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Johnson Under Pressure Amid Push for Transparency on Epstein; Interview with Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA): GOP-Led House Panel Votes to Subpoena DOJ for Epstein Files and Ghislaine Maxwell Subpoena for House Deposition; Back-to-School Shopping Under Way in Full Force. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 24, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing increasing pressure, including from members of his own party, for complete disclosure of the Epstein files. And Johnson tells CBS he wants, in his words, full transparency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: We want full transparency. We want everybody who is involved in any way with the Epstein evils, let's call it what it was, to be brought to justice as quickly as possible. We want the full weight of the law on their heads.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But when the Justice Department said in that same two-page memo there's no reason to pursue further prosecutions, many said, how can those two things be properly aligned?

JOHNSON: These are good questions. I don't know. I've never seen the Epstein evidence. It wasn't in my lane. But I have the same concern and question that a lot of people do. And look, I think the president --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not a hoax, in other words.

JOHNSON: Oh, it's not a hoax. Of course not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Annie Grayer is here. Annie, as you're talking to members, look, we now have this subpoena coming out of the House Oversight Committee. What else are you hearing from them?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: It is chaos, Jess, for House Republicans right now. And House Speaker Mike Johnson is caught in the middle. You have President Trump, who wants Congress to take a backseat here and let the Department of Justice handle this investigation.

But some of Trump's biggest allies in Congress are not comfortable just waiting in the wings. They want to see the Epstein files be released. They want to interview some of Epstein's closest confidants. And they aren't comfortable just waiting to let this process play out. So in the middle of that is House Speaker Mike Johnson, who can't alienate his members. He can't be seen as trying to suppress transparency.

But absolutely under no circumstances can Johnson show any daylight between himself and the president. Trump has been Johnson's biggest advocate and ally here. He's delivered votes again and again for Johnson, kept him in his job at times.

So Johnson knows all this is a delicate balancing act that he is trying to walk. It's why he sent members home a day early for their five-week August recess, hoping that would defuse some tension. But the members that I talked to for this story, along with our colleagues Sarah Ferris, Lauren Fox and Manu Raju, said that they are hearing from their constituents that their phones are ringing off the hook about this.

They don't think this issue is going away anytime soon. In fact, going home early could just exacerbate this issue. And now, instead of Republicans leaving for their recess on a high after just passing Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill, his big domestic policy agenda, Republicans are going to be leaving on the defensive, having to answer for what they're doing about Epstein.

[15:35:00]

An issue that Democrats are going to continue to drive a wedge with Republicans on, as they've seen it's been working in Congress this past week. So this issue isn't going anywhere anytime soon. This is not where Johnson wanted to be going into this recess.

DEAN: It is going to be really interesting to see what happens when everybody goes home. And what happens in their districts. Annie Grayer, good to see you. Thanks so much for being here -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We're joined now by California Congressman Robert Garcia. He is the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, which approved the subpoena for Maxwell and is spearheading the subpoena for the Epstein files. Congressman, thanks for being with us.

Are you in talks with Chairman Comer about the subpoena and timing, or is that a Republican only thing?

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA), RANKING MEMBER, OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: No, we are. And in fact, we actually had a letter that went to Chairman Comer today kind of outlining what we believe the subpoena process should actually look like. And we certainly want to ensure that once a subpoena is issued, which Chairman Comer has said that he will issue, that we receive also the full files and documents within 30 days.

And so the two committees have already spoken. We're in communication with each other. Comer has actually said that he intends to actually issue the subpoena. And so we are ready to receive the documents from the Department of Justice. And I am grateful that there were some Republicans in that committee when we made that motion to get the subpoena that actually joined us to get the full release.

KEILAR: What if DOJ doesn't give you everything you're asking for?

GARCIA: Well, look, that's not an option. I mean, the subpoena is clear. And Chairman Comer, from what we understand, is going to be compelled to follow exactly what we put forward as a motion to release these files.

And so the Department of Justice has to release these files to the committee. And so the sooner that Chairman Comer signs and get the subpoena out the door, the faster that we can actually get these files and review them really on behalf of the American public. We want the truth.

What is Donald Trump hiding? What is Pam Bondi hiding? Why this enormous reversal from being so committed to releasing these files to where we are today?

And I think it's really important that people know when folks are out in the community, back home in their districts, this is interesting to the American public. They're asking us questions. And so this gets to the heart, I think, of people feeling betrayed by Donald Trump and a broader question of corruption and what is happening in the White House.

