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Democratic States Sue to Force Trump to Hand Over Crime Grant Money; Russian Foreign Minister Says European Leaders Have No "Constructive Ideas" on Ending War; "The Last of Us" Season 2 Actress Bags Emmy Nomination. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 20, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

MATTHEW PLATKIN (D), NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL:Member is murdered, help pay for a funeral, or if you're a victim of domestic violence, help you get housing. And we're going to make sure that the services are in place to help them navigate the criminal justice system and seek justice.

So the idea that for the first time in over four decades, any president would condition these funds on something wholly unrelated to their purpose, unrelated to what Congress said they were supposed to do and say unless you agree to my illegal demand, we're going to tell sexual assault survivors and domestic abuse victims that they're out of luck. I think it's unconscionable, it's patently illegal, and it's one of the most heinous things I've seen from any administration.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And also, in the lawsuit, I'll read it for our viewers. Curtail -- you write, "Curtailing victim assistance programs would likely make states unable to support many critical and time sensitive services, including maintaining emergency hotlines, deploying sexual assault response teams, providing notification to victims when perpetrators are released from incarceration."

It's this kind of impossible choice that has led universities to reach deals with the Trump administration over. For them, it was critical research funding for their schools with, you know, research projects, scientific projects in progress. And this is something that goes even beyond that. I mean, with that choice that it seems states are facing with this, could this reach a point where providing those services outweigh standing up to the administration over sanctuary policies?

PLATKIN: Well, let's be clear what we're doing. We cooperate with the federal government on immigration proceedings for a whole range of violent criminals and other folks who have violated the law. They're talking point is a complete lie. What we are saying is that in this case, it's immigration. But what if it was a Democratic president saying you won't get funds unless you agree with this abortion policies? Or you name the policy that a president could pick.

We have checks and balances in this country for a reason. And when Congress appropriates funding, bipartisan funding that has been around for four decades to fund some of those -- the most critical services for our victims, the most vulnerable people in our population who don't break down across Democratic or Republican lines, it affects every community in our country.

I cannot believe that I have had to file a lawsuit to say, don't use these people, people who I deal with every day as the chief law enforcement officer. Don't use them as political pawns. That's what we're talking about in this lawsuit.

BOLDUAN: Related to this is other efforts going on through the administration. Attorney General Pam Bondi has sent a letter to the city of Boston and many other sanctuary cities demanding that they cooperate with the administration's crackdown on immigration very similarly. The deadline to comply was yesterday. And I brought up Boston because the Boston mayor actually held a press conference refusing to comply and explaining what -- and explaining why. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHELLE WU (D), BOSTON: Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law. And Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: On the list of that the Attorney General Bondi is targeting, there are several cities in New Jersey that have received the same letter, and also I've seen the mayors pushing back as well. What could this mean for New Jersey?

PLATKIN: Well, it's part of a pattern and practice of pursuing a political agenda and violating the law rather than doing what they say they care about, which is to ensure law and order. This has been the most anti-public safety administration in, I think, maybe in American history. They started on day one, pardoning 1500 violent insurrectionists, including people who led to the death of a police officer who was born and raised in my state in New Jersey.

They've defunded law enforcement programs since the first week in office. They cut critical programs that help us combat bias crimes and tackle violent crimes. They froze funding for the task force that takes on the drug cartels. And now they're gutting funding for victim services, and they're threatening cities unless they enact policies that say, if your family member is undocumented, don't come forward to me even if you're the victim of domestic violence or sexual assault, because we might deport them.

How do we think that makes anybody safer? In New Jersey we had a woman stabbed in the neck. And what did they do? They arrested her instead of helping us prosecute that alleged perpetrator. This is not how we keep people safe. Sending National Guardsmen and women into harm's way for a charade in Washington, D.C. is not pro-law and order. It is a political agenda. And the people who will suffer at the end of this are the residents of this country who will be made less safe.

[09:35:01]

BOLDUAN: Well, you have this new lawsuit now that will begin making its way through the courts.

Attorney General, thank you very much. We will follow this very closely.

Coming up for us, Russia's top diplomat throwing cold water on a face- to-face between Zelenskyy and Putin, saying that the Kremlin has not heard, quote, "any constructive ideas" from European leaders after that big White House summit. And the Trump administration is set to begin screening people who want to live or work in the United States for, quote, "anti-Americanism." And a massive and fiery explosion after a car crashes into a building.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh, my god.

