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CNN This Morning

Trump Says CNN, MS NOW, POLITICO Banned From White House; U.S. Military Had Close Call After Using AI For False Intelligence Report; U.S. Clears Way For $24.3 Billion Fighter Jet Sale To Saudi Arabia. GOP Representative Salazar Breaks from President Trump on Immigration Policy in Re-election Ad; Prosecutors Reveal Affair Allegations in Caleb Flynn Murder Trial; Ed Sheeran Set for Philadelphia Concert Amid Controversy. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 19, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:29]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday, September 19th. Good to have you along. Here's what's happening.

President Trump says that he's banning several media outlets, including CNN from the White House. We'll tell you how they're responding.

Plus, a CNN exclusive, how a false intelligence report created with AI almost triggered military action against China.

Plus, new developments in the fight over the Kennedy Center. Protesters arm in arm rallied against President Trump's attempt to remake center. And this is happening as more than a dozen more employees were let go last night.

Also, Ed Sheeran is scheduled to play in Philadelphia tonight without an opening act. They all dropped out after rapper McLemore was booted from the tour. The fallout and the reaction coming up this morning on CNN This Morning.

All right. Thanks for being with me. I'm Victor Blackwell. We begin this morning with President Trump and he says he has banned three media outlets, including CNN from the White House. The president claims the ban on CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO was effective immediately at 3:00 p.m. yesterday.

But as of last night, CNN was still reporting from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories. Now, if they want to write them, that's fine, but I don't have to let them into my -- into the people's house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So it's not clear how the ban on CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO will be enforced. The president did not cite any specific reporting that prompted his declaration. Press freedom and press freedom groups and lawmakers slammed the move as blatant violations of the media's constitutional right to report on government functions.

Here's what Senator Chris Coons told Anderson Cooper last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): We're in the middle of a war. It's been going on seven months and it's going badly. The president just wants to control the coverage of his presidency. The best way for him to get better coverage is to stop doing things that are immoral or illegal or unconstitutional or just downright foolish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's bring in now CNN senior White House reporter Betsy Klein. Betsy, what do we know about the origins of this and maybe what happens next.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Victor, still a lot of questions this morning, but President Trump has long tangled with the press and attacked what he perceives to be unfair coverage. But this appears to mark a dramatic new escalation as the president says that he plans to ban CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from the White House.

Now, one source familiar with the matter tell that some White House staffers were actually caught off guard by this announcement, including members of the president's own press shop who were left scrambling to get details on this ban, how it would be enforced, when it would begin. And to just take you a little bit behind the scenes here, White House reporters have something called a hard pass.

They complete a background check. That is how they get onto campus. Will that be impacted? Another question is that there is this rotating network pool of the five networks that get to go into the small group events like in the Oval Office and ask the president questions.

What will happen there as well as what happens when President Trump is traveling. He has a lot of midterm coverage coming up in the next few weeks. Now, we are still seeking clarity from the White House on all of that. There are also still a lot of questions on the legality here.

Constitutional experts say that the president does not have the right to do this. If he tries to implement this ban, it is likely unconstitutional. But here's what President Trump had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I think it's good to point it out, whether it survives or doesn't. I mean, I don't think a court should allow depends on the judge you get. To be honest with you. I don't think that a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day. I think that somebody has a right to keep them away if they're going to write false stories all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now we are 45 days away from a midterm election. The president's approval rating is at 36 percent. The country is at war with Iran. Iran gas prices at around $4.47 a gallon nationwide on average.

[06:05:02]

And this is what the president is choosing to focus on. We will continue, Victor, to do our jobs.

BLACKWELL: Certainly will. Betsy Klein from Washington, thank you so much. CNN issued this statement in response to the President's ban. CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. We have a right under the U.S. constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government.

Should the ban, which the President Trump threatened, go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally protected right.

Now, you know, this is not the first time President Trump has tried to restrict reporters from the White House. Shortly after taking office, he banned Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office and Air Force One. After the AP refused to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America in its style book, the AP sued. The lawsuit is ongoing.

You also remember 2018. CNN's then White House correspondent Jim Acosta had his press credentials revoked after a combative exchange with the president at a news conference. CNN sued and a federal judge restored his press pass within days.

