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Netanyahu Defends War in Gaza; Trump Adds Tariffs on Drugs, Furniture and Trucks; DOJ Indicts James Comey. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 26, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:02]

MANU RAJU, CNN HOST: Really makes a good point, because the president's time is his most valuable asset.

CATHERINE LUCEY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: Absolutely.

RAJU: And he chooses to go sporting events, and not faulting him for it. It's just that's his decision to do that, but then it may come at the expense of perhaps going on the road and selling his agenda.

All right, great discussion, guys. Really enjoyed it.

And thanks for joining INSIDE POLITICS. I will be back on Sunday for "INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY" at 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton will join me.

And don't miss "STATE OF THE UNION." Jake's guests include House Speaker Mike Johnson.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: James Comey undeterred and not intimidated, the former FBI director declaring: "I'm innocent, so let's have a trial."

But he's facing off with the federal government and a president who's calling him -- quote -- "a dirty cop" and vowing -- quote -- "There will be others" prosecuted.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Drugs, trucks and furniture all getting hit with new tariffs, even as we get new numbers on the economy that suggests spending is strong, but inflation is a problem that has not gone away.

And voting with their feet, delegates at the U.N. walking out as Israel's prime minister takes the stand and defends how Israel is waging war in Gaza.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

DEAN: James Comey is defiant, but his indictment may just be the first when it comes to the president's political enemies. Just hours after Trump's DOJ filed two federal charges against the

former FBI director, the president was asked if other opponents could be next. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: ... retribution?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not a list, but I think there will be others. I mean, they're corrupt. These were corrupt, radical left Democrats. Comey essentially was a -- he's worse than a Democrat. I would say the Democrats are better than Comey.

But, no, there will be others. Look, it was -- that's my opinion. He lied. That was a very important question that he was asked. And he wanted to be specific, but he didn't. The only thing that happened to him, he didn't think he'd get caught.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Katelyn Polantz is here with us now.

Katelyn, there's a lot of backstory to get us to this moment in time. Bring us up to speed and remind everyone how we got here.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Jim Comey now under indictment, the former FBI director, something Donald Trump has wanted for a long time. There are two charges.

They both relate to the same thing, September 30, 2020, Comey being under oath at his home, speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He's accused of lying during that testimony and also obstructing the proceeding. So those go very much hand in hand.

Essentially, he was denying that he had authorized a leak to the FBI. And the Justice Department says they're going to want to prove that he had authorized a leak to the FBI. The cloud, though, over this case, it's going to hang for quite a bit because there's going to be a lot of proceedings now in this case where Comey's attorneys are going to get to look at all kinds of things.

The events of the last week alone are enough to fuel a lot of discussion and a lot of pursuit of what happened specifically over the weekend, Donald Trump, as president, posting on social media, writing: "Pam" -- that's the attorney general.

Asking for justice to be served, he writes a question, "What about Comey?" essentially calling for the Justice Department to charge Comey and others. And then the U.S. attorney of that district, Virginia's Northern District -- or Eastern District of Virginia, Northern Virginia, walks off the job. He installs a new attorney.

And that woman, Lindsey Halligan (sic), that attorney, she's the only person to go into court yesterday to present to the grand jury this indictment and secure it, a lot there. And we do know there has been some hesitation or consternation from other prosecutors on this case, maybe even the attorney general herself, over how strong it is against Jim Comey.

DEAN: And so, looking ahead now, when could we actually see him in a courtroom? When should we anticipate a trial?

POLANTZ: Well, he's summoned right now to go to court on October 9. So we have a couple of weeks before we will see he and his lawyers again. At that point in time, he will be able to plead not guilty. And then there will also be very likely some setting of the calendar.

We always see that in the initial hearings and usually they pick a date very far away, but Eastern District of Virginia, they don't call it the rocket docket for nothing. It is the rocket docket in criminal cases and it's a very possible approach...

DEAN: Because it speeds, because it goes, yes.

POLANTZ: It speeds. It's fast, yes. And Jim Comey, he said yesterday in his statement on social media, his video, let's have a trial.

