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Trump Eyes Busy Week Of Meetings As U.N. General Assembly Gathers; U.S. And China Hold Economic Talks In New York Ahead Of White House Summit; Iran Reportedly Informed That U.S. Plans To Resume Action; CNN Removed From White House TV Pool Assignment; German Elections Deal A Blow To Chancellor Friedrich Merz; Putin's United Russia Wins Tightly Controlled Wartime Election; ICE Officer Shoots And Injures Food Delivery Driver In Austin; Venezuelan DoorDash Driver Shot by ICE in Texas; Italy Expected to Ban Face Coverings in Schools; Alaskan Brown Bear Face Off in Fat Bear Week 2026. Aired 1-1:45a ET

Aired September 21, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome. I'm Kristi Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And ahead, right here on CNN Newsroom, U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to meet with world leaders while he attends the U.N. General Assembly this week.

In an escalation of President Trump's ban of three media outlets, the White House strips CNN of its TV pool assignment. And Germany's right wing AfD Party is set to rack up more gains in state elections, prompting Chancellor Friedrich Merz to call the results a, quote, disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN Newsroom with Kristie Lu Stout.

LU STOUT: It is the start of a busy diplomatic week for the U.S. President as he prepares to attend the UNGA and to meet separately with his Chinese and Ukrainian counterparts. CNN's Julie Benbrook tells us what to expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump, he travels to New York tomorrow for the United Nations General assembly and then on Tuesday, that is when he will give remarks. He'll give a speech. He's also going to take multiple meetings with foreign leaders. And according to a senior White House official, those remarks are to touch on a number of subjects.

But the conflict in Iran will be one of those areas. Trump is expected to reiterate his stance that Iran cannot under any circumstance have a nuclear weapon.

Now Trump, it is important to note that at the beginning of this conflict, those first joint U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran, that Trump said that this could last a matter of days, it could last several weeks.

The conflict is now nearing the summer seven month mark and it's also coming as poll after poll shows that the American people do not approve of the way that Trump has handled this conflict. This speech, of course, will be for a big audience, a global audience, but it also comes as the midterms are quickly approaching.

One other area of focus will be the conflict in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he and Trump spoke earlier today and that the two have agreed to meet while they are in New York. He said that today's discussion was an important one. He said that the meeting could change a lot and that is coming not long after special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner made stops both in Kyiv and in Moscow to discuss potential ways to bring this conflict to an end.

At the time, the White House said that those talks were substantive and that there would be an update in the coming weeks. Now, the diplomacy doesn't stop there. After Trump returns to Washington, that is when he is scheduled to have a state visit to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping. That will include a formal state dinner. And both of those leaders are expected to give remarks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now the U.S. Treasury secretary has wrapped up a round of economic talks of China's vice premier Scott Bessent told reporters that the two sides discuss ways to collaborate on AI safety. And their conversation comes just days before U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House. Now let's Go now to CNN's Will Ripley. He joins us now live from Taipei.

Will, good to see you again. Now ahead of the Trump-Xi meeting later this week, Bessent and He, they have met and they tackled key issues like trade, like AI. What more can you tell us?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This meeting is especially important because Vice Premier He Lifeng oversees China's economy. And so this meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ahead of this Thursday summit and state dinner at the White House with President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping after the heel on the heels of their meeting in May in Beijing, obviously there are a lot of huge issues on the table from technology to Taiwan to the U.S.- China economic and trade relationship.

But looming large really over all of this is AI and industry leaders that have been calling in recent days for safeguards. Secretary Bessent says they talked about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Well, the notification for whether there are incidents, whether there has been something that rises up to a national security level from AI because, you know, we think that just like with any cross border activity that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI power in the world. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:05:14]

RIPLEY: President Trump is going to be meeting a much more confident Xi Jinping than he found back in 2017 when they met in Mar-a-Lago nine years ago, China was lagging and it was vulnerable, particularly in areas like tech and trade. But things have really changed.

China has positioned itself as a tech heavyweight on everything from AI and robotics to reusable rockets and semiconductor manufacturing. They're trying to catch up with Taiwan, which still leads the global race when it comes to manufacturing of advanced AI chips.

