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Trump: Admin Held "Very Good Meeting" With Iranian Delegation; Trump Says Iran Has Two Choices: "Potential Greatness" Or "Obliteration"; CNN Poll: 76 Percent Say Iran War Not Worth It's Taken On U.S.; Some GOP Candidates Break With Trump On Iran, Affordability Issues; Trump Administration Considering Diesel Export Ban; Lawsuits: 100-Plus Riders Allege Brain Injuries From Six Flags X2. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 22, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

STEPHEN WITT, AUTHOR, "THE THINKING MACHINE": UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so this year is when we've really seen concerns about A.I. risk going from, you know, a hypothetical thing to like a concrete practical thing about which there is actual data. I think it's really important to share publicly what goes wrong and -- and -- and sharing that as widely as possible so people can learn from it.

When an airplane crashes, we send in a bunch of investigators with subpoena power and the ability to depose witnesses, and then we publish a big report. And those reports have made air travel really safe. Like, you're hurtling through the air at, you know, 500 miles an hour, but you're totally safe in the plane now because we've done this for decades.

We need that for A.I., and we need the U.S. and China to -- to hopefully cooperate on that. That's something I'd -- I'd really push for.

In terms of what you're saying, like fake news in the intelligence agency, you know, the CIA and similar organizations have to be really careful about how they use this stuff. They can't let fake news get into the reporting there. That could create all sorts of havoc, and -- and I worry about that a lot.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, really stunning in that report. Stephen Witt, thank you so much for being with us.

WITT: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're learning about new talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, U.S. and Iranian officials meeting in New York. At the same time, President Trump says he's faced with a decision about whether to clinch a deal or annihilate Iran.

Plus, a stunning follow-up to an earlier CNN report, more than a hundred people coming forward saying they also suffered from brain injuries after riding on a Six Flags roller coaster. KEILAR: And later, it looks like it came from a galaxy far, far away.

George Lucas' new futuristic museum opens in L.A., and "Star Wars" is front and center.

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

SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news as President Trump right now holds meetings on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Just minutes ago, he said members of his administration held a, quote, "very good meeting" with the Iranian delegation today.

KEILAR: It's not clear whether those talks happened before or after President Trump from the U.N. podium, renewing his threat to annihilate the nation. But he did just double down moments ago. He said Iran has two choices, make a deal to be a great country or face obliteration. CNN's Jim Sciutto is live for us at the U.N. with more. Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, Brianna, it's -- it's a pretty remarkable contradiction, isn't it? Because on the same day that the President once again threatens to annihilate a country, he sends his envoys to meet with them face-to- face to discuss the possibility of peace.

Now, we knew that this was possible because earlier in the day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the Trump administration was open to face-to-face meetings here with Iranian officials. And we know that the Iranian president is here. The Iranian foreign minister is here as well.

So, now we know the President himself confirming that he had his own people meet with them. And in the President's description, he said it was a very good meeting.

It was actually interesting, because as he said that, Brianna and Boris, he seemed to surprise Steve Witkoff, who was in the room, who wouldn't confirm himself that he was the person who took part in that meeting. Regardless, this is classic Trump diplomacy, right? Threaten military action with one hand, keep the -- the door open to diplomacy with the other hand.

It reminds me that 13 years ago, when President Obama, of course, was president, he had a phone call with the Iranian president, Rouhani, and that led to long negotiations, which -- which two years later led to a nuclear deal.

So, it's possible that this meeting could lead to something more serious. But we should note, it took two years, right, between that phone call and the deal. Will this meeting be followed by substantive and lasting negotiations to get to agreement -- to final agreement on the tough issues? What -- we'll have to see.

SANCHEZ: Yes, an open question.

And Jim, Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez is making her U.N. debut today. President Trump expecting to meet with her. What are you anticipating from that?

SCIUTTO: Well, I'll tell you that as much attention as there -- has been on the President's threat to annihilate Iran in his speech as addressed to the General Assembly, I would say an equally newsworthy quote from him was, to the victor goes the spoils, as he was bragging once again about the U.S. taking Venezuela's oil, right?

He's not shying away from this idea that the U.S. is profiting off this war and profiting off of Venezuela's oil. And -- and key to that plan is Delcy Rodriguez, of course, Nicolas Maduro's former number two.

[15:05:03]

We know that the Venezuelan opposition is not entirely comfortable with this oil deal. They've been asking for more transparency, et cetera. And the Venezuelan opposition leader, who is discussing, it seems, returning to Venezuela, she said in a statement last week that this oil belongs to the Venezuelan people.

So, listen, that shows perhaps a different future for Venezuela than the opposition imagined. The President has said that he would be on board for democratic elections, but he's also said they're not ready yet. I mean, he made his priorities quite clear today, and that seemed to be the oil, not democracy.

SANCHEZ: Jim Sciutto, thank you so much for that.

KEILAR: All right, President Trump's statements to the U.N. are happening at the same time that he's seen support for the war in Iran is slipping at home.

