Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Former Trump Administration Surgeon General Calls for President Trump to Remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary; Upcoming Report from Health and Human Services Expected to Link Autism in Children to Use of Tylenol during Pregnancy; Immigration and Customs Enforcement Raids Hyundai Car Manufacturing Plant in Georgia; South Korea's President Voices Support for Korean Hyundai Plant Workers Detained by ICE; Trump Administration Increases Tensions with Venezuelan Government over Its Alleged Narco- Trafficking; Lottery Players Line Up to Buy Tickets from Store that Previously Sold Winning Powerball Ticket; YouTubers Release Videos on How to Plan Meals on Extreme Budget; U.S. Cities with Aging Infrastructure Facing Challenges from Climate Change. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 06, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: -- I will say, from a baseball perspective, Fred, it all seems to be working out rather nicely for the Brewers. Currently they have the best record in the sport. They beat the Pirates on Friday.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Nice.

SNELL: And this evening they play again against the pirates in Pittsburgh, so I wonder what snack will be broken out during any more interviews he does. I think --

WHITFIELD: And they continue to share that snack.

SNELL: Yes, share and share alike, right?

WHITFIELD: Yes. Those are some bold moves.

SNELL: Oh, yes. I'm definitely getting hungry now.

WHITFIELD: Yes, I'm hungry now too. But I'm always hungry about this time. Now, even more so. I want some quesadilla and pancakes.

SNELL: We'll share it and add some syrup.

WHITFIELD: OK, sounds good. All right, Patrick Snell, great to see you. Thank you.

All right, well, maybe you're looking for more laughs. Well, you're in luck. "Have I Got News for You," well, it's back. The comedy quiz show returning tonight 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN. Make sure to tune in.

Thank you. All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. All right, the fallout continues from RFK Jr.'s contentious testimony

before Congress this week. Today, at least two members of the Kennedy family are publicly calling for the Health and Human Services secretary's resignation. Kerry Kennedy is blasting her brother's leadership of HHS as, I'm quoting now, "incompetent and misguided," end quote. And RFK Jr.'s nephew, former Democratic congressman Joe Kennedy, says his uncle is, I'm quoting now, "a threat to the health and well-being of every American," end quote.

A growing number of public health officials, in fact, are also calling for Kennedy to step down. Here's what President Trump's former surgeon general told CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL DURING FIRST TRUMP TERM: Well, the CDC isn't just a federal agency. It's a lifeline for millions of people. And he is, quite frankly, undermining it objectively. Objectively, we've seen organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association under Kennedy's leadership in the last six months say that we can no longer trust the CDC, that we can no longer trust their recommendations. All of those groups have put out their own vaccine recommendations. And that shows you that he's not actually lifting up the CDC. He's pulling it down. He's destroying it, and he's putting lives at risk by doing so.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Should the president fire the secretary?

ADAMS: I absolutely believe that he should, for the sake of the nation and the sake of his legacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now to talk about all of these developments and more is Dr. Michael Osterholm. He is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease, Research, and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and he's the coauthor of the brand new book, "The Big One, How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics. Doctor, great to see you.

DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, FORMER BIDEN COVID ADVISER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so we'll talk about your book in a moment. But let me start by asking your reaction to this growing controversy surrounding HHS Secretary RFK Jr. Some of his own family members, lawmakers, growing number of health officials all calling for Kennedy to either be fired or step down. What do you believe?

OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, we have to understand that the public health as we know it in this country is in freefall. And it's not just about vaccines. It's the major cuts that have come to CDC, and it's the challenge that we have in dealing with any number of different disease topics on an international level. We're no longer a player there since we did in the USAID and PEPFAR, as well as pulled out of WHO. So this is a much bigger issue.

And what it really comes down to is one simple question. Are we, as a country, going to believe in science, that a pursuit of truth that we have followed for over a century that has brought such great gains in health improvement? Or are we going to believe in magic, smoke, and mirrors, which is much larger than just Secretary Kennedy? He is surely at the tip of the spear on that one. But the administration in general has a number of different issues on the table right now that follow exactly the same approach that Secretary Kennedy keeps putting forward.

WHITFIELD: You're right. It's not just senator, or Secretary Kennedy. Listen to what Florida's surgeon general is saying about vaccine mandates in that state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOSEPH LADAPO, FLORIDA SURGEON GENERAL: The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law.

