Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Millions Brace for Powerful Nor'easter; Trump and Xi Events Today; Greenmantle's Alice Han is Interviewed about Xi Jinping's Visit; Ex-Mistress Testifies in Caleb Flynn Murder Trial; Chinese Groups Helping Iran. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 25, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And again, this year's Farm Aid, Saturday, September 26th. It is in Virginia Beach this year. And, of course, we will cover it live right here on CNN.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, on our radar for you this morning, a man is in custody after a carjacking outside a hospital and a wild police chase in south Florida. Authorities say a 35-year-old man, who was at a hospital for a mental health evaluation, walked out and then forced his way into a woman's car in the parking lot and sped off. Investigators say he then crashed into several vehicles, including a police cruiser, as officers tried to stop him. The chase stretched for nearly six miles before police finally corralled him, catching up with him and taking him into custody.

All right, new video this morning, also out of Florida, of the damage after construction cranes came down on a home in Fort Lauderdale. Now, this is just awful luck for the family that owns this home, because fire crews say a crane collapsed onto the house. That's bad. But then, as crews were working at the scene, a second crane also collapsed and came toppling down on the home as well. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported from this incident.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a very powerful storm is bearing down on the East Coast. Strong winds, huge waves. The chance of some very destructive flooding. We are tracking it all for you as it is unfolding.

There's also new reporting, and it's being billed as the biggest DOJ election observer effort in history. The Trump administration's big plans to send election monitors to polling places across the country.

And man versus machine. Sara speaks to the CEO behind the company that created a robot that fights humans and is winning.

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

BERMAN: So, breaking this morning, 40 million people in the path of this rare and strengthening northeaster -- noreaster, we say in Boston. Coastal flooding, powerful winds, some torrential rains forecast to hit major population centers. We've got new video from North Carolina's outer banks showing waves crashing over that roadway there. Oh, look at that. There goes the road. Can't even see it. That was after the waves already smashed through the dunes meant to protect the road. Parts of Virginia are also under water this morning. The biggest impact, though, could be later in New York and parts of New England. You can see, look, there's Norfolk, Virginia, this morning. I'm supposed to be going there today.

Let's get right to CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

Derek, I don't know where you are because they haven't told me. Where are you and what do you see?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: OK, so we're in Plymouth County. This is Hull, Massachusetts. So, just outside of Boston. Normally a seaside kind of vacation escape for people here. The beach now starting to push in with high tide. We've got our early season nor'easter here.

And I'm going to take you down to the coast and show you how this Atlantic seaboard is pushing into the coastline. Yes, it's high tide. We're going into high tide cycle. But the thing about this storm is that we're going to go through multiple high tide cycles. And it's also going to be made worse by the fact that we have a full moon. So, that is called an astronomical high tide, meaning that it will exaggerate the tide levels as we get this constant northeasterly wind that continues to just push onto the area.

This is why it's called a nor'easter, because of the direction of the wind. And we are feeling it as it picks up throughout the course of the day.

This is a powerful storm that's now just getting its act together. We anticipate this multiple days of this northeasterly wind that will, in essence, kind of clog the pipes, right? So, as we normally have the tidal cycles, allowing the water to flow back into the Atlantic, because of the winds that pound this area out of the northeast, this is going to obviously not allow that water to recede.

So, we're worried about the coastal erosion. We're worried about the wind threat as well, because high wind warnings are in place along the cape, here in Boston, into Hull, where I'm standing now, and then all along Long Island and into the sound.

The storm has got a very interesting kind of pattern and path to it because of the direction that it's coming in and the duration that it is going to stay off of the coastline. We're talking several days. This may linger into Monday, for instance. So, that continuous beating of the wind coming out of the same direction is going to allow large waves, that you already see here on the coast of Massachusetts building, that is going to hammer the shoreline.

[09:05:02]

So, coastal erosion is one of our major factors.

But, you know, we haven't had the leaves fall yet. So, full leafing still on the trees. And that is going to bring down tree limbs and cause power outages too. That's another threat.

John.

BERMAN: Derek Van Dam, Hull, Massachusetts, is beautiful. But I've been there for bad storms. It can get hit really, really hard in a storm like this, to be sure. So, yes, knocking out your sound already. You're in the right place to watch it come in.

