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Investigations Look Into Note Left By Kirk Shooting Suspect; Trump Urges NATO Sanctions And Members To Stop Buying Russian Oil; IDF Ramps Up Strikes On High Rise Buildings In Gaza; "Adolescence" Triumphs At The Emmys While "The Studio" Breaks Records; How LGBTQ People Fared During Global 2024 Elections; NASA: Martian Rock Contains "Clearest Sign" Yet of Ancient Life; Fans Celebrate 250 Years of Jane Austen. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired September 15, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:31]

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, wherever you are in the world. You are now in the CNN Newsroom with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you here.

Coming up on the show, new evidence coming to light about the man suspected of killing Charlie Kirk. Hear what top officials told CNN.

U.S. secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with Israel's prime minister in the coming hours. The latest on what the two leaders may discuss and who won and who has to wait until next year. We'll break down the Emmy Awards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome. We are following details on the investigation into a motive and into the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Utah's governor confirms that investigators are looking into a note left by suspect Tyler Robinson.

This all comes after the vice president of social and gaming platform Discord said there had been communications between a suspect's roommate and a friend after the shooting about the content of a note.

Meanwhile, video obtained by Associated Press from a home security camera shows a person matching the suspect's description walking through a neighborhood before Wednesday's shooting. CNN has geolocated the footage to a neighborhood about a half mile away from the university where a conservative activist had been speaking.

Kirk's alleged killer has been placed under a special watch at the Utah County Jail pending a mental health evaluation.

CNN's Danny Freeman is in Utah with more details on that investigation. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are still a lot of outstanding questions. We have about 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the main suspect in the killing of Charlie Kirk. But over the weekend, we did learn a lot more information. I'm going to highlight two of the things that we actually learned from Utah's governor on Sunday.

One concerning a potential note left behind by Robinson and the other regarding Robinson's roommate that he had here in St. George.

So first, that roommate, per Governor Cox of Utah, Robinson was roommates with a, quote, romantic partner who was a male transitioning to a female. However, Governor Cox emphasized that this person, this roommate, has been incredibly cooperative with authorities and seemed genuinely shocked to learn about what Robinson has been accused of.

I'll also note when CNN pressed Governor Cox if this was at all part of a potential motive regarding Kirk's killing last week. The governor said it's easy to draw conclusions, but he declined to speculate further.

Now, Governor Cox also told CNN that Robinson was a part of a conservative family here in southwest Utah, but Robinson had been moving left over the course of the past few years. That's according to family. I want you to take a listen to how the governor characterized this shift in recent days.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Some outlets are reporting that the suspect lived with a transgender partner. Is that accurate? And are investigators looking at this part of his life as a possible motivation?

GOV. SPENCER COX (R) UTAH: Yes, definitely. And yes, I can confirm that. I know that has been reported and that the FBI has confirmed that as well, that the roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female. I can say that he has been very cooperative. This partner has been incredibly cooperative. Had no idea that this was happening and is working with investigators right now.

FREEMAN: Now I want to turn to that potential note left behind by Robinson. Allegedly, according to the social and gaming platform Discord, a roommate and a friend of Robinson's had mentioned, quote, contents of a note suspect had left elsewhere.

Now the governor appeared to acknowledge that note's existence, but declined to go into any more detail, saying that this is all still a part of the ongoing investigation. I'll note the next thing that we are all looking ahead towards is Tuesday. That's when Robinson is expected to make his first court appearance and we're expected to hear from prosecutors the formal charges announced. Danny Freeman, CNN, St. George, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Donald Trump says he is, quote, ready to do major sanctions on Russia if NATO does the same thing, and only if all NATO member countries stop purchasing Russian oil. The Trump administration has been putting inconsistent pressure on Russia in recent months, giving two week deadlines but allowing those to pass without taking action.

[01:05:06]

Now President Trump says is up to NATO and Europe to make the next move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: NATO has to get together. Europe has to get together and do, look, Europe is that my friends. But they're buying oil from Russia. So we can't be expected to be the only ones that are, you know, full bore. But Europe is buying oil from Russia.

