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CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Headlines: Trump Headlines First Night Of GOP Midterm Convention In Dallas; Trump: Iran War Will End After Midterms; Lindsay Clancy's Defense Attorney Defends Patrick Amid Conspiracy Theories; Black Box Data Shows Speed Alarms Before Miami Runway Overrun. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired September 10, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:26]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, if the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000, it will be called the Trump dividend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump making huge promises on day one of his GOP midterm convention. Hear what other pledges he made and who made a surprise appearance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: I would not ever agree that she do any time in jail. She's too fragile. She's too -- she's damaged goods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Lindsay Clancy's attorney, Kevin Reddington, sits down with CNN after the case ends in a stunning mistrial. How he says Clancy is doing now.
Plus --
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JACOB COXON, FORMER ANTHROPIC A.I. RESEARCHER: We'll enter the phase of Evan's post, where he argues that there's a chance we could all die like that. That is coming soon.
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SMITH: A dire warning from an ex-Anthropic employee saying A.I. could actually kill humans in the coming years.
And no, your eyes are not deceiving you. Those are legs dangling from an interstate overpass. But don't worry, the driver is okay. How this even happened? Later on this hour.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us.
Let's get this started.
We begin with that extraordinary $5,000 payout for Americans promise and other takeaways from last night's kickoff at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas. In his 90-minute speech, President Trump urged voters to pretend that his name is on the November ballot and he is promising what he calls a Trump dividend of $5,000 per adult in the U.S. but there's a catch.
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TRUMP: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them because of our economic -- tremendous economic success, like in history, we've never had anything like what's happening. But because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Critics point out that the audacious offer is basically like buying votes to keep his party in power.
Now, for his part, the president compared it to companies paying dividends. He added a stipulation that the money must be spent in America, but offered no indication how that would be enforced. Nor did he say how he'd pay for such a move.
There are about 270 million adults in the U.S.
The convention featured a parade of cabinet members and GOP lawmakers, but some in the party are hesitant to appear with the president as he faces historically low approval ratings.
But there was a surprise video message from a Democrat, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a common sense Democrat. I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Trump pledged to campaign tirelessly for Republican candidates, falsely claimed that prices for consumers are falling and blame Democrats for a host of issues, including the affordability crisis.
As for skyrocketing gas prices, the president pointed at Iran saying this before heading out to Texas Wednesday afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think the war is going to end immediately after the election. I think the war will end immediately after the election.
REPORTER: Because?
TRUMP: Because they can't hold out any longer. They're desperate to try and affect the election so that we can get a nice, weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapons. All they want is a nuclear weapon. And if they had a nuclear weapon, the whole world is in deep trouble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Well, there are questions being raised this morning about an emergency slide on the president's Qatari gifted Air Force One after it deployed just before Trump left for the midterm convention. The incident delayed his departure to Dallas by about 20 minutes.
A source tells CNN it was an accident, but Trump passed it off as intentional. Listen.
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TRUMP: They were doing a check on the slide, you know, the emergency. So I think it takes about 15 minutes.
[05:05:01]
They want to make sure everything works perfectly.
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SMITH: Remember, this is the same $400 million plane that Trump did not use when flying back from Turkey in July due to security concerns. The president plans to use this jet for his upcoming trip to Ireland.
All right. New this morning, Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney Kevin Reddington sits down with our Anderson Cooper, setting the record straight about Patrick Clancy as he faces conspiracy theories online about the death of his three children.
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Patrick Clancy, her husband, obviously, there's been a lot of conspiracy theories. You have spoken out about this a number of times. What do you want people to know?
REDDINGTON: I want people to know that this is a young couple that was on top of the world. They had three beautiful children. They had a nice house in a beautiful town. They were respected. Their jobs, and it just went sideways because of the horrible, horrible medical and psychiatric care that they had. And he stood by her, went to the doctor's appointments with her, stood
by her, testified for her in this trial, and also forgave her, which is most important in her mind. That speaks volumes for that man.
COOPER: You said -- I've heard you say, I believe, and jurors had talked about the voice recording the police call that he made, and which obviously the public has not heard, and that anybody hearing that would not have any doubts about this man.
