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Jimmy Kimmel To Return To ABC After Controversy And Suspension; Soon: Trump To Address United Nations General Assembly; Trump Links Tylenol With Autism Despite Evidence It's Safe. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 23, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:38]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, HOST, NBC "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": Minutes before we started taping, we got word that our friend Jimmy Kimmel will be back on the air tomorrow.

(APPLAUSE)

That's crazy.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: That was late-night host Seth Meyers there reacting to the announcement that his fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel returning tonight. It comes just six days after Disney-owned ABC said it was suspending Kimmel indefinitely over comments he made about finger-pointing in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's death and a threat from the Federal Communications Commission chief Brendan Carr. So much happened in those six days, namely a biting boycott of Disney which saw viewers canceling their streaming subscriptions to Disney Plus. But not everyone will be able to see Kimmel's return tonight.

Bill Carter, the editor-at-large of LateNighter.com long-time New York Times media writer, is here bright and early with us to talk us through it.

Bill, I guess one of the big questions is this decision by ABC, in your estimation, and Disney because of the backlash or the boycott, or both?

BILL CARTER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, LATENIGHTER.COM, FORMER MEDIA REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES, AUTHOR, "THE WAR FOR LATE NIGHT" (via Webex by Cisco): I'm not sure it's actually either. I think they were aware of the boycott. They were aware of the backlash.

But I think from the moment that this was taking place, as soon as they decided to suspend Jimmy there was a sense that they had to do something to either make a long-term decision here and keep him or bow down to the pressure from the administration. And I don't think Disney wanted to do that. I think they thought from

the beginning that it would be a mistake and that it would actually hurt their business. But also, I think they were -- I think they thought the principle was wrong. I think they thought the idea of doing this because of government pressure -- you know, interfering with the First Amendment -- I actually think they thought was a terrible idea for them and for the country.

SIDNER: But what the confusion is here though they used the word in their announcement "indefinitely," which led many people to believe that his show was over, and then an about-face within six days after a lot of complaining and a boycott.

CARTER: Yes. In fact, the President of the United States declared that he was canceled.

My information from the beginning was there was not a cancellation. That it was absolutely not a cancellation, and they were working in -- almost instantly on how they could bring this to an end and have him back on the air. I think they did not want to -- that word did make people think indefinitely means -- well, it's not going to come back.

SIDNER: Right.

CARTER: But it wasn't a cancellation. It was like let's see what's going to happen. I think they wanted to bring the temperature down. That was the main thing they wanted to do.

SIDNER: So we've heard that Sinclair -- and they have said that they are not going to run Jimmy Kimmel on their local ABC stations, and they own a very large number of local stations.

Why is that?

CARTER: Yes. Well, they made a particular point of saying that they wanted Kimmel to do an apology, to make a contribution. And, you know, I think they took a particular stand. They are a very conservative -- very, very conservative organization and I think they want to speak to their constituents -- their viewers. But their viewers are not just conservative and there are ABC programs that they obviously want to have.

And they can't do this long-term I think because they have a carriage agreement with ABC. So if they decide to keep an ABC program off for a long time, they could have an issue with that. And I think they need the ABC affiliation. They don't want to lose "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" and things like that.

So I think this may not be that long that Sinclair does this. They only said they were -- by the way, they were not putting the show on tonight. I don't know what they'll do even tomorrow. And it's interesting because tonight is the night they're going to get an enormous rating because it's a television event now that Jimmy Kimmel is coming back.

SIDNER: Yeah, indefinitely. Everybody will be talking about his monologue. And there are a lot of questions as to what exactly he might say. If there was some sort of agreement on his part with ABC as to what he could say. There's just so much fodder out there for this.

CARTER: Yes.

SIDNER: And there's also Nexstar, which is also like Sinclair, sort of saying we're not going to air this. However, they have a deal in front of the FCC to try to buy more stations. So it will be interesting to see how this all plays out, and there's so many pulleys and levers that we'll all be looking for.

