Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Will Trump Give Ukraine Long-Range Missiles?; MAGA Anger Grows Over Failure to Release Jeffrey Epstein Files; Interview With Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA); Inflation Rising. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired July 15, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:01:01]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Americans paying up, the White House playing it down. Rising prices send inflation to the highest level in four months. Economists questioning how much worse it could get because of the president's trade war.

And MAGA misfire. The White House struggling with how to respond to questions about Jeffrey Epstein. The official at the center of the controversy, Attorney General Pam Bondi, expected to speak here in the next hour.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, after rain and floods hit the Northeast, two people are killed, a scenario that's becoming more common as, so far this year, the U.S. sees a record number of flash floods, and more rain is in the forecast for today.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: We do begin with breaking news on the U.S. economy and the growing impact of President Trump's tariff policies.

New numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show U.S. inflation jumped last month to its highest level since February, consumer prices rising 0.3 percent in June, pushing the annual inflation rate to 2.7 percent. And it comes as consumers have seen recent spikes in the cost of gas and other key goods and services.

CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich is here with the wider impact for us.

Vanessa, walk us through the numbers.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, inflation came in line with expectations, but the expectation was that inflation would rise and we see that particularly in the annual number. Inflation in May on an annual basis was 2.4 percent. This is an increase now to 2.7 percent, so moving in the wrong direction, away from that 2 percent target. And then, on a monthly basis, you saw an increase of 0.3 percent. That is what we saw in May, but still not the deceleration that we are hoping for. Now, the sectors leading the way in terms of increases are food at the grocery store. Prices that people are paying are still up 0.3 percent.

Shelter, that's the biggest share of what Americans pay every single month. That was the leading driver of inflation picking up in June, also gas prices. The month before, in May, we saw gas prices fall by 2.6 percent. Look at this increase, 0.1 percent -- excuse me -- 1 increase in the month of June, but overall gas prices are still down about 8.3 percent on the year.

So this is a one-month look at where gas prices were. In terms of increases in other sectors, there's not going to be a line in this report that says, yes, tariffs are playing a role in price increases, but these are all items that we know that we import a lot of, furniture, apparel all up 0.4 percent in the month of June, toys up 1.8 percent.

And we know that, of all the toys that we import into the United States, 80 percent comes in from China. Also, look at appliances up 1.9 percent. That is interesting to watch, because we know that appliances are made with steel and aluminum, which currently have a 50 percent tariff in place.

Here's where we saw decreases, used vehicles, new vehicles. These are places that people spent a lot of money before the tariffs went into effect to try to beat the higher prices. So you're now seeing decreases in those items. Also, airline fares, interesting to watch, down just slightly, 0.1 percent. This could be a signal that consumers are starting to pull back on spending, particularly on travel.

Now, where's the Federal Reserve fit into all of this, right? This is the 2 percent target that the Fed wants to hit. So we can see that inflation has been above that line. And the problem is, you can see here the line is moving upwards. So the Federal Reserve, according to many investors, is likely going to hold rates steady later this month as they make that decision.

[13:05:06]

One investor and analyst put it this way. He says -- this is Skyler Weinand of Regan Capital. And here's what he said. He said: "The only folks calling for lower interest rates are those within the administration and those jockeying to be the next Federal Reserve chair. While the numbers call for a Fed hike and the administration is calling for massive cuts, we would expect the Fed to sit tight like a stubborn teenager for the foreseeable future."

So the Fed probably going to hold steady again, against the president's wishes. He has been calling for months now on Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, to lower interest rates. But, Brianna, given today's report, the Fed likely going to sit tight like a stubborn teenager, as this one analyst tells me. KEILAR: Very interesting analysis there. Super helpful walking us

through there. And great penmanship as well, Vanessa Yurkevich. Thank you so much.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: We have some new details on President Trump's effort to ease intense backlash over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Sources tell CNN that the president is now privately urging his team to let the story die down. He's hoping to also quell the drama surrounding FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. We have learned that Bongino has returned to the office after skipping work on Friday following a fallout with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Epstein case.

