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FAA Imposes New Ground Delay for Newark-Bound Flights; Key Cabinet Officials on Capitol Hill as Budget Sparks Division; Soon, Trump to Meet Canadian Prime Minister Carney Amid Trade Tensions. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 06, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, multi-day meltdown. A new ground delay in place for flights headed to Newark, as today marks nine straight days of staffing shortages. We're going to bring you the latest on what's causing all this mayhem.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: First meeting soon. President Trump will welcome the Canadian prime minister to the White House, but amid an escalating trade, war, and taunts, will their icy relationship thaw.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

Happening now the FAA is opposed a new ground delay for flights bound to New Jersey's Newark Airport, as major disruptions plague travelers for the ninth straight day. Hundreds of flights have already been canceled or delayed this morning.

Meanwhile, the Transportation Department is vowing to transform the air traffic control system in the United States.

It comes as new audio reveals the tense moments during a communication outage at Newark last month. It was so traumatizing that some controllers had to take special leave making an existing staffing shortage even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you do not have a bravo clearance. We lost our radar and it's not working correctly. Radar service terminates. Squawk VFR, change approved. If you want a Bravo clearance, you can just call the towers and get closer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, I'll wait for that frequency from you, okay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, mo. Just, Squawk VFR, look up the tower frequencies. We don't have a radar, so I don't know where you are.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: All right, let's go live right now to Newark Airport. That's where CNN's Brynn Gingras is standing by watching all of this unfold. Brynn, the chaos is now stretched into a ninth day. Is there any relief in sight?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, the short answer, Wolf, no. Honestly, if your flight isn't delayed leaving or coming into Newark Airport, like I said last night, go outside and buy yourself a lottery ticket because, really, everyone seems to be delayed at this point.

You talked about that air traffic controller issue that happened, that's compounding the already shortage of air traffic controllers. There's actually low cloud cover here in New Jersey, and also there's a runway that's shut down in addition to the antiquated air traffic control system. All of these compounding issues, the result of that is what you're seeing here on the board.

This is Terminal A leaving Newark Airport. A lot of these are domestic flights that we're seeing delay, delay, delay, delay. If you move down to terminal B where we are right now, much more international flights leave out of terminal B. And you can see all of these are delayed several hours leaving out of this air -- of this terminal, of this airport.

So, when you have that idea that possibly you're on an international flight, you might not experience a delay as bad, that's not the case. You might likely. You will likely experience a delay or cancelation here in Newark Airport.

And as I said, it doesn't seem to be relief in sight anytime soon. Listen to what transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last night about this whole issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks. We're going to build a brand new air traffic control system from new telecom to new radars, to new infrastructure. We're bringing on new air traffic controllers. This has been a problem in the decades coming, and we're going to fix it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Yes, that all sounds great, but it doesn't have any answers as of now. It's not going to be cleared up anytime soon. We're going to hear more of that plan, he said, unveiling of that on Thursday. But, again, that does not ease any frustrations that we continue to see here, especially at Newark Airport for the people who actually are trying to get to where they want to be. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Brynn Gingras at Newark Airport, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, right now on Capitol Hill, two key members of President Trump's cabinet are set to make the case for their agency's budgets. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will go before house appropriations subcommittees, where they'll field questions over controversial White House budget blueprint that has even some congressional Republicans divided.

So, let's go live now to CNN Chief Congressional correspondent Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. Manu, what are we expecting to hear this morning?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question, there are going to be some fireworks over these proposals to implement the president's budget. This budget the president put out on Friday would cut domestic spending by about $163 billion.

And this is really the beginning of that process to fund the federal government in the new fiscal year, which begins in the fall. They have to make the case here to skeptical Democrats, but also some Republicans alike about why some of these cuts will be necessary.

[10:05:03]

There are four members, Wolf, cabinet officials will be testifying before the House and Senate committees today. So, expect people like Scott Bessent and Kristi Noem in particular to face some tough questioning, but also the agriculture secretary as well, about impacts that could happen to farmers.

But in addition to questions about cuts, in addition to questions about DOGE and the question about how the cabinet secretaries are working with Elon Musk and the like, there are going to be a lot of questions and concerns about the president's pair of policies, particularly for Scott Bessent. What's the status of all these trade deals that the president had promised over the course of 90 days or so, 90 deals that his team had promised? Are they actually going to be implemented? What impact will that have on consumers as well?

