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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

London's Heathrow Airport Shuts Down Due to Power Outage; Voters Push Back on DOGE Cuts in Tense Town Halls. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 21, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

ANJANA KHATWA, DELAYED PASSENGER: Substation in the nearby town. I think it really is quite extraordinary how there aren't any backup generators or any systems in place to ensure that electricity is, you know, restored very, very quickly.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And we're told by the fire brigade that the backup power was taken out in that substation fire, the backup power for the airport. Anjana, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time.

Well, two progressive lawmakers joined forces to push back against President Trump and his agenda. Hear their message after the break.

Plus, members of Congress across the U.S. are facing furious voters. That story and much more after the break.

[05:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSALES: We're following breaking news out of London, where Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest, has completely shut down due to a power outage. And it's severely disrupting global air travel. Video from inside the usually packed terminal showed stranded passengers just milling about, apparently wondering what to do next.

The airport will stay closed at least until 11:59 p.m. on Friday night, London time. Officials say the airport lost power after a nearby electrical substation caught fire. Earlier, a resident captured this view -- look at that -- of the flames just shooting up. London Fire Brigade says the fire is now under control and their investigation has begun. So far, no word on the cause.

Britain's National Power Grid says crews are working at speed to restore electricity. Thousands of flights are expected to be affected here in the coming days.

Town halls across the U.S. have descended into chaos this week as Democrats and Republicans face the wrath of their constituents. CNN's Danny Freeman has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fury at Washington on display from coast to coast this week. Here in deep red Wyoming, constituents blasted Republican Congresswoman Harriet Hageman over federal cuts made by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's DOGE.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which is it's so bizarre to me how obsessed you are with federal government. But -- but here's the thing.

(CHANTING)

FREEMAN (voice-over): Here in Illinois, some protesters aggressively confronted Democratic Congressman Sean Casten about U.S. support of Israel in the war in Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you're saying is, I'm not going to get my way when my people are being slaughtered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, get off -- sir, get off the stage right now! Get off the stage right now, sir.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Republicans and Democrats alike fending off anger on a wide range of issues like Medicare and Medicaid here in battleground Arizona.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want you to be straight with us. How do we go to the next level to fight this?

FREEMAN (voice-over): And reining in DOGE here in deep blue Maryland.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not interested in hearing that you are in the minority. We know that.

FREEMAN (voice-over): But while there's been no shortage of loud frustration, even quieter constituents want answers.

FREEMAN: What's the main thing that you want to ask the congressman if you get a chance to?

MARY O'HARE, NEBRASKA DEMOCRAT: Well, I want to ask him, what are you doing?

FREEMAN (voice-over): Democrat Mary O'Hare drove an hour and a half to be one of the first in line for Tuesdays town hall with her congressman, Nebraska Republican Mike Flood. She's worried DOGE cuts will hurt Nebraskans.

O'HARE: A lot of this is going to, like, really impact farmers and people in nursing homes and children who don't get health care and elderly and people with disabilities. It's going to go all over.

FREEMAN (voice-over): But Republican Steve Champlin told us he cant get enough of DOGE and wants Flood and President Trump to hold strong.

STEVE CHAMPLIN, NEBRASKA REPUBLICAN: If we need to cut. We need to cut. We got to cut the spending down. We're just too far in debt. I don't want to become another third world nation. FREEMAN (voice-over): Republican Carol Moseman voted for Congressman Flood, but she came hoping her representative will check the administration.

CAROL MOSEMAN, REPUBLICAN: I want to hear that he's going to stand up, that he and other Republicans are going to stand up for democracy, that they're going to not let Mr. Trump take over, using executive powers.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Earlier this month, Speaker Mike Johnson encouraged fellow Republicans to stop doing town halls altogether, claiming they attract paid or professional protesters. But folks we spoke with pushed back.

FREEMAN: Are you paid to be here? Do you belong with any groups who are financing you coming up here today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, just my personal conviction about what's right.

FREEMAN (voice-over): And like other town halls, personal convictions quickly became public.

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): I get it, there's a lot of people in this room that don't support what DOGE is doing. But for the first time, we are making some progress identifying places that we can reduce the budget.

FREEMAN (voice-over): After it all, Congressman Flood, though, told us he looks forward to his next town hall.

FLOOD: I think this just comes with a job, and I think a lot more members are going to be having town halls. And you know what? There's some -- there's probably some people here that didn't agree with my position on a lot of things, but they went home with the satisfaction of knowing they let their representative know how they felt.

