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CNN This Morning
Late-Night Hosts Rally to Support Kimmel; U.S. Farmers Alarmed Over Economic Uncertainty & Tariffs. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired September 19, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:08]
BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you for joining us here at EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. CNN THIS MORNING, with Audie Cornish, starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Late-night hosts unite behind Jimmy Kimmel, knowing full well one of them could be one of them could be next. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": We have another fun, hilarious administration-compliant show.
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CORNISH: The networks and their late-night hosts on notice. Be nice to the president or risk going dark. Kimmel himself laying low. Will he ever get back on the air?
And a U.S. air base abandoned and seized by the Taliban. Would President Trump send troops to Afghanistan to take it back?
And justice, Jeanine Pirro style. Why so many suspects are getting their cases dismissed in D.C.
And a flood of trouble. Road closures, stranded drivers, and power outages after mudslides sweep in Southern California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIE NELSON, MUSICIAN (singing): Old friend. Holding hands to climb the curb. Looking up.
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CORNISH: America's farmers struggling to put food on their own tables, 40 years after the first Farm Aid.
It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the U.S. Capitol building.
Good morning, everybody. It's Friday, September 19. I want to thank you for waking up with me. I'm Audie Cornish.
And while you were sleeping, late-night came out swinging after the sudden suspension of Jimmy Kimmel from his ABC show.
Jon Stewart made a surprise appearance on "The Daily Show." He usually only hosts on Monday. Stephen Colbert weighed in as he faces the end of his program next spring. Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, who the president said were next on NBC, also responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS'S "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive. And clearly, they've never read the children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Kimmel."
SETH MEYERS, HOST, NBC'S "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": I just want to say, before we get started here, that I've always admired and respected Mr. Trump. I've always believed he was -- no, no, no. A visionary, an innovator, a great president, an even better golfer.
JIMM FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": To be honest with you all, I don't know what's going on. And no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel. And he's a decent, funny and loving guy, and I hope he comes back.
STEWART: An unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary consolidation of power and unitary intimidation, principle-less and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance.
Some people would say that. Not me, though. I think it's great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Noel King, co-host and editorial director for the "Today, Explained" podcast; Elliott Williams, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor; Virginia Allen, writer and producer at "The Daily Signal"; and Lulu Garcia- Navarro, CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist.
I want to start with you, Noel, in part because you were also talking to Christopher Rufo a few days ago, before all this happened. I feel like you know a lot about the conservative project to take back culture.
NOEL KING, CO-HOST/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, "TODAY, EXPLAINED": Yes.
CORNISH: So, how do you see this moment where the late-night guys seem shooketh?
KING: I mean. The argument -- they do seem shooketh, indeed. The argument that I'm hearing is these guys spend all their time beating up on President Trump, and it's unfair to him. The counterargument is late-night hosts typically do beat up on
whoever is the president, and it might be unfair to the president, but the president is an adult and can take jokes.
I think the thing that's really important to note here is that this was not a case of the free market deciding that Jimmy Kimmel was not good for audiences or audiences didn't like Jimmy Kimmel.
This was the chairman of the FCC goes on a podcast and says, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. And then Nexstar, which needs something from the chairman of the FCC, says, hey, we don't want to distribute Jimmy Kimmel anymore.
So, this seems like a pretty obvious case of, you know, the administration threatening and -- and ABC acquiescing.
CORNISH: OK. I want to bring in Virginia. What are you hearing at "The Daily Signal"?
[06:05:03]
Because even this argument about it wasn't a free market decision. Those other people are saying, hey, ABC was pressured by its own affiliates. They're downplaying the role of the FCC.
VIRGINIA ALLEN, WRITER/PRODUCER, "THE DAILY SIGNAL": Sure, sure. Well, I mean, ultimately, ABC had the call to make. They could have chosen, we're going to stand with Kimmel. We're going to back him, no matter what.
And they chose not to, I think, because they saw it as a losing issue. I think they saw Kimmel as a greater liability than an asset.
CORNISH: With the administration or with the public?
ALLEN: With the public. Because I do think, regardless of political viewpoint, I think that the public recognizes that it is inappropriate to go on television less than a week after someone was killed and to make comments that are not only really derogatory in some ways but, quite frankly, also very misleading as to the facts of the case.
And I think that's what so many Americans took issue with and just felt was -- was very insensitive at a time when many Americans are truly grieving; and not only grieving the loss of Charlie Kirk, but grieving the fact that someone who championed free speech, who wanted to have dialogue and conversations, ultimately was killed.
CORNISH: Yes. We should mention the memorial and funeral are this weekend.
Lulu, I see you nodding. How are you thinking about this?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, I'm not nodding in agreement. I think -- listen, I'm going to give a little bit of a civics lesson, which is this. In a democracy, you need to have free speech. Free speech does not work [SIC] in a democracy. And it is described as not having government interference. It's not about the free market. It's about explicit threats from the FCC chairman, that were acted on, because they have business in front of the FCC.
