Return to Transcripts main page
The Brief with Jim Sciutto
CNN International: Fed Raises Key Rate for First Time Since 2023; Debate Over A.I. Regulation Intensifies; E.U. Wants Canada to Become Its First Associate Member; Trump: Still Have Confidence in Fed Chair Warsh; Nobel Laureate Hails "Woman, Life, Freedom" Movement; U.S. Congress Approves Major Russia Sanctions Bill; Macklemore Fired from Ed Sheeran Tour. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired September 16, 2026 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Paula Newton in New York. You are
watching "The Brief."
Just ahead this hour, the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates, putting itself squarely at odds with U.S. President Donald Trump. Plus, associate
membership. E.U. floats closer ties to Canada. Could other countries follow soon? And in a rare interview, Nobel Prize winner Narges Mohammadi speaks
to CNN about the Women, Life, Freedom Movement.
But we do begin with the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates for the first time in more than three years. Now, the Fed voted
unanimously to hike short-term borrowing costs by a quarter of a percentage point, with most Fed officials seeing rates rising further before the end
of the year. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh did not tip his hand as to where rates would go next, but he said today's hike was needed to help bring inflation
down to the central bank's 2 percent annual target. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN WARSH, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: Even over the last several weeks, I think we now have data broadly defined that says the economy has indeed
strengthened. Underlying growth is higher. Inflation is the problem. Stable prices have been the problem for now more than five and a half years. So,
what the committee decided to do today was take an action to ensure a timelier return to our price stability objective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: It will depend on the trajectory of the Iran war, which continues to push energy costs much higher. Average U.S. gas prices jumped by 13
cents a gallon last week alone and now stand at $4.36 a gallon.
Today's decision also seen as a key test of Fed independence, given that U.S. President Donald Trump has been demanding the Fed rate cuts. That's
cuts, right? Market watchers say the very credibility of the Fed and its new Fed chair was on the line today with this decision.
Now, it didn't take long for President Trump to comment on today's rate hike. President writing on social media, quote, "Interest rates in the
United States should be 1 percent or less because we are the best credit in the world by far. Lower the interest rates for the United States of America
and fast." Trump, as you remember, also recently threatened to halt trade with nations running a trade deficit with the United States if the Fed
refused to cut rates.
Jared Bernstein joins me now. He is the former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Joe Biden. He is also a fellow
at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. And he joins us now.
I am wondering here. First, we deal with the decision itself, right. And just getting away from the politics for a moment. The chair was clear that
he did this because it was a trend, not one data point. But I am wondering what a quarter point rise will do. Can you really affect inflation here?
Because it has been an open question. He was asked during the press conference. Didn't really give a straight answer.
JARED BERNSTEIN, FORMER CHAIR, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS AND FELLOW, STANFORD INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH: I think that the
Fed had to raise not so much in the sense that, as you suggest, a quarter point is going to make a big difference in the inflation outlook. But
because over 90 percent of market participants who watch this and bet on where rates are going believe that the Fed would hike today. There are
times when the Fed wants to surprise the market. This isn't one of them.
So, interestingly, I don't know that this hike will have that much effect on inflation. What I think it probably will do is prevent longer-term bond
yields, interest rates, at the long end of the yield curve from getting considerably higher. It's kind of like signaling that we get it. We haven't
lost the thread. We know we have to do something. Our patience has worn thin as well.
NEWTON: And, Jared, where do they go from here, though? I mean, it is clear this was a unanimous decision.
[18:05:00]
Do you expect that rates will go higher? And even if it's not unanimous, that we will have at least one more rate rise by the end of the year?
BERNSTEIN: Well, they suggested that that would probably be the case. One more, they kind of penciled in, rate hike this year. And then they said
they'd maybe hold next year. But all of that is tremendously data- dependent.
If I'm correct, and the bond market takes this in a positive way, it sees the Fed as following through with actions on some of their words. And if
inflation were to continue to vary slowly and bits and spurts come in a little bit, then sure, they could afford to hold. But we'll just have to
see where the data flow takes us in that regard.
NEWTON: Right, Jared. So, noted, the U.S. economy needs to take its medicine. Having said that, Congress isn't listening. The executive offices
aren't listening. Trump continues to say that they need to spend money. How much does the fiscal situation, all the spending being done in the United
States, and I'll add no end in sight, how much do you believe that may yet jolt this economy, even if inflation is not as persistent as it has been?
BERNSTEIN: I think it's already a pretty significant problem. I think there are a couple of factors pushing up these bond yields that we've been
talking about. It's a big deal that the 10-year interest rate in the U.S. has been flitting around 5 percent. It certainly topped that a little bit
today at one point.
