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Serena Williams Advances at U.S. Open Before Possible Retirement; Trump's Lawyers Contradict Some of His Defenses in Court Filing; Jackson Residents Told to Shower with Their Mouths Closed; Bank of America: No Down Payments in Some Black, Latino Areas; Winnie the Pooh and Piglet Become Slashers in Horror Film. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 01, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: When Serena Williams won her first U.S. Open in 1999, Tom Brady was still at Michigan, LeBron James hadn't yet played a high-school game, Bill Clinton was in the White House. Harry Styles was in pre-school. Napster debuted. TLC demanded "No Scrub," and the Backstreet Boys wanted it that way.

Well, now she is one step closer to another title on her way out the door.

Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

The almost 41-year-old defeating the No. 2 player in the world, bringing the crowd to its feet as she advances to round three and another magical performance at the U.S. Open.

Now, it wasn't easy. She was facing 26-year-old Anett Kontaveit, one of the world's top players, 14 years her junior. But in the critical first set, Serena rose to the occasion by winning a rousing tiebreaker, and she went on to a grueling three-set victory.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The stands were packed with celebrities, as they always are. Tiger Woods, he was right there.

Serena Williams says she is still playing because of him. He helped her find clarity, she says. Beyond that, this is what she said after the match.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, 23-TIME GRAND SLAM CHAMPION: I'm super-competitive. Honestly, I'm just looking at it as a bonus. I don't have anything to prove. I don't have anything to win. And I have absolutely nothing to lose.

And honestly, I never get to play like this since '98, really. Literally, I've had an "X" on my back since '99. So it's kind of fun. And I really enjoy just coming out and enjoying it. And it's been a long time since I've been able to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: I said the celebrities were all there. Carolyn Manno was one of them. What was it like to be in the middle of all of this?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It was unbelievable. I mean, what Brianna said at the top about the longevity piece is so important, because she is in the pantheon of all-time greats, but she has outlasted Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. I mean, she started as a teenager, and now she's 40 years old.

But that sound bite that you just heard from there, that's the key to the whole game. She is playing with a freedom that comes with having nothing to prove and nothing to lose.

And when you think about the fact that she has been playing tennis for five American presidents, for close to 30 years, four gold medals, I mean, she has carried the burden of being a global ambassador, a voice for women, carrying the expectations to win every single slam for so many decades that now she just feels like she can relax. And you saw that on the court, because in the third set she was just moving so freely.

BERMAN: You'll talk to me more about that, again, because you were there and you saw all this. It was a three-set match. She won the first set in a tiebreaker, lost the second.

And I think a lot of people were thinking, OK, the magic, you know -- we've run out on magic at this point.

But to come back in the third set, you say it's the best tennis she's played in a long time.

MANNO: Definitely since she's come back to tennis. I knew it was a winnable match, but you have to give credit to Anett Kontaveit, because she is a player that's ranked second in the world for a reason. I mean, she was arguably the best player in the world at the end of last year, and she really put the hammer down and punched back in that second set.

But the third set, I think she maybe was conserving a little bit of energy and then came out and just decided, you know what? It's not over yet.

And the serve was there. It's always about the serve for Serena, and it's always about managing the pressure for Serena. And when she's serving well, it calms her down. And when she's serving well, it just really confuses her opponents, because the rhythm is there; and it's so hard to read.

And so when I saw in the first set that the serve was there, that she was handling the moment, she made a coaching change, which I think is incredibly important. Everything is falling into place for her, because she is relaxed.

And she just jumped into a time machine. I mean, what can you say?

BERMAN: You see Tiger Woods there -- MANNO: Yes.

BERMAN: -- speaking with her sister Venus Williams. When the serve is on, there's a chance she can win anything.

MANNO: That's right.

BERMAN: Carolyn Manno, I'm so glad you were there. It's so great to talk to you this morning.

MANNO: See you Friday.

BERMAN: Thank you for waking up.

KEILAR: All right. Let's bring in CNN sports analyst and "USA Today" sports columnist Christine Brennan. Wow, Christine.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Yes, wow. We know what Carolyn was saying with John, of course, Brianna, absolutely true.

Serena is playing freely. She is playing as if she's just having a ball out there. That is the key. She wasn't played much so she is not burned out, she's not injured, knock on wood. She looks like a kid out there having a ball, and she's not done yet.

This evolving, Brianna, evolving out of tennis, well, it's a very slow evolution. She's having a great time.