I don't want them to buy oil. And the sanctions that are putting that putting on are not tough enough. And I'm willing to do sanctions, but they're going to have toughen up their sanctions commensurate with what I'm doing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So just to clarify, you wouldn't move ahead until NATO moves ahead?

TRUMP: Well, I'm ready to move ahead, but they have to do it. I think they will. But right now they're talking and they're not doing. Look, they're buying oil from Russia. We're not buying oil from Russia. They're buying a lot of oil from Russia. That's not the deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Ukraine's president insists Russia needs the pressure of sanctions to come to the negotiating table. Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that he's ready for the face to face meeting with Russia's leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: No meeting, no ceasefire. It's meant that not enough pressure from whom? From President Trump, from Europeans, from the world. We need this pressure on Putin. Get meeting. Yes, I'm ready in this. Yesterday we spoke with General. Yes, we are ready for the proposition of President Trump. Let's do trilateral, then bilateral. Let's do bilateral, then trilateral. I mean, but we are ready not push technical teams. Yes. Yes. Face to face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Angela Stent is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. She is the author of "Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest." Angela, thanks for being here. How are you doing?

ANGELA STENT, SENIOR FELLOW, AMIERCAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: I'm fine, thank you. Glad to be on your show. HUNTE: Thank you for being here. It is shocking, but we're exactly one

month on from the Alaska summit, which is crazy to me. Russia's bombing campaign in Ukraine has escalated and drones have entered NATO airspace in Poland and Romania too. How close do you think we are to a direct Russia versus NATO's confrontation?

STENT: Well, we're certainly closer than they were than were before the Alaska summit and immediately afterwards. But clearly NATO does not want to get into a direct conflict with Russia. Putin is pushing and pushing to try and see how far he can go and whether NATO will respond and so far, NATO has met under so called Article 5 consultations. They've decided they're not going to do anything, but they're going to keep talking to each other. And they're now beefing up their own security.

And I believe NATO has now agreed that it will help other countries on the eastern front lines, Poland, Romania, maybe the Baltic states if there are other incursions of Russian drones. But certainly it's much more dangerous than it was four weeks ago.

HUNTE: And European leaders have been suggesting possible security guarantees for Ukraine once the war does end. From Moscow's perspective, is that even threatening though? And if so, why is it threatening?

STENT: So from the Russian point of view, they're not justifying what they've been doing in Poland and Romania and other places by saying that they will not accept any troops from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil as part of a security guarantee.

The problem here is if you are to have credible European security guarantees, you would have to believe that European countries would actually go to war with Russia if it starts the war with Ukraine again. And as the Polish Foreign Minister Rados?aw Sikorski said today, that's hard to imagine.

So it's all very well and good that Europe's discussing all of these security guarantees, but we're really not sure how credible they will be and particularly if there is a real U.S. backstop support for that.

HUNTE: President Trump has repeatedly threatened tougher sanctions on Russia, but so far his administration has targeted India rather than Russia. What's the strategic calculation behind sanctioning a U.S. partner while holding back on Russia, do you think?

STENT: Well, from President Trump's point of view, it looks as if the United States is doing something to prevent Russia from having these windfall profits that it earns from selling oil and gas and that funds really the war.

And so India and China are the two largest purchases of Russian oil. There were these very high tariffs on India, although I believe it's now being renegotiated. So far, no sanctions on China, no higher tariffs on China for purchasing Russian oil.

[01:10:07] So that's the calculation is to make it look as if the U.S. is trying to do something. But the U.S. itself is not directly imposing any more sanctions on Russia. And President Trump from time to time says that there will be severe consequences for these increased Russian bombardments and the targeting of civilians. But so far, nothing's happened.

HUNTE: Can we also talk about the various nations that are still buying Russian oil even after all of this? Does that kind of division within nature weaken its ability to deter Putin?

