Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Trump Returns From G7 To Monitor Israel-Iran Crisis; Trump's Sons Announce New Wireless Service; Museum Visitor Sits On And Breaks "Van Gogh" Chair Artwork. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired June 17, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:32:25]
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to your EARLY START. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. And here are some of the stories that we are watching today.
U.S. President Donald Trump is back in Washington at this hour. He left the G7 summit in Canada a day early for what he called obvious reasons. A White House official tells CNN that the president had directed his national security team to convene in the Situation Room as they continue to monitor the Israel-Iran crisis.
And a new wave of Russian drones and missile targeted the Ukrainian capital overnight. A 62-year-old U.S. citizen was among the 14 people who were killed on the strikes in Kyiv, and that's according to the city's mayor. At least 55 people have been injured across several districts there.
In the U.S., Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is cutting back the curfew that she ordered a week ago in part of downtown. And this after days of protests over federal immigration raids. The curfew just hours -- the curfew hours will now start at 10:00 p.m. and end at 6:00 a.m. instead of running from 8:00 to 6:00. Bass is also calling for the federalized National Guard and the U.S. Marines to stand down.
Well, the U.S. and Japan failed to reach a trade deal while at the G7 summit even after the two leaders met one-on-one for talks. Japan's prime minister said that the two countries are continuing to "continue these honest discussions but still remain divided on certain points." Now, he went on to say that right now it is difficult to say when a deal to lower or potentially eliminate tariffs might actually be made.
And before President Trump announced his early departure from the G7 summit in Canada the main focus was to try and convince him to walk back his aggressive trade war.
Now, Trump did sign a trade deal with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, however the U.K. still faces a minimum 10 percent tariff on most of its exports.
Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also agreed to pursue economic and security negotiations within the next 30 days. But the president says that he's still partial to tariffs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we have different concepts. I have a tariff concept, and Mark has a different concept, which is something that some people like. But we're going to see if we can get to the bottom of it today.
I'm a -- I'm a tariff person. I've always been a tariff person. It's simple, it's easy, it's precise, and it just goes very quickly. And I think Mark has a more complex idea but also very good. So we're going to look at both and we're going to see what -- we're going to come out with something hopefully.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:35:05]
SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, the conflict in the Middle East -- it is raising some serious concerns about energy costs here at home and also the impact on the world economy.
In fact, I want to show you exactly how some of the markets may be performing right now, especially U.S. futures. You see them largely down across the board ahead of the opening bell. Meanwhile, you see crude oil that is up by just over 1 1/2 percentage points in some cases.
And still to come, the Trump administration -- it is now getting into the cell phone business. We're going to have the details on what to expect from the so-called Trump Mobile next.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:40:15]
SANDOVAL: The Trump Media & Technology Group is now attempting to launch an exchange traded fund that will invest entirely in cryptocurrency. Now if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the fund and other Truth Social bitcoin would give investors exposure to the world's two largest digital currencies. And this comes after Trump Media raised $2.5 billion to create a bitcoin treasury for the company.
The new filing is now expected to raise more concerns about conflicts of interest surrounding the president's business empire.
And speaking of that business empire, President Trump's sons, meanwhile, have announced another new business venture of their own. It's called Trump Mobile. Now they have licensed the family name for a new wireless service offering monthly cell phone plans.
CNN's Hadas Gold with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
D. TRUMP: My new Trump watches --
HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Trump fans can already wear a Trump-branded watch and sneakers. Soon they'll also be able to have a Trump phone in their pocket. Eric and Donald Trump Jr. announcing Trump Mobile -- cell phone plans that will use other wireless carriers' networks and eventually sell their own gold-colored phones.
Plans are set at a symbolic monthly price of $47.45, a nod to Trump's presidencies, but they'll also bundle in telemedicine and roadside assistance.
DONALD TRUMP JR., EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: A big part of what we've done right now in the world has been focused on technology for people who have been underserved, whether that's been in crypto or anything else. But one of the places where we felt there was lackluster performance was in the mobile industry.
