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CNN Provides Midterm Election Updates; Trump's Push For Daylight Saving Time Gets Personal; Outrage Builds Around Cornell's Handling Of Sexual Assault Case; U.S. Marine Accused Of "Heinous" Murder In Japan; FlyDubai Hijacking Attempt Exposes Worrying Gaps In Aviation Security; U.S. Removes Bombers From U.K. Fairford Base Amid Terrorism Concerns. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 04, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Oh, so cute and so needed. To hear more about, share his work, go to cnnheroes.com. And thank you for joining me this weekend. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The "CNN Newsroom" continues with Omar Jimenez right now.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: What is going on, everyone? You are in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.

Only 30 days to go until the midterm elections, and more than a million ballots have already been cast. Separately, new polling out this morning shows President Donald Trump losing support among Latino voters, which is a key block that helped him win the White House in 2024.

For example, this NBC Telemundo poll shows Latino voters say they would prefer Democrats to win control of Congress by a 24-percent margin. Twenty-four points there. That's double what it was at this time in 2024, by the way. And then among all Americans, CNN's polling tracker shows President Trump's average approval rating at 34 percent, if there's any truth to the saying it's the economy, stupid.

New polling could also spell trouble for Republicans overall. An AP poll out this week shows Americans disapprove of President Trump's job on cost of living issues by 82 percent to 17 percent. And this morning, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett pushed back against the idea that consumer sentiment is down, saying instead that the economy is -- quote -- "booming," though consumer sentiment has been measured at record levels in recent months.

Joining us now is CNN correspondent Julia Benbrook. So, Julia, what more are we hearing from the White House on this?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, as you pointed out, there's broad concern related to the overall cost of living and the state of the economy right now. President Donald Trump and members of his administration are working to downplay those concerns. In fact, in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper earlier today, White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett said that Americans just aren't looking at the whole picture. Take a listen.

I don't think we have that sound for you, so I'm going to read for you part of what Hassett said. He said that President Donald Trump has not failed to deliver at all, that the economy is booming, and what you have to do is look at the whole picture. He said that this is what happens when the economy is booming and that people feel better about their economic circumstances, and then they go out and spend money and buy houses and they buy cars.

And if you look at the housing data over the summer, then income growth is outpacing the mortgage rates and housing starts and purchases and permits are way up. Sounds better when he says it more articulate there, but that was his take, that Americans are not looking at the whole picture right now.

And all of this is coming as Trump is hitting the campaign trail. He is out there telling voters, Republicans specifically, that they need to get out and pretend like he is on the ballot. That is something that Republicans hope still resonates as Trump's approval rating has hit an all-time low. He really started this push on the campaign trail with rallies in some traditionally red states like Oklahoma and Alabama.

Now, those states, he was pressed on why he would spend time there right now. He said that he wanted to thank them, that he wanted to show gratitude for the sweeping victories that they had delivered to him. And yesterday, he was in Ohio, he spoke just outside of the Dayton area, and he delivered this message again, pretend like he is on the ballot.

That state has a very key Senate race, one to watch. This is where Republican Senator Jon Husted and former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown are facing off, and a recent New York Times/Siena poll shows that that race is neck and neck.

So, he has already had a lot of stops. He's expected to have more in the coming days, Nebraska tomorrow, and then be in Texas on Wednesday.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Julia, while I have you, I want to ask you another -- about another story we've been following, President Trump's new A.I. task force. Can you just tell us what you're learning about this?

BENBROOK: This is something that Trump teased last month, but he is providing some more details today, putting together a group to work with various other groups when it comes to this technology, a federal government representation here.

Now, he did announce some of the leadership team that includes Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence. And when Clayton went through his confirmation hearings, he was asked about A.I., and he said that he believes that this technology is a game changer, but added when something is both an opportunity and a threat, you better get your arms around it.

[17:05:06] Now, Trump with this task force, he is calling it the super intelligence force, that is the term that he has been using, and he says that he has put this into place to ensure that America will continue to be a leader here.

It's important to note that this comes as a growing number of lawmakers, former A.I. employees, and even top A.I. executives at top A.I. companies have expressed concerns about the rapid growth of this industry. Trump has repeatedly made clear that he believes that outpacing China and A.I.-driven economic gains are the focus right now, saying that whoever wins A.I., wins.

