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Trump, Zelenskyy Set To Meet Tomorrow At The White House; Manhunt After 3 Killed, 9 Hurt In Brooklyn Shooting; Three GOP-Led States Sending National Guard Troops To D.C. Air Canada Strike, Melania Trump Writes Letter To Putin On Protecting Children, Tomorrow: Trump, Zelenskyy Set To Meet At White House. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 17, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Because even though the storm itself will actually begin to weaken by this point, that wind field, as we mentioned, is going to continue to get larger, increasing the potential risk for high surf and rip current conditions.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Allison Chinchar, appreciate it.

And again, the threat is not so much landfall because it won't make it but that rip current. And so if you are ever caught in a rip current, this is how you can get out. You can see the current developed in the middle and going out to sea in this graphic from NOAA.

Trying to swim against the current could be deadly no matter how strong of a swimmer you are. Instead, the advice is to swim parallel to the shore until you're out of the rip current. Then you can start swimming back to shore. And if you can't get out of the current, NOAA says, save your energy by floating or treading water and wave for help.

All right, everyone, welcome to a new hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.

New tonight, British and French leaders say Kyiv's allies are ready to send a reassurance force to Ukraine once fighting stops. Key European leaders speaking today ahead of tomorrow's meeting in Washington between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Several European leaders are invited to D.C. for the talks and are expected to attend. This after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio saying this about the summit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remain some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off. I mean, we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement. We're not at the edge of one. But I do think progress was made in -- towards one. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: But of course, a lot of anticipation headed into this meeting.

CNN's senior White House reporter, Kevin Liptak, joins us now.

Kevin, how is the White House preparing for tomorrow's meeting?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this is going to be quite a consequential day tomorrow here at the White House. I don't remember another time that so many top leaders convened here at such short notice to speak with an American president, which I think gives you a sense, one, of the urgency that a lot of these leaders feel in trying to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, but also the urgency and even kind of the alarm that they feel at not being sidelined and how that end comes about.

And so it will be quite an important day. The way I have understood it from people familiar with the matter is that President Trump and President Zelenskyy will meet individually with their delegations first before moving on to those larger format talks with the European leaders. One of the key objectives, I think, that they have is to gain more understanding from President Trump about this idea of a security guarantee.

And we heard from Steve Witkoff earlier about this idea of what he called an Article Five type guarantee, whereby Ukraine's allies would defend it in the event of further invasion by Russia. But we haven't heard explicitly what the U.S. component of that might look like. And President Trump has been pretty clear that he doesn't see American troops going into Ukraine. So how that works going forward remains an open question.

Listen to more of what Witkoff said about the U.S. expectations for this meeting tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: What we're trying to accomplish on Monday is get some consensus from President Zelenskyy and his team. We had some really good, specific, granular conversation on the -- on the plane ride home with President Zelenskyy about what he would be seeking, and we don't think that there are any obstacles in that -- in that conversation that we heard.

And so I'm hopeful that we have a productive meeting on Monday. We get to real consensus. We're able to come back to the Russians and push this peace deal forward, and get it done and stop the killing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So you hear him there talking about trying to get a consensus about this peace deal. I think the fear among European officials is that that will mean pressuring Zelenskyy to agree to Putin's terms, namely the land concessions that he has spelled out, including in that summit in Alaska. That's part of the reason why this whole host of European officials will be there with Zelenskyy is to try and get the U.S. and Europe back on the same page when it comes to this conflict.

JIMENEZ: And this is the first time Zelenskyy has been back to the White House since that, we'll call it fiery Oval Office meeting in February. How has the relationship between these two leaders evolved since then?

LIPTAK: You know, they have gone a long way to try and repair their relationship. Zelenskyy has also been coached by some European leaders about sort of improving his approach to President Trump, to try and sort of even things out a little bit. They have had a number of other meetings since that explosive episode in the Oval Office back in February. They met, for example, in St. Peters Basilica during Pope Francis's funeral.

They met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in June, and both of these men seemed to have gotten on a better track. And in fact, President Trump had seemed more and more frustrated with Vladimir Putin at how he was handling the conflict in Ukraine. But I do think you have seen something of a shift. You know, going into that summit in Alaska, President Trump said that he would be disappointed if there wasn't a ceasefire.

