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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump's Plan For Putin Meeting; 800 National Guard Troops In D.C.; Warning Sign For Economy. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 14, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:24]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Trump and Putin hours away from meeting. And there's new reporting tonight on the president's plan heading into these historic talks.
Plus, 800 National Guard troops on the streets of D.C. tonight as FBI agents pulled to patrol now are speaking to CNN, raising alarm about their new role.
And a major new warning sign for the economy, one that's putting new pressure on the Fed chair.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan, in for Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. We are just hours away from the Trump-Putin summit. The two leaders are both right now preparing to fly to Alaska, where they will meet one on one. This will be the first in-person meeting of these two leaders in years. President Trump today said that he expects this meeting with Putin will be -- will be productive.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe now he's convinced that he's going to make a deal. He's going to make a deal. I think he's going to. And we're going to find out. I'm going to know very quickly.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And of course, just a few minutes later, President Trump conceded that there's a 25 percent chance in his mind this meeting is a failure.
As for Putin, he's working the flattery angle with President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The current American administration, which, as everyone knows, is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis, and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict.
(END VIDOE CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Putin knows that praising Trump has definitely worked in the past. Remember when the two men met in 2018? They stood side by side as President Trump sided with Vladimir Putin over U.S. intelligence agencies about Russian interference in the 2016 election. And despite what we all know to be the truth about the Russian leader, the president has spent years praising him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
TRUMP: I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin.
I knew Putin very well. I got along with him, actually great.
Putin is a nicer person than I am.
So now I like Putin.
Now Putin called me a genius, by the way.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
BOLDUAN: But Putin has reason to worry. Trump's tone has changed in recent months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I was very unhappy with my call with President Putin, and it just seems like. He wants to go all the way and just keep killing people.
I'm not happy with President Putin at all.
We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin.
I'm disappointed in President Putin. Very disappointed in him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: And now, we're just hours away from the two meeting once again. Some European officials tell CNN that they're concerned that Putin could sway Trump yet again. One official saying that Trump, quote, must be prepared because Putin is very, very well prepared.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT in Alaska ahead of the president's arrival there.
Kristen, what more are you learning about the president's thinking going into this?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And, Kate, just one thing to note. It's not just the Europeans who have been afraid of that. I mean, I've talked to U.S. officials who always are worried that President Trump could go in there with the Russian president and be charmed by him. It is not uncommon for people to be charmed by Vladimir Putin.
Now, when it comes to the president's mentality, he is at least going into this more clear headed and open eyed than we've seen him in the past because of the fact that he has been really embarrassed by the Russian president this time around. On multiple occasions, he's held a number of phone calls with Putin in which Putin has made him promises. At the beginning, President Trump would talk about what they talked about on the phone. Then he stopped because afterwards he would be more bombs dropped in Ukraine. So, you're seeing a lot of caveats from President Trump.
But I did talk to members of his team today who say they are feeling more optimistic by the day as they get closer to that. Sit down. Now, one of the interesting things that President Trump floated today was this idea that right after the meeting, there would be some kind of trilateral meeting with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine that essentially they would call him if things were going well and bring him to Alaska.
Now, this is something that had been floated to me roughly a week ago. Ukrainian officials are pouring water on this idea, saying it would be nearly impossible to get Zelenskyy here in time to have a meeting the next day. But it gives you a little bit of an idea of where Trump's mindset is at. Part of the reason that they are rushing this, that they are moving so quickly with the meeting with Putin and this idea of a trilateral meeting right afterwards is because they want to strike while the iron is hot, and they understand that they might have a limited window if, in fact, the Russian president does make any concessions or does seem willing to make a deal with the United States, with Ukraine, with European leaders.
[19:05:00]
But one thing that was also interesting about this trilateral meeting. At one point, he seemed to suggest that it might also include European leaders. This time around, he is leaning very heavily on those European allies going into this meeting in a way that we haven't seen before.
BOLDUAN: Yeah, it's been suggested to me that the Europeans have to be in this meeting for -- a meeting eventually for this all to work out.
Kristen, great to see you. Thank you so much for being there. So how does Russia view these talks?
Fred Pleitgen is on the ground in Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Russian state TV counting down the minutes to the landmark summit between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
After days of silence, Putin, with his first public remarks, meeting his most senior officials, praising President Trump.
The current American administration, he says, which is making, in my opinion, quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities, stop the crisis, and reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict in order to create long term conditions for peace between our countries.
But more than long term peace talks, President Trump says he wants an immediate ceasefire as the fighting on the battlefields in Ukraine grinds on.
Trump threatening, quote, severe consequences if the summit doesn't yield real progress towards a ceasefire.
I asked a member of Russia's delegation about the U.S.'s tough talk.
So, sir. President Trump has threatened severe consequences if there's no movement towards a ceasefire. What's Russia hoping to get out of this meeting?
KIRILL DMITRIEV, SPECIAL ENVOY OF THE PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA: Well, I think dialog is very important, and I think it's a very positive meeting for the world because during Biden administration, no dialogue was happening. So, I think it's very important to hear Russian position directly. And there are lots of misunderstandings, misinformation about the Russian position. And it's also a chance to sort of reset if the meeting goes, well, U.S.-Russia relations.
