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Miami Dolphins Star Tyreek Hill Detained By Police Before Game; Manhunt Underway For Kentucky Interstate Shooting Suspect; Georgia School Shooting Suspect's Mother Warned School Before Rampage; Line Fire Burning So Intensely, Creating Its Own Weather; Forty-Eight Hours Away: Harris And Trump To Face Off At Debate; Three Israeli Guards Killed In Shooting At West Bank-Jordan Crossing; China Ends Its Foreign Adoption Program. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 08, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:42]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with breaking news on this opening weekend of the NFL season. One of the fastest men and high-profile players in the NFL is now on the field playing after he was pulled over by police and what's being called briefly detained this morning.

A video showing officers putting Miami Dolphins' wide receiver Tyreek Hill on the ground in handcuffs, just steps away from the Hard Rock Stadium where he was heading to play in the team's home opener.

The team says Hill was pulled over for a reported for to traffic incident.

CNN's Don Riddell is here with more.

Don, what do we know about what preceded that traffic stop and then what happened?

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, we don't know much. But I think what is absolutely clear Fred, is that the biggest headline on the first full day of the new NFL season might well have been made face down on the pavement outside the stadium in Miami.

These images are quite extraordinary when you consider the stature of Tyreek Hill and how he's regarded within the NFL and certainly within Miami.

We understand from his agent that he was involved in a police stop. And let's just hear from the agent, Drew Rosenhaus about what actually happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DREW ROSENHAUS, AGENT FOR TYREEK HILL: Apparently got a ticket for moving violation entering the stadium. How things escalated into the situation that they were, him in handcuffs and being held on the ground with police is mind-boggling to me.

I'm deeply concerned by that, very troubled. We will be looking into it. We will be investigating this. We will look out for Tyreek.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: So Rosenhaus, the agent, Fred, saying that his client was rattled. Physically ok, but mentally distraught.

And he really wanted to focus on the game which Hill currently playing against Jacksonville right now., He's made three -- caught three passes in the game so far.

But clearly this story is just exploding. Within the last few minutes, Miami-Dade police department have released a statement.

This is what they have to say. "We are aware of the recent detainment of Miami Dolphins player Tyreek Hill by Miami-Dade police department officers." This is the director of the agency speaking.

"I have requested an immediate review of all details surrounding the incident, and we are also reviewing available body camera footage. We will provide updates as further information becomes available."

They might, in the addition of body camera footage, might want to look at some of the passerby video footage which we have already shown you one clip. I've seen another clip which we haven't yet cleared for broadcast, which appears to show a police officer kicking Tyreek Hill.

WHITFIELD: While he was on the ground.

RIDDELL: He was not on the ground at that point, but he appeared to be in handcuffs.

This is a man who won the Super Bowl a few years ago with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was just beginning his third season with the Miami Dolphins. Last season statistically, he was the top receiver in the league, so an absolute megastar within the NFL.

And this is a story we're going to be hearing a lot more about in the coming hours and days.

WHITFIELD: And if really not for the passersby who actually shot the video, you can hear in at least one of the video, someone saying "That's Reek." You know, he's recognizable to a lot of the player, a lot of the fans who some of them heading to the game, presumably to get their parking spots early and he's getting there ahead of the game.

This also, you know, strikes of some similarities. People can't forget golfer, you know, Scottie Scheffler, who was detained as he was heading to play? Different circumstances but --

(CROSSTALKING) RIDDELL: Yes, in (INAUDIBLE) for his tournament in Louisville earlier

this year. Yes --

WHITFIELD: Right.

RIDDELL: -- I mean it's seemingly so similar to that situation. So for those of you who don't remember that situation, Scottie Scheffler, who is the world number one golfer, was going to play in a major tournament when he was detained by police outside the golf course in Louisville.

[14:04L52]

RIDDELL: He was actually taken to the police station booked, photographed in the orange jumpsuit, hit with multiple charges, including a felony.

