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Birmingham Mass Shooting Kills 4, Injures 17; New Hezbollah Attacks Striking Deeper Inside Israel; Trump Says No to Second Debate with Harris; Trump Says He Doesn't See Himself Running Again In 2028 If He Loses This Election; 700 Plus National Security Leaders Endorse Harris; Feds Execute Search Warrant At NYPD Commissioner's Residences; Maryland Dem. Senate Candidate Improperly Claimed Tax Deductions On Properties, Records Show; Three Mile Island Reopening To Sell Power To Microsoft; NFL Legend Mercury Morris Dead At 77. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 22, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin with breaking news out of Alabama, where Birmingham Police are investigating a mass shooting. Police say multiple shooters opened fire overnight on a group of people in one of the city's popular for entertainment districts. Four people are dead, 17 others injured. So far no one is in custody. One witness describes what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAJON SINGLETON, LIVES IN BIRMINGHAM: It was people everywhere. People crying, screaming, some people are running. So it was very busy and it was a lot going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Police believe it was a targeted hit on one person and the other victims were caught in the crossfire.

CNN's Rafael Romo is in Birmingham.

Rafael, police are asking for the public's help, right, to find the shooters?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is correct, Fredricka. Somebody should have heard or seen something and police say that information may prove crucial to solve the crime.

CNN has obtained video showing what the scene was like here last night, just moments after the shooting. Before we go to the video, we need to warn our viewers that it may be disturbing for some people.

(VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: As you can see, the video captures the scene of panic and shows at least three people lying on the ground as police lights flash in the background.

We were discussing earlier how Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurman described how this -- how his officers found around 100 shell casings here at the site of the shooting. And we also heard Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin talk about how gun conversion devices sometimes referred to as switches may have been used in the shooting here at this area known as Five Points South near downtown Birmingham. That would explain why police found so many shell casings here after the shooting.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms says that such devices can convert semiautomatic pistols and rifles into fully automatic weapons in less than 60 seconds. Birmingham Mayor Woodfin says he's deeply concerned about what happened and sent his condolences to the families of the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RANDALL WOODFIN, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: No words for that loss. Right. Trying to stand here and find words to describe those families and what they're feeling right now, the anger, the hurt, the pain, the loss.

I will say this. We, all of us, as a community owe it to them to do everything we can to take these shooters, killers, off our streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: As for the shooting itself, Fred, we have learned that four people died and 17 others were injured. Three of the victims, two men and one woman, were found deceased here at the scene, and another man died at the University of Alabama Hospital, according to police. Police are now looking for a group of individuals who arrived in a car here at the scene, opened fire and fled in the same car.

So a lot of questions, a lot of police work that needs to be done, but they're getting help from federal agencies as well -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And how are the injured doing?

ROMO: Yes. So what we had heard from police is that out of those 17 people who were also shot, there are four who suffered life- threatening injuries. So there's a lot of concern for them. The other, we have been unable to get their condition because of privacy laws. But what I can tell you is that some people were taken to hospitals, area hospitals in ambulances, but some others drove themselves to other hospitals. So at this point it is difficult to know how the rest of them are doing -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rafael Romo in Birmingham, Alabama. Thanks so much.

All right, earlier, former Boston police commissioner, Ed Davis, joined me with his perspective on the investigation in Birmingham and what the shell casings found at the scene can tell police.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: ATF has a computer system called NIBIN, it means spent shell casings can be entered into that computer, and its very helpful because it can tell you what other incidents that happened prior involve the same ejector marks. And so if you see a gun that's being used at three separate shootings that were usually similar situations, they're probably the same shooter.

[16:05:05]

And it's important to understand the bigger picture, not just the incident that happened, but what led up to it.

WHITFIELD: Birmingham Police, in addition to looking at any kind of forensic evidence, they're also asking for the public's assistance in any way. What does this indicate to you in terms of a starting point or at what juncture are they in trying to locate these shooters?

DAVIS: Well, it's still very early in the investigation and it is hard to put things together immediately. But they're clearly reaching out for help. They want to have people who saw this, so people who might have video of it, help them in identifying who was responsible.

The problem with a case like this is there are usually a lot of people involved. It's not just one shooter coming up. It's been described as multiple shooters, and so you need to go get an I.D. on each one of those individuals. And you'll have different pieces of evidence. So public cooperation is vital.

