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Nor'easter Storms Threatening States Along U.S. East Coast with Flooding; President Trump Rejects Proposal from Iran to Reopen Strait of Hormuz; Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Individualized Checks on Voter Citizenship to Prevent Voter Fraud; Trump Administration Draws Controversy for Releasing Taxpayer Funded Ad with Political Overtones; Chef David Chang Discusses His Recent Experience with Texas Barbeque; Crowds Greet Pope Leo XIV for His Visit to Paris, France; Musical Performers Prepare for Farm Aid Concert. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 26, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:29]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now, a strong and rare early season, nor'easter has the east coast in its grip. Strong winds, punishing rain, and coastal flooding battering cities throughout the weekend. Tens of thousands of people are already without power, and hundreds of flights have been canceled.

And news just in. President Trump has rejected Iran's latest proposal to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz just days after Iran's top diplomat made the fresh offer.

And later the Pope in Paris. Huge crowds greet the pontiff with cheers and waves along the Champs-Elysees. His message to French Catholics and what the Chicago born Pope said about the White Sox's recent miraculous victory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin with this breaking news as a powerful nor'easter slams the east coast, unleashing heavy rain, wind, and waves that are threatening significant coastal flooding and beach erosion. Vulnerable homes and businesses could be inundated, impacting tens of millions of people from Virginia to New Jersey and all the way up the coast as far north as Maine.

In Atlantic City, this morning's high tide sent water levels to their highest point since superstorm Sandy back in 2012. The storm prompted this dire warning from New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL, (D) NEW YORK: Between the vicious rip currents, the heavy winds, and the mammoth waves, conditions are extremely dangerous. Anyone who goes in or near the water this weekend is literally gambling with their life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar is in the CNN Weather Center tracking the forecast. Alison, I mean, the storm is expected to stall, but, you know, how long will these conditions go on like this, though?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It could be days because, again, as you mentioned, this storm is not really moving all that much. And because of that, it means it has a tremendous amount of time to dump a tremendous amount of water in some of these states.

There you can see that low pressure. There it is right there just off the coast of New Jersey. We've already got some of those outer bands that are kind of spreading inland, bringing rain. Now for some areas it's sprinkles, others it is very heavy downpours, and it's going to be off and on like that for a lot of these areas throughout the rest of the day today.

So you can see some light showers right now in Boston, slightly moderate, say, around Providence and Newport. Pretty dry right around downtown New York right now. But you can see those waves over near Montauk. Those are sliding west. So you will start to see the rain, rain pick up into Manhattan as we go a little bit later into the afternoon and early evening hours.

This is the area where we have that excessive risk of rainfall for today, so all of the areas where you could be looking at the potential for flooding. Now, well fast forward to Sunday notice. Well, it doesn't really change all that much. It's many of the exact same areas tomorrow that we will see today for the potential for flooding.

And then once we get to Monday, it does shift a little bit farther to the north for the main concern. But take a place like Boston, for example. You are in that threat every single one of the next three days. So today, tomorrow, and even on Monday, as a lot of those showers and thunderstorms will linger.

So here's a look by tonight, say around 11:00. You've got some of those heavier rain bands across the cape starting to slide up into Newport, Rhode Island. New Jersey getting a little bit of a break, but its temporary because you'll see by the time we get to, say, around 6:00, 7:00 tomorrow morning, you've now started to get a lot more heavy rain across portions of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York. But you still also have the heavy rain for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and even into Maine.

So this is going to be the pattern here off and on throughout the rest of the day today and even into Sunday and Monday until this storm finally starts to begin to move up the east coast and give some of these areas a break. This means through Tuesday morning, you're looking at widespread areas of at least four to six inches of rain. Some spots could pick up eight, nine, or even ten inches total.

