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Search Intensifies For Motive In Killing Of Charlie Kirk; Utah Governor: Encourages Political Restraint In Wake Of Kirk Murder; ICE Calls For Removal Of Man Accused In Dallas Murder; How Pregnant Moms Can Navigate Conflicting Health Advice From The Government And Doctors; Utah Gov Calls For The Country To "Disagree Better"; Rubio: Russian Drone Incident "Unacceptable" & "Dangerous"; Trump To NATO Countries: Stop Burying Russian Oil; Thousands Gather In Tel Aviv To Protest War; Police: Officers Assaulted At London Anti-Immigration Protests; "Neurodiversity Alliance" Empowering Thousands of Students. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 13, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:48]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York, and we begin this hour with breaking news. President Donald Trump has a message for the nation after Charlie Kirks murder.

In a phone interview with NBC News, the President just saying this: "I'd like to see the nation heal," adding, "But we're dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don't play fair, and they never did."

Yesterday, officials named 22-year-old, Tyler Robinson as a suspect, but there are still key questions about what might have driven Robinson to allegedly fatally shoot Kirk. Plans have now been set for a memorial for the conservative political activist.

Turning Point USA, that nonprofit that Kirk co-founded, says the memorial will be held next Sunday, September 21st at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. That stadium seats over 63,000 people.

I want to bring in CNN's Danny Freeman from Utah, where he is following the latest in this investigation, and Danny, still a lot of unanswered questions. What have you learned?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Jessica. Still a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to the life, and really, what led 22-year-old Tyler Robinson to that campus earlier this week to open fire on Charlie Kirk allegedly.

He is right now in the Utah County Jail. That's about 250 miles northeast of where we are here in Washington County, in this area where he grew up, where he lived. And at this point, he has stopped speaking to authorities. That's our latest understanding, and in part because of that, investigators have been combing this area, really looking to answer some of those questions. Specifically, what might have prompted him to ultimately carry out this attack allegedly. So here is what we know at this point, Jessica about the shooter in question. He lived a fairly normal life down here in Southwest Utah as far as we can understand. He was a good student. He came from a close knit family. Two parents, both registered Republicans. He got a merit scholarship to Utah State University. He left after a semester, but ultimately went to a technical college, where he was working to pursue a career as an electrician.

He was very into video games. That's according to people who knew him, who talked to CNN. He was pretty quiet, not overtly political, although Governor Cox, the Governor of Utah, noted yesterday in his press conference that he had gotten more political in recent years. That's according to family members, and that's all despite the bullet markings that we also understand, that were on the bullets that were potentially used in this killing of Charlie Kirk. There were markings that were alluding to memes or video game references.

Investigators, though still working around the clock to really piece together what drove this otherwise normal person to this act of violence. I want you to listen to what the Governor told Anderson Cooper last night. When asked about any potential motive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SPENCER COX (R-UT): I think maybe what stands out is that nothing stands out the way you would normally expect. You know, this is a this is a good family, a normal childhood. All of those things that, that you would hope would never lead to something like this. And sadly, it did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Although as for Robinson himself, he was a registered voter, but he was unaffiliated with any party. The next state, Jessica, that we are watching for is going to be on Tuesday, where Robinson is expected to make his first court appearance here in Utah -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Danny Freeman coming to us from Utah, thank you so much for that.

And after Kirk's assassination and other recent political violence, lawmakers from both parties are starting to wonder about how to engage with the public, with voters safely.

Arlette Saenz explains.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The assassination of Charlie Kirk has reopened a conversation about how to protect lawmakers amid concerns about political violence. That is a common concern that we have heard from some lawmakers up on Capitol Hill this week.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he has held preliminary conversations with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on the issue of security, as some members do want to see enhanced security measures for when they are back home in their home states or potentially traveling for events.

Now, these concerns about political violence really came to the forefront over the summer after the assassination of that Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker back in June.

[18:05:10]

After that shooting, the House and Senate worked through what additional security, funding and resources might look like for these lawmakers. There have actually been some pilot programs underway in the House and Senate to determine what security details could look like for members when they are back home.

