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Trump Meets With European Leaders & Zelenskyy At White House; Security Guarantees For Ukraine Discussed At W.H. Meeting; Hamas Says It Has Agreed To A New Ceasefire Proposal; Trump Calls Putin, Then Resumes Talks with Zelenskyy; What Key Players Hope to Get Out of Possible Peace Deal; Mourners Gather in Kyiv for Soldier's Funeral; Egypt Warns Israel Mass Displacement from Gaza is a "Red Line"; Woman in Uruguay Hopeful for a "Dignified Death"; U.S. Moves to Restrict Access to "Junk Food". Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 19, 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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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Shifting alliances as Ukraine's president arrives with European leaders at the White House. Ahead on CNN Newsroom.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A good conversation on security guarantees.
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VAUSE: What could be a game changer with the U.S. president backing post war security guarantees for Ukraine.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The question of territories is a question that we will save for me and Putin to decide.
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VAUSE: That issue could soon be decided during a possible, almost probable one-on-one meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think he wants to make a deal. You understand that? As crazy as it sounds.
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VAUSE: Here is Vladimir Putin in a hot mic moment as President Trump talks candidly with France's Emmanuel Macron. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Three days after the U.S. and Russian presidents met in Alaska, Ukraine's president arrived at the White House for talks with Donald Trump. But Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived with friends, including the leaders of Britain, France and Germany or key U.S. allies. Trump says they all had a very good meeting and now he's trying to arrange another, this time between Putin and Zelenskyy. And at one point during Monday's talks, Trump left the room and actually called Vladimir Putin. The German chancellor says the Russian president has agreed to a meeting with Zelenskyy in the next two weeks, but whether Putin actually follows through remains unclear.
Zelenskyy says he's ready to talk under any format, notably wearing a suit, not his usual fatigues. Zelenskyy described his conversation with Trump as good, a far different outcome than the last Oval Office meeting back in February. On Monday, all the leaders there appeared to share a mostly united front in a push to end the war.
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TRUMP: I believe a peace agreement at the end of all of this is something that's very attainable and it can be done in the near future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think if we play this well, we could end this.
FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones. Now the path is open. You opened it last Friday.
ZELENSKYY: I think that we had very good conversation with President Trump.
TRUMP: Very good.
ZELENSKYY: And it really was the best one or sorry, maybe the best one will be in the future. But it was really good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Along with security guarantees, Zelenskyy says they also talked about a plan to -- for Ukraine rather, to purchase $90 billion in U.S. weapons through European funding. The leaders did not discuss redrawing Ukrainian boundaries, according to the NATO chief who says any talks about territory would need to involve both Zelenskyy and Putin, sentiment shared by the Ukrainian leader.
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ZELENSKYY (through translator): The question of territories is a question that we will save for me and Putin to decide.
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VAUSE: CNN's Kristen Holmes has more details on the meeting at the White House. KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump posting on Truth Social after wrapping up his meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and various European leaders, saying essentially that the next steps were a bilateral meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy. Then after that, they would look into a trilateral meeting, including President Trump. Now, this was news to almost everyone reading this post because were told by the White House, by President Trump and by European leaders that the big goal coming out of this meeting was to get a trilateral meeting with Putin, Zelenskyy and Trump in the works. Now, apparently this now seems as though that's going to be kick the can down the road. This has long been something that U.S. officials have been concerned about, that Putin would continue to try and lengthen out this process of negotiations so that he could acquire more territory.
And certainly here with the inclusion of a bilateral before a trilateral, this is going to be an extended period of time. So we know a couple of things. One, we know that President Trump talked with these European leaders and Zelenskyy about three main sticking points behind closed doors, one of them being land concessions. At one point, we saw photos of President Trump presenting Zelenskyy with a map of Ukraine that showed the various territories that were under Russian control. The other part of this were security guarantees.
Earlier in the day, President Trump had said that he would -- he didn't rule out being U.S. troops to help with security guarantees. He did appear to rule that out in his post where he said that he would be coordinating with European leaders, not necessarily providing his own or our own United States resources there.