[19:05:05]

He said there would be severe consequences for Russia if that didn't happen. As he was heading out, he said he was no longer looking for an immediate ceasefire and said that the idea of sanctions wasn't on his mind. And so if there is a goal of this meeting tomorrow, it's to get U.S., Europe and Ukraine all sort of back on the same page as they now try and reach an end to this war.

JIMENEZ: Kevin Liptak, at the White House. Appreciate the reporting.

We're joined now by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. He used to prepare President Trump for high stakes meetings like these.

Thank you for taking the time. So what would you be advising him to be thinking about in regards to this meeting tomorrow?

LT. COL. ALEXANDER VINDMAN, FORMER DIRECTOR FOR EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: I'm sorry. Do you mean Zelenskyy or President Trump?

JIMENEZ: President Trump, excuse me.

VINDMAN: Yes. Sorry, sorry. Yes, I understand. So, I mean, look, President Trump's worldview is potentially more inclined to work with Vladimir Putin than Zelenskyy or the European leaders. I mean, he's shown a deep affinity for President Putin. But the reality is, for U.S. national security, we need to be our -- closest relationships are with the Europeans, and we need to bolster their security.

So I would try to counsel him on what this really could mean if he continues to bend towards the will of Vladimir Putin, instead of supporting our long-term allies, these enduring relationships. And I think the fact that these European leaders, we're talking about five heads of state, the E.U. Commission president, we're talking about the secretary-general of NATO coming. And I think this is basically assessed to be a disaster thus far. And this is a crisis response reaction with Zelenskyy and team coming in to try to see if they could get back on the same page and convince President Trump that this is kind of a nonstarter the way it's been framed by Putin.

Nonstarter because Putin has not shifted off his maximalist demands. He is no longer interested in even broaching the topic of a ceasefire. He's now, you know, talking about kicking the can down the road on long, drawn-out peace negotiations. But with a chasm between the two. So, I mean, it's kind of almost comical for Secretary Rubio to say that there's progress made. The only progress made is that time ticked forward because we are no closer to any peace deal than we were before the summit. And frankly, a good ways back with regards to allied unity.

JIMENEZ: And look, no matter what peace deal is struck and no matter the timeline, I think the fair understanding now is that the Europeans and the United States would have to partner in any form of security guarantees, and it's why the European leaders being here is so significant.

We're learning that the meetings are expected to be broken up into parts in regards to, some with just Zelenskyy, some with more of the leaders included as well. What do you make of that approach?

VINDMAN: I think I'm not sure if I would put too much stock in it. I think there's a desire for a one on one maybe after or before there's a broader conversation amongst the team. I think the Europeans and Ukraine are on the same page. I think -- I don't know if I would put that much stock in kind of the different formats here. With adversaries, you'd potentially do that. With Vladimir Putin, there was a deep concern about doing one-on-ones because of the way he's being manipulated.

But I think in this case, it's about trying to figure out the best vehicle to get people on the same page, Zelenskyy and the European allies. So I think there's a -- it's a tough situation to be in. I think it's going to be a pretty significant about-face for Donald Trump to shift back off to a ceasefire discussion, not just a negotiation. The most important thing that's come out today was Steven Witkoff's commentary about a security guarantee akin to NATO, which in my view is if you're looking at something that's NATO like, why wouldn't you just look at NATO because it already exists as a good, robust format?

There's a path to get there. Why are we looking at -- if we're looking at something close, why are we not looking at NATO? That would be a game changer, frankly, fundamentally, because at that point, then Zelenskyy may open up and think about some de facto territory giveaways, not de jure, which is permanent, but de facto just realizing the conditions on the ground and accepting him for a ceasefire and maybe a peace, recognizing that down the road. Maybe a decade or two after Putin is gone, you might be able to get

those territories back in exchange for an ironclad peace deal that with security guarantees like NATO. But absent that, it's hard to imagine that he's going to go ahead and give away territory that's not occupied.

[19:10:00]

JIMENEZ: So let's talk about the format of those potential security guarantees here because as you know, you know, NATO membership for Ukraine has been a red line for Russia at this point. But in regards to the -- to the guarantees and sort of this NATO like structure, an attack on one, an attack on all, whatever this may look like, what do you believe security guarantees need to look like here to satisfy both Ukraine, the Europeans and the United States, but also in a format that you believe Russia may actually agree with?