PLEITGEN: Moscow hoping for sanctions relief and lucrative business deals with the U.S. in the future, especially in the Arctic. Russians fascinated by the summit venue. Alaska, once part of Russia until it was sold to the U.S. in the 19th century. Some Russians, still bitter feeling Alaska should be theirs.
Neither in the czarist nor in the Soviet nor in the post-Soviet era, have the top leaders of our country visited Alaska, a Russian state TV correspondent says in a report from Alaska.
But should they not take back the land sold in 1867 by Alexander II for the colossal sum at the time of $7,200,000.
But for now, many Russians hope their president will be able to take back the diplomatic initiative and persuade President Trump into laying off possible severe sanctions and tariffs.
The Kremlin spokesman, praising Putin's relations with the U.S. president.
President Trump is demonstrating an unprecedentedly unusual approach to solving the most difficult issues, he says, which is highly praised by Moscow and President Putin personally.
While both Washington and Moscow say the personal chemistry between the two leaders is good, the coming hours will show if they're strong enough to move closer to ending the fighting in Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (on camera): And, Kate, as Russian leader Vladimir Putin makes his way first to the Russian far east, where he has a couple of appointments, and then on to Alaska for that summit with President Trump, the Russians keen to show that Vladimir Putin is going there with a lot of momentum on the battlefield, saying the Russians have made what they call significant gains in the past couple of days -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Fred, great to see you. Thank you so much for the report.
OUTFRONT with us now, Congressman Adam Smith, he is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.
Congressman, thanks for being here. You just heard from our correspondent in Moscow, the Russians, they aren't completely focused on a ceasefire. They're talking about the potential of resetting U.S.- Russia relations, the potential of economic and arms deals with the United States. What does that tell you?
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Well, what Putin wants is he wants to be able to continue to pursue his objectives in Ukraine, which is basically to take over Ukraine one way or the other, while continuing to build a better relationship with the U.S. That's what he's going to try to do.
Now, obviously, that's a directly contrary to our interests and European interests, and certainly Ukrainian interests. And that's the test for President Trump. Will he be able to stand up to this charm offensive that Putin is trying to put forward, as he's basically trying to con Trump into letting him have Ukraine? That's where we're at, which is why it's so important for President Trump to push back hard against that and say, you want a better relationship, I'm fine with it, but you got to stop the war in Ukraine, and Ukraine has to be a sovereign, democratic country when that is done.
BOLDUAN: I mean, Trump going in is projecting optimism heading into this. But I mean, he has been all over the place in terms of what he's at least publicly stating are the goals and expectations here.
[19:10:03]
I mean, you remember we talked about this earlier, that first, this was a meeting that was a listening-only exercise. Then Trump threatened these severe consequences if Putin didn't agree to stop the war. And today he's moving past this first meeting already and looking to the second. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The more important meeting will be the second meeting that were having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, President Zelenskyy, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along. Maybe not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: What do you think of his assessment going in and what it does?
SMITH: I think President Trump has long believed that there's nobody that he can't win a discussion with. I mean, remember, this is what he did with Kim Jong Un during his first term. They were I forget the phrase he used, but they exchanged letters, and they were very fond of each other. And he was convinced that he could just sit down with Kim Jong Un and everything would be solved.
That's not the way the world works, but it's pretty much a straightforward theme. President Trump, remember, he was going to end the war with Ukraine in a day. He was going to solve the Mideast peace process. It's part of Trump's sort of bluster to say, I'll show up. Everything will be fixed.
But now seven, eight months into this term, he's also got to confront reality, which is it hasn't been fixed. So, he still has that bluster of I'll charm him, everything will be fine. And then he's throwing out the caveats because of what he's learned in the last 6 or 7 months, that that doesn't always work. So it's a bit of a confused mixed message. I don't think he knows for sure exactly what he could get out of this meeting.
BOLDUAN: Trump and Putin are planning to hold a joint press conference after they sit down and meet. The president has added a little bit of a caveat around it, but they said they've agreed to a joint press conference, which is what happened after the summit in Helsinki in 2018, and that ended up being a cloud to hang over. The Trump administration when he sided with Putin over U.S. intelligence.
Do you think another joint press conference is a good idea?
SMITH: No, I think it is incredibly dangerous, and I think it shows a level of support for Putin that Putin has not earned at this point. I don't know. I mean, look, if the joint press conference is to come out and announce a ceasefire, maybe, but that seems highly unlikely. So, if he does a joint press conference after this, he is elevating Putin's status and stature in this whole conversation and just empowering Putin to continue his war.
I think Putin is going to have to make some concessions before you give him that level of legitimacy. So I hope they don't follow through with that.
BOLDUAN: Russia is making strong gains on the ground in Ukraine, still knowing that as a reality and knowing Putin, do you really think there is any chance that he backs down here?
SMITH: Well, I think there is a distinct chance because those advances that Russia is making, it's been very slow over a very long period of time. And at a high cost. If that cost continues to be high, if the U.S. gets back to being a full-throated supporter of the 53- nation coalition backing Ukraine, and Putin continues to be blunted in what he's trying to do in the east, then Putin has to recalculate. But a lot of what President Trump did and J.D. Vance and others in
their first six months in office undermined that unity and that support. Remember, in a couple of occasions, we actually briefly cut off support for Ukraine that only empowered Putin. So no, I am not of the opinion that Russian success is inevitable. People have been saying that since the war started and they continually run headlong into Ukrainian resistance.
