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Erin Burnett Outfront

Trump: "I Don't Know" Why Epstein Took Women From Mar-a-Lago; Air Marshall On ICE Flights; Trade War Deadline. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 31, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:20]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

The breaking news, President Trump claiming he didn't like Jeffrey Epstein taking his employees, and that's why he threw the convicted sex offender out of Mar-a-Lago. It doesn't add up, though.

The attorney for one of Epstein's accusers, who worked at Mar-a-Lago is my guest.

Plus, a CNN exclusive tonight, highly trained federal air marshals are now having to work with ICE on deportation flights. In some cases, their responsibilities include checking people for lice. It's an OUTFRONT exclusive.

And breaking news, Trump's trade war deadline. Now we are hours away and our Richard Quest here with the papers, the receipts, the numbers to explain why the agreements that have been made are, in his words, garbage.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. President Trump tripling down on Jeffrey Epstein. Moments ago, the president was asked to respond to the family of an Epstein accuser who, in a new statement, demands to know what Trump knew after claiming Epstein, quote, stole her from Mar-a-Lago.

(INAUDIBLE)

BURNETT: Okay, sorry. It looks like we don't have that sound bite. But he was asked directly what happened there. So, I'm looking for the sound bite. And you know, he disparaged the media organization that asked the question and said, if he's taking anybody from Mar-a-Lago, he's hiring or whatever he's doing, I didn't like it. And we threw him out. We said, we don't want him.

So he's standing by that now, you know, of course, the family of Virginia Giuffre, who was one of Epstein's most outspoken and prominent accusers, right, who worked at Mar-a-Lago. That family is writing and responding now to what Trump is saying, saying it makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal actions, especially given his statement two years later that his good friend Jeffrey likes women on the younger side.

Now, the question that they asked there about what Trump knew is a crucial question. Giuffre suffered her whole life from the trauma of her time with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. She died by suicide just a few months ago after a life fighting and recovering from what happened to her with Epstein.

And tonight, OUTFRONT has uncovered something that you may not have heard in all this coverage recently. There was a lifetime documentary. Giuffre appears in it. She appears in it. She talks about all of this in her own words. And she's -- she died this spring, right? She died by suicide. So she can't tell a story now.

But here she is talking about the first conversation that she had with Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIRGINIA GIUFFRE, JEFFREY EPSTEIN ACCUSER: She said, oh, you're reading a book on massage therapy. And, you know, we started talking. And she goes, oh, you know what? I know this guy. Theres an opportunity, actually, if you want to become a real massage therapist, we can get you trained.

Within the next few weeks, Jeffrey and Ghislaine told me that I need to quit my job with Mar-a-Lago because I'll be traveling with them as their traveling masseuse.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: It was a big opportunity for her. And you see her there talking in her own words. Well, according to her deposition, that she gave and the reason Giuffre is so important, of course, every single victim here and there are apparently a thousand in the Epstein files, or maybe more, every single one equally as important in their suffering. But the case of Giuffre is crucial because she spoke. There was a case, there was depositions, she was interviewed.

She said she only worked at Mar-a-Lago for two or three weeks, actually, before Maxwell approached her, as she just described in that documentary. Now, as we've said on this program, a 16 or 17-year-old leaving the spa after just a few weeks on the job is hard to buy as the reason a decade-plus close friendship between Trump and Epstein blew up, right?

And in fact, it didn't blow up because of that. I mean, two years later, Trump did tell the "New York Magazine", quote, I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It's even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it -- Jeffrey enjoys his social life."

Again, disturbing now to hear those words in the context of everything we know. But just to be very clear, Trump said that two years after Giuffre left Mar-a-Lago to be what she thought was a masseuse for Epstein after working at Mar-a-Lago for just a couple of weeks. And I want to play something else Trump then has said about his

friendship with Epstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He stole people that work for me. I said, don't ever do that again.

[19:05:01]

He did it again, and I threw him out of the place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Okay, why did we play that? Because Trump said something new there. He said he did it and then he did it again. So he's saying that Epstein hired other workers from Mar-a-Lago. Which then begs the question, okay, who are they? Is it true?

The investigative editor for "The Palm Beach Post", who has reported extensively on Epstein investigation, told OUTFRONT that she's never seen any evidence that there was more than one employee, quote/unquote, "stolen" from Mar-a-Lago. Only the one it appears. Well, if there's more, let's hear about them.

