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Erin Burnett Outfront
New Video Shows Moment Jet Slams Into Firetruck At 104 MPH; Trump: U.S. In Talks With "A Top Person" In Iran, Not Supreme Leader; Taxpayers Footed Bill For Horse Rental, Hair And Makeup In Noem Ad. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired March 23, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:23]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, officials giving new details on just what caused the deadly collision between a jet and a fire truck at one of America's busiest airports. Passenger who was sitting in the exit row was just discharged from the hospital will join us, along with a commercial pilot, live in a flight simulator.
Plus, Iran threatens new attacks tonight as Trump says talks with Iran are going well. Iran says there are no talks. So, who is the administration negotiating with?
And that Kristi Noem ad filmed in front of Mount Rushmore -- we now know just how much it cost you, taxpayers, down to the horse rental, the hair and the makeup.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett on this Monday.
An OUTFRONT tonight, we begin with the breaking news. New details from officials on the deadly collision at LaGuardia airport in New York. You're looking at live pictures on the runway there at LaGuardia. Again, that is live right now.
That Air Canada plane was involved in the crash with the fire truck. You can see it propped up and still on the runway. NTSB crew members are now on the scene investigating, and you can see all the lights there.
Horrifying surveillance video is now out, which shows the moment the plane slammed into the fire truck at over 100 miles an hour, a collision that killed both pilots and left dozens of people injured, including two firefighters in the fire truck.
Now, one of those pilots, just identified as Antoine Forest from Quebec. And you can see him there.
The head of the NTSB just announcing that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders have been recovered despite extensive damage at the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: There is a tremendous, tremendous amount of debris from taxiway Delta across Runway Four into some other areas. It's pretty expansive. In order to get to the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, we, the Port Authority and the emergency responders cut a hole on the roof of the aircraft and hopefully we'll have information to share. My hope is that we'll have information to share on that tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now the plane had departed from Montreal, excuse me, had 72 passengers and four crew members on board. One of those passengers who recorded this video and was lucky to walk away, will be my guest in just a moment.
Audio also revealing the final moments in air traffic control before the collision.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TOWER: Stop, stop, stop, truck one. Sto, stop, stop. Stop Truck one, stop. Stop truck one, stop!
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: And that, of course, they weren't able to do. Not in time. The airport reopening just a few hours ago. Flights are limited to one runway at the second busiest airport in New York. This is one plane taking off directly above that Air Canada plane still on the tarmac, just a bizarre image bringing this home.
Earlier in the day, boards like this greeted fliers throughout the airport. Canceled, canceled, canceled. You can see that sea of red. The tragedy, which occurred 34 years to the day of the last deadly crash at LaGuardia, comes as air travel across America is paralyzed.
Fliers at the nation's largest and busiest airports, facing extended waits on security lines. If you haven't seen the images on social media, look at them here. In Houston, the longest hours more than lines, more than four hours, according to our tracking.
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT tonight. He's at LaGuardia airport.
And, Jason, you know that that image of a plane taking off and looking down and seeing that horrible tragedy on the ground of this Air Canada plane that crashed, what is the latest you are learning about what happened?
BURNETT: Well, first things first, Erin. As you can see behind me, the aircraft and the truck that collided with still out there on runway four, still out there on the tarmac. You heard from the NTSB chairwoman, just a short while ago, she said that her team has been able to do a walking inspection of the crash site despite all of the debris that's still around there.
But of course, they have been able to recover the flight data recorder as well as the cockpit voice recorder. And that certainly is going to be able to provide them with a lot of answers to questions that they still are waiting to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): This video shows the tragic moments when Air Canada Express Flight 8646 landed and then collided at more than 100 miles per hour with a fire truck at LaGuardia airport late Sunday night.
[19:05:01]
In slow motion, the devastating impact to the nose of the aircraft is more clear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come this way! Come this way!
CARROLL (voice-over): More video captured the moments following the deadly accident. Passengers who frantically evacuated were directed away from the aircraft.
JACK CABOT, PASSENGER ON AIR CANADA FLIGHT 8646: We went down for a regular landing. We came in pretty hard. We immediately hit something and it was just chaos in there. Somebody said, let's get the emergency exit and get the door in us all jump out. And that's exactly what we did.
CARROLL (voice-over): The regional jet inbound from Montreal carrying 72 passengers and four crew, was cleared to land.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: 646 number two, clear to land four.
