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More Republicans Press Trump Admin To Release Epstein Case Details; CNN Poll: Majority Of Americans Oppose Trump's Domestic Policy Bill; "American Idol" Music Supervisor, Husband Found Slain At Their Home. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 16, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): I don't think we understand the capacity, how fast the world's largest economy, the biggest country in the world, is switching and leaving this country well behind.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And in terms of other countries turning to China for this technology, are we seeing that too?

WEIR (on-camera): Absolutely. Absolutely. If they're the most obvious partner in this new energy economy, we're seeing that in so many ways.

I've talked to so many heartbroken folks in industry who thought this was promised, who thought that Congress had mandated these grants, and now being pulled away right now, it is really the biggest self-own in human history when it comes to energy.

BERMAN: All right. Bill Weir, thank you for this report.

Brand new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Developing out of California, an American Idol executive and her husband shot dead in their Los Angeles home, a 22-year-old man now under arrest. The executive telling neighbors she feared for her life before she was gunned down.

And the chorus of demands for transparency from the Trump administration growing louder, the White House under pressure from Republicans and Democrats, many demanding the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump so far brushing them off, but their calls getting louder and louder.

And brand-new CNN polling this morning showing big problems for the President's so-called Big Beautiful Spending Bill.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is "CNN News Central."

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The demand for more information on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation is reaching a bipartisan fever pitch, really, just as President Trump is fighting to let the story die.

This push for transparency is creating some strange alliances, congressional Republicans and Democrats speaking out against the Trump administration and its handling of a case that has sparked a flood of conspiracy theories on the right. President Trump promised for years that he would work to release the files to the American people, but now he says he just doesn't get why people care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: I don't understand why they would be so interested. He's dead for a long time. He was never a big factor, in terms of life. I don't understand what the interest or what the fascination is. I really don't.

It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring. And I don't understand why it keeps going.

But credible information, let them give it. Anything that's credible, I would say, let them have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: House Speaker Mike Johnson now speaking out, calling on the Department of Justice to release whatever information, whatever files they still have on the Epstein sex trafficking investigation.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, for her part, she's not budging, she's not changing positions here or being swayed, maintaining after their review of the files, there is nothing to see. House Democrats are now jumping in, trying in every way they can to really exploit this bizarre break between Trump and the party.

Let's get to CNN's Lauren Fox on this one.

And Lauren, where do you see this headed today?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Yes, I mean, we're obviously watching as some of Trump's closest allies on Capitol Hill are breaking with him on this question of whether or not more files on Jeffrey Epstein's case need to be released to the public. And it's really notable because House Speaker Mike Johnson told a conservative commentator, Benny Johnson, yesterday in an interview that he was for transparency.

Here's what the Speaker said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: We should put everything out there and let the people decide.

Pam Bondi, I don't know when she originally made the statement, I think she was talking about documents as I understood it. They were on her desk. I don't know that she was specific about a list or whatever, but she needs to come forward and explain that to everybody. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX (on-camera): Now Johnson was clear in that interview. He still supports Donald Trump. He still supports Pam Bondi. But the nuance for Johnson is that he does have several conservatives within his ranks who are also pushing for the release of additional files.

Representative Ralph Norman, a Republican, actually voted with Democrats on the rules committee earlier this week to release the files within 30 days. He was the only Republican on the committee to do so. But here's why Norman said he wants more out there, not less.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): I think that the American people need to see what's in there. And that's not hard to understand across the board. Government's supposed to work for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX (on-camera): And it was really interesting because Norman went on to say essentially, he believes it's in Trump's best political interests to get everything out there publicly so that the base, any concerns that they have are addressed in the public sector.

But again, this is a really interesting break because there have just been so few moments on Capitol Hill where we've seen conservatives go up against the President's initial decisions. And this is just something that is really starting to seep into the conversation up here.

[09:05:14]

And again, Johnson has to navigate the fact that there are so many conservatives in his conference who are calling for additional files to be released including Representative Lauren Boebert, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, those are all people who have spoken out at this point and said look if there's more to release, we need to see it.

BOLDUAN: Lauren Fox.

FOX (on-camera): Kate?

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right new this morning, CNN polling showing big opposition by voters to President Trump so-called Big Beautiful Bill that he signed into law this month.

