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Protesters Gather in Manhattan as Netanyahu Addresses the U.N.; Large Number of Diplomats Walk Out as Netanyahu Begins UNGA Address; Trump Administration to End Key Part of Arch Review, Effectively Evading Preservation Law; Caleb Flynn's Former Mistress Reads Explosive Texts in Court; Meta Bets on New Devices with AI Agent Muse. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired September 24, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

GEORGE KAMEL, FINANCIAL EXPERT: My ability to avoid debt or aggressively pay off debt if you have it, that's the things you can control. So I have an app called EveryDollar. I do my budget every month to make sure that we've got enough to cover the bills, the increasing gas prices, increased electricity bill.

All of that is the things I can control, and I recommend for all Americans to just get on a plan for themselves and ignore all the headlines.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right. Control what you can control. George Kamel, thank you so much, as always, for being with us.

Appreciate it.

KAMEL: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: A large number of diplomats walk out as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. What he said about the war with Iran, Gaza and settler violence next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: This last hour, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage at the U.N. General Assembly defending his decision to attack Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Devastating Iran's nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I've ever had to make as Prime Minister.

Because if we hadn't done it, we'd all be dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: His appearance, as you may expect, was met with controversy. You can see large numbers of delegates booing, walking out as Netanyahu got up to speak. Crowds outside the U.N. also were attempting to send the Prime Minister a message.

The protesters gathered in midtown Manhattan calling for Palestinian rights and an end to Israel's war, as Netanyahu spoke. You could hear them there yelling, let Gaza live. Some demonstrators with Jewish voices for peace held banners, displaying calls to, quote, stop arming Israel.

Protesters crowded the street wearing shirts saying, fund people, not bombs. The crowd also declaring that Netanyahu, quote, can't hide and is wanted for genocide.

Let's discuss with CNN Chief National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto. So, Jim, Netanyahu here defiant, also playing not only to an international audience but to one specifically in Israel.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: No question. And that walkout shows that Israel is -- it's a fact, it's more isolated, right, following the Gaza war. That kind of criticism that you saw from those protesters, it's not confined to the protests. You hear it from many world leaders, and they were demonstrating that as they walked out.

But here's Netanyahu saying, you know what, I don't apologize for anything. I'm glad I went to war. It was an easy decision.

It was necessary. Even repeating that claim Trump has made, saying that had we, the U.S. and Israel, not gone to war, we'd all be dead. You know, Trump, you've heard him say that many times, which it's not clear that that's supported by any intelligence that Iran would have already had a bomb and used it regardless.

They're sticking with that, but also claiming victory in this war, in effect, and victory in the assaults on Hezbollah. He bragged about the Pager attack in responding to October 7th, etc. So he's making the case that this is the right approach to the world that Israel faces here and that they're having successes.

SANCHEZ: A case that Israeli voters are going to have to weigh in about a month or so.

SCIUTTO: Exactly right. And not clear he's going to survive that election. I mean, he's got real competition there, kind of back and forth.

And perhaps the most likely outcome now is that no one has a majority and there'll be some coalition making. But to that respect, his coalition depends a lot on the far, far right wing there. So he had some, you know, political bones to throw to that segment of the Israeli society, claiming all of the West Bank as Israeli territory, saying, as they call it, Judea and Samaria, referred to it by historical names, saying, Judea, that's where the name Jew comes from. This is our land, which is not how the international community sees it or international law or official U.S. policy either. So on that, he's isolated.

SANCHEZ: It's notable that this was a relatively short trip and that with this election very close on the horizon, he didn't have even a sideline discussion with President Trump, who obviously is meeting with President Xi today. But it's hard to imagine they couldn't have figured out sometime yesterday when Trump was in New York.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's interesting. Was it not a priority for the president? And there is there is a open disagreement between the two leaders now.

They went to war together, but President Trump is willing to walk away from this war far earlier than Israel, because from Israel's perspective, as much as you heard Netanyahu say there that we have devastated Iran's nuclear facilities, etc., they have not met all their war goals. And Israeli officials will be quite public about that. So that's some daylight between the two partners in this war.

SANCHEZ: Jim Sciutto, appreciate the analysis. Thanks for being with us -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The Trump administration is cutting some red tape to move forward with plans to build the president's proposed Triumphal Arch in just outside of Washington, D.C., near Arlington National Cemetery. Today, the administration ended a key review effectively by passing the federal historical preservation law.

CNN Washington correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is following developments here.

