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Millions Along East Coast Brace for Powerful Nor'easter; Interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI): Trump Administration Planning Biggest Election Observer Effort in History; Early Voting Underway Across U.S. Ahead of Midterm Election Day; NVIDIA CEO on AI Warnings and Growing Calls to Regulate It. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 25, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: As they watch their MVP favorite Pete Crow-Armstrong steal his way into the exclusive 40-40 club. At least 40 home runs, 40 stolen bases in one season. Only six other players have done it before him.

And their Cubbies clinched a second straight postseason with a nervy 2-1 win. Now, just two minutes before that the Chicago White Sox completed a comeback that sounds made up. After consecutive 100 lost seasons, they're headed to the playoffs.

First team in MLB history to pull that off. 9-1 win over the Royals, clinching a wild-card spot. They can still chase the division.

How happy though was Japanese star Munetaka Murakami? The champagne- soaked clubhouse gives us our answer. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mune, your first clubhouse celebration, rated on a scale of one to ten, how's it going so far?

MUNETAKA MURAKAMI, CHICAGO WHITE SOX ROOKIE 1B: (SPEAKING JAPANESE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just what does it mean just to be able to celebrate with this team?

MUNETAKA MURAKAMI, CHICAGO WHITE SOX ROOKIE 1B: (SPEAKING JAPANESE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Japanese!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: That man just gave us a universal response, John, for everything. Having a good day? 100.

One extra fries in your bag? 100. That was pure joy.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Fantastic. Coy Wire, I got to love that. This show, very much, 100. A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the breaking news. A Nor'easter bearing down on millions along the East Coast throughout the weekend. Dangerously high winds and serious flooding already impacting coastal communities from Maryland to Jersey.

Pop, circumstance, and little substance. The U.S.-China summit resumes in Washington. The niceties with no demands have even some Republicans questioning the president's tactics.

And a carjacking leads to a high-speed chase. At one point, police units are sort of herding the car like cattle. How this madness ended there in Florida.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news. More than 40 million people on the path of a rare fall Nor'easter this morning, including us. Coastal flooding, powerful winds, and heavy rain all in the forecast.

Smashing waves already hitting in North Carolina, crashing up and over the pier at Nags Head. The water breached sand dunes that protected a road, wiping away, pretty much, the road. No road left there after that water passed through.

The storm will hit for days all the way up to Maine. Parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island could get a month's worth of rain over the weekend. I want to get right to meteorologist Allison Chinchar, who is watching this closely to tell us where and when, because it's kind of a long time, right?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is, and it's a lot of places, too. The where is really going to be from the Carolinas all the way up through Maine. So much of the eastern seaboard is going to see some type of impact from this system over the next couple of days.

We're already starting to see the winds beginning to tick up around 20 to 25 mph for the sustained winds, gusting up around 30 to 35. And it's all thanks to this low pressure system right here that is going to ever, ever so slowly begin to creep up the east coast and edge just a little bit closer, especially by Saturday. So here's a look by this evening.

Again, starting to shift a little bit to the north, but again, not very much movement here in just the next 12 to 24 hours. By Saturday morning, you can see it's kind of parallel right there with Delaware. So again, still not much movement.

And then by late Saturday, we start to see it take a little bit more of a westward turn, bringing it even closer to areas like New Jersey and New York and all of those heavy rain bands continuing to pummel these areas, again, from Maryland all the way up through Maine. Now, late into the day, Saturday, that's when you're going to start to see some of the worst conditions for places like Providence as well as Boston, but many others that begins today. We look at rainfall rates.

Many of these areas are going to look at about four to six inches of rain. This is just through Sunday. Keep in mind, this is a slow moving system.

There will be even more rain that we add to it on Monday. So you're talking a lot of rain in some of these cases, a month's worth, especially for portions of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. And then that's just going to be in the next few days.

BERMAN: Yes, four to six inches of rain in Boston. That's not really a thing. They see very much there.

If they get that much, that's going to be a little bit of an issue. Allison Chinchar, thank you very much for that -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So we are now less than 40 days away from November's midterm elections. And in several states, people are already voting. Just yesterday, absentee voting was started getting underway in the key battleground of Michigan.

[08:05:00]

So far, at least 20 states have absentee or mail-in ballots available for voters.

And this morning, we have new CNN reporting of the Trump administration's plans now ahead of midterms to ramp up efforts in a big way to send monitors to the polls on Election Day. One administration official calling it, quote, the biggest DOJ election observer effort in history. CNN's learned that the Justice Department plans to deploy more than 1,000 election monitors at polling places across the country.

And separately, the RNC says that the party's training its own what they're calling special monitors to scrutinize voting machines. Joining me right now is Democratic Congresswoman from Michigan, Debbie Dingell. It's good to see you, Congresswoman.

