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A 3.9 Magnitude Aftershock Recorded South of Marrakech; More Than 2,000 People Dead After Morocco Earthquake; Biden Looks to Strengthen U.S.-Vietnam Ties As G20 Wraps; Ukraine Rips G20 Declaration, Says Member Nations Have "Nothing To Be Proud Of" After Failing to Call Out Russia; Biden Arrives In Vietnam For One-Day Visit; U.S. Seeks to Bolster Vietnam Ties Amid Tensions with China; White House: Biden Helped Restore U.S.' Global Leadership Role at G20; Deadline Looming to Avoid Government Shutdown; Pelosi on Reelection Bid: My Focus is the House, The Presidency; New Reported Sighting of Escaped Pennsylvania Inmate; Pennsylvania Resident Describes Terror After Encounter with Escaped Killer; Category 2 Hurricane Lee May Regain Strength By Monday; Hurricane Lee Could Bring Dangerous Surf Conditions and Rip Currents to East Coast. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 10, 2023 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:33]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. We begin this morning with reports of a 3.9 aftershock in Morocco. Of course, it's two days after Friday's major earthquake in the north African nation. More than 2,000 people were killed and close to 2,000 injured in the 6.8 magnitude original quake.

It's the country's deadliest earthquake in decades. Those numbers are expected to rise as rescuers dig through the rubble.

WALKER: But relief efforts are slow to arrive at some of the most remote areas. You can see drone footage here showing the scope of the damage. Entire villages have been flattened, reduced to piles of rubble in the aftermath of this earthquake.

Now, earlier a person was pulled from under a collapsed building and then carried away to safety. It was a rare moment of celebration. And for a second night thousands of people slept in the streets of Marrakech. Many have no home to return to or facing the threat of aftershocks, they are afraid to sleep in the damaged buildings. CNN's Sam Kiley has more.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the scene here in the medina in Marrakech. As you can see, a whole side of this building has collapsed into one of these very narrow streets. And the concern for the authorities here, and they have evacuated most of the tourists from this area, is that if there are any more tremors then more of this will occur.

The buildings themselves many of them are very, very badly damaged and they have got some catastrophic cracks. You can see up there particularly in the left of the shot you can see how with a minor tremor all of this could come tumbling down. Now, there have been tremors elsewhere in the country and it is the tremors, the aftershocks that are continuing to pose very severe problems for the authorities, partly because the roads are being closed. If they weren't closed originally by the earthquake, they are being closed by subsequent tremors. And, of course, those buildings that are remaining standing are likely to come down.

Now, tens of thousands of people are believed to have been made homeless by this earthquake. People are having to sleep out in the open. There have been some miraculous rescues. Yesterday afternoon a woman was pulled out from under the rubble, having been trapped there for 12 hours. And there's a similar rescue here in Marrakech.

But the authorities are having to use helicopters, aircraft to get to some of these remote villages in the Atlas Mountains. The foothills of the Atlas Mountains of Berber area traditionally has been extremely badly hit with whole villages being reduced to rubble. It is in those areas where the death toll, which is now just over 2,000 people, at least 13 here in Marrakech, but 2,000 people in the rest of the country, and likely to rise as the authorities pick through this rubble and discover whether or not the people who are missing are now actually dead.

WALKER: All right. Sam Kiley, thank you. Let's bring in Mey Al Sayegh. She is the head of communications with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Really appreciate you joining us. Mey, first off, I know you have been talking to the volunteers there on the ground, helping with the rescue efforts. Have you heard of very many rescues that have been happening?

MEY AL SAYEGH, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES: Good morning. Thank you for having us, first of all. Please, let me express my sincere condolences to the Moroccan people and those who lost their loved ones and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.

As a federation -- the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies we work closely with the Moroccan Red Crescent. So, we had the chance to be in contact with our volunteers there on the ground. So they were, as you know, that the volunteers are working with the local communities there to provide them the services, the first-aid and they were helping the public. It's a strong earthquake.

And the volunteers nowadays, I had just had a call with them. They are organizing the Moroccan Red Crescent, mobilizing all their volunteers across the country, and they have a blood donation campaign.

[06:05:07]

So, the volunteers themselves are donating blood for the people affected in this devastating earthquake.

