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Jimmy Kimmel Defends Free Speech As He Returns To Late-Night Television From Suspension; Disney Raises Prices For Streaming Packages; Trump Says Kyiv Can Win Back 'All Of Ukraine' After Talks With Zelenskyy; Kimmel Receives Standing Ovation During Return Show; Powerful Storm Slams into Hong Kong and China; Trump Talks about "Global Warming Hoax" in Speech; Fact-Checking Trump's Statements on Climate Change; Colombia Wants Trump to Face "Criminal" Charges for Strikes; YouTube Pulls channel of Venezuela's Maduro Amid U.S. Sanctions; Would-Be Trump Assassin Found Guilty, Tries to Stab Himself; Federal Reserve Chair Pushes Back on Trump Criticism. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired September 24, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:10]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Jimmy Kimmel Live is officially back in a late night lineup. The comedian made an emotional return to television just a short time ago after almost a week long suspension.

Executives at Disney and ABC pulled the show over comments Kimmel made about the suspected killer of political activist Charlie Kirk. The suspension sparked protests and heated debate over free speech after threats from the chair of the FCC and other officials.

Kimmel received a standing ovation from audience members who interrupted his first monologue back with an energetic applause. He addressed the controversy directly saying he disagreed with the ABC's decision to pull his show and that it was never his intention to make light of Charlie Kirk's death.

Kimmel's remarks centered around government threats to free speech in America. Here's part of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": It takes courage for them to speak out against this administration and they did and they deserve credit for it. And thanks for telling your followers that our government cannot be allowed to control what we do and do not say on television and that we have to stand up to it.

I've been hearing a lot about what I need to say and do tonight and the truth is I don't think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference. If you like me. If you don't. I have no illusions about changing anyone's mind. But I do want to make something clear because it's important to me as a human and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well ahead of Kimmel's return, critics and supporters of Charlie Kirk expressed their feelings on ABC's reversal of the suspension.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doesn't shock me. It was symbolic. They just kicked him off for a couple of days and they're going to bring him back and he can spew his crap. I don't care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Morality, right? Morality says when someone gets murdered, you don't laugh at them. So for Jimmy Kimmel to make a joke about Charlie Kirk being murdered, it's just not human decency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told my wife if I catch her watching Jimmy Kimmel that her TV will go in the garbage because to me all these left wing people are what's causing a lot of this problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, President Trump appears to be threatening legal action against the ABC over Kimmel's return. He posted on Truth Social before Tuesday show even aired saying Kimmel's 99 percent positive coverage of Democrat garbage amounts to a major illegal campaign contribution. Trump went on to say, last time he went after the ABC, they gave him $16 million. And this one sounds even more lucrative.

Well, joining me now is Mary McNamara, a cultural critic at the L.A. Times. Great to have you with us. I mean, what a return to television. Kimmel was emotional, funny, and clearly fired up. He says Trump's effort to cancel him backfired. Just how is this playing out in LA? And was this a cultural moment or just a classic late night rebound?

MARY MCNAMARA, CULTURE CRITIC, LOS ANGELES TIMES: I don't think we've ever seen anything quite like this before. I mean, I can't remember there ever being a moment when tuning into a late night show was like striking a blow for democracy or a sign of patriotism. I'll be very interested to see what the ratings are like. I mean, obviously, I think a lot of people who may be not regular Kimmel watchers are definitely tuning in tonight to see, you know, what he has to say, how he handles the moment.

And as you said, he handled it, I thought, perfectly. I mean, he just hit a wide spectrum of emotions. He was genuinely contrite. If people thought that he was in any way trying to diminish the death of Charlie Kirk, that was not his intention. He became emotional. He praised Charlie Kirk's wife for her ability to forgive Charlie Kirk's murderer.

He was funny. And then he also, you know, was straight up like this. My show isn't important, but the fact that my show is allowed to exist is important. So hitting, you know, the important freedom of speech notes.

