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China-EU Summit Begins Amid Global Trade Tensions; No Sign of Progress on Ceasefire in Russia-Ukraine Talks; Trump was Told His Name Appears in Epstein Files; Trump Unveils Plan for U.S. Dominance in A.I. Tech; Macrons Sue Right-Wing U.S. Podcaster for Defamation; Macrons Sue Podcaster for False Statements; Secret Tunnel City Found Under Rome. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired July 24, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A silent elephant in the room as the E.U. and China talk trade, ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're in the process of completing our deal with China.

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VAUSE: As Beijing-Brussels united front over Trump's tariffs seems unlikely as tensions grow over a long list of other issues.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, these were barely peace talks at all, lasting less than an hour.

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VAUSE: The latest direct talks between Russia and Ukraine a repeat of the one before. Agreement on a prisoner swap and little else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDACE OWENS, PODCASTER: You are officially a very goofy man, Brigitte. Like I got to give it to you, you've definitely got balls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And how that response could be very costly for right-wing conspiracy theorist and podcaster Candace Owens after a lawsuit was filed by France's Brigitte Macron.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: In the months leading up to this E.U.-China summit, many were hoping years of strained relations could be put to one side. A detente of sorts driven in part by a common economic threat, looming punitive U.S. tariffs. But all indications are the E.U. and China may be facing down Donald Trump's tariffs separately, not together.

The summit was initially meant to be held in Brussels, but when Chinese President Xi Jinping canceled, the meeting was moved to Beijing and reduced from two days to one. Late confirmation came Monday that Xi would attend, and he is expected, or is meeting, rather, with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, according to Chinese state media.

Beyond trade tensions, a long list of other irritants, though, continue to strain relations. Europe is frustrated with China's support for Russia, as well as a flood of cheap Chinese goods into European markets. Beijing has complained loudly about an increase in E.U. tariffs on Chinese made electric vehicles. Meantime, both sides are facing August deadlines for striking trade deals with the U.S.

Without an agreement, exports to the U.S. will be automatically subject to high tariffs. The E.U. warning if that happens, U.S. exports to Europe could be hit with retaliatory tariffs. Beijing is hoping to extend what was a 90-day pause in Trump's trade war, and will meet with U.S. officials in Sweden next week for negotiations, while many other U.S. trading partners may soon be subject to one- size-fits-many tariff formula.

Here's President Trump.

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TRUMP: We're going to have a very, very simple tariff for some of the countries. You have so many countries. You can't negotiate deals with everyone so we'll have a straight, simple tariff of anywhere between 15 and 50. We've offered such a deal to the European Union, where we're in serious negotiations and we're in the process of completing our deal with China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Marc Stewart following all of this live from Beijing.

And, you know, Marc, we've gone from, you know, hopes were high, but now expectations are low. And when we talk about that meeting between the two leaders, between Ursula von der Leyen and Xi Jinping, do we know exactly what's being talked about between these two?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, John, there's much anticipated meeting between Brussels and Beijing. In fact, as one analyst put it to us, this is not about a deal-making moment. This is about a difficult moment between these two countries.

We are getting some indication about what was said between the two leaders in a meeting, as you mentioned, that happened in the last hour or so at the Great Hall of the People just down the street from our bureau here in Beijing. This is according to reporting from state media. Let me read to you some of what they are saying. According to Chinese

media, state media, Xi emphasized that both China and the E.U. are constructive forces that support multilateralism and advocate for openness and cooperation. The key line, though, here is this, the more severe and more complex the international situation becomes, the more China and E.U. u need to strengthen communication and mutual trust and deepen cooperation.

In fact, going into this meeting, E.U. President Ursula von der Leyen also sent out a tweet expressing optimism about mutually beneficial cooperation between these two nations, between China and the E.U. But despite challenges they may have, and despite a shared frustration with Washington toward trade policies, there's no question that these two countries, these two regions, I should say, have a lot to deal with.

As you alluded to earlier, the E.U. has been accusing China of flooding its market with everything from EVs to solar panels and for not taking a firmer stance against Russia in the war with Ukraine. China has also expressed issues of fighting back, saying that instead of focusing on rebalancing trade, Europe needs to recalibrate its mentality.

