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Trump Headlines Day Two of Convention; Former U.S. Representative Francis Rooney is Interviewed about the Midterms; Clancy's Attorney will File Dismissal Motion; Pilot Raised Concerns before Amazon Plane Crash; Rep. Robert Gracia (D-CA) is Interviewed about the GOP Convention. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 10, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Quotes, Kate, of his is that whether we or politicians know it or not, nature is party to every deal we make. And she has a longer memory, more votes, and a harsher sense of justice than we do.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think we leave it at that this hour.

Thank you so much, Bill.

WEIR: You bet.

BOLDUAN: It's really good to see you.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Promises, promises and revisionist history. The president promising a $5,000 offer to every adult American, but only if voters give Republicans control of Congress again. And he says he's kept all of his promises. We'll check the facts.

And a second trial or a plea deal. The defense weighing options after Lindsay Clancy's mistrial. Her attorney sits down with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

And frightening video of a five-year-old boy struggling in a pond rescued by officers just in the nick of time. See this rescue, coming up. The tool they believe made a critical difference in finding the child before it was too late.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: So, a big $5,000 promise from the president now raising big questions. How would they pull it off? How would they pay for it? And why should Americans believe it this time, given his past payout promises have not panned out.

Here's the president speaking at the first ever Republican midterm convention. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them --

I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: $5,000 for every American adult. It comes out to more than $1 trillion. As for how he'll -- how he would pay for it, the president did not say. The offers that he has made before include a $2,000 tariff rebate check and a $5,000 DOGE dividend that he's floated in the past. Neither of those ended up happening.

Tonight, Vice President J.D. Vance will take the stage. That is before Donald Trump then closes out the convention.

Let's get to CNN's Steve Contorno. He's at the convention site in Dallas.

What's been said so far about what's going to happen tonight?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Kate, there have been moments in yesterday's event where I had to make sure that I wasn't transported back to 2024 because some of the graphics on screen still included President Biden and Vice President Harris. The culture wars were certainly the same. And Trump himself sounded like he was in the middle of a campaign rally. And that is by design, in part.

This Republican Party wants people to believe that President Trump is on the ballot. And that might sound counterintuitive because his popularity with the American public is so low. But they know that many of his supporters, people who voted for him in 2016, 2020 and 2024 do not show up in those midterm elections. And this is the message he sent to them.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. Just one more time. Because if we lose, you're going to lose your border, you're going to lose your tax cuts, you're going to lose your safety and security, you're going to lose your wealth. Our country is going through hell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, tonight, it is Vice President J.D. Vance's turn to speak to this crowd. As you said, Trump, though, will be taking the stage once again to close out this event. We'll also hear from RFK Jr., other members of Trump's administration, Republican lawmakers. And then there's a 53-day sprint to the midterms. And we are told that

President Trump will be on the trail often. Of course, we heard that earlier this year, there was this expectation that he would really be out there in these swing states, in these battleground districts, and that hasn't really materialized. But we're told he has plans for 30 plus appearances in some of these districts that they believe the president can help push turnout for these Republican candidates.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, Steve, thank you so much.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, former Republican congressman from Florida, former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Francis Rooney.

Ambassador, it's always great to see you.

So, $5,000 for every American adult. I want to read you a quote from Joe Lonsdale, who's the founder of Palantir, and a donor to the president, helped raise money for the president's campaign. He said, "for the record, I'm hugely in favor of winning the midterms and love much about this administration, but I'm strongly against bread and circus bribes."

[09:05:10]

What do you think about the offer from the president?

FRANCIS ROONEY (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM FLORIDA: I think he hit the nail on the head. This is nothing but a crass vote-buying operation, and it's reflective of this administration's unique lack of principle and stability.

BERMAN: One of the notable things is that the president has been going after Democrats, calling them socialists, in some cases throwing around the communist phrase here, and then offering $5,000, you know, to every person. Is that -- is there some cognitive dissonance there?

