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Erin Burnett Outfront

More U.S. Troops To Middle East; New Details On Plane Collision; CNN Projects Democrat Emily Gregory Will Win Florida Special Election. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 24, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:26]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

The breaking news, 1,000 more U.S. troops preparing to deploy to the Middle East, on top of thousands already on the way as Trump reveals who is the, quote, warrior in the Middle East.

Plus, more breaking news. New details on that deadly collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York and why it is so similar to another horribly deadly incident at a different airport. Go back to the flight simulator.

And the polls just closing in Florida right now, and all eyes are on a race, a specific one to represent a district that includes Mar-a-Lago. Could a Democrat flip that seat? We're going to find out here in these next few moments.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. More American troops headed to the Middle East. Sources telling CNN 1,000 U.S. soldiers with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division are expected to deploy in the coming days. Now, that includes a rapid response force able to deploy within hours when called upon.

And that number is on top of thousands of sailors and marines already en route to the Middle East tonight. The news of more troops heading to the region coming as we are seeing fresh attacks launched between Israel and Iran. Central Tel Aviv facing several waves of strikes over a few hours. In Tehran, strikes today, reducing homes to rubble.

And tonight, "The New York Times" is reporting that Saudi Arabia is arguing that the war with Iran presents a, quote, "historic opportunity to remake the Middle East, a grand ambition, it sounds like.

Well, Trump was asked about that today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPORTER: Just hearing that you've been talking and that he has been encouraging you to do certain things related to Iran, can you share --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a warrior? He does. Yeah, he's a warrior. He's fighting with us. By the way

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And one source telling CNN that Saudi Arabia wants Iran's missile capabilities degraded as much as possible before the world -- war ends. Sorry, I misspoke there. And if Trump is listening to Saudi crown prince, it shouldn't be a surprise. I mean, Trump has two towers in Saudi, the Trump tower in Jeddah and Trump Plaza, also in Jeddah. There's a plan Trump International Hotel and Golf Club.

Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, who Trump now says is negotiating with Iran, has done billions in deals with the Saudis. Kushner's firm has a $2 billion investment that they got right after Trump's first term, and is now teamed up with the Saudis to buy the video game giant electronic arts for $55 billion.

So, there's a lot of leverage there. Trump's comments about Saudi Arabia's role in the war that is now entering its 26th day come as an Iranian source is confirming that the U.S. has initiated outreach to end the war. Now whether that's real or not remains to be seen, but it is a major shift in rhetoric after Iran initially denied there was any dialogue with the U.S.

Trump says he is open to talks. He claims that because Iran is giving him, he says, a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. He then did not say what that present was. He did say it was related to the flow of oil in the Strait of Hormuz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know, I don't like to say this. We've won this -- this war has been won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: On the ground, though, there is no evidence that the war is winding down or that the U.S. has won.

Jim Sciutto is OUTFRONT, live in Tel Aviv.

And, Jim, obviously you know where you are. There's been several rounds of attacks in recent hours. Trump says attacks are underway, but those missiles are still flying.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah. Listen, Erin, I was in two countries today, Jordan and here in Israel. And in both of them, I was under multiple air raid warnings. Three this morning in Jordan as missiles flew across Jordanian airspace towards here in Israel. And since I've arrived here, we've been under multiple air raid warnings. And in fact, a short time ago, we saw one of those Iranian missiles

get through Israeli air defenses, a cluster munition, in fact. And I shot video of that from the roof here. And it looks like a firework, but it's not because each of those little points of light is a munition explosive falling to the ground in too small and too numerous for Israeli air defenses to pick up. So those hit the ground and they caused damage. And it's only because people are going into shelters here that there aren't more injuries from these strikes that are still coming through.

So, the fire certainly continues from Iran to Israel. Israels fire towards Iran continuing unabated today. The Israeli defense minister said so, said that they will continue to strike with full force.

And I can tell you from speaking to Israeli officials here, Erin, that there's a great amount of skepticism about President Trump's claims of progress towards peace or a ceasefire, because the Israeli view is that Iran is not serious about peace, that they're not willing to make the concessions they see -- the Israelis see as necessary to do so.

[19:05:18]

They're certainly willing to give president Trump leeway to negotiate, but they're not expressing confidence that those negotiations will lead to a place that makes Israel happy and safe. Now, there's some concern here that perhaps Trump's defines victory on his own terms and declares victory. That's his prerogative, Israeli officials acknowledge. But I can tell you from speaking to them, they're hoping that he holds -- he holds the line.

And we'll see, really, the open question going forward is how does Trump define victory at this point, but also how much power he's willing to allow Iran to maintain particularly. And you've been talking about this a lot, Erin, in your own program, the power to open or close the Strait of Hormuz. And that's arguably a new power since the start of this war.

BURNETT: Absolutely. All right. Jim Sciutto, thank you very much. Live in Tel Aviv tonight.

