Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Sunday

Gordon Sondland To Testify To The House Under Subpoena Thursday; Trump Threatens To Sue Top Democrats, Schiff And Pelosi; House Democrats Continue Probe Into Trump's Ukraine Call; Two Killed, One Missing After New Orleans Hotel Collapse; Woman Shot, Killed By Police Insider Her Own Home; L.A. Mayor Lifts Evacuation Orders For Saddleridge Fire; Several People Rushed To Illinois Hospitals After Hayride Struck By Car; Military Leader Of Syrian Kurds Tells U.S.: "You Are Leaving Us To Be Slaughtered"; Turkish Forces Blocked The Main Road Into Kobani Where U.S. Troops Are Based; Trump Touts Progress On Phase One China Trade Deal; Report Says The Team Employee Gave Baseball Player Drugs Before Overdose Death. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 13, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:13]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. President Donald Trump launching a new defense for his attorney Rudy Giuliani. This as "The New York Times" reports that his dealings with Ukraine are under investigation.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES" I stand behind Rudy Giuliani, absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president saying that he is considering a lawsuit against Congressman Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who's one of Democrat's leaders on this impeachment inquiry.

TRUMP: Sue him anyway. Even if we lose the American public will understand. And sue Nancy Pelosi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A commander in the largely Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces is accusing their ally, the United States, of forsaking them. Quote -- "You are leaving us to be slaughtered. You have nothing for us."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get to the back. Get to the back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cellphone video capturing the exact moment a construction site at the Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans came crashing down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning to you. We start today with new reporting on one of the key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry. "The Washington Post" says Gordon Sondland, the U.S. envoy to the European Union, will tell Congress that President Trump told him exactly what to write in that text message he sent to the top diplomat in Ukraine denying quid pro quo.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: The text is now a major focal point of House Democrats' impeachment probe of course.

CNN's Sarah Westwood joining us now from Washington. So, Sondland, Sarah, I understand is expected to say that he doesn't know even with that but he told him exactly what to say, he doesn't know essentially if the president was being truthful with that?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Victor and Christi. Gordon Sondland's highly anticipated testimony on Capitol Hill will come this week. The Trump administration already wants -- attempted to stop Sondland from testifying. Then House Democrats issued a subpoena.

Now "The Washington Post" is reporting that he is expected to say that September 9th text message exchange with the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor came at the direction of President Trump. In that exchange, Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, said that it would be crazy to withhold security assistance to Ukraine in exchange for help with the political campaign and Garrett (ph) -- Gordon Sondland rather wrote back saying that there was clearly no quid pro quo at work.

Now, he is expected to testify, according to "The Post" that he didn't know at the time or even know whether President Trump was telling him the truth when after a phone call he directed Sondland to say that. He is also expected to say that he worked in connection with Giuliani to secure a statement from the Ukrainian government that they would investigate corruption including Burisma, the gas company, on the board of which Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, sat -- all of this was at the center of the impeachment inquiry, the center of the president's efforts in Ukraine but Sondland, Victor and Christi, is expected to testify that he did not know the significance of trying to get the Ukrainians to single out Burisma in that statement.

BLACKWELL: So, Sarah, the president is now threatening to sue House intel chair Adam Schiff and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sekulow -- his attorney Jay Sekulow said nothing is off the table but is this something that he's doing to just rile up his base or what is the president planning?

WESTWOOD: Well, Victor, this is certainly become a tactic that the president has relied on with increasing frequency since the impeachment inquiry ramped up. He has been attacking House Democrats specifically he's been going after House intelligence chairman Adam Schiff at certain points accusing, without basis, Schiff of committing treason. But last night a speech at the Values Voter Summit, he ratcheted up those threats threatening a lawsuit.

Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I actually tell my lawyers, I said, sue him anyway. He has got immunity but they can't mean immunity for that. I said sue him anyway. Even if we lose, the American public will understand.

And sue Nancy Pelosi. Or maybe we should just impeach them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now, Trump has gone after Schiff for Schiff's characterization of his phone conversation with the Ukrainian president at the outset of a highly watched congressional hearing. He also, on Friday, accused Nancy Pelosi of hating this country when he was speaking at a rally in Louisiana. So, this is a well-worn tactic by President Trump when he is defending himself against this impeachment inquiry, Victor and Christi.

