CNN cut away from Vice President JD Vance mid-briefing Thursday to launch live coverage of the Obama Presidential Center's grand opening.
Vance was at the White House podium fielding questions about the newly signed memorandum of understanding with Iran when anchor Pamela Brown pulled the plug on the briefing.
"Alright. You've been listening to Vice President JD Vance speaking about this memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, saying that the 60-day negotiating period starts today," Brown said. "We now turn to our special coverage of the opening ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center."
She directed viewers who wanted to keep watching the briefing to CNN All Access via an on-screen QR code.
The network handed off to CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Sara Sidner, who were covering the star-studded Chicago ceremony.
"History unfolding right now on the South Side of Chicago," Blitzer said. "Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama both about to speak on this stage as they unveil the museum and the cultural center that will define their legacy for generations to come."
Sidner, reporting live from Jackson Park, described a scene electric with anticipation.
"There are thousands of people now gathered here," she said, noting the site sits near where Obama launched a career that would see him elected as the nation's first African American president. "The energy here, as high as it gets, and we're just minutes away from the beginning of this ceremony."
Vance had been in the middle of answering a reporter's question about whether the administration planned to brief Congress on the deal's sanctions waivers under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.
