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Trump & Xi To Share Tea At WH, Tour Natl. Archives; Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), Is Interviewed About Democratic Lawmakers Urge Trump To Address South China Sea Concerns With Xi; More Testimony In Murder Trial Of Ex-"American Idol" Contestant. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired September 25, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: -- with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

[11:00:10]

Happening now, the final day of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington. It caps a trip that has touched on trade, A.I., Taiwan, and the war with Iran. The T.V. pool coverage of the White House is now back on after the temporary court order blocking the White House's decision to bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. And you can see that moments ago, the President and the First Lady greeted Xi and China's First Lady as they arrived at the White House for tea. Let's go to CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes. Kristen, what are we expecting from both leaders today?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, the pool just opened up another event or the White House opened up another event to the pool. So we should see some more live pictures here any moment of the actual tea between President Xi and President Trump and their respective spouses. That was not originally going to be an open event.

But we also know that President Trump wanted robust coverage of this visit from President Xi, which he did not get because the T.V. pool hasn't been operating normally. Now, what we expect to see today after that tea is that the leaders will go to their final stop during this three-day state visit. They'll go to the National Archives.

That is home to some of the United States' most sacred texts on U.S. democracy, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. And the two of them will go through a tour of the Vault of Records, which, of course, will cause such a juxtaposition, knowing that President Xi is the leader of the largest communist country, as he is looking at these various documents about democracy.

After that is when President Xi will go back to China. The question, of course, being what was actually achieved in terms of deliverables during this trip. We know that there has been pomp and circumstance. There has been glitz and glimmer at that state dinner last night. And you could hear some of the reporters trying to get answers on those deliverables. Did they come up with any solutions on artificial intelligence? Did they have any conversations about Iran? There have been multiple reports that China is still doing business with Iran during this war, which is something that President Trump and his entire Cabinet have explicitly warned against and threatened various countries for doing. There's also the race for artificial intelligence, which President Trump has been discussing quite a bit, saying he don't want to put any guardrails on it because of China and the success that China has had.

So there's still a lot of questions as to what actually came out of this, other than the kind of celebratory aspect. We heard both of these leaders speak, but it did sound an awful lot like what we heard from them back in May, this idea of geopolitics, that they have intertwined interests, as well as President Trump touting the friendship that he has with Xi Jinping.

BLITZER: So what is really being accomplished from this state visit here to the United States? Has there been any progress at all on some of these key issues since both leaders discussed the key topics like A.I., Taiwan, Iran?

HOLMES: Well, that's a big question. We're not sure. I mean, the one real deliverable we know is that China is going to loan the United States and specifically Atlanta, Georgia Zoo, two pandas, which they have done in the past. But in terms of anything else, we have not seen any kind of details or substance.

We know from China state media that in one of these meetings that President Xi said that he hoped that the United States would not support Taiwan independence, but nothing in terms of what was said back there. We also know that the trade truce has been extended, which will alleviate some questions about this potential for another uprocking of the global economy, which is what we're seeing in the lead up to that May visit.

But, you know, one of the things they had said when they first put that trade truce in place was that they were going to expand upon it. Instead, it's just been extended past the one-year mark. So we also know that the U.S. is going to reduce some tariffs. There are still questions, though, on what the United States is going to actually get out of this, again, in terms of deliverables.

BLITZER: Kristen Holmes reporting from the White House. Good to see you back over there on the North Lawn. Thanks very much, Kristen. Pamela?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Wolf, for more on the lawsuit over White House access, let's bring in former federal prosecutor Berit Berger. Berit, good to see you. So, Ted Boutrous, who is the lawyer for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, said in an interview on The Lead with Jake Tapper that the plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit over White House access believe that pool access is covered by this temporary restraining order. How do you see this playing out?

BERIT BERGER, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Yes, so it's a really interesting question, and just because Judge Kelly's order granted this or revoked the administration's taking away the press passes doesn't necessarily give them access everywhere. And this is where we're seeing a little bit of the law being unsettled.

[11:05:07]

So we know that the D.C. Circuit has previously said that there's a difference between areas that are open to all of the press, like the briefing room, and other more, you know, invitation-only areas like coming into the Oval Office, for example. So the D.C. Circuit said if you open up areas to every reporter, you can't exclude some. So for certain areas like the press room, that is pretty clear it would be a violation if you only excluded some.