VINDMAN: Yes. So I think that frankly it is -- I don't believe that Putin's claims that he's willing to accept, you know, NATO like securing security guarantees is valid. I think it sounds pleasant. It might even be a ploy to get the Ukrainians to accept some sort of land giveaway. But I don't think he's really interested in that. And we should understand that NATO has different formats. Yes, it's a collective defense architecture.

But when we expanded NATO into Eastern Europe and even East Germany, we did it with no additional troops being shifted. So there's a way to do this where Ukraine continues to get -- gets those security guarantees, maybe gets additional weaponry. Maybe a small kind of nominal rotating tripwire force. But it doesn't have to be a robust presence if Ukraine is in NATO. There are different formats for expanding NATO like we've done in the past.

So I think to accept Putin's terms, it doesn't really make that much sense that he's really interested in anything that's going to ultimately guarantee Ukraine's security in long term. It should be taken in the historical context of he promises one thing, and there's a bait-and-switch along the way like he did in the summit, promising kind of a more robust agreement and then pulling the rug out from under this administration.

JIMENEZ: And a lot of what we've heard in regards to what's come out of these talks has come from U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. We haven't heard in detail any word from the Russians on how Witkoff has characterized what has come from these deals, something we will definitely be watching for.

I got to leave the conversation there, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, really appreciate you being here.

VINDMAN: Sure. Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

Coming up, the urgent search for the suspects who fired dozens of shots in a crowded New York lounge overnight, killing three people and sending several others to the hospital. Plus, as federal agents fan out across Washington, D.C., President Trump is floating the idea of deploying them to other blue cities that he says are overrun with crime.

Mayor Brandon Scott of Baltimore will join us next in the CNN NEWSROOM to talk about Trump potentially targeting his city despite a historic drop in crime. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:27]

JIMENEZ: All right. Happening now an urgent manhunt happening in New York City. Police are still looking for multiple suspects from a deadly overnight shooting at a lounge in Brooklyn. They say three people were killed and nine others injured when as many as four shooters opened fire inside the crowded building. Now, according to officials, the mass shooting happened around 3:30 in the morning after what they believed to be a gang related dispute.

CNN correspondent Leigh Waldman joins us now from New York.

What are you learning?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Omar, it's good to be with you. Here's what we know so far. This shooting happened at Taste of the City in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood around 3:30 this morning. Police are looking for four -- up to four people involved in what they're saying is likely a gang related shooting. 12 people in total were hurt or shot in this. Three people were killed.

Police not yet releasing their names, but releasing their ages. They're all men ages 19, 27 and 35. Those nine others who were shot, they're expected to be OK. And police are telling us they've recovered up to 40 shell casings in the area and a gun that they don't know just yet if it's related to the shooting.

And the police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, is saying, regardless of what happened this morning, shootings in the city are still down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: And a lot of our work in bringing the shooting numbers down so far this year has been because of our relentless focus on guns and gangs. And as the mayor said, we are certainly not going to let up now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: And we're in the middle of a mayoral race and each one of those candidates is weighing in on the shooting that happened. Mayor Eric Adams offering his condolences and prayers to those victims and their families and urging the public to come forward with any information that might lead to an arrest, and also praising the work of NYPD Zohran Mamdani, who in previous years called to defund the police, says he's not running on that campaign. But he praised the actions of first responders in response to the shooting and says, "We cannot accept gun violence in the city."

And Andrew Cuomo posting, "Public safety is and always has been job number one," hitting at Mamdani's past statements and saying, "It's not the time to defund the police, that we need more officers on the streets protecting people."

Now, no arrests have been mad, Omar, at this point. Police still looking for up to four suspects, but they did share that they believe some of the victims were involved in the shooting itself.

JIMENEZ: All right. Leigh Waldman, appreciate the reporting.

Meanwhile, the Republican governors of West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio are sending hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., in a show of support for the Trump administration's effort to take control of the police department there.

[19:20:07]

Tensions were high in D.C. this weekend as federal troops patrolled the streets while demonstrators protested their development.

I want to bring in now Democratic mayor of Baltimore, Brandon Scott.

Mayor Scott, thank you for being here. I know some might look at all of the National Guard troops and federal law enforcement in D.C. and say, OK, this might be a little excessive, but he's trying to make things safer. I know you disagree with the move, but based on what you've seen in Baltimore, why do you disagree?

MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT (D), BALTIMORE: Well, because, listen, Omar, and you know very well that you were here in Baltimore when we had the National Guard after the unrest of Freddie Gray in 2015. And we had the National Guard here for quite a period of time. And it's one of the most violent years in Baltimore's history.

