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Erin Burnett Outfront

U.S. Launces Strikes On Iranian Tankers Near Kharg Island; New Behind-The-Scenes Details About Trump's Golf Getaways; Trump Claims He Was Carried Away By Firefighters After 9/11 Attack; Moments Away: NTSB Update On Amazon Plane Crash, Black Box Data. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired September 08, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:13]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

The breaking news, new video showing new Iranian missiles after the U.S. retaliated against an attempted attack on a Navy ship. All of this as Trump goes on an hours-long binge, a posting spree, flooding his feed with bizarre A.I.-generated images.

Plus, during an event honoring 9/11 victims, Trump told a story of two firefighters carrying him to safety after the attacks. It's a lie. What's he talking about?

And an OUTFRONT exclusive, a man who was inside the van when a Houston father was shot and killed by ICE speaking out for the first time and disputing claims the shooting was in self-defense.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

And OUTFRONT tonight, we begin with the breaking news. New video of Iranian missiles just targeting a major concentration of American troops in Jordan. You can see some of the intercepts here, and looking at a sky like that, a sky with that many missiles in the air, something we saw in the earliest days of this war, these missiles coming from a military, of course, that Trump has repeatedly said was obliterated and decimated.

Also today, the U.S. says it destroyed five Iranian tankers near Kharg Island in the Gulf of Oman after Iran twice attempted to strike a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles. The Pentagon says that what you're looking at right now is video of one of those strikes.

But if you listen to Trump today, you wouldn't think any of this was happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon They were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Of course, US intelligence says Iran was nowhere near getting a nuclear weapon, and Seth Jones of CSIS has shown us that Iran has since rebuilt capabilities, giving it nuclear options.

But for Trump, he sticks with his false claim. and spends his time doing something that, if we're honest with ourselves, is both unpresidential and concerning, and that is posting on social media nonstop. In fact, Trump posted more than 100 times over the holiday weekend, including a 13-hour stretch on Sunday, just letting these images pop up because, as I said, 100 of them, flooding his feed with A.I.-generated images.

It started with him on horseback with George Washington. He posted himself with his face on Hulk Hogan's body. And it continued to a map, covering all of North America and Iceland with the American flag, and the Caribbean too, in fact.

Iceland summoned the U.S. ambassador to convey this was completely inappropriate. Denmark's foreign minister called the post disturbing, saying, quote, "It's obviously a sign that the U.S. president still harbors some kind of maximalist vision in his own mind. We need to rein that in." It's an understatement, certainly more than a sign.

But just one of these moments to, again, put the shoe on the other foot. Imagine if President Xi Jinping put out an image of the Chinese flag all over Asia, you know, Taiwan and Japan and all of China's historical imperial desires, or Putin putting the Russian flag all over Europe. There'd be incredible outrage. It would be, frankly, stunning.

You know, but as for Trump, he does this, and by the way, he posted again about taking over the Strait of Hormuz, also put that as a U.S. territory. It all came as he posted more AI-generated images of himself apparently launching nuclear explosions on Earth and commanding an army of robots with the words, they will never sleep again. That's sort of the stuff of Kim Jong-un.

Now posted -- Trump also posted not once, but nine times about changing the name of New Mexico to New America. Again, not once, which would be weird enough. Nine times, not in times, including an A.I. video showing him dancing alongside a New America sign instead of New Mexico.

So, this deluge of A.I. content extended into the official White House account where they posted a video of Trump as the Green Lantern with U.S. fighter jets and warships behind him in the text, "Let those who worship evil's might beware my power." Singular, my power.

And last but not least, when it came down to what happened yesterday, right, what was it? It was a day to celebrate the American workers. The White House account posted a video on Labor Day thanking American workers. The video did not have a single worker in it, it was an automated assembly line. And what was it making? What were they making? They were making a pen

with Trump's signature in gold Sharpie on it.

Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT live from the White House.

So, Kristen, as I said, it's unsettling at the very least. And it is just proof of the world we're living in where we can be talking about all these things and it's actually real, it's actually the president of the United States. What reaction are you hearing from those around him to what Trump is doing, how he is spending his time?

[19:05:01]

HOLMES: When I talk to Republicans, they know that, one, this has always been Trump, right? This is the way that he has conducted himself. This has been from his playbook. He was sending, posting A.I. memes during the campaign.