They have taken on an appalling level of casualties. Russia has. It is weakening. If we stand strong, I do absolutely believe that Putin can be convinced that he can't win this militarily. So, then he has to negotiate. But to do that, President Trump has to offer up stronger resistance, and he has to actually put some punishment on Putin for continuing this war. That's the opportunity that he has tomorrow. And we'll see if he does it.
BOLDUAN: Yep. It will be critical to see what they what Donald Trump says as they leave that meeting.
It's very good to see you. Thank you so much for coming in, Congressman.
OUTFRONT for us next, one man --
SMITH: Thanks.
BOLDUAN: Of course, one man who knows Putin well, serving as Russia's former energy minister. Why he thinks Putin has already won before the summit even starts.
Plus, California Governor Gavin Newsom taking on Donald Trump, saying it is time to fight fire with fire. And he has plans.
And the hooters loving MAGA influencer whom Trump just nominated to be a U.S. ambassador.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is time for alpha males to return.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:19:07]
BOLDUAN: And breaking news, outrage on Russian state media. Vladimir Putins top propagandist threatening America with destruction as Russian media monitor Julia Davis points out, this after President Trump warned that Russia will face severe consequences if Putin doesn't accept a ceasefire in Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR SOLOVYOV, RUSSIAN STATE TV HOST: Yes, there will be very severe consequences. We will destroy all of Ukraine. When Trump suddenly starts to act as though he can give us directives
and is threatening us, we can actually destroy America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: OUTFRONT now, Vladimir Milov, a former deputy minister of energy in Russia who served under Vladimir Putin before resigning, and the investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov. He's the author of the new book "Our Dear Friends in Moscow".
Thank you both for being here.
Vladimir, we're hours now from this summit.
[19:20:02]
And here's what we know, that Putin will be hosted on U.S. soil at a U.S. military base. He and Trump have agreed to hold a joint press conference afterward, and very obviously, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy did not get an invite and will not be there.
How is Putin interpreting this setup?
VLADIMIR MILOV, FORMER RUSSIAN DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY: Good evening.
And I think Putin feels very lucky that he finally got exactly the summit in the setup that he wanted without any participation from Ukraine, Europeans, the people that they both hate actually, together with President Trump and I think it's important to remember who Putin is, he's an extremely experienced leader with the KGB background. So he's very, very proficient at manipulating people.
And Donald Trump instead -- we all know that he's a relatively easy target for manipulation from anything ranging from flattery to blackmail, which we just heard from, Russian media propaganda folks. They really on, on the other hand, Putin is praising Trump for good approach to talks, and on the other, they are threatening them with World War III, something which Trump was seriously concerned about, as we know before.
So, a combination of that, I think this meeting will be about an attempt to manipulate Trump, and Putin is really good at that.
BOLDUAN: Andre, you just heard the tone and tenor of Russian state media today. No compromise. Total victory over Ukraine. And if America tries to get in the way, it will be destroyed. That's state media.
But what is Putin's mindset going into this meeting?
ANDREI SOLDATOV, RUSSIAN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: Well, I think it is -- it sounds very correct that unfortunately, was the very fact that he will be in a room with Donald Trump is already a big win for Vladimir Putin because it means that, first of all, he could then say to the Russian people that the time of isolation of the country, is over. And he's back and the country is back, and we can try to get back to the normal, whatever it is, meaning the situation before 2022.
And that is also a very strong message to the Ukrainians and to the Europeans that, look, we told you from the day one that Ukraine was not a real state, not a real country. And now finally, we got two guys who actually could fix things and decide what to do about Ukraine.
BOLODUAN: Vladimir sanctions and tariffs. This is some of the severe consequences that have been discussed. It's part of what Trump has been threatening. It's what definitely the U.S. Congress wants. There's legislation moving through the Senate that would allow the United States to put a 500 percent tariff on Brazil, India, China, if they continue to buy Russian oil and gas.
Would that put legitimate pressure on Putin to stop this war?
MILOV: Russians are not afraid of any secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil. You can see that. And the market's reaction has been, you know, very mild. There was a "Reuters" headline. I think, that markets consider Trump's threats against India is hollow.
It's very simple. If India does not buy Russian oil, somebody else will maybe with a bigger discount, but still oil will find its way to consumers. It's very unfortunate that all these discussion on sanctions against Russia had actually some point in time veered off course due to President Trump and Senator Lindsey Graham and the others on sanctioning other countries for something else. But not directly imposing new sanctions against Russia and Russian players for actually enabling the war in Ukraine.
I think it would be best if Trump gets back on this track and will be sanctioning Russia again, and not some third countries under complicated schemes.
BOLDUAN: Andre, Putin's lying, and we've kind of talked about he's very good at laying on the on the flattery. And he's laying it on thick ahead of this meeting praising Trump. The way he put it was for his, quote, energetic and sincere efforts to achieve peace. Is it as transparent as it seems to be? What he's up to?
