Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

John Bolton is Interviewed about the U.N. General Assembly; Polls on Harris; Harris Released New Book; Trump Links Tylenol with Autism; Hong Kong and China Brace for Typhoon. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 23, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:03]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now, world leaders arriving at the United Nations this morning. You see from U.N. TV, these are live pictures of many of them heading in for this very big day. This is as President Trump is getting ready to take to the stage to address the General Assembly for the first time since being re-elected.

Just moments ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was speaking out ahead of the address, and he talked about the push for Palestinian statehood, that France, the U.K., Australia, many U.S. allies and 100 plus other nations officially recognizing Palestinian statehood. The secretary of state downplaying the significance of how many countries are supporting that now?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: No, I'm not concerned at all. None of the countries you just mentioned really will play much of a role in bringing about the end of this conflict in Gaza. It -- that's why we continue to be engaged. Everybody continues to come to us to make a difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is former national security advisor to President Trump in the first administration, also former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton.

Ambassador, thanks for being here.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Glad to be with you.

BOLDUAN: Over the course of many of our conversations, you have been outspoken and critical of the president's approach on foreign policy. You've also been long critical of the United Nations in its role as a global organization over the years. What are you then listening to -- listening for, rather, when the president takes to the stage next hour? BOLTON: Well, he'll, obviously, address a number of issues, some of

which are quite important contemporaneously. It's apparent he's also going to talk about the United Nations. I hope he gets the analysis right because the U.N. is -- is in crisis, and it has been for many years. Its principal, political bodies, the Security Council and the General Assembly don't work. But at the same time, it's a vast, sprawling organization. That's part of its problem. There are specialized agencies that do important work. They're not generally known to the public, but things like the World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Telecommunications Union, the International Maritime Organization, the international Atomic Energy Agency do important things, if they stick to their knitting and avoid politics.

So, you need to be strategic in approaching what to do with the U.N. system, which is -- which is, on its political side, almost paralyzed, but which on some other measures really can provide value for the United States.

BOLDUAN: Ambassador, on Russia's war in Ukraine, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, was on NBC this morning. And I want to play for you what he had to say about this long debated move to hit Russia with economic -- like, with economy-crippling sanctions that are supported, like the move that being -- trying to be pushed through Congress right now that's supported by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Let me play what Rubio says about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: At some point he may have to decide to impose new sanctions.

[08:35:01]

But I think it's important for Europe to impose sanctions too. You know, right now there are countries in Europe that are still buying massive amounts of oil and natural gas from Russia, which is absurd. I mean, they're asking for the U.S. to impose more sanctions but there are countries in Europe that are not doing enough. The minute we go heavy on the sanctions and everything else, our ability to act as a -- as a broker to bring about peace is diminished and this war then goes on for another two years and hundreds of thousands of more people will die. So, we're trying to avoid that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I've also found the fact that, well, far less than what Europe buys in gas and oil from Russia, the U.S. this year purchased $755 million worth of enriched uranium from Russia, but still far less than what Europe's taking in oil and gas. But to Rubio's point, do you think that that is right, that if they push sanctions now, that hurts the chances at peace?

BOLTON: Well, I'm sorry to say what Marco Rubio has just said is total nonsense. It's not the role of the United States, or at least it shouldn't be, to mediate between the aggressor and the victim. In this case, where the victim, Ukraine, happens to embody a lot of critical U.S. national interest, which I don't think Trump has ever fully acknowledged.

We need to take the leading role. Saying we're going to wait for the Europeans is like saying we're going to wait for Godot. They're not going to provide it. And if we don't provide it, the war in Ukraine will continue to move slowly and at high cost in Russia's favor. That's what Putin is counting on. Since the Alaska summit with Trump, he's acted like he's had a free hand. And I'm afraid his perception of reality in Ukraine is accurate at this point.

