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White House Strips CNN from Pool Assignments, Three Media Organizations to Sue Trump Administration Following their Ban from White House; AfD Scores Another Victory in Two German States, Calls for Chancellor's Resignation Grows; DoorDash Driver in Austin, Texas Shot and Wounded by ICE Agent. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 21, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:32]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York. And ahead here on "CNN Newsroom."

The White House making the next move in its dispute with certain media outlets, including CNN. Details on how it could impact coverage of President Trump's meetings with world leaders in the coming week.

And the U.S. and China searching for common ground on artificial intelligence safety. I speak to an A.I. expert about the best guardrails for the fast-growing tech.

And another shooting of a migrant by ICE in Texas. The latest on what happened there and reaction from state officials.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: And at the top this hour, CNN has been stripped of its White House T.V. pool assignment duties for Monday in a break with decades of precedent. Now, the pool is a designated rotation of major news networks that are tasked with covering the President and then sharing some of their reporting with media around the world.

Well, this move further escalates a dispute in which President Trump has banned CNN as well as other news organizations from reporting from the White House. In fact, on Saturday, our own White House reporter Betsy Klein showed up to work, however, was denied access to the White House grounds and was told by Secret Service that her press badge had been deactivated. CNN says that it intends to sue the Trump administration to defend the constitutional rights of its staff.

Media analyst Sara Fischer has more on the ban and also on the importance of the White House press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Not every news outlet can bring a big camera in to cover the President, whether he's at the White House or he's traveling. And so instead, the big five networks, which are CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC, rotate who is going to manage the coverage, the video coverage of the President.

Now, they provide that feed for all of the other outlets in the press pool, and then those outlets distribute the content to viewers all around the world. And so it matters if there is not a clear understanding of what happens with the press pool, because it means we wouldn't get video feed of the President. That's a huge issue.

We've seen over the past two weeks instances where having video footage of the President has been critical. I think back to some of the 9/11 coverage of the 25 year anniversary, you know, all the footage that was captured that day came from the pool. So the press pool is critical.

We just don't know what's going to happen tomorrow with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And all of this comes just ahead of the 81st United Nations General Assembly kicking off on Tuesday. Nearly 130 world leaders are set to gather here in New York, and this comes at a critical time, of course, with questions about A.I. and security taking on a new urgency.

And also, the U.S. war with Iran is nearing the seven-month mark, with economic implications stretching far beyond the Middle East. President Trump is set to address the assembly on Tuesday. Trump will also be meeting separately with some leaders this week, including Ukraine's President.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he spoke with President Trump on Sunday, and that they will be meeting in New York. Mr. Zelenskyy thanked President Trump for sending his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to Kyiv recently for peace talks. Ukraine's President says that the peace process is his country's number one priority.

Also there will be Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. He is also expected to attend the U.N. General Assembly. The U.S. approved travel for him, as well as a core group of Iranian delegates.

The President's attendance comes amid one of the most volatile conflicts in the Middle East in recent years, and one that apparently may be escalating. And this comes as multiple flashpoints grow across the Middle East. Tehran is now warning that the U.S. plans to resume military actions against Iran, and according to Iranian military command, they have the backing of other countries in the region.

Iran, for its part, says that any U.S. attack will trigger sustained strikes on American bases, as well as other interests in the region, and that anyone supporting U.S. aggression will be considered parties to the conflict.

Let's go to CNN's Leila Gharagozlou, who joins me from Abu Dhabi, following these developments. So Leila, this threat significant enough that the U.S. State Department issued an alert over the weekend to all U.S. citizens in the Middle East?

LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, they did issue that alert to everyone around the GCC and the region, which really does signify this growing concern of an escalation.

[03:05:07]

Now, just at the end of last week, we heard President Trump say that he has a big decision to make on Iran, whether to annihilate it or not. Now we're hearing from Tehran that they believe that the U.S. might resume military action against Iran.