[07:35:05]

But Bill Carter, thank you. You summed it up very well. I really appreciate you coming on this morning -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Former Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for her first interview promoting her new book. It's officially out today and gives an inside account of her campaign against President Trump. She reflects on campaign missteps and opened up in the interview about where she thinks the country is today in this second Trump term.

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KAMALA HARRIS, (D) FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AUTHOR, "107 DAYS": Capitalism thrives in a democracy. And right now we are dealing with, as I called him at my speech on the Ellipse, a tyrant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Eva McKend has much more for us and she's joining us now. What else did the former vice president say, Eva?

EVA MCKEND, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Kate, we get so much from Vice President Harris in this book. She is reflective, she's funny, she's self-deprecating. She's critical of President Trump and even at times her fellow Democrats.

And overall, the book really speaks to this tension that she had between her loyalty to President Biden and running her own race. Her team put a lot of pressure on her to do more to distinguish herself from an unpopular president. She spoke to this in that first interview.

Here's how she's now reflecting on the question of if President Biden should have stayed in the race as long as he did.

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HARRIS: I have and had a certain responsibility that I should have followed through on, which is -- and so when I talk about the recklessness, as much as anything I'm talking about myself. As I write, you know, the -- where my head was at the time is that it would be completely -- it would come off as being completely self-serving.

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MCKEND: And the book also serves as a call to action for Democrats across the country. She voices real disappointment in this moment with corporate leadership, arguing that they should be doing much more to push back against President Trump and his administration and not capitulating. Basically, expressing real disappointment.

Now, where her candor ends on what's next for her. When she's asked this, she just says it's not her focus right now. So we don't know as yet if she is currently thinking about running for president again -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. My main focus right now is thanking you. Eva, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. It's good to see you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, despite studies -- long-told studies saying Tylenol is safe --

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't take Tylenol. Don't take it.

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SIDNER: -- the Trump administration linking its use during pregnancy to autism, telling women that are pregnant not to take it. The medical experts, though, are slamming these claims. We'll have more on that.

And choose your champion. Fat Bear Week is here and there can only be one winner. Look at that dinner.

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[07:42:30]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We are standing by for President Trump to head to the United Nations General Assembly for his first speech there since his return to the White House. And since taking office this second time the president has pulled out of multiple U.N. organizations and agencies and has threatened to withhold even more funding.

With us now is CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour here to spend all week outside the United Nations. We're lucky to have you here before you head over.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: This speech comes in the middle of a really interesting moment at the United Nations where more and more nations -- you know, Australia, the U.K. have -- France have come out with official recognition of the Palestinian state.

AMANPOUR: Right. BERMAN: I wonder what that will be like for President Trump, who is

against that, to speak before the General Assembly today?

AMANPOUR: Well, as you say, now the vast majority of the U.N. members do recognize a Palestinian state. And the most important thing in terms of throw weight is that all the members of the permanent five of the Security Council, except for the United States, accept a Palestinian state.

So in terms of geostrategy and immediate action it probably won't change immediately, but it does give the Palestinians an extra legality in terms of world affairs. And yes, Trump says they're against it. They say it's a reward for Hamas. Others say actually, it's exactly the opposite. Hamas does not want a Palestinian state. It wants a whole state. So this, actually, two-state effort is a punch in the nose to Hamas.

So that's what's going on here. And, of course, a Palestinian state, we have to say, is being declared as Palestine, Gaza, West Bank are being demolished. It's like a demolition zone there right now.

BERMAN: And this moment for President Trump is really emblematic in certain ways of how he is positioning himself against the United Nations and the membership there.

Just talk to me about what it will be like for him to be on that stage this time and what the member states will be looking at when they see him.

AMANPOUR: So in the first term people didn't know -- quite know how to deal with President Trump. There was a lot of management around him. There was a lot of, you know, humor. They thought well, it can't be as bad. We'll just figure out a way.

Now we're hearing that they don't even think about managing him anymore. They're just going to be sitting there -- a lot of them who disagree with him, which is a big number of states, kind of sullenly because of what you just said.