STENT" I think it certainly does. Trump has now threatened that he will impose more tariffs on Russia if all the NATO countries also stop buying Russian oil and gas. Because if they to impose, I think, 50 to 100 percent tariffs on China. Interesting.

He didn't say the E.U., because the E.U. itself is weaning itself off Russian oil and gas. But NATO has Turkey as a member. Turkey is the third largest purchaser of Russian oil after India and China and then Hungary and Slovakia also NATO members are also still purchasing Russian oil.

So when you say, well, the U.S. will do something, if NATO does something, it's highly unlikely that Turkey is going to cut off its purchases of oil from Russia. There are economic and political calculations on that. And so this is why it's interesting that Trump has chosen NATO to say they have to go first and then we'll go after them.

HUNTE: President Trump has repeated the claim that Ukraine started the war. What impact does that view have on NATO's unity? And how is the Kremlin currently potentially exploiting that?

STENT: Well, so I think it drives most NATO countries closer together. I mean, one impact of unintended impact of Putin's war on Ukraine is you have two new members, Sweden and Finland. NATO is even much more united.

Most of NATO is. And of course, most of NATO would disagree vehemently that the war was started by Ukraine, because of course, it was started by Russia. But you do have Hungary and Slovakia, both of whom lean towards Russia, and both of whom would probably say, well, both sides are to blame for this.

And from the Kremlin's point of view, one can only assume that this is a narrative that probably the presidential envoy who's been talking to Mr. Putin, that is to say, Mr. Steven Witkoff, a close colleague and friend of President Trump's, but who has no diplomatic experience, he must have heard that and then recounted it to President Trump.

But from the Kremlin's point of view, I think they must be very happy that this is what President Trump is saying because this is precisely what Putin has said, that it's Ukraine's fault that the war began.

HUNTE: OK, we've discussed a lot. Let's leave it there. Angeles, thank you so much for now. Appreciate it. STENT: Okay, thanks.

HUNTE: The U.S. secretary of state is visiting Israel and will meet with the country's prime minister in the next few hours. Israeli sources tell CNN that Benjamin Netanyahu plans to raise his government's potential west bank annexation plans during the talk.

Israel is weighing whether to apply sovereignty over parts of the occupied west bank, and the sources say he wants to understand where the Trump administration draws their line on annexation.

On Sunday, Marco Rubio visited the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. His visit comes just days after Israeli strikes on Hamas in Doha. Qatar is hosting an emergency Arab Islamic summit on Monday to discuss a response to that attack.

Israel's ground operation into Gaza City is imminent and could begin as soon as Monday, an Israeli official tells CNN. The IDF intensified its air offensive on Sunday, striking several more high rise buildings in the enclave's largest city. The strikes came ahead of a meeting called by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the risk that a ground operation would pose to the remaining hostages.

There are thought to be about 20 hostages still alive in Gaz. Another building, the Islamic University in Gaza, was destroyed by several missiles on Sunday. Israel's defense minister posted a number of videos of the strikes on social media and said in part, the hurricane storm continues to strike Gaza.

The Palestinian Health ministry says nearly 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military campaign against Hamas nearly two years ago. Now CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more for us on Israel's operation in Gaza City.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREM DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Palestinians rush in and out of this apartment building in Gaza City, grabbing what they can. Some even toss belongings out of their windows. They don't have long. Israel has marked their 12 story building for destruction, claiming it was being used by Hamas.

Where should we go? Where? Like so many others here, Uhm Ayad (ph) is utterly distraught, terrified of the homelessness that now awaits her grandchildren. This is my house. It's going to be gone and I will never get back to it. What do I do now? There's no money. There's no work, no food, no water. There is nothing.

Her grandson cannot contain his emotions. Tears come streaming down his face. Soon after, Israel unleashes its promised destruction. Homes gone in a cloud of dark smoke. These residents are among the latest to be displaced in Gaza City.

The Israeli military is leveling high rise buildings and dropping leaflets ordering all of the city's residents to clear out. Some have fled to the city's western coast, where a sprawling tent city is growing more crowded by the day. Those with the means to do so are heading south.