KINKADE: Yes, and we saw an incredible cameo from Robert DeNiro playing a mobile style FCC boss. I just want to play some of that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DENIRO, ACTOR: Depends on what you want to say. Like you want to say something nice about the President's beautiful thick yellow hair, how he can do his makeup better than any broad. That's free.

KIMMEL: All right. That seems reasonable.

[01:05:06]

DENIRO: But if you want to do a joke like he's so fat, he needs two seats on the Epstein jet, that's more worse.

KIMMEL: Could I just ask, just for clarity, because it's a pretty good joke. How much would that one cost me?

DENIRO: A couple of fingers, maybe a two?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: I mean, how did that land? And how effective was that to spotlight these censorship concerns?

MCNAMARA: I mean, that was so funny. It also was really, you know, nice because it played off of Ted Cruz's comment about car, you know, talking like a mafia. So you had that kind of across the aisle moment where everybody is agreeing on. I don't think, you know, Robert DeNiro usually agrees with Ted Cruz or Jimmy Kimmel, for that matter. And that is something also that Kimmel said was, you know, he really -- he thanked all the people who he does not agree with and who do not agree with him for speaking out about the suspension.

But, yes, I mean, that was just brilliant. It was just amazing and very funny and will become a classic, I think.

KINKADE: Yes, absolutely. And as you mentioned, Mary, he addressed the controversy directly, you know, saying that he didn't mean to offend Erika Kurt and praised her forgiveness of her husband's, you know, attacker. As a critic, how do you gauge when comedy pushes too far and becomes something more dangerous? When you think back on the comments that were made, I mean, did he push the needle or was this just a case of a crackdown on free speech?

MCNAMARA: I think that his. I mean, the jokes that were used as an example, the example of why he should be suspended were not outrageous, they weren't great, and they were poorly worded. I think there was, you know, it was an unclear joke when he was saying about the MAGA group trying to make it out that the killer was anyone but them. And I think that the implication was that he was saying that the

killer was a MAGA supporter when I don't think that's what he was trying to say. In no way did he ever diminish the tragedy. In no way did he cast aspersions on Charlie Kirk. He was speaking only about, you know, the reaction to it and the fact that, according to him, certain people were using it as kind of a political football, which I don't think is -- that is not a inaccurate statement.

So, no, I didn't think that was pushing the line. I don't think most people did. But, you know, there is a way, I mean, when comedians, late night hosts do perhaps offend or cross the line or whatever, there are ways to correct that. There, you know, there are -- they can be warned. They can have, you know, they can be, they can have like an alternative host for an evening. But to yank the show off the air, that was just, I mean the reaction was just an overreaction to what he actually said.

And you know, and given the optics, whether it's the reality or not, but the optics of having the FCC chairman basically threaten the affiliates then do exactly what he had suggested that he do and then Disney sort of cave to that.

The optics of that was just, you know, astonishing and frightening. And I think that's why you saw this, like just huge reaction to it because it was -- we've never seen anything like that in this country.

KINKADE: Yes. Exactly.

MCNAMARA: Show suspended, like after a member -- an unelected member of the government called on television affiliates to yank someone from the air and they did it. I mean, that is very frightening because it's like that is exactly what federal government, the FCC is not supposed to do that. The government is not supposed to do that. The President is not supposed to do that. You know, they can -- no president likes the media. No president likes late night hosts making fun of them.

And they make fun of every president. I mean like, that's part of the job description of being President. It's like you will be made fun of by late night hosts. I mean, you have to know that. So it's kind of like, but you don't turn the power of the federal government on to a late night host. That it's just like insane.

KINKADE: And Mary, of course the FCC chairman is not the only one making threats tonight as Kimmel Live went to air, we saw a threat from the U.S. President again. You know, threatening to sue the ABC, mocking Disney executives. Why do you think Kimmel gets under his skin so much? And is this personal or is it political theater? What do you make of this?