China also has a $1.2 trillion global trade surplus because of surging demand, particularly for its manufacturing sector making electronic vehicles, solar panels and chips. And it has that grip on rare earths, which are crucial to semiconductor production, which will help Xi have the leverage that he needs to keep Trump in check.

LU STOUT: Yes. So much at stake with these upcoming meetings. Will Ripley joining us live from Taipei. Thank you very much for your reporting.

Now, the Middle East remains on alert as multiple flashpoints grow across the region. Tehran is warning that the U.S. plans to resume military action against Iran. And according to Iranian military command, they have the backing of other countries in the region.

Now, Iran says any U.S. attack will trigger sustained strikes on American bases and interests in the region, and anyone supporting U.S. aggression will be considered parties to the conflict.

As the security environment worsens, the U.S. State Department and other U.S. diplomatic missions are urging Americans in the region to exercise increased caution. And amid these increased tensions, President Trump told Fox News he is in, quote, deciding mode and, quote, very big things could happen soon.

Now, earlier I spoke with CNN's national security analyst Alex Plitsas about the developing conflict between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. has yet to intervene in this situation. So I asked Alex what he sees, anticipating what's happening next. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The president was considering strikes on Yemen. It is now clear that he has at least called those off in the interim. He had wavered on that kind of going back and forth. A decision had been made Thursday to consider those, and that was after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia made two personal pleas. The president of the United States asking for support here.

But ultimately, the president decided against that. And I believe that's because he did not want to escalate the situation there. The Saudis were supposed to be responsible for a naval task force for the Bab al-Mandab in dealing with the Houthis.

And ultimately, if the United States decided to get involved militarily, there was a chance the Houthis could take further action the Bab al-Mandab, which is another strait just like the Strait of Hormuz, but on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. That would have created a second choke point, also increasing pressure on the oil and gas markets and further dividing military assets in the region that are needed for a potential Iranian operation. So that seems to be on hold, at least for the time being.

LU STOUT: We were anticipating strikes. That appears to be on hold for the time being. If there were to be a new major military escalation, what would that trigger? What would be the regional fallout from any new attacks?

PLITSAS: So there's two potential military scenarios on the table. One is the Houthis, given what's gone on over the last couple of couple weeks or so or week and a half. And that's due to basically the Iranian strategy. So the two are linked together. And I'll just take a quick second to explain.

So Iran's strategy to push back against the United States. Right there we see on the maps on the top right hand side, you see the Strait of Hormuz label there in, in blue with the black label on the left where the arrow is pointing for that is a little piece of Oman. And right across from there is Iran.

So there's been a disagreement over whether or not they can reopen the strait. And that's basically because the Iranians are divided internally between their security services and the civilian negotiators. With the security folks not wanting to come to an agreement at the moment, likely because we're about 40 odd days away from the U.S. midterm elections and they want to seek to punish President Trump. The Iranians believe that that's a main pressure point.

They seem to be sort of misreading President Trump. As a result of that, the U.S. has maintained a blockade on Iranian ships not being able to exit oil and gas leaving. But the U.S. has successfully allowed enough ships to leave to facilitate about 7 to 8 million barrels a day in oil coming out of the Arabian Gulf. Persian Gulf, it's about 40 percent of the normal volume, but it was enough to keep oil prices stabilized.

The Iranians part of their strategy has been try to increase the cost of oil and gas to put pressure on the U.S. through international markets. So in retaliation, two things happened. You had the Iraqi militias who operate under the Iranian umbrella, attack the east west pipeline in Saudi Arabia that is now going to be shut down for four to six weeks where there's no oil coming to European refineries. And the second piece was the Houthis now punching through to the coast and occupying key territory, possibly shutting down the Bab al-Mandab.

So this is a combined strategy from the Iranians attempting to put pressure back on the United States because the blockade, quite frankly, is working and the U.S. is getting oil out of the AJ.

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[01:10:04]

LU STOUT: And that was Alex Plitsas speaking to me earlier. Now CNN has been stripped of its White House TV poll assignment duties for Monday in a break with decades of precedent. And this just further escalates a dispute in which President Trump has banned CNN and other news organizations from reporting from the White House.