WHITFIELD: Birmingham's mayor said gun violence is at an epidemic level in his city. He also had some choice words about automatic weapons on the streets. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOODFIN: There's a certain element in this city. There's a certain element in this community who are too comfortable running around with semiautomatic weapons, automatic weapons, convergence switches, and everything else, whose only intent, hellbent intent, is to harm people, shoot people, kill people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: How do you interpret those words and how it can be used to take action to help lead to suspects or even quiet or calm what is epidemic levels?

DAVIS: Well, the mayor's frustration, I can identify with because I faced that exact problem when I first took over the Boston Police Department. And we put together a strategy that targeted individuals. We got information from the street as to who was responsible and we made a list of those people who are involved mostly in the shootings, and then we contacted them and told them we were coming for them.

And then we used our federal partners, DEA and FBI, to go after those individuals, not necessarily for the shooting. Sometimes for drug trafficking, sometimes for human trafficking. These people are multi- offenders and you can -- if you get focused on who's doing it, you can get focused on them and get them out of the picture.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. That was former Boston Police commissioner Ed Davis.

All right. Happening right now in Eastern Kentucky, community is gathering at a high school gym for the funeral of Judge Kevin Mullins. He was allegedly gunned down by his -- in his chambers on Thursday by Sheriff Shawn Stines. Investigators are still looking for a motive in the killing, but we're now learning the two men had lunch just hours before the shooting.

Circuit Court clerk, Mike Watt, says he saw them shortly before noon on the day of the shooting. Watt describes Mullins and Stines as, quote, "joking around" about national politics and then they went down the street to eat lunch. Stines is facing a first-degree murder charge and is expected to be arraigned this week.

All right. Coming up this hour on the CNN NEWSROOM, video showing the moment Hezbollah rockets land inside Israel today. We're live from Beirut with the latest as the U.S. urges Israel to de-escalate amid cross-border strikes.

Plus, this may be former president Donald Trump's final presidential campaign. Why he says he doesn't see himself running again in 2028 if he loses in November.

And later scientists use underwater robots to look underneath what's known as the doomsday glacier, and what they found is unsettling.

You're watching the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:13:40]

WHITFIELD: All right. We're following new developments in the Middle East. Israel and Hezbollah today, exchanging intensifying attacks. Video shows the moment a rocket lands deeper into Israel territory, while Israel says it hit hundreds of targets across southern Lebanon this weekend.

And in Beirut, a funeral was held for Ibrahim Aqil, one of Hezbollah's most senior military figures. He was killed in an Israeli missile strike on Friday that also killed several other Hezbollah commanders and fighters.

CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Beirut.

Ben, give us the update.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, this has been a very busy 24 hours between Hezbollah and Israel, starting just after midnight with the first of three salvos of rockets fired by Hezbollah into Israel. These rockets went further into Israeli territory than anything they fired since last October.

Now in a statement Hezbollah said that they were targeting an Israeli airbase and a weapons factory near Haifa. However, as what we've seen from video coming out and reports of Israel, it doesn't appear either of those were hit. The Israeli military has yet to comment on any damage to that airbase.

[16:15:00]

However, we understand that several civilians were injured and there was damage to property in those areas outside of Haifa. Now it appears that Hezbollah may be trying to avoid hitting any sort of target that might precipitate a major Israeli response. However, what we're hearing is both sides, the rhetoric is simply heating up.

We were today at the funeral of Ibrahim Aqil. And we heard Naim Qassam, who's the number two in the political leadership of Hezbollah, saying at that funeral that the overnight salvos of rockets by Hezbollah on Israel were just the first installment in what he called a battle without limits. He vowed that Hezbollah would continue to target Israeli communities along the border and that Hezbollah is not going to be deterred by these recent Israeli attacks.

Now Israel, for its part, has been striking targets in the south and east of Lebanon, almost 300 in a 24-hour period. Now we heard Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say that if Hezbollah didn't get the message I promise it will get the message, and the message is obviously that they will -- Israel will continue to target Hezbollah until the border area goes quiet. We heard Herzi Halevi, who is the chief of staff of the Israeli army, saying that Israel will intensify its strikes on Lebanon.

So everywhere you look, all signs point to a further deterioration of the situation between Israel and Lebanon -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much.

All right. Let's talk more about this now. Frida Ghitis is a CNN contributor and world affairs columnist. She is also contributing columnist for the "Washington Post.'

Good to see you, Frida. So is Hezbollah restraining itself in your view in some way by not using its longer-range rockets that can hit even deeper in Israel?

