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Trump Claims U.S. Reached Deal to "Control" Greenland Security; Voters Cast Ballots on Second Day of Duma Elections; Faulty AI- Assisted Intel Nearly Triggered U.S. Military Confrontation with Chinese Ship; German Chancellor Friedrich Merz Faces Political Reckoning in Election; Ed Sheeran Philly Concert Controversy. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired September 19, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello. And a very warm welcome. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's go straight to our headlines.

U.S. president Donald Trump announces a new security deal with Denmark and Greenland. We have details on that agreement for you and how it might limit both Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic.

Russians are voting in an election with effectively no legitimate opposition to Vladimir Putin as Moscow ramps up its war in Ukraine. We're going to take a look at what's at stake.

Plus new concerns that the war with Iran could spread even further across the region. We have a live report from the Gulf for you.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: It is not the full annexation of Greenland that U.S. president Donald Trump originally wanted, a demand that had triggered a diplomatic crisis with Europe and its NATO partners. But on Friday, Trump did announce the U.S. has struck a security deal with Denmark and Greenland after months of negotiations.

Now Trump said the agreement would give the U.S. quote, "permanent control" over Greenland security and the U.S. would start building a large military presence on the semi-autonomous Danish territory, in addition to a space base, which is already there.

The deal resembled a pact that had been established in 1951 but it would forbid U.S. adversaries such as China from having a military presence there. Details of the deal are still very unclear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The Danish prime minister, on the left, did not repeat Trump's description but called it a great agreement, which recognizes Danish sovereignty. And Greenland's leader, on the right, said it recognizes the island's interests.

Now the agreement still requires Danish parliamentary approval and is expected to be signed next week at the U.N. General Assembly.

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ABDELAZIZ: CNN spoke to Connor McPartland of the Atlantic Council about this new agreement and what it entails for security in the Arctic

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CONNOR MCPARTLAND, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF TRANSATLANTIC SECURITY, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: From the President's announcement on Truth Social, it looks that what's new here is an expanded U.S. authority and oversight on foreign investment and military activity in Greenland.

The Trump administration has expressed concerns about the possibility, however unlikely, that China or Russia could gain access or control over Greenland's critical mineral resources or establish a military presence on the island that could threaten the U.S. homeland.

The new deal appears to give the U.S. the ability to block investments and other activities from U.S. adversaries in Greenland, and this will be a whole new level of U.S. control over aspects of Greenland's affairs.

As you said also at the top, the President said the deal gives the U.S. permanent control over security in Greenland, but until we see the full text of the agreement, it's still a little unclear what that will actually mean in practice.

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ABDELAZIZ: President Trump now has more leeway to slap tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas. He signed a new Russian sanctions bill on Friday. This is two days after it passed in Congress. And what it allows him to do is to impose up to 100 percent tariffs on Russia's energy customers, including China and India.

It also targets top government figures in Moscow, such as president Vladimir Putin. But the Kremlin warns that any new sanctions could backfire on Ukraine peace talks.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Mr. Trump and U.S. lawmakers for passing this bill. It is named after the late U.S. senator Lindsey Graham, who championed it before his passing.

Mr. Zelenskyy said the best way to honor senator Graham is to implement this bill as soon as possible. As potential new sanctions hang over Russia, its voters are casting

ballots for a second straight day. The country is holding parliamentary elections that will be going on until Sunday. It is the first such election since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Now president Vladimir Putin cast his ballot online on Friday. Technically speaking, 450 seats in Russia's lower house of parliament are up for grabs. But the process is tightly controlled and effective opposition is practically nonexistent, so it is a sure bet that Mr. Putin's party will retain its majority.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): You're looking at images of early voting in the occupied parts of Ukraine, where ballots are also being cast. And you can see armed Russian troops there, following election officials as they facilitate voting in those areas.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the elections in the occupied regions, quote, "a farce." Some voters had this to say.

ANNA, DONETSK RESIDENT (through translator): For me, elections are about ensuring that everything is good in our republic, in our country. We really love our president and will follow him wherever.

ELENA, DONETSK RESIDENT (through translator): The hope that life in our region will improve, that people will stop leaving, that more children will go to school, a safe city.

