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Trump and Netanyahu to Hold Joint Press Conference; Suspect in Charlie Kirk Appears Virtually for Hearing; Judge Tony Graf Says Trial of Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Will Be Open to Public; Police Say Everyone Now Accounted for After LDS Church Shooting; Man Drives Through Barricade at Church Shooting Scene; Arizona Floods Kill Four, Search for Missing Underway; Trump Vows to Withhold Funds if Mamdani Wins NYC Mayoral Race. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 29, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, there's not much incentive for him because he's been pretty aggressive at saying he's going to continue this war. He's going to annex Gaza. He's basically, been pretty much alone in making clear that this war was going to continue. At the same time, I think it is in his interest, because frankly, getting the hostages released is absolutely essential to his politics and for Israel, and very frankly, for the humanity that I think everybody feels about getting those hostages released right now. That's a major objective.

But the problem is, in order to get there, you need a ceasefire. You need to resolve some of the other issues that surround a ceasefire. And I just don't think the parties are ready to do that. I hope they are, but I'm not very confident it's going to happen.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And as you're looking at the major hurdles here, how are you seeing them?

PANETTA: I think -- I think the major hurdle, very frankly, is for Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire, a temporary ceasefire, and the release of the hostages. And because he's really pushed forward with the aggression in Gaza, he's got a lot of Israelis there that are fighting to see if they can control Gaza City. He's invested a great deal in a very aggressive mode to try to show the world that he can get rid of Hamas. As I said, that's an objective that I just don't think is achievable.

And for that reasons, I think it would really be to his benefit right now, and in particular because the United States still provides $3.8 billion in arms to Israel. And by the way, that comes to an end in 2028. So, it really is in Netanyahu's interest to try to please, I think, the United States and President Trump, and that might be part of the incentive to agreeing to some kind of ceasefire.

KEILAR: Yeah, we'll have to see what kind of pressure President Trump is putting on Netanyahu during this visit. But perhaps that apology to Qatar is emblematic of that. Secretary Panetta, great to have you. Thank you so much. PANETTA: Good to be with you, Brianna.

KEILAR: And we are right now standing by to hear from President Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They are going to be taking questions in a joint press conference. They've been having these talks on Gaza and a possible peace process. Let's go to Kaitlan Collins, who is live for us at the White House, ahead of this press conference. Kaitlan, what should we be expecting?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Well, Brianna, sometimes when world leaders come in here with the president, you kind of know what they're going to say and what it's going to look like, typically of what's on that agenda, usually pre- agreed to statements that they come out before they take questions from reporters. Genuinely at this moment, we do not know what the Israeli Prime Minister and President Trump are going to say when they come out here.

We know what the White House has certainly been hoping for and been putting pressure on the Israelis for, which is to agree to this 21- point plan that was put forward by the administration last week. It was circulated to world leaders at the United Nations Summit in New York. And so, the question is whether or not Israel is in agreement with it. There are so many different points in there in terms of not just ending the war in Gaza, but also what would happen next there. One thing that is key that has been at the top of the list, especially for the families of those hostages is that within 48 hours of an agreement to this deal by Hamas and Israel, that the living and dead hostages would be released from Gaza.

Obviously, there are about 20 living hostages, more than two dozen who have been killed, but whose families very much still want their loved ones to come home. And so that would be a key tenet of this. But we don't know yet if Israel has agreed to it. And we also have not heard whether or not Hamas has agreed to this. As of last night, senior Hamas leaders were saying they had not yet seen a full concrete proposal of what exactly the administration was laying out here and what they were hoping that Israel would agree to.

And so, that's what we're waiting to see. That indication of the apology by the Israeli Prime Minister to the Qatari Prime Minister is certainly is something we'll see if that's an indication of what that means going forward and whether or not that is a good sign for what we're about to hear. But certainly, I've been talking to a lot of White House officials and they were very, very hopeful that they would come to an agreement. But also, Brianna as you know, there have been moments where they've come close to this before and not actually sealed the deal.

There have now been four meetings between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu in Washington since Trump retook office. And so the question is whether this one is going to yield any breakthroughs.