But of course, now there is another side of this, which is the fact that he is actually president of the United States. And even furthermore, that Republicans' poll numbers continue to sink. And there are a lot of Republicans that I've talked to who are really frustrated with the current state of the White House and President Trump. I mean, just a reminder, it has been months now that they have said that these outside advisors that inside the White House, they have said that President Trump is going to be on this message of affordability.

Obviously, none of this is the message of affordability. And what you've also started to notice is even his online contingency, of keyboard warriors seems to not be promoting his material as much. They are trying to hammer home this message for Republicans of affordability, trying to talk about what President Trump has done since he took office, specifically going into those midterms. There are a lot of Republicans who are in very close races, races that shouldn't be as close as they are, and there is a lot of concern of what this is going to look like, particularly in the House when it comes to November.

Now, on top of that you have this war that has no end in sight, and even though the vice president said earlier this week that this wasn't really a war, that there was no sides trading fire. Now, of course, we see yet again both sides are trading fire. So there's no answer to that.

And I will tell you we had a piece over the weekend where we looked at Turning Point and its future after the death of Charlie Kirk and their entire goal is to reach out to young people and some of the people that I have talked to who are on the ground trying to reach young people have expressed an enormous amount of frustration as well, because those young people, people who came into the coalition for President Trump back in 2024, have no interest right now in coming out to vote in 2026 due to, in part and a major part, this war in Iran.

So, it's not the messaging that the Republicans want right now from the White House and the president. BURNETT: Yeah. All right, Kristen, thank you very much. I mean, you know, war in Iran and these strikes on U.S. bases -- again, we just take -- never mind all 100. I mean, nine times to post about changing the name of New Mexico to New America. I mean, who does that?

OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia. He's a top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

And I appreciate your time.

So, you know, as I said, this shouldn't be controversial to just say that this is not okay, to have the president of the United States in this moment spending his time in this way. Are you hearing anything from your Republican colleagues just privately about their concerns, about what Trump is doing, about his state of mind, about his focus?

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): Yes, I mean, look, I think the Republicans in Congress, I mean, many of them, one are very concerned that the president continues to, what they believe, tank their chances this November. He's not focused on anything he said he would. A lot of them are concerned about his mental health.

I think that as a country, we should be, one, outraged. It's bizarre behavior. It's unhinged. I'm concerned about the mental health of the president, who is sending out these messages, what, 100 on a certain day. And they are just bizarre things. It's a bunch of slop. It's a bunch of things that insult our allies, things that are not true, and things that no American president should be doing.

It is an embarrassment to the White House, to our country, the way he's treating Canada and our North American allies. It's disrespectful. And we have to now wonder, is -- I mean, is Donald Trump fully there?

I mean, that is something that a lot of us are actually wondering. He's falling asleep during meetings. He's saying bizarre things. And it's concerning that he's the president of the United States.

BURNETT: Look, what he's posting is concerning. As I said, I mean, if you just say the map, for example, right, if Putin had posted that with the Russian flag over Europe or Xi Jinping over Asia -- I mean, such a thing wouldn't happen, okay? But with Trump, I guess people say, oh, it's not that surprising because he does things like that. It's almost like you're a lobster in a boiling pot, and then suddenly something really bad happens.

But also, over the weekend, you mentioned the 100 posts -- his face on Hulk Hogan's body. He also posted the moon is ours with an American flag on the moon, which just by and by does violate the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which was drafted in part by the United States.

Do you think there is in his mind any strategy to all of this?

GARCIA: I mean, who knows? I mean, I don't see how any -- any of what he's doing is actually working. He's the least popular he's ever been. The country, including many in his base, have now turned on him. He's done nothing to lower the cost of gas, groceries or the rent or

mortgages for people. He's done the opposite.

And all he has done in office is enrich himself. And I think that people understand that while the president is sending out all of these crazy messages, quite frankly, unhinged posts, he's also becoming infinitely wealthier and enriching his family and not doing anything to help the American public.

And so, I think people are tired. I think they're frustrated. They want change. And even people within his own base are watching this going, what is he doing?

Why can't he focus on the things that we supported him to do? And I think that's a big question for the White House and Republicans right now.

BURNETT: You mentioned Canada and there is one of his posts over the weekend was basically a brawl on the ice where Trump is A.I. and he's in a hockey uniform with his Trump 47 and Carney's beating up the Canadian prime minister. And Trump says, get up, Governor, right, a reference to that Canada should just be a U.S. state.

