Trump promotes unproven ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism without new evidence

The New York City mayoral candidate is open again to participating in a town hall hosted by a local ABC outlet now that the national network says Kimmel’s late night show has been reinstated.

Mamdani said hours ago that he was pulling out of the event following ABC’s recent decision to suspend the late-night host for comments about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which sparked a backlash.

“Last week, Disney/ABC caved to Trump administration pressure. Millions of Americans helped them find their backbone. Whether you watch Jimmy Kimmel or not, today’s decision is a victory for free speech,” the Democrat wrote on X. “We’ve reached out to WABC to reschedule the town hall.”

Mamdani is facing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the November election.

President Trump repeatedly told Americans not to use Tylenol during pregnancy, going far beyond more measured language published by his health regulators.

“Don’t take Tylenol,” Trump said of the bestselling form of acetaminophen, raising his voice. “There’s no downside. Don’t take it.”

But a letter published by the Food and Drug Administration during Trump’s afternoon news conference says only that doctors “should consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy.”

The FDA points to recent evidence suggesting an association between the pain reliever and conditions like autism and attention deficit disorder. But it also includes the qualifier that “a causal relationship has not been established.”

U.S. physicians are not bound by FDA guidance and can prescribe and recommend medications for alternate uses. Medical experts say untreated fever during pregnancy carries significant risks to moms and babies, such as miscarriage and birth defects.

That’s according to a person granted anonymity because they are unauthorized to discuss the situation.

The Democratic leaders Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer had requested the meeting in a weekend letter to the president, imploring him to open talks over their demands to protect health care program funds as part of any deal.

Another person familiar with the talks said the meeting between Trump and the two Democratic leaders is now scheduled for Thursday. The person also was given anonymity for lack of authorization to speak publicly.

The federal government is heading toward a shutdown next week, Oct. 1, if Congress fails to act.

The former Senate majority leader echoed concerns first raised by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that some government officials may violate First Amendment principles by coercing private individuals and companies to remove speech some find distasteful.“

As a First Amendment guy, myself, I think he’s probably got it right,” McConnell wrote on X. “You don’t have to like what somebody says on TV to agree that the government shouldn’t be getting involved here.”

President Donald Trump and multiple senior officials in his administration have called on Disney, which owns the ABC network, to remove late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel from the airwaves and said the federal government may use its leverage to force a change. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said that comments Kimmel made in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing may prompt retaliatory action from the telecommunications regulator.

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,” Carr said at the time. Carr denied on Monday that he threatened to revoke ABC’s local station licenses because of Kimmel’s remarks.

Lindsey Halligan was sworn in Monday as interim U.S. attorney for the prestigious prosecutors’ office that’s overseeing separate criminal investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey.

She replaces Erik Siebert, a longtime prosecutor who resigned Friday amid pressure from administration officials to indict James.

Halligan will immediately face intense scrutiny given Trump’s public calls on the Justice Department to move forward with prosecutions against the president’s perceived political foes.

Halligan has been part of Trump’s legal orbit for the last several years, including serving as one of his attorneys in the early days of the FBI’s investigation into his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The Food and Drug Administration is taking the first steps to try and approve a decades-old generic drug for a new group of patients, including some who may have autism.

The agency said it will seek approval of leucovorin for patients believed to have low levels of folate, one form of vitamin B, in the brain. That may include some people with autism.

The agency’s highly unusual move is based on a review of small studies performed between 2009 and 2024.

Several studies have recently suggested the drug may help with autism symptoms when given to certain children. But autism experts say much larger, more rigorous studies are needed to confirm any benefit.

The discontinued drug, previously marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, was sold in tablets to treat side effects of chemotherapy. It’s currently available in other forms.

Trump is flying to New York to give a speech Tuesday to the U.N. General Assembly.

His departure from the White House has been delayed by about a half an hour because the autism announcement started nearly an hour behind schedule.

As part of the president’s announcement, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said his agency has launched the Autism Data Science Initiative to “turbocharge” autism research. He said millions of dollars will be spent to collect the data.

The NIH and other research institutes have studied autism for decades.

The link between genes and autism dates back to studies of twins decades ago. Some are rare genetic variants passed from parent to child, even if the parent shows no signs of autism.

