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FAA Imposes New Ground Delay for Newark-Bound Flights; Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Carney to Meet at White House Amid Trade Tensions; Hegseth Orders Pentagon to Cut Number of Senior Generals by 20 Percent. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 06, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we do have breaking news coming in, a new ground delay at Newark Airport and new audio of the scary moment air traffic controllers lose communication with planes in the air at that airport now entering a ninth straight day of cascading delays and cancelations.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: In just a few hours, Canada's prime minister meeting with President Trump at the White House. The once tight relationship between the countries now filled with tension because of Trump's tariffs and trade war, and the new prime minister vowing that Canada won't back down.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Nerves, bathroom breaks, and a-list celebrities the surprising new details from the sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs.

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner in Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: We do have breaking news coming in just now. The FAA has just now imposed a new ground delay for Newark-bound flights this morning, as we mentioned, the ninth straight day of staffing shortages and snarled travel at that airport. Also this morning, we have new details on what really was some terrifying communication breakdowns that led to this now more than a week of chaos.

Newly obtained audio offers a glimpse into the moments air traffic control lost communication and radar with planes in the air, leaving air traffic controllers essentially flying blind. Here's some of the audio where the tower tells one plane that the radar's down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 9674 approach,

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 9674 radar contact loss. We lost our radar. So, just stay on the arrival and maintain 6,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: So, that incident was on April 28th. It was so traumatic, sources tell CNN at least five employees have now taken special government leave to recover from the stress of it. And that has compounded the ongoing staffing shortage and further adding to the travel mess for thousands of flyers going through Newark, one of the nation's busiest airports.

And on Monday, the FAA acknowledged that antiquated air traffic control system, that that system is impacting its workforce. And the Transportation Department says it's going to be announcing plans to overhaul that system. But those are long-term plans and those plans are going to be coming out Thursday.

Let's get over to seen as Pete Muntean for much more on this. You obtained this audio, it's really important to hear. And now we have this breaking news of further delays.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and the latest here, Kate, is that the FAA imposed this another delay for flights bound to Newark until midnight tonight due to these air traffic control staffing shortages, now the ninth straight day of these delays. That new audio you speak of and the new statement from the FAA are essentially confirming our reporting that paints the best picture yet of how this all started.

This all goes back to an incident last Monday at a key radar facility that's responsible for Newark flights and a source familiar with that incident tells me that Newark approach controllers lost both radio and radar systems for an undisclosed amount of time, meaning that they were essentially doing their jobs blind. It's called NORDO, no radio.

The source also tells me that led to at least five controllers taking what's called trauma leave that legally entitles controllers to 45 days off to huge development and explains the repeat delays that have caused these staffing shortages. I want you to listen now to the audio capture by liveatc.net. And in it a controller's, explaining to a smaller airplane to essentially go away because he has no ability to pick up that plane on radar. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you do not have a bravo clearance. We lost our radar and it's not working correctly, radar service terminates. Squawk VFR change approved. If you want a bravo clearance, you can just call the towers when you get closer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, I'll wait for that frequency from you, okay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, no.

[07:05:00]

Just squawk VFR, look up the tower frequencies. We don't have a radar, so I don't know where you are.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MUNTEAN: You can hear the frustration there in the controller's voice.

We also have this new analysis from flight tracking site Flightradar24, and in it, it says that 15 to 20 flights were being controlled by Newark approach controllers during last Monday's equipment outage. The FAA has been investigating the cause here, although all agree that the aging technology at the FAA is at the center of this problem has been plaguing that agency for decades.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the Trump administration will announce a sweeping new overhaul of air traffic control sometime this week, but still no clear timetable here, Kate, on, one, these delays at Newark will end. The FAA says, the controllers who are out on trauma leave, simply cannot be replaced quickly because their jobs are highly specialized, you can't just drag and drop a controller from one location and put them in another. It's a really tough spot they're in right now.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And the overhaul necessary, that's going to be announced, but that clearly is going to take time. That's not --

MUNTEAN: Decades.

