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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Ukraine Warns Of "Critical" Situation In Kupiansk; Capitol Hill Split Over Jimmy Kimmel Controversy; CDC Advisers Call For Changes To Children's Vaccine Schedule. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 19, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Again, it was accidental or intentional. There is a couple of things to take away from it.

First of all, that it is still a threat. All of these Western intelligence officials believe that Russia is becoming more aggressive and more bold in its actions. You'll remember that the foreign minister of Poland had even called for a no-fly zone to be enforced by NATO over Ukraine -- something that's not on the table but shows you just how concerned they are about this threat level.

The second thing you need to consider is I talked about F-16 fighter jets being scrambled. So think about the resources -- the finances behind that to shoot down what are relatively cheap, relatively simple drones. So how does NATO going forward and how do Ukrainian allies going forward meet these -- meet these demands from Russian air defenses when they are firing these relatively cheap drones.

And the other thing, of course, to take away here -- and this is important -- is the peace process. President Trump seems to be wavering in and out of making an assessment on whether President Putin is serious about peace. He played his latest sound bite there on Air Force One where he says now is not the time for a ceasefire. Mixed messages again when we've heard him time and time again say that he wants that war to end and he wants that war to end yesterday.

So it makes it more difficult to understand what the White House's thinking is when it comes to imposing further sanctions or pushing President Putin to any form of a negotiating table.

And, of course, what's happening on the ground in Ukraine is we are very much seeing that President Putin's war -- those aggressive actions, that escalating offensive is gaining ground.

You talked about the city of Kupiansk where Russian soldiers are just about a kilometer away. There has been fierce fighting in and around this city, which is in the Kharkiv area for months now, but Russian troops do seem to be on the verge of capturing it. That would be a major victory for them and a major loss, of course, for Ukrainian forces who are outmanned, outgunned, and absolutely on the back foot.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Salma Abdelaziz for us in London. Salma, thank you very much.

Texas Democrats calling out an effort to tilt the midterms for House Republicans. Still ahead why they say politicians want to control their vote instead of earning it.

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[05:36:55]

ABEL: Republicans' moves to redistrict the Texas congressional map have Democrats in the state crying foul, as you can imagine. They worry their voices are being silenced in the push to create more House seats for the GOP.

CNN's John King reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANNY RIZO, TEXAS VOTER: There's got to be some sort of a change.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Manny Rizo is a Democrat in Texas on the losing side again.

RIZO: Intentional gerrymandering in order to control the vote, and are we really represented by the proper representative? I think it's just a waste so they can keep control and power and continue on with the next two years as to what they're doing now.

KING (voiceover): Rizo maintains private jets -- his office, a hangar at this private airport in Pflugerville about 15 miles south of Austin. Business is good.

RIZO: This airplane came in for some big inspections. We found a lot of issues but that's what we do. That's what the pay us to do is to find issues on the ground rather than they find them in the air.

KING (voiceover): Most clients are longtime customers but of late a few tough conversations about the bill when critical parts come from Mexico or Canada.

RIZO: Tariffs. It costs more money at the same business. It costs more money --

KING: To buy --

RIZO: -- to buy parts.

KING: To buy parts.

RIZO: To buy parts.

KING (voiceover): The local congressman for this airport is a Democrat like Rizo. He listens if Rizo has concerns about how Washington impacts his business. Listens, too, on the issue that is now Rizo's passion, gun violence. His 9-year-old niece Jackie was among the students killed in Uvalde. RIZO: That's where it's really important, you know, to us and our

family, you know. We -- uh, our values, our morals, and -- oh --

KING (voiceover): Sadness every time he thinks of his niece. Anger every time he thinks about a new Texas map that moves Pflugerville and other Austin suburbs.

RIZO: Especially during a change in the midterms, you know. I don't agree with that.

KING: This is Kyle, Texas, about 20 miles down interstate 35 south of Austin. As of today, this is the 35th congressional district, one of two solidly blue seats in the Austin area. But when Texans vote in next year's midterm elections the map will be dramatically different.

The 35th moves south, east of San Antonio to Republican country. The 37th made more compact right there in Austin. The result? Two Democratic districts become one and tens of thousands of Texans now represented by Democrats in Congress dispersed into more rural and Republican districts.

KING (voiceover): Gretchen Pruett is one of those Democrats and this winery just outside of Kyle is one of her favorite places. Pruett moved to Texas 30 years ago, likes her wine red and her politics blue.

GRETCHEN PRUETT, TEXAS VOTER: I wanted to live near Austin, and I was looking for a place that would be a community that I would feel at home in.