All right. Now to that CNN exclusive I mentioned at the top of the show. Sources tell CNN that the U.S. military had what they describe as a close call with planned military Chinese ship and the sources say it was because of an intelligence report that was created with the help of AI that generated flawed information.

CNN senior reporter Zach Cohen has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Sources are telling me and our colleague Katie Bo Lillis that this intelligence report was circulated through the U.S. military earlier this spring while the war with Iran was still ongoing. And it concluded that a Chinese vessel that was transiting through the Middle East was likely carrying components of a nuclear weapons program. Now that obviously caught the attention of U.S. military officials who

immediately moved to prepare for a potential operation targeting that ship, even taking steps towards possibly boarding the vessel. We're told that it was when military aircraft were in the sky and that this operation looked like it was going to be underway.

That U.S. officials took a closer look at the intelligence report itself and determined that it had been generated with the help of AI and that the chatbot used by a special operations analyst had misidentified the ship's cargo, ultimately leading U.S. officials and military to pull the plug on the planned operation and hence likely avoiding a potential international incident with one of the world's other superpowers.

Now this is reviving and contributing to ongoing concerns and the debate about the place of AI and going forward in the US's commitment to potential guardrails around AI and the U.S. military under President Donald Trump and his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, have been very AI forward during their second time in office.

Hegseth himself set out a memo earlier this year saying that he wants the military to be experimental in how it uses AI and to incorporate it in nearly every facet of its job, whether that be targeting operations or more mundane tasks like budgeting. This is going to raise additional questions, though, given the close call, as our sources characterized it, in terms of incorporating an intelligence report that was aided by AI and ultimately proved to be, as one source put it, entirely false.

So another source saying and reiterating that this was not necessarily a one off incident, that AI, the use of AI, particularly when it comes to precision targeting operations, is increasing under Pete Hegseth, the source says, quote, AI and targeting is definitely something that's ramping up. And there is no real guidance for how having a human in the loop will prevent civilian casualties or fratricide.

And so that does speak to another concern we're hearing from our sources is that there is no consistent guidance coming from the very top levels of the Pentagon about how the military branches should be using AI, which tools and which systems they should even be using. There is very little consistency across all of the services on that regard. And as we've seen in the in this case with the Chinese vessel, at times, AI can be incorporated into producing intelligence that almost goes to operational status without being fully vetted.

And so again, we've heard lawmakers here in Washington, D.C. debate in recent weeks about potential guardrails around the use of AI. The Pentagon and the U.S. Military, meanwhile, has been on the forefront of trying to find ways to incorporate AI more. And it will be interesting to see how this revelation may impact the Pentagon's stance on AI going forward. Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Zach, thanks so much for that exclusive report.

[06:10:00]

Here's a look at some of the other stories making headlines this morning. You see here some of the hundreds of people who gathered outside the Kennedy Center in Washington yesterday to protest President Trump's continued efforts to rename the building. Demonstrators formed a human chain as part of the Hands Around Kennedy Center rally.

More than a dozen people were laid off also at the Kennedy Center this week. At least 100 others have either been dismissed or they've resigned since February. The president says the building is in terrible shape and may need to be ripped down.

Now this was after a federal judge forced the administration to remove his name from the National Memorial for John F. Kennedy.

President Trump signed into law a sweeping new bill targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine, the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. It allows the Trump admin administration to impose tariffs up to 100 percent on major buyers of Russian oil. It also penalizes senior Russian officials, including Vladimir Putin, as well as banks and financial institutions. The bill was sent to the president after rare bipartisan support in Congress.

Cuba is struggling through the worst energy crisis in the country's history. The entire electrical grid there collapsed again yesterday, plunging more than 9 million people into complete dark. Officials blame the total power loss on a high voltage transmission failure that caused the system to break down.

Cuba's aging electrical infrastructure has been hit especially hard by fuel shortages, deteriorating equipment and an ongoing U.S. oil embargo.

Still to come, President Trump is moving ahead with selling dozens of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, while some are now warning that could pose national security risks.

And we are finally hearing from that lone holdout juror in the Lindsey Clancy case. Why he says he thought he -- she rather was guilty from day one.