It's not just Trump's explanation that doesn't add up. It's also now the White House's. Karoline Leavitt, in a statement to CNN, says today, quote, "The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees."

But according to the 2020 book, "The Grifters Club", Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in 2007. Okay, the reason, they say, is that he allegedly hit another member's daughter. Now, we don't know if that's the reason or not, but we know 2007, according to "The Miami Herald". And that is important to note because that is a year after Epstein was indicted, a year after he was indicted.

Now, in a moment, I'm going to speak to the attorney who represented Virginia Giuffre, as well as other Epstein and Maxwell accusers. She was in the room with Maxwell during her deposition. She knows every detail of this story inside out.

First, though, we're going to go to Jeff Zeleny, OUTFRONT live outside the White House. And Jeff Trump today, you know, tripling down essentially on this. You know, he hired someone away and that that's why this fell apart, which isn't clearing anything up on his relationship with Epstein, because the dates just simply don't line up.

What are you learning?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Erin, it was interesting to hear the president talk once again. He said earlier this week that their relationship broke up because Jeffrey Epstein stole one of his employees. The question, though, is why? So, the president was asked about that again this afternoon. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: You said that Jeffrey Epstein stole people from Mar-a-Lago. At the time, did you know why he was taking those young women, including Virginia who was just 16 at the time?

TRUMP: No, I didn't know. I mean, I would -- I would figure it was ABC fake news that would ask that question, one of the worst.

But no, I don't know really why, but I said, if he's taken anybody from Mar-a-Lago, he's hiring or whatever he's doing, I didn't like it. And we threw him out. We said, we don't want him, you know, at the place.

This is a story that's been known for many years, as you know. But it's -- I didn't like it that he was doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So when you listen to that, you can tell it doesn't answer the question or clear up. Really the many questions that have been hanging over this matter now for going on almost four weeks. I mean, the bottom line is the president has added more detail about Jeffrey Epstein, saying he stole someone.

But again, not suggesting that he knew why. Of course, she was a young masseuse. She worked in the spa. So again, as we near the end of another week here, the question still persists to the president had time there to do a pretty routine attack on the press, but did not answer the questions.

And they do still loom large among his supporters, as well as others, members of congress also -- Erin.

BURNETT: Yes. All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much at the White House.

And I want to go now, as promised to Sigrid McCawley. She represented Virginia Giuffre and her lawsuits against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Also, she helped recover $365 million in a class action lawsuit for Epstein victims against two major financial institutions. I mentioned in this context, again, Tara Palmeri is reporting that there are a thousand or more women in these files who were victims of Jeffrey Epstein and others.

Now, we heard Virginia Giuffre's family's response to what President Trump said about her. Sigrid. You know, they say it makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal actions.

Now, Sigrid, you have been there in the room and through the testimony, through the documentation relating to Epstein. Would someone like Trump, who was close friends with Epstein for many years, well over a decade, close to two, perhaps have likely been aware of Epstein's lifestyle?

SIGRID MCCAWLEY, ATTORNEY FOR VIRGINIA GIUFFRE, OTHER EPSTEIN ACCUSERS: Well, certainly anybody who was operating in that sphere who was socializing with him would have seen him with young individuals. I mean, he had as his house staff testified, up to three individual young girls coming to his home every single day.

So, this was part of his world. This was how he operated. He had a regular stream of young victims that that were in his space every single day, whether that was in Florida, in New York, overseas. It was constant.

So, you have to imagine that anybody who's, you know, spending time with him would have seen those women around Epstein.

[19:10:06]

BURNETT: And in that context, does Trump's comments to "New York Magazine" in 2002, when he said and it said he likes them on the younger side, that's Trump referring to Epstein. Does that -- does that stand out to you, given what you just said, given what you know, that he would have actually said that?

MCCAWLEY: I think anybody who was around Epstein would have observed those young girls and would have been suspicious that there was something happening. Why did he have all of these very young individuals around him? Why was he parading them around with him on a regular basis? So -- and I don't think Trump's the exception there. I think there were many people who he socialized with who frankly, turned a blind eye to what was an over 20-year-long sex trafficking operation.

And that's the real injustice here. I mean, there were so many people who knew.

BURNETT: And that -- and the real question on that, you know, given -- given how Virginia Giuffre and the depositions, the knowledge of the case, the settlement with, with Prince Andrew, what happened with the royal family there, right? I mean, Donald Trump knows who she is. Okay? So -- and he knows that that she died by suicide just a few months ago.

