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Bahamas Emergency Officials Have Brought In Mortuaries On Wheels; Congressional Democrats Will Take Official Steps To Lay The Groundwork For A Formal Impeachment Probe Into President Trump; 2020 Candidate Tim Ryan Doubling Down On The Criticism Of Frontrunner Joe Biden. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 07, 2019 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

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[16:00:41] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Thanks for staying here. I'm Ana Cabrera in live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for spending part of your weekend with us.

Right now in the Bahamas emergency officials have brought in mortuaries on wheels. Mobile morgues set up to handle the bodies when they are eventually found. So far 43 people are confirmed dead and that number is expected to go up, way up as the search for victims continues hundreds of people who stayed in the path of hurricane Dorian are still missing.

Now this is what the coastal town of marsh harbor looks like right now, but it's this level of complete destruction across much of the Bahamas. Thousands of homes are just flattened, entire neighborhoods wiped away and now people on the ground in these towns say they are overwhelmed by the unmistakable stench of death.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann is in the town of Freeport right now.

Patrick, the heartbreaking stories and images we are seeing and hearing and people who lost everything including loved one, parents separated from their children and the government of the Bahamas calling this a humanitarian crisis. Tell us what more you are hearing.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, you go to the hardest-hit town is only about an hour from Freeport. And although freeport did suffer terrible damage, when you go further up the road to the east and it starts and it stops looking like hurricane forced damage and it looks like tsunami. There are whole towns where there are missing roads and roads of houses. Every house in these towns, one after the other. has suffered cataclysmic damage. There are no houses that have been left untouched.

And the really terrifying thing is when you are talking about people that have kept informal lists of the missing and the dead. And it starts to add to numbers well beyond, just this island and way beyond the government numbers. And as well, part of the fear here is that so many people were just swept out to sea, and so they might never recover those bodies.

The prime minister of the Bahamas is on grand Bahama island. He just tweeted out a few minutes ago that he is making his first visit here. There are some people that feel like the attention has gone elsewhere on this island because it was hit after ward and we have still not gotten to the hardest-hit areas -- authorities have not gotten to the hardest-hit areas that perhaps the government of Nassau does not realize the extent of the damage here.

We have gone as far as you can go in the towns and just a day or two ago that were completely cut off by the high water still or by rubble on the road. And you see there that people have not gotten any assistance from the government. They ask us for water. They ask us to use our satellite phone and of course, we help them as much as we can and people seem very desperate and you worry in the days ahead this will change from being a natural disaster to a human disaster because people are drinking water from wells that is contaminated by saltwater. People are living in shells of homes and people do not have enough food or water. And that this could lead tragically to people becoming sick, perhaps even dying even though they survived the storm.

CABRERA: Wow. That is heavy, heavy stuff, Patrick. And you talk about having to share your satellite phone and that was one of my questions given how destroyed everything is. The infrastructure clearly not there. How are people communicating? How do they know where to go for help and what kind of help is coming?

OPPMANN: They don't know what kind of help is coming because it hasn't come so far. And again, the government of the Bahamas is just obviously overwhelmed here by the need, by the destruction. But for the people, they are waiting minute by minute and that is simply no excuse. They need help. They need it now. And it would be a tragedy for people who survived to find themselves in a precarious situation. But when you have people living in rubble, not getting the help they need that they are getting the help that they have from family members from neighbors and you hear about people who are the walking wounded and driven by the city of freeport and the hospital and essentially hitchhiking. And then you meet people who have lost family members and mentally, they need help of another kind and they are so far not getting it.

[16:05:04] CABRERA: Thank you for your report, Patrick. And I know you worked tirelessly to share the stories of the people who were impacted by this horrific hurricane. We will check back with you.

Now the town of Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas took a direct hit from hurricane Dorian. Nothing is left standing today or virtually nothing. Wreckage and debris, you can see, covers the island like a carpet. The official death toll again is 43. That number is all, but certain to rise. In fact a U.S. coast guard search team just found the remains of someone who died in the storm. And CNN's Gary Tuchman is where them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the U.S. coast guard and a city of Miami paramedic from the fire rescue unit looking at the rubble here in Marsh Harbour Bahamas, one of the most beautiful cities on earth and now it's hell on earth.

