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Kavanaugh Accuser To Testify In Open Hearing Thursday; Tiger Woods Wins PGA Tour Event For First Time in Five Years; People In The Carolinas Stranded By Floodwaters. Aired 12m-1a ET

Aired September 24, 2018 - 00:00   ET

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

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Showdown in Washington: the accuser of President Trump's Supreme Court pick gets prepared to testify this week.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This as the U.S. president prepares to face world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly with North Korea, Iran and Syria in the spotlight.

ALLEN (voice-over): Also this hour after five long years, a stunning victory for that legend right there. We will talk about Tiger Woods' extraordinary comeback this hour.

VANIER (voice-over): Thank you for joining us everyone, it is always pleasure to have you with us. I'm Cyril Vanier here in Atlanta.

ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

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VANIER: The accuser and the accused, both will tell their story publicly this week as the battle to confirm U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh comes to a head. In four days we'll hear directly from the woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexual and physical assault. Research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford said she's committed to a public hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

ALLEN: She alleges Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and tried to remove her clothes during a house party when they were both teenagers, even covering her mouth. Kavanaugh denies the accusation and will also be given time Thursday to defend himself after Ms. Ford testifies.

Now Kavanaugh and the White House are denying a new allegation made by a second woman, who accuses Kavanaugh of inappropriate sexual behavior. For more, here's CNN's Jessica Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENTS: The date is set for Christine Blasey Ford's testimony. It will be on Thursday at 10:00 am and it will be an open hearing. Now Blasey Ford will testify first in front of the committee after which Judge Brett Kavanaugh will testify.

Blasey Ford will also have security since she's been receiving death threats sense her identity became public and there is still uncertainty as to who will be doing the questioning.

It's possible Republicans could bring in an outside attorney who is a female, but Blasey Ford's attorneys say they want the senators doing the questioning since they've been dismissive of her allegations.

Now, meanwhile, the chairman, Chuck Grassley, issued a statement Sunday, saying that the committee itself had been investigating the four other people Blasey Ford says were at the party including Judge Kavanaugh.

According to the committee, all have denied any knowledge or recollection of Blasey Ford's version of events. And of course, Judge Kavanaugh has also issued several forceful denials.

And meanwhile, the White House and Judge Kavanaugh are now also denying another allegation against Kavanaugh of inappropriate behavior, this time from a woman who says she attended Yale with the Supreme Court nominee.

"The New Yorker" reported on Sunday that 53-year-old Deborah Ramirez remembers Kavanaugh exposing himself to her at a dormitory party during the 1983-1984 school year.

However, two other people Ramirez says were present at the party issued a statement to "The New Yorker" saying they never heard of such an incident and CNN has now corroborated her story.

Kavanaugh has released a statement saying this, "This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen and have said so.

"This is a smear plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth and defending my good name and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building against these last-minute allegations."

White House spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said this 35-year-old uncorroborated claim is the latest in a coordinated smear campaign by the Democrats designed to tear down a good man.

This claim is denied by all who were said to be present and is wholly inconsistent with what many women and men who knew Judge Kavanaugh at the time in college say. The White House stands firmly behind Judge Kavanaugh.

Ramirez was initially hesitant to speak publicly because she said her memory contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time. After she reassessed her memory over the course of about six days with her attorney, she did go on record with "The New Yorker" -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VANIER: In light of the new allegation, a top U.S. senator is calling for Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation process to be postponed. Senator Dianne Feinstein said the new allegation against Kavanaugh should be referred to the FBI for investigation.

The Democrat from California says that if the White House refuses again to direct the FBI to investigate, then the Senate Judiciary Committee should force witnesses to testify. A spokesperson for the chairman of that committee, Republican senator Chuck Grassley, said --

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VANIER: -- he will look into the new allegation but doesn't plan to delay Thursday's hearing.

Joining us, political analyst Ellis Henican. He's a columnist at Metro Papers, a friend of the show.

And CNN political commentator Ben Ferguson, no less a friend of this show.