[13:35:00]

KEILAR: Yeah. Kaitlan, thank you so much for that, live for us there from the White House. We are going to be paying attention to this press conference and bringing it to you as soon as it begins, as we're expecting it will any minute. We'll be right back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": The man accused of shooting and killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk just had his second virtual court appearance. This time, Tyler Robinson appeared for a waiver hearing and for the first time, we saw his court appointed defense attorney.

[13:40:00]

22-year-old Robinson faces aggravated murder and other charges in Kirk's killing at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University, and prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty. I want to bring in CNN's Nick Watt who has more details for us. What can you tell us about today's hearing? Did he enter a plea?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No plea, Omar. And this was a very short hearing, about 10 minutes long. But what we learned is that this process is going to be very, very long. Both prosecutors and the defense saying that the evidence here is just voluminous. Remember, there were 2,000 or 3,000 people at that Turning Point event when Tyler Robinson allegedly shot Charlie Kirk dead.

Now, we had expected to see Robinson in court today, but over the weekend, his new defense team requested that he be remote. And in fact, we did not even see him on video. We did not even hear him. The judge wished him, good morning, no reply. Take a listen to something else the judge had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE TONY GRAF, FOURTH DISTRICT COURT OF UTAH COUNTY, UTAH: These proceedings will be open to the public, conducted in accordance with the law and handled with diligence and competence to ensure that justice is never compromised. It is the standing order of this court that Mr. Robinson shall be allowed to appear in person, so he can fully engage with his attorneys and participate in these legal proceedings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Now, he is expected at the next appearance. And Omar, just remember, aggravated murder plus six other charges, including committing violence in front of children. And as you say, the state is seeking the death penalty. Omar?

JIMENEZ: And Nick, you alluded to some of it here, but can you just give us a sense of what happens next? Obviously a long process ahead, but what is the next hearing and kind of where are we in this long process?

WATT: Yeah. So the next hearing will be October 30th, at which we expect Tyler Robinson to be in court. And the process right now, it just depends how much evidence there is for each side to go through. So end of October, they're going to come back and say, all right, we think we can start or we think we can have a preliminary hearing on X date. There is just so much evidence.

Now that judge, by the way, just appointed in May and he's made it very clear that he knows the eyes of the country and perhaps the world are on him. And he wants everybody in this courtroom, in this process to behave with decorum and integrity. He said, for today's hearing, no one was allowed in the public gallery wearing buttons, badges, shirts, carrying photos in support of one person or another. He knows the eyes of the world are upon Utah and he wants this process to be fair and transparent and I suppose, calm. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Nick Watt, appreciate the reporting, as always. Brianna?

KEILAR: Officials are still working to figure out a motive for Sunday's deadly church shooting and arson attack in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, four people killed, eight others injured at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police, and we've also learned that everyone is now accounted for after the whereabouts were previously unknown. We're joined now by CNN's Security Correspondent Josh Campbell. Josh, tell us what you're learning.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, that last point you mentioned about everyone being accounted for now is an important development. We know as of last night, I heard from law enforcement sources that there were still about seven people that they could not yet account for. Authorities announcing today that all who they believed were in the church have now been accounted for.

But just a very deadly, horrific scene here that unfolded yesterday after the suspect crashed his pickup through the front door of this church, then started opening fire. At one point, the church went up in flames. Authorities currently believe that that was at the work of the shooter here, that massive fire that we saw. And then we saw this influx of law enforcement agencies, first responders, who were trying to rescue as many people as they can. That after the shooter himself was encountered by police officers who fatally took the shooter down in an exchange of gunfire.

There's a lot of -- that we're still looking to learn about him. As you mentioned, we do know that he was previously in the U.S. military. He had served time in Iraq. We're still trying to determine whether or not authorities had any indication that this was someone who should have been on their radar. The police officials said that he had been arrested in the past for burglary, operating a vehicle while intoxicated. But we're not getting any other sense about what they may have known about this person.

We know that this massive investigation now underway. I'm told by law enforcement sources, they're conducting interviews. They're also trying to dig into his digital media as well, getting search warrants for those, again, to try to get to a motive.