And I want to go now to Harrison Mann, former executive director of the defense intelligence agency. He resigned over American policy on Gaza.

Nazila Fathi is with me as well. Former "New York Times" correspondent based in Tehran, who was forced to flee.

So, thank you both very much.

Harrison, we are just learning that another 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne are expecting to deploy in coming days. Now, that particular group can deploy very quickly. They can be within you know, I believe it's supposed to be something like 18 hours anywhere in the world.

You have sailors on their way, some of whom are expected to be there by the end of the week, which coincidentally, is the deadline that Trump has put for negotiations, others on their way. That's a lot of boots to put next to the ground with not going in.

How worried are you about them being used on the ground in Iran?

MAJ. HARRISON MANN (RET.), FORMER DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY OFFICIAL: I'm very worried that Trump is gearing up to send hundreds, if not thousands of U.S. troops to die for no reason, frankly. Thousands may sound like a lot. It's not really for a country of 90 million people with about a million ground troops.

Every option we've heard the Trump administration discussed for employing these troops sounds foolhardy and dangerous. You could drop them on Kharg Island, which is a small island 15 miles off the coast of Iran.

Right now, remember, it's too dangerous for steel plated navy ships to sail up Iran's coast. So, what do we think is going to happen to sailors and marines or, sorry, paratroopers and marines? We put on an island by the coast, and again, they're going to be sandwiched between 20,000 oil workers who live on the island and an oil terminal that's going to turn into a giant fireball spewing noxious gas if Iran shoots a missile at it. There's talk as well of striking Iranian nuclear sites or trying to do a raid on them.

BURNETT: Right, to get the nuclear material out. Maybe Isfahan.

MANN: And that one worries me even -- even more. On the strategic level, we don't even know if all the nuclear material is there. You've heard former CENTCOM Commander Joseph Votel say an operation like that might take up to 4,000 troops because of everybody you need to secure the site. While Delta Force spends hours, if not days, digging their way in, because U.S. bombs and the Iranian government buries --

BURNETT: Canisters, right? Like essentially keg sized, possibly canisters, many of them.

MANN: Yeah, that are radioactive. Yeah, absolutely. And note, right? We've seen a lot of bombing over Iran. Weve never seen helicopters fly over Iran. So how are these troops getting out of there after we drop them in?

BURNETT: All right. All of that is obviously very concerning. This is what they're dealing with if they're going to do this, Nazila.

But, you know, Trump said today were in negotiations right now. Now, the thing is, of course, before the war started, he said that, right, there were negotiations. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were having with the Iranians, the Omanis. And then when those were sort of in the midst, right, Trump said they're not working and went ahead and struck Iran.

So, now when he says were in negotiations right now, but more and more boots are heading to the region, are these negotiations real?

NAZILA FATHI, FORMER NEW YORK TIMES CORRESPONDENT BASED IN TEHRAN FOR TEN YEARS: That's a big question. And Iranians, for the same reason, are also very skeptical. I mean, most people think that President Trump is trying to buy time until these troops get to the Middle East. And, you know, it's not a very optimistic situation.

But if President Trump is really negotiating, if this is true, this can be a historic moment because the people who were disrupting or derailing diplomacy inside Iran are now in power. Ghalibaf is part of a circle that were in the shadow on previously were interrupting talks. So, if President Trump is speaking --

BURNETT: This is the more hardline group. They were not looking for a deal.

FATHI: Exactly. But now they are in charge. They have to make decisions, and they cannot keep on fighting forever.

[19:10:02]

So, they -- if President Trump is truly negotiating with them, I think it's very courageous of him. And I also think this is a historic opportunity.

BURNETT: So, Harrison, what do you think? Do you think there are negotiations going on? I mean, right, there's names out there. Theres possible locations. Theres, you know, intermediaries. There's a lot out there. It doesn't mean that there's, you know, it isn't all sound and fury signifying nothing, I'll give you that. But what do you think?

MANN: No, I don't think there's real negotiations going on. I think Trump is trying three things at once.

One, trying to soothe markets, like with his big announcement yesterday.

Two, buying time to maneuver more forces into the region. The marines you mentioned, as well as further airborne troops.

And three, maybe he does think there's a chance at trying this to see if it works. But he's really done nothing needed to build trust with any Iranian leadership after basically betraying them two times. The last two times Iranian leaders tried to do negotiations with Trump, he bombed them.

So, I think there's a lot he's going to need to do to try and make them take him seriously. You know, among -- among those steps could be some sort of unilateral ceasefire or maybe pausing the troops he's sending into the region. He could signal that he's willing to take Iran's demands seriously, which include things like reparations for war damage, or --

BURNETT: There's been some talk of that, of how they would even, you know, basically what they call a reparation. We call giving them some frozen money.

MANN: Exactly. BURNETT: So, they've actually that has been out there.

