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Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Meet with President Trump in NYC; CNN, MS NOW and Politico Suing Trump Administration; Tensions Escalate in Middle East Ahead of Key U.N. Meeting; Cases of Rare Child Cancer Trigger Investigation in California Town. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 21, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

FMR. MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY): -- effective message. And I think he looks at Mamdani in a sense as the literal opposite, the guy who's kind of mastered the message around affordability. And that message is really undermining Trump and the Republican Party right now.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: If you were still mayor and you were the one having this meeting, how would you handle it? What would be the first issues you would raise?

DE BLASIO: I think this is sort of a put up or shut up time, honestly, Pamela. I think Mamdani's offered Trump a chance to do something amazing for his hometown. Now, I know he left for Florida and I know Trump was upset that New York City overwhelmingly voted against him for president. But it's still his hometown. I've had this conversation with Trump. We actually had a few sympathetic conversations during the COVID crisis where he talked about his roots in Queens. And I know he still feels something for it.

I think it's a moment for Trump to finally say, OK, I'm going to give back. I'm going to support this extraordinary opportunity to create affordable housing. By the way, that would be the kind of thing you'd like to see the Republicans do more of, not just as a matter of governance, but if they want to win elections, they better start showing they understand the affordability issue. So, there's an opportunity moment here for Trump. Not sure he's going to take it, but it's there for him.

BROWN: And as you well know, Trump has been hammering Democratic socialists ahead of the midterms. What are the pitfalls here for Mayor Mamdani?

DE BLASIO: I don't think there's much because the challenge here for that message that Trump has been trying to use and other Republicans, you know, they talk about socialism, communism. First of all, I think these ideas are extremely abstract to most voters when they're dealing with the reality of the status quo right now in America.

Look, you and I both know not only working-class folks, middle class folks feel it's tough to make ends meet right now. They're not feeling particularly hopeful about their children's futures. When you -- you know, when you talk about political ideologies, it kind of doesn't make a lot of sense when people are dealing with the here and now and trying to pay the bills. So, I think that kind of attempt is falling flat. I think the Republicans are trying to create a boogeyman that people just don't relate to.

Mamdani, on the other hand, has a chance to keep showing people the human face of a more progressive vision of a fairer economy. So, I think, you know, he's got a stronger hand to play today than Trump does.

BROWN: All right. Bill de Blasio. Thank you so much. Great to see you.

DE BLASIO: Thank you.

BROWN: And up next, press protests. Why CNN and two other news organizations now plan to sue the White House after the Trump administration's latest move against the press.

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[11:35:00]

BROWN: Happening now, a new lawsuit testing the power of the president and freedom of the press. CNN is joining forces with MS NOW and Politico and this morning filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the Trump administration, specifically the president's decision to ban the three news outlets from access to the White House.

Joining us now is CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter. Brian, before we get to the lawsuit, provide some context. How unusual is this media ban from the president and what are the real term effects today?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: No past American president have ever, ever tried to do anything like this. This is completely unprecedented. And I know viewers have heard that a lot in the Trump years. You're probably tired of hearing it, but it's important and true in this case because the journalists who go to the White House, they're not always the most popular people in the world, but they're there to report on behalf of the public to find out what the president is doing, but also what he's not doing. And so, in this case, this ban against three news outlets is really a threat to the entire press corps, and we've seen a really unusual and united reaction, a united front as a result.

Pam, this is a statement from all five major networks in the U.S. Fox News, NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN. It says, quote, "The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting." So, that's Fox News, as well as the broadcast networks drawing a line here and saying that what the president's doing is unacceptable.

Paramount is reportedly on the verge of buying CNN. Paramount owns CBS News. So, it's notable that CBS is also signing on to this statement and saying that this is a line that should not be crossed. So, that's the context this morning for the lawsuit, Pam. We've never seen this happen before.

BROWN: And just tell us about today how we're actually seeing the impact of this ban, because CNN was supposed to be part of the press pool. That's not happening.

STELTER: No, that's not happening. And the other networks are agreeing not to fill in and substitute for CNN and go and film the president with their own cameras instead, because every five days these networks take turns. Today is CNN's turn. CNN was also going to be the travel pool tomorrow because the president's staying overnight in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. So, the other networks are refusing to fill in and do the CNN pool duty. That is a part of the show of solidarity going on here.

But what we're going to see happen, Pam, is we're going to see reporters get creative. That's what we do sometimes, and we have to. We're going to see reporters try to get credentialed in other ways. I'm told, for example, that a CNN reporter has already been approved by the office of the first lady to cover an event with Melania Trump on the sidelines of the U.N. tomorrow. So, I'm expecting more of those sorts of things to happen.

There will still be coverage of what the president and the first lady are doing, but it's not going to be through the official pool because Trump has instituted this ban. And I think, Pamela, it's important to note what the president wrote on True Social this morning about this because he's clearly been watching the coverage.

