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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Trump Says DCC Could Revoke TV Broadcast Licenses; ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Show Over Kirk Remarks; House Committee Members Seeking to Bring in FCC Chair; Trump Ends U.K. Trip; U.S. Files Lawsuit Against Ticketmaster; Children in Russian-Occupies Areas. Aired 6- 7p ET

Aired September 18, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. And you're watching

"The Brief."

Just ahead this hour, Donald Trump accuses TV networks of being overwhelmingly against him. And then seems to threaten that they might lose

their broadcast licenses as a result. The president leaves the U.K. after celebrating a, quote, "unbreakable bond" with Britain, despite, on display,

some key foreign policy differences. And the Champions League is back with Manchester City, Barcelona, Napoli, and Newcastle in action.

President Trump is dismissing genuine concerns over the state of free speech in this country after Disney's ABC took Jimmy Kimmel's late-night

talk show off the air indefinitely, saying that Kimmel was, quote, "fired for lack of talent." Those are the president's words. Trump also suggested

he could go further. That he could reject broadcast licenses, revoke them, if they continue to air what he called mostly negative coverage of him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I read someplace that the networks were 97 percent against me. I get 97 percent negative, and yet I won it easily. I

won all seven swing states, popular vote, I won everything. And they're 97 percent against, they give me wholly bad publicity -- I mean, they're

getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Taking away broadcast licenses because they give him bad publicity, he says. This comes after the Federal Communications Commission

chair, Brennan Card, threatened ABC to take action following Kimmel's comments about Charlie Kirk's suspected killer on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who

murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: There's more to this story. Behind the scenes, Nexstar, one of the ABC affiliate groups, said it would remove Kimmel's show. That was

before the suspension was announced. It is also seeking to merge with another media firm. And for that merger to go through, it needs Trump's

approval, his administration's approval to do so.

Former President Barack Obama is urging media companies to stand up. He wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after years of complaining about cancel

culture, the current administration is taking it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies

unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn't like.

CNN Senior Reporter Politics Senior Reporter Stephen Collinson joins me now. The thing is, the Kimmel situation is certainly not isolated. You have

the pressure put on CBS due to 60 Minutes coverage that the president didn't like. Late show Stephen Colbert goes, a $16 billion, you heard that

right, billion-dollar lawsuit against the New York Times following some critical coverage here.

What's interesting about this is it's not just administration pressure. There is preemptive action by some of these media organizations, is there

not? It seems like you could even call it self-censorship.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR REPORTER POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, what the FCC chief, Brendan Carr, is saying to these affiliate stations, and

these are what happens in the United States, is that the networks or the companies like Disney make the programming, they farm it out to affiliate

stations across the country. And what Carr is saying to these affiliate stations is, it's up to you now to decide what is in the public interest

for viewers to see. And he's openly warned these affiliate stations that if they don't play ball, the FCC is going to take action.

For example, he hinted that they could stop this Nexstar merger that you were talking about. He said on a podcast, he said, we can do this the hard

way or the easy way.

SCIUTTO: Or the easy way.

COLLINSON: That's government power being used to threaten private companies to do what the president wants.

[18:05:00]

SCIUTTO: I mean, the merger leverage point, I should say, the merger approval leverage point, is one that factored into the Paramount case and

the pressure on CBS. The thing is, we're not just seeing regulatory pressure. We're also seeing, it seems, the president getting his pals or

friendly organizations to own media organizations as well.

COLLINSON: Yes.

SCIUTTO: And that has -- I mean, you know, taken right out of Victor Orban's playbook.

COLLINSON: And what you're seeing is, since the beginning of this administration, and you're also seeing it in the tech industry, is these

corporate titans have been gathering around the president because they believe it will be in their financial interest to do so. When you give a

corporation that's a big company owning a lot of media firms a choice between profit and free speech, even their own free speech, a lot of them

are choosing to go with the profit. And that's what Trump knows. He's a businessman. He's very transactional.

His first term, he said a lot of things. His second term, he's understood where the levers of power are on these people. And you could end up with a

U.S. media scene owned by largely billionaires who are very sympathetic politically to Trump, and they need him for political favors.