JIMENEZ: Julia Benbrook at the White House for us, really appreciate it. I want to bring in now Charlie Cook, founder of the Cook Political Report. And Charlie, I want to start by asking you about something you recently wrote. You say there is no blue wave, but there is a red undertow with the president's ratings sliding. What do you mean by that?

CHARLIE COOK, FOUNDER OF COOK POLITICAL REPORT, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, if you look at the favorable/unfavorable ratings for the two parties, Democrats have not suddenly become popular, it's that President Trump is basically pulling Republicans down. And so, it's not pro-Democrat, it's sort of -- it's like an undertow that's pulling Republican candidates down, particularly in places, you know, small town, rural America, places where, you know, pickup trucks, less fuel- efficient vehicle, fertilizer, all these costs that have come in that have gone sky high since the since the attack on Iran. We are kind of heartland, a heart of Trump's historic support. They've kind of got it between the eyes.

But, you know, the thing is that, listen to Julia, it was funny that, you know, we heard the Biden administration say the same thing, you know, who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? I mean, people see. They experience the economy. And a White House can tell them, oh, everything is actually fine all day long, and people don't believe it. They didn't believe it with Biden, and they're not going to believe it now with Trump.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, one of the things you also write in that piece, but to your point overall, is over the last 90 days, President Trump's political standing has transitioned from very unpopular to toxic and now to radioactive. So, if you are a Republican in one of those districts, maybe that even isn't traditionally seen as a battleground district in many places across the country. How do you manage that dynamic?

COOK: That's a really good question. I think a lot of Republican consultants are getting paid a lot of money to try to find an answer to that. It's -- that's the ironic thing, that Democrats are doing particularly well in places where they never do well, but in some other places, they're struggling in places where you would think they would. And it's where Democrats kind of got a little adventuresome and maybe over their -- over their skis a little bit in terms of who they nominated. But where the focus is on Trump, it is hurting, hurting, hurting Republicans a lot. But when Democrats have nominated someone a little more on the controversial side, that takes the attention away from Trump and it focuses on them. But it's exactly in these red states, Ohio, Alaska, Kansas. We're not used to having races in places like that. These are -- these are slam dunk states for Republicans normally, and they're struggling now.

JIMENEZ: And those are all states that the president won pretty comfortably in large part over the 2024 election, particularly in Ohio. You know, I was listening to something that Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines recently suggested, that this election cycle could be similar to 2006. It also had an unpopular war, high gas prices. He pointed out that in 2006, Republicans lost -- quote -- "some redder states." And I just wonder what you make of that comparison. Is it a fair comparison to make or what are you seeing?

COOK: Well, you know, there's the old expression. Mark Twain allegedly said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. And so, we can look at 2006, we can look at various things. They -- well, it's kind of like that.

But when you've got a president that has suddenly dropped and the President Trump's numbers, they've been kind of gradually coming down, but it's almost like three weather fronts colliding during August and September, and that's when this thing started turning really, really ugly for his party members and going from, you know, what should have been a bad but not too bad year to one that looks like it could be truly horrific for Republicans.

And it didn't need to be this way because there were sorts of guardrails that seemed to be in place to keep this election from going too horrible for Republicans, but we've kind of gone through the guardrails in the last 60, 70 days.

[17:10:00]

JIMENEZ: Are there any deep red House races or otherwise that you're especially keeping an eye on or that you think may now newly be in play for Democrats this cycle?

COOK: In the House, that's the thing. There's just not as much polling, certainly not as much public polling in the House as there is in the Senate and gubernatorial races. But one thing I've noticed is sort of these double whammy states where it's not just Republican Senate candidates struggling, but the gubernatorial candidate or the incumbent governor. And it's almost like where Republicans have had ownership of a state for a long time that when people get started getting really upset, you own it. You can't point the finger at anybody else.

And so, that's what's so unusual about where we're seeing these double races of Senate and governors where, you know, Democrats haven't won some of these places since Moby Dick was a guppy. I mean, 1932 was the last time Democrats won a Senate seat in Kansas, and that race is really close. JIMENEZ: It is one of those elections, as you point out, one of those cycles where there is so much anger and in terms of when we talked about a consumer sentiment being at those record-level lows at many points over the point over the course of this year. And when people aren't happy with the economy, who are you going to blame? You're going to blame the folks in power. So, we'll see how some of this actually comes to fruition. What are you going to say?

