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Nor'easter to Hit States With Flooding, Strong Winds, Heavy Rain; Consumer Sentiment Drops 7 Percent from Last Month; Netanyahu Denies Israel Committed Genocide in Gaza. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 25, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, rare September nor'easter. More than 40 million people are bracing for a powerful storm that's expected to bring a month's worth of rain for some, as well as heavy flooding and powerful winds. We are live as it strengthens and moves up the East Coast.

And summit finale. President Trump and Chinese leader Xi are wrapping up their historic meeting after last night's star-studded state dinner. CNN is live at today's events for the first time since a judge temporarily blocked the president's press ban.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Housing trade-off. New CNN reporting shows that some homeowners are selling their homes right now in exchange for A.I. stock.

And did a forbidden affair lead to murder? The woman at the center of a secret relationship with former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn takes the stand as jurors hear messages prosecutors claim show hatred, obsession, and intent.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news. Right now, more than 40 million people along the East Coast of the United States are in the path of a very powerful, rare September nor'easter storm. It's expected to bring flooding as winds and rain lash coastal areas. Some areas could see a month's worth of rain in just a day.

North Carolina's Outer Banks are already seeing huge waves as the storm gains momentum. And in Virginia, you can see roads have already been flooded in some places, with residents bracing for more.

The worst of it, though, is expected to be in New York and Massachusetts, where the storm is aiming to make a direct hit starting today. New York City has already issued a travel advisory warning. There are concerns that flooding could hit areas from Queens all the way out to Long Island, where you see they've been working on building up natural barriers.

Let's go live right now to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar, she's over at the CNN Weather Center, and Derek Van Dam, who's in Massachusetts for us.

So, Derek, what are the conditions like where you are right now?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The wind's howling out of the northeast. They picked up this morning very significantly since we started. And remember, that is the defining feature of a nor'easter. It is the wind direction.

So, let's just kind of paint the scene here, the wind's coming directly off of the Atlantic, and now this has been happening for several days. We are reaching high tide just after 11:00 A.M. this morning. And because of this consistent northeasterly wind that's been battering this area, we're going to see this push of the Atlantic impacting some of these low-lying and very vulnerable areas across the coast of Massachusetts, the Outer Cape these areas, Wrighton Hall in, in Massachusetts and Plymouth County. But there are so many other locations that have these coastal homes and businesses that line the entire area.

I'm going to bring you down here. This is the important feature about a nor'easter is that this is going to stick around for several days. And so when we get this battering of wind for 48, even 72 hours that is going to go through multiple high tide cycles like we are going through now.

And so as we get this push and pull from the tidal cycles and the winds pushing off of the ocean, that is why we have this exaggerated coastal erosion threat here, because we've got high tides, we've got a full moon cycle as well, all of these working together to kind of bring in an exaggerated tidal level.

That is why we are so concerned about coastal erosion. We've already seen flooding from this storm in the Outer Banks. Highway 12 in North Carolina, they're closed for a 500-foot section washed away already, and that hasn't even been brought on by the peak of the storm, which is still building across the Atlantic right now.

15 to 25-foot waves in the open ocean, yes, that's going to translate into some massive breakers here on the coastline as well. Not only are the leaves in full bloom here, we've got full foliage. We haven't had that fall full drop just yet from the leaves, so the winds, as they gust over 50 miles per hour, are likely going to take down some branches, perhaps some trees.

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So, the threat of localized power outages is a real concern, especially as we go down the coastline.

And if we get Tom, my photo journalist, to kind of zoom in behind me here, you can see some of the waves crashing up across the sea walls here. We're going to move up and down this coastline as the storm strengthens. And we know that this area is just so highly susceptible to these storms that batter the area.

Nor'easters, they're not fun. This is the first one of the season. And a good way to think of it, Wolf, is a no-name tropical storm, right? This doesn't have a name, but it has similar impacts.

BLITZER: All right. Derek, stay safe over there. We'll be in close touch with you. I appreciate it very much.

I want to go to Allison right now. Allison, New York has already issued a travel warning, and some places could see a month's worth of rain in just the coming next few hours. What can we expect as this plays out?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. So, we're already starting to see the impacts right now in the form of the wind. You can see we've got some of those wind gusts up around 15 to 20 miles per hour, gusting even higher than that, about 30 to 35 miles per hour, and those numbers are only going to go up from here.

Even as we get into this evening, and especially into Saturday, you're going to start to see those wind gusts jumping 40, 50, even 60 miles per hour, peaking in some spots late Saturday and into the day early on Sunday. So, again, that's going to start to increase, but so are the rain bands as this system slowly, and I emphasize slowly, rides up the East Coast.

