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Less Than A Week Until Government Funding Deadline; GOP Lawmakers Held A Call Saturday To Avert Government Shutdown; Critics Threaten to Push Vote to Oust Speaker; McCarthy Admits He Lacks Support From GOP Hard-Liners; Shutdown Could Affect Food Quality, Air Travel, Day Care; Ophelia Brings Heavy Rain, Flooding To East Coast; Senator Bob Menendez Faces Down Calls For Him To Step Down; One Dead in Russian Attack in Zaporizhzhia Region; Russian Foreign Minister Blasts West, NATO in UNGA Speech; Lavrov Accuses U.S. of Bullying Other Countries; Lavrov Skips U.N. Security Council Meeting; Ukraine Intercepts 14 of 15 Russian Attack Drones; Ukraine Says It's Holding Ground in Key Frontline Areas. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 24, 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]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, September 24th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: What's going on, Victor and everyone else? I'm Omar Jimenez in for Amara Walker. Thanks for spending part of your morning with us. Here's what we are watching for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time for Republicans to start doing the job America elected them to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Lawmakers are up against the clock and desperately working on a deal to fund the government ahead of a looming shutdown. The real world impacts a shutdown would have on everything from air travel to members of the military.

BLACKWELL: Ophelia has now moved inland after bringing heavy rain and flooding to parts of the East Coast. The areas we are watching for more flooding and the threat of severe storms today.

JIMENEZ: And it's a cosmic delivery years in the making. A space capsule full of asteroid pieces is set to land on Earth later this morning. What scientists are hoping to learn from it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fires that you don't hear about in the news is the greatest success of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Officials say it could be a game changer when it comes to firefighting. How they are using A.I. to snuff out wildfires before they explode.

JIMENEZ: Plus, a 10 and 11-year-old steal their mom's car and take it on a 200-mile joy ride and just wait to hear why they did it.

We are just six days away from Congress' deadline to fund the federal government and as GOP leaders try to find agreement among their factions President Biden is slamming their floundering efforts to work out a deal. His message is simple, do your job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Funding the government is one of the most basic responsibilities of Congress. And it's time for Republicans to start doing the job America elected them to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Several GOP lawmakers are working through the weekend on Capitol Hill to get their party hold-outs on the same page. On a call Saturday, Republicans worked out their top priorities and reportedly made some progress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIN HOUCHIN (R-IN): We are working every day to come together. And I think we are closer every day to getting to some degree of consensus that will get some of those people who have been on the fence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: But despite that seemingly positive outlook from those lawmakers, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy admitted later that many of those hard-liners were unmoved during the call. Here is CNN's Manu Raju to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In just a week, the government could shutdown if there is no agreement between House Republicans, the Senate and the White House to fund the federal government. At the moment they are nowhere near a deal in large part because of sharp divisions among House Republicans themself.

A vast majority of House Republicans want to move forward on a Republican only plan to -- to keep the government open for about a month or so while they work on the longer-term spending bills. But there are a handful of members who simply say they will not go along with that and they are pushing for their own ideas or simply just will never support a short-term plan. And that means that Kevin McCarthy does not have the votes he needs to ensure any party line bill that he doesn't lose more than four Republican votes. At the moment, there could be up to seven Republican votes to stop their plans going forward. And if McCarthy were to cut a deal with members on the other side of the aisle, with Democrats, that could open up -- him up to a challenge from critics within his own party who are threatening to push for a vote ousting him from the speakership.

I talked to one of McCarthy's closest allies yesterday, Garret Graves, who told me bring it on, essentially. He said, have those critics actually push for a vote to try to kick McCarthy out of the speakership. And he said that he even drafted such a plan himself and he may even put it forward for a vote simply to put that issue about McCarthy's tenuous speakership to rest.

REP. GARRET GRAVES (R-LA): As a matter of fact, I'd tell you, I drafted a motion to vacate for the speaker as well. I have got it sitting on my desk right now. And I said, look, if you are going to keep hanging this over the head and playing these games, let's just do it now, let's get it over with. Get your little games over with and then we'll get back to focusing on the things that actually matter.

