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Trump Says U.S. Locked And Loaded After Saudi Oil Strikes; Growing Number Of 2020 Democrats Call For Brett Kavanaugh's Impeachment; Interview With Former Gov. Bill Weld (R-MA), Presidential Candidate; O'Rourke: Hell Yes, We're Going To Take Your AR-15, Your AK-47; Antonio Brown Makes Patriots Debut Amid Rape Allegations; Twenty-Two People Injured In New Jersey Pancake-Style Collapse. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired September 15, 2019 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:01]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: It's now 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 in the evening out West. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York and you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin tonight with a new statement from the president, saying the U.S. is locked and loaded. After a large-scale attack this weekend that knocked half of Saudi Arabia's oil production offline, the president saying, quote, "Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit. Are locked and loaded, depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack and under what terms we would proceed."

While the president doesn't directly name anyone or any one country, we are told these impact points seen in new satellite pictures give major clues as to where these missiles came from. According to a senior administration official the strikes likely originated in either Iran or Iraq. That's because all of the targets were struck from the northwest side, which officials tell us, would likely rule out Yemen despite claims of responsibility from Houthi rebels there.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live at the White House.

Jeremy, we have these new photos. We're told these attacks originated in either Iraq or Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, has publicly blamed Iran, but the president is not naming names yet.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. No, it's very interesting, because we've seen the U.S. secretary of State very much getting ahead of where the president is at this hour, on this attack in Saudi Arabia. You know, we already know that the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been blaming Iran, he has said so directly in a tweet yesterday, blaming Iran for this attack on Saudi oil facilities, though he didn't specify whether this was carried out by Iran itself or its proxies under its control.

But that is not the only issue where it seems that the president and his secretary of State are not exactly on the same page. The president tweeting out moments ago about this possibility of a meeting with the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani. The president tweeting, "The fake news is saying that I am willing to meet with Iran, no conditions. That is an incorrect statement, as usual."

Now, it was actually the president's own team, including the president himself, who have been saying that he is willing to meet with the Iranian president with no pre-conditions. Here's the secretary of State just a few days ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you foresee a meeting between President Trump and the Iranian leader later this month surrounding the United Nations?

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would the president support that and do you support that?

POMPEO: The president has made it very clear, he is prepared to meet with no preconditions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Secretary Steve Mnuchin in that briefing also made similar comments. Now, all of this is notable at this moment because after this attack on Saudi oil facilities, the possibility of this diplomatic opening between the U.S. and Iran, very much up in the air. Now the U.S. president had not yet committed to meeting with the Iranian president, but there was, it seems, a movement towards a diplomatic opening.

Now with this attack on Saudi oil facilities and President Trump indicating instead the possibility of a military response with these words locked and loaded, all of this very much in question -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK. Jeremy Diamond, thank you for staying on top of it.

I want to bring in former State Department spokesman and Pentagon Press Secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, and former CIA Counterterrorism Official and FBI Senior Intelligence Adviser, Phil Mudd.

Admiral Kirby, the president says the U.S. is locked and loaded. What's your reaction?

JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: It sounds to me like he's definitely keeping on the table military options. I hope that this is just bluster from President Trump and that the administration is also considering a full range of options that aren't just military in response to this and that's it's not just a U.S. unilateral thing.

I hope what they are -- and maybe the president's tweet about Saudi Arabia maybe indicates that they are also looking at more of a multi- lateral, international sort of response to what Iran did. And that's what I hope that they were discussing today.

CABRERA: Phil, was Pompeo premature in blaming Iran?

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I don't think he was premature in blaming Iran. Look, we should have intelligence. I don't agree with the president in suggesting that we look to Saudi Arabia to tell us what the intelligence is, but we should have unilateral U.S. intelligence in telling us what happened here.

I think the question is well beyond what the intelligence is. And that is, if we have an Iranian intervention this aggressively into Yemen, why does America think it's so significant to put U.S. military assets in place to defend Yemen?

This is about Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Let's not confuse ourselves. I don't think anybody in this country, including the White House, thinks we have a huge concern about what's happening in Yemen. This is about the White House versus Iran. It's not about Yemen. It's not about intelligence.

