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Conservatives Look for New Leader; Kimmel Returns to ABC Late Night; Eric Garcia is Interviewed about Trump's Autism Announcement. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired September 23, 2025 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: From the audience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really do think that we have to have a serious conversation about repealing the 19th Amendment. I want to know what you think.
MICHAEL KNOWLES, TURNING POINT USA: I have a solution. Having looked at the demographics and how they vote, I would say, OK, to the people who want to appeal the 19th Amendment, we can take the vote away from the single women who vote for Democrats -- hear me out, hear me out -- and then we can give two votes to the married women who vote for Republicans. Is that a deal?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Chuck, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I think Democrats have really wrestled with how to talk about the politics on display that they disagree with versus the legacy, the conversation, the actual debate. Do you know what I'm asking?
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes.
CORNISH: Kind of like, what are they going to do now with basically a revived movement of this dialog?
ROCHA: It was sitting with me while we were doing -- with that amazing young man who you were talking about, I agree with you as a Democrat, like, man, he's really good. It made me think about, oh, this is how we lost all these kids on campus. It's like 20 years ago, when I was a young man, everybody on campus was a Democrat. It was a liberal bastion of thought and all the things, right? And now it's turned into something very different because folks are having these conversations that we Democrats didn't know how to grapple with, to your point. And I don't think we still have figured it out.
We were in the green room talking about Democrats losing working folks. There's a certain group of people who you have to get back down to some basic conversations if you actually want to get to the end point. ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL: Yes, can I say
something else? So, what -- the -- even though people didn't agree with Charlie or his views sometimes, he never did really anything in anger. And that's what I would say about the next generation. Like, having the conversation, having the facts, debating someone healthy, but not doing it with anger and viciousness, which has been turning to so many people --
CORNISH: Yes, well, it will be interesting, they are the age group that grew up, Gen Z, right, with rage farming and clickbait. So, they very much understand the performance part of it versus --
ROCHA: Right.
CORNISH: And we'll see if this is an inflection point for them.
You guys, stay with me. We've got a lot to talk about today.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, Jimmy Kimmel's suspension is over. He's back on at least some TVs tonight. MAGA can't agree if it's a good thing or not.
Plus, the man who allegedly tried to assassinate President Trump, he's on trial. Who he called to the stand in his defense.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:37:07]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": President Trump will speak at the U.N., and his speech will lay out the successes of his first eight months. Every world leader heard that and was like, shew, at least we'll be out of here fast. All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, we're actually going to hear from the president about three hours from now, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. And I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It's half past the hour on the East Coast, and here's what's happening right now.
So, that address to the U.N. comes as the U.S. becomes more isolated. The president is at odds with more than half of the member nations over establishing Palestinian statehood. Trump is also set to meet with a group of Arab and Muslim leaders on the sidelines to discuss ways to end the war in Gaza.
Closing arguments expected to begin today in the case against the man who allegedly attempted to assassinate President Trump at a Florida golf course last year. Ryan Routh is representing himself. Yesterday, he called three witnesses. Two were his friends. Routh himself has not testified. China is close to striking a major deal with Boeing. "Bloomberg"
reported last month that the deal would sell up to 500 aircraft to China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID PERDUE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: This is a huge order. And it's very important to the president. It's very important to Boeing. I think it's very important to China. And I think that we're in the last days of that -- or weeks of that negotiation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: A group of bipartisan lawmakers on the rare visit there to China, where they also met the country's number two leader.
And "Jimmy Kimmel Live" returns tonight following a Hollywood pressure campaign to get him back on the air. And some of his supporters took a victory lap.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": Meanwhile, in other ABC News, young Jimmy Kimmel's coming back to television.
Jimmy Kimmel is flying high like Advil today.
LARA TRUMP, HOST, "MY VIEW WITH LARA TRUMP": If Donald Trump wanted to take everyone off the air who had criticisms for him, there would basically only be a handful of individuals left on television.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Kimmel's show was suspended for comments he made after Charlie Kirk's death. And in the days following, he found support from some unlikely voices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, we're going to decide what speech we like and what we don't, and we're going to threaten to take you off air if we don't like what you're saying.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Brendan Carr has got no business weighing in on this. But people have to also realize that despicable comments, you have the right to say them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Other MAGA members have called for a Disney boycott, and for the Trump administration to leverage its power to bring changes to the show.