They are being forced into a shrinking sliver of the strip. One military evacuation order after the next aiming to push Gaza's population of more than 2 million into about 23 percent of Gazan territory. Many are arriving in Al Mawasi, an area already overwhelmed with hundreds of thousands who were previously displaced.

Here, those who can find and afford a plot of land like this to erect a makeshift shelter are considered lucky. Due to the large number of those displaced, there is no place to settle in, this man says. People are living in the streets. You see people in the streets. There is no more space for displaced people.

It's very difficult to be living in our homes and suddenly find ourselves in the open on a piece of land, under the sun or in a tent among the sand and the insects, this woman says, and life is very difficult.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: OK. Still to come, Hollywood's biggest stars come out for the 77th Emmy Awards. We'll discuss the biggest wins and the upsets of that night after a very short break. See you in the bell.

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HUNTE: Welcome back. It was the biggest night in television on Sunday as a 77 Primetime Emmy Awards aired live from Los Angeles. Netflix's "Adolescence" took home six trophies, the most of the night for outstanding limited series directing, outstanding lead actor, supporting actor and actress and writing, all for a limited series or anthology. It makes actor Owen Cooper the youngest ever male winner of an Emmy.

Other winners included "Severance," which took two categories including Brit Lauer's win for outstanding lead actress in a drama in her first nomination. "Hacks" also took two awards, outstanding lead actress in a comedy for Jean Smart and outstanding supporting actress in a comedy for Hannah Einbinder.

Let's stick with this story. With me now is journalist and media personality Segun Oduolowu. Thanks for being with me. How are you doing, sir?

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, JOURNALIST AND MEDIA PERSONALITY: I'm doing good. But I want to file a complaint to CNN for putting me on with the Idris Elba voices. Because now what you're doing with this British accent is making me sound like a shrill, angry American. But it's fine. I'm going to work with it.. But I just want to know HR see my complaint. HUNTE: We know your complaint. We're going to push on the fruit. It's

declined. It's declined. Let's get into it. It's got a lot to discuss. Let's go over there.

ODUOLOWU: Sounds so good. Sounds so good, man. It's like -- it's not even fair. I love this.

HUNTE: While we are talking about the U.K. British access, let's start with Team U.K. completely cleaning up in the USA "Adolescence." It just kept on winning, six wins in the end. What were your reactions to those awards and why do you think that show resonated so much with the Academy members?

ODUOLOWU: Well, first it was historical, with Oliver Cooper being the youngest man to ever win an Emmy. And then it was, you know, superhero like, because "The Penguin" with Colin Farrell, I thought that was going. I thought Colin was going to win. So when Stephen Graham beat him out for a limited series, I was shocked.

So "Adolescence," I mean, hey, no awkwardness there. Maybe in your, well, never you or your adolescence, your voice has always sounded like that. But for all of us who went through an awkward adolescence period, it was kind of interesting to see how this movie just caught steam. The way it was shot, the way it was written, with all of those long, drawn out scenes without cuts. It was done so well. And because of that, on Netflix, which allows you to binge.

And really, that's the interesting part, that binging allows you to go talk about the whole series, and then if someone sees something different, you go back and digest it. And adolescence forced you to do that because you were watching this kid give an incredible performance. And then all the actors around him, Oliver Cooper, just give, you know, just give scene stealing role after scene stealing role.

[01:25:05]

It was so well done and so talked about. It was must see TV.

HUNTE: Yes, indeed. Well, talk about must see TV, the show, "The Studio" also made Emmy's history. It is now the most awarded comedy ever. Hands up. I did not see that show. But did you? And what made it stand out?

ODUOLOWU: I did see it because it satirizes an industry that I talk about and "The Studio" really deals with the Hollywood industry. And Seth Rogin, who is a Hollywood insider himself, he's been doing this ever since he was a kid, a teenager, really, in movies like "Pineapple Express," his brand of comedy, he's gone from, you know, raunch to really smart, really, really sharp.

