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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Illinois Leaders Condemn Possible National Guard Deployment; Judge Says Abrego Garcia Should Remain In The U.S.; South Korean President: "Very Good Conversations" With Trump; Strikes On Gaza Hospital Kill 20, Including 5 Journalists. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 26, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:25]

MIN JUNG LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. Thanks so much for being with us. I'm MJ Lee. Rahel Solomon is off.

It's Tuesday, August 26th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Illinois top leaders firing back at President Donald Trump's plan to send the National Guard to Chicago.

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: Mr. President, do not come to Chicago.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A federal judge in Maryland said she will soon order officials to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia in the United States while he challenges his deportation.

KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA, ICE DETAINEE: I want to thank each and every one of you who marched, lift your voices, never stop praying and continue to fight in my name.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As a small armada of U.S. Navy ships heads towards Venezuela, embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro says he's preparing for an invasion.

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT: Enlist and join the ranks. Long live Venezuela!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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LEE: Our top story this morning, U.S. President Donald Trump is escalating his crackdown on crime in America with a new executive order to expand the operations of the National Guard. This new order calls for the creation of a specialized National Guard units to be deployed around the U.S., and it appears the president may already have his first target cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I made the statement that next should be Chicago because, as you all know, Chicago is a killing field right now, and they don't acknowledge it. Baltimore is a horrible, horrible deathbed. It's a deathbed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: These are just some of the cities that President Trump has mentioned in recent weeks. They all happen to be Democratic states and cities that he claims are in decline because of crime rates. The governor of Illinois has publicly pushed back against the president amid comments about his character. He issued a stark warning for President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRITZKER: This is not about fighting crime. This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state, to try and intimidate his political rivals. There is no emergency in Chicago that calls for armed military intervention. Mr. President, do not come to Chicago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: CNN's Whitney Wild has more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRITZKER: It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Illinois top leaders firing back at President Donald Trump's plan to send the National Guard to Chicago. Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson.

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON, (D) CHICAGO: We are being targeted because of what and who we represent.

WILD: Are people scared?

ANDRE VASQUEZ, CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL: They're concerned, right? I don't know. Traumatized is probably the best way I could describe it.

WILD: Andre Vasquez serves on Chicago City Council and heads the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights. He calls the president's plan pure bluster.

Is the National Guard coming to Chicago a realistic crime reduction measure?

VASQUEZ: I don't even think they believe that. I think that they just want to make it look as if they're doing something.

WILD: How do you think the city's going to react if they see National Guard troops rolling down Michigan Avenue?

VASQUEZ: Well, I think there's different reactions, right? I think folks are prepared because there've been neighbor led rapid response teams if ICE is showing up.

WILD: Vasquez points out there are residents who may welcome the National Guard. City data shows double-digit drops in several major crime categories, including carjackings and robberies. But the city still struggles with violence. So far this year, 262 people have been murdered and more than 1,200 have been shot.

Ameena Haqque, a lifelong Chicagoan, told us she supports the president's strategy because too often here, she says crime is normalized.

AMEENA HAQQUE, CHICAGO RESIDENT: The residents deserve more. They deserve to be -- feel safe. The crime should not take over the city. The crime should not make residents feel like they can't live everyday life.

WILD: Illinois leaders have stressed over and over that they have heard nothing about this deployment from the federal government. And they say that means that this is not a sincere effort to reduce crime.

I asked Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker if anyone from his staff has reached out to the White House and he said, they have not reached out to the White House. He believes they have no reason to do so, that there's no emergency that would warrant the National Guard. And they simply have no need for the White House's help.

What was abundantly clear today is that there is no communication between Illinois leaders and the White House.

[05:05:02]

Meanwhile, the Illinois attorney general stressed that they plan to fight this in court as soon as they're able.

Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: A federal judge has issued an order to keep Kilmar Abrego Garcia in the U.S. The Trump administration is attempting to deport him to Uganda, but a judge says he must remain in the U.S. while she considers his legal challenge against the Trump administration.