MANN: And the recent 15 point plan did notably say lifting all sanctions, which does signal maybe some readiness to start taking their demands seriously. And then finally, he's got to prove to Iranian leaders that he's willing to rein in Netanyahu and that he's not going to let the Israeli government launch a new war against Iran, as soon as Trump says his is over, right?

They need some confidence that if they sign something, they're not going to be under another unprovoked attack, you know, the next day.

BURNETT: And how much power, Nazila does, the, you know, the new loyalist of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr (ph) if I'm -- if I'm saying his name correctly, he's the new security chief. You have the former mayor of Tehran now, Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf obviously center in this as well.

But the new security chief, again, hardliner, as you point out, how are they seen and how much power do they have right now within the country, not just within the regime, which obviously is still in power and still stable, but from people?

FATHI: So they don't have credibility with the people. All these people are the ones who have led very violent crackdown against Iranian protesters.

BURNETT: The mayor of Tehran bragged about his role in that, yeah.

FATHI: Yes. Zolghadr was one of the most brutal security force leaders who was even marginalized after one of the worst protests. But then they brought him back. But the truth of the matter is that they are the decisionmakers, and there is no one there who's going to oppose them, or is going to derail these talks. All the other ones who were trying to sort of help with diplomacy or were involved in diplomacy, those people have been marginalized.

Now they are the ones who have to lead it. Now, they are the ones who have to make the decision. And, you know, they have reached a point that the economy is on the verge of collapse. The leadership has decimated, and Iran's military has been degraded no matter what. So, at some point they have to negotiate.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you both very much. I appreciate it.

And as we talk about that, I want to go to Michael Eisenberg. He's an advisor to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

And, Michael, I appreciate your time.

I guess, you know, Harrison and Nazila giving us a lot to talk about. But I want to just start with what Trump said when he said, and I quote, today, the war has been won with Iran. You know, when you hear him say that, is there a part of you that goes, okay, he's right? Or do you say, wait a minute, he's got it wrong? MICHAEL EISENBERG, ADVISER TO ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I'm

not going to argue with the president of the United States, quite obviously. He has his own view and his own intelligence.

I think the most important thing to kind of keep in mind here is the president entered negotiation at the beginning. He stopped as prime minister. Netanyahu also said to do negotiation in the middle here and try to see if he can get to a better deal than he might have had before this war started.

Obviously, spending this much time and this much effort, and, you know, this much munitions to make a change here. He wants to get to a better deal. I'm certain of that.

And I think, as I've said to you before, Erin, one of the things we've learned is Iran is not just a ticking time bomb. They've shown what they want to do. And having this exponential problem of this death cult stay in the path of history and be able to choke off the Straits of Hormuz in the global economy with their missiles and their nukes, bomb the infrastructure around them.

It's just not something that's tolerable. I heard your guest before say an unprovoked attack by Israel. I think it's very important to say one of the things we learned on October 7th was when people say they want to kill you and wipe you out, take him seriously. Now that they've proven that they want to take out the world economy, that they want to strangle the Straits of Hormuz and attack all of our Arab neighbors, it was probably time to do something.

BURNETT: All right. But, you know, you also mentioned sort of in passing, but something about the leadership of Iran.

Okay. And that and I know it has been very clear from, from Israel, Israeli government that regime change is front and center and it's important. And if one thing has not happened, it is that, right? When we look at the people we're talking about who are in charge of these negotiations, as Nazila is describing them, Harrisons describing them. They are hardliners. They are to the right of the people that were doing the negotiations prior to this wars beginning.

So, are they people that Israel could accept? I mean, if Trump does a deal with them and they remain in power, it would seem like from what you just laid out, that is categorically unacceptable to Israel

EISENBERG: You know, I would say a couple of things. Number one, I don't know if you know this, but this woman, Malik Azizi, was just murdered by the regime on Nowruz, the Iranian new year. These are the kinds of people that are still running Iran.

Israel has always said that this is up to the Iranian people. And Admiral Cooper, the head of CENTCOM, has said to Iranian people, stay inside for now. And people don't come outside and do things when bombs are falling.

At the end of the day, this is going to be up to the Iranian people. I'll remind you that after the operation in June, operation rising lion, only in January did the people come out into the streets. And the same thing happened in Syria after the attacks there. It takes months for the people to find their footing and do this. And we hope and pray for the people of Iran for their safety, that they do rise up and create a Democratic government which will live in peace with Israel, with their Arab neighbors, the Sunni nations that surround them, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, et cetera.

That's what we can all hope for. We want free, free economy. We want the free the Straits of Hormuz. And we want the Iranian people to live in peace and security and prosperity together with Israel in the region.

BURNETT: All right. So I want to play something for you because Trump has, you know, obviously said these negotiations are happening. Theres been talk about a 15-point plan. And he said something today, Michael, that really stood out to me in the context of what Iran has said, frankly, for decades, he said Trump something very specific about Iran's nuclear program. Let me play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't want to say in advance, but they've agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Now, Michael, of course, we all know that Iran has technically agreed to that for decades, right? I mean, I was with President Pezeshkian in September, and he begins the entire conversation with saying, we don't want a nuclear weapon. We never wanted one. We absolutely don't want one. There's a fatwa against it.

