Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Fredricka Whitfield 20190825

Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me this sunday. Im fredricka whitfield. We begin in Southern France where right now the leaders of the g7 summit have gathered now for an official dinner. This is just moments ago. They were gathering outside before going in. See nice friendly kisses there with President Trump and Angela Merkel of germany. This is a rather unique moment of this threeday event when all seven of the leaders of the worlds Major Economies seen together, looks like an image of unity, right . This coming as President Trump sends rather mixed messages over his growing trade war with china. Initially, the president saying he has second thoughts about the escalating standoff with beijing and then later, the white house reversed course saying the president s only regret was not raising tariffs even higher on the chinese. Adding intrigue and confusion amid the global tensions, irans Foreign Ministers surprise arrival at the summit to meet on the sidelines with his french counterpart. A Trump Administration official calling the visit a, quote, curveball. Earlier today President Trump was asked about the news of irans javad zarifs arrival. Mr. President , on a separate issue, there are reports that the Iranian Foreign minister is coming to biarritz. Can you confirm that and if you plan to meet with him . No comment. The iranian official says he came at the invitation of france to review an antinuke commitment which the u. S. Has withdrawn from. The french president says g7 leaders are looking for a way to ease the growing tension between the u. S. And iran. Cnns chief White House Correspondent jim acosta is covering all these developments for us at the summit. So, jim, you know, this surprise visit, the white house calling it a curveball, what is meant by that . Right. Well, i think it means that they werent really expecting this to take place. At least not heading into this summit. And then it took place and i think some of the backstory here, fredricka, is that the french president Emmanuel Macron would very much like to get President Trump onboard with this multilateral approach to curbing Irans Nuclear ambiti ambitions. The president doesnt want to do that, he wants to take on iran by himself. You heard the pressutreasury sey earlier in the day saying the president would meet with iranian leaders if that were to come to pass. He has no preconditions for that. It didnt end up happening. Javad zarif met with the french president Emmanuel Macron and did not meet with President Trump. Were seeing the leaders going into their dinner tonight at the g7, just saw what they describe as the family photo. Just a few moments ago. And you saw the president and president macron exchanging some words. Theyve been doing this throughout this g7 summit. As you saw, earler in the day, the president making those comments about having second thoughts about his trade war with china and then the white house reversing on that. There have been so many distractions for this president on this trip and a lot of that overshadowed what was going to be something the white house wanted to rally around and that is the president announcing this new trade agreement with the japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe. So the president as we have seen at many of these summits on the world stage, he makes his own waves and sometimes those waves overcome his message of the day and some of the things they would like to tout coming out of these summits and that happened here today, fredricka. All while that is taking place, you had a conversation with white house adviser Stephen Miller who has been leading up the Trump Administrations immigration approach and policies. What did he have to say . Thats right. Yeah, he typically travels with the president on these trips, fredricka, because he writes a lot of the president s speeches so it wasnt a big surprise to see Stephen Miller here but he was talking about the issue of immigration. He has been the ashlrchitect of many of the administrations controversial immigration policies and he was talking to reporters earlier this afternoon here in france about this new policy that the administration has to hold migrant families with children longer than the 20day requirement that is part of the socalled flores settlement. I pressed Stephen Miller on whether or not if the administration can scrap the requirements that are baked into that agreement, whether or not the administration is comfortable with the prospect of detaining children for extensive periods of time. Heres what he had to say. What about the people who dont want to see americans dont want to see kids detained far long period of time. What americans dont want to see are children being smuggled in record numbers across our border to take advantage of a loophole created by our court system. Americans want to see an immigration system that doesnt put children in harms way. The only way to accomplish that end is to make sure that smuggling a child does not guarantee entry or admission into the country. Why should this change will dramatically reduce