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Trump Floats Pulling T.V. Licenses if Networks are Against Him; Lawmakers to Question Prosecutor from 2008 Epstein Plea Deal; Trump Holds Call With China's Xi to Finalize TikTok Deal. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 19, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now targeting broadcast licenses. President Trump is now suggesting the FCC could crack down on T.V. networks for giving him, quote, bad publicity.

Plus, Gaza ceasefire talk stalled, an adviser to Qatar's prime minister will join me live here in The Situation Room and explain why he thinks there's, quote, no validity to peace negotiations between Israel and Hama.

And later, a tentative TikTok deal. President Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, are set to finalize an agreement to keep the social media platform operating here in the United States.

Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today, and you're in The Situation Room.

New this morning, President Trump is sending a new warning that's thundering across the media landscape, coming after ABC took Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air indefinitely after the FCC chair suggested revoking T.V. affiliate licenses because of Kimmel's comments in reference to the killing of Charlie Kirk.

Now, the president is suggesting the federal government could revoke the licenses of broadcast networks if they are, quote, against him.

Let's listen. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, I read someplace that the networks were 97 percent against me. I get 97 percent negative, and yet I won and easily won all seven swing states, popular vote, won everything.

I mean, they're getting a license. I would think maybe they're license should be taken away. It will be up to Brendan Carr.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Brendan Carr is Trump's FCC chairman. He threatened to pull the licenses of ABC T.V. affiliates that continue to carry Jimmy Kimmel's show. And now Carr is predicting there will be more changes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENDAN CARR, FCC CHAIR: I don't think this is the last shoe to drop. This is a massive shift that's taking place in the media ecosystem and I think the consequences are going to continue to flow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you talking about when you say not the last shoe to drop?

CARR: Look, we're going to continue to hold these broadcasters accountable to the public interest. And if broadcasters don't like that, simple solution, they can turn their license into the FCC.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to bring in CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein. Betsy, what are you hearing, first of all, from the administration this morning?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, there's a lot of support internally for this effort and the hope and expectation that they will drive it forward. But it really marks such an abrupt shift from the early days of President Trump's second term when he issued that executive order that was aimed at bolstering free speech and cracking down on government censorship.

But since the assassination of the conservative activist, Charlie Kirk, we have seen a concerted effort by the Trump administration to crack down on dissent. We saw this as President Trump issued that executive order that he says is aimed at designating certain groups as terrorist organizations.

The Department of Defense also cracking down, monitoring service members' social media accounts and reactions to Kirk's death, as well as an effort to take a look at some of the tax exempt status for left- leaning organizations.

Now, the White House says that this is an effort to crack down on what they say is a coordinated left wing effort to incite violence. And critics say that they are trying to clamp down on criticism of the president.

And then earlier this week, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr intensifying the pressure on ABC, ultimately leading to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel, the late night talk show host, President Trump celebrating Kimmel's suspension, but then taking it a step further, yesterday as you laid out warning, that regulators should consider taking away broadcasters' licenses if they are critical of him, and if they don't air conservative views.

[10:05:05] Now, Carr, for his part, says they'll take this a step further, targeting what is called the bona fide news classification, requiring equal time. He says that they will take a look at that for the talk show, The View. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Betsy Klein at the White House, thank you very much for that update.

Jimmy Kimmel has certainly gotten a wave of support. These protesters marched outside his show's headquarters, the El Capitan Theater, and other late night hosts, past and present, have also railed against the federal government's role in his suspension. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive, and, clearly, they've never read the children's book if you give a mouse a Kimmel.

SETH MEYERS, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS: I just want to say before we get started here, that I've always admired and respected Mr. Trump. I've always believed he was -- no, no, no -- a visionary, an innovator, a great president, and even better golfer.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, THE TONIGHT SHOW: To be honest with you all, I don't know what's going on, and no one does, but I do know Jimmy Kimmel and he's a decent, funny, and loving guy, and I hope he comes back.

