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Modi, Putin, and Xi Among World Leaders Meeting in China; Washington Post: Trump Administration Planning Redevelopment of Gaza; Hundreds of Workers' Protest Events Happening Nationwide. Aired 6:30- 7a ET
Aired September 01, 2025 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone, I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN This Morning. It's half past the hour and here's what's happening right now.
At least 800 people are dead and thousands more injured after an earthquake in eastern Afghanistan. That's according to state-run media. The 6.7 magnitude quake hit near the border with Pakistan and rescue crews have struggled to reach the most remote communities there due to landslides.
And Rudy Giuliani recovering after a car accident over the weekend. The former New York City mayor's car was hit from behind at high-speed Saturday night. Giuliani's security team says he was helping a woman who was the victim of domestic violence at the time. He suffered a spinal injury and hurt his arm and leg.
Another red-carpet rollout for Russia's Vladimir Putin, this time in China. He's there for security summit hosted by Xi Jinping with 20 other world leaders. That includes India's Prime Minister Modi. He had a nearly hour-long private meeting in Putin's limo on the way to the summit.
And while President Trump isn't there, his shadow is looming. Chinese President Xi Jinping used the stage to take a swipe at Trump, calling members to oppose, block confrontation and bullying practices. A clear reference to Trump's tariffs. The summit also comes as Putin ignores international pressure to end the Ukraine war.
CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier joins the group chat. Welcome to the group.
KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thanks.
CORNISH: So, I'm fascinated by this meeting, which I've heard called a bunch of things, including the axis of upheaval because of the various countries that are there. But help us understand how they feed into support for Russia. When I think of North Korea, we know they've been providing troops or like an Iran. Someone's there's drones passing back and forth. So, give me an idea of what Russia gets in these relationships.
DOZIER: What Russia gets is money, power and the ability to continue the war in Ukraine. On a larger stage, what it gets is membership in a new sort of Eurasia axis with China saying we are the rising economic power, but also military and diplomatic.
CORNISH: Is that a full global realignment? Meaning when you see Modi, who feels obviously pushed by the tariffs to not just say, oh, you're punishing me for buying Russian oil. Guess what?
DOZIER: Yeah.
CORNISH: Now, we're literally knee to knee in the limo together.
DOZIER: Yeah.
CORNISH: It feels like the U.S. is helping facilitate a realignment.
DOZIER: Well, Xi and Putin have been calling this a multipolar world that they're calling for, as opposed to the U.S. leading everything. But what India is doing by joining this grouping in such a prominent way after a seven-year gap between an Indian and a Chinese leader meeting is saying we are throwing our economic lot in with China because the U.S. has proven unstable.
And this is after Prime Minister Modi and his officials had been looking forward to a Trump administration, but now they find themselves, from their perspective, unfairly punished with 50% tariffs for buying Russian crude.
The fact of the matter is that Russian crude, the majority of it, gets refined and sold on to the European Union. But the U.S. isn't punishing the E.U. The U.S. isn't punishing China either, which buys more crude from Russia than India does.
CORNISH: There's also going to be a military parade this week, I think, with China. And I was looking at some of the other leaders on here, the leader of Myanmar, Serbia, Cuba. But there's places where there are other conflicts, where it feels like they're also saying, look, we still have access to the weaponry and infrastructure of war through these other leaders, China, Russia, even Iran, et cetera.
[06:35:03]
DOZIER: And some of the things that they're going to be displaying in that parade are weapons that the U.S. doesn't yet have, like successfully fired hypersonic missiles. And it is a way to message that China is the power to count on and do business and deals with, whereas the U.S. is the one that pulled out of Afghanistan, let down its allies, and is on the world stage supporting Israel when much of the world is criticizing what's going on there in Gaza.
CORNISH: OK, you guys stick around. I'm going to bring in the group for more. The Trump administration is crafting a sweeping post-war redevelopment plan for Gaza.
This reporting comes from "The Washington Post." The goal is to turn Gaza into a trusteeship administered by the U.S. for at least a decade while it's being transformed into a, quote, "gleaming tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing and technology hub." A 38-page document viewed by "The Post" calls for the relocation of Gaza's entire population, more than 2 million people.
