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Trump Says He Scrapped Secret Camp David Meeting With Taliban; Thousands Living In Rapidly Deteriorating Conditions After Hurricane Dorian; Thousands Of Bahamians Evacuate To South Florida; Flooding Swamps Homes On North Carolina's Barrier Islands; Strong Winds Topple Construction Crane In Halifax; Iran Takes Third Step Toward Reducing Nuclear Deal Commitments; MIT Media Lab Director Quits Over Concealed Epstein Donations; Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Lays Out Blueprint For Investigating The President; Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) Says George Conway Is Advising Him On 2020 GOP Campaign; 73-Year-Old Woman In India Gives Birth To Twin Girls. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 08, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:19]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: U.S. President Trump says he has scrapped a secret meeting with Taliban leaders at Camp David.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would you want to lend (ph) presidential prestige unless you are absolutely persuaded that this was going to be a done deal?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This would give them a boost of political legitimacy they don't deserve.

WASHINGTON SMITH, FRUSTRATED BY GOVERNMENT RESPONSE: Grand Bahama right now is dead. It's dead. And now this makes it worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The shelters are horrible. All of them are horrible. Everyone have to fight for their own food.

SMITH: And I haven't seen a government official yet to come to say, well, here is a bottle of water or to see what is going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning to you. Our top stories this morning, calling it off and what would be have an unprecedented move. President Donald Trump has scrapped a secret meeting with Taliban leader on U.S. soil after the group took credit for attack in Kabul that killed a U.S. soldier.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And hurricane aftermath in the Bahamas thousands of people displaced, living in conditions at this point that are rapidly deteriorating. We are one week out from this, people. And these folks are still in these horrible conditions.

Our reporters are on the scene to witness the rescue and the recovery efforts that are ongoing. But think about it. We are in day six, seven of this people have been living through this hurricane, after this hurricane and they're walking around in areas that -- and to quote reporters there "smell like death."

BLACKWELL: Yes. The food and the medical supplies -- other supplies that they need are pouring into the country but CNN's Patrick Oppmann spoke to residents of Grand Bahama who say they are still isolated and they need that help to get to them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Washington Smith, Smitty to his friends, no longer recognizes his backyard, the island where he has lived all his life. Hurricane Dorian stalled out over the eastern end of Grand Bahama Island, ravaging everything and everyone in its path.

Dorian punched holes in concrete, tore houses from their foundations and flung Smitty's 6,000 pound Humvee through a wall. Worse than the storm, Smitty told us, is the lack of government response, over a week now after the storm first hit the Bahamas.

Smitty, like many people, is running out of patience.

SMITH: Grand Bahama right now is dead. It's dead. And now this makes it worse. This makes it worse.

One part about all of this, all of this happened in the east Grand Bahama. And I haven't seen a government official yet to come to say, well, here is a bottle of water or to see what's going on.

OPPMANN (voice-over): The damage to Smitty's home defies description. A wall of water crashed over this part of the island. Smitty and his teenage daughter survived. Many others did not.

OPPMANN (on camera): This is the hole that Hurricane Dorian punched in the house of Washington Smith, I should say one of the holes. It tore off his roof, sent boards with nails flying at over 100 miles per hour through his house.

Everywhere you go, you see damage. You see how shrapnel shredded the ceiling. Be careful of this. You see a nail sticking out of a board that came flying through. And then the most frightening thing, see where the water rose to, all along here.

It came up, up, higher and higher, until here. This is over 20 feet high. And it stayed this high for 50 hours. He said it was 50 hours of pure torture.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Little aid has reached this area. In many places, the only road in is blocked or underwater. As they wait for government assistance, some residents, like Marilyn Ling, in the town of High Rock, have taken it upon themselves to organize a relief effort, distributing supplies donated by friends and family. Staying busy, she tells us, keeps her from reliving the horror of the storm.

[06:05:02]

MARILYN LING, AID ORGANIZER: I have no words to say how bad. Maybe one in 10 houses is standing. One in 10 houses is standing.

OPPMANN (voice-over): There is silence in these hard-hit towns. The stench of death in the air as bodies are still being recovered. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters hovering low, residents say, usually means another victim of the storm has been found. There has never been a storm like Dorian before here.

SMITH: From 1962, I ride out every storm here in Bevans Town.

OPPMANN: Would you ride out the next storm?