This is immense rubble. It is impossible to tell how many houses were standing. The houses are flattened and you get an idea right here of what so many of the houses in this area look like. We came here to this part of Marsh Harbour because we were told by the local fire department that they expected there would be many bodies in this area. Indeed, five minutes ago these coast guard and paramedic personnel found the body of a female just past the house that you are looking at.

You can see in the distance there, more U.S. coast guard personnel looking around, helping the Bahamian government and helping the Bahamian police look for bodies and also treat people who may be hurt.

We have been traveling with them on a coast guard cutter, 25 coast guard men and women and the two paramedic from Miami fire rescue going all over the islands, not just this portion here in Marsh Harbour and the upper coast (ph) but other little kays and inlets looking for people who may be suffering.

The small case of inlets to the north of here are just bad, but this is the worst we have seen right in the biggest town in the Abaco's Marsh Harbour. And what we are being told by the fire rescue personnel here in the Bahamas is there are still a lot of bodies to find here and we have just been here ten minutes and the coast guard personnel found one.

This is Gary Tuchman, CNN in Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: So Much loss for the people who live in the Bahamas homes. Lives and livelihoods all blown away by hurricane Dorian.

Kyle Edwards describes 48 hours of terror as Dorian howled around the Bahamas. He says his home is now a valley of debris. All of the cars that he owned for his rental business gone, food and water scarce. The thought of rebuilding is daunting. And yet Kyle and his wife have something to celebrate. Their first-born son, Kyle Junior just arrived just before the storm hit and Kyle Edwards is with us now.

Thank you for joining me, sir. What a beautiful baby boy you have!

KYLE EDWARDS, STORM SURVIVOR: Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Yes. That's my sunshine, you know.

CABRERA: No kidding.

EDWARDS: Like they say, with all of the things going on and to see his face, you know, it's refreshing, you know, but -- yes.

CABRERA: I know. You have got to feel torn right now, somewhat bittersweet and your emotions given and what has happened to your community. You were there in Nassau. How is everybody doing?

EDWARDS: Well, you know, everybody over here is trying to keep my family members and my wife and we are trying to keep it together, but it's hard, you know. We stayed in communication with Whatsapp a lot, and I saw the storm coming. So I told my family, they were at home and I told them please don't stay home. What I am seeing here, get out of the house and get to high ground. This is something unbelievable.

So they finally listened and they got there. And, you know, I took all my cars because I have a few (INAUDIBLE) and all the cars and put them inside to keep them safe and water rose. And I got the call, and I swear it was one of the sounds I have never heard in my life. I can't even imagine listening to that for 45 hours straight just loud, unbelievable. I have never -- you know, this was -- I can't even describe it, you know. And me being here with my wife and my new son, it was really hard to swallow, you know. I was actually supposed to be there. I was supposed to come home from Sunday. And we were having complications so I stayed with my wife here. And then because of that I stayed otherwise I would be there with my family because I was scheduled to get back home it run the business.

CABRERA: Right. Right. So you were at the hospital with your wife and your son, thank goodness, but your mom was at home, right?

EDWARDS: Yes. My mom -- My whole family.

CABRERA: What happened?

EDWARDS: Well, she told me, you know, she was keeping and first they started to -- the winds were ridiculous and I told them before don't wait because this is not the first time we were in the storm before, but not like this. She said, you know, this was crazy. I said you need to leave the house now. Her and my sister, they left and they went to a mall. And I tell them they kept on looking in the back to see -- they make sure the cars and everybody was straight. And they were, like, OK, we are still dry. Later on at night and what was so bad is this came at night, you know. And when everybody was sleeping and they all got wet on the floor and so they had to get -- thank God they had higher levels and they went to the second floor. And when they went to the second floor that's when they came back and said all of the cars are under water. And I was getting messages back with friends and everything else and trying to find out how the families were doing. And you know, I was thinking we're going to be OK, you know? This is going to be all right. The Bahamas can take it. We have strong buildings, but never in my life, I tell you, I swear, I never in my life thought it would be like this.

[16:10:55] CABRERA: Right. I know.

EDWARDS: Never.

CABRERA: I know. That's what we are hearing. We have heard so many jaw-dropping stories when we look at the images that we have. And we know some places have been inaccessible still, and some of the worst- hit places. And it's hard to fathom really what it was like. And it's amazing anybody could survey of this. What is left of your neighborhood?

