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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump, Zelenskyy to Meet at White House in Hours Ahead; Trump Puts Federal Agents, National Guard On D.C. Streets; U.S. Judge to Hold Hearing Monday Over Notorious Florida Migrant Detention Center; Funeral for Ukrainian Soldier ahead of Trump-Zelenskyy Talks. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired August 18, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:36]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Danny Freeman. It is Monday, August 18th, 4 a.m. here in Atlanta, and straight ahead on Early Start.

President Trump previews his high-stakes meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and E.U. leaders. Plus, his latest talking points sound very similar to messaging coming out of the Kremlin.

And the federal takeover of Washington, D.C. policing, how it's going over with the people who live in the nation's capital. They're talking to CNN about it.

Plus, Alligator Alcatraz in court, we'll get you set for a hearing today over the controversial migrant detention center in Florida.

We're now just hours away from critical talks between President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the U.S. president already appears to be previewing the message he'll deliver.

In a social media post last night, he said Zelenskyy can, quote, "end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to, or he can continue to fight," before making clear the Ukrainian president will have to give up Crimea and agree to never join NATO.

Zelenskyy and Trump will sit down in the Oval Office just days after the U.S. president met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Security guarantees for Ukraine and Russia's demands on land concessions will likely be among the key topics.

The Ukrainian president will be joined in Washington by key European allies that you can see right there, including the leaders of France, Germany, the U.K., Finland, and Italy.

Now, the group held a virtual meeting on Sunday with Zelenskyy, offering this message ahead of those talks. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Of course, we have to stop the killings. Putin has many demands, but we do not know all of them. And if there are really as many as we heard, then it will take time to go through them all. It's impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons. So, it's necessary to cease fire and work quickly on a final deal. We'll talk about it in Washington.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: With regards to any territorial questions in Ukraine, our position is clear. International borders cannot be changed by force. These are decisions to be made by Ukraine and Ukraine alone. And these decisions cannot be taken without Ukraine at the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Meanwhile, inside Ukraine, Russia's attacks are intensifying. Officials say at least nine people have been killed in just the past 24 hours, including three children.

For more on this, we have CNN's Clare Sebastian. She's following all of these developments for us from London and joins us now.

Clare, this is going to be quite a visual, I imagine, with all of these European leaders and Zelenskyy descending on Washington. What should we expect to see?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Danny, I think the scale of this, the number of leaders, the speed at which it's happened, all of them clearing their schedules in the middle of August, is very striking. We are going to see, we believe, a bilateral summit first between President Trump and Zelenskyy, and then they'll bring in the European leaders that have come to support him, essentially.

Look, I think this is extremely delicate, not only for Ukraine, which risks being backed into a corner here. President Trump having shifted his stance on some of the key European and Ukrainian red lines that they put forward to him ahead of this summit, namely the idea that a ceasefire should come first before any kind of peace settlement.

And, of course, we saw this morning in that True Social post from Trump that he essentially said that Zelenskyy should give up Crimea and commit to not ever joining NATO, not to mention the fact that he said that Zelenskyy could end the war, a war, of course, that he did not start.

So, I think delicate for Zelenskyy, delicate for the European leaders. You see that in the language of some of these statements ahead of the summit praising Trump for his efforts so far to end the war, not mentioning the fact that essentially Alaska was -- was a backward step in terms of the European position. And I think there is going to be a focus on what comes next. President Trump is pushing very hard for this to be the next step towards a trilateral summit between himself and Putin and Zelenskyy. And I think certainly from the Russians' perspective, they have shown extreme reticence about coming to the table with the European leader. And that is something that President Zelenskyy himself alluded to. Take a listen.

