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Global Outrage Mounts As Funeral Held For Five Journalists Killed By Israel; Trump Puts D.C. Police Department Under Fed Control; Trump Extends China Tariff Deadline By 90 Days; Trump Signs Executive Order to Extend Tariff Deadline; Ukrainians Worry as Trump Entertains Land Swap with Putin; Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay Dead at 39. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:21]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Israel accused of killing reporters in Gaza to control the war's narrative. Ahead on CNN Newsroom.

To millions of people online and on television, he was the face of the Gaza war. But now his voice has been silenced in a targeted killing by Israel, sparking outrage around the world.

President Trump takes control of D.C. police and deploys the National Guard to fight nonexistent soaring crime in the capital.

And the U.S.-China trade war remains on hold with both sides agreeing to keep talking for another 90 days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.

VAUSE: Israel's war in Gaza is already the deadliest on record for journalists, with more dying in Gaza in the past 22 months than all conflict zones in the three years before October 7, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. But it's the death toll of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif in an Israeli targeted killing which is sparking outrage around the world.

Large crowds gathered in Gaza City Monday for his funeral and those of four other journalists killed in that strike. And in the West Bank, Palestinians protested the deaths of all journalists.

The IDF had accused Al Sharif of leading a Hamas terror cell, an allegation Al Shariff and Al Jazeera both denied repeatedly. And an Al Jazeera news chief says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to, quote, eliminate any eyewitnesses to the plan to take over Gaza City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALAH NEGM, DIRECTOR OF NEWS, AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Every journalist in Gaza is writing, it's his own obituary because if you are in Gaza, you are not safe anywhere, whether you are a journalist or a normal citizen. 60,000 people died every morning. You have something like between 50 and 100 people killed by Israel bullets or drones or whatever. So yes, they live in danger all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti echoed that sentiment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, PALESTINIAN POLITICIAN (through translator): The timing of this attack and this brutal assassination of journalists serves two purposes, to silence the voice of truth and to intimidate the press. And they will fail in that. However, this timing is connected to what the occupation is prepared, a full scale invasion of Gaza City along with the dangerous ethnic cleansing and genocide.

They do not want the images of these crimes to reach the world. But they will fail thanks to the courage and bravery of these journalists. This assassination does not frighten them, nor will it ever frighten them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: More details now on the funeral for Al Sharif and his colleagues. CNN's Nada Bashir reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Monday, mourners gathered in Gaza carrying the bodies of Palestinian journalists killed in a targeted Israeli strike late Sunday night, among them journalists from the international news network Al Jazeera, including prominent Palestinian journalist Anas Al Sharif.

Al Sharif had become a much respected household name in the Arabic speaking world and beyond, delivering live news coverage around the clock from across the Gaza Strip, risking his life on a daily basis to continue his work documenting the daily horrors inflicted on the people of Gaza.

Al Sharif was in a tent with other journalists marked with a press sign near the entrance of the now destroyed Al Shifa Hospital when he was killed by an Israeli strike, according to the hospital's director. Al Jazeera also confirmed the deaths of their staffers Mohammed Qraiqea, Ibrahim Al Thaher, Mohamed Nofal and Moamen Aliwa.

The news outlet issued a statement describing the attack as a desperate attempt to silence voices ahead of the occupation of Gaza. The Israeli military had previously accused Al-Sharif of leading a Hamas cell. The military claimed Al-Sharif joined Hamas in 2013 and accused him of leading a Hamas cell that advanced rocket attacks against Israel.

The IDF said they had unequivocal proof of Al-Sharif's link to Hamas, posting an undated photo apparently showing him with slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and publicizing images of documents that include personnel lists, terrorist training courses, phone directories and salary payments. CNN cannot independently verify the documents.

[01:05:00]

Previously, Al-Sharif had vehemently denied the allegation that he was affiliated with Hamas. In a statement shared on social media, the reporter said, I am a journalist with no political affiliations. My only mission is to report the truth from the ground as it is, without bias.