And in the end, all charges were dropped. Scheffler went on to have an absolutely extraordinary season. I spoke to him just last weekend.

He ended it on the PGA tour with seven wins plus an Olympic gold medal. He won the Masters as well. Nobody's had a season like that since Tiger Woods.

So amongst this incredible seasons, Scottie Scheffler had this just bizarre and deeply, deeply troubling incident that he had to deal with.

And perhaps Tyreek Hill is now living in a very similar situation. We don't yet know what led up to this situation --

WHITFIELD: Right.

RIDDELL: -- as we heard him say -- his agent say, it was a moving violation but it occurred literally right outside the Hard Rock Stadium, just a block away.

WHITFIELD: Right. Just as the agent said there, so many other still want to know, what precipitated that. What provoked all of this? what's the outcome?

Again, Tyreek Hill now on the field playing, but certainly he didn't need something like this in which to motivate him for what --

(CROSSTALKING)

RIDDELL: And the agent says he wants to after this look into it to make sure that his client wasn't mistreated.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right.

RIDDELL: Right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very serious.

All right. Don Riddell, thank you so much. Bring us more as you learn it.

All right. We're also following breaking news out of Kentucky where there is an urgent manhunt right now in rural Laurel County. Police say there was a shooting spree along Interstate 75 last night.

They're looking for this man, Joseph Couch, who they described as armed and dangerous. Authorities say nine cars were shot at and five people were hit and injured.

One of the drivers told CNN about the harrowing experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA DINOTO, WITNESS: We just heard this deafening, loud sound and it sounded like a little rock went through my back window and our ears were ringing and we just looked at each other and we were like, was that a gunshot?

And then we're like, that can't be a gunshot, you know, because we're driving down the highway. And there was a white truck that was next to us in the right-hand lane and all of a sudden, he slowed down and pulled off to the shoulder and we thought maybe it was his tire head blown out or something. But it was much louder than a tire blowing out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: police are urging people to stay inside, remain vigilant as the manhunt continues.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is monitoring the latest developments. Gloria, authorities just held a press conference a short time ago. What are they saying?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes Fred, we're learning some significant updates in the last hour. The suspect's vehicle was found along with a gun case inside the vehicle, and we heard from law enforcement that that's how they were able to determine that Joseph Couch, the man whose photo we just saw is a person of interest in this incident.

Five people were shot at. They remain in stable condition. But it was a frightening couple of hours yesterday in the early evening when this first happened, opening fire along the highway.

Now we are also learning that police believe for now that he was shooting at the highway from a service road. That is where the vehicle was recovered.

Also very significant update in the last hour Fred, police have been able to recover an AR-15 that they say is believed to have been the gun that was used in this shooting.

Officials being careful, saying that they are still processing the weapon, but they believe this was the weapon that was used, an AR-15. They also found a gun case in the vehicle along with magazines. They believed that the suspect or the person of interest at this point is armed and it is not clear to them whether or not he is still alive.

But he is still out there. There has been a manhunt that started again early this morning, as soon as daylight broke in the area.

Now, that's part of the challenge right now, we just heard from the Laurel County sheriff's office a short while ago, describing why the search has been so difficult. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILBERT ACCIARDO, PAO, LAUREL COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: No. No. There's a lot to do up there. and it's so slow going and what if he's hiding behind a tree?

I mean, we don't want our people to get hurt so we're being very cautious but doing our job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So law enforcement is aware of the general area where the suspect may be, but they're keeping all options open. They said that they have gotten several tips in the last several hours about possible sightings and they are and they are running down every tip.

It is a Sunday, Fred. Tomorrow is Monday they people want to be able to get back to whatever it is that they have to do. So law enforcement certainly conscious of that, trying to make sure that they can bring this manhunt to an end as soon as possible.

[14:09:47]

PAZMINO: And we will be getting updates, hopefully every hour to see if they are able to catch this person of interest.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let us know when you learn. Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much.

Let's talk more now on this manhunt with CNN law enforcement contributor and retired supervisory special agent for the FBI, Steve Moore.