WALKER: But I understand that you are also helping coordinate some of the rescue and recovery efforts. Is that correct? AL SAYEGH: As a federation, we work with the national society. So, our national society there is helping the Moroccan authorities in the rescue and search effort and mobilizing all their teams on the ground. And as you know, most of the volunteers are trained to do first-aid. So, they were from the very beginning the first on the ground to provide first-aid and heal the wounds of the injured and give them shelter, psychosocial support, et cetera.

WALKER: Got it. OK. So, tell me, in terms of injuries, what you're hearing about for those who, you know, have survived this earthquake. I mean, I'm just looking at the pictures here, and it really looks like a very challenging effort for those who are digging through what looks like really thick, dense clay and mud, the rubble there on the ground. For those who are injured, what kind of injuries are your volunteers seeing? What kind of treatments are they giving them?

AL SAYEGH: So far, we don't have a clear picture on the severity of injuries. But our volunteers are saying that there are a lot of people still under the rubble, and they are not -- they are not able to reach to most of them. So, this needs collaboration with the public, authorities to be able to get the injured from under the rubble.

Until now, the picture is not very clear, but as the operation unfolds, we will have a clear idea on the situation. But as we know from other disasters all over the world, and we have the recent earthquake in Syria and Turkey, we know that there will be severe injuries and that people need very urgent support to get them under the rubble. But as we know, the capacity of the national society cannot respond alone to like a disaster with this magnitude.

WALKER: What kind of resources are needed then on the ground?

AL SAYEGH: First of all, after we continue the rescue and the search of efforts, people need food, people need water. As you know, that the water pipelines are now damaged. The electricity cut off. The roads are blocked.

So, people need first the basic needs and they need shelter. And they are traumatized. Basically, psychosocial support is very much needed and -- these are the basic needs that we have witnessed in many disasters before. And also, medical mobile clinics would also be helpful to provide surgeries for the affected people.

And from all over the world we have calls from Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies. They are mobilizing their resources and their support, their teams on the ground. We ourselves are sending our emergency teams on the ground to support the national society, the Moroccan Red Crescent, and help them give aid to the affected people and rescue them as fast as possible.

WALKER: We are seeing a huge response from around the world, including the United States, pledging significant assistance. The last we heard, the Moroccan government saying it's deploying its own response to the quake, but I'd imagine just looking at the damage and the devastation that a lot of help will be needed from around the world. Mey Al Sayegh, appreciate you. Thank you. And you can learn how to help victims of the Morocco earthquake at CNN.com/impact or text Morocco to 707070 to donate.

BLACKWELL: With the G20 summit officially now over, President Biden now turns his focus to Vietnam where the U.S. is looking to strengthen ties with the country and lessen the influence of China and Russia in the region. We may get more insight into the Biden administration's strategy later this morning when President Biden holds a news conference in Hanoi.

WALKER: For more now we are joined by CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson. He is in New Delhi. And CNN correspondent Anna Coren is in Hanoi.

Ivan, let's begin with you. Ukraine is not happy with the G20 statement on the war, saying the group's members -- quote -- "have nothing to be proud of." Tell us more what is in the statement and, I guess, more importantly what's not in this declaration.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, Amara, the biggest sticking point and the biggest point of contention in this meeting here in New Delhi was the war in Ukraine, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

[06:10:03]

And I know that because the top Indian official who was kind of leading negotiations in place of the prime minister of India, he put out a tweet saying that this was, the most complex part of the entire G20 was bringing consensus on Russia and Ukraine. These geopolitical paragraphs in this joint statement that was put out it was done over 200 hours of non-stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings, and 15 drafts.

So, that gives you a sense of how much work went into it. And there was actually a lot of concern that maybe the gathered governments here would not be able to agree on a consensus document. In the end, they did.

And what it did -- what the Ukrainians are angry about is it did not directly condemn Russia for its invasion a year and a half ago of its smaller neighbor Ukraine. Instead, it spoke more generally, talking about how the use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible, that it is wrong for one country to invade another country and annex its territory, as Russia has done, and that the consequences of the ongoing war in Ukraine are doing serious harm to the global economy, particularly to the world's poorer countries. So, the Ukrainians are not happy with this.

The Biden administration has defended it saying, hey, there were good cases presented here. Clearly, it was important for the Indian host to not break with tradition of having a consensus statement coming out at the end of this summit. It would have been the first time since 2008 if they haven't been able to agree on something.

