Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Late Night Hosts Defend Kimmel, Mock Trump and Defend Free Speech; Soon, CDC Advisers to Take Up Newborn Hepatitis B, COVID-19 Shots; Southern California Mudslides Damage Homes, Close Roads. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 19, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking overnight, the late night response, the rally around Jimmy Kimmel after ABC pulled him off the air following White House pressure, and now the president threatens more networks if they broadcast unflattering things about him.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heavy rains triggered dangerous mudslides in California. The video's just a mess, swamping roads, burying homes, sweeping away cars in the debris. We're going to take you there.

And chaos in a Florida courtroom, video shows the moment a shackled inmate suddenly lunges at a judge during a hearing.

Sara's out today. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: And while you were sleeping, comedic retaliation. New fallout from ABC's decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel off the air indefinitely under overpressure from the Trump administration. Kimmel's fellow late night hosts decried what some are calling censorship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Comedy Central, it's the all new government approved Daily Show, with your patriotically obedient host, Jon Stewart.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE STEPHEN COLBERT SHOW: After threats from Trump's FCC chair, ABC yanked Kimmel off the air indefinitely. That is blatant censorship.

Jimmy, just let me say, I stand with you and your staff 100 percent.

SETH MEYERS, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS: It is a privilege and an honor to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend, in the same way that it's a privilege and honor to do this show. Every night I wake up, every day I count my blessings that I live in a country that at least purports the value, freedom of speech. And we're going to keep doing our show the way we've always done it with enthusiasm and integrity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Kimmel was spotted for the first time since ABC suspended his show, but he has not yet publicly commented on all this.

We're learning new details about what is happening behind the scenes. The source tells CNN that ABC has hopes of bringing Kimball back, but he has to, quote, take down the temperature. Trump appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcast licenses over comments Kimmel made about finger-pointing in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's murder. Two broadcast groups then announced they would preempt or pull Kimmel's show from 62 TV markets or regions nationwide.

And now it's worth noting that President Trump says that other networks who broadcast things about him he does not like should also lose their licenses.

With us now, CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter. A lot has happened over the last several hours, Brian.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, and another protest is planned today outside Disney's office in New York City, some staffers heading to work there, dreading showing up to work at Disney. As one staffer there said to me, we feel like the company has led us down. There is so much disappointment, so much frustration with ABC among Kimmel fans, among other entertainers, comedians, journalists, people who want to see free speech rights upheld in the United States and do not want to see Disney or other media companies capitulate to political pressure.

And that was the theme on late night television overnight, John, so many of these comedians showing solidarity with Jimmy Kimmel, including Stephen Colbert, who knows his time is running out on CBS next spring.

We've also heard from David Letterman, of course, Colbert's predecessor on CBS. And Letterman's words were quite sharp. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, COMEDIAN AND FORMER LATE NIGHT HOST: In the world of somebody who's an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship, sooner or later, everyone is going to be touched. But this is me for 30 years. I did this for a living.

We all see where this is going, correct? It's managed media and it's no good. It's silly. It's ridiculous, and you can't go around firing somebody because you are fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That's just not how this works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:05:00]

STELTER: Letterman expressing the concerns of so many Americans right now, Letterman, talking about America's democratic backsliding, fears of an authoritarian grip over the United States. And we heard Colbert talk about that as well overnight, referring to Trump as an autocrat.

What Trump really seeks right now is media self-censorship, and I think this is really important to underscore. President Trump can make lots of threats about station licenses. He did it on the campaign trail and he is doing it again this week. But he has very limited power to actually take action, and that's true for the FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, as well. Carr knows that actually trying to take away a local station's license would be incredibly time consuming. It would trigger a lengthy legal battle. It would take years to do.

I spoke overnight with Andrew J. Schwartzman, who's a public interest lawyer who has studied this for decades. He said to me, quote, taking away a broadcast license has so many legal obstacles and takes so long that the FCC doesn't even try. It hasn't happened in decades. So, why is that relevant? It's relevant because what Trump really needs to have happen is self-censorship. His mere threat, his mere bluster is what causes companies like Disney to take action. We've seen that time and time again this year, and that is the real danger right now that Americans have to be paying attention to, the possibility of self- censorship by media outlets.

And certainly that's what Jimmy Kimmel is concerned about right now. We know he met with his lawyers last night. We also know there's been no resolution so far, and he does remain off the air. John?

BERMAN: And even some on the right and center right are warning that what the administration is doing is too much. The Wall Street Journal, the Free Press with Barry Weiss warning this is censorship or jawboning, they call it.

