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White House Access Restored for Media; Trump Hosts Chinese Leader; CNN Still Denied White House Access; OpenAI Urges International A.I. Standards. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 24, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

DAVID CHANG, HOST, "THE DETOUR": And just talking about random stuff.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: What did you discover in Texas about barbecue? It seemed like you found all kinds of versions that a lot of people might not know exist.

CHANG: Part of this was this crazy theory. I was like, as Texas turns purple, I was like, I wonder if that's going to be represented in the barbecue?

SIDNER: Was it?

CHANG: And, sure enough, it was super interesting to see how barbecue was evolving slowly but surely. You have all these immigrants coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, or to Austin or to Lockhart, or you have people that have lived in Texas historically that have never like used barbecue as an expression of their culture. Certainly going to rub some people the wrong way.

SIDNER: You found halal barbecue.

CHANG: Yes. There's something about opening up in cities in Texas where people are really open to new things. That's what blew me away was, a state like Texas, that I would consider to be a little bit more closed-minded. I couldn't have been more wrong.

SIDNER: So, you're rediscovering America here. What sits with you after going to so many different places?

CHANG: America is a story of change. Anything that you accept to be true or American came from something else before you. It's a story of progress, of immigrants. What I love about food, it's something that wants to survive, and it's going to be delicious, and it's going to mix with different cultures and different techniques. And all you have to do is be a little bit open to what that delicious might be.

SIDNER: The truth is, and you said it, everything's fusion at this point.

CHANG: Yes. You're a fusion.

SIDNER: I'm definitely a fusion.

CHANG: Korean guy growing up in Virginia shouldn't be a thing.

SIDNER: But it is.

CHANG: Yes.

SIDNER: Speaking of your upbringing, what's your origin story?

CHANG: So many people of my age, the kids of immigrants that came to this country. If you provided any kind of cultural thing that was different, you were going to be made fun of. Having my parents not knowing a country, not speaking the language, that's a crazy proposition.

SIDNER: It's really hard.

CHANG: The silver lining in that, it gave me something to say. I had no idea that it would be something that so many other people could relate to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news this morning, still not inside. Our CNN reporters trying to get back on White House grounds after a judge ordered the administration to let her and others in. As of a few minutes ago, it had not happened yet.

An OpenAI agent goes rogue and hacks a government's health care database.

And the big robot that punched out a much smaller human. What does this tell us maybe about the future? Is it that we shouldn't fight with bigger robots?

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

SIDNER: The breaking news this morning, a live look for you there at the White House from afar, where a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore access to CNN, along with MS Now and "Politico." But so far that hasn't happened. Our White House correspondent, Betsy Klein, has tried to get in more than once this morning, and she has been denied access. The president abruptly banned all three outlets last week. But overnight, the judge found that he did so without due process. The court order remains in effect for 14 days as the judge looks deeper into the case. And a lawyer representing the outlet said in a statement, quote, "this is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law. We greatly appreciate the court's swift action."

CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz is joining me now.

Look, the judge was very clear, that the reasoning behind this was also flawed. He couldn't find any evidence to use against the organizations. What more did you learn about this ruling? KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Sara, he says

that at this time, but this is not over. Clearly it's not over based on what we are learning from what's happening at the White House this morning. We will see if that becomes part of this case or if things resolve over the next couple of hours as Judge Kelly has restored the immediate -- has ordered the immediate restoration of those hard passes to the reporters of the three organizations.

And also it's not over because the judge says it's not over. This is only a temporary ruling at this time. It's in place for 14 days. And over the next 14 days, the judge is very likely going to be listening to more arguments from both sides and also more evidence from both sides. The news organizations so far has -- have won very cleanly on one constitutional protection here. That is that there has not been due process when the White House decided to get rid of the access of the White House to these three news organizations.

[09:05:02]

There just wasn't enough notice in advance. It wasn't clear what the professionalism standard was, what they -- how they had to behave and what they could have done to lose access to the White House. All of that due process protection. That is why those White House passes are being restored right now.

But there are other arguments that the judge at this point is also rejecting from the Justice Department, where they had tried to say there are national security concerns there. That's very likely to become a lot of what is talked about in the coming days, as Judge Kelly continues to look at this case. So far, he has said, quote, "the court is skeptical -- at least on this record -- that defendants," the White House, the Trump administrations' "interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation for, or is even advanced by, the revocation of" the three news organizations' "hard passes."

He points out that Donald Trump, when he announced this ban, said that it was because of negativity from these press outlets, not a national security issue. But let's see what else may be put into the court record into the coming days. It's fast moving, and there's going to be a lot more.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and it should be noted that the judge, as you reported, said immediate access. By now, our reporters are normally on the White House lawn being able to do their reports. That has not happened so far at 9:05.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much. I do appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, just moments ago, the president posted a message about his three day meetings with Chinese Leader Xi Jinping. A fawning message. He wrote, "I met President Xi at the plane, airport!, yesterday, and he looks strong, vibrant and fit, better than ever. Madame Xi, of course, beautiful!," Signed "President D.J.T."

