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Thousands To Honor Charlie Kirk Tomorrow In Arizona; Source: U.S. Attorney Tells Staff He Will Resign After Trump Pressure; Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson On CNN; Stocks Rally As Fed Moves To Help Ailing Job Market; Sources: Jimmy Kimmel's Show Team To Be Paid Next Week; Internet Searches Skyrocket For Jimmy Kimmel; Great White Shark Nursery Found Off Long Island Coast; Soon: Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson On CNN; Erratic Weather, Tariffs & Rising Costs Hurting Farmers. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 20, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:33]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Good evening and thank you so much for joining us. I'm Boris Sanchez in Washington, D.C. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. My colleague Jessica Dean has the night off.

We begin this hour with final preparations underway for tomorrow's memorial for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona. Police say the crowd could be more than 100,000 people, and with so many high-profile conservatives expected to be in attendance, including President Donald Trump, security is on high alert.

Tomorrow's memorial comes just over a week after Kirk was assassinated while speaking on a college campus. His death prompting a national reckoning over the state of today's politics.

CNN senior White House reporter, Betsy Klein joins us now live.

Betsy, walk us through what we are anticipating for tomorrow.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER AND WRITER: Well, Boris, we do expect officials from the highest levels of the Trump administration and the Republican Party to converge in Arizona tomorrow to honor the late Charlie Kirk.

Now, Kirk was a very trusted adviser to President Trump. His Turning Point USA group was absolutely critical to propelling the President to victory back in November of 2024, but he was also a very close friend of the President and members of his family.

He was instrumental in helping the President to select some key staff, as well as members of his Cabinet during the presidential transition, so there are so many people here in The White House who are personally grieving the loss of a close friend, and we expect the President to speak along with Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chief-of-Staff Susie Wiles, among many, many others underscoring those very close ties that Kirk built with those in the President's orbit. And a senior White House official tells me that the President has been personally involved in his remarks for tomorrow. He is going to talk about Kirk's life, as well as the impact that he had on the MAGA movement. Those remarks, according to this official, are expected to be a little bit more personal than the typical presidential remarks and it is worth remembering that in the immediate aftermath of Kirk's death, the President returned to some themes really laying bare the deep political divisions in this country.

He blamed the radical left. He also vowed to crack down on political violence. So it is really unclear at this stage whether he is going to revisit those themes in his speech tomorrow. But this event is also going to pose a major test for law enforcement, particularly the U.S. Secret Service, that agency, already under so much pressure and strain, and to help with some of that, this event, this memorial service in Arizona has been designated a Special Event Assessment Rating Level One, and what that really does is unlock some key federal resources.

A senior Department of Homeland Security official saying in a statement: "This designation is reserved for events of the highest national significance and enables the federal government to provide the full range of law enforcement and security resources necessary to support local officials in ensuring a safe and successful event.

Now, those resources include things like bomb detecting dogs, air support, things like drones and helicopters, as well as the possibility of screening teams. Officials say that attendees should expect TSA-like screening procedures, and in a sign of how strict the security is going to be, there is a no bag policy tomorrow -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Betsy Klein live for us at The White House, thank you so much.

New tonight, a new name has been put forth as the President's pick for the top federal prosecutor for Virginia's Eastern District. The conservative lawyer is Maggie Cleary, who says that she was falsely accused of being at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, and this announcement comes with the office in turmoil after the previous pick, U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert, who told his staff he would step down, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke with CNN.

The decision obviously followed pressure from President Trump to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James with mortgage fraud. James, of course, prosecuted the civil fraud case against President Trump.

CNN Julia Benbrook joins us now.

Julia, walk us through how we got to this point.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in an announcement to staff yesterday, Erik Siebert, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said he was resigning. Siebert was formally nominated for this position back in May by President Donald Trump, and had been serving as interim since January. Now, Siebert was under intense pressure from the President to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James with mortgage fraud. But as previous CNN reporting has shown, prosecutors in his office did not BELIEVE THEY HAD enough evidence to bring an indictment.

[18:05:20]

An important background information here, James had won a business fraud case against. Trump and his company, and had since then been a target of his frustration. In fact, sources familiar with conversations say that Trump had privately and angrily complained about James, even months into taking office.

