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Nation Marks 24 Years Since September 11 Terror Attacks; FBI Gives Update on Search For Shooter Who Killed Charlie Kirk. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired September 11, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Job very long. He was appointed in December last year, took up the post in February, and he seems to have wanted to keep the job. He did not resign. He came out in a podcast interview on Wednesday saying that he deeply regretted his relationship with Epstein, that it went on for far too long. He was taken in by his lies.

[09:00:16]

So, an unfortunate moment for the British government, and of course, coming just six days before that state visit by Donald Trump.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Have to deal with that now, too. Have to deal with that. Clare, thank you very much. I appreciate your reporting. A new hour of CNN NEW CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for remarks from President Trump, who will speak at the Pentagon, marking 24 years since the attacks of September 11th. We're also standing by for an update from the FBI on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a news conference scheduled to begin any minute.

And breaking overnight, you really just heard about it. The British ambassador to the United States fired after the birthday book and emails revealed his close ties to Jeffrey Epstein, describing the convicted sex offender as my best pal.

Sara is out. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEW CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: This morning, a somber emotional day on so many levels, including this. Today is September 11th, where the nation is now remembering and marking the day of the terror -- of the terror attack on America, 24 years ago now, that changed the world as we knew it.

Families have gathered at the 9/11 memorial in lower Manhattan for the powerful, somber tradition of the reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed on that day. And throughout the morning, the nation is observing six moments of silence, as we always do to mark this day. The first was at 8:46 Eastern, the moment the North Tower was hit.

In just a couple minutes from now, at 9:03, we will mark the moment the South Tower was hit. And events are taking place throughout the morning here in New York City, as well as the other sites of this tragedy, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, where President Trump will be arriving to attend events any minute now.

CNN's Jason Carroll is at the memorial in lower Manhattan for us.

Jason, talk to us more about what's going to happen today.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, Kate, we've already had the first moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. that was the moment that the first plane struck the North Tower. And as of late now, we've been hearing the reading of the names.

As you said, nearly 3,000 victims, 3,000 lives lost on that day on 9/11. We've been hearing their names. One of the names that will be read will be the name of Frank Joseph Doyle (ph). Frank was a man who worked at KBW in the South Tower. Their offices used to be located on the 88th and 89th floors. Just a short while ago, I spoke to Kimmy Cheadle (ph). That was Frank's wife. She told me she remembers the day, the time it all happened. She said this is a day about her husband and remembering all of those who lost their lives on that day.

We want to pause now as the second moment of silence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gary Eugene Bird --

CARROLL: Again, that marking, the second moment of silence, the moment at 9:03 a.m. that the second plane struck the South Tower. Again, Frank Joseph Doyle was one of those people in the South Tower. His wife tells me that she remembers talking on the phone with him, Kate, in the moments before that plane struck, telling him to get out of the building, him telling her that he wanted her to know that he loved their children, their children just one and two years old. At the time, he is just one of the many names that we will be hearing being read later today.

Kate?

[09:05:00]

BOLDUAN: Jason, thank you so much for that, marking that moment of silence and more to come today.

John?

BERMAN: All right, and we do have breaking news. We're standing by for an FBI news conference expected to begin any minute now on the urgent manhunt for the shooter who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk. As of now, no suspect has been publicly identified. Two people were taken into custody yesterday, but released after police say they found no ties to the shooting.

There is video that shows the crowd scattering after the single fatal shot was fired. Kirk was just 31 years old, the father of two children and a leading figure among young conservatives and a close ally and really friend of President Trump's. Let's get to seeing as Nick Watt, who was on the ground for us in Orem

in Utah. Standing by, Nick, I can see for this news conference scheduled to begin shortly.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're waiting for an update. It is about 7 a.m. in the morning here, coming up to 19 hours since Kirk was shot. And of course, as every hour passes, that's an extra hour for the suspect to get further away from the scene.