MCNAMARA: Well, I don't think it's necessarily Kimmel personally. He doesn't like Colbert. He doesn't like Seth Meyers. He doesn't like -- he doesn't like people who make fun of him in any way. And he, you know, he does -- he has a very thin skin for someone who has risen his popular.

[01:10:05] A lot of his popularity is due to his willingness to sort of make fun of people to you know, say very frank. And you know it would previously been considered unprecedented presidential things. I mean that is what his base really likes. But he doesn't like it when it's aimed at him.

And you know, I just think it is very scary because it is one of the hallmarks, you know, it's like authoritarianism for dummies. It's like, you know, control the media, silence the comedians, silence the satirists. That's, you know, historically those are steps that we've seen taken in authoritarian regimes. And I think that is, you know, something that we have tried very hard in this country to avoid.

I mean we've had presidents who like President Nixon who talked about it offstage, about things that perhaps could be done to bring the press around, bring the press to heel, but never followed through and certainly never went on television which would, you know, because there was no social media to say this is what I'm going to do to threaten like that because it was outside the pale of democracy.

KINKADE: Yes, exactly. Yes. It's just so unusual. An incredible night in television and in America's democracy. Mary McNamara, great to have you with us from Los Angeles. Thanks so much.

MCNAMARA: Thank you.

KINKADE: And we are going to stay on this story. I want to welcome Eugene Volokh, a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and a professor of law at UCLA. Great to have you with us.

EUGENE VOLOKH, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Great to be on. Thanks for having me.

KINKADE: So Jimmy Kimmel back after almost a week being suspended. Is this a win for free speech or a sign of just how vulnerable it's become?

VOLOKH: Well, I do think that on balance it's good that ABC reconsidered. I think that his joke was quite, it wasn't even really a joke. His comments were mean spirited and I think deliberately alienating to a big part of the audience. I could see why ABC might be upset by that just as a business matter and their affiliates as well.

But yes, when the FCC chairman is basically threatening network aiming to try to get, to suspend the show, it's probably better if the network resists, probably better for free speech. I think the FCC chairman's threat was pretty clearly a First Amendment violation and not something that government officials should be doing.

KINKADE: And Kimmel warned that this could happen again, pointing to other late night hosts who have criticized Trump. I just want to play some sound from "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMMEL: He was somehow able to squeeze Colbert out of CBS. Then he turned his sights on me and now he's openly rooting for NBC to fire Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers and the hundreds of Americans who work for their shows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: I mean, what do you make of that? The others could. Other heads could roll. And how essential is free expression, especially political comedy, satire, when it comes to having a healthy democracy?

VOLOKH: I think the nation could live without Jimmy Kimmel, without any of the late night hosts. I mean, if you were looking for the basic minimum that's necessary for that's essential for political life, you know, it's probably considerably less than that. But that shouldn't be the standard.

People should be free to make jokes. They should be free to say things that are even borderline nonsensical. That's what freedom of speech is. It's the freedom to say what you want to say, not just that which is essential. And of course you don't get a platform necessarily to do this on somebody else's private property.

If you don't draw an audience, then your network might cancel you. But you should be able to do that free of government pressure. And that should be true whether it's government pressure coming from the left or from the right.

Certainly even before Nixon, the Johnson and Kennedy administrations had used broadcast regulation, as I understand it, fairly successfully constrained there pretty core political advocacy by broadcasters who were on the right. And that was wrong then, it's wrong now in the Trump administration.

KINKADE: So I mean, obviously the ABC aired, Kimmel denied, but major ABC affiliates like Nexstar and Sinclair refused to air the show.

[01:15:00]

What concerns does that give you? What pause does that give you when it comes to corporate influence over political speech?

VOLOKH: Right. Well, corporate influence over political speech is inevitable in many ways when we have a system as we do private property. Certainly corporations have long influenced political speech. Media corporations in favor of their position, which in many cases has been on the left. There are a lot of media corporations that do have a generally liberal political line. Some have a generally conservative political line.