SMITH: No. I tell my daughter, I say, when I hear a storm coming now, by the help of the good Lord, I will pack up and get as far to hell as I could from here.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Dorian has scarred the Bahamas and Bahamians forever.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Grand Bahama Island.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: More than 1,400 evacuees are in South Florida after making that 70-mile trip from Grand Bahama to the port of Palm Beach.

PAUL: Yes. They arrived aboard the cruise ship you see there. They also delivered food, supplies and emergency responders to the islands. Now among the crowds, two women, one Bahamian and one American, they have only known each other a few weeks but look at their bond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTORIA PAYNE, DANIA BEACH RESIDENT: This is Renata Taylor and her family is from Grand Bahama and they were here two weeks ago to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital for her son and they went back and the storm was brewing, and so we stayed in touch and texted and called and prayed and she was able to get on this boat and now we are going to take her to Dania Beach where we are from and we're going to love her and support her until she can go back home. But I can't believe she is here. You're so brave! You're so brave!

RENATA COX-TAYLOR, BAHAMIAN EVACUEE: The experience on the whole was something to get away from. You know, to know that the country usually have -- withstand strong winds and hurricanes compared to persons drowning and stuff that was really hard. A lot of families lose their loved ones. That was really hard. I know that (INAUDIBLE) is going to catch itself. Now the timing when it's going to catch itself, I wouldn't say, but we are strong, united people, and I feel as though, with some time and help, we will be able to come back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: There are a lot of organizations helping in the recovery efforts here and one of those groups is Team Rubicon. This is an organization that helps veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

BLACKWELL: Now they are helping those struggling with devastation after Hurricane Dorian. Joining us on the phone now, Jake Wood, co- founder and CEO of Team Rubicon.

Jake, good morning to you.

JAKE WOOD, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF TEAM RUBICON (on the phone): Good morning from Abaco.

BLACKWELL: So, I was just there. I saw -- yesterday, I saw all the gray shirts flooding in. What are you offering the people there on Abaco? You all have implemented this long term recovery plan after other storms. This will take a long time. How long will you be able to stay?

WOOD: Yes. It's really hard to tell. Our medical teams have been working the last three days on Abaco treating patients both at the clinic and in some of the outlining caves (ph), getting there by helicopter.

We also moved in some of our what we call our core operations team. So, right now as predominantly change our operators. We're trying to identify the committees on Abaco that are still cut off on roadways so we can help clear those roads.

As far as long-term recovery -- I mean, one of your previous guests mentioned that, you know, some communities 90 percent of the homes are destroyed. We are still trying to make an evaluation of whether or not our rebuilding efforts similar to what we did in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria are going to be applicable here. We certainly hope so.

We are currently consulting with some of our advisers, trying to put together the plans, exploring what the local labor laws and building codes are. But there is no doubt that this economy is going to be disrupted for as long as people cannot get back into suitable housing.

PAUL: Jake, I know that you are also talking to a lot of the people there as they try to decide what to do next. Are you seeing in these people some of the behaviors or the symptoms that might be similar to what you see in the veterans that you help who have PTSD? I mean, we want to know how these people are.

WOOD: Well, listen. There's no doubt that these people have suffered an immense tragedy. There are people that you come across who still have a little bit of that thousand yard stare on their face.

[06:10:07]

But I'm going to say it has been really inspiring to see the resilience of the people in the Bahamas. These communities are coming together. They're taking care of one another in a really special way. You know, that is not to say there are a lot of people who need help.

Obviously that is why we are here. But I think you can't underestimate how terrifying this event must have been for everybody who chose to ride out the storm.

PAUL: All right. Jake Wood, thank you so much for you and your team's efforts and what you're doing there. It's an important work.

BLACKWELL: Jake, thank you.

WOOD: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: The Bahamian officials, the prime minister, minister of health have said that the eventual loss of life once that number is reached will be catastrophic, will be staggering.

Dorian is also blamed for deaths in the U.S., in North Carolina specifically. Officials there say the storm killed two people..

PAUL: And take a look at what they're left with there in North Carolina. I mean, a lot of students or residents are cleaning up. They had severe flooding.

This is an aerial view obviously that really gives us a sense of how far that flood water crept into neighborhoods. This is North Carolina's barrier island.

And I want to show you this shot from the ground. That's how high the water rose. Flood waters they trapped a lot of people in their homes. Some had to be rescued from upper floors or from attics.