CABRERA: And Admiral, the president does seem to suggest it is Iran. We have those new satellite photos showing the missiles and the drones came from the northwest. Do you think there's any reason to believe it wasn't Iran?

KIRBY: I don't think there's any reason to believe that Iran didn't have a role here in some way. Whether the -- whether the munitions and the weapons launched from Iran or Iraq, the pictures don't tell you that, but certainly, anything the Houthis have done in terms of attacking Saudi Arabia has been done in the past with Iranian support, if not an actual Iranian outright provision of weapons and missiles to the Houthi rebels.

[20:05:16]

They have not done anything unilaterally on their own of any significance. So I have no problem believing that Iran was behind this in some way. The question is, what way, and then more critically, you know, what's the next step.

CABRERA: Right. And listen to Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney on "Meet the Press" today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): You look at Secretary Pompeo's statements from yesterday, I think particularly now in the aftermath of this attack, we have to be absolutely clear that the Iranians are isolated and we're going to build an international coalition of support for putting back the sanctions that ought to be in place against them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Phil, do you think other countries, like France, will get tougher on Iran when she's talking about maybe implementing more sanctions? MUDD: Heck, no. Let's have a reality check in this country. I mean,

who are you going to get to back us if we want to confront Iran over Yemen? This is not confronting Iran over Israel. This is not confronting Iran over Europe or oil. This is confronting Iran over Yemen. Do you think the French, the Germans, the Chinese, the Russians are going to sign up for this? The answer is no.

Liz Cheney can talk all she wants. My question is, if you want to have America lead an international coalition to confront the Iranians, Yemen is not the place to do it. And I can't imagine any of the countries I mentioned will line up behind us saying, we're up for this game. No way.

CABRERA: What do you think about that, Admiral?

KIRBY: Phil makes a good point. Look, they have zero credibility on the world stage right now. There -- we have only a couple of countries decided to join our maritime coalition for security on the Strait of Hormuz. I mean, they've had a hard time because they have eschewed and insulted allies and partners and multilateral institutions, it's going to be hard for them to build an international consensus to come to their aid.

But I think what they're hoping is because this is going to impact global oil supply and therefore global economics, that maybe they can get, you know, more partners in this beyond just Saudi Arabia. And I suspect that that's what they're going to be trying to do over the next few days. Look, they've got the U.N. General Assembly coming up later this month. That could provide a forum for them to build some sort of consensus.

But, again, this administration has done little to build those kinds of friendships and relationships going into it and I think it's going to be very difficult for them.

CABRERA: Phil, how important is the president's next move?

MUDD: It's important for one reason. If the president chooses to confront the Iranians militarily without anybody behind them, the question is, where does that came go? What's your end game? How does that end up?

If the question is, and I agree with the Admiral, if the question is, how do we build a diplomatic group of people to confront the Iranians on issues like sanctions, that's an interesting game. If we want to go at this militarily, good luck. Ain't nobody going to be behind us.

CABRERA: I will point out that even though we played that sound bite with Secretary Pompeo saying the president is willing to meet with Iran, with no preconditions, the president did tweet out tonight, saying that was fake news. This no conditions that he'd be willing to meet with Iran. He said it was an incorrect statement. So, I wonder if that is telling where his head is at tonight, at least.

Admiral Kirby and Phil Mudd, appreciate your time. Thank you both. Democratic presidential candidates now calling for the impeachment of

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Details, next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:12:02]

CABRERA: The 2020 Democrats are pouncing on new reporting today in "The New York Times." The paper printed excerpts of a new book detailing a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O'Rourke, and Pete Buttigieg all tweeted their disapproval and say Kavanaugh should be impeached.

Bernie Sanders says he favors a constitutional mechanism to hold Kavanaugh accountable. And Amy Klobuchar tweeted this photo, quote, "Let us never forget what courage looks like." And you can see a picture there of Miss Ford.

There's been no statement today from Brett Kavanaugh but the president went to bat for him, tweeting that the Justice Department should rescue Kavanaugh.

Kyung Lah is CNN senior national correspondent.

