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Trump Administration Removes Climate Pollution Limits on Power Plants; Stocks Down as Bond Market Adds to Worries; Todd Blanche Holds White House Press Briefing; GOP Rep. Massie Pushes Surprise Hegseth Impeachment Vote. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 15, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: -- regulation, Lee Zeldin announced they also want to basically get rid of the Clean Air Act, which regulates so many of these power plants. And that would really just benefit coal and natural gas.

They claim that this would help Americans' power bills, but energy experts would say it's just the opposite. It's now more expensive to run a coal-fired power plant. Natural gas and both renewables, like wind and battery power, solar power, are now cheaper on the grid scale size there as well. But this will not go down without a fight.

This is a quote from the National Resources Defense Council. They filed dozens of lawsuits in the first term and were 90 percent successful. Now they're saying, "For the health of our families and the good of our nation, this cannot stand. Ignoring the immense harm to the public from this power plant pollution is a clear violation of the Clean Air Act and of the Supreme Court precedent. We will be seeing them in court." That's the NRDC.

What's interesting, Boris, is that there are lots of states and cities suing big oil companies for their parole in climate change. This would hurt big oil, which is using the Clean Air Act as a way to get out of further claims and damages there as well. So in the end, this is one more that will end up in court.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Bill Weir, thank you so much.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

Stepping up to the podium. Just moments from now, Attorney General, Todd Blanche taking questions from White House reporters as a new report suggests the true cost of the war in Iran.

Plus, the A.I. dream team we did not see coming. Liberal Senator, Bernie Sanders, and MAGA cheerleader, Steve Bannon, sounding the alarm on A.I. and what they want to see happen with the technology before they say it's too late.

And does a rough day on Wall Street mean dark days ahead on Main Street? The bond market now weighing on investors and it could make everything more expensive from auto loans to your mortgage. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

With President Trump still searching for his next press secretary, at any moment, Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to fill that role, at least for today. Some tough questions are on deck too. Not only did Blanche recently decline to make a pledge to lead the Justice Department independently from the White House, the president in just the last few hours has trashed Supreme Court justices he appointed after they rejected his plan to limit mail-in voting.

And then he accused Democrats, without evidence, of being behind an assassination attempt on his life. He also said the Kennedy Center is in a virtual state of collapse just minutes before a federal judge blocked his latest bid to get his name back on the building.

Let's go live to the Rose Garden where CNN's Kristen Holmes is reporting and where Blanche's briefing is about to begin. Kristen, what are you anticipating we're going to hear from the A.G.?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, Boris, you just laid this out. There are a lot of questions on tap for the Attorney General. This is the second time we've seen a briefing of a senior administration official since Karoline Leavitt left. And President Trump is likely to be keeping a close eye on this, whether it's on T.V. or just out of my shot, which you can't see, standing behind the podium is the Oval Office.

So if President Trump is in there, which we don't see the Marine here, it's on the other side, it is likely he could even just peek out of his window there to see just how Todd Blanche is doing. Now, some of the big questions that are specific to Blanche are what you just mentioned, this idea of President Trump not only saying that there was new evidence in the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting, but also saying that Chris Wray mismanaged it, that he should be punished in some way, and claiming it was a Democratic hoax or a plot to get him.

We don't know. We have not seen that information. I'm sorry, I do keep looking off camera because we're seeing people streaming out of the door and I'm waiting to see if Blanche is going to be one of those people.

Now, on top of that, Kash Patel, who was just asked about this in front of Congress, essentially said that all the information they have says that this guy, this shooter, had not been in communication with anyone. So it's not clear how then this would be a Democratic plot. But again, those are questions to ask.

Now, outside of just specific Todd Blanche questions, we are at a point where we are just weeks away from those midterm elections. There is enormous amount of concern about the war in Iran and the alarmingly high price of the barrels of oil right now, something that the administration had really signaled was never going to happen.

