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Trump: A.G. Bondi Should Release "Credible" Info From Epstein Case; House Dems Fail In Bid To Force GOP On Record In Epstein File Release; Sources: Trump Privately Urging Aides To Let Epstein Story Die Down; Trump: Zelensky "Shouldn't Target Moscow"; Trump To Putin; Make A Ukraine Deal In 50 Days Or Face 100 Percent Tariffs; U.C. Berkeley Professor Killed In Greece In Broad Daylight. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 15, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:38]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Backing Attorney General Pam Bondi, the President standing by his A.G. despite questions about her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and a demand for more answers, not just from the President's base, but also from many other Americans.

Plus, inflation rebounding in June as higher prices, including those from tariffs, are packing a bigger punch. This is the highest level of inflation in four months. Ahead, how the White House is responding, downplaying today's report.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Plus, a new technology is stepping up to the plate at tonight's MLB All-Star Game. We'll show you what it is and why some pitchers aren't happy about its debut.

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

SANCHEZ: Right now, President Donald Trump is about to speak at an A.I. summit. But just before he deported the White House for Pennsylvania, he defended his attorney general, Pam Bondi, amid backlash over the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, while also saying he would leave it up to Bondi to release anything further. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's really done a very good job, and I think that when you look at it, you'll understand that. I would like to see that also, but I think the attorney general's credibility is very important. And you want credible evidence or something like that. And I think the Attorney General handled it very well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did she tell you at all that your name appeared in the file? TRUMP: She's given us just a very quick briefing and in terms of the

credibility of the different things that they've seen. And I would say that, you know, these files were made up by Comey. They were made up by Obama. They were made up by the Biden - you know ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's go live to CNN's Kristen Holmes, who is at the White House right now.

Important to point out, Kristen, that at that point, President Barack Obama had been out of office for years. Trump fired James Comey in May of 2017. And Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in 2019, well before Joe Biden was president. So, the President's accusations there, they don't stand up to the facts.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, but also it's just a confusing answer in general. I mean, he was asked a question, were you briefed that your name was in the files? And he said no, and then launched into a screed about the fact that these files were created by Obama, and Comey, and Hillary Clinton, something that we've started to hear from President Trump.

And just a reminder, of course, as you know, that is not factual. But on top of that, this idea of these Epstein files and the release of this client list, which we are told does not exist, that is something that was perpetuated not just by President Trump, by - but amplified by so many of his followers. And that includes the deputy director of the FBI, Dan Bongino, who did go to work yesterday after having a huge blow up over this issue.

Now, President Trump himself is really trying to move forward from this. But at the same time, it's not going away. And you hear that kind of in part in his answer there, because he does give a full throttle endorsement of Pam Bondi. He says that she's a great attorney general, that he stands by her. She's done a great job. But he also says that she should make the decision if other things should be released. That is putting it squarely on her at a time where she's really been the point of MAGA ire from all over the Republican Party.

And I do want to note moments after he said that, our own Paula Reid was in a press conference with the Attorney General and asked her to respond to this idea that she could release stuff or should release stuff in this - in the instance of transparency. She avoided those questions and then later said she hadn't seen all of the President's most recent remarks.

I mean, this is really what you're seeing in administration. That's kind of all over the place, not just the administration, but the party as a whole. We have seen these MAGA influencers go back and forth. We know President Trump had been calling some of them individually to get them on board with the Attorney General, Pam Bondi.

One of the things that they highlighted, we've seen it all over the Internet, is that clip, just the part where it says that Pam Bondi should release anything if she believes that she - that it should be released, that it's up to her.

[15:05:06]

So, you're seeing a lot of split decisions here within the party in particular and within President Trump and his base. And I just keep having these conversations with some of these people who are Donald Trump's biggest supporters who have gone to bat for him time and time again. And they continue to say the same thing, that he just does not have his finger on the pulse when it comes to this issue of where his base is and that this issue, at least right now or in the near future, isn't going away.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes live for us at the White House, thank you so much.

Let's go live to CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez, because Evan, just a short time ago, Attorney General Bondi was being asked questions of reporters. She did not want to talk about this Epstein file saga.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, they're trying to change the subject. I think she is trying her best to not continue this news cycle, which is now nearly a week into it, right? And today, she was doing a press conference on an announcement over at the DEA about a takedown and on methamphetamines and fentanyl.