instances of child smuggling. Including instances of fraudulent families which weve seen a huge uptick in in recent years, again, to try to take advantage of the flores ruling. Then they get locked up in the u. S. Thenlocked up on the border. This will end the incentive for child smuggling, hopefully all decent people can agree our immigration system should have no incentives, no rewards for the smuggling of children which is heinous and must be stopped. The president totally on board why do people thanks, steve. Reporter so, fredricka, you hear Stephen Miller there trying to defend the administrations policy saying this is going to end the incentive for child smuggling but as you and i have been talking about, you dont only see children coming to the border with the u. S. And mexico because of child smuggling, in many cases, you have families coming across the border, many times mothers and children and those children are not being smuggled and so what you saw there during that exchange is Stephen Miller, the architect of many of these immigration policies for the administration, not really answering the question about these the prospect of lengthy child detentions if the administration is successful with this new policy. Right. And also trying to change the narrative of the intention of the crossing of the border involving so many children by this blanket statement of, you know, child smuggling. All right. Jim acosta, thank you so much. Thats right. All right. With me now is vali nassar, a professor at the school for advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins university, also an expert on iran and the middle east. Good to see you. I want to talk to you mostly about this surprise visit of irans foreign minister at the invitation of france. So catching so many of the other leaders, particularly the u. S. , by surprise, the u. S. , in fact, calling it a curve ball. So in your view, you know, how clever or, perhaps, cunning was this invitation . It might be a curve ball for officials in the Administration Like john bolton or secretary pompeo, but im not sure it was a curve ball for President Trump. I think the perception has been that all the initiatives that have happened before like when Prime Minister of japan went to iran was undermined by the white house, by bolton and pompeo. President macron decided to do something that would sideline those american leaders that he thought were undermining an engagement with iran. He had met with irans foreign minister in paris a week ago. He had lunch with President Trump yesterday. So i would assume that macron was negotiating already between iran and President Trump directly and President Trump, perhaps, knew that this was going on and by having the Iranian Foreign minister come to biarritz, it was a way of nailing down at least certain elements that he was talking to both parties about. In your view, is this macron trying to trying hard to try and bring, you know, trump, you know, in some facetoface conversation with an iranian representative, not the foreign minister, than perhaps this is a prelude to the kind of talks that the president has been boasting that hed be an advocate of . I think so. First of all, the Iranian Foreign minister coming to biarritz is a very big signal because he would have come with approval of irans Supreme Leader and iranian president. He didnt come there on his own. So that this already shows that iran is willing to engage trump. And i think before they get into kind of a big talk about the Nuclear Issues and the larger issues, they have to arrive at some preliminary agreements that would deescalate tensions that have been at heightened between them. That means tanker attacks in the persian gulf. Drone attacks. Threats that have been going back and forth between iran and the u. S. Perhaps the two sides can make an agreement that would deescalate the situation and pave the way for engagement. And i think the iranians by coming to biarritz suggested theyre willing to engage and perhaps macron heard things from trump at lunch then he conveyed to the Iranian Foreign minister when he had his meeting with him. Do you see potentially the other g7 leaders are more willing and maybe at this g7 summit more willing to come into agreement or talks with iran and this kind of underscores a g6 plus 1, you know, kind of concept, that it would be the u. S. Would be the only one left out. No, i think that nearttheory already been disproved. We had two years when the europeans have been able to do absolutely nothing to save the nuclear deal. Theyve been under pressure from the United States not to do business with iran and they have basically complied. The main function of the others is basically now to play the role of the intermediary. Which macron is doing. You know, macron is saying i cannot keep this deal going by myself, france cannot do business with iran but maybe what i can do is talk to both sides and see whether i can play the role as a mediator and seems france is much more successful as a mediator than it is as a war power that could keep the deal alive. So this meeting, you know, also coming after the Israeli Military says it foiled an imminent largescale