Plus, Ed Sheeran's drama filled tour scheduled to continue tonight without an opening act. We have more details when we come back.

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[06:17:00]

BLACKWELL: The Trump administration says that it has now approved the potential multibillion dollar sale of F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. If Congress approves the plan, that would make Saudi Arabia the only -- only the second Middle Eastern country besides Israel to operate these advanced weapons.

Let's go now to CNN's Paula Hancock. So significant development. Tell us more.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor. This is a deal that Saudi Arabia has been courting for years now wanting to be in possession of America's most advanced system. Now these are the F- 35 stealth fighter jets. The deal we understand is worth more than $24 billion.

Now there have been some concerns about the U.S. selling them to Saudi Arabia, most notably from Israel. Back in November when the U.S. President touted this deal could go ahead, we heard one Israeli security source telling CNN that it was, quote, very concerning, worried about altering the balance in the region. We have heard from the State Department a statement clearly trying to address some of these concerns. I'll read it to you.

They say, quote, the proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter military balance in the region. But if it does go ahead, if it is approved by Congress, it will mean that Saudi Arabia is only the second country in the Middle East to be part of this fighter jet program.

Now we did understand originally when this was being talked about it was going to be in the wider context of a normalization of deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel. That does not appear to be one of the stipulations at this point.

President Trump also during his first administration was close to a similar deal with the United Arab Emirates for these F-35. But at that point the following Biden administration canceled the deal because they had concerns about close relations between the UAE and China. Experts say that is a very similar situation to Saudi Arabia. The ties between Saudi Arabia and China are significant, potentially getting closer. So there are other concerns about agreeing to this deal.

But at this point the State Department, the Trump administration has approved it and certainly it would be a, an upgrade to the Saudi military capability and certainly at a time when they need it, when they are engaged in these hostilities against the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. Of course, it will be some years before these jets would be delivered if it is all approved. Victor.

BLACKWELL: Paula Hancocks reporting from Abu Dhabi. Thank you.

A dramatic first day of testimony in the trial against the former American Idol contestant accused of killing his wife. The text messages this accused killer allegedly sent to his mistress.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:24:26]

BLACKWELL: President Trump suffered a series of setbacks this week. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in three years, a sign the economy is still dealing with inflation. Also, the Supreme Court shot down his bid to restrict mail-in voting. And he's locked in a fight over the Kennedy Center. The president is unhappy with the coverage he's received. He posted on social media yesterday that he's banning CNN, MS NOW, POLITICO from the White House. Joining me now is White House correspondent for USA Today, Joey Garrison. Joey, good to see you again.

[06:25:00]

So this was effective immediately at 3:00 p.m. yesterday, but the CNN team continued reporting throughout the evening. So we don't know really what it means.

I want to play for you what sounds like the President in the Oval Office acknowledging maybe the unviability of this. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Good. I think it's good to point it out, whether it survives or does it. I mean, I don't think a court should allow. Depends on the judge you get, to be honest with you. I don't think that a court should allow fake news to be written day after day after day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: He knows the history with Jim Acosta and the AP. What is this about?

JOEY GARRISON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, USA TODAY: Yes, I mean, I think it's hard to ignore that this, this media ban, and we'll see if it ends up being a ban on the three outlets. You know, comes at a period where we're six weeks out from the midterm elections. And Trump has seen story after story about how Republicans are really struggling right now, that they're in real close elections in very reliably red states like Iowa, Kansas, Alaska. And then you mentioned the setbacks.

You know, Trump continues to make news in this battle over getting his name on the Kennedy Center. You had the Fed raise interest rates even though President Trump for years raised, railed on Jerome Powell and picked Kevin Warsh with the -- with the specific goal of trying to lower interest rates. So I think he is a frustrated president right now. And I think that's what you saw him do by announcing this. I think you saw that as a reflection of that with this ban that he announced late yesterday.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk more about the midterms because the President has been pitching himself and his administration, you know, the golden age of America. He posted again this glossy three-minute video on social media talking about his accomplishments. But you're hearing something different from Vice President Vance. Let's play what he's saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: There's a lot of good that's been done, but there's a lot of work left to do. Don't give power to the people who cause the problems that we're fixing. Give us another chance or give us another couple of years to continue to work on the amazing things that we've been doing for the past two years.