CARROLL (voice-over): At 11:36 p.m., also cleared on the LaGuardia's runway for an airport fire truck that was responding to a separate incident.
FIRE TRUCK: Truck 1 and company, LaGuardia airport, requesting to cross 4 at Delta.
CARROLL (voice-over): The realization they were on a collision course came too late.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Stop truck one, stop. Stop, truck one, stop!
TOWER: JAZZ 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold the position. I know you can't move. Vehicles are responding to you now.
CARROLL (voice-over): The nose of the aircraft destroyed. Both pilots, including Antoine Forest were killed.
One flight attendant strapped in her jump-seat ejected during the crash. She was among the 41 people injured and taken to area hospitals. Aviation experts say as bad as the accident was, it could have been
much worse.
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Had that truck been 40 feet further or 40 feet back then, it would have struck against the wing, the fuel cells, the engines and would have created a huge fire and would have had many, many fatalities.
CARROLL (voice-over): It can take investigators a year or longer to determine the exact cause of these types of accidents, and they often involve multiple contributing factors. Eighteen minutes after the crash, an air traffic controller told a Frontier Airlines pilot who saw the aftermath he messed up.
PILOT: That wasn't good to watch.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Yeah, I know I was here. I tried to reach out to my staff, and we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.
PILOT: Nah, man, you did the best you could.
CARROLL (voice-over): Investigators, including the national transportation safety board, are on the ground and will conduct interviews with air traffic controllers to help determine exactly what happened.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: Yes, it was an aviation disaster, the likes of which we have not seen here in over three decades, but is a deeply human story where two young pilots left their homes expecting to return to their families and they will not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: The NTSB currently has 25 specialists on the ground, Erin, but the -- but the NTSB chairwoman made it very, very clear that despite all that, they still haven't been able to have really a full day of being able to do what they need to do. So, the short answer here is that it's really going to take a great deal of time for them to be able to come to any sort of conclusion as to what exactly went wrong here -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jason, thank you very much, at LaGuardia.
Rebecca Liquori is OUTFRONT. She was a passenger on that Air Canada flight and was just discharged from the hospital.
Rebecca, I was saying to you, I know some of the things you know in that you haven't even yet seen from that perspective because you were there on the inside of that plane. I mean, thank God you're okay.
REBECCA LIQUORI, PASSENGER WHO SURVIVED AIR CANADA CRASH AT LGA: I thank God that I'm okay.
BURNETT: I mean, how are you even feeling right now? LIQUORI: I'm just grateful to be alive. I'm grateful that I was able
to go home and kiss my sons, be able to hug them. Because when I was on the plane, I didn't think that I was ever going to get that opportunity again.
BURNETT: I know you were going to -- you were going to be -- you were a godmother.
LIQUORI: Yes.
BURNETT: So, you were going to see a new baby, a flight back and forth that you had done countless times. So when you're coming in for landing, at what point did you realize something was actually wrong? I mean, you've touched down, right? And then what?
LIQUORI: So, the flight for the majority was smooth. It wasn't until we started descending and the flight attendant said in case of an emergency landing, don't grab your luggage. And everybody was kind of looking around like, that's strange. And then as we were descending, the plane started to experience turbulence. And she said, the pilot wants everyone to keep their seatbelts on because of the turbulence.
And we hit a very rough landing. It almost felt like the plane jolted. And after that, you hear the pilot try to brake and it was like a grinding noise. And then after that it was a huge just boom, and we just all jolted out of our seats. And it was eerie and eerie. Couple of seconds.
And then we realized, okay, the flight crew is not able to give us guidance. I was actually sitting next to the emergency exit door, so I opened the emergency exit, let out passengers, let myself out.
There was no slide since the flight crew wasn't able to set that up. So by the time I got out, an emergency personnel helped me jump off the wing of the plane.
BURNETT: I mean, that's incredible. So, you actually opened the door because, I mean, obviously the pilots, I mean, in the horrible tragedy had had died. The flight attendant in the front that was strapped in is alive but had been ejected.
LIQUORI: Yeah.
BURNETT: Right. That this was this was on you and others who were trying to get everyone out, you know, so you talk about that, that boom and jolt. I mean, it happened very, very quickly. When you think about how fast you're going, right? You're down a second or two and then but it sounds like you're saying you felt extra braking. You felt that they did in those last milliseconds when they were aware something was happening. They did everything they could.