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In many ways, this tit-for-tat behavior that we have seen between the United States and China also apparent to a level between the E.U. and China. So now these talks are moving forward. We should perhaps get an update as to where things stand between China and the E.U. at around 8:00 local time here in Beijing. That's when we are expecting a press briefing from European officials.

But we should point out, this goes without saying, that American diplomats are clearly going to be watching these discussions between the E.U. and China as more trade talks are scheduled in Stockholm this weekend between American and Chinese officials. Perhaps they will get some insights from these conversations, John, that could set the tone for those difficult discussions in the days ahead.

VAUSE: Marc Stewart in Beijing. Thank you for the live report.

After a third round of direct talks, Russia and Ukraine appear no closer to a ceasefire deal. Negotiators met briefly on Wednesday in Istanbul, agreeing to another prisoner exchange. But beyond that, they barely spoke.

As CNN's Matthew Chance reports now from Moscow.

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CHANCE: Well, these were barely peace talks at all, lasting less than an hour, underlining just how far apart Ukraine and Russia are when it comes to ending this bitter conflict.

Now these were more like short technical talks, focusing on the unpleasant but necessary logistical details of a conflict. Things like repatriating dead bodies so the families can give them a funeral, or swapping prisoners of war captured by both sides on the -- on the front lines. The head of the Ukrainian delegation said that their priority was to organize a meeting of presidents, including President Trump, as a crucial step towards peace. He also said they'd again called for a full and unconditional ceasefire.

Russia's lead negotiator said his side proposed only a short-term ceasefire of 24 or 48 hours to allow medical teams to retrieve corpses from the vast and dangerous no man's land separating the Russian and Ukrainian armies. There were other proposals, too, but what we didn't see at these latest talks in Istanbul, as anticipated, was any significant movement towards an end to the conflict.

Both sides are undoubtedly waiting to see if President Trump carries out his recent threat to impose sanctions on Russia and countries which buy Russian oil if there's no peace deal by early September, or if he will back down and allow the bloodshed in Ukraine to continue.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

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VAUSE: Ukraine's president has given in to demands from protesters and will not appoint his own prosecutor to oversee two anti-corruption agencies, a move widely seen as an attempt to limit their autonomy. Zelenskyy is promising a new bill which will protect their independence. The initial bill, which was passed Tuesday, sparked the first major anti-government protests in Ukraine since the war with Russia began.

Well, in Gaza, mass starvation is spreading and ceasefire remains a distant hope. And now new scenes of utter destruction are starting to emerge. On Wednesday, Palestinians who are forced to leave a tent city in the central part of the territory returned to find nothing left after an Israeli ground operation this week.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited troops in Gaza, blaming Hamas for sabotaging an aid distribution, and government spokesperson David Mencer denied Israel is causing a famine, instead claiming a man-made shortage is being engineered by Hamas.

The head of the World Health Organization blames the partially lifted Israeli blockade for causing mass starvation and aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders, say even their staff in Gaza are going hungry.

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CAROLINE WILLEMEN, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: We are enrolling 25 new children under the age of 5, or pregnant and lactating women into our malnutrition program every day. Every single day I'm having to tell desperate parents, your child is not malnourished yet, so it cannot enroll on the program. We know very well that this child will be malnourished within a matter of time because there is simply not enough food for people to feed themselves, to feed their children. I have been doing this work for nine years. Never in my life have I

seen -- have I been in a place where my own colleagues come to work hungry.

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VAUSE: U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff was expected in Qatar later this week to discuss a potential ceasefire, but a source says it's now unclear if that will even happen after the latest Hamas response on Israeli troop deployments during a truce was deemed, quote, "unworkable."

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed President Donald Trump in May that his name appears in files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. Sources familiar with the briefing say Bondi mentioned that several names of high-profile figures were also in the Epstein files, and investigators did not find evidence of a so-called client list.

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That's according to an official. The White House does not view this latest news as groundbreaking or new or surprising. The official adding that there is no evidence that Trump was involved in any wrongdoing with the late sex offender and pedophile.

More now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yet another day here at the White House, yet another attempt to change the subject, deflect away from a question that has been hanging over this administration and this president for days. That is the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Now, we learned on Wednesday that the Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed President Trump back in May, saying that his name appeared in the Epstein files multiple times. That is something that the president did not say. When he was asked about this just a couple of weeks ago, he said no, that his name was not appearing in there or he was not told that by the attorney general. So this is now a contradiction that will have to be resolved in the coming days.