So, what Trump just said is what Iran has been saying forever. Do you think that he is taking Iran at their word that that he believes that this is new?

EISENBERG: You know, there was a fatwa against intercontinental ballistic missiles as well, and they fired one on Diego Garcia. So I wouldn't take the fatwas too seriously. Coming out of Iran, these are not people of their words.

But I also would say the following. This president of the United States is incredibly smart, and he's a great deal maker, and he's a great negotiator, and he understands the art of the deal, to quote from his book title. And I think he would not have gone to war now if he didn't have a plan. And I think he does have a plan. He's taking a breather to get negotiations, see if he can get to a better deal than was available beforehand. And you've got to believe that the Iranian regime is going to do a better deal.

And the president, United States has said that Iran will never, ever, ever have a nuclear weapon. I think the president of the United States has his word. And I think we can also say that they can never, ever, ever have ballistic missiles that can threaten their Arab neighbors, that can threaten Israel, that can threaten Europe and threaten the United States. I think the president, as a man of his word, and I think he'll follow

through.

BURNETT: All right. Michael Eisenberg, thank you very much, I appreciate it.

And next, new details about the deadly plane crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York, including why a critical alert system failed to warn a fire truck was on the runway. We're going to go back inside the flight simulator to show you what we're learning in the investigation tonight about that approach and that landing.

And more breaking news, those polls just closing in Florida, all eyes on a special election in Trump's backyard and why Democrats think that at 7:18 here, it's the polls have just closed that we could find out in moments they think they might win, that they could flip the seat that represents Mar-a-Lago.

And Kim Jong Un has a bold new message for Donald Trump tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:23:37]

BURNETT: Breaking news, we're learning new details about the moments leading up to the deadly runway collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Investigators say the fire truck involved in the crash was not equipped with a transponder, technology that would have allowed air traffic controllers to track it as it moved along the runway. It comes as six people who were on the plane remain hospitalized tonight, according to Air Canada.

And Pete Muntean begins our coverage OUTFRONT with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New details from investigators reveal the final moments before an Air Canada Express flight fatally slammed into an airport fire truck, crossing the same runway.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy says just two people were working in the LaGuardia control tower at the time, with both starting their shifts about an hour before the crash. Investigators now say one controller was handling the active runways and airspace immediately surrounding the airport. The second controller, a supervisor, was also responsible for issuing route clearances to departing flights, an arrangement investigators say was not uncommon for that hour of the night.

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: That is in the standard operating procedures for LaGuardia. Our air traffic control team has stated this is a problem, that this is a concern for them for years.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): But investigators still do not know which controller was specifically overseeing ground control. The movement of planes and vehicles on taxiways.

[19:25:01] Richard Kennington spent 25 years as an FAA air traffic controller.

RICHARD KENNINGTON: LaGuardia is one of the most difficult because they have so much aircraft and so little real estate when compared to a Denver or a Kennedy or a DFW.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Adding to the complexity, investigators say controllers were already dealing with another emergency just before the crash, a United Airlines flight aborted its takeoff twice, prompting the response from airport firefighters.

UNITED PILOT: 2384 is declaring an emergency. The flight attendants in the back are feeling ill because of the odor.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The NTSB says that one minute and three seconds before the crash interference garbled a radio call from the fire truck to the control tower. The truck radioed again just 20s before the crash, and the LaGuardia tower granted clearance to cross the runway. When the plane was just 100 feet above the ground, just nine seconds before the fatal collision, the tower told the fire truck to stop. The plane was one second from touching down.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, Truck One. Stop, stop, stop! Stop, Truck One! Stop! Stop Truck One! Stop!

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The NTSB now says the fire truck was not equipped with a transponder, meaning ground collision warning systems in the tower did not alert controllers to the danger unfolding in front of them.

A CNN review of anonymous safety reports from pilots showed growing concerns about conditions at LaGuardia. Before the crash, pilots filed at least a dozen reports warning of miscommunication near misses and increasing pressure on controllers.

"The pace of operations is building in LaGuardia. The controllers are pushing the line," one pilot wrote. "On thunderstorm days, LGA is starting to feel like DCA did before the accident there. Please do something."

KENNINGTON: I think this was preventable and we will get to the bottom of it, and honor all those that were involved by reassuring that it doesn't happen again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: The national transportation safety board says it planned to start interviews with the air traffic controllers in the tower cab at the time of this crash, sometime today.

The NTSB also says it will interview the two firefighters in that fire truck, which miraculously survived this collision.

A lot of work to do in this investigation, Erin. A lot of work to do here on the scene. A backhoe, a cherry picker, and a flatbed truck have arrived here to begin that painstaking process of removing the wreckage here. Runway four here at LaGuardia will remain closed until Friday at the earliest -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Pete Muntean.

