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Growing Number of Companies Blaming Price Hikes on Tariffs; FBI Says Anti-ice Written on Bullet Casing at Second of Ice Shooting; Kimmel Defends Free Speech, Offers No Apology in Return to TV; DHS Says Two Detainees Killed, One Wounded in Shooting at Dallas Ice Facility. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 24, 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]

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: -- added that he thinks the price increases due to tariffs, that could actually stretch into 2027 as well. So look, the bottom line here is we're not dealing with runaway inflation like three years ago, but the cost of living is still too high and tariffs are clearly part of the problem.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Matt Egan, thank you so much for breaking that down for us.

EGAN: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now. New details on the shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas. Two detainees are dead, another seriously injured. The FBI director saying that anti-ICE was written on a round found at the scene.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": The national late nightmare is over. Jimmy Kimmel is back. His fans may be thrilled; the president certainly is not. And this may just be the beginning of the debate over limits on free speech. And the decisive vote, a special election in Arizona will send one more Democrat to Congress and this one could bring major consequences for a push to release the Epstein files. We are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

At any moment, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to speak following a deadly shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas. DHS officials now confirm two detainees were killed in this morning's attack, another was wounded and remains in serious condition. No law enforcement officers were injured.

KEILAR: Police see the shooter fired from a nearby rooftop at a van that was bringing detainees to the facility. They also say the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot. The FBI is calling the incident an act of targeted violence. FBI Director Kash Patel shared images of rounds. You see them here, found near the gunman, appearing to show an anti-ICE message. CNN's Ed Lavandera is on the scene in Dallas.

Ed, what are you learning as this investigation is unfolding? ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just spoke with a family that was inside the ICE facility parking lot area when the shooting erupted this morning. I can walk you through a little bit about what of -- what they told me just a short while ago. And we are, I should also preface this by saying is that, this family also shared video of the scene, which captured the sounds of the gunfire there. We are working to turn that around and be able to show it to you. But this was a family that had shown up here at the ICE facility just before 6:00 a.m. The woman I spoke with was a 38-year-old daughter of a woman who had an appointment with ICE officials here at this building early this morning.

They were in the parking lot, waiting for the mom to come out. The mom was inside when they started hearing the shots. The family told me they thought, they couldn't tell where the shots were coming from, but they thought the shots were being fired inside the building. So they were panicking, terrified that their mother was inside, and perhaps a possible victim of this shooting. But what stood out to me from the parts of the video that I've been able to see is that it was not rapid fire succession of gunfire that we heard, but it was rather slow and methodical.

So, we'll be able to play that for you here shortly. But, the gunfire, and I did hear a number of shots that were sent off from, as a law enforcement officials say, from an elevated position, perhaps a rooftop from a building across the street from the ICE facility, just on the west side of it. But, rather striking description of what it was like for this family that were like hiding and taking cover inside their cars. The bullets are essentially flying past and over them in the parking lot where they were at just earlier this morning. They said, obviously, all of this happened before 7:00 a.m. and they said that the entire experience and moment has just left them completely shaken and rattled by what they witnessed and heard this morning. Brianna and Boris?

SANCHEZ: Ed Lavandera, live for us in Dallas. Thank you so much. I want to bring in now CNN Senior National Security Analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She's a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. Juliet, I wonder what questions you have about motive as investigators try to piece this together.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, some of the motive seems to be given to us or written to us according to the FBI on the casings. There's anti-ICE statements or just it says anti- ICE. So what that means is, obviously, this is someone with, a political agenda and also someone who clearly, looked at the facility, knew its vulnerabilities. We don't quite know where they were and what was the direction of where they targeted. And third though, this disconnect between who he hated, presumably ICE, and who the victims are. And so that's as a motivation question, that's the question I had. I had not heard until Ed just reported that the shootings were rather slow as if he was targeting specific individuals and got detainees and not ICE agents.