The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression had also previously denounced the quote, unquote, unfounded accusations by the Israeli military, describing Israel's claims as a blatant attempt to endanger his life and silence his reporting on the genocide in Gaza.

The U.N. official also cited growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they were Hamas terrorists. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 186 journalists have been killed since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

In the minutes before he was killed, Al-Sharif, who was also a father, separated from his two children for months while reporting, shared this message on social media. If this madness does not end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people's voices silenced, their faces erased, and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop. Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Dion Nissenbaum is a former Wall Street Journal Middle East correspondent and the lead investigator for a new documentary, "Who Killed Shireen?" Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist who came under fire by IDF troops in Jenin three years ago. Dion, thanks so much for being with us.

DION NISSENBAUM, FORMER WALL STREET JOURNAL MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Thank you for having me, John.

VAUSE: So Al-Sharif's death and Israeli targeted killing that has sparked outrage around the world from Gaza all the way to the UN. Here's the spokesperson for the Secretary General.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: These latest killings highlight the extreme risks that journalists continue to face when covering this ongoing conflict. The Secretary General calls for an independent and impartial investigation into these latest killings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So in your experience, what are the chances of Israel allowing an independent and impartial investigation into what happened? NISSENBAUM: Well, we both know that there's no chance of that

happening. Israel, as you know, has blocked international correspondence from getting inside Gaza since the beginning of this war. People like Anas are the ones that are providing the eyes and ears the critical view of this. And in our experience investigating the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, we know that Israel can't really conduct a fair and impartial investigation of its killing of journalists.

VAUSE: Yes, and after killing Al-Sharif and the four other journalists who were with him, the IDF did something they haven't done before in this war. They issued a very quick claim of responsibility on Twitter, claiming else Reef was ahead of a mass terrorist cell. Also, they said they had proof to back up that claim. Documents should say taken from Gaza, but as the Guardian reports, they end in 2021. That's two years before the war began.

And do not even attempt to address. This is the IDF, it's regular appearances live on camera. These are documents with Israel published after killing another Al Jazeera journalist last year, Ismail al- Ghoul. The Israelis claimed that he was given a rank when he was in the military when he was 10 years old.

You know, it's often the case that Israel will release so called evidence which provides no transparency, but only muddies the water. Is this standard practice?

NISSENBAUM: Well, we see it over and over again and you're exactly right. Israel has provided no evidence to back up their claim that Anas was an active Hamas member. Even if you accept these documents at face value, which any credible journalist should be skeptical of, it doesn't show that he was an active member.

And you know, Israel has incredible surveillance over Gaza they've had for two years, and they're not able to provide us with any evidence that he's an active Hamas member.

The other thing I think that's interesting is that Israel admits that it actively targets journalists for doing journalism. At the end of last year, they targeted a group of journalists, killing them, and claimed that they were combat propagandists. Not even saying that they are members of a militant unit, but just combat propagandists.

So they are targeting journalists for doing journalism in Gaza as well.

VAUSE: Yes. If we go back to that tweet from the IDF, the one that they put out very quickly after an office was killed, the message ends with these words. A press badge isn't a shield for terrorism. It sounds kind of ominous for reporters in Gaza and elsewhere, but the Israelis never had a lot of love for reporters, especially from other countries.

But when I was there and in the years after that, there always seemed to be at least a commitment to the freedom of press, or at least the idea of it. Where does that stand now? [01:10:03]

NISSENBAUM: Yes. You know, I think you've seen this incredible precipitous erosion of Israeli support for press freedom since Shireen Abu Akleh's killing in 22 in particular. She was Palestinian-American journalist. She was killed by an Israeli sniper. At that time, Israel tried to deflect blame and accused Palestinian militants of killing her. And, you know, since that time, you've just seen this incredible decline.

