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Trump Threatens Licenses of TV Stations That Criticize Him; Trump Returns To The U.S. After U.K. State Visit; U.S. Vetoes UN Security Council Resolution On Immediate Gaza Ceasefire; Hamas Warns Israel Offensive Ends Hope For Hostage Return; Erika Kirk Named New CEO of Turning Point U.S.A.; Hollywood Workers Protest Disney Pulling Kimmel Off the Air; How Local TV Station Groups Influenced Kimmell Suspension; Trump Expected to Discuss TikTok Sale with Chinese Leader; Unions Strike Against Proposed Budget Cuts; Japan's Elderly Struggle in Heat Wave; CNN Anchor Finds 33-Mililon-Year-Old Fossil. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 19, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, I'm Paula Sandoval live in Atlanta, wherever you may be watching from. Welcome to CNN Newsroom.
On the way more TV shows and newscasts could face the ire of the Trump administration, why a comment by the president is now raising some First Amendment alarms.
Donald Trump back in the United States after historic second state visit to the U.K. we'll unpack what was and also what was not accomplished.
And a field trip to Badlands national park in South Dakota, yielding ancient find for one CNN anchor. You won't want to miss it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Polo Sandoval.
SANDOVAL: U.S. President Donald Trump is now suggesting that the federal government could revoke licenses of broadcast networks if they air negative coverage of him. His comments coming after Disney's decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show over his remarks about Charlie Kirk's alleged killer.
President Trump said networks should have to reapply for the licenses periodically. He added that not airing conservative views could be reason enough for losing those licenses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: That's something that should be talked about for licensing, too. When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that's all they do. If you go back, I guess they haven't had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said.
But when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They're licensed. They're not allowed to do that. They're an arm of the Democrat Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: The head of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, he's now praising President Trump for creating a massive shift in the media ecosystem, according to him. He's also warning that Kimmel suspension is not the last shoe to drop.
Carven floated the idea of targeting another ABC show, The View, which is heavy with opinions from its hosts, oftentimes targeting Trump. He says if any programming is disputed, it warrants an FCC complaint.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDAN CARR, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION: Our goal and our obligation here is to make sure that broadcasters are serving the public interest. And if there's local TV stations that don't think that running that programming does it, then they have every right under the law in their contracts to preempt it, and we'll see how this plays out.
But I do think that, again, we are in the midst of a massive shift in dynamics in the media ecosystem for lots of reasons, again, including the permission structure that President Trump's election has provided. And I would simply say we're not done yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: So what's next for Kimmel? A source familiar with the situation told CNN that Disney is hopeful there is a path to bringing his show back to ABC, but they said that the temperature of the comics monologues needs to be taken down. The decision to suspend Kimmel had been brewing since he commented on his show on Monday about Charlie Kirk's suspected killer.
He called Trump supporters, quote, the MAGA gang and said, quote, many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk. The matter escalated on Wednesday after the FCC chair threatened to pull ABC affiliate broadcast licenses.
And the Daily show host Jon Stewart, he was already outspoken when his own parent company, Paramount, canceled "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" over the summer, and he made a rare Thursday night appearance to speak out about free speech and the Kimmel suspension. Look at this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": But in America, we have a little something called the First Amendment, and let me tell you how it works. There's something called a talent-o-meter. It's a completely scientific instrument that is kept on the president's desk, and it tells the president when a performer's TQ, talent quotient, measured mostly by niceness to the president, goes below a certain level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: And there's been no shortage of reaction On Capitol Hill, CNN's Manu Raju reporting on how both sides of the aisle are reacting at this hour.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And just like so much in the Trump era, this reaction today has been mostly along party lines. We've heard most of the outrage coming from Democrats warning of censorship and the infringement on the First Amendment fit some Republicans raised some concerns about this, but by and large, many of them contending that this was simply, they say, a business decision.
