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Netanyahu Defends Israeli's Military Efforts In United Nations Address; Comey Vows To Fight Back Against Federal Indictment; Trump Comments On His Peace Plan For Gaza. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 26, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, global walkout, scores of delegates from around the world protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech over at the United Nations General Assembly as he defends very, strongly defends Israel amid mounting pressure to end the war in Gaza.

Plus, and I'm quoting now. I am not afraid. The former FBI director, James Comey, maintains his innocence after being indicted days after President Trump pressured the Justice Department to prosecute Trump's political enemies.

And sticker shock, the cost of your prescription drugs, furniture, and kitchen and bathroom cabinets are expected to spike after President Trump adds yet more new tariffs.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown has the day off, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, just addressed the United Nations General Assembly where scores of delegates walked out in protest. Netanyahu defending his country's war against Hamas in Gaza despite the suffering of some innocent Palestinians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The final elements, the final remnants of Hamas are holed up in Gaza City. They vow to repeat the atrocities of October 7th again and again and again, no matter how diminished their forces. That is why Israel must finish the job.

Much of the world no longer remembers October 7th, but we remember, Israel remembers October 7th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: This after President Trump spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu about the war yesterday. President Trump's saying, and I'm quoting now, we're getting pretty close to having a deal on Gaza and maybe even on peace, end quote. That's from President Trump. Let's go live right now to CNN's Jerusalem Bureau Chief Oren Liebermann. Oren, it was a remarkable moment to see so many U.N. delegates simply walk out of protest of Netanyahu's U.N. address. He spoke for about 40 minutes or so. What stood out to you about his speech?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Wolf, we have often seen U.N delegates leave when the Israeli leader speaks here, but I'm not sure we've ever seen it un quite these numbers. And that gets at the growing risk of isolation that Israel faces as we near in just a few weeks here, the two-year mark of the war amid Israel's escalating assault on Gaza City itself and the humanitarian crisis.

In terms of the speech itself and what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, I think it was largely predictable. He started the speech focusing on Iran and its proxies. He, of course, talked about October 7th and accused world leaders and others of forgetting or not remembering what happened on October 7th. He vowed Israel would not do that and was unapologetic about Israel pursuing its goal of the complete destruction of Hamas in Gaza.

He made no reference to any imminent or potential end of the war anytime soon, which is why President Donald Trump's quote that you read right before is an interesting one. There is reason to be skeptical there, but, of course, Trump and the U.N. in general has brought renewed focus on the war in Gaza, so this is something we'll have to pay attention to.

In terms of what we saw here that was new, first, Israel and the Israeli military broadcast the audio of the speech through speakers set up around Gaza. Netanyahu at one point spoke or tried to speak at least directly to the hostages in Hebrew and in English. We have often seen Netanyahu uses what I would call shticks effectively to get headlines of world attention. And this may be this year's version of that. It's unclear if they actually were able to hear Netanyahu's speech in any way.

He then went after the leaders of world countries that have recognized a state of Palestine, France, U.K., Australia amongst a list of those countries that have done so this week. He said they had, quote, buckled and caved under the pressure of what he described as biased media coverage, extremist Islamist minorities, and he expressed what we've seen not only from him but from other Israeli officials, which was blatant anger at these countries for doing so, accusing these countries of rewarding Hamas and rewarding terrorism, even though, for example, France has made it clear that Hamas must disarm and can have no role in the future governance of Gaza.

[10:05:20]

It is also -- and I'll wrap up here, Wolf, it is probably the strongest statement I think we have seen from Netanyahu in years of speaking at the U.N. openly and vocally denying that there will be a Palestinian state or a two-state solution. Wolf, we've heard him talk about this in the past, but never in such strong opposition to it.

BLITZER: Yes, he was very, very forceful on that issue.

Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem, thank you very much for that update.

And there's more breaking news we're following here this morning. The former FBI director, James Comey, is vowing to fight back against his federal indictment in a new video message. The indictment made public yesterday accusing him of lying to Congress during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee back in 2020, and it comes after President Trump publicly demanded the U.S. Justice Department go after his political enemies, including Comey. And this is Comey's response. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: we will not live on our knees, and you shouldn't either. Somebody that I love dearly recently said that fear is the tool of a tyrant, and she's right. But I'm not afraid, and I hope you're not either.

I'm innocent, so let's have a trial and keep the faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We are following all the dramatic and important angles of this momentous, historic story.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is standing by over at the White House for us. I want to start though with CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz, who's here with me in The Situation Room. What are you learning this morning, Katelyn?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're taking a closer look at what these charges exactly are against James Comey, the former FBI director, charges that not just the prosecutors prepared and took to a grand jury, even though there was some misgivings, consternation within the Justice Department on whether this was a strong case. They are charges approved by a federal grand jury.

