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What We Know with Max Foster

Xi And Trump Meet At White House For Crucial Summit; CNN, MS NOW & Politico Allowed Back Into White House On Judge's Order; Netanyahu And Abbas Address UNGA Hours Apart; Australia Hit By First Known A.I. Hack Of A Government System; Trump Stays Out Of Saudi Conflict As Oil Risks Rise. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 24, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:25]

MAX FOSTER,CNN HOST: China and the U.S. go head to head in Washington.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

The leaders of the world's two largest economies meeting today at the White House. China's Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump wrapping up their

private talks a short while ago, and we'll get together again in a few hours for a lavish state dinner. We haven't heard much about what they

talked about at today's summit, but it is likely that A.I. came up. China and the U.S. are the global leaders in A.I. development. You can bet that

trade and tariffs were discussed as the U.S. and China have repeatedly sparred in that area.

And then there are the military issues. China wants the U.S. to back down from its support of Taiwan, and the U.S. hopes China can turn up the

pressure on Iran.

For some additional perspectives on this summit, let's bring in CNN politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson.

And we should probably set the context here to what I said, Stephen, that we're not getting much information. That's partly because of a media access

issue. Were you noticing that particularly on this crucial meeting? I mean, it's one of the most pivotal diplomatic relationships in the world.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, certainly, because of this dispute over the access of three media organizations, including

CNN, to the White House and the support from fellow journalists has been somewhat of a lack of the usual coverage of these state events. That

dispute seemed to be partially solved, at least for the moment, with the access now opening up. But we didn't get to see the real pageantry this

morning of Xi at the White House and the state marching bands and the flyovers and everything else.

But at the same time, I think it's fair to say that in many ways the spectacle of this summit might be as far as it goes. We did see a extension

to the trade truce between the two countries over the last few hours. There may be some small progress on A.I. opening up a kind of hotline for the

U.S. and China to talk about certain A.I. safety incidents, but really heading into this summit, which I think a lot of the world hoped would see

Trump and Xi come up with some real guidelines and guardrails of significance to address the worries about A.I. and where that might go and

whatever threat it might pose to humanity.

The president said that he likes A.I. exactly where it is, with the U.S. in the lead going into this summit, and he sees it, I think, as an existential

manifestation of American power and the race against the rival superpower China. So, for those hoping for a bit more substance, I don't think we're

going to be surprised by what comes out of this summit after the state dinner.

FOSTER: But positive, I guess, that the two are talking. They appear to have a good relationship. So, if there is some sort of crisis on all those

multiple fronts that we've listed, there is at least a working relationship which seems to be quite stable for these two countries.

COLLINSON: Yeah, and I think from China's point of view, you know, they have their own economic issues. The whole world is in the grip of economic

and energy pressure because of the Iran war. Stability is something that's important to them. So, if this summit ends without big disagreements, I

guess that's positive in itself.

I think you're right that it's good for leaders. to have strong personal relationships, although I think you could argue that President Trump

incessantly talks about the great relationship he has with Xi Jinping and considers him a close friend. You hear a lot less about that kind of

personal dimension from Xi himself, who tends to stick in a more diplomatic language when he's talking about this.

So I think the extent of this friendship here could be overstated, but at the same time, in a crisis, I think, you know, it could be important. All

presidents, I think, believe that they have forged close personal ties with foreign leaders, and that is more important than anything else. But in

practice, when you look at it, countries tend to act on their national interests. And I think there are perhaps a handful of cases in big

international crises where a friendly personal relationship can make all the difference.

FOSTER: Stephen Collinson, as ever, thank you so much for joining us from D.C.

Now, another twist in the fight over media access at the White House, as Stephen was referring to there, journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and

"Politico" are all back inside the White House complex. They had been denied access earlier today despite a judge's order to reinstate their

press badges.

[15:05:03]

Now, the White House defied the court ruling for hours. And the federal judge has just declined a request from the three media outlets asking him

to hold an emergency hearing. But during the initial ruling, Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, said the reporter's credentials had been revoked

without due process.

Right now, CNN's Kristen Holmes is live for us in Washington for us indeed at the -- I just wanted to check you're at the White House, Kristen,

because --

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I am at the White House now. Yes, we are allowed back on campus.

