Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Iran State Media: Vessel Struck, Killing One; Houthis Claim Responsibility For Saudi Military Base Attack; Rescuers Search For 130 People From Indonesian Passenger Ship; Anthropic CEO Warns: Slow Down AI Amid Safety Concerns; Dispatch Audio Captures Rescue Of Congressman Tom Tiffany During Emergency Landing; France Investigates Possible Sabotage In Train Derailment; Judge Rules FEMA Workforce Cuts Were Illegal; Trump Attends Irish Open At His Golf Resort; Anti-Trump Protests Held Across Ireland; Congress Back In Session After Five-Week Recess; Democrats Call On Speaker Johnson To Address AI Safety; Lawmakers Focus On Messaging As They Gear Up For Midterms; Trump Promises $5,000 Payment To Every Adult American If GOP Holds House And Senate; House Takes Up Russia Sanctions Bill Named After Late Senator Graham. Puerto Rico Residents Dealing With Deepening Water Crisis; Celine Dion Kicks Off Comeback Concert Residency In France; 78th Primetime Emmys Kick Off Tomorrow Night; Parade Of Storms To Soak Midwest This Week; A 9/11 Legacy And Service And Hope. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 13, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:32]

RENE MARSH, CNN ANCHOR: Well, welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. Here's what's happening today. There's been another attack on the ship in the Strait of Hormuz. It comes a day ahead of talks about how to manage the strait.

Plus, a warning from the CEO of one of the world's leading AI companies, slow down the pace of AI development. His exclusive conversation with CNN is ahead.

Plus, developing now, a congressman from Wisconsin was injured when his plane made an emergency landing in a lake. We've got the dispatch audio from officials at the scene.

Plus, a water crisis that's worsening in Puerto Rico as taps run dry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says she throws the gallon of water over her head. That's how she showers, cold water, agua fria.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Agua fria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: How people there are doing whatever they can to get by and why they're still paying for water they don't have. That's ahead on CNN THIS MORNING.

Good morning. It is Sunday, September 13th. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rene Marsh in for Victor Blackwell.

We begin this morning with an attack on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. A British marine organization reported that an unknown projectile struck the ship in the Strait of Hormuz last night. Separately, Iranian state media reported a different commercial vessel being attacked this morning, killing one and injuring four others. All of this happening as diplomats from Gulf Arab nations get ready to meet with Iran's foreign minister tomorrow in Oman. They will discuss management of the Strait of Hormuz.

Let's go now to CNN's Larry Madowo. Larry, obviously, the developments overnight, complicating those discussions set to happen in Oman.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. We're watching -- we're watching these two separate developments in the Strait of Hormuz. This report from Iranian state media claiming that an Iranian commercial vessel was hit. And one person killed, three or four people injured, they claim. And they're attributing that to the U.S. terrorist enemy. That is one incident.

The other is from the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Center that said, a vessel was hit also in the Strait of Hormuz late Saturday, early Sunday morning Iranian time, and that this was now on fire and emergency crews were on site.

To be clear, we don't know if these are separate incidents or is referring to the same incident. But that is the backdrop ahead of this meeting Monday between top diplomats from Iran, Iraq and the Gulf Arab states that are supposed to take place in Muscat. But Bahrain now saying they will not participate in it. They consider this a photo op and not a gesture of peace the way Iran would like this to be seen.

And the Bahrain -- an official telling CNN that unless the attacks stop, unless there is responsibility taken, unless the harm is named, they will not be participating in this and that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz is a privilege. It is not a right that should be controlled by anyone. That is the Iranian president in India saying that they will only reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. stops its blockade of that Strait of Hormuz.

But in the region, another major development, the Houthis, are now taking responsibility for having attacked a Saudi military base in the Sharurah region. They claim that they used a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones to target both weapons depots and command and control centers there. And that follows on Saturday, a claim from the Houthis that the Saudis had attacked -- launched 129 drones targeting Houthi held rebel regions of Yemen.

So, that is the backdrop for this complicated few days we've had in the region where an East-West pipeline from Saudi Arabia going to the Red Sea was shut down after a series of attacks that the Saudis blamed on Iraq. They came from Iraq. And that means that the possibility of this Iran war extending to the Red Sea, that this becomes a second frontier in this six month war that just is not showing any signs of coming to a close, Rene. MARSH: Right. And we're seeing the effects of all of that, of course, as we talk about the energy prices, gas prices, all of that, the ripple effect. Larry Madowo, thank you so much for that. Well, a search is underway at this hour for 130 people aboard an Indonesian passenger ship.