I always tell you, ladies and gentlemen, whenever you hear me talk during this midterm campaign, I'll say Rome was not built today because we know there's a lot of work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Give us another chance. Rome wasn't built in a day. Is Vance off message or is this an intentional dual message?

GARRISON: Well, I think there is some friction there, right, in terms of the messaging. I mean, I don't think Trump wants Republicans right now to be running on the give me another chance message. But I think that is an acknowledgment that right now the economy is not where a lot of Americans want it to be, that the Trump campaign ran on lowering prices, including gas prices especially, remain high.

And so I do think intentional -- I don't think it's intentional, but I think that there is sort of a message conflict right there with the two, with the president and what you're hearing from the vice president. And I think you're also seeing right now Republicans, many of them starting to realize they have to separate from the president in ways that they can.

You saw several of them not go to that midterm convention last week in Dallas. And you're seeing other ways as well in which they're trying to get space between themselves and a president who is, you know, right now, very quite low approval ratings, really at its all time low right now, six weeks before the midterm election.

BLACKWELL: The highest profile one, I think this week was Congresswoman Salazar out of South Florida, who stood in front of the White house and said, Mr. President, some of your immigration tactics have gone too far. You know, we talked a lot about what that means for her and her race and her constituency. But what does that potentially mean in Texas to have a Latina congresswoman say that you've gone too far in tight races in Arizona, tight races in Nevada?

GARRISON: Yes. I mean, if you think about how President Trump won the 2024 election, he improved with a lot of demographics that he had historically struggled with. This wasn't to say he won Hispanic voters outright, but he improved greatly to really, especially among Hispanic men. And now if you look at polling, I know in the New York Times poll this week, I mean, really, it's cratered to the level it was during his first term. It's precipitately gotten worse.

And, you know, he -- right now has lost all that ground that he had won with Latino voters and in these swing congressional districts in South Florida as well as in Texas, you know, that can be a critical liability right now for Republicans.

BLACKWELL: Joey Garrison of "USA Today", always good to have you on the show. Thanks so much. The trial against the former "American Idol" contestant accused of killing his wife kicked off this week.

And prosecutors laid out their case on Friday, and they revealed new information including revelations about an alleged affair and new text messages. Meanwhile, there are also new developments in the Lindsay Clancy trial.

We are finally hearing from that holdout juror whose lone vote to convict Clancy resulted in a mistrial. CNN's Jean Casarez has the latest on both cases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prosecution wasted no time in their closing arguments on Friday, telling the jury that Caleb Flynn had a mistress. It was a year's long affair. There was over 100,000 texts in a year, and that this former music pastor and self-proclaimed man of God was writing texts to his mistress about exactly what he wanted to do with his wife. Take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was up until 4:00 a.m. last night crying, literally, trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail. If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That is how dark and how hateful I feel.

CASAREZ: The defense pushed back, saying, in a lot of those texts, he said that he was going to get a divorce, that's what he wanted to do. And just because someone has a theory or a mindset, it doesn't mean that they executed on it.

It was a shoddy investigation from the beginning. They're making assumptions and they cannot prove this beyond a reasonable doubt. But the prosecution said, oh yes, because we've got forensics, we've got fingerprints, we've got DNA, we've got ballistics.

We have so many electronics, and that will poke holes in what he told law enforcement, show inconsistencies and show that he was not telling the truth. Also on Friday, a very big revelation, the lone holdout juror in the Clancy trial, which we have not heard from at all now has legal representation and has now come out with a statement.

And if you remember, the jurors that were for not guilty by lack of criminal responsibility, some had come out saying that he refused to deliberate, that he just sat there in the jury room, that he wouldn't follow the law, wouldn't follow the instructions.

Well, I want you to listen to what this lone juror is now saying in a statement. "I didn't have any doubts as I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation. I kept getting cut-off as if I had doubts based on the evidence present, based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses, and what the prosecution presents, I thought it was enough proof that she, Clancy knew exactly what she was doing and planned."