GOLD (voiceover): The Trump sons claim their mobile phone will be entirely made in America, taking on device giants like Apple and Samsung, which President Trump has threatened with high tariffs if they don't start building their phones in America.
D. TRUMP: If they're going to sell it in America, I want it to be built in the United States.
GOLD (voiceover): But manufacturing high-quality phones in the U.S. would be logistically impractical and much more expensive. Trump Mobile says their phones will be $499, which experts say means it probably won't be like an iPhone.
DIPANJAN CHATTERJEE, VICE PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPAL ANALYST, FORRESTER: There is a version of a phone that will be good enough for many people and particularly for people who are already bought into the Trump value proposition. As long as you make a phone that's good enough for them, and if it comes in at a reasonable price point -- hey, maybe that is the magic solution.
GOLD (voiceover): Trump Mobile is just the latest moneymaking venture for President Trump's family as they capitalize on his presidency in unprecedented ways. Many of those businesses have benefited the president himself who made more than $600 million last year, according to the financial disclosure forms and Reuters. Much of that is from recent ventures like Trump Media and his Trump crypto coin. He's also made money last year from Trump watches, Trump sneakers, Trump fragrances, Trump guitars, and even Trump bibles.
Though Trump has ceded control of the Trump Organization to his children, experts have called out the many conflicts of interest as the federal government regulates many of the industries he's making money from, including wireless phone.
GOLD: Experts I have been speaking to who manufacture cell phones and who understand the market -- they say that this made in America phone is almost completely unlikely to actually be fully made in America. Only one company is known as of now to domestically produce a cell phone and even some of their parts have to, by necessity, come from abroad. And those phones go for nearly $2,000. So we'll see when this phone actually comes out whether and how much of it is actually made in America compared to what the Trump Organization claims.
Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: And Facebook's parent company Meta has changed its mind. WhatsApp will no longer be ad-free. Now the ad will now feature promos in the update section. Roughly 1 1/2 billion people actually use that feature in the app every day. Officials say that WhatsApp will gather user data to help determine and target those ads. Now, the company says it still has no plans to put ads in actual personal messages or in any of the chats.
You'll recall that Meta bought WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion and at the time said that it wouldn't have any games, gimmicks, or ads on the service.
Well, President Trump is -- he just arrived back in Washington at this hour. Ahead we will tell you what he said aboard Air Force One about the growing conflict between Israel and Iran. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:48:55]
SANDOVAL: An update now on one of our top stories. After an overnight flight, President Trump is back in Washington at this hour after cutting his G7 trip short so that he can monitor the situation between Israel and Iran from the White House.
Earlier, my colleague Kaitlan Collins asked the president to clarify a comment made by French President Emmanual Macron who suggested that Trump was seeking a ceasefire in that Middle East conflict. I want you to listen to his answer aboard Air Force One.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You just posted right before we took off that you're not leaving because of a ceasefire. Why are you -- can you elaborate?
D. TRUMP: We're looking at better than a ceasefire. We're not looking for a ceasefire. I didn't say I was looking for a ceasefire. That was Emmanuel. A nice guy but he doesn't get it right too often. But we're looking for better than a ceasefire.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) to get into this war? You're not going to haul the U.S. into this conflict. Are you going to do anything more for Israel right now?
D. TRUMP: We're doing pretty well right now. We're doing pretty well. Remember, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple. Not to go too deep into it but they just can't have it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:50:00]
SANDOVAL: And President Trump was also asked whether he's negotiating with the Iranians right now or wanting to potentially wait.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. TRUMP: I don't know. I've been negotiating. I told them to do the deal. They should have done the deal. Their cities have been blown to pieces, and they've lost a lot of people. They should have done the deal. I told them do the deal. So I don't know. I'm not too much in a mood to negotiate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: And before leaving, President Trump joined the other G7 leaders in a joint statement calling for a resolution to this crisis between Israel and Iran. U.S. officials say that Trump was initially reluctant to support it but eventually signed the statement after changes to the language were made. The final version that was signed calls for the protection of all civilians of the conflict.
