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Interview With Austin, Texas, City Council Member Mike Siegel; Trump Heads to U.N. General Assembly; Trump Lashes Out at AI Alarmists; Warner Bros. Discovery-Paramount Merger Moving Forward?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 21, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: As the world wrestles with the consequences of President Trump's war with Iran, he heads to the U.N. General Assembly, where he may get a chilly reception.

And help wanted to save humanity, the White House now hiring an artificial intelligence czar and forming a new AI Force. Is it enough to control the technology before it spirals out of control?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And arch or ammo dump? The president suggesting, why not both? How Trump's reasoning for the Triumphal Arch now appears to be changing.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KEILAR: Those stories in a moment.

First, though, breaking news into CNN: The deal to merge Warner Bros. Discovery with Paramount has just taken a critical step forward. A group of state attorneys general has agreed to a deal with Paramount to settle a lawsuit that had been holding up the merger.

A trial has been scheduled to start in March. CNN's parent company, of course, is Warner Bros. Discovery.

We have chief media analyst Brian Stelter joining us on this story.

Brian, what did Paramount agree to?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: That's right.

CNN will be changing hands in the coming weeks as this deal is expected to take effect. Paramount has agreed to a number of concessions, and the details are not yet known. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta is about to hold a press

conference in Los Angeles. We're hoping he will step to the microphones in the next couple of minutes, and we will start to hear the details about why he has decided to settle, rather than take this case to court.

I'm told by several sources involved in the negotiations that this 12- year state coalition of all Democrats in states like Connecticut, New York, Arizona, and California have agreed to a number of settlement terms.

Some of those involve how Hollywood will be reshaped by this merger, and some of them involve CNN, as well as Paramount's own news division, CBS News.

But a couple of important details off the top, and we can get into the some of the specifics here. Paramount and Warner now do expect this $110 billion merger to take effect in early October. I'm told this will not be done this week, but it will be done in the next couple of weeks, unless there's any surprises, and no one's expecting that at this point.

So now that the state A.G.s have agreed to settle, a judge will sign off on the settlement, and then Paramount CEO David Ellison will take control of HBO, Warner, CNN, and all those other assets, I'm told, in early October.

So we can get into what some of the possible concessions are, but there is a political dimension to this that we should pay attention to. Some of these state attorneys general are not happy with Bonta right now. We're probably going to hear from the California A.G. in a minute.

But I was speaking with sources close to the negotiations, some of whom are deeply disappointed in how this turned out. Some of them wanted stronger concessions from Paramount than what ended up being agreed upon. So this might become a political hot potato as some of these Democratic state A.G.s are up for reelection in a few weeks.

KEILAR: Yes, you mentioned CBS and, of course, CNN. This deal would combine two of the biggest news organizations in the country. What does it mean for them?

STELTER: That's right.

I'm looking at my notes here because I have been briefed about this by a couple of the people who have been involved in the negotiations. But right now we're still getting this from anonymous sources because the A.G.s and Paramount have not officially announced it.

So, with that caveat, I'm told that some of these states were insisting on some sort of way to enshrine editorial independence for CNN. We're here on CNN. Let's talk about why that's a big deal.

Obviously, Paramount's been in the news for the past year, in part because of its political connections to President Trump and the Trump administration. David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount, he has sought close ties to Trump while trying to get mergers approved.

And his father, Larry Ellison, the Oracle billionaire, one of the richest men in the world, has been a close ally of the president for years. So there have been concerns about what Paramount owning CNN might mean for the editorial direction of this network.

We know that Paramount's been in charge of CBS News for almost a year at this point. Actually, it's been over a year. It happened in August of 2025. And Bari Weiss has been the editor in chief there for almost a year. CBS News has made some controversial changes, with Weiss overhauling "60 Minutes" and firing a number of staffers.

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But CBS News continues to deliver tough coverage of the Trump administration, and I hope viewers recognize that as they hear concerns about Paramount. And, by the way, CBS has been standing with CNN today as CNN files that lawsuit against Trump over the ban.

So those are some of the factors here. But the bottom line is that there will be some sort of editorial board that will be set up to try to protect CNN and CBS News from interference. But what that means and who will be on the board and whether it will have any teeth or whether it'll just be a fig leaf, those are all open questions right now.

