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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Court Chinese Communist Leader With White House Visit Full of Pomp; Senate Rejects Latest Push to End War in Iran; Nor'easter Gains Strength as It Takes Aim at East Coast. Advisers Urge Trump To Declare Martial Law For Midterms; Some Homeowners Sell Property To Pay For Future A.I. Investments. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired September 24, 2026 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour, CNN back at the White House after a judge ordered the administration to restore access to the three media outlets banned by Trump last week.
[18:00:01]
But the fight's far from over with the president already vowing to appeal. We're going to check in with CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House in moments.
Plus, more than 40 million Americans will feel the impacts this weekend from a nor'easter storm that's still gaining strength tonight. Heavy rain, punishing winds, flooding all expected, as some cities could get a month's worth of rain in just one day. We're going to go live to the CNN Weather Center for just the latest forecast.
Also, a brand-new CNN poll finds the overwhelming majority of Americans are worried about artificial intelligence and think the federal government should be doing more to regulate the evolving technology. We're going to be joined by a candidate for Congress who used to work at an A.I. company for more on how that could work and what the government should do.
Our Lead tonight, breaking news right now, President Trump preparing to greet Chinese Leader Xi Jinping ahead of their lavish state dinner at the White House. Today, Xi said both the U.S. and China have a responsibility to, quote, manage A.I. for good. Chinese state media reports that Xi told Trump he hopes the U.S. will oppose Taiwan's independence despite the U.S. selling arms to the country.
The two leaders also discussed the Iran war, and in the latest act of panda diplomacy, Xi announced that China will be sending two pandas to a zoo in Atlanta in the coming days. A full day and night of activities we unfortunately cannot show you, because right now the five major networks that make up the T.V. pool, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, are waiting on confirmation from the White House that CNN will be allowed to fulfill its pool responsibilities in the future.
Right now, the pool doesn't have that assurance. So, the pool has not filmed any of Trump and Xi's consequential events so far today.
Joining us now from the White House, CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, first of all, what an own goal on the president who wanted these images out there. Second, Trump just weighed in again on the press ban.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. And the president obviously, you know, is part of this carefully choreographed visit that has been the planning for weeks, if not months, of course, by the White House and the top aides, with the two delegations from the Chinese side and the American side going back and forth over what every detail of this visit is going to look like, including tonight's state dinner.
And as you can see behind me, they are getting ready here at the White House to hold that state dinner. We're already seeing a lot of the invited guests start to arrive here at the White House, dressed in black tie. And this is a moment that typically would be broadcast essentially everywhere, certainly over the five major T.V. networks. But, obviously, you're not seeing that coverage because of this hold up with the commitment to letting CNN continue to fulfill its full responsibilities, as it has always done, of course, no matter who is the president.
And so while we are waiting for that, Jake, and obviously waiting for that to happen. We are back here on the White House grounds after that court order that came out overnight. And this has been something that's been going on as the Chinese leader is here in Washington, and a lot of the state visit has already been underway.
And so we're waiting to see what tonight looks like because, of course, that state dinner is set to kick off in just about two hours from now. And oftentimes in those state dinners, as you saw when the king was visiting not so long ago, there are toasts at the top of these dinners where each leader stands up and delivers essentially their remarks about the ceremony of this, the pomp of this, not always on the substance of those conversations, which we know have revolved around artificial intelligence, trade, Taiwan, all of these big things that are on the agenda for these two leaders.
But the toast can also be an insight, Jake, into what each world leader is projecting and how they are talking about this visit. And so sometimes they turn into speeches. They have a habit of doing so. We'll see what the quotes are from that earlier. But I've covered the White House for ten years, Jake, and this is pretty remarkable given the magnitude of this event, the major implications of it.
And for President Trump, who was noting earlier that it was not being broadcast on television, that is obviously a result of the president's decision-making on Friday and the White House not saying, yes, that there is a commitment that CNN will be back in that rotation of Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC that covers the president on a daily basis, covers his activities, disseminates the material of what the president is doing, not just the Q&A, all of his visits and public appearances in front of the camera. Obviously, that is something we very much look forward to returning to do as soon as we are allowed to. TAPPER: Kaitlan Collins at the White House doing her job, thanks so much. Don't miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Her guests tonight include Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.
Joining us now in studio, a rare treat, Republican Congressman from South Dakota, Dusty Johnson. He's a member on the House Select Committee on China.
So, you have more information about Xi Jinping and how China's being run than the average person, certainly more than I have, because you probably get intelligence that I don't have classified information. What do you make of all the pomp and circumstance?
REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): I think the pomp and circumstance is fine, but we just need to make sure that we remember as a country, and that the president remembers, and I'm sure he is, we cannot threaten and we cannot charm Xi Jinping into a good deal.
[18:05:03]
This is a very savvy operator. And the president's very good at leveraging and threatening and charming people, Americans, into good deals.
Xi Jinping is -- this is a real geopolitical threat. This is an important set of meetings, and I hope they go well.
TAPPER: Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that if the president had asked him, he would have said engage with Xi, but don't throw him a state dinner, don't roll out the red carpet. What advice would you have given?
JOHNSON: I think Wicker's right. But listen I think it's important to generally defer to a president of either party on foreign affairs. There are no easy answers in foreign affairs. If I know the president's wrong, I'll say so, but if it's a gray area decision, I think, generally, politicians should try to back the play of our head of state.
TAPPER: Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy was asked if he had any concerns about China working with Iran to spy on the U.S. during this state visit. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): President Xi is one of the best liars I've ever seen. I mean, he learned to lie before he learned to talk. And I don't believe the president will fall for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Do you agree?
JOHNSON: Of course, I'm not anywhere near as eloquent or folksy as the senator is, but yes I called Xi savvy because I was trying to be diplomatic.
TAPPER: Right.
JOHNSON: But this guy does lie. He is a master manipulator, and we should make sure that he does not manipulate this administration into deals that do not serve American interests.
TAPPER: Why do you think Trump today called Xi strong, vibrant, and fit not long after President Trump basically accused China of stealing the 2020 election from him in that big primetime press conference?
JOHNSON: I think this is a tactic the president uses a lot. He loves flattery, particularly of foreign leaders. And so he says things about Putin that I would never say. He says things about Xi that I would never say.
And listen, that's a tactic he uses. Let's hope that it bears some fruit, but flattery is not going to be the way that we get a tough deal with China.
TAPPER: So, let me ask you, because we've seen the president do this, the flattery, the charm, with Mohammed bin Salman, with Kim Jong-un, with Vladimir Putin, with President Xi, even with the Iranians on, you know, social media to a degree. Have you ever seen it work in any way? I mean, Putin is still doing Putin stuff, and he's still killing all the Ukrainians, and I could go on and on and on. I don't -- I agree with you. Like I don't -- I have no issue with somebody trying a new approach. That was what I thought about Kim Jong-un in the first term, but I've just never seen it work.
JOHNSON: Well, I don't know to what extent it works, right? And maybe with North Korea, it does work. I would tell you, Putin has been --
TAPPER: They still have a nuke.
JOHNSON: Well, they still have a nuke, although it's hard to charm somebody out of a nuclear weapon, right? I mean, if we're being honest, these are difficult situations. I would say with Putin, I get most uncomfortable when we are saying flattering things about Vladimir Putin. This guy is an authoritarian thug. There is nothing about how he conducts business that is flattery worthy.
And part of the strength of America is that, in general, over the last 250 years, we have done a good, not a perfect, but a good job of telling the world about American values. Vladimir Putin is the exact opposite of all of that.
TAPPER: A local paper, the South Dakota Searchlight, reports that you spoke to members of the Downtown Sioux Falls Rotary Club on Monday about your time in Congress, and you revealed that you thought Trump sometimes shows a, quote, lack of focus. I assume you mean talking about the ballroom, talking about the Reflecting Pool, talking about the arch, and not being laser-like focused on affordability and ending the war in Iran?
JOHNSON: I think they're the same thing. I think a lot of people are burying Republican prospects in the November election. I think 40 days out, it's a little early to say that.
I would say, though, our chances of winning are a lot better if we're talking about the border, about what real steps have been taken in affordability, and about us rolling back some of the nonsense that was going on in the culture wars. If we're instead talking about Lake Ontario and the Reflecting Pool, and about whether or not CNN should be a part of the pool, I think Republican prospects are markedly worse.
And so, yes, when I talk about focus, I think Republicans need message discipline because there is a story to be told there, and it doesn't have a damn thing to do with Lake Ontario.
TAPPER: All right. South Dakota Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson, always good to have you, sir, thank you so much.
A vote to rein in President Trump's war powers narrowly failed today with members of both parties crossing the aisle to vote with their opponents. One of the lawmakers who tried to get it across the finish line joins me to react next.