Now, the FBI is appealing for any video, anything that can help them in this search. We know that there is security camera video of the suspect. We know that there is a lot of student shot video of a figure running on a roof clad in dark clothing.

We do not know for certain if that is the shooter. We also know that there are a number of crime scenes currently being analyzed by investigators. They say based on the movements that they know of, of both the victim and the suspect, we, as I say, expect to hear updates now. We don't know what we're going to hear. We are waiting to hear any second.

Now, we know that the suspect wearing jeans, black shirt, black mask, long rifle. That is all we have been told so far. And we believe that the shot was fired from the top of a building here on campus, about 200 yards, a direct line of sight to where Charlie Kirk was sitting under that little easy up tent in the courtyard. We know that there was police activity on the roof of that Losey building where that suspect, potential suspect was seen. There was, there was a police tape. There was police activity. So, that is what we are working with right now.

But John, we expect to hear more hopefully within the next couple of minutes, John.

BERMAN: So Nick, we just saw FBI Director Kash Patel actually a year in Manhattan at the September 11th Memorial. I imagine the people we were here from are local FBI and maybe even local police who are sort of spearheading this investigation. There've been a couple stops and starts over the last, as you say, 19 hours, there were two separate people taken into custody, including one Kash Patel, the FBI Director put out a social media statement saying we have the subject was his words in custody now. Talk to me about the timeline there.

WATT: Yeah, correct. I mean, that's an unusual move for the Director of the FBI to be making that kind of statement when this is being handled by FBI on the ground, but also by local law enforcement. We've also heard a lot from the governor here in Utah who has taken a front position here.

He has said that they are looking for one person. He says this is a political assassination. And he says that there is the death penalty here in Utah.

And if this person is apprehended, the governor intimated that that is something that they would be pursuing. Of course, there's also the possibility here of federal charges that would supersede state charges. But yes, we are expecting to hear from the people on the ground who are actually directing this investigation, this manhunt, which, as they say, the longer it goes, the harder it can get.

John?

BERMAN: FBI Former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told us that you are 100% correct in leading with the time, the hours, every -- every moment we discuss this, because time is the biggest enemy in this investigation. You've been in and around this -- OK, Nick, we're going to let you get in position, I think, for this news conference. We'll come back to you in just a second.

Let's go to Kate. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. We're going to pick that back up when it begins. At the same time, we know that President Trump is expected to be speaking this hour after he described Charlie Kirk's killing as a dark moment for America.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House with more on this. Alayna, what are you and I should say we're looking at live pictures of the president at the Pentagon right now where he is at the ceremony marking September 11th, of course. But Alayna, what are you hearing from the White House about the president's reaction in response to this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, a few things, Kate. I mean, I think one thing that's really important to note is that this isn't political for a lot of people in the White House. Many of them, it's very personal. I mean, they had very close relationships with Charlie Kirk. We saw a very lengthy, you know, roughly 1,000-word kind of eulogy from the vice president, J.D. Vance, just before midnight, describing his very deep personal relationship with Charlie Kirk.

[09:10:25]

I actually spoke with a source familiar, Kate, who told me that the vice president, who was scheduled to go to New York City today for events around the remembrance of 9/11, he's actually canceled those plans. And now the Vice President and the Second Lady, Usha Vance, are going to travel to Salt Lake City to pay respects to Charlie Kirk's family.

Again, I think just, you know, kind of emblematic of how close their relationship was. And I think, you know, to your broader question, I think a lot of people are kind of wondering now what's next. And the president, he gave, you know, in a roughly four-minute video, kind of gave remarks honoring Charlie Kirk. But at points he also did kind of show his anger.

And I think there is a lot of anger, if you've been looking online at a lot of the MAGA movement. People are very angry about what happened, and do -- people do want retribution. We heard the say, essentially, that they are going to be looking at and finding every single person who contributed to this. And so, I think there is going to be a broader question around what is this administration, what is the president going to try to do, and what will the rhetoric around all of this look like as it, you know, potentially moves away from the events of yesterday to the broader question of rising political violence in this country. And so keep an eye out for that. I do believe we'll hear from more people today.