ROONEY: Oh, there's a lot of it. You know, this administration spent more than the Democrats have. And we spent $40 billion in Iran over seven months to have exactly what we had before we spent a dime. So, he doesn't (ph) value the peoples' money.

BERMAN: $1 trillion cost to this. I mean, not to mention some people think it could be inflationary. Do you think it's even in the realm of possibility?

ROONEY: Well, I certainly hope not. That's just one more trillion dollars we don't need to spend. Sooner or later, the elected officials in this country need to stop spending the taxpayer's money. This -- we're about as broke as many European countries right now. And here Trump just wants to give away $1 trillion to buy votes. BERMAN: The message from this midterm convention, and President Trump

made it explicit when he was speaking last night, he basically -- he didn't basically, he literally told everyone in that audience, whoever was watching, pretend I am running.

To what extent do you think that message reaches the people that Republicans needed to reach to do well in the midterms?

ROONEY: See, I think that's a very good question. I don't think the people that they need to get to get across the finish line are the people that are going to be leaving Trump. Moderate Republicans, non- party, no party alignment people. You're not going to do anything with the hardcore MAGA. They're there for him no matter what. What is it, 25 to 30 percent at most. So, he's preaching to the choir that won't listen to him.

BERMAN: Who -- what is the message to reach independents or the, quote, non-MAGA Republicans? What do you think would resonate with them?

ROONEY: I think getting out of Iran, being fiscally responsible for once, stop some of the bombastic expressions that this president's quite capable of uttering and bring some principle back to the administration. I mean, you know, we -- we've had a tradition in this country of pretty principle people by Democrats and Republicans until we get to this guy who has no principle.

BERMAN: One of the things that happened last night, which really is more or less without precedent, is the attorney general of the United States, Todd Blanche, spoke at this political event. How do you feel about that, the nation's chief law enforcement officer appearing at an event like this?

ROONEY: I think it's another one of these unprincipled transgressions that this administration has committed. I mean, you all reported today about the Commerce Department being weaponized about ballot delivery, that just every time you turn around there's some new effort to thwart American freedom, First Amendment and to aggrandize the power of the MAGA group. I hope the people are fed up with it.

BERMAN: Francis Rooney, a former Republican congressman, does not sound like you regret missing this convention in Dallas. We appreciate you being with us here this morning. Thank you very much, Ambassador.

Sara.

SIDNER: You got a chuckle there, John.

Coming up, Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney sitting down with CNN's Anderson Cooper after the mistrial. He describes her state, how she is, and why he's asking for the case to now be thrown out.

And new details on what one of the pilots of that deadly Amazon cargo plane crash said moments before the plane overshot the runway and slammed into a van full of workers, killing five people. Plus Apple, it's unveiling the biggest change we've now seen to its iPhone. A look at the brand-new foldable model and what folks are saying about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:14:21]

SIDNER: Days after a judge declared a mistrial for Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother charged with killing her three children, remains under close watch at a state psychiatric hospital. Clancy's fate is unclear at the moment, as the district attorney considers whether to retry this case. Her attorney, the defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper last night. Reddington has said that he will file a motion to dismiss the case, but he also remains open to a plea deal.

CNN's Jean Casarez joins us now.

Reddington also talked about Clancy and how she is. What did you learn?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, because, I mean, the last we left it, this was a mistrial.

[09:15:03]

So, she's in limbo right now. So, it's good news, actually. He said that she's good. That Tewksbury, excellent hospital, excellent medical care. She's on great medication. He does -- did say there was one-on- one contact to make sure at all times everything is good. But he said she's doing well, which is significant under everything that's been going on, right?