You're going to see more of those outer bands begin to spread inland to portions of the northeast and into the mid-Atlantic. So, by about 8:00, 9:00, pretty much everything from Maine all the way down through Maryland looking at some type of rain. It may be light, it may be heavy, but that's going to be on and on, off and on for the next few days because, notice, even by Sunday morning, notice how very little that low pressure system moves.

And so it's the fact that it's not moving, it's going to allow it a tremendous amount of time to dump a tremendous amount of water over these areas. Rainfall alone looking to be widespread about four to six inches along the coast, not to mention that wind taking all of that water from the ocean and pushing it inland. That's going to be the big concern with coastal flooding as well.

BLITZER: Allison Chinchar, thank you very much. Derek Van Dam, thanks to you as well. I appreciate it. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. We have some breaking news, a snapshot of how Americans are feeling about the economy. Consumer sentiment fell 7 percent from August to September, to its second lowest level on record. This is according to the University of Michigan's monthly survey confirming its preliminary reading earlier this month.

So, let's get straight to CNN Senior Reporter Matt Egan to break down the latest numbers for us. What do these numbers tell you, Matt, about how people feel about the economy right now?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Pamela, these numbers show that the vibes on this economy are weak, historically weak, right? So, these new numbers out from the University of Michigan, they do show that consumer sentiment fell by 7 percent between August and September, down 13 percent from September of last year. But what's really striking here is just how low consumer sentiment is historically.

So, University of Michigan has been tracking this measure since 1952, and as you mentioned, this is the second lowest reading for sentiment ever. The only time it was weaker was in June of this year, and I think that chart really shows just how weak sentiment is right now. And think about it, I mean, that means it's weaker now than it was four years ago during the inflation crisis, during the Biden administration. Lower now than during the 2008 financial crisis. Lower than during 9/11. It's really striking.

So, why? Well, University of Michigan pulled out a few reasons here. They said that the short-run outlook for business conditions plunged this month. And they blamed worries about elevated fuel prices, that's gasoline, that's record diesel, and they also cited re-escalating trade disputes, and a concern that those two factors could really pass through to the rest of the economy.

So, look, Pamela, obviously this is not good news for an economy that's driven by consumer spending, and it's not good news for the political party in power just a few weeks out from the midterm elections.

BROWN: All right, Matt Egan, thank you. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, and I'm quoting now, Love Me. It's a T.V. ad featuring President Trump, paid for with taxpayers' money. Is it a political ad or a PSA, a public service announcement?

And a mass walkout over at the United Nations before the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech. What he says would have happened had Israel not attacked Iran.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Happening now, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is denying his country committed genocide in Gaza, telling world leaders at the United Nations that Israel prevented it.

This is video of leaders walking out just before his speech yesterday. He says attacking Iran was, quote, and I'm quoting him now, one of the easiest decisions I've ever had to make. And b- he predicted that it's only a matter of time before the Iranian regime is toppled.

Let's go to CNN's Jeremy Diamond for us. He's our Jerusalem correspondent. I think he's in Tel Aviv right now. Some other takeaways from Netanyahu's address, he was very forceful. How did it play out, first of all, in Israel?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, the Israeli prime minister was speaking to a room of diplomats. Many of them, as you saw, dozens of them walked out as he made his way to the podium. [10:15:03]

But his audience, his intended audience really wasn't the diplomats in that room anyways. It was more so the Israeli public. The prime minister is now a month away from Israeli elections that he is currently projected to lose based on the current polls.

And so the prime minister was trying to remind Israelis of something that he has done during one election after the next, which is to talk about his ability to kind of defend Israel on the world stage, and to carry the Israeli public's message to the world.

And, certainly, the prime minister was doing a lot of that during the speech at the United Nations yesterday, insisting that the claims that Israel is carrying out a genocide are the lie of the century. He assailed the countries that walked out on him for their moral cowardice, and he also touted a series of what he described as foreign policy and diplomatic successes, national security successes. He talked about the war in Iran, for example. He assailed Palestinian terrorism, in his words.

And he also sought to downplay a lot of what Israel is being criticized for, including, for example, settler violence in the West Bank. He did so by claiming falsely that only two or three Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by settler violence, when, according to the United Nations, that number is actually at least 23 Palestinians who've been killed by settler violence this year.

But the prime minister, even as he was certainly making an attempt to pitch himself to Israeli voters, talking about Israel's strengths, the, the public's resilience and courage, he didn't get one thing that he was hoping to have in New York, and that was a meeting with the president of the United States, which could have certainly helped bolster him in these elections. Instead, after only a few hours in New York, the prime minister flew back to Israel.

