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American Airlines Plane Catches Fire; Interview With Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI); Democrats Divided Over Shutdown Fight. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 14, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:01:05]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Who will blink first? A Republican bill to fund the government is tied up in the Senate, where Democrats are at odds over whether to let it move forward. And the clock is ticking towards midnight, when the government will shut down if Congress doesn't pass a bill.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus: bubbling windows and melting plane parts, passengers describing panic after their American Airlines jet catches fire, forcing them to flee onto the wings of the aircraft. The latest from federal investigators.

And, later, new details in the search for that missing college student in the Dominican Republic, the man she was last seen with describing a frantic fight to keep her from drowning. We have the transcript of his interview with prosecutors.

All these major developing stories and many more coming in right here the CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Breaking news on Capitol Hill, we're waiting for a crucial Senate vote to get under way on a Republican plan to avoid a potentially devastating government shutdown.

But, right now, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing some serious blowback from Democrats because he says he's going to support it. It's a decision that pleased President Trump, who praised Schumer a short time ago for having -- quote -- "guts to do the right thing."

But this is a move that is deeply dividing House Democrats. Some say they feel betrayed. They're now privately urging Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to consider launching a primary challenge against Schumer. And, for his part, Schumer isn't backing down. He says that, even though the GOP plan is horrible, the alternative is worse.

CNN's Arlette Saenz live on Capitol Hill.

Arlette, these fissures in the Democratic Caucuses on full display.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they really are, Brianna. And Schumer's stunning reversal saying that he would vote to help

avert a government shutdown has certainly stunned many Democrats, especially over in the House, as we have started to hear a lot of criticism of this tactic at a time when Democrats had really hoped to use this government funding bill as a point of leverage against President Trump's actions.

Now, a bit earlier this afternoon, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi posted on social media not directly naming Schumer by name, but a very pointed message about his decision, saying: "Let's be clear. Neither is a good option for the American people. But this false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable."

That offers a bit of a flavor of how House Democrats have expressed their frustration with this decision from Schumer to go ahead and vote to help avert a government shutdown. Now, there's still a big question of whether enough Senate Democrats will get on board with this.

Republicans need eight Senate Democrats in order to clear a key procedural hurdle. So far, only two, Chuck Schumer and John Fetterman, who I spoke with a bit earlier today, are on board in the yes column.

Here is why Fetterman said this was such an important move for Democrats to take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): And if you think shutting the government is smart, then I thought you're not supposed to get in the war when there's no exit plan. You know, guess what? They're going to realize that the exit ramp is owned by the GOP. We are going to do the things that Musk and Trump can't do, and that's shutting the government down. We will shut it down for them and can only turn it back on only GOP's term.

And they have unlimited time to do whatever they want to the government then. So, like I said, they can yell and fund-raise off of that, but I will be the only Democrat that's going to tell America the truth of what shutting the government down. And that would be a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) disaster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Fetterman and Schumer are trying to argue that shutting the government down will essentially empower President Trump and Elon Musk, but there are still many Democrats in the Senate who disagree with that idea.

[13:05:10]

But, so far, we haven't heard many Senate Democrats really openly speaking, criticizing Schumer's change in tactics, but there will be that key vote this afternoon as that midnight deadline for a government shutdown is quickly approaching.

KEILAR: All right, we will be looking for that. Arlette Saenz, thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Meantime, a federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily reinstate thousands of probationary employees from 18 federal agencies, ruling that proper procedures weren't followed in their firings, including not giving workers enough notice.

This comes as a second federal judge presiding over a separate lawsuit in California ordered the immediate reinstatement of probationary employees across six agencies, finding that the Office of Personnel Management's role in the firings was unlawful.

As legal challenges play out in court over these cuts, anger and frustration continue to boil over in Republican town halls. This is in Asheville, North Carolina, where you see an overflow of people kept out of a meeting with Congressman Chuck Edwards banging on doors.