BOLDUAN: Decades. I mean, so this is -- there is a very immediate, serious short-term problem as well as the long-term issue.

Pete, thank you so much. Pete's going to be bringing us breaking news on this throughout the morning. John?

BERMAN: All right. With us now, CNN Aviation Analyst Miles O'Brien. Miles, good morning. This new bit of information reported by Pete there that these controllers overseeing Newark lost radar and radio for a stretch of time, how significant, how dangerous is that?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It's very significant, very potentially dangerous. The controllers handled it as they should, did not allow the traffic to enter the sector. Of course, they didn't know where the traffic exactly was. John, this is such a perfect storm. You have this aging infrastructure here, this aging system that is held together with bailing wire and duct tape on top of that (INAUDIBLE) shortage of air traffic controllers.

And then as a potential answer to that problem, the FAA decides to move some of the positions from the New York area down to Philadelphia in order to try to address staffing issues. And in so doing, the communication failed.

So, you've got all these things coming together and throw in the fact that they're building a new runway or rebuilding a runway at Newark really have a perfect storm scenario here.

BERMAN: So, they've had now just announced minutes ago this ninth straight day of delays. In this case, it's ground delays for inbound flights. It's nine so far. But given that these are systemic issues, will it be 90 days? I mean, how long will it take for them to get this straight?

O'BRIEN: Well, you're right. A lot of this is you cannot snap your fingers. It's not like hiring somebody at a fast food restaurant to be an air traffic controller, a certified professional controller has many, many years of training. You just don't do that overnight. The one thing that could give air travelers in and out of Newark some optimism is that runway construction is finite and should be done in the June timeframe. But that's a lot of delays between now and then. And I guess that the best thing to advise travelers is to probably book around Newark.

BERMAN: And very quickly, Miles, is flying especially around Newark less safe than it was a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago.

O'BRIEN: You know, I think, as I always say the controllers, the individuals who run this system daily, perform quiet, heroic acts in spite of a system that is built to set them up for failure. I believe in those people doing their job, but there's only so much stress they can take.

BERMAN: Miles O'Brien, thank you for explaining this so well, great to see you this morning. I appreciate it. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead he swung into office because of President Trump's 51st state comments and trade war with Canada. Now, the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, and President Trump have their first face-to-face high stakes meeting at the White House. That will happen in just a bit.

And a major shakeup at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders deep cuts to top military brass.

And a scare at Jennifer Aniston's Bel-Air home, a man crashes through her front gates while she's inside. The new details police are revealing about that this morning.

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[07:10:00]

SIDNER: In just a few hours, President Trump will welcome Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, to the White House. This meeting unfolding amid the escalating trade, war and tensions between the two countries. At the center of it all, President Trump's 25 percent tariffs on some Canadian goods, including cars, steel and aluminum. Canada has responded with tariffs of its own.

Canada has long been America's second biggest trading partner. It's the top country where U.S. goods are exported to, nearly $350 billion worth last year alone.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House. This expected to be a bit of a tense meeting today considering the comments that Trump has made over time about the 51st state and being slapped with tariffs, even though they are an ally.

[07:15:04]

What are you expecting at this meeting?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And it's a very high-stakes meeting, I think, for Mark Carney here, and he has a balancing act. He just entered office riding this wave of anti-Trump sentiment in part because of all of those reasons that you just listed, this tariff war, Trump's rumblings about making Canada a 51st state. So, in a lot of ways, he has Trump to thank for getting him to this top job in the first place. And a lot of his supporters may expect him to come into this meeting confronting President Trump.

But, you know, I don't think there is a lot of appetite for making the U.S.-Canada relationship worse than it already has become, and a lot of world leaders recognize that antagonizing Trump is just a recipe for disaster. And so this will be, I think, a very fine line for Carney to balance when he arrives here to the Oval Office later today.