attack by Iranian Forces in northern israel with a series of air strikes near the syrian capital of damascus. So could that incident have played a role in irans decision to say, yes, ill show up . No, i dont think so. I think israel has been hitting iranian targets in syria for the better part of the last four, five months and have been all fairly severe. Have even hit iranian targets inside of iraq. It has killed mere yayriads of revolutionary guards commanders and soldiers in the last several months. This is nothing new. Maybe its more intense than the last ones but its nothing new and the process between iran and the United States unraveling, turning into tanker attacks, talk of talks, failed attempts to engage, has also been going on for a while. And macron started his process of starting to use the g7 as a way of breaking through to President Trump and to iran about two, three weeks ago, and he met with the Iranian Foreign minister last week. He met with trump at lunch yesterday and talked about iran at length with trump. So this is a project that macron embrace ed knowing the g7 woulde happening, he would have an opportunity with trump. Let me say quickly, iran surprised trump idea by asking for an impromptu lunch for trump which was not on the agenda. Thats true, two surprises. It really started yesterday. Okay. All right. Vali nasr, always good to see you. Its been too long. Thanks for coming back. Thank you. All right. Still ahead, two town halls, one big night. 2020 president ial candidate Steve Bullock and bill de blasio take to the stage and comes as the two try to secure their spots for the next democratic debate. Plus, celebrities descend on dayton, ohio, the scene of a mass shooting just three weeks ago. How theyre inviting others to take a stand against gun violence. Work so hard give it everything you got strength of a lioness tough as a knot rocking the stage and we never gonna stop all strength, no sweat. Just in case you forgot all strength. No sweat secret. All strength. No sweat. 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Detergent alone doesnt kill bacteria but adding lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99. 9 with 0 bleach. Lysol. What it takes to protect. ® all right. They have struggled to crack 1 in the polls. Tonight 2 of the 21 democratic hopefuls will get another chance to make their pitch to voters as cnns president ial town hall series continues. Montana governor Steve Bullock takes the stage at 6 00 p. M. Followed by new york city mayor bill de blasio at 7 00. It comes days before the deadline to qualify for the third democratic debate. Neither de blasio nor bulliock have made the cut so far. Joining me, jess mcintosh. And basal, former executive director of the new york state democratic party. Good to see you both. Good to be here. Thanks. In our latest cnn poll voters were asked to name up to three candidates besides their current choice for the nomination they that wanted to hear more about and it was bill de blasio who got 2 , Steve Bullock who got 1 , so, jess, what do these candidates need to say tonight to grab attention . Well, you know, honestly, im not sure there is a ton that bill de blasio can do tonight. He got a lot of airtime on the debates that he was able to be on stage in. I think he showed people who he was and what he was about and people maybe didnt react as positively to that as he would like. Steve bullock on the other hand, i think is one of the candidates who is right now polling at that under 1 who really does have the opportunity to make a different compelling message. Hes the governor of a red state that is very hes very popular in montana. Right now, hes the only governor of a red state who is running for president. So i think that experience might give him a way to differentiate himself from other candidates. Town hall format is fantastic because you can actually tell anecdote, can tangent, show your sense of humor. Youre in the spotlight. Youre not competing with anything. This is a big moment for him. Or anyone. Weve seen several candidates, however, you know, quit the race in just the past week including washington governor jay inslee, massachusetts congressman seth moulton, so, you know, 2 1 left. Is the writing on the wall for those at the bottom of the pack to make an impression in some way or get out . Its going to be tough, speaking as a new yorker to have bill de blasio, mayor of the center of new york and our senator, kirsten gillibrand, on the threshold of not making it to the next set of debates is a little disheartening. You talked about washington governor inslee, you know, given all thats happening in the amazon right now, id love for somebody to be on that stage to talk about climate change, so to jess point, you know, theres a lot that bill de blasio has said and other candidates have said and added to this debate and what happens is when they lead, when they exit the stage, we lose some of that messaging and some of the policy discussion which is unfortunate, but would say that as we get closer and closer and you winnow the number of candidates down i expect a little more fireworks on that stage. So thats actually something to look forward to. Yeah, while the climate k crisis is of top concern, at least with the amazon those fires, it is being those fires are intentionally set. You know, to clear land for farmers. So, you know, jess, the president has said the economy is the signature reason for why he should be reelected. A new cbs news poll found that 38 of people say they are optimistic about the economy. 