SOLDATOV: No. Of course it has nothing to do with the aspirations to get real peace. It's not about that. Putin is, well, has a very dark vision of what could be achieved with the United States and lots of people in the Kremlin believe that they have, at best, maybe two years until the midterm elections. So, they are very focused on tactical gains. What we can get in Ukraine right now, what we can get with Europe right now and with the United States and -- but the very fact that he might be in the same room with Trump, that would be absolutely enough for Putin. He is not really interested in the immediate results of this conversation.
BOLDUAN: Vladimir, this idea of a joint press conference afterward, what would that mean for Vladimir Putin?
[19:25:03] MILOV: It will mean very much. It's again, as many guests said before on your show, it's his legitimization because he was an outcast for years. And, this is what, this is the way it was meant to be after he invaded Ukraine, that there will be punishment and Russia will remain isolated internationally until it stops the aggression and withdraws the troops.
But Putin was saying all along that this is not going to happen, and I'm going to, you know, achieve my goals one way or another. I will be back at the international stage talking to world leaders. You see, they're even putting on putting forward a very different agenda. The U.S.-American, you know, arms control agenda, rare earth mining, whatever they want to sort of sway all these things away from even discussing Ukraine. And I think a press conference also will give Putin a great opportunity to again, we're this conversation, of course.
BOLDUAN: What I'm gathering from both of you is you don't seem nearly as optimistic as President Trump on how on how they are going to come out of this meeting.
Gentlemen, thank you both. I appreciate your time.
OUTFRONT for us next, tension exploding on the streets of D.C. as President Trump's crackdown expands, hundreds of national guard troops out tonight in a dramatic show of force.
And the latest inflation data is in, and it's alarming, rising at the fastest rate in years as President Trump declares the inflation nightmare, as he says over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And now our inflation is down to a perfect number, a beautiful number, hardly any at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:13]
BOLDUAN: The breaking news, these are live pictures showing Humvees and National Guard troops outside Union Station in Washington, D.C., all 800 national guard troops mobilized by President Trump are now in the district. As tension is rising on the streets.
The president today was downplaying concerns that federal agents are being pulled away from other national threats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you concerned at all that some federal officers that are helping D.C. police might be being pulled away from other high priority assignments?
TRUMP: Like what? Like what?
REPORTER: Terrorism?
TRUMP: Oh, really? Terrorism? They'll stop terrorism as part of what they're doing right now. No.
The soldiers that we have, first of all, we have plenty of them long beyond what they that you have here. We're just using a very small force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: This comes, though, as CNN is hearing from FBI agents themselves who want to get back to their day jobs.
Brian Todd is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEMONSTRATORS: Get off our streets! Get off our streets!
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Open tension on the street between D.C. residents and local and federal officers, as President Trump's law enforcement surge in Washington ramps up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your badge?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How does that work?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What for -- what part of the government do you work for?
TODD: Metropolitan D.C. police and federal agents, some wearing masks, set up a checkpoint in an area popular for bars and restaurants, stopping motorists handcuffing and detaining at least one that we saw as furious local residents screamed at the officers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hold up. What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) are you doing out here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything for a check, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go home, fascists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go home.
TODD: The spur of the moment protest was nonviolent, but residents got angry when we relayed that one of the commanders told us this was a routine operation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hell no. I've lived here for 17 years off of this street, and this has never happened.
TODD: The presidents law enforcement surge clearly getting more aggressive Wednesday night and Thursday. Early Wednesday evening, CNN did not see significant federal units in the Anacostia section of D.C., one of the areas hardest hit by crime. But late at night, we saw six FBI vehicles pull a motorist over and question him in Anacostia, we tailed a caravan of Metro Police and federal vehicles as they snaked through the area looking for criminal activity.
The president and his team today applauding the daily arrests and getting criminals off D.C. streets.
TRUMP: People are so happy to see our military going into D.C. and getting these thugs out.
TODD: Today, near the Lincoln Memorial and the Kennedy Center, where president Trump's motorcade and a lot of tourists often pass by bulldozers uprooted a homeless encampment, its occupants forced to move out.
DAVID BEATTY, REMOVED FROM DC HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT: And the idea that he's targeting us and persecuting us feels wrong to me.
TODD: The president said he wants to move the homeless out of the city and give them places to stay far away from the capital.
One homeless person we spoke to doesn't hate the idea.
LONDYN STEVENS, HOMELESS DC RESIDENT: It would be a place to live for one, I won't be outside. If it takes me having to move to get a place, I'm all for it.
TODD: D.C. National Guard troops also out in greater numbers today, a National Guard official telling CNN for now, these troops will be stationed near the monuments at metro train stops and have not been asked to deploy to high crime areas. The guardsmen could help with crowd control and could detain people if needed, the official says, but won't make arrests or carry firearms.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): And we're here at Washington's Union Station, where National Guard troops have been here pretty much all day. As the surge really ramps up, you've got two very large, heavy armored National Guard vehicles here in front of the station.
[19:35:02]
Over there, there's a smaller armored Humvee. These soldiers, again, you know, have been here all-day assisting law enforcement. There was one apprehension that they were not part of earlier today, where a gentleman got arrested and taken away.
