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Erin Burnett Outfront
Kremlin: Putin, Trump Had "Candid" 40-Min Call Amid Zelenskyy Meeting; 1,000 More Guard Troops Deployed To D.C. Amid Trump Crackdown; Monica Lewinsky On Her New Mission Based On Unlikely Friendship. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 18, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:25]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, Trump calling Putin after declaring on a hot mic that Putin, quote, "wants to make a deal for me." This as Trump leaves the door open for U.S. troops in Ukraine. The president of Finland, who was front and center in the White House meetings today, is OUTFRONT now.
Plus, more red states deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. One lone Republican telling Trump, though -- no. Who is that?
And Monica Lewinsky on her new mission, telling the story of her friend Amanda Knox. What brought them together and why Monica is speaking out now.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, I begin with the breaking news. Trump pausing his high stakes meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy to call Putin -- a call that the Kremlin says lasted 40 minutes. And according to Trump, quote, I called President Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting at a location to be determined between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a trilat, which would be the two presidents plus myself.
Now, of course, this is an extremely significant development, if it happens. Zelenskyy and Putin in a room together. Zelenskyy face to face with a man who wants him dead and in fact has tried to assassinate him countless times.
Now all of this is breaking, just moments ago, just as Trump was wrapping up his meeting with Zelenskyy and European leaders. Now the president of Finland was sitting next to Zelenskyy in those meetings, front and center, right across from Trump. He's going to join me in just a moment.
But first, it is worth pointing out something that was very obvious today. And that is the difference in Trump's treatment of Zelenskyy and Putin. Putin got the literal red carpet treatment in Alaska, right? I mean, the red carpet was rolled out, complete with hand clapping by the president of the United States. A ride together in the presidential armored car.
Not so for Zelenskyy. He just got a handshake outside the White House and a gesture of approval at his military style suit. I use those words very explicitly because the suit, by the way, apparently was confirmed in advance by White House staffers, right? The sartorial choices of a president being what was deemed to be important because they were perhaps afraid of Trump losing his temper at Zelenskyy's clothes, as he did in that unforgettable fiasco of their last meeting.
Zelenskyy was flanked when he arrived in that military style suit by seven European leaders. They were there to ensure today's meeting was not a repeat of what happened in that tense and embarrassing Oval Office meeting in February. That's, of course, when Trump accused Zelenskyy of not being grateful, and J.D. Vance asked him, has you ever have you ever said thank you?
Well, today, Zelenskyy just swallowed it. Okay. He got in line and he said, thank you a lot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Thank you so much, Mr. President. Thank you for the invitation. Thank you very much for your efforts, personal efforts to stop killings and stop this war. Many thanks to your wife. Thank you very much for the invitation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I guess two things are worth saying. One, Zelenskyy has always said thank you. It's not as if it's ever been something that has been eliminated. So I think that's important to say.
But in the case of what we saw today, that was a whole lot of thank yous to assuage Trump's ego, as Trump appeared today to flip flop on something crucial, which is also worth highlighting because he is now echoing Putin in saying that a ceasefire isn't necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think you need a ceasefire. You know, if you look at the six deals that I settled this year, they were all at war. I didn't do any ceasefires.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, it's interesting as to whether this is rhetorical or reality. I mean, before Trump met with Putin last week, he was unequivocal that a ceasefire was exactly what was required.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I want certain things. I want to see a ceasefire.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: All right. Well, that seems to be a complete 180. And Trump tonight is echoing Putin in another issue, a hot mic moment, actually, that he didn't expect us all to hear. So, let's play it for you. As a hot mic caught on tape, here's what he just said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You hear what he said? I think he wants to make a deal for me. So, he's saying Putin wants to make a deal for Trump.
Now, okay, just take a deep breath here, because if Putin wanted a deal or peace in any way, shape or form, he could have had it at any point. He could actually have never gone into this invasion of a neighboring country to begin with. But he hasn't stopped it.
Not any time in the past years, because he wants Ukraine. It is core to his entire being, and any peace deal that he signs will not change that.
[19:05:02]
And Putin takes a long view, not just on Ukraine, which of course, he takes back many centuries, but also in the context of Russia, which has a long history of invading, occupying and bombing other countries since 1919. Of course, the Russian revolution.
Just take a list -- a look at the list of countries Russia has attacked Poland, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Finland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine. I mean, think about that. Poland is on that list.
And by the way, when it comes to Ukraine, Putin has been anything but honest. I mean, when he went into Crimea, when Obama was president, he went before the cameras back in 2014 to insist that, no, no, no, it's not me. It's not the Russians who are behind an invasion in Crimea. God, no, there's nothing to see here. It's somebody else dressed up as Russians.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There are many uniforms there that are similar. You can go to a store and buy any kind of uniform.
REPORTER: But were they Russian soldiers or not?
PUTIN: Those were local self-defense units.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You could just go in a spirit Halloween store and buy a costume. As we now know, it was Putin who deployed Russian troops to Crimea, a place that, by the way, at the end of this war, he is almost certain, he thinks, to walk away with as part of Russia.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT at the White House to begin our coverage.