Plus, we're digging into the numbers of CNN's latest poll, which finds an overwhelming majority of Americans worried about the risks of A.I. What more could or should the federal government do to regulate this technology?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:10:00]
TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, Congressional opponents of the Iran war came close today, but still could not muster enough votes to invoke the War Powers Act to try to limit President Trump's ability to continue the war in Iran. The final vote was 49 for and 50 against the resolution in the U.S. Senate. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat who voted against the resolution. Four Republicans, Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, plus in a new defection from the party line, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, they did vote for the War Powers Resolution, which passed the House back in July.
One of its co-sponsors, Democrat Jason Crow of Colorado, joins us now. Congressman, what's your reaction to this afternoon's Senate vote?
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, Jake, if more people than a third of the Senate were running for re-election right now, I suspect that vote would be very different because Americans don't want this war, Republicans and Democrats alike. Donald Trump even campaigned on ending wars in the Middle East, like the very one that he just started until he changed his mind and decided to get us involved in another quagmire, and Americans have had enough.
[18:15:00]
So, we're going to keep on pushing for it as many votes as it will take to send a very strong message from Congress that this war was not authorized by the American people and Americans have had enough.
TAPPER: What exactly does the resolution do, and are you going to try again after the midterms?
CROW: Yes. The resolution says that we have to cease combat operations in the Middle East, and that we have to start drawing down our additional forces related to Iran. What we want to be able to do in addition to this, if we retake Congress, what we need to do is actually reform the War Powers Resolution of 1973, reform the 2001 authorization for use of military force, sunset those so there are no more blank checks. I don't care whether you're a Republican president or a Democrat president, no more blank checks from Congress.
If you want to go to war, you want to send our men and women off to fight, and you want to spend hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars to do it, you have to come to the American people through their elected representatives, and we have to debate it, and then we have to be held accountable for those votes, and we have to finance it.
So, we have to start cutting the money off. That's the bottom line. There should be no endless stream of money to fund these conflicts. Americans are done paying for this without accountability.
TAPPER: You're a former Army Ranger. You served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. I want to get your reaction to something we learned yesterday, and that is that eight U.S. Navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, eight of them attempted suicide during combat operations against Iran.
The carrier set a modern record for its time at sea, and finally is on its way home. Thankfully, none of those eight a- suicide attempts were successful, but what's your reaction?
CROW: Well, this just shows the amount of strain and extreme pressure that our military is under. And, you know, I talked about how Donald Trump, just a minute ago, how he campaigned on ending these wars and actually bringing our service members back from this endless cycle of conflict and helping rebuild our military, you know, invest in new systems, invest in drone technology, invest in the things that we're seeing on the battlefields of Ukraine. That's the future of warfare.
But most importantly, invest in our service members. Invest in their families, time at home, you know, help them fill their cups up, be whole, focus on their families. That is what makes a strong military so when we actually face threats that we have to encounter, we're ready to go and they're ready to meet that.
Not these endless, open-ended conflicts where we set new records for aircraft carriers being at sea longer than they need to be because we started a war without a plan. That's what happened. We started this war, there was no plan, there was no off-ramp, an aircraft carrier was stuck at sea twice as long as it should have been. And the stress and strain on our sailors were evident was evident as a result of that.
TAPPER: A new article in The Atlantic magazine says that some people around President Trump, although not in the White House but outside the White House, they want him to declare martial law for the midterms. And in The New Republic, conservative former Judge Michael Luttig warns that Congressional Republicans may claim that the election was stolen and refuse to seat newly elected Democrats when Congress convenes next January. How worried are you that the midterm elections are going to be blocked in some way by President Trump?
CROW: I think that Donald Trump and the sycophants around him are going to try to cheat. That's what I think. I also know that our elections are safe, they're secure. There's been no foreign interference. We have some of the most secure elections in the world. We've literally had thousands of elections that have happened at all levels, state, local, municipal, special districts, federal, that have happened in the last few years that have gone off very well.
In Colorado, we have some of the most secure elections in the country. We have the second-highest level of voter participation. So, Americans need to show up, need to show up, need to vote for their preferred candidate. They need to elect people who aren't going to be corrupt, who aren't going to fall into the corruption of this administration.
Democrats are going to take back the House. And then we're going to have to make sure that whatever high jinks Donald Trump and those around him are up to, because they know they can't win unless they try to cheat, that we block that, that we mobilize, we organize, we're going to communicate, we're going to tell the truth, we're going to litigate if we need to, and we're going to make sure that Americans' voices are heard and we restore our democracy.
TAPPER: Congressman Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, thank you, sir.