So, when Trump says that he stole that -- Epstein stole Virginia Giuffre from the Mar-a-Lago spa to use that word now, with all of that context from Trump, what do you think when you hear that?

MCCAWLEY: I think it was really hard for her family to hear that. Obviously, you know, it's a very tender time for them right now. They're, you know, reeling from the loss of their beloved sister as all of us are, as the survivors are.

I mean, she was really at the forefront of calling out Maxwell and Epstein for these crimes. And to be clear, it was not Epstein who recruited Virginia from Mar-a-Lago. It was actually Ghislaine Maxwell.

And so, I think its even adding insult to injury that the government is now giving her this microphone to discuss things with them.

BURNETT: Yeah. MCCAWLEY: So, I think the family is just facing a lot right now with

respect to what's transpiring.

BURNETT: Okay. So you've been in the room with her, right? You deposed her, right? So, everyone else is you know, its sort of hearsay. You have been there across the table. You have heard her answer questions. Youve actually heard her lie, right? She perjured herself under oath. You have heard her lie when asked direct questions.

So, now, she's making demands to testify before Congress. She wants immunity. She wants the questions in advance. She wants all of these things.

My question to you, having sat there and heard her talk, is what her testimony be useful? Would she tell the truth? Would anything come out of this?

MCCAWLEY: Listen, the one thing we know for sure is that Ghislaine Maxwell is a masterful manipulator. She lies without concern over and over and over again. You can see that in the deposition. I mean, there was not a question she answered truthfully.

So, it wouldn't make sense to me for someone to give her an audience, because the only thing that she's going to say during those interviews or those meetings are things that will benefit her, and they will not necessarily be truthful. So, if it's going to help her, she will use it, but she won't tell the truth.

And so that's the real problem here. I mean, where they need to be looking is in Epstein's documents that the estate has in the in the files that the government has from the investigation. Thats the material that really -- documents don't lie. So those are the things that need to be uncovered and disclosed.

BURNETT: So, so, Sigrid, when Trump says about pardoning her, he says, I'm allowed to give her a pardon, right? The White House says that he's not considering a pardon, but his words when he is asked is I'm allowed to give her a pardon.

So, you've been again -- you've sat across from her. What does she hear when she hears this?

MCCAWLEY: Well, I mean, those words -- when I heard those words, I thought that would be a travesty of justice. That would be the absolute worst thing a president on either -- of any party could ever do. I mean, this is a known child sex abuser. She is finally sitting in prison where she belongs, to do anything to alter that would just be an insult to our justice system and the gravest kind.

I mean, were meant to protect those young children, and so to erase what has been done would just be, you know, completely horrific and really a punch in the stomach to all of the thousands of survivors that are still out there. So, it just cannot happen.

And I think -- you know, I hope that the administration takes that very seriously and understands the impact of that.

BURNETT: Sigrid, thank you very much. I'm grateful for your time.

MCCAWLEY: Of course. Thank you.

BURNETT: All right. Barry Levine is with us, author of "The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell". And Ryan Goodman, our legal analyst.

Barry, can I just start with you? What -- what Sigrid said. And she was very loud and clear. Right. And she's deposed Jeffrey Epstein. She's deposed Ghislaine Maxwell, right? I mean, she knows of what she speaks.

BARRY LEVINE, AUTHOR, "THE SPIDER: INSIDE THE CRIMINAL WEB OF JEFFREY EPSTEIN AND GHISLAINE MAXWELL": Yes.

BURNETT: And she says there's nobody who would have been around Jeffrey Epstein.

[19:15:02]

And, by the way, there were a lot of rich and powerful people around Jeffrey Epstein. Donald Trump was one of many that wouldn't have known that he was always hanging around this -- these constant inflow of very young girls.

LEVINE: Yeah. I mean, it is horrific because we keep on hearing this from all of these powerful men. These are smart men. They're, you know, in Jeffrey Epstein's circle. And then, of course, all of them say Donald Trump and everyone -- oh, we had no knowledge, no knowledge of this criminality, no knowledge that this was going on.

You know, I -- I really don't believe a lot of these statements from some of these other men. I mean, as it's been pointed out and we've seen it in police videos, Jeffrey Epstein had photos of naked girls in his home. He had strange sex objects. The massage room was, you know, on display.