EDWARDS: You know, I have pictures and videos and oh, my God. I tell you where I live -. It is OK. Actually, the area that my house is actually still there, but my mother and my sister and a friend of mine -- we are talking about the water was about lamp pole high, over 20 feet and talking the beaches like five miles away and places in Freeport where downtown where beaches are seven mile away have eight feet of water. Sharks inside water.

We have a guy who said he had to take his son out of the water because a shark as he was bleeding, the shark came and he put him on the roof. The wind came and blew his son off the roof and he lost his son.

This is unbelievable. And yet movies, nothing, this is so -- this is so fictional and it's not real. I have never seen anything like this in my life. Every day I get up, I'm hoping it's not real. And my family, my people, my home, destroyed. I can't believe this. I have to start completely over.

CABRERA: What are you planning to do?

EDWARDS: Well, you know, I'm from Freeport and I want to see Freeport built back up. I'm not going to leave. I'm going to fight what I have. I just became a really entrepreneur. And I am not going to give up, you know. I love freeport. It is a very nice and beautiful place. But we just have to build hard and build strong. I know a lot of people left, but you know, I'm not going to leave and I'm going to go back and build back up, you know. That's my plan and get my cars back on the road and getting business back on the road. Fix Freeport and communicate with people and network and get things going. I'm not going to stop.

CABRERA: Kyle Edward, you are an inspiration. Stay strong, my friend. You people are so resilient. Your attitude and perspective, and best of luck to you and your whole family. That little boy is such a blessing.

EDWARDS: All right. Can I also let everybody know that you guys, any sponsors or any donations can go to viphugs.org. That's my non-profit organization. If you guys want to send donations. I'm heading over to Nassau. And I'm going to help my family and do anything I can do for the people. So that's viphugs.org and that's my donation. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

CABRERA: Wonderful. Thank you. We appreciate you, too, Kyle Edwards. Thanks for joining us.

And if you want to find out other ways you can help the victims of hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas and the U.S., just head to CNN.com/impact.

We will be right back.

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[16:17:37] CABRERA: In just four days congressional Democrats will take official steps to lay the groundwork for a formal impeachment probe into President Trump spearheaded by the House Judiciary Committee and it is chairman Jerry Nadler. Members will vote on a resolution that sets the rules for conducting hearings. So far, at least 134 Democratic Congress members along with independent Justin Amash have publicly voiced their support for a formal impeachment inquiry.

CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood join us now.

Sarah, how concern side the White House about this vote?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Ana, the White House hasn't commented specifically on these latest development, but in the past we have heard President Bush speak out about potential impeachment. He has referred to it as presidential harassment. And he has always have made the argument that if house Democrats do go down this route it could end up backfiring and benefiting him politically. But nevertheless, these new procedures which as you mentioned will be voted on on Wednesday could be on display in just a couple of weeks in mid-September when Corey Lewandowski comes to testify before the House judiciary committee alongside former White House aides Rob Porter and Ricky Dearborn. Now that could give everyone a chance to see how formalizing all of these investigations into a kind of impeachment probe will play out in practice.

Of course, there is also the risk that this could play into the president's campaign message. We have heard it on the trail and we could hear it at a rally this week. He has made the argument that Democrats are more interested in investigating than legislating and we could hear from the president on this, as well, Ana.

CABRERA: And the President is tweeting about the economy saying the economy is doing great with five exclamation point. But we do know according to the recent polls, voters' confidence in the economy is beginning to wane. Is that a concern on the administration's radar?

WESTWOOD: Well, certainly the President does have private concerns, Ana, about the economy. CNN has learned that the President has expressed those behind closed doors. He has been pushing his aides to come up with some policies that they could rely in fall if we continue to see signs of economic downturn.

The White House, the President, they know that the economy could be the number one factor determining whether he does get reelected next year. They do worry that we could see an economic downturn before 2020. So even though the President is out here projecting confidence about the economy, tweeting about it today, speaking about it multiple times this week, those concerns are there. And as you mentioned we are starting to see voter confidence in the President's ability to handle the economy shake amid the uncertainty stemming largely from his trade war with China.

[16:20:08] CABRERA: Sarah Westwood at the White House for us. Thank you.

Coming up, it has been the age-old concern in the Democratic race. And now presidential candidate Tim Ryan is raising it against Joe Biden questioning whether he has the energy to take on Trump.