SANCHEZ: A new CNN poll out today shows more than three-quarters of Americans believe the human and financial costs of this war have not been worth it. Let's discuss with pollster and communications strategist Frank Luntz.

Frank, you see those numbers. Support for this war, not counting the President's base, which largely had been with him, even though you see that erosion now, support for this war broadly has not been on President Trump's side. Do you think if he had approached Congress initially or -- or even gone with a coalition of nations to -- to enter into this conflict more broadly than he did, the results would be different?

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: It's not about politics. It's about people. And I do not mean this as a line. I mean this in the change in the American public over the last 50 years. It used to be that we would ask the question, why? Why are we doing it?

And today, in 2026, we ask the question, what are the consequences of this? What are we going to have to give up for what we get? And the public has been watching this, and they haven't seen lower gas prices. They haven't seen more security. And the President has not explained exactly what is meant to be when it's all done. He's not discussed the consequences, and now he's paying the price in the polls. KEILAR: And his supporters, you see them increasingly out of patience.

What do you think about the timeline that you're seeing that happen on?

LUNTZ: That is a very good way to put it, because in the end, his supporters will give him the benefit of the doubt, as they have on every issue. We've seen a decline in that over the last six months, more so over the last 60 days. And as the election gets closer, it is more likely that people continue to move away as they make a judgment.

It's a very simple question. It's not the job that the President has done, because that's his effort, it's what does it mean for my prices for food, fuel, housing, health care, and affordability. And I've said this from the very beginning on this show, it isn't a hoax. It's real. And the public looks at what it has to pay. They look at they've been given some tax relief. They've been given some increase in their salaries, but they have less money to show for it at the end of the week or end of the month, and they're getting angry.

SANCHEZ: As a result, you see Republicans in tight races distancing themselves from the President, including Mike Rogers in Michigan, putting out this video online saying that the war in Iran has to end, talking about the pain being felt at grocery stores in particular. How effective is it for these Republicans to try to localize races and try to distance themselves from this war?

LUNTZ: It's only limit -- it has limits to what it can do because the President has actively tried to nationalize this election with the convention that they held in Dallas that you broadcast a fair amount of. And his messaging there was okay, but the issue is what does it mean to me as an individual?

And I really want to emphasize this. It is about the individual, about the family, about the neighborhood, about the household, about housing and health care. And it's not about politics. And I don't believe the people in Washington fully understand that, that when you're struggling at a time when your demands on your daily life are growing and your ability to address them are shrinking, that's when we're about to have the off year election.

And if I were the President, I would get my message much sharper, much more explicit. And it's not about Joe Biden in the last four years. It's about where we're going over the next two years. It's about the future, not the past.

KEILAR: How do they connect the dots from that to -- from the war, from the decisions that are affecting their pocketbook, Trump's decisions, to Congress as we're looking at these midterm elections? Because Congress has sidestepped the issue of involving itself, for instance, in the Iran war.

[15:10:06]

And people go to the gas pump. It's just so easy for them to see how it's affecting them, right? So, I mean, do they make that connection, you think, of looking at Congress? What are you doing about this? And Congress, actually, with a chance to do more, has chosen not to?

LUNTZ: It's -- it's the slogan, your voice, your vote. In the end, you are allowed to send a message to Congress, to the President, to the courts, to everything in an off-year election that you cannot do in a presidential election. In a presidential election, there are consequences to how you vote. In an off-year election, you have the chance to say, I don't like this, by casting your vote. And it affects your senators, your congressmen. But it doesn't change the big picture as much. It gives you the freedom to exercise your articulation without the consequences of your action.

And right now, and this is the vote -- the numbers I look at, I'm looking at the distinction between Republicans and Democrats, the generic vote for Congress. And right now, Democrats have an 8 percent lead. At an 8 percent lead, they win the House and they win the Senate. I know that's a pretty bold projection. And a lot can happen between now and election day. But at 8 percent, we're going to have a different government.

KEILAR: You're saying it's on the line. It -- it could happen.

LUNTZ: It could happen.

KEILAR: Frank, great to have you.

LUNTZ: Thank you.

KEILAR: Thank you so much.

Still to come, some Republican lawmakers are calling on President Trump to take an extreme measure to fight these record high diesel prices. We've just been talking about some of them, the effects of them. Experts say that move could backfire.

SANCHEZ: Plus, more than a hundred people also alleging that they also suffered brain injuries after riding a world-famous rollercoaster, a new CNN reporting.

And later, the Trump administration facing a deadline to respond to a lawsuit filed by three news outlets, including CNN, that were banned from White House grounds.

That and much more coming your way in just moments.

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[15:16:30]

KEILAR: President Trump today suggesting he is considering a request by some Republican lawmakers to temporarily ban diesel exports amid skyrocketing prices. The cost of diesel hit a record high of $6.53 a gallon, and lawmakers say these numbers are out of control. They're killing U.S. farmers' income. CNN Senior Reporter Matt Egan is here to break this down for us.

