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Five Dead, Five Hurt After Cargo Plane Overshoots Runway in Miami; GOP Set To Gather In Dallas For Midterm Convention This Week; U.S. Set To Honor Victims 25 Years After 9/11 Attacks; Ohio Gubernatorial Candidate Attacked During Campaign Event; New York School District Bans AI In The Classroom Up To 8th Grade. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 06, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: I think we can get back to $3 hopefully.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When?

BESSENT: Maybe by Labor Day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Now, look, all right, we are here at Labor Day. Hasn't quite happened. Again, the political realm very different than the business realm at times. But bottom line, I just wonder how much weight do you give to any price forecasts with the U.S. and Iran still struggling over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Is it essentially you just have to wait until this is resolved?

TOM KLOZA, CHIEF ENERGY ADVISER, GULF OIL: I would say any presidential administration this century, it's been more propaganda than it's been really predicting what's going to happen with prices. And right now, we're looking at a fall that's going to be the most expensive ever for gasoline. But really for diesel. And that's going to fuel every aspect of inflation.

Think about the farmers who are paying record prices for fertilizer and record prices for diesel right now. You're going to see higher agricultural prices through the harvest season.

JIMENEZ: Tom Kloza, I appreciate the time and expertise. Thank you for being here.

And a new hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JIMENEZ: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York. We are following breaking news out of Miami International Airport,

where flights are now able to take off and land again. But this is hours after what you're seeing on your screen there. A cargo plane flying from Puerto Rico to Miami overshoots the runway and crashes into several vehicles before catching fire.

You can see the Amazon cargo plane in this eyewitness video that we showed you earlier. But this is what we are seeing from the air now. We heard from officials just a short time ago with a grim update. At least five people have been killed in this incident, including a harrowing search and rescue of the pilot and co-pilot trapped in the aircraft.

I want you to just take a listen to a little bit more of what we heard from the fire chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF RAIED "RAY" JADALLAH, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE: The airplane did strike a couple of vehicles that required a couple of victims that were actually trapped in the vehicles. So a complex extrication with our technical rescue teams started to occur. In addition to that, we had a very complex fire engine compartments that were on fire and including a search and rescue of the pilot and co-pilot that were trapped in this aircraft.

This incident will continue for the next several days as we play now a supporting role with the sheriff's office as they determine the cause of the deaths. Total 10 that were involved, five fatalities, three that are in critical condition that were transported to the trauma center, and another two that were transported to a local hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: A lot to talk about here. CNN transportation analyst and former inspector general for the Transportation Department, Mary Schiavo, joins us now.

So, Mary, we're getting these initial details right now. A lot still we don't know at this point, as this only happened just a few hours ago. But what are your initial impressions based on what we've heard so far?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, my initial impressions, I mean, there are so many issues that the investigators will want to investigate. What was the speed at this plane was approaching? This model of airplane should have been about 130 to 145 knots. Some preliminary information indicates it was above that airspeed. The -- it landed, this runway is not short. It's fairly long 2,560 feet. And then it went 1,500 feet beyond that. So that's a lot of speed, a lot of energy that was dissipated on landing.

Obviously the winds, there was a thunderstorm that had passed through. There's some indication that there was a 26-knot either crosswind or tailwind. That translates to 30 miles an hour. That certainly could have pushed this plane further down the runway. And then, of course, they're going to be looking at the runway itself. Where is there water standing on the runway? Could the plane get any braking action?

Did the plane's methods of stopping work, its thrust reversers, its spoilers, its speed brakes? And then at the end of the runway, even though this is a very populated area, there was no what's called arrester beds or it's called EMAS. It's literally like a box of cement that crunch and stop the plane. That obviously wasn't present at the end of this runway. So investigators will have an awful lot to look at.

And all of those could, and certainly the lack of arrester beds at the end of the runway, did play a, you know, have a factor in this. And then there was also a NOTAM, a notice to airmen, that said the -- what's called the PAPI lights were not functioning. That's a precision approach lights. It shouldn't have made a difference here because you use other instruments to get your glide into the runway, your descent. But that might have -- also they might have been looking for those. So there's just lots that the investigators will have to go on.

[18:05:00]

No mayday call before touchdown so they did not know of any mechanical problem before they actually touched down on that runway.

