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Vance Visits National Guard at DC Restaurant as People Protest; National Guard and Federal Agent Presence Increasing in DC; Israel to Call Up 60,000 Reservists for Gaza City Takeover; Florida Woman on Trial, Accused of Arranging Son-In-Law's Murder. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 20, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Vice President J.D. Vance meeting with National Guard troops a short time ago at a Shake Shack here in D.C. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also there along with several vocal protesters right outside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT: And I think you hear these guys out outside here screaming at us. Of course these are a bunch of crazy protesters but I'll tell you a couple years ago when I brought my kids here they were being screened at by a violent vagrants and it was scaring the hell out of my kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now the protesters were calling for the removal of the military from D.C. streets. Vance's restaurant visit coming after President Trump claimed that his federal takeover of the city's police force has made people feel safe enough to go out to eat again. We should note actually reservations at restaurants have dipped.

Six Republican-led states have announced that they have or will send Guard members to Washington to support President Trump's crackdown. In an internal memo obtained by CNN Secret Service Director Sean Curran said more than 700 federal law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies are supporting the effort every day. They include agents from the FBI, the ATF, Park Police, Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service, and DEA.

It's all because President Trump says he doesn't believe that city data is showing violent crime at a 30-year low.

He posted that D.C. gave fake crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety and that they are under serious investigation for doing this, for so doing, he says -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And because of that CNN has now learned that two sources have informed CNN that the Justice Department is investigating whether the D.C. Police Department manipulated crime data as the President has suggested. CNN's Brian Todd is here. So Brian, walk us through what we know about

this DOJ investigation.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, sources telling us that they are investigating whether D.C. manipulated crime data. That's in response, Boris, to a D.C. police investigation into whether a commander of one district section of the D.C. Metropolitan Police might have done that. We were told today that that investigation is ongoing.

The mayor and the police chief would not comment on that investigation and would not really address that part of what the president said about this. But both the mayor and the D.C. police chief and J.D. Vance did address the idea of this probe into whether D.C. manipulated the crime data. We showed J.D. Vance's appearance at Union Station. This is what the vice president had to say about the DOJ probe into that crime data.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: Well, I think that crime statistics all over our country were massively underreported because a lot of people would pick up the phone, they'd call somebody, they'd try to get help and nobody would show up. You just got to look around. Obviously, D.C. has a terrible crime problem. The Department of Justice statistics back it up. The FBI statistics back it up. Just talk to a resident of this city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, I did ask Mayor Muriel Bowser her response to this new Department of Justice probe in a news conference earlier today.

[14:35:00]

The mayor said that the D.C. government would cooperate with any investigation and would answer any questions. But this is a quote from the mayor.

Crime has gone down in the city. We know those facts don't comport to what some people are saying, but those are the facts.

So, Boris, pushing back at least a little bit on this DOJ probe.

SANCHEZ: And to the vice president's point, ask a D.C. resident. There's some new polling getting the sentiment of D.C. residents. What does it show?

TODD: That's right, Boris. It's a new Washington Post-Schar School poll, and it's pretty stark. Almost 80 percent of D.C. residents don't like the president's order to federalize the D.C. police. There you have it. 79 percent opposed that order. 17 percent support it.

Now, asked what would help reduce violent crime in the city, the respondents said this. 77 percent of them said increased economic opportunities in poor neighborhoods would help reduce violent crime. 70 percent said stricter gun laws would. 63 percent said an increased number of Metropolitan police officers patrolling communities would help that. And 57 percent said using outreach workers to resolve disputes would help that.

Boris, there is a clear shortage of D.C. police officers. We just heard it today from the mayor and the police chief. That is an issue here. They need 500 police officers. They're down to about 3,100 total. They need 500. And I was told by an aide to the mayor today they're actively recruiting training officers.

That's part of the issue here. But again, there's push and pull as to whether crime is a real problem in the city or not. All the numbers indicate it's been going down.

SANCHEZ: Brian Todd, thanks so much for the report.