The 2026 midterms are filled with political content coming from not normal people, regular people, but paid influencers pretending. Who are they? Are they even in the United States? That story's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:20:00]
TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, don't believe everything you see on Instagram. Paid content creators are infiltrating the 2026 midterms by flooding social media with influential political videos. The topics range from attacks on candidates to concerns about state-specific affordability issues.
But as CNN's Tom Foreman reports for us now, some of these paid influencers do not even live in the states that they're posting about. And, in fact, some of them don't even live in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You have to work 47 percent more to afford rent in Texas compared to California. The cost of living in the Lone Star State is unbearable. That was the essence of the claim in this TikTok from a user going by the name Drew. A post so popular, the California governor's social media feed shared it twice.
But The New York Times found Drew was not his real name. The math was made up, and in a later post, since deleted, he admitted the whole thing was backed by an app offering money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, they were paying me to post very left-leaning stuff about how Texas was super expensive and how it has been hard for me living in Texas.
[18:25:04]
I don't even (BLEEP) live in Texas. I'm from Utah. I'm in Florida right now.
FOREMAN: It's part of what the Times called an army of paid creators carpeting the web with political content from the left, right, and center, pushing social media engagement that seems like a grassroots movement.
KEN BENSINGER, NEW YORK TIMES: You can normalize something online by repeating it a, a billion times, and that's essentially what these, these things are trying to do.
FOREMAN: Here's how it works. Social media users connect with an app or website of unclear origin, promising payment for basically scripted posts about chosen candidates or issues. By fulfilling the orders, the users push those subjects deeper into the online debate, where social media algorithms then see the topics as popular and push them even more.
BENSINGER: It's really cheap. It's fast. It's agile.
FOREMAN: It's not broadly illegal, but in a word, it is advertising. And even though Drew did not respond to The New York Times request for further comment, he did have thoughts after he says his deal was cut off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really (BLEEP) up, though, because you have so much stuff on your reels that isn't labeled as ads. It's just people making videos about stuff that really is an ad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't matter if you live here or here.
FOREMAN: That's key because traditional political ads must reveal who is writing the checks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I approve this message.
FOREMAN: But the federal rules dictating that don't apply to this paid online content. So, who is behind all this influence on American politics just grows murkier.
BENSINGER: We found many accounts in Pakistan, Nigeria, Philippines.
Hard to imagine they have much connection to it, but they know how to cash a check, I suppose. (END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (on camera): And, again, this is being done by Democrats and by Republicans and by independents. And yet, for the people who are actually doing it the Times reporter said to me, you know, the few people they could actually get a hold of, many of them said, I would never post something I did not believe in. The pay made the difference, though.
But he said, really, for most people, the overwhelming sentiment was these are just people trying to make a buck. It has nothing to do with politics or anything they believe. They're just trying to make some money at a difficult time.
TAPPER: It's different for the people hiring them, though, of course.
FOREMAN: Very, very different, yes.
TAPPER: Tom Foreman, thanks so much.
From North Carolina all the way up to New England, millions of residents of right are right now bracing for impact tonight as a powerful nor'easter barrels up the coast. Where it is this hour, where it's headed next, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:00]
TAPPER: In our National Lead, from North Carolina all the way up to New England, millions of Americans are bracing for a rare September nor'easter. The storm is gaining strength. It's expected to slam states with coastal flooding, heavy rains, powerful winds.
CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is in the Weather Center. Allison, when and where will the worst of this storm be?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, the when comes this weekend. The where really is very spread out. I mean, essentially, up and down the eastern seaboard, you're going to see some type of impact. We're already starting to see those winds up around 20 to 30 miles per hour sustained, with the gusts being even higher for places like Ocean City and even around Virginia Beach.
That is one component of this nor'easter. The other is certainly going to be the coastal flooding. You've already got those flood advisories, watches, and warnings in place for areas stretching from Boston all the way down to Norfolk. So, you're talking a pretty widespread area that's going to be dealing with the storm.
Now, you see two low-pressure systems here out in the open water. It's the closer one, that's the one that's going to be causing all of the problems here over the next several days.
Now, right now, just kind of hovering off the coast of the Carolinas, bringing some showers and thunderstorms to that particular area, but what it's going to do is it's going to strengthen as it continues to slide up the East Coast so that by the time we get to Friday.
Now, you're starting to see some of those heavier rain bands into Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and into New York. By Saturday morning, some really heavy rain starts to enter these areas, and you also start to see it overspread into places like Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and even into Maine.
Some of these areas are talking pretty heavy rain, four to six inches. Other areas, it could be in terms of coastal flooding, but you also have the rip currents up and down the entire eastern seaboard.