Those who depart voluntarily would receive a $5,000 cash payment and also subsidies to cover four years of rent elsewhere and one year of food. Palestinians who choose not to leave would be sent to restricted, secured zones inside the enclave.
In the meantime, there continues to be protests across Israel demanding an immediate end to the war and the return of the remaining hostages.
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EINAV ZANGAUKER, MOTHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE (through translator): Netanyahu, if my son Matan comes back in a body bag, not only will he and I pay the price, I will personally make sure you are charged with premeditated murder.
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CORNISH: OK, the group chat is back. A lot to digest there, especially when you hear the rage coming from that family. We were talking in the break about all of these, I'm just going to say, fantasy plans, everyone trying to figure out what is the way out of Gaza, how do you secure it, what does it look like. What do you see in this, as we say, it's just a proposal so far, there's just a little bit of reporting on what it might be.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, it's really fantastical. I mean, it's impossible to see how it would work. For starters, you're talking about forcibly moving a population somewhere else, which is illegal internationally. You are then, you know, the idea that you're going to do this without even talking to the Palestinians themselves about what they want. There was a summit last week in the White House, a big meeting about what's next in Gaza. The Palestinians weren't involved in any way in any of this.
CORNISH: Yes, I mean, we know the country, the U.S. is not going to deal with Hamas. We know this Hamas issue is the big question. It's not clear who has the power, support and infrastructure to fill the vacuum of Hamas after. But does that mean these other plans are any more sure?
DOZIER: There's an existing structure. There's the Palestinian Authority, which the Trump administration also refuses to speak to and didn't invite to this summit. This trial balloon that's been put out there on how you would turn Gaza into some sort of a high-tech zone is going to outrage Palestinian society and also the larger Arab world because it looks like a way to turn Palestinian pain into profit. And to -- CORNISH: So, specifically that private --
DOZIER: Yeah.
CORNISH: -- development part of it you're saying is stinging.
DOZIER: And to sucker the population into leaving, the question is who would take them?
CORNISH: Right.
DOZIER: No Arab nation has stepped forward saying that they would take them.
CORNISH: And I want to put on the screen for folks the Egyptian proposal for Gaza, which has not been accepted by anyone, it's been rejected. But they say Gaza technocrats, Palestinian officials form a new government, funding from Persian Gulf states, Arab peacekeepers on the ground, Gaza police restrained in Egypt. That seems it's no more likely, but it looks like it's more involved with self-governance. I don't know, Sara, what are you thinking?
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: Well, the Arab nations surrounding Palestine or the Palestinian state in Israel have never come in defense, have never tried to back that region. So, to me, I look at this proposal where you're trying to displace two million people and I'm thinking to myself, who is going to actually fund that? Who's going to supervise that? Who's going to ensure that it's executed well? The United States is not going to let the people of Gaza into the U.S. We've said that's part of our mandate. There have been very few nations. I think one of the nations that was floated in that report was Somaliland.
CORNISH: Yeah.
FISCHER: So, to me --
CORNISH: And the report also says the U.S. is not going to spend any money. It sort of hinged on the idea that somehow only private corporations would be spending money.
DOZIER: It's unrealistic, though. But Qatar and other Gulf nations have stepped up. They had spent billions on Gaza prior to October 7th. So, they would likely be funding the Egyptian plan. And the Egyptian plan has been formed in cooperation with other Gulf nations. I think it has backing from Saudi Arabia.
[06:40:06]
So, the only one saying no to it is the White House because it feels like the White House is backing the Netanyahu play of seizing more territory, including Gaza, and parts of the West Bank, which is in discussion in the Israeli government right now.
CORNISH: It'll be interesting to see if this plan moves from the reporting, that kind of trial balloon when something surfaces, even though it's not official, to how it's talked about in public.
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: But the administration, in one way or another, has been talking about this in public. I mean, Trump has cast this as real estate rather than, you know, all of the other things that he's been talking about in public. And even going back to 2004, you had Jared Kushner talking about it. It's waterfront property.
CORNISH: Yeah.
KUCINICH: So --
CORNISH: Even the discussion here has leaned on A.I., which we know is like a huge industry concern for the U.S.