This comes in the context, though, Congressman, of Mr. Carney, who, of course, ran the central bank for both the U.K. and Canada, not backing down. Trump escalating the trade war, and Carney has just refused to back down. Where does this go for Americans?

GARCIA: The president is such a small man. I mean, how pathetic to insult an ally and a world leader who are allied to the north. There is so much shared interest, not just in security, but in trade. I mean, we depend on Canadians as our friends and our allies in tourism, in their farmland. There are farmers across the country that are suffering because what we're doing right now and insulting Canada.

And Canada taking actions against us, rightly so, for what we're doing. You don't insult one of our strongest allies that we've ever had our neighbor to the north for absolutely no reason and to belittle them to continue to say that they're going to become a state of this country. So, it's insulting and it's embarrassing.

And so, I think we need to move on from this era of having this this quite pretty pathetic person in office. He can't govern the country and surely can't support our allies.

BURNETT: So, when you talk about moving on, Trump's holding this GOP midterm convention in Dallas starting tomorrow. He just posted on social media, "The Republican National Convention tomorrow night in Dallas is really, all caps, hot." He says, "It's sold out, everybody wants to be there."

Now, according to our reporting, that is not true, and some Republicans really don't want to be there who are running for office. They're questioning the whole thing, right? But it's obviously an off- presidential year, and he's trying to do a big RNC.

You're actually going to Dallas. Can you tell us why?

GARCIA: Yeah, I mean, look, Donald Trump is throwing this midterm convention, you know, $100,000 a pot for some of these tickets for members of Congress and other big donors. And while he's holding this huge party, people are struggling.

And so, there's going to be a group of us Democrats, we're going there on behalf of our party in the Congress, and we're going to be very clear. We're going to contrast the issues. We're going to talk about what's at stake in November, and we're going to be very clear. Donald Trump's throwing this massive party, stealing everyone's wealth, making himself $2 billion richer while country is suffering, and they can't afford gas and groceries.

So, we're going to be there in Dallas to ensure that that distinction is made and that people understand the real contrast. We should be supporting health care. We should be supporting the country in their ability to work and earn money for their family, not these lavish parties, and certainly not enriching Donald Trump's family even more.

BURNETT: Congressman Garcia, I appreciate your time and thank you very much for being with me tonight.

Next, we have some new reporting that the United States is considering reducing its military presence in the Middle East, part because of the Iran war and Iran's attacks.

Plus, a new report from Forbes tallying up just how much time Trump is spending golfing his second term. And we are moments away from a press conference after the deadly Amazon Prime cargo plane crash in Miami. We're learning new details here tonight as we rate this press conference about how this tragedy could have happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:31]

BURNETT: Breaking news, we have just obtained new video of U.S. strikes on five Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for Iran firing ballistic missiles at a U.S. Navy ship. The video comes as a top Iranian military official warns that U.S. bases in the Middle East will be targeted if Iran's oil tankers are attacked, and those U.S. bases are now incredibly vulnerable and diminished because of the Iran war.

Tonight, CNN reports that U.S. officials are in fact discussing reducing America's military presence in the Middle East if and when the conflict ends, in part because U.S. bases have suffered substantial damage in the war. And by the way, getting rid of those bases, to be clear, is a key Iranian demand of any peace deal.

OUTFRONT now, retired Army Major General Randy Manner, and I appreciate your time, General. So, you know, we are learning tonight about this major series of strikes, Iranians targeting U.S. bases in Jordan, and we can see a lot of missiles in the sky, whether that's clusters or of interceptions, right? There's a lot in the sky there. How at risk are U.S. troops right now.

MAJOR GENERAL RANDY MANNER, U.S. ARMY (RET.): There is considerable risk to U.S. forces in the Middle East. We still have not been able to modify our techniques of intercepting large numbers of drones. Many of those situations you're seeing in that video imply, again, a large number of not missiles necessarily high-speed missiles, but rather some types of drones that are propelled by rocket, obviously, because they're lighting up the sky.

[19:20:04]

So, our troops are at risk because we've not adapted to this new form of warfare the way the Ukrainians have.

BURNETT: So the U.S. now is, the response is they're striking Iranian oil tankers, you've got this base retaliation from Iran, and this reduction in military presence, right, that we're reporting is being discussed. That's happening because of a reality, which is that while there has not been much transparency from the United States, there has been significant damage to U.S. bases, right, and CIA presence near some of those bases.