FOSTER: Just describe, I mean it must be a great relief to you, of course that's where you want to be, but what was the reaction you got from other

media when you arrived back in there?

HOLMES: I mean, everyone is happy that this is going in the direction that favors the First Amendment. They want the press here, a free and fair

press, and that's what we heard from our colleagues. And it really has been an extraordinary time here at the White House to see all of these different

networks, particularly within the pool, ABC, CBS, Fox News, banding together with CNN as the administration tried to ban CNN not only just from

the White House campus, but also from the pool.

The pool issue is still not resolved, and neither is this entirety of the current situation. There are still more court dates to come, but right now

we have been reinstated and there was a little bit of a back and forth. And I was told behind the scenes at the White House -- from several White House

officials, as well as Trump advisers, that it was absolutely chaotic in those hours after the court ruling and before they actually let people back

on the ground.

We know that we had our Betsy Klein up trying to get into the White House multiple times, starting at 5:30 a.m. And according to a filing in response

to the judge, the DOJ said that they had actually given the passes back to Secret Service, that they were there to obtain 9:55 a.m. However, Betsy

went back into the White House 11:30, was denied entrance again, and then finally got in around the twelve o'clock hour.

So unclear where the disconnect was there or if they were, as you noted, defying the court order outright. But we are on the grounds now. And of

course, this is still coming at such a critical time, a time in which President Trump is meeting with one of his global adversaries, a time where

there are enormous amount of issues and tensions between these two countries that need to be worked out.

Now, experts have told me they don't actually think that there's going to be much that comes out of this, but it is so fascinating to note that

President Trump, who wanted this entire event to be broadcast everywhere across all of the TV screens, had almost no coverage of it because of the

fact that he had banned CNN, and because of that, the different networks pulling together to keep the TV pool out of these events.

FOSTER: Yeah, so as you say, there's two different issues here. There was your network's issue specifically getting into the grounds. For now, at

least, it seems as though that's resolved because you're there. But there's a separate pool issue, which is why we didn't get the coverage we would

expect from the White House.

So, what are the expected moves there? How's that operating? I know the other networks have come behind CNN but what -- you know, how does that get

resolved?

HOLMES: So that's what we're waiting to find out I mean whether or not we will be accepted into the pool and then that will trigger the pool going

back into action. Now the first things first, there was dual parts here of CNN being taken off air from the White House part of this was just getting

onto the campus the other part was it wasn't clear what we were going to do about the pool. CNN is one of five networks that rotate in every few days

and does the events. It's an enormous cost to all of the networks. It is enormous amount of resources and that is when then we saw the networks

banding together.

So right now, we are still waiting word for whether or not CNN is going to be put back into the pool rotation. Of course, as we learned on Monday, we

were taken out of the pool rotation, which essentially shut down the entire TV pool because of the fact that the networks came together, unclear right

now if we will be put back into that rotation.

ABC was supposed to be the pool today. They have not taken on those responsibilities until we have more of an understanding of what happens

next.

FOSTER: Kristen, appreciate it. Good to see you back. Thank you.

We're going to go to the U.N. now, where the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just gave a fiery speech to the General Assembly. He

said, accusing Israel of genocide is, quote, "the greatest lie of the century". Before he could even say a word, though, dozens of diplomats

walked out in protest. Mr. Netanyahu said Israel is in a battle against barbarians. We threaten our civilization.

He downplayed the surge in settler attacks in the West Bank, insisting the violence is due to just a handful of delinquents.

[15:10:03]

He also defended Israel's war on Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Devastating Iran's nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the

easiest decisions I've ever had to make as prime minister, because if we hadn't done it, we'd all be dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Earlier, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the United Nations that his people face one of the most dangerous times in

their history. He spoke in a pre-recorded video because the Trump administration denied him a visa. Mr. Abbas said that Israel is attempting

to ethnically cleanse Palestinian land. He says not only is the two-state solution under threat, but also the very Palestinian existence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT: We have long warned the international community through the United Nations General Assembly and

through the Security Council that these Israeli policies, in violation of international law, would destroy the two-state solution and that this is

what -- this is what is happening now. The Palestinian people will not accept displacement, will not accept displacement, and will not disappear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Jim Sciutto is following the story for us from Washington.

