Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Sources: Intel From Chinese Groups Helping Iran Target U.S. Sites; Millions Along Central East Coast Brace For Powerful Nor'easter; Pittsburgh Doctor Killed In Stabbing, Wife Critically Injured. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 25, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: And this is -- this includes a July strike that multiple sources point to on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members. We're told that this strike was enabled by imagery provided by Chinese groups and that frankly, it would not -- Iran would not have been capable of hitting that U.S. facility with such precision if it were not for that Chinese assistance.

And so additionally, we're told that Chinese geospatial data has helped Iran track ships through the Strait of Hormuz. It continued to credibly threaten them even as the U.S. is conducting escort operations there, trying to increase the flow of oil and other energy material through that key waterway.

And this really does explain in part how Iran has become more accurate over the last several months despite that months-long bombing campaign by the U.S. And it also reflects some new tactics that we've seen, and sources have described from Iran just in the last few months, including in the Strait of Hormuz, where they've launched a series of drone attacks aided by Chinese targeting support, too.

So this all, as you mentioned, comes as President Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, is in Washington meeting with President Trump. The Trump administration has really been wary of publicly criticizing China for multiple reported -- over multiple reports of providing support to Iran during this war. But we are told that, broadly speaking, Chinese support for Iran was expected to come up when those two leaders met yesterday and again today.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Zach Cohen, great reporting from you. Thank you so much. I do appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some breaking news come out of Ukraine. President Zelenskyy told reporters overnight that President Trump has made a final decision, in his words, to give Ukraine the license to allow the country to build its own Patriot missiles. This is, of course, after a lot of back and forth, something Zelenskyy has been asking for a long time.

And a reminder, the president, Trump, has appeared to make the -- has made this promise before and gone back, appearing to make the same promise during the NATO summit in Turkey in July, only to later walk that back.

Zelenskyy is also saying now that the United States has proposed a new trilateral meeting between Russia and Ukraine and the United States. Russia says, though, there's no concrete details, but it could take place "soon."

CNN has reached out to the White House for more detail, awaiting a response. While we wait for that response, let me bring in right now, Gordon Sondland, the former U.S. ambassador to the European Union during Trump's first term. It's good to see you, Ambassador. Thanks for coming in.

I want to get to both the let's talk -- let's start here -- but then I do want to ask you also about the meeting with China today. What we're hearing from Zelenskyy here about maybe it's on a technical level in a three way format, a new trilateral meeting.

I mean, what do you think the chances are that a meeting really happens now between these three leaders might be definitely a stretch, but at least these three -- Ukraine, Russia and the United States. And what do you expect at this point?

GORDON SONDLAND, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE EUROPEAN UNION (via Webex by Cisco): Well, I hope the meeting does not happen until both sides are really ready for the meeting. I think it would be very unfortunate, and it would set any negotiations that have been successful so far back a long way if the -- you know the leaders meet and it turns into a cluster, which we don't want.

In terms of the Patriot licensing that was just talked about previously, I think the first time the president threw that out it was just, sort of, I'm thinking about this. I think this is a real jab at Russia now, now that they're actually going to go forward with this. It's going to take a long time to build those Patriots, but it's really going to put Ukraine in a very, very strong position in the future if they can survive the winter.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, that's -- surviving the winter has been obviously a key focus.

But hearing Zelenskyy and the way he put it to reporters, I think kind of via some voice notes, was that that he emphasized that I have made a final decision is what he is kind of quoting that President Trump is saying.

You think this time could be the final time?

SONDLAND: I do. I think there's been a lot of lobbying of the president not only by the Ukrainians but also internally that this is the right thing to do. Again, it's not going to happen overnight. Production is going to take quite some time, but the fact that he's released this intellectual property to the Ukrainians will be a big blow to Russia. At the same time, he can continue to talk to Putin without Putin

feeling that the U.S. has all of a sudden escalated on its own accord. It's saying, look, we're just, you know, helping the Ukrainians build their own weapons. That's it.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. And just even the announcement, if it is a final announcement, the weight of that and what that means is to come can have its own effect as you're kind of -- as you're alluding to here -- just the message in and of itself.