So, retired Army General David Petraeus recently said something, you know, incredibly blunt and quite shocking, really. I mean, he was willing to say this about the U.S. military. Let me play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PETRAEUS, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: It's using that as enormous leverage, both the ability to hold our bases, although we have moved a lot of the assets that used to be in the eastern Gulf states, those bases are no longer viable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: It's the last line there, General. I just wanted to give you a chance to respond to the assets in the eastern Gulf states. I mean, we're talking, you know, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, right? You're talking about all of those massive bases, right? Massive bases, Fifth Fleet.

General Petraeus is saying those bases are no longer viable.

MANNER: I think -- I don't mean to correct the general. I believe that it is something where we don't have the kind of air defense we need to be able to cover all of the bases we have there, especially the high- value targets. For example, you're not going to see any large ships docking in Bahrain anymore. It's just too lucrative a target, too expensive for the United States if it was to lose it.

Remember that we have over a brigade's worth of armored vehicles, hundreds and hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carriers in Kuwait right now. It took a long time to get them there. It would take a long time to get them out.

And we will not abandon those. We need to protect those assets on the ground. So I think what we're going to see, perhaps quite frankly, is an adjustment of the assets we keep in the Middle East because we have to tighten our defenses until we modify the way that we counter these drone attacks.

And that means large value -- high-value targets like an AWACS aircraft or like a aircraft carrier, you're not going to see them in the Gulf in that area anymore. In contrast, other ones where you cannot move large amounts of armored vehicles, we've got to figure out a way to protect them.

BURNETT: It's really stunning to think about how this happened, obviously. I want to ask you, you mentioned Ukraine and how obviously they have completely learned from -- with drones and in drone attacks. Russia slammed Kyiv with missiles and drones. People were killed just hours after Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner left. And, you know, this was their trip to both capitals, Moscow and Kyiv, for peace talks.

So, there were a couple things I wanted to mention here, General. First, Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin in Moscow, and when they were there, they were driven around in Russian-made Aurus limos.

So, they didn't take limos provided by the U.S. Embassy that would have ostensibly the American level of security or not listening to what they're saying. That's what would be customary. That's not how they went. They went and Putin's offered vehicles.

And then when Witkoff commented afterwards, he did appear to be dazzled by Putin after his several trips there. Here is what he said in Moscow over the weekend talking to Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: We were sitting outside just now, me, Jared and Kirill, and then Yury joined us, and we were all talking about when we retire, we'll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I mean, that's obviously quite sycophantic. It's good to remind everybody that he's talking to Vladimir Putin. What do you even say to that?

MANNER: It sounds like a bunch of fanboys just meant their latest rock star. I mean, it's pathetic. And by the way, it's a national security risk to have actually been transferred in a Russian vehicle.

I've been to Moscow. I've been to Kiev. When you're in Moscow, you take U.S. embassy vehicles. It's important for your listeners to understand that the Russians have the ability that if you get within a certain number of feet of a device that would be included in that vehicle. They can take everything off of your phone and copy it without you even knowing it. All your contacts, all your messages, all your emails, everything can be -- can then be -- can belong to the Russians. So, for them to fall victim to such a ludicrous, unbelievable

situation to accept a Russian vehicle, that shows the ignorance and lack of knowledge in general about how sophisticated the Russians are.

[19:25:12]

And then to act like a fanboy, that is absolutely disgusting, as somebody who served our country for 36 years, to hear these civilians just going on and on and fawning over the Russian president. That's just sad.

BURNETT: General Manner, I appreciate your time and thank you for being with me.

We do have some new details coming in about the deadly Amazon cargo plane crash that killed at least five people on the ground. Longtime pilot Miles O'Brien tells out -- tells us what stands out to him in video of the crash landing. Both pilots were injured but are alive.

Plus, 1,400 hours. That's how many hours Trump has spent golfing during his second term, according to a new report, which also reveals he's obsessed with golf course hot dogs. And there's a serious takeaway from this.

S.E. Cupp and Ambassador Sean Patrick Maloney are here to discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:20]

BURNETT: New tonight, inside Trump's golf getaways. Brand new reporting from "Forbes" tonight, revealing how much time Trump is spending own golf courses during his second term. And obviously, he's not ashamed of it, right? But what "Forbes" discovered may surprise you.

"Forbes" senior editor Dan Alexander is OUTFRONT.

So, Dan, okay. How much time does Trump actually spend on his golf courses?