SCIUTTO: And remember, the Supreme Court has given him an enormous amount of leeway from criminal prosecution for official acts. I wonder, how does

the world see this? Because, of course, the U.S. has advertised its First Amendment, freedom of expression rights for decades, for generations. Do

they see that eroding?

COLLINSON: The world has seen the United States telling the rest of the world for decades that you need to follow our free speech provisions. In

fact, the president was just in the United Kingdom. Vice President J.D. Vance and the president have been criticizing the British for not offering

sufficient freedom of speech. Yet there was the president sitting in Windsor Castle overnight sending out his Truth Social posts saying he's

going to crack down on Antifa, this umbrella organization of leftist organizations. That's potentially an infringement of the First Amendment,

offering freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.

So, you know, all of the safeguards and the values that the rest of the world perceived in the United States are being eroded here, and it's

happening very quickly, especially in terms of press freedom.

SCIUTTO: Yes, soft power. Hard to earn it, easy to lose it. Stephen Collinson, thanks so much. Members of Congress are talking about bringing

in the FCC chair, Brendan Carr, before the House Oversight Committee. Democratic Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi is a member of that committee,

and he joins me now. Tell me your reaction to the FCC chairman saying, and so often, just listen to what they say in public, right, we can do this the

easy way or the hard way when it came to this whole Kimmel episode here. Sounds like a threat.

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL), MEMBER, U.S. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT: Yes, it's classic. It feels like mafia coercion. And I think that that is,

I think, a textbook example of state action impinging on free speech rights, and I think it's unconstitutional. I think it's illegal.

And so, today we moved to actually bring Brendan Carr before the committee. I'm talking about the Oversight Democrats. It lost on a vote of 24 to 21 on

a party-line vote. However, Mr. Comer and Mr. Garcia, our ranking member, agreed to bring him in anyway at a later date because a lot of people have

questions for him.

I personally think, you know, we need to bring sunshine and transparency to the situation, and if necessary, I think Congress needs to step in.

Democrats need to do whatever we can to hold them accountable, including potentially holding up his funding.

SCIUTTO: Here's the thing. As you know, members of your own party, voters, are not satisfied with the stand that Democrats are putting up. It's in the

polling numbers. There is a potential shutdown coming here, and there's a debate within the party as to whether perhaps that's a pressure point, and

while shutdowns hurt a lot of people, that Democrats should go that far here.

I wonder, what do you think Democrats should do? Should they provide the votes to get the funding across the finish line or shut down the

government?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think we have to do what's in the best interest of the American people. At this point, I think the best interest of the American

people are served by a negotiation of what has to happen for the people to be served.

Right now, for instance, as one example, the tax credits under Obamacare that enable millions of people to be able to buy health insurance are about

to expire.

[18:10:00]

Republicans have made the tax credits under Obamacare that enable millions of people to be able to buy health insurance are about to expire.

Republicans have made absolutely zero attempt to extend those tax credits, meaning that for millions of people, their health premiums, health

insurance premiums are possibly going to triple, and for many others are going to go up substantially. That's unacceptable, especially at a time

when they're already, through the large, lousy law or what they call the big, beautiful bill, are going to strip 17 million people of their health

insurance to begin with.

And so, that's kind of one of those basic issues that people care about. Should they have health care insurance or not?

SCIUTTO: Aren't you kind of playing by yesterday's rules here? Have you had a good-faith legislative negotiation with Republicans in recent weeks,

months, years?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Sure. But I think that on this particular issue, we have not. All that being said, Senate Democrats have leverage. Unlike in the

House, in the Senate, they have the filibuster. So, in other words, for anything to pass on this particular issue, Republicans are going to require

at least seven Democrats to join them, if not eight.

