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Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) On Kirk's Death Renewing Concerns About Safety For Lawmakers; Trial Resumes For Man Charged In Trump Assassination Attempt In Florida; Soon: FBI To Hold News Conference On Manhunt For Charlie Kirk's Killer. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 12, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. These are live pictures outside Trump Tower here in Manhattan. That is where the president spent the night last night after attending the Yankees game, which you just saw. He's expected to leave Trump Tower very shortly to get on with his schedule. We'll wait and see if he speaks. I suppose it is possible.

In the meantime, let's go to the White House. CNN's Alayna Treene if there for an update, really, on what the president is doing and thinking right now.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, a few things. And you mentioned a lot of the security outside Trump Tower. We can tell you John that the White House actually has been tightening security for the president ever since Charlie Kirk's assassination.

For example, the president was actually scheduled to spend all weekend at Trump Tower, but he is going to be leaving tonight and spending the weekend instead at his Bedminster Golf Club in New Jersey. That's considered, as far as Trump properties go, one of the most secure properties that he has.

I'd remind you that actually after his assassination attempt last year in Butler, Pennsylvania, he went right to Bedminster right after that. And so that just gives you a sense of what they're thinking about.

We also know, of course, that we saw him yesterday morning to speak at the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. They had moved that inside into the Pentagon's inner courtyard -- or I should say in the perimeter. He was still outside -- but inside the area's outer building for more security.

We also saw tightened security around the Yankees game yesterday. Additional screening, more security around the box that he was sitting in.

So from that standpoint the White House is taking that into effect and, of course, Secret Service as well. As for what he'll be doing today we know that he's actually going to be doing a Fox News interview around 8:00 a.m. He's going to be in- person. And that's his current schedule as long as things don't change. So be keeping an eye out for that.

But look, I mean, the White House has been very closely paying attention to this FBI investigation and the manhunt into Kirk's killer and to his murdered. And I know a lot of people here at the White House have been trying to get as many updates as they can from the FBI on the internal aspects of that.

I also just want to point out how some people are still feeling after what had happened. We saw yesterday, for example, one of the people who was closest to Charlie Kirk within the president's inner circle is the vice president, J.D. Vance.

He completely canceled his plans yesterday. He was originally scheduled to go to New York City for the 9/11 memorial. He ended up canceling that and flying to Utah. And we saw some great images of him actually carrying Charlie Kirk's casket onto Air Force One (sic) where they oversaw having his remains being traveled from Utah to Arizona where Kirk was from, where his family is living.

And I do want to get back to some of the security things here because one of our colleagues, Sam Waldenberg -- she asked the president directly about this. Just how are you feeling after this? Are you worried about security in light of this? Listen to what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, what --

SAMANTHA WALDENBERG, CNN PRODUCER: Are you concerned for your own safety?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not really. I'm really concerned for our country. Uh, we have a great country. We have a radical left group of lunatics out there -- just absolutely lunatics. And we're going to get that problem solved. I'm only concerned for the country, yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So you heard him there saying he's concerned for the country and wants to get this problem solved.

I can tell you, John, that a lot of what the people in this building behind me have been feeling has gone kind of from disbelief to anger, and a lot of people wanting answers following what had happened on Wednesday.

So stay tuned for what the president says on this but also, we'll be listening for what other White House officials have to say about next steps here.

BERMAN: Alayna Treene at the White House this morning. Alayna, thank you very much -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And let's talk more about this. Joining us here now is Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina. She's also running for governor in the state right now. Thank you for being here.

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's nice to have you here in the studio.

MACE: Good morning.

BOLDUAN: Um, the president was asked about how he feels about his personal safety, but we are hearing a lot of lawmakers talking about new fears of safety, you included. I even saw you say that you're thinking about carrying a gun again when you're -- when you're home.

Talk to me about that. What you -- the concerns are obvious --

MACE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- but what your fear is and what you want to see happen.

MACE: Well, I am very concerned about our security and safety, even my employees. We've had in the last 48 hours local police stationed outside my offices. I just had a family member call me right before this talking about the police car that's stationed outside of the homes of my -- some of my family back in South Carolina.