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[16:24:10] CABRERA: Brand new this afternoon, 2020 Candidate Tim Ryan doubling down on the criticism of frontrunner Joe Biden right here on CNN.

Earlier this week Ryan told Bloomberg he believes quote "Biden is declining and doesn't have the energy to take on President Trump in next fall's 2020 general election." Ryan then said he didn't realize he was speaking to a reporter. He thought he was on a fund-raising phone call.

I want to bring in CNN's Abby Philip in Manchester, New Hampshire, where many 2020 Democratic candidates are gathering today.

Abby, what more are we hearing from the Ryan camp about this?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, there is no question that this is not the way that Tim Ryan wanted to get attention here in this race in New Hampshire. He has been dogged by questions about this conversation that he mistakenly had with a Bloomberg reporter over the phone in which he said that Joe Biden was declining.

But at this stage Ryan is clearly doubling down on this. He was asked by reporters why he made those comments and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[16:25:25] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you explain what you meant?

REP. TIM RYAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I made the statement. It was a comment that I made and that you know, I'm not backtracking from it. It is a concern you are hearing from a lot of people in the country. I'm just saying that there's -- it is unclear sometimes when he is articulating positions, there's a lack of clarity, and I'll leave it at that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Now, he is right about one thing. This is not an issue that is new to Joe Biden. That in fact, in an interview over the weekend while he was here in New Hampshire with the paper here, Joe Biden said he thinks it's perfectly appropriate for voters to have questions about his age. But when I asked him specifically about Tim Ryan's comments, I tried to ask him in a gaggle earlier today as he was walking through the stadium, the vice president looked at me, but did not answer the question. It seems they do not want to directly address these comments by Tim Ryan, but Ryan is not letting it go. I think his campaign clearly views this as the cat is out of the bag and they have to own up to it, but also use it to raise the issue of whether or not it's time for Joe Biden to see the stage, if you will, of the democratic presidential primary.

CABRERA: Speaking of Biden, I hear he made a Freudian slip in New Hampshire today? Tell us about that.

PHILLIP: Well, in the midst of his speech here today Biden used the phrase Donald Hump. Now a Freudian slip is what he called it, but the crowd here seemed to really love it. They were laughing and really enjoying the moment. Some people might look at it as a gaffe, some people might look at it as a slip of the tongue, but as we were watching here, the crowd seemed to eat it up. They are not one to really be that concerned about anything having to do with Donald Trump.

CABRERA: We have the sound, Abby. Hold on just a second.

PHILLIP: Yes. We can play it for everyone to listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald hump -- Donald Trump is re-elected. Freudian slip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So you can see the crowd there enjoying that moment and vice president Biden kind of moving on from it. But you know, as we were discussing, Ana, it might be one of those things where different people will interpret that in different ways. Some people might see this as a slip of the tongue. Other people might see it as, you know, part of a pattern on Joe Biden's part. of being able to say exactly what he means at a particular moment.

CABRERA: I'm guilty of the words not coming out of my mouth the way that I intended sometimes do. Haven't we all done that.

PHILLIP: Exactly. We all know --.

CABRERA: Abby Phillip, that was kind of funny, though. Got to say. Thank you for that.

A mechanic for American airlines accused of trying to sabotage a plane with 150 people onboard. We will walk you through how he allegedly did it and why.

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[16:32:22]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: OK. This is scary and a close call for a plane full of passengers. A man is in custody charged with trying to sabotage and tamper with a commercial flight. Here's the really frightening part. The man works for the airline as a mechanic.

Some details here from CNN's Rene Marsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): An American Airlines mechanic is accused of trying to sabotage a commercial airliner with 150 people onboard just before takeoff.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani faced a judge in Miami after being charged with willfully damaging, destroying, disabling and wrecking an aircraft and attempting to do so. Alani has not entered a plea.

It happened at American Airlines hub Miami International Airport on July 17th. According to the arrest affidavit, the plane's pitot tube, a key instrument, was found loose.

RODNEY HOOVER, CHIEF FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR, FREEWAY AVIATION: This is the pitot tube. This is what drives the airspeed indicator so we know how fast we're moving through the air, which is one of the more fundamental things about flying a plane.

MARSH: Additionally, investigators say Alani Superglued a piece of foam to a part of the planes navigation system to disable it. The system reports aircraft speed, pitch, and other critical data.