Ben, Ellis, there has been so much back-and-forth over the last week or so on how best to organize these hearings with Judge Kavanaugh, Dr. Ford and how to be fair to both sides.

As we understand it now, do you feel Dr. Ford is going to get a fair hearing on Thursday?

I want to hear both of you on this. Let's start with Ben.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The answer is yes. You both have time to tell your stories and to let people know what you want to say. This what the accuser Ms. Ford wanted to take place. She said she wanted to testify. She has now has that opportunity to do that on Thursday.

She's had plenty of time, it'll be almost two weeks since she told her story publicly to "The Washington Post" last Sunday to do that. And I think Democrats are helping her prepare for that on Capitol Hill.

The senators are saying that they are working with her team to make sure that she feels comfortable to be able to tell her story. I think it is important that it is comfortable, I also think it is very important that tough questions are asked of both individuals.

This is an opportunity for you to tell your story. But it's also an opportunity for people to ask you tough questions. I think both individuals should be treated the same way. They should be treated with a lot of hard, tough questions because this is a very tough issue.

And I don't think that's being unfair to either of them if they're asked tough question from Democrats or Republicans. That's what the hearings are for.

VANIER: Ellis? ELLIS HENICAN, METRO PAPERS: I don't have a problem with the hearing. She wanted the hearing and she is going to get it. It wasn't easy. I think the Republicans in the Senate had to be dragged kicking and screaming to it.

But I think she'll have a chance to present her case and see whether we all find her credible and face just the kind of a tough grilling that Ben is talking about. There's still a bunch of questions that linger.

Who is going to ask the questions?

There are increasing suggestions from the committee that the Republicans would rather not be associated personally with this trashing that is likely to happen on Thursday. It might bring in some ringers.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: She doesn't want that. Dr. Ford doesn't want that. She wants the senators to be asking questions directly of her.

HENICAN: Absolutely. She has every right to. Frankly, it is a pretty good test about how the Republicans on the committee feel about this dirty business that they're engaged in. If they think it is OK, they'll do it themselves; if they think it's sleazy, they'll push it off on some probably female lawyer. Watch that.

VANIER: You and I know and remember that they were also involved in -- some of them were also personally involved in the Anita Hill hearings and they didn't look that great during those hearings. It was more than 20 years ago but it is still part of political lore now.

FERGUSON: Here is the thing. I think that -- the questions that need to be asked need to be asked in a frank way. You got to understand that Ms. Ford has forgotten the exact year when it happened, doesn't know how she got to the house, doesn't remember how she left the house.

But she named every person that was at the party. And every person that was named at the party, including one of the people that described herself as a lifelong friend, says today, this party never happened. This is a female who she says left the party.

She said I was at a party with her and I was at a party with Brett Kavanaugh. And this never happened. There was never a party with the two of them when I was there. So not one single person that she says was at the party is saying this party even took place for there to be an opportunity for this to take place.

Those are questions that need to be asked and those are questions that people are going to say, well, you're not being kind. Look, those are tough questions that have to be asked of the accuser.

VANIER: As against what you're saying and I think anybody would agree with that, you have to ask the tough questions. As against that, we also know that it is not uncommon for victims of sexual assault to, A, not report it time either for a very long time or ever and to, B, after a certain period of time, to have holes in their recollection of the event.

That doesn't necessarily make it any less true. That's also just a known fact. How these things are remembered by the people who experience them.

So the question is what is the standard then?

What has to be the standard after the hearing?

(CROSSTALK)

HENICAN: The standard needs to be fairly executed and reasonably presented. And I've got to tell you, it seems to be that the Republicans on this committee are highly unlikely to be able to walk that delicate path. These are a bunch of --

(CROSSTALK)

HENICAN: -- old white guys who show no ability to handle this up in any kind of decent manner.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: This is the bar that we're talking about here. And the politics of this, which I think is absolutely disgusting --

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FERGUSON: -- you've already heard the last set it up as, well, we can't even expect decent questions because they're white and they're old. I mean, Dianne Feinstein is complaining about old white people and she's also, by the way --

