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Soon, Trump Departs White House for Alaska Summit With Putin; D.C. Mayor, Officials Reject A.G. Bondi's Police Takeover Order; Cisco Exec Pushes Back Against A.I. Doomsday Warnings. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 15, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump set to depart the White House any moment and we are standing by to see if he speaks to reporters on his way to this historic summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Also breaking overnight, Attorney General Pam Bondi taking full control of the D.C. police force, installing an emergency police commissioner and ordering D.C. to end any sanctuary city policies. So, just what happens now?

And Tropical Storm Erin barreling toward the U.S., expected to become the first major hurricane of the year where it is headed this weekend.

John and Sara are out. I'm Erica Hill with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: The breaking news this morning, we are standing by for President Trump to leave the White House to travel to Alaska, where in just a matter of hours now, he will hold a historic summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. To call this meeting high stakes seems an understatement given that nothing short of the fate of Ukraine and the future of Europe could be on the line.

The president says he hopes the meeting will lay the groundwork for a deal to end Russia's war on Ukraine, which has been grinding on now for more than three years. The two will come face to face at a U.S. military base in Anchorage. This will be their first meeting in six years, set to begin at 11:30 local time. That's 3:30 on the East Coast.

This will be a one-on-one with the help of interpreters. And afterward, the White House has confirmed plans for a joint news conference.

Just yesterday, President Trump put the odds in the favor of success coming out of this, saying that there's just a 25 percent chance that the meeting will fail. There is one very key person who is still not invited, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. President Trump now says his main goal today is to set the table for basically to set the stage for a second meeting for all three of them and potentially other European leaders to meet together.

CNN's Kristen Holmes in Anchorage for us this morning. Set the stage for this historic day.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, Kate, this is incredibly historic. As you said, this is the first time these two men, these two world leaders are sitting down in the second term. And we've seen a lot of change since Trump's first term, particularly in his own rhetoric when it comes to the Russian president.

So, in terms of what we're actually going to see today, both of these leaders will arrive here in Alaska. They're going to sit down for that bilateral with the help of interpreters. That's just the two of them. You will have cameras on them briefly. They're likely, since it's both Vladimir Putin and President Trump, to give some sort of brief remarks and then they'll have their private meeting.

After that, you'll have the expanded delegation meeting and then potentially, if you're talking to some people close to President Trump, this joint press conference. That, of course, is slated, but I have been told by White House officials that anything is on the table, including President Trump leaving early if it doesn't go well.

Now, for days, the White House, President Trump had been really tamping down expectations. They were saying that this was a listening exercise, President Trump really saying that he wasn't sure if Vladimir Putin was serious about a deal. But yesterday, when talking to reporters, he sounded much more bullish, as you noted, saying that he thinks that Putin is ready to sit down and make a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think that President Putin would like to see a deal. I think if I weren't president, he would take over all of Ukraine. It's a war that should have never happened. If I weren't president, in my opinion, he would much rather take off -- take over all of Ukraine. But I am president and he's not going to mess around with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You hear that he's not going to mess around with me rhetoric there from President Trump. We've obviously heard that before. But as I said, he's going into this meeting much more skeptical than he's ever been of his relationship with the Russian president.

One thing to note, you mentioned this potential meeting, a third or second meeting, excuse me, after which would include Zelenskyy. The thing that was so interesting to hear him talk about was that it might potentially also include European leaders. It gives you an idea of where President Trump's head is at. He has really engaged in our European allies much more this time around ahead of this meeting than we've almost ever seen him do before.

[07:05:04]

BOLDUAN: That is a great point, Kristen, especially when you think of in years past, he's called NATO dumb, and now who he's talking about bringing them in on these historic -- in this very historic moment. It's great to see you. Thank you so much.

You see behind me, we're standing by, these are live pictures of Joint Base Andrews, where the president will be heading once he leaves the White House. Erica?

HILL: Well, also breaking overnight the Trump administration's takeover of Washington D.C.'s police now going one step further. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordering an end to D.C. sanctuary city policies and naming an emergency police commissioner to head the Metropolitan Police Department. Bondi saying Terry Cole, who's the current head of the Drug enforcement Agency, will have full control over D.C.'s police department. She also ordered D.C. police officers to ignore a directive signed just yesterday regarding what information officers can share with federal immigration enforcement officers.

CNNs Gabe Cohen is following all of these developments for us now and joins us overnight. A lot of things happening overnight and some questions too this morning about just how enforceable these latest measures are, Gabe?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's the big question, Erica, and this is really setting the stage for a dramatic clash and potentially a legal battle over D.C.'s autonomy. As you mentioned, this started with Attorney General Pam Bondi issuing this order that effectively ousts the Metropolitan Police Department's police chief and puts the head of the DEA, Terry Cole, in charge, giving him full control over the local law enforcement efforts here in the nation's capital.

