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Boeing's Uncrewed Starliner Spacecraft Touches Down On Earth; Harris Campaign Unveils Three Ads Targeting Trump On Abortion Ahead Of Debate; Father Of U.S. School Shooting Suspect Charged With Murder; Mail-In Ballots In North Carolina Are Being Delayed By RFK Jr's Lawsuit. Former Vice President Dick Cheney Announces He will Vote for Kamala Harris; Typhoon Yagi Makes Landfall in Northern Vietnam; Sentencing in Trump Hush Money Trial Delayed Until After Election. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 07, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:35]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday, September 7. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: For officially (ph) chai tea latte.

BLACKWELL: Oh, we were there a week ago. We moved from iced tea to chai tea. Hot chocolate is next.

WALKER: I'm still doing my iced coffee. I'll have to --

BLACKWELL: Catch up.

WALKER: I will. I'm Amber Walker. Good to see you, everyone. Here's what we're working on for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Touchdown, Starliner is back on Earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: She's excited. I promise. Breaking overnight, Boeing Starliner sticks its landing on the spacecraft return to Earth. Why NASA is calling the mission a success, despite a few bumps along the way, including leaving two astronauts at the space station for several more months.

BLACKWELL: A tight knit Georgia community came together to heal after a deadly school shooting. What one young student who came face to face with the accused 14-year-old killer is telling CNN about that moment.

WALKER: And new overnight vice president Kamala Harris's campaign is using former President Donald Trump's own words against him. The three new campaign ads hitting Trump on reproductive rights and Project 2025.

BLACKWELL: And just in time for Thanksgiving travel. See, I told you, we moved on from iced tea.

WALKER: Fine. I'm behind.

BLACKWELL: What could drive down gas prices below $3 a gallon.

Heart breaking overnight after months of questions about safety, Boeing's Starliner capsule has successfully returned to the earth from the International Space Station without its crew on board. Mission Control clapped and cheered as the capsule landed at White Sand Space Harbor in New Mexico. NASA officials said it was a bullseye landing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE STICH, MANAGER, NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM: It was a great day today to return Starliner. It was great to have a successful undock, the orbit and landing of the vehicle. I am thrilled for our Boeing team and all of our colleagues have worked this mission across the country, on the NASA team and the Boeing team, they put a lot of heart and soul into this mission over many years, and it's a testament to those people that we got the vehicle back safely today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Now, the Starliner launched carrying two astronauts back in June, and it was supposed to return a week later, but helium leaks and other issues prompted NASA to delay their return. Astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were supposed to return with Starliner, but they will stay on the International Space Station until February of 2025. Here's CNN's Kristin Fisher with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Amara, Boeing definitely breathing a sigh of relief this morning after Starliner successfully landed in White Sands, New Mexico just after midnight, Eastern Time.

And you know, Starliner, despite all of its issues with those faulty thrusters and the helium leaks, NASA was so worried about that moment of the deorbit burn, that's essentially when those thrusters have to fire in order to stop Starliner hit the brakes, essentially and allow it to reenter the Earth's atmosphere. That was the critical moment that NASA was so worried about.

It's why Butch and Suni, the two NASA astronauts that were Starliner's crew stayed back at the International Space Station, but Starliner's thrusters and all of those issues did not prove to be a problem during this reentry and landing back on Earth.

There was one minor hiccup. One thruster on the crew module where Butch and Suni would have been didn't fire during a test. That's something Boeing and NASA are certainly going to be looking at today, but pretty close to a picture perfect landing in White Sands, New Mexico.

And so now the big question is, is Boeing -- is NASA going to require Boeing to do another crewed flight test before it's certified to fully fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station? And then, of course, Butch and Suni, you know, they're now up there at the International Space Station until February of 2025, this is actually where Butch and Suni trained for their time up at the space station. This is a full size mockup of it every astronaut that's up there trains in here.

[06:05:00]

But, you know, Butch and Suni, they really only trained for what was supposed to be an eight-day mission. Now they will be up there for eight months. But Victor and Amara, after last night's landing, it's pretty clear that if Butch and Suni had been on board, they would have been just fine. But NASA saying, you know, at what point, how much risk are you willing to take when there are human lives involved? NASA simply saying there was just too much risk, too much uncertainty, in order to allow Butch and Suni to fly back home. So they're up there until February. 2025. Victor, Amara.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Kristin Fisher, thanks so much. Joining us now is the CEO and founder of Janet's planet Janet Ivey, wearing a snazzy blouse. That's what we call snazzy with the planets all over. Janet, good morning to you.