RAJU: And therein lies the real frustration among some of those members. They are arguing to those members on the far right that if they continue to dig in, they will get a worse outcome. They argue that it will be much more moderate, much more liberal. At the end of the day, they will have to work with Democrats or simply get jammed by the Senate and accept whether the Senate approves in order to avoid a shutdown. But that level of reasoning simply is not working.

[06:05:02]

What member Matt Rosendale on -- member of the House Freedom Caucus told us just yesterday that he is a no on a stopgap deal bill no matter what. He made that very clear to our colleague Haley Talbot and others are indicating a similar position as well.

So, where does this lead things? The Senate is moving forward its own plan, trying to pass it this week. Can they get it done by the shutdown deadline? It will probably very close to that. Then it will be up to the House to either to accept that plan or dig in and continue to fight.

There are other ways around the Republican leadership if they decide to dig in but that could take some time to play out as well leaving Washington in a very uncertain period with a government shutdown looming and the impacts on the economy could be significant.

Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Manu Raju, thank you very much. I'm joined now by "Politico" White House reporter Daniel Lippman. Good to see you. Thanks for waking up with us this Sunday.

All right. So, bottom line, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he still lacks support from a few of those GOP hard-liners to get a Republican stopgap measure on the floor this week. And Washington does have a habit of taking things to the last possible minute when it comes to deadlines. But what feels different here?

DANIEL LIPPMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: What feels different is that the numbers are just so close that McCarthy was not able to have a huge majority. And so, he had to put in easier motions to vacate, which basically as Manu was saying, it could kick him out of his speakership. And so, the hard-liners have more leverage and they are more willing to push it to the brink.

But what McCarthy is telling these people is, hey, we need to -- if you want to fund border security, then actually fund border security and don't leave people without a paycheck. And also, this always hurts Republicans when they try to shutdown the government.

JIMENEZ: Look, there is clearly frustration within the Republican Party about the dynamics here. And we heard -- you heard some of the -- a few moments ago that Congressman Garret Graves of Louisiana even said, let's just get this motion to vacate votes going, to put this threat to rest and so they can get back to quote -- "doing things that actually matter."

I mean, is there a way to get back to those things with this particular dynamic, or is this just kind of the way things are going to be within the Republican faction of the House right now?

LIPPMAN: If you look at how McCarthy was elected, it took 15 votes, and you had Matt Gaetz, who is the chief hold-out, and he was raising money off his obstructionism back then. Even though everyone knew that McCarthy was going to get elected, there was no other serious candidate.

And so, it's much easier in this day and age for Republican congressmen and also Democrats to raise money individually. And so, they want to make a name for themselves, and pursue their -- whatever their base is telling them to do. And the base does not like, you know, organizing with Biden administration, keeping the Biden administration funded. And so, I think it's going to take a -- could take a short shutdown to -- for McCarthy to make a deal with Democrats.

JIMENEZ: Yes. We will see what happens there. There's obviously, also a political lens here. And you touched on it a little bit but Republican Senator Susan Collins also said this in an interview with "Politico," historically Republicans have been blamed for shutdowns and that they are never good policy. What are the political implications here, especially heading into the 2024 campaign cycle, which would include, obviously, the sitting president?

LIPPMAN: Well, what Democrats are going to say is, hey, this is a basically unnecessary shutdown. Why are we going to let federal workers not get paid for jobs they are doing? We could have furloughs.

It's much harder to get passports these days. The State Department is totally backed up and it could get worse. Veterans, you know, picking on veterans, do not get their benefits that they earned by serving America.

And so, it seems like for what goal are they going to get? This is kind of a fool's errand for Republicans to pursue this strategy when it only backfires on them politically and policy-wise because they always make a deal with Democrats to keep the government open at the end.

JIMENEZ: And, of course, the main push here isn't even to fund the government fully. It's for a stopgap measure, continuing resolution here, and that -- even just to get to that point has been an issue to this point.

What has -- what is the sign that you might be looking for this week that indicates we are actually making progress here? Because, obviously, the deadline by this point next week, if nothing has been passed or agreed to, we're going to be shutdown.

LIPPMAN: I think they have to go through almost more failed votes and for McCarthy kind of to see, hey, Republicans are not going to budge. And then at the last moment we might see him work with Democrats to keep the government funded at least temporarily and then they can kind of fight to live another day.

