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Trump Promises $5,000 Checks if Republicans Win Midterms, Offers No Other Details; New York City Marks 25 Years Since 9/11 Attacks; Record Heat Swamps Southern California Cities. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired September 10, 2026 - 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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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, $5,000 promise. President Trump says he'd give every American $5,000 each, but it comes with a catch.

Plus, massive security operation, how the NYPD is preparing for its largest deployment of police in years.

Also ahead, threat to humanity. Lawmakers push to regulate A.I. after researchers warn of human extinction by the end of the decade.

So, are you ready for some football? The Seahawks win again, and the Cali teams are heading down under as NFL season returns.

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

Happening now, President Trump makes an extraordinary promise, but only if Republicans maintain control of Congress this November. Speaking in Dallas last night, here's what he told the crowd gathered for the GOP midterm convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Here is my promise. If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic -- tremendous economic success, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, the president didn't offer any additional details on how he'd pay for this, but his remarks come as Republicans look to rev up their base ahead of the midterm elections, which are now less than two months away. Midterm elections often favor the party out of power, and President Trump is looking to defy those historic odds, despite rising energy and gas prices amid the ongoing war with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. Just one more time.

The ones we need are the ones that you've heard, the ones that are very close. They might be winning by a little, or losing by a little, or tied. We can win every one of those races, but I'm going to go to every one of those states for congressmen and for senators.

Food prices and almost every other item are rapidly going down. And, by the way, oil will be going down as soon as we win the war with Iran, which is taking place right now. We'll win it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. Joining us now from Dallas is CNN Senior Reporter Steve Contorno and CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak.

So, Steve, I'm going to start with you. What has the reaction been to these $5,000 checks President Trump has promised here?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, certainly the reaction in the room was supportive, and this is a Trump rally and who, know, who wouldn't want a $5,000 check? But, you know, what I think the question is, what do Republicans in Congress think of it? And will voters ultimately believe the president that this $5,000 check has any chance of showing up in their mailbox if the Republicans hold the House and Senate? You know, he had the similar promise that there would be a tariff dividend and that Americans would get a check from the DOGE cuts, and those have yet to materialize.

But it does speak to one of the central challenges that Republicans face this election cycle, which is getting some enthusiasm from not only their base but from those Republicans who have voted for Donald Trump in elections in 2016, 2020, and 2024 to show up in a midterm election. And they've also run out of outreach ideas for the middle because they have a president who is very unpopular. There's a war that is unpopular. Rising costs continue to be a problem.

And so those are the tests for this Republican Party and for Donald Trump going into these midterm elections.

BROWN: Kevin let's talk about something else President Trump said last night. He says to pretend like he is on the ballot. What does that tell you?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think it shows you that the president and his advisers really do think that they have an enthusiasm problem among the president's base. These low-propensity voters, past elections have shown that some of his core supporters just won't go out and vote if the president is, in fact, not on the ballot, and that's what they're trying to remedy with this strategy of holding this convention, which is really conceived around President Trump himself.

[10:05:12]

They call it the Trump-a-palooza, and it is in fact a Trump-a-palooza.

And so the only way that they think that they can get those Republicans out to vote is making this about President Trump himself. There are a lot of other Republicans who do not think that that is the best idea, that making this a referendum on the president's first two years in office is just a recipe for disaster, just given how historically unpopular he is, how unsatisfied a lot of people are about the state of the country.

But President Trump is making pretty explicit that this is, in fact, just the kickoff. He says he's going to be on the campaign trail basically every day of October campaigning in these 35 races that he thinks are the most likely to have success.

Now, whether that is in fact successful remains to be seen. We won't know that until November. But, obviously, the president thinks that he hasn't gotten enough credit for his time in office and that only, by putting himself at the very center of this election, will that be remedied.

BROWN: And we didn't only hear from the president last night. There was also this surprise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a common sense Democrat. I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, Steve, what has the reaction been to this appearance by Democratic Senator John Fetterman?

CONTORNO: Well, in the room it, it got a tremendous applause, and in fact, it probably received a, a bigger ovation than Senator Dave McCormick received, Fetterman's Republican counterpart, and that is who Fetterman was introducing with that video.

The reaction though from Democrats back in Washington has been met with eye rolls and more frustrations for Fetterman who, you know, has been very much trying to make himself into this bipartisan maverick who has been willing to cross the aisle and say nice things about Trump and criticize his own party for his own personal political benefit perhaps, but to the frustration of many Democrats who are increasingly wondering if he will be a Democratic senator or a Republican senator as we get deeper, you know, in the next -- in the coming years.