LIQUORI: They did. I felt like the pilots saved our lives. I felt like their quick thinking and quick action braking slowed the impact and lessened what could have been an even bigger fatality. They're the heroes. I'm forever indebted to them. They're the reasons I was able to make it home safe to see my boys and
I -- my heart goes out to their families. They're in my thoughts and prayers. I've been crying all day about them.
BURNETT: You know, we just -- we just. I know you said Antoine Forest, it was the first time you've seen.
LIQUORI: Yeah.
BURNETT: He was a young pilot, and I mean, you could see the pride he had in his work in that, in that image. But you were saying how odd it is.
I mean, when you're sitting on the plane, you hadn't seen the pilots. Of course. You wouldn't -- you know, you didn't even know who they were. It just would have been a disembodied voice. But now --
LIQUORI: I get.
BURNETT: -- the feeling of that they gave up their lives to try to save everybody else's.
LIQUORI: Yeah. They're the unsung heroes in this. And I'm forever grateful that they were quick and tried to slow down as much as they could so that the impact wasn't as large.
BURNETT: The surveillance video shows that moment of impact. And I know -- I don't -- I don't some -- you're on the inside. So you felt it and you felt what that timing felt like in real, in real time as a human being on board.
But when you watch that, I mean -- how does it feel different watching that image from the outside versus where you were actually on the inside?
LIQUORI: Watching it from the outside? I almost feel like I'm bracing myself for the impact again, because I had just seen that perspective of the plane and the fire truck colliding. I have not been privy to the footage yet because I've been trying to get rest, which I've not been able to do.
BURNETT: Not been able to do, yeah.
LIQUORI: And so, seeing the footage for the first time today is just as scary as experiencing it.
BURNETT: And I know you mentioned your two boys and obviously they, you said they don't know what happened. But how did it feel when you did get to see them?
LIQUORI: Like I won the lotto. I didn't think that -- in those few seconds I thought, oh my God, I'm -- I'm never going to see them. I'm never going to get to tickle them. I'm never going to hear their laughs again. I'm never going to hear them say, "I love you, mommy."
Like, that's it. And I'm not ready -- I'm not ready for it to be over. You know, they're so young. I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, so I was just very thankful when I opened my eyes. The plane had not combusted because that's what I was anticipating.
BURNETT: Yes.
LIQUORI: And then I said, let me open this emergency exit and let's get out of here before something else happens and get to safety.
BURNETT: Well, thank God. I know you're a nurse and you had that that presence of mind to be able to do that. And so, so wonderful that you are able to go home to them.
LIQUORI: Thank you.
BURNETT: Thank you for coming on and talking, Rebecca.
LIQUORI: I appreciate it. Thank you.
BURNETT: And Aaron Murphy is with us now. He's a commercial pilot. He's also a flight instructor at fly in Canada, and he's in a flight simulator now with his colleague Claudio Teixeira flying the simulator.
So, Aaron, you know, you hear Rebecca talk about the heroism of those pilots and what they did in those milliseconds when they realized something was there and, you know, tried everything they could to slow that plane down. Probably in those last seconds, knowing that it wouldn't matter for them, but maybe it would for people in the back of the plane.
You also heard her talk about that, that final approach and the turbulence, the bounciness that they were coming in with. What is that approach into LaGuardia like, and what would those pilots have seen as they came in for that very late-night landing?
AARON MURPHY, CANADIAN COMMERCIAL PILOT AND FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: Erin, it's great to be on the show. Thanks. Under circumstances, I'd rather we were not on the show, but I think it's important that we share our equipment here at flight simulator in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, so the rest of the world can see why these things happen. We can try to explain that as best we can.
And immediately off the top, my deepest condolences to Antoine and Mackenzie and their friends and family.
[19:15:06]
You know, I woke up this morning, I had several text messages from friends that said, what's going on in LaGuardia? Why is there a fire truck on the runway? And, you know, I get out of my morning fog and I look at the news and I wished it was a movie. It was just astounding.
And second, but equal to the top spot, thank you to the emergency responders. And that might sound a little bit strange to say that, but the emergency responders were responding to an emergency on the airfield in LaGuardia when the collision occurred. And I'm going to make a recommendation for that momentarily.
And of course, Claudia Teixeira, the owner and flight instructor at your flight simulator, he will be flying us into LaGuardia. We are set up on runway four right now. On the approach, and were going to -- we're going to head in there, Erin, whenever you're ready for us to do that.
BURNETT: Yeah. Go ahead and show us what happens.