Despite the president's attempts to turn the page some key Republican allies in Congress are resisting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I think it's just a red line that it crosses for many people. This is something that's been talked about by many people serving in the administration, myself and many others, on the right and the left, of there needing to be transparency.

REP. ELI CRANE (R-AZ): I want to see more transparency, like a lot of other members and a lot of other Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's take you now live to Pittsburgh with CNN's Alayna Treene. That's where President Trump is visiting today for an energy innovation summit.

Alayna, talk us through this reporting regarding the president trying to tamp down this Jeffrey Epstein files story.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, well, Boris, we have seen now the president publicly try to tell his supporters, to tell his base to move on from this. We first heard him say that last week in a Cabinet meeting. Then, over the weekend, he said what's going on with my guys and in some -- or my boys and in some cases gals, really trying to get them to move on from this.

But now we're learning that he's saying that publicly as well. He's really hoping that this story will die down. We also know he's personally trying to make sure that that happens. Over the weekend, he spoke with the deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino, who, as you said, did return to work yesterday. It's unclear how long he's actually going to be staying in that job.

But for now it appears that he's back at work, and I wouldn't exactly say back to normal, but for the time being he's showing back up, unlike he did on Friday. But we also know the president personally called some of his most high-profile supporters. Over the weekend, he talked to Charlie Kirk, the head of Talking Points USA.

And then we saw Charlie Kirk yesterday post that he's done commenting on this Epstein case until further, saying that he's going to trust his friends in the administration on this. Now, that's just some of these people who are starting to kind of take the administration's line on this and their messaging on this.

But there's so many others in the MAGA movement, in the president's base that aren't buying that and that they are very dissatisfied still with how this has been handled. Not only do they want more answers -- and, of course, that reminds you that it wasn't just some of his fiercest supporters on the outside who have been wanting -- who believe that there was more to this case and been wanting more answers.

But there was people inside the Trump administration themselves who were saying there might be more to this entire Epstein case, including people like Vice President J.D. Vance, Kash Patel, the FBI director. The list goes on. And so a lot of people saying this wasn't handled correctly and we want more information.

And it's very unclear if it's actually going to go away in the way that the president wants it to, but that's really what he's been pushing his team and directing his team to try to do, really move on from this whole saga, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene live for us in Pittsburgh, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And we're joined now by Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California.

And, Congressman, you say that Americans deserve to know the truth about Epstein. What truth are you talking about?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Well, Brianna, politics 101 is, do what you promised.

And Donald Trump has long promised that these files would be released. His attorney general has said that. Kash Patel and Dan Bongino has said that. And so whatever is in these files, these cases are closed. One individual's case is closed. She's been convicted. She has exhausted her appeals. There's no reason not to put them out there.

And the reason people are upset, by the way -- because, Democrats, we're screaming about inflation and people losing their rights. My Republican constituents are going nuts over Epstein. They're upset because it's an anti-corruption sentiment. It's not about red team, blue team, what faith you are, where you live, how old you are.

[13:10:11]

It's Just this idea that government should be clean. And if the guy at the top who said he was going to release these files has now buried them, that doesn't sit right. And so people have just snapped in wanting to know, why is he burying these? And I don't think they're going to let him off the hook.

KEILAR: And you said as much when you responded online to Marjorie Taylor Greene when she was saying that Americans deserve to know the truth. You said that she and her colleagues won't do the S-word about this and a Democratic majority is coming...

SWALWELL: Yes.

KEILAR: ... and will unearth all that these co-conspirators have buried.

So as you say, politics 101 is do what you promise. What are you promising to unearth that they have buried?

SWALWELL: So we're actually trying to do that in about 15 minutes here. There's a vote in Congress that would release the files. The Republicans defeated it last night in the Rules Committee. It will be on the floor at 1:30.