Benjamin Netanyahu said this week he was going to let more foreign journalists into Gaza to see what was happening, but only under the auspices of the Israeli military. So it's disappointing to see how far Israel has fallen in its support for press freedom over the years.

VAUSE: Yes, it's certainly changed a lot in 20 years or so. Dion Nissenbaum, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate your time.

NISSENBAUM: Thank you.

VAUSE: When Donald Trump takes in the view from the White House, he sees a U.S. Capitol gripped by almost complete and total lawlessness, slums, young people rampaging through neighborhoods. The reality is Washington's notorious crime rate has been falling in recent years. Not enough for the mayor and city officials, but still heading in the right direction.

But President Trump claims without proof or evidence, the crime rate is soaring and is taking unprecedented action to restore law and order. On Monday, he placed the Metropolitan PD under federal control. He ordered the deployment of about 800 members of the D.C. National Guard. All this for a city where the latest data from the D.C. police show a significant fall in crime, assault with dangerous weapons, robbery and violent crime, all down at least 20 percent compared to last year.

And the president sees similar crime problems in other cities, all of them under Democrat control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We have other cities also that are bad, very bad. You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don't even mention that anymore. They're so far gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: More details now from CNN's Brian Todd, who is in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's dramatic announcement on Monday that he is federalizing the D.C. Metropolitan Police Force and deploying hundreds of National Guard troops on the ground here in Washington, applauded by his allies, met with real concern by Mayor Muriel Bowser and some city leaders, as well as some residents.

The president announcing that some 800 National Guardsmen will be deployed in the city in the coming days. They will not be carrying rifles. Those rifles will be in their vehicles, but they will be there in support, logistical and other support of the law enforcement agencies that will be bolstered by a federal presence on the streets of Washington, including the FBI, the DEA and other agencies that will be out in greater force in the streets of Washington.

Now, the mayor and the D.C. police chief, according to sources who spoke to CNN, were not aware that the president was going to make that announcement until the announcement was already made on Monday morning. But the mayor, Muriel Bowser, did indicate during a news conference on Monday that the police force of Washington, all of its 3,100 officers are still under the command of Chief Pamela Smith, that they still work under her. She is still running the police department. But the mayor and the police chief of course, did express a willingness to work with the federal agencies and the mayor saying that in some ways it could be a positive thing.

Donald Trump in his news conference on Monday said, quote, our capital city has been overrun by violent gangs, bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged out maniacs and homeless people.

But Mayor Bowser and police officials point out that violent crime in this city is in fact at a 30-year low. The mayor saying that President Trump's view of crime in this city is shaped by his pre-COVID notions of crime in this area is she specifically said, she said his COVID era notions of crime in this area. She did acknowledge that there was a spike in crime right after the pandemic. But she says they have worked long and hard since then to bring crime levels, especially violent crime levels, to 30-year lows.

Mayor Bowser still was kind of reserved in her criticism of this would not come out to slam President Trump directly over this move. But she did say that she is, quote, working -- she will work every day to make sure that this is not a complete disaster. That's about the closest she got to a direct jab at the president.

What would be a complete disaster in the mayor's view? Well, she said if we have communities, if we lose communities who now don't want to call the police, that could be a disaster. So the mayor expressing real concern about how this will play out in the communities.

President Trump and his allies very optimistic that this show of force and the arrests, the additional arrests that will be made will reduce crime even further.

[01:15:00]

This, of course, all stemmed from the violent attack on a former DOGE member, 19-year-old Edward Corostein, who was attacked by a group of young people who surrounded his car a week ago Sunday and beat him up in an attempt at carjacking. Since that time, President Trump has promised to do this. He said he would federalize the police force, he even promised to federalize the entire city. But he can't do that unless a new law is passed in the district. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: President Trump also wants FBI agents as many as 130 patrolling the streets of the U.S. Capitol. Earlier I spoke with FBI Special agent, former FBI Special agent Steve Moore about the training the average agent has in traffic stops and policing in general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: The agents do get a modicum of car stop and you know, other tactical training and SWAT of course becomes master of those things. But the being trained in it does not mean you have the experience of years on those exact streets and, you know, some FBI agents or former police.

