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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Netanyahu Says There's No Starvation in Gaza; Trump and EU Finally Agree on a Trade Deal; Starbucks Rival Arrives in New York City. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired July 28, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

MIN JUNG LEE, ANCHOR, EARLY START: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world, so glad you're with us, Rahel Solomon is off, I'm MJ Lee. It's Monday, July 28th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington D.C., and straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER, ISRAEL: There is no policy of starvation in Gaza.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been catastrophic in this deliberate campaign to deprive Palestinians in Gaza of food and water.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've reached a deal. This started months ago, this negotiation.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Rebalance, but enable trade on both sides, which means good jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Possibly, they're not just trade deal that's ever been done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: America's latest coffee chain isn't from America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Luckin Coffee is from China.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you hear about Luckin?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually heard about it from TikTok.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: U.S. President Donald Trump has a busy day ahead in Scotland after reaching a framework for a trade deal with the EU on Sunday. He's expected to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the coming hours. President Trump sealed a trade deal with the U.K. last month, and today, the U.S. Treasury Secretary is expected to meet with Chinese negotiators in Stockholm for talks to reach a trade deal with China.

Meanwhile, the U.S.-EU trade deal that President Trump announced includes a 15 percent levy on imports from the EU, and an additional $600 billion of investments in the U.S. The EU will also increase its purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the U.S. President praised the deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think it's great that we made a deal today instead of playing games, and maybe not making a deal at all --

LEYEN: Yes --

TRUMP: I think it's a -- I'm going to let you say, but I think it's the biggest deal ever made. Thank you very much.

LEYEN: Thank you very much --

TRUMP: Congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you.

LEYEN: I think we hit exactly the point we wanted to find rebalance, but enable trade on both sides, which means good jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, means prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, and that was important for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: CNN's Richard Quest has details of that U.S.-EU trade deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice-over): Donald Trump for the United States, Ursula von der Leyen for the European Union. Both leaders agreed this was a huge deal, possibly the largest trade deal that's ever been done. At 15 percent, both sides can also claim a victory of sorts. Donald Trump was never going to let the EU off scot-free, if you will.

There was always a price to be paid, and 15 percent does bring in tens of billions of dollars of revenue for the treasury to help him beat the budget deficit. For the Europeans, 15 percent is a great deal better than the 20 percent-30-plus percent that had been promised. And this 15 percent is the number, it isn't added on to any other tariffs.

So, most exports from the EU to the United States will now have a 15 percent tariff. Also, the EU has agreed to buy hundreds of billions of dollars worth of energy and make various investments into the United States. That part is considerably more vague. What this deal does is bring certainty.

European businesses may not like the idea of a 15 percent tariff, and who will ultimately pay it, the manufacturer, the exporter, the importer, or pass it on to the consumer? But that's for the future.

(on camera): For the moment, both sides say they can live with this number, and that gives grounds for the market to rally when it opens on Monday. Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: And now, let's check how the markets are reacting to this U.S.- EU deal. U.S. stocks are expected to rise today as you can see there.

[05:05:00]

Right now, the Dow, the S&P and Nasdaq futures are all looking to open higher. And in Europe, the markets also appear to be reacting positively with all indices trading slightly higher. And here's a look at the Asia Pacific markets as well. The Nikkei closed down about 1 percent while the Hang Seng and Shanghai were all in positive territory.

Robin Niblett is a distinguished fellow and former director at Chatham House and he joins me now from London. Great to have you this morning. Let's start with this framework for a U.S.-EU trade deal that was announced on Sunday. Again, a 15 percent levy on imports from the EU just under the wire too, because without a deal on Friday, 30 percent tariffs on European imports would have gone into effect. How is this agreement largely being received by the EU countries?

ROBIN NIBLETT, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW & FORMER DIRECTOR, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, I think it's a relief more than anything else. The thing about tariffs is, this points at which companies can absorb the cost and points at which it becomes prohibitively expensive. Anything around the 30 percent mark, especially for companies in Europe that are competing at quite high-ends of quality products, you know, would be -- would be almost impossible, and certainly a very punitive -- at 15 percent, they can probably absorb it.

