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Trump Imposes $100K Fee On H-1B Visas In New Immigration Action; Cyberattack Disrupts Operation At Major European Airports; London, Brussels, And Berlin Airports Disrupted By Cyberattack. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired September 20, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:01:20]

DANNY FREEMAN, ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to CNN this morning. It is it is Saturday, September 20th. I'm Danny Freeman in for Victor Blackwell. Here's what's new.

First, the Trump administration is cracking down on a program that accepts highly skilled foreign workers. We'll tell you the industries that could be hit the hardest coming up. And here's a live look at London's Heathrow Airport. Flights there and across Europe are being hit with delays because of a cyberattack. We have details on that just ahead.

Plus, there's new CNN reporting on Disney and ABC's move to pull Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air. We'll tell you what we know about a meeting between Kimmel, his lawyers and bosses and what's going to happen to his team while the show is off the air. And Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Now, technically, the calendar says fall is supposed to start on Monday, but Mother nature, not quite ready to give up on summer just yet. We'll take a closer look at these long-term temperatures coming up.

FREEMAN: We begin here. The Trump administration is trying to make it even more expensive for companies to hire international workers. President Trump signed an executive action on Friday which would impose a $100,000 application fee for H-1B visas. Now, if it survives legal challenges, the fee would be a steep increase from current base filing fees of a few hundred dollars.

The administration says this is all part of their effort to curb what they see is overuse of the program. Of course, this is just the latest in a series of efforts from the administration to crack down on immigration and place limits on the types of foreigners allowed into the country. CNN's Kristen Holmes has more.

KRISTIEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE-HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump taking a number of executive actions on immigration today, including imposing a new fee on H-1B visas as well as creating what they are calling a gold card immigration program or pathway. So starting with those H-1B visas, which are essentially visas that allow companies to hire foreign workers for a minimal or used to be a minimal fee that have specialty skill sets that they couldn't potentially get in the United States.

Now that fee is going to be for an application waiver, $100,000. Now, this is an enormous increase in what these applications are going to cost for these employers. So there's two things going on here. One, we had heard from a number of employers who said it was growing increasingly hard to actually get these H-1B visas. This likely will make it harder.

But two, you see the administration here trying to do two things. One of them is get companies to essentially say that the person that they are hiring is so good and so unique they could not be find -- found in the United States and they're willing to pay $100,000 for that person to come into the country.

The other thing to keep in mind here is the companies that generally use these H-1B visas, they're likely to be able to pay that kind of fee. It's usually tech companies or computer companies who have said that they need this kind of foreign skill set that is not necessarily something they can find in a U.S. job pool.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERSE SECRETARY: The whole idea is no more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. They have to pay the government $100,000, then they have to pay the employee. So it's just non-economic.

If you're going to train somebody, you're going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land, train Americans, stop bringing in people to take our jobs. That's the policy here. $100,000 a year for H-1B visas. And all of the big companies are onboard.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now, when it comes to this gold card program, this is something that President Trump has talked about before. So again, essentially an expedited visa process for those who are willing to, quote, invest in America, $1 million. And some of the thinking behind this from administration officials is this idea that if you're willing to put that much into the United States, you're going to grow roots here. You might build a company here. You might then hire and create new jobs here if you are putting that kind of investment into the United States.

[08:05:23]

Of course, though, as we hear from these administration officials saying that it's only going to bring the top of the top and into the country. It's also clearly only going to bring those who can afford it, so the wealthiest foreign workers into the country. Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House. FREEMAN: Kristen Holmes, thank you very much. All right. We have

breaking news this morning in Europe. We're seeing delays at several major airports, including London's Heathrow Airport and those in Brussels and Berlin. Authorities say a cyber-attack is targeting the company that handles check in and boarding systems. Several airlines are affected, leading to flight delays and cancellations.

CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau joins me now from Rome. Barbie, what's going on at the airports?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes, it's a nightmare. You know, you've got a very busy airport like Heathrow, which of course has connections all over the world. So what we're seeing are these domino effects when it comes to travel and airports everywhere really. But this doesn't affect like air traffic control or the running of the airplane. You know, there's not a security issue in that sense. This was a cyberattack that affected the electronic check in and electronic baggage system, which meant all of those people who do all of those things electronically now had to do it manually, which led to super long lines at the airports.

