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Judge Orders Trump to Restore White House Access to CNN, MS NOW, Politico; OpenAI Agent Hacks into Australia's Healthcare System; 3 People Seen Exiting Sewer Near Hotel Where Netanyahu Set to Stay; Concerns About How Prediction Markets are Impacting Elections. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired September 24, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Four years into Holmes's 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors while running a failed blood-testing startup. This also comes as a documentary following Holmes during the last month before she went into jail is set to be released in a few weeks, a doozy of a trailer just dropped.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH HOLMES, BUSINESSWOMAN CONVICTED OF FRAUD: I mean, it took me a really long time to be OK with letting someone see me cry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Documentary called "You Can See Everything," cameras go inside Holmes's home and directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim also interview her husband.

Olympic legend Simone Biles revealing details of a frightening break in and burglary at her Chicago home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMONE BILES, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: During our last few months in Chicago, three men in masks came to our house and stole my Porsche.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: She says the car was later recovered. She also said that the incident is one of the reasons that she and the couple got a Doberman pincher.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Breaking news this morning, CNN reporters still not back at the White House, waiting to get back into the White House after a judge overnight ordered the Trump administration to end its media ban immediately. We're waiting also to hear a first response from President Trump to the judge's new order.

Also breaking overnight, an overwhelming majority of Americans say that they are worried about what AI could do. This has Australia just revealed it's for the first ever known AI hack of a government system.

And a woman steals a marked patrol car, leads police on a chase. How officers found her on the side of a busy highway wearing a bulletproof vest.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news this morning. That is the White House. CNN is still waiting to be allowed back in.

Our Betsy Klein is literally trying to get back in at this moment. She could not get through earlier this morning. This after a judge ordered the White House to admit reporters from CNN, Politico and MS NOW.

Remember, President Trump abruptly banned those outlets from White House grounds last week. But overnight, the judge told the administration he did so without due process. The judge also had a lot to say about the merits of the case.

His order remains in effect for 14 days. A lawyer who represents the outlets said in a quote, "This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom to the press due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court's swift action."

CNN's Alayna Treene is with us from the Washington Bureau. What's the status of our friends trying to get inside the White House this morning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm here now as we wait to see how exactly this is going to play out today, John. But yes, I've been in touch, of course, with our colleagues at the White House. Betsy was actually the reporter who went to the White House on Saturday and got her badge taken when she tried to enter.

And look, I mean, this ruling came in, we should note, just before 1 a.m. It's only been a couple hours now that the judge had said you need to return access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters. And so it could be just a question of bookkeeping at this point, of trying to get that back in once they return to normal hours. But we're going to see how it goes.

I know Betsy was not able to get in this morning. She's trying to do so now. So we'll have to stay tuned on that.

But to get back into this ruling, look, this is only temporary. It's 14 days. And during that time, we cannot see the White House actually appeal this.

But I think, you know, just from knowing this president and how they've responded to court losses in the past, this is likely to continue. We're likely to see this legal battle continue moving forward. But I do want to get into what the judge, Timothy Kelly, actually said in this ruling.

He said that he found the revocation of reporters' press badges was done without, quote, "constitutionally adequate due process." He also addressed the argument that we heard from the Department of Justice in a court filing yesterday, claiming that this is about national security and that that was really going to be the heart of their defense in this case. Kelly said that the government's arguments offer little to back up their asserted national security interests.

And this is what he said specifically.

[08:05:00]

He said, "Certainly that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was banning plaintiffs from the White House. Instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of plaintiffs reporting." The judge also, Timothy Kelly, said this. He said, "The court is skeptical, at least on this record -- that Defendants' interest is safeguarding national security and that that is the actual motivation for or is... even advanced by the revocation of plaintiffs' hard passes."

So that's where we stand as of now. Obviously, John, this is going to be a huge day for White House news. We have the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, going to the White House.

There will be a state dinner tonight. Lots of questions about how we will be able to cover that. And still, what this could actually mean long term, even though in the temporary short term, we are being told we are allowed back in by this judge.