I spoke with Senator Markwayne Mullin, who leads a key subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who said that they are working through what it might cost to have security details and what the size and scope of that could entail. He said, everyone, all lawmakers, will have different needs and they will need to assess that going forward.

But we've also spoken with some lawmakers who said that they are rethinking how they might approach their own security and their events going forward. Some lawmakers said that they may not hold outdoor large events going forward. There are others who have signaled that they might use private funds to try to hire security for various events going forward.

These are all some of the dynamics that people are considering amid these concerns about political violence, but I also spoke with some senators who were worried that these acts of political violence might turn people away from running for office going forward.

Senator Tim Kaine said that he is very worried that this is going to lead to good public servants, either deciding not to run or deciding to step down from their post.

So these are all some of the concerns and dynamics that are playing out among lawmakers as they assess the path forward after this assassination against Charlie Kirk.

DEAN: All right, Arlette Saenz for us, thank you so much.

And joining us now, presidential historian and history professor at Rice University, Douglas Brinkley.

Doug, thank you so much for being here with us. I want -- I am glad you're here to give us some context around this, because I think a lot of Americans are looking around and trying to process this and give it context.

Can you think of a time in history that matches, or at least is similar to the time that we are in right now with the political angst and pessimism, the rage, the violence that we are seeing right now.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN HISTORY COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, I used to always say that point of history is to remind us that our own times aren't uniquely oppressive. So you go back and you look at the Civil War and what happened, and not just the -- you know, dead bodies, 600,000 bodies South fighting North, but also what happened leading into it? Beatings and canings and violence.

John Brown in Kansas and what went down at Harpers Ferry, but that was the Civil War and I feel that we are in a Neo Civil War right now in our country. The hatred between the right and the left, while the center is being muted, except on a local television basis, is getting so extreme that people are frightened and we are living now in a kingdom of fear in the United States.

We have a massive proliferation of guns. We have mental illness going on, and we are a country filled with conspiracy theories. Many Americans don't believe 9/11 happened, or don't believe Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. We have an information misinformation crisis fueled by the technological revolution and mainly social media right now, so we can rattle off past politicians, four presidents have been murdered, 14 people in Congress in American history have been murdered.

But this seems different, I agree with Peggy Noonan in "The Wall Street Journal" that, you know, Charlie Kirk's assassination really has the nation under a tinderbox this weekend.

DEAN: Yes, and so knowing that, you know, help us understand what being in the United States of America, being American, how does that play into all of this and our democracy?

BRINKLEY: Well, we have a radicalization process going on, and we are trying to get to the bottom of it. If you cut back to the 1880s Haymarket Affair in Chicago there were a lot of labor versus business feuds and a lot of people killed back in that period. And then in the 1960s and 70s, it is just not that, you know, the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, but there were a slew of assassinations, attempted assassinations that occurred in that period with advocacy people like Harvey Milk on LGBTQ, for example, just taken out of politics because of their views.

But there seem to be we are going to have to figure out what is a mass shooting of schools and what and a young person, mentally disturbed, seeking localized revenge, or what is a targeted political assassination with lone gunman? What reminded me of what happened in Utah with kirk is like Donald Trump when he was in Pennsylvania in Butler, somebody on top of a roof hitting somebody from that distance.

[18:10:10]

You know, remember, that didn't happen with other assassinations of presidents. They were always done up close, with the exception of JFK I Dallas and it is why we all watch that Zapruder film so often and there is a lot of public mistrust.

Until the public believes in government, believes in their President, believes in Congress, believes in the Supreme Court. As long as we are living in these, you know, rotten fields of social media where hatred gets you attention and clicks and the nastier you are, the more popular you are; until we can find a way to get tech companies to cooperate with us, it is going to be tough because there are no guardrails, and it is a Wild West on the internet just like in the settling of the American West, it was, you know, gunplay violence watch any John Wayne movie or Glenn Ford. It is shoot, shoot, shoot!