DAVID LETTERMAN, FORMER LATE NIGHT HOST: You can't go around firing somebody because you are fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That's just not how this works.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter is joining us now. Brian, first of all, what are you learning about how this is all unfolding right now for ABC?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right. Stephen Colbert also said, quote, with an autocrat, you cannot give an inch. If ABC thinks this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive. But ABC has given more than an inch. They've probably given feet at this point. The decision to pull Kimmel's show on Wednesday was a result of that pressure that ABC was filling from local station owners. But, of course, the most important pressure was coming from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

Our colleague, Elizabeth Wagmeister, is reporting that there were conversations inside Disney about how to lower the temperature, about having Kimmel go on the air and trying to calm things down on Wednesday. But Kimmel did not have any desire to apologize or try to calm the situation. He didn't feel he had any reason to apologize. And as The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board said this morning, his comments, you know, were relatively mild. It's understandable that Kimmel did not want to go out and try to have some sort of appeasement.

So, here we are, you know, two days later, a little bit of a standoff between this prominent comedian and this big network. We don't know how it'll be resolved. I do wonder, it's Friday, we hear about Friday night news dumps. I wonder ABC will try to make this go away quietly later today, but there really is no way for this to go away quietly.

You mentioned those protests we've seen, Wolf. There are further protests planned today, both in New York and in California, talk of a protest at Disneyland, for example. So, this pressure that originally was coming from the Trump administration, now the pressure's coming from a different direction. It's coming from Kimmel's fans and even from some Disney employees who are really disturbed by this situation.

Meantime, as you mentioned, President Trump's threats to revoke licenses are getting a lot of attention, but it is important to note that that is largely bluster on the president's part. It is very difficult to actually revoke a station license. It has not happened in this country for decades. There really is no precedent for what Trump is trying to propose or talk about. It doesn't mean he won't try to do it. It doesn't mean Brendan Carr as FCC chairman won't try to make it happen. But I'm told by legal experts, this will get tied up in the courts for years.

So, Trump's real power is not to actually punish these stations by taking away licenses. It's in all the talk, it's in the rhetoric, and he is certainly using his bully pulpit to do so today. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Brian Stelter reporting for us, Brian, thank you very, very much.

Also happening now, preparations are underway for vigils to honor Charlie Kirk. Last night, thousands of people attended this Turning Point USA memorial at Colorado State University. Kirk was scheduled to speak there as part of his American Comeback Tour. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns the largest collection of ABC T.V. affiliates, says it will air a special tribute to Kirk. It will be in the time slot that Jimmy Kimmel occupied until this week. Sinclair operates at least 30 ABC news stations with several in large markets, including right here in Washington, D.C., in Seattle, Washington and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Happening now, a key figure from the Jeffrey Epstein saga is set to appear before the House Oversight Committee. Alex Acosta is expected to give details about his handling of a very controversial 2008 plea deal with Epstein. Acosta was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida at the time and was the former labor secretary during the first Trump administration.

Just moments ago, the chair of the Oversight Committee, James Comer, said this about the deposition.

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Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Well, we have all the same questions that I think you all would ask. We want to know what went on during the prosecution when many believe that Epstein was awarded a sweetheart plea deal. So, we're going to ask a lot of questions about this.

This is going to be a pretty hard-hitting deposition today, transcribed interview. So, hopefully, we'll be able to get some information back to you all as soon as possible. And, again, this is a very serious, very fast-moving investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez is here with me in The Situation Room. Evan, this is a closed-door deposition with both Democrats and Republicans. What more can you tell us?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you heard Kash Patel, the FBI Director earlier this week in his testimony call the conduct of Alex Acosta to be the original sin in this case, Wolf. And that's because he oversaw the federal investigation and he's the one who signed off on what people call a sweetheart deal, which is where Jeffrey Epstein avoided federal prosecution. He pleaded to charges in this state prosecution.