So likely outside of those specific questions, he's going to get peppered with questions about what's happening in the lead up to the midterms, what's happening with the price of gas, affordability and these people, Americans across the country, who are still adamantly opposed to that war.

SANCHEZ: And Kristen, just quickly, do we know why the Rose Garden was chosen instead of the press briefing room?

HOLMES: We don't. We're having class outside today.

(LAUGH)

HOLMES: This is a location that President Trump really likes. Maybe he just wanted to show it off to the press. It's the first time we've done it out here. I will say, even though it is a beautiful day and if you were just wandering around Washington, D.C., you'd think it was stunning.

[14:05:00]

Out here on this white cement with the blazing hot sun, it's a little hotter than you might anticipate.

SANCHEZ: Love having class outside even though it is unseasonably warm for the beginning of autumn. Kristen Holmes at the White House, we'll get back to you in just moments, thanks.

So Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent is trying to sell the president's economic policies on Capitol Hill today, even as the conflict with Iran causes energy costs to rise. Lawmakers also pressed the secretary on the bond market, which hit a critical threshold. That news led to this tense exchange between Besant and Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS, (D-CA): Just yesterday, in fact, the 10-year Treasury hit five percent. Mr. Secretary, do you agree that these high Treasury yields or interest rates on Americans' bonds means that loans paid by families to fix a roof or buy a car will also be expensive? Yes or no?

SCOTT BESSENT, UNITED STATES TREASURY SECRETARY: The U.S. bond market has been the best-performing major bond market in the world.

WATERS: Yes or no, Mr. Secretary?

(CROSSTALK)

BESSENT: And we have had record --

WATER: Yes or no, Mr. Secretary? Reclaiming my time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by CNN's David Goldman. So, David, to start, fact-check that claim by Secretary Bessent.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, he's right. This is the best-performing bond market in the world. This is not just a U.S. problem, this is a global problem, but that doesn't make it any easier for someone who wants to pay seven percent on a mortgage rate, which is probably going to happen this week or close by, because they are pegged to this, the 10-year Treasury yield which, as Maxine Waters correctly said, hit five percent yesterday and today, hit a 19-year high, the highest since 2007.

What happened in 2007? Anything good? Oh no, the Global Financial Crisis. Right, so this is not a number that we want to be comparing to 2007. This is causing a lot of pain, not only for investors, but it is also causing pain for people at home, Boris.

SANCHEZ: '07, not a bad year, despite, you know, everything that happened economically that went horribly awry.

GOLDMAN: It was fine.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it was fine. All right. Well, David, Secretary Bessent was asked about the -- actually, David, we have to stop right there. Let's go to the Attorney General, Todd Blanche, who is speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden at the White House.

TODD BLANCHE, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: -- taking questions, I thought it made sense to, since it is me here, the Attorney General, to just spend a few minutes talking about the work that we're doing at the Department of Justice.

The first thing I'm going to talk about is terrorism. Since President Trump returned to office, FBI data shows 4,260 arrests related to FTOs, including 1,039 individuals prevented from carrying out alleged terrorist attacks. That's 38 percent increase from the last administration.

I want to talk about some recent cases, an ISIS Butler County, Pennsylvania terrorism arrest that just took place this morning out of our Pittsburgh office. A 21-year-old man, Jonathan Kramer, was charged and arrested for receiving a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit terrorism on behalf of ISIS. He was arrested. The investigation is ongoing and there'll be more from that in the future.

Just today, in the Southern District of New York, an indictment was returned that's charging multiple Russian individuals that, since 2024, these individuals who worked for the services of the Russian intelligence community were charged with financing terrorism and conspiring to commit murder for hire around the world, including efforts to murder a Russian dissident, who they believe was located in the Washington, D.C. area.

I want to talk next about the great work that we're doing, and President Trump talks about it all the time, but it's never too much in reducing crime in this country. Under President Trump's leadership, crime is the lowest it has been in modern history. In 2025, murder rates were down nearly 20 percent. Violent crime was down nearly 10 percent. DOJ, as federal law partners, our state and local partners, we're working together and coordinating as never seen before, and that's why you see the results that you're seeing to make America safe. Another point to talk about is the work that we've done in Memphis. Today is the one-year anniversary of us signing the Memorandum of Understanding with Memphis to do the great work that we've done over the past year.