(APPLAUSE)

LADAPO: All of them. All of them.

Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery. OK? Who am I as a government or anyone else, or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I mean, those are some very strong words. What's your reaction to that?

OSTERHOLM: Well, first of all, they're very dangerous words. We have to understand that.

[14:05:00]

Let me just sum this up about how I would consider what's going to happen in Florida, is there will surely be parents that will continue to vaccinate their children despite the fact that the mandate provisions are no longer in place. But let me tell you, the growing number of kids who won't be vaccinated is going to make Florida an unsafe place for people to travel to. And so I could not recommend my kids or grandkids go to Florida, to the Walt Disney World or Universal Studios or any of those locations in the years ahead, because Florida is going to become a hotbed of transmission.

In addition, the idea that somehow painting this vaccine mandate to the equivalent of slavery just is absolutely absurd. For example, have you heard anybody complain about the fact that we have a law that requires children in every state in this country to be put into childcare seats in the back of your car when you're driving, and if you don't, you'll be ticketed? That's not taking away someone's rights or somehow, you know, comparing that to slavery. So again, we have to keep our eye on the ball. The ball is we're here

to protect our children, and we're here to protect our children so that they can also protect other children, because there will be children in our schools that have immune compromising conditions that, even if they're vaccinated, may still be at risk of serious illness. But what will buffer them from having that happen will be having children around them, vaccinated and therefore protected.

So this is just dangerous talk. I worry that, in fact, many people in the public will see this as somehow really advantage for us versus the virus, when now it's advantaged virus versus us. And we've got to understand that's clear and compelling.

WHITFIELD: That helps us segue into your new book, "The Big One, How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics," where you write government response is very important, especially after what you say was in inadequate response largely to the pandemic. What are your feelings on that?

OSTERHOLM: Well, as we just have been talking, surely the immediacy of the public health challenges are here. But I can tell you, as long as we're sitting here challenged by the immediacy of public health, were doing nothing to get prepared for the long-term views of public health.

For example, recently, when the Kennedy office withdrew support for vaccine research with MRNA vaccines, what they did is they took away the very tools that if we had an influenza pandemic, would be the difference between only being able to make enough vaccine for a quarter of the world in the first year with the current egg based growing we do with virus, and now having all the world vaccinated within the first year, they took that off the table.

WHITFIELD: To the tune of $500 million.

OSTERHOLM: Exactly. And so we have so much to do. And all I could wish is that unlike what happened in 9/11, where we had a remarkable response with a bipartisan commission that laid out all the challenges that we confronted, they put down in a nonpartisan way what the solutions would be. We need the same thing for future pandemics. And that's what we tried to do in this book was lay out well, we'll try to do it, and we'll tell you what we think based on being in the front row in this pandemic response, what should be the lessons learned that we can easily apply to future pandemic preparedness.

WHITFIELD: OK. And you say the next pandemic will involve a virus that, in your words, has wings, meaning it is airborne.

OSTERHOLM: And just know that the pandemic clock is ticking. We just don't know what time it is right now. And all I can tell you is every day when I wake up, I hope today is not the day that the next one happens. And it could be much worse than the one that we just went through.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Michael Osterholm, glad to be with us. And congratulations on your new book. Thank you so much. OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, "The Wall Street Journal" says that an upcoming report from the Health and Human Services Department is expected to link autism in children to the use of Tylenol during pregnancy. And this is contrary to medical guidelines that say the pain reliever is safe to use. The HHS report will also suggest that a form of the vitamin folic acid would reduce symptoms of autism in some people. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has previously promoted debunked theories about autism. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the science behind the issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, this entire conversation and possibility of acetaminophen, or Tylenol, being associated with autism is not a new conversation. People have been looking into this for over 10 years. We've been reporting on this for quite some time. Back 10 years ago, the evidence was really mixed in terms of determining whether there was an association between Tylenol use and a child being subsequently diagnosed with autism.

These are really hard studies to do, first of all. Imagine that a child is diagnosed with autism. They go back and ask the mom, did you take Tylenol when you were pregnant? How much Tylenol did you take? When did you take it? It's very hard to remember. That's part of the reason these studies are hard to do.