But generally, I mean if you take those policemen out there, they know the streets, they know everything that's going on. They can feel the street, feel the mood of the street. FBI agents, if you take them, they can take down an international terrorism group, multi-state crime. But patrolling streets is not what they're specialized in and not what they have any -- what most of them have very little expertise in.

VAUSE: And what impact will there be from taking 130 agents away from counterintelligence, investigating public corpse and the other places?

MOORE: I think John, that would be -- first of all, if they're taking it from that group, I'm astounded because of the people who would have street experience. They're not going to come from counterintelligence. They're not going to come from public corruption. Those are people who deal with very nonviolent crimes or no crime at all. Counterintelligence is just trying to figure out what the spies are doing.

So it just stuns me. So what that means is maybe they're taking them from the Washington Field Office because the Washington Field Office does most of that. They are kind of a one trick pony in that kind of thing. Usually though, in a case like this, John, they would take -- they would do what's called an FBI special and they would say we need 130 agents in Washington for the next umpty ump days.

The agent should have this kind of experience, this kind, and you would possibly even bring rotate a SWAT team in or something like that. And you would have people from all over the country converging, staying there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Thanks to Steve Moore. We'll take a short break. When we come back, Beijing and Washington keep their trade war on hold for another 90 days so negotiations can continue to make a trade deal. In a moment, we'll tell you what the sticking points are.

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[01:22:27]

VAUSE: It seems the U.S.-China trade war can wait for another few months with both sides agreeing to another 90 day delay before imposing punitive tariffs. The decision to keep the truce came just hours before a Tuesday deadline. Washington and Beijing have been negotiating a trade agreement for months.

So far, a handful of U.S. trading partners have struck a deal and avoided sky high U.S. tariffs. But for China, it seems there are still significant sticking points.

Live to Hong Kong, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout for more details on that. So what exactly is China saying about this extension? Because we heard Donald Trump saying that Xi Jinping has been very special, very nice. He's very happy with everything.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And quite conveniently today, well, the Ministry of Foreign affairs is not having a daily presser. We aren't able to pose a question directly to Beijing to get reaction to what we're hearing from the Trump White House against Donald Trump has said that there is an extension to the trade truce to China for another 90 days. This according to a White House executive order.

And this does offer temporary relief that is wanted on both sides because without this extension, you would see these tariffs rocket right back up to those ultrahigh levels that would be on par with an effective trade blockade between the U.S. and China. So now that we have this extension in place, we have a little bit of breathing room between these two major economic powers.

We also have these lower tariffs that will remain in place for now from now until early November, which is just in time for the Christmas holiday shopping season and of course the export rush from China that precedes it. Now, on Monday, we did hear from the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign affairs who commented on the U.S.-China trade dynamic. And this is what we heard from Lin Jian.

We'll bring it up for you. He said this quote, we hope that the U.S. will work with China in accordance with the important consensus reached during the call between the two presidents to leverage the China-U.S. economic and trade consultation Mechanism and strive for positive outcomes based on equality, respect and mutual benefits.

But John, as you said at the very top, sticking points remain and it is becoming a very long list of points of contention between the U.S. and China that are getting in the way of a proper trade deal between the U.S. and China.

Let's bring it up for you. At the very top you have this high tech chips from the United States that China so desperately wants in order to make their own AI capabilities stronger. You also have China's export curbs on rare earths, which is what the U.S. desperately wants for their tech industries, aerospace, defense, China's soybean purchases. Trump says it's not enough.

China's purchase of sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil.

