Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Headlines: Former "American Idol" Contestant On Trial For Wife's Murder; New Bill Targets Compensation For Wrongful Detention; Warnings Of "Existential Dangers" At AI Summit Hosted By King Charles. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired September 18, 2026 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:30:27]
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: It's half past the hour. Let's hit the refresh button on our top stories.
A judge has ordered the Kennedy Center to give at least 30 days' notice before it goes through any demolition or new construction plans. The judge also wants more information from the Trump administration about the institution's weeklong shutdown. The center's executive director said it's for safety reasons, but attorneys for Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, who sued to stop Trump from renaming this institution after himself, said there was no justification for the sudden closure.
Also, an ICE officer charged in the shooting of a Venezuelan man during January's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis is due back in court today. Christian Castro appeared before a judge yesterday. He faces both state and federal charges in connection with the shooting. The hearing is in the separate federal case, which Castro is accused of lying to police about the circumstances of the shooting. His defense attorney says that Castro plans to plead not guilty.
And an F-16 fighter jet crashed in northern Michigan during a training exercise Thursday afternoon. Officials say the pilot successfully ejected and is being treated in the hospital. A witness shared this video that you're actually seeing here showing just how close the crash was to homes. No one else was injured and earlier evacuations have been lifted in most cases.
All right. And today, jurors are expected to hear opening statements in the murder trial of a former "AMERICAN IDOL" contestant who once credited his wife with encouraging him to audition for the show. Police say that Caleb Flynn killed his wife, Ashley, inside their Ohio home and then tried to make it look like an intruder was responsible. Flynn has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including murder, assault, and tampering with evidence.
And now, as the trial gets underway, CNN's Jean Casarez takes us back through the events of that February night and the investigation that followed. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALEB FLYNN, ON TRIAL FOR MURDER OF WIFE: Somebody broke in my home. My wife -- my wife, she's got two shots to her head. There's blood everywhere. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Caleb Flynn pleading to 911 dispatch at 2:31 in the morning for police to get to his home immediately, describing to them what he said had just happened.
FLYNN: The door to the garage was wide open. Please hurry.
CASAREZ (voiceover): Police units arrive minutes later.
POLICE OFFICER: Check the bathroom.
CASAREZ (voiceover): Going room to room, they find no intruder. Officers ask Flynn if there are any firearms in the house.
FLYNN: A shotgun and a .22 and, like, a pellet gun. And I have a -- I have a handgun in my truck --
POLICE OFFICER: OK.
FLYNN: -- In the glove box.
CASAREZ (voiceover): Officers find the garage door open and also the center console of the truck.
A short time later, Ashley's mother arrives to the couple's home, greeted by Flynn, at this point seemingly hysterical.
Caleb and Ashley Flynn had been married for almost 16 years with two young daughters. Flynn told police he was sleeping that night on the couch because of a bad cough when he thought he heard something. He then went into his daughter's room.
FLYNN: I laid down with them for, I don't even know how long.
POLICE OFFICER: Yeah.
FLYNN: That's when I heard it. When I finally got up, the door leading to the garage was open --
POLICE OFFICER: OK.
FLYNN: -- but I didn't see anybody.
My name is Caleb Flynn.
CASAREZ (voiceover): Flynn gained notoriety as a contestant on "AMERICAN IDOL" back in 2013 and made it to the Hollywood round. In one interview, he credits his wife in part for his success.
FLYNN: The thing that makes me unique, you know, I absolutely love the Lord. I love my wife more than anything. She is very, very pretty. I just -- ooh, I love her.
CASAREZ (voiceover): The Flynn's were a big part of their Tipp City community in Ohio. Ashley, a substitute teacher and middle school volleyball coach. Caleb Flynn was a former music pastor.
Three days after Ashley Flynn's killing on February 19, with police and prosecutors questioning Flynn's intruder theory, authorities arrested and charged him with the murder of his wife, Ashley.
FLYNN: I just want to take care of my daughters. I'm not a risk.
CASAREZ (voiceover): A month later, this former pastor was indicted for the murder of his wife, as well as felonious assault, tampering with evidence, and intimidation of a victim or witness in a criminal case. Flynn's bond was ultimately set at $3.5 million.
