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CNN This Morning
Tropical Storm Ophelia Makes Landfall Along North Carolina Coast; Government On The Brink Of A Shutdown With No Deal In Sight; President Zelenskyy Returns To Ukraine After North American Tour. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired September 23, 2023 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:00:00]
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: What's inside you ask? A ballroom, a guest bedroom suite fit for royalty, and a game room that's basically a playground for adults. I mean look, its space is space. I feel like I would I'd love to be there. I don't know about that price, but you know I'd love to be there.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: 27,000 square feet now for 1.75 million. Again, we're talking rural Iowa. That is, is a good price. If you move that to where you are, where I am, I mean, we're talking 10-plus. It is a fantastic rental job. I'm envious.
JIMENEZ: Yes, that price is going to get me about 30 square feet here in --
BLACKWELL: Right, right.
JIMENEZ: So, you know, different markets, different markets. But maybe I'll visit one day. The next hour of CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
Good morning and welcome to CNN THIS MORNING, for just joining us. It's Saturday, September 23rd. I'm Omar Jimenez in for Amara Walker.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Thank you for spending part of your morning with us. Here's what we're watching for you this morning. Tropical storm Ophelia is moving up the East Coast this morning and it's bringing strong winds and heavy rains. And now, thousands of people are without power as this storm is hitting the Carolinas. We've got the track for you and the potential impacts.
JIMENEZ: Plus, the clock is ticking, and the country is quickly barreling toward a shutdown as talks among Republicans to fund the government have broken down. What we're learning about the talks happening today to try to move closer to a deal.
BLACKWELL: A North Carolina man died after driving off a collapsed bridge and now his family is suing Google. They claim the company is partially responsible. The man's widow and her attorney will join us with why they believe that company is at fault.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a military jet crash. I'm the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling. I'm not sure where the airplane is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: A fighter jet pilot calls 911 after ejecting from his plane some 2,000 feet in the air. What officials are saying about the accident, coming up.
A strong tropical storm has just made landfall near Emerald Isle along the North Carolina coast and the impact will be felt all the way up the eastern seaboard. Tropical storm Ophelia washed ashore this morning, nearing hurricane strength with winds topping 70 miles per hour. And those winds, along with heavy rain and dangerous storm surge, are all big concerns for residents along coastal Carolina.
BLACKWELL: The outer bands of the storm have already caused flash flooding and power outages. 53,000 people are in the dark in both North Carolina and Virginia. Let's bring in now CNN Meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, who's seeing the impact of Ophelia now?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, so probably the worst of it is really hyper-focused over portions of North Carolina and Virginia. That's the closest to the center of the storm. The sustained wind is still 70 miles per hour, gusting up to 85. But you can see, even some of those outer bands are reaching pretty far north. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, starting to see a lot of those rain bands begin to push in, even some thunderstorms. But the heaviest rain is really focused across portions of Virginia and North Carolina.
Jacksonville, Kingston, even stretching over towards Raleigh. From time to time, they're getting some of those heavier bands. The storm will continue to push inland and then start to veer back towards the north and east as we go through the next 24 hours but taking with it all of that heavy rain into the mid-Atlantic and areas of the northeast over the next 24 to 36 hours. So, you can see by this afternoon, you've got more of that heavy rain spreading in across Washington, D.C., Baltimore, then into Philadelphia, gradually into New York, and yes, even as far north as Boston could end up getting some rain from this particular system.
Now, one of the big concerns is flooding, and specifically river flooding. This is the James River already at major flood stage right now. We expect it to dip back to minor flood stage this afternoon before coming back to major flood stage for the next high tide, which will be about 6:00 p.m. tonight, and that's just one of the few places that has a potential for some extreme flooding both today and tomorrow.