The next hearing in the Clancy case is set for September 29th. We may find out information if, in fact, the defense can get the charges dismissed, or if there could be a plea deal in this case. As far as the "American Idol" Caleb Flynn case, which is out of Ohio, just starting right now. Testimony resumes on Monday in Troy, Ohio. In New York, I'm Jean Casarez for CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Jean, thanks for the update. Ticket prices for Ed Sheeran shows are tanking. He's scheduled to return to the stage in just a few hours. Coming up, we'll have more on the political backlash that left him without an opening act.

And if you're heading out, remember, you can stream our show from anywhere in the U.S. right now on the CNN app. You can also go to CNN.com/watch. And as we go to break, good morning over Frenchman Cove in beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

BLACKWELL: Ed Sheeran is scheduled to perform at Lincoln Financial Field tonight, and the fallout is continuing from the decision to remove the opener, Macklemore, from his tour. It came after the rapper's pro-Palestinian remarks at a recent show, and since then, all of the tours opening acts have pulled out in support of Macklemore.

The dispute has also fueled a growing fundraising campaign. Macklemore pledged a million dollars to organizations supporting Palestinians, and challenged Patriots owner Robert Kraft to do the same.

He said that he's pledged $2 million, Kraft help -- Kraft helped remove Macklemore from the tour and accused him of having a history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery. Joining me now is Melissa Ruggieri; she is national music writer for "USA Today".

Melissa, good to have you on the show. So, let's start here with the headline of your most recent piece in which you called this unprecedented. And so, is this moment more controversial or more consequential than Sinead O'Connor ripping up a picture of the Pope or Ye saying on the Katrina fundraiser, George Bush doesn't care about black people. Why is this different?

[06:40:00]

MELISSA RUGGIERI, NATIONAL MUSIC WRITER, USA TODAY: Well, this is different because this is the first time that we've seen essentially a billionaire NFL owner get involved and be part of the reason why all of this happened. Now, Robert Kraft does own the building, he does own Gillette Stadium in Boston.

So, it's really his right to say he doesn't want someone to play on the stage. But apparently, according to the phone call that he made to Ed Sheeran to say, you know, I don't really like the idea of this guy coming in.

He also said he was going to contact the other stadium owners, and that Ed is going to be playing on his upcoming tour, and basically say, I don't want them to play there either. And that's where you get into the slippery slope area of the First Amendment, because really, artists should be able to say whatever they want to say on stage, regardless of their stand.

BLACKWELL: You know, Macklemore didn't show up as someone or something new. He's not saying anything new. He's not advocating for anyone new. And so, when Robert Kraft says it's the history of anti- Semitic images and rhetoric, of course, there is that costume from 12, 14 years ago that was offensive. He apologized for it. But what appeared to be the tipping point this time?

RUGGIERI: I think the whole thing was the fact that Macklemore was being -- he was just being so strong in his words and his stance when he performed at MetLife Stadium earlier this month. That's really when all of this started.

And -- but what he did say, as you just said, I mean, it really is no different than what he has been preaching all along. I mean, he's very close to this cause, he's very pro-Palestine. He's talked about it online. He's always been a strong supporter.

And so, I think when Ed brought him onto the tour, he knew that this was a possibility that this was going to happen, except I don't think that Ed realized that this might turn into the PR crisis that it became.

BLACKWELL: We have a graphic we can put up here that shows the change in ticket prices for the shows that are coming up on Ed Sheeran's tour, dropping 49 percent for the show tonight in Philadelphia and across a few more stops in the North American legs of this. And so, what is beyond just this financial element, the consequence for the respective artist?

RUGGIERI: Well, here's the thing. Ed Sheeran has never been a political guy. He's always been completely apolitical, and he's talked about that before. So, you always hear a lot of people say, when artists have a strong political stance, shut up and sing. Ed is essentially shut up and singing.

(LAUGHTER)

RUGGIERI: He's doing exactly what people always say that they want artists to do. And now that he's doing it, he's being vilified for it. So, there's a little bit of the pick-a-lane mentality going on here, too.

I think with the Philadelphia show, because it is the first show coming out of this controversy that really took off in the last ten days or so, that that's why you're seeing so much happening. There haven't been too many shows in the interim period.