The group chat is back.
Rachael, can I start with you? What are you going to be listening for from Kimmel tonight? An apology? An explanation? Defiance?
[06:40:04]
RACHAEL BADE, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: Yes, I mean, I -- I'm not sure what to expect. Perhaps, you know, getting back on the air, maybe it required some sort of apology. We'll have to see. I mean, I will be interested to see if he sort of sticks his thumb in the eye of the Trump administration.
Obviously, after the FCC chair sort of flirted with this idea of suspending, you know, ABC's license, there was this huge backlash, and not just from Democrats, but as you mentioned right there, from people like Senator Ted Cruz, who, by the way, is a huge Trump ally, rarely speaks out against the administration and drew a line right there.
So, I think it will be interesting to -- to see how he responds tonight. But I also am going to be watching sort of MAGA and their response on this, too, because, you know, conservatives, they have sort of harped on for years about cancel culture and this notion of people being silenced because of things they've said. And this has been a huge effort by Republicans, now back in the majority, to make sure that they don't feel this sort of censorship.
CORNISH: Yes.
BADE: And so are they going to sort of try to put more pressure on ABC in some way, Disney in some way, to try to get this reversed? What are they going to do?
CORNISH: Yes, there is some push and pull here for sure. We played that clip from Ted Cruz.
I also want to play something from conservative influencer Clay Travis because there are still some people who are saying, look, the administration needs to use its power where it can.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAY TRAVIS, HOST, "THE CLAY TRAVIS AND BUCK SEXTON SHOW": Disney is buying, as you well know, the NFL Network. They're going to need the Trump administration to sign off on this. I don't think if I'm running Disney that this is something that the Trump administration is going to look favorably upon. And so I think there need to be actual changes in the way this show is airing. And I think the Trump administration needs to look aggressively at that potential acquisition of the NFL Network.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: What do you think in a moment like that?
DAVIS: Yes, you know, see, I think --
CORNISH: There's different tensions here.
DAVIS: There's a lot of different tensions. But listen, his comments were inappropriate and -- and not helpful to anybody. However, I have a really big problem with reactionary cancel culture in general. I think that it is poisonous, and I think that it is unsustainable. And so -- and this is just one other example with this.
We were very angry, meaning Republicans, when they took away Trump's Twitter and his Facebook pages.
CORNISH: Deplatformed him. Yes.
DAVIS: Yes, deplatformed. We were saying free speech --
CORNISH: At the time the left said it was consequence culture. And now I'm hearing right wing people say that it's consequences?
DAVIS: The bottom line, it's still free speech. And I think that it's the same for everybody. And I'm a big believer that private sector will take care of itself. And that Kimmel will come back. His -- obviously, his ratings have gone down 37 percent in the last decade. It's -- his show is probably not sustainable. But the federal government shouldn't be determining that.
CORNISH: There's some people actually saying that they're going to cancel their Disney subscriptions.
DAVIS: On both sides, though.
CORNISH: Yes, there was --
DAVIS: Like, if you don't bring him back and if you bring him back.
CORNISH: And we should say, Sinclair Broadcasting, which carries some ABC stations, they're like, we're not going to air this.
ROCHA: There's an old Mexican proverb called "no peso, no say so." And what that means is, if -- the market will drive this. And if you see how much money that ABC lost in just the first couple of days, I think that's what this is a lot about. There's some estimates -- I actually did some reading, Ashley -- $1.5 billion to $3 billion in stock value lost in like the first 48 to 72 hours this all happened. So, I think ABC is taking care of their bottom line.
And to your point about, will he be there or not be there. Right now they're trying to stop from losing this money right now. Long term, they can make that decision.
CORNISH: Yes.
ROCHA: But when you have Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders together talking about something, you know you're on the wrong side of something.
DAVIS: But they're losing on both sides, though. They're losing on the right, the viewers on the right, and they're losing the viewers on the left because they canceled him.