And a lot of the optics seemed very negative today, Jim, for Israel. We had the walkout, the shadow of the arrest warrant. I also note that last year

he spent much more time here, had a big meeting with President Trump, that didn't happen this year. What do you make of all of those optics?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah, not exactly a red carpet for Netanyahu like the red carpet for Xi Jinping. Listen, it shows

that a large portion of the world is not with Israel following the war with Gaza. It was a very physical demonstration of that. But the Israeli prime

minister was clearly prepared for it. As those delegates walked out, you heard Netanyahu shouting from the podium, calling them moral cowards as

they did so.

And then the prime minister went on to deliver just a deeply defiant speech defending his decision to go to war against Iran, saying that it succeeded.

And interesting to me, he makes a similar claim, really the identical claim that President Trump has made about the war, and that is that had they not

gone to war against Iran, we would all be dead. I mean, even using that phrasing. Trump has used that phrasing before, too, based on this idea that

Iran would have already had a nuclear weapon and would have already used it, which to our knowledge at CNN there's no intelligence assessment to

that effect.

But doubling down on the Iran war and also listing the series of military operations and actions that Israel has taken in the region against

Hezbollah, against Hamas, and saying they are succeeding in their goals. Of course, what he didn't mention is that the U.S. and Israel have a

fundamental disagreement now because President Trump wants to end the war, and Israel, from its perspective, the war has not yet reached its

objectives, including destroying Iran's nuclear program entirely.

So, you know, perhaps that might explain why it was such a short visit to the U.S., although, of course, he's running for office again, right? He's

got elections coming up next month.

FOSTER: And we -- like he talked about Judea, didn't he?

SCIUTTO: He did.

FOSTER: Referring to the West Bank as Israeli land. And then we had Mr. Abbas saying the Israelis are trying to ethnically cleanse Palestinian

land. These are old arguments, aren't they? But both of them are trying to convince the world that they can tell the right story about what's

happening in the West Bank.

SCIUTTO: Well, listen, you know, from the international community's perspective and international law, the West Bank is not Israel, right? I

mean, it's part of a potential two-state solution. But Netanyahu, another hardliner in his government, claim what they refer to as Judea and Samaria

as Israeli territory. And you heard Netanyahu say that, saying Judea, that the word Jew comes from Judea, and dismissing settler Israeli settler

attacks on Palestinians there as basically minor actions that don't reflect the truth as a whole, which, let's be frank, I mean, you have some Israelis

who call it Jewish terrorism, Israeli terrorism, right?

So, he's got -- he and his right wing of the government have a very different view and really one that is not matched by the facts, including

CNN's own reporting about some of the violence that's been taking place at the hands of Israeli settlers there as well. So defiant speech and one I

think that you can say was not only to the world, but perhaps to a domestic Israeli audience as he's trying to keep power in these elections coming up

just next month.

[15:15:06]

FOSTER: Absolutely. Jim, appreciate it. Thank you for joining us from D.C.

Well, New York didn't exactly roll out the red carpet for the Israeli prime minister, as Jim was saying. Protesters turned out on the streets, some

holding signs that read "End the genocide". Mr. Netanyahu's visit is expected to last just hours with him returning home later today.

In his UN speech, the prime minister took aim at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NETANYAHU: Shame on you. Shame on you for distorting the facts. Shame on you for inverting victim and aggressor. Shame on you for spitting in the

face of truth.

Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. They talk to me. They tell me.

This isn't the city we remember. Here's a simple truth -- Israel didn't commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide.

And that's exactly, that's exactly what Mr. Mamdani's Hamas buddies would have done to us had we not stopped them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Mr. Netanyahu there.

Now Australia expressing extreme concern about A.I. following a hack by an OpenAI agent into its healthcare database. It's the first known case of

A.I. hacking a government network. OpenAI has responded to this allegation, speaking to CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LEHANE, CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS OFFICER, OPENAI: These were entities that were involved in healthcare issues. And so I think amongst the

questions that we have gotten was, were any individuals or people impacted by this? And there was no personal health care information that was

impacted by this particular incident.