Congresswoman, thanks for being here. The biggest DOJ election observer effort in history, hundreds more than the Biden administration deployed in 2024, is what they're saying. What is your reaction to that?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI), CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC POLICY AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE: So I obviously am concerned that we may see people trying to impact the election, trying to intimidate people. But what we have to do is to be prepared. And I think Democrats across the country at all levels, federal, state and local, are prepared.

We, too, are training people. We are trying to make sure that there are poll watchers at every single poll across the country. And you know, Vice President Harris -- former Vice President Harris was here in Michigan on Thursday.

And I joined her at an NAACP event. And she told the group, vote big so you can't rig. So what we really have to do is just make sure that we get a very, very significant turnout of people who are concerned about the future of this country.

And we're going to be observant. We're going to be prepared. We're going to be ready.

BOLDUAN: So I know you love polls. And I say that facetiously. Polling numbers.

Let's go in the wayback machine to 2016, as you were one of few saying that you were not sensing what the polls were saying when it came to Hillary Clinton's chances. Let's fast forward to today, though. And I would like to get kind of your vibe check now, less than 40 days out of what you're seeing and hearing on the ground in Michigan amongst your constituents.

The latest CNN polling this week shows a bleaker picture for Republicans than midterm four years ago, that Democrats have an eight point lead nationally. Does it feel like that in Michigan?

DINGELL: So this state is competitive. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I'd rather be us than the Republicans.

You can't go anywhere. And, you know, I go a lot of places from the grocery store to the gas station, to farmers markets, to union halls where people are hurting. They're concerned about the cost of what it is to go to the grocery store.

If I fill my car, which I do every week, somebody comes and yells at me at the gas station about how expensive the gasoline is. And that is impacting how people feel. But we've got just in the Senate race, Republicans have already bought $90 million, one month, 90 million dollars of advertising in the Senate race.

They are trying to do everything that they can to smear the character of people. So I'd rather be us than them. But I'm going to be very clear.

We are playing competitive. Everybody is working hard. We've got ground games.

We're turning out people. There is money up on air on the other side, too. Michigan's competitive right now.

I think the congressional races, they're more competitive congressional races than people realize. But the Senate race is, it's competitive in this. I'd rather be where Abdul is than where Mike Rogers is.

But it's not -- neither of them has won.

BOLDUAN: So speaking of the price of gas, the price of diesel, there are a lot of Republicans right now calling for a diesel export ban in order to try to, they say, bring down prices and help, you know, farmers help everyone because diesel powers, you know, powers everything that gets us our things. The energy secretary, Chris Wright, seems to be supporting it. Trump said he's considering it.

But groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, say they are against it, saying that it is going to backfire and actually increase prices in the end. Where are you on this?

DINGELL: I'm studying it. I am very concerned about how people are hurting and the price goes up. You know, the rumors that we're going to see strikes or those kinds of things, which I think do not happen.

We've got to be very careful of the consequences of any actions we take.

[08:10:00]

And I want to be very clear what we do on the cost of gasoline and diesels. We need to make sure it's not political, but it's something that's going to actually lower the price of the cost of diesels. And I hope when this election is over that we can ultimately get out of the war in Iran and get gasoline prices and diesel prices back down to a rate that is not killing our farmers, our truck drivers, and everybody's paying the cost because the cost of transportation is being added into the cost of goods.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Debbie Dingell, thank you so much. It's good to have you on -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New testimony in the murder trial of a former American Idol contestant accused of killing his wife. The dramatic testimony from the woman with whom the defendant was having an affair.

And a stolen vehicle strikes a bus while trying to escape police, leaving dozens injured. More than a dozen, I should say.

And then a crane falls on top of a house crushing the roof. And then a second crane snaps onto the house while trying to remove the first one.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: We're giving you a live look now at Norfolk, Virginia, where you can see there is already some flooding. And that is because of the nor'easter that is rolling up and down the East Coast. This morning millions are seeing the early impact of the rare early fall nor'easter that is getting stronger and threatening serious damage up and down the East Coast.

Some areas of Virginia already seeing localized flooding, like you're seeing there. Coastal flooding and heavy rain made worse by the timing of the full moon tomorrow. It has raised high tide levels day by day. And a similar scene expected in New York City, where urban flooding and wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour are possible starting as soon as tonight.

Joining us now is New York City's Emergency Management Commissioner Christina Farrell. Thank you so much for being here. I do appreciate it. You're there in your car.

You're ready. What is the most dangerous element of the storm that is forecasted to hit New York?

CHRISTINA FARRELL, COMMISSIONER, NYC EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Yes, good morning. So, like you said, you know, there is with this nor'easter that is hitting us early in the season. We are looking at high winds, which can always be concerning with trees, especially as it rains, the ground can get saturated.