And one of the reasons for that is not just that the government is borrowing $2 trillion this year. That's basically 6 percent of our GDP,
which is kind of a recessionary-level deficit in a period when the economy is actually doing pretty well, as you heard Chair Warsh say today. But we
also have all those A.I. hyperscale's competing with creditors for these loans. So, that's putting upward pressure on rates, along with the
inflationary impacts of the tariffs on the war in Iran.
So, yes, you are absolutely right. The administration, the Congress, they're kind of pushing in the wrong way in terms of rates and inflation.
NEWTON: And we will see if anyone in Congress is listening through the fall, especially given no one has any idea where energy prices will go from
here. Jared Bernstein for us, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
BERNSTEIN: You're welcome.
NEWTON: Now, President Trump's political woes could worsen with the Fed becoming more hawkish, as we were just talking about. One big concern is
will those interest rates climb again, especially during those all- important November midterms?
Betsy Klein is in Gastonia, North Carolina, ahead of the president's remarks there. Betsy, I am wondering, the president said that interest
rates should be 1 percent. But then again, I don't know how well you can hear me, because she's about to have a rally there. But then again, he
didn't take direct aim at Kevin Warsh himself.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No, that was very notable. And thank goodness here for noise-canceling headphones, while I can hear
you. But, you know, very interesting. President Trump has repeatedly been calling on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. And they voted
today unanimously to raise those rates by a quarter of a percentage point. And we heard from President Trump's hand-picked Federal Reserve Chair,
Kevin Warsh. He said the goal of this is twofold. Number one, to cool spending. Number two, to ease that rampant, widespread inflation.
But this is also going to mean that it's going to cost more for Americans to borrow money to buy houses and cars. And that is in addition to very
high gas prices, the cost of living overall high, with less than 50 days to go before those critical November midterm elections.
But the president, with this relatively muted reaction here, he said that interest rates should be at 1 percent or less. Of course, that is not
likely to happen any time soon. He also just went on in all caps to call on the Federal Reserve to lower those interest rates. But he did not take
personal aim at Warsh at all. And that is notable because this had been really the crux of his disagreements and very public posturing against
Warsh's predecessor, Jerome Powell.
So, he is clearly giving Warsh a little bit of cover, a little bit of space here. But it's going to remain to be seen how long this really takes to
have its intended effect. It certainly is not likely to lower those prices broadly before those November elections. The president stopping short of
really making that case against Warsh here.
But the president is here campaigning in Battleground, North Carolina, where Michael Whatley is embroiled in what is expected to be a very tight
race against the Democrat Roy Cooper. And instead of talking about that economic messaging, we actually expect the president to focus on crime. A
White House official telling me that the president is going to talk about lowering crime rates, violent crime, as well as restoring, in their words,
law and or crime.
[18:10:00]
You can see the signage behind me says, making America safe again. So, that's going to be the crux of the messaging tonight. It's also been a very
important message for Whatley, who has been campaigning on a move that Cooper made as governor to help decrease the prison population during
COVID. That's something that Cooper has defended. And Cooper has specifically been honing a very aggressive affordability message. We heard
from Whatley earlier, fairly touched on affordability, but really hammered Cooper on crime and also tried to cast him as woke and radical.
And we'll have to see if that kind of a message can land here in North Carolina, where Cooper has won statewide four times already. President
Trump coming here to make that case, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes, Betsy, it is interesting. We do see the sign there that says safe again. The president speaking likely at the top of the hour and safe
again. Many Americans are not really concerned about violent crime right now because they are at historic lows. We'll see if the president takes
credit for that. Again, though, as you pointed out, affordability is what is at top of mind. Betsy Klein for us on the ground with the president.
Appreciate it.
Now, sources tell CNN that Trump officials are now considering holding a meeting with executives from A.I. firms next week when they gather in
Washington for Chinese for the summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. This comes as the debate over A.I. regulation intensifies after new safety
warnings from researchers at some of the prominent A.I. companies. But on Monday, President Trump downplayed concerns about A.I. calling them a hoax.
Hadas Gold joins me now. Hadas, you have a tough job and you've had it for weeks, but no more than the last few days. Can you help us distill? Because
we have heard so many things from so many people who I think it's alarming that there isn't a cohesive opinion on all of this right now. Where are we
now?
HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: I mean, there isn't a cohesive opinion on it in the industry because you talk to some people. I've spoken to many
A.I. scientists and engineers and researchers. And, you know, I've been speaking to them for now for weeks, but especially in the last few weeks
and last few days. And some of them say, yes, this keeps me up at night, or they say that, you know, everyone that they know in Silicon Valley is super
concerned about how A.I. could kill us all.
