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California Bans Most Law Enforcement Officers From Wearing Masks on Duty; Antifa to be Designated a Domestic Terrorist Organization, Says White House; Trump Administration Expected to Link Autism to Common Pain Reliever; Netanyahu Assails Countries' Recognition of Palestinian State. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 22, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- jurisdiction for this law. We heard from Acting U.S. Attorney for California, Bill Essayli. He said that it would not have any effect on those federal agents here in California and that they will continue to mask up. It begs the question of whether or not this is just political theater and posturing from the governor on a national state, or if there is any chance of this being enforced come January 1st, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right, Julia Vargas Jones, thank you for the report from Los Angeles. And our next hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Targeting his opponents in a Truth Social post, President Trump appears to be pressuring Attorney General Pam Bondi to use the Justice Department to go after his political adversaries. Meantime, President Trump also calls it an answer to autism, but some health experts aren't buying it. The White House set to announce today, what it believes is a link between the disorder and a common pain reliever used by many women in pregnancy. And Jimmy Kimmel's exile from late night may become permanent. One of the late-night host's cousins and a longtime rider on the show says that there are still a couple of bombshells out there. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We are breaking news out of the White House, where moments ago, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that President Trump would be signing an executive order designating the leftist anti-fascism movement, known as Antifa, as a domestic terrorist organization. That's an order that could be signed as soon as today. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live for us at the White House.

Kristen, the president, had promised to crack down on left-wing groups following the murder of Charlie Kirk. What more is the White House revealing about this new order and how they plan to enforce it?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, that's the big question. I mean, what does this actually look like in practice? We know that he is likely to sign this executive or order as early as today. He, of course, had said that he wanted to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. But the thing to remember about Antifa is that there is no real organizational structure. There is no leadership. There's not even a leadership group to be looking at. So, it's very unclear how you would actually use this and use this designation in practice. And here's really the only details we've been able to get were given by the press secretary today. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: For those in the room who don't believe this is a serious threat to American safety and our national security, but this administration knows that it is, that's why the president will be signing this order. And we will also be most importantly, looking at who is funding Antifa and who is funding these other violent left-wing groups that we've seen perpetuate so much crime and mayhem across our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And we have heard this for a number of years, coming from particularly conservatives, alleging that these protestors are paid protesters, that there is somebody, a larger network that is funding these various left-wing groups. We've tried to get some information as to what exactly they're looking into, who exactly they're looking into, what groups other than Antifa are on this list and so far no answers. Now, President Trump did say last night during his speech at Charlie Kirk's memorial that they felt like they had a lead, essentially, in who was financing this. But again, we've followed up with that to get some kind of indication of what they're looking at and who that might be or what entity that might be, we still don't have any answers.

KEILAR: All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for that. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Just moments ago, the White House defending President Trump's calls for his Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political opponents. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: It is not weaponizing the Department of Justice to demand accountability for those who weaponize the Department of Justice. And nobody knows what that looks like more than President Trump. We are not going to tolerate gaslighting from anyone in the media or from anyone on the other side who is trying to say that it's the president who is weaponizing the DOJ. It was Joe Biden and his attorney general who weaponized the DOJ.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Those comments coming after the president criticized Bondi for not being more aggressive in going after Trump's political adversaries. In a social media post on Saturday, writing "We can't delay any longer. It's killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice and indicted me five times over nothing. Justice must be served now." The president even called out his opponents by name saying they're guilty as hell. He lists off former FBI Director James Comey, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

With us now to discuss these developments is Harry Litman. He's a former U.S. Attorney and a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General. Harry, great to see you as always. If the DOJ is supposed to be --

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: -- independent of politics, what does a post like this do? What do the comments from Karoline Leavitt do?

[14:05:00]

LITMAN: Well, they make it clear that there's only one reason that they want to prosecute here. And that's because of the reprisal for the former efforts against Trump. What is missing here? The facts of any federal crime. Indeed, they just dismissed someone on Friday who said, I'm sorry, I can't indict Letitia James because we don't have the facts here. I just want to say, Boris, because we've had a flurry of activity involving DOJ, it may all blend together.

Speaking as a prosecutor, there is nothing worse, I mean, rock bottom than prosecuting someone without evidence for starters and doing it at the political pleasure of the president in order to have reprisal against political enemies. That's just the complete demolition of the DOJ mission of without -- of justice without fear or favor. We have that -- it is despotism, pure and simple. And even if you look at what Leavitt is saying, it's got nothing to do with crimes. The indictment of someone in investigation without a predicate of facts and law is an absolute scandal. It's viewed that way by everyone within the Department of Justice.

SANCHEZ: Well, it's notable that they're not actually -- at this point, that I've heard talking about prosecuting any of these folks for what they're claiming as the weaponization of DOJ. Right? Like Trump has talked about Letitia James and some sort of accusation, some tie to mortgage fraud. I, to this point, have not seen any evidence of that. But it's interesting that they're, they're not actually trying to prosecute them on the grounds that they're claiming. Right?

