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Soon: SpaceX Attempts To Launch Most Powerful Rocket Ever Into Orbit; Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) On Five Arrested On Suspicion Of Terrorism Near Military Base In U.K.; D.A. Reopens Investigation Into Alleged Gang Rape At Cornell University. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 28, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST, PILOT, SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT, PBS NEWS HOUR (via Webex by Cisco): Well, size does matter, Danny. I think we can all agree on that. But the thing that is really key here is it's big and the goal is reusability. This has been the holy grail of rocketry since the beginning.

You look at the big Saturn 5 rocket which sent me to the moon in the '70s. They tossed away 99 percent of it as nonreusable pieces as it went to the moon.

The trick is how do you make a rocket light enough and have enough performance to carry everything you need to go to space and then protect it as it comes back. It's a huge engineering challenge. And Starship -- the goal is to do that. Make it completely reusable so it could fly to space, return, be refitted and fly once again without a lot of extra work, sort of airliner style. That's the goal here. And doing that with a lot of size makes it more efficient and cheaper to get things to space.

FREEMAN: Miles, aside from the return to Earth element, I mean, listen, over the course of, you know, the past several decades, we've been to the moon before. What makes this rocket -- again, aside from the reusable nature of it, more unique when it comes to, again, its ultimate mission to try and go back and forth to the moon, as you said.

O'BRIEN: Well, one of the things that stands out is this rocket will be modified in such a way that it can be used as a lunar lander. So this is kind of baked into the NASA Artemis program. And in order for it to get to the moon, the current architecture of those missions requires about a dozen refueling flights. They have to get fuel into orbit and then refuel the Starship in orbit and then send it off to the moon. It's a complicated mission architecture to be sure, and no one has ever been able to accomplish or even tried in flight or in orbit refueling of a rocket. So that's something to watch very closely as this whole program progresses.

You know, Elon Musk would like to send the Starship to colonize Mars, but in the shorter term, NASA is watching this very closely to make sure it has a viable lander to get NASA astronauts on the moon in the next few years.

FREEMAN: All right. Well, Miles, this is just a preview. We're going to be talking more in the next hour, I know it. So thank you so much for laying the groundwork for this launch that's going to happen hopefully in just a little bit. Appreciate your time this morning.

O'BRIEN: You're welcome, Danny.

FREEMAN: All right, to this now. We're following a developing story out of the U.K. British authorities have arrested five people on suspicion of terrorism on Sunday after finding them with explosives near a military base used by U.S. long-range bombers in the war with Iran. Dozens of houses were evacuated in the area as a precaution and bomb disposal units were seen combing the scene while police worked to determine a motive.

President Trump is now calling the arrests fantastic, saying the men had been under investigation by both the U.S. and U.K. "for a long time."

CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is on the scene following this for us. Nick, tell us what more do we know this morning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. The message of the picture that emerges from the village here is one that the base had been on some kind of security lockdown so that most civilians had left the base. There wasn't the normal activity in this village. It's normally bustling with people coming off the base to get a bite to eat or a cup of coffee or whatever it is.

The sort of atmosphere here had changed in the past week and there was a sense that there was a sort of a raised threat level going on at the base there. Locals around here had seen big diggers put across the base gates to make it impossible for anyone to slam a vehicle and drive into the base that way.

And I was just talking with a local farmer here who's the person who spotted this suspicious activity with the three vans and the men and called it in to the police, which is what then triggered the police response. This is how she described the moments of coming home in the early hours of the morning and discovering this unusual, bizarre scene happening right by her farm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the vans had some strange sign writing on it and just because I've had a little bit -- if you live in Welford, you will have had a little bit to do with undercover policing. And I looked at it and thought that's not real -- just the way the number was written on the side of the van. And my initial reaction then was maybe this is the police undercover because they're trying to watch. And our driveway is such an obvious place to get right up to the fence of the base so I thought that's why the vans are there because that would be a really good idea to block that access up to the fence of the base. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:35:00]

ROBERTSON: The British defense secretary has said, look, she has a partial picture of what was going on, but U.K. officials are not revealing what else they may have known that was happening behind the scenes and the nature of any particular threat that may have come.