Roughly six in 10 Americans say they oppose the President's sweeping tax and spending plan. But there are some details within the bill that they do like.

CNN's Kevin Liptak joins me now from the White House. What are you learning this morning, Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER (on-camera): Yes, and Americans have always kind of been skeptical of this bill. We saw that in the polls now that it is signed into law. It doesn't appear as that has changed all that much. Americans, 61 percent to 39 percent saying that they oppose this bill overall and when you break it down by party, you do see some interesting things.

Yes, most Democrats oppose it most Republicans support it when you look at independents, its interesting 32 percent say that they support it compared to 67 percent who say they oppose it and even among Republicans about one in five opposed this bill about 19 percent. When you break it down by what is it actually in this package? It is a Big Beautiful Bill as the President calls it. There's a lot in there.

Among the people who say that they support this bill they -- 29 percent say it's the changes to the tax laws that they can get behind. Remember this extends some of the tax cuts that President Trump signed into office during his first term. But it also includes new tax cuts like cutting taxes on tips. When you go on the other direction it's the addition to the deficit 45 percent say that that's a reason that they oppose this bill.

And so, you can see how the President really does have his work cut out for him here and trying to sell this bill to the American people. And in fact, that effort will begin in earnest today, JD Vance the Vice President, heading to Pennsylvania heading to Luzerne County to talk about this bill for the first time. He'll be at a machine shop really trying to emphasize the pocketbook elements of this package which as Republicans work to promote this bill in the 15 and a half months, we have to go until the midterm elections, will be what, they're really trying to emphasize.

What we haven't necessarily seen is President Trump himself go out and talk about this bill. He talked about it a little bit yesterday in Pittsburgh, but he hasn't really engaged in this big kind of tour to promote his signature legislation in the way that we've seen previous presidents do after they get a major bill signed.

In fact, just last week President Trump said he may go out and sign it, but that he doesn't think that he will have to because it's been so well received. I think this poll probably indicates otherwise, and we'll have to see exactly how much President Trump plans to go out and do does some salesmanship on his signature piece of legislation.

SIDNER: Kevin Liptak narrowly escaping being run over by the lawnmower, which is just behind you now. Thank you so much for getting --

LIPTAK (on-camera): As always.

SIDNER: -- through all that for us.

LIPTAK (on-camera): Yes.

SIDNER: John?

BERMAN: All right with us now is Congressman, a Republican from Florida.

Congressman, good morning to you. We just put our poll up so people could see it right now, is 60 percent opposition to the law which you just voted for including one-fifth of Republicans, two-thirds of independents. Now Republican Senator Josh Hawley who voted for the bill along with you is pushing a measure in the Senate to repeal some of the Medicaid provisions, essentially which would allow some funding to get back to the states for this.

If it gets through the Senate and gets to the House, how would you vote for that?

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): It all depends, and I don't think that I'm going to vote to change the bill at this point. I think a lot of the issues with Medicaid are misinformation. I mean the people thought that we're going to actually slash benefits to people that deserve to have the benefits.

And so, the Medicaid portion of it is you have there's some work provisions which I think the majority of Americans support. There are we reducing or eliminating subsidies for illegal immigrants. And then also people that are double dipping, we're eliminating that.

So, you know, once we get that word out and then those misconceptions about Medicaid should actually go, you know, go away. And so --

BERMAN: Well --

GIMENEZ: -- our internal polling shows something different. It shows right now, it's about split but many of the aspects are very popular, all we need to do is go out and tell the American people what's actually in the bill, and once they know what's actually in the bill, then I think we're going to be fine.

[09:10:02]

BERMAN: So, Senator Josh Hawley is speaking specifically about measures of Medicaid that deal with how funding in states goes to hospitals. You think he's misinformed?

GIMENEZ: I think, look, I think he's got his own opinion. I am not sure that at this point I'll be voting to change that bill.

BERMAN: OK.

GIMENEZ: So again, I need to see the details, but I don't have the details of what he's proposing.

BERMAN: You did vote, along with every other Republican, against a procedural measure that would have required a vote on the House floor on calling on the Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the Epstein files. Why did you vote that way?

GIMENEZ: Well, look, I've dealt with Pam Bondi when I was mayor of Miami-Dade County and she was the Attorney General of the state of Florida. She's always been pretty straight up. You know, she follows the law. I have confidence that Pam Bondi is going to do the right thing and then release when it's time to release files that are credible.