WHITFIELD: This is the long haul. This is going on and on and on. All right, Allison, we'll check back with you. Thanks so much. Meantime, let's check in with CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who is

in Massachusetts where, can we say, the conditions are deteriorating?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They've gone far beyond deteriorating. That was this was morning. It's gotten bad. Look, it's not comfortable out here. This is a really powerful nor'easter. We've got a little bit of protection here with some sea walls, one of them that has been decommissioned. You can clearly see how broken apart it is. The newly built seawall to my right here is one that's getting its first test with a very powerful nor'easter that's bearing down on the northeast.

[14:05:00]

Let's just boil it down to what it is. Anywhere where the Atlantic meets the coast across southern New England, all the way through the mid-Atlantic, you're going to have problems, especially along that coastline. We have seen the erosion, we have seen the incredible wave action out there, which we will show you. But what we've witnessed here has been tropical storm force winds, but there's no name attached to this. It's a nor'easter. But the impacts are very similar to a tropical type system.

Earlier today when we had high tide, this seawall was taking on 20, 30-foot waves splashing them up and over the seawall and impacting the homes here. Now, look, this is a part of Massachusetts that gets hit hard from these nor'easters, the coastal storms that bomb out over the coast. And so we are susceptible to a lot of wave action here. Just the geography, you kind of see it. It looks like a bit of a catcher's mitt, kind of catches all that wave action.

But what sets this one apart is that we've got a lot of combining features all at the same time. Astronomical high tides. We've got this consistent northeasterly wind that's coming off of a long duration off of the Atlantic Ocean. And we've got our high tide cycles that we're going through.

The fact that this storm is just sitting and spinning for days on end means that we've got an Atlantic Ocean that's extremely angry, and it wants to push all of that wave energy onto shoreline. And it gets exacerbated, meaning it gets worse as it heads towards those high tides, the astronomical high tide made true by the fact that we have a full moon here.

The rain is pelting us. A lot of sea salt in the air as well, because the wind is picking up those waves and spraying us occasionally. But that is really the scene that we have seen here in Scituate, Massachusetts, a place that's no stranger to these nor'easters. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Right. OK, Derek, well check back with you. Something tells me the next time we see you, you might be on a little bit higher ground given that those swells and that water continues to rise. Meteorologists Allison and Derek, thanks to both of you, I appreciate it. All right, new today, President Trump is rejecting Iran's latest

proposal to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He called the deal unacceptable and said Iran was, quote, "losing badly".

CNN's Julia Benbrook is joining us now from the White House. Julia, what was Iran offering in this latest proposal?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, as you outlined, President Donald Trump says that he has rejected this proposal. He called it, quote, "unacceptable". Iran's foreign minister, although the details are still scarce, has said that this proposal did nothing more than what was in the memorandum of understanding that agreement that was signed by both the United States and Iran back in June but was scrapped shortly thereafter.

Iran says that this recent proposal it would look to immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for some longstanding demands it has had of the United States.

Now, the Strait of Hormuz, that critical waterway that has been a key area of focus during this now nearly seven-month long conflict, there's a lot of conflicting reports when it comes to who has control of all of it. Trump says that the United States does have full control of the strait, and he says that they have eyes on every inch of it. Now, he spoke about that part specifically as he departed the White House just a few hours ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: They said let's close it and cause a problem for the world. And then I came along, and we put up the greatest blockade ever in military history. It's a wall of steel. I would put it up. And guess what? They don't have any money now because they wanted to close the strait. And I said, that's fine. We're going to close it on you. But everybody else is able to use it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: For several weeks now there have been no U.S. strikes against Iran. But these latest comments, this discussion surrounding this proposal, it all comes just days after Trump spoke at the United Nations General Assembly, and he said that he was in deciding mode when it comes to Iran. He said that he believes that it's possible that there's an agreement that comes right after the midterms. He suggested that Tehran is working to put some political pressure on him.

But in that same speech as he said that there could be a deal in just a matter of weeks, he also said that he was considering annihilating Iran. He said this specifically, that he could drive Iran into, quote, "hell, with no chance of survival."