CORNISH: Yes. All right, you guys, stay with me because we've got a couple more things to talk about. Next on CNN THIS MORNING, it's being described as candid and dishy. Kamala Harris is out with her new book about her bid for president. She's naming names.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't take Tylenol. Don't take it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Doctor in chief. President Trump has some medical advice for pregnant women. But does it hold up to what actual doctors say?
And we're live from the U.N. General Assembly ahead of the president's speech.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:48:42]
CORNISH: Despite decades of evidence showing that acetaminophen, aka Tylenol, is safe for pregnant people, President Trump now has a new message from the Oval Office. He's pushing an unproven link between the drug and autism. He has not presented a new study or new evidence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You shouldn't give a Tylenol to that child.
But with Tylenol, don't take it. Don't take it.
I just recommend strongly that you don't use Tylenol.
So, don't take Tylenol.
Don't take Tylenol.
Don't take Tylenol. Don't have your baby take Tylenol.
If you're pregnant, don't take Tylenol. When you have your baby, don't give your baby Tylenol.
Don't take Tylenol. Don't take it. If you just can't -- I mean it's -- fight like hell not to take it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, the announcement from the White House was met with alarm from the Autism Science Foundation. In a statement, the group's president says this, quote, "it took me straight back to when moms were blamed for autism. If you can't take the pain or deal with the fever, then it's your fault if your child has autism. That was simply shocking."
Now, joining us now in the group chat is Eric Garcia. He's Washington bureau chief for "The Independent," and author of "We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation."
So, Eric, I wanted to talk to you because you're very much in touch with the community of people who would be hearing these messages, who already deal with autism.
[06:50:07]
ERIC GARCIA, AUTHOR OF "WE'RE NOT BROKEN: CHANGING THE AUTISM CONVERSATION": Yes.
CORNISH: What were they saying?
GARCIA: You know, it's funny because Allison (ph) and I don't agree on a lot of things, but absolutely it brought me back to the days of, quote/unquote, refrigerator mothers and unloving mothers cause -- you know, causing autism. I remember -- you know, I remember reading stories about them being compared to Nazi prison guards and causing their children to be autistic when I was reading and researching my first book.
And really what is kind of chilling is that this is going to create kind of an effect where parents are afraid to talk about autism. They're afraid -- going to be afraid to disclose that their children are autistic because then immediately people are going to say, oh, well, did you take Tylenol?
And really what's -- what's almost kind of scary is, I was talking -- I talked to a family that left the United States for the United Kingdom. And part of the reason why they did was because they have two autistic children and they are now -- and they're -- they're afraid of the effects of what RFK Jr. could do.
CORNISH: Yes, they're feeling some stigma.
GARCIA: Yes.
CORNISH: You know, to your point, I'm glad you're bringing this up, because the FDA commissioner --
GARCIA: Yes.
CORNISH: Made some comments at this event as well. And I want you to hear them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MARTY MAKARY, FDA COMMISSIONER: If you've seen a kid with autism, with severe autism, it's hard to watch. Kids get frustrated. They get angry. They can be crying because they want to speak and they can't speak. It's hard to watch. And it may be entirely preventable.
(END VIDEO CLIP) GARCIA: Well, I mean, I -- you know, nobody denies that autistic people with high support needs, who have intellectual disabilities, or who can't speak have significant challenges. They have a lower life expectancy than neurotypical people, and even autistic people like myself. But to say that it's hard to watch is really degrading I feel like. And on top of that, saying that it may be preventable.
What I worry about is that this is going to give false hope to a lot of families, of autistic people. And when that doesn't happen, what is -- what's going to be the result? Well, how -- how are they going to deal with that dejection when it doesn't work?
CORNISH: Oh, Rachael has a question.
BADE: Yes. Eric, I mean, we -- we talked in the green room a little bit about this and all -- and your expertise. And you talked about how, in recent years, there's been a good and helpful focus on treatment, on acceptance --
GARCIA: Yes.
BADE: On bringing people in, appreciating people for being a little different and the strengths that they also bring.
GARCIA: Yes.
BADE: And you're concerned that now it's all about the blame game.
GARCIA: Yes.
BADE: Talk more about that and how this -- the narrative has sort of changed (INAUDIBLE).