KUCINICH: Right, right. And so, this -- it's not that, you know, this hasn't been out there and in the ether. It's just this really kind of was the first time it laid out a plan such as it is.
CORNISH: All right. Kim, thank you so much for joining the group and talking about this.
Next on CNN This Morning, lawmakers return to Washington this week. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell joins me next. The concerns she's heard from her constituents over the break.
Plus --
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GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): It's un-American, if you ask me, invading a city with troops.
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CORNISH: Chicago braces for the president's immigration crackdown. And first mail-in voting, now voter I.D., the president's new mission to change the way Americans vote. And we want to know what's in your group chat. Send it to us now on X. We're talking about ours after this.
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CORNISH: In July, we saw the Free America protest against Trump. Now, for Labor Day, it's workers over billionaires. Hundreds of demonstrations are planned across the country. Democrats have been leaning into conflicting messages here, with Bernie Sanders on a resistance tour against oligarchy, while billionaire Governor J.B. Pritzker is among the leading voices against the White House.
So, as Congress returns this week, what message will we hear from lawmakers on this or other issues? Joining me now to talk about it on this Labor Day, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. Thank you so much for being here. REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Good morning. It's great to be with you. Happy Labor Day.
CORNISH: And these protests are actually being organized by the AFL- CIO, bargaining for the common good, Working Families Party, American Federation of Teachers.
I recall that there was a moment where some labor groups were showing support for Trump and even embracing some of the ideas behind these tariffs. Is this a sign that something is shifting?
DINGELL: So, my state is one of the states that's very complicated. And I, as soon as I'm done, will be headed downtown Detroit to march in the annual Labor Day parade, which I have probably done for 40 years. And I think that what you see is there are -- first of all, everybody's worried about the cost of everything.
If you were to ask me to do a takeaway from -- I did a lot of town halls this August, people are worried and scared. And the word I'm going to use is safety. They want to know that they're going to be able to afford the food and be able to get food to eat.
Many workers are worried about their job. They want job security. And you do hear people worried about crime on the street, the increase of homelessness, and the mental health issue.
But when it comes to the increased cost of goods, look, I'm one of those people that's complicated. The trade unions, many of whom did support Donald Trump, the tariffs have increased their daily costs of everything. And it's cost them jobs.
The president eliminated the bipartisan infrastructure law, which had given many of them jobs. So, they're angry about that. The UAW, and I'm someone who says tariffs are a tool in a toolbox, wants a level playing field against China, which is subsidizing the production, using slave labor, manipulating their currency. But I think on this Labor Day, you're seeing everybody come together because they think everything's too expensive. They're worried about their jobs --
CORNISH: Yeah.
DINGELL: -- and they don't like seeing what's happening in this country.
CORNISH: I want to ask you about those tariffs, because over the weekend, the president posted to social media that this would be the best year ever if his tariffs get approved by the courts. And this is following this federal court ruling that said the Trump administration overstepped using emergency powers to impose tariffs. But what I notice is the judge also said, look, the ability to impose these taxes is a core congressional power. Is there any interest in addressing it from that point of view? Is there a window open for Congress to step in?
DINGELL: Well, to be perfectly frank, there is and we should be. And in the first Trump administration, I worked very closely with the U.S. trade representative on these kinds of issues, especially renegotiating or getting rid of NAFTA and getting the UMCA. I think that, you know, the Republicans have a majority in the House and Senate and too many of them, quite frankly, are afraid of President Trump. I think you will see if we win the House back next year and we should win the House back. We will. Trade policy belongs in the Congress and that you will see in the House action to take it. But that's a year and a half away.
CORNISH: I want to ask about another topic which has been consuming Congress, frankly, for much of the summer, which is the conversation over the Epstein files. Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie. They're leading this charge for a discharge petition for the Epstein files. And then Congressman Khanna made this announcement over the weekend. I want you to hear it.
[06:50:13]
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REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): What will be explosive is the September 3rd press conference that both of us are having with 10 Epstein victims, many who have never spoken out before. They're going to be on the steps of the Capitol. They will be telling their story and they will be saying clearly to the American public that they want the release of the Epstein files for full closure on this matter.