Shortly before the news broke that Siebert would be stepping down, Trump made it very clear he wanted him out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It looks to me like she is very guilty of something, but I really don't know. I know that the U.S. Attorney from the Eastern District or from that district in Virginia, that he was approved by two Democrat senators who, in my opinion, are among the worst.

When I saw that he got approved by those two men, i said, pull it because he can't be any good.

REPORTER: So you want him fired? You want him out?

TRUMP: Yes, I want him out. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, in a Truth Social post earlier today, Trump claimed that Siebert did not quit and instead that he had pulled his nomination after he received strong support from Democrats.

According to a source briefed with internal conversations, Siebert and his team had been bracing for this possibility as the administration had been ramping up political pressure in recent weeks. His office did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

And Boris, as you mentioned, we are learning that Maggie Cleary, a conservative lawyer who had most recently served in the Justice Department's Criminal Division has been tapped to take on this role.

SANCHEZ: Julia Benbrook, thank you so much for the update there.

In less than an hour, CNN is going to take you to our live coverage of a music festival at Farm Aid in Minneapolis, where thousands are gathered to celebrate the 40th Annual Festival to raise money for American farmers. There are said to be performances by stars like Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp.

CNN's Bill Weir joins us now live on the scene in Minneapolis.

Bill, take us through the story behind the festival and what you're looking forward to seeing tonight. It looks pretty loud.

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: It is pretty loud. We have Dave Matthews and Lukas Nelson, the son of Willie, the sort of -- one of the original founders of Farm Aid, doing a lovely little duet that they've done before. Lukas Nelson's band, Promise of the Real sort of heir apparent for the 92-year-old Willie Nelson, who is going to perform last tonight.

We've got Bob Dylan, of course, as you mentioned. We just had Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats do an amazing set. You're going to see that during primetime, but this all started with a just a throwaway line from Bob Dylan at Live Aid in 1985, said, it is great we are raising money for folks in Africa, but maybe we throw a couple million to our farmers here at home who are losing to banks family farms in a foreclosure and suicide crisis and inspired both Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young to come together, and this is the 40th year of this.

Willie told Kaitlan Collins just the other day he hoped that this would last a couple of years and that they would solve the woes of rural America, but here we are in the age of climate change and immigration raids and tariffs and trade wars. So many pressures for those small family farms that grow your farm stand vegetables, but may not get the subsidies that the big corporate commodity farms do.

So that's the animating spirit behind it here, and it is good to see folks chilling, enjoying, dancing, smiling. Music heals, of course, in these very political times, but we expect maybe some truth telling from the stage.

Margo Price, who played the last musical set on Jimmy Kimmel's show and had a very pointed number there, she performs tonight. We are going to be talking to her. Lots of different voices for people who kept us fed, who grew our food, who keep our ecosystems healthy the best way they know how -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a lot to look forward to tonight. And, Bill, take us through how important Farm Aid has been over the years, not only in raising money for American farmers, but also bringing awareness to the challenges they face.

WEIR: Absolutely, absolutely! We got a chance to meet with some small farmers this week here in Minnesota and Maine, and in '85, it was -- you get bigger, you get out. There was all this pressure to buy new tractors, the crop prices crashed. They were stuck in debt.

Now, it is these multiple headaches for these small farms, juggling, trying to stay in business. So the appreciation of the country, at least in primetime for us to come together the way we used to in the telethons of old hopefully does some good.

SANCHEZ: Bill Weir, live for us in Minneapolis at Farm Aid. Thank you so much.

Bill, I hope you enjoy tonight. Again, join CNN for one of the biggest concert events of the year as iconic musicians raise awareness for American family farms. That is next on CNN. It starts right at 7:00 P.M.

[18:10:10]

Coming up, teargas and tense scenes near Chicago, where several protesters were arrested near an ICE facility. We are live with the fallout there.

And the NYPD is stepping up security for next week's U.N. General Assembly. CNN's John Miller is going to have a look at what to expect.