MURPHY: Okay. We're ready to go.
All right. I'm going to pause the sim -- unfreezing the sim. I'll just give you some color commentary here. It is nighttime as it was. It's dark like last night. We're coming in to land zero for.
And the visibility was about four or five miles. There were some low clouds and rain. So, visibility is an issue for sure. Windshield wipers are going and off to the left side of the runway. Theres an accumulation of emergency vehicles because of the other aircraft emergency at the time. We're just coming in over the threshold now.
Claudio is doing an amazing job on the lights here. You can see them on the right side. We're touching down and delta taxiway is about halfway down the runway. I don't know if this helps, but were going to be somewhere about halfway down the runway here. Right about here, the fire truck pulls out.
And I would expect that the flight crew saw it maybe at the last second as it pulled out. And on the video that you're showing, I can actually see the fire truck turning slightly or more than slightly to the left because I think they saw that aircraft at the very last second as they plowed right into it.
BURNETT: So when Rebecca talks about that grinding noise, you know, and that, that that it felt like there was that extra braking, okay, that she felt in those last milliseconds, right. Then just thrown forward, obviously by the force of the collision. Does anything stand out to you by what she described there?
MURPHY: Yeah. Most of the modern aircraft have, braking, anti-skid braking. So the pilots would be into the brakes as hard as they can be. And the anti-skid would have definitely been working its magic.
But you have a wet runway, you have rainy conditions, poor visibility as you're landing, the windshield wipers are going. Theres a lot of different factors on this accident, as there always are. They may even have tried to swerve to avoid the fire truck, but inputting the rudder for a right or left turn on the wet runway with the brakes on it might have just continued to skid forward and right into the truck.
There was really I don't think there was any way for the pilots to avoid that. It was so last second.
BURNETT: Yes. And you talk about the role of clouds and visibility coming in the windshield wipers, and then the wet runway itself, the video that we showed of the moment that the plane collides with the fire truck, that's the surveillance video that we now have. And the speed here on the plane is more than 100 miles an hour as it plows through it.
You know, I suppose what you're saying is, given the wet runway, there was nothing they could have done. I mean, even with a dry runway. Is there anything at that speed with something right there that they could have possibly done? Even in a perfect daylight scenario?
MURPHY: You know, we could. What if this to death? And I think at the end of the day, we cant have emergency vehicles running onto the runway at all. And I'd like to make a recommendation to everyone who's watching. You know, I've spent my time at racetracks around southern Ontario.
And if we can borrow something from the racetrack, when you have a red flag at the racetrack, there's one thing every driver does. They either head to the nearest marshal station or they leave the track as fast as possible because they know somebody on the track is possibly injured and needing medical assistance.
If we could have a red flag procedure, let's call it -- let's call it the Antoine and Mackenzie red flag procedure. In memory of this accident in LaGuardia, where when there is an emergency aircraft on the field, as I believe the United was having an emergency was declared, the aircraft must stop operations and have any aircraft on the approach, go missed approach. The Air Canada would have gone missed, the Jazz would have gone missed. It's the same thing really.
And they would have been on the downwind. The fire truck is across. Nothing happens. Nothing happens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some airport has also tunnels.
BURNETT: All right, well, thank you both so very much. I know, thank you so much, I appreciate it. We all do. And for showing that.
[19:20:00]
Thank you.
MURPHY: And our condolences to everybody involved and emergency responders. Thank you for everything you do.
BURNETT: Yeah. And sounds like from what Rebecca said to those emergency responders, got everyone off that plane safely. And God, you know, had there been a fire, they got everyone off. Thank you.
And we do have more breaking news, a new threat just coming in from Iran saying it has special plans. Those are the words for the United States. Even as Trump is saying, there are talks going on.
And growing frustration from voters as the war is sending prices soaring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things are worse. Everything's expensive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You see John King there and he'll be with us from the crucial battleground state of North Carolina.
And his only child was killed during Operation Epic Fury when his refueling plane crashed. The father of U.S. service member Tyler Simmons is our guest tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:25:06]
BURNETT: Breaking news a major threat from Iran of an attack that appears to be underway right now. Iran announcing special plans for Israel and other U.S. allies in the region tonight. Moments ago, reports of a cluster missile from Iran hitting near Haifa in northern Israel. Also alerts coming in from the Jerusalem area and Tel Aviv.