So, this will get contentious at time, no doubt, but this is just the beginning of this process. The Congress still has a vote on whether or not to move ahead with these spending plans from the president. And we've already heard from some key Republicans, including the Senate Appropriations chairwoman, Susan Collins, who has raised concerns about elements of this budget request. But those will play out, those concerns will be laid out here in these hearings starting today into the course of the week.

BROWN: All right. Manu Raju, we will be following it all very closely. Thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And next hour President Trump will meet here in Washington over at the White House with the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney. The relationship between the two leaders remains icy. President Trump slapped Canada with a 25 percent tariff on goods not covered by the previous trade deal. Canada retaliated with tariffs of its own. President Trump repeatedly says Canada should become the 51st state. And in his acceptance speech, Carney took direct aim at President Trump, saying Canada will, quote, never yield to the United States. CNN Correspondent Paula Newton is here with us in The Situation Room. But, first, let's go over to CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak.

Kevin, to you first, what is the administration's strategy going into today's meeting between President Trump and the Prime Minister Carney?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, when you talk to White House officials, it doesn't appear as if they have particularly high expectations for this meeting. They essentially view it as a check the box encounter between these two men. But it does have the potential to be become quite contentious when you think about the fact that Prime Minister Carney really rode a wave of anti-Trump sentiment to assume this top office earlier this year.

I think when you talk to American officials, they don't want this meeting to become a contentious one, but, certainly, they recognize that it does have the potential just given how much bad blood there is now between the United States and Canada.

When you listen to President Trump, he was sort of vague about his own expectations for the agenda of this meeting. He said yesterday that he wasn't sure what Carney wanted to talk about, but he wanted to come and try and make a deal. We also heard from the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnik, yesterday talking about this potential for new trade talks with Canada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we make a deal with Canada?

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: I think it's really complex. I think this is really complex because they have been basically feeding off of us for decades upon decades upon decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, like so many things with Trump, this could all come down to chemistry. These are not two men that have a lot in common, at least outwardly, although they both worked previously in the private sector.

Trump said over the weekend that he thought Carney was a very nice man, relatively mild praise for him, but certainly a lot more praiseworthy than his words for his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, who he repeatedly belittled as Governor Trudeau, sort of an illusion of his aspirations to make Canada the 51st American state.

BLITZER: All right. Kevin, we will stay in close touch with you. We'll stand by for the prime minister's arrival over at the White House where you are.

Paula is with us, Paula Newton. Paula, in addition to the trade war, another very big question is whether the president, President Trump, will attend a major summit in Canada next month. What can you tell us about that? PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's just a few weeks time, Wolf, the G7, such an important meeting and normally the U.S. leader is the focal point there. The fact that neither side, and Kevin Liptak and I have reported on this, neither side is saying that Donald Trump will be there at the G7. Extraordinary, extraordinary times.

I will say both men have gone to great lengths to try and lay the groundwork for a really good meeting at the White House today. Let's see if that comes to fruition.

I want you to listen now to Mark Carney on Friday going out of his way, really, to compliment the president. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: He respects as others who are good negotiators and he's one of the best negotiators, they respect strength.

The point is, and I will make this point repeatedly, we have more than enough to do here at home. That point about we can give ourselves more than the Americans can take away is absolutely right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: The issue here is Canada is saying loudly and clearly if we have to pivot, we will. It doesn't mean we don't want a relationship with the United States, but let's see where we're at.

[10:10:01]

You heard Mr. Lutnick there really setting things up for tough negotiations.

I will say one thing the two men do have in common. Mark Carney was the chair of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest real estate companies in the world. And when you think about that in terms of respect, Mark Carney is demanding it, it seems that the president is willing to give him some today.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. It's going to be coming up very soon. Good to have you here in Washington in The Situation Room, Paula. Thanks very much.

NEWTON: Great to see you.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Pam.

BROWN: All right, Wolf. We are following some breaking news. Israel is attacking the capital of Yemen. The Israeli military says it is targeting the airport in, quote, several power plants in the capital city.

I want to go straight to CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, what more are you learning about these strikes? JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, these are some of the most significant Israeli strikes in Yemen, and they are in retaliation, of course, for that Houthis ballistic missile attack that struck right alongside Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport on Sunday.