And, Kristen, an incredible day, right? Meetings, then suddenly a call to Putin, meetings then extended, all very much in flux, going with the moment.
What more are you learning right now?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And I do want to mention what you were just talking about, because that was never on the agenda. This idea that there's going to be a bilateral meeting first between Putin and Zelenskyy before they get into the trilateral meeting. We had heard from President Trump and from various European leaders that the goal of today was to come out of this with a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy on the books, or at least in the works, to start trying to figure out when they could do that.
Now, of course, this is raising questions with U.S. officials that have been long skeptical of Putin and his intentions that whether that possibly Putin is just looking for another opportunity to kick the can down the road to try and extend this as long as possible so that he can continue fighting and continuing trying to get territory from Ukraine. So behind closed doors, we know a number of things were discussed, land concessions. We saw pictures of Zelenskyy being presented with a map of Ukraine and Russia that showed different territories in Ukraine that were taken over by Russia. Some areas that were still contested.
We don't know where they landed on that. Of course, we know President Trump has said you have to make concessions. And Ukrainians and Zelenskyy have said that's not something that they would be willing to do security guarantees.
Now, this is actually incredibly interesting. I want to read to you from this Truth Social post that President Trump put out when he mentioned his call with Putin. He says in it during the meeting, we discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, which guarantees would be provided by various European countries with a coordination with the United States of America, with a coordination.
Now, that's very interesting, given earlier in the day, President Trump was distinctly asked, would you consider U.S. troops on the ground? And he wouldn't rule it out.
It had really moved the needle in terms of what the U.S. was willing to provide in terms of security guarantees, and we tell from what the European leaders were saying when they were going around the table, that there had been behind the scenes conversations about America absorbing more of these security guarantees. They were all thanking President Trump for this.
This is clearly dialed back. Language here saying with coordination, not alongside even just seemingly like you're part of the logistics, but nothing about troops on the ground. And then lastly is the ceasefire idea. We -- you mentioned this yourself. President Trump had been calling for a ceasefire up until he met with Putin. Then he was saying it could be a peace agreement.
Well, we heard very clearly from the European leaders that they want a ceasefire, that they don't even understand how there could possibly be a meeting, let alone a trilateral meeting with Trump and Putin and Zelenskyy if there is no ceasefire. And you saw Trump waver for a quick moment on the cease fire, he said, wed all prefer a ceasefire. And then he even said less people would die if we had a cease fire. Youd end the killing.
But then once you started hearing all the European leaders doubling down on this idea of a cease fire, he backtracked on that, bringing up the peace agreement, which I think you played there, talking about how he solved these wars. You don't have to have a ceasefire. There are very few people who believe that this -- these talks should continue without a ceasefire. But we know those were the sticking points behind closed doors as these negotiations went on.
BURNETT: All right. Kristen, thank you very much. All of those breaking details from the White House.
And as I said, were going to be joined by the president of Finland in just a moment. He was sitting next to Zelenskyy today directly across from Trump in that room. He'll be with me in just a moment.
[19:10:00]
Right now, though, as we await President Stubb, presidential historian Tim Naftali joins me, along with Seth Jones, who all of you regular viewers know was advisor to the commanding general of U.S. special ops forces in Afghanistan.
So, I appreciate both of you very much.
You know, Seth, can I just ask you, though, there is just something about this, and it is true. President Zelenskyy says thank you all the time, right? It is true that American aid has given him the firepower for much of this war, right? No one has ever minced any words about that.
But it has been Ukrainians who are willing to die for it and willing to use that to do something, right? And that is -- is what makes this so unique and so incredible. And yet he's sitting there today looking at maps prepared by the White House, where they're talking to him about what concessions he's going to make. I mean, he's been clear. I've talked to President Zelenskyy. They weren't going to give up on Crimea. That wasn't even the table. Never mind Donbas.
So, is the outcome here, no matter what happens, that Putin is going to get something which is big chunks of Ukraine now that he would have had to fight 3 or 4, or who knows how many more years to actually get if he got it the hard way? SETH JONES, FORMER ADVISER TO COMMANDING GEN., U.S. SPECIAL OPS FORCES
IN AFGHANISTAN: Well, Erin, that is not entirely clear, but I think what is clear is that Vladimir Putin is likely to get something like 20-ish percent of Ukrainian territory that he has already seized. I think it's going to be very difficult to take back territory that the Russians have seized. Ukrainians do not have the military capabilities to take it back right now. There may be some deal struck on both sides to give some territory up, but I do think it's going to be very hard to convince the Russians to give back territory that they hold right now. And that is a problem.
BURNETT: I mean, it is because you're essentially -- I just don't want to be kind of obtuse about it, but you're essentially telling other countries and maybe there's some big ones that I could be talking about here, right, that you can go ahead and invade somebody. And as long as you hold on to it and make it nasty and miserable enough for everybody for long enough, you're going to get to get what you want. And that's bad. And I don't think that's a political thing to say. It's just -- that's a bad thing.