And what we have seen, not just here in Baltimore, but in D.C. and cities around the country, is these historic reductions in gun violence through actual plans led by mayors, led by police departments, led in partnership with our state's attorneys, no matter where they are, attorney generals no matter where they are in the country.

And this is not that, right? You're talking about right here in Baltimore, as you and I are talking, the lowest amount of homicides on this date of any year on record. That's far from being too far gone, as the president would say. But yes, we are far gone from those kind of policies. But also, when you think about what's actually happening there, we have a great working relationship with our federal law enforcement here in Baltimore.

We have achieved this reduction. We're partnership with them, our local BPD, our attorneys that prosecute the gun cases, but also through community violence intervention because we have a comprehensive public health based approach in gun -- reducing gun violence in Baltimore. But when you think about just that law enforcement portion, where the president has federal agents from DEA, ATF, FBI just out roaming, patrolling the streets of D.C., that's not what they do.

They should actually be right now working on cases around gun traffickers, drug traffickers, folks who are bringing this stuff into cities around the country, causing a lot of this violence to happen. And that's not what's happening here. We know the strategies that work. Those strategies are in place in Baltimore, in D.C., in Oakland, in Chicago, in Birmingham. And all these cities are seeing historic reductions, and you don't see us celebrating. We're acknowledging that and saying that we're remaining focused on reducing it even further because that's our number one job.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, Mayor, when I first moved to the city in 2015, was a decade ago at this point, but you had almost 350 homicides a year. This was after the death of Freddie Gray, as you were just talking about. But it was the first time the city at that point had seen over 300 homicides in years at that point, and it stayed that way until 2023, when you first started seeing major drops toward 200. And now, of course, below that.

The president this week talked about Baltimore being so far gone. But in terms of crime, you've talked about Baltimore being at its safest levels in 50 years, what do you believe specifically has worked? Because you all have used targeted law enforcement arrests, taken down trafficking organizations. It's not just community resources that you all have invested in here. Just tell me what's worked.

SCOTT: It's all of it. And I think that that's the important thing, Omar, for us to note that it's all of it, right? Yes, we have historic investments in the community violence intervention and paying people who used to be involved in that life to prevent things from happening before they happen. Absolutely is a big part of it. But we're also focusing on gun traffickers, going after gun companies. We sued Polymer 80, the nation's largest ghost gun company in the country, and got their business ended, not just here in Baltimore, but the state of Maryland, because no one should be printing out 3D guns at home and using it. They should be regulated.

But also, even when you think about the way that we focus our law enforcement here in Baltimore, we're not going back to the days of zero tolerance when I grew up, where we had a lot more arrests and a lot more homicides than we have today, but we're focusing on those individuals who are the most likely to be the victim or perpetrator of gun violence. We go to them, they get a letter from me, Omar, that says, change your life. And if you don't, we'll remove you.

And if they take us up on that, we help them with education, whatever they want. But if not, they'll hear from BPD. They'll hear from our federal partners. They're going to be prosecuted by our state's attorney. And those folks will make sure that together we're reducing it. And this is how it's happening in cities around the country. There is no silver bullet to solving gun violence in America. You have to do all of it. And there's a lot that the president could be doing to help us right now. JIMENEZ: And, Mayor, you and I have talked about this before, but

there is this difference between telling everyone, yes, the city is safe, but also making people feel the city is safe, which I'm not telling you something you don't know, not everyone does feel safe in Baltimore. And according to FBI data, Baltimore is still top in the country for overall crime based on last year's numbers.

[19:25:02]

So how do you bridge that gap, though, not just in telling people, hey, look at the numbers, we're dropping it, it's safe, but actually making them feel what's being reflected in the drops that you've seen on paper?

SCOTT: Yes, I think that first and foremost, we have to acknowledge that when you have the community involved, they know, right? But also when you've been in a place and you lived here, so you know, when everybody every year was knowing multiple people that were taken away by gun violence and they see that less and less, people start to feel it.

We know that no matter what you're talking about, perception always follows reality, and you have to keep doing it. You have to keep showing up every day. You have to make sure that people know that it all matters to you, no matter where it happens, what neighborhood and who it happens to. That's how you do it. You do that every single day because when you were number one for all of those many years, and then you see yourself come down, you acknowledge that.