Things got even more contentious inside the town hall. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're lying! I'm a veteran.

REP. CHUCK EDWARDS (R-NC): Sir...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about me!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are people losing their jobs at record numbers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that the way the United States should act to our closest neighbors?

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you support Trump in these things? This is a yes or no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain of Michigan.

Conference woman -- rather -- conference woman -- Chairwoman, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate your time.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: I wanted to start with these incidents at town halls...

REP. LISA MCCLAIN (R-MI): Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Because, earlier this month, you previously described them as organized disrupters funded by George Soros.

MCCLAIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Do you have actual evidence that these folks are paid agitators?

MCCLAIN: Yes, there is some evidence out there. And then there still are people that are agitated and they go to the town halls. So I think you got a little bit of a combination of both.

And what I think is important to understand is, we live in a democracy. And you should be able to voice your opinion, but you should do it in a respectful fashion, right? It is our job to listen to our constituents. And that's exactly what we're doing.

At times, it's very difficult when these town halls get taken over by angry mobs. But if you choose to do a town hall, that's what you're going to deal with right now. So, I -- what I would suggest is, perhaps there are better ways to deal with your constituents.

But, again, we live in a democracy and it's your call.

SANCHEZ: Do you think that there's something underlying the anger that we're seeing, specifically in the way that some of your colleagues have talked about folks that have been fired from their work as servants of the government?

MCCLAIN: Yes. I do.

SANCHEZ: Do you think you risk losing touch or alienating constituents if you dismiss concerns, including those of fired federal workers, by describing them as sob stories, which you did in a recent press conference?

MCCLAIN: Yes.

Yes, well, the correlation I was trying to make or the contradiction that I was trying to make was, look at the Democrats. They want to talk to the federal workers who are unemployed. However, they refused to talk to the family of Laken Riley, who was murdered. They refused in their antics to stand for a 13-year-old boy beating cancer.

They don't want to hear about any of those stories in which they enabled and their party enabled at the border people who have been raped, people who have been murdered, people who have been sex- trafficked.

Notice there is zero, zero. There's no lifeline set up for them. They don't want to hear any of those stories. In fact, I would argue they want to suppress those stories. That was the contradiction that I was trying to make with that. And I think I did a pretty darn good job of doing that, because it seems to have gotten under their skin.

(LAUGHTER)

MCCLAIN: Now, the other thing...

SANCHEZ: I personally heard from Democrats, Chairwoman, who have been very pro-border security, who have talked about Laken Riley and have talked about adjusting within their own party the view, the general view of immigration.

MCCLAIN: After the fact. After the fact, yes.

SANCHEZ: I do wonder about tone and expressing compassion for folks who chose to serve the public.

MCCLAIN: Oh, I do too, 100 percent, yes.

SANCHEZ: These folks chose to serve the public, often despite better opportunities in the private sector.

So, for example, for the 80,000 employees that are set to be fired from the VA, do you consider them bloated bureaucrats who have sob stories?

[13:10:12]

MCCLAIN: Well, let's take a look at it.

We have more government employees upon government employees upon government employees. What I think would be a better option is if the federal government gives a dollar to the VA hospital, instead of having management on top of management on top of management and maybe only 30 cents of that dollar actually go to doctors and nurses and 70 percent go to the administration, what I think is a much better job is, why wouldn't more of that dollar go to hiring more doctors, more nurses, as opposed to the bloated bureaucracy of management layer on top of management layer?

I would much prefer to see those dollars go directly to the veterans. And the best way to do that is to hire more doctors, to hire more nurses, to hire more caregivers who can actually help the patients that need their help.

So that's my goal. And that's the efficiency goal. We want to make sure that hard-earned taxpayer dollars are actually going to the cause, right? That's the goal. So you can either pay more doctors and more nurses, or you can continue to layer government on top of government. I would prefer to pay more doctors and nurses to give the veterans the care that they actually need.

