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Royal Welcome For Trump And First Lady Melania At Windsor Castle; Today: Federal Reserve Expected To Cut Interest Rates; Palestinians Flee Gaza City As Israel Says It Launched Ground Assault. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 17, 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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[07:32:48]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New overnight, former President Barack Obama on the murder of Charlie Kirk. The former president called it "horrific and a tragedy" at an event in Pennsylvania. The former president also said of Kirk, "I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong, but that doesn't negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy and that I mourn for him and his family."

It is the type of comment coming from politicians on both sides of the aisle. People trying to find a way to talk to each other; not at or over each other.

Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has new book out this week titled "Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense." And Sen. Manchin joins us now. Senator, I have the book right here -- read it. Enjoyed it thoroughly learning all about you growing --

JOE MANCHIN, (I) FORMER WEST VIRGINIA SENATOR, AUTHOR, "DEAD CENTER: IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE": I do, too, John.

BERMAN: I'm happy that they gave you one. It's nice of them. Learned a ton about you growing up in Farmington and how great of a dancer you were, a football player, and whatnot. But you talk really about both parties and where they've gone wrong.

I wonder if right now you can give us --

MANCHIN: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- on example each of the current Democratic and current Republican Party -- what you think they're doing wrong.

MANCHIN: Well, the visceral -- the visceral, verbal attacks on both, John, does not calm things down.

When you were a kid, you heard "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me," OK? Guess what? Words are harming as bad a sticks and stones. Something has to be done, John. You know, there was a fairness doctrine that all of you on the

airwaves -- public airwaves had to abide by from 1949 to 18 -- 1987. And all of a sudden, it was removed by Congress. And that's when you had social media platforms starting to rise up. You had, basically, cable news that wasn't subject to the same as the main -- basically, the main stations, CBS, ABC, and NBC. Some of that has to be tampered down.

And then everyone's talking about free speech. You know, free speech John has guardrails on it. You can't just do anything you can to incite inflammation and defamation and things of that sort. Why can't we put the same guardrails on the social media platforms?

[07:35:00]

President Trump himself, John, said that this man -- this young man who is accused of committing this horrific -- absolutely horrific crime and tragedy -- and my heart and prayers go out to the Kirk family -- but they -- the president said it looks as if he was radicalized on the internet. But there's no guardrails on the internet.

We've got AI coming, John. We have got to start looking at people being fair and the contents that we're feeding to the children.

And then think about one more thing. States all across the nation are starting to basically remove cell phones inside the school systems. If they think that's detrimental and they're removing them now -- and it's Democrat and Republican states -- red and blue. John, the contents of what we're feeding people today and how much is causing this and stirring this to unprecedented levels. It has to be stopped.

BERMAN: I've heard you say of the Democratic Party right now you think the brand is just so bad. Why, and how can they improve?

MANCHIN: They're just not rooted in reality today. I mean, I've been a lifelong Democrat.

And I was raised, John, in little Farmington, West Virginia, as the book will explain to you -- how I started out and how I got there. But I kept my core values. I was always held by my family and my little community for the -- for responsible and held accountable for the words I spoke and the actions I took. That was me. It was on me. I couldn't blame anybody, OK, and I had to answer to that -- and I've always lived by that code.

But when have the Democratic Party now not answering to basically the horrible situation we had at the border. Border security has to be done. People secure their own parameters around their homes. They're very -- they're very diligent about that. But yet, we had open borders.

The Democrats -- all we had to say was we made a mistake. I told them. I begged them. You don't do asylum at the borders, but it was done. Say you made a mistake, and you want to work with President Trump, and then ask President Trump to work with us -- BERMAN: Uh-huh.

MANCHIN: -- and all of us who know we need it. We need legal immigration. There is ways they can do it. But rather, they're just throwing this visceral attacks out.

President Trump is our president. He's my president. He's your president. Everybody should want your president to basically succeed and you want to help. But you've got to speak truth to power, John. You've got to be able to do it in a respectful manner. This verbal attack doesn't do a thing.