And this is a base that has been threatened by Iran before because this is a base used by the U.S. Air Force B-1 Lancer bombers to have those deep strikes inside of Iran, so it's drawn attention in that way. It has drawn threats from the IRGC in Iran that they would respond and attack the base. But there does seem to have been something that was happening in the past week that put everyone here on alert that evening.

But of course, people here -- farmers, one of them -- saying if there was such a level of alert, why wasn't there more sort of force protection or patrols outside of the base? Why did it take a farmer to spot something strange and get the police activated?

FREEMAN: Yeah, still so many more questions about this story.

Nic Robertson, thank you so much for that. I really do appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And joining us now to talk about this and more Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

I'm just curious what you're picking up on this. You have the president had said that this group had been under surveillance for a while. As you see, local residents, though, saying that they were the ones alerting police.

What are you hearing, Senator?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE) (via Webex by Cisco): First, Kate, I am so grateful that no British or American troops or civilians were harmed in this incident. It's a reminder of why our closest allies are so important to us because we share intelligence, we share military bases, we share common values and goals. And so it's important that the United Kingdom, one of the so-called Five Eyes -- the countries we trust the most with intelligence -- acted swiftly and professionally to protect the Americans on this Royal Air Force base in the United Kingdom.

It is a reminder that Trump's war of choice with Iran has catapulted us into instability and violence in the Middle East and has also caused costs to go up for the average American. And there's no clear end in sight.

BOLDUAN: On the -- as we wait for more on that situation in the U.K., on Iran and where things stand there, the president rejected -- President Trump rejected Iran's proposal to get back to the negotiating table. That happened over the weekend. And now there seems to be -- the focus now seems to be Iran focused on first talking about the Strait of Hormuz. The president seeming to want to refocus now first on talking about making -- getting concessions on Iran's nuclear program.

Regardless, one thing we know certainly is that President Trump says that he believes that Iran's negotiating tactics involves a calculation of the midterm elections. He has said over and over again he thinks Iran's going to come back to the negotiating table after the midterms. The -- Iran's foreign minister was just out yesterday and said -- unequivocally rejected that, saying that midterms are not part of its calculation. "We only care about our national interests. We are ready to negotiate."

Do you think the midterms are a calculation for Iran?

COONS: Look, the Iranians have shown over decades, in particular in 1979 and 1980, that they understand American domestic politics. They don't have a midterm election. The IRGC and the ayatollah are a brutally repressive regime, and they have a firm grip on power.

But I'll remind you, President Trump ran for re-election two years ago, promising no new stupid foreign wars. He also promised releasing the Epstein files, reducing costs for the average American, and making healthcare stronger. And none of those have happened.

He had an opportunity at the United Nations last week to have sit-down negotiations between his senior leadership and the Iranians. Obviously, nothing significant came of it.

And when we took a vote here in the Senate late last week on Thursday, Republicans continue to stand by Trump's war of choice against Iran, even though there's no positive end in sight.

And the Iranian proxies -- the group called the Houthis operating out of Yemen -- are closer than ever to controlling the other key strait in the region -- the strait that lets traffic go in and out of the Red Sea.

So when I was at the U.N. meeting with our allies and leaders from the Middle East and from Europe, they are alarmed that President Trump seems to keep going deeper into this war, that the region is more and more destabilized, that costs are hitting the average farmer, the average consumer across Europe and the United States, and this is going to weigh on Republicans heavily in the upcoming midterm elections.

[07:40:00]

BOLDUAN: Former special counsel Jack Smith is going to testify before your committee, Senate Judiciary, tomorrow. This is -- I think this is the third time, maybe the second public hearing that he's going to have. He was before the House the other time. And this is also in front of Chuck Grassley. He was the chairman of the committee who has long been described as maybe Jack Smith's chief critic on Capitol Hill over him leading the investigation that led to charges against Donald Trump.

What is going to happen tomorrow?

