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Interview with Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL): Trump Now Says Ukraine Can Win Back Its Territory from Russia, Trump Threatens to Sue ABC for Bringing Kimmel Back; Sources Identify Dallas ICE Shooter as Joshua Jahn; Trump Links Tylenol with Autism Despite Evidence It's Safe. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired September 24, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

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ADELITA GRIJALVA, (D) REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT, ARIZONA: ... agenda, and we will hold this administration accountable.

(CHEERING)

GRIJALVA: That is why, on my very first day in office, I will be the decisive 218th signature on the discharge petition to force a vote on the release of the Epstein files.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, just four Republicans have signed on to this effort. 214 Democrats will have signed on, which is how they get that number. It is very rare to circumvent the Republican leadership or any leadership in the House. This kind of procedural effort rarely succeeds.

But even though they may get a vote, which could happen by the middle of October, we are estimating at this point that does not mean, Boris and Brianna, that this could become law. In fact, if it does pass the House, then it goes to the Senate.

That means that Majority Leader John Thune has to agree to schedule a vote, or that has to be forced on the floor somehow through some negotiation. But 60 votes will be needed in the United States Senate. 53-47 is the breakdown from Republicans to Democrats. Can they get 60 votes? It seems unlikely at this moment.

And then Trump would have to sign this into law. And of course, we know where Trump stands on this issue. So it seems very unlikely ultimately it will be enacted. But a vote in the House will be a symbolic victory, as Republican leadership and many Republicans have been battling for months to prevent that from ever happening.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And potentially an argument for the midterms going into next year. Manu Raju live for us in the nation's capital. Thanks so much. Ukraine's president taking the global stage at the UN General Assembly

just a day after President Trump gave Ukraine the green light to regain lost territory from Russia. We have details in just moments.

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SANCHEZ: Secretary of State Marco Rubio just wrapped a 50-minute meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The State Department says that Rubio urged Moscow to, quote, take meaningful steps toward a durable resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war. It's not clear at this point how Russia has responded, but as you see there, Sergey Lavrov gave a thumbs up to cameras after he walked out.

The face-to-face happening just hours after Ukraine's president spoke to the United Nations, Volodymyr Zelenskyy imploring world leaders to help stop Russia, while also saying international institutions have proven too weak to end wars. Zelenskyy is finding more common ground today with President Trump after Trump shifted his position on how the war in Ukraine should end.

Trump posting, quote, Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back in its original form.

Joining me now is Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida. Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. I have heard from administration officials on this through CNN's reporting that President Trump's statement was part of a pressure campaign to get Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. Do you think that that threat actually changes Putin's mind if the U.S. doesn't arm Ukraine even beyond what it's done before?

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): That's a valid question, and I don't believe so. I think that action is what Putin responds to. I'm glad that the president said what he said. and he's standing in the right place. And he said that Europe and NATO should shoulder a lot of the support, and we need to support Ukraine more. And obviously, NATO is us. We're the senior partner in NATO.

And so, yes, I stand with the President in his statements, but I've got to believe that Putin's going to have to see some action before he actually takes this threat seriously. Although, you know, we'll see what happens after this this session with Rubio and the Russian foreign minister.

SANCHEZ: I do want to clarify something, Congressman, because you said NATO is obviously us. There were critics who read this statement from President Trump as him seeming to put the burden of resolving this war off on Europe. You're not reading it that way.

GIMENEZ: No, he said Europe and NATO. And so I took the NATO part. And I know that NATO -- we're the senior partner of NATO. And that's a way to say that, yes, we're going to be involved, too, because we are NATO, or we're the senior partner of NATO. And that's the way I took that statement to mean.

And I always listen to exactly what he says. Every single word is important. And then people just say, well, that's Europe. No, no, he said Europe and NATO. Remember, the United States is a big part of NATO.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, the president also said that NATO member countries should shoot down Russian aircraft that enter their airspace, even leaving the door open for the U.S. to help in that, depending on the circumstance, he said. Wouldn't that make the likelihood of escalation and even direct conflict with Russia almost certain?

GIMENEZ: Well, Russia shouldn't be violating, you know, our airspace. And so anytime they do, for nefarious purposes, that they're trying to get to Ukraine to go, you know, and they're going through a NATO country, then they run the risk of being shot down. And then they're just -- the president is just warning them, don't do it, because you may, in fact, lose your aircraft. And so, hopefully, Russia takes that threat seriously and doesn't violate our airspace.

SANCHEZ: I want to chat with you about a number of other things, Congressman. I do want to give you an opportunity to respond to the shooting today in Dallas at an ICE facility. The FBI is saying that they found evidence on a shell casing that reads anti-ICE, suggesting that this was politically motivated. Our latest reporting indicates that the shooting was sort of indiscriminate. What is your reaction?