[14:10:01]

There's also the issue of the fact that Tylenol is really commonly used. Some studies suggest 45 to 60 percent of women used Tylenol when they were pregnant. That makes it very ubiquitous. And there is this thing called the paradox of ubiquity, meaning when you have something that's that commonly used, it's then hard to go back and pinpoint that that's the singular cause of something. So these studies are hard to do.

Having said that, there was a study in 2019 coming out of Johns Hopkins where they decided to look at umbilical cord blood. They figured, hey, that's a better way of actually figuring out how much acetaminophen was actually being used, how much acetaminophen exposure was there. And they actually did find that the higher acetaminophen exposure was associated with a higher rate of autism. And I think that got a lot of people's attention.

In August of this year, August of 2025, there was a meta-analysis of 46 different studies. And in 27 of those studies, they did find that there was an association between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and subsequent diagnosis of autism.

But again, to be really clear, these are associations. And when you have something that's that commonly used, it's going to be associated with lots of different things. Somebody was taking Tylenol. Well, maybe they had a fever. Could the fever be the culprit? You sort of get the idea. So it's very hard to sort of go back and then pinpoint that Tylenol itself might be actually leading to this.

So that's sort of where we are with this discussion. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, again, they have known about these potential associations for some time. They released a statement on this. They said, "Acetaminophen has long been established as a safe pain reliever for pregnant women during pregnancy. There is no clear evidence that proves a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and fetal developmental issues. Neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular, are multifactorial and very difficult to associate with a singular cause."

Best guidance is that is that if you have a fever as a pregnant woman, it is better to treat that fever than not treat that fever. And using Tylenol for the shortest, the smallest dose for the shortest time seems to be the best advice.

Keep in mind again, I know I've said this twice, but association versus cause and effect. One of the researchers of the study said, look, that's like saying in the summertime, people eat more ice cream, and in the summertime there is more violent crime. Both those things happen. They are associated, but obviously there's no cause-and-effect relationship here.

We'll see what this new report out of HHS shows, I'm sure, in the days and weeks to come. And if there's more information in there, we'll certainly bring it to you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

The parent company of Tylenol released a statement saying, "Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our products. We have continuously evaluated the science and continue to believe there is no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism," end quote.

All right, still to come, the Trump administration escalates it's push to crack down on illegal immigration. Why this massive raid has angered one of the United States closest Asian allies.

And later, growing concerns over what will happen next after a U.S. military operation against an alleged drug trafficking boat from Venezuela.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:08]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Workers at a Georgia Hyundai plant describe a chaotic scene after an immigration raid at the facility. Federal authorities say Thursday's raid was the result of a monthslong investigation by several agencies. The crackdown, the largest so far on U.S. worksites, led to 475 arrests of mostly Korean nationals. Some of the workers tried to flee as word of the raid spread. CNN's Rafael Romo is covering the story. What more are you learning of

what was really a chaotic scene?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: It was difficult to find out details about what actually transpired the first couple of days, but now we're hearing from people and officials exactly what happened. And one of the things that we have learned, some of the details that we have learned, Fred, after the raid conducted Thursday, include that officers spoke with each worker one by one to determine which were in the U.S. legally, and allowing some to leave while taking undocumented immigrants into custody.

By the time they were done at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, agents had arrested 475 people, most of them Korean nationals, making it the largest sweep yet in the current Trump administrations immigration crackdown at American job sites. CNN obtained a video that shows a Homeland Security investigations agent telling workers to cease operations immediately. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need Construction to cease immediately. We need all work to end on the site right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Shortly after the agents arrived at the plant and workers realized what was happening after word spread across the property, chaos ensued, with many workers attempting to flee and some even running into a sewage pond, and others hiding in air ducts. A Homeland Security investigation special agent described how agents screened each person suspected of being in the country illegally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:20:00]