COOK: No, that's exactly right. The University of Michigan does consumer confidence. They break up my party. Republicans just plummeted during the month of September, Republican consumer confidence. And, you know, that's -- we're talking about red states here. And that's where -- I mean, it's hard to look at those numbers and not say, oh, my gosh, if you're a Republican, you get alarming numbers.

JIMENEZ: Sure. Charlie Cook, really appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

COOK: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still to come, the fight over daylight saving time turning personal. How Republican Senator Tom Cotton is responding after President Trump posted his phone number, his cell phone number, on social media to get him to pass legislation. Plus, growing outrage over Cornell University's handling of a disturbing sexual assault case accusing members of a school fraternity. Plus, officials in Japan accusing a U.S. Marine of -- quote -- "extremely brutal and heinous murder." We'll have those details straight ahead. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:15:00]

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JIMENEZ: The fight over making daylight saving time permanent has gotten personal. President Trump supports the move and the House has passed the bill with bipartisan support to make the change, but the Senate hasn't moved on the issue. So, this weekend, the president singled out Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a chief critic of the bill, for holding up the legislation, and he literally posted Cotton's cell phone number on Truth Social, urging people to call the senator about it.

Washington Post White House reporter Dan Diamond joins us now. So, what more is the president saying about Senator Cotton and this bill?

DAN DIAMOND, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, Omar, he's putting all kinds of pressure on Senator Cotton publicly and privately. The president very much wants this legislation to pass. I should say that there aren't a lot of Republican strategists who want this to be the foremost issue a month before a crucial election, but the president is very attached to this bill and believes it would be a boon for his party. JIMENEZ: I mean, what has been -- have we heard from Senator Cotton

here in terms of, well, one, the response to having his cell phone number put out, but also what his argument is against making daylight saving time permanent?

DIAMOND: You know, I did call that number, but got an overfilled voicemail box, so I didn't get to talk to him directly. But I have talked to his office on this before, Omar. The senator has taken to the Senate floor. He went about a year ago and said he would always fight this bill, that this bill made no sense for the people of Arkansas.

And frankly, he said, for many Americans, daylight saving time is a compromise. There are some Americans who aren't going to like the time shifts. There are some who do like them. There are some who wish the hours were distributed a little bit differently. And Senator Cotton said, basically, this is a compromise we have to live with.

And after President Trump posted his phone number and posted several follow-up messages on Truth Social, Senator Cotton basically said, I'm not budging on this, and he has the power effectively to hold this bill up in the Senate.

JIMENEZ: You know, as part of his Truth Social post, the president also included a letter from the CEO of the PGA Tour, who has argued that making daylight saving time permanent is important to golf. I wonder, did you see that? What else did you see in that message?

DIAMOND: Well, Omar, I think, first, the president is like squarely in the demographic of people who think that this idea of shifting daylight saving time and making it permanent around the year is a good idea. Golfers have argued that it's a good idea. Later sunset means more time on the course. We know the president's a golfer. Golf course owners like the idea because of the potential business benefit. That also applies to the president. And Florida Republicans have for a long time cheered this idea. The president is also a Florida Republican. So, his message focused on things that we've seen before.

[17:20:00]

I did think it was interesting. He brought up the argument that pushing sunset later in the winter would lead to less crime. There is some evidence of that. There was a Brookings study about a decade ago that got into fewer robberies because of more light. But I've covered this political fight for some years. Crime has not been the issue driving this. It has been more about health, commerce, and the preferences of people around the country.

JIMENEZ: And we do typically tend to see crime go down in the wintertime generally in many jurisdictions, but a lot of people point to just, you know, more people are outside in the summer as well.

You know, you point out in your story that the president also advanced what we were talking about here, sort of that extending daylight would deter crime. Has that come up before? Is that more of a novel argument in terms of daylight saving? DIAMOND: I'd say that's more of a Trumpian argument. I mean, the president has run as a law and order candidate. The idea that daylight saving time should be lengthened and made permanent, I've talked to senators about this for years. I've talked to various advocates. It is -- Omar, it's either the silliest, serious issue or the most serious, silly issue. But either way, crime has not been something that has been debated as part of this. It has been more about Americans' frustrations with clock changes, frankly. And the polling does show most Americans don't like shifting time.

