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FAA & NTSB Brief Senate Committee On Midair Crash; Meet The Legal Migrants Keeping America's Farms Running; Kendrick Lamar Set To Headline Superbowl Halftime Show; Mahomes, Kelce React To President Trump Attending Superbowl; Superbowl Ticket Prices On The Move As Game Day Nears. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired February 06, 2025 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:34:31]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Just moments ago, officials from the FAA and the NTSB wrapped up a closed-door briefing before the Senate Transportation Committee on that deadly collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter.
Prior to that briefing, President Trump announced he plans to meet with leaders from both parties in Congress to get a standalone bill passed that would improve technology at U.S. airports.
CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now.
And, Pete, are we getting any more details on that closed-door briefing?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: This was pretty significant. I was standing right outside this closed-door briefing to the Senate Commerce Committee, which essentially functions as the board of directors for the Federal Aviation Administration.
[14:35:06]
We got some new pieces of information also on this investigation. First, that the Army Blackhawk helicopter was not broadcasting what is called Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, ADS-B. It's a special piece of equipment that gives more granular position data than what's on radar.
Still too soon to say if it would have been a factor here.
But I want you to listen now to Senator Ted Cruz. He is the chair of that committee.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): In this instance, this was a training mission, so there was no compelling national security reason for ADS-B to be turned off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: So a lot of new questions here.
Investigators briefed Senators for about two hours today, a closed- door briefing. So we were only really able to rely on what they told us after the briefing.
We did not hear from NTSB chair, Jennifer Homendy, although she briefed the committee, along with key officials from the FAA.
The FAA did make a little bit of news today ahead of this, saying that they were going to reduce the rate of aircraft arrivals at national airport.
SANCHEZ: Wow.
MUNTEAN: Right now, it's set at 28 per hour. Remember, very congested airspace. They're going to reduce that to 26 per hour.
The flip side of that is that it will make delays a little bit worse. The average delay now about 40 minutes. It goes up by about 10 minutes to 50 minutes.
The other thing here that you have to set this against the backdrop of is that the Trump administration has really used this for an opening to start the discussion about air traffic control and changing air traffic control.
And we know that Elon Musk last night tweeted that he wanted to essentially have DOGE plug in to the air traffic control system, and said he wanted to make rapid upgrades to the air traffic control system.
The FAA doesn't do things fast very well. And so that sort of has really kicked off this whole new conversation about what DOGE could do and really didn't have much of a place to play in this investigation.
And in this incident, it is really, really too soon to draw any huge major conclusions here. We know that the National Transportation Safety Board has completed the interviews with the air traffic controllers involved in this.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Interesting to see DOGE spread its tentacles and now get it's fingerprints seemingly all over the federal government.
MUNTEAN: Yes, it is.
SANCHEZ: We'll see what comes of this.
MUNTEAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Pete Muntean, thank you so much.
Up next, you're going to meet the legal migrants who keep Americas farms running. And why some farmers say the program that helps them work the fields is simply too costly and complicated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK ROTH, PRESIDENT, ROTH FARMS: Nobody local wants to work in agriculture, harvesting crop. Nobody. These are hardworking, able- bodied men. And that's what they're doing. They're doing manual labor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[14:41:22]
KEILAR: The Defense Department says it's working with Homeland Security to toughen up the border and prevent illegal crossings. And this is new video from the Marine Corps showing Marines putting up barbed wire along the southern border wall in California.
The Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration might also hurt legal migration, including the farm workers who come to the U.S. with work visas and keep Americas farms running.
CNN's David Culver has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Calling out to us from the back of the bus, Juan Manuel Cisneros shows us what he describes as his American dream come true.
JUAN MANUEL CISNEROS, LEGAL MIGRANT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(on camera): I said, "Do you always carry that document with you?" And he goes, "Yes, because if anything happens, he can pull it out and say I'm here legally in this country."
(voice-over): Everyone on this bus can say the same. They're farmworkers here on H-2a visas, which allow foreign workers to fill temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs.
(on camera): They come here for about eight months. All the folks on this bus, are on their lunch break, are from Mexico.
He says they're able to work the field. And, as he sees it, it's a good solution to be able to make money and yet, at the same time, be here legally.