Still to come this afternoon, President Trump has a history of controversial remarks about the military. But his latest comment is a first and may be among the most provocative.

What he said after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Trump is praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites. In an interview with conservative talk show host Mark Levin, Trump referred to Netanyahu and later himself as a quote war hero.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a war hero, because we work together. He's a war hero. I guess I am too. Nobody cares, but I am too. I mean, I sent those planes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Trump's praise comes as Israel faces increased international pressure for its planned takeover of Gaza City. It's a move Netanyahu insists is necessary to defeat Hamas. An Israeli military official telling CNN the operation is already underway in its earliest stages.

CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is with us now. Nic, tell us what else you're learning about these plans for Gaza City.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the very latest we're hearing is coming from the prime minister himself is calling on the IDF to shorten the operation to take control of Gaza City and destroy Hamas. I think the caveat here is we've had very few details about this. The the IDF, the government has said it's going to happen, have put in place plans for it.

We've heard earlier today as well that an additional 60,000 reservists will be called up. 20,000 reservists already on duty in Gaza will have their tours extended. About 120,000 troops will be engaged in the fight there in total is what we've been told to expect.

But aside from that, we have very little detail on the timeline. So when the prime minister says he's accelerating -- accelerating it, it's not clear what it is. It is clear that the IDF is continuing to get small, aggressive attacks on the ground from Hamas in Khan Younis further south from Gaza City today.

A number of Hamas fighters were able to get inside an Israeli compound. One Israeli soldier was seriously injured, several received minor injuries, and the IDF said they killed at least nine of these Hamas operatives. And they're investigating what happened, how they were actually to able to get inside of this, what was understood to be a secure military compound.

KEILAR: Nic Robertson, thank you so much for that report -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now, to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Three firefighters were injured Tuesday after a gas line explosion in Wilmington, North Carolina sent debris flying hundreds of feet in the air. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GAS LINE EXPLOSION)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, believe is right. Fire officials say it happened after a car crashed into a gas line connected to a building under construction. The explosion came just as emergency crews were evacuating people from the area.

The driver apparently fled the scene but was later apprehended -- this is him. According to police, he showed signs of driver impairment.

Also, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in New Mexico helping repaint the southern border wall black. That's part of a plan that Trump administration is putting together to deter illegal border crossings. She said the color black would make the wall hotter and harder to climb in warm weather. An idea that she said came directly from Trump himself. Noem, when asked, did not specify how much it would cost to paint the wall.

And a 95 year old freed North Korean prisoner of war is pleading to return home where he can be buried among his comrades. But the South Korean government will not let him. The elderly and ailing ex-spy and former soldier was captured during the Korean War in 1953, subsequently released in 1995. He's one of six elderly POWs stepping up demands to be repatriated. Amid protests demanding his return north, the South Korean government says it's reviewing various options from a humanitarian perspective.

[14:45:00]

Still to come this afternoon, a Florida woman accused of hiring a hit man to kill her son-in-law, all because she wanted her grandsons to live closer to her. How she was allegedly caught trying to get out of the country. That story next. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Jury selection is now underway in a Florida murder for hire trial. Donna Allison faces first degree murder and other charges in a plot to kill her former son in law. Prosecutors allege this 75 year old grandmother conspired with a hit man because her former son-in-law wouldn't let her daughter and two grandchildren move closer to her in Miami.

[14:50:00]

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following the case for us. Jean, quite a dramatic setup in this courtroom.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and they're in jury selection right now. And here's what we're learning. They're going faster than they thought, and they almost have the pool that will go into final jury selection that will take place tomorrow. Late morning, we believe. So openings could be tomorrow afternoon. It's a very real possibility.

But you're seeing right there. That's Donna Adelson, and she led a luxury lifestyle. I mean, she and her husband lived in Miami Beach. They had their condo. They were very wealthy, and she had three Children. But Wendy was her daughter and Charles, one of the son she was very close with.

Well, Wendy was an attorney, and she was married to Dan Markel. And Dan Markel was an up-and-coming attorney. He was making speeches all around the country, but he was a law professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee and, by all accounts, a really good man.