Good to see you. Steve.

So I mean this is a rural area of Kentucky. We know now a vehicle confiscated. Gloria reported an AR-15, which they believe might have been involved here. Now, how do they go about tracing for some steps toward their suspect.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's going to be really difficult. I remember back in the FBI when we were looking for Eric Robert Rudolph for over a year -- which similar to this.

What you have to I you consider is that if he had one gun, he's got another gun. If he was shooting at ambush-style at cars before he would shoot ambush-style at officers.

So you have a -- you have a cordon and they say they believe he's within that area, which is pretty impressive if that's true, that they could be sure of that.

But if that's the case, they have to start moving in on him and closing the circle in. And each foot you go, you risk -- you risk losing officers.

Beyond that you're talking to anybody he knows. Any family, anybody, any friends who could tell you why this happened and where he might go.

WHITFIELD: And besides the terrain being among the challenges, I covered for very long time in the Nantahala Forest there for that search for Eric Rudolph reporting on you and your colleagues as well. So I understand that.

But talk to me about the other challenges here when law enforcement is urging people to stay inside and at the same time, they do need the public's cooperation to be able to report anything suspicious that they see.

MOORE: Yes. And the problem here is like with Rudolph they go into people's homes sometimes. They try to find empty homes. They try to find empty vehicles. That's one of the things they're going to be looking for, the law enforcement is, if any cars are missing, any trucks are missing.

So when you have people stuck in their homes, it's not easy for them to obviously, they're not out and about seeing things. But at the same time they have to protect themselves in their home and be vigilant and ready to call because this person, if they're alive and we don't know but they're going to need food. They're going to need water. And they're going to probably go to a more populated area to get that.

WHITFIELD: Again, the suspect is being identified as Joseph Couch.

Talk to me too about some of the assets that law enforcement has. I understand they've brought in a drone to help in the search.

MOORE: Drones are going to be very useful. But as you know from that kind of forested area, it's very difficult to look down, see down.

I mean, the FBI police departments, we now have -- we now have clear -- we have infrared detection, we have all these things that are pretty much blocked by trees. he drones can operate, but in a forested area they're limited in their effectiveness.

And so what you're going to be doing is looking at night, especially you're going to be looking within the forest horizontally, trying to pick up silhouette -- heat silhouette.

The problem there is there are deer, there are rabbits. The first time you see something like that, you don't even believe how many heat sources you see. So it becomes just a bigger haystack and a smaller needle.

WHITFIELD: I remember that was a gigantic obstacle as well and observation during that search for Eric Rudolph in the Nantahala Forest.

All right. Steve Moore. Thank you so much with the ongoing search right now --

MOORE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: -- for this case taking place in Kentucky.

All right. Turning to the latest in the Georgia high school shooting, the family of the 14-year-old suspect confirms to CNN the boy's mother called to warn a school counselor just before her son allegedly went on a shooting rampage that killed two of his classmates and two teachers.

Marcee Gray broke her silence yesterday, telling "The Washington Post" that she is so sorry for what she calls the absolutely horrific shooting.

CNN's Rafael Romo has been in Winder, Georgia following this developing story. Rafael, the teen suspect's mother, calling the school about a quote, "extreme emergency". What more do we know?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred.

Well, the painful question that hangs in the air today here in Winder is whether this tragedy could have been prevented based on the new information we have learned about what the suspect's mother tried to do.

The answer, of course, is that we will never know. But these new revelations are very consequential and may widen the investigation into the shooting.

[14:14:51]

ROMO: First of all, yes. Colt Gray's mother called the school counselor prior to the shooting with a warning as the 14-year-old's aunt told CNN on Saturday.

Marcee Gray described an unspecified extreme emergency involving her son, Colt, during a Wednesday morning call to the school sometime before the shooting began. And this was initially reported by "The Washington Post", as you said, and later confirmed by CNN with Gray's sister, Annie Brown.

