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CNN Headlines: Kennedy Center Board Votes To Close For Renovations After Chaotic Call With Trump; Three Dead In Los Angeles News Helicopter Crash; Blanche: Trump Admin. Could Still Push For Mail-In Voting Reforms. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired September 16, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:29]
BRAD SMITH, CNN HOST: At least three people are dead after a news helicopter crashed in California. What we're learning about the tragedy this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOYCE BEATTY (D-OH): To hear a president using the language that he used, he threw a tantrum. It was like an immature child.
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SMITH: Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty tells us what happened on a Kennedy Center board call between her and President Trump. It comes as they voted to close the building down indefinitely.
And take a look at this. This man dropped his children in a gator infested swamp, all while running away from police. The children are okay. We'll get you more on that story soon.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us this morning.
Let's get this started. This morning, the battle over President Trump adding his name to the Kennedy Center is escalating.
A federal judge blocked Trump from adding his name to the building, and that prompted the Trump appointed board to vote to shut down the main building of the performing arts center for two years for renovations.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more on the fireworks that erupted at the board meeting
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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It was effing crazy. That's how one source described Tuesday's Kennedy Center board meeting after they voted to proceed with a two year closure for renovations and after President Trump himself dialed into the board meeting. Now, President Trump, as chairman of the board, he got into a lengthy
back and forth with Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, specifically about her lawsuit that in large part, has been the thing that has stood in the way from him getting to add his name to the front of this building.
And in that meeting, President Trump really berated her, yelled at her, screamed at her, according to two sources, saying essentially that she had been responsible for the decline of this building. That tense exchange came just minutes after a D.C. federal judge ruled that President Trump and Kennedy Center officials cannot add his name to the side of the building.
Judge Cooper, in the case, they said he said of any inscription, whether it was acknowledging, thanking President Trump for renovating and restoring this building, that that could not go forward. He said, quote. Simply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing.
And nearly immediately on Tuesday evening, we saw Department of Justice lawyers argue on behalf of the Kennedy Center appeal, that decision. Of course, here at the Kennedy Center, those tarps behind me are still up. They have been up since June, really emblematic about how this building is working its way through the legal system and the future very much hangs in the balance. Really shielded in uncertainty.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Thank you, Sunlen.
Three people are dead after a news helicopter plunged from the sky in Los Angeles during an assignment. The horrific crash was caught on camera. We're about to show you that video, but we do want to warn you first that it is distressing and may be difficult to watch.
This is the live video coming from the helicopter working for the local NBC and Telemundo outlets. You're seeing the moments that the chopper appears to experience a flight issue. The camera starts shaking intensely and the chopper begins to rapidly descend, then pauses and cuts off.
KNBC has identified the two victims inside the helicopter, photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw.
The L.A. Fire Department says that the third victim was outside the chopper on the ground, and a fourth person was taken to the hospital. The chopper went down between two commercial buildings and caused a fire after it landed near several cars and two large cargo containers. You can take a listen to the moments immediately after the crash.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a helicopter down over there. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. Say that again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a helicopter down just outside the airspace. So it's a helicopter. And right now, we're thinking it's TV4.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TV 5 and 9 or Police 10, if you could confirm that was TV 4. Please advise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TV 4 is not up here with us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. Say that again.
[05:05:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TV 4 is not up here with us. We believe it's TV 4 that went down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: The NTSB and the FAA will be leading the investigation into how this happened. Both Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed their condolences.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche signals that President Trump will not let up on his fight to restrict mail-in voting. That is despite the Supreme Court handing Trump a major loss in his court fight over voting reforms on Monday. The Supreme Court justices ruled to deny Trump's bid to allow the U.S. postal service unprecedented power to withhold potentially millions of mail-in ballots.
Trump has railed against mail-in voting, even though he votes by mail. He has also claimed widespread fraud despite no evidence of it.
And here is what U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said after Trump's Supreme Court loss.
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TODD BLANCHE, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We want to make sure that there is safe voting and that there is integrity, free and fair elections, and that there is one person placing one vote, and that that person is eligible to vote. And so we're -- you saw -- part of the decision was the timing and that we ran out of time because of the litigation in part. And so, our efforts to -- and President Trump's efforts to make sure that we have free and fair elections are not going to stop just in November or after or thereafter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the Trump administration was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, with the majority.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates later today amid concerns about persistently high inflation. The Fed meeting comes as a federal budget watchdog says that the war with Iran is expected to cause a spike in U.S. inflation for the first quarter of 2027.
The Congressional Budget Office says that the war will add roughly half a percentage point to inflation, largely due to higher energy costs.
FBI Director Kash Patel faced sharp questions from lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. He was pressed on a range of issues surrounding his leadership of the bureau and at times, the hearing took some unexpected turns. But Patel sought to keep the focus on the bureaus casework and his claim that crime rates are declining.
CNN's Evan Perez was on Capitol Hill for the contentious hearing and has more.
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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of the hearing today has focused on Kash Patel attempt to try to focus on some of the statistics you saw. You could see on the -- on the table where he's seated. He has laid out a number of note cards and pages of prepared documents. A lot of them trying to tell the story of his leadership that he says shows a dramatic reduction in crimes.
Some of the numbers are a little hard to understand or know where theyre coming from. For instance, claiming that the FBI has stopped 1,100 terrorist attacks during his during the past year. I'm not sure where that's coming from, but I guess we will find out. We've asked the FBI to clarify.
But one of the major focuses, of course, is the question of election security. What is the FBI's role in trying to post agents, for instance, to make sure that the what the president says is concerns about vote fraud, that none of that happens.
Listen to this exchange with Senator Blumenthal, when Patel was asked about this.
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SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The FBI has no general authority to monitor elections.
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: That priority rests with DHS.