BLACKWELL: All right, Allison Chinchar watching it for us, thank you so much. So, the federal government is on the brink of a shutdown and Congress seems to have made really no progress towards a funding deal. The House Speaker Kevin McCarthy his hands are essentially tied because some hardline Republicans are threatening his job if he puts forward a continuing resolution. JIMENEZ: And now preparations are being made to halt non-essential functions. In the next couple of days, we're expected to get an update on how many people will go on furlough and which employees will be deemed essential and asked to work without pay. CNN's Jasmine Wright joins us now from the White House. Jasmine, so what is President Biden's team saying about all this?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, the White House is directing federal agencies essentially to get ready for a potential shutdown. Now, they issued that guidance on Friday as we saw a lot of House Republicans leave Washington, D.C. with no clear plan in place. So, the Office of Management and Budget is issuing the shutdown guidance to these federal agencies, they call it standard but mandatory. That happens every time we get to about seven days before a shutdown deadline. We know that this year, that is September 30th.
[07:05:14]
Now, this is important because each federal agency has different plans and procedures that they will put in place if there is a shutdown. Talking about things like how many employees will be furloughed, how many employees will be deemed essential does have to work through a shutdown? But it's not just jobs that are at risk, Omar and Victor, it's also essential services like -- that are very essential to this White House like payment for military, military families, law enforcement, personnel food aid, and safety programs as well as travel processing standards.
So, these are things that the White House wants to keep funding and that they warned yesterday at this podium next to me for House Republicans not to put at risk. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Republicans shut down does not have to happen. They can do their, they can do their job and keep these vital programs continuing, keeping the government open. Our message is, this should not be happening. We should not be putting American families' lives in turmoil.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: So, as we heard that from the White House, we also know on the other side of Pennsylvania, on the House side, Republicans have been preparing these four bills that would be long-term funding bills to fund parts of the government like defense and other essential areas that this White House calls extreme bills. But take a listen to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy yesterday talk about his new plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I think we've made some progress to those who have been holding up, passing the rule to get onto these bills. We've got members working, and hopefully, we'll be able to move forward on Tuesday to pass these bills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: So, the thing about those four bills though is that we know that even if they were to get passed the House side, they would be dead on arrival at the Senate. So, we wake up this Saturday morning not much closer to avoiding a potential shutdown on the House side, the Senate side, or here at the White House. Omar, Victor.
JIMENEZ: We will see what could possibly break through, if anything. Jasmine Wright, thank you so much.
Overseas now, new developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict this morning. Ukraine claims its strike on Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Crimea has left dozens dead and wounded, including senior leadership. But Russia says only one soldier is missing after Friday's missile attack.
BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, according to military officials, drones and artillery pummeled parts of southern and central Ukraine. One person has been killed; three others wounded. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has been following all the developments from London. Salma, good morning to you. And let's start with more about these attacks. What can you tell us?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so let's start with that attack that's really in the heart of Russia's Black Sea fleet in Crimea, in Sevastopol, where Ukrainian special forces say that they were able to carry out these strikes on the Black Sea headquarters fleet at a very opportune time, noon yesterday when a meeting was taking place, a high-level meeting. Ukraine now claiming that dozens of Russian military personnel are killed or wounded in claim that there is senior leadership among those injured or killed.
Now, important to note here, Ukraine has provided no evidence to this claim, and Russia disputes it, as you mentioned so far, the Russian line, Russian officials saying that only one Russian soldier is missing. But what's key to remember here is just how important, how vulnerable this makes Russia feel. A strike again right in the heart of Russian-occupied Crimea.
Ukrainian forces claiming this is part of a double whammy in the last 24 to 48 hours. They've also been able to claim a village south of Zaporizhzhia, one tiny step closer to that larger goal. But they are also facing fierce Russian resistance. You mentioned those huge attacks in the south of Ukraine, in central Ukraine, and Kherson alone, in the last 24 hours -- some 600 shells landed.