I haven't carried in a while. I haven't had to. I feel a great need to carry and I'm thankful that South Carolina is an open carry state. So I will be carrying. I have to have increased security now. Normally, I do have security with me but now we need to double the size of the security team and also take other security precautions as any elected person should right now who are in public.

[07:35:05]

No more outdoor events for the foreseeable future. When we do have our indoor events I have -- I allow protesters inside my events.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

MACE: And they follow me everywhere across the state. I have protesters that will be at my offices today in South Carolina. I usually greet them. I offer them water and food. And I don't feel safe going outside right now because anybody could be out there.

The violence and the rhetoric -- it feels like it's -- you know, it's increasing. And what happened to Charlie two days ago -- I just -- we're all on edge. And my employees feel scared. My children feel scared, my family. And we're going to take every precaution necessary to ensure everyone's safety moving forward.

BOLDUAN: And what that means for members of Congress --

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: -- is it's a lot of money. I mean --

MACE: It is.

BOLDUAN: -- Mike Johnson has said that they're going to -- they're going to do a thorough review to see what enhancements should be made and can be made --

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: -- but also acknowledging, like, security detail for 535 members is just not realistic.

I just wonder what could be -- what you think the solution could be or changes could be made, especially on the Hill.

MACE: Well, I think there are -- there are some things we could do. You know, we have an office budget and so --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MACE: -- being allowed to hire somebody who could act as a full-time security personnel --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

MACE: -- would be probably the most, I think, efficient with our tax dollars and also be a very real consequential safety measure -- keeping us safe and hardening our offices. So that has started at the Capitol.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MACE: But, you know, we're looking at hardening the office doors that we have. To do bulletproof doors. Any glass -- that we have bulletproof glass. So we're taking those measures. We're getting quotes for those things right now. And we'll take some of those measures on our own because I'm going to do everything in my power to keep my employees safe.

I want -- we're basically a nonpartisan office. We serve everybody in our district regardless of politics. Every politician does that.

And so I want people to feel safe when they come to the office, when they come to work. I want my children to feel safe, my family. I mean, it's a -- the phone calls we've gotten over the last 24-48 hours are really --

BOLDUAN: Threatening?

MACE: Yeah, threatening. Some of the most vile things I've ever heard in my life. And we're not even answering the phones in our offices right now because every minute we're getting a threatening phone call.

BOLDUAN: You were speaking -- you make yourself always available to reporters, which I know reporters --

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: -- and all of us appreciate. You were speaking to reporters directly after Charlie Kirk had been shot and you said very clearly Democrats own this.

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: And as you know, the gunman is still out there. He's still on the run. And law enforcement have not identified him and they've said very clearly they do not -- they're still working on a motive, although calling it a political assassination -- the governor is.

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: Do you -- when you're talking about the rhetoric, do you want to dial that back in the spirit of bringing down the temperature; not getting ahead of what the authorities are saying when you've got Mike Johnson and you've got the governor of Utah saying everyone needs to bring it down?

MACE: Well, I -- I'm very angry about what has happened.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

MACE: I mean, rhetoric is what killed Charlie Kirk. Everyone has said we want a national conversation -- a national, peaceful conversation, particularly those on the left side of the aisle.

That's all Charlie did. He was the eternal optimist. He would have people come to his -- to his town halls and debate issues. He made these kids -- these students, whether they were left or right, better orators, better debaters, better researchers, better critical thinkers just by having this very peaceful yet optimistic conversation. He was doing exactly that --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

MACE: -- and he was assassinated for it.

And, you know, I think my issue is that in this country we are unwilling to have a very frank, very upfront conversation about what's really happening.

I can tell you, you know, I receive so many death threats as a member of Congress right now. As a -- as a survivor -- as a survivor of rape simply because I don't want men -- as a rape survivor, I don't want men in the women's bathroom. I don't want men in the shower next to me. And, you know -- and I get death threats because of that position.

And I think we have to have a very frank conversation about what's really happening and take responsibility. This was a political assassination.

BOLDUAN: But as part of that I also heard you -- and again, this was in the immediate aftermath of Charlie Kirk being shot.

