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Trump Tells Axios He Expects Iran Talks Will Resume This Week; Two Giant Pandas Arrive at Zoo Atlanta on Rare Loan From China; Thousands Turn Out to Celebrate Mass with Pope Leo During Lourdes Visit. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 27, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone! Thank you so much for joining me. I am Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with President Trump saying he expects talks with Iran to continue this week. The President made a comment to Axios. Just yesterday, he rejected Iran's latest proposal which would have included fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for the U.S. meeting certain conditions, including ending the naval blockade of Iran.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is at The White House. So can you tell us about these developments.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump now says that he believes that talks in some form with Iran could take place in this coming week. He said this in an interview with Axios. And I want to pull up part of that for you now. He said, "I expect more talks with Iran. They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand."

Now, there he seems to be referring to a recent proposal from Iran that Iran says would lead to the swift reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for some long standing demands that it has made of the United States.

As you mentioned, Trump did say yesterday while speaking with reporters here at The White House that he rejects that proposal. In fact, he went on to refer to it as unacceptable. The details on what is in that proposal are still scarce, but Iran's Foreign Minister said that it did nothing more than what was in the Memorandum of Understanding.

That agreement that both the United States and Iran signed on to back in June, but it was scrapped shortly thereafter. All of this taking place just days after Trump spoke at the United Nations General Assembly and he did focus a good portion of his remarks on this conflict. He said that he was still in deciding mode when it comes to Iran. He said that he believed that there could be an agreement coming after the midterms, suggesting that Tehran is working to put political pressure on him. But in that same speech, he also said that he was considering

annihilating Iran. He went on to say that he could drive them into, "hell" with no chance of survival.

This happening as this conflict is now stretching toward that seventh month mark. It has gone on much longer than the President originally, at least publicly predicted.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, Julia Benbrooke, thank you so much. I should have said ending the naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, not of Iran.

All right, turning now to the nor'easter that has caused widespread damage in multiple East Coast states. More than 100,000 people are without power after gusty winds toppled power lines and sent big waves crashing into the shore. The storm is also causing a ripple effect of flight disruptions across the nation.

So far, there are more than 4,500 flight delays and nearly 500 cancellations. Several major airlines are waiving change fees to various northeast airports.

And in North Carolina, officials have activated an emergency ferry service to Hatteras Island. People living there became stuck after the highway connecting it to the mainland was damaged by the storm. CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam brings us the latest from the hard hit Massachusetts Coast.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Fredricka, Even though our powerful early season nor'easter is slowly starting to lose its strength, its presence is still known. I mean, just look at the crashing waves here in Hull, Massachusetts. This has been the story over the past couple of days as the powerful northeasterly winds associated with this storm continue to churn up the Atlantic Ocean, push it towards the seawall. We've seen instances of some of those waves crashing up and over the seawall, in Scituate, Massachusetts yesterday, making for dangerous and treacherous conditions.

Speaking of that, we know how impactful this nor'easter has been from transportation to airlines canceling flights, delaying flights. Also canceling festivals and music events, all kinds of plans upended by this early season powerful nor'easter, which, by the way, for this to happen -- there is some sea spray coming in from that angry ocean, getting our lens wet right now. This is just really what we've been experiencing because with this blinding rain that's been coming in and out, it has caused flash flooding in parts of Massachusetts.

There was a wind gust of 70 miles an hour as my photojournalist wipes off the camera lens so we can broadcast to you, it has been powerful. And even though it wasn't a hurricane or a tropical storm, it had similar impacts to that, meaning the coastal flooding, the coastal erosion, the power outages, as well as the localized flooding that occurred.

We are going to say goodbye and good riddance to this storm as it slowly turns off the East Coast in the coming days. We are not quite done with it just yet. There is still more wind, more rain for parts of Southern New England, but the worst is behind us and that's the good news.

Fredricka, back to you.

[15:05:10]

WHITFIELD: All right, Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

Let's bring in now CNN meteorologist, Melissa Nord, who is tracking the storm. So a few more days to go, huh?

MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A couple more days to go. But as Derek was kind of mentioning, the peak of this storm, that's done, but it lingers and it lingers through the rest of today, through tomorrow. Finally, by Tuesday, we are really in the clear here.

If we can put on weather graphics 106 in that monitor, that will help me a little bit. So we've seen our peak wind gusts in some of the areas 81 miles per hour. That peak wind gust happened out in Montauk. That was in New York. So, you can see some of these peak wind gusts. Surf City, New Jersey, 74 mile per hour wind gusts. Stony Brook, New York, 71; Wellfleet, Massachusetts and even though the winds have come down a little bit from our peak intensity by quite a bit, the impacts to air travel in some areas is escalating today, almost more than it did yesterday.

So some of those wind gusts right now gusting 36 miles per hour at Boston Logan Airport, that is where there is currently a ground stop in effect. You can see another slug of deep moisture as we see the counterclockwise flow going around that system working onshore.

This is going to make for a really soggy evening through New York City. And then by tomorrow morning, that slug of moisture working up the coastline into Boston as well.

There are the delays. Ground stop right now, 243-minute delay on average for Boston, LaGuardia 139. So, a huge headache there. We are seeing a lot of improvements, though, as you work your way down the 95 corridor into the mid-Atlantic.

Rain pushing on shore again tonight. It is those counterclockwise winds around it that are bringing more of that deep moisture onshore to the New England area as well. That's 7:00 A.M. tomorrow, really messy commute there if you're trying to head in towards Boston tomorrow morning.

And then finally, by the end of tomorrow, it is out of the Northeast, but still up in Maine, dealing with those lingering impacts into early on Tuesday.

You can see rain to come, still another one to three inches, some places could see four inches in total. I think though, the flash flooding potential, Fredricka hasn't been as high because its spanned over multiple days in a row versus getting that quick six inches all in one day. WHITFIELD: Okay, a little bit of a reprieve.

NORD: Still, still --

WHITFIELD: Still pretty bad.

NORD: We are going to see some big storms.

WHITFIELD: That's right. All right, Melissa, thank you.

All right, we will continue to monitor the storm throughout the hour and you can check on it as well 24/7 by downloading CNN's new Weather app. And you can find a link to it at cnn.com/weather or the iPhone App Store, or just use the Q.R. code at the bottom of the screen here.

All right, still to come, Pope Leo drawing huge crowds on his trip to France. We will have a live report on today's special mass.

Plus, panda excitement: A warm welcome for the new residents of Zoo Atlanta. We will have all the details on the diplomatic act of cuteness.

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[15:12:39]

WHITFIELD: Just hours after landing, they are already creating quite the buzz at Zoo Atlanta. Two giant pandas arriving from China earlier today, part of Beijing's long standing tradition of panda diplomacy dating back to 1972. The pair is getting settled into their new digs, where they will spend about a month in quarantine before meeting the public.

We are joined now by CNN's David Culver, as well as Rafael Romo. Rafael, you there in Atlanta, outside Zoo Atlanta. So it has been a couple years since Atlanta has hosted giant pandas. What has been the reaction and the journey like?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a couple of things, Fred. Number one, people remember having pandas here for a quarter of a century and losing them, like you mentioned a couple of years ago. The other thing is that people don't really know if this is going to do anything to improve relations between China and the United States.

But after landing at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, each panda bear was transported in a separate FedEx truck showing a panda bear image on the side of the cargo area. Each truck carried a crate inside that served as a panda bear's transportation unit, as they were escorted by police for the 10-mile trip between the airport and the zoo in the same containers used for their entire trip from China.

CNN witnessed the moment just before 7:00 this morning when FedEx flight 9756, the FedEx Panda Express landed at the airport after a more than 15-hour flight from Chengdu, a Chinese provincial capital, where the bears are from and where a Chinese panda bear breeding program is located.

Chinese President Xi announced Thursday during his remarks at The White House that China would send two panda bears to the United States, calling the bear species an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and Americans.