Tim. I want to play again what Trump said about why a deal might happen right on the on the hot mic, because this was just a conversation I think he was having with Keir Starmer from the UK. Let me just play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So just in case you couldn't hear it, Tim, what he said was I think he wants to make a deal for me, wants to make a deal for me. Yeah. Do --
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Putin --
BURNETT: Yeah.
NAFTALI: Vladimir Putin doesn't make deals for foreign leaders. Vladimir Putin has a long-term objective. He comes from a generation of KGB, people trained in their formative years by the KGB. And a lot of those people emerged from the end of the Cold War very resentful and wanting to rebuild Russian power, not necessarily rebuild the USSR, but to but to reassert Russian power.
And a person like that is not interested in doing a favor for a man who's going to be out of power by 2029. Putin expects to be in power in 2035.
One other thing President Trump has believes that heart -- that economics can force people to do things against the interests of their country. He thought that he could get Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear program by promising some kind of Marshall Plan for North Korea, and I'm convinced he went into the meeting in Alaska, assuming that talking about business opportunities for Russia, if the war would end in Ukraine, would have gotten Putin to accept a ceasefire. And it didn't work.
I'm not sure the president knows how to move Putin, and I don't see why Putin would even think he needed to do anything for Donald Trump.
BURNETT: What do you think, Seth?
JONES: Well, I think that's exactly right.
I do think, though, that that Putin is in a difficult position. I mean, I think the reality over the last 16 months is that the Russians have put a lot of military might into trying to retake territory in Ukraine, and they've only taken less than 1 percent of Ukrainian territory. They hit the 1 million casualty mark this summer.
So even for Putin, there is a blood cost. His economy has run into some problems with high inflation. Theres been flight of some of the more technical younger generation of Russians.
So his economy is potentially vulnerable in some ways. And for me, the great irony here is that President Trump has not been willing to leverage the Russian weakness right now in these negotiations. He's gotten -- he's talked about sanctions. He's talked about increasing some military assistance to the Ukrainians.
But he keeps getting to that brink and stepping back.
BURNETT: Yeah, Tim. And that's my question. The sanctions have not gone to the full hilt that they could, right, in a sense.
[19:15:02]
And I know that this war, what it has cost Ukraine in terms of population flight and loss and just even the identity of the country, I mean, it would be hard to even describe it. Right?
But the war ending now on whatever terms it ends, the very clear winner in terms of territory and not losing more people dying is Putin.
NAFTALI: Without a doubt, it's been interesting all through this process that the president of the United States, when he talks about concessions, only talks about concessions that really affect Ukraine, that would have been done by Ukraine and not concessions that the Russians would have to give.
You know, when they talk about land swaps, what is Russia supposed to give away? Usually a swap involves both sides giving away land.
So, at this point I would say that what's most significant about today's events is that the United States seems to be on board with letting Ukraine get Patriot missiles.
One of Putin's great desires is for no U.S. technology to make its way, military technology to make its way to Ukraine. And although the United States won't be giving Patriot missiles anymore to Ukraine, the United States will sell those missiles to you, to NATO. That's a big win for Zelenskyy. And really something Putin won't be happy about.
BURNETT: Right, right. Of course, it is amazing to think that we're sitting here talking about the whole conversation is how much of Ukraine is Putin going to get? I mean, I guess if you had to boil it down, that is the conversation and it is -- it's this sort of a sickening and sad reality. Thank you both very much. I appreciate it.
And now, the president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, as I promised, is with me because he was inside that meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy today, sitting next to Zelenskyy across from Trump.
Finland, a crucial country for NATO and Europe, sharing an 830-mile border with Russia. In fact, it is the longest European border with Russia, and Finland is part of NATO. So, as we've made the point before, it's not about NATO. Even though Putin may say sometimes that it is.
President Stubb, I appreciate your time. I'm so glad to talk to you again. I know it has been a long day, and you had to be flexible and go with the flow. Some things happened and expected timing and, you know, which speaks to the moment that we're in, the uncertainty.
So, at one point in this meeting, you're in the room across from Trump. You're sitting next to President Zelenskyy and Trump at one point calls Putin in a call that Russia now says was 40 minutes long. I'm so curious, Mr. President. Was there any conversation in the room about that call? Did Trump talk to you beforehand about it, or after he got off the phone with Putin?
ALEXANDER STUBB, PRESIDENT OF FINLAND: Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, this was very much a day of team Europe and team U.S. together supporting Ukraine. So, first, us Europeans, we had a pre-meeting and then after that, Zelenskyy had a bilateral meeting with President Trump. And then we spent the better part of four hours together with President Trump, sussing out what we can do next.
And one of the plans was for president Trump to tell President Putin, basically what we had decided in the meeting. So, yes, it was very coordinated and very constructive.