And when I asked them about the threats and the warnings coming from Trump's FCC chairman, Trump appointed FCC chairman about potential broadcast license being revoked if action was not taken at ABC, some of them shrugged it off or said they weren't aware of it altogether. Some, like Senator Josh Hawley, said he was fine with the ultimate outcome, which is Jimmy Kimmel off the air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: This isn't the government. This is, this is Disney.
RAJU: The FCC was threatening, taking action against ABC. I mean, Carr was out publicly.
HAWLEY: One FCC guy --
RAJU: He's a chairman. Is the right dabbling and cancel culture.
HAWLEY: Not this guy on the right. I mean, I just said he's -- he's entitled under the First Amendment to say what he wants. But on the other hand, I applaud the move of Disney as corporate parent to say we think this is terrible.
KEVIN KILEY, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: If government authority is being used in a way that chills speech, that is, can be problematic. If you're committed to free speech, you should be committed to free speech across the board.
RAJU: That comment came from Kevin Kiley. He's a swing district Republican. But by and large, the response from Republican leaders has been to align themselves very much with Donald Trump, including the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who had no issues with this whatsoever, despite himself fighting against what he considered cancel culture in the Biden administration.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SANDOVAL: Joining me now is Clay Calvert. He's a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Clay, thank you so much for joining us.
CLAY CALVERT, NONRESIDENT SENIOR FELLOW, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it.
SANDOVAL: So how about we begin with the FCC's Public Interest Authority that the agency's chairman, Brendan Carr has said should be, as he put it, reinvigorated. Can you break down what it is and also if you believe that the Trump administration may potentially use it to stifle news coverage or any statements that it doesn't like.
CALVERT: Sure. So the Federal Communications Commission has the power to make sure that over the air broadcasters, free over the air broadcasters, serve the public interest, convenience and necessity. And the public interest is really the key term there.
It's very vague, isn't it? What does the public interest mean? Does it mean whatever the public is interested in, whatever the public wants to view, or in this case does it mean whatever the government believes the public should or shouldn't watch or view or hear on television.
And so it's very amorphous. And what we're seeing, at least in my opinion, is Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC, using this public interest mechanism, the statutory mandate, in saying basically that certain things that don't align with President Trump's views, those don't serve the public interest.
And obviously that can be very dangerous when the government starts to intermeddle in the marketplace of ideas and saying, well, it serves the public interest, so we can censor this opposing viewpoint or a viewpoint that doesn't align with President Trump's views.
SANDOVAL: And because of this mandate or mechanism, as you put it, how much power does the FCC wield over local station groups, especially those who are some of those media companies that really need Trump administration support to carry out some of their business deals?
CALVERT: Sure. Well, essentially the bottom line is that the FCC could ultimately revoke the licenses of over the air broadcast stations. So we talk about the public airwaves and that's it. They are public. The broadcasters don't own the airwaves. And the FCC enforces the public interest mandate to make sure that when they're given a license, they're doing that.
And so the FCC has the power to revoke a license. So in this case, you have, with, at least with Jimmy Kimmel's situation, you have Nexstar and Sinclair, which own about 60 total television stations across the country, whose licenses ultimately the FCC could revoke if they don't serve, in Brendan Carr's view, whatever it is the public interest means.
So it's a very powerful mechanism that the FCC wields to leverage against the owners of broadcast stations. SANDOVAL: And briefly, just exploring some hypotheticals, do you think
that this sets precedent that could potentially backfire not just for Republican leaders, but also conservative media under a Democratic administration, for example?
CALVERT: Oh, sure. I mean, what goes around comes around. And not to put Justin Timberlake on that, but it's really true. Right. So the pendulum in Washington D.C. as we know, swings back and forth from one administration to the next, Republicans to Democrats, back and forth.
[01:10:00]
And so whatever the conservative and public Republican administration right now might be doing with President Trump and Brendan Carr at the FCC can certainly come back and haunt them when ultimately a Democrat becomes president. Whether that's 2028, 2032 or somewhere down the line, it's almost inevitable.
And so those who kind of use or misuse power now may pay the price down the line. They have to keep that in mind, keep the long term perspective in mind.
