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Trump Says There Will Be Others Prosecuted Besides Comey; Hegseth Summons Top Military Officers For Unexplained Meeting; Asheville, North Carolina To Rebuild After Helene Devastation. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 26, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:17]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Just hours disparaging the now indicted former FBI director, President Trump warned, "There will be others" that will be prosecuted besides James Comey. Trump telling reporters he expects other, in his words, corrupt political opponents to be charged and that Comey's case will be pretty easy to prove. He also claimed the DOJ is not working from a list of targets and said Comey's indictment is not about revenge, but rather justice in his view.

Let's bring in Adam Kinzinger, a CNN Political Commentator and former Republican Congressman from Illinois. Thanks so much for being here with us. Look, if you listen to the president and his words, this is not about revenge, but justice. His allies say he's just doing what was done to him. What do you think?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, honestly, nobody believes it. I get that they have to say it. I get that their surrogates will go out and say the same thing. But on CIA truth juice, everybody knows the truth. This is just petty revenge. This is a guy who actually disproved a lot of theories, got reelected to the presidency, is the most powerful man in the world and cannot stop obsessing about how much of a victim he is in revenge.

So, yeah, I mean, I get that his people are going to have to say that. And we could go into why he was prosecuted, including January 6th, then hiding for a year, avoiding the FBI and trying to get classified documents back. But this is clearly focused on revenge and everybody knows it. And I think, frankly, in reading that indictment, it's really thin.

DEAN: And so, look, you mentioned January 6th. You of course, served on the Select Committee that looked into January 6th. You have been outspoken in your criticism of the president, of a lot of Republicans in the party right now. He said there will be others who will be prosecuted. Is that something you think about?

KINZINGER: Only in that, my view is OK, bring it, honestly, because it's like, obviously I did nothing wrong, so I have nothing to worry about. In fact, what I did was expose the truth about the insurrection and embarrassed Donald Trump. That's what happened. He got embarrassed and so he tries to kind of fight back, and that's the way he tries to cover his shame and embarrassment. So look, they have nothing to come after me for, if they do, it'll make me 78 times more effective in pushing back against them. So no, I don't worry. And I think this is -- the key is people that could potentially be on any kind of a target list, if you didn't do anything wrong and probably 99 percent of them didn't stand up, stand strong, fight back, history will judge you well. This ultimately is going to be seen, in my view, as a very shameful chapter in the country.

DEAN: And he has said that he's not working off a list. But put that to the side for a second, he has said he anticipates there will be others.

[13:35:00]

And I wonder what you think about beyond the legal ramifications, the chilling effect that this potentially has on any adversary of the president, anyone that wants to speak out against the president.

KINZINGER: Yeah, it does. And this -- and that's the point. I don't think anybody really expects that James Comey is going to be convicted for this. I don't know all the details, but in reading the indictment, it's like, OK, it's the indictment and the inconvenience is the battle. I mean, that's all Donald Trump has done his whole life, is sue frivolous lawsuits, which by the way, my party actually used to be opposed to frivolous lawsuits. Now, we're like connoisseurs of them.

And so what that does, is it puts people who maybe don't feel like standing up and fighting, it makes them -- it intimidates them. I mean, listen, when you have law firms who have lawyers, like they own lawyers, that are refusing to fight back on clear First Amendment grounds, then it's clear that the powerful things that should be standing up to be the bulwark of the Constitution are not there. So that's why it's going to rest on, frankly, everyday Americans and not relying on things like universities, law firms and some media organizations.

DEAN: And in addition to the actual indictment itself, you have kind of what's playing out behind the scenes, which is that now former U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert, who faced intense pressure from the president to charge the New York Attorney General Letitia James with mortgage fraud, was pushed out, replaced by Lindsey Halligan, who is Trump's one-time personal attorney. What do you think that does ultimately behind the scenes, in terms of the DOJ and the justice system? Because there are some people that say there's no going back. This has ripped a hole in the justice system. Do you think that's hyperbole at this point?