GARCIA: Yes. I mean, I think -- I've talked with a lot of parents in the past few months since RFK Jr. became secretary of Health and Human Services, and they have said that they're all -- they're even afraid of getting their kids screened for autism because they're afraid of the stigma. And think about what that means. That means that they're not going to be able to get their individualized education plans or their accommodations at school.
And really what you're seeing is kind of a roll back. And in some ways, even kind of worse, because now we have a massive megaphone about talking about vaccines and Tylenol, all these, and it's going to just spread so much misinformation.
You know, I was talking with -- I said this to my mom the other day. And my mom was too old to be considered -- or too young to be considered a refrigerator mom, but too old to be an anti-vaxxer. And I'm so grateful that I got diagnosed before this misinformation about vaccines and autism. And I just -- my heart goes out to autistic people and their families for the amount of blame and shame they're going to face.
CORNISH: Eric, you know, it's funny, as someone who's given birth twice, when I hear that kind of like, no Tylenol, no Tylenol. I was like, from my cold, dead hands. Like, that's not going to happen.
But it does get to this idea of like, looking at any little thing that might have an association and turning that into the official cause.
GARCIA: Yes,
CORNISH: How does that muddy the water for actually maybe figuring that out?
GARCIA: Well, it absolutely does muddy the water because I should say that the United States government is not afraid to look into the causes of autism. In fact, a plurality of the money spent by the National Institutes of Health to research autism is -- is looking into biology. But focusing on something like Tylenol, where there was a big study of 2.4 million children in Sweden find -- and sibling study showed that there was no correlation. That does muddy the waters, and it does lead -- it will lead a lot of parents down rabbit holes when they really could -- we really could be finding actual --
ROCHA: We've been friends, and I know you're one of the best sourced reporters on The Hill. I'm curious, what do you hear from Capitol Hill? They allocate money that would go towards studies. What do you hear from each party on The Hill?
GARCIA: Yes, that's a really great question. I think that right now, as Rachael knows, it's appropriation season. So, right now there hasn't been a lot of focus on that. I think the real question is like what Director Jay Bhattacharya is going to be focusing on, what his priorities are going to be on when it comes to autism research, how they allocate that money. The -- they still need to see, they're going to be seating people on the interagency autism coordinating committee, if they include autistic people on those boards or those advisory committees.
CORNISH: The last thing I want to ask is, so many parents, and when you're pregnant, you're like, can I have coffee? Can I have this? Can I have shellfish? Can I have certain cheeses? Like, you have so many questions.
GARCIA: Yes.
CORNISH: And hearing the president of the United States raise yet another one, it adds to people who are already anxious.
[06:55:05]
What's your advice for even pregnant women, young parents right now who are maybe baffled by what they're seeing?
GARCIA: What I would say is that your child is -- the child you have is the child -- like the child you have now is the same child you had before the autism diagnosis. And the love you have for that child is going to make the world a better place for them. One of my favorite sayings is from a friend of mine who's the parent of an autistic kid saying, I wouldn't change my -- my -- my child for the world, so I'll change the world for my child. And use that love and that power and that drive to change and fix the world for your children.
CORNISH: All right, Eric Garcia, thank you.
GARCIA: Thank you so much.
CORNISH: Always a pleasure to talk to you. You guys, you can check out his book. It is called "We're Not Broken."
OK, now I want to turn to this. Kamala Harris has been out of the spotlight since losing the election. Now she's back with a candid return to politics. Her new book, "107 Days," is out today, and it's been getting some reviews. "San Francisco Chronicle" calls it "surprisingly dishy." And now that she's back in the fold, Harris is being asked the same questions a lot of other Democrats are being forced to answer, why didn't you urge President Biden to drop out?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I have and had a certain responsibility that I should have followed through on, which is -- and so when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything, I'm talking about myself. As I write, you know, the -- the -- where my head was at, at the time, is that it would be completely -- it would come off as being completely self-serving.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, another question, would she endorse Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York's mayoral race?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I support the Democrat in the -- in the race. Sure. But let me just say this. He's not the only star.
People like Barbara Drummond in Mobile, Alabama. Helena Moreno in New Orleans. They're all running for mayor, too. And they are stars. So, I hope that we don't so over index on New York City that we lose sight of the stars throughout our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, Eric is staying with us for this chat, but I want to start with Chuck.
