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Trump Lashes Out at New York Governor for Mamdani Endorsement; Charlie Kirk's Social Media Accounts See Surge After His Death; Rubio Meets With Netanyahu Days After Israeli Strikes in Qatar. Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired September 15, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also new this morning. President Trump is lashing out at New York's Governor Kathy Hochul after her endorsement of Democratic Mayoral Nominee Zohran Mamdani. Hochul supportive Mamdani in the New York mayor's race was published Sunday in The New York Times. She is the latest high profile Democrat to back his campaign, but it also comes after more than two months of refusing to endorse any candidate.

Here now, CNN's Gloria Pazmino with much more on this. So, now the president is speaking out about it. What's going on here?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and without question, there were going to be some sort of consequences for Kathy Hochul, both from Republicans and from maybe even some Democrats here in the state. The governor does have a reelection race right around the corner, and I'm sure that was part of what she was thinking about going ahead into this.

Here's part of what President Trump just posted on Truth Social just a short while ago, quote, Governor Kathy Hochul of New York endorsed the, quote, little communist Zohran Mamdani running for mayor of New York. This is a rather shocking development and a very bad one for New York City. How can such a thing happen? Washington will be watching this situation very closely. No reason to be sending good money after bad.

And, Kate, of course, that last line is a reference to federal funding for the city of New York, which Trump has previously threatened and has said that he would be holding back if Zohran Mamdani were to be elected.

Now, in her op-ed, Hochul made it very clear that while she was endorsing him, she had serious priorities that she had spoken to him about and that she remained concerned about, specifically funding for the NYPD, fighting anti-Semitism, making sure that businesses are coming and not leaving New York as a result of high tax rates. And she did not specifically mention Mamdani's proposal to raise taxes on the city's wealthiest one, one of his key agenda items, which would of course need state approval and for the governor to sign it. This is part of what Hochul said in her op-ed. She said she had been meeting with Mamdani, had frank conversations with him. We've had our disagreements, but in our conversations, I heard a leader who shares my commitment to a New York where children can grow up safe in their neighborhoods and where opportunity is within reach for every family. I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable.

I think that last line is also interesting, right, because it's focusing on Mamdani's main message of his campaign, affordability. And certainly, the last thing that is likely to happen out of all of this, increased pressure for other New York Democrats who have yet to endorse, including Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Chuck Schumer.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And that continues to be part of the conversation and part of one of the things that Kathy Hochul was asked at every stop, is she, would she, and that will now continue with other leaders as well, for sure.

Thank you so much. It's good to see you, Gloria.

Overnight, a global outage of Elon Musk's satellite internet service, Starlink, and the very real impact it's having on Ukraine's military and the frontline in the war against Russia.

And Charlie Kirk's social media accounts have gained millions of followers since his murder. What does this mean? We'll be back.

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[09:35:00]

BOLDUAN: In the wake of the killing of conservative activists, Charlie Kirk, his influence on social media appears to be growing. According to data compiled by CNN, Kirk's online accounts have gained millions of followers in the days since his death.

Joining me right now is CNN Media Analyst Sara Fischer and CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter. It's good to see you both.

Brian, Kirk's social accounts have gained just these millions of followers. Old clips of his are going viral. The vice president himself is hosting an episode of Charlie Kirk's podcast show today. In a tragic way, is he becoming more influential in his death?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Is that true? I've added up the numbers across TikTok and Instagram and YouTube and Facebook, his accounts and those relating to Turning Point USA have gained more than 20 million followers collectively in the past five days. So, the audience, he already had a big audience in life. He has an even bigger audience in death. And that will, we're down to the benefit of Turning Point USA as well as Charlie's widow, Erika, as they try to move forward.

And it's not just social media either. I noticed on Amazon, Kirk's next book, which is coming out in December, it's the number one new release in America because there's been so many pre-orders. It's ahead of Kamala Harris and all the other upcoming books. So, there's a lot of energy around Kirk with some people clearly wanting to get to know him even after he has passed away, wanting to engage with his message.

And you mentioned those YouTube videos of some of his past fights and debates on college campuses. You're right, a lot of those clips have gone newly viral. And that's not just because people are necessarily supporting him, but they want to know more about what he was talking about.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it's really an interesting aspect. There's an aspect of when we are just kind of looking at this investigation now, Sara, that I wanted to get your guys' take on, the investigation into his death. The governor of Utah, in his Sunday show appearances, he spoke to kind of one cultural aspect of today that he suggests as part of the problem that led to the suspected killer targeting Charlie Kirk, which he describes as the dark corners of the internet, as he puts it. Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SPENCER COX (R-UT): Friends that have confirmed that there was kind of that deep, dark internet, the Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet where this person was going deep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:40:07]

BOLDUAN: What do you think the governor is getting at here?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Kate, in the first era of social media, so much of what we shared and liked and engaged with was very public. In fact, it was very easy for researchers, reporters, like myself and Brian, to be able to observe what people were saying online. What's shifted is that as we've moved into a world where we prioritize viral short form video, the access to links that we can easily measure has completely disappeared.