Some very strong words today, Kyung, evidence there are still sore feelings about the Kavanaugh confirmation process?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly. If you look at all of those tweets, absolutely. You can see the sentiment running through those tweets. Julian Castro was the very first one to tweet his support for impeaching Judge Kavanaugh, shortly after "The New York Times" report was released last night, the first excerpt.

And then this morning Senator Kamala Harris who questioned Judge Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing with the Senate, she tweeted this. She tweeted, "I sat through those hearings. Brett Kavanaugh lied to the U.S. Senate and most importantly to the American people. He was put on the court through a sham process and his place on the court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice. He must be impeached."

Senator Elizabeth Warren then also tweeted her support for impeachment. If you look at the second half of her tweet, she writes, "These newest revelations are disturbing. Like the man who appointed him," and she's talking about President Trump there, "Kavanaugh should be impeached."

I mentioned Julian Castro, Beto O'Rourke, and Pete Buttigieg also support impeachment. Those not quite supporting impeachment, not calling for it outright, Bernie Sanders as well as Amy Klobuchar. Klobuchar in an interview with ABC News today, she said she wants the evidence in the Kavanaugh investigation to be released. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My concern here is that the process was a sham. I don't think you can look at impeachment hearings without getting the documents. The House would have to get the documents and the attorney general is shielding documents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: So how would all of this work if impeachment were to take place, Ana? Well, this has some precedent. 1805, Associate Judge Samuel Chase on the Supreme Court was impeached by the House. They handed down Articles of Impeachment. But he was acquitted by the Senate -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK, Kyung Lah, appreciate that reporting. Thanks so much.

Let's bring in Senior Editor at The Atlantic and CNN Political Analyst, Ron Brownstein, and former Justice Department Spokeswoman under President Trump and CNN Political Analyst, Sarah Isgur.

Is it smart for these candidates to make the leap to impeachment so quickly?

[20:15:02]

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: For the candidates, yes. For the Congress, no. I mean, I think while House Democrats are debating how far they want to go in considering impeachment against President Trump, there's essentially no chance I think that they're going to put a second issue on their plate. But I think there is virtually unanimous agreement among Democrats that Justice Kavanaugh perjured himself on a variety of counts during his confirmation hearing.

And I do not think it is at all unconceivable that if a Democrat is elected president in 2020, Democrats hold the House and win the Senate that they will begin at least to examine this. The challenge of course is the same thing we're seeing for example on the assault weapons bans. How many of the House Democrats from Trump districts are going to be willing to go down this road? I don't think we're going to find it out, Ana, for a couple of more years, but we may in 2021.

CABRERA: Sarah, how do you think this shakes up the 2020 race?

SARAH ISGUR, FORMER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I think that Democrats have a dangerous road that they're going down that looks somewhat similar to the Tea Party circuit 2010 on the right, which was a move to the far, to the base, and then overpromising and underdelivering.

If all of these candidates come out in favor of impeachment without saying how difficult that would be, whether it would really be practical, when they're elected, you have a problem of voters getting frustrated and more frustrated. They were promised things that's not happening. Think about repealing Obamacare for the right. They're promised it over and over again and then it keeps not happening.

And so I think that's a danger, but I do think for individual candidates, Ron's exactly right. Yes, of course, they need to say this. Of course it makes sense for them.

CABRERA: OK. Ron, after Beto O'Rourke, his much-talked about moment during the debate, saying, hell, yes, he would take America's assault weapons away, fellow 2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Did Beto O'Rourke say something that's playing into the hands of Republicans?

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. Look, right now, we have an amazing moment on our hands. When even this president and even Mitch McConnell are at least pretending to be open to reforms, we know that we have a moment on our hands. Let's make the most of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Well, O'Rourke is responding, hitting back hard on Twitter, writing, "Leaving millions of weapons of war on the streets because Trump and McConnell are at least pretending to be open to reforms? That calculation and fear is what got us here in the first place. Let's have the courage to say what we believe and fight for it."

Ron, your reaction?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, this is just a proxy or an encapsulation of the entire debate among the Democratic field, which is, you know, Trump won in 2016 as a candidate who did not seem to be electable. And therefore, some Democrats say, well, all of the assumptions about what is and is not politically viable are obsolete.

