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President Trump Attacks the Left Over Charlie Kirks Death; Qatar Holds Summit Over Israeli Strike on Doha; Netanyahu to Meet with Secretary Rubio; President Trump to Sanction Russia if NATO Stop Buying Russian Oil; Pope Leo Celebrates Birthday in Vatican; Pope Leo Celebrates 70th Birthday; Environmental Group Saves Octopuses From Illegal Traps. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired September 15, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, investigators search for a motive behind the assassination of Charlie Kirk as Washington mourns the conservative activist. What we're learning about the alleged shooter.

The U.S. Secretary of State will meet with Israel's Prime Minister next hour as the U.S. seeks clarity on Israel's strategy in Gaza.

Plus, crowds gather at the Vatican to celebrate Pope Leo's 70th birthday.

And later, one group's mission to save the octopus population and combat illegal fishing.

Appreciate you joining us. 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. Suspect Tyler Robinson has been placed under a special watch at the Utah County Jail pending a mental health evaluation. He's expected to make his first court appearance on Tuesday.

Video obtained by the Associated Press from a home security camera shows a person matching Robinson'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 Kirk had been speaking.

Meantime, members of Congress and Trump administration officials were among those who attended a memorial service and prayer vigil on Sunday for the conservative activist at the Kennedy Center in Washington. At the same time, the U.S. president is continuing to accuse his political opponents of provoking violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, the problem is on the left when you look at the problem. The problem is on the left. It's not on the right, like some people like to say on the right. The problem we have is on the left. And when you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that's the left, that's not the right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Dani Freeman is in Utah with more details on the investigation.

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 going to family. I want you to take a listen to how the governor characterized this shift in recent days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT & HOST: 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?

SPENCER COX, GOVERNOR OF 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, I want to turn to that potential note left behind by Robinson allegedly.

[02:04:57]

According to the social and gaming platform Discord, a roommate and a friend of Robinson's had mentioned, quote, "contents of a note the suspect had left elsewhere." Now the governor appeared to acknowledge that note is existent, 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're all looking ahead towards is Tuesday. That's when Robinson is expected to make his first court appearance and what we're expected to hear from prosecutors, the formal charges announced. Danny Freeman, CNN, St. George, Utah.

CHURCH: Joining me now is CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, who's also an opinion columnist with Bloomberg. Ron, thanks so much for being with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POILTICAL ANALYST: Hi Rosemary.

CHURCH: So as the investigation continues, in an effort to determine the motive behind the assassination of Charlie Kirk, this horrifying crime is putting a spotlight on political violence in the country. What's your assessment of how President Trump is dealing with this, particularly his claim that political violence is only a problem on the left, not the right?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, it is hard to overstate how completely President Trump is inverting what we usually see and historically seen from presidents at moments of this kind of tragedy and tension in the country. And this is a tragedy, that a young father was killed fundamentally, it appears, for expressing his political views. But when we've had these kinds of moments before, presidents really, I think, have tried their hardest. These are the moments when they have tried their hardest to speak to and for the entire country.

We have not only not seen that from President Trump, we are seeing the opposite. We are seeing him very clearly trying to use this tragedy to advance his agenda beforehand, which was to use the power of the federal government to investigate and weaken his political opponents. You know, two weeks before this happened, he posted on uh social media that he considered George Soros and his son lunatics and psychopaths who should be charged for their political -- charge of crimes and their political activities.

And now, you know, you have him and others in the administration essentially saying it's a problem only of the left, not of the right. The radicals, quote, "radicals on the rights are patriots." And that's obviously mistaken. We have seen political violence of the left against the right and of the right against the left. And very clearly, we are on a trajectory where we're going to see more of it, unless we see a much more concerted effort among leaders of all stripes, of all corners of society to marginalize this. This is the road we are heading down.

CHURCH: Yeah, and indeed. I mean, America has, as you've pointed out, witnessed assassinations of political figures from both parties throughout its history, particularly in recent years. What do Republican and Democratic leaders need to be saying right now to calm tensions and unite the country?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. You know, the people who study this obviously more closely than either of us point out that it is not easy to end this kind of cycle of political violence once it begins, but it can be ended. I mean, we went through a terrible period in the late '60s and early '70s, not only assassinations, but bombings. And ultimately, we did get out of it. And what it takes is a full throated denunciation of this from wherever it comes from, from all sides of the political spectrum.

