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Erika Kirk Says She Forgives Husband's Accused Killer; Trump Says He Will Make Amazing Announcement on Autism; Trump Calls for Prosecutions of Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Letitia James. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 22, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What still has people talking this morning, the stunning moment from Charlie Kirk's widow at the memorial overnight.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, today, the Trump administration is set to tie the use of Tylenol to the risk of autism. Why this announcement is now raising alarm among many researchers.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And monkeying around, a person paraglide in a giant monkey costume on a skateboard. We get to watch together a wild ride over the French Alps.

I'm Sara Sidner back from medical leave and to save John Berman and Kate Bolduan from having to say, Sara is out. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: Welcome back, Sara Sidner. That is the best news of the day. All right, this morning, conflicting visions of the path for politics and discourse in the United States with questions about which vision will prevail. Thousands packed in Arizona Stadium to honor slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In a powerful moment, his widow Erika fought through tears to say she forgives the alleged killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIKA KIRK, WIDOW OF CHARLIE KIRK: On the cross, our savior said, Father, forgive them for they not know what they do. That man, that young man, I forgive him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And many speakers discussed Kirk's faith and desire to engage political opponents. Not quite so much President Trump, after a weekend pushing for the literal prosecution of rivals, he notably split from Kirk on one aspect of the path forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That's where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them. I'm sorry. I am sorry, Erika. But now, Erika can talk to me and the whole group and maybe they can convince me that that's not right. But I can't stand my opponent.

Charlie's angry looking down. He's angry at me now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's Betsy Klein at the White House this morning. Oh, that's somewhat divergent message.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, John. I was inside that stadium as thousands gathered to honor the late Charlie Kirk. And people were milling about throughout the event. There was a lot of chitchatting, but it was absolutely silent when Erika Kirk took the stage, so much emotion.

And as you laid out, there were two really divergent themes throughout the event. The first was faith. Multiple speakers described this not as a funeral, but as a religious revival. There was music, there was pyrotechnics, and that unifying message of radical forgiveness from Erika Kirk. And speakers like Vice President J.D. Vance Secretaries, Rubio and Hegseth described Kirk's faith as a foundation for his movement.

We also saw that event turns starkly political at times, really laying bare the deep political divisions in this country in the aftermath of Kirk's assassination, a combative Stephen Miller railing against unnamed enemies and President Trump blaming the radical left, even as he wove in elements of Charlie Kirk's life story. He also described their personal relationship, but at times it felt like a political rally. He described a crackdown on crime in Chicago as well as tariffs and autism, and at one point, the president describing Kirk's assassination as an attack on his movement. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Charlie's murder was not just an attack on one man or one movement, it was an attack on our entire nation. That was a horrible attack on the United States of America. It was an assault on our most sacred liberties and God-given rights. The gun was pointed at him, but the bullet was aimed at all of us. That bullet was aimed at every one of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:05:01]

KLEIN: Now, one thing that was just abundantly clear during this event was the deep influence that Charlie Kirk had on the Trump administration. He was so instrumental in helping them fill out their staff as well as cabinet members, Vice President Vance saying they wouldn't be here without him in a nod to the deep organization and mobilization that his group had in the 2024 election.

And one other really notable moment, John, was that while Secretary Hegseth spoke, President Trump sat in a box suite with Elon Musk. That is the first time those two men have been seen together publicly since that explosive fight earlier this summer.

And Kirk had been acting as somewhat of a mediator between those two men. One friend of Kirk said that it was something that Charlie wanted, quote, so badly to see. John?

BERMAN: That is one of the indelible images from that memorial. But, really, Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, I think she sent shockwaves through the stadium and through the country with what she said and how she said it.

Betsy Klein, thank you so much for that. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Today President Trump will make a major claim about autism. Trump saying, I think we found an answer to autism. The president is expected to link the development of autism in children with Tylenol use during pregnancy along with vitamin deficiency,

CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell joins me. This is a huge move and a big claim. What are you learning?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, this is something that has been studied for more than a decade and it's an idea that's been around. There is definitely concern about perhaps the strength of this warning. A lot of folks in the medical community are saying, yes, there have been studies, but there has been no causative association from Tylenol and autism. And so that's kind of what they're concerned about.

But the reports are suggesting that we are going to hear a warning against using Tylenol during pregnancy perhaps except for high fevers. And we've also heard that they may be planning on talking about a drug called Leucovorin, which is a currently approved drug as a treatment for autism.