And, you know, now, years later, people still look back at that deal and believe that that was a missed opportunity to have Jeffrey Epstein answer for his crimes. The victims were not told about this deal. The deal included a non-prosecution promise for anyone else who was around him. And, you know, the fact that deal was kept a secret is also part of the questions that you're going to hear, that he is going to hear from these members of Congress today.

We know that that deal obviously was being, was negotiated with his lawyers. Ken Starr was one of the lawyers who helped negotiated with the Justice Department. And so the question remains, you know, how did that deal come about? Why did he sign off on it? Why were victims not notified, which is against the law, frankly, because there is a victim's rights law that requires them to be notified.

So, we'll see how long this goes, probably as many as six hours today, Wolf.

BLITZER: Wow. We'll see what happens. It's closed doors, so we're not going to see it live or anything like that.

PEREZ: Absolutely. All right, Evan, thank you very, very much, Evan Perez with the latest on that.

Also new this morning, President Trump and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, began their phone call to try to finalize a deal on the popular app, TikTok, about two hours or so ago. If reached the deal, would sell most of TikTok's U.S. assets to American investors and conclude a years-long effort that began in Trump's first term. Let's go to CNN Tech Reporter Clare Duffy, who is monitoring all of this for us. What can you tell us about these talks, Clare?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, Wolf. We are waiting, hopefully getting a readout from this meeting that, as you said, began about two hours ago between President Trump and President Xi in an effort to finalize this deal that U.S. officials and Chinese officials negotiated earlier this week. They came to this deal for framework that, as we understand, would involve at least one U.S. tech company and several other U.S. investment firms creating a new consortium to take over the majority of TikTok's U.S. assets. That would leave the original Chinese parent company ByteDance, with about a 20 percent stake in this new company. Those investors would include the tech company, Oracle, as well as investment firms, Andreessen Horowitz and Silver Lake.

And as we understand, this new entity would be run by a majority U.S.- governing board, including one administrator appointed by the White House. But the big question that remains here is what happens to TikTok's algorithm. This is the special sauce that determines what shows up on people's feeds. It is the thing that has made TikTok so popular. And the Chinese have long said they are not interested in selling that algorithm.

But the law also requires that there is no cooperation between the new U.S. entity and Chinese ownership on the operation of that algorithm. So, that is the thing that we are hoping to get more details on when we hear more about this conversation between President Trump and President Xi. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. We'll stay in close touch with you, Clare. Thank you very, very much, Clare Duffy reporting for us.

Still ahead, change is coming, CDC vaccine advisers are meeting right now, why they are yet again delaying a vote on the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.

And later, quote, no validity. That's what an official from Qatar is now saying about Gaza's ceasefire talks after Israel targeted Hamas negotiators in Doha. He will join me live here in The Situation Room. That's coming up.

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BLITZER: Happening now, an advisory committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just delayed a major vote this morning. The vote is on whether to change recommendations for hepatitis B vaccines for newborns. The shot is currently given at birth, and experts say it has significantly decreased the number of infections over several years.

CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell is joining us. She's over at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Meg, day one of these important meetings ended abruptly yesterday. What is happening now? MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. Last night ended abruptly and with a little bit of chaos and confusion, and this morning really started in a similar way. The hepatitis B vote that you mentioned had been highly anticipated and there was a lot of controversy over whether to pushback that newborn dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

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Some members of the committee even argued that they should be pushing it back further than the recommended one month of age for babies whose mothers test negative. Others on the committee said they didn't understand why we were revisiting this recommendation at all.

Ultimately, they decided to table that vote and we don't know at what point they might pick that up again, but certainly not at this meeting. So, that is now off the table.

They also retook a vote that they had taken last night, Wolf, on the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella or chickenpox vaccine. Essentially the vote that they retook affects the Vaccines for Children Program, which is a program that provides free vaccine to low income kids. And they said they didn't really understand the way the voting language was worded last night. They wanted to retake that vote this morning.