SCIUTTO: Well, that's what I'm asking. Do you believe your Democrats -- do you believe your Democratic colleagues in the other chambers should not

provide those votes until they get more? I mean, I don't see any other options until you win back the House, if you win back the House or the

Senate.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think they need to get concessions. We need to get concessions specifically on health care because that is perhaps the most

fundamental issue that my constituents call me about, and I think that people are up in arms about their health insurance premiums already going

up, and to see them tripling would be just outrageous.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Trump, as you know, has long claimed that conservatives are the victims of censorship, and Trump's not alone, many of his allies. And

now, of course, you hear quite a different voice from him and from others. What would you say to them now in this moment as you see multiple media

companies silence voices, right, when they are found distasteful by this president?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: We haven't seen anything like this in, at least, my recent memory. In my decade in Congress, I have not seen the federal government

behave in this particular way. And, look, I think at the end of the day, we're basically going to have to decide, you know, what kind of a

government do we want? Do we want a government that basically, you know, exercises coercive powers to censor people based on their viewpoints? If

so, we Democrats have to hold them accountable. And to me, that starts with the power of the purse, among other things.

SCIUTTO: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, as always, thanks so much for joining the show.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Well, President Trump is heading back to Washington after wrapping up a two-day state visit to the U.K. That visit ended with a joint

news conference with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer. And while they both celebrated their, quote, "unbreakable bond," there were quite

public signs of strain and disagreement in the special relationship with differing views on key foreign policy issues, including the Ukraine war and

the war in Gaza.

On Russia, Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had, really let me down. However, he put the onus for change on allied nations, NATO

nations, buying oil from Russia. He did say that Putin would drop out of the war if the price of oil falls. However, he said the condition for

future U.S. action would be Europe taking steps first. Starmer struck a much stronger tone. He urged the U.S. president to ramp up pressure on

Putin as the only way forward. In fact, he said that the lack of that pressure had emboldened Putin.

On Gaza, with the U.K. preparing to recognize Palestinian Statehood, as other European states have, Trump openly acknowledged a difference of

opinion on that issue. He said, I have a disagreement on that score. Trump also spoke about TikTok, praising the video-sharing app for, and he said

quite publicly, helping him win the presidency. No mention of the national security threat, which U.S. lawmakers found by quite a large bipartisan

margin, was the case.

Five years ago, he called TikTok a national security threat. He signed an executive order to shut it down if its owners, ByteDance, did not divest

operations in the U.S. In 2024, a bipartisan consensus in Congress led to a law ordering the Chinese owners to sell the company or face a U.S. ban.

Still hasn't happened yet. Nic Robertson wraps up a trip filled with pomp and politics.

[18:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): After a lavish state dinner the night before, Trump bid farewell to King Charles at

Windsor Castle and arrived at the prime minister's country home, Chequers, switching gears from the previous day's pomp to talk politics and policy

with Keir Starmer.

The pair emphasizing the unbreakable bond between the U.S. and U.K, despite the president and prime minister being political opposites, they managed to

develop a friendly relationship.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It comes down to leaders, of course, leaders who respect each other, leaders who genuinely like each other.

BLITZER: Trade at the top of the agenda on the visit, a record-breaking $205 billion of investment expected from American companies.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We intend to always be the U.K.'s strongest, closest and most trusted business partner.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Trump praising the U.K. for becoming the first country to make a trade deal with the U.S. during his second term. Even so,

Trump already imposing a 10 percent tariff on most British imports, a move that could complicate ties, and no indication Starmer was able to get

higher tariffs on aluminum and steel cut as he had wanted.

Also not getting agreement on Ukraine. Trump and Starmer discussing how to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to get him to agree

to a peace deal.

TRUMP: It will all get done right, and likewise, Russia and Ukraine will get done, but it's -- you never know in war.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Starmer putting pressure on Trump.

STARMER: And it's only when the president has put pressure on Putin that he's actually shown any inclination to move.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Another area where they disagree is the war in Gaza. The prime minister hopes recognizing a Palestinian State will help

end the dire situation.

TRUMP: So, I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score. OK. One of our few disagreements, actually.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Starmer trying to smooth over any differences.

STARMER: Discussed it with the president, as you would expect amongst two leaders who respect each other.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): A reminder that even in the most special of relationships, deep undercurrents of division remain.