And so that's what I expect her to do because that's what she's done in her past and her history with me has always been she's a, you know, straight shooter. And so right now I have confidence in Pam Bondi and she's going to do the right thing. I'm just going to give her time to do it.

BERMAN: You want to see files released?

GIMENEZ: If that's what she -- if there are credible files that the American public deserve to see and she feels it's relevant, I will, I right now, I'm going to give Pam Bondi the benefit of the doubt.

And so, I'm going to give her the time to do it, and -- and then release to the American people those things that should be released.

BERMAN: I want to play a little bit of what President Trump said about this yesterday and where now he's placing some of the blame.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: 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, we and we went through years of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's he talking about, Congressman? Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and put in jail during President Trump's first term. The suicide was during President Trump's first term. All of this was after he pushed Comey out of the FBI, well after the Obama presidency, before the Biden presidency.

What's the President talking about there?

GIMENEZ: I don't know. Maybe there's some other files that were added to the Epstein file. You know, subsequent to that. So --

BERMAN: Are there?

GIMENEZ: -- I really don't know. So, I -- I don't know. I mean, that's -- that's part of the issue, right, that we don't actually know much. And so, again, I will reiterate, you know.

I know I've known Pam Bondi for a number of years. We served together. I was the mayor and she was the attorney general of the state of Florida. She's always been straight up. And right now, I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and let's see what -- what happens in the end. BERMAN: The President has said that if Russia does not come to the negotiating table in a substantive way in the next 50 days, he's going to impose some secondary sanctions on people selling oil to Russia. There'll be other implications as well.

What do you think Russia can accomplish in Ukraine in the next 50 days? They just carried out a very deadly, enormous drone strike on four different locations, including in Kharkiv overnight. Fifty days. How long of a time is that?

GIMENEZ: Well, look, I -- I support Ukraine. I've always supported Ukraine. I think we need to make sure that Ukraine is armed so that they can defend themselves. This is a country that's fighting for their freedom. And so, I've always supported Ukraine and I will continue to fight and support Ukraine.

I'm glad that it's finally got to the President that you cannot deal with Putin. He's just going to stall you. And so, he's giving him another 50 days and that's it. But I hope that that's it. And then -- and then once the 50 days are over and look, I don't think there's, there's much of a chance of them coming to the table that we put really big sanctions on everybody that's buying Russian oil and Russian goods. That would be India and China and hurt them. And so, and then by -- by and large also, you know, hurt Russia.

And so, we also need to support more of what, you know, support Ukraine more, let them defend themselves and then also impose these sanctions on Russia because at the end of the day, you know, I don't think Putin is going to -- to abandon his ideas of -- of, you know, gaining control of Ukraine.

And so, you know, in this, you know, the President and I are a little bit different, a little bit, you know, he has -- he has his way of handling things. I would have done this a lot quicker because I don't trust Russia and I certainly don't trust, you know, Vladimir Putin.

BERMAN: Congressman Carlos Gimenez from Florida. We do appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Ahead, a suspect is in custody after an American Idol music producer and her husband were found murdered in their home. Why the victim told neighbors she feared for her life in the days leading up to her death.

And why one migrant attorney is calling Florida's detention center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, a black hole. What happened when an attorney representing migrants shows up to do their jobs there?

We'll talk to her coming up.

[09:14:59]

And how much would you pay for a space rock, the largest Mars rock ever found on Earth, hitting the auction block? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Los Angeles police say a long time American Idol music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband Thomas Deluca were found dead in their home in Encino. According to L.A. police, the couple was found days after they were killed during a burglary.

This morning, we're learning a suspect is in custody.

CNN's Jason Carroll is following the story for us this morning and he joins us now. What more can you tell us about what happened here?

[09:20:10]

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Well, Sara, the suspect is in custody. He has been identified as Raymond Boodarian, he's a 22-year-old resident who lives in the area. He's from Reseda, California, located about 15 minutes or so from the couple's home. Police arrested him yesterday afternoon. They were able to identify him from surveillance video.