[06:10:05]

But it's going to get down to the wire. And he does not want the bad press among -- in the conservative media of, hey, he caved to Democrats. He is working for Democrats to keep, you know, the government funded.

And so, I think we are going to be here probably next Saturday or Sunday and talking about whether -- while the government might be shutdown right now and how long is it going to take. But he doesn't want to turn to Democrats just yet. He has another week to do into.

JIMENEZ: Now, obviously, at the core of this is the infighting within the Republican Party on the House side. But obviously, Democrats are watching on as well, including the White House. What is their posturing throughout all off this when, of course, a lot of the attention has been on McCarthy and trying to deal with factions of his party?

LIPPMAN: Democrats are saying this is totally unnecessary, that you are not advancing conservative policy goals, that this is basically almost like a hostage-taking exercise. And they are saying, hey, Republicans can't govern. This is basically all intra Republican infighting.

This is not actually about fighting between Democrats and Republicans, and a legitimate, you know, policy differences. This is about the Freedom Caucus trying to exercise their muscle and keeping McCarthy in line. And you're seeing ideas about throwing a debt commission out into the ether politically.

But whenever I see that, I am reminded of how these are always Washington dodges where they say, hey, we are going to create a commission to look at our fiscal situation and then those -- that commission makes recommendation and then nothing gets done because Washington doesn't want to take those tough votes of cutting spending.

JIMENEZ: Well, we will see what happens this time. The last government shutdown back in 2018, 35 days. So hopefully, it is not to that level if we even get to a shutdown point. Daniel Lippman, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: So, with no government funding that has been secured for the start of the new fiscal year, how does this impact you? CNN's Brian Todd explains how it would affect everything from food to travel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Those soul crushing flight delays that might have hampered your travel this summer and last year, get ready for potentially more of them. Your food and water might be vulnerable to safety lapses. Those are among the potential disruptions to our lives that could occur if the Congress can't agree to extending the funding of the government and we face a government shutdown by midnight on September 30th.

EVERETT KELLEY, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: I don't think for a minute that it don't affect your community, that it don't affect your church, that it don't affect your city, you municipality. It affects all of America.

TODD (voice-over): First to feel the pinch, almost all of the country's 3.5 million federal workers going without pay, including active-duty military and much of federal law enforcement. Some essential workers will have to work anyway without pay, like air traffic controllers and TSA officers at airports. If they are working, why could there still be flight delays?

KELLEY: When you don't have money to put gas in your car to come to work, when you don't have money to -- for public transit, you know, that could cause delays at the airport because these guys are going to call in because they can't get to work.

TODD (voice-over): And a shutdown would delay the training for badly needed newly hired air traffic controllers.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Even a shutdown lasting a few weeks could set us back by months or more because of how complex that training is.

TODD (voice-over): How would the rest of us feel it? National parks likely closed. Food stamps in jeopardy as well as passport processing and disaster funding for places like Hawaii and Florida. Even thousands of preschool kids could be shut out.

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Headstart is losing funding. That means a lot of preschools may be temporarily shutting down and the families that rely on them will be affected.

TODD (voice-over): Our daily sustenance would be affected, analysts say, because FDA and EPA inspectors wouldn't be working during a government shutdown.

RAMPELL: You'll see fewer food safety inspections. You'll see a pause in inspections of drinking water facilities.

TODD (voice-over): Social Security and Medicare payments won't be stopped. But service?

KELLEY: A person come and want to apply for a new claim, that won't happen. A person have an issue with their benefits, you know, they have no one to call, no one to talk to.

TODD (voice-over): The broader economy would take a hit, experts say, because things like permitting for construction projects and loan approvals for farms and small businesses could be paused.

RAMPELL: A government shutdown is just yet another drag on the economy because it ends up disrupting lots of supply chains and lots of services that people and businesses rely on them to keep other parts of the economy running.

TODD: What should the average American do to prepare for a possible government shutdown? Analyst Catherine Rampell advices check to receive what benefits you're receiving from the federal government, whether it's food stamps or your child's preschool.