This is the second wave of strikes that Israel has launched targeting Yemen within the last 24 hours. And today, crucially, these airstrikes hit Yemen's International Airport, which is a civilian airport, although the Israeli military is claiming that the Houthis were also using this airport for their, quote.unquote, terrorist purposes.

The Israeli military now saying that they have actually fully disabled that airport by striking runways, aircraft and infrastructure at the airport. They also say that they struck a cement factory near the Yemeni capital, as well as several power plants in the area.

The question now is whether these attacks will indeed continue. The Israeli prime minister had vowed in saying that he would retaliate, that this would not be a one-off response. We've now seen two series of strikes within the last 24 hours. The other question, whether Israel could potentially target Iran directly, Iran funds and helps to arm these Houthis militants in Yemen and Israel has said that they hold Iran directly responsible for these attacks.

So, that is certainly something to watch out for here, as well as how the Houthis will now retaliate, as they are likely to continue to try firing ballistic missiles at Israel. Pam?

BROWN: Just to follow up with you, Jeremy, is there any indication of U.S. involvement in this retaliation?

DIAMOND: There, there is not. The Houthis have said -- have used this language of U.S. is Israeli aggression against Yemen repeatedly, but so far there's no evidence of any U.S. involvement in these strikes directly. Although we know last night, for example, that Israel did indeed coordinate with the United States, giving the United States a heads up on these strikes. And the U.S. itself has also, of course, carried out its own strikes against Yemen, but no indication that these strikes today had any U.S. planes or bombers in involved in these attacks.

BROWN: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Still ahead, Pamela, we're joined by Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, on the message he wants the Canadian prime minister's to send to President Trump later today over at the White House.

BROWN: And then next, it has been 20 years in the making, and tomorrow, the federal government will enforce new real I.D. regulations. This is something you're going to want to pay attention to and make sure you have the right I.D. to travel, to do all sorts of things. So, stick around for that.

You're in The Situation Room.

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[10:15:00]

BROWN: Well, if you have some travel plans coming up, you should check your I.D. The Department of Homeland Security says that it will finally start enforcing its real I.D. requirements beginning tomorrow. That's almost 20 years to the day after Congress passed the 2005 Real I.D Act, which calls for enhanced identification security. So, now with travelers across the country, they're scrambling to update their I.D.s in order to avoid potential travel delays.

BLITZER: Very significant, very important news you need to know right now.

Let's go live to CNN Correspondent Danny Freeman. He's over at A DMV facility in Camden, New Jersey. Danny, you just spoke, I understand it, with some TSA officials. What did they tell you about this deadline?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, frankly, this TSA official, I think alleviated some of the concerns that folks who have been worried about real I.D. have had leading up to tomorrow's deadline. The main worry that people have had, Wolf and Pamela, is that if you went to the airport and you didn't have a passport and you didn't have the real I.D., you just had your regular driver's license and you were trying to get on a domestic flight, the concern was, after tomorrow, you'd be denied. You wouldn't be able to even get through the checkpoint to get to your plane.

Well, according to a TSA official who I spoke with just a little while ago, you will not be turned away. However, the TSA emphasizes that full implementation of this real I.D. rule is still going into effect tomorrow, and that if you don't have a real I.D. or a passport, something along those lines, you can expect to have additional screening and be additionally processed when you are trying to get to your flight. So, you will ultimately, potentially be delayed if you don't have that real I.D. ready to go tomorrow.

Wolf and Pamela, I want you to take a listen to how that TSA official characterized what to expect as we go forward with this new deadline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE LORINCZ, TSA DEPUTY EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR: We are going to process you. It might take some additional time, but we are going to do it efficiently. We are fully staffed at all locations across the country. So, I don't anticipate any wait times or delays as far as you're going through the security process. But we will process, you'll not be turned away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: So, Wolf and Pamela, again, that's the big news of the day, that though this deadline is coming tomorrow, and, again, TSA wants you to still prioritize getting your real I.D.

[10:20:03]

You will not be turned away from your plane if you're traveling domestically and haven't quite made it to the DMV to get that done just yet. Wolf?

BROWN: All right, that is good news. So, bottom line, where will a real I.D. be needed or potentially needed starting tomorrow?