Anybody who entered his home, whether it was in Palm Beach or New York, you know, they saw this. If you're going to look around in someone's home to see this stuff, you would think this is awfully strange. So I'm, you know, absolutely perplexed by some of these comments.

BURNETT: And then, you know, the White House, there have been multiple explanations. Theres been the reported ones, which is that they fell out of a real estate deal. Then there's been Trump's explanation, which is no, the friendship broke up because he hired -- hired someone away. That doesn't, of course, add up because the hiring away was two years before Trump was continuing to say wonderful things about Epstein, and seven years before he kicked him out of the club.

Now they're saying, and Trump has used this word before, that Epstein was a creep and that they -- the White House say, quote, was Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees.

I mean, we -- does any of this add up legally?

RYAN GOODMAN, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: So I think they've gotten themselves in more trouble by these references to that. The reason for it was that he was a creep or that he was a creep to the --

BURNETT: It's hard to say he's a creep if you said you didn't know what he was doing.

GOODMAN: Exactly. So, if he kicked him out because of sexual predation towards the employees, then it means he had knowledge and the timing doesn't make sense because I think they're admitting to the knowledge. But the timing obviously doesn't make sense.

In 2019, a Trump Organization attorney went on the record and said to "The Washington Post", the timing of the kicking him out of Mar-a-Lago was 2007. So, it confirms the investigative reporting. And the reason he did it was because of the arrest a year earlier in Florida. So that's the timing of it in terms of when he ever took action.

But now they're all saying from the White House that the reason that he took action was his knowledge.

BURNETT: A year, a year after arrest for pedophilia.

GOODMAN: Right.

BURNETT: Seven years after Virginia Giuffre is hired, is stolen, seven years after that.

GOODMAN: Seven years after that.

So, it's not a good look for them at the least. And that's about in some sense moral culpability, not legal culpability. There would have to be more for that, but it does seem as though he's admitting to knowledge of a grotesque crime against minors. That's the problem.

BURNETT: He is using, and he himself has used the word creep.

LEVINE: Yes, he has, yes, he has.

BURNETT: So, Ryan, then what about -- is there any -- you talk about moral culpability, okay? If somebody knows -- whether Trump knew, whether other people knew, if one could prove that somebody knew who was mentioned in those files. Is there anything -- is there any recourse other than society holding them to account because that's wrong, that they didn't do something?

GOODMAN: If it's just knowledge, there's only one situation in which there would actually be legal obligations. And that's if somebody is a mandatory reporter. But to be a mandatory reporter, they'd have to be like a schoolteacher or something like that, or a medical doctor.

BURNETT: Not a rich friend. GOODMAN: No, not just a friend or of the like. And that would also be

a state law, and there would also probably be a statute of limitations problem for that particular offense. But otherwise, that would chalk up to moral culpability.

BURNETT: So, Barry, on this issue of how their friendship ended and it went it went back a long time. I mean, Jack O'Donnell, who worked with him at the Trump casino in in Atlantic City, has talked to me about the late 1990s and Trump and Epstein together all the time. So, it goes over a very prolonged period of time.

But when we've laid out the timeline, not adding up, okay, and that getting kicked out of the club happened even after the arrest of Epstein, what do you know about why their relationship ended?

LEVINE: Well, we -- you know, we know a few things. And on that case of the fact that he kicked him out because of a member there -- in that regard, James Patterson reported in his book that this member's daughter was asked to attend a party at Mar-a-Lago or I'm sorry, at Jeffrey Epstein's house, and that when she got there, she was asked to undress. And the word got back to her father. And then apparently the word got back to Trump.

Now, again, this is information that it doesn't seem that even though this got back to him, that Jeffrey Epstein was booted.

[19:20:08]

He was still on the membership logs up until 2007. So, you know, I have a hard time believing that that was the cause. Theres also the cause, of course, of this mansion that was in foreclosure. And both Jeffrey and Donald Trump went after it in terms of a financial deal and supposedly, you know, that ended the thing. So, we don't really know why it ended.

BURNETT: Right, right. But all of those and some of those details that you share, obviously disturbing ones. Thank you both very much.

And coming up tonight on CNN, Virginia Giuffre's brothers will be on "THE SOURCE" at 9:00.