Now, I've been speaking to analysts and experts over the weekend who say, you know, President Trump is only facing bad decisions when it comes to this conflict and the ongoing back and forth with Tehran. The thing that I think is really important to understand, and a lot of analysts stress to me, is that the fundamentals of this conflict have not changed in almost seven months.

You know, the goals have shifted, particularly for the U.S., whether that was to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon or to change the regime or to open the strait. But the fundamentals on the ground haven't changed. Whether there is an escalation or not, Iran is unlikely to capitulate.

If there is a renewed aerial strike on Tehran and we see what we saw in February happen again, they're unlikely to capitulate. If there is a ground invasion, they're unlikely to capitulate. Something that Tehran themselves have said time and time again, right, that military action is not going to force our hand.

So the fundamentals haven't changed. If we do see an escalation, it's very unclear what benefit that would even give, whether it would get us towards an off-ramp and what would come out of it.

Now, obviously, this is all coming as we head into the United Nations General Assembly, where the Iranian President is expected to speak on Wednesday. President Trump is also meant to be meeting with GCC leaders, who, you know, over the course of the conflict have been really at the forefront of Iran's retaliation.

So we're going to have to see how those things kind of pan out. And, as you said, we've had other flashpoints like Yemen pop up and move very quickly.

SANDOVAL: Yes. This conflict rages as global leaders descend here on New York. We'll see what happens.

Leila Gharagozlou, as always, thank you so much for your reporting.

It will also be a very busy week in Washington, as later this week, the U.S. President is expected to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state visit at the White House.

Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that he is helping set the stage for that meeting by holding economic talks with China's vice premier. Bessent told reporters that the two sides discussed ways to collaborate on A.I. safety. He said a particular emphasis would be put on A.I.-related incidents that would rise to a national security level.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, UNITED STATES TREASURY SECRETARY: What we discussed was setting up a mechanism, so it's going to be called the U.S.-China A.I. Dialogue. We've agreed to meet again.

The U.S. has proposed that we have a notification mechanism between the two countries, and we want a shared vision of common goals and common threats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: With me now is Nate Soares. He's the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute and also the co-author of "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. Why Superhuman A.I. Would Kill Us All?" Nate, it's great to see you. Thanks for joining us.

NATE SOARES, PRESIDENT, MACHINE INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: So, Nate, we've obviously heard of several cases lately in which A.I. models seem to be outsmarting or bypassing human controls. Is this why these kinds of incidents, is this largely why we've seen fears around A.I. grow? I mean, because people in the industry have been talking about this for some time now.

SOARES: I think so. Up until this summer, I think a lot of this was theoretical. People like me had been doing the theory and trying to lay out some of these warnings.

But it was only this summer when we started to see A.I.s, sort of, go beyond their instructions, we'll say, and acknowledge that they were doing things outside of their intended scope. And some of them were sacrificing their objectives for the collective benefit in some of these open A.I. swarm cases.

I think these cases hit a lot of these researchers hard, and they started to realize it's not just theory and that these A.I.s don't always just follow instructions and that humanity is sort of, in some sense, growing these sort of new alien minds. And I think that has caused a lot of people in the industry to start getting pretty concerned.

SANDOVAL: And as an expert, Nate, you've explored the question of, then what do we do about it? And as you know, the Trump administration is preparing to host a multi-country event on A.I. at this week's UN General Assembly. What kind of safeguards do you think should be discussed, could be discussed, that would maybe be sufficient enough to address these growing A.I. concerns? SOARES: You know, there's a whole range. At one end of the range, we

should at the very least establish some technical communication between the folks there and the folks here to sort of understand, you know, can this really be an extinction-level threat like many of these researchers are warning?

[03:10:04]

I think the answer is yes, but of course the very first thing to do is sort of establish that possibility and talk about it. I think that the actual response that would deal with this problem is not racing towards smarter and smarter versions of these A.I.s, us swearing off of the recursive self-improvement research where A.I.s make smarter A.I.s that make smarter A.I.s that make this whole thing out of control.

I think in some sense nobody wants that, and there's ways of, you know, submitting the, what these advanced A.I. chips are doing to international monitoring so that we can all verify that none of us are doing the most dangerous research here.