[07:35:00]

Let me ask you then about what we're talking about with President Trump hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Zach Cohen's reporting there on the new evidence that China has been helping Iran to pull off this war.

What do you do with this reporting and this intelligence setting against the backdrop of this huge state visit?

SONDLAND: Well, look, it's not a surprise at all that China is helping Iran. China wasn't very happy about our incursion into Venezuela.

So what you have is you have principle-to-principle diplomacy between the president and Premier Xi, but while that's going on, you have both sides taking potshots at one another. Unfortunately, the potshot that the Chinese took by helping Iran harmed some U.S. assets, you know, in the Gulf region. But I can tell you this was no surprise to anyone. And the Chinese do not want to make it easy for us to decapitate and change the regime in Iran. The current regime in Iran is very friendly to China, and they want to keep it that way.

BOLDUAN: Do you think that the United States could get China to stop aiding Iran?

SONDLAND: Not really. I think they can tone things down. I think China is hanging back to see if we and the Israelis and others do something very decisive. I think China will take their marbles and go home vis- a-vis Iran. But as long as things are at a stalemate, I think China is just sort of, you know, aiding and abetting, if you will, without directly getting involved in the conflict. And that's very, very typical in these, you know, major power conflicts.

BOLDUAN: There's a briefing of -- at the -- kind of around the U.N., of course, with the Iranian president and reporters, and during it the Iranian president denied accusations that Iran was trying to kill President Trump. The way that he put it is "It has never been the position of the Iranian government overtly or covertly to seek to assassinate Trump or his family members."

Do you believe it and is it a good sign for a possible opening of diplomatic talks again?

SONDLAND: Well, that's the textbook definition of the big lie, and the big lie is when you take something so obvious and you turn it around 180 degrees That is absolutely their objective to kill Trump. It is absolutely their objective to have a nuclear weapon and to deploy the nuclear weapon. So everything the Iranians have been saying in the last few days on the lead-up to UNGA and otherwise are complete bullshit.

BOLDUAN: In the words of the -- of always the diplomat, Ambassador Gordon Sondland. It's good to see you, Ambassador. Thank you so much.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's how you know someone's a former diplomat, right?

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

BERMAN: When they end an interview with that word.

BOLDUAN: I do have to say, though --

BERMAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: I think one Gordon Sondland did still talk that way quite a bit when he was ambassador. BERMAN: Possible. Quite possible in this case.

BOLDUAN: Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, tens of millions of people on the East Coast are in the path of this rare and dangerous nor'easter all the way from North Carolina to New England. Coastal flooding, powerful winds that could top 50 miles per hour, and huge potential rain totals all expected.

I want to get right to CNN affiliate News 12 New Jersey reporter Lauren Due who is in Bay Head, New Jersey. The seas are already kicking up behind you there, Lauren. What are you seeing and feeling?

LAUREN DUE, NEWS 12 NEW JERSEY REPORTER: Yeah, good morning.

You know what? This is basically where the worst spot of the weather will be. We are right at the bottom of the dunes here -- the protective dunes here in Bay Head on House Street and the waves are really intense here. The wind as well. There's nothing protecting us from the winds, so we are getting hit with those northeasterly winds head on.

We could see every bit of these 12-foot waves that are breaking out here as we turn towards the northeast and really take in this storm in full. You can see those waves. Look at the curl as they come down and the spray from the wind that's kicking up and then all just the washing machine effect of the water.

You have a couple of people that are coming down here to take pictures as safely as they can. Officials are recommending no one to go in the water, and you probably notice there's no surfers out here as well. This water is just way too choppy to be in.

And there's already beach erosion as you look at where the beach entrances are. I mean that is a -- should be a gradual slope and instead they're just sharp cutoffs here. So beach erosion will be extreme and that is coming from Bay Head police letting residents know that these northeasterly winds have really been beating up our Jersey shoreline here and they've been dealing with these winds for about seven days.

So everyone really wants this storm to get out of here because as you know, we do these multimillion dollar beach replenishment projects and we're just watching millions of dollars just wash away. But they also are protecting the Jersey shore that we love so much and all the homes that are here in Bay Head.