[11:40:00]

He's been hearing from these First Amendment lawyers. He's been hearing that he's probably going to lose in court. So, he wrote on True Social. I'm not assaulting the free press. I'm assaulting the fake news. He says, quote, "It is instituting an assault on the fake news, something that's grown like cancer." He says it is a threat to our national security and must be stopped.

We've seen this time and time again from the president. He will wrap himself under this claim about national security because he wants a ballroom or he wants an arch or because he wants to ban CNN from the White House. I think most people see through that. What do you, what would you say?

BROWN: I would tend to agree, especially the fact that a few days ago he said he basically didn't like the coverage. It was negative of him. He didn't like that. So --

STELTER: Yes, yes.

BROWN: -- I would take him at his word when he first announced the ban. All right. Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

BROWN: Well, just ahead, mounting frustration. Why growing attacks from Houthis are complicating efforts to end the war with Iran and putting President Trump between a rock and a hard place when it comes to a key ally in the Middle East.

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BROWN: Happening now. President Trump is about to kick off a big week on the international stage that will include a major address before the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow. But growing concerns about the widening Iran war and further disruptions to the global oil supply are casting a shadow over the gathering of world leaders.

CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh is here in the Situation Room. And I want to just ask you about what -- CNN military analyst retired army -- oh, you're here with us too. Retired Army Major General James Spider Marks.

Sabrina, I want to ask you about just how critical will the UNGA be for Trump when it comes to the war with Iran? And how is this latest offensive, Houthi offensive, testing the U.S. partnership with its Gulf allies?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AND POLITICAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR AND FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY, BIDEN ADMIN: This annual meeting is always so important and always requires so much prep for the White House. It is the convening of so many world global leaders coming to New York.

[11:45:00]

And it's usually a projection of U.S. power. And I think, unfortunately, the United States is walking into this General Assembly meeting a bit on its back foot. This war is looking more and more like a quagmire. We don't have a clear exit strategy. And now, you have our Gulf allies and partners saying, OK, now we have this Houthi offensive opening up that's potentially leading to a horizontal escalation, meaning that the war could open up another front in the Red Sea. And is the United States going to stand with us?

And we've seen this president say, you know, we'll send intelligence support. We're sending military generals to Saudi to coordinate on things. But the United States and this administration seems like they do not want to enter another offensive right now because, frankly, we haven't even, you know, we're still very much entangled in Iran right now.

BROWN: General, what do you think the U.S. should do right now?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST AND U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, I need to tell you what Sabrina just said is spot on. I don't think the Trump administration really cares what the international community thinks, which is incredibly unfortunate. What the United States needs to do right now is certainly, I think, encourage the Saudis to figure out a way to minimize the impact of the Houthis. That is a very difficult task.

What has happened over the course of the last decade plus, you know, the Saudis have been trying to eliminate the Houthis without result, but they've been doing it essentially through a campaign of an air campaign and over the horizon type of an effort in order to eliminate or at least defeat. We're not going to ever completely destroy, but to defeat the Houthis, which means they may come back at some future date in some form.

But to defeat the Houthis, there must be the injection of forces on the ground. And I guarantee you, the United States will not be a part of that. They will provide support in terms of command-and-control type of efforts, intelligence type of efforts, logistics as necessary. But there will be no direct U.S. engagement in that necessary step to eliminate the Houthis.

And then more broadly, clearly, the Mideast is the challenge right now. And based on the National Security Strategy published about a year ago, the Mideast was number four out of a priority list of five. Yet now it is absolutely got the focus of the world and the United States, quite frankly, very entangled fight.

BROWN: Sabrina, obviously, Americans have been very tuned in with what's happening, the Iran war, because we've seen the real-world impact here at home as well. Why should Americans also be paying close attention to the fact that this conflict is widening?

SINGH: This was something that we dealt with in the Biden administration and something that I spoke to at when I was at the Pentagon. I mean, we were launching strikes against the Houthis because they were interrupting shipping in the Red Sea. I think the difference here is that we brought together a coalition of countries to combat that threat.

I think what Americans need to be worried about is this is another passage that oil flows through. So, if the Houthis close off the Bab al-Mandeb, that is yet another choke point for oil and diesel and everything that we rely on as an economy and the global economy. So, that means prices are going to go up and that means diesel in particular is going to keep rising. And diesel, as we know, is really the backbone that moves everything from groceries to packages to our homes and to our grocery stores.

And so, you're going to see prices go up. And I think when you have more global choke points getting closed off, people are going to feel it in their pocketbooks. And that's what they should expect to continue as long as this war continues on.

BROWN: And, General, what message does it send if the U.S. doesn't do what the Saudis are asking for right now in this moment?