FRIDA GHITIS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND WORLD AFFAIRS COLUMNIST: Yes, this is a very interesting confrontation. It doesn't look like either side is looking for an all-out war. There's always the risk that things can spin out of control. But for now, it looks -- it's very clear that neither side is looking for an all-out war. Israel has been very clear that it's not looking to destroy Hezbollah. It's not looking to crush its military capabilities, which are considerable.

What Israel is trying to do, and it has said that very, very explicitly, it wants Hezbollah to stop shelling, to stop launching rockets at Israeli communities in the north, and so far Hezbollah is refusing to do that. They say that they will continue their assaults on Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues.

They show no intention, no sign of aiming to stop their attacks on Israel, as long as the war in Gaza continues. But Israel has made a decision after almost a year of shelling from Hezbollah that they are not going to allow that to continue. For 11 months Hezbollah has been attacking Israel in solidarity with Hamas and Israel has been responding in kind, without the kind of intensity that we're seeing in the last few days. So for now, it looks like there is a certain measure of restraint really on both sides.

WHITFIELD: And then, you know, have a listen to what Israel's president Isaac Herzog told CBS about the intensifying attacks with Hezbollah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAEL: This morning they took out a barrage of attacks on Israeli cities towns and villages all over the northern part of Israel, pounding away. They used bombs and missiles on the northern part of Israel. Why would any nation accept it? Why would any decent nation accept it? We're almost a year in such a situation of a kind of a vicious cycle. We want to get out of this vicious cycle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: You heard Herzog say there that Israel wants to get out of this vicious cycle. But what will it take for that to happen?

GHITIS: Well, you know, these really spectacular operations last week, the exploding pagers, the exploding walkie-talkies, these are not just impressive James Bond-style operation, these are meaningful operations that have degraded Hezbollah's ability to operate it. It's hard for them to communicate now. It's hard to imagine how they're going to communicate with their tens of thousands of members.

[16:20:07]

The shelling, the air raids from the last few days have destroyed hundreds of Hezbollah rocket launchers, but they have not stopped Hezbollah's operations. At some point, Israel is hoping that Hezbollah is going to see that it is outgunned here. And because of what Israel did earlier in the week, it's much harder for Hezbollah to respond with the kind of strength that would create a stalemate.

So at some point Hezbollah is going to have to make a decision because it is losing a lot of its capabilities during these operations. Hezbollah launched, you know, a fierce assault on Israel last night and today, but it really didn't do that much damage. There were some a few injured Israelis. There were some damage to people's homes. But what Hezbollah suffered was much, much greater than what Israel did.

And, you know, the attack, the bombing on Friday where Israel basically destroyed the entire high command of Hezbollah's Radwan force, its elite force. It killed almost all its top commanders. This is some meaningful, meaningful losses for Hezbollah, and they're going to have to make a decision. It's a humiliating situation. That's always dangerous when you have these kinds of humiliation.

But at some point Hezbollah may decide that it wants to stop. There is a huge risk that in this shelling, as restrained as it has been to some degree, that something could go amiss. And if Hezbollah hits a major civilian targets in Israel all bets are off.

WHITFIELD: Yes. OK. I also want to ask you about the war in Ukraine. President Zelenskyy is visiting an ammunition factory in Pennsylvania today, and he's been pleading with the U.S. and its allies to speed up deliveries of the aid that has been promised to he and his country. So is there a concern that by the time some of this equipment might get to Ukraine, that it just might be too late?

GHITIS: Well, you know, that's been the concern from the beginning of this war that the West has been providing Ukraine with advanced weaponry, but it's been doing it stage by stage, afraid that it will provoke Russia if more of Western weapons are starting to hit inside of Russia, if the United States and the West gives more advanced weaponry to Ukraine, that it would cause Russia to lash out.

But I think something has changed now, and it has to do with the elections in the United States. There is a great fear that if there's a change in government in the United States, if Republicans, if Donald Trump wins the election, American support for Ukraine is going to change. And I think there's a sense that it's time to Trump-proof support for Ukraine and we're seeing that in Europe, we're seeing that in other places where there's more of an impetus to help Ukraine ahead of the elections, ahead of the January 20th, so that it can fortify itself and be in a stronger position should Trump become the next president again.

WHITFIELD: All right. Frida Ghitis, always great to talk to you. Thank you so much.

GHITIS: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Vice President Kamala Harris just secured the endorsement of more than 700 bipartisan national security leaders and former military officials. Why they say former president Donald Trump is, quote, "unfit to be commander-in-chief." That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:27:59]

WHITFIELD: All right. With just over six weeks until the election, and it now appears we may not see another presidential debate. Former president Donald Trump says it's too late to have another debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. On Saturday, Harris accepted CNN's invitation for debate on October 23rd, but at a rally in North Carolina yesterday, Trump rejected a rematch, saying he won't take part because early voting is already underway in some states. I'm joined now by Ron Brownstein. He's a CNN senior political analyst.

