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Hollywood Icon Robert Redford Dies at 89; FBI Director Patel About to Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee; Kirk Shooting Suspect Set to Be Charged, Make First Court Appearance. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 16, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Legendary Hollywood actor, director, and environmentalist Robert Redford has died. He was 89 years old. We're going to take a closer look at his incredible life and career and legacy.

And the FBI director, Kash Patel, is about to face some tough questions on Capitol Hill. These are live pictures inside the hearing room right here, as he's sitting down. The top Democrat on that panel just told us that he views Patel as the most incompetent FBI director ever, facing questions of his handling of the Charlie Kirk murder investigation to his overall leadership at the Bureau. It's all about to get underway.

And Israel launches what may be its largest ground operation since the war in Gaza began targeting Gaza City. We have the very latest coming in from the region.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara is out. This is CNN New Central.

And let us begin this hour with the breaking news. The iconic Robert Redford has died. He was an actor, turned Oscar-winning director and activist with a legendary career. He was 89 years old.

Let's go over to CNN's Lisa France with much more on this. An amazing human and amazing career. What are we learning, Lisa?

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, Kate, we're learning that he passed away in his sleep, and this seems apropos for a man who said he was never going to retire. What an incredible life well lived. I mean, he set the gold standard for sex symbols in the 1970s. There was no bigger star than Robert Redford.

I saw we played a bit of one of my favorite movies, The Way We Were, with Barbara Streisand. But this was a man who was so much more than just an actor. Not that there's anything wrong with acting, of course, because it was a profession that he loved, but he loved directing and he especially loved the environment.

He traveled in 2015 to Paris to speak at the U.N. Climate Conference, one of several celebrities. He wrote an opinion piece for us in 2020 about the importance of climate change. And he was always sounding the alarm for wanting a better world.

But, Kate, also, he wanted a better world for filmmakers. He, of course, founded the Sundance Film Festival. He also founded an organization, which made grants for up and coming filmmakers. And so he was just a man who loved the art of moviemaking and storytelling and narrative, and he's being widely mourned this morning. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Lisa, stick with us. Let's take a look back at his life and career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Hollywood legend and leading man. Robert Redford had many roles in front of the camera as well as behind it. He was a true filmmaker and will always be remembered for many iconic films.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she denies even knowing about the conversation taking --

SIDNER: All the President's Men's --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, I don't know when I'll be back.

SIDNER: -- and The Way We Were. 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was his first blockbuster film starring alongside Paul Newman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands up.

SIDNER: They also co-starred in The Sting, for which he was nominated for best actor in 1974. Redford was cast as the romantic leading man in films like The Great Gatsby and Out of Africa, a label that followed him throughout his life, even as he became older.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I didn't see myself the way others saw me. So, I was kind of feeling trapped because I couldn't go outside the box of leading man or good looking leading man. It was very flattering, but it was feeling restrictive. So, it took many years to break loose of that.

SIDNER: Redford won a best director Oscar in 1981 for Ordinary People. He directed A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show and many other films.

A native Californian, he was born in Santa Monica in 1936. As Los Angeles grew, so did Redford's love for protecting the environment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grew up respecting nature because what happened to Los Angeles.

[09:05:02]

It was a city as a child during the end of the Second World War that I loved, and it was a beautiful city and the air was clean. And then what happened after the war was suddenly there were skyscrapers and there was pollution. It felt like the city that I loved as a child was taken away from me. So, I moved away from that in sadness.

SIDNER: Redford moved to New York City to pursue an acting career on Broadway in the late 1950s. His big breakout role there was in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, a role he would later reprise on the big screen with co-star Jane Fonda.

But after several years on Broadway, Redford left the glitz and glamour behind, and in 1961 moved to Utah where he bought two acres of land for just $500 and built a cabin for his family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I discovered how important nature was in my life, and I wanted to be where nature was extreme and where I thought it could be maybe everlasting.

