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Ukraine: 8 Killed, 54 Wounded In Huge Russian Drone Attack; Trump: "You Have My Assurance" No Boots On Ground In Ukraine; Bannon Decries Potential For U.S. Pledge To Defend Ukraine; Democrats' Return To Texas Clears Way For GOP Redistricting; California Legislature To Take Next Steps On Redistricting Bill. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 19, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, diplomatic double speak. Ukraine's future hinges on President Trump's word and shifting tone. One moment, he's pledging support to President Zelenskyy in the fight for his country's survival. And the next President Trump seems to be reading from the Russian rhetorical playbook.

Plus, Republicans are barreling ahead with their power grab. Now the Democrats are back in the Lone Star State. They bought time but not leverage. So, what was the point of the Democrats' 15-day absence there? I'll speak with one member of the legislature there on the Democratic side, vowing to continue to fight.

And Democrats nationally have cast a wide net to have any shot at reclaiming the U.S. Senate. In the state of Maine, could that involve an oyster farmer who's made a living doing just that, but reeling in results out of murky waters.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

Today, the brutal war in Ukraine rages on. Despite signs of optimism amid the U.S. and Ukraine and European unity at the White House, President Trump says his goal is to end the bloodshed. Russia is intensifying that bloodshed.

Just hours after the White House summit, Vladimir Putin's forces launched 270 drones and 10 missiles into Ukraine, and one of the fiercest assaults of the summer. Eight people were killed, 54 others were wounded.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House. You know, Vladimir Putin is sending signals with each of these military assaults that he does in and around all of the diplomatic talks that are happening here. What are you hearing at this point from your sources in that building behind you?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Dana. I mean, one thing I want to point out is this talk about a ceasefire because that's something that's really important. It goes to exactly what you are saying, which is, we also saw Putin bombing Ukraine. The air raid sound alarms were going off in Kyiv as those European leaders were arriving in Washington to the White House.

You heard so many of these European leaders when they went around the table, talking about a ceasefire, saying that it needed to happen. It had to happen before there was even another meeting.

But President Trump, who had been calling for a ceasefire for months, after meeting with Vladimir Putin kind of shied away from that, saying instead, they should go straight to a peace agreement, which of course, we know is something or somewhat of a talking point when it comes to the Russian president.

Now, in terms of next steps, President Trump said they were going to work on having a direct meeting with Zelenskyy and Putin. Here is what he said about that meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're setting up a meeting. I sort of set it up with Putin and Zelenskyy. That called President Putin and we're trying to work out a meeting with President Zelenskyy. We'll see what happens there. And then, if that works out -- if it works out, then I'll go to the trilat and close it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, Dana, there's still a couple of questions about this. One is, did Putin actually agree to this bilateral meeting? And two, how did they get from the start of the meeting yesterday, in which the next step was going to be this trilateral meeting, in which Trump would essentially serve as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine to this bilateral meeting? We still don't have answers on that.

BASH: Yeah. We sure don't. One of the things that we do have more of an answer on is something that he left the door open on. He, President Trump, yesterday, which is whether or not security guarantees that they were all talking about would include U.S. troops actually on the ground. This morning, he cleared up. The answer to that, and said, that would be a no. Listen.

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CHARLES HURT, CO-HOST FOX NEWS, FOX & FRIENDS: What kind of assurances do you feel like you have that going forward? And you know, past this Trump administration, it won't be American boots on the ground defending that border.

TRUMP (voiceover): Well, you have my assurance and I'm president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Can you just talk about how important that is, not just for the policy, but for the politics, particularly of the MAGA base that elected him president?

HOLMES: Yeah. I mean, it's absolutely critical. A couple things to note. I would actually say one of the most notable moments out of yesterday's entirety, meetings with Zelenskyy and meetings with European leaders, was when he didn't rule out the idea of U.S. boots on the ground.

Now, of course, he has run on the idea of kind of isolationism, when it comes to foreign policy, saying the U.S. shouldn't be involved in these foreign wars. We've said -- he's said time and time again that they shouldn't be giving money to Ukraine. They restructured the weapons system, and so NATO countries and member states are buying the weapons now from the U.S. in order to then send them to Ukraine.