Now, of course, following those first joint U.S.- Israel strikes against Iran, Trump said that this would last for a number of weeks. Again, it has gone on for nearly seven months now. And poll after poll leading up to the midterms have shown that Americans are not happy with the way Trump has handled things so far. In fact, a recent CNN poll found that just 26 percent approve of the way he's handled this conflict.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you so much.

[14:10:01]

All right, still ahead, a major ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. It's handing the Trump administration a big win on voting rules. What it could mean for you when you head to the polls for the midterms.

Plus, another hurricane turning off the coast of Hawaii, threatening the islands with dangerous flooding and devastating mudslides.

And legendary artists and iconic sounds all for an incredible cause. We're taking you inside the historic music festival that has been helping Americas family farmers thrive for decades. Stay with us.

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[14:15:15]

WHITFIELD: All right, with fewer than 40 days until the midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court just handed President Trump a big win in his quest to root out noncitizen voters despite little evidence that it even occurs in a widespread manner. But the opinion made it clear the program can only be used for individualized checks of a person's citizenship and not for mass purges.

Meanwhile, for the third time, the Supreme Court has blocked a controversial map in Missouri that was designed to net Republicans another seat in the House.

Joining me right now to discuss these two court decisions and their potential impact on the upcoming elections, Brittany Gibson, she is a politics reporter for "Axios". Brittany, great to see you. So let's start with this court decision allowing states to use a controversial DHS citizenship database to review voter rolls in the search for noncitizen voters. What can you tell us about this ruling?

BRITTANY GIBSON, POLITICS REPORTER, "AXIOS": Yes, absolutely. So I think it's been rightly categorized as a win for President Trump because there was so much litigation just simply on this use of the database, which has been around long before Trump, I should say.

But it comes with some caveats. So the first is that there is a law that prevents any major changes to voter lists within about 90 days of an election. And as you just said, we're about 40 days out. So this should not impact voters who are registered and maybe could be flagged potentially between now and the November elections.

And then the second caveat, I would say, is, as you just mentioned too, that this can only now be used for individual checks. And so if people were following the story earlier in the year, the reporting of hundreds or thousands of voters getting flagged at once, that was typically happening when states were throwing their whole voter rolls, their whole list into the system, you know, without any kind of prior investigation of like, oh, we think this person might be a noncitizen. Here's our batch of checking. So now that it's individualized, you're less likely to get those huge flags of there might be thousands of people not eligible on our rolls.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and that's a big concern among many individuals, and particularly Democrats too, who have expressed their concern that the administration might use this, you know, to carry out, you know, purges of the masses of the voter rolls. But is it clear in, in the decision to prevent that from actually happening?

GIBSON: I mean, I think this time will tell, partly because this litigation is going to be ongoing. And you mentioned some of the Democratic aligned groups that are still litigating this, still, you know, want to be a check on the use of this system. Democracy Forward, their president and CEO released a statement right after the SCOTUS decision saying this case is ongoing. We still have concerns about the privacy act and how this could impact American citizens when this database is going to be used.

A lot of this ties into what data is going to be put into the save database. The Trump administration has tried to expand it to include Social Security Administration data, which would be a huge escalation, you know, a total change of the database, frankly. And so this is -- this will be ongoing. Whether it gets started starts to be used in a batch format post-election, I think time will tell.

WHITFIELD: All right, so let's now talk about the Missouri ruling which blocked a Republican effort to use a new congressional map that would eliminate one of the two Democratic held districts in the state. What can you tell us about that?