[05:35:12]
Prosecutors have not yet offered a motive for the killing. His defense attorney, Patrick Mulligan, released a statement after his arrest, saying Flynn was disappointed and concerned about the short timeline and seeming rush to judgment.
Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: All right. Thank you, Jean.
Now to the latest on that fatal news helicopter crash, which came down Tuesday while reporting on a deadly bus crash nearby. Friends and family gathered Thursday evening to remember the victims of both tragedies. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass paid tribute to the victims, first responders, and other journalists who stayed on the story.
Earlier, crews seen here picking through the wreckage and investigators say one of the most important pieces of evidence that they have is the video of the helicopter crash. A preliminary report will be released in the next 30 days, but a final report can take up to 18 months.
Developing today, we are hearing more from Paul Whelan, who is an American detained in Russia for more than five years. He helped introduce a new bill that would help others who have been wrongly detained abroad. The bill, which he crafted with Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens, would provide a lump sum to Americans returning from a similar situation. Whelan calls it common sense, and he spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER": How likely is this bill to become law? And if it doesn't pass, is there somebody who's going to take up your mantle here?
REP. HALEY STEVENS (D-MI): Well, I would tell you this. Paul Whelan's name in the United States House of Representatives carries so much weight. His story, what he lived through, and now this last piece that we really need to get done. Our obligation, not just to Paul, but the others who were wrongfully detained and then came home and it just felt like the reintegration stopped at the airport. And that's not right.
So this has been an area of tremendous bipartisan collaboration over my time in Congress. The flag that you're seeing there -- that was created through legislation that I helped craft in a bipartisan way in a Republican Congress that passed into law that was signed by Joe Biden March 9 as Hostage Day of Recognition. And now it's this piece. It's hearing Paul's story five and a half years without income, losing his home, losing his beloved dog, and I want to make this right.
TAPPER: Yeah, and obviously, he was a pawn. He was a representative --
STEVENS: Of course.
TAPPER: -- of the United States through no fault of his own.
And Paul, the bill explicitly does not apply to people going to places that the U.S. State Department tells Americans not to travel to. Why include that in the legislation?
PAUL WHELAN, FORMER DETAINED IN RUSSIA (via Webex by Cisco): Well, it's a little bit of common sense. Countries like Russia, North Korea, American citizens shouldn't go. There are a few others. If American citizens take it upon themselves to go there, and they're lucky enough to -- after being caught by the FSB, to be transferred back, you know, through an exchange process, they wouldn't qualify for the compensation because they put themselves in peril.
Trevor Reed and I -- we went as tourists. There were no travel warnings, and the FSB picked us up for no reason other than to elicit a trade for the United States. So once the State Department has said, hey, don't go there, if people go, you know, it's kind of on them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: President Trump's plan to build an 18-hole championship golf course in Washington, D.C. could cost up to $49 million. That is according to a document CNN has reviewed. The site is currently an affordable public golf course. Trump, an avid golfer, has claimed the golf course was "dilapidated, worn out, and very dangerous and outdated." According to the document, the National Park Service said it would start the bidding process in January. An Interior Department spokesperson says the course design is not finalized, and so any cost estimate is "premature and irresponsible."
A scary moment as New York Mets first baseman Jared Young was knocked out during his team's 3-0 loss to the Phillies. Young was banged on the head by the knee of Mets pitcher Nolan McLean while fielding a routine grounder and had to be carted off the field. The Mets manager said that Young had concussion symptoms, but a CT scan was negative, and he was able to move his arms and legs.
[05:40:00]
Let's shift now to Buzz Express and the stories that have people talking.
Congratulations are in order for Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi. According to People magazine, the couple has welcomed their second child together through adoption. Fans recently got a glimpse of their growing family when Brown shared a video from Italy showing her holding one child while Bongiovi walked alongside her carrying another. The news comes about a year after the couple announced the arrival of their first daughter.
A Connecticut farm is honoring Dolly Parton with a corn maze in the shape of her head, one of 20 Dolly-themed corn mazes across the U.S. and Canada. Sammy Lindell has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMANTHA LINDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Corn mazes across North America have taken the shape of an icon this fall, giving visitors a whole new way to get lost in the world of Dolly Parton. Twenty Dolly-shaped mazes have popped up across 15 U.S. states with two more in Canada. But getting through the country music legend is tougher than you'd think, thanks to one well known feature in particular.