We've already seen a number of people in the president's -- really, his inner circle, people like the White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, his son Donald Trump Jr. The list goes on, sharing stories, their personal memories and relationships with Charlie Kirk. So, you know, I think hopefully we'll be getting some more answers about some of these next steps. But for now, a lot of people in that building behind me just kind of shocked and still in disbelief, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And we also heard from all of the, you know, living former presidents in response, you know, and former President George W. Bush calling on saying, you know, the vitriol, calling for an end for the vitriol and that it has no place in the public square.

And it's, you know, it is on all political leaders in order to do that. The governor of Utah kind of raised an important question, which is everyone needs to look in themselves and ask and wonder, is this -- is this who we are? Is this what we want to be? A question that extends from, you know, small town Indiana where I grew up to the White House behind you. I wonder what that conversation in the reality of kind of the political environment we're in, what that -- if that has begun at the White House, from people you're speaking to, or what that could be coming?

TREENE: Yeah, I mean, I think there's no question. One thing I've heard in a lot of my conversations is that, you know, what happened, particularly when it relates to Charlie Kirk, I mean, he was someone who went on to college campuses. He was really big in the movement for trying to, you know, motivate younger people, specifically students, and try to get them to come over to the Republican side, to, you know, try to convince people to become conservative, try to sell them on some of his conservative beliefs.

And one of the key things that a lot of people have been pointing to, I know, is that this idea that, you know, he welcomed open debate, that a lot of his goal, Charlie Kirk's goal through his work and through Talking Points USA was to try to have these open debates and win people over.

And we've seen -- I've seen now, you know, from a number of White House officials in this building kind of pointing to that and saying that, you know, seeing the political violence at an event like that, at an event on a campus where it is supposed to be about back-and- forth debate, it kind of speaks to, I think, what you were talking to about, the former President George W. Bush's statement saying, you know, that kind -- the debate on college campuses at school should be sacrosanct. They're kind of been emphasizing that, and I think that's --

BOLDUAN: I'm just going to jump in. I'm so sorry, Alayna. Thank you so much.

TREENE: Please do.

BOLDUAN: We're going to jump over. The FBI press are on this, on the ground in Utah. It's beginning right now. Let's listen in.

BEAU MASON, COMMISSIONER, UTAH DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: -- to recognize and honor those that sacrificed to preserve the ideals of this country, the freedoms of this country. And instead, we find ourselves today hunting a murderer who chose to violate our rights, the rights of an individual within this country.

Just to recap yesterday's events, at around 12:20 p.m., political influencer Charlie Kirk was at Utah Valley University participating in a student-sponsored event with Turning Point USA. Charlie was shot at that event. He was transported to a local hospital, where he later passed.

[09:15:22]

Last night, his body was moved to the office -- the state office of the medical examiner. We will continue to facilitate movements to get him home today and with his family.

Yesterday, during the investigative process, we located a couple of persons of interest. We interviewed those individuals. And after releasing them and after clearing them of being suspects, they faced scrutiny. They faced threats. We asked the public to be patient with the investigative process. These individuals were not suspects. They were people of interest. We ask that you do not impose into those people and that investigative process. They don't deserve that harassment for being subject to that.

I'd like to thank all the investigators that are involved in this. They have worked around the clock, all day yesterday through the night last night. Investigators from the State Bureau of Investigations, from county, from city agencies, the university, our federal partners with the FBI, the ATF, and many others. Those are just a few of the people that we have involved in this. I'd like to thank all of them for their strong work.

Through all that work last night, we were able to make a few breakthroughs. We were able to track the movements of the shooter. Starting at 11:52 a.m., the subject arrived on campus, shortly away from campus. We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof to a shooting location.

After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building, and fled off of the campus and into a neighborhood. Our investigators have worked through those neighborhoods, contacting anybody they can with doorbell cameras, witnesses, and have thoroughly worked through those communities, trying to identify any leads.

