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CNN This Morning

Early And Absentee Voting Begins This Week In Several States; Trump, Harris Campaigns Zero In On Battleground States; Trump, Vance Double Down On Anti-Immigration Policies In Ohio; Biden, Harris Address Congressional Black Caucus; Teamsters Have Yet To Officially Endorse A Candidate; Trump Says Laura Loomer Doesn't Work For The Campaign; U.S. Service Member Arrested In Venezuela, Accused Of Coup Plot; Missile Launched From Yemen Lands In Central Israel; CNN Gains Access To Strategic Philadelphi Corridor In Gaza. Disney & DirecTV Reach Deal To Restore ABC, ESPN, Other Networks; Fed Expected To Make Long-Awaited Interest Rate Cut This Week; NY High School Takes NFL's Kickoff Rule Change One Step Further; Polaris Dawn Mission Splashes Down Off Florida Coast; Remnants Of Francine Lingering Over Alabama. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 15, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:43]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, September 15th. We just got into September and now we're on our way out.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my gosh. Time is like going like that.

BLACKWELL: Flying by. Good to have you with us this Sunday morning. I'm Victor Blackwell.

ROSALES: And I'm Isabel Rosales in for Amara Walker. Well, the fight for battleground states in heating up. Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, and the respective running mates are set to crisscross the country in the final seven-week sprint in the race for the White House. We are going in depth. Plus, the moment Trump was asked about the bomb threats linked to Haitian-American conspiracy theories in Springfield, Ohio.

BLACKWELL: And three Americans, including a purported Navy SEAL, were arrested in Venezuela in an alleged plot to assassinate the country's president. What we know about the allegations and investigation ahead. We have that in a live report for you.

ROSALES: And major money moves could happen this week as a federal reserve is poised to rollout its first interest rate cut in 4.5 years, what it could mean for your money a little later.

BLACKWELL: And with the new concussion concerns dominating this NFL season, Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at how changing one play could reduce football head injuries.

All right. Just weeks out from the election and both campaigns are setting their sights on battleground states. They'll be across the country this week at times in the same states. It lines up with the startup widespread early and absentee voting this week. Ballots are available Thursday in Wisconsin, and even more states on Friday.

ROSALES: Former President Donald Trump visited Las Vegas yesterday and he heads to Arizona today. Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden attended the Phoenix Awards Dinner for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation last night as Harris' running mate, Tim Walz, stumped in Wisconsin. He told rally goers their ticket is for the working class as they work to attract more rural voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ, VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And I say this, if you're a billionaire and that's all you care about, he may be your guy. But if you're a working-class person, a middle-class person, a community member, I can't find much there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And V.P. candidate J.D. Vance visited North Carolina and Ohio where he double down on criticizing a federal program that allows Haitian immigrants to be in Ohio legally.

BLACKWELL: Now, the program has become a flashpoint for Trump's ticket after he brought up false claims of Haitians eating pets in Springfield during Tuesday's presidential debate. CNN's Alayna Treene is in Las Vegas where the former president once again slammed U.S. immigration policies.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, Isabel and Victor, on Saturday, Donald Trump made a brief visit to the Las Vegas Police Protective Association where he thanked local law enforcement on the ground, and he also lobbed attacks at Vice President Kamala Harris and falsely claimed that she has no support from U.S. law enforcement.

But what I found interesting was when a reporter asked him at the end there about whether he denounces some of the bomb threats that have been reported in Springfield, Ohio. They have led to two consecutive days of evacuations in schools, and this comes after both Donald Trump, but also his running mate, J.D. Vance, have been spreading and promoting these rumors about Haitian migrants eating their pets. Rumors that we know the Republican governor of Ohio, the police chief, the mayor of Springfield, have all said are made without evidence. I want you to listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you denounce the bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio?

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it has been taken over by illegal migrants and that's a terrible thing that happened.