(voice-over): But with that visa comes grueling work.
ROTH: Nobody local wants to work in agriculture harvesting crops. Nobody. These are hardworking, able-bodied men. And that's what they're doing. They're doing manual labor.
CULVER: And they're doing it in a place that might surprise you.
(on camera): That's east? ROTH: Yes.
CULVER: If I go far enough, I'll hit Mar-a-Lago?
ROTH: Yes, you will.
CULVER (voice-over): You need only travel about 40 miles from here, as Roth Farms sits just on the western edge of Palm Beach County, Florida.
(on camera): Certainly, doesn't feel like the beaches of Palm Beach.
ROTH: But it has the weather.
CULVER (voice-over): Which can be brutally hot and humid for those working these fields.
Yet, despite his need for a reliable and cost-efficient workforce, Roth says he supports President Trump's stance on immigration.
(on camera): Is it going to get more difficult to get workers, you think, under President Trump and the crackdown on immigration?
ROTH: No, I think it actually will get easier. We just want people to be vetted and we want good workers that have come out to come out here.
CULVER: So the H-2a visa program may seem like a perfect solution to keep predominantly-migrant workers employed on farms like this one here in Florida.
But critics point out that it doesn't cover every person or every situation.
Say, for example, those migrants who are fleeing violent and dangerous situations and don't have a home to go back to once the seasons over.
Or those who simply want to live and work with their families year- round in the U.S.
Then you've got small farmers who say that the program is just way too costly and way too complicated.
(voice-over): For now though, Roth sees H-2a visas as the best way to keep U.S. farms running. He hires a third-party company to handle the logistics. They recruit the workers from abroad and then place them at several different farms, including Roth's.
ROTH: You hire them in Mexico. And you transport them over here. You pay all the transportation costs.
CULVER (on camera): You're paying for that?
ROTH: I pay all the transportation costs. We put them up in housing. We pay all the housing costs.
The only thing we're allowed to charge them for is the cost of the food when we feed them.
CULVER (voice-over): So what is it like for these workers?
(on camera): So here it is, about 5:00 in the evening. And these workers have just finished their shift at Roth Farms. They're arriving back at their housing complex.
(voice-over): Juan Manuel and the others invite us to meet them after their workday is over.
(on camera): (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
JUAN MANUEL, LEGAL MIGRANT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
[14:45:03]
CULVER Yes?
What do you do this time of the day?
MANUEL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: Yes. When you get here from work.
MANUEL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: Dinner's at 6:00?
We can go with him. He's inviting us up.
MANUEL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
They've been working 10 hours today. They work six, sometimes seven days a week. They have just a few things that they need. A few changes of clothes, some snacks and not much privacy.
(voice-over): Juan Manuel shows us his setup.
MANUEL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: He says what he makes is about $16 an hour. So here, what you make in an hour, as he puts it, is an entire day's work in Mexico.
(voice-over): This is his third year on the visa work program.
(on camera): He said the money that he makes here, he's able to support his family in Mexico as help his mom and dad and brother and sister.
MANUEL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER: And he said, that's what you need to do to survive.
You can see all the workers now are gathering from all the different buildings. Most of them all work at different sites, but they come together to eat and then sleep.
And then they will be back at it on the fields in about 10, 11 hours from now.
What's interesting is many of the farmers that we've spoken with are in support of President Trump, and along with it, his immigration policies.
But as these deportations continue, they warn that this sense of urgency when it comes to the H-2a visa program, working to expand it, working to make it more cost effective, particularly for smaller farmers who say it's just way too expensive.
And they say its overall just too complicated to use. So to make it less cumbersome.
They say if the president doesn't act on that, that food prices in this country will soar to levels that we have not seen before.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: David Culver, thank you for that report today.
Today, it's all about the halftime show in New Orleans. And Kendrick Lamar is sharing some details about his highly anticipated Superbowl appearance. What we know about it, and the special pre-game ceremony that will honor the host city, next.
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[14:51:59]
SANCHEZ: We are just three days away from this year's Superbowl showdown between the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.
And right now, a lot of attention is on which surprise guests are going to join rapper, Kendrick Lamar, on stage for the highly anticipated halftime show.
KEILAR: Guests, plural, of course.
