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CNN This Morning
Trump, Vance Double Down On Anti-Immigration Policies In Ohio; Biden, Harris Address Congressional Black Caucus; Early And Absentee Voting Begins This Week In Several States; Home Depot To Pay Nearly $2 Million To Settle Lawsuit; U.S. Service Member Held In Venezuela Now Accused Of Coup Plot; U.S. Coast Guard To Hold Hearing Into Loss Of Titan Submersible. U.S. Coast Guard to Hold Hearing into Titan Submersible; Impact of Mail Delays on Voting; FAA Investigates Near Collision on Nashville Runway. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired September 15, 2024 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:00:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Democrats. I hate liberals like a bunch of commies, you know, and it's like, OK, one, I was just a part of them like four years ago. I was in it, right? I've been betrayed by them multiple times. So now, I'm trying my hand at being betrayed by the Republican Party.
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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Be sure to tune in all new episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper." One hour, one whole story, airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.
Top of a brand-new hour. And you're pretty this morning, Detroit.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Look at that.
BLACKWELL: That's nice.
ROSALES: Gorgeous.
All right, welcome back. I'm Isabel Rosales alongside Victor Blackwell, Allison Chinchar and Andy Scholes. Here is what we're watching for you. Voters in several states will get the chance to start casting their ballots in the presidential race this week as the candidates remain laser focused on those key battleground states.
BLACKWELL: Venezuela is accusing three Americans, including a purported Navy SEAL, of plotting to assassinate the country's president. What we know about the allegations and the investigation.
ROSALES: Hearings into the loss of the Titan submersible last year are set to kick off tomorrow. What investigators will be looking at to determine how the underwater expedition went so wrong. ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And what is left of Hurricane Francine is on the way out and potentially the next named system just off the coast of the Atlantic. We'll take a look at the forecast coming up.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: And we had a big Saturday of college football. Peyton and Eli's nephew Arch just running wild for Texas. And we had a game canceled because of a whooping cough.
Victor, when was the last time you had whooping cough?
ROSALES: Wow.
BLACKWELL: I don't remember. I'm not sure. I'm sure I've had it, but I don't know that I was diagnosed --
ROSALES: Vaccine, maybe?
BLACKWELL: A kid? A baby? Do babies get whooping cough?
SCHOLES: College football team. Running rampant there.
ROSALES: Football team.
BLACKWELL: What about, I mean, you've got kids. Do you kids get whooping cough?
SCHOLES: Yes, they've had it once or twice.
BLACKWELL: OK. All right.
ROSALES: Oh, great. OK. Well, just weeks out from the election --
SCHOLES: We're heading sports.
BLACKWELL: Whooping cough. All right.
ROSALES: OK, back to elections. Both campaigns, they are setting their sights on battleground states. They're going to be across the country this week and at times in the same states as you can see right here. It lines up with the start of widespread early and absentee voting this week. Ballots are available Thursday in Wisconsin and even more states on Friday.
BLACKWELL: On Saturday, former President Donald Trump visited Las Vegas. He heads to Arizona today. Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden attended the Phoenix Award dinner for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Harris's running mate, Governor Tim Walz, stumped in Wisconsin, and he told rally goers there that the ticket is work for the working class as they work to attract more rural voters.
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GOV. TIM WALZ, VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMIEE: 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.
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BLACKWELL: Vice presidential candidate on the Republican side, J.D. Vance visited North Carolina and Ohio. He doubled down on criticizing a program that allows Haitian immigrants to be in Ohio legally. The program has become a flashpoint, as you probably know by now, for Trump's ticket after he brought up the false claims of Haitians eating pets in the city of Springfield during Tuesday's presidential debate.
ROSALES: CNN's Alayna Treene is in Las Vegas where Trump continued to slam U.S. immigration policies.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN 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.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you denounce the bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I don't know what happened with the bomb threats. I know that it's 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.
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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 have been given temporary protective status.
[07:05:02]
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.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, the police chief, the Republican governor of Ohio all debunked this story about people eating pets, and now there are bomb threats at schools and kids being evacuated. 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.
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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 there 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?