DANIELLE GALLOP, CO-OWNER, TWINS BBQ CO: The hardest part of our maze is definitely Dolly Parton's hair. She has a lot of it, and it comes to little tips, and you don't know where the next little opening is going to be.
LINDELL (voiceover): Twins BBQ Co in Connecticut transformed a five- acre cornfield into their Dolly tribute, a decision they made months before her death.
GALLOP: Hearing of her passing really changed the meaning for us. It made it exponentially more meaningful to us moving forward this year.
LINDELL (voiceover): What started as a way to celebrate Dolly Parton took on a deeper meaning about more than getting lost in her hair. Participating farms will donate a portion of their proceeds to local Imagination Library programs, the philanthropy started by Dolly Parton, which has distributed over 300 million free books to preschool-aged children since its creation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: I think I'll just continue to get lost in her music for now.
Next up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, King Charles joining the course of many, warning about the dangers of AI. What he said at a recent gathering of leaders.
Plus, a wild and dangerous scene of bumper cars as a teen suspect in a drug case tries to flee from police. We've got the details later on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. (COMMERCIAL)
[05:46:32]
SMITH: Let's go around the globe to see what else is making headlines today.
In Mexico, authorities say that a man arrested in the killing of a Spanish exchange student will be charged with femicide, the gender- based killing of a woman. Twenty-one-year-old Claudia Aguilera was stabbed to death Saturday in Morelos, near Mexico City, just weeks after arriving in Mexico for a university exchange program. Prosecutors say a suspect was arrested this weekend and is expected to face a femicide charge as the case has drawn attention in both Mexico and Spain and comes as Morelos faces some of the highest levels of violence against women in the country, including one of Mexico's highest femicide rates.
Japan hits a milestone. For the first time, more than 100,000 people or -- are 100 or older in that country. The health ministry says that this is the 56th straight year that the number of centenarians has grown. Scientists credit healthy diets and advanced healthcare. The oldest person in Japan is 114 years old. I'm going to need -- going to need them to drop that skincare routine too. I need that.
Also in Japan, a bodybuilder is putting all of us to shame. The 90- year-old has become an online sensation after winning the 85-and-over category in the All Japan Masters Fitness Championship.
Here's his secret and his inspirational story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): This 90-year-old champion bodybuilder doesn't eat meat or fish. In fact, he mostly eats brown rice.
TOSHISUKE KANAZAWA, 90-YEAR-OLD, WINNER, ALL JAPAN MASTERS FITNESS CHAMPIONSHIP: (Speaking foreign language).
TEXT: I want to live to be 130.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): Toshisuke Kanazawa has some reason to be confident. Just one day after turning 90, he won the 85-and-over category at the All Japan Masters Fitness Championships. It's his 19th national title.
And about that diet, Kanazawa says he hasn't eaten meat or fish since making his bodybuilding comeback at 50. For breakfast, brown rice, natto, and miso soup. Lunch and dinner, brown rice with a little furikake. He also drinks protein three times a day.
KANAZAWA: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): But there's another reason Kanazawa is still competing. He originally retired from bodybuilding at 34 before making a comeback years later when his wife became ill. He says winning was a way to cheer her up. She's since died, but he's kept going.
KANAZAWA: (Speaking foreign language):
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): And at 90, Kanazawa still has another bodybuilding goal. He wants to compete in the 60-and-over division at the World Championships.
KANAZAWA: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): And if he does, there's one person he hopes hears about it.
KANAZAWA: Someday, I am dreaming for meet Arnold Schwarzenegger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): Kanazawa says he competed at Mr. Universe decades ago, around the same time Schwarzenegger was competing at Mr. Olympia. Now he wants to finally meet him.
KANAZAWA: (Speaking foreign language).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[05:50:00]
SMITH: Arnold, if you are watching, run, don't walk. Go meet this man. Incredible stuff there and perhaps the next centenarian.