BLACKWELL: Salma Abdelaziz reporting for us, thank you so much. Joining me now to discuss is Kim Dozier, Managing Editor of Military Times and CNN Global Affairs Analyst. Kim, good morning to you. Let's start with what I guess is a pending decision from the White House on these long-range weapons, the ATAKMS, that the Ukrainian military President Zelenskyy have asked for. Some have said that this could be a game changer, but every time there's this incremental addition, expansion of support, the game really doesn't change much. What would the addition of these long-range missiles mean for Ukraine in this war? KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: What they could mean is strike
capacity on Russian supply lines to its troops in Crimea, the main troops that are prosecuting the war against Ukraine and backing up those forces that are holding the Ukrainian counter offensive back. So, what these long-range missiles could do is they won't, they wouldn't take as much training say as teaching pilots how to fly F- 16s, but I'm sure they come with the tag line of, you will not use this against Russian territory proper.
[07:10:32]
That is the fear of the NSC, the White House, that any of these U.S. or NATO-provided weapons, NATO country-provided weapons would reach Russia proper and trigger a larger war, including triggering Russia's threat to use nuclear weapons. So, they could give the Ukrainians reach and the key part was Zelenskyy was just in D.C. where he could make that eyeball-to-eyeball promise to Biden that he's not going to use them to hit Moscow.
BLACKWELL: Yes, that of course has been the concern is that I think the range is what 190 miles for this system, is that they would reach Russian territory. Simply, the transfer of them, and this commitment from Ukraine, does that suggest that there would be any expansion or any escalation from Putin simply with the U.S. transferring these or NATO countries transferring these to the U.S., to Ukraine?
DOZIER: We've seen Putin step up his rhetoric, at least, when he hears promises of new batches or new types of technology. And we've seen Putin step up his outreach to European countries. But it's sort of -- there won't be much that he can do.
When we see what happens on the battlefield, though, if these do become a game changer, that are limiting, like if the troops at the front lines right now with Russia can use them to start hitting every weapons delivery coming in to backfill the troops in Crimea, or we just had a -- report we just heard from London that Ukraine was able to hit a major Black Sea operations center of the Russian Navy.
If those kinds of attacks become more frequent, and that's something these missiles could enable, then I think you're going to see Putin step up somehow whether it's calling up more forces or doing something to keep this at least on the win column from his perception, or at least to keep his forces in the fight.
BLACKWELL: Yes, again, the president has not approved this. He's expected to, according to officials. Um, let's turn now to Zelenskyy's visit to the U.N. to Washington as well. Um, and we'll get to Canada, too. But is Ukraine, is Zelenskyy in a substantially better position, uh, as it relates to support now than he was before the visit? Did he stop the deflation of support? How do you see the fruit of these trips?
DOZIER: It seems from some of the comments out of Capitol Hill that he staunched some of the bleeding. He was able to explain how badly he needed this aid. But the GOP objections to continuing funding of Ukraine are growing by the day and that gets backed up by opinion polls, including by CNN, that show a large proportion of the American public don't see why we're continuing to spend money as a nation to keep them in the fight.
The argument that President Biden is trying to make that this is about supporting values or the argument that I hear from Eastern European and Baltic nations that if you let Ukraine fall, we're next, that doesn't seem to be winning with the American people.
So, Zelenskyy stopped it, but he knows for now, but he knows that there's a clock ticking on his progress on the battlefield. He's got to make more progress or by next spring and by election season in the U.S. when it looks like there might be a GOP candidate or a high GOP concentration on the Hill, he could be facing a severe drop in funding and he knows he's got to make progress now.
BLACKWELL: Yes, he's well aware of the political realities here in the U.S. and how those impact his ability to fight off Russia there in Ukraine. Kim Dozier, always good to have you. Thank you.
JIMENEZ: Still to come, a jaw-dropping indictment in New York. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for the senator's power and influence. Now, he's refusing calls to resign.
[07:15:00]
Plus, Google is being sued by a family that says its Maps app led a father to drive off a collapsed bridge to his death. We'll speak to the family attorney ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Democratic Senator Bob Menendez is rejecting calls for his resignation after federal authorities indicted the New Jersey Senator and his wife with corruption-related charges for the second time in 10 years. Menendez and his wife, Nadine, are accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribe, also gold bars, a luxury vehicle, mortgage payments in exchange for the senator's influence.