COONS: You're going to see a fair amount of fireworks. The good news here is that Jack Smith will finally get a chance to testify in front of the Senate. This is his first opportunity to respond to the criticisms of many in the Republican caucus.

I'll remind our viewers Jack Smith led a career professional federal prosecutor. He led the investigations into President Trump's efforts to steal national secrets and to put them in boxes in his bathroom in the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago after his first term. He took with him and inappropriately stored some of America's most secure information about our nuclear programs, about our global weapons systems and our strategic engagement. Other former presidents, when they were challenged on whether or not they had inappropriately kept a document or two, immediately cooperated, immediately responded. Not so, Donald Trump. That's the first thing that'll be focused on is Trump's inappropriate storage of highly classified material.

The second is January 6 we all saw with our own eyes. I experienced it personally, the assault on the Capitol of January 6. Jack Smith was simply trying to get to the bottom of what Trump's role was in coordinating and encouraging the attack on our Capitol, which was designed to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

These are both important issues where he deserves his day in front of the Senate. And so I'm looking forward to tomorrow's hearing, but I expect you'll also see some fireworks between his critics and Mr. Smith, who's perfectly capable of giving his side of the story.

BOLDUAN: Maybe one of the only certainties other than the sun will rise tomorrow will -- there will be fireworks on Capitol Hill when it comes to these hearings.

It's good to see you, Senator.

COONS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Thank you very much for coming in. I appreciate your time -- Danny.

COONS. Thank you, Kate.

FREEMAN: We have new reporting this morning that prosecutors are reopening an investigation into an alleged gang rape at Cornell University. This after a former student filed a civil lawsuit claiming she was drugged and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity in 2024. There was an initial investigation two years ago, but no criminal charges were filed.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is following this and joins me now. Gloria, this is a really disturbing story.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we should start there. The details of this lawsuit are disturbing. And we should say that, you know, this is once again putting a spotlight on how universities handle cases of alleged sexual assault on campus.

Now I want to start at the beginning. As you said, the alleged assault took place in October of 2024. The lawsuit filed by this alleged victim, Jane Doe, claims that two of the seven accused Chi Phi members of this fraternity were expelled and that others received lesser punishment, including written assignments, following a Cornell University investigation. The fraternity was also barred from the campus in 2024.

Now the initial investigation into this incident resulted in no arrests and nobody was charged at the time. But now the Tompkins County district attorney is telling ABC News he is reopening the investigation. He will present new evidence to a grand jury, and he is hoping to bring new charges.

He also said that back in 2024 he did not bring charges because evidence that the office now has was not presented. He also says that the victim at the time did not allege that she had been drugged or assaulted.

I want to get to a statement from the district attorney Matthew Van Houten in Tompkins County saying, "It is our intention to present the case to the Tompkins County grand jury with Jane Doe's cooperation. We want to reexamine whether there is additional evidence that there were not -- that we were not aware of in November of 2024 that exists now that would change our assessment of the case and would result in the grand jury finding that there was criminal conduct."

Now, Danny, let's get to exactly what's being alleged in this lawsuit because Jane Doe, who was 20 years old at the time of the alleged assault, says that she had been drinking at a party at her own sorority house the night that this all allegedly happened. Then she arrived at another party at Chi Phi's house, and it was once she was inside that house that seven members of their fraternity drugged and sexually assaulted her.

Also new evidence there is a group chat that was sent around among members of the fraternity where they invited other members of the fraternity to join in the assault.

[07:45:05]

Now again, that piece of evidence is crucial and was not included in the first investigation.

Her attorney told us in a statement that "Other than her initial contact with Cornell University police, she was not contacted by investigators from the Tompkins County District Attorney's Office or any investigators trained in interviewing rape survivors."

So Danny, as you can imagine, this has created a lot of reaction, both from actors to lawmakers. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez was actually in Ithaca where Cornell University is located this weekend. She spoke out against the assault. And in the last hour we have actually just received a new statement from Cornell University saying that they will respond in the legal process. But also saying that "Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false. A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivals feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the under reporting of sexual assault."