SANDOVAL: Of course, lawmakers have also been raising some alarms of their own, as we've seen in recent time. There's even that bipartisan Frontier Act that's currently in Congress, which is a safety piece of legislation, which is supposed to call for independent audits, incident reporting, as well as the establishment of frameworks.

Just for those of us perhaps not familiar, what could those measures mean? And in your opinion, do you think they could help?

SOARES: You know, there's a bunch of measures that are out there now, ranging from this, you know, Frontier Act. There was some legislation aimed at making sure that the companies could cooperate to not race ahead and avoid antitrust -- being broken up by antitrust law.

There's, you know, a Kill Switch Act that says, you know, the companies need to be able to maintain the ability to turn these machines off. I think many of these are good steps. I think that ultimately, however, the solution to this problem is a global one.

It's, you know, an A.I. does not need to be running in an American data center to take an American life. And the sort of very dangerous sort of A.I. that these researchers are warning about does not exist yet. We are seeing warning signs in cases like this one, for instance, this summer.

But they're warning signs that if we keep racing ahead to make smarter A.I.s, then those will be very dangerous. And I think that, you know, the sort of real thing we need is this international coordination to say, you know, when someone assembles 100,000 of these very highly advanced computer chips into an enormous data center, we are going to need something like a monitoring apparatus to make sure that, you know, it's being put towards good stuff like cancer care research and not, you know, training these smarter, more dangerous A.I.s.

SANDOVAL: Sure, the possibilities could be endless. So, we've clearly tackled some of the potential sort of measures.

In the last few seconds I have with you, perhaps close within your opinion and your view, what do you think is a sort of worst case scenario when it comes to A.I.?

SOARES: You know, the worst case scenario is that if we get this wrong, everybody dies. And it's not because the A.I.s turn evil and decide they hate us. It's just because the A.I.s don't care about us.

SANDOVAL: Incredibly sobering. Nate Soares, thank you so much as always, for joining us with your perspective. I appreciate your time.

SOARES: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: And you're watching "CNN Newsroom." And here's what's ahead.

Some preliminary state election results out of Germany now showing that the country's far-right party is gaining some ground. But those results are showing what they could mean for Germany's chancellor. That's next.

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[03:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is calling recent election results, quote, "a disaster as the country's far-right surges again at the polls."

Let's go to CNN's Sebastian Shukla, who joins me now live from Berlin. So, Seb, I've been following your reporting and some of that latest, one of your latest pieces, you cite a poll that shows that roughly 13 percent of Germans are happy with the performance of the chancellor. So just how precarious is the situation for the German leader?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Disaster, catastrophic, use any adjective you'd like here, Polo. It cannot be underestimated just how precarious the situation is now for the German chancellor following last night's elections in the northeastern region of Mecklenburg- Vorpommern and also here in the German capital.

They have lost again to the AfD in huge swaths. The center-right CDU party, the chancellor Friedrich Merz is hemorrhaging voters to that far-right party. And it seems to be an irreversible cause.

The only discussion that has been happening for the last couple of weeks now since the initial shot came in Saxony-Anhalt at the beginning of September is whether a change of chancellor is really the way forward here for Germany. And I want you to take a listen to exactly what the chancellor had to say about the prospect of that last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): Germany is capable of reform.

I would even go so far as to say that these reforms are the antidote to the authoritarian poison that together with the fascination for authoritarianism is penetrating ever deeper into our society. What must be done now requires backbone, steadfastness and patience. I will demonstrate these qualities as chairman of the CDU and, above all, as chancellor of our country.

Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUKLA: But, as the way for him to keep his job has always been a focus on what has happened and the outcome of those elections, particularly in that north-eastern region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where it would be unthinkable for the CDU not to make the parliament threshold of around 5 percent.

At the moment, Polo, they are polling at 4.9 percent. The worst ever result in a regional election for the CDU came in 75 years ago where they got 9 percent. So this really is a chastening and harrowing defeat for what is already a beleaguered German chancellor.

