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Investigators Examining Note Left By Kirk Shooting Suspect; NY Gov. Kathy Hochul Endorses Zohran Mamdani; Pressure Grows On Top Dems To Rally Around Mamdani; Kirk Assassination Renews Focus On Social Media Companies. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 15, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:30:06]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: We expect to see official charges tomorrow against the 22-year-old suspect in Charlie Kirk's shooting death. This morning, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed that DNA recovered from both a screwdriver and a towel linked Tyler Robinson to the murder weapon. Patel also gave new details about a note allegedly written by the shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: We have evidence to show what was in that note, which is -- and I'm going to summarize basically saying, I -- the suspect wrote a note saying, "I have the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I'm going to take it." That note was written before the shooting.

Evidence of existence, we now have learned, existed before the shooting, was in the location in the suspect and partner's home.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: CNN Security Correspondent Josh Campbell joins us now. Josh, right now the FBI is saying, and the governor of Utah is saying, that the suspect is not cooperating. But they do have this line into some friends, including and especially, they say, of the -- his roommate, who they also are saying was his romantic partner, in trying to get details of what happened.

Talk about what that's like to try to find what really matters, which is the motive and then, of course, evidence.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, from everything we're learning, Dana, it appears that authorities have a very strong evidentiary case here already. They have the surveillance footage. They have, as the FBI has indicated, DNA matching the suspect that was found on items near that firearm. They have the statements of family members. And as you mentioned, the suspect's partner is apparently cooperating with authorities.

It's not uncommon for defendants to lawyer up and then not want to cooperate with investigators. But it's also worth pointing out that although in the U.S. justice system, a motive is not needed in order to prosecute a murder case. This is something authorities certainly want to get to the bottom of.

For three quick reasons. First, it could help with this case. It could help prevent other cases. But then third, there was intense public interest here, people wanting to know exactly what happened, exactly what authorities found. And that is why they will continue to get to that motive, despite the suspect not cooperating.

BASH: And it's just been so striking how different the FBI in this investigation, led by Kash Patel, has been getting information now. Because it has been mostly by Kash Patel himself and not just the new information like he gave this morning. He's also -- I'm looking at his social media, he's retweeting Fox News articles about the assassin living with a transgender partner.

As a former senior supervisory special agent, I should say, how notable is this change and what do you think it's doing to internal environments in the FBI?

CAMPBELL: Yes, well, I'll tell you what I'm hearing from people in the FBI. They say that this is so unusual, some calling it cringy, to have an FBI director who is essentially laying out the evidence of the investigation in real time. You have to remember, this is a suspect who will be prosecuted and the Justice Department always has to be concerned about what's called pre-trial publicity. Authorities typically let the case speak for itself in court.

Now the reason why here, obviously, we can't get inside Kash Patel's head, but there is a theory both within people in law enforcement I'm hearing from, but also within people in the Republican Party, allies of the President and, you know, obviously the late Charlie Kirk, who say that this could be Kash Patel's attempt to try to clean up his own initial mistakes.

Where, you know, he had tweeted at one point that a suspect was in custody, that turned out not to be true. He held a press conference this weekend and then was on Fox News this morning, essentially touting his own abilities here in this case and how that was impactful.

And it's worth pointing out, Dana, a final point is he has gone out of his way at multiple turns to heap praise on the President himself, which is so unusual. But that's one theory out there that maybe he's trying to counter some of that criticism, despite what it might do to the case if it goes to trial.

BASH: Yes. And none of it is unusual in this Trump White House.

CAMPBELL: Yes.

BASH: That is very typical for everybody he puts in their jobs. Even the FBI director, who is, you know, openly this is just something that is very obvious, a political pick and putting Kash Patel there.

Josh, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

CAMPBELL: You bet.

BASH: Up next, a Democrat endorses a Democrat. Sounds like you should say, of course. Well, it's not an of course, because we're talking about New York City's 2025 mayoral race. Stay with us.

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[12:39:11]

BASH: A Big Apple endorsement. New York Governor Kathy Hochul threw her support behind Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani. Hochul's backing, which comes with the caveat that she does not align with Mamdani on every issue, is putting some renewed pressure on other high-profile New York Democrats, like Democratic leader of the U.S. Senate, Chuck Schumer, Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, questioning whether they are going to stop withholding their own endorsements of Mamdani.

My political reporters are back now. Manu, this is really interesting because it's been a long time since --

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

BASH: -- Mamdani was elected by the Democratic voters, but obviously it's incredible -- incredibly popular.

RAJU: And we were just talking about it on the break. The election is less than two months away, and the Democratic leaders from the city that they live in, who are their nominee, they still have not gotten behind Mamdani. And it is remarkable.