And so all of this really kind of pointing to this committee being put into place by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. five of the members just days before this committee met to discuss these issues. And so there is kind of a lot of chaos and a lot of confusion and consternation from the external public health community, saying they're not confident in the science and the decision-making that might be coming out of this new committee.

BLITZER: And I understand the advisory board, this new advisory board, Meg, is also expected to discuss COVID vaccines.

TIRRELL: Yes, Wolf. We have just gotten into that portion of the meeting and it's gotten testy already. The tone took a shift. The CDC staff scientists have been presenting data on even just COVID epidemiology, and were immediately challenged by one of the ACIP members who sort of started challenging the methodology of their data. It got a lot testier. We don't even know exactly what they're going to be voting on today on COVID-19 vaccines. We don't know how they might vote to change recommendations there. So, we will be here and we'll bring you all the news throughout the course of the day, but it is getting a little more heated now.

BLITZER: All right, we'll see what happens. These are important meetings indeed. Thanks very, very much, Meg Terrell.

Joining us now for some serious analysis is Dr. Paul Offit. He's the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit, thanks very much for joining us.

What's been your biggest takeaway, at least so far, from the CDC Vaccine Advisory Board meeting, these new members?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER DIRECTOR, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, they don't know what they're doing. They don't understand just basics about virology and immunology and certainly epidemiology. They don't understand how the voting works regarding vaccine for children's program. But my biggest fear is what they're about to do to hepatitis B vaccine. You have -- if you're an adult and you get hepatitis B, you have a 5 percent chance of going on to develop cancer, liver cancer or cirrhosis, which is chronic liver disease, which is fatal. If you're a baby, meaning a less than 12 month old, you have a 90 percent chance of going on to develop cirrhosis or liver cancer, right, which will limit your life.

Now, children -- mothers are screened in the first trimester to see if they have hepatitis B, but, first of all, the screening test isn't always accurate. There can be false negatives. Secondly, you can acquire hepatitis B in the second or third trimester. And most importantly, which people don't realize, I think, is that you don't necessarily get hepatitis B from your mother. Before there was ever a birth dose, 15,000 children, less than ten every year, would get hepatitis B from coming in contact with someone who's chronically infected.

And so that's why the birth dose, I think if they do what they're about to do, which is make it so that you can get it at one month of age or two months of age or lower, they're only going to increase the incidence of hepatitis B and babies, which will be tragic.

BLITZER: On another very sensitive issue, the board discussed rare seizures associated with MMRV vaccines given to kids under the age of four. Was a change here necessary?

OFFIT: It really wasn't a big change. I mean, for the most, our hospital, for example, recommends that you receive the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine separately between 12 and 15 months of age, and that you receive the MMRV, so the combination vaccine at four to six years of age, which basically the Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices as always recommended. They've just sort of tweaked that a little bit. So, I don't think that's going to be a big impact decision.

BLITZER: I want to get your reaction, Dr. Offit, to this statement, a very blunt statement from Dr. Susan Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She said yesterday's meeting, quote, promoted false claims and misguided information about vaccines as part of an unprecedented effort to limit access to routine childhood immunizations, and so fear and mistrust in vaccines. What's your reaction to her statement?

OFFIT: I think she's exactly right. We have a head of Health and Human Services, a Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has for 20 years been an anti-vaccine activist and science denialist. And so the first thing he did when he took over this position was he fired the 17 members of the real Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, who had the kind of expertise and experience to give us good advice and that he replaced them with his kind of people, people who, like him, are cynical about vaccines who are science denialists and, to some extent, anti-vaccine activists.

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And so he now has anti-vaccine activists making decisions about the health of our children regarding vaccines.

It is a troubled time. And until people in Congress or until President Trump stands up for the health of this country and eliminates RFK Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, our children are going to suffer.

BLITZER: Dr. Paul Offit, as usual, thanks very much for your expertise.

OFFIT: Thank you.

BLITZER: Also coming up, will Gaza ceasefire talks restart? The adviser to Qatar's prime minister is here with me in The Situation Room. His country has been a key player in the negotiations. We have that and a lot more coming up.

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