[01:25:00]

Fentanyl and the flow of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China into the U.S. and of course, the fate of TikTok, that is indeed a very long list and it keeps on lengthening. But analysts say again, there's time now to untangle those issues. And also it sets the stage for a possible meeting between Trump and Xi in the next few months. John?

VAUSE: Yes, this could turn around very quickly, I guess. You know, the chips are one of the sticky points there. And now Donald Trump says he's open to allowing NVIDIA to sell its advanced AI chips to China. So taking a tax along the way.

LU STOUT: Yes, this is a really interesting issue here. So on Monday, Donald Trump signaled that he would be open to having NVIDIA sell a scaled down version of its high end next generation AI chip called GPU into the China market. And that was met with a lot of pushback from hawks in Washington, D.C. who said, we don't want this. We don't want China or the Chinese military to have access to this type of AI that could be used to supercharge military.

Now also on Monday, as reported here on CNN, Trump confirmed that report of cutting a deal with NVIDIA and AMD to take 15 percent of their revenues from chip sales into China. This weird revenue sharing agreement that is unusual, unprecedented. I want to quickly show you this tweet from a tax expert at Dartmouth College because tax experts are calling this out.

They're saying this is unconstitutional. In fact, this is what we heard from Douglas Irwin saying, quote, the U.S. constitution expressly forbids export taxes. But I guess this payment isn't a tax but a payout. Just wanted to share that with you and our audiences, John. A lot of pushback to what President Trump is doing here on ships. Back to you.

VAUSE: It's also unconstitutional for the president to levy tariffs on anything that's Congress. Kristie.

LU STOUT: And there have been lawsuits on that --

VAUSE: Yes.

LU STOUT: -- including from an American toymaker. Yes.

VAUSE: It's all, you know, it's all up in the air at the moment. Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout live in Hong Kong. Thank you.

LU S TOUT: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: Well, to the county of Devon in southwest England now. And joining us is Linda Yueh, an adjunct professor of economics at the London Business School and Fellow in Economics at Oxford University. Thank you for getting up early.

DR. LINDA YUEH, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL: Thank you for having me, John.

VAUSE: It's a pleasure. Now, before announcing this 90-day extension of the current trade war truce with China, President Trump talked about his very special relationship with China's president. Things were going well. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We've been dealing very nicely with China, as you probably have heard. They have tremendous tariffs that they're paying to the United States of America. And we'll see what happens. They've been dealing quite nicely. The relationship is very good with President Xi and myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So things seem to be in a good spot. So take that combined with this 90 days to continue negotiations, sort of indication that both countries are on track here. But there are other sort of nontrade issues here which could still derail these talks. Like the war with Russia.

YUEH: Yes, very much. In fact, we heard J.D. Vance, who actually is in, he's actually on holiday on vacation in the UK not too far from me. And he said on Sunday that President Trump is considering punitive tariff on China because of its purchases of Russian oil and Iranian oil.

Now this is what President Trump had levied on India. So India is now facing 50 tariffs. So 25 percent tariffs which are punitive and then the 25 percent they got from a trade deal. So that is very much in the air, as it were. And if that were to happen, that would pretty quickly escalate the current 30 percent tariffs. And that's the kind of base on China because obviously some items attract a higher tariff and we could be looking at very high double digit tariffs if that came to pass.

I would imagine, as you were discussing a moment ago, this is going to be a sticking point in their negotiation.

VAUSE: I'm just wondering if, sort of just as a side question here is one of the problems here with White House trade policy. A lot of the decisions by the president can depend on how he feels or maybe how his friends are treated, like in Brazil. And that's sort of one major factor leading to so much uncertainty about U.S. trade policy.

YUEH: Yes, I think that is a factor. In fact, the India trade deal is a very good example of that. The negotiators said they actually had the deal agreed, but President Trump didn't sign off on it. And then he decided to not go ahead with that and in fact impose this punitive tariff of 25 percent because India purchases oil from Russia.

