Court Temporarily Blocks Media Ban, Trump-Xi White House Meeting, UNGA Diplomacy

"Hey, federal judge, order the Trump administration to let journalists from CNN political and MS now back into the White House." The judge was not persuaded that national security was the real reason behind the bands. What happens next at Trump's media ban? I mean, Martinez, that is Laila Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with President Trump at the White House today. Besides the pop and pageantry the two leaders have, a lot to discuss from Taiwan to Iran and even AI. What are they each looking at? And Iran's president called the U.S. a bully at the United Nations General Assembly. Ukraine's president pushed for a ceasefire with Russia on energy and grain. Is there any real movement toward ending either war? Stay with us. We'll give you the news. You need to start your day. The media organizations are reporting that some of their staffers were denied entry to the White House this morning. That's despite a federal judge ordering the Trump administration just hours earlier to restore access to CNN, MS now, and political. The president had banned them from the grounds of the complex because they quote "purposely right-negative news." In a ruling just after midnight, Judge Timothy Kelly granted a two-week-temperor restraining order to the outlets. The reporters committee for Freedom of the Press had filed a friend of the court brief in the case, supporting the three outlets. NPR is one of the organizations that signed on to that brief. NPR's David Fokinplik joins us now to talk about this. Good morning, David. Good morning. So given that some of these journalists have been denied entry, is the White House defying this court order? Unclear. CNN, Politico, and MS now, it said some of the staffers were denied entry to the White House early this morning. Politico said one of its reporters had their press pass confiscated by the Secret Service was blocked from entering the White House grounds. You saw on the air live this morning on CNN that one of their White House journalists, Betsy Klein, was turned back, although the network says one of its producers was able to enter using their pass. I've spoken to folks at CNN and MS now, and what they're saying at the moment is they're not 100% clear. Is this intentional footragging, an intention to defy, or just logistical complications? Obviously, you've got the Justice Department arguing this case in court. The White House comms department setting out policy and Secret Service in a sense, implementing it. So we don't really know. What did the late night court ruling say exactly? Yeah, this was after midnight last night, or this morning, I should say, Eastern time, is Judge Timothy Kelly. He's a U.S. District Court judge in DC. He ordered the White House representatives to, and these are his words, immediately return reinstate and restore the press credentials, the reporters of the three news organizations. And while the litigation continues, that's a 14-day temporary restraining order, remember the word immediately there. It does not happen immediately, so we have bears watching. He also said, look, these news outlets were likely to succeed in showing that their constitutional rights were violated. Now, this was presented to all of us, publicly, primarily as a free speech, first amendment issue. And that's still a core part of the case being made on behalf of the news organizations. But the judge from the outset had said, you know, that he was focusing on the due process concerns here. It's also a constitutional right that his Trump, President Trump announced yesterday on Friday, on true social, that he wanted to ban these outlets because they were unfair to him and unfair to Republicans and reported false things. And then he said that again, the reporters, and then over the weekend, White House staffers scurried to make that happen without being warned ahead of time that this could happen, the news organizations, without giving them a chance to appeal. And that's part of the due process thing, especially when free speech is involved. In addition, the judge dismissed the idea that claims of national security that the Justice Department made during the court hearing yesterday was the real motivation, or that they really were reasonable grounds at all to object to the kind of reporting. He said, you know, it didn't pass the test of tough scrutiny. Now other major news organizations have stood by CNN, MSNOW, and Politico, not pooling coverage of the President. Does that continue? I mean, today is Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the White House, so what should we expect? It really depends on whether or not CNN is restored to its place doing the pool as it was planned this week. It depends a lot about whether these passes are honored or prevented for, or these folks are prevented from getting access to the White House. I do think at some point that solidarity will crumble as the need to cover the president's surfaces. And PR is David Fokenflick. Thank you, David. You bet. China's leader Xi Jinping and President Trump have a lot to talk about when they meet at the White House leader this morning. Yeah, China has been a big supporter of Iran, and competition over artificial intelligence development is ramping up. And PR White House correspondent Emily Feng is following this Chinese state visit closely and joins me now. Good morning. Morning, Leyla. So what's on the schedule for this summit and what details are you looking for? I am curious about who is going to be at this date dinner tonight, because this meeting is all about symbolism. And so I kind of can't wait to see how Xi Jinping, who is infamously stone-faced, responds to all this pageantry that he's going to be honored with this morning. And also whether Trump makes any change to the U.S. stance on Taiwan. This is a Democratic island that China very much wants control over. And I'm also going to be looking out for whether the two countries can extend a fragile date on despite real friction over issues like export controls and sanctions. And I'll note that hours before the summit, the U.S. Treasury Secretary announced a two-month extension of a truce on rare earths, which is something China dominates, but so far I haven't seen China confirm the details. China really forced the U.S. hand with rare earths, according to Scott Kennedy. He's an economics expert at the Think Tank Center for Strategic and International Studies here in Washington. As a result of that, the administration had to give up Plan A to revolutionize the global economy in its preference, because it just has the reality that we are