KEILAR: All right, Brian Stelter, thank you so much for the latest there -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Meantime, President Trump is once again lashing out at AI alarmists, while simultaneously vowing to keep the technology in check.

Today, the president again slamming concerns about AI's potential threat to humanity as a hoax. Over the weekend, the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, met with Chinese officials and pitched new safeguards for both countries. President Trump later announced he would create an AI Force, appointing an AI czar, over safety concerns.

Sources say the president is planning to discuss AI with China's President Xi Jinping when the two meet later this week.

Let's talk about all of this with Matt Sheehan. He's about the co- director for the China AI Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Thank you so much for being with us, Matt.

Are you optimistic that the U.S. and China will come out of this with some kind of agreement on AI, whether on those safety notifications that the treasury secretary was talking about, or perhaps even a broader pause on innovation?

MATT SHEEHAN, CHINA AI INITIATIVE CO-DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: I'd say that we should have very low expectations for what will come out of this set of meetings. But I say I'm optimistic that it will hit those low expectations. We

saw yesterday Treasury Secretary Bessent met with his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng. After the meetings. Bessent said that they had proposed a notification mechanism for when AI is involved in national security incidents.

That type of mechanism, some way for the U.S. to and China to talk to each other, to exchange information when there are serious safety threats, that's an important baseline. That's a starting point. They also said that they were setting up a sort of a longer-term mechanism for dialogue. And that's also very important.

The next meeting likely in about two months from now. So that's a good pace. But we shouldn't expect much more than that.

SANCHEZ: So, on one end, broadly, the perception in Beijing is that the U.S. wants to constrain China and Chinese progress through export controls of advanced ships, for example. Conversely, Washington is alleging that Chinese firms are committing industrial-scale theft of U.S. trade secrets, right?

So where is the middle ground? Do you see a path toward bridging that gap? Obviously, you're not -- you don't have high expectations for this week, but further down the road?

SHEEHAN: I think that both of those things that the -- is believed in the capitals are true. I mean, the United States has been imposing export controls on advanced chips to China, the advanced chips that are necessary to train these AI models.

So the U.S. definitely is trying to constrain China's AI development, even if those controls aren't as tight as they could be. And it's also true that Chinese AI companies are using the leading U.S. models to train their own models, a practice that is seen as theft or industrial scale -- not espionage, but industrial scale trade secret theft.

It's a bit controversial, but I think both of those things can be true, U.S. trying to constrain China, China trying to steal advances from the U.S., and there's still a lot of room to work together when it comes to the safety of the most advanced models.

It doesn't matter if one side is constraining or stealing from the other one. If a Chinese model spins out of control, it escapes the control of the lab that built it, that's a threat not just to China, but also to the United States and vice versa. So there still are mutual interests and things that we can do to try to constrain the development of the models or enhance the safety of the models, even if we don't agree on everything else.

SANCHEZ: No doubt.

And your point about superintelligence perhaps going awry and going out of human control, notable because China does have extensive regulations on AI, though, up until recently, they have been more focused on what you would call censorship, on controlling the way that information gets out, on protecting young people from self-harm, for example.

They haven't been as focused on the idea that AI may get beyond human control. So I wonder what you think might change, how regulation there might possibly shape rumblings of regulation here in the United States?

SHEEHAN: I think you described it well. China has had the world's most extensive AI regulations, putting real demands on its companies to do tests before they release models, to file those tests with the government. That's all very real.

At the beginning, that was primarily about making sure the models didn't say the wrong thing, it didn't violate CCP censorship controls. But they have expanded those to areas that you mentioned, AI companions, sort of emotional relationships with chatbots and trying to protect kids.

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So they have this extensive apparatus for affecting how models are built. And the question is, are they going to turn that apparatus towards safety concerns that are shared by, say, the U.S. labs, even if not by the U.S. federal government?

I think there are some signs that they're moving in that direction. If you look at the -- sort of the standards documents, the deeply technical documents that come out of China's leading labs, that come out of the government agencies that oversee AI, there is this growing concern about large-scale risks from AI, but it's just not where the U.S. labs are.