SANDOVAL: I think it's important to also underscore just the importance of where we are right now in this moment. I mean, if this is the president ramping up his threats on the media industry, a comedian, etc. How much of a test is this when it comes to free speech, you think?
CALVERT: Oh, I think it's a big test. I mean, when we think about it overall, we have to look at the Trump administration generally in trying to squelch viewpoints that it disagree -- that it doesn't like, or trying to squelch dissent, trying to stifle it. It has a number of different mechanisms as we've seen to use.
One is President Trump can file his own civil lawsuits. We've seen that just this week against the New York Times, I believe it was last week against the Wall Street Journal. We've seen it against CBS and even CNN. So that's one mechanism. Another one is defunding. Whether it's PBS, we can take away PBS's money corporation for public broadcasting. We can go after them, NPR.
And then we also have, because we -- because Trump controls essentially the FCC under Brendan Carr, we can also conduct these investigations and we can threaten to conduct investigations. And so we've reached that stage where we don't actually, or Brendan Carr doesn't actually have to open an investigation. He can simply say as he did in this case, we can do it the easy way or we can do it the hard way.
And right now broadcasters know what that means. We can investigate you, or if you censor the content that we don't like, we'll let you go.
SANDOVAL: And all of this come against some Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are floating the ideas of putting together entire committees to launch those kinds of investigations that you just mentioned. So there is a lot to be seen here. Clive Calvert. So much, so grateful for your perspective. Thank you so much for your time.
CALVERT: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
SANDOVAL: Ukraine warning that Russian troops they are closing in on the key city of Kupiansk. Officials say that the situation has become critical with Russian forces less than one kilometer from the outskirts. The city sits on a key crossroad. Its capture would allow for further Russian advances in northeastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is sending mixed signals about the future of his efforts to reach peace in the region. His push for peace talks have largely stalled. And his deadlines to Moscow, those have come and gone with no major conflict consequences. Now he's saying this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been a month since you're meeting with President Putin. Is it time for a ceasefire to come?
TRUMP: Doesn't feel like it. But at the right time, if I have to do it'll be harsh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: That was the president aboard Air Force One on his way back from a state visit to Britain. Prime Minister Keir Starmer had a lot riding on that visit as he led talks with the U.S. President on the final day of his trip. As Nic Robertson reports, the leaders played up their common ground. They also seem to gloss over their differences.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): After a lavish state dinner the night before, Trump bid farewell to King Charles at Windsor Castle and arrived at the prime minister's country home, Chequers, switching gears from the previous day's pomp to talk politics and policy with Keir Starmer.
The pair emphasizing the unbreakable bond between the U.S. and U.K. despite the president and prime minister being political opposites, they managed to develop a friendly relationship.
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It comes down to leaders, of course. Leaders who respect each other, leaders who genuinely like each other.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Trade at the top of the agenda on the visit, a record breaking $205 billion of investment expected from American companies.
TRUMP: We intend to always be the UK's strongest, closest and most trusted business partner.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Trump praising the U.K. for becoming the first country to make a trade deal with the U.S. during his second term. Even so, Trump already imposing a 10 percent tariff on most British imports, a move that could complicate ties. And no indication Starmer was able to get higher tariffs on aluminum and steel cut as he had wanted.
Also not getting agreement on Ukraine. Trump and Starmer discussing how to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to get him to agree to a peace deal.
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TRUMP: It will all get done right and likewise, Russia and Ukraine will get done, but it's, you never know in war.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Starmer putting pressure on Trump.
STARMER: And it's only when the president has put pressure on Putin that he's actually shown any inclination to move.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Another area where they disagree is the war in Gaza. The prime Minister hopes recognizing a Palestinian state with will help end the dire situation.
TRUMP: So I have a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score. One of our few disagreements, actually.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Starmer, trying to smooth over any differences.
STARMER: Discussed it with the president as you would expect, amongst two leaders, who respect each other.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A reminder that even in the most special of relationships, deep undercurrents of division remain.