The challenge has been we can't agree on what we want instead. There are different preferences around the country. In Arkansas, for instance, as Senator Cotton has said, the time of the latest sunrise would be relatively late in the winter. It would be maybe 8:30, 8:45 in parts of the state. It would be even later in other parts of the country. So, it has been more focused on that. I can't say that until President Trump's post yesterday, crime has been part of the political conversation.

JIMENEZ: Sure. Well, add daylight saving time to the issues we're talking about leading up to the midterms here. Dan Diamond, I appreciate you breaking all of this latest situation down for us. Thanks for being here.

DIAMOND: Thanks for having me, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Now, as this topic dominates the president's attention, at least in some respects, the question is, of course, how do voters generally feel about daylight saving time. We talked about it a little bit there, but Harry Enten is here to actually run the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey there, Omar. Happy Sunday, too. You know, sometimes, we really just touch the surface here, but I want to go deeper with you. I want to ask the question, what is the meaning of time? And no, that's not just a rhetorical question.

It's a question that we're actually asking ourselves right now in politics because this gentleman right here, the president of the United States, Donald John Trump, wants to have year-round daylight saving time. That is, instead of falling back at the beginning of November, we keep pushing forward right later sunsets.

The senator from Arkansas, this gentleman right here, however, Tom Cotton, says, no, I want to keep the current system as is or at least not have year-round daylight saving time because that would mean that kids go to school in the dark in many places right around the height of wintertime. And he says, you know, we tried that before in nineteen hundred and seventy-four, that is year-round daylight saving time, and the American people hated it. And you know what? The senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, is right.

Let's go into the DeLorean. We'll go back in time and you can see it right here. Take a look at here, net support for year-round daylight saving time, pre and post trying it in '74. You know, in nineteen hundred and seventy-three, there was net support for it. It was more popular than not. Fourteen percentage points more of the public wanted year-round daylight saving time than opposed it.

But look at what happened after years of time, Omar. Look at this. In late nineteen hundred and seventy-four, the winds of change changed against daylight saving time and opposition outran support by 12 points. This is a shift, Omar, my dear friend, of twenty-six points, away from supporting year-round daylight saving time. I mentioned it was because kids were going to school in the dark in many places because you ended up having post 8 a.m. sunrises in some places, post 9 a.m. sunrises.

Indeed, if we look at what system we would want to maximize the amount of sunlight during our waking hours, you, in fact, would not choose daylight saving time. Take a look here. OK, sunrise pre-730 a.m., that is the number of sunrises you get pre-7:30 a.m., and sunset post-5:30 p.m. This is based upon a national average. Only 60 percent of the year nationwide you would have, in fact, sunrises pre-7:30 a.m. and sunsets post-5:30 p.m. under all daylight saving time.

Look at this. Under the current system, it's 69 percent. If you went to standard time only, that is standard time year-round, you would actually maximize the amount of sun that you would see for most people during the waking hours. It's 72 percent, which is 12 points higher than year-round daylight saving time.

More than that, I think President Trump thinks this is a layup in terms of the court of public opinion. Seventy-four tells us one thing. And you know what? The polling also agrees with that. It agrees with it. It would not be a slam dunk because -- take a look here.

[17:25:01]

OK, how should we keep time year-round? Of course, daylight saving time would mean later sunrises and sunsets. Well, yeah, the plurality position, 38 percent, is for all year daylight saving time. But 62 percent of the public doesn't hold that opinion. And indeed, it's split, right? Thirty-two percent say we should have standard time only year-round and 26 percent say we want to keep the current system.

So, yes, the current system is not popular, it's not, but the idea that we could go to year-round daylight saving time and people would like it, that, my dear friend, doesn't look like it would necessarily be particularly popular either. So, we end up with the situation where, yeah, you know what? We just hate all of the options that are handed to us.

But there's a real reason why Tom Cotton is holding strong against the idea of year-round daylight saving time. Because, number one, the American people don't support it right now, and number two, as we've seen from the past, it doesn't really necessarily work out.

Of course, the one thing that always works out is you and I together, Omar, on a weekend evening. My dear friend, I toss it back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE) JIMENEZ: Took the words right out of my mouth. Harry Enten, always appreciate it. Now, we've been following what has been going on at Cornell. In the meantime, large crowds gathering there as the school is facing growing anger over a reported gang rape. We'll bring you what we're learning, coming up. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:30:00]

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JIMENEZ: Tonight, another show of solidarity from students and community members in New York. A large crowd gathered in downtown Ithaca to show support for the former student known as Jane Doe at the moment and survivors of sexual assault generally after allegations of gang rape at Cornell University.