Springfield was this beautiful town and now they're going through hell. It's a sad thing. Not going to happen with me. I can tell you right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: All right. So, Isabel and Victor, there's a few things that I want to break down for you. One is that he said illegal immigrants are taking over the city. But we know that many of the migrants in Springfield are there legally. They had been given temporary protective status.

He also claimed that he doesn't know anything about these bomb threats. However, on Friday, during a press conference in Los Angeles, he was asked specifically by a reporter about those threats. Here's that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, the police chief, the Republican governor of Ohio all debunk this story about people eating pets and now there are bomb threats at schools and kids being evacuated.

[06:05:09]

Why do you still spread this false story?

TRUMP: No, no, no. The real threat is what's happening at our border because you have thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants coming in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: OK. So again -- so, there's no evidence about those rumors in Springfield. But I think the big picture here is the underlying goal of what Donald Trump is saying. We know that this plays into his messaging that they are allegations of illegal immigrants in this country committing violent crimes.

This all plays into the same type of rhetoric we've heard from him in the lead up to 2016 and in 2020 where he's been trying to stoke fear about illegal immigrants and undocumented immigrants in this country. So, I keep that in mind as we continue to cover this. Isabel, Victor.

ROSALES: Yes, doubling and tripling down on that rhetoric. Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Let's move to the other side of the aisle before starting a campaign blitz next week, Harris joined -- Vice President Harris joined President Biden to speak with the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C. CNN's Eva McKend explains her message.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Isabel, the vice president applauding members of the Congressional Black Caucus for their vision, and then outlining her own vision for a Harris administration, talking about the economy, reproductive rights, health care, needling the former president, arguing that she has a plan for health care not just concepts of a plan. That, of course, is a comment that the former president made during the debate. But ultimately, she used this platform as a call to action, leaning on CBC members and their allies to do all that they could to turn out the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Generations of Americans before us lead the fight for freedom and for the future. And now the baton is in our hands. I truly believe that America is ready to turn the page on the politics of division and hate. And to do it, our nation is counting on the leadership in this room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And the vice president picks up an aggressive campaign travel schedule this week with a tour of the blue wall states. She'll be in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Victor, Isabel.

BLACKWELL: Eva McKend, thanks so much. Joining us now. Reese Gorman, political reporter for NOTUS. Reese, good morning to you. Eva just went through a few of the stops for the vice president this week. Tomorrow, an important stop. She's going to meet with the Teamsters, a major union, of course, here in the U.S. that has not yet endorsed -- usually they endorse Democrats.

We remember though that the president Sean O'Brien spoke at the RNC a few months ago. So, what's on the line for the vice president here? And what's the plausibility of no endorsement this season, if not for the vice president?

REESE GORMAN, POLITICAL REPORTER, NOTUS: Yes, I think if you remember when Sean O'Brien, the president of Teamsters, spoke at the RNC, he ruffled a lot of feathers. He made a lot of people, especially within the Teamsters, pretty upset because they felt like it was a betrayal and -- especially because just a couple of weeks or, I think, about a month afterwards, Trump was on Twitter space with Elon Musk kind of talking about union busting and how -- laughing about Elon firing people on strike.

And -- so, I think this is a big meeting for the vice president mostly because, I mean, unions have historically endorsed Democrats especially a time right now where we have Trump and J.D. Vance trying to win over working-class voters -- working class voters and they're really trying to go after them. So, this is a big meeting and it could sway a lot of people. While the rank-and-file Teamsters might vote Republican, it still would mean a lot for vice president to kind of have that endorsement from Sean O'Brien.

BLACKWELL: Reese, the president -- former President Trump, is dragging now this Haitians eating cats and dogs lie. I mean, I don't know why we're dancing around the word lie, unsubstantiated claim and false claim, all that, into another week. Is this part of a strategy from his campaign or in spite of this strategy created by his campaign?

GORMAN: I mean, the fact that they're talking about it is definitely in spite of the strategy. This is -- I mean, this is not what his advisers, what his allies wanted him to bring up on the debate stage last Tuesday.

