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Trump: Recognition of Palestinian State is a Reward for Hamas; Trump Blasts European Nations for Buying Russian Energy; Man Accused of Trying to Kill Trump Convicted on All Counts; Trump Calls Climate Change the Greatest Con Job. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 23, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: ... that this recognition coming when it does right now is a reward for Hamas.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: 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 former Middle East and North Africa coordinator at the National Security Council. And CNN subscribers can read Brett's exclusive in-the-room analysis of issues around the world. His most recent piece takes a broader look at global trends and what may be on the horizon. Thanks so much for being here.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thank you.

FREEMAN: Let's start where Oren left off. How is President Trump, in your view, setting up the tone of these meetings this afternoon with these Middle Eastern leaders?

MCGURK: Well, look, he's taken a very hard line, and so has Secretary Rubio, that the only way to end the Gaza War is for Hamas to release all the hostages and for Hamas to give up. I mean, that's now the core demand, very aligned with the Israelis on that. We all hope that happens. Of course, Hamas and I've negotiated with Hamas. I've lived this in tremendous detail and effort, and it's just horrific. The whole situation is horrific.

I think it's unlikely that Hamas is going to simply capitulate like that. So therefore, that's why we try to do temporary deals. Let's get out as many hostages as possible for a ceasefire, allow negotiations to proceed.

This meeting today with the Arabs, it was very important. I think Trump will hear unanimity from the Arabs that if the Israelis respond to this unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that you just covered, if the Israelis respond by annexing portions of the West Bank, I think that really jeopardizes the existing Abraham Accords in the future of regional integration, which is critical to Trump's agenda. I think he'll hear that in unison. And I'm hopeful when he sees Prime Minister Netanyahu early next week

that he can really talk the Israelis out of that, what I think would be a very counterproductive reaction to what is, I think, is also a counterproductive move by France and these other countries.

Bottom line, this war in Gaza, unfortunately, has all the ingredients right now to last into 2026. And I think the Israelis are committed to a military outcome. They have not articulated what comes after in Gaza. But that's also a focus of the president's meeting with the Arabs. The U.S. has an initiative now. I understand it's not far from the kind of initiative we were putting together in the Biden administration.

But look, this war has to come to an end. Hamas can no longer control Gaza, and you have to release the hostages. The question is how to get from A to B, and this is what has been so difficult.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Turning now to Ukraine, there was something that Trump said when he was meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, do you think that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So he then kind of demurred on U.S. involvement there, and he said it would depend on the circumstance. How are you reading that?

MCGURK: Brianna, of everything that's happened in New York today, I thought that was the most important statement to come out. The president didn't flinch. If he actually -- Zelenskyy's head, like, spun to Trump when he said that I think he was surprised to hear it. Look, I honestly I think that's the right message. Nobody wants that to happen, but it has happened.

I remember in 2015, I was working on some of these accounts when a Russian plane flew from Syria into Turkey, a NATO ally, for 17 seconds and the Turks shot that plane down. Here you've had the Russians pushing into these NATO airspace for 17 minutes in Estonia, and basically NATO planes escorting them back to Russia, I think that's an important message. I think you want to send a message to a Russian pilot, if you get an order to kind of test the defenses of NATO, you might want to think twice, because look, we want to deter that from ever happening.

And I thought that was a very strong message. We hope it never comes to that. But you got to -- diplomacy comes with deterrence. And I thought that was very important. I hope it doesn't back off of that.

FREEMAN: Well, when it comes to, again, other elements of pushing back against Russia, certainly in recent days, this morning, President Trump talked about Europe buying too much oil and gas from Russia. But, of course, he was asked this afternoon if he'd spoken to Hungary's leader, Viktor Orban, who's, of course, a large purchaser, the country itself, of Russian oil. Trump said Orban is a friend of his and he hasn't spoke to him, but, quote, I have a feeling if I did, he might stop, and I think I'll be doing that. How important is that update?

MCGURK: That's good. But look, this is, step back on this, there's oil. Europe is actually, from before the war, about 25 percent, all imports were coming from Russia, that's kind of way down to like 3 percent, it's now really Hungary, and you just put your thumb on it, and Slovenia. When Trump expands to NATO purchasers, Turkey's a huge purchaser of Russian oil, but it's not just oil, it is liquid natural gas, Europe is totally dependent, still, to this day on Russian liquor and natural gas, about 51 percent of their imports.

[14:35:00]

That has to change, including France, including Netherlands. But this is also where the U.S. can come with a strategy. How do you replace liquid natural gas? The United States can replace liquid natural gas. Qatar, one of the largest suppliers in the world, something I know that was worked on quite extensively in the Biden administration, trying to displace some of these energy imports.