But definitely the Ukrainians unhappy with the fact that Russia's feet weren't put further closer to the fire here. But do keep in mind, Russia is a member of the G20, as is its close ally, China, which has, so far, not condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as have several other G20 countries, for example, the host country India.

BLACKWELL: Well, speaking of China, let's now turn to Vietnam where Anna is and how the influence of China plays into what we expect to hear and see from the president over the next 24 hours or so.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Vietnam is very much aware that China is watching. And, you know, it does not want to anger Beijing. You know, China is Vietnam's big northern neighbor. They share an 800-mile land border, it is the largest trading partner. It cannot afford to upset China.

But, at the same time, you know, Vietnam is incredibly pragmatic. That is what we have heard from U.S. officials who have worked and lived here. And they say that Vietnam is looking for the best deal.

You know, it wants to be autonomous. It wants to be self-sufficient. And it knows that there are huge economic opportunities by upgrading its partnership with the U.S.

The U.S. have been trying for many years now to upgrade its partnership. It's an exclusive club, something that China and Russia are a part of. Well, now the U.S. is going to be a part of it as well.

But we have also heard from officials saying aboard Air Force One on the trip over saying that the U.S. is going to upgrade the Vietnamese relationship to top level, and that there will be a security component in that. And we've heard that they are talking about perhaps, you know, helping Vietnam diversify away from Russian weaponry. That is something that Vietnam has used now for decades and decades dating back to the Viet Cong, the armed Viet Cong.

Vietnam's top brass would go to Soviet Union and then to Russia for training. So, there was a deep, you know, relationship there. But the Americans are looking to move in there. They are going to offer them economic opportunities, but also security opportunities. Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Anna Coren, Ivan Watson, traveling there with the president. Thanks so much.

Let's bring in now Luke Broadwater. He is a congressional correspondent for "The New York Times." The White House, Luke, says that the president delivered on his earlier pledge to -- quote -- "restore the United States' leadership role in the world" at the G20. You've got China. Xi was not there. Putin was not there. Did the president succeed?

LUKE BROADWATER, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, I think Democrats believe that President Biden is setting an example that President Trump did not set, and that's a message you hear repeatedly on Capitol Hill, that President Biden has changed the tone in Washington.

[06:15:05] He has changed American's standing in the world. He has, you know, regained respect of other countries. The Republicans view it very differently. They think he has weakened America. They think that Trump's more -- I guess, more aggressive, verbal style had the respect of Russia and of authoritarians around the world.

So, it's a very divided view in the Congress about whether President Biden is succeeding internationally. And really there is almost no changing it, no matter what President Biden does.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's turn toward Congress now, bring it home. The House returns this week. They have got about a dozen or so work days to fund the government. I mean, the country could be facing a government shutdown if they do not come to an agreement there in the House. The Senate seems to be moving their funding bills through.

McCarthy has the right flank that wants changes to the DOJ. They want some changes to the Pentagon. They want some more money for funding the border. What's his weak back look like as he is trying to herd these cats?

BROADWATER: Yes, not good. He has a big -- he has a big task ahead of him, and he is feeling a lot of pressure. I would -- if I had to bet, I would bet we will have some sort of shut down at some point this year. The House simply does not have time to pass its 12 different appropriations bills by the end of the month. It's literally impossible, I would think.

So, they need this short-term funding extension. And right now, the House Freedom Caucus, which is more than 30 members, is adamantly opposed to doing that unless they get some of the concessions you just named. They want this border bill included. They want funding cut even lower than what's been agreed to with the White House already.

It stands in stark contrast to what's going on in the Senate where the Senate has advanced bipartisan funding bills out of its committees with Republicans working hand in hand with the Democrats. But the House is just a completely different world and, you know, McCarthy has had a really difficult time wrangling this far-right faction to get them to vote to keep the government going.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the Democrats and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. It's been a long time since I've called her Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi because she has been in leadership for so long. But she has announced that she is running for reelection, 36-year incumbent. When asked whether she would serve a full term, she told "Politico," we'll see, yes, that's the plan.

But she added this which I think gives some important insight. Here is the quote. "My focus is the House and presidency. You're in a stronger position as a candidate. You may not know this, but if you're not a candidate, you really can't raise money for yourself. And raising money for myself enables me to spend that on other people." And she added this, "For the House Democrats, though, I needed to be able to still raise significant money for them as a candidate." So, maybe that's why she is running for reelection. But does she really need to be there? I mean, she's Nancy Pelosi. She has raised millions of dollars over her time in leadership. Could she have not done this from a super PAC outside the chamber?