And OUTFRONT now, Aaron Murphy, he's a commercial pilot and flight instructor at uFly in Canada.

He's in a flight simulator with his colleague Claudio Teixeira. They're both back. Claudio is flying the simulator.

So, thanks very much to both of you, Claudio and Aaron. Aaron, air traffic control cleared that fire truck as Pete was just detailing to move across the runway. And just not talk yet about when they told it to stop whether it hurt him or not, but to clear them across the runway. At that time, Pete laid out the Air Canada jets 100 feet off the ground. So you've got your simulator set to that altitude, 100 feet coming into LaGuardia for landing.

Show us how quickly the collision would have happened from there.

AARON MURPHY, CANADIAN COMMERCIAL PILOT AND FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: Okay, Erin, thanks for having us on again. I think this is very important that we explain this to everybody.

Claudio, we're ready to continue with our approach. It's runway for LaGuardia and recreating, of course, the events of the Jazz 646 flight. We are inbound and were on the way. I'm going to pause it at delta. We're on the ground. Reversers are up and were paused at delta. It was approximately that quick.

I'm slightly premature. I can actually see the fire hall a little bit ahead of us, but we are very close to where that fire truck would have started to pull out in front of that flight.

BURNETT: Wow. This is just incredible as you lay that. I mean, watching that, right? It's like you touch down and there it is right there. Just there. Just no time.

You know, when you talk about that runway though. Yeah? Go ahead. Yeah?

MURPHY: One thing I would like to add that as the pilots were approaching to land, they would have seen the lineup of the truck one and company that were coming from the fire station waiting at the side of the runway, giving them even more comfort that the emergency vehicles are holding their position. And we're going to continue our landing. You're expecting the plan to go as planned.

BURNETT: Right, right. And as you're pointing out there, Pete had said, right. There was a group of emergency vehicles and the rest of them had stopped. So, they would have seen that.

So, all right, so then when you're on the runway here, as you're looking at this area, you're seeing striking similarities between the collision at LaGuardia with the midair collision between the commercial plane and a Blackhawk helicopter, that unbelievable tragedy near Washington National Airport last January. You know, and we were just hearing people pilot saying how, how dangerous and how now they feel like LGA at very high-risk times, thunderstorms, et cetera., feels like DCA did.

[19:30:05[

You filmed a simulation of both of these accidents earlier? We're going to put them up side-by-side. Can you talk me through the similarities that you see?

MURPHY: Yes, and I'm going to be looking away from the camera to see my laptop for that. So sorry about that. And its, it's even hard for me to see, but I can, I can make it out as we come along. The DCA, we are accepting the circling for 33 and LaGuardia. We're coming straight in.

Now, things that are similar right now, nighttime. Number one, harder to see everything at night, that's for sure. And number two, there are a lot of lights going in in these areas are both very heavily populated areas surrounding the airfields, and they're big airports. So there's lots of lights happening there.

The helicopter pad 25 was lost in the lights. You couldn't have seen that. There's no way. And the fire trucks coming out of delta onto runway four we did a couple of -- you know, taxi trips around on the airfield here. And it occurred to me that as you pull out of delta, looking to the right for runway for arrivals, there are so many lights on the runway and the surrounding area that a little CRJ 900. I know that sounds odd. A little CRJ is not a very big airplane, as airplanes go very easy for the landing lights to be lost in all of the other lights, the carpeting of the lights, as I like to call it, and the spray.

And we have -- it's just lights on top of lights. You look quickly, you're cleared to go. You are supposed to go. And I know that the emergency responders looked, I know they looked. There's no way they did not look. They could not see the aircraft in those lights. And that's exactly what happened with the helicopter at DCA. Identical.

One other thing, Aaron. The air traffic control situations across the entire internet. People are blaming the air traffic controllers. And for both air traffic controllers, I will say to you now, gentlemen, this is not your fault. This is -- you trying to make procedures work that are completely unacceptable with a dysfunctional governance that needs to smarten up, because if this continues, we're going to have more accidents just like this.

One thing, and I'm sorry to drone on, Aaron. One thing that would save all of this the other night, if we have a full ground stop at airports where emergency vehicles do not have access to all parts of the airfield, a short ground stop shorter than a thunderstorm ground stop. The Air Canada goes around. It comes back in five minutes, safely. Five minutes later, right?

Easy as pie. We do it on the streets in all over the world, and we do it at the racetrack all the time. It's a red flag.

BURNETT: Yeah. All right. Thank you both, Aaron and Claudio, thank you so very much.

And next we have breaking news. Those polls closing in Florida. And the first results are now coming in. This is a crucial special election race. It includes Mar-a-Lago.

That Democrat right now, first results, very early, currently ahead by a few thousand votes, is going to join us next.