And it's -- and you asked me what's wrong in Congress. My friends -- they're not talking to each other.

BERMAN: What --

MANCHIN: They don't know each other. It is hard to say no to your friends.

BERMAN: You say it's important to speak truth to power. You say President Trump is your president. He is the President of the United States. But speak truth to power. Where do you think he may have gone wrong during this second administration?

MANCHIN: Well, let me just tell you right now the situation we're in and the unrest we have in our country, and the division as we keep getting further and further apart, there's only one commander in chief. Our commander in chief, President Donald Trump, needs to be the comforter in chief right now. He needs to be reaching out --

BERMAN: Um-hum.

MANCHIN: -- and helping America heal.

This is not right. This visceral attacks and that it leads into action, and action leads into tragedies. Only one person can start it. And I'll guarantee you both sides will start to calm down if they see the leader of the free world say whoa, we're the United State. We're not going to continue to be the divided states and we're not going to divide it anymore. That's the comforter in chief. That's what we need right now.

My prayers are that his better angels -- and we all have a better angel --

BERMAN: Um-hum.

MANCHIN: -- in us, John -- starts speaking and saying come on, this is not right. This has gone way too far, and we've got to stop this.

Attacks of that where you see politicians and you've got people that won't run, don't want to serve, John. You've got people afraid to get involved in public service -- is absolutely horrific and it'll be the downsizing --

BERMAN: I --

MANCHIN: -- or it will be basically detrimental to democracy.

BERMAN: I want to talk about your future, Senator, because there was one line that jumped out at me in the book.

MANCHIN: Yeah.

BERMAN: I've covered campaigns for a long time. You said -- you were talking about 2024. "I faced the harsh reality that there's no real path to victory for a third-party presidential candidate. Not in 2024 anyway." And those last words like sent off huge sirens in my mind as a political reporter. Not in 2024 says, to me, maybe in 2028.

So are you thinking about running?

MANCHIN: Well John, let me just say this. I truly believe that if these parties cannot come back -- and they have basically a business model that's based on hatred and fear. It's not who our -- who we are as Americans.

The country is ready for something different, and I think an independent American party bringing both of the center left and center right back together because the extremes are where they are. They're not going to move John. They've always been there. But you can bring the center back, but it has nowhere to coalesce around.

BERMAN: You --

MANCHIN: But they have to have something to coalesce around.

[07:40:00]

Anything I can do for my country I would do in a heartbeat.

BERMAN: Running --

MANCHIN: I would -- I'll help, I'll assist, I'll contribute. I'll do everything I can do, John.

BERMAN: Maybe run?

MANCHIN: I know where you're going, my friend. I know where you're going, my friend. Let me just say, am I ready to help my country? Any way possible.

People -- you know, don't you -- we all have empathy. Anyone who doesn't grieve for Charlie Kirk's family and all the families -- all the families and children's families of violence -- gun violence in schools. All of this. My goodness, this has got -- it has to stop.

BERMAN: Yeah.

MANCHIN: The Fairness doctrine basically putting guardrails. Getting rid of section 230 and putting the same guardrails on social media and platforms that we have that are feeding America the same as we have on the First Amendment, freedom of speech.

BERMAN: Senator --

MANCHIN: Come on, let's have some leadership.

BERMAN: Former Sen. Joe Manchin, you have retired from the Senate, but I do have to say you haven't left behind the ability not to answer my direct question -- and for that I respect you.

The new book is title "Dead Center: In Defense of Common Sense." It is a wonderful read. I need to ask you offline why you go to a car wash with a Christmas tree on top, but that's a discussion for another time.

Thank you, Senator. Appreciate it.

MANCHIN: John, I'm a -- I'm a clean freak, John. But you are a good friend and you're a good man, and I appreciate you continuing never giving up --

BERMAN: Thank you, Senator. I appreciate it.

MANCHIN: -- on your questioning.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Never giving up and definitely not a no.

BERMAN: Yes, that's right.