The United States is not just pulling out and retreating back to an "America First," it is also considered to be destroying by all the withdrawals, by all the cuts. The acts that Elon Musk took -- just so much. Not just USAID but all its good humanitarian tentacles through the U.N. that the United States was helping. It is having big effects on the ground.

[07:45:05]

Additionally, countries and allies -- not just adversaries but allies are very, very angry and fearful that this new Trump 2.0 is out to exact the maximum in terms of money from them, not really caring for, you know, damaging their economy. So there's a big issue now.

BERMAN: Yeah, and I'm very curious to see how the president addresses it today because there are people within his orbit who are trumpeting this speech, which happens in a couple of hours right now, as a moment when he will stand up aggressively to the United Nations or to the other countries there.

Let's talk briefly about Ukraine --

AMANPOUR: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- for a second here. This is, what, the third General Assembly that we've seen since the serious Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What do people want to hear? What are they expecting to hear from President Trump?

AMANPOUR: OK. So I don't know what -- they want to hear that the United States is going to throw full support behind Ukraine and punish Russia.

So here's the thing. Ten years ago NATO ally Turkey shot down a Russian bomber that strayed into its territory for 17 seconds. Nothing happened. World War III didn't happen.

Now the Poles are saying any more infiltration into our airspace and we will shoot down whatever projectile comes our way, whether Russian or not.

So the point is that Russia is testing the West, testing NATO. It's incursions into Estonian airspace with fighter jets was huge for 12 minutes. If it doesn't get responded to the question is then what -- what will happen?

President Trump keeps saying he's not pleased with Putin but has, as yet, not put down any punitive measures such as sanctions. And so there's a -- there's a real issue as to how long the Americans, which have the singular throw weight if you like and the influence will continue to stand on the sidelines both vis-a-vis Russian and Ukraine and vis-a-vis Israel and Gaza.

BERMAN: Yeah, and this is abstraction, right? There were Russian jets over --

AMANPOUR: No.

BERMAN: -- Estonia a week ago.

AMANPOUR: Yes. And so the question is how to deal with it.

BERMAN: Christiane Amanpour, thanks so much for coming in here. We will see you at the United Nations very shortly.

AMANPOUR: Yeah. Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So a big question today is what is a parent or a pregnant woman supposed to do right now. The medical community is reacting and really trying to wrap their mind around President Trump's new target, Tylenol. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of aceta -- well, let's see how we say that --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Acetaminophen.

TRUMP: Acetaminophen -- is that OK --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: -- which is basically commonly known as Tylenol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: In a new conference -- a new -- in a news conference, rather, full of unsubstantiated claims that acetaminophen increases the risk of autism when taken during pregnancy, President Trump told pregnant women to avoid taking the medicine altogether.

Trump announced that the FDA will soon be changing the safety label on the medicine and launching a PSA campaign against what he says are the possible dangers of it. Though again, not giving data to back that up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Taking Tylenol is uh, not good. All right, I'll say it. It's not good. Don't take it. Don't take it. There's no downside in not taking it. I just recommend strongly that you don't use Tylenol. Fight like hell not to take it. Don't take Tylenol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The president saying simply to mothers "tough it out" -- his words.

Scientists and medical groups are decrying Trump's take on Tylenol as dangerous. Decades of evidence suggest it is one of the safest drugs out there.

His own FDA put out guidance the same day as he said that, saying this, in part. "A causal relationship with autism has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature."

With me right now is Dr. Audrey Brumback. She's a neuroscientist, a pediatric neurologist at the University of Texas Dell Medical School. She's also a member of the Coalition of Autism Scientists. Doctor, thank you for being here.

You have spent your career studying autism spectrum disorder. What is your reaction to hearing the President of the United States or anyone in a position of influence on public health policy declaring that? DR. AUDREY BRUMBACK, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PEDIATRICS, DELL MEDICAL SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, MEMBER, COALITION OF AUTISM SCIENTISTS (via Webex by Cisco): Well, I think that really what the -- what I think is people should be talking to the people that they know and trust.