JIMENEZ: And as we heard from emergency officials, they say there were people trapped inside some of the vehicles on the ground. The pilots were trapped as well. Can you just give us a sense of how the response gets complicated when you have a situation where the plane is off the runway and is now interacted with passersby vehicles or vehicles that are outside of sort of that main runway area?

SCHIAVO: And it's on fire. I mean, looking at that plane, I mean, the right wing, you know, certainly looks, you know, completely gone. And it was on fire. So the firefighters had to deal with that first. They had to get the fire out to stop any further loss of life, explosions, et cetera. And then it's difficult to know, you know, who and what you're rescuing on the ground. The plane cut a pretty wide swath there, 1500 feet past the end of the runway.

So they have, you know, three major areas of triage. Getting that fire out on the wing, finding out, you know, who and what was hit on the ground, and then getting the pilot and co-pilot out as well, who had been trapped. So these emergency responders and firefighters had a lot on their plate. And it's very fortunate they got that fire out on the wing.

JIMENEZ: And at this moment, you know, we've been showing the images of the plane on the screen there, sort of where it came to rest. We've been seeing crews throughout the day sort of spraying some water onto or what appears to be water onto the plane. Right now it looks like there's some water maybe being sprayed on the ground as well.

What would be happening at this stage post a crash like this on the scene as of course there are also folks being treated at hospitals?

SCHIAVO: Well, on the scene, there's certainly going to make sure there's no hotspots. There's nothing else that can burn, that the plane is secured from any further fire or any activity. And then, of course, because the investigators are in route, they're going to want to be able to, you know, pull the black boxes. They -- it appears that everyone involved was transported to the hospital. But the pilot and co-pilot will need to be interviewed.

But right now, their biggest job is securing that aircraft and the accident site until the investigators arrive. They're not allowed to move it, the NTSB, I know they've mentioned the FBI, but, excuse me, the FAA, but I think the NTSB will be coming and nothing is to move until they get there. And so it's securing it, making sure nothing further can happen, you know, with the plane or the cargo or the fuel or the ground. And then awaiting in the arrival of the official investigators.

JIMENEZ: All right. Mary Schiavo, really appreciate the perspective on this breaking news that, again, we now know five people are dead after this cargo plane overshot the runway. We'll continue to monitor the details there.

Mary, thank you.

We're also following a few other stories, and we want to keep you updated on some of the politics as we get closer to the midterms because we are less than two months away from election day. But the campaigning is already kicking into high gear. In just a few days, for example, Republicans will descend on Dallas for what the GOP describes as the first ever Republican midterm convention.

President Trump has been teasing the event, calling it, quote, "the greatest rally of them all." But some Republicans have been looking to the president to energize the base as we get into this election season, even without President Trump's name at the top of the ticket this election cycle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE GRUTERS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: It's going to be a Trump-palooza. It's going to be an amazing opportunity for us to basically go out there and tell the American people all the great things that this president has done and all the great things that we're going to continue to do over the final two years of his administration.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So what I really want you to do is pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot. Just come and vote. It's so important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: But not every Republican is on board. CNN reports that some Republicans are privately raising concerns about the tone of the event and how an event so focused on Trump could potentially affect some of the more vulnerable Republican candidates.

CNN correspondent Julia Benbrook joins us now.

So, Julia, what are we expecting from the convention this week?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a new thing. And President Donald Trump and his political team, they had an idea for this midterm convention last year as a way to engage GOP voters. And at the time, most in his party did believe that this was a good move. But there has been a political shift in mood in recent weeks on some key topics, like Trump's tariffs, as well as the ongoing conflict in Iran that has now stretched into its sixth month. So, as you mentioned, our reporting has found that some Republicans are privately questioning if this event right now strikes the right tone.

[18:10:01]

And there are a couple of key reasons for that. One being that many voters right now are having to pay closer attention to their own budgets. So having this kind of over-the-top type event might not sit well with some. And then it's how close this is taking place to the actual midterms. This takes some of the candidates out of key areas and districts really close to that time, and some in key races have said that they will not be able to attend.

