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Netanyahu: Plane Captain Was "Stabbed Or Hit With An Axe" By Co-Pilot; Democrats Show Signs Of Advantage In Early Midterm Voting; Hegseth Lays Out Military Vision: "No Beardos, No Weirdos, No Wimps." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 01, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:32:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the co-pilot who carried out the cockpit attack that nearly crashed a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv used an axe to attack the captain of the plane before passengers stepped in to subdue him. The Boeing 737 plummeted 17,000 feet in just seconds. Some damage to the plane could be seen later on the aircraft.

I want to get right to CNN's Pete Muntean, who is here to walk us through what we've learned about what happened. Good morning, Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

You know, a lot of new information overnight. You mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says the co-pilot of this Flydubai flight may have attacked the captain with an axe. There have been a lot of questions about whether this was the airplane's own crash axe that's carried in the cockpit of a 737 behind the copilot. It's there to help the crew in an emergency, not create one.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN (voiceover): For the passengers on Flydubai Flight 1073, this was the moment of relief after their trip turned terrifying.

The Boeing 737 Max left Dubai for Tel Aviv and climbed normally to 34,000 feet but two hours into the flight, the plane suddenly plunged. Flight Radar 24 data shows a steep descent, a sharp climb, then another dive. The jet ultimately losing nearly 20,000 feet of altitude in 35 seconds, reaching speeds of nearly 700 miles per hour.

MIKA BAUMAN, FLYDUBAI PASSENGER: We just felt the plane drop completely and start spinning a little and everyone was screaming. There were children crying.

MUNTEAN (voiceover): Israeli officials say the flight's first officer stabbed the captain, identified as Smit Machchhar from India, and then tried to crash the airplane. Passengers and off-duty Flydubai pilots rushed forward and forced their way into the cockpit. The injured pilot apparently able to unlock the door.

YANIV HAYOUN: (Speaking foreign language).

MUNTEAN (voiceover): "I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold, and dragged him out first," passenger Yaniv Hayoun told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his shirt still stained with blood.

HAYOUN: (Speaking foreign language).

MUNTEAN (voiceover): "Two other guys came over," he said. "I jumped back, grabbed the controls and started pulling back the handles. The plane started to level out a bit and then the pilot told me he was taking over the controls from there." Hayoun told Netanyahu he knew what to do because he watched documentaries about plane crashes.

Disturbing video shows passengers providing first aid to the stabbed pilot, his blood smeared on a door. Nearby, the attacker also apparently injured in a blood-soaked shirt.

"They tried to murder the pilot, and we took over the crew," one passenger says. By then, the flight had declared an emergency, first transmitting the emergency transponder code, then the code for a hijacking.

PASSENGER: We have taken control of the terrorists. We are about to land. Anyone who hears me, we need help.

MUNTEAN (voiceover): The plane landed in Saudi Arabia, apparently damaged by the force of the sudden dive.

Ultimately arriving at Tel Aviv's airport on a different Flydubai flight, Israeli passengers chanted, "the people of Israel live" after a brush with death that apparently originated from inside the cockpit.

[07:35:10]

PASSENGER: I felt that I am losing it and I'm going to lose all my family. It was very, very terrifying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: The co-pilot, the alleged attacker, has yet to be publicly identified. We do know he was an Omani national.

Israel has characterized this as an act of terror, but investigators have not publicly established a motive.

It's worth mentioning that there have been previous cases of pilots deliberately and successfully crashing commercial flights, like the Germanwings crash of 2015. That crash intensified scrutiny of pilot mental health, and pilots have long warned that seeking treatment can jeopardize their medical certification and their livelihood.

Just last week, the Senate unanimously passed a bill aimed at reducing that stigma and expanding mental health options for pilots. It still has to pass the House -- John. BERMAN: Yeah, a lot going on here.

Pete Muntean, thank you very much. Such dramatic footage there -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. To continue the conversation joining me now is CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. Thank you for being here this morning.

I just -- I'm wondering how the co-pilot could have managed to get a weapon on, like a knife or, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, an axe on board because they, too -- we see them all the time going through security.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Right. So this is going to be part of the investigation. You know, there's an irony here, of course, that we've made the cockpit so secure that you just assume that once you're in there as a pilot or co-pilot that you're safe.