SIDNER: An avid environmentalist, he bought more land over the years in Park City, Utah, and turned it into the Sundance Institute in 1981, a nonprofit dedicated to independent filmmakers. And four years later started the Sundance Film Festival to showcase their work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once the press came, then fashion came. And when fashion came, the paparazzi came. So, these are kind of like tears that formed outside of what we were doing. And that's fine. That's their business, but it's not who we are.

SIDNER: And his love for the environment continued.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As years went on, I became more and more convinced that nature played a great role in our lives, but wasn't being treated fairly. And so I got committed to preserving that.

SIDNER: But he didn't stop acting and directing and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2002 for his contributions to filmmaking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I want to make the most of what I've been given, and you keep pushing yourself forward. You try new things, and that's invigorating. I guess I've found out that rather than retiring, that just feels better. Just keep moving as long as you can keep moving.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Robert Redford was 89.

With us now entertainment reporter, Segun Oduolowu. Great to see you, my friend.

I was saying before that Robert Redford is in more of my favorite movies, I think, than any other actor. Just talk to us about his influence on all of entertainment and, frankly, the country.

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Well, he's an icon, John. You know, he's one of the last great movie stars. And, you know, with Paul Newman passing several years ago, like we don't have many of the marquee movie stars left. And his influence is felt everywhere. He's worked with the Hollywood stars. He's directed many of today's Hollywood stars or, you know, the Brad Pitts. We saw movies that he was a part of.

And with his passing, we look back at everything that he left. Recently this year, I worked for the Martha's Vineyard, African American Film Festival, and in part his Sundance Film Festival became the gold standard for what film festivals are to be. He was emulated, he was admired, and his activism. He and Leonardo DiCaprio had traveled to talk about climate change a few years back. He wasn't just a star who enjoyed, you know, the glitz and the glamour. He gave back. And that's the true iconic stature and nature of who he was, you know, naming the film festival after his biggest, you know, role that kind of birthed him onto the scene, Sundance.

So, he will be missed. He's one of those rare people where at 89 years old, you feel like his life got cut short because he was doing so much and he meant so much to an industry and to so many people.

BOLDUAN: That's such a sweet way of saying it, Segun. Just on -- just take Sundance in and of itself, the impact that has had on independent film, what we watch, what we are exposed to, what we -- what takes off, what impacts culture that just that singular festival in and of itself has had such a huge influence.

ODUOLOWU: Absolutely. It birthed industries, right? The screenwriter, the indie film, what we're seeing now that kind of goes against the big studio, large budget tent pole, you know, Marvel superheroes. Sundance was for the artist and Robert Redford was for the artist.

When you hear some of his words about how important art was to him, how he felt that art could not only change, but could actually be the catalyst for change. And that's what he saw doing with Sundance, to empower the artist, to empower that up and comer to create in an industry where, with this visual medium, you can move minds, you can change hearts.

[09:10:06]

And that's what Robert Redford was doing in an effort to honestly try and save a planet that he loved so much, you know, going to nature, having a film festival in Utah, you know, out of the way. It wasn't in a big city or it wasn't in this flashy area. That's the impact, right, that art in itself. If you love it, if you encourage it, if you nurture, it can create and change and move mountains.

And that's what he was. You could see it in his roles. You could see it in the way he kind of took younger actors under his wing and worked with them. And, I mean, yes, he's going to be missed. Like Hollywood right now is trying to figure out the best way to eulogize a giant, and I don't think we'll be able to.

BERMAN: Yes, it may just be insufficient. I was thinking about how he chose his roles and his films to make sure that they said something about this country. Often, what's wrong, like the candidate, my favorite political movie about what's wrong with campaigns, All the President's Men, what's wrong with D.C. political culture, ordinary family, even, you know, what's wrong with families, American families, where they can be better? I think he wanted to say something with much of his work.