And it comes after Trump backed down from his threat to attack Iran's power plants tonight, now saying that the two sides are negotiating and trying to place blame for the whole war on his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up and you said, let's do it because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon. So, we are now having really good discussions. They started last night -- a little bit -- the night before that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now some Iranian leaders are saying that they are not negotiating with the U.S., despite Trump's claims, but that back and forth, perhaps in the context of this war that were in, is to be expected.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT at the White House.
And, Kristen, what is the latest that you're learning from your sources there?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, perhaps the most notable thing that were learning from our sources is this new and active engagement by Vice President J.D. Vance, who, of course, as we have long reported, is a skeptic. He is critical of any kind of U.S. intervention abroad. We have not seen him as a major player since this war was launched.
We are now told that he had a call with the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, about a potential deal with Iran today. But on top of that, there is also a proposal out there to have in-person meetings with U.S. and Iranian officials in Pakistan. And we are told by a number of sources that the vice president could attend.
So, we are trying to get more details on what exactly is behind this shift from Vance, or at least seeming shift as he is getting in the weeds here in this negotiation moving forward. There's one other thing that were hearing from sources that is a bit of a discrepancy from what we heard from President Trump today. And this is over those 15 points of agreement. Just a reminder that President Trump said that the U.S. and Iran had reached an agreement on 15 points.
We are learning from sources that this was more a proposal of expectations the United States had of Iran. There were 15 points on this, expectations list, and it was presented to Iran through Pakistan. It's unclear whether or not Iran agreed to any of it.
President Trump, of course, said that they agreed to all 15 points there. He wouldn't go into detail as to what those 15 points were, only to say that they would not have a nuclear weapon. That, of course, something that Iran has themselves said publicly. So, trying to get to the bottom of what exactly the proposal was, and if Iran agreed to anything, I'll tell you, Erin, one of these sources said they think it would be impossible or nearly impossible for Iran to agree to some of the stuff that was in that proposal.
BURNETT: Right. I mean, we can only imagine if you think about what the points were on the proposal for the deal before Trump launched the war to begin with.
All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you very much.
And OUTFRONT now, Nazila Fathi and retired General Wesley Clark,
Nazila, obviously, you were a reporter for "The New York Times" in Iran for many years. I know that you are in contact as regularly as you can be given the Internet situation, the lack thereof in Iran with friends and family.
So, Trump now, you know, he leveled this 48 hours. I'm going to bomb all the power plants that would be right now. Actually, it would be in about 10 minutes. Then this morning that went away and he said, I'm going to give it a few more days. Things are going well.
Okay, how is this landing on people who live there?
NAZILA FATHI, FORMER JOURNALIST FORCED TO FLEE IRAN: So, this past weekend. I had so many calls from Iran and people were basically shocked because they were expecting a different kind of help. And they asked me, was this the kind of help that we were promised? The majority of Iranians live in the cities. They live in apartment buildings. They rely on power for their everyday survival.
People cannot even get water on higher levels of these apartment buildings.
BURNETT: Elevators --
FATHI: Elevators, everything. It's a question of survival. And people were just shocked that this threat was made. And, you know, they knew that Iranian people would be the ones who would pay disproportionately for this strike. And so, they were shocked.
I'm very happy that President Trump has paused it. I truly hope talks, negotiations are going on. But Iranian officials have flat out denied any kind of talks.
BURNETT: Right, right. Even though we get all these details about Vance maybe going to Islamabad, there has been no public bite from the Iranian side on that.
FATHI: Which is fine. It might be because Iranian leadership is so fragmented now. Maybe there's a group that is negotiating and maybe they have the power to do so.
[19:30:00]
BURNETT: So, General Clark, I guess that, you know, brings us to the situation, right? Trump says negotiations are underway. I want to play an exchange that he had about it today. Here he is, General.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're dealing with a man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. You know, it's a little tough. They've wiped out. We've wiped out everybody.
REPORTER: Is that the supreme leader?
TRUMP: No, not the supreme leader.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: By the way, General, he went on to say he wasn't going to say who it was because the person would be killed, which appeared to be an oblique reference at what Israel would do. Unclear, though. But it's rumored that he was specifically talking about the parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who's the former mayor of Tehran, who has run for president. He denied, though, that negotiations were taking place.
What do you think is going on here?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Well, I think it's both sides are jockeying for advantage. The United States has to do three things. They have to continue their campaign, find a negotiated solution and be prepared to open the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian coast of the gulf with force if necessary. And that means the marines and probably a lot more than two marine expeditionary units. So, all three things are going on simultaneously.