[13:05:00]

Well, his attorneys have the ability to demand a trial fast, in just a couple months. So we could see a case go from start to trial before a jury, have a judge road-test it, look at it, pick away at it, set the limits of the trial. All of that could happen quite speedily.

DEAN: Wow, very interesting. All right, Katelyn, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: So let's break this down. We have so much to talk about here with our CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams.

First off, does DOJ have a case here?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I mean, they do. They filed it and they got at least two counts past a grand jury, Brianna. So it's two things, one, making a false statement. Now, it's not just the making of the statement, remember. It's that at the time he made the statement, he knew it to be untrue or was so reckless to the truth that he ought to be convicted of a crime for it.

So it's not just saying the thing. That's one. And, number two, obstructing a congressional proceeding corruptly, which is what the statute says, goes into a congressional proceeding and tries to get in the way of it.

Now, I should note also what he was not charged with. They considered a count, an additional count of making a false statement, believed to be related to the 2016 campaign. The grand jury considered that, decided not to bring charges, that there just wasn't the evidence to proceed with it.

KEILAR: That's really interesting. So what then happens next?

WILLIAMS: Right. And Katelyn was talking about this just a second ago. He will come in for an arraignment. And a big part of that is advising the defendant of the rights and charges against him. What are you charged with? You have a right under the Constitution of the United States to know what the government is coming at you with, but also what your rights are. He has the right to remain silent. He has the right to an attorney. All the things you have heard and all the cop shows you have seen, well, the court tells you that.

He will probably enter a plea at that point. I think we will say not guilty because he has already said it in his online video the other night. And then, as Katelyn had noted, the judge will set a schedule of the next hearings to come up, when the parties need to show up in court and maybe even when the trial will be.

KEILAR: Let's be clear. Comey will be advised of things he already knows, right? Presumably, he knows all of these things, Elliot, right?

WILLIAMS: He's a very seasoned prosecutor in multiple law offices. He knows all this stuff.

KEILAR: So you have heard Trump blasting the judge in this case.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

KEILAR: Tell us a little bit about that. Tell us about the judge.

WILLIAMS: The judge -- part of why the judge is blasting him is, he was appointed by...

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Why Trump is blasting the judge.

WILLIAMS: That's why Trump is blasting the judge. He was appointed by President Biden. But he has a long career as a seasoned attorney. He was a partner at a law firm and then became a federal public defender for over a decade, and then, even before getting named at the federal bench, was a federal magistrate judge, a judge that hears motions and hearings and does serve on the federal bench.

So he's got a bunch of experience. And I just think we have got to get out of this world of nitpicking about who appointed judges and so on. This is a seasoned litigator and a seasoned professional and someone who has been on the bench since 2015.

KEILAR: You know who's not a seasoned litigator?

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: Great segue to talking about Lindsey Halligan, who is now the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Now, her predecessor, there has been some talk that this individual, Erik Siebert, had reservations about this case and one of the reasons why he's not the head of that office anymore is that he pushed back on bringing the case. Now, Lindsey Halligan has worked with Donald Trump for quite some time. She represented him in all three of his cases when President Trump was charged.

But notably, and this is big and for me as a prosecutor, she's never worked as a prosecutor and is heading one of the most prestigious prosecutor's offices in America. It's hard work. You want people who know what they're doing, who know the ins and outs of complicated litigation like this could be.

She doesn't have it, but hopefully the people around her do.

KEILAR: She has a direct line to the president.

WILLIAMS: Yes. And that...

KEILAR: That is valuable to him, for sure.

WILLIAMS: Valuable to him and a concern -- and what ought to be concerning to anyone who cares about the rule of law in America. Let's just be blunt about it.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

And what stood out to you in this indictment?

WILLIAMS: Yes, so and as I said with it on that first -- oh, come on -- on that first slide...

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Press it harder.

WILLIAMS: Press it harder. I'm not pressing...

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: But what I said on that first slide it's not just the false statement. It's, what can prosecutors establish that he knew at the time he said it?

