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The Lead with Jake Tapper

President Trump And President Zelenskyy, European Leaders, Meeting In The White House Today; President Trump To Talk With President Putin After The Meeting; Rep. Comer Says DOJ Will Start Sharing Epstein Records On Friday; Trump Touts Show Of Force, D.C.'s Mayor Expresses Frustration; Forecasters Warn Of Life-Threatening Surf And Rip Currents. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 18, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: So, Ukraine is part of the bigger plan and the bigger plan is to undermine the west.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Trump's main goal I think with all the specifics we talked about land swaps or ceasefire or not, he's just trying to move the ball down the field to bring this to some sort of conclusion. And that's all he is focused on.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I think, one thing we know there is a reset also on the relationship with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Trump at least for today. The flattery was clear and they did seem to have more of a bond. Certainly, none six months ago.

DANA BASH, ANCHOR & CHOEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you all so much. I learned a lot. Pamela Brown, I always a lot from you. You're standing by. You're in for Jake on "The Lead."

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: You're right. Thanks, Dana. I'll take it from here. Great to see you. I'm going to look for more in the "The Arena" tomorrow.

And welcome to "The Lead." I'm Pamela Brown, in for Jake Tapper. And we start with breaking news in our "World Lead" and a live look here at the White House where right now President Trump is meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and multiple European leaders in an effort to find a diplomatic end to Russia's war in Ukraine. Before they met behind closed doors, leaders all seemed to agree this meeting could be a historic step for negotiations with everyone stressing the importance of security guarantees for Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine.

KEIR STARMER, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: I think with the right approach this afternoon, make real progress, particularly on the security guarantees. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: This is very important that

the United States gives such strong signal and is ready for security guarantees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And notabl3, President Trump did not rule out U.S. participation in those security guarantees, which could potentially include U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force after any deal is reached. Now, the importance of those guarantees, of security guarantees, underscored by this, the latest Russian strikes across Ukraine that killed 10 people just hours before European leaders met at the White House.

And today's high stakes meeting also comes three days after Trump's Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And according to Trump, if all goes well today, a trilateral meeting could soon be held between Putin, Zelenskyy, and Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I just spoke to President Putin indirectly, and we're going to have a phone call right after these meetings today. And we may or may not have a trilat. If we don't have a trilat, then the fighting continues. And if we do have a good chance, think if we have a trilat, there's a good chance of maybe ending it, but he's expecting my call when we're finished with this meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House for us. So, Kristen, bring us there. What have we learned about the details of this negotiation so far?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIORE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're ongoing. They're still behind closed doors. But I was told by one White House official that things were going well and that President Trump had invited the European leaders to meet in the Oval Office after they have these negotiations over the table. And we heard President Trump saying that the European leaders were going to join him in the Oval Office later.

That wasn't currently on the schedule, but it does give you some idea that he believes things are at least going in the right direction. Now, there are really three main things that are topic of conversation right now. One is those land concessions. Obviously, we saw pictures from the meeting with Zelenskyy and Trump in which Trump showed him a map that showed different areas of Ukraine that were currently under control by Russia and then obviously others that were not.

We also know that President Zelenskyy in the past had said that there was not going to be any land concessions although when he was asked today specifically about redrawing the map, he didn't answer either way. He said he believes that they can find a diplomatic finish to this war, so least leaving the door open there. As you mentioned, the other big one, security guarantees. Now, it was

so fascinating as we heard President Trump really indicate that the United States would be a full-time player in these security guarantees. In fact, he was asked whether or not they would have troops on the ground, if that could be part of the security guarantee, and he didn't rule it out. And you heard these European leaders really thanking President Trump for his stance on the security guarantees, none of which we've heard in full in terms of a full throttle proposal of what that would look like, but clearly, they have been conversations behind closed doors.

Now, one point where we saw a little bit of stickiness was the idea of a ceasefire. President Trump had been calling for a ceasefire after he met with Vladimir Putin. He started saying, maybe we skip over the ceasefire and go straight to a peace agreement. His European counterparts had a lot to say, all of them backing a ceasefire. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace and maybe something like that could happen. As of this moment it's not happening.

[17:05:04]

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: To be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire, the latest from the next meeting on. I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire. So let's work on that and let's try to put pressure on Russia.

EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE: Your idea to ask for a truce or ceasefire, at least to stop the killings as we discussed, is a necessity and we all support this idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And President Trump at one point, I think you heard him say there, that I think everyone would prefer a ceasefire, but then he went back to talking about this idea of a peace agreement. And just so you know, reportable right now, this is from Zelenskyy spokesperson. They're saying the meeting has concluded, but that the leaders are staying at the White House. They are moving to a possible different format to continue those negotiations.

Unclear if this is the Oval Office portion of this conversation or if this is something separate here, but no one is leaving right now. They are still working through these various sticking points trying to get to some kind of a solution.

We know President Trump wants to come out of here today with something resolved, even if it's just getting a trilateral meeting on the books or at least the starting of planning that kind of a meeting, which they believe would eventually bring the end to the war. So, they're still going right now, even though they're moving to a new format, but that portion is over. BROWN: All right, Kristen Holmes bringing us the very latest from the

White House. Thanks so much. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow. Fred, tell us what you're hearing from Kremlin officials today about what Russia wants out of these negotiations and how they're taking what's going on at the White House so far.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what the Russians are doing is they're taking a step back and allowing this process to play out. One of the things that we have to keep in mind is at this point in time, the trajectory of these negotiations that are taking place are happening exactly down the line that the Russians always wanted. It was always the key demand of Vladimir Putin that there not be an immediate ceasefire, but instead longer term peace negotiations with the view towards a larger deal at the end of those negotiations.

So clearly, Vladimir Putin was able to convince President Trump that that was the way to go. And you can see that really by a lot of Russian officials who have been talking about this, not the Kremlin itself, but other Russian officials, like for instance, Kirill Dmitriev, who's one of the main Russian negotiators and also the head of the Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund. He's been reposting things that President Trump has been saying, saying ceasefire is not the way to go, a larger agreement that President Trump, as he himself put it, never needed a ceasefire with all the other conflicts that President Trump said that he had stopped in the past six months.

So the Russians clearly believe that this is the path forward that they want. At the same time, Vladimir Putin himself said right after that summit with President Trump in Alaska, that he understands that Ukraine wants security guarantees. Now, it's unclear what the Russians would be willing to sign off on or what they would be willing to go along with, whether it would be NATO forces, for instance, on the ground.

It was interesting because the spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry, Maria Zakharova, she came out earlier today and said the Russians would not tolerate NATO forces on Ukrainian soil, saying that that would be an escalation. But again, the Kremlin itself has not said anything about that. Clearly, the Russians right now are waiting to be briefed by President Trump on what happened in those negotiations and what a possible way forward could be, Pamela.

BROWN: And what about the overall tone from Russian state media? What has that been like since the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska on Friday?

PLEITGEN: Well, they believe that it was a big win for the Russians and that certainly Vladimir Putin got pretty much exactly what he wanted out of that meeting. Putin himself seemed pretty pleased as well. It was quite interesting to see the trajectory of all of that. The Russian media saying, look, it was very important for Putin to get the Trump administration to back away from wanting an immediate ceasefire instead moving towards those longer term negotiations.

Putin himself was actually only seen in public talking about the Alaska summit only about a day later. He had some more meetings in the east of Russia. He was then seen in the Kremlin with some of his top officials saying that he had very calmly laid out Russia's position to the U.S. president, that he respects America's position, wanting the fighting to cease as fast as possible.

So the Russians clearly are on board with the format that is happening right now. The big question is going to be, Pamela, whether or not Vladimir Putin is going to be willing to take part in a three-way summit, as President Trump has said, he wants to achieve as fast as possible, Pamela.

BROWN: Yeah, we shall see. Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much.

And here to discuss is Kay Bailey Hutchison, former U.S. ambassador to NATO during Trump's first administration and Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO under President Obama. Great to have you both here with us. Ambassador Daalder, I want to start with you and just get your reaction to remarks during today's meeting by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Let's watch.

[17:09:58]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: I really want to thank you, President of the United States, dear Donald, for the fact that you, as I said before, broke the deadlock, basically, with President Putin, by starting that dialogue. And I think it was in February that you had the first phone call. And from there, we are now where we are today. And that is, I think if we play this well, we could end this. And we have to end this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Do you agree with that positive outlook?

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: No, not really. I don't think much has changed since February. The war has continued unabated. The fundamental issues that have divided the two parties, which is Russia's desire and need to subjugate all of Ukraine and to revisit the post-Cold War settlement, is unchanged. In fact, President Putin said as much publicly in Alaska, standing next to the president, when he said the root causes of this conflict will need to be addressed.

