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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

EU Approves New Sanctions Package Against Russia; CBS Cancels "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" Next Year; Trump Diagnosed With Chronis Vein Condition In His Legs. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 18, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Several others were injured, including the parish priest.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel deeply regrets what happened and it is investigating the incident.

The church has been a shelter for Gaza's small Christian community during the war. One displaced person said after the incident there's no such thing as a safe place in Gaza anymore.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOUAD AYAD, GAZA RESIDENT: (through translator): For more than three weeks we've been under constant bombing and destruction. The Israeli occupation makes no distinction between Christians and Muslims. Now both mosques and churches are being targeted.

Christians and Muslims alike are under attack. This is the enemy -- the Israeli occupation. This is what they now consider their target bank. Houses of worship without differentiating between Christian or Muslim sites.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Syria's shaking ceasefire appears to be holding but the Syrian president says militant groups keep violating it. And Israel won't rule out further strikes either. The Israeli prime minister said his country will continue to act as necessary, claiming it -- claiming its attacks were in defense of the Druze.

Syrian forces have pulled out of the southern city of Suwayda where the Druze live. Troops went in after fighting broke out between the Druze and Bedouin communities.

And CNN's Ben Wedeman is covering this all live from Rome. Ben, this appears to be a fragile ceasefire. What are you watching on this front?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, fragile is the best way to describe it. This is the second ceasefire concluded this week and already we are seeing signs that it is beginning to fray. We've been in touch with one resident of Suwayda who tells us that there are, indeed, ongoing clashes to the north and west of the city. That the situation in Suwayda itself is extremely tense. That communications have been spotty. There hasn't been any electricity for five days. The water is not working. All the bakeries are closed. People are very nervous. The city is full of Druze militiamen.

And we have heard -- we did hear last night from the Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa who said that any atrocities that had taken place in Suwayda would be punished. That they would hold accountable anybody who harmed the Druze population in that area.

Nonetheless, what we're seeing is that there's still intense tension. For instance, there have been pictures circulating on social media of Syrian government forces cutting off the facial hair of Druze individuals. This is considered a serious insult. Some of these individuals were quite elderly.

There is a question of what is going to happen next. Now, the -- as a result of Israeli threats and airstrikes on Syrian government forces in Suwayda and on the defense ministry in Damascus in the very heart of the city, the Syrian government pulled its forces out of Suwayda and now what we're seeing is that they created a vacuum and we're back really where we started with these tribal Bedouin elements fighting it out with the Druze.

Now, the Israelis have made it clear that they will intervene to protect the Druze who, of course, have many fellow relatives who live in Israel and serve in the Israeli army.

At the same time it's worth noting that there are Bedouin elements also within the Israeli army, so even the Israelis find themself in a difficult position.

This situation doesn't seem to be getting any better at this point. And as I said, this second ceasefire, so far this week, looks very shaky indeed at this point, MJ.

LEE: All right, CNN's Ben Wedeman. Thank you very much.

Still ahead, Donald Trump gave Moscow 50 days to reach a ceasefire with Ukraine or face sanctions. Moscow's response is next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:38:55]

LEE: Russia and Ukraine carried out another exchange as part of an agreement that was reached during peace talks brokered by Turkey. A senior aide to Russia's president says Moscow delivered the bodies of 1,000 Ukrainians back to Ukraine and in return Ukraine delivered the bodies of 19 Russian troops.

Meanwhile, Moscow appeared to reject what it calls threats from Donald Trump. On Monday, the U.S. president gave Russia a 50-day ultimatum for a ceasefire with Ukraine or face sanctions. The Russian foreign ministry says the language of ultimatums and threats is unacceptable.

Russian forces launched a number of attacks across Ukraine over the past 24 hours. Local authorities say at least seven people were killed and 48 were wounded.

Live now to London and CNN's Nic Robertson. Nic, we're also hearing new reports that the EU may be moving forward with sanctions of their own. What are you learning about that?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, it's an 18th round of sanctions. They're certainly being welcomed by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a number of his officials.

[05:40:00]

The head of the presidency office has outline what those sanctions may be as we await to get the details from the European Union. But he said that amongst those sanctions will be the targeting of part of Russia's sort of ghost fleet, if you will, that moves oil -- Russian oil. Helps sell Russian oil on global markets bypassing sanctions.