And Harry Enten going to tell us something we don't know. Trump voting in that special election by absentee ballot. Yes, it is the same man who rails against mail in voting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:32]

BURNETT: Breaking news, polls just closing in a special election race in Florida that's getting major national attention tonight. It's a Florida state house district that includes President Trump's Mar-a- Lago resort.

And tonight, Democrats are optimistic that Emily Gregory could beat Trump backed candidate Jon Maples and flip the seat.

Now the first numbers are just in OUTFRONT, and they show that Gregory is in the lead, about 58 percent of the vote right now. And you can see polls are closed. You can see though, we don't have all the results.

But right now, the lead for Emily Gregory is 3,000 votes and she is OUTFRONT now. She is the Democrat running in that Florida state house special election race. That includes Mar-a-Lago. Emily's a business owner, military spouse.

And, Emily, I know you're running for the first time for office. And right now, people may look at you. Where are you? You're in a car. You're on your way, literally, to your watch party, and you're seeing the same numbers we're seeing right now.

Obviously, you're ahead. All the numbers aren't in yet, though. How confident are you are -- are you right now that you'll win?

EMILY GREGORY (D), U.S. HOUSE CANDIDATE FOR FLORIDA: Erin, I'm so this is so kind of you to have me on. It's early, so we're feeling confident. We're confident in is that we were talking about the right issues and we were, you know, knocking all of the doors and doing all of the things to get in front of voters and really hear their concerns. And we heard over and over again, property, insurance, health care and education. And that's what we focused on. And we're feeling -- we're feeling hopeful for tonight.

BURNETT: So why do you think voters in your district responded to you and your campaign? GREGORY: I think they responded well, because I am from here. This is

my home and I love this area. I'm from like 20 minutes north and I love South Florida so much. And I did not think we were getting the representation we deserved in Tallahassee. So, I decided to get off the bench and make a run for it. And I'm really proud. I'm really proud of what we -- what we've built.

BURNETT: So, President Trump, run your district, Emily, by more than 11 points in 2024. Right. So, it wasn't really one that you would think a Democrat could come in and win. I mean was he a part? His presence and Mar-a-Lago all of that, was that a part of the race at all or not, as far as you see it.

GREGORY: For me, not so much. I think my opponent put it front and center, and I focused on the issues that matter most to Florida families. Everyone is feeling that affordability crisis, and the last thing that Florida families needed when they're struggling is $4 gas.

[19:40:03]

So that is what I spoke about. And that is what I talked to voters about. So, it wasn't as much a factor for me. But perhaps my opponent focused on it.

BURNETT: You know, if you win, President Trump's going to be one of your constituents, right? That's the reality. Mar-a-Lago happens to be in the district, right? If you win. And obviously endorse your opponent, we know that.

But is there anything you'd say to him, you know, if you are the winner here?

GREGORY: I would -- I would be happy to have a conversation. And you know, all 180,000 residents of District 87 are my priority if I'm so lucky to serve. So, I will put them all with equal weight.

BURNETT: And, Emily, I want to ask you one other thing. Just, you know, as you're talking and I know, you know, you're a military spouse and were, you know, in a war now there are thousands of troops heading to the Middle East. How does all of this weigh on you and your family and those closest to you now?

GREGORY: So, we as a family are very concerned about another endless war. I -- of course, it's outside of the scope of the state house, but it does have personal ramifications for my family. So, you know, I pray for our troops, and I pray for our family. And I -- I hope a resolution comes sooner rather than later.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Emily, I really appreciate your time. And as I said, as everyone looking at Emily, she's in the car right now in north Palm Beach. She's going to the watch party. And right now, she is ahead. She is ahead by several thousand votes with -- in the special election in Florida for the Mar-a-Lago district for the Florida state house.

Emily, thank you very much for being with us. And Harry Enten is OUTFRONT here to tell us something we don't know.

And, you know, we have a lot of --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I got a lot of things to tell you that you don't know.

BURNETT: I mean -- right? And Emily, you know, obviously I gave the numbers, right. Trump won that district by 11 points. Right.

So, she's saying she didn't talk about Trump. She -- we just got some new numbers. Let's --

ENTEN: All right. Show them up because I was looking at them.

BURNETT: How much ahead, Lindsay? Okay, here we go. All right. So --

ENTEN: She's up three or two and a half.

BURNETT: She's up. But look, 99 percent. Wow, 99 percent reporting.

ENTEN: Yeah. That means very likely she is going to win in a district --

BURNETT: Yeah,780 ahead. So look, that's a tiny margin. But you can look at the votes 99, and this is looking very good. Very good for Emily Gregory.

ENTEN: Correct. The Democrat in a district that Donald Trump won by 11 points. That is a massive shift, right? That is a double-digit shift towards the Democrat. If that result holds, and we have most of the vote in.

And what I will say, what is so important, it is happening now in Donald Trump's backyard. But it has been happening across the country. We have seen these massive shifts in these special elections. I looked at all of them. Okay?