The FCC is incredibly powerful. It grants licenses.
CORNISH: Yes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: It -- it actually says what deals can go together.
We've already seen a version of this with the Paramount deal, where basically they -- you had -- sorry, the parent company of CBS look at the president and say, All right, we're going to pay you over a suit that you have.
And then, lo and behold, right after the deal gets --
CORNISH: Yes. And people are, in this context, looking very much at Carr himself, the FCC chair. And I don't mean to interrupt you.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, please.
CORNISH: But I do think this will help your point. Here's what he was saying on FOX News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDAN CARR, FCC CHAIRMAN: We're going to continue to make clear that we're holding broadcasters accountable to the public interest. And again, I think that's going to be a really good thing for the country.
Again, people can go on podcasts and go on cable shows like this. You don't have a license from the FCC. So, there's a lot more they can do there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: But what lives rent-free in my head is his tweet from a few years ago, where he even goes after that standard of public interest. He said, "Should the government censor speech it doesn't like? Of course not. The FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech in the name of public interest."
So, a little bit of a change of heart here. That's from 2019.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes. I just want to -- I just want to finish my thought, which I admittedly had trouble finishing, which is this.
This is part of a larger project, which Noel has pointed to. At the moment, you have the president of the United States as a private citizen, but still the sitting president of the United States, you know, putting a lawsuit against my publication -- right? -- for $25 billion. Now, where did that number come from? That is more than its market
cap. All right? This is -- again, this is not about trying to, you know, get some redress, that he has hurt feelings or he thinks that something is wrong. This is actually trying to put something out of business.
That is a different type of action than simply saying, you know what? Someone said something wrong. Let the market prevail. Let's fire them. This is a concerted effort to quell the press in this country and free speech more generally.
CORNISH: I'm wondering, at some point, does somebody sue? And I'm asking, because once you have actual government officials out there saying this shakedown language, at some point, it feels like someone, even against their employer for being fired. Like, help me out.
ELLIOTT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. I think --
CORNISH: Once the government is involved, it's not vibes, cancel culture from Twitter.
WILLIAMS: And that is the important thing. When we speak about the First Amendment, it's not private-sector entities firing people for things they say or for being indecorous or even insensitive.
It's when the government says, we do not like the things you are saying, and on account of the things you're saying, we are taking action against you. And it's both the actions of Brendan Carr and the president, prior to Jimmy Kimmel's suspension and afterward, if you look at their social media, that seems to suggest this wasn't about public interest. This was about not liking Jimmy Kimmel.
The president made the comments about he was fired because he had low ratings. I wanted this to happen for quite some time.
Carr said, you know, used the term public -- public interest. But, you know, we're not talking about the public interest here.
If we were talking about the public interest, literally, shows like "MILF Manor" would not be available for people to watch. Shows like "Who's Your Daddy?" which was on FOX, which made an adopted girl, for money, guess who her biological father was.
Like, we're being really inconsistent here about what constitutes public interest.
This is about politics and using government to go after speech. Once the government is involved, exactly as you said, Audie, it's a different matter. And it becomes a First Amendment issue.
[06:10:06]
CORNISH: Now, no one has sued yet. So, I'm just raising this. But --
WILLIAMS: No, no, I mean.
CORNISH: It could -- no one has sued yet.
WILLIAMS: No, but they could. I mean, because -- once you start with the First Amendment. Yes.
CORNISH: yes. You guys stay with me. We're going to talk about a lot of different angles about this.
But coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, a manhunt in Washington state may be over. The latest on the search for a father accused of killing his three young daughters.
Plus, a controversial vote at the CDC today that could restrict your child's access to vaccines.
And President Trump looks to seal the deal on TikTok with China.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There is tremendous value, and I hate to give away value. But I like TikTok.
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[06:15:22]
CORNISH: It's now 15 minutes past the hour, and here is your morning roundup.
Officials say they have found human remains believed to be Travis Decker. The Washington state man is accused of killing his three daughters. They were between the ages of 5 and 9.
Authorities have been searching for Decker for months. Positive identification is still pending.
And President Trump is set to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping today. High on the agenda is TikTok.
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TRUMP: The people that are investing it are among the greatest investors in the world. The biggest, the richest. And they'll do a great job. And we're doing it in conjunction with China.
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CORNISH: The U.S. and China agreed on a framework for the sale of TikTok earlier this week, with U.S. investors expected to own roughly 80 percent of the platform.
And cleanup underway after mudslides swept through parts of Southern California. A wall of dirt, water, debris basically slammed into homes, forced road closures, and left drivers stranded.
Luckily, there are no reports yet of missing people.
And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, the blame game. How the White House is trying to pin the Epstein mess on the president's former labor secretary.