I've talked to members of Congress who are extremely upset about this because they felt like immigration was the thing that Trump could actually win on in this debate. That this was a big platform that he could use to kind of knock Harris and -- kind of what her and Biden have done.

But instead, he started spreading the lie that migrants are eating pets. And so, this is now kind of -- I think the doubling down on it has become part of the strategy because as you know Trump doesn't really like to admit that he screwed up or he's wrong.

[06:10:00]

And so, this has now become kind of part of the strategy is this doubling down and really trying to drill this point home, even though it's not necessarily true. And so, I think his advisers, allies originally were very skeptical, did not want this to be brought up for sure, but now it has kind of taken life of its own.

BLACKWELL: And it really has dominated -- you know, we've started a new week, so most of last week, and you pair that with the questions about Laura Loomer as well. What is the strategy from his campaign if there is one? Because his allies say, if you talk about issues, if you talk about even immigration or the economy that he has a path toward winning. What is their strategy to get him back on those issues?

GORMAN: I think -- I mean, really, it's hard. I think a lot of his advisers know that it's hard to control Trump, right? He's going to do what he wants to do. He's going to say what he wants to say.

And -- so, I think part of the strategy is really just trying to get him to talk about the issues. We've seen him doing these press conferences -- he did in L.A. where he did try to talk about the issues and then kind of veered off track.

So, it's like -- it just seems that he is kind of struggling to stay on message, struggling to talk about issues, and that's kind of -- especially to the point about Laura Loomer. I mean, me and my colleagues have reported that there's a significant number of people in the Republican Party especially Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis, have called on Trump to like stop working with Laura Loomer. Stop talking to her. Stop having her around.

And -- because they do not think that she is good for Trump, good for the Republican Party, and will hurt them in this election and -- but, I mean, as you see, it just keeps happening and he -- has around and he does -- and he did release a statement saying that he didn't necessarily kind of -- it was like kind of a half-hearted, I don't really support what she said, after originally saying that he had never seen what she said.

But still, I mean, it's just the doubling down -- is having her around as something that a lot of these Republicans are looking at it. And they're like, we don't want her around. We don't think this is good for Trump. We don't think this is good for the election. But just still seems to -- he still seems to be keeping her around.

BLACKWELL: Yes. He posted on social media that he doesn't agree with some unspecified statements. He just said, I don't support her statements, but didn't say exactly what he disagreed with.

And I wonder is this kind of baked into the Trump cake that there will be these characters around, that there will be a Nick Fuentes who dined with the former president, that he will kind of be vaguely dismissive or disavow David Duke as he did in the past? How much of this -- do his allies whose campaign expect is just going to be around? And on Laura Loomer, he said he doesn't support her. But is he going to kick her off the plane?

GORMAN: I think that this is something that -- I mean, Trump does like having people -- I mean, like people like Laura Loomer, for example. I mean, she's someone that's never going to disagree with him. She's going to kind of boost his ego. Anything he says she's going to agree with. And this is the type of people that Trump likes having around him, or these yes-men and these people that are constantly going to talk and kind of support what he's doing and does it in this -- from that he kind of seems to look past some of the things that they've done, and some of the egregious things that they've done and some of these cases.

And -- so, that kind of gets him into trouble. I do think some advisers, allies have kind of taken note. It's like, this is going to happen. Trump is going to have some of these people around. We can try as hard as possible.

I mean, if you remember, he tried to hire Laura Loomer and that's when -- back earlier -- late last year. And that's when his advisers kind of put their foot on the gas pedal and was like, hey, you can't do this. We can't hire her. Like, this would be crazy.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

GORMAN: And so, that was kind of when they intervened. And so, I think that looking at -- from people that I'm talking to is they kind of expect that, yes, this is where he might have these people around, but we can't really stop. We'll just try to prevent the damage.

BLACKWELL: Reese Gorman with NOTUS, thanks so much.

ROSALES: Still ahead, Venezuela has arrested a purported U.S. Navy SEAL for allegedly being part of a plot to assassinate the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro. How the U.S. is responding to that accusation, that is next.