And CNN sports anchor, Andy Scholes, is our guest, live from Radio Row in New Orleans with some details.
All right, Andy, break it down for us. What are you hearing?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Brianna and Boris, we really didn't get any read on who could be a potential surprise guest during the halftime show.
You know, Taylor Swift did collaborate with Kendrick Lamar back in 2014 for that "Bad Blood" remix, a very popular song. So a lot of fans hoping that she's going to show up during the halftime show.
And you know, who knows, maybe if the Chiefs score a second-quarter touchdown and they don't show Swift celebrating in her suite, maybe that's a sign that she is going to be a part of something. But we'll have to wait and see.
Now Lamar, he didn't hold a traditional press conference like we've seen in years past here for the halftime show performer. He didn't take any questions from the media.
But he did say his halftime performance is going to be much like his career, and it's going to focus on storytelling.
Now President Trump is going to be coming here to New Orleans on Sunday, and he's going to be the first sitting president to be at the Superbowl.
And the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, well, they think that's pretty cool.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: That's awesome. It's a great honor, I think, you know. no matter who the president is.
I know I'm excited because it's the biggest game of my life. You know? And having the president there, you know, it's the best country in the world. So it would be pretty cool.
PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: It's always cool to be able to play in front of a sitting president, someone that is at the top position in our country.
And so I didn't see that clip, but obviously, it's cool to hear that he's seen me play football and respects the game that I play.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now in terms of Superbowls, this is actually a rather cheap ticket to get in price. Right now, on StubHub, it's around $3,000. That's more than 50 percent cheaper than last year's record prices that we saw in Las Vegas.
There could be a couple of factors. There could be some Chiefs fatigue. The Superdome is actually a really big stadium. It holds 74,000.
And I spoke with StubHub's Adam Budell and he told me, if you are looking to go to a Superbowl, and potentially this one, now is the time to buy that ticket.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM BUDELL, SPOKESPERSON, STUBHUB: Certainly, as more and more people get into town before Sunday, we expect prices to actually go up.
And what we've seen locally, which is a great opportunity for those sports fans, is, since Monday, we've seen Louisiana sales increase by 47 percent. So certainly it's going to be a lot more about the game and the
environment than maybe just these two fan bases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yes, so here on Radio Row, it's been a really busy day. You've seen NFL legends come in, coming through, a lot of current players. The mascots have been going around, the cheerleaders. Certainly a fun day here.
[14:55:05]
And tonight's going to be even bigger. It's going to be the NFL Honors Award ceremony. Boris and Brianna, we're finally going to learn who is this year's NFL MVP. Will it be Josh Allen of the Bills, or is it going to be Lamar Jackson of the Ravens?
SANCHEZ: They both put up some incredible performances this year.
And he seemed to hint, Brianna, that the special guest might be Taylor Swift. Do you have any guesses?
KEILAR: I just have been around long enough in the past year for all of these rumored Taylor Swift appearances that I'm not going to hold my breath. I can just tell you it's probably not going to be Taylor Swift.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: However, people are going to talk about it like maybe it is.
SANCHEZ: I bet, Andy, that it's going to be Drake. Kendrick Lamar and Drake, those two, they get along so well.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: You know who's going to be the special -- you know who's going to be the special guest, that special guest at my Superbowl eating thing that I'm doing.
KEILAR: Yes, that would be a party.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Scrambled eggs and sardines. Love some scrambled eggs.
KEILAR: Good Omega threes.
SANCHEZ: Are you with the scrambled eggs for the Superbowl party and sardines?
KEILAR: Enough.
SCHOLES: No. You know normal --
SANCHEZ: Oh, come on. SCHOLES: -- barbecue or pizza or nachos?
SANCHEZ: No, no.
KEILAR: Correct answer, Andy.
SANCHEZ: What?
KEILAR: Correct answer.
SCHOLES: -- eggs and sardines.
SANCHEZ: I'm committed to this bit, Andy.
KEILAR: He is not --
SANCHEZ: Andy Scholes --
KEILAR: -- letting it go.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: -- live from New Orleans.
SCHOLES: OK.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Andy.
Coming up, a potential turning point in the battle against bird flu -- speaking of eggs. And we've learned about a new strain that's been discovered in dairy cows out west. Details ahead.
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