But again, this is really serious, right? We understand it is serious. It's why we have an ongoing review. The review is sort of working backwards. And

as we identify information, we do convey it and communicate it to the impacted parties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, the hack was first discovered in August, but Australians were only told in September. It comes as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls for

more safety protocols.

Here's CNN's Hanako Montgomery with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what's believed to be the first known AI hack of a government network, an Open AI agent hacked into an

Australian healthcare system, causing extreme concern.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Today, I spoke with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, to express Australia's extreme concern about this

incident. This situation is obviously unacceptable.

MONTGOMERY: In June, the agent was supposed to be researching healthcare spending, but while doing so, it bypassed security blocks and accessed

information it wasn't authorized to see. OpenAI says it didn't discover the breach until August, while it was reviewing its model's activity.

But Australia didn't find out until even later on September 10th, when the company sent a notice through a generic inbox, Albanese says. Resulting in

a five-day delay before the appropriate government minister was notified.

The prime minister called that unacceptable and says Australia is now investigating what else the AI may have accessed.

He said three other government services may have been affected. There's no evidence so far that patient records were breached, according to OpenAI.

But the incident is fueling a bigger debate over AI safety and guardrails, as we've seen at the United Nations General Assembly this week.

SAM ALTMAN, CEO OF OPENAI: It doesn't matter whether people put the risk of catastrophe at 10 percent, or one percent, or 12 percent, or 0.1

percent. None of these levels are remotely acceptable, and we should not train models that we cannot make an extremely strong case they will be able

to keep under human control.

MONTGOMERY: But this isn't even the first time OpenAI's agents have hacked other systems. Earlier this year, they breached the AI company Hugging

Face, further showing that tech companies are having a hard time getting their inventions to follow the rules.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Coming up, trying to keep up the pace. A.I. is moving so fast, but a new poll finds that Americans are wary of its rapid rise. The growing

concerns over where the technology is heading just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:24]

FOSTER: Artificial intelligence is advancing at lightning speed, though Americans are feeling more uneasy than hopeful about what's ahead. A new

CNN poll finds that broad concern over the technology, with 75 percent of Americans concerned with the growth of A.I., where only a quarter feel

hopeful and excited by it. In that same poll, there appears to be bipartisan concern, 85 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Republicans

agree the government isn't doing enough on A.I. regulation.

So, what we want to know is, are Americans right to be fearful of A.I.?

Joining me now, Andrew Grill, author of "Digitally Curious", your guide to navigating the future of A.I. and beyond. And presumably, you're going to

have to update that book every week at the moment because of how fast it's moving.

But I want you to start with this hack, effectively, of a government department in Australia. We haven't had it going to this level before, have

we? I mean, these are governments who are meant to be regulating A.I., and even they're coming under attack. And it is an attack, isn't it, if it

wasn't invited?

ANDREW GRILL, A.I. EXPERT & KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Absolutely, Max, good to be here. And as an Australian, it's personally interesting that Medicare, one

of the well-known medical databases, was hacked.

But it's interesting that these weren't premeditated attacks. What happened back in June, July was that OpenAI and others were trying out their models

to see what they could do. They actually went beyond what they were supposed to do. What worries me, though, is that the governments didn't

know that they were being penetrated and the A.I. labs themselves had no idea. There's no feedback loop to understand whether these models are

causing harm.

FOSTER: And then we have a situation where President Trump is saying he doesn't want to regulate. Other countries do want to regulate. But how do

you regulate when even the companies don't know what's going on? Is the solution just this pause that everyone's been talking about?

GRILL: Well, I think the pause is one way to solve that. But I think President Trump is saying that whoever wins A.I. wins the race. But we have

some precedents here. If you are listing a new work in the pharma industry or the aviation industry, you have a duty to disclose what's happened

straight away. If something goes on, you have to tell someone that's happened. And if it's so bad, there's a recall or there's a stop.

So why aren't we looking at this type of regulation where we know that this very powerful technology can cause harm in ways that we had never imagined?

FOSTER: Is, you know, the medical sector, in fact, where we should be looking?