We asked a couple of visitors here at the zoo if they think this goodwill gesture matters, and they told us they believe it is one exciting and sure fussy step in the right direction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA KEIDA, ATLANTA VISITOR: I think every little bit helps. So I know I've seen the pandas here before and everyone loves them, so you know, if it is going to make some people happy, then every little bit counts.

DALE KEIDA, ATLANTA VISITOR: I think it matters for families and people that want to visit the zoo. As far as our relationship with China, I don't know. It is hard to say. We will have to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:15:10]

ROMO: Ping Ping, the panda's name means peace. The same name given to the bear China gave to the Soviet Union in 1957. Ping Ping was born in march 2020. Fu Shuang the female panda's name means double blessings and was also born in 2020. But in October, seven months later than the male panda.

Now Fred, here is the important thing, they are going to be in quarantine for about a month. The whole idea here is to make sure that they are healthy, but also that they become friendly with each other. And so maybe, I don't know, in a few years we can talk about not only two pandas, but maybe three, four, a big family -- who knows? It remains to be seen. Right?

Now, back to you.

WHITFIELD: That's right. All right, we will be happy with the two for now. Thank you so much, Rafael.

All right, David, to you. So the President of China calling this an envoy of friendship. So, how significant is this for relations between the U.S. and China?

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is interesting to hear Rafael there talking to folks saying, yes, we are not quite sure what that is going to mean for the relationship between the U.S. and China, but in a unique, very distinct way, this panda diplomacy that dates back to 1972, when Nixon visited and then started as a gift and then became a loan, an expensive one at that, roughly a pair of panda costs about a million dollars a year for most zoos, and this has now really indicated that it is a barometer of sorts between the relationship between these two countries, and really the relationship that China has with other countries as well.

So I will take a step back. I mean, yes, the U.S. is now receiving them. We have six. But I remember going into late 2023, the two pandas at the National Zoo in D.C. actually three, including one of their cubs, were sent back to China and we were at a point there, Fred, where we thought there would be zero pandas left in the U.S. and that also was indicative of the relationship at the time between the U.S. and China.

I mean, from when I lived in China from 2019, the pandemic hit. In fact, these two pandas who are coming here were born in the midst of the pandemic. So they are familiar with quarantine in that sense. But there were really concerns between how the U.S. and China could get any worse. It felt like an all-time low.

And so then in 2023, you saw President Xi Jinping come to San Francisco, announced that pandas would be coming back. We are now from an all-time high of about 15 pandas in the U.S. about a decade ago, sitting at six. But obviously, people look at this and say, well, it is better than zero.

And Rafael mentioned, the hope for these pandas to have cubs of their own. I mean, that's the intention. This is months, if not years in the making, and not just the deals that go in. I mean, these are several pages long contracts between the zoos and the Chinese Wildlife Commission, but also the science behind it.

The actual pairing of these two pandas, they look at genetics, the health, personality. They are going to get along, and they know that that's obviously something that's going to lead to ultimately, from a science perspective, the success of these species, which have been downgraded from being endangered, just, you know, a decade plus ago to now vulnerable.

So yes, people look at this from, you know, an enjoyment perspective. They are the number one attraction at most zoos that have the fortunate capabilities to house them, but also from a diplomatic perspective, at least in the moment, it indicates some sort of stabilized relationships.

WHITFIELD: That's good. I think people will celebrate the two. If there are more, you know, it becomes three. That's cool too. But for now, this is pretty great.

All right. David Culver, thank you so much.

All right, now to Pope Leo, who continues his historic visit to France. The Pontiff is in Lourdes, where he just met with abuse survivors after celebrating mass with thousands of the faithful. CNN's Vatican correspondent, Christopher Lamb is traveling with the Pope.

Christopher, what more can you tell us?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have seen big crowds turning out for the first American Pope in France. It might be a very secularized culture here, but there have been hundreds of thousands for Pope Leo. The mass in Paris was extraordinary, with around 800,000 people turning out. And here in Lourdes, also big crowds for the mass on Sunday morning.