Abrego Garcia is in ICE custody after turning himself in to face human smuggling charges, and he recently returned to the U.S. after being unlawfully deported and held in El Salvador's notorious maximum security prison. His case is one of many that have drawn attention to the excesses of the administration's immigration crackdown.

And speaking through a translator, he offered a message of hope for others who find themselves in a similar situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABREGO GARCIA (through translator): To all the families who have been separated, or to all the families who have been threatened with family separation, this administration has hit us hard. But I want to tell you guys something. God is with us and God will never leave us. God will bring justice to all of the injustice that we are suffering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Meanwhile, President Trump has announced that he is firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over mortgage fraud allegations. The move marks a significant escalation between the president and the Central Bank, which he blames for taking too long to lower interest rates. This is the first termination of its kind in the Fed's 111-year history. Cook has not been charged with any crime, and she says the president has no authority to fire her without cause. And she plans to continue carrying out her duties.

And in other domestic news, the House Oversight Committee is issuing a subpoena to the Jeffrey Epstein estate for documents that include the so-called birthday book. It's a collection of letters from high profile figures gifted to Epstein on his 50th birthday and reportedly includes a note from President Trump to the late, disgraced financier. Trump has repeatedly denied writing the note and sued "The Wall Street Journal" for defamation. The committee is probing the government's investigation of Epstein.

The committee also plans to interview Alexander Acosta, a former Trump administration official who oversaw Epstein's plea deal in 2008.

And meanwhile, South Korea's president is upholding his country's promise to, quote, make American shipbuilding great again. President Lee Jae-myung is set to wrap up his first official trip to the U.S. with a visit to a Philadelphia shipyard that's owned by a South Korean firm later today. President Lee concluded his first summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, avoiding what he called a Zelenskyy moment in the oval office. Defense was a major topic of discussion between the two leaders, as was North Korea and its expanding nuclear capability.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump met with South Korean President Lee in the Oval Office on Monday, the latest world leader to come pay their respects and meet the American president. But it was clear for at least Mr. Trump's part, he had North Korea on his mind.

TRUMP: I'd like to have a meeting. I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong Un in the appropriate future.

ZELENY: Now, during an hour-long session in the Oval Office, President Trump repeatedly heaped praise on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who, of course, Trump had a meeting with in 2018 and met with him twice in 2019, trying to forge a partnership, a relationship that did not end up going anywhere.

Of course, the president, as he said, North Korea had major potential. He did not once mention the nuclear weapons program, that it's at the center of the challenges and controversy that North Korea has, and certainly the conflict they have with their neighbors to the South.

But President Trump, even as he repeatedly praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, he did also have a warm relationship, he said, with South Korea. He said he wanted to have a good relationship. There were some concerns about would there be a tense meeting, because President Lee is a new leader. Of course, he won the presidency in June.

Conservatives in South Korea are not thrilled by him by any stretch. And President Trump gave some indication going into the meeting that he was also not seeing President Lee with very warm feelings, but that all dissipated. So there were some discussions about shipbuilding, some discussions about economic growth. But one thing that hangs over the relationship, of course, between the U.S. and a longtime ally, South Korea, is China.

And that was something that was clearly not resolved in the open session, at least. But there was a lunch and a closed-door session where that was discussed even more. And President Trump was asked about the decision if he would leave the number of U.S. troops in South Korea, and he did not answer that question, he said it's not appropriate to do so.

[05:10:05]

But clearly, the meeting went well on Monday in the Oval Office, even as President Trump seemed to focus slightly more on North Korea than South.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: All right, let's get back to our top story this hour. President Trump's crackdown on crime, including new specialized National Guard units.

Joining me now to discuss is Larry Krasner, the Philadelphia district attorney.

Thank you so much for your time this morning.

So, your city of Philadelphia is an example of a largely Democratic city where violent crime has decreased substantially in recent years. President Trump has said he is not stopping at Washington, D.C. So let me ask you for starters, do you worry that Philadelphia could be next?

LARRY KRASNER, DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF PHILADELPHIA: You know, I worry anytime somebody wants to break the law. And we're talking about a man who's been convicted of 34 felonies. We're talking about someone who lies all the time. And one of those lies is that these big cities are not doing well with public safety. In fact, as of this morning, Philly is at a 50 plus year low in homicides were down in 14 out of 18 categories and subcategories of crime.