BOLDUAN: Hours from now the former head of the CDC is set to speak out on Capitol Hill three weeks after she was fired. Dr. Susan Monarez is getting a major public platform this morning to have her say, including that she was pushed out of the agency for holding the line on scientific integrity, she says. Monarez says she was also directed to approve vaccine recommendations without seeing the science first, and fired career officials without cause.

In a preview of her remarks, CNN has learned that she will also say this. "On the morning of August 25, Secretary Kennedy demanded two things of me that were inconsistent with my oath of office and ethics required of a public official. He directed me to commit in advance to approving every ACIP recommendation regardless of the scientific evidence. He also directed me to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy, without cause. He said if I was unwilling to do both, I should resign."

Four other high-level CDC officials resigned in protest of her firing.

Joining us right now ahead of her testimony is CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. It's good to see you, Doctor. Thanks for being here.

She's expected to say, you know, essentially, RFK put politics before health or is putting politics before health.

What do you want to learn from Dr Monarez today? DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (via Webex by Cisco): I want to learn exactly what the process has been for developing the ACIP recommendations that the panel today will talk about. You know, who has crafted them.

You know, typically, ACIP is a panel composed of outside experts. It's really subject matter experts. You know, virologists, pediatricians, infectious disease docs who talk about in a very granular way a particular topic such as the measles vaccine or hepatis B vaccine, which is on the docket for today.

And then -- and then they also have access to an outside group of what they call liaison experts often constituted from professional societies -- pediatrics, OB/GYN, et cetera. And they really debate and discuss this data.

But what Dr. Monarez has said, as you outlined at the -- at the outset of this piece -- is that the ACIP meeting has been pre-scripted. So who pre-scripted it and why should -- why should any serious scientist be accepted to -- be expected to just rubberstamp it?

So I really want to get a sense for the process now at HHS and CDC and who is driving the science now -- and I suspect I know.

BOLDUAN: And I suspect what you are insinuating and what you're suggesting here is that it's RFK Jr. because he has handpicked this vaccine panel.

REINER: Right.

BOLDUAN: He's expected -- they are expected to meet tomorrow and Friday --

REINER: Right.

BOLDUAN: -- to consider delaying the recommended timing of the hepatis B vaccine that's given within days often of --

REINER: Right.

BOLDUAN: -- when the child is born -- given to newborns.

If that is what they do, what do you think the impact will be?

REINER: More hepatitis B for kids.

So the hepatitis B vaccine has been one of the great successes in terms of childhood health. The hepatitis B -- 30 years ago, the incidence was about 30 kids per million developed hepatitis B. Now it's down to one per million.

And what's important to realize is that some of these vaccines now are really cancer vaccines. Hepatitis B is a cancer vaccine. It prevents -- it prevents cancer.

[07:45:00]

When children are infected with hepatitis B, they face a lifelong struggle with chronic liver disease and potentially cirrhosis later in life. And one of the dreaded complications of chronic hepatitis B is hepatocellular carcinoma -- a really bad-acting cancer.

And the hepatitis B vaccine is remarkably effective when given to a baby. And typically, it's given to a baby now within 24 hours of birth. It is 98 percent effective.

The alternative plan not to vaccinate kids early or potentially not to vaccinate them until they're four relies on catching moms who have hepatitis B and testing them in the first trimester to see who is positive and then vaccinating the kids. The problem with that is that not every mom gets great prenatal care. Mothers can't convert to hepatitis B positivity after testing negative in the first trimester. Tests can be wrong. So just screening moms is a safety net with a lot of holes.

But vaccinating every baby within 24 hours of birth is the way you eradicate hepatitis B. And as I said a moment ago, it's just about been eradicated in kids.

BOLDUAN: Dr. Reiner, thank you so much. We'll watch together what Dr. Monarez has to say today -- John.

BERMAN: All right. I want to check back in over in the United Kingdom. This is Windsor Castle. You're looking at live pictures there. If you like horses, if you like parades, if you like pageantry, princes and princesses --

BOLDUAN: Like royalty.

BERMAN: Yeah, it's all there.

