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The Situation Room

Women's NCAA Tournament Continues; Trump Administration Seeking Negotiations With Iran?; Interview With Gov. Josh Green (D-HI); LaGuardia Accident Investigation. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired March 24, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Exactly. That's a great point, because they're supposed to be removed from their duties right away, because, obviously, they're shaken up and they can't perform in that role.

And they're supposed to be drug and alcohol tested, but removed from their duties. And so the question is, if the tower was fully staffed, as Secretary Duffy said yesterday, why couldn't this person be removed from his duties and certainly go through all the protocols that are necessary?

So I think that's going to raise a lot of questions too. And the NTSB chairperson said that she anticipates very soon to have all of those records of who WAS in the tower, who clocked in, who clocked out, et cetera, very soon. And that will probably be a topic of investigation for many days to come.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Based on history of the investigation, this time could take a year or more even to determine what went wrong. So how will teams from the U.S. and Canada be working together to find the answers?

SCHIAVO: Well, the NTSB yesterday announced that they have already set up the teams, and they have got about seven teams and everything from airline ops to airport ops.

Now, the airport ops are going to be very important, because the FAA has guidelines. Even though, for example, a fire truck is cleared to cross the runway, the best practices at the FAA, they're supposed to look for traffic.

And so how the airport was operating will be one of those. And, also, obviously, air traffic control will be one of the big groups, survivability, the usual groups that they set up. And I just -- this is just a hunch, but I think that the NTSB is going to fast-track this, because the statistics and the dangers of runway incursions and collisions on the ground is so great that I think that the NTSB will put full speed ahead on this one to try to get this out as fast as possible.

And they made it on the DCA crash. They did it in about a year, which is pretty speedy for the NTSB.

BLITZER: One final question, Mary, before I let you go. When the Air Canada jet is coming in, and it's coming in quickly, obviously, can't the pilots see out of their window, see that there's a fire truck with lights on, on the runway out there? Don't they see that fire truck?

SCHIAVO: Sure, they can see it.

But, at that particular point when we look at that video, the fire truck had not started across the runway. And so, again, it'll come back to who heard what. Did they hear? Did they hear that the fire truck had been cleared or had they not?

So right as the plane came in and touched down, it doesn't look like the runway or that the fire truck had started across the runway. And once those wheels hit the runway, your airspeed over your wings is dissipated and you don't have enough lift. They couldn't just touch and then take right back up again, because you would have to have enough power and your lift over the wings has dissipated at that point.

But that will be an extremely important point. And, by the way, there are -- there is equipment. This airport has ADS Ex, which is supposed to give some real-time information, exactly everything on that runway and where they were. And we will see if that equipment worked. Apparently, it didn't work as intended to stop the collision, which is what it's intended for.

But it will provide a lot of data.

BLITZER: Yes, they got to learn from these blunders to make sure it never happens again.

Mary Schiavo, thanks very much for joining us.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

BLITZER: And just ahead: More than $1 billion in damage, that's Hawaii Governor Josh Green's estimate of the devastation from the most recent flash floods in Hawaii. I will ask him about the daunting recovery efforts that are now under way. He's my guest.

That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:37:53]

BLITZER: Happening now: extreme flooding devastating the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The governor says the floods are the state's worst in some 20 years.

Hundreds of people have been rescued, and many were forced to evacuate their homes, as officials warned a critical dam could break.

Joining us now is the Democratic governor of Hawaii, Josh Green. Governor, thanks so much for joining us.

Do you have any sense of the total damage, at least at this point?

GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): Yes, thank you for having me, Wolf.

It's definitely going to be over a billion dollars, in our estimation. We lost a whole hospital on Maui. We also have had incredible road damages on Oahu. The airport has sustained over $100 million of damage in the infrastructure space.

And then the houses. There's so many houses that have been flooded, some houses fully washed away. Thank God we have had -- while we have had no loss of life on Oahu, we believe we lost one beautiful woman on Maui washed away in a river.

But we could have had dozens of people die in this big flood. I mean, it is the biggest flood we have seen. We have had between 40 and 50 inches of rain over the last 10 days. So we have reached out to the feds, and we're going to humbly ask for support.

But, meanwhile, the whole world is supporting us because people do love Hawaii.

BLITZER: Yes, people do love Hawaii.

I understand that, before these floods began, Governor, there had already been a significant storm that had recently hit Hawaii. How challenging has that made the efforts of emergency responders now?

GREEN: More challenging.

The way this storm worked, it started about 10 or 12 days ago. There was the first wave of the storm, which was called Kona 1. And then the second was called Kona 2. That's just where the winds are coming from and how they're described.