And even further north, Canada, there was heavy winds pounding Nova Scotia. One example of its strength -- do you see what that is? That's the collapsed of a construction crane. This is in Halifax.

BLACKWELL: You saw those draped over a building there. The building is under construction obviously. A witness tells CTV News in Canada that the crane kind of split in half on impact, along with a lot of damage the downed trees, the wind, heavy rain from Dorian left more than 300,000 people without power across Nova Scotia this weekend.

Now if you want to help and I know a lot of people do there -- relief effort in the Bahamas and here in the U.S., go to our Web site CNN.com/impact.

PAUL: Meeting is cancelled. President Trump calls off a secret meeting with the Taliban after it claimed responsibility for an attack that killed an American soldier. So, does this mean that the peace talks are over indefinitely and how will it affect his promise to withdraw troops from Afghanistan?

BLACKWELL: MIT rocked by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Details of a new report that forced the head of the school's prestigious media lab to step down.

PAUL: And Serena gets another shot at history but her opponent is going for the record books. Remarkable milestone from one of Canada's own.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:27]

PAUL: Sixteen minutes past the hour. So glad to have you with us here.

You know, the Afghan government this morning is blaming the Taliban for the cancelled peace talks.

BLACKWELL: At the last minute, President Trump scrapped today's talks at Camp David with leaders of the insurgent group after took credit for an attack killing an American soldier and 11 people in Afghanistan. Now that soldier 34-year-old Sergeant Elis Angel Barreto Ortiz was brought home last night. He was killed by a car bomb at a check point near NATO headquarters and the U.S. embassy in Kabul.

With us now CNN Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward. Clarissa, hello to you.

Before we get to the cancellation the invitation of Taliban leaders to Camp David that is -- is controversial enough coming up just a few days before the anniversary of 9/11.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor. I think a lot of people woke up this morning and while everyone was aware of the fact that it appeared the U.S. was very close to a peace deal with the Taliban, that a deal in essence had already been agreed to and just needed the sign-off of the president. I think people were still flabbergasted to hear the news that President Trump have been planning to bring Mullah Baradar, who is the chief negotiator for the Taliban, who has spent much of the last decade in a Pakistani jail to Camp David along with the Afghan president Ashraf Ghani for a sort of formal meeting if you like.

A lot of people will have been very critical of that move, will have said that it's too soon, will have said that in light of the fact that there have been so many attacks, really just a constant drum beat this entire week, Victor, of Taliban attacks, many killing civilians in Kabul also a large offensive in Kunduz.

And so I think undoubtedly there was probably mounting pressure on the administration to pull out of this Camp David meeting and also I'm sure President Ashraf Ghani, the Afghan president had something to say about it and probably did not want to attend, given that the Afghan government really stands to lose the most in this negotiation. PAUL: Clarissa, there is a source that's telling CNN there are new dates being discussed by the White House for a potential future meeting with the Taliban. I'm wondering just what message that sends to the group overall and how plausible that really is.

WARD: Well, I think, Christi, one has to look on at the broader perspective here which is that for a year now almost, a lot of people have been working very hard to try to thrash out some kind of a deal and after an 18-year war, and nearly 2,400 U.S. servicemen killed, countless -- tens of thousands Afghans killed, I do think that there is, broadly speak, a real and sincere appetite for some kind of a peace agreement but that doesn't mean you can just bulldoze through the process. It has to go step-by-step and certain preconditions many would argue need to be agreed to and in this case they weren't. The Taliban never actually were forced to agree to any kind of a ceasefire.

Now, if you look at President Trump's tweets closely he appears to indicate at the end of those tweets that if Taliban were to agree to a nationwide ceasefire during negotiations that there could be a continuation of those negotiations and that there could be, as you mentioned, some kind of a meeting on U.S. soil between Taliban officials, U.S. officials and potentially Afghan government officials.

But there are a lot of if's in there, Christi. Because for now for the Taliban to turn around and say, yes, OK, we'll agree to a ceasefire would look like capitulation and they are also walking a very fine line in terms of trying not to alienate their domestic support and jihadist elements within their factions who do not approve of them talking to the U.S. at all.

[06:20:14]

So, a lot of ifs and maybes at this stage.

PAUL: Yes. Good point. Clarissa Ward, so appreciate it from you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Iran is breaching the 2015 nuclear pact again announcing the third step toward reducing commitments to the deal. Now Tehran says it is turned on its advice -- advance rather -- enrichment centrifuges but it has no plans to raise it uranium enrichment beyond 20 percent right now.