[07:40:07]

So you can see the protective fencing is up as well. That's also helping the dunes out. It's certainly putting pressure on the homeowners that live here. We have the tidal flooding, the coastal flooding. That's going to be a concern and that's going to be getting worse going into the day tomorrow. And that is each high tide cycle. This, by the way -- you're looking at high tide. It takes about an hour or so to get back into those back bays.

So more to come out of the Jersey Shore. That is the very latest from Bay Head. Back to you in the studio.

BERMAN: Lauren Due, thank you so much for that. Giving us a good sense of what's happening in New Jersey. It's really just the beginning there and will go on for some time. Some of the worst impacts of this storm will be further north along the Massachusetts coast and the islands.

With us now is Michael Cranson, chief of the fire department in Nantucket, about 30 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Chief. It's great to see you this morning.

I've seen some pretty severe forecasts and predictions for Nantucket. What are some of the worst that you've seen in terms of rain totals and wind speeds?

CHIEF MICHAEL CRANSON, NANTUCKET FIRE DEPARTMENT (via Webex by Cisco): So it's fluctuated or very little, John, and good morning.

Right now we're looking at about two to four inches of rain that we're expecting over the course of a few days starting today and probably wrapping up sometime Monday. So that's our -- that's our big concern with some flooding downtown in our areas where we normally get flooding. But because of the high tides correlating with the storm, we believe that the flooding is going to be a little bit worse than normal.

So it's going to be a long duration event. Our main concern is the flooding and the northeast winds around high tide. Also beach erosion obviously is a big thing. So those are our big concerns.

BERMAN: So obviously Nantucket is an island and for people lucky enough to ever been, you should all go. It's beautiful. Maybe wait until fall, when it's normally the most beautiful, but not this weekend.

So what is -- what are some of the complications with people getting on and off the island right now? I heard there were long lines yesterday.

CRANSON: So there were long lines yesterday of people getting off the island. And, you know, fortunately the summer season has wound down a little bit but a lot of people, because of the timing of the storm, were able to cancel their plans for the upcoming weekend. So those have been -- those have been good things for us. The less people here, the less concerned we are about safety, obviously.

But, you know, the biggest thing is just to make sure that people that are here heed the advice of the town leaders and stay off the roads in the worst of it. Stay away from the beaches, stay away from the flooding, any downed power lines, and those types of things stay away from. Call 911 if you see that.

I can tell you that Nantucket is very prepared for this. We have National Grid on the island with pre-positioned crews. We do have some challenges over here because everything has to come by air or boat and there could be some service disruptions. We're already seeing that as a matter of fact, but we're prepared and we have people on the island.

All of the town leaders have met with every department. We've met with our partners, both on the mainland emergency management of Massachusetts, and we've met with our local hospitals, the airport. We do have a nursing home. We've met with the nursing home --

BERMAN: Yeah.

CRANSON: -- staff as well. So we feel like we're well prepared for this event.

BERMAN: Chief Michael Cranson, we're wishing you the best of luck over the next few days. I have a sense if you're on Nantucket right now, you're probably there for a little while, so just sit tight everyone and rest assured you'll get through this. Appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

The parents of Nolan Wells say a newly-released autopsy report and cell phone analysis are giving them more reason to keep searching for answers about how their son died a week after a grand jury found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. The family is highlighting findings they believe deserve closer scrutiny, including an autopsy that ruled the cause and manner of death as "our best qualified -- classified as undetermined." And phone data that say -- raises new questions about Wells' final hours.

The family's attorney says the autopsy found no fluid or debris in Wells' airways; a detail they argue doesn't fit a typical drowning. They're also pointing to a forensic review of Wells' cellphone that they say suggests the phone remained on a boat after the 18-year-old was believed to have been left behind on Horn Island. The tech expert hired by the family also says Snapchat content was deleted from the phone after Wells no longer had possession of it -- Kate.

[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: So this morning, there's outrage on Stanford University's campus after the university used AI to alter a student's race and gender in a campus dining ad.

CNN's Jason Carroll spoke to the student, a male Hispanic student, who was erased from the original picture and replaced with an AI-generated of a female black student. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): It may look harmless enough -- photos showing a smiling, racially diverse group of students eating together on campus -- but it's the same photo which appeared in a Stanford University banner last week that has left some students outraged and raised questions about the abuse of AI.