And you know, we're seeing that flights not just going out of these airports, it's also, you know, the flights going into the airports because when you have those delays, things get backed up and it's, you know, not the height of tourist season, but certainly Europe is a busy -- has a busy September, October season. Kids go back to school. Then you have sort of a whole different demographic of travelers. So it is definitely busy. And it's a nightmare for anyone traveling this Saturday in Heathrow, Berlin, Brussels or pretty much anywhere that connects to those airports. Danny?

FREEMAN: Yes. Thankful that it's not a flight traffic thing that's going wrong. But again, so much headaches, I'm sure, at all these airports. BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, thank you so much as always for your reporting.

Also new this morning, major damage in Ukraine after officials there say Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight. Poland said it scrambled jets as the attacks got close to its border. And this comes not even a full day after NATO caught three Russian jets over Estonia's airspace. As Katie Bo Lillis explains, Russia is getting bolder in crossing borders with its war against Ukraine.

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Danny, we're just over -- just over a week out from 19 Russian drones flying into NATO airspace in Poland. And U.S. and Western intelligence officials are still really divided over whether or not this was an accidental incursion. Perhaps these drones were sort of pushed off course by Ukrainian jamming, or whether this was potentially intentional, right?

An effort maybe to probe Western air defenses. I spoke to one U.S. Military official in the region who put the odds at 50, either way. The problem for intelligence officials at this point is that much of the intelligence that they have been able to glean about the flight pattern of the drone, for example, how it was flying when it was inside Poland, and the technical specifications that they've been able to learn about from the drones that were shot down inside of Poland, all of that information could really be interpreted either way.

So, for example, Ukrainian officials have said, you know, look, we have seen Russian drones be knocked off course by our jamming, by our electronic warfare defenses in the past. But like in onesies and twosies, we've never seen an incursion of, or a deviation rather, of this size.

We spoke to some senior intelligence, Western intelligence officials who said, well, look, these drones are actually programmed en masse, right? And this was an attack where there were hundreds of drones in the air, right?

So not necessarily surprising that if 20 of them ran into the sort of same Ukrainian electronic warfare defenses, that they might be deviated. That -- that many of them might be deviated at once off of the path that they were trying to follow. And indeed, one senior Western intelligence official who spoke to us said that the way that the drones were flying when they were in Polish airspace suggested that they were looking to pick up GPS signal again, right. They were flying essentially like they were lost.

Now, big debate over this in public. Poland obviously saying publicly that they believe that this was not an accident. US President Donald Trump saying that he believed it could have been a mistake. So really a very active debate amongst NATO allies about how to interpret the intelligence that they have. And then, of course, subsequently, the challenge is, how do you respond if you were NATO, if you're not exactly sure whether this was an accident or whether this was intentional?

[08:10:06]

That said, what we do know is that U.S. and Western intelligence or, excuse me, U.S. and Western officials across the board are saying that even if this was an accidental incursion, it still shows a worrying increased tolerance for risk by Russia.

FREEMAN: Katie Bo lillas, thank you very much. All right. To this now, Congress remains deadlocked as the country inches towards a potential government shutdown. The House passed its Republican backed funding bill yesterday, but in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to pass any measure. Senators blocked the House measure and those backed by Senate Democrats and Republicans.

President Trump called for the parties to cooperate, but acknowledged compromise may be difficult.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We'll continue to talk to the Democrats, but I think you could very well end up with a closed country for a period of time.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FREEMAN: Congress has until October 1st to reach a deal to avert a

shutdown. And to this now, country music songwriter Brett James was killed when a small plane he was in crashed into a field in North Carolina. He won a Grammy for writing Jesus Take the Wheel for Carrie Underwood and wrote many other hits for stars like Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift.

He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame back in 2020. His single-engine aircraft went down on Thursday afternoon, killing all three passengers on board. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

And the prosecution has rested in the attempted assassination trial of Ryan Routh. Prosecutors have introduced more than 700 exhibits over seven days of testimony. Routh is charged with attempting to assassinate then presidential candidate Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club last September. Routh, who is not an attorney, is defending himself, and he'll present his case to the jury on Monday.

And we're learning new details about the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Sources tell CNN that the show's crew will be paid through the next week, but the future of the show remains in limbo. The show staffs roughly 200 to 250 people.