Other more specific areas like an office or a special event, that's where you get into a little bit more of the gray area. So this may be for the next stage when we're before Judge Kelly again, this may be where we see a little bit more of the fight.

BROWN: And we're looking at some live pictures here of President Trump, First Lady, President Xi, his wife, having tea right now at the White House. It's notable because the T.V. pool had been blocked, but now we have access again because of this restraining order. And I'm wondering what you think about what happens next, because this restraining order blocking Trump's ban on these three outlets only lasts 14 days, Berit.

BERGER: Yes. So there'll be another hearing.

BROWN: Hold on, Berit. He's talking right now, so let's listen in.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tremendous strides. We've made great strides. Very positive for both countries. So thank you very much. And we appreciate the fair coverage. It's been very fair. We appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I want to thank the Honorable President and the First Lady for everything they've done for myself and my wife during this visit. Everything is done to the highest order of perfection, and there is thought in every little detail, and it's greatly appreciated.

JINPING: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The President and I are like two people that's charting the course for the great ship of China-U.S, relations. When the President visited China in May, we agreed on the vision of building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability.

This time we've agreed to add new substance to it, that the relationship will be a constructive one of strategic stability on the basis of respect, fairness and reciprocity. So from this, one can see that the prospects for this relationship will get more brighter.

JINPING: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking ahead to the remainder of this year, there will be two more opportunities for us to meet each other. Firstly, the AIPAC meeting in China, and then the G20 Summit in the United States. I do welcome you, Mr. President and the First Lady, to visit China.

TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. We will. And we'll be speaking a lot. I think our farmers are going to be very happy. A lot of very positive things happened. But America is very happy about this visit, and I'm sure China is very happy also. Great things for both countries. And it's been just very, very productive. And thank you very much.

[11:10:08]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

TRUMP: Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

BROWN: All right. We just heard from President Trump and President Xi for the first time since the T.V. press pool was reinstated. We heard them exchange those pleasantries, Wolf. You heard President Xi striking an optimistic tone about the relationship between China and the U.S., saying that they added to new substance based on respect and fairness, President Xi inviting President Trump back to China this year. As you know, President Trump was there earlier this year in May. And President Trump, for his part, said that they made tremendous strides during this visit.

But details, as you know, Wolf, are scarce in terms of what those strides are, what the substance is on some very important topics, including A.I. and trade. Wolf?

BLITZER: You know, it sounded as if two very close allies were getting together at the White House, very close friends, very close allies. A lot of praise from both sides about each other, even though there are some very, very serious differences right now, very serious issues that have been coming up between the United States and China under the Trump administration and President Xi's rule in China right now.

But they were only praiseworthy of each other. It sounded like two great friends getting together for tea at the White House. It was very unusual. You didn't hear a lot of discussion about some of the very sensitive issues, for example, China's helping Iran, for example, and the accusations that China is providing intelligence information where U.S. bases in the Gulf states, whether Kuwait or Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia are located that could help the Iranians target U.S. facilities in those countries.

BROWN: Also not brought up, and we don't know what happened in private conversations, but as you'll recall, Wolf, back in July, President Trump held this press conference saying that the Chinese stole voter rolls and talked about how it was a national security issue. And, you know, the question remains whether that was brought up if it was something that was so important President Trump wanted to hold a press conference about it. I want to bring in Kristen Holmes to get your reaction to what we just heard.

HOLMES: I mean, we still don't have an idea of what the substance was. One of the things that we heard from President Xi was that back in May, the -- what they had agreed upon was to kind of normalize relationships and set up this kind of stable relationship. Now, President Xi says with the foundation of that, they added substance. But I still am not entirely sure what the substance was. We heard President Trump there saying it was very productive, that they got a lot done.

He said at one point farmers would be very happy. We have not gotten an indication of what exactly was agreed upon when it comes to farmers, although China has obviously played a huge role in some of the enormous amount of issues that farmers have had with various products, including soybeans. So we'll see what kind of deals they actually make in terms of an announcement after this.