BURNETT: So you're saying that that call, when the meeting sort of got paused, it sounds like what you're saying is because of the conversation that you're having in the room, that that you all sort of said, okay. He said, all right. Well, I mean, I don't want to put words in his mouth, but I'm going to go call him now. You guys were all in agreement with it, this is sort of how it sort of organically played out?
STUBB: Yeah, definitely. I mean, so basically there were three outcomes of today. The first one was a good conversation on security guarantees. In other words, security guarantees by Europe and coordinated with the United States for Ukraine. And we start that work on concrete things immediately. The second one was a suggestion of a bilateral meeting between
Zelenskyy and Putin. And that was what President Trump was testing with President Putin. And President Putin had agreed to do that meeting.
And then the third step is after the bilateral meeting, if everything goes well, which is, of course, always a big if when you're dealing with Putin, there will be a trilateral meeting.
So, I think this was one of these meetings where we kind of took, you know, three steps forward rather than any backwards.
BURNETT: Do you know what Putin -- what Trump, I'm sorry, said to Putin on the phone. I mean, what were the specifics that that he put out there?
STUBB: Well, I mean, president Trump then after the call, we agreed to meet in the oval office. And we had a very thorough briefing by him of the conversation. But obviously, you know, in diplomacy, what happens in the Oval Office stays in the Oval Office when the media is not in there.
BURNETT: Well, that isn't always true, but I appreciate that you are taking the high road and doing the right thing.
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: I don't mean to laugh about it.
But, in this context, you know, you're talking about he gets on the phone with Putin, then you all go into the oval office.
[19:20:05]
There was a moment where I believe Trump was talking to your colleague Keir Starmer, and he said something that was caught on a hot mic. He was talking about Putin. Let me play it for you, Mr. President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, you have told I know in the past, Mr. President, Trump, that no one can trust Putin, right? You have the longest land border in Europe with Russia, and you have a lot of troops that are on that border, as you've told me. And that's because of Russia. Right? To state the obvious.
What is your response when Trump says something even at this point, that he believes that Putin will make a deal for him because of him?
STUBB: Well, I mean, I've been involved in peace mediation before, and I think that President Trump is genuinely trying to bring this war to an end. And we're all working in that direction.
But, of course, you know, we are dealing with President Putin, and we do have to understand that he's, you know, basic strategic aims have not changed. And they are threefold. He wants to see the see Russia as a superpower. He wants to split the West, and he wants to deny the sovereignty of Ukraine.
So that's the reality that were dealing with. The reality is also that we have, you know, a minimum of a thousand people dead or wounded every day. So we're trying to do our best through diplomatic means to find a solution to this conflict, to Russia's war of aggression.
BURNETT: And when you talk about Russia's war of aggression and the history here of what Putin wants, it's personal to you, and not just because you happen to be the president of Finland and you've got the largest land border. All those things that I keep repeating.
I mean, it's personal to you, your father, your grandfather were both born in cities that Finland was forced to cede to the then-Soviet Union. Cities that are part of Russia now. So, I mean, do you have any doubts about --
STUBB: Yeah.
BURNETT: -- Putin's ambitions when it comes to expanding Russian territory?
STUBB: Well, I mean, I -- we've seen that in both Georgia and in Ukraine.
But, you know, I keep on stressing the basics of it. So stay to this based on independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. And after World War II, which for us was the winter war and the war of continuation, Finland retained independence, unlike, for instance, our Baltic friends unfortunately. But we lost sovereignty to decide and we lost territory.
But the difference there is that at that time Finland was alone. But now, Ukraine is not alone. And that's why I think it's so important that all of us, both team Europe and team U.S., keep on working for the independence, for the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
And to be honest, I think if we work on the security guarantees, that will guarantee sovereignty, and it will strengthen territorial integrity as well.
BURNETT: President Stubb, I appreciate your time and thank you so much. I;m glad to speak with you again, sir.
STUBB: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, documents from Trump's meeting with Putin accidentally left on a public printer at a hotel in Alaska found by tourists and something in these papers really stands out to our next guest, a man that Putin jailed in a penal colony for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
Plus, Monica Lewinsky on her new mission, telling the story of her friend Amanda Knox. Monica Lewinsky is our guest tonight.
And breaking news this hour. Warnings now in effect along the east coast as Hurricane Erin, a category four storm, moves dangerously close. Dozens of water rescues already taking place.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:28:09]
BURNETT: Breaking news, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine just speaking outside the White House moments after his meeting with President Trump and European leaders ended. Zelenskyy saying any conversation about ceding Ukrainian territory is for him and Putin alone. Even just saying that, though, is significant, and it comes as President Trump says he's working to arrange a two-way meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin.
OUTFRONT now, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian opposition politician who was released from a Russian penal colony in a prisoner swap after being given a 25-year sentence for criticizing Putin's war in Ukraine.
And Vladimir, I appreciate your time tonight.
So, you've got this meeting today in the Oval Office, the phalanx of European leaders supporting Zelenskyy, and then as President Stubb of Finland just describes it. Putin -- Trump calls Putin to talk about what's happening in the room.