BOLDUAN: I do want to ask you, Ambassador, we've been reporting about how -- and I think we were on air when it occurred, when your home was searched by the FBI back in August, the Justice Department's launched an investigation into your handling of classified information. The reason I bring it up now is because just in the past week, President Trump has very blatantly taken to social media to tell his attorney general, Pam Bondi, that it is -- now is the time to go after his political opponents.

And I'll just wrap -- I will wrap you into that category of who he was now pressing his attorney general to go after. Do you believe that -- do you expect -- do you believe that you will be charged?

BOLTON: Well, I'd love to discuss this subject, but, unfortunately, it's really not appropriate. Now, I'll just say that when the paperback edition of my book came out in January of 2024, I wrote then that I thought a second Trump term would be a retribution presidency. And that's at least one prediction, unfortunately for the country as a whole, I think I got right.

BOLDUAN: I will say your attorney has spoken to CNN many times, and on that he said very clearly, the records found in the search of your home were ordinary. Nothing inappropriate was stored or kept by Ambassador Bolton. That from your attorney very recently.

Ambassador, thank you so much for the time. I really appreciate you coming in.

BOLTON: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Kate.

New this morning, former Vice President Kamala Harris coming out with a revealing book about what happened after Biden's disastrous debate that ended his bid for president and started hers. Her new book, "107 Days," is out today. She talks about being hurt and disappointed by Biden. This morning, she sat for a new interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Part of the reason that I have written this book is for us to remember that there is somebody in the White House right now that made a whole lot of promises that were either about what would aggrandize and help him met out his vengeance or about lies he told to the American people that he obviously never intended to keep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, joining us now to discuss, or at least look at the numbers, because he is our chief data --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Guy.

SIDNER: Correspondent.

ENTEN: Analyst. Whatever you want, Sara.

SIDNER: Reporter. Analyst. However I want to call you. Or friend.

ENTEN: There we go. I like that, chief friend.

SIDNER: Maybe -- maybe today. We'll see. Harry Enten here.

So -- so how are -- are voters viewing Harris these days? And, to be clear, she -- this book has just come out. She's done an interview on NBC with Maddow. She did an interview on "Good Morning America." She -- we're going to hear from her here today as well. What -- what are people thinking about her as this starts to come out?

ENTEN: Yes. I would just say that if you want a messenger to go against Donald Trump, you could do far better as Democrats than Kamala Harris. What are we talking about here?

Well, let's take a look at her net favorable ratings nationwide. You know, back in October of 2024, she was at minus five points. Not exactly great, but pretty close to the zero mark, right? Pretty close to even. But now, down under she goes. She's at minus 13 points. That's an eight point drop since the general election among the overall electorate. She is not well liked at this particular point. The American people, they don't want this. They don't want her.

And get this, she's 27 points underwater with independents. If you can't win independents, you can't win the election.

[08:40:02]

And the bottom line is, with those in the center of the electorate, those who are the most up for grabs, she is way, way, way underwater. She is definitely swimming with the fishes.

SIDNER: So, that's overarching, right, looking at the whole country. What about Democrats in particular? Where does she stand with Democrats?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, what about the political base that is Democrats? Well, why don't we talk here? All right, top choices for 2028 Democratic nominee. Now it's still really early, but I think this really tells you that over the last few months Democrats have really sort of put Kamala Harris on the back burner. What are we talking about?

So, back in April, she was -- 28 percent of Democrats said that she was their top choice for the 2028 nominee. Look at where she's dropped. She's dropped by nearly ten points since April, only 19 percent now. She was 20 points ahead of Gavin Newsom back in April. And now the two of them are in a dead heat. In fact, she's actually two points behind Gavin Newsom, though that's within the margin of error. But when you go from 20 points ahead of Gavin Newsom to two points behind, it's clear that Gavin Newsom is doing something the American -- the Democratic Party and the Democratic voters want, and Kamala Harris ain't doing that.

SIDNER: And this also, when you look at that number, like gives a lot of space to a lot of other people that might want to jump into the race.

ENTEN: Sure.

