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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Accuses Federal Governor Lisa Cook Of An Infraction; House Issues Subpoena To Epstein Estate; West Virginia Univ. And University Of Kentucky Campuses Hit Today By Active Shooter Hoaxes; President Trump To Hold A "Large Meeting" At The White House Tomorrow On The War In Gaza; IDF Launches Inquiry Into Hospital Strike That Killed Journalists; Protesters In Israel Demand End To War In Gaza; SpaceX Rocket Splashes Down In The Indian Ocean; Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce Are Engaged. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 26, 2025 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So as visitors head out to the stadium, there are a lot of things that they should know. First and foremost, you are going to see this higher presence of security officials there on the ground. But there are a lot of nos. No backpacks, no large bags, no suitcases. Yes, some people do bring suitcases out there out there because it's so close to the airport. You bring your suitcase, you go to a match or whatever.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Right, yes.
CARROLL: So, none of that as well, but the U.S. Open does have a full list of the dos and don'ts on their website. You should take a look if you're going to be going out there.
BURNETT: All right. Jason, thank you very much and thanks so much to all of you. Anderson starts now.
[20:00:44]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, the President tries to reshape the Federal Reserve by firing a member and pressuring its chairman what it could mean to the economy if he gets the kind of Fed he wants.
Also tonight, as the President continues saying Americans would be okay with a dictator if he got crime to come down, his Cabinet puts on a show praising the President over and over.
And later, a story almost tailor made for anyone with a song in their heart, or a rooting interest in the Kansas City Chiefs Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged, announced on Instagram.
Good evening, thanks for joining us. We begin tonight with the President's latest attempt to assert his power in the face of generations of history, tradition, norms and perhaps the law. In this case, trying to fire a member of the Federal Reserve's board of governors. It's never happened in the Fed's 111-year history, as the nation's Central Bank. But it happened last night to Fed Governor Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to hold the position. The President made his announcement on social media while we were on the air last night. Tonight, "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that he wants to quickly name an ally as her successor. Miss Cook, however, says she's not going anywhere. Quoting now from a statement shared with CNN, "President Trump purported to fire me. She wrote, for cause when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign. She also says she'll be suing the administration. The President was asked about it at today's Cabinet meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Her lawyer has said that they're going to be filing a lawsuit challenging this legal action. What is your response? Are you prepared for a legal fight? And then a little bit more --
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Sure, always, she always have legal threats. Look, I had a legal fight that went on for years with crooked people with very horrible people, people that have been found out now between John Ratcliffe and Tulsi and Pam. And, I mean, the things that we found out, of course, it's a very, very sad group of people.
But no, she seems to have had an infraction and she can't have an infraction, especially that infraction, because she's in charge of if you think about it, mortgages. And we need people that are a hundred percent above board and it doesn't seem like she was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The infraction he's talking about is, in fact, an allegation. It came in the form of a criminal referral to the Attorney General from this man, Trump appointee and campaign donor William Pulte, who runs the federal housing finance agency. He's accusing her of mortgage fraud, alleging she cited two different properties as primary residences on mortgage applications.
Now, it should be noted that criminal referrals are neither charges nor indictments. There are letters from another government body to the Justice Department laying out evidence of alleged crimes.
Miss Cook has not been charged or tried or convicted of anything and denies the allegations. Director Pulte, has also made similar criminal referrals against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who, as you know, prosecuted the President and his companies. He's also done this to California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who is a congressman, led the effort for the first impeachment against Mr. Trump in 2019.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think Adam Schiff is one of the lowest of the low. I would love to see him brought to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Both Senator Schiff and Attorney General James deny any wrongdoing. Now, in their cases, the President appears to be personally motivated. In the case of Miss Cook, it appears to be part of his attempt to gain control over the fed. The chairman, Jerome Powell, whom he appointed in his first term but now attacks for being, in his view, slow to cut interest rates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I got a bad recommendation when I went with Jerome too late -- he's too late, his nickname is "Too Late." Costing us a lot of money, hurting the housing. I mean, our housing industry is good, but it could be phenomenal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The President for months now has been alternately hinting at and denying that he's trying to force Powell out or would fire him. He's also, at times suggested wrongdoing on Chairman Powell's part in connection with a large scale renovations at the Federal. Last month with cameras rolling, he tried to confront the chairman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, we're taking a look and it looks like it's about 3.1 billion, it went up a little bit or a lot. So, the 2.7 is now 3.1.