And we're also hearing from the attorney representing Jane Doe. He told CNN today that he recently spoke with New York Attorney General Letitia James' office and expects the new investigation will be handled fairly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS GIUFFRA, JANE DOE'S ATTORNEY: Tish James, at least what our office has told to me, is they're reaching out to outside people to get involved because the attorney general's office doesn't typically investigate crimes of this sort. So, it sounds to me that people are being brought in, who are experienced in crime and investigating crime. So, I think there will be impartiality. I think there will be fairness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I want to bring in CNN's Mark Morales, who joins me now. So, Mark, what is the latest on the story?

MARK MORALES, CNN REPORTER: Well, we're seeing a lot of this anger that has been on the campus now spilling over and this demonstration that you were just talking about happening about a mile away from campus. People that were there were saying just about how upset they were, not only about how the university and local law enforcement has been handling this, but also about the support that they had for Jane Doe and for other people that are in this position, not just at Cornell, but at other universities. So, you're starting to see that palpable anger start to bubble up here. There's also a demonstration scheduled for tomorrow.

And they're not the only ones. New York Governor Kathy Hochul who, if you remember when she was lieutenant governor, this was her bread and butter issue. She was going around to college campuses, talking about sex assault and sex violence. This is one of the one of her main issues back then. She has been incensed and angry about this.

One of her aides that was at this rally was able to convey a message about how she felt that the handling of this case so far has been horrifying, and relaying to them just why it is that they're going to be having these independent investigations and why the attorney general of New York, Letitia James, is going to be handling the criminal part of this whole investigation.

Now, the attorney for Jane Doe was also on our air today explaining why he has been so incensed about this whole thing. And he talks about this from the very, very beginning because a lot of the reason that the district attorney decided not to go forward and pursue any charges was because of this six-page document that Jane Doe had signed. But he felt that that document was really lacking in a lot of things that it should have had. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIUFFRA: It seems that if you have a complaining witness saying I'm a hundred percent certain I was raped, that should make it into a report. You had the group chat inviting people to participate in a rape. You had it. You had a complaining witness. You had evidence of a crime. They didn't follow up on it, they didn't include it, and that's very concerning to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORALES: Now, remember, you'll have two different things going on at the same time. Letitia James and her office will be running the criminal investigation that's going through to see all of these guys that were involved in this situation from the Cornell University side. What was their role? What happened there? Like, she'll have full investigative powers to see where everything goes.

But there's also going to be an independent counsel hired to look into how the university handled this and how the local district attorney handled this because, as we're seeing, that is as significant an issue here because people want to know who knew what, when did they know it, and why didn't they act? Omar?

JIMENEZ: Mark Morales, really appreciate the reporting. Meanwhile, Japan's prime minister is expressing outrage after a U.S. Marine is arrested on suspicion of murder in Okinawa. We'll tell you what we know, coming up. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:35:00]

JIMENEZ: Officials say two people are dead and nearly three dozen injured after a shooting at a block party earlier this morning in south-central Georgia.

Police were on a patrol at a neighborhood block party about an hour south of Macon and Vienna when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation says shots were fired. Deputies found multiple people had been shot. Two died at the scene and 35 others were injured.

Now, officials haven't provided any details about those injuries and how serious they are, but the GBI is investigating, so we'll continue to monitor there.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Marine was arrested today in Japan on suspicion of murder and robbery after a woman's body was discovered in a hotel room.

[17:40:00]

Japan's prime minister is expressing outrage over the incident, which could have an impact on U.S. relations with a key ally.

CNN's Clare Sebastian has more.

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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we know at this point from Okinawa police is that they have a 20-year-old U.S. Marine in custody on suspicion of robbery and murder after they found the body of a 39-year-old woman in the early hours of Saturday morning in a hotel room on the island of Okinawa.

Now, they say they have CCTV footage showing what appears to be a man with a shaved head. They said it looked like a foreign national arriving at the hotel with the woman and later leaving alone with what appeared to be her belongings.

Now, the U.S. Marine Corps says it is cooperating with the investigation, but this has the potential to revive old tensions. Okinawa Island, which is a southern Japanese territory in the Pacific, it hosts a significant U.S. military presence. And there have been incidents in the past. Protests erupted on the island in 1995 after three servicemen, U.S. servicemen, were jailed for the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old girl. There had been a string of incidents since then and repeated calls from locals on the island to reduce the U.S. military presence there.