Now, he did say that he wants the charges dismissed. He wants a plea deal, and he wants to negotiate this, which is completely different because the defense was not guilty by reason of insanity. So, to turn and to allow for potentially a conviction on some level, significant. But he's got a hard line right here, has to do with no prison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: No, I would not ever agree that she do any time in jail. She's to fragile. She's to -- she's damaged goods. And she does not deserve it. No, she needs to be treated for her mental health condition. Has to have good, good physicians and she has to have good medication. That's it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: But he is absolutely going to ask for the charges to be dismissed at the end of September, at this pivotal hearing, because he believes that there was not manifest necessity to actually ask for and order a mistrial, because he says that lone juror should have been interviewed. He -- there should have been inquiry of him, that he wasn't doing his job. Listen to what he says about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: That's where you have the opportunity and request of the judge to have a hearing, which we didn't do. He just declared a mistrial. That's the -- that's the difference. If you have a hearing, at least there's a basis for someone to determine if there is manifest necessity to declare a mistrial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: But the standard at that hearing is going to be abuse of discretion by the judge. And the jury had sent out three notes.

Now, on another note, Patrick Clancy. You know, Patrick Clancy. I mean, this father, who lost his three children, has been the target on social media from the beginning. He spoke in glowing terms to our Anderson Cooper about Patrick Clancy.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S ATTORNEY: This is a young couple that was on top of the world. They had three beautiful children. They had a nice house in a beautiful town. They were respected. Their jobs. And it just went sideways because of the horrible, horrible medical and psychiatric care that they had. And he stood by her, went to the doctor's appointments with her, stood by her, testified for her in this trial, and also forgave her, which is most important in her mind. That speaks volumes for that man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now, according to the evidence, these were all virtual doctor's appointments except one. And he did sit in on one virtual appointment with her. But he was holding down a full-time job with Microsoft. He was helping her with the three children. So, he had his responsibilities. And she was really the one taking care of her medical.

SIDNER: Yes. And his attorneys have been very clear that he's been getting death threats because people are accusing him of the murder. And he's saying, listen, if you keep doing this, we're going to respond.

CASAREZ: Yes. And they've contacted police.

SIDNER: Jean Casarez, it is a pleasure. Thank you.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

SIDNER: You keep going through all that for us.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new revelations this morning in the investigation of that Amazon cargo plane crash that killed five people in Miami. Officials say moments before the plane touched down, then overshot the runway, one of the pilots warned the plane was going too fast.

Let's get right to CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean, who was down in Miami covering this, for the very latest on this.

Pete, this shows some awareness that things were going wrong, right?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATON CORRESPONDENT: It's a really interesting new set of findings, John. And the NTSB cautioned, it is preliminary. It could change. But this new readout from the cockpit voice recorder underscores essentially what we know, that this Boeing 767 was coming in too high and too fast. And now we know that alarms were going off in the cockpit. Namely, the alarms associated with what's called the ground proximity warning system. The pilots heard the sink rate alarm twice, meaning they were coming down at too great a rate of descent. They also heard the too low terrain alarm a total of five times. Generally, these alarms are enough for a crew to abort the approach and come back in for another try. So, now the question is, why they continued with these alarms repeatedly blaring in the cockpit.

We also have some new insight into the interplay between the two pilots on the flight deck. And here's the quote from the report. The NTSB says the voice recorder captured that one of the pilots, quote, "cautioned that they were too fast." Investigators also say that same pilot made "additional comments regarding the aircraft's excessive speed throughout the remainder of the recording." It's important to note that that first warning from one of the pilots came at a minute and 42 seconds before the recording ended. So, plenty of time still to call off that approach at that point.

[09:20:01]

We also have detail about the movement of the throttles at the 15 second point before the recording ended. A pilot called for a go around. That's new in this readout. The flight data recorder says, and we knew this, the throttles were brought up consistent with go around thrust, but the flight data recorder says they were pulled back to idle only four seconds later and that brakes were applied. The NTSB says five seconds after the go around call, the voice recorder captured what they call sounds similar to the aircraft departing the paved surface.

These are huge early details, but now begins the painstaking work of truly recreating all of this. It's still not clear if the NTSB has interviewed the pilots here. That was one big holdout. Those interviews were to take place yesterday.