[14:05:00] So I want to, as an investigator, I'd want to sort of square that circle between what his motivation is, at least by what we're seeing so far, and who was killed. The second is just the burdens on ICE facilities as well as ICE personnel are significant now. Look, we have serious debates in this country about immigration enforcement and we should continue to have those debates. But the pressures for these mass detentions are now meaning that these ICE facilities, that used to be places, process people or even that ICE personnel would just go meet, they'd have their desks. They'd figure out what they're doing that day, are now detention facilities in large measure. So, another thing I would look at is how secure are they, has -- we know now they're ratcheting up in terms of vulnerabilities.

KEILAR: The FBI director putting an image out on social media of the bullets connected to the shooting, is that important for him to do that? Is he saying this shows there's an ideological motive behind the attack? Is it too soon to do that? What do you think?

KAYYEM: Well, obviously, they know who it is and it's someone who took their own life. So we're in a position to be able to find out a lot more in terms of the social media, in terms of who we talk to. I have not been a fan of the FBI director sort of getting ahead of things because I think it can backfire. It also -- it ends up sort of elevating this before we know all the facts. So, he did this before, as we know, in the Charlie Kirk assassination. So, I would prefer it not just from a sort of historical, how do FBI directors work.

I think it's helpful to know this, but remember, with the Charlie Kirk stuff as well, and I don't mean not to believe this at face value, there's a generation of people who are becoming more violent in a way that isn't aligned with something that we know. So, there's this performative nature to this. So he hates ICE say, but that's not enough, right? It's the violence, but it's also the here's what I want to tell the world. So I'd be looking for manifestos. I'd be looking for what websites he's on, to basically try to focus in fact who he is and then what was he doing targeting, if he was, detainees rather than any others.

And that's just a normal investigatory question at this stage because, obviously, this is disturbing across the board. I mean, there's no -- I don't have to qualify it. This is yet again, an instance in which our political debates are just being acted out on with guns and assassinations and potentially another sniper. And it -- and we don't seem to have a way out of it yet.

KEILAR: Yeah, a lot of questions about this. Juliette, thank you for that. We do have breaking news into CNN. The family of a man killed in January's midair collision near Washington, D.C. is suing American Airlines regional jet operator, PSA Airlines and the federal government. This is a lawsuit that was filed today, Rachel Crafton, whose husband Casey was on the passenger plane, filed the suit for wrongful death and negligence. And it's the first federal lawsuit since the collision.

Of course, 67 people died when that Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with the American Eagle Flight 5342 over the Potomac River. We're going to keep an eye on that story and bring you any developments.

And still to come this hour, left behind, CNN follows one case of American children stranded after immigration officials deported their mother.

SANCHEZ: Plus, as President Trump threatens legal action, millions are watching Jimmy Kimmel's return to TV. What his message could signal for comedians moving forward. And later, the latest on the typhoon that slammed into Hong Kong, flooding the island. You're watching "CNN News Central." We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:14:04]

SANCHEZ: We want to go straight to Westlake, Texas where we are anticipating that Governor Greg Abbott will be speaking in just moments. This is after a shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas in which two detainees were killed, a third was shot and is still in serious condition. Let's go ahead and listen in to this conversation with the Texas governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a fact. And Brady is stuck at seven and you're not done at 13.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT, (R) TEXAS: I'm not done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I also was going to start in a more general way, but then yesterday happened, the state, could you talk a little bit -- the Eli Lilly, $6.5 billion and then in Abilene, Texas, the nerve center of a $1 trillion total investment.

ABBOTT: It's phenomenal. It is stereotypical of just another day in Texas.

[14:15:00]

So, and for those who don't know what he was talking about, let me put it under this umbrella. One thing that Texas has strived to achieve over the past few decades is to make sure that our economy grows more --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We will continue to monitor the governor's remarks. We were anticipating that he may lead this conversation with something regarding what happened in Texas. He's obviously moved in a different direction, but we're going to monitor these remarks and bring you any that he might make pertinent to the breaking news as soon as he does.

KEILAR: In the meantime, Jimmy Kimmel is back and he is back in his element, returning to his late-night show amid a firestorm over free speech. His studio audience erupted in cheers, gave him a standing ovation last night. It was Kimmel's first show after he was benched for his comments about the murder of Charlie Kirk.