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GIMENEZ: Yes, there's kind of a disconnect here between what was on the shell casing, which is anti-ICE, and then who actually were the victims or the detainees. That doesn't kind of -- doesn't square with me like your previous guest said. It doesn't really square. We need to get more further information on this.

Look, if it was political violence, there is no place for political violence here in the United States. If that person was targeting ICE agents, ICE agents are just doing their job. They're following orders. They're doing what they're told to do, and they are following the law. You may not like the law. You may not like the way that it's being done. But the way to handle that is through protests. The way to handle that is through the court system. It's not through violence. Violence can never be justified.

SANCHEZ: Following Jimmy Kimmel's return last night, do you think it's appropriate for the president to suggest that he's going to test out ABC over the comedian's comments, that it could be lucrative for him?

GIMENEZ: I'm not sure what testing out means, OK, but I'll tell you this --

SANCHEZ: He alluded to a lawsuit that he settled with ABC News for $16 million. So I guess the implication would be that there would be further litigation, right? GIMENEZ: Well, look, it all depends on, you know, if he feels that he's being slandered, et cetera, then he absolutely has a right to to take legal action against whoever he feels is slandering him. And so he had some success against ABC in the past.

Look, I'm not in favor of any kind of censorship. I'm not now, and certainly not during the Biden Administration. And government has no business in trying to censor anybody, even for dumb remarks. People are allowed to have dumb remarks, even on the air.

Now, I've always been somebody who says the best way to combat misinformation is with more information. And one of the tenets of our country is freedom of speech. And I will defend that right to the end. And government should have no place in trying to limit the speech of anybody. That will be handled either by private corporations or by the public at large with their opinions, but we shouldn't be in the business of trying to censor anybody.

SANCHEZ: Lastly, on the note about misinformation, Congressman, what did you make of President Trump propagating the rumor that there's no autism, virtually no autism in Cuba because people there don't have Tylenol? Clearly, there is autism in Cuba. It's ubiquitous around the world. Do you think the president is getting the best public health advice that's available to him?

GIMENEZ: I don't know if there is autism in Cuba. I don't have -- I'm not privy to their medical records, and so I'm not going to second guess the president on that one. I will tell you this, I have two grandchildren that are high performing, but they're on the spectrum. Something is causing this. Something that came about in the '60s and the '70s, I believe, is causing this. I don't know if Tylenol is one of them, but I know that in 2017, Tylenol did put out a tweet saying, hey, if you're pregnant, don't take Tylenol. Now I'm trying to get to the bottom of that. Why would Tylenol say that?

And so look, a lot of times people say, hey, the president, you know, he's not, I don't understand what he's doing. And is this really disinformation? A lot of the stuff that was viewed as disinformation told by the president in the past, he's actually been right about. So again, I'm not second guessing him. He's got his own health experts being, you know, behind this. I haven't seen the data and I really don't know what's going on in Cuba if they have a lower incidence of autism or not.

SANCHEZ: CNN actually has some reporting about autism cases in Cuba. I'll go ahead and send it to your office so you get a chance to take a look at it.

GIMENEZ: OK, fair enough.

SANCHEZ: It's new today. Also, we're going to have Sanjay Gupta on in just a few minutes, so you may want to hear what he has to say about Tylenol and its association with autism. Congressman Carlos Gimenez, thank you so much for the time.

GIMENEZ: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: As we just mentioned, the White House linking the use of Tylenol during pregnancy to autism, despite decades of evidence showing that it is safe. It's an announcement that sent pregnant women scrambling for information. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on hand to break down what the science says. Hey, Sanjay.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have breaking news into CNN. We have learned the identity of the shooter at the ICE facility in Dallas.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now. Priscilla, what are you learning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, sources telling me and our colleague Leigh Waldman that the name of the shooter, the believed shooter, is Joshua Jahn. Of course, remember that we've also been told that two detainees were killed, one in critical condition. And a source briefed on the investigation telling CNN that Jahn is 29 years old.

Now, authorities have said that the shooter was found dead on scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities also said that he was located at an adjacent building and that he was shooting from an elevated position. But the latest developments here is the name of the shooter, Joshua Jahn.

SANCHEZ: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that update.

So more health agencies overseas are responding to President Trump's announcement this week, linking the use of acetaminophen while pregnant to autism in children, and they are largely dismissing that link.

KEILAR: Also, a British charity, the National Childbirth Trust, says it had seen a huge increase in people searching for information about this purported link. And as people are searching for answers, Let's get some.

We'll turn to CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. All right, Sanjay, what do you make?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's good to see you guys in person.

KEILAR: It's so wonderful to see you in person down here in Atlanta. So what do you make of President Trump and Secretary Kennedy linking autism to this use of acetaminophen?