SIDNER: Let's talk about her home state, which is, obviously, a state that is a Democratic state. How -- how are they feeling about Kamala Harris?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, voters nationwide ain't liking what they're seeing from Kamala Harris. Democrats are far more open to other options for 2028. But how about in the home state? Well, it pretty much says the exact same story.

Californians on Harris' runs for president. Back in 2024, she got 58 percent of that vote. Now, only 42 percent of Californians are excited for another run for Kamala Harris for president. So, no matter where you look, whether you look nationally among voters overall, nationally with Democrats or within her home state, Kamala Harris' political standing has fallen.

Now, obviously, we'll see whether or not this book has any big changes. But at this particular point, Kamala Harris' political career time seems to be running out on it.

SIDNER: Yes. I mean she's been pretty quiet, and now she's sort of back on the stage, the national stage. So, we'll see sort of what happens with those numbers (INAUDIBLE), right?

ENTEN: That is why we track the numbers. And we come in every morning.

SIDNER: Yes. Every morning. And we appreciate you.

All right, thank you, Harry.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the former vice president also opened up just a few minutes ago about where she feels the Democratic Party is going wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think that part of the problem that we have right now, in terms of the punditry, is to suggest that we are waiting for a messiah and the savior and the saving message, instead of seeing that we actually have a lot of stars who are doing very good work pushing back, but also talking about what we stand for. And I think it's time that we also recognize that that is counterproductive to keep saying, who is the one, instead of seeing in front of us how -- how rich we are in terms of talent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with us now, CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers and the executive committee chair of the New York State Democratic Committee, Christine Quinn.

Christine, I'm going to start with you, because you're here with me. No offense, Bakari, but Christine is, you know, two feet from me here.

I want to take a step back before we get into the substance of what she just said and talk about this reintroduction, as Sara and Harry are saying, back on the stage for the vice president with this book, with all the revealing tidbits. How does it make you feel in general? Do you like how it's going?

CHRISTINE QUINN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE: I am not a fan of tell all books. I'm not a fan of airing dirty laundry out in public. I -- you know, if I was somebody that Kamala Harris was going to make a phone call to, I'd be very careful what I said because obviously she is very comfortable making private conversations public.

I don't think this was a good way to come back onto the stage. I think she sounds bitter. And I think in the Rachel Maddow interview she tried to soften some of the sharp edges. But I don't think this was good politically and not a good strategy.

BERMAN: Bakari, what about what Christine just said, and also what about the substance of what we just heard from the former vice president? The idea, in essence, of not making the perfect the enemy of the good for Democrats.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, so first on what Christine just said. I don't really think that the former vice president cares a lot. I think that she's in a position now where she wants to speak her truth and she's tired of being put in a box by whether or not it's commentators or whether or not it's political strategist or whether or not it's people who think that they know her best or have her best interest.

And so, there's nothing in the book that she said that was false. I think that you see the indictment (ph) on certain people like Gavin Newsom, when she called Gavin Newsom looking for his help to run for president of the United States and she couldn't even get a phone call back.

And so, when you have those things, when you have your truth. I'm not a big proponent of people not sharing their truth. I mean sometimes we just have to swallow it. And Democrats, for far too long, have played afraid when it comes to that truth.

The vice president and I, we just had this conversation about the future of the Democratic Party last week. And it's a unique conversation because she hit the nail on the head. We're not doing a good enough job putting our leaders on a platform where they can talk about the successes we have.

[08:45:06]

I'm talking about Frank Scott in Little Rock, Helena Moreno in New Orleans, Randall Woodfin in Birmingham, Brandon Scott in Baltimore. These people, these mayors, these city council folk, they're doing great work. We have the people out front who are doing great work, and oftentimes we get bogged down in the five or six paragraphs that Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer want to put out when we need real fighters on the front line.

BERMAN: Bakari, I want to go back to something you said, which is really interesting. You said you don't think the vice president cares a lot -- or cares anymore what people are saying about her. Which is so interesting because every losing political candidate I've ever covered or had a chance to hear from after a big campaign, it turns out after the fact, they come across as so much more genuine and in some ways interesting and less inhibited when they have, forgive my language, no more fs left to give.