JIMENEZ: Several New Jersey lawmakers, including Governor Phil Murphy, have called for the senator to resign. Menendez responded by saying he is "not going anywhere," and that he and his wife plan to fight the federal indictment. CNN's Paula Reid has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA REID, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator Robert Menendez facing corruption charges for the second time in just 10 years.
[07:20:00]
DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: I am announcing that my office has obtained a three-count indictment charging Senator Robert Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, and three New Jersey businessmen. REID: Federal prosecutors allege Menendez and his wife accepted bribes
including cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes to wield his influence for allies in the U.S. and Egypt.
WILLIAMS: Among other actions, Senator Menendez allegedly provided sensitive, non-public, U.S. government information to Egyptian officials, and otherwise took steps to secretly aid the government of Egypt.
REID: The senator, seen here, traveled to Egypt just last month. The powerful senator, who chaired the Foreign Relations Committee until he stepped down, also allegedly attempted to influence criminal investigations of two New Jersey businessmen, one of whom was a longtime fundraiser for the lawmaker, and allegedly pressured the Department of Agriculture to help an associate maintain a monopoly on the importation of halal meat to the United States.
Federal agents searched the Menendez's home in June 2022, finding over $480,000 in cash, much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe. Some envelopes were found inside jackets bearing Menendez's name and hanging in his closet as seen in this photo from the indictment. The senator's previous corruption case ended in a mistrial in 2017, then a partial acquittal a year after that before all charges were dropped.
Menendez subsequently won re-election.
SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): I'm so proud that New Jersians rejected the politics of personal destruction and the false negative salacious ads.
REID: The White House today declined to comment.
PIERRE: But again, this is an active matter, so I'm not going to comment.
REID: But New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat, along with Congressman Dean Phillips, among those calling on Menendez to resign.
REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN): I don't care if you're a politics, Democrat or Republican, you should be a politician. A member of Congress who appears to have broken the law is someone who I believe should resign. I think George Santos should have resigned already.
REID: But the senator refusing to back down, saying, "I have been falsely accused before because I refused to back down to the powers that be and the people of New Jersey were able to see through the smoke and mirrors and recognize I was innocent."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: The senator, and his wife along with their co-defendants are all expected to appear in federal court next Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney said though this investigation is very much ongoing. Paula Reid, CNN, Washington. BLACKWELL: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is heading
to the U.S. southern border today. And federal officials are sending more resources to the border because of the growing number of migrants crossing into the U.S. Border towns like Eagle Pass, Texas have declared a state of emergency. They're seeing thousands of migrants flood into their cities and their already crowded shelters are overwhelmed.
JIMENEZ: Nearly 9,000 people cross the southern border in one 24-hour period this week. Video shows migrants making a human chain as you see here as they attempt to make the dangerous crossing through the Rio Grande to the U.S. CNN's Ed Lavendera has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A small group of migrants scour the riverbank searching for a safe place to slip through razor wire, their final obstacle in a month's long journey to reach U.S. soil. A man carries a young boy on his shoulders, leading a line of migrants crossing the Rio Grande.
He said, we faint, we pass out, so this is crazy, but thank God we are here. Jorge Carullo of Venezuela holds his 3-year-old child, telling me his family walked for three months through Mexico before crossing the river. He said we cross illegally because our children can't take it anymore, can't handle it anymore.
Eagle Pass, Texas has been the flashpoint for a U.S. border crisis with no end in sight. For several days, thousands of people have turned themselves into U.S. authorities, but on this day, the scene is dramatically different. Only a small number of migrants have crossed the river.
ROLANDO SALINAS, EAGLE PASS, TEXAS MAYOR People are frustrated. They're angry. This is not normal.
LAVANDERA: Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas says city resources are strapped and claims that most of the migrants are processed and released. Many go to large cities.