[03:20:02]

And the questions now as we go into the day and we will hear from the German chancellor later on is whether it is sustainable for him to stay in his position and what the party demands he does next.

SANDOVAL: Yes, it's a key question on the mind of so many Germans. CNN's Sebastian Shukla, as always, thank you so much for your reporting. Thank you so much for joining us.

We do want to also talk about another election that we're closely following, of course, this one in Russia.

Russia's ruling pro-Putin party now set to win the country's parliamentary elections, which wrapped up on Sunday. The result, though, was never really in doubt. United Russia faced no meaningful opposition in the tightly controlled race, with President Vladimir Putin's critics largely jailed, exiled, or altogether barred from campaigning.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is joining us live now from London. Claire, so with this election essentially devoid of any real competition, what does this mean not just for Russians, but also the ongoing war with Ukraine?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I think the Kremlin and much of the work, as you say, was done before people even went to the polls, but the Kremlin has achieved what it wanted to achieve, which is the ability through these results to claim a stronger mandate, to claim that the country is behind the army and behind the war. Now, not all the results have been counted yet, but no surprises there. Putin's party, according to the latest results we have, with more than

90 percent counted, is going to be able to claim a larger share, it looks like, than five years ago, almost 58 percent of the total. It looks like that could translate into a supermajority again.

In terms of seats, turnout also coming in higher. It's being presented as a record by Russian authorities at just under 57 percent. So that is going to be another metric that they turn to when claiming that this is a measure of strong public support for the war.

And they are claiming this against the backdrop of the biggest Ukrainian drone attack that we've seen, targeting Moscow on Saturday night into Sunday as they went into the third day of voting in those elections. Medvedev, who's the deputy head of Russia's security council, saying, Dmitry Medvedev, the former President, of course, saying the enemy made a titanic effort to ruin the elections, but it just brought Russians closer together.

Now, obviously, there were warning signs as this election went underway. Yabloko, which is the one anti-war party that was originally on the ballot and was then barred, they said that one of their election observers lost consciousness while being detained by police at a polling station in St. Petersburg. Others were simply barred from polling stations.

Russia, of course, didn't invite any OSCE observers, independent observers, as they have done in the past, which is something that the organization described as deeply regrettable. Russia is still a member of the OSCE.

And there were exit polls overseas at overseas polling stations run by several independent anti-Kremlin organizations, which showed that actually another party, the New People Party, it's not opposition, but it has some views, for example, it's against internet restrictions, that they were winning pretty much in all areas, with United Russia, Putin's party, trailing in the low single digits in many cases.

So, look, there are clearly signs there that all is not as it should be in a democratic process, but no surprises in terms of the result, no escaping the reality here that the Kremlin is in escalation mode when it comes to this war.

But we do have this week to look ahead to. President Zelenskyy says he will meet with President Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, and he is saying that that meeting could change a lot.

So, we'll see what that brings. Polo.

SANDOVAL: Now, we'll look ahead with you. CNN's Clare Sebastian, live in London. Thank you so much for your reporting.

And still a lot more to come here on "CNN Newsroom," including the U.S., Denmark, and Greenland, all expected to sign an agreement this week. I'll tell you more about it and what President Trump is saying about this deal. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Welcome back, I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, and these are today's top stories.

CNN has been stripped of its White House T.V. pool assignment duties for Monday in a break with decades of precedent. This further escalates a dispute in which President Trump has banned CNN, as well as other news organizations, from reporting from the White House. On Saturday, a reporter, Betsy Klein, was denied access to the White House grounds, CNN says that it intends to sue the Trump administration to defend the constitutional rights of its staff.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says that a man is in federal custody after being shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Texas. An immigration lawyer who said that she's representing the injured man's family identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, who officials say was shot and injured while working as a food delivery courier in Austin. Homeland Security says that he's an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela who had a final order to leave the country.