The other one, cease fires. President Trump had called for a cease fire almost the entirety of his time in office. Then after meeting with Vladimir Putin, he said that they could move straight to a peace agreement. But the European leaders, they were clear when they went around the table to give their comments to the cameras, they believe there has to be a cease fire.
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We should note that there were bombs being dropped and explosions in Ukraine as these European leaders were showing up to have this meeting at the White House. They believe that there needs to be a cease fire before there is any other meeting. So during all these negotiations, we are told that President Trump left the room, he called Vladimir Putin to kind of go through what they were talk -- what they were talking about, how the negotiations were going. And that's where they seem to have landed on this bilateral then trilateral meeting.
There are still a lot of questions here as to what exactly that format would look like and whether or not this is just an extension or kicking the can down the road. One of the things to note as we move forward here was that this did, these negotiations with these European leaders lasted longer than they were expected to, that President Trump, when he came back or when he finished his call with Putin, he met back with these European leaders to continue in a leaders only setting the conversations around what was going to happen next. So in terms of these three sticking points, it's still unclear completely where they landed on land concessions, security guarantees or fighting for a cease fire. But one thing was clear, it did appear today, specifically when you had Zelenskyy in this meeting with these European leaders, that President Trump was trying or working to be on the same page with these leaders as they try to all bring an end to this war in Ukraine.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.
VAUSE: Joining us now from Kyiv, is Ukrainian parliament member Inna Sovsun. Thank you so much for getting up early, being with us.
INNA SOVSUN, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Sure. Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: So European leaders arrived at the White House on Monday. There was some concern that after his summit with Vladimir Putin, the U.S. president may be returning to his old pro Moscow ways. Here's Donald Trump talking about the chances of Putin agreeing to end that war, his war in Ukraine. Here he is.
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TRUMP: President Putin agreed that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine. And I have a feeling you and President Putin are going to work something out. I think you'll see that President Putin really would like to do something else. I think that President Putin wants to find answer.
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VAUSE: Has Putin given any indication, taken any action which would indicate that he wants this war to end in any way?
SOVSUN: Well, apart from what we're hearing from President Trump, we are not seeing anything on the ground. We are seeing the Russian offensive continuing. We are seeing the nightly attacks. We had an air raid alert here in Kyiv at 4:00in the morning -- this night. So we're not seeing anything as -- here in Ukraine.
But do we want to trust that this war might end soon? Yes, of course. People are tired, people are exhausted and they want to see the end to this war. There is no way that we will trust Putin and whatever he's saying, not after everything that we have been through, not after all the killings and all the destruction he produced. The only people we can potentially trust, our partners and the guarantees that they can provide in this dimension.
VAUSE: Well, some of those guarantees are about post war security guarantees. And that was a bit of a breakthrough with the U.S. president showing his support for them. Again, here's Donald Trump. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your team has talked about security guarantees. Could that involve U.S. troops? Would you roll that out in the future?
TRUMP: We'll let you know that maybe later today. When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help. It's going to be good. They are first line of defense because they're there, they're Europe. But we're going to help them out also.
We'll be involved.
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VAUSE: So was that support from Donald Trump unexpected to you? I guess the bigger question here is do you expect him to keep his word?
SOVSUN: Big questions indeed. Let me remind you that Ukraine is very cautious about the whole idea of security guarantees. In the early '90s, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons arsenal in exchange for security guarantees. But when the time came, the security guarantees didn't really materialize. That is why Ukrainians are not really trusting any guarantees which are just written on paper.
And I think in order to prove for the Ukrainians, for the Ukrainian leaders that this is real this time, that we will not be left alone in case there is another attack from Russia, I think something more tangible needs to take place. Boots on the ground, peace keeping -- peace keeping missions on the ground is probably one of the ways to prove that this is serious this time, that we will not be left alone like after we did after the so called Budapest Memorandum, after giving up our nuclear weapons arsenal.
So we are happy there is serious discussion about that. But again, we have a history of something that has been written on paper not materializing. So I think we will need something more than just that.
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VAUSE: The world seems to have forgotten that Ukraine gave up a lot for the security of the world from nuclear weapons and has got absolutely nothing in return for that. Still, at this meeting, Donald Trump, he seemed calm, he seemed diplomatic. He also raised the issue of Ukraine's stolen children. Again, the U.S. president, here he is.