The NTSB is also convening a group that will listen to the voice recorder in much greater detail. A preliminary report expected in about a month's time.

John. BERMAN: A month's time, but all these new details really do raise a

number of new questions, piecing together this timeline.

Pete Muntean, great reporting, as always. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, we're keeping a close eye on oil prices today with everything going on and the things President Trump is now admitting. Global oil prices soared past $100 a barrel as the price spikes more than six percent overnight. We're going to keep an eye on this for you.

Also, why Tetris is sending a warning to the White House after the Trump administration posts something about -- something about an arcade game.

And an incredible light show in New York to honor the victims of 9/11. Drones recreating the twin towers of the World Trade Center. CNN's special live coverage of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks begins tomorrow morning, right here at 7 a.m.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:19]

BOLDUAN: President Trump will be speaking tonight to close out this first ever Republican midterm convention. Among the surprises he rolled out so far last night was an appearance by a Democrat, a sitting Democratic senator, John Fetterman from Pennsylvania, who gave a boost to the GOP convention in speaking and basically endorsed Republican Senator Dave McCormick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a commonsense Democrat. I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That set off a new round of speculation that Fetterman is getting ready to switch parties, or at least is open to it. So much speculation, after that video, the senator put out a statement to say, "I'm a lifelong Democrat who votes overwhelmingly with my party. And should the Senate flip in November, I will still be the 51st vote that I ran on."

Joining me right now, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California. He's part of a group of Democrats who traveled to Dallas, where the convention is, to counter-program the Republican message.

Thanks for coming in this morning.

What do you think of Fetterman's surprise appearance? Well, I mean, did you know about it ahead of time?

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): No. I think most people were surprised.

Look, I think that Senator Fetterman is a non-issue this November. I think the people of Pennsylvania are going to have to make some choices. He's obviously not always loyal to the party. And I think he's certainly shifted his beliefs over time.

But I think what's more important is that this two day party that Donald Trump has thrown for himself has been to highlight essentially what he believes is important to him, and that is people being loyal to him, people bending the knee to him. I mean, this is -- right now the country is suffering. There's an affordability crisis. People can't afford the gas, the groceries, the rent. And yet Donald Trump is throwing a lavish party where some ticket prices and these packages are $100,000 a pop. And so, I think for us, this is the contrast Democrats are making. It's about affordability, not what, you know, Senator Fetterman might do in Pennsylvania.

BOLDUAN: But, I mean, a nonissue, you say, in this election. But depending on how tight the margin is after this election, he can be a -- he could be a, quote/unquote, real issue for you guys and in -- where -- how he votes in the Senate. I mean do you -- do you think he is a lifelong Democrat going forward?

GARCIA: Look, I'll take him for his word. He says he's a lifelong Democrat. He, obviously, is part of the Senate majority. That's why we exactly have to work hard to win the Senate and get as many seats as possible.

Look, the House, obviously, is going in the right direction. I think we feel strong about that. There's a lot of work to do still. The Senate is -- there's a ton of work, but we've got real opportunities in places like Texas and Ohio and Alaska that we didn't think we had, obviously, a year ago. And so, the campaigns of our -- of our Senate candidates on the ground are inspiring. When you look at ensuring that we hold places like Michigan, which I think we will do, I think we're going to have a strong team. And we can end up in a very strong place in the Senate after November. But people have got to turn out, they've got to invest, they've got to volunteer, they're going to do what they can. And I think for us the focus is, how can we win as big of a majority in both the Senate and the House?

BOLDUAN: The -- one of the messages from one of the other headlines from last night is this $5,000 that the president has now promised for every adult American if Republicans keep the House and the Senate. No matter how financially implausible this move might be, what do you think of the message politically?

GARCIA: I'm not sure what the political message is, considering that he's made promises like this before and not kept them. He has always talked about giving checks.

[09:30:01]

He just recently talked about there's going to be a DOGE refund check. There was going to be another thousand-dollar Trump dividend check. I mean none of that actually happened.

I think what...