Also importantly, I want to mention as part of that statement that the university provided for us this morning, they say that both the complainant -- the victim-- and the respondents -- the alleged accusers -- had the opportunity to testify and present evidence during the duration of Cornell University's investigation back in 2024, and that a hearing panel issued a range of sanctions which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell University.

So we hope this morning to hear more from the district attorney to learn more about when and if more criminal charges will be brought or any criminal charges will be brought, I should say, and whether all seven members that were initially allegedly involved in this incident will actually face any sort of charges.

FREEMAN: Yeah, I'm sure we will hear more from that D.A. in the future. But again, a troubling story.

Gloria, thank you so much for that reporting -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: To another troubling story. Twelve teenagers were wounded this weekend in Georgia when gunfire just erupted at a skate park and the moment that it started was caught on surveillance video. Watch and listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Gunfire)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Can you -- can you imagine being in the middle of that -- my God. This happened early Sunday morning in Macon. Sheriff's deputies arrived shortly after this all played out and you saw kids running for their lives.

The Sheriff's Office says the crowd was hosting a birthday party at an Airbnb in a different county. The host apparently asked them to leave after learning that there may be weapons present. So the teenagers, a group of them, ended up at the state-owned skate park.

The sheriff says it's still not clear what led to the actual shooting, but as of Sunday, investigators had interviewed at least 10 witnesses, taken seven vehicles to its crime lab, and two of those people hurt are said to be in critical condition, 17 and 18 years old -- Danny.

FREEMAN: Still ahead, Taylor Swift honors Dolly Parton after becoming the most awarded artist in VMA history. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Lastly, but most importantly, I want to thank and dedicate this award to one person without whom just this wouldn't be happening. And that person is the ultimate showgirl, Dolly Parton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: And let's call it a tortoise on the lam. How the world's slowest escape artist attempt was thwarted. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:53:10

FREEMAN: This morning, oil prices are rising after President Trump rejected Iran's latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, calling it unacceptable. But this doesn't appear to mean that negotiations are completely dead. The president telling Axios Sunday that he expects the U.S. and Iran to continue talks this week. And Iran's foreign minister says it is waiting on a definitive response to its proposal.

Joining me now, Bob McNally, president and founder of Rapidan Energy Group. Bob, really, really good to see you.

Let's start here because Sec. Bessent did the Sunday shows this weekend and he said that we are on the cusp of an acceleration in our economy and more jobs are on the way.

Is that your view of what's going on right now, especially with this conflict and more in Iran continuing?

BOB MCNALLY, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, RAPIDAN ENERGY GROUP: Well, Danny, I'm more of an oil market analyst than a macro expert, but based on the data, it's pretty well -- It's going pretty well. Retail sales are strong, investment's strong, earnings are good. Surveys are showing that households and small businesses are starting to feel these high pump prices, especially our farmers. So you're starting to see that. But so far, the economy has been pretty resilient to this oil price shock.

FREEMAN: All right. Well, let's get into the oil prices then because President Trump again said this weekend that he is "very seriously considering that diesel export ban to try and help with gas prices." But what was interesting is he then seemed to acknowledge that this would, at the very least in the short term, potentially increase prices.

What's your read on this positioning here?

MCNALLY: It really is one of the biggest turnabouts in energy policy history. I mean, until a week ago, the administration was saying we will not restrict exports because it would raise oil prices eventually, even diesel, which might go down initially in a band.

So the president has clearly done a 180 here. Republicans are panicking. Diesel fuel is 80 percent higher than year-on-year. A farmer getting ready to sow his fields, 80 percent higher just to sow the field.

[07:55:00]

They're calling for export restrictions. That's a panic move, but it has boomerang or blowback effects. It's going to cause prices on the coasts -- East Coast, West Coast -- to go right up. And even any distillate price drop, any diesel price drop is going to be temporary. You buy four weeks, five weeks, but then refiners drop those runs. Global prices soar, which we're already seeing, and everybody is worse off.

So the president and his advisors understand it's not a good idea, only a very desperate measure.

