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NYC's LaGuardia Airport Closed After Deadly Runway Collision; Trump On Talks With Iran: They Very Much Want To Make A Deal; ICE Agents Begin Deploying To Assist TSA At Some U.S. Airports. Aired 11- 11:30a ET

Aired March 23, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:16]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, deadly collision. A passenger jet slams into a fire truck while landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport, which is now shut down.

Crucial conversations, President Trump postponing his plans to bomb Iranian energy sites as he says the U.S. and Tehran talk about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Funding standoff, senators hit pause on DHS funding talks with nightmarish airport lines. How much longer can this political fighting go on? The top Democrat of the Senate Rules Committee standing by to join us live.

And a major election case, the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a decision that could reshape how your vote is counted.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: We begin with the breaking news. LaGuardia Airport in New York will be shut down for at least three more hours after a devastating runway collision overnight. The Air Canada plane slammed into a fire truck as the flight was landing. The collision at more than 100 miles an hour killed both the pilot and the co-pilot. Here's the air traffic control tower speaking to that fire truck as the tragedy unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truck 1 and Company, LaGuardia Tower?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truck 1 and Company.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truck 1 and Company, LaGuardia Tower, requesting to cross 4 at Delta.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truck 1 and Company, cross 4 at Delta.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truck 1 and Company 4 at Delta.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frontier 4195, just stop there please. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, Truck 1, stop, stop, stop. Stop, Truck 1, stop. Stop, Truck 1, stop. JAZZ 646, I see you collided with the vehicle. Just hold position. I know he can't move. Vehicle are responding to you now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is over at LaGuardia for us. Shimon, what are you learning?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, certainly that audio that you played is just so chilling and really air traffic controller's worst nightmare. It appears, based on everything we know and everything we've heard and what we've been told, is that that air traffic controller cleared the fire truck, the fire truck that had two port authority police officers who were responding to a separate emergency from a United Airlines flight that asked for emergency assistance.

To get permission to get on the runway, the officers have to ask air traffic control. And it appears right now that that air traffic controller approved that request. And so there are a lot of questions here, obviously, as to how and why that happened and what was going on inside the air traffic control at the time.

We're waiting to hear from the first briefing from NTSB, which should take place later today. Meanwhile, we are hearing from a passenger, Wolf, who described those harrowing moments as the plane came in for a landing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK CABOT, PASSENGER, AIR CANADA FLIGHT 8646: We went down for a regular landing. We came in pretty hard. We immediately hit something, and it was just chaos from there. About five seconds later, we had come to a stop. But in that short period, I mean, everybody was hunkered down and everybody was screaming. Pretty quickly, we didn't have any directions because the pilot's cabin had been kind of destroyed. So somebody said, let's get the emergency exit and get the door and let's all jump out. And that's exactly what we did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And Wolf, many of the passengers on the plane were really on their own. We learned just a short time ago that a flight attendant, one of the flight attendants, who was in one of those jump seats in the front of the plane, was actually thrown from the plane during the collision. So that remained. There was only one flight attendant and no pilots because those pilots sadly were killed. And so many of the passengers were on their own trying to figure out how to get out of the plane.

We also learned, Wolf, I spoke to a source who said that the entire incident, the entire crash is captured on surveillance video here at the airport. There are cameras everywhere. And you can see the plane and the fire truck colliding.

The plane hits the truck in the middle. The two officers were in the front. And sources believe that that's the only reason they survived, those officers, was because that collision happens in the middle. We're now just waiting for the NTSB to sort of do their work here. We've been watching behind here as investigators have been going around the plane. The fire truck is completely on its side.

[11:05:02]

Just the sheer force of all of this, you could just see with the debris field and the way in which the front of the plane is just completely smashed. So hopefully here soon we'll hear from the NTSB, Wolf.

BLITZER: Do we know the condition of that flight attendant who was thrown around?

PROKUPECZ: Yes, she's certainly injured, I'm told, but she's expected to survive. But it is really miraculous that she is OK at this point. And just how she was thrown from the plane tells you the force of this crash. The plane, based on flight data records available online, was going over 100 miles an hour at the time, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, heartbreaking story indeed. All right, Shimon Prokupecz at LaGuardia for us. Thank you very, very much.

I want to bring in CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien. Miles, you know a lot about these kinds of horrible developments. The NTSB is leading the investigation right now. What is it likely focusing on, at least right now?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: This, Wolf, is all about air traffic control, and in this case, one particular controller in the tower cab who gave permission, cleared for landing that Air Canada regional jet, and also gave permission for that emergency vehicle to cross the same runway at the same time. Listening to him on the radio and the recordings, as it becomes evident what is going to happen is very difficult, frankly, because the realization of it becomes quite evident, put it that way.

He tries to stop the emergency vehicle, but it was obviously too late. So the context of this, though, Wolf, is that you've got an air traffic control system that for a long time has been bursting at the seams. Air traffic control staffing is still quite deficient. There's mandatory overtime required for air traffic control personnel. There's probably some fatigue issues that will be looked at by the National Transportation Safety Board.