MARKS: Well, it's a matter of a practical response. Can the United States do it? The short answer is sure. The United States has the capacity to do that. Is it a priority at this point when the challenge with Iran has a much incredibly long tail? And can the Saudis, with the support of the United States, as described, it would be qualified, do sufficient application of force and economics in order to achieve some type of an opening?

Look, the opening, I would say, technically, the Bab al-Mandeb is open. Commercially, it is challenged. And that's the problem. And what the Houthis have been able to is they now control Yemen's access to the Red Sea. And so, those ports that they now own control access to the Bab al-Mandeb. And they've indicated if it's a Saudi vessel, it's not going to go through. Everybody else can come through. Well, that gives them complete authority in terms of how they want to control that and maintain access to that. It's not their job, clearly, to do that. But they own that at this point.

So, the United States certainly has options, but it's a matter of trying to establish the priorities of those. And I think it's fair to say the economics will remain very, very challenged domestically.

[11:50:00]

BROWN: I want to talk about what's going on with the war in Ukraine. We saw this this big Moscow, I believe the biggest one we've seen since the war started to President Trump is due to meet with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the UNGA. What can we expect from this meeting?

SINGH: Well, you know, it's interesting. Today, the President on Truth Social put out a post that essentially indicated that he was blaming Russia for some of the diesel shortages that the world is seeing. So, it's an interesting change of tone from where we were back in February 2025, where, you know, that infamous Oval Office meeting. I think what you're going to see here from this meeting that is going to happen on the sidelines is Ukraine once again, pressing the United States for some of the interceptors that it needs.

We know that this could be a very, not just dangerous, but an essential winter where we know Russia is going to target their energy supplies. And we saw that last winter. And so, going into this winter, they're going to want to make sure that they are well stocked on their defensive capabilities. Of course, we know this is also something that the United States is running well short of in the war in Iran.

So, I think you're going to see Zelenskyy push for that. And then you're going to see, I think Zelenskyy reiterate that we are ready to move forward with some type of peace agreement, but Russia is not serious about coming to the table to negotiate some type of ceasefire. So, we'll see what happens after these meetings. It's a good thing that they're meeting on the sidelines, but the results I think remain to be seen.

BROWN: All right. Sabrina Singh, Major General James Spider Marks, thank you both. Great to have you both on. And coming up, how a potential cluster of childhood cancer cases has one community demanding answers and doing whatever it takes to get to the bottom of what's happening here.

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BROWN: Happening now, health officials are investigating an unusual string of rare pediatric cancers in a small Southern California town. Families in Ladera Ranch say they have seen at least one case of Ewing's sarcoma per year since 2021. To put that in perspective, the American Cancer Society says only 200 children and young adults in the entire U.S. are diagnosed with it every year.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is in Los Angeles, and you spoke with several families, Julia, dealing with this. What did they tell you?

[11:55:00]

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the first thing, Pamela, is that they want to get an answer. They want to know if these cases are related. And as of now, we don't know yet. Of course, this is the beginning of an investigation by the California Department of Public Health and the Cancer Registry, but it's taken a while for them to get the attention of their officials, starting with their HOA and going up into the county supervisor, now finally with state authorities.

I want to tell you about the person we see on the screen there. That's Brian Dalton. He's Lilly Dalton's father. His daughter was 23 years old when she died, a recent college graduate, and she battled a really difficult, a tough battle with cancer that basically took their family to have to do something. He said, I don't want any other parent to be where I am today trying to explain how difficult it is to battle a cancer that is not just a cancer, but it's also so rare and there's lack of information, Pamela.

Another family is the family of Brody Madison. And I mentioned Brody because it was after his death earlier this year in March that families really started to get together and compare their notes. Brody was beloved in the community. He was a football player. He was on those fields in Ladera Ranch every day, just in soccer, baseball, football. He was out there every day. His dad told me that he wanted people to know what was going on. And so, his mother was one of the people who started taking down names and organizing.

Eventually the community formed something called the Ladera Health Watch, and they started demanding those answers. They went to the HOA. They went to -- they asked about the water quality. They asked about what could be in the soil. And all of these questions are questions that scientists are saying, Pamela, are worth asking at this point.

BROWN: And what have you heard from officials about their investigation? Where do things stand?

JONES: Well, they've gotten a lot of attention from local media here in Southern California, and that has helped catapult it. So, there is now an investigation going on from the California Health Department and the Cancer Registry to figure out the first step of this, Pamela, is, is this unusual? I know it could sound like, of course, it's unusual, but they still have to determine that to then figure out if there is an environmental cause for these cancers that has affected so many children in this community.

BROWN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, understandably, they all want answers. What's going on here? Thank you so much.

And thank you all for joining us this morning. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning at 10:00 Eastern Inside Politics with our friend and colleague Manu Raju starts after a quick break. [12:00:00]