And how he got it in there and whether it was the axe itself -- the axe that is used for first aid and other purposes if there's an accident -- is the question that will be investigated. It does look like -- just given the injuries that are described about the pilot who was stabbed it does appear that these are major injuries. This is not a minor knife. And so that's going to be one of the questions.

Fortunately, of course, I mean this is the -- you know, the things that you think about -- what if, what if.

SIDNER: Right.

KAYYEM: If the pilot who had been stabbed was not able to open the cockpit door, this would have had geopolitical consequences because that cockpit -- it's impossible -- almost nearly impossible to get into unless a pilot allows others in. So his ability to think through this is what he needed to do is beyond heroic. It really is unbelievable.

SIDNER: Yeah, and he's being hailed a hero. This pilot from India being held a hero --

KAYYEM: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- after all of this, because getting that door open was the key to keeping this flight from crashing.

KAYYEM: Absolutely.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you what in -- what investigators will be looking at now. How they will be getting --

KAYYEM: Yes.

SIDNER: -- information on this co-pilot and sort of what intelligence officials are doing at this very moment.

KAYYEM: Yes. So this is -- this is where we don't want to get ahead of the story. I know Prime Minister Netanyahu sort of clearly called it terrorism. It looks like terrorism. It seems like terrorism. But one of the reasons why you don't sort of allege that until you absolutely know or have some sort of understanding of what the motivation is, is because the consequences of that, in particular, if this is a state- sponsored terrorism attack, are quite significant.

So they're going to be looking -- and they being, of course, UAE, Oman, where the pilot is allegedly from, and then, of course, Israelis who Netanyahu said that the Israelis are going to be part of the investigation. I'm not sure how formally -- that they're going to look to two areas here.

One is, of course, the terrorism ties, radicalization. Whether it was self-radicalization. Whether he had said or done anything, posted anything, social media, and then also related to that, his ties to others. Had he been in communication with others?

The second -- the second area they're going to look at is, of course, mental decline. Was this a combination of things? And then that's where the investigation will lead right now.

SIDNER: Juliette Kayyem, it is good to have you on this story. Thank you so much. Appreciate your analysis this morning -- John.

BERMAN: All right. A new look this morning at the early votes shows Democrats ahead of their pace from 2024 in states with key races -- a bigger share requesting ballots than two years ago. In Iowa, it's up 13 points from 2024. In Pennsylvania, up four. In Maine, up four. And in North Carolina, up six. More than 690,000 Americans have already voted. Of course, what's on those ballots we don't know for sure. We just know who's requesting them.

With us now, former Obama campaign manager and CEO of the Messina Group, Jim Messina. Also with us, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist and former Trump campaign adviser David Urban. A lot of campaign genius here at this table this morning.

[07:40:00]

Careers have been made and broken on leaning into the early vote or over analyzing --

JIM MESSINA, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN MANAGER, CEO, THE MESSINA GROUP: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- the early vote.

MESSINA: That's right.

BERMAN: But what can you learn and not learn from these numbers that show up -- show Democrats showing up in greater percentages than they did two years ago? MESSINA: Look, when I run a campaign, I don't look at the daily polls. I look at the enthusiasm numbers. Are my voters more enthusiastic than the other side? And these early numbers are really important to track that you know who's voting. And the fact that we're talking about a midterm election and you have higher Democratic early vote than in a presidential election two years ago shows you enthusiasm.

You're right, it doesn't show you who they're voting for, but it does show you are your voters more enthusiastic than the other side. And 33 days before the election, you'd like to start out there.

BERMAN: In "The Untouchables," Robert De Niro called it enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, David Urban. How important are enthusiasms?

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Yeah, look, it's important. As Jim said, midterms are about turnout. That's why you see Donald Trump -- who is not on the ballot, but who is on the ballot, right -- kind of going to barnstorm a lot of places, red states, you know, particularly to get the base out. It's important. You know, this midterm convention they had in Texas?

BERMAN: The one that Ken Paxton said actually lost some support?

URBAN: Oh yeah. I'm not quite sure that's why Ken Paxton lost some altitude.

But it's important. It's important to motivate your base to get people turned out, right? Jim's parties out there -- you know, the traditional orange man bad, world's coming to an end. We've got to get out there and motivate our folks and say no, socialism is going to end the world. And so I think that's the dueling narratives you have in these different states. And so it's all about turnout at the end of the day.

