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Inside Politics

Trump: "Very Good" Call With Chinese President Xi; China: Xi Told Trump To Avoid "Unilateral Trade Restrictions"; Trump Floats Pulling TV Licenses If Networks Are "Against" Him; Trump's FCC Chair: Kimmel "Isn't The Last Shoe To Drop"; Harris Book Reveals A Frustrating Relationship With Biden. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired September 19, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, network warning. President Trump is putting the media and Hollywood on notice, threatening to consider revoking broadcast licenses for networks that give him quote, bad publicity. Free speech in America. It certainly seems to be under assault.

Plus, new excerpts from Kamala Harris' memoir, detail a contentious conversation with Joe Biden right before her debate with Donald Trump. And turf wars. CNN's John King is all over the map in Texas, talking to voters about the Republican mission to gerrymander their way to victory in the 2026 midterms.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start with breaking news. President Trump just wrapped a highly anticipated call with China's President Xi Jinping. CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House. Kristen, what is the White House saying about that call? Did they come up with a deal on TikTok?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly sounds like they made progress towards a deal. Now, I do want to give a little context here. This is the first time these two leaders have been on the phone since June, and it comes amid escalating tensions between the two countries. The U.S. is still in a trade war with China.

In addition to that, Trump, just yesterday, essentially said, that they wanted to take back Bagram air force base in Afghanistan because they wanted to surveil Chinese nuclear facilities, which are just an hour away from there. And we know that President Trump was increasingly frustrated when he watched the military parade put on by the Chinese leader have had Xi Jinping on the sidelines with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un.

And in fact, from the China readout, it sounds as though President Trump mentioned that parade and complimented it. But when it comes to that deal, that of course, seems to be the big news that might progress there. And I'm going to read to you exactly what the White House or President Trump said about the call.

He said, I just completed a very productive call with President Xi of China. We made progress on many very important issues, including trade, fentanyl and the need to bring the war between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok deal.

I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC, which is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, and that I would go to China in the early part of next year, and that President Xi would likewise come to the United States at an appropriate time. The call was a very good one. We will be speaking again by phone. Appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC.

That line is a little bit confusing, because it's unclear who says, appreciate the TikTok approval if they made progress towards the deal, or if the deal was approved. But of course, we've reached out to the White House for clarity. There's nothing about that specifically in the Chinese readout.

But I will tell you one thing, because obviously the ongoing trade war, as I mentioned, according to this readout, and I'm going to read it directly. I don't think we have a full screen for it, so you have to bear with me here.

It says that Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump to avoid imposing, quote, unilateral trade restrictions on China during that phone call. That is seen to be the headline from the Chinese side on the readout here. Again, all this coming amid escalating tensions between these two superpowers.

BASH: Yeah. Everybody's got domestic politics. And for Xi, it's definitely the trade war, not to mention the news in there that President Trump has agreed to go to China, which is something that the Chinese really wanted and maybe made part of the TikTok negotiations. Thank you so much. Obviously, Kristen, if you get information on some of the key aspects of the progress of this TikTok negotiation. Let us know. Let us know what you hear. Appreciate it.

I want to go to CNN Washington bureau chief, David Chalian. So, David, let's just stay on TikTok for a second, because we don't have the details, but we do know that the president has been interested, when it comes to U.S. ownership, in having a couple of his key allies be the buyers, Marc Andreessen and Larry Ellison, perhaps. So that's something that I want to talk about with you.

But one of the unknowns is about the national security component, which is the reason why this is even an issue for American politicians of both parties, and also that algorithm which the Chinese have mastered in a way that really manipulates even more than the algorithms of American social media companies really manipulates what people see.

[12:05:00]

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah. I mean, this is the modern-day information distributor that courses through our politics. And so, it's extremely important to understand the details of any deal as to exactly does the Chinese government maintain any slice of ownership?

Does that ownership include any power over the algorithm because the algorithm is so powerful? And if not, as you said, will Trump allies like Larry Ellison, who donated a ton of money to Trump efforts and very aligned with him on a lot of business ventures in this term. Are they taking over the algorithm? And what does that mean for the information distribution?