It's a 40-minute call, according to the Kremlin. And Trump is pausing his meeting with the European leaders and Zelenskyy in order to do this call.
So how do you think Putin used or saw that conversation with Trump today?
VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA, RECENTLY FREED FROM RUSSIAN PRISON AFTER CRITICIZING PUTIN: Well, thank you, Erin, for having me on the program. It's always a pleasure.
First of all, I have to say, I had a lot of my shoulders just watching the images coming from the White House today. It was really important to see that united front of key leaders from Europe, including your previous guest, President Stubb, whom I know very well personally. He's a true strategist, a true visionary. And as you say, shares a long NATO border with Russia.
It was very important to see that united front of democratic countries backing up Ukraine in this whole process, because this is a very big difference, frankly, from what we saw just a few days ago last Friday in Anchorage, Alaska, where, you know, a lot of people would have been forgiven for checking their calendars to see if it was 2025 or 1938, because there were so many striking and horrible parallels with the shameful Munich agreement, when, as you remember, the leaders of Britain and France just handed over a piece of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland without so much as asking the Czechoslovaks to Adolf Hitler.
[19:30:09]
And everybody remembers, I think those chronic images of, you know, Mr. Chamberlain waving a piece of paper saying, this is peace for our time. We know how that one ended. I think one of the most clear lessons from history is that you cannot make peace by placating an aggressor. You cannot achieve peace by appeasing somebody who wants to grab territories from other countries.
And I have to say, it was really, well, frankly, it was really shameful. Those images that we saw on Friday coming from Anchorage, where Vladimir Putin got literally a red carpet treatment on American soil, hosted personally and met personally at the tarmac by the president of the United States of America.
And whatever else happens in these negotiations, this fact alone, the fact of this invitation, the fact of this meeting last Friday was a huge propaganda boost for Vladimir Putin, and his regime was a huge PR win, because let us not forget, Vladimir Putin, first of all, is an illegitimate usurper who has stayed in power without free elections in violation of constitutional term limits. The fact that he's been formally recognized by lawmakers across Europe that have passed formal resolutions of non-recognition of Putin presidency at this point, because he's stayed in power in violation of the constitution.
Let us not forget that this man is also an indicted war criminal with an active arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for all the war crimes he has orchestrated in Ukraine. Hence the location of the meeting, by the way, because Vladimir Putin is paranoid to fly over the airspace of any country that recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, and that may honor the arrest warrant and land his plane and get him over to the Hague, where he belongs.
BURNETT: Yeah.
KARA-MURZA: This is why Alaska, because this is the only way you can fly directly from Russia to the U.S. just a short 60 mile flight across the Bering Strait without touching any other country's airspace.
BURNETT: So, you know, we did see how Trump treats Putin. I was pointing out the difference. And obviously, President Steube is very optimistic or pragmatically optimistic, I should say, about what happened today. But the difference in treatment, right? I mean, it was a handshake today and straight to work with Zelenskyy, with Putin. It was a literal rolling out of the red carpet. You know, the hosting of the U.S. military base going in the presidential limo together, alone, having that alone time.
And in that context, NPR obtained those documents that were accidentally left on a public printer at an Anchorage hotel business center. So, someone from the White House, apparently, or someone you know, involved with planning printed out all of this stuff. And it had a whole lot of information about who was supposed to sit where, how long things were supposed to last. That's how we knew that the press conference was you know, a failure, right? It was supposed to be an hour. It was 13 minutes.
But there was something in those documents that really stood out to you. And it wasn't that it was something else. What was it?
KARA-MURZA: Well, I must say, you know, seeing everything that we've seen happening in Ukraine over these last, not three and a half, but 14 years, seeing everything that we've seen happen in Russia with Putin murder his political opponents, imprisoning people for disagreeing with him, shutting down independent media, rigging elections, establishing, you know, this medieval type of autocracy in the 21st century in a European country. I must say it was really distasteful to watch one particular document among that batch obtained by NPR.
And that was a dinner menu. You know, first of all, where it said at the top of the page there that this is a dinner held in honor of His Excellency, Vladimir Putin. Again, this is not his Excellency. This is an illegitimate usurper and an indicted war criminal.
And also, it featured, you know, very sort of luxury world cuisine. Dishes. I don't remember something like filet mignon and --
BURNETT: Yeah, filet mignon and halibut.
KARA-MURZA: Salad or whatever it was. Well, there you go. Look, the only meals Vladimir Putin should be having are prison meals at the Scheveningen prison in The Hague. This is where Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav dictator, ended his days and the only country that Vladimir Putin should be traveling to is with a one way ticket to the Netherlands.
And I have absolutely no doubt that the day will come for that accountability. They will come when Vladimir Putin will be held responsible under the law for everything he has done against the people of Ukraine, against the people of Russia, and against international peace and security.
BURNETT: Vladimir Kara-Murza, thank you, as always, for your time. We're grateful.