And then this evening, a more intimate and you could say prayerful event down at the grotto in Lourdes, Pope Leo leading a procession, a torchlight procession down in the most spiritual and holy part of Lourdes, which is a major pilgrimage site. It is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year from all over the world.

Now, the Pope has been following a jam-packed schedule here in France. He has met with abuse victims and been facing up to the abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in France. He has also been speaking out against assisted dying. That is a law -- assisted dying law that was passed in France recently, and to do so in Lourdes is very significant because this is a place where people who are sick and terminally ill come to. So the Pope has been emphasizing that as well.

[15:20:20]

And on Monday, the Pope will travel to Metz on the France-German border, where he will deliver a very important speech to political leaders in Europe. We are expecting it to focus on unity and peace, and he is keeping up really, you know, a hectic schedule as he finishes a four-day trip to France that has been really historic and has drawn this incredible turnout.

WHITFIELD: And covering a lot of ground while there.

All right, Christopher Lamb, thank you so much.

Just ahead, the midterm map in this country has changed. Which party will come out ahead? How the redistricting wars could reshape the balance of power in Congress.

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[15:25:21]

WHITFIELD: President Trump set off a redistricting frenzy last year. Some blue states tried and failed to counter a wave of red states redrawing maps. CNN's Marshall Cohen explains how Democrats tied their own hands in the gerrymandering wars.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just a very simple redrawing. We pick up five seats.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER (voice over): Trump is talking about redrawing districts to benefit Republicans.

COHEN (on camera): And that started a gerrymandering arms race.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The Texas Senate approved a new Republican-drawn congressional map.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Florida redrew its map.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tennessee --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alabama.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Louisiana.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ohio redrew its map. That's two seats.

REP. KEVIN KILEY (I-CA): It's just state after state after state.

COHEN: But the arms race could only go so far, and that's because while these states changed their maps, others enacted reforms years earlier, making it harder or impossible to gerrymander on demand.

Here is why the gerrymandering arms race hit its limit, and how that could cost Democrats control of Congress.

COHEN (voice over): A lot of this can be traced back to the 2010 Midterm Elections.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the overall map. You can see that sweeping change of color from all of that blue to all of that red.

COHEN: Republicans won new trifectas in several states. So, what does that mean? Well, if Republicans control the state House, the state Senate, and the governorship, a map that Republican lawmakers propose can sail through the legislature and get signed into law with few political obstacles.

COHEN (voice over): With all those trifectas in place, Republicans held on to the U.S. House until 2019. Now, at the same time, something else was happening. Other states, mostly blue states, were moving in the other direction with support from voting rights groups like Common Cause.

OMAR NOURELDIN, POLICY AND LITIGATION STRATEGY, COMMON CAUSE: There was a movement to say how do we fix this problem, and so, Common Cause looked at a number of different proposals about how to counter that. And one of them was independent redistricting commissions.

COHEN (voice over): Some states tried it, including Maryland. I spoke to Walter Olson, who was appointed to that state's commission in 2021.

WALTER OLSON, FORMER CHAIR, FREDERICK COUNTY, MARYLAND CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION: The idea of a redistricting commission is you take the work of drawing the lines out of the hands of the most self-interested group, typically, the state legislators, and you give it to someone else.

COHEN: What's it like in that room?

OLSON: We would argue, and we would argue, and then, we would find some common ground of agreement to move forward.

COHEN: What are we looking at here? These were the original maps before you started your work.

OLSON: This was the existing gerrymander that was in place.

COHEN: Okay. This is also from the original map.

OLSON: District number three, by some measures, that's the worst and most laughed at in the whole country. A judge called this a broken- winged pterodactyl. Now, people have called it a lot of names, but what it isn't is a logical collection of communities.

COHEN: And now, I'm going to pull up the map that your commission drew. First impression: it looks a lot cleaner.