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CORNISH: I don't know. Do you know the status of this discharge petition? Do you think it'll pass? I don't know if this conversation has changed in a way since you all went home for the August break.
DINGELL: I think that when we return, there'll be enormous pressure again for the Epstein files to be made public. I think this -- well, I have not talked to Roe, but I am someone who has worked with domestic violence and sexual assault survivors my entire life. And their stories, many of them are afraid, and it makes me sad.
But if people hear their stories in the way that I think they are likely to because they wouldn't be going on the Capitol steps, they're very real stories. And I think they will touch the hearts of many Americans, and Americans are going to continue to say, release those files. And it was many Republicans, Laura Loomer and others, that said, release these files. We want to see these Epstein files. And now these are the very survivors themselves coming forward.
CORNISH: OK. That's ahead this week. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan, thank you so much for being with us.
DINGELL: Thank you. Happy Labor Day.
CORNISH: Now, nothing is off the table. That's the word from inside the White House when it comes to where federal law enforcement could be sent next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KRISIT NOEM, DHS SECRETARY: I think there's a lot of cities that are dealing with crime and violence right now, and so we haven't taken anything off the table.
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CORNISH: The Trump administration has said that it is preparing to start a major immigration enforcement operation in Chicago as soon as this week. The mayor there signed an executive order over the weekend affirming that police will not collaborate with federal agents.
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MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D-CHICAGO, IL): We do not want to see tanks in our streets. We do not want to see families ripped apart. We do not want grandmothers thrown into the back of unmarked vans.
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CORNISH: The group chat is back, and we're talking about this because this is moved from Washington, of course, where the government has an in via home rule laws to make these kinds of decisions.
Now, there's going to be, like, a special group within the National Guard. Now, it's moving to another city. Step by step, what are we -- what are they building, I guess?
COLLINSON: Well, I think what you've seen in Los Angeles, Washington, and potentially Chicago is the normalization slowly of using the military in law enforcement and in immigration enforcement. As you say, the difference in Chicago, where it's different from D.C., is Trump can't federalize the police force. And the mayor issued this executive order over the weekend basically saying that police cannot cooperate with federal forces that are sent into Chicago. So you've got the potential of real confusion.
CORNISH: Plus the governor? Yeah.
COLLINSON: Yeah, you've got the potential of real confusion on the chains of command of law enforcement, and that is going to escalate this. And you have in Chicago and Illinois, as you were saying, Democratic politicians that want the fight for their own political reasons as well.
CORNISH: So, here's an example. Here's the Illinois governor talking about the potential for this move.
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PRITZKER: It's un-American, if you ask me, invading a city with troops. A U.S. president invading an American city with troops. I'm 60 years old. I've never heard of such a thing. It shouldn't happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, I hear two different messages. Republicans saying, look, this is anti-crime. It's a collaboration. It works. And Democrats talking like this, you know, it's an escalation to something more on these other issues. What do you think is starting to resonate?
FISCHER: Well, one of the challenges that the Democrats face is that Muriel Bowser, the mayor in D.C., sort of started to welcome these federal troops by the end, which splintered the Democrats' message.
I think right now you have this problem of a dual screen in people's homes. In one sense, they're seeing pictures of the National Guard, like, picking up trash because they're hanging out in the National Mall here in D.C. and there's not a lot of crime.
So, you have a lot of people who might be looking at this and saying, well, that doesn't seem like it's very effective. On the other hand, the administration has done a very good job of messaging their side of the story, dangerous crime, all of their social media feeds, all on Fox News. And so I think if you're a Democrat, this is actually a very challenging message for you because people are seeing this from both angles here.
[06:55:04]
And I think that the Democratic Party itself is not totally unified based off of what happened in D.C.
CORNISH: The flip side is Governor Gavin Newsom, who's constantly entering the chat. Even if you don't want him there --
FISCHER: Exactly.
CORNISH: -- they're like, hey. And he says he's kind of trying out this new tactic where he's showing images or photos of other cities that have high crime. Here's an example.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Just look at the murder rate. That's nearly four times higher than California's in Louisiana. This is Speaker Johnson. Perhaps the president could deploy the National Guard in every corner of Mississippi. It's murder rates out of control there. Carnage.