FREEMAN: Meanwhile, on Thursday night, in a town hall in Virginia's 10th congressional district, we perhaps saw the exception to the rule of how town halls went this particular week. Democratic Congressman Suhas Subramanian, he held the town hall. And while there were a many number of Democratic voters in particular who were very upset and frustrated over the Trump administration and with DOGE cuts, they liked largely what the congressman was saying.

[05:40:06]

The congressman saying things like the American people wants us to fight. They want us to be bold. We can take risks.

That's exactly what a lot of the folks at this town hall who have been frustrated wanted to hear.

Danny Freeman, CNN, Warrenton, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: Stef Kight is a political reporter at Axios. She joins us now from Washington. Steph, thank you so much for being on the show.

We've seen this growth of unease and dissatisfaction from voters coast to coast. Here on the East Coast, I saw it for myself in Asheville, North Carolina with Representative Chuck Edwards. People outside of the auditorium banging on the glass doors saying, do your job. We need better. I saw it with Representative Rich McCormick here in Georgia as well. His constituents demanding more be done.

What do you make of this rise in these heated confrontations with constituents?

STEF KIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Look, there are a lot of people who are very fearful about what the Trump administration has been doing so far, particularly when you look at some of these DOGE cuts that have been led by Elon Musk. And that's really the space where we're seeing Republicans in particular face the most concern from voters. When you hear Elon Musk and other people talk about some of these DOGE cuts, they often talk about it as if it's only impacting people in Washington, D.C.

The reality is some of the services are used by people across the country and at the same time, there are federal workers across the country who have lost their jobs because of some of these cuts. And I think there really is a lot of concern at the grassroots level. These are the kinds of things that will be felt by individual people and their families. And so they're letting their Republican representatives know.

At the same time, Democrats are also facing some pushback from their constituents over how the short-term spending bill negotiations went down. With, of course, Chuck Schumer being the Democrat who has faced the most criticism over his handling of that situation for his decision to vote for the short-term spending bill avoiding a government shutdown.

ROSALES: And Stef, you wrote for Axios about a new DNC billboard campaign capitalizing on what's been going on around the nation. What are these billboards about and what are Republicans saying about it?

KIGHT: Well, Democrats are really wanting to draw attention to Republicans who are not having town halls. House Republican leadership did encourage its members at one point to avoid town halls arguing that, you know, Democratic protesters were disrupting them that it wasn't worth kind of the image that that creates. And so that has been something Democrats have decided to really double down on arguing that, you know, Republicans are running away from their constituents that Republicans are afraid of their voters and that's what these billboards do. They call Republicans cowards and these are some of the most vulnerable Republicans going into 2026.

So this is really an early election play. It's an area where Democrats feel like they can go on offense. And they think it's an effective way for Democrats to start going to some of these more conservative districts in their own states, these more conservative areas in their districts and make the pitch that Democrats are the people that voters should be voting for. And so not only are they setting up these billboards in these vulnerable Republican districts but they are also, Democrats are also having their own town halls in some of these areas trying to be the party stepping up and answering questions.

ROSALES: And I did find it interesting, Stef, the credit that these angry constituents who were critical of these Republican congressmen, the credit that they gave them for holding those town halls in person in the first place. Stef Kight really appreciate you coming on.

KIGHT: Thank you.

ROSALES: All right we will be right back.

[05:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSALES: Let's return to our top story. A major power outage has forced London's Heathrow Airport, one of the world's busiest, to completely shut down. The closure is leading to severe disruptions to global air travel. Among the travelers affected was CNN's own Richard Quest. He was on a jet that was set to take off from Brazil to London, but then news broke out of the fire. Here's what he went through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: OK, this is the reality. We've all got our bags, but now we have to wait for the voucher to get the taxi to get to the hotel, which they say they've organized. But so far, it's just a long, long, long line where I'm at the back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: All right let's bring in CNN's Richard Quest live this hour in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Richard, you've been going through it. Tell me, tell me what happened to you. What's been happening to other passengers?

QUEST (on camera): Well, the first rule of thumb when things go wrong is look after yourself. Don't necessarily wait. So that long line of the taxis, I finally gave up and said, all right, I'm just going to find a hotel room myself, which, as you can see, I clearly have. I haven't quite washed and shaved and made myself presentable. And I've been up all night in the process.

And the reality is that we boarded the plane. Everybody was really calm about it. We learned very quickly about the fire and haze. And it soon became obvious we weren't going anywhere.