This is what the original 2024 photo really looks like. Again, take a look to see how it was altered. The Hispanic student replaced with an AI version of a Black female student, while the other two students' features were altered.

BILLY RAMIREZ, STANFORD STUDENT IN PHOTO: I did feel pretty upset with the actions of the university.

CARROLL (voiceover): Billy Ramirez, who is majoring in biology, is the student in the original photo. He says he first found out about the AI photo swap from a friend.

RAMIREZ: I don't think it's mainly about the discussion of me being swapped with like a Black woman, but it's more about my Latino identity kind of being erased in that photo and how I pride myself in being Mexican.

CARROLL (voiceover): The Stanford Review, an independent student newspaper, was the first to break the story.

GARRET MOLLOY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE STANFORD REVIEW: I think this story was a perfect storm of abuse of AI and questions around diversity policy in universities.

ZAYD PATEL, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, THE STANFORD REVIEW: The goal was diversity and they strayed so far from it.

CARROLL (voiceover): A university spokesperson said, "We have reviewed the matter and confirmed that AI was used to alter the image in violation of university policy. The banners with the image in question have been removed. Stanford's AI policy is clear. The use of AI in producing or altering images of Stanford people, events, research facilities or achievements is strictly prohibited."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of unacceptable, you know. Stanford is a place where we have -- they actually pride themselves on having students from like over 60 different countries in their incoming class. Like, they have diversity. They shouldn't need to fabricate it.

CARROLL (voiceover): This isn't the first time universities have been caught altering photos in the name of diversity. Long before AI in 2000, the University of Wisconsin-Madison was caught using Photoshop in an effort to make the school appear more diverse, while in 2019, York College of Pennsylvania was accused of doing the same.

PATEL: It honestly doesn't seem that different than what happened -- has happened in the past. It's just a particular use in this age with AI that makes it so much easier to get to that point.

CARROLL (voiceover): Ramirez says this experience has taught him an unexpected lesson.

RAMIREZ: It's a wake-up call for Stanford to increase its diversity rates because if you pride yourself so much in diversity, you have to swap a student who's Hispanic into another race and gender to kind of showcase the world it's diverse -- well, actually, like, you need to take action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Jason for that.

A pediatrician stabbed to death in his bed during a home invasion with his wife right beside him. What we now know about the suspect.

And robot gone wild. What happens when Sara Sidner tries to have a discussion with robot designers touting the capabilities of their machines to fight humans? Well, guess what? They work.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:47]

SIDNER: Developing this morning, a doctor in the Pittsburgh area is dead and his wife is fighting for her life after they were both stabbed. Investigators said that the attack happened in the couple's home while they were sleeping. This morning, a suspect has been charged in the case.

CNN's Rafael Romo is following all of this. This is an awful scenario. What are you learning about what happened?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Sara -- awful, awful, completely awful.

The doctor's wife told police in a criminal complaint that both she and her husband, Dr. Idris Evans, woke up to a man in his underwear, stabbing them in bed with a kitchen knife after midnight Thursday, and they began fighting back to the best of their ability as the mother yelled for their children to flee. That's what she told police.

Allegheny County police said in a statement that officers responded to the Edgewood home in the Pittsburgh area shortly after midnight to find Evans and his wife with multiple stab wounds each and took them to a hospital where Evans was pronounced dead. According to police, his wife remains in critical condition.

Their alleged attacker was taken into custody the very same night. police say the suspect, identified as a 32-year-old Elijah Hemingway, was found behind a nearby home by a canine unit. Hemingway had bleeding lacerations on his hands and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Police said this is how police described what they found when they arrived at the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR JOSEPH, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT, ALLEGHENY COUNTY POLICE: It was a very violent scene. The bedroom furniture broken, mirrors broken. It was a very -- it was a very graphic scene.

REPORTER: I understand they had two children. Were they home at the time?

JOSEPH: They do have two children and yes, they were home at the time. They were uninjured. They were able to flee the house to a neighbor's house safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Sara, this is hard to listen. Officials also said the mother yelled out for their children, ages eight and 12, to flee to a neighbor's house, according to court documents, and the children were able to escape safely.