Now, India's response was China actually purchases more oil. So what we saw through the first Trump administration is the president is very both transactional but also relational. Transactional in the sense that he will push for things in exchange for other things. Very quid pro quo. But he would also back off if there's a relationship. We saw that with the Japanese Prime Minister at the time who played around at golf with President Trump.

[01:30:02]

And president -- he told President Trump, this is Shinzo Abe. If you were to levy these tariffs, I will lose my job. And president tariff -- President Trump backed down on the tariffs.

So I think both of those dynamics are at play. And this makes trade negotiations very uncertain.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: And the length of these negotiations with China, now it's another 90-day extension, it seems to be an indication of just how locked in together these two countries are in terms of trade. No matter how much they may want to decouple, it seems that's just not in the best interests of neither country, and they're just not willing to go there, at least not yet.

YUEH: Yes, and I think that's what the markets are reflecting. So the markets use a rather pejorative term, taco -- this refers to the president -- I'm always checking out.

And that's because if you look at what happened when the first set of tariffs on China were announced, we're talking about 145 percent and if China retaliates, we're talking about close to 200 percent.

Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary said that's basically an embargo on trade. Markets reacted very, very badly. And I think that is an indication of how intricately-linked commerce is between the two countries. And that's actually one of the -- one of the reasons why we keep getting these pauses and extensions.

Trade deals are hard anyways. But I think if you're constantly watching for the market, that makes it even harder. And today markets are roughly flat in the U.S. in terms of futures, Asia markets are actually up. Europe is slightly up as well in anticipation we're not going to have a massive trade war between the two biggest countries in the world in terms of the economy and trade.

VAUSE: But overall, just as a general observation, Trump's tariffs now seem to be a very real thing. They're sort of part of the landscape. They're bringing in a lot of revenue to the U.S.

Here's the Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: Last month, it Averaged just over $30 billion. And as of last night midnight the tariffs went up. I think we're going to be heading towards $50 billion a month in tariff revenue that no one has talked about except for the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And now there's some talk of heading back to refund checks, you know, funded by that tariff windfall. I'm just wondering if the effect of tariffs alone is inflationary, what impact would those refund checks have on the economy.

YUEH: Well, I think they're trying to take off some of the blow, from some of the hit from inflation. If they were to do the rebate checks.

But the Commerce secretary is right, the tariffs since April have raised about $100 billion -- that's roughly $30 billion a month. And that is substantially higher than what it used to be. But as we've always said, tariffs can work. But they're a blunt instrument. I should say Economists always say that because they are taxed and taxes bring in revenue for the government.

But if you look at what markets are looking at, for instance today, we're going to get inflation figures out for July and they're expected to tick up from what it was in June, which is higher than expected, 2.7 percent on the CPI measure, Consumer Price Index.

And that's because inflation takes a few months to kick in from these higher taxes. So what we are expecting is inflation today is probably going to be around 3 percent. That is way higher than the 2 percent target.

But more importantly it's the small businesses which are importing intermediate low-end stuff from China which are now paying 30 percent. They've been paying 30 percent taxes on them. They are passing this price increase through to consumers.

And you can see that also in the core inflation figures, which are also ticking up. So as people have less money in their pocket, if they were to do the rebate, it's just trying to help people a little bit.

But I think most people and most businesses, if you ask them, they're much more worried about inflation than probably most anything else.

So I don't know how much the rebate checks, if they come to pass, will actually make a dent in what is an overall, as you said, we're going to be were going to see tariffs for quite a long time. They're going to face a lot of price pressures, I think in the coming months, if not longer.

VAUSE: Yes. And once inflation sets in, it's very hard to get rid of it.

Linda Yueh, thank you so much for getting up early. Thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

We'll take a short break. When we come back as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin float the idea of putting much of Eastern Ukraine under Russian control, the Ukrainians who live there have something to say about it.

We'll hear from them next.