OLSON: Well, I sure hope it does, because we concentrated on things like respecting county lines. We kept most of them together.

COHEN: Maryland is one of several states where the redistricting commission is advisory. That means the maps they make are just a starting point. Lawmakers can adopt them, amend them, or throw them out in the trash.

What happened at the end?

OLSON: The legislature ignored our maps and pulled out of their desk a terrible gerrymander that went even further than the last one.

COHEN: So, they said, thank you, Walter. Thank you to the commission. We are not interested.

OLSON: No, they didn't say thank you. They ignored us completely. But then it went to court. And it was sued, and they pulled out a second map, which was of all miracles, it was way more reasonable, and that's the one they enacted.

So, Maryland graduated from being arguably the worst congressional gerrymander in the whole country to being at least halfway up.

COHEN (voice over): However, a few states have commissions that are truly independent, and they draw the final maps. And then, some other states fall somewhere in between. Now, all of this is on a state level.

COHEN: But on a national level, something else was happening. In 2016, Common Cause filed this lawsuit against North Carolina for its partisan gerrymander. It went all the way up to the Supreme Court.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Justices say that federal courts must stay out of disputes over whether politicians go too far in drawing district lines for partisan gain.

COHEN: And that meant that any future safeguards against gerrymandering would need to come from the states.

Some states are much less likely to enact reforms.

NOURELDIN: Sometimes the political power in a particular state is so strong and so entrenched, and we are not able to get those reforms.

The idea was that these independent redistricting commissions could be passed state by state, but what we saw is that it didn't catch fire in the way that, you know, reform efforts hoped it would.

COHEN (voice over): So, when Trump called for redistricting, states that had enacted reforms later found out that they actually tied their own hands. For example, look at what happened in Virginia this year.

[15:30:10]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The Virginia Supreme Court has invalidated what was a Democratic-drawn congressional map.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: The redistricting plan in Virginia, that passed in a statewide referendum just last month.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The procedure to set up the referendum, which voters had voted on just over two weeks ago, that did not comply with Virginia's state constitution.

COHEN: Other states also struggle to override their commissions. For instance, in Colorado, one proposal didn't even make it on the ballot. These fumbles could give Republicans a much-needed leg up in the November elections.

COHEN (voice over): Republicans could net about nine additional House seats if the redrawn districts perform as intended in their favor.

COHEN: But one state could rebalance the scales for Democrats, and that's California, which normally uses an independent commission to redraw its maps, which look like this. But voters in California last year voted to approve a referendum to override their commission. The Democratic legislature designed this new map to possibly flip five current Republican seats. Look at all that blue.

For groups like Common Cause that have worked for years to stop this from happening, it was a pretty bittersweet moment.

NOURELDIN: It's a sad situation that we are in, and accepting the political realities is part of the job of organizations like Common Cause, and trying to balance two things: short-term harm mitigation versus the long-term goal of fair maps.

At the end of the day, fair representation and fair maps is the goal.

COHEN: So, where do we go from here? Well, the November election still needs to happen. We will see who wins and who loses. But lawmakers and advocates are working still on their long-term plans to bring gerrymandering to an end.

NOURELDIN: We would love the idea of every state independently making, you know, adopting the same rule, but that's not going to happen.

OLSON: I still support drawing lines fairly, even if you are in a season of adversity. We don't want to wake up with the short-term battle won, and all of a sudden, we find that we have undone a lot of work that took many, many years to put in place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you to Marshall Cohen for that report.

All right, this week, watch two candidates face off in the race for California governor with the economy, housing, A.I. and so much more at stake. Who will voters choose? The California Governor Debate, Wednesday, 9:00 P.M. Eastern, right here on CNN and streaming live with an all-access subscription.

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[15:37:17]

WHITFIELD: U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche is defending The President's recent press ban on media outlets, including CNN. Today, Blanche says the President had a right to block CNN from its scheduled T.V. pool duties aboard Air Force One on Saturday, citing National Security concerns. That move came after Trump blocked CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from The White House last week, complaining about negative coverage. A federal judge later temporarily lifted that ban.