JEROME POWELL, CHAIR OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not aware of that.
TRUMP: Yes. It just came out.
POWELL: Yes, I haven't heard that from anybody at the Fed.
TRUMP: Yes, it just came.
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): I know he said about 3.1 as well -- 3.1, 3.2
POWELL: This came from us?
TRUMP: Yes. I don't know who does that.
POWELL: Are you including the Martin renovation, you just added --
SCOTT: That's our entire capital.
POWELL: Yes, you just added in the third building, that's what that is, that's the third building.
TRUMP: Yes, but it's a building that's being built.
POWELL: No, it's been it was built five years ago. We finished Martin five years ago.
TRUMP: It's part of the overall work.
POWELL: That's the new.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:36]
COOPER: That actually happened. Asked moments later what he'd do in his former capacity as a real estate developer when a project manager went over budget, Trump told reporters, "I'd fire him."
I'm joined now by CNN chief White House Correspondent and anchor of "The Source," Kaitlan Collins. So, does the white house feel like the President's efforts to fire Lisa Cook are going to be successful?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They do, I mean, it remains to be seen if that confidence is warranted, Anderson, because obviously, this is just an allegation that they are making this referral to the Justice Department. And as you noted, this is not something that is just coming out of nowhere, that she is the only person they've accused of this. They've also accused two other people who have been major critics of the President's of mortgage fraud as well.
And so, obviously, we've heard from her and through her attorney saying basically that she is going to answer questions about this and let this be borne out in court. And they're certainly going to file a lawsuit over this, because she says that the President does not have cause to fire her, which is what he's citing in his reason that he laid out just about 24 hours ago.
But really, the bigger picture here, Anderson, is that this is all part of this effort from the President to reshape the Federal Reserve, not just through the chair, Jay Powell, as, of course, it has been very clear that the President does not believe he is the person who should be in that job, even though he first appointed him to be there. But it's the other members, the governors as well, because if he is successful here and tonight, we don't know if that if he's going to be, her term technically is not up until 2038, I believe.
And so, he would have a chance to appoint a loyalist and someone who shares his view in that position much sooner than that. And he would essentially have a much greater authority and greater grip on the Federal Reserve board and the governors there if he is successful here.
And so, that is really what the White House is aiming to do. They've already been talking about some names, as you pointed out, from that "Wall Street Journal" report about who could take her position. And so, when you heard the President today, they are basically moving ahead with this.
Now, what the Federal Reserve has said in response is that they are waiting for this to play out in court, because there are real questions about how do they treat her as if she is fired, or as if she is not because she's fighting this. And so right now, they've said they're going to wait till the courts to weigh in.
COOPER: Kaitlan Collins, thanks very much. We'll see you back at the top of the hour for "The Source." I'm joined now by former federal prosecutor and bestselling author, Jeffrey Toobin; Norm Eisen, executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund, his organization, is involved in more than a hundred legal matters challenging the Trump administration. And, Lael Brainard, former member of the Federal Reserve board of governors.
So Jeff, Lisa Cook hasn't been charged with any crimes or wrongdoing. The President claim that he's firing her for cause, is that likely to stand up in court?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: You know, this is -- anyone who tells you the answer to that for sure is blowing smoke, Anderson, because we do not yet know. This is an untested issue. As you pointed out earlier, the Fed has been around for since 1913, and no president has ever tried to fire a governor of the Fed for cause. The definition of cause has never been settled by the courts, but this is part of a larger agenda of the President, to turn independent agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, and turn them into agencies of the President, just like members of the Cabinet.
And the Supreme Court has said that the fed is different. As recently as May, the Supreme Court has said the independence of the Fed is even greater than the other independent agencies. So, I think the courts are going to have to take a very close look at whether this attempt to fire a fed member is constitutional.
COOPER: Ambassador Eisen, I mean, Cook's attorney, said he going to file a lawsuit challenging the President's action, do you think they have a case?
NORM EISEN, SENIOR FELLOW IN GOVERNANCE STUDIES AT THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I think they have a strong case, Anderson. There's never any guarantees. But when you combine the Supreme Court saying that the Fed has strong historical precedents like the First Bank of the United States and this definition of cause, while the courts will have the final word, the weight of authority defines cause as stuff related to her performance at the Fed. Inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance in office that is the most typical definition of cause.