[01:34:31]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

[01:39:48]

VAUSE: Well, Donald Trump seems to be managing expectations over what is likely to be achieved at his upcoming summit with Vladimir Putin. The dealmaker-in-chief saying it's not up to him to make a deal.

Both leaders meet this Friday in Alaska, with President Trump saying he wants to know what Putin has in mind for Ukraine and he'll know it within the first two minutes. That is, if a deal can be made.

This is what he says that deal could include.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There'll be some swapping, there'll be some changes in land and the word that they will use is, you know, they make changes. We're going to change the lines, the battle lines.

Russia's occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They've occupied some very prime territory. We're going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ukraine's president is still not invited to these negotiations. Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns Putin has no plans for peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): He is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or an end to the war. Putin is determined only to present a meeting with America as his personal victory, and then continue acting exactly as before, applying the same pressure on Ukraine as before.

So far, there is no indication whatsoever that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a postwar situation. On the contrary, they are redeploying their troops and forces in ways that suggest preparations for new offensive operations. If someone is preparing for peace, this is not what he does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Donald Trump's casual comments about land swaps, like they were pieces from a Monopoly game, are striking fear of those living in eastern Ukraine with the prospect of their cities and towns being traded away to the man who started the war in the first place.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh speaks to some of the Ukrainians who could lose everything already after losing so much.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: When President Trump talks about what parts of Ukraine to, quote, "swap" with Russia, this is ground zero, real towns where bomb shelters loom over beaches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like I just float away from this reality.

WALSH: Here in Donetsk region, diplomacy has turned dark and surreal and threatens local journalist Mykhailo medicinal swim.

What do you think about the idea of Trump and Putin meeting so far away in Alaska and deciding the fate of a place like this?

MYKHAILO, SLOVIANSK RESIDENT: We all -- people I know -- will have to leave. But frankly speaking, I don't think it's going to happen. What Trump (INAUDIBLE) just pull him out of the bog.

Right.

Putin was just drown in the bog and he took him out and say, Vladimir, I want to talk to you. I like you. He didn't care that everyday Ukrainians die.

WALSH: Beaches, births and deaths, they all persist in ravaged Sloviansk. They've dug defenses around it to stop a Russian military advance, but never imagined high level diplomacy might just give their town and future away.

Taisiya (ph) gave birth to Azul (ph) yesterday. The calm of her maternity ward bed, now riddled with complications she never saw coming.

TAISIYA: That would be very bad. I saw the news. But we have no influence over it. It's not going to be our decision. People will just give away their home.

WALSH: Staying here has been, for many, an act of defiance and bravery. But for Sviatoslav and Natalia it did not spare them pain. This is their daughter Sofia, with her husband Nikita and the grandson Lev. They moved to Kyiv for safety.

But 11 days ago, a horrific dawn Russian airstrike killed them and 28 others in Kyiv. Their three bodies found together in the rubble.

NATALIA HAPONOVA, SOFIA'S MOTHER: They left from the war and it was quiet there. And you see how it is in Sloviansk. But the war caught them there.

SVIATOSLAV HAPONOV, SOFIA'S FATHER: To come to terms with that as a person is impossible. Impossible to come to terms with the loss of children.

WALSH: They had been due to visit days later, bringing news that Sofia was three months pregnant.

Do you remember the last time you spoke?

HAPONOVA: Yes, it was 8:30 p.m. She was walking with Lev. She really wanted to come to Sloviansk to tell everyone the good news. But they didn't come. They arrived in a different way, all together.

[01:44:43]

WALSH: They came together to be buried on the town's outskirts, where the war permits no calm for grief. A Ukrainian jet roars overhead.

At the nearest train station, Kramatorsk, as many are coming as are going. Serhiy, was allowed two days off from his tank unit to see Tatyana, his wife. The sirens greet the Kyiv train.

SERHIY, SOLDIER: Four years of war, how do you think it is? It would have been better if she had not come. Calm down.