I remember being with Mitt Romney after he lost one of the presidential elections that he lost, and it was -- he was funny, personable, engaging, sharp. In a way he let his hair down, which is hard for Mitt Romney. But in this case, you know, you see it again from the former vice president.

I want to play an exchange he had with Rachel Maddow overnight. It had to do with a section in her book where she's describing her reaction to when Donald Trump, on the campaign trail, said that Kamala Harris just decided to identify as black.

Listen to what Rachel Maddow and the former vice president said here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: Quote, "today he wants me to prove my race. What next? He'll say I'm not a woman and I need to show my vagina?" I don't even know if I can say that.

KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: He throws this stuff out that he thinks will be an individual's weakness or Achilles heel, with the intent to distract from the fact that, as it was in this campaign, he had no plan for actually bringing down costs and prices for the American people. He had very few plans for what he would actually do that was about the American people, and not about an execution of his vengeance on his enemies. And I wasn't about to fall for that bait.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: The story itself, and, Christine, I'll go to you first on this, just the use of the "v" word there, which I won't say on television, but it's funny. It's funny. It's a side that -- that people may not have seen before.

QUINN: Well, you know, when -- I relate to the -- when you're running for office, when I ran for mayor, you have a million consultants in your ear. You're trying to walk this exact, you know, balance beam of perfection. And when it's over and you've lost, you're much looser. And if anyone who's running for office could be that loose when they're running, that's authentic. That's what people like. And you can say vagina and you'll still be OK, I promise you, John.

BERMAN: Bakari, where are you on all this? And you've been through this before yourself, Bakari.

SELLERS: Yes. I mean, I -- there is a great deal of freedom when you lose. I mean, I think that that is -- that's something that comes along with politics. But this -- this woman is -- is dynamic. And I think that whether or not, for better or worse, people are still learning a lot about Kamala Harris. She only had 107 days to run for president of the United States. And they're seeing the person that we all know to be funny, to be sharp, to be witty. And it's unfortunate sometimes that strategists put you in a box, or sometimes you find yourself putting yourself in a box. But -- but this -- this is a good -- Kamala Harris may not run for president of the United States, she may not run for anything else again. But if she's going to speak her truth, I think the Democrats need to learn from it.

BERMAN: Christine Quinn, Bakari Sellers, great to see you both this morning. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Right now, Hong Kong is bracing for the impacts of a major typhoon. Thousands of travelers just right now stranded as flights are canceled, airports shut down ahead of what is coming their way.

And add this to the file of only in Florida. Deputies stepping in to wrangle an unwanted visitor after it wound up on a family's front porch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:53:36]

BOLDUAN: All right, this morning, medical experts and organizations are speaking out and criticizing President Trump's announcement that links to taking acetaminophen while pregnant to autism in children. Claims that the president made despite decades of research that the medicine, this painkiller, is safe to take while pregnant.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is here to answer your questions on this.

And, Sanjay, you -- I received so many phone calls and text messages with questions and just sheer confusion about all of this. I mean, what do you make of President Trump standing with the HHS secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr., making this link between Tylenol, acetaminophen, and autism?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a bit bewildering. You know, I -- we've been covering this -- this potential association between Tylenol and autism for some time. I mean, people have been looking into this for -- for decades. And there have been some studies that have shown a potential association in the past, but have never shown a cause and effect. It's part of the reason that large associations, like obstetrics and gynecology, have said for a long time, use the lowest dose for the shortest amount of time, which is the exact same guidance that came out of this press conference yesterday. So, it was nothing new.

You know, it's interesting, Kate, you know, there's something known as paradox of ubiquity. When you have something that is widely, widely used, it can be correlated or linked to just about anything.

[08:55:04]

And I think that's what we're dealing with, with Tylenol.

It is important to point out that Tylenol use among pregnant women has actually gone down over the last ten years, in part because of some of these concerns. But despite the fact that it went down, autism rates have gone up. And that, you know, that's an important data point, I think, for scientists to sort of pay attention to.