Now Kimmel is said to be incredibly mindful of his staff as he weighs his options during ongoing discussions with ABC. Kimmel's show was pulled from the air Wednesday after comments he made about Charlie Kirk's suspected killer. The decision came hours after the FCC chair appointed by President Trump publicly pressured ABC to punish Kimmel.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has more from Los Angeles. Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Danny. So the latest that I am hearing is that Jimmy Kimmel had a meeting at his lawyer's office here in Century City, California, when with top Disney executives. I am told that Jimmy was present with his attorney and his manager and that there was no resolution to the meeting with Disney which means that we have no indication of a path forward for Jimmy or his show.

But I am told by sources familiar with ongoing conversations that Disney and ABC are hopeful that they can get Jimmy Kimmel show back. Everybody at ABC, I hear, loves Jimmy. They have a great long standing relationship with him over the past two decades and they would love for him to come back. But what sources tell me is that the temperature has to come down.

This, of course, amid threats from the chair of the FCC, which then also caused different station groups to pull Kimmel's show. With station groups refusing to air Jimmy Kimmel Live, Disney boss Bob Iger ultimately decided that it was best to temporarily or indefinitely pull the show.

Now, everyone in Hollywood is backing Kimmel. They really want answers from ABC. They want him to come back. This includes comedians like Oscar's hosts. The Oscars are on ABC, Conan O'Brien. Here's what Conan had to say, Danny.

Quote, "The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel and the promise to silence other Late Night hosts for criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the right, left, and center. It's wrong, and anyone with the conscience knows it's wrong. Now the late night host on competing networks from Kimmel also back Kimmel on their shows this week. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY FALLON, AMERICAN COMEDIAN: A lot of people are worried that we won't keep saying what we want to say, or that will be censored. But I'm going to cover the President's trip to the UK just like I normally would. Well, guys, President Trump just wrapped up his three-day trip to the U.K. and the --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looked incredibly handsome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive, and clearly they've never read the children's book. If you give a mouse a Kimmel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Comedy Central, it's the all new government- approved daily show with your patriotically obedient host Jon Stewart.

[08:15:07]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they -- are the naysayers and the critics, right? Is Donald Trump stifling free speech?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course not, John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER: Now, as Hollywood is backing Kimmel, there have been protests outside of Disney's offices, both in Los Angeles and in New York with the major Hollywood union, SAG-AFTRA, and WGA the backing Kimmel. Danny.

FREEMAN: Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you very much.

Coming up next on CNN this morning, a former U.S. Attorney grilled on Capitol Hill is standing firm on his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein plea deal. And protests over ICE raids in Chicago. Going to be talking live with a Chicago city official about the public's demand to keep federal authorities out of their city.

Plus, what's next with the TikTok negotiations between the U.S. and China? With tell you what was said during and after that phone call with Presidents Trump and Xi. Stay with us.

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[08:20:46]

FREEMAN: Former U.S. attorney, Alex Acosta, who negotiated that controversial 2008 plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein, defended that agreement in a closed-door meeting with House investigators on Friday. That's according to Democrats who were in the room. Now, this is all part of new probe by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee into the circumstances surrounding the late convicted sex offender. CNN's Annie Grayer has more.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: The former U.S. attorney Alex Acosta testified behind closed doors for hours with the House Oversight Committee on Friday as he tried to defend his 2008 plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein, where Epstein avoided a federal trial and only served 13 months in jail. Then in 2019, Epstein was federally charged and sent to prison for participating in a sex trafficking ring. And that is when Acosta's role really came into question for the first time.

At the time in 2019, Acosta was serving as President Trump's labor secretary in his first term and ended up resigning after the controversy surrounding his handling of the Epstein case came to light. So Acosta's role in all this is now back in the spotlight as House Democrats and Republicans on the Oversight Committee are investigating the entire Epstein case, how it was handled, all of the documents there.

So Acosta testified behind closed doors for hours trying to defend his case. Democrats came out quickly during that interview on Friday to discredit Acosta and saying that he was not credible in his comments to investigators. But this is just one step in a much larger investigation.