STEVEN SCHRANK, SPECIAL AGENT, HOMELAND SECURITY: Some that illegally crossed the border into the United States, some that came in through visa waiver and were prohibited from working, some that had visas and overstayed their visas and each individual was questioned on their status. Their documents were checked, their backgrounds were checked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: In a statement sent to CNN last night, Hyundai said the following regarding the immigration raid in Georgia, "We are reviewing our processes to ensure that all parties working on our projects maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves. This includes thorough vetting of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors." The company also said that Hyundai has zero tolerance for those who don't follow the law. In an interview with CNN, former deputy Homeland Security secretary under President Trump Ken Cuccinelli said conducting this type of raid is a major undertaking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN CUCCINELLI, SENIOR FELLOW, CENTER FOR RENEWING AMERICA: There's a lot of work that goes into an operation of this scale and of this depth including investigation by multiple agencies. Obviously, it takes a lot of investigative manpower. And that's all going on in parallel with a whole bunch of other investigations across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: The plant that was targeted was built after Hyundai announced an agreement with the state of Georgia in 2022 to build what the company called at the time the first dedicated, fully electrified vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the United States. The plant was projected to employ 8,500 people once completed, but as you heard a moment ago, they were ordered to stop all work.

WHITFIELD: So this delays operations?

ROMO: For sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rafael Romo, thanks so much. Good to see you.

All right, the massive ICE raid prompted a sharp response from the South Korean president. CNN's Mike Valerio is in Seoul with more on the reaction there.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the headline from here is certainly that South Korea's president, Lee Jae Myung, is getting involved in this matter, telling his officials that, quote, "All out necessary measures should be done to support Korean nationals in this matter and to resolve it as fast as possible."

Now, the split screen from where he was just about 10 days ago is certainly dramatic, considering that he was at the Oval Office meeting with President Trump, talking about new investments that South Korea would make into a reality, making American shipbuilding again, improving investments in manufacturing in the United States. This battery factory, run by Hyundai as a joint venture with the South Korean giant L.G., is certainly part of that narrative.

And now to see this operation, the biggest of its kind taken in the second Trump administration, it is so striking and has hit such an emotional chord with a multitude of people here in South Korea. Quite astounded that not just one or two or a few dozen South Koreans have been detained as part of this operation, but more than 300, a number confirmed by South Korea's ministry of foreign affairs today.

Along those lines, the minister of foreign affairs has said that if this situation isn't resolved, he could conceivably go to Washington, D.C., saying in part, quote, "As we discuss this issue further today, we are also considering dispatching a high level official to the U.S. to address the situation. If necessary, I," meaning the foreign minister, "am prepare to travel to Washington, D.C., personally to engage directly with U.S. officials to resolve this matter."

Unclear at the moment what, if any, charges could be filed, will be filed, and how long will it take to release all 300 plus of the South Korean nationals. Again, hitting such a chord with people halfway around the world.

Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, climate change now forcing many cities to take a hard look at their infrastructure. We'll show you the upgrades that could save the subway systems.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:43]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. President Trump is warning the Venezuelan military that it's aircraft would be shot down if they put Americans in a dangerous position. This after two Venezuelan military aircraft flew near a U.S. naval vessel in international waters on Thursday. Two days earlier, the U.S. had carried out a strike on an alleged drug boat leaving Venezuela that was in international waters. CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon has the latest on the escalating tensions between the two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The escalation between Washington and Caracas in the southern Caribbean is showing no sign of slowing down this weekend. On Friday, CNN reported that President Donald Trump was briefed on options to conduct military strikes against the drug traffickers directly on Venezuelan territory. And while we don't know the outcome of those conversations, it's a sign that the U.S. president is willing to take this escalation one step further, perhaps with unintended consequences to come in the near future.

Meanwhile, Trump's Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, has taken a more constructive approach on this confrontation. On Friday, he advised the U.S. president to check his intelligence and said that Venezuela is not involved in drug trafficking.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

[14:30:05]

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The government of the United States should abandon its plan of violent regime change in Venezuela and in all of Latin America and the Caribbean, and respect sovereignty, the right to peace, to independence.

What they are saying about Venezuela is not true. It's not true. It is a dead end they are getting themselves into. Venezuela has always been willing to talk, but just as we are willing to talk, we demand respect for our country, for our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: Now, data from both the United Nations and the Drug Enforcement Administration confirm that vast majority of drugs coming into the United States are not being trafficked through Venezuela. They actually come from nearby Colombia and through the Pacific.