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TRUMP: She loves children and she hates to see -- she hates to see something like this happening. And that goes for other wars, too.
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VAUSE: Apparently, the first lady has written to Putin about those children. So it's the fate of thousands and thousands of Ukrainian children kidnapped and taken to Russia barely breaks a mention apart from what we heard from Donald Trump and a comment or so from the President Zelenskyy. If they're not being talked about in a forum like this, what are their chances of ever actually making it home?
SOVSUN: That's a very difficult question because unfortunately, what we have seen over the last, well, 11 years in reality, since the war started in 2014, is I'm kidnapping Ukrainian kids. Often they change their names, they get adopted, even though that is illegal. Even Russian Human Rights Commissioner, so called Human Rights Commissioner, boasted that she has adopted one of those children, clearly illegally. So tracking down those kids is going to be extremely difficult. There are some kids whose names we know, and there are some names -- the locations of those children are known, but many children were just too small when they have been stolen, when they have been taken away, they probably will not even remember their hometowns, their families.
If they have been adopted, if their names have been changed, it's going to be pretty difficult to imagine how we can find all of them. Unless, unless there is a real big change inside Russia where they will provide all of that information themselves. But we have to try to get as many kids back as possible, all of them, preferably, of course. But that's a very difficult and emotional question for the whole country. And everybody feels the pains of those families who have lost those kids.
VAUSE: Yes, well, the horrors of this war, that is among the top ones that so many people are suffering from and will continue for a lifetime to come.
Inna, thanks so much for getting up early and being with us. We really appreciate it.
SOVSUN: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Hamas officials in Gaza say they've agreed to a new ceasefire proposal similar to the plan that was on the table when negotiations fell apart last month. Senior Hamas official says it calls for the release of 10 living and 18 deceased hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. A regional source says Hamas also wants written American guarantees for a ceasefire after 60 days.
An Israeli official says the government's position has not changed. It wants all hostages released, the disarming of Hamas and security control over Gaza. Egypt and Qatar are hoping to restart negotiations in Cairo.
Gershon Baskin is a former hostage negotiator. He is our Middle East Director of the International Communities Organization. He joins us now live from Jerusalem. Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.
GERSHON BASKIN, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: My pleasure. Thank you.
VAUSE: So other ceasefire plans have failed over how they end. Israel wants a pause in the fighting and then the war to continue, while Hamas wants a deal which opens the way to end the war. And negotiators from Qatar and Egypt say they secured a breakthrough here with this latest offer, which has 98 percent of the last proposal from U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, to which Israel had previously agreed. Yet we've seen in the past 99.9 percent does not make a cease fire deal. So they could be 2 percent away, they could be 50 percent away.
They still don't have it. So what are the chances they'll get it?
BASKIN: I think the chances are slim because I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government want to essentially continue the war. They have a position which says that they will free all the hostages once Hamas is totally defeated or Hamas surrenders, and that's not going to happen. Hamas will never surrender. They will continue fighting to the last Gazan. So this is not in the cards. It's not going to happen.
And it's bewildering to me why Hamas agreed to this deal when they've been saying for weeks now what they want is an end of war deal. They voiced a willingness to release all the Israeli hostages within 24 to 48 hours, but they demanded an end to the war. And I don't understand why the Qataris and the Egyptian mediators put such high pressure on Hamas to agree to a deal which I believe is a bad deal. We know that Israel broke the last ceasefire deal because they wanted to continue the war. And there's nothing to say that it won't do it again.
VAUSE: And part of this deal is from Hamas, they want U.S. backed security guarantees and they want it in writing. They want in writing that Israel actually stick to the deal. On Monday, the U.S. president weighed in on social media posting this, "We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed," exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point. "The sooner this takes place, the sooner the better the chances of success will be," and it goes on.
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Not exactly the voice of diplomacy. Not exactly what the high ranking officials in Hamas would like to hear.