KINZINGER: I don't think it's hyperbole at least in the near term. I think it certainly has. Look, 10 years ago, five years ago, whatever, whenever anybody would talk about the Justice Department, they never thought of it as Republican or Democratic. It was just the Justice Department. I mean, the Justice Department came after Bill Clinton and it was his Justice Department. You could point to all these things that happened, that changed. And I'll tell you who I'll put the blame on, the Republican Party.

I mean, initially, they started discrediting the FBI and the Justice Department and convinced all Republicans it was partisan. Then they take over both organizations actually politicize them. I mean, Kash Patel needs to be worried about his testimony in front of Congress because evidently there's a five-year statute of limitations now. And if he said anything dishonest, they are going to come after him for that. And so, it's sad to see now that almost no Americans believe that the FBI or the Justice Department is functional or fair, and both halves of the Americans were discredited on it based on the actions of the Republicans.

It's sad to see, and it could take a generation to return that and it's necessary. That's -- justice is the underpinning of our democracy, and that's got to get back to that point.

DEAN: Yeah. A foundation that you can trust the justice system. Adam Kinzinger, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A new CNN poll is painting a grim picture of how Americans view the country's future. And we have David Chalian, CNN's Political Director and Washington Bureau Chief to take us through this. All right, grim. So what are Americans views of the country?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR AND WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Grim indeed, a majority of Americans, Brianna, in this poll, 54 percent say America's best days are behind us. 46 percent say the best days are ahead of us. But that's a pretty pessimistic view there. What about our political system? What does it need? Look at this, complete overhaul, 28 percent of Americans say so; major reforms, 47 percent. Add those up, that's three quarters of Americans that say complete overhaul or major reforms are needed in America's political system.

KEILAR: That's wild. OK, so the president obviously, has his policies that people are very aware of. They're very distinctive. What are the most important issues for Americans?

CHALIAN: So let's start with the Trump policy and how people are feeling about Trump's policies. 18 percent enthusiastic, 23 percent satisfied, 22 percent dissatisfied. But look where the plurality of Americans are, 37 percent, more Americans are parking themselves in angry in response to Trump policies than anything else. And I would just note, the two most passionate responses, enthusiastic, angry -- angry doubles enthusiastic in terms of how people are responding to Trump's policies.

You asked about the most important issues. Here they are. You wouldn't be surprised, the economy, 60 percent of Americans say that issue is extremely important to them. 53 percent say healthcare. Hovering around the majority mark, protecting democracy, crime and immigration, these are your big drivers. But these have salience with people, right? Abortion, climate, redistricting, foreign policy, policy towards trans people, not that these can't have impact on elections, but these are where the vast majority of Americans are focused.

[13:40:00]

KEILAR: And so, what are you seeing with independents and what's animating them?

CHALIAN: Brianna, this is the purpose of this whole brand new polling project we did, was to do a deep dive into independents, the most sought after group. More Americans are identifying as independents, rejecting the two parties. Take a look here. So we broke them up into five different kinds of independents, OK? We call it Democratic lookalikes and Republican lookalikes. They make about combined 36 percent. These people are really just like it says.

KEILAR: They don't like the label.

CHALIAN: Exactly, but they --

KEILAR: But they behave like --

CHALIAN: They really operate like Democrats or Republicans. The bottom 27 percent here, the checked out, they're not even voters really. They're not voting. They're just completely checked out. It's this two -- these two groups in the middle that we call the disappointed middle and the upbeat outsiders. They make up about 38 percent of independents. These people are critical for politicians and campaigns to focus on.

And when you look about how these independents think about voting in national elections, how important it is, again, the ones that look like partisans, they're totally engaged. They think voting's really important and they do. The checked out, as I said, they're not voters. But if you are targeting trying to win an election, 52 percent of disappointed middles say voting is really important. 30 percent of the upbeat outsiders say so.