And this is one of the most visible shows of force of the National Guard throughout the entire city. It's going to ramp up in the days ahead. As you mentioned, Kate, some law enforcement sources telling CNN that some FBI agents are really worried that getting pulled onto the streets of D.C. is going to take them away from investigations into terrorism and other things. One source saying, if were doing policing, then were not covering down on the other threats. President Trump downplaying that, saying those agents are not being
pulled away from anything. The president, again claiming the city is now safer -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Brian Todd, thank you so much.
OUTFRONT now, Jamal Simmons, former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris, and Brad Todd, Republican strategist.
Guys, thanks for being here.
I mean, you heard what Brian was -- Jamal, you heard what Brian was reporting right there. CNN does have reporting that FBI agents are saying, like, plain and simple, if I'm being pulled to police, I'm not keeping my eye on the investigations. I'm working on. And the president, I mean, I'll characterize it as mocked a question when he got in the Oval Office.
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Dismissive. Dismissive was the word.
BOLDUAN: Would you -- does he run -- this is going to go on for 30 days minimum. He wants it to extend beyond that. Do you think this risks becoming an actual problem having federal agents pulled off their duty and focusing just on Washington, D.C.?
SIMMONS: It actually can be a -- it can be an actual problem. Listen, there are some people in Washington who have some comfort about the fact that there are more agents around metro stations, that sort of thing.
The question for me becomes, are these agents concentrated in the northwest quadrant of the city? For those of us who spend a lot of time in Washington, I lived there for most of my adult life. That's -- that part of the city is wealthier. It's more well-connected, and frankly, it's whiter. Right. And so, you see these agents in places where Donald Trump and more elites spend time and what's happening in the southeast part of the city and other parts of the city that do have heavy crime, are we worried more about the real victims of crime in the district, or are we worried about shoring up force for Donald Trump and his political agenda? Thats a real question for me.
BOLDUAN: Brad, what do you think?
BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think Jamal makes a good point that Southeast D.C. is definitely the roughest and toughest and least safe part of the city. You know, Anacostia has 54,000 residents. It's just east of the river, and it has six on track to have about 65 murders this year. D.C. has a real problem with violent crime. Our murder rate in the city and I live in the region is six times what New York is. There are 498 carjackings last year, which affects people on both sides of the border of Virginia and both sides of the border of Maryland.
D.C. has a crime problem. And so, I think that if you actually talk to residents here, both Democrats and Republicans, if you get them to take their partisan hat off, they'll tell you they're glad that president of the United States is trying to make this region safer.
BOLDUAN: Bill Kristol told me this week. It's a -- it's a fallacy to think that Donald Trump truly cares about crime, and crime in the District of Columbia. We know that fighting crime, being hard on crime was part of a campaign promise. And Bill Kristol was telling me he's like, this is just the perfect stage for this to play out. Those images that you saw Humvees at the -- at Union Station, the protests.
Well, at that stop that they put up in 14th Street, those are the exact images that Donald Trump would like to have seen. With that being said, is this -- it's -- has he already won this in terms of the political battle that this has become?
SIMMONS: So perhaps people are looking at this and saying Donald Trump is doing something about crime, right? That's the meta picture. But then what happens next? Is this just the first stage of him going into places like Baltimore or New York City?
BOLDUAN: But how are Democrats message it? It doesn't seem that they've got the advantage right now in terms of how this is going. And the message here.
SIMMONS: Well, the message here has got to be about how do you protect people from criminals, right? Everybody wants to protect people from criminals, but how you do it is also important. Are these officers wearing body cams? Where do they take the people that they detain? Who actually arrest them? What happens when you have someone who has expired tags or sitting on an ounce of marijuana, which is still a federal crime? Marijuana is a federal crime, not in the district, but in the federal government.
So what happens if you have a federal officer who decides to enforce federal law for something that is a local, not really a local crime? There are all sorts of ways this thing can go badly, and then you end up in an altercation that could also get even worse. But the question next is what happens to these -- what happens to this precedent of Donald Trump putting forces on the ground in Los Angeles first and then Washington, D.C. --
BOLDUAN: Watching this and then 30 days plus is like, this is this has been day four. And it's like getting out of hand in terms of the messaging and just the optics of it on the ground.
But let us run over to California now, Brad, because I do want to ask you guys about out in California, border patrol was seen right outside Governor Gavin Newsom's news conference where he was announcing his plans for a -- to redistrict -- for redistricting in the state, how he wants to fight fire with fire, if you will.
[19:40:14]
I want to play what the governor said from the stage about this video that you see right here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: You think it's coincidental?
AUDIENCE: No, no!
NEWSOM: Donald Trump and his minions, Tom Homan, tough guy, coldly decided, coincidentally or not, that this was a location to advance ICE arrest.
Wake up, America. This is serious moment. Wake up to what's going on. Wake up to the fear and anxiety.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Brad, Newsom clearly has decided he wants to be the face, if you will, of the strong Democratic opposition, to stand up to President Trump and Republicans. Do you think he's breaking through?
TODD: Well, I think Gavin Newsom, first off, will say almost anything it takes to make himself politically popular on a given day. But what he's doing here is playing to the left side of the Democratic base. You know, Democrats, if you go back to Bill Clinton's time, Democrats had lost a lot of elections, and Bill Clinton came along and said, we need to stop doing these things that cost us elections.