TAPPER: Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.
Cue the election music, everyone. We're just 40 days from Election Day in this year's midterms, and artificial intelligence is emerging as a major issue for voters. In fact, a brand-new CNN poll finds 87 percent of registered voters say A.I. and data centers will be an important factor in their vote for Congress.
Voter concerns about this emerging technology run deep. 75 percent of Americans fear the growth and development of A.I., while nearly 90 percent are more concerned than excited that A.I. could one day surpass human intelligence.
Those concerns may be valid, as OpenAI says one of its agents went rogue again, this time hacking Australia's national healthcare system in June, accessing public and non-public data.
Let's bring in a rather unique voice on this issue. Her name is Nicole Locklin. She's a former attorney at the A.I. company, Databricks. She's also the Democratic nominee in the House race for Florida's 26th Congressional District. Thank you so much for joining us.
So, what do you make of these polls? Are Americans right to be concerned of A.I.?
NICOLE LOCKLIN (D), FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: So, I think that -- First of all, thank you for having me. Yes, I think that their concerns are valid because we look at, you know, just this last week, we have the news of OpenAI attacking the Australian health system, and before that, it was the OpenAI agents -- an agent swarm hacking into Hugging Face.
So, I think that it's clear that we have reached a point where we need, and by we, I mean the, the United States government needs to step in and regulate this technology before it gets out of hand and that we can't control it because I do think that there is a window where we can get in front of it, but that window is closing fast.
[18:35:01]
TAPPER: So, in terms of this latest hacking incident by an OpenAI agent, a spokesperson for OpenAI says that the agent, this A.I. agent or bot, hacked Australia's government healthcare system in June. The company says they didn't discover the breach until August, and then they didn't notify the Australian government until September 10th. Now, OpenAI says they found no evidence that patient records were accessed. But what do you make of the breach? What do you make of the delay in discovering it and the delay in reporting it?
LOCKLIN: I think that all of those things make it clear that we need more safety built into these tools, even when we're testing them. They -- you know, no powerful tool can only be used for good. And while I do think that this technology is, you know, a game changer, we can solve unsolvable math problems. And if it's, you know, put in the right -- pointed at the right problem, I think that we are going to have leaps and bounds of scientific discoveries and things like that.
But we need safety features built into this tech rather than put on as an afterthought. Think about cars. When we first started making cars, it wasn't until about 60 years later that we really had the safety of it nailed down. And we simply do not have the luxury of doing that with A.I. because it is going to get exponentially smarter and better, and then we will not be the apex intelligence on this planet. And it will be a lot harder to control it when it is way smarter than us.
TAPPER: You've warned that these A.I. agents or bots can forget that humans are in control, and they can make decisions based on what they think is important, not humans. How realistic do you think are the warnings that A.I. could actually wipe out humanity?
LOCKLIN: So, I think right now, the risk is more that bad actors could use this technology to do something rather than, you know, it going off on its own and having some diabolical plot to erase humanity.
But, you know, it could hack into the CDC, for instance, if it decided that that was something that it wanted to do, because we are seeing that, you know, these models are clearly doing things that they weren't told to do, they weren't given instructions to do.
So, you know, it's not a far-flung possibility that, you know, it hacks into the CDC system and there's some disease in there that it learns about and releases. Or, you know, it's not very hard to catastrophize these situations.
So, I really think that we need -- and when OpenAI and these CEOs are coming out saying that they -- that we need regulation, I think that we should listen to them. But I also think, you know, we should look at all, the totality of the circumstances as to why they're coming out and saying that because you know that for OpenAI it also is pacing with them saying they want to slow down their IPO. So, is it that these technologies are actually out of control, or is it that, you know, potentially, there's not the ROI on the investment that we thought there was.
And, you know, so there's a few different things, but I do think, in general, we need to put safety first because you -- we have to be able to keep people responsible.
And one of the things that's really concerning about this technology is that it has emergent behavior. It has shown that it has functions and features that emerge from it rather than it being programmed to do that.
TAPPER: Right.
LOCKLIN: You know, like it has -- it's deceitful. It can know when it's being tested and perform differently on tests. It can obviously break out of its containers and things like that.
So, you know, it's showing that we do need guardrails now before it's too late.
TAPPER: Yes. All right, thank you so much, Nicole Locklin, I really appreciate it.
And we should note, we did extend an invitation to her opponent in the race, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. We have not heard back from his office.
Nicole, again, thank you so much.