This is just a lie. It's a lie in D.C. It's a lie in L.A. It's a lie in Chicago. It's a lie in Philly. And it's a lie by a criminal who pardons criminals. You know, insurrectionists, people who are basically engaging in treason against the United States.

Simply put, the only crisis here is Donald Trump. And that's because he wants a crisis. He wants a crisis so he can roll tanks in big cities, make it look normal. And he wants that because he intends to try to carry out a coup.

LEE: All right. So, you mentioned the city of Chicago, and the president has said that cities like Chicago and New York are at the top of his list. What do you say, I wonder, to any residents of cities like that who might say, you know, I do think crime is a big problem and I don't mind the idea of more law enforcement where I live, because that does kind of boil down one of the presidents main arguments, right? That he claims there are people pleading with him for an enforcement crackdown where they live.

KRASNER: I mean, it's a typical Trumpian lie. It's basically all that he does. National Guard is not law enforcement.

This is not increasing law enforcement. If you want to have more police in Philadelphia, Chicago, et cetera., then fund them, just like we should fund the safety net that prevents so much crime, which of course, he doesn't want to do. But let's not pretend that National Guard troops or U.S. military who are trained to kill the enemy, are trained to be peacekeepers among the citizenry.

That's not real. We've seen the tragedies that can occur here, including at Kent State in the 1970s, when National Guard troops killed a bunch of students and shot a bunch of other students. This is just a wannabe dictator trying to lay the groundwork so people think it's normal to do stuff that is unconstitutional.

D.C. is a place where Trump can get away with more because the law permits it. He cannot get away with this in big cities. It violates our 10th Amendment. It violates a variety of laws.

And if those supposed anti-crime forces, which they're not at all, if they show up and they start committing local crimes, they can be prosecuted locally. They should be prosecuted locally. And here's the big part Donald Trump cannot pardon a National Guard person who, unjustifiably killed someone, harm someone, detained someone in violation of state law. He can't do it.

LEE: You just said that President Trump can't get away with this in big cities. Can you walk us through what exactly the legal recourse might be for a city like yours? If president Trump were to try to deploy National Guards?

KRASNER: Sure. So, under the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution, the President has no ability to force local authorities to enforce federal law. So, his Nazified deportation program, his improper use of ICE for that purpose, is not something that he can make the Philadelphia police, the Philadelphia mayor, the Philadelphia police commissioner, or the D.A., which I am, carry out, cannot do it.

These other excuses that he is coming up with about why it is we should do this unprecedented thing that, among other things, violates the law of posse comitatus. All of this stuff is it's basically a grifter in search of a crisis that doesn't exist. The only crisis here is Donald Trump, and he wants a crisis because he wants to excuse to cancel elections down the road. Maybe not these midterms. A little early for his game, but definitely after that he's looking for -- he's even spoken about it. He just spoke about it the other day when Zelenskyy was meeting with him in the oval office.

He's talking about the cancellation of elections because of a crisis where there is no crisis.

[05:15:03]

America needs to wake up. This is serious. We have elected officials saying nothing and doing nothing. It is not time to appease. It's time to fight.

LEE: Look, what President Trump is trying to do here, at least politically speaking, is seize on and promote a narrative that the Democratic Party is a party that is weak on crime. You know, you've touted the fact that your city's crime rates have fallen.

How do you think the party can better message that?

KRASNER: Well, first of all, they can tell the truth. Here's the truth -- if you look at the last 25 years and I have had my criminologist and my data lab do this, if you look at the last 25 years, the Republican states were more dangerous than the Democratic states, 24 of those 25 years. And it was a lot more.

The homicide rate in the Republican states, meaning states that voted for the Republican candidate in the last presidential election, is 133 percent of the homicide rate in the Democratic states. My Democratic Party should have been saying this a long time ago. But the notion that a party that is actually terrible at public safety is better is completely false.

LEE: All right. District attorney of Philadelphia, Larry Krasner, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

KRASNER: Thank you.