We can talk about the carnage in Arkansas, again, one of the top 10 murder states in America. Two and a half, 2.6 times greater than San Francisco. Again, these are just not just observations. They're stone- cold facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Is this something that has -- you're smiling, you don't -- is it the photo or?
FISCHER: A friend from Shreveport was complaining to me about this. Like, she totally agrees.
CORNISH: Yeah. FISCHER: She's like, there are places in the U.S. that we are being neglected and we could use the support when it comes to crime. And we feel like the federal resources being directed towards big blue cities is a political thing. It's not necessarily effective in reducing crime in a lot of places in in the U.S. state.
CORNISH: But it also is a direct backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement. And it does feel like when you have National Guard kind of around to quell disturbances, potential disturbances, that was one part that this unit could do. You're -- you're -- you're responding to something that the voters were concerned about at the time.
KUCINICH: I just -- I can't stop looking at the bigger picture here in terms of what states with D.C. set aside that he's talking about going after what this like Chicago. Pritzker is someone who's talked about running for -- who potentially could be a 2028 contender. Newsom obviously is taking that -- that posture.
There's some talk about Baltimore. Westmore is also someone that is in that conversation. So, just the kind of broader politics of all of this at play, because there's a reason that Louisiana.
And -- and --
(CROSSTALK)
CORNISH: It's all potential adversaries --
KUCINICH: Exactly.
CORNISH: -- going forward.
KUCINICH: So, there -- there is I mean, there's -- there, I think, several, you know, ways of looking at this in terms of, you know, micro and the more macro political.
CORNISH: But I want to ask you something, because one thing I find interesting is ICE is about to grow, right? On the orders of magnitude, 10,000 new folks.
And the thing about ICE is it operates with a -- with against a population that doesn't have the exact same rights as citizens. So, you have more people on the street who are used to operating in a way and against people that we're not used to seeing the masks, the unmarked vans, et cetera. And then you have the National Guard, which is military police, right? They are not used to being used in domestic situations. It feels like it's just putting a lot of people on the street who do not operate the way typical domestic police do with that accountability.
COLLINSON: Right. And this is an administration that's shown itself not to be too concerned about some of the niceties of law. It's interesting, the distinction between the National Guard and the federal forces I've noticed in Washington, D.C., the National Guard don't seem that threatening, but you see federal officers with their body armor walking down the street. They seem to be much more confrontational. And they are attracting the focus of a lot of the anger of the citizens here in Washington. So, that is a potential --
(CROSSTALK)
CORNISH: They're the tip of the spear for entering these cities.
COLLINSON: Yeah.
CORNISH: Right. It's usually not just crime. It's sending immigration in and then expanding around that.
FISCHER: Yeah. And there's an irony here, which is the whole point that the White House says is to make these cities safer and make them better. You're seeing it definitely in Washington, D.C. restaurant attendance is going down. The communities are being impacted in a negative way because there's a fear factor. People don't want to go out and be out and about because they're nervous about confrontations with federal police.
And so, this is being rolled out in a way that I think is negatively impacting cities, even though they say that the point of this is to bring crime down and make cities better and safer.
CORNISH: OK. We have a minute left. Who has a fun group chat to bring some levity to this morning, which is technically a holiday? I mean, mine isn't -- I don't have levity. If someone else has levity.
FISCHER: I've got a fun one. We got closing arguments in the Cardi B trial coming up tomorrow.
CORNISH: Yes, thank you.
FISCHER: And that one --
(CROSSTALK)
CORNISH: I have been watching the trial. Cardi B facing allegations from a security guard who says that Ms. Cardi B assaulted her. She's been on the stand making memes like crazy.
FISCHER: Yeah, she's the perfect witness. She's authentic. She's funny. She's got the jury laughing. I think that Cardi B is on the right track here. We'll see what happens.
CORNISH: It'll be interesting because I think that we've seen a lot of rappers on trial with mixed results. And I'll be watching this one, too. Thank you for bringing it up.
[07:00:07]
All right, you guys, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish and CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.