We have some breaking news for you now. CNN was just denied access to cover the arrivals for the state dinner for Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes is at the White House. Kristen, this is the latest chapter in this battle over not only media access at the White House, but the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Tell us what happened.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And I do want to be clear here.
[18:40:00]
This was not a pool event. This was a pre-credentialed media event before the state dinner. We submitted our credentials or our names for credentials last night. We didn't hear back.
Shortly before the actual event, we did hear from the White House asking for names of who would be attending. Like all of the other T.V. pool networks, we are doing the exact same thing that they are doing, which is sending an editorial presence, but not a camera presence. That is what we have been doing. That has been part of all of the T.V. networks banding together, and all of the other T.V. networks were submitting or sending either correspondents or producers, no cameras.
When we walked to the top of the line to get inside, they told us that we were to talk to the press office, specifically, Stephen Cheung, and that we were only -- that our allowance for going into the event was only to be a camera and audio, no editorial presence.
Again, the arrangement that all of the networks have right now is that we are only sending in an editorial presence, not sending in the camera because of what we know is happening with the pool and CNN being taken out of the pool rotation. They again said that we were specifically denied access, and that they were not letting in the CNN editorial presence. TAPPER: All right. Kristen Holmes, thanks so much, yet another egregious violation of the First Amendment and the judge's order by the Trump White House.
Coming up next, what a new article reveals about growing concerns about what the president may do when it comes to the midterms and his election fraud lies.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:45:16]
TAPPER: And our politics lead, with just 40 days left until election day, there is growing concern among experts about what President Trump might do as he continues to push baseless election fraud claims. And as the Republican Party appears, headed toward losses in the midterm elections, Democrats right now are enjoying an eight-point lead over the GOP in the latest generic ballot in battle for the battle for control of the house.
A new report from "The Atlantic" magazine details how a slew of outside advisers to President Trump are urging him to take control of federal elections this November. A key player in the scheme, according to "The Atlantic", is an attorney named Peter Ticktin. He's a longtime friend of Trump. They went to military school together as teenagers, Ticktin told "The Atlantic" magazine that Trump could decide to declare martial law on or around election day. Ticktin is also the attorney for convicted election denier Tina Peters out of Colorado. Her sentence was commuted by Colorado Governor Jared Polis.
Soon after her sentence was -- her time in prison was commuted, she met with President Trump at the White House. This is what Peter said about that meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TINA PETERS, FORMER MESA COUNTY CLERK: There is a plan. Yesterday when I was with the president, he talked and I -- and I can't get into the plan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understood. Please don't.
PETERS: But we talked -- you know, he basically said to his lead counsel, to do what I was asking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: There is a plan, says Tina Peters. And it's not just the figure circling the president saying this out loud. President Trump himself has publicly called for greater federal control of elections.
This is what he told his former deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino, on his podcast in February.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Republicans should say, we want to take over. We should take over the voting, the voting, and at least many 15 places the Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: And then there's Trump's response back in August to radio host Wayne Allyn Root's suggestion that he should declare a national security emergency to mandate his preferred changes to the elections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAYNE ALLYN ROOT, RADIO HOST: You have the right to declare a national security emergency for elections.
TRUMP: Let me just say that stranger things have happened. Okay? I'll leave it at that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: He said. Let me just say that stranger things have happened. Okay, I'll leave it at that.
During the Republican convention this month, Trump sarcastically asked his supporters to make this pledge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't care if I'm registered or not. I'm going to try and cheat like hell like they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: When asked for comment by "The Atlantic", the White House said that figures such as Ticktin and Peters and Wayne Allyn Root play no role in election policy at the White House. That's good to know.
But then again, neither did discredited MAGA attorney Sidney Powell and General Michael Flynn, both being boosters of the 2020 election lie. They were not official election advisers. And yet, you will recall in December 2020, in the midst of various Trump and Trump allies' plots to overturn the free and fair election of 2020, Powell and Flynn told the president he should seize voting machines in key states, a move then Attorney General Bill Barr told the president he could not do.
So that happened in 2020. The only reason I bring it up is because in 2026, January of this year, President Trump told "The New York Times" that he regrets not having seized the machines. I should have, he said. Now, the president continues to make public comments and take active steps to push more election fraud claims, not just about 2020, but 2022 and 2024 and 2026, claims that could theoretically be used by the president to take extraordinary actions.
In February, the office of the director of national intelligence under then Director Tulsi Gabbard said it obtained electronic voting machines seized from Puerto Rico to look for, quote, "security vulnerabilities". In July, the FBI assigned analysts to examine ballots and election materials seized from Fulton County, Georgia, right near Atlanta.