BERMAN: CNN's Alayna Treene at the Washington Bureau. We hope to have you and Betsy Klein back at the White House itself soon. Thank you so much for being with us -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So the Australian prime minister calls it completely unacceptable. An AI agent slipping past and beyond human control again, going rogue again. This time, an OpenAI agent hacked into Australia's national health care system. The prime minister said in announcing that it accessed public and nonpublic files of Australia's Medicare statistics database. This is the first known AI hack of a government system. This also comes as there's new CNN polling out today showing an overwhelming majority of Americans, 75 percent are fearful and concerned about artificial intelligence.

Concerns about AI, though, of course, are global. We see this every day. OpenAI CEO and co-founder Sam Altman addressed the United Nations Security Council yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM ALTMAN, CEO, OPENAI: It doesn't matter whether people put the risk of catastrophe at 10 percent or 1 percent or 12 percent or 0.1 percent. None of these levels are remotely acceptable. And we should not train models that we cannot make an extremely strong case that we'll be able to keep under human control.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is the chief global affairs officer for OpenAI, Chris Lehane. Chris, thank you for coming in. The prime minister of Australia says that how long it took you, the OpenAI, you all to notify them is unacceptable. It happened June 18th. They were notified September 10th. Do you think that gap between incident and reporting is an acceptable gap?

CHRIS LEHANE, CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS OFFICER, OPENAI: Yes, let me just give the context. So I think, as your reporting indicated, there was an incident that took place in July that's known as the Hugging Face incident. After that, we became aware of that.

We, OpenAI, initiated an ongoing review. That review continues, where we've been going backwards and trying to see what else we could learn. As we've gone through that process and as we've come across other incidents, and to be clear, the other incidents are not at the scale and caliber and kind of what the Hugging Face was.

We have then taken that information and then communicated that and conveyed it to the impacted parties. And we did this several weeks ago to the Australians. We do leave it up to the impacted entities to decide whether they want to make this public or not.

And we do seek to work with them to be able to identify any exploitations, any vulnerabilities in their codes that would have made them exposed to this. And this is an ongoing review. We continue to communicate things as we come across them.

We take it very, very, very seriously. The other point I would just really emphasize in all of this is after the initial event, the Hugging Face event in July, we did take a step back. We actually put a pause in some of our training.

And we endeavored to build in the types of safeguards, both on something called alignment, making sure the technology is actually following the directives of humans and the guardrails, making sure it's safe when it is deployed. And since then, we've been able to release other models. We actually have a model out right now, which is called Astra, which is both the most capable model in the world, but also a model that has been put out in a way that's aligned and safe for public use.

BOLDUAN: So you guys finding this in August and telling Australia on September 10th, is that gap between finding it and reporting it, especially to a government, is that an acceptable gap? Or are you shortening that?

LEHANE: Yes, I think the gap, you know, was we discovered this stuff. It's, again, an ongoing review. When we see it, we then analyze it, and then we communicate that to the Australians.

And again, I think we communicated this to the Australians several weeks ago. Obviously, I have incredible respect for the prime minister. He obviously expressed himself yesterday.

But I do think that the protocol that we are following, which is we have an ongoing review, we identify this. Once we identify it, we then convey that and communicate it to the impacted party. In this case, I think that the folks have known about it for several weeks.

BOLDUAN: So being told about it, what the prime minister says when you guys inform them that time period, you're disputing that?

[08:10:00]

LEHANE: No, no, no. I want to be, as I said, exceptionally respectful of the Australian government and of the prime minister. I'm just sharing with you what our protocol is and our process, and our process is we do have an ongoing review. When we find the information, we convey that information, in this case to a number of parties in Australia, and then we leave it up to them in terms of who they want to communicate it to and how they want to share it, including whether they want to share it publicly.

I think another important aspect in all of this is, you know, these were entities that were involved in health care issues. And so I think amongst the questions that we have gotten was, were any individuals or people impacted by this? And there was no personal health care information that was impacted by this particular incident.

But again, this is really serious, right? We understand that it's serious. It's why we have an ongoing review.

The review is sort of working backwards. And as we identify information, we do convey it and communicate it to the impacted parties.