And we need to push the window on every front. And then there are other Democrats, Biden, Buttigieg sometimes, he kind of goes back and forth, certainly Klobuchar, certainly Michael Bennet, who say, look, we need to reassure and hold on to voters who have traditionally been Republican, who are pulling away from Trump, because they find him personally and culturally unacceptable.

You know, on this front is a really great issue to frame that issue because you know, the House has passed a universal background check with only two Democrats voting no that has 90 percent support from the country overall. An assault weapons ban, forget about confiscating or mandatory buybacks, that has support from about 60 percent of the country, but even that, they're having trouble getting to 218, again because there are Democrats from Trump districts who are reluctant to vote on it when it's not going to pass the Senate.

And I think the core questions Democrats face is, do they believe that they need a nominee who's going to inspire more turnout with a vastly ambitious vanguard liberal agenda, or one who is going to reassure these ordinarily Republican voters, who have pulled away from Trump largely around his personal behavior, and that's what's going to be fought out all the way through the primaries. We see it every month in the debates.

CABRERA: Let's talk about what's happening, though, right now on Capitol Hill. On this issue of background checks and gun control. Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, we know, spoke to President Trump today, about gun control legislation urging him to support the House-passed universal background checks.

And they say, quote, "We even promised the president that if he endorses this legislation and gets Senator McConnell to act on what the House has passed, we would both join him for an historic signing ceremony at the Rose Garden."

Sarah, we know how much the president likes those types of moments. What do you make of their strategy here?

ISGUR: How sad things have gotten that that's the big offer, is they'll be willing to be seen with the president. But I mean, Ron has nailed this issue. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have a problem that every leader of their party has when it comes to an open election on their side, which is, they've got to protect their 2020 candidates at the same time as actually trying to get things done.

You know, the poll that came out right before this last debate said that among Democratic voters, the number who were most interested in hearing about the candidates' position on guns had gone up 11 percent. Beto has done a fabulous job on capitalizing on that interest, on that passion on the left.

[20:20:01]

And Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are going to have to find a balance between getting something done, leaving room for the 2020 candidates to disagree on the issue on what they want to do.

CABRERA: Right.

ISGUR: And delivering for their bases.

CABRERA: But, I do wonder if, again, how they're approaching President Trump on this. Could it work? Could that eventually lead to us seeing background checks being passed by the Senate?

ISGUR: I don't think that that offer is going to work. The last time they met together, Nancy Pelosi, I mean, there was the thing with the coat, she storms out and he storms out. So, no, I don't think that letter is going to seal the deal. I think this is going to be the two sides actually finding that it's in their political interests to do it. And that we haven't seen yet.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

CABRERA: Ron, finally, you wrote a piece and I do want to get this in.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

CABRERA: Because I thought it was really clever how you phrased it and I know you got some good analysis to give us, a CNN.com piece about the 2020 race in which you declare the wine track and the beer track are back. Explain.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, they're back. Well, look, you know, back in the '80s and '90s and even the '70s in the Democratic race, the finalist in the contest often came down to one candidate who relied mostly on relatively more affluent, college-educated white liberals. Think of Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern and Gary Hart and Paul Tsongas and Bill Bradley. And another candidate who put together a coalition of working-class white voters and African-Americans. Think of Walter Mondale and Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

That historic pattern, the wine track on the one hand, the beer track on the other was interrupted in '08 and '16, but it's back to a large extent now. If you look at our last CNN poll, Elizabeth Warren has established a double-digit lead over anyone else among college- educated white voters and that lead is likely to get bigger.

You know, you see, Ana, anytime she goes to a place like -- you know, she goes to Minneapolis or Seattle with a young -- with a lot of young, college-educated liberals, she can draw enormous crowds. On the other hand, she is really struggling and Biden is leading with those blue-collar whites and those African-Americans. So you see this old pattern kind of resurfacing, and one in which kind of two wings of the Democratic Party are going to be very clearly, potentially, divided.

And one of the questions is which one of them consolidates their lane more than the other? Because, you know, in the early stages, especially, it is a multi-candidate field, and the question is, who can pull together more of their natural advantage.

CABRERA: Right. So I have to ask, because you get into the wine track and beer track, historically, which track is more successful?