35 say they are pessimistic. So, jess, do these numbers, you know, spell trouble potentially for the president . Yes, they do. We saw in other polls this week there was the cnn poll that said people were those numbers about people feeling good about the economy are slipping. A lot of it is because of whats happening in our own Bank Accounts and pocketbooks. A lot of it is whats happening on trumps twitter stream. It is very, very clear that he is simply too distracted by twitter to do anything about the economy. He seems unwilling to admit there are signs that the economy might be slowing down. He seems willing to engage in bombastic words over a social media platform with our global adversaries. We watched the dow tank almost every week because of something that he has said that he may or may not understand the implications of so i think the idea that anybody in america is truly comfortable with the state of the economy and where its going to be in 6 to 12 months is getting slimmer and swimmer. Then you have former Massachusetts Governor bill weld announcing in april he would challenge trump, telling jake tapper he would, quote, fear for the republic if the country had President Trump for a second term. Mark sanford said in july hes considering running against trump. In the latest cnn poll, basil, trump has an 8 4 Approval Rating among republicans so does anyone really stand a chance to challenge him . 4. The short answer is no. The longer answer is that this would be i really mean republicans, you know, the primary. This would be true for just about any sitting president. It would be hard for someone to challenge you in a primary. Challenge that president in a primary. But in this particular case, look, you know, as much as democrats and other voters, independents as well, have concerns over this president , weve seen time after time how moderate republicans and conservatives have sidled up next to the president to try to get in his favor. So it doesnt seem like its a Good Opportunity or even a good climate for that moderate republican, particularly those northeast moderates, as well is, or has been, to have a real place at the table to challenge donald trump. Maybe someone like a john kasich from ohio, but i dont see him we know bill walsh today did throw his hat into the ring, so youve got well see. Joe walsh, you got that. Jess mcintosh, basil, appreciate it. Thank you. Tune in tonight for two back to back live president ial town halls. Montana governor Steve Bullock takes the stage first at 6 00 then new york city mayor bill de blasio at 7 00. Thats tonight only on cnn. D for great sleep, refreshed skin and less stress. One softgel. 7 benefits. 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The free event is hosted by comedian and, you know, hometown guy, dave chappelle, with a number of stars expected to appear including kanye west and Stevie Wonder. This morning, the rapper hosted his Weekly Sunday Service series in dayton ahead of this afternoons event. Think were talking about kanye west there. So music legend Stevie Wonder was also spotted during a sound check you see right there and while the city of dayton looks to reclaim that part of the city, people from another American Community touched by gun violence are also taking action. The studentled movement formed in the wake of the parkland shooting is rolling out an actionable plan for u. S. Congress. March for our lives is introducing a sixpoint platform with solutions to stop gun violence. Im joined now by parkland alum and march for our lives board member and graduate of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in parkland, florida, tia moye roberts. So, tia, good to see you. Good to see you as well. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Tell me about march for our lives and how it is broadening out its mission and what this new platform is all about to really get Congress Attention as well. Definitely. So the march for our lives was founded after the shooting that occurred at my high school in february of 2018 and of course we had our actual march in washington, d. C. , in march of 2018, but now that we have come so far from that and been trying to expand, we did the road to change the summer before this one that was huge and reached so many people and we most importantly learned so many different perspectives and so with this peace plan that were trying to push out now to everyone thats willing to listen and even people who are not willing to listen, we are taking everything that weve learned from traveling the country and taking input from all the people that weve met to create give me an example to create a comprehensive plan. Give me an example of that, tyah, what have you learned from people as you traveled across the country and how is it, their feedback