What happened as a result of all these studies over the last 20 years is that this huge study was done out of Sweden last year. Twenty-five years, actually, they followed these kids. More than 2 million kids, about 10 percent of them had mothers who took Tylenol during pregnancy. They then compared two siblings, so they were trying to control for genetics. And what they found as a result of that study was that there was no correlation in terms of cause and effect between Tylenol and autism.

So, what to make of it? I don't think anything changes as a result of this in terms of the guidance that's been given out for some time.

BOLDUAN: Other than, I think maybe one of the pieces of guidance that came from the president was, he said -- he said explicitly, there is no downside to not taking Tylenol. But there are real dangers for women in pregnancy with -- if they leave, let's just say, a fever, a -- to --

GUPTA: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Untreated for a prolonged period of time.

GUPTA: Yes. That was, I think, the -- the -- the hardest part to sort of swallow was this idea that the president was giving this guidance that did fly in the face of what we've known for some time. Just fever, especially high fever, are associated with birth defects in the brain and spine -- spinal cord malformations and even miscarriage, as well as neurodevelopmental problems from the fever itself. So, this gets back at that association. You hear women are taking Tylenol, but why were they taking Tylenol? It was for a fever, but what was the fever caused by? Point being that there -- these are complicated, Kate, in terms of really pinpointing what is driving potential issues here with regard to autism. Lots of things. But -- but, again, Tylenol is something that's been looked at. There was no new information that was given to sort of warrant these -- these - this -- this -- these recommendations yesterday.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And in terms of the idea of radical transparency, which they said they were going to promise at HHS, that was not provided yesterday because the -- no new data was provided, to your very point.

GUPTA: That's right.

BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Sanjay. Thank you so much.

And you can head to cnn.com and send your questions about acetaminophen and autism to -- to Sanjay and -- and Sanjay will be back later this week to help answer more of these questions.

Sara.

SIDNER: And, Kate, we know a lot of people have questions about this.

All right, on our radar for you, mysterious drone flights have shut down major airports in Denmark and Norway for a time overnight, disrupting travel for tens of thousands of passengers. Copenhagen and Oslo were forced to close their airspace for hours after several large, unidentified drones were spotted. Denmark's prime minister says he cannot reject Russian involvement. Moscow now chiming in this morning, calling the claims unfounded and without evidence.

All right, here's a surprise that you don't want. It's not a good one. A visitor at a home in central Florida. Well, that -- that's what it was, an enormous alligator. A woman called authorities in Lake County where she spotted an alligator lurking on her front porch. The gator made a run for it, to the backyard, where deputies wrestled it to the ground. Actually wrestled with it. It was already on the ground. But look at this. Look. There. That is Florida in a nutshell. I've actually seen this happen in person. I may have attempted it myself. They were able to safely relocate that alligator. As a sheriff's officer put it, quote, "not our first call like this." See, I told you. "But it's always a Florida classic," he said.

And Disney has released the first teaser trailer for the new "Star Wars" movie "The Mandalorian and Grogu." The film stars actor Pedro Pascal as the legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter. Fans can see the film opening exclusively in theaters on May 22nd in 2026.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: We still got to wait for it.

SIDNER: Florida classic. BOLDUAN: And tens of millions of people in China and Hong Kong are on

alert now and preparing for landfall and the effects of a major typhoon. Authorities have ordered schools and businesses to close across the region. People have been seen clearing out store shelves, getting ready to -- those would be cleared out -- to hunker down for what was the most powerful storm on the planet so far this year. The storm hammered the Philippines with winds around 165 miles per hour, which is equivalent to a category five hurricane, triggering serious flooding and even landslides.

Let's get over to CNN's Hanako Montgomery, who's live in Hong Kong for us.

They are preparing. What are they preparing for, Hanako?

[09:00:01]

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kate.

Yes, Hong Kong is bracing for what could be a very, very powerful typhoon.