REDDINGTON: It was -- you know, I've been doing this for 50 years. It was one of the most gut-wrenching, horrific things I've ever listened to. The -- there is no actor in Los Angeles or anywhere that could ever emulate that. If there was a movie, it was just horrific. And I think, as I say, that speaks volumes for what this man went through.
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SMITH: You can stick with us this morning. We'll have more from Anderson's interview with Kevin Reddington coming up, including what he thinks about the lone juror who led the judge to declare mistrial.
The National Transportation Safety Board has released an update in the investigation into Sunday's deadly Amazon air crash at Miami International Airport.
Now, while this update offers new clues about what may have happened, officials stressed that the information is still preliminary and could change.
CNN's Reid Binion reports with more.
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REID BINION, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The National Transportation Safety Board says info from the cockpit voice recorder in Sunday's Amazon air jet crash shows a pilot expressed concern about the aircrafts excessive speed as alarms were sounding in the plane before it touched down. After touchdown, officials say, a pilot called for a go around a procedure to abort landing and circle for another attempt, as the jet was going roughly 140 miles per hour, one of the pilots released the wheel brakes and moved the throttles to full takeoff power, both normal steps for a go around.
The NTSB said there were no indications that speed brakes or thrust reversers were deployed. The pilots survived the crash and are being interviewed by investigators.
CHIHOON SHIN, NTSB CHIEF INVESTIGATOR: Crew accounts and crew interviews will help fill in some of the blanks for us that the crew remembers in terms of actions that they might have done, but not verbalized.
BINION (voice-over): The plane struck two vehicles when it crashed. One of them was a van full of workers employed by a contract cleaning company. The five people killed in the crash were all in that van. Their loved ones, heartbroken over their loss. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awesome, an awesome human being.
BINION (voice-over): The widow of one of those victims has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the plane's pilots, Amazon and 21 Air LLC, the contracted operator of the jet.
I'm Reid Binion, reporting.
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SMITH: 21 Air did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. An Amazon spokesperson said that the company's deepest sympathies are with everyone affected by the crash, and that Amazon will fully cooperate with investigators.
In today's weather express, if August felt like the hottest month ever, you're right it was, and it tied the benchmark for the hottest month ever recorded since at least 1940. That's according to a European climate monitoring agency. This was partly driven by ocean temperatures that also reached record highs. The agency points to two causes human caused global warming and the super El Nino in the Pacific.
The NFL returned last night with a Super Bowl rematch between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, and it was a similar outcome to, with the Seahawks defeating the Pats 13 to 10. But one of the big headlines Seattle starting quarterback, Sam Darnold, was injured and had to leave the game extremely early. Tonight, the L.A. Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers down under. It will be the first ever regular season game to be played in Australia.
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We've got lots more to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, including a warning from a former employee of A.I. giant Anthropic. He believes something could go horribly wrong with the technology in the next 10 years.
And on the eve of the 25th observance of 9/11, the terrorist attacks, the alarm is sounding over what city officials knew about the air quality and the health of first responders thereafter.
We'll talk about it on the other side of the break. Stay with us.
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SMITH: A new seventh moment of silence will be added to tomorrow's New York City service, marking 25 years since September 11th.
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It will honor the growing number of people who have and are still battling health issues from toxic air at the world trade center site. It follows new revelations about how the city handled information related to Ground Zero. According to those newly released 9/11 records, officials misled the public about the air quality around the area.
CNN's Sherrell Hubbard reports with more.
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SHERRELL HUBBARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly 25 years after the September 11th terror attacks, some New Yorkers are still haunted by the decisions of their own government.
LT. JAMES BROSI, PRESIDENT, FDNY UNIFORMED FIRE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION: What we learned was the air was as toxic as we said it was.
HUBBARD (voice-over): Jim Brosi, the president of New York City's Uniformed Fire Officers Association is responding to newly released documents relating to air safety following the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center.
BROSI: We were dying with every breath we took down there. What we learned is that the city knew it.