So we had saturating rains, very heavy rains in that first storm. That set the stage for the second part. And so because the saturation was so complete, the flash floods were intense. Mostly, it was on North Shore on Oahu. There are towns called Haleiwa, for example, and Wahiawa.

It's extraordinary to see people digging out houses with two feet of mud. A fire station was washed away. You mentioned the heroic effort of our first responders, and it was heroic, over 230 rescues, bringing helicopters in and high-water vehicles.

[11:40:16]

So we're proud of the people that responded. The National Guard's been amazing, but it was that two -- kind of two-storm impact that got us to where we are.

BLITZER: Have you spoken to anyone in the White House specifically, including President Trump, for that matter, about recovery efforts? And do you feel like Hawaii is getting the federal support it desperately needs right now?

GREEN: I have.

I was very impressed with Markwayne Mullin. He reached out to me on Saturday, even before his confirmation. I appreciated that immensely. We have corresponded several times, even last night in the middle of the night, Hawaii time, early morning on the East Coast. I think this is his first full day after confirmation.

And he has been communicating directly with the president. Our concerns, I did ask late in the day yesterday for the major disaster declaration that will obviously need to happen over time.

I have always had a good working relationship with FEMA. They're here on the ground already. We're doing our assessments in tandem. The state, county and the feds, FEMA, are out in the field together yesterday, today, tomorrow to assess how much pain and suffering is going on, so that we can submit our request seamlessly.

Hawaii went through the enormous wildfire that you guys covered so graciously in 2023, when we had $13 billion of damage. And I want to be blunt. We had a very good working relationship with then-Presidents Biden and Trump.

And I think that this happens in Hawaii perhaps because we damp down a lot of the politics and also we have a significant military presence here and we make sure that is obviously apolitical. They're part of our ohana, our family.

And so our working relationship in these matters tend to be very good. I have offered to be available to the president and others 24/7. These are the few days coming up that we will see exactly the scope of the damage. But if you see the photos where you see ambulances totally underwater and gone or houses pushed off of their foundations and into a bridge, there's little doubt that there's going to be huge damage, plus our schools.

And over 200 schools have suffered damage. So we humbly ask for people's help. During the fire, the world stepped up. Go to HawaiiCommunityFoundation.org if you want to help Hawaii. If you love Hawaii, if you got married here, or you started your first baby here, which is a super common, wonderful thing, help us, and we will be here for you in the coming years.

But the feds have been pretty cool.

BLITZER: All right, that's encouraging to hear that.

Governor Josh Green of Hawaii, good luck to you. Good luck to all the wonderful people in Hawaii. Thanks very much for joining us.

GREEN: Thank you for helping us. Aloha.

BLITZER: And an update right now on a story we have been following. Last week, as many of you probably will remember, we spoke to the head of a beagle rescue organization about its efforts to stop animal testing. She mentioned the recent arrest of activists at the Ridglan Farms in Wisconsin.

CNN reached out to Ridglan Farms for comment in advance, but it did not respond until after the show, saying in a statement -- and I'm quoting now -- "Nearly all the animals at Ridglan Farms part in health research that improves veterinary medicine. As for claims of mistreatment or abuse, no court or other official body has ever deemed there to be abuse at Ridglan Farms.

"This issue is much bigger than one facility, and we hope those charged will face severe penalties that discourage similar highly dangerous acts of vigilantism and -- vigilantism elsewhere" -- end quote.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:48:26]

BLITZER: We have breaking news right now, an Iranian source telling CNN that there has been outreach initiated by the U.S. in recent days, the source also saying Iran is willing to listen to -- quote -- "sustainable proposals" to bring an end to the war.

Joining us now is CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger. He's also "The New York Times"' White House and national security correspondent and the author of the important new book entitled "New Cold Wars." There you see the cover.

David, these sources are also saying the back-and-forth did not necessarily rise to the level of full-on negotiation. What do you make of all of this?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, that's very much what we were reporting as well yesterday and in to today, Wolf.

I think there have been initial contacts with Witkoff and Jared Kushner and the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. You will remember, Wolf, those are the three who were meeting in Geneva in the run-up to the war. And those talks failed. The Iranians did not want to give up all enrichment of uranium, and they hadn't even gotten to the missile issues.

The war broke out February 28. (OFF-MIKE) They can turn this into a real conversation,and there are other countries trying to help, Pakistan, Turkey, others, then maybe they can essentially resume that negotiation. The question is, is either side really ready at this point to stop? And I'm not certain that they are.

[11:50:01]

BLITZER: CNN is also learning, David, that Saudi Arabia wants Iran's cruise and ballistic missile capabilities to be degraded as much as possible by war's end. Is the Trump administration likely to take that into consideration as it looks for some sort of off-ramp from this war?

SANGER: Well, the Saudi position on that is pretty close to the Israeli position on that, right, that anything that the Iranians can launch in the way of a cruise missile or anything of any distance is also a threat to Israel.