And later, a crib for baby great white sharks. A great white shark nursery discovered off the coast of the Hamptons on Long Island. What new research tells us about their movements and their plight for survival.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:19]

SANCHEZ: Ten people were arrested after a protest outside an Illinois ICE facility last night. ICE agents confronting those protesting against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

The mayor of a nearby town who is currently running for Congress says that he was teargassed, and also a former journalist who also happens to be running for Congress was seen there being thrown on the ground by a federal agent. According to The Associated Press, some demonstrators were injured and taken to the hospital.

CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones joins us now.

Julia, how is ICE responding to these protests?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are calling these protesters violent rioters, Boris, that threatened the safety of ICE officers. That was from a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. And then on a post on X, the department also said, "Individuals and groups impeding ICE operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers and violent criminals. We will not stop ICE and DHS law enforcement from enforcing our immigration laws."

Along with that, they posted that video that we just saw of that former journalist who is running for office being pushed and shoved onto the ground by those federal agents. Her name is Kat Abughazaleh.

She spoke to CNN and she said that officers also threw pepper balls at her in that occasion. She then said on X that what ICE did to her was "a violent abuse of power, but still nothing compared to what they're doing to immigrant communities." She said that she was there at that protest to protest the conditions inside that detention facility -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: And Julia, what can you tell us about who else was there? We described these two local folks that are running for Congress. Who else was actually there?

JONES: Well, this wasn't a large protest. It was small, about a hundred people, some who have been going for weeks, like the former journalist. But on Friday, there were also a handful of local leaders there, including the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, Juliana Stratton. This is why she said she thought it was important to be there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. JULIANA STRATTON (D-IL): People are here to peacefully protest. Look what we've been seeing over the last several weeks right here in Chicago, people being snatched off the streets, stuffed into unmarked vans and with no due process.

We are seeing the Constitution being stomped upon, and just this week, again, attacks on First Amendment rights, and all of us need to be speaking with moral clarity and saying this is not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And now, for days, ICE officers have been in the Chicago Metro Area picking up suspected undocumented immigrants as part of what is called Operation Midway Blitz. As you know, Boris, it is worth reminding our viewers that just last week, a man was fatally shot after resisting arrest and injuring an ICE officer during one of those traffic stops.

And overall, all of those sweeping immigration enforcement operations in Chicago have resulted already in about 550 people being arrested, according to DHS -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for the update.

New tonight, anyone traveling in Europe right now is facing major disruptions, at least through tomorrow after several major airports were hit by a cyberattack including London's Heathrow and airports in Brussels and Berlin.

People have had flights delayed or hours or even cancelled. The attack targeted a company that provides automatic check-in and boarding systems, so passengers had to be manually checked in and boarded.

Still to come, stock markets clocked record highs two days straight, but in the meantime, hiring has ground to a halt and inflation remains stubbornly high. Joining me next is an economist to explain how you can make sense of it all right now. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:23:06] SANCHEZ: The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly is underway in New York City, and world leaders are scheduled to speak at the high level general debate, which begins on Tuesday. CNN's chief law chief law enforcement analyst and former NYPD Commissioner, John Miller takes us inside the massive security preparations that go into hosting an event of this scale.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, we got off the X. We're not going to die.

Have you tried that in Manhattan Traffic yet?

MATT MCCOOL, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE OF THE SECRET SERVICE IN NEW YORK: You want you want to do it again?

MILLER: Yes. Let's do it again.

MILLER (voice over): On a remote former airfield in the far reaches of Brooklyn, Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service in New York is training for a busy week.

MILLER (on camera): And we end up facing the opposite direction and take off, and escape the threat.

MCCOOL: Yup!

MILLER (voice over): When protecting any world leader, the most vulnerable point is the move going from Point A to Point B.

MILLER (on camera): That was exhilarating or accelerating or something rating.

MILLER (voice over): So as the NYPD and the Secret Service plan the motorcades for the United Nations General Assembly, it is a security challenge like no other.

MILLER (on camera): So what are we looking at in terms of numbers?

MCCOOL: So for this ye are, we are looking at over 150 heads of state and then approximately 75 spouses.

MILLER (voice over): But in the congested streets of Manhattan, spinning a car around may not be an option.

MCCOOL: The best way to survive an ambush is don't get ambushed, but if it does occur, we have a coordinated plan, but what I can tell you is if that were to happen in New York City, it is going to be met with a violent counterattack.