Everything's is the Okay Corral. We are a violent prone society and it is hitting a new age moment here with Charlie Kirk.

DEAN: Talking about social media, we heard from Utah's governor. He is -- you know, he has really been adamant, trying to convince people to turn down the temperature, stay off social media. He has called social media a cancer on our society. I want to play a quick clip of what he described.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COX: I absolutely believe that this is a watershed in American history, yes. The question is, what kind of watershed? And that chapter remains to be written. Is this the end of a dark chapter in our history, or the beginning of a darker chapter in our history?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And, Doug, I think a lot of people are wondering just that. What do you think?

BRINKLEY: You know, I got to talk to President Obama after the Newtown massacre, and he went all out. We forget on trying to do something about semiautomatic weapons and the Second Amendment and how we deal with it and he had to come to a result that Michael Bloomberg in New York City could talk about guns, but you're not going to be able to do anything about it, and then you go to Kentucky because guns are cultural and it has been hard to do gun reform in the 21st Century.

So the question then becomes, can it be bipartisan of looking at culpability for people that are posting hate messages and lies and disinformation and that gets us to the Silicon Valley, the tech bros, all of these tech companies, can they work in a bipartisan way to help the American people deal with this targeted assassination violence? So good people, young people can feel good about running for any office across the land and feel they have a modicum of protection.

Right now, anybody running, they're having to look around their shoulders. They feel like they might be open game and that's not a good way to run a democracy.

DEAN: Right. Not a good way to run a democracy. Doug Brinkley, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

BRINKLEY: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come, the Democratic mayor of Memphis is pushing back on the Trump administration's plan to send national guard troops to his city. Why he says he would welcome federal help to combat crime, but with one condition.

Plus, officials are investigating a gruesome murder in Texas. We are live with new details on the suspect, who admitted to using a machete to take another man's life.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:09]

DEAN: Immigration authorities are now calling for the removal of a man accused of beheading another man with a machete at a motel in Dallas.

Let's bring in Rafael Romo who is following this.

Rafael. A court affidavit has been filed in what is an extremely gruesome case. Tell us about this suspect.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. Disturbing, indeed. And officials say the suspect, a Cuban national, is being held without bond on a charge of capital murder by terror threat and has a lengthy criminal history that includes serious crimes. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, those crimes include child sex abuse, grand theft of a motor vehicle, false imprisonment and carjacking.

CNN has requested more detail about those allegations, including when and where they allegedly took place, but ICE did not provide any. CNN cannot independently verify the accusations.

We need to warn our viewers, Jessica, that some of the details in this case are gruesome. According to a court affidavit filed in the case, the suspect, identified by the Dallas Police Department as 37-year-old Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, has admitted to using a machete to kill a man.

The affidavit also says that Cobos-Martinez was working in a motel room when the victim, identified as Chandra Nagamallaiah, asked an unidentified witness working with the suspect to translate a request not to use a broken washing machine.

According to the affidavit, the request made the suspect so upset that he pulled out a machete and started cutting and stabbing the victim multiple times, even after he ran to the hotel office, at one point pushing away Nagamallaiah's wife and son as they attempted to make him stop.

The 911 call indicates Cobos-Martinez didn't stop at stabbing the victim multiple times.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DISPATCH: Now, to that stabbing. The suspect has a machete and Fire is noticing that he is actually cutting someone's head off.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

[18:20:06]

ROMO: Indeed, Dallas Police say this violent crime will not go unpunished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRENCE RHODES, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT CHIEF, DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: The preliminary investigation determined that the suspect cut the victim with an edged weapon several times.

Dallas Fire and Rescue responded to scene where the victim died. The suspect is in custody and charges are pending.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: As you can imagine, Jessica, people in Dallas struggle to put into words the reaction when asked by CNN affiliate KTVT the day after the gruesome murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I find it sick, disgusting. Just -- it just -- I am speechless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of out of the norm and it is mind blowing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a statement Thursday announcing it had launched a detainer for the federal arrest and removal of Cobos-Martinez, whom ICE called a depraved criminal illegal alien from Cuba.