SANCHEZ: To your point about ensuring tax dollars going to the most efficient use possible, the Senate appears poised to advance the C.R. funding bill this afternoon.

MCCLAIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: So the next big legislative item is the big, beautiful bill that President Trump says he wants passed. It touches on taxes, immigration, energy and defense.

It would also cut spending, while not cutting Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

MCCLAIN: Right.

SANCHEZ: Can you guarantee the folks who depend on those entitlements that they will not see a reduction in their benefits?

MCCLAIN: Yes, what I can guarantee is that we are going to work tirelessly to make sure that the people that need those benefits most get them.

So, when we talk about no cuts to Medicaid, what I want people to understand is, there is a ton of waste, fraud, and abuse. People are using the Medicaid program nefariously. We know that. We have uncovered that. That's what we're trying to be transparent on. For an example, we know that we have illegals using Medicaid. Those dollars are being taken away from Americans who need those programs.

And that's who I can guarantee that I'm going to fight for, that the people, that Americans who need those programs the most make sure they get those programs. That's what I'm committed to doing.

SANCHEZ: Chairwoman, I do want to ask you one more question, because your district is right outside of Detroit, one of the hubs of automaking in our country.

MCCLAIN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

SANCHEZ: Ford's CEO has lamented what he described as a lot of costs and a lot of chaos from the Trump administration on auto tariffs.

MCCLAIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: There was some back-and-forth. There were some delays. Now they're set to kick into place in April.

What do you tell constituents when you hear automakers say that the cost of certain vehicles is going to skyrocket, it's going to jump upwards of $12,000 because of these tariffs?

MCCLAIN: Yes. Yes.

I tell them to relax. Don't listen to the fearmongering, because the Democrats right now have no vision, they have no plan and they have no...

SANCHEZ: That's coming from automakers, from folks like the Ford CEO.

MCCLAIN: If you don't mind, I had enough respect to let you talk. So would you like me to answer the question? Or do you want to...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: I just want to clarify. You're describing it as fearmongering.

MCCLAIN: OK.

SANCHEZ: What I cited was a Ford CEO. MCCLAIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Automakers are the ones saying that these costs are going to jump.

MCCLAIN: Right. Fine. Yes, OK, so I will continue with my answer.

When the Democrats have no mission, no message, no vision, and no leader, they -- all they have is fearmongering, right? That's what they do. And they talk to the CEOs and they plant these fears in them, no different than when we had to give a bunch of subsidies to E.V. mandates.

You didn't cover that. Yet the cost of the vehicles went up dramatically. Yet we had to subsidize those. So the people in my district who I have actually spoken to, as well as the CEOs, they understand that tariffs are a negotiation tool. They are hopeful that we can -- under President Trump's leadership, that we can get fair trade agreements.

[13:15:09]

That's the goal. We're tired of getting taken advantage of. So they understand that that's President Trump's goal to get fair trading agreements and level the playing field for our employees, for our Americans, and that it might be a little uncomfortable, but, long term, they know that this will be in their best interest.

And they also are smart enough not to take the bait on all the fearmongering. They believe that America -- that America will be put on the right path, and that the person to do that is President Trump.

SANCHEZ: So...

MCCLAIN: Remember, we're making a massive switch from E.V. mandates, right, which we had to subsidize, to fair trade. And that's really what my people in my community and my district want. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Chairwoman, your contention is that Democrats are conspiring with the CEOs of auto companies to scare folks into thinking that prices are going to go up? That's where those claims come from?

MCCLAIN: Your word, not mine.

SANCHEZ: Well, you suggested just a moment ago that Democrats and these CEOs were somehow working together to come up with these figures...

MCCLAIN: Well, yes.

SANCHEZ: ... that are a result of tariffs. Is that what you're suggesting? So, I -- that's what you're suggesting?

MCCLAIN: Yes, all you need to do is turn -- all you need to do is turn on the TV. Look at your show. It's nothing but fearmongering. That's all the Democrats do. What's inflation doing? What's inflation, up or down? Oh, it's down.