You know, we've seen some bit of this when Elon Musk took over X, and how information changed and its distribution on that platform. And so, how that impacts here? I do think, you are right to note the national security piece, Dana, because you said, politicians of both parties, including Donald Trump in his first term.

I mean, that is what generated where we are here. That is what led the course of Congress passing a bill that Joe Biden signs into law that Donald Trump has just been delaying implementation of in search for this deal. So, this did start in Trump's first term with real concern about the national security implications.

BASH: OK. So that's new media, or I would say, current media, but this is very much related to what we are seeing coming from the White House, with regard to Jimmy Kimmel, which has been our other top story for a couple of days now, because President Trump is digging in on his threat to television networks. This is more old media, but he's digging in, and he says, he thinks they are, quote, against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A late night host is on network television. There is a license. I'll give you an example. I read someplace that the networks were 97 percent against me. I get 97 percent negative. And yet, I won it easily. I won all seven swing states, popular. I won everything. And if they're 97 percent against, they give me only bad publicity or press. I mean, they're getting a license, I would think, maybe their license should be taken away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: David Chalian is still here, in addition to Nia-Malika Henderson of CNN and Bloomberg and Abby Livingston of Puck. Thank you all for being here. I just want to stay on what we just heard from the president for a beat, because, you know, it's one of those moments where I think we need to just stop and go.

This is not normal. This is not usual. This is a wow moment, because there's so much coming at us, 24/7. There are so many times where we can say, this is unprecedented. This is like next level. And it's not just because it's about us in the media. It's about a fundamental in the constitution, not just free speech, but how much power a president should have when it comes to people who say things in the free press that don't agree with him, David?

CHALIAN: Yeah. And it fits into a larger pattern, right, this is not a standalone moment. You said there's so much coming at us, but even sort of in this space of how Donald Trump in his second term is taking a maximalist approach to his power, pushing every limit possible to a mass power after sort of thinking that, in the first term there were sort of unrealized opportunities in doing that with various guardrails and the like that were in his administration that we've talked about.

And I think this is the latest example. This -- that make no mistake about this. Donald Trump is clearly, he's saying, in his own words, this doesn't require interpretation. Looking to create and curate an information environment, a media environment that is suited to his liking and his preferred messaging. I mean that, that is just against the grain of a foundational principle of the country.

BASH: Yeah. And it is related to what we talked about at the beginning of the show, TikTok. Because, again, we don't know any of the details about how it would work if the -- it even happens. But the fact that he has two huge supporters with endless supplies of information -- of money to help control the way people see information, just like China does, just like American media companies -- social media companies do now, they can manipulate the algorithm. We've seen that on X, definitely.

[12:10:00]

Nia, I want to stay though on network television and play another really remarkable moment. Brendan Carr, who everybody knows by now, is the chair of the FCC, who is really pushing the bounds. Spoke to our colleague, Scott Jennings on his radio show yesterday, and he didn't just threaten more problems that networks could have. He got specific.

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BRENDAN CARR, FCC CHAIRMAN (voiceover): I would assume you can make the argument that the view is a bona fide news show, but I'm not so sure about that. And I think it's worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether the view and some of these other programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Nia?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST & POLITICAL and POLICY COLUMNIST, BLOOMBERG: Listen, you know, I think he is saying the quiet part out loud, and you see some of this other reaction to this already. The view yesterday didn't really take up the Jimmy Kimmel story, because they are afraid of what's to come, that there are going to be consequences for their speech.

There is going to be scrutiny. This is a president that hasn't liked the fact that people on some networks, on some very popular programs like the view, aren't on his side. Don't say laudatory things about him. Of course, there is some balance there. There is a Republican on there as well, but he wants it to be tilted more to his side.

And listen, we've seen not only networks, but also a print outlet kind of do his bidding, move a little bit more to the right and be more favorable to him. I mean, the Washington Post, for instance, comes to mind. And you saw Barack Obama weigh in on some of the troubling things that he's seen from the Washington Post. Them firing somebody because they don't think necessarily that certain people fit with this sort of right word tilt that they want to go towards to curry favor with Donald Trump or not incur his wrath and scrutiny.