CURTIS SLIWA, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: We don't know where they're from, what their names are.
LAVANDERA: Where they're increasingly met with resistance and dwindling resources.
SALINAS: So, imagine Eagle Pass, a place of a town of 28,000 people with limited resources. What are we supposed to do? Stand for ourselves? We can't.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We have Joe Biden interfering with my efforts to secure the actual border.
LAVANDERA: Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has gone on the political offensive, blaming the Biden administration for the crisis. Abbott is positioning his state as the only one stepping up, posting a video on social media of state authorities standing in front of a migrant group. The governor writing, "We are repelling illegal immigrants at the border," and reposting this video writing, "We are refusing to let migrants in and sending them back." But the migrants in that video were not repelled from the border. We watched as they all eventually helped each other crawl underneath the razor wire and turn themselves into state authorities and border patrol agents.
JESSIE FUENTES, KAYAK COMPANY OWNER: I am frustrated with everybody, with everybody because for me it's about the river.
LAVANDERA: Jessie Fuentes runs a kayak company on the Rio Grande and is suing Abbott for altering the river and hurting his business.
FUENTES: All these barriers, have they stopped them? Have they stopped them?
LAVANDERA: No sir.
FUENTES: They haven't. Until the problem is addressed, these people are coming over here for the American dream.
[07:25:55]
LAVANDERA: Local officials in border communities like Eagle Pass fear this latest migrant surge is far from over. The mayor of Eagle Pass says federal authorities have told him 50 to 60,000 migrants are starting to make their way through southern Mexico, and that large groups of migrants are waiting for the trains in Mexico moving north to start running again. Jorge Carrullo and his family arrived shaken and exhausted, but with a clear eye of what they've seen along the way to make it this far. He says, there's thousands of people coming behind him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: The most pressing questions that local officials all along the U.S. southern border are dealing with is just how long this migrant surge is going to last. The mayor of Eagle Pass says on Friday there were about 800 to a thousand people that crossed into the city here. That number is significantly lower than what they have seen several days earlier in the week, but they are still bracing for the worst.
They say, there is information that there are thousands of more migrants, if not tens of thousands of migrants, still making their way northward. The question is where they're all going to end up. Victor and Omar.
JIMENEZ: Ed Lavandera, thank you. Coming up, Google is being sued by the family of a man who died last year after driving off a cliff. The family says Google Maps is responsible. The man's wife and her attorney joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:31:09] JIMENEZ: The family of a North Carolina man is suing Google, accusing the tech giant of negligence after their loved one died allegedly because of Google Maps.
Phillip Paxson's wife says her husband was driving back home from her daughter's birthday party last summer. His family says he was following the apps' GPS directions on a dark and rainy night, which led him to an unmarked collapsed bridge that he assumed was a safe route because of the GPS directions.
This is what the bridge looked like in the daytime. Instead, he fell to his death. The lawsuit claims Google had received notifications from area residents about the bridge, but failed to update its maps.
Now, Google has issued a statement that reads, "We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family. Our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps, and we are reviewing this lawsuit."
The family is also suing Google's parent company Alphabet and two local companies for failing to maintain the bridge. CNN has asked for comment from those co-defendants as well.
So, joining me now is Alicia Paxson. Philip Paxson's widow.
Alicia, I just want to start with one, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm so sorry that this happened. But your husband was leaving your daughter's birthday party, you had left earlier. What did you think when he didn't come home? How did you tell your two daughters?
ALICIA PAXSON, SUING GOOGLE: Well, I thought first that he's sleeping on the couch when I woke up. So, I didn't really rush. But when I came downstairs, saw he wasn't there, I was just kind of confused. And my daughter came down and asked, where is daddy? And I said, I don't know.
And she start to cry. So, I said, no, no, it's OK, honey. You know, Daddy, I'm sure he's helping somebody, how he does, somebody needed to use the truck. And then, I kind of went in the back room and started calling my friends, and set asking when he left. And they said, we'll drive the roads to see if we can find him. Or anything.
