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Trump Meets with Muslim-Majority Nations Amid Gaza Crisis; Trump & Zelenskyy Meet on Sidelines of U.N. General Assembly; Trump Mocks, Insults World Leaders in Annual U.N. Speech; After Speech Attacking U.N., Trump Says He's Behind It 100 Percent; Jimmy Kimmel's Show Returning Tonight, but Not Everywhere. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 23, 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]

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: -- future as she is about everything else. But she remains true to form on that front, saying that that is not her focus right now. But listen, I mean, she still views herself as an important voice in the party. Time will tell if that translates to wanting to do this all again.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": So interesting. Eva, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. And the next hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": From one crisis to another, the war between Israel and Hamas now on top of President Trump's agenda as he visits the United Nations. More countries calling for Palestinian statehood which the president calls a reward for Hamas. Plus, Kimmel's comeback, the late-night host returns tonight after a standoff with ABC, but this free speech fight is far from over as some stations still plan to keep Kimmel off the air for now.

And condemnation across the pod (ph) after the White House ties Tylenol to a risk of autism. The U.K. Health Secretary says, "Don't pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine." We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: This hour, President Trump is sitting down for a multilateral meeting with leaders of several Muslim-majority nations on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. And their main focus is the daunting crisis in Gaza, as U.S. ally Israel continues its punishing assault on Gaza City. Just moments ago, President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said this about finding a potential path to peace in Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You got to hand it to the Ukrainian soldiers and everybody involved. It's still going on. And that's, yeah, that's not a good thing for Russia. This was supposed to be quick. And so, Russia doesn't look very distinguished having taken three-and-a-half years, is that right? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

TRUMP: So about three-and-a-half years of very hard fighting. And it looks like it's not going to end for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Earlier today, Trump took aim directly at the U.N. and member nations for not doing enough to prevent or to stop wars from happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What is the purpose of the United Nations? The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I've always said it, it has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it's not even coming close to living up to that potential. For the most part, at least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Kylie Atwood is at the United Nations. Kylie, to that point about his meetings, what is coming out of his meetings today at the U.N.?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, we're expected to see him meet with a multilateral group of nations from the Middle East later today. This comes after he was harshly critical of countries that have moved to recognize a Palestinian state before the United Nations saying that that is a reward for Hamas. It's something we've heard from this administration before, but it was a very clear part of the president's message at the United Nations today. While his administration has not been clearly articulate about how to drive an end to this conflict, the Secretary of State saying last week, the U.S. would like to see a negotiated settlement, but also the time may be running out.

But as you were playing in that introduction there, Brianna, the main message from President Trump was harsh criticism of the United Nations and its member nations, both in stylistic and cosmetics, saying that the teleprompter wasn't working while he was speaking at the beginning of his speech, saying that the escalator wasn't working, but also in substance, saying that these countries are allowing unmitigated migration which is ruining them, making the case that they just don't share values of the Trump administration.

The other two top -- other topic that he went after was renewable energy. He said effectively that all these countries adopting renewable energy efforts are worthless. He believes that there should be oil, that there should be coal that should be used. Listen to while he hit these two points at the end of his hour-long speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In closing, I just want to repeat that immigration and the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world and a large part of our planet. Countries that cherish freedom are fading fast because of their policies on these two subjects. You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, he just came out of a meeting with President of Ukraine, Zelenskyy. He was asked in that meeting if he believes that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft after we have seen them violate airspace of NATO countries, Poland and Estonia in recent weeks.

[14:05:00]

And he said that yes, he believes NATO should, but then he demurred and didn't say exactly if the United States would be involved in that, saying it would depend on the circumstance. We heard from the secretary of state earlier today that he believes that NATO would only shoot down those Russian aircraft coming into NATO airspace if they were actually attacking jets. So, we'll have to watch and see how this plays out. But he was very clear in articulating strong U.S. support for NATO as they are still fighting this ongoing war in Ukraine.

KEILAR: All right, Kylie Atwood, live for us at the U.N. General Assembly. Danny?

FREEMAN: All right. Certainly, a lot more to discuss here. Back with us is former Defense Secretary and CIA Director under President Obama, Leon Panetta. Thank you for sticking around. Let's reset here. So, we just heard President Trump say he believes NATO member countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace. Again, whether the U.S. would help would depend on the circumstance though. But this isn't hypothetical. Russian jets have recently entered airspace in some of these European countries. What'd you make of the president's answer there?

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY AND CIA DIRECTOR UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I'm kind of ambivalent because, on one hand, it's probably the toughest thing that President Trump has said about Russia, in telling that NATO planes ought to shoot down Russian planes that are interfering with their airspace. It's important to send that message to Putin, that's for sure. But at the same time, it raises serious consequences because, I mean, let's face it, if NATO was shooting down Russian aircraft, it becomes a step towards war. And I don't think anybody wants to see that happen in that part of the world.