But my sense is on balance, corporate pressure from media corporations, at least in recent decades, has pushed commentary to the left. But that is the right of property owners. And also sometimes it reflects the views of their customers. I mean, again, if you look at the non-joke, even the statement that Kimmel was making about the MAGA crowd, first, it wasn't funny. I don't think it was even an attempt to be funny. But second, it's just dripping with contempt. It's just like we loathe

you people and we don't mind saying so and we don't really even care to have you as part of our audience. Again, that's protected by the First Amendment. FCC has no business trying to suppress that.

But at the same time, you could certainly see more conservative networks of affiliates of not ABC itself, but things like Sinclair and Nexstar being quite upset by that. And you can see many in their audience that as well.

So again, I think the government ought not be imposing this kind of pressure. But just as corporations, you could have liberal media corporations that push things in a particular way. We'll have conservative media corporations often representing their conservative viewers trying to push things the other way.

KINKADE: Eugene Volokh, Interesting night either way, no matter how you spin it. Good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.

VOLOKH: Very much. My pleasure. All the best.

KINKADE: Well, Disney is raising subscription prices for its streaming service. Starting October 21, the services ad supported plan will increase by $2 a month to $11.99. The ad free plan will increase to $3 to $18.99. Hulu, ESPN and bundles containing Disney Plus will raise their prices as well.

And this will be Disney's third price hike in as many years. But this time the company is already facing consumer pushback and boycotts for temporarily taking Jimmy Kimmel show.

Well, Trump signals a big shift on the Ukraine war and discusses the future of Gaza as well as Palestinian statehood on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. We'll have all the details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:21:41]

KINKADE: Ukraine's president is due to speak at day two of the United Nations General Assembly in the coming hours. Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address comes after talks with his American counterpart on the sidelines of the UNGA on Tuesday.

That meeting was followed by a surprise social media post from President Trump who signaled a possible change of perspective on Russia's war in Ukraine, saying in part that Ukraine would be able to take back their country in its original form and who knows, maybe even go further than that. Well, here's how Mr. Zelenskyy responded to Trump's show support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Trump is a game changer by himself if he will be sure in Ukraine and I think that he is more closer now to this situation and that's why, and between us, only Trump can for today we know some not too much players in the world who can be game changers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: For more, CNN's Kristen Holmes has the latest on President Trump's sudden shift in position on the Russia, Ukraine war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump after a meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy appearing to completely change his stance when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine war. He posted this on Truth Social. He said after getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine-Russia military and economic situation and after seeing the economic trouble it has caused Russia, I think Ukraine with the support of the European Union is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form.

To be clear, this is not something that we have ever heard from President Trump. If you go back to even that meeting in the Oval Office months ago with Zelenskyy where President Trump said, you don't hold all the cards, you're going to have to give something up, that has been a pattern.

And we know that President Trump has been trying to get to a peace deal, but those talks have pretty much stalled. He's been growing increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is not trying to schedule that sit down meeting with the Ukrainian president. It was supposed to be on the books weeks ago now.

So just a couple of things to keep in mind, it is unclear what exactly this means. Is this a threat, a shot across the bow to Putin, or does this mean that the U.S. is considering more tangible actions?

One thing to note is we have reported time and time again over the past several months that President Trump would be near to sanctions, near to issuing some kind of punishment against Russia, against Putin, only to have the president walk back from the ledge there to actually not take any of that action.

So it's unclear again if this is going to be part of that. This is just him issuing a warning because he's unhappy about where the talks are going or if this means he has actually shifted his mindset. Kristen Holmes, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier weighs in on Trump's surprise remarks on Ukraine and what this could mean for the war effort back in Kyiv.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's a shocker. It makes you wonder if will he say the same thing tomorrow? [01:25:00]

What led him to come out with these statements? I mean, at his actual UN General Assembly speech this morning, he gave some very anodyne comments about Russia's war on Ukraine. He didn't lay the blame on Ukraine as he sometimes does, but he sure didn't say anything like Russia needs to get out and if not, Ukraine is going to make them get out.