LEE: So, imagine flying into phoenix and seeing this. A towering wall of dust rolled over the city on Monday, causing damage and delays at the airport, 60,000 customers were left without power as the dust was followed by severe thunderstorms. And this is what it's like to be inside the dust storm. Day turns into night and visibility drops to near zero.

It's like being inside a blizzard, but one that's full of desert soil. Dust storms are common in Arizona, but this was an especially severe one. These walls of dust are known as a haboob.

Deadly Israeli strikes on a Gaza hospital are sparking fierce condemnation. More on that. And what Israel is saying about the attack.

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[05:21:33]

LEE: Israel is now facing fresh outrage after it launched back-to- back strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists and four medical workers. The first strike on Monday hit the fourth floor, followed by a second attack that hit emergency responders who had rushed to the scene. A balcony used by journalists for an elevated view of Khan Younis was also struck. Israel's military confirms it carried out a strike in the area and has ordered a probe. Meantime, in Israel, protesters have returned to the streets today, causing major traffic disruptions as they demand an end to the war and a deal to bring the hostages home.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following these developments and joins us now with the latest.

Paula, this strike is another devastating incident adding to the growing list of attacks that have killed journalists in Gaza. Are there any signs that there will be accountability this time around?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, MJ, I think you've answered your own question there the fact that this is yet another attack that has killed journalists. Just a couple of weeks ago, there were a number of Al Jazeera journalists which were also targeted and killed by the Israeli military.

Now, we have heard from two international outlets, "AP" and "Reuters", both of whom had contractors killed among those five that lost their lives on Monday. And they have called for urgent and transparent accountability. They've written a letter to Israeli officials, including the prime minister, the defense minister, the chief of staff, talking about their outrage and saying there needs to be accountability.

However, in the same letter, they also say that it is unlikely, given the fact there have been investigations in the past when these kind of attacks have happened and there has not been a transparent result at the end of it. Now, we've heard from the prime minister's office, and they have said that Israel deeply regrets, excuse me, the tragic mishap, saying that they do value the work of journalists, medical staff and all civilians, saying that there will be a thorough investigation.

But we have heard from "AP" and "Reuters" questioning whether that investigation will lead to a transparent result. There has, as you mentioned, been widespread condemnation about this double tap attack from journalist groups around the world, from the un, the un secretary general calling for accountability. A number of countries as well, commenting and condemning this attack. Now it comes as well on the same day as you mentioned, this nationwide

day of disruption where Israelis are calling for the war in Gaza to end. The polls that we have been seeing recently suggest that a majority of Israelis now support the end of the war in Gaza. They support the hostages being returned. There are still 50 hostages being held by Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza, 20 of whom are still believed to be alive, and they are calling for a deal to be done.

Now we know there will be a security cabinet meeting later today, but it appears at this point that will be talking about the security -- excuse me, the military operations in Gaza city, Israel, expanding its military operations, intending to take over that city.

[05:25:02]

It is not clear whether or not they will be discussing the proposal that the U.S. has on the table at this point to have a ceasefire and hostages released. This was accepted by Hamas a week ago. We have not heard up until this point a definitive response from Israel, from the Israeli prime minister. What we're hearing from officials is that they now favor a complete deal.

So, all of the hostages to be released. But it's unclear when exactly we will hear that response. And this all comes at the same time as we heard overnight from the U.S. president, Donald Trump, suggesting that he believes the war in Gaza will be over shortly, saying in the Oval Office, I think within the next 2 to 3 weeks, you're going to have pretty good conclusive, a conclusive ending.

He didn't give any specifics, any reason why he believes that. He says he speaks quite a bit to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Worth pointing out, though, it's not the first time that he has said the end of the war is around the corner -- MJ.

LEE: Paula Hancocks covering yet another devastating day. Thank you.

And coming up, President Trump is giving Vladimir Putin two weeks to end the war in Ukraine. What the president said about Russia's continued attacks when we return.

And higher prices may be just around the corner for online shoppers. We'll explain how a tariff rule change coming this Friday could impact consumers in the U.S.

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