And again, the mail-ins are important because Jim knows, once you see those mail-ins you know who to go knock and drag then, right, because you'll know who have already voted. You look at the rolls you say, OK, well, David voted, Jim didn't. Let's go knock on Jim's door. Let's skip over David. And that's why early voting and vote by mail, which the president a big fan of, is really important.

BERMAN: Do Democrats have the turnout operation they normally do to get to those people this time around, though, Jim?

MESSINA: Absolutely, because they have Donald Trump.

BERMAN: All right.

MESSINA: To David's point, like, Donald Trump motivates Democratic voters more than any Democratic politician.

BERMAN: All right. You were talking about, David, roughly the idea of going out and selling here. Because President Trump said something yesterday and I feel like I've heard this every two or four years from politicians of both parties which, you know, the problem isn't how we're doing. The problem is I'm just not selling it well enough. We're just not communicating how awesome we are.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going out because nobody's selling it. I'm doing-- we're doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: OK. We didn't have to look far to find another politician who sounded a little bit like that.

URBAN: Oh, I know.

BERMAN: This was Joe Biden --

URBAN: We talked about that.

BERMAN: This was Joe Biden after Democrats lost the election in 2024 -- listen.

JOE BIDEN, (D) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we made a lot of commitments, and we know billion-dollar tunnels going through the -- for Amtrak, bridges, so much. But we weren't quite as good as he was about advertising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It's just the sales problem, David.

URBAN: Look, to a large extent, it really is true, right? Donald -- and Donald Trump is the collective. He's the we, right, when he says we're not selling.

Like the other day I was on and the Census Bureau had come out with great statistics for the Trump administration. Poverty is at an all- time low -- historic low since they've kept records. Donald Trump didn't talk about that, right? He was talking about the Kennedy Center and all these other things.

Donald Trump needs to focus on the great things that Donald Trump's doing, not the reflecting pool, not the arch, not the Kennedy Center. People want to know how that $20.00 bill is going to get stretched a little bit so they can fill up their tank and get food for their kids.

BERMAN: So Joe Biden was -- was Joe Biden right also?

URBAN: Also, Joe Biden was right. He was correct. The economy was doing fairly well, actually. And so -- but you can't convince people what they don't understand, right? The market's doing well. They don't feel it, though.

MESSINA: The Wall Street Journal poll out this morning. Sixty-eight percent of Americans disapprove of the economy right now. It's more than just selling. People are looking at four and a half dollar gas, $7.00 diesel coming up, grocery prices through the roof. They're suffering out there. The average swing voter has almost three jobs right now. They want someone to focus on them and not talk to David's point about the Kennedy Center and arches. They want economic every day.

BERMAN: I'm just trying to remember a time when I've heard a party or candidate say we need to do a better job selling it when it actually worked. That's something you say when you know --

MESSINA: You're right.

BERMAN: I mean, can you think of a time?

MESSINA: No, no. That's when you start making excuses. And 33 days before the election you don't want to start making excuses.

BERMAN: OK.

Hubris, you're starting to Democrat -- one of the things that's starting to happen is you're starting to hear Democrats say maybe we've peaked too early here, Jim.

MESSINA: Yeah. Look, we're Democrats. We could screw up free beer on a Friday night. Like, we have blown leads before here. Let's not get out of hand. We've got to run through the tape. David's party -- David had it exactly right. They're going to close the socialism; we're going to close up the economy. You can assume nothing.

[07:45:00]

But the fact that Donald Trump, 33 days before the election, is going to Oklahoma today where he carried by 34 points -- like, that is good for the Democrats, but we could screw this up. Let's be very clear.

URBAN: Yeah. And, you know, to your point, I saw Harry on the show yesterday.

BERMAN: We put him on every once in a while.

URBAN: Yeah. He's OK. Drag him out. But, you know, Harry's numbers on Ohio, Michigan and --

BERMAN: And Iowa.

URBAN: Yeah, Iowa, Michigan and Ohio showed how, you know, Jim's party for the past four elections has underperformed by six to nine points roughly, right?

BERMAN: The polls in September --

URBAN: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- what they ultimately got on Election Day, it could be anywhere -- four, six, nine points --

URBAN: Right.