Sunlen, tell us about this. What's the law? What's the administration saying about its decision?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: So Brianna, this law is really at the heart of so many of President Trump's projects that he's trying to push forward here in Washington, D.C. It's called Section 106. It's a part of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1965. And what this law says is essentially if you have a historic property, if there's a new project that someone is proposing here, in this case, the Trump administration, someone's proposing to be built -- something to be built, that preservationists, historians, other consulting parties need to come in.

[15:40:00]

And there needs to have -- there has to be a conversation about minimizing the effect on historical properties, potentially changing the other properties. So essentially, just make -- have a conversation happen at what effect this would have on historical properties that already exist in Washington, D.C. Now, we know this arch project has been very controversial.

And many members of this consulting party under Section 106 has been very angry about the efforts the Trump administration has taken on the insistence that it's in that location that you see there up on screen, that it would have so much effect on historical properties.

Despite this, this is the news today, that agency that oversees this property today announced that they will move forward. They'll move forward through this process, despite not having approval from the Section 106 consulting properties. Now, that -- consulting parties. Now, that's a big move on the part of the administration.

It essentially punts this over to the Interior Secretary, who will likely approve this to happen. And it basically relieves a procedural hurdle, Brianna, that the administration must overcome to get this arch built. And they are driving forward, as we know, according to administration sources, to potentially get final approval for this arch in November.

So, again, it relieves a hurdle that was in its way before. Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.

And coming up, the ex-mistress of a former American Idol contestant accused of murdering -- of murder, giving stunning testimony about their affair. We'll have the latest on the Caleb Flynn trial.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We're hearing some of the most explosive testimony yet in the murder trial of Caleb Flynn, the former American Idol contestant and youth pastor accused of killing his wife. Today, his former mistress, Alleigha Botner, returned to the stand, reading text messages from their nearly two-year-long affair. Many of them downright explosive.

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following this case. Jean, really some stunning revelations in court here. What stood out to you?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and you know, this is motive evidence for the prosecution. They don't need motive, but this is why they will argue, we believe in closing arguments, why he killed his wife. And the defense is saying, no he didn't, it was someone else.

And on cross-examination, we see potentially where they're leading in all of that. But the direct examination focused on this relationship. She was having an affair with a married man, two children.

They belonged to the same church. He was part of the pastor worship service. So was she.

They got to know each other. She knew who the wife was. She knew there were two children being raised in the church.

She knew that Ashley taught Bible camp every year, but she still got involved. There were 107,000 texts in the last year between the two of them. And so many of them, Caleb was talking about, I hate my wife. I hate my home life. I hate everything about it. I've got to get out.

I need to do something. I could just kill her. Well, I want you to listen to a text where Alleigha Botner is very emotional because she had to admit something in court today.

Something she said while Ashley's family, her mother, her father, her sister, are sitting there watching her. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEIGHA BOTNER, EX-MISTRESS OF CALEB FLYNN: I didn't mean it. It says I want to kill her, Caleb.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who said that?

BOTNER: Me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next message.

BOTNER: I said it's so bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next message.

BOTNER: He said that makes two of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: All of these messages were on different platforms. iMessages, Google Me. I mean, on and on and on.

And they were deleting the messages she testified as soon as they would send them sometimes because they didn't want them -- anyone to see them. Well, lo and behold, they deleted them, but they actually transferred some of them to Caleb's devices at home. And she admitted that Ashley saw some of those messages.

And it would have been in the fall time of 2025. And so Ashley contacted her and said, look, we need to have a sit down. We need to talk.

She canceled. She said, I'm not meeting with her at all. But then as time went on, there became directives from Alleigha Botner.

She admitted it. There were ultimatums. There were time dates.

He had to leave his wife. He had to get rid of her. He had to do something.

Listen to her explain that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOTNER: I said on October 23rd, we can't be anything unless you leave her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how did he respond?

BOTNER: He said, I understand. I say until she's gone, I'm gone. So then I got to move on.

He said, wow. I said, hurry before it's too late. Wow is right.

I said, I'm done with my heart being played with. Either you leave her and choose me or stay with her and choose that life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: On cross examination we heard from the defense that finally, when she did walk away from that relationship, which was January of 2026, that she went to Florida and she lost her devices. Her iPhone went into the ocean. And then her Mac pad or computer, she left on the airplane or someplace.

She wasn't quite sure. And the defense was really going at that she was the one that controlled this relationship. She had the ultimatum.

She had the hate.

[15:50:00]

We'll see what they do in closing arguments on that.

KEILAR: Yes, we'll look for that. Jean, thank you.

And a quick programming note on Sunday, celebrity chef David Chang has a new episode of "THE DETOUR," taking a lone star road trip and discovering some new twists on old classics. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CHANG, CELEBRITY CHEF: That brisket is so good. The lime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's great.