MILLER (voice over): At the Secret Service training center in Maryland, an attack can come at any moment.

MILLER (on camera): What's the mindset going into each day?

[18:25:05]

MCCOOL: The bad guys here, they are ready to go and it is our job to stop them and stay ahead of them.

MILLER (voice over): In New York City traffic, the motorcycles are more than just ceremonial.

ANTHONY LACORAZZA, SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Top of lead, merge right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy. Merge right.

LACORAZZA: Merge on the left posted.

MILLER (voice over): Secret Service agent, Anthony Lacorazza explains how they are critical to the operation.

LACORAZZA: On the motorcade route, pedestrians line the motorcade route.

MILLER (on camera): If something suddenly occurs, there are a set of synapses that fire, reactions that happen, and it can happen very quickly, and it can come out of nowhere.

LACORAZZA: There is always a plan. There are always multiple plans to get from one point to the other and we run those consistently. We brief them consistently, and before we even leave that site, everybody knows what each contingency plan is.

MILLER (voice over): But for the Secret Service, the secret weapon for New York City traffic is NYPD's Highway Patrol motorcycles.

MILLER (on camera): You want to be fluid all the time. How do the motorcycles and the outriders play into all that?

LACORAZZA: So if you notice on the left hand lane, they keep going ahead. What they're doing is shutting down as many streets as possible so we can keep going.

So to your point, we never want to be still. We never want to stop.

MILLER (voice over): The outriders are led by Lieutenant Joseph Bell.

LIEUTENANT JOSEPH BELL, NYPD HIGHWAY PATROL: The individuals that are picked are picked because not only can they operate a motorcycle very efficiently, but they have a lot of experience doing high profile escorts.

With them, we can address anything, any compromise on that route.

MILLER: And who will you be escorting?

BELL: I will be on the POTUS escort.

MILLER (voice over): And protecting the President is no detail for rookies.

MILLER (on camera): How many presidents have you escorted in motorcades?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight.

MILLER: Eight? And how many U.N. General Assemblies have you been a part of?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-eight. Nobody does it like we do it. Nobody prepares for it like we do it and I can say with all certainty that we are the best in the business of what we do.

MILLER (voice over): John Miller, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Our thanks to John for that glimpse into security at the U.N. General Assembly.

Coming up, stock markets clocked record highs this week. Joining me next is an economist to help explain how what is happening on Wall Street may not be connected to what is happening on Main Street.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:32:25]

SANCHEZ: Stock markets ended the week reaching new highs for two straight days. The Dow, Nasdaq and the S&P 500 all clocking records on Thursday and Friday. Part of that rally has to do with President Trump finally getting what he wanted from the Federal Reserve after months of pressure, an interest rate cut. But Fed Chief Jerome Powell has signaled that he's putting the economy first, not politics, and is trying to keep inflation tightly reined while shoring up cracks in the job market. Betsey Stevenson joins us now live. She's an economist at the University of Michigan. She was on the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama.

Betsey, thanks so much for sharing your Saturday with us.

What grade would you give the American economy right now?

BETSEY STEVENSON, ECONOMIST: Oh, I think I would give it a B minus. So, it's not terrible, but, you know, it's not performing to its best potential. That's sort of the problem.

SANCHEZ: So, there is a slowing job market. Inflation is still not at that 2 percent mark where the Fed wants it. And yet the stock market is doing great. Why is that?

STEVENSON: Yes. Okay, so let's think about what the stock market's all about. It's trying to tell us what the future stream of profits is worth today. Why are so many investors betting that the future stream of profits is worth more today than they even thought it was two or three weeks ago? I think most of that optimism is coming from A.I. So, what are profits coming from? Profits are, you know, how much money can we make sort of minus our costs? And A.I. promises enormous productivity gains that could mean a surge in profitability. And I think, you know, there's a survey out of the Business

Roundtable, I think, puts a really fine point on this, which is if you ask companies what they're planning to do in the next year, you have nearly 90 percent of them say that they're going to make investments in capital, but less than 40 percent say they're going to be investing in workers.