I called the police. They said no, no, we haven't found anybody. Don't worry, you know, and I checked the hospitals. Then, awhile later, Amelia, my daughter, she knocked on the door and said, mommy, the police are here.
And immediately, my heart just hit the floor. And I was on the phone with his sister. And she's told me just breathe, just breathe. And I went out and, you know, the police were there and all of my friends and just the look on their faces. You know, I just knew and it felt like forever that they weren't telling me that, you know, and I was kind of like, what's -- where is he? Where is he? And so, then, it was the worst day in my life. I just started like, of course, breaking down.
And then, in the midst of it, my girls are coming to the door, trying to see if I'm OK, because they can hear me. So, I'm trying to say, it's OK, go back inside. And then, my friends said, you know, you just -- you just have to tell them, and I just went inside and I told them, you know, girls, your daddy had an accident and he went to heaven.
With Dozer (PH) our dog. And my youngest is sort of in shock. The oldest, very, very smart, very, I mean, they're both very close with him. But she just got very angry and just started running around and pushing everything off of the countertops. And you know, understandably. And I start to give her a hug. She said I don't want a hug, I want daddy, you know, she said. What are we going to do on Father's Day? I don't want to get married. He's not going to be there. And so, it's --
(CROSSTALK)
JIMENEZ: Yes.
PAXSON: You know, it was hard.
(CROSSTALK)
JIMENEZ: Yes, and -- she got.
PAXSON: And I had to, you know -- oh, I just going to say about bringing them --
(CROSSTALK)
JIMENEZ: Yes. I was just going to say, I can't imagine your loss. I just want to say that. And to even have the daughter looking that far ahead through her wedding day, I can't imagine as well.
[07:35:01]
I want to bring in your attorney, Robert Zimmerman.
Robert, we read a little bit of Google's statement saying they have the deepest sympathies for the family. But lay it out for us here, why -- one, do you have any reaction to that statement? But also, why are you all suing Google and specifically for what?
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, ATTORNEY FOR PAXSON FAMILY: Sure, and thanks for having us.
We are suing, essentially, two groups of defendants. This was a private road, and we are suing those responsible for the road. This was a development that was built about three or four decades ago.
And when they built that development, they sold the houses, but their responsibility didn't stop there, they had a responsibility to either turn the roads over to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, or set up an adequate maintenance program. And they did neither.
And this was a bridge that no one in the community wanted to take responsibility for. With respect to Google, Google was aware, for years, before this incident, that this bridge had collapsed. And there was essentially a cliff and a crater in the middle of a residential neighborhood. For nine years. There is no good reason why this could occur.
And we have evidence that multiple complaints were made to Google, through their Google Maps application, telling them that this was an issue. Telling them that there was -- there were articles that showed that this bridge was out and they did nothing.
I appreciate they have sympathy at this time. But it never should have allowed -- it never should have been allowed to occur for this long.
JIMENEZ: And Alicia, obviously, GPS is a major part of anyone's life who's driving on the roads. Are you able -- do you feel you're able to trust GPS again? Or how do you view whipping that out to use it now, given what, what we're learning here?
PAXSON: Well, there is sort of no other choice these days, rather than to use GPS. And so, I have to use it, but I'm kind of cynical like, well, just be careful, you know, don't -- you know, drive off anything that's, you know, that not there.
I mean, I'm kind of angry about it, but I still have to use it. So, it's always in the back of my mind.
But that's the thing is that everybody trusts it, and or at least has to rely on it. So, I think that it needs to be safe, or at least to the best of the makers' ability.
JIMENEZ: Yes. Well, Alicia Paxson, Robert Zimmerman, thank you for joining us.
Alicia, again, so sorry for your loss. We'll continue to follow this case.