CHANG: And all this stuff she smothered all over it. Incredible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It tastes like this has been missing in the world and now it exists. And it should have been around longer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so good. It's so good. Steaming hot, steaming hot. And you've had a lot of barbecue.

CHANG: I have.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you constantly still finding places that completely blow off the top of what you thought barbecue could be?

CHANG: No, and that's sort of the reason this show is happening is to get off my ***. You know, with family and kids, I'm just becoming more of a curmudgeon. This has been really a cathartic thing for me to go back out there and discover things. (END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: It looks yummy. And be sure to tune in for an all new episode of the CNN original series "THE DETOUR" with David Chang. That airs Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. And the next day with an all- access subscription. We'll be right back.

[15:55:00]

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SANCHEZ: Meta is betting that the future will involve a lot of AI- enabled gadgets. It unveiled a slew of new devices with AI technology, including new smart glasses that don't feature a camera.

KEILAR: They don't. Versions of the glasses with a camera were panned over privacy concerns. Yes, they were banned in several places, from courtrooms to restaurants.

Critics called them pervert glasses. Oh, yes.

CNN's Lisa Eadicicco with us now. All right, Lisa, so what's the reaction to the non-pervert glasses?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: Yes, Brianna, I think the big question here is whether this is actually going to solve a lot of the controversy and privacy issues that have been raised by Meta's glasses so far. So these glasses, as you mentioned, do not have a camera. They still have microphones, but those are largely for taking phone calls and communicating with Meta's AI agent.

A little bit different than some of the other microphone equipped accessories that we've been seeing from other companies and that they're not -- it's not meant to be passively recording. But I do think, you know, the big thing to remember here is that yes, Meta is offering this new model without cameras, but they still sell a lot of other glasses that do have cameras.

And in fact, they also announced another pair of those glasses last night as well, the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3, which do have cameras. So I think for people it's a positive step and might be appealing, but I do think that people that are in the privacy advocacy space are probably looking for a bigger long-term fix to these privacy issues. Because the key questions that a lot of these experts think about are how obvious is it that the device is recording?

Can bad actors work around that? And Meta has taken steps to address those issues, but I do think that there is a lot that need to be done to kind of really make people feel comfortable about these glasses in general. Especially considering, like I said, the majority of the glasses that Meta sells do have cameras in them.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I always get weirded out when I realize somebody's wearing those. Like, what's your game?

KEILAR: Someone else's conversation. SANCHEZ: What's your game? Yes, yes, yes.

So you pointed out the AI agent Muse that Meta wants to market these devices with. For the past month, Meta stock is up over 30 percent. I wonder if you think investors are seeing this as a winning strategy?

EADICICCO: Yes, I think investor are really excited about Muse right now. This is exactly what they've been for. They've been wanting to see something that really proves that Meta's investments in AI, both infrastructure and talent and technology, are really paying off.

KEILAR: All right, Lisa, thank you so much.

And now we have an important update to bring you, which is that as so, so many sources predicted yesterday, a resounding victory for the press team, a.k.a. the Bad News Babes.

SANCHEZ: Were's the applause. There we go.

KEILAR: Thank you. All right, here's our medals at the women's congressional softball game last night. The Capitol Press Corps reclaiming their title by a final score of 22 to 16. This was really like a see-saw fair at the start.

Second inning, it was 2 to 1. Bad News Babes were ahead. We pulled well ahead, 7 to 1.

But then in the fourth, team Congress, man, they just evened the score 7-7. But then the press team, we answered that with seven runs in the fifth. Team Congress, they kept walking batters, including a ringer, Reagan Reese of the Daily Caller, who they walked four out of five times nonetheless, as we like to say, Boris. 20 to 10, press leading the lady lawmakers in the sixth.

Team Congress, they tried to rally in the final inning. They fell short, though. I will say they did get a pretty glorious gran slam. It was something to behold, and it was a very cool way for them to finish, even though they didn't win, all right.

But this was the highest scoring congressional women's softball game of all time. I know the score is kind of funny because it resembles a basketball game a little more than a softball game, perhaps, but it also did raise more money than any previous game, $880,000 for the Youth Survival Coalition to help young adults diagnosed with breast cancer.

SANCHEZ: That's awesome.

KEILAR: Yes, it was very fun.

SANCHEZ: A great cause. Very nice metal. Bragging rights. You went underhand or overhand? You were telling the overhand triggered some stuff.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's underhand pitching. Yes.

SANCHEZ: You crushed it. Congrats, Brianna.

KEILAR: Thanks, Boris. Thank you very much.

SANCHEZ: "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END