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[09:40:23]

BOLDUAN: New this morning, Russia taking a new dig at the efforts by European leaders to bring an end to Russia's war on Ukraine, and also taking a dig at their meeting with President Trump at the White House.

I want to play for you what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): For the time being, we are only seeing a fairly aggressive escalation of the situation, rather clumsy and unethical attempts to change the position of the Trump administration and of the president of the United States himself, which we observe when the Europeans escorted Mr. Zelenskyy to Washington on Monday this week. We did not hear any constructive ideas from the Europeans there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: No constructive ideas from the Europeans there.

Joining me right now to talk about this and the path forward now, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a former deputy national intelligence officer for Russia at the National Intelligence Council and a former senior CIA analyst.

It's good to see you again, Andrea. I've heard basically both sides that coming out of the White House summit that the state of play just remains unchanged. That little progress has been made as Putin shows no signs of shifting course. But I have also heard that some say significant progress was made in the respect that President Trump now says that he's ready to participate in at least bolstering security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a deal.

What do you see coming out of this? And as we work through the week now, do you see progress or status quo?

ANDREA KENDALL-TAYLOR, FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL OFFICER FOR RUSSIA AND EURASIA, DNI OFFICE: I think we're still in the land of status quo, although I will say it was exceptionally positive to hear President Trump say that he remains willing to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine. That's a really important development. And now the United States and European leaders are working on building on that and trying to flesh out what it looks like.

But the reason I say status quo is because, you know, for -- I think that this issue of security guarantees is by far the most difficult part of negotiations even more so than the issues of territory because what Russia wants is a weak and indefensible Ukraine. And so even after the Europe -- meeting with Europeans, the Russians have repeated their line that there can be no European forces in Ukraine, that they want to put real limits on the size of Ukraine's military.

And so the two sides are still at loggerheads, and there's a lot of details and a lot of work that would need to be done to try to bridge that gap.

BOLDUAN: I mean, it's like a chasm, you know, between where the two sides are on this. On that exact point, the Russian foreign minister also this morning said that discussing Ukraine's security without Moscow is a path to nowhere he said. Lavrov also saying that -- basically making the point that any question of security guarantees and discussion of it cannot be resolved without Russia's participation in those very same talks.

I asked the former National Security adviser to Trump, John Bolton, about this. I want to play for you his take on what Lavrov is doing here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I think it's a reflection of just how confident the Russians feel. They have escaped the sanctions that have been threatened by President Trump. They've heard Secretary of State Rubio say on Sunday, we're not going to sanction them because it will cause diplomatic efforts to fail. And they are trying to keep the table set so that things work out in their direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What do you see?

KENDALL-TAYLOR: Well, I think that's exactly right. I mean, coming out of all of these meetings, as we've said, there hasn't been any meaningful steps or progress towards resolving the conflict. And the United States is avoiding placing more pressure on Russia.

I think those of us who have studied conflicts and conflict resolution understand that you can only get genuine negotiations when there is stagnation on the battlefield, and in this case, when President Putin feels real costs so that he understands that he can't continue this war indefinitely. So if President Trump is really serious about trying to resolve this conflict, the talks and the negotiations are critically important. We should underscore that. But you have to couple that with real and escalating pressure in order to really compel Russia to negotiate from a more genuine position. And we're just not there yet.

BOLDUAN: And just on that, leaning on your experience, how do you get to a place of trusting Putin when you can't trust Putin?

[09:45:01]

KENDALL-TAYLOR: Well, you don't trust Putin. You never trust Putin. And so the thing that the United States and the Europeans will have to do is to credibly threaten to put more costs on Russia if it doesn't make progress and-or it violates the agreements that we make. I mean, I think that's where a lot of the diplomacy really needs to lie is we can talk with the Russians, and then we need to set out benchmarks and communicate in very concrete terms what the United States and Europe will be willing to do if Russia doesn't comply with that. And only then do I think that you can get to real progress. But that's really the process in my view.

BOLDUAN: So interesting. Andrea, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for your help.

Coming up for us, the countdown to the Emmy Awards is on, and CNN is sitting down with one of the Emmy nominated stars of the HBO Max hit series, "The Last of Us." And why Putin's delegation gave a man in Alaska a motorcycle after the summit with President Trump.