ROBERTSON: President Trump's leaving now apparently happy with his visit to the UK. The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer can also be happy. Big tech deal, but no major falling out over their key differences. Ukraine, Russia and over Gaza. Nic Robertson, CNN, Chequers, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: And joining us now is David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst. He's also the author of "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion and America's Struggle to Defend the West." David, thank you so much for joining us again.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Polo, great to be with you.
SANDOVAL: So look, as we wait to see the ultimate impacts of whether or not this made actually will actually make a difference when it comes to U.K. and U.S. relations, I'm wondering from your perspective as you saw these two leaders take the world stage here, what was the most significant takeaway from this meeting, you think?
SANGER: You know, I got sort of opposite impressions from the first day and the second. The first day was all about the pageantry. And, you know, the British understood how much the president loves that kind of thing. The flyovers, the invitation to Windsor Castle, the spectacular sight of that state dinner in the huge hall, you know, to be in William the Conqueror's old territory.
The president clearly liked that and had a good exchange with the king in those toasts, was sitting with all of the royal family members, was talking about his mother, who's of Scottish origin. So I think that part was great.
What was clear by the second day when he met Prime Minister Starmer was that on the two biggest issues affecting the transatlantic alliance right now, other than tariffs, Gaza and Ukraine, they were still pretty far apart. And, you know, you couldn't hide the differences in that press conference one.
SANDOVAL: Of those issues that you bring up, especially when they were discussing Russia's war in Ukraine, I did hear UK's Prime Minister talk about how to put pressure on Putin. President Trump then adding that if oil prices fall that Putin would drop out of the war. He said, just bearing all that in mind, what kind of concrete steps do you think the two leaders made in bringing peace to Ukraine, if any?
SANGER: I'm not sure they did. I think they have fundamentally different views of Putin. It was pretty clear from listening to Prime Minister Starmer that he believes that the only thing that has worked with President Putin has been when President Trump himself has joined sanctions to force Putin to the table and released discussions.
But of course, the president's been very inconsistent on that. Prime Minister Starmer made clear that he believes that the intrusions into Poland were a serious challenge to NATO. I think they also revealed that NATO's air defenses leave something to be desired.
The Prime Minister made it clear that he believes only full on pressure on the Russians has any chance of impressing them. And the president sort of stuck to his view. Well, this isn't really our war. It can't affect us. It was, you know, begun by Biden. He seemed to suggest. Well, it wasn't. It was begun by Putin.
SANDOVAL: Same question. But with Gaza, do you think that maybe they made any progress there? Especially when you consider the U.N. General assembly that's upcoming?
SANGER: Again, not much. The President and the Prime Minister were asked basically the same question, what are the next steps that need to be taken? Prime Minister Starmer had a list and it included an eventual Palestinian state.
[01:20:03]
President Trump never mentioned that. It included long term security for Israel. President Trump didn't describe what that might look like. They both condemned the taking of the hostages, but the hostages and were the only part of this that President Trump engaged with. While you heard President Prime Minister Starmer say that the current situation on the ground in Gaza for Palestinians was also intolerable. So there was a pretty big difference of view.
SANDOVAL: I always appreciate this analysis. David Sanger, thank you so much for joining us again.
SANGER: Thank you.
SANDOVAL: Well, still ahead here on CNN Newsroom. Hamas issues its most dire warning yet about the fate of the Israeli hostages as Israel's new ground offensive intensifies.
And we'll talk TikTok. Presidents Trump and Xi, they are set to speak in a matter of hours as their countries try to finalize a deal to sell the social media platform.
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SANDOVAL: The U.S. has vetoed yet another draft resolution by the U.N. Security Council on Gaza -- on a Gaza ceasefire. This was already the sixth U.S. veto over the war. The resolution would have called for an immediate unconditional and permanent ceasefire. It would have also called for Israel to end all restrictions on aid to the territory. And it would have also demanded the release of all hostages.
