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CNN Fact Checks Trump's Claims on Tylenol and Vaccine Schedule; Comey Indicted Despite Objections of Some Career Prosecutors; New Details on Hegseth's Surprise Military Brass Meeting; Fat Bear Week is Underway, Pick the Chunkiest Bear. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 26, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: ... we're looking at with this possible warning, they weren't looking at children, they were looking at use during pregnancy. And the American Academy of Pediatrics says that Tylenol is safe for kids, taken as directed, and that there's no link to autism.

Then he goes into vaccines. He says, break up the MMR shot, that's measles, mumps, rubella, into three totally separate shots not mixed, he says. This is something that's been looked at over decades. The CDC says on its website, quote, no published scientific evidence shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots.

Then he says, take chicken pea shots separately, chicken pox or varicella. Now, this is something that was already recommended by the CDC for the first vaccine. You take varicella separately from measles, mumps, rubella to lower the risk of febrile seizures, which don't have long-term health consequences, but can be scary.

For the second shot, typically given around age four, you can give those together. Now he says hepatitis B transmission. He says, take the hepatitis B shot at 12 years old or older.

Well, there is a recommendation to give the first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine at birth to prevent potential transmission from moms to babies. Before that recommendation was put into place in 1991, there were an estimated almost 10,000 babies who were diagnosed with hepatitis B from catching it around birth. Now that they give that recommendation, there are recorded 20 to 30 cases per year, perhaps more that aren't recorded, but an order of magnitude lower.

That of course is something that is being reconsidered by RFK Jr.'s vaccine advisors.

Finally, he says, take the vaccine in five separate medical visits. This is something that's been studied extensively as well. There are a number of reasons pediatricians say that baby's immune systems can handle multiple vaccines. They are extensively tested together. And while we are protected against more diseases and get more shots now, the vaccine technology has actually improved so that there are fewer immunological components or bacterial and viral proteins that you're actually being exposed to there.

And finally, delaying shots can be risky. If you space them out, you could be exposed before you're protected. There could also be errors if you're mixing up the schedule.

And you also have to take your kids into the doctor's office to get shots more frequently, which of course stresses them out even more -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, sure does. You had just a lot of things to correct there. It was really a freelance kind of post, didn't even spell hepatitis right and maybe confusing a lot of people.

Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.

Ahead, former FBI Director James Comey indicted, but a conviction may be an uphill battle for prosecutors. We're going to break that down with the legal experts when we come back.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: The new U.S. attorney who signed the James Comey indictment is charging him despite some serious reservations from career prosecutors inside the office where that case is being handled.

KEILAR: The former FBI director faces two federal charges of lying to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.

Let's talk about this with Elie Honig, our CNN senior legal analyst, former prosecutor and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. And we also have Steve Moore, CNN law enforcement contributor and a retired FBI supervisory special agent.

Elie, Comey has not been in the headlines for quite a while. Just remind us how we got here, his involvement in various moments in history recently.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, boy, how much time do we have?

KEILAR: You have one minute.

HONIG: Jim Comey had a long and decorated career at the Justice Department. He was the deputy attorney general. He became the FBI director. This case focuses on the 2016 time before the before the election, specifically September and October. He and Trump have long been antagonists of one another.

The indictment charges Comey with testifying falsely to Congress in 2020 when he said that he never authorized any other FBI official to leak. The indictment says that was false. The indictment alleges that Comey did authorize some other FBI employee to leak. Now, the question we don't know exactly is who is that other FBI official? Usually in an indictment, you would have some sense of the details. This indictment is threadbare.

So we know very little beyond that. There is longstanding bad blood between Jim Comey and Donald Trump. I couldn't possibly do it justice, but they have long been antagonists.

And look, Donald Trump specifically called this weekend for Jim Comey's prosecution. And here we are.

DEAN: Yes. And Steve, attorneys, as we mentioned, inside the Eastern District of Virginia wrote this memo detailing the reservations they have over seeking this particular indictment. And the attorney general, Pam Bondi, had concerns about the case.

What might those reservations be?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, whether they could, usually it's whether they can succeed in the trial. You know, attorneys, United States attorneys, as my fellow panel member here knows, are judged quite a bit on their record in courtrooms. And if there is a concern that this is going to be either too much effort for a small gain or too much risk for the gain, then frequently they won't take cases.

And Elie will understand an FBI agent frustration when you sometimes come in and you get your case declined. And those are the reasons that we remember.

[14:40:00]

DEAN: Yes. And Elie, Lindsey Halligan is this new interim U.S. attorney that Trump has installed after the other U.S. attorney was pushed out over his reservations over charging Letitia James, the New York attorney general, with charges -- pursuing charges against her.

What do we know about Lindsey Halligan and what kind of about the time constraints she was under to bring this case?