The White House trying to deflect from this, change the subject by essentially going after the Obama administration, trying to relitigate the allegations that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election, going to the lengths of having the director of National Intelligence come to the White House, Tulsi Gabbard, and accuse the Obama administration of treason.

Well, look, this is something that ended up not changing the conversation at all. The president now will be faced with the question of what did he know about his name being in these files. Now, again, we should say the context is unclear. There are many people's names in these files. It does not show any wrongdoing. So what it does do, though, is continue this case, the unanswered questions that continue. And the House committee voted to subpoena some Epstein files and

records from the Justice Department. So one thing is clear as yet another day ends here that the questions about Epstein and Trump continue and grow louder.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: In a moment, Donald Trump reveals his plans for U.S. A.I. global dominance. And for the most part, it comes down to do nothing. Much to the delight of Silicon Valley and the MAGA world.

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TRUMP: First, my administration will use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the United States can build and maintain the largest, most powerful, and most advanced A.I. infrastructure anywhere on the planet. The second pillar of our action plan for A.I. dominance is to get the entire world running on the backbone of American technology, and I think that's very much happening right now.

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VAUSE: Donald Trump has revealed his plans for U.S. dominance of A.I. mostly involves rolling back regulations and eliminating what he calls political bias in large language models. How bias will be defined remains TBA.

More details now from CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: This plan is 23 pages of 90-plus policy recommendations that I think on the whole Silicon Valley is going to be very happy about. Of course, a number of big tech companies provided advice and recommendations for the formulation of this plan.

The plan breaks down into three key pillars, all centered around this core goal of making the United States the dominant leader in the artificial intelligence space. And let me just walk you through these three pillars. The first is accelerating A.I. innovation by removing what the White House calls bureaucratic red tape that is affecting these tech companies.

The second is investing in A.I. infrastructure, think data centers and power facilities. Of course, we've heard the president talk about those goals before in recent weeks. And finally, they want to make American technology the global standard. So President Trump would like to see ally countries building new innovations on top of American hardware and software. Now, there's been this debate in the industry among policymakers in

Washington about just how much policymakers should be balancing A.I. safety versus A.I. growth. And I think what you're seeing with this plan is the White House really come down on the side of growth. There are now some civil society groups that are expressing concern that the Trump administration has been too deferential to the industry with this plan.

But President Trump defended this plan in a statement on Wednesday night during this event, promoting the A.I. action plan. He called the A.I. industry, and I'm quoting here, "a beautiful baby," and said, "We have to grow that baby. We can't stop it with politics. We can't stop it with foolish rules."

So Trump there really defending this idea of making American A.I. companies even more powerful in service of hopefully having the United States lead in this industry as we go into the A.I. era.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Clare Duffy, thank you.

The United Nations' highest court says countries harmed by climate change may be entitled to reparations from the world's top polluters. In a landmark advisory opinion on Wednesday, the International Court of Justice said polluting countries may be in breach of international law if they do not protect the planet from the existential threat posed by climate change.

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YUJI IWASAWA, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE: Unanimously is of the opinion that states have obligations under international human rights law to respect and ensure the effective enjoyment of human rights by taking necessary measures to protect the climate system and other parts of the environment.

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VAUSE: This is the first time the climate crisis has gone before the court.

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While the ruling is not legally binding, experts say it could bolster climate negotiations and boost climate lawsuits worldwide.

In a moment, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte have had enough. In a moment, the nasty, blatant false claims which pushed the Macrons to launch legal action against an American right- wing podcaster.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

No signs of progress on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine after their third round of direct peace talks. They agreed on future prisoner swaps in their negotiations in Istanbul Wednesday. But Ukraine is still pushing for a full and unconditional ceasefire while Russia only wants a short-term truce.

The World Health Organization is raising the latest red flag on the situation in Gaza. The group's director-general says residents are facing man-made mass starvation, where food distribution sites have become places of violence, and Israel, though, blaming Hamas for engineering food shortages.

The International Court of Justice says countries harmed by climate change may be entitled to reparations from the world's top polluters. In a landmark opinion on Wednesday, the court said polluting countries may be in breach of international law if they do not protect the planet.

