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NTSB on Site Where News Helicopter Went Down, Killing 3; Fed Chair Kevin Warsh Speaks After First Rate Hike in 3 Years; Charlie Kirk's Family Signals Wrongful Death Suit Against University Forthcoming; Heat Dome Brings Sweltering Temps for Millions. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 16, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... five minutes from downtown LA. Of course, we don't know yet the cause of this crash. All we know is that from the video from inside that helicopter, there was sound of the engine losing power and then an alarm that went off telling the pilots that the main blades were now slowing down.

And of course, inside that helicopter, two members of the news media here in Los Angeles, employees of Angel City Air but of NBC4 and Telemundo 52, they had been reporting for years together since 2023. And the reporter Eliana Moreno had a following in social media, and she was clearly so passionate about what she did. Her colleagues say that she was sharing behind the scenes snippets, moments of what it was like to report on Los Angeles from the air.

Brianna, she was engaged to be married and an avid runner. She posted on Instagram earlier this year she had completed her first half marathon with her fiance in May. Such a tragic loss for both her family, for the NBC family and of course, for all of Angeleno's.

We rely on these reporters, Brianna, more than many other cities for the aerial coverage of news here. So feeling really close to home.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, certainly. Julia, thank you so much.

And let's head straight to the Fed now, where Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is speaking after that interest rate hike announcement.

KEVIN WARSH, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace. While uncertainty remains elevated, owing in part to geopolitical developments, domestic spending has been resilient. Productivity growth, strong.

And capital investment is robust. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little. But inflation remains elevated.

Today's policy action will support a timelier return to the committee's two percent goal. This committee will deliver price stability. Now get into some further detail. Our decision comes at a time when the American economy appears to be strengthening. New hiring, private sector earnings, business capital investment. Each of these markers has improved in recent months and is pointing in a good direction.

Credit flows have been robust, particularly for businesses. And as I said at the policy symposium in Jackson Hole, I would be hard pressed to describe broad financial conditions as restrictive. This view was widely shared by the committee.

So we removed a dose of accommodation. Consider the geopolitical landscape of shocks and uncertainty and you begin to appreciate the resilience of the U.S. economy. Given that resilience and the potential for even greater performance, an attitude of optimism is exactly what I heard inside the FOMC these last two days.

One basic sign of strength is the state of America's labor markets. The jobless rate remains low at around 4.1 percent. And both job openings and weekly hours have been increasing.

Unemployment claims on a four week moving average are running at levels consistent with full employment. So the labor side of the Fed's congressional remit is in good shape. Yet for more than five years, inflation has been running above target.

So our predominant focus is on the price stability side of our mandate. The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long. This summer's inflation readings do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved.

Based on the most recent CPI and PPI data, the 12 month change in total PCE prices likely was around 3.6 percent in August. Core PCE and CPI prices running at about 3.2 and 2.4 percent respectively. Too many categories are still posting increases above 3 percent on both a 6 and 12 month basis.

I noted in Jackson Hole that overall commodity prices also bear watching. And over the intermeeting period, the prices of many of these key inputs have risen. Since my first FOMC meeting as chairman in June, my colleagues and I have been unequivocal in our commitment to price stability.

And to our 2 percent PCE inflation objective.

[14:35:00]

At our July meeting, we all agreed that inflation remained too high. And we expressed our joint readiness to act as circumstances might require. And a good majority of my colleagues and I thought the wiser course then would be to await new information in the intermeeting period.

Last month in Wyoming, I expressed my commitment to a monetary policy discipline, not to a decision. I defined the standard for action. We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at sufficient speed. Today, the FOMC decided that this standard has not been satisfied. The committee's unanimous vote shows our resolve to achieve price stability on a timelier basis. We aim to ensure that credit and financial conditions are consistent over time with our mandate.

That relative price changes in some sectors of the economy do not broaden. That inflation compensation in market prices stays low. And that inflation expectations remain well anchored.

This afternoon, you also received the summary of economic projections. It reflects the views of my colleagues on the committee. But as in June, I have not offered a projection of my own.

But like in June, I said I would faithfully discharge the summary of their projections, so here goes. In the summary's median projections, real GDP rises at 2.3 percent this year, 2.4 percent next year. Total PCE inflation runs at 3.7 percent this year and falls to 2.3 percent next year. The unemployment rate holds steady at about 4.1 percent. The median participant judges that the appropriate federal funds rate to be 4.1 percent at the end of this year and to remain there next year.