KEILAR: So Republicans, I mean, this was led by Democrats in the subcommittee and joined by Republicans, but Republicans added amendments to depose the Clintons, former FBI Director James Comey, to get comms from Biden aides. Could the inclusion of former officials, many of whom were involved in the Russia investigation and the events that were looked at in the investigation, open this up to becoming as much about re-litigating the Russia involvement in the 2016 election as it is about Epstein? Because certainly Republicans would like to pursue this line on the Russia stuff that the president is pushing.

GARCIA: Yes, I mean, look, that was a motion that was made by those committee Republicans that they adopted. It's not something that the Democrats actually voted for. We voted that one motion down.

KEILAR: It's going to backfire on you.

GARCIA: We, of course, voted in support of the full motion.

KEILAR: That's my question. Because you vote on the full motion, so it's included in there.

GARCIA: No, it was not. There were two actually separate motions. And so their motion was --

KEILAR: But this is part of the effort. And I'm sorry for getting that wrong.

But this is what is going to be included in this effort. So now you are dealing with that --

GARCIA: That's right.

KEILAR: -- with the Clintons, with Comey, with former AGs. And you're going to have to deal with that. I mean, what is that going to look like for you guys?

GARCIA: We were already dealing with that. I mean, Republicans have already been obsessed with all of these other conspiracy theories that they have had in the past. They've been talking about this along with the Epstein files and other issues for years.

So this is actually nothing new. The Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress have been focused on continuing to relitigate all this information. What we want is we want to just hold Donald Trump accountable for what he said.

If he said he's going to release the Epstein files, let's release them. We know that Epstein, we know that Ghislaine Maxwell, there's just a horrific history of sexual abuse, of preying on young women, on children. And so we want the truth.

And here's the other thing that's important in what we said in committee. We don't care who is in these files. We don't care what powerful people will be implicated. We don't care whether they were in politics, in business, how much money they have, how much power they influence. If you actually cause harm to people, if there's some type of network of folks that need to be exposed to the American public, the American public has a right to know, which is why we're pushing so aggressively to get all of these documents to the American public.

[15:40:00]

KEILAR: House Oversight is subpoenaing Maxwell for a deposition and her lawyer said that she was waiting for this meeting with the deputy AG, Todd Blanche, former personal lawyer to the president, before deciding how she's going to respond to that subpoena. How do you interpret her motivation?

GARCIA: Yes, we actually, our oversight team has been in touch with her attorneys. We expect her, of course, we know that she is right now meeting with Trump's DOJ. It's very concerning.

I mean, Ms. Maxwell, as we should understand, is implicated essentially as a sexual predator with Jeffrey Epstein's right-hand person, did horrific things. She is not a good person. She has lied under oath.

And so all of that needs to be put on the table as we seek her testimony. And what's very important is we know that she likely wants a pardon from Donald Trump. And so what she's going to tell the DOJ is of course very concerning to us, which is why it's so important that we get the actual Epstein documents and files, because anything that she says in her deposition to the DOJ needs to then be corroborated with what's actually in the factual documents. And so that actual deposition that we will hold, that the oversight committee will hold with her that is separate than the one that Trump and the DOJ is doing is going to be critical in actually getting facts. And I myself will be at that deposition as head of our oversight committee to ensure that that process is actually one that's centered on justice and actually focused on the truth.

KEILAR: She was implicated and then convicted for her involvement in the sex trafficking, also charged with perjury. We should note that that was dropped to protect victims from having to testify again. Congressman Robert Garcia, thank you so much for being with us. We truly appreciate it.

GARCIA: Thank you.

KEILAR: Testimony continuing in the murder trial of a Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife's protein shakes. What some of the witnesses revealed in court next.

[15:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Jurors in the murder trial of a Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife heard from the victim's brother and sister-in-law about her last moments. Angela Craig's brother told jurors about rushing to his sister -- rushing his sister to the ER after giving her two pills. He said the defendant, James Craig, told him to make sure she took.

The brother's wife then told jurors Angela Craig's last words in the ICU were, why do I hurt?

Today's testimony also included a fourth woman who claimed she had an affair with James Craig.

CNN law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild is here with more on today's testimony. What more did we hear from that courtroom, Whitney?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, we heard from several women who said that they had an affair with James Craig. They found him on a website called seeking.com and he said that -- they said that he would lavish them with gifts. One woman testified that he bought her daughter a car.