And those root causes are Ukraine's independence according to Russia and the fact that Western forces and Western ideas have moved forward further into the realm that used to be under the control of the Soviet Union and of Russia. So no, I don't see the thing moving forward other than the fact that the president has been willing to talk to Vladimir Putin, which is a good thing, but it hasn't moved the ball forward.

BROWN: What do you think Ambassador Hutchison? Is this just a lot of motion without progress or do you see a lot of motion with progress here?

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Well, in the diplomatic world, progress is slow. I think we have to be positive about what is positive. I think there is a lot of concern about Putin bombing and killing people right now when we're supposed to be at a table that everyone agrees we should pursue peace.

President Putin said that, agreed to that in Alaska and then keeps on bombing and killing people. That is not sincere and if we really need to come down on the side of if you are serious, then show it. Actions speak louder than words.

BROWN: Ambassador Daalder, one of Putin's demands is for Ukraine to agree to never join NATO. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff suggested a workaround saying the U.S. could possibly extend protections similar to NATO's Article 5 agreement that an attack against one is an attack against all. Do you think that could work?

DAALDER: Yeah, I don't really know what an Article 5 like or NATO-like commitment is other than some statement that you would come to the aid of a country that is being attacked. NATO is a lot more than just a treaty in a lot more than Article 5. It's an integrated military command structure that plans, operates, and trains for the prospect of having to defend the territory every inch of the territory of its NATO members, and by doing so deterring an attack.

That is ultimately what you Ukraine needs, and it is really not up to Russia to decide who can join NATO. The idea that Russia can have a veto over the question of what the future of Ukraine alignment is, is unacceptable. That is what Russia wants. It wants all the decisions in --about Ukraine to be made in Moscow rather than in Kyiv. In fact, that's what the war is about.

BROWN: What do you think Ambassador Hutchison, because we heard several leaders today say NATO-like? Is that something you think that Russian President Vladimir Putin would go along with in terms of security guarantees?

HUTCHISON: Here's something that I think is possibly what they're talking about and I think could work. And that is that you have a coalition of the willing right now in this negotiation. They have said that they are willing to do a security implementation, that they would send their own troops, put troops on the ground to assure that President Putin would live up to what is agreed.

And I look at Afghanistan as one way to have American input, American support with troops from Europe on the ground, but air cover and intelligence provided by America in consort with the coalition of the willing. That has some good features in that you don't have to go through a whole NATO process, which I know Ivo knows is not always smooth. But you have a coalition of the willing who have already agreed to do a security force. And I think that could work if that is part of the plan, which we don't know exactly what's agreed to yet.

[17:14:55]

But one thing that Ivo and I agree on 100 percent, Russia cannot have a veto over who is in NATO. That is a NATO decision. It is very important. There is more to Article 5 than just all going to war together. IT is an interoperability that is very necessary. So we can't hand over to Russia the veto power. If we did, we would be looking at other opportunities for Putin to make trouble for NATO. We don't need that. But we do have the ability to work with a coalition of the willing and giving the kind of support that we gave in Afghanistan that was very helpful and very coordinated.

BROWN: All right, Ambassadors Kay Bailey Hutchison and Ivo Daalder, thank you so much for providing your perspective on this.

HUTCHISON: Thank you.

BROWN: And from Zelenskyy's appearance to Trump's tone, the notable differences in this meeting with Ukraine versus that heated confrontation in the Oval Office six months ago, how could we forget that? We are also getting some breaking news about Trump calling Putin in the middle of today's meeting. That when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

BROWN: And we are back with breaking news from the White House where President Trump and European leaders have been meeting to find a diplomatic end to Russia's war in Ukraine. Let's get back to CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House. What are you learning, Kristen?

HOLMES: Yeah, we are learning that President Trump and Vladimir Putin have spoken. Now it is unclear whether or not this is an ongoing phone conversation, but we do know that President Trump essentially extricated himself from the meeting with these European leaders to talk to Putin on the phone. Now still also unclear who called who. Was it President Trump taking the call or deciding to reach out on his own? Of course, as we know, President Trump has said repeatedly that Vladimir Putin was expecting his call at the end of today.