And next, more Republican governors sending their National Guard troops into Washington, as MAGA media says there should be more where they came from.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE KIRK, POCAST HOST: We need full military occupation of these cities until the crime desists, period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Monica Lewinsky is OUTFRONT, speaking out about her friendship with Amanda Knox and why the two have so much in common.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:38:49]
BURNETT: Breaking news, 1,000 more National Guard troops now deployed to Washington, D.C. President Trump ramping up his takeover of the nation's capital. A fifth Republican governor, Louisiana's Jeff Landry, just announcing, just announcing he's going to deploy over 100 troops to the city, so now you get this thousand number.
Trump's takeover is sparking some pushback from his own party. The Republican governor of Vermont, Phil Scott, refusing to send the Vermont National Guard.
And CNN's Brian Todd is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER, WASHINGTON, D.C.: This is not about D.C. crime.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser growing more frustrated over the escalation of federal agents and National Guard troops on the streets of the nation's capital.
BOWSER: You know, it doesn't make sense. The numbers on the ground in the district don't support a thousand people from other states coming to Washington, D.C.
TODD: Republican governors from West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio and Mississippi have announced they are sending additional National Guard troops to Washington in response to President Trump's call to increase law enforcement on the streets.
TRUMP: We went from the most unsafe place anywhere to a place that now people, friends are calling me up. Democrats are calling me up, and they're saying, sir, I want to thank you. And you did that in four days.
[19:40:02]
TODD: But Mayor Bowser does not seem to share that sentiment.
BOWSER: Why the military would be deployed in an American city to police Americans? That's the question.
TODD: Around the Capitol today, D.C. National Guard troops could be spotted near national monuments and major transportation hubs.
Have they told you anything about your mission? Like what you're supposed to be doing around union station? At least.
NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER: Just helping out with local law enforcement.
TODD: Are you carrying any firearms?
NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER: No.
TODD: A White House official had previously told CNN that National Guard troops in Washington may now be armed, but a Defense Department official tells us that so far, guardsmen on the street in D.C. are not armed and have not been requested to carry firearms. The official says they'll be prepared to arm if they get the order.
Not everybody agrees that National Guardsmen should be sent in from other states. One Republican governor, Phil Scott of Vermont, turned down a request from President Trump to deploy its National Guard troops to D.C. to help Trump in his mission, the governor's office saying in part, while public safety is a legitimate concern in cities across the country, in the absence of an immediate disaster, and unless local and regional first responders are unable to handle such an emergency, the governor is opposed to utilizing the National Guard for this purpose.
Some popular right wing media figures are saying that even the current escalation of law enforcement in Washington, while controversial, still isn't enough.
KIRK: We need full military occupation of these cities until the crime desists, period. We need a desisting of crime in our cities. We're not going to put up with it. I want to be able to walk Magnificent Mile in Chicago.
TODD: Data from the restaurant reservation company OpenTable shows a 25 to 30 percent drop in reservations since the surge. But one week since Trump's announcement of federalizing the D.C. police, he's already claiming victory.
TRUMP: All I want is security for our people, but people that haven't gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C. in two years are going out to dinner.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): A Defense Department official tells CNN, West Virginia is sending about 350 of its National Guard troops to Washington. That official says some of those troops from West Virginia have already arrived. Now, we did not see those West Virginia troops on the streets in D.C. today, but this official says that they will be integrating with the other forces soon. The official also says that National Guard troops from South Carolina, Ohio and Mississippi are on the way to Washington. And we just heard from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry that he is also sending National Guard troops here -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Brian, thank you very much. An odd world.
And next, Monica Lewinsky joins us to talk about her unlikely friendship with Amanda Knox and why she says the two have so much in common, and it is central to her work now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:46:56] BURNETT: Tonight, Monica Lewinsky has a new mission. She's telling the story of Amanda Knox, who was wrongfully convicted of murdering her roommate after spending nearly four years in Italian prison after the four years of horror, her life forever transformed, defined by a false accusation. Lewinsky is producing the new Hulu series "The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox".
Now, it's not just her interest in the story. The two women are close friends after enduring judgment and shaming. And in a moment, we're going to speak with Monica Lewinsky about her friendship with Amanda Knox and why she is so drawn to her story.
But first, here's a look at the series.
(BEGIN VIDOE CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't move. Don't make a sound.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amanda.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We should just turn back why would I return to a country where I was convicted of murder?
Because in order to move forward, I need to go back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For 15 years, I've been defined by something that I didn't do.
Many people think they know my story. But now, finally, it's my turn to tell it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Monica Lewinsky. She is the executive producer of "The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox". Also, Warren Littlefield, who is also an executive producer of the series, and I know you. I heard you refer to him as Littlefield. I mean, you have been working very closely together, right? You're such partners on this.
So, Monica, tell me about the first time you met Amanda Knox, who, when you first met her, you would have known her the same way. All of us would have known her through seeing through the screen.
MONICA LEWINSKY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, THE TWISTED TALE OF AMANDA KNOX": Yes.