And then in that clip you played, they refer to it as Trump-palooza. So it has been dubbed as that by some. And that leads to an overall question. Will this focus too much on the president and not on those who are actually on the ballot? But as far as Trump is concerned, that's exactly how people should be focused. He says they should pretend he's on the ballot. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There's a theory that I get the vote. You know, I see it all the time that when Trump's on the ballot, they win. When he's out of the ballot, the people don't go to vote. And I'm asking the people through your brilliant show, number one show, I'm asking the people to get out and vote, pretend I'm on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: It is important to note that when Trump appeared at the 2024 Republican convention that took place in Milwaukee, that was an emotional appearance, a powerful one. It was his first appearance after he survived that assassination attempt. And he did say that he reworked his prepared remarks after that took place.

Now, of course, he did win the White House. Republicans won control of both chambers of Congress, and they are looking to try and keep it that way in these midterms. Now, several recognizable names will take the stage during this convention, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Vice President J.D. Vance. Trump is expected to speak both nights.

JIMENEZ: All right. Julia Benbrook, really appreciate the reporting there.

I want to talk about this a little bit more with our political panel and CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, and Republican strategist Pete Seat, who is also a former White House spokesperson under the George W. Bush administration.

So, Pete, I want to ask you about some of the additional issues that have been raised about this upcoming convention. For one, the entrance fees are reportedly $25,000 and up for House members. It's also taking candidates off the campaign trail for a few days so they can get to Dallas. And the primetime speakers, not for nothing. They're going up against the first two games of the NFL season. So with all of these concerns, I mean, do you think this convention is actually going to make a difference for candidates who might need that extra boost going into November?

PETE SEAT, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It needs to make a difference for those candidates who need an extra boost. I mean, look, it cuts both ways. Democrats are trying to run up the score. And the way they will do that is by making Donald Trump central to their campaigns. He is obviously not popular among Democrats, but for Republicans, they're trying to mitigate losses. And the way they do it, whereas it may feel and sound counterintuitive, but that is to also put Donald Trump front and center because we need those low propensity voters, the folks who only showed up because of Donald Trump in '16, '20 and '24, we need them.

They may not have shown up in 2018 or 2022. We need them in 2026. And they need to feel, as the president has said, that Donald Trump is on the ballot and that by voting for Republican candidates, they are helping the president and his agenda succeed. So it feels counterintuitive. It will help both parties. But hopefully in some of these marginal districts that are highly competitive, it will make the difference between winning and losing for Republican candidates.

JIMENEZ: It's kind of rare that we've got unity on both sides of the aisle here. Both parties want Donald Trump out on the campaign trail for very different reasons.

Maria, you know, as we talked about earlier, some Republicans have privately raised concerns about President Trump's proximity to some more vulnerable candidates. But, again, realistically, he is the leader of the party. He galvanized a lot of Republicans, at least in the primaries that we saw. How are you and the Democrats viewing this two-day convention in terms of what you think its impact will be?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We think it's great because the more that Trump is out there on the trail, especially in these very competitive, purple races, the better it is going to be for Democrats because, look, Pete is right. They are in a situation, Republicans are in a situation where they're even losing support from their most voters that love them. And so if they're losing support from their most engaged voters, what does that mean for the rest of the electorate?

And there, I think, is where the danger is because while you might be able to have Trump out there and have him engage some of those supporters that, you know, are not so engaged now, not so excited, he's losing independents.

[18:15:02] He's losing moderates, he's losing the people that he actually -- let him win in '24 because of the fact that he has done nothing to keep the promises that he made in 2024, and that is what is hurting him. That's why his approval numbers are in the low 30s. When you look at what he's talked about in terms of the economy, when he says that he doesn't really care about the economic situations of Americans, when he talks about how he thinks the affordability crisis is a hoax.

All of those things have gone to making Americans believe that he has betrayed them. And then you have tariffs, and then you have the Iran war. You have the corruption, you have the cruelty from the ICE enforcement.

All of those issues, Omar, are going to go toward turning off his own voters and engaging voters that have just had it with him. And that's all going to be good news for Democrats in the midterm elections.

JIMENEZ: Well, with these elections, the one good thing is it is a referendum from the people one way or another on how the president or otherwise has handled many of these issues.

One thing, Pete, that the president has focused a lot on has been the fight over voting by mail. For example, earlier today, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to once again approve a plan that would restrict mail voting ahead of the midterm elections.

