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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

U.S. Senate Moves To Fund Most Of Homeland Security Department; Trump Delays Strikes On Iran's Energy Sites By 10 Days; LaGuardia Airport Reopens Runway Where Jet Hit A Fire Truck. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 27, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:07]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and around the world. I'm Becky Anderson live from CNN's Middle East headquarters here in Aabu Dhabi.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. That's where we begin this hour with our breaking news.

Forty-two days into the partial U.S. government shutdown, there has been a surprised development. The Senate broke its deadlock and voted unanimously to fund most of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This happened during a rare overnight session and right before Congress was set to begin a lengthy recess over Easter and Passover. So, lawmakers had a little extra motivation to get something done.

Now, this agreement will fund the TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard. It will not provide funding for part of Customs and Border Protection, nor will it pay for the controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Democrats continue to demand changes to ICE tactics and procedures after federal agents killed two Americans in January.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: This could have been accomplished weeks ago if Republicans hadn't stood in the way. Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump's rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: I thought Democrats had learned their lesson on defunding law enforcement, but I guess we're right back there. Do they think that defunding law enforcement will be a winning issue for them in November? If I were Democrats, I might think twice before I assume that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Now, despite those doubts, the Senate vote is a sign of progress. But we also want to be clear that the partial shutdown is not over and will not end until a deal is approved by the House and ultimately, the White House.

Let's bring in Natasha Lindstaedt, who is a professor of government at the University of Essex. She is in Colchester, England, and joins us live this morning.

Natasha, good to have you.

So, your reaction to this news? It sort of seemed to come as a surprise. What do you think about the timing. Why now for lawmakers.

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, it was going to need to come now because we're about to head into the easter holidays. And this is exactly what happened last time when there was some kind of agreement with the -- with the shutdown, the issue was that the airports were becoming a major scene of chaos. There were long lines at airports. There were issues of airport and airline safety right before Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays. And that was just too much of a risk.

I mean, there were some cases recently that people were waiting in line for four hours just to get through security. You had TSA workers not being paid for weeks now, and they're about to miss their second paycheck on Friday. And there were reports that there would be a nationwide walkout.

There were also a 500 percent increase in TSA workers being assaulted and attacked. So, there was just too much on the line here with, most Americans going to be flying or going to be traveling. And as a result, they had to come up with some kind of compromise to address this.

SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, you think about those TSA workers and some of the decisions that they, they've had to make the last few weeks, not getting a paycheck. But, but the politics of this moment. Natasha, who do you think -- the perception, who -- who blinked first, who comes out of this ahead.

LINDSTAEDT: That's really hard to say because they're going to both argue -- the Democrats and Republicans are going to both argue that they are the ones that came out ahead. And that's what Chuck Schumer was trying to do. He was trying to sell it as that, but they didn't get any reforms. The Democrats were hoping to get some serious reforms to ICE because there is American -- from the American public standpoint there's dissatisfaction with ICE. You know, some two thirds of Americans think that ICE has gone too far, and there's a 60 percent disapproval rating according to the polls.

So, the Democrats were trying to get some kind of reforms, whether it be that they have to have warrants or they don't wear face masks, or they have to have body cameras. And the reforms that they got were very minimal. And not really in line with what they originally hoped for. They will try to sell it that they were able to get ICE out of Minnesota, so that for the Democrats is something of a win.

But ultimately, they, the Democrats didn't get all that they were hoping for. They'll probably going to say that as last time with the shutdown fight, that they were able to shed light on an issue that reflects poorly on the Republicans and will be something that Americans will be thinking about going into the midterms.

I think on the Republican side, Trump is going to push this as a win, that they were able to get what they wanted, that they didn't have to cave to these different types of reforms.

And you have to remember ICE and customs, they had already gotten $140 billion from the Big, Beautiful Bill.

[05:05:02]

That's $28 billion more than they've received in the past. So, they have plenty of money to keep these agencies funded.

SOLOMON: Logistically speaking and practically, what happens next? Are you expecting easy passage in the House?

LINDSTAEDT: Well, it's never easy in the House. There's definitely a difficult way forward in the House because the margins are so slim. But I think there's already momentum building for what happened in the Senate. And House members have to be aware of the fact that their constituents, many of you know, people in their districts need to fly, need to travel, and that this needs to be sorted out soon.

And, and also just the issues facing these TSA workers, as I've already outlined. I mean, some of them aren't able to even pay their utility bills. So, it was just too disruptive to keep going on the way it was, which is why Trump even said that he was going to find some way to play TSA workers if the Congress was unable to do so.

SOLOMON: Yeah. Natasha Lindstaedt, we appreciate you hopping on this morning for us. Thank you.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

SOLOMON: All right. Now, let's get back to the Middle East. And Becky Anderson with the latest on the war with Iran -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Rahel, thank you.

U.S. President Donald Trump weighing his options for a dramatic escalation of this conflict should his push for diplomacy fail, sources tell CNN those options would likely involve ground forces, but no guarantee of ending the conflict.