So, I think people are just really responding quickly and with raw emotion, and no matter how they feel about it, they're just saying, OK, I was going to go to the Philly show, maybe I don't want to go to the Philly show.

I'll tell you this. I saw the show when it kicked off, the tour, when it kicked off in June in Phoenix. It wasn't a 100 percent sold out. I've seen Ed Sheeran a dozen times over the years, and he has had bigger tours. I was getting offers for some of the venues that I've covered shows I don't -- you know, this past tour back in May and June for special ticket offers and percentages off and that kind of thing.

So, this wasn't like this was a slam sold out, every seat was going to be taken tour from the very beginning. So, the fact that ticket sales look like they're a little soft isn't necessarily related to this. You have to be fair when you look at what it was going to be anyway, and now what it is now.

BLACKWELL: You know, Melissa, which I find interesting. And you'll appreciate this as the national music writer for "USA Today", is that just a couple of weeks ago, the whole country was celebrating Dolly Parton and pointing out that she was conscious and adamant about staying out of politics, and that helped her national appeal. Does that model work anymore?

RUGGIERI: You would think it would. See Dolly was an anomaly, though.

BLACKWELL: Yes --

RUGGIERI: I mean, Dolly really was the rare performer that you could never find anybody to say anything bad about her. And it really -- quite honestly, Ed is the same type of person. He's a nice guy. He's always had that kind of image. He's a family friendly kind of guy.

So, I don't -- under -- really understand why people have turned on him. And it's -- and it is a small percentage. I mean, you know, again, let's just look at what it is. It's not as if everyone is turning on Ed and no one -- and just because they don't maybe agree with the fact that he was --

BLACKWELL: Sure --

RUGGIERI: So apolitical and his response to this whole situation, he was really just doing what Ed Sheeran has always done, just like Macklemore is always doing what Macklemore has always done.

[06:45:00]

So, there's really no surprise in how --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

RUGGIERI: Either one of them have been conducting themselves during this, because that's just who they are.

BLACKWELL: All right, Melissa Ruggieri of "USA Today", thank you so much for joining me. And coming up at 8:00 a.m. Eastern on "FIRST OF ALL", I'll speak to one of the group's leaders, the groups that received a donation from Macklemore. So, stay with us for that.

All right, here's a question. Was it a general -- generous wedding gift or an ethical nightmare? President Trump is now responding after a Russian billionaire funded parts of his son's wedding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Let's check your top stories this morning. President Trump says that he has banned three media outlets, including CNN, from the White House. The President claimed the ban was effective immediately, but as of last night, CNN was still reporting from the White House.

It is not clear how the ban on CNN, "MS Now" and "Politico" will be enforced. President Trump says that his son, Don Jr. has paid back a Russian billionaire who funded parts of his son's wedding.

"ProPublica" reported that the Kremlin-backed billionaire Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on parts of the wedding festivities in the Bahamas. The President's claim is the most serious sign yet of possible discomfort within the administration.

Although Trump did not -- or did say rather, it's common for friends to help pay for a wedding. Strong storms rolled through the Salt Lake City area overnight. They spawned -- this apparent tornado, this is Davis County, Utah.

You see the swirling clouds there raking across that mountain peak. The same system also unleashed deadly lightning. A 19-year-old man was killed when lightning hit a shelter on the summit of a mountain south of Salt Lake.

Several others were hurt, according to the Utah County Sheriff's Office. Well, now the threat shifts east to the Great Lakes, storms are setting up shop and dumping heavy flooding rain. Meteorologist Chris Warren joins us now. What are we in for?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, that's it. Now, that's the dangerous weather is going to be the rain, possibly leading to some flooding. And what we're looking at and what we're going to be seeing here, Victor, is this area in red which includes Chicago.

And this is where the flooding rain is more likely. And you can see with the radar showing us the yellow and the orange and the red, that's the heaviest of rain. This is the waking-up-early kind of rain and thunderstorms moving into Chicago with flash flood warnings to the west around Dubuque, and the rain threat is going to continue throughout parts of the Great Lakes region, the Ohio Valley.

Round two is coming tonight for you in Chicago. So, you're waking up with it, possibly going to bed with it as well. Here comes the next round into the northeast on Sunday, just in time for the Jets-Packers there and then more storms. That has been the story lately.