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ABDELAZIZ: To dig deeper on the impact of these elections, we're joined now from Berlin by Alexander Baunov. He is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

Good morning to you, first of all. Thank you so much for joining us. You know, when you're reading about these elections and we're looking at what's taking place with Russian troops in occupied regions, we know that this is an exercise carefully engineered by the Kremlin to project popular support for that war that continues in Ukraine.

Even if it is unpopular.

But how can President Putin draw legitimacy from a vote with no real opposition?

ALEXANDER BAUNOV, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE RUSSIA EURASIA CENTER: Yes, there is no real opposition but there is no other source of legitimacy for dictators like Putin.

And besides the result, he's very interested in the very fact of the election, which takes a form of plebiscite about his power. And what is important for him, because he opposes himself, he -- the

very fact of the election in a country that is waging the war is important for him because he always repeat again and again that Zelenskyy in Ukraine doesn't have elections. So he has this electoral legitimacy and Zelenskyy doesn't.

Of course, we know that, in the case of Ukraine, the election would be competitive. And in case of Russia, totally not. But for Putin, it's an argument that he is a legitimate head of state.

And the second thing, yes, the occupied territories that are watching, that's important for him, too.

ABDELAZIZ: So you are saying this is the only way to really draw legitimacy. But at the same time, it shows that President Putin needs that legitimacy. He needs that support. But life for Russians, for average Russians has become so much more difficult since the start of the conflict, economically, personally.

You know, the strikes are hitting closer and closer to Moscow. And now there's those fears of a mass mobilization or a forced mobilization after this vote.

What are you learning about that?

What kind of atmosphere is that creating inside Russia?

And how would that play out if it happens?

Would it be a breaking point?

BAUNOV: It's not much new because the elections were always managed. There's a huge turnout for turnout management. The people who are working for state corporations are pushed not just to go and vote but to show how they have voted, to make photos of their ballots and to show them to their supervisors, to their bosses.

The elections are now -- it started in 2020 -- now three days. So there's more space for mobilization and more space for electoral fraud. Some -- in some regions, including Moscow, the electronic votes or evote has been introduced.

And you know that, in Russian situation, there is no possibility to control this electronic vote. But again, for any electoral dictator, there is no source of legitimacy. And all electoral dictatorships in the world are obliged somehow to have this electoral performance, electoral spectacle from time to time.

And Putin is doing this. What he's trying to do is to convince himself, to convince his own nation, to convince the outside world that the elections are the real source of his power and not just the fact that he has seized the power

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ABDELAZIZ: Alexander Baunov there, speaking from Berlin on an election that will be used as a source of legitimacy for President Putin, even if there are not straw man opposition candidates on the ballot. Thank you very much for your time.

Meanwhile, we're getting video of what Ukraine says is a dramatic rescue after Russia's overnight strikes. The state emergency services posted that four people were pulled from the rubble after a strike on a nine-story apartment building.

The post says that one of them is a 7-year-old boy. The region's governor told Reuters the building was hit with a glide bomb, which killed two people and left at least seven others injured.

Here's a number for you, $45.1 billion. That is how much the Pentagon says the Iran war has cost so far and counting the price tag does not include the cost to repair bases or buildings damaged in the conflict.

And sources familiar with the matter say the Pentagon informed Congress on Friday of this latest estimate as of September 3rd. That number surpasses the latest estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, which had put the cost at around $38 billion through August 1st.

President Trump at the White House Friday claimed the war is going to, end, quote, "soon."

But that war is threatening to actually spread with Iran-backed Houthi militants intensifying their attacks on Saudi Arabia. The kingdom launching strikes of its own. The Houthis claimed on Friday that Saudi Arabia carried out some 300 strikes on Yemen this week, though the group offered no evidence to support that claim.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The militants have retaliated by attacking an Aramco facility and a military air base in Saudi Arabia, as you can see here in these satellite images.

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ABDELAZIZ: For more on all of this, we are now joined by Paula Hancocks. She is tracking developments for us across the region from Abu Dhabi.

Good morning to you, Paula. I want to ask you about these air raid alert sirens that rang out in Riyadh, that were issued in Riyadh just a short time ago, because this is the first time that this has happened since the start of the conflict.