[05:50:00]

But they hoped and they hoped and the crew was great and credit to British Airways for the way the crew did actually handle this. It's not their fault. They were kind and considerate and courteous.

Finally, flight cancelled. There's your bags. We'll let we'll give you a hotel and we'll let you know when to come back.

It's the natural thing is the vicissitudes of travel. When it goes wrong, it goes wrong spectacularly.

ROSALES: Yes, and that was one of my questions. If the airlines were picking up the slack of what happened here and taking care of passengers that are stranded, hotel vouchers, food vouchers, it seems like they are.

QUEST: Yes, they are. And I mean, and by the way, before anybody thinks about U.K. 261, which is the compensation scheme, my guess is this is going to be extraordinary circumstances. So anybody will not be able to claim 261 compensation.

But here's what I think is important about it. The people who are stranded are OK because they will -- my plane is here. My plane is here and it will leave tonight or tomorrow night.

The problem is for those people whose planes never even left London because now they are at the back of the queue. The next flights out from London will bring the next day's passengers back. And the next days, because what you don't do is you want to increase inconvenience even more people.

So it's those passengers around the world and there's thousands, if not hundreds of thousands who will not travel today. And it may be until late weekend, early next week before many people will be able to get to that final destination. As I say, when travel goes wrong, it goes wrong spectacularly.

ROSALES: Yes, and a nightmare scenario as Heathrow undoubtedly scrambles to divert flights to other nearby airports.

I know that in your scenario, you're OK. There's many of other passengers that are OK. But these are important flights that also got disrupted. People heading to weddings. People -- a man that we spoke with that was headed to spend time with his father, who's undergoing cancer treatment.

What do you make about the fact that a single substation caused all of the power at Heathrow to go out? Passengers have had this question.

QUEST: A very, very, very valid question. And because, yes, the pictures from the fire are extremely serious. And by from what I'm understanding, the backup generators and the backup systems were also affected.

And I think that's going to be very much the target of the investigation is where there will be. But we've seen this elsewhere. We've seen it at U.S. airports. We've seen it at other airports where the weakest link has managed to bring down the whole system when in practice it shouldn't have done.

And the question should be asked about whether enough has been spent on infrastructure. Had it all been tested? Was it just one of those things that could not have been predicted? And at the end of the day, things will happen and there will be these

sort of events. What we have to ensure is that this couldn't have been prevented and that there hasn't been skimping and savings and cost cuttings and all the sorts of things that eventually lead to this sort of mess, because that's what it is. It's one big mess.

ROSALES: And a lot of reflection and studying that will need to happen to make sure it doesn't happen again. Richard Quest, always a pleasure, although the circumstances are less than desirable. Thank you for speaking with us.

QUEST: Thank you, I'm off for breakfast.

ROSALES: And enjoy it.

Stay with us here on EARLY START. We'll be right back.

[05:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSALES: A fire that forced the closure of London's Heathrow Airport has been put out. But the impact of the shutdown can still be felt worldwide. Incoming flights have been turned back or diverted to other airports. All told, more than 1,300 flights could be affected. The British energy minister says there's no suggestion foul play caused the fire. Although the cause of that is still out for debate.

Right now, emergency crews are focused on restoring power. Heathrow is expected to remain closed at least through Friday.

Canada's new prime minister is expected to call a snap election on Sunday. Sources say Mark Carney will soon tell the country's governor general to dissolve parliament. CNN has told federal elections will likely take place at the end of next month.

It all comes as the country grapples with the U.S. over trade and tariffs. And as many Canadians are furious with President Trump's repeated calls to make Canada the 51st U.S. state.

And in business news, Nike is in a major slump. The world's largest shoemaker says global sales were down 9 percent in the last quarter with steep drops in major markets like North America and China.

The shares are down about 5 percent in pre-market trading, and that's after sinking about 30 percent over the last year. Nike is trying to recover from previous strategy mistakes, like a misfiring effort to sell principally through its own online channels instead of relying on retailers. New CEO Elliott Hill, in his second stint at the company, hopes that partnerships with celebrity brands will restore Nike's appeal.

A group of investors has paid a record-breaking price for one of the NBA's most storied teams. They bought the Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion. That is the most money ever paid for a North American sports team. The group, led by billionaire William Chisholm, is buying the Celtics from the Grousbeck family, who bought the team for a mere $360 million back in 2002.