BOLDUAN: At the U.N., Sam Altman talked about if AI is to be democratic, the most important decisions cannot be made by labs in San Francisco alone. You're calling for a global body to set international standards when it comes to AI. President Trump has rejected the creation of that global body, even saying today, "... I want to leave it exactly where it is. That is China's position also. Our guardrail is the Justice Department."

If you cannot get buy-in from the United States government and the Chinese government, do any global standards have any teeth?

LEHANE: Yes, so our perspective, and Sam shared this, obviously, yesterday at the U.N., is that this technology is really the first technology in the modern era of this kind that is really being developed, deployed, and released by the private sector. There's incredible upside. Sam talked yesterday about there's an opportunity here for this technology to really empower individuals, potentially spark a modern-day new renaissance where really individuals can participate through this technology in the economy and in other ways, but it also comes with incredibly important issues that we need to address on risk and on safety.

And the U.S. right now is the leader in this technology. We are the innovation leaders. We do believe it's incredibly important that as this technology moves forward, particularly if you want to get that renaissance impact, that you do build it out on democratic standards around the world.

And so there's a real opportunity here for the U.S. to use the lead that it currently has.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Right, an opportunity. But if the President, Trump, if the President...

LEHANE: It's really clear that they want the U.S. to continue to be the innovation leader.

BOLDUAN: Right, but Chris, if the President doesn't want to set standards, doesn't want to take part in a global body, do any of those standards at any -- even if the rest of the world, without China and the United States would set, does it have any teeth?

LEHANE: Yes, I think there's an opportunity here to take some steps forward in that process. One of the things that we have talked about is could there be some equivalent of a red phone, an actual just basic mechanism so that the two countries can actually be in contact with each other on this technology. It doesn't necessarily mean we're going to get standards today or tomorrow or next week, but the ability to start to create some type of constructive dialogue and interaction between the two parties.

I do think would be a step in that direction. People have generally talked about that concept. I'm old enough to have remembered during the middle of the Cold War when things were much, much more intense between the U.S. and the Soviet Union than anything that exists today. There was a red phone, and both countries were able to stay in contact with one another. And so perhaps that's the first step that we can take here. Ultimately, do believe that this is incredibly powerful technology and it would benefit the world and certainly benefit U.S. leadership to ultimately have those international standards in place, particularly led by the U.S.

BOLDUAN: I think a lot of people would agree with you, Chris. One thing on the business side, there's a saying that when China walks in the door, profits leave. It's very clear that China is very much in the room when it comes to large language models. With that in mind, I mean, how do you ever turn a profit?

LEHANE: Well, you know, for OpenAI, right, we today have over a billion people who are using this on a regular basis. You know, we have a new model that we recently released that I referenced earlier, Astro, which is doing fantastic. And ultimately, you know, for companies like ours where we have a diverse set of revenue sources, you know, what we need to do is to continue to develop and innovate and put products out there that are going to actually help people in their daily lives, make their lives better.

And we are seeing that with the products that we are releasing and the growth that we've experienced as a result of that.

BOLDUAN: Chris Lehane of OpenAI. It's great to have you come in. Thank you so much for your time -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Kate. Coming up, new investigation into why three people were climbing out of a manhole right next to the New York hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be staying.

[08:15:00]

And why business leaders are calling on President Trump to reject calls to ban diesel exports to fight record high prices.

And what has caused the USDA to recall more than 167,000 pounds of meat across the United States? Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Developing this morning, a security mystery is unfolding here in New York. Police say three people were seen climbing out of a manhole, just steps away from where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to stay for the U.N. General Assembly. New York police and the Secret Service are now investigating, trying to learn if they pose a threat and why they're doing this in the first place.

But this is not the first time that we've seen these human moles, if you will. They have been several incidents involving people popping up from manholes from New York sewers in recent months. Joining me now, John Miller, CNN chief, law enforcement and intelligence analyst.