Germany's political landscape appearing to shift after two key state elections. The far-right AfD party gaining some ground, while German Chancellor Friedrich Marx's CDU party suffered its worst losses since 1949. The results are intensifying pressure on the Chancellor amid his recent push for economic reforms, this amid growing calls for his resignation.

This week, the U.S. is expected to sign a deal with Denmark and Greenland. President Trump is saying that it would give the U.S. permanent control over Greenland's security. And this come months after he threatened to forcibly seize the self-governing territory, that was the move that forces some strong opposition from NATO allies.

And it's still unclear exactly how this agreement differs from an existing 1951 pact between the U.S. and Denmark that allows broad U.S. military presence in Greenland.

Joining me now is Mark Jacobson, he's an associate professor at Royal Danish Defense College. Mark, it's great to see you. Thank you for joining us.

MARC JACOBSON, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, ROYAL DANISH DEFENSE COLLEGE: Likewise. Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Of course, with the caveat that there's still a lot that we don't know yet until this is signed and sealed, help us break down what we do know about this deal that was announced by President Trump to expand U.S. presence in Greenland, but mainly how it's significantly different from previous security frameworks that have allowed other NATO members like the U.S. to set up on the island. Yes, sure.

So, I think the new Greenland agreement appears to be good news. It may finally put an end to nearly two years of repeated intimidations of Greenlanders while respecting the stated red lines on territorial integrity and sovereignty.

[03:30:09]

As you say, we still do not know exactly what the agreement contains, but the emerging picture is close to be a best-case scenario for Denmark and Greenland, I would say. The dispute appears to have been moved back onto the diplomatic playing field, where questions of international law, investments, and security policy can be handled. And at the same time, Donald Trump, he can present himself as a winner to his supporters, which was necessary to de-escalate the conflict.

So, we see that his political allies and Republican media are already praising his negotiating strategy, arguing that sustained pressure worked and left the U.S. better placed to expand its military presence in Greenland, an area that is indeed vital to U.S. national security.

So, but there is a catch. Much of this was already possible under the existing 1951 defense agreement, which was updated in 2004. That agreement gave the U.S. extensive military rights, which Washington made considerable use of during the Cold War, where it maintained 17 military bases or military installations and more than 10,000 personnel in Greenland.

And today, in comparison, only Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base, remains with about 150 U.S. military personnel. So, but if we look what could be new in this, and what we have for now is only Donald Trump's statement on true social. So, if we take that at face value, I think there are two things that could change under the new agreement, which I think is worth covering.

First, Trump writes that it will be an infinite life agreement. There is no end, he writes. By comparison, the existing agreement states that it shall remain in effect for the duration of the North Atlantic Treaty.

So, in other words, it was tied to the NATO's continued existence. So, this might be a change, so it's tied to the U.S. It will be forever and not limited to NATO, yes.

And the second is that Trump writes that no U.S. adversary can ever have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland without our expressed written approval.

So, in other words, the U.S. would gain a formal veto should adversary countries, such as Russia and China, seek to establish footholding in Greenland. But if we look in the past, examples from recent years suggest that this was already largely the case in practice.

So, just to wrap all this up, if my interpretation holds, the U.S. has indeed increased its control over Greenland on paper, but in practice the change appears to be relatively limited, which could be a testament to the negotiating skills of the Danish and Greenlandic representatives and the high-level working groups that have given Trump the opportunity to claim the victory he needed.

SANDOVAL: Yes, and on that last point, it certainly has the potential to be seen as a sort of a win-win situation for the Trump administration and Denmark. Finally, I have about a minute left with you, Mark. What does this do for NATO, essentially?

JACOBSEN: Yes, it still remains to be seen, but I think we heard statements from European leaders as well, and also Prime Minister Medvedev saying that this is also good for Europe.

It will strengthen our security in the Arctic. I think the agreement will perhaps be less tied to NATO, but right now we see a NATO exercise, Arctic Century, in Greenland. So, I think NATO is only going to increase its presence.

SANDOVAL: Yes, we'll certainly watch for that deal to be sealed, but for now, Mark Jacobson, thank you so much for your insight. I really appreciate your time.