On Saturday, our White House reporter Betsy Klein was denied access to the White House grounds and was told by her Secret Service that her press badge had been deactivated.

Now CNN says it intends to sue the Trump administration to defend the constitutional rights of its staff.

Earlier, CNN spoke to our media analyst Sarah Fischer about the importance of the White House media pool.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Not every news outlet can bring a big camera in to cover the president, whether he's at the White House or he's traveling. And so instead the big five networks, which are CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC rotate who is going to manage the coverage, the video coverage of the president.

Now they provide that feed for all of the other outlets in the press pool and then those outlets distribute the content to viewers all around the world. And so it matters if there is not a clear understanding of what happens with the press pool because it means we wouldn't get video feed of the president.

That's a huge, huge issue. We've seen over the past few weeks, instances where having video footage of the president has been critical. I think back to some of the 9/11 coverage of the 25-year anniversary. You know, all the footage that was captured that day came from the pool.

So the press pool is critical. We just don't know what's going to happen tomorrow with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Sara Fischer there. Now there is much more to come right here on CNN Newsroom. Preliminary state election results out of Germany shows the country's far right party gaining significant ground. What those results could mean for German Chancellor Merz, next.

Also, we are seeing early results from Russia's parliamentary elections and we'll take a look at those.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [01:16:31]

LU STOUT: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is calling recent election results a quote, disaster, as the country's far right surges again at the polls. A voting projection show far-right Alternative for Germany taking first place in northeastern Germany with some 38 percent of the vote. And even in left leaning Berlin, AfD made significant gains, getting a projected 16 percent.

This all underscores the far-right's growing influence across Germany. And with his own party losing ground, Chancellor Merz is facing mounting pressure to resign. Now for more on this, let's bring in CNN's European affairs commentator, Dominic Thomas. Dominic, welcome back to the program.

What do these critical regional German state elections reveal?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, Kristie, first of all, they are strong indicators as to what the outcomes could be in a federal election, some of the voting is protest voting against Merz. But what you're seeing is really a gradual shift in the ways in which German politics is sort of laid out. And we saw this since the end of the Merkel era. A chancellor reelected four times who never scored less than 30 percent in the federal election.

And what we've seen since that time is an erosion of the influence of mainstream parties. And this is playing out in the latest of the two elections where if you just look at the voter flows in Mecklenburg, the only party to gain is AfD. Every other party lost seats and in Berlin, you see that replicated. But in this particular case, with the left scoring the highest and the AfD just a sort of short space behind that.

So a big change is taking place. And of course, for Chancellor Merz, this is a huge problem.

LU STOUT: Yes. Let's talk more about Chancellor Merz and his fate. I mean, even before these elections, the pressure had been piling up on him. After the election, he called the results, quote, a disaster. So what's next for him and his government?

THOMAS: Yes, well, as we saw, and as I mentioned previously with Angel Merkel, you had real continuity in German politics. A Chancellor who was reelected four times, the previous chancellor from the SPD, the more centrist party, did not make it through his full term. And snap elections are very rare, unlike say, in the United Kingdom, in Germany. So you saw that Chancellor removed from office months earlier.

And it's hard to see, given the fact that Chancellor Merz specifically talked about addressing the threat of the Alternative for Germany, this far-right party, as you mentioned, that has failed to happen in all of the elections since he's been at the helm. And given that the next projected election is all the way out at the latest in March 2029, it's going to be very hard to see how he can stay and remain in that position without Germans asking to go to the polls at a federal level.

LU STOUT: And let's zero in on the Alternative for Germany or AfD. This was a group once dismissed as a fringe movement. Its popularity has absolutely surged. Can you remind us the factors behind its rise? And also, do you think it can expand its reach in a federal election?

THOMAS: Yes, well, what's interesting about them is, of course, this is a party that begins as a kind of economic party, talking about challenges, cost of living, the European Union and so on and so forth. And it morphed into this anti-immigration party. And we can see the two coming together here over the identity question, immigration issues, cost of living issues, the conflict in Ukraine, all the sorts of questions that are challenging in German society today.