The Oversight Committee has received documents from the Department of Justice from the Jeffrey Epstein estate, and they also are starting to receive bank records from the Treasury Department. But Alex Acosta sitting for hours on Friday on Capitol Hill was a big step in a very high profile investigation on Capitol Hill. Annie Grayer, CNN, Washington.

FREEMAN: With me now to talk about this and much more is Larry Sabato, director at the University of Virginia center for Politics.

Good morning, Larry. Great to have you here. Let's start where Annie left off, there about former U.S. attorney Alex Acosta giving that testimony on Capitol Hill for hours all over, of course, that, I guess now infamous plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein. Do you think we're going to learn anything more, anything of substance after that closed-door testimony?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Well, it was closed-door testimony, so it's difficult to say for sure. But of course, we've been over this ground a number of times. This goes back to 2008, really. And it's important to remember Acosta was Secretary of labor in Trump's first administration. You know, he's -- he is part of the Trump administration or was. So there's a connection to what is happening now with Trump and Epstein.

What's important about the Epstein matters is that you have Democrats obviously very upset, and they're going to use it. But probably the more critical part of this is that many Republicans are very unhappy with the way this has been handled, and therefore, I don't think it's going to end anytime soon. And Acosta is part of it.

FREEMAN: Yes. And I just think it's interesting that, you know, it's a lot of people were pointing towards getting Acosta in front of House investigators as perhaps a watershed moment, a very important person and player in this Epstein story. But it's hard to see again what new information might come out, especially as you said, if it stays behind closed doors.

SABATO: Well, you know, I've looked into a number of scandals over the years, written about a lot of them. And I can tell you this. If there's a lot of time that's passed between the actual scandal and the investigation of the scandal, it's amazing how many materials have disappeared for various reasons. Just disappeared.

FREEMAN: Yes, yes. Things seem to get misplaced often. Larry, let's move on to a separate issue right here. The Senate facing, of course, now a critical test. More than a week from now, the House passed that stopgap funding bill. So now the Senate can either go against previous declarations to oppose it or enter into a stalemate.

Of course, a shutdown always seems to be looming in our politics these days. What do you think? Are we going to see an agreement in the coming days?

[08:25:10]

SABATO: I think it's a real toss up as to which way it's going to come down. The biggest problem which could produce a shutdown is that both sides have absolutely convinced themselves that they will win in a shutdown, even though the losers are well known. The losers are the American taxpayers. This is going to cost taxpayers billions just for the shutdown, not to mention the services that don't get performed.

The longest shutdown we've ever had was 35 days in Trump's first term. That was between 2018 and 2019. It stretched the change of year. So I think it's entirely possible it will happen. It's also been true in some of these prior shutdowns.

We've had 26 since 1976, that last-minute agreements can happen, and the shutdown either doesn't occur or it's very brief, or it's over a weekend or a holiday, and people basically don't notice it. That would be ideal. I don't know when we last had the word ideal used with respect to the current divide we've got in government today.

FREEMAN: Yes, and you know, like you said, this is not a victimless thing when there are shutdowns like this. I remember that one from 2018 very well. You know, Coast Guard members, air traffic controllers, all felt that really acutely.

Larry, I want to get your perspective on other thing because we've been talking so much about free speech just in the wake of the Kimball decision and just in a lot of other places as well, certainly, following Charlie Kirk's murder. Earlier this week, Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested that the government might prosecute people for hate speech if she tried to clarify some of those comments. But I just wanted your perspective on this. What is your biggest concern when it comes to free speech in this country right now?

SABATO: My biggest concern is that it's diminishing. And the really frightening thing is if you put all the pieces together of the Trump administration so far since January, you'll find that they have intimidated institution after institution and powerful, people and groups after powerful people and groups, whether it's thought the big law firms, universities, the big media companies. And the sad thing, Danny, is that almost all of them have caved.

They've caved. They bent the knee. The big institutions that are supposed to fight for the right things, including their own free speech and free speech for those who are under their purview. And it hasn't happened in many cases.

And of course, we're just moving down that road to authoritarianism. And early on, people said, oh, you know, that's just, that's going way too far. And there's no real indication that'll happen. They're not saying that anymore because we see it. Everybody sees it.

FREEMAN: Well, I think we're going to have more conversations about free speech and certainly the First Amendment in the coming weeks and months ahead. Larry Sabato, thank you as always for your perspective. Really do appreciate it.