All of this is about testimony that Jim Comey gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September of 2020.

BLITZER: Hold on one second, Katelyn. I want to listen to President Trump speaking just moments ago to reporters as he is leaving the White House.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: -- And we'll be watching that. This is Kai, by the way, in case you didn't know. How are you? And we'll be watching a little golf.

I think we have maybe a deal on Gaza, very close to a deal on Gaza. How are you? Hello Peter. And it's looking like we have a deal on Gaza. And we'll let you know. I think it's a deal that will get the hostages back. It's going to be a deal that will end the war. It's going to be a deal with -- it's going to be peace. I think we have a deal. That'll be number eight, Peter. Not today. REPORTER: Mr. President, on James Comey. Now that James Comey has been indicted, who is the next person on your list in this retribution?

TRUMP: It's not a list, but I think there'll be others. I mean, they're corrupt. These were corrupt, radical left Democrats. Because Comey essentially was a -- he's worse than a Democrat. I would say the Democrats are better than Comey. But, no, there will be others.

Look, it was -- that's my opinion. They weaponized the Justice Department like nobody in history. What they've done is terrible. And so I would -- I hope there -- frankly, I hope there are others, because you can't let this happen to a country.

REPORTER: Will you appoint a permanent U.S. attorney to try this case? Lindsey Halligan has never tried a case.

TRUMP: We'll see, but it's a pretty easy case because, look, he lied. You saw my Truth today. He lied. Yes, no, he didn't say, well, in my opinion, he didn't do a lot of things that maybe he should have, but I don't think he could because he lied. That was a very important question that he was asked, and he wanted to be specific, but he didn't. The only thing that happened to him, he didn't think he'd get caught.

That's answer that he gave. That was a very important answer. And it was very -- for him, it was a very good answer if he didn't get caught, but he got caught lying to Congress.

REPORTER: President Trump, are you worried now that the next time there's a Democratic president, they will indict your FBI director or people in your administration?

TRUMP: That's what they tried to do, right? They did it with me. For four years, they went after me. They went after me for four years, and that doesn't include the four great years that we had in the White House. So, when I ran it from, you know, in 2016 when we won, it began before I got to office.

[10:10:02]

You know that.

Wait a minute. Before I came to office, I started hearing rumors about Russia. I said, what the hell do I have to do with Russia? Nothing. And then it got worse and worse, and some of the fake news, not you, but some of the fake news picked it up and they loved it. And we went through a long time with that. And despite that, we had a great first term.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) that's how it went, where they made you go and take a mug shot. Is this more about justice or is it about revenge?

TRUMP: It's about justice, really. It's not revenge. It's about justice. It's also about the fact that you can't let this go on. They are sick, radical left people and they can't get away with it. And Comey was one of the people, he wasn't the biggest, but he's a dirty cop. He's always been a dirty cop. Everybody knew it. And it's -- you know, as far as the case is concerned, he gave an answer. It was a strong answer. He then verified it a couple of times because that was a very important answer. If he would've equivocated, if he would've been like a little bit less sure, that would've been very bad for him.

So, he gave an answer. The only problem is for him, he didn't think it'd be caught, and he got caught, Peter,

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: This is about justice. He lied. He lied a lot. But this was a very important thing. This was -- he could have said, well, maybe, or, I don't remember. He didn't say that. He gave a very specific answer and then he verified it numerous times, and he got caught.

The problem that Comey has is he got caught lying. And he was very strong -- it's not like, well, maybe, or I don't remember, he gave a very specific answer because it was a very powerful question, a very important question. And when he gave the answer, the only problem is he got caught. So --

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Well, we're going to see. But the radical left Democrats want to shut it down. I mean, it's up to them. We have a great economy going. You saw the numbers yesterday. They're fantastic. The economy's doing well. Prices are down. We have virtually no inflation. Everything's going good. We're respected by every nation in the world. And you know what happened? The Democrats want to shut it down and they want to shut it down because they want to give billions, ultimately trillions of dollars to illegal migrants, people that came into our country illegally. Some of those people are criminals, but they came into our country illegally. And they want to give them the essential over the years trillions of dollars. And our people aren't going to stand for it.

They also want to have open borders. They want to have men in women's sports. They want to have transgender for everybody. These people are crazy, the Democrats. So, if it has to shut down, it'll have to shut down. But they're the ones that are shutting down the government.

BLITZER: All right. So, there you see the president of the United States with his granddaughter, Kai, heading over to Marine One just a little while ago. The president getting ready to fly up to Long Island to observe the Ryder Cup Golf Tournament later this afternoon. He'll be there for that. We're watching what the president is, of course, saying in the aftermath of Prime Minister in Netanyahu's speech at the United Nations.