The Ukrainian presidency office also indicating that they think a new price cap will be set as part of these EU sanctions -- a price cap on Russian oil that the European Union purchases. Bringing it down to $45 a barrel -- 15 percent on average below the current market rate which, again, all of this designed by the European Union to target Russia's ability to fight its war. To fund its war.

We've heard from the European high commissioner on foreign affairs Kaja Kallas. She has said that this is the strongest round of sanctions that the European Union has put on Russia. They've been welcomed by the European commissioner president Ursula von der Leyen.

That said, this is the 18th round of sanctions and Russia is able to continue to fight its war. The sort of bigger calculations -- political, military, economic calculations say that at some point this is going to -- all these sanctions will -- particularly if the U.S. weighs in with stronger sanctions, which is obviously under discussion in the United States -- that these ultimately will come to bear on President Putin and cause him to change his trajectory and tactics. That hasn't happened yet.

And in the east of Ukraine around the town of Pokrovsk, Russia continues to make incremental but not insignificant gains on that key strategic railhead town that's part of one of the sort of garrison headquarters, if you will, of the Ukrainian forces in the east of Ukraine, which are -- which has been holding off Russian advances for a long time and will likely continue to do that. But it's one of those areas where Ukraine feels the pressure.

Overnight strikes, however, interestingly, although there were seven people killed in a number of overnight strikes, it -- that hasn't appeared last night to have been a massive onslaught of drones. Thirty-five long-range drones were reported -- Russian long-range drones. Seventeen of those shot down. The numbers there really rolling off from the hundreds that we saw earlier in the week. LEE: Nic Robertson in London. Thank you for those updates.

Coming up, a new diagnosis for President Trump. What the White House says is causing his swollen ankles and bruised hand.

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[05:47:10]

LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we're watching today.

Israel's prime minister is blaming what he calls "stray ammunition" for a deadly strike on Gaza's only Catholic church. Officials say three people were killed and several others injured when the church was hit by Israeli fire on Thursday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel regrets what happened and that it is investigating the incident.

CBS is canceling one of the most popular late-night TV shows here in the U.S. "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT" will end next year. CBS calls it purely a financial decision not related in any way to the show's performance, content, or other matters of parent company Paramount.

And a major update on the Jeffrey Epstein controversy. President Trump is now ordering the Justice Department of release any and all pertinent grand jury testimony related to the investigation into the late convicted pedophile. The U.S. attorney general says that court request could happen as early as today.

The White House says President Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the president recently noticed mild swelling in his lower legs and underwent an examination.

More now from CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So we're talking about chronic venous insufficiency. Venous referring to the veins. We know arteries carry blood away from the heart. Veins return blood back to the heart. When there's a problem with the veins, as the president's diagnosis suggests, that means that blood cannot return as easily, and people often develop swelling -- swelling around the ankles. And that's what's gotten a lot of attention lately.

Now I will point out back in April the president had a physical exam and there was no mention of venous insufficiency. No mention of swelling at that time. So now fast-forward three months. We know there is a significant problem and that is really what prompted this exam -- this swelling that has occurred over the past few months.

They looked at his blood and no evidence that there was any problems that should be causing this. They looked for blood clots, which can sometimes block the veins making it harder for blood to return through the veins. No evidence of blood clots.

The looked at his heart to make sure the heart had good function and that it was pumping blood well through the body. That appears to be the case. And they did an ultrasound of the legs and that's how they diagnosed this -- again, this chronic venous insufficiency.

So that is the diagnosis. The goal of treatment really is to try and decrease that swelling and move that blood back up through the body. Sometimes simply elevating the legs at night -- so sleeping with a couple of pillows underneath your ankles and your feet. That can sometimes be helpful. Using things like compression socks. That can be helpful as well.

[05:50:05]

And obviously encouraging the person -- in this case, the president -- to walk around as much as possible. Sitting -- that tends to be something that can make this venous insufficiency worse.

So non-life-threatening and a pretty common problem, especially as you get older. And also probably has nothing to do with what we've seen with his hands. People have noticed bruising on his hands -- really going back several months, even to February.