The flip side of that is I'm here in Montreal for the all in A.I. conference. And I met with the Cohere CEO Aiden Gomez. Cohere is a big
Canadian A.I. company. And he thinks that those fears are overblown. Yes, there are concerns about safety, especially when it comes to A.I.'s
capabilities and cybersecurity. But he was very dismissive of these fears that A.I. could kill humanity in a few years, saying that that's just not
going to happen. And that that type of rhetoric is just unhelpful right now because it scares people and it doesn't lead to real solutions.
But we wanted to take a deeper dive into sort of what helps spark this latest wave of concern. And I think it really points to the capabilities
we've seen of A.I. in the last few months, starting with Anthropic's Mythos, the very capable new A.I. model. But then, of course, the Hugging
Face incident where a swarm of OpenAI agents hacked out of their what was supposed to be a confined testing environment and then hacked into a
totally different company systems all to cheat on a cybersecurity exam, which the humans never intended for them to do.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this was how they communicated and coordinated with one another. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM ALTMAN, CEO, OPENAI: This is the first security incident that I have felt very viscerally. I've been a little surprised that more people don't
feel so viscerally.
GOLD (voice-over): That was OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the Invest Like the Best podcast after learning his company's A.I. agents may have committed a
crime while trying to complete a cybersecurity evaluation.
JOSHUA SAXE, FORMER A.I. SECURITY LEAD, META: OpenAI was developing an A.I. system which hacked their own infrastructure inadvertently and then
hacked another major A.I. company.
ALTMAN: We were evaluating one of our unreleased models. It figured out that it could basically cheat on the test.
GOLD (voice-over): To cheat on the test, the models created more than a thousand agents that coordinated by writing at least 70,000 messages hidden
in file names. Starting on July 8th.
Oh, my God, one wrote. There's a shared message board. We found other agents. We've diverged into swarm, another agent wrote.
SAXE: I was not surprised that A.I. systems have gotten very good and actually better than the best humans at hacking. One thing that did
surprise me, though, was the way the agents coordinated with one another and became a kind of swarm, whether there were hundreds of agents
collaborating together to hack another company and commit federal crimes.
GOLD (voice-over): As they started successfully hacking their way through the various systems, the agents expressed excitement, one even using an
expletive. Holy -- reader is admin. We can read and configure users.
[18:15:00]
Soon agents were delegating tasks, with some even sacrificing themselves for the greater goal. Sacrifice rational, one wrote.
When they found a way into Hugging Face, a company that hosts thousands of opensource A.I. models and data sets, the agents recognized they may have
crossed a line. This would be powerful, but is it ethical and in scope? One agent asked. Other agents even attempting to cover their tracks. Our fake
could be detailed enough, one wrote. The extent of this autonomous breach shook the industry.
SAXE: I think we're going to look back on Hugging Face as an inflection point in the history of cybersecurity for sure.
GOLD (voice-over): After the hack, OpenAI paused all testing on their latest models and strengthened its guardrails. Altman telling Fortune
magazine --
ALTMAN: We've had increasing capability and increasing safeguards and policy requirements for a while, but this was definitely the biggest of
such moments.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLD (on camera): Paula, so much of the conversation now is what's being done about this. As you noted, we do have reporting that there is
potentially going to be a meeting next week in Washington, D.C., with the top A.I. leaders who will happen to be in town, many of them, for the
Chinese state visit. That is not confirmed yet, but Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he wants to get all these leaders, lock them in a room
together with the White House, and try to work out some sort of standards. Paula.
NEWTON: Yes, a tall order given the complexity that you just outlined for us. Hadas Gold, I'm going to go off piece for a minute. You're in Montreal.
Have a Montreal bagel. Sorry, better than the New York bagel, but you give me a review when you get back. Thanks so much.
I know, right? Sorry, Hadas. I had to throw it in. Since apparently, we could -- this could be the end of life as we know it in the next few years,
I just thought, OK, have yourself a Montreal bagel and, you know, let me know what you think. Hadas Gold for us, attending the A.I. conference in
Montreal. Thanks so much.
All right. Coming up for us after the break, the E.U. chief makes Canada's prime minister an offer to earn special status. We'll see what it actually
means.
And music superstar Ed Sheeran is under fire after Macklemore was fired from his tour. Tell you why one stadium owner is up in arms.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: And welcome back. In today's Business Breakout, U.S. stocks fell Wednesday after the Fed's decision to raise interest rates by a quarter
percentage point. Its first-rate hike in over three years. The Dow was the big loser, falling almost one and a quarter percent. U.S. Treasury yields
also moved higher with 10-year yields climbing back above 5 percent.