DAN ALEXANDER, SENIOR EDITOR, FORBES: Well, if you count the days, it's about 165 of his first 600 days in his second term. He's visited one of his golf courses. But what's more surprising is that these aren't short stays, and so if you add up to hours, you get to more than 1,400 hours on the golf courses, and that doesn't even count the time that he's at Mar-a-Lago. This is just the amount of time that he's at the golf courses where he's often playing or sometimes doing, you know other things like meetings, having lunch, that sort of thing.

BURNETT: Twenty-seven-point-five. I was just doing the math, 27.5 percent of the time. That's a lot of the time. It's more than a quarter of his time.

And you also report something Dan that has broad implications. So, you report that Trump loves the hotdogs at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington so much that he insists on sharing them with the Secret Service.

Can you explain?

ALEXANDER: Yeah, so he comes up to the 11th hole at his golf course outside of Washington, D.C., and he's got this routine where he greets the chef and he tells everybody that these are the best hotdogs in golf. And then he says, Order one for everybody. Everybody needs to get a hotdog.

And so, the chef grills up a bunch of hotdogs, starts serving them out, And the really interesting thing is that after he leaves, the Secret Service has to be careful about accepting gifts from people that it protects. So, the Trump club then bills the Secret Service, according to an insider at the club, for the hot dogs that Trump ordered the people protecting him.

BURNETT: So, the taxpayer.

So, you reached out to the White House for comment on your reporting. And what's interesting is that you -- and, Dan, I mean, I've known you for a long time. You've been reporting on Trump from the Forbes list for well over a decade. You say their response in this case stands out. How come?

ALEXANDER: It does. I've done a lot of stories, and this was one of the most detailed responses that the White House has ever given to me. It's hard for me to think of another example that's been more. And the things that they were really focused on were, one, saying that he doesn't just golf when he's at the golf clubs. But perhaps more surprisingly, they really wanted to make sure that it wasn't reported that he spilled ketchup all over himself when he was eating the hot dogs and mustard and relish.

And they also really wanted to emphasize how good he is at golf. They claim that he has won 50 club championships, which was interesting because just a few months ago, he himself said that he'd won 36. None of that really matters, of course, but it's just fascinating how focused the White House is on making it look like he keeps his golf shirts clean and has a great golf swing.

BURNETT: So, 50 championships when even -- even by his own math, it was 36 a month ago, I mean. You know, sometimes you laugh and sometimes you say, it's not even funny.

All right. Thank you very much, Dan.

I want to go now to Ambassador Sean Patrick Maloney and S.E. Cupp.

So, S.E., okay, 27.5 percent of the time he's on the golf course.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.

BURNETT: And the hot dog --

CUPP: Yeah. BURNETT: -- you know, situation, which obviously just leads to more things that would be indicative of what Trump's going to pay for that he doesn't pay for.

CUPP: Right. I'm glad he's spending a lot of time golfing. And I mean that sincerely, because time on the golf course is not time spent starting trade wars with our neighbors, starting real wars with Iran, and making policy decisions -- forget whether you're a Republican or a Democrat -- that are terrible for Americans, terrible for farmers, terrible for ranchers, terrible for working people, terrible for college students, terrible -- terrible policies.

So, I mean, any other administration, and I'd be wagging my finger at all this time on the golf course, I'm happy he's there and not doing other things.

To the hot dogs, I mean, this is not surprising. He's been bilking American taxpayers and grifting off of them for years. In the first administration, we knew he was charging Secret Service members for staying in Trump hotels, right? Double billing kind of thing. He bilked his own supporters out of their own money with the stop the steal nonsense, money he used to divert to his lawyers.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: -- paying for himself --

CUPP: He's always been grifting off of the American public. This is not surprising news to me. It is terrible, but it's not surprising.

[19:35:00]

BURNETT: And yet his team gives the most detailed response to Dan Alexander in more than 10 years of reporting for "Forbes", which is every "Forbes" list, right? And believe me, Dan's told me stories, you know, when Trump -- how much he cared about where he was on the list, you know, that this is the most detailed set of responses and the focus on telling everybody how good he was at golf.

SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, I mean, I think it's interesting that we also know, it's not even a dispute, that the president made $2 billion in the first year of the second term, largely off the presidency. I don't know how you can expect the guy to spring for a few hot dogs when he's only made $2 billion more this year than last.

I mean, and I'm glad the Secret Service guys are getting free dogs and apparently, they're pretty good because those guys got a tough job. So, it's not a complete loss, I guess. But I think it was Marx that said history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce.