Well, the Macrons, it seems, have had enough. On Wednesday, the French president and first lady filed a lawsuit in the United States against a right-wing American podcaster who for more than a year has claimed, without proof, that Mrs. Macron was once a man.

Candace Owens is being sued for defamation and substantial economic damages. And Owens says this could be the biggest political scandal in history. She responded to the lawsuit in a video on YouTube, saying, "It's obvious, it's a desperate public relations strategy."

Now CNN has reached out to Owens for further comment.

To Los Angeles now, Areva Martin is with us.

So, Areva, as a civil rights attorney, legal affairs commentator, it's good to see you.

AREVA MARTIN, LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Hi, John.

VAUSE: Here's part of Macron's lawsuit which details some of the slurs and the defamatory statements made by Owens.

Macron was born a man, as in Brigitte, stole another person's identity and transitioned to become Brigitte. Mrs. Macron and President Macron are blood relatives committing incest. President Macron was chosen to be the president of France as part of a CIA operative ultra program, or a similar mind control program. And Mrs. Macron and President Macron are committing forgery, fraud and abuses of power to conceal these secrets.

Owens spent much of her podcast on Wednesday responding to the lawsuit and France's first lady. Listen to this. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OWENS: I am floored. Are you floored? Because this is just goofy. You are officially a very goofy man, Brigitte. Like I got to give it to you. You've definitely got balls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes, this is, you know, this is Looney Tunes. Owens doubled down on the slurs and the false statements. No remorse, no regret, no apology. By doing that, is she potentially now in a much worse legal position now than she was just a day ago?

MARTIN: Well, John, obviously this is a very serious lawsuit claiming defamation and not just seeking general damages, but seeking punitive damages as well. According to the Macrons, Candace Owens knowingly is spreading what they call these false statements. And these false statements are causing damages, causing harm to the first lady of France. And they are seeking, we don't know, they didn't put a particular dollar amount, but we can look at other similar lawsuits.

I'm thinking of the one filed defamation suit against Alex Jones, who is also a, you know, far-right commentator, journalist host, who was sued and who faced over $1 billion in damages for making false claims against the Sandy Hook -- victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. So we've seen similar lawsuits filed in the United States. You know, these kinds of defamation lawsuits, and we've seen some pretty huge damages awarded to victims in these lawsuits.

So this is not a laughing matter. This is a very serious matter. Could have very serious consequences.

VAUSE: And it's obviously very damaging and very upsetting to the Macrons, especially since their lawyers are for about a year now, they say they've been asking Owens to stop spreading false malicious slurs, which Owens knows are not true, as you mentioned. Here's the lawyer representing the Macrons.

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TOM CLARE, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING MACRONS: We wanted to explain to the court and we wanted to explain to the people that will see our lawsuit how we can prove that she knows it's false. We allege that there's evidence that she knew it was false when she started this campaign over a year ago. She started relying on things she knew was discredited.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So you touched on this, though. What are the legal implications for Owens for knowingly spreading false information as opposed to unwittingly spreading false information?

MARTIN: Well, first of all, John, because the Macrons are public figures, there is a higher standard that has to be met when you are making a defamation case against someone who is or someone is claiming defamation and they are a public figure, but that standard only requires the person who is being sued to prove that the person making the defamatory statements knew that they were false, but yet continued to make them knowing that they were causing harm.

And so the Macrons' lawyers, as we just heard in that piece, sent cease and desist letters to Owens, but not just telling her to cease and desist, but providing her, according to the lawyer, with evidence that these statements were false. So it's going to be curious to see what defense Candace Owens is going to make to this lawsuit, given that there's this evidence out there, according to the lawyer for the Macrons, that she had information available to her that discredited what she was relying on as she made these what they call defamatory and false statements.

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VAUSE: I want you to listen to Owens, trying to explain why legal action by the Macrons actually proves her claims about Brigitte Macron's sex at birth. Here she is.

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CANDACE OWENS, PODCASTER: And it is more than likely -- and I'm surmising here -- that that crisis P.R. team was the one that gave them this advice.