SANCHEZ: Going into the night, there were many questions about how he might address the controversy. And while he notably did not apologize for what he said, he did acknowledge why some people may have been offended. Here's that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST OF "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!" ABC NEWS: I posted a message on Instagram on the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion. And I meant it and I still do. Nor was it my attention to blame any specific group for the actions of what it was, obviously, a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make. But I understand that to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both. And for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you're upset. If the situation was reversed, there's a good chance I'd have felt the same way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Dominic Patten, the Executive Editor for Deadline Hollywood. Dominic, great to see you as always. What's been the response so far to Kimmel's return?

DOMINIC PATTEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DEADLINE.COM: Well, one thing I'll say, Boris, the response certainly on YouTube has been phenomenal. That opening monologue that you guys just showed has already reached 13 million views. That was five minutes ago. It might be much more now. It's anticipated that this might be the most popular thing that Jimmy Kimmel has ever put up online. And we are yet to know, especially because President Trump loves to talk about Jimmy Kimmel supposedly having low ratings, we're yet to know what the linear ratings are, what it was like online, but there's going to be some big numbers coming out of that.

So if you're going, by the way, the president wants to do the rules of the game, Jimmy Kimmel scored.

KEILAR: Yeah. And he thanked a lot of people, and I will say some strange bedfellows who supported his free speech, right? People in the entertainment industry. He shout out to Ted Cruz, right?

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

KEILAR: That was part of his monologue.

PATTEN: Yeah.

KEILAR: But there were more than 400 celebrities who signed this open letter by the ACLU backing Kimmel. What do you think it was? Was it the pressure from the artistic community? What was the pressure that really contributed to getting him back on air?

PATTEN: I think it was a series of factors, Brianna. I think there was certainly that letter. I mean, when we talk about celebrities, we're talking about Meryl Streep and people like that. I mean, you know this -- at the same time, I'll also say I think a very pivotal factor here was former Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, the man who was pushed aside for current CEO Bob Iger to take over 20 years ago, when he came out and talked about where's the leadership. I think that probably really stung, even though the two men do have quite a good relationship because it really pointed a finger at this is not something I would've let happen.

And I think for Iger, who's going to supposedly going to retire at the end of next year, he must be looking at his legacy. The other thing I think is, is that Donald Trump talking about his feelings about this, about him pushing this, about talking about low ratings, no talent. And especially, especially I would say, now they already brought Kimmel back, but last night when he went on Truth Social and talked about how they already -- he already got $16 million out of ABC.

That payment ABC in December of last year to settle what was, let's call it, an ill-considered comment by George Stephanopoulos, but pretty much a weak lawsuit was in many people's eyes, the beginning of the bending of the knee, the kissing of the ring that we've seen from tons of media establishments from the Washington Post to Paramount and many others. So I think in many ways, there's feel -- a feeling of pressure is we mis-timed this. We mis-thought this. It was also as we exclusively report on Deadline, a lot of descent at some of the upper ranks of Disney itself, who were not happy with the way this looked. They were not happy with what they were hearing and they were worried that the talent community here in Hollywood might walk away.

SANCHEZ: Dominic, there's also the fact that, as Kimmel pointed out, a lot of stations didn't actually carry his show because Nexstar and Sinclair declined to broadcast it. Where does that dispute between those broadcast stations and ABC and Disney go from here?

PATTEN: That, Boris, I think really lies a lot with how far Nexstar and Sinclair want to push this. Look, clearly big markets like Washington, D.C., Seattle, they did not see the show last night. Interestingly enough, Jimmy did address this to the others, which is just go to streaming. because you can see it there. I think in some ways this might actually prove the long lasting point out of this in the long game because, of course, as we see the decline of viewership on linear television, streaming is where everyone is putting all their jewels in the crown. So you can watch these shows there.

[14:20:00]

I think this might be somewhere where they have to say, look, you guys make up 20 percent, but we can live without you and we're not going to play this game of chicken. I feel like that's where Disney might want to go, but also I think they want a resolution.

KEILAR: All right. Dominic Patten, thank you so much. Really appreciate you being with us.