Let's start where Kristin left off this decision not to put Williams and Wilmore on this capsule return. You still think that's the right call, considering the questions about safety?

JANET IVEY, CEO AND FOUNDER, JANET'S PLANET: I do, because when we think about what is the greatest resource in human spaceflight, it's humans. And I think no one wants to repeat an Apollo 1 or the Challenger disaster, Columbia disaster, and you simply don't know. I mean, you know, they're amazing engineers on the ground trying to figure out what was going on. You know, it's possible that on the way to the International Space Station in June, there was a glitch between, kind of like the software that was kind of like keeping those thrusters and in kind of like a continuous firing mode, never letting them truly cool down. That's why the Teflon extruded.

So they didn't know, with that Teflon extrusion, with that somehow hinder the flight back. But I just will tell you, Victor and Amara, it's like every astronaut that I know, they said that after they returned to Earth, their first thought was, when can I get back to space? So these are career astronauts that have trained they've been there before. They're going to have an incredible story to tell, and they'll continue to do great science.

And that's the hallmark of, you know, kind of like that -- the program right adaptability, the ability to adjust and change. You know, doesn't just affect Suni and Butch. It also affects Zena and Stephanie Wilson, because they are not going to be aboard their scheduled flight in February of 2025, but Zena said, you know, it's like, really, we make a grander sacrifice for the good of everyone.

WALKER: Right.

IVEY: So I do believe it's the right choice. There may be some moments up there right now where Suni and Butch looking at each other going maybe we should have tried it, but I think the safety at all.

WALKER: In hindsight, maybe we should have tried it. Yes, but, you know, I am a bit confused about these comments from NASA officials, and they maintained it again after the successful return of the Starliner without the crew saying that it would have been a safe and successful landing had the crew been on board.

I mean, do you take issue with that, that they keep saying that yes, they could have been on board, yet they decided against it because of safety issues.

IVEY: I think it's just hard to say. I think, you know, again, now that we're, you know, we're seeing, Oh, it landed safely. The airbags did what they needed to do, the parachutes, the service module dropped away. But again, I just think we're much more risk averse than we were, say, 60 years ago. I mean, compared to the Apollo 13 mission. Those three astronauts had a 10 percent chance of survival as they were shivering there in that little small thing, they watched the service module fall away, realize half of it's missing. The moon is in the distance. Kind of their dream of ever walking there is fading away, and they still splash down.

I just think that, yes, it's fantastic for the Boeing and all their partners that it went well and landed so well in White Sands. One of the reasons the Polaris Dawn mission has been pushed off now for nearly two and a half three weeks is because of weather off the Florida coast. So landing in the desert with that soft landing, they could have, you know, they could land anytime.

So, I think it's probably everybody -- I think NASA's comments are just hopeful that if it -- if they had made that decision, then who they would have been OK. But I think, you know, let's rather be safe than sorry, because, again, human life is very precious, and whether you're on the International Space Station or wherever.

BLACKWELL: Yes. So as you mentioned, the service module was jettisoned. It was the capsule that landed in New Mexico. And on that service module, that's where the helium leaks and the thruster problems were.

[06:10:03]

Were they NASA and Boeing able to harvest as much as they need to find out what potentially the problems were and how to prevent them, before it was jettisoned and lost?

IVEY: I think they had some good ideas that, you know, what may or may not have happened. They had a ton of different scenarios. Their biggest worry, and this is straight from one of the people that worked on those thrusters, the biggest worry they had was, if where that Teflon had kind of like extended outward, was that in some way going to really prevent those thrusters from behaving, you know, incorrectly.

And luckily, they behaved just fine, and everything deployed fine, but they didn't know if that was going to be true. So that was the, I think, if there's any good cause for them to have called it and said, you know, Suni and Butch will stay aboard, that was it. They just didn't know how that would behave after they undocked.

And now they have some great data coming down.

WALKER: Yes.

IVEY: Boeing certainly has some work in quality control as they move forward, but definitely a good day that it came down well, because I know a lot of good people were working hard to get that back.

WALKER: Janet Ivey, we're out of time. It's so great to see you this morning. Thanks for getting up to early.