And this is farce. And I think it's funny and it's stupid and it's typical Trump. But if my kid was on the USS Abraham Lincoln, and I'm reading stories like this. You know, I actually do want them focused on the job. You know what I mean? I appreciate what you kept saying. I know you're tongue in cheek. CUPP: Yeah.

MALONEY: But we have a war going on.

BURNETT: A story like this actually brings that into --

MALONEY: I know we live in a culture where they think they can just kind of, you know, just troll and drive everybody crazy. But the fact is, is that, you know, there are -- there are incredible responsibilities that come into presidency. And he spent -- that 1,400 hours is eight months of a 40-hour work week. So, imagine taking eight months off your job, 40 hours a week, to go play golf. And he has the most important job in the world.

So just the disdain for the responsibilities that he has been given by the American people. You start there and you get all the way down to being cheap and cheating at golf and billing the taxpayer for hot dogs, it's just disappointing.

BURNETT: You know, S.E., to the point about that he had said 36 championships, dubious, that then the response comes from the White House, that's 50. And again, that's one of those you can say, is that tragic or is that farcical? But saying things like that is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your honesty, okay? Can I play the 9/11 thing?

CUPP: Please?

BURNETT: So, then we get to Trump talking about where he was on 9/11. You know, profoundly impactful day in the history of this country and for any of us who are alive, something that changed our lives.

Trump was not there, okay? He was not at the towers when they came down. I'm going to just say that because here's what he told everyone today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I was building a big building in New York, and I took the whole crew down there right after this happened, and they had no hesitation. Everybody went down with me. We went down as a big group of people. Wasn't too much we could do.

I'll be honest. It was raw. Nobody's seen anything like it ever. I'll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen, big, strong guys, and I'm not the smallest guy in the world.

They grabbed me under the arms, said, got to get out of here, and they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I'm big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, fellas, I can run myself. but they were amazing.

But they thought it was coming down. It didn't come down. U.S. Steel.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: So Daniel Dale, our fact checker, noted today that on 9/11 itself, Trump was not close to the World Trade Center. There's no evidence that he was in the area at any time. Soon after the attacks, no public evidence, he had a crew with him, as he said.

So, I don't know what he is talking about here, but what did you think when you heard this?

CUPP: I thought, this is why. This is why the New York City 9/11 memorial committee didn't want him or any other politician to speak on 9/11, because this day is sacred and solemn and apolitical.

And I think they had a sense that, of course, Trump would politicize or make this about him. He did both of those things today. He made this about him.

Forgetting the lie. Let's pretend it was all true. It's still not about you. And he politicized it.

I was worried, and we talked about this the last time I was here, I was worried he was going to use 9/11 to justify more war in Iran. In less than two minutes of his speech today in D.C., he brought up the war with Iran as a justification -- 9/11 as a justification for the war in Iran. So, he did all the things that I think people were rightly concerned about because he's done them before.

He has politicized natural disasters. He has blamed the victims of natural disasters if they were his political opponents. He politicized D-Day in Normandy, standing in front of graves.

There's no low for him and nothing is sacred. So even this event that we lived through, we can't even have our grief and our memories without him trying for him. And nothing is sacred. So even this event that we lived through, we can't even have our grief and our memories without him trying to corrupt it.

MALONEY: Yeah.

[19:40:00]

Well, I worked about eight blocks from Ground Zero and I wasn't there, but I got about as far as Greenwich Village and I had to get my kid out of school and, but I was close enough to watch it and to see the towers come down and to and to hear the gasps in the street. And I represented a district for 10 years in Congress in the Hudson Valley. And I'll tell you what, there's not a firehouse in the Hudson Valley that doesn't have a list of names of guys who didn't come home.

And that is the thing people need to remember, that there are empty seats around dinner tables, there are kids who grew up without dads, they were real heroes that day, and the president was not among them. And it's beneath him. It really is beneath him.

And 9/11 is when, by the way, the forever wars started. And the fact that we are now in another one, which was supposed to be the one message the president, one promise the president made, which he has broken. We are in a forever war on the 25th anniversary of the thing that started the forever wars. And it's a terrible display of arrogance and so disrespectful to the real heroes that day.

BURNETT: Thank you both very much. And next, we do have incredible new video appearing to show a crew member jumping from that Amazon cargo plane at the deadly crash in Miami. We've got new details on what investigators are learning at this hour.