Now, the agenda for this meeting, I think, is somewhat vague in a lot of ways. Listen to how Trump characterized it yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What's your expectation for your meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister tomorrow?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't know. He's coming to see me. I'm not sure what he wants to see me about, but I guess he wants to make a deal. Everybody does. They all want to make a deal because we have something that they all want. We have something that they all want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So, he's talking there about trade, and, yes, tariffs will be at the top of the agenda today. Trump and Carney wanting to talk about a potential agreement that could cause these tariffs because Canada has applied its own tariffs as well to be lifted. Carney also wants to discuss the USMCA, you know, the North American trade agreement that the president negotiated during his first term in office, but which is now essentially in tatters. So, tariffs, number one.

They'll also presumably want to talk about Trump's territorial ambitions, his rhetoric about making Canada the 51st state. You'll remember he referred to Carney's predecessor, Justin Trudeau, as Governor Trudeau. He hasn't used that moniker for Carney, but he has not backed down on these ambitions to make Canada a part of the United States.

There's one last point of discussion that these two men will want to talk about, and that is the G7 summit that Carney is hosting next month in Alberta. This morning, we're reporting that American officials have not yet committed Trump attending that summit. That would be a major break in this alliance system that Trump has shown some disregard for since taking office. Canadian officials say that their priority still is to host a successful summit with all of the members in attendance. Sara?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: So, this morning, we are learning more about what the secretary of defense is planning. Secretary Hegseth now ordering the Pentagon to cut by 20 percent the number of four star generals and admirals. He calls the reductions necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're back with more DOD reforms. This one is general and flag officer reductions. That's the official title. My title is less generals, more G.I.s.

More generals and admirals does not equal more success.

Now, this is not a slash and burn exercise meant to punish high ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Zach Cohen is in Washington tracking this one for us. So, Zach, why does Hegseth say these cuts are necessary? What's going on here?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Kate. Pete Hegseth's saying that this is all about removing bureaucracy and redundancies from the U.S. military and something that he has talked about even as far back as his confirmation hearing. But his memo outlines a series of significant cuts to the top ranks of the military without really detailing what the criteria for those cuts are. But the cuts in number are significant when we consider the fact that there's only 37 four star generals and admirals across the military as of 2023. Pete Hegseth is proposing a 20 percent cut to that 37 number. He's also proposing a 20 percent reduction in general officers in the National Guard, along with a 10 percent reduction in the total number of generals and admirals across the force, so potentially about a hundred generals across the military that could see their jobs slashed.

And, look, this is something that the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Service Committee, Jack Reed, has already raising concerns about. He wants to know how Hegseth got to these numbers. He said in a statement yesterday, quote, tough personnel decisions should be based on facts and analysis, not arbitrary percentages. Eliminating the positions of many of our most skilled and experienced officers without sound justification would not create efficiency in the military. It would cripple it.

And so this all comes really not, and it's not happening in a vacuum, right? One of the first acts Donald Trump did while president back in February was he got rid of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top member of the Navy. Pete Hegseth has talked a little bit too about his sort of disdain for certain individuals in the top ranks of the military. Take a listen to what he said when he accused some of being complicit in the politicization of the U.S. military earlier this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: I would say over a third are actively complicit and then you have a lot of grumblers who are sort of going along trying to resist the nonsense as much as they can, but they're not fundamentally changing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, critics would argue that removing senior leadership from the U.S. military means that there's less people to push back on the civilian leadership if they receive an order that they disagree with or maybe they determine is not legal. It remains to be seen how these cuts might affect the U.S. military's readiness and efficiency or when they might take place because the timeline is also unclear.

BOLDUAN: A lot of uncertainty around all of that except for the order coming from the top. Great reporting, Zach, thank you so much.

John Berman?

BERMAN: All right. As the New York Post says, skimp on the Barbie, the new warning from Mattel, the prices for the dolls are going up.

And authorities are warning people to be vigilant after a black bear attacked and killed a man and his dog at a nature preserve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, higher prices coming soon for Barbie. Mattel is warning it will need to raise prices on American toys because of the president's tariffs. President Trump has suggested a sort of dull austerity plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't think a beautiful baby girl needs -- that's 11 years old, needs to have 30 dolls.

[07:30:01]

I think they can have three dolls or four dolls. Because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)