Plus, Disney and DirecTV strike a new deal. What this means for the subscribers who lost access to Disney stations during that dispute.

And the crew for SpaceX's Polaris Dawn is back on Earth after a history making mission in space. We will have the details on that splashdown. That's up ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:19:16]

ROSALES: Breaking overnight, the State Department has confirmed that Venezuela has arrested a member of the U.S. military. The country claims that it's a Navy SEAL who, along with five others, was plotting to overthrow the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. They have also seized 400 rifles.

BLACKWELL: The U.S. has denied the claims. Now, this comes after the U.S. seized one of Maduro's planes earlier this month, and deadly protests after Maduro's widely contested election win in July.

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon joins us now. So, first, let's talk about these arrests. What do you know?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Yes, Victor. Well, we already knew that Venezuela had arrested a U.S. sailor, a U.S. Navy, active member of the Navy.

[06:20:01]

We know him as Wilbert Castaneda. He was arrested on August 30. We previously learned that he was -- been detained. He had been detained in Caracas. Yesterday, Diosdado Cabello, who is the Venezuela interior minister, said that Castaneda was -- had been detained at the end of August, between La Victoria and the Tovar Colony, which are two rural town, about 50 kilometers or 30 miles southwest of Caracas.

What we didn't know in -- that was yesterday's announcement, is that Venezuela had detained five further foreigners, two U.S. citizens. They named them, but that the State Department told us that they're still looking into the situation. Two Spanish citizens and one Czech citizen. So, from the Czech Republic. And together with them, the Venezuelans are saying that they seized 400 rifles in the city of Puerto Ayacucho.

Now, Puerto Ayacucho is down south in the Colombia-Venezuela border around the Amazon River. It's actually on the Orinoco River. So, hundreds of kilometers away from Caracas and hundreds of kilometers away from where the U.S. Navy member had been detained.

Cabello, the interior minister, is putting all of these arrests into the same pot, saying that these were members of either the CIA or the Spanish intelligence, entering the country to overthrow president Nicolas Maduro. It's not the first time that the Venezuelan government has made this sort of allegation. We have seen over the last few years several detentions of foreigners in the country with similar accusations. Now, it's up to us to investigate whether it's actually true what Cabello is saying. Isabel, Victor.

ROSALES: Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much for your time. In Israel, air raid sirens sent civilians running for shelter early this morning as missiles launched from Yemen landed in an open area in central Israel. The military there says that there were no injuries reported.

A Houthi military spokesman claimed the group used a, quote, "new hypersonic ballistic missile" in the attack on Israeli territory.

BLACKWELL: Now, the Israeli military says the recent airstrikes in Gaza City over the weekend were targeting Hamas operatives. The Gaza Civil Defense reported five people have been killed as result of the strike.

CNN's Matthew Chance got a rare firsthand look at the destruction inside Gaza. Now, we should note here CNN reported from Gaza under Israel Defense Forces' escort at all times, but CNN retained full editorial control of the report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're being taken by the Israeli military into the Gaza Strip. They've loaded us all, as you can see, into this metal-sided truck. We're going into the south bit of the Gaza Strip, which the Israeli military say they have under full operational control. But it's not entirely secure.

They brought us to this place called the Philadelphi Corridor. It has emerged as a sticking point in the negotiations to get a ceasefire, to get the hostages released. As you can see, it's right up against the Egyptian border. And it's important because the Israelis say this is an area which has been used over the years as a way of smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip. Some of the smuggling has taken place overland through, presumably holes in the fence and through other border crossings. But a lot of it has been taking place right under our feet.

OK. Well, this is one of those tunnels. It's right on the border with Egypt. And you can see it is absolutely huge, wide enough to drive a car right the way through it. The Israeli military say that this tunnel, because it's so close to the Egyptian frontier, has been used by Hamas and other militants to store weapons in and to fire rockets from. You can see here the back of the wall, it's completely collapsed down. Apparently, it was closed for some time now.