In a statement, a top DHS official said that: "This is exactly why we are removing criminal illegal aliens to third countries. President Trump and Secretary Noem are no longer allowing barbaric criminals to indefinitely remain in America. If you come to our country illegally," it says, "You could end up in Eswatini, Uganda, South Sudan or CECOT," referring, of course, to the notorious prison for alleged gang members in El Salvador, where U.S. officials have sent undocumented migrants during the current Trump administration.

President Trump and several officials in his administration have used serious crimes committed by people accused of being in the country illegally as the reason why a tough immigration crackdown is needed across the United States.

Jessica, back to you.

DEAN: All right, Rafael Romo with the latest, thank you.

Mexican officials are now asking ICE for information over a fatal shooting in a Chicago suburb. According to the Department of Homeland Security, an immigration officer shot a man who resisted arrest and dragged him over a significant distance during a vehicle stop Friday morning. We are told that that man, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez was an undocumented immigrant and that the officer was severely injured.

Villegas-Gonzalez was a 38-year-old Mexican citizen who worked as a cook. That's according to the Consulate General of Mexico, which says the government of Mexico will keep an eye on that investigation.

The mayor of Memphis is speaking out a day after the President said his administration would focus on the city of Memphis next for what The White House has been calling its crackdown on crime. Mayor Paul Young said he would welcome federal assistance on dealing with crime, but that he does not think sending the National Guard will help.

The mayor told CNN this morning he didn't have official confirmation of the National Guard coming to his city, and only learned of it when the President announced it Friday during an interview on Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PAUL YOUNG (D), MEMPHIS: I learned earlier this week that it was under consideration. I think Monday afternoon, got a call from the Governor's Office, and they informed me of the dialogue that was underway. Certainly, there were a couple of conversations that were happening all week trying to look at the form of how the support would come to the city, because the dialogue that I had been having was around how we can get more federal resources for FBI, DEA, ATF, and while those things are still under consideration, I learned that the National Guard is a part of what they are exploring as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: According to CNN, in its review of FBI data, the city did have the highest violent crime rate last year among cities with populations over 250,000. No word yet on when National Guard troops will arrive in Memphis.

Still to come tonight, doctors criticizing new guidance from the nation's leading health agency on pregnant women and the COVID vaccine. Why they say Secretary Kennedy's latest advice could have catastrophic consequences. We are going to talk to a doctor and expert on women's health when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:28:21]

DEAN: There has been a lot of confusing and conflicting medical advice for pregnant women in the news recently. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in August that his department no longer recommends the COVID vaccine for pregnant women. Many doctors quickly revolted.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists saying it was extremely disappointed. The group says a COVID-19 infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and devastating and a vaccine is safe for both pregnant women and their unborn babies.

I want to bring in Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, a women's health advocate and a board certified OBGYN at Louisiana's Ochsner Health.

Thank you so much, Doctor, for being here with us. I do think a lot of pregnant women and the people who love them and are supporting them are going, wait, what do we do right now?

So let's talk about the COVID vaccine. What is your advice right now?

DR. VERONICA GILLISPIE-BELL, WOMEN'S HEALTH ADVOCATE AND A BOARD CERTIFIED OBGYN AT LOUISIANA'S OCHSNER HEALTH: So, I know it is very confusing. ACOG did release guidance at the end of August to remind us that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, and we do recommend it in pregnancy. We have to remember that in 2021, our maternal mortality rate in the United States skyrocketed because of the number of pregnant women that died from COVID-19 and so the vaccine is not only safe for our moms, but when they're vaccinated during pregnancy, they pass that immunity on to their baby as well.

DEAN: And what are you hearing about availability? Are women able to get this vaccine? Is there enough? Are they able to get this from their doctors? Pharmacists?

GILLISPIE-BELL: We are having some challenges. I have patients that I have written a prescription for them to help them to access the vaccine at the pharmacy, but I do think that there is a lot of confusion, not only amongst our patients, but also amongst our pharmacists as well.

And so we are hoping that when we are writing that prescription, that that does help them to get access.