BROADWATER: Yes, I mean, Nancy Pelosi is out of leadership but she's still very much a leader. She does give advice to the new leaders of the House Democrats whenever they ask for advice. She doesn't force it upon them. She waits for them to come to her.

But, you know, one of her great abilities is as a master fundraiser and it is much easier, as she said, to raise money for your own campaign and then you can distribute that money to campaigns that you want to help. And so, I think she is very good at that and, you know -- and she is going to keep doing it.

She really has played the senior advisor role. She has been enjoying taking a step back and working more with her constituents in California rather than running the House. And I think she really likes what she is doing. When she's walking around the halls, she's -- she's upbeat and positive, always happy to talk to the reporters. And I think she feels a weight off her shoulders but also that she can still get the work done, even though she is in her 80s.

BLACKWELL: Luke Broadwater, thanks so much.

WALKER: Up next, a Category 2 hurricane is churning in the Atlantic and it could restrengthen and get larger in the days to come. We're going to look at the threat Hurricane Lee could pose to the Atlantic coast.

Also, Coco steals the show at the U.S. Open. We'll show you how the 19-year-old superstar rally from behind to secure her first Grand Slam.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:56]

BLACKWELL: All right. Breaking news. There has been another reported sighting of escaped inmate Danelo Cavalcante. Police say the fugitive was spotted last night. This was in the northern Chester County area near Phoenixville. And Cavalcante has changed his appearance. He is now clean-shaven, was last seen wearing a yellow or green hooded sweatshirt, black baseball hat, green prison pants and white shoes. Now, police also say he may be in unknown vehicle. Possibly a white vehicle.

WALKER: Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania resident who lives near the Chester County prison describes the moment he encountered the prison escapee, Danelo Cavalcante, in his home. Ryan Drummond says his family was going to bed when he heard a noise on Friday. He told CNN's Michael Smerconish that he turned the light on and off several times to let the intruder know that he was being watched.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RYAN DRUMMOND, ENCOUNTERED ESCAPED MURDERER IN HIS HOUSE: He flicked the light switch back at me from the kitchen. So, that was kind of the acute moment of terror. I turn to my wife. I said, he's downstairs, call 911 right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:25:05]

WALKER: He also said the convicted killer wearing a white shirt, a white hat and carrying a white bag fled. Police then arrived moments later and the search for Cavalcante is now entering its 11th day.

Hurricane Lee is still churning in the Atlantic Ocean with sustained winds of 105 miles an hour. Lee is currently a Category 2 hurricane, but it is expected to restrengthen and get larger in the coming days.

BLACKWELL: It's well north of the Leeward Islands in Puerto Rico. And forecasters say the storm will bring dangerous surf and life- threatening rip currents to the Atlantic coast. Let's go to meteorologist Allison Chinchar now in the weather center. Allison, what do you see?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. So, let's take a look at the latest. We have got that new update at the top of the 5:00 hour. Sustained winds right now, 105 miles per hour. It's gusting up to 125.

Now, the forward movement to the right now is to the west-northwest at just about nine miles per hour. It's going to continue that track and strengthen over the next 24 to 36 hours, likely getting back up to a Category 4 by late Monday or very early into the day Tuesday. Then it will start to begin that slight turn towards the north, but exactly when it makes that turn is kind of up in the air right now.

Not all the models agree on exactly when it makes that turn, how much farther west it ends up going. They all fall within this red box here, but even as they go north, you have got everything from a possible landfall to New York all the way over into Nova Scotia, Canada. So, again, a lot is at play here.

Right now, what's mainly steering the particular storm is this Bermuda high pressure system that's right here. That's going to be the focus of all that west northwestward movement in at least 24 to 36 hours. But as we get into the next week you have got a couple of more factors at play.

This high-pressure system here in south Florida and also this trough. Both of these are going to work together to steer the rest of Lee over the next couple of days. But even then, the track will vary a little bit and giving us multiple different possible paths. So certainly, something we will have to keep a close eye on in the next couple days.

BLACKWELL: Allison Chinchar, I know you will, thanks so much. Just ahead, we will go live to Ukraine where forces shot down more than two dozen Russian attack drones this morning. We have the latest from the battlefield coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:27]

BLACKWELL: Ukraine says that Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv early today with blast bringing out across the city, and at least 25 of the 32 Russian attack drones were intercepted by Ukrainian air defense forces.