ODUOLOWU: He did. You know, I entered the Robert Redford kind of movie catalog with Indecent Proposal with Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson. And even though he's supposed to be the villain, you don't hate him in the movie, right? He had a way of, as you said, showing a different lens or taking a different look at, you know, this particular thing. What would we do for money? What would you do for a million dollars? Would you be willing to go this far and making it kind of an educational treatise on, you know, am I the bad guy for making the offer or are you the bad people for taking the offer? It's really interesting how he chose his role and then how he stood in them and you wound up not hating the villain or not hating the outlaw, which is a way he kind of always saw himself going all the way back to playing the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. So, there was definitely a through line to the parts that he took and the way he acted in them.

BOLDUAN: A great example in life and he'll be a great example in death for so many.

Segun, thank you so much. It's great to see you.

BERMAN: All right. A lot going on today, to be sure. We are standing by for a pivotal moment for the FBI and its director Kash Patel expected to face tough questions from lawmakers on Capitol Hill. You're looking at live pictures from the hearing room right now. Obviously, it comes in the heels of everything with the Jeffrey Epstein files, also scrutiny over his handling of the Charlie Kirk investigation.

In a pretty unusual move, Patel has been going on T.V. revealing evidence, gathered in the case against the subject before actual charging documents have been filed.

Let's get to CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez for what's at stake in what we expect in these hearings today. Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, you know, we've never had an FBI director quite like Kash Patel. And some of the things that you just talked about is very unusual to have an FBI director or even prosecutors discuss evidence that has just been recovered, and that is part of a case that is about to be prosecuted or that the Justice Department wants to prosecute.

Of course, state charges, we are expecting to happen as soon as today, but the federal prosecutors are also looking to bring charges. And one of the concerns that you hear inside the Justice Department is that revealing some of this could affect the prosecution of that trial. The idea being, of course, that this suspect has a right to a fair trial is something that a judge certainly is going to have some concerns about going forward, if that case comes forward on the federal side.

Now, this hearing is just now getting underway. We expect that not only is Patel's management of this case. You'll remember, of course, last week that he sort of jumped the gun, ahead of schedule there, went on social media and talked about a subject who was under arrest, only to have to retract that because it was that person had nothing to do with this shooting. And that's been an embarrassment really for the FBI.

But there's other parts of his management that are also under scrutiny including, of course, purges of some senior FBI officials, people who, really, the only thing that appears that they've done wrong is that they had some role in cases involving Donald Trump or refuse to carry out orders to help purge FBI employees who had been involved in some of those Trump investigations. Again, that is something Democrats are going to be raising.

And, of course, as you mentioned, the Epstein files, that is still an issue that a lot of a lot of Democrats and some Republicans still care very much about. And as you pointed out, though, you know, he's still very much has the backing of Republicans and of the president of the United States.

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So, you can expect that he's going to push back very strongly on some of those criticisms. John?

BERMAN: All right. Evan Perez for us covering the hearings.

Let's listen to the Judiciary Committee ranking member, Dick Durban, Senator from Illinois, who Kate spoke with just moments ago.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): -- by the January 6th rioters who violently assaulted police officers in the Capitol. He compiled an enemy's list of public servants he called government gangsters, like former FBI Director Mueller, who Patel called, quote, an utter swamp creature.

Former Trump officials who served with Mr. Patel warned us he would weaponize the FBI to protect the president's allies and target his critics and, indeed, Director Patel has already inflicted untold damage on the FBI, putting our national security and public safety at risk.

Since January 20th, the Trump administration has engaged in an unprecedented purge of FBI officials. As we heard from highly credible whistleblowers, Mr. Patel was involved in directing this purge even before he was confirmed despite his sworn testimony to this committee. It began with terminations and forced retirements of all six non- partisan career officials who run all six branches of the FBI, the executive assistant directors.

Since then, at least 18 of the 53 special agents in charge of FBI field offices have been removed along with many other senior officials. Individual agents have been targeted for termination simply due to the work that they were assigned, such as January 6th investigation. In fact, according to former acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, in a lawsuit filed last week, Director Patel made this very plain, telling Driscoll personally, quote, that his own job depended on the removal of agents who worked on the cases against the president, end quote. And even though he knew, quote, the nature of summary findings were likely illegal.