BLUMENTHAL: So you would agree with me that deploying FBI agents to the polls on Election Day would be contrary to law?
PATEL: I don't know that we can't legally do it. I'm telling you, we're going to house our agents and intel analysts in our field offices for election security efforts.
BLUMENTHAL: Well, I'm dissatisfied that you are unable to give us an unequivocal, clear, unambiguous commitment that the FBI will be kept out of election interference. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREZ: In a subsequent round of questioning, the FBI director tried to, I think, say that the -- that the FBI agents are going to be posted at these command centers that are set up in all 56 field offices. Now, that is not unusual. That's how its usually done, is that they have agents in these field offices, and their job is to take any complaints that come in and do investigations if something does arise.
The question, though, that everybody is on edge on is whether the president is going to order either FBI or DHS, or perhaps even the national guard in some of these states to go to the polls, because there -- there is a clear legal line that would be crossed if that happens. Again, everyone is sort of anticipating what the president might do. But here, the FBI director wasn't conceding any of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Thank you, Evan.
We have new video this morning coming out of Washington state. And police say that in this video, you'll see what started that deadly Sheeran Hills fire on July 4th.
Take a look.
Authorities say those fireworks being launched ignited dry grass along the road and sparked the fire. It burned nearly 10,000 acres and killed one person. An 18-year-old has been arrested and is facing multiple charges, including manslaughter and arson.
We'll continue to keep you up to date on anything involving that investigation. We've got lots more to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, including this. Nick Reiner will not face the death penalty if he's convicted of killing his parents. Rob and Michelle Reiner. How the prosecutor came to that decision.
Plus -- a pilot had to do some quick thinking there. More on that story straight ahead.
Plus, what Ed Sheeran is saying about Macklemore being told to leave the singers tour over comments about Gaza.
That and more coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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[05:15:46]
SMITH: We are learning new details in the grisly double murder case involving legendary director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle. Los Angeles prosecutors say that they will not seek the death penalty against their son, Nick Reiner. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered his parents.
Marybel Gonzalez has the latest on the case for us.
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NATHAN HOCHMAN, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The district attorneys office will not be seeking the death penalty in this case. That means that the maximum sentence that Mr. Reiner will be looking at is life without the possibility of parole.
MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A major development in the case against Nick Reiner, who is charged with murdering his parents, Michele and Rob Reiner.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, making the announcement shortly before Reiner, appeared in court Tuesday.
HOCHMAN: We have gone through a rigorous review where we look at the aggravating factors as well as the mitigating factors where we have spoken to the victims family, we have spoken to prosecutors, law enforcement.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): Legendary director Rob Reiner and his film producer and political activist wife Michele were found dead from apparent stab wounds in their Brentwood, California, home last December. Hours later, authorities arrested and charged their younger son, Nick, with the killings. He's pleaded not guilty.
HOCHMAN: We did speak with Nick Reiner's siblings. They made their views very clear. We took their views into consideration and ultimately deciding not to seek the death penalty.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Green, who represents Reiner, told CNN in a statement that she supported the D.A.'s move, noting Reiner suffers from, quote, serious mental illness and a long history of struggling with self- medication. During Tuesday's hearing, the judge ordered the grand jury transcripts that led to Reiner's indictment on murder charges sealed for now.
I'm Marybel Gonzalez, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Thank you, Marybel.
We are learning new details about the investigation into the sudden death of Hayden Panettiere. The probe is examining whether she got counterfeit drugs from a southern California dealer. That is according to a source familiar with the investigation. The actress went into cardiac arrest in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, about a month ago. Panettiere had spoken publicly about her struggle with substance abuse.
The source says pending toxicology tests will be critical, especially in helping investigators determine whether the 36-year-old ingested a counterfeit narcotic.
Still to come on, CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, there's this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG LANE, LOST WIFE & SON IN WASHINGTON, D.C., PLANE CRASH: If you think the cost is too high, show us the math. Tell us what a human life is worth to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Families who lost loved ones in that plane-helicopter collision in D.C. have taken an emotional plea about air safety. That's coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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[05:23:05]
SMITH: Worries over artificial intelligence, safety risks and mixed messaging from A.I. leaders are advancing a call among some in Washington to step up and rein in the rapidly advancing tech. And this is creating some unusual political pairings, both Democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders and MAGA fundamentalist Steve Bannon appeared on the same stage in Washington, Tuesday. Not together, but both sharing a similar message at the pro human assembly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): We are at a dangerous and unprecedented moment in world history. Our job as human beings and our country and throughout the world is to make sure that A.I. works for all of the people
STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: We're trying to rise above partisanship. And we have to. This has to be the American people. You cannot be a supplicant, and we're not going to be supplicants anymore. The American people are going to drive this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: You may recall Bannon is a former Trump adviser, members of Trump's current administration aren't buying it.
Attorney General Todd Blanche telling reporters this yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD BLANCHE, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We're prosecutors, not regulators. So we're not going to try to regulate A.I. A.I. is extraordinarily beneficial to our society. There's a lot of great work that A.I. does. And it's also something that conveniently has become a flashpoint this week. And the president has spoke about that, and I very much agree with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: This week, President Trump called the need for A.I. guardrails a hoax. Responding to industry calls for a slowdown and adding that the U.S. is winning against China, and he wants to keep it that way.
Straight ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, there's this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a helicopter down over there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. Say that again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a helicopter down just outside the airspace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:25:04]
SMITH: The big developing story this morning, a deadly helicopter crash in L.A. We've got the latest details for you there.
Plus, a Republican lawmaker made a surprise move by pushing for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's impeachment. So what happens next?
That's all coming up, straight ahead.
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SMITH: It's half past the hour. Let's hit the refresh button on our top stories.