Ron, great to see you. So Trump debated Hillary Clinton October 19th back in 2016.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

WHITFIELD: And in 2020, he held a debate with Joe Biden, October 22nd. So what do you make of the excuse this go round that he says it's too late?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, and another factor which is that usually the candidate who is behind in the polls is the one who feels that they have to debate and it's not a huge advantage. But I think pretty clearly Trump is trailing Kamala Harris in the polls. So all of these factors would argue for him debating.

He did pretty poorly in that debate. And I think there's no other way to read this than Republicans are reluctant to have another session like that. You know, in some ways that's surprising because it's hard to believe that any debate -- a second debate go as well for Harris as the first debate did. But this decision reminds me of what one Republican strategist said to me just before, even before the first time Trump and Harris got on the stage, which is that they didn't think that if Trump wins this race, he would win it by the day-to-day back and forth with Harris, his own interactions with her.

If he did when it was going to be because of Republicans just grinding her down with negative advertising in the key swing states out of their kind of conventional playbook of portraying her as soft on crime and immigration, coastal liberal. It wasn't going to be won by Trump's own interactions with her. And I think you see in this decision, at least for now on the debate, a validation of that belief.

[16:30:05]

WHITFIELD: OK. And then, you know, Trump made a rather interesting admission in an interview that was released today when he was asked if he would run again if he loses this election in November. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're not successful this time, do you see yourself running again in four years?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: No, I don't. No, I don't. And I think that that will be it. I don't see that at all. I think that hopefully we're going to be successful.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: So how do you evaluate that answer?

BROWNSTEIN: Again, surprising. I'm going to go out on a limb and say if Trump loses, he backtracks from that. I think it is, in fact, unlikely that he would run a third time -- a fourth time in 2028 if he loses. But I think he's going to want to keep open the possibility that he will do so to keep the Republican Party in line, particularly because if he loses, the risk of these criminal trials going forward, you know, obviously continues.

And I think he's going to want to keep Republicans under the threat of another Trump candidacy so as to keep them from breaking with him as he faces those legal challenges. So I'll go out on a limb and say that that that kind of unequivocal statement gets fudged if, in fact, he loses in November, especially if, as it seems inevitable, he claims it was fraud that cost him the election.

WHITFIELD: All right. Interesting. OK. And meantime, today, more than 700 national security officials and former military leaders signed a bipartisan letter endorsing Vice President Harris. They wrote that Trump is unfit to be commander-in-chief, saying he has, quote, "serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness." Might that influence others or move the needle in any way particularly for Harris's support?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I mean, it is striking that, you know, many of the people who work for Trump at the highest levels of national security positions in his first term have said that, also said that he is unfit to be president, whether it was his chief of staff, John Kelly, some of his defense secretaries, like Mark Esper, H.R. McMaster, obviously raised serious questions in his book.

They are conspicuous by their absence, and it's a question of whether we're going to hear from them before November. But I do think that all of these kind of testimonials and validations are really about creating a permission structure, primarily for right of center men who would -- who have hesitations about Trump, but tend to be skeptical of Democrats on issues like national security and keeping the country safe.

This, you know, everything is a -- is trench warfare in our politics. There are no big blitzkrieg movements. But this is the kind of thing that could make it easier for at least a few right of center men in the key places to say they're OK with it, I'm OK with it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ron Brownstein, always great to see you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Thanks.

All right, former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sitting down for an in-depth interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. During that conversation, Clinton talked about her new book, President Biden's decision to withdraw from this year's race, and his endorsement of Kamala Harris, and hers as well, and her 2016 loss to President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a relay race. People do their part. They try to open doors or break through ceilings in order to make it possible for somebody to come after them. And as I, you know, right in the book and in the epilogue to the audio version that I read, I didn't know how I would feel because, obviously, it was a huge disappointment not to win in 2016.

But when President Biden withdrew and endorsed the Vice President, I immediately, along with my husband, endorsed her as well, and it felt right. It felt exciting, exhilarating. I think she is not only absolutely equipped and ready to be president. I think we need somebody like her right now, Fareed.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: In what sense?