The U.S. delegation defended its veto, saying that the draft resolution fails to condemn Hamas or recognize Israel's right to defend itself. And it wrongly legitimizes the false narratives benefiting Hamas which have sadly found currency in this Council. That's a quote.
And Hamas warning that the new ground offensive in Gaza City, that it means -- that Israel will not continue get back any of its hostages, dead or alive. This is the group's strongest message yet against Israel's escalating incursion in the war torn enclave. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with this report from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, as the Israeli military makes its opening moves to invade Gaza City, Hamas issuing a dire warning, a threat really about the lives of the hostages. In a new statement, Hamas has said that Israel's invasion of Gaza City amounts to Israel for throwing away its chances of getting Israeli hostages back, alive or dead.
Hamas has now said that it has spread out the hostages across Gaza City's different neighborhoods and, quote, will not be concerned for their lives as long as Netanyahu has decided to kill them. That is, of course, a reference to the fact that the Israeli prime minister has signed off on this invasion of Gaza City despite the fact that there is significant evidence that Israeli hostages are indeed being held there.
The Israeli military spokesman, for his part says that the military will do, quote, everything to avoid harming them will operate responsibly and in coordination with Israeli intelligence services. But this speaks directly to so many of the fears that we have heard from the families of those hostages who have been crying out in Israel almost on a daily basis now, in particular in protests in front of the Israeli prime minister's residence, expressing their fears that their loved ones will be killed amid this Israeli military offensive in Gaza City, with some of them even accusing the prime minister of essentially signing these hostages death certificates and calling for this offensive to be halted and a ceasefire to be reached instead with Hamas.
Now, as all of this is happening, we're also monitoring a situation that took place at the Allenby Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank, controlled by Israel. According to reports, a driver of a humanitarian aid truck that was headed from Jordan to the Gaza Strip opened fire at that crossing, killing two individuals.
The Israeli military calling this shooting a terrorist attack and as a result, halting all humanitarian aid shipments through this land route from Jordan to the Gaza Strip, while there is an inquiry that is completed and the implementation of what they're describing as revised screening procedures for Jordanian drivers.
And so that suspension of aid from Jordan to Gaza will likely impact about 100 to 150 trucks of aid per week, according to an Israeli military official, but nonetheless will undoubtedly have an impact inside of the Gaza Strip.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
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SANDOVAL: Tens of thousands of people, they filled the streets across France in protest. Just ahead, we go to Paris to find out why these workers went on strike. You're watching CNN Newsroom.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Polo Sandoval live in Atlanta.
Erika Kirk has been named the new chief executive officer of Turning Point U.S.A. She takes over the organization that her late husband, Charlie Kirk, co-founded and led until his assassination last week.
The group's board announced the move in a post on X. It said that Charlie Kirk had in prior talks that he'd made it known that, quote, "this is what he wanted in the event of his death".
Erika Kirk said that she was committed to continuing the work of her husband and his legacy.
Entertainment workers in Hollywood -- they are voicing their anger over Disney's decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel off air after making remarks about Kirk's death. Protesters, they gathered outside the Disney Studio in Burbank, California Thursday. They say the network is caving in to the government and is stifling free speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID REED, MEMBER, WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA: I know a lot of people who don't want to, you know, put money in the pockets of a company that is so willing to turn their backs on their own employees out of fear and out of bullying by the government.
TAYLOR SMITH, FILM PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: I know things look normal but we are living under fascism. And I really hope this wakes people up.
JAKE FERREE, ACTOR: This affects every aspect of free speech. We should be able to express ourselves. That's the point of art.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POLO: Nexstar Media and Sinclair Broadcasting, these are two of the largest TV groups in the nation that are key players in influencing ABC's decision to suspend Kimmel's show. But how?
CNN's Tom Foreman with the answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIMMY KIMMEL, TV HOST: Many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The takedown of Jimmy Kimmel started with the nation's biggest name in local TV. Nexstar Media owns or partners with more than 200 stations, many of them ABC affiliates. It has a $6.2 billion expansion up for approval by the Federal Communications Commission and reason to listen when the FCC head suggests stations everywhere could risk their licenses for putting Kimmel on the public airwaves.