[13:45:00] The final point I'll note here is that it is interesting in this case, how little information we're getting so far from police. Now, it's only been about 24 hours since the investigation started, so there's a lot of work that they would be doing. But you look at some of the recent past incidents such as the assassination of Charlie Kirk, last week there was a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility, you saw top FBI officials come out very quickly and almost kind of tweeting in real- time information that they were learning about the case. We're not seeing that here, which again raised a lot of questions.

What do they know right now about who this person was? Or do they know nothing at all? Is that something that they're still trying to glean? We don't have any insight into that. Obviously, there will be no prosecution here, but the community certainly wants answers about what the motive was. That remains under investigation, guys.

KEILAR: And I mean, we should know. The attack happened a day after the LDS Church's president died at the age of 101, long-serving president.

CAMPBELL: Yeah.

KEILAR: Do investigators believe there is any potential link or do they think that's just a coincidence?

CAMPBELL: Yeah, they haven't said yet. Obviously, this has rocked the community there, the LDS community. This is a place where you go to worship, just like other houses of faith. We heard from so many people who are on the ground there saying that they didn't believe that this was something that would ever happen in their neighborhood. That obviously a refrain that we've heard so often in these tragic incidents, is places that should be safe that no one expects a horrific gunfire will erupt at, obviously no longer immune to gun violence here in this country.

So, your question, unclear what the actual direct connection there with LDS. We did hear from the White House press secretary who spoke to another network who said that she was briefed by FBI officials and they believe that he had some type of animus towards the LDS church. That's all they're saying right now. We're still, again, trying to get those additional details about the motive.

KEILAR: Can you tell us anything about a separate person, the man who drove his car through a police barricade near the scene of this horrific tragedy?

CAMPBELL: Yeah, so that person has been taken into custody. That occurred today. Authorities had surrounded this area with barriers, with police tape. Obviously, there's a massive investigation that they're trying to do. There are a lot of vehicles that are still inside the church parking lot, so they're trying to get people in and out. But as you can see right there, some of the barriers, they did -- we did see this man come through one of those barriers. He was then brought out, taken into custody by authorities. There was an indication that there may have been some type of firearm in the vehicle as well. Authorities haven't indicated whether he had posed any potential threat, but obviously, they are certainly on edge where you have a crime scene that was the center of a horrific mass shooting, as investigators are still pouring through that rubble trying to ensure that there was no one else inside, trying to gather all the evidence that they can. You then have this potential breach to the exterior perimeter as well. Certainly, that put -- something that puts police on edge because you never know where these threats might come from in this day and age. But that person obviously, now being questioned and we'll wait to see if there are any criminal charges there.

KEILAR: All right, Josh Campbell, thank you so much. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Let's hit some of the other headlines we are watching this hour, including rescue teams in Arizona, searching for people who are still missing after devastating flooding hit an area east of Phoenix this weekend. Three people died in Globe, Arizona and another person was found dead 90 miles away in Scottsdale on Saturday. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has declared a state of emergency for Gila County, directing resources to the area, including authorizing deployment of the State National Guard for support as needed.

Also, President Trump is weighing in on the New York mayoral race. After Mayor Eric Adams announced he was dropping out the president, threatening to withhold federal funding from the city if Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani wins in November, adding Mamdani will "have problems with Washington." Now, Mayor Adams said he was ending his campaign due in part to his inability to raise funds.

And if you were hoping to see Dolly Parton take the stage in Las Vegas, you're going to have to wait at least until next year. Parton's Vegas residency was supposed to light up the stage in December, but the 79-year-old posted a statement on Sunday saying she had to undergo a few procedures. Despite the setback, she still got her sense of humor, joking "it must be her 100,000-mile checkup and not her usual trip to the plastic surgeon" she said. The residency is now set to start September 2026. Current tickets will be valid.

We're also following a lot of stories this hour. You've seen it on your screen, the Trump-Netanyahu joint press conference. We're going to follow that and bring you that live when that happens. But also, as you're seeing on your screen now, a duo of powerful storms could wreak havoc along the East Coast and all without ever making landfall. We'll explain in the forecast next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:54:45]

KEILAR: Superstar, Bad Bunny, fresh off his Puerto Rico residency has a new stage in sight. It's the Super Bowl.