I wonder, what do you see as the Trump administration's end goal here? And I guess, are you concerned at all about this push so close to -- I mean, what is getting ever closer to election day?

SEAT: Well, look, ballots are already being mailed out in some states. Personally, I think it's crazy that ballots are being mailed out two months before the election itself. A lot can happen between now and then, but when it comes to this mail-in balloting push, I don't see why we have to go down this road. I'm all for voter I.D., I'm all for citizenship tests to make sure that only citizens are voting in elections.

But there is no evidence of widespread mail-in balloting fraud. I understand the arguments, though, about chain of custody, which the administration has been making. A lot of this gets caught up in the political rhetoric about mail-in voting, but the chain of custody makes sense. There's a lot of hands involved, a lot of steps involved, from printing ballots to mailing ballots to actually voting at home and then mailing it back, having it processed, having it count.

There's a lot going on and some more oversight makes sense to me, but I don't think having the U.S. Postal Service involved makes sense. I don't think nationalizing it in some way makes sense. I'll be honest. I have voted several times, absentee by mail myself. The thing that I'm concerned about is not necessarily counting. I'm more concerned about it just getting there because I don't trust the Postal Service, quite frankly.

So I'm always hitting refresh in our voter portal to make sure that it's received. And then at that point, I know it's going to be counted.

JIMENEZ: Well, trusting the Postal Service, that's a whole different show, a whole different panel. We can get to that next time.

You know, Maria, I just want to ask you about Senator John Fetterman before we go because, look, he's facing a little bit of a public rift with former staffers. And he is in office at least through 2028. But there's already an initiative to primary the Pennsylvania Democrat by the Working Families Party, which that group actually supported Fetterman in 2022. Point blank, does Senator Fetterman have a future in the Democratic Party? How are you viewing him right now?

CARDONA: I think that's a really good question, Omar. And that's all going to depend on how this plays out with the voters of Pennsylvania. And look, I think what has happened is when John Fetterman was elected, the voters in Pennsylvania thought they were getting a fighter for working class voters, right? For the progressives. And it turns out that he has now shifted and has become more of a blue dog.

And that has really upset the voters in Pennsylvania who believe he actually has become kind of a different person, a very different senator than the one that they thought they elected. And so that's why you're seeing everything that is unfolding with the staff members, everything that is unfolding with what you just mentioned, him being primaried back in Pennsylvania. So I think it all depends what happens in these next two years.

Now, I will say that Democrats have to be careful because we say we're a big tent party. We have to be a big tent party. Fetterman is a Democrat and he still votes the vast majority of the time with Democrats. And so we have to accept that he might be in a different place on some issues, and he might believe in his heart that that's how he's serving his own voters.

[18:20:01]

In the end of the day, those voters in '28 are going to be the ones that are going to make the decision whether he continues in the Senate or not.

JIMENEZ: All right. Maria Cardona, Pete Seat, appreciate you both. Thank you for taking the time.

CARDONA: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right.

SEAT: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Meanwhile, for much of the day on September 11th, 2001, Air Force One was just one of a handful of planes in the sky. President Bush's pilot on that day, Colonel Mark Tillman, joins us next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JIMENEZ: Twenty-five years ago this week, America was changed when four commercial planes were hijacked as part of a terrorist plot.

[18:25:01]

Two of them crashing into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Another would crash into the Pentagon outside Washington. The fourth would not reach its target, going down in a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers rushed the cockpit.

We all remember where we were on that day, September 11th, 2001. Air travel in the country would be grounded. All planes forced to land. But my next guest would pilot one of the only planes in the sky that day.

Colonel Mark Tillman was flying Air Force One carrying President George W. Bush across the country as they left Sarasota, Florida, stopping in military bases in Louisiana and Nebraska before returning to Washington.

Retired Air Force colonel and the commander of Air Force One, Mark Tillman, thank you for joining us. I just want to start with what do you remember most about that day?

COL. MARK TILLMAN (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: You know, it was a day where there was a lot of confusion. It didn't really get a good feel for what was completely going on, whether we were a target or not. But we analyzed the situation and came up with the plan that, you know, our job is to protect the president. So no matter what was thrown at us, we'd be ready for it.

JIMENEZ: You know, when you took off from Sarasota, Florida, the attack was really still unfolding. Did you know where you were going to fly to? Did you have a flight plan?