So, what we're seeing is a lot of companies are shifting towards trying to get those productivity gains from AI, at the same time that the economy is slowing down. And right here and right now, their costs are up because of tariffs. And so, those two forces are playing out and leading us to record high stock market prices, while at the same time, it's a really tough time to find a job right now if you don't have one. Most people still have a job and we still have pretty low unemployment, but it's a bad time to lose your job because we're seeing a slowdown in overall hiring.

[18:35:07]

And there's more unemployed people than there are job openings. And whenever that happens, right, that's sort of a bad situation. It's like a game of musical chairs when there's fewer chairs than there are people trying to find a seat.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's a really good way to put it. I wonder what you make of the Fed's interest rate cut of a quarter point. There was one exception, Steve Miran, the new pick that Trump placed that nominate -- Trump nominated for the Reserve Board of Governors. He voted for a half percent cut. I wonder what you make of the Fed's timing here and their forecast for more cuts coming for the rest of the year.

STEVENSON: So, the Fed is in a really tough place right now because the Fed has a dual mandate, which is keep prices nice and stable. And you want to keep inflation low at two percent a year and you want to keep employment at full employment. And we don't have either one of those, but their tools -- if they cut rates, they push prices up. And if they raise rates, they push employment down. So, the question is, what should they be doing right now?

I think most economists agree that they need to be thinking about bringing rates down. I personally am somebody who worries much more about unemployment even than inflation. So, I would be leaning on the cut. The 25-basis point cut was the right thing. The thing is, you don't want to go too quickly, though, because it does hurt people when there's inflation. And we know the inflationary pressure is there.

And the way the rate cut works is to try to stimulate demand so that people and companies will try to buy more things. The problem is, is that the reason prices are going up is because there are shortages in real cost increases that have come because of the tariffs.

So having more people chasing those things with rising prices, it's just going to lead the prices to go up. And so, it's really tricky business. I think the Fed did the right thing with almost everyone voting for that quarter point increase, which the market was expecting. They had fully priced it in. I think the most really scary thing about, you know, Steve Miran's dissent is that he had just been put on the board. And it would be traditional for him to say, let me get up to speed before I dissent with all of you people who've been looking at all the numbers and thinking hard about this for a long time. Instead, he walked in and said, the President wants me to do something and I'm going to do his bidding and that is a real threat to Fed independence.

I hope that he gets his sea legs soon and starts to vote based on what he thinks and his interpretation of the data rather than taking the White House into the FOMC meeting.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that'll be one aspect of the Fed's next meeting that we'll all be watching very closely. On the housing market, do you think that a quarter percentage point cut would be enough to get potential buyers off the sidelines?

STEVENSON: You know, I think the thing that really holds people back is when they're looking at what are my wages going to be and am I going to be able to pay this mortgage? I don't think a quarter point is going to do that much to get people out there. I think what we really need to do is get people convinced that the labor market's going to be strong and that there's going to be a lot of opportunities out there. And I think that's probably more important.

And honestly, the other thing we should do for housing is just make sure that it's a robust market with a lot of supply and a lot of movement and a lot of dynamism. That's how a -- you know, when the housing market starts to solidify and people don't want to sell and they don't want to buy, it does become very problematic.

SANCHEZ: Betsey Stevenson, thanks so much for the analysis.

STEVENSON: Great to talk to you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks.

Coming up, baby sharks, a shark nursery spotted off the New York coast. We're going to look at how it's providing new insight into the behavior of the world's scariest predators, even if they don't merit that fear.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:58]

SANCHEZ: We're learning new details about the suspension of "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Sources telling CNN that the show's crew will be paid next week, while the future of the show remains in limbo. The show has between 200 and 250 people on staff. CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten joins us now to run the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey, there, interest in the Jimmy Kimmel suspension by ABC and Disney is sky high. Indeed, we can see this well through Google searches. All-time highs in Google searches for Jimmy Kimmel. Oh, my goodness gracious, we're talking about up 10,000 -- about 10,000 percent versus the baseline, as well as for free speech up about 200 percent versus the baseline. And we're talking about records going all the way back since 2004.

Of course, Jimmy Kimmel has been famous for a long period of time, but never has search interest in him been so high. Now, of course, this is being driven by the comments that Jimmy Kimmel made surrounding the Charlie Kirk assassination and the aftermath. And of course, a lot of pressure from Republicans.