All students from Appalachee High School will not return to school Tuesday, when other Barrow County students resume classes. They are still dealing with the pain and the fallout from Wednesday's mask shooting that killed two of their classmates and two of their teachers.

Last night, many people in the community braved the rain to honor the victims. Earlier in the day, the alleged gunman, 14-year old Colt Gray, and his father, Colin Gray, who was also charged, appeared in court.

BLACKWELL: The trauma of that mass shooting is still fresh, especially for two sisters who came face to face with that terror. CNN's Isabel Rosales has their stories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 14-year-old Bri Jones was the first student to lay eyes on Colt Gray just moments before she says he began his deadly rampage.

BRI JONES, BLOCKED THE SHOOTER FROM THER CLASSROOM: He knocked on the door. I went up, I saw him holding a bag and just pulling the gun out. I'm not sure what kind of bag was it, but I see him pulling out of a bag, and like the gun was so big, like --

ROSALES: Gray was her classmate and their class the first he tried to enter. She tells, CNN.

JONES: I always look out the door before I open it. There's just like my -- it's a habit my mom taught me.

ROSALES (voice-over): But as her teacher instructed her to let him back in, she said --

JONES: I know he has a gun. If I would have opened the door, then like he would have got every single one of us in that class and I don't want me, my teacher, my friends in the class, and my other classmates. I don't want none of us to get hurt. So I just didn't go like I thank God that I did not open that door.

ROSALES (voice-over): Jones said Gray moved on to her sister's class, down the hall.

MALASIA MITCHELL, SAW HER TEACHER FATALLY SHOT: Colt shot my teacher multiple times.

ROSALES (voice-over): Malasia Mitchell says she will never be able to erase the image of her teacher. Richard Aspinwall, begging for help.

MITCHELL: We had to drag our teacher, our teacher's body and fully into the classroom. We heard him take his last breath.

ROSALES (voice-over): Mitchell says she felt powerless.

MITCHELL: I've been trained what to do, like give CPR and other stuff, but I couldn't because I couldn't help him. So I ended up having a seizure.

ROSALES (voice-over): The 14-year-old suspect who allegedly caused all this pain in court with families of the victims just feet behind him.

JUDGE CURRIE MINGLEDORFF II, JACKSON COUNTY, GEORGIA: You're charged with four counts of felony murder.

ROSALES (voice-over): Just minutes after the suspected shooter left the courtroom where he did not enter a plea, his father walked in for his own first appearance.

MINGLEDORFF: Two counts of felony murder in the second degree. You're charged with four counts felony involuntary manslaughter.

ROSALES (voice-over): And he's charged with eight counts of second degree felony Cruelty to Children. An arrest warrant for Colin Gray alleges he gave his son a firearm when he knew his son was a threat to himself and to others.

It's only the second time a parent has been charged in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The GBI has arrested Colin Gray.

ROSALES (voice-over): Last April, in an unprecedented case, the parents of Ethan Crumbley were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years for involuntary manslaughter. The DA in the case says Colt Gray may face additional charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can anticipate there will be new charges on Colt Gray because we never addressed the other victims in the school.

[06:15:00]

ROSALES (voice-over): At Appalachee High, some students left wondering how they can possibly move forward.

ROSALES: Do you think you'll be able to come back to school?

MITCHELL: Yes, because I'm not going to walk in fear.

ROSALES (voice-over): Isabel Rosales, Winder, Georgia, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Isabel, thank you so much. Let's discuss now with Kelly Hyman, it was a trial attorney. Kelly, thank you for coming in studio.

So let's start here, four people killed in this shooting, but the father, Colin Gray charged with just two counts of second degree murder but four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Why just the two counts of second degree murder instead of for all four victims?

KELLY HYMAN, TRIAL ATTORNEY: Well, this is a horrible tragedy, and so when we look at it from a legal perspective, now these are the initial charges, potentially they could be additional charges or other charges as well. But when we look at the charges, we look at the second degree murder, and that is the most severe one it is, and then also involuntary manslaughter. Involuntary manslaughter means that they didn't have the intent, he didn't have the specific intent to do the harm and all see Cruelty to Children.

Now it's important to remember this is the first time in Georgia that a parent has been charged in shootings like this.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The Crumbley's as Isabel just mentioned set this president in Oxford, Michigan after the school shooting there. Is it the expect -- your expectation that we'll see this, if not the norm, but more likely, more common, after that first case in Michigan.