So, I think we kind of have to take it as one of President Trump's comments about what others should do rather than kind of indicating what it is that the United States should do in order to make sure that Ukraine is able to defend itself.

FREEMAN: One of the most remarkable things about this, which Kylie just spoke about though, is again, the secretary of state was just on TV earlier today suggesting that that would not be the policy to shoot down Russian jets in these circumstances. I guess from your perspective, is there any indication that something may have changed in the administration's mindset between earlier today and just a little -- a few moments ago? Or does it seem like President Trump, I mean, essentially called an audible here?

PANETTA: Yeah, I don't -- I don't think we ought to read an awful lot into this because we're at the stage now where we've heard President Trump make a lot of comments, offhanded comments of one kind or another, that at the moment does seem like he's asking for war and at the same time pulling back from those kinds of statements. And so, I just -- I think he made an audible here. I think he made a comment based on the question that was asked to him.

And I really do think that ultimately, it's pretty clear that what is needed here, frankly, is for the United States and NATO to establish a solid air defense system for Ukraine, but also for some of the other NATO countries in order to make sure that we are able to bring down Russian drones and Russian missiles. If we can create an iron dome system for Israel that works 90 percent of the time and pretty effective, we ought to be able to provide the same iron dome system for Ukraine and some of these countries that are facing Russian drones and missiles.

FREEMAN: Secretary, I want to broaden out for a second and take a look at the entire day so far, the president questioned the purpose of the United Nations in his speech earlier, claiming he ended seven wars without help from the U.N. Although after the speech, we will note that Trump seemed to walk back some of these comments saying the U.S. is quote "behind the U.N. 100 percent." How do you view the future role of the U.N.?

PANETTA: Well, we all understand that the U.N. has been struggling for a while to kind of be able to assert its role in the world. And to some extent, the president's criticisms are justified at the concern that the U.N. has not done enough in terms of really trying to provide peace in the world and being effective at that.

[14:10:00]

But having said that, he also acknowledged that the United Nations is an important organization because it does bring together the nations of the world together. And on that basis, it is important for the United States, frankly, the United States is a world leader, to be part of that and to encourage that and to try to work with the U.N. in order to make sure that it is better able to deal with what is a dangerous world. We need the U.N. in this kind of world in order to provide the kind of forum that is essential if nations are going to continue to talk together, work together, and listen to one another.

FREEMAN: Leon Panetta, thank you as always for your insight on such a busy news day. Appreciate it.

PANETTA: Good to be with you.

FREEMAN: All right. Still to come, Jimmy Kimmel will be back on the air tonight, but a significant number of ABC stations will not put him on. We'll discuss the future of his show. Plus, Fed Chair Jerome Powell making his first comments since the Central Bank cut interest rates. What he's now signaling about future cuts. And coming up later, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to clear up some of the confusion about taking Tylenol during pregnancy. That and much, much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:13]

KEILAR: Late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel will be back on ABC tonight, but not in every local television market. Despite the network lifting Kimmel's suspension after his comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk, two of the biggest local TV station groups in America, Sinclair and Nexstar say they'll continue to preempt the show on their ABC stations. Kimmel is expected to address the controversy when he takes the stage tonight.

Paul Mecurio is a performer and staffer on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." He's also the host of the show, "Permission to Speak" on YouTube. Paul, we are all waiting for this, to see what Jimmy Kimmel says tonight in his monologue. What are you looking for?

PAUL MECURIO, PERFORMER & STAFFER, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": I think if it were I, I would explain but not apologize because if you apologize, then you're giving into this sort of cancel culture. We're in a cancel funnel right now in this country. It started with immigration and immigrants, then history. We whitewash the impeachment information about Trump out of the Smithsonian culture. You take over the Kennedy Center, want to whitewash that, and now it's free speech.

And by the way, anybody watching, I'm not carrying pales of water for either side. I'm the guy in the middle. OK? I don't want to spend time bashing Trump. It's being done a lot and that is what it is. But this is a problem and it's chilling, not just to comedians, but anybody that has an opinion. Now, as a comedian, you think, well, how's it going to affect you? I like to think that I'm going to say what I want to say, but I'm not going to lie to you. You think twice in writing some jokes. I mean, even innocent things now, because you have a president who is like your hangry dad, right? He's kind of irritable. You never know what's going to set him off.

So if I write like a chicken crosses the road joke, I'm like, well, wait a minute. A lot of people like chickens and maybe they'll start complaining to the chicken lobby because everybody loves chickens. So there's a chicken lobby, and then they'll call the FDA and the FDA will call Trump. And then Trump will have me shut down and they'll be a chicken boycott and chickens will be out there and then people get hungry and eat the chicks. It'll be a mess. OK, now I'm being facetious, but we're not far off from that.

KEILAR: Yeah, I mean, I know you're being facetious, but it also seems like anyone writing jokes or saying anything publicly, that is very likely an internal conversation they're having. How does that affect the product? How does that affect comedy? How does that affect creativity? How does that affect expression?