[13:55:00]

KEILAR: The Puerto Rican rapper and singer making the announcement on social media Sunday night, pretty cool there. JIMENEZ: Yeah, and you know, not everyone is a fan of the pick, you know? Bad Bunny has made it clear he's not a fan of this administration's policies. For example, he's skipping the continental U.S. for his upcoming tour out of fear that ICE could potentially raid concert venues. But clearly, he's got one important stop to make in the U.S.

KEILAR: That's right.

JIMENEZ: And that is the Super Bowl. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister is here with more. So, all right, the announcement of the Super Bowl halftime performer big every year. This year though seems to be big with a message. How are people reacting to this?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. This is certainly not a safe pick. So first of all, it goes without being said, Bad Bunny is one of the biggest names in music. He is an absolute superstar. But as you said, Omar, he just wrapped a residency in Puerto Rico where he is from, that residency bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the island. But now, he is set to embark on a world tour. That world tour is not going to include the U.S. because Bad Bunny said publicly in an interview that he is worried that ICE agents could be outside of his concert venues in the U.S. to take his fans.

Now, this is not the only time that he has spoken out against this administration. During the election, you both remember that when comedian Tony Hinchcliffe spoke at a Trump rally, he made comments about Puerto Rico. He called the island "a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean." And it was after those comments that Bad Bunny then endorsed Kamala Harris and said that he was angry about those comments.

So, booking him to be the Super Bowl halftime performer is essentially guaranteeing that you are going to have political themes. Now, whether that is going to be an overt message or whether it will be a bit more subliminal, it's hard to imagine Bad Bunny taking the Super Bowl halftime stage on American soil, having one of the biggest platforms, certainly the biggest television platform of the year and not making a message. And he did allude to this in his statement.

He said, "What I'm feeling goes beyond myself. It's for those who came before me and around countless yards, so I could come in and score a touchdown. This is for my people, my culture and our history."

JIMENEZ: Yeah, I mean, and also, Bad Bunny not exactly a shy performer. So I think, the prediction on sending some sort of message is probably spot on. Elizabeth Wagmeister, appreciate the reporting. We are also keeping a close eye on a dual tropical threat off the East Coast, Tropical Storm Imelda, the season's ninth named storm is expected to become a hurricane.

KEILAR: It's not expected to make landfall because powerful Hurricane Humberto is pulling Imelda away from the coast. And yet, several parts of the Carolinas have already declared a state of emergency. And officials in those states are preparing people to -- are urging people to prepare for coastal flooding and potential storm surge. We have CNN Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, tracking both of these storms. All right, they're kind of toying with each other here or one with the other.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah.

KEILAR: What should we be expecting, Derek?

VAN DAM: But it's incredible because without this strength of this Hurricane Humberto, we wouldn't be seeing Imelda pulling away from the Southeast Coast. So we needed this storm to bottom out into a Cat 5 this weekend to create the path necessary for Imelda to eventually move away. Now, this is quite a site. We don't normally see two dueling hurricanes off the Southeast Coast, but they are interacting with each other. And it's going to, again, help pull away the strengthening Imelda away from the Southeast Coast.

There will still be some impacts in the form of coastal erosion, tropical storm squalls right along the coastline of eastern Florida, the Georgia coastline, and into the Carolinas. And then as the storm departs, there'll be a lot of chop, the seas will start to pick up into the beaches. And so, we're going to watch out for the potential for some coastal erosion and riptide risks going forward for the entire eastern seaboard. You can see the current radar. This is all Imelda as it kind of interacts with the frontal boundary over the East Coast.

But we're not facing the catastrophic flood threat that we had about 72 hours ago when models depicted this storm moving inland. So this was that delicate dance between the tropical systems. One thing though for sure, the riptides, the large waves will be a concern for much of the East Coast going forward as Imelda continues to churn offshore and pulls away along with Humberto. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Derek, thank you so much for that.

JIMENEZ: And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

KEILAR: Any minute we're expecting to hear from President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the two leaders will be facing reporters after holding talks at the White House on a Gaza ceasefire proposal --