CLINTON: This is an election not just between two people, two tickets, two parties. It really is an election between democracy and autocracy, freedom and oppression, but also between leadership that wants to bring us together, to do big things, to demonstrate America is fully ready to be as prosperous and as focused at home and leading abroad because the world needs that. And so, the contrast between the two visions of our future could not be more stark and different.

[16:35:02]

I think Kamala's campaign has demonstrated, as it's already been written and talked about, a level of energy, even joy. The contrast is the Trump campaign. It's dark, it's dystopian. It's filled with, you know, attacks on different kinds of people, finger pointing and scapegoating. That's a very different view of who we are as a people and what we should aspire to.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. This week, people such as Prince Harry and Matt Damon are set to address the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting, which is set to take place tomorrow and Tuesday in New York.

Right after being on the job for less than two weeks, the new interim NYPD commissioner became the subject of a search warrant conducted by federal agents. What we know about the search, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:15]

WHITFIELD: All right, federal authorities have searched the homes of New York City Police Department's Interim Commissioner Thomas Donlon more than a week after he was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams. Donlon himself, a former FBI agent, says investigators on Friday took documents that he has held for about 20 years and were unrelated to his work with the NYPD. The search warrant is not believed to be related to the four federal investigations surrounding Mayor Eric Adams' office.

Joining me right now is CNN Correspondent Gloria Pazmino. Gloria, are we learning anything more about what FBI agents were looking for?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, it's still unclear to us exactly what kind of documents they were searching for and why this is happening now. One thing we do know is that it's a remarkable step for federal investigators to go ahead and search the homes of the interim commissioner just took place on Friday. And what our law enforcement sources are telling us is that they were looking for documents that the commissioner may have held on to from his previous positions in law enforcement.

As you mentioned, he worked for the FBI for several years. They also tell us that this latest search warrant is not related to any of the four federal investigations that are currently looking at different parts of City Hall.

Now, Commissioner Donlon issued a statement confirming part of this information late last night, and I want to read you a portion of it. He said that federal authorities "took materials that came into my possession approximately 20 years ago and are unrelated to my work with the New York City Police Department. This is not a department matter and the department will not be commenting."

So, there is a real effort in that statement by the commissioner to separate this latest search warrant of his homes and any other investigations, which include an investigation that's looking into the NYPD. And I think that that is a significant distinction here.

We should also mention that Tom Donlon held several positions with the FBI including working at the Joint Terrorism Task Force here in New York. He worked at the Department of Homeland Security here in New York. So it is possible that maybe he has some sort of classified documents from that time.

We are still trying to understand is why this is happening now and why they're bringing it up in this moment. It is certainly a headache for City Hall. They've haven't said much about this, only that they expect their employees to follow the law. But even though it is not related to these other investigations, it's still part of the many questions that they will continue to have to answer over the next several days. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Gloria Pazmino in New York, thank you so much.

All right, still to come, the CNN review of property records shows the Democratic nominee in the Maryland U.S. Senate race improperly claimed tax deductions. We'll have the details on how Angela Alsobrooks is responding next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:47:43]

WHITFIELD: All right, one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races is taking place in Maryland this year. Democrats desperately need to win the seat as they fight to keep control of the Senate. CNN's Manu Raju brings us new reporting on the Democratic candidate facing scrutiny.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey Fred, Deep Blue Maryland is rarely a Senate battleground, but one of the nation's marquee races is unfolding there this cycle. And we have new reporting with my colleague Em Steck about the Democratic candidate in that race, Angela Alsobrooks.

A CNN review found Alsobrooks improperly took advantage of tax breaks she did not qualify for, including one meant for low-income senior citizens saving thousands of dollars in taxes on two properties. Now that is according to property records and tax bills reviewed by CNN.

Alsobrooks saved about 14,000 in taxes on a property in Washington, D.C. from 2005 to 2017 by using tax exemptions meant for the district's primary residents, lower income residents and senior citizens, even though she's been registered to vote in Maryland since 1995.

Now, according to state records, Alsobrooks also took advantage of a tax exemption meant for primary residents on a separate property in neighboring Prince George's County, Maryland, even after she started renting it out. That could have saved her at least $2,600, and of course, she is the county executive there.

Now, an Alsobrooks senior adviser told us that the candidate was unaware of the problem, and that her attorneys are working with both Washington and Prince George's County to resolve the issue. The adviser, Connor Lounsbury, said she's working to make any necessary payments, and he also said she has paid more in taxes than she needed to on a third property, so this, of course, will -- could it reverberate in that closely contested race, Fred.