BRENDAN CARR, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION: These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action frankly on Kimmel or, you know, there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.
FOREMAN: In short order, Nexstar declared Kimmel's comments "offensive and insensitive" and yanked his show.
All just business? Hard to say. Open Secrets found Nexstar CEO Perry Sook has donated to both political parties, but much more often to Republicans.
The corporation has a more balanced donation profile. Yet a few years ago, the company's News Nation channel drew complaints from some staffers who said management was pushing them to favor the political right.
Still, Sook recently said, there is no thumb on the scales.
PERRY SOOK, NEXSTAR CEO: I do not dictate content. No one in the organization dictates any content. We work together on group projects, but no one's handed a script and said, here, read this and it goes across all of -- all of the markets in which we operate.
FOREMAN: Smaller than Nexstar, but still a powerhouse, Sinclair Television, with a long-standing conservative bent, preempted Kimmel's show and called on him to issue a direct apology to the Kirk family and make a meaningful personal donation to that family and to the conservative action group co-founded by Kirk.
It all seems to have been too much for ABC, owned by Disney, which turned the lights out indefinitely on Kimmel's show with little comment and too much for some critics as well.
ANNA GOMEZ, FCC COMMISSIONER: And what you're seeing here is this administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression. Not because it glorifies violence or breaks the law, but because it challenges those in power and reflects views they oppose.
FOREMAN: All of this is about one particular incident, but it doesn't seem like the issue is going to die down anytime soon. With the administration making more noise about other shows they'd like to see less of.
Tom Foreman, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Donald Trump set to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and high on the agenda will be TikTok. On Thursday, the U.S. president called the social media giant a, quote, "tremendous value".
The U.S. and China, they agreed on a framework for the sale of TikTok earlier this week, with U.S. investors expected to own roughly 80 percent of that platform.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout, with the details from Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That phone call is expected to take place 9:00 a.m. Eastern time, this, according to Bloomberg, citing a U.S. official.
And we also know that, you know, this is going to be a meeting. If it happens, it will be the first direct engagement between these two leaders since June.
On the agenda, you have trade. You have tariffs. You also have a potential face to face meeting between Trump and Xi, and of course, the fate and future of TikTok.
It is expected that these two leaders will strike a formal deal on TikTok. This, after a framework deal was reached and announced earlier this week, a framework deal that was praised on Chinese state-run media.
In fact, I want to show you an op-ed that was published on Wednesday by the "People's Daily". This is the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party on the TikTok framework deal.
[01:39:51]
STOUT: And it said this, quote, "China reached a relevant consensus with the United States on the TikTok issue because it's based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation," unquote.
Now, it also said, and this is critical, that China will review, not necessarily approve right away, that's an open question. It will review the export of TikTok's technologies and IP licensing.
Look, TikTok is one of China's most successful high-tech exports. Some 170 million Americans use this platform.
This is owned by the Beijing based Bytedance. We know more than 1.5 billion people around the world use TikTok. And the secret sauce, the core of the success of this platform is its A.I. powered algorithm that keeps people so glued and stuck to their phones.
And this is also one of the reasons why U.S. lawmakers have threatened a ban on TikTok, because they are deeply concerned that it could be used to gather data about Americans and also could be used for influence operations as well.
Now, if this call goes ahead, if there is a formal deal struck on TikTok, we know the details of what the U.S. ownership structure will look like. There will be a consortium of U.S. investors, including Blackrock, including Andreessen Horowitz, including Silver Lake.
What we don't know still at this moment is whether the Chinese will give up the algorithm entirely. And so analysts are saying that Xi Jinping knows that Donald Trump is keen to get a deal on TikTok, keen to get it across the line, and that in return, he might be willing to make concessions on trade.