So all of these sorts of decisions about medicines and treatments are made in collaboration with your health care team. And so, the treatments that we recommend all come with risks. They all come with benefits. And having that discussion about your personal health and the situation you're in with your health care team is what people have always done and what should -- they should continue to do.

BOLDUAN: The Coalition of Autism Scientists put out a statement, which you're a member of, and says, "Autism scientists strongly oppose the HHS report suggesting the link between Tylenol and autism."

[07:50:00]

Would you -- what are -- would you -- what are you telling patients? What would you tell patients this morning when they come to you confused and concerned?

BRUMBACK: Uh, I'm going to tell them to keep doing what they're doing, first of all, in collaboration with their health care providers.

Next, I would say for the families who come in and say did my child, you know -- does my child have autism because I took a Tylenol during pregnancy -- I'd tell them that there is a vast difference between epidemiology where we're looking at millions of people and the person sitting in front of me.

Um, we can make claims about the risks of things on a population level but really, what matters is the person that I'm talking to as their doctor and the situations they're in, and what I think about their specific situation.

And so, I tell families look, you did not cause your child to have autism because you had a Tylenol or because you did or didn't do something during pregnancy. This is not your fault. This is --

You know, as parents we are always trying to figure out what did I do or what did I not do to put my child in this situation. And I think that the main thing to remember just this isn't something that you did. This isn't something you didn't do. This just happens and doesn't have anything to do with the Tylenol that you took or whatever other thing that you happened to have done while you were pregnant.

BOLDUAN: And the other side of this is the president -- I mean, you heard it there. He said that there is no downside to not taking acetaminophen. Not taking Tylenol. And he told mothers to -- pregnant women to tough it out.

But there are dangers. I mean, what are the risks of a prolonged, untreated fever when pregnant? BRUMBACK: Well, I think it comes down to what the cause of the fever is, first. And that's what is left out a lot - of a lot of these studies is why was the person taking Tylenol in the first place? And so I do think that having caution when taking medicines during pregnancy is something we recommend.

I think that when it comes to whether to have a fever continue or not, that's a -- that is a real medical issue that needs to be addressed by your obstetrician. I think that when it comes to fever in pregnancy, finding out why you have a fever is the most important thing. And as you're talking to your doctor about why it's happening and trying to figure out why it's happening, ask about what you should do about it in terms of controlling the fever.

BOLDUAN: You also know better than most how desperate people are for answers about the mysteries of autism. The vast majority of autism researchers understand there is no singular cause of autism spectrum disorder.

Where do the answers lie? Where is the focus of the search for answers today?

BRUMBACK: Well, I think that's right. I think that, you know, we are all looking for answers and we've been looking for answers for decades. I think that the main advance that we've had in the past 10 or 20 years is in genetics. We typically think of genetics as being something that is inherited. That, you know, a parent passes a gene onto a child.

For the cases of profound autism that we're seeing where children are intellectually disabled in addition to having autism, many of those cases are due to spontaneous changes in genes that happen as the fetus is forming. So every time a cell divides where you go from sperm plus egg to one cell, to two, to four, to eight, on to create a human -- every time you do that you have to copy and paste the entire genome, and the copies are never the same as the original. And these are the changes that makes us all unique.

However, some of those changes can happen in genes that are important for how the brain works. And so often, we are able to find changes in genes that are important for brain function that we believe are the cause for that child's autism and developmental disorder.

BOLDUAN: Doctor Audrey Brumback, thank you so much for coming in -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

Mega cities in China are being brought to a standstill. They are bracing for the arrival of Super Typhoon Ragasa after it lashed the Philippines and Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and all of southern China, really. Authorities have ordered schools and businesses to be closed across the region. People are clearing out store shelves as they prepare to hunker down for the most powerful storm on the planet so far this year.