BLACKWELL: Alayna Treene, thanks so much.
Now, before starting a busy week of campaigning, Vice President Kamala Harris joined President Joe 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.
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KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Generations of Americans before us led 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.
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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?
ROSALES: All right, Eva McKend, thank you.
Joining us now is Semafor reporter, Shelby Talcott. Shelby, thank you so much for being with us and offering your perspective. I actually want to start with something that's very noticeable to voters, especially those in battleground states, and that is the ad wars that they are hearing and seeing flooding their TVs. What is your sense of how the campaigns are doing in those critical states?
SHELBY TALCOTT, REPORTER SEMAFOR: Well, listen, I think it's -- it, first of all, depends on the states. But overall, in these battleground states, what we're seeing is an extremely tight race. And that's why we're seeing Vice President Kamala Harris go to not only these sort of democratic strongholds within each of these states, but she's also reaching out to some of these traditionally non-Democratic strongholds, which indicates that Democrats are confident at this point of the race that they have a lot of that voter base, a Democratic voter base locked up.
And so now it's all about reaching out for both sides, Republicans as well. These voters who are a little bit unsure, and it is a minority of voters in the country at this point. But with the race so close and all of these key states, those are the people that they're going to have to convince. So you're seeing these ad wars really ramp up in the last two months of the presidential race.
ROSALES: Yes, and we're seeing the Harris campaign deeping -- reaching deep, deep, deep. Especially in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, the state that could decide this thing, going into those really trumped turf, right, into those deep, red, rural counties.
We saw her interview with Powerhouse WPVI where she mentioned, hey, I am a gun owner. My running mate is a gun owner as well, were for the Second Amendment. How is that message hitting and landing with Pennsylvania voters?
TALCOTT: I think her voter base here when she talks about these issues are those voters who are maybe traditionally more moderate, have voted Republican in the past, but don't necessarily like Donald Trump, don't necessarily like his rhetoric. And so she sees an opportunity to say, hey, she's arguing that she is not super left wing, as we have heard from Donald Trump and his allies.
And so those are the kinds of voters that she's trying to siphon off. And some of them are being influenced, but some of them, when I talk to voters out on the campaign trail, still need to hear more about what her vision is for the country.
[07:10:02]
ROSALES: Let's talk about something that has taken over headlines since the presidential debate. Donald Trump appears to be distancing himself from one of his most viral moments in which he claimed with zero evidence that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating people's pets which is obviously not true. And it's having real-life consequences.
You know, we've heard from Haitian migrants there on the ground saying that they are afraid for their lives. We've seen elementary schools in Springfield that have been evacuated or closed down after bomb threats. And then recently, his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as reported by the New York Times, suggested that Haitian immigrants were less intelligent, saying this to Charlie Kirk on Real America's Voice.
"You look at Haiti, you look at the demographic makeup, you look at the average IQ. If you import the third world into your country, you're going to become the third world. That's just basic. It's not racist. It's just fact," he says. Clearly, that is racist.
Shelby, why is the Trump campaign doubling and tripling down so much on migrants in Ohio?
TALCOTT: Well, I think the important thing to remember with Donald Trump's campaign in particular is that Donald Trump himself runs the campaign. So even if he has aides and advisers saying, hey, this is not a good thing to lean into, this is something that we should maybe just drop and move on from.
Donald Trump himself, as I've talked to campaign aides throughout this entire presidential campaign and past presidential campaigns, always note that at the end of the day, Donald Trump makes the decision. So I do think that this is something that is coming from the top.
Donald Trump has decided that this is something that he's not necessarily going to let go. He's going to lean into it. And so, his campaign and allies were seeing sort of follow suit.
ROSALES: Shelby Talcott, thank you so much for your time.
And tune in to Inside Politics today with Manu Raju at 8:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
BLACKWELL: Still to come, Venezuela says a purported U.S. Navy SEAL that arrested days ago is part of a plot to assassinate the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro. How the U.S. is responding to the accusation, that's next.
Plus, there will be hearings this week into the loss of OceanGate's Titan Submersible that killed all five people on board. You remember that from 2023? Coming up, the key questions that still remain unanswered.