[06:05:03]

Local officials say one person died and 103 others were evacuated. A helicopter, ships, a rescue team were all deployed in the search. The Virgo Transport 8 ship lost contact yesterday. No word yet on what happened to the ship, but authorities said that the operator reported an encounter with bad weather.

Well, now to a CNN exclusive. A stark warning from Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, one of the world's leading AI companies. He sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper after posting an essay saying, in part, we must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain.

Amodei admits there is a risk humans could lose control of AI, and it could be misused for, quote, "cyber attacks and bio terrorism and serious economic disruption." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Jacob Coxon, who recently resigned from Anthropic, made headlines last week saying the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.

There's a current employee, Evan Hubinger, an alignment science lead. He agreed, saying, we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans. I personally think it is greater than 10 percent chance within the next decade.

Do you believe, earnestly believe that AI could kill all humans? And what percent chance do you think it is?

DARIO AMODEI, ANTHROPIC CEO: So, you know, I -- you know, it's funny. I agree with Jacob much more than I disagree with him. You know, and it's -- you know, it's an interesting resignation because when he left, he said, you know, I think Anthropic is the most responsible player, right? I think Anthropic is the most aware of these issues. He wasn't calling out us. He was calling out the dynamic of the industry as a whole moving too fast.

Now, I -- you know, I think I already said, you know, these sort of unconditional probabilities, you know, I -- you know, I used to kind of talk in that way because it's kind of an easy way to express. I think there's some chance that things go wrong. But, you know -- but you know -- but it's not -- it's not all that high.

But again, I think it's more illuminating to think in terms of, you know, how do you decompose those probabilities? What are the paths in which things go well? And what are the paths in which things go poorly?

And so instead of saying, you know, it's a 10 percent chance, that sounds like it's a roll of the dice. I think, it's much more illuminating to say, well, that forks into different paths. And if we take the right paths, then the chance of something going wrong is very low. If we take the wrong path, then the chance of something going wrong could be -- could be even higher than that.

And so let's focus on our agency and our ability to take the right paths instead of the wrong paths. And I think that the way to take the right paths is for the industry to work together. Again, you know, we'll talk about the proposal that I put out today. But at the end of the day, the industry has to work together and it's harder. But to some extent, the world has to work together.

If we go too slow, I still believe that the wrong people will be in charge of the technology. And you know that, again, will bring the probability of things going wrong very high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, be sure to tune in to "AC 360" tomorrow for much more of his exclusive interview with Dario Amodei. That's at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on CNN.

Well, tech leaders are already reacting to Amodei's comments. Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted on X, Dario is right. And OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted, I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussion we've had at OpenAI in recent weeks.

Republican congressman Nathaniel Moran is cosponsor of a bipartisan bill that would require AI developers to maintain a kill switch for a powerful AI model. Here's what he told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NATHANIEL MORAN (R-TX): When we talk about slowing down, though, you know, now we're talking about who is making that decision. And I'm so glad to see that the private sector is jumping at the front of that, saying they want to be the leaders and to take responsibility for making sure their models are safe. I think they understand the need to do that.

And we've got to be prudent and reasonable in this time to make sure that we're doing the policy, making the right way. We don't want to do it out of fear. We don't want to do it out of -- out of frustration or in a -- in a very quick moment of emotion.

We want to be very prudent and reasonable so that we get the policy right. But it has to be where we bridge the technology leaders with the policy leaders and have those continuing conversations. We want to be very light on the regulations in my opinion, because we don't want to stifle innovation, but we can protect humans, we can protect national security interests and public safety interests while they're able to innovate. [06:10:10]

I give the analogy all the time. If you have a break in the vehicle, you can actually go faster in the vehicle because you can slow down and stop when you need to. Without the break you can't drive as fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, in Wisconsin, congressman and Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany, is recovering after an emergency landing. In a social media post Tiffany said the plane he was on lost power yesterday as it approached the airport. That's when the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in Lake Wausau.

Now, as this plane began to submerge, Tiffany and the pilot got out and swam to shallow water where they waited for rescuers. Audio captures the moments as first responders rushed to their aid.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICIAL 1: We have two victims in the water. We're just pulling them out now.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICIAL 2: When feasible, make sure they're all accounted for out of that plane.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, the FAA is expected to lead the investigation into what exactly caused the emergency landing.