What's the prices of eggs? Oh, they're down. What's the prices of mortgage? Oh, it's down, right? But we don't cover the positive things. We only cover the negative things to get everyone worked up.

So here's two things. This could be a potential problem, but it actually could be a potential long-term solution. But when you don't want to cover the other half and all you talk about is the one half, of course that's what you're going to hear. I would prefer to give both sides of the story.

SANCHEZ: Chairwoman, I...

MCCLAIN: That's what real newswomen used to -- newspeople used to do, is, they would give both sides of the story.

So one side of the story is, yes, potentially, on the short term, listen, tariffs could cause us some discomfort...

SANCHEZ: Sure. Sure.

MCCLAIN: ... no question.

But let's take a look at the long term. Do you think there's any benefits to the long term? I can share with you that there are benefits to the long term, if we can get this on a level playing field. And that's what we need to do.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

MCCLAIN: Instead of just getting everyone all ginned up about, oh, all the -- the sky is falling, the sky is falling, let's talk about the vision on what we're actually trying to do...

SANCHEZ: Sure.

MCCLAIN: ... which is reverse the negative course...

SANCHEZ: Chairwoman...

MCCLAIN: ... and put America on track to be expected again -- respected again.

SANCHEZ: Chairwoman, thank you so much for joining us.

MCCLAIN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: I wish you would watch our show more often, because you would see that we do have both sides on. Specifically, that's why you're on the air today to present that side. That's what we do here at CNN.

Chairwoman Linda (sic) McClain, thank you so much for the time.

MCCLAIN: Lisa. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Lisa. My apologies. Have a good weekend.

MCCLAIN: That's OK. You too.

SANCHEZ: Still to come: NTSB investigators are on their way to Denver, where an engine fire forced passengers onto the jet's wing. What could have led to this mishap?

Plus, we know what President Trump's trade war is costing markets, but is it costing Republican votes? We're going to talk to a veteran pollster about what he's hearing.

And, later, we're learning more about the man last known to have been seen with the missing college student in the Dominican Republic. Hear what he told prosecutors about his final moments with her on a beach.

Those stories and much more coming up this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:23:16]

SANCHEZ: The FAA is investigating a frightening landing at Denver International Airport last night, flames bursting from an American Airlines plane as the jet pulled up to the gate.

This was the scene, 178 people on board a Boeing 737, fire and smoke surrounding, engulfing that engine. Many were forced to evacuate by climbing onto a wing and sliding off on emergency slides. Airport officials say 12 passengers were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

This flight was actually headed from Colorado Springs to Dallas, Fort Worth, and had to be diverted to Denver after the pilots reported engine vibrations.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joins us now.

Pete, another scary incident.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it seems like they're happening all the time.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

MUNTEAN: And this dramatic that keeps surfacing will be so key to investigators as they try to figure out exactly how this fire started and also how this evacuation took place, because we can see it's a relatively chaotic scene, with passengers evacuating this 737 using the emergency overwing exits onto the left side of the wing there.

An interesting phenomenon that we're seeing these incidents and evacuations taking place and people also taking video at the same time. But then this is happening at the same time as there's a fire burning on the right side of the plane.

The FAA says the right engine of this 737-800 caught on fire after this plane landed and was taxing up to the gate. But let's sort of reset here with the narrative, because this initially happened about 20 minutes into the flight. This flight was on its way from Colorado Springs to Dallas-Fort Worth, a pretty large hub for American Airlines, presumably a lot of these passengers going on to connecting flights.

And then that's about the time that the pilots told the passengers that they were going to divert to Denver because of engine vibrations. The exact cause of that vibration right now still a bit of a mystery. The landing took place OK, but the fire took place, according to the FAA, as this plane was taxiing in.