Plus, election officials are now sounding the alarm on the country's mail delivery system and how this could disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election.
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[07:17:11] ROSALES: Welcome back. This morning, the Polaris Dawn crew successfully splashed down off the coast of Florida. The landing ending a historic five-day mission that included the first commercial spacewalk. They reached further into space than any human has traveled since the Apollo astronauts more than 50 years ago.
Rescue crews lifted the capsule from the ocean onto a special boat. The crew then exited the capsule and headed back to land.
Disney and DirecTV have finally agreed on a deal, ending a two-week blackout that left 11 million subscribers without access to Disney owned channels. The agreement means ABC, ESPN and other popular networks are back on the satellite provider.
The company said the deal included new offerings for customers, including new combo packages for their streaming services with Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus. Home Depot will pay almost $2 million to settle a lawsuit for overcharging customers. The complaint alleged that customers were charged more at checkout than the listed prices.
While Home Depot admitted no wrongdoing, the company cooperated with the investigation. The company just now will be paying penalties and will create a price accuracy program to prevent this from happening again in the future.
BLACKWELL: The State Department is rejecting Venezuela's claims that the U.S. was involved in a plot to assassinate Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela alleges a Navy SEAL and five other people in custody it has arrested plotted to overthrow the Venezuelan president. The Interior Minister said it also seized 400 American rifles. This comes after the U. S. seized one of Maduro's planes earlier this month after deadly protests over Maduro's widely disputed election win in July.
Let's turn now to CNN's Stefano Pozzebon, he's following all of the developments. Stefano, the U.S. identified the service member who has been in custody for several days. What can you tell us about the possibility that other detainees may also be American?
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Yes, exactly. We already knew that one U. S. service member, actually a U.S. sailor, so a member of the U.S. Navy, had been detained in an area surrounding Caracas around the 30th of August. At that time, we spoke with a Venezuelan attorney general.
He told us that he was a double Mexican-American citizen and that he appeared to be under investigation because he said that he entered the country, the attorney general said, that this citizen entered the country without a proper documentation.
Now, 10 days later, we learn from the interior minister that this person is being investigated allegedly plotting to overthrow the government and that together with him, which is the news that we learned in the last 24 hours.
[07:20:03] The Venezuelans are saying that they've detained five more people, including two U.S. citizens, two Spanish and one Czech citizen. Now they have -- they are accusing all of these people to be part of a plot to overthrow Maduro with the Mexican-American, which we can now identify as Wilbert Castaneda as the ringleader.
However, the U.S. authorities are, of course, dismissing that claim. The Spanish authorities are also saying that they have nothing to do with this situation. It's not the first time, Victor, that we learn from Caracas that they think that there are plots and alleged plans to overthrow Maduro. We need to still understand whether there is something behind it because it's not the first time that he has made these claims.
However, of course, at least six foreigners detained in Caracas, 400 U.S. rifles. This is a story that will keep -- we will keep learning more in the next couple of, in the next few days. And of course, this will also impact the relationship between Washington and Caracas at a moment where, you know, tensions are really rising.
You just said that the U.S.'s seized a plane a couple of weeks ago from -- owned by Nicolas Maduro in the Dominican Republic. And of course, there are, you know, repeated demands from the international community to see the final result of that controversial election at the end of July that granted Maduro six more years in power.
So rising tensions. And now Maduro has six foreigners in his hands that he can play on with negotiations that we've seen him doing in the past unfortunately. Victor?
BLACKWELL: Stefano Pozzebon, thank you.
ROSALES: A trip to visit the Titanic's wreck on the Titan submersible ended in tragedy last year. This week, there will be public hearings on the disaster. The questions investigators will be looking to get answers on, that's coming up.
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BLACKWELL: The U.S. Coast Guard will hold a public hearing on the loss of OceanGate's Titan Submersible. Its implosion killed all five people on board in June of 2023. You remember that? They were trying to dive down to the wreck of the Titanic.