So, it's very, very troubling. It's chilling. It's remarkable. The other remarkable piece about this is that Republicans. What will they do, right? They have been all up in arms previously about sort of cancel culture in the mainstream media being too left. And so, now you have somebody using the arm of the government, the power of the government to chill and control speech.

BASH: So, the answer to that so far is that most Republicans, as is the issue with most things that we've seen President Trump done -- do recently in this term, most Republicans on the Hill are defending him, but not all conservatives are. There's a podcast that is very popular among conservatives. It's called the Flagrant podcast. Let's listen to what Akaash Singh said about this.

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AKAASH SINGH, CO-HOST, FLAGRANT PODCAST: But in terms of censorship, freedom of speech is more under attack now, honestly, than I think it has ever been. We didn't like left -- far left policy or fall in front of whatever thoughts. It wasn't like Joe Biden was putting pressure on somebody to get canceled for saying -- you see what I'm saying. That's what makes this different and scarier to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Abby?

ABBY LIVINGSTON, PUCK, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, I think the reason he's able to go so far is because there is no pushback from Congress. But there is a risk in this. This is a -- this is a debate that's going far beyond the world of policy and political junkies and extends into the culture. And there's people who are viewers, talent, actors, writers. People who are on television every day, who may push back on this. And I think that's the central question.

And I think that's why Jimmy Kimmel is such a fascinating figure in this, because he's very politically powerful in Hollywood, and I don't mean as a Democrat, I mean in the community of Hollywood. He sees every star every day for the last 20 years on his show. And so, does he summon that power to push back and do people follow him, is a very key question to me in this?

BASH: Yeah. It's a really good question. He has not said anything yet, but his competitors on late night broadcast TV have. As we go to break, let's listen to what they said last night.

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STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: If ABC thinks 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 camel.

SETH MEYERS, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS: I just want to say before we get started here, that I've always admired and respected Mr. Trump. I've always believed he was no, no, a visionary innovator, a great president and even better golfer.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON: To be honest with you all, I don't know what's going on, and no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he's a decent, funny and loving guy, and I hope he comes back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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BASH: Coming up. They say hindsight is 2020. But as Kamala Harris's look back at 2024, all about 2028 or is there something else. We're going to tell you what she said about a debate night phone call from Joe Biden, after a quick break.

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[12:20:00]

BASH: It's not Festivus yet, but Kamala Harris is getting a head start on the airing of grievances. The New York Times has a new excerpt for her upcoming book, where she details a phone call from Joe Biden minutes, before she debated Donald Trump. She reveals that Biden told her in that call that he heard she was bad mouthing him, and that several quote, power brokers in Philadelphia may pull their support.

Harris writes in part, quote. I just couldn't understand why he would call me right now and make it all about himself. Distracting me with worry about hostile power brokers in the biggest city of the most important swing state.

My panel is back. Nia, this is pretty stunning for a lot of reasons. What I keep thinking about is the fact that most of the criticism within the Democratic apparatus of people who wanted her to win was that she was too loyal, at least publicly, to Joe Biden, and that she didn't distance herself enough from Joe Biden. And here you have Biden, according to Harris, calling her saying, stop trashing me.

HENDERSON: Yeah. Right before, you know, one of the biggest moments of the debate of the campaign, she, of course, went on to do quite well. In that debate, you know, it really gets at the sort of box and the tightrope she was in dealing with Biden's ego, hurt feelings, male fragility, whatever you want to call it. But him calling, you know, I think in that moment is indicative -- we'll see of the kind of book that we're going to read, you know, on Tuesday when it comes out. It is gossipy. It is petty in some ways, and it is unlike any version of Kamala Harris we've seen so far, right?

BASH: That is so true.

HENDERSON: Yeah. I mean, she's been cautious, she's been scripted, you know, and this is one of the criticisms of her -- so careful. And here she is, really sort of throwing caution to the win in delivering the goods. I'm not usually so excited about reading a political book. I'm very excited about reading this to see what other trash talk and pettiness is in this book.

