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Ukraine Peace Talks Stall; China Showcases Military Might; Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein Speak Out. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired September 03, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: After hearing about the Epstein files for years, we're finally hearing from many of the women who endured Jeffrey Epstein's abuse.

One saying defiantly to claims that this is a hoax -- quote -- "We are real human beings. This is real trauma."

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Show of force, China showcasing its military might with a huge parade and some prominent adversaries of the U.S. in attendance, as President Trump accuses Beijing of conspiring against America.

And dare to dream. Someone could win over a billion dollars tonight in the Powerball jackpot. It probably won't be Boris or me, but in the unlikely event that we do win, this will be our last time following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: From the Capitol steps today, a rallying cry, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein demanding the release of all the investigative files in the case.

It was emotional and angry. And for some, it was the first time they have spoken out about their abuse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANOUSKA DE GEORGIOU, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: My polished exterior is a shield hiding a wound that still bleeds. President Trump, you have so much influence and power in this situation. Please use that influence and power to help us.

JENA-LISA JONES, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Please, President Trump, pass this bill and help us. Make us feel like our voices are finally being heard.

SKY ROBERTS, BROTHER OF VIRGINIA GIUFFRE: If you vote no, your stance will be cleared. You will be choosing to stand on the side of the rich and powerful, allowing money to buy your way out of the consequence.

CHAUNTAE DAVIES, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: President Trump and members of Congress, why do we continue to cover up sexual abuse and assault? Who are we covering for? Let the public know the truth.

HALEY ROBSON, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Mr. President Donald J. Trump, I am a registered Republican, not that matters because this is not political. However, I cordially invite you to the Capitol to meet me in person so you can understand this is not a hoax. We are real human beings. This is real trauma.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: At nearly the same time that these women were speaking out, the president was in the Oval Office answering questions about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So this is a Democrat hoax that never ends. From what I understand, I could check, but from what I understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given. But it's really a Democrat hoax, because they're trying to get people to talk about something that's totally irrelevant to the success that we have had as a nation since I have been president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Manu Raju was at this press conference with the victims.

And, Manu, Congressman Massie just warned that this is going to be bad for Republicans if they vote against its release.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I asked him about that. He said that the blowback could be severe, given that there are demands from a lot of Republicans to release this information for so many years.

But, at the moment, Massie is short of the support he needs to force a vote on this bill that would compel the release of these documents. It's the same bill that these victims had called for its passage in this very emotional, very intense press conference that lasted about 90 minutes earlier this morning.

Now, when I was at this press conference, I know these victims made very clear that they want not only this bill passed, but they also warned that, if the names are not released of the people who were involved in this sex trafficking ring, that they said that they themselves would compile a list of these perpetrators and would release them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA PHILLIPS, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Congress must choose, will you continue to protect predators or will you finally protect survivors? And also I would like to announce here today us Epstein survivors have been discussing creating our own list. We know the names. Many of us were abused by them. Now, together, as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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RAJU: And in this press conference, I had a chance to ask these victims about the news that occurred last month that the -- that Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, who was involved in the sex trafficking ring and is serving out a prison sentence, was transferred to a lower-security prison in the aftermath of her interview that happened with Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general.

There's a lot of questions about the circumstances around Maxwell moving to this lower-security prison. I asked them what they thought about that and about their concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNIE FARMER, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: We were horrified to learn that she had been transferred to a prison camp. We often hear that she procured women for Jeffrey, which I think is a very sort of polite and minimizing term. She also participated in the abuse.

She was a major architect of the scheme. And the fact that she has painted herself as a victim, I think, is disgusting. And it was horrifying, I think, to us that we were not told about her prison transfer. We found out about it in the news.

DE GEORGIOU: I was horrified when I found out not only had Ghislaine Maxwell been transferred to what's called a low security. It really -- it's like a holiday camp.

Ghislaine Maxwell was present for some of my abuse at the hand of Jeffrey Epstein. She was present, she was complicit, she was enabling. And it is appalling and disgusting. And it's one of my worst nightmares that she not only be transferred, but the possibility that's very much going around that she might be pardoned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And one of the victims also contended that Epstein's -- quote -- "biggest brag" was about his relationship at the time with Donald Trump.

None of these victims accused Trump of any wrongdoing here, but that is the one thing that Thomas Massie told me earlier today. He believes that the one reason why this administration is withholding additional documents related to Epstein, he said that it could be politically embarrassing, not for Trump necessarily, but for some of Trump's supporters, including his donors -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Manu Raju live for us on Capitol Hill.