This is from an inspector general report about a number of things from 2016. And Comey is quoted saying -- and this is to government officials -- "Just so there's no fuzz on it, I did not authorize this leak. I wouldn't have authorized it." He goes on to say: "Look, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me." He is on the record a few times saying that he did not authorize the leak that is at the substance of this case.

Now, again, maybe made a false statement before Congress. It's just a question of, can prosecutors establish it? And if there's ambiguity or if one guy says maybe and Jim Comey also says maybe, that's not grounds for a conviction. That's grounds for thinking someone's not a nice guy or not a great professional, but you can't convict him of that.

So, it just remains to see what evidence they have.

KEILAR: Grounds for a circus. WILLIAMS: Grounds for a circus.

KEILAR: Yes, Elliot, thank you so much.

Coming up: That kitchen or bathroom renovation, well, it might be costing you a lot more if you're eying one. The president just announced punishing new tariffs. We will talk about how they could hit Americans.

Plus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivering a speech at the U.N., but dozens of diplomats send a message of their own. What we know about that mass walkout.

[13:10:10]

And it's been a year since Hurricane Helene tore through North Carolina. We go back to the hard-hit state.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We will be right back.

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DEAN: President Trump's latest round of tariffs hitting closer to home, quite literally. He just announced double-digit tariffs on certain furniture and cabinets and a 100 percent levy on some brand- name drugs.

And even though more Americans are feeling shaky about the economy, a lot of people have yet to rein in any spending, according to some new numbers.

[13:15:00]

Let's talk to CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich about this mixed bag of economic news, Vanessa.

Let's start first with those tariffs and what they might mean for people watching right now.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, sweeping new tariffs on several sectors that are important to everyday consumers.

Pharmaceuticals, 100 percent tariff on pharmaceuticals that are imported into the United States. They have to be brand name and some ingredients as well. But this certainly will increase the price of drugs here in the United States. Even though you have U.S. manufacturers that are producing here in the United States, they still get a lot of ingredients from abroad.

Also, cabinets, vanities for your kitchen, looking to do a home renovation, that will probably start costing you a little bit more. We already know that furniture companies have seen price pressures because of tariffs on key countries like China and Vietnam. Now this is a blanket tariff on these items coming in from anywhere in the world. And, also, unupholstered furniture, 30 percent tariff, again, normally

made in places like China and Vietnam, already seeing high tariffs, going to cost you an extra 30 percent if it's coming from anywhere else. Furniture is already up 4.7 percent on an annual basis.

And then, on heavy trucks, importing heavy trucks, 25 percent tariff, we do get here in the United States most of our heavy trucks from Mexico, 78 percent. Usually, they're covered under USMCA. So, it's curious to know exactly what this tariff is going to be hitting, how many trucks will it be impacting.

But, listen, consumer sentiment, just in this morning, falling 5.3 percent in the month of September. That is a moderate fall compared to some of the double-digit falls that we saw in April and May, when the first tranche of tariffs were announced, but, year over year, still consumers feeling worse than they did last year, down by 21.6 percent.

Part of that, in this report, we saw was because of higher prices; 44 percent of respondents unprompted in this report said that they were feeling those higher prices and were worried. And you can see it picked up in today's personal consumption expenditure, PCE, report, which showed that inflation did heat up to 0.3 percent on a monthly basis and 2.7 percent on an annual basis.

That was what was projected, but still moving in the wrong direction from the 3 percent -- excuse me -- from the 2 percent target rate that we'd like to see. But despite these higher prices, Jessica, consumers were still spending. And here's what they were spending on, according to the PCE report, transportation services, food services and accommodations.

That's sort of discretionary spending, staying at hotels, going out to eat, $13 billion in spending in the month of August, also recreation, recreational goods and vehicles, more than $11 billion. And financial services and insurance, potentially a pickup there because of insurance costs, so having to spend more because of those higher prices, but quite a mixed and elaborate picture as consumers really tried to understand just how tariffs are affecting prices and then, of course, the decisions that they have to make.