I want to show you this interesting bit of analysis from International Crisis Group, William Yang, saying, quote, "Xi will seek to capitalize on Trump's desire to secure a major deal with China and push the U.S. president to make more concessions on trade as trade negotiations continue," unquote.
Now, remember, the U.S. and China are still in the midst of a trade truce, which could flare back up into a trade war at any moment. The current deadline for this latest truce is mid-November.
Back to you, Polo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Well, parts of France, they are cleaning up after a day of protests against planned budget cuts by the government.
CNN's Melissa Bell takes us to the streets of Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a day of largely peaceful protests across France. But this is exactly what authorities have been warning about. This is where the march ended at Nation.
And what the interior minister had been saying, where there were groups from the far-left black box. He said there were threatening violent acts by the end of the day. And these clashes are what we've seen by the evening here at the Place de la Nation.
Riot police lined across the Place de la Nation as protesters tried to take them on projectiles. A lot of tear gas here this evening.
It was for the first time in a long time. Not since 2023 had we seen these large-scale trade union protests coordinated across the country with a large-scale march. But this was what they'd warned about.
These were the images that authorities had been fearing that the so- called block lots (ph), the groups from the far left, some of them have come from outside France, were trying to cause trouble by the end of the day.
And this is exactly what is happening at this hour. It had been a long time since we'd had these kinds of coordinated trade union protests, but also these kinds of images of clashes on the streets of Paris. Not since the pension reform protests of 2023.
But as we look ahead to that budget of 2026 with the new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu trying to get through what we expect to be an austerity budget and all this opposition to it. You can expect a lot more of these scenes again on the streets of Paris in the coming weeks.
Melissa Bell, CNN -- Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Well, Japan recorded its highest temperature ever this summer. Still to come, why the nation's elderly appear to be the most vulnerable when it comes to the dangers of extreme heat.
[01:43:37]
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SANDOVAL: Tropical storm Gabrielle, it is struggling to organize after it formed Wednesday in the central Atlantic Ocean. Take a look at some of the imagery that's sent to CNN.
The storm seems to be churning more than 1,100 kilometers, or about 700 miles east-northeast of the islands -- the Leeward Islands, I should say.
It does have some sustained winds of 80 kilometers, or about 50 miles an hour. The National Hurricane Center, believing that Gabrielle will strengthen into a hurricane by Monday. However, it's not expected to directly impact the U.S., but it may
whip up the surf on the East Coast next week.
And average temperatures across Japan, they are climbing after hitting a record high this summer. Health officials say that the nation's elderly in particular, that they've been struggling with this extreme heat.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports.
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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this hospital in Japan, patient after patient arrives on stretchers, many of them elderly and suffering from heat stroke.
"You have a high fever," a doctor says to this woman in her 70s who collapsed at home from the summer heat.
Hospital staff here desperately trying to cool off a man who was found unconscious on the street. Japan suffered its hottest summer ever this year, with average temperatures nationwide more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Among the hardest hit are the elderly.
[01:49:48]
TAKASHI SHIMAZAKI, NERIMA CITY OFFICIAL (through translator): The elderly often don't feel the heat as much, have more difficulty regulating body temperature, and don't notice thirst as easily.
MONTGOMERY: Heat stroke is deadly, killing hundreds of seniors annually in Japan.
But here, the crisis isn't just a climate one. Japan's growing elderly population is increasingly living alone, cut off from support networks that could help them in emergencies.
To save its elderly, local government conduct home visits.
Toshiaki Morioka lives alone since losing his wife three years ago. He has no income he says. So AC is a luxury, but he does what he can to live a long life.
TOSHIAKI MORIOKA, PENSIONER (through translator): It was a promise with my wife to live until 99. Talking about it makes me tear up.
I spend every day sweating like this in this heat. And on top of that, living alone is really tough.
MONTGOMERY: For Japan's vulnerable, Surviving the heat isn't just about staying cool, it's about being checked on and remembered.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN -- Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SANDOVAL: One of the world's richest fossil beds, they can be found at the Badlands of South Dakota. Just ahead, we'll show you what a CNN team discovered during a hike.