That's what the Democrats need to do right now. And that's the Democrat I'd be scared of, scared of. Gavin Newsom is saying, lets double down. Let's continue to be for open borders. Let's continue to doubt whether we need crime control. He's taking Democrats down the same path that will cost them the election last time. And I would be furious if I was a Democrat operative to see that happen.
BOLDUAN: Jamal?
SIMMONS: That is not the ground that this fight is being waged on in the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party, people look at Gavin Newsom and they say, this guy is taking it to Trump every single day. He is showing up. He's saying what needs to be said. He's saying it in very plain language. And he's, you know, he's Twitter thumbing him, you know, and going back and forth with all caps letters. They're out of control. Right?
But that's the politics of Donald Trump has brought to America. And instead of Democrats sort of sitting around kind of, you know, wringing our fingers, wringing our hands about whether or not we ought to be doing (VIDEO GAP)
BOLDUAN: Let's redistrict, let's throw out this independent commission for now, and let's do exactly what they're doing in Texas. We'll see what the impact of it, of course.
Brad, thanks, guys.
TODD: Well, you know, Kate -- Kate. Thanks a lot.
BOLDUAN: Next time, my friend. Next time.
OUTFRONT, next warning signs for the economy. The highest price spike in years. Is it about to get worse?
And he calls himself an alpha male. And once a presidential task force to save hooters. Meet Trump's pick to be a U.S. ambassador.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: All right. Welcome back.
Tonight, warning signs for the economy. New data showing higher prices could be on the way for U.S. consumers after wholesale prices jumped much higher than expected for producers and manufacturers in July. The latest producer price index, which measures the average change in prices paid to producers, jumped almost a full percentage point. Economists are expected -- expected a rise of just 2/10 of 1 percent. The report, showing that Trump's tariffs are pushing costs higher. Fresh vegetables saw a 39 percent monthly price surge, which is the largest spike in over three years.
OUTFRONT with me now, Jim Bianco, longtime fed watcher, president of Bianco Research, which provides investment analysis. Thanks for being here, Jim.
What does this report mean for the prices that we'll be seeing at stores in the coming months?
JIM BIANCO, ECONOMIC ANALYST; BIANCO RESEARCH PRESIDENT: Unfortunately, I think it means that were going to see higher prices. Now, we're not going to see anything like 2022 with a massive spike up, but we're going to see them continue to move higher. The overall consumer inflation rate is around 3 percent. This number, the producer price number that we saw is a little over 3 percent. And I think we're going to continue to see that trend up.
[19:45:01]
BOLDUAN: Despite the new numbers and what you just laid out very clearly, President Trump today saw only good news in the way he put it is the inflation nightmare is over. Let me play this for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And now our inflation is down to a perfect number, a beautiful number. Hardly any at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Jim, what do you say to that?
BIANCO: It's not. I mean, unfortunately, it is still a number that is very high. The federal reserve has a target of 2 percent on inflation. It's three. Now, that doesn't sound like a lot, but we haven't been at 2 percent in five years. And indeed, the business website says that about 35 to 40 percent of Americans are not getting raises of more than 3 percent.
So, and those usually are on the lower end of the income spectrum. So they're not keeping up with the inflation rate. Now it is better than it was a couple of years ago. A couple of years ago. It was way worse.
But relative to where we were, say pre-pandemic, it is still a very elevated number and a troublesome number.
BOLDUAN: What does this all then mean for the Fed's decision next month to cut interest rates or not? And well, let's be frank, the unrelenting pressure campaign that the president has been putting on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
BIANCO: Well, it looks like they're going to cut interest rates at the September meeting. And it looks like that the market is expecting it. But this number is a real complication for that because the fed has been holding off all year saying we're worried about inflation. We're not going to raise rates. President Trump has been criticizing them. Then we get inflation. And then they say now we're going to cut rates.
And so, Chairman Powell speaks at a conference in Jackson Hole next week when we're widely expected conferences of the year. He's got some explaining to do. Why this number why it is now the appropriate time to cut interest rates when 2 or 3 months ago, when we actually did have much lower numbers before they started up, it wasn't.
BOLDUAN: How nightmare of a nightmare scenario does this all setting up for Jerome Powell now?
BIANCO: I mean, it's going to be a sticky number, and it's going to be a difficult thing for him to kind of navigate through. But, you know, I like Jerome Powell and I think he'll be able to do it. But you know, this is one of these instances where you're going to earn your pay, and he's going to have to earn his pay here trying to deal with this number, with the expectations of a rate cut and either delivering it or explaining why he doesn't want to deliver it.
BOLDUAN: If they do cut rates, what do you expect to see then?
BIANCO: Well, that all depends on how the market wants to view it. Remember, a year ago they cut interest rates and a year ago the market kind of concluded it wasn't the right policy and long term interest rates and mortgage rates went higher because it was rejecting that policy. That's the risk you face here. If you could cut rates anytime you want, but if the market doesn't agree, it will actually reject that policy and say you're creating more inflation, you're stimulating when we don't need stimulation. And I don't want to own long term bonds. And those yields go up and mortgage rates go up and borrowing costs go up.
So that's the risk that we face with this right now. They could cut rates. But if the market doesn't agree it could wind up being counterproductive, actually making long term interest rates higher not lower.