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: But you also did not want to entertain a conversation about the broader threat of political violence across the political spectrum with reporters.

MACE: I have always condemned political violence of all ilk, all stripes. When Nancy Pelosi's husband was hit in the head with a hammer. When Gov. Shapiro in Pennsylvania -- when his home was burned to the ground. When Sen. Fetterman, out of Pennsylvania, has stood up and been very common-sense down the middle.

I have praised people on both sides of the aisle but also condemned all those things because political violence shouldn't be happening.

But I was assaulted at the Capitol in December. I had -- I was at a Turning Point USA event at the University of South Carolina a couple of months ago and --

[07:40:00]

BOLDUAN: But what does --

MACE: -- someone tried to pick up a potted plant and throw it at me. I mean --

BOLDUAN: But what does to you then bringing the temperature down and having a bigger conversation if this could be a watershed moment, which we have not seen? I think people are very skeptical that --

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: -- anything is going to change. We hear people and more of the commentators and the far extremes calling this war now.

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: And it -- I don't sense it changing. I don't want to be cynical.

But how, as a leader, do you use your huge platform to lead on what Gov. Cox had said and what Mike Johnson has said, which is we all need to bring the temperature down? What does that look like to you though?

MACE: Well, all of us, regardless of politics, have to speak out when bad things happen regardless of political party.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

MACE: You can't politicize it. I've always -- I've always done that.

BOLDUAN: The Democrats -- I mean, I'm not doing Democrat or Republican, but Democrats are saying how --

MACE: They are now. BOLDUAN: -- horrible this is -- what happened to Charlie.

MACE: They are. But then there are those online -- and your viewers can go online now and see all of those celebrating his murder, his death, his assassination. And that is deeply troubling to me that --

BOLDUAN: It is horrible.

MACE: -- people have been brainwashed.

BOLDUAN: No. It is horrible.

MACE: And thing that -- we can celebrate the murder of a man who simply spoke his mind.

BOLDUAN: One hundred -- it is horrible.

MACE: Um-hum.

BOLDUAN: I just want to know from leaders what to do. Online is almost like this cesspool -- uncapable of trying to control.

MACE: I want to see -- I want to see --

BOLDUAN: But, like, how do you -- what does it look like? Is it -- is it how you would speak on the floor or how you would expect a Democrat to speak on the floor? Is it the words -- is it word choice? Is it sitting together and going out to dinner? Like, what is it?

MACE: I was just -- when this was happening, I was attacked on the floor by Rep. Sara Jacobs for the way that my body looks. That the -- in the hours leading up and during the assassination of Charlie Kirk. That is not bringing the temperature down. There ended up being a shouting match on the floor because I was defending myself.

What I want is for people to take responsibility for their rhetoric. I need -- I want to see Democrats say --

BOLDUAN: I'm just going to say -- I'm going to ask the obvious.

MACE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: And you, yourself, hold yourself accountable too for that?

MACE: Oh, well, 100 percent, but I am -- but my words are not violence. What we have seen is people being brainwashed. We've been called Nazis. Charlie Kirk was called a Nazi. Charlie Kirk was called Hitler.

Those of us on the Republican side who are very outspoken and vocal, we have been dehumanized. And by dehumanizing us we have people on the left who have been brainwashed, who believe that oh, I can take a rifle to an event, shoot someone in the neck, kill them, and it's going to be celebrated because that's exactly what happened in the last 48 hours. Because we've been villainized. I'm not Hitler.

BOLDUAN: We know it's a political assassination.

MACE: I'm not a Nazi.

BOLDUAN: You are not Hitler. You're not a Nazi.

MACE: I have passion.

BOLDUAN: I can promise you I can -- I agree with that. And I'm not -- yeah, that's not it.

But we -- again, just the --

MACE: But we've been dehumanized.

BOLDUAN: But the reporting is not there in terms of the motive of this. It was an assassination. I'm not trying to --

MACE: It was a political assassination.