[18:45:03]

And I'll tell you this much, Republicans are getting exactly what they want, because we can see it in this poll question here. The media is biased and should be punished. That is the mainstream media. Now, this is amongst Republicans. This poll was taken before -- before Jimmy Kimmel's comments. But you can see how it plays out very well.

Get this, 71 percent of Republicans believe that the media is biased. That is, the mainstream media is biased and should be punished. So, they are absolutely loving the idea that Jimmy Kimmel is, in fact, getting punished for the comments that he made on his show.

Now, of course, there is the whole question about government interference and government influence. If there was, in fact, government influence and interference, Republicans, they're perfectly okay with it. Why? Because they already think that it's happening. Get this. U.S. media, that is U.S. news organizations, influenced by government interests and political interests. Get this, amongst Republicans, and again, this is before the Kimmel news, 64 percent of Republicans already believe that there is a great deal of influence put on U.S. news organizations, U.S. media organizations by government interests.

And then, you get an additional 26 percent who say, you know what? U.S. media organizations are actually at least somewhat influenced, somewhat influenced by government and or political interests. So, the bottom line here is pretty simple. That is there's a lot of interest in this story, but Republicans are absolutely happy to see Jimmy Kimmel going adios amigos, at least momentarily off the airways. And they don't care the way it happened. If there was, in fact, government influence, they a-okay with it because the bottom line is they already thought that the government wasn't back influencing U.S. media organizations. Back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks to Harry Enten for breaking that down.

A rare discovery is opening the door to new research into the world's largest predatory fish, the great white shark. A nursery of young sharks was spotted in the shallow waters off Long Island, New York, only a third of its kind -- only the third of its kind in the world. CNN's Leigh Waldman explains how the first tagged baby sharks are providing new insights into their movements.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Researchers on board this boat only have a matter of minutes after catching a juvenile great white shark to tag it with a satellite tracker and gather data from it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK QUEVEDO, SOUTH FORK NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM: Everybody that's on this boat have been trained to do the duties that they need to do to get this shark -- get the data and get it back swimming in the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): The practice of tagging juvenile sharks is relatively new. Frank Quevedo's team with South Fork Shark Research and Education Program is the first to do it in the Atlantic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEVEDO: We saw that that shark was able to swim from the south shore of Long Island all the way off the coast of Maryland and it popped off. And then, we kind of opened up the doors to all this research that we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): Research born from a very rare 2016 discovery, a great white shark nursery, the only one to be scientifically verified in the North Atlantic and only the third like it in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEVEDO: Extremely special. We're so fortunate that there's a nursery like this here right in our backyard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): Scientists still have many unanswered questions about one of the ocean's apex predators, including where they mate and where they give birth. But discoveries like this nursery in New York waters provide important clues.

In May, Joanna Steidle, a marine wildlife drone photographer in South Hampton, captured video of what appeared to be a large pregnant great white shark swimming in the waters off Montauk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOANNA STEIDLE, HAMPTONS DRONE ART: Usually, just before 4th of July is when I start seeing them. So, this was in May. I was totally shocked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): It was the start of what Steidl describes as an abundance of sharks in northeast waters this summer. Data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources backs that up. Since 2020, trackers have spotted 93 great white sharks off the coast of Maine, 19 unique white sharks were recorded in 2024 alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEIDLE: In a very small school of menhaden, and I say like this, but that's what it looks like on my screen, small school, would draw in maybe 8 to 10 sharks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): Quevedo says the appearance of more sharks in the water is twofold. Videos and pictures being shared on social media and successful conservation efforts of great whites and their food sources.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEVEDO: Because of these conservation efforts and these management plans to protect the species, we're seeing the populations either being sustained or are actually improving over the years, but they're not even close to being what they were 50 years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): Leigh Waldman, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Leigh, thank you so much.

Coming up, tonight's Farm Aid benefit comes at a time when many American farmers are in tough straits because of rising costs, expensive tariffs and erratic weather which can mess with their harvests. Up next, we're going to talk to the president of the National Black Farmers Association. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:54:28]

SANCHEZ: Moments from now, CNN will take you live to one of the biggest concert events of the year as iconic musicians raise awareness for American family farms. Thousands of people are in Minneapolis right now for the 40th annual Farm Aid. The event raises money for farmers and agricultural initiatives in the United States. Big stars like Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp and more are set to perform tonight, so stay with CNN for that. It begins in just minutes.