Thank you so much for that update, Manu -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Republican House leadership arguing this bipartisan push for files is unnecessary since the House Oversight Committee is carrying out its own investigation.

But Congressman Massie and Khanna say that probe is woefully incomplete, and they're pointing to the more than 33,000 pages of Epstein documents released by the committee last night. Congressman Khanna says 97 percent of those pages were already public. He says the 33,000 files are only 1 percent of what DOJ actually has.

CNN's Kara Scannell is with us now.

Kara, first, what was in the files that was released last night?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, our team went through these files, thousands of pages, and most, if not all of the information within them is information that has already been public. A lot of it came out through Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal trial and the investigation into her and Jeffrey Epstein in 2018, 2019, 2020.

So, that included information including some of the flight logs of who was on Epstein's plane, a lot of court records from Maxwell, including some trial transcripts, some legal briefs that were filed, sentencing memorandums, all information that's been in the public domain.

There was also jail surveillance video from Epstein when he was at the Manhattan Correctional Center, that had previously come out, as well as the bodycam footage of the Palm Beach Police Department search of Jeffrey Epstein's home in Palm Beach back in the early 2000s.

And then also included in this big dump was also some of the audio from Ghislaine Maxwell's recent interview with Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, from just a few weeks ago. So all of this information in the public domain, some of it for years, so not adding anything new to the conversation, at least from this initial document dump -- Brianna.

KEILAR: So, Kara, how much has DOJ not released, and what do we know about those files?

SCANNELL: Well, it's hard to really put a number on how much of the evidence it is that they still maintain, but what we do know is that they had conducted investigations into Epstein going back to the early 2000s.

So, from those investigations, there would be the types of things, including 302s. Those are copies of the FBI interviews that they had with witnesses, that they have had with the survivors. We know that the survivors want information to come out as long as they are protected in their identity and those of other victims of Epstein and Maxwell.

But there's all of that information that they would have obtained through that, as well as the decision-making behind why Epstein was given that sweetheart deal that the survivors were unaware of at the time, where he avoided federal prosecution for pleading guilty to a state charge.

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There's also information about financial records involving Jeffrey Epstein. A lot of information to that extent has come out through civil litigation and other settlements, but we don't know what the Justice Department's investigation into that led to, and that is something that at least one of the attorneys for the survivors was calling for today.

KEILAR: All right, Kara Scannell, thank you for the latest there -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: With us now to discuss is an attorney who represented nine survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. Spencer Kuvin is with us. He's now the chief legal officer of GOLDLAW. He also notably represented victim number one who came forward to police in Palm Beach County and who was just 14 years old at the time.

Thanks so much for being with us, Spencer.

What did you think of today's press conference?

SPENCER KUVIN, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING EPSTEIN SURVIVORS: Well, it's about time.

It's about time that people are getting to hear the voices of these victims. And I applaud the bravery of these young women to come forward. We know that there were tens, if not hundreds, of victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Some of those victims have chosen to move past this issue in their lives, and they have decided to keep this in their past and not come forward.

Others have bravely stepped forward and decided to speak their truth. But, regardless, what is unbelievable about this entire process is, since I got involved with the first victim in 2006, the federal government has never kept the victims in the loop. They have never discussed what they were doing with the victims.

In fact, a federal judge in South Florida found that the federal government violated the Crime Victims' Rights Act by not keeping the victims in the loop during the sweetheart deal that they negotiated back in 2009. So it's about time that these victims are being heard. We should listen to them, and the government should turn over all of the information they have, continue to protect the victims, but turn over everything else.

SANCHEZ: I understand that your former clients didn't participate today, nor in yesterday's closed-door meeting with the Oversight Committee.

Did you hear from them about why? Were they wanting to move on, as you alluded to? KUVIN: Yes, I mean, look there are different groups.

When someone is sexually abused, especially as a child, if you have gotten therapy and moved past that issue, then all this does is, it is a constant reminder of your abuse. So some of the victims have chosen to move on with their lives and not play a part in this. Others have decided to pick up the mantle and step forward and be brave about this and want the world to know.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KUVIN: Look, it's an individual victim's choice as to what they want to do.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

I wonder, Spencer, if you have been in communication at all with members of the committee, and, if so, if you could characterize conversations that you may have had with them.

KUVIN: Unfortunately, no. I have written an open letter to the committee saying that I'm willing to step forward and testify to give them a history of how this litigation played out from its inception.