PETE GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: You have to know how fast the plane is going to do a successful takeoff. It's a very dangerous malfunction.

MARSH: The pilots noticed the problem as the plane began rolling for takeoff en route to the Bahamas, forcing them to abort takeoff.

Alani told investigators he was upset over a contract dispute between union workers and the airline that was costing him money. And he allegedly tampered with the aircraft so he could get overtime by fixing the problem which he created.

According to the complaint his intention was not to cause harm to the aircraft or its passengers.

The incident is highlighting the vulnerabilities that still exist for commercial aviation post-9/11.

JAVED ALI, COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT: There should certainly be an expectation that the airline security personnel, law enforcement, Homeland Security, that they are making sure that these types of events don't happen again.

MARSH (on camera): American Airlines, in a letter to its employees, saying that it is disturbed and disappointed by the incident. We do know that this mechanic has been suspended. And CNN has also learned that, at some point, he worked for Alaska Airlines. He was fired from that airline, according to court documents, because of mechanical errors.

Reporting outside Reagan National Airport, Rene Marsh, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[16:35:07]

CABRERA: There's so much to talk about with this story and that's why we need to bring in David Soucie, a former FAA safety inspector and accident investigator.

David, could this guy have crashed this airplane and could he have done something the pilots wouldn't have known about until it was too late?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Oh, most definitely. The pitot tube is something that was tied to any aircraft. We talk about the 737 MAX-8. If you recall, that pitot tube was the indicating problem or the angle of attack indicator with the pitot tube is what caused the MAX-8 and the Air France accident as well. That was a pitot tube issue. It most definitely could have caused a crash and loss of life.

CABRERA: Wow. In your long experience with air accidents, has this happened before, an airline mechanic intentionally tampering with something to disrupt or damage the flight?

SOUCIE: It has happened before. But what it was at that time was to keep it on the ground where it wouldn't pass the checklist to get out on to the runway. This is much different. This is a flight control system that I'm want aware of this ever happening before.

CABRERA: Wow. Do you see a need for airlines to make changes to ensure something like this doesn't happen again?

SOUCIE: Well, I'm surprised, in listening to what the previous report had said, that he was fired from another airline for mechanical problems. You'd think that they'd be more careful about who they hire and why they hire them. The background checks need to be increased to make sure these people are mentally stable and they don't have that kind of issues.

Although they do that with the pilots, but with the mechanics, they're not so diligent about making sure that that happens.

CABRERA: That's interesting. I wonder what more they can do, given planes need the hands-on work and a mechanic can't have someone watching over his or her shoulder ever minute, can he?

SOUCIE: They do, actually. This is what they call an RII or a double inspection. It takes two sets of eyes to return an aircraft to service. So had he been working on this pitot tube and then put it back into service, the second set of eyes would have had to have looked at it, make sure he did it in line. So that system works. What it isn't designed for is to catch somebody who is working outside of the box like this guy did.

CABRERA: So are you saying you think there were two people and that somehow he came back and did work on it anybody else knowing?

SOUCIE: No. What I'm saying is we don't know if it's been worked on before or not, if they were actually working on the pitot system or not. If they were, then it would take a second set of eyes to return it to service. But if in this case, I don't even know that they were working on the pitot tube. I think he took this on his own to say, hey, I can put something in

there, the air speed indicator won't work and, therefore, if won't and no one would get hurt. But that's not the case. This most definitely could have caused a loss of life.

CABRERA: Wow. An incredible story. Thank goodness it ended the way it did.

David Soucie, thank you. Good to see you.

SOUCIE: You, too. Thanks, Ana.

Troubling new details about the final moments of 34 people who lost their lives when this dive boat went up in flames.

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[16:41:53]

CABRERA: Efforts to recover a California dive boat that went up in flames and an unaccounted-for victim will be suspended until Monday. Currents off the Santa Barbara coast are too strong to carry out the mission this weekend.

Thirty-four people died when flames ripped through the "Conception" dive boat on Labor Day.

CNN's Paul Vercammen sat down with some of their family members who say, while they wait for answers thinking about that day and what their loved ones went through, haunts them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Smoke inhalation and not burns, authorities say that's the likely cause of 34 deaths aboard the ill-fated dive boat "Conception."