It would also be a threat to traffic going through the Strait of Hormuz if the Iranians decided to directly attack that traffic. So, yes, I think degrading the missile capability has been a goal all along. The Saudis, however, have hung back from actually joining in the fighting.

And that's probably, I think, in the minds of the Trump administration, a good thing because if they get directly into the conflict or other Gulf Arab states do, then you've got a widening of the war at a moment that everybody's trying to go tamp this down.

BLITZER: Good point.

Given where we are now, David, did President Trump's initial threat to bomb Iran's power plants backfire on him or did he make the point that he was trying to make?

SANGER: I think it sort of put him in a box a bit, Wolf.

I mean, he was out on Saturday evening. He was obviously frustrated that they have not been able to go reopen the Strait of Hormuz. You've seen the president be enormously sensitive to stories, including some I've written, but others have done and things you've broadcast on CNN, that indicate that, for all of the missiles that have been struck, all of the drone locations that have been struck, the sinking of the Iranian navy, the Iranians are still able to control traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

And they've been able to use that weapon, that's really their one great superweapon, more effectively than the U.S. had imagined that they would. And so I think this tweet that he sent out, or TRUTH Social, on Saturday night setting a 48-hour deadline to open up the strait spoke to that frustration.

And then he realized that, if he tried to enforce it that way, he would probably only result in further retaliation against the Gulf states, and they would dig into the war even more deeply. And I think he needed to buy himself some time. And that's what he did by giving an additional five days.

BLITZER: Interesting. All right, David Sanger, as usual, thank you very, very much.

And we'll be right back.

SANGER: Thank you, Wolf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:57:34]

BLITZER: The women's NCAA tournament is wrapping up its first weekend with a truly historic upset. The Virginia Cavaliers, the number 10 seed, took down number two Iowa in a double overtime thriller.

Now the Cinderella team is three games away from a chance at a title.

CNN sports anchor Andy Scholes is covering all this for us.

Andy, what made last night's nail-biter so historic?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It's such a tough thing to do, Wolf, because these teams that are higher seeds in the women's tournament, they get to play home games. So we rarely see these kind of upsets. We're now down to the Sweet 16 in both the men's and women's tournament, and Virginia coming through with the biggest upset of the tournament thus far.

They're the first ever First Four team to get to the Sweet 16 on the women's side. They were a 10 seed playing at two seed Iowa. Kymora Johnson here, a floater tied the game with 13 seconds left in O.T. Iowa then had a couple of chances to win it, but their shot and put- back no good. We went to a second overtime in this game. That's when Virginia pulled away.

They were 13-point underdogs, but they pull off the upset. And, as I said, they're the first ever First Four team to make a Sweet 16. Final is 83-75.

Now, it was not as close of a game in Storrs, Connecticut. Huskies star Azzi Fudd starring in her final home game for UConn, she had 26 of her 34 points in the first half, single-handedly outscoring Syracuse. At one point in the first half, the Huskies went on a 31-0 run. At halftime, it was 65-12.

It was the second largest halftime lead in tournament history. Huskies ended up winning by 53. They have now won 52 games in a row as they look for back-to-back titles. Women's tournament, it will resume on Friday.

All right, Major League Baseball season will start tomorrow. And teams around the country, they're playing their final exhibition games this week, Rangers hosting the Royals last night. In the fifth inning, manager Skip Schumaker, he came out to the mound and pitcher Carter Baumler thought he was being pulled from the game, but Schumaker used that moment to break the news to him he was going to be on the opening day roster for the first time in his career.

And the 24-year-old all smiles. So were his teammates. Baumler has battled injuries, never pitched above AA, but now he's going to be a big leaguer. So, that was certainly a cool moment for him, Wolf.

Excited about the baseball season. How are your Nationals looking this year, Wolf? BLITZER: I think they're going to be OK. They're playing the Cubs in

Chicago first game of the season for them, and then they come to Washington for the home opener in Washington against the Dodgers. And I'm excited about that. I love the Washington Nationals, as you know, Andy.

SCHOLES: Oh, I know you do.

Yes, certainly, they're going to have a better season than they did last year.

[12:00:02]

BLITZER: I hope so.

SCHOLES: Here's -- I'm hoping my Astros can get back. Hopefully, hey, maybe we will meet in the World Series again, Astros-Nationals. How about that, Wolf?

BLITZER: Let's hope. We could go all the way. I say that about my Buffalo Bills every year as well. And then I always say at the end of the season, there's always next year.

All right, Andy Scholes, thank you very, very much.

And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning You can always keep up with us on social media @WolfBlitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN. We will see you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning 10:00 a.m. Eastern for two hours.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts right now.