My letter was completely ignored by the committee. Look, I don't think they're really trying to get to the truth or get the information. I think what they're doing is just trying to get past this problem for them at this point.

What I would say what's important is, this has spanned across multiple different administrations, be it Democrat or Republican. This is not political, regardless of how our current administration wants to couch this. This is about the truth, it's about openness and it's about protecting young children. That's all this is about. We don't ever want this to happen again.

So let's see the evidence and let's bring it forward.

SANCHEZ: You were among a number of voices that were calling for the committee to interview Alex Acosta, and Chairman Comer just announced the committee would sit down with him.

KUVIN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: He, of course, is the former Trump administration official who was U.S. attorney for South Florida back in 2008. He brokered that non-prosecution agreement that Epstein signed on to.

What questions would you ask Alex Acosta?

KUVIN: Well, I mean, the ultimate question is, why? Why did you broker this deal? What was behind it? And who told you to broker this deal?

Because I don't think that Mr. Acosta had the authority to broker this deal on his own. There had to be someone above him that authorized this deal or at the very least told him that he needed to make this deal. At the end of the day, the victims want to know why the deal was made, what evidence they had and why they didn't further with this prosecution back then in 2009.

Why did they drop a 54-count indictment that they had already drafted? Where is that indictment. Let's see it. And like your other witness said, we need to see the interviews that were conducted of these over 40 victims and other potential witnesses by the FBI. Where are those interviews? That's what we need disclosed.

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SANCHEZ: Spencer Kuvin, thank you so much for sharing your time and perspective with us.

KUVIN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: These stories obviously carry an enormous burden for survivors of sexual abuse out there. If you or someone you know has suffered from sexual abuse, there is help available. You're not alone. Just text HOPE to 64673 or call 800-656-HOPE.

Still to come this afternoon on CNN NEWS CENTRAL: China putting on a military parade to show off its latest and greatest military technology. But it's also who is there to witness it that could pose a bigger threat than the actual weapons on display.

Plus, simmering tensions erupting into full-blown turmoil, as more than 1,000 current and former HHS employees demand the resignation of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- why they say he's compromising the country's health.

And for the first time since the start of the COVID pandemic, there are more Americans looking for work than there are open positions.

These important stories and much more coming your way. Don't go anywhere.

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SANCHEZ: That was a military flyover at the White House today, as President Trump welcomed new Polish President Karol Nawrocki, the display happening just hours after thousands of Chinese troops marched through Tiananmen Square to commemorate the end of World War II 80 years ago.

The parade showcased some of China's most advanced weaponry, including underwater drones, hypersonic missiles, and laser air defense systems. Also on display, an unprecedented show of solidarity between the leaders of China, Russia, and North Korea, all three standing shoulder to shoulder publicly for the first time.

Overnight, Trump said that they were conspiring against the United States, and a short time ago, the president, said this: (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When they did what they did, I thought it was a beautiful ceremony. I thought it was very, very impressive. But I understood the reason they were doing it, and they were hoping I was watching, and I was watching.

My relationship with all of them is very good. We're going to find out how good it is over the next week or two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's go to Beijing now with CNN's Marc Stewart.

Marc, China's military parade here clearly meant to send a message, and it sounds like the president received it.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and, Boris, Vladimir Putin has weighed in to some of those remarks by President Trump, saying that it shows that the U.S. president has a sense of humor.

But let's be very clear. What we saw unravel on the streets of Beijing was an effort by China and many of its supporters to put the West on notice, to say that the alliances of the past, NATO, American domination, these traditional power structures, they may not have the relevance or strength as we have seen before.

And when it comes to this parade, for China, it was very much visual validation that Xi Jinping is pushing ahead with his effort to lead the world, creating a new world order, an alternative to the West.

And a lot of this military hardware that we saw was very impressive. First of all, we had soldiers walking and marching in unison on the streets in front of Tiananmen Square. We saw armored vehicles. We saw inter-ballistic missiles. We also saw laser technology that can be deployed from the air or even on a warship using microwaves to disable specific targets.

So China is clearly sending this message to the rest of the world that it means business. And it had its allies standing shoulder to shoulder with Xi Jinping, as you mentioned, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.

As far as the talking points from Beijing, very much stayed to script, nothing out of the ordinary. But it's these individual relationships that we saw that really are drawing attention. So, for example, we saw Vladimir Putin spend time with Kim Jong-un and invite him to Russia. The one thing which we have not seen thus far is a meeting between Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping.