In other headlines this morning, in France, investigators are still trying to figure out what caused a train to jump the tracks Friday evening. Forty-four people were hurt when a regional train carrying nearly 200 passengers derailed in Normandy. Authorities say they found a piece of rail on the tracks and are now looking into whether sabotage may have played a role, or if the circumstances were accidental.

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration acted illegally when it moved to slash FEMA's workforce. The judge said that the Department of Homeland Security did not have the authority to block the contract renewals of thousands of disaster response workers who help FEMA respond to hurricanes, wildfires and other emergencies. The judge also criticized FEMA and Homeland Security officials for deleting Signal messages that could have been evidence in the case.

Well, next on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump wraps up his weekend visit to Ireland today. We'll recap the top headlines from his visit live from Dublin.

Plus, it's back to the Hill for members of Congress tomorrow after a five-week recess. We'll discuss what is their top priority for lawmakers when they return to work.

Plus, Celine Dion returns to the stage for the first time in six years. We'll hear from fans about her comeback tour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:26]

MARSH: Happening now, President Trump is in Doonbeg, Ireland, attending the Irish Open at his coastal golf course. The parents comes after a day of meetings held with Ireland's leaders on Saturday, where Trump made some controversial remarks about Irish reunification, upending decades of U.S. diplomatic neutrality on the subject.

Trump said that Irish reunification would be, quote, "a fantastic thing." The comments drew immediate, fierce pushback from the U.K. and northern Ireland unionists.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is live in Dublin. Julia, tell us a little bit more about Trump's visit this weekend.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously, those comments caught a lot of attention, caught a lot of people off guard. Didn't expect him to weigh in on that controversial topic.

But this is a two-day visit. It's a quick one and it's not an official state visit. Instead, it's kind of an example of how Trump's travel sometimes blurs the line between official business and some personal endeavors.

So, he spent yesterday at several official meetings here in Dublin. And now he is in Doonbeg watching the Irish Open. He is the first U.S. sitting president to attend that specific event, and it's taking place at his golf club.

But yesterday they really rolled out the red carpet. We were there at the Irish president's residence, Catherine Connolly, as she greeted him. They had a short behind doors, behind closed doors meeting referred to as a courtesy call, and then he met with the taoiseach, Micheal Martin, and that's where they had some more policy type discussions. They discussed business and trade, a wide range of issues.

But as he was doing all of those events, he was shielded from any protests that were taking place in Ireland. And our team, scattered throughout, they have spoken with some of the protesters. Here was a woman that we spoke with in Doonbeg, near Trump's golf course, and she said, we don't expect to accomplish much, but we want to share the message that not everyone is just rolling out the red carpet.

She was asked what her message would be to the U.S. president. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I'm so angry at him and so disappointed because I have a lot of friends, American friends, and a lot of Irish people I know living in America. And it's been a good country down through the years. But I'm -- I think I wouldn't -- I think I'd be lost for words. I'm so emotional about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:20:01]

BENBROOK: And so this trip comes with several issues looming, both international and at home. You have the conflict in Iran specifically, which has now dragged into its sixth month. There's also the midterms coming up just weeks away. And just a couple of days ago, Trump appeared at that brand new midterm convention and tried to engage GOP voters.

So, a lot going on as he makes this trip and it will wrap quickly. He will be headed back home in a matter of hours after that tournament, Rene.

MARSH: Julia Benbrook live for us in Dublin, thank you. And Puerto Rico is facing a water crisis right now. Is it drought or decades of dysfunction? We'll dig into that and the blame game ahead as many on the island are barely getting by without running water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:16]

MARSH: Well, Congress is set to return tomorrow after a five-week recess. And aside from a Russia sanctions bill, there is really not a lot on the House agenda as lawmakers prepare for the sprint to the midterm elections. There will be a lot of eyes on the Senate tomorrow. Everyone is wondering, will Mitch McConnell make his return after a three-month absence?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): According to his staff, they have all said it's their goal for Senator McConnell to be here when they when the Senate comes in next week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: Well, we will see. Monday is right around the corner. Let's bring in Bloomberg congressional reporter Erik Wasson. Erik, good morning. Thank you so much for joining us.