KING (voiceover): The new map puts Pruett in a district represented by a Republican. That isn't her only objection.

[05:40:00]

PRUETT: It's also a district that is heavily farming and industrial, and that is not the same kind of industry and ecosystem that we're in here in the Austin suburbs.

KING (voiceover): Pruett was a library director who first became politically active fighting Texas Republicans trying to ban books. Now she's embracing a new cause, trying to elect a Democrat in a district drawn to heavily favor a Republican.

PRUETT: It has activated me and my family. So we will be helping to register voters. We will be helping to get out the vote. When I was in public service in the government I could not speak out, but I am now retired and unmuzzled and so I have a voice and I'm going to use it.

KING (voiceover): Pruett has studied the new lines, and she knows the math, but she promises to fight on for republican wins next year.

PRUETT: I just believe that conversation and compromise and seeing all sides of the issue and then making a decision is the best possible form of government. And we're silencing those voices. We're marginalizing hem and my voice is marginalized as well. KING: And that's what you think they're doing. They're just dispersing

Democrats in a way that silences them.

PRUETT: I do believe that, yes. The maps bear it out.

KING (voiceover): Trump's lead role in the remapping makes it sting Democrats like Pruett even more. It is a bold powerplay and Texas, by far, the biggest player. But it might still not be enough to keep the House in Republican hands.

John King, CNN, Kyle, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show has become a flashpoint for free speech in America. How lawmakers are responding when we come back.

Plus, children in the U.S. may not get vaccines for some diseases until they're four years old. Details on the new recommendations coming up after the break.

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[05:46:30]

ABEL: Welcome back. I'm Brian Abel. Here are some stories we are watching today.

President Donald Trump is issuing a stark warning to American broadcast networks in the wake of Jimmy Kimmel's suspension. He says they risk losing their licenses over negative coverage of him. He added that not airing conservative views could also be reason enough for having a license revoked.

The FCC chair is suggesting that ABC pulling Kimmel's show is just the beginning of what's to come. Brendan Carr says a massive shift is underway in the media ecosystem. He warned "The consequences are going to continue to flow."

And sources tell CNN Disney is hopeful about bringing Kimmel's show back to ABC, but they say the comic needs to bring down the temperature of his monologues.

Kimmel has not yet commented on his suspension but some of his fellow late-night hosts are defending him and the right to free speech.

Reactions on Capitol Hill to Jimmy Kimmel being pulled off the air have, so far, been split. While Democrats are raising the alarm about a march towards censorship, most Republicans are shrugging off First Amendment concerns.

CNN's Manu Raju caught up with lawmakers to get their take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Well, this isn't a government, Manu; this is -- this is Disney against it.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the FCC was threatening taking action against ABC. I think Carr was out publicly.

HAWLEY: Well, you have one FCC guy --

RAJU: He's the chairman!

Is the right dabbling in cancel culture?

HAWLEY: Not this guy on the right. I mean, I just -- I just said he's entitled under the First Amendment to say what he wants. But on the other hand, I applaud the move of Disney, his corporate parent, to say we think this is terrible.

REP. KEVIN KILEY (R-CA): Well, I think that if government authority is being used in a way that chills speech, that is -- can be problematic. If you're committed to free speech, you should be committed to free speech across the board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Manu Raju reporting there.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom weighed in, slamming what he described as a coordinated effort by Republicans to silence their opponents. He writes, "The GOP does not believe in free speech. They are censoring you in real time."

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also reacting to the news, calling on elected officials to "speak up and push back" on what he called "this undemocratic act."

Meanwhile, Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, has been named the new chief executive officer of Turning Point USA. She takes over the organization that her late husband, Charlie Kirk, co-founded and led until his assassination last week.

The group's board announced the move in a post on X. It said Charlie Kirk had, in prior talks, made known that "this is what he wanted in the event of his death." Erika Kirk said she was committed to continuing his work and legacy.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee is calling for changes to children's vaccines and when the shots should be given. The panel, chosen by Health Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recommends that children under four should get the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine separately from the vaccine for the virus that causes chicken pox.

More now from CNN's Meg Tirrell.

MEG TIRRELL CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: On the first day of this two- day meeting of outside advisers to the CDC on vaccines, they looked at two different vaccines which have been recommended by the CDC for decades. [05:50:00]

One is a combination vaccine against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella or chickenpox. And the other vaccine they looked at today was the hepatitis B vaccine. And specifically, a current universal recommendation to give a dose of that vaccine to babies at birth in order to protect them against chronic infection with hepatitis B, which they may get from their mothers or get otherwise early in childhood.