is, you know, among the elements that you want included in this proposal . Definitely. So gun violence is about much more than just mass shootings. We learned that almost immediately after the shooting at our school happened, but i think that we didnt really absorb it until we met these people who from cities all around the country are creating violence intervention programs and really getting to the root of the violence thats in our communities and its not just about the gun. It is about the gun, but its not just about that. Its why people want the gun. And thats why we in our plan, we talk about creating communitybased Solutions Like funding those violence intervention programs. How will this plan, this sixpoint proposal, you know, be introduced or, you know, brought to the attention of congressional members that you are hoping could help legislate your ideas . Definitely. So there are many whys that we are planning to bring it forward and keep it in the spotlight so that president ial candidates and government officials on from local to the federal level look at it and are willing to adopt it. As youve already seen, most likely we have it all over social media. There will definitely be lobbying for it. And were really just trying to get the young people to bring this to their politicians and as weve been so great at doing for the past year, almost two years, the young people who really push the important issues and theyre who politicians have to listen to if they want to keep their seats. And there is great power in this, you know, coming together. I mean, you all have harnessed incredible power as a group through march, you know, for our lives and then with so many gathering in dayton, dave chappelle, you know, home boy of dayton, has put together this effort to bring people together really, you know, in the spirit of love, but at the same time at these shootings take place, as they have taken place in the last three weeks, i mean, what does that make you feel about your mission . Is it a setback or do you feel that much more, you know, committed to your cause . Definitely. Well, every day, i feel more committed to my cause and march for our lives feels more committed to the cause with every shooting that takes place and its hard to watch. Its hard to watch on the news as a group of people who have gone through it. And who know the pain of losing someone that they know and that they love. But what we try to do is allow it to keep us moving forward. Its not something that we want to see, but we just know that more than ever, we need to work even harder to get these to get these shootings and these killings to stop. Tyahamoy roberts, we certainly applaud your efforts and that of all of your colleagues trying to make a big difference, and you are, in fact, already making a big difference. Thank you so much. Thank you. And well be right back. I dont keep track of regrets. And i dont add up the years. But what i do count on. Is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. Boost® high protein. Be up for life. New crest gum and sensitivity. And then i jump on the trampoline ahh brain freeze no, its my teeth. Your teeth hurt . Sensitivity. I should see my dentist. My teeth have been really sensitive lately. Well 80 of sensitivity starts at the gum line, so treat sensitivity at the source. 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Cnns natasha chen is in hampton, virginia, where the first ship arrived. Natasha, youve been there all weekend and have seen some incredibly powerful moments. Tell us about it. Reporter yeah, fred, some really emotional moments. That bell you just saw there, thats owned by a family, has had that bell since the civil war. And so some of those family members were invited up to ring it. Again, very emotional as many people attending the event here gathered around and rang their own bells as well. Say something thanking them for their sacrifice. Reporter in the same spot where about 20 captured africans arrived four centuries ago, people whispered prayers to them and to the ancestors who did not survive the voyage, sending those thoughts floating with flower petals into the chesapeake bay. The ghost of the past is still alive with us today and you can feel it as you walk around and look at the backdrop here. Reporter under the backdrop of mt. Monroe people felt what shackles would have felt like. The codirector of African Diaspora studies at Spelman College says this isnt the first group of africans in america, there were those taken to spanish, portuguese and french territories. It marks a beginning of the foundations of this nation. And of which slavery is deeply embedded. So we have the beginnings of not just u. S. Governing systems, right, the colonial history, but also the foundations of american wealth. Reporter now africanamericans can be part of that wealth in spite of continued struggles of inequality. Now were engineers, lawyers, docto doctors, president s, maybe a future female president. But weve come a long way. Reporter and while they look at the traditions that made them who they are, the next generation is also looking at what their world could be. Imagine the problems that would be solved if all people were kind and felt cared for. It doesnt matter what your race or religion may be. We all deserve kindness. Can we talk about where were going . And can we talk about what is necessary to get there . As we look at the next 400 years. Reporter we heard from the governor and Lieutenant Governor of virginia yesterday. And they definitely had their fair share of racial controversies. We heard people bring up reparations. While this is day of healing, we understand the healing is a process and that dialogue continues, fred. All right, natasha chen, thank you so much from hampton, virginia. And well be right back. Applebees handcrafted burgers now with endless fries starting at 7. 