So, we got a very strong response from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, on Sunday. She said the occurrence of such an extremely brutal and heinous incident is a matter of profound regret and, as the Japanese government, we have lodged a strong protest with the U.S. side.

This is an active investigation. The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said it is cooperating with the Japanese authorities, but it is one that risks political fallout between the U.S. and its key ally in the Pacific.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right, Clare Sebastian, really appreciate the reporting. Meanwhile, here in the United States, debris has been found from a missing medical transport jet off the coast of Nantucket. The Coast Guard is still searching for signs of any survivors. Six people were on board the plane when it disappeared Saturday morning, flying from Bermuda to Boston. The FAA reportedly lost contact with the aircraft after air traffic controllers got word the plane was having some sort of issue. And authorities say they are keeping families notified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. MATT LAKE, COMMANDER, COAST GUARD NORTHEAST: This is a large and demanding search area. Our crews are employing fixed wing aircraft, helicopter, boats and cutters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JOHN MCTAMNEY, COAST GUARD: So, we'll continue to search and saturate the area until we're at the point where we are confident that if there were any survivors remaining on the surface of the water, we would have found them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Now, according to Canada's national news broadcast for the CBC, a four-person Canadian plane crew had flown to Bermuda to pick up a patient and their relative, both Bermudian national. So, we'll continue to follow that story as well.

We're also getting new details regarding the FlyDubai pilot accused of stabbing his captain and trying to hijack the plane on the way to Tel Aviv. We'll bring you the latest, coming up. You're in the "CNN newsroom."

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[17:45:00]

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JIMENEZ: There are new questions about worrying gaps in aviation security following the FlyDubai alleged hijacking attempt this past week. So, according to Israeli sources, early indications are that the co-pilot accused of attacking his captain on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv was probably acting alone. But experts are now raising concerns about the security failures before the flight and how it happened in the first place.

CNN Jerusalem bureau chief Oren Liebermann has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport is known worldwide for its vaunted security. In the past, aviation safety experts would come to see how it is done.

So, how did Israel's security safeguards fail so spectacularly with this FlyDubai flight? Ten years ago, we got an inside look at Israel's aviation security system. Listen to this, from a story we did as we went inside the Ministry of Transportation's security operations center. LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Each flight, each passenger, each pilot, and each member of the flight crew is checked long before arriving in Israeli airspace. This room is staffed 24/7. There's never a moment without pressure. An off-course aircraft, a flight without security clearance, all of these is flagged immediately.

DVIR RUBINSHTEIN, DIRECTOR OF AVIATION SECURITY, ISRAELI MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION: There is everyday situation that a flight can be. We have such concerns about it. We check that and verify that everything is secured clear prior to entering the Israeli airspace.

LIEBERMANN: That's Dvir Rubinshtein, and he's the director of aviation security at the Ministry of Transportation. He's describing exactly the sorts of checks that should have stopped this event from ever happening before it started. But that clearly didn't happen. In fact, in a briefing on Saturday evening, the transportation ministry said it didn't know the names of the crew members on board to FlyDubai flight. Instead, the ministry said it's the country's security agencies that have access to those lists, which the ministry doesn't have. Those security agencies have yet to issue a public comment.

The Ministry of Transportation relies on foreign airlines and foreign authorities to do the background checks for the pilots flying into Israel. In 2023, Israel passed a law creating a passenger and crew member information database. It sits under the national center for passenger data analysis in the tax ministry.

[17:49:57]

Even so, that data about who's on each flight can be used for the -- quote -- "detection, prevention, forestallment, investigation and prosecution of members of a terrorist organization of a terrorist activity or of a terrorist offense." But in this case, it clearly wasn't.

One year later, Israel's watchdog issued a report warning that the country needs to conduct a thorough review of all aspects of aviation security, including incoming foreign flights. The warning was there. We have reached out to the Ministry of Transportation for comment. Much of the focus now in Israel is on the failures in vetting and background checks that allowed this to happen. So far, no one has taken responsibility.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right. Oren Liebermann, appreciate it. We want to bring you some breaking news. The U.S. military has moved long range bombers out of the United Kingdom and back to their home bases here in this country. This comes just a week after the British government arrested several individuals in connection with an alleged Iranian plot to target the U.K. air base, RAF Fairford.

