minutes. You can see that blue line on this tracking data that shows the extent of that nosedive that happened as this plane started to go down before being course-corrected and ultimately remaining in flight.

So, it seems like some very brave passengers, we don't yet know their identities, helped to subdue this attacker and to somehow get the plane back on course. We don't yet have information about who ultimately landed this plane, but we do know that the plane ultimately safely landed in Saudi Arabia, where we've now learned from Saudi authorities that both the pilot and the co-pilot have been taken to a hospital with injuries here.

We've also been monitoring video on social media that we haven't yet been able to clear and fully confirm that appears to show passengers and pilots with blood on their clothing. The Israeli authorities for their part I've spoken to Israeli officials as has my colleague, Tal Shalev, they are telling us that this may have been an attempted terrorist attack. They are looking into it as such right now but don't have any final confirmation on the motives of this co-pilot, which will, of course, be key to determining whether this was an attempted terrorist attack.

[07:05:04]

But so far, that's the information we have.

The Israeli prime minister was pulled into security consultations on this matter today. We know that Israeli officials have been looking into potentially sending an Israeli military or civilian aircraft to go pick up these passengers. That would obviously be extraordinary circumstances given that Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official diplomatic relations.

In addition to that, we do have this video, John, that shows the moment that that plane actually landed in Saudi Arabia. Just take a listen to this for a moment.

And so you can hear the applause breaking out as that plane ultimately landed safely in Saudi Arabia, clearly a situation that could have been absolutely devastating had this apparent attacker been successful here. We don't know exactly what the intention was, whether it was to hijack and land the plane, to crash the plane. All of that is now being looked into. But without a doubt, a devastating incident averted here and one that we will be learning much more about throughout the day. John?

BERMAN: Yes. Needless to say, so many questions still this morning. We expect to learn more hopefully soon.

Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely.

So, there are new developments also this morning in the now new investigation into the alleged gang rape of a former Cornell University student. The New York Attorney General is now reviewing the university's response to the initial allegations, and the former student identified as Jane Doe, she says she was gang raped at a fraternity in 2024.

No criminal charges were brought afterwards. She has now filed a civil lawsuit, which has sparked a new wave of outcry and brought this new scrutiny on the allegations and how the investigation was handled.

CNN's Jason Carroll is in Ithaca, New York, with much more. Jason, you've been on campus. You've been speaking to folks. What are you learning? What's the latest?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, let me bring you up to date in terms of new information that's coming in, a lot to unpack here, Kate, and some of this information coming to us from some of the other news outlets that have been reporting on this as well. According to WCBS and ABC News, they are putting out reporting referring to and citing a transcript and a statement that Jane Doe made back in 2024 to campus police.

Going to go over a few of these things here, according to what she told campus police in 2024, she said that she was heavily intoxicated, that she was initially okay with the encounter, but later in the night when she was at the Chi Phi fraternity, she said that she did not give her consent to what happened. She also told investigators that she believed that she had been raped.

She also said that she was initially okay with the sexual activity that had taken place that night, but later she said she did not consent to what occurred later on in the night. And according to ABC News, Kate, she also described fearing that if she passed out and the men had sex with her, that she could then -- those men could then be charged with rape.

Now, as you know, the district attorney here has come under a great deal of fire here on campus from students, from others here who have been following closely along with this case. Many of these people questioning why charges initially were not filed. And the district attorney last night on AC360 gave more insight as to why he felt as though he could not press charges. He simply said he was constrained by New York law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW VAN HOUTEN, TOMPKINS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Unfortunately, under New York state law, which I'm constrained by, the, the voluntary intoxication of someone is not a basis to claim or to prove that they are incapacitated to the point that they cannot consent to sexual contact. So as much as I'm emotionally repulsed and morally repulsed by the events, I can't prosecute cases based on emotion or based upon moral standards or moral repulsion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Again, so this investigation has been reopened. The DA also saying that this, in terms of his next step, he hopes to meet with Jane Doe. He also hopes, Kate, to meet with Jane Doe's attorney, and perhaps as this moves forward, we'll get more clarification in terms of exactly what happened, what was said back in 2024, and what happens next. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. Jason, thank you very much for your reporting there. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, while President Trump is saying tech leaders should just police themselves, former President Obama is weighing in on the A.I. debate, how he's doing so.

[07:10:00]

That's ahead.

Plus, we're tracking oil prices this morning. We have new details on how oil producers are jamming crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz right under Iran's nose. What this might mean for gas prices.

And new developments after a CNN investigation into an extreme rollercoaster linked to dozens of brain injuries.

Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right. We have an exclusive CNN report this morning on the collision between politics and artificial intelligence, and it's a tale of two presidents really here.

[07:15:03]

President Trump, who hosted some of the biggest names in A.I., in tech, at the White House on Tuesday, has rejected calls for government guardrails. But now, sources tell CNN that A.I. leaders are also talking with former President Barack Obama, who wants a, quote, serious regulatory framework, and he's been telling potential 2028 Democrats they need a plan of their own.