Besides warning people about taking Tylenol during pregnancy, the Trump administration on Monday raised unfounded concerns about vaccines contributing to rising rates of autism, which affects 1 in 31 U.S. children today, according to the CDC.

Any concern that measles vaccine — or other vaccines — could be linked to autism has been long debunked, stress scientists and leading advocacy groups for people with autism.

While Trump insists there’s no downside to not treating a fever during pregnancy, obstetricians disagree.

The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine says untreated fevers in pregnancy, particularly the first trimester, increase the risk for miscarriages, preterm birth and other problems.

The manufacturer of Tylenol, the best-selling form of acetaminophen, says it “strongly disagrees” with the suggestion that its drug may cause autism.

Kenvue said in a statement that “sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism.” The company pointed to scientific reviews by multiple government regulators worldwide, including those previously published by the FDA.

Shares of Kenvue Inc. fell 7.5% in trading Monday, reducing the company’s market value by about $2.6 billion.

Tylenol’s original manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson, spun off the best-selling brand in 2023.

In addition to Tylenol, acetaminophen is used in hundreds of other over-the-counter cold and flu formulas.

The president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said Monday that suggestions that Tylenol use in pregnancy causes autism are “irresponsible when considering the harmful and confusing message they send to pregnant patients.”

“Today’s announcement by HHS is not backed by the full body of scientific evidence and dangerously simplifies the many and complex causes of neurologic challenges in children,” Dr. Steven Fleischman said in a statement.

“It is highly unsettling that our federal health agencies are willing to make an announcement that will affect the health and well-being of millions of people without the backing of reliable data.”

Tylenol is “an appropriate medication to treat pain and fever during pregnancy,” the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said.

The expert group says untreated fever during pregnancy carries significant risks to moms and babies, such as miscarriage and birth defects.

There has been research on a potential link between Tylenol during pregnancy and an increased risk of autism in children, but it “does not establish a causal relationship,” the society said in its statement. It said the studies have significant limitations.

The president said Monday that the Food and Drug Administration will be notifying doctors that the use of acetaminophen “can be associated” with an increased risk of autism.

Trump, several minutes into the announcement, has not offered medical evidence for the FDA’s new recommendation.

Still, Trump said the FDA will strongly recommend that pregnant woman not take Tylenol unless “medically necessary.”

“Ideally you don’t take it at all,” Trump said.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has long recommended acetaminophen as a safe pain reliever option during pregnancy.

▶ Read more about autism

The president has started his remarks on the issue.

He is speaking from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other administration officials who focus on health.

ABC will reinstate Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show in the wake of criticism over his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, officials with the network said Monday.

“We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday,” said a statement from the network.

ABC suspended Kimmel indefinitely after comments he made about Kirk, who was killed Sept. 10, in a monologue. Kimmel said “many in MAGA land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk” and that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.”

▶ Read more about Jimmy Kimmel

The White House is standing behind “border czar” Tom Homan following reports that he had accepted $50,000 from undercover agents posing as businesspeople during an undercover FBI operation last year, leading to a bribery investigation that was shut down by the Trump administration Justice Department.

MSNBC first reported Saturday that Homan had accepted the cash during a 2024 encounter with undercover agents who were posing as businesspeople seeking government contracts that Homan suggested he could help them get in a second Trump term.

Two people familiar with the investigation, who were not authorized to discuss a sensitive law enforcement inquiry by name, confirmed details of it to The Associated Press on Monday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized Homan’s encounter with the undercover agents as an effort by the Biden administration to “entrap one of the president’s top allies and supporters, someone who they knew very well would be taking a government position.”

She said the White House and Trump stand by Homan “100 % because he did absolutely nothing wrong.”

The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider expanding President Donald Trump’s power to shape independent agencies by overturning a nearly century-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members.

The justices have allowed the Republican president to carry out some high-profile firings while lawsuits play out, signaling the conservative majority is poised to overturn or narrow a 1935 Supreme Court decision that found commissioners can only be removed for misconduct or neglect of duty.

The high court agreed to take up the case of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission who was reinstated by lower courts under a 90-year-old ruling known as Humphrey’s Executor. In that case, the court sided with another FTC commissioner who was fired by Franklin D. Roosevelt as the president worked to implement the New Deal. The justices unanimously found commissioners can be removed only for misconduct or neglect of duty.