At the same time, Director Patel has installed MAGA loyalists as political appointees in key career positions, including conspiracy theorist Dan Bongino as FBI deputy director, the first time in the history of the FBI that this position has not been held by a career FBI agent.

Director Patel has also reportedly initiated loyalty test, loyalty test, requiring dozens of officials to sit for polygraph exams and answer inappropriate questions about whether they've made negative comments about him personally.

Of course, this is often the case in the Trump administration. The rules apply to the, but not to me. As we understand it from highly credible sources, key members of Director Patel's senior executive team and others on the seventh floor had disqualifying alerts on their initial polygraph exam. Well, how did they survive? They survived because of personal waiver by either the director or the attorney general to remain employed by the bureau.

Understand the context here. Political operatives in key positions, given the routine FBI polygram exam, failed and had to receive waivers to continue their positions. They were lucky to keep their political appointments. They were, but the 5,000 career civil servants the director has so far forced out of the Bureau's ranks were not offered that same courtesy. 5,000, this mass exodus has created a disastrous brain drain, particularly in the fields of cyber security, counter- terrorism, counterintelligence. For example, my office --

BERMAN: All right, that's the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin, who's got a lot of harsh words for Kash Patel, the FBI director in these hearings. We'll hear from Patel shortly and expected to be very tough questioning there as well.

A lot of other news going on statewide, stick with CNN's special coverage.

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BOLDUAN: We are following a lot of breaking news. We are standing by this morning to learn of charges to be formally filed in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk. The 22-year-old suspect, the man accused, is set to make his first court appearance today.

Let's get over to where this is all going to be happening. CNN's Danny Freeman is standing by in Utah. Danny, lay out what is expected to be filed, to be seen, and to be known by the end of today.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You bet, Kate. So, little in on today, we're expecting to see that first court appearance by 22-year- old Tyler Robinson. He's the main suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk last week. That's going to happen around 5:00 P.M. Eastern Time, but a little earlier than that at 2:00 P.M. Eastern time, we're expecting to hear from the Utah County attorney, the prosecutor here, really lay out what their version of the case is at this point.

And Utah officials have promised that we will learn a lot more information at that time, which is remarkable, Kate, because we actually have learned quite a lot of information over the course of the past 24 hours. Perhaps most stunning was that Washington Post report that came out late yesterday that appeared to report on a confession that Robinson may have made in the wake of the shooting.

This was hours before Robinson would eventually turn himself in and be arrested here in Utah. And, basically, according to Washington Post, he wrote in a social and gaming app known as, Discord, in a group chat saying, hey guys, I have bad news for you all. It was me at UVU yesterday. I'm sorry for all of this.

Now, Kate, this apparent confession also comes on the heels of New York Times reporting that during the manhunt itself, Robinson was in another Discord group chat.

[09:25:08]

And he was joking that a doppelganger was trying to get him in trouble. And he made those comments after law enforcement officials put out photos of the suspect on campus during that shooting.

So, just remarkable insight into what may have been happening in Robinson's mind in the hours and day after the shooting. But I want you to take a listen to how Kash Patel last night framed new text messages that he believes the FBI also has obtained in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: What was found in terms of information, a text message exchange where he, the suspect, specifically stated that he had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and he was going to do that. And when he was asked why, he said some hatred cannot be negotiated with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: So, again, Kate, a tremendous amount of information that we have learned so far about this suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, but we're expecting to learn more. 2:00 P.M. Eastern, that's when that press conference will take place and those charges will be formally filed. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Danny, thank you so much, as always, for your reporting. I really appreciate it. Much more to come on that.

You're also, let's show you right now, live pictures, this is inside the Senate Judiciary hearing, and that right there is the FBI director, Kash Patel, facing questions about his handling of the Kirk -- the Charlie Kirk murder investigation, and much more. We're tracking this one for you live. We're going to bring you updates very soon.

And also happening now, for the first time in months, the suspected CEO killer, Luigi Mangione, is back before a judge. We're live outside the court.

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