But a lot of the questions were not on topic. They were about how much longer she is going to be able to survive this pressure from the Trump - from President Trump's own political base. These are people who have rallied around her all other times. But on this issue, they have decided that she is actually the person who is the problem and they want her to resolve that one.

And she's making it clear that she is hearing from the President that she is not going anywhere. Listen to one of her responses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I'm going to be here for as long as the President wants me here, and I believe he's made that crystal clear. It's four years, well, three and a half now, right? We've got six months in and, yes, it feels like six years. But I was with Director Patel this morning and we are working on fighting violent crime. We are working on all these issues that we deeply care about to make America safe again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And as you can see there, she is fully embracing the fact that the President is standing by her. And look, I mean, part of the issue that remains unresolved, Boris, at this point is the fact that this - a lot of this blew up in the last few days because Dan Bongino, the deputy FBI director, essentially threw down the gauntlet and wanted the President to choose either Pam Bondi or Kash Patel and Bongino would leave. And it turns out Bongino is kind of on an island now because Kash Patel has publicly said that he wants to continue serving in this administration. Bondi is - has the backing of the President.

So now, we're now just waiting to see whether Bongino stays and for how much longer, because this - obviously, this issue is not going to die down.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Quite an awkward spot for the deputy director to put himself in.

Evan Perez, thank you so much for that reporting.

Let's go live to Capitol Hill now with CNN's Manu Raju.

Because, Manu, House Democrats just attempted to force Republicans on the record on the Epstein files case, trying to basically legislate a release of these files. But Republicans blocked that.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is through a procedural vote. Democrats are moving to force this vote to put Republicans on the record. If this were to succeed, it would have required that all documents related to the Epstein matter be on a publicly accessible database within 30 days. That did not happen.

This came after the Senate, a bipartisan Senate vote did succeed last week, calling for the release of those Epstein files. But that separate bill has been stalled in the Senate committee. So, it's unclear exactly whether Congress will assert itself and force this issue. But the Republicans are divided about this. Republican leaders want absolutely nothing to do with this matter. The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, told me yesterday that he is going to defer to the White House on this.

John Thune, the Senate Majority Leader, has not taken really any position on this at all. But members on the right flank of the House GOP and Senate GOP are the ones in particular who are raising the most concerns, including Congressman Tim Burchett, who just told me moments ago he does not believe what the Justice Department is saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Should there be an investigation or a special counsel investigation?

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I don't know. I'm not an attorney. I just find them guilty and hang them publicly. I mean, I'm not - that's not over the top either. I'm already - I'm over it. It disgusts me.

I'm big on clarity and transparency and, you know, that's a good reason people don't trust government in either party.

RAJU: But you don't believe what the Justice Department is saying?

BURCHETT: I don't know. No, I don't. I don't. I think - I don't - I don't trust ...

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: And that reference to the Justice Department memo that said that Jeffrey Epstein was indeed murdered and that there was no client list here - or that he was not murdered, and that there was no client list as some of those and the folks on the far right have suggested here.

[15:10:13]

But there's also no indication, Boris, that there will be an investigation into this on Capitol Hill. The Senate - the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Jim Jordan, told reporters earlier today that he has confidence in President Trump and his handling of this matter. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Manu Raju live for us on Capitol Hill. Thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: Let's talk more now with Mike Rothschild. He's a journalist who covers and researches conspiracy theory culture, and he's the author of "The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything."

Mike, thank you so much for being with us.

You hear Trump privately urging his team to let this story die down. One official saying that Trump wants the story just to go away. Do you think his - you know, some of his supporters who are calling for more information about Epstein are going to let that happen?

MIKE ROTHSCHILD, CONSPIRACY THEORY JOURNALIST & RESEARCHER: I don't think Trump supporters are going to let this story die at all. And I think the biggest reason why is because Trump ran on exposing the misdeeds of people like Epstein, exposing the hidden client lists, exposing all of the files.

This has been part of the culture that Trump has built around his political career for the past decade. And now, all of a sudden, we're hearing - everything we're hearing about Epstein from the mainstream media, it's all true. There's nothing to see here. Why is anybody talking about this?

Well, people are talking about it because the President was talking about it before he was the President for the last 10 years. He created this mythos around Epstein, and now he's telling people to stop talking about it. That's only going to ensure that people are going to talk about it more.