BASKIN: Look, Hamas is not playing the cards they have in the deck because they've said over and over again that they are willing to accept that they will no longer govern Gaza. But rather than speaking about it, they actually need to work with the other Palestinian factions to present a new government of Gaza which they are not a part of, that is a requirement. The American senior people involved in negotiations told me that in the discussions between Netanyahu and Trump, it was clear that Netanyahu told Trump that if Israel withdraws from Gaza, the only remaining power is Hamas and Israel will not agree to that. That's one issue.
The other issue is that Hamas needs to work out some kind of deal with the Americans that defines what demilitarization means, that Hamas, even if they remain in Gaza, they will not be using their weapons anymore against Israel. Hamas hasn't defined this and Hamas has not given in writing to the Americans that they're willing to release all the hostages in 24 to 48 hours as they have said verbally. It is very unlikely under the present conditions that Hamas will get U.S. security guarantees that the ceasefire will continue. The best the Americans can say is that they will put pressure on Israel to continue taunting about an end of war deal. But the Americans won't guarantee to Hamas that the war will end at this point.
VAUSE: Against this backdrop, the Israeli Prime Minister, he met with the Gaza Division on Monday, talked about the planned occupation of Gaza City, saying in a statement, "I was impressed by the fighting spirit and determination to complete the defeat of Hamas and the release of all of our hostages. I spoke with the Defense Minister and the IDF about our plans regarding Gaza City and the completion of our missions. And like you, I hear the reports in the media and from them you can be impressed by one thing, Hamas is under immense pressure."
That last part could be true, but right now the Israeli military is exhausted. Senior commanders are warning they don't have enough troops to occupy all of Gaza City. Add to that, a lack of public support with massive protests across the country, the largest this past weekend I think the countries seen. They're all demanding an end to the war and the return of hostages. Put all this together, are all the ingredients now present for a failed military operation in Gaza City?
BASKIN: No, it's not. Not at all. In fact, the military operation has already begun. Israel sent in tanks and was attacking the south of the Gaza City last night. They are making the concrete plans for surrounding the city.
They say they're going to remove, evacuate the civilian population there estimated between 700,000 and 800,000 people. This is something that's bewildering when you think about the need to move people. Have already moved five or six times in the last 22 months, they're homeless. This is the disaster of Gaza. And this is why there's such an immediate need for the international community to weigh in very heavily and make sure that this does not happen.
There are already more than 60,000 dead people in Gaza. The overwhelming majority of them noncombatants, women, children, elderly, people, civilians, noncombatants, and Gaza is destroyed, 2 million people homeless. How much more do we have to wait on the sidelines for this to happen before the world actually steps in and imposes sanctions on Israel until it stops the war?
VAUSE: Gershon Baskin, good point to end on. Thank you, sir. We appreciate you getting up live and being with us today. Thank you.
BASKIN: Thank you.
VAUSE: Today's short break, going back, the mayor of Washington, D.C. pushes back on the growing number of National Guard troops deployed to a city, all at Donald Trump's request. She says it makes no sense.
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VAUSE: More than 100 members of Louisiana's National Guard have been deployed to Washington, D.C. joining five other U.S. states, all Republican, which has sent troops to the Capitol at the request of President Trump. Washington's crime rate has fallen to a 30-year low, according to one study. Local officials say the response to a non- existent crime wave by the president is a little overblown. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
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MURIEL BOWSER, (D) WASHINGTON, D.C. MAYOR: This is not about D.C. crime.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser growing more frustrated over the escalation of federal agents and National Guard troops on the streets of the nation's capital.
BOWSER: You know, it doesn't make sense. The numbers on the ground in the district don't support 1,000 people from other states coming to Washington, D.C.
TODD (voice-over): Republican governors From West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio and Mississippi have announced they are sending additional National Guard troops to Washington in response to President Trump's call to increase law enforcement on the streets.
TRUMP: We went from the most unsafe place anywhere to a place that now people -- friends are calling me up, Democrats are calling me up and they're saying, sir, I want to thank you. And you did that in four days.
TODD (voice-over): Mayor Bowser does not seem to share that sentiment.
BOWSER: Why the military would be deployed in an American city to police Americans, that's the question.
TODD (voice-over): Around the Capitol today,. D.C. National Guard troops could be spotted near national monuments and major transportation hubs.