[01:20:08]

But what we've seen is, with the erosion since the Merkel era of these mainstream parties, something that started really at the end of her time at the helm as Chancellor, is that it's been increasingly difficult for single parties, or even two parties to form governments. They've gone into these complex coalitions.

So two things are taking place, first of all, for the voters. They see these coalitions bringing in all the parties, and there's been an attempt to create a firewall, first of all, against the far-right, not incorporating or including them in mainstream governance, and at the same time also pushing aside the left.

As that's gone on for voters, these mainstream parties have become almost indistinguishable because none of them have been able to solve the underlying issues, complexes and fears of the German population. And so a party like the AfD is a protest vote as well. But also it's tapping into these disenfranchised voters that are not just in the east of the country, but throughout the country, constantly rising in the polls.

And I think it's obvious that in a federal election they would do extraordinarily well moving forward. If one were to be called shortly, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And what about support for another party, the Left Party? There was a woman named Elif Eralp. She was its lead candidate for the first time. She campaigned on cost of living issues, affordability issues. She's been compared to Zohran Mamdani. What's her story with the Left?

THOMAS: Yes, well, what's so interesting about that is that this party, the left, in the 2021 federal elections, barely made the 5 percent threshold to actually be able to hold seats in Parliament. So this is a remarkable comeback for them. And once again, back to this question of the erosion of support for mainstream parties, they are a party that have been excluded from all of these coalitions that have taken place over the last seven to eight years.

And I think to that extent, they also appeal to voters. But I think what we saw play out in Berlin are two things. A protest against Merz's party, the CDU, the Center Right Party, and also an attempt to build a kind of bridge or barrage rather, against the AfD in the aftermath of the previous two elections in which they did so well.

So the Berlin vote is a strong indicator as well as to the support for these alternative parties, particularly in a state like Berlin that has a reputation for being far more left leaning and liberal.

LU STOUT: So, Dominic, what my an early federal election offer. And what might it tell us about Germany today?

THOMAS: Yes, well, the irony is it absolutely will not provide any kind of closure to this particular problem because it will simply replicate what has been happening at the state level. A very strong performance from the AfD and a desire from all of the other parties to continue to block them.

What's interesting is that Mertz, even in his election campaign, started to pander to some of the ideas of the AfD, particularly around stricter immigration control and so on, which he has put in place. But he's been unable to counter the surge in them precisely because of the broad question of cost of living and so on.

A country that's trying to balance reinvestment in defense, while also, many would argue, neglecting so many of the social problems. So it will replicate this broad division. Coalition formation will be incredibly complex. So although Merz may longer, may no longer be chancellor, the possibility of finding some kind of solution to move forward is also going to be very challenging in a very divided political landscape that has nothing to do with the 16-state elections, but that nevertheless are indicators of where Germany is heading.

LU STOUT: Yes. A changing political landscape being closely watched by people in Germany and across the world. CNN European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas, thank you for joining us.

Now, Russia's ruling pro-Putin party is set to win the country's parliamentary elections, which wrapped up on Sunday. That result, of course, was never in doubt. United Russia face no meaningful opposition in this tightly controlled race with President Vladimir Putin's critics largely jailed, exiled or barred from campaigning.

The final tally won't be released until Friday, but early results show United Russia leading with more than 57% of the vote. There's much more to come right here on CNN Newsroom.

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[01:29:04]

LU STOUT: There are still no details from federal authorities in the U.S. about what led up to the shooting of a man by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Texas. An immigration lawyer who said she is representing the family identified the man as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, who officials say was shot and injured while working as a Doordash driver in Austin. A law enforcement source says he's an undocumented immigrant from

Venezuela. A new video shows the immediate aftermath of the shooting. The video, which is silent, shows Perez inside a blue sedan with visible bullet holes and damage to the passenger side.

Sunday's shooting sparked protests in Austin. A Democratic lawmaker who represents the city says it is unclear if Perez was the target of an ICE operation but is calling for an independent investigation.

[01:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GREG CASAR (D-TX): I think it is appropriate for this community to ask for independence, to ask for transparency and to ask for accountability.

This is a pattern. It's a disturbing pattern, and it's got to stop.