TATYANA: I just want my husband to come home. I don't care about those territories. I just want him to stay alive and come home.

WALSH: Soldiers, worried if they'll see their loved ones again, families torn apart by this war.

Imagine scenes like this to the thousands in the event of what seems to so many people here to be the surreal idea that a deal on Friday on the other side of the earth, almost as far away as you could possibly imagine in Alaska, between an American president and a Russian president without a Ukrainian there, could potentially give this bustling town over to the Russians after them fighting for it for so many years and failing to take it.

So many lives lost here. And those traumas born out on this platform every time a train comes in.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN -- Kramatorsk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still ahead on CNN, a Colombian senator who could have been president, now being mourned two months after he was shot in the head at a campaign rally.

[01:46:38]

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VAUSE: Another heated moment between China and the Philippines in one of the world's busiest waterways. On Monday, a Chinese coast guard vessel collided with a Chinese warship in the highly-contested South China Sea. The vessel was chasing a Philippine coast guard ship at high speed when the incident occurred, according to a commodore with the Philippine coast guard who also shot these images and made them public.

China has so far only confirmed a confrontation with the Philippine vessel, which it says intruded into waters under the pretext of delivering aid to Filipino fishermen near the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

Well, politicians and loved ones gathered in Colombia Monday to pay their respects to the late senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay, a member of the right-wing opposition. Turbay had been hospitalized since early June after he was shot in the head at a campaign rally in the country's capital.

We get the very latest now from Stefano Pozzebon, reporting in from Bogota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The Colombian President Gustavo Petro, has joined a stream of condolences to the family of Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, who died on Monday morning here in Bogota after spending more than two months fighting for his life at a central hospital in the Colombian capital after being shot during a political rally at the beginning of June.

Turbay's death was announced by his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, and sent the nation frankly into shock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's truly unfortunate, a great loss for Colombia because we have lost a brilliant man. The best the country had at this moment as our presidential candidate.

About his wife, we can only ask God to give her and her family peace, and we send them a heartfelt embrace.

Dr. Miguel Uribe was my boss when he was secretary of government and he was a wonderful human being. He didn't deserve this.

POZZEBON: Turbay was 39 years old and his death is one of the darkest chapters in Colombian recent political history. Of course, this happens in a context where in the last few years, Colombia has tried to shake off the legacy of decades of political violence, especially since the historic peace agreement with the left-wing guerrillas of the FARC in 2016.

Well, these deaths are perhaps is a sign that Colombia remains a very difficult country for political leaders, for community leaders, for environmental leaders, and that this nation is yet to completely turn the page.

Turbay was one of the leading candidates in the right-wing coalition looking to challenge the left to reclaim the Colombian presidency at the next year's presidential election.

His political party, the Democratic Center, is yet to name a full candidate who could take on his baton and run in next year's elections.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon -- Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Three people, including a child, have been shot and killed in a parking lot of a Target Department Store in Austin, Texas. Events leading up to the shooting remain unclear, but authorities say they have a suspect in custody.

According to police, this person, I think, stole a car at the scene, crashed it, then stole another. Only stopped when tased. The suspect is believed to have a criminal history as well as mental health issues.

And we shall take a short break. We're back in a moment. You're watching CNN.

[01:54:51]

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VAUSE: And before we go, a surprise announcement from Taylor Swift.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's in it?

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: This is my brand-new album, "The Life of a Showgirl".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yay. That's right. Swift has revealed her upcoming 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl".

The pop superstar made it official last hour with a countdown clock on her Web site ticking down to 12:12 a.m. Eastern time here in the U.S.

The Web site actually crashed with Swifties everywhere eagerly awaiting the news. The pre pre-order of the album is now available. No word yet on the actual release date of the album itself.

Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause, CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend and colleague, Rosemary Church after a short break.

See you back here tomorrow. I'm having a stroke.

[01:57:08]

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