Nearly 13,000 arrests in the Memphis area, more than 2,000 illegal firearms seized, and nearly 1,500 known gang members arrested over the past year.

[14:10:00]

We also located more than 200 missing children.

St. Louis, over the past four weeks, our HSTF platform has been extraordinarily successful arresting over 250 violent criminals, many with outstanding warrants and extensive criminal history, and they've taken over 100 illegal firearms off the streets. That's just in the past four weeks.

And today, you may have heard Director Patel announce that the FBI has arrested 10 out of 10 of the criminals on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list in the first 18 months of the administration. We've talked a lot about fraud. Yesterday, we were -- I was in Missouri with the vice president, talking about a COVID fraud takedown that we've been working on in Missouri and the neighboring states.

This surge resulted in fraud enforcement actions spanning over 160 criminal defendants and involved approximately $245 million in intended loss. And again, this was an effort just between June -- mid- June and September 1st of this year. We worked with the Small Business Administration and their Office of Inspector General, the FBI, our federal prosecutors, and 40 U.S. Attorney's Offices to obtain these charges.

Between newly charged defendants, approximately 43 defendants have already pleaded guilty to SBA-related COVID fraud with nearly $50 million in intended loss. And one more highlight on fraud. This is just today. Our great U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of California, Adam Gordon, just held a press conference and announced just about an hour ago that there were 12 daycare fraudsters who were arrested this morning for funneling more than $10 million intended to help low-income families pay for childcare to what were really just completely bogus daycare facilities.

Now, all 12 of these individuals were naturalized citizens from Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, and Somalia.

When it comes to unlawful voting, which I expect there may be a question about in a moment, the DOJ and DHS are working together to prioritize unlawful voting in our elections. Election integrity should not be a partisan issue. Those who are not legally allowed to vote shouldn't. And if you knowingly break the law, you will be held accountable. In just the past 10 days, the Department of Justice has announced charges against 11 individuals for illegally voting in 2024 and 2022, or fraudulently registering to vote. What we are seeing is illegal aliens voting, non-citizens who are not eligible to vote voting, or those fraudulently registering to voters who are not eligible to vote.

So just to put a finer point on this, in under two years, this administration has charged nearly four times as many non-citizen voting cases as the last administration brought in four years. And we're currently investigating hundreds of cases across the country. And our great U.S. Attorney, Ryan Raybould in the Northern District of Texas will be announcing a big development on this topic in about an hour, so shortly after this briefing.

So with that, I will take questions if there are any. And I know it's a different environment than before. I notice you guys are sweating, which is nice. I love to see that.

We'll start out with Caroline Downey from the National -- they give you a list, guys. Everybody calm down. Caroline Downey from the National Review.

CAROLINE DOWNEY, REPORTER, NATIONAL REVIEW: Does the Supreme Court's ruling on the mail-in ballot executive order present an obstacle to future ballot fraud prosecution, in your view? And as we look to 2028, do you foresee a future legal battle for the Postal Service when it comes to preventing non-citizens from voting?

BLANCHE: The Supreme Court's decision today, or yesterday, doesn't affect ongoing criminal investigations into illegal voting, no. I mean, look, I think the -- we -- President Trump -- there's nothing -- there should be nothing surprising about what we're trying to do when it comes to mail-in voting, which is we want to make sure that there is safe voting, and that there is integrity, free and fair elections, and that there is one person placing one vote, and that that person is eligible to vote.

And so we're -- you saw part of the decision was the timing, and that we ran out of time because of the litigation, in part. And so our efforts to -- and President Trump's efforts to make sure that we have free and fair elections are not going to stop just in November or after -- or thereafter.

[14:15:00]

So I expect you're going to see that work continue.