BURNETT: And seeing all of that and seeing her story. So, you meet her for the first time. What happened? And. And was it an instant connection?
LEWINSKY: Well, it was 2017, and Amanda was giving her first public talk at the same place. I was also giving a public talk. So, she came to my room. I gave her some tea, gave her some pointers on public speaking, and I could see that there was a pain in her. And it's a very unique pain that I recognized.
So, I think there was an instant connection, an instant understanding of two young women who had become public, people who hadn't wanted to and had lost a lot of their identity. Fast forward a few years and I read this incredible piece that Amanda had been interviewed in "The New York Times", and she was talking about wanting to make a movie of her memoir.
So I had a first look deal at the time, and I thought, you know, a story that we think we know that we don't is kind of right up my alley and --
BURNETT: Everybody thinks they know yours. Everyone thinks they knows hers.
LEWINSKY: Exactly. Well, and it was a time period, too, where I think we were beginning to revisit young women's stories through a new, more modern lens.
[19:50:06]
And, I was very lucky that my executive was savvy. And Carey Burke at 20th Television was into the idea from the get-go, brought everyone together. Amanda is also an executive producer on the show, which is a really important thing, because often the people at the center of these kinds of stories don't -- don't get to have a voice and have a say. Then we got our incredible showrunner. I will get to amazing Warren in a second.
Our incredible creator and showrunner, K.J. Steinberg came on board, brought this unbelievable vision, and we always knew we were going to need a rock star executive producer, and the fact that Warren Littlefield wanted to do this with us and the Littlefield Company -- it's actually making me emotional -- was really, really, really special.
And I think it signified to us that we had a project that was going to impact people.
BURNETT: Well, I just go back to when you say the first time you met her that you saw a pain in her. That is something that that maybe is, is unique in the sense that maybe not many could see it the way that you saw it, but sharing it, sharing it with the world while incredibly risky and painful, I'm sure that is where you are making a difference.
LEWINSKY: Yeah, well, I think its important for, you know what? I hope people might walk away from this series. Young people particularly, I think they'll be surprised. They will learn things they didn't know.
But ultimately, Amanda's a survivor and she survived. And unimaginable situation. And I think it's always important to remind people that that you can get past some of the worst moments of your life.
BURNETT: You know, Warren, you talk about a rock star. I mean, okay, can I just go through this?
(CROSSTALK)
LEWINSKY: I know --
BURNETT: Can I just say I knew your name? But then I'm like, this guys got to be over 100 years old because.
LEWINSKY: No.
BURNETT: I look at -- I look at this. Okay, so just so everyone knows. Exactly. Your hits, "Seinfeld", "Friends", "Cheers", "Golden Girls". That's where I got to, where you 100 years old. I mean, you've done everything.
Things that have defined cultural history, though, right? Things have defined cultural history, that is, that's what defined your career.
So, what made you choose to do this now? Right. It's a choice. You look at that resume, everything you do is a choice.
WARREN LITTLEFIELD, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "THE TWISTED TALE OF AMANDA KNOX": Well, thank you. We live in this age of misinformation. And so, I always ask myself, why this? Why now? And so, it felt like a unique opportunity to examine truth, right? And so, is there truth in Amanda's conviction for the horrible, horrible murder of Meredith Kercher? Where was the truth in that?
She had a coerced confession, 50 hours of interrogation.
BURNETT: Yeah.
LITTLEFIELD: Very little sleep, almost no food. Like, is that about truth? I don't think so.
So, we wanted to illuminate that story.
BURNETT: Yeah.
LITTLEFIELD: I was also excited to have an opportunity to work with Monica. The more we engage and the more research we did, because I was no expert in this world of Amanda Knox. I was listening to the bias that was coming out of big media, and they said, it's Foxy Knoxy. She's in a sexual tryst and she's a murderer.
BURNETT: Yeah.
LITTLEFIELD: And so, we wanted to examine that truth. That got very exciting for me.
BURNETT: Is she --
LITTLEFIELD: And in her book, she, you know, and when I spoke to her as her book, she talked about that Foxy Knoxy. Right. That became the definition of her. She had no say in how she was defined.
She writes Monica, it feels good to hate bad people. And there's a special kind of hate reserved for bad women. The narrative of the mean girl, the homewrecker girl on girl crime is titillating precisely because it confirms the stereotype that women are secretly one another's worst enemies.
I mean, you know, you've lived through this yourself. Its part of how you could see the pain and recognize this. Do you believe that that this can ever change?
LEWINSKY: Yes, I do. Do I believe it can change as quickly as we would hope? No. I think that the hope of how change moves always far exceeds how it actually does.
But I think that through stories like this, through people like Amanda speaking up, maybe people might listen to some of the things I have to say. And it and it shifts their perspective. And as Warren was saying about the show, you know, K.J. built the spine of it to be the anatomy of bias, to help people recognize all the ways that we see something and we make these decisions. We have beliefs that become formed.
BURNETT: Narratives we want to fulfill, right?