HYMAN: That's potentially possible.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HYMAN: That case in Michigan, when we look at that case from a legal perspective, there's two key things that we want to look at, right. When we look at first, we want to look at the fact about the gun. Did the parents lock up that gun? That was a huge issue in the case. Did the child, a minor, have access to that gun? Was it easily for them to get the gun? And second, the knowledge of the parents. What knowledge did the parents have? And that is going to play a role in this case, the father, right? What did he do about the gun? Did he make sure that it was locked up that the child didn't know how to access the gun, and also what knowledge did the kid have?

And we have to remember, a year ago, there were some issues with the FBI, and the police came to the house about allegedly some plans to shoot, and the father said that the son had unfettered, you know, access to the gun, and whether that is going to play a role as well. BLACKWELL: Let's walk through that step by step. But first for Colin

Gray, who is the father. Colin Gray, the father Cole Gray, the son, before we get to what he knew about his son's potential intentions, it's illegal in Georgia to give a gun to a child, essentially, right? I mean, to just hand over give him access to this weapon before we know what he knew about, what his son wanted to do with it.

HYMAN: Right, the unfettered and correction the father said that he did not have, you know, the gun was protected.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HYMAN: And that's definitely going to be an important issue that the gather gave them the gun as a gift, and so the parents are supposed to, as a minor, make sure that the gun is safe, and make sure that the gun is protected. And so something like this doesn't happen again.

BLACKWELL: FBI received tips about threats of a school shooting in May 2023 they interviewed Colin and Colt, and Colt did not make the threats. There was no probable cause. There was nothing that law enforcement could do. In Colin's defense, will we expect to see and is it credible that he could say, I mean, they didn't arrest him, they didn't do anything. He denied doing it. How would I have known that this was possible if, even after investigation, they didn't find anything worth pursuing?

HYMAN: That's potentially possible when we look at it from the legal perspective, we understand right now that they have been charged. And so the next step is for the grand jury, and the grand jury will hear evidence about this, and they will make a determination whether or not to indict him, right?

And then once, in fact, if he is indicted, then that's when the criminal trial starts, and that's in front of a jury, and that's where he could potentially put on that defense of saying basically the fact of what you stated.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right. Kelly Hyman, thanks so much.

WALKER: All right. Still to come, the ad war is on. The Harris campaign is releasing their first abortion focused ads, courting women voters. The potential impact of those commercials. That's next.

Also, Donald Trump is lashing out at the women who accused him of assault following an appeals court hearing in the E. Jean Carroll sex abuse case ahead. Why Trump's lawyers say he should be granted a new trial, and 32 million people in Southern California and the northwest remain under heat alerts today. We're going to have a weather update for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:24:20]

WALKER: We're just 59 days away from the presidential election, and it is a big weekend for vice president Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump's campaigns. Harris is continuing debate preparations with her team in Pittsburgh ahead of the first and so far only debate against Trump on Tuesday night.

This morning, Vice President Harris is going on the offensive by releasing three new attack ads on reproductive rights overnight. We're going to get to that in a moment. Now, as for Trump, he will be on the road campaigning in Wisconsin today.

Meanwhile, the early voting process hit a snag Friday. The first mail- in ballots in the country in North Carolina will be delayed after an appeals court ordered the state to take RFK Jr. off the ballot.

[06:25:07]

The Independent candidate dropped out last month and endorsed Trump. All right, let's bring in CNN Betsy Klein now to discuss. And the Harris campaign, Betsy, just released three new ads this morning. Tell us more about what they say.

BETSY KLEIN, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Amara, this is really notable, because in the seven weeks since vice president Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket, the ads have really focused on introducing her and defining her, and now that is changing with these three ads focused on the issue of abortion, and the plan really is to turn up that contrast with former President Donald Trump really by going after his stance on the issue in both the personal stories of women impacted and his own words. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump wants to go further with plans to restrict birth control, ban abortion nationwide, even monitor women's pregnancies. We know who Donald Trump is. He'll take control. We'll pay the price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, Harris has emerged as a leader on the issue of abortion since Roe v Wade was overturned as vice president and the Biden campaign turned Harris campaign, has long believed that this is going to be galvanizing for voters, particularly moderates, particularly women heading into November, really turning out that enthusiasm and energy.

BLACKWELL: So we three days away from the first debate between vice president Harris and former president Trump. What are we learning about Harris's debate preparations?