And the question, I think, now comes for everyone watching: how far can she go? Could she win this? And I think the answer, unthinkable, what, 48 -- you know, 72 hours ago, is she can go into next week, potentially, and who knows? The sky is the limit, because she is just playing an entirely different brand of tennis than she usually does when the pressure is on.

KEILAR: Yes. And evolving out of tennis. But I think it's also so interesting to hear her talk, in a way, paying homage to the fact that -- you know, paying sort of tribute to how she has evolved in the game and how she has evolved in the acceptance of her in the game. Right?

[06:05:06]

She said she hasn't played -- hasn't been able to play like this in two decades, because there's always been an "X" on her back.

BRENNAN: You know, I've covered her the length of her career. I was there in '99 when 17-year-old Serena Williams won that first U.S. Open, her first Grand Slam title. And I hadn't thought of that.

When she said that, Brianna, when she talked about the pressure, always a target on her back, to think that that's what she's been living with as she's won 23 Grand Slam titles and has become the greatest player in the world, most competitive time in the history of women's tennis and dominating for these couple decades, that took me by surprise when I heard her say that.

And as I said, I've been around her for years. So there's things we're learning about her. We're getting inside of her mind, her psyche.

When you're 40, almost 41, you're comfortable in your skin, although I think Serena has been comfortable in her skin for a long time and such a role model for working moms and women in sports and black women and on and on it goes. But now we're hearing some things that we otherwise wouldn't have.

Thank goodness she's playing. Thank goodness that she is out there talking to us. We're learning things about one of the greatest of all times. And as I said, surprised me; and that's why I think she can go deep into this tournament, because she is just loving this.

KEILAR: Yes, we are watching; the world is watching. Christine Brennan, thank you for being with us this morning.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: And ahead you heard Carolyn Manno talk about that coaching change. Well, we're going to speak with Serena Williams' coach, Rennae Stubbs, her reaction to last night's big win.

BERMAN: All right. A little bit later today, a judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, will hear arguments from Donald Trump's lawyers and the Justice Department about whether a special master should review the documents ceased as Mar-a-Lago.

Overnight Trump's legal team delivered its filing, its paper argument in favor. The Trump lawyers made several points defending the document presence at Trump's beach resort but did not deny that the documents were classified.

In their court filing, they wrote, quote, "The purported justification for the initiation of this criminal probe was the alleged discovery of sensitive information contained within the 15 boxes of presidential records, but this discovery was to be fully anticipated, given the very nature of presidential records. Simply put, the notion that presidential records would contain sensitive information should never have been a cause for alarm."

With me now is Greg Ehrie, former special agent in charge at the FBI's office in Newark and vice president of law enforcement and analysis at the Anti-Defamation League.

Greg, what about that notion that why should anyone have been upset about classified documents being at Mar-a-Lago in the first place?

GREG EHRIE, VICE PRESIDENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND ANALYSIS, ANTI- DEFAMATION LEAGUE: You're seeing this sliding argument, and it's something that often comes up after a search warrant or during a law enforcement operation.

But at this point, very clearly, former President Trump is now saying he did have these classified documents that he previously denied having, but now it's OK that he had those in his residence.

BERMAN: The word "declassified" does not come up anywhere in this filing last night. In fact, nowhere in a legal document has the Trump legal team argued that the documents were declassified, which may have no bearing at all on the argument whether there's a special master.

In terms of what you were just talking about, maybe inadvertent admissions of facts that they until this point had sort of denied, on his social media page, Donald Trump posted some complaints about the photo that were in this affidavit released yesterday.

This is what Donald Trump wrote: "There seems to be confusion as to the picture where documents were sloppily thrown on the floor and released photographically for the world to see, as if that's what the FBI found when they broke into my home. Wrong." This is the line that matters here, perhaps, legally. "They took them out of cartons and spread them around the carpet, making it look like a big find for them. They dropped them, not me. Very deceiving. And remember, we could have no representative, including lawyers, present during the raid. They were told to wait outside."

They took them out of cartons, Donald Trump says for the first time, which some people read and say, Wait a second. Is he now admitting that he had these classified documents right there?

EHRIE: Any lawyer will tell you less is more. Stop speaking. Wait until there's a question asked, and then answer it.

But in this case, even the potential admission that I did contain these or these came from a container in my House. This picture is one of hundreds that was taken by the FBI during that search. I've conducted these search warrants, operations, before. That's one of hundreds.