I mean, let's start there with Mitch McConnell. What are you hearing about the possibility that he returns to the Senate tomorrow after this three-months absence? And honestly, if he does not show up, what's the practical impact here?

ERIK WASSON, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: You know, I'm not -- don't have any recent intel on this. He has been gone for about 80 days. You know, certainly he's facing serious health issues. It's certainly possible he'll come back.

But, you know, the Senate is really not doing too much of great import. They're going to be working on nominations, trying to clear more of those Trump backed judges and other nominees, but not really planning to enact any of the major promises, including the $5,000 checks that, you know, President Trump mentioned could be coming. The Republicans control both Houses of Congress, but they're not acting on that.

The House will be taking up a Russia sanctions bill. There had been some doubt. Big business, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others. Retailers are very worried that this bill will give Trump unlimited tariff power to use against U.S. allies. And that had held it up, but under great pressure from the White House. Speaker Mike Johnson will bring it up for a majority vote earlier this week.

MARSH: You know, there are a lot of concerns over the last several days over AI. That's at a peak with leaders just recently, just yesterday coming out, AI tech companies even calling for this pause in development. Now, some, even Democrats are pushing and pressuring for Speaker Mike Johnson to cancel an upcoming break to address AI.

Might we see this as a priority in the very few days that we have left before midterms? Do you think that Congress may make any sort of significant move as it relates to AI?

WASSON: My answer is absolutely not. The timing of this warning from the AI industry that there needs to be urgent action just comes in the face of the congressional calendar. The House just canceled two weeks of its recess -- two weeks of work session at the end of September. They're going to leave for the election at the end of this week. They're anxious to get back to campaigning.

You know, the Senate also in no real, you know, unity on AI and able to address it. So, you know, if we do if, you know, Dario, you know, his prediction, the next six months, we could see a massive AI attack. Congress is set to spend, you know, the next several months campaigning and dealing with the aftermath of the election and really in no position, perhaps until January, to even get serious about this.

MARSH: All right. Let's turn to the midterm sprint, because that is where their focus is. We are about seven weeks out from the election. What's the messaging that voters are going to expect to hear from Democrats versus the messaging from the Republicans in the time we have left?

WASSON: You know, we have a good piece on Bloomberg now looking at Trump's promises at the convention. He talked about those $5,000 checks. But, you know, Republicans that I talked to are divided. That would add $1.3 trillion to the debt.

They're also talking about other things like passing the Save America Act, this voter id act. But all that requires nuking the Senate filibuster. They don't have the votes for that.

Talk about energy dominance. That would be permitting reform. There's no agreement on that. You know, and as well as passing a great American health plan, this idea of bypassing insurance companies, they proposed that when Obamacare subsidies were expiring at the beginning of January, that also went nowhere. So, Trump has put some policy reform -- ideas before the -- before the voters. But there really no ability to pass that. Democrats are about affordability. Their agenda is a little bit more concrete.

That's repeal the Trump tariffs. You know, reinstate those Obamacare subsidies. You know, go after the high cost of health care. But that's all going to cost money.

You know, tariffs bring in $1.7 trillion potentially. And I asked Democrats they're not worried about the deficit. The U.S. debt is reaching $40 trillion. I think we're just going to add more.

MARSH: And you've written a bit about this, the House taking up a Russian sanctions -- Russia sanctions bill. We are expecting that. Tell us a little bit about what's in it and really what we should expect there.

WASSON: You know, this passed the Senate with nearly 90 votes. It was named after Lindsey Graham, who passed away. It was his last act -- public act was pushing this.

[06:30:00]

That he has to pressure Vladimir Putin by punishing the top five buyers of Russian oil and petroleum products by slapping large tariffs on them. That would be China, India, Turkey, and others, potentially even the EU. But you know, the issue is that Trump's tariffs as they exist now are legally dubious, probably ultimately going to be struck down, many of them, by the Supreme Court. This would give a new legal backing to that and potentially allow tariffs to remain in place and continue to drive up costs for longer.

So there's a big push by, you know, what we call K Street, the lobbyists here in Washington to end this. But I think it's going to have enough votes to pass. It just needs 218 out of the way that they're bringing it up.

MARSH: Erik Wasson, thanks so much for your insight.

WASSON: Thank you.