BOLDUAN: I'm loving it.

BERMAN: This is all happening. This is an historic state visit by President Trump and the first lady. You can see them both standing right there next to King Charles and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.

No modern U.S. leader has been invited for two state visits. This is the president's second. During his first administration he was the guest of Queen Elizabeth II; now he is the guest of King Charles.

We've already seen a parade through the Windsor grounds with carriage transporting the president and the king and a second carriage with the queen and the first lady.

Our Alayna Treene is standing by not far from where all of this is happening in Windsor right now.

Alayna, obviously, the U.S. government wanted to do this for the president. All of this pageantry has some political implications.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Oh, absolutely, and I think it's not lost on the U.K., on the royals that this is something that the president loves. In my conversations with people at the White House, John, the word that kept coming up in my conversations was that he's enamored by all of this.

And if you even look back to his first term -- I mean, the respect that he has for the royals has been kind of unwavering and it really is a unique card that the royals but also the Prime Minister Keir Starmer can play here, particularly ahead of some of the more political conversations that are going to be taking place in Chequers at his country -- at the prime minister's country estate tomorrow.

But this really is -- I mean, the series of events that they have planned out are happening on even a grander scale than they have in the past we're told by people here on the ground. We're seeing more members of the Royal Guard, more pageantry than is typical. And then, of course, we know that the president loves that this is unprecedented for him to be involved in two state visits.

I actually was looking back on when the prime minister was in the Oval Office earlier this year and he kind of unsheathed the invitation for the president and said this has never been done before. That goes a very long way with Trump, as we know.

BERMAN: Alayna, thank you very much.

Our Christiane Amanpour is standing by as well watching this. Ceremonial, Christiane. And King Charles -- for King Charles, obviously, he waited a long time to be king. He has issues that he cares deeply about and while it's not overtly political for him one wonders whether he will take the opportunity to discuss them with President Trump.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You know, John, 100 percent. Even me, as I was musing about what might the British get out of this -- because Trump obviously has getting -- is getting a lot out of it. First and foremost, this unprecedented second state visit. And the fact that he's getting a pretty good break from the chaos and the poison that we've been talking about over the last week and more at home, and also from some of the political upheaval here in the U.K.

But the king, who has extended this visit because that's the protocol -- the prime minister didn't. The king officially invited the president for a second state visit. He obviously cares a lot about so many of these issues that Trump is pushing aside and rolling back.

First and foremost, of course, is the environment. The king was ahead of the curve when it was not fashionable to be environmentally conscious, and he has been amping that up throughout his time in waiting and now as king as well. His son and heir, the Prince of Wales, Prince William, has taken up that baton as well and he will have a lot of time with President Trump.

[07:50:14]

So is it a time when, I mean, you know, if you want to, you know, be cheeky a little bit and saying Mr. President, you know, without you we cannot fix this climate. Without the United States we cannot keep our world in a state that we can all live in it. How about coming back into the Paris climate accord?

Now that is probably fantasy, probably more than likely, but you know that is what they would want to propose because not only is President Trump rolling back all the environmental protections that have been legislated and enacted in the United States federally, but he's also pressing countries like the U.K. and Europe to roll back their green agendas and to keep digging for fossil fuels and probably buying American fossil fuels. So that's one thing.

The other thing is, of course, the king is and has always been never publicly and never politically because that's not his role as a constitutional monarch, but he's always been concerned about civil discourse. About helping the most needy. He has a foundation which does that -- he and the Prince of Wales.

So these are all issues that maybe will come up, if not at least to try to smooth whatever rough edges there may be still be between America under President Trump and the U.K. The U.K. desperately needs investment, desperately needs a trade deal, and they're hoping to get the best they can out of that.

BERMAN: Christiane Amanpour standing by in Windsor as we watch the parade pass the president, the first lady, the king and queen. Everything almost out of central casting, including the great weather over Windsor right now in the United Kingdom. We'll come back to this in just a moment.