[06:15:02]

Find out if those benefits will be disrupted. And she says, contact your representative in Congress and urge them to work as hard as possible to reach a funding deal. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Brian, thank you so much. And be sure to watch today at 11:00 a.m. Eastern for the premier of "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY WITH MANU RAJU." He will take you inside the week's political stories -- the top political stories with the best reporters in Washington. And Manu is going to join us during this show as we congratulate him taking over there for the new show. All right.

JIMENEZ: No better person to take over. Now, other news. Ophelia, weakened to a post-tropical cyclone but there is still some danger here.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The storm is bringing heavy rain and threats of flash flooding all the way from North Carolina all the way up to Jersey. It made landfall in North Carolina early yesterday and triggered a state of emergency there in Virginia and Maryland as well. New York City authorities issued a travel advisory through today, but Ophelia is expected to weaken further tomorrow.

JIMENEZ: And CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking the impacts of what is left of the storm right now. So, Allison, what are we still looking at? Not fully out of the woods yet?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No. And I think part of the problem is it's just not moving very fast. So, it's -- because of that slow movement, it's allowed to dump a tremendous amount of rain over a lot of the same spots. In fact, the center still mainly focused right over Virginia. Remember, it was just in North Carolina yesterday.

So, it is moving off to the north at about 12 miles per hour. But you've still got a lot of rain bands making their way across Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and even spreading farther north into Massachusetts. More rain is expected for today but also the potential for some coastal flooding.

You've got a lot of these flood alerts out here, one to two feet of possible flooding again along these coastal regions here of Maryland, Delaware, also portions of New Jersey. Now, it is going to continue to make its way finally out to shore, but really not until tomorrow. So, because of that through the evening tonight, even through tomorrow morning, still more heavy rain is expected. Even places like New York looking at an additional two to maybe even as much as four inches of rain just in that short term.

Now, it's one of a couple of things we are watching. We are still keeping an eye on Ophelia. We also have an atmospheric river pushing into the west and also the potential for some severe storms across the central U.S.

Now, a lot of this area was hard hit over night last night as these storms continue to slide east. Even still looking at a severe thunderstorm watch going for the next couple of hours as more of these thunderstorms continue to progress around the Ark-La-Tex region and will continue to do so for the rest of the day.

JIMENEZ: Allison, thank you. Still ahead for us, Senator Bob Menendez is facing even more calls to step down in the wake of Friday's jaw- dropping indictment. We will hear from the latest lawmakers seeking his resignation.

BLACKWELL: Plus, harsh words from Russia's foreign minister at the United Nations. He says that the U.S. and its allies support for Ukraine puts them directly at war.

Plus, a seven-year journey to deliver an asteroid sample to Earth will soon end in Utah. We're going to talk with one of the leaders of that mission about what he hopes to learn from it. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:22:14]

BLACKWELL: More Democrats now are calling for New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, also a Democrat, to step down after he and his wife were indicted on bribery charges Friday. In a statement, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said, "The alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state. Therefore, I am calling for his immediate resignation."

Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer wrote, "Given the gravity of the allegations I believe it will be difficult for the senator to carry out his responsibilities. For the good of the state, he should step aside as he focuses on his defense."

JIMENEZ: And there is more. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is the first of Menendez's Senate colleagues demanding he step down, posting in a tweet, "He's entitled to the presumption of innocence under our system, but he is not entitled to continue to wield influence over national policy."

Now, according to Senate Democratic caucus rules, Menendez has stepped down as the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But he has denied the charges against him and his wife.

Turning now as we move forward to Russia's war on Ukraine. At least one person is dead after Russian strikes on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region. Russia fired on 25 locations across the region with reports of damage to residential buildings and infrastructure facilities.

BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov spoke at the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday and he accuses the West of fueling conflict overseas. CNN's senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: On a wind-swept rainy day in New York City, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov swept through the hallways of the U.N. speaking in the U.N. General Assembly and then the media at a press conference. He had strong words against Washington and NATO allies regarding how that side of the equation is handling the conflict in Ukraine.

He called Ukrainian peace proposals, which have been out there for some time, completely unfeasible. He also commented on the Black Sea Grain Deal Initiative, which Russia withdrew from months ago. He was asked, has Russia officially withdrawn from that deal?