One other thing, Wolf, this runway at LaGuardia, runway four, has a runway status lighting system, which is a technology designed to stop and prevent what happened here. It's supposed to detect active use of the runway and turn on some red lights on those approaches to the runway, which would indicate to that truck that this was not a good idea to cross that runway. It will be interesting to see if that system was operating properly, and if it was, did the, you know, emergency responders focused on their mission to deal with yet another emergency, maybe didn't see it?

BLITZER: You know, I thought it was interesting and fascinating, Miles, that 18 minutes after the crash, 18 minutes after the crash, an air traffic controller appears to say, I messed up to a pilot who witnessed the crash. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That wasn't good to watch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I know. I tried to reach out to them. We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, man, you did the best you could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, Miles, I want to point out that determining root causes of accidents can take maybe, based on my experience, and you have a lot more than I do, at least a year, maybe longer, and often involve multiple contributing factors. How will these communications factor into this investigation?

O'BRIEN: Well, I mean, it's there on the tape, Wolf, and it is hard to listen to that. That controller now has to carry that with him. That was his mistake. But it was his mistake specifically and individually, but that's put in the context of a system that has set him up for failure. It's a system where they are overworked. LaGuardia Airport is one of the busiest pieces of concrete on the planet when it comes to getting airplanes in and out. The system is blinking red, has been blinking red.

You go back to more than a year ago, the midair collision at Washington National Airport. The question I have in my mind is, when is something significant going to change? What I'm talking about here is reducing the tempo, the number of flights. Everybody wants to fly. The air traffic system is vibrant. Airlines are doing well, or at least up to the oil shocks recently, they're doing well. The question is, should we be slowing down this tempo to recognize the fact that we have a system that is beyond its capacity?

BLITZER: Yes, I'm sure some people out there are going to have second thoughts about flying right now, and you really can't blame them. Miles O'Brien, thank you very, very much. Always good to get your analysis.

[11:09:47]

Up next, President Trump weighs in about discussions with Iran on the war and the critical Strait of Hormuz. Lots going on in the war. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: President Trump's saying this morning that he's postponing any attacks on Iran's energy plants because the two sides, in his words, and I'm quoting him now, have had productive talks. Listen to what he said just a little while ago. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So the discussions took place yesterday. They went into yesterday evening. They want very much to make a deal. We'd like to make a deal too. We're going to get together today by probably phone because it's very hard to find a country. It's very hard for them to get out, I guess. But we'll at some point very soon meet. We're doing a five-day period. We'll see how that goes. And if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we'll just keep bombing our little hearts out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:15:12]

BLITZER: President Trump also told CNN's Kaitlan Collins the two sides had reached what he described as 15 points of agreement. CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is joining us right now. He's in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Nic, how are these developments being received where you are out there in the Middle East?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Wolf, soon after President Trump made that first statement that he would give this five-day pause before targeting energy infrastructure in Iran, I called through to a source here in Saudi Arabia, in the government. And they sounded pretty much, frankly, to have been blindsided.

Certainly didn't appear as if there was a regular diplomatic channel that had given them or him advance notice of what was coming. He said he'd seen it on X, that he was going into a meeting. Undoubtedly, the social media announcement that he'd seen was going to be part of the conversation. That's what he told me.

And I think, broadly, what we've seen the Saudis do is interpret what people say compared to what the actions are on the ground and stay in a defensive position, keep their missile interceptors pointed at the direction of Iran, so that they can counter the continuing threats coming from Iran. I don't think you'll find anyone in Saudi Arabia at the moment thinking that, OK, we've now entered an off-ramp.

Seems more like a pause to bring down the price of oil, a pause to perhaps bring military assets further into region, a pause to consider the next move, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we'll see what happens. I know you got some exclusive access over there in Jeddah, in the port in Jeddah, that is seeing some dramatic changes because of the Strait of Hormuz. What can you tell us about that?

ROBERTSON: Yes, of course, so many of the goods that the Gulf countries need, whether it's Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, so many of them depend on goods that are being shipped in through the Strait of Hormuz. In fact, the World Economic Forum says 85 percent of the food that the Gulf countries need is shipped in. So right now, they can't get that in.

So Saudi Arabia, along with those countries, is working a plan to move those goods over land. And the Jeddah port you see right behind me, that's where we were. They are gearing up for what they describe as a massive uptick in the amount of cargo they're going to be passing through, a 50 percent increase.

And the shipping companies are telling us that they'll be prioritizing food, prioritizing medicine. But all of this is Gulf unity, unity to give resilience, resilience because otherwise Iran has a chokehold over them. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Nic Robertson in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Nic, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, ICE agents sent to more than a dozen airports across the United States as travelers stand for hours in security lines. Our Ryan Young is live at the world's busiest airport. That would be in Atlanta, Georgia. Ryan?

[11:18:15]

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, we continue to feel for the people as they stand in line. This is a TSA pre-check line. At one point, it wrapped outside. Still people waiting for more than an hour, questioning how long do I have to wait? We'll have that story coming up in a live report.