BOLDUAN: It was a political assassination. I'm not trying to either sides this in the slightest --

MACE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- or walk a thin line --

MACE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: -- but we just -- in the face of it, I just don't understand how you make it better. And I have to say it is on leaders. Yes, it's on individuals and if people are being complete idiots online it's hard to stop that. But it is on leaders to, I don't know, not shout on the House floor. You know, it --

MACE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: I just want to know what --

MACE: But that's where we are right now because of the way that we are attacking Republicans.

BOLDUAN: But it's also saying -- but you do agree political violence has happened to people on the left and political violence has happened --

MACE: Correct.

BOLDUAN: -- to people on the right. And everyone on the left and right needs to do something different rather than dehumanizing anyone.

MACE: Right. But we -- but those of us on the right, we are being human -- we are being dehumanized in the mainstream press. I mean, the news -- there are mainstream media outlets and reporters, and pundits who are dehumanizing Republicans, dehumanizing conservatives. They have a platform which has put our lives at risk. I know this. I've been assaulted in the last year. I've had -- I have people right now sitting in jail without bail -- multiple -- that have issued threats on me and President Trump, too, together because of the rhetoric that's out there. We feel like it's all one-sided right now because of how we've been villainized in the press, on social media.

And for me, I'm going to stand up. I'm going to stand up for myself, stand up for my family, stand up for my office, my employees, my children, and I am going to push back. I am angry but I can be angry. This is a -- this is a very unsafe situation. Like, our lives are in danger. I mean, I don't feel safe walking outside right now.

And the attorney general in my state, Alan Wilson -- he recently posted my personally owned vehicle online -- tags and all, and the make and model of my car -- because politics is a bloodsport in South Carolina and further putting my life in danger. Like, I have to reevaluate what I drive, where I drive, where I park. I'm afraid to even walk from the car in my parking lot into the office because it's all -- you know, a 100-yard walk.

[07:45:00]

I mean, that's where we are right now. And I want to see Democrats -- I want to see the left take some responsibility for the things that have been said -- how Republicans and conservatives, President Trump -- how we have been dehumanized and it's putting our lives at risk. How many times did someone try to kill President Trump last year? I mean --

BOLDUAN: More than once.

MACE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: My point is I think the word "we" should be used more often, not them and us. Like, the word "we" would make a big difference.

MACE: Well, certainly. But right now --

BOLDUAN: Because --

MACE: -- it's very one-sided right now in the way that we've been -- I have never called one of my colleagues the kind of names that we have been called. I've never dehumanized my colleagues. In fact, when I've agreed with a Democrat I've said so. And actually, regardless of the press, actually covers me.

I'm the 22nd most bipartisan member of Congress. If you're willing to work with me, I'm willing to work with you. That has always been the message. But because I'm outspoken about rape, because I'm outspoken about survivors, I face a different kind of threat. It is -- all the time it's imminent.

And I fear just walking around trying to be a normal person. Trying to be a good, hardworking member of Congress. And I have real, deep- rooted, realistic threats that are coming through every single day and I fear just walking out in public is dangerous to my life. BOLDUAN: And no one should have that fear.

MACE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: And no one should have that fear.

I always appreciate you coming in and having the conversation with me.

MACE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

MACE: Always. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right. We are standing by for the trial to resume shortly for the man charged in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last September. The judge, yesterday, cut off the rambling opening statement of Ryan Routh who is representing himself.

CNN's Randi Kaye is outside the courthouse this morning. Good morning, Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

The trial here is moving pretty swiftly. The prosecution got through five of their witnesses yesterday on the first day of testimony. They expect to call another five today, mostly FBI agents.

But as you said, Ryan Routh is representing himself and he got off to a pretty rocky start in the courtroom yesterday, even just during his opening statement. He went off on this rant about Putin, and Hitler, and Netanyahu, and genocide. He started crying at one point.

And the judge did cut him off. She said to him, "Don't make a mockery of this courtroom. You have relinquished your right to conclude your opening statement."

Now because he is representing himself, he is able to cross-examine witnesses. And he was able to come face-to-face with the Secret Service agent who says he saw Routh at the fence line at the golf course that day. He said he was about five feet from him. He yelled to him "Hey, sir" and he said that's when Routh smiled, groaned, and then took off. And Routh said to the Secret Service agent in court, "Good to see you. Is it good to be alive?"