And meantime, OUTFRONT next, federal air marshals that have been trained for counterterror missions and to keep Americans safe, American civilians on commercial flights are now shifting to helping ICE and mass deportations. In some cases, their job is to now perform lice inspections. It's a CNN exclusive.

Plus, breaking news, President Trump putting Putin on notice after a deadly strike in Ukraine. Though Trump acknowledging his threats may be worthless.

And dozens hospitalized after their jet hit terrifying turbulence. A passenger on that flight tells us what it was like when the plane plunged more than 1,300 feet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you didn't have your seatbelt on, you were probably hitting the ceiling and falling to the floor more than once.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:37]

BURNETT: Breaking news, we are learning about 200 federal air marshals. They are the highly trained armed federal law enforcement officers that are often on planes, have been asked not to help protect commercial flights at this time, but to work on ICE deportation flights with some elite agents performing the flight attendant role, handing out food and others checking detainees for lice -- for lice on the flights.

The shift by the Trump administration coming as they tap employees from across the government to help with Trump's goal of removing a million immigrants a year.

I want to go to Rene Marsh. She is breaking this exclusive reporting.

Rene, of all of -- you know, all of this. So many questions. But, you know, lice checks really stands out. I mean, can you explain how federal law enforcement agents are now performing inspections on these mass deportation flights?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Erin, as you said at the top, these federal air marshals, they are the security force. They were originally created to protect commercial passenger planes from things like a terror attack. But now the Trump administration is redeploying them in a way that one group that lobbies on their behalf says undermines commercial aviation safety.

And according to internal documents and sources, starting in early June, DHS began reassigning these highly trained federal law enforcement officers to serve as in-flight security on these ICE flights. But these marshals are unarmed on ICE flights, and they are tasked, as you said, with things like flight attendant duties, according to a cease-and-desist letter from the air marshal, national council sent to DHS and TSA. Those duties include handing out snacks, box juices, the detainees are doing -- I'm sorry, the air marshals are doing trash removal and lice checks.

And TSA is the agency that oversees the air marshal program. The group has filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general. Some 200 marshals have been reassigned so far. But what makes this redeployment even more controversial, Erin, the group says that the federal government has already paid a private contractor, the Geo Group, to provide security on board these deportation flights.

So, marshals are essentially supplementing that private companies workforce doing the job that the contractor is getting tax dollars to perform, according to this group, Erin. BURNETT: Yeah. And I mean, just the concept of delousing obviously is

quite unsettling.

You've reviewed internal documents, Rene, I know, you know, going through what they're doing, but also having a chance to talk to some of the people who are now having to do this. Are they -- are they happy to do it? Do they feel like this is part of their patriotic duty? Are they -- what are they telling you?

MARSH: I mean, it really depends on who you speak to. To be honest, there is a segment of the workforce of air marshals who look at this as an easy gig. They don't have to have their weapons. They're serving snacks. They're getting a lot of overtime pay. But then there's another section of the workforce where they really feel as if these duties are outside the scope of their national security duties.

So, this one group does not speak for everyone. However, DHS and TSA, they are saying that, look, this is all a part of a coordinated interagency initiative aimed at supporting the president's broader mandate on immigration. And they told us in a statement that federal air marshals are proud to support our ICE colleagues by providing in- flight security functions for select enforcement and removal operation flights.

So they're saying nothing to see here, no problems. I will point out they did not answer our questions about these air marshals doing lice checks, handing out sandwiches and taking out the trash on these flights -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Rene, thank you very much for that exclusive reporting.

And next breaking news, the death toll up Russia unleashing a devastating assault on the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv tonight. Trump calling it disgusting. We'll tell you Putin's -- what Putin is saying.

Plus, we're just hours from Trump's self-imposed trade deadline. It is midnight, so we are literally hours away. Trump now claiming his trade war, its signed, sealed and delivered. All the deals are done.

[19:30:00]

It's great for the U.S. economy.

Our Richard Quest has something to say about the facts on this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: The breaking news, President Trump calling Putin's latest deadly strikes on Ukraine, quote, disgusting. Threatening now to punish Vladimir Putin with sanctions that Trump had not wanted to do. Now he's talking about them more, but he is admitting that they may not matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I don't know that sanctions bother him. You know, they know about sanctions. I know better than anybody about sanctions and tariffs and everything else. I don't know if that has any effect, but we're going to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, first of all, we'll see if he does do it, right? Senate had a bill bipartisan. They wanted to go ahead with it. Trump didn't want to. They had it. They wanted to go with it. He didn't want to.