WALKER: Officials say falling debris caused some damage to civilian infrastructure and one non-life-threatening casualty was reported. CNN's Melissa Bell is live for us from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

Hi, Melissa. Tell us more about this air attack.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these were attacks that led to sirens being sounded in most of the northern parts of Ukraine. What you mentioned a moment ago were the efficiency once again of Ukrainian air defense. A huge proportion of those drones stopped and yet some damaged cause and a lot of that around Kyiv and one person injured.

What we've seen over the course of the last few days are fairly sustained drone attacks on the part of Russia. Many of them until last night targeting more the southern regions and specifically the Odessa region down by the border with Romania. And that is because what we've seen over the course of the last few days and ever since Vladimir Putin went to Sochi potentially in theory to renegotiate this Black Sea grain deal with the Turkish leader, there has been sustained drone attacks on everything that is agriculture infrastructure port facilities here in Ukraine. A very cynical series of attacks four days in a row that saw the southern part of the country targeted specifically those parts of Ukraine that allow the grain to get to the rest of the world.

This time a change of tact, it was the northern parts of the country that were targeted and specifically Kyiv. Still, no particular fatalities to report. And just also, by the way, this comes as a time, Amara and Boris, when we're seeing a lot of drone attacks going the other way. What we've seen over the course of the last week were fairly sustained Ukraine attacks on Russian soil as well.

BLACKWELL: So, Russia is holding elections in four occupied areas in Ukraine this weekend, but the Ukrainian officials, they're calling it a sham. Tell us more.

BELL: That's right. Essentially, what you're talking about here, Victor and Amara, these are local and regional elections that are being held across the Russian Federation, but also controversially in those parts of Ukraine that Russia now claims as it's own, the four parts that had held referendums and in which Moscow really wants to legitimize its rule.

Now, there is no question from the point of view of Ukrainian authorities that these are sham elections, that they hold no legitimacy at all. And we'd been hearing various reports about some pretty heavy-handed tactics, Victor, in those Ukrainian-held territories, people -- Russian forces going on doors, knocking at doors, encouraging people to go out and vote these are elections that went on from the eighth until today is the final day of voting.

What we've managed to do is speak to one woman who's over in the occupied territories who said look, she hadn't seen herself very much evidence of heavy-handed tactics, but look, everybody knows these are sham elections. The results are a foregone conclusion. And no one there really has any doubts about what's actually going on. We expect poor attendance and again, results that don't reflect any sort of legitimacy for the Russian authorities there. Amara and Victor?

BLACKWELL: Melissa Bell, thank you.

Also, coming up on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS," Fareed is in Ukraine for an exclusive interview with President Zelenskyy on the counter-offensive, also corruption in Ukraine, and the question of if he's willing to compromise with Putin. "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" this morning at 10:00 right here on CNN.

[06:35:09]

WALKER: Also, an escalating culture war in California as school districts move to require parents to be notified when their child asks to be recognized by a different gender identity or pronoun. We'll have the latest on the policy debate next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Some California parents are getting angry at their school district over a gender identity policy.

BLACKWELL: The state stepped in. A judge blocked the Chino Valley Unified School District on a new rule. Now, this rule required the schools to notify parents if their child requests a gender different from what's on their birth certificate, but it's a temporary block. Here's CNN's Camila Bernal to talk to us about what she learned from parents who were on both sides of this issue.

[06:40:17]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MISTY STARTUP, PARENT: My oldest, Payton, and then Madison.

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Six children, all have attended the Chino Valley Unified School District in Southern California.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How's school?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good.

STARTUP: Good?

BERNAL (voiceover): Mom Misty Startup now goes to every single school board meeting. Many getting extremely contentious and even violent. The issue at the center of the fight, a transgender notification policy requiring schools to notify parents if children change their gender identification or pronouns.

STARTUP: If we're keeping this from parents, what else is going to be kept from us.

BERNAL (voiceover): Those fighting for this policy say school employees in California have helped children socially transition without telling the parents. They became the first in the state to pass a policy at the local level.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a yes. The motion passes.

BERNAL (voiceover): But parents and advocates on the other side of the issue say the communication already existed. Kristi Hirst is a mom of three, a former teacher, and the co-founder of a nonprofit helping parents fight against issues like the transgender notification policy.