[18:30:18]

DEAN: And just for people out there to remember, because I think it's easy sometimes to forget this, when a woman is pregnant, their immune system changes.

GILLISPIE-BELL: Absolutely, when we're - when women are pregnant, their immune system is not as strong. And so, we're not able to fight all viruses in the same way. And again, we found that during the pandemic, that being pregnant alone was a risk factor from dying from COVID-19. And again, it's because our immune system is not as strong.

DEAN: Yes. Talk about the other vaccines recommended for pregnant women, RSV, the flu vaccine. What should they be getting?

GILLISPIE-BELL: Yes. So, we do recommend, especially right now, we're going into flu season, that we want our pregnant moms to get vaccinated against the flu, also for RSV. We also recommend the vaccine for whooping cough. For flu vaccine, this is the time to get it because you want your immune system to be boosted before the flu season hits at its height.

And again, remember that when we're vaccinated as pregnant women, we pass that immunity onto our babies. Now, there is a new nasal flu vaccine. That one is contraindicated in pregnancy because it's a live vaccine, but the traditional vaccine is safe. We do recommend that, again, as well as RSV and the vaccine for whooping cough.

DEAN: So, it sounds like don't get the spray if you're pregnant, get the regular vaccine. GILLISPIE-BELL: Correct.

DEAN: Just to break it down there.

I think there's also a lot of questions for everybody, a lot of parents out there too, about autism, vaccines, obviously Secretary Kennedy has talked a lot about this, pledging to find the cause of autism, but he also keeps bringing it up in relation to vaccines. What are the facts here?

GILLISPIE-BELL: So, I understand that we all would like to know what is causing autism, but the facts are, there is no data that shows vaccines cause autism. Vaccines are safe. They do not cause autism. Autism is a neurodevelopmental issue that is multifactorial likely as far as the causes, but the vaccine - any of the vaccines do not cause autism.

DEAN: And then there is another study or another topic that we've heard a lot about as related to pregnant women as well, which is Tylenol, acetaminophen. What to do with it? Do you take it? Do you not take it? What would you tell people about that?

GILLISPIE-BELL: So, acetaminophen or Tylenol is safe in pregnancy. It does not cause autism. And again, when we think about Tylenol and the reasons that we take Tylenol, we usually recommend that in pregnancy for pain, we recommend that for fever. Fever especially can be detrimental to a pregnancy, so that's something that we want to treat. We know that it is safe when Tylenol is used as directive.

Again, we always recommend that patients do speak to their provider before starting any medication, but the data shows that Tylenol is safe and it does not cause autism.

DEAN: And look, with so much, we just went through a handful of questions that people have. I think there's a lot more misinformation floating around, disinformation floating around, unverified information floating around. Where do you recommend people go as a trusted place for health information at that time where they're really grasping for that?

GILLISPIE-BELL: Yes, I agree. There's a lot of misinformation and that is why we really recommend that patients speak to their providers. If you're reading things and you have questions, please bring that to your healthcare provider, your physician, your midwife, whoever is providing your care so they can help you figure out what is fact and what is fiction.

DEAN: That's right. Take it to the doctors, take it to the midwives, take it to the experts, let them be your guide. Don't be afraid to speak up.

Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

GILLISPIE-BELL: Thank you. My pleasure. DEAN: Mm-hmm. A divided nation tries to cope with the shooting death

of political activist and Trump ally, Charlie Kirk. Coming up, we're going to dive deeper into the conversations taking place on and offline in the aftermath as Utah's governor calls to turn down the temperature when it comes to political debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:39:13]

DEAN: Charlie Kirk's assassination in broad daylight on a college campus is prompting a national reckoning over today's heightened political climate. Kirk's death is just the latest in a string of recent political violence. Utah's Governor Spencer Cox says it's time for America to find an off-ramp before things get even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SPENCER COX, (R) UTAH: This is big, and it's big for a reason. Again, somebody who was involved in political speech, political discourse, doing the very thing that is the foundation for our democratic republic and then losing their life, which makes it harder for all of us to do the thing that we should do. And that's dangerous in a different type of way.