Well, she hasn't been accused of any of those things, much less tried or convicted. There's a tweet from a Trump donor and loyalist, Bill Pulte, making unfounded claims against her. It just seems to fall short and the courts have been skeptical of many of Donald Trump's actions. And I think this one is going to get a very tough going over from in the first instance of federal trial judge.
[20:10:38]
COOPER: Yes. Lael, what kind of, I mean, what kind of effect do you think this could have on other members of the Fed board? I mean, could it have a chilling effect?
LAEL BRAINARD, FORMER VICE CHAIR OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD: Absolutely, so, this is an absolutely unprecedented attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve. It would if it went through, secure a majority on the board of governors for the White House and there's no question but that every other member of the monetary policy committee at the Federal Reserve would be looking over their shoulder and wondering whether they were next in the firing line, which would presumably make it much more difficult for them to make their views clear about what they should do on interest rates in order to keep inflation under control and keep the economy strong and that, of course, is their responsibility.
So, it has a potential to really undermine the Federal Reserve's ability to control inflation. The last time we saw anything like this was in the 1970s, and it led to many years of high inflation and high long-term interest rates.
COOPER: Jeff, I mean, is it legal for the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency to target an individual in this way by raising these allegations to the Justice Department?
TOOBIN: Well, there's a lot we don't know about what Bill Pulte has been doing here. The way government agencies are supposed to work is they are supposed to establish general rules and apply them. But here we have this government official targeting three people that the President wants out for one reason or another. The Attorney General of New York, Tish James; Senator Schiff, and now Lisa Cook.
The procedure that he followed to learn the allegations or create the allegations against these three people is something certainly Miss Cook's attorneys are going to want to explore in depositions because, you know, it is not appropriate for federal agencies simply to target people because the President doesn't like them, but certainly, at least on appearances, that looks like what happened here.
COOPER: Norm, do you think that is what's happening here?
EISEN: Anderson, it's so transparent. The targeting of Senator Schiff of A.G. Tish James, now, of Lisa Cook -- and it comes in a larger context of this administration, bringing charges that we never would have seen in another administration, whether its Judge Hannah Dugan in Wisconsin or Representative McIver in New Jersey. These, actions are a -- those that more closely resemble a police state than they do a rule of law system and the United States of America. And that's going to be relevant to the judgment that the courts make as well about selective, prosecution, about abusing the rule of law and that is part of the reason that this is going to get a very skeptical reception, what Donald Trump is trying to do here.
COOPER: Lael, what do you think long-term economic effects could be if the President is successful in this?
BRAINARD: Well, I think unfortunately, the effects on the economy could be the reverse of what the White House is looking for. I think if Federal Reserve members believe they need to vote to cut interest rates, not because inflation is under control, but because they need to be aligned with the White House, then you might get short-term interest rates going down, but inflation associated with the tariffs will actually likely rise more and that will drive up mortgage rates. It will drive up rates on cars and small business loans. So, unfortunately will actually lead to much worse economic outcomes. The reverse, I think of what the White House says they're hoping to achieve.
COOPER: Yes, Lael Brainard, Jeff Toobin, Norm Eisen, thanks very much.
Just ahead, as kids head off to college, there's been a surge of active shooter hoaxes on campuses. We'll look at how law enforcement is reacting.
And next, we've heard a lot of adulation of the President from his Cabinet. Today's Cabinet meeting certainly was not short on Presidential praise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORI CHAVEZ-DEREMER, U.S. LABOR SECRETARY: Mr. President, I invite you to see your big, beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor, because you are really the transformational President of the American worker.