[13:25:10]

And I want you to listen now to one of the passengers who is on board, who describes a very confusing scene, as passengers essentially began rushing and pushing their way out of the plane. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRID HIBBITS, PASSENGER: The window started -- there's flames out of the window where I was looking out, started bubbling, like melting. It was really weird.

And everybody's kind of pushing to get out of the plane. I got out on the wing, and there wasn't even like a slide or anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Typically, when you evacuate onto the wing of a 737, the flaps have to be down. The pilots have to do that to be able to slide off easily.

That was not the case in this instance, and now investigators will sort of look into this to figure out how this took place. And the big question now is, did this evacuation take place at the order of the captain and the flight crew or did people just evacuate and take fate into their own hands?

SANCHEZ: Wow. Wow.

Pete, you also -- you mentioned a number of scary incidents. You also have an update as a result of that fatal collision over the Potomac at Reagan National Airport. There's been some changes to helicopter traffic in that area.

MUNTEAN: Just on Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board issued two urgent recommendations calling for the closure of the helicopter route that runs north-south just east of Reagan National Airport that was in use at the time of this crash on January 29 and to move the route to find an alternative.

The FAA now says today it is looking into that and it is permanently closing that helicopter route, at least for the foreseeable future, so a lot of big changes here. The issue has been they don't want helicopters and airplanes to coexist near Reagan National Airport. And that includes when President Trump lifts off from the White House in Marine One, which has led to a lot of cancellations and delays, the FAA trying to get at the heart of that issue as well.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

Pete Muntean, a busy man, lately.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Appreciate you, Pete -- Brianna.

KEILAR: This is just the latest scare in a string of recent incidents that have been plaguing the aviation industry.

Joining us now former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary Schiavo.

Mary, just looking at this Denver incident, what kind of questions does this raise for you?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, questions about how this happened. Was this at all related to prior what's called uncontained engine failures on this make and model of engine?

People remember a Southwest flight back in 2018 where a similar plane and similar engine had what's called an uncontained engine failures, where parts came out of the engine, blew out a window and someone perished, lost their lives, because of that.

There was a current or there is a current what's called an airworthiness this directive, which is an order from the FAA to inspect and replace certain parts on the engine, seals, certain fan blades in the jet engine. Of course, the engine consists of lots of little fan blades. And throwing even one of them, if even one came off, it could cause vibration and an out-of-balance situation.

So, they will focus on the engine, but also on the evacuation and why it went to the gate, it didn't start right away, and that standing on the wing may not have been a bad idea, because you will see in the pictures it looked like whatever was leaking from the engine -- and it could be oil. It doesn't necessarily -- wouldn't necessarily be jet fuel. It could be oil.

But that was burning on the tarmac and the passengers couldn't descend into a fire on the tarmac, because then they'd be right into the fire themselves. So, there are lots of things for the NTSB. And many other people who are questioning what happened.

KEILAR: So, it feels like these incidents are happening more and more. Of course, we also focus more on these things when you have an incident like what happened at DCA here recently.

Are these happening more? We think of the Canada crash, of course, DCA.

SCHIAVO: Yes. KEILAR: Or is it just how it feels?

SCHIAVO: No, this year, that we have had a lot of aviation accidents. So, at least speaking for this year, we have had more. And the safety statistics for this year will be bad. Already, they have topped a 20- year list.

We have not had this many casualties and accidents in a short period literally for 20 years. So this year, the statistics are bad. But what is going to be difficult for the NTSB and everyone else, secretary of transportation, trying to fix the problem is, each one of these accidents has had a different cause.

A lot of times, what the -- well, what the Federal Aviation is supposed to do is look at trends and troubleshoot and figure out what is going wrong and how can we stop it.

And as Pete just mentioned when he was speaking a couple of minutes before, by the Department of Transportation finding out what a dangerous situation DCA was -- and we learned that they had something like 15,000 near misses with -- or -- or loss of separation, rather, with aircraft and helicopters in the three years before the disaster.