Inflation risks are to the upside, while labor risks are roughly balanced. In my meetings these last few weeks, in Jackson Hole, in Asheville at the G20 meeting, which the U.S. hosted, and at a Central Bank conference in Basel, it was evident that most advanced economies are facing price pressures. Their central banks are making their own judgments consistent with their own remits. Our decision today reflects our best judgment in service to our remit.

SANCHEZ: We've been listening to the Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh as he details his thought process and the Fed board's thought process when it comes to raising the interest rate a quarter of a percentage point today.

Let's bring in CNN's David Goldman, who's been following along. David, a positive outlook from the Fed chair, saying that the labor market is in good shape. He also gave a bit of a prognostication as to where he believes the economy is headed, something that he's been reticent to do in the past.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER: That's right. Yes, I mean, the economy is strong, and I think that you're hearing that from the Fed chair for a good reason, because this is a blunt tool that they're using. And when you raise rates, you have the opportunity and sometimes the unfortunate effect of hurting the job market, because that's what it does.

It's like a scale. When you raise rates, you hurt the job market, but you also hurt inflation. And that's the reason why they raise rates.

Look at this. We're at three point seven percent. That's nowhere near the two percent rate that they are hoping for.

And it's only expected to go up and up and up. And that is why they decided that they needed to act. As Kevin Warsh just said, inflation is too high, Boris.

KEILAR: What did you think about that sort of optimism about the economy that he's sort of spinning there? You know, basically, the fundamentals of the economy are strong, even as he's emphasizing that the inflation is too high.

GOLDMAN: Yes, it's really hard for a lot of Americans to hear that because people are facing this problem, right? They feel like prices are too high and so the economy is doing poorly. That is not true.

The economy is doing quite well. It hurts, though, when prices are high. And that is why the Fed acted today, understanding that people are feeling a lot of pain and they need to get those prices -- well, not prices back down, but they need to get inflation back down to something that's tolerable.

Price rates are so high that people just feel like they've lost control of their finances. And we're seeing that because of the Iran war. We're seeing that because gas prices and oil prices are rising and rising and rising. That really hurts. But the job market has been steady for a long time.

We're at 4.1 percent unemployment. That is good. That's healthy consumer spending.

[14:40:00]

We've got a really good number today. That's good. This isn't.

And that's why the Fed's addressing that today.

SANCHEZ: David, you went into more detail than the brief segment of what we heard from Warsh there about the war in Iran. He simply described it as geopolitical events.

KEILAR: Geopolitical developments.

SANCHEZ: Developments, yes. I wonder when we talk about the high price of gas right now and how that, you know, generates more inflation, is there much that the Fed can do with the blunt instrument that you described when there is no end in sight right now to this war and the high price of gas and diesel?

GOLDMAN: No. And that is the key thing because these rate cuts are a very blunt tool and you can hurt the economy when you raise them. But here's the thing.

Rate hikes don't do anything about the Iran war. That's going to continue. And, you know, there seems to be no end in sight.

And so if oil prices keep going higher and higher and higher, that's not something that the Fed chair is able to fix. He can't open up the Strait of Hormuz. He can't stop the Houthis from bombing pipelines in Saudi Arabia.

And so we've opened up this can of worms that he has little ability to control. The worry is, well, did the Fed just raise rates and we're going to hurt the job market, but we're not going to address this problem? That we'll have to see in the coming months.

KEILAR: That geopolitical developments was doing a lot of work in his comments there, Boris.

SANCHEZ: A lot of work, David Goldman. Appreciate you. Thanks for joining us.

Stay with CNN. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

[14:45:00]

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SANCHEZ: The family of Charlie Kirk is now accusing officials at Utah Valley University of making a series of what they call reckless decisions that left the conservative activist vulnerable to a rooftop sniper. CNN has obtained a wrongful death notice filed by the family, which blames the school for failing to prevent Kirk's assassination, suggesting that a lawsuit is imminent.

CNN's Nick Watt is following this story for us. So what else is Kirk's family alleging here, Nick?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Boris, big picture. They're saying basically that this university, this state, had no plan in place for hosting a controversial political figure. They say, for example, there were no EMTs, no ambulances.