Another woman testified that he gave her $8,000 in monetary gifts. Another woman said, this was quite a moment in court, Jessica.

One woman said that when they were together they were watching the movie The Purge -- and if you're not familiar with that movie, the plot is that this is a fictional short -- fictional movie, a short period of time where anything is legal. Violent crime is legal. Murder is legal. And he told this woman that if The Purge were real, he would purge his wife.

So quite a moment in court. Further, as you mentioned, we heard from Angela Craig's older brother and he described the days and moments leading up to her final hospital stay. As you said, he provided her two pills that James Craig told him to give her.

So let me just walk you through the timeline here.

Angela Craig had come home from the emergency room. Her older brother and his wife were trying to nurse her back to health. They had given her a bowl of oatmeal in the morning. They said she was doing OK. Then the older brother, Mark Pray, gives her two pills as instructed by James Craig because she had been sick. She was suffering a sinus infection. So he said, give her these antibiotics.

Mark Pray gave his younger sister the two pills. Between 20 and 25 minutes later, she took a turn for the worse. She started screaming for her older brother to come help her. So they rushed her back to the emergency room. And Jessica, he also described those hours in the hospital. And he said that as Angela Craig was getting worse and worse, James Craig kept disappearing from the hospital.

And at one point, when after Angela Craig was declared brain dead and the family was trying to gather so that the kids could say goodbye, James Craig kept disappearing. And he found it really strange.

And then finally, Jessica, he also said that at some point, James Craig's business partner, a man named Ryan Redfearn, told him that they believed that law enforcement believed this was a suspicious death. It was, again, quite a moment in court.

So all of this leading up to what prosecutors say was this major plot by James Craig to poison his wife to death because he wanted to have an affair with Karen Kane. They are laying out that he had had previous affairs and laying out the step-by-step moments leading up to Angela Craig's final stay in the hospital where she died -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, the latest from Whitney Wild, thank you so much for that.

And still ahead, it is back-to-school shopping season. How parents are rushing to stores to beat tariff price increases. That's next.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Back-to-school shopping is already fully underway, but President Trump's tariffs have families concerned about prices going up on this stuff. We have CNN Business and Politics correspondent Vanessa Jurkiewicz with us now on this story. How are parents avoiding price hikes, Vanessa?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: They are shopping, and they are shopping early. About two-thirds of families have already started back-to-school shopping earlier this month of July. That is the earliest that the National Retail Federation has seen since they started tracking this, and 50 percent of families saying they're shopping early because they're worried about prices going up because of tariffs.

And they're really buying key items, things like footwear, apparel, electronics, backpacks. These are items that are heavily imported here into the United States. But families may be shopping earlier, but they're not spending as much this year.

[15:55:00]

They're spending on average about $858 per family. That is down about 2 percent from last year. Retailers, though, are fighting for every single one of those dollars. Target, for example, is saying that they're not going to raise prices on 20 of their most popular school items.

Walmart is saying that 14 of their most popular items will be actually less than last year. But remember, Brianna, these bigger retailers, they have the capacity to have stockpiled a lot of pre-tariff inventory. But now, a lot of retail analysts say that they are starting to run through that, and consumers ultimately in the next two to four weeks, that's probably when you're going to see those price hikes.

But right now, families are telling the National Retail Federation that they are trying to go shopping early, trying to beat any of those price hikes coming in those next couple weeks -- Brianna.

KEILAR: I got to get on it. I'm window shopping off her pictures. I got to get those Minecraft glue sticks, and I got to get some clothes for the kids. And I better do it soon. Vanessa Yurkevich --

YURKEVICH: Hurry up.

KEILAR: -- thank you very much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: OK, a new ranking is gaining some traction today.

[16:00:00]

According to Consumer Affairs, the brutal commute is daily gridlock in Washington, D.C. makes it the worst city in the U.S. for traffic. I kind of agree with this. The average commute time is longer than 33 minutes, and get this -- during the week, traffic congestion usually lasts about six and a half hours.

KEILAR: Oh, my God. So, L.A. took the top spot last year. It's now number two, and Consumer Affairs says the return to work orders after the pandemic is telling me what I already know people, because I can tell you this is the truth. It is tough out there.

You hang in there, people. We will, too. THE ARENA with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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