BILL BROWN, SHERIFF, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The belief is the victims died and the burn damage to the victims was post-mortem and not anti-mortem. In other words, it occurred after death and not before death.

VERCAMMEN. Ali Kirk, the only crew member who did not survive, was sleeping in the bunk room with the passengers.

UNIDENTIFIED VICTIM'S GRANDMOTHER: It's hard.

VERCAMMEN: Her grandmother devastated.

UNIDENTIFIED VICTIM'S GRANDMOTHER: Did she suffer? Did any of those people suffer? That's where I am having a lot of nightmares about.

VERCAMMEN: Many questions are floating in the charred hull of the "Conception." One, was there a watchman on duty roving the vessel when the fire erupted? The Coast Guard says the boat's certificate of inspection requires it. CAPT. MONICA ROCHESTER, U.S. COAST GUARD: The role of that person is

exactly that to rove and check the safety of the area that they've been placed in charge of.

VERCAMMEN: In an e-mail response, the boat's owner, Glen Fritzler, of Truth Aquatics, said, quote, "A crewman was in that space approximately one half before the fire. Pending case. Cannot say anymore," end quote.

When asked to clarify if he meant one-half hour, Fritzler did not reply.

Fritzler and his wife have taken preemptive legal action, filing a lawsuit seeking exoneration from or limitation of liability for the catastrophe on their vessel.

A team of investigators continues to try to pinpoint a cause. A National Transportation Safety Board member who examined the "Conception's" near replica, "The Vision," has questioned if there were enough smoke alarms and fire extinguishers onboard. She called the bunk room escape hatch difficult to maneuver.

(on camera): The deadly "Conception" boat tragedy is hitting this still-grieving seaside community hard and that's just one calendar year after it killed 23 people.

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May the dive lights of their presence not be diminished by the darkness at twilight.

VERCAMMEN: Grief counselors helped organize a Friday night vigil. Loved ones grieving for the 34 divers who lost their lives out in the sea they loved.

(SINGING)

Paul Vercammen, CNN, Santa Barbara.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[16:45:02]

CABRERA: Coming up, a veteran NFL player reveals he's bisexual. And if he gets back on the field, he'll make history. Ryan Russell shares his story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A pro football player not currently on the roster making a bold announcement about his sexuality as he looks to re-join the NFL. Defensive end, Ryan Russell, revealed this week that he is bisexual, writing a personal essay for ESPN. And now Russell wants to make history as the first openly LGBTQ athlete to play in the NFL. The 27-year-old is currently a free agent. He's played for the Dallas

Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before being released after a shoulder injury kept him sidelined last season.

Russell spoke to our colleague, John Berman, earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN RUSSEL, NFL DEFENSIVE END: Sometimes it feels safer to hide parts of yourself that you're not yet comfortable with, so I did that for years. And once I felt ready to come out and felt ready to express who I was, I just felt a weight lifted. I became a better brother. I became a better son. I believe I'll be a better teammate.

I believe the NFL's in a great position to be the hero of this story. I believe the NFL is ready to support an openly LGBT athlete.

I believe the NFL has the resources-- I know they have the resources definitely to control any media hailstorm or distraction they might deem on the word distraction that's been brought up before to openly LGBTQ players.

A player that's focused on creating a winning culture, their sexuality doesn't matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining us now, CNN sports analyst, Christine Brennan, also a "USA Today" sports columnist.

Christine, how big of a deal is this?

[16:50:07]

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORT ANALYST: Ana, I think it's a big deal. These are slow steps. Nothing seems to happen with the floodgates opening. And maybe it should. The National Football League is known as the top league in the country. And in many ways, it's a reflection on our culture, whether it's Colin Kaepernick or domestic violence or head injuries, and another example here. And it's a conversation that should be started.

And while the nation is very far ahead of the National Football League, I think these are steps in the right direction for acceptance and understanding. And we know there are basically 1700 NFL players. Logic tells us, the law of averages tells us that there are certainly more gay men than just Ryan.

So many we will see more over time coming out, and I think again, it's an important first step.

CABRERA: How do you think the NFL will handle this? Because Michael Sam tried to blaze this same trail five years ago and never played an NFL regular season game after he came out. Has the climate changed since then? BRENNAN: It should have changed, Ana. And if the National Football

League wants to be viable and wants to retain its spot as the number- one pro league into our country, well into this century, it has to accept this. And it has to encourage this.