Plus, the harvest is plentiful, but the buyers are few. How tariffs are eating away at the bottom line of America's farmers.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Farmers, we're down to hope and prayers at this point. And you know, I -- that's not a good marketing strategy. But that's where we are.
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CORNISH: And good morning to Baltimore.
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[00:21:19]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NELSON: Thank you all very much and welcome to Farm Aid, the concert for America.
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CORNISH: That's Willie Nelson at the very first Farm Aid back in 1985. The 40th anniversary revival will air on CNN tomorrow.
And four decades later, farmers need more help than ever. The harvest is plentiful. The buyers, not so much. Labor shortages and tariffs have shaken the market for their crops.
So, take soybeans. Last year, China imported a whopping 22 percent of all soybeans grown in the U.S. That's something like $13 billion worth. And this year, they've taken virtually nothing.
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AMIE RIVERS, NEWSLETTER EDITOR, "IOWA STARTING LINE": One of the reasons is because of the last time that we went to war, specifically with China, which is a huge, huge buyer, especially of Iowa goods. They moved over, kind of almost wholesale, to Brazil.
China has the hugest population in terms of what we export to them. And if they're not buying, because we've (EXPLETIVE DELETED) them over, then that's really hard to get them back. And I think that's also a part of this that we can't ignore.
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CORNISH: I wanted to know more about this from the voice you heard there, Amie Rivers. She's the editor of the newsletter at "Iowa Starting Line."
Good morning, Amie. Thanks for being with us.
RIVERS: Good morning, Audie. Thanks for having me.
CORNISH: So, you were talking there about soybeans. Are there -- are there other kinds of products that have either lost their market or been shaken, that farmers are struggling with?
RIVERS: Oh, there's lots of products, from corn to pork, and -- and Iowa does those, too. But I think soybeans really are one of the canaries in the coal mine here.
I mean, before 2018, when the first trade war started, we, like you said, shipped an average of 13 billion worth of soybeans to China. They're the hugest buyer of our soybeans.
After 2018, that dropped to less than 5 billion. And since May, it's been zero. So, this is a huge, huge problem.
And there's no buyer like China. China buys so much soybeans. The next closest buyer is the European Union at 11 percent. We really need China as a market.
CORNISH: One of the reasons I wanted to do this story is because of what we're seeing, those images, that trademark green, right, for John Deere.
John Deere, which sells all kinds of equipment and tractors, is struggling. Can you talk about their struggles, even how it would compare, right, to the '80s when they went through a big labor issue?
RIVERS: Yes, I mean, the '80s was a huge, huge problem. And we're -- we're seeing a problem now, but it's different. It's -- it's a manmade problem. I mean, this problem is entirely the trade war. And farmers are begging for a trade deal.
I mean, you talk about John Deere. They've got 12 plants here in ten cities. They feel every bump in the road with their network of dealers and suppliers. It affects 20 percent of Iowa's economy. And I think that's true for a lot of farm states that are affected by this.
John Deere alone in 2024, 1,600 workers were laid off because of the first ag downturn. Already this year. I added it up yesterday, and it's something like 457 workers have been laid off so far. And they just announced on Wednesday that another 101 workers are going to be let go in my town of Waterloo.
So, this is going to be very devastating, not only for those workers, but what it means for the larger economy, because, these -- these farmers are in these communities. They're -- they're a part of these communities, and they're just suffering right now.
CORNISH: It's interesting. We don't think of farming the same way that people might talk about, say, Detroit -- right? -- and automakers or something like that. But you're bringing attention to this idea, like your town is probably
feeling it. And are you seeing it in the community, whether it is where people shop, where people eat? Like, is business down?
RIVERS: I mean, net cash, farm income with this ag downturn that's been happening in a couple of years, since the first trade war, is already affecting us.
I mean, for corn, that plummeted 38 percent. For soybeans, that plummeted 40 percent. That's the lowest level it's been in 15 years.
That's already adding to the fact that input costs are up. Things like fertilizer, tractors, other equipment. And the fact that all costs are up because of inflation right now.
And when farmers feel the squeeze, that's going to hit us hard. I mean, they're already looking at 60 percent of their soybeans not being able to be sold last year. Usually, it's about a third. And this year, nobody knows.
I mean, you have the president of the farmers union saying local elevators where farmers sell and store their crops are, in some cases, refusing to take soybeans because of the uncertainty. Like, prices are down a dollar or $2 per bushel from the same time last year. And when farmers feel the squeeze that hits Iowa really hard.
CORNISH: Amie Rivers. She's the newsletter editor at "Iowa Starting Line." They also have a podcast. Thanks so much.
RIVERS: Thanks so much, Audie.
CORNISH: And we don't want you to miss that Farm Aid concert. That's happening this weekend, "Farm Aid at 40." It's going to be Saturday night where you can watch it at 7 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, the decision that rocked late- night. New reporting on ABC's decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely.
Plus, Trump's crime crackdown on D.C. Why are judges and jurors rejecting so many of the cases?
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