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We are working with those who respect themselves and who will never betray their national interests because someone from Washington has told them to. We know how American diplomats travel around the world and prohibit meetings with our diplomats and with representatives of Russia in general.

I will say the following. The U.S. is a superpower. That's clear to everyone. But to run around like this threatening everyone, only then to show one's obsession with domineering, well, it's simply embarrassing for a great nation to act this way.

ROTH: Lavrov was asked why he didn't attend the Security Council meeting on Ukraine where he would have seen President Zelenskyy.

[06:25:07]

He said he has seen him before. He knows what he is going to say. He had 33 other meetings. He described Zelenskyy as looking grim. Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Richard, thank you. Ukraine says it was able to intercept 14 of 15 attack drones launched by Russia on Saturday.

JIMENEZ: Now, the interceptions come as Ukraine continuous to hold ground in key frontline areas. Let's bring in CNN reporter Nada Bashir. She's following the story from London. So, Nada, what can you tell us?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Look, we have seen that repeated barrage of drone attacks or attempted drone attacks by the Russians armed forces across Ukrainian territory. Once again, some success for the Ukrainian armed forces, 14 out of 15 out of those Iranian-made Shahed attack drones were downed on Saturday. But we have seen a barrage of aerial and artillery attacks targeting key Ukrainian positions.

And, of course, this has had a civilian impact not only damage to residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, but we have seen fatalities as well over the last 24 hours. In the Zaporizhzhia region, at least one person has been confirmed dead by Ukrainian authorities as a result of that Russian artillery fire. Meanwhile, in Kherson now we are learning at least two people have been reportedly killed as a result of Russian shelling.

We have seen these continued attacks. But despite these attacks there are also some positive indications along the frontlines. We've heard from defense officials in Ukraine, they said their units are holding ground, are holding their positions across several of these key frontline areas. They have repelled attacks in the Lyman and Marinka in the Bakhmut region. A Russian advance or attempted advance was thwarted according to Ukrainian officials by Ukrainian units on the ground.

So certainly, some positive indications there. We also heard, of course, from Ukraine's air force over the weekend. They say they conducted eight airstrikes on assets and positions deemed critical to Russia's armed forces on the ground. And this is, of course, a positive indication as we head into the winter months which will pose challenges to Ukraine's armed forces just as we saw last year.

But earlier in the week, we heard from a top Ukrainian general saying that Ukraine will push ahead with that counteroffensive over the winter months. It will not slow down. And that, in fact, they say they believe Kyiv's biggest breakthrough is yet to be seen.

BLACKWELL: Nada Bashir for us. Thank you so much, Nada.

So, there is a rare gift from the cosmos that is expected to arrive on Earth today. It's a sample from a nearby asteroid. The man leading the mission to retrieve it joins us next to discuss what we can expect to learn from it.

[06:32:03] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's take a look at some headlines we're following this morning. El Paso, Texas has opened an overflow shelter as the border state is hit with a surge in migration. Officials say it still won't be enough though to house the 6500 migrants already in custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSCAR LEESER, MAYOR, EL PASO, TEXAS: The shelter that we have opened that will operate will only operate 400. We had over 2000 today and we'll have 2000 probably coming in this evening. So, these numbers are continuing to grow. And that's -- so, we talk about -- we will have to continue to look at emergency sheltering and look at working with partners in other cities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: The city has already sheltered more than 7,000 migrants and served about 16,000 meals in the last 10 days alone. On Friday, Mexico agreed to deport migrants from border cities to their home countries as part of a new effort with the U.S. to fight the recent surge.

BLACKWELL: There's some hope this morning that the writer strike could be nearing a deal. The studios and writers will meet for the fifth consecutive day of negotiations today. A source tell CNN the studios have delivered their best and final offer to the writers on Saturday. The Writers Guild of America, they're expected to review that offer today. More than 11,000 members have been on strike since May 2nd. And negotiations have centered on wages and worker protections and artificial intelligence.

JIMENEZ: Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn made a surprise appearance at his hometown peanut festival in Plains, Georgia. They were spotted riding through in this SUV just one week before Carter's 99th birthday. The 39th President has been under hospice care since February. The two have been married for 77 years. It's almost unbelievable. But 77 years, the longest-married presidential couple.