[06:05:04]

BLACKWELL: Well, we should also point out that the constitution does not allow for members of Congress to be sued for what they say on the floor. The speech and debate clause. And also that members of Congress cannot be impeached.

Sarah Westwood, thanks so much.

PAUL So, President Trump is defending Rudy Giuliani now, after "The New York Times" reported that Giuliani's dealings with Ukraine a part of a federal investigation. There was a phone interview last night. The president had nothing but praise for his personal lawyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (on the phone): He's a great gentleman. He was a great mayor. One of the greatest, maybe the greatest mayor in the history of New York. He was a fantastic prosecutor.

I know nothing about him being under investigation. As somebody said, I heard a report today. I don't -- I can't imagine it. He is a man that looks for corruption and whatever he does, I really believe he is a totally -- I mean, I know he is an honorable man.

I stand behind Rudy Giuliani. Absolutely. He was -- again, he was a crime fighter from day one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That's a bit of a change from Friday when the president wasn't even sure if Giuliani was still his lawyer. Rudy Giuliani tells CNN he is not aware that he is under investigation.

PAUL: Daniel Strauss with us now, politics reporter for "Politico." Daniel, thank you so much for being with us.

Let's start with what we are going to see this week from U.S. ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland when he is supposed to be in front of the House on Thursdays. We just talked about how he said that he reportedly is going to say that the president told him what to write in that text message where he said no quid pro quo. But he is also saying -- and this is a donor to President Trump, Ambassador Sondland, there is an expectation that he is going to say he doesn't know if the president was telling him the truth when he sent that text.

DANIEL STRAUSS, POLITICS REPORTER, POLITICO: Yes. I mean, look -- I mean, look --

PAUL: Two different -- two different messages I feel coming from this guy.

STRAUSS: Yes. I mean, look I think this is a sign that Sondland really believes that this testimony is a very big deal and it is. The fact that he is testifying in all I think suggests that he feels some kind of pressure and that there is something that he is backed into a corner to share.

But at the same time, saying that there is no quid pro quo seems to be him trying to keep some distance from fully implicating Trump from the get-go but we have to wait and see until Thursday in his testimony.

PAUL: Absolutely. He is also expected to tell Congress that Rudy Giuliani was giving him directive to secure a public statement from Ukraine that it would investigate corruption. How potential is Sondland's testimony, potential testimony for Giuliani?

STRAUSS: I mean, for Giuliani it's not great and it piles on that his associates have also -- I mean, the limelight has fallen on his associates in this and that there -- Giuliani has never really offered good explanations as the -- as more of his dealings with Ukraine have come to light. So this only really adds to Giuliani's troubles, especially because Sondland was right in the middle of this from the beginning.

PAUL: I want to ask you about this suit that the president is threatening against Adam Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He said -- quote -- "We are going after these people," these are bad people we just saw Sarah talking about it a little bit ago. On what grounds would he sue them even though I don't think he legally can sue them?

STRAUSS: It's not really clear. This is -- I think one of those moments where the president is throwing around threats without really thinking them through or backing them up. But maybe -- maybe he has some sort of -- maybe he has talked to his lawyers on this. It's not really clear right now.

It does show that the president feels some sort of larger rift than usually with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Generally, he and Pelosi get along fairly well and behind the scenes they have a pretty good working relationship, but he has amped up the rhetoric against Pelosi lately which really shows his frustration with her and that he expected this impeachment inquiry to go away very quickly. PAUL: Daniel, let's listen together here to what the president said about ambassador -- former Ambassador Yovanovitch's future, former ambassador, and who is in charge of that. This is what he said to the Judge Jeanine yesterday.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP (on the phone): I don't know very much about her. I know that supposedly she was very partisan and she was a Clinton-type person. But whether or not she keeps the job, I leave that up to Mike Pompeo.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PAUL: Give me a reality check here. Is President Trump going to put her future in the hands of Secretary Pompeo or is that something that he would instruct?

[06:10:05]

STRAUSS: Look. Right now, I don't think it's fair for me to say anything about whether the president is going to take responsibility for something like this or not. We do know that the former ambassador -- I mean, she is another piece of this puzzle and he wants to keep some distance from any sort of dealings that would publicly show he is meddling with ambassadors in the state department's matters right now. I think other than that, there is not much we really know at the moment.