TODD: Have they told you anything about your mission, like what you're supposed to be doing around Union Station at least?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just helping out with local law enforcement.
TODD: Are you carrying any firearms?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.
TODD: No?
TODD (voice-over): A White House official had previously told CNN that National Guard troops in Washington may now be armed. But a Defense Department official tells us that so far, guardsmen on the street in D.C. are not armed and have not been requested to carry firearms. The official says they'll be prepared to arm if they get the order. Not everybody agrees that National Guardsmen should be sent in from other states.
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One Republican governor, Phil Scott of Vermont, turned down a second request from President Trump to deploy its National Guard troops to D.C. to help Trump in his mission. The governor's office saying in part, "While public safety is a legitimate concern in cities across the country, in the absence of an immediate disaster, and unless local and regional first responders are unable to handle such an emergency, the governor is opposed to utilizing the National Guard for this purpose."
Some popular right wing media figures are saying that even the current escalation of law enforcement in Washington, while controversial, still isn't enough.
CHARLIE KIRK, HOST, "THE CHARLIE KIRK SHOW": We need full military occupation of these cities until the crime desists, period. We need a desisting of crime in our cities. We're not going to put up with it. I want to be able to walk Magnificent Mile in Chicago.
TODD (voice-over): Data from the restaurant reservation company, OpenTable, shows a 25 percent to 30 percent drop in D.C. reservations since the surge. But one week since Trump's announcement of federalizing the D.C. police, he's already claiming victory.
TRUMP: All I want is security for our people, but people that haven't gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C. in two years are going out to dinner.
TODD: A Defense Department official tells CNN West Virginia is sending about 350 of its National Guard troops to Washington. That official says some of those troops from West Virginia have already arrived. Now, we didn't see them on the streets of D.C. on Monday, but that official says that those troops from West Virginia were will be integrating with the other forces soon. That same official says that troops from Mississippi, South Carolina and Ohio will be here in the coming days. And we just heard from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry that he is sending about 135 of his state's National Guard troops to Washington.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: A tropical storm watch for much of North Carolina's Outer Banks region has been issued, prompting mandatory evacuations along parts of the coast. Hurricane Erin is not expected to make landfall, but strong wind gusts and large waves could still reach the Outer Banks as early as Wednesday. In the past, beachfront homes in the area have been seen collapsing into the ocean. Even without a Category 4 hurricanes skirting by. Erin is the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, but another tropical system is not far behind, which could develop into the next big storm later this week.
Well, Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy reportedly agree to a meeting and it could happen within weeks. In a moment, what's known about the proposed talk?
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VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
After more than a thousand days of war, the leaders of Russia and Ukraine look set for their first face-to-face meeting with reports both leaders have agreed to a summit, possibly within two weeks.
President Zelenskyy says if they do meet, Russia has suggested follow up talks, including the U.S. President. And Zelenskyy says he's open to talks in any format, but the question of land swaps is between them and them alone -- that's Putin and Zelenskyy.
The U.S. and Russian leaders spoke by phone earlier, that's before President Trump returned to a meeting with president Zelenskyy and European leaders.
Meantime, the senior U.S. diplomat has suggested all of this is now pointing towards progress.
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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The president suggested that Zelenskyy and Putin meet. So we're working on that now to try to set that up for them to meet somewhere, which, again, would be unprecedented.
Just the fact that Putin is saying, sure, I'll meet with Zelenskyy, that's a big deal. I mean, I'm not saying they're going to leave that room best friends. I'm not saying they're going to leave that room with a peace deal.
But I think the fact that people are now talking to each other. This wasn't happening for three and a half years.
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VAUSE: When it comes to ceasefire talks, there's what both sides actually want and what is actually realistic.
And CNN's Tom Foreman looks at that. Here he is.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really worth reviewing what everybody wants out of these talks.
What does Russia want? Russia wants their position holding part of the Eastern part of Ukraine, the Donbas Region, and Crimea to be made official and permanent. And maybe other lands beside.
What they're mainly wanting out of this is to normalize the fact that they invaded this country and to say, well, now that's just the way things are. Let's quit talking about invasion. Let's talk about what we have and let us hold on to it.