[20:15:49]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:20:12]
COOPER: At his Cabinet meeting today, the President again weighed in on sending troops into American cities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm willing to go to Chicago, which has a big trouble. But we have a governor that refuses to admit he has problems, huge problems. Baltimore, Wes Moore was telling me he wants -- I want to walk with the President. Well, I said, I want to walk with you, too, someday. But first you got to clean up your crime, because I'm not walking -- I'm not walking in Baltimore right now, Baltimore is a hellhole. And this guy, I don't even think he knows it. He's another candidate for President. Between him and "Newscum." You've got some real beauties, I'll tell you. But if we didn't go into Los Angeles, you wouldn't have the Olympics, in my opinion. You wouldn't have the Olympics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, also, for a third time in recent days, Mr. Trump talked about allegations he is acting like a dictator today, claiming that most people in America would be okay with that if crime is down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, the line is that I'm a dictator, but I stop crime. So, a lot of people say, you know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator. Most people say if you call him a dictator, if he stops crime, he can be whatever he wants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the President reiterated today he is not a dictator, but his Cabinet sure did spend a lot of time and effort showering him with praise over and over again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHAVEZ-DEREMER: Mr. President, I invite you to see your big, beautiful face on a banner in front of the Department of Labor, because you are really the transformational President of the American worker. It is an honor to serve under your administration as the Labor Secretary and we will kick off and Republicans will own labor day again, not Democrats. We will own it because we are and you are the President of the American worker. So, thank you for everything that you've done.
SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Sir, as we've said very often, economic security is National Security and our country has never been so secure, thanks to you. You have brought us back from the edge. You had the overwhelming mandate from the American people. Thank you for reclaiming Labor Day for the American people.
TULSI GABBARD, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Thank you, sir. As we approach Labor Day weekend here, this is just such a great opportunity, really, to recognize your leadership as a true champion for working people.
KRISTI NOEM, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Mr. President, first of all, thank you for the opportunity to work for you. And, you committed when you ran for President to make America safe again. And today, the average family and individual that lives in this country is safer than they've been in years because of what you've done.
BROOKE ROLLINS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: Thank you for saving college football. By the way, were all very grateful. The country just feels different. It just feels different. There's such a optimism and a love. There's a faith movement going through, especially with our younger Americans. I do believe were in a revolution, 1776 was the first one. 1863 or so with Abraham Lincoln was the second. This is the third with Donald Trump leading the way and we are saving America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Joining us now are CNN political commentators, Van Jones and Alyssa Farah Griffin, two of the kindest and the bravest and the warmest, really most wonderful human beings that I personally have ever had the chance to know and serve.
Alyssa, what do you make of the overall effort to of the President's overall effort to consolidate and expand his power? I mean, how far do you think this goes? You know, I mean, it certainly has, no one in his Cabinet is going to push back on any of these efforts.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, listen, his Cabinet knows what they're expected to do when they show up to the Cabinet meetings and it is to lavish the President with praises, we heard there in that clip. In the first term, you heard a little bit of it, but this is kind of a new level of just thanking him. I'm surprised that you mentioned --
COOPER: I mean, it's so over the top.
GRIFFIN: It's unbelievable. They really -- they rattled quite a bit off. But listen, Donald Trump has always had an expansive view of the authority of the executive branch. I think in the first term he adhered a lot more to a more conservative, constitutional conservative sort of idea that there were separations of powers. There were some checks in place. He had people around him who I think affirmed that.
I think now he's going to push it to the limit. This was something that was laid out when he ran for President. Advisers around him support it and we've seen it in many, many ways. But the caution I give Republicans and people who may love everything that Donald Trump is doing, is once you let that toothpaste out of the tube, the left is going to be able to use that same expansion of power on policies you don't like when they take back the White House.
Once you expand the executive, there's no shrinking that again. And that's what concerns me just as much as what he may be doing in office, but the precedent it sets down the road.
COOPER: Yes. I mean, Van, the consolidation of his power extends to most of his presidency. He's targeting political enemies. You know, you talk about weaponization. I mean, you know, John Bolton's house is raided. He's imposing his will over museums and the arts. He's installing loyalists. I mean, is there anything beyond his reach, do you think, or his attempt to reach?
[20:25:24]
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, not beyond his attempt. And here's the thing, here's the thing, you know, a Cabinet meeting is very important. Why? Americans have a bunch of problems and when the Cabinet meets, it's not supposed to be trying to make the President feel better. You're meeting to make Americans feel better. You've got a bunch of farmers right now because these drought conditions, they don't know what they're going to do. There's nothing -- we need a new farm bill. These people are not being talked about at all.
You got a bunch of people -- young people voted for Donald Trump, picked up a ballot in November, picked up a diploma in the spring and can't get a job this summer. A massive collapse in college, graduates getting a job. They weren't talking about literally at all. You've got energy prices that are starting to creep up. Why? Because Trump has tried to knock out renewable energy and all these data centers now are sucking up all the energy. Now, grandma can't pay her energy bill, not talked about at all.