PAUL: All right. Daniel Strauss, appreciate you being here. Thank you, sir.

STRAUSS: Thanks.

BLACKWELL: This morning crews are working to rescue a construction worker trapped in cement and steel. Look at this, of this collapsed hotel in New Orleans. We will get you the latest live.

PAUL: Also a 28-year-old African-American woman shot and killed by police in her own home after a neighbor called because her door was open.

BLACKWELL: And a CNN exclusive. The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces told the U.S., "You are leaving us to be slaughtered." But the president tells Fox News they should find someone else to fight with them.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP (on the phone): The Kurds are some very good people, some very bad people. Maybe they will get somebody else to go in and fight with them. If they want to get somebody else to fight with them, that would be fine, that would be OK with me, but we want to get out of the endless wars.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Rescue workers will continue to search this morning for a construction worker trapped beneath a pile of this, the cement and the concrete there in New Orleans. This was going to be a Hard Rock Hotel. It's under construction. It collapsed on Saturday.

PAUL: Two people have been confirmed dead. There are at least 18 injured. The video from earlier this morning, I want to show you a giant crane being brought in here that's to help stabilize that structure as the search for missing worker -- a missing worker continues.

CNN's Rosa Flores with us now from New Orleans with the very latest. That video, to see what happened, it's just remarkable. What is it like there now?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it really is, Christi. There are very tensed moments there. You can see people running for their lives.

As you mentioned, one person is still missing. Two people are dead. Their names have not been released. Eighteen others were transported to the hospital.

But take a look over my shoulder. You see that this area is still barricaded and you can see the pile of debris. Here is what we know from local authorities. The call came into dispatch at about 9:12 a.m. local time yesterday about a partial collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel construction site.

Now this is in downtown New Orleans. It pretty much corners the French quarter and the theater district. When firefighters arrived on scene they say that the frame of the building was unstable and it was unsupported. And that of course was very, very dangerous, that's why the area around the construction site was evacuated. A mandatory evacuation was issued.

Now if we take a look of the area -- at the aerial footage of the actual collapse, you'll see that the floors flattened. Chunks of debris and concrete fell on the street creating a cloud of dust. You can see people running for their lives.

According to the builder about 100 workers were on the scene at the time of the collapse. You can see that there's a lot of pressure on the crane that's in that construction site. That crane is unsecure, according to local authorities, and another crane was rolled in overnight to try to secure the building and stabilize the structure. Now the cause of this collapse has not been determined yet. The state fire marshal's office is on-site but, of course, they say that, right now their focus is the search and rescue effort and I want to leave you with this photograph from our affiliate WVUE. This is of a family of that missing worker. They are refusing to leave the area, Victor and Christi, until their loved one is returned to them.

BLACKWELL: Of course. Of course. Rosa Flores for us there. Rosa, thank you.

PAUL: And some people in Texas, a different community, outraged, demanding answers here after an African-American woman was shot and killed by a Fort Worth police officer while she was inside her own home. This happened early yesterday morning.

BLACKWELL: Twenty-eight year Atatiana Jefferson was pronounced dead after being shot. Investigators say a neighbor called police to report the woman's front door was open. But they say Jefferson was shot and killed in her bedroom after police officer saw a person standing near a window inside the house.

Now police have released very heavily edited video footage of the incident that shows a gun inside the home. Now the police officer involved has been put on administrative leave. That is pending an investigation. He joined the department in April of 2018.

This morning tens of thousands of people are being able to return to their homes, this is in southern California. Los Angeles' mayor lifted all evacuation orders on Saturday as the Saddle Ridge fire is moving away from neighborhoods and into the hillsides.

PAUL: The Saddle Ridge fire is the largest of the fires currently burning in southern California. They have already killed two people. Over 30 homes and 7,500 acres have been destroyed by the Saddle Ridge fire alone.

BLACKWELL: A dozen of people have been rushed to several hospitals in Illinois. This was after a vehicle crashes into a hayride. One person who was on that hayride is now in critical condition.

PAUL: And a state department official is condemning the reported killings of several Syrian Defense Force fighters. CNN learning the commander of Kurdish-led forces told a senior a U.S. diplomat -- quote -- "You are leaving us to be slaughtered."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:33]

PAUL: Twenty-three minutes past the hour.