[15:25:02]

Because it's been often, you know, these escaping agents have been compared to viruses escaping. But it's not comparable, is it? Because medical labs

are the most regulated, you know, sort of establishments in the world really aren't they particularly if they're dealing with deadly viruses and

there doesn't seem to be any government even intervention or checking of what the A.I. companies are doing in their own labs.

GRILL: Well, I've been working the technology game for 30 or 40 years and I've never seen a move as quickly as this. I think in the last three years,

we've had 10 or 15 years of innovation. I'm having trouble keeping up. You mentioned updating my book. That's an issue as well.

But I think also governments are being left They don't know what they can do. And the labs themselves don't know what's going on. So, there's talk of

self-regulation. I heard in your package before, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, saying these models shouldn't be released into the wild.

Well, then why are they being released? And why aren't governments around the world getting together to say, let's learn from what's happening in

pharma and nuclear and aviation. And if these things can cause harm to humans in unintended ways. We need to look at it.

And you mentioned those labs, these A.I. labs, for example, the Hugging Face attacks, they were told they did not have access to the internet.

These models were smart enough to essentially cheat and get access to the internet. So, we can't control them, they're escaping out of the lab

essentially.

FOSTER: Obviously, the poll we showed showed that most people are very pessimistic about what could happen. They fear what could happen.

Obviously, it goes back to that warning from the scientists saying it could end up wiping us out.

You know, we've had similar situations in the past, haven't we, if we look at the nuclear arms race, and eventually governments did pull back. They

did get together and come up with a global system. Are we just waiting for the point where this is so dangerous that governments do have to work

together or should people, not just Americans, be concerned that the worst is going to happen here?

GRILL: Well, we have time to make sure the worst won't happen. I think in the last six months, these A.I. systems are becoming extremely powerful,

even more powerful than the labs expected. But let's look at what countries like Australia and the U.K. are doing around social media. If I knew 15

years ago that social media could have a detrimental impact on mental health, I probably would have regulated a lot earlier.

Now, we're seeing these countries are opposing a ban on teams accessing social media. But that's 15 years too late. We now know that these tools

are there. They are running fast and we can control them. And I don't think that the A.I. labs, the four or five big labs, can be trusted to regulate

what they're doing.

But will regulation from the American government, the British government, the Australian government, will that have any effect? I don't know. I like

to say to my clients, just because you can, doesn't mean that you should. So why are they building these agents that are so powerful, they can hack

systems, when the companies I deal with, and I'm in boardrooms every week, they don't need this capability just yet. So why are we building it?

FOSTER: Yeah, and it's quite scary when people like you are saying. You're struggling to understand it right now, but that is the reality of where we

are right now.

Andrew, thank you so much.

Now coming up, an oil squeeze. Why President Trump's choice to stay out of Saudi Arabia's conflict could hit Americans at the gas pump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:59]

FOSTER: Now, President Trump's decision to stay out of Saudi Arabia's conflict with the Houthis could have an impact on the gas pump. With

tensions involving Iran and Yemen, Saudi oil is caught between two potential choke points, raising concerns that disruptions could ripple

through to global oil markets.

What we don't know is will Donald Trump's stance on Saudi Arabia end up costing Americans?

Joining me now from Riyadh is our chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance.

I presume the basis on this, Matthew, is that the Saudis need American support right now and if they don't give it, they can't supply the oil that

they may have been hoping to.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Saudis certainly want more robust American support. They're already getting

intelligence sharing and satellite targeting data and things like that to allow the Saudi military to sort of pound Houthi strongholds in Yemen and

to try and push back on their offensive. But what they really want is for President Trump to send in U.S. aircraft and missiles and strike at Houthi

positions. There's been a couple of phone calls over the past few days by the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Sultan (ph) directly to Trump,

basically appealing to him to step in.

But both of those appeals have, according to one source familiar with this, been rebuffed. It seems that President Trump is at the moment saying that

his red line is engaging in that kind of kinetic war with Yemen. There's a couple of reasons why that might be. I mean, first of all, I expect

President Trump may be very reluctant to open a second front in this region while the Iran war is still, you know, undecided and unresolved. You know,

American military assets are incredibly stretched across this region. Opening a second front could be problematic.