Now, he has said he will remain a Democrat but he continues to vex his own party.

BROWN: And going back to President Trump here, I want to go, Kevin, to something he said earlier in the day. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Mr. President, you've been saying for weeks that oil and gas prices are going to come down. Oil is now back above $100 a barrel. How do you explain this to Americans who are wondering when prices are going to come down?

TRUMP: Well, I think it's very easy to explain to America. All you have to do is say will you let Iran have a nuclear --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. Well, we had an issue with the tape there, but he also went on to say that right after midterms the war would end, right, Kevin?

LIPTAK: He said the war would end right after the midterms and that gas prices would come plummeting down. I think there's an issue here, which is, one, the president said the war would end in six weeks when it started, and it's clearly not over yet. He also said gas prices would come down in six weeks, and they haven't come down yet. In fact, oil is back up $100 a barrel.

This is a huge problem for the president. I think voters recognize that the, he sort of got the United States into a conflict that he maybe wasn't anticipating, just given the timelines have gone on for longer than he said that they would.

And it was interesting listening to his speech last night and watching it. He talked about Iran a lot, in fact, in that speech, but it didn't seem as if any of it was scripted. None of it was in the teleprompter, in the speech that they actually wrote for him. And I think that just demonstrates the president and his advisers would very much like this war to recede into the background for the next two months.

They don't want voters thinking about Iran. They don't want the president talking about Iran. But it seems as if he can't really help himself. You know, he's talking about it constantly on the campaign trail, on the convention stage, in a way where he makes it seem as if this is a sort of a victory for the United States.

But if you're looking at this as an American voter and wondering why gas prices are still so high, why Iran is still targeting vessels and American military installations in the Middle East, you're wondering whether this is kind of the unadulterated victory that the president is talking about.

Now, it is true, the U.S. is getting some tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. The oil prices are potentially not as high as they might be unless the U.S. had been enforcing this southern route of the strait. But it's clear this is not sort of the victory that the president wanted to be talking about in midterm time, and I think that is just going to be shadowing him for these next two months.

[10:10:00]

It's pretty clear. BROWN: It also stood out to me, I think he said something to the effect of, once we win the war. And that was interesting, too, in light of some in his administration and other Republicans, like Ted Cruz, trying to stay away from calling it a war, the president himself.

LIPTA: Yes. And it was J.D. Vance just last week. He said, I don't think we should call it a war. President Trump is clearly calling it a war, and he's clearly saying that it's not won yet --

BROWN: Exactly.

LIPTAK: -- which is, again, not something that the administration has been wanting to say for the last week.

BROWN: Exactly. All right, Kevin Liptak, Steve Contorno, thank you so much to you both.

And still ahead here in The Situation Room, massive security operation. A look at the plans being put in place by the NYPD as New York and the world mark 25 years since the attacks on 9/11.

And then later, new details are emerging from inside the cockpit about the moments before that deadly cargo plane collision in Miami.

You're in The Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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BROWN: A breathtaking scene in New York City as a massive drone show lit up the skies over Lower Manhattan with 2,977 lights, one for each person killed in the September 11th attacks. The lights then shifted to form a full-scale model of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and it's all part of the city's remembrance of 25 years since the attacks.

Earlier, the NYPD unveiled a memorial wall honoring the officers killed in the attacks and those who have died from 9/11-related illnesses in the years since. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch spoke about the massive security operation in place for this year's commemorations, which coincide with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Our deployment this year at the World Trade Center for 9/11 will be larger than it has been in previous years, as will be our deployment this year for the high holy days at shuls and yeshivas and Jewish cultural institutions, just based on the realities of the, the world that we live in today.

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BROWN: All right. Let's go live now to CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller.

John, you have these two major events happening together as the country marks 25 years since 9/11. How concerning is this from a security standpoint?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, obviously, they're concerned because of a couple of very tangible reasons and, and then some other things that they are considering in the background.

First one is first, which is it's the 24th -- 25th anniversary. And that is not just another anniversary for another high security event, but a symbolic one, a milestone. The second contributing factor, of course, is the war in Iran and the fact that we've been attacking Iran in recent days.

There may be more, and there is always the potential for Iranian retaliation, either through Iranian assets on the ground which we've seen before in the United States, and particularly in New York or from sympathizers. So, when you take all of that together and you look at all of the other threats, Al-Qaeda, ISIS left-wing extremists, right- wing extremists, they've just decided this is one where they're going to go over and above their usual lines.

BROWN: As you know, so much has changed in the world since the attacks and in the threats that we face. The NYPD deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism talked about that earlier. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REBECCA WEINER, NYPD DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM: The threat is quite different from where it was 25 years ago. It's decentralized geographically with the rise of Al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates globally. It's diversified tremendously ideologically.