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: In fairness, there was another part to what Ellis said, is they have shown no ability to handle these questions.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: We're just -- based on -nine months of the #MeToo, I assume, is what Ellis --

HENICAN: And Anita Hill, too. Don't forget about --

FERGUSON: Let's not forget --

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: Time out. Let's not forget, you have one of the top members of the Democratic Party, who the Democrats have not gone after, who has 9-1-1 phone calls of women accusing him and who is running for office and they don't even care about that story tonight. So you want to talk about hypocrisy and saying that Republicans can't handle this, the Democrats have one of their own party who has 9-1-1 recordings.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: I'm not sure that's a great argument. Inability to handle these questions can be shared by both sides. I don't know if it makes either side look better, frankly.

But my question is what is the standard after the hearing on Thursday?

What -- I mean, what is this going to be --

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: -- that will point us towards either continuing Kavanaugh's confirmation or interrupting Kavanaugh's confirmation process?

HENICAN: Yes, I think it is likely to be interrupted, frankly. The evidence is beginning to mount. The politics of it are getting dicey. You know, the standard for Supreme Court justice is pretty high. We've thrown people out of this role because of smoking marijuana, because of having a nanny they didn't pay taxes on.

If this guy's a drunken perv, let's just put it frankly, he shouldn't be on the Supreme Court.

FERGUSON: Here's what I'll say, facts --

VANIER: But if you can't prove it you can't prove it.

FERGUSON: -- no, forget proving it. Look at the facts. The accuser has named every name of the person that was at this alleged party. Not one of those people is saying the party ever happened, including a female who has been a lifelong friend, that said the party never happened.

So if you care about facts and if the Democrats actually care about facts and not just the politics, trying to destroy a man's life because they don't like him because Donald Trump is trying to appoint someone and they don't like Donald Trump, then how do you not look at the one woman who was at the alleged party who says the party never happened?

All the other people say the party never happened. All the people that she named are saying it never happened. Lifelong friends are saying it never happened. That should matter. You care about facts --

(CROSSTALK)

HENICAN: You know what?

If we care about facts, let the FBI investigate.

Why are you guys opposing that? Let's have a proper investigation.

VANIER: That's true, too, Ben. It would have taken three days -- it would have taken three days to get the FBI to look at this.

FERGUSON: That is part of the incredible lie that has been told over the last two weeks.

HENICAN: What?

FERGUSON: The FBI would not investigate claims from two high schoolers back in the day. That is not their job.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: -- then you go to the police and you file a police report where this actually happened and that would also open you up to big issues if you're lying. You want the FBI to investigate is the easiest thing to say because you know and your attorneys know the FBI could not investigate.

VANIER: But Ben, the general point stands that it is possible for there to be some kind of investigation, FBI or not FBI, the police, there could be another body. There could be an investigation. And we know we have standards for this. But it would take just days.

FERGUSON: You go to the police and the reason why they haven't gone to the police is because their attorneys are very smart and they know that if you say the FBI should investigate and they literally would never investigate this, it makes you look like you're trying to come forward with information. Go to the police --

VANIER: Gentlemen --

FERGUSON: -- where this happened.

VANIER: -- I got to leave it. This -- Ellis, Ben, heated conversation we'll be having until Thursday. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

ALLEN: Yes, the hearing right now set for Thursday. There will be more of that.

VANIER: A lot more.

ALLEN: U.S. President Trump is back in his hometown in New York and getting a jumpstart on a week focused on diplomacy. He's in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, which begins this week. Sunday night he dined with Shinzo Abe, prime minister of Japan, one of the closest U.S. allies.

VANIER: However, it is an ally with whom the U.S. has a huge trade deficit, something which we know rubs Mr. Trump the wrong way. Trump is hoping for a new trade deal with Mr. Abe, who just won a third term as prime minister. The two will hold a formal summit later in the week. ALLEN: Later on Monday, President Trump is set to meet with South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

VANIER: As Nic Robertson reports, Mr. Trump will be pressing for more details about the commitments made during the recent Korean summit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: President Moon Jae-in has effectively become the go-between now between President Trump and Kim Jong-un in North Korea.