MECURIO: I mean, I think it -- I think it waters it down because you start to not have opinions that sort of are outside the particular mainstream that the government wants you to have, you know? And so, what you end up doing is you end up just watering everything down. And the problem is that this was a decision that was made based on the loudest voices in the room, right? Like ABC -- this is where we are now. And this is what's troubling, right? Some people say, well, it was a voluntary business decision.

It was not a voluntary business decision. That's like saying North Koreans voluntarily clap for Kim Jong-un. Do you ever say they're like -- they're not. Right? So what I'm -- my point is that when you have the loudest voices and you're playing to them only, I've been noticing no one's talking about the people that like Kimmel, and why does one citizen have a right to take away what I like and vice versa. And so what it's become is this somehow ABC figured out how to get everybody mad at them. They're like the relative that comes to Thanksgiving and their job is to bring dessert, and they bring jello mold and fruitcake and everybody hates them. Like, so I think that people have to stay the course and be willing to fight truth to power as they say and speak up.

KEILAR: So, let's talk about Disney because in Disney's statement on Kimmel's return, they explained, "We made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country.

[14:20:00]

It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive." So they rebuke him even as they reinstate him. I suspect that is sort of your fruitcake in your jello mold as you're describing it. How are you -- how are you seeing Disney's position there?

MECURIO: I mean, look, I think they're trying to -- they're like a ping pong ball stuck between two paddles, one being held by Kimmel supporters and one being held by people who don't like Kimmel. And they're in the thick of it now. And I think they're trying to sort of appease everybody, which is a challenge. And maybe they will, depending on what happens tonight and what Jimmy says. But, I want to stress to everybody watching, this isn't just a problem for TV people, people who work in TV or comedians or whatever. For people watching at home, this is coming right into your living room. This could be you next, right?

You have a son, he's in middle school and he has to write an essay for his English class, and he decides to write about government and he criticizes Trump in the essay. And then the next thing you know that gets reported to the school committee in his town. And that goes up to the FDA because there's too many people on the right on the board. And it gets to the Trump administration and they call, it is a public school, and they say, we're going to cut your funding if you don't suspend that kid and make an example of him. That -- we're not far away from that. And so, I would implore people to all be worried about this because it doesn't just affect me and Jimmy and his staffers. It's everybody and everything is at stake here.

KEILAR: Paul Mecurio, thanks for joining us and obviously, we're all really waiting to see what happens tonight. A lot of curiosity about it.

MECURIO: Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you.

KEILAR: And still to come, President Trump doubling down on his opposition to a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. And now after that speech at the U.N., he's about to meet with several leaders from the Middle East.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:41]

FREEMAN: Happening now, we are standing by for a multilateral meeting at the United Nations as President Trump gathers with leaders of several key Muslim-majority countries. During his U.N. address today, the president renewed his calls for a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza. He also criticized nations now for recognizing a state of Palestine, saying it only rewards Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now as if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists for their atrocities. This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities. Instead of giving in to Hamas' ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message, release the hostages now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us now from Jerusalem. Oren, how will these comments about a Palestinian state play with these Middle Eastern leaders?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF AND CORRESPONDENT: Danny, the short answer is not very well. These are countries that have pushed for a ceasefire and called for a ceasefire, including those like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain that have normalized relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords, which were President Donald Trump's major foreign policy accomplishment from his first administration. And also countries like Egypt and Qatar that have played a crucial role in mediations and -- in mediating and negotiations to try to get to a ceasefire and to have gotten to previous ceasefires.

That's the purpose of this meeting once again, to see if it's possible to get to a point where there can be negotiations between Israel and Hamas to get to a ceasefire. On top of that, Israel has also threatened in the wake of these countries recognizing the state of Palestine to annex part or all of the West Bank. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will make a decision on that after he meets Trump separately at the White House on Monday. So that's likely also to be a key topic of conversation.

The UAE issued a fairly stern warning about what would happen if Israel were to annex parts of the occupied West Bank with reports that Saudi Arabia has done the same, effectively warning of such consequences. So this is an opportunity for the Arab states to underscore the significance of what that move would mean, not only for the region, but for the relations between Israel and the surrounding countries in the Middle East.

Now, Israel and the United States have effectively taken the same line here, that countries led by France recognizing a state of Palestine is a reward for Hamas. And yet the countries, for example, France, Australia, the U.K. and many others, some of those considered close allies of Israel, have made clear that the state they envision for Palestine, even if it's not possible right now, does not have Hamas as part of the government. They say Hamas is a terror organization that needs to be disarmed and can have no ruling authority, and the state of Palestine has to be demilitarized.

These are effectively all Israeli requirements too. And yet, the Israeli and the American criticism has remained that this recognition coming, coming when it does right now, is a reward for Hamas.

FREEMAN: All right, all eyes on that multilateral meeting coming up very shortly. Oren Liebermann, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

All right, with us now for more perspective on today's developments at the U.N. is CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Brett McGurk. He's a former Middle East and North Africa coordinator at the --