Larry Hogan, the Republican governor there, is viewed as a little bit of an underdog despite his name recognition in that race given the blue, heavy blue leanings of Maryland in a presidential election year. Angela Alsobrooks seen as perhaps a slight favor. There's going to be a ton of money, millions of dollars spent in the final weeks of the campaign.

We'll see how this reshapes how Republicans plan to go after Alsobrooks, even as she tries to tie Hogan to the top of his ticket, Donald Trump, and try to make the case that if Hogan wins, that means Republicans would be almost certainly in control of the Senate. Fred?

[16:50:12]

WHITFIELD: All right, Manu Raju, thanks so much.

And the new CNN original series, "TV on the Edge: Moments That Shaped Our Culture," will examine the most impactful moments in television history. The four-part series premieres tonight and showcases the power of television, the legacy of these iconic events and the impact they have had on our lives.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people in America were watching. And then, the next day, our world changed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Murphy has baby, Quail has cow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was an hour episode.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Watched by 70 million people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ellen's coming out episode suddenly says to the world, it's OK to be gay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone needed to blow the whole thing open, and she did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oprah was more than a talk show host.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She added this confessional, intimate aspect, making television feel like a friend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: George Bush does not care about black people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boom!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It had an explosive reverberation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never thought something that I wrote would lead to a culture war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't sit back like this and watch. You sat like that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The moments that shaped our culture, the people who were there. It all happened here. "TV On The Edge: Moments That Shaped Our Culture," premieres tonight at 9:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:56:00]

WHITFIELD: Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history, is expected to reopen. Constellation Energy announced that beginning in 2028, it will revive one of its reactors to sell energy to Microsoft. The software giant plans to use the electricity to power its growing AI program. This is part of a move by some businesses to turn to nuclear energy as a zero-carbon energy source. But some environmental groups have raised concerns about the amount of waste it creates.

Joining us now as CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir. Bill, good to see you. So, what do you make of this decision to reopen Three Mile Island?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, I am old enough to remember that partial meltdown. I remember the China syndrome with Jane Fonda, like the jaws of nuclear energy, scared a generation away from it. But now, generations later, you look back and realize that the harm to humans during that meltdown was negligible.

And now there is such voracious appetite for clean energy that now technology companies like Microsoft are driving nuclear energy's resurgence in many ways. Amazon also just signed a contract with another nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan is trying to get a nuclear power plant revived there as well. It's never really been done.

And there's a lot of questions about getting federal subsidies to bring this plant back online and using it for all that electricity for one customer instead of 800,000 families like it once did. The company says that electricity will go on to the grid and they'll just take their share. But it is a stunning turn of events when I just want to think about nuclear energy where it's going, but it has a lot to do with AI.

We thought bitcoin and cyber currencies would take a lot of juice. AIs orders of magnitude more. And so, anything, whether it's Icelandic, geothermal or new kinds of small, modular Bill Gates's style nuclear reactors out west, there is a huge demand, and this will drive us to hold across (ph).

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. All right, so turning to another environmental issue, scientists discovered that the Doomsday Glacier in Antarctica is melting at an accelerating rate and could be on a path to collapse. What would the consequences be?

WEIR: It's a completely different earth, Fred, than the one we know right now. This is a piece of ice, the Thwaites Glacier. That's the size of Florida and a mile thick --

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh.

WEIR: -- and it is melted. Started melting 80 years ago, thanks to heat trapping. Pollution in the atmosphere. It is accelerated. This study found in the last 30 years, and this is six years of recent science where they sent this torpedo like robot down at the grounding line to understand how warm water is getting under and melting this thing.

The title of this report has the word grim in it. So this is not anything that can be reversed. What we can do is by time, humanity fortify cities from Miami to Boston to Shanghai, try to grow as many mangroves and just get used to a new earth, because this gradually is coming. It's just a matter of how fast.

WHITFIELD: Right. That's the question that really can't be answered, right, but a mile thick, that's really extraordinary to see that kind of deterioration of that.

All right, Bill Weir, thanks so much.

WEIR: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right, we have some pretty sad news out of the NFL community as two-time Super Bowl champion Mercury Morris has died. Morris was a legend in Miami, having helped lead the Dolphins, back- to-back championships. He was also a key member of the club's perfect 1972 season.

Morris, a dynamic and forceful running back, was also selected to three Pro Bowls and is part of the Dolphins' Walk of Fame. His son, Troy-Jeffrey Morris, announced the passing on social media. Mercury Morris was 77.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN Newsroom continues with Jessica Dean right now.