If they stop the air campaign, they take the pressure off the Iranians. So -- but they have to talk. And President Trump's message this morning, the price of oil went down, market went up. And the Iranians are looking very carefully at the United States. They're saying, can we inflict more pain globally and can we get to the American population and convince them to put the pressure on Trump to get out with a loss?
And so, everything is in play at this point. The military, the diplomacy, politics, NATO allies. Mr. Putin, China, everything is in play.
BURENTT: And, Nazila, Ghalibaf ran for president in 2013. I was in Iran covering the election. We actually went to one of his election headquarters, and it was something that was somewhat recognizable, perhaps to Americans. You walked in, it had a storefront. There were a lot of young people with fliers.
He was -- he had younger voter support of some people we met in Tehran. He wasn't the most conservative, but a lot of conservative voters did support him. And they saw a lot to like in him. Which just raises the questions of, do you think he is someone that has the ability and the backing and the stature to lead negotiations, or to be someone that Trump is identifying as sort of the operating leader?
FATHI: I think at this point, he's among the very few leaders who is still standing within the --
BURNETT: And I guess that's something.
FATHI: That's something. But whether he has credibility inside the country to lead these talks, that's a totally different question. But I think he can do the talks. He is qualified. He has security background, and he was a successful mayor in Tehran as well.
So, considering what's going on in the country -- yes.
BURNETT: So, General, Iranian officials all over the world are mocking Trump. I mean, I was just fascinated on X, the Iranian embassy in south Africa posted using a line Trump had said. They said the Strait of Hormuz will be controlled by me and the ayatollah. And then they put they laugh and they have like a toy car, you know, sort of Trump steering a child's car.
The Iranian embassy in Zimbabwe, the headline is Iran won't surrender in a million years. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
What do you make of that? I mean, in this fragmented world that they're now also taking to social media to mock Trump, sometimes using his very own words?
CLARK: Iran's got very good cyber. They've got very good social media. They've studied the United States for years and years and years.
They've carefully analyzed President Trump. They know what his propensities are. They know what his sensitivities are.
And they're going after him, because he's part of the enemy, the adversary. So its the American people, the political, the electorate, the MAGA base, President Trump, the allies, everything is on the table for the Iranians.
And right now, despite their losses, they may think they're winning. They've said they're winning. They've got control of the Strait of Hormuz. They've got control of their populace. You don't see any street demonstrations by people saying, lets overthrow the regime. They've attacked the Kurds to make sure the Kurds stay in their lane up in the northwest.
And so, right now, they may well think they're winning despite the fact of the decapitation of the leadership. So, we're only three and a half weeks into this, Erin. And I just want to remind you that when I was a leader in, in NATO and the air campaign in 1999 against a very rational president, Slobodan Milosevic, it took 11 weeks to convince him he was losing. And so, this may be far from over.
[19:35:01]
BURNETT: All right. Thank you both very much, as always.
And next, John King live in North Carolina, covering one of the most competitive Senate races. Voters tonight speaking out about the war and the surge in gas prices to John.
And then he made the ultimate sacrifice for his country during the war with Iran. Tyler Simmons, you see him there, 28 years old, an airman killed in Iraq. He spoke to his father the day before he died with a powerful message. Tyler's father is with us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump is still looking for $200 billion in additional Pentagon funding for the Iraq war, even as he signals he wants to wind the war down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's always nice to have. It's always nice to have. It's a very inflamed world. And the Democrats inflame it. You know, largely, the Democrats inflame it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:40:03]
BURNETT: The president later again blamed Democrats for putting the country at risk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The Democrats are putting our country at great risk during this period of time, a period that they call a war. They call it a war. We call it a military operation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That's sort of odd, right? I can think of someone else who likes to call something a special operation. Wars are wars.
John King is OUTFRONT now in Marshall, North Carolina, where Democrats are vying to flip the states 11th congressional district, which covers Marshall.
And, of course, North Carolina is a battleground state and home to one of the most competitive senate races this cycle.
So, John, what are you hearing from voters?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Number one, Erin, the voters we talked to call it a war. Number two, if you live in rural America, we're in rural America. That means you drive a lot. And if you drive a lot, the price of gas matters more to you than it might matter to somebody who doesn't have to drive very often.