What does Ukraine want? Obviously, they would want to reverse that. They would want to say we're a sovereign nation. You had no business coming in here in the first place. We would like you to give up all this territory and go back to where you belong in Russia.
Now, that may not be possible in these talks the way they're being approached right now. So Ukraine may have to deal a little bit more on the idea of saying, let's give you a little less of the Donbas, let's not give you a land bridge from there down to Crimea along that area.
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FOREMAN: Let's not let you push all the way up to the Dnipro River. Let's not let you get a deeper hold within Ukraine from which you could launch a future attack.
What does Europe want out of all of this? They want to see if Russia can somehow be pushed back and not given that deeper hold, where they can push on and maybe go beyond Ukraine by taking the whole country at some point. That's one of the big concerns here. How do you contain Russian ambitions by keeping them pushed back?
And what does the United States want in all of this? Well, the president has made it clear over and over again what he wants is some kind of a deal that he can plant his flag on something where he can say, look, I finally delivered on that promise I had that I would end the conflict.
It's just not clear how he's going to get that end in a way that all these different parties can agree to.
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VAUSE: Tom Foreman there. Thank you.
Now, with the Ukrainian president in Washington pushing for a ceasefire, Russian attacks continue on Ukrainian cities and towns. And for the people of Ukraine, grief is everywhere, including the capital, Kyiv, where mourners honored a soldier who died defending his country.
Here's CNN's Ben Wedeman.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Far away from the meetings and photo ops in the White House, there's a different reality here. Every day, people are being killed in the war and loss and grief have become a daily routine.
The young widow tries to keep a brave face at a funeral like so many funerals before. Friends and loved ones come to mourn. Yet another life cut down in its prime.
David Chichkan, a popular Kyiv artist, joined the Army last year. Earlier this month, he was killed by a Russian drone on the eastern front. His mother gets one last look at her son.
Demitro (ph) was in David's unit. He always wanted Ukraine to have agency, he tells me, for it to be free, independent, for it to choose its own path to decide where to go and what to be. This funeral comes on the day when Zelenskyy goes to the White House under pressure from Trump who overnight posted on social media that the Ukrainian leader can end the war almost immediately if he wants to.
"It's just some kind of fatal coincidence," Oleksandra (ph) says, "that today there is this great farewell and at the same time our president is clearly being pressured into something in Washington."
The very land David died defending may now be on the negotiating table. A cold reality not lost on filmmaker Sashko (ph).
SASHKO, FILMMAKER: You can't trade, you know, lives of Ukrainian people, our lands, and our values just for Donald Trump's desire to make business as usual with the Russians.
WEDEMAN: For now, the "business as usual" is more death and destruction. Overnight, drone and missile strikes killed at least 10 people.
And so, yet another funeral comes to an end, and despite all that diplomacy that is perhaps going on, there is no end in sight to this war.
WEDEMAN: Events in Washington may raise hope among some that the war could soon come to an end. Few here are willing to entertain such optimism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to Ben Wedeman.
Now, in a moment, a Becky Anderson exclusive reporting from the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, where thousands of aid trucks remain idle, a huge parking lot of good intentions going nowhere.
Also, the fight to die. How one woman in Uruguay campaigning for a dignified death after years of suffering from ALS.
[01:39:02]
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VAUSE: Egypt's foreign minister has warned any attempt by Israel at mass relocation of Palestinians in Gaza is a red line and is unacceptable to Cairo.
On Monday, Badr Abdelatty traveled to Egypt, Rafah Crossing on the Gaza -- on the Egypt-Gaza border, one of the several major crossing points into Gaza and the only one under Egyptian control.
CNN's Becky Anderson was there and filed this exclusive report.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You join me on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing and behind me here are trucks that are filled with humanitarian aid, waiting to get across this border.
Just meters away, of course, is Gaza. The drivers, though, telling us that some of them have been here for some 20 days waiting for access.
And these trucks are just part of what I'm told by the Egyptians are some 5,000 trucks waiting to get access.
Now, the Egyptian government at present is under huge pressure to do more to alleviate the suffering and hunger of Gazans on the other side of this border.