TILLMAN: We did. As soon as the president made his decision that we were going to move from Sarasota, we -- he had decided we were heading back to Washington, D.C. so we had everything set up to get to Washington, D.C. as quick as possible, to get him back to the command and control there at the White House. So that was our goal.

And then, as you saw, as things unfolded between aircraft hitting the Pentagon, Flight 93, everything started to change at that point and had to kind of make everything up on the run and still protect the president but given the capability to address the American public as well as address the command and control of the United States military.

JIMENEZ: You know, you are a professional military background. You're doing this job, which is already an incredibly serious job, piloting Air Force One. And then here you are on this day in particular. Was there any part of you that was worried as you took off flying into, yes, you have a flight plan, but essentially flying into the unknown in terms of what would come next?

TILLMAN: You know, my big concern was doing everything right. The whole crew had been trained for every scenario that they could throw at us, nuclear attack, et cetera. We were ready to make things happen. The challenge was we had to assume every aircraft that was transponder off, not talking to the controllers was a threat for us. So we were given multiple threats, kind of the fog of war once everything started.

But we countered each one and kept the president safe, brought in the right military capability. And at that point, once the president made the decision to turn away from Washington, it was more of a shell game, not letting the people know where he would be at, but getting tremendous support from the military. Barksdale Air Force Base, Offutt Air Force Base, just an incredible amount of people came together and made things happen for him.

JIMENEZ: You know, you flew President Bush across the country, around the world, even taking the president and Air Force One on a secret flight to Baghdad, landing and taking off in the cover of night. I wonder how you think about the difference in those particular missions, for example, flying on September 11th or flying to and from Iraq in secret? Do you view them as differently? Was one more stressful or had different considerations than the other?

TILLMAN: No, I mean, the Baghdad trip we had, we had weeks to figure out exactly what the procedures would be. The -- on September 11th, the challenge was, you know, once the four aircraft were on the ground or actually had been -- had met their targets as such, we had to figure out exactly what was left. Was there something waiting for us back in Washington, D.C.? There was never an idea of what the entire plan was.

So we had to treat it as though there may be something going on in Washington. So we delayed, set everything up for Washington, D.C., but got fighters on the wing, radar planes overhead and basically protection while we're airborne. So we could actually get them home and get them safe again. So a lot of people got involved. And I got a lot of advice from senior military leadership. But in the end, it's a true pleasure and it's amazing flying with President Bush takes care of business. And he had a lot of inputs that day. And he made great decisions as we were flying along.

JIMENEZ: You know, before we go here, and as we come up on the 25th anniversary of September 11th, what do you hold on to most from that day? What still sticks with you from that day?

TILLMAN: You know, the biggest thing in my mind is the concept of never forgetting.

[18:30:04]

It was, you know, say, they caught -- terrorists caught us with our pants down. I mean, they did a lot of things that we never had expected. But America recovered. We came together. America, you know, people from all over the country came together. And it was incredible to travel around the country and see exactly how people took care of each other. Many joined the military. Many went ahead and became friends of friends. And, you know, we just became Americans, throwing out the first pitch,

doing all these things all over the country by President Bush brought our country together. And that's the biggest thing I'll remember. I'm hoping things will get better these days as we move along.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Retired Air Force Colonel Mark Tillman, I appreciate your service. Thank you for that. And I thank you for being here as well. Thank you for taking the time.

TILLMAN: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And then tonight on CNN, we remember the anniversary of the September 11th attacks with a screening of the acclaimed film, "9/11." It is the only documentary with firsthand footage from inside the towers. The film will be accompanied by a new interview from the filmmakers as they reflect on their experiences that day.

You can watch the CNN film "9/11" tonight at 8:00 only on CNN.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:19]

JIMENEZ: We're back following our breaking news out of Miami, where an Amazon cargo plane overran the runway and hit multiple vehicles, killing five people and injuring five more.

You can see this was the aftermath there, that smoke billowing out. And this is what we've been seeing over the course of this afternoon.

The aircraft was landing at Miami International Airport this afternoon when the incident happened. Officials say more than 60 fire units responded. Right now, it's not clear why the plane couldn't stop before the end of the runway. But that, of course, is what the investigation is looking into.

CNN correspondent Carolina Peguero is in Miami for us, and she joins us now.