KLEIN: Well, Victor, just to take a step back, I mean, it is late. We've just passed Labor Day, and the campaign has long believed, historically, has believed that American people are really not paying close attention to a presidential race until after people go back to school, back to work, summer is over. Now the stakes could not be higher for vice president Harris as she really tries to introduce and reintroduce herself to American voters, and she has been in Pittsburgh since Thursday, preparing meticulously with a small group of close aides, as she always does for things like this, and the choice of Pittsburgh was intentional.

Aides tell me they are pleased with the local media reports that her visit there has generated, and we do expect her to take a break from all of that preparation and be out and about in Pittsburgh, in that critical battleground state, really generating more media, local coverage.

WALKER: It's been, what, 10 weeks now, since President Biden's debate performance basically forced him to withdraw from the 2024 race. Do we know what his plans are on Tuesday? Will he be watching the debate?

KLEIN: Yes. And Amara, I mean, let's just remember that Vice President Harris was long preparing to debate. She was preparing to debate J.D. Vance, so this debate on Tuesday is going to look very different. Obviously, we know President Biden, he is planning to watch White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that he is proud of his former running mate and looking forward to it.

WALKER: All right. Betsy Klein, good to see you. Thank you so much.

All right, let's bring in Stephen Neukam now. Congressional reporter with Axios. Good morning to you, Steven. Let's start with the latest polling in the six battleground states that CNN and SSRS has gotten amongst registered voters, and it shows really mixed results here. Harris holding an advantage over Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan. Trump has an edge in Arizona, according to this poll. And then, you know, the voters -- the likely voters are pretty evenly split when it comes to both candidates in Georgia, Pennsylvania and in Nevada.

But what really stuck out to me is this 15 percent of likely voters who are still undecided. I mean, that is significant, especially when you look at this timeline of just 59 days from election day. What's behind this, this undecided?

STEPHEN NEUKAM, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: Yes, well, one look, I think that it sort of underlines the stakes of Tuesday night, these 15 percent of folks who don't know yet who they're going to vote for in an election where you know the choices stark. People know who former President Trump is, and people sort of understand the agenda, the Biden-Harris agenda, and the agenda that the Vice President wants to carry forward.

So, this first debate performance to see them both on the stage. Tens of millions of people will be watching. And specifically, I mean, I think they're going to tailor their messages to those 15 percent in Michigan and Arizona, Wisconsin, because those are the votes and the thousands of vote margins that, in the grand scheme of thing, is so small, but that both of the camps need to capture to win in November.

WALKER: Yes, just highlights and underscores just how high stakes this debate will be on Tuesday. On Friday, the former vice president of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, a staunch conservative, he said that he will be voting for the Democrat in this race, Kamala Harris.

[06:30:00] In a statement, he said this, "In our nation's 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the votes had rejected -- the voters had rejected him, he can never be trusted with power again."

Really strong words there from a fellow Republican. And it's also a stunning move. What's your reaction to this? And does this have potential to sway some of the 15 percent who are undecided?

STEPHEN NEUKAM, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: Yes, this is sort of like a case-study and how just quickly politics moves. The Republican Party has changed so much over the last decade, half decade, that I think for a lot of people, the shock value of former Vice President Dick Cheney coming out and saying this is sort of lost on them.

I mean, this is somebody who under the Bush administration was one of the staunchest conservatives in Congress, and then, obviously, in the White House. So, look, I think you saw it at the DNC, part of the Democratic platform is trying to peel off some Republican voters. They had Republican speakers talk at the DNC, the Vice President has promised to put a Republican in her platform and -- no, they're not -- they're not going to peel off 20 percent of Republicans.

But when we're talking about those slim margins again in Michigan and Wisconsin, 5, 6, 7 percent of those voters really matters.

WALKER: Looking forward to the debate just three days away from now, our MJ Lee is reporting that the Harris camp is very unhappy about the muted mics rule. They believe that it will potentially hurt Harris because they believe her political strength is when she's on the offensive, grilling people like as we saw her grill Brett Kavanaugh and Bill Barr.

What are your thoughts on how they may be able to get around this muted mic rule in terms of highlighting the strength of hers, where she would be able to potentially interrupt Trump if the mics were not muted?

NEUKAM: Yes, I think it's going to be an interesting dynamic to see play out on stage. I mean, she -- even with the microphone off, she could still, you know, try to get her message across. I think what's more interesting is not whether the mics are muted and how sort of that plays out tactically on the stage.