So it makes me wonder what sort of briefing he's just gotten about the state of the Russian war effort. And inside in Kyiv, among Ukrainian officials, it is cause for temporary celebration, but they have to see if he's going to follow it up with action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, the one person who isn't doubting Trump's support is the Ukrainian president. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, we expect America's actions to push Russia towards peace.

And although President Trump appears to have shifted his stance on the war in Ukraine, he hasn't done so in the war in Gaza. During a meeting with his French counterpart, Trump doubled down on his remarks that Palestinian statehood would honor Hamas. Here's Emmanuel Macron.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: President Trump is right. Nobody forgets the 7th of October. I went there a few days after taking families in my hands and weeks experience altogether horrific attacks. But at the same time you have as many Hamas fighters as you had the first day. So it doesn't work to dismantle the Hamas. This is not the right way to proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Macron also addressed the UNGA on Tuesday, blaming isolation for the global order breaking down. But unlike Trump, he praised the United Nations as an irreplaceable organization.

Well, coming up we're going to have more on Jimmy Kimmel's emotional return to television after he was suspended due to political pressure. We'll have a reaction from the audience as well as the support he received from across the media industry. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a very powerful typhoon. The most powerful to hit the city this year. Wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: And a massive storm sends wind and waves crashing into Hong Kong. And our reporter will have more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:31:27]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Great to have you with us.

Well, the audience gave comedian Jimmy Kimmel a standing ovation at his first show back from a nearly week-long suspension by the ABC. Fans were eager to see Kimmel return to his program, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Tuesday night.

They cheered and chanted his name as he took to the stage.

Kimmel's show was sidelined by ABC after the Trump administration publicly pressured the company to punish the comedian for remarks about the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

That suspension drew fierce backlash against the ABC and its parent company, Disney.

Audience members described what it was like when Kimmel returned to the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been to shows before, and honestly, this one just felt different. But like in a way where people knew there was a gravity, but also happiness of just being back.

You could tell they were being very careful about where they went with it, but also they're still the Jimmy Kimmel -- the humor and everything else, the silly jokes and stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a pretty emotional show today. So he actually had some, some, some tears in his eyes at some moment. And the entire audience was, was with him 100 percent all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot about Donald Trump and about him, of course. And that's just -- it's a mistake that he made that canceled the show.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, Kimmel's suspension raised national concerns about the right to free speech and companies caving to political pressure.

More than 400 artists, activists and celebrities signed an open letter from the American Civil Liberties Union condemning ABC's decision to suspend Kimmel and his late-night show.

The letter reads in part, "Regardless of our political affiliation or whether we engage in politics or not, we all love our country. We also share the belief that our voices should never be silenced by those in power, because if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us."

Actress Cynthia Nixon spoke with our Erica Hill about the importance of defending free speech. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYNTHIA NIXON, ACTRESS: We all put the letter online, on Instagram, in places and in a matter of a few hours, 40,000 people across the country also added their names.

And, you know, there were a lot of things that happened, a lot of people, myself included, dropped their Disney subscription, dropped their Hulu subscription. Canceled their cruise reservations. And the, you know, Disney stock fell like three-and-a-half points. And I think they, you know, that's about almost $4 billion.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Yes.

NIXON: And also -- I'll also just say, you know, five entertainment unions with about 400,000 members really, you know, joined the fight.

And people even like, you know, Ted Cruz -- we had, you know, defenders.

(CROSS TALKING)

BURNETT: It's not often that you often align with Ted Cruz --

NIXON: Right.

(CROSSTALKING)

BURNETT: But in all seriousness --

NIXON: But exactly -- but the First Amendment --

BURNETT: Yes.