Meanwhile, the president says he is pausing strikes on Iranian energy stocks, sites that he threatened for another ten days. His talks with Tehran, he says, are ongoing. But he did refuse to answer questions about any plans for U.S. forces to secure Iran's uranium.

Here's more of what he said about talks with Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They are begging to work out a deal. I don't know if we'll be able to do that. I don't know if we're willing to do that.

They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit. I mean, I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal.

I'm not -- I don't -- if I was desperate, he'd be the first to know. Pete, let's get the hell out of there.

I'm the opposite of desperate. I don't care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the president did reveal what he said was a present from Iran and his words, 10 boats of oil that were allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. And in Iran, state media reports several people killed in an airstrike in the northwestern part of the country. Video from the Iranian Red Crescent shows rescue crews searching the rubble of a damaged building.

Let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks. She's live from Abu Dhabi at this point.

Paula, just get us up to speed on the latest.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, let's start off with the diplomatic efforts you heard from the U.S. president there saying that he is positive about the potential for a deal, but not desperate for a deal. Now, we know that Pakistan is mediating these talks at this point. We know also from sources that the White House was at one point hoping for some kind of meeting this weekend in Pakistan, that appears to be less likely at this point.

And when we're hearing from the Iranian side, there is far more skepticism. We are hearing from Iranian officials about the lack of trust when it comes to these talks with the United States, pointing out that twice they have been in negotiations and twice during those talks, there have been strikes and wars that have been started by Israel and the United States.

Now, we did hear from Tasnim. This is a state-run media saying that the 15-point proposal that the U.S. gave to Iran via Pakistan has been -- has been looked at, that they have now responded with their own ideas and they're awaiting for a response.

But we do know from earlier this week what Iran's demands were, and they were very far removed from what the U.S. demands are. We know from press TV that they had wanted reparations for any damage done by these airstrikes. They had wanted a halt to the aggression, and they also wanted an acknowledgment of the sovereignty that Iran has over the Strait of Hormuz, something that is really a no go for Israel and the U.S., and probably much of the world that is being held hostage to the Iranian closure effectively of the Strait of Hormuz over the past three weeks.

So, at this point, we are still looking at the military activity on the ground. And we heard from the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: As I said yesterday, the Department of War will continue negotiating with bombs. War is negotiation by other means.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: And we know overnight that Israel and the U.S. carried out a number of strikes in Iran. We are hearing of a number of injuries and deaths resulting from that as well -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, Paula. Thank you.

Well, my next guest writes, quote, Iran's quasi blockade or blockage of Hormuz thus confirmed its military vulnerability. If U.S. forces were to capture Kharg island and areas on the Iranian coast, the loss of territorial integrity would be huge material and moral loss for the regime. It would further collapse the narrative of strength that the regime has been projecting to the Iranian people. And, frankly, beyond.

Lina Khatib is a visiting scholar in the Middle East initiative at Harvard Kennedy School, an fellow in the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

You and I have spoken a lot over the past couple of weeks. It's good to have you back on.

This military degradation that, you know, is clearly going on as far as, the strikes that the U.S. and Israel have conducted on Iran, it may not topple this Iranian regime, but it certainly could trigger, I think your point is internal fractures. Are we starting to see the early signs of that inside Iran's security and political structure?

LINA KHATIB, VISITING SCHOLAR, MIDDLE EAST INITIATIVE, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL: Good to be back, Becky. No, we are not yet seeing those signs. I mean, here is a regime that has been entrenched in the way it conducts its business, and it's not going to be a swift change, but it is a gradual one. It is one of those scenarios in which regimes may look strongest just because before they are about to collapse.

My point is that it is not traditional regime change that we are witnessing, like what happened in Iraq, what is going on here is military degradation going on. That will take a while, but once the regime loses its domestic coercion capacity, this will open up space for political change from within.

ANDERSON: Iran is, to a degree -- well, I mean, certainly on the international stage increasingly isolated. It also doesn't have meaningful backing or at least sort of, you know out loud from, from Russia or China at this point. How much more vulnerable is it in this phase of the conflict? Do you believe?

KHATIB: This is another thing that we need to think about when it comes to the U.S. strategy.

So, the U.S. strategy towards Iran is based on tackling Iran's specific vulnerabilities, military attrition of Iran's capabilities is one part of the strategy. Another is increasing economic pressure. And coupled with this, and this is not because of the U.S.'s design as such, but it's because the world is now very pragmatic. Iran has become isolated diplomatically.

So, the countries that perhaps were expected to run to Iran's rescue, like Russia or China, have not done so because their own calculations, matter more than their support for this regime in Iran. And we saw how Russia acted in Syria after many years of supporting the Assad regime there, when it saw that, it's in its interest to abandon him, it swiftly did that.

So, Iran is really left on its own in an existential war that it will not be able, I think, to survive. But one of the key things about the Iranian regime is that it thinks that it can. And this is where the two strategies differ greatly. So, the U.S. is adapting its strategy to target Iran's vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Iran has not projected any kind of strategic adaptation.