[12:40:13]

I mean, Schumer just met with Mamdani last week. I asked him, why -- are you going to finally get behind Mamdani? He said, well, I met with him yesterday, but he would not say if he was going to support him. Had he changed his mind now?

Jeffries, I asked him too last week. I said, when are you going to support -- actually, it was about two weeks ago now. I said, are you going to support him? What's holding -- what's the holdup? He said, stay tuned. We're still staying tuned, and that is what's causing so much tension with the likes of people --

BASH: Right.

RAJU: -- on the left flank. Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, saying we have to unite behind our nominee, put our differences aside.

BASH: Yes. I mean, and there are some very real differences, both on policy and on his statements that he's made in the past about globalize the intifada and things like that, which is why they say that they're having these private conversations. We'll see. But obviously this Hochul endorsement is probably going to be something that pushes them. But I just want to show our viewers what the latest polling shows in New York City. I mean, it's not even close. Mamdani is way ahead of all of the other people who are running against him. Cuomo, Sliwa, Eric Adams. And if you think about the fact that the three of them, they're splitting the opposition, but even if you add it up, you barely get to over what Mamdani has.

HANS NICHOLS, POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Yes, I mean, most New York Democrats, people that are really involved in politics, think that the Mamdani election is going to happen. Now, they don't know, right? I think one thing I've learned from this conversation is that Democratic leaders have invoked the wrath of my colleague here.

Because Manu is going to just -- he's going to be dogged in trying to get an answer. Here's what they've ensured. That if and when Hakeem Jeffries and or Minority Leader Chuck Schumer endorses Mamdani, that's another news cycle.

RAJU: Yes.

NICHOLS: Right? They've built so much pressure into this that they've just all but guaranteed that we're going to be talking about it when they do something that --

RAJU: They could have just said, oh, I support the nominee. Of course, I'll support the nominee.

NICHOLS: It reminds me -- remember when Bush was terribly, terribly unpopular and McCain wraps up the nomination --

BASH: Yes.

NICHOLS: -- it's March, we're all half asleep, he goes and does a dog in the tail like sort of, you know, quick endorsement in the Rose Garden and then hopes we forget about it and never talk about it.

BASH: Yes. I think the reason they're not saying, of course we support the nominee, is twofold. Number one, they don't support the nominee and they don't want him to win and everybody's trying to find other ways around it. And number two is the reason that is going to become very apparent where you go every day, which is the White House and other Republican circles, which is that as soon as he is, assuming he wins, the mayor of New York, he is going to be the primary poster person, poster boy, for where the Democratic Party is right now in terms of policies and the, you know, going so far to the left.

And the Democratic leaders in Congress know that Republicans are chomping at the bit for that, despite the fact that in his heart Donald Trump is a New Yorker and he doesn't want Mamdani --

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Exactly.

BASH: -- to be the mayor of New York.

TREENE: No, Mamdani will be the perfect foil. I mean, he represents everything that they've been trying to, you know, claim that the Democratic Party is, which is having a Democratic Socialist run the city that Donald Trump grew up in.

Now, I will say, it is interesting because we saw all of that back and forth with, you know, Steve Witkoff meeting with Eric Adams trying to see if they could get him out of the race. That was more of the personal side of Donald Trump coming out. But yes, I mean, of course, so many people in the White House and them having conversations with him, this would be great for them.

And specifically because they have been so focused. It's actually pretty remarkable to have seen the White House months ago being so focused on the midterms. This is exactly what they want as they head into that season, gearing up for 2026, to be able to make, as you said, Mamdani the poster child for what they're trying to paint the party as.

RAJU: Speaking of the -- I asked AOC about this, too. I said, what about the fact that the Republicans are going to tie Mamdani to everybody? She said, they do the same thing about me.

BASH: Yes.

RAJU: She said, in her view, it's not an effective strategy, but that's perhaps --

BASH: Yes.

RAJU: -- why the Democratic leaders view this a little differently.

BASH: I thought what she said to you about the fact that she endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, even though she has big differences, was really fascinating.

RAJU: Yes.

BASH: Don't go anywhere. Still ahead, the kids are not all right. I'm going to talk to a mental health expert about social media and the impact on teenage boys and young men.

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[12:49:01]

BASH: Charlie Kirk's assassination is shining a white-hot spotlight about questions on social media algorithms, how they feed into the echo chamber that fosters division, especially among young men. Utah Governor Spencer Cox had this warning about social media's role when I spoke with him on State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

GOV. SPENCER COX (R), UTAH: We have to hold the largest companies in the history of the world with combined trillion-dollar market caps. We have to hold them responsible for the algorithms that are pushing us. Again, they're hijacking our agency. They're hijacking our free will with these dopamine hits. Same chemical reaction as fentanyl. Getting us addicted to these platforms and outrage releases a dopamine hit for sure. And they are taking no responsibility for this.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: Joining me now is Ross Szabo, he is the wellness director at the Geffen Academy at UCLA and the author of "A Kid's Book About Anxiety."