LITMAN Exactly. Interesting is one word for it; corrupt is another. There is no federal crime there. Even if you object to what happened, there is no federal crime in having participated in the impeachment, brought cases against Trump. So the idea is we'll make something up, for example, the mortgage fraud which has been really strongly debunked, and that's why his own nominee for U.S. Attorney said there's nothing here and he was fired. So that, you've put your finger exactly on it.

They purport to want to prosecute people in the absence of a federal crime, the very first command of -- to any assistant in the principles of federal prosecution -- the Constitution command is you may not -- that's a -- it's a Kafkaesque nightmare to bring charges in the absence of evidence and that it be done at the political behest of the president. We must do this now because why? They impeached and convict and indicted me is a complete undermining of everything the DOJ stands for. This is really rock bottom, Boris

SANCHEZ: A Kafkaesque nightmare. Franz Kafka, getting a shout out on "CNN News Central." Harry, before we go, I also wonder what this post potentially does to any case that the government might bring because these folks getting accused could just use it as their defense and say this is political. Right? Isn't the president here in some ways stymieing his own efforts to persecute his political adversaries?

LITMAN: Yeah, I mean, it's a great point. You're going to see this Truth Social post show up again and again by -- with claims by any defendant who's on the wrong side of Trump that this is done just for political reasons and therefore, the legal term would be selective prosecution, typically a very hard claim to make. But here, they've just served it up with a ribbon and bow. So on top of everything else, it's a stupid thing to say, but I just want to lead with the point of how wrong and corrupt and against the very DNA of all prosecutors. But yes, this is going to come back to bite them for sure if they indict any of the Trump enemies.

SANCHEZ: Harry Litman, thanks so much for the analysis. Appreciate it.

LITMAN: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, in just a couple of hours, the Trump administration is expected to link Tylenol use with autism. Why some physicians are calling this move potentially reckless. Plus, there's been a lot of concern and confusion over new rules on H-1B visas, how it could greatly impact the tech industry. And later, Jimmy Kimmel's suspension sparking a wave of account cancellations by angry viewers. We're going to speak with Emmy Award-winning actor Bradley Whitford about the wave of support for the host in Hollywood.

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That and much more coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Today, President Trump will hold what he says will be one of the most important news conferences that he'll ever have, during which he's expected to announce what he calls the answer to autism. He'll reportedly link development of the disorder to the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and to low levels of folate, an essential vitamin.

[14:15:00]

But many in the medical community and the maker of Tylenol are pushing back, saying there's no clear-cut evidence that the painkiller causes autism. A short time ago, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt talked about, if the announcement could cause any confusion and about the rising number of cases of autism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEAVITT: Women are confused about that and they want answers to that. And that's exactly what this administration is focused on finding. And before you jump to conclusions based on reports that the White House has not even confirmed, I would encourage everyone in this room to go into the four o'clock announcement with some critical thinking skills and with some open ears to actually listen to what the president and his team of outsiders have to say about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining us now is Dr. Peter Hotez. He's the Co-Director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Children's Hospital -- at Texas Children's Hospital. His daughter Rachel has autism and he wrote the book "Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism: My Journey As a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism Dad." All right, Dr. Hotez, thank you so much for joining us to talk about this. What do you think of the administration drawing an autism link with acetaminophen use during pregnancy? And also, what do you think about this other part of this, which is the folinic acid element?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, CO-DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT, TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: Well, first of all, we have what the press secretary saying, go in with an open mind. So the hope is that they are not going to double down about acetaminophen and Tylenol or folinic acid here. Here's the story, Brianna. We know there's about a hundred genes involved in autism. Autism has a genetic basis. We did whole genomic sequencing on my daughter Rachel and my wife Ann and I found Rachel's autism gene. They're involved in early fetal brain development.

These are events that happen on early in pregnancy. And so, and it doesn't mean that there's no environmental effects, but I think most of the so-called rise in autism is due to how we've dramatically changed our diagnostic criteria over the years. We no longer call it autism; we call it autism spectrum disorder and we've been so much more inclusive. And by the way, it's about to go up again because we're getting better at diagnosing autism in girls and women.

Now, there is a potential environmental link to this, but it's all due to exposure in early fetal brain development early on in pregnancy. The best known example is, if you're pregnant and not aware of it and taking an anti-seizure medicine called Depakote, also known as valproic acid. It interacts with autism genes and has been shown to give rise with a far increased frequency to an autism phenotype. That one looks pretty strong, although it's fairly rare.

The acetaminophen Tylenol connection is much weaker from what I can see. There was a very large study of two million children and adults done in Sweden by the renowned Karolinska Institutet last year, published in 2024, showing absolutely no link between acetaminophen. And the paper that the White House has been citing, a systematic review shows some studies show a possible link, others don't. So I don't really quite understand what they're looking at, why they're doubling down on acetaminophen, and I'm hoping that they backpedal from that somewhat. KEILAR: Yeah, that Sweden study is so interesting, right? Because it has so many kids. It's very recent, and yet spans so many years as well. But then, there's this recently published meta-analysis of 46 studies that finds an association between acetaminophen and autism. But we're talking about an association and also I wonder if you can kind of evaluate that for us. But, you know there are parents who are looking at that and they're confused by this body of research. What would you say to them?