And just a quick recap of what happened here. Police found the bodies of the couple Monday afternoon both Robin Kaye and American music -- an American Idol music supervisor and her husband Thomas Deluca had both been shot multiple times Their home located in Encino. It's an upscale suburb of Los Angeles, located in the San Fernando Valley, and the couple was found Monday while officers were conducting a welfare check. A friend of the couple had not heard from them for several days, so she asked police to go out there and check on them to see what was going on.

Now Sara, the timeline on this is somewhat troubling. The investigation revealed, there were previous calls about the home last Thursday for example on July 10th, a neighbor called police reported seeing someone jumping the fence. Officers did go out to the home on that day last Thursday, but they were not able to make entry, they reported not seeing anything suspicious, so they left.

Now later as police were conducting their investigation after the murders, home surveillance videos show the suspect had indeed entered the home last Thursday on July 10th. The couple returned that very same day. The suspect was inside the home. Police say there was a violent altercation and that's when both Robin Kaye and her husband were shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUY GOLAN, LIEUTENANT, LOS ANGELES POLICE: I'm not going to speak to like particular on police policies and procedures I'm just here for the homicide. But I can say the Department will look into that response and deem if there is any sort of misconduct there. They will launch an internal investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL (on-camera): American Idol has released a statement. It says Robin has been a cornerstone of the Idol family since 2009, and was truly loved and respected by all who came in contact with her. Robin will remain in our hearts forever. We share our deepest sympathy with her family and friends during this difficult time.

Again, police say they were able to identify the suspect by surveillance video, home surveillance video and for resident forensic evidence. Investigators say the suspect does have a criminal history and they're looking into a motive for the crime. Sara?

SIDNER: Jason Carroll, thank you so much bringing us new information about just how long that couple was in the home before they were discovered. Really appreciate your reporting this morning.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: There's a new survey finding that more employers plan to pass along healthcare costs to employees next year. So, what could that mean for you? We have some more details on it.

And robot soccer tryouts in China. CNN gets rare access to A.I. Droids, looking to take over the world. It'll take over everything from food delivery to sports.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:47]

BERMAN: All right, this morning we have a brand new CNN poll which shows 60 percent disapproval with the president's big tax and spending law. Polling shows the public and even some of the President's most ardent supporters are angry about the Jeffrey Epstein case.

So surely this means that Democrats are surging in their efforts in the midterm elections.

CNN senior data analyst Harry Enten is here. And Harry, A, don't call me Shirley. B, so compare this race to the last time we saw big Democratic surges, which was what, like 2006 and 2018?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST (on-camera): Don't worry, Leslie Nielsen, I won't call you Shirley.

Look, the bottom line is this. Democrats are behind their 2006 and 2018 paces when it comes to the generic congressional ballot. What are we talking about here?

All right, the Democrats versus the Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, the margins. Look at where we are now. Democrats are ahead, but by just two points. Look at where Democrats were already ahead by in 2017. They were behind by seven points.

How about 2005 on the generic congressional ballot? Behind -- excuse me, ahead by seven points, ahead by seven points, and now they're only ahead by two points? Their lead is less than half, less than half of where it was in either 2017 or 2005 in July of those years, the year before the midterm election. Yes, Donald Trump may be unpopular, but Democrats have not come anywhere close to sealing the deal at this particular point.

BERMAN: Yes, wave, wave looks very different.

ENTEN (on-camera): Yes.

BERMAN: All right, this is the generic ballot test. This is when you test people on the generic question. Of course, the House races aren't generic. There are 435 of them.

What happens when you go race by race?

ENTEN (on-camera): What happens when you go race by race? Well, it's the same idea. OK, House seat ratings with a GOP president like back in 2005 and, of course, 2017. More net pick-up seat chances.

Well, last time around, look at that. Democrats were ahead by 33 seats. How about in 2005? Democrats were ahead by seven seats. What's going on right now? It's actually Republicans.

Actually, Republicans with more net pick-up chances at plus 12, according to the Cook Political Report, when you add in the likelihoods, the liens, and the toss-up races.

So, it's not just on the generic ballot where Democrats are behind their 2017 and 2005 pace. It's actually when it comes seat by seat, you see that at least at this particular point, Republicans actually have more net pick-up opportunities. This doesn't look anything like those wave elections back in 2006 or 2018.

[09:30:06]

BERMAN: If it doesn't look anything like those years, what does it look like?

ENTEN (on-camera): OK, so what.