And it gives you a sense of just how the cost of the war is rising by the day for the kingdom.

What outlet, what methodologies does the kingdom have when it seems to be struggling to hold back the Houthi onslaught here?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Salma, what we are seeing at this point is certainly the Houthis with the upper hand when it comes to taking territory in Yemen, that the key Perim Island next to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

And, of course, giving Iran, its main sponsor and funder, a critical stake in yet another waterway that that commercial shipping relies on heavily around the world.

So what we're seeing is multiple sources telling CNN that that neither Saudi Arabia nor its key ally, the United States, appear to have a clear path at this point as to how to try and stop this Houthi assault.

Now we do know from sources that there are about 100 U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia. They've been there for several weeks now as part of a joint -- a new joint command force. They have been providing intelligence to the Saudi Arabian military in order to try and stop the Houthis, also targeting information.

But they haven't got directly involved. And it really appears as though the Trump administration is very reticent to become more directly involved in this particular part of the conflict in this region, which has become very much tied to the U.S.-Iran war.

Now we understand from the Trump administration that that a U.S. official says they believe that they have provided Saudi Arabia with enough equipment, with enough training and intelligence sharing for the kingdom to be able to rebuff the Houthis.

Now that clearly hasn't been the case. We have seen the remarkable assaults and progression of this militia group over the past week or so.

But we do know from sources that that the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, asked Trump twice to get involved and to help as this progression was ongoing. And we understand from that source that twice Trump said no, Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Thank you so much, Paula Hancocks there in Abu Dhabi, on that ever-widening conflict. I want to go now to some new and exclusive reporting from CNN.

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The U.S. military had planes in the air ready to take action against a Chinese ship because of an AI-generated intelligence report, which turned out to be entirely false. Now this is according to sources who detailed this very alarming incident to CNN.

One source said the false AI report, quote, "almost started a war."

Earlier this spring, armed U.S. military members were preparing to board a Chinese ship in the Middle East after the report indicated that the ship was transporting components of a nuclear weapon program. Two people familiar with the matter shared this with CNN.

It was only just before the operation that officials dug deeper into the report put together by a Special Operations Command analyst and they found that the AI chatbot the analyst had used inaccurately identified the material that the Chinese ship was carrying.

Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the German chancellor faces a critical test as voters head to the polls this weekend, with the far- right AfD eyeing yet another win.

Plus, protests are planned and police are stepping up security as Ed Sheeran performs in Philadelphia this weekend. More on what's driving that backlash coming up.

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ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back.

Germans are preparing now to head to the polls this weekend in two key constituencies. Chancellor Friedrich Merz is faced with the biggest political test of his leadership yet. The far-right AfD is hoping to score another election victory as it surges in the polls in the country's former Communist East.

It held a rally on Friday ahead of the vote. The AfD is capitalizing on economic anxiety and growing anger at the chancellor and his center-right ruling party. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is on the ground speaking to those voters.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Germany's right wing AfD looking to race to another state election victory in the former communist east of the country doing 25 miles an hour on old socialist era motorbikes like at this campaign event.

Their most potent fuel, voter anger at chancellor Friedrich Merz, a participant who would only give his first name, Chris, tells me.

CHRIS, ENTREPRENEUR AND AFD SUPPORTER (through translator): He's the wrong guy, Chris says. He had his chance. He will never be able to recover. Many people just feel this man is incapable.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): The AfD is leading the polls here in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, capitalizing not just on Germany's economic turmoil but also propagating mass deportations of undocumented foreigners as well as ending all military aid to Ukraine and renewing ties with Russia.

A position the AfD's candidate for governor tells me aligns them with the Trump administration.

LEIF-ERIK HOLM, AFD CANDIDATE FOR MINISTER PRESIDENT (through translator): Like America First, we want Germany First, he says. That's our core value and it's also good for international stability if Germany is stable in the middle of Europe with good relations with the U.S. and toward the East.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Mecklenburg-Vorpommern could be the AfD's second big win in only a matter of weeks.

In early September, they beat Merz's CDU in the state of Saxony-Anhalt by a landslide. A desperate Friedrich Merz then attacked the AfD's mass deportation policy, which they themselves call remigration in German parliament.

If what you demand became true, remigration, which is nothing more than ethnic cleansing by skin color and country of origin, he says.