And this satirizes Hollywood. It does it really well. He was the first award on the Emmy stage tonight and he crushed it. He set the tone for what was to come in its streamers. The streamers are everywhere. "The Studio" is on Apple TV and we talked about "Adolescence" on Netflix. So, it was a streamer party that just kept going. HUNTE: We have seen from previous award shows that the host plays a

major part. How did Nate Bargatze do? Were there any big moments from him?

ODUOLOWU: In my estimation, no. This is CBS kind of playing it straight down the middle name. Nate Bargatze is a funny comedian, but he doesn't work blue. He's not going to take too many political stances or do anything that's going to really be water cooler talk. Well, if people still go to the water cooler. We all work hybrid now.

But no, there was nothing really. He was kind of harmless. And the really funny moments was just what they were doing for charity, where if your speech went on too long, you'd be penalized. And he and another Brit who won big, John Oliver, had a little brief moment, but Bargatze was fine. There was no ruffled feathers. And again, television actors aren't the same as movie stars. Like, they don't have the same type of cachet.

So television actors are really going to go on stage and say something dramatic or moving that's going to be political fodder or make, you know, cry out and wring your hands or clutch your pearls. They don't have the same, you know, gravitas as, you know, Ben Hunte's voice or a movie star.

HUNTE: I love this. You can come back. All the compliments. I love it. I wonder if we could talk about how global the Emmys are now and just quickly, both in terms of the audience watching, but also the actual nominated shows being filmed in so many different places around the world. Does that surprise you?

ODUOLOWU: It doesn't surprise me. And I think you hit the nail on the head for what the industry of Hollywood is undertaking. Now the streamers which dominate can be seen anywhere in the world. You can be in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and get Netflix and get Apple TV, get Paramount Plus, get all of the different streaming services. And then the shows themselves aren't being shot in the United States, so they're being shot in Canada, they're being shot in Mexico, they're being shot in the U.K. in large numbers.

So there -- it is now a global thing. And the network television shows like an "Abbott Elementary" or "Grey's Anatomy," I don't think they stand a chance anymore in this marketplace where these shows sound the way people really talk. "The Pitt," which was another big winner, is on HBO Max.

"Grey's Anatomy," for all of its 22 years being on air, can't compete with "The Pitt" where the people talk the way people talk, where there's nudity, where there's sex, where there's graphic violence or the things that people are now looking at their TV screens like small movies. These shows, these series and network TV can't keep up.

So the globalization of the streamers has made everybody be able to weigh in and not worry about the FCC and you know, what's going on CBS, ABC, Fox or NBC News. No, I'll go to Netflix, Apple TV, you know who you name it. Anywhere it streams, I can get it.

HUNTE: OK, Segun, Thank you so much for being with me. We appreciate it. Hopefully speak to you again soon.

ODUOLOWU: Yes, just tell me, like Listerine Scope, what are you gargling with for the deep voice? I'm telling you, man, it's unfair. Like one brother sounds like rich chocolate and the other one sounds like cafe --

HUNTE: We try to run the commercial break. We will be right back. See in a minute.

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HUNTE: Let's return now to our top story.

Utah's governor says investigators are looking into a note left by the suspect in the shooting of conservative activist, Charlie Kirk as they search for a motive in his killing.

On Sunday, members of Congress and Trump administration officials were among those who attended a memorial service and prayer vigil for Kirk at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

A massive memorial is expected to be held next Sunday at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox spoke with CNN's Dana Bash about a call he had with U.S. President Donald Trump after Kirk's shooting.

[01:34:45]

HUNTE: She asked him about a report that Trump told Cox, quote, "The type of person who would do something like that to Charlie Kirk would love to do it to us." Here's part of that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SPENCER COX (R-UT): It was a long conversation, by the way. We talked about lots of things, but it was very sobering.

And again, he's not wrong. I mean, as he knows better than anyone as someone who, literally was injured by a bullet, I mean, a fraction of an inch away from being killed a year ago. He understands that better than anyone.