All of this because that's generally the mindset President Trump has about foreign policy, keeping America out, which is why it was so notable yesterday, but one of the other parts of this that now is going to make this again more complicated. I know, I continue to say there's so many unknowns, but this is incredibly complicated when you're dealing with something this kind of war that we see here with these superpowers and with Ukraine.

The idea is, what actually will the U.S. guarantee in terms of security guarantees? We know that the Ukrainian president has said that he cannot stop fighting until he has security guarantees from European leaders, but also from the United States, and they have ruled out, President Trump himself has ruled out making Ukraine a member of NATO. That's something that Russia does not want.

But now the question is, how do you give Ukraine security protections outside of NATO, and what is the U.S. willing to do if they're not willing to in any way, put boots on the ground? What would they do to ensure that there would be security and safety for the Ukrainians in the future?

BASH: Yeah. A lot of known unknowns, to quote a former defense secretary. Thank you so much, Kristen. I really appreciate that reporting and that critical context. I'm joined here at the table by a group of terrific reporters, CNN's Mark Preston, Mario Parker of Bloomberg, Seung Min Kim of the Associated Press, and CNN's former Moscow Bureau Chief, Jill Dougherty, who is also the author of My Russia: What I Saw Inside the Kremlin. Hello, everybody.

OK. You have so much experience in anything and all Russia and Vladimir Putin. Where do you think things stand right now?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I'm not too sure that my experience really helps here. This is very complicated. And one of the reasons that it's complicated is because of the lack of precision by the statements of the president. I mean, we have to get real. I am noting. He said, I sort of set up a meeting. Now, which is seriously, and this is not gratuitous. But what does that mean?

BASH: Yeah.

DOUGHERTY: You know, what the imprecision and that lack of details that we're getting make it very hard to even figure out what is going on.

BASH: Which is classic Donald Trump. You know, I was talking to somebody this morning and I think this -- we just kind of glossing over this that most of the time when we all cover summits or big diplomatic meetings, it's precooked. The lower-level staffers go in and they say, this is what's going to happen. And then the primary figures come in and they just kind of sign it and shake hands. This is like actual real diplomacy happening at the highest levels, real time, which is why there are so many known unknowns.

DOUGHERTY: Yes. And I mean big picture, I think what they did is they are now concentrating. They meaning the allies and the president and Zelenskyy are concentrating on security guarantees. But that big issue that we were talking about how many days ago, two days ago, which is the territorial issues has really been put aside for the Europe -- for Zelenskyy and Putin to decide. That's how it looks right now.

And if Putin is not, although, of course, we don't know whether he is going to or not. But if he's not going to participate, then that leaves a whole big chunk, which is crucial on the side to be decided, who knows. How long will that take?

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SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Right, right. Well, and I think that with all of these uncertainties and the impreciseness that we're hearing out of the press -- we're hearing out of the president, there are very real consequences that could accompany that imprecise language, if you will.

I'm talking about it. Kristen alluded to it in her head, but over the weekend, obviously the president sort of appeared to endorse what President Putin has wanted in terms of, you know, skipping the ceasefire and going straight to a peace accord.

And now, after he left the meeting with European leaders yesterday. He said, all of us would obviously prefer the immediate ceasefire, while a broader peace accord is reached. And why that matters is, if there is no ceasefire, while a peace deal is being discussed. That gives more time for Putin to seize more of that territory while these discussions are being held. So, there is a lot of like, like we're discussing a lot of unknowns here, and a lot of implications and consequences that go with these unknowns.

BASH: And I want to go back to a point that you were making, Jill, which is how imprecise the president is being. It's classic Donald Trump. I mean, how many times, no matter what the issue is, are we waiting two weeks for a potential plan on anything. I mean, that's just -- that's the way it is.

And he's a talker, and this is the way he is succeeded in life, and just kind of using words without really knowing if there's going to be anything behind it. And it worked for him. In this, it is so important to have precision. And yet, he continues to when he talks about this.