You don't celebrate, right? Even though we have the lowest amount of murders that we've ever seen so far on record, we're not celebrating, Omar. We're saying that now that we can see that we can do better, and now we want the best every single year.

JIMENEZ: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for being here.

SCOTT: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right. Still to come, Melania Trump's influence over the White House and foreign policy has been showing more publicly. We're going to talk next with Kate Bennett, who literally wrote the book on the first lady about her changing impact, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:24]

JIMENEZ: More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants say they won't return to work despite a government mandated back to work order, and will remain on strike.

The walkout has disrupted thousands of flights, as workers are looking for a pay raise and compensation for work when planes are grounded. I want to bring in Scott Keyes, CEO of Going.com, who joins us now.

Scott, we are in peak travel season here. How are travelers being affected by this strike?

SCOTT KEYES, FOUNDER AND CHIEF FLIGHT EXPERT, GOING.COM: Look, it's hard to overstate the impact on travelers coming in the middle of a busy summer travel season. You know, alongside Christmas and New Year, this is probably about the busiest time of year, which is sometimes why you see labor actions happen around this time. They want to make it as painful as possible for the airline as a bargaining chip to try to force the airline into negotiations.

So, for travelers, this is a real headache for folks who are hoping to travel either up North or for Canadians who are hoping to travel down South.

JIMENEZ: I mean, what options does the government actually have if the union continues its strike here?

KEYES: Limited, you know, obviously, this is an ongoing situation where the originally, you know, the strike began early Saturday morning. Canadian Labor authorities ordering the airline back to work, supposed to be this afternoon but the flight attendants union refused. Union refusing to do that. And now, in a bit of a standoff.

What happens from here is anybody's guess, because, look, they're ordered by the government to come back. You could see fines being levied against the union or even against individual flight attendants. But if they stick together, it's hard to imagine what exactly is going to break the strike at this point.

Now, you've seen in the past airlines try to dangle out threats like stripping flight attendants of certain benefits and perks of their job, travel benefits and whatnot for those who refuse to come back. Anybody's guess at this point what might bring about a resolution to this standoff.

JIMENEZ: And I want to shift gears to another airline as well, because time seems to be running out for a major budget airline, Spirit. The company warns it could go out of business by next year if revenue losses continue. Even if people don't fly Spirit, should they still be concerned about its possible closure? What are the ripple effects here?

KEYES: A hundred percent, look, one of my favorite views is that even if you never fly Spirit, you owe them a debt of gratitude for causing cheaper flights on the airlines that you do fly, because when researchers have looked at Spirit, Southwest, Frontier, they found that when those budget airlines enter a new market, fares across the board go down on the order of 20 percent.

And so, if Spirit Airlines does reach its end as there are rumblings, it may over the next 12 months, that is bad news for cheap flight lovers, because it's going to force on many routes, especially from vacation hotspots like Las Vegas and Orlando. It's going to allow other airlines to raise their fares higher than they would have in an alternate reality where Spirit is continuing to play that anchor effect.

So, cheap flight lovers, even if you don't fly Spirit should be rooting for the airline to continue operations because it helps continue this golden age of cheap flights that we're living in.

JIMENEZ: And whether its Spirit or the Air Canada strikes that were seeing, I mean, should people who, again, don't even fly -- might not fly Air Canada that often, for example, should they be concerned about ripple effects for either connections or anything of that nature?

KEYES: I think you'll see some ripple effects in terms of fewer empty seats available. And so if your flight does get delayed or canceled or you need to switch flights, there might be fewer options because you see many of those travelers who had been planning to fly. Certainly, Air Canada this week needing to be rebooked and many of those folks are getting rebooked on United, on Delta, on American. And so, for folks who maybe wanted to switch flights to a different one than they rebooked, they might have a harder time doing so because there's more competition with those Air Canada flights -- that capacity being pulled out of the system. That's the ripple effect right now.

Spirit is still a little ways out. You know, the concern is that will they survive until next summer? A little bit of an open ended question at this point, but I don't think you're going to see immediate impacts in terms of Spirit flights or folks flying them over the next couple of months.

[19:35:46]

JIMENEZ: Scott Keyes, appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

KEYES: Thanks so much for having me.

JIMENEZ: All right, still ahead, another unlikely voice entering the conversation on the war between Russia and Ukraine. We're going to talk about the role of First Lady Melania Trump and what that could play in bringing an end to this conflict. Why she wrote a letter to Russia's President Putin?