There's not that same sense of urgency or the decision that we need to slow this down right now. The question is, are they going to get there? And if they do, are they going to get there fast enough?

SANCHEZ: We will see what comes of this week, as you put it, optimistic about low expectations.

Matt Sheehan, thanks so much for joining us.

SHEEHAN: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still to come this afternoon, President Trump about to depart for New York as he gets ready for the U.N. General Assembly, a big week on the world stage aside from this meeting with Xi Jinping. So we will discuss that.

Plus, Patrick Clancy opening up after his ex-wife Lindsay's high- profile murder trial ends in a mistrial. Ahead, what he believes drove Lindsay to kill their three kids and what he says about his feelings toward her today.

And, later: the president's new justification for his proposed Triumphal Arch. Now he's trying to sell a military complex. That story, much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: President Trump heading back to his hometown to kick off a critical week of diplomacy.

Just hours from now, he will be meeting with New York City's Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He's addressing the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow, and there are plans for critical talks with other world leaders on the sidelines of UNGA, all of this before he heads back to D.C. for a state visit from Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who arrives Wednesday.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Julia Benbrook is following the president's busy week.

So, first, Julia, what is the president saying ahead of his visit to the U.N. and his remarks?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is going to be a busy week.

And starting with the United Nations General Assembly, he's expected to take off for New York in a matter of hours, and then is going to deliver that speech, as well as take multiple meetings with foreign leaders. And over the weekend, he told FOX News that he is still in deciding mode when it comes to Iran.

A senior White House official tells us that at least part of that speech will be focused in on that topic, and he's expected to reiterate the point that we have heard throughout this now nearly seven-month-long conflict that Iran cannot under any circumstance have a nuclear weapon.

There's also going to be a big focus on the conflict in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy actually spoke with Trump just yesterday on the phone, and he says that the two have agreed to meet while they are there in New York. Trump posted about that conflict just a little while ago.

So this is the latest on his stance there. He said -- quote -- "Russia has unfortunately lost control of its diesel oil industry due to its war with Ukraine. A large number of their diesel refineries have been blown up and are at least temporarily out of commission. This ridiculous and never-ending war with Ukraine must be ended."

And this comes just not long after the special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, they visited both Kyiv and Moscow, with the hopes of finding a way to bring this conflict to an end. And, at the time, the White House said that those were substantive discussions and that they would update in the coming weeks.

And the diplomacy doesn't stop there. When he gets back to Washington, that's when he hosts Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state visit, which will include a formal state visitor -- visit dinner -- excuse me -- and then remarks from both of those leaders. KEILAR: Yes, it's going to be a big visit. A lot of talk we will

expect about AI. We will see where that ends up going.

He's also meeting on this trip to New York with Mayor Mamdani, who he's met with before, but what's the White House saying about this time?

BENBROOK: Well, it's going to take place at Gracie Mansion, which is the mayoral residence there in Manhattan.

And this is the first time that meeting is taking place on Mamdani's home turf, so just a little bit different optics there. The White House has confirmed the meeting, but they did not go into great detail. The mayor's office, though, has said that they're going to discuss issues of importance to people there in the city, but also the state of New York as a whole.

KEILAR: All right, Julia, thank you so much. You are busy as well, because he's busy. Thank you.

Still ahead: protests erupting after a Venezuelan DoorDash driver was shot by an ICE agent on the streets of Austin, Texas. We will be speaking with a local lawmaker to see what he's hearing about the incident.

Plus, CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico, taking legal action after the president's decision to ban the news outlets from access to the White House. We have new details coming up.

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KEILAR: A Venezuelan DoorDash driver shot and wounded by an ICE agent is now in federal custody. This shooting was captured on camera by a driver who is livestreaming at the exact moment that 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was shot.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Whoa. Whoa.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED) dude. Oh, my God. What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

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KEILAR: A source tells CNN federal authorities were conducting immigration enforcement using license plate checks when they came across a vehicle registered to Garces Perez. Officers stopped his vehicle after discovering an order for his deportation.