GIBSON: Yes. Well, I think the court rightly wrote, and anyone who thinks about it for, you know, the bureaucracy of an election would feel this, I think, too. There's not time to change these maps between now and Election Day. Overseas and military ballots have already gone out. I believe the court ruling said that this would cause electoral chaos. And I think voters mostly know election offices are not known for being flush with unlimited budgets and resources to reprint ballots and resend them out to people and move in this hyper fast way. Again, about 40 days between now and the deadline to vote on Election Day. And so it would just not be practical to change congressional lines for voters right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

All right, let's talk now about this new ad, a TV ad. You know, the White House has been -- has released and is promoting President Trump and his policies, that says it is paid for by the U.S. government. Take a listen and a look to the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the toughest, most resilient person that I've ever met. DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: This is only the beginning of the

golden age of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:20:03]

WHITFIELD: So while the ad does not mention any particular race or even candidate, it is running on television spaces ahead of the midterm elections. So does this -- and it's called "Love Me". Does this love me ad the U.S. government paid for, does it strike a propaganda kind of tone? If so, is government money even allowed to fund something like this?

GIBSON: I guess the short answer to that is yes. And the evidence is on TV screens and in the advertising now. It's not strange for the federal government to pay for public service announcements, to, you know, pay for advertising to inform people of something with the government, whether that's on TV or, or digital, or what it might, whatever it might be.

And we have seen the Trump administration push the boundaries of how political these public service announcements can be before. Viewers might remember last year, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had a multi- million dollar ad campaign that was ostensibly to promote the self- deportation program that the Trump administration started, but began with a thank you to President Trump, very glamorous shots of her. It was viewed as political advertising. And in fact, it was the most expensive political advertising campaign last year, more than the off- year elections in New Jersey and Virginia, and it really got a lot of visibility.

And I would put this in a similar category. It's very promotional of President Trump. It's his image again and again to a song that says "love me" right before the election. So it's not odd necessarily to see the government spending money on a national ad campaign, but the subject matter, it looks political.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there. Brittany Gibson, great to see you. Thanks so much.

GIBSON: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: President Trump is in Knoxville, Tennessee today to watch a football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas. But you won't see much of him there because he barred CNN from traveling on Air Force One to handle press pool duties. And in that role, CNN was scheduled to cover him on behalf of all the major networks. No outlet has been tapped to replace CNN. That means there will be limited coverage of his trip.

All right, some pretty remarkable pictures coming out of New York. People kayaking down the street in Queens as a massive nor'easter thrashes the coast and millions of people are in the path of this dangerous storm. And conditions are deteriorating, pushing tides in some areas to their highest levels in nearly 15 years. We're on the ground tracking it all next.

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[14:27:12]

WHITFIELD: All right, returning to our breaking news. A powerful, slow moving nor'easter is hammering the east coast this weekend with punishing waves and high wind. This was what it looked like on Long Island Beach, New York, earlier today. The storm is canceling events and snarling traffic both in the air and on the roads.

And check out these folks. This is actually in Queens where people are kayaking there's so much standing water.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is joining us now from Queens. So all right, a little drier where you are. Well, it's not coming down, it doesn't mean this storm is over. What are people, you know, preparing for there?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Fred. In fact, I'm standing on that exact same street where those folks are kayaking from this morning. And I want to get to that in one minute. But first, I want to talk about all the cancellations we are seeing in the area. So far, a little between half an inch to an inch of rain has fallen across New York City so far. But because we are expecting the weather to continue to get worse throughout the day, we have seen several cancellations, including a concert at MetLife, the AC/DC concert, a music festival that was scheduled to take place in Queens. We, of course, know about the Ed Sheeran concert that was supposed to take place in Massachusetts. They're getting hammered by the storm. And also here we are seeing cancellations at Central Park for the Global Citizen Festival.

Now, I want to bring you back to where we're standing right now, because we are here in Howard Beach in Queens. And as you can see, it is bone dry here on the street where I'm standing. But just a few hours this morning, this street was completely flooded. Now, you saw the video of the people running around on the kayaks. You also see that people are walking through there. They have water nearly up to their knees. So it really gives you an idea of just how quickly things change around here.

That was during high tide this morning. That tide has moved out of this area here and it's completely dry. The rain has stopped, but we are expecting that to shift in the next few hours. High tide is expected again around here about 8:00 this evening, and we might start to see some flooding up to two hours before that. So it's very important that you don't take the current conditions right now as any sign that we are out of this storm just yet.