After they lost against Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey, they probably said, file another lawsuit. We know you can't win that lawsuit, but it doesn't matter. We just need you to file a lawsuit for the sake of press; that you can again say to people, well, it's not true, because, look, I'm suing -- I'm suing Candace Owens.

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VAUSE: This is, like I said, a masterclass in how these commentators spin things.

A court ruled in favor of the Macrons in their libel complaint against Rey and Roy, but the decision was overturned on appeal. They didn't lose it. They didn't lose anything. The case is now heading to France's highest appeals court.

You know, this does seem to be a snapshot of how Candace Owens is fast and loose with the truth.

MARTIN: Yes, I'm not certain I follow that logic: that somehow the P.R. team concocted this lawsuit because some other lawsuit that the Macrons are involved in was, you know, a decision was overturned on appeal.

And as you said, it's important that we're factual here. They haven't lost that lawsuit. A ruling that was in their favor has been overturned on appeal. But still, there's an opportunity for them to yet appeal the appeal. So, it's not accurate to say that they lost that lawsuit.

And again, I'm not sure what the relationship of that lawsuit has to do with the statements being made by Candace Owens. But again, I think it's just important to note that courts -- there is

precedent for these types of lawsuits resulting in huge damages against the person making these kinds of defamatory statements.

Again, I'm not sure what Candace Owens -- what her defense --

VAUSE: Yes.

MARTIN: -- will be, given, according to the lawyer, she has information that disproves the statements that she's making.

VAUSE: Just very quickly, is that why they filed in Delaware?

MARTIN: I think they filed in Delaware, because I believe one of her companies or her company that's being sued may be a Delaware corporation. And clearly, Delaware has been favorable to these kinds of lawsuits.

VAUSE: Yes. Areva, thanks so much. Good to see you. Appreciate it.

MARTIN: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: We'll be right back with a lot more news. You're watching CNN.

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VAUSE: Here's the good news. You don't need to take 10,000 steps every day to be healthy. Here's the bad news. You need to take 7,000 instead.

Researchers found the risk of death from all causes was almost half for adults who actually took 7,000 daily steps, versus just 2,000.

The more active adults also had a 25 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a 38 percent lower risk of dementia.

A separate study found the popular benchmark of 10,000 steps likely came from a marketing campaign. Who knew?

Well, deep beneath seven -- one of Rome's Seven Hills, there is apparently a secret city, complete with shops, a tavern, a temple and even workshops. And now, CNN's Ben Wedeman, as well. Here's his report.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is the Rome above: its ruins teeming with tourists in the midday summer sun.

And then there's the Rome below: a sprawling network of tunnels, tombs, catacombs, and caves.

Chief archeologist Ersilia D'Ambrosio gave us an exclusive peek at a part of that cool, dark underworld still off-limits to the public.

ERSILIA D'AMBROSIO, SITE SUPERINTENDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): "We're 20 meters below the surface," she says. "And it goes deeper still."

WEDEMAN: We are underneath the Capitoline Hill, the Mons Capitolino, as it's known in Latin, one of the Seven Hills of ancient Rome.

How ancient? Well, you get an idea, because if you look up there, that white stone is the foundation to the temple of Jupiter that was built in the sixth century B.C.

D'AMBROSIO: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Chiseled out of the soft volcanic stone known in Italian as tufo, these corridors and the rooms off of them were an integral, organic part of the city, with shops, storerooms, workshops and taverns. Some of the old wine jugs are still here.

"The parts where you see bricks are from the 1800s, intended to shore up the structure," Ersilia says. "Clearly, the tunnels in the tufo are much older, starting in Roman times.

This was a hive of activity until early last century.

Between the '20s and 1940s, during the fascist era, Ersilia tells me, the old working-class neighborhoods around the Capitoline Hill were demolished as part of an effort to modernize the city.

And when war came to the capital, this subterranean world served another new purpose.

WEDEMAN: Here, have a look at this. Here. "Gabinetto." It means toilet. This was done during the Second World war, when this entire complex was used as a bomb shelter while Rome was being bombed by the Allies.

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WEDEMAN (voice-over): Now, some 80 or so years later, this underground warren is being prepared to welcome visitors sometime late next year or early in 2027.

The eternal city still holds many secrets above and below.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, under Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. I'll be back with more news at the top of the hour. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT is next after a short break.

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(WORLD SPORT)