I think it's important that at least the reports we've had is this will include pharmaceuticals as well, which is one of the areas where the EU is highly competitive, exports a lot to the U.S., and there's a separate investigation going on in U.S. trade, potentially to add additional tariffs on pharmaceuticals. At least, the reports are, these have included in the 15 percent along with cars, which obviously, the key export certainly for Germany, if not for all of the European Union.

So, in that sense, it is definitely a good outcome from the EU's standpoint. My big worry is, it still remains very uncertain, although, we don't have a formal document. What are the kind of hidden surprises here and there? And steel and aluminum still are at 50 percent level. So, a bit more to look at, but I think it's relatively well received at the moment here.

LEE: Yes, a lot of people curious about the fine print on the agenda for President Trump in Turnberry today is a meeting with the U.K. Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. What do you expect could come out of this bilat in terms of just the major headlines? NIBLETT: Well, the major headline, I think, for Starmer,

domestically, is he wants to see some type of progress on the Palestinian Gaza-Israel question, which is becoming toxic, not just terrible for all of those involved in the conflict, but toxic also for Starmer himself, quite a bit of pressure coming within the Labor Party, including from some ministers in his cabinet.

President Macron, with a recognition of a -- of a Palestinian state later this year. So, that will be definitely a high topic on the agenda. Obviously, continuing support for Ukraine and behind the scenes, completing the U.K. trade deal. We -- British government very proudly has trumpeted its 10 percent average tariff, but we're meant to also, in the U.K., be getting a special deal on steel and aluminum.

But that part of the deal has not yet been formalized, and the pharmaceutical part of the U.K. deal, which is announced on the U.S. one, has not yet been formalized either. So, as I think as the EU is going to discover, the U.K. is still living with completing a deal they thought they completed a couple of months ago.

So, I think Ukraine completing the trade deal, Palestine, the situation in Gaza specifically are going to be right at the top of the agenda. One way for Starmer kind of dodged the Macron question about the -- about a separate state would be to get progress on a ceasefire in Gaza.

LEE: And Robin, while President Trump is doing a good amount of golfing in Scotland, back here at home, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal is showing no signs of dying down. Here's how President Trump responded when a reporter brought up the issue over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, was part of the rush to get this deal done to knock the Jeffrey Epstein story out of the headlines?

TRUMP: Oh, you've got to be kidding with that. No, I had nothing to do with it. Only you would think that, and I had nothing to do with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: All right, and the President's latest attempt to deflect is accusing former President Barack Obama of treason. What does this latest allegation tell you about the President's state of mind?

NIBLETT: Well, I think the President's state of mind remains constant, which is, if you're attacked, you attack stronger in return, and you deflect. He's always wanted to have an element of retribution in his new domestic policy agenda.

[05:10:00]

He's gone after the Biden family, gone after obviously, members of the Biden administration as well as people who he feels betrayed him in his first term. So, I don't think it surprises me. Obviously, the Epstein issue is worrying for him unlike anything else, because it affects his own base, and it's his base that believe partly propagated by himself, that there is a conspiracy behind here.

So, if the conspiracy starts to get close to him, he'll have to create a bigger conspiracy and bring other people into the target. So, President Trump's approach is always to escalate if something escalates to you. And if I can just draw the parallel, you know, the EU has been trying to de-escalate, but on the domestic front, the tougher the Epstein thing becomes, the more he will escalate it.

And he's not going to hide. And I really don't think the deal in Turnberry with the EU actually was a response. I think these are running on two separate tracks personally.

LEE: And as you mentioned before, the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has been looming over this trip to Scotland. French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country would recognize Palestinian statehood, as he has made clear, he's kind of run out of patience with the situation on the ground.

President Trump downplayed that decision, saying Macron's decision doesn't carry any weight. Is he at least partly correct? You know, what practical implications does Macron's announcement have for the conflict?

NIBLETT: Well, I think it matters in the sense that France is not just a big country in Europe, a member of the G7 group of leading countries in the world that includes all of the EU. It is, of course, also a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, which gives it additional capabilities in international diplomacy to mobilize to get other countries involved in trying to look for a solution.