Now, this is an area that has been historically devastated by floods. It was just 14 years ago during superstorm Sandy that this area was absolutely devastated. So you can see that folks around here are kind of used to this. In fact, this is one of the areas that floods pretty significantly when New York City gets bad rain.

I want to show you that folks are prepared, right.

[14:30:00]

I spoke to our friends here at this grocery store earlier this morning. They told me that the water came up to their step, so just enough for them to not have that water go inside. And in fact, they're open for business right now.

And you can see that the businesses here on this block have been preparing. They have the sandbags out. They're ready for what's to come likely this evening. The wind is starting to pick up. But again, we are expecting conditions to deteriorate as the hours go by. High tide expected again shortly after 8:00 and flooding likely to begin at least two hours before that. So certainly listen to officials, take the warnings, and be prepared, because in the next few hours we are expecting a lot more flooding. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Wow. So many hurricane-like, you know, similarities in the storm, but this is a nor'easter. All right, Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much. We'll check back with you.

All right, speaking of hurricanes, hurricane Nolo is expected to bring heavy rain to parts of Hawaii as people there brace for the third major storm in six weeks. The Big Island of Hawaii is expected to get the worst of it with flash flooding and dangerously high surf. Hurricane Nolo is not expected to make landfall but will pass to the south of the islands as it strengthens. And this is happening as the Big Island is still recovering from the devastation caused by hurricane Lala last month. We'll continue to monitor the storm throughout the hour.

And you can check on it 24/7 by downloading CNNs new weather app, and you can find a link to it at CNN.com/Weather or the iPhone app store, or just use the QR code at the bottom of your screen. Lots of options.

All right, if you want a real taste of Texas, then you have to hit the highway. That's exactly what world-renowned chef David Chang is doing in his new episode of "The Detour". Our own Sara Sidner caught up with Chang to talk about it. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We're moving on to another one of your trips. But in the meantime, shouldn't we be?

DAVID CHANG, CHEF: Yes.

SIDNER: This is like your specialty. Let's go.

CHANG: This is our vegetarian noodle. This is ginger scallion ramen. And then we have some kimbap. And this is a Korean, like, mostly school lunch dish for kids.

SIDNER: It's really good.

All right, you go to Texas, three or four cities. You're with the buddy. Who'd you go with?

CHANG: Cristela Alonzo. Listen, I'm friends with a lot of comedians, and they're not funny in real life. But Cristela is hilarious. Unfortunately, a lot of our conversation was inappropriate for CNN to air. I have never laughed so hard. And that's what a road trip is, too. I think it's about laughing and just talking about random stuff.

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

CHANG: Part of this was this crazy theory. I was like, as Texas turns purple, I was like, I wonder if that's going to be represented in the barbecue. And sure enough, it was super interesting to see how barbecue was evolving slowly but surely. You have all these immigrants coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, or to Austin, or to Lockhart. You have people that have lived in Texas historically that have never, like, used barbecue as an expression of their culture. It's certainly going to rub some people the wrong way.

WHITFIELD: You found halal barbecue.

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

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

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

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

CHANG: Yes. You're fusion.

SIDNER: I'm definitely fusion.

(LAUGHTER)

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

SIDNER: But it is.

CHANG: Yes.

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

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

SIDNER: It's really hard.

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

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, so fascinating. Be sure to tune in to an all-new episode of the CNN original series, "The Detour with David Chang," airs tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. and Monday with an all access subscription.

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[14:39:36]

WHITFIELD: All right, getting back to one of our top stories today, President Trump is rejecting Iran's latest proposal to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had offered a new round of nuclear talks and a quick reopening of the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. lifted its naval blockade and other economic penalties. The offer was floated during the gathering of world leaders in New York at the United Nations General Assembly.

[14:40:01]

With me now is Bobby Ghosh. He is a geopolitics analyst and author of "Ghosh World" Substack. Good to see you, Bobby.