I want to go back to Kevin Liptak over at the White House right now. Kevin he spoke about Netanyahu, spoke about peace. He said he thinks that there's a deal. I think we have a deal when it comes to Gaza. He was pretty upbeat about that. And he also blasted James Comey, calling him a sick, radical dirty cop. He lied. He lied. He lied. So, he was very consistent on those points. KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And I think just on Gaza, the president didn't offer any of the contours of this deal that he says is in the offering. And I would just note that this has to be at least the seventh or eighth time when it has seemed that we're close to a deal to end that war, to get the hostages out, only to see it all collapse.

And so the president obviously upbeat. I think we can all hope that perhaps we're nearing an end to that conflict with some sort of negotiated settlement, but there's nothing in our history covering this conflict to suggest that we're any closer than we were before. But, obviously, we'll have to see what the president was exactly talking about.

And, certainly, it was the questions and answers on James Comey that I think were so notable here. Obviously, the president demonstrating quite an intimate knowledge of some of the prosecutorial details of this case. You know, just yesterday, he was suggesting that he would not be involved in this, but I think his words here really do betray a level of insight that doesn't necessarily comport with that.

[10:15:01]

I asked the president, who is next potentially on this list of perceived enemies that he's going after. The president said that there wasn't a list, but he was explicit. He says, I think there will be others. I hope that there will be others, that there will be others, suggesting that this campaign of retribution that, remember, he made the center of his campaign last year, that he has now made the center of his presidency is not quite over.

BLITZER: All right. Kevin Liptak monitoring all this at the White House for us, Kevin, thank you very much.

Katelyn Polantz is still with me. What jumped out at you, Katelyn?

POLANTZ: Well, there were two things that the president said right off the bat when he was asked, Comey's indicted, who's next? The first thing he said, I don't have a list, but I think there will be others. We do know that there are several political foes of Donald Trump who are currently under investigation, some by Ed Martin, the pardon attorney and weaponization committee prosecutor who's looking at people like the attorney general of New York for mortgage fraud, Adam Schiff and some others.

We also know there's an investigation into John Bolton that's ongoing and reported yesterday amid this fog of the Comey indictment being handed up, that the Justice Department leadership was demanding a charge against John Bolton today, by today, even though prosecutors didn't think it was ready to go. We haven't seen that yet.

The other thing that I should note that Trump just pointed out, he said Comey, he's worse than a Democrat. In fact, James Comey is a Republican. He was first appointed to a political position at the Justice Department in 2002 to be the Southern District of New York's U.S. attorney after 9/11 in the W. Bush administration, and then he was appointed to be the deputy attorney general in 2003, also under W. Bush.

BLITZER: Yes, all right. He's got quite a record there and we're watching all of this unfold.

I want to bring in a former Federal Prosecutor and CNN Legal Analyst Elliot Williams right now. Elliot, I know if you read this very short, little two-page indictment. Count one, false statements within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the United States government. That's the first charge that the grand jury accepted. Count two, obstruction of a Congressional proceeding. These are serious perjury charges, potentially, if convicted, he could face five years in jail.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. Well, to be clear, virtually, no one who is ever charged with a crime gets the statutory maximum, but they do carry five year maxes, each of the two sentences. So --

BLITZER: Would he serve that simultaneously or consecutively?

WILLIAMS: That's up to the judge. In all likelihood, they would be served simultaneously only because they -- I believe they -- it depends what evidence they come forward with. If they're seen as referring to the same course of events, then, yes, they'd be served simultaneously. But, again, that's the judge's call to make.

BLITZER: It's still a long way to go?

WILLIAMS: Still a long way to go.

BLITZER: Yes. In an unusual move, the grand jury rejected a third charge against Comey of making a false statement. Grand jury indictments have traditionally been seen as slam dunks for prosecutors. So, what does that tell you about the overall strength of this effort against Comey?

WILLIAMS: Right. Certainly, prosecutors typically succeed in getting charges when they come to a grand jury because the bar is lower than it is to convict someone at trial. In the grand jury, prosecutors only need to show probable cause or that it's more likely than not that a crime happened. It's not as high as reasonable doubt, which is that really high standards you know about in court.

Now, the fact that the grand jury did separate the charges and look at one, it just appears that they did not feel they had -- even if a questionable or false statement was made, they just couldn't -- they didn't feel that prosecutors would be able to establish it beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

That's also supported by the fact, Wolf, that prosecutors within the office raised misgivings about the case and about the strength of the evidence that they had. So, it's not surprising that they rejected one of the charges. Now, we'll see what the government comes forward with in terms of what they're able to establish with respect to the ones that they did bring. BLITZER: The president has repeatedly, as you know, publicly called on the Justice Department to go after his political enemies, naming Comey specifically. So, how will that specifically impact this potential case?