KRISTI HIRST, PARENT: It assumes that teachers are trying to keep secrets from parents which is not true. And it promotes an atmospheric distrust between the school and families. After Chino, five other school districts in California have followed suit. To stop the trend, the California Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Chino Valley. And this week a judge agreed, issuing a temporary restraining order.

ROB BONTA, ATTORNEY GENERAL, CALIFORNIA: You cannot target, single out, discriminate against, and violate the privacy rights of students. That's exactly what this policy does.

BERNAL (voiceover): The Chino Valley School Board president Sonja Shaw says they were disappointed but not surprised by the ruling.

SONJA SHAW, PRESIDENT, CHINO VALLEY SCHOOL BOARD: We know that we're not going to win it here in California because who is elected and who is appointed here in California. But we know at the federal government level, we can win this.

BERNAL (voiceover): Both sides say this is not just happening in California.

BONTA: There have been over 200 laws in over 40 states introduced to strip away and hurt and discriminate against the LGBTQ community and to take away their rights.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All in favor?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Aye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aye.

BERNAL (voiceover): And as the legal fights play out in California and across the country, an agreement between the parents seems unlikely.

HIRST: I think the middle ground already existed and they have been manipulated to think it didn't.

STARTUP: As long as this is an issue and they're trying to break up families, I'm in this fight. We don't co-parent with the government.

BERNAL (voiceover): Camila Bernal, CNN, Chino Valley, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: History at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Teen tennis phenom Coco Gauff pulls together an amazing comeback to win the U.S. Open. Her first grand slam. We'll show you how she got it done next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:35]

BLACKWELL: So, this next story is about love and family and long- awaited hugs. 42 years after being stolen from his mother's arms in Chile, an American man reunites with the woman who gave birth to him.

WALKER: What a story. This former Marine traveled thousands of miles to meet his other family. After finding out he was stolen at birth during the rule of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. CNN's Rafael Romo traveled with him and has the full story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, welcome! Welcome!

JIMMY LIPPERT THYDEN, STOLEN AS A BABY IN CHILE: When I arrived in Chile, I felt like a lost puzzle piece. A piece that had been lost for 42 years.

RAFAEL ROMO CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voiceover): It's a birthday party that had to wait for more than four decades.

THYDEN: They stole 42 years, but they will not steal 43.

ROMO (voiceover): Jimmy Lippert Thyden is celebrating with a family he never knew he had.

THYDEN: I am blessed in the fact that I have a loving family on both sides of the equator.

ROMO (voiceover): His story begins in 1981 in Valdivia, a city in southern Chile.

THYDEN: My mother, my ma, she gave birth to me one month premature. They told her, you know, oh, he looks jaundiced, you know, he looks yellow. We need to put him in an incubator and they carried me out of there. Before she could hold me, before she could name me, they carried me out. And then they came back and told her that I had died.

ROMO (voiceover): Thyden says that it was all a scheme to make money out of unsuspecting foreign families looking to adopt children, especially Americans who had no idea what was going on.

ROMO: Your adoptive family in the United States had no idea that you had been stolen as a baby? THYDEN: They never believed for one second they were buying a child.

They never would have -- would have done that.

ROMO (voiceover): During the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s, babies were funneled to adoption agencies, some from the upper classes taken or given up to protect reputations of their mothers, and some from the lower classes where children were simply stolen. Chilean authorities say many priests, nuns, doctors, nurses, and others conspired to carry out illegal adoptions.

Authorities told us a number of stolen babies could be in the thousands, but the investigation into the adoptions has languished over the years and some of the hospitals where the children were born have shut down as we have found out over the years.

ROMO: For many women in this country, what this hospital in ruins means is a place where their children were stolen, a place that became a nightmare for them. They were looking for a place where they would deliver a healthy baby. Instead, they left empty-handed.

ROMO (voiceover): Constanza del Rio, the founder of Nos Buscamos, says that after Jimmy Thyden got in touch with them, she recommended a DNA test.

THYDEN: Hello, my name is Jimmy Thyden.

ROMO (voiceover): When a match came back a few weeks later, she says she knew the next step was making a phone call to a woman who had believed for decades her son had died shortly after being born.

She couldn't believe it, she said. She thought it was a joke in poo taste because she had been told her premature baby boy had died.