He also was able to question an eyewitness who not only took pictures of his vehicle but also his license plate and passed that on to authorities. This eyewitness, Tommy McGee, said that he saw Routh fleeing the golf course that day. And Routh said to him on the stand: "You're my hero. You're a good man. You're an American hero." Then he asked him if he's a Trump supporter and that was stricken from the record by the judge. But John, we did get some substance from prosecutors. They did say

that Routh was using at least three aliases as he put this assassination attempt plan into play. They also said that he was visiting the golf course several times during his time in the West Palm Beach area -- at least 17 times -- as he plotted this allegedly.

And they also showed a handwritten list allegedly written by Ryan Routh. They called it a "gear list." And it was a list of things that he was supposed to bring with him or remind himself to bring with him because he was going to be camped out about 10 hours, they said, at that golf course. It listed diapers as one of the items, and also a reminder to himself "spray self with bug spray."

John.

BERMAN: All right, Randi Kaye for us in Florida this morning. Randi, thank you very much.

All right. We've just learned that the FBI is expected to hold a news conference at 9:00 a.m. this morning. This is involving the manhunt for the killer of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. All we know is there's a new conference scheduled for 9:00 a.m. We, of course, will cover that live.

With us now, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

Elie, just one thing on the Ryan Routh thing we were just watching right there. You know, we see on TV when defendants decide to defend themselves there. What are the parameters?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: You do have the right to defend yourself if you're ever a criminal defendant. It's not a good idea. The judge will actually advise you against that and recommend you get a lawyer.

Usually, though, when it happens, judges will give what we call a pro se is the word for it -- the defendant -- a little more leeway. But this -- there still are rules. You're not exempt from the rules, and I think we're seeing the judge enforcing that.

All right, into the manhunt, into the investigation, and into the possible charges if and when this person is caught. We've heard from Utah officials that he will face the death penalty there.

What exactly does that mean in Utah?

HONIG: So he certainly will be charged with first-degree murder in Utah, which means an intentional killing of another human being. There is not mitigating factors. There's no self-defense, for example, here.

[07:50:00]

But the question is can they get it up to a death-eligible offense. In order to do that under Utah law you need to have an aggravating factor. If you look at the aggravating factors, the one I think that the authorities will rely on here is if in the course of killing a person you also endanger others. And I think the argument will be by firing a shot into --

BERMAN: Sure.

HONIG: -- a crowd you could have hit -- you could hit multiple people. Bullet fragments can hit people. You could cause a stampede trampling. So I think that's the aggravating factor they're going to point to, which will then make him eligible for the death penalty.

BERMAN: Three thousand reasons -- 3,000 people there --

HONIG: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- where maybe that would apply.

The federal government obviously very involved in this investigation. Does that mean they would be involved in prosecuting on federal charges?

HONIG: So you can be. It's not double jeopardy. It is permissible to have a state charge and then a federal charge as well. We see that once in a while. Luigi Mangione, for example, charged both in the state of New York and also federally. But it's not 100 percent certain yet that there will be an applicable federal charge because simply murder is not in and of itself going to be federal. You need some federal jurisdictional hook.

Now, there's a couple of ways they could get that. For example, if the firearm was illegal. If it was sawed off. If the serial number was defaced. If this person was a prior felon. If he was illegally possessing the firearm then they will probably have a hook.

Another thing that they could do -- we've seen this theory of violation of civil rights causing death. And here the argument -- it would be novel, but I think it could work -- would be First Amendment rights. If Charlie -- if they can prove that Charlie Kirk was targeted and assassinated because he was exercising his First Amendment right to political speech. I don't think we've seen a charge ever quite like that, but I think it could work here as a possibility. And it seems the Feds are determined to find some way to charge it.

So we need to see about the gun itself. We need to see about whether this person used interstate means to travel. But if not, watch for that possibility with the civil rights charge.

BERMAN: Yeah. It would be an interesting legal discussion I think --

HONIG: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- that would open up.

Elie Honig, thank you very much.