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[09:50:34]

BERMAN: The Department of Homeland Security says people applying to live or work in the United States will now be screened for, quote, "anti-Americanism." Immigration officers can look at whether they have any involvement in anti-American or terrorist organizations or in antisemitic activity, but they don't give any specific definition of these terms.

And immigration experts say this would be up to the administration to interpret it. Critics compare it to McCarthyism and say it will likely deter immigrants and international students from coming to the United States.

Several cameras in southern Japan captured video of a fireball as it lit up the sky. What could it be? Nothing nefarious, they say. Just part of a meteor shower. But I got to say, if I saw that, I would have stood up straight. An Alaska man says he was gifted a motorcycle from Russian President

Vladimir Putin, and he has no real idea why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK WARREN, GIFTED A MOTORCYCLE: It's so absolutely, astronomically random that it was hard for me to understand why this happens. Matter of fact, I still don't know why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So Mark Warren says a week before the Trump-Putin summit, two Russian journalists who were there saw him riding his Ural motorcycle and asked for an interview. Now the Ural company was founded in Russia, but the motorcycles are now made and distributed in Kazakhstan and in Washington state. Warren says days after he told the journalists that it was hard finding parts for the bike because of supply and demand issues, he received the new motorcycle. He was told it was an act of giving from the Russian president.

I'm sure the citizens of Ukraine do not find him quite so generous.

Three firefighters were injured after a gas line explosion in Wilmington, North Carolina.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

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BERMAN: Officials say a car crashed into gas lines at a veterinary center that was under construction. The driver left the scene before first responders arrived. He was later arrested, and police say there were signs that he was impaired. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Partial spoiler alert for you if you have not yet finished the second season of the HBO Max hit series "The Last of Us." So don't say we didn't warn you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLYN DEVER, EMMY NOMINATED ACTRESS, "THE LAST OF US": Don't go in there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it.

DEVER: I am telling you go back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

DEVER: His brains are on the floor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're lying.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister sat down with the Emmy nominated actress Kaitlyn Dever to talk about her role in the show, that shocking moment and what to expect in the show's third season.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Video game fans, they knew what to expect.

DEVER: Yes.

WAGMEISTER: Other audience members didn't. So when it came to the episode, it's -- for some people the episode everyone was dreading. And then for some viewers they were in complete shock.

DEVER: Yes.

WAGMEISTER: Were you surprised at all by the audience reaction?

DEVER: No, I wasn't. I think that -- well, maybe I was a little bit. I think it was like -- I think it was maybe the TikToks I kept looking at that were the -- like, everybody's reaction of that second episode was really, really sad and everyone was really confused. It happened out of nowhere. It happened so fast. I also knew that -- yes, I was killing the love of everyone's lives.

WAGMEISTER: The internet's boyfriend.

(LAUGHTER)

DEVER: And so I knew that -- I was expecting it to maybe be worse actually. But it wasn't -- I think it was pretty mellow. Like it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had someone recently come up to me and this was recent, someone said like, why did you have to do my boy like that? And I was like, wait, what? And I forgot what they were talking about. I'm like, oh, right, "The Last of Us." Right.

WAGMEISTER: You're Emmy nominated for it as well.

DEVER: Yes, I am. Yes.

WAGMEISTER: What was that like? Walk me through Emmy morning when you found out that you were nominated for "The Last of Us"?

DEVER: I was in Australia shooting for the past four months.

[09:55:03]

And I landed, and I was back home, and I was just at home with my family, and hanging out with them because I hadn't seen them in four months. So I was just in my PJ's and celebrated with my family, and it was lovely. It was -- it always happens in the morning, which I love. It's like, first it starts your day. It's great.

WAGMEISTER: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: And all week, Elizabeth will be sitting down with more of this year's Emmy nominees. And you can catch much more of her conversations with all of them on CNN.com.

BERMAN: She comes off as not evil in this interview.

BOLDUAN: But?

BERMAN: But I think she's pretty evil.

BOLDUAN: I mean, that is --

BERMAN: I mean, yes, I don't know if real life or just on screen.

BOLDUAN: You can about Elizabeth, by the way, talking about that character.

BERMAN: Oh, no, she's definitely evil. Definitely super villain, Elizabeth Wagmeister.

BOLDUAN: Totally.

BERMAN: Thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

I just want to know if you wanted to say.

BOLDUAN: He's scared.

BERMAN: In case you wanted to say --

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