BROWNSTEIN: The beer track wins. Yes. Right. Right. Look, the wine track is bigger than it used to be. And college-educated white voters and the analysis we did at CNN constituted 36 percent of all of the Democratic primary voters in 2016, they were the largest single group, but they're not a majority. And in fact, African-Americans and the blue-collar whites are each about a quarter of the vote, so about half between them.

I think in the end, most Democratic strategists believe that Elizabeth Warren, for all of her momentum, for all of her skills as a candidate, has to prove she can expand beyond these kind of white collar liberals, and particularly into the African-American vote in order to have a real shot at taking this nomination. Especially since she's going to have Bernie Sanders, no matter how well she does, likely hanging around through the whole race, even if she surpasses him in the early states and kind of, you know, fractionating her vote a little bit. But the beer track has beat the wine track historically. What Obama

did, of course, was change it. He put together college whites and African-Americans. That was the winning hand. A lot of people thought that would be kind of the coalition that wins in 2020, but so far, no one has been able to kind of put together that coalition. People thought Kamala Harris maybe originally could do that.

CABRERA: We'll see.

BROWNSTEIN: We will see.

CABRERA: Ron Brownstein, Sarah Isgur, good to see you both. Thanks.

President Trump's three GOP primary challengers team up to blast their own party for shutting them out of the primaries. Will it matter? We'll talk to one of them, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:27:41]

CABRERA: If a party stands for nothing but re-election, it indeed stands for nothing. That is a quote from three of President Trump's 2020 Republican challengers after learning the party is planning to cancel GOP primaries in at least four states.

Mark Sanford, Joe Walsh, and Bill Weld wrote in an op-ed in the "Washington Post" Friday night, "The saying 'may the best man win' is a quintessential value that the Republican Party must honor if we are to command the respect of the American people. Cowards run from fights, warriors stand and fight for what they believe. The United States respects warriors. Only the weak fear competition."

Now, one of Trump's primary challengers who was a part of that op-ed, former Massachusetts governor, Bill Weld, joins us now.

Governor, good to have you with us. What's your plan from here when it comes to these primaries?

BILL WELD (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, Ana, I think they're scared of something. You know, the amazing thing is they tried to cancel the New Hampshire primary, first in nation. You wouldn't do that unless you had a really good reason. And what could our self- described stable genius in the Oval Office be scared of? I don't know, I'm not sure, but he did threaten to sue the University of Pennsylvania if either his grades or his aptitude scores ever became public.

CABRERA: Well, as you know, all the polls show the vast majority of Republicans support President Trump. RNC officials have claimed taxpayers would be footing millions of dollars to pay for an unnecessary primary. To that, you say what?

WELD: Well, they're going to spend that much in litigation anyway, but we don't exactly cancel elections because we're afraid they might cost a few dollars. That's the essence of democracy. Voting is the most important thing in terms of supporting our democracy that we ever do.

CABRERA: This week we saw President Trump offer this take on everything from the Green New Deal to energy-efficient lightbulbs. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Then they talk about plastic straws. I said, what about the plate? What about the wrapper that's made out of a much tougher plastic? The bulb that we're being forced to use. Number one, to me, most importantly, the light's no good. I always look orange.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: And so do you. The light is the worst. Over 100 Democrats have signed up to support the $100 trillion green new deal. That's beauty. No more cows. No more planes. I guess no more people, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:30:09]

CABRERA: Governor, what's your reaction to all of that?

WELD: It's pathetic. The president has a one-word platform for climate change and global warming and it's, hoax. You know, if we rise another three degrees before 2050, that polar ice cap is going to melt. And all of our seacoasts are going to be rearranged and the storm surge is going to beggar anything you ever saw before.

And the president is not equipped to argue this point, so he makes fun of it. But I really wonder whether he has the substantive knowledge to sit down and debate any of the three of us, on the issues, he's not reader, he's not a listener, and that's not just my opinion, that's what he says himself.

He's such a -- such a stable genius that he doesn't need to listen to anyone. He knows what's right before he consults anybody. Well, 97 percent of the scientists in the world said that global warming and the threat of the cap melting is real. And I'd take their word over Mr. Trump's untutored opinion.