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:49]

JIMENEZ: When President Trump went to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, he brought along a special delivery, a letter written to Putin and written by First Lady Melania Trump. The note called on Russia to protect the innocence of children as the war in Ukraine continues with deadly consequences.

Former CNN White House correspondent Kate Bennett joins us now. She's also the author of "Free, Melania The Unauthorized Biography". Kate, can you just tell us what is the significance of the First Lady writing a letter like this to Putin?

KATE BENNETT, AUTHOR, "FREE MELANIA: THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY: Well, I think it shows that she's, you know, adding another voice to President Trump's demands and wishes for the war to stop. She's always been a voice for children. She had her Be Best platform which she has worked on again this time around as First Lady.

But I think it's really important. She has always kept this independent voice. Obviously she didn't go with them to Alaska, but she wanted to say something to the Russian President on behalf of herself and on behalf of her care about children. And I think it's important and relevant that she had this opportunity.

If you recall, she was in Helsinki during Trump's last time as President when he met with Putin there in person. And I think, you know, she feels as though they have a good rapport if you will.

JIMENEZ: Yes, I want to play some moments where we've seen Melania Trump's influence come through a little bit when President Trump is speaking first on Gaza and then on Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: She thinks it's terrible and she sees the same pictures that you see and that we all see. And I think everybody, unless they're pretty cold hearted or worse than that, nuts. There's nothing you can say other than it's terrible when you see the kids and those are kids, you know, whether they talk starvation or not, those are kids that are starving.

We get a lot of bull* thrown at us by Putin. You want to know the truth? He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.

I'd get home. I'd say First Lady. I had the most wonderful talk with Vladimir. I think were finished. She'll say to me one time, well, that's strange, because he just bombed a nursing home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And again, some of that first part from Gaza and then later on Ukraine. But we don't hear a lot from Melania Trump directly. What kind of influence does she typically play behind-the-scenes?

BENNETT: She's very influential and I think it's this juxtaposition of Melania Trump where she wants to show her voice. She wants to be in the conversation, but no one's seen her, right. Like she has not been in Washington for most of the first 200 days of Trump's presidency.

So, it's in a way, I think she definitely behind-the-scenes has influence. I know this I reported on her for years. But I think this time around it's much harder to, you know, think of her as an active participant in this situation with Putin, with Russia, with. Ukraine, when she is not seen physically, when she is not a typical First Lady. Once again, in showing herself in person or by the side of the President or what have you. But I will say this, I give her credit for being independent. I give her credit for voicing her own opinion. It's something she's always done. This isn't just reemergence this is something she does behind the scenes quite frequently, that people aren't necessarily aware of. But they speak throughout the day. She weighs in on news. She's a lot of times his eyes and ears. She's more politically aligned with the President than most people think. In terms of her conservative values.

So, I think it's unusual in a way that she wrote this letter because we haven't really seen her but at the same time, it tracks, it's very Melania Trump.

JIMENEZ: Would you say that's sort of, I guess the biggest change that maybe you've noticed from your time covering her during President Trump's first term versus now that she just is not as physically visible at a lot of these events or on a lot of these issues?

BENNETT: Yes and remember the first time around, she didn't move into the White House until June, when Barron Trump had finished his school year. I think there's some similarities going on there. He's been in his first year of college in New York City. She's a very hands on mother in that sense.

But I do think, as someone who predicted, we wouldn't see a lot of her this time around in person in Washington, it's more so than even I had, you know, from reporting on her in the past, assumed. I think it's so than even I had, you know, from reporting on her in the past, assumed. I think it's interesting that things like the Rose Garden, the addition on the East Wing, sort of these traditionally First Lady moments in Washington at the White House, that first ladies oversee. She's been nowhere to be found. She has not commented on the paving over of the Rose Garden, nor has she commented on the addition of the ballroom that's coming.

[19:45:39]

So, in that way, it's really curious to me just how active she is this time around, when last time she did everything from redesign the Oval Office to do a new rug in the Diplomatic Room to refurbish some furniture in the Red Room in the White House, very hands on behind- the-scenes at the White House. This time around, we're just not seeing that.

JIMENEZ: Kate Bennett, appreciate you taking the time, and thanks for bringing the perspective. Good to see you.

BENNETT: Good to see you too.

JIMENEZ: All right, when we come back as President Trump's stance on Ukraine appears to shift, Ukrainians are also shifting on how they want the war to end.