But what is the case that she prosecutes against Trump? Does she talk about the fact that he led them through the pandemic in his response? Do they talk about how he ran up the deficit? Or do they talk about -- does she talk about things like the threat to democracy, January 6th?

What decision does she make in terms of prosecuting that case? Is this an economic one? Is it a social one? Sure, she focuses on abortion. I think those lines of attack are going to be sort of telling about what the campaign thinks, or what she thinks is sticking with those undecided voters in those states. WALKER: Stephen Neukam, good to see you this morning. Thanks. And

make sure to tune into CNN for a complete coverage and exclusive analysis before and after the debate. The "ABC News" presidential debate will be simulcast Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CO-ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Donald Trump's sentencing in the hush money criminal conviction will not happen until after the November election. Why the judge decided to delay. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

WALKER: This morning, one of this year's strongest typhoon makes landfall yet again, this time in Vietnam. Forecasters say Typhoon Yagi re-intensified to become the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. The storm already killed two people and injured dozens more when it hit China.

Yagi recorded maximum sustained wind speeds of 140 miles per hour, making it the world's second most powerful tropical cyclone of 2024 so far. Well, he presidential election is just 59 days away and voters won't know what Donald Trump's punishment in the hush money case will be before heading to the polls.

And that is because Judge Juan Merchan has delayed sentencing in the case until November 26th. Merchan said in part, he did not want the sentencing to impact the outcome of the election. Meantime, in the sex abuse and defamation case, Trump trashed E. Jean Carroll and her legal team Friday after appealing a $5 million civil settlement. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Gas prices across the U.S. are falling and they're falling pretty fast. Drivers in ten states are currently paying on average, less than $3 a gallon. And experts believe that by Thanksgiving, drivers in most states could be paying less than 3 bucks a gallon. Here's CNN's Matt Egan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER (on camera): Gas prices are falling fast, and that is great news for consumers. Remember, two years ago, gas prices were above $5 a gallon, that was a nightmare. Thankfully, we are nowhere near that. In fact, gas prices recently fell to six-month lows.

They're about 50 cents cheaper than they were at this point last year, and many Americans, they're paying even less. Gas is now below $3 a gallon in roughly 41,000 gas stations across the country. That's up from just about a 100 at this point last year. And drivers in ten states are averaging less than $3 a gallon, including Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.

[06:40:00] And analysts say that this trend, it's likely just getting started.

GasBuddy tells CNN that by Thanksgiving, we could see 35 to 40 states with $3 or less gasoline, that would be very encouraging. As far as why prices are going down, there's a few factors here. One of them is strong supply especially here in the U.S., another factor is weak demand especially in China.

All of this explains why we've seen oil prices recently plunged below $70 a barrel for the first time all year. The oil market is so weak that OPEC Plus, the producer group led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, they've had to come to the rescue by canceling plans to add supply.

Now, I want to stress that the mood of the oil market can change in an instant, but for now, all things are pointing to lower prices for consumers at the gas pump. Now, former President Trump, he weighed in on this issue the other day, promising that if he becomes President, he'll get gas prices below $2 a gallon.

Now, this may be one promise that Trump hopes doesn't come true, because analysts tell me that to get gas prices that low, demand would have to crash. And that's something that typically only happens in an economic crisis. So, sure, dirt, cheap gas prices sounds great, but not if it means a global recession. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Matt, thank you and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:00]

WALKER: We are following breaking news out of London where today, the heads of the CIA and MI6, the American and British Intelligence services are holding a rare joint news conference.

BLACKWELL: Joining us now, CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. What are they saying?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, 15 minutes until they take the stage here for a rare joint appearance, possibly the first time they've given a public speech together here. An "FT" newspaper first of all in the heart of Hamster Teeth in London.

The topics we're likely to hear them address of course, CIA Director Bill Burns, key as a negotiator, trying to find some sort of negotiated settlement and a ceasefire around the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Israel, as well. Deeply troubled tasks, certainly, that's seen enormous frustration voiced I think by multiple officials involved, real hope held out by the Biden administration, they can achieve this goal.

Despite in the last day, some of their officials expressing to my colleague doubts that may indeed even be possible. But on top of that too, they have just penned an editorial this morning released in the "Financial Times" where they talk about how the world order, the international order is under threat now, as it never has been before.