I do want to say, you know, you mentioned all of these things. You mentioned President Trump months ago saying that China tried to interfere with the 2020 election, that they seized all this data in a major data hack. They talked about the reporting that we have that China has helped or Chinese groups have helped Iran target various U.S. bases and U.S. personnel.

These are really things that President Trump has kind of tried to downplay, particularly leading up to this event. He's kind of brushed off. He was asked specifically at one point about these revelations about China and the election, and he said, you know, we do stuff to them, too.

On Iran, he says that he's talked to them and that, you know, he's made it clear not to share information. But it does seem from everything that we know that China is, one, still doing business with Iran, which was something that Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent had warned about when he was talking about this kind of economic D-Day, and also that China still supports Russia in the war in Ukraine. And so how many of these kind of touchy subjects came up, it's just unclear.

[11:15:00]

We know that it wasn't necessarily President Trump's number one priority to talk about touchy subjects. Part of what he likes about these kind of state visits is the pomp and circumstance. But it will be interesting to see if we do get a readout at any point, which we still have not gotten, as to what the actual deliverables, and I know I keep saying this, are out of this, because the only thing that we've actually seen that is tangible is these two pandas coming to the Atlanta Zoo, as well as the trade extension.

BROWN: Yes, and it's also worth noting that even Republican senators have criticized this sort of red carpet rollout and the pomp and circumstance that the White House has offered the Chinese leader and his wife amid these ongoing sensitive issues that we just touched on, particularly with the Chinese sharing intelligence with Iran to target U.S. sites, U.S. service members, and that nationally televised address where Trump said China interfered in the 2020 election. So, Kristen, stand by. I want to go back to Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Thanks, Pamela.

The New Jersey Democratic Senator Andy Kim is joining us right now. He's here with me in The Situation Room. Senator, thanks very much for coming in. First of all, what was your reaction to what we just heard, these very, very loving statements coming from the President of the United States and the leader of China, as if they're very close allies?

SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): What is missing there is the fact that, again, we have information that China has been providing support to Iran, targeting intelligence to Iran, and the idea that they're having that type of cordial discussion and heaping praise on one another. It's just so out of touch with what the American people feel.

One thing that really stood out to me when I was watching that here is that this is clearly something on President Xi's terms. You could see how confident he was. He very much feels like he is in the driver's seat of this relationship between the United States and China. In fact, even the language that was used, if you listen to President Xi just now, he said about constructive strategic stability.

He said that several times. And you see President Trump just nodding his head. That is China's way of framing this relationship. This is all coming down to how China wants to be able to do this. And that's just something where Trump is just playing into his hands. So you could see China, President Xi was very happy, very comfortable, because he is getting everything out of this.

He's certainly coming out of this summit with a win. Whereas the American people, what are they left with? You know, are prices going to go down for American families? No. Is this Iran war going to end? No. In fact, the Republicans just voted yesterday to keep this going. So that's something that we see happening here. And it's something that the American people are on the losing side of this.

BLITZER: Earlier this week, Senator, you and several other Democratic senators actually wrote a letter to President Trump saying, and I'm quoting now from the letter, we write to you regarding our deep concern over China's posturing in the South China Sea and its renewed island building campaign. You went on to urge the President to raise this with Xi. What specifically do you want to see for President Trump on this very sensitive issue? The President Xi, for example, wants the U.S. to end any arms sales to Taiwan.

KIM: Well, look, right now, we want the President, we want our government to stand up for our national interests. Instead, the Trump administration has been ceding ground all over the world, but especially in the Indo-Pacific. We're ceding our leadership there. And we see President Xi and Trump have been meeting several times. But the fact that China is moving forward on doing the island building again, that Trump in the last summit said that arms sales to Taiwan are a bargaining chip when he's talking to China, that's unacceptable. China, President Xi should never have a say in how we operate when it comes to Taiwan, when it comes to arms sales. So, so much of this is being eroded. And when we see that, you know, Trump has only twice ever met a leader plain side, one was for president -- for Vladimir Putin, the other one was for President Xi, that sends a signal not just to those countries, but to our allies and our partners. When you contrast that with how Trump's been going after the prime minister in Canada, the NATO alliance, and, you know, this is something that is sending a really strong signal about where Trump sees his place in the world. And clearly, he thinks it's right next to Vladimir Putin and President Xi.