JACOBSEN: You're welcome. Thank you.

SANDOVAL: And there's still much more ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," a lot more to get to still, including some backlash also against immigration as Italy is now moving to ban face coverings in schools. We'll go live to Italy in a moment. Stay with us, you're watching CNN.

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[03:35:00]

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SANDOVAL: All right. Welcome back.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni says that Italy will ban face coverings in schools, as well as limit the number of international students per class. She announced the measure on Sunday at a youth event that was organized by her Brothers of Italy political party. Immigration is a hot-button issue in Italy, where foreign students make up roughly 12 percent of those enrolled.

Let's go live now to CNN's Stefano Pozzebon, standing by live in Rome. Now, Stefano, when it comes to this, as you've been following it closely, has Prime Minister Meloni laid out why she feels this sort of legislative proposal is even necessary?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, the real question of rather than why, the motive behind this proposal is, the real question right now is the timing. Why, for example, announcing a measure that has to do with the schools and public instruction and public education when the school year has just begun, the students have gone back to the classroom exactly a week ago today here in Italy, Polo. The real question is actually looking ahead at what could be a

potentially historic election here in Italy, looming on the horizon. This is a measure that looks more at the ballot box, Polo, than at the classroom.

Giorgio Meloni is facing for the first time in her career a challenge on the right, a person who is even more on the far-right than she currently is. Of course, she campaigned and became a politician from the far-right, but when she got into government, she started modulating and she started realizing that perhaps some of the norms that she was promising were not easy to impose. This would be, for example, the case of such norms that she announced yesterday, for example, which is the cap on foreign students.

Of course, for students, you need to distinguish between those who are born inside the European Union, such as, for example, Romania, which is the country that sent most foreign students to Italy historically, and those, of course, who are extra-communitarian, as they're called here, so people from outside the European Union. According to Corriere della Sera, which is the main newspaper here in Italy, less than one in 300 classrooms currently would be impacted by this norm that sees a 30 percent cap on non-E.U. students per each classroom.

[03:40:00]

In fact, this norm has already been in place since 2010 by the previous government of Silvio Berlusconi. However, it was difficult to impose in the few schools that operate in areas where the foreign population is concentrated, which is the outskirts and the periphery of the major cities such as Milan, first and foremost, but also Rome, Turin and Bologna or Florence.

What this measure tells us, what this announcement actually tells us, because it's not even being proposed to the Council of Ministers, we understand it will happen between Thursday and Friday this week, but what this announcement, Polo, tells us is that Italy is already in a political campaign in all but its name.

Last week, the government announced the lifting of a car ownership tax that had been in place since the 1950s. They said they wanted to do it as a relief to make up for the high cost of gas and diesel for the car ownership class, so they lifted that tax without really explaining how they intend to pay back the income that has been lost.

And now this measure in the schools that seems to be looking at taking the far right more at bay, perhaps trying not to be outmarched in the upcoming election. Clearly, the lesson from Germany is very followed closely here in Italy. Polo?

SANDOVAL: Exactly. That's a great point to end. Stefano Pozzebon, as always grateful for your reporting.

And for our international viewers, "World Sport" is next. And if you're watching here in the United States, I'll join you again with more of your headlines. We'll be right back.

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[03:45:00]

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says that a man is in federal custody after being shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the state of Texas. An immigration lawyer who said that she's representing the family identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, who officials say was shot and injured while working as a DoorDash driver in Austin.

Homeland Security says that he's an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela who had a final order to leave the country.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

This is one perspective of a few moments of that incident. A woman live streaming on Facebook captured this moment as gunshots rang out during the shooting. And it's unclear whether the DHS agent is seen in the video is the actual agent who fired the shots.

Police were brought in as crowds gathered in protest following that shooting. Some of the demonstrators waved anti-ICE signs as well as Mexican flags. According to a CNN analysis, at least 20 people have been shot by on-duty ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents during the second Trump administration, eight of those shootings were fatal.