Derek Van Dam, great to see you. I'm sure we're going to hear a lot more from you throughout the course of the next few days.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, President Trump has tea scheduled with Xi Jinping on this final day of the Chinese leader's state visit to the United States. Next hour, Trump will welcome Xi back to the White House. And Trump is up and writing about it. The president posting on social media this in part, "very productive meeting with President Xi." Also calling -- saying that "tremendous things will be happening." The president, as you can see, also then writing again about how he would like to very much rebrand artificial intelligence to be called superintelligence, and saying that it appeared that Xi Jinping agreed with him.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House for us this morning.

Kristen, what are you hearing about all of it?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now it doesn't seem as though there is an enormous amount of substance that came out of this. I mean, both sides wanted the show. They wanted the lavish party last night, the big pomp and circumstance with the welcome. And you're going to have another greeting today between Xi Jinping and President Trump and both of their respective spouses before they go into that tea.

But in terms of actual substance, it's really unclear what the deliverables are. You have President Trump talking about artificial intelligence, but not with any actual substance as to what they might have agreed upon or talked about. We've heard nothing about the fate of Taiwan. And this idea that Iran is -- that China is sharing information with Iran throughout the war and has been continuing to do its business dealings with Iran. None of that has really been addressed by the White House in terms of these private meetings the two have had.

But this will be the last of this three-day trip. It's the first time that we've seen President Xi on U.S. soil in over a decade. And there is something telling about the fact that they will be at the National Archives. They're going to do a tour of the vault of records, which holds some of the most sacred U.S. texts when it comes to democracy. And he'll be showing those texts, like the Bill of Rights, like the Constitution, to the leader of the biggest communist country.

And the other part of this that is going to be unique, that we haven't seen for the last several days, is that they will be all captured on camera, on that pool camera. We know CBS will be with the president here at the White House. CNN will be the pool at the National Archives. Of course, because CNN had been taken out of the pool rotation, there hasn't been a pool for the last several days. But this last kind of setup of pomp, circumstance, the greeting, the tea, the visit to the National Archives, all of that will be on camera.

BOLDUAN: Kristen Holmes, there for us to capture it all.

It's great to see you, Kristen. Thank you so much.

Let's talk about this more. Joining us right now is Alice Han, director and China strategist at Greenmantle and host of the "China Decode" podcast.

It's good to see you. Thanks for being here.

Give me your take on what you think tangibly is likely, or could, come out of these two days of meetings between these two leaders.

ALICE HAN, DIRECTOR AND CHINA STRATEGIST, GREENMANTLE: Well, thanks very much.

Well, we all knew this was going to be pomp and circumstance and very low in substance. But I think the major takeaway on both sides is, number one, they both are invested in some kind of -- what Xi calls strategic stability. So, a peaceful relationship. Trump needs a foreign policy victory. Xi wants to see a stable relationship bilaterally.

Number two, I thought it was really interesting. Xi's speech in the White House was a lot centered over A.I. He talked a lot about A.I. for humanity, that the two powers had the capabilities and responsibilities to ensure that A.I. was used for good worldwide. And I thought that was interesting, suggesting that the Chinese wanted to take more of a leadership role, along with the Americans, in terms of maybe instituting guardrails for A.I. safety. This has become a topical (ph) issue, as you know.

But generally speaking, I think the takeaway was that they want to have a stable relationship. They haven't ironed out all of the details, including the truce and tariffs and rare earths where we've had a two-month extension, suggesting that they haven't figured out or agreed on the real nitty gritty aspects of it, and that the Chinese feel more courageous on the Taiwan issue. We saw Xi speak quite publicly over the fact that he wanted the Americans to oppose Taiwanese independence. This is not surprising.

I do think that it tees up for more substantial conversations if the two parties meet again, either in November or December for APEC or G20, respectively.

BOLDUAN: Now, Alice, a stable relationship is one thing, but the talk of -- as President Trump has, talked about friendship and actual cooperation that seems to be kind of where Xi Jinping is leaning, especially when it comes to A.I., if you will, that is something more.

[09:10:14]

Because how much cooperation should anyone really expect between these two massive economies, two rival intelligence services, look no further than Iran, and two competitors, really on every front?