ROBERTSON: President Trump's leaving now, apparently happy with his visit to the U.K. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, can also be happy. Big tech

deal, but no major falling out over their key differences. Ukraine, Russia and over Gaza.

Nic Robinson, CNN, Chequers, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Joining me now, Mark Shanahan, associate professor of politics at the University of Surrey. Thanks so much for joining, Mark.

MARK SHANAHAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL, UNIVERSITY OF SURREY: A pleasure to speak with you.

SCIUTTO: So, the U.K. prime minister, in the nicest way possible, showed the difference here. He said, listen, Putin only responds to pressure. Only

when the president puts pressure does he respond. Trump made quite clear in his statements, though, he's not going to impose any more pressure on

Russia. And that should have been clear probably before these last couple of days. Again, creating this new condition that Europe has to stop buying

all Russian oil first. That's not an insignificant disagreement between the U.K. and the U.S., or really the U.S. and Europe.

SHANAHAN: Indeed. We've got fairly entrenched positions and we didn't really see any movement from those positions. Both parties were very polite

to each other, Stammer is also trying to act as a bridge between the U.S. and continental Europe as well as the U.K.

I mean, we look at a history since the Second World War where the U.K. has been this very, very active and attractive aircraft carrier for the United

States off the coast of Europe. Stammer wants to get back to that position. He wants to be the world's diplomat. He wants to have influence on Trump.

But even though yesterday and all of the pomp and splendor of Windsor was tremendous success, the politics didn't really move very much today. The

Coalition of the Willing is still a European model, is still a European program.

And I think the journey that Trump is making from Alaska to being pro- Ukraine and anti-Putin is a slow one that's going to take many interventions. The problem is Zelenskyy's Ukraine probably hasn't got too

much time for that to happen. I'm not sure this really changed too much on the Ukrainian front.

[18:20:00]

SCIUTTO: Yes. I'm not even clear that he will get there, right? At least we don't know it. So, I wonder, I mean, I was in Alaska for the Trump-Putin

summit, and obviously Trump and Putin and Trump and Starmer are two different things, but a lot of pomp, a lot of visual representations of

power and a warm welcome, et cetera, nothing came out of that summit that we could see. What did the U.K. get out of this?

SHANAHAN: The trade relationship is probably strengthened. You're still looking at a U.K. that has struggled to present itself on the world stage

since Brexit. Where exactly does the U.K. stand? It wants to be seen as a strong trading nation. It wants to be seen as a strong partner to the

United States, but it also wants to be seen as a good friend to Europe.

So, just in the hour that Starmer got Trump in a room on his own today, he would have been trying to play up that alongside a whole load of other

things, not least Gaza. But it is just trying to establish that position and reinforce the U.K.'s credibility while using yesterday at Windsor to

really reinforce Trump as a world leader on the global stage at the most historic court in the world. Being with the royals just adds to his

legitimacy even further.

But today, the politics is probably, Trump's got optics he wanted. Starmer may not have got the political deals he needed.

SCIUTTO: But let's set aside the optics for a moment. Trump said, standing next to the U.K. prime minister, Ukraine is not an issue for the U.S. And

then he turned to him and he said, I don't really think it's an issue for the U.K. As you know, that is not the European view. They view Russia as --

well, the ongoing war in Ukraine is a threat to peace in Europe, and they view Russia as a threat to all of Europe. That's a pretty big and defining

difference, is it not, between the U.S. and its allies. How do you square that circle?

SHANAHAN: Well, I'm not sure it can be squared at the moment. Trump is increasingly being seen across Europe as an unreliable ally. We are still

not sure at all of his support for NATO. And his lack of geopolitical understanding of Putin's intent, the expansionist regime that he's leading,

the wish to kind of recreate an imperial Russia is very, very worrying in Europe, where our borders are right up against Russia's.

If I was in Poland tonight, I would remain very, very worried, as I would if I was in the Baltic States or down to Moldova, all the way along that

eastern fringe of Central Europe. Putin has made his ambitions clear. It should be Trump's program. It should be Trump's problem. But while he is

acting in an isolationist manner, while it's America first, and frankly, traditional allies don't seem to matter very much, he is putting the world

in a more dangerous place than it has been for a very long time.