And I want to go back to a little bit more what he said in his interview with Fox this morning. Say things about this conflict that don't exactly comport with the historic record of what happened. Just listen to a couple of examples.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (voiceover): Well, the war really started over NATO and Crimea. And they wanted Crimea back. That was given not a shot fired by President Obama in perhaps the worst real estate deal I ever seen. It's not a war that should have been started. You don't do that. You don't take -- you don't take on a nation that's 10 times your size.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I just want to be clear. Ukraine did not take on Russia. Russia invaded a sovereign democracy, and Ukraine is trying to defend itself, and has been, you know, pushing back in this war for over three years.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: So, let me say this, though, I totally agree with what everyone's saying that his imprecision, his lack of details, the real world, you know, that he doesn't live in necessarily, that's all important, tantamount. However, back here in the U.S., his lack of details and his imprecision is what endears him to the American people.

Now people will say, why do you say that? Because he's able to shift to follow what their public opinion is. And right now, I have to tell you, I understand the geopolitical consequences of what's happening over there.

But I got to tell you what I'm paid to do that. Most people in America are not paid to do that. And they're worrying about whether or not they're going to pay their mortgage, whether they can send their kid to school, whether or not they can pay more for groceries. And I do think that us in Washington have kind of lost touch with what everyone else is feeling out there.

So, when Trump says, oh, let's give him back Crimea because the reality is, is Trump is telling Russia, take back Crimea. That's fine, as long as it gets us to no war. People out in middle America say, oh, there will be no war. Oh, there will be no troops on the ground. That's what they want to hear.

BASH: Right. I totally hear you on that, but it is also true.

(CROSSTALK)

DOUGHERTY: I agree, but the American taxpayer will pay the price for this imprecision. If that war doesn't end, if Europe continues to fester with a war, we will pay the price, and precision is important.

PRESTON: I agree with you.

DOUGHERTY: I don't.

PRESTON: But that's the long-term thinking. In the short term, am I going to pay my mortgage? Am I could just go, I mean, I know it's incredibly frustrating. It doesn't help when Donald Trump is being so imprecise.

BASH: There is just kind of going back to one of the ideas that I was talking about with Kristen Holmes at the White House. There is a very keen interest among the base, the MAGA base, in what the president says and does, ultimately, with regard to U.S. troops because he promised to get out of wars, which I think everybody believes he really wants to do.

But then, going one layer deeper, the question of -- we talked about this yesterday came up in the European leaders' meeting about an Article 5-like security guarantee. You know, who didn't love that? His friend, Steve Bannon. Let's listen.

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STEVE BANNON, HOST, WAR ROOM: I'm just lost. How a game, how us, how the United States offering an Article 5 commitment for a security guarantee to Ukraine is a win for the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Mario?

MARIO PARKER, MANAGING EDITOR, U.S. ECONOMY & GOVERNMENT, BLOOMBERG: Yeah. Well, I think, if you look at this as a summer of fissures within the MAGA base, right? The first step was when Donald Trump used military action against Iran to blow up the nuclear sites. That was that preceded the Jeffrey Epstein role as well. But that was the first split.

And now you're saying that again, you're saying Stephen Bannon, kind of sounding the alarm as he did before and that way as well. And you're saying Trump this morning, tried to clean that up. Obviously, with saying that he gave assurances that there will be no boots on the ground. Yesterday in the meeting, he was saying that there is no red line.

I was struck this morning, just by how much he was towing some of Putin's rhetoric about how this war had began. So, it's been vacillating back and forth. But make no mistake about it. I mean going into the midterms, the geo-polit -- the domestic politics of it all, going into the midterms, Trump made a promise to end this war.

And among Trump's agenda in the unfinished business from his first term is a Nobel Peace Prize, and that's something that Putin is also playing into because they're thinking that, oh, he's going to go ahead and make a quick deal in order to secure a victory.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, President Trump fully believes, then he said it, he was caught on a hot mic saying it in private, just like he's said publicly, that Vladimir Putin wants to help Donald Trump, be the guy to get this deal done. And that is going to be a very open question, whether we see that come to fruition. Coming up. After two weeks outside the state to delay Republicans redistricting plan, Texas Democrats are back in the Lone Star State. What did they achieve? We'll speak with Democratic lawmaker, next.