KEILAR: And the deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino, who has been at odds, of course, with the Attorney General over this, his status is still in limbo. He did, though, show up to work yesterday. Can you explain this? Just put into context his assent to this FBI role. How much does he owe that position actually to the brand that he built for himself, podcasting about stuff like the Epstein case?

ROTHSCHILD: Well, the reason we're talking about Dan Bongino, the public official, is because of Dan Bongino, the conspiracy theory podcaster. This is someone who built a career around spreading conspiracy theories, spreading disinformation. And one of the biggest subjects of those conspiracy theories was the idea that Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself. That is gospel truth on the far right.

And for him to go out like he and Kash Patel did in, I believe it was late May, and say Epstein killed himself, there's no files, there's nothing to see here, that really was the beginning of this betrayal. This was the profession of a conspiracy theorist podcaster running headlong into the profession of federal law enforcement. And those two things really just don't mix. And I think Bongino is finding that out the hard way.

KEILAR: Yes. Democrats have long held that Trump and his circle trafficking in conspiracy theories, you know, like this one, but also other ones, that it's dangerous, right? But I wonder what you think now that we're seeing Democrats kind of fan the flames of some of this. Oh, what are Republicans hiding?

And I think it's clear that some of them, maybe they actually don't necessarily put merit into some of these conspiracy theories, but they see political opportunity in it. Is there any danger in Democrats sort of fanning the flames of these conspiracy theories for that?

ROTHSCHILD: Well, I think there's always danger when you are publicly addressing conspiracy theories. I think we've seen what happens when these things get out into the open. They've taken on a life of their own. But I think what Democrats are seeing is an opportunity. And it's not about who's on what list. It's not about who's in what file or what names are in what binder.

Most of the reporting on Epstein has been out there for years. We have the flight logs. We have the black books. Those things are all public.

What we're seeing now is the calling out of the hypocrisy and the betrayal of a party that built itself around the idea that it was going to bring accountability to the elite traffickers, the people like Jeffrey Epstein. And now they're saying, don't talk about this, please. Anything else? Move on. Let's talk about immigration. Let's talk about Adam Schiff's mortgage. Anything but this.

And I think when you see somebody who you oppose saying, please don't talk about this, the inclination is to say, well, now I'm going to talk about it more. That's just the basics of politics.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. How do Epstein and the conspiracy theories surrounding him fit more broadly into QAnon?

ROTHSCHILD: Well, QAnon started off as a way for diehard Trump believers to explain why he wasn't doing the things that he promised. The reason with QAnon was that he was doing them. It was all just in secret and only the special people got to know.

Jeffrey Epstein is a huge part of QAnon. He's mentioned in dozens of Q-Drops. The idea that people like Jeffrey Epstein have been running our culture for thousands of years, trafficking in children, doing the worst things possible to the most vulnerable people. And Trump was finally going to take them down. [15:15:06]

And now, here's Trump saying, none of this is real. Stop talking about this. It is an enormous betrayal of what the Republican Party has spent a decade building itself around. It's built around conspiracy theories. It's not tax policy. It's not tariffs. It's conspiracy theories. And now, this monster has come to life and it is threatening to engulf what Trump has built.

KEILAR: Mike Rothschild, it's really great to get your perspective as you've done so much writing and research on this. We appreciate it.

ROTHSCHILD: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, President Trump says he's disappointed, but not done with Vladimir Putin as he rules out giving Kyiv longer range missiles that could strike targets deep in Russia.

Plus, inflation reaching its highest level in four months, just as President Trump's tariffs start to set in.

And the latest on the murder trial of a Colorado dentist accused of buying cyanide and arsenic to poison his wife's protein shakes. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:19:56]

SANCHEZ: Before heading to Pittsburgh for an event on energy innovation, President Trump spoke with reporters today at the White House saying he's not looking to send longer-range missiles to Ukraine, which would allow Kyiv to strike deeper inside Russian territory. He was also asked if Ukraine should target Moscow. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should Zelenskyy target Moscow or deeper into Russia?

TRUMP: No, he shouldn't target Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Leon Panetta. He served as defense secretary and CIA director under President Barack Obama.

Secretary, thanks so much for being with us. What do you expect to see from Russia over the next 50 days as the President lays out this ultimatum that would see these tariffs or these sanctions installed on countries that do trade with Russia?

LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I think it's pretty clear that Putin is going to continue to do what he's been doing for these last number of years, which is he's going to continue to attack Ukraine. He's going to continue to use drones. He's going to continue to go after innocent men, women, and children. That's what Putin does.

And so even though the 50 days the President has challenged Putin to be able to resolve issues over 50 days, I think basically the 50 days will basically give Putin additional time to do what he does best, which is to attack and kill people in Ukraine.

SANCHEZ: I was speaking to Republican Congressman Warren Davidson yesterday, and he made the argument that the - this kind of pressure, specifically on Russia's energy sector, it exports a lot of oil to China and India, for example, would be a significant motivation to get Putin to the negotiating table. He believes that there is an economic incentive to offer the Kremlin. You seem to be skeptical of that idea. Do you think the Russian threat needs to be met with force or at least the promise that there would be force?

PANETTA: Well, my concern is that the Russians have been pretty smart about their ability to avoid sanctions and get around sanctions, no matter what they are or how they're fashioned. They've been pretty successful at avoiding sanctions. And I think that that will happen here as well.

I think the better approach is to provide Ukraine with as many weapons as necessary in order to defend themselves. The important thing I think of - that we have learned over these last few days is that the President of the United States now understands that he cannot trust Putin. That's very important. You cannot trust Putin.

And more importantly, the only way you deal with Putin is by force. And that means giving weapons to the Ukrainians that will give them the ability not only to defend themselves, but to be able to gain the initiative against Putin. That's the best way to ultimately bring Putin to the table, is to make clear to Putin that he cannot succeed with this invasion of Ukraine.

SANCHEZ: So, you think that this is a paradigm shift on behalf of the President in changing the way that he views the Russian leader. I wonder if there's more that you think President Trump can do to make Putin change his assessment of Trump, because it seems like Putin is not actually going to do much different anytime soon, as far as what you're saying.

PANETTA: No, I think it's important to understand that Putin does not change. For those of us in intelligence that have watched Putin for a long time, we know that Putin will be Putin, that he cannot be trusted. It is good that the President understands now that you cannot trust Putin. But the important thing now is for the President to be very tough and to be very clear that he will do everything he can now to help the Ukrainians be able to defend themselves. And he will not back away from it.

Frankly, I would have preferred, rather than giving Putin 50 days, the President should have said by the end of next week, if you do not agree to some kind of ceasefire, we are going to implement sanctions immediately. That ability to be tough and strong with Putin is what is needed now more than ever.

[15:25:02]

SANCHEZ: Do you have any concerns that the transfer of U.S. weapons, or the sale, rather, of U.S. weapons to NATO allies that then funnel those weapons to Ukraine might weaken American readiness or Europe's readiness to respond to further aggression from Putin?

PANETTA: No, not at all. I think the United States is the strongest country on the face of the earth. We have the ability to be able to provide these weapons. I think it's important to find an expeditious way to provide patriot systems to Ukraine as quickly as possible, because the ability to be able to defend themselves from these repeated heavy drone attacks is critical right now to trying to turn the tables on Putin.

So, I'm confident that the United States can provide the weapons systems. I'm confident that the United States can do it without undermining our weakness or our ability to respond to other challenges. That's what the Defense Department does best. And so, I hope that the President will continue the pressure on. I hope he understands that he cannot be tricked by Putin as he was.

I mean, he himself admitted four times Putin said he was going to agree to a ceasefire and basically walked away from that. That's who Putin is. You cannot trust Putin. You've got to operate with Putin through strength, not weakness.

SANCHEZ: Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, I appreciate you joining us.

PANETTA: Good to be with you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Brianna.

KEILAR: Police in Greece are searching for the suspect who fatally shot a University of California, Berkeley professor in broad daylight. Authorities say 43-year-old Przemyslaw Jeziorski was shot multiple times at close range near Athens on the 4th of July. Witnesses describe a masked man wearing black approaching the professor.

One woman telling local media she heard about six shots and then saw someone run off. Jeziorski was visiting Athens to see his children and to attend a family custody hearing. The shooting happened near the home of his ex-wife one day after the father of two attended that hearing.

With no answers over a week after the shooting, his family and friends are demanding that police intensify their efforts. A police source tells CNN links to organized crime are being investigated after the murder, quote, "bore signs of a contract killing."

Coming up, inflation rising to its highest level in four months. And now there's a new report suggesting businesses have begun passing along the cost of tariffs to consumers. We'll have that next.

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