99. And get more bites for your buck with late night halfpriced apps. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Iand i dont add up the years. But what i do count on. Is staying happy and healthy. So, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. Boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. All with guaranteed great taste. And now try new boost® peaches and creme natural flavor. With 27 vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of protein. Boost®. Be up for life™. Right now, to brazil, where 4 3,000 troops are sent to battle wildfires consuming the amazon forest. G7 leaders responding today say they will try to help brazil and its neighbors fight the fires as quickly as possible, coming amid growing global pressure to do something. Cnns Nick Paton Walsh has been on the ground covering these fires, so, nick, you got a bi birdseye view. Brazils troops that have headed in by the thousands to help battle this blaze. Reporter yes, fredricka. Really to see in our three hours above the amazonian fires how little actually ended up being visible so much of the time because of how thick and intense the smoke was. At times, we had to switch the ventilation off inside the aircraft we were in to be sure we didnt actually end up suffocating ourselves, it was that dense. Below, startling to see lines of fire moving forward through the forest there and often the Straight Lines of deforestation, human activity marking where the fires began and where they ended. Troubling, too, to see how much damage had, in fact, been done by the human hand. Often they say fire is the beginning of the deforestation process but it was extraordinary, too. The strait in which the forest had been left by the flames pushing their way through it. Now, 43,000 troops are on tear way. We did not see any active on the ground below in the freshly started firing, in fact, we were seeing and saw little signs of life, occasionally bewildered cattle as they moved along unsure what to do in the smoke. Very little signs of life at all. One bird the entire time i was there. This is a forest that seems to be turning into a cemetery in the words of one activist we spoke to, startling to fly above. Its a kind of an apocalyptic warning you get from people about what might happen to the earth if we didnt act to fix the climate crisis, instead, its happening right now below us as we flew over it. A startling challenge ahead, frankly, for all of humankind to fix these, the lungs of the pert earth. The pope in his noon address called them the vital of course, as you know pretty much the world is united in brazil has to do something to fix this urgent problem. The military are here. We keep hearing them in the skies. Whether or not it fixes the problem we see today is unclear, fed. When you say youre hearing them in the skies, to get a birdseye view, thats what theyre doing or are they actually doing any kind of water drops, is that even possible when you look at how vast and wide and the scope of these fires . Reporter look, fred, the thing that really makes you staggered here is how vast the amazon is but how much damage people have managed to do to it. The amount of work simply you have to do to make that much devastation by human hand, that is startling. Yes, we see c130 cargo planes taking off from here reasonably regularly. Weve seen military images of how they drop water on some of the fires but didnt see any of them in the air as we flew around this area, ourselves. Not really surprising, the job is enormous. Its pretty difficult, frankly, for any military to fight fires on this particular scale. Were in the most heavily affected place and, frankly, the smoke was so thick it blew into the city this morning making it hard to breathe even here. So down on the ground below there, the challenge is immense. They have to hope for rain, frankly. We hear a storm rumbling in the distance occasionally but thats now gone away. The question is, really, whether this fire blows itself out. It is, it seems, so much of it manmade or from human intervention. A lot of its burning faster because of human interintervent. Can human intervention stop it . Well find out in the weeks ahead. It is so desperately urgent and so tom fall lphenomenally wides devastating to behold when you fly above it, fred. So sad. Without vegetation, how much of a rain forest is the rain forest able to be . Nick paton walsh, thank you so much. Still so much more straight ahead. First, be sure to check out the pro the premiere of the new cnn film, the halston. Its not fun. As my mother says, its the price you have to pay. The most successful individual in the history of american fashion. Halston. Halstof. Im halston. I made it in new york. His clothes danced with you. Halston felt he had to design everything. Perfume, shoes, bags. He came like a king. You spin me right round he knew how to get publicity. Problem is he began to believe it all. Im the i took halston to studio 54. They fell in love with it right away. They lived out a lot of their fantasies. Drugs, sex, and rock n roll. 