And as you point out, you're getting -- in the clip you played, you're getting the opposite from President Trump, who, you know, essentially is saying that violence or radicalism on the right doesn't seem to be a problem because these people are patriots, they care about crime, they care about the undocumented coming into the country. It's a problem only when perpetrated by the left.

And of course, his pardoning of the January 6 rioters sends that message. You really need -- you need the political, and not only the political, the civic leadership of the country to lock arms and to say that whatever our disagreements and they are real and they are deepening, violence is not the way to solve them in a democracy.

CHURCH: And Ron, how potentially dangerous is this point in American history if leaders choose to fan the flames of hate rather than find ways to stop the rise in political violence and will gun reforms ever be part of this debate given where we are at this time?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, gun control is fundamentally impossible in the U.S. as long as the filibuster survives in the Senate. And there are too many states where smaller states where gun ownership is kind of interwoven into the culture of the place, mostly because of a hunting or kind of rural tradition, where it becomes impossible. So, that meaningful action there just isn't going to happen as long as our filibuster stays in place.

I think there are two separate dangers here. I mean, you know, one is obviously what we're talking about, more political violence, assassinations, just kind of this regular threat.

[02:10:01]

But there's something else that's happening here, which is, you know, Trump's reaction to this is very much in tune with his overall vision of the presidency. He views himself, I think fundamentally, as the president of a faction, not of a nation. He wants to use national power to weaken the ability of blue America to resist him and the MAGA agenda.

And he's doing it in lots of different ways, whether it's threatening to cut off funds, sending the National Guard into blue cities, arresting mayors and judges and other officials. And now with this threat from him and Stephen Miller and others to use this terrible tragedy as a pretext for trying to use law enforcement against a broad range of institutions in the other party.

That is a kind of road that you've seen in other country where democracy has ceased to function in all but name. And it is something that really, I think, is tearing at the fundamental cohesion of America in ways we haven't seen since the Civil War. And I don't know exactly how that plays out. I do know that if we continue to go down that road as well, I think we could be looking at possibilities that right now you can't even imagine or articulate, but that do threaten the ability of the U.S. to continue to function as a single unified nation.

CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, appreciate your analysis particularly at this time. Thank you.

Israel's ground operation into Gaza City is imminent and could begin as soon as Monday, an Israeli official tells CNN.

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The IDF intensified its air offensive across the enclave on Sunday, killing at least 61 Palestinians, according to local officials. The strikes came ahead of a meeting called by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the risk a ground operation would pose to the remaining hostages. There are thought to be about 20 hostages still alive in Gaza. Another building at the Islamic University in Gaza was destroyed by several missiles 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 almost two years ago.

Well, in the coming hours, leaders from Arab and Islamic countries will convene for an emergency summit in Qatar to discuss a response to Israel's strike on Hamas in Doha. On Sunday, foreign ministers from those nations met in the Qatari capital where they outlined a draft resolution emphasizing the need to, quote, "stand against Israel's plans to impose a new reality in the region."

Qatar's prime minister spoke at Sunday's meeting and said that Israel's attacks threaten to derail efforts to end the war in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN BIN JASSIM AL-THANI (through translation): This aggression will not lead to anything but aborting de-escalating efforts and confirm the Israeli government's intentions to reject peaceful paths to resolving the Palestinian issue. Israel's barbaric and demagogic practices will not deter us from continuing our sincere efforts with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States to stop this unjust war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

The U.S. Secretary of State is visiting Israel and will meet with the country's prime minister next hour. Israeli sources tell CNN that Benjamin Netanyahu plans to raise his government's potential West Bank annexation plans during the talks. 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 the line on annexation. CNN's Nada Bashir has details on Marco Rubio's visit.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as tensions remain high following Israel's deadly strike on Doha last week, targeting Hamas's negotiating team in Qatar, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has traveled to Israel where he joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a visit to the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem on Sunday. The two are expected to hold official talks on Monday with the Doha attack likely to be key on the agenda.

