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The Situation Room

Trump Links Tylenol With Autism Despite Evidence Drug Is Safe; Volodymyr Zelenskyy Addresses U.N.; Deadly Shooting at Dallas ICE Facility. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 24, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:05]

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Our prayers are with the men and women of law enforcement.

And we ought to come together and have some decency across the political aisle to say this violence is wrong and it needs to stop.

QUESTION: Senator, have you been told that immigrant detainees are the victims of today's shooting?

CRUZ: My understanding is the details of who the victims is still being ascertained, so I don't want to go ahead of law enforcement releasing these details. What they have said is that no law enforcement was injured, and so that's a natural inference, but I don't know the details.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

JOE ROTHROCK, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: So I'm not going to go into any more details at this time. We will come back to you when we have more details to share.

Again, our goal here will be transparency as those details become available, but we are still in the early stages of an investigation. Information is still coming in. When we have more details, we will come back to this group.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ROTHROCK: I'm not going to be identifying victims at this time. The only thing I will confirm at this time is no law enforcement was injured. Certainly, you can respect law enforcement's need to make notifications.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

ROTHROCK: At this point in time, we're not going to take any additional questions for law enforcement. Again, I'd ask for you to respect the fact that this is an ongoing investigation. And as more details come available...

QUESTION: Sir, we're not asking for the names of the victims. (CROSSTALK)

ROTHROCK: I understand.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... general sense if the victims are the detainees.

ROTHROCK: The only thing I could say right now is the -- no law enforcement was injured this morning as part of the attack. I won't be taking any more questions. Neither will law enforcement this time.

We will come back to you later today or in the coming days, when we have additional information.

(CROSSTALK)

ROTHROCK: Thank you for your time.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: All right, so we were just listening to officials there in Dallas.

They didn't want to go so far as to identify who these victims are. We know four people were shot, two transported to the hospital. One victim died and the suspect, the shooter there, is dead. Additionally, officials are calling this an act of targeted violence and said early evidence shows that on the rounds near the shooter that there were messages that were anti-ICE in nature.

They also said that no ICE officials were killed in this shooting.

I want to go to our chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller.

What stood out to you from that press conference, John?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the FBI's statement that this was an act of targeted violence and that statement being based on messages being written on the shell casings found near the shooter, who we are told took his own life after the shooting, gives us some now direction as to motive, anti-ICE messages.

We also heard from the ICE official, who making a turn, said, referring to the July 4 shooting -- you and I were talking about a short time ago -- at another ICE location from an individual who fired from on the ground, that the rhetoric has to stop, he said, it just has to stop.

There is no secret, given the events of the last couple of weeks, that we are in a very brittle time in terms of politics, in terms of rhetoric, and in terms of violence. What we now are hearing from people briefed on this investigation is the following, which is this was a busy morning.

It's prior to 7:00 a.m. Teams that have been out executing arrests in the early morning hours are coming back in with detainees to this facility and that one of these, a van, not a van, we are told, from ICE, but from another agency, another federal agency that was out making arrests on behalf of ICE, is approaching that location and that, suddenly, from an elevated location, someone opens fire on that van.

Now, Pam, you know these vans. We have seen them before at federal facilities. Typically, these are vans that have tinted windows, so you can't see whether they're occupied or who they're occupied by. I would suspect that that's probably the case in this instance.

When someone opened fire on the van, whether they were aiming for the driver or the person in the passenger seat, or they believed that the van might have contained federal agents, but weren't able to see, they were, according to the FBI, believed to be targeting federal law enforcement officers when they opened fire.

[11:35:02]

So that is starting to come together with a slightly more granular picture. In that instance, an assault on federal officers, this -- even if that was just the intent, would be an investigation where the FBI would be taking the lead.

What we are told, though, is that the people who were wounded and one who was killed were not law enforcement officers, not ICE officers. So it is likely that they were people who had been picked up by those agents this morning and were being brought into that detention facility.

BROWN: What do you make of Governor Abbott calling this an assassination?

MILLER: Well, I think, if you parse that, what Governor Abbott seems to suggest is that it was an attempt to assassinate federal agents by someone with anti-ICE motivation who ended up killing people who were not his target, but the intent is becoming clearer.

BROWN: All right, I'm going to bring in our CNN senior national correspondent, Ed Lavandera.

Ed, you are there at that press conference.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What's the latest there?

Well, I think what stood out the most is the law enforcement agencies, the federal and local, going to great lengths not to really kind of give any clear information at this point as to who the victims might be and leaving it kind of as an open question as to whether or not it was officially the detainees. Excuse me.

But I can tell you, in that area around that ICE facility where this appears to have taken place is not an area that the general public would have access to. So at this point, without authorities officially saying that it was detainees who are the victims of today's shooting, leaves still at least for the moment and time being a great deal of speculation as to who exactly the victims are, other than the law enforcement saying that it was not an ICE agent or any other law enforcement that was injured or killed in today's attack.

So why they are hesitant to put that information out there officially just yet wasn't exactly clear from what we heard just moments ago. And I tried to ask several of the officers as they were leaving the stage there to try to clarify all of that, and they simply just walked away.