So what we have been told by number of sources again is that President Trump has spoken to or is in the process of speaking to Vladimir Putin as we speak. That is not a call that the European leaders were a part of. Now just to bring it full circle here, we know the European leaders, they've concluded that portion of their negotiations, which we saw them all at a table there. They're moving into a different location, we believe the Oval Office, to finish these talks.

Unclear again, if President Trump has rejoined them after this phone call that he's having with Putin, or if that's going to be something that he does in the next couple minutes.

BROWN: All right, very interesting development. Kristen Holmes, thanks so much. I know that you will keep tracking that and let us know what's going on. Joining us now to discuss today's high stakes meeting is the former prime minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt. He currently serves as co-chair for the European Council on Foreign Relations. So let's just start off what we just heard there. What do you make with this Trump pausing the meeting to speak with Putin? CARL BILDT, CO-CHAIR, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, he

said all the time that he was going to get in contact with Putin at the conclusion of the meeting with President Zelenskyy and the Europeans. Whether they have concluded finally, we don't know. But he is clearly conveying something back to President Putin, perhaps or likely, I would say, the wish that was expressed by several of the European leaders for a trilateral meeting.

Whether Mr. Putin will like that or not, that's a separate issue. But I think it is highly likely that that is one of the suggestions that President Trump has now been bringing to Mr. Putin.

BROWN: So after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, you wrote on X, quote, "What the world sees is a weak and wobbling America." You said Putin walked away with this big win, but today Trump signaled a resolution on security guarantees for Ukraine. Can you concede that's a positive step for Ukraine? Do you see that as progress?

BILDT: Well, I think as you said that Alaska was to be quite frank an unmitigated disaster because Trump just gave away to Putin and the Russian press have been in a celebratory mood ever since. Has Trump recovered some ground today? That remains to be seen. We haven't seen the outcome of the talk so far. You've heard some of the key European leaders, Chancellor Merz, President Macron, saying a ceasefire is really essential. There's no way one can really make progress towards peace without avoiding a ceasefire.

Security guarantee, well the devil is in the details. So I hope that they have constructive discussions ongoing as we speak on what that actually entails, both in terms of European commitments, in terms of what should be done, and in terms of an American commitment, because that is of course significant if there is such a thing. And then we need to go back to the fundamentals. How do we end the war? And as said, I find it very, very difficult that you can do that without having a ceasefire in place fairly soon.

BROWN: What do you say to the argument though for those against a ceasefire, that that would just allow President Putin to help his forces and reload with the forces to take more land?

BILDT: Well, you could argue that another way around. The Russians are saying that the Ukrainians are only going to restock their forces. Yes, true. If there is a ceasefire, there's no question that they're not going to disarm, to put it mildly. They're still going to arm. But the fact that we have now then closed down the fighting, and then you can then start to move towards peace, piece by piece.

[17:24:57]

I mean, peace involves a lot of complicated issues that need to be sorted out and to believe that you can sort them out in all in a go, that's unrealistic. That virtually never happens in history, by the way. If you look at different conflicts around the world and previous decades, was involved myself in Bosnia, you start with the ceasefire that creates a political space for the torch. And then you take the one issue after the other and move gradually towards, in some cases you never reach the goal, Korea.

But then you have a situation where you don't have a reward. That's why the sequence ceasefire talks peace is, I mean, everyone who's been studying conflict of the sort would I think probably agree with that.

BROWN: All right, so let's take a listen to what Trump said today when asked whether Russia or Ukraine has the better cards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: As you listen to Russia and Ukraine, which side has the better cards?

TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Let's now compare that to what Trump said to Zelenskyy in February.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.

ZELENSKYY: I'm not playing cards.

TRUMP: Right now you don't, but you're playing cards.

ZELENSKYY: I'm very serious, Mr. President.

TRUMP: You're playing cards.

ZELENSKYY: I'm very serious. I'm the president in war.

TRUMP: You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World war III.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, today's meeting much more cordial, even Zelenskyy himself more careful with his words. How do you think Zelenskyy handled himself today?

BILDT: I think he handled himself well. I think, to be quite honest, I think Trump handled himself well as well. I mean, they both knew that what happened in February was not particularly a good thing. So you can see there was an element of discipline from both of the presidents. And in spite of some fairly provocative questions, they stayed civil. And I think that was very important, because that paved the way for the discussions that they had directly when the media wasn't there. So, sort of plus for both of them in that particular respect.

BROWN: All right, former prime minister of Sweden Carl Bildt, thank you so much. And our CNN teams are working to learn more -- BILDT: Thank you.