I would also just note that he also mentioned multiple times that he was grateful for the press conference and the message that we shared. And so I'm grateful, you know, that he's talked about nonviolence. He's quoted Charlie Kirk on the nonviolence issue.

I understand he's also very angry. And I get that. This is his close personal friend and anger is a normal reaction.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: So he was grateful for the press conference. Others in his orbit, Governor, were not. Steve Bannon called, talked about you calling to tone down the

rhetoric, saying that -- the following saying "Spencer Cox is a national embarrassment in a time where we need action. He tells us to sing Kumbaya and hold hands with Antifa.

This is not a time for treacly -- excuse me -- pontificating. This is a time to declare Antifa a domestic terrorist organization and have the FBI go kick down some doors."

What's your response to Steve Bannon?

COX: Well, again Mr. Bannon is angry and rightfully so. And I'm not saying we have to just sing Kumbaya and hold hands. What I'm saying is we actually should disagree. I think Charlie represented that better than anyone. Charlie said some very inflammatory things and some -- in some corners of the web, that's all people have heard.

But he also said some other things about forgiveness. He said he said some amazing things about when things get dark. Putting down our phones, reading scripture, going to church talking to our neighbors.

He said that we have to engage. And that's what I appreciate most about Charlie Kirk is that if we don't -- if we don't keep talking, that's when the violence starts.

BASH: Yes.

COX: Look, there are conflict entrepreneurs out there who benefit from radicalizing us. And I'm not one of those. I don't know that that's particularly helpful.

But he is right at this. We need to find out how this happened, and we need to stop it from happening.

BASH: You called social media a "cancer on our society". I know you have made talking about social media one of your key issues as governor of Utah.

What should or even can government do to cure this cancer, as you call it?

COX: Well, there's some things that we're working on for sure. We have to get phones out of the classroom. We're doing that in Utah. Many states are doing that right now.

We have to hold these -- the largest companies in the history of the world with combined trillion-dollar market caps. We have to hold them responsible for the algorithms that are pushing us.

Again, they're hijacking our agency. They're hijacking our free will with these dopamine hits -- same chemical reaction as fentanyl, getting us addicted to these platforms and outrage releases a dopamine hit, for sure.

And they are taking no responsibility for this. In fact, they're suing the state of Utah to stop the most comprehensive social media reforms in the -- in the world's history that are happening right here. And we absolutely have to hold them accountable.

BASH: Just real quick. You have said that we're in a dark chapter, and you're not sure if it's the end of a dark chapter or beginning of a darker one.

Is your view of America right now shaken?

COX: Yes. I mean, if your view of America is not shaken right now, then there's something wrong with you. This is -- this is a direct assault on America, a direct assault on every single one of us.

Of course, it's installed on Charlie, and we love Erika and her kids and his family. But this is -- this is us. And this is our chance. This is our moment.

We've had periods like this in the past. I mentioned the late 60s and early 70s. But if we're waiting for a president or a governor to get us off of -- out of this dark chapter, then it will never happen.

We can't -- I don't understand this -- again, giving our agency up, waking up every day and saying, well, what did the president say today? That's going to determine how I react? Or what does the governor say today? That makes no sense to me.

Every one of us has to look in the mirror and decide, are we going to try to make it better, or are we going to make it worse? And I just -- I pray that God will help us find him again and find our souls and find each other again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: All right. LGBTQ communities around the globe continue to seek more representation in an increasingly polarized political world.

[01:39:50]

Coming up, we unpack a new report that explores how queer voters fared during the massive 2024 election year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNTE: Welcome back.

A new report by Outright International investigates how the LGBTQ human rights movement fared globally during the 2024 election cycles.

[01:44:52]

HUNTE: The research identified three core trends. In at least 51 of the areas studied, political campaigns were found to be using anti- queer rhetoric and hate speech to incite violence.