NIXON: -- is not a partisan issue. Free speech is something that Democrats, Republicans, Left, Right, Blue, Red really care about.

[01:34:43]

NIXON: And I also want to say Disney did the right thing. Disney really, you know, listened. They listened, you know, with their ears. They listened with their pocketbook.

BURNETT: Yes.

NIXON: But they listened.

And I think that Sinclair and Nexstar that are not airing Kimmel tonight and presumably in the near future, they're going to find very quickly that denying Americans their First Amendment rights is not a good economic model for advertisers. And it is not something that's going to be very popular with viewers either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, right now, tens of millions of people in Hong Kong and southern China are feeling the force of Typhoon Ragasa. The massive storm killed 14 people in Taiwan when it swept past the island on Tuesday. 124 people are missing after a barrier lake breached its banks, causing widespread flooding on the eastern side of Taiwan.

Typhoon Ragasa is the most powerful storm on the planet this year. At its peak, it was the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. And mighty winds have whipped up waves that have inundated shorelines in Hong Kong, crashing into this waterfront hotel.

The city has virtually shut down, with businesses closed and flights halted at the airport. The storm is expected to make landfall shortly in China's Guangdong province, one of the most densely populated coastlines in the world.

Well earlier, CNN's Hanako Montgomery ventured out into the storm to file this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Typhoon Ragasa is currently hitting Hong Kong right now, and it's at its peak, and were right in the heart of it.

And you can tell just how powerful the storm is by the fact that I can't even really stand upright right now.

The winds are measuring at about 100 miles per hour, and it's causing the rain to come in sideways and just completely pelt my face.

And right now I'm by Hong Kong Harbor. And if you take a look over there, you can see sea swells and storm surges. And the Hong Kong Observatory, which is the city's main weather forecaster, has warned that the storm surges can go up to four meters in height.

And you can tell that by just looking at the sea right now. It looks very, very dangerous. And some of this water is coming on to this walkway here -- wow -- And hitting this walkway and splashing us.

Now, it's very, very powerful. And again, the Hong Kong government has warned residents to stay inside because this is a very powerful typhoon, the most powerful to hit the city this year.

Wow. Woo. Storm surge just there. Very, very powerful. You can taste the seawater.

Now, Hong Kong has issued its highest warning level to its residents to again, just stay inside, hunker down. And residents have really taken that advice to heart. Have bought supplies at supermarkets and stayed indoors.

Schools have also been closed for two days and non-essential businesses have also been ordered to remain shut.

Now climate change, which is a human-caused disaster, is causing these storms to be more extreme and unpredictable.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, for years now, scientists have warned that the warming effects of climate change are making storms like that typhoon more powerful and the effects of the storms far more devastating. It's an idea that holds no sway with the U.S. President.

Speaking Tuesday at the U.N. General Assembly, Donald Trump launched into a familiar tirade against the idea of global warming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. Climate change, no matter what happens, you're involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling.

All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong. They were made by stupid people that have cost their country's fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: CNN's Daniel Dale fact checks the climate change portions of President Trump's speech.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: President Trump made a whole bunch of false claims about a whole bunch of topics in that address to the U.N. General Assembly. Many of them were on the subject of climate.

He claimed, as he has many times before, that global warming is a hoax. It simply is not. The world's warming is a well-documented scientific fact.

He also claimed that scientists have stopped using the phrase "global warming", instead merely referring to "climate change" because they don't want to be accused of getting things wrong if and when the world cools down.

In fact, both phrases global warming and climate change are in widespread scientific use. Global warming, referring to the long-term warming trend; climate change, referring to the broader impacts of that warming.

President Trump claimed, as he has before, that China merely exports wind power equipment but barely uses wind power itself, instead using conventional energy. That is a reversal of a reality.

[01:39:49]

DALE: In fact, China is by far the world's leading user of wind power. And it is also installing additional wind power capacity faster than any other country.