WILLIAMS: Yes. It could be quite bad for the case, only because every time the president opens his mouth and talks about or suggests retribution, he strengthens Comey's chances of getting the case dismissed as malicious or selective. Even his comments today that they went after me, therefore, this needs to happen now.

You know, we can't dispute that a number of Democratic prosecutors did go after the president or did bring charges against the president in his first term, by acknowledging we are doing this as a means of correcting the record, he is acknowledging that, yes, there's other things beyond the four corners of the indictments here that are being considered. That gives Comey an opportunity to go to court and say, look, this is not about what I did. This is about the president and politics. And once you can say that, there's a great chance of getting an indictment tossed out.

[10:20:02]

BLITZER: Yes. It's a lot easier to get an indictment than it is to get a conviction before a grand jury -- before a jury. So, we'll see what happens on that.

Elliot, thank you very, very much.

WILLIAMS: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Elliot Williams helping us with the legal aspect.

Still to come, new and very disturbing video is sparking outrage this morning. A federal agent shoves a woman to the floor at an immigration courthouse in New York. What led up to the confrontation?

Plus, mysterious meeting, I'm joined by a former deputy Pentagon press secretary to discuss the order for hundreds of U.S. generals and admirals to make their way to Virginia.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, a highly unsettling scene at an immigration courthouse in New York. I want to warn our viewers the video you're about to see is disturbing.

As you just saw, the woman was forcibly slammed to the floor by a federal agent. According to reports, she was upset after her husband was detained by masked agents. The incident took place in front of her children. Let's go live right now to CNN National Correspondent Gloria Pazmino, who's in New York, watching all of this unfold. This is hard to watch, Gloria. Walk us through how this incident took place.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, and I think it's important to mention right off the bat that unfortunately situations like this one perhaps not as violent as what we are watching in this video, but situations like this one are unfolding almost on the daily faces here in New York City, as migrants who are trying to go through the immigration process are showing up to the federal courtrooms to try and be present for their cases. And oftentimes they're being taken into custody.

That's exactly what led up to these moments. This family had showed up for a court appointment that they are legally required to do, and the husband of this woman had just been taken into custody by the officers prior to the beginning of this video.

And in the video, when you watch, you can hear her pleading with the officers. At one point, she says that her husband will be killed, meaning if he goes back to his country, Ecuador, that he will be killed. And she's pleading with them, asking them to take her instead.

The officer tries to dismiss her. He shoves her away, tells her to not touch him. And you can see as he sort of charges towards her and pushes her down to the ground, all of this in front of her children.

Now, Wolf, one thing I do want to mention is you can see in that video just how many photographers and media are also present. And this has been critically important to document and to show what's been happening in the hallways of 26 Federal Plaza here in New York City, something that we have been watching unfold over several weeks now as more and more migrants are taken into custody.

I also want to say that we are just getting reaction from the Department of Homeland Security. I've just learned that the officer involved in that video has been relieved from his duties. We have a quote here from the department saying, the officer's conduct in this video is unacceptable. And beneath the men and women of ICE, our ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards, and this officer is being relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation. That's from the assistant DHS secretary.

Wolf, I have to say, it is not very often that we see an outright condemnation and reaction from the Department of Homeland Security following incidents led this one. We've seen so many, not just here in New York City, but all around the country, as the Trump administration continues to ratchet up, its immigration enforcement.

BLITZER: Yes. It's so hard to believe these kinds of scenes, officer slamming this woman to the ground in front of her children taking place here in the United States.

Gloria Pazmino, thank you very, very much.

We also have some new developments unfolding right now, a mysterious order coming from the U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. He has summoned hundreds of top U.S. generals and admirals to a meeting in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday. The senior military officers will be coming from around the world, but no one seems to know why, none of the officers or admirals or generals. The White House is dismissing the intrigue. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I'll be there if they want me, but why is that such a big deal? I mean, he's -- the fact that we're getting along with the generals and admirals from all -- remember, I'm the president of peace. It's good to get along. It's good. You act like this is a bad thing. Isn't it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: It's not particularly unusual that generals who report to the secretary of war and then to the president of the United States are coming to speak with the secretary of war. It's actually not unusual at all, and I think it's odd that you guys have made it into such a big story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: One official joked that it's being called the general Squid Games, but not everyone is laughing. In May, Hegseth ordered the Defense Department to cut the number of four star generals and admirals by at least 20 percent.

Let's discuss this and more with the former deputy Pentagon press secretary and CNN political and global affairs commentator, Sabrina Singh. She's here with me in The Situation Room.

[10:30:00]

Sabrina, you heard very clearly the president and the vice president, J.D. Vance, attempting to downplay this very unusual in-person meeting of hundreds of senior military officials being told come to Quantico, Virginia, for this meeting.