MARSH: Well, coming up later on this morning on "STATE OF THE UNION," Dana Bash will talk live with House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. "STATE OF THE UNION" begins at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

Well, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans are struggling to find clean water daily as the water crisis on the island intensifies. Residents are blaming severe drought, aging infrastructure and mismanagement for the widespread service outages.

CNN's Isabel Rosales takes us inside their new reality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now, we're entering Luis Llorens Torres. This is the largest public housing complex in Puerto Rico. There's over 2,000 apartments here.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of Americans in Puerto Rico have been without reliable water for months.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: She tells me that she has been under this water crisis for over two months. How do you shower?

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: She says she throws a gallon of water over her head. That's how she showers. Cold water.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: There's no water for her to flush.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES (voice-over): The government has mandated a water rationing plan for 180,000 households in the San Juan metro area. Two days on, two days off. But the water doesn't always come back when it's supposed to.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: She's saying this is an abuse. And you would think that right now, based on the government's rationing schedule, that she would have water. But as we saw, she turned on the faucet and there was nothing.

ROSALES (voice-over): And it gets worse. In some neighborhoods, when the water stops, homeowners call in water delivery trucks.

ROSALES: So we see a potable water truck up ahead. We're hearing that they're filling up the water tanks in some of these homes. So, we're going to go and check this out.

ROSALES (voice-over): Luis called them to make sure his aging parents had water for the day.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: Yes, you can't imagine that they'd be under these circumstances. It's critical, he says.

ROSALES (voice-over): This team says it's been covering as many as 80 homes per day.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: He now knows these neighbors very well, and he's given his phone number out to everyone. And when they need some water, they're just ringing him up. ROSALES (voice-over): Puerto Rico's governor, Jennifer Gonzalez, has been blaming the severe drought for the water shortage. The level of the water reservoir serving San Juan has been low. The capital recorded its driest July on record in more than 120 years.

But many Puerto Ricans told me the drought is only half the story, pointing the finger at the government, their anger more visible by the day.

ROSALES: Check this out.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: We've been going 139 days without water this year.

ALFREDO CUYAR, ACTIVIST, EXIGIMOS AQUA COALITION: There's a drought. The drought started in June, and we are having problems with the water distribution since July 2025.

ROSALES: How does that happen?

CUYAR: Because they have leaks that they have not fixed for years. The real issue is not even the damage they have caused, it's that they don't know how to bring water to the people.

ROSALES: So you're saying mismanagement.

CUYAR: It's mismanagement.

ROSALES (voice-over): The governor has said at least $7 billion has been committed to water infrastructure improvement projects. Her office did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

Meanwhile, the water shortage is putting small businesses at risk.

HECTOR ROSA, RESTAURATEUR: Tomorrow morning, we're going to be out of water. We need to, you know, put water in the tanks tomorrow morning.

ROSALES (voice-over): Including Hector Rosa's restaurant.

[06:35:00]

ROSA: Then the water goes up, and we fill up the tank and the roof.

We train every single employee with this.

ROSALES: Do you feel like an American citizen having to do all this?

ROSA: Oh no, definitely no, no, no. I feel like a Puerto Rican.

ROSALES (voice-over): A private water supplier --

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES (voice-over): -- is keeping Rosa's restaurant alive.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES (voice-over): It costs Hector roughly $3,000 per week, but without it, he says he'd have closed days.

ROSALES: How much is this about to cost you?

ROSA: At least $400 every time he comes. We've been without water for eight straight days, and that's a lot of water.

ROSALES: How long can you keep going like this? Like a year?

ROSA: No, no, no, no, no, maybe two or three more weeks. I don't know if these people know the real struggle that we have every single day with these situations.

ROSALES: So you blame the government?

ROSA: Oh yes, completely, 100 percent. These people in a different country that we live. We live in Puerto Rico, these people live in Fortaleza.

ROSALES (voice-over): Back in Llorens Torres, some of Carmen's neighbors are left to fill up jugs and bottles from a water tank.

ROSALES: This water tank was just dropped off an hour ago, and we have encountered Sandra (ph) right here who just backed up her car. She has this trunk full of these bleach bottles that she's now taking up over here, and you can see that she's filling up the water. You can see the effort that people are going to, the manual labor to make sure that they have water inside of their homes.

ROSALES (voice-over): And as Sandra's (ph) about to leave.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ROSALES: Her neighbor -- her neighbor just shouted out, hey, the water's coming, the pressure's being turned on.