Would an export ban help, Matt? MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Brianna, the experts I'm in

touch with, they're very skeptical that an export ban would make diesel cheap again across the country. In fact, many of them are worried that this would do more harm than good.

And look, diesel is the MVP of the fuels, right? This is the fuel that's powering the trucks, the trains, the tractors, construction vehicles, and the ships at the heart of the economy. And some Republicans are saying that this is a break-the-glass moment, that this is a time to keep American energy at home instead of sending it overseas.

Now, just yesterday, a White House official told me that the administration is not considering an export ban at this time. Now, the President is singing a very different tune, saying that he has, in fact, called for an export ban internally. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, he says that the administration is evaluating whether or not this is feasible.

So, how might this work? Well, let's just say the administration does go ahead and ban exports. Initially, U.S. diesel prices, they could fall significantly. However, analysts think that this would be temporary and it would be localized. They suspect that prices would decline around here in the Gulf Coast and around here in the Midwest.

That's because this is where the country's refineries are located. And so you'd have a lot of diesel that would be trapped in those areas. However, it's a very different story here along the East Coast and along the West Coast because these parts of the country, they rely on imports. And so, they would be hurt by the fact that global diesel prices would be going significantly higher.

Now, the other question here is, how would refineries respond. If they lost access to the overseas market, they would likely process less fuel, less oil, which would mean less gas, less diesel and perhaps significantly higher gas and diesel prices. That's why Bob McNally, a former George W. Bush administration energy official, he told me that he thinks this would be an authentic policy error or what he calls an APE. He says this would be the king of the APEs.

And look, the administration is going to continue to face pressure here because we've never seen anything like this diesel spike. AAA has been looking at diesel prices since the year 2000. There's been some years where we've had some significant price increases, but there's nothing like this. Eighty three percent surge year to date.

So, look, bottom line, no doubt this is a major problem. But experts think that banning diesel exports would make matters even worse. Brianna, back to you.

KEILAR: All right, Matt. Thank you so much.

Coming up, why more than a hundred people say they were seriously injured after riding this roller coaster?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:24:22]

SANCHEZ: Now to a significant update in CNN's investigation of the Six Flags X2 roller coaster. Attorneys representing more than a hundred riders of Six Flags Magic Mountain X2 just announced they have filed several new lawsuits. Those riders allege they suffered brain injuries after riding the coaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY DORDICK, PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY: There was no susceptibility, no preexisting medical conditions, and all of these clients, more than a hundred, suffered traumatic brain injury on their ride. So, is it the people or is it the ride? Something needs to be done.

SANCHEZ: You may recall back in August, a CNN investigation found the world famous ride had been linked to more than a dozen reports of serious injuries and hospitalizations, including comas and two deaths.

[15:25:09]

CNN's Kyung Lah was part of the team that broke this story.

So Kyung, Six Flags just closed the ride back in July. These alleged victims say the roller coaster should have been shut down well before that.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: And let's put all of this into context based on what we're hearing from these new victims as well as the lawyers representing these victims. Our CNN investigation found about a dozen cases dating back many years.

But what these lawyers are now saying is that they have a hundred, more than a hundred victims who have say -- who say that they have some sort of traumatic brain injury. And this is just within the last two years. So, they plan on filing up to 100 new lawsuits against Six Flags. The California statute of limitations only allows lawsuits of this sort to be filed within two years. The lawyers say, all told, they have had more than 300 people reach out to their law firm saying that they have a variety of injuries after riding the X2 roller coaster at Magic Mountain at Six Flags.

So, I want you to take a look at some video of the X2. A lot of this is on YouTube. Some of this is released by Six Flags. And what really makes this particular ride different, according to Six Flags, is it's a very rare type of -- of ride. You spin really 360 degrees forwards and backwards. There's even a couple of raven drops. These are sheer drops, essentially, where you plummet 200 feet at up to 80 miles per hour.

The lawyer today said that really what happens when you sit in these seats, according to the people that they've spoken to, is that the torso is affixed to the seat, but the head is not. So, there's this lag time. And that's where these victims and their lawyers believe that the injury occurs. So, what they did to the reporters who are present, they handed out

the first of three lawsuits. They say that there will be up to at least about a hundred lawsuits filed in the next coming days, Boris.

SANCHEZ: And Kyung, what has Six Flags said in response?

LAH: We did reach out to both Six Flags and the state of California, Cal/OSHA, overseas, what happens at amusement park rides in the state of California. Six Flags says that they do not comment on pending litigation. That's the only comment that they were giving us. As far as what the state has said, they also did not specify or have any comment to us.

But something that the lawyers here did say is that they don't feel -- they -- at least they're not blaming the state of California. They say that this is new technology. This type of roller coaster is what makes it exciting to people. But the regulation, the safety rules, none of this is keeping up, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Kyung Lah, thank you so much for that reporting.

So President Trump says members of his administration met with an Iranian delegation on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. What he said about those talks and his new warning to Tehran when we come back.

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