We do have good video footage of this individual. We are not going to release that at this time. We are working through some technologies and some ways to identify this individual. If we are unsuccessful, we will reach out to you as the media, and we will push that publicly to help us identify them.

But we are confident in our abilities right now, and we would like to move forward in a manner that keeps everyone safe and moves this process appropriately.

Last night, I communicated with Erika. The family is devastated. As a Commissioner of Public Safety, as a father, as a husband, I can only imagine what that family is going through. The heinous event that happened yesterday is not Utah. This is not what we are known for.

Over the past several weeks, we have seen this state come together to help families in mourning, come together as a community to show what Utah is known for, for a state of character, of service, of camaraderie, of a neighboring feel. We will not stand for what happened yesterday. We are exhausting every lead.

We have every officer invested in this, every investigator, every local agency. The outpouring of support from the law enforcement community has been astounding. We are -- we are investing everything we have into this, and we will catch this individual.

Having walked through the crime scene, through the hallways of this school, through the classrooms, I can't imagine what the people on scene felt as well. A horrific event where some of them barricaded in classrooms, some of them ran in fear. Can't overstate the tragedy and the horrific event that yesterday was and how we will work to bring to -- to justice the actions of one individual or any other individuals that assisted in that.

Our state has gone through a lot, and we will come out successful. With that, I'll turn the time over to Special Agent, Bohis, in charge.

ROBERT BOHIS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Good morning. My name is Robert Bohis, and I am the Special Agent in Charge of the Salt Lake Field Office.

Following yesterday's tragic shooting of Charlie Kirk, FBI agents have been working around the clock in coordination with our law enforcement partners.

[09:20:05]

We are and will continue to work non-stop until we find the person that has committed this heinous crime and find out why they did it. This morning, I can tell you that we have recovered what we believe is the weapon to be -- that was used in yesterday's shooting. It is a high-powered bolt-action rifle.

That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled. The FBI laboratory will be analyzing this weapon. Investigators have also collected footwear impression, a palm print, and forearm imprints for analysis. Now, I understand there are a lot of questions about motive. I assure you that all leads, tips, and tips are being fully investigated. As of this morning, we have received more than 130 tips. We thank the community for that.

The FBI has brought every resource to bear, and we will continue to do so throughout the course of this investigation. The FBI's mission is to protect the American people. It's to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Any attack on the First Amendment is an attack on the very foundation of our democracy. That is why we will -- we will relentlessly pursue this case and the shooter until we find him.

We also continue to grieve with the family and the community. It's our community. (OFF MIC) -- for our digital media tip website at www.fbi.gov/UtahValleyShooting. You can also call the FBI at 1-800- CALL-FBI. We truly rely on the public's help in these types of cases, and no tip is too small or insignificant.

Thank you.

(OFF MIC)

MASON: Absolutely. So, what I'll release about the suspect is the suspect blended in well with a college institution. We're not releasing many details right now, and we will soon, but right now we're not. But that individual appears to be of college age.

We are confident in our abilities to track that individual. If we're unsuccessful in identifying them immediately, we will reach out for the public's help and the media's help in pushing those -- those photos. That was a new development overnight, working through the night studying those cameras, so that's -- that's something that's new and that we're working through right now.

As far as the security, I cannot speak to that. Neither the Department of Public Safety nor the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the planning or security of this event, and that'll have to be a question later for -- for other agencies.

(OFF MIC)

BOHIS: So, that's a good question, and it's a question that goes to the safety of the community, right? No, not in those woods. We walked through those woods and secured it.

As to the community, I can tell you that this was a targeted event. We don't believe the community is at risk. However, we are exhausting every resource to find him, and we will -- we will do so.

(OFF MIC)

BOHIS: So, I can't comment specifically on his face or any details such as that, as it's continuing to be a part of the investigation, and again, we'll release that shortly. However, we're doing everything we can to find him, and we're not sure how far he has gone yet, but we will do our best.