There was a brief exchange before Garces Perez fled the scene in his car, and a statement from DHS says the agency is investigating with assistance from the FBI. It goes on to say that Garces Perez was undocumented and had a final order of removal at the time of the shooting.

Protests erupted at the scene in the aftermath of the shooting. You see those pictures here. Now the Travis County district attorney's office is calling for an independent investigation. This is at least the third shooting in Texas involving immigration agents during Trump's second term.

Austin City Council Member Mike Siegel is with us now to talk about a little bit about what happened there.

This shooting actually happened blocks from your house. I wonder what you saw at this scene and what questions you still have.

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MIKE SIEGEL, AUSTIN, TEXAS, CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Well, thank you so much for having me.

Yes, I live about six blocks from where the shooting occurred. I got a call from the police chief that this event had happened and immediately went down to the scene. I was able to observe the aftermath of the wrecked cars and speak with bystanders who have seen a lot, and were basically -- was basically told that an ICE vehicle had sideswiped this civilian's car, smashing into it, disabling it, and that an ICE officer left the vehicle, came around the backside, and fired multiple shots into the vehicle.

I was able to see two bullet holes in the passenger vehicle, and later was given video showing that the driver was taken out by Austin police, and that, after his shirt was cut off, there was a bullet hole in his torso. I understand he was taken to a hospital, but only allowed to stay there for a couple hours before ICE took him into detention, and that his attorney and wife are still looking for him now.

They have not been able to locate him.

KEILAR: Which window was the bullet holes in?

SIEGEL: There were two holes in the right rear passenger window.

KEILAR: Right rear passenger window.

Have you spoken to Garces Perez or his family?

SIEGEL: I did get to meet his wife, who came to the scene in the aftermath. She had attempted to go to the hospital to visit her husband and to check on his condition with his attorney, but was turned away, and so she came back to the location of the incident to kind of be with the community as folks were demanding justice.

KEILAR: Congressman Greg Casar, who represents Austin, told CNN it's unclear if Garces Perez was the target of an ICE operation. Have you or your colleagues learned any more about that? SIEGEL: I haven't. And that's one of my main concerns as a city

council member is ensuring that there's a full, complete, and independent investigation of this incident.

We don't just want ICE investigating ICE. And because there very well might be a state crime that's within the jurisdiction of the city police and our local district attorney, I think it's incredibly important that our local law enforcement be able to have access to all of the information, all of the evidence.

And our detectives should be able to interrogate the ICE shooter who committed this likely crime, and to make sure that this is not another incident like what happened in Minnesota, where an ICE officer was allowed to leave the state and escape justice.

KEILAR: All right, Mayor (sic) Siegel, we're going to have to leave it there. We do have some breaking news that we need to pick up right now. We thank you so much for being with us.

Let's go now to California, where attorney General Bonta is now speaking about this settlement for this Paramount merger lawsuit. Here it is.

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ROB BONTA (D), CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm Rob Bonta, California attorney general, and we are here in Los Angeles, the beating heart of America's film and TV industry.

And I'm here to announce a settlement that our coalition of attorneys general has reached with Paramount that resolves the antitrust concerns at the heart of our lawsuit against the company and Warner Bros.

This is a court-enforceable settlement that addresses those concerns by providing more film production, that protects Hollywood workers and their livelihoods, that places guardrails, allowing for robust cable negotiations, that protects competition and creates more choice for consumers about what this merger could mean for the industry.

I want to be clear about something right up front. This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger. It is not a blessing of the broader merger. Broadly speaking, we believe further consolidation in markets that are central to American economic life doesn't serve the American economy, consumers, or competition well.

Our record addressing mergers and consolidations, market concentrations that we are currently engaged in and we have been engaged in the past is proof positive of that, and that work will continue. But as I have said before, and I will say again, I'm always willing to come to the table for honest good faith negotiations.

And when we can find a strong solution that protects competition and consumers, I'd rather resolve the case, the issue in the boardroom, instead of the courtroom. And that's what happened here. Throughout this case, I have talked directly with the people whose lives and livelihoods will be most directly and most imminently impacted by this merger.

This settlement takes into account workers' needs and concerns on the impacts of the industry, impacts to the industry and to their lives.

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