PAUL: Now, Tehran does plan, they say, to continue to allow the U.N. autonomic agency to monitor its nuclear program. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed Iran's nuclear deal earlier this week tweeting this, "Iran announced it will violate all limits on nuclear research and development. The fact that Iran retains massive uranium enrichments capacity reveals a core weakness of the Iran deal."

BLACKWELL: Did convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein try to buy back his reputation by giving money to prestigious institutions and did it work at least for a little while? Our Brian Stelter weighs in next.

PAUL: And inspiring change or stirring (ph) controversy? Coming up Jay-Z and the NFL come in for new criticism after a donation to a Chicago nonprofit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:08]

BLACKWELL: The director of the influential MIT Media Lab resigned yesterday after an expose in "The New Yorker" detailed the extent of steps he and other lab officials took to cover up their ties with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

PAUL: The article says Joichi Ito went to significant lengths to conceal Epstein's donations to the lab. Typically (INAUDIBLE) is anonymous gifts. Now documents obtained by CNN show Epstein got several other philanthropists to support the lab. Bill Gates gave $2 million. Investor Leon Black donated $5.5 million.

This report makes it clear the lab knew Epstein was a convicted sex offender but they took the money from him any way. MIT by the way is investigating the claims that Epstein's donations were concealed.

We have our Chief Media Correspondent, Brian Stelter from New York with us now.

Brian, good to see this morning.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You too. Thanks.

PAUL: I know this is another explosive investigative piece from Ronan Farrow. It has immediate consequences here. But in the big picture, I know you've examined this and you say this isn't just about money here and there. This is about a convicted pedophile trying to buy respect and redemption and it seemed for a time to work here.

STELTER: For several years it did work for Jeffrey Epstein. He was able to ingratiate himself at universities like Harvard and MIT through his donations, through millions of dollars in donation and in some cases he was even bringing in other wealthy individuals, also encouraging them to donate to institutions like the MIT Media Lab and others and other universities.

So, what we see here is a really clear example of someone who was trying to clean up his reputation, make people forget about his sick past by spending lots of money. This is not something that unique to Epstein but it's a really clear case here. And there have been a drip, drip, drip at the MIT Media Lab with staffers and professors deeply concerned about the donations from Epstein and whether some were being covered up.

This had been going on for weeks and then Ronan Farrow's story in "The New Yorker" came out Friday night and on Saturday the head of the center resigned. So it was a pretty quick result after Farrow's story showed that was essentially an attempt to keep Epstein's donations secret. In other words, they were taking his money but they didn't want anybody to know about it. They were trying to keep it as quiet as possible and that's probably what is so disturbing here.

BLACKWELL: So, when we use the term media lab it sounds very --

STELTER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- benign. Why would Bill Gates, Jeffrey Epstein be donating? Give us an idea of what this is in MIT.

STELTER: Yes. It's renowned university research center thinking about the future of media in all of its forms. This is a center that has been around for decade. It is very prestigious, very well- respected. And one of the concerns here and one of the concerns among the staff there is that because of this Epstein taint that the media lab may be hurt as a result.

Look. I think what we have seen in the Epstein case involving rich and powerful people that were in his orbit. Some people knew about his past and tried to hold their nose. Other people don't even seem to smell it at all. The bottom line is that this was a man who was convicted for running a sex traffic ring years ago and he tried to -- he tried to have a comeback by throwing around tens of millions of dollars.

He described himself as an investor and that's what got him into these prestigious university circles but MIT knew there was an issue at the time. He was labeled in the database as being disqualified for giving donations. So, that's one of the reasons why MIT now say it's going to investigating. But -- they're not going to have to look too hard to understand on the surface what happened here which is when you walk in the door with tens of millions of dollars and with famous friends and powerful friend, you get special treatment and you get certain rewards.

You mentioned Bill Gates by the way. According to Ronan Farrow Gates and Epstein were in conversations at one point and Gates was bringing money to MIT as a result of Epstein. Here is the statement from the Gates' camp.

It says, "Although Epstein pursued Bill Gates aggressively, any account of a business partnership or personal relationship between the two is simply not true. And any claim that Epstein directed any programmatic or personal grantmaking for Bill Gates is completely false."