And it's simply made to show that here was a container. There's a picture of that. Here was what was in the container, spread out so you can see why I'm seizing this container. That's all. It wasn't a staged photo. It was a classic evidentiary photo.

But the fact that the former president has now seemingly admitted that, OK, this did come from a container in my residence, is certainly legally problematic.

BERMAN: Another aspect of this took place last night when one of Donald Trump's attorneys was -- again, I think he was talking -- she was talking about the photo and how these documents were splayed out on the floor, suggesting that would never look like that under Trump's office; I've been in Trump's office.

[06:10:06]

But listen to what else she said here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALINA HABBA, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: I have been down there. I'm down there frequently. I have never seen that. I have never ever seen that. That is not the way his office looks. Anybody that knows President Trump's office. He has guests frequently there. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So that's the issue. He has guests frequently there. What does that say?

EHRIE: This is going to be very difficult and challenging, but also it underlies what the Bureau and DOJ are doing right now.

The priority for them is, now that we have reobtained these classified documents and this information, is the analysis of that. And the fact that there's a threat that people or ideas and operations that were mentioned, they need to mitigate that.

They have to assume, from just this conversation, that they were in the open. They were in his office. They have to assume that that information is out, and how do we protect those assets now.

BERMAN: All right. Greg Ehrie, thank you very much for being with us tonight.

Again, overnight was a filing from the Trump legal team, arguing for a special master. That hearing takes place later today. And a little bit later, we're going to speak to someone who has represented Donald Trump in the past to talk about some of the arguments they made. Great to have you here.

EHRIE: Thank you.

KEILAR: So it is a fourth day without clean water for residents of Jackson, Mississippi. People lined up for hours Wednesday to get bottled water.

The city's mayor is optimistic the water can be restored this week, but he admits there is a huge mountain to climb. CNN's Amara Walker has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Terrible. And I would like it to be fixed. Please fix our water.

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Uncertainty, running high in Jackson, Mississippi, as the city enters a fourth day without reliable water service.

GOV. TATE REEVES (R-MS): I do want to be clear and set expectations that there will be future interruptions. They are not avoidable at this point.

WALKER (voice-over): On Wednesday, a new emergency rental pump was installed at Jackson's water facility. However, challenges quickly emerged with the water chemistry.

Despite these challenges, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba hopes water service will be restored by the end of the week. But some other local officials are skeptical. ASHBY FOOTE, PRESIDENT, JACKSON CITY COUNCIL: They had to stop

services today, because they had a 10-million-gallon tank that had to be dispersed and pumped out and then refilled so they could bring that water, the new water, up to quality standards to send out into the system.

As to when we'll be able to have it back the way it should be, I'm hoping we'll have that in a week or two weeks.

WALKER (voice-over): As a result of the issues at the city's water facility, some residents are left with no water; others left with low water pressure or even brown water.

KAHINDE GAYNOR, LIVES IN JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: It's devastating as a father because, you know, we're the providers of the -- for the family, and right now we are just crippled.

WALKER (voice-over): Mississippi has deployed the National Guard, and President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration Tuesday.

Schools and businesses have been forced to close, and there isn't enough water to fight fires in the state's capital. Parents are worried about their children's health during this crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fever, headaches. They've got chills, all of that. I traced everything back to it was the water.

WALKER (voice-over): Residents are left waiting on hours-long lines for water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been in line maybe almost an hour.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been rough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody got to do something.

WALKER (voice-over): The city's water problems have been ongoing for years, and there's been a boil water advisory in effect since July.

DANYELLE HOLMES, NATIONAL SOCIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZER, JACKSON RESIDENT: This has been an issue for me since I came down to Tupelo College in 1991. I was always told not to drink that water.

WALKER (voice-over): Jackson's mayor says he's hopeful for long-term change after having phone calls with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

MAYOR CHOKWE ANTAR LUMUMBA (D), JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: Both assured me that the eyes of Washington are watching the city of Jackson, and they assured me that their support was going to be demonstrated through long-range and long-term efforts through the EPA.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER (on camera): The Salvation Army will begin distributing drinking water once again at this facility here on Beasley Road beginning at 9 a.m. local. They do expect people to start lining up about an hour beforehand.