So, if he does go ahead with it, that will matter. But the context here, of course, is Putin moving forward.

[19:35:02]

Russia now claiming it's captured a key eastern Ukrainian town. And this town had been really -- I mean, look at it. It's completely destroyed. The whole tragedy of this fighting over land so utterly destroyed. But this town had been -- Ukraine fighting to hold it for 18 months. So, 18 months of intense fighting. That's why there's nothing left.

But now, a Russian flag is flying on top of a ruined building there. And in Kyiv, Russian missiles and drones killing at least 16 people, including a six year old boy and his mother, over the past day.

OUTFRONT, now retired Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.

And, General Hodges, so do you think that these sanctions, if Trump moves forward with them? And that's why I was explaining, right. He's flirted with the idea before and not done so.

But these additional sanctions, which would require basically sanctioning other countries that are buying Russian oil, they're kind of complex to do them. Would they make a difference to Putin?

LT. GENERAL BEN HODGES (RET.), FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY EUROPE: I think the only thing that will really change his thinking, Erin, is serious economic pressure that would degrade or limit Russia's ability to generate finances, to pay for their war effort. So, these sanctions, if the president does move forward and put really what are secondary sanctions on countries that would be buying Russia's oil, and we're talking about China and India, mainly, that could be significant.

But I think the Russians are showing with their attack last night that they don't respect these threats from the president. They seem skeptical. And I think most of us are skeptical until the president really does follow through on this.

BURNETT: Right, right. What sort of believe it when we see it.

Okay. Well, let me just ask you about this. Trump gave Putin ten days about a ceasefire, right? Trying to remember how many days ago, 10 or 12 or 14 or whatever it was. It was 52 days, right? So now if you take the new deadline of 10, it's now eight days away. Right? Again, we'll see what we see.

But Julia Davis, who does this amazing job tracking Russian media, points out the reaction on Russian state television to this latest ultimatum. Let me play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREY KARTAPOLOV, RUSSIAN LAWMAKER: We aren't going to be extras in Trump's show. We won't be doing that. We respond to any ultimatums with profanities.

Using the language of ultimatums with us is futile and useless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Is that essentially true?

HODGES: Well, first let me say, Julia Davis is terrific. I follow her very closely. What she does, she's very good.

I think that what were seeing, not only people like the gentleman you just heard there, a Russian lawmaker, but also the attacks that have happened every night since President Trump's ultimatum back about 17 days ago, when he said 50 days that Russia had to move to the negotiating table.

Everything coming from the Russian side indicates that they have no respect for the United States or for this administration. They don't believe that we're actually going to follow through on any of this. And they also were pretty confident that the sanctions regime, even if there was a decision to actually do this, the enforcement is very hard to do.

And, you know, the E.U. sanctions commissioner has said that they've got nothing from the United States since January in terms of cooperation on sanctions. So, I think this is why the Russians feel, let's say, cocky about -- about their situation.

BURNETT: General Hodges, I appreciate your time and thank you so much.

HODGES: Okay. Thanks for the opportunity.

BURNETT: All right. And now, tonight, we have a special report on the ground from our Nick Paton Walsh. He's there in Ukraine tonight looking at the brutal and deadly impact of Putin's latest strike.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When wars kill for years, names bleed into lists without faces. But each loss still burns a black hole in the worlds they left behind. Tymur was age 10. He was visiting his grandmother in Kramatorsk, he

really wanted to see her, when a 250-kilogram Russian bomb hit her top floor home.

It was 4:40 a.m. on July the 22nd, and Tymur slept alone in the spare room. Toys flipped up on the roof. His mother, Nastiya, had left them together that night and was due to take Tymur home to Kyiv the next morning.

[19:40:00]

ANASTASIYA CHAICHENKO, MOTHER OF 10-YEAR-OLD KILLED BY RUSSIAN STRIKE: He said he wanted to stay. I said, "No, son, we're going, we're definitely going." Then, at that very moment, I wasn't at home, unfortunately. I don't know why or how -- what forces took me away from it. But I should have been with him. And I blame myself very much for that.

WALSH: Tymur grew up in war, born in 2015, when Vladimir Putin was also annexing towns while talking peace.

His father Yevgeny, playing with him here, was killed fighting the Russians near Lyman 26 months ago. When Nastiya's sister rang at 5:00 a.m., she sensed it meant more loss, and at first hung up. Didn't want to take the call.