BASH: Nia, I love when the real Nia comes out on television. Abby, we talked about this yesterday, but now we have reaction from Pete Buttigieg. Let me just go back and remind our viewers what Harris says about Pete Buttigieg in her book.

She says, Buttigieg would have been an ideal partner, if I were a straight white man. But we were already asking a lot of America to accept a woman, a black woman, a black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, screw it. Let's just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big a risk.

Now listen to what Pete Buttigieg said in response to that. He was talking to Adam Wren of Politico.

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PETE BUTTIGIEG, FORMER TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I was surprised when I read that. I just believe in giving Americans more credit than that. My experience in politics has been that the way that you earn trust with voters is based mostly on what they think you're going to do for their lives, not on categories. And I wouldn't have run for president if I didn't believe that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Abby?

LIVINGSTON: Well, I mean one I think, Mayor Pete is reading the democratic electorate and looking forward rather than looking back and that answer. But what I also found interesting is that she praised him and Tim Walz, and the common thread was that they were on her side. And it just felt like the protagonist of this coverage we're seeing is a woman who felt undermined at every turn throughout her vice presidency.

And it just strikes me as an incredible moment for the Democratic Party, with a second Trump presidency looming on the horizon. And they had this much in fighting and this much undermining of a president -- vice president, with an 80-year-old president serving above her.

CHALIAN: I definitely agree with Abby that people who're just looking to the future there. He's looking at the future of a potential 2028 Democratic primary opponent on the stage, and he's clearly drawing a little line in the sand. Because let me just interpret his remarks for those that missed it. He was basically saying, you shouldn't be so cravenly politically calculating. You should stick with principles in drawing a cleavage, if you will, between him and a potential -- a past and potentially future rival.

BASH: And Nia, what do you make of what Abby just said? Because I think that was so astute, and we reported on it and lived it real time during Kamala Harris's vice presidency, and then her campaign about her feeling like she was sort of undermined at every turn. I think that's part of it.

But I also think this is a reminder of how difficult it was for the Democrats to figure out the sweet spot in beating Donald Trump? And how much they thought about it in every little demographic which mattered.

[12:25:00]

HENDERSON: Yeah, listen. It was hampered -- this effort was hampered by Joe Biden, who didn't want to exit the stage, who thought his victory in 2020 was because he had some coalition, because the people around him were geniuses. And when, in fact it was, you know, in so many ways, covid beat Joe Biden, right?

And so there he was, sort of standing in the way of a new generation of Democrats who could have been in a position to take on Donald Trump in a better way, but then you got Kamala Harris, who they undermine the entire time, having 107 days to really put together a campaign. I think she did the best she could, but again, she's got to deal with all of the baggage of Joe Biden's hurt feelings and ego.

BASH: Real quick, Abby. Speaking of 2028, the former vice president also spoke about Josh Shapiro, Governor of Pennsylvania. And when she was considering and interviewed him as a potential running mate. The Washington Post reports, she worried that he would be unable to settle for a role as number two, and that it would have -- it would wear on our partnership.

She told him that on every day she was president, she'd have 99 problems with my VP can't be one. 99 problems and my VP can't be one. We know that's -- well, that's a reference to. We reported real time about the fact that she felt that Shapiro maybe wanted too much, and she knew from experience and from the current situation she was in what it really meant to be VP.

LIVINGSTON: I mean, there are plenty of Democrats who have buyer's remorse for her that she didn't pick Shapiro, and what that would have meant for Pennsylvania. But I think the presidential VP selection always boils down to, does the -- does the presidential nominee go with the person they're most comfortable with and feel at ease with, or do they go to the electorally most beneficial. And there are pros and cons to either side of that dilemma.

BASH: Yeah. You said, talk about the protagonist. I would say it sounds like one of the unsuspecting antagonists of this is Tim Walz. It'll be interesting to hear what he says after reading this book. Thank you all. Appreciate it. Don't go anywhere, though. Up next, John King goes to the epicenter of Republican efforts to gerrymander their way to keeping the House majority. Texas Democrats say, he's taking away their voice.

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