And King Charles, elsewhere, weighing in on artificial intelligence, inviting tech leaders to a summit that he's hosting in Scotland.
CNN's Anna Stewart reports there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this summit was probably planned a long time ago, but the timing couldn't have been better as the world debates the risks AI could pose to humans. The king hosted the event at Dumfries House in Scotland and brought together AI leaders including Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, Demis Hassabis, the founder and chair of Google DeepMind, as well as AI advisors from around the world -- and even representation from China, according to Buckingham Palace.
Opening the event, the king highlighted the very urgent need for the discussion.
KING CHARLES, UNITED KINGDOM: Those who have created these technologies are now increasingly warning that AI risks developing darker capacities, perhaps even to take life. And in this regard, if I may say so, there seems urgency in adequately considering the existential dangers of such technologies falling into the wrong hands and being used in potentially catastrophic ways. Surely then we need sufficient means of control before it is all too late.
STEWART: The king didn't enter a debate or share any opinions on how AI should be regulated, maintaining the usual distance that monarchs keep from politics but at the same time using royal star power to shine a light on an issue clearly deemed important.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Well, Princess Diana's famous revenge dress is going on display at Sotheby's in London today, ahead of its first sale in nearly 30 years. Diana wore the black off-the-shoulder gown in 1994, the night a documentary aired in which then-Prince Charles admitted infidelity. The dress will tour several cities before its December auction, where it could fetch up to $300,000.
Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, imagine finding out the plane that you were on had flames shooting out of it. We'll show you where this happened.
And if you're looking for a house or trying to sell one, you'll want to listen to this next story about where mortgage rates stand now and where they could be going.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:57:15]
SMITH: In today's Money Express, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now a hair shy of 7 percent, according to Freddie Mac's weekly update, making it the highest since the first full week of President Trump's second term. Now experts say that this latest increase could add tens of thousands of dollars to mortgage payments over the course of the loan, and it's putting a freeze on the housing market. Data shows fewer people are buying homes or refinancing right now.
In some of the other stories that we're tracking from across the country, a drug bust looked like a game of bumper cars as a suspect tried to get away. Take a look. This happened in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and it's a wonder that no one got seriously hurt. Police say this happened during a drug bust. The suspect behind the wheel, only 19 years old.
All right. In Texas, a Fort Worth family enjoying a day in their backyard pool left stunned after a car jumped the curb and crashed through their fence. The car missing a little girl by mere seconds. KTVK reporter Bo Evans has the jaw-dropping video here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then you just heard an explosion, and we knew there was a crash.
BO EVANS, REPORTER, KTVK (voiceover): A car crashing through a fence, a little girl running out of harm's way with just seconds to spare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's OK. Guys, it's OK. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My daughter ran. I called 911. And then we just waited to see how many people were hurt.
EVANS (voiceover): Somehow, just the passenger who was taken to the hospital. The family's 2-year-old daughter was untouched, as were their 5-year-old twin boys. The driver was cited for reckless driving.
EVANS: You can see the exact spot where the car jumped the curb right there, crashing through the family's fence right here. And if you watch the video, the little girl is able to get out of the way of the car with just about three seconds to spare.
EVANS (voiceover): But dangerous driving on Heritage Parkway in North Fort Worth isn't new to the people who live here. Their city council member Charlie Lauersdorf says he's going to try and make changes immediately.
CHARLES LAUERSDORF, FORT WORTH CITY COUNCIL MEMBER, DISTRICT 4: My immediate goal is to have a stop sign put up right behind me. You know, anytime you have these new developments that just have long stretches of road with nothing to slow drivers down, that's a problem.
EVANS (voiceover): Neighbors are worried they may need more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't know that they're really going to do anything that will stop it. It's too much money and they don't want to spend it. I understand, but I don't know if you could convince that father that his daughter isn't worth it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[06:00:00]
SMITH: In Nevada, a driver caught on camera what looks like flames shooting out of a Mexico-bound plane just moments after taking off. The pilot of the Airbus immediately reported engine failure and then turned around and circled the airport before landing safely. And no one, thankfully, was hurt. But investigators are looking into exactly what happened.
We'll continue to keep you updated there, plus much more.
That does it, though, for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brad Smith. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.