It's easier for trees to fall down on highways, residential areas and also the coastal flooding. New York City is, of course, a coastal city. We have coastal flooding warnings for much of the coastal areas, Southern Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island.

And you know, so we're monitoring that in addition to the rain.

SIDNER: Are you out there monitor? I'm hoping that you're in the passenger seat. I think you are.

Are you out there monitoring -- I'm hoping you're in the passenger seat. I think you are.

Are you out there monitoring right now?

FARRELL: I'm not.

SIDNER: Are you just you're heading -- you're heading to work?

FARRELL: Yes, no, I've been out. You know, we're checking on things, making sure that everything is in place, getting our staff in place. We've been coordinating with all of the agencies within the city, you know, over the last several days.

We've been talking to the communities, to the elected officials, to everyone. You know, so people understand, like you said, with the high tide, you know, the water could go up several feet, and we want to make sure that everyone is prepared. They know to rate it to move their cars to higher ground.

Any basement property, things like that for the different tide cycles this evening and through the weekend.

SIDNER: We're looking at pictures from Norfolk, Virginia, where you're already seeing some flooding in in the city, and New York has certainly seen that because it's been the city's wettest summer in five years, and the city has seen sort of flooding in different boroughs. Are you worried about whether the infrastructure can handle this pounding after dealing with multiple floods this summer?

FARRELL: Yes. So, like you said, we have been, you know, battle tested as it were over the last few months. You know, we haven't seen as much coastal flooding.

That's been more the intensity, you know, as heavier rain comes, the sewers can get overwhelmed temporarily. And so that is why we have all the agencies together with us. We work with the MTA that runs the trains. We're working with parks with the NYPD, FDNY, the State.

We bring everyone together. We look at the hazards, and we focus to coordinate and get it through. But we will be working all weekend. You know, we're always concerned.

We always want to mitigate the impacts, but we feel prepared and, you know, we appreciate all the actions that the community is taking to do this along with us.

SIDNER: What are you warning residents and visitors alike to do in light of this storm, which is well on its way. And we're seeing a lot of the effects in the video from Maryland, from Virginia and from other states.

FARRELL: Yes. So we have been working with the community, you know, for different events that could be moved. It is still the United Nations General Assembly and the city, which is a very busy time.

So, you know, if there are events that can be moved inside or that can be postponed, we've been working through that. Notify NYC is our alert system. We have about 1.6 million New Yorkers that are signed up for that. But we also have an app, and we have a text group so people can easily come on and off if they're visiting.

And so we've been sending out a lot of messaging about the winds, about potential flooding, about what's going to happen in the coastal areas. And we do that in 14 languages, and so, really getting the word out and making sure that people understand the hazards and what we're here to do for them to help them.

[08:20:00]

SIDNER: Yes, it's good to have that because you do have so many people also from out of town here at the UNGA, as you mentioned. But always New York is filled with people who love to visit as well as the residents here.

So, so many people to inform about this. We are hoping that it isn't as bad as it looks. I think that's the best we can do.

And I see you're out there already sort of checking on the city. Christina Farrell, I do appreciate you taking the time this morning -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So amid all the dire warnings about the dangers of AI development, how fast it's advancing. One top tech CEO is saying, quote, scaring people is irresponsible now.

And a patient allegedly walks out of a hospital, carjacks a woman and then leads police on a wild chase. And there's video on how it all ends. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, new comments from one of the CEOs driving the explosive and largely unregulated growth of AI. New CNN polling shows that 71 percent say the federal government is not doing enough to regulate AI. Anderson Cooper spoke with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang on the new warnings that unfettered AI could destroy humanity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:25:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: People are on the front lines of the frontier models, frontier of this technology. They seem worried, whether it's researchers, engineers, or the CEOs, Ari Amadei, Sam Altman. They are raising alarms saying we need regulation. Aren't they the ones closest to these models who would know best about what is needed?

JENSEN HUANG, FOUNDER AND CEO, NVIDIA: If they're worried about it, they should just stop. If the product is not safe, just don't release it.

COOPER: It's that simple. I mean, these are multi-billion dollar companies. The competition --

HUANG: No, that's what every company does. That's what we do. That's what a car company would do.

That's what, you know, anybody would do.

COOPER: Of course, there are companies that have gone forward with products that, you know, are not safe or are risky and they go forward anyway because of competition. That's why there's regulation.

HUANG: Well, if a regulation is necessary, if they don't have self- restraint -- first of all, they ought to have self-restraint. If they're telling everybody that their product is unsafe, they obviously know it. They're publicly admitting it.

They ought to just not release it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Fascinating interview. Thanks to our Anderson Cooper for that.

Coming up, new reporting this morning about the unprecedented effort by the Justice Department to dispatch more than a thousand monitors at polling sites on the election day.

And I spoke with the CEO of a company that is making robots that fight humans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now take a right poke.

Nope, all right, go for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)