FREEMAN: So what's your forecast at the moment when it comes to these high gas prices and these high diesel prices? Do you see in the future any relief coming, especially if there is not any intense intervention from the federal government here?

MCNALLY: Well, we think odds slightly favor the president doing something, only because they're in panic mode, even if it buys them a few weeks of lower pump prices. But in terms of real relief, the only thing that will do that, Danny, is a durable end to the fighting not only in the Gulf but also in Russia and Ukraine because as the president has noted, the Ukrainians have been successful at knocking out Russian refiners. Russia was the second-largest diesel exporter after the United States.

And the way it works, whether it's you in Philadelphia, a farmer in Iowa, the price we pay at the pump depends on that global price. So a disruption anywhere -- Russia, the Middle East, China, here, if we disrupt our exports --

FREEMAN: Sure.

MCNALLY: -- transmits a shock at the pump for consumers everywhere.

FREEMAN: And again, it just -- it's been months now of seeing those prices tick up, so I know so many are looking for relief.

Bob McNally, thank you so much for coming in this morning. Appreciate it.

MCNALLY: Thank you.

FREEMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So Prince Harry going above and beyond for charity right now, making good on a promise he made to a 102-year-old World War II veteran. Prince Harry went skydiving near Toronto on Friday -- take a look at that -- to raise money for veterans. He'd made this promise to Ed Marshall, 102, World War II vet last November when the pair agreed to parachute out of a plane together. After medical evaluation, Marshall was not approved for the jump, but his grandson went in his place, and Marshall was cheering them on from the plane.

And the world's slowest escape attempt ever thwarted in Colorado -- a tortoise named Lard. I'm not the one offending him. Apparently, the rest of the world is. Somehow, Lard got out of his family's fenced yard and made a mad dash for it and ended up with a run-in with police. He made it to the street. That's as far as he got before he got caught.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A different area too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you need some help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want help carrying him? Oh, I was going to say, he's like-- he looks stubborn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's-- we could totally carry him if you want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He's stubborn. Well, you know what? You call him Lard, so what do you expect?

Anyway, the deputy helped carry the nearly 100-pound tortoise back to the house. The sheriff's office shared the bodycam video on social media calling Lard a "celebrity."

FREEMAN: I wanted justice for Lard. Lard just wanted a nice walk. This is ridiculous.

BOLDUAN: I mean, let the man out.

FREEMAN: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: Clearly, he could use a few laps. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding, Lard -- I'm kidding.

FREEMAN: Yeah. No offense, Lard.

BOLDUAN: Why would we ever want to offend a tortoise since we offend no one else on this show ever?

FREEMAN: All right. We'll get him next time.

BOLDUAN: OK, bye.

FREEMAN: Thanks, Kate.

OK, let's turn to sports now.

The Denver Broncos mounting another thrilling comeback, this time against the Los Angeles Rams.

Coy wire joins us from Atlanta with the details of that game and some other big stories from the weekend. Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: What up, Danny?

Somebody apparently forgot to tell the Broncos the game started before halftime. Denver down 16, nothing at the break, but a couple quick scores and the defense comes out swinging. Talanoa Hufanga jumps Matthew Stafford's pass and there he goes -- 67 yards. Denver suddenly leads 23-19 with about four minutes to go.

But Stafford, one of the greatest comeback artists ever, says not so fast. Double move -- Konata Mumpfield money. The Rams snatched the lead right back, 26-23. Then after a couple of costly pass interference penalties, Bo Nix goes up and over for the touchdown, barely. Broncos back up 30-26. Stafford one more shot, but there's that man again, Hufanga. Mile-high party in Denver after the interception.

Broncos now two and one, Rams one and two.

The ending of the first-ever NFL game in Rio de Janeiro was bonkers. Dallas kicks a field goal with seven seconds left. This makes it 31 all -- overtime, right, Danny? Wrong. Lamar Jackson said afterwards, "I deliver babies." And this one said Zay Flowers, who he calls Sonic, for 27 yards.

Lamar calls the timeout. One second to go. Here comes Baltimore's second year kicker Tyler Loop.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Portuguese, good.