Well, the Coast Guard plans to use the hearing to determine the cause of the sub's implosion, if incompetence or negligence was involved, and whether any laws were broken. I hear from two dozen witnesses over the course of two weeks, including OceanGate employees.
With me now is former U.S. Coast Guard Captain Peter Boynton. Thank you for being with me. Let's start here with hearing. Are we -- is this akin to a congressional hearing? Walk us through what we should expect over the two weeks. CHAIRMAN PETER BOYNTON, U.S. COAST GUARD (RET.): Good morning, Victor. So this is akin to a federal district court. There is no judge. Instead, there's a chair of a marine board of investigation, and that is the highest form of investigation that the Coast Guard uses to investigate the most serious maritime type accidents.
The chair of the board will be accompanied by members of the board. There's a total of six, all with specific expertise in marine affairs, engineering, technical aspects, legal requirements. There'll be a court recorder. The chair of the marine board will swear in all the witnesses. So all of the testimony. Is under oath witnesses are allowed to be represented by council.
It's a very formal inquiry. This is part of the fact finding and really necessary in order to come up with the detailed findings of fact and analysis that will follow in the report.
BLACKWELL: You told one of my producers that the unusual nature of this or the status of Titan as a submersible, a deep submersible is an unusual case here. Does that anomalistic degree here create challenges for the Marine Board in getting some answers?
BOYNTON: Well, it does in some respects, exactly as you've said, because it is unusual. The chair of this Marine Board has deep experience along with all the other members. He was previously chair of Marine Boards for the sinking of the cargo vessel El Faro off the Bahamas with the loss of everyone on board and also for the tragic fire and loss of the fishing vessel conception off the coast of California, where so many in the crew died.
So he has great experience investigating maritime incidents. It's not that the Coast Guard doesn't have experience with submersibles, the Coast Guard became involved with them actually, all the way back to the mid-80s. When the first U.S. based submersibles started operating in relatively shallow water in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Coast Guard has published certification guidance for submersibles beginning in the early 90s.
And that type of guidance covers things like design construction. operation, licensing, emergency procedures, things like that. But the fact remains that there are far fewer submersible than surface vessels. The Coast Guard does, about 5,000 investigations in a typical year, and most of those are very small. They don't take a lot of time. They're almost all surface vessels of some type, but only the most significant incidents are designated with a Marine Board of Investigation, as is the case here.
So, in part, it's unusual because it's a submersible, but also because it was in very deep water. Almost 1,000 miles to see from New England. So, it made recovery of the evidence very difficult and that took longer.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. As I said at the top, the board will be looking for the cause of the implosion, whether incompetence or negligence was involved and whether any laws were broken. Is there a possibility -- I mean, one of the founders, Stockton Rush, died on the Titan, but that there could be some penalties, some consequences if laws were broken related to this implosion?
BOYNTON: Absolutely, Victor. So, the purpose of the Marine Board of Investigation is to find facts, do an analysis, make conclusions and make recommendations.
Now, typically, a marine board will focus its recommendations on safety recommendations, which could change policy regulation or law both domestically and potentially internationally through the International Maritime Organization, an arm of the U.N., which the Coast Guard leads for United States representation.
However, under federal law that provides the authority for the Coast Guard to conduct marine boards, there is also a requirement to make recommendations for civil or criminal actions. Those are referred to the Department of Justice if the marine board feels they should be recommended.
BLACKWELL: Captain Peter Boynton, thank you so much for being with me. And of course, we'll watch closely this hearing over the next two weeks.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's one thing to have a Christmas present arrive late, but what about your mail-in ballot? Well, election officials are warning mail delays could disenfranchise voters in the presidential election.
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ROSALES: With just over seven weeks to Election Day, election officials across the country are warning that persistent problems with the U.S. Postal Service threaten to cause chaos and disenfranchise voters. Last week, local and state election officials wrote a letter to the U.S. Postalmaster, General Louis DeJoy, listing systemic issues with election mail over the past year, including ballots that were mailed on time, being delayed, or lost. While others were wrongly marked as undeliverable.