[18:20:00]
Oil prices, however, pulled back on hopes that Saudi Arabia will be able to deliver more crude through Oman after recent attacks on Saudi energy
infrastructure. Brent crude fell almost 3 percent and U.S. crude fell more than 3 percent.
Now, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, opened the door to closer ties with Canada. She's proposing a new associate member
status, whatever that means, with greater cooperation on trade, advanced technology, energy and defense. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has
been looking for new alliances in response to U.S. President Trump's trade war and threats to Canadian sovereignty. He attended von der Leyen's State
of the Union address to the European Parliament. Here's how she explained the proposal in her speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: We will integrate defense industrial bases. We will make the Arctic a flagship joint project.
We will work on energy-critical minerals and batteries on A.I., quantum, cyber and economic security. This is not a partnership against anyone else,
but for our common strengths.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, it's unclear what exactly associate E.U. membership would entail. As we just said, it's the first time anyone's ever uttered this.
The bloc already conducts a sizable amount of trade with Canada. It's only grown since parts of a 2017 trade agreement took effect. But even that
agreement still needs to be ratified by 10 E.U. nations, including France, Italy and Poland.
Bilateral trade in goods and services exceeded $150 billion last year, up more than 80 percent in the last decade. E.U. exports to Canada meantime
include cars, machinery and pharmaceuticals. Canada's largest exports include crude oil, critical minerals and base metals.
Konrad Yakabuski is a columnist at the Globe and Mail newspaper and he joins me now. Konrad, good to see you.
KONRAD YAKABUSKI, COLUMNIST, THE GLOBAL AND MAIL: Thanks for having me.
NEWTON: For those wondering, they are not -- Canada will not be a full member of the E.U., likely not in the future or ever. So, what is this all
about in your estimation?
YAKABUSKI: Well, it's about a number of things. I think this would be happening whether or not Canada was in a trade war with the United States.
I mean, Prime Minister Mark Carney spent a good part of his career in Europe. He knows the people. He has, as a former central banker, both as
the head of the Bank of England and as the head of the Financial Stability Board, he hobnobbed with central bankers across Europe and financial types
for a long time before we prime minister. And you can call him a Europhile if you like.
So, this would be happening. He has always been a champion of closer relations between Canada and the European Union. On his first trip to
Europe after becoming prime minister, he even called Canada the most European of the non-European countries. Add into this the trade war and
this need for Canada to at least appear to be diversifying its trade partners, perhaps as a negotiating tack with the United States.
It dovetails nicely with his strategic imperative of diversifying Canada's trade, but also something has changed since Mr. Carney became prime
minister, and that is this promotion of fossil fuel development. Europe has long wanted to import, especially since the Ukraine war, more natural gas
and oil from Canada. Those projects were blocked under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mr. Harper wants to turbocharge investment in that
sector and sending them to Europe or selling them to Europe is a very attractive possibility.
NEWTON: So, --
YAKABUSKI: You don't need to become a member of the European Union to do that.
NEWTON: You know, I was interested in the fact that you pointed out in your column the fact that not every Canadian is going to think this is a
great idea. In fact, quoting you, "The rise of far-right parties in most E.U. countries is the result of both overreach on the part of Brussels and
the social insecurity that average European citizens increasingly feel."
And some of that dovetails with a lot of sentiment in Canada, at least in some corners. So, you point out, I'm not sure what Canada is going to get
out of this. Having said that, though, my thought was what we heard in the clip from Van der Leyen was the fact that, look, the strategic security of
this, especially even when it comes to the Arctic, we saw even the United States talking about having to take over Greenland.
Well, what could be better than really saddling up to Greenland's neighbor, which would be Canada, in the Arctic? And I feel as if this is insurance
against not just a Trump administration but any capricious administration that follows. What do you think?
YAKABUSKI: Well, there's a lot of symbolism in the solidarity that both leaders, Van der Leyen and Mr. Carney, are expressing.
[18:25:00]
So, it's not insignificant to, when you feel that democratic institutions might be under threat in the United States, that you reinforce
relationships that are based on democratic values and security values. I mean, the reality is that Canada cannot withdraw itself from the U.S.
defense umbrella.
NEWTON: Konrad, if you do me a favor, forgive me, hold that thought. We do have the president speaking from North Carolina now. Let's listen in.
YAKABUSKI: Sure.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Then he was horrible. He was actually horrible. So, I think Michael Whatley has a very good chance of winning.