CABRERA: The issue of gun control is another big one, and Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke got a lot of attention, this week, for his support of a mandatory buyback for semiautomatic weapons. Here he is, Thursday night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETO O'ROURKE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am, if it's a weapon that was designed to kill people on a battle field. If the high- impact, high-velocity round when it hits your body, shreds everything inside of your body because it was designed to do that, so that you would bleed to death on a battle field. Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We're not going to allow it to be used against fellow Americans anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: O'Rourke doesn't believe average citizens need a weapon that's designed to kill people on the battlefield. Do you agree with him?

WELD: Well, I think it's OK not to have weapons that are fully automatic weapons, where you pull the trigger and they keep firing available for general use.

CABRERA: Well, those are -- those are already illegal, fully automatic weapons. We're talking about semiautomatics in this case.

WELD: Regular --

CABRERA: AR-15s, AK-47s.

WELD: Regular rifles, yes, I think there's a reason the Second Amendment was in the constitution. I think it reduces to self- defense. There are 300 million rifles out there. If they were all confiscated by the government, frankly, that would make me more than a little bit nervous, particularly if the president of the United States was Donald Trump.

CABRERA: Why do people need weapons of war?

WELD: I don't think they need automatic weapons. You know, you can say -- all guns are dangerous. And you can say nobody needs a rifle, but there are 300 million out there lawfully acquired. So, you know, talk about registration or licensing by the government of every weapon in private hands, I think is a bridge too far.

CABRERA: Former governor and Republican presidential candidate, Bill weld, great to have you with us. Thank you very much.

WELD: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Coming up, a football star takes the field, as the NFL prepares to meet with the woman accusing him of rape.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: The Tennessee Titans had a red-hot performance at their home-opener against the Indianapolis Colts today, but the hottest part of the game, had nothing to do with the action on the gridiron, it was the fire, literally, that broke out on the sideline near the Titans end zone. Look at all of that black smoke. That blaze was the result of malfunctioning pyrotechnic equipment, we've learned. It happened just before the game started, as the Titans erupted on to the field while bursts of fire shot high into the air. The fire was quickly extinguished and ESPN reports there were no injuries.

Now, New England Patriots wide receiver, Antonio Brown, taking the field today in Miami, under this cloud of controversy. Brown's debut overshadowed by rape and sexual assault allegations made by a former trainer. CNN's Andy Scholes has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Antonio Brown not only made his Patriots' debut amid all the controversy, he played pretty well for the team. Brown receiving some cheers when he came on to the field, pregame for warm-ups, and then he and Tom Brady looked like, well, they went through all of training camp together.

Brady finding Brown for three receptions on their very first drive. Then, the two hooking up for a touchdown in the second quarter, with Brown jumping into the stands and celebrating with some Patriots fans. Brown ending up with four catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. The Patriots, they won this game easily, 43 to nothing, over the Miami Dolphins.

Now, after the game, Antonio Brown was nowhere to be seen. He was not in the locker room. He did not answer any questions. I did, however, talked to some of his teammates and ask them what they thought of Brown's first performance with the team.

JULIAN EDELMAN, WIDE RECEIVER, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: He's awesome, you know, he's a playmaker, a lot of energy.

SONY MICHEL, RUNNING BACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: He was a team player. He did what he needed to do, to help this team succeed.

TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: It's starting. You know, I was just trying to find an open guy and he, you know, was snapping off some routes and did a great job.

SCHOLES: Now, this is a very big week for Antonio Brown and the Patriots. A source telling CNN that Brown's accuser, Britney Taylor, is scheduled to meet with the NFL later this week, about these sexual assault allegations she has made in her civil lawsuit. Those are allegations that Brown has denied, but now, then it'll be up to the NFL of what to do next.

Do they put Brown on the commissioner's exempt list, which means he cannot play, but he will get paid, while the NFL continues to investigate? Lots of questions still surrounding this team, Ana, but one thing's for sure, the Patriots, still good at football. They're 2-0 on the season.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Our thanks to Andy Scholes. Nearly two dozen are injured after a multi-level deck collapses and traps people underneath. We'll tell you what happened live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Authorities are investigating a multi-level deck collapse, at a building in Wildwood, New Jersey, last night that injured at least 22 people. Take a look at these images. The fire chief says the second and third-floor decks suffered a complete pancake collapse, leaving numerous people trapped.