GUPTA: You know, this is something we've been reporting on for a couple of decades. So the first thing that struck me was there was nothing new here.

[14:50:00]

I expected, you know, if you're going to hear a big announcement like this, there's going to be some new data or evidence or something presented. But this was all stuff that we had heard for some time. What is interesting, I think, a little bit is because of these potential associations between autism and Tylenol, again, which has been out there for some time, Tylenol use has actually gone down over the last decade in pregnant people, even as autism rates have gone up, just something to keep in mind.

There is this notion that I think we talked about last time, this paradox of ubiquity, which basically means when something is really common, you can associate it with just about anything. And I think that's part of what's happening with Tylenol. You get all these associations and finally people say, OK, let's dig into this. Let's do a long-term big study.

And they did that in Sweden for about 25 years. They examined some 2 million kids, 200,000 of the mothers roughly, had taken Tylenol. And then they compared that to siblings. So they're trying to control for genetics here. And in that case, they really found no associated cause and effect between Tylenol and autism.

And I think, you know, that's the way science works. You get these studies and you say, is there a signal there? Is there something we should dig into more? Then you dig into it more, and that's what they concluded. So I don't think anything changes. I think people have always been cautious about any medications, especially in pregnant women. And I think it's going to stay the same.

SANCHEZ: You also have to think about the alternative to not using Tylenol during a pregnancy. And there are complications that can come from having a fever and some of these other things,

GUPTA: Especially in the first trimester. If you think about just how what we call normal regulation of temperature there needs to be in order for the body to develop normally. If you have fevers and you know, fever, medically speaking, is defined as 101.5 degrees.

The studies that are out there looked at 103 degrees specifically and said, well, what happens if it's an untreated fever? Birth defects, because that temperature can actually affect how the body is actually forming at that age. Cleft lip and palate, congenital heart defects, early labor, and miscarriage.

So it's significant. I'll tell you a little nuance as well. If you look deeper into some of these studies, over a month's worth of Tylenol use during pregnancy, that's where you got the biggest signal. Between one and seven days use of Tylenol, so about a week's worth, it actually seemed to be protective against some of the things on the screen.

So that really speaks to the idea that, you know, it's nuanced, but you need to treat the fever just don't overdo Tylenol, which I think has always been the guidance, lowest dose for shortest amount of time.

KEILAR: And what are people taking the Tylenol for? There's all kinds of questions this needs to be.

GUPTA: The fever, the underlying infection, which can sometimes cause these things. That's why it's called an association. We don't know exactly what's driving this.

KEILAR: Really interesting. And so the FDA is also recommending this use of a new treatment for autism as well. What do we know about this?

GUPTA: I've been following this for some time, and I think there's some real promise there. It's called leucovorin. It's a type of B vitamin. Brianna, you probably know your recommended folate probably when you were pregnant, that's part of prenatal vitamins. Again, that's because there's been this cause for concern for some time. Is there enough B vitamin folate in the fetus's sort of diet, if you will, at that point?

For some children with autism, they appear not to be able to absorb folate as well. So leucovorin is sort of a reduced form of folate that can cross the blood-brain barrier. And in some very small studies, they have seen some really significant improvements, restored verbalization and things like that within three months. But you know, like everything else, this needs to be replicated. You need to see, does this actually work in larger groups and who are the children who are most likely to benefit?

KEILAR: Really interesting stuff. Thank you so much.

GUPTA: Yes.

KEILAR: It's so important to have you clear that up and we appreciate it.

So don't forget to head to CNN.com, send us your questions about acetaminophen and autism, and get that helpful explanation. Dr. Gupta will be back tomorrow to answer those questions.

And coming up, one of the networks boycotting Kimmel is reacting to his return to Late Night. We'll have that next.

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KEILAR: Just into CNN, Nexstar, one of the companies preempting Jimmy Kimmel's show on dozens of local ABC stations says it is now having productive talks with Disney.

SANCHEZ: Elizabeth Wagmeister is in Los Angeles for us with more. Elizabeth, what can you tell us about these discussions?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this shows us, obviously, that the conversations are very active and very much ongoing, while Nexstar has said that they are continuing to evaluate the situation and that the show is still preempted. Tonight, if you are watching where you are in a city that is on a Nexstar affiliate, you won't be able to see it.

But even releasing this statement saying that they are having productive conversations would indicate that they are making progress. I want to read you part of what Nexstar said in their statement.

They say, quote, We are engaged and productive discussions with executives at the Walt Disney Company, with a focus on ensuring the program reflects and respects the diverse interests of the communities we serve.

So making clear there that they have diverse viewers, that we don't want this to all be one-sided on Jimmy Kimmel Live. But again, my takeaway here, how I would dissect this statement, is that they're letting people know that these are conversations moving in the right direction.

SANCHEZ: Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you so much for the reporting.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

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