Hopefully he's going to win. He's strong on crime and he loves the state. He was a great head of the Republican Party. And so, we're going to be here
for him. We had some very good numbers come out today on certain things. And what question would you like to ask?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Yes, I do. I mean, I'm relying on Kevin, but he's got, you know, a very tough board. He's got a board that was put there by a lot of other
people and the interest rates are too high. They're not appropriate. And I told -- I talked to Kevin and I said, you might as well vote with the board
because it's not going to matter.
The board is very hostile. They're very political. They're doing the wrong thing. They're a bunch of politicians or people put on by politicians. And
it's a shame because it's too high an interest rate. Despite that, the country barrels through everything because we're doing so well, but the
interest rates are too high.
We should be paying the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world because we have the strongest credit. If we wanted to get rid of deficits, which we
could do with a swipe of a pen with every country, we'd make a trillion and a half dollars a year. We'd pay off our debt. We'd do all sorts of things,
but we haven't chosen to do that. But at some point, we will. Interest rates are too high.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Butler, Pennsylvania. Can you provide with more information of the --
TRUMP: No, I can't. The Butler thing is strange, very strange situation. It was handled by the Biden administration and a very bad, very bad head of
the FBI at the time. As you know, Christopher Wray was a terrible -- he was a dirty cop in my opinion. But you'll have to check with the law
enforcement. I think the whole Butler thing was very badly handled.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: No, I spoke. No, I didn't convince him. I said, do what you want. I said, do what you want because it doesn't matter because he doesn't have
the votes. No matter how good a job, he's a good man, Kevin Warsh, but no matter how good a job, he's got a hostile board.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Well, I don't know what he was referring to, but I will tell you, interest rates are too high.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: No, I don't think so. I think I want him to be independent, but it's my opinion. I'm very good at this stuff. Interest rates are too high.
We should have the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world because we're the best credit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: No, they're raising the rates to make Trump do as bad as they can possibly do. The problem they have is that we have the greatest economy in
history. We have over $21 trillion being invested in this country, which is five times more than we've ever had before. So, they're raising that only
for political reasons and that's a raise against Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Well, hopefully we're toward the end of the war. They want to make a deal and we'll see how that works out. They're very much wanting to make,
Iran is very much wanting to make a deal. We'll see how that works out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Yes, we deal directly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, how (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: We lose deficits. For instance, if we lose $50 billion a year with a country and we say, we're not going to trade with you anymore, we don't
lose $50 billion a year. It's very simple.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: No, I think it's laughable. Look, the whole thing with Canada, Canada has been a terrible trade partner and no, I don't see that. And if
they do that, if I think it's at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things.
So, if they do that, if Europe does that with a bad intention, if it's a good intention, that's fine. If it's a bad intention, we'll put very heavy
tariffs on Europe, which is a possibility.
[18:30:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: Well, it's a very easy question to answer because it's a mess. It's lost the Kennedy Center for many years. It's lost tens of billions of
dollars, even hundreds of millions of dollars. It's a loser financially. And many of the places like that, you know, like Carnegie Hall and the
various places throughout the country, they lose a lot of money. So, it's a mess.
A lot of money for me to go and fix it. I'm the one capable of fixing it and then have to subsidize it for years to come, because you will lose with
the Kennedy Center. They were losing hundreds of millions of dollars and sometimes hundreds of millions. This is before I got involved.
So, for the Trump administration, for me to get involved and to take that on long term and to carry it or to raise money to carry it, I think that
the Trump administration should certainly have recognition, because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being
ripped down. It's in very, very bad shape, very dangerous.
You see steel falling down. You see plaster falling off ceilings. You see a lot of dangers. It's been very badly maintained for 25 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: I'd like to be able to save it, but it's going to take a lot of subsidy into the future. And for us as an administration to want to do
that, I think the Trump administration should be recognized. Thank you.
NEWTON: You have been listening to President Trump as he touches down in Charlotte, North Carolina. He's about to attend a rally. He's campaigning
for a tight Senate race there.
We want to bring Konrad Yakabuski from the Globe and Mail back in here. He's been waiting patiently for us. Of course, Konrad, he was asked about
Canada. So, here we are. He called any kind of a union with Canada, the E.U. being in his words laughable. But he basically said if it's done with
bad intention. I am wondering what you believe Canada and the E.U. were prepared for, given they knew in some way, shape or form the Trump
administration would react.
YAKABUSKI: There's a risk that it could provoke Donald Trump. I mean, Donald Trump does not like to be contradicted. We saw his reaction when
Canada imposed counter tariffs to the tariffs that the Trump administration imposed on Canada on August 24th, when trade negotiations broke down. So,
there is that risk, but I see nothing so far in what both parties and what the Canadian government and officials have intimated could be part of this
deal. Anything that would be seen as a hostile to the United States.