Bottom line, the president has a point here, OK? Don't just call on the U.S. to increase sanctions, and I think we should. Europe also has to come together and join ranks. But Europe is purchasing an awful lot of energy products. Again, the oil's gone down. But liquid natural gas is a problem. But we can help with that. We're a large LNG exporter, and so is Qatar. And the president will see some of the leaders of Qatar here in New York in about an hour.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right. Key meeting we'll be watching. Brett, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

And we do have some breaking news out of Florida, where a verdict has been reached in the trial of Ryan Routh, the man accused of trying to kill President Trump. Stay with us for that.

[14:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We do have breaking news. A verdict has been reached in the trial of the man accused of trying to kill President Trump at his Florida golf course last year. Ryan Routh has been found guilty on all charges against him.

FREEMAN: CNN's Randi Kaye is covering this for us. Also with us, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Tom Dupree. Randi, let's start with you. You were in the courtroom. Tell us what happened.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was found guilty on all five charges that he was facing. That was attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate. That would have been Donald Trump last year when he was running for president at Trump International Golf Club, where this occurred.

Possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. So those are all five counts, all found guilty in just a matter of a couple of hours by this jury after 38 witnesses presented by the prosecution.

I was watching Ryan Routh as this jury was read. He was taking notes. He did not have much of a reaction after delivering his closing arguments today. That lasted about an hour, trying to show that there was no intent on his part to kill Donald Trump. That's what this really hinged on for both sides, apparently.

The prosecution today trying to prove that there was intent, but they also said that a shot did not have to be fired per the law. A shot does not have to be fired for them to prove intent, so the jury obviously felt that there was intent. They listed the evidence that they believed proved intent, such as various license plates in the car, the weapon at the scene, cell phone records that show he spent one day 16 hours at Trump International Golf Club surveying the area.

But Ryan Routh said that it was never going to happen. He told the jury that his heart -- the defendant's heart was not in it. And he said the prime opportunity was there for the defendant to shoot the president and the trigger was never pulled.

So now we are waiting to get some sentencing guidelines from the judge. And once that happens, we will get a sentencing date. But once again, Ryan Routh, 59 year old Ryan Routh, found guilty on all five federal charges he was facing in the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at his golf course last year in West Palm Beach, Florida.

KEILAR: And Tom Dupree also joins the conversation, former deputy assistant AG. Tom, your reaction to this outcome?

TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, it's not surprising at all. Frankly, the only surprising thing is it took the jury a few hours to reach its verdict. Look, he had absolutely no defense. This was not a case of they got the wrong guy or mistaken identity, and his argument that he lacked the intent to shoot President Trump simply doesn't hold water, legally or factually.

He also made, in my view, the supremely ill-advised decision to represent himself at trial. I mean, over the course of this trial, there were days, frankly, that bordered on farce, as he was asking witnesses questions and making arguments that were simply incoherent and certainly did not help his case.

So, again, a very unsurprising verdict. The prosecutors had the facts. The law was on their side. Doesn't surprise me at all that the jury rendered a verdict of guilty on all counts.

FREEMAN: Yes, Tom, can we go a little bit more into that? Because, again, reading some of the reports that Randi has been filing from the court to your point, it's been pretty remarkable listening to Ryan Routh try and defend himself. Did any of the arguments that he was trying to make in court -- I mean, clearly it didn't resonate with the jury -- but did it seem like he had any chance when he was saying things like, well, maybe I wasn't going to shoot the president because I was -- I didn't have the right scope or something along those lines. Talk to me about that.

DUPREE: Sure, well, look, I think about 80 percent of the arguments he was making were completely incoherent, didn't help him at all. There was certain arguments he was making that, you know, in a different case, on different facts, could have had persuasive force. In other words, the argument that he simply lacked the intent because he didn't fire a shot, again, not persuasive, not supported by the facts, but, you know, is at least somewhat coherent.

So there were moments, I think, of coherence in what he was arguing. And, you know, he tried to articulate the concept that, well, he never really had an intent. He wasn't really going to do it. Therefore, how can you convict him? Again, not persuasive to this jury, not supported by the facts. But, again, in my view, he really didn't have much defense at all.

[14:45:00]

FREEMAN: All right. Tom Dupree and Randi Kaye, thank you both for breaking all that down, that breaking news, again, about Ryan Routh found guilty on all counts of trying to assassinate then candidate Trump.

All right, still to come, President Trump ramps up his opposition to green energy and the fight against global warming. We'll fact-check those claims coming up after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Today, President Trump flat-out dismissed the threat of climate change during his remarks to the U.N. General Assembly, telling world leaders that their predictions about it were wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's climate change. Because if it goes higher or lower, whatever the hell happens, there's climate change. It's the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is with us now on this.