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BLITZER: Happening now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are being seen at some of the nation's busiest airports after President Trump ordered them to help the TSA. The move comes as travelers see massive lines at security checkpoints as TSA agents call out sick or quit their jobs after more than a month without pay amid the partial government shutdown. ICE agents are on duty in some places, but the Trump administration is sending mixed messages about what they're supposed to be doing. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: We're simply there to help TSA do their job in areas that don't need their specialized expertise such as, you know, screening through the x-ray machine. Not training that? We won't do that.

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: They run those same type of security machines at the southern border. Packages come through or people come through. They run similar assets.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: CNN senior national correspondent Ryan Young is over at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Ryan, what are you seeing there right now, specifically the ICE agents who have been deployed there?

YOUNG: Wolf, so far, the ICE agents have taken a deployment up around the airport, really watching the perimeter, walking around areas like this one, keeping the area secure. We have not seen them putting their hands on any of the machines that help TSA agents move people through. Even behind us right now, you can see some of the folks here who work in the airport planning actually doing a tabletop exercise to see how they can plan this situation a lot better.

Delta, the airline itself, has surged in extra employees to make sure this part of the line moves more smoothly. And at this point, this is the TSA pre-check line. I'm going to say this out loud because a lot of people have been asking the question. The main checkpoint line right now is shorter than the pre-check line, and that's what people have been dealing with. But people have been believing that these ICE agents surging in would help sort of diffuse these long lines.

[11:25:03]

As we got closer to where people are getting checked in, we see agents standing next to TSA agents, but they're not actually doing the checking in. On top of all that, Atlanta Police Department has added more officers to the surrounding areas as well to make sure people are safe. And we've seen the numbers in terms of how long people are standing in line drop over the last half hour or so. But we did talk to a man, a union steward who represents the TSA agents. We talked to him a short time ago about what's going on today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BOREK, UNION STEWARD AND TSA OFFICER: The crowds that we had yesterday is still being seen today. So certainly it's not lessening the burden here on traveling public. But I guess the question that now has to be asked is, is this going to be the new norm? Is every weekend, you know, going to be a five, six hour wait at the checkpoints to get on your flight, if you can even make it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, that's a scary number. Five, six hour wait. That happened to a lot of people yesterday, Wolf. They were waiting in this line, stuck. Even folks who were in wheelchairs were stuck for quite some time. They are doing the most they can to make sure the operation continues smoothly. By the way, that's the main checkpoint line right there that goes down that way. You can see how short it is at this point. Wolf?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Security checkpoint wait times, as you know, Ryan, have been miserably long at some airports across the country, including where you are in Atlanta. Are things looking any better today? YOUNG: Well, it looks like they're getting a little better from this morning. At one point, the lines were wrapped outside the building, something that we haven't seen returned just yet. Right there were the security wait times that were posted on that computer screen. That system has been down.

BLITZER: And one final question before I let you go, Ryan. I know you've been really busy. These ICE agents who are where you are at the Atlanta airport, are they, is there some evidence that they're looking at people and questioning people as far as if they suspect someone might be an undocumented immigrant asking for a birth certificate or a passport or anything along those lines? And do they have the capability of actually arresting people at the airport?

YOUNG: Great question. We have not seen them interact with the public at all outside of maybe pointing them in a different direction, but they're not taking any hands on assignments as of right now. We'll continue to watch that.

BLITZER: We'll watch that. We'll stay in close touch with you, Ryan, is at the Atlanta Airport for us.

And for some analysis right now, I want to bring in Sarah Saldana. She was the director of ICE under President Obama. Sarah, thanks so much for joining us. What's your view, first of all, of this decision to deploy ICE agents to airports across the country? What can they do to help without TSA specific training?

SARAH SALDANA, ICE DIRECTOR, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: That's a very good question. And I'm not sure I am clear, as you indicated earlier from President Trump's words, what exactly they're going to be doing there. It is -- you wouldn't have TSA agents doing removal operations or investigating international crime, which is what ICE officers and agents do. So it makes very little sense to me if they're going to be stepping in the shoes of TSA to do the kinds of things they do. Somebody mentioned earlier about the border and ICE agents being there to look at -- use these machines to look at what somebody has in their luggage. That's not ICE. ICE is not doing that. That's CBP and other officials at those border ports of entry.

So it doesn't make sense to me. If I knew a little bit more specifically, I could -- what they're actually going to be doing. This is morning one, after all. I would have a stronger opinion on it. But in general, ICE has a specific, very important mission, very important mission on its own. And to be taking them off their regular jobs for which they're specifically trained makes very little sense to me.

BLITZER: I want to play for you, Sarah, what House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told my colleague Dana Bash yesterday. Listen and watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances, kill them. We've already seen how ICE conducts itself. These are untrained individuals when it comes to doing the current job that they have for the most part, let alone deploying them in close exposure in highly sensitive situations at airports across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Sarah, what do you think of that assessment?

[11:29:52]

SALDANA: My view is that's a little extreme. This is a different situation in an airport than out in the streets of a community. But there is a lot of logic and reasoning to the idea that somebody who's not trained in what they're supposed to be doing --