So, basically Epstein and Gates were talking, Epstein maybe was giving Gates advice on where to donate, what, where to give philanthropy that sort of thing. Just another example of these circles that Epstein was running in, of course, before he was arrested, before he died last month. He was running in these rich and powerful circles and we're seeing more and more evidence that continue to come out even though Epstein is no longer alive.

PAUL: All right. Brian Stelter, always appreciate you being here. Sir, thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Stelter. And be sure to watch "RELIABLE SOURCES" at 11:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

PAUL: Is Congress getting back to business in Washington tomorrow? House Democrats plan to hit the ground running. Nancy Pelosi says they will legislate, they will investigate, they will litigate.

What does that mean exactly? What is the plan? We will break it down.

[06:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Members of congress return to Washington tomorrow. House Democrats are looking to put President Trump under the microscope again. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is laying out a plan to, in her words, legislate, investigate and litigate. Now, that includes examining the president's violations, they say, of the Constitution and rule of law, protecting and defending our elections and confronting the president's culture of corruption. Those are the words from the Speaker's Office.

Joining me now Emily Larsen, a political reporter for the Washington Examiner.

Emily, good morning to you.

EMILY LARSEN, POLITICAL REPORTER, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: So let's start here. The Speaker's Office puts this out. This is about at the same time that we learn that Chairman Jerry Nadler, House Judiciary, will be defining this impeachment inquiry. Is this the Speaker's attempt to say, we don't need to create the cudgel of the I word, we can still do the job with this list of priorities?

[06:35:00]

LARSEN: I think so. Pelosi has said for a long time that impeachment is not something that she is looking to do. She thinks that it would be a detriment to Democrats in the 2020 election. But laying out this plan to investigate Donald Trump more and litigate and look into these things without necessarily bringing articles of impeachment.

On the one hand, it allows Democrats to look into and highlight all of the things that they think Donald Trump is doing wrong and poorly without having that pressure and potentially political consequences from bringing actual articles of impeachment against the president.

And these investigations and even the House looking to define its impeachment inquiry is interesting, particularly at this moment, because there is a saying that I like that I've heard from Republicans before governing is campaigning by different means. And so certainly these inquiries and looks into Donald Trump, what he is doing, will have an impact on the 2020 election. BLACKWELL: Yes. Of course, the question then is, is this list any

better for those purple district Democrats? Yes, they would have to have a difficult vote with the party to vote for or against impeachment or moving forward on it, but this list dominated by investigating the president, that might put them in a difficult position as well.

LARSEN: It could put them in a difficult position but it's a lot easier for them than impeachment because it allows them to highlight what they think Donald Trump is doing poorly. And a lot of what Democrats are looking to do with these swing district voters and a lot of what is the battleground right now are people, particularly women in suburban districts. And they are very turned off a lot of times by President Trump's tweets and attitude and sort of demeanor.

And so looking into these potential conflicts of interest and looking into how President Trump might be abusing power, a potential obstruction of justice issues is a way for Democrats to highlight that.

BLACKWELL: So former Congressman, presidential candidate now, Joe Walsh, tells CNN that George Conway is unofficially advising him in his run for the Republican nomination for president. Here is what he told our Fredricka Whitfield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. REP. JOE WALSH (R-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the world of George Conway and history will look back on him as one of the true great patriots. He came out earlier than almost anybody else in very bluntly calling out what a threat this president is to this country.

I'm honored to have his advice. I speak with him often. He's a wonderful adviser. As far as any formal role with our campaign, I would only be so lucky as to have somebody like George Conway involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So I've seen no confirmation from George Conway that he is involved with the Walsh campaign. But Conway, to hold intrigue aside, what's the impact of this if it's true?

LARSEN: Well, I think that Joe Walsh's campaign is definitely as sort of a gadfly campaign for the Trump campaign right now because a lot of people really don't think he has that much of a chance of putting much of a dent in his chance of getting re-elected.

And so I think for George Conway, if he is indeed informally or thinking about potentially formally advising Joe Walsh, the question is what is their strategy to take down and highlight some of the weaknesses of Trump from a Republican angle.

A lot of people have focused a lot on Joe Walsh's past statements. He is, for a very long time, delved into sort of Obama birther and Muslim controversies and conspiracy theories. And that has been a detriment to his campaign launch.

And so I'm wondering what George Conway would say about that and how -- and what direction he will be pushing him.

BLACKWELL: Emily Larsen with the Washington Examiner, good to have you.

LARSEN: Thank you.