FREEMAN: You know, it's interesting, there are a handful of places that the federal government has said you will need a real I.D. for. For most Americans, that will be predominantly the airport, right? If you're flying domestically, that's where you're going to need the real I.D. Some of the other places they've mentioned include other federal buildings, nuclear power plants have been listed as one place where you would need a real I.D. You can't just get in with a regular driver's license anymore.

But, again, I think for you and me and any regular person, airports are the key place if you're flying domestically. Of course, if you're flying internationally, you still need your passport either way.

BLITZER: How can you tell, Danny, if you already have real I.D.?

FREEMAN: So, Wolf, it's interesting, the easiest way to tell is usually in the corner of your driver's license, you're going to see some sort of star, usually a gold star, a black star. But it's important, they do differ state by state slightly. I live in Pennsylvania. My I.D. has a little gold star and that's it. If you live in California, there's going to be a bear with a star in it. If you live in Maine, there's going to be a shape of the state of Maine with a gold star in it. So, it does differ slightly state by state, but that's the biggest sign in the corner.

And I also note on non-real I.D. driver's licenses, a lot of them will say, not for real I.D. use or not for real I.D. purpose. That's a way to tell if you don't have one as well.

BROWN: So, what will people need in order to obtain one?

FREEMAN: You know, Pamela, frankly a lot. Again, this whole act was put in place back in 2005 and again designed to strengthen security. Here, just for example, in New Jersey, you'll need two documents proving your address. One of those can be a regular driver's license, something with your Social Security information, ideally a Social Security card, and then still another form of identification, think of a passport.

That's been the part that has tripped up some folks, as they've come here, I've been speaking to them over the past couple of days. There was someone yesterday who came, they got the appointment, they were online, but they were missing one form of identification. So, double check the regulations and rules in your states so you don't get turned away as you get your real I.D. before tomorrow's deadline.

BROWN: Danny Freeman, thanks so much. We verified, we have real I.D.

BLITZER: And you're allowed in The Situation Room now.

BROWN: That's right. He told me I'm allowed entry to the situation room tomorrow.

BLITZER: Because you have real I.D., you have the star.

BROWN: I have the star. So do you. So you're also allowed back to The Situation Room.

BLITZER: Thank you very much.

All right, coming up, it's a billion dollar revenue stream. Up next, we'll ask the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, about the impact U.S. and Canadian tariffs are having on the auto industry.

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[10:25:00]

BLITZER: All right. Let's get back to one of our top stories this morning. In the next hour, the newly elected Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, is set to arrive at the White House for a meeting, very important meeting with President Trump. Carney won last month's election on a promise to fight President Trump's threats to annex Canada and make it the 51st state and to continue his campaign of tariffs.

BROWN: Joining us now is Doug Ford. He's the premier of Ontario. Thanks for being here with us back on The Situation Room.

So, what message do you want Prime Minister Carney to deliver to the president in this meeting?

DOUG FORD, ONTARIO PREMIER: Well, when I spoke to the prime minister the other day and yesterday, I told him, you know, let's build the endgame (ph) fortress. Let's have the two strongest nations in the world. Let's put a ring around Canada and the U.S. and we'd be the two most prosperous, richest, safest two countries in the entire world. And I have all the confidence in the world that Prime Minister Carney will do a great job and build that relationship with President Trump.

BROWN: You just said you spoke to him yesterday. Tell us more about that conversation and what did he say to you about your suggestion and what did he say about the meeting today with President Trump?

FORD: Well, you know, he's going to go there and he's a very personable person. He's going to go there and build the relationship. I don't think we're going to have any deals signed today. But I believe that they'll build that relationship and just tell President Trump we're so much stronger together.

I always say united we stand, divided we fall. And when you look at what's going on around the world right now, we need to stand together. We need to take care of each other. And that's the message I said to Prime Minister Carney. We're just messaging back and forth.

BLITZER: Very important message, indeed.

President Trump, as you know, Premier, has called Prime Minister Carney, and I'm quoting now, a very nice man and has avoided calling him governor as he used to do all the time with the former prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Does that give you any hope that the relationship between our two countries, the United States and Canada, can be repaired and strengthened? What do you hope can be achieved during this meeting today?

FORD: Well, I believe that they will have a great relationship. President Trump went as far as endorsing, you know, Prime Minister Carney, and that's a good start. So, I'm confident that they're both business-minded people.

[10:30:00]

I know Prime Minister Carney worked in New York. So, they have a relationship and they're going to continue building.