HOTEZ: Yeah, well that second paper, what it actually shows is it looks -- it's sort of a larger grouping of looking at all the papers that have looked at the links between acetaminophen and autism. And the paper points out that many papers do show a link, but another group of papers do not show a link. And so, what do you do with that information? Well, the answer is, it generates a hypothesis. It means that you're going to study this in more depth. So, if the White House this afternoon were to say that we've been looking at the genetic basis of autism, which is very strong, and we have identified a couple of potentially interesting environmental exposures, almost as compelling as the Depakote valproic link. And that includes, we're going to look at Tylenol in more detail. Fair enough. That's a very worthy thing to do.

[14:20:00]

But to now, hone in only on Tylenol, when the evidence for it is weaker than many of the other, interventions, I think will do a disservice and would be very simplistic in its thinking and be highly misleading.

KEILAR: Look, and I say this as the parent of a child with autism, you want a simple answer, right? But what is so clear is that there is not always a simple answer. There are so many things to consider and it is very hard to pin down. But I also wonder if you can talk about the risk of acetaminophen, which right now is anyone who's had a baby knows you don't have a lot of options, right? If you have a fever, if you have significant pain, that's where you go. And so, what are the risks of not maybe turning to that if you really need it?

HOTEZ: Yeah, I mean, it doesn't leave you a lot of options since, I mean, and I'm not an obstetrician, but the obstetrics don't like to use ibuprofen or aspirin either for very good medical reasons. So you don't have a lot of options. Look Brianna, it's like saying you're going to have a press conference because you're going to announce the cause of cancer, right? Nobody would accept that, right? Every American knows that cancer is a complex interplay between oncogenes, genes involved in cancer, and some environmental triggers as well. Americans accept that.

Autism is every bit as complex. And so for again, to have this kind of childlike thinking that all of a sudden we're going to identify the cause, it rings hollow and it doesn't make sense scientifically.

KEILAR: Yeah. And there's so much responsibility to these parents and to these families who are looking for answers. There really is. Dr. Hotez, thank you so much. You always put it into such a great context for us.

HOTEZ: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: And still to come, Benjamin Netanyahu promising a response against the countries now recognizing a Palestinian state. Will the United States be dragged into this diplomatic dispute? And could there be an epidemic of closing health clinics in rural parts of the country? We'll have a look at the role that Trump's budget has played in this crisis. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:55]

KEILAR: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is strongly reacting to several countries decisions to formally recognize a Palestinian state ahead of the U.N. General Assembly. He accused the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Portugal of a -- of "giving a massive prize to terror."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We will need to fight at the U.N. and in other arenas against the false propaganda directed at us and against the calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state. That would endanger our existence and serve as an absurd reward for terrorism. The international community will hear from us on this matter in the coming days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The prime minister's remarks were followed by more military operations in Gaza. Israel is trying to take control of Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban area, which it says is currently a Hamas stronghold. In the meantime, nationwide protests against the war in Gaza broke out today across Italy. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marching in more than 80 cities, calling on the Italian government to recognize a Palestinian state and to stop the flow of weapons to Israel through Italian ports.

CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood is there at the U.N. for us. Kylie, tell us what else Netanyahu is saying about countries that are planning to recognize a Palestinian state.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Prime Minister Netanyahu, as you said, saying that this move is going to endanger Israel's existence, said that it is going to reward the terrorism of Hamas. And meanwhile, you have on the other hand, all these countries that are coming together collectively to lay out this path to a two-state solution. With many of the countries in recent days, in the coming days, going to recognize a state of Palestine saying that this is necessary in order to drive an end to the conflict with President Macron, who's one of the co-hosts of the conference set to begin in the next hour, saying this is necessary precondition because this is going to isolate Hamas. Of course, the Israelis firmly believe the opposite of true, that this is actually going to give Hamas even more fuel to continue down the path of this war. Now, one thing that is certain is that this conference happening today at the United Nations is certainly going to isolate President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heading into the United Nations General Assembly this week. The U.S. has not firmly said how they are going to respond to this conference happening today though they have been very clear that they do not support these countries that are recognizing a state of Palestine.

And President Trump has made it clear, even when he was in the U.K. last week, that he just doesn't think that that is the right path forward. Now, Israel is saying that they are going to not just respond with anger, but also respond with action. We're going to have to watch and see what that action looks like. As you said, potential moving forth on annexation of the West Bank is possible, but watch and see what happens there. And it's not clear exactly how the Trump administration would respond to that because they have said that the recognition of a Palestinian state is only going to encourage Israel to move --