We're driving through the neighborhood of Tel al-Sultan (ph). Every one of the buildings here has been totally destroyed. This was obviously a residential area with many people living in it. And the Israeli military say those people have moved, for the most part to safe zones, humanitarian areas not far from here. But look what they've left behind me. Look what has happened to Gaza.

Thank you. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari is chief spokesperson for the Israeli military. How can you justify causing so much, you know, damage, devastation, destruction in pursuit of your objectives?

REAR ADMIRAL DANEIL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: The only reason is because Hamas has built his military capabilities in that way that there is no other possibility.

[06:25:02]

There is -- there is a town underneath Rafah. If you don't demolish it, then Hamas will go back and have a stronghold, a military stronghold. He is using the population, embedding in the population. He is creating this destruction and also the death of the population.

CHANCE: Well, this has been a very tightly controlled bit of access into Gaza with the Israeli military. There's such a lot we haven't been able to see, but it's incredible. They've showed us what they have. It's definitely a narrow view, but it is also the only view right now that we can get firsthand.

Matthew Chance, CNN, in the southern Gaza Strip.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Matthew. For the first time in almost 4.5 years, the fed could finally cut interest rates this week. Why it may not be the only interest rate cut we see this year. That's ahead this morning on CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:30]

BLACKWELL: Disney and DirecTV have reached a deal ending a nearly two- week blackout of Disney owned channels to 11 million subscribers. It's a huge relief for sports fans because the new deal means ABC, ESPN and several other popular networks are back on the satellite TV provider.

In a joint statement, the company said the agreement also includes new combo packages for streaming services Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: This week the Federal Reserve meets and it seems poised to finally cut interest rates. The Fed has spent years wrangling to get inflation under control. Right now, it is down substantially from its 40-year highs in the summer of 2022.

But is it enough to mean a rate cut? And if so, how big could that cut be.

Let's get some answers now from Jeanna Smialek like Federal Reserve and Economy Reporter with the New York Times.

Jeanna thank you for joining us. You're also the author of Limitless the Federal Reserve Takes On A New Age Of Crisis.

So, let's talk about the latest inflation reports. What are they showing?

JEANNA SMIALEK, ECONOMY REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: We've really seen inflation come down a lot so headline consumer price index inflation is down to 2.5 percent which is just extremely mild compared to the 9.1 percent that we were facing in the summer of 2022. Which means that price levels haven't come down, they're still increasing, but they are not increasing nearly as quickly as they were at the peak here. We've -- we've really seen a lot of moderation.

ROSALES: Right and a Federal Reserve's goal is 2 percent. Let's take a look real quick at this consumer price index for August where some sectors have remained stubbornly high. So, we're looking at airfare -- airfare, apparel and shelter that is up. Jeanna, housing prices in particular that's important because that makes up a big chunk of overall inflation. Do these numbers change anything for the Fed and in its decision?

SMIALEK: So, I think that shelter index is something that they are going to have to keep an eye on, it's going to keep them a little bit wary. But I think that it's unlikely that that alone that this stickiness that we saw in the most recent CPI numbers is going to be enough to keep them from contemplating a bigger rate cut this time. So, it seems like they are likely to think about either a quarter point or a half point move and -- and everything is on the table at this meeting.

ROSALES: Right. So those numbers are up but the bigger overall message is that inflation is still slowed down to the lowest rate since February of 2021.

So, let's talk about the big question here, are there any signs as to how aggressively the central bank could cut interest rates? Are we talking a quarter of a basis point half? What are we looking at?

SMIALEK: Yes, I think it could be either. I think it is the -- the world is the Fed's oyster at this meeting. I think that they could -- they're probably going to discuss a bigger move, I think the question is whether Jay Powell the Fed chair can get the committee on board for that, you know, if that's what he wants to do.