CNN's Isaac Dovere has this brand-new reporting for us, joining us now. What is the former president's message, and how has he been sending it out, pushing it out?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, look, he's been meeting with a lot of those same executives who were at the White House with President Trump yesterday. But they have been having conversations about things that he thinks need to happen. To him, it is a matter of policy, doing things like regulating airlines and food, that's how he thinks what should happen with A.I. But it's also about politics, where you see all around the country people are responding to this and saying they want more action.

And what he says privately to Democrats, many of whom are looking at running for president in 2028, is something he's starting now to say publicly which is that if they don't have a serious plan, people should look elsewhere, that they really need to focus on this and get to be specific and serious about what they're going to do and how they're going to address it.

SIDNER: I'd be curious to know, because of the relationship between President Trump and Obama and the constant criticism and critique of Obama by the president, what this might do when he hears that these A.I. tech leaders are speaking to President Obama as well.

DOVERE: Well, relationship is maybe overstating what exists between them.

SIDNER: Right.

DOVERE: But one of the things that President Obama has said behind closed doors is that this would be a really hard problem to deal with what's all that's coming with A.I. Of course, a lot of it is we don't know what's coming and trying to figure all that out. But what he says is that he has very little faith in President Trump to do much about this.

And as I get into in the story on the site, he talks about how that is why it's even more necessary, in his mind, for people who are running for president to succeed President Trump to think about what they would do.

Of course, it's tricky for them. In 2024, A.I. wasn't much of an issue at all in the campaign.

SIDNER: Right.

DOVERE: Here we are in 2026, it's a big issue. Who knows where it's going to be, both in terms of the impact on the economy or the impact on politics by this time in 2028.

SIDNER: Yes. There's A.I., and that involves data centers. And if you look at the polling, the American public is very concerned about this. And it is interesting how quickly that happened, but it's partly because the tech leaders have been saying this could be really dangerous. So, it will be interesting to see how the politicians deal with this in the end.

DOVERE: For sure. SIDNER: Isaac Dovere, thank you for your great reporting. I appreciate you. John?

BERMAN: All right, a new update on sentencing for the former American Idol contestant found guilty of murdering his wife, how long he could spend behind bars.

And police find four young children in a home all alone. Police say their mother was on a Caribbean cruise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: Well, Caleb Flynn now faces sentencing next week. This is after the former American Idol contestant yesterday was convicted of murdering his wife. An Ohio jury found him guilty of killing her and trying to make it look like it was an intruder who came in and shot her. The jury deliberated for just two hours before convicting him on all nine counts, and he could now face life in prison.

CNN's Jean Casarez is following this. She's here with me now. Jean, what happened yesterday? What happens now?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yesterday, the prosecution really in their closing focused in on the inconsistent statements. He said he was sleeping on the couch when he heard shots. He was in the room with his children when he heard shots. Also, the fact that he said he slept with his children in the room, and it was covered with stuffed animals, and the testimony was only a small child could stay there.

The defense, so the other way, forensics never tested for gunshot residue on his hands, there was no blood, nothing on his clothes. You couldn't put the gun in his hand, but the jury made a decision, and they did it fast, two hours.

Let's watch that moment in court when the verdict is read.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to verdict to count one, aggravated murder, we, the jury in this case, being duly impaneled and sworn, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of aggravated murder.

Verdict count two, murder, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of murder.

Verdict on count three, murder, felony murder, felonious assault, serious physical harm, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of murder.

Verdict on count four, murder, felony murder, felonious assault, physical harm by means of a deadly weapon, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of murder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Many theories of murder they convicted on, they should be merged at sentencing for, because of double jeopardy purposes. Two counts that did not go to the jury, we didn't report this before because we couldn't get it on the record by the prosecutor, but intimidation of a witness. There were two counts involving, we believe, the children.

And the testimony did show in court that on the day they were supposed to give their -- an interview to forensic children services, their father, Caleb Flynn, walked them around the block. They came back and told their aunt and their grandma, we can't tell the truth. We can't tell the truth. Well, those children never testified, and they were on the witness list, so I think that they made the decision, dismissed the charges, so these preteen young girls that have lost their mother and now their father, would not have to go before the jury.

BOLDUAN: And now sentencing next week.

CASAREZ: Yes.

BOLDUAN: All right. Jean, thank you so very much. John?

BERMAN: 25 million Americans under dangerous flashflood watches this morning, already dramatic rescues from these torrential storms.

And then the annual celebration of wildlife obesity, a new Fat Bear Week champion is crowned.

[07:25:07]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: New CNN reporting this morning on President Trump's T.V. ads paid for by taxpayers. Critics say they look like campaign ads, and this one is repurposed from his 2024 run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: And we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:30:01]

SIDNER: So far, these ads have cost at least $2.5 million in airtime. That's according to an ad tracking firm.