So, if Marjorie Taylor Greene and everyone who's been interviewed really wants these files released, they will vote to release them. And, again, it's just put the files out there. I don't know what are in the files. I know that the president has said they exist. I know the attorney general has said they exist. I'm not worried about what's in the files. Elon Musk tells us why Donald Trump is worried.

But House Republicans, who have a subpoena power, they should use that power and be completely transparent with the American people.

KEILAR: OK. So I just want to be clear. Do you doubt personally that Epstein's death was a suicide? Do you think he actually had this client list that many people are fixated on demanding these files?

SWALWELL: I mean, it may be crazy to believe the president of the United States, who said that they existed, and the attorney general, who said they were on her desk. So if they were lying to us, they should then say, we lied to you, they don't exist.

But if there are files, as the president and the attorney general said there are, they should be released. And then we all can draw conclusions.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: They didn't materialize during the Biden administration. Does that give you pause?

SWALWELL: No, no, I will take the president and the attorney general at their word that they have files. And I know, as a former prosecutor, that sometimes these cases stay with the jurisdiction where they were.

In this case, that was the Southern District of New York. But if Pam Bondi and Donald Trump were lying to the American people when they said they were files, they should just come out and say, we were lying to you, there's nothing there.

But they have put themselves in this pickle. And just burying and hiding under the bed and shrinking is not going to be satisfactory. That's why Republicans should vote to subpoena these files when that vote comes up this afternoon.

KEILAR: No doubt they put themselves in this pickle. Are you fanning the flames of a conspiracy theory here, though?

SWALWELL: I am fanning the flames of transparency. I also don't want members of Congress to trade stocks. I want dirty money and dirty maps to be out of our politics.

And so that is what most people tell me when they talk about what they hate about politics. And this issue just goes to the root of an anti- corruption sentiment in America, the idea that the guy at the top who said he had these files...

(CROSSTALK)

SWALWELL: Yes.

KEILAR: Congressman, let's stick to Epstein, because you're promising to unearth something.

SWALWELL: Yes.

KEILAR: And I do want to note...

SWALWELL: Yes.

KEILAR: Because I think some people might be surprised at a recent CNN poll by SSRS which was done after DOJ released that there's no "there" there memo.

And we're seeing about half of Americans saying that they're dissatisfied with the amount of information that government has released about Epstein. It's actually Democrats who are significantly more dissatisfied with what has been shared.

Are you possibly playing into some conspiracy theories they may hold about what are in these files?

SWALWELL: I'm playing into the idea that the president of the United States and the attorney general said there were files. They have now said they're not going to release anything. I think they should release what they have and then we will all see what are in them.

If there's nothing in them and you have nothing to hide, then why don't you show them to the American people? I think that's how most people feel, whether you're at a bar or a bus stop. That's just kind of the man on the street take, and that's what I'm representing.

KEILAR: You're promising, though, to unearth something. SWALWELL: Whatever is there, yes.

KEILAR: And I do wonder, as you look at the president having promised to unearth something and not delivering much in his administration, if you potentially -- if Democrats might be setting themselves up promising to unearth something if there's really no "there" there.

SWALWELL: Well, we may unearth that Donald Trump is just a world- class 24-carat bullshitter and there never were files.

But he said there were, and Pam Bondi said there were. So, if they are there, they should give them to the American people.

[13:15:03]

KEILAR: OK, I ask these questions in good faith.

SWALWELL: That's your job. No, I know. I appreciate it, yes.

KEILAR: Because you and so many of your colleagues have said that trafficking in conspiracy theories are dangerous.

SWALWELL: Yes.

KEILAR: So I think it's very important that we are very clear about this.

Congressman Eric Swalwell, thank you so much for being with us.

SWALWELL: My pleasure. Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: We appreciate it.

And still to come this hour: Officials tell CNN President Trump has not ruled out sending long-range missiles to Ukraine. What that could mean for Kyiv's fight against Moscow.

Plus: It's getting personal. The Kremlin says President Trump went after Putin personally when he gave Russia a deadline to stop the war or face sanctions.