Brian Stelter, thank you very much for that. Kate?

BOLDUAN: President Trump is cheering on ABC's decision to indefinitely pull the plug on Jimmy Kimmel. He is calling for other late night hosts to face the same now. Here is what he said when he was asked about Kimmel on Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Who would you like to see replace Kimmel on late night?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: A lot of people. Anybody could replace him. The guy had no talent. Kimmel had -- look, he was fired. He had no talent. He's a whack job, but he had no talent and more importantly the talent. He had to, because a lot of people have no talent to get ratings, but he had no ratings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Kimmel was actually not fired in all of this. And as John mentioned earlier, no decision's been made on how to move forward. A source does tell CNN that Disney is hopeful that there is a path to bring Kimmel back, though, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr also now saying that Kimmel's suspension is, quote, not the last shoe to drop. CNN's Betsy Klein is joining us now from the White House. And President Trump also took it further, warning that other networks should lose their licenses for simply criticizing him.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. That's a threat that he has been making and it's a sharp turn from the early days of the president's second term, when he signed an executive order that he said would ban government censorship and restore free speech.

Since the murder, assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk, we have seen an escalation of efforts to clamp down on criticism of the president and his administration, and we saw that earlier this week as the president signed an executive order that he said would designate certain groups as domestic terrorist organizations. We saw the Department of Defense take steps to crack down on service members' social media posts, responding to that. We also have seen threats to revoke the tax exempt status of some left-leaning nonprofit organizations.

And then the White House is saying that this is an effort to address what they say is a coordinated left-wing effort to incite violence. But critics are saying that this is an effort to silence dissent of the president.

And then earlier this week, FCC Chair Brendan Carr pressuring ABC to rethink its programming, leading to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. The president, cheering that and cheering Carr, but also taking it a step further yesterday. He says, regulators should consider taking away broadcasters' licenses if they criticize him. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I read someplace that the networks were 97 percent against me. I get 97 percent negative, and yet I won it easily. I won all seven swing states popular. I won everything.

I mean, they're getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away. It'll be up to Brendan Carr.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: The president, spelling out very clearly that networks that are critical of him are at risk of losing their licenses if they do not also show conservative views. And Carr, for his part, says that the FCC is not done yet. Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right. Betsy, thank you very much for that from the White House for us.

Big changes are coming for vaccine guidance, two vaccine guidance for children. A group of advisers handpicked by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., they're back at it for a second day today on today's agenda, the hepatitis B vaccine and the COVID shot.

[07:10:09]

So, stand by for big news.

And new surveillance video captured the moments, a panicked father speeds to the hospital with his wife in the car, in labor, with no time to spare, helping to deliver the baby girl in the back of their SUV.

And overnight, a political party in Japan appointed an A.I. chatbot to be its leader. We're going to speak to the authors of a new book, warning of the dangers of superhuman A.I. The title, if anyone builds it, everyone dies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Happening today, a group of vaccine advisers largely handpicked by Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., will meet for a new day. They're expected to take up hepatitis B shots for newborns and discuss the future of the COVID vaccine. It comes a day after the board made some controversial recommendations regarding childhood vaccines.

[07:15:01]

CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell is with us from Atlanta. And it was confusing what they did and based on what I'm reading, they seemed a little confused at times about what they were doing.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I mean, that was sort of the product of the fact that five of these members were just appointed to this committee days before this meeting began. And so there was a lot of confusion about the voting process and even the implications of these votes for insurance coverage of these vaccines, vaccines provided for free to low income children.

So, the meeting sort of ended in a chaotic moment where members were asking for clarification, the hepatitis B vaccine vote. There was a whole discussion on it yesterday. It was scheduled for a vote at the end of the day. That was pushed through this morning as they tried to sort out what they called a discrepancy in some of the voting language.

But, really, the day revisited longstanding vaccine recommendations from the CDC for two different vaccines, the measles mumps rubella vaccine combined with the varicella or chickenpox vaccine, and also the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.

Now, they did take a vote on the MMRV vaccine. And to explain this, this is a combination shot that combines those four vaccines into one shot. And the previous guidance had been you get a shot at age one and about age four. And for that first dose, the CDC had recommended a preference for separating MMR and then chickenpox separately because of a small but increased risk of febrile seizures that you can get if you give all four together in that age group.

Now, they haven't seen long-term health consequences of that, but they noted that can be scary and something that can be avoided if you give them separately. But there was still the option to get them together if doctors and parents preferred. But now the vote changed that so that they say children in that first age group below the age of four shouldn't get that combination vaccine.