But finding them and engaging them is tricky because look at this, do you pay attention to politics only when necessary or never? Well, the checked out, three quarters of them say yes, never do. These folks in the middle, again, 41 percent say never. 38 percent of the disappointed middle say no. There are folks there willing to hear you out and pay attention. But politicians and campaigns have to go find them. And of course, these Democratic and Republican lookalikes, they're pretty tuned in. They pay attention.

KEILAR: They have to find them. They can't just give a speech and say, hello, you disappointed middle --

(LAUGH)

CHALIAN: Exactly.

KEILAR: That's not going to work maybe.

CHALIAN: No, that won't do it. Yeah.

KEILAR: All right. They're going to have to find them. David Chalian, thank you so much. Up next, we have some new details on the unusual meeting that has been called by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. We're going to speak with a retired brigadier general to go over why hundreds of generals and admirals now need to make their way to Virginia.

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[13:46:44]

KEILAR: Right now, hundreds of top U.S. generals, admirals, and their staff, while they still don't know why, they're being summoned from all around the world for a meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The hastily scheduled gathering is expected to be held at the military installation in Quantico, Virginia next Tuesday. President Trump was asked about it during a news conference in the Oval Office, and he suggested the meeting would at least partially be tied to a review of military equipment. Listen to how the vice president seemed to dismiss any concerns about the meeting.

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J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's not particularly unusual that generals who report to the secretary of war and then to the president of the United States are coming to speak with the secretary of war. It's actually not unusual at all. And I think it's odd that you guys have made it into such a big story.

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KEILAR: Let's get perspective now from retired Army Brigadier General Ty Seidule. He's a Professor Emeritus of History at West Point. General, I guess the question is, is it unusual that so many of them from all around the world are coming together to talk to the secretary of defense and they have no idea what it's about?

BRIG. GEN. TY SEIDULE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): It's beyond unusual, Brianna. It's strange. It's weird; it's crazy. And they're coming from all over the world, from aircraft carriers, from Korea, Japan. All these generals, by the way, they don't have planes for them. They're going to be sitting middle seat coach to get back here with their aides and their comms people. It's crazy. And for what? We have no idea.

They have no ability to prep. They have no idea what they're doing. And by the way, it's a government shutdown coming, which means hundreds of thousands of civilians working for DOD are not going to be there. And why can't he do it by secure video teleconference? That's what we call Zoom. And they've been doing it for decades. He could do it in a heartbeat without having to come this far distance for no good reason.

KEILAR: The president hinting at this may have to do with reviewing military equipment. If this is just the general and flag officers who are in command of units, what do those data points tell you?

SEIDULE: They -- it makes even less sense because why couldn't they do this by Zoom? I think the other thing that really makes me upset about this is it shows a lack of trust in the senior military officers. Listen, there's a chain of command and we know this. You tell your four stars, you bring them together and they give those orders, and they give those orders, and they give those orders, and it all gets done because the senior leaders in the military are going to do what the secretary of defense tells them to do. That's their job. They don't know anything other than doing that. So it would've happened anyway. Why they're doing it this way? To me, it makes no sense.

KEILAR: There are so many rumors about what this could be. I mean, do you have any sense, do any people in the military, military adjacent have any hypotheses that to you make sense about what this could be?

SEIDULE: I talked to my contacts. There's no prep. They -- nobody knows what's going on except fear because it does show this lack of trust.

[13:50:00]

And it also -- I think the other thing that it tells me is it's managerial incompetence. Because remember that the department of defense is the largest organization in the country, twice as many employees as Walmart. And that's not including the million contractors, so over 4 million people. And they spend a budget of more than $1 trillion a year, $1 trillion, and they're not going to have those people where they should be executing it.