Meanwhile, here in the United States, new this morning, a critical decision for the Federal Reserve. Officials expected to cut interest rates for the first time since December. It's also the first vote for newly-confirmed Fed governor Steve Miran, President Trump's top economic adviser.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan for what we're expecting here but I think more importantly, what we're watching for here, Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, John. Look, this is shaping up to be one of the strangest Fed meetings in recent memory both because of the confusing economic situation and because of the chaotic political backdrop. And yet, investors think a rate cut is a slam dunk. They're pricing in a 96 percent chance of a quarter-point cut today and a four percent chance of a jumbo-sized interest rate cut of half a percentage point.

Now the president has been calling for big interest rate cuts but some economists -- they worry that going too big would look panicky. Now either way, this would be the first interest rate cut of the second Trump administration.

Now unfortunately, it's not coming because inflation has been defeated. It hasn't been, right? Inflation is actually at a 7-month high. It would be coming because the Fed is concerned about the state of the job market. I do want to stress though that a quarter-point cut -- it's not going

to be like a magic wand fixing this economy. As you can see, interest rates -- they are still high from when the Fed spiked rates 3 1/2 years ago to fight inflation. At that point the Fed was basically slamming the brakes on the economy. Now it's not really going pedal to the metal on the gas; it's just sort of taking its foot off the brake a bit.

Two things that I'm watching for today, John, how are people going to vote? How are the Fed officials going to vote? Is there going to be anyone dissenting and, if so, are they in favor of deeper cuts or no cuts at all? And then, which way does the Fed lean about the future? Does it signal a wait-and-see approach, or does it signal a series of interest rate cuts? It's going to be fascinating.

BERMAN: Yeah. Pay attention to the body language. Pay attention to what they say about things going forward. Those may be the most important headlines here.

Matt Egan, great to have you there. I know the Fed chair and all the governors excited to have you there as well.

We've got a lot of breaking news happening this morning. We'll be right back.

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[07:57:20]

BERMAN: All right. This morning new video shows smoke rising over Gaza as Israel says an expanded ground assault into Gaza City is now underway. The defense minister says, "Gaza is burning." The incursion comes in defiance of international condemnation and as Israel has been accelerating airstrikes there.

With us is Admiral James Stravidis, former NATO supreme allied commander. Admiral, thank you very much for being with us.

What would military success in this operation in Gaza City be? What do you see as an achievable strategy?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET,), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, PARTNER, THE CARLYLE GROUP (via Webex by Cisco): I don't know if it's achievable but certainly the objective would be somehow rescue the remaining 20 hostages, kill the remnants of Hamas, subdue the population. But John, that's a chimera. It's going to be extraordinarily difficult to achieve those results.

More likely this is going to look like the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq 20 years ago. U.S. Marines -- infantry -- the shock troops -- the top shock troops in the world had to go into Fallujah. We lost hundreds killed and wounded, thousands of civilians killed, and uneasy peace eventually. But you can drop a plumb line to the events of Fallujah and the rise of the Islamic State. I think unfortunately, that's a more likely darker outcome for Israel here.

BERMAN: I spent time with U.S. troops in Fallujah after that assault and saw firsthand how difficult that can be.

Admiral, in terms of Ukraine, there are Russian officials now saying -- one of the discussions has been whether there will be an international peace force or presence of some kind if there were a deal reached. Now there are officials in Russia saying well, if there were foreign troops in Ukraine they could be targeted by Russian forces. It seems to me Russia is trying to remove the possibility of such a thing before it even exists.

STAVRIDIS: They are, and predictably, we'll again hear from Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister and maybe from Putin himself reminding us that Russia is a nuclear power. Look, we've heard all this now for three years. We're a nuclear power. We're going to target NATO. Don't you dare bring Sweden and Finland into NATO, et cetera, et cetera. I don't put a lot of faith in the bluff and the bluster from Russia at this point.

Before we get to troops on the ground, John, I think there is a halfway house, and that would be to establish a no-fly zone. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been quite correctly for three years now calling for us to "close the skies over Ukraine." That would take a big tool away from Vladimir Putin. NATO jets can do that.