But obviously, it carries no impact on the ground. It carries very little impact with the Netanyahu government, which is not going to be influenced at all by it. And also at the moment, there are all sorts of conditions in there for this state, actually, this recognition to be meaningful, which would include Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority having an election in 2026, which has been promised many times and not happened yet.

It requires the end of conflict in the Gaza Strip, and in the end, it envisages the Palestinian Authority ruling all of Palestine, which would include the Gaza Strip. So, as long as the conflict is going on in Gaza, the idea that you'd be able to turn this idea into something meaningful, obviously, is fanciful.

But it is nonetheless an important step, an important message, not just to Netanyahu, but to Israeli population that the costs of this conflict are the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza are growing.

LEE: Robin Niblett, great to see you, thank you so much.

NIBLETT: Pleasure.

LEE: The World Health Organization is warning that malnutrition rates in Gaza have reached alarming levels as the hunger crisis gripping the enclave continues to get worse. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies that Palestinians are facing starvation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NETANYAHU: Israel is presented as though we are applying a campaign of starvation in Gaza. What a bold face lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Seventy four deaths related to malnutrition have been reported in Gaza so far this year, and 63 of those have happened this month, according to the W.H.O. President Trump says the U.S. will send more aid to Gaza while complaining that he doesn't feel it is appreciated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If $60 million two weeks ago for food for Gaza, and nobody acknowledged it, nobody talks about it, and it makes you feel a little bad when you do that and you know, you have other countries not giving anything. None of the European countries by the way gave -- I mean, nobody gave, but us, and nobody said, gee, thank you very much. And it would be nice to have at least a thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And while Israel is now allowing more aid to flow in, Hamas says there is no point in continuing the ceasefire talks while this crisis deepens. President Trump is again blaming the militant group for the last week's break-down in negotiations. He says Hamas does not want to give up more hostages because, one, the group will lose its leverage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Israel is going to have to make a decision. I know what I do, but I don't think it's appropriate that I say it, but Israel is going to have to make a decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And joining us live from Cairo, Egypt, is Samer Abdeljaber, Regional Director for the United Nations' World Food Program.

[05:15:00]

Samer, it is really good to have you, we're really grateful for your time. So, WFP has assessed this month that a quarter of Gaza's population is facing famine-like conditions, and that nearly one person out of three is not eating for days at a time. Help us understand the sheer scale and gravity of this humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza right now, which has clearly reached a new low.

SAMER ABDELJABER, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, UNITED NATIONS' WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: Thank you very much, and thanks for having me on the call. Absolutely, the situation is really disappointing and depressing for us because we're seeing levels of food insecurity that we've never seen before. And like you said, it's famine-like conditions, 470,000 people at risk.

And unfortunately, with the reports that we're seeing, that people are dying because of the lack of food. Food is available. We are able to scale up. We have 170,000 metric tons of food across the region. Unfortunately, with the humanitarian pause, which is very positive, we're hoping that it will facilitate a faster flow of aid into Gaza. But only two crossings have been opened and the bureaucratic impediments are still pretty high.

LEE: Yes, I mean, you're referring to Israel announcing this daily tactical pause in military activity in parts of Gaza so that more aid can reach more people. We saw some airdrops of aid into Gaza taking place over the weekend. WFP has said that it has enough food to feed the entire population of 2.1 million people for almost three months. How much of that food has actually gotten through so far?

ABDELJABER: It's way below the levels that we expect. So, yesterday, we were hoping to get an 80 to 100 trucks of WFP food. The figures we have is just slightly over 60 because of delays of scanning and clearances, so, today, we are hoping that a 100 will go in, and that's the plan. Our target is to get 80 to 100 a day.

And that includes different type of commodities to facilitate orderly distribution, because that's the only way to really control the crowds and the anxiety levels, but also the food needs that are needed in Gaza. And then also we need to restart the community kitchens and the bakeries to also get the ecosystem of food into Gaza working.

