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Soon: Senate Due To Vote On Funding Package To Avoid Shutdown; United Airlines Plane Loses Wheel After Takeoff; U.S. Army Sgt. Charged With Leaking Classified Data To China; Jimmy Kimmel Previews Oscars Monologue: Nothing Is "Off Limits". Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 08, 2024 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Next, Congress finds itself once again on the verge of a government shutdown. Deja vu. Can they strike a deal before the clock runs out at midnight?

And another aid mission in Gaza reportedly turning deadly as President Biden says, on a hot mic, it's time for a, quote, "Come to Jesus moment" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We'll have the latest on the crisis, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Perhaps a sign of just how close we are to a government shutdown, the Senate is in session on a Friday. They have until midnight to agree on a spending package to avoid a partial shutdown. The bill would fund several government departments and agencies through September.

[13:35:02]

CNN's Melanie Zanona joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

Melanie, here we are, yet again. Is there any reason to believe that the Senate won't make this deal happen?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, there's no question that the Senate is going to pass this spending package. But there is a question about when they are going to pass that.

Remember, in the Senate, it requires cooperation from every single Senator in order to move quickly. And right now, there is a holdup over amendments for some Republicans seeking some votes on issues like the border and immigration and many other topics.

So they are in the process of trying to work out an agreement on potential amendment votes and how to move forward. And it could potentially drag late into the night or early morning.

But I would say the bigger hurdle is two weeks from now, because that is when the rest of the government is going to run out of money. And those are some of the most complicated and tricky and hot-button bills in the federal government.

Including the Department of Homeland Security. And of course, Republicans are really trying to make the border a chief campaign issue in November.

Now, I will say that Speaker Mike Johnson has so in a willingness to defy the demands of his right flank on this spending package. But he is going to have to do it again if he wants to avoid a government shutdown in just two weeks from now.

So it really good shape up to be a battle over the border -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Melanie Zanona, live for us on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much, Melanie.

Next, a United flight rolling off a runway fewer than 24 hours after another one of its planes is forced to make an emergency landing after losing a wheel, a wheel in midair.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:55]

KEILAR: Now to just a very scary midair situation on the west coast. A United Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a wheel fell off moments after takeoff. This happened on Thursday as the plane was leaving San Francisco.

Keep an eye on this here. You can see one of the tires on this Boeing 777 just falls off as the jet begins to climb. A huge tire landed in a nearby parking lot. It crushed multiple cars. Fortunately, no one was injured in this terrifying incident.

We're joined now by Pete Muntean, who is our chief "things falling off of airplanes."

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: And amazingly, not hurting people, correspondent, here.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: I joke, but that's really why --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Yes. Walk us through what happened here.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's pretty amazing because usually tires will burst on commercial airliners or they'll catch fire because of the friction of landing and breaking.

Really, rarely ever does a wheel fall completely off of a commercial airliner. Exactly what happened at 11:35 a.m. Pacific Time there in SFO yesterday. You can see the United 777 climbing out here of runway 28, right? There goes the tire from the left assembly of the main landing gear there.

These tires way about 265 pounds in total. That is not accounting for the wheel hub. So naturally, there was a lot of damage when this tire went bouncing across the ramp, into the fence there, and then into some cars.

There's a crushed Toyota Corolla there. There was also a crushed Tesla. How San Francisco, of the twist of the story.

The good news here is that this didn't hurt anybody on the ground, although it's so easily could have.

What was really interesting is that this was captured on camera by plane spotters doing a live stream on YouTube.

Typical that the crew does not feel this come off the airplane. So it's really on air traffic control to alert the pilots and, of course, the other airplanes that they had to abort their landings as they're coming into land there at San Francisco International Airport.

Here's what they said over the radio.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

CONTROLLER: Sam 151, go around.

PILOT: Go around, Sam 151.

CONTROLLER: Sam 151, heavy thanks. The last departure lost a wheel on departure. So we're going to have to shut the runway down.

PILOT: Do you guys know where the tire went?

CONTROLLER: Uh no. So it's probably going to be a few minutes for you guys.

(END AUDIO FEED)

MUNTEAN: Did you know where the tire went? The case of the missing tire is what this is.

(LAUGHTER)

MUNTEAN: How did this happen? Well, that's a big question now. And the FAA is investigating this.

You can see the tire there taped off with police tape.

The question now is, was this a maintenance issue? This plane flew in about 24 hours prior from Paris. There is a maintenance base there at San Francisco International Airport for United Airlines.

Or was this something simply that broke? These wheels take a ton of punishment as they come in for takeoffs and landings, supporting a 300-ton airliner.

It is not an easy job, especially when you consider the fact that these airplanes take off and land multiple times a day.

Unlikely that this is a Boeing-specific issue, the question that everybody has, because this was not a 737 Max-9 like we saw on the door-plug incident back on January 5th.

This was a triple and it wasn't really even all that new. It was about 22 years old.

So of course, they will be digging into this at United Airlines and at the FAA.

United does say it's going to help the customers that were initially displaced by this incident. They were going to Osaka, Japan.

Also helping out the customers who had their cars obliterated by this.

Can you imagine getting a phone call --

(CROSSTALK)

MUNTEAN: -- even if you're the insurance agent, like, have you ever, ever taken a call like that?

You know, it really did a pretty big number on that Toyota.

KEILAR: Yet the hangers sitting unscathed in the back.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: It's so strange.

Pete, thank you so much for that.