Boris, that may or may not happen. But as someone in this part of the world who follows China, it's a meeting we are anxious to see if that comes to fruition -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Marc Stewart live for us in Beijing.

Thank you so much, Marc -- Brianna. KEILAR: Vladimir Putin also said today he's willing to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if Zelenskyy will come to Moscow, his invite coming as the Russian president flexes his growing military alliances. You saw that today in Beijing.

He publicly embraced North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whose troops are fighting alongside the Russians in Ukraine. Kim reiterated that support. He called Russia's North Korea's brothers, while pledging to do anything for its people going forward.

With us now is former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker.

Ambassador, welcome.

And you hear Zelenskyy or certainly the offer here from Putin that Zelenskyy can come to Moscow. We should mention Zelenskyy has been the subject of how many assassination attempts allegedly by Russia. Is this just Putin trying to make a meeting impossible without right saying no to it?

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UKRAINE: Exactly.

He's trying to pretend that he's willing to negotiate, pretend that he's willing to make peace. But, of course, it's absolutely absurd that Zelenskyy would go to Moscow, where he would likely be killed or imprisoned by Putin. It's a ridiculous suggestion from Putin's point of view.

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He's trying to say this in a way to appeal perhaps to President Trump and Steve Witkoff to say, look, he's trying, he's being reasonable. But this is not a reasonable offer at all. And in fact they need to meet somewhere on more neutral ground like Saudi Arabia or Turkey or Switzerland.

KEILAR: What would make Putin want to meet with Zelenskyy in a good- faith way?

VOLKER: If he felt that he was losing the war and he was not able to sustain the finances of the state while prosecuting the war, so he's losing money, losing access to hard currency, can't keep that up and keep the state afloat as well.

Then I think he would want to have a cease-fire. But short of that, I think Putin is determined to continue attacking Ukraine, trying to take as much territory as he can, trying to create a Ukrainian surrender by bombing civilians and Ukrainian cities, which he is doing every night. I don't believe it's going to work. I don't think Putin can achieve that. But he is incredibly determined to keep pursuing this war.

KEILAR: Trump was asked about the rapidly approaching two-week deadline that he gave Putin to agree to talks with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. He was asked this last hour. And Trump said he's having a conversation with Putin very shortly over the next few days. The two weeks' thing, he says that so often. Do you see this as a real

thing or is this another bogus deadline?

VOLKER: I think we have seen so many of these now. We have seen one day. We have seen 100 days. We have seen two weeks. We have seen another 100 days, then 50, then 10, now another two weeks. There is no credibility to these deadlines anymore.

And we have not seen a single bit of movement from Vladimir Putin towards actually stopping the killing in Ukraine. And one other thing I'd like to make a point on here, we need to stop the both-sides-ism when we talk about this. We hear that from the White House spokeswoman. We hear that from a few other members of the administration where they say it's like two kids on a playground or it's both sides are fighting, both sides have to stop. We will see who doesn't want to stop.

We have to be clear that the only reason there's a war is because Russia is attacking Ukraine, and the moment Russia stops attacking Ukraine, there won't be a war.

KEILAR: Why do you think that Trump won't actually -- I mean, you kept detailing there this many days, that many days. Why do you think Trump won't actually come down on Putin? Because the repeated warnings -- it's almost like if you're parenting and you constantly threaten your child with a consequence, but you don't deliver, we all know how that goes.

Constantly doing that is actually making Trump look very weak, which is not ordinarily something he would welcome.

VOLKER: Indeed.

KEILAR: So what do you make of that?

VOLKER: Yes, it's actually hard to figure out. Only President Trump knows himself exactly why he's doing what he's doing.

But if you look at the way he handled Iran with those B-2 bombers taking out the nuclear facilities, if you look at what he just did today with Venezuela, that sends a very strong signal. That is a message to everybody that we are capable and willing to act to defend our interests when necessary.

And yet, with Vladimir Putin, it's exactly the opposite, not a single tough measure yet. And so I hope the President Trump -- maybe he's giving Putin one more chance. Maybe he really hopes that he can get a deal. But Putin has blown him off every time and attacked Ukraine harder after each time he's spoken with Trump. And I think that is a deliberate message to Trump that Putin is not moving.

KEILAR: Ambassador Kurt Volker, always great to speak with you and get your insights. Thank you so much.

VOLKER: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, we're following a big legal blow to President Trump's immigration crackdown.

Plus, the call is coming from inside the house. Some of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s own employees are now publicly demanding his resignation.

We will have that next.

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