Now, President Trump additionally claimed that renewable energy simply doesn't work. That's baseless.

And as supposed evidence, he cited the fact that the wind sometimes does not blow. Well, that doesn't mean that wind can't be used. Batteries exist to store the energy generated when the wind is blowing. Other infrastructure for storage also exists. And wind, of course, is regularly used as part of a mix of power sources not on its own.

In addition, President Trump continued to wrongly describe the Paris Climate Accord in a number of ways. He claimed, as he has on many previous occasions, that it would have required the U.S. to contribute about $1 trillion.

There is no basis for that figure. The U.S. has never committed anywhere close to 1 trillion in international climate finance.

Daniel Dale, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, the U.S. delegation to the U.N. General Assembly left the chamber just minutes after the Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, began his speech. He criticized Donald Trump for his recent strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean. And he called for criminal proceedings against U.S. officials, including the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUSTAVO PETRO, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The young people killed by missiles in the Caribbean did not belong to Tren de Aragua. Perhaps nobody even knows their names nor (INAUDIBLE).

They were from the Caribbean, possibly Colombians. And if they were Colombians, with apologies to those who run the United Nations, criminal proceedings should be opened against those U.S. officials responsible, including the top official who gave the order, President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: On Friday, in a social media post, Trump attached a video of a deadly strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in international waters. It was the third known fatal strike this month.

Amid rising tensions between the U.S. And Venezuela, YouTube has taken down the official channel of the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, along with the account of the country's defense ministry. A spokesperson for Google's video platform says YouTube is required to comply with U.S. sanctions.

The Trump administration maintains sweeping sanctions against Maduro and his inner circle, who it accuses of corruption and human rights abuses.

Well, President Trump is offering his full endorsement to the President of Argentina. He gave a printout of his social media post to President Javier Milei saying, quote, "To the people of Argentina, we're backing him 100 percent."

Trump also said the South American leader inherited a total mess with horrible inflation and brought stability back to Argentina's economy. And he compared that to his own situation, when he took over from former President Joe Biden.

President Milei's party is facing a crucial test in next month's legislative elections.

Well, still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, what happened in court after the man accused of attempting to kill Donald Trump in Florida last year was found guilty on all charges against him.

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KINKADE: Well, it's a dramatic day in a U.S. courtroom after a jury convicted the man accused of attempting to kill Donald Trump on a Florida golf course last year.

Witnesses say 59-year-old Ryan Routh tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen after he was found guilty on all charges.

CNN's Randi Kaye has more on the verdict and what comes next.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ryan Routh was representing himself in this federal case here in Fort Pierce, Florida. And after the guilty verdict was read, he apparently tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen. He had to be restrained by marshals in the courtroom.

All of this while his daughter was yelling to him, "I love you. We'll get you out. Don't worry," according to one of the witnesses in the courtroom.

Now, the five charges that he was convicted of include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Now, the government spent weeks presenting its case, brought 38 witnesses to court. The case really hinged on intent. The government tried to show that Ryan Routh had every intent of killing Donald Trump.

They showed that he had this sniper's nest that he built at the Trump International Golf Club, where this occurred. Also, a GoPro-style camera that the government said he was planning to record Donald Trump's murder.

And there were also cell phone records that the government said placed Ryan Routh in the vicinity of Trump's golf club for weeks on end. In fact, one day they said he was there for 16 hours, starting at four in the morning.

And these Google searches that they brought into the courtroom were also pretty powerful. They were from his burner phones, and they showed that he searched for how to make a tourniquet. He searched for where Trump was holding rallies and events and also flights to Mexico.

Now, prosecutor, Chris Brown, in his closing argument, said why would he have loaded one bullet into the chamber? Why would he have clicked the safety off if he didn't intend to kill Donald Trump?

And Routh, of course, tried to show that there was no intent on his part. He said that the assailant had the prime opportunity to shoot the president, but that the trigger was never pulled.