HONIG: Right. Well, congratulations are in order. She's about to finish her first week ever as a prosecutor. Here we are on Friday. It's a heck of a decision for somebody who's never been a prosecutor before to have to make. Do you charge this complicated, high-profile case with all sorts of background and baggage?

Lindsey Halligan was a lawyer for Donald Trump. She was an insurance lawyer. Then she represented Trump in some civil cases, to an extent in the criminal case against him relating to classified documents.

And now here she is, the top federal prosecutor in one of the most important districts in the country. And within hours of arriving in this office, she gives a green light to this indictment, which I should note, several experienced conservative pro-Trump prosecutors, Todd Blanche, Eric Siebert, either objected to -- Eric Siebert, essentially resigned because of it. So we don't know the exact merits. But to me, I'm going to absolutely bank on the prosecutorial judgment of Eric Siebert, Todd Blanche, and the career prosecutors on the case who wrote a memo explaining why it should not be charged over Lindsey Halligan. All due respect.

KEILAR: And Steve, we should note that a week ago, the president posted a message to the attorney general, Pam Bondi, saying this, quote, Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam Shifty Schiff, Letitia -- meaning the AG of New York? They're all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.

Today, he posted James Comey is a dirty cop.

If you in law enforcement were interested in seeing a case be successful, I imagine you would be frustrated seeing those kinds of posts because they can be used in court.

MOORE: Yes, they can be used in court. And the FBI agents never like to see their case in the public while they're working on it in private. And so, yes, that's frustrating.

And I think, you know, there's a lot of frustration throughout, you know, both sides of this issue as it goes forward. I mean, you have probably the majority of voters in the last election wondering why it's taking so long. And then you have everyone else wondering, is this just more lawfare in response to lawfare that happened before?

This seems to be retribution from lawfare before.

KEILAR: Yes, Elie, Steve, great to speak with you. Thank you so much.

And coming up, we do have some new details about the unusual meeting that has been called by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He has all of these hundreds of general and flag officers from all around the globe coming to Virginia next week. We'll have -- yes, next week. We'll have details coming up.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: We have new details on that surprise gathering of hundreds of generals and admirals in Virginia next week that was called by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Let's bring in CNN's Natasha Bertrand. There are a lot of questions around what this means and what the purpose is. Natasha, what have you learned?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, so what we're learning is that the purpose of this surprise meeting of top military brass in Virginia next week, a really unprecedented gathering in scale and scope, is so that Secretary Hegseth can deliver what amounts to a major speech about his vision for the Department of Defense, which he has renamed to the Department of War. And also things like military readiness, standards, including new fitness and grooming standards that all officers are now expected to both adhere to and enforce.

Essentially, this is a major speech about how the department is going to operate moving forward and how there is going to be a new culture at the department. And one official described it to me in very blunt terms, saying, quote, It's about getting the horses into the stable and whipping them into shape. The guys with the stars on their shoulders, the generals and admirals, they make for a better audience from an optics standpoint. This is a showcase for Hegseth to tell them, get on board or potentially have your career shortened.

And just to that point about optics, we're told that the plan as of right now is for Secretary Hegseth's team to record this address and to post it on his various social media accounts later. And so having this kind of captive audience of the generals and the admirals all together in one auditorium, listening to Secretary Hegseth deliver this major policy speech about how he sees the department moving forward, that is ultimately the bottom line here and the ultimate goal of this very unprecedented gathering that we're expected to see happen on Tuesday.

Which I should note has raised a lot of concerns internally about the cost and, of course, the security of having all of these top military officials gathered in one place at a time -- Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, all together and having to come from all over the globe. Natasha Bertrand with new details on that. Thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. The head of Danish intelligence says the risk of Russian espionage and sabotage is high after drones were spotted over four airports in Denmark. These sightings prompted brief closures around those airports.

Danish officials saying a, quote, very serious security situation applies throughout Europe, while acknowledging they can't conclude definitively who's behind the drone incidents.

In Taiwan, rescue and relief teams are intensifying their efforts after Typhoon Ragasa flooded a lake above a small town on their remote east coast, authorities saying that 14 people had died and there are still 11 more missing.

And for the first time since wildfires devastated the Grand Canyon back in July, the National Park Service says portions of the North Rim will reopen to the public next week, though much of it will remain closed for the foreseeable future due to safety concerns and recovery efforts.

[14:50:00]

Visitors are advised to bring enough food, water and other supplies as the North Rim has no power, no running water and no cell service.

Ahead, forget working on your summer bod. These grizzlies are working on their winter bod. It's much more fun. We'll bring you the bear necessities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: The competition is, you could say, getting thick in Alaska. We mean that. Fat Bear Week is their version of March Madness.