[07:55:00]

Hemingway, the suspect, faces multiple charges, including homicide, aggravated assault, burglary, and criminal trespass, according to police. And CNN is working to determine if he has legal representation.

Dr. Evans was a 46-year-old pediatric critical care physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and an assistant professor of critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, according to the medical center.

In a statement to CNN, UPMC said that "UPMC and University of Pittsburgh community is deeply saddened by the tragic loss. Dr. Evans was a dedicated caregiver and valued member of our hospital and university communities. Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones and colleagues during this difficult time."

Officials have not provided any information on any motive in the attack and Sara, police say investigators are working to determine whether Evans and Hemingway knew each other. Now back to you.

SIDNER: There's so many disturbing details, but you cannot help but think of those children, eight and 12, who had to live through this. I -- oh, I can't imagine --

ROMO: Right.

SIDNER: -- what they are going through at this hour.

Rafael Romo, thank you. Thank you so much for that story -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: There was a moment caught on camera in an Arizona courtroom that is wild. The family member of a murder victim now accused of attacking the defendant during a sentencing hearing. The defendant was charged with killing a 27-year-old man on military leave while he was trying to buy a car. That victim's father-in-law was testifying about how great of a husband he was to his daughter before then lunging and hitting the man charged multiple times. He was -- the father-in-law then was arrested and though ultimately released.

Today, cities across the country are celebrating Dolly Parton Appreciation Day. The date, September 25, is a nod to the late country music legend's tune "9 to 5." Get it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLY PARTON, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Singing "9 to 5."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I love it.

In Nashville, Garth Brooks and Tricia Yearwood are donating 100 percent of the proceeds from their Friends in Low Places bar to the Nashville Public Library and Parton's Imagination Library.

Other cities are holding fundraisers and also hosting days of service to honor Dolly Parton and her wonderful philanthropy throughout her life.

So we showed you that first-ever man versus robot boxing match. It happened in San Francisco. It went maybe how you would expect when you see that the thing looked like a Terminator. A YouTube influencer was involved and wound up kicked in the gut and knocked off his feet.

Then comes this when Sara Sidner interviews the man behind that Terminator robot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Can you -- can you control him right now and show us a little bit about how he works?

CIX, CEO, REK: Yeah, let's stop. Let's show some moves here. Hopefully he doesn't kill me. All right.

SIDNER: That's the hope.

CIX: All right, let's activate the rec mode. Come on -- rec mode. All right, go for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Yup. More of Sara's talk with the CEO of REK coming up -- John.

BERMAN: I hope they have their camera equipment insured. That's all I can say.

BOLDUAN: I know. Like, was it on a stand? Was there a person?

BERMAN: I don't know.

BOLDUAN: Is there a human involved?

BERMAN: If there was, he's on the ground now.

SIDNER: It was human-involved and it was redonkulous. Bye now.

BERMAN: More to come on that later.

In the meantime, what's going on in the NFL? The Green Bay Packers might not be good.

Let's get right to CNN's coy wire. This was a pretty crazy game last night and Bijan Robinson is a pretty good runner.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Oh my goodness. Full disclosure for folks out there. I played for the Atlanta Falcons. After an 0-2 start, Dirty Bird fans wings were folded, tail between our legs. The internet was absolutely cooking us well done -- justified.

I've been telling people that this team, John, could surprise people. Thursday night at Lambeau, Falcons fans' hearts started smiling again. Michael Penix Jr. back from ACL surgery -- the first game in nearly a year. He shook off a rough start and threw for 256 yards and a touchdown.

Drake London, 194 receiving yards. And how about Bijan? He gone Robinson -- 194 on the ground. Shout out to the O line. It's the third time Bijan and Drake have each topped 150 yards in their respective categories in the same game, and most by any teammate duo in NFL history.

Jeff Ulbrich's defense brought the heat -- 11 hits on Jordan Love. Just 17 rushing yards allowed and Xavier Watts closing with an interception. Falcons 35, Packers 14 in the prime time. Excuse us Falcons fans while we unfold our wings.

Historic day for Chicago sports fans at Wrigley Field -- witnessed rare air in the first inning against the Marlins. They watched their MVP favorite Pete Crow-Armstrong steal his way into the exclusive 40- 40 club. At least 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in one season.