And then later: cars stalled and emergency water rescues in New Jersey after another flash flooding event. What's behind this record-breaking number of warnings that we're seeing issued this year?

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:20]

KEILAR: One day after President Trump pledged to send us weapons to Ukraine through NATO and threatened sanctions on Moscow if a peace deal isn't reached within 50 days, in a new BBC interview, Trump is expressing more frustration with Vladimir Putin after years appraising the Russian leader. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

QUESTION: Are you done with him? I mean, I know that sounds a simplistic thing.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I'm not done, but I'm disappointed in him. But I'm not done with him. But I'm disappointed in him.

No, we had a deal done four times, and then you go home and you see he just attacked a nursing home or something...

QUESTION: Yes.

TRUMP: ... in Kyiv. I said, what the hell was that all about?

QUESTION: Do you trust him?

TRUMP: I trust almost nobody.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Kevin Liptak is with us now from the White House.

And, Kevin, the president just spoke from the North Lawn. What did he say?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and the president is heading over to Pittsburgh for an event on A.I. And he did speak for quite a while, 17 minutes, including on this issue of Russia and this hardening stance that we have seen from the president, including that announcement yesterday, that new pipeline of weapons from the U.S. through Europe and onwards to Ukraine.

And I think it was interesting when the president was asked about this prospect of potentially sending longer-range offensive missiles to Ukraine, because you have heard from a number of European allies of the president who say that he has been sounding more open to that prospect in conversations over the last several weeks, and including this one conversation that the president had with the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on July 4, when the president asked Zelenskyy whether, given his current capabilities, he would be able to strike in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Now, White House officials say that this was just one of a number of questions that the president was asking in the course of that conversation, that he wasn't necessarily encouraging Zelenskyy to target Russia's two largest cities. But certainly the Ukrainians took it very seriously and did seem to come to under the impression that the president was freshly open to delivering some of these weapons that they had been asking for, but hadn't necessarily been delivered yet.

Now, on the South Lawn just now, the president stated unequivocally that he did not want Zelenskyy to target Moscow, not to go after the Russian capital. Of course, Ukraine does have the capability using drones to go after Moscow at the moment, but not using those long- range missiles.

And the president was also asked whether he intended to send some of those long-range missiles and the president said that he was not looking to do that at the moment, so I think adding some more clarity to what he announced yesterday. Now, we also heard earlier today from Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of NATO, who was asked about this new scheme to send these weapons to Ukraine.

He was also asked about the prospect of these long-range missiles. And he said, yes, while the priority is right now on those defensive systems, those Patriot interceptors that could help Ukraine defend its skies, he said the system could also be used for offensive weapons and that discussion was under way at the Pentagon about how to make that happen.

And so you can kind of see all of this coalescing as the president tries to rush some kind of assistance to Ukraine.

KEILAR: Kevin Liptak live for us from the White House, thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective now with CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, who's live for us in London.

Nick, sending these long-range missiles would be an escalation.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it would go further than the Biden administration, who were very black and white about how they viewed the Ukraine conflict and very black and white about how diplomacy wasn't really an option until Russia accepted it wasn't going to get all they wanted out of it.

And so I guess it would have been startling, frankly, if the Trump administration went from seeking diplomacy and being critical of Ukraine to giving Ukraine a long-range missile option to hit the key cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

And also to add to that as well, this is a capability that Ukraine has fashioned already by itself with longer-range deep strike drones that caused turbulence at multiple Russian airports, causing flights to be canceled. And remember, too, they didn't even need long-range drones to launch Operation Spider Web, which involved housing containers launching short-range drones near key Russian airfields.

So, Ukraine's proven its capability to strike deep inside of Russia. Of course, both the psychological impact of U.S. weapons being given to them that had the range to hit targets deeper inside Russia would have been significant because it would have shown whether White House stood on all of this, but also too the military impact, being able to use that kind of precision would have been quite substantial as well.

So, frankly, it was a bit of a long shot of a jump to go from where they are now to where they could be later. But perhaps Donald Trump has got the message that he wanted to by potentially floating this concept for a number of hours and then batting it down again.