And right now, it's feeding season at Katmai National Park. These are live pictures. We're taking you there live.

Look at that bear.

KEILAR: Wow, that's a chunky guy.

DEAN: Yes, you're going to judge which bear can get the chunkiest before they hibernate.

KEILAR: All right, so there's still time to vote. And I hope you're inspired by looking at that cute little shot there.

[14:55:00]

This year's contestants include a male named Chunk. Go Chunk, hoping to come back from a broken jaw.

Also a beefcake named Grazer, who took home the crown in 2023. Could we see a repeat? I don't know.

Let's talk about it with bear biologist Wes Larson. Wes, the drama here. My lord. All right, you're the bear expert. So as we're considering, you know, our votes here, are there any strategies that we can use to predict which bear is going to get the biggest?

WES LARSON, BEAR BIOLOGIST: Yes, there's a strategy that bears will employ during this time of the year where they're going to pull out lots of salmon. And they do a thing called high grading, where they're actually just eating like the head, the skin, the eggs of the salmon. They're not eating the whole thing.

And those are bears that are very serious about putting on a lot of weight, where they're eating the stuff that is just going to give them the maximum amount of calories as quickly as possible. So I would look for bears that are doing that, that are high grading fish.

DEAN: That's wow. Yes, that's a good tip and fascinating that they know which part of the fish will do that.

KEILAR: Bear Atkins.

DEAN: Yes, it is high protein there. OK, so Chunk, we've been told, killed one of Grazer's cubs last year, which sounds really horrific.

Does this happen a lot? Like what we call this bear on bear violence?

LARSON: It does, it does happen. It was the first time that it's ever happened on a live stream in front of hundreds of thousands of people. So I do think it was a bit of a shock for a lot of people when they saw that happen.

I, for me, obviously this is a terrible thing that happened. But in a way, I found it beautiful that people got to see something very visceral and natural during the spectacle of kind of a very cute thing that we've created. We got to see that these are still wild animals.

These are still bears that are going to act like wild bears. And I do think that was a nice reminder for a lot of people that watch these streams.

DEAN: That this is, these are wild animals.

KEILAR: I don't know if I'd say beautiful or nice, but I would, I might say it's essential, right? Like we shouldn't be humanizing them completely here.

DEAN: Yes.

KEILAR: The other thing though, adding as we're sort of playing the odds here, Chunk has a broken jaw. All right. And I'm wondering how that plays into things here.

Like, is an injury like that going to get in his way in such a way that could affect how he's gearing up for hibernation, could affect whether we should vote for him?

LARSON: Yes, you know, if this were a grizzly bear here in Montana, where I live, I think it would be a very detrimental injury where that bear maybe isn't even going to make it through the winter. These bears have such a readily available source of food that it probably won't affect him hardly at all.

He'll still be able to catch salmon. He'll still be able to eat salmon. So a broken jaw for an animal that's this robust, isn't a death sentence, especially when they have that many salmon to take advantage of.

DEAN: Yes. And this all happens at Brooks Falls. Why there?

LARSON: That's a great question. So there are salmon streams like this scattered throughout Alaska, throughout Russia, British Columbia. But Brooks is a really interesting one because there's a six foot waterfall about halfway up the stream.

And because of that waterfall, the salmon kind of school and pool and wait to be able to kind of have the energy to try and jump up the waterfall. So it gives the bears this nice pool that's just full of salmon that they can take advantage of. So that's why Brooks is a really great place to see the spectacle.

KEILAR: Yes. It's the all you can eat buffet.

DEAN: Yes.

KEILAR: I think there.

LARSON: It is.

KEILAR: And so, you know, we have fun with this, as you can see. And it is it's it is interesting, like you said to kind of get the reality of it, too, as people did last year.

But I wonder, does this help with conservation when you have so many people paying attention to something like this?

LARSON: Yes, I think it really does. I think when people get to sit and watch an animal like a brown bear do this natural behavior, they form a connection and a bond with that animal. And then when they learn about threats to those species, they feel more activated.

They have more stake in the game to kind of be involved to put money or effort or time into that conservation. So I do think it really helps.

KEILAR: Well, it is fascinating.

DEAN: It is. I've learned a lot in the last several minutes.

KEILAR: I think I'll be casting. Who are you voting for, Wes? Who would you vote for?

LARSON: I like a dark horse. So I'm going to go with Bear 609. She's a smaller female, but we don't know much about her.

And females tend to put on more weight often because they need to support cubs through the winter. So I'm I'm putting my money on 609 this year.

DEAN: OK. All right, well, that one bear is just getting after that salmon.

KEILAR: Oh, delicious. Wes, it's awesome to talk to you. Thank you so much for informing us. We appreciate it.

LARSON: Yes, anytime.

END