HONIG: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Take a look at this. There is many ways to get there and here is one way to get there. Police pulling over a guy driving a Barbie Jeep. Wait until you hear where he was trying to go.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:55:43]

BOLDUAN: So it can take ten to 14 years and cost more than $2 billion to develop and bring a new drug to market. And when Dr. David Fajgenbaum got sick and doctors could not find a solution for him, he took matters into his own hands -- his own hands and found his own treatment. Now he's trying to do the same for others.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has today's Champion for Change.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. DAVID FAJGENBAUM, CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, EVERY CURE: When I got the phone call from my dad saying David, your mom has brain cancer, that just changed everything for me, Sanjay. I had made a promise to her just before she passed where I said, "Mom, I'm going to dedicate the rest of my life trying to find treatments for people like you."

And then in my third year of med school at Penn I just got critically ill and everything changed. The doctors told my family I wasn't going to make it. My family said their goodbyes to me. A priest came into my room and read me my last rites. I had so many things that I wanted to do in my life that I wasn't going to be able to do. I had this amazing girlfriend, Caitlin, that I wanted to have a family with one day.

The diagnosis came back Castleman disease. They started me on chemotherapy away because there were no approved treatments and they just wanted to try something.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So David Fajgenbaum decided to look at his own blood samples and his own lymph nodes as sort of a Hail Mary, trying to find a clue and hopefully find a treatment that everyone else had missed.

D. FAJGENBAUM: These are actually a couple of slides from these early experiments I did. This is a typical lymph node. We saw that some brown means that the pathway is turned on. And as you see, there are cells that stay in brown. But then we stay in violet nodes.

GUPTA: Wow.

D. FAJGENBAUM: This result really stood out to me and exactly, I thought OK, if this thing is so turned on, I know how to turn it off because the drug sirolimus is really good at turning it off.

GUPTA: Sirolimus is a drug that's actually been around for decades, primarily used to treat transplant patients. For David, it worked. It helped tamp down his immune system, treat his Castleman's, and only cost him about $20.00 a month. You saved your own life. At what point did you say hey look, I need to

widen the mission?

D. FAJGENBAUM: Sanjay, I have never been able to walk past a CVS since then without just thinking to myself how many hidden cures are just sitting in there that we're using them for this disease or that disease, but they could also be used for that disease and that disease.

GUPTA: It gives me goosebumps.

D. FAJGENBAUM: In 2016, my uncle Michael was diagnosed with metastatic angiosarcoma. I went with Michael to see his oncologist, and I started asking questions. Well, could we think about existing medicines that could be repurposed? And the doctor said, "David, no one with angiosarcoma responds to these medicines."

DR. MICHAEL FAJGENBAUM, ANGIOSARCOMA PATIENT: So I then went back to my doctor in Raleigh. I asked if he would send tissue for this advanced DNA testing. I was convinced because of David that this was the right course to follow.

He finally sent tissue off, and it turned out that I was an exact match for a drug that was already in existence. Here I sit nine years later.

D. FAJGENBAUM: And Michael's story -- that for me was this incredible moment to think wait a minute, are there breadcrumbs out there for other diseases too?

GUPTA: In some way this is a little bit of an indictment of the existing medical system. Like, how did they not find a $20.00 a month drug that you could take orally that has saved your life now for over a decade?

D. FAJGENBAUM: You know, drug companies pursue single drugs for a few diseases and then the drug becomes generic, and they move on. There's never really been the kind of computational power to really look across 18,000 diseases and about 4,000 drugs.

GUPTA: David is trying to change those numbers. So far, him and his team -- they have repurposed 14 drugs offering hope for diseases that previously didn't have a lot of hope.

David is Champion for Change. He not only saved his own life but he's now using what he learned to save many more lives.

GUPTA: You're doing well today?

D. FAJGENBAUM: I'm doing well, yeah.

GUPTA: I mean, are you physically 100 percent?

D. FAJGENBAUM: I am 100 percent. It's been 11 1/2 years. Today also happens to be my sweet daughter's seventh birthday. I mean, Sanjay, I'm not supposed to be here. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern for the "CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE" one-hour special.