Queer people also faced voting obstacles, including a lack of legal gender recognition and criminalization of same-sex acts.

Despite all of this, LGBTQ communities actively participated in elections despite those risks in a bid to defend democracy.

Neela Ghoshal is senior director of law, policy and research at Outright International. Neela, thank you so much for being with me. How are you doing?

NEELA GHOSHAL, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF LAW, POLICY AND RESEARCH, OUTRIGHT INTERNATIONAL: I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.

You're so, so welcome. It's good to see you.

Your report comes after what you call a super election year with nearly half of the world's population in voting nations.

When you looked across all of those different countries, what picture emerged about how LGBTQ people are being included or excluded from democracy.

GHOSHAL: So we started to hear in 2023 that 2024 was going to be a super election year. And at the time that we heard this, we were already closely following how LGBTIQ people were engaging in democracies around the world.

And we thought that it would really be an excellent opportunity to take a specific time-bound sample, the year of 2024 and look at what elections did look like for LGBTIQ people.

How LGBTIQ people were able to participate or were inhibited from participating in elections, LGBTIQ people's participation in broader democracy movements, and LGBTIQ hate speech and political weaponization of LGBTIQ issues in elections.

And overall, there were clear obstacles to LGBTIQ participation, and this included discrimination, violence, the fact that around 65 countries do continue to criminalize sexual orientation, and also the fact that in many countries, trans people can't get IDs that reflect their lived name, gender and identity.

HUNTE: One of your findings is that the queer people that you spoke to were actively voting and monitoring elections and even running for office, despite huge risks. What were some of those barriers and issues that they faced?

GHOSHAL: Well, they faced a huge amount of political homophobia and transphobia. And so in many of the countries in which we did document queer people running for office, their sexual orientation or gender identity was used against them by their political opponents and by their political opponents' supporters.

And so this was something really challenging for candidates to stand up to and confront. And this happened in Pakistan. It happened in the United States. It happened in Indonesia. All over the world where queer candidates had the courage to run for office, they were attacked.

And sometimes the same was true for LGBTIQ organizations that were trying to organize, just to mobilize communities to go out and vote. They were accused of implementing a foreign agenda or of, you know -- of introducing non-democratic principles into the country.

There was this idea that being LGBTIQ in many -- in many countries was supposedly you know, something that was against national interest or against tradition. And this was used against LGBTIQ people at every stage of the political process.

And so it's really amazing to see that even with these barriers and these obstacles and this hatred and vitriol directed toward political candidates and activists and organizers personally, that they had the courage to continue plowing forward.

HUNTE: In some places, you found that elections became a competition of who was the most homophobic. How widespread is this trend of politicians weaponizing LGBTQ rights for their political gain?

GHOSHAL: Unfortunately, it's shockingly widespread and we were documenting all of these different cases and we didn't put the numbers together until the very end of the research.

And we discovered that out of 60 countries where we had documented the elections in 2024, in 51 of them politicians were using anti-LGBTIQ campaigning. So either claiming that an opposing party was going to take measures to advance LGBTIQ rights in ways that were not expected to be popular among the public, accusing their political opponents of being queer and using this language that has -- that comes from particular contexts, but has really been globalized, like accusing their opponents of gender ideology or even of wokeism.

[01:49:44]

GHOSHAL: The word "wokeism" was used in countries where it's almost unpronounceable. But it was an idea that was sort of exported from the United States as an epithet against people who are pursuing equality.

HUNTE: Your report also includes clear recommendations for governments and election bodies and society in general. If you had to highlight one urgent step to better protect LGBTQ political participation worldwide, what would it be?

GHOSHAL: Probably one of the key institutions that plays a role in most societies is the election -- the election agencies, the agencies that run the elections.

In some countries, like Romania and Moldova, countries where there is still a high level of societal homophobia and transphobia, activists were able to work with these election bodies and to tell them, here are the risks that we see facing queer communities, and here are some steps that you can take to address these risks.