Now, this isn't expected to have major consequences necessarily, especially compared with some of the other votes they may be taking. But some experts did point out this takes away parent choice.

Now, over to hepatitis B, which is going to be the vote that we see today, in addition to a vote on COVID, there were a lot of concerns about this. And here, the question is, should every newborn baby get a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, or, as they have proposed, should they not give the first dose until at least one month of age for babies whose mother's test negative for hepatitis B? And there were a lot of arguments that by doing that, by changing that recommendation that every newborn get a dose of hepatitis B vaccine, you are going to miss some babies who are going to get infected. And this can be a chronic, lifelong infection that can cause liver damage and liver cancer.

You even heard one committee member, Dr. Cody Meissner, who had served on this committee before expressing concern about the implications here, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CODY MEISSNER, MEMBER, CDC VACCINE ADVISORY PANEL: This is an absolutely safe vaccine. I'm not sure what we are gaining by avoiding that first dose within 12 to 24 hours of birth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIRRELL: So, guys, they pick up that discussion and vote today as well as a discussion and vote that'll take the rest of the day about COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. We'll bring it all to you.

BERMAN: Please. Thank you for helping us understand what's been going on, because I said it has been confusing.

All right, major new developments in the manhunt for a father accused of killing his three daughters.

The treacherous mudslides, they wipe away cars, roads, and homes. And this morning, an extraordinary cleanup effort underway.

And just moments ago, an eruption at Mount Kilauea in Hawaii.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: Breaking overnight, there is a massive cleanup effort that's really getting underway now in Southern California after severe mudslides were triggered by heavy rains in the area. I mean, homes were just buried in mud, so many roads forced to be closed in just a total mess. Communities just wrecked from this.

Some of the video coming out is wild, rushing, muddy water with people trapped inside their cars. I mean, look at that what people were up against.

Some homes in San Bernardino County were crushed from the mud and the debris. This aerial footage we're going to show you is -- gives a sense of just the scale of the damage of it all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASEY GEIB, RESTAURANT MANAGER: Well, it was about 15 minutes of heavy rain and in all my time here. It was he some of the heaviest rain I've ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking this one for us. How'd it start, what happened and what happens now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. So, I think the key takeaway is exactly what that gentleman said. It was the rate at which the rain came in. It came down so fast, so quickly, and a lot of the roads and even the ground around it just couldn't keep up with it. And so you ended up having this. Again, just look at all of that water just free flowing down some of these areas and it's picking up debris as it does and taking that debris along with it.

So, yes, even though when you look at some of these totals, not all of them look terribly impressive. There's a lot of them under one inch total. You do have a couple that topped out at over two inches, but for the most part, a lot of these areas didn't have a tremendous amount of rain. It was the fact that it all came in in such a very short period of time. It's what led to a lot of those issues that we had there.

This is the last 36 hours. Again, you can see wave after wave of that tropical moisture that surged into portions of not just Southern California, but also the neighboring states as well. And some of them, yes, even thunderstorms. And the thunderstorms were the bigger concern because that's where you get those higher rates of rainfall with some of these.

Now, we take a look at the last few hours, really, just the last two to three hours, and you can see the bulk of the rain is now finally gone from Southern California. We do still have some rain showers across portions of Arizona, Nevada, as well as Utah, and that's where it's going to stay, at least in the short-term.

But, however, you do still have the flood watch and a flash flood warning in effect because that water is still there. It takes time to finally clear itself out. So, they're warning people, please be careful on a lot of these roadways still. Even though it is not actively raining, that water is still there. So, you need to be extra careful. Going through the rest of the day today, Southern California is going to be in the clear in terms of the heavy rain, but it is going to be a nearby state.

[07:25:02]

So, as we mentioned, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, even stretching into portions of Colorado and New Mexico, looking at the chance for some of those scattered showers and thunderstorms as we go through the remainder of the day today, and even through the evening hours too, so do keep that in mind.

Overall, most of these areas, same thing, you're looking at, maybe about an inch, but some spots could get up to two inches and, yes, we could even see some of those getting that in a very short period of time like we did yesterday.

BOLDUAN: Allison, thank you so much for that update. I appreciate it.

So, maybe some big changes coming to how you get tickets for concerts and other events, the FTC suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster over what it is calling illegal ticket resale practices.

And a $100,000 car being crushed into a useless cube, why police did it and why they said they would do it again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: We have another fun, hilarious administration compliant show.

[07:30:00]