And new this morning, Turkish forces have blocked the main road now into the Kurdish city of Kobani. That's where U.S. troops are based.

BLACKWELL: CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is on the front line of this fight. Nick, where are you and what are you seeing?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've come back from driving down the main highway. That's after the border road was taken. It's the only main road that connects the east of this country where I'm standing and the west where Kobani, that's city fought deeply over with ISIS and where there are outposts of American troops one of which was recently shelled nearby where they are.

Now, we saw as we drove down that road scenes of frankly damage, devastation and a SUV where a Kurdish female activist was shot dead allegedly by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey. And as we got closer down that road past towards Ain Issa, a town there, we heard gunfire down the street. There was panic. There were people screaming. Real sense of concern and alarm.

And I heard from a U.S. official that that was because Syrian rebels backed by Turkey have moved into that road and put up checkpoints, blocking that road, essentially blocking Kobani from outside access. There are ways through the desert but no main highway like that and also possibly to any American troops that are in Kobani from getting out by road to the east. Now that was a startling revelation for us in the first place.

Secondly to that we also as we were there sort of American convoy of four vehicles leaving Ain Issa, the town there. They didn't talk to us. And as they left out a key instant was when a Turkish jet flew very low below us and them as well essentially buzzing us on the ground.

[06:25:04]

Sending a message really that they didn't want us there or possibly warning the Syrian Kurds that further intervention might be coming. The Americans they didn't let it go like that. They sent in two Apaches that circled around the town above us and American convoy clearly sending a message that the Americans would not necessarily be threatened.

I hear from U.S. officials that their security is deteriorating very fast there. They're in fact saying that some of those Syrian rebels backed -- sorry. Syrian rebels backed by Turkey have changed uniforms and are now disguising themselves as Syrian Kurds. It is a startling turn of events.

And as we left that particular area, slowly driving out on the road amongst really scenes of deserted houses, pandemonium to some degree. We saw startling revelation which was when we came across a Turkish armored convoy that had moved through the dust, through the desert, and was sitting itself on the side of the highway. I think you can see those pictures soon now.

Sat there about a dozen of them, more reinforcements moving in from the desert to -- this is clearly showing the scope of Turkey's ambition and it's way bigger than anybody really thought. They were talking about maybe an 18-mile corridor along the Turkish-Syrian border. These armored personnel carriers would have to be at least 30 miles

inside Syrian Kurdish territory. They looked -- a large number and the only thing you can conclude from that is they really intend to cut that highway off and that spells a huge disaster for the Syrian Kurds and this is (INAUDIBLE) nightmare certainly for the U.S. forces in Kobani out there in the west.

Back to you.

BLACKWELL: Far beyond what the U.S. officials expected. Nick Paton Walsh, there for us. Thank you.

PAUL: So, Mike Giglio with us now, staff writer for "The Atlantic" and author of "Shatter the Nations: ISIS and the War for the Caliphate." It hit shelves on Monday by the way in case you're interested.

Mike, thank you so much for being with us. I want to get your assessment first of all of what just you heard and saw there from Nick Paton Walsh.

MIKE GIGLIO, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: I just -- I think what Nick is saying is unfortunately predictable. This chaos and the abandonment of the Kurdish allies leading to a really unpredictable and violent situation was all foreseen ahead of Trump's decision. And the fact that it is playing out this way I think is really disheartening. And I think we are all just still waiting for some move from the U.S. government to try to control it but we haven't seen that yet.

PAUL: Well, "The New York Times" has an article today talking about the fact that to some capacity and to many, this is seen the U.S. pulling the troops as seen as a betrayal of the loyal partner. They say though that it goes beyond that.

I want to quote this. In "The New York Times" it says, his inconsistent, meaning the president, President Trump's inconsistent and rapidly shifting positions in the Middle East have injected a new element of chaos into an already volatile region and have left allies guessing where the United States stands and for how long.

What position has this left the U.S. in, particularly even with other foreign governments?

GIGLIO: I mean, that is really well put and if you think about the way this decision played out in Syria it was not planned in any way. So, if Trump had decided this months ago, given America's Kurdish allies the chance, for example, to pull back from these areas or to reach some kind of accommodation with Turkey we would see a lot different situation playing out.