So we will continue trying to pour through that. But I think it does raise a lot of questions as to these areas surrounding these types of facilities. Clearly, from what we have been able to gather from law enforcement officials so far this morning is that the shooter was able to reach an elevated position and get a line of view into the facility where these detainees and these ICE agents work here just along the edge of Interstate 35 in Dallas -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right.

And on that note, I want to bring in our CNN correspondent Priscilla Alvarez, because, Priscilla, you have been talking to your sources, and you have learned that the suspect here was a sniper that was on an elevated space of some sort.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a Homeland Security official saying that the person did shoot from an elevated position.

We had heard earlier from the Dallas police that they had shot from an adjacent building to this ICE facility. And now we're also seeing a post on X from the FBI director, who has posted images of the bullets that we heard about briefly there at the press conference. You see it there. It says -- quote -- "anti-ICE."

And the director also says -- quote -- "While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack."

Now, earlier in the morning, acting Director Todd Lyons on CNN had spoken about the ramped-up attacks and threats on ICE around the country, also discussed -- or the Department of Homeland Security has also noted that this facility was one that was targeted with a bomb threat in late August.

But even so, there are continued questions about the motive. We know, for example, that at least two of those who were shot wore detainees. And this leads me to sort of the context with this particular facility. This is a facility where immigrants are taken to be processed. There are about three or four holding rooms there and generally a couple dozen people there at any given time, before they are later transferred to a detention center for continued holding.

And I spoke only moments ago with an immigration attorney who is based in Dallas, Texas. She told me that she reported to this facility around 7:00 a.m. this morning. She had planned to meet there with a client who was going to do a routine check-in at this facility, also something that often happens there for those who are released in the community and have to check in with ICE every so often.

And she said, when she arrived, the police had blocked off access. She had been told that there had been a shooter. And that her initial reaction was -- quote -- "terrified."

[11:40:00]

She also tells me that one of her clients is currently at the facility, though she has not been able to get a hold of that client yet, and the other who was expected to report there for routine ICE check-in is now -- had not arrived. And she was grateful for that simply because of what unfolded there.

So there has been a lot of reaction that has been pouring in from the community and these immigration attorneys who work with people both at the facility or who have to check in at the facility, and they're just shocked at what they are seeing this morning.

But, again, Pamela, we're still asking our sources for more information about this investigation and what the authorities are learning again about motive and also those who have been injured and have died.

BROWN: All right, thank you so much, Priscilla Alvarez.

Let's bring in CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey.

I want to put that picture back up from the FBI director. This was tweeted out. These are the rounds right here by the shooter, and you see it says "anti-ICE."

And when you look at other targeted shootings, Charlie Kirk shooting, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, something similar was there. These messages were on the rounds to -- well, in the case of Charlie Kirk, it was unclear on large part, but just to send a message about the shooting and perhaps why they're doing it. What do you make of this?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, that's the first thing I thought of, by the way, when they said they had writings on the shell casings were those two previous cases.

I think it was John Miller that said earlier in a previous segment that one shooting can lead to another, can lead to another. It doesn't mean the shootings are connected in a sense of some kind of conspiracy. But getting the idea to do that sort of thing could very well have come from somebody evidence found in another case.

I don't know. I mean, again, this is all speculation. We don't know a motive yet, but that's a critical piece of evidence that they have right now. I think they're not releasing -- one, they're not releasing the name of the deceased, probably have not yet notified next of kin.

And as far as the shooter goes, if they know who that person is, and I doubt if they don't, they're executing search warrants. They're getting the social media site looked at. They're going over video. They're doing a lot of things right now behind the scenes that they're just not ready to talk about.

But this was targeted, apparently. And, again, my heart goes out to the victims.

BROWN: Yes. No, our heart is definitely out to the victims.

So, in this case, you had the rounds. One of them said "anti-ICE." In the Charlie Kirk shooting, there was anti-fascism and memes on the rounds.

RAMSEY: Right.

BROWN: And then you had the UnitedHealthcare one. What should investigators at this point be doing to further pinpoint a motive? You have already heard them say this was an act of targeted violence.

RAMSEY: Well, they have got a direction. Just look at the shell casings and the writings on the shell casings. But, again, they're going to need a little bit more to put together a motive.

And that's why they're in the process now. Once they have identified this individual, you start to execute search warrants. You go to social media. You look at -- if he drove in a car, did he leave something behind in a car, some writings that may explain the reason why they did what they did?

All these things need to be put together. It's still early in the investigation. This is something that both the Dallas P.D. and the FBI are working. ATF, of course, will be tracing that firearm. So there are a lot of things that are going on right now. And, again, the police can't operate on speculation. They need facts.

And when they get before the press and they start providing information, it needs to be information that's been verified, not speculation as to what might have happened and why and that sort of thing. So they're doing the right thing. They're waiting until they have real information to provide.

BROWN: Right. But, right now, the FBI director is saying that the rounds we showed shows an ideological motive behind this attack. Of course, the investigation continues in these early hours.