BOLDUAN: Jim, when it comes to kind of the trend that we have seen over time, but very specifically during this term of if he doesn't like the number, he calls it rigged, if he doesn't like the July jobs numbers, he fires the head of BLS. You know, early on, he's early on, as soon as he got into office, he said the good parts of the economy are mine. The bad parts of the economy, those are still Biden.
Injecting this kind of doubt and uncertainty in the data, that is that the United States, that, you know, the U.S. collects, the numbers that are being put out saying its being done for political reasons? Are you seeing that having an impact?
BIANCO: Not yet. I think the market still believes in the integrity of the data, but the trend is in the wrong direction. And so while he might fire the head of the BLS and call the numbers rigged, I don't think they were rigged. I think a lot of people at the bls and a lot of people in the markets don't think they're rigged. But the more we get of that, the more doubt that will come in.
So, we haven't crossed that Rubicon yet. Maybe yet is the key word. But we're headed kind of in that direction. And it is worrisome.
BOLDUAN: I was going to say were leaning hard on that yet, it's doing a lot of work tonight. It's good to see you, Jim. Thank you very much for your time, as always.
I want to get back to our breaking news tonight. Just hours from President Trump's summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Let's get over to Kristen Holmes. She's on the ground once again in Anchorage.
Kristen, what is the latest there?
HOLMES: Yeah, Kate, I mean, one of the things that I'm learning from White House officials is why exactly this came together so quickly.
[19:50:05]
Because here's how we know that this transpired. We know that the Middle Eastern envoy, Steve Witkoff, went to Russia. Shortly afterwards, he came back. He told President Trump that President Putin wanted to meet.
And then the next thing we knew, we're here. It's a week and a half later, you had President Trump announcing it. And part of the reason that I was told that this came together so quickly was because President Trump wanted to, quote unquote, strike while the iron was hot.
Now, the other part of this is that he announced that this meeting was going to be as soon as a week or a week and a half. So, his team started to scramble together to try and get this figure out. And of course, the thing about President Trump was that he really didn't understand how difficult it would be to get this kind of summit together. He wanted to get the meeting going right away, particularly because Putin had talked to Steve Witkoff had given the idea that he might, might be willing to sit down and have a conversation about a deal he had been eager to meet with President Trump.
And President Trump was really sick of talking on the phone with President Putin because of the fact, one, that he's not looking at him. He didn't believe he was getting a full read on how Putin actually was navigating the situation, how he actually felt. And two, because there had been a series of phone calls in which Putin
had made promises Trump had believed them, and then he had acted. Putin had acted differently. So, part of all of this was getting this done as quickly as possible, to almost get it out of the way, because they had the indication that Putin wanted this, and because it was such a quick turnaround that they believed he might actually strike a deal. Now, when you're hearing from European officials, you're hearing from other U.S. officials and U.S. intel, it still seems very unlikely that Putin is going to actually come to the table with a deal that's satisfactory to the Europeans, to the United States, to the Ukrainians.
But one of the things we know has been talking about the White House has been talking about behind the scenes is, if it is true, which by all accounts it is that in the next short amount of time Putin would be able to take over the several territories in Ukraine. What would bring him to the table to actually make a deal? And that's what you're hearing the white house talk about now. And that looks like financial incentives in terms of economic incentives, if that is real, or minerals or different kinds of deals. But that's what's going on behind the scenes now, is what could make him actually come to the table.
Now, it's unclear what Trump is actually going to sit down with Putin on and try to talk this out with, but we know those are some of the things being floated around because they are aware that there really is very little incentive at this point for Putin to make a deal, even though Trump, of course, says, you know, he's going to have to deal with me. So what can they put on the table?
The other thing we heard, of course, is those secondary sanctions which they had put on pause, other than those threats against India and those secondary sanctions against India, but they put those mostly on pause because of this meeting. Thats likely, of course, something else that they're going to put on the table there.
BOLDUAN: But when you when you lay it out like that and one thing that everyone knows is that President Trump wants a win and he wants a victory, and he wants to win. You know, he wants to come out with something to show, to say, I did this.
What are you -- are you hearing from those around him and those in the White House that he is prepared to walk away if it isn't a good deal? I mean, I'm talking about this obviously in a vacuum, because we don't even know what they're going to put on the table, but just conceptually, is President Trump prepared to walk out and say, I said no, the terms, the terms were the terms were bad. And so, this is a failed summit.
HOLMES: I was told its very much on the table that he would leave, perhaps even not even do a press conference, get back on the plane and go back to the United States. If it was not going in the direction that he said it was going to, that he wanted it to go in in terms of actually believing that Putin wanted to make a deal.
Now, of course, there are a lot of things to take into consideration here, which is that one Russian President Vladimir Putin, knows how to have a negotiation. He knows how to charm President Trump. He knows how to charm almost every U.S. president in the in modern history. We've seen this happen time and time again. These presidents come in, they believe they can reset the relationship with Russia based on past conversations with Putin. And it ends up almost exactly where you've seen it now. Except now we have a war going on with Ukraine.
So what you're seeing is there is a lot more hesitation from President Trump, because the one thing he doesn't want to do is come out of this embarrassed. And we've seen in these recent phone conversations that he's been having with Putin in which Putin at one point we heard from the Kremlin that Trump asked him to stop bombing Ukraine, to stop the offensive in Ukraine as quickly as possible, and that Putin essentially danced around it but said, no, that is something that's going to be embarrassing to President Trump. And that's the one thing he doesn't want coming out of this meeting.