I think the appearance behind me here will be a bid to show that Trans-Atlantic U.K.-U.S. alliance, thriving like never before. They will call again for a ceasefire in the Middle East, something which both they say their services have worked tirelessly towards, and they also will praise and they have praised in this editorial, the innovation, the resilience, and what they call the in-land of the Ukrainians in adapting their resistance to Russia's invasion now over 30 months old.

They also too, in that editorial, they are stark in their criticism of what they refer to as Russia's reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe, something we've reported on, but a lot of mysterious instances of important infrastructure. Some of it related to assistance to Ukraine coming on the damage.

But really a rare appearance we'll see here in about ten minutes from now, where both Washington and London keen to show the strength of their reliance, be clear about the areas where they see consistency and promote, I think, on top of all of this, their continued support for Ukraine and the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza. Despite how exceptionally complex that task appears right now. Back to you --

WALKER: All right, well, Nick Paton Walsh, we will check back with you once they start speaking. Thank you so much, Nick. Still to come, triple-digit temperatures that stretched across the West this week are on their way out, and relief is on the way. We'll have details.

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[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: This morning, 32 million people, we're talking California, parts of the northwest, they're waking up to heat alerts, and at the same time, a flood threat continues for a lot of the Gulf Coast.

WALKER: Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here now with more on this. Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST: That's right, good morning. Yes, we've got a lot to talk about. Well, we begin in the southeast because we have not one, but two different cold fronts that are going to be adding some moisture into this area. Also, this low pressure system here sitting just outside the Gulf, that's going to also provide an influx of moisture, especially along the Gulf Coast region.

And then even as we head into the next week, we have this, this system right here, this potential tropical system has got a 60 percent chance of development, that too is also going to add a lot more moisture into the Gulf Coast over the next several days. So, starting today, all the way through Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, we have the potential for flooding across much of the southeast.

Right now, you've got some rain showers up around Wilmington, a few showers south of Atlanta, and then down towards New Orleans area. This is where some of the heaviest rain is located right there along the Gulf Coast. And that's really where the heaviest rain is going to remain for much of the day today.

So, the best chance for a lot of the flooding potential exists from Louisiana all the way up through Carolina. Again, mainly focusing right here along the Gulf Coast region. A lot of these areas could pick up an extra 2 to 4 inches. Keep in mind, it was raining and a lot of these areas yesterday, so, the overall 5 to 6-day total for some of these spots could be 8, even as high as 10 inches of rain.

Out to the West, they could use some rain, not only to help mitigate the fire threat, but it would also cool some of these temperatures down. Take a look at some of these records from yesterday, downtown Los Angeles, topping out at 111, even the airport topping out at 102.

California is not the only one, Washington and Oregon also having record-breaking temperatures, and some of these areas could have more records yet again today. We've got a lot of these heat alerts out for Washington, Idaho, portions of Oregon, even down across areas of California and Arizona.

[06:55:00]

Now, there is some relief in the forecast. It begins in the northwest, so take a look at Seattle going from 80 today down to 72, Portland, 87, down to 81. So, we're going to start to see that cool-down begin over the next couple of days in the southwestern portion of the country.

However, it's going to be a bit more delayed. In fact, you can see for a lot of these, it's going to take until likely Tuesday or even Wednesday before we start to see some of those temperatures coming back down, Las Vegas still 105 today, maybe slightly cooler at 102 tomorrow, but still well above the average, which is 98.

Phoenix, Los Angeles, even Sacramento all looking at those temperatures, about 10 degrees above where they normally would be this time of year. Phoenix, for example, has had 103 consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures. That not only breaks the record, it breaks it by a lot. Take a look at this.

The previous record was only 76 straight days, and that was back in 1993, but just focus on the fact, guys, that there is relief. You just got to wait a little bit longer.

BLACKWELL: Hundred and three days. It stepped over 100 --

WALKER: That's torture --

BLACKWELL: Degrees --

WALKER: Yes.

BLACKWELL: So, what you're saying is they haven't reached Chai(ph) weather yet. They're still in the ice-T(ph) days.

WALKER: So, we did. We wished it weeks ago --

BLACKWELL: Some of us on the east coast --

WALKER: They will say we beg to differ.

BLACKWELL: Allison, thanks so much.

CHINCHAR: Thanks, ice-T(ph) weather.

BLACKWELL: A lot more coming up at the top of the hour, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND continues.

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