ANDERSON: We've just seen evidence of Ukraine and Saudi Arabia agreeing to a new defense cooperation framework. I think that's important to note.

Ukraine has thrown its support behind Gulf nations, in its sort of intel on drone technology. I wonder where you see the sort of nexus of what we've seen through the sort of Russia/Ukraine conflict. And now what we see here in the Middle East and what you make of Ukraine's support for those countries in the region where I am at the moment,

KHATIB: I mean, it's very important not to look at this conflict in the Middle East as being just about the regional order in the Middle East. That regional order is being changed by force, led by the United States.

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But also when you zoom out, you will see this will have global repercussions leading to new alliances that may be pragmatic further down the line. And Ukraine entering the picture on the side of Saudi Arabia, which is also, of course, supported by the United States, is another way actually linking, to link the theaters of Ukraine and the Middle East in a way that I think could actually open up space for resolving the Ukraine crisis further down the line.

I think Russia will be the one to watch out for here, because I think Russia will not be standing up to the U.S. in the Middle East. And in a way, this involvement by Ukraine, could be later on, paralleled with some other interesting moves on part of Russia.

ANDERSON: I think that macro picture is really important for us as we consider, on a sort of, you know, very short term basis what might be achieved in this next ten day period when Donald Trump has sort of offered a kind of pause in his threats to hit Iranian energy infrastructure, and then what might happen sort of going forward, as you and I know, we've spoken about this a lot.

And, Lina, thank you.

You know, there has been for a long time in this region, this sort of narrative about navigating a new Middle East, deconfliction, sort of, you know, the sense of, you know, a hopeful sort of peaceful and prosperous Middle East and Gulf region going forward. And I think, you know, sometimes it's difficult to see past what's going on, on a sort of minute-by-minute basis. But look to where perhaps this might go beyond this. It's an important position.

Well, still ahead, there is finally some real hope that the standoff over DHS funding in the states could soon end. TSA workers can get paid, and maybe it won't take hours to get through airport security. We're going to have the details on what appears to be a compromise, up next.

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[05:21:40]

SOLOMON: Welcome back and an update now on our breaking news out of Washington.

Six weeks after the start of the partial government shutdown, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a funding package for most of the Department of Homeland Security excluded from the deal. The contentious Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and part of customs and border protection. Included, the Coast Guard and FEMA, and, of course, the Transportation Security Administration, whose officers have gone unpaid now for weeks. Some of them have not shown up for work, which led to massive lines at U.S. airports.

Now, while the deal does mark major progress, a partial shutdown is not over. The legislation still has to go through the house, and President Trump, and there will likely still be plenty of arguing in congress over future financing for ICE.

New York's LaGuardia Airport has reopened the runway where an Air Canada Express passenger plane collided with a fire truck last weekend. That's after the aviation authorities released video showing investigators gathering evidence at the site. They have since allowed the plane to be moved into a hangar. The runway closure forced the airport to cancel about a third of its flights.

The jet was landing at 100 miles per hour on Sunday when it collided with the truck, which had been mistakenly cleared to cross the runway. Two pilots were killed. Dozens of other people were hurt and the investigation could take a year or longer.

Officials are investigating after a helicopter crossed paths with a passenger jet in California. Earlier this week, a United Airlines flight was preparing to land outside of Los Angeles when a collision avoidance alarm sounded in the cockpit. The warning was triggered by a California National Guard helicopter. The pilot stopped descending until they were past the helicopter and could land safely. In January 2025, an army helicopter on a training mission collided

with an American Airlines jet while it was landing at a Washington, D.C. airport. 67 people died in what was the worst aviation disaster in the U.S. in almost 20 years.

All right. And still to come for us, the Trump administration is weighing whether to escalate the war with Iran and initiate a ground attack on Kharg Island. But experts warn that that could come with significant risk.

We'll discuss coming up next.

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[05:28:19]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East programming headquarters here in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

Sources say Iran is preparing for a potential U.S. ground operation on Kharg Island. This comes as the Trump administration reportedly weighs plans for a dramatic military escalation, including boots on the ground, to seize what is a strategic island.

We'll do more on this now. I want to get you to Cairo, and to H.A. Hellyer. He's a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies.

We've talked a lot about the importance of Kharg Island. It's where some 90 percent of Iranian oil is exported from. But while reports include the potential for a U.S. operation there. I want to concentrate with you on three other smaller islands in the Persian Gulf, Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb islands.

Why do they matter now, H.A., more than ever?

H.A. HELLYER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE FELLOW, RUSI: Thank you very much, Becky. Always a pleasure to be on the program. So those three islands, I think are also targets that the Trump administration has at least been reported to be considering in terms of seizing, those three islands, of course, are administered by Iran. They're very close to the strait there. They're quite critical actually, in terms of maritime shipping.

But they're also claimed by the UAE, and this is not a new claim. It's quite an old claim, dates back from the date of independence of the United Arab Emirates.

So, the UAE, the Arab League, the, you know, the regionally and internationally Iranian sovereignty over these islands.