BROWN: -- of what played out in Trump's White House meeting with Ukraine's president and European leaders. We're also following a major development today on Capitol Hill. Word that the Justice Department will share files about Jeffrey Epstein with the House Oversight Committee.

Plus the high profile name who appeared today after being subpoenaed for a deposition. Up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:51]

BROWN: We continue to monitor the breaking news out of the White House as President Trump, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and other European leaders continue to meet. A source telling CNN that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke after Trump paused the meeting. Those leaders were not the president for the phone call -- were not present, we should say, for the phone call between Trump and Putin. This news was first reported by German newspaper, BILD.

And turning now to our Law and Justice Lead, today, Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says the Justice Department will start sharing Epstein related files with this committee as soon as this Friday. The Oversight Committee also questioned its first high-profile witness, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr about convicted sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein.

CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez joins us. So this deposition happened behind closed doors but Republican Oversight Chairman, Committee Chairman James Comer did share some of what Barr testified about. Bring us in.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Jim Comer is, you know, being forced really to -- to -- to do these depositions because Republicans want some answers. And as you remember, Mike Johnson, the speaker, had delayed an effort that was made in the House to actually force these records to be coming out. And so now you have Bill Barr who came in today. He was in there for several hours.

Among the things that he emerged from this was that obviously, you know, Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. That's what the Justice Department has been -- has found. That remains the finding. And according to this deposition that's what Barr knew from his own investigation.

He also said that he didn't find anything when he reviewed these files. Anything to indicate that Donald Trump did anything wrong as part of his long -- longtime friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Listen to Chairman Comer talk about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Barr said he's never seen any information that -- that showed that he was in the files and that he would -- he would be shocked if there was anything pertaining to President Trump that was negative that the Biden administration wouldn't have leaked out prior to the to -- the presidential election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: Look, no big surprises from Bill Barr. And we always anticipated that he had very limited information about what is in these files. And so, you know, the -- the pressure still is on, Pamela, for these files to be turned over to the Republicans there who have -- who have subpoenaed it and also for the public eventually perhaps to see some of this.

BROWN: It struck me who isn't on the list for subpoenas and that would be Alex Acosta, right? He was the former federal prosecutor who struck that sweetheart deal --

PEREZ: Right.

BROWN: -- for Jeffrey Epstein back in 2008 who was in the first Trump administration, right?

PEREZ: Right. He was the Labor Secretary under Trump -- in the Trump administration but you do have a number of people like Merrick Garland, the former Attorney General. You have Jim Comey, the FBI director, who is overseeing some of this early part of this investigation. Hillary and Bill Clinton are also on the list of -- of people to be deposed.

And it's not clear where this is going and what they expect to get from this. But we do know, Pamela, that in the last few days FBI agents who spent weeks going through those files in the Epstein investigation. They were told to make sure everything was saved because it appears in -- in preparation for these documents to be turned over to the House that has subpoenaed them.

[17:35:17]

BROWN: So is the expectation all of the documents will be turned over?

PEREZ: The expectation at this point is that nothing is going to be withheld. There are going -- going to be redactions but we don't know until this is over whether they're going to turn over everything.

BROWN: All right. Evan Perez thank you so much.

Joining us now is James Marsh. He is an attorney representing some of Epstein's victims. Thank you for joining us. I first just want to get to what was talking to Evan about that DOJ is preparing to potentially hand over all of the Epstein files to the House Oversight Committee of course with redactions. What is your reaction to that?

JAMES MARSH, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING EPSTEIN VICTIMS: That's very good news. You know, I think the -- the key to understanding the who in Epstein is to really learn about the how. And this is a process where we're going to start seeing records from the FBI. We're going to start at least in my client's situation, her complaint goes back to the mid- 90s. Her FBI file is 30 years old.

And if you really want to unpack what happened here on how Epstein gained his power and influence, you really have to go back to that period of time, the mid-1990s, where he was a unindicted co- conspirator in the Southern District of New York in 1996, the Tower financial scam. And I'd really like to see Mary Jo White who was not only the U.S. attorney in New York at the time but she went on to become the SEC Commissioner which is the agency that brought that case.

So I think we need to go back a little bit farther 10 more years prior to many of these witnesses knowledge and really start learning about how Jeffrey Epstein became the very significant and influential person that he was.