Thank you so much to everyone for coming on and sharing your reporting and analysis.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:48:50]

BROWN: We are following breaking news out of the United Nations this morning.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the General Assembly, urging world leaders to support his country against Russia's military and mourning that Moscow wants to expand its war. Zelenskyy's address comes after his meeting with President Trump yesterday. A short time after they met, President Trump reversed his position on the war and voiced confidence that Ukraine could regain its territory seized by Russia.

On social media, the president posted this: "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."

Quite a change there.

CNN chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto is at the United Nations.

Jim, what stood out to you the most from President Zelenskyy's speech?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: You know, Pam, as you stand in front of these flags here at the U.N. representing some 200 NATO members, when speakers speak to the U.N. General Assembly, of course, they're speaking to leaders of all those countries.

But I have to say, in listening to Zelenskyy's speech today, some of the lines had an audience of one, and that being President Trump. He referenced Trump's -- the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, saying that God saved him, President Trump.

[11:50:00]

He mentioned the Ukrainian woman who was so horribly murdered in North Carolina, Iryna Zarutska, which, of course, has become a story with a lot of coverage in conservative media. And what we hear from our White House colleagues, right, is that his outreach over the last several weeks and months has greatly warmed the relationship between Zelenskyy and Trump.

And I think you could draw a direct line between that and Trump's statements yesterday backing Ukraine in ways that he hasn't before, including saying that he now believes that somehow Ukraine might be able to win back all its territory.

Now, Zelenskyy also makes a point in speeches like this to make clear that this is not just Ukraine's war. He said in his speech that Ukraine is only the first. He mentioned Moldova, where Russia has had forces base there trying to slice off a piece of Moldova, and, of course, the drone and air incursions we have seen over Poland, over Estonia disrupting air traffic earlier this week as well, as signs that Russia has greater ambitions in Europe.

And just one more point is his talking about the advance of weapons and what that means to the security of this country and U.S. allies in Europe. Listen to what he had to say about drone technology specifically.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Stopping Russia now is cheaper than wondering who will be the first to create a simple drone carrying a nuclear warhead. So we must use everything we have together to force the aggressor to stop. And only then do we have a real chance that this arms race will not end in catastrophe for all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Yes, a deliberate reminder to the world that Ukraine has become a laboratory really of new weaponry, all the drones we have seen in both directions, Russian and Ukrainian drones, but saying there, as that technology advances, that's a threat to all of us.

The question going forward, Pam, I will say, is whether Trump's new stance on Ukraine holds. Ukrainians have seen a lot of switches and 180s from this president, so they will be watching to see if this backing continues.

BROWN: All right, Jim Sciutto, thank you so much from the U.N. there.

And new this morning, agencies with the U.K. and European Union are slamming President Trump's comments blaming Tylenol use among pregnant women for autism. That is despite decades of evidence saying that the drug is safe. The president advised no Tylenol during pregnancy, telling women to tough it out.

But what does the medical research say?

You have had a lot of questions about this, so let's page CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta for some answers.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela.

BROWN: Because there's a lot of questions, Sanjay. I just had a group of women on, an OB, a mother with autistic kids.

GUPTA: Yes, I saw that.

BROWN: ... and one of the experts who actually did that study in Sweden last year about this topic, who said that, look, there's associations, but no causal link from her study.

Let's start with Devon. Devon asked: "Do you believe the conversation should have been more targeted at pregnant women who may be accustomed to overusing Tylenol?"

GUPTA: Yes, this is a great question and a great point.

I think a lot of times in medicine people want things to appear black and white. Things are all good or all bad. And that's certainly not the case with Tylenol. We have known for some time, as you point out, that there have been these questionable associations between Tylenol and certain harms, including autism.

This is one of those points where we're trying to balance the benefits of treating a fever during pregnancy and any potential associations with the harm.

One thing I want to point out, I think this sort of makes this point, in addition to that study out of Sweden, there was a study out of Norway that basically said, OK, let's get a little bit more granular about this. They found that using acetaminophen or Tylenol during pregnancy for a month or 29 days or more increased the risk for ADHD, for example.

On the other hand, using it for one to seven days seemed to be protective against neurodevelopmental problems, point being, again, there's a nuance here. You want to use the lowest dose for the shortest amount of time and certainly want to treat fevers during pregnancy.

BROWN: All right. That's really, really interesting.

Bill from Maine asks: "What steps can be taken to minimize the risks of a fever while pregnant?"

GUPTA: Yes.

So, again, this gets at that association. Is it the Tylenol, is it the fever or is it what caused the fever in the first place that's associated with autism? You want to try and reduce infections always, but especially during pregnancy. There's all kinds of infections that people are vulnerable to.

But, Pamela, as you well know, when someone is pregnant, in a sense, their body is immune-compromised because they're trying to hold this baby, carry this baby, so their immune system doesn't fight off infections as well.

[11:55:03]

So, these types of infections that you see on the screen are some of the most common that occur during pregnancy. Trying to do things to minimize the risk of these infections, so you don't develop an infection, you don't develop a fever, and don't need Tylenol, that would be the best bet.

BROWN: All right, Sanjay Gupta, as always, thank you so much.

GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.

BROWN: And thank you all for joining us. We will see you back here tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Wolf Blitzer will be back.

"INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" is right after a short break.