So Charlie Kirk, after he was shot, had to be taken to the hospital in a private vehicle. They also say there was no barrier around the event, no metal detectors, no drones. Only six police officers.

And they claim that a request from the chief of the campus police to have more officers was denied. Nobody was brought in from other police departments to help. And basically, they also, that picture you're seeing now, they say, look at that.

There were 3,000 people there. Charlie Kirk sitting outdoors in amongst high buildings, basically asking for trouble. They even say that they actually got a warning.

Turning Point apparently got a warning from a student on campus saying, listen, there's access to one of these roofs near here. Maybe you want to deal with that. Turning Point says they passed that on to the police department.

The police chief got back and said, I got you covered. Now, the Kirk family says they did not have anybody covered. And in fact, quote, they left Mr. Kirk helpless to his assassin. Now, they also speak about the broader situation of rising political violence. They mentioned Nancy Pelosi's husband being attacked. They mentioned the assassination of that former house speaker in Minnesota.

And they mention an assassination attempt on President Trump. Quote, they say, "The risk of a rooftop shooter should have been especially top of mind, given the attempted assassination of President Trump." That, they say, just never happened.

So clearly, somebody, Tyler Robinson, is being charged criminally with killing Charlie Kirk. The family now, it appears, taking a step towards a civil action -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: We'll see if and when they file that lawsuit. Nick Watts, thank you so much for that.

Coming up, investigators say what happened in this video sparked a wildfire that burned thousands of acres, damaging more than 100 structures. The details when we come back.

[14:50:00]

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KEILAR: Newly released cell phone video from Washington state shows fireworks being blasted out of a moving truck, and authorities say this sparked a deadly wildfire on the 4th of July. You can see what appears to be a person launching these fireworks in different directions. Investigators believe that is what ignited dry grass along the roadway.

One person was killed. Nearly 10,000 acres burned. More than 100 structures, including homes, were destroyed in the fire. An 18-year- old is facing manslaughter, arson, and other charges.

And it's almost fall, but it doesn't feel like it for parts of the country. A powerful heat dome is impacting millions. And in the meantime, flood threats are rising for parts of the Midwest and the Southwest. CNN's Allison Chinchar has the report.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is the time of year those temperatures should actually be coming back down. But for many areas, especially underneath this heat dome, we're actually seeing the temperatures continue to go up. And because of that, you have a lot of areas that are dealing with a heat advisory.

Not just for today, but some of these areas have been dealing with it for the last few days and will continue for the remainder of the week. Take, for example, Oklahoma City. The average high this time of year is in the mid-80s, but we will spend two out of the next three days with triple-digit high temperatures.

Atlanta going from 91 on Thursday up to 94 on Friday. So those numbers just keep going back up. Now, it's not just a few degrees above average.

For some of these locations, it's record-breaking levels. Every single one of these dots you see here on the map represents a location that could break a record temperature. And in some of them, they could be doing it several days in a row.

So again, this isn't just a one-off type of situation. One thing, too, also is because of the heat, you're starting to see a lot of those showers and thunderstorms fire up around the heat dome. So areas of the Midwest, but even out into the Southwest, looking at some areas of showers and thunderstorms.

Most of these areas, it's just going to be quick pop-up storms. Some others could be looking at maybe, say, four to even six inches of rain over the next couple of days, which could in turn lead to some flooding concerns.

[14:55:00]

It's multiple waves of systems coming through, not just to the Midwest, but also in the Four Corners region. And so that's another component here is that it's essentially one after another that will trigger the additional potential for flooding.

So you have that level three out of four risk across a small portion of New Mexico, as well as Arizona. And that does include places like Phoenix and Flagstaff. But even stretching up over across the Central Plains and into the Midwest, you also have that potential for flooding there.

Again, mostly because it's going to be a multi-storm impact, where you have a lot of these systems getting back to back in some of these same areas. Here's a look at the forecast radar. You can see a lot of heavy rain stretching through the Four Corners region.

And that's going to be a concern. Some of these areas, when you get those downpours at time, it's just simply too much water all coming in at once. That's going to lead to the potential for flooding in some of these areas, especially locations that perhaps have had some wildfires in recent months.

Those burn scars are very susceptible to flooding because it essentially just runs off of these locations. So even though many of these spots may only get one or two inches, it is enough to trigger some flooding concerns.

KEILAR: Our thanks to Allison Chinchar for that report. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts after a quick break.

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