Plus, a passenger inside the van when Lorenzo Salgado Arajo was shot and killed by an ICE agent, now calling for justice. And he's speaking out tonight here exclusively about what happened in those final moments before the fatal shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:45:40]

BURNETT: Breaking news, new details just released in the deadly Amazon Prime cargo plane crash in Miami. The NTSB posting photos of the flight data recorder. We're showing you it right there.

The cockpit voice recorder also there. They recovered both of them from the flight. And we are now moments away from an NTSB news conference where investigators are expected to lay out more of what they are learning from those recorders.

You can see the crash there, possibly understand what exactly caused the plane to go off the end of the runway, striking two vehicles. It is in one of them where the five people who are dead, they were in that vehicle.

Pete Muntean is at Miami International. Miles O'Brien is a longtime pilot, of course, a CNN aviation analyst, former anchor.

Pete, so what -- what do you know here right now? And what do you think we're about to hear about those recorders?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the timing of this press conference from National Transportation Safety Board Jennifer Homendy tells an interesting story, Erin. It was first supposed to be at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time now at the top of this hour, which is likely a good thing.

It means we will probably get a little bit more information from the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder that was pulled from the wreckage of that 767-300 that crashed in a parking lot here, sailing off the end of the runway by about 1,300 feet. Those voice recorders and data recorders, they were taken by a commercial flight, 7:22 p.m. last night. to Washington's Reagan National Airport just outside of D.C., then taken to the L'Enfant Plaza NTSB headquarters where they have their recorders laboratory for early analysis here.

And this will be really interesting. This will be the data that may give us a window into any sort of indications in the cockpit of anything going wrong, any interplay between the pilots did they realize that they were coming in too high, that they were coming in too fast, did they attempt to abort the landing and what is the actual speed of the plane at the time here?

NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said earlier today on CNN that she urged a bit of caution with so much publicly available information out there, it's best to get the information straight from the source off the plane itself.

BURNETT: So, Miles, let me just show you from some of this information that we have the new video. And it is remarkable. It appears to show a crew member jumping from the plane, OK?

So, we've highlighted it there so people can actually see it. So as a pilot, obviously, and someone who has professionally covered airlines and planes for your entire career, what are you looking to hear from the two pilots?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Oh, Erin, this one, it's really heartbreaking. It will be good to hear what they have to say, and I'm very curious. There were any number of opportunities to not land this airplane, and yet they persisted and continued. Many miles before landing, at least three miles before they reached that touchdown point, that aircraft was way too high, way too fast, un-stabilized is the term we like.

The crew was clearly, according to the radar data that we have, and this needs to be verified, of course, by the flight data recorders, was trying to dive to get onto the proper, what we call glide slope, which is kind of an imaginary tunnel in the sky at three degrees down to the runway. And as they did that, it just increased the speed and compounded the problem.

At any number of occasions along the way, the textbooks would have told them to go around, to abort this landing attempt, and they could have done that right down to the point where those wheels were on the concrete.

BURNETT: So, we're looking at that landing right now, and then we see the wheels touch down. Okay, so this is the actual landing.

Now, sometimes, you know, you see the nose up a little bit as it comes in. Does anything about the landing, just the way it physically looks, stand out to you, Miles?

O'BRIEN: They're diving to the runway. There's no question what that is. That is not the right angle of attack as we like to call it in aviation for a stabilized approach.

They're well down the runway and there's nothing that a pilot needs less than runway behind him. They're at least about halfway down the runway. They're very fast, and if you'll look very closely, that left main landing gear is not on the concrete.

[19:50:05]

And if it's not on the concrete, the 767 does not sense that it's on the ground, and they can't use the thrust reversers or the spoilers, the air brakes. Real problem. BURNETT: All right, thank you both very much. As we await, maybe we'll be getting some breaking details, as both of you have been saying, and Pete, just delaying that press conference. Get us some more information here. Thank you.

And next, a man who was inside the van during a deadly ICE shooting in Houston sharing his story exclusively with us. What went through his mind, as he says, an agent pointed a gun at his head?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight an OUTFRONT exclusive. A chilling firsthand account of an ICE shooting that killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. The 52-year-old man, father of three, was killed in July in a traffic stop in Houston.

And tonight, one of the passengers in the van is revealing exactly what he says happened in the seconds before the shooting.

Ed Lavandera is OUTFRONT, and I do want to warn you that some of the images in this report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Daniel Tirado Pantoja says he constantly thinks about the moment Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston and still doesn't understand why it happened.