Now, the president does have plenty to talk about with the man he calls vibrant. Let's get to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House with the latest on the expectations for this meeting.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's really clear from that post you just read, John, that the president is determined to make this a successful state visit. Not only did he post that message complimenting the Chinese leader as being strong, vibrant, and fit, but he also rolled out the red carpet literally yesterday for his arrival. And I'd asked the question, when was the last time you remember, John, a president going to Joint Base Andrews to greet a foreign leader? So, I think that just shows you how much they're trying to make sure that all the pomp and circumstance of this goes well and goes smoothly.

But there are a myriad of issues that they need to get to. You have Taiwan and potential U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, trade, the war with Iran, critical minerals and A.I. safety. All of that expecting to dominate the conversations between these two leaders throughout the day.

I do want to get to artificial intelligence because this has, of course, been a massive topic of conversation, particularly in recent weeks when we've seen a lot of different leaders in the A.I. space saying there needs to be more guardrails, there needs to be more safety to chip away at the risks and the dangers that artificial intelligence poses. The president said this morning that it is going to be a, quote, "big day with President Xi of China, superintelligence," that is his attempt, the president's attempt at what he says is a less threatening name for A.I., "will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is. That is China's position also. Our guardrail is the DOJ."

Now, look, that comes as we also have new CNN polling this morning, John, that shows 71 percent of adults say that the federal government is not doing enough to regulate A.I. This is a major issue. And I'd say, the Chinese president also doesn't want guardrails here. He recognizes that this is a race between the U.S. and China to see who can outpace the other when it comes to artificial intelligence. So, just making clear where President Trump is at, essentially where the Chinese leader is.

But to get on other issues, we also heard the president say yesterday that they're going to discuss Iran. He also said he wished that he could host the Chinese president in the presidential ballroom that he is building. Of course, that won't be ready for another couple years.

There's also going to be trade. We did hear from the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, saying yesterday that they are going to be extending what they call the Busan Agreement. That's essentially an agreement that the two leaders, Xi and Trump, signed back in October of 2025 in South Korea, basically, you know, reducing -- the U.S. reduced certain tariffs on China while China resumed purchases of soybeans. All to say, a lot that's going on today. The big moment, we're going to hear some remarks from both of these

leaders. There's also going to be the state dinner tonight. A lot of tech leaders going to that as well. So, a lot for them to get through. But I think the bottom line here is that this president, President Donald Trump, really wants to give Xi the kind of welcoming that he believes he deserves.

BERMAN: All right, Alayna Treene for us at the Washington bureau.

Now, if I can, Alayna, I want to go to our Betsy Klein, who I understand is outside the White House, ducking down there.

Betsy, if you can hear us right now, explain to me why you are outside the White House and not inside the White House grounds.

[09:10:06]

A judge ordered CNN that CNN, MS Now and "Politico" should be allowed in overnight.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's exactly right, John. So, the judge made that order that CNN, MS Now and "Politico" should be able to go back inside White House grounds. This comes, of course, after President Trump announced his ban on Friday, and then it was implemented on Saturday. When I attempted to access White House grounds, my badge was then seized by U.S. Secret Service.

So, today, overnight, the judge ruled around 1:00 this morning that CNN should be allowed back on White House campus. And we attempted to go in around 6:00 this morning, giving them a little bit of time to get that paperwork processed. At around 6:10 a.m., my badge was again denied. I provided just identification and my CNN I.D. They said I wasn't in the system.

And then one of our producers was able to access the White House. She is currently inside White House grounds. Then our photojournalist, a few moments after that, around 6:40 this morning, also sought to access the White House. He was also denied and his badge was then seized.

So, now, we have tried again. We tried again at 8 a.m. We tried again just after 9 a.m.. We have reached out to the White House for comment. We have also been in touch with the press office for any guidance on what to expect in next steps.

And I should just note that this is a very busy morning here at the White House. President Xi of China, as I'm sure you have been discussing, is arriving within the next hour. So, there's a major question of, a, whether we will be allowed back to the White House to do our jobs and report the news, or if there's going to be a question of whether that event is covered by the TV pool, which so far has banded together and has not provided coverage until we are reinstated to White House access.

BERMAN: All right, just to recap here, you had your badge seized Saturday. Still couldn't get in today. The photojournalist, the CNN photojournalist, had the badge freshly seized today? Like taken today? Even after the judge said that they had to allow CNN, MS Now and "Politico" in?