We've also turned into a world where so much scrutiny around public posts is preventing people from wanting to speak out in public forums. And so people are moving into much more discreet, private corners of the web to connect to like-minded people in close off groups, making -- like me and Brian to observe those conversations.

Those types of platforms are not the mainstream platforms that we just talked about, where Charlie Kirk is going -- places like Discord -- messaging apps. And so one of the challenges that I think Governor Cox is speaking to is it's very hard for us to get out ahead of these types of very gruesome, cruel crimes because we don't necessarily understand all of the conversation that's happening in the background.

BOLDUAN: Brian, Delta Airlines, American Airlines, United, they have said that they've suspended workers for some of their social media posts about Kirk's killing. We've seen reports of teachers and college professors being suspended for posts after he was shot. Washington Posts Opinion Columnist Karen Attiah, she said that this morning, she's been fired for her posts about political violence. What do you see in this clamp down in response?

STELTER: Yes. And some of Karen's posts about political violence, we're trying to point out that there's a long history in America of political violence. She says that her posts were, quote, unacceptable by management and she was fired, so that's an example of The Washington Post.

And at this point, there are hundreds of examples of people being fired from their jobs. Most of these people are not public figures. They were anonymous until a few days ago when this conservative campaign organized online targeting people that it says are attacking Kirk, bashing Kirk, blaming Kirk for his own death.

I want to point out that the range of offending posts has varied dramatically. There are some people in the dark corners of the internet celebrating Kirk's murder, and I find that personally grotesque. You also have people out there who are performatively showing a lack of sympathy, saying, I'm not going to mourn for him. People, for example, sharing controversial comments from Kirk's past and saying, look what he was saying. He's part of the problem in America.

So, you have this now coordinated conservative campaign to try to get people fired for a wide range of opinions. And, look, this is a new form of cancel culture. You know, something that the right complained about when you know, they were saying the left was targeting people, it was four or five, six years ago. The truth is cancel culture never goes away. It just changes shape.

And the free speech group fire, said it really well over the weekend. They said, we should remember, we don't win an argument just by ruining someone's life. All we do is ruin someone's life. And that is some of what's happening now as people get fired for these comments. But we should recognize, you know, as we talk about free speech here, if you have a relationship with a private employer, that employer can choose to fire you, you know, for a variety of reasons.

It gets a little more complicated if you work for a school or a university. But these private employer relationships are what they are, and it has started a new front in a debate about what is appropriate, what is not appropriate in the wake of a national trauma like this.

And that is what we're going through, Kate, a national trauma. No, we're nowhere close to civil war. People should knock it off with that talk. Most Americans are going about their daily lives, not wanting revenge or retaliation or any of that. But given how tense the climate is, I think we are going to see more of these politically motivated firings and campaigns going forward.

BOLDUAN: So interesting at least to have this conversation with you guys about it is really enlightening. Sara, Brian, good to see you. Thank you. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Just in, a State Department official confirms that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Qatar tomorrow, one week after Israel's attack on Hamas leaders there. In Israel, the secretary just spoke on the strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have strong relationships with our Gulf allies. We work very closely with them on a number of things. We've been engaged with them. We've been engaged with them consistently before what happened and after what happened. And, ultimately, the point we'll make to everybody is that some fundamentals still remain that have to be addressed irrespective of what has occurred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. The secretary's visit to Israel comes as Israel targets Gaza City.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem this morning with the latest on these meetings between the secretary and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It's a gross understatement to say they have a lot to discuss.

[09:45:00]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Without a doubt about it, John. And, you know, even though the secretary of state would not really condemn or criticize that Israeli strike in Qatar last week, we, of course, have heard President Trump already publicly voice his disapproval of it. And, of course, the secretary of state is very much here and then shuttling over to Qatar in order to try and address the diplomatic fallout from those Israeli strikes in the Qatari capital targeting senior Hamas officials.

And a lot of that is going to happen, of course, behind closed doors. But, publicly, the Israeli prime minister certainly made no apologies for the decision that he made last week to target those Hamas leaders in Qatar. He likened the fact that these Hamas leaders were being hosted in Qatar to Afghanistan harboring Al-Qaeda terrorists in the wake of September 11th.

Of course, the big difference here is that both United States and Israel tacitly approved Qatar hosting Hamas in order to facilitate a lot of the backchannel diplomacy that we have seen over many years in particular over the course of this war.

And so the real question is going to be what does the secretary of state actually take to the Qataris tomorrow when he heads there? What can he bring them from Israel by way of potential conciliation or seeing a path forward at least to Qatar resuming its role as a mediator in order to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the hostages?