So, I think there's -- there's like a big set of questions about how aggressive they're going to be. I do think that we are at a weird situation for them because they have seen some signs of stubbornness and inflation and that can make people nervous about making that big rate cut. But on the flip side we're also seeing unemployment move up pretty sharply.

And so, I think there's a big question, you know if unemployment is increasing, if the things are slowing down is there a risk that by going gradually and getting this process started in a sort of patient way, you actually let the job market cool too much and then it becomes really hard to reverse that process.

And so, they've got a -- they've got a pretty complicated set of trade-offs facing them as they -- as they had into this meeting on Wednesday.

ROSALES: Right, it's a delicate balance they're figuring out, when to cut, how quickly and when to put the brakes a little bit.

So, if interest rate is eased, if the interest rates are ease, what does this mean for the average American? I'm at home, I'm at dinner with my family. How do I see these impacts in my life?

SMIALEK: So, you should actually already be seeing them a little bit in the sense that when the Fed signals that it's going to cut interest rates markets react. And so, we've already seen mortgage rates come down a little bit in the last couple weeks, and when I talk to realtors, they'll tell me that they're seeing people come back into the housing market as that happens.

So, if you are hoping to buy a home or if you are hoping to sell at home, this probably changes the calculus for you at least a little bit. So, I think that's one really big clear impact.

I think the other impact is just in sort of the broader economy, if the Fed nails this, if they manage to cool the economy down without sort of sending a careening off a cliff, we're all going to feel that because it means the job market will stay stronger than it otherwise would unemployment won't shoot up as much and obviously that's good news for all of us as we're trying to convince our employers to pay us a little more. It gives us more bargaining power if there's a stronger labor market.

[06:35:14]

And so, I think those are the two really visible impacts.

ROSALES: Right, and you're talking about that elusive soft landing that I think has only been done otherwise successfully back in the '90s. How do you think the Fed is doing so far?

SMIALEK: You know, so far, the data really suggests that they're doing a good job. I think it's gone much better than anybody had really expected. But we are starting to see those cracks in the labor market. We're clearly at a point where things are starting to slow down.

And so, I think the next couple of months are really going to be the proof point where we see whether that slowdown ends in stabilization or whether that slowdown ends in a pretty painful crash. So, I think -- I think the question is an open one and it'll take a few more months of data for us to know for sure.

ROSALES: Hopefully not the latter. Jeanna Smialek, thank you.

BLACKWELL: After the Miami Dolphins quarterback took a serious hit to the head, there are now new concerns about concussions for NFL players.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at how changing one play could reduce head injuries for players.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:55]

BLACKWELL: The NFL has changed its kickoff rules and the goal here is to reduce head injuries.

ROSALES: CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, visits a high school in New York that is taking it a step further even and eliminating the play altogether.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To start the third quarter, Dan Bailey puts it in the air.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What you're watching is perhaps the most dangerous play in football.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five yards deep out of the end zone --

GUPTA (voice-over): The kickoff return.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down the sideline.

ALLEN SILLS, NFL CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: It's space and speed. So, if you think about where we're standing here, you've got players that are lined up, in this case, maybe 50, 60 yards away from where we are. They're running down the field as fast as they can possibly run.

So, coming down the field at speed and then having collisions obviously is a driver for injury.

GUPTA (voice-over): The NFL says last season concussions occurred four times more often on a kickoff than any other play. It's exactly why Riverdale Country School in the Bronx wants to change the game.

JOHN PIZZI, RIVERDALE DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS: I sort of jokingly said to him, like, I want to change football in America. Like, we need to figure this out.

GUPTA: Want to change football in America. It's pretty audacious.

PIZZI: Yes, I don't know if I actually realized what I was saying at the time.

GUPTA (voice-over): John Pizzi is the school's athletic director.

PIZZI: Yes, so in 2018, we had 18 players left for the last game of our season. We had a bunch of concussions and a bunch of season-ending injuries.

So, we made a decision to cancel our last game. But when that season ended, we had to figure out how we were going to manage the next football season.