▶ Read more about independent agencies

Leavitt said Trump “is aware” of an offer by Russian President Vladimir Putin to extend by a year an arms control treaty limiting both sides’ nuclear capabilities.

She said, “I think it sounds pretty good” but that Trump “wants to make some comments about it himself” and that she’d “let him do that” when the president speaks to reporters in the Oval Office during an unrelated announcement on autism coming up later Monday.

Leavitt said the White House had gotten a letter from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro but would not detail its contents.

Venezuela said over the weekend that Maduro wrote to Trump, rejecting implications his government was involved in drug trafficking.

“I think there were a lot of lies that were repeated by Maduro in that letter,” Leavitt said.

She added, “We view the Maduro regime as illegitimate” and that Trump “has clearly shown that he’s willing to use any and all means necessary to stop the illegal trafficking of deadly drugs from the Venezuelan regime.”

Trump previously announced fatal U.S. strikes on alleged drug smuggling vessels associated with Venezuela, and the president said Friday that a third strike took out another vessel, without providing location details.

A federal judge on Monday rule that the Trump administration can’t continue to keep work paused on a major offshore wind farm for Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Work on the nearly completed Revolution Wind project has been stopped since Aug. 22, when the Interior Department halted the project over unspecified national security concerns.

Both the developer and the two states sued in federal courts seeking to resume the project. Danish energy company Orsted sought a preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court in Washington that would allow the project to move forward.

Judge Royce Lamberth granted it, citing likely irreparable harm to the plaintiffs.

▶ Read more about offshore wind farm

Several U.S. allies, including Canada, Australia and Britain, have announced support for a Palestinian state, putting them at odds with Trump.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says Trump feels such recognition won’t do anything to secure release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas, nor will it end the war between Israel and Hamas.
He also believes such recognition rewards the militant group operating in Gaza.

“So he believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies,” Leavitt said, adding that Trump would address the issue in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is denying that Trump is attempting to weaponize the Justice Department by urging his attorney general to go after his perceived political foes.

Leavitt was asked at a White House briefing Monday about a social media post over the weekend that Trump directed at Attorney General Pam Bondi in which he demanded action on investigations related to public officials including former FBI Director James Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

His post came one day after the top federal prosecutor in charge of the Eastern District of Virginia resigned his position amid pressure to bring charges against James in a mortgage fraud investigation.

Leavitt told reporters at the White House that Trump was merely trying to demand accountability. She denied that he had weaponized the Justice Department and instead blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, for having done that.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa who is in New York this week as the first Syrian leader to attend the United Nations General Assembly in nearly 60 years.

Neither man spoke as they posed for photos ahead of their U.S.-hosted meeting at Rubio’s midtown Manhattan hotel.

The last time a Syrian head of state attended the General Assembly was in 1967. That was before the 50-year rule of the Assad family dynasty, which came to an end in December when then-President Bashar Assad was ousted in a lightning insurgent offensive led by al-Sharaa. Assad’s fall also brought to an end nearly 14 years of civil war.

Since then, al-Sharaa has sought to restore ties with Arab countries and the West, where officials were initially wary of his past ties with the al-Qaida militant group. The rebel group he formerly led, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, was previously designated by the United States as a terrorist group.

The State Department waived Assad-era visa restrictions on Syria for al-Sharaa and his delegation for them to participate in the general assembly’s high-level week, which kicks off on Tuesday.

Trump flies to New York City later Monday to be in place for what White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said will be a “major speech” to the world body on Tuesday on the “renewal of American strength around the world” under his leadership.

Leavitt said Trump will also hold one-on-one meetings with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union.

Trump on Tuesday will also hold a group meeting with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 world leaders.

The Trump administration is appealing an appellate court panel’s ruling that it cannot use an 18th century wartime law to speed deportations of people it says belong to a Venezuelan gang.

The administration appealed the 2-1 ruling from the panel on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the most conservative in the nation — to the entire circuit. In doing so, the administration opted against an immediate appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The administration argues the majority of the panel erred in second-guessing President Donald Trump’s determination that the gang constitutes an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” under the Alien Enemies Act.

Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr is denying that he threatened to revoke ABC’s local station licenses if the broadcasting company did not fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, despite saying last week that “these companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

“Jimmy Kimmel is in the situation he’s in because of his ratings. Not because of anything that’s happened at the federal government level,” Carr said at the Concordia Annual Summit.

Carr said late night television hosts abandoned their role as “court jesters that make fun of everybody” and became “court clerks, where they were enforcing a very narrow, sort of partisan view.”

“And that’s not for me, ultimately, to judge,” Carr said. “That’s for the ratings and the audience to judge.”

The Trump administration has barred Iranian diplomats based in or visiting New York from shopping at wholesale club stores like Costco.

They also must get specific permission from the State Department before purchasing luxury goods.

The department’s Office of Foreign Missions determined that diplomatic memberships in wholesale club stores as well as diplomats’ ability to buy items like furs and jewelry are a “benefit” requiring U.S. government approval.

However, the only country whose diplomats were specifically targeted is Iran.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, appeared before the Security Council for the first time Monday.

Waltz spoke during the emergency meeting of the U.N.'s most powerful body on the topic of Russia’s recent incursion into Estonian airspace.

“As we said, nine days ago, the United States stands by our NATO allies in the face of these airspace violations,” the former Republican congressman said.

“And I want to take this first opportunity to repeat and to emphasize the United States and our allies will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

Trump said Saturday that he will award Ben Carson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, the third such award he’s announced this month.

A former neurosurgeon who ran against Trump for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Carson, 74, went on to serve as Housing and Urban Development secretary during Trump’s first administration.

The one-time rivals developed a strong bond, and Carson — seen at one point as among the top contenders for Trump’s running mate in the 2024 campaign — served as Trump’s national faith chairman during last year’s race.

A staunch social conservative who has opposed abortion rights and same-sex marriage, Carson has become a popular conservative speaker and author.

The Medal of Freedom, established in 1963, is awarded to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, or cultural or other significant public endeavors.

▶ Read more about Carson’s award

Tech giant Oracle will receive a copy of TikTok’s algorithm to operate for U.S. users, according to a senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday.

Determining next steps for the algorithm, currently owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance, has been one of the most closely watched issues during negotiations over TikTok’s future.

The Trump administration official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the emerging deal, said they believe the plan will satisfy national security concerns over a Chinese company potentially manipulating what is being shown to platform users.

Full details on investors have not been released. However, the official confirmed that Silver Lake, a private equity firm, is part of the investment group.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, signed bipartisan legislation before leaving office requiring ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, to sell its assets to an American company or face a ban.

Trump, a Republican, has extended the deadline several times as he worked to reach a deal to keep TikTok available. He spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

John Jovanovic, Trump’s recently confirmed chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, vowed no more “business as usual” in public remarks criticizing a trade system he said has placed vital supply chains under the control of free market opponents.

“EXIM will no longer be focused on distractions, namely anything that does not help create jobs here in America and ensure American companies are treated fairly in every market in which they operate,” Jovanovic said at the Concordia Annual Summit in New York.

The event, scheduled for 4 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room, will be closely watched by scientists and advocates.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised earlier this year to determine the cause of autism by September.

The announcement alarmed experts because Kennedy has promoted discredited theories that routine childhood shots cause the developmental disability.

Speaking at a memorial for Charlie Kirk on Sunday, Trump said “I think we found an answer to autism."On the flight back to Washington, he suggested that children receive too many vaccines. “It’s like you’re shooting up a horse,” he told reporters.

Trump’s schedule, according to the White House

• 1 p.m. ET: Press secretary Karoline Leavitt will host a press briefing
• 4 p.m.: Trump will make an announcement about the administration’s autism findings
• 5:30 p.m.: Trump will leave the White House and head to New York

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• WATCH: Charlie Kirk’s widow says she forgives his shooter. ‘It’s what Charlie would do’
• Photos of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s memorial service
• House approves resolution honoring Charlie Kirk with dozens of Democrats opposed
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• Trump reveals Murdochs and Dell could potentially take part in TikTok deal
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• US attorney under pressure to charge Letitia James in mortgage fraud case has resigned
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