But as prosecutors were quick to point out, nobody has to be shot. The crime does not have to be completed in order to convict someone of attempted assassination.

So Ryan Routh will be sentenced here at the federal courthouse coming up on December 18th.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Fort Pierce, Florida.

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KINKADE: Police in Norway have arrested a suspect following an explosion in central Oslo. Authorities say they found an undetonated explosive at the scene, but the area is safe after a controlled detonation.

The incident comes less than 24 hours after drone sightings forced the closure of Oslo airport for several hours.

Well, still to come, the U.S. economy is facing uncertainty from a slower job market, as well as Donald Trump's tariffs. But the U.S. president accuses the country's central bank of playing politics against him. How the fed is responding, next.

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KINKADE: Welcome back.

The U.S. Federal Reserve chair is pushing back against Donald Trump's accusations that he's playing a game of politics. The U.S. President has berated the Central Bank for not lowering interest rates until last week.

But on Tuesday, Jerome Powell said the Fed is carefully working to balance the risks of more inflation, as well as a slowing labor market.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich reports.

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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This was a wide-ranging conversation with the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, at the Chamber of Commerce in Providence, Rhode island.

Powell talked about A.I. and how it was too soon to tell what it would mean for the labor market. But that it would replace some jobs but also add new ones.

And that historically in his experience, technology has been helpful to the job market.

He also talked about it being a tough time for college graduates to find jobs, and that retailers seem to be the ones absorbing the bulk of the tariffs, but questioned for how long.

They're still concerns about inflation and that the tariffs will impact price levels throughout the end of next year.

Yet his most poignant and pointed comments came when he pushed back on accusations that the Fed was playing politics, something that was challenged by the Trump administration. Here's what he said.

JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: Whenever we make decisions, we're never, ever thinking about political things. And so we -- you know, were based in Washington, D.C., and many, many of the people in Congress and, you know, they're -- often things are seen through a -- through a lens of, is it good for this party or bad -- or bad for this party or this politician.

We're just not looking at things that way. We're looking at what's the best thing for the people that we serve in the medium term. What's the best policy?

And no one, many people don't believe us because they think, "Oh come on. Oh come on. You're really political."

[01:54:49]

POWELL: But the truth is, most of the people who are calling us political, it's just a cheap shot.

YURKEVICH: Now, President Trump has accused Jerome Powell and the Fed governors of trying to help Democrats.

You also have other people from the president's administration, including Kevin Hassett, who is the head of the National Economic Council, who has said that the Fed intentionally cut interest rates before the election when Biden was president.

But listen, the Fed did make its first cut to interest rates. The last time it did so was in December of 2024. The Federal Reserve also penciling in two more cuts by the end of this year.

Back to you.

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KINKADE: Our thanks to Vanessa Yurkevich there.

Well, the White House is calling for an investigation after an escalator malfunction as Donald Trump arrived for the U.N. General Assembly. A U.N. spokesperson said the escalator's built-in safety mechanism was triggered, causing it to stop as the Trumps stepped on, forcing them to walk up the rest of the way.

The U.S. President later joked about the less-than-smooth welcome during his address to foreign leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle. If the first lady wasn't in great shape, she would have fallen. But she's in great shape. We're both in good shape. We both stood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, the White House press secretary has raised concerns over whether the incident was intentional. She referenced a recent British newspaper article that claimed U.N. staff members had joked about deliberately turning off the escalators and elevators and telling President Trump they ran out of money.

Well, the global craze over the wide eyed, sharp-toothed figurines known as Labubus has reached Iran. Despite economic hardship caused by international sanctions, Labubus have gained popularity among young Iranians.

Iranian media report more than 1 million of the dolls were sold by the end of August, generating millions of dollars in revenue.

But an Iranian newspaper reports many of the dolls imported to Iran are counterfeit.

Well, that does it for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks so much for your company.

I'm Lynda Kinkade.

I will be back with much more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment.

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