Mary Margaret?

MARY MARGARET OLOHAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY WIRE: Hello. Thank you, sir. I have two questions for you, if that's OK. The first, Tom Homan said on Sunday that Homeland Security Investigations is actively investigating Ilhan Omar. If she's found to have committed immigration fraud, would the Trump administration deport her?

And then second question is, there's concern among the MAGA base that there's a lot of ideological actors in the FBI and DOJ still that are waiting out President Donald Trump and the next possible Republican administration to get back to doing what they were before. Are you concerned about that, and what are you doing about that?

BLANCHE: So on the first -- I'm not talking about ongoing criminal investigations, and so I don't have anything to say about your first question or anybody that's public reporting about what others have said about ongoing investigations.

Ideological -- any ideology that any federal employee has, whether it's a federal agent or somebody at the Department of Justice or any other agency that works in this administration and the executive, is never a good thing, whether it's Republican or Democrat. And so I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to except for just generally, but one of the things that Director Patel has been doing and that I've been doing and other cabinet secretaries have been doing is making sure that everybody that works in this administration, whether you're a career or a political, are doing work that's consistent with the president's agenda.

And that's what you have to do if you're going to work in the executive. That's what Article 2 says. And so I don't -- it's not something that I, quote, "worry about," unquote, but when we and if we learn about that happening, we'll do whatever we can to stop it.

You? Sorry, you have to use microphones. It gives me a chance to catch my breath. It's pretty good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No worries. Thank you for joining us. Two things I want to clarify. You said prosecutions of potential election fraud are going to continue despite the court ruling, but does the Justice Department plan to suspend the attempts to establish federal mail ballot standards for the 2026 cycle? Will that end for now?

And then I'm curious what you make -- whether you agree with the president and what he said about his three Supreme Court nominees that they, quote, "are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court. They are merely a shell of their original selves."

BLANCHE: So, of course we're going to comply with the Supreme Court's decision, as we always do. That doesn't mean that we're not going to do everything in this administration that we can to make sure that there are free and fair elections. And again, there's this constant pressure and this effort by the media and mostly by Democrats that somehow doing that is a bad thing. Everybody should want that.

The Republicans and Democrats should want free and fair elections. So, while the Supreme Court did what it did, we're not going to stop the work that we're doing, but we are of course going to follow the orders of the court. As far as President Trump's truth about the justices, he is very frustrated.

And I wasn't at the interviews that he participated in during the last administration when he selected these folks to be on the Supreme Court. He has every right and indeed he should communicate his concerns with the Supreme Court whenever he has them. This isn't the first time that he's done it and it won't be the last.

He's also publicly very appreciative of the Supreme Court when there's decisions that he very much agrees with. That's what a democracy is about. A democracy is about three branches of government. And President Trump being critical of folks on the Supreme Court, we very much disagree with the Supreme Court's decision. And that should be obvious from our papers and from what we've said publicly about the case.

And so, I am also upset about the Supreme Court decision, but the idea that President Trump shouldn't be allowed to communicate to the American people his frustration, I don't share that.

Just next to you. See, there's a microphone so I can't hear you. Don't you love that? Next question.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you ask for Joe diGenova's resignation? And did he tell you that he felt there wasn't enough evidence to move forward with the grand conspiracy investigation?

BLANCHE: So, I don't want to talk about communications I have with prosecutors. It's not fair to them. It's not fair to the process. I -- he resigned last week. He came out of retirement to help the president and to help us, and we're very appreciative of the work that he did. Beyond that, there's been a few news stories about -- he said some different things to different outlets, which is fine. I'm just going to leave it. I very much appreciate the work that he did for us and for the administration.

[14:20:00]

Any investigations that he's working on, of course, continue like they do -- like any investigation does when somebody leaves. And we're not going to slow down just because somebody leaves.

Jared Halpern? Jared Halpern.