So what are you seeing there on the ground? What is the latest there?

CAROLINA PEGUERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Omar. Well, it's an ongoing investigation, and we do have a heavy presence of Miami- Dade authorities and also FAA authorities that are investigating this incident, this tragedy that obviously has involved a cargo Amazon airplane that was operated by 21 Air. This company that normally is the one that has all these cargo airplanes arrived to this Miami international airport in the area of the cargo shipments in this industrial area here.

The Miami airport obviously has grounded all of their flights. However, the local authorities, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue chief has informed that 10 people were involved in this incident. They had to do a search and rescue for the pilot and the co-pilot of this plane, as well as after the plane crash the plane had overran the area where it was supposed to land, striking several vehicles, and where those people of those vehicles that were inside were trapped.

And it was a complex situation. We do know that five people have been announced dead, as well as five injured, three in critical condition and two that have been transported to local hospitals. Now, this investigation, the local and state authorities are saying that this could take several days until they find exactly what was the cause of this incident.

Now, I will tell you that the weather earlier today was very heavy. There was heavy rain. We don't know for sure if that had anything to do with it, but of course this situation continues to remain active -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes, at the very least something that investigators will likely look into, but obviously something that happened so quickly this afternoon.

Carolina Peguero, really appreciate the reporting there in Miami for us.

We'll be right back with more news after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:52]

JIMENEZ: We're also following some breaking news tonight in Ohio. An armed individual allegedly lunged at gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, injuring several people at an event in Canfield, according to a spokesperson for her campaign.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino joins us now, who's been following this for us.

So, Gloria, what do we know here?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Omar, we're just trying to gather the details of what happened. But I can tell you that it happened at Canfield Fair in Ohio this afternoon. And we're told by the Acton campaign, as you said, that an armed individual allegedly lunged towards the candidate Amy Acton, and injured several people at this event.

Now, I want to get right to a campaign statement that we have from Acton saying, quote, "While attending the Canfield fair, an armed individual lunch at Dr. Acton, injuring multiple people. Dr. Acton and Eric are grateful for the swift and decisive action of law enforcement and are praying for the recovery of those injured."

Now, this happened in Mahoning County and the sheriff there told CNN affiliate WFMJ that the suspect was apprehended. That person has been arrested and they are expected to be charged with two counts of assault and one count of disorderly conduct. The sheriff there also said that two older adults were knocked down during this incident, and that the suspect had been holding a phone when this happened. But once he was detained, they also found two firearms on this person.

Omar, as you know, Acton is the former Ohio health director. She is the Democratic nominee facing off against a Republican, Vivek Ramaswamy, in what is expected to be a closely watched race for governor in the state of Ohio.

Ramaswamy had also been expected to be speaking at this county fair, and his campaign issued the following statement, also condemning the event, saying, quote, "Candidates should be able to meet with voters without having to worry about threats or violence. What happened today is completely unacceptable and has no place in politics, and we hope that no one was hurt."

[18:45:08]

Again, we are trying to gather more details about exactly what happened, whether we can learn anything about what this person was motivated by, but certainly a concerning instance of apparent political violence, which we have seen several cases of in the last few years. Again, the candidate not injured and those who were injured in the vicinity appear to be likely to make a recovery -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Gloria Pazmino, appreciate the reporting on that breaking news.

All right. Coming up for us, an A.I. classroom ban. We are talking the nation's largest school district prohibiting artificial intelligence for some students. But it sets the stage for the rest of the country. We're going to talk to a former education secretary who's going to join us after the break to talk about if the move is helpful or harmful for learning. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:41]

JIMENEZ: The largest school system in the U.S. is banning generative A.I. for students in pre-K through eighth grade. We're talking New York City. Over half a million public school students will see this change next week. And it's a one-year trial period supported by Mayor Zohran Mamdani as part of an effort to influence students to think on their own and build critical thinking skills.

So I want to bring in Education secretary during the Obama administration, Arne Duncan.

And Arne, I just wonder what role do you see A.I. playing in the classroom right now?