LEWINSKY: Exactly, exactly.
BURNETT: And, you know, it's interesting, like you were -- you were saying about those -- the Foxy Knoxy and those moments about Amanda.
[19:55:00]
I don't know about you, but I was so surprised. I mean, I'm embarrassed to say this. I did not know that they had -- that they knew who had murdered Meredith and that he had gone to prison. I didn't know the name Rudy Geude, but I knew Foxy Knoxy.
And that's a big part, I think, of what we're looking at and what Warren's talking about with misinformation. And truth is really sort of this idea of why asking that question. Right?
LITTLEFIELD: So we want to put out there, maybe you should question what the world is forcing down your throat. Maybe you should ask about that. Maybe the method of forced confessions, coerced confessions, maybe that Reid method, which was started in the 1950s by a detective in Chicago and is still used throughout the world today. They get confessions, but they may not have anything to do with the truth.
So that became, I think, for us, a reason to say, look, maybe we can open a few people's eyes and if we can do that, that's a really good thing.
BURNETT: You know. So, Monica, as part of this, you're telling this story. You have a platform now to do a lot and to use your voice. Right? And you have a voice people want to hear.
So, you have a podcast called "Reclaiming". And, you know, you recently spoke to Cindy Crawford, and I thought this was a really interesting one. We were listening to it. And then your team actually shared a clip of it with us as well. Oh gosh, Cindy Crawford, here it is again. LEWINSKY: Self-promo.
BURNETT: So let me let me play the clip that they shared with us. I think it's very interesting. Here it is.
LEWINSKY: Thank you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY CRAWFORD, ACTRESS/SUPERMODEL: I think that when you're in the public eye, for whatever reason. Like people often have a preconceived idea about who you are before they meet you. I mean, I feel that too, like sometimes people will have seen a podcast or an interview and they feel like they know you. And I guess they know a facet of you from that.
I think probably for you, that was heightened in a way that I can't even imagine, because it was such a --
LEWINSKY: Well, it's so negative.
CRAWFORD: And it was so big.
LEWINSKY: It was so big, so negative. And I was so young.
CRAWFORD: Yeah.
LEWINSKY: You know, and hadn't chosen it. So I chose the mistakes I made. But I didn't choose being a public person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And yet you are a public person now for forevermore, right?
I mean, at some point, you take. Life has handed me this, and I'm going to do something and you have done something. You have this platform. So how are you going to continue to use it?
I see you, I see Amanda Knox, I see Cindy Crawford. How do you define where you go from now from here?
LEWINSKY: I think for me, it's the same thing that drew me to Amanda's story of and all the different things that I do. I'm very interested in how we move conversations forward. And I think you can do that incredibly well through entertainment. I mean, I Warren's heard me say this a thousand times that "Dopesick" that he also executive produced had a profound impact on me in terms of strong entertainment that had a social impact that changed the way that I recognize my own behavior towards someone, that I was wrong.
And so, I think that -- I -- that's what interests me. Thats what excites me. And I hope to keep being able to do that. I'm loving doing the podcast. It's so much work. So much work.
I've been joking that I'm dating my podcast this year. So but I'm incredibly grateful. And, you know, I know Amanda feels the same way and she does this and she does so much advocacy work with the wrongfully convicted community.
And I think she and I both feel that it's -- we're trying to also make things easier for the next person. So, Amanda, getting to be an executive producer on "The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox" a lot, in a lot shorter time frame than it took me to be a producer on "American Crime Story: Impeachment". That's progress in this world.
BURNETT: Right.
LEWINSKY: You know, reclaiming your narrative. Being and Amanda talks about it as being the author of your story. So --
BURNETT: Which is amazing because you talk about it's happening faster than it used to, which is true. And that's a good thing. And yet, in a world of X and social media, and in a weird way, so many people lose control of their own stories now.
LITTLEFIELD: I think it's really hard to hold on to.
BURNETT: Yes.
LITTLFIELD: It's a mountain to climb. But that's why we need role models. That's why we need Monica. That's why we need Amanda. Thats why it's so important. It's why we need you. We need people out there to say this is possible.
BURNETT: Well, and I think it is incredible just, you know, when I -- when Amanda was here, she was sitting where you're sitting, and she talked about when she met you and that you said the first time you met that you met her, you said, are you okay? Because I know you're not okay.
LEWINSKY: Yeah.
BURNETT: That that meant something. It meant something so profound to her.
LEWINSKY: I think it can be so hard to be seen by the whole world and actually not be seen. And so, I think in a moment like that, that's really what that connection was about. And she deserved her time then. And she's blossomed and she deserves to get to be a part of telling her story.
And we've had this amazing creative team with Warren and K.J. and Hulu and 20th Television and Lisa and A.J., and it's been amazing.
BURNETT: Well, it's incredible. As you just said, it's amazing, what -- what it's like to be to be seen by everyone and yet not seen.
Thank you both so much. I appreciate it, and it's good to see you both.
And thanks to all of you.
"AC360" starts now.