So for instance, let election workers know that there are some trans people whose identities won't necessarily match, you know, what they look like, won't necessarily match the name on their ID card. Share guidelines with all elections officers making clear that discrimination against anyone based on their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity is not acceptable. So these kinds of things that can make it possible on the day of

elections themselves for queer people to go out and feel safe and vote.

There's of course, so much more that needs to be done. Political parties need to listen to and amplify the voices of queer candidates. They need to talk to queer communities. Donors need to fund the incredible work that LGBTIQ civil society organizations are doing to get -- to get LGBTIQ people to be part of the political process.

But I would say, let's start with the elections themselves and make sure that the elections are, in fact, free and fair and open to everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

HUNTE: Well, it is nice to know that some places around the world are doing good things to help people. So that's really, genuinely good to know. I learned a lot from that.

Neela Ghoshal, thank you so much for now. Appreciate it.

GHOSHAL: Thank you very much.

HUNTE: We'll be right back.

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HUNTE: NASA scientists think they may have found the oldest sign of life on Mars to date. The Perseverance Rover found these rocks last year. They feature leopard-like patterns that NASA believes could have been made billions of years ago.

They say the marks may be signs of chemical reactions that supported the life of microbes, but they're also looking into other possibilities.

CNN aerospace analyst Miles O'Brien spoke with CNN's Jessica Dean earlier about these potentially startling developments on the Red Planet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: If, in fact upon further analysis, we can determine the, you know, sort of the history of that life, the big question is -- is it a second genesis of life, or is the life on earth from the same source?

In other words, could the life have been transmitted from some sort of meteorite from our planet to Mars, or vice versa, which Jessica, means we might all be Martians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: A fizzy fiasco in Mexico City, where a soda delivery truck was swallowed by a sinkhole on Saturday. Luckily, no one was injured. People watched as the weight of the truck pulled it backwards and deeper into the sinkhole. [01:54:48]

HUNTE: By then, crews had already cleared and cordoned off the area. A local mayor says the city's aging drainage system had collapsed underground, causing that incident.

Wow. Crazy.

Thousands of Jane Austen fans are donning their Regency Era finest to celebrate her 250th birthday. People from all over the world have traveled to the historic British city of Bath for a festival in Austen's honor.

Here's a closer look at the festivities and what inspires such devotion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW MACFADYEN, ACTOR, "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE": You have bewitched me, body and soul. And I love and love and love you.

HUNTE: Fans have been in love with the works of Jane Austen for more than 200 years, including this swooning screen adaptation of her classic book "Pride and Prejudice".

So to celebrate 250 years since the author's birth, about 2,000 of Jane Austen's most ardent admirers, dressed in their best bonnets and empire waist dresses to stroll through the city of Bath, England, home of an annual festival in her honor.

KEMI, JANE AUSTEN FAN: It's always a really, really fun thing to do, just to be part of the parade and the atmosphere, the band, the dresses. It's just visually gorgeous.

HUNTE: The ten-day festival draws people from all over the world and includes book clubs, dancing and a regency ball. To many fans, it's a chance to step into the pages of Austen's novels, which often dealt with themes of love, society and the roles of women.

WILMER BONET, JANE AUSTEN FAN: I love her for putting out these stories and her opinion on how it affected women, and also how society saw women during that time period.

HUNTE: Austen once lived in Bath, which is famous for its Georgian architecture and is featured in her work.

GEORGIA DELVE, JANE AUSTEN FESTIVAL DIRECTOR: So much of her is within the city. We have her character names, streets in the city, we have two of her novels are based here "Northanger Abbey" and "Persuasion".

Jane Austen herself visited Bath many times and stayed in various places around it. So you can walk past where she would have lived, walk in the footsteps of her characters.

HUNTE: Festival goers doing just that. Perhaps Jane Austen's biggest love story isn't the one between

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, but the enduring fascination of her fans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: What a week it's been.

That's all I've got for you. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. I'll be back with you next week.

More NEWSROOM is next with Rosemary Church. See you next week.

Rosemary, over to you.

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