BOLDUAN: Kristen Holmes, so glad you're on the ground. Thank you so much.
Jamal Simmons back here with me.
You know one thing. I mean, you worked obviously for the vice president, one thing that is really I think people outside the bubble don't understand is how almost impossible it is to bring something together this fast.
[19:55:01]
SIMMONS: Oh, it's super hard.
BOLDUAN: I mean, it is wild. They did this in a basically, it feels like a week and now they're walking into this.
What the stakes for Ukraine, its fate and future. What do you think the stakes are for President Trump on this? Because do you see that he has suffered at all politically, domestically when he has set a deadline and blown through it with Vladimir Putin over and over again? Do you see it?
SIMMONS: The truth is, I don't think anybody cares about the deadlines except for the people who are following kind of the small pieces of it. Most people in America will take a look at this and say, did Donald Trump do what it was he set out to do? And every time he gets one of these accomplishments, he gets a little notch on his belt.
The question that we don't know when it comes to President Trump is, are these things really real? Right? So he announces these agreements, he announces trade agreements, he announces peace agreements. But we don't know what's really underneath them. A lot of these agreements take a long time to get done with trade deals.
BOLDUAN: We've got a huge trade deal done, but it's actually just a handshake. And now the details need to be worked out. This is -- that's -- this is the fascinating element of this. Theres so many -- there's so much, so much overlaying all of this with politics that are so specifically pointed to a domestic audience that we're going to just see how this plays out.
SIMMONS: But he does a good job with the promotion. The question is, is the substance real?
BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Jamal.
SIMMONS: Thanks.
BOLDUAN: Also tonight, I go to Hooters, eat rare steaks. I lift extremely heavy weights and woke feminists can't neuter me. Those are not my words. Those are just a few thoughts from Nick Adams, who President Trump wants to be the next ambassador to Malaysia.
Kylie Atwood is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK ADAMS, AMBASSADOR NOMINEE: Good day. Nick Adams, alpha male, here.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This is Nick Adams, a self-proclaimed alpha male who does not believe men and women should be treated the same.
ADAMS: The other non-negotiable part, a steak and eggs.
ATWOOD: He's a steak loving fan of the Hooters restaurant chain, who is president Trump's pick to be the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia.
ADAMS: It is nothing short of a lifetimes honor to take the presidents goodwill and spread it to the great people of Malaysia.
ATWOOD: The Australian born, now U.S. citizen caught the president's eye while promoting one of his books and has since become a mega influencer.
ADAMS: I think it's fantastic that finally we have a president that's more interested in kicking butt rather than kissing it.
ATWOOD: His life's work more recently has been advocating against what he says is a movement in the U.S. towards men becoming second class citizens.
ADAMS: It is time for alpha males to return, and it is time for modern woke feminists to get in the back seat, because that is what the future of this country necessitates.
ATWOOD: Writing in his book "Alpha Kings", published last year, no matter how much woke feminists and betas want to neuter me, they can't and won't.
Adams' self-proclaimed commandments include success is a low maintenance woman, not just a hot one. The denial of sex by a male is the most alpha act. Consider marrying women from cultures that respect and honor men. Never show vulnerability. Teach your boys to be men before the world teaches them to be women. Trump, calling Adams his good friend, wrote the foreword to the book,
saying, quote, he knows that to educate, you have to entertain. He's the kind of person I would always look to hire at my many businesses because his work ethic equals his moral responsibility and faith in God.
ADAMS: Today, duty has called me to serve my country overseas, not in the uniform of combat, but armed with the pen of diplomacy.
ATWOOD: Trump's post nominating Adams came at an unusual moment. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visiting Malaysia on his first official trip to Asia as Trump's top diplomat.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We look forward to the Senate confirming him so he can get here and be a part of our team.
ATWOOD: Malaysia has long dealt with a culture of misogyny within the country's politics, and less than a week after Adams was nominated, Malaysians took to protest outside the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We reject Nick Adams as the ambassador to Malaysia.
ATWOOD: Malaysia is a majority Muslim country of 35 million people. And besides Adams, controversial social views, many Malaysians generally support Palestinians and have been vocal in their support recently. So, concerns about his past comments on the Gaza war are intense. Adams posting last year if you don't stand with Israel, you stand with terrorists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we dialogue with someone who's reckless, obnoxious and arrogant like how he has displayed or carried himself.
ATWOOD: In spite of the protests, Adams' nomination is pressing forward and will be up to the Senate to confirm.
ADAMS: Mr. President, I pledge to you that I will never falter in representing the interests of the United States, both at home and abroad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ATWOOD (on camera): Kate, we made attempts to reach out to Adams for comment, but we didn't hear back. When it comes to career diplomats that I spoke with, they were really stunned by this nomination, both because of Adams' inexperience diplomatically and these controversial comments.
When it comes to an actual scheduled date for his Senate confirmation hearing, there isn't one yet. We'll watch and see when that happens.
BOLDUAN: Kylie Atwood, thank you so much. And that will be a doozy.
Thanks so much for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