What President Trump is going to want to hear about any additional details, President Moon can add to this commitment that North Korea appears to have made to continue --

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ROBERTSON: -- denuclearization process at one of its sites and also to scrap and get rid of a missile test facility.

Now, this missile test facility, the North Koreans said that they will allow international monitors from relevant countries.

The details here that aren't clear, publicly at least, which of those countries and when would this dismantling begin?

And would this have an effect on other of the missile test facilities that North Korea has?

What President Moon is also likely to tell President Trump is that what Kim Jong-un wants is a declaration from the United States that the Korean War is over.

Now, is President Trump ready to give that?

That's not clear but this is going to be the crux of that meeting.

And another person another leader that President Trump is going to be talking to have a summit with later in the week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He also is going to want to find out what President Trump has learned about Kim Jong-un's latest proposals.

Of course, the big issue everyone is going to be watching is what President Trump says about Iran.

Of course, remembering Russia, he used very tough and strong language directed at North Korea, calling Kim Jong-un "Rocket Man."

This year President Trump is going to be trying to isolate Iran, pointing out its meddling in the region, its sponsoring of terrorism. These are going to be issues he is going to discuss.

And of course, that recent attack in Iran that Iran's leader, President Rouhani, has blamed the United States and Saudi Arabia for, saying that there will essentially be revenge for that attack in Iran that killed more than 2 dozen Iranian soldiers and civilians at a military parade.

That kind of language is going to play into President Trump's hand that Iran is a malign influence in the Middle East at the moment. This is how we can expect President Trump to sort of use this speech that he would be giving at the UNGA -- Nic Robertson, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: The general assembly comes after Saturday's deadly terror attack in Iran. Gunmen killed at least 29 people at a military parade and Iranian officials blame foreign powers.

ALLEN: Iranian president Hassan Rouhani says mercenaries backed by the U.S. are responsible but the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. denies that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: We're not looking to do regime change anywhere. The president has been very strong on Iran. He's been very strong that we can't turn away from them, that they are a bad actor. And you'll continue to see him strong in terms of every action we take from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Iranian officials are blaming U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia for the attack.

ALLEN: Saudi Arabia and Iran already locked in proxy conflicts. CNN's Sam Kiley has more on regional tensions from Abu Dhabi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no great surprise that Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, would start to point a finger for this terrorist attack on this military parade, which included among the dead both military personnel and civilians reportedly even a child.

Because, in this context, we have two things going on. Essentially, Saudi Arabia and the United States, especially, have announced a policy of at least wanting to affect the regime although the United States' Nikki Haley, the U.N. ambassador from the United States, has said that they don't want to effect regime change.

But they certainly want to effect change in the behavior to Iran. And also Saudi Arabia announced earlier in this year that it would be participating more in the internal politics of Iran. So it is almost inevitable that the Iranians would try to point the finger both externally and internally to this terrorist attack.

Nonetheless, this all comes at a time when Donald Trump wants to put Iran front and central of the debates at the U.N. General Assembly this week in New York. He is scheduled on Wednesday to chair the U.N. Security Council. And he'll be demanding even greater pressure to be brought on Tehran

at a time when a lot of Western allies are still supporting the nuclear deal that the United States backed out of.

The United States said that they didn't trust Iran not to abandon its nuclear weapons program and agreed with Israel that, in all probability, the Iranians were developing it. But this is not the view, for example, of the French and the British, who, at the General Assembly, will be pushing for a much more "softly, softly" approach to Iran.

So, at this time, this terrorist attack really throws into sharp relief not only the geopolitical issues but also the local issues. Of course, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are prosecuting war against Houthi rebels alongside Yemenis inside the Yemen, the Houthis backed by Iran and their proxy Hezbollah.

So there are multi-layered aspects to --

[00:20:00]

KILEY: -- this, a very unpleasant terrorist attack inside Iran itself -- Sam Kiley, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: The U.S. China trade war continues to escalate. And it's businesses and consumers in both countries who are caught in a crossfire. We'll have that story up next.