SCIUTTO: One more reminder. Mark Shanahan, thanks so much for joining the show.

SHANAHAN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still ahead, music lovers fed up with the rising price of concert tickets could finally be getting some relief. A new U.S. lawsuit takes aim

at Ticketmaster's lucrative business model. That story and more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief." U.S. stocks rose to all-time highs once again on Thursday, on hopes the Federal Reserve will continue to cut

interest rates. Small cap stocks posted their first record close since back in 2021. U.S. Central Bank cut rates for the first time since December on

Wednesday. And even though members were split on future policy, most still see two more rate cuts this year.

Also, today, shares of struggling chipmaker Intel rallied more than 22 percent on news of a massive $5 billion investment from NVIDIA. NVIDIA will

now own about 4 percent of its competitor and will work with Intel to develop PC and data center chips. The U.S. government recently announced

its own almost $6 billion investment in Intel.

The U.S. has a major lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation. It says the largest U.S. ticket seller has failed to crack

down on ticket resellers, costing consumers millions. The Federal Trade Commission says Ticketmaster allows resellers to scoop up large amounts of

tickets when they first go on sale. It says the tickets are then sold to customers on the resale market for higher, sometimes much higher prices,

which of course boosts Ticketmaster's income as well.

Seven U.S. states have joined the lawsuit. Ticketmaster has not yet responded to CNN's request for comment. The Biden Justice Department filed

antitrust charges against Live Nation and Ticketmaster last year, accusing them of monopolizing the market for live concerts.

Paul La Monica joins me now. He is senior markets analyst for Barron's. Paul, good to have you here. I mean, listen, anybody who's bought tickets

to concert in this country know the price and particularly, you know, the initial price you see and then you know that you see that giant fee tacked

on at the end. So, the government has a point here, doesn't it?

PAUL R. LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKETS ANALYSIS WRITER, BARRON'S: Yes, I don't think that any one, Jim, that is buying tickets for concerts or sporting

events would say that they are necessarily happy with the experience at Ticketmaster. And what complicates this, and it's the reason why, as you

pointed out, the DOJ last year had its argument to potentially break up Live Nation.

Live Nation owns concert venues. They are a concert promoter and they own Ticketmaster. So, that allegedly gives them a lot of power. And now, you

throw in these concerns about whether or not that they are, you know, colluding with ticket resellers and that makes things even more

problematic.

So, Live Nation stocked down today. StubHub, which just went public yesterday, actually has not done very well on Wall Street. So, they might

be getting caught up in some of this as well. They're stocked down too.

SCIUTTO: So, this is an explicit violation of what's known as the BOTS Act, that was an executive order targeting bulk buying for ticket resale.

And that being one piece of the larger issue here, though. But I mean, is Ticketmaster knowingly allowing this? Is it complicit, these resellers

buying bulk tickets?

LA MONICA: Yes. I mean, that's -- yes. I mean, that's ultimately, I think, going to be up to the FTC to decide. And if they decide that that is the

case, it sounds like there will be penalties and, you know, possible, you know, damages that could be paid back to consumers. But we're a long way

from that.

[18:30:00]

Obviously, the FTC and those seven states that have joined this lawsuit are very concerned about how difficult it is to buy tickets online. You know,

you know when you are trying to get a hot concert ticket or desirable sporting event, those tickets often sell out in a matter of seconds, and

there are questions of just how many of them are really available to average sports fans and concertgoers like you and I, and how many go

directly to those ticket resellers.

SCIUTTO: It's a racket. You know, it's interesting, though, you have both the Biden and Trump administration targeting Live Nation and Ticketmaster

in somewhat different ways, but it seems like it's a bipartisan issue. It must be driven by public support for this.

LA MONICA: Yes. I think it is clearly bipartisan. I don't think it matters if you're red or if you are blue. Going to see your favorite artist or

favorite sports team shouldn't cost an arm and a leg, which is, I believe, one of the comments that the FTC had in their legal complaint today, and

that is the problem, especially if you're talking about going to a sporting event or concert with families.