[13:25:12]

The Kremlin aware that the potentially Trump is thinking about doing more maybe than Joe Biden indeed was. But at this point, I think Ukraine's more urgent needs are their own air defense, the ability to hold back any sort of front-line offensive that Russia appears to be willing to mount in the days or weeks ahead.

And that's what the Patriot interceptors and batteries that, according to Germany's officials, may be getting final permission to be dispatched possibly in the months ahead, that perhaps are more urgent supplies that could be got to Ukraine faster, that will defend their skies.

But I think it's important still to put this in the wider context of how much we have heard in the last week about Trump's souring of his mood, his change in opinion towards Putin, the notion of a big announcement. And then what we heard on Monday, frankly, which was smaller on the scale of actual immediate practical moves. It marked a definite change in Trump going from I don't want to arm Ukraine to let's let the Europeans arm Ukraine with our very good American weapons.

But the ultimate threat of secondary sanctions against China and India for buying Russian oil and gas, that's been kicked far down the road as a potential move 50 days from now. It would massively impact the global and American economy too. And I think it's another case of Trump setting a deadline. Maybe it whizzes straight past him. And it also again held out the possibility he might think Putin wants a deal after these six months of it being clear Moscow really doesn't.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Nick, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much for the reporting.

Let's listen to President Trump on the South Lawn moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They were exactly as anticipated, very low inflation. So what you should do is lower the rate. The Fed should lower the rate immediately.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: We had a big win with the Supreme Court on the Department of Education. And we want -- as you know, we want to bring education back to the states, take the federal government out of it. Little tiny bit of supervision, but very little, almost nothing, like to make sure they speak English. That's about all we need.

But...

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) tell a student who might be in a struggling, failing school right now? What would you tell that student?

TRUMP: Well, we have school choice and we're getting school choice approved all over the country. We just got it done in Texas and school choice is the answer. Yes.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you have given Russia 50 days. What happens now? Have you talked to Vladimir Putin?

TRUMP: Well, at the end of 50 days, if we don't have a deal, it's going to be too bad.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Should Zelenskyy get more aggressive?

TRUMP: Yes, the tariffs are going to go on and other sanctions go on.

QUESTION: Should Zelenskyy target Moscow? Should Zelenskyy target Moscow, sir? Should Zelenskyy target Moscow or deeper into Russia?

TRUMP: No, he shouldn't target Moscow.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Is that why you gave him more weapons, though?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: No, we're not looking to do that.

QUESTION: Mr. President, why are you giving Mr. Putin 50 additional days to prosecute this war against Ukraine?

TRUMP: Oh, I don't think 50 days is very long, and it could be sooner than that. I don't think 50 days is very long. You should have asked that same question to Biden. Why did he get us into this war? You should ask that question. Yes. And what did he tell you? Why did he get us into this war?

You know why he got us in? Because he's a dummy. That's why. And you don't cover it right. But you should be asking that question to Biden. Why did he get us into this war? Because he's incompetent. It would have never happened if I were president.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

TRUMP: So we made a deal with Indonesia. I spoke to their really great president, very popular, very strong, smart, and we made the deal. We have full access to Indonesia, everything. As you know, Indonesia is very strong on copper.

But we have full access to everything. We will pay no tariffs. So they are giving us access into Indonesia, which we never had. That's probably the biggest part of the deal. And the other part is, they are going to pay 19 percent, and we are going to pay nothing.

I think it's a good deal for both parties. But we will have full access into Indonesia. And we have a couple of those deals that are going to be announced. India basically is working along that same line. We're going to have access into India. And you have to understand, we had no access into any of these countries.

Our people couldn't go in. And now we're getting access because of what we're doing with the tariffs. So they're paying 19 percent, and we are not paying anything. And they're going to have -- they're going to give us full access into Indonesia.

Now, Indonesia has some great product, and they also have some very valuable earths and various other materials. One of the things, as you know, they're known for is very high-quality copper, which we will be using.