LEE: And we know that the lack of food is hitting humanitarian aid workers, not to mention doctors and medical staff. Have any WFP aid workers on the ground experienced hunger because of the food shortage?

ABDELJABER: Unfortunately, you're right, and even our own colleagues and staff, they're struggling to find food. And yet, whenever there is a clearance to move and get aid collected from the different platforms, they're the first actually to hit the ground and be on the road. We're seeing our staff actually as we say, going wasted, and they're losing a lot of weight.

LEE: And you just heard a few moments ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying this, let me just repeat the quote, "there is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza." I just wonder how you react when you hear a statement like this coming from the Israeli leader.

ABDELJABER: We just hope that, that can be translated on the ground to faster facilitation of clearances for us to be able to go and collect and move in aid in a secure manner. The only way to really avert the situation that Gazans are in is by going in at scale, in a sustainable manner, where they can trust that there is more food coming in, and that will be bringing not just the anxiety levels down, but of course, the needs down.

But that has to be something sustainable. It cannot be something that is only for a day or two. And that's why from WFP and within the U.N., we're saying -- we're hoping that this is going to be just a real initiative to really get into a ceasefire that can allow us to really do our work.

LEE: Samer Abdeljaber, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

ABDELJABER: Thank you very much.

LEE: Still to come, a missing California mother and her eight-month- old daughter are leaving authorities searching for answers. What her family has to say next. And a Chinese coffee chain overtook Starbucks in China. But can Luckin win over American consumers? Plus, NASCAR's newest Grand Marshal has a bit of a sweet tooth.

Later this hour, we'll bring you cookie monsters high speed racing analysis. Stay with CNN.

[05:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEE: A man accused of stabbing close to a dozen people at a Michigan Walmart is now facing terrorism and assault charges. Panic erupted inside the store Saturday when officials say Bradford Gilley began the attack. They believe the attack was random. Some people in the store chased him outside and forced him to drop the knife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the knife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop it!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on it!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop it!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get on from here --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call the police --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the knife!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drop the knife now!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, drop it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throw it away!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:25:00]

LEE: So, those men there held the suspect until police arrived and arrested him. The sheriff says those citizens also helped treat some of the 11 stabbing victims. All of the victims are expected to survive. And family members and police are desperately searching for a missing California mother and her eight-month-old daughter.

Whisper Owen, and her child, Sandra McCarty, were last seen on July 15th in Fresno, California. Police say Owen was visiting family before she went missing, and Owen's mother says that not knowing what happened to her daughter and granddaughter is terrifying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICKIE TORRES, MOTHER OF WHISPER OWEN: She didn't run away. She is a new mom. She's got a good home life. She has -- she has three other children. They not knowing is brought me to a point where I am -- it's a cross between anger and numb, and I'm terrified. I'm just terrified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: A traffic camera captured these photos of Owen's car. It was last seen 66 miles or 106 kilometers north of Fresno. And since then, authorities haven't been able to find the pair or get any leads to explain their disappearance. Family members are searching for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD OWEN, BROTHER OF WHISPER OWEN: Yes, I can't help but to feel like something horrible has happened, because the last time I talked to my sister, she was talking about how good life was, how her and her kids father and her kids all went on a vacation to Wyoming, and they were just having such a good time and making memories that last a lifetime.

Making core memories with her other children and the baby. And she was just happy. There was no reason for her to want to disappear or to leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Fresno police tell CNN there is nothing to suggest foul play. They also say they don't believe Owen or her daughter are in the Fresno area. And two people were found dead along a walking trail in Arkansas on Saturday. And police say they're treating the case as suspected homicides. The victims are Clinton(ph) and Kristen Brink(ph), a married couple.

They were hiking with their two young daughters in Devil's Den State Park. Police say the area is remote and rugged, with no cell service. Causes of death have not yet been released, but police confirmed the victims' daughters were not injured. Investigators say the suspect is a white man who was wearing gloves and dark clothing.

This Summer's extreme heat is not just miserable, it's taking a hard toll on our bodies. The new research shows high temperatures can affect how we age. Those details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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