[14:50:00]

Bill, as our chief climate correspondent, your reaction to President Trump's comments?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, these were definitely the most vociferous of his record of all time. He's always been skeptical of the science, but saying it in such blatant terms, saying the people who tried to warn us, scientists are quote-unquote idiots. We're just waiting for the world reaction to this right now.

But just quick fact checks. Lazard's annual cost of energy report just came out. They found that sun and wind are the most cost-effective forms of new-build energy without subsidies, which is why about 90 percent of new energy going online utility scale last year was sun and wind.

Because of these policies, prices are already going up for Americans, consumers. Energy Innovation did a study and said, you know, over the next decade or so, red states will pay most, like Missouri, Kentucky, South Carolina, see their electricity prices go up 15, 20 percent, because when you take the cheapest forms of energy offline in order to prop up old fuels like coal, everybody pays more. And of course, there's the health implications and the climate implications right now.

But the reaction from Gina McCarthy former EPA administrator under Barack Obama, now running a consortium of governors and mayors trying to keep American climate action going.

Quote, Trump continues to embarrass the U.S. on the global stage and undermine the interests of Americans at home by throwing away our leadership and global collaboration on climate change, he is forfeiting our ability to influence how trillions of dollars in financial investment policies and decisions are made.

And that's the key point, because He's not convincing China with this rhetoric. In the last six months, China installed more solar than the United States all time, twice as much as Germany all time, which was once the world's solar leader. So the rest of the world is going to the economics of this. It's why Texas leads the nation in solar and wind installations, because they have their own grid, they're libertarians, they build stuff, and this is the cheapest energy to build today. And this leaves out, of course, moral responsibility of overheating a planet and how that's going to cause immense suffering for those least equipped to adapt to it.

KEILAR: Texas, very interesting there. Bill Weir, thank you so much for really putting it into perspective for us. And we'll be right back.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREEMAN: Back to our breaking news now. A verdict has been reached in the trial of the man accused of trying to kill President Trump at a Florida golf course last year. Ryan Routh has been found guilty on all charges against him.

CNN's Randi Kaye is covering this for us. Randi, I understand that you have new information from the courthouse. Tell us what just happened. KAYE: Yes, this is from a source inside the courtroom. I ran out to bring this verdict live on the air, but apparently Ryan Routh, after hearing the guilty verdict, he was found guilty on all five charges. He appeared, according to the source, to try and stab himself in the neck using a pen, and authorities stepped in and prevented him from doing so. There was also an emotional outburst from his daughter in the courtroom.

So once again, while he was in court after this verdict was read, the defendant in this case, Ryan Routh, appeared to try and stab himself with a pen.

He was found guilty, as I said, on all five charges. Those include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate. That was Donald Trump last year while he was on his golf course in West Palm Beach. Also, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

They actually showed that SKS rifle in court, and the jury sent one note while after deliberations had started to ask to see that evidence. And they actually came out of the jury room to review that evidence and look at the rifle because it was not allowed to be brought into the jury room.

But this all came down to intent. And one of the things that prosecutor Chris Brown made very clear today was that Ryan Routh was there with a loaded rifle. He said, why would anyone put 20 rounds in a rifle? Why would anyone load one bullet in the chamber? Why would anyone click the safety off? Why would anyone do all of this surveillance that showed up on his burner phones and cellphones. Why would they do any of that if the intent was not to kill Donald Trump?

And they also said today, the prosecutors told the jury, that the defendant did not have to fire a shot. Nobody needed to be hurt or harmed or shot in order to prove intent. Ryan Routh said otherwise during his closing arguments. He said that it was never going to happen, that he wouldn't even hurt an ant, that it wasn't in the defendant's heart. He said it was simple and easy, he could have just pulled the trigger and he could have completed the job, that there was no intent. He said he had a clear shot of Donald Trump at the time and his golfing partner, Steve Witkoff, and he never pulled the trigger.

What was interesting, though, is that Ryan Routh never said he wasn't there. He kept referring to the person who was there along that fence line as the assailant or the or the defendant. But in the rebuttal closing, the prosecutor said to convict someone of attempted assassination, the crime does not have to be completed. And that seems to have sat very well with the jury, no matter what Ryan Routh said to try and prove that he did not have intent in the end to kill Donald Trump.

FREEMAN: Just stunning developments from inside the courthouse. Randi Kaye, thank you. Also with us now, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. Joey, I just want to

get your quick reaction to this news that the defendant here tried to stab himself with a pen after the ...

END