JARED HALPERN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT AT FOX NEWS RADIO: Thank you, Mr. Attorney General. Two questions for you. First, from a law enforcement perspective, what are your concerns about artificial intelligence? What regulations are needed? Do you think there should be a slowdown in that technology, especially with how it's being used increasingly in law enforcement operations?

And then secondly, more broadly, what role should Americans expect the Justice Department to take in the upcoming midterm elections?

BLANCHE: So, I'll answer the first question -- I mean, the second question first.

The federal government is always involved in elections. That's not new to this administration. That's not new to the Biden administration. And so our role is going to be the same role that federal governments play in elections under the law as we're required to do and as we should do. So we're going to continue to do that in this election, just like the Biden administration did it during the elections when Biden was president.

And so as far as A.I. is concerned, we have a lot of -- there's a lot of criminal laws. And so if anybody associated with A.I. violates criminal law, we'll investigate that. We already have. There's plenty of cases involving A.I. that we've charged individuals. I do not think it's the job of the Department of Justice to regulate. We're prosecutors, not regulators. So we're not going to try to regulate A.I.

A.I. is extraordinarily beneficial to our society. There's a lot of great work that A.I. does. And it's also something that conveniently has become a flashpoint this week. And the president spoke about that, and I very much agree with him.

The second row, Steven Nelson. Oh, it's my favorite paper, the New York Post. Amazing.

STEVEN NELSON, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK POST: Thank you very much, Mr. Attorney General.

BLANCHE: I actually didn't know that when I called on him, I promise.

NELSON: I'd like to ask you about the Iran War and about Anthony Fauci. On the Iran War, Congressman Thomas Massie today introduced articles of impeachment against Secretary Hegseth.

BLANCHE: Who did?

NELSON: Thomas Massie.

BLANCHE: Oh, OK.

NELSON: For allegedly violating the War Powers Resolution by conducting the war without congressional authorization. What's your current legal assessment of how long the war could continue with the war without specific congressional authorization?

And secondly, on Anthony Fauci, could you describe the status of your review of his alleged contempt of Congress? Are we any closer to charges there? And can you explain why your department didn't prosecute him for allegedly perjuring himself?

BLANCHE: So the first question is, Secretary Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job. And the Secretary of War doesn't just go off and do things, so he follows the law. And so the DOJ plays a role in that. And we play an active role in making sure the law is complied with. You called it a war, I disagree with that characterization, as does most of Congress.

And so there's been votes on whether it's a war and what to do, and why votes through Congress, which has determined that he's not doing anything wrong and the president's not doing anything wrong, should result in articles of impeachment. I guess, you'll have to talk to Massie about that.

As far as Fauci, again, it's an ongoing investigation. I'm not going to talk about it. So we take any time anybody lies to Congress or potential lies to Congress seriously. But beyond that, I don't have a comment.

Jon Decker?

JON DECKER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, GRAY TELEVISION: Thank you, Mr. Attorney General. I wanted to follow up with your remarks regarding that decision by the Supreme Court regarding mail-in voting. As you said, the president was not pleased by this ruling by the Supreme Court and he put out a lengthy social media post.

He said, in part, "The Supreme Court has really let our country down. Certain justices are petrified of these crazed and depraved Democrats and are totally unable to show the courage necessary to save our America." You used to be the president's personal lawyer. You used to be in private practice.

Would you ever encourage one of your clients to disparage a court in the manner that the president has disparaged the Supreme Court?

BLANCHE: I mean, he's -- so you can't talk about my background and then ask me what I would have done. He's the president of the United States. So the real question is whether the president of the United States is allowed to be critical of another branch of government. And the answer to that is absolutely. Of course, he is. And by the way, what he wrote about that is the same thing that he said publicly repeatedly.

It's the same thing that DOJ's briefs have said about the issue. We do think that this decision is not the right decision. That is OK. That's the way democracy works.

[14:25:00]

And so what I would have advised the client or what I would have done when I was a prosecutor or when I was President Trump's lawyer isn't in any way or shape relevant to what the president of the United States should be doing in communicating to the American people.