Blanche also said access to The White House is a privilege, not a right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The unfortunate and sad thing here is that after years and years and years of one-sided media coverage of the President from certain outlets, the President finally said it is not fair to the American people that this is happening and did something about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now to talk more about this is Harry Litman. He is a former U.S. attorney and a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General.

Harry, always great to see you.

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Hey, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Okay, so, yes, there is a lot here. I mean, what do you make of the Attorney General's defense of these Trump media bans? I mean, does it pass the legal test of the Constitution?

LITMAN: Well, possibly on the plane, which I will get to in a moment, but both the point he is making Fredricka do not hold water. The tradition is very clear that everyone has been able to be on the press plane to date and this hasn't been what Blanche is defending and it is really important to note this is flat out viewpoint discrimination. Why aren't they there? Trump doesn't like what they said -- and that's the second point, this National Security thing is just something they've come into court and have made motions about.

But the judge in the District Court said, I don't see any National Security thing here. Sorry. We really should frame this for what it is flat out viewpoint discrimination. I don't like what you said CNN. Go away.

WHITFIELD: So is it your feeling that this is going to be the road ahead that The White House continues to, or will continue to kind of pick and choose which outlets, which directions of coverage are suitable, even though the U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly's order last week is temporary, is this not this point of view you're calling a viewpoint discrimination? Is it not a violation even of this temporary order?

LITMAN: Yes, it looks like it should be. But they are really playing on the margins. Kelly said, give them back those press passes and they have given them back. But now, they are trying to exclude them however they can. So the press plane is a special case.

We know that the President can exclude people from the Oval Office, the press plane, though, if it is a place where people come in to gather news, as it sure seems to be, then he can't do it. But there is an opinion in the D.C. Circuit that is the one over this judge that says, well, the plane, that is just where they are traveling to places they are not actually gathering the news so we can keep them -- so the President can keep them even for -- this is the important point -- viewpoint discrimination that intention with Supreme Court doctrine, I think. And it was a stay, not a final decision on the merits.

[15:40:33]

So it looks to me like yes, they are going to keep fighting the fight, but not down the middle, rather, just try to pick away at CNN's ability to cover places that they can argue at least, oh, we didn't establish this for people to come in and cover. This is just like the Oval Office. That is their argument here.

WHITFIELD: Okay. But on the plane, it is not just an issue of transportation. Sometimes the President has a soundbite or two. He expresses himself. That is part of coverage and doesn't Air Force One serve as a White House in the air, so to speak? I mean, why is it different?

LITMAN: I think that's really clear. You're right and that means the D.C. Circuit opinion by a very conservative panel is wrong. You know, even besides those visits back, they are on the plane not for their own health or junket. They're going somewhere to gather the news and they're sharing the news together because there is limited space on the plane.

So to me, it very much is like the press pool. Everyone is in it to gather news and it is a very contrived distinction to say, well, while they are on the plane, they're not gathering news. They are just going to South Dakota to gather news. That's part and parcel.

It is clear that a forum, Fredricka, isn't a physical place. It is a general concept you could say where The White House has said some people can come in to do private expression. I think you're right about that. What the other court said was, well, they're just really traveling, not gathering news. I don't think that's a distinction that holds up. But that case is looming out there and gives The White House cover, at least on things like the press plane.

One more quick point: The other networks are hanging together. So when it comes CNN's time to give the pool coverage from something on the plane, the others are saying, you won't let CNN, we will go dark as well. So at least for now, it is kind of exacting a cost to The White House, which always wants Trump front and center.

WHITFIELD: All right, Harry Litman, great to see you. Thank you so much.

LITMAN: Thank you. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And straight ahead, the Trump administration says the economy is turning a corner, but are voters feeling that? Why that disconnect could show up at the polls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:41]

WHITFIELD: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is painting an optimistic picture of the U.S. economy. Bessent claiming today in an interview on Fox News that it is in a, "acceleration phase" and also predicting that oil prices will come down. But here is the reality for most Americans, they are paying about 50 percent more on average at the pump than before the war with Iran began, and wage growth slowed in August to a five-year low.