So, when you have actual -- the business of the American people not being discussed. This is not left or right. This is happening across the country so that everybody can sit around and tickle the President's -- the bottom of his feet and make him feel happy, that is a catastrophe for ordinary people. You add to that this idea that he thinks that he can send, he's never sent an American troop against anybody but the American people. That's his view of what American military is for, is to go against the American people.
None of this is working out very well, and it's easy to kind of get spun around. But at the end of the day, just talk to everyday people in your life and ask how things are going. They're not going well. The President spent three hours with people making him feel better. While most people are feeling a lot worse.
COOPER: Listen, I mean, obviously, he's now focusing on crime and potentially sending the National Guard into other cities, that clearly he believes is a is a winning issue for him.
GRIFFIN: Yes, Donald Trump's made the calculation that he performs better being tough on crime than Democrats do. And I think heading into the midterms he wants to create this juxtaposition of he is the President and the Republican Party is the party of taking action, whereas these Democratic mayors and governors in these prominent liberal states, Illinois J.B. Pritzker, Wes Moore in Baltimore, Gavin Newsom have just dragged their feet and not addressed the issue.
Now, will the facts may not bear that out. We know the crime statistics are not necessarily in the President's favor. There is this sense that people feel that crime is bad in some of these places, so I think it will resonate with a lot of his supporters. And I think that there's a case that he's making that makes sense to the American public, but he's also motivated by action, simply. He wants to show that he is doing something. He sees this as sort of a juxtaposition to the prior administration, where a criticism was they're not doing enough. What is Joe Biden doing? He wants to show he's always doing something.
What I'm curious to see is do Democrats learn how to fight back beyond saying, actually crime is not as bad as he's saying it is, and instead say, listen, crime is an issue, but is a federal takeover of American streets the answer? That's really, I think, where Democrats need to land on this.
JONES: I agree a hundred percent.
COOPER: Go ahead, Van.
JONES: No, I just, I agree a hundred percent. Listen, you know, he talked about Baltimore. He talked about Chicago. There are other places like Philadelphia. There are too many funerals. There are too many kids who are more used to, frankly, going to funerals and going to graduations. There are too many teddy bears on sidewalks with balloons and flowers, because somebody got killed again this weekend and that's true. But when you talk to the people in the grassroots level, what do they want? Those grandmas who are on the front line, those coaches on the front line. None of them are calling for troops.
They're saying, actually, under Biden, you finally got some dollars down to the grassroots level for violence interrupters, people who are being paid to go into neighborhoods and talk to these kids. And it turned out nothing stops a bullet like a job. And they were starting to bring it down. And they were they were finally seeing some hope.
Guess what? The Big, Beautiful Bill took all that away. So, you actually have stopped the process of eliminating this youth violence that's going to go in the wrong direction. And now you're sending in people whose job is not to talk to these young people, not to give them hope. Their only job of a soldier is to shoot somebody. So, you're disrespecting the local law enforcement that's been at the table with these grassroots groups saying that, you know, you're no longer any good, and you're sending in people from other states with guns who have no training to help these young people.
This is an unmitigated disaster for those of us who don't lie and pretend that crime isn't a problem. Crime is a problem, but the way you solve it is not by sending in troops from somebody else's state that they don't know a gang member from a basketball coach and expect things to work out well. This is a terrible idea and he should get off of it.
COOPER: Van Jones, Alyssa Farah Griffin, thank you.
Up next, why the House Oversight Committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein has subpoenaed the Epstein estate and are seeking answers from the two men who are in charge of it, and why it could be easier said than done to get them -- get the key documents from them that the committee wants.
Plus the engagement everyone has been waiting for, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announced they are getting married after nearly two years of dating. Details on that ahead as well.
[20:30:33]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:34:42]
COOPER: The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to Jeffrey Epstein's estate. It's a significant move to expand the House investigation beyond what the DOJ says that it's already gathered in the case. They're seeking answers from two men who are former close associates of Epstein and are the co-executors of his estate following his death.
CNN's Randi Kaye has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
[20:35:02]
RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This seven-page subpoena issued by the GOP-led House Oversight Committee to Jeffrey Epstein's estate demands a slew of documents. Among them, the birthday book, a collection of letters reportedly gifted to Epstein for his 50th birthday that included a note with President Donald Trump's name.