A Democratic lawmaker who represents Austin is calling for an independent investigation into this latest shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GREG CESAR (D-TX): I think it is appropriate for this community to ask for independence, to ask for transparency, and to ask for accountability. This is a pattern. It's a disturbing pattern and it's got to stop.

ICE has arrested five-year-olds in Austin in the last few weeks. They've arrested pre-K teachers and now someone's been shot and this has to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Well, it's the start of a busy diplomatic week for the U.S. President as he prepares to attend the UNGA and also to meet separately with his Chinese and Ukrainian counterparts.

White House officials are saying that they are currently setting the stage for President Trump's summit with Xi Jinping by holding economic talks with the Chinese vice premier. CNN's Will Ripley with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier Li Feng, who oversees China's economy, really set the table for what we're expecting when President Donald Trump hosts Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House on Thursday.

The two leaders last met in Beijing in May and this time three big issues were likely to dominate technology, trade, and Taiwan. Artificial intelligence is particularly important. Bessent says the two sides have agreed to a new U.S.-China A.I. dialogue, including discussions about how the two leading A.I. powers in the world should notify each other if there was a serious A.I.-related security incident.

And the backdrop to all of this is just how much China's position has changed. When Trump first hosted Xi at Mar-a-Lago in 2017, nine years ago, China was much more vulnerable to U.S. pressure on trade and technology. But now Xi arrives in Washington leading a China that is far more confident, a major player in A.I., robotics, chips, and even reusable rockets.

China recorded a roughly $1.2 trillion global trade surplus last year, powered in part by exports including electric vehicles, solar panels, and chips. And its dominance of rare earth supply chains gives Beijing real leverage over Washington. And here in Taipei, the big question is how Trump and Xi handle the highly sensitive issue of Taiwan.

Beijing wants stronger U.S. language opposing Taiwan independence and Trump has already called a pending $14 billion U.S. arms package for Taiwan a negotiating chip. So we need to watch Trump's wording very closely here and watch what happens to that arms package, particularly after Taiwan's military drills on Friday. And above all, whether Taiwan somehow becomes part of a broader deal between Trump and Xi.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani expected to host President Trump for talks later today. The meeting will be taking place at the mayor's official residence, Gracie Mansion.

A Mamdani spokesperson says that the two will be focusing on issues impacting New Yorkers. And this will be now the third time that President Trump meets with the New York City Mayor.

And President Trump is justifying the proposed building of his 250 foot triumphal arch. He says that the structure would double as a quote, "top grade military complex."

[03:50:06]

Some have opposed the building of this arch, including veterans groups who say that the arch would overlook the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery. And it's not clear how this newest change will impact the arch's approval process. You see, it was not included in the initial designs that went through two key federal agencies overseeing architecture changes in Washington.

Trump's justification of using the arch for military readiness is similar to his legal justification of the White House barroom, which he said would also feature military and national security components.

Well, we're hearing from the ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, the woman who strangled her three children and whose case ended in a mistrial earlier this month. It's the first time Patrick Clancy has spoken publicly since a trial of his ex-wife.

In an interview on "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday, he described holding out hope that his eight month old son, Callen, might survive. He was the only child of the three still alive when first responders arrived at the Clancy home in January 2023. Well, he died after four days in the hospital.

Clancy also spoke about the struggle of navigating the public scrutiny and conspiracy theories that have emerged since his ex-wife's murder trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSS DOUTHAT, "60 MINUTES" CORRESPONDENT: How do you respond to people who have that idea about you?

PATRICK CLANCY, EX-HUSBAND OF LINDSAY CLANCY: It's deeply harmful to the legacy of my children. It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health. And it's done real harm to real people, myself included, but also others.

DOUTHAT: How does it affect you directly, the stuff that's out there online?

CLANCY: It's painful to see and it makes it difficult to be in public. And it's possible that some of those people, after seeing lie after lie, they start to believe it and that's what we're left with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: The district attorney has not said whether he will retry Lindsay Clancy. A status hearing on her case is scheduled for September 29th.