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VANIER: The multi-billion dollar trade war between the U.S. and China just got a whole lot bigger and meaner. Just about a half hour ago, the U.S. officially slammed China with new tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese exports like electronics and furniture.

For now it's a 10 percent tax but it's going to jump to 25 percent by the end of the year.

ALLEN: That's not the end of it. President Trump is threatening to tax billions more. Beijing plans to retaliate with tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods. Those tariffs could be between 5 percent and 10 percent.

Steven Jiang is in Beijing, following it for us.

Mind-numbing numbers there, Steven, but we get it. This is a big deal --

[00:25:00] ALLEN: -- and China indicating it will fight back in this escalation.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: Natalie, that's right. The Chinese counter tariffs have gone into effect just one minute after the U.S. tariffs went into effect. So the latest round of trade war certainly has officially begun.

As you noted, it is increasingly difficult for the Chinese government to respond dollar for dollar. The U.S. obviously imports a lot more from China than the other way around. That was one of Mr. Trump's original complaints about the trade imbalance.

The Chinese have promised to respond to any U.S. tariffs, both quantitatively and qualitatively. So that seems to suggest they have some tricks in their sleeves, at least for now. People have suggested they may charge higher tariffs. They may impose some sort of import quotas.

They may also restrict Chinese citizens' travel to the U.S. for study and tourism or providing companies here affected by U.S. tariffs with tax relief. They could also make American companies' life very difficult here, affecting some of the biggest U.S. corporate names like Boeing and Apple and Starbucks, they have done that before.

Really this trade war shows no sign of abating. From the Chinese perspective, I think Mr. Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, is set to believe, increasingly believe that U.S. tariffs are more than just a trade and economic move by Mr. Trump. They see this as a strategic move by the U.S. to contain the rise of China.

That's why, Natalie, at this side, neither side is backing down, especially for Mr. Xi.

ALLEN: And now China called off planned trade talks with the U.S., indicating this will get worse before it gets better. Steven Jiang, following it for us from Beijing, thank you Steven.

VANIER: He is the world's best known golfer but he hadn't had a win in years. We'll have the latest on a big Tiger Woods comeback that had a riveted crowd cheering -- when we come back.

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[00:30:00] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Cyril Vanier. Let's look at your headlines. The woman accusing U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of sexual assault, says she's committed to testifying, publicly, at a Senate hearing on Thursday.

Kavanaugh denies her allegation of sexual assault. He will also be given time, Thursday, to defend himself after Christine Blasey Ford testifies. Still to be negotiated is, whether the 11 Republican male members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will question, Ford, directly. ALLEN: Iran vows deadly and unforgettable revenge after a terror attack at a military parade, Saturday. Authorities say killed at least 29 people in the country, southwest. They have blamed multiple factions including U.S and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Hayley, denied, the U.S. played a role.

VANIER: The opposition candidate in the Maldives says he won the country's presidential election, Sunday. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih says he led by a wide margin after 92 percent of the votes were counted. Solih ran against President Abdulla Yameen, who has been accused of harsh crackdowns on dissidents.

ALLEN: It has been years in the making, but Tiger is finally roaring --

VANIER: Finally.

ALLEN: -- back. All-time golfing great, Tiger Woods, has won a PGA Tour event for the first time in more than five years. He got the win at the Tour Championship right here, in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday.

VANIER: He finished 11 under par for the weekend, and the crowd, look at this, the crowd loved it. This is Woods' 80th PGA Tour win, after years of injuries, personal setbacks. This is just a phenomenal comeback.

And to discuss this, we are joined by sports extraordinaire, Vince Cellini of CNN "WORLD SPORT". Tell us about the event itself first, because I didn't see it. Was it close?

VINCE CELLINI, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: It was close. It was a two- shot victory. And Tiger Woods made it interesting at the end, with three bogies on his back nine, but he was able to close the deal. And even for a great winner like Tiger, his 80th PGA Tour victory, because it's been about five years since he's won, maybe little nerves kicking in very late, but he was able to get it home.