ROSALES (voice-over): Isabel Rosales, CNN, Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, after six years, it's all coming back for Celine Dion. She played the opening show of her Paris residency.

She couldn't hold back tears after playing her first full concert in six years after a battle with a rare neurological disorder, and many of her fans came away inspired.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it was just so emotional. She had tears in her eyes when she first came on the whole concert. She gave it her all and we were all behind her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she didn't shy away from what she'd suffered and she shared it with her audience and her fans. And not only that, she wanted to inspire the whole audience and encourage us all to dream, dream big.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

MARSH: Well, it was the first of a series of 26 concerts, many of which are already sold out.

Well, it's almost red carpet time in Hollywood. From expected winners to the potential upsets, we are previewing tomorrow night's Emmy Awards.

That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:44]

MARSH: Well, the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards kickoff tomorrow night. It's the first time in 12 years that the show will air on Monday instead of Sunday. It was moved so it wouldn't compete with NBC's coverage of tonight's NFL matchup between the Cowboys and the Giants.

The HBO Max drama The Pitt leads the Emmy pack with 25 nominations. The show's stars will go head-to-head in several categories. But Apple TV also had a very strong showing. Widow's Bay picked up 19 nominations and Pluribus snagged 18 of its own.

For more on what to expect from TV's biggest night, we're joined by entertainment journalist Segun Oduolowu. Thanks so much for waking up early to join us this morning.

I want to start out, Segun, talking a little bit about the host, Mariska Hargitay, the first woman in 15 years to host. Why is this the right time and the right person for this moment, in your opinion?

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Well, we are seeing a lot of strong women on television. I'm speaking with one right now.

So kudos to strong women on television. We've got Zoe Saldana in Lioness. We've got Nicole Kidman in, I don't know, 10 different series. Michelle Pfeiffer, Helen Mirren. There are strong women everywhere. And Mariska's won an Emmy herself.

So who better to host the Emmys than someone who is holding the hardware? This is her moment, I think, after the Knicks won the championship and she was on the floor at Madison Square Garden with Jalen Brunson. I think she's everywhere right now having a really great moment. And, yes, she should be there ushering in a whole host of new Emmy winners.

MARSH: Yes. And, I mean, one thing that stuck out to me, she's using Stephen Colbert's writers. I mean, what does that tell us about the tone? Maybe some political humor?

ODUOLOWU: Well, again, it makes sense. Stephen Colbert, also Emmy winners, his writers, his show has dominated late night for quite some time. You know, I don't know if the audience and even if the television audience has the appetite for political humor at this time. There are serious issues going on.

[06:45:00]

And, look, the most popular show on television right now is the NFL. I mean, the NFL literally bumped the Emmys to another night because it's so popular.

So, I just don't think you want to stray into the waters of controversy if you don't have to. And I don't really think that's her brand. She's not known as a comedian of sorts, or really, I mean, I'm sure she has a sense of humor, but I don't think she's going to, you know, have the timing down to get a lot of one-liners off on our current political climate.

MARSH: Yes, and is this shaping up to be sort of the battle between the Emmy royalty and the newcomers? I mean, we have some newcomers that racked up a lot of nominations.

ODUOLOWU: See, I feel that this is a lot of history repeating, like this is the usual suspects. I'm honestly not that excited at this Emmy Awards because, to me, the biggest snubbing, really, is that Taylor Sheridan, the executive, TV executive with so many great shows, I named actresses like Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman in Lioness, but he's being -- he's completely absent from this year's Emmys.

And so, when you look at The Pitt with, you know, over 20, you know, 20 plus nominations, 25, as you mentioned, when you see Hacks and Abbott Elementary, you keep seeing the same names, the same stations. It's Apple, it's Netflix, it's HBO. You're not really seeing, in my estimation, a lot of new programming that people are talking about if we still talked at the water coolers. We're not seeing a lot of that.

I mean, everybody knows The Pitt is great. Everybody knows Hacks is great and Abbott is great, but where are the real newcomers? Widow's Bay, yes, that's another Apple show. Apple puts out prestige programming. It's not a stretch for one of their shows to be nominated. I would have loved to have seen some of the shows from Paramount get nominated, and that's Taylor Sheridan, that's Mayor of Kingstown, that's Tulsa King. Those shows have been left off the docket, and I think that really shows the Emmys is still a who-you- knows club.