[04:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY: Since the territorial issue is so important, it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia and the trilateral Ukraine, United States, Russia. So far, Russia gives no sign that trilateral will happen. And if Russia refuses, then new sanctions must follow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: Well, look, I mean, the Russian position on this trilateral meeting is pretty clear. I spoke to a Russian journalist over the weekend who said to me that he didn't really see that it was essential for settling the conflict, that it might be a photo and they might do it for the photo if they had to. And I think Zelenskyy is sort of in a delicate way pointing out that previous threats over imposing sanctions on Russia by the U.S. have not been enforced. So, that is the position in which he finds himself going into this summit.

FREEMAN: Clare Sebastian, in London, so much to look forward to ahead in Washington, D.C. Thank you for breaking it all down for us this morning. Appreciate it.

All right. Joining me now also from London is Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House and Deputy Director for the Russia and Eurasia program.

Thank you so much for joining us on a very, very busy and consequential beginning to this new week. So, to that point, a new week, new high stakes meeting in the United States, this time with Zelenskyy in Europe. From your perspective, do you see a way where Russia and Ukraine are closer to peace after today?

ORYSIA LUTSEVYCH, HEAD OF THE UKRAINE FORUM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Danny, so far, we do not have any evidence on the grounds that this is the case, right? We should be watching not what Putin says, like he said in Alaska, he wants the end to Ukraine crisis, but what his armed forces are doing and what we know from open-source intelligence that they are planning and preparing, locating more troops in the region of Donbas to take all this region that they -- that they want so hard. They are bombarding Ukrainian cities.

So, Ukraine is keeping its defense lines as strong as possible, pushing Russians away because they understand that this war is also not just about territory. This war is about the sovereignty of Ukraine, its independence. And this is where this NATO, no NATO membership position of Putin is so sticky because this is exactly what he wants. He wants a veto on NATO in this war, not just parts of Ukrainian territory. FREEMAN: Well, let's talk more about that, because I want to bring up again the really remarkable "Truth Social" post that President Trump sent out overnight here in the States on the eve of this meeting, essentially putting all of the onus on Zelenskyy to end this war, saying Crimea is not coming back. And to your point that NATO is off the table, I mean, your perspective here, is this Putin's dream starting point as Trump goes into these meetings?

LUTSEVYCH: Well, it seems like Putin was quite successful in actually imposing his narrative on President Trump, because it is clear that these underlining conditions that Putin often mentions as the reason for war, it's not so much about Ukraine. If we recall the documents that Kremlin was sending to Washington in November before the invasion of 2021, they wanted NATO to retreat to the borders of 1997. Fundamentally, Putin wants Trump and America out of Europe.

This is what's at stake. And this is why so many European leaders are today in Washington, because they understand that Putin wants to put a nail in the coffin of the transatlantic unity. He wants to split Europe and America and to leave Europe defenseless for Russian new imperialism.

FREEMAN: There is a question for you. Do you think we're going to see another public Oval Office addressing down of Zelenskyy here? Or do you think this may be a friendlier meeting?

LUTSEVYCH: It will be hard for that to happen with so many European leaders backing Zelenskyy. And also I think Zelenskyy has learned his lesson how to handle Trump. He's coming really prepared. I think that President Trump really wants to have a deal. He wants to get that Nobel Peace Prize. So, he will likely also play a more constructive role.

In a way, he's in a minority, although he is in his own territory, as we do know that Ukraine and European leaders are against ceding territory, are against legally recognizing Russian status of Crimea, and are unlikely to support also veto on NATO enlargement in principle as something that Putin wants.

FREEMAN: I think it's an interesting framing that he -- President Trump, will be in the minority even though he's going to be at the White House just because of, again, the wealth of European leaders who are coming.

To that point, I was curious if you had a perspective or insight on this. Of this, as they call themselves, the coalition of the willing European delegation, is there any leader there in particular who you will be watching?

[04:10:05]

I guess the reason I ask is because it seems like whoever is the last person in the room with Trump has a tremendous amount of influence. So, who do you think might be the last person who will try to be in his ear? LUTSEVYCH: You're right, Danny. And I think somebody to watch is the

Prime Minister of the U.K., Keir Starmer, how he will actually handle Trump. Trump is supposed to come on a state visit to the U.K. in a month. And it's important, his voice in this regards.