And at the end of this month, parts of the 2018 Farm Bill are set to expire.

[18:55:02]

It has been extended twice. But that would mean that many farmers won't see any federal dollars until President Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill kicks in late next year. And this is happening at the same time that many U.S. farmers are warning that they are reaching a breaking point as unpredictable weather, rising costs and fallout from Trump's tariffs are impacting their bottom line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not your ordinary farm crisis. We call it farmageddon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if they don't do something, there's going to be some farmers that ain't going to be around next year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by the founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, John Boyd Jr.

Sir, thanks so much for being with us.

What are you hearing from farmers about what they're going through right now?

JOHN BOYD JR., FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS ASSOCIATION: Well, you know, this is the worst time since the '80s. And I was farming in the '80s, you know, where farmers were going out of business, farm foreclosures are on the rise, farm suicides are on the rise, farm bankruptcies are on the rise. And this is a bad time in this country for American agriculture and America's farmers.

The President's tariffs are putting farmers out of business. These are very low commodity prices. You know, I watched the President's interview yesterday. He touted how great the markets were doing and -- but the markets aren't doing well for America's farmers. Corn, wheat and soybeans are all down. It's harvest time and we haven't gotten any orders from China to purchase soybeans from farmers. And we need answers from the administration on what they can do to help America's farmers.

Now, you just talked about the big, beautiful bill that really haven't provided any assistance for America's farmers. And I heard the Agriculture Secretary say this week that farmers could get money from tariffs. I haven't seen any money from the President's tariffs, just poor markets. And every time the President says tariffs, the markets go down and countries begin to run away from, you know, from American agriculture.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I wonder, because during the first Trump administration, specifically on soybeans, in response to dwindling international demand, the administration put out subsidies to try to help soybean farmers. Have you heard anything from the administration about something like that coming soon?

BOYD: Absolutely nothing. The first administration -- the first Trump administration, paid out $23 billion in a program called the Market Facilitation Program. But what was ironic about that, that $20 (ph) billion didn't really provide any relief for America's black farmers. You know, we're pretty much left out of that equation.

And what the President is doing different this time than he didn't do last time is he doesn't care. He's hurting all farmers now. He's treating us all the same. So that's something he said he was going to do. Now, all farmers are doing bad now under this administration. The first time the president imposed tariffs on China, I was selling soybeans at $16.80 a bushel. By the time the President -- President Trump, left office, it was less than $8 a bushel. And the markets never really came back.

So, what the point I'm trying to make here is the tariffs didn't work the first time the President imposed them. And I don't think that they're going to help us now. And I don't think they're going -- and I don't believe that they're going to provide any resources for America's farmers.

SANCHEZ: So, what happens now in this sort of gap as the Farm Bill expires and you have to wait until some of the allocations from the Big Beautiful Bill to kick in next year?

BOYD: Well, we need members of Congress to start fighting, especially Democrats. Democrats are too quiet here. And they're letting the President just run them over like a Mack truck. And the message here today is they should get up and fight back. You know, and, you know, we haven't had a Farm Bill in quite some time. And the country is running off a continuous resolution here.

And what this administration has done is taking our programs that I fought for, for about 40 years to get programs called Socially Disadvantaged farmers resources and grants to help America's black and other farmers of color. This administration wants to do away with all of those things and help large scale, you know, white farmers in this country. And what he did was he says we're going to do away with anything that has to do with black where we're going to bring white farmers in from South Africa solely based on race. And then we're going to ship out the people who are doing the work here.

You know, the Hispanic community that's doing really hard work that many Americans don't want to do. They want to put them out of the country and it was the wrong thing to do. People from the inner city are not going to come in and pick tomatoes and onions and harvest cabbage and tobacco people. It's the wrong thing and they're taking American agriculture in the wrong direction this administration is.

[19:00:03]

SANCHEZ: John Boyd, Jr., thank you so much for the time and for sharing your perspective. Appreciate you.

BOYD: Thank you so much for having me.