HAN: That's a great question. And really, if you're looking at just the pure power politics and geopolitics of it all, it's not clear that they can be partners on a lot of these issues.

If you remember going back to the last time Xi made a state visit when Obama was president in 2015, a lot of it was about partnership over climate change and cybersecurity. None of that really materialized. But the two parties continued to talk the talk as opposed to walk the walk. And I think that that is clear in the relationship between Xi and Trump. Both parties want to say that they are working together, but as you know, none of the details have been ironed out. Both countries are on their own, you know, in their own ascendance in terms of A.I. dominance. They both want to be superpowers in this realm. And I -- for all the talk about putting in guardrails, which I think will continue to be the talk, it's very, very unlikely for me to see anything substantive in terms of arms controls of A.I.

BOLDUAN: And that -- that's really what it does come down to because there is so much talk around it. But what are nations, U.S., China and beyond actually, willing to do in order to slow down advancement, if you will, or prepare for that is a huge question.

Part of the show that we see with -- well, we definitely saw with Trump's visit to China was Trump taking CEOs, business leaders with him when he visited China back in May. You had Elon Musk on the plane. Tim Cook was there. The CEO of Nvidia went with him. Xi Jinping, from all accounts, didn't bring any.

An advisor to the Chinese foreign ministry actually was talking to CNN and said that part of the reasoning behind that, logistical challenges, but also concerns in Beijing that some of Trump's team was less, as they put it, positive about the U.S.-China relationship than the united -- than the U.S. president, and that was a major reason that they didn't send kind of that delegation over. What do you think of that?

HAN: My sense is that the Chinese wanted to make sure that this was positive mood music. That the two leaders, Trump and Xi, could meet and reiterate the commitment to the so-called friendship and partnership, and that they didn't really want to work on a lot of the substantive, nitty gritty issues. And the fact that they didn't bring in the commercial sector, tech companies from China, suggests that they really wanted to focus on that relationship between Trump and Xi, as opposed to really work with, you know, lower level officials, people to people dialog.

I think that will have to be reserved for a future meeting. And it might be the case that if Trump goes to Shenzhen for APEC in November, then you'll start to see, I think, a coterie or group of Chinese commercial sector people being involved.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Jeff Moon was just on. He kind of -- the way he described it is, he called this a vanity project by President Trump to highlight Xi, his status as superpowers, without regard, Jeff Moon said, to American interests. If that's the -- who gets the most out of this visit?

HAN: Well, I love the way that you couched it. And it recalls what Xi instituted, you know, back over a decade ago. He was the first Chinese leader to talk about this relationship being a relationship between great power politics. Meaning -- this is a bad translation, but meaning that -- into English that is -- meaning that the two countries could be, in a way, you know, peer -- not just competitors, but also partners. They would be on the same level.

And I think, for the first time with Trump, Xi does feel the confidence that he can be a superpower, just like the U.S.

I do feel, at the end of the day, even though many, you know, in the media will say this, the consensus is kind of right, that Trump really does hand Xi a victory by, a, not being tough, but -- and, b, allowing the two to be, you know, basically peers on the world stage. That plays into Xi's own rhetorical framework that China is basically at the level of America.

BOLDUAN: Alice, it's good to see you. Thanks so much for coming in.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

Ahead, stunning testimony in the trial of the former "American Idol" contestant accused of murdering his wife. Disturbing details read in court from some of the 100,000 text messages between him and his then mistress, and even a love song was played for everyone in court.

[09:15:02]

We'll take you there.

And breaking overnight, the average price for a gallon of gas just shy of $4.50 a gallon. And now the cost of buying a home, well, that's going up, too. We'll discuss.

And Volodymyr Zelenskyy says President Trump gave the green light for Ukraine to start building its own Patriot missiles. We are waiting to hear from the White House to see if they confirm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

SIDNER: A live look inside the courtroom in Troy, Ohio, as the murder trial of former "American Idol" contestant and worship leader Caleb Flynn is getting back underway now. He is accused of killing his wife earlier this year. This week, the jury is hearing stunning testimony of the woman Flynn was having an affair with. She spent a couple of days on the stand and, at times, read out some of the hundreds of thousands of text messages that the two exchanged.