KLEIN: Yes, that's right. And so, I was denied access this morning. We thought maybe this was a clerical error. We wanted to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. So, then we sent in our producer. She had no problem getting in. And then we sent in our photojournalist to join her and get set up for when it would -- when we believed we would be allowed to go back in and start doing our live shots at the White House on the north lawn, at our usual position.

Then at that point, our photojournalist had his credentials denied and seized by the Secret Service. So, we both just walked over to the initial checkpoint. We spoke with a Secret Service officer. I gave him my identification. He said I was also still denied. Then my colleague also presented his identification and was turned away as well.

So, for now, it appears that the White House may be in defiance of this court order. We're still waiting to see. Again, we have asked for comment, we've asked for clarification on what exactly is going on and when our credentials will be reinstated according to that judge's temporary restraining order issued just after 1 a.m.

BERMAN: OK. Betsy Klein, outside the White House. I will say, you know, it could be processing, could be bureaucracy, but you've tried three times. It's been several hours now. White House reporters are always on the lawn at 7 a.m.. There are people to let you all in there. So, interesting that it hasn't happened just yet. Keep us posted, please, and hope to see you inside those White House grounds very, very shortly.

All right, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, continuing to track that very closely.

And also this. Overnight, the Australian prime minister is speaking out and calls it completely unacceptable. This is what he's calling the situation now as he announces an OpenAI agent hacked into Australia's national health care system. This is the first known A.I. hack of a government system. The prime minister says that accessed public and non-public files of Australia's Medicare statistics database, and also even wrote files into it.

This comes, of course, at this kind of global inflection point on artificial intelligence. So much so yesterday A.I. industry leaders Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, they spoke to the U.N. Security Council calling on the security council and global leaders to adopt a set of international A.I. standards.

I spoke with OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, about the hack in Australia, and also just the state of A.I. just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LEHANE, CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS OFFICER, OPENAI: OpenAI initiated an ongoing review, that review continues, where we've been going backwards and trying to see, you know, 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.

[09:15:06]

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, you know, 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, you know, we did take a step back. We actually put a pause on 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.

BOLDUAN: At the U.N., Sam Altman talked about if A.I. 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 A.I. President Trump has rejected the creation of that global body, even saying today, "I want to leave it exactly where it is. That's 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, you know, this technology is really a 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, you know, 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 we want to get that renaissance impact, that you do build it out on democratic standards around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is CNN tech editor Lisa Eadicicco for more on this.

What did you hear here? What do you -- what -- give me your take on what we heard from Chris Lehane and OpenAI in all of this, especially when it -- first when it comes to the Australia incident.

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: Yes, Kate, the one thing that really jumped out to me is this mention of an ongoing review as part of this process that Lehane talked about. And I think one of the big questions around regulation is kind of the transparency behind it. You know, what exactly does that ongoing review entail?

Now, OpenAI has been fairly public about its processes. It does publish a lot of blog posts kind of outlining this. But I think that's kind of the key question with when it comes to regulation here is that right now this is up to OpenAI's discretion, how it reviews these incidents, how -- when it decides to disclose that to third parties. And clearly, that is a key cause for concern and a care topic -- a key topic here is how long it took OpenAI to disclose this. So, I think that's part of this real push here to kind of come up with some kind of global standard, some kind of industry wide standard, some form of regulation, so that maybe it's not just up to these companies that are developing the technology to decide when they disclose things like that.

And OpenAI did say recently that they're going to disclose incidents more frequently, but that seems to be more focused on incidents that it discovers during testing and stuff like that. So, I guess we'll have to kind of watch for that moving forward, how often they come out and disclose these incidents.

BOLDUAN: Yes, what's the definition of will disclose, how long, what is the definition of transparency even? Because Australia is very obviously not happy with the level of transparency or the, you know, the timing that they've got in terms of that incident.

EADICICCO: And you have to remember globally, like the perspective on technology and consumer privacy and all of these things are so different globally. Europe has a much different perspective than the U.S., for example. So, that's another challenge as well.

BOLDUAN: Add it to the list.

EADICICCO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Lisa.

EADICICCO: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news this morning, that's the White House. CNN journalists still not allowed in this morning, despite the fact that a federal judge ordered the administration to let them in. So, what is going on here?

And then, all I want to know is where it's going to hit and when. A powerful and rare noreaster headed toward millions of people, including me. Rainfalls over five inches. Winds over 50 miles an hour. But when and where along the eastern seaboard.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:24:04]

BOLDUAN: All right, the breaking news we are following. Despite a judge's ruling overnight, and despite multiple attempts, CNN journalists have still been denied access to the White House this morning.

CNN's Betsy Klein is there. Let's get back to Betsy on this one.

Betsy, what is the very latest? Have you gotten word about what the status is and is going to be here?

KLEIN: Well, Kate, this is still a very fluid situation. I think it's an open question as of right now whether this is a matter of bureaucracy, a clerical error, or if the White House, the Trump administration, is in open defiance of a court order.