U.K. has been quite forward leaning from the very start of Russian invasion, providing a lot of significant military assistance to Ukraine, and trying together with France and Germany to put together this coalition of the willing that is ready to put reassurance force, it is called, to defend the rest of Ukraine from any further Russian aggression. So, what Trump will hear from Starmer will matter.

And also what offer European nations are putting on the table in terms of arming Ukraine, in terms of being present in Ukraine, and in terms of economic reconstruction of Ukraine. All of that, I think, may impress Trump.

FREEMAN: Orysia Lutsevych, in London, thank you so much for your time and for chatting with us on such an important news day. Appreciate it.

All right. Turning domestically now, three Republican-led states are escalating President Trump's effort to take over local law enforcement in Washington, D.C. South Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia now are preparing to send hundreds of their own National Guard troops to patrol the city streets.

Now, crowds opposed to the president's moves gathered over the weekend, but not everyone in the U.S. Capitol feels the same way. CNN's Camila DeChalus spoke with D.C. residents about the impact on their community as children prepare to head back to school.

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CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER: Several D.C. residents and youth activists told me that their biggest concern is that young black and Latino teens are going to be the most impacted by the larger police presence in the city. And while some D.C. residents have acknowledged that youth violence is a big issue in the city, they believe that Trump's actions are only going to do more harm than good. Take a listen to what some D.C. residents had to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's doing nothing at all. It's not -- it's just doing absolutely nothing. It's theater. It's political theater. And the only people that fall for it are people that don't live here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm out here to protest. The idea of having someone that isn't even familiar with D.C. in charge of the police here is terrifying to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have never lived in a city where there's military outside my door.

DECHALUS: Now, during my conversation with several D.C. residents, some parents with children in the D.C. public school system did express that they think that Trump's latest move of deploying more federal law enforcement to the city is actually a step in the right direction to combat youth violence.

DECHALUS: Do you have any reservations or concerns sending your kids to school with the fact that the DEA and the national troops are all deployed into the city?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. To me, it actually makes the streets -- to me -- more safer.

DECHALUS: Now the Trump administration on their end says that their main objective in sending more troops to D.C. is to really make D.C. safe again. And they say that they really want to combat youth crime. But when you look at the data of youth arrests for violent offenses from 2018 to 2024, it paints a bit of a complicated picture.

You see that there was a little bit of a decline from 2019 to 2020, and then there was a little bit of an uptick after 2022 to 2024. But youth activists say that more funding from the federal government should really be going towards more resources and programs that help and target inner city youth, not to increase law enforcement presence in the city.

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FREEMAN: Thanks to Camila for that report.

The redistricting battle in the U.S. is also heating up today. The California legislature is set to convene to begin the process around their proposed redistricting map. Now, their plan aims to produce up to five additional Democratic seats in the U.S. House.

You might remember this all comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott called a second special session to push through redistricting his state's congressional maps. Republicans hope to secure up to five more GOP seats in the 2026 midterm elections there.

Now, a source says Texas House Democrats who fled the state to stall that Republican plan are expected to return to Austin in the coming hours. Meanwhile, demonstrators across the country protested the Trump-backed Texas redistricting plan over the weekend.

All right, coming up in just a moment, attorneys warning that the migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades could become a, quote, "black hole" for the Trump administration to disappear detainees. We'll tell you what they're doing to fight it. Still ahead.

Plus, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to meet at the White House today. We'll take a look at how key European leaders are working to present a united front with Kyiv.

Stay with us.

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FREEMAN: Later today, a U.S. federal judge will hold a hearing over the controversial detention center in the Florida Everglades. Attorneys say Trump administration officials are blocking detainees from meeting with legal counsel in violation of their civil rights. And that's just one lawsuit against the notorious facility. CNN's Rafael Romo has details.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alligator Alcatraz is currently facing two lawsuits. One was filed by environmental groups who are opposed to such a facility being built in the middle of an ecosystem like the Florida Everglades. The other one was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and immigrants' rights advocates.