BLACKWELL: A NASA spacecraft's seven-year journey ends this morning. And for the first time ever, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will bring back samples from an asteroid to Earth. If all goes according to plan, the capsule is set to enter the Earth's atmosphere around 10.42 a.m. Eastern, traveling more than 27,000 miles per hour before landing in the Utah desert.

Joining us now from Utah is Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for NASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission. He's also author of The Asteroid Hunter. You are the absolute right person to talk about -- talk to about this, Dante. Good to have you.

DANTE LAURETTA, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR NASA'S OSIRIS-REX: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: So, explain this. So, this is going to be flung at Earth at 27,650 miles per hour. How is this going to happen? Explain what's going to happen this morning.

LAURETTA: Yes, thanks for having me. It's a really exciting morning for OSIRIS-REx. We're literally about seven minutes away from releasing the capsule off the spacecraft. I've been watching the telemetry all morning. Everything is operating nominally.

So, we're talking about a spacecraft that has been traveling through space for seven years. We spent over two years surveying a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu, which is about as wide across as the Empire State Building. This object comes very close to the Earth repeatedly, and we do worry about a potential future impact.

Most importantly, though, it's a treasure trove from the earliest stages of the solar system formation. Think about genealogy going back four and a half billion years, and we're trying to understand how life might have been delivered to the planet Earth.

[06:35:32]

BLACKWELL: Fantastic. How narrow of a space in Utah is the projection of where this will land?

LAURETTA: We're coming into a Department of Defense test range called the Utah Test and Training Range. And I want to thank our military partners. They've been outstanding through this whole process. We have an area that's about 50 miles long that we can land in, and we're in the middle of the Utah desert. It's a pretty remote area. It's the Bonneville salt flats. You may have heard of those big, flat, dry lake beds with really no risk to any humans or property.

BLACKWELL: So, tell us more about what -- once this is retrieved, what scientists hope to learn.

LAURETTA: Yes, we have an exciting day today. We'll be broadcasting live on NASA T.V., the entire recovery operations. We're going to be flying out there on one of the helicopters to greet these extraterrestrial samples to Earth. And our primary goal is to get everything secured and transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. That's where all NASA after materials are curated, including the Apollo lunar samples and Antarctic meteorites, and many other fantastic collections.

There we will start to unpack this, what I'm calling Christmas in September for sample scientists, and we'll begin to process that material. Looking for the different rock types, we really want to understand the history of this asteroid which reflects this long duration of the solar system.

I have over 200 scientists and 60 different laboratories all around the world. And we're going to literally be understanding processes that existed before our sun did, before the Earth came into being, and really how did the first materials in our solar system start to grow into the planets that we see today.

BLACKWELL: You said something that I'm sure perked some ears up around the world when you said, we're a little concerned about a collision. If you've got this asteroid that's as wide across as the Empire State Building, that could be calamitous. Explain the new calculations about potential collision.

LAURETTA: Yes, one of the interesting things that we studied on this mission was the fact that sunlight actually changes the direction that these asteroids move through the solar system. They get hot, especially something like asteroid Bennu, which has a lot of carbon and is very dark like an asphalt parking lot. And when that heat gets thrown back into space, it can actually slow down the asteroid, making it move closer into the inner solar system and onto a collision with the Earth.

But I don't want people to worry. The odds are still very low, about 0.05 percent chance of an impact. And it's about 160 years in the future. So, I really look at this as a nice insurance policy for the future of humanity if and when they need to go and deflect this object. The information that we collected with OSIRIS-REx will be invaluable for them.

BLACKWELL: 0.05 percent sounds really, really low until we start comparing that to winning the lottery, you know, 0.05 --

LAURETTA: That's right.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right, I trust you on that.

LAURETTA: Yes, it's a -- it's is small enough percentage that we shouldn't be worried about it right now, but we should be doing something. And that's what NASA is doing through the OSIRIS-REx program and through their whole planetary defense coordination office. Because this is potentially the largest natural disaster facing humanity. And it's the only one that we have a chance of actually preventing.

So, I think it's in our best interest to develop the technologies, the knowledge, the information, and the core capabilities to characterize these objects and figure out how we might need to deflect them in the future.