Let's discuss now with Lelaine Bigelow, Executive Director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. Great to see you. Your new Family, Economic Well-Being Index finds 70 percent of Americans are facing at least one economic burden. So, how do you reconcile those two pictures of the economy?

LELAINE BIGELOW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE GEORGETOWN CENTER ON POVERTY AND INEQUALITY: Well, thanks for having me here today. Both things can be true, and the thing that I would like to point out is that families experience the economy through their paychecks and through their bills.

And while the economic indicators like GDP and Unemployment Index are important, you know, what we are trying to build With the Family Economic Well-Being Index was to look at people and look at families and what are their costs, what are their basic needs? Housing, health care, food and child care. And like you said, 70 percent of people are facing at least one economic burden.

WHITFIELD: And Bessent also said that Americans are, "keeping more of what they make." Based on what you've seen, is the average American family seeing more money left over after they pay for all those basics? BIGELOW: You know, I would find that hard to believe from our index.

You know, one thing that I find particularly striking is that no matter what income level you are, health care costs, you know, are still very high. It takes up a disproportionate amount of folks' income. And so I don't know if they're putting it away. It sounds like more -- it looks like more actually, that they are putting their health care at risk by, you know, probably not taking care of themselves or things like that.

WHITFIELD: A new CNN poll shows most Americans are not feeling good about how President Trump is handling the economy. In fact, 73 percent said they are not satisfied with the job that he is doing. And in that same poll, just 28 percent call economic conditions in the country good.

[15:50:10]

So what does that tell us about the difference between the economy on paper and the economy people are actually living and feeling?

BIGELOW: Well, once again, the math that we see in our index is that costs are going up and wages are, you know, pretty stagnant. And so that to me shows that people aren't feeling like they can get by. People are feeling like they are struggling to meet the basics. And that is well into the middle class.

Even though we are a Poverty Center, we are seeing this well into the upper income quintiles and everybody feels like they're struggling.

WHITFIELD: Wow! All right. Lelaine Bigelow, glad you could be with us. Thank you so much.

BIGELOW: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: Ahead, in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM, a stunning new study on smartphone use and young teens. Coming up, we will look at the research of how much more likely children could show symptoms of an eating disorder.

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WHITFIELD: Stanford University is apologizing after an office used A.I. to edit a photo used in a campus dining ad. The controversy has led some to question both the use of A.I. and how schools portray diversity on campuses.

CNN's Jason Carroll has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 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 A.I.

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 (voice over): Billy Ramirez, who is majoring in biology, is the student in the original photo. He says he first found out about the A.I. 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 (voice over): "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 A.I. 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 (voice over): A university spokesperson said, "We have reviewed the matter and confirmed that A.I. was used to alter the image in violation of university policy. The banners with the image in question have been removed. Stanford's A.I. policy is clear. The use of A.I. 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 (voice over): This isn't the first time universities have been caught altering photos in the name of diversity. Long before A.I. 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 A.I. that makes it so much easier to get to that point.

CARROLL (voice over): 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)

WHITFIELD: Our thanks to Jason Carroll for that.

All right, the premiere of "Saturday Night Live" kicked off its 52nd season by poking fun at one of the big stories to come out of the Trump administration over the summer, the President's assistant, Natalie Harp.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I came in case you needed anything, because, baby boy, you've been on my mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beyonce. Isn't she great? She's like the girl from "Obsession," but blond.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No! I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I am totally normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, New York Knicks' star, Jalen Brunson was the host. During his monologue, his world champion teammates made a surprise appearance to big cheers from the audience because they were also in the audience.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I am Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. The midterm elections, which will decide control of the House and Senate are now just 37 days away, and recent polls continue to show Democrats enjoying a lead over Republicans in their choice for Congress. Those polls also show Trump's approval rating at historic lows heading into a midterm election.

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