[08:20:00]

What are you learning about these folks that we keep seeing this? This is like three, four times that we're seeing people pop out of these manholes.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, Sara, I mean, you've got two versions of this one, the sinister and intriguing version, which is that agents from a foreign power, potential terrorists may have entered the system because of security around the Regency Hotel is very robust, thinking that they could get underneath the hotel, perhaps plant something or lay the groundwork for some attack. That, of course, is what the NYPD and Secret Service were worried and focused on. The flip side of that coin is the less exciting one, which is, as you mentioned, a spate of these incidents across the city in the last few months.

And these are, according to the NYPD, people who go into the sewer system, particularly after storms, when things wash through, looking for valuable metals, rings, chains, all those things that people drop that go down a sewer catch basement and accumulate there, but also other metals like copper piping and things that can be sold for scrap. Obviously, the first thing is the thing they're focused on. The idea that they came out of that sewer at four o'clock in the morning two waiting cars were there, they jumped in and fled north on Park Avenue.

These were the things that really caught the attention of police after someone called 9-1-1 because of the location. SIDNER: Yes. I mean, is there any indication from the sources you've talked to that there is a danger posed here by any of these incidents where they found that there was something happening that could be dangerous to the public?

MILLER: No, you know, that's how they started out. Even with the early incidents, saying what were they doing down there? What did they leave down there?

Where did they travel to down there? But most of these where they've been able to identify anybody have been scavenger hunts. In this case, the one thing that would give me comfort as a counterterrorism analyst would be it appears they went in further north on Park Avenue and they popped out at 61st Street a day or the night before there were people who went in on Fifth Avenue at 61st Street.

So there is this spate of activity. But if you were really agents of a foreign power or terrorists, wherever you went in, the last place you would want to exit that system in full view, even at four in the morning, would be at the target location at the Regency Hotel. Real pros wouldn't do that, which kind of is what leans into, you know, NYPD went down there with the emergency service unit, with DEP people, and they looked around and nothing was out of place there.

So they're pretty confident that this is one of those other things, not probably a terrorist plot, but they had to go through the motions.

SIDNER: Absolutely. John Miller, it is good to have your insights on all of this. I do appreciate it.

Thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right, a very rare Nor'easter on the move. Huge potential rainfalls, powerful winds. Look at all the cities in the potential path. Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Hartford, Boston, Portland.

A lot of people live there. We're getting a new update on the timing and who could get hit hardest.

And new video as police chase down a woman suspected of stealing a patrol car.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, a new CNN analysis shows more than $750 million has been spent trading on the prediction markets about the 2026 elections, Kalshi and Polymarket. Multiple election officials tell CNN this has contributed to a surge in disinformation.

Let's get right to CNN's Marshall Cohen. Marshall, what are you hearing about this?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Hey, John, good morning. We have heard that this is truly seeped into our political culture. And let me show you why.

You just mentioned these numbers. $750 million in total trading volume on the midterms on Kalshi and Polymarket. And they are trying to increase engagement on these markets and increase their own profits by creating markets for almost every single inch of the midterms.

John, you can bet on every House race, Senate, Governor, mayoral races. You can bet on the margins for these races, the turnout. The list goes on.

So along with our colleague Patrick Svitek, we spoke to more than 20 people involved in campaigns and in prediction markets. We heard from the campaigns that they're tracking this stuff. They are keeping tabs on their markets.

We heard from one person that they spoke to a candidate who's checking their odds on the markets every single hour -- if you'll believe that. And donors, too. They're watching, and some of them are even making their spending decisions based off of what they're seeing in the prediction markets.

And we have already seen several cases this year of what's called political insider trading with candidates betting on themselves, which, of course, is strictly prohibited. But what's far more concerning is what we've heard from the election officials. They're very worried about disinformation, that these prediction sites could just create new opportunities to spread baseless conspiracies and false claims about rigged elections.

We saw it happen in June after the mayoral primary in Los Angeles. Election officials are worried that it might happen again. I actually spoke with the top election official for L.A. County. His name is Dean Logan. And I asked him, what's your message to the prediction companies?

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

It's not appropriate because it does strike at the fundamental purpose of an election. And anything that is creating a lack of public confidence in that is destructive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: He and other officials said, yes, we know this is legal, but we just wish that it wasn't.

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