It's hard to imagine what they could possibly do that would be worth this sort of disruption on less than a week's notice. It just goes to show you that you've got to have someone who knows how to run an organization this big and that's not Secretary of Defense Hegseth.

KEILAR: And finally, before I let you go, in February and I know this is of concern to you, Secretary Hegseth fired the most senior judge advocate generals for the branches.

SEIDULE: Yeah.

KEILAR: Why is that important right now, in your view?

SEIDULE: Because the senior JAGs are the battle buddies for those four-star generals to help them keep on doing things legal. That's what we do in the American military, is legal. And so firing all of those, and by the way, he put his buddy back on active duty as a Navy commander. So this is terrible that you fired all the lawyers and remember what he called them? He called them JAG-offs. That was what he called them in the book. He doesn't trust them. He sees them as roadblocks, when they aren't roadblocks. They are to ensure that the United States of America follows the laws of war, follows the laws of this great country that we serve. And to get rid of those lawyers tells you they don't want to do things legally.

KEILAR: Brigadier General Ty Seidule, thank you so much for taking us through that really good perspective.

SEIDULE: Thank you. KEILAR: And still ahead, as storms in the Atlantic threaten the southeastern U.S., Asheville is recovering a year after Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina. We're going to take you there live.

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[13:56:48]

DEAN: In the year since Hurricane Helene ravaged parts of North Carolina, there's been immense progress. Communities are being rebuilt, businesses are bouncing back, tourists are returning. But officials say there is still a lot of work left to do. CNN's Isabel Rosales is joining us now from hard-hit Asheville, North Carolina. Isabelle, one year later, give us a sense of what it's like there.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, for some, this anniversary is a moment of celebration where they can look back at the progress that they've made through this year if they have fixed up and rebuilt their community, their homes, and hopefully turn a chapter as they're still thinking of the neighbors that they've lost. But for others, it's a reflection and a moment of grieving, including people like the Mills family, where their home here, you can see is essentially frozen in time. Pictures, family bills, still all over the place. As we go inside of this home, this remarkable site, looking exactly like the day that Helene hit.

You can see celebration decorations all over the place. This family celebrating the birthday of their two days before the storm hit. And then as we turn the camera over here, we can see a hole. This is how they escaped, using essentially a party knife to dig a hole up there through the ceiling and get out. Their neighbors didn't make it. So you get the gambit here, Jessica, of people taking this moment to look back, mark the progress that they made. But others still looking back at this horrible impact, traumatic impact that this storm did to their community. Jessica?

DEAN: Certainly, and you can certainly see that walking us through that house. Outside of the home, in Asheville proper, that's a big tourist spot. Isabel. Are they getting tourists back? Is it ready for tourists?

ROSALES: Yeah. And to be clear, Jessica, I'm in Swannanoa, which is nearby Asheville. This is a hard-hit area, but I was in Asheville these past few days, and I'm hearing from business owners like Joe Scully, who owns The Corner Kitchen. He just got that place back open last month. That's over 300 days since Helene hit. Now, the message he's driving home and a lot of other business owners are driving home is we are open, we are ready. We need the tourists to come. And especially going into next month, this is October, the peak foliage season, when the leaves change. They need folks to show up in the next three months and quite desperately so. They think that some businesses might not make it if visitors don't show up. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE SCULLY, CO-OWNER, HEAD CHEF, THE CORNER KITCHEN: We're ready for it. Everybody's out here going, come on, let's go. They got their catcher's mitt out, they can catch it, and they will.

ROSALES: You're open for business? Asheville is open for business?

SCULLY: That's as simple as I could say it. Asheville is open for business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And Jessica, there was a Chamber of Commerce survey done on these small businesses around Asheville, asking about the recovery, most of them small businesses. And what that survey found is that 90 percent of the businesses project revenue loss, 45 percent report a moderate to extreme risk of closure. So they're saying, hey, Asheville is open, please show up and support Asheville. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Isabel Rosales there, one year later, thank you so much.