So, the question is, is this the end of a very dark year? Does this wake us up in a way that we actually change? Or is this just the beginning of something far, far worse?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:40:06]

DEAN: CNN Political Analyst and Washington Bureau Chief for The Boston Globe, Jackie Kucinich joins us now. Jackie, thanks for being here on a Saturday evening. I just first want to get your reaction to what Governor Cox said right there and a question that I think a lot of Americans are grappling with right now, is this the beginning of something or the end?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't know that we have the answer to that, of course. But Governor Cox is a very interesting leader for this moment. This is something - disagreeing better, I think, is his program that he's been talking about for quite some time. And really trying to cool tension and communicate your politics in a, you know, in a less caustic way.

This is something that is very - that he has been very passionate about over the years. And you saw him immediately try to cool tensions while still marking the seriousness of the moment in the political world.

DEAN: Yes. In the meantime, we just heard from the President earlier tonight. He told NBC, in his words, he'd like to see the nation heal. And then he added, but we're dealing with a radical left group of lunatics and they don't play fair and they never did. And Jackie, there have been a lot of questions about the idea of

political violence. President Trump from the Oval Office, and then just again there really zeroing in on the - what he calls, you know, the radical left, far left ideology. But we have certainly seen political violence come from being inspired by, I guess, different right and left ideology as we go through a spate of political violence that we've seen over the last several years.

How do you expect, though, again just talking about the politics of this, obviously the President leaning very heavily into just one piece of this?

KUCINICH: Which is very much the place. I mean, there was a real contrast between Governor Cox and President Trump in the immediate aftermath. And now in the days coming - in the days that have unfolded, we're learning more about the suspect, but we don't know his political ideology, his - and how that came to be yet. But the president has chosen to really use this to go after the left wing and after his political enemies.

But I think one of the things that we've heard from lawmakers really is concern, not only about their own personal safety, but the safety of their families in the wake of this. And a consequence, I would say, of this might be that people are separated a lot more from their congresspeople, from their political leaders, because of that fear of the unknown, and because of the fear of perhaps a political opponent doing something like this. That was very clear and present in the hours after we heard of Charlie Kirk's assassination.

DEAN: Yes, and speaking of that, I do want to go back to Wednesday for a minute and take everybody back to the House floor. House Speaker Mike Johnson had held a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk. This was before it was confirmed that Kirk was dead. And after that moment of silence, I just want to play a clip for everyone. This is what happened on the House floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Let's ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) ...

JOHNSON: Wait a minute, wait a minute. The House will be in order. The House will be in order. The House will be in order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So again, this was just moments, really while this was all unfolding. And you look at the United States House of Representatives, that's what was going on, on the floor, members kind of yelling at each other. What are you hearing from Capitol Hill about how these lawmakers are going to move forward, because there's certainly a good chunk on both sides of the aisle who do want to turn things down. And then there are others who, you know, are yelling at each other. KUCINICH: The fabric of Congress has really broken down since January 6th. I can't tell you how much that it has changed in terms of just the interaction between members of Congress from opposite sides. And I think you heard those passions and the alarm in the aftermath of the news about Charlie Kirk.

How they go forward, it's really hard to say, Jessica, because right now, cooler heads have not been prevailing. We'll say that Speaker Johnson has done his part in terms of really trying to keep everything calmer. And same with the Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate. But will that ultimately prevail across their caucuses and conferences? It is - we'd hope so.

[18:45:06]

DEAN: Yes. All right, Jackie Kucinich, good to see you. Thank you again for your time. We appreciate it.

KUCINICH: Nice to see you.