Joining us now is Amy Cohen, Executive Director of the National Association of State Election Directors. One of the groups that sent that letter. Amy, thank you so much for joining us. Let me actually start with reading a portion from that letter. And here it goes, in nearly every state, local election officials are receiving timely postmarked ballots well after election day. Election officials in multiple states report receiving anywhere from dozens to hundreds of ballots 10 or more days after postmark.
Amy, with the way that things are right now, is your organization saying that there will undoubtedly be voters whose votes won't be counted come November through no fault of their own?
AMY COHEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE ELECTION DIRECTORS: Thanks so much for having me. I think the takeaway for voters really needs to be that they need to be proactive and engage early. So, if you're planning to vote by mail, and it's still an option that a lot of people are going to leverage, but if you're planning to do that, you need to return your ballot early, request it early, if that's something that you need to do where you live, and leverage tools available where you live, like ballot tracking, both to you and back to your election office.
And if you're within, say, seven to 10 days of the election, I would look into what other options are available to you to return your ballot. Those options vary by state. Some states have drop boxes. Some states, you can return that ballot in person, but voters really need to be proactive to make sure that their ballots will be tabulated.
ROSALES: Amy, this is serious. I mean, are you saying that 10 days before election you're better off just not doing mail-in ballots, or plan for a 10-day gap before that padding in the front end, send it way earlier than anticipated?
COHEN: You know, I like to think that by November, when the Post Office is doing what they call extraordinary measures, we'll be in sort of a better place. But your vote is important and your vote is your voice. And if you really want to make sure that it gets where it needs to be, if it were me, I would look into the other options to returning my ballot within that time frame.
ROSALES: How frustrating is this for you as an election official?
COHEN: It is extremely frustrating. You know, I think we said it in the letter, but we've been raising these concerns since last year at the association level. Our members have been raising these concerns since before that. And, you know, we know the postal service is a big organization, but we just haven't seen the kinds of improvements in service that allowed us to sort of go into November without saying something.
[07:40:00]
You know, for all of these organizations, it was, you know, state election officials and then local election officials from 29 local election official associations, for all of us to join together and say, this is a problem, should be indicative that this is pretty serious and we want to make sure that voters are thinking about the other ways that they can return their ballots if they choose to vote by mail.
ROSALES: Have you heard from Postmaster DeJoy after sending that letter?
COHEN: Yes, we heard back late Friday night, and we'll be discussing this coming week his response.
ROSALES: What message do you have for him?
COHEN: We view this really as a partnership. The Postal Service is one of our biggest partners, and we can't do this without them. But we also really need to work together and we need to make sure that they're hearing our concerns and addressing our concerns, because this isn't just affecting election mail, it's just the election is coming up, and this is what we care about so deeply.
But we really want to work together to address these issues so that voters can feel confident in returning their ballot by mail.
ROSALES: Yes, but it seems like there's been constant communication with the USPS warning them about these issues. I mean, early voting begins widespread here in about five days across the nation. What can be done at this point from USPS's side?
COHEN: I mean, at this point -- from USPS's side, you know, I think that they really need to look at the issues that we raised and think about some of the root causes. You know, we know they've been very public about some of their staffing constraints. And, you know, I can't message to the Postal Service. You know, I can't make them do anything. But that's why I think it's really important for voters to hear that they need to be more proactive and they need to engage early and take advantage of the tools at their disposal to make sure that their ballots get to them and get back to their election office.
ROSALES: Yes. And I think that message is so important that USPS seemingly not prepared for this influx of mail-in ballots. Amy, thank you for your advice to voters today. Thanks.
BLACKWELL: The weather was bad. There was dense fog. I mean, the ingredients were there for a tragedy. But these two pilots averted that and they are going to explain how they did it at an Austin airport. It's next.
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[07:45:00]
BLACKWELL: There has been another close call between planes. This time it was at an airport in Nashville. An Alaska Airlines plane was about to take off when a Southwest Airlines flight suddenly was cleared to cross the same runway. The Alaska pilot slammed on the brakes so hard, look at this, the plane's tires blew out.