And the timing here is crucial, Fred, because according to "The Post", a ten-minute call was placed from Marcee Gray's phone to the school at 9:50 a.m. on Wednesday.

As we have previously reported, police were notified of the shooting around 10:20 that morning, meaning about 30 minutes later. We are currently trying to corroborate the information with three agencies involved in the investigation, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which referred us to the Piedmont Judicial Court district attorney's office and Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith who previously said he had no knowledge of any call to the school prior to the shooting, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Oh, fascinating.

All right. Rafael Romo, let us know when you learn more.

All right, still to come, thousands forced to flee their homes in southern California after a wildfire exploded in size overnight. We'll take you there live.

And later, hundreds of American families in limbo after China ends foreign adoptions. What prompted the new ban?

[14:16:23]

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WHITFIELD: An explosive wildfire burning in southern California is forcing thousands of people to flee their homes this weekend. The Line Fire started late Thursday and is burning so intensely that it is creating its own weather over the San Bernardino County area.

Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the county on Saturday.

CNN national correspondent Camila Bernal is joining us live from the San Bernardino area. And meteorologist Elisa Raffa is also tracking the latest from the CNN Extreme Weather Center.

So Camila to you first, what's happening?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. Just around-the- clock efforts. We do know that about 600 firefighters and personnel are battling this fire. And what they've told us is that it's been very, very difficult for them.

They're asking for additional help and part of the reason why it's been so difficult is the weather. There are a number for a factors that they say are working against them.

We've had triple-digit temperatures in southern California. It has been hot over the last couple of days and just 80 degrees as the lows overnight. So there is no break.

And that is physically hard for these firefighters, so they needed their rest and that's why they're asking also for additional crews.

The other thing is we're expecting thunderstorms and here are the things about that. Fire officials telling me, yes, they might be good to get some rain, but the lightning will start more fires, and the lightning and the thunderstorms also create the wind and that makes it erratic. It makes it unpredictable for firefighters.

So they don't know where this fire could go and that's what's been very difficult for them.

And then in terms of the terrain, there has not been a fire in this area in a long time, so it is dry, it is ready to burn. That's what firefighters were describing it as. So that makes it also extremely difficult.

And the terrain is very steep. So what they were telling me is that firefighters either have to walk a long distance to get into these areas or they have to be flown in into the mountains.

We are in the San Bernardino national forest. And so again, all of these factors just working against them.

Take a listen to what CalFire told me earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENT PASCUA, BATTALION CHIEF, CALFIRE: So the biggest challenge when the fire's unpredictable like this is knowing where to position all your crews. So right now we're positioned all over the whole fire. Most importantly, within the neighborhoods around homes.

We've yet to lose or damage any structures and we want to keep it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: So they are telling people just to be ready. About 5,000 people have already been evacuated and this fire has already burned more than 17,000 acres. So they're hoping to contain it.

But again, all the factors are working against them. So it is going to be difficult for firefighters over the next couple of hours and maybe days, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Keep us posted. Camila, thank you so much.

Elisa in the weather center, so tell us how this fire is also helping to produce kind of its own weather system.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we've got extreme heat. That extreme heat like Camila was mentioning in the triple digits. This doesn't help. It continues to dry out the fuels that are you know, that are fueling the fire.

You've got extreme heat warnings in effect from Santa Barbara through all of L.A. down towards San Diego impacting 25 million people. We are continuing to see these temperatures of near the triple digits.

You're looking at temperatures of near 100 degrees for Los Angeles through today and tomorrow. Not really seeing any relief from that heat through Tuesday. But look, Palm Springs temperature's up near 115 degrees through Tuesday. Phoenix, as well temperature's up near 110. So some of that heat continues.

The fire risk you could see it's coming with the very dry air, (INAUDIBLE) humidity down to about 5 percent to 15 percent. And some of these winds gusting up to 40 miles per hour there just north of Los Angeles.