But looking at specifically at the Tylenol question, more than half of pregnant women report using Tylenol during pregnancy worldwide, perhaps even more than that, so this is just absolutely widely used. And so there's a lot of concern that this will strike fear into a lot of people.

There have been studies about this, and one of the most recent ones came out about a month ago. It looked at 46 previous studies. And the results of those studies were mixed. But what they found is that their analysis demonstrated, quote, evidence consistent with an association between exposure to acetaminophen or Tylenol during pregnancy, and offspring with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. They say, though, observational limitations preclude definitive causation, meaning, you know, you can't prove causation just two things might be linked.

We should also say that Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, is disputing this potential link, saying that, quote, independent sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism. We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers.

ACOG, for example, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, not changing their guidance on this, still saying acetaminophen is safe during pregnancy and it can be dangerous not to treat a fever, and there aren't other good options.

SIDNER: I mean, with so many people taking Tylenol, you'd think that there would be a lot more cases of autism to you since 50 percent of pregnant women do use Tylenol, and the fact that causation and association are not the same thing. But what about treatment and the treatment part of this.

TIRRELL: Right. So, there's this drug called Leucovorin, which is already approved essentially to help sort of mitigate some of the side effects from chemotherapy, methotrexate. And that's what it's approved for. There are certain other uses. It's sort of a form of folate or vitamin B. And the suggestion is that they are going to say this could be a possible therapy for kids with autism. And there have been very, very small studies on this. So, experts are urging caution on this as well, saying this is not a panacea to treat all kids with autism.

SIDNER: Meg Tirrell, this is pretty big. A lot of people use Tylenol during pregnancy and otherwise. Thank you so much. We'll be watching this really closely. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Also ahead for us, President Trump's brazen and explicit new order for the attorney general of the United States when it comes to his political opponents. So, what is Pam Bondi to do now?

Plus, a big cat handler with ties to Tiger King, Joe Exotic, is killed during a tiger show.

And a natural gas pipeline explodes, flames seen more than 60 miles away.

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BOLDUAN: So, just a day after demanding the attorney general go after three of his perceived enemies, the president is standing by said attorney general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Pam Bondi is doing a great job. I think Pam Bondi is going to go down as one of the best attorney generals of the age.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Where this started though was the president taking the word unprecedented and throwing it out the window once again when he publicly vented at Bondi, ordering her to bring criminal charges against his political foes, including on your screen there, former FBI Director James Comey, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York's Attorney General Letitia James. It all happened on social media where the president said in part, we can't delay any longer.

[07:15:00]

It's killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me. They indicted me over nothing, he says.

Joining us right now is former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District, Elie Honig. Is there any nuance in this?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: No. This is about as straightforward as it gets. Look, we try to not overuse this unprecedented word. This is truly unprecedented. Never before have we had a president overtly and publicly instructing his attorney general, I need you to indict my political enemies and why this is such a big deal is what has defined DOJ, what has made DOJ DOJ over the decades and centuries, Republican, Democratic administrations alike, is a degree of independence, when it comes to that prosecutorial function. And so it's incredibly dangerous if you have a president who is ordering an A.G. who knows nothing about the evidence, by the way, the president, to say, go after these people, indict them, evidence be damned. That is a red line that's being crossed.

BOLDUAN: And as part of this one U.S. attorney has been removed, another said to being brought in. What does it do to put a new prosecutor on this?

HONIG: Well, it does nothing to improve the quality of the evidence against Letitia James or any of the other people. And this is an important point. We don't know here in the public all of the evidence against Letitia James, let's say, for example. However, we do know a couple things. One, a team of career prosecutors, the people who were running this case for months, looked at it and ultimately concluded there's not a viable criminal charge here.

More to the point, the now former US attorney guy named Eric Seibert, he was against charging it. And you know how he got that job in the first place? Trump appointed him. And then, finally, Todd Blanche, the deputy U.S. attorney -- excuse me, deputy attorney general for the United States, who used to represent Donald Trump in his criminal cases and is very much shown himself to be a Trump loyalist, he too, according to the reporting, pushed back on this and said, this is not a viable criminal charge. I think we can draw a lesson from that.

BOLDUAN: And you mentioned Letitia James, so just taking that as an example, the New York attorney general. What can she do here? Can she avoid being charged?