CHAICHENKO: She said, "They took mom away and they're searching for Tymur under the rubble. he should at the scene. From that moment on, I felt like I was in a dream.

WALSH: At the scene, rescuers had pulled Tymur out. And here are their desperate efforts to resuscitate him.

CHAICHENKO: It was like a new breath of hope when one of the soldiers came out and said that he had a pulse and they were resuscitating him. And for those 40 minutes while they were pumping him, I prayed to God to give him life. But the miracle didn't happen. And I couldn't go up there. I went straight to my mom at the hospital.

WALSH: Tymur was the only one to die that night and is buried on the edge of Kramatorsk, where the graves are ready for more, and the skyline, often loud. Nastiya remembers their last moment together.

CHAICHENKO: You know, it was such -- a very warm last moment with him. We went crazy, I showed him how I used to give him massages when he was a baby, we laughed, and that was it.

TYMUR: I wish you a beautiful love. I wish you a happy family.

CHAICHENKO: He loved all the animals very much and kids. At home in Kyiv, he has two pet rats waiting for him. He loved them madly. He constantly called me and asked, "Mom, did you clean their cage?" "Did you feed them? Do they have water?" Very caring, very bright boy. Very.

WALSH: As towns fall and deadlines pass, remember Tymur Grigorenko, aged ten, who knew only war, whose teacher said he spoke up when girls were picked on, who had two pet rats and who really wanted to stay with his grandmother on the night a Russian airstrike killed only him as he slept.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kramatorsk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And next, the breaking news of Trump's trade war intensifying tonight. Hours away from the deadline of all the deals being done, Trump's announcing tariff rates of up to 41 percent on dozens of countries.

Plus, out of nowhere, a jet plummeting more than 1,300 feet. Two people on board that flight OUTFRONT. They'll talk about exactly what happened in those terrifying moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:47:51]

BURNETT: Breaking news, the White House just moments ago announcing an executive order setting reciprocal tariff rates from 10 to 41 percent on dozens of countries. And President Trump saying Canada, of course, one of America's closest allies, now faces a 35 percent tariff and that were just hours away from those tariffs going into effect.

But what does that actually mean when the tariff numbers sort of change at the whim of one person on any given day, at any given time?

Richard Quest is here, host of "quest means business".

Richard, I was reading your social media post where with -- you know, your typical call it like it is. You said that the tariff the trade agreements Trump has announced are quote largely garbage. And you weren't saying that just to throw it away, shall we say?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: No.

BURNETT: There's a reason that you were saying that.

QUEST: Right. Because the president only has one thing in his goal, and that is a headline tariff number, 15 percent, 20 percent, 10 percent doesn't matter. This goes back decades. As you know, Erin, from Donald Trump. He loves tariffs. So he's got his headline number.

As for the rest of these deals, Japan invest $550 billion, E.U. $600 billion, 750 on exports. U.K., oh, here's a good one. The U.K. will adopt a structured negotiated approach, whatever that is. South Korea is going to give the president $350 billion to own and controlled, selected by myself.

But there's no mechanism for any of this. There's no enforcement. There's no penalty. Nobody knows what this means.

BURNETT: It's -- I'm going to build a factory for $5 billion and fill in the blank state that has struggled, right?

QUEST: Yeah.

BURNETT: And 10 years later, the $100 billion was put in.

QUEST: Correct, and that's why --

BURNETT: It's that except for exponentially bigger.

QUEST: Correct. And it's again and again and again. But the president has got what he wanted, which was a headline tariff number. These deals will never come to fruition. If you think I'm wrong, they'll be fiddled. They'll be changed. They'll be fudged. Trade deals run to thousands of pages and take months, if not years, to negotiate. You don't do it like this?

[19:50:00]

BURNETT: No. And then. And even when you say, oh, it's this number, it changes all the time. To your point about enforcement.

QUEST: There's none.

BURNETT: Something -- there's no -- no one even because no one even knows what to enforce or where to enforce, right? So --

QUEST: Each one of these countries is going home, going, oh, we got away with 15 percent. Never mind that other garbage. We got away with 15 percent.

I know this because I've spoken to the ministers involved. They are all basically saying, how can we get away from this with the least price payable?

BURNETT: And they feel that they're succeeding.