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Access to the most 4k content. And your movies and shows to go. The best tv experience is the best tv value. Xfinity x1. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity. The future of awesome. A look at our top stories. The city of st. Louis is now offering 100,000 in rewards for information about the recent shooting deaths of four young children. On friday night, an 8yearold girl was shot and killed at a high school event. She was the fifth child under 10 years old involved in a deadly shooting in st. Louis since april. When announcing the reward money, the citys mayor said her city needs help because conventional policing tactics are not enough. The offer stands through september 1st. The los angeles sheriffs deputy who claimed he was shot by a sniper admitted he made it all up. Angel reynosa admitted he was not shot at. He also told investigators he had caused the holes in his uniform shirt by cutting it with a knife. There was no sniper, no shots fired and no gunshot injury sustained to his shoulder. Completely fabricated. He sparked a massive manhunt after reporting he was shot in the shoulder. He claimed someone fired at him as he was walking to his personal car outside the sheriffs station. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department says reynosa will be relieved of his duties. A criminal investigation into the incident is ongoing. And a terrifying moment at the pag championship in atlanta. Six people were injured at the pga tour championship when lightning struck a tree as they took shelter underneath it. The video capturing one of at least two lightning strikes. Play had been suspended before the strike happened as the storm moved in and they encouraged everyone to leave or seek shelter. Just about to pass the tree when the lightning struck the tree. And its i still dont recall whether i was thrown from the cart or if i jumped from the cart because i at some point i thought the tree was going to fall. And so i was trying to get away from the tree as quickly as possible. Wow. Serious close call. No serious injuries miraculously and everyone is expected to be okay. All right. One of the nfls biggest stars is choosing his health over the game that he loves. Last night Indianapolis Colts quarterback andrew luck shocked the sports world announcing his retirement at the age of 29. His retirement comes just two weeks ahead of the new season but luck says the mental and physical toll has simply become too much. Heres cnns coy wire. Luck was one of the brightest stars in the game. Probably could have played another decade. Last seasons comeback player of the year. Here he is walking away from tens of millions of dollars. His plan was to tell teammates and make a Public Statement sunday but a reporter broke the news unbeknownst to him while on the sideline during a preseason game on saturday. Fans in the stands clearly devastated. One man even taking off the luck jersey he was wearing. As the game ended, walking off the field, this is what luck heard. Boos from fans of the team he worked so hard for suffering injuries like a lacerated kidney, a torn abdomen, torn cartilage and concussion. Here he was after the game. I would be lying if i didnt say i heard the reaction. Yeah, it hurt. Ill be honest. It hurt. Im in pain. Im still in pain. Ive been in this cycle, which feels like, i mean, its been four years of this injury, pain, rehab cycle. For me to move forward in my life, the way i want to, it doesnt involve football. Mom, dad, mar, emily uncle will all my friends, thank you. Praise and shock pouring in from around the league. Luck was one of the most talented, nicest and well respected men in the sport. He has an engineering degree from stanford. Hopefully a Bright Future ahead of him. The Dallas Cowboys Team Owner Jerry Jones hopes luck will run for u. S. President one day. Coy, that was clearly a really difficult decision, and you could feel his emotion, if anybody was watching his full statement. It was extraordinary. And it really showed amazing sportsmanship, too. All right. Coming up, a surprise visit from one of americas adversaries. Why was the foreign minister from iran invited to attend the g7 in france . More right after this. Want to brain better . Say hello to neuriva, a new brain supplement with clinically proven ingredients that fuel five indicators of brain performance focus, accuracy, memory, learning, and concentration. Neuriva. Boom goes the dynamite, club yoko plays ] feels like im taking flight. 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