[14:24:49]

RAFFA: And then near at the span of these two fires, the Davis Fire, again burning more than 1,500 acres, zero percent contained. And then the one that Camila was talking about, more than 17,000 acres, also really hard to contain.

The wind could continue to be an issue. We'll see the wind gusts as we go into Monday. A gust up to 25 miles per hour possible, little bit of a wall and then we can see these gust coming back as we go into Tuesday morning. So that could be a problem for firefighters.

Also want to mention smoke too, especially with how hot it is. That extreme heat already traps that ozone, which makes it pretty difficult to breathe. So with the smoke in the air too, the weather service warning about some poor air quality.

WHITFIELD: All right. Good advice. Be very careful and cautious out there.

All right. Elisa Raffa, thank you.

All right. When we come back, only 58 days to go until election day and only one member of the exclusive Republican presidential ticket club has endorsed Trump. I'll discuss with former Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock next.

[14:25:54]

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[14:30:16]

WHITFIELD: We're now just two days away from the high-stakes presidential debate in Philadelphia, it will be the first and possibly only time vice President Harris and former President Donald Trump face off in what could be the most consequential moment of the campaign.

A new CNN poll of polls out today shows the race neck and neck with no clear leader with just 58 days until the election.

Harris goes into the debate with momentum following the DNC, $361 million raised in donations and fundraising and picking up the endorsement of former Republican vice president -- former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.

And Cheney isn't the only former GOP presidential ticket member not publicly supporting Trump. George W. Bush says he has no plans to endorse this year. Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, says he won't endorse Trump. Mitt Romney says he will not vote for Trump. Paul Ryan and Dan Quayle have also not offered any endorsements.

So far, Sara Palin is the only former member of the exclusive presidential ticket club to endorse Trump in 2024. How's hat first that up.

I'm joined now by former Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock who served two terms in the House of Representatives from the state of Virginia.

Congresswoman, always great to see you.

Good to be with you.

All right, so what is it say to you that Dick Cheney says he will vote for Kamala Harris and so many of these other GOP ticket leaders are not coming out in support of Donald Trump?

BARBARA COMSTOCK (R-VA), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, I'd like to say I also served in the Bush-Cheney administration as well as worked on the both Romney campaigns. So what it says to me is these are people who put country over party and there are people who understand that when we our elected to office or when we serve in positions such as secretary of defense, as Vice President Cheney, did that we take an oath to the constitution not to an individual or to a party.

And that is something that Donald Trump has never understood. You can listen to any speech that he gives on any day or really any answer that he gives to any type of fundamental question, and you can see that he doesn't understand that. He sees the government is something that he wants to be a dictator on day one. He sees it as something that he is going to use to his ends, his personal ends.

You know, it talks about the Supreme Court as being his judges. So this is something that Donald Trump as Dick Cheney said, should never have the reins of power. He tried to use violent and lies to keep power when the American people rejected him.

And just recently, he is now admitting, of course, even though he's lied for four years, he's now admitting that, oh, yes actually, I did lose. And so, even these people who've hundreds and hundreds who've gone to jail for his lie, very people that he wants to pardon, violent criminals who beat up Capitol police, he's now admitting, oh, yeah, yeah, I did lose.

So this is somebody who's just dangerous to democracy and just as a self-centered individual who's dangerous to be in office. He's somebody you wouldn't -- he's a felon who's also been adjudicated, you know, with a sexual assault.

You wouldn't hire him to be you know, he couldn't get into the military with his criminal record. You wouldn't hire him to work at the mall. He certainly couldn't be hired to work at an airport in security. Why would you hire him to be commander in-chief or to run this country when he can't even run his own companies?

WHITFIELD: So former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and of course, the daughter of Dick Cheney, has been very vocal about her opposition to Trump. Listen to what she said today on another network about what she calls going the extra step.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ CHENEY (R-WY), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Given the closeness of this election, particularly if you're going to find yourself voting in a swing state, you've got to take the extra step.

