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Isa Soares Tonight

Trump Heads for u.n. As World Leaders Gather for General Assembly; Chancellor Merz's Party Losing Ground to Far-Right AfD; Pro-Putin Party Leads as Kremlin Tightens Grip on Power; CNN, MS NOW, Politico Sue Trump Admin. Over WH Access. Aired 1:40-2p ET

Aired September 21, 2026 - 13:40   ET

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

[13:40:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Christina Macfarlane in for Isa Soares. And you have been watching my colleagues

there in the U.S. on that breaking news about the Paramount deal. And we will, of course, keep a close eye on that story for you.

But for now, we want to turn to some of the other big news of the day. U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to New York this hour as he kicks off a

very big week on the world stage. He and other leaders are gathering for the annual U.N. General Assembly under the shadow of multiple wars.

President Trump is expected to focus heavily on Iran, where he takes the podium tomorrow as he touts his handling of global conflicts. But as

always, his meetings on the sidelines could be just as important as what he says on stage. Mr. Trump is due to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr

Zelenskyy with no end in sight to the war with Russia.

We don't have any new pictures of the president to show you right now because all networks that make up the press pool are standing in solidarity

with CNN. We were supposed to provide pool coverage of his trip today to share with the wider press corps. But the Trump administration is blocking

us from doing our job because it objects to our reporting. Other networks declined to replace CNN's pool coverage.

So, let's get straight to Kylie Atwood, who is at the U.N. for us. And Kylie, with more than I think 100 leaders descending on New York this week,

there's going to be a lot of competing messaging at a time of deep instability in the Middle East, in Ukraine, in Venezuela, just to mention a

few. But there's been some surprise that Iran's delegation were permitted to attend this week, including its president and foreign minister. So, just

walk us through, if you will, what we can expect this week.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. The Iranians will have a delegation here in New York. As they historically

have, there will be controls on that delegation. They've been given visas by the U.S. State Department, but they have restrictions in terms of how

far they're allowed to travel from the United Nations headquarters here, what they're allowed to do. They aren't allowed to make certain purchases

over a certain amount or go to certain specific stores like Costco and BJ's to, you know, purchase things and bring them back to Iran.

But right now, it does not look, according to our sources and according to the schedules that we have seen to date, like President Trump will be

meeting with anyone from the Iranian delegation. Of course, U.S. officials have been in touch with Iranian officials. That has been the case

throughout the course of this Iran war.

[13:45:00]

But really, all eyes are on any possible momentum to try and drive an end to that conflict. But when you talk to sources in the region from the Gulf,

they are not rosy eyed about that prospect. They are on different pages when it comes to what the priorities should be for any strategy to end this

conflict right now. And of course, as you have been covering, this is a conflict that has escalated and expanded with the Iranian-backed Houthis

now active in the Red Sea, taking areas along the Red Sea in Yemen, carrying out strikes against the Saudis. And the U.S. has provided

intelligence support to the Saudis, also some targeting support to the Saudis. But they have not provided direct military assistance in this

conflict with the Houthis.

So, that is an area for us to continue to watch, particularly when President Trump meets with the leaders of those GCC countries while he is

here. And when it comes to Ukraine, the ongoing Ukraine war, President Trump's also going to be meeting with Zelenskyy. We saw President Trump

post this morning on Truth Social about Russia's energy economy, the struggles that they are facing, calling for an end to the conflict.

But right now, it does not appear that any of these sides are going to be coming to the table with any firm proposals here. We saw President

Zelenskyy say that there are de-escalation measures that are being discussed. But we have heard that time and time again. So, it's hard to

know if there will be any real breakthroughs on these really, really complicated problem sets.

MACFARLANE: Yes, all happening within a very short time frame. We will wait to see. Thank you very much. Our Kylie Atwood there.

Now, Chancellor Friedrich Merz calls weekend elections a disaster following projected regional victories by both far-left and far-right parties in

Germany. The results mark a major setback for Merz and his Centre-right Christian Democrats party. The chancellor is under increasing pressure to

resign after less than 17 months on the job. He has signaled he will not step down. Merz's loss is the far-right pro-Russian AfD party's gain.

The party has emerged as a major political force over the last decade. It's projected to win another state election after voting this weekend. And its

co-leader says there should be elections by the end of the year to replace what she calls a weak chancellor. Fred Pleitgen reports from Berlin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's become almost a sad routine these days for German Chancellor Friedrich

Merz. His opponents cheering after beating Merz's party in a state election. In this case, the right-wing alternative for Germany, whose

leader tells me flat out Merz needs to resign. He is strongly damaged, she says. I believe the CDU cannot continue with Friedrich Merz with a weak

chancellor.

PLEITGEN: While Friedrich Merz is trying hard to dispel any notion that he might have to resign, there's no doubt that the German chancellor is on the

ropes and currently fighting for his very political survival.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Nobody has asked any questions about personal consequences or launched a debate about personnel, neither last night nor

this morning, Merz said after meeting with his party's leadership. But Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union has now lost three state

elections in a row. The winners in each case, parties on the political fringes.

After getting beat by a landslide two weeks ago by the right-wing AfD in Saxony-Anhalt this weekend in the northeastern state Mecklenburg, West

Pomerania, the CDU didn't even get enough votes to make it into local parliament. The winners again, the far-right AfD, which calls for mass

deportation of undocumented immigrants and an end to all military aid for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in the German capital, Berlin, Merz's party lost to the far- left, Die Linke, which wants to expropriate large real estate companies and faces allegations of antisemitism in its ranks, allegations the party's

leadership strongly denies.