SABATO: Thank you, Danny.

FREEMAN: To this now, ICE agents have been patrolling Chicago for days. Community leaders say they need to get out. And now tensions are rising. Coming up next, we're speaking with a Chicago alderman about it all.

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[08:32:54]

FREEMAN: Community leaders and advocates for immigrants are pushing back against the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. ICE officers have been in the Chicago metro area for several days now, picking up suspected undocumented immigrants.

Protesters held rallies outside an ICE facility in Broadview, just outside of Chicago back on Friday. Federal agent pushed one protester to the ground you saw right there. She says agents also fired pepper balls at demonstrators. The mayor of Evanston, who was there alongside protesters, says federal agents tear gassed them. Mayor Daniel Biss says they will not be intimidated.

Joining me now to discuss his public discuss the public resistance to federal operations in Chicago is Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez. Thank you so much for joining me this morning, sir, to talk about this.

Let's start here. What, what are your constituents feeling right now as these ICE operations increase?

BYRON SIGCHO-LOPEZ, CHICAGO ALDERMAN: Good morning, Danny. Thank you for the invitation. Is being a terror unleashed on our streets, we saw in the beginning of the Midwest Bliss Operation. We already have a neighbor who has been killed in these operations. Yesterday or two days ago, there was a neighbor that was tased. There was a U.S. Citizen that was tased and hospitalized because of the barbaric nature of these operations.

We have seen child endangerment at least two operations, one in Caesar, one in Chicago, in Little Village in my neighborhood, when a family was stopped. In one occasion, both parents were taken from the vehicle, dragged out of the vehicle in front of their minors. The children were minors creating child endangerment.

And yesterday, what we saw, the shameful actions of Gregory Bovino and his group of mercenaries, because that's how we got a call, people who were shooting robber bullets. I was there with Mayor Biss and a few other elected officials, including Lt. Gov. Giuliani Stratton, a few minutes before this happened.

[08:35:00]

Rubber bullets and chemical weapons that were shot at protesters that were just expressing the discontent with all these shameful operations that are creating terror. We have kids right now that are walking alone to school in some of our districts, and we have schools that right now don't have enough staff.

So these children are even vulnerable to not having even any kind of support for the trauma that's been inflicted on them. So we have been seeing terror, violence, escalation that is really terrorizing many of our neighbors. We condemn and we reject these Gestapo tactics, and we want ICE out office, out of our neighborhoods, out of our stake, and we want these facilities, like the Broadview facility, where we have multiple reports of inhumane conditions, to be shut down.

FREEMAN: Alderman, Governor Jamie Pritzker, he's been speaking out also against these ICE raids and pushing back on the Trump administration's plans, or I guess we'll see if it comes true, since they've been talking about it for many weeks now to deploy the National Guard.

Do you feel like your community, your constituents, are getting the support they need right now from the governor of Illinois?

SIGCHO-LOPEZ: Well, unfortunately, our community has been neglected, has been ignored, now dehumanized and criminalized for a long time. Unfortunately, we haven't seen any kind of protection from agents who do not have judicial warrants, their own numbers. At least half of their operations have no judicial warrants. What they call our quote, unquote, collateral damage. That's how they call child endangerment and other issues that they are creating in our streets.

We also have seen the use of masks. They don't identify themselves. Child endangerment, use of tasing, rubber bullets, chemical weapons. They don't collaborate enough with Esso. When is it enough for us to be able to have the Constitution follow these individuals, these staff operators do not follow the law. They're breaking the law. They are breaking the Constitution. They commit atrocities and human rights violations with complete impunity.

What we are demanding is that our state government steps up to the case. We've seen the DA of Philadelphia, for instance, already calling, and I think that it would be important to look at Gregory Bovino track record, like in LA and now in our city. These crimes must be persecuted. And we also have to make sure that we investigate when people even get killed in these operations.

What we're demanding also is support. We cannot have right now a rhetoric, a democratic rhetoric, but a MAGA task code where schools are not fully funded. We have gaps in substance abuse programs because Trump is cutting of withholding more funds, violence prevention programs, you name it.