Are you guys sweating yet? Nice, I love that.

(LAUGH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you?

BLANCHE: No, I'm comfortable, it's actually really nice.

(LAUGH)

BLANCHE: I have water if anybody needs it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's all right. I want to put a finer point --

BLANCHE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- on that last question and then I have another question related to it.

On the comments from the president specifically that these Supreme Court justices and this decision aren't the people he interviewed, does that undermine even the perception of the court's independence in your view?

BLANCHE: Not at all. No, I mean he wants another one, that's OK, he can have another one. No, I don't think it undermines -- like I think, look, what happened after the Dobbs decision? Members of Congress, the administration came out basically threatening judges for months on end.

There's a full security force, OK, around every justice because of the rhetoric after the Supreme Court issued that decision. And so the fact the president issues a truth saying that the justices that interviewed in front of him, you know, six, seven years ago, eight years ago, are not the justices he's seeing now, that that undermines the -- no, I don't think in any way, shape, or form it does that. I think that that's just something that the media wants to put on it.

He has a -- the president should be communicating to the American people about cases that are extraordinarily important to him, which this one -- which this one is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And related to this whole discussion, after all this back and forth, are you concerned at all that voters may be confused about what their options actually are now to vote by mail, and what if anything will the DOJ do to kind of educate people on the fallout of this case now?

BLANCHE: I'm not sure that the American people follow this as closely as the folks in this -- in this beautiful Rose Garden do. So no, I haven't seen any suggestion or any information or heard from secretaries of state that that's an issue.

That's the response -- I mean, listen, ballots are confusing in every election. The way they're distributed, the way they're talked about, that's something that the state and locals handle very well every single election cycle for one reason or another. So no, that doesn't -- that doesn't concern me.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much. And just acknowledging that you're standing in front of the Oval Office and the president might be watching here, so if at any point he wants to come out and take our questions --

BLANCHE: I don't think I am -- he's always watching, I don't think the mere fact that I'm standing here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We would love to see him. Edgy (ph) Blanche, you --

BLANCHE: No offense, I'm standing right here. OK? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're doing a great job. Two questions here. The first, you know, you go after crooks and criminals and thieves. The government has made it very clear that China has been stealing from our A.I. companies. So is it time to go after China, and particularly President Xi, who will be here in Washington next week? Is it time for the President to talk to him about how China has been stealing from us?

BLANCHE: Well, so when you say China, you're talking to about an entire country. And so the president has, those two presidents have a great relationship, and they're -- they get along, they make deals together. But does that -- are there separate issues with actors in China and companies in China and bad actors? That has existed long before this administration and will exist for the next several years.

And the Department of Justice and other agencies in the executive, of course, we're doing everything we can to combat that and to go after that in the right -- in the right way. But I don't think it's fair to just label China as a country. There's bad actors in China that are doing it, which we're definitely going to go after.

All right, somebody in the back. Yeah, the guy pointing to his own head. That's pretty good. See, it's a microphone thing. I can't hear you. Sorry. I can't hear you.

WILLIE NELSON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, SALEM RADIO NETWORK: Hey there, thank you. Willie Nelson with SRN.

Mr. Attorney General, reports say actress Hayden Panettiere may have died after taking a pill laced with fentanyl. The DEA is looking at her alleged dealer. What is the Justice Department going to -- doing to go after the people that sell these fake pills?

And my second question is, is the A.I. doomsday talk a real national security issue, or is it a way to put the government in charge of the internet?

BLANCHE: So when it comes to fentanyl, they're not fake pills, they're death pills, right? So they are pills that kill people, and there's a federal statute that allows us to go after, assuming we can prove who the dealer is, to go after them and put them in prison for murder. And we do it in every district in this country, and it's a big -- it's a big emphasis of DEA Administrator, Cole, and our prosecutors around the country.

So when we can prove, and sometimes if somebody is an addict, it's difficult to prove who they actually got the pill from. But in the cases where we where we know who the dealer was --