CNN military analyst and retired Air Force colonel, Cedric Leighton, joins us now. So, what is your general reaction to this?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, RETIRED AIR FORCE COLONEL: Yes, well, clearly, this was an action that was done based on threats. And according to what we see so far in several reports, including those from CNN and from "The New York Times," we're seeing that there was a specified threat against RAF Fairford, the installation where the B-1 bombers were based, and they moved 12 of those aircrafts, all 12 that were stationed there, to their home bases, as you mentioned. So, we know that at least three of them have landed today in South Dakota at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City.

So, that's an indication that not only is the threat being taken seriously, but they also felt that RAF Fairford was vulnerable enough to some kind of terrorist attack that they basically decided to take this prudent course and removed those aircraft from the area.

JIMENEZ: And just to give people some background here, this base has been used to deploy U.S. B-1 bombers involved in the war against Iran, also a forward operating location for U.S. global strike command, which is tasked with managing long distance strikes. Can you just lay out a little bit of what the significance of those capabilities in a place like this, on a base like this actually are? What the significance is for the U.S. military here?

LEIGHTON: Yes. RAF Fairford and similar bases throughout the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe are really an important jumping off point, especially for activities in the Middle East.

So, Omar, when you look at operations, you know, that go as far back as some of the operations against Libya back in the 1980s as well as operations more recently throughout the Middle East, both in the Iraq wars as well as in Afghanistan, RAF Fairford and other installations of that type have been used both for bomber aircraft as well as for reconnaissance aircraft.

And they're very important because they shorten the flying time between a takeoff time as well as time over target. That is significant. It saves fuel, to have these aircraft, you know, forward- based. It also makes it easier for the U.S. to be a bit more flexible in its disposition of forces.

So, when these aircraft are moved back to the United States, they can still be used for intercontinental activities, but it's more difficult, takes more time and, of course, takes more fuel to get them there.

JIMENEZ: And how does it give you any indication of the seriousness of the threat that they are assessing to this point, that they are actually pulling these bombers from the base as opposed to what some might think, OK, you stopped a potential plot here and now everything is OK?

LEIGHTON: Yes. If they had thought everything was still going to be OK, they probably wouldn't have moved the aircraft. But there seemed to be intelligence and law enforcement indications, both through U.S. sources as well as U.K. sources, that indicate that there may be more activities being planned. The suspicion, of course, is that Iran is involved in these activities. One of the other indicators that this was a very quick move is the fact that the U.S. refueling aircraft were scrambled in order to help these aircraft get back to their home bases. So, that was clearly done on a moment's notice. And because of that, you know, it seems pretty clear that the U.S. authorities as well as British authorities thought that this was a very serious threat in this case.

JIMENEZ: Yes. To this point, the reporting we have is the bombers were moved back to American home stations after an unspecified new threat, according to a person familiar with what's going on right now.

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Just -- also just more background as well because, you know, this is not the first time and we're still trying to find details of what exactly the threat is here, but this isn't the first time that U.S. bases in other countries have been threatened by Iran or at the very least been considered for threat. Can you just lay out for us how much of a target are some of the U.S.-operated or U.S.-used bases in ally country during a war conflict like this with Iran?

LEIGHTON: You know, Iran is very good at asymmetric warfare and that includes things like sabotage and, you know, basically what we would consider to be terrorist acts. So, bases in countries like the U.K., of course in countries in the Middle East, become very vulnerable.

Iran has a habit of creating what are known as sleeper cells throughout these areas. These sleeper cells have the ability not only to collect intelligence, but what they can also do is they can conduct sabotage operations or terrorist operations.

And in this particular situation, the fear was that they would actually conduct some kind of a sabotage operation that could potentially damage the aircraft. That, of course, could result not only in the loss of aircraft, but also in the loss of life and damage, not only the security of the base, but potentially the civilian population in the neighboring towns. So, these bases can be quite vulnerable to this kind of attack.

We found through the Iran war, through this latest conflict with Iran, that a lot of our bases in the Middle East were particularly vulnerable to Iranian attack. Most of those attacks were done by missiles and drones. But there was also the possibility of human attacks that could be carried out by small teams. That's the kind of thing that they were worried about in the case of this particular base at RAF Fairford.

JIMENEZ: Sure. Colonel Cedric Leighton, stick around for us because we've got some more breaking news on the other side of the break here. We'll be right back.

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