[07:55:05]

The storm blasted the Philippines with winds about 165 miles per hour -- the equivalent, of course, of a category 5 hurricane.

And some incredible video you're seeing here. A fisherman had to be rescued from a boat that capsized there. Rescuers used a chainsaw to cut the boat open -- there that video is -- and to free the fisherman who emerged all covered in oil -- John.

BERMAN: Amazing.

All right. This morning new video shows sparks flying from the engine of a Delta Air Lines flight that had just taken off from Atlanta. There is audio from air traffic control leading up to the plane's emergency return.

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AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Fire chief, the emergency aircraft call sign is Delta 682. Type aircraft is a Boeing 737-900. Nature of emergency, left engine failure.

Will be landing niner left. Fuel, 33,800 pounds. Personnel on board, 158. Unknown if there are any infants. And there is zero hazardous material.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The airline arranged overnight accommodations for the passengers and crew after they landed. Nice of them.

So for the first time ever an American has taken top honors at the Cheesemonger World Cup. This happened in France. Emilia D'Albero dominated a host of events in the competition, including a blind tasting, a written test, and a slicing of a specific amount of cheese without measuring tools. That is the most delicate and complicated. For her grand finale she created a 3D cheese sculpture depicting the phases of the moon.

She told CNN that she hopes that after her historic win Americans will stop thinking of cheesemongers as just people who hand out free samples at grocery stores. She says the job is about "being a storyteller and educating people about being responsible consumers." I'd also say it's about cheese.

All right. Today is the first day of what Kate Bolduan refers to as the most anticipated celebration of acceptable animal fat shaming in America. It is Fat Bear Week at Katmai National Park in Alaska. Rangers let us all vote online for the bear who "best exemplifies fatness and success." There are 11 brown bears entered this year --

BOLDUAN: There is success in this.

BERMAN: -- with the first round of voting starting a noon.

A couple of the most hyped contestants this year, 128, Junior, whose mother was the 2023 champ. So a little bit of nepotism there. Six-0-9, who was the 2022 junior champion, also a contestant.

Fat Bear Week wraps up next Tuesday. Get those votes in.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: For the record, J.B. wrote it, I laughed, and now he's blaming me.

BERMAN: I'm not blaming you; I'm giving you credit. Anyone who laughs at my joke gets credit. It happens so rarely.

BOLDUAN: Fortunately for you I'm a sucker for all of your jokes.

But let's move on to this right behind me -- a beautiful night sky or space. This morning the sky is the limit for 10 astronauts chosen to join NASA's new class. Six women and four men were selected from a pool of 8,000 applicants. Their future missions could include helping NASA return to the moon and possible -- a possible -- and which obviously would be historic -- crewed mission to Mars.

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REP. BRIAN BABIN (R-TX): Some of you may take humanity's first steps on the red planet of Mars. All of you will carry forward missions that today exist only in our dreams. But together we're going to make these dreams a reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is Kristin Fisher, CNN's space and defense analyst and host of "The Endless Void" on YouTube. It's great to see you, Kristin.

This is the first class of new NASA recruits since 2021. What are you learning about them?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE ANALYST, HOST, "THE ENDLESS VOID" ON YOUTUBE (via Webex by Cisco): I know. It's been a while, Kate. I'll tell you what, though.

The thing that really stands out to me about this astronaut class is the fact that it includes someone who, for the first time, has been selected that has already flown to orbit. Anna Menon, who flew on a SpaceX Crew Dragon as part of Jared Isaacman's Polaris Dawn mission -- she's already been into orbit, something that most astronaut candidates when they're selected by NASA can only dream of, you know?

And her husband was a NASA astronaut when she flew in space, and she beat him because she was a commercial -- a private astronaut at the time and he was a NASA government astronaut.

So I think this really highlights an interesting dichotomy as we are now fully into this commercial space age, which is that these NASA astronauts or these NASA astronaut candidates just selected -- while they may be the best and the brightest as the acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy said, it may be that commercial and private astronauts get a chance to fly before them -- Kate.