Because those fans who are maybe in their 50s, 70s and 80s, who are more reluctant on this topic, they're not going to be around in 20 or 30 years. Your future fan base and the future season ticket holders are those 20 year olds right now or those high school kids right now, people in their 30s, who are much more accepting and understanding of people coming out and people discussing these topics than their parents and their grandparents.

And the future of the NFL, frankly, depends on the NFL getting this right and being welcoming, understanding, and mandating in the locker rooms that if someone does come out, like in this case, that they need to be treated properly and right and they need to be welcomed.

And we'll see if he gets signed by another team. He's not right now, but that would be a great statement if, in fact, he does.

CABRERA: A courageous move on his part.

Let's talk about another issue heating up, whether college athletes should get paid. Lebron James says yes. and he's rallying support for a bill in California tweeting on Thursday, "This law is a game changer."

Now we hear from 2020 presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, weighing in. Just yesterday, responding to James, Sanders writes, "College athletes are workers. Pay them."

Christine, I have mixed feelings as a former college athlete myself. I ran cross country and track. Do you see the needle moving on this issue?

BRENNAN: Certainly, the conversation's out there, but this is -- you know, how much time do we have? The rest of your show and five other shows, right? It's very complex.

Certainly, if you're going to pay the man, you have to pay the women. If you're paying the football players, you have to pay the field hockey players. Title IX is 47 years old and it mandates equality. So there's that.

If you want to pay every athlete on the team in your school? A lot of schools don't have the money to do that.

There's also the factor of college scholarships and they have to wear something.

So I think these are important issues, but I don't see this as college athletes becoming a workplace conversation the way, say, it would in a job. Because I think many fans, as you know this, too, people who love college football, love men's basketball, women's basketball, track and field, cross country, whatever it is, they love it because there's that chance that the player on the field is also in the chemistry class that they were in 20 years ago.

That is an allure that they have to deal with when they start to talk about this conversation.

CABRERA: Yes. Those scholarships do have value as you point out.

Real quick, Serena Williams today in the U.S. Open final, three weeks shy of her 38th birthday. The gal's still got it. She's squaring off against a 19-year-old Canadian who wasn't even born when Williams won her first U.S. Open championship. What is your take on this epic match?

BRENNAN: Serena is having nerves, which she's had before. This is her fourth try, Ana, to try to win that elusive 24th grand slam title. Serena is already the greatest of all time. But this would cement it.

She's having some trouble. Another young kid, 19-years old, who learned how to be tough and fierce because she was watching Serena Williams play, and now Serena has all she can take here to try to beat her.

CABRERA: It will be fun to see who comes out on top.

Thank you, Christine Brennan. Good to see you.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Coming up, meet the 8-year-old boy who freed himself from the jaws of a mountain lion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIKE CARLSON, 8-YEAR-OLD ATTACK BY MOUNTAIN LION: If they want to wrestle the mountain lion, they shouldn't because they cheat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do they cheat?

[16:54:45]

CARLSON: They scratch and bite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: It's rare that someone battles a mountain lion and lives to tell the tale, but it is even more rare when that survivor is an 8- year-old. Pike Carlson was playing outside with his brother in Colorado when the mountain lion attacked him, biting him in the head.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: And I'm right by the house on this rock right next to me I just see this mountain lion jump on it. And then it kind of pounces on to me, and he kind of rolled down the hill to a tree and it tries to push me under the tree.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Pike fought the mountain lion off with a stick, and it finally took off when Pike's dad started running towards it. So far, pike has received 60 staples. You saw the injury to his eye. We are told he had to have his eye re-attached. Brave kid.

Perhaps scientists just solved one the biggest monster mystery of all time. The fable Loch Ness Monster, of Scottish folklore, might just be a giant eel, or so say scientists in Scotland who tried to catalog living species in the loch by extracting DNA from water samples.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL GEMMELL, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO: There's absolutely no evidence. So I think we can be fairly sure that there's probably not a giant reptile swimming around in Loch Ness.

There's one idea that remains plausible that is possible providing the evidence it is on. There's large amounts of (INAUDIBLE) and it was very plentiful in the whole loch system. Every single sample we got, it's pretty much there to use.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:00:08] CABRERA: The evidence leaves little room for interpretation.