GUPTA (voice-over): So together with the Concussion Legacy Foundation, they proposed something pretty radical. Getting rid of the sport's most iconic play. No more kickoffs. No more returns.

The beginning of their games now look like this. Play just starts at the 35-yard line. And so far, Pizzi says they've seen a 33 percent decrease in concussions across the league. And importantly, an 18 percent increase in participation.

Parents certainly like the idea. And it turns out, so do the players. Like team captain Tristan Cornell.

TRISTAN CORNELL, VARSITY TEAM CAPTAIN: I see all these injuries that happen from kickoffs. So, the fact that we don't have that probably allows us to keep healthy and play throughout the entire season. SILLS: It's a fascinating approach --

GUPTA (voice-over): But the NFL's chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, says the league is not yet ready to give up on the kickoff altogether.

SILLS: All options are on the table. I mean, I think that certainly eliminating the play is one of those options. But I believe there are potentially other solutions.

GUPTA (voice-over): So, this year in the NFL, you're going to see a very different sort of kickoff. What they're calling a dynamic kickoff.

Now, again, previously, as soon as the ball was kicked, all 11 members of the kicking team would start sprinting down the field to try and tackle the receiving team. Lots of speed, lots of space.

This season, only the kicker is back here, while the opposing teams are lined up all the way over here, separated by just five yards. And none of those players can move until the ball has been caught by the receiving team or it hits the ground. It reduces the speed and the space of the play.

It's what competition committee co-chairman Rich McKay says is one of the biggest rule changes in 30 years.

RICH MCKAY, CO-CHAIR, COMPETITION COMMITTEE: The problem is, is we're trying to not just make this game better next year. We're trying to keep the game going for 10, 20, 30, 40. That's what our legacy is supposed to be.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, The Bronx, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: Coming up, the Polaris Dawn's four-person civilian crew is back on Earth after making history in space.

We will have those details after a quick break.

BLACKWELL: Also, comedians Roy Wood Jr., Amber Ruffin, and Michael Ian Black are riffing on the headlines in a new comedy quiz show on CNN. Have I Got News For You --

ROSALES: For you.

BLACKWELL: Airs tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:49:24]

ROSALES: New this morning, the Polaris Dawn crew successfully splashed down off the coast of Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there you can see.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you can see on your screen, and by the cheers behind us, the Polaris Dawn crew has successfully splashed down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Rejoicing there. The successful landing capped off really historic five-day mission that included the first commercial spacewalk and reached farther into space than any human has traveled since the Apollo astronauts more than 50 years ago.

[06:50:06]

Rescue crews hauled the capsule out of the ocean onto a special boat, and then the crew disembarked from the capsule and began their journey back to land.

ROSALES: That's so cool. So cool.

BLACKWELL: Glad to have them back.

So, this morning, millions of people are facing heavy rain and flood threats as we track what's left of Francine as it hovers over the Mid- South.

ROSALES: Yes, this explains why it's looking so gloomy outside.

BLACKWELL: Soupy outside.

ROSALES: CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here with us now. Allison, where is the storm now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): Right. So, what's left of it really is just kind of sitting over portions of Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. But also notice we've got a lot of rain starting to creep into the coastal Carolinas. That's coming from an entirely separate system. Now, both of these have the potential for flooding because both of them are moving incredibly slowly.

So, you've got flood watches in effect over here. You've also got a lot of flood watches right there along the coastal regions, but again, they are from two entirely separate systems. Now, another concern, especially along the coast is as that secondary system begins to edge closer, we're also looking at very high surf and the potential for rip currents pretty much up and down much of the southeastern coast here. It goes all the way as far north as portions of Virginia.

So again, just to kind of show you the scope of this next storm. So, here's a look at that, again, it's still offshore for now, but once we get into Monday, we really start to see that surge of moisture really begin to push inland in this area. And especially the cases we go Tuesday and Wednesday. Now, as of right now, it has about a 50 percent chance of becoming the next named system on the tropical storm list, which is Helene by the way. The real question is whether or not it can do it in a short period of time because this is expected to move inland starting tomorrow. So, it doesn't have very much time before it can get its act together to determine whether or not this does become the next named tropical system.