ARNE DUNCAN, FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Well, it's obviously an absolute game changer to state the obvious. I think the challenge for every school district, including New York City, Omar, as you know, is we have, you know, 15,000 school districts in the country that the thought of every school district trying to figure this out by themselves makes no sense whatsoever. What's really hurting the country now is the dismantling of the

Department of Education by President Trump. This is a national issue. The Department of Education should be doing thorough and fast research in terms of evaluation, in terms of what works and what doesn't. Whatever we can do to accelerate student learning, we need to do that. If this is somehow hurting students, we need to know that.

And the honest answer, Omar, right now is nobody really knows. I think it probably makes sense for New York to move slower with younger students, you know, move faster of high school students. But the idea of every district figuring this out by themselves, it's ludicrous. And so it just breaks my heart that we don't have a national Department of Education that can help districts figure this out in real time, as fast as we can together.

JIMENEZ: So let's talk through some of that. Because even when you were in the office, you know, it wasn't A.I., but it was a different digital frontier, you know, sort of how the internet was being incorporated in. But not just that, you know, social media and a little bit more as well. You guys wrestled with some of those questions.

Did you feel like the Education Department was out in front and sort of speaking to these school districts on how to incorporate tech into the classroom?

DUNCAN: Well, obviously, we never did everything perfectly, but we absolutely tried to do that. 50 states, 15,000 school districts. We have to do this together and do it in real time. And we have so many challenges, Omar. Obviously, figuring out A.I. is a huge one, but I worry desperately about reading scores. Can kids read now? And in New York City, for example, barely half the kids are proficient now in reading.

Those tests, those results have dropped like six percentage points in the past year. There are massive achievement gaps between white kids and black kids, Latino kids, only like four in 10 black kids are reading at grade level. Latino kids is less than that. And if, it's an if, if A.I. could accelerate their learning, then we need to jump at that. If it's somehow hurting their learning, we need to protect them from that.

So this is real time. If kids can't read, they're much less likely to graduate from high school. If they don't graduate from high school, they're obviously almost condemned to poverty and social failure. There are no good jobs out there today for a high school graduate, so there's so much at stake. Obviously, you know, technology, A.I., in a perfect world could help to close those gaps and accelerate learning for kids that are behind. But again, we need to figure this out together as fast as we can.

JIMENEZ: You know, every time there's a new technology going into the classroom, whether it's the internet, which obviously was a big one a while ago to this point, even when I covered personally with COVID, when school districts decided to incorporate virtual learning into the curriculum, which was a whole new frontier, how would you characterize the impact of A.I., this jump and whether it lines up with previous jumps or whether this is an entirely new jump forward altogether?

DUNCAN: Yes, I think this is an unprecedented jump. This is something we've never seen before. We're not going to put the Genie back in the bottle. We need to talk to students and parents about this. And a recent poll of high school students across the country only a quarter, only a 25 percent, said that teachers ever talked to them about A.I.. So we have to have these conversations.

And there's so much we have to think about, Omar. I haven't seen anyone, you know, talk about that I'm really concerned about is how do parents help their kids with homework in the age of A.I.? Like that's sitting around a dining room table and working through, you know, math or English or reading or writing whatever together. Those experiences are so critically important for families. If somehow parents just feel, you know, sidelined or unimportant, that's not healthy.

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If we start to think of bots as somehow better than humans and start to underestimate how important humans are, that's a real challenge. So these are massive questions. This is a seismic shift. And again, we need to be thoughtful. We need to be thinking about this collectively and figuring out as fast as we can. What's right for second graders, what's right for sixth graders, what's right for 10th graders, what's right for kids that are far behind, what's right for kids that are ahead.

And another area, Omar, that I think we need to explore is so much of what we need to do with education is personalize it, make it interesting for every single child. I think A.I. has tremendous potential in terms of project based learning, figuring out for every student what their passion is, what their genius is, and how do they build that out, how do they become an absolute expert as fast as they can.

Young kids can start businesses now. 10, 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds can start a Web site business and make some money and help their family with the use of A.I. So that, you know, there's some dangers, there's some things to worry about, but there are also some extraordinarily exciting possibilities. And I don't want the kids that are furthest behind academically. I don't want our poorest kids to be locked out of opportunities to democratize learning or to bring some money, bring some money into their families.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Arne Duncan, always appreciate the time and perspective and expertise. Good to see you. Thanks for taking the time.

DUNCAN: Thanks so much for having me.

JIMENEZ: All right, everyone, we'll be right back.

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