PAUL: All right. Listen, take your pick of the craziest headline from this next story. A 73-year-old new mom of twins, dad is 82, the children's grandmother, she's still living.

Stick around for one incredible story.

BLACKWELL: And Serena Williams coming up short at the U.S. Open. Andy Scholes is in New York.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Victor. You know, Serena now 0-4 when you're going for that record-tying Grand Slam title number 24.

Coming up, we'll hear what she had to say about that and from the champion, teen phenom Bianca Andreescu, who says, she is just living a dream.

[06:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: First Sunday of the NFL season is here. Antonio Brown is still stealing the headlines.

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes is live from New York this morning. Andy, good morning.

SCHOLES: Yes. Good morning, guys. You know, this Antonio Brown Raiders saga, it's just been one of the wildest stories the NFL has ever seen. In the end, I wish it may not be end knowing Brown, he ends up with the New England Patriots.

Yes. So that was Brown yesterday when learning he had been released by the Raiders. Why was someone filming him look at his phone? I don't know. Maybe it was staged.

But just look at the time line of Brown's off-season, he was traded from the Steelers to the Raiders in March, misses multiple practices because of his helmet dispute with the league and Wednesday posted a letter detailing how he had been fined by the team for missing said practices.

Then the same day got into a confrontation with General Manager Mike Mayock about it. Friday, Brown apologized for it all. And Jon Gruden said he was playing on Monday Night Football, but then yesterday, the Raiders fined Brown for his actions with Mayock, voiding his $29 million of guaranteed money Brown asked to be released. [06:45:00]

The Raiders did so. Patriots immediately scooping him up, signing him to, reportedly, a one year $15 million deal. Just incredible. Brown is not eligible to play until next week.

All right, Serena Williams once again falling short of winning a record-tying 24th Grand Slam title. Serena losing in straight sets to 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu in the Women's U.S. Open final. Andreescu making some history of her own, she is the first Canadian and first player born in the 2000s to win a tennis major.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIANCA ANDREESCU, 2019 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: I've been dreaming of this moment for the longest time. For it to become a reality is just so crazy. I guess these visualizations really, really work.

SERENA WILLIAMS, 23-TIME GRAND SLAM CHAMPION: Honestly and truly, it's so frustrating. I'm like so close, so close, so close, and yet, so far away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. So Serena is going to have to wait until next year to go for Grand Slam title number 24.

And, guys, when Andreescu was 16 years old after winning a junior tournament, she wrote herself a fake check acting like she had just won the U.S. Open. Well, that visualization coming true yesterday.

And I don't know what amount she put on that check three years ago but I'm guessing it was not $3.85 million because her face just lit up when they handed her the real check yesterday.

PAUL: I'm going to go home and write myself a check.

BLACKWELL: That's a good idea. I'm going to write one to myself too.

Hold on, Serena. 24 is coming. Hold on, it is coming.

All right, thank you, Andy.

PAUL: Thank you, Andy.

BLACKWELL: So, rapper and businessman Jay-Z, his partnership with the NFL is, again, being scrutinized after a Chicago non-profit received $200,000 grant from Jay-Z and the League. Now, the group, Crushers Club, tries to reduce gang violence by getting kids involved in boxing and music and other activities.

But the group came under fire after these images surfaced, showing the group's founder, Sally Hazelgrove, holding scissors to cut the locks off a teenager with her caption, and another Crusher let's me cut his dreads off. It's symbolic of change and their desire for a better life, as some called the post racially insensitive, while Hazelgrove says the posts are being misconstrued

PAUL: Carron Phillips, Senior Columnist for The Shadow League, is with us now.

We didn't know a lot about this group, first of all, because this group before all of this happened. Is the anger really towards the group? Is it towards Jay-Z? How do we figure that out? What's really going on here?

CARRON PHILLIPS, SENIOR COLUMNIST, THE SHADOW LEAGUE: Both. But, you know, especially on social media, like Jay-Z is catching the most of the heat of this. And there's a reason why when you think about what this group has done, Jay-Z has dreads. So it's like if anyone could have understood this, it should have been you (ph).

It made me think about Andrew Johnson's situation last December, a couple of days before Christmas. Remember, the high school wrestler in New Jersey who had to get his dreads cut off to wrestle. And a couple of weeks ago, Tyler Williams came out with allegations. He played college basketball. I think it was D1, D2 level over in Arkansas. And he is alleging that he was dismissed from the team because the coach didn't like his dreadlocks.