BERMAN: -- below what they were polling in September.

URBAN: And so if that holds true, right, all this, there's a -- there's a false high here. And that's the problem that, you know, Democrats or anybody who's ahead, right?

There are two ways to run a race, scared and unopposed, right? And so you run scared because all those things can come true. You got to run through the tape. And the good news for us is everyone's got to stay tuned. We'll be up late on election night, and we'll find out at some point in the weeks afterwards where things fall.

BERMAN: Who would you rather be today?

URBAN: Listen, in the in the House, I'd rather be Jim's party. In the Senate, I still like our chances.

MESSINA: I agree with that. I think the House is definitely going to go Democratic. I think the Senate -- Democrats have to carry two states where Donald Trump won by double digits. That is a hard -- that is a hard --

URBAN: We're finally in agreement here.

BERMAN: I know. Aggressive agreement here.

MESSINA: You brought the parties together at 7:30 in the morning.

BERMAN: Yeah, in the morning. I'm not always this good at bringing people together.

David Urban, Jim Messina, good to see both of you. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much, John.

A tough morning for Berman over there. Sorry, Berman. The Yankees dominating the Red Sox once again to sweep the Wild Card series.

CNN's Andy Scholes is with us this morning. Give us the goods and upset --

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- Berman at the same time.

SCHOLES: Well, you know, I got the baseball blues as well. You know, my Astros didn't even bother showing up against the White Sox, so I certainly feel Berman's pain this morning.

But hey, it was another fun night at Yankee Stadium for New York fans. Luis Garcia Jr. -- he opened the scoring in the 4th inning with a solo home run. And then the Yankees, they chased Red Sox starter Sonny Gray in the 5th, which he was not happy about after the game. And then Boston's bullpen, they surrendered seven runs. The Yankees -- they ended up winning the game 9-2. They outscored the

Red Sox 18-2 in the series, which is the largest run differential ever in a Wild Card series. They now move on to face the Rays.

The Phillies, meanwhile -- they were on the brink of elimination against the Braves yesterday after Bryce Harper -- he misplayed this ball in the 7th, allowing a run to score. Philly was down 3-1 in the 8th inning, but Kyle Schwarber, he would come up to the plate and come through with a solo shot. And then the next batter, Harper -- he makes up for that mistake. Schwarber and Harper go back-to-back to tie the game.

And then in the 10th, Alec Bohm comes through in the clutch, the opposite field home run. The Phillies end up shocking the Braves 4-3. Now the decisive game three of that series is going to be the lone game tonight 8:00 Eastern.

Cubs' fans, meanwhile, they're down just as bad as Boston fans this morning. Pico Armstrong, who is likely going to win NL MVP -- he went 0-4 again last night in game two against the Padres. PCA, Alex Bregman and Michael Busch, a combined 0-20 in the two games in San Diego. Gavin Sheets -- he had a big pinch hit two run home run for the Padres in this one. They win 4-1 to win the series. They now move on to face the Brewers.

But there will still be baseball in Chicago in October thanks to the White Sox. After losing more than 100 games the last three seasons, Chicago sweeping the Astros. The White Sox, the first team in baseball history to lead at the end of every inning of a postgame series. They won game two in Houston 7-3 to claim their first series win since 2005.

And the party was then on with first baseman Munetaka Murakami in the clubhouse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUNETAKA MURAKAMI, FIRST/THIRD BASEMAN, CHICAGO WHITE SOX: No! I'm drunk. Yeah, yesterday, maybe hangover, you know? Yeah.

REPORTER: Tomorrow, hungover.

MURAKAMI: Yes. No, no, yesterday, tomorrow. Yeah, sorry. I don't speak English.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Hey, you know, Sara, now that my Astros are out, I think I'm going to root for the White Sox, because I just want to see Murakami celebrate more.

SIDNER: Yeah, that was really, really fun. He's like, I don't care. It's all good. Whatever. I'm having a great time here.

Andy Scholes, thank you so much. I know you and Berman are a little -- a little hurt this morning. It'll get better, maybe. All right. The future of war-fighting may be determined by Elon Musk and Newt

Gingrich. A new study the unlikely duo are now leading.