But instead he actually had them dismantle their fortifications in the belief that this might forestall an invasion. And so they're actually even weaker to face this invasion right now. And if you look at the way the war against ISIS has played out, Trump has taken credit for winning it but actually local forces are the ones who have won it. So, in Syria it's the Kurds. In Iraq it's the Kurds. And also the Iraqi special forces and military, America needs them to continue the fight. And if I was a member of any of these forces looking at what is happening in Syria right now, I would really be questioning that commitment and, you know, the U.S. has asked quite a lot of these forces.

There is 10,000 Kurdish soldiers and their allies killed in the war against ISIS just in Syria. And I really think this threatens that entire alliance against ISIS in those countries.

PAUL: And is there a solid gauge of the status of ISIS right now?

GIGLIO: There is. "The New York Times" reported earlier in the end of the summer that U.S. officials believe there are 18,000 ISIS fighters still across Iraq and Syria. And just to put this in context of it ISIS is an iteration of the same Al Qaeda enemy that American forces fought during the Iraq war. Their natural roots are as an insurgency. So, the territorial caliphate that they had across Iraq and Syria is defeated.

But ISIS is still a threat and they've just gone back to their roots as an insurgency. So, the day before Trump made this decision, U.S. and Kurdish troops in Syria were still fighting ISIS. They are trying to roll up ISIS networks. There are sleeper cells across Iraq, Syria and Turkey and they are still a major threat. And what is happening is that that fight has just basically stopped and now there is this new fight.

PAUL: Mike Giglio, thank you so much. We appreciate your expertise in this area and you sharing with us this morning.

[06:30:01]

GIGLIO: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: OK, so let me ask you this. A U.S. diplomat's wife granted immunity after a deadly crash in the U.K. may not be protected from prosecution after all. Why her decision to leave the country may end up forcing her return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: It's a love fest. That's how President Trump describes the U.S. relationship with China now. He is touting his preliminary trade agreement.

Now, the initial deal is putting a pause on planned tariff increases on Chinese goods, but the president said finalizing this, putting it on paper will take three to five weeks.

Still, he is playing it up on Twitter. He wrote this. The deal I just made with China is by far the greatest and biggest deal ever made for our great patriot farmers in the history of our country.

With us now from Washington, Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union. Sir, good morning to you.

ROGER JOHNSON, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL FARMERS UNION: Good morning. Good to be with you.

BLACKWELL: Good to have you.

So let's start broadly. What is your reaction to what the president calls the greatest deal by far from America's great patriot farmers?

[06:35:07]

JOHNSON: Well, certainly, this isn't the first time we have heard that kind of rhetoric. In the last three years, we have seen agricultural sales to China actually tank significantly. China was our number one market or close to the number one market for several years before this administration took over. It's now, in terms of agriculture, down to number four or number five. We were at somewheres in the area of the $20 billion sales. Last year, we were down by about 75 percent.

So there has been a lot of dramatic problems with our agricultural sales to China. That is not to say we shouldn't be doing something with China. That's a different question.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I think most people agree, who are critical of the president's way of getting there, that something has to be done about China.

JOHNSON: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Let's go here to one of the president's biggest claims as it relates to farmers. $40 to $50 billion dollars he secured in U.S. agricultural product sales to China. Now, China has not confirmed that publicly. Listen here to what the president said. This was Friday in his rally in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want my farmers. I love my farmers. I want them to come back to me. Sir, we can't produce. It's too much. It's too much, sir. It's too much. We can't produce that much wheat and corn and all of the stuff because I want to tell you, I got China to order a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, 50 billion sounds good. China reached almost 26 billion in 2013, less than 10 billion last year in purchases of U.S. ag products. What do you need to know about this claim from the president?

JOHNSON: Well, we need to know that, in fact, something like that is going to be happening. It seems on its face to be, frankly, kind of unbelievable. One of the contact points that we should be aware of is that since this trade war with China and frankly with much of the rest of the world has happened, we have seen significant increases in production and news commercial arrangements between China, Brazil, Argentina and Russia, those three countries all significantly increasing agriculture production.

That new land coming into production is not going to away, so we're going to have that competition for a long, long time in the future.

BLACKWELL: So we mentioned this about a minute ago. You said that something has to be done about China. What do you want to see in this deal? And right now, it's so vague. It just phase one, a couple of headlines. What do you need to see?