BLITZER: We also heard Jeremy, from the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, who delivered a prerecorded address because he was denied entry to the U.S., wasn't given a visa by the Trump administration. Mahmoud Abbas said, Palestinians in Gaza were being subjected to killing, destruction, and attempted forced displacement. He also says Israeli policies now threaten, and I'm quoting him now, the very life and existence of the Palestinians.

Here's what he told the United Nations General Assembly. And, Jeremy, explain to us what is happening right now in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

DIAMOND: Yes, Wolf. These were two completely different speeches and two different versions of reality that the Prime Minister Netanyahu was describing and that we then heard President Abbas describe. As you said, the Palestinian Authority president decried what he described as a genocidal war against the Palestinian people. He said that Israel is trying to make life unlivable for Palestinians, not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, in an attempt to force Palestinians to leave their homeland.

But the Palestinian Authority president was both defiant and conciliatory, defiant in saying that Palestinians will not be forced off of their homeland, and conciliatory in the sense that he was still striving for a two-state solution, something that has been nearly forgotten altogether in Israeli politics at this moment.

Abbas called on the nations of the world to continue to apply more pressure on Israel to ultimately lead to that shared reality of a two- state solution, which as I said, Wolf, seems very far away right now at this current moment in, in politics in this country.

BLITZER: It certainly does. All right, Jeremy Diamond reporting for us from Tel Aviv, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Coming up, A.I. stocks, it is the new crypto. A new CNN report shows how some homeowners are selling their homes, not for cash, but for ownership in A.I. companies.

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BROWN: All right. Forget cash or even a mortgage. One California homeowner put his multi-million dollar vacation property on the market, but he'd prefer to get paid in A.I. stock.

CNN's Natasha Chen has more on this unconventional sale and how it's part of a growing trend of people hoping to cash in on the A.I. boom.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Some people want a stake in A.I. so badly they're willing to sell their homes for stock, like the owner of this vacation home. He's listing it for 2.35 million. He'll take it in cash, of course, but he really wants to sell it for A.I. stock.

VIJAY CHATTHA, HOME SELLER: Yes. Well, welcome to Chadha Valley. We've been here since 2012.

CHEN: Vijay Chattha has a communications firm, not an AI company, but he says he wants in on the profit when companies like Anthropic and OpenAI go public.

CHATTHA: You have a second bedroom, larger, with a sitting room and an en suite bathroom.

CHEN: Chattha figures one way he can get stock in these A.I. companies is to find an insider willing to give him some. That's because usually founders, employees, and early investors are the ones who have pre-IPO stock, stock that's about to make them very rich.

This is a really interesting time, and you are asking specifically for pre-IPO. CHATTHA: Yes. Tell me about why. AI itself is not only going to impact all of our lives, but we are training the data. We're training the models. So, in many ways, we are the product. We should be able to participate in it.

CHEN: The San Francisco Bay Area has seen booms and busts before. This time, the boom is happening here in A.I. Alley, where you can find companies like Anthropic.

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Hundreds of people who work around here could become millionaires or multi-millionaires.

KELLEY KROCK, REAL ESTATE AGENT: And not just millionaires, but like lots of zeros.

CHEN: Real Estate Agent Kelley Croft took me to San Francisco's Marina District. This house here sold this summer for $3.5 million over the asking price, for a total of about $10.5 million.

So, Kelley, you work for Redfin. There was a Redfin report that the wealth from these A.I. employees could buy up almost a third of San Francisco property. Have you been seeing a crazy buy-in like that?

KROCK: I have a buyer, for example, that I started working with last year. He works for A.I. in the city. So, they've doubled their budget just because of the momentum of A.I. and the valuation of these companies.

CHEN: When you see listings that are asking for cash or A.I. stock, have you seen anything like that before in your real estate career?

KROCK: I have not. There's a lot of controls on that, and in many cases, the board has to approve the buyer. It's also, you know, a very small group of people who would even be approved. So, talk about elitism.

CHATTHA: Probably the fastest wealth growth in the history of time in any one particular region that I think we can even remember.

CHEN: Will you be disappointed if someone is buying this for cash instead of stock?

CHATTHA: I will not be disappointed.

CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN, San Francisco.

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BLITZER: And coming up, it's the last day of the Trump-Xi summit. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live at the White House and has a preview. Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Any moment, President Xi and his wife will be pulling up to the White House for day three of this three-day state visit. We'll tell you what we've seen so far and what to expect next, coming up.

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