So, Judge Kelly ruled overnight at 12:58 a.m., he issued this temporary restraining order immediately requiring the White House to reinstate our press badges. This happened, of course, after President Trump posted to social media on Friday that he would be banning CNN, MS Now and "Politico" from covering the White House as well, and then stating that on Saturday, when I attempted to arrive at the White House to do my job, my press badge was taken by the Secret Service.

[09:25:09]

So, we tried just after 6 a.m. Around 6:10 I walked to a Secret Service checkpoint, just across the street from here. I presented them with my driver's license and my CNN badge. And I was told that I was not in the system.

A few moments later, however, one of our producers was able to access White House grounds. She is currently inside and on campus. And then a few moments after that, one of our other colleagues, a photojournalist, also attempted to enter the White House. He was turned away. His badge was seized. That happened around 6:40 a.m..

We tried once more at 8 a.m. and then again at 9 a.m., understanding that, you know, it wasn't yet business hours. So, we wanted to give them until about 9:00. So, we are still unable to access White House grounds.

And I want to read to you a little bit from this judge's ruling. The Trump administration has been arguing that this is a matter of national security. Here's what the judge said about that. "This court is skeptical -- at least on this record -- that defendants' interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation for, or is even advanced by, the revocation of plaintiffs' hard passes."

Now, the other question there is that they cited a story that I had published back in January about construction on the president's White House ballroom and the bunker facility underneath it. And that story, again, was published in January. My hard pass was applied for to be reactivated back in June. And then that went into effect in late August. So, it remains active until September 18th, Saturday.

So, again, a very busy day here at the White House and a lot of questions about how we move forward. President Trump, any moment now, will be welcoming China Leader Xi Jinping. So, we'll be watching all this closely from the sidewalk for now, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Not only is this about a judge's order, it's also a day that is incredibly busy and important at the White House to have our reporters inside.

Betsy, thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, let's continue the conversation. I want to bring in CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

Look, normally by now we have had reporters on the White House lawn doing their jobs and photojournalists for hours. It is now almost 9:30. This hasn't happened yet. I mean, is the Trump administration blatantly breaking the rule here that the judge has ordered?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, yes, the Trump administration is flagrantly in violation of the order that came down last night. Let me just read you the key part. The judge, last night, around 1 a.m., issued a ruling that says, "the defendants shall immediately return, reinstate and restore the White House hard pass press credentials held by employees of CNN, MS Now and 'Politico' that were revoked on or about September 18th," last Friday. So, no ambiguity there, no wiggle room, "shall immediately return."

The big question, as Betsy's been focusing on is, is this just sloppiness? Is this just a failure to communicate? The decision came down in the middle of the night. Here we are, 9:27 a.m. Or is this intentional? If it's the former, if it's just sloppiness, completely inexcusable. You're the White House, you're the president, you have a responsibility by -- certainly by 9:27 to know what happened the night before and to react accordingly.

If, on the other hand, we don't know this, but if this is intentional, then it is outright defiance of a court order. And that, of course, is just sheer lawlessness.

Now, as to what can be done --

SIDNER: That's what my next question was.

HONIG: Right. I answer --

SIDNER: (INAUDIBLE) what can the court do?

HONIG: Well, courts famously do not have armies. They do not have physical enforcement mechanisms. Yes, there are U.S. marshals and court security officers, but this -- that's not what they do.

And so the most a court can really do is issue contempt findings that absolutely can happen. Again, if this is intentional or even if it's inexcusably sloppy, a court can find contempt. And then you're talking about financial penalties or, at the very extreme level, there can be imprisonment over a contempt.

So, they need to wait and see before they go down that road. But really, if this is, in fact, intentional defiance, then the answer needs to be political. Congress needs to do something here. Again, we got to see if this is just a snafu or intentional, but Betsy has given them three, four chances over the last three, four hours and not gotten a satisfactory answer.

SIDNER: But who would be held in contempt? I mean, how would -- how would the courts determine who is held in contempt?

HONIG: Right. Well, I think they -- that would be a question for the courts. Who's responsible for this? Where does the buck stop? I mean the named defendants include Susie Wiles, I believe, who's the chief of staff, Stephen Chung, who's the head of the press office. So, the court would need to answer that question for itself. Who's an appropriate person who can realistically be held in contempt, who can realistically be fined? Again, that would require further court proceedings.

But, you know, they've been given a decent chance to work this stuff out. And you would think the White House would have its communications and its technology on the ball enough that they can incorporate an order that came out, yes, in the middle of the night, but eight hours ago, like you said, like Betsy said, the White House office hours are 24/7 and we have reporters there at four, five a.m. most days.

[09:30:07]

SIDNER: And it should be noted that the president has been on