A federal court in Miami will hold a hearing on Monday in the ACLU case which focuses on two allegations. Lack of access to legal counsel and violations of due process for migrants detained at the tent facility.

[04:20:09]

The complaint filed last month in the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida in Miami specifically states that quote, "defendants in this case have blocked detainees held at the facility from access to legal counsel. No protocols exist at this facility for providing standard means of confidential attorney-client communication such as in-person attorney visitation and phone or video calls that are available at any other detention facility, jail or prison."

The right to an attorney is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in criminal cases regardless of the legal status of an individual. Eunice Cho, the ACLU's Lead Counsel in this case says beyond the harsh conditions detainees face at Alligator Alcatraz that she says she has never seen at any other detention center, there are fundamental rights that are being violated.

EUNICE CHO, SENIOR COUNSEL, ACLU'S NATIONAL PRISON PROJECT: What we're seeing is that Florida state officials are rounding people up and in many different and very disturbing ways and eventually taking these individuals to Alligator Alcatraz. And they're being held, of course, without, you know, honoring many of the very basic constitutional rights to be able to speak to counsel, to be able to petition for release from custody. And, you know, Alligator Alcatraz cannot end up being a black hole where people disappear.

ROMO: Of course, we reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about these claims in a statement. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that any allegation that illegal aliens at Alligator Alcatraz do not have access to attorneys is false. The facility maintains a physical space for attorneys to meet with their clients.

Additionally, Florida established an email address for attorneys to submit requests to speak to the specific illegal aliens. The ACLU lawsuit names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her entire department as defendants, as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his Executive Director of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, and other officials. We also reached out to the state of Florida for comment on this, but

there has been no response so far.

Rafael Ramos, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Still to come, Ukrainians may have changed their minds about how to end the war Russia started. Stay with us.

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FREEMAN: And welcome back to Early Start. I'm Danny Freeman in Atlanta. We want to return now to our top story. The critical talks between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy now set to kick off in the coming hours. The U.S. president said in a social media post that the Ukrainian leader must agree to some of Russia's conditions for the war to end, underscoring the pressure Zelenskyy will likely face today. We want to give you a reminder of what's really at stake in these talks today.

For more on this, we have CNN's Ben Wedeman, who is at a funeral for a soldier in Kyiv and joins us now.

Ben, what can you tell us?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, hi, Danny. We are at the funeral of David Chichkan, who's a very popular Kyiv artist who was killed earlier this month on the front fighting the Russians. And of course, he is just one of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who have been killed and wounded since this war began back in February 2022.

And of course, people here are very aware of President Trump's social media posts saying that President Zelenskyy can end the war immediately if he wants to. And of course, if you speak to people here, they will tell you, yes, we want to end the war. The question is, under what conditions? The idea that Ukraine is going to cede Crimea and other parts of the eastern regions of the country is something many people find very difficult to -- to digest. They feel that so many people like David Chichkan have died in this war and they don't want them to have died in vain.

I can tell you, Danny, that, you know, he was killed in the eastern part of the country. I spent months and months out there. The soil out there is soaked with the blood of so many Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who lost their lives, lost their homes, lost their loved ones. And there is a certain amount of resentment against the American president who so flippantly sort of suggests what Ukraine should do without any recognition of the sacrifices, the kind of sacrifices people here have come to commemorate, to express their appreciation for.

So, they are hoping that somehow there will be an avoidance of that February very stormy Oval Office meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump, that perhaps when they meet later today with all of those European leaders backing up Ukraine, that perhaps President Trump will understand why it is people here feel it is so important that the victim and not the aggressor in this war come out with justice on their side. Danny?

FREEMAN: Ben Wedeman in Kyiv with an incredibly important perspective and story. Thank you so much for that report. Really do appreciate it.

For more on this, joining me now is John Foreman, Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House. John, thank you so much for joining us to talk about such an eventful and significant day here in the States.

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