Look, it's going to be yet another scorching summer day, into the 90s. And as you'd imagine, the last thing people want to do is wait in line for an hour or more. Many have told me that they just want their lives back -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, school is virtual. Businesses are closed. It is dire there in Jackson.

Amara, thank you for that report.

All right. Let's bring in Tom Foreman to explain why there is a water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi. Shall we, Berman?

BERMAN: I just look like Tom Foreman. We all look alike.

Tom Foreman, go for it.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You wish. You wish.

BERMAN: Why is there a water crisis there?

FOREMAN: Listen, the reason there's a water crisis there is it's been building up for a long, long time.

Yes. All eyes right now are on this emergency pump that's been brought in, on all the efforts to try to get just enough water flowing there. But you've got 150,000 people waiting for this in this town. This is a big -- the biggest city in the whole state. This is a big issue.

[06:15:10]

What caused it? Damage to pumps in the main water treatment facility earlier this year, flooding of the Pearl River, those are the proximate causes.

Just because it's worth explaining and understanding why that works, you say how can flooding cause a problem like this? Imagine if you have this water pipe representing all the miles of water pipe in that town.

When you have flooding, the water coming in is usually full of more particulate, needs more treating. Well, if your plants aren't working well, that can get into the system. Even if you somehow can get everything working well enough to clean it and get it moving through the system as usual, every single place that it requires -- that there might be a leak in the line, if you don't have positive pressure to force clean water this direction, you know, out, if it's going to go out anywhere, then what that does is it allows all that flood water to come into the system that's in the ground, all those contaminants. You have to have positive pressure.

So a failure here affects the whole system. That's why they were talking about the idea of having to pump out a big tank and refill it. Because once it's in the system, very, very hard to get it out. Beyond the immediate cause of that flooding and the failed pumps,

outdated and neglected infrastructure. This has been going on for years and years for people there.

Everyone acknowledges this is a long-term problem, didn't just show up. They've dealt with smaller versions of it before. Staffing issues at the water plant and limited resources to fix it all.

Now there's a lot of talk about resources out there: federal, state, local, people trying to get money in there to do repairs. After last year, the state gave Jackson $3 million, $20 million in funding from COVID relief package, $75 million bipartisan infrastructure law funding. All of this could help.

Look at what the mayor says. It would take a billion dollars to fully repair and replace this system.

Nobody is fooling themselves about this, John and Brianna. They are saying what is happening there right now was a long, long time in coming, and fixing it could also be a pretty long-term process.

BERMAN: Yes. Look, they may get past this immediate crisis. They may have water they can drink sometime soon, but that doesn't fix the problem long term, Tom.

FOREMAN: No, no. I mean, look, think about how many miles of pipe go under -- this is a moderate-sized city. If you get under a huge city, it's a normal -- not a huge amount beyond that.

And bear in mind, the American Society of Civil Engineers has been saying for a long time, for a long time, that the drinking water infrastructure in this country everywhere is under tremendous pressure. It is not being maintained the way that they think it should be maintained. It's going to take a lot more to take that aging system up to a modern system all over the place.

Look, a water main break every two minutes in this country.

So what we're looking at in Jackson may be unique to the problems of Jackson, but many, many cities around the country have to be looking at that, saying, Is that our future if we don't find a way to deal with the problems all over the place, where too often it's easy to neglect the work that needs to be done right now because it's not glamorous, it's expensive, it's difficult, but then pay a price for it later.

BERMAN: Tom Foreman, thank you very much for explaining the situation so well.

Upset in Alaska. Sarah Palin loses in a come-back bid, for now. The state sends its first Democrat to the House in nearly 50 years.

A major bank offering mortgages to some first-time home buyers with no down payment, no closing costs, and no minimum credit score.

KEILAR: And why is a symbol of hate so prominently displayed at the entrance to the science center at West Point?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:23:00]

BERMAN: So buying a new home is about to get a lot easier for some Americans. Bank of America just announced a new program in some black and Latino communities across the country that will not require a down payment, closing costs or a minimum credit score for first-time home buyers.

With us now, Rahel Solomon, CNN business correspondent; and Christine Romans, CNN chief business correspondent. Romans, just tell us what's going on here, exactly.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Targeting in the right way, looking at census tracks with over 50 percent minority populations, no down payment, no closing costs, no minimum credit score.

And that's key, because what has kept so many Americans out of the home buying race has been this lack of these three major things. And there's also going to be homeowner counseling that the bank is going to do so that people understand what this loan is about.