Do they still want to spend? This picture tells us that they are still spending, despite the higher prices. But we know, Jessica, that it's a lot of the retailers that so far have been absorbing those higher prices. But the question is, for how long?

DEAN: Yes, so interesting.

Vanessa Yurkevich for us, thank you so much.

And still ahead here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrapping up his speech to the United Nations General Assembly. It's a speech that prompted a number of delegates to walk out in protest. We're going to have new details next.

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[13:23:26]

KEILAR: We're following significant developments out of the Middle East. Today, President Trump says a deal on ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of hostages there is -- quote -- "very close."

His comments come just moments after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a fiery speech to the U.N. General Assembly. There were scores of delegates who walked out of that speech in protest, as a defiant Netanyahu defended Israel's war in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The final elements, the final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City. They vow to repeat the atrocities of October 7 again and again and again, no matter how diminished their forces. That is why Israel must finish the job. Much of the world no longer remembers October 7, but we remember. Israel remembers October 7.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Oren Liebermann is with us now from Jerusalem.

Oren, what can you tell us? What else can you tell us about Netanyahu's speech?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: So, Brianna, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech was very much, frankly, what we expected. He began, as he has in the past, by assailing Iran and Iranian proxies in the region. He even held up a map of the region and pointed out all of the Iranian proxies that Israel has targeted and, frankly, decapitated, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has gone after the Houthis in Yemen. And then, of course, there was the 12-day war with Iran itself. He heard, as you -- or he talked about, as you heard there, October 7, saying other countries have forgotten, but Israel will never forget.

[13:25:09]

He was absolutely unapologetic about Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza after nearly two years and tens of thousands killed there. He said or at least he indicated it would continue. He lashed out at Western countries that have recognized a state of Palestine. He said they had -- quote -- "caved" and -- quote -- "buckled" under pressure from what he called the biased media and radical Islamist minorities.

And then, in what I think is the strongest language we have heard from him specifically at the United Nations General Assembly, he outright rejected the idea of a two-state solution, any possibility of a state of Palestine next to a state of Israel. And it's very much back on the international agenda right now after nearly two years of war and as we see these countries recognizing Palestine.

Now, what's so interesting about this is Netanyahu indicated that Israel is not willing to change course in the war, even as we see President Donald Trump at least appearing to say that that end might come quite soon.

KEILAR: And what are you learning about what Trump is saying about -- I mean, he is painting an optimistic picture of a plan for a cease- fire and a hostage deal. And how is Israel reacting to that?

LIEBERMANN: We haven't actually seen much reaction here. Part of that reason is simply because it's the Sabbath here, so official reaction will only come perhaps tomorrow evening.

But the real important event essentially of Netanyahu's trip to the U.S. will be the meeting with Trump on Monday. And that's where we will get a much better sense of where this stands. We have heard Trump talk about the imminent end of the war. We have heard him say next week a number of times.

So there's good reason to be skeptical here about how close an end of the war really is, especially because Netanyahu made no indication that it's coming any time soon here. Now, Trump did put forward a 21- point peace plan. That, from what we hear from regional sources, got a lot of buy-in from Arab leaders and diplomats that met with Trump earlier in this week.

But what's fundamentally still missing here is a diplomatic track to actually advance this. It's unclear if Hamas has seen this or what their reaction would even be, but you still need to, generally speaking, get Hamas and Israel in the same building at least with mediators to be able to hammer out the final details and essentially get the documents signed, get an agreement on paper for a cease-fire.

And it's unclear, at least at this point, how that would happen. So it's very difficult to see why Trump is being so optimistic. But, of course, Brianna, perhaps all the major movements are happening behind the scenes. We will have a better sense of that, perhaps, after Trump and Netanyahu meet in just a few days.

KEILAR: All right, Oren Liebermann live for us in Jerusalem, thank you for that report.

Still ahead: President Trump says he expects more of his political opponents to face prosecution after the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. His message -- quote -- "There will be others."

We will discuss next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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