Harry Enten is going to join us to run the numbers, coming up.

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[19:50:57]

JIMENEZ: As President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy prepare to meet in Washington tomorrow, Ukrainians have shifted on what they see as the best way to end the war. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joins us now to run the numbers on this. Harry, good to see you. So, how do Ukrainians feel about the war with Russia?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, support for the war has absolutely and completely collapsed. What are we talking about here, Omar? Well, let's take a look here. Ukrainians on the war versus Russia. You go back to 2022 at the start of the war. Look at this, fight until Ukraine wins. 73 percent, just 22 percent wanted to negotiate to end as soon as possible.

Look at where we are now. Support for negotiating an end to the war as soon as possible. Look at that. What is that up? That's 47 points. Up to 69 percent. Now, Omar, just 24 percent say that Ukraine should fight until Ukraine wins the war. That is a drop of what, 49 points from just three years ago. It turns out, as the war has dragged on and on and on, support for the war, at least from Ukrainians, has absolutely plummeted, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And look, the war has been going on for years now. That appears to be what they want. But do they think the war will end anytime soon?

ENTEN: Yes, okay. I think this really gets at a key component on why they want the war to end as soon as possible is because they don't see an end in sight. What are we talking about here?

Ukrainians on the war ending within a year. Get this, just 25 percent of Ukrainians think that they'll win the war within a year. Get this, 68 percent, he lion's share. The lion's share say it is unlikely that the war versus Russia will end within the year. And of course, that 68 percent is pretty close to that 69 percent that you saw in the prior slide who said that they wanted the war to be negotiated so that it could end as soon as possible. Ukrainians do not see an end to the war in sight. I think that's a big reason why they want to negotiate an end to it.

JIMENEZ: Well, what about the prospect for joining NATO? Obviously, those are things that are being discussed at the high level negotiation level. But is this something that the people actually want?

ENTEN: Yes, okay, I think it's so important to note that one of the things that Ukrainians have wanted throughout this is, you know, we can go back any number of years as they want their country to join NATO.

But do they think that it will actually happen within ten years? You go back to the beginning of the war. Look at this. The clear lion's share of Ukrainians believed that they would, in fact, join NATO within ten years. Look at where we are now, though. That number has plummeted. It has dropped to half that level at just 32 percent. So, basically, again, this gets back to the reason why Ukrainians want a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible.

It is because the ultimate goals that they thought that they could accomplish in this war, that is gaining back all the territory lost, right. Getting to be part of NATO, they don't see that as particularly likely at this point. They think the war will drag on and on and on without accomplishing what they want to accomplish. So, they're like, you know what? Let's negotiate an end to this war and let us end it and be able to at least hold on to a good chunk of our territory.

JIMENEZ: And those that might be working to try to help negotiate that end. Obviously, Ukraine, but the U.S., the U.K.; and the E.U., all of them are going to play some role in tomorrow's meeting at the White House. How do they feel about those groups?

ENTEN: Yes, I think this is the one positive sign, obviously, for Ukrainians, as you know, we're going to see that nice little conference tomorrow at the White House, is that Ukrainians want these countries or these groups to be part of it. What are we talking about? Who Ukrainians say should play a big role or a big part in the peace talks? Look at the 75 percent say the E.U. countries. Then you see the U.K., 71 percent and the U.S. here again we see 70 percent.

So, I think Ukrainians like who is coming to the table tomorrow. They do trust them. They do want them to be a part of the peace talks and they want those peace talks to really carry some real weight, because they want a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible. And they're very fearful that they're not going to get it.

But let's see, ultimately tomorrow, Omar, if we're able to take a big step in that direction. But of course, only time will tell.

JIMENEZ: Yes, we'll see what comes out of these talks. Harry Enten, appreciate it, as always. Good to see you.

ENTEN: Nice to see you, my friend.

[19:55:07]

JIMENEZ: All right, straight ahead, we are learning new details tonight about tomorrow's crucial Ukraine talks at The White House. What European leaders set to attend say their top priority will be when they talk with Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy.

And as we dipped a break in sunset this hour, I want to show you. I mean, look, that's -- no filter here. That incredible sunset happening here in New York.

Beautiful shot of the Statue of Liberty after some afternoon thunderstorms. We'll have the sunrise of the next hour of news coming up in a few minutes, but I'll leave you with this.

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