So Iran's offer doesn't seem too different than, you know, previous proposals. But it also seems this might have been potentially a good off ramp for the president. And all of this in a week when we heard President Trump, you know, saying and underscoring he has some tough choices to make on this Iran war, including annihilation. The Iranian president, in his speech, did not back down, going as far as to say that they're not terrorists. They were the victims of terrorism after the U.S. attacks.

So Iran made its proposal. The U.S. is rejecting it, but maintains that it is having constructive, indirect discussions with Iran. So, I mean, does this look like a war ending after the U.S. midterms, as the president has underscored, or even that there might be a conclusion soon? Or is this going to carry on forever?

BOBBY GHOSH, GEOPOLITICS ANALYST: Well, unfortunately, the only conclusion you can reach from all the jumble of facts that we've been getting is that this war is not about to end anytime soon. There will be pauses. There will be talks about talks. There will be talks about talks about talks. But when it comes to actually making a breakthrough in negotiations with either of the two sides, making the kind of concessions that the other side needs to see in order to stop the war. I don't see that happening anytime soon. Remember, this offer is just for a seven-day intermediate period,

which would then lead to more discussions about the nuclear deal. It's not really a deal. It's, as I said before, it's about opening the possibility of discussions towards the deal. So this is a triple bank shot, if I can make that analogy.

So the Iranians have not changed their negotiating terms in any meaningful way, nor has the United States. Both sides are painted into the opposite corners of the room and are unable to break out of their corners. And as long as that remains the case, I don't see the war ending anytime soon.

WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh. OK, so the U.S. is involved in in different ways in a couple of wars here, the Iran war, you know, at some directive from Israel, and then in providing weapons and diplomatic assertions in the Ukraine-Russia war. So what gains do you see the U.S. might have made during this U.N. General Assembly gathering on either one of those conflicts?

GHOSH: Well, there has not really been any gain. This U.N. gathering, typically the U.N. gatherings are talk shops, right? People from all around the world come together, get to go on the stage and make a speech, and then some sort of negotiating takes place off the center stage in the margins. In that respect, nothing new this past week.

But the thing that I've been speaking to friends and colleagues and contacts outside the United States during the course of this week to try and get a sense of how they see the thing playing out in New York. And unfortunately for much of the world, the United States looks like it's in an incredibly weak position.

The president seems unable to lead his own country, never mind lead the wider world or lead the western world or lead the liberal world. He just seems unable to lead. All he's doing is, is rehashing, reheating old rhetoric, even that thing he said about annihilation. The only new thing is that he said it on the dais of the United Nations. He's been saying that and using those words over and over again.

So it's the same old and same old. And that's the problem, that nobody outside the United States, and frankly, very few people in the United States see any forward motion in anything. Look at the China, the Xi Jinping summit. A lot of pageantry and a couple of pandas, but when it comes to actual deals, buying Boeings or buying more soybeans or more opening up the Chinese market for America's products, no actual announcements of any fact of any progress.

WHITFIELD: Do you see that there were missed opportunities here with the General Assembly gathering? I mean, I hear you, you know, on, on this with China, but even as it pertains to the Israeli-Gaza conflict. The Palestinian leadership was denied visas to travel to the U.S. It didn't stop Mahmoud Abbas from having that recorded message. And then Netanyahu, a number, dozens of delegates would walk out while he was speaking. I mean, this gathering of all these world leaders is an opportunity to advance diplomacy. What kind of missed opportunities did you see here? [14:45:05]

GHOSH: Well, all kinds of missed opportunities, opportunities to lead the way on, on global anxiety about A.I., global anxiety about climate, about specific things like the war in Iran, like the mass destruction that's taking place in Gaza.

But, you know, there can only be progress if the host, the United States, is willing to lean in and use the leverage it has in order to make other countries come to the table, whether it is to negotiate and make a deal with each other, or whether it is to follow America's lead.