But it's risky, of course, as well, not, you know, kind of backing up the Saudis and responding to their appeal, because it once again undermines the

credibility of the United States as a security guarantor for the region. And that's something that I think is really being acutely felt in the

United States and here as well.

And of course, there's the economic risk as well. If Saudi oil exports are successfully cut off, not just in the Strait of Hormuz where they're

already incredibly limited, but also in the Red Sea on the other side of the country through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which the Houthis in Yemen

essentially control. That means millions of barrels of oil every day is going to find it much harder to get on the market.

That's going to create an upward pressure on the global oil price. And it's not just people around the world are going to feel that pinch. It's going

to be motorists and consumers in the United upward pressure on the global oil price. And it's not just people around the world that are going to feel

that pinch. It's going to be motorists and consumers in the United States as well who are already suffering record-high prices at the gas pump --

Max.

FOSTER: Isn't this exactly what the concern was, about starting a conflict with Iran, that it would create a situation where the various conflicts

would end up converging into something much bigger and unmanageable?

CHANCE: I think it is. It was a concern. It still is a concern. It was certainly the concern expressed by many of the Gulf Arab states. And I've

spent some time over the course of the past seven months or so since the Iran war was launched by the United States and Israel in these Arab Gulf

Arab states, speaking to their leaders.

And, you know, people are, you know, incredibly angry and frustrated and anxious about, you know, what the consequences will be of a sort of broader

conflict with Iran and with its proxies around the region. And we're stuck -- we have been seeing and we're still seeing that actually play out on the

ground as well.

You know, within the course of the past 24 hours, the Saudi government says that it shot down six ballistic missiles targeting, you know, various areas

across Saudi Arabia. It's significant port on the Red Sea of Yanbu has come under repeated attack. And, you know, there have been, you know, other sort

of raids as well on Riyadh and the capital here and other places as well.

And they're very frustrated that President Trump is refusing to step in and do more. Other countries have. Britain has promised military resources to

help protect Saudi Arabia within the past few hours. France has said it will be deploying forces, air defense forces, to Yanbu in order to protect

that strategic port city as well.

And so, you know, a lot of countries are stepping up to try and increase the security here in Saudi Arabia. But, frankly, none them can give and can

offer what the United States can. And that's why I think that the Saudi Arabian authorities here in the kingdom very much want the U.S. to step up

and step in -- Max.

FOSTER: Matthew Chance in Riyadh, appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining us from there now.

It is the final moments of trade on Wall Street. Stocks are heading for a flat finish. The Dow's been in the red for the entire session.

This is our Business Breakout.

U.S. borrowing costs continue to rise. The yield on the 30-year US Treasury bond is now at its highest level in more than 20 years. Mortgage rates are

now above seven percent. Fears on energy costs have driven bond yields higher across the globe. The U.S. Treasury is spending $6 billion on

buybacks today to try to keep them in check.

Starbucks closing hundreds of its North American locations. As part of a plan for the new CEO to restructure the coffee chain, customers will start

seeing signs on the affected locations this weekend. The closures will cost Starbucks around $300 million.

New York State has filed a lawsuit against Polymarket, accusing it of running an illegal gambling operation. The State Attorney General Letitia

James says the prediction market is targeting vulnerable New Yorkers, especially those underage, for legal gambling. The lawsuit would force

Polymarket to pay compensation to users it's allegedly harmed and paid fines to the state.

Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi could completely change how we deal with November's midterm elections in the United States. Users are

trading hundreds of millions of dollars on predicting the outcomes. An election official tells CNN they're creating new risks, whether it's from

insider trading or disinformation.

Marshall Cohen has been following this story for us.

Marshall, so what are you hearing from the campaign's election officials? Because I know that in the past, actually, these markets have been pretty

good at making predictions.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Hey, Max, you know, we have been hearing a real mixed bag. But there's a lot of interest from the campaigns,

but a mixed bag on how accurate these markets actually are. Look at these numbers, $750 million in total trading volume on 2026 midterm markets on

Kalshi and Polymarket, which are the two biggest prediction platforms in the world.