BROWN: And we should note it's been more than a month since the DOJ released that memo stating no additional charges in the Epstein investigation, saying that he did in fact die by suicide. What are you hearing from the victims that you represent in terms of what they would like to see happen now specifically?

MARSH: I think from their perspective there are still a lot of very unanswered questions. In fact, they haven't answered any questions today. Most of the information that we've seen throughout this whole month is recycled information. It goes all the way back to the binders, all that stuff is public.

My client, Maria Farmer, her file is 90 percent redacted. We've asked the FBI for that. We've submitted a FOIA. We've requested it for many, many years and come up short. So there's a little bit that we do know but there's an awful lot that we don't know. And the victims are really looking forward to some accountability and transparency and a full accounting of, how did Jeffrey Epstein get so wealthy? How did he gain so much influence? What happened in the 90s, the 2000s, the 2010s, 30 years that this individual was able to, you know, conduct these activities, traffic and victims all across the world and yet nothing new in the files? That's really hard for them to believe and a great disappointment.

BROWN: Well you heard CNN's Evan Perez walk us through the list of who Republicans have subpoenaed so far for depositions. You have former federal prosecutor and later -- Labor Secretary Alex Acosta who was not on that list. Acosta negotiated Epstein's sweetheart plea deal when he was a federal prosecutor. What is the significance of hearing from him in your view?

MARSH: He's -- he's a key witness. He's a key witness to what happened not only in Florida but also for his statement that he heard that Epstein was associated with intelligence. He made that statement. It's part of the public record. Nobody's asked him, who told him that? How did you learn that information? What understanding did he have of Jeffrey Epstein's relationship with the federal government?

And so his -- his omission on this list to me is a very shocking and surprising omission since we can only go by what his statements were. BROWN: I want to ask you about Ghislaine Maxwell because she was moved from this prison in Florida to a lower security facility in Texas. Have you learned anything about the circumstances surrounding that move?

MARSH: We have not learned anything about that. And technically under the Crime Victims Rights Act, victims are only eligible to receive notice if somebody is discharged or moved to a halfway home. You know, a camp is almost a halfway home, right? I mean it's not a secure facility. We have very few child pornography defendants in camps. Those are -- those are image distribution and possession cases, almost all those people are at medium security facilities. I've never known any of them to go to a camp.

[17:40:01]

The only time people that are sex offenders or have committed serious crimes get released to a federal camp is within months of their discharge. So it's -- it's a very atypical situation. And since we aren't entitled to notice, we didn't get notice. But clearly there's a lot of unanswered questions there too. And a -- and a great deal of frustration for the victims and survivors of these crimes that there's been real -- really no transparency about that and -- and really no one to address their concerns.

BROWN: Very quickly, have you heard from DOJ recently? I know that one of your clients had reached out to the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, she had told Kaitlan Collins recently she hadn't heard back from him, has that changed?

MARSH: We haven't heard anything from anyone. So we -- we're waiting.

BROWN: OK.

MARSH: We are -- we've been waiting for years for -- for some answers and accountability. In -- in the case of Maria Farmer, she's been waiting 30 years to find out why the FBI didn't follow up on her initial complaint in the mid 90s.

BROWN: All right. James Marsh, thank you so much.

MARSH: Great thank you for having me.

BROWN: Another state is now vowing to send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. in Trump's fight against crime. How the city's mayor is reacting to all of this one week into the federal police takeover.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:45:34]

BROWN: In our National Lead, Mississippi and now Louisiana are the latest Republican controlled states to announce it is sending National Guard troops to join President Trump's show of force to fight crime in Washington, D.C. Now President Trump is touting the crackdown today. D.C.'s Democratic mayor is sounding more frustrated with the escalation of federal agents and National Guard troops. CNN's Brian Todd has more one week into this D.C. police takeover.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, D.C: This is not about D.C. crime.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser growing more frustrated over the escalation of federal agents and National Guard troops on the streets of the nation's capital.

BOWSER: You know it doesn't make sense. The numbers on the ground in the district don't support a thousand people from other states coming to Washington D.C.

TODD (voice-over): Republican governors from West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio and Mississippi have announced they are sending additional National Guard troops to Washington in response to President Trump's call to increase law enforcement on the streets.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We went from the most unsafe place anywhere to a place that now people friends are calling me up, Democrats are calling me up and they're saying, sir, I want to thank you and you did that in four days.