So I think right now what we need is the full action and the full weight of our local government to protect all our constituents, as we did with our Texas legislators that were persecuted as well. I think that we got to do that for every constituent that is really terrorized right now. They're afraid of leaving their homes or businesses are suffering or children are suffering or economy. All of us are discontent.

So when is it enough for us to be able to push forward not only to protect constitutional rights, freedom of speech? We got people who are being arrested and beat up in front of the detention facility in Broadview. So when is the time for us to have a code that tax millionaires so that we can have enough to protect our communities? And we follow the Constitution.

It's incredible that we are allowing these kind of Gestapo operations without any actions to protect our constitutional and human rights. So, yes, I'm calling on Governor Pritzker to move beyond the rhetoric to understand what's happening on the ground, to work with us to make sure that our schools, our hospitals, our churches are protected, that our city has enough resources to face this horrific attack that is terrorizing, that is defunding our institutions where they want chaos, they want escalation.

I think or city or state deserves better. And I'm calling on Governor Pritzker to meet with us. I have not yet to hear from Governor Pritzker in one of the communities that have been hit the hardest, especially the beginning of this year. I'm yet to have a direct conversation with him.

FREEMAN: Well, thank you very much for your time and for sharing your passion on this issue. We should of course note CNN at this point has no information that any of these officers have broken any laws. Again, Alderman Bryon Sigcho-Lopez, thank you for your perspective this morning.

All right, coming up in a moment, a potential deal, but with strings attached. The future of TikTok is still on shaky ground in the US. We'll tell you what China could keep if this TikTok deal goes through. Stay with us.

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[08:44:18]

FREEMAN: Chinese President Xi Jinping is hinting that a long awaited deal on TikTok has his blessing, but with concessions from President Donald Trump. CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy brings us up to date on what this could mean regarding control of TikTok and its price prized algorithm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH WRITER: Yes, Danny, there is frankly a lot that we still don't know about the specifics of this deal and where exactly things stand. But here's what we do know. President Trump and Chinese President Xi held a phone call on Friday morning where they were expected to finalize this deal to sell majority control of TikTok U.S. assets to new American ownership.

President Trump, following that call, said it was productive, said they made progress on TikTok, and I want to read to you what he said in his Truth social post.

[08:45:05]

Trump said, we made progress on many very important issues, including trade, fentanyl, the need to bring the war between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok deal. The call was a very good one. We will be speaking again by phone. Appreciate the TikTok approval.

But of course it's not clear from that statement whether he's saying there has been progress towards approval of a TikTok deal or whether President Xi did indeed give the green light to this deal. CNN has reached out to the White House for clarification on that point.

But we do expect that if this deal comes together, this is framework that U.S. officials and Chinese officials agreed upon in trade talks in Madrid earlier this week, that this would see a coalition of U.S. investment and tech firms taking majority control of TikTok U.S. assets, leaving Chinese investors with no more than a 20 percent stakeholder stake in the company, and that this new U.S. entity would be overseen by a majority U.S. governance board that would include one member that would be appointed by the White House.

But the other big question that still remains here is what happens to the TikTok algorithm? This is the special sauce that decides what shows up on people's for you feeds. This is the thing that has made TikTok so popular.

And China has long said that it has no interest in selling this very popular, very successful technology to American ownership. So that raises the question of whether this new American entity would try to create a new algorithm from scratch. This is something that TikTok's other competitors have tried to do, not totally successfully for many years, or whether they'll try to figure out some other arrangement whereby this new U.S. ownership will have some access to that very successful, very popular Chinese algorithm.

So that is another thing that we're hoping for more details on whenever we get more of a readout from that meeting between President Trump and President Xi. Back to you, Clare Duffy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Thanks so much. All right, Allison is up next year on CNN this morning. I think fall is here. This does not look like fall.

CHINCHAR: No. In fact, a lot of these temperatures look more like mid- July than they do September. But we will talk about some relief finally making its way in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:35]

FREEMAN: Sudden heavy rain in Southern California unleashed mudslides that plowed into homes and trapped drivers for hours. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN JOHNSON, HOMEOWNER: There was nothing I could do. I got swept and pinned against the door with a log in the couch and I was stuck against the door screaming for my friend to come help me. But he was screaming because he was stuck on the side of the house getting swept away.