But so far, Merz's political counterpunches don't seem to be landing. His popularity has fallen off a cliff and there's a discussion even among some in his own party about him possibly being replaced as chancellor soon. Merz himself says he will not step down. But back at the AfD's communist era scooter rally, Chris explains how Merz lost his vote.

CHRIS (through translator): Many voters feel they're just not interesting for the chancellor, he says. That's why I think maybe it's not just a protest vote but you have to try something new if the old doesn't work.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): A sentiment that appears to be growing in parts of Germany, jeopardizing the current government and turbocharging the far right -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Schwerin, Germany.

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ABDELAZIZ: In Cuba, 9 million residents were plunged into darkness on Friday afternoon after the country's entire electrical grid collapsed. Restoration work did start immediately, with priority given to hospitals and other essential services.

Blackouts have been frequent in the past 1.5 years. Fuel shortages and a U.S. oil embargo have put massive pressure on Cuba's already aging electrical infrastructure.

Ed Sheeran is set to take the stage on Saturday night in Philadelphia, amid controversy involving his opening acts. He will be his -- this will be his first show since rapper Macklemore dropped from the tour for his onstage comments in support of Palestinians.

Sheeran's other opening acts withdrew in solidarity. CNN's Danny Freeman is following all of this for us.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So are we all asking for refunds on our Ed Sheeran tickets now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm still not exactly sure what we're going to do. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to go and we're going to have a great time.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The continuing controversy surrounding Ed Sheeran's Loop tour has more and more fans thinking out loud as the English superstar prepares for a Saturday concert in Philadelphia.

The first since one of his opening acts, Macklemore, was removed from the tour after making a plea to free Palestine two weeks ago.

KAREN DEANGELIS, ED SHEERAN FAN: It was very disappointing to be quite honest.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Karen DeAngelis is from Virginia and has had tickets to Saturday's concert for nearly a year. She and her 10-year- old daughter are still planning to drive up and spend the weekend in Philly. But after Sheeran didn't defend Macklemore, she's not sure if they'll attend the concert.

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DEANGELIS: We thought, what the heck is going on?

Why would someone not stand up for free speech?

I thought you can't stand up for free speech. You don't want to stand up against something that's so terrible. You've stood up for Ukraine. You've stood up for Black Lives Matter.

Why not -- why not this?

FREEMAN (voice-over): And Karen's not alone. As the concern and drama intensifies, after the rapper was kicked off the tour, other opening acts for Sheeran dropped out in solidarity.

Plus, the price tracking site TicketData notes, while it is normal for many concert resale ticket prices to drop closer to the show date, resale prices for Saturday's Sheeran show are now falling by a notable amount.

KEITH PAGELLO, FOUNDER, TICKETDATA: The gain in price, which is the price that the cheapest take us, which is kind of the best marker for demand for the event, for this show has gone down now 50 percent since Monday. So we are well past what was trying to consider normal.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Meanwhile, a protest is now planned for Saturday's concert. Philadelphia police telling CNN it is working closely with venue and event organizers to help ensure the safety of concertgoers, employees and neighborhood residents.

Also acknowledging the protest, noting, "Our civil affairs unit will be on hand to ensure everyone's safety during protected first amendment activity."

HEATHER PARK, ED SHEERAN FAN: I'm still going. And even if Macklemore was still opening up, I would still go. Like, he's allowed to have his opinion. I'm allowed to have mine.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Still, others like Heather Park are not going to let the controversy get in the way of a concert she's been looking forward to for months.

PARK: My favorite part of concerts is when you go and there is thousands of people of all different religious, ethnicities, beliefs, political views and they are all there to see the same person because they all love the music that that person puts out.

FREEMAN: Now Elex, we reached out to the Messina touring group. That's the promoter for the Sheeran tour but we did not hear back.

However, we did learn that the concert on Saturday night has been pushed back from 05:30 to now 08:00 pm behind me at Lincoln Financial Field.

So the big question is, will the superstar address the lack of opening acts during the concert? -- Danny Freeman, CNN, Philadelphia.

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ABDELAZIZ: Thank you so much for watching. "CNN CREATORS" is coming up next and I'll be back at the top of the hour with more news.