And they have been trying to ramp up users and engagement and their own profits by offering markets on almost every single inch of the midterms,

Max. You can bet on every single House and Senate race, the governor's races, mayoral races. You can bet on the margins of these races, the

turnout in particular states and districts. It is almost all-encompassing.

We spoke with 20 election officials and campaign insiders who said that it is almost all-encompassing. We spoke with 20 election officials and

campaign insiders who said that this is really changing the culture.

[15:40:00]

Campaigns are tracking this very closely. Donors are watching the markets as well to make their spending decisions.

We spoke to one person who said that they know of a candidate who is checking their odds for their own race every single hour. And of course,

there are also already a few examples of candidates betting on their own races, which is a form of prohibited insider trading.

But the election officials that we spoke to raised concerns. They think that this is going to create new opportunities for disinformation, people

spreading false claims when people end up winning races that they were favored to lose and vice versa. And we saw that earlier this year.

The case study for this is the L.A. mayoral election in June in Los Angeles, where there were a ton of false claims being peddled, including by

people that had been trading on the prediction markets.

And I actually spoke to the top election official in L.A. His name is Dean Logan. And I said to him, what is your message to these prediction

companies? Here's what he said.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DEAN LOGAN, LOS ANGELES COUNTY CLERK: Don't do this. Stay out of this particular field. There are plenty of other areas for you to do what you

do, but you don't really belong here. It's not appropriate because it does strike at the fundamental purpose of an election. And anything that is

creating a lack of public confidence in that is destructive.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COHEN: They understand and acknowledge that these markets are legal in the United States, but they kind of wish that they weren't.

And by the way, for full disclosure, Max, as you know, CNN has a partnership with Kalshi. We use its data to cover major events, including

elections, but they don't influence our coverage, and we don't trade on prediction platforms.

FOSTER: Absolutely. Marshall, thank you so much for that.

We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Donald Trump's pick to run U.S. drug policy had a clear message on vaccines in her confirmation hearing today. Every vaccine currently on the

market is safe and effective.

Heidi Overton appeared before the Senate today as she hopes to be approved as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. In a major break with

President Trump, she gave her full backing to the MMR vaccine and other jabs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEIDI OVERTON, NOMINEE FOR FDA COMMISSIONER: Is the MMR vaccine lethal, is your question. I have -- the MMR vaccine is not lethal. It is --

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): It is safe and effective.

OVERTON: Yes, Senator, the MMR vaccine is safe and effective.

CASSIDY: Do you -- so you disagree with the president on that?

OVERTON: Senator, if confirmed as FDA Commissioner, my role would be individual product determinations and what the law requires for statutory

standards of safety and efficacy. The MMR vaccine is currently licensed and approved by the FDA. It is safe and effective, and it is our best tool

right now in the public health response to the measles outbreak. It is 97 percent effective in stopping transmission of the virus after two doses.

CASSIDY: Are there any vaccines on the U.S. market right now which are unsafe?

OVERTON: Senator, every vaccine on the U.S. market right now are safe and effective according to the FDA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Our medical correspondent Meg Tirrell joins us now.

This must be music to the ear, to many in the health sector who've been very concerned, haven't they, about what they've been hearing from the

Trump administration?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, sorry, I'm just getting a little feedback in my ear there. But many people in the public health world

have wanted to hear from Trump administration health leaders that vaccines are safe and effective, as we've been seeing measles cases at 35-year highs

here in the United States. And so, this has been a question we've seen posed not just to this FDA Commissioner nominee, but also to the surgeon

general nominee as well.

And she also came out just recently supporting MMR vaccination. So that comes, of course, after President Trump suggested the MMR vaccine should be

split up or that it should be given in smaller doses. Separately, of course, the FDA oversees all pharmaceuticals that oversees medical devices,

tobacco, and 80 percent of US food supply. So, there were a lot of questions about the huge cyclosporiasis outbreak that we saw with lettuce

in the United States earlier this summer, how she would oversee that, would she rebuild and kinds of surveillance systems that we have to try to stop

those things from happening.

And she committed that she would. There was a lot of debate over her stance on medication abortion. That is an area where the FDA is doing a safety

review right now. And she was pushed from people on the right to do more on that to perhaps rescind the ability of people to get medication abortion

through telemedicine, which increasingly is a way people access abortion since Roe V Wade was overturned here in the United States.