JOHNSON: Well, listen, let's remember that when this trade war with China was begun, what the administration was asking for was to stop their cheating, to stop their stealing of intellectual property, to change their former of government, essentially, their use of state- owned enterprises, which is government-controlled businesses that operate at losses in order to take markets, to steal markets from the rest of the world. Basically, they operate in a non-market economy fashion. He was asking that that all be changed.

Well, getting new sales of agricultural products into China, short- term, might happen. But are you going to make those fundamental changes? That's a big lift. And if, in fact, that doesn't happen, then you would ask, what was the purpose of destroying all of these relationships over the last several years?

BLACKWELL: Yes. You've called China a lost market. Of course, the hope is to get that back, especially for the soy bean sales.

Let me ask you. We've got this --

JOHNSON: Well --

BLACKWELL: Go ahead.

JOHNSON: Let me just say that reputations matter in this space, that farmers have spent millions of dollars over the last several decades developing new markets around the world, China included. And when you summarily withdraw from these markets, that creates a problem in terms of our reputation.

I would argue that the U.S. agricultural reputation internationally now is not good and that we are going to be viewed as sort of the residual supplier, the supplier of last resort for a lot of countries, because they have seen this sort of erratic behavior. We are in there, we're out of there, we're throwing tariffs on, we are tking them off.

[06:40:03]

There is nothing predictable about it and that harms our reputation, long-term, it's going to do a lot of damage, I believe, to U.S. agriculture.

BLACKWELL: Well, let's see if this love fest lasts until some signatures are on paper. Still, several phases to go. Roger Johnson, thanks so much for being with us.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

PAUL: Well, the wife of a U.S. diplomat accused in a deadly car crash may be forced to go back to the U.K. to face prosecution. Anne Sacoolas was initially granted immunity but the U.K.'s foreign secretary says the U.S. now agrees her immunity no longer applies since she left the country.

Police say Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of a road when a car collided with a motorcycle killing 19-year-old Harry Dunn. His parents are now calling for her to return to the U.S. to face justice.

BLACKWELL: A wedding ceremony at a church in New Hampshire, then there is gunfire. What wedding guests did to stop that shooter?

PAUL: Also, a pretty shocking claim in a story of a pro baseball player who died of an overdose earlier this year, disturbing allegations that his former team is now responding to.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: 44 minutes past the hour right now, and we've gone on the hayrides this time of the year but this is pretty scary.

[06:45:03]

About a dozen people have been rushed to multiple Illinois hospitals after the hayride wagon they were in was struck by another vehicle.

BLACKWELL: Now, the crash happened Saturday about 55 miles west of Chicago. This is Kendall County, Illinois. One person is reportedly in critical condition.

BLACKWELL: A wedding ceremony in New Hampshire interrupted by a gunman barging into the church and starting to shoot. Now, police are looking into whether it was a retaliation for the murder of pastor.

PAUL: CNN's Polo Sandoval breaks this down for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An intimate wedding in a small New Hampshire town came to an abrupt and violent end on Saturday. Police say 37-year-old Dale Holloway walked into the New England Pentecostal Ministries in Pelham after the wedding began and opened fire.

He is accused of shooting two of the nearly 40 people inside, including Stanley Choate, the 75-year-old bishop officiating the ceremony.

According to the town's police chief, Holloway was arrested on sight after being wrestled on the ground by guests.

CHIEF JOSEPH ROARK, PELHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE P.D.: From my understanding is they basically gang-tackled him. There was a struggle ensued. Minor injuries occurred to the other guests who were in the struggle with the shooter.

SANDOVAL: Others were making their way inside the church, adds the Police Chief Joseph Roark, an afternoon funeral for the church's former pastor, Luis Garcia, shot and killed last week was scheduled to begin later in the day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were not inside. We just got here. And this is what we found. So now we just waiting to find out what to do now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just surreal. Luis was shot and now there's a shooting at his church.

SANDOVAL: Investigators now looking into whether both incidents could be related. Authorities believe Saturday's groom is the father of the suspect charged in the death of Pastor Garcia.

ROARK: This does not seem to be a random event at this point, at least that's what preliminary investigation is telling us.

SANDOVAL: Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Polo, thank you.

We want to tell you too about the pro baseball player who died of an overdose earlier this year. Well, a new reporting that he got the drugs allegedly from a team employee.