So far to date, the state legislative, the federal special elections.

BURNETT: And no matter what it's for --

ENTEN: No matter.

BURNETT: Special election.

ENTEN: Correct -- for state, legislative or federal for Congress. And what we've seen so far is a shift to the Democrats on average of 12 points. We have seen a shift of 12 points from the Kamala Harris baseline from what we saw.

BURNETT: Which is about where this race looks like.

ENTEN: Exactly right. This is emblematic of what we have seen nationwide, which is a double-digit shift towards the Democrats versus that 2024 baseline.

BURNETT: Right. And actually, you could tell me whether my math is right. If it's -

ENTEN: Slightly larger.

BURNETT: It'd be slightly larger.

ENTEN: Slightly larger.

BURNETT: So okay, so what does this mean then for the midterms? Because you're taking, you know, special elections of all sorts in all places. But now, let's talk about the national midterms.

ENTEN: Yeah. Okay. We'll talk about the midterms. There's a reason we're talking about this. And it's not just because it's in Donald Trump's backyard, though, that's part of the reason why. It is because historically speaking, special elections have forecasted what will happen in the midterm elections.

I went all the way back since I was in high school, back to the 2005, 2006 cycle, and every single time that a party outperformed the presidential baseline in the next midterm election, what we saw was five out of five times that party went on to win the U.S. House of Representatives. So, what is happening right now in Mar-a-Lago is unlikely to stay a Mar-a-Lago. It is likely to expand nationwide and to expand in the midterm elections as well.

BURNETT: All right. So, tell me something else I don't know.

ENTEN: I will tell you something else you don't know, Erin Burnett, and that is Donald Trump voted by mail in this special election.

BURNETT: Wait, I knew that.

ENTEN: You knew that.

BURNETT: That was the one thing I did know.

ENTEN: That -- I'll give you -- I always have a little separate else for you, just in case.

BURNETT: Yeah.

ENTEN: Which is, he is not alone. A lot of Republicans vote by mail, despite the fact that Donald Trump bashes vote by mail, we're talking more than a quarter of Trump voters in 2024 actually voted by mail, 20, 26 percent.

BURNETT: That is incredible. And I didn't know that.

ENTEN: There you go. See.

BURNETT: And that maybe --

ENTEN: We wrapped it all up. There we go.

BURNETT: All right. Harry Enten, thank you very much. Looking as if Emily Gregory looking as if, we don't know the final

results, 99 percent, but obviously looking very good for Emily Gregory, the Democrat in the Mar-a-Lago, Florida state house seat.

[19:45:03]

And next, Kim jong un firing off missiles accompanied by his young daughter, who's rumored to be his successor in training. He's emboldened by Trump's war with Iran and has a very new message for him tonight.

And the breaking news we're following, 1,000 more American troops ready to deploy to the Middle East, be there in hours as thousands of marines and sailors are already headed to the region, as I speak. Colonel Cedric Leighton is at the magic wall, next.

So, you're coming over with us, Harry?

ENTEN: Hey, buddy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: And we can now project that Emily Gregory will win Florida's special state house election in the district, which includes Mar-a- Lago. She has flipped that seat. Trump won that district by 11 points, but she has now flipped it. She has beat Jon Maples.

[19:50:00]

Trump endorsed him.

And you just saw Emily Gregory here a few moments ago. Why does she win? She said she ran on the issue of affordability, affordability, affordability, and how that broke down, things like property taxes. But we can now officially project that that message won. Emily Gregory won, and she is headed to the Florida state house, flipping a district that Trump had won by 11 points.

And more breaking news a huge fire after drones hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport. Iranian-linked drones have repeatedly attacked the country's main international airport during the war with Iran, as the Pentagon is expecting to deploy another approximately 1,000 U.S. soldiers from the elite 82nd airborne division to the Middle East.

Now, that could happen in a matter of days. And when they are told to move, they can move very quickly. It's not a weeks-long thing to get them in any arena where they are needed.

The commanding general also expected to deploy, retired Colonel Cedric Leighton tells us that points to the Pentagon planning something important and obviously adding thousands to already thousands of soldiers en route and marines en route to the region.

So, joining me at the magic wall, retired Colonel Cedric Leighton. And, Colonel Leighton, so the commanding general deploying. We saw that and then that there's a thousand that could be ready to deploy really at a moment's notice. And they could be there within hours.

But what does it mean when the commanding general has already been deployed? Does that mean this is a sure thing?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Not necessarily. But what it does mean is that that commanding general is part of the planning process, an integral part of the planning process. And when you've got a unit like the 82nd Airborne division, which has amazing capabilities, you need a lot of intricate work in the planning process to actually make these deployments as effective as possible.

So if the commanding general deploys, like we were reporting that he that he will be, that then means that they're going to be really paying attention to everything that's here, whether he does stuff here in the Strait of Hormuz or at Kharg Island, or he's just held in reserve, he's still planning for some kind of mission. Or it could even include the nuclear missions that are potentially part of what the 82nd Airborne could potentially do.