I mean, you know, a mom and dad and two or three kids buying tickets, that quickly adds up because, as you know, kids have a way of exerting their

influence and desire. So, telling a child, sorry, I can't get tickets, they're sold out, they're savvy enough to know that, no, they're not really

sold out, just go to Stop-Up.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I hear you. And then add in $10 hot dogs at the ballpark. Paul La Monica from Barron's, thanks so much for joining.

LA MONICA: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: South Korean carmaker Hyundai is doubling down on its commitment to the U.S., even after that raid on its Georgia battery plant, which led

to the detention of hundreds of South Korean workers who then had to leave the country. Hyundai today announced a $2.7 billion investment in that

plant, which is expected to lead to the creation of some 3,000 jobs.

Regional business leaders say there are talks to bring the detained South Korean nationals back to the U.S. because they're the only ones familiar

with the technology at the plant. That might matter. Most of the workers flew back to South Korea last week. Hyundai's CEO addressed the issue today

at the company's Investor Day event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE MUNOZ, HYUNDAI CEO: I want to express our sincere empathy for the workers from our supplier partner companies who were detained. We

understand the stress and hardship this has caused for them and their families, and we are relieved that they returned to Korea safely. We hope

the U.S. and Korea can work on mutually beneficial solutions for short-term business travel, especially for specialized technical expertise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: South Korea's president called the raids an unjust infringement, and his government has launched a human rights investigation.

Straight ahead, I'm going to break down a new report from a Ukrainian nonprofit on how children are faring in Russian-occupied areas where

they've been taken against their will. I'm going to speak to that organization's founder next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Jim Sciutto. And here are the international headlines we're watching today.

President Donald Trump says the TV broadcasters could lose their licenses due to coverage of him, which he finds overly critical. He's welcoming

ABC's decision to take talk show host Jimmy Kimmel off the air indefinitely. FCC Chair Brennan Carr and affiliate stations criticize the

comedian's comments following the murder of Charlie Kerr.

President Trump has wrapped up a two-day state visit to the U.K. with a joint news conference alongside the British prime minister, Keir Starmer.

The president admitted he disagrees with Starmer's decision to acknowledge, recognize a Palestinian State. He says he wants Israeli hostages to be

released, quote, "right now."

In France, protesters are urging President Emmanuel Macron and his new prime minister to scrap their upcoming budget cuts. Unions say that

hundreds of thousands of people took part in an anti-austerity protest earlier. In Paris, we saw far-left Black Bloc members clashing at times

with law enforcement officers. Police say they have arrested dozens of people.

As we mentioned earlier, President Putin said -- President Trump said today that President Putin of Russia has let him down. The president then

admitted to British leaders that Russia's war on Ukraine has been harder to end than he expected. This is Ukraine's military warns it could lose

Kupiansk. That is a key city on the front lines. We've seen slow but steady Russian progress there.

My next guest is the head of Save Ukraine. It's a nonprofit that cooperates with the Ukrainian government to rescue children taken by Russia into

Russia from Ukraine against their will. His organization has released a report based on 200 documented cases of Ukrainian children who were since

returned from Russia or areas occupied by Russia. Their testimony is alarming.

This is the first report that shares direct quotes from the children who have had to endure this. Save Ukraine says that more than 50 percent of

children were subjected to pro-Russian indoctrination, 40 percent experienced unlawful forced displacement, 30 percent were taken to camps

where they were forced to undertake military training.

Joining me now is Mykola Kuleba, the founder of Save Ukraine. Thanks so much for joining and thanks so much for your work.

MYKOLA KULEBA, FOUNDER, SAVE UKRAINE: Thank you for the invitation.

SCIUTTO: Your report describes these actions by the Russian state as the largest, most organized campaign of grave child rights violations in Europe

since the end of the Yugoslav war. Tell us the extent of what you heard from these children and what you were able to establish from these 200

cases.