DEAN: Still ahead, President Trump giving NATO an ultimatum as Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemns Russia's use of drones in Poland. Stay with us, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:00]

DEAN: Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Russia's recent flying of drones into Poland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO (Secretary of State): I don't think anybody's happy about it seeing happen. You saw NATO respond to it appropriately. We don't want to see it happen again. We think it's a - unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development in this regard. I think it'll take a few more days for everybody to fully - the drones were intentionally launched. No doubt about the drones were intentionally launched. The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically. If that's the case, if the evidence leads us there, then obviously that'll be a highly escalatory move.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Rubio's comments come as President Trump is issuing an ultimatum to NATO countries, saying in a letter Saturday, the United States will be applying, in his words, major sanctions on Russia if they do the same and stop purchasing Russian oil. If NATO members do meet Trump's demands, it would mark a major shift for the alliance.

Meantime, Secretary of State Rubio is now on his way to Tel Aviv with increasing world pressure calling for a Gaza ceasefire. And today, thousands gathered in that city to protest against the Israeli government's ongoing offensive in Gaza. The weekly rally at Hostage Square calls on the government to end its war with Hamas and secure all of the remaining hostages still being held in Gaza.

Protestors holding a banner saying, quote, "Netanyahu, stop deceiving President Trump."

Also, an anti-immigration protest in London took a violent turn today. Police say far-right demonstrators attacked officers with projectiles. The Metropolitan Police Service says those attacks happened after Unite the Kingdom protesters breached an area that kept them separated from counter-protesters. London's mayor and assistant police commissioner condemned the violence as, quote, "wholly unacceptable," with more than 110,000 people demonstrating. Authorities say officers had to intervene in multiple locations. Twenty-six officers were injured. Twenty-five people were arrested.

One in five children in the United States has a learning disability. And for 2021 CNN hero David Flink, his mission to help neurodivergent students is stronger now than ever before, reaching thousands nationwide. With a new school year underway, we caught up with him to see how his efforts have evolved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" (voice over): When David Flink was honored as a top 10 CNN hero in 2021, his nonprofit was empowering 150 students with learning differences by mixing peer mentorship with art.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today's project is the utility belt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER (voice over): The organization has since seen tremendous growth and a new name to reflect its greater reach. It's now known as the "Neurodiversity Alliance."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID FLINK, 2021 CNN HERO: We have now started serving three times as many students and four times as many schools. It's kind of mind- boggling to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER (voice over): The organization has also changed how it operates. While Flink's team worked hard to keep students engaged during the pandemic, the shift in education allowed the organization to rethink its approach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLINK: The pivot that we were really allowed to make during the years that followed was a freedom to put the power back in the hands of young people. Every part of our organization is being run by, facilitated by and told by young people. We have a hundred young people that we pay to co-design everything we do in all the schools across the country, and we are in reaction to what young people wish to see in this world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER (voice over): That student-centered approach was clear at the organization's annual leadership summit, where students were learning differences from 46 states gathered to learn and plan together. For college student and chapter leader, Sophia (ph), it's a place to connect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOPHIA: It's my third summit. It's so great to connect with students who are also neurodiverse and just learning about their stories and just listening to the ways that they would receive the help and accommodations they need in school.

FLINK: Hey, can I scoot in here? Is that all right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

FLINK: When they go back to their respective communities, they can start our chapters and create the change that they already know needs to happen, and we just give them the skills to do it. Young people deserve to step into school and know this is a place that feels like home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: To learn more about David's inspiring efforts, go to cnnheroes.com.

Still ahead here tonight, federal prosecutors will soon file formal charges against the suspect in the murder of Charlie Kirk. We're going to speak with a former federal prosecutor about what charges the 22- year-old alleged gunman could face. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:59:14]

DEAN: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Jessica Dean here in New York. And tonight, we do have breaking news as President Trump offering this message in the wake of Charlie Kirk's murder, telling NBC News, quote, "I'd like to see the nation heal." And then adding, "But we're dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don't play fair, and they never did."

Yesterday, officials named 22-year-old Tyler Robinson as a suspect in this assassination. More details have surfaced about Robinson's background, but there are still key questions about what might have driven him, a scholarship winner from a close-knit suburban family, to that rooftop where he allegedly fatally shot Kirk. Plans for a memorial for the political activists have been announced. Turning Point USA saying that the memorial will be held next Sunday, September 21st, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.