Here's Kristen Holmes with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump leaving the G7 early. He was supposed to spend Tuesday with several meetings as well as holding a press conference. But Monday the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, posted that after the day that Donald Trump had -- a series of good engagements -- that he needed to get back given what was going on in the Middle East.
Now I talked to a number of White House officials who said throughout the day Donald Trump kept asking to be briefed on what exactly was happening in the Middle East -- where things stood between Iran and Israel. And it became clear as things began escalating in the Middle East that it would be better for him -- at least they believe so -- to be in Washington with all of his officials nearby. They are likely going to convene in the Situation Room.
I do want to note one thing that I was told by a White House official is that the posture has not changed. We've seen a lot of speculation swirling about why he left early. Was this a change in posture from the United States?
We are told pretty definitively that at this time -- of course, anything can change. At this time the U.S. is still maintaining a defensive posture, meaning they are helping Israel with deflecting and interfering with those missiles. They have used the argument that there are U.S. military assets in Israel they need to protect. There are U.S. citizens in Israel they need to protect. But they are not at this point going on the offensive. Now part of that reasoning we are told is that Donald Trump is still really hoping to get Iran to the table in terms of a nuclear deal. They are hoping to have their top intermediaries meet -- their top officials meet to try and work something through.
And throughout the last several days Donald Trump has been urging these officials -- these U.S. officials to maintain contact with their Iranian counterparts, but if not them with the intermediaries around the globe to try and ensure that this still happens. That Iran comes to the table. We've obviously seen him calling for that publicly as well.
So unclear what the next steps are going to be but right now what we do know is that Donald Trump is not staying the full time at the G7. He had a set of meetings on Monday and then is heading back to Washington.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Calgary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says that the U.S. has a few different options in terms of getting involved in this conflict. None of them though, he says, is perfect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: The United States and President Trump have three choices to make.
One is to try to get a diplomatic solution. Qatar, Oman, and others are trying to see if they can at least get Iran back to the negotiating table and it's not going to be easy to do. They would -- it would require Israel to stop the attacking and that's something they probably don't want to do right now. And so it is -- it's difficult to do but at the same time it's something that I think the world and parties that are unrelated to the actual attacks going on would support in order to try to reach some kind of agreement.
The second choice is to join this war. To have the United States join the war and be able to go after their nuclear capability and literally try to destroy Iran. But the problem with that is that it would result in retaliation against the United States and in the end the reality is that kind of full-scale war against Iran results in the United States being part of a Middle East war. That's something that Trump didn't want for the United States.
The third option is to stay out of it. That's pretty much what Trump is doing right now. But it's an approach that basically says let the players kill each other, let them exhaust themselves, and hopefully, ultimately there will be an opportunity down the road. But that means continuing warfare between Iran and Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: With civilians on both sides caught in between.
We'll be right back with more after this break.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:59:08]
SANDOVAL: All right. So when in doubt do not sit on the crystal- encrusted chair. That's a message for visitors at an Italian museum that actually damaged a piece of art by trying to sit on it at the Palazzo Maffei in Verona.
That's where surveillance video is from where you see a tourist actually broke a crystal-covered chair in April. You can see a man and a woman there taking pictures in front of the exhibit. Once the man sits down the chair collapses. What do they do? They run off, of course.
Now, the artwork was inspired by one of Vincent Van Gogh's most famous paintings. Luckily, though, the museum was able to fix that delicate design.
The identities of those involved are still unknown.
And a familiar face returning to the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest this Fourth of July and, people, he is very hungry. Champion eater Joey Chestnut -- he is now preparing both mind and body for -- as any athlete would -- for this annual hot dog eating contest in just two weeks after being banned last year due to corporate partnerships.
[06:00:05]
Chestnut says that the event means the world to him and is a huge part of his life. He's won the mustard yellow belt for the Nathan's contest 16 times already. Chestnut set a world record for eating 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes back in 2021.
I was hungry up until five minutes ago.
Thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Polo Sandoval. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts now.