THYDEN: She didn't know about me because I was taken from her at birth, and she was told that I was dead. And when she asked for my body, they told her that they had disposed of it. So, we've never held each other. We've never hugged. And today, I'm going to get to do that for the first time.

ROMO (voiceover): After several agonizing months, Jimmy Thyden was finally able to travel to Chile to give Maria Angelica Gonzalez, his biological mother, the hug that had to wait for 42 years.

ROMO: What would you like the world to know about what happened to you? What do you want people to know about your case?

THYDEN: I want them to know that there's tens of thousands of children like me. We tell our story, we do these interviews because we tell these stories until every child is found.

ROMO (voiceover): How do you get back the time lost? You can't, Jimmy Thyden says. In the end, he added, the wisdom about what happened came from one of his daughters who told them if a bad thing hadn't happened, she wouldn't be here. And thanks to that, her father now has not one but two families who love him deeply.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Santiago, Chile and Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Coco Gauff is the winner of the U.S. Open and a Grand Slam champion for the first time.

BLACKWELL: She's 19 years old. She pulled off an incredible comeback win in front of the home crowd there in New York. Coy Wire is joining us from New York.

Coy, the first thing I checked when I woke up this morning was that headline, who won the women's final, and it was Coco.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And what's up, Victor and Amara? A cacophony of cries and cheers for Coco Gauff becoming the first American team to win the U.S. Open since her idols Serena Williams in 1999. She had to rally. She lost the first set. 27 of the last 28 players to win the first set in the final had gone on to win the U.S. Open. But the crowd started chanting, let's go Coco, and Coco found another gear. Australian Open champ Aryna Sabalenka never stood a chance.

Coco taking the first four games of the third set. And Victor and Amara, watch when she hits the winner. She collapses to the court. Coco Gauff turned pro at 14. She graduated high school virtually in Paris last year during the French Open as she chased her dreams. And now, at 19, her first-ever career grand slam title.

Just over a decade ago, she was in the stands dancing at Arthur Ashe Stadium as a fan. And now, she's showing that dreams come true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COCO GAUFF, U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: That little girl, like she had the dream, but you know, I don't know if she fully believed it. As a kid, you have so many dreams. You know, as you get older, sometimes it can fiddle away and I would tell her don't lose that dream. Honestly, I felt like I lost a little bit of the dream as this journey has gone, but I was just so hard to keep working hard and keep believing in that dream and don't let the doubters diminish that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Awesome. College football, awesome. The University of Texas is back. The 11th-ranked Longhorns going to Alabama and pulling off a crushing upset against the number three Crimson Tide. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers making Xavier worthy. The pot of gold at the end of a 44-yard rainbow. Ewers three passing touchdowns on the day. And the Longhorns' defense savage, sacking Bama quarterback Jalen Milroe five times, forcing two interceptions, including Jerrin Thompson there earlier in the fourth. Texas outscoring Alabama 28 -- 21-8 in the final frame, and Nick Saban's first non-conference home loss in 16 years. Hook them 34-28. Coach Prime bringing the rumble back to Rockies. Deion Sanders busting out the brand-new turnover throne for his first home game, and his buffaloes put it to good use, forcing four turnovers against Nebraska. And after setting a school record in his first game, his son, Shedeur Sanders put on another show throwing for almost 400 yards, two touchdowns, and a 36-14 win.

Finally, happy NFL Sunday, everyone. Tonight, just before the Sunday night game, my one-hour documentary about the fight to make football safer. We explore an NFL funded research lab testing new equipment, safer helmets. And they're using A.I. so that they can detect injuries before they happen.

We have head coaches Andy Reid of the Chiefs, Bills' Sean McDermott. Current and former players revealing a whole new world in the NFL regarding players' safety. We even have The Rock Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia, co-owners of the XFL on their league, which is developing a safer style of play that the NFL is considering. It's called "HARD HITS: CAN FOOTBALL BE SAFE?" That's tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

It's not Victor Blackwell, but you do get an hour of the second best- looking bald dude on our air. This guy.

WALKER: I would say you guys are a tie.

BLACKWELL: No.

WALKER: No. Oh, you take the cake. He takes the cake fully.

BLACKWELL: I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

WALKER: One vote from him.

WIRE: Easy now, Victor.

WALKER: Really relevant issue though. Thanks for bringing that, also for tuning in, Coy.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Coy.

WIRE: All right, thanks.

BLACKWELL: The next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

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