[01:44:54]
ANDERSON: I traveled here with the Egyptian foreign minister, and I asked him what his response is to critics who say they are simply, one, not doing enough, and further, that they are complicit in the blocking of aid.
This is what he told me.
BADR ABDELATTY, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: What -- what's been. Portrayed by some circles is a big lie. You have two terminals, one on the Egyptian side, which is open, and the Palestinian terminal. The Israelis destroyed the Palestinian terminal four times, and we tried to rehabilitate it.
The Israelis now physically, they are on the Palestinian terminal of the Rafah Crossing, and they are blocking it. They are not allowing any single truck or person to move in, because Israel is the main country which is blocking and putting restrictions on the flow of humanitarian and medical aid.
ANDERSON: What's the point of having a peace agreement if you can't negotiate that.
ABDELATTY: Well, of course, the point of having peace treaty with Israel is good, essentially, that this is the main pillar of stability in our neighborhood.
We have contacts with them on the security level, on the intelligence level, and we are working very hard with them.
The problem is, you know, sometimes and they are saying on the political level, the lack of political will to work out a deal. This is the main impediment.
ANDERSON: We're here with the Egyptian and Palestinian delegations who are extremely eager to counter any criticism or protest about what is being done from the Egyptian side.
President Sisi has said that this Rafah will be a gateway for aid, but it will not be a gateway for displacement.
ABDELATTY: You know, displacement is a red line. We will not accept it. We will not participate in in it and we will not allow it to be happened because displacement, first goal, there is no moral, ethical or legal or political reason for that.
Those people are attached to their homeland. Why we should displace them from their homeland. This is one issue.
Second, the issue, the displacement is one-way-ticket. I can assure you, those who will leave Gaza, they will never be allowed to go back to Gaza. And that meant to have one objective, the liquidation of the Palestinian cause. That will be the end of the Palestinian goal.
ANDERSON: What is needed, of course, to get this humanitarian aid moving, to get the hostages out and to get towards the final solution is a ceasefire.
But when I asked the Egyptian foreign minister whether he was optimistic about the current round of talks, he said that he'd given up using the term "optimistic".
Becky Anderson, CNN -- at the Rafah border crossing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: For the first time a representative from Palestine will take part in this year's Miss Universe pageant. Nadine Ayoub will compete against representatives from more than 130 other countries and territories. The 74th Miss Universal final will be held in Bangkok this coming November.
On Instagram, Ayoub says she wants to be a voice for Palestinians who refuse to be silenced.
Right now, just a handful of countries worldwide legally allow euthanasia or assisted dying. A woman in Uruguay who's been suffering from ALS for years, is now hoping her country will join that list. She's been asking for the law to be changed so she can have a dignified death. But what is dignified to one person is often murder to others.
CNN's Dario Klein has the story.
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DARIO KLEIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is not just another day for (INAUDIBLE). With the help of friends, she manages to reach the Uruguayan parliament because she wants to witness a moment she has been waiting for, for years.
She says the ribbon she wears is in favor of euthanasia. (INAUDIBLE) suffers from ALS. She says doctors predicted she would die from the neurodegenerative disease 15 years ago. But her decline was much slower than expected.
I am worsening too slowly, she says. And I would like this to end.
Slowly, she lost mobility in almost her entire body and can do almost nothing on her own. She has trouble breathing and even sleeping.
[01:49:46]
KLEIN: She's saying that she would like this to go faster. Her life is -- she's saying it's like hell and she's having a lot of pain in every position.
That is why she says she's hopeful that the so-called "Dignified Death" Law will be approved in Uruguay. She was there when the lawmakers passionately debated the law.
FEDERICO PREVE, URUGUAYAN REPRESENTATIVE (through translator): It's about love, about humanity, about empathy. It's about people with very tough illnesses who are suffering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do we want to be a society that offers death as a response to suffering?
KLEIN: And almost unintentionally, she became a face of the debate.
LUIS GALLO, URUGUAYAN REPRESENTATIVE (through translator): Behind euthanasia, there are real people, human faces who are here with us in the stands.
KLEIN: Lawmakers read a letter out loud that she wrote them two years ago.