HUBBARD (voice-over): The more than 170,000-page report of previously undisclosed records includes air quality reports and communication between city officials at the time. It reveals city officials at the time repeatedly misled city residents about the toxic air, putting those living and working in the area, especially first responders, at risk.
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: Now close to 25 years later, more people have died from 9/11-related illnesses than were killed on the day itself.
HUBBARD (voice-over): Mayor Zohran Mamdani released the massive collection of documents after an advocacy group sued the city. During a media briefing Tuesday, Mamdani said the documents show asbestos was found nearly everywhere that inspectors tested.
MAMDANI: People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air.
HUBBARD (voice-over): Brosi says the government did not protect those who were exposed to toxic air.
BROSI: They made an economic decision not to tell us, and now its time to pay the bill.
HUBBARD (voice-over): I'm Sherrell Hubbard, reporting.
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SMITH: Thank you, Sherrell.
As New York City prepares to honor the victims of the September 11th attacks, federal and local authorities are also increasing security around the commemoration sites. Thousands of law enforcement officers and special units will be out in force across Lower Manhattan. The Secret Service also has special fencing and checkpoints set up around the 9/11 Memorial. The NYPD says there are no specific nor credible threats at this time.
Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, the price of gas has drivers turning to other alternatives, including buying electric cars.
And later, why a video game company is accusing the White House of copyright infringement over controversial games posted on the official White House account.
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SMITH: A 27-year-old artificial intelligence researcher for Anthropic has quit, publicly citing safety concerns for all of humanity over the development of A.I. In a resignation thread on X, Jacob Coxon said that people working on A.I. believe it could, quote, "kill us all by the end of the decade," adding that we are, quote, "gambling with our lives". After Coxon posted the messages, a more senior Anthropic employee commented that he was correct. A number of A.I. employees have publicly quit over the past several months and years, citing safety concerns.
Coxon spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper last night.
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JACOB COXON, FORMER ANTHROPIC A.I. RESEARCHER: I think it's really important to just look at the rate of progress and say, for example, in areas like coding or math. A couple of years ago, these eyes were just about helping humans a little bit. They could give you suggestions. Now they're close to replacing them. We still need humans at the moment, but quite plausibly, within a year, well no longer need humans for doing research in many areas.
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SMITH: In July, nearly 1,400 employees from various A.I. companies signed an open letter urging the U.S. government to regulate the technology, rein in big tech, and slow the pace of A.I. to ensure its safety.
All right. Let's turn to your money. Gas and diesel prices keep climbing. And now, President Trump is acknowledging they won't fall until after the midterm elections. A gallon of regular gas costs an average of $4.22 nationwide. That is well over a dollar more than what it cost back in February, when the war with Iran started.
And a global surge in gas prices has sent electric vehicles flying out of showrooms around the world. But there is one notable exception. CNN's Jenn Sullivan has that part of the story.
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JENN SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): High gas prices are accelerating electric vehicle sales. EV sales have hit a record in 50 countries, including Australia, Vietnam, India, Brazil and South Korea. Not on that list, the U.S. And that's because EV sales have actually slumped in America.
In the U.S., EVs accounted for only 5.8 percent of new car sales last quarter. But in China, EV sales are on track to make up 60 percent of all new car sales in 2026.
SEAN TUCKER, KELLEY BLUE BOOK: The countries where EVs are doing best are countries that don't have these extremely long stretches of highway in between cities, the way that we do out west.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): According to Kelley Blue Book parent company Cox Automotive, the average price for all new cars in July was just under $50,000, but the price for a new EV was more than $6,000 higher.
[05:25:00]
If you are in the market to make the switch to electric, now may be a good time to buy.
Sean Tucker says dealerships will likely drop the price of older EV models to make room for next year's inventory.
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SMITH: All right, straight ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, President Trump, desperate to keep his party in power, resorts to offering Americans cash in exchange for their midterm vote. But where will that money come from?
And a Massachusetts mom convicted of killing her two children in a case similar to Lindsay Clancy's is getting a new trial. What led to the state overturning her conviction? We've got those details coming up.
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