MARSH: OK, Segun, pointing out the snubs. I am inspired, though, by Harrison Ford at age 84, potentially getting his first Emmy, showing it's never too late to get that accomplishment.

Segun, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

ODUOLOWU: My pleasure. Thank you, as always, for having me, and I'm going back to bed.

MARSH: All right. Well, tune in tomorrow night for CNN and Variety's red carpet live show at the Emmy Awards. Coverage will be streaming tomorrow, starting at 5:00 p.m. for anyone with an all-access subscription.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:04]

MARSH: Well, shaping up to be a stormy start to the week across parts of the country.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here now with more. What can we expect, Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Good morning.

Yes, we've got showers in a couple of different areas here. You can see right now this line of storms that's made its way through the southern plains. That's actually weakened quite a bit in the last two hours. We've got a lot of heavy rain, however, in the northeast, and that's moving very, very slowly. That's going to increase the potential there for some flooding cities like New York, Hartford, Boston, Providence, but also the potential for flooding out to the West.

Although this really has more to do with what's expected for the remainder of the day today. There you can see through about 10, 11 o'clock in the morning. Very heavy rain expected across portions of the Mid Atlantic, stretching up through the northeast. But you've also got this section right through here, this cluster that's going to start to slide through Iowa, portions of Minnesota and down through areas of Missouri, especially later on this afternoon. That line is going to slide over towards Chicago.

By the time we get to about say three, four o'clock this afternoon, you still have a lot of showers still around Boston, but at least places like Philadelphia, New York finally starting to see things dry back out once we get towards the latter end of the afternoon and heading into the evening hours. Most folks by about 10, 11 o'clock tonight, finally starting to see things dry back out.

Now, one thing to that cold front that's really pushing a lot of those storms. It's keeping temperatures a little bit cool in the Midwest. Everybody south of that, though, is still dealing with those temperatures that are well above average.

The northeast will get a brief cool down Monday, but then we start to see things warm right back up again to feeling more like summer Wednesday and Thursday.

MARSH: Allison, thank you.

And as we remember the September 11th attacks 25 years ago, many find comfort in seeing how people across the country came together.

CNN Hero Jeff Parness started a nonprofit to bring New Yorkers to help communities hit by disasters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): One of the most unique artifacts in the 9/11 museums collection isn't currently on display. It's a 500 square foot flag from ground zero that was repaired through an ambitious effort led by CNN Hero Jeff Parness.

JEFF PARNESS, CNN HERO: It's emotional. Each one of the patches reminds me of all the people who stitched the flag.

COOPER (voice-over): Now known as the National 9/11 flag, it was hanging across from the World Trade Center and was destroyed when the Twin Towers fell.

Jeff lost a close friend that day, but he was also deeply moved by the unity people showed after the attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

PARNESS: The day after 9/11, there were no Democrats or Republicans. We were just Americans. We wrote our very best.

COOPER (voice-over): This led Jeff to start. New York says thank you, which brought New Yorkers to help other disaster stricken communities.

In 2008, the group helped rebuild Greensburg, Kansas after a devastating tornado. Volunteer who worked at ground zero brought along the tattered flag. Local residents started stitching.

[06:55:06]

PARNESS: They had gone through their own 9/11, right and they took it upon themselves to start healing the flag.

COOPER (voice-over): It was patched with flags that had survived the tornado. Then for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

PARNESS: We decided we were going to return it to its original flag format.

COOPER (voice-over): For more than a year, the flag toured all 50 states, where patches and threads from historic flags, including the star-spangled banner, were sewn in by more than 30,000 people.

PARNESS: People lined up for hours for the privilege of putting one stitch in. It's kind of like the best of what America's about. People chose to strengthen our national fabric.

JAN SEIDLER RAMIREZ, CHIEF CURATOR, 9/11 MUSEUM: The national 9/11 flag was the first artifact walked into the newly opened 9/11 Museum in May of 2014.

So it was a very moving, beautiful ceremony. It's just a tremendous symbol of good.

COOPER (voice-over): It was on display for a year and a half and is now being safely preserved. Jeff hopes the flag will be exhibited again soon so people can appreciate its powerful message. PARNESS: It's a symbol of not just resilience, but of compassion. This is living proof that love is stronger than hate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Well, to learn more about Jeff's work, go to cnnheroes.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)