And in one exchange, she resisted reading what she said and whispered before reading it, I just wish I didn't say this.

CNN's Jean Casarez is joining me now.

Give us some sense of what you heard and then what we can expect next.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The star witness, right. I want to tell everybody, court is just about to begin. The cybercrimes expert is on the stand. I'm going to tell you about that in a second.

But let's talk about Alleigha Botner. One hundred and seven thousand texts. That is over 300 texts a day that she and Caleb Flynn had during the course of their relationship. Thirty-four books of texts. Texts were read for hours yesterday. And he constantly said he hated his wife. Has hated his wife. On cross-examination, they said, did you ever think that he actually loved his wife but he wanted to appease you so he just said it constantly, because he wouldn't leave his wife. And she set deadline after deadline after deadline. But she had to read something yesterday, Sara, that she didn't want to read. And his whole -- her whole family is in -- the victim's family is in the courtroom. I want you to watch this and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEIGHA BOTNER, CALEB FLYNN'S EX-MISTRESS: I said, "do you know how badly I want to say f it to any rules and any barriers and just love you with my entire heart for the rest of my life."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next message.

BOTNER: I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixty four thousand, two hundred and eighty-one.

BOTNER: Sorry. I just wish I didn't say this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does the message say?

BOTNER: I didn't mean it.

It says -- it says, "I want to kill her, Caleb."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who said that?

BOTNER: Me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next message.

BOTNER: I said, "it's so bad." UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next message.

BOTNER: He said, "that makes two of us."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: One month before, on cross-examination, they brought out that while in Florida she lost her iPhone in the ocean and she left her laptop computer somewhere. She thinks maybe the airplane. But the defense grilled her on cross-examination. And we see where they're going here, because they say it was an intruder that came into the home. But no charges at all have ever been filed against Alleigha Botner.

SIDNER: It is really stunning testimony there. Probably perhaps the most stunning we have seen in quite some time. All those text messages read out in court.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much. Great reporting.

John.

BERMAN: All right, a new report suggests Chinese groups may be helping Iran hit American targets in the Middle East.

Dolly Parton and U2. Behind the scenes stories from Bono about her final recording.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:47]

BOLDUAN: Today, Chinese President Xi Jinping is wrapping up his state visit to Washington. And President Trump is up and posting about it on social media, in part saying that he called it "very productive meeting with President Xi." Also said "tremendous things will be happening."

But behind the scenes, CNN has new reporting on how groups inside China are passing intelligence to Iran and helping that country take aim at American targets in the Middle East in the midst of the Iran War.

CNN's Zachary Cohen has -- following this has new reporting on it. He's joining us now.

Zach, what are you picking up?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Yes, Kate. We're learning that one of the key reasons why Iran has been able to improve its targeting capabilities, both around the Strait of Hormuz and when it launches strikes against U.S. facilities across the region is this support it's receiving from China. And specifically satellite imagery and intelligence support from Chinese groups that we're told have been providing a steady stream of this aid to Iran since the war began. But it is one of the key factors in why Iran has demonstrated an ability to very accurately hit U.S. assets across the region.

And this is particularly true, sources say, for the July attack that Iran launched against a U.S. base in Jordan. That's the one that killed three U.S. service members. And our sources say that without Chinese support, Iran would not have been able to hit that base so precisely.

And another example that we were given is that Iran is using Chinese geospatial data to track ships as they move through the Strait of Hormuz, which some sources said allows them to more accurately attack those ships as well. And we do know that the Strait of Hormuz remains Iran's, what it believes to be its key piece of leverage as this conflict continues, and potentially in any sort of negotiation scenario.

But President Donald Trump and the Trump administration have been wary of publicly accusing China of providing assistance to Iran. But members of Trump's own party, including chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Republican Roger Wicker, before Xi's visit, really urging the president to raise this problem with his Chinese counterpart.

BOLDUAN: Zach Cohen, thanks for your reporting, as always. Appreciate it.

[09:30:00]

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now Is Congressman Eugene Vindman from Virginia, a Democrat on the Armed Services and Agriculture Committee.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us.

I know you've been concerned, along with several