Now, in terms of the MMRV vaccine, they did end up taking a vote on that this afternoon and they voted to change the recommendation so that kids under the age of four who would be getting their first dose, get a separate dose of the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) and then chickenpox separately. And the reason for that change in recommendations is that there is a small but slightly increased risk of febrile seizures if you get the four-vaccine combination at around age 12 to 15 months compared with if you get the MMR vaccine and the chickenpox vaccines separately.

And so that was the vote today and really, it wasn't a major change. The recommendation previously had been a preference for them separately at that dose but that the option was there for parents and doctors if they decided that was the best thing.

There were some arguments that this was taking away parent choice, but some committee members argued that by potentially reducing that risk of febrile seizure by not recommending that combination vaccine for the first dose or for children under four, that it would potentially reduce vaccine hesitancy.

We walked with one of the members about that.

DR. KIRK MILHOAN, CDC ACIP MEMBER: What we're discussing about right now, too, is the increase in vaccine hesitancy, OK? And part of that, in terms of trying to deal with vaccine hesitancy, is understanding also if someone has a febrile seizure, they might be less likely to get the next one.

TIRRELL: Now, there had been scheduled a vote on the hepatitis B vaccine as well but that ended up getting pushed to Friday morning essentially because of a discrepancy in some of the voting language. So that is going to happen on Friday.

But there was a lot of debate about this because presentations from CDC scientists showed that this is a save vaccine to be given to newborns and is tremendously effective in reducing rates of chronic hepatitis B infection, which can lead to things like liver cancer.

So there's a lot of concern from the public health world, potentially, that they are going to change the recommendation for all mothers who test negative for hepatitis B for their babies not to receive their first dose until at least one month of age -- potentially, public health experts say leaving some babies vulnerable to hepatitis B infection earlier than that. One ACIP member, Dr. Cody Meissner, who had served previously on this committee and is a pediatrician, made the argument for universal vaccination like this.

DR. CODY MEISSNER, PEDIATRICIAN, ACIP MEMBER: I think we've learned with many vaccines that the more we try and define a target group to vaccine the less successful we are. And the optimal approach seems to be to have a standard recommendation.

TIRRELL: So that vote is still to come. All of Friday, otherwise, is slated to discuss COVID-19 vaccines. Not clear yet what the votes are going to be there but there has been a potential for them to raise the recommended age for the COVID vaccine from everyone over 65 to everyone over 75. And there are some concerns that could limit access to COVID vaccines as well, which we have already started to see with changing recommendations coming out of the Trump administration.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Meg Tirrell reporting there.

And coming up we are tracking the path of Tropical Storm Gabrielle as it gains strength in the Atlantic. Find out when it could turn into a hurricane after the break.

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[05:58:30]

ABEL: Tropical Storm Gabrielle is struggling to organize after it formed Wednesday in the central Atlantic Ocean. The storm is churning 595 miles or about 960 kilometers east-northeast of the Caribbean's northern Leeward Islands. It has sustained winds of 85 kilometers or 50 miles per hour.

The National Hurricane Center believes Gabrielle will strengthen into a hurricane by Sunday. It's not expected though to directly impact the U.S. but it may whip up the surf on the East Coast next week.

Well, "Ladybugs of the Sea" is the winner of the Ocean Photography of the Year award. Look at this. The competition organizers say this image shows two tiny amphipods resting on a piece of coral. It was chosen from a field of more than 15,000 submitted by photographers from all over the world. Nine category winners were also selected.

This image took the prize for the adventure category. It shows -- you might be able to see it there -- a personal watercraft navigating the massive waves off the coast of Portugal. And the prize for the human connection award went to this photo of a group of people trying to save a stranded humpback whale.

Well, scientists in Boston gathered Thursday to hear about a monumental discovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SVANTE PAABO, NOBEL LAUREATE AND SWEDISH GENETICIST: We made an important discovery. Drunken Germans usually pronounce Dutch better than sober Germans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:00:00]

ABEL: That's one of many bizarre discoveries celebrated at the 35th annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. It's a whimsical counterpart to the Nobel Prizes where scientists celebrate things like breakthroughs in understanding the physics of pasta sauce. The presentations also, as you see here, range from the playful to the outright bizarre. Among the winners this year was a study about which pizzas a certain kind of lizard eats.

The master of ceremonies said the purpose of the awards is to make you laugh and then make you think. Winners get an old $10 trillion Zimbabwean banknote. That's about 40 cents, by the way.

Thank you for joining us here at EARLY START. I'm Brian Abel in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.