BLACKWELL: All right, Dante Lauretta, a big day for you. Congratulations, and thank you for your time.

LAURETTA: My pleasure.

JIMENEZ: 0.05 percent, not zero. Still to come for us --

BLACKWELL: Not zero.

JIMENEZ: Not -- exactly right.

BLACKWELL: Not even 0.005, right?

JIMENEZ: I want to -- I was like, yes, little chance. But yes, yes, zero would be nice. Look, you can't be perfect all the time.

BLACKWELL: That's true.

JIMENEZ: Still to come for us, artificial intelligence is now helping California firefighters get the upper hand on wildfire before they even begin. We'll take you inside the science next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:44:09]

BLACKWELL: Experts say the best way to stop a wildfire is to catch it before it spreads. Now, California fire officials say they've got a new tool to help them do that, artificial intelligence.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Cal Fire and the University of California at San Diego have teamed up and are using a massive network of cameras across the state and A.I. to spot those fires early. And it seems to be working.

CNN's Stephanie Elam takes a closer look at this remarkable technology.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): In California where wildfires are a constant threat, firefighters want every advantage they can get on a blaze before it becomes an inferno.

SCOTT SLUMP, CAL FIRE: Well, I was asleep in bed. My phone dinged.

ELAM (voiceover): Cal Fire Scott Slump got that leg up while testing new technology in July when he got a text message with a link to this, video of a fire that started in the middle of the night deep in the California wilderness.

[06:45:02]

SLUMP: The dispatch center there was not aware of the fire.

ELAM (voiceover): But something else was, artificial intelligence. Cal Fire, in partnership with U.C. San Diego's Alert California Program and its network of more than 1000 cameras across the state, is using the technology to recognize a fire early on.

PHILLIP SELEGUE, STAFF CHIEF, FIRE INTELLIGENCE, CAL FIRE: The next morning, that fire would have been a fire of significance.

ELAM (voiceover): Instead, firefighters were dispatched immediately, knocking the blaze down before it did major damage.

SELEGUE: So, the fires that you don't hear about in the news is the greatest success of this.

ELAM: These cameras are the new eyes for firefighters. These two position more than 5,000 feet above sea level can see across this massive Southern California Valley. And they're really adding precision to the spotting of wildfires compared to more traditional ways like this lookout station where I'm standing. With this new A.I. technology, they can often spot wildfires more quickly than the human eye can.

ELAM (voiceover): Here's how it works. Look at this image. Could you spot a fire? Probably not. But notice that red box on the right side. That's where artificial intelligence has detected a faint column of smoke.

UBRIAN NORTON, FIRE LIAISON, ALERT CALIFORNIA: There's nothing on that horizon. Then something appears on that horizon that wasn't there before that could be smoke. The camera will pick that up and go, that does not look normal.

SELEGUE: We have multiple successes of fires at night that had gone undetected that were able to suppress before a 911 phone call had even come into the command centers.

ELAM (voiceover): The pilot program works so well that Cal Fire recently expanded it to all 21 of its dispatch centers where an official will validate the imagery to make sure it is not just dust or clouds.

SELEGUE: Our goal as an agency is to keep 95 percent of our fires at 10 acres or less. So, this tool increases our ability to ensure that we're keeping those fires small.

ELAM (voiceover): And the A.I. is constantly learning. Each time a human confirms or corrects what it detects, the technology adapts.

ELAM: Do you think that it's making a difference and how you're able to protect the population?

SLUMP: Absolutely.

ELAM (voiceover): This technology won't replace people, Cal Fire says.

SLUMP: Nothing can take the place of the boots on the ground.

ELAM (voiceover): But can help first responders stop fires before they explode.

SLUMP: In my opinion, it save lives and property.

ELAM (voiceover): Stephanie Elam, CNN, Riverside County, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Stephanie, thank you for that.