They were rescued and hospitalized with one actually having to be airlifted out. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Those decks collapsed in Southern New Jersey, mainly in the Resort City of Wildwood, where first responders rushed to the scene, Saturday evening. Among the injured firefighters, in fact, the state's firefighter convention was being held there at the time, in that city.

So, as a result, there were several of the injured that were firefighters, including their families, as well, that had to be taken to nearby hospitals. We're told a majority of them have already been released from the hospital. However, it really is incredible when you see the pictures here.

Authorities are saying that this building was a seven-unit multiple family dwelling. A condo building that as authorities describe, it experienced a pancake-type collapse, trapping multiple people. You have seen the pictures. Now, listen to how one witness described what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first-floor deck pulled away first and people started sliding off and yelling and, you know, falling. And it came off in pieces.

[20:45:06] The second -- you know, both decks, most of it came off, but there was a far section, like a quarter of the deck was still on the building. And there was a 2-year-old little girl on the one deck all by herself on that little corner, and another lady on the third floor.

And we were yelling to the little girl to stay away from the edge. And thank God, when that came down, but it went slowly, thank God, and they -- as it went down, she slid off and there were men there to grab it.

SANDOVAL: Just to give you some perspective, once you see this image here. CNN found an image on Google street view. We have not been able to confirm it with authorities, but it does match images that we have seen from our affiliates, to give you a sense of what it looked like before Saturday's collapse. Now, structural engineers will look at this and basically try to determine if there was perhaps that there were too many people on this -- on this deck, or if it was a structural issue. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: You got to stick around for this next story. It's so unbelievable, it's hard to swallow. How a San Diego woman's dream became a real-life nightmare.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A baby sperm whale is dead after spending several hours beached on the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. According to a witness, the whale had been there since, at least, 7:00 a.m. Onlookers managed to push the whale a little way back into the water before it died and unfortunately, though, it could not be saved.

[20:50:04]

Some people talk in their sleep, others, sleepwalk, but this may be a first, a California woman says she was having a dream that she and her fiance were being chased by bad guys, and in the dream, she says she wanted to protect her 2-1/2 karat engagement ring, so she swallowed it. But this was more than just a dream. In the morning, the engagement ring was nowhere to be found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNA EVANS, SWALLOWED ENGAGEMENT RING: When I woke up and it was not on my hand, I knew exactly where it was.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where was it?

EVANS: It was in my stomach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: An X-ray at the local urgent care showed that sparkler and all its glory, nestled in her intestine. Now, rather than letting nature take its course, doctors performed endoscopic surgery to retrieve it. The woman says she now takes that ring off when she goes to sleep. We'll be right back.

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CABRERA: It's the classic comedy about six 20-somethings, we watched them drink coffee, sing about smelly cat, make a television history, 25 years ago, if you can believe it, the sitcom, Friends, premiered, introducing us to Monica, Rachel, Joey, Ross, Phoebe and Chandler.

That show ran for 10 seasons, and yet it continues to grow in popularity. And now, in honor of the show's anniversary, CNN is getting the back story on some of the show's most iconic scenes for the Special Report, "Friends Forever: 25 Years of Laughter." (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[20:55:04] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friends was a monster hit in ways that it's hard to imagine today. There is no half-hour comedy that's ever been more successful throughout the world for 25 years.

DAVID SCHWIMMER, ACTOR, FRIENDS: We were on a break.

MATTHEW PERRY, ACTOR, FRIENDS: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what about the impact that it's had on television?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Smelly cat. Smelly cat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A phenomenon like Friends, can't really be replicated. That sense of everyone is watching this particular thing, all at the same time.

SCHWIMMER: If you would all please join me in raising a glass.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't really exist anymore and so, in that sense, I really see, Friends, as the last of its kind. Netflix was willing to pay either 80 or $100 million, depending on who you ask, to keep it in streaming for one year.