The secretary of state also made very clear that he is going to be discussing with Netanyahu how to bring about this goal of eliminating Hamas, which the United States very much it stands behind. But the question is, how is that achieved, particularly as we expect Israeli ground forces to begin moving into Gaza City in the coming days, according to Israeli officials. The secretary of state said that Hamas' defeat might need to come about via a concise military operation. Those were the terms that he used. But he made clear that he's going to be discussing that with the Israeli prime minister and that a diplomatic pathway for now seems very much out of reach. John?

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond, all the events transpiring before your eyes in Jerusalem, thank you so much for your report.

So, why is school so uncool, at least in all the polling, the lowest opinion of co college degree in more than half a century?

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[09:50:00]

BOLDUAN: Really scary happening and really scary video, frightening video of a moment the customer reached through a drive through window and grabs a barista in Washington. Police were able to track the suspect through the credit card that he used.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't even know why I even showed up there, bro. Like I was drunk. I was upset. It was a mistake. It was -- honestly, I didn't mean it, like that's not me. I promise like it was just genuinely -- like it was just the moment that I had I wish that I didn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The 19-year-old suspect is now charged with attempted kidnapping.

NASA scientists believe that they may have found the oldest sign of life on Mars to-date, and it is the closest they've ever come to finding evidence of life on that planet. The Perseverance Rover found these rocks with leopard-like patterns likely formed billions of years ago. Scientists say the marks could indicate signs of chemical reactions that supported microbial life.

CNN Aerospace Analyst Miles O'Brien explains the possible implications.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: If in fact upon further analysis we can determine the, you know, sort of the history of that life, the big question is, is it a second genesis of life or is the life on Earth from the same source? In other words, could the life have been transmitted from some sort of meteorite from our planet to Mars or vice versa, which, Jessica, means we might all be Martians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Take a look at this. A diehard Minnesota Vikings fan took passion to a whole other level, spending two years, more than two years, combining his love of Legos and the football team to build a replica of U.S. Bank Stadium. It is more than 3 feet long, 14 inches tall. The team spotted his work online and now fans can see the mini stadium inside the real one on display along the concourse for the rest of the season. Jonathan?

BERMAN: I wonder if he broke it after the Vikings lost last night.

BOLDUAN: No.

BERMAN: Like, oh, never mind.

BOLDUAN: You got to have hope. You got to have hope.

BERMAN: All right. We have some really stunning numbers for you. I have to say I was shocked when I saw these. It's about opinions of college education here in the United States, how important it is to have a college degree.

CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten is here. I knew where things were trending, but there are a couple numbers here that I genuinely found surprising.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA REPORTER: Yes. Let's just start off on the top line, right? You know, okay, a college degree is very important. You go back to 2010, it was 75 percent, 2013, 70 percent 2019, 51.

Look at there. This number is now 35 percent. This looks a lot more like the number that we had in the late 1970s when it was 36 percent. But even so, 35 percent is lower than 36 percent, so we're talking about a drop of 40 points from 15 years ago, and, in fact, the lowest percentage of Americans say a college degree is very important that at any point that Gallup has ever measured.

BERMAN: 1978, which I can remember --

ENTEN: I do not.

BERMAN: -- was pretty different than now.

ENTEN: Yes, very different. You know, back in 1978, only 15 percent of Americans had a college degree. Now, it's 36 percent.

[09:55:00]

John Berman and I were saying, I think to a lot of our audience, that's much lower than a lot of them might think, but still 36 percent, much higher than 15 percent. And yet the degree or the degree in which folks think that a college degree is very important is basically equal.

The bottom line is this. Back in 1978, college was this aspirational thing, right? Oh, okay, a college degree is something very important, but something that maybe my children might be able to get, even though I couldn't get. Now, it's not the case anymore. College degree is no longer this aspirational thing that folks look up to. What we basically have is a bunch of folks that have a college degree, and yet we have the same percentage now as back in '78 who think it's very important.

BERMAN: All right, we don't have much time left. I want to get to the number that really did shock me here, which is the partisan divide.

ENTEN: Yes. You might think that by party, that all of a sudden this drop is because of Republicans, but, in fact, it's on both sides in terms of a college degree is very important. In 2013, it was 83 percent of Democrats, and now it's 42 percent of Democrats who say a college degree is very important. Among Republicans, the drop is just as severe, if not a little bit more so, from 68 percent to 20 percent.

But what we're seeing, guys, is across the board, the percentage of Americans, no matter what their partisan stripes are, think that getting a college degree see it as very important has fallen through the floor, my dear friend.

BERMAN: What surprised me that was both parties, I didn't realize the drop was so universal there. I was so surprised I couldn't stand next to you anymore. I headed back here next time.

BOLDUAN: Well, also because he was about to do calisthenics on T.V.

So, anyway, we love you, Harry. Thank you.

ENTEN: Bye.

BOLDUAN: Thank you all for joining us.

The Situation Room is up next.

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