They had two young Children. They were both boys. They'd been married six years, and the marriage just started to go south. It just wasn't working, and they were arguing, and it was really rough. And so they filed for divorce.

Well, Mrs. Adelson, the mother-in-law, was livid with the whole thing. She didn't like Dan. Donna didn't like him. Donna wanted to control everything.

And so she wanted Wendy and the kids to move back up to Miami to live with them once the divorce would be final. Well, Dan said, No, I want to help raise my sons, and I have to be in Tallahassee at the university teaching law. And so the judge ruled that Wendy had to stay in Tallahassee.

Well, that was too much for the Adelson family. They wanted their daughter back. And so the family was just up in arms. And Charles, the brother, said, You know what I can do? I can hire a couple hit men because I got connections.

And so that's exactly what happened. And he had a friend, his girlfriend at the time, who knew some guys -- and that's Charles right there. That's the brother, a very actually successful dentist in the Miami area.

But the hit men were hired. One of them was the Latin Kings, and they drove in a rental car up to Tallahassee, and they did the deed. They shot Dan Markel in his driveway, in his car, two bullets to his head. And this was in 2014.

And so law enforcement didn't know what to do. They didn't know who did this, who would have reason to do this. So it took years with informants and the FBI and tapping phones. And they realized that the family, in large part, was involved with this. And there have been a lot of convictions so far.

Charles, the brother, was convicted. Two hit men convicted. The girlfriend convicted.

But now we've got the matriarch, the mother-in-law, that prosecutors say was behind the whole thing because, according to prosecutors and e-mails and texts, she paid the money to the hit men, that she knew everything about it. And so this is her trial. She is facing first- degree murder charges.

She didn't pull the trigger, but there's conspiracy and solicitation of murder, which is the same punishment. It is life in prison. And she now will go on trial.

But all these people that have been convicted they're going to testify, including her daughter, Wendy. She's going to be a witness for the prosecution.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Jean Casarez, thank you so much for that update -- Brianna.

KEILAR: The final episode of the new CNN original series, "AMERICAN PRINCE, JFK JR." wraps up his story, one that ended in a tragedy that stunned the world one gloomy July evening. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just, you know, one of those phone calls that you dread. Immediately, you know. It's 11 o'clock or nearly midnight, Friday night. And John's friend, Pinky, was calling from Hyannis Airport, saying they're not here. Are they there with you? And I mean, even like, oh, my God, 25 years later, I still get like this pit in my stomach.

And then I went into the kitchen and I just started making phone calls. And, you know, I was a reporter, so I knew how to get information from people. And I just started calling, you know, I called everybody, the Coast Guard, the FAA, Logan, Air Traffic Control, Caldwell Airport, Hyannis Airport.

Every call I made was just more bad news, more bad news. I called Caldwell and I got a janitor. He said, I see his car. It's in the corner of the lot, but his plane's not here.

John was flying Carol and sister Lauren to the vineyard. And so I called again and I said, Did she -- is Lauren there? And he said, no.

[14:55:00]

You know, I called Carolyn's mom and just to tell her that, you know, they hadn't arrived and that the plane was kind of missing. But, you know, how do you say that to a mother?

Finally, someone from Hyannis called. I think it was Joe Kennedy. Yes. I'm like, Joe, John never arrived. His plane is missing. And I just called the Coast Guard and reported him missing.

You know, just thinking, well, wait a minute. Maybe it's not what I think it definitely is.

Anthony did get up and he came into the kitchen and he saw at that point I had yellow Post-it notes all over the wall next to the phone. He just looked at it and was like, just the sadness.

Just like I remember him just putting his head down on his hands and it was just like he couldn't even cry. He was so weak.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Tune in for the final episode of "AMERICAN PRINCE JFK JR" this Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

And still ahead. Hurricane Erin is making its way up the East Coast. The National Hurricane Center says the storm's fierce winds will generate dangerous flooding in North Carolina, even though the storm itself may never make landfall there.

We'll have details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END