KULEBA: Let me start from this story. Imagine your child being home alone in the middle of the day while you are attending a funeral, and armed

Russian soldiers burst into your home. They kidnapped your son and take him to a military training camp. He doesn't even have time to write his mother

a note. And this is what happened to Vlad Rudenko, a teenager we rescued from Russian forces. CNN just shared Vlad's story a few days ago.

[18:40:00]

And this is a common story for too many of our children. Russian forces have systematically kidnapped our children since 2014. Russia is conducting

the largest, most organized campaign of child rights violation in Europe in modern day, as you mentioned. And we know this because of evidence we have

gathered that reveals the shocking scales of child abduction and deportation. And we -- you can find this in our release report last week.

SCIUTTO: It is worth reading.

KULEBA: Together with War Child (ph).

SCIUTTO: I found some of the accounts of the children themselves the most moving and the most shocking. I'm just going to read from one of them, a

12-year-old Ukrainian boy. He said the following. All we ever talked about was Russia. Even at home, we had to do homework about Russia's coat of arms

and national anthem. Every Monday, we had to stand for the anthem. If you bent down to grab a pen, the teacher could kick you out. Every class was

about how Russia is great. And I remember the teacher calling Ukrainians Nazis, fascists, and Zelenskyy's army.

That kind of indoctrination, I mean, it reminds me of stories and accounts from World War II. What is the effect on the children when they come home?

Because it -- this has to be stressful for them. I wonder how their minds process this.

KULEBA: Yes, the war in Ukraine has traumatized our children physically, emotionally, and culturally. Our recent report, Return Every Child, gives a

devastating picture on how Russia's aggression targets not just territory, but the very identity and future of Ukraine's youngest generation through

forced indoctrination and trauma.

And one boy told us how the hardest thing for him was witnessing the death of his friend. The Russians found a message thread with Ukrainian soldiers

in his phone. They ripped out his teeth and eyelids and cut off his fingers. He couldn't survive the torture, and later the news said he died

of the blood clot, but the truth is they killed him.

SCIUTTO: So, what's your reaction when you heard President Trump today say, while he was in the U.K., that the Ukraine war doesn't affect the

U.S.? And then he turned to the U.K. prime minister and says, I don't believe it affects you either. How do you feel when you hear statements

like that, given not just your accounts of treatment -- how children were treated, but so many accounts of alleged war crimes by Russia and Ukraine?

KULEBA: I can tell you as a person who devoted a life -- for 26 years of my life, I devoted to protecting Ukrainian children's rights, I

participated in Minsk negotiations. Yes, we have had very good relations and support from Americans and American leadership, always. We look forward

to working with the president to help rescue, heal, and reunite our children with their families.

And now, when we're talking with you, we have a huge Russian attack, and kamikaze drones coming, dozens of them, and we need more support. And

especially our organization, which rescues abducted children, we desperately need financial support. It is impossible in these few minutes

to completely capture the extent of this tragedy, and encourage your audience to go to our website, at saveukraineua.org, to fully understand

the importance of our work and read more of our children's stories. And every act of support helps us rescue, heal, and reunite more children with

their families.

SCIUTTO: Can you quantify, do we know, how many Ukrainian children were taken into Russia, and how many are still there?

KULEBA: Through the occupation of Ukraine's territories, more than one million and a half Ukrainian children were stolen. And still, we have no

idea where are they. We just know that through Russia information, that more than 700,000 Ukrainian children have been registered inside Russia.

[18:45:00]

But how many of them are unaccompanied minors? How many of those children whose parents were killed, arrested, disappeared? Still now we have no

idea, because Russia refused to give Ukrainian authorities any information about these kids, because they think that they are saving children, and it

is huge Russian propaganda. That's why we need your support, American support, to have access to that kids, to know real information. Where are

our kids? Because maybe President Putin will provide this information with the United States.

SCIUTTO: Mykola Kuleba, founder of Save Ukraine, thank you for joining us, and thank you for the work you're doing.