BRADLEY EDWARDS, LAWYER FOR EPSTEIN SURVIVORS: Nobody would have to guess. There wouldn't need to be a lawsuit. There wouldn't have to wait to be discovered. You would immediately have the answers.
You could flip to the page. Is there a letter? Is there not a letter? It's over.
KAYE (voice-over): Trump has repeatedly denied writing a letter to Epstein. But getting that birthday book and anything else from Epstein's estate means going through its two executors, Epstein's personal lawyer, Darren Indyke, and Richard Kahn, Epstein's in-house accountant for his businesses.
EDWARDS: I know that the executors of this date are in possession of that book.
KAYE (voice-over): Congress is asking for what many in MAGA World and Epstein's victims have been demanding the Department of Justice release. Among the requests, Epstein's will, all nondisclosure agreements executed by him, and any potential list of clients, as well as flight logs for all of his aircraft.
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): What's not hard to do is to subpoena private attorneys in a private estate and to get compliance.
KAYE (voice-over): That may be easier said than done, given the executor's complicated history with Epstein. Both Indyke and Kahn, according to The New York Times, benefit from managing the estate, which has more than $200 million in cash, investments and other assets. A lawyer for the men told CNN "It is completely unknown whether any beneficiary will ever receive funds from the estate."
A lawsuit filed last year on behalf of two of Epstein's victims argues "No one, except perhaps Ghislaine Maxwell, was as essential and central to Epstein's operation" as these two men. The suit claims that Indyke and Kahn used cash to recruit, lure, coerce, and entice young women and girls to cause them to engage in commercial sex acts.
The lawsuit says the men obtained large stacks of cash, which funded Epstein's cash payments for his sex trafficking enterprise. The lawsuit, citing a New York State Department of Financial Services consent order, said that in roughly four years, Indyke withdrew, on Mr. Epstein's behalf, more than $800,000 in cash from Mr. Epstein's personal accounts, and the men oversaw over $2.5 million in payments from a single account.
KAYE: According to a source familiar with the case, Kahn, who worked as Epstein's accountant for 14 years, said in a sealed deposition that he had been unaware women were being abused by Epstein, and that none of the women had asked Kahn for help. That deposition was part of a class-action lawsuit accusing J.P. Morgan Chase of having enabled Epstein's sex trafficking when he was a bank customer.
KAYE (voice-over): J.P. Morgan paid $365 million to settle with Epstein victims. Deutsche Bank reached a $75 million settlement after missing red flags associated with the accused sex trafficker. Darren Indyke, meanwhile, works for Trump's former lawyer, Tim Parlatore, at the Parlatore Law Group. Parlatore was part of the legal team that defended Trump in the classified documents case. Parlatore's decision to hire Indyke hadn't gained much attention until now, though he's been with the firm since October 2022. Parlatore told us by phone that he wasn't concerned since the DOJ had no evidence of Indyke's involvement in Epstein's illegal activity. He said Indyke assured him he'd done nothing wrong and did not know about Epstein's sex trafficking.
The lawyer who represents both Indyke and Kahn told CNN in a statement they are reviewing the subpoena and his clients plan to comply with all lawful process in this matter. Their lawyer also said the men emphatically reject any allegation they were aware of Epstein's crimes, adding any allegation that the co-executors knowingly facilitated or assisted Mr. Epstein in his sexual abuse or trafficking of women is categorically false.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: Joining me now is California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, who serves on the House Oversight Committee and has been pushing for legislation to compel the Trump administration to release more information on the Epstein investigation.
So, Congressman, we heard in Randi's reporting that your committee is hoping to gain Epstein's will, NDAs executed by him, any potential list of clients, among other things. What are you hoping to uncover with these requests?
KHANNA: Well, first of all, we expect to gain these documents. The lawyers wrote back to both me and Ranking Member Garcia that they would comply with the subpoena. Now you have Chair Comer issuing the subpoena. So it's bipartisan.
And what we really want to know is who engaged in the abuse of young girls? Why has this been hidden? Was there any financial fraud? Who all was involved? We just need transparency. And the expectation is that they will comply as they said they would in their letter to us.
[20:40:15]
COOPER: Would the committee -- would your committee plan to subpoena these two executors of the Epstein estate as well?
KHANNA: We certainly would if they are relevant. And it looks like they will be relevant. But the first step is just to get the documents. And like I said, their lawyers have already made a representation to us that they fully intended to comply.