And a terrifying near miss with a semi-truck caught on camera. Look at this. Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:54:25]

BERMAN: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a speech laying out his military vision, billed as his "State of the Force" address. He did announce some new initiatives, but mostly, or it did seem like cast a heavy focus on the culture war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We are no longer the woke department or the weak department. Simple translation of that: no fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals; just warriors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: With us now, CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh.

[07:55:00]

So how much does this do to improve the readiness and capabilities of the U.S. military?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I mean, a speech like that does absolutely nothing to improve the readiness or capabilities of the military. What you saw yesterday was a pretty embarrassing display of perceived strength when right now Pete Hegseth is looking pretty weak.

I mean, he's trying to hollow out the force by cutting our general and flag officers by 20 percent at a time when the U.S. military is engaged in a very serious war with Iran, when you need those decades and decades of experience at the table and you need the ideas coming from people that don't always agree with you. But he is instead hollowing out the force and making it in his image.

And so I got many texts yesterday from people still there that were saying this was just embarrassing to watch because what people really want in the military is to focus on their job. And frankly, passing out a 144-page book to the 600 people that were in that room and giving everyone t-shirts does not make the force more ready for the wars of tomorrow.

BERMAN: So he announced -- the secretary did -- that he's creating a new group called Project Meridian with Elon Musk, Newt Gingrich, and Palmer Luckey, and the idea is to study the future of warfare. So what do you think that means? SINGH: Well, Newt Gingrich was a bit of a head-scratcher there, but Palmer Luckey and Elon Musk, in particular, these two individuals have very, very large contracts with the Department of Defense. And we know that Pete Hegseth has been focused on bringing in new capabilities, which is not a bad thing. But I think what's a problem here is the conflict of interest that this raises.

And again, I was talking to sources yesterday, and people are very concerned of what this new project could look like when it comes to remaking the battlefield. I think we're seeing the modern-day battlefield, whether it's in Ukraine or Iran, so we're getting that real-world experience every single day.

I'm not exactly sure where this Project Meridian goes, but if it's studying something that could help inform the department, that's fine. It's more about the conflict of interest that I have concerns about.

BERMAN: He also suggested or announced that he wants to build a giant new military base somewhere in the United States, you know, with as many as 25,000 troops. He called it a fortress, and he sort of set up a situation where states could fight each other to have that base in their territory.

How much does the U.S. need a giant new military fortress?

SINGH: Well, I don't even think we can afford a giant military new fortress at this point. I mean, we are asking for $1.5 trillion from Congress. In the meantime, we know that the Iran war has cost billions of billions of dollars to the American taxpayer. Millions and millions of dollars are going to have to be re-spent -- are going to have to be spent rebuilding some of the damaged infrastructure in the Middle East.

So I'm not exactly sure what a fortress in the United States is going to do to protect our interests overseas and abroad when we have so much rebuilding to do. And I'm not sure states are going to want to compete for this right now anyways.

BERMAN: Sabrina Singh, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

On our radar now to Nebraska and a terrifyingly close call on the highway in Omaha. Look at this. Dashcam video shows a semi skidding out of control, coming within feet of the driver's hood before the trailer ends up whipping around and correcting it. The driver told CNN, "I thought I was getting hit or rear-ended at least." Heavy rain enhanced by the remnants of Hurricane Polo made the roads really slick. Oof, my goodness.

All right. New video showing the moment a Kansas City sheriff pulled over to help another officer rescue a man from -- you see that truck burning there as it was being engulfed in flames. They were able to pull that driver out as you can see there and get him away from the truck just before you hear that blast -- just in time. The vehicle later exploded. The driver suffered burns on his legs and was taken to the hospital.

And we're getting a look at one of Atlanta's newest celebrity residents. He's real hungry. Fu Shuang is one of two pandas that arrived at the Atlanta Zoo over the weekend. The zoo says he and Ping Ping are adjusting, and clearly, they're eating well. You gotta love it.

All right, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

Breaking overnight, Democrats appearing to have an edge. New polling showing an early voting advantage with hundreds of thousands having already cast their votes in mail-in voting. This morning, President Trump preparing to hit the campaign trail hard and complaining Republicans should be bragging more about how he sees the country.

Now, new details about the suspected attempted hijacking that Israel's prime minister says could have been another 9/11. He also says a suspect used an axe in the attack.

And man's best friend lives up to that reputation once again.