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SANDOVAL: Egyptian authorities say that they now know what happened to this three-year-old -- actually, I should say this 3,000-year-old bracelet, the gold trinket belonging to a pharaoh and disappeared from a museum in Cairo earlier this month.
Authorities traced the theft as it moved from one person to another, ending up with a gold smelter who melted down this historic artifact.
The suspects were arrested, and the proceeds from the bracelet sale that were seized. In the end, the once priceless artifact fetched a mere $4,000.
At the Badlands National Park in the U.S. state of South Dakota, it is home to some of the world's richest fossil beds.
CNN's Laura Coates went on a hike and found a rare skull of an ancient animal that roamed the earth some 33 million years ago.
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LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: South Dakota's Badlands National Park is famously full of fossils that are millions of years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You kind of never know what you're going to get out here.
There are so many fossils in the park that anyone can make discoveries here. So I teamed up with Kevin and Melina from the Black Hills Tour Company.
KEVIN QUINN, BLACK HILLS TOUR COMPANY: This was a really lush landscape at times so there was lots and lots of animals out here.
It erodes one inch a year, and so these fossils get exposed slowly over time and you can find them.
MELINA CONDOS, BLACK HILLS TOUR COMPANY: It's one of the best things about the Badlands is that they let you come out and climb up on all the mounds and all the rocks and because it's eroding so quickly, you know, they're not so precious about it.
QUINN: I see some bones coming out up in here. Oh.
COATES: I can't resist. I got to go.
CONDOS: You're adventurous. I'm impressed.
COATES; That's when we came across something extraordinary.
Oh, a skull. QUINN: It's a full skull. Yes.
COATES: The top of a skull, like, almost totally flat. And there's a big hole underneath it.
QUINN: It's big, isn't it?
COATES: It's like a massive head.
The parks policy is to leave the fossils exactly where we find them.
It's special. This is amazing.
So we note the location and grab a few photos. We head to the visitor center to proudly report our find.
[01:54:51]
COATES: We found this fossil out there. We have no idea what it is. But now this center actually has an area that has a fossil lab that can help us identify what kind of fossil it might be.
Inside the lab, paleontologists use these micro jackhammers to preserve visitors' fossils for research.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found some out --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We found something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a pretty big fossil. And we found it in the. Upper Brule.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I almost want to say archaeotherium.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think?
COATES: What's the word? Archaeotherium.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Archaeotherium.
COATES: Archaeotherium.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Archaeo means old or ancient?
COATES: Ok.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And -therium or -theria is beast.
(CROSSTALKING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So it literally means ancient beast.
COATES: I found an ancient beast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Upper Brule.
COATES: Archaeotherium was a giant killer pig with large teeth and a powerful jaw.
WAYNE THOMPSON, BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK: Congratulations, guys. That's a really good find.
COATES: The staff said it was one of the largest killer pigs they've seen at the park.
So you're telling me I came to the Badlands, went through some of the different formations, and was able to find a fossil that was maybe 33 million years old.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.
COATES: Wow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.
COATES: That's amazing. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn't that awesome.
COATES: The paleontologists leave to start digging up the fossil while I carve out my own little moment.
How cool is that? I love this. That's me with the fossils.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Laura Coates adding fossil finder to the -- to the resume.
And then there's this new study that finds that chimpanzees may be sipping on (INAUDIBLE) happy hour, ingesting the equivalent of one alcoholic drink per day.
You see, that's actually due to the ethanol in the fermented fruit that they eat. Scientists have long known that chimpanzees consume alcohol in their food, but the study in the journal "Science Advances" is the first attempt to actually quantify just how much booze they may be taking in.
Scientists say that this could shed light on our thirst for booze, suggesting our fondness for some fermented fun may actually be evolutionary.
And from the whole team, I want to thank you so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Polo Sandoval in Atlanta.
My colleague standing by Kim Brunhuber going to want to join them in just a few moments.
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