So, here, we have this conversation about blackness and hair how we wear our hairstyles. And all of this drama and the question we had about this whole deal with Jay-Z, what, two or three weeks ago when this was announced, and here we go again. It was the first pile of cash that give out for this so-called change for equality and social justice and you fumble it.

BLACKWELL: Yes. You know, when you were here last, I said a lot of people are just silent and squinting, waiting for what is coming and then this is what we get. Let me read the response from the club.

Now, Hazelgrove has tweeted about support for the president and talking about crime in Chicago. She says those are being misconstrued. She said, I understand that my social post could be misconstrued and could have been insensitive. I certainly never meant to ever have any type of disrespect for the dreads, for the spiritual power they hold, for anyone to insinuate that I'm racist is hurtful and just ludicrous. I work to make a difference in the lives of these children, and I've been working out here for 20 years.

Again, this is, yes, about the group. But you're hearing and we are here talking about this because of this new Jay-Z and NFL partnership. What does he have to do now to clarify what the goal is of what he is doing if this is where the money is going?

PHILLIPS: The thing about this that has really concerned me over the past couple of weeks, and we've seen how this has all played out, is if you've been a fan of Jay-Z and his music (ph) over the years, you know, rap is a very (INAUDIBLE) genre of music. It's -- you talk -- you're boasting (ph) about yourself.

And the thing about Jay-Z is that, over his career, we have seen him mature in the things he's talked about. [06:50:00]

On the last, what, 5, 10, 15 years, you could say his business acumen, he likes art now. He is shooting videos in museums, in the Louvre, and all of these things.

If Jay-Z just wanted to make this a business deal since he is a billionaire now, he said that from The Jump, I don't think people like me or people on social media, there would be so many critics about this. Jay-Z is doing a deal with the NFL. He is a billionaire. Let's get this money, fine. But when you try to throw all this other stuff in there, that's where all the concern comes in with him.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the conflict of the social priorities and the business priorities.

All right, Carron Phillips, good to have you back.

PHILLIPS: Thanks for having me.

PAUL: Thank you, sir.

Still ahead, twins.

BLACKWELL: This story is amazing.

PAUL: That is never easy, let me just say that. Not that I know had (INAUDIBLE) and have any of them at the same time. But this is not the most surprising part of this birth announcement.

This is a 73-year-old first-time mom and her 80-year-old husband welcoming their first two children home. And the grandma is still around to babysit.

BLACKWELL: I can't, I can't.

PAUL: We'll tell you more.

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[06:55:]

PAUL: Well, she is 73 years old. She is a new mom. If that is not shocking enough, she is a new mom to twin girls, twins.

BLACKWELL: And daddy is in his 80s.

CNN's Rick Folbaum has story. That daddy is in 80s. A warning (ph) from India here, she may be the oldest new mother in the world. I think she has got that one. Here's the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK FOLBAUM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Twin girls joined the world in India last week, a big day for any family, but a miracle for their parents who have wanted to have children for 57 years. This 73-year-old woman may be one of the oldest women in the world to give birth, doing so by cesarean section after undergoing IVF treatment. The new mother and her 80-year-old husband were married in 1962 and were never able to conceive, even though they had sought advice from hospitals and doctors and over the years. That all changed last year when they approached a specialist.

DR. SANAKAYYALA UMASHANKAR, DIRECTOR, AHAIYA IVF: The first (INAUDIBLE), she was pregnant. That was really amazing for us. And from that time, we formed into teams. So we formed in three teams, one to look after her pregnancy and one team to look after the nutritional needs and another team to look after her general health.

FOLBAUM: The couple says they are thrilled and looking forward to bringing the babies home, the day the whole family has dreamed of for decades.

DEVALLA TULASAMMA, GRANDMOTHER OF TWINS: My daughter, at last, became a mother. I've been here the past eight months. I cooked food for her as she was pregnant and needed special a diet. I always wanted a granddaughter. Now I have two. I'm very happy.

FOLBAUM: A feeling shared by all the doctors and staff who helped deliver the girls, a special delivery for their parents who say it was worth the wait.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And then grandmother comes from around the corner. Her 73-year-old daughter just had twins. And she is babysitting.

PAUL: God bless them. Congratulations to all is all we can say.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that's all we can say.

PAUL: NEW DAY WEEKEND will be back in a minute.

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