AMY JOHNSON, HOMEOWNER: I'm probably most thankful because my kids weren't here. Had my kids were here, I think it would be a totally different story. Thankful that my husband made it out and I'm not planning funerals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: In San Bernardino County, authorities rescued 10 people who were stranded on State Route 38 near the San Bernardino National Forest. A two year old boy drowned after the family's vehicle was swept off the road by floodwaters. County damage assessment teams are working to evaluate the number of buildings damaged and the extent of property loss from the mudslides. I mean, those images are wild.

Meanwhile, fall officially begins on Monday, but Mother Nature does not seem quite ready to let summer go. Temperatures in some regions like 10 degrees above normal.

CHINCHAR: Some places even 15. It's kind of weird because, you know, last month we had that brief glimpse at fall.

FREEMAN: Yes.

CHINCHAR: And now it's like, no, summer's not over.

FREEMAN: Just kidding. Just kidding.

CHINCHAR: Just kidding. Yes. So we have temperatures that are in many places 10 to 15 degrees above average. And you can kind of see through here. You know, it also is kind of helping to develop some showers and thunderstorms across portions of the Midwest and even into the central U.S., but really the heat is going to be the big story, especially through this weekend.

You look at some of these temperatures like Atlanta and Nashville, those are numbers you would normally see in mid-July, not necessarily mid-September. A lot of these areas are expected to see that heat continue at least through early -- the early portion of the upcoming week.

But finally by, say, Thursday and Friday, we will start to see a lot of those temperatures at least getting back to where they should be. I don't know that I would necessarily see a cooldown per se, but getting back to where they should be at least.

And yes, again, when you look at some of these numbers, you're talking 5, 10 and even some spots 15 degrees above the average. Shreveport, Louisiana, for example, average high right now is about 89 degrees. Will be in the 90s the next four days before those temperatures finally drop back. Nashville, same thing.

Going to spend the next two days in the 90s, but really even that third day still above average before we start to see those temperatures dropping back down and then even into Atlanta, it's actually going to be five days of spending those days above average before we finally see maybe the hope of fall coming back in. Maybe.

FREEMAN: I was wearing a sweater and I was like this. I thought fall was -- I thought fall was here. But listen, it's coming hopefully soon. Allison Chinchar, thank you as always. Don't go anywhere, though.

In York County, South Carolina, there are two sides of an old Southern family, one black and one white. And they took a deep dive into their shared history and discovered some heroes whose stories had been mostly erased or ignored.

Well, there's an all new episode of the Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, "The Simrills: A family in Black and White." It airs tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

All right, a few other things to talk about here. Bad Bunny giving his hometown fans one final show in Puerto Rico today. And this time everyone can watch remotely, which is very exciting.

The superstar rapper is closing out his residency in San Juan with an extra bonus concert tonight before starting his world tour. The show is reserved for locals on the island, but it will be streamed live on Amazon Prime, Twitch and the Amazon Music app. That's one music headline, but then we got one more as well.

[08:55:00] A sweet surprise for the Swifties out there. Taylor Swift is returning to the silver screen. Her new film "Taylor Swift: The official Release Party of a Showgirl" will launch in theaters the same day her new album drops on Friday, October 3rd. But the movie can only be seen in theaters for that one weekend. The theatrical release will include the world premiere of the first music video from her album, which will be the first single the "Fate of Ophelia", as well as behind the scenes footage of the production.

Okay, Allison, will you be at theater to see Taylor Swift?

CHINCHAR: I'm going to try. You know, it's funny, we have like a slack channel here at the company and it's literally a Swiftie channel.

FREEMAN: Yes, yes. Like CNN Swifties.

CHINCHAR: We got the whole company and they're all trying -- we're trying to like figure out like, you know, try to get a couple of different theaters, you know, depending on where people live to see if we can get kind of groups together. So yes, I'm hoping I can kind of join one of them for the opening weekend. It'd be kind of fun.

FREEMAN: I love that. By the way, the CNN Taylor Swift Slack channel is one of the most chaotic slack channels.

CHINCHAR: That's where I get all my information.

FREEMAN: Well, you know, it's got to, it's journalists all discussing it. All right, fantastic. Thanks, Allison. Appreciate it and thank you for joining us this morning. I'll see you back here tomorrow morning for CNN This Morning. Smerconish up next after a break.

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