However, there are multiple allegations that the government of Nicolas Maduro has been involved with cocaine trafficking for some time. And the fact that we are seeing these escalations in the Caribbean, where we see at least seven warships and one nuclear powered submarine being stationed, allegedly to stem off the flows of drug trafficking, but actually putting a lot of geopolitical pressure on the Maduro government itself, it's a sign that the United States are trying to take this matter into their own hands, and they're sending a message to Maduro that one way or another, he has to go.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas, Venezuela.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: New today, a surfer in Australia died from a suspected shark attack, marking the first fatal incident of this kind in the country in more than three years. This incident that took place off a beach north of Sydney forced officials to close several other beaches in the area. Police said the man killed in the attack lost several limbs and attempts to save his life were unsuccessful. The victim leaves behind a wife and a daughter just one day before Fathers' Day in Australia.

Crowds lined up in Milan today to pay tribute to Italian fashion icon Giorgio Armani. Mourners walked by flickering candles surrounding the casket of the legendary designer, a simple bouquet of white roses laid atop the coffin. Outside a line stretched for blocks as former employees and fans came to remember Armani. The designer is credited with curating a quintessentially Italian aesthetic in his clothes and for taking Hollywood's red carpets to new heights. He passed away at the age of 91.

Coming up, lots of concerns as you head to the grocery store. And now how two Tennessee sisters fighting high food prices have become Internet sensations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE SOUTHERLAND, YOUTUBER: Today's video is more broke meals, meals to make when you're broke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:30]

WHITFIELD: All right, as prices at the grocery store continue to rise, shoppers are being forced to change their shopping habits because of the economy. CNN's Ellie Reeve shows us how two sisters from Tennessee are going viral with tips on eating on the cheap, as low as $1 a day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE SOUTHERLAND, YOUTUBER: Today's video is more broke meals, meals to make when you're broke.

[11:30:00]

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These YouTuber sisters are a different kind of mom-fluencer.

EMILY ANDERSON, YOUTUBER: We're going into the Dollar General Market first.

REEVE: Making super low budget food videos for people who are broke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have a clearance event? What?

REEVE: How to eat on a dollar a day, a week of meals for $10. These videos are in demand as a growing number of people are struggling to afford rising food, power, and rent bills.

SOUTHERLAND: It doesn't look like inflation is going anywhere, except up.

REEVE: Since last year, eggs are up more than 16 percent, coffee 14 percent, and beef 11 percent.

SOUTHERLAND: Oh, my gosh, that is $43.

REEVE: There are fears tariffs could raise food prices more in the future. Electricity prices have grown more than twice as fast as the cost of living. And Central Services, a food bank here in Morristown, Tennessee, says it's seen 22 percent more new families this year than last.

Brooke Southerland and Emily Anderson have expertise in how to make something from nothing because they did it as kids.

ANDERSON: Most of the time growing up, it felt like it was me and Brooke against the world. I'm going to try not to cry.

REEVE: Southerland says she wanted to start making these videos after their older sister died.

SOUTHERLAND: When my sister passed away, me and my mother were going through her purse, and I got this little card out. And it was from the food bank, and it said her next available date to pick up a box of food. She had never told anybody that she was struggling like that. And that just made me sad that she thought she couldn't talk to family about her food insecurity.

REEVE: The sisters say they want viewers to feel less shame about having to make tough choices.

ANDERSON: You all taking one, take away the extra pack of franks, hot dogs.

SOUTHERLAND: And get a bit.

There are some viewers that think that vegetables are the most important choice. And, to me, that just shows that they have never had to really struggle. Fresh vegetables are really a luxury in some instances, and it shouldn't be that way at all.

REEVE (on camera): Sometimes, you have to go to a whole bunch of Dollar Generals?

SOUTHERLAND: Yes, everybody in our area wants to save money, and they take everything off the shelves before we can get to it.

No!

[14:40:05]

REEVE: How many hours a week do you think you put into this?

SOUTHERLAND: Eight, ten hours.

REEVE (voice-over): We talked to more than a dozen people in downtown Morristown. Everyone was mad about prices.

LINDA BRADLEY, TENNESSEE RESIDENT: Sometimes things is four times what they was a year ago. A roast I used to get for $12, $15, is $35. It's awful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything just keeps going up.