The doctors commented on this as well and said basically, this looks like it is primarily irritation to his hand maybe due to lots of handshaking on top of the fact that he takes aspirin as a blood thinner. Those things in combination could cause that bruising that we see in his hands. They try to cover that up with makeup, but you can see that bruising on his hand there in those images.

Again, common problems, non-life-threatening. But guys, that's a little bit of a sense of what the president's dealing with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: This year's Wimbledon women's single champion made headlines for her play and her palate. We'll discuss Iga Swiatek's favorite dish of strawberry pasta next.

(COMMERCIAL)

[05:55:35]

LEE: Wimbledon has long been synonymous with strawberries and cream, but at this year's grand slam it was a different strawberry dish that got fans talking.

Newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek went viral earlier in the tournament when she revealed her favorite food in a post-match interview -- and that meal is pasta and strawberries with a little bit of yogurt. It's a childhood summer staple in her native country of Poland that suddenly become Wimbledon famous.

And I'm joined now by Kasia Pilat, staff editor for New York Times Cooking. Kasia, this dish became such an internet sensation this week. I think some people were surprised because they'd never heard of it. Others were curious to try it. Plenty of people I think were skeptical.

You captured all of this in New York Times Cooking in your article, "A Tennis Star Praised Strawberry and Yogurt Pasta. Wimbledon Gasped."

Before we get into the dish, important question. Have you tried it?

KASIA PILAT, STAFF EDITOR, NEW YORK TIMES COOKING: I have.

LEE: And? How is it?

PILAT: It's good. It's light. It's fresh. It's sweet. It's, you know, everything you want.

LEE: You know, I personally was not familiar with this dish but anyone watching that interview back in Swiatek's home country of Poland wouldn't have bat an eye. In fact, the Polish prime minister posted a picture of himself on X this week watching the athlete while he was holding a plate of pasta with strawberries.

Tell us a little bit about the history of this dish. You know, one thing I'm curious to know is, is it mainly considered an entree or a dessert?

PILAT: Sure. So the history is a little bit nebulous. There's not one person credited with coming up with it. It's something that just sort of appeared and became very popular.

Some people speculate that it might have come about during the communist era in Poland when food was scarce and people kind of had to make do with whatever they could find. And strawberries are very plentiful in Poland in the summertime. So that might give a little bit of an indication as to why strawberries are used in the dish.

As for whether it's a main or a dessert, people eat it lots of different ways. But it's -- generally, I would say it's like a light summer lunch.

LEE: A light summer lunch.

PILAT: Um-hum.

LEE: Lots of people decided to try making this dish after she brought attention to it.

What do you think was the verdict on the internet? It looked to me like most people were on board, like you were.

PILAT: Um, you know what's funny is I was looking at the comments on the video that Wimbledon posted on their social media accounts and there were a couple of comments from folks who were really confused about what it was. Like you said, they'd never seen it before. But the vast majority was a lot of Polish people who were just really excited to see such a traditional nostalgic dish represented on such a global scale. LEE: And, you know, I love reading about food and watching cooking TV shows. One thing I really love is that I think people who are affluent in food speak like their own language. They're just so good at describing how something tastes. Why certain combinations of flavors work well together or don't.

As a foodie yourself, is it obvious to you that pasta, strawberries, and yogurt would make for a good combination?

PILAT: So, you know, in my article I mention how Polish people are not really strangers to the combination of a sweet fruit and a starch.

LEE: Right.

PILAT: We have sweet potatoes. We have a sweet version of the -- of pierogi, which also uses strawberries or blueberries, also with a cream. You know, and even just that kind of mix of sweet and savory or sweet and, like, a basic starch. I mean, peanut butter and jelly -- who doesn't love that?

So for me I think, like, there's something to the celebration of strawberries in a dish like this.

LEE: All right, some food for thought for everyone this Friday morning.

Kasia Pilat, thanks so much for your time.

[06:00:00]

PILAT: Thanks so much for having me.

LEE: And while the golfing world is focused on the British Open in Northern Ireland, a significantly cooler tournament took place recently. Nineteen players from across the world swapped fairways and greens for ice to compete in the inaugural North Pole Clock Golf Championship. The modified game saw competitors putt from numbered points arranged like a round clock base towards a single central hole.

And thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm MJ Lee in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.