Deion Sanders called it a good old-fashioned butt-kicking. Yes, that's what it was. We'll show you how Oregon spoiled Coach Prime's Cinderella start to Colorado. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:51]

JIMENEZ: Coach Primes' perfect start at Colorado came to an end in I think what you might call a convincing fashion.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the Buffaloes were blown out on the road in Oregon. It wasn't even competitive. Andy Scholes is here now. Andy, typically we hear the trash talking from Coach Prime. This time, it came from the opponent's coach.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. And you know, Coach Primes and the Buffaloes, they kind of used other team's words as motivation and it worked great the first three weeks. But that did not deter Oregon head coach Dan Lanning. Here was what he said in his pregame speech to his team before the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN LANNING, HEAD COACH, OREGON: The Cinderella story is over, man. Right? They're fighting for clicks, we're fighting for wins. There's a difference, right? There's a difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: They're fighting for clicks, we're fighting for wins. Now, the Oregon Duck also making a statement, smashing a primetime clock before the game. But his duck head came off, and so he just scampered back under the end of the tunnel, which was rather funny. But Colorado not much to smile about all day long. And this one, Deion's son, Shedeur Sanders, he was set seven times on today. Oregon was up 35 to nothing at halftime. They would go on to win this game easily, 42 to 6. Here was Coach Prime afterwards when asked about Lanning's clicks comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEION SANDERS, HEAD COACH, COLORADO BUFFALOES: I don't say stuff just to say it for a click, you know, contrary to what somebody said. But yes, I keep receipts. But I'm serious. I analyze and I understand what we're up against and what we have and what we need. One thing that I could say honestly and candidly, you've got to give me right now. This is the worst we're going to be. You better give me right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, elsewhere, it was a much closer game between 6th- ranked Ohio State and 9th-ranked Notre Dame. 15 seconds to go, Buckeyes needing a touchdown facing third in 19. Kyle McCord delivers, finding Emeka Egbuka for the first down. Buckeyes get down to the goal line and (INAUDIBLE) punch it in with just one second to go.

But get this. Notre Dame only had 10 players on the field for the last two plays of that drive. It's' hard to make a stop with one less guy. Buckeyes won the thrill 17-14. Coach Ryan Day was all fired up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN DAY, HEAD COACH, OHIO STATE: We're proud to be from Ohio. And it's always been Ohio against the world. And it will continue to be Ohio against the world. But I'll tell you what, I love those kids. We got a tough team. Everybody wants to question these guys. These guys are warriors right here. To come back and win, this kid right here to come back in the second half and win, I'm emotional about this for a reason. A lot of people question these kids and say a lot of things about them. I love them. When someone attacks your family, and to come in and win like this, it's special.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: They had a good night. All right, we had one of the best catches you'll ever see in the Florida-Charlotte game. Gators' Ricky Pearsall, look at that one-handed catch, and somehow managed to hold on to the ball despite just getting drilled by the defensive back, two of them. Thankfully, he's good. He got up. Teammates all said great catch. 25th-ranked Gator is sweeping out a win in that one 22-7.

And a hard break with the Clemson against fourth-ranked Florida State. So, tied with under two minutes to go, Coach Dabo Swinney calls on Jonathan Weitz. He formally walked on who had already graduated and was going for his master's degree. Weitz was set to take a job in New York City before getting the call from Dabo to come back and kick for the Tigers after their kicker initially have been struggling.

Weitz made a 30-yard field goal early in the game. This is this 29- yarder that would have given the Tigers the lead with less than two to go. See Weitz family was in shocks, some of the fans. And that was a big miss because they would go on to lose in overtime to fourth-ranked Florida state. The final was 31-24. It was the Seminoles first win over Clemson in nine years.

It was a really good story, Victor, the fact that you know, I'm going to pass with my job in New York City and come back and kick for the Tigers. And then miss the chance to win the game.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SCHOLES: That's a tough one.

BLACKWELL: But that catch, one hand.

SCHOLES: Yes. What's in that glove? Because --

BLACKWELL: He snatched it out of the air like it was a nerf ball. Like, it was a tennis ball.

SCHOLES: And the fact that he got drilled and the ball still stayed in his hand.

BLACKWELL: Oh, my god.

SCHOLES: Yes, you're not going to see a catch much better than that one.

BLACKWELL: Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

JIMENEZ: Coming up next for us, there are temper tantrums, and then there is grand theft auto. You got -- you got to hear the reason why two Florida kids stole their mom's car and then took off for more than 200 miles. That's next.

[10:00:00]