So, here's a look. Monday again, we start to see that moisture influx begin to spread inland, but then it also starts to slide up into the mid-Atlantic and eventually in towards the northeast. So this is actually going to bring a lot of rain to a lot of people over the next several days, even though right now it's just kind of hovering off of the coastal region there.

Flooding potential because in the short term, it's not going to move all that fast, it will have the potential to dump about two to four inches of rain for some of these areas, could even have some isolated higher amounts than that.

So, you're looking at this area, especially through here, Raleigh, Wilmington, down through Myrtle Beach and up through Richmond, where we have the potential for some excessive rainfall and flooding potential.

ROSALES: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Tomorrow marks the close of a two-month long youth charity golf tournament called Crush It Cup. It is hosted by three-time major champion Jordan Spieth.

BLACKWELL: The competition features 36 junior golfers who play a hole alongside speed and then participate in a fireside chat. All at the course he grew up on -- grew up playing on, I should say. Here's more on that for today's Difference Makers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORDAN SPIETH, AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: As juniors are playing at their respective clubs, they're competing for birdies. There's donations. There's a partnership with our family foundation, and then the leaders will come to Brookhaven, where I grew up, and we'll do a clinic, and then I'll play a hole, with the top 36 juniors from their respective clubs.

So, it's kind of all-inclusive in a way, is how invited clubs are supposed to be, and then this kind of, Crush It Cup tournament embodies that, I guess. It's taking all of their clubs, and then getting everybody here, and if they can be entertained by me for a clinic and most of the time those end up turning into like a Q&A. They just want to ask questions, kids a lot of times like not even about golf.

So, who knows, you know, we may go off the beaten path, but it'll be a fun tournament and hopefully a really good clinic. It's just a blast from the past. I mean these kids it's you watch them their focus their desire, you know, they're -- they're so nice and the second it's their turn to hit the competitive nature sinks in.

So, I'm really excited to kind of watch kids be kids. But I think just the inclusivity of the sport, all ages, genders, races, it doesn't matter. Anybody can have a great competition with anyone anywhere in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:58:42]

ROSALES: So, check this out. A man in handcuffs made a brazen escape from a county courthouse in Maine. The surveillance video shows 31- year-old Nicholas Carter handcuffed, and then making a run for it after a jury convicted him of aggravated assault.

BLACKWELL: I'm really impressed he got down those stairs --

ROSALES: Wow.

BLACKWELL: -- without falling. But one of the bystanders tried to catch him as others followed from the courtroom. CNN affiliate WGME reports that once outside he tripped, was pinned down by two jurors until he was taken back into custody.

Carter is currently being held without bond at the local jail. Here's the thing, if your jurors had to catch you, how do you think you're going to do in that trial?

ROSALES: Something is going wrong.

(OFF-MIC)

BLACKWELL: Oh no. Right, yes.

ROSALES: He's athletic. I'm impressed.

BLACKWELL: Five stairs in a single bound.

ROSALES: Wow.

BLACKWELL: All right.

ROSALES: OK.

BLACKWELL: There's that.

ROSALES: Well, the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories has flourished on the alt right in recent years.

BLACKWELL: So, in tonight's "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," CNN Senior Correspondent Donie O'Sullivan meets a group of young men whose disillusionment with politics has led them to embrace far right extremism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, this is the thing, and this is probably what you're going to cut this all up into, is me being, like, a really bad, evil, white man, racist, that, oh man, I just hate Democrats, I hate Liberals, like, a bunch of commies, you know, and it's like, OK, one, I was just -- just a part of them, like, four years ago. I was -- I was in it, right? I've been betrayed by them multiple times.

[07:00:13]

So now I'm trying my hand at being betrayed by the Republican Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Be sure to tune in all new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER." One hour, one whole story. Airs tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.