Ahead of his trip, Rubio told reporters that while U.S.-Israel relations remain unshaken, President Donald Trump, quote, "didn't like the way it went down," adding that the purpose of his visit to Israel is to get more clarity on what Israel's strategy will be going forward. Qatar has long been a key regional ally to the U.S., hosting the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East.

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And officials there working closely alongside both the Biden and Trump administrations to try to mediate a peace deal between Israel and Hamas. Qatar's prime minister has accused his Israeli counterpart of undermining those peace efforts and has said he hopes for a collective regional response to Israel's attack on Doha, adding that this response is under consultation and discussion with other regional partners with a decision expected to be announced following conclusion of the Arabic-Islamic Summit on Monday.

But beyond diplomacy, pressure is mounting on the Israeli government both at home and internationally. On Saturday, thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv once again, calling on Netanyahu's government to secure a hostage and ceasefire deal, with some family members of hostages held captive in Gaza, accusing the government of sabotaging those peace efforts. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Israel's deadly assault continues. More than 70 people are reported to have been killed on Saturday alone, with the death toll still rising as civilians in Gaza City are once again forced to evacuate with no guarantees of safety. Nada Bashir, CNN, in London.

CHURCH: Still to come, Donald Trump is now saying that he needs to be involved in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. We'll get into why he is only now acknowledging that talks are stalled. Back with that and more in just a moment.

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[02:20:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. 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. Now, President Trump says it's up to NATO and Europe to make a move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: NATO has to get together; Europe has to get together and do it. Look, Europe is -- they're 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 these sanctions that are putting -- that they're putting on are not tough enough. And I'm willing to do sanctions, but they're going to have to toughen up their sanctions commensurate with what I'm doing.

UNKNOWN: Sir, just to clarify, you wouldn't move ahead until NATO is (inaudible).

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)

CHURCH: Europe is largely shifting away from Russian oil but NATO members Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey still purchase it and Turkey is the world's third largest buyer after China and India. Earlier, I spoke with CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton and I asked him whether President Trump's demand that NATO members stop buying Russian oil and gas might impact the alliance itself. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: -- but could have some significant impact. Now, one thing to keep in mind, Rosemary, is that the countries that are importing or continuing to import large amounts of Russian oil include countries like Hungary and Slovakia. Those countries have resisted calls to cut their ties to Russia in terms of oil and gas supplies. Other countries have significantly reduced their consumption of Russian oil and gas, and there is definitely a chance that those countries can move their consumption from Russian gas to for example, American or Middle Eastern oil and gas.

So, there are ways to work around this. It is, I think, not a complete deal breaker for the alliance but it's clearly something they'll have to work through at this point.

CHURCH: And Colonel, President Trump also expressed frustration Sunday with the slow pace of negotiations to end Russia's war in Ukraine and he now recognizes that he's the one who needs to step up and do all the talking given President Zelenskyy and Putin are not able to do so. What's your response to this and why has it taken Trump this long to come to the conclusion that he's the one that needs to do this? LEIGHTON: Yeah, that's actually kind of a mystery to a lot of us

who've been watching this because we see the role of the United States as being critical to any type of potential solution, whether it's a ceasefire or a permanent peace to the Russia-Ukraine war. The fact that the president seems to be realizing this right now is a good step in the right direction.

But clearly it shows that this is not the easy war that he thought it would be, not something that could be solved, as he famously said, in 24 hours. This is going to take months if not a year or so of negotiations to actually put an end to and it's going to require a lot of diligent effort from the U.S. as well as the European partners to work with both Ukraine and Russia to get hostilities to an end.

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CHURCH: And we'll hear the rest of my conversation with Colonel Cedric Leighton next hour.

Pope Leo turned 70 on Sunday and the Vatican threw a party with a very special purpose. The story when we come back.

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CHURCH: Pope Leo had much to celebrate on Sunday in the aftermath of a special Vatican weekend gathering. One of the things that made it special was the Pope's 70th birthday. CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb reports from Rome.

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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pope Leo looked out at the crowd that had gathered in St. Peter's on Sunday and said, "it seems that you know it's my birthday." There were groups in the crowd holding up banners wishing Leo a happy birthday, including from Peru, the country of course that Leo served in for many years as a bishop and as a missionary.