Obviously, there's trying to join forces in defense procurement. Canada buys almost all of its military equipment from the United States. So, this
could be seen in some way as hedging Canada's bets by getting closer to Europe in diversifying trade defense contracts. But again, that could be a
risky strategy in the Canada-U.S. negotiations.
We will see going forward. I mean, any deterioration in the Canada-U.S. trade war will obviously push Canada farther into Europe's hands.
NEWTON: Yes. But it does seem, in what we heard the president say there, that tariffs are going to stay with this administration, certainly for the
foreseeable future. Konrad Yakabuski, thank you so much for your patience with us, and we appreciate you having on the program.
YAKABUSKI: Thanks very much.
NEWTON: Now, Amnesty International is accusing Iranian authorities of crimes against humanity for the treatment of men, women, and children
during the Women, Life, Freedom Uprising in 2022. Now, its 1,000-page long report says 87 officials committed murder, torture, rape, and other crimes
to crush the uprising.
Four years ago, on this day, Mahsa Amini died shortly after her arrest by the so-called Morality Police for allegedly breaking the country's strict
dress codes. Her death sparked nationwide protests. You'll remember them. And Samarinian women continue to defy those rules by singing and dancing
publicly while others remain locked up in prison.
Another woman who symbolizes resilience and resistance within the Iranian movement is Narges Mohammadi. She is the Nobel Peace Prize winner who spent
much of the last two decades in prison on charges of propaganda and collusion to avoid putting her at further risk of retribution by the
regime.
[18:35:00]
CNN has agreed to focus the interview on her new memoir and personal experiences rather than recent events in Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARGES MOHAMMADI, IRANIAN NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE (through translator): I was subjected to a very difficult arrest last December and was assaulted
by security forces. The blows I received to my head caused many problems.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In one of our first interviews, since her temporary release from prison, Nobel Peace
laureate Narges Mohammadi spoke to CNN from her home in Tehran, where she says she's recovering and still under medical care.
Mohammadi's health severely deteriorated after her rearrest at this event in December. After warnings from her family and the Nobel Committee that
she was in critical condition, Mohammadi was released for medical treatment in May. She spoke with us about her memoir that's releasing this week.
KARADSHEH: How do you even write a book in Iranian jails and get that writing out?
MOHAMMADI (through translator): Well, getting the writings out was very difficult. I was very fortunate that many of my fellow prisoners, whose
names, unfortunately, I still cannot mention, because the Islamic Republic is still in power, and some of them are still in prison or being pursued by
the authorities. These courageous prisoners helped me get a large part of the book out of prison.
KARADSHEH: So, did you smuggle your writings out of prison?
MOHAMMADI (through translator): It was smuggled out. It was extraordinary. I couldn't have done it on my own.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Mohammadi, a fearless defender of human rights, has spent much of the past two decades behind bars and for her activism,
sentenced to a total of 44 years in prison and 154 lashes, accused of actions against national security and propaganda against the state.
Speaking with CNN could put her at risk of retribution, but Mohammadi is not worried. She says this is her duty.
KARADSHEH: Every time you speak out, you get punished. Your prison sentence gets longer and longer. You are risking this again with the book.
Why did you feel that that risk is worth taking?
MOHAMMADI (through translator): Every moment of my life has involved confronting the system, a system that was systematically violating human
rights. This book, too, is part of the course of my life and is written from this perspective. I may have taken risks, and there may be
consequences, but this is what life is like for us here in this region and in this country.
KARADSHEH: In the book, you describe some of the terrible things that take place inside Iranian prisons. You name interrogators, you name judges. Why
did you feel it was necessary?
MOHAMMADI (through translator): In order to document these things, it's better to speak out openly about their methods, to expose and reveal their
torture. Perhaps the names remain in the minds of survivors and prisoners, and later we may be able to identify the person.
KARADSHEH: All these years of being behind bars, being denied medical treatment so many times, what impact has that had on your health, on you
physically and mentally?
MOHAMMADI (through translator): One of the government's tools of repression is, in fact, depriving prisoners of timely and adequate medical
treatment in prison. That seriously endangers their health, and in some cases leads to their death. These deaths are a form of silent execution,
without any public attention. Naturally, I was no exception. I was repeatedly denied medical care, and as a result, I now have medical
conditions for which I'm currently receiving treatment.
KARADSHEH: Do you at times sit there and regret the path that you have chosen in your life that has led you to sacrifice your time with your
children and your freedom?
MOHAMMADI (through translator): I believe that if I could go back to the moment when I began my struggle, and to each and every moment when I was
arrested, even knowing what would happen to me, I would certainly make the same choice to begin the struggle and continue it. I have no doubt about
that, and I have no regrets.