The price of gas, the price of fuel, the price of fertilizer also matter if you're a guy like Ed Winebarger, we met him earlier today. He's up by Boone. It's about two hours from here, has a small farm and a catering business just outside of Boone. He says his costs are up.
Here in Marshall, Krey Hampton runs an outdoor adventure business. You need fuel for your buses, fuel for your all-terrain vehicles. You need families to be willing to put a full tank of gas to drive a few hours to come here, fill the tank, and drive home. Both of them say this war has them even more worried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED WINEBARGER, NC VOTER: Things are worse. Everything's expensive. Inflation hasn't stopped. It's continuing for supplies and now for fuel. Now we're at war and we've seen a dollar increase per gallon in three and a half weeks. That's not going to slow down. That's going to affect everything.
KOREY HAMPTON, NC VOTER: I mean, we've kind of got this double whammy situation with the politics and the economy and the economy at the same time. On top of the storm, you know, it's a little bit of extra X factors that don't make it so easy.
KING: So, if you had a booming economy, you'd feel a lot more optimistic about this summer. And now it's kind of --
HAMPTON: Exactly
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Ed and Korey there, Erin, neither of them understand the presidents rationale for this war. I will say Ed's business partner is an independent who leans Republican. He said he thought it was inevitable that Israel was going to have a war with Iran anyway. The United States will get involved. But he did join the others in saying, without a doubt, in the short term, it has increased costs on his farm without -- without question.
BURNETT: So, what does this mean for Democrats? Obviously, as you are heading into this incredibly competitive, obviously it's not just for the House now, but also perhaps for the Senate play.
KING: Right. So, I shouldn't be here is the way I would answer that question in the sense that the Republican incumbent in this district got 58 percent of the vote in the presidential election just two years ago. This should not be a battleground race, but Democrats think it's possible they can pick this seat up.
They have a candidate. We just had a fundraiser here tonight for that candidate. Several hundred people showed up. Older Democrats in this community were surprised by the crowd.
He describes himself as a mountain Democrat, not a Washington Democrat. As a mountain Democrat. There are races here, races in Tennessee, races in Iowa, in places that are -- they're red, they're red. It's uphill, steep climb for the Democrats.
But look, the Democrats have a very, very, very good chance of taking back the House. The question is, can you turn a good year into a great year to do that? They're going to have to win in some red areas like Marshall, like Madison County, North Carolina. So that's why we're here.
And they think, Eerin, you know, grocery prices are still high. Health care costs matter a lot in these rural areas. We're hearing so much about the Obamacare tax subsidies now. They think we drove by $3.90 today on some of the roads here. They think it's just another peg, if you will, in their affordability message they hope to sell in November.
BURNETT: All right. John King, thank you very much, in North Carolina.
And next, Air Force Tech Sergeant Tyler Simmons lost his life when a refueling plane crashed during the war over Iraq. His father says it was his dream to do that job that he loved doing. He joins me next.
And tens of thousands of dollars for hair, makeup and even a horse rental. We've got new details about Kristi Noem's $200 million ad campaign.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:48:15]
BURNETT: Breaking news, CENTCOM just releasing new information about the war in Iran, saying more than 9,000 Iranian targets have been struck in more than 9,000 combat flights flown since the war began. The war has already come at incredible human cost. And when it comes to U.S. service members, at least 13 have sacrificed their lives for this war, approximately 200 injured.
One of the fallen Americans is Air Force Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons. He was one of six service members killed on a mission when the refueling aircraft crashed over western Iraq.
His father says Tyler wasn't assigned to the mission but volunteered for it.
And OUTFRONT now, Mylo Simmons, the father of Tyler Simmons.
And, Mylo, I'm sorry for your truly unimaginable loss.
I know Tyler was your only child, the pride of your entire life. What do you want people to know about him?
CHARLES MYLO SIMMONS, FATHER OF U.S. AIRMAN TYLER SIMMONS KILLED IN CRASH: Tyler was an amazing individual. From childhood on early in school, his teachers frequently commented on how well-behaved he was, how mannerable he was. And as he matriculated through the grades, he showed how driven he was.
One thing I frequently talk to him about that if you want to do something, find out what it takes to do it and pursue it. And he did that with precision.
In the ninth grade, he was in a small group sponsored by the Tuskegee airmen and the group that he was in didn't get to go up in the airplane that particular day because they were rambunctious, but Tyler was guilty by association.
[19:50:04]
He was actually very well behaved.