As you mentioned, Bondi also ordering the district to get rid of all of its sanctuary policies just hours after the police chief had issued that executive order, essentially saying that officers can share some limited information with federal immigration officers.

Here's a little bit I want to play of Attorney General Pam Bondi speaking about sanctuary policies in D.C. This was said just yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: D.C. will not remain a sanctuary city actively shielding criminal aliens, will not happen. Under Donald Trump's directive, D.C. will become safe again and it will become clean again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Well, Erica, we have seen certainly in recent days and even recent months local officials here in Washington being extremely careful with their language, trying not to antagonize President Trump. That may shift now.

We saw overnight Mayor Muriel Bowser here tweeting, let us be clear about what the law requires during a presidential declared emergency, like the one here in Washington. It requires the mayor of D.C. to provide services of the Metropolitan Police Department for federal purposes at the request of the president. We have followed the law. But there is no statute that conveys the district's personnel authority to a federal official, essentially saying, you can ask us for help but you cannot appoint your own police chief.

And we also saw the attorney general for the district, Brian Schwab, sent a letter last night to the leaders here in Washington, to the mayor, to the police chief saying, it is my opinion that the Bondi order is unlawful and that you are not legally obligated to follow it.

So, that raises a lot of questions, Erica, about how is the district going to handle this. It seems like they are going to challenge this. Are we going to see a lawsuit? We don't know at this moment. But it is really teeing us up for a busy day here in the nation's capital.

HILL: Yes, it absolutely is.

Gabe, I really appreciate it. Thank you.

We are, of course, also waiting any moment for President Trump set to depart the White House as he makes his way to Alaska for that historic summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Again, that set to happen at any moment.

Meantime, former President Obama weighing in on the redistricting battle as California Governor Gavin Newsom promises to fight fire with fire.

And the new CNN reporting this morning, despite the warnings that A.I. will destroy thousands of jobs, one top tech executive says, using artificial intelligence to eradicate entry level jobs is, quote, the stupidest thing a company can do.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: All right. We're looking at here Joint Base Andrews, beautiful sunrise there in Maryland. The president will be heading there shortly and we are standing by to see if he speaks to reporters before he boards Air Force One. And then the stage is set for the Trump-Putin sit-down.

And CNN has new reporting this morning that Putin's goals might have less to do with Ukraine, more to do with trying to reset relations with the United States. There are a whole lot of moving parts that are happening right now.

CNN's Matthew Chance is live in Anchorage. And, Matthew, you've been talking with Russian officials who have landed ahead of Putin's arrival there, but you also have new reporting about the thought process and expectation from some western officials. What are you learning?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, that's right Kate. It's because President Trump has been relatively optimistic on the prospects of this summit actually being a success, saying, he said there was just a 25 percent chance of it being a failure, implying 75 percent odds that this would work out well. But there's very little on the ground in terms of what the Russians have said to indicate they're prepared to offer any kind of compromise.

I spoke to western diplomats over the course of the past few hours, and they said, look, their belief is that their expectations for a successful outcome of these talks in terms of trying to find a solution to the Ukraine war are very low.

[07:15:02]

Because of that reason, because Putin hasn't showed any sign of making any compromises as he comes to the table here in Anchorage, in Alaska.

But there was also optimism expressed by European diplomats that I spoke to saying that, look, you know, if this does not go as well as President Trump anticipates, it could be that he will come out of this on the other side and take a much tougher approach towards Russia. In the past, the pressure they said has all been on Ukraine. He was berated in the Oval Office. He was -- you know, had intelligence sharing frozen, military aid frozen, the pressure could turn now towards Russia, these European diplomats say, if they don't get -- if Trump doesn't get the outcome that he's looking for. So, that's the sort of mood of the international, you know, allies going into this meeting.

There's also been a lot of Russian delegates arriving. Kirill Dmitriev, the trade envoy, we spoke to him yesterday, also Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister who arrived in a T-shirt, which had USSR or the Russian version of the USSR, the old Soviet Union emblazoned on the front with his comments about what was going to happen in this forthcoming summit between the two presidents. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We never make any plans in advance. We know that we have arguments, a clear, understandable position. We will present it. Much has already been done during the visits of the U.S. president's special envoy, Witkoff. This is what the Russian president talked about. Witkoff spoke on behalf of President Trump. I hope that tomorrow we will continue this useful conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Yes. Well, we have a clear, understandable position. That's what Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said. And that position has been, you know, stated and stated again. You know, basically Russia wants all of the territory in Russia -- sorry, in Ukraine, that it has formally annexed but has failed to so far gain full military control over. That's something that's unpalatable, unacceptable to the Ukrainians and the Europeans as well.