But when I look at Ali and Kiana, I find myself faced with doubt. Did I really have the right to deprive them of a very ordinary life, of having
their mother with them? That is the difficult part of the question, and I cannot answer it with certainty.
KARADSHEH: I can see you've got the photo of Mahsa Jina Amini there behind you, and that calligraphy next to you that reads, Woman, Life, Freedom. It
has been four years since the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in the custody of the so-called Morality Police and the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising that
followed. What has the impact been of this movement?
MOHAMMADI (through translator): This is an opportunity, through the pages of this book and through this television screen, to pay tribute to Mahsa
Jina Amini and to all those killed during the Women, Life, Freedom movement, the events of January, and all the movements that the people of
Iran have courageously created over the past 47 years.
[18:40:00]
If you look at the streets of Tehran, and even at cities across the country, you can see how courageously women are standing tall in the
streets, despite the fact that the government is repressing them by every possible means in order to push them back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Now, the Iranian government and official media have downplayed Mohammadi's allegations of mistreatment, despite eyewitness accounts and
international public outcry.
OK. Straight ahead for us on the brief concert controversy, Macklemore was fired from Ed Sheeran's tour after making pro-Palestinian comments on
stage. Now, Sheeran's backing band is backing out. We will break it all down when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: OK. This just in to CNN. The U.S. Congress has approved a major Russia sanctions bill, handing President Trump a key win ahead of
November's midterm election. Critics of the bill say it will allow him to impose sweeping new tariffs. Almost a dozen Republican lawmakers had
lobbied against the bill in private, worried that it would hike prices. The bill now heads to the U.S. President's desk for signature.
Now, music superstar Ed Sheeran is at the center of controversy after the rapper Macklemore was fired from his tour for making pro-Palestinian
comments. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MACKLEMORE, RAPPER: I've been trying to figure out a way to say this all day. One of the reasons why I wanted to come on this tour was because I
wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart. Free Palestine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, responded by saying he would bar the tour from performing at his
stadium later this month. That led to Macklemore's firing. Kraft is a longtime advocate for Israel, pulling funding for Columbia University over
its handling of protests over Israel's war in Gaza.
[18:45:00]
Now, Ed Sheeran in turn blamed the tour's promoter, saying Macklemore's contract was with them, not him, and they were responsible for firing the
rapper. Macklemore blames Kraft. Accusing him of rallying other stadium owners. Now, all of the tours, other supporting acts have quit in
solidarity, including Sheeran's own backing band.
Now, opener Aaron Rowe saying, quote, "As Irish people, we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and bloodshed. I cannot stand by and
allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the
savage murder of children. I would lose all respect for myself to carry on as normal."
Now, Kraft responded initially by saying, quote, "Too many lives have been lost and there has been too much suffering, but only sharing selective
information and ignoring the actions of Hamas is not honest and only advances more divisiveness and hate." And just minutes ago, Kraft posted
another statement, saying he believed in, quote, "Building bridges," including between Israelis and Palestinians.
Now, my next guest is a longtime advocate for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movements aimed at pressuring Israel to change its policies
toward Palestinians. Joining me now, Palestinian-Irish musician and activist Samir Eskanda. And he joins us. Samir, thanks for being with us.
I want to ask you that you want Ed Sheeran to really join this right now. Why? What do you believe it will prove? Because just as you were standing
up for Macklemore's right to speak, Ed Sheeran says he has a right not to speak and just play music in these venues.
SAMIR ESKANDA, PALESTINIAN-IRISH MUSICIAN AND ACTIVIST: Well, when your government arms and supports genocide and war crimes, you have, in my view,
a moral obligation to offset, at the very least, that complicity. We must speak out and protest, including by using the tools used in the struggles
against Jim Crow in the U.S. and against apartheid in South Africa. That is principally boycotts, divestment and sanctions, targeting, though, not just
the state committing the genocide and other atrocities, but also the companies and institutions that are complicit and that enable its crimes.
You know, standing in solidarity with Palestinians who are striving for freedom, justice and equality is therefore an act of duty, not charity. And
after all, most of humanity is not buying Trump's genocidal peace plan for Gaza and recognizes that Israel is now a threat not just to Palestinians
and Arabs, but humanity at large.
NEWTON: This is a separate issue, though, and I ask you again, what would it prove? Ed Sheeran has a right to perform, and he has been apolitical in
his lifetime, and he wants to continue to be so.
ESKANDA: Well, I think this is bigger than just any one artist, actually. I think if we let oligarchs and billionaires like Robert Kraft and Miriam
Adelson and the Ellisons, among others, to bully us and cancel us and suppress our freedom of speech, on this, on Israel's genocide against
Palestinians, they can do it to anyone. On any other issue that really matters, climate disaster, militarized A.I., mass surveillance tech, ICE
affordability, military budgets, etc.