ROSALES: I would not want to be in there. CNN's Pete Muntean spoke with a pair of pilots who avoided a disaster earlier this year. They shared what it's like to be in the cockpit during an emergency like this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRADEEN: Cleared to land 18 left FedEx 1432 heavy.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The voice that you are hearing is that of FedEx pilot Rob Bradeen approaching Austin-Bergstrom International Airport before dawn on February 4th, 2023. Bradeen, alongside Captain Hugo Carvajal, thought this was going to be an uneventful landing.
ROBERT BRADEEN, FIRST OFFICER, FEDEX EXPRESS FLIGHT 1432: It was very routine right up until the very end.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): This investigate animation shows the disaster that was unfolding in front of the FedEx pilots. A Southwest Airlines flight was cleared for takeoff in front of them, but it sat on the runway for 19 seconds, a delay invisible to even the air traffic controller in the tower with thick fog blanketing the airport.
AUSTIN TOWER: Southwest 708, confirm on the roll?
SOUTHWEST PILOT: Rolling now.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): The two airplanes continued barreling closer together when Bradeen began looking out of the windshield.
BRADEEN: And I saw a position light in the silhouette of the Southwest airplane right over the glare shield with closure.
MUNTEAN: You saw the silhouette of the other airplane?
BRADEEN: I saw the silhouette of the other airplane, which is when I called for -- called go around, go around, go around.
Southwest, abort. FedEx is on the go.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): Investigators say Captain Carvajal nosed up immediately, missing the Southwest flight by 150 to 170 feet. The move not only spared the lives of the FedEx crew but the 131 people on Southwest flight 708. This is the FedEx team's first interview since their close call.
MUNTEAN: How terrifying was that? What was the feeling like?
BRADEEN: It was definitely a shocking moment. You don't expect to see an airplane that close.
CAPT. HUGO CARVAJAL, FEDEX EXPRESS FLIGHT 1432: I knew it was pretty close because I knew Rob's -- just the inflection in his voice when he said go around. And then the focus at that point is just getting away from the ground and getting away from the airplane.
MUNTEAN: The Austin incident is now known as the closest near- collision during a time when they kept happening at airports coast to coast. The National Transportation Safety Board has now investigated at least a dozen similar incidents since the start of last year.
JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: Great job.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): During an NTSB hearing this spring, chair Jennifer Homendy thanked the FedEx pilots for saving lives.
HOMENDY: This incident could have been catastrophic if not for the heroic actions of the FedEx crew.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): On Thursday, Carvajal and Bradeen received their union's Superior Airmanship Award for their teamwork and vigilance that prevented what could have been one of the worst air disasters in decades.
CAPT. JASON AMBROSI, AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION: This could have been a tragedy if there were not two well-trained and qualified pilots on the flight deck that day. We could certainly be telling a very different story right now.
[07:50:00]
MUNTEAN: Are you heroes?
BRADEEN: I guess it depends on your perspective. To us, we did our job. That's what we're trained to do.
MUNTEAN (voiceover): Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSALES: That is just incredible. They were 150 feet away from each other.
BLACKWELL: Seeing the silhouette of the plane would have been --
ROSALES: I would have had a heart attack.
BLACKWELL: I mean, they're trained, obviously. I would have panicked in that cockpit.
ROSALES: Oh, passed out.
BLACKWELL: They didn't.
ROSALES: All right. Well, it's one tropical mess move out, another one is getting its act together in the Atlantic. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking it all for us straight ahead. But first, Andy, what's coming up in sports?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well Isabel, when you have the Manning name, it comes with high expectations when it comes to playing quarterback. And Arch, living up to the hype yesterday. Coming up, we'll show you his lights out performance.
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ROSALES: Welcome back. Dramatic new video and to CNN shows devastating floods in Poland, at least six people have died in several countries as heavy rains hit Central and Eastern Europe causing some of the worst flooding in decades for that region. A massive, slow moving storm dumped a month's worth of rain onto several of Europe's historic capitals.
BLACKWELL: Well, speaking of flooding, let's bring it back here to the U.S. 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: CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here with us now. Allison, where is the storm?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. So, we've got two different storms causing two separate areas of flooding. We take a look at both of those here. This larger cluster here, this is the remnants of Francine. That's largely impacting Alabama, Mississippi, portions of Western Tennessee. But you also have this secondary cluster of storms. That's the one that's starting to spread into the Carolinas, but from an entirely separate system.