And we do want to get to some Breaking News. We have CNN's Kaitlan Collins standing by in the newsroom for us. Kaitlan, what can you tell us? KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I want to fill you in on some breaking story that we just got -- a breaking development on a story that we've been following here. And this was a letter that was sent by a top Trump Justice Department last week, last Monday from Ed Martin. He's a huge Trump ally. He was the person who was initially supposed to be the top D.C. U.S. attorney here in Washington. He couldn't get Senate confirmation. And so now, he's been moved over to multiple roles within the Justice Department.

And in those roles, he has been carrying out some activities that have rubbed parts of the leadership the wrong way, including a letter that he sent last week to an attorney who represents a lot of the families of the victims from Sandy Hook and the one of the first responders who was there that day. This is an FBI agent who responded to the Sandy Hook shooting that day. He is someone who testified at the trial.

His name is William Altenburg (ph). And essentially, they sent this letter to his attorney last week implying that he was under investigation because of the role he played at the trial for the defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who ended up having this billion dollar judgment against him for the lies that he spread about Sandy Hook and the conspiracies that he implied were at play there.

And now, a top Trump Justice Department had sent a letter to the FBI agent, basically implying that he had done something wrong or that he had benefited financially from this because he was one of the plaintiffs in that lawsuit alongside the victim's families. Because lies had been spread, not only about them and the children who were killed that day, but also about this FBI agent. Well now, after there was some backlash against the fact that that letter had been sent, a lot of backlash I should note, I'm told that Ed Martin has retracted that letter that he sent to William Altenburg's (ph) attorney. It was at a (ph) very brief note that was sent just today and in part of it that was viewed by CNN.

He said he was withdrawing his initial letter to his attorney entirely. And he wrote that there is no investigation of Alterburg (ph) that is underway at the Trump Justice Department. And he said, "Because of this, I hereby withdraw my request for information from you or your former client." Now obviously, this is just a development in this story, a remarkable one given he had let this hang out there for over a week implying that he was under investigation. But coming out and stating clearly that no, someone who was a first responder the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is not under investigation by the Trump Justice Department.

I just want to add also Brianna and Boris, for people who aren't familiar with Ed Martin, obviously he's now in charge of a Weaponization Task Force basically at the Justice Department. He's also someone who has a history with Alex Jones because Alex Jones was actually touting this letter that had been sent to this attorney last week. He was posting about it on Twitter. He had posted the thing in full. All of the questions that this top Trump Justice Department official was asking of this attorney for the FBI agent, and Ed Martin has actually appeared on Alex Jones' show "InfoWars" multiple times. There's a photo of the two of them that has surfaced online.

So obviously, a pre-existing relationship there. And it's only raised more questions, of course, about the role that he's playing at the Justice Department and whether or not he is using that position to help benefit people who are aligned with him politically.

SANCHEZ: Interesting news there. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much for the update. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:23]

KEILAR: Democrat Adelita Grijalva has won a special election in Arizona to fill the seat held by her late father and the election not only further tightens the narrow majority that Republicans have in the House, it could also be the tipping point on a discharge petition to force a vote on the release of the Epstein files.

SANCHEZ: CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju joins us now. Manu, walk us through the ramifications of this win.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well look, this is already one of the narrowest House majorities in about a century. In fact, the last time there was a majority this close was at the outset of the Great Depression. And now, with the addition of this Democrat from Arizona, this means that Mike Johnson, the House Speaker, can only afford to lose two Republican votes on any party line vote.

And then when it comes to the issue of forcing a vote on a bill to call for the release of all the Epstein files, they will now have the magic number needed to circumvent the opposition from the Republican leadership, which has been battling for months to prevent a vote on this bill. But because of her addition and her signature that is forthcoming on this bill, there'll be enough support to force this vote on the House floor and potentially enough votes here to actually see it pass the chamber.

And addressing her supporters last night, Grijalva indicated that she would soon sign this petition after she's sworn into office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP.-ELECT ADELITA GRIJALVA, (D-AZ): We reject the MAGA agenda and we will hold this administration accountable.

(APPLAUSE)

That is why on my very first day in office, I will be the decisive 218th signature --