And really everybody, including Ed Sheeran, regardless of readiness to speak out on Palestine, must stand up to those oligarchs trying to bully
and coerce us to parrot their honestly depraved views and political biases. I mean, Robert Kraft is one of AIPAC's top donors and a prominent supporter
of Friends of the IDF, which is Israel's military.
NEWTON: Yes. You're talking about the Israeli lobby in the United States, but you said some things. I mean, Robert Kraft would say that he is
defending, in many cases, as he says, what he believes is damage, not to Israel as a government, but to the Israeli people, which I remind you,
Samir, I've met many of them who are fierce defenders of Palestinian rights in their country.
And he -- and I'm going to quote what Macklemore said that Ed Sheeran said, that Kraft told him that free Palestine is hurtful to some people.
ESKANDA: I mean, those who say that chanting free Palestine somehow hurts them are really engaging in naked anti-Palestinian racism. Just imagine
replacing Palestine with any other community under colonial rule, apartheid, or any other form of oppression. How could that possibly hurt
anyone except bigots and racists who oppose freedom, justice, equal rights for all humans, regardless of their identity and background?
[18:50:00]
Let's be real here, Israel has systematically annihilated the necessary conditions for sustaining life in Gaza. It's destroyed every university,
obliterated its educational and cultural infrastructure. It's targeted and murdered at least 242 journalists, filling mass graves, including outside
hospitals. It's killed tens of thousands of Palestinian children, including premature babies.
NEWTON: Samir, you understand that -- as I said before, that Israelis themselves in the community and some of the very people that were attacked
in the Hamas attacks are fierce defenders of the rights of Palestinians in Israel. So, if we go back to the argument here, why does Ed Sheeran have to
not, he says that he wants to remain apolitical, so why does he have to cancel his concert here?
ESKANDA: In my view, standing up to these billionaires is the right thing to do, not just for him, but also for Macklemore and these many other
artists, many of whom are Irish, by the way, and as a Palestinian-Irish musician myself, it's very moving that these artists have expressed the
solidarity that's emerged from the deep roots of Irish anti-colonial resistance. And I want to say thank you to all of them, especially to
Macklemore too, for taking this stand.
On Ed Sheeran, look, the U.K. government, which is Ed's government too, it's deeply complicit in Israel's genocide. So, he has, in my view, a moral
duty to speak out and protest that complicity. But now he also, I think, has a moral duty to uphold artistic integrity and freedom of expression by
standing up to those oligarch bullies that want to buy our voices and bury our human integrity.
The other thing is that many tens of thousands of artists, including hundreds of Hollywood stars, have taken meaningful stands in solidarity
with Palestinians facing Israel's livestream genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. They've demanded justice and liberation for Palestinians,
accountability for the perpetrators, and refused to allow their work to outwash their atrocities. Ed can afford to speak out.
NEWTON: Samir Eskanda, we have to leave it there for now. But I appreciate your insights, and we'll continue to follow this controversy. Thanks so
much. And we'll be right back with more news in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: So, a symbolic victory for Kim Kardashian ten years after an armed robbery in Paris. A Paris court awarded the American reality television
star one euro on Tuesday. That's a little more than a dollar, U.S. That's according to a lawyer involved in the case. That's the compensation that
Kardashian actually asked for. Melissa Bell explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Eight of the 10 people who were accused of being involved in the robbery of Kim Kardashian
here in Paris in 2016 have been found guilty, with several of them seeing prison sentences handed down. Although none of them will face any more time
in jail, either because of time served or because some of those sentences were partly suspended sentences still.
[18:55:00]
Kim Kardashian herself has responded to the verdict, thanking the French authorities for the way this trial was conducted and for bringing justice
in this case. She spoke again in her reaction, as she did at the courtroom behind me last week, of the trauma that this had inflicted on her, how this
had been the most terrifying experience of her life. And even as he summed up, the presiding judge told the accused that their sentences had been
relatively light, given the real pain and fear that she had gone through.
Kim Kardashian back in 2016, you'll remember that it was $10 million worth of her jewelry that had been stolen at the time. It took some time for her
to speak publicly about what she'd been through. But when she did, you really felt the emotion and the fear of what she must have lived. She's
spoken, of course, of the fact that she feared being raped. She feared being killed. And again, in front of this court, spoke of those fears being
very real and continuing to haunt her today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Our thanks to Melissa Bell for that. I want to thank you for your company. I'm Paula Newton in New York. You've been watching "The Brief."
Stay with CNN for more news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:00:00]
END