We have been witnessing for several months growing radical and openly expressed antisemitism that is even welcomed with applause. Merz has vowed

to fight on and continue what he calls his reform agenda. But Germany's economy remains sluggish. His popularity ratings are in free fall. And even

he acknowledges he's become a liability for those in his party fighting for re-election.

I know that national politics played a major role, both in the state election two weeks ago in Saxony-Anhalt and in yesterday's election, as did

my own role.

And Merz claims he still believes he can fix his government's issues and bring Germany back on track. But the chancellor might be running out of

time.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[13:50:00]

MACFARLANE: Russia's ruling party is on track to keep its hold on power following tightly controlled parliamentary elections. With no real

opposition, the Putin-supporting United Russia party is leading with 58 percent of the votes. Final tallies are not expected until Friday. Our

Clare Sebastian has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was no surprises in these results. It looks -- in these results, it looks like Putin's party, United

Russia, has perhaps even increased its vote share compared to five years ago when they last held parliamentary elections at almost 58 percent, which

should, according to the latest data, translate into a supermajority in parliament. Not that it really matters if they have a supermajority or not,

because the other parties that have made it into the parliament all pretty much agree with them on the key issues and in particular the war.

But they will be using this result as a way to portray a strengthened mandate to show that the country is behind the war, behind the army, and to

do with that what, you know, they have already signaled perhaps that they are going to do, which is escalate the war. So, concerning from that

regard, but I don't think it's going to change the policy direction within Russia.

Look, there were certainly warning signs around this election, not least of which is the fact that all opposition parties were barred from taking part,

the last of which, Yabloko, which opposes the war, was taken off the ballot in August. There's that. Yabloko had an election observer who apparently

fell unconscious while being detained by police at a polling station in St. Petersburg. They said others were barred from entering polling stations.

There were no OSCE observers, independent observers, which has drawn rebuke from overseas.

Exit polls, I should say, run by independent organizations outside of Russia have noted that another party, the New People Party, actually won in

most countries with united Russia, Putin's party trailing far behind. So, clearly there are warning signs. The E.U. has come out this morning saying

that this election underscored, and I quote, "the continued and deepening erosion of democracy in Russia taking place in an increasingly

authoritarian political environment. It also criticized the fact, as Ukraine has done, that Russia held these elections in the occupied areas of

Ukraine, which it has claimed to annex.

The Russian still ahead of the Donetsk region said that turnout there was over 80 percent with preliminary results. Not perhaps surprising, given

that we've seen images emerging from there of people in military fatigues handing around polling boxes with sort of mobile polling stations. So,

clearly, that's happening under a state of high military tension.

But look, it's about what happens next. How much do they escalate? What do they do with this claim of a new mandate? And clearly all of that is of

great concern to Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Clare Sebastian there. Now, CNN and two other major U.S. media organizations are suing to regain access to the White House. Over the

weekend, reporters from CNN, MSNOW and Politico were blocked from entering the White House. The three media organizations say that violates the

freedom of press enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

Well, the White House is also refusing to allow CNN to be involved in pool coverage of the president. The other major networks involved in the pool

responded by saying that without CNN, there will be no pool. President Trump is defending his ban. He says it's not an attack on the free press,

but on what he calls fake news. He claims our news organization and others are a threat to national security.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has been tracking this story for us. So, Katelyn, today we learned about plans to file this lawsuit. Just tell us what the

three media outlets, including CNN, are saying about this.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, all three media outlets are coming together to sue the White House and the president

here trying to restore access as soon as they can to get access to the White House, to work there and to have their press passes and pool coverage

able to function as normal.

This case, it's going to be a test of the First Amendment and it's going to be a test of other constitutional protections for news outlets, not just

CNN, MS Now, and Politico, the three entities that are suing. It's a test that the courts have repeatedly upheld dating the whole way back to the

1970s, saying that news outlets can't be purged from the White House press pool, the hard pass holders, which each of these news organizations has or

had until Saturday.

Each of these news organizations were -- they would not be able to be thrown out one by one without any sort of due process. That's one of the

constitutional protections. The other constitutional protection, it's that you can't discriminate against anyone in this country based on what their

speech is, what their exercise of the First Amendment is, publishing, printing, broadcasting, all of that enshrined in the First Amendment.

[13:55:00]

And the news outlets are arguing that this decision by the White House, it came because Donald Trump says he didn't like the negative stories reported

by CNN, MS Now, and Politico. We've had further reporting even today from our White House team that Donald Trump was incensed seeing some headlines

from Politico or some reports from Politico just before he announced this ban. He also said that it was indeed because of the negative stories. The

vice president reiterated that today as well, speaking to reporters.

All of this is going to happen in court, though it's going to be looked at by a judge, a Trump appointee from 2018 who's restored access to

journalists in the past. More to come.

MACFARLANE: Certainly, more to come on this and we'll continue to follow it. Katelyn, thank you. And finally, tonight, a speed solving superstar, a

six-year-old from southwest China has shattered the woman's Rubik's Cube world record twice in three days, both times the speedster clocked in under

4.5 seconds, that's -- and if that's not impressive enough, she already mastered more than 1,300 cube solving algorithms. Her parents say she

improved dramatically after she hit a plateau and they took her to Shanghai to train with the top professional coaches. Goodness me, that's an

interesting household.

Thank you for watching tonight's stay with CNN. "Amanpour" is coming up after the break.

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