And one of the deacons at our church was a Tuskegee airman, and he found out about it. And so, he took us to Bolton airfield here in Columbus, Ohio. And Tyler said, I can fly this. I'm looking like, okay. And pilot was like, really? So the pilot did the first pass and then he let Tyler take over the controls. Eventually we were taking off flight. Tyler flew to Dayton, Ohio, and landed and came back.
And so, we're thinking, okay, you're serious about being a pilot. He later went on to work for -- at the airport out on the field, and from there he went to the Air Force, the Air National Reserves. He was one of the guards, at the front gate when you go into the Air Force Base.
BURNETT: Yeah.
SIMMONS: And then he found out about getting into more of the airplane with regards to fueling the planes. And he was really intrigued by that. And once he found out about that, the rest was history. He prepared himself, and became what his dream was.
He loved what he did. He loved his country. He loved the military. He loved the air force. He loved his family.
He would walk into a room and his smile would light up the room. His personality would illuminate the whole place, even when he wasn't feeling the best. You couldn't tell it because he had such a magnanimous personality and was very personable. Yes.
BURNETT: I'm just saying, you know, when we see these pictures of him, you can see that smile. It's -- it is magnetic. You see that smile even, you know, as young, a very young person, you know, we were showing some right there. You can see it.
We were showing some of the images I know that, that you shared with us, Mylo of him working, you know, refueling the fighter jet in midair. And as you say, this became his dream. This was his dream. And he was living it. I know that you did get to talk to him the day before he died.
Obviously, there was a war going on. Perhaps it wasn't a routine conversation. Maybe you remember every word. Maybe you don't. What was that conversation like now that you think about it, Mylo?
SIMMONS: He was very calm. Told me how much he loved me. Told me to say he loved telling me the dog. His dog name was Greyson, which is actually my dog. You know how that goes.
BURNETT: Yes.
SIMMONS: And just family. And, you know, he was very insightful. Unfortunately, he did tell me he didn't think he was coming back. And I told him I'm praying for you. I am a man of faith. Tyler was a man of faith.
And I really was hoping that he was going to be wrong. But the solace that I have is he died doing what he loved doing. And I always share with him live life with no regrets. And knowing Tyler, if he could do it all over again, he'd probably make the same decision because he loved what he did.
I mean, obviously no one wants to die and no one foresaw that or saw that coming. But Tyler was -- oh, he was just an amazing son. And it was my privilege to be able to be his father.
The countless conversations that we had, you know, he dreamed of being the boom operator, which is what he was doing. And ultimately, he wanted to retire as a boom operator and then go into, become a commercial pilot. So, he was very driven, you know, I frequently told him, don't just talk about it, but be about it.
And that's exactly what he did. And I shared with him at an early age, find something that you love to do and figure out a way to get paid to do it. Then you'll never go to work because it'll be a labor of love.
And that's exactly what he did. And he was just an extraordinary American and yes.
[19:55:03]
BURNETT: Well, he sounds extraordinary and --
SIMMONS: Yes.
BURNETT: Sounds, I guess the gift that you had of him telling you that he loved you the day before he died.
SIMMONS: Yes.
BURNETT: I know that that is something. And he is certainly sounds like such an extraordinary person. The world is lesser without him.
And I'm grateful to hear about him from you, Mylo.
SIMMONS: Yeah. Yeah, I believe the world was a better place because he was in it. And, you know, all of us give something, but Tyler gave everything.
BURNETT: Thank you, Mylo, for telling me about him and for sharing him. Thank you so much.
SIMMONS: Thank you for having me
BURNETT: What an extraordinary young man and an extraordinary father.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And finally, tonight, $24,000, which is the taxpayer tab for hair, makeup, and a horse in outgoing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem's infamous ad campaign. CNN's obtained new invoices showing exactly where some of that money went. The horse got 20 -- well, it was $20,000 for the horse. Hair and makeup were nearly $4,000.
So, here's some of what your tax money bought for this immigration ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI NOEM, FORMER DHS SECRETARY: Why do I love these wide open spaces? They remind me of why our forefathers came here, not just for its beauty, but for the freedom only America provides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The invoices we obtained also showing more than $100,000 in labor costs for the strategy group, which is a firm led by the husband of Noem's former top spokesperson. An additional $60,000 signing bonus just to produce the ad, and then another $50,000 for videography, photography and production. Stunning. Noem's last day at DHS will be March 31st.
Thanks for joining us.
Anderson starts now.