BLACKWELL: So ESPN is reporting that Los Angeles Angels communications director, Eric Kay, told the DEA that he gave the narcotic, oxycodone, to Tyler Skaggs just a few days before the 27- year-old pitcher was found dead in his hotel room. That was in July.

Kay also reportedly told the DEA about five other players he believed were taking opiates while they were with the team.

Now, the Angels organization is denying the allegations. They told CNN Sports it does not know anything about players abusing drugs and that they were getting them from a team employ.

In a statement, the Skaggs family says they are awaiting the results of that investigation.

PAUL: All right, a politics here for you. CNN projecting Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards is forced now into a runoff in his bid for re-election. Edwards will face Republican businessman Eddie Rispone.

BLACKWELL: Now, Rispone is one of two major Republicans in the race and he garnered rather the second biggest amount of votes. Edwards fell short of the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid that runoff. He is the only state-wide elected Democrat in Louisiana and polls suggest he has a decent shot at re-election.

PAUL: OK. This is tough to take in. Monumental upset in college football. One of the best teams in the country, the kicker is -- it happens at home.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, tough for the Georgia Bulldogs, right? Those dogs leave with their tail between their legs. South Carolina battered and bruised but somehow, someway, find a way to take down the number three team in the nation. We'll show you coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

PAUL: Listen, we want to introduce you to one of our CNN Heroes.

We all have bucket lists, right? Well, this week's CNN Hero is helping senior citizens embark on the bucket bucket lists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEBB WEIMAN, CNN HERO: The reality of living in isolation is out there and it's real and that's really one of the driving forces for us to keep going, for us to take those people out of isolation and make an example of them.

I looked at it like much more than a hot air balloon ride. There is a sense of accomplishment, a story that they get to take back to their community. It lifts their spirits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: For the full story, go to cnnheroes.com to get more.

BLACKWELL: The biggest upset of the college football season so far. I don't even watch college football and I heard about this.

PAUL: I don't feel like we're even that far into the season to say it already. So, Coy, just --

WIRE: We're going to be hearing about this all week here in Atlanta, aren't we? It's not been a great week for Atlanta sports. First, the Braves get booted from the playoffs and now this, the number three, Georgia Bulldogs, going down at home against struggling unranked South Carolina, who were playing with their third-string quarterback, for crying out loud.

Georgia kept footing themselves in the foot. South Carolina is real. Mukuamu had Jake Fromm's number all day, this pass intercepted in the second going 53 yards to the house. He had three interceptions on that day. But the Bulldogs had a shot, double overtime, down three, and kicker Rodrigo Blankenship pushes it wide right, agony for the Bulldogs, and gamecocks backup quarterback Ryan Hilinski had hurt his leg earlier in the day, he's celebrating and couldn't even stand up.

South Carolina knocks out the number three team in the nation in a stunner, my goodness.

[06:55:01] The Yankees look unstoppable right now. Their youngest superstar, Gleyber Torres, leading the way, the second base, and blasting this solo homer in the sixth inning, making him just the third Yankee ever with multiple homeruns in a post-season before age 23, Mickey Mantle, Joe Kubek, the others.

Yankees blowout the Astros 7-0. Game 2 is tonight.

The Washington Nationals taking a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Saint Louis Cardinals in the National League. Michael Taylor smacking a home run in the third give the Nats the lead. And that's all Max Scherzer would need, Washington's ace, taking a no-hitter into the seventh, 11 strikeouts. Nats win 3-1. Game 3 is tomorrow in Washington on our sister channel, TBS.

Simone Biles, arguably the greatest gymnast of all time. Yesterday, she claimed gold after nailing this landing on the vault. She's now tied for the most championship medals of all time for any women or men. It's her 23rd medals overall. And she can move ahead of Vitaly Scherbo for the all-time record today when she competes in floor and beam.

All right, I have to admit, I'm probably still going to be glued to the T.V. even though it's being called the worst game in NFL history today. Miami and Washington are combined 0-9 on the season. Washington has been outscored by more than two touchdowns a game. And they have already fired their head coach.

If you think that's bad? At least they are scoring. The Dolphins have scored only two touchdowns all season long, two. To put that into perspective, Tom Brady has run for three touchdowns. That's how bad the Dolphins are.

PAUL: All right.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Coy.

PAUL: Thank you, Coy. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:00]