This loan that they will have to pay back, of course. But they're going to look at certain factors like your ability to pay back utility bills, car payments. They're going to look at other factors to make sure you can pay this loan back.

And it's specifically targeted to get home ownership into ZIP codes where it has been difficult.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think we just showed sort of how black ownership and Hispanic ownership compares to white home ownership.

This is a program that is attempting to try to level the playing field, like Christine said: looking at certain things that perhaps didn't make as much of a difference before. About can you pay your rent on time, have you paid your utility bills on time? Have you made your phone and auto insurance payments on time? So just looking at a different criteria and determining creditworthiness.

And what this should do is bring some people off the sidelines who have wanted to own a home but perhaps could not, because they didn't have tens of thousands of dollars ready at their disposal and perhaps didn't have the credit score to do it.

BERMAN: I mean, that's -- the problem for first-time home buyers has always been you just can't get in the game.

SOLOMON: Yes.

BERMAN: You just can't get in the game.

ROMANS: The pandemic made it worse for -- for black and Hispanic households.

BERMAN: How much of a risk is this, though? How much of a risk?

ROMANS: I don't think it's a big risk for companies, if -- for Bank of America, if they're looking specifically at those factors, people who have been able -- who are employed, who have been able to pay back their bills in the past, have that track record.

And the home ownership counseling, I think, is critical here.

[06:25:03]

I mean, during the worst parts of the housing boom in 2007-2008, I mean, you were giving no income, no job, no assets, no credit loans to anybody, and then it just burst.

This is going to be with counseling. I think that could be a game changer.

Remember, the banks don't have the best history over the past 50 years. Targeting for -- for mortgages has been bad most of the time. This is on the right side of that.

BERMAN: All right. I'm going to change the subject completely now, but since I have two business and economics experts here, I want to ask you about a story with enormous business implications.

ROMANS: Macroeconomic implications.

SOLOMON: Obviously.

BERMAN: Which is that my understanding is that there's now a Winnie the Pooh horror movie for which there is now a trailer. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, we were friends for many years, and they're out there.

GRAPHIC: The beloved childhood characters

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christopher, we need to leave. Now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really need to find out what's happened here, OK?

GRAPHIC: have been abandoned by Christopher Robin and have turned wild

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Oh, bother.

RAHEL: Good morning.

ROMANS: Oh, bother. BERMAN: The chapter heading would be, "In Which Winnie the Pooh Rips

off Someone's Head."

SOLOMON: If you were at home sort of wiping the crust out of your eye, thinking what did I -- what did I just hear, this is because the original version of Winnie the Pooh has entered the public domain.

So we will see likely much more of this. Hopefully, not horror films.

I think the only saving grace here is that the Disney version of Winnie the Pooh, which is the cute, cuddly bear that's half-naked --

ROMANS: The red shirt.

SOLOMON: -- with the red shirt, that is still a Disney property. So now we will just get a fully-naked Winnie the Pooh in horror films.

ROMANS: I think he's wearing, like, lumberjack gear in this one.

SOLOMON: Yes.

ROMANS: But look, I mean, neither of us are horror movie fans. So for us we're like what? But I know that there are the young kids like to be afraid.

It doesn't really look like Winnie the Pooh to me, and I think they've purposely kept it away from the Disney property so the Disney team of lawyers doesn't come after them.

But Tigger is still under copyright protection.

BERMAN: It's so interesting, right, is that Pooh and Piglet are public domain but --

SOLOMON: Tigger has a few more years.

ROMANS: Tigger came later in the Winnie the Pooh book series, so he is still protected.

BERMAN: And Tigger has got ridiculously good lawyers. I mean, here's the thing. He's got the best counsel ever.

SOLOMON: Yes. And just piggybacking off of what Christine said in terms of Disney, in a few years, we could see another Disney property --

ROMANS: No.

SOLOMON: -- enter the public domain.

ROMANS: No.

SOLOMON: The original Mickey.

Hopefully, we don't see any Mickey horror films, but just -- you heard it here first. 2024, I believe it is. BERMAN: We've been warned. Rahel Solomon, Christine Romans, thanks to

both of you. Appreciate it.

So Sarah Palin just lost in her comeback bid, for now. What does this tell us about the state of politics in the country and, you know, what's going to happen in November?

KEILAR: Plus, Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman calling out Dr. Oz for mocking his stroke recovery. Why Fetterman is refusing to debate Oz, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:00]