(OFF MIC)

BOHIS: We have images of the suspect.

(OFF MIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- recover, do you believe him know this person is, the person that they're looking forward at this point?

BOHIS: Again, as part of the investigation, we're not releasing any details such that right now.

[09:25:02]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any fingerprints or DNA?

BOHIS: We are -- we are exhausting all of our resources to be able to collect those, but that's, again, part of the investigation.

(OFF MIC)

BOHIS: Excuse me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said you found the weapon, haven't been able to trace back (OFF MIC).

BOHIS: We are working on that, but again, it's part of the investigation that I can't release.

(OFF MIC)

BOHIS: Not at all. We've got complete and total support from everyone, from the director on down, and it's -- it's been an incredible supportive environment so far.

(OFF MIC)

BOHIS: All I can say is that we're working the investigation the best we have with the environment we're given, so thank you.

(OFF MIC)

BERMAN: All right, you've been listening to a news conference from Utah with state and federal officials. You've been watching a news conference from Utah from state and federal officials giving us an update in the investigation into the killing of Charlie Kirk. A lot --

BOLDUAN: A lot.

BERMAN: -- of major information just revealed on this manhunt some 19 hours long and still going. Let's go through some of the key points here.

Beau Mason, the commissioner of Utah Public Safety, told us that they have video of the suspect arriving on campus at 11 to 52 a.m. That's about 28 minutes before Charlie Kirk was killed. They have video of the suspect moving through stairwells onto the roof and then after the shooting off the roof and into a local neighborhood.

They have searched the neighborhood. They have screened doorbell footage, any other cameras in the area to find out what they can. They also said they have a good video image of this suspect, who they refer repeatedly to as him, a man, and they say this person is of college age.

BOLDUAN: And then when the FBI special agent in charge, Robert Bohis, also offered some additional important information about this, saying that they have now recovered what they believe is the weapon, a high- powered bolt-action rifle, that it was recovered in the wooded area that John was mentioning, that they said that the shooter fled to.

They also say they have collected what could be some key identifying evidence, a footwear impression, palm and forearm impressions for analysis, and they are asking for more tips. They say that they've so far have 130 tips as of this morning, and also saying that they do believe, confirming what has been generally assumed and known, that this was a targeted event. They believe, they do not believe there is further risk to the community, but also saying they do not know how far this man has gone yet.

BERMAN: Let's bring in CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who's been listening alongside us. Andy, it does seem like they have a lot of information. What do you feel as if is the most important right now?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yeah, well, they made a lot of progress in the last few hours and overnight. So, John, so the first thing here, the most significant thing is they have video that they believe is the person who -- who conducted this assassination. And, of course, now the challenge is to identify exactly who that person is.

But if you remember when you and I last spoke earlier this morning, we talked about video capture and how as soon as you get that one video of the person running off the roof, that begins your study of video, and it's so important to go further away from the site of the shooting, and that's when you start looking at stairwells and hallways, and in the broader community, that enables you to track that person back to wherever maybe they parked a car or how they walked onto campus. That appears to be exactly what they did here, which is just kind of textbook good investigation.

As for the potentially identifying matter of that palm print and the shoe print and the forearm, those things are all good. They likely picked those up off the surface of the roof. It's hard to tell from our video exactly what that surface is, but it is probably something like gravel or rocks or things like that that you could get an impression from. Those aren't going to give you an absolute positive I.D., but it was enough to confirm for investigators that this is where this guy laid down to take that shot, which would have also been consistent with the video you saw.

So, a lot of really good detail coming out of the press conference here.

BOLDUAN: I was actually going to say, as we're thinking this through, it has kind of been assumed that it was on top of a roof because we have that video that had been released, but now they are confirming that the -- the location, the shooting location was on a rooftop that clearly was, you know, as we have discussed, hundreds, 200 yards away is what is believed, at least right now.

[09:30:09]