TONY MAYES, TENNESSEE RESIDENT: I used to spend $40 a week now. Now it's $140 or something like that. I just don't think it's going to go down for a long time. They're not concerned with people like us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They said these tariffs that they have got on, it's going to bring prices down. They're not, because it's going to have to charge more to make up for them having to pay to bring it in. And I just say everything's going downhill.

REEVE (on camera): Did you vote for Trump this last time?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I didn't. I didn't see no choice of a good president. No choice, I'm not choosing. Maybe we'll get somebody good in the office and it'll change. Not before I'm gone, though.

(LAUGHTER)

REEVE (voice-over): For Southerland, she says she wants to keep the conversation positive. And to do that, she bans certain words from her Facebook page.

SOUTHERLAND: The banned words, I can give you a list as long as my leg, "Republican," "Democrat," "liberal," "conservative," "tariffs," "Trump," "Biden."

REEVE (on camera): So I was looking for videos kind of like yours on TikTok, and the nasty comment I saw the most -- and maybe that's just my algorithm -- was, "Well, this is what you voted for. That's what you get." Did you get -- do you see stuff like that?

SOUTHERLAND: Yes. The politicians are politicians, and they're doing a job. They're making money. But we are here together. We are real people. And we need to help each other get through this, get through these hard times, because they're not seeing us on a personal level. But we can see each other on a personal level.

REEVE (voice-over): Elle Reeve, CNN, Morristown, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead, a $1 billion jackpot is up for grabs this weekend. We'll take you to a popular spot where, once upon a time, one of the country's biggest lottery tickets was sold. Can it strike rich again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:01]

WHITFIELD: All right, it's the big one. Tonight's the big drawing, $1.8 billion up for grabs in the second largest jackpot in Powerball history. Forty-two drawings have come and gone since someone last won the big prize, and that was the end of May.

CNN national correspondent Natasha Chen joining us now from a very lucky spot in California. Folks are hoping it's going to be lucky again. Tell us why folks are lining up by the dozens there.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's amazing, Fred. I mean, check out this line. It goes from right over there all the way up into the store, and then it snakes around inside the store. I mean, the reason that people are all here is because this is where they sold the last winning ticket, that -- sorry, not the last winning ticket, but the largest jackpot in Powerball history, The $2.04 billion. And now tonight's drawing is close to that. It's $1.8 billion. But people believe this is the spot to be. Just listen to what they told us after they bought their tickets.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CHEN: Are you doing your own numbers or quick pick?

ANGELA BOWMAN, MONROVIA RESIDENT: Both. Yesterday I did quick pick, and today I'm going to do some of my own numbers and quick pick again.

DERRICK QUARKER, ALTADENA RESIDENT: Two billion dollars was won here last time, and it's almost that amount now. I see it all the time. Lightning strike twice you know. And I believe that wholeheartedly.

CHEN: Do you feel like your store is lucky? JOSEPH CHAHAYED, STORE SOLD $2 BILLION POWERBALL TICKET IN 2022: Of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And there is another reason that a lot of people, including the owner, feel lucky about this location. It is right in the middle of Altadena, where the deadly Eaton fires happened this January. We were here covering that fire just up the street. And so just a few blocks away, you have a lot of properties, a lot of homes that burned. And yet this business survived.

And so that element of survival, the fact that it sold a previous huge winning ticket, is why a lot of people have driven here from far distances just to buy their tickets here. In fact, the woman you first saw there, she actually was here for the second day in a row. And I asked her, why are you here a second time? She just really wants to make sure she wins. And she brought her dog. She said, you know, if she wins the big jackpot, she says that she's going to start a dog friendly airline where the dog can just sit next to you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's so cute. With all, with good intentions, I like that. And I guess you just got to exhaust all opportunities up until the last moment when the drawing happens later on today. All right, Natasha Chen, thank you so much, and all the best. You got your ticket, right?

CHEN: Thank you. Yes, absolutely.

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. All right, well, good luck. Good luck to you and to all of us. I'm going to get a ticket this afternoon.

All right, still to come, could a change in the Trump administration have a major impact on the race for mayor in New York City?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:54:34]

WHITFIELD: The opioid epidemic has cost hundreds of thousands of lives in the U.S. over the last 20 years. Be sure to tune in to a new CNN documentary, "Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports, It Doesn't Have to Hurt" airs tonight at 9:00 eastern.