BLITZER: Yes. He went to Joint Base Andrews and literally rolled out the red carpet when President Xi's plane arrived, and he welcomed him to the United States.

KIM: Which is an honor that Trump himself never received from Xi when he went to China. You know, I know that sometimes that might seem like, you know, just logistics to the American people. But I've worked there at the White House before. I helped set up presidential summits. And this is important in terms of what the takeaway is. And again, President Xi has been providing weapons support and intelligence to Iran, targeting the United States.

[11:20:09]

And what does he get in response? He gets a plain side welcome by President Trump, red carpet rollout, and clearly just Trump rolling over on some of the most important issues facing our nation right now.

BLITZER: A very warm relationship with China, a communist nation, the largest communist nation in the world. Compare that with our closest ally, Canada, which is getting very, very harsh treatment from the United States right now. President Trump also said that he and President Xi are discussing artificial intelligence this week, but has said he doesn't want any major changes to how the technology is regulated.

Some lawmakers in both parties have been hesitant about putting more guardrails in place because it could allow China to take the lead in developing A.I. What role do you think Congress right now, and you're a key U.S. senator, what role should Congress be playing here?

KIM: Well, Congress needs to play a big role here because clearly President Trump is on the wrong side of the American people. When I held a town hall the other week, overwhelmingly people were concerned about what's happening with A.I. And this was in a deep Republican part of the state of New Jersey that Trump won. Here's what I'll say, is that we want to make sure that we are leading on innovation. And I have a legislation, a bipartisan legislation called the MATCH Act, that would allow us to ensure that China doesn't get the latest and greatest manufacturing equipment for semiconductor chips.

I urge President Trump to support that legislation. I urge Leader Thune to pass that legislation in the Senate alongside several other expert control bills that will help us build out our lead and our strength when it comes to innovation, and give us more space to be able to have the safety and the security that the American people demand right now. They don't just want it, they are demanding that we meet this moment and we take action to be able to ensure the safety of them and their families.

BLITZER: Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey, thanks very much for coming in.

KIM: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf, up next, what we learned after days of testimony from Caleb Flynn's ex-mistress, the former American Idol contestant now on trial, accused of murdering his wife, Caleb Flynn is accused of murdering his wife and making it look like a break-in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:27:03]

BROWN: Happening now in Ohio, more testimony in the murder trial of former American Idol contestant and church worship leader Caleb Flynn. He is accused of killing his wife earlier this year. We've been listening to testimony from an FBI special agent, but much of the focus this week has been on the woman Flynn was having an affair with at the time. She spent two days on the stand testifying about more than 100,000 text messages the two exchanged.

CNN's Jean Casarez is covering the trial for us and joins us now. Tell us more about what she said, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is Alleigha Botner, definitely the star witness of this trial, and she was forced to take the stand in this case. I'm sure she did not want to, but she testified that there were 107,000 texts between the two of them. That is more than 300 per day during the course of their relationship. And in so many of them, Caleb Flynn said he hated his wife. He couldn't stand her, couldn't stand her family, wanted to get rid of her, said several times that he wanted to kill her. Divorce was talked about, but he never left his wife.

And she kept giving ultimatum after ultimatum. And they also made it a science to delete the text. Now, unfortunately, at one point, unfortunately, I say in quote marks, they transferred over to a device in the home. And we do know that his wife saw a photo from Botner right there with her hand with a ring on it saying that she wanted to be his wife. We also know that Ashley actually reached out to her and said, we need a talk. We need a face-to-face.

And she never responded to her. She would not meet with her. But she had to admit something on the stand yesterday that was really unbelievable out of her mouth. It was in a text. And this is as Ashley's family is sitting in court watching. Listen to what she had to admit, she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, do you know how badly I want to say eff it to any rules and any barriers and just love you with my entire heart for the rest of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next message, 64,281.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry, I just wish I didn't say this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the message said?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't mean it. Says, I want to kill her Caleb.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who said that?

[11:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next message.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said it so bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next message.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said, that makes two of us.