Leo thanked everyone for their good wishes. A band played a happy birthday song for him. He thanked his parents and for everyone and to everyone who was praying for him on his birthday.

Now, Leo is 70, which makes him young by papal standards. His two predecessors were several years older than him when they took up the post.

It's not clear if Leo was celebrating on his birthday or having a party, but he did receive a cake on Saturday from the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, who brought him a chocolate cake from Portillos, the restaurant chain, which is headquartered in Chicago, of course, Leo's home city and where he grew up.

Now, Leo's birthday came just after a historic one of its kind Vatican concert, which was directed by Pharrell Williams and Andrea Bocelli. The concert took place in St. Peter's Square on Saturday night. There were performances from Jennifer Hudson, from John Legend, from Teddy Swims, a gathering that was very much a celebratory one. There was a drone show, which was spectacular above St. Peter's Basilica.

It was the culmination of a gathering in the Vatican for human fraternity, which, focusing on a more humane and peaceful world. There were discussions and a whole range of topics, including artificial intelligence.

Now, Leo's birthday fell on a Sunday. That meant he couldn't have a day off. And in the evening, he was due to celebrate mass at the Roman Basilica of St. Paul's outside the walls, a mass to commemorate the witnesses and martyrs of the Christian faith in the 21st century.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Illegal trapping is threatening the global octopus population and littering seas off the coast of Greece. But one environmental group is trying to stop it. See how they're saving the octopus, just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM.

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CHURCH: It was the biggest night in television on Sunday as the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards aired live from Los Angeles.

Netflix's "Adolescence" took home six trophies, the most of the night. They won for outstanding limited series directing, outstanding lead actor, supporting actor and actress, and writing, all of those for a limited series or anthology. It makes actor Owen Cooper the youngest ever male winner of an Emmy.

Other winners were "Severance", which took two categories, including Britt Lower'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.

An illegal form of trapping is increasing pollution and decreasing the octopus population. CNN's Allison Chinchar explains the problem and how one group is working to save the octopus.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): This eight-armed creature is now free from what it thought to be a safe space. It's been rescued by the Sea Shepherd Campaign group, a crew backed by legal authorities that worked to combat illegal overfishing. The plastic pots that trap these octopuses is one of the most abundant litter removed from the Thracian Sea, according to the organization, iSea.

Since July, the group has pulled in thousands of traps and they say they've rescued more than 1,500 octopuses.

CAPTAIN ALEX CORNELLISEN, CEO, SEA SHEPHERD GLOBAL: The numbers are absolutely mind blowing. We never anticipated to be able to recover this many traps, but it shows that there is a -- there's a big problem and that there is too much fishing taking place.

CHINCHAR: The octopuses are lured in by hunters who place traps on the seabed that resemble a place where they would take shelter and tend to their eggs. The pots are tied to long ropes attached to buoys. It is a method restricted in Greek waters for several months during the summer breeding season in northern Greece.

CORNELLISEN: It's supposed to be taking them out at the end of June, and then they can deploy them again at the beginning of October. It's very important that this period is respected because this is a reproduction season for the octopus. So, if they continue to fish and continue to keep the traps here during the reproductive season, it actually affects the octopus population and their reproduction.

CHINCHAR: According to Sea Shepherd, in just four days in July, they recovered more than 4,600 traps. The increase in concern comes as the global trade of octopuses is growing.

While climate change and heat stress threatens their reproduction, the plastic pots used to fish illegally may also be an indirect cause of the pollution increase in Greece's seas. Grilled octopus is especially popular in places like Greece, but the Aegean Sea is also one of the hardest hit areas for this type of illegal fishing.

But as the crew of the Sea Eagle crosses these waters, they are reversing the trend one rescue at a time.

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FABIA SANDER, VOLUNTEER NURSE, SEA SHEPHERD GLOBAL: It was really nice. I had a really big one and we had to carry them with two people, and this was all over our body and try to hold on us. But yeah, we managed to bring him back into water, which was really nice.

CHINCHAR: Allison Chinchar, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Rosemary Church. "WORLD SPORT" is coming up next, and I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. Do stay with us.

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