BLACKWELL: Still ahead, CNN now has the audio after a man called 911, because a fighter jet pilot who ejected from a plane landed in his backyard. You'll hear both of the men on that call. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:42:21]
JIMENEZ: Days after a military fighter jet worth millions disappeared over South Carolina, we still don't know what caused it to crash. The pilot ejected after a so-called mishap mid-flight.
BLACKWELL: But this week, we got the 911 call from the pilot, and maybe that has some clues. Oren Liebermann explains.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Omar and Victor, an interesting perspective here in the moments after an F-35B from the Marine Corps crashed on Sunday afternoon in rural South Carolina.
The pilot ejected and parachuted out into a rural backyard. And that's when the homeowner of that backyard and the pilot called 911 to try to get some medical attention.
Apparently, if you listen to this call, the operator there at when we're having trouble understanding exactly what was happening in the severity of the situation. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a military jet crash. I'm the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling, I'm not sure where the airplane is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, we're getting help on the way, give me just a moment.
OK, how far did he fall?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was at 2,000 feet
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, and what caused the fall?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An aircraft failure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, is there any serious bleeding?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I can't see myself.
RANDOLPH WHITE, SOUTH CAROLINA MAN, WHO FOUND THE PILOT OF F-35 AIRCRAFT: No, you look fine. Just a couple scratches.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Has there been a report of an airplane crash?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have not seen any -- come up yet. OK, what part of the body was injured?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, I'm a pilot in the military aircraft and I ejected. So, I just rode a parachute down to the ground. Can you please send an ambulance?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: The pilot, who according to the Marines has decades of experience flying fighters, says there's an aircraft failure, but doesn't go into any more detail that failure or what went wrong there as part of the investigation. That investigation could last several months.
But we do have a bit more insight from the Marines about what happened there.
According to marine official, the Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II, as it's known, was flying at about 1,000 feet over South Carolina, when something apparently went wrong, again, that's part of the investigation, and the pilot made the decision to eject.
The plane flew for some time. In a statement, the Marines say that's because these fighters and others are designed to fly straight in case a pilot becomes incapacitated in order to try to save the pilot. And that appears at least to be what happened in this case before the jet kept flying and crashed some distance away.
As for why it took about 24 hours or even a bit more to find the jet after it crashed and after the pilot ejected. Well, the Marines say, after ejection the F 35B is designed to essentially remove and erase all secure data.
[07:45:02]
And then, it's designed to release an unclassified signal to make it easier to track.
But it is still a stealth jet, according to the Marines, and that unclassified signal can be difficult to track based on the height of the jet, based on the weather, which we know is bad according to the Marines, and then based on radar coverage in the area.
All of these factors combined to make it difficult to find the jet, and that's why it took until Monday afternoon for that jet to be located. The investigation now ongoing, again, to try to figure out what exactly went wrong here. Omar and Victor?
BLACKWELL: All right. Oren, thank you so much.
DO you ever show up at a hotel ready to check in and there's nobody there at the front desk? What do you do? Well, we'll show you what three friends did when that happened to them. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Tomorrow, why some people believe that JFK will return?
[07:50:02]
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan goes down the rabbit hole to find the man behind the conspiracy theory that's tearing families apart on "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper. Here is a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERICA VIGRASS, BROTHER BELIEVES JFK JR. IS ALIVE: One time we went to play tennis and he got a phone call, Jason believed it was Junior calling him.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: JFK Jr.?
VIGRASS: JFK Jr. calling him. And this was maybe a week before he went to Dallas.
O'SULLIVAN: Wait. So, you're playing tennis with your brother?
VIGRASS: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: And he gets a call.
VIGRASS: Correct.
O'SULLIVAN: And he thinks it's JFK Jr.
VIGRASS: He does.
O'SULLIVAN: At that point are you, like, there is something seriously wrong here?
VIGRASS: Yes, but what do you do?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: "THE WHOLE STORY" with Anderson Cooper airs tomorrow at 8:00, right here on CNN.