Of course, today, no evidence of large scale vote rigging or foreign interference has been found as a result of any of these measures.
So, the big question we continue to ask, what is the president planning? We do not know, but we will keep watching and keep you up to date, whether from inside the white house or outside.
The panel joins us now.
Mark Williams, I'm not going to ask you to defend this, but I want -- I want to know, I want to know what you think about the fact that that according to "The Atlantic", there are people in Trump's inner circle who say it's possible well listen to the demands from these election denying supporters outside the White House.
How concerned are you?
MARK WILLIAMS, PRINCIPAL, FEROX STRATEGIES: Not a lot. I don't think anyone that's serious really takes this this seriously. There's no one serious saying this is actually going to happen.
[18:50:02]
Senate Republicans aren't saying it. The Supreme Court is not going to go for it. The Joint Chiefs aren't going to go for it.
So, at the end of the day, the president doesn't really have that power to do this, regardless of what his election attorney is saying. Look, we all took civics, government, whatever we know that the states administer the elections. We know that Congress writes the rules.
At the end of the day, Republicans start talking about voter ID, and the coverage turns into, oh my gosh, this is the end of the republic. You know, the bombastic coverage that "The Atlantic" gives is Trump talks voter ID. You guys need to go look for your -- for your bomb shelters.
TAPPER: Karen Finney, "The Atlantic" asked Ticktin --
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah.
TAPPER: -- this attorney who's advising him to declare martial law about the possibility of riots should Trump try to overturn the 2026 midterm election results. And Ticktin told "The Atlantic" he was not concerned, quote, "Believe me, our armed forces are a lot bigger than they are."
FINNEY: Yeah, that was not -- sorry. That's not reassuring. When he says that and you say, you know, hit the bunker. Look, Democrats --
WILLIAMS: That's not me. That's "The Atlantic" saying that. FINNEY: The Democrats are taking it very seriously because one of the things we've all learned about Donald Trump, you cannot say it would never happen. I mean, here we are.
TAPPER: Not after January 6th, 2021.
FINNEY: Or, I don't know, today as CNN is not in the pool and there is a white house state dinner, which I used to work at, and the idea of not having the press there was insane. Right?
So, you can't say it wouldn't happen. And he does tend to telegraph what he's thinking in these, you know, these kind of comments. And we've learned in the past, you got to actually pay attention to him.
It may be the case that it doesn't it's not successful. That doesn't mean he may not try something. And so, you've seen secretaries of state, state attorneys general, governors, even Republican governors actually, tabletop exercises and lots of different meetings to try to anticipate if there -- if there is some kind of action.
The last thing I'll mention is don't forget, Kash Patel, when he was on the Hill, when he was asked, will you deploy, you know, troops or resources to polling locations, he wouldn't really answer the question.
TAPPER: Meanwhile, if you watch Fox, you might notice there's a new TV ad that that is generating a lot of attention and heat and criticism. Make sure to look at the words on the bottom of the screen at the end. Here is just a little piece of the ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA WHITE, UFC PRESIDENT: He's the toughest, most resilient person that I've ever met, and nothing is going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So that's UFC president Dana White saying he's the toughest, most resilient person I've ever met. Nothing was going to stop him from fighting so hard for the country he loves, an ad that's really just a love song to President Trump.
We should note that JMSN, the singer songwriter whose song was playing in the background, he suggested on X that the Trump administration used the song "Love Me" without his permission. He's going to look at lawyers and handle it internally.
But the most important part of that ad is that it said "paid for by the U.S. government". I've seen the U.S. government pay for a lot of stuff that I would say is a real waste of money, but nothing quite like that.
WILLIAMS: I mean, call me old fashioned. I think I'd rather see an ad like this versus, you know, trans operas in Zanzibar, which is what the Biden administration had. Look, I think the I think this administration will answer for, you
know, whether this is appropriate or not. I think it's really telling. And maybe it's a bit of 4D chess that they spent $14,000 on, on one ad and are getting $14 million worth of earned media out of it.
TAPPER: Interesting.
WILLIAMS: We'll see. Is it -- is it a good election year ploy? The proof will be in the pudding.
TAPPER: What do you think, Karen?
FINNEY: You know, it's out of touch. I mean, if that's what he thinks the American people want to hear right now. That's what struck me when I saw it.
I mean, again, people are worried about gas prices. They're worried about their groceries. They're worried about their everyday lives. And Trump thinks that this is a moment to, you know, be uber masculine and show, you know, what a tough guy he is. I don't think people are concerned about that.