KULEBA: Thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: Turning now to here in Washington, where U.S. Senator Mark Warner criticized the head of U.S. intelligence in a speech on the floor of the

Senate. Warner is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He took the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, to task, saying

the Trump administration was undermining national security by politicizing intelligence. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): We've seen careered FBI agents, people who have risked their lives for this country, forced out of their positions simply

for investigating crimes committed in the January 6th insurrection. These were professionals following the law, performing their sworn duties. And

yet, their service was treated as disloyalty. Careers were ended, and decades of expertise were discarded just for doing the job they were

entrusted to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Last month, Warner posted on X, Tulsi Gabbard is a threat to our national security and should be fired. That after she declassified

documents regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Coming up, Barcelona clashes with Newcastle without superstar Lamine Yamal. Big return to Manchester City that was cut short. We're going to have

highlights from today's Champions League next.

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SCIUTTO: The UEFA Champions League is back. Marcus Rashford scoring his first goals for Barcelona as his team beat Newcastle.

[18:50:00]

Man City's Erling Haaland, setting a new record as he becomes the fastest player to reach 50 Champions League goals. Don Riddell joins me now. So,

tell us more about what seemed to be an exciting return to action.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes. Hey, Jim, it's been a great week, a great day of action, a real festival of football this week, with the first

round of games in the group stage being played over three days and some really terrific stories on Thursday.

We'll start with the game in Newcastle, where the European giants Barcelona were in town. Catalans have a new hero, and he is no stranger to Premier

League rounds. Manchester United's unsettled star Marcus Rashford is on loan at Barca, and they might want to keep him permanently after this

performance. That was a clinical header to break the deadlock just before the hour mark, and then you should see what he did next, because this was

an absolutely fantastic strike to double Barcelona's lead.

The England manager Thomas Tuchel was there to see it as well. Really good to see Rashford back to his best because he lost his way for a while.

Newcastle did at least give their fans a reason to stick around to the end. Anthony Gordon scoring in the 90th minute, but it turned out only to be a

consolation. 2-1 Barca. It was Rashford's night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCUS RASHFORD, BARCELONA FORWARD: I'm enjoying it all, and I think it's making me a better player. So, you know, that's what I'm here to do. I'm

here to help the team win, but also to try to improve and be the best that I can.

I'm full of excitement. You know, I'm very, very motivated, determined, and I think just the quality that we've got in the team, that excites me alone.

So, it's refreshing to play with these guys. I've said it a few times, but the team's so young. They play with such confidence, such understanding of

the game, and you guys know here's not an easy place to come and especially try to play the way that you play.

I've won here a few times where we've not necessarily played the way that we wanted to play, but today, I think we had a good account of ourselves.

We defended well. And like I said, we walked away with the win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Meanwhile, an intriguing night at the Etihad Stadium where Kevin De Bruyne used to run the show for Manchester City. He was back with Napoli

here, but Giovanni Di Lorenzo's red card early on really changed the Italian club's fortunes. So, with an uphill climb for 70 minutes ahead of

them, Napoli pulled De Bruyne to protect him, leaving the stage for City's Erling Haaland to shine.

And his second half header was historic. It was his 50th Champions League goal, and he has got to the half-century mark quicker than anybody else.

Good night for City. Jeremy Doku making it 2-nil in the 65th minute, and that is how it finished.

Manchester City now have a pretty quick turnaround. They're back in the Premier League, playing Arsenal on Sunday. The Gunners, by the way, well,

they played in the Champions League on Tuesday. So, they will have had 48 hours more to rest. Some people think that's not fair, but that's the way

it goes. Back to you.

SCIUTTO: Before you know it, we'll be in the World Cup too.

RIDDELL: Yes, that's true.

SCIUTTO: Lots of football to watch. Don Riddell, thanks so much. And we'll be right back.

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[18:55:00]

SCIUTTO: In today's Good Brief, a newly resurfaced Pablo Picasso painting will soon be sold at an auction house in Paris. The bust of a woman with a

flowered hat is expected to sell for at least $9 million. It was acquired by a French family in 1944, kept in their private collection for decades,

unseen by members of the public. It is believed to be a portrait of Picasso's muse and partner, the French photographer Dora Maar. The auction

will be held on October 24th. I sadly will not be making a bid.

Thanks so much for your company. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You've been watching "The Brief." Please do stay with CNN.

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