But then of course she was pushed by people on the left in the opposite direction who cite evidence showing that medication abortion is safe the

way that the FDA currently has it allowed to be prescribed, Max. So, we're going to see where this one goes in terms of a vote. Can that happen before

the midterms? Those are questions that I'm hearing from people in the field right now, will she get in there and we'll have to see how they go on that

-- Max.

FOSTER: And in terms of how the public should be responding to these mixed messages from politicians, I mean, what is the general advice, speaking to

your doctor, someone you trust?

TIRRELL: Certainly. When it comes to vaccines, trusted messengers are people that people in public health say you absolutely should work with

your pediatricians. Those are the folks you should be getting medical advice from. You know, you hear that from Robert F Kennedy, Jr., too. He

says I'm not a doctor don't listen to me and so when you are hearing those mixed messages, don't take your medical advice from politicians. Take them

from a trusted doctor.

FOSTER: Okay. Great advice from you as well. Thank you so much.

We'll be right back.

TIRRELL: Okay.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:28]

FOSTER: Some news just into CNN. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting of two Jeffrey Epstein's closest advisors are actually facing a federal

investigation. CNN spoke with a source who was interviewed by investigators earlier this year about Epstein, and they say Epstein's lawyer, Darren

Indyke, and his accountant, Richard Kahn, were brought up.

MJ Lee has been looking at this.

And this is significant because it widens this case.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, potentially a really significant development in the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

This idea that federal investigators are reportedly investigating, probing these two close advisers to Jeffrey Epstein, Darren Indyke and Richard

Kahn, who were his lawyer and accountant.

This, as you said, was first reported by "The Wall Street Journal" and we spoke with a source who was interviewed by investigators earlier this year

and this is our understanding right now of what the SDNY, that's the Southern District of New York and other agencies are doing. They are

conducting interviews with potential witnesses, including Epstein survivors.

They are soliciting documentation like emails, like checks from the people that they are talking to, and they appear to be interested in a range of

issues that both Indyke and Khan would have been familiar with, including the many shell companies that Epstein was known to have set up, including

this company called the Florida Science Foundation, which, as we have reported in the past, was this bogus nonprofit that he set up around the

time that he pled guilty to soliciting prostitution of minors. And survivors had told us that this was the office that he used to continue

abusing women and girls while he was actually serving jail time years ago.

Now, I should note that SDNY is not commenting. We have reached out to both men's lawyers. But this is what a DOJ spokesperson told us in a statement.

They said we don't comment on the existence or lack thereof of investigations. We have always said with regard to Epstein that if the

evidence presents itself, we will investigate.

Now, Max, just to broaden this out for a quick second on the importance of this, obviously this is important because these are two men who really had

proximity to Jeffrey Epstein. They spent many years working for him, would have been intimately familiar with sort of the ins and outs of his business

dealings. And some survivors have said, look, you played a role in enabling his crimes.

And secondly, the reason this is such a huge deal, especially for the hundreds of survivors, is because they have been calling for, for so many

years, any modicum of accountability, of transparency, investigations and prosecutions. And all along they have said these two men, Darren Indyke and

Richard Kahn, they are no brainer. You absolutely should be looking into what they potentially knew.

So, this is certainly welcome news for the survivors. I will importantly note that both men have previously said that they had no knowledge of

Epstein's criminal misconduct.

FOSTER: Absolutely. OK, MJ, thank you so much for joining us.

LEE: Thanks.

FOSTER: Now, finally, after days of headlines, the rapper Macklemore says he is going to be hitting the road with a European concert tour,

significant because this actually comes after he's controversially dropped as one of Ed Sheeran's opening acts in the United States.

[15:55:02]

Now, writing on social media, Macklemore says his Free Palestine tour will play its first three shows next month in Dublin, Paris and London, with

plans to announce more cities and dates in the coming weeks. Macklemore left Ed Sheeran's tour earlier this month after he drew criticism for his

pro-Palestinian speeches during his act. Now, the rapper says all proceeds from his new tour will benefit organizations working to help the

Palestinian people.

I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW. Stay with CNN.

END

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