in an independent world and there are some things that the Chinese provide. You know, that they provide, which the U.S. cannot substitute for, like, rare earths. Now she arrived in the U.S. last night, Trump met him on the tarmac. What was that like? Yeah, there was a welcoming delegation. They unfurled a long red carpet for Xi Jinping and his wife, the singer Pong Yuan. A band played both countries' anthems and then a military fly by buzzed overhead during the last bars of the Star Spangled Banner. This is a really big deal. You know, this is the first time a U.S. president has received a visiting Chinese leader for a state visit on the tarmac. And it's a sign of just the personal importance that Trump puts on Xi's visit. It's a grand gesture that's made waves in China because it makes clear to people in China that this country is now in equal to the U.S. And you might be wondering why you're not hearing sound of this reception on the tarmac. And it's because the moment was not broadcast on major television networks because, as you just heard David talk about, the networks have been protesting Trump banning three news organizations from the White House. Now you've explained just how important this visit is to Trump. Does it carry the same importance to China? It's big news in China. But for Xi Jinping, this is actually just one of several state visits he's made over the last month. He's gone to Egypt and Central Asia as well. Xi's priority expert say to me is to find stability with the U.S. in this visit, even if it means basically, papering over real tensions with the U.S. right now, which then bounces back. It raises the question of, you know, what does this visit do for the U.S.? It highlights what Eli Ratner, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense strength, the last administration, says to me, are deep contradictions in Trump's China policy. And Ratner points out in his first term, Trump really swung U.S. foreign policy into a more aggressive hawkish stance on China. But by and large, they had made a major rhetorical shift and doctrinal shift without really putting in the pieces of a comprehensive competitive strategy. And an example of this contradiction. Trump has repeatedly praised Xi Jinping, who is a leader of a country that's a competitor with the U.S. But then he has criticized traditional U.S. allies like Canada and Taiwan. And PR's Emily Fing, Emily, thank you. Thanks, Leila. Russia's war against Ukraine is spreading and is a threat to the world. That was the message at the United Nations from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He called it a, quote, "crazy war" led by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Can you even imagine him without war? He is patient zero. The one from whom this idea of war keeps spreading further. Iran's president also addressed the world body, accusing the U.S. of being the world's bully. The Trump administration says it wants to promote peace negotiations in both of these complex. Let's bring in NPR's diplomatic correspondent Michele Kaliman to talk about where things stand. Good morning, Michele. Good morning, Leila. Are there signs of any progress in either a war? Well, in Russia, in the Russia Ukraine war at least, Zelensky's been proposing this kind of energy ceasefire because Trump has been unhappy with Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil and gas infrastructure. But the Ukrainians obviously want the Russians to stop attacking Ukraine's energy grids ahead of another tough winter. They also want to allow grain to be exported as before. That's another big issue that has global implications on the world stage. A day after Trump met with Zelensky Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Russia's Foreign Minister. And I asked him afterwards, if Russia would agree to that, take a listen. sides have expressed an interest in some limited ceasefire that involve grain and energy. It doesn't solve the war, but it does, I think, in some ways potentially alleviate some of the global pressures that are being felt as a result of that. So, that's where the diplomacy is focused on this kind of short-term deal, though there's a lot of concern that the conflict is intensifying and expanding as Russia violates NATO airspace. Russia's foreign minister, who spoke at the Security Council meeting on Ukraine yesterday, said Russia has no plans for a pause. That war has appended green and energy markets around the globe. The U.S. war against Iran has also affected the world's economy. President Trump warned Iran that he's ready to annihilate them if they don't reach a deal. What was the Iranian response? So, Iranian president Masood Pazeshkin sounded pretty defiant when he spoke to the UN. He said the Iranians won't bow to this pressure. He said the Iranians are not the terrorists, but they're the victims of terrorism. But despite all that kind of public posturing, the Iranians and the Trump administration, on voice, have been talking here through mediators. Secretary Rubio didn't give much of an indication of how those talks are going. And the Iranians say there was no breakthrough that they just repeated their terms for what they need to reopen the state of Hormuz. But Laila, that conflict is expanding too with the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen now threatening shipping in the Red Sea. And there's no real clear endgame with the Trump administration. I want to ask you about another speaker at the UN, Venezuela's interim leader, Delce Rodriguez, made her address just eight months after the U.S. seized former president, Nicholas Maduro, who's now in jail, just a few miles from the UN. What did she have to say? Well, she seems intent on burnishing her credentials as a stateswoman. And the last time she was here at the UN General Assembly in 2019 as Maduro's vice president, she told the chamber that Venezuela, quote, "does not kneel before any imperial power." This time around, she prays Trump, and she had a photo op with him. He's talked her up too, saying he doesn't think Venezuela is ready for elections. So that gives her more time to consolidate power. That's NPR's diplomatic correspondent, Michele Kellyman, thank you, Michele. And that's up first for Thursday, September 24th, I'm Leyla Faldin. And I'm Amy Martinez. Today's episode of up first was edited by Rebecca Mezzler, Emily Cobb, Miguel Macias, Teranille, Mohamed El Bardici, and Ali Schweitzer is produced by Ziyabuch and Ben Abrams. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas. Our technical director is Karl Exchange and our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dick and the story is getting tomorrow.