BADE: Was a strong pivot.
CORNISH: Yes. Was it a strong pivot? OK, Chuck.
GARCIA: (INAUDIBLE).
ROCHA: I don't want to pull a muscle here. I want to stretch. I don't want to pull a muscle here.
Now, look, I get paid to run campaigns. I've run a presidential campaign, and I'm Latino, so I love chisme. So, this is, like, all the things that I love wrapped up in one.
And for everybody at home, you can't knock her for writing a book. She has every right to write a book. And it was 107 days. And as a campaign professional, who folks love, and you can relate to this, Ashley, and can tell me how to do my job because they knew how to do campaigns better, you learn from your things you do right and you try not to mess up the things you messed up before. And if you throw some chisme in there, then I'm going to read it, other people are going to read it, because they want to know everything that was going on. And mainly they want to know, why did you lose and how could you lose?
CORNISH: Well, is that helpful? Eric just said he's seen better pivots in the NBA. Like, is --
(CROSS TALK)
DAVIS: The WNBA.
(CROSS TALK)
ROCHA: But that's exactly like it.
(CROSS TALK)
CORNISH: What -- what do you think?
GARCIA: You know, I think at this point, what Kamala Harris is doing is she's simultaneously putting the blame on Joe Biden. And it's clear that she had a massive gap and deficit to make up after Joe Biden dropped out. He was going to lose by 400 electoral votes or something like that. So, this is her almost kind of absolving herself.
But it's also her saying that she is still an important voice. And it's also her saying that -- and it's also, in some ways, her kind of creating a bulwark against the far left and the socialist left that in some ways kind of tripped her up when she was trying to endorse Medicare for all back in 2019, back when you were working for, you know, Bernie, back in the day, Chuck. So --
DAVIS: Oh my God, that was a blast from the past.
GARCIA: So, so, so, in some ways it's her saying that the socialists and the left wingers are not the only face of the party who --
CORNISH: People, oh, yes, who could be kingmaker?
GARCIA: Who -- who could be kingmakers.
CORNISH: Yes.
GARCIA: But ironically enough, her book talks about a very prominent Democratic socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and she praises her in the book.
CORNISH: What's your view? DAVIS: I'm just really happy that the Democrats have to defend
themselves for once these last nine months because it's been a long one.
CORNISH: For months? That's all they do. Yes.
DAVIS: No, the last nine months.
Listen, we've been like, you know, we have information overload with this administration, so you guys can just debate about Kamala.
BADE: I just -- I wonder what the -- what the purpose was. And, I mean, was she -- was this a burn it all down, I'm done with politics sort of book? Or -- you're shaking your head no.
ROCHA: Right. No.
BADE: He knows something. Insider information over there. Or was it -- was it kind of like, OK, it was everybody else's fault. So, you guys have to give me another chance.
ROCHA: That's smart.
BADE: He's saying bingo right there.
CORNISH: (INAUDIBLE).
BADE: But -- but if that is the case, you know, she's alienated a lot of Democrats.
CORNISH: Yes, she has. Yes.
BADE: Like pretty prominent Democrats.
DAVIS: Yes, I was thinking the same thing.
BADE: You know, Pete Buttigieg, Shapiro.
CORNISH: But there's still a vacuum in terms of leadership.
BADE: Yes.
CORNISH: And there are all kinds of ways that after you lose an election, you can become a leader. See Al Gore, right? So, trying to understand what she's doing and how she's managing her legacy going forward, I think is really fascinating.
ROCHA: And in the multi candidate field, you don't need everybody. You just need that 30 percent.
[07:00:02]
CORNISH: Yes. Or even bringing up other names, right? I don't -- Barack Obama mentioned Pete Buttigieg. We're still, you know, living with that kind of moment.
DAVIS: Right.
CORNISH: So, I'm curious to see, even if her bringing up those new names will be something that will be helpful to the party or not.
I'm -- I'm glad --
DAVIS: Is (INAUDIBLE) really a leader after he --
CORNISH: Well, we'll find -- we'll find out.
ROCHA: Stay tuned.
CORNISH: You guys, thank you so much for being with us. Eric, thanks for sticking around. You -- you read the book, so already you're at an advantage.
"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts now.