But it is critical that he's there.

BURNETT: Right, right. And of course, that raises all kinds of questions about that nuclear material could be in so many different places. What do they know, where it is and going in. And I know you've talked extensively about that.

You know, what -- so what do these deployments, the marine deployments also that we've seen that we know are en route, multiple.

LEIGHTON: Yes.

BURNETT: What does that mean that the U.S. could do?

LEIGHTON: So, when you look at this, is the USS Tripoli as its going through the Strait of Malacca with the 31st marine expeditionary unit.

BURNETT: It's off Singapore.

LEIGHTON: It's off Singapore, that's right. And then you also have the boxer amphibious ready group with the 11th MEU, marine expeditionary unit, and its ready to go, because what they basically have are these kinds of capabilities. They have ground capabilities, air capabilities and sea capabilities.

And, you know, just take a look quickly at the air. You have an osprey here that is capable of landing on ships like the boxer. You have ground capabilities. And this is basically what the marine infantry comes in and does its job.

It could take a beachhead. It could take an airfield. They could do all kinds of things. They can set up very quickly, and their force is exceptionally lethal. And of course, you have the amphibious-ready group, which deploys these amphibious vehicles into the sea and ready to go and hit the beach. And that's where the marines would basically storm ashore if they were to take something like, let's say, Kharg Island, for example.

BURNETT: Right, even the straight. But of course. And then the questions of what resistance do they meet and at what cost? I mean, so where could this realistically happen? I mean, you mentioned Kharg Island. We're talking about the straight, but -- and just the difficulty, as I mentioned, of, you know, some of those places are mountainous.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely.

BURNETT: Places to hide, places to attack from above all of those things.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely. So, when you look at this is the Strait of Hormuz right here. Obviously, you have this area that is really so narrow, 21 miles across shipping lane that's only two miles across. And they have to maneuver through all of these islands right here.

You mentioned topography, Zagros mountains right here. This is a very tough terrain. And to top it all off, you have the navy base, the Iranian navy base at Bandar Abbas. So there's some significant military installations right here. This is a tough nut to crack. If you're going to do something militarily here. And then if your ability is if your desired mission is to go after Kharg Island, you have to do this first in order to get to this in most cases, because that is going to be critical.

BURNETT: And sail past all of those places, which right now ships, including U.S. destroyers, are not sailing.

LEIGHTON: Exactly.

BURNETT: Because of those fears.

LEIGHTON: That's exactly right. And this with thousands of American lives on board.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Leighton.

And next, North Korea claiming Kim Jong Un just won reelection by 99.93 percent of the vote. Gosh, I wonder who the 0.07 are. As Kim tells Trump, North Korea's nuclear program is, quote, "irreversible".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:57:39]

BURNETT: Tonight, a defiant Kim Jong Un, emboldened by Trump's war with Iran, firing off missile after missile in a series of weapons tests, seizing on the war to try to advance North Korea's nuclear arsenal.

Will Ripley is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walks into parliament with confidence. State media claims he just won reelection by a landslide with 99.93 percent of the vote.

In front of a packed house in Pyongyang, Kim has a defiant message for President Donald Trump. The United States is now resorting to acts of state-sponsored terrorism and aggression. The hostile forces wanted us to make a different choice, preaching a payment for our giving up of nuclear weapons. But the present situation clearly proves our nuclear possession is irreversible.

Kim never names Iran. He doesn't have to. His message to Trump is blunt when diplomacy fails, only brute nuclear force will do.

Ever since the Iran war broke out, a string of high profile North Korean weapons tests. This salvo of cruise missiles fired from Kim's flagship destroyer, the Chloe Hyon (ph). Days later, a barrage of what state media calls a dozen nuclear capable rockets. Kim, joined by his daughter and rumored successor in training, the teenager, believed to be named Kim Ju-ae. She's even getting behind the wheel of a brand-new tank with her father riding shotgun.

Kim and his daughter busy flaunting their firepower, and Russia praising its anti-U.S. partnership with Pyongyang. During coverage of the Iran war, Russian state TV airing footage of North Korean troops training near the Ukrainian front, glorifying soldiers who chose suicide over capture. A clear signal Russia has North Korea's back.

And back in Pyongyang, Kim is honoring families of fallen troops doubling down on nuclear weapons and telling his military and his people to prepare for war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: And tonight, Erin, there are still signs that diplomacy may not be completely off the table. Just this month, South Korea's prime minister sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office, raising the possibility of another meeting with Kim Jong Un. Now, Trump has made clear he's pretty open to it. And Kim is actually signaling, despite the rhetoric, that he could be too. But with one major condition, North Korea's nuclear weapons, they say, are not up for negotiation.

BURNETT: All right. Will, thank you very much.

And thanks so much to all of you as always for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.