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BASH: Texas House, Democrats are back in Austin after fleeing the state for about two weeks to deny Republicans a quorum and the opportunity to pass a new map, intended to give Republicans four more seats in next year's midterm elections. Now, Democrats are under police surveillance, and Republicans could pass those new maps as soon as tomorrow.

Joining me now is one of those Texas Democrats, State Representative Christian Manuel. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. So, let me just kind of wrap up what has happened about $380,000 in fines that Republicans have put on Democrats.

You are away from your homes, your families, your jobs, but yet, Texas Republicans are going to get what they want this week. They're going to get that new house map that gives them probably five additional congressional seats going from the D column, or at least the unclear column to Republican. So, what was the point of these last two weeks?

CHRISTIAN MANUEL, (D) TEXAS STATE HOUSE: The point was to raise awareness throughout the country, and we did that. I mean, I'm in East Texas. We don't get a whole lot of press, and I'm talking to you about something that is so significant that happened in my district in 2003 when Tom DeLay did it? So, we brought awareness. California is now acting.

So, we're showing that this is something that's important to people, and let's just be frank. We're having a conversation about something that most people don't even truly understand, and now they're getting to understand it. And that was what we were wanting to do, and we achieve that by letting people know that something is happening here in Texas that is just unfair, and it's just not right, and it's connected to D.C. and the president.

BASH: I would argue that we on the national level, we're paying pretty close attention to what was happening there because it is all about, I'm just calling it what it is a Republican power grab by doing this gerrymandering in the middle of the decade. And, you know, gerrymandering was done before by both parties, but it usually happens after the census. So, we were already covering it. And again, I just want to push you on the idea that you were -- you said, you're raising awareness, pretty aware.

MANUEL: Yes. Well, you all as news media are, but the average everyday person was very unaware about this. And also, I just wanted to slightly push back, Democrats have never done mid districting -- mid- decade redistricting that to do some kind of power grab. No, yes, I believe in the independent counsel. I think we need to be -- excuse me, commission. We should be having those across the entire country.

But this is something that now we're having TikTok influencers talk about. I had police here at my grandmother's home. And she's 95, and it has caused my community to go into an uproar. So we have achieved those things to allowing people to understand just how detrimental it is when politicians are choosing their voters and voters are not choosing their elected.

So, that was really the big part of it, and we've attained that because, I mean, California moved way faster than I think any of us ever thought they would have. And for that, that's another win in our column. We also got flood that was pushed to the front of this, which wasn't even on the call. It wasn't even on our warrants for us, our subpoenas to be present when it came to flood. So, we brought awareness of the things that are actually important, especially to an area like mine that is so severely flood prone.

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BASH: Yeah. And I just want to be clear. I didn't mean to suggest that Democrats have done this gerrymandering --

MANUEL: Oh, no, of course.

BASH: -- mid census, so I'm glad that you said that. I just meant that after the census, Democrats who run the legislatures and blue states, they do it too. I just want to ask. You mentioned California, in order for Gavin Newsom, the governor there, to gerrymander at this time, he has to put it on the ballot. There has to be a ballot measure. He's starting that process today.

Recent polls have not shown the level of support among California voters that he would need to pass that ballot measure. What would you say to Californians who are skeptical of the plan there to counter what's happening in your state for what happens ultimately here in Washington?

MANUEL: What I would tell Californians is we rang the alarm bell -- wrong alarm bell, and what we're asking you to do is to correct this democracy failing that's happening right now. We need your support. We know that there is an effort to even undo this whenever we're finished with this.

We cannot allow for the president to escape investigations by tearing up an entire state. We have to keep the union together. We know that it is scary for some people, and many of us will be on the ground there to explain to you how detrimental this is, but California is going to be the stop that's going to save this democracy and they're going to keep this together.

We need people to vote on this ballot, and we cannot have a grab and by just taking seats from minorities and black and brown people that are underrepresented already as it is, as well as taking out economic engines from their districts that they've had for over 30 years. So, we need Californians to support the union on this. This is not about Texas. This is about putting a stop to this foolishness that's happening right now.

BASH: Thank you so much for being here. State Representative Christian Manuel, really appreciate it.

MANUEL: Thank you.

BASH: And coming up. Another red state governor signs on to send National Guard troops right here to the nation's capital. The latest on the president's escalating police takeover, next.

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