All right, a terrifying scene in New York. Look at this driver literally flying over six lanes of traffic, and the whole thing is caught on video.

[14:55:00]

The crash happened in Long Island this week in the middle of rush hour. A dash camera captured the unbelievable moment. Police say a 70- year-old driver sped across an embankment and then went airborne. The car eventually crashed into a tree, as you're seeing there, and by a miracle, the driver is OK. Police have not said what caused the driver to lose control.

All right, first responders rescue a worker who got stuck changing light bulbs at a baseball field in Mesa, Arizona. Police say the employee was atop the athlete's spring training stadium when he got injured, hitting his head. And then he couldn't come down. He was stranded more than 120 feet up as firefighters worked to reach him for over two hours. They even had to climb a pole when the ladder truck didn't go high enough. The worker was eventually brought down safely and taken to the hospital.

All right, more frequent and intense storms raise the question of whether major cities can handle them. You've seen images of floodwaters pouring into subway stations, drenching trains and passengers alike. CNN's Bill Weir reports, for infrastructure more than 100 years old, the water is more than just an inconvenience.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 120 years ago, when New York's subway was new, few could have imagined it would give over a billion rides a year, despite days like this, when air vents become catchment bases and stairs turn into waterfalls.

When the London Underground was new, chimneys still had sweeps and England was three degrees cooler. So now when temperatures top 90 for days, 60 percent of tuned cars have no air conditioning.

LILLI MATSON, CHIEF SAFETY, HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT OFFICER, TRANSPORT FOR LONDON: When they were first built, they didn't necessarily have sufficient tunnel ventilation to cope with air conditioning. So we've been using other novel methods such as fans and super fans to reduce the heat.

WEIR (voice-over): And even this new subway in China shows the perils of under engineering on an overheating planet. When eight inches of rain fell in an hour, 14 people died in a subway line less than a decade old.

ERIC WILSON, VICE PRESIDENT OF CLIMATE RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY PLANNING, MTA: Through climate change, because the warmer and hotter air can hold much more moisture, we're just getting intense rainfall events.

WEIR (voice-over): New York's antique system of pumps removes up to 14 million gallons of water on dry days, and many times more during a storm. But while better pumps are part of the MTA's new $700 million improvement plan, keeping water out in the first place means raising hundreds of little sections of the city.

WILSON: You'd probably miss this if you weren't actually looking out for it. But this is actually about a six inch, five to six inches of an elevation.

WEIR (voice-over): So it's not just a step, it's a flood dam. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a flood protection mechanism.

WEIR (voice-over): In one part of Brooklyn, riders take two steps up before heading down. And elevated air vents are spreading, designed to stop those cascading waterfalls so viral on social media.

WILSON: This little elevation right here prevents that from happening and still allows for fresh air flow to happen with subway vents, just as it would be if they weren't covered.

WEIR (voice-over): But ultimately, a subway is only as resilient as the city around it. So a hotter climate demands working with nature to build shadier, spongier cities.

JOE CHARAP, VP OF HORTICULTURE, THE GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY: Here we have four sections of permeable pavers. And the idea is, as the water is coming downhill and going towards the combined sewer, we're actually capturing it again on site and holding it in place.

WEIR (voice-over): So just instead of this being blacktop asphalt, the water seeps in.

CHARAP: Yes, that's right, between the pavers.

WEIR (voice-over): At nearly 500 acres, Greenwood Cemetery is one of New York's biggest green spaces.

CHARAP: With a weather station attached here, it anticipates the amount of rainfall that we're going to get, releases water to the combined sewer before the storm happens, and then shuts off our access point.

WEIR (voice-over): And with the help of the Nature Conservancy and a few upgrades, it can now keep 55 million gallons of stormwater out of streets and sewers.

CHARAP: And if you think about how many acres of New York City alone are held within cemeteries, if they're able to make slight changes to the way they operate, how much stormwater could be captured on those sites. It's just a different way of thinking about private institutions, private green spaces, and trying to say, despite being private, despite having this fence around our perimeter, we are part of this community.

WEIRD: But even as states and counties and cities try to adapt to climate change at the federal level, the Trump administration has been dismantling climate science writ large. And for the first time, more than 85 scientists have answered back, putting out a 450-page point by point rebuttal of the Department of Energy's climate skeptic memo that went out.