We've been seeing a lot of wet weather, the dangerous possible flooding, rain going from parts of Wisconsin and Illinois into some of the same areas. Seeing it again today, Indiana, Ohio, and then into the northeast here on Sunday.

It has been an extremely wet week in the Midwest. This all happening on the northern edge of the Heat Dome, Victor, where we're going to see some more dangerous heat for parts of the south once again for college football.

BLACKWELL: I mean, we're getting into late September and it's still hot.

WARREN: We're worried we're going to go from Summer to Winter here --

BLACKWELL: Oh, yes --

WARREN: With some areas --

BLACKWELL: No mid-break --

WARREN: Yes --

BLACKWELL: All right, thanks Chris. All right, so we're taking you on a road trip to highlight great and unique places to eat across America. CNN's new original series, "THE DETOUR WITH DAVID CHANG", follows the celebrity chef as he asked us to get off our phones, ignore the algorithm, and find local eats that maybe you have never heard of.

Sara Sidner sat down with David Chang to talk about the most memorable moments of his journey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: David Chang, your new show, "THE DETOUR", it takes us along with you as you're going on road trips across the United States. Did you plan this out very specifically?

DAVID CHANG, AMERICAN CHEF & RESTAURATEUR: I told them, we want to do a road trip. We're going to have an itinerary, but we're really going to do our best not to use it. My intention was to not do any homework whatsoever.

SIDNER: No --

CHANG: Not look at the phone, not look at any websites, talk to people. It had to be friends or getting recommendations from total strangers.

SIDNER: You start talking about influencers. You're like, I don't want to be influenced. What's wrong with doing that?

CHANG: Nothing is wrong with it. But I think if that's the only way of discovering things, that's not necessarily the best thing. There's a lack of discovery, a lack of socialization of sort of interacting with the world.

And I think that's a growing movement of people that want to go back to a time and place where it wasn't fed to you, and it wasn't a consensus. You know, that's what community was to me, was having different viewpoints about something that wasn't as polarizing as politics.

There's nothing wrong with using your phone. I do it all the time, too, but maybe there's a time and place to not use it. And maybe we could make a TV show on that.

SIDNER: You end up in Tennessee. What did you discover that lit you up?

CHANG: The state of Tennessee has always weirdly been a second home to Momofuku because of the things that happened in that area in Madisonville, Tennessee. We go visit Allan Benton, and Benton's Smoky Country Hams.

SIDNER: What is your connection with Allan Benton's Hams?

CHANG: Well, the flavors of Tennessee, the flavors of that smokehouse from Allan Benton allowed Momofuku to be Momofuku. It was like a huge unlock. It was so critical to our early success because I just wanted to do things that weren't necessarily Asian. I wanted to do something that was like a rediscovery of what American food could be.

SIDNER: What are we looking at here? This is your joint!

[06:55:00]

CHANG: This is a steamed pork bun, and we have some spicy cucumbers, daikon and jalapeno, and some kimchi. Oh, good.

SIDNER: You then take a trip with a buddy named Corey Jefferson(ph), and you two dudes go from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. You made a statement that Las Vegas may be the best food city in America.

CHANG: Yes, maybe, well, listen --

SIDNER: Why?

CHANG: Las Vegas is an amazing place. So, you have like 2 million people that are locals, and then you have -- who knows how many people coming in every day that are transient. They're looking to have a good time.

Like when people want to spend money and have a good time, like that's good for restaurant business.

SIDNER: Yes --

CHANG: And over the years, casinos have had to attract people. One of the ways that is now the case is food.

SIDNER: You have every kind of food as well.

CHANG: It's also a slice of America.

SIDNER: This is amazing.

CHANG: Thank you --

SIDNER: And congratulations.

CHANG: Appreciate it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The new CNN original series, "THE DETOUR" premieres tomorrow on CNN and streams on Monday with an all-access subscription. And there's much more ahead on the next hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND.

We, of course, will continue to follow our top story. President Trump says that he's banning three media outlets from the White House, including CNN. And the latest coming up after a quick break. And good morning to my hometown, live look at Charm City, baby. This is Baltimore. A look at the Inner Harbor.

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