And this is a very high-profile event. It's the end of the season event, where Tiger not only won this. He almost walked away with a FedEx Cup bonus of $10 million, which went to Justin Rose, by the way.

ALLEN: Yes, 80th PGA victory.

CELLINI: Second all-time.

ALLEN: That is amazing. And Vince, help us appreciate what he has come back from to do this.

CELLINI: Well, now, it is interesting, you know, imagine if I took your personal life and shattered it in a million pieces and then I asked you to play a sport involves maybe the most concentration you'd have to have for any athletic endeavour, and that's what Tiger has gone through.

He's the most high-profile athlete in the world, perhaps, and then, to be the subject of all of this scandal, the public scrutiny. And on top of that, back surgery, to fuse his back. So, you think about it --

VANIER: It was 12 months ago.

CELLINI: About a year ago.

VANIER: He never played again?

CELLINI: That's exactly right. A year ago, he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to play at a high level again. He did not know. I mean, this started with just him potting a little bit and trying to chip, before thinking about ever playing to this level. So, it really is a remarkable comeback.

VANIER: Show us the -- show us the crowds, because that, too, was remarkable.

CELLINI: It was. And at the end of his round, at East Lake, Tiger is walking up to 18th green, and I think this is the indelible image, I mean, he's laughing along with Rory McIlroy, his playing competitor.

VANIER: Oh, wow.

CELLINI: Take a look at that. You know, to me, that's reminiscent of the old open championships, where maybe, Tom Watson, took that walk. Seve Ballesteros took that walk years ago. It's interesting, I think the message in all of that is that Tiger, when he came back from injury and a scandal, Natalie and Cyril, he came back a more humble player. He's been more fan-friendly.

More fan-friendly. We see him signing autographs. And I think that's the fans reciprocating to Tiger and this version of Tiger that we see today.

ALLEN: We love a comeback story, right?

CELLINI: Absolutely.

ALLEN: And you know what, even -- watching him play over the years, he just hasn't smiled. And right there, we saw him walking and smiling. He deserves to smile, doesn't he?

CELLINI: Yes, part of his persona has always been as a competitor, just that steely look and that intimidating look among other players. But you could see there are moments where he was fighting back tears, coming up 18. He said as much that he thought he was going to cry because this was just a big moment.

And when you don't know, when you really don't know as an athlete, and especially somebody who has experienced so much success like Tiger Woods has, you know, it's remarkable what it does to you, emotionally, and I think that's what we saw. But he was able to get his win, a win that many wonder what ever happened.

[00:35:02] VANIER: What do you -- what do you think these ranks in terms of athlete, sportsman, comeback, you know, I'm more of a basketball guy. I'm thinking of Michael Jordan, win three titles, leave the NBA, comeback with another three, greatest of all time.

CELLINI: Well, that's an amazing comeback. I think, in golf, it still ranks second to Ben Hogan, when Ben and Valerie Hogan were struck by a bus, head-on, in the 1950s and then he returned after some devastating injuries to go on to win major championships.

When we think abo this with Tiger Woods, it's not only the physical aspect of this, but also the emotional aspect of everything that took place as far as the public scandal and the embarrassment and coupled with all of that, especially.

You know, Hogan didn't have to deal with Twitter and Instagram and social media.

(CROSSTALK)

CELLINI: Right, exactly. So, this was -- this is really remarkable. And I think it does a lot for the sport, globally, and in terms of moving forward, as well.

VANIER: Yes, most recognizable face in golf, but it's not even close.

ALLEN: Right.

CELLINI: You think about it too, Natalie, we were talking about this. You got this new wave of young stars, in golf, and they were all winning championships while Tiger was in the midst of this comeback. Now, you have the new wave and you have Tiger Woods --

ALLEN: Right.

CELLINI: -- who may be performing like Tiger Woods again. And all of this, by the way, is the appetizer to the Ryder Cup, which starts Friday, near Paris, at Le Golf National.

VANIER: The appetizer. Vince Cellini will be covering the entree to the Ryder Cup, Vince, such a pleasure to have you with us.