PERRY: OK, OK, OK, you win.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The run on Netflix, are you surprised by that?

MARTA KAUFFMAN, WRITER AND PRODUCER, FRIENDS: Shocked. Shocked and so grateful. It's given the show such a resurgence, not only here, but around the world.

PERRY: Check this out, huh? That's the stuff.

KAUFFMAN: I always thought that my only legacy would be my children, and there is something so humbling nd yet, thrilling about knowing that this has lived on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: I want to bring in CNN Anchor, Alisyn Camerota, who sat down with the show's creators, as well as some of the memorable guest stars for this Special, and by the way, Friends is owned by Warner Brothers T.V., which is part of CNN's parent company, Warner Media.

Alisyn, you and I both grinning ear-to-ear just watching that clip. It's such a feel-good show.

CAMEROTA: It is, and it stands, it holds up.

CABRERA: I know.

CAMEROTA: I mean, still, all of these years later, it still holds up. The comedy doesn't feel dated on some level. It's just, they're evergreen. It's evergreen feel-good.

CABRERA: Isn't that the truth? Such a fine assignment. What kind of little tidbits did you uncover?

CAMEROTA: Oh, we got lots of juicy tidbits, lots of behind the scenes. Tidbits for instance, in the very first episode, the pilot, one of the plot lines is that the Monica character, Courtney Cox, has a one-night stand.

And I asked the creators, because that became, sort of, controversial back then. It seemed a little bit racy for 8:00 p.m., and I said, so what's the basis of that? Like, how did you guys come up -- come up with that one? And she revealed, I think, for the first time, that it was actually based on one of their lives and their own --

CABRERA: True story.

CAMEROTA: -- experiences, yes. So, you'll get the back story on what that was. And there's lots of different things like that about who was offered what parts before these folks. You know, it could have gone a different way, it turns out.

CABRERA: And did you actually get her to answer? Because I've seen the tease that we've been showing in the promos.

CAMEROTA: Yes, she answers which actor was offered the part of Chandler and turned it down.

CABRERA: OK.

CAMEROTA: And you keep hearing about this that, basically, the stars had to align. The stars had to align and they did align for this particular chemistry to happen.

CABRERA: And yet, it wasn't all fun and games. You also got into some of the personal struggles that these actors went through, as they were, you know, reaching the peak of success.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, I think that some of their struggles were public, Matthew Perry, in particular, you know, he struggled with addiction. And so, the people around him did talk to us about that, about what it was like on the set and what they did to help him.

You know, when an actor goes through something and you don't know if he's going to come out the other side of it, you know, you have a decision to make and sometimes, shows decide to get rid of that actor, but they took a different tact with this. And so, they talked about what those seasons were like.

CABRERA: Your daughter actually watches Friends now and she has the chance to sit on the couch as you were taping the Special, right?

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, this was her dream come true. She's 14 years old. And this is the thing, is that Friends has had this entire renaissance with all of these 12 and 13 and 14-year-olds because of Netflix. It's had another resurgence. It lives another life. And so, my daughter, it's her favorite show.

CABRERA: What does that tell you about how as much as culture and our society advances, some things still remain the same, right?

CAMEROTA: This, in particular. I don't know how to explain it. I mean, I've had to because of the Special, go back and watch it, and again, it stands up. And so, there is something perennially good about this show. The comedy is still funny. The scenes -- what -- look, we tried to crack the code on this.

We tried to figure out what made this so successful, and what the creators and everybody said is, yes, it is the alchemy of the actors that came together and the great writing.

But it's also that the themes are universal, and that they're about relationships, they're about your first jobs, they're about becoming an adult, they're about finding family among your friends, and that's just something that resonates still with a lot of people.

CABRERA: Well, I'm looking forward to having a glass of wine, kicking back, and laughing, and smiling, and feeling good, as I'm watch this.

CAMEROTA: That's the way to watch this. Yes.

CABRERA: Thank you. Alisyn Camerota --

CAMEROTA: Thank you so much. Great to talk to you.

CABRERA: The CNN Special Report, "Friends Forever: 25 Years of Laughter," premieres tonight at 9:00, right here on CNN. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York, thanks so much for being with us tonight.