HONIG: So, this is a great reminder of the unilateral power that prosecutors hold. There is next to nothing that Letitia James or anyone else can do to stop DOJ from investigating or really even to prevent a charge. Yes, a prosecutor would've to go to a grand jury first, it could be a grand jury, rejects the case, but 99.8 percent of the time grand juries will approve indictments, right? However, what someone in Letitia James' position can do after an indictment comes out, and this is maybe little solace, you challenge it in court. You ask a judge to dismiss it. You have your right to a jury trial. You have right to an appeal.

But I want to make this point, if this case gets charged, I promise you, Letitia James' attorneys will argue for dismissal based on what we call selective prosecution, meaning she is being singled out for things that other people have done similar conduct because of her politics, for a political reason. And what better support for that could they have than the president's tweet barrage this weekend. So, in a way, Donald Trump is undermining DOJ's ability to bring these cases and succeed in the first place.

BOLDUAN: Just really quickly, and this comes with whenever norms are shattered or unprecedented occurs, what guardrails are there in place over all of this or not?

HONIG: Well, the most important one is inside DOJ. You need people with integrity. You need people who know how this business works to stand up and say no. And we saw the resignation. Trump says he fired him, but it was a resignation of the U.S. attorney. It's good to know that Todd Blanche internally is pushing back. Reportedly, Pam Bondi has some reservations about this too. So, that's one big guardrail. But if those are toppled, then we have to rely on our court systems, our judges, our juries, our appeals courts.

BOLDUAN: So, stand by to standby.

HONIG: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Thanks.

HONIG: All right. Thanks.

BOLDUAN: John?

BERMAN: All right. Business leaders with a stark new warning on the economy, and hoop history, recognizing true greatness on the court.

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[07:20:00]

SIDNER: The Rams of those Birds clashed in a high-stakes matchup yesterday, and it was bananas. This game had all the drama.

Let's bring in CNN Sports Anchor Amanda Davies. How are you? And, good grief, this was fun.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It was Sarah, welcome back, wonderful to see you. Bananas, I think, an underused word in sport. It really was a wild weekend of action in the NFL and a Sunday that could have been dubbed the late show. There was so much decided in the final plays, Philadelphia seeing the battle of the undefeated between the Eagles and the Rams.

Los Angeles up 26-7 at one moment, but the Super Bowl champions producing a mega comeback. They took a one point lead with under two minutes to go while on this Jalen Hurts touchdown pass. Then three seconds left, the Ram's going for the game winning field goal only for big Jordan Davis to block it, scoop it, and take it all the way for a touchdown at the other end. 336 pounds, hitting 18 miles an hour, very much becoming the star of the show. So, the Eagles took it 33-26, their biggest home comeback since 1988 to say unbeaten this season. They've now won 19 of their last 20.

Over to an upset in Cleveland, though, with the 2-0, Green Bay Packers looking for the game winning field goal there, but Denzel Ward had other ideas. He produced the block, the Browns recovered. And with a few ticks left on the clock, a game-winning field goal attempt of their own, Andre Szmyt from 55 yards out, nailing it for an improbable win for the Browns against one of the Super Bowl contenders. So, Szmyt, the hero of 13-10 wins to give the Browns their first victory of this season, ending an eight-game losing run.

And a massive congratulations to Las Vegas Aces Star A'ja Wilson, who's won the WNBA MVP award. Again, it could actually almost be renamed the A'ja Wilson Award, the fourth time she's claimed it. She was surprised by her boyfriend, Miami Heat Star Bam Adebayo and Lead Commissioner Kathy Engelbert at practice.

[07:25:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do have some media. Probably could you just let him in, Kathy (ph)?

DAVIES: It doesn't matter if you've won it four times. The celebration's still as brilliant, 29 years of age, Wilson, the first player in league history to win the honor four times. Her dad and Mark Davis wearing pink wigs with the ACEs staff to deliver the award. She turned up at the media there, yes, in the pink wig. And pink is very much her color and there is nothing wrong with that. I'm all in.

SIDNER: I don't know what I love more, like seeing her sort of fall into this happy space when she sees her husband, or her boyfriend, bringing out the thing, or the pink wigs. I don't know. They're both awesome.

Amanda Davies, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Pink wigs, always pink wigs.

SIDNER: Pink wigs, you're for the -- okay, good. We'll get you one.

BOLDUAN: Please?

SIDNER: Okay.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, madam.

Coming up for us, could TikTok soon be partially owned by the people who run Fox News? The latest play by play and twist and turn from the president on that pending ban and pending deal over China's ownership of the app.

And California fighting back against ICE's immigration crackdown in a new way with new laws that could force agents to unmask and also prohibit where they can go.

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