ICE has arrested five-year-olds in Austin in the last few weeks. They've arrested pre-K teachers, and now someone's been shot. And this has to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: The lawyer representing Perez's family says he was released from the hospital into what they believe to be ICE custody. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Now, Italy is expected to ban face coverings in schools, as well as limit the number of international students per class. The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Maloney, unveiled the new policy on Sunday but did not specify what the maximum number of foreign students per class would be.

This comes as migration remains a contentious issue across much of Europe.

Italy has been one of the countries most affected by migrant arrivals, due to its location on the Mediterranean. Foreign students make up nearly 12 percent of those enrolled.

And in Spain, hundreds of people are protesting the ongoing migration crisis in the city of Ceuta, located on the North African coast.

They marched toward the border Spain shares with Morocco. Some carried signs that read "SOS Ceuta Invaded". Residents have been demanding solutions from the Spanish government after a mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into the tiny territory in late July. Most left, but about 10,000 migrants still remain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCIA, PROTESTER AND CEUTA RESIDENT (through translator): What government needs to do is to change the government. That's what we need. This could have been solved from the first minute, but they have left us abandoned. This is a Spanish --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Now the Spanish military began escorting some groups into new temporary housing built at the city's port. But so far, it only has room for 1,700 people, leaving thousands stranded on the city's beaches and streets.

Now, there is much more to come right here on CNN NEWSROOM. In fact, it is a heavyweight showdown, and the competitors are packing on the pounds.

When we come back, a look at the bears who have been eating their way to the top.

[01:32:25]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: In Brazil, hundreds of people marched through Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach in support of religious freedom. The annual event brought together groups from a variety of backgrounds to promote religious diversity. Many participants, dressed in traditional costumes.

While Brazil's constitution protects the free exercise of religion, a 2023 United Nations report on Brazil found those who practice African origin spiritualities face harassment from religious institutions, as well as the media.

Now, Alaska's bears are packing on the pounds for a shot at a very big title. Fat Bear Week is soon to get underway at Alaska's Katmai National Park, and the bracket is full of burly brown bears that have been feasting on sockeye salmon all summer. And those fat reserves will help them survive months of hibernation.

This reigning champion, named Chunk, has a title to defend. Rangers say his low hanging belly is evidence that he has been eating well.

This is a single elimination tournament. For each match up, members of the voting public get behind the bears they believe have most successfully packed on the most pounds ahead of hibernation season.

Now, earlier, we spoke to Katmai park ranger, Troy Hunt about the differences in winter preparation for the solo bears versus the mama bears with the cubs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TROY HUNT, KATMAI PARK RANGER: The bears have a little easier time of it because they're eating for one. When we have mama bears, then they have to not only be fattening themselves up, but they have to be eating enough food that they are making sufficient milk to nurse their young, as well as teaching them how to eat salmon and other things along the river. So they have a much more difficult job. So when we look at the pictures of mama bears, they may not be as big

as, say, the large males are, 151 Walker or 32 Chunk. But they have a much more difficult job.

Whereas we look at a bear, a good example is Bear 909, who had cubs at the beginning of the season and lost both of those. And so in her single time after loss of her cubs, she has become absolutely massive, which other bears who have cubs are not able to get quite as large.

STOUT: Yes, 909 is my personal favorite, especially because of her compelling and stirring backstory.

Could you please remind us, though, about the science here? This is the hibernation lesson that we missed back in school. Why do the bears need to get so fat.

HUNT: So bears essentially are eating for six months to be able to hibernate for four to six months.

[01:39:46]

HUNT: They have to build enough calorie reserves in fat in their bodies that when they go into hibernation, they, during that time, do not eat. They do not drink, they do not urinate or defecate in that entire time.

And so their entire body slows down and they have to live exclusively on their fat reserves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: Bears win.

Now, I got to share with you this one last story. NASA's Nancy Grace Roman space telescope has successfully captured its first photons of starlight by activating its wide field instrument.

It also tested its planet imager, the coronagraph instrument, which will help discover exoplanets. This huge milestone confirms that the new telescope is in fact operational in space.

Thank you for watching. I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.

"WORLD SPORT" is next.

And then there is more CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour.

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