Settlement talks are closing in on the resolution of the antitrust lawsuit meant to block Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which is the parent company of CNN.

But not every state is on board, at least not just yet. Our Brian Stelter breaks down some of the reservations that state attorneys general have about this potential agreement. Here's Brian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Hey there, yes, different states want different things as Paramount tries to strike a settlement deal that would allow it to complete its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. And CNN's future is a direct part of the negotiations that are underway. Paramount's been trying for about a year to buy Warner, also known as WBD.

But back in July, a coalition of 12 U.S. states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, sued to block the merger. The states alleged that the merger would violate antitrust law. And a California judge was inclined to agree.

So now there's a trial scheduled for March. But Paramount obviously doesn't want to wait that long. And this deal, this $110 billion deal, gets even more expensive for Paramount starting in October.

So CNN has now confirmed from multiple sources that advanced settlement talks are underway. Paramount is willing to make some concessions to resolve the lawsuit, although the details are not yet public. And Bonta, I'm told, has been trying to get the settlement deal across the finish line in recent days.

But some of the other states are not yet on board. In New York, Attorney General Letitia James has been seeking additional protections for workers there. And in Connecticut, Attorney General William Tong is concerned about the impact on the news business.

I'm told, and this is a quote from a source, he is fighting to preserve the independence of CNN and CBS News. That's according to a person familiar with the negotiations. And that's notable because Paramount has talked internally about maybe merging CBS News with this network, CNN.

And many merger opponents have expressed concern about that, pointing to Paramount's close ties with President Trump. Inside Paramount, there's been talk about an editorial board that could be set up to preserve or enshrine CNN's editorial independence. But some of those merger opponents have said that would not be good enough.

So you have New York, you have Connecticut holding out, at least for now. And I'm told at least two other states also have reservations about the proposed settlement. Basically, these states want to extract other remedies, other concessions from Paramount.

Officially, Bonta's office says they won't comment on any possible talks, and Paramount's not commenting either. Unofficially, I'm told these settlement talks are a moving target, and there could be developments in the days to come.

Meanwhile, there are obvious political dimensions to this, as some of these state A.G.s are up for re-election in November. And there are many Democratic lawmakers and elected officials urging the state A.G.s not to back down. They're basically saying, let the case go to trial.

[03:55:06]

Here's Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey writing on social media, quote, "Trump just locked CNN out of the White House. Now his billionaire allies want to own it. State Attorneys General: Don't settle. Hold the line. Block this merger." Paramount says the merger is vital to keeping Hollywood thriving. And

Paramount also says it respects journalistic independence. We will continue to report this out here at CNN, no matter what happens in the days to come.

Brian Stelter, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: NASA's Nancy Grace Robin Space Telescope has successfully captured its first photons of starlight by activating its wide field instrument. It also tested its planet imager, the coronagraph instrument, which will be helping discover exoplanets. This is a huge milestone, and it confirms that the telescope is operational in space to help scientists discover the universe's darkest secrets.

Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains what we can learn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST: The longest unsolved problem in modern astrophysics, and it's been with us since the 1930s, and it is what is the nature of the dark matter of the universe. And what's different about this telescope from other space telescopes is that it's a huge field of view, huge.

And in so doing, you can take in much more of the universe at once to see the impact that the dark matter has on the gathering of matter and energy in the universe. And so Hubble got us up close and personal in tiny fields of view. This has a much wider field of view so that you can answer different questions about the structure, the large-scale structure of the universe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Alaska's bears are packing on the pounds for a shot at a very big title, a pretty hefty one. Fat Bear Week is soon to get underway at Alaska's Katmai National Park.

The bracket is full of burly brown bears that have been feasting on sockeye salmon all summer long. This reigning champ right here, he's beautiful, isn't he? His name is Chunk.

He has a title to defend. Rangers say that his low-hanging belly is evidence that he's been eating pretty good.

Thank you so much for watching, I'm Polo Sandoval. I'll be right back with you with more of your headlines here on "CNN Newsroom" in a moment.

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