And so we'll see if there's any further compromises or any compromises at all that Moscow's prepared to make or Vladimir Putin is prepared to make in these face-to-face meetings set to take place in the hours ahead. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And, Matthew, what did Lavrov give any window into what the USSR, what was his messaging trying to be with his choice of T-shirt today?

CHANCE: Well, whether it was intentional or not, I mean, it certainly -- it does send a message. Obviously, I mean, this is harking back to a time when Russia, as part of the Soviet Union, was a global superpower, was on an equal footing and sometimes even better in some areas than the United States. And that talks to, you know, one of the things that Russia wants very much and Vladimir Putin wants very much, to be seen as an equal on the international stage with the United States.

And actually it's already a win for him, the fact this summit is taking place at all, because he is able to tell his own population and to others in the world is that, look, Russia, you know, Vladimir Putin, back at the top table of international diplomacy. Kate?

BOLDUAN: They'd like to get back to the times of the USSR.

It's great to see you. Thank you so much, Matthew. We're going to be back to Matthew often.

Coming up for us, President Trump will be leaving for Alaska any minute now. We are going to have live coverage of every step and stage of this visit, and our special coverage will continue on that.

We're also tracking some of the big headlines this morning, what one leading tech CEO says is the, quote, stupidest thing companies adopting A.I. can do.

We'll be back.

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[07:20:00]

HILL: This morning, the pushback on A.I.'s predicted takeover. A number of tech and business leaders, as you've heard, have warned that artificial intelligence is going to make a number of entry level jobs simply disappear in the near future. Well now, one prominent tech executive says, not so fast.

CNN's Matt Egan joining us now with the new reporting. So, I mean, this is the first more positive, I should say. Everything else feels doom and gloom, A.I. is going to end everything, but not everybody feels that way.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: That's right. Erica. Look, here's a tech leader rejecting some of these doomsday warnings that we've heard. I asked Cisco President Jeetu Patel about what he makes of this argument from the CEO of Anthropic that we're basically sleepwalking our way into an A.I. job wipe out, that's going to surge unemployment and it's going to destroy entry level jobs.

And even though Cisco has invested in Anthropic and Patel's friends with the CEO, he really pushed back very strongly, right? He said that it would be just terrible strategy for companies to stop hiring entry level workers. He said, because they benefit from the technology, experience and perspective of younger workers.

Take a listen to what the Cisco executive said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEETU PATEL, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER, CISCO: I just refuse to believe that humans are going to be obsolete. Like it just seems like it's kind of an absurd concept. We are far too creative for us to be obsolete, you know?

And so if you just say, I'm going to eradicate all entry level jobs, that's the stupidest thing a company can do in the long-term. Because what you've done is you've actually taken away the injection of new perspective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: Now, he went on to say that he actually believes that he benefits and learns a ton from younger workers. He said they mentor him almost as much as he's mentoring them. And he said that sometimes in some jobs, too much experience can actually be a liability, right, because you're holding onto assumptions that may no longer be true.

Still, though, I got to say some of the economists that I talked to who've really studied this, they do suspect that A.I. may already be hurting entry level jobs. Think about the class of 2025, right? They're entering the worst job market for recent college graduates in years.

[07:25:01]

For the first time, since tracking began in 1980, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates is higher than the overall national unemployment rate. And, look, this could be happening. You can see the numbers here. 4.8 percent for the recent college graduates, 4.1 percent for the overall unemployment rate.

Now, this could be happening for a number of different reasons. Some of them might have nothing to do with A.I., but there's two industries that are really exposed to A.I., right, mathematics, computer science. Oxford Economics found that the number of young people working in those two fields is down sharply over the last three years.

One last point here to the Cisco executive, he said that he really thinks that the A.I. industry is living in a bubble, and it's their responsibility to make sure that this transition is a smooth one by helping to retrain and re-skill workers.

HILL: It'd be interesting to see if they also though feel this their responsibility, Matt. EGAN: That's true.

HILL: I appreciate it. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Just ahead here, we are, of course, following the breaking news President Trump preparing to leave now for his high-stakes summit in Alaska with Vladimir Putin. We'll also take a closer look at some of the claims the president has made leading up to this trip. We've got a fact-check ahead for you.

And brand new video of the moments police arrived to the scene of a plane crash in the middle of a neighborhood.

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