Unlike the Justice Department where it's hard to get compliance. I mean, the Justice Department only released 1 percent of the files. Of that 1 percent, 97 percent was already information in the public domain. And you're expecting the Justice Department to prosecute itself. That's a very hard bar.
But private individuals don't have that protection. So if they don't comply with a congressional subpoena, then they really risk prosecution, criminal prosecution. Both the lawyers and the executors of the estate. So I fully expect that they will comply.
COOPER: Reporter Julie K. Brown has been out in front of this story from the beginning. Has raised questions about whether the Justice Department ever really investigated Epstein's wealth. Do you think the documents that you're trying to obtain could provide a link between Epstein's finances and anyone else who might have been involved in crimes?
KHANNA: Absolutely. The reality is we do not believe that the Justice Department looked in comprehensively to all of the money. Following the money is the first principle of these investigations. I've spoken to many of the victims' lawyers who have said that there was not a comprehensive investigation.
And that's one reason that Massie and my bill calls for the full release, not just of the files from the Justice Department, but also from some of the financial agencies in government. So we have a comprehensive approach to this. But putting it very simply, all we want is transparency.
Get the files out there. Let's know who the people were who were committing the abuse. Let's know where the money went. And let's finally have closure for many of the victims.
COOPER: Yes. Congressman Ro Khanna, thanks for your time tonight.
Still to come, college active shooter hoaxes just as classes are beginning. Where this is happening, you'll be surprised how often it's happening and how police are responding.
Also the queen of the breakup song Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged. Details on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:47:14]
COOPER: Well, there's breaking news tonight. At least two more colleges hit today by reports of an active shooter on campus, which turned out to be false. West Virginia University and the University of Kentucky are now part of a wave of active shooter hoaxes at schools nationwide.
At least six universities reported such incidents yesterday. Last week, two major schools, Villanova in Pennsylvania and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, were forced into lockdown because of false reports that gunmen were brandishing assault weapons. Now, these hoax reports, they're known as swatting, are causing obvious fear and they drain resources.
Here with more is CNN Security Correspondent Josh Campbell, former FBI special agent. So what's behind this trend? I mean, swatting's been around for a long time, but it seems like this is kind of an epidemic right now of these hoaxes. JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, the sad reality in this country is that back to school means back to school shootings and also back to these terrifying hoaxes where you have people that actually believe an active shooter is underway on their college campus. They drain resources, as you say, pulling law enforcement officers away from other duties.
This latest wave started last week where in Chattanooga at the University of Tennessee, a police had received reports of a man with an AR-15 opening fire that prompting this massive police presence. Only hours later in Villanova University, just outside Philadelphia, a very similar incident there.
Now, local authorities are vowing to try to find those who are responsible and bring them to justice. Have a listen here to the local D.A. there outside Philly.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BRIAN STOLLSTEIMER, DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR DELAWARE COUNTY, PA: My office, criminal investigation division, the FBI, we're all going to work to try to get to the bottom of who might have done this. Because if this was indeed a cruel hoax, this is a crime. And we will track you down if it's the last thing we do.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
CAMPBELL: It's worth pointing out that people have been injured as they flee. We also, Anderson, saw one incident in the past where a man was shot and killed by police who thought that he was some type of threat. So they're not only terrifying, they're dangerous.
COOPER: Why are they so hard to investigate?
CAMPBELL: Well, two parts. A lot of the suspects are located overseas. So that makes it a lot more difficult for U.S. law enforcement. But also the technology is changing. A lot of these bad actors are using sophisticated voiceover Internet in order to try to make these calls.
They often mask their identity. They spoof their phone numbers. And so a lot of work has to be done by police to try to solve exactly what actually occurred. That said, there have been arrests, including where I am here in California.
A recent case highlighted some of the very serious charges that can be brought to bear. Just this year, a teen here in California was sentenced to federal prison for four years for these very same kind of calls, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Josh Campbell, thanks very much.
We have more breaking news tonight. President Trump expects it to hold what the White House is calling a large meeting at the White House tomorrow focusing on the war in Gaza. The President's Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, says participants will discuss the comprehensive plan the administration is trying to put together. [20:50:10]
This comes as thousands of Israelis took to the streets in protest today demanding the Netanyahu government end the Gaza conflict, bring home the estimated 50 remaining hostages. Some protesters burned tires blocking major highways. All of this happening one day after Israel launched a pair of strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza, killing at least 20 people, including journalists, health care workers and emergency responders.