If you really do recognize the threat that Donald Trump poses, then -- then it's not enough to simply say, I'm not going to vote for him. I would also remind them, you know what? It's a secret ballot so I would prefer to have as many people as possible out publicly making the case. But at the end of the day, you just have to wrestle with your own conscience when you're there in the voting booth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:35:01]

WHITFIELD: I saw you chuckling at that, you know? I mean, so you have endorsed Kamala Harris and you've said you that you are voting for her.

So, do you expect many Republican leaders who won't publicly endorse Trump will quietly vote for Harris and the privacy of a voting booth?

COMSTOCK: Oh, sure, you know, I think there will be more Republicans to come out publicly but I understand that not everyone can. Look, you have people like John Kelly, his own chief of staff, who has, you know, publicly explained how Donald Trump talked about members military who were injured or died, who he called suckers. Donald Trump called suckers and losers. And, you know, you have people who speak out like that, then are victims of death threats, often.

Of course, the Chinese themselves have been subject to death threats, as has Adam Kinzinger and people who, you know, who've spoken out over the years. So, we certainly understand that. A Mitt Romney, you know, in books about Senator Romney, has spoken about how we had to get security for his family after he voted for impeachment.

So we understand that the threats that come to people who not only say they aren't going to vote for Donald Trump, but then if you go that next step. So it is a secret ballot. And then there were many people who understandably, they may not want to make a choice at all, but just not voting for Donald Trump, great, don't do that particularly if you're going to swing state, please don't. This -- this man is dangerous.

But it is a secret ballot. And if you care about NATO, if you care about our alliances, I'm here in Australia visiting with my daughter, but I also was meeting with people here talking about our election, you know, our allies are concerned about having someone like this. I've traveled around the country over the past -- I mean, around the

world, over the past few years and so many of our allies are concerned about having somebody like Donald Trump once again being in power because he is so unreliable. You know, our alliances have been strengthened. Look at how NATO has been strengthened over these past few years and supporting Ukraine.

So we want to continue to see that kind of strength. But we want to see when people go into that secret ballot. Nobody is going to make death threats against you, and when you vote in the privacy of that secret ballot. So whether you're a Republican elected official or just somebody in a swing state that wants to make a statement with that secret ballot, you can still vote for other Republicans down ballot.

But Donald Trump is a danger to this country. And you can't rely even if you're a Republican, you don't know where he's going to go because he has flip-flopped on pretty much any issue that Republicans care about.

WHITFIELD: Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, always a pleasure to have you. Thank so much for joining us from down under. Regards to your daughter during your visit. Thanks so much.

COMSTOCK: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, details of a deadly shooting at the border between Jordan and the West Bank. What we know about the incident, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:43:03]

WHITFIELD: We're getting new details from Israeli authorities about a deadly incident in the West Bank. Israeli authorities now saying that they are planning to reopen the land crossings into Jordan tomorrow after three guards were killed earlier today.

CNN's Matthew Chance is live for us in Tel Aviv.

Matthew, tell us more about what's happening.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, Fredricka, the land crossing between Jordan and Israel remains closed. In fact, all three of the land crossings remain closed, but that one area, the Allenby Bridge where earlier today a gunman who is a truck driver from Jordan, he got out of his truck after crossing from Jordan into the West Bank area controlled by Israel and open fire on three Israeli security guards. He killed them.

Those people have been named before he was shot dead by another security guard policing that area, that sort of border checkpoint area where truck drivers right from Jordan delivering commercial goods offload their stuff to be delivered into Israel and into the Palestinian areas of the West Bank. There's been no claim of responsibility at this point, the Jordanian authorities have said that they believe the truck driver acted alone. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said that it was terrorism and that it basically falls within the context of horrendous acts, which are done, to paraphrase him, you know, under the auspices of Iran, although there's been no direct evidence connecting that.

Hamas have said, well, have not said that they carried out the attack, or that the individual had anything to do with them. But they have said that it was a natural response to the Israeli operations inside Gaza. Nevertheless, it's another shock, another three Israelis killed in this increasingly volatile region in an area which is increasingly tense, increasingly violent, Fredricka.