ALLEN: Thank you, Vince.

CELLINI. Yes, thank you very much.

VANIER: We thought this was going to happen.

CELLINI: As always.

ALLEN: As always. Love it. Thanks, Vince.

VANIER: Thank you. Vince Cellini, thanks.

Flood waters are trapping people in their homes, days after Hurricane Florence made landfall. We'll take an aerial tour of one of the worst hit areas in South Carolina. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VANIER: Many residents in North and South Carolina still trapped after Hurricane Florence. Stranded without necessities as flood waters remained dangerously high.

ALLEN: And you're looking at Conway, South Carolina, it has seen record-setting flooding since the storm. We're going to give you an aerial tour now from CNN's Nick Valencia.

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NICK VALENCIA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More than a week after Hurricane Florence made landfall, the small community here in South Carolina, still dealing with major flooding. We're high above the skies of Conway, South Carolina. And we wanted to give you a bird's eye perspective of what residents are still dealing with here.

And just take a look for yourself. This subdivision here is near the river, but now, most of it is under water. Earlier, we were in this community and saw residents as they were desperately trying to sand bag their homes, residents that didn't think that they were going to get any water.

And now, that water is starting to creep into their homes at a time. We're told by local emergency management that the river, the Waccamaw River, which is causing this overflow, was rising about three inches per hour. By the end of the day, it had gone up at least two feet.

[00:40:10] But here we are, we're told now that the river has stabilized, sort of, just a bit, and it has gone up just about a foot. They're still not expecting this river to crest until sometime early Tuesday. The National Guard is on hand as well as local resources to try and assist the residents who were still desperately clinging to hope that they will not lose their homes.

The good news in all of this, no injuries so far, has been reported. But this has become a really very, very much so miserable situation for the residents that are still dealing with this, nine days after Hurricane Florence made landfall. The next community of getting expected to be Georgetown, which is about 40 miles away.

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ALLEN: All right. Nick Valencia. Therefore, our meteorologist Karen McGinnis has more about it. And we should say, Karen is from Conway, South Carolina, right where we were just touring. Karen.

KAREN MCGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I have been all over South Carolina, grew up in the grand strand area in Myrtle Beach, but also into Columbia, South Carolina. These coastal areas are just fragile regions where a heavy rainstorm in the summertime, create havoc.

But if you can imagine, 500 or 600 millimeters of rainfall, they were looking at quite a big story here. This is an area that is so widespread from the flooding that it encompasses entire regions, thousands and thousands and thousands of homes. Here's the coastal area of North Carolina, there is South Carolina, where Nick was, was in this watershed of the Waccamaw River. And most of these rivers are beginning to recede. However, they are receding as that water goes downstream. That's why Conway has been so flooded in the last week or so, because that rainwater that occurred when Florence made landfall, is gradually making its way towards the coast.

This is an Horry County, this is a county where there is Myrtle Beach, Surf Side and in Georgetown, South Carolina, where people are still not able to get in their homes, unless they're going to retrieve whatever possessions are left from all that severe flooding.

But take a look at this. This just gives you a depiction more than anything. Waccamaw River near Conway, there, you can see that river just continuing to rise. It looks like it's going to reach its peak or its crest as we go into Tuesday, and then, gradually begin to fall, but a lot of residents who cross this area that just can't come soon enough.

Then, there's Typhoon Trami, this is out in the Pacific. It lies just under 1,000 kilometres to the south of Kadena Air Base. And we think, over the next couple of days, this is going to not stall, but it is going to move very slowly, and because of that, beyond about 72 hours, will it go more northwest, will it go more north?

But right now, we're looking at some of that (INAUDIBLE) just kind of tapped all through Japan and we'll just have to see beyond that time period whether it affects Taiwan or maybe the Ryukyu Islands. Back to you, guys.

ALLEN: All right, Karen. Thanks so much. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

VANIER: I'm Cyril Vanier. You've got "WORLD SPORT" up next. We're back in 15 minutes. Stay with us.

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