MUNTEAN: Yes.

KEILAR: We're so glad no one was injured.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: A U.S. Army sergeant who prosecutor say aspired to be a real- life Jason Bourne is accused of leaking sensitive data on some of Americas most advanced weapon systems to China. All for $42,000.

[13:45:00]

Officials say that Korbein Schultz shared classified information about hypersonic missiles and the F-22 fighter jet with a foreign national claiming to live in Hong Kong.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand joins us now live from the Pentagon.

Natasha, what more are you learning about Korbein Schultz? NATASHA BERTRAN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

He was a U.S. Army sergeant who was an intelligence analyst for the 506th Infantry Battalion.

And according to prosecutors, he did begin giving classified information to an individual known in charging documents as Conspirator A, someone who was claiming to live in Hong Kong in the summer of 2022. And this continued through October of 2023, according to prosecutors.

Now, these charging documents say that this individual, Korbein Schultz, he began giving information to this individual about certain weapons systems, including the HIMARS launch system, which is one of the main systems the U.S. has been giving to the Ukrainians since the war broke out there a few years ago.

He also gave this individual information about hypersonic missiles, information about Chinas military, and the U.S. military's F-22 fighter jet program. The F-22 being one of the most advanced fighter aircraft that the U.S. currently has.

And so this was very high-level sensitive information. And according to prosecutors, the more classified and secret that these documents were, the more this individual was willing to pay for them.

All in all, the prosecutors say that this U.S. Army sergeant was paid $42,000 in exchange for the documents that he was allegedly providing to this person living in Hong Kong.

Now of course, this is just one of a series of incidents that the Department of Defense has had to grapple with when it comes to the leaking of classified information.

Just earlier this week, prosecutors announced charges against yet another military -- an individual, an Air Force civilian who was charged with providing classified information to someone on a dating app.

And so something that the U.S. military is clearly grappling with at this point. And it's going to have to come up with better solutions to get a handle on -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yes, it also comes as Jack Teixeira basically made a plea arrangement, made a plea deal. A consistent problem it appears.

Natasha Bertrand, live from the Pentagon, thank you so much.

So it's Hollywood's biggest night and Jimmy Kimmel may have one of the hardest jobs there, pushing the envelope, getting everyone to laugh without crossing too far over the line. Ahead, what Kimmel told CNN is off limits during his Oscars hosting gig this weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:10] SANCHEZ: Hollywood's biggest night is right around the corner with Jimmy Kimmel returning to host the Oscars for a fourth time, saying that nothing is off-limits in Sunday night's monologue.

Kimmel's seen his fair share of controversy over the years, from flubs to the slap heard around the world. The big difference this time though, it is an election year.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister got a preview ahead of the big night.

Elizabeth, what should we expect to see?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Boris. So I caught up with Jimmy Kimmel just two days ago. He took a break from rehearsal to chat with us and give us a preview.

Now, as you said, this is his fourth year returning to the Oscars. But it's still a ton of work. When I asked him if he's ready, he said, you know, I will be but we're going to be writing jokes up until the moment.

Now I asked, what should we expect for the tone? How do you not offend celebrities too badly while still roasting them? And I played a little game with Kimmel to ask who is safe and who is not.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: George Santos?

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": Yes, it's safe, but I think he would -- I think it would make him so happy if he was mentioned at the Oscars and I'm not interested in making him happy.

WAGMEISTER: The Hollywood strikes?

KIMMEL: The strikes, yes, is something I will talk about. Sure.

WAGMEISTER: Ken being nominated, but not "Barbie?"

KIMMEL: There'll be some version of that, yes.

WAGMEISTER: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce?

KIMMEL: Not off limits, but probably played out.

(END VIDEO CLIP),

WAGMEISTER: Now I also asked him about Aaron Rodgers. We remember that field that was ignited by Rodgers when he falsely suggested that Kimmel's name may show up in court documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Now Kimmel tells me Aaron Rodgers will not come up during his monologue. And when I asked, is he ever welcome on your late-night show for an

interview? He said no. He said Aaron Rodgers will have to come to me first if we're going to talk at all.

SANCHEZ: So, Elizabeth, he did mention George Santos there. Obviously, as we noted, it's an election year. I'm wondering how much he alluded to politics perhaps being included in the jokes on Sunday.

WAGMEISTER: We did talk about this quite a bit. And he tells me that, at the moment, he's not planning for politics to take center stage. But he can't make any promises because it depends what happens in the news cycle.

When I spoke to him about George Santos -- we know that there's even been news since then, just in the 48 hours that I spoke to him.

But I did have to ask him about Trump because he has made it no secret that he has some pretty strong opinions about the former president. It doesn't sound like Trump will be a big topic at the Oscars.

But we did break some news with Kimmel. He tells me that he would like to have Trump on his late-night show. He says that he has a lot of questions for him and that he is welcome to come on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" for an interview.

[13:55:04]

But now obviously all eyes are on the Oscars. And one thing that Kimmel told me, he is nervous about is the show starts an hour earlier this year. It starts at 7:00 p.m. because they're trying not to make it end too late.

So he's just hoping that people know when to turn on their TV.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we've got to respect bedtime. It's important to get bedtime on Sunday, right?

Elizabeth Wagmeister --

WAGMEISTER: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: -- thanks for the update.

Still to come, aid in Gaza. An aid shipment turned deadly as President Biden says that Israel must do more to get necessities into that war- wrecked region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)