[12:50:00]

Ross, thank you so much for being here. You spend all your time counseling young men and teen boys on mental health. I'm guessing you agree with Utah Governor's statement about social media making the mental health crisis worse.

ROSS SZABO, WELLNESS DIRECTOR, GEFFEN ACADEMY AT UCLA: There are a lot of dangers on social media, and the silo that it puts people in can be pretty devastating. So one thing that I always share with parents is if you're not talking to your kids about these difficult topics, then social media will. It'll fill that vacuum. It'll fill that gap.

And so, what we see and what we try to do is have in-person contacts with young people to give them positive examples and to give them a chance to be able to interact and have that connection because it is -- it's a really challenging world out there right now.

BASH: So, can you give an example of what you do to have those in- person interactions?

SZABO: Yes. So we have a class at my school and then as I travel around the country that teaches young men about healthy relationships and teaches them about just the things that they can do. And so, what I found over the last nine years of talking to young men is a lot of times nobody engages them or talks to them just about basic things in relationships.

So, understanding self-defining memories, like, what do you hold on to? What is most important to you? What do you go to in times where you are struggling? Things like attachment theory to help them understand that their upbringing affects how they interact with other people.

And then other skills like conflict resolution, which is so important because in the social media world, people are impulsive and they're just reacting instead of taking time to actually consider who they are and where they're coming from and how to engage with someone.

And then the last piece of that too is just having more responsible male role models in their lives can make a huge difference because they come to you with their questions instead of turning to social media or instead of turning to the manosphere or these other things that we're calling it.

BASH: A Pew research survey in April found nearly half of teens say social media is bad for their mental health. So those are the people who are, you know, self-aware and might not even realizing it. You and I talked earlier this morning and you talked about the way that the internet and just being on a screen activates a fight or flight response in your brain.

Can you talk about that and also maybe as it connects to the fact that we are -- when we do see these acts of violence, it tends to have been, regardless of where they are on the political spectrum, from people who spend a lot of time online.

SZABO: A lot of people when they're online think that they're zoned out. They think when you're scrolling on your phone, when you're scrolling through those things, you think like, oh, I'm just zoning out. I'm just going to relax or whatever, mindlessly scroll before I go to bed. But you're actually activating parts of your brain that are similar to fight or flight that are going to make you zone in.

So one thing that we teach young people especially is when your fight or flight mechanisms are activated or your limbic system is activated, your brain is telling your body you don't need to drink water. You don't need to eat food. You don't need to go to the bathroom. And that is why time disappears so quickly when people are scrolling.

So another piece that is important is reminding people to get off social media to take those breaks because if you're not, you're activating your limbic system, which again is going to make you more impulsive and more overreactive, which is going to lead to the divisiveness and then people going down these rabbit holes that can lead them to really dark places.

BASH: You have had your own personal struggles with mental health. You write about this, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder in high school, struggled with addiction, and that was before social media. Now you have all of this on top of the very real chemical challenges that a lot of people, boys and girls, men and women, have in their brain.

Can you talk about it just even separate and apart from social media when people get to a certain time in their lives, a certain age? There are some things chemically that tend to change.

SZABO: Definitely. So when I was 17, I attempted to take my own life when I was a senior in high school. And at the time, I had the perfect exterior life. I was present in my class, a varsity basketball player, like, had the perfect college resume, and that depression that I hid because I didn't know how to talk about it and because I didn't trust anyone and because I thought I could just get through it on my own, was a really isolating spot.

I didn't get better after that. I kept binge drinking alcohol until the point where I was 22 where I hit rock bottom because I was drinking so much that I was destroying myself.

[12:55:02]

And so it is important for parents, teachers, everyone to know that that time period for young men, especially for psychosis, schizophrenia, other things, happens between 18 and 25, 18 and 24. And when they have those breaks, they need help immediately.

It's bigger than what a parent can manage. It's bigger than what a school can manage. It's bigger than what social media or anyone can manage. And if you spot the signs early, you may be able to get somebody help. The other challenging thing, though, Dana, is our mental health care system is so broken that some people can do everything imaginable and still not get that help, and that's why there isn't going to be one fix to this issue.

BASH: Right.

SZABO: It's going to have to be multi-layered, and it's not a sound bite.

BASH: No, definitely isn't.

Ross, thank you so much. I learned so much from you in this discussion. Appreciate it.

And if you or anyone you know needs help, please text or call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Thanks for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after the break.

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