LAVANDERA: He had no reason to shoot in that moment.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Tirado and his stepdaughter sat down exclusively with CNN to vividly detail what he says happened to Salgado.

Tirado and two other men were riding in Salgado's van that July 7th morning. He walked us through the videos that show some of the events that led up to the shooting.

LAVANDERA: ICE officers pursued Lorenzo Salgado's white van here on Canal Street, and then just a few houses away, he makes a U-turn.

The U.S. attorney in Houston has said the fatal shot occurred during this turn. Look closely at the video, you can see two ice officers appearing to stand around the side of the van.

AARON REITZ, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS: Preliminary information indicates the driver shifted the van into reverse, then forward again while an officer was partially inside the van or immediately next to it.

During this confrontation between federal agents and a group of illegal aliens attempting to flee, one of the officers fired a single shot. That round struck Lorenzo Salgado.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But Tirado tells a different story. LAVANDERA: There's the truck making U-turn.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): He says after the U-turn, Salgado drove back up Canal Street and stopped the van. During this moment in the video, you can see the officers do not appear to be in the van's path. They're chasing it down from behind.

LAVANDERA: No shots have been fired at this point. And then there's one, two, and a third agent.

And this is where the van comes to a complete stop. It's not captured on video that we've seen so far, but Daniel Tirado says this is where the ICE officer fired the fatal shot.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): For the first time, he's showing us which ICE officer he says fired the deadly shot.

LAVANDERA: He says that the ICE agent that shot Lorenzo was the first agent here running after the van.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): ICE officials have not identified the shooter, but said the agent shot Salgado in self-defense. We asked ICE to confirm Tirado's account of where the shooting happened, and which officer fired the shot and if they plan to identify the officer.

A spokesperson refused to confirm or deny, saying in a statement publicizing their identities puts their lives and the lives of their families at serious risk.

Tirado says the officers were never in danger and that what happened next terrified him.

LAVANDERA: They came shooting is what you're saying.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Tirado says he was sitting on a cooler behind the front passenger seat when he saw the ICE officer point his gun through the side window and fire one shot at Salgado.

He says the last words Salgado say, "They just killed me". And Salgado's brother told the officer, "You just killed him". He says the same officer then opened the van's back door and pointed the gun at his head.

LAVANDERA: When the gun is pointed at your face, what are you thinking?

LAVANDERA (voice-over): He says, if the officer just shot and killed my boss, he's going to shoot me, too.

LAVANDERA: He thought that was the end right there for him.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): ICE has not offered new details about why this happened. The agency initially said Salgado weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over an ice agent and that the officer fired in self- defense. The agents were not wearing body cameras.

"Pure lies," he says. "Why don't they tell the truth?"

More than two months after Salgado's death, it's not clear where the investigation into the shooting stands. Tirado says the officer should pay for what he did so he can suffer what they are suffering.

JUANA DEGOLLADO, TIRADO'S STEPDAUGHTER: But I think they're trying to cover for him. They're trying to protect him.

LAVANDERA: What would you like to see happen to that ICE agent?

DEGOLLADO: A lot of things. We need him to get some type of punishment, too. We need justice for Lawrence more than anything.

Putting that ICE agent's name out there, making sure he pays in jail or something.

LAVANDERA: You think he should be arrested and charged criminally?

DEGOLLADO: Yes. Of course, yeah.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Daniel Tirado says he came to the United States 30 years ago and worked in construction to save money so he could build his parents a home in Mexico. He says Lorenzo Salgado was more than his boss the last eight years. He was his friend.

He says, "We weren't hurting anyone. We just wanted to work." He's angry that ICE officers targeted them instead of criminals.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Erin, obviously, this new interview raises new questions about where the ICE officers were standing when Lorenzo Salgado was shot. We've reached out to local, state, and federal investigators to get clarification.

The U.S. attorney in Houston did provide CNN a new statement today saying that Tirado's comments in this interview conflict with earlier statements he made to federal authorities. The U.S. attorney also says that nothing has come to light to change Tirado's original account of what happened.

Daniel Tirado spent almost two months in immigration custody. He was just recently released. That's when he was interviewed.

His family and his lawyer stand by what he has told us. They say this entire experience has been incredibly traumatic -- Erin.

BURNETT: Ed Lavandera, thank you so much in Dallas for us tonight.

And thanks so much to all of you for being with us.

"AC360" starts now.