JIMENEZ: So, imagine, you're getting your hotel destination only to be greeted by silence and an empty front desk. We've all been there. I feel like, I mean, you look around, unsure of what to do next. Would you look for another place to stay? Or would you take matters into your own hands?
BLACKWELL: I would just wait and ring whatever bell is available. But --
JIMENEZ: Over and over.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
Meet a band of adventurous travelers who decided to stay there and embrace the circumstances. Here is CNN Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): What's a guest to do when you want to check in at the inn, but everybody is out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we were, you know, saying, hello, good morning. Anybody there?
MOOS (voice over): A merry trio of three best friends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello.
MOOS (voice over): Tried to check into rooms reserved at the Nashville airport La Quinta Inn at 5:00 a.m.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.
MOOS (voice over): They ended up manning the phones and dealing with irate guests.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have this lady in the lobby screaming about the fact that her charge -- her card was charged $600.
MOOS (voice over): Since all three worked in the service industry, dealing with guest came naturally.
And we're like, oh, we're so sorry, you know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're apologizing and we don't even work there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, God, not the phone again.
MOOS (voice over): Kenzi Brooks (PH) found the general manager's phone number and called. But the G.M. said she was at a convention in California. By 6:00 a.m. it was time for breakfast. So, they served it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody was filling up in the lobby, saying, you know, where's the food?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I found the keys and open the kitchen.
I know the cereal bar. They would love that.
MOOS: So, breakfast went pretty well, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, very well. Yes, they were very happy.
MOOS: A regular employee arrived around 8:00 a.m. But before he could check them in, he is going to have the audacity to say. OK, well it's going to be a $25 resort fee.
MOOS (voice over): Finally, the manager of a nearby Holiday Inn showed up, thank the exhausted trio and gave them a room. They opened the door.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there is a naked woman inside.
MOOS (voice over): The parent company, Wyndham resorts told CNN, "This incident occurred due to a staff member prematurely leaving an overnight shift, not notifying management." The employee was fired.
To thank the three, they were given several nights free stay at the Wyndham resort of their choice. They choose Las Vegas, where maybe they can call the front desk rather than take calls from in front of it.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
MOOS: Did anyone tip you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
MOOS (voice over): New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: They put in a lot more work than I would have. I feel they got -- they got after it. BLACKWELL: Right. I mean, I would have done it for maybe 10 minutes, 15. Three hours, and I'm putting out breakfast and answering calls and all that.
(CROSSTALK)
JIMENEZ: Yes.
BLACKWELL: No, that's a bit much.
Also, you get to your room. And there is already somebody in there naked.
(CROSSTALK)
JIMENEZ: Yes. Yes. Yes, they -- we glossed over that real quick, but that, I feel like you finally get a chance to rest. And look, I feel like that was the tone of the morning. What could have gone crazier than that? I mean, also, you're apologizing now over the phone, like so sorry, we'll get it to you.
BLACKWELL: Yes, it seems like they had great -- personality is great. They took it into stride.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
BLACKWELL: And they did well. So, good story. Thank you, Jeanne.
All right. Tonight, make sure to watch our special, "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" series. Stories that spotlight everyday people who typically do not make headlines, but they're smashing barriers to inspire others to do the same.
Here is a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry up. Hurry up. Go on. Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was about how many people can you help.
ANNOUNCER: Join us for "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel a source of inspiration and pride just coming together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want you guys to truly forget the word, can't.
ANNOUNCER: As CNN journalists spotlight the change makers who inspire them.
SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She teaches you to break through that fear, to get to where you need to be.
[07:55:05]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It turns out that one human being can do a lot.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: She is opening a door for people that are desperate for freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These aren't throwaway animals. These are precious beings.
ANNOUNCER: See how these community champions use creativity, heart, and grit to lift society up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the music starts, something happens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I surround myself with positive people, they help me be that inspiration.
ANNOUNCER: "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE", a special event. Tonight at 8:00, on CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:00:06]
BLACKWELL: Good morning to you. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. And welcome to fall.
