hi everyone. that, for joining me. i m jessica dean in for fredicka whitfield. a u.s. defense official saying an american warship shot down two drones in the red sea and lps responded after a ballistic missile attack. cnn s zach cohen and ivan watson are following the situation. zach, let s start with you and this attack. what more can you tell us? reporter: a u.s. defense official saying a u.s. destroyer in the rid sea had to shoot down two drones today, controlled by the houthi group out of yemen. this is an iranian-backed group, that has voiced support for gaza and for hamas in their war against israel. u.s. forces in the region, including these two carrier strike groups that this destroyer was operating as part of, have come under a steady drum beat of attacks since they were deployed in the aftermath of the october 7th attack by hamas on israel. u.s. officials maintain this is not a sign that the war has expanded more broadly. the steady drum beat of attacks we ve seen
u.s. secretary of state antony blinken speaking moments ago during an unannounced trip to iraq as he continues his high-stakes trip through the middle east as the israel-hamas war intensifies. here is what he had to say. we just finished meetings here in bagdad. we started with a briefing for our entire team at the embassy about the security situation. as you know, there have been a series of attacks directed at our personnel, both in iraq as well as in syria. job number one for me is to ensure the security of our people. so i got an update on everything we re doing to make sure our personnel are safe and secure. in addition, i had a good, productive, candid meeting with the prime minister. there were two areas of focus. the first was to reaffirm our commitment to our partnership with iraq. we ve made tremendous progress with iraq in recent years, particularly working with the iraqi government on everything from economic reform, to energy independence, helping to strengthen
trey: good evening and thank you for joining us, i m trey gowdy. the stage is set for the cnn presidential debate this week. i don t even have a tan line, voters will be asked to judge what is said and how it is said because content and cognition are issues this year. the younger of the two candidate is 78, age and acuity don t always align. president biden s cognitive capabilities have been called into question and i take no delight saying that. my parents are in their 80s, if i m lucky, i will be there one day, i will be trying to run a remote control, certainly not a nation. some believe cochran, dianne feinstein and thurmond stayed too long. the white house says biden is doing great, that videos are out of context and robert hur levied a cheap shot. it is sad watching this unfold and angry and disasppointed others are allowing it rather than offer an exit. we are seeing alarms. democrats overlook president biden s issues as many republicans rationalize president trump s
conditions apply. tropical storm lee tearing through the gulf of mexico. this is what it looks like for oil rig workers, look at this, leaning almost 45 degrees into the wind, holding on to a railing for dear life to find out how fast the wind was blowing. on land, lee is a major flood maker. some parts of louisiana have already gotten more than ten inches of rain. that amount could double in some areas. great to see you. i m susan hendricks in for don lemon. you are in the cnn newsroom this labor day weekend. some of you are here on the gulf coast, feeling the impacts of a very slow moving storm named lee as it rolls north towards the tennessee valley. one thing is certain, it will be a soggy holiday across the south and up and down the east coast. the northeast is still reeling from the hurricane aftermath of irene. it is going to feel it, too, in the coming days with lee. if that isn t enough, another hurricane is building strength in the atlantic as well. a lot going on