CNN's Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem tonight. Oren, what is Israel saying about the strike on Nasser Hospital?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF & CORRESPONDENT: So in a statement from the Israel Defense Forces at the conclusion of the initial inquiry into the so-called double tap strike on the hospital itself, from Monday morning, the IDF says it found that the strikes were carried out because the soldiers on the ground believed that a camera there was used by Hamas to monitor the movement of IDF troops in the area.
They say this belief was supported by the fact that they say Hamas uses civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, and that's what led to the troops believing that the camera that they were observing was used to look at troop movements. And that's why the strike itself was carried out.
They also say or claim that the strike killed six Hamas terrorists, but it's worth noting that that claim comes more than 24 hours after the strike itself and was not included in the initial statements about the attacks on the hospital here. That was also denied by Hamas, which says if that were the case, that the hospital camera was used by Hamas, then Israel could have taken out this camera at any point over the course of the past months or even nearly two years of war.
The military does acknowledge there are so-called -- or what they say are gaps in the processes here, and those need to be examined. Those include the authorization process, including the choice of ammunition here. According to an Israeli security source, it was supposed to be an authorization for a drone strike on the camera, but then became two tank shells that were fired at the hospital itself. Then the IDF will also examine the decision-making process in the field that led to an attack on the hospital.
COOPER: There have been protests across Israel. What message are Israelis sending to the prime minister?
LIEBERMANN: Massive protests here. Organizers say some 350,000 people took part in these protests that began early in the morning with demonstrators shutting down roads across the country, but then led to a massive demonstration in hostage square itself. They are demanding that the government ends the war and does everything it can to bring back the remaining hostages.
That's a message we've heard repeatedly, and organizers say they will continue with these protests. It's worth pointing out that as these protests and demonstrations took place across the country, on Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli security cabinet held a meeting in Jerusalem. It lasted about two hours, according to two Israeli sources familiar with the discussion.
But they didn't discuss the ceasefire proposal that's on the table right now, one that Hamas agreed to more than a week ago, and that fueled a lot of the frustration, the anger, and the determination that we heard from protesters to keep these protests and demonstrations going across the country, Anderson.
COOPER: Oren Liebermann, thanks very much.
We have more breaking news. After three straight test flights that failed to get the Starship spacecraft to a safe landing, SpaceX appears to have finally figured out how to launch the spacecraft and get it back through Earth's atmosphere. Tonight's mission went up and thankfully came down smoothly.
Up next, some Swifties were predicting this was on the horizon. Travis and Taylor announced they are engaged. More on that ahead.
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[20:58:38]
COOPER: It is the story that everyone is talking about today. Taylor Swift, the pop star sensation, Travis Kelce, the three-time Super Bowl champ, are engaged. Here's CNN's Lisa Respers France with details.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two years in the making, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dropped the bomb with concurrent posts on Instagram in signature poetic style, with a simple nod to their so high school celebrated romance. Alongside fairytale engagement photos with the caption, "Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married."
And within moments, reaction to the monumental Taylor and Travis news exploded across the screen as Swifties celebrated the spectacular engagement ring designed by Travis in what appears to be the shape of a football field, an old, mine, brilliant cut rectangular diamond.
There was the elaborate floral garden forest setting and Taylor's engagement outfit, a strappy, striped Ralph Lauren silk blend dress, which is now sold out online. The landmark event coming on the heels of Taylor announcing her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl."
TAYLOR SWIFT, POP STAR: It just comes from like the most infectiously, joyful, wild, dramatic place.
FRANCE (voice-over): Eleven days before Travis Kelce's season opener with the Kansas City Chiefs and 13 days, Taylor's favorite number after she appeared on his podcast, New Heights, an appearance showcasing the happy couple that set a podcast audience record.
SWIFT: That effervescence has come through on this record.
FRANCE (voice-over): Taylor and Travis mania now reaching a fever pitch with anticipation of a storybook ceremony as romantic as some of her recent lyrics.
(SINGING)
FRANCE (voice-over): With Swifties hoping for a royal wedding and a happily ever after, just like her song suggests.
(SINGING)
FRANCE (voice-over): Lisa Respers France, CNN.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: And we wish them the best.
The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