Now, we're not primarily dealing with Al-Qaeda or even Al-Qaeda ISIS, but a proliferation of threats coming from conspiracy theories, grievances, nihilistic violence, far left, far right, anti-government, all of those things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: What do you think is the biggest threat right now, and do you think we're prepared to face it?

MILLER: Well, I think we're very prepared to face it, particularly at these events, the high ho- the high holidays that are upon us and the extra security they've put around particularly Jewish locations, but especially this 9/11 25th anniversary. It starts with that eight-foot fence that is now surrounding Ground Zero.

I gave it a walk around last night. There is the heavy weapons teams that are going to be posted strategically. That you're going to see. That's part of the visible security. And then there'll be the unseen parts, which are there are hostile surveillance teams that are out there looking for individual or individuals who are acting suspiciously. These are people in plainclothes who can make observations, who can follow them and determine if in fact they have some bad intent. There are observation teams on the high ground. There are counter-sniper teams on the high ground. All of that's going to be invisible because for any of that to come into play, something pretty bad has to happen.

But it's a layered approach and it's in concentric circles. And, you know, one of the rules this year, which Pamela, seems like a no- brainer, is, you know, invited guests only. They go through screening. No firearms allowed.

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Well, over the past year, since so many of those attending are retired police officers who were there that day, who commonly carry their weapons even after they're retired, they've tightened the security in many different directions. That's just one of them.

BROWN: Do you think the world is a safer place now since 9/11 happened?

MILLER: You know, Pam, that's a really interesting question, because on the one hand, the intelligence services work together more closely, share information with more alacrity, coordinate with their foreign partners much better. On the other hand, as Rebecca Weiner, the deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, just pointed out, while the threat may be less dangerous than it was on September 10th, 2001, it's grown much wider.

You know, when you look at recent history and you say a guy who's mad at the NFL walks into a Park Avenue office building and opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle, two high school kids attack a mosque in San Diego, two other high school kids attack a demonstration outside Gracie Mansion by throwing bombs, it is kind of the salad bar of grievances, this kind of bespoke terrorism.

It doesn't have to be for a large issue. So many acts of violence, and you know this because we cover them live on the air, are just from people's individual storylines about why they've decided it's okay to try and kill strangers.

BROWN: John Miller, thank you so much for coming on to provide your analysis.

And coming up, record heat swamps Southern California, but high temps are radiating to other parts of Western U.S. We'll talk about that up next.

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BROWN: Happening now, Southern California is sweltering. A combination of record heat and unusually high humidity means cities like Los Angeles actually feel hotter yesterday than Miami. Extreme heat warnings are in effect today for much of the regions.

Let's go live now to meteorologist Allison Chinchar in the CNN Weather Center to better understand what's going on here and whether there's any relief on the way. Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So, again, they're used to heat, but just not necessarily coinciding with those oppressive humidity levels like they have, not just yesterday, but are likely to continue today. You take a look at some of these records, Escondido reaching 112 yesterday, crushing the previous record by eight degrees. They weren't the only spots. Santa Ana getting up to around 108, downtown Los Angeles topping out at 105.

But, again, this is just the temperature. Knowing the humidity was also high, the feels like temperatures for a lot of these places were several degrees even higher on top of that.

You've still got a lot of the heat alerts in effect for today. That includes Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and then even all the way up towards San Francisco, looking at some of those heat advisories that have been issued.

You look at some of these temperatures, again, the forecast high today, 107 for Palm Springs, same thing for Las Vegas, 91 in Santa Maria. Even Los Angeles, the forecast high expected today, 98. But, again, because of the humidity, that 98 is actually going to feel even warmer. When you factor that in, it's going to feel like 102 this afternoon.

Again, humidity is not something this area is typically used to dealing with, especially when you also have the heat as a factor. So, it's been quite oppressive for a lot of folks in this particular area. When you look at the heat risk map, most of the red and even the purple color is really focused across areas of Southern California, also areas of Southern Nevada, and then Western Arizona.

And, yes, these areas are hot. They just don't get a lot of this. It's usually a dry heat, and you can see all of the green on the map. That just shows you how moist that air is right now. The bit of good news is, that is actually going to start to go away as we head into the weekend. You'll start to see a lot more of that dry air starting to push back in and hopefully feel a little bit better as we head into the weekend.

BROWN: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you, great to see you.

And coming up here in The Situation Room, we have some new reporting, how the Commerce Department became an unlikely engine of President Trump's election agenda. We're taking a closer look right after this quick break.

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