TODD (voice-over): But Mayor Bowser does not seem to share that sentiment.

BOWSER: Why the military would be deployed in an American city to police Americans? That's the question.

TODD (voice-over): Around the capital today, D.C. National Guard troops could be spotted near national monuments and major transportation hubs.

TOOD: Have they told you anything about your mission like what you're supposed to be doing around Union Station at least?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just helping with local law enforcement.

TODD: Are you carrying any firearms?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

TODD (voice-over): A Defense Department official tells CNN that so far guardsmen on the street in D.C. are not armed and have not been requested to carry firearms. The official says, they'll be prepared to arm if they get the order. When asked if they will deploy to high- crime areas of the city, the official said, quote, that's not the request. Not everybody agrees that National Guardsmen should be sent in from other states.

One Republican governor, Phil Scott, of Vermont turned down a second request from President Trump to deploy its National Guard troops to D.C. to help Trump in his mission. The governor's office saying in part, while public safety is a legitimate concern in cities across the country, in the absence of an immediate disaster and unless local and regional first responders are unable to handle such an emergency. The governor is opposed to utilizing the National Guard for this purpose.

Some D.C. residents have been very vocal protesting and speaking out against the militarization of their streets.

KELSYE ADAMS, PROTEST LEADER: They're not doing this to anybody else in this country. They're picking on D.C. We are and would be the largest black voter plurality 46 percent black and brown residents in D.C., they're not doing this to any white less basis.

KEYA CHATTERJEE, PROTEST LEADER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FREE DC: Every additional step they make, makes the people of D.C. more dangerous. And that is why the people of D.C. do not want this, nobody asked for it. We want them out. This is our home. And -- and we do not want them here.

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TODD: A Defense Department official tells CNN that West Virginia is sending about 350 of its National Guard troops to Washington. That official says some of those West Virginia troops have already arrived. Now we did not see them on the streets of D.C. today. But that official says that those troops from West Virginia will be integrating with the other forces soon. That same official says that National Guard troops from South Carolina, Ohio and Mississippi will be here within the next few days.

And we just heard from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry that he is sending about 135 of his state's National Guard troops to Washington. So Pamela, a large escalation of National Guard troops here within the next few days.

BROWN: And that certainly is. Brian Todd in Washington, D.C. thanks so much.

[17:49:12]

And just ahead, the breaking news in the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Erin, the potentially deadly danger it poses for the U.S. East Coast even though no direct hit is in the forecast. The latest track up next.

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BROWN: Breaking news, in the National Lead, people are trying to get out of dodge along North Carolina's Outer Banks just ahead of Hurricane Erin, a tropical storm watch has just been issued for that area. Erin is not expected to make a direct hit on the U.S. but the East Coast will experience some dangerous effects of the storm. So let's go straight to CNN meteorologist, Derek Van Dam. Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Pam, this is what I like to call too close for comfort. Hurricane Erin now just north of the Turks and Caicos, the outer bands though even a quite a strong lashing with wind and rain. But the core, the strongest part of this major hurricane remains well offshore and it will remain that way for the foreseeable future. But the storm is expanding.

This is a big problem for the East Coast of the U.S. Let me explain why. There's an expanding wind field, it could double in size over the coming days and that means it's going to agitate the surface of the ocean. We're talking about the western Atlantic. And that will send waves rippling towards the eastern seaboard. And this will cause dangerous surf, riptide conditions and the potential for some coastal erosions especially as we head into the day tomorrow, Wednesday and then again on Thursday before the system finally starts to depart the northeast.

[17:55:01]

This is the position tomorrow of Hurricane Erin as it approaches this landmark between Bermuda and the East Coast. So we're not going to be directly impacting land but the indirect consequences of the storm and the expanding wind field will be quite profound especially on those eastern and southeastern facing coastline, let's say Cape Hatteras for instance or the outer banks where the potential for some over wash across this area with even the potential of some storm surge with associated with this system.

So the actual waves that we're expecting along the coastal regions 15 to 20 feet. Yes, that's not a typo for Cape Hatteras as this storm again veers away to the north and east and away from the east coast of the U.S. It still has its impacts felt in the form of a dangerous surf. Pam?

BROWN: All right, Derek, thanks so much.

We have breaking news at the White House. Trump pausing his meeting with the Ukrainian president and European leaders to speak with Vladimir Putin. CNN scenes are working to learn what was said. We're back with that up next.

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