TAPPER: Well, so I want to read to you what the White House said, because obviously Democrats are pushing back on it, such as yourself.
The White House says, quote, these public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending at home, at our borders and abroad. The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country.
FINNEY: Yeah, you know, love our -- love this country. Proud of it. That's why I hope everybody goes to the polls, votes this guy, you know, votes Republicans out and Democrats in so he can be a check on power.
I don't think we need to be reminded. And we certainly don't need to pay to be reminded to love our country. I'd rather see them, you know, do those kind of ads that you used to see where it was about don't do drugs, kids. How about that?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think being not communist is a good -- good ad. And have a good and a --
(CROSSTALK)
FINNEY: -- good communist country over for dinner, by the way. I'm just saying.
TAPPER: What do you -- what do you think? I mean, it's about reminding people to love their country.
WILLIAMS: It is. And it's a -- it's a motivation to get his base out to the polls. Like when you think about it, just overall -- writ large, like he is trying to remind Republican voters, I am on the ballot even if he's not on the ballot. [18:55:02]
TAPPER: Yeah, but that's paid for by the U.S. government. That's my only question. I don't think I would -- I don't think anybody -- I think if that were paid for by the Trump Administration -- I mean, by the Trump campaign or the Republican or the RNC, I don't even think anybody would have noticed it, you know?
WILLIAMS: I think we can run anti-communist ads.
TAPPER: Any thoughts about the ban going on with CNN, MS NOW and "Politico" and our reporter being turned away from their --
FINNEY: It's -- it's really -- I mean, I'm sort of speechless only because again, having been a White House press person, where particularly when you have such an important moment of national diplomacy, you want the press there to cover it. You want America to see that the president and other world leaders, you come together, you can break bread, you can have conversation. But again, it just shows. I mean, he is, you know, such a petulant child when it comes to things like this.
And look, I think it's pretty clear they're going to lose the case because they don't like because you were mean to him. I mean, Jake, did you say something mean about the guy today? Is that why we can't be in the pool?
TAPPER: I haven't said anything mean about him. I've said something mean about President Xi.
FINNEY: Oh, well, maybe that.
TAPPER: That's true.
WILLIAMS: Do people watch state dinners? I guess that's -- that's my biggest.
FINNEY: I have to tell you --
WILLIAMS: I don't even remember coverage of a state dinner, like for the past 20 years.
TAPPER: You don't remember the Salahis who snuck into the state dinner during the Obama years?
WILLIAMS: No, like --
TAPPER: Oh man, that's a story.
WILLIAMS: I'm watching the voice or something --
TAPPER: Sit down. I got I got a tale -- I got a tale for you during the commercial.
Thanks to both of you, I appreciate it. In our national lead, one of the men who was seriously wounded in that
tragic attempted assassination of President Trump at the 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, has died. Jim Copenhaver was 76 years old. This is according to the House Republican Twitter account, which posted in part, quote, "We are deeply saddened by the passing of Jim Copenhaver, who was gravely wounded in the horrific shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. Jim endured unimaginable hardship with strength and perseverance," unquote.
In June of this year, Copenhaver filed a lawsuit against the federal government. He was seeking damages and argued that the Secret Service's failures to properly secure the rally made the government liable for his injuries, which he described as serious and grievous. Our condolences to his family and friends.
In our money lead, how much would you give to get a piece of the A.I. pie? For some, the promise of being in an early investor in this new industry is worth giving up their own homes.
CNN's Natasha Chen traveled to San Francisco to speak with some homeowners who are willing to risk it all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 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: Yeah. Well, welcome to Chattha villa (ph). We've been here since 2012.
CHEN (voice-over): Vijay Chattha has a communications firm, not an A.I. 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 ensuite bathroom.
CHEN (voice-over): 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.
CHEN: This is a really interesting time, and you are asking specifically for pre-IPO.
CHATTHA: Yes.
CHEN: Tell me about why.
CHATTHA: A.I. 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, hundreds of people who work around here could become millionaires or multi-millionaires.
KELLY KROCK, REAL ESTATE AGENT: And not just millionaires, but like lots of zeros.
CHEN (voice-over): Real estate agent Kelly Krock 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.
CHEN: So, Kelly, 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. And 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 (voice-over): Natasha Chen, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: Wednesday, CNN's going to host the debate in Californias race for governor. I'm going to moderate alongside CNN's Dana Bash. That's next Wednesday, 6:00 p.m. Pacific, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.