GALLO: My life would be more dignified if I could clean myself, write by hand, talk on the phone, scratch an itch, drink water when I'm thirsty, or take care of others. I don't know if with my increasing difficulties, even with palliative care, day to day life will be. Bearable, which is why I want the peace of mind, of knowing that I will be able to choose when the time comes, whether it's worth continuing this ordeal or not.
KLEIN: But her request is not just for her.
"Many other people suffers horrible sickness. I didn't know there were so many things that they had no cure.
Among those who opposed the law is the Uruguayan Catholic Church. (INAUDIBLE) is a Catholic who sometimes, she says, believes in God.
Sometimes, yes, sometimes she doesn't.
She feels sometimes the presence of God. She has already earned her place in the heaven which she has lived here.
I asked her if she believes there is something else after death.
"I don't know," she says.
Do you want that there is something?
Yes, she nods.
Dario Klein, CNN -- Montevideo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In a moment why critics say a new food stamp policy in the U.S. will not achieve its goal of healthy eating. That story, after a break.
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VAUSE: One of the first actions by the new Trump administration was to try and prevent people from using food stamps to buy junk food.
At least a dozen states are now allowed to prohibit Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, known as SNAP, from being used on certain processed food and beverages.
CNN's Ivan Rodriguez reports on what this means for low-income consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: SNAP is the largest anti-hunger program in America, providing assistance to low-income individuals.
The HHS secretary and other leaders say this new move encourages people to buy healthier items but experts tell me that's an oversimplification of how Americans access food.
BROOKE ROLLINS, U.S. SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE: Our department has encouraged states to think differently and creatively about how to solve the many health issues facing Americans.
RODRIGUEZ: Earlier this month Texas, Oklahoma. Louisiana, Colorado and West Virginia were granted new waivers to restrict the purchase of so- called "junk food" with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits starting in 2026. They joined six other states that have already received the waivers.
[01:54:55]
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., U.S. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: U.S. taxpayers should not be paying to feed kids foods -- the poorest kids in our country -- with foods that are going to give them diabetes.
RODRIGUEZ: Of the states that have been granted waivers so far, most will restrict the use of SNAP funds on soft drinks or sodas, while at least eight restrict candy purchases. Some also prohibit food benefits from being used on energy drinks. And in Arkansas the purchase of fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50 percent natural juice.
KAVELLE CHRISTIE, HEALTH POLICY EXPERT: These restrictions they don't solve hunger. Or improve health. They only limit choices for people who already face barriers.
RODRIGUEZ: Kavelle Christie says if healthier communities is the goal, the answer isn't controlling grocery carts. She says families do want healthier foods, but they're often inaccessible or too expensive. CHRISTIE: There's also the barrier of not having places that actually
sell those type of healthier food options in a lot of communities.
RODRIGUEZ: A USDA report from 2021 found 88 percent of SNAP recipients say they face some type of barrier to achieving a healthy diet throughout the month. The most common barrier is affordability.
Recipients receive on average, about $185 a month, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
In Atlanta, I'm Ivan Rodriguez.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: After years of financial struggles, Soho House is going private. The exclusive members club operator will take its shares off the stock market in a $2.7 billion deal with MCR Hotels. Soho House went public in 2021, but it struggled to turn a profit despite growing membership and increased revenue.
Highlighting the clubs clientele, actor Ashton Kutcher will be on the board.
No, you're not delulu, skibidi really is in the dictionary. One of six words or 6,000 words, rather, that Cambridge dictionary added to its online edition last year. Skibidi, which was coined by a YouTube series, is an intentionally nonsensical word that has no real meaning on its own or real sort of pronunciation, either.
Depending on the way it's used, it can have many different meanings, like cool or bad.
Delulu is easier to understand. A play on the word "delusional" and means choosing to believe things that aren't real or true. Delulu.
Another word added is tradwife, an abbreviated form of the term "traditional wife". It's used to describe influencers who glorify that role.
And finally, a word plucked from the headlines broligarchy -- a mashup of bro and oligarchy. It's a reference, you guessed it to tech leaders who attempted -- who attended rather, President Trump's inauguration back in January. The broligarchy. Sounds like it's from Barbie.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with my friend Rosemary Church after a very short break.
See you back here tomorrow.
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