[14:45:03]

WHITFIELD: All right. Matthew Chance, thank you so much.

Still ahead, the Chinese government is ending its foreign adoption program. The reason behind the move and what impact it has on some American families, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The Chinese government is officially ending its foreign adoption program.

[14:50:02]

The decision leaving hundreds of American families with pending applications in limbo. For decades, China has sent tens of thousands of its children to be adopted overseas. And now the country is attempting to reverse declining birth rates.

Here to tell us more is CNN's Steven Jiang.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: This announcement didn't come as a total shock because the number of international adoptions from China have been in decline in recent years, the program, of course, came to a sudden halt due when the pandemic and never really recovered even after COVID.

But still, this marks a major change to a policy that has seen more than 160,000 Chinese children being adopted all over the world since the early 1990s, about half of them going to the United States.

But remember this program began when China was dealing with an overpopulation problem, that government very much enforcing its draconian one-child policy that basically limited most couples in cities to one child, forcing many families to abandon children, especially girls and disabled kids.

Now fast-forward to today, they are dealing with the opposite problem, a shrinking labor force and a rapidly aging society. That's why within the last decade, the authorities here have twice relaxed its one strict family planning policies now, allowing most couples to have up to three children, but none of that seems to have worked against this backdrop of a slowing economy and young peoples changing attitudes towards marriage and parenthood.

Now, the Chinese reaction to this policy change seem to be mixed on social media, but those applauding this decision seem to be expressing a nationalistic sentiment sent saying Chinas now rich and powerful enough to take care of its own abandon children and often, citing rising tensions between China and the United States and other Western nations as well.

But none of this economic, social, and political realities, of course, offer any real comfort to the hundreds of international families in the middle of adopting children from China because the government here has reportedly indicated this ban goes into effect immediately with very limited exceptions, leaving hundreds of Americans in limbo and potentially heartbroken

Steven Jiang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All alright, Steven, thank you so much. We'll have much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:02]

WHITFIELD: All right. More on this story, the Chinese government officially ending its foreign adoption program. The decision leaving hundreds of American families with pending applications in limbo for decades, China has sent tens of thousands of its children to be adopted overseas. And now, the country is attempting to reverse declining birth rates.

Joining us right now to talk more about this, University of Michigan sociology professor Yun Zhou, who studies authoritarian reproductive governance.

Good to see you, professor.

YUN ZHOU, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: Wonderful.

So the Chinese foreign ministry justifies this decision blaming in part China's low birth rate following the pandemic. Does this sound reasonable to you?

ZHOU: To answer this question, let me give you two numbers to put things into perspective. International adoptees from China over the past 30 decades were estimated to be about 150,000 to 260,000 babies. China, despite declining birth rate, the number of total birth in 2023 was 9.02 million.

So just to have a scale to understand the decision and to understand demographic politics and policymaking, China is always as much a political issue as it as a demographic one.

WHITFIELD: Oh, interesting.

So our reporter reported that this is a decision that it takes effect immediately. Chinese officials say last year, only 16 Chinese children were adopted in the U.S. but over a 24-year period, Americans adopted more than 82,000 Chinese children.

So what happens to the Americans right now who have applications pending, who are already in the system or were expecting some real results or the process to continue for them over the next few weeks, if not months?

ZHOU: Given how sudden the decision was and how opaque decision making in China generally has been for individual families, there's a sudden shift in policies means uncertainty, means anxiety, and it a means a murky way forward as they contemplate what could be down and what is possible. And to that end, in our thinking and discussion about adoption, which it can be such a question that touch on fundamental, questions of human condition, human hearts. And it's the best really important to two center the experiences of individuals and families in the politics and in the discussions surrounding it.

WHITFIELD: All right, Professor Yun Zhou, thank you so much. We're going to leave it there for now and I'm sure we'll be talking about again in the near future. Thank you.

ZHOU: Thank you for having me.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Hello again, everyone.