Now, both of them have the potential to cause some flooding. That's why you've got flood watches, flood advisories, coastal flood warnings in effect for both of those particular regions. You also have the flooding potential from coastal flooding, from all of that water being pushed inland. So, you've got rip currents, high surf advisories, all of this up and down the coast, especially because Tuesday comes the full moon. So, you're going to see more exacerbated flooding concerns along the coast as we make our way through the next 48 hours. And that spreads even all the way up onto Coastal portions of Virginia.
Now, that secondary system, this is it. So, it's still offshore, but it's really expected to start to surge a lot of that moisture inland over the next 24 to 48 hours. Now, that system itself has about a 50 percent chance of becoming the next named tropical system. The next name on the list is Helene. The concern really is it's expected to make landfall in the next 24 to 48 hours. So, can it strengthen quick enough to really produce that -- to get that next name on the list?
The system, once it moves inland, will then slide up the East Coast, impacting heavy rain for areas of the mid-Atlantic and eventually into the southeast.
ROSALES: Hey, what is it? Two more months of hurricane season. Allison Chinchar, thank you.
College football is in full swing, but one school was forced to cancel their game this week for unusual circumstances.
Andy Scholes is here now with more. I got a preview at the top of the hour.
SCHOLES: Yes, we did. We did, guys. I've been doing this for a little bit now. Not sure I've ever had this certain story that a team had to cancel their game because of this illness. So, Portland State, they're supposed to play South Dakota yesterday, but they called it off due to a whooping cough outbreak going through the team.
Portland State released a statement saying, the case of whooping cough got into the team two days ago, and many team members have since been exposed to it.
Whooping cough is highly contagious, it affects the lungs. So, team doctors advised against playing the game. The Vikings, they did note that none of their players are seriously ill at this time. They hope to still play next week. All right. Florida State, meanwhile, probably wishes they didn't play yesterday. They lost yet again, this time to Memphis. The Seminoles' three first half turnovers. Their fans in a bad place right now, as you can see. They did have a Hail Mary attempt to try to tie it at the end, but it was batted down. Florida State loses to Memphis 20 to 12. They drop to 0 and 3 on this season. This after going undefeated last year.
And just when you things couldn't -- things couldn't get any worse, check out the press conference after.
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MIKE NORVILLE, HEAD COACH, FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES: But I mean, I think from their attitude, their approach, I mean, even they're in the locker room, we're all disappointed. But, you know, as we continue to work and continue to pour into each other and the opportunity we have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Thank you.
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SCHOLES: Props to Mike Norville there for just keep talking and getting through that fire alarm. But unranked Kentucky, meanwhile, giving top ranked Georgia all they could handle last night. Dogs were down 9 to 6 in the fourth quarter when they finally found the end zone on this Branson Robinson three-yard touchdown run. Georgia would squeak out the win 13 to 12. Kirby Smart saying after, they did what they had to, but it did not play well.
Someone who did play well yesterday was Arch Manning, Peyton and Eli's nephew, coming off the bench after Quinn Ewers strained an oblique. His very first pass, well, it would go for a 19-yard touchdown. Then look what Arch did a little later. He's going to take it himself, turn on the Jets, and he is gone. Way faster than his uncles. 67-yard touchdown. Arch had four passing TDs, one rushing. Texas wins big over UTSA in that one, 56 to 7.
Today, the second Sunday of the NFL season and bad news for 49ers fans and -- or anyone who has Christian McCaffrey on the fantasy team, the 9ers placing to start running back on the I.R. with an injured cap. That means he's going to miss the next four games. This comes as a rather big surprise as McCaffrey had said he was going to play in the opener. Then he set out. 49ers are on the road today, taking on the Vikings here. Some of the early matchups. You got the Jets, the Titans, Aaron Rodgers never started 0 and 2 in his career. You got the Ravens also looking to get their first win, taking on the --
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