If the United States is unwilling to lead and the president, as I said before, seems unwilling to lead, if the United States is unwilling to lead, where is the rest of the world meant to go? Where -- who is going to follow? And there's nobody else taking that position. Nobody has the strength and the credibility to do so. But no one's even trying. It's not that the Russians are trying to lead or the Chinese are trying to lead. You have a world that is essentially now leaderless. And that's not a good position if history has taught us anything.

WHITFIELD: All right, great to have you. Bobby Ghosh, thank you so much.

GHOSH: Anytime.

WHITFIELD: Still ahead in the CNN Newsroom, military families are raising fresh concerns about President Trump's planned D.C. arch. Plus, Americans feelings on the economy are near a historical record low. Why it could reshape the battle for Congress.

And it's a product sold at gas stations, convenience stores, but specialists warn that it's potentially as dangerous as some controlled substances. The new warnings about the dangers of kratom after two students at Ole Miss were found dead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:51:25]

WHITFIELD: All right, crowds stretched the length of the Champs- Elysees in Paris to see Pope Leo. The pontiff was greeted by waving flags and chants of "Long live the Pope!" as he rode by in an open top Popemobile. And he also stopped along the way, as you saw right there, to bless babies before celebrating an outdoor mass which was attended by nearly 800,000 people. Throngs of the faithful receiving communion from priests who are lined up along the iconic avenue. They're the ones that are under those white umbrellas.

CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb is traveling with the Pope. I mean, Christopher, what a spectacular view. But you were actually there. Tell us what this experience was like and how excited people seem to be. CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, it was

pretty extraordinary. I saw people on each other's shoulders, climbing up trees to try and see the Pope. He's been generating a lot of interest whilst he's been in France. And the mass in the center of Paris was really an extraordinary sight to witness.

This American Pope is someone who the French are really keen to see and hear from. And after that mass in Lourdes, he -- sorry that mass in Paris. He then has come to Lourdes, where I am now in the southwest of France, a very important Catholic pilgrimage site, where Leo has been leading a prayer service. This has been a jampacked schedule for Leo to follow. He's been focusing very much on encouraging young Catholics or young people who are interested in becoming Catholics. Church in France has seen a rise in conversions recently.

And as the journalist traveling with him, we've been on board the plane with the Pope. And on the way out from Rome to Paris, he came to the back of the aircraft to greet us, and he joked about the Chicago White Sox, who he is, of course, a big supporter of. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two years ago that we just had the worst record in baseball's history. Sometimes call it a miracle. Do you have anything to do with that?

POPE LEO XIV: No comment.

(LAUGHTER)

POPE LEO XIV: Great things happening in Chicago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAMB: Well, Fredricka, Pope Leo will be meeting bishops tomorrow and with abuse survivors here in Lourdes for what is a very important and historic visit to France. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Historic indeed. This is the first papal visit to France in some 18 years. All right, Christopher Lamb, thank you so much.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:58:48]

WHITFIELD: Tonight, country music greats including Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp are all in one place for the 41st year of Farm Aid. The annual music festival raises money for family-owned farms around America. CNN will bring you performances live this evening.

But ahead of that, Bill Weir is live for us already at Virginia Beach to give us a preview, and it looks like a pretty good crowd already. Or at least they're trickling in.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Oh Fredricka, I wish, I wish we had smell-o-vision right now, because the pork chop sandwiches coming out of the Patchwork family farms from Missouri, it's killing me. It smells so good. Were surrounded by people who steward the land and the animals for all of us. And there have been better times to be farmers.

This, of course, was started way back 41 years ago when Bob Dylan was performing at Live Aid. You remember the big mega concert to raise money for victims of famine in Africa. And Bob Dylan is on stage. And he said, you know what? Maybe we should have one of these for the farmers, because at the time they were going through rough mortgage foreclosures, the suicide rate was really high. And literally within months, Willie Nelson actually heard that. He was between -- after a show, he heard that and said, let's do it. Within months, they threw this thing together, and it's still going.