QEUST: Well, yeah, but they're fooling themselves, Erin, because tonight's a good example. In the last three days, we've had -- last few days, we've had Brazil with Bolsonaro. We've had India with secondary sanctions. And tonight, we've got Canada, or yesterday, we've got Canada with Palestinian recognition.

So, tariffs are going to be used again and again and again in the future as a tool of foreign policy. And any deal that anybody's agreed -- meaningless.

BURNETT: Wow. All right. Well --

QUEST: I don't say this lightly, by the way.

BURNETT: No, I know you don't. And that's why I said when you say you're not saying it to be silly, right? You're saying it very seriously. Which is why I wanted to talk about it. And thank you very much, Richard.

And next, thousands of officers honoring an NYPD officer who was killed during that Midtown Manhattan shooting. As the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani faces questions about his past calls to defund the police.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:55:37]

BURNETT: Tonight, two passengers sharing their frightening moments aboard that Delta flight that hit such severe turbulence, 25 people went to the hospital afterwards. So first, the plane shot up 500 feet. Then it plunged 1,500 feet. It's terrifying.

Adam and LeeAnn Nash told us about the sheer panic on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM NASH, PASSENGER ON DELTA FLIGHT THAT EXPERIENCED SEVERE TURBULENCE: The turbulence was just -- just harrowing. It was just amazing how quickly that could happen. And without any warning whatsoever.

LEEANN CLEMENT-NASH, PASSENGER ON DELTA FLIGHT THAT EXPERIENCED SEVERE TURBULENCE: Yes, that was very frightening for us. There was a lot of screaming, a lot of yelling, but it was very sudden. And if you didn't have your seatbelt on, you were probably hitting the ceiling and falling to the floor more than once, as were the cards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Adam Nash was among the 25 rushed to the hospital. His ribs were injured when his laptop slammed into his chest. Thank God he's okay. But he also saw others bleeding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NASH: There was a gentleman sitting two seats to the left of me. He had sustained a big gash in the top of his head and he was bleeding rather profusely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: The incidents becoming more frequent. Singapore Airlines passenger dying due to turbulence just last year. Also tonight, thousands of police officers gathering in New York City to honor a hero officer who was killed in Monday's Midtown Manhattan shooting. The top candidates for mayor attended the procession as Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani faces questions about his past calls to defund the police.

Gloria Pazmino is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Zohran Mamdani is walking a political tightrope.

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.

PAZMINO: The Democratic mayoral nominee who stunned the political establishment last month after winning the mayoral primary, is carefully distancing himself from previous calls to defund the police. Days after a shooting inside a Manhattan office building left four people dead, including 36-year-old NYPD officer Didarul Islam.

MAMDANI: To be very clear, as I have been over the course of this campaign -- I am not defunding the police. I am not running to defund the police.

PAZMINO: New York City's deadliest mass shooting in 25 years has put Mamdani's previous comments back in the spotlight. In 2020, Mamdani called to defund police on social media, saying, quote, we don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety. In another post, Mamdani appeared to mock an officer for crying.

MAMDANI: My statements in 2020 were ones made amidst a frustration that many New Yorkers held at the murder of George Floyd.

PAZMINO: Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, distanced himself from those previous calls hours after meeting with the family of slain Officer Didarul Islam.

MAMDANI: I met with members of his family, young and old who are heartbroken over the loss of their son, of their brother, their father, their husband, their friend.

No kings!

CROWD: No kings!

MAMDANI: No Cuomo!

CROWD: No Cuomo!

MAMDANI: No ICE!

CROWD: No ICE!

PAZMINO: Mamdani had softened his stance on the issue during his primary campaign, but his opponents have seized on the comments.

ANDREW CUOMO (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Literally, he has said -- he was part of this defund the police movement. I don't think he understands the importance of the NYPD and the importance of public safety.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: When you start dismantling the pieces of the law enforcement apparatus that are specifically designed to carry out functions, that is extremely dangerous.

PAZMINO: Cuomo and Adams have made public safety a central issue in their campaigns, while Mamdani has proposed creating a department of community safety that would respond to some emergencies, including incidents involving people experiencing mental health crises.

Despite Mamdani's previous statements, he appears to have been embraced by the slain officers family, who invited him to the funeral.

As thousands of officers lined the streets of the Bronx to pay their final respects, Mamdani's campaign said he sat with the officer's family at their invitation.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And thanks for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.