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Inside Politics

Trump Takes Questions In The Oval Office; Epstein Survivors Share Horrifying Stories From Capitol Street; Epstein Survivors Beg Trump To Tell DOJ To Release More Files; Epstein Survivor's Message To Trump: "This Is No Hoax"; Epstein Survivor: He Used To Brag About Friendship With Trump; Trump Accuses Xi, Putin And Kim Of Conspiring Against The U.S. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired September 03, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And we got to keep it safe, but seven people were killed. The week before that, five people were killed and 21 people were shot. This is in three weeks. So, in three weeks, they lost almost, almost 35 people were killed. It could have been stopped. If you look at Washington, D.C., three weeks ago, it was the same or worse. And now it's considered a totally safe zone.

Restaurants are open. They're bustling, restaurants. You have to see restaurants were dying. Nobody wanted to go out. They didn't want to be attacked. They didn't want to be mugged. They didn't want to be attacked, even in the restaurant. And you take a look at what's happened.

Friends of mine, that haven't gone to a restaurant in four years. When one of them went out five times in the last two weeks to a restaurant with his family, they feel totally safe. Washington, D.C. is a totally safe city. You're not reporting any crime because there is none. They said crime is down 87 percent, and I said, no, it's not, it's down 100 percent.

We have a great thing going. I could do that with Chicago. We could do that with New York. We could do it with Los Angeles. So, we're making a determination now. Do we go to Chicago, or do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great Governor Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that's become quite, you know, quite tough, quite bad.

So, we're going to be going to, maybe Louisiana, and you have New Orleans, which has a crime problem. We'll straighten that out in about two weeks. It'll take us two weeks, easier than D.C., but we could straighten out Chicago. All they have to do is ask us to go into Chicago. If we don't have the support of some of these politicians.

But I'll tell you who is supporting us. the people of Chicago. And I sort of want them to let it be known, they have incompetent people, a guy like Gavin Newsom. He's the governor of a state. That if we didn't go in, if we didn't go into Los Angeles with our soldiers, with our National Guard, you wouldn't even be having the Olympics that they were going to take it.

And remember this, your top law enforcement officer in Los Angeles said, there's no way we could have done this without President Trump coming in with the troops. We saved Los Angeles and we saved the Olympics. Thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President. In regards to Gavin Newsom, would you be open to a congressional investigation in regards to the specific policies that killed 12 seniors, to see if there's any negligence on Gavin Newsom or Karen Bass in regards to those deaths?

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you, there's negligence on not getting people permits. That is negligent. We got all of the federal permits.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: OK. We're going to continue to monitor this event in the Oval Office with President Trump. He's hosting the president -- the new president of Poland. And you have been hearing him talk about a number of issues, including the fact that he said just minutes after, there was a lot of pushback from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein on his accusation that the whole Epstein saga is a hoax. He again called it a hoax.

And it was really a very interesting moment, which we're going to talk about here with the panel, not just what the president said, but how he said it, particularly because just down Pennsylvania Avenue, right in front of the Capitol, we saw a show of strength and resilience.

Several of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse sounded the alarm on what they say are the atrocities he committed. They hope that their stories will persuade more Republicans to demand that the Justice Department release all the Epstein files. Here is just a snapshot of some of those powerful stories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANOUSKA DE GEORGIOU, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Make no mistake. My polished exterior is a shield hiding a wound that still bleeds. But through this wound, I have found purpose to be part of lasting change in how we confront exploitation and abuse.

ANNIE FARMER, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: For so many years, it felt like Epstein's criminal behavior was an open secret. Not only did many others participate in the abuse, it is clear that many were aware of his interest in girls and very young women and chose to look the other way because it benefited them to do so. They wanted access to his circle and his money. Their choice to align with his power left those of us who had been harmed by this man and his associates feeling very isolated.

MARINA LACERDA, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I was only 14 years old when I met Jeffrey. It was the summer of high school. I was working three jobs to try to support my mom and my sister. When a friend of mine in the neighborhood told me that I could make $300 to give another guy a massage. It went from a dream job to the worst nightmare. Jeffrey assistant Lesley Groff, would call me and tell me that I needed to be at the house, so often that I ended up dropping out of high school.

[12:05:00]

JENA-LISA JONES, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I have never been more scared in my life than I was that first time that he hurt me. I remember crying the entire way home, thinking about how I couldn't ever tell anyone about what actually happened in that house. This guy was so rich and had so many pictures with so many famous people, and no one would have ever believed me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters, CNN's David Chalian, Kristen Holmes, also of CNN, and Tia Mitchell of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Tia, I'm going to start with you. I want to talk about this show of force, and how so many of the women that we heard from had not spoken before, and it was obviously a very big deal.

And the reason that they decided to come forward and be a part of this very large group is because they are trying to get just at least a handful of Republicans to vote with most of the Democrats on what is known as a discharge petition in order to go around the House Republican leadership and force the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Yeah. And Dana, you raise an interesting point because what we've seen also, starting yesterday, is that Republicans in the House, you know, released their own volume of Epstein files through the House Oversight Committee. They're really trying to make the case to Republicans that we're doing enough.

There's legislation that will be on the floor this afternoon that will kind of symbolically, say the U.S. House supports the House Oversight Committee's continued investigation. They're announcing additional subpoenas. So, what we're seeing from Republicans is we're doing enough already. We don't need the discharge petition.

And so, today's press conference comes in that context of the again, the survivors of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell saying, no. What is already underway is not enough, because it is not everything, even the documents that were released yesterday, the criticism was, it wasn't new information, it's what we already know. And what these survivors are saying, what their attorneys are saying, is that they know there is more that is still secret, and Massie and Ro Khanna are leading the effort to get it all released.

BASH: And so, what Republican leaders are doing is trying to give most of their conference with their fellow Republicans, a political off ramp with that resolution. And that's why this press conference was so fascinating, because as you said, the members, but also the lawyers and the survivors, were saying, no, no, don't buy it. We need everything to be released.

I do want to reference what President Trump said, and you heard it live just a few moments ago. Once again, as he has now many times calling the Jeffrey Epstein thing, a hoax. And want you to listen to two of the survivors specifically calling out President Trump on his accusation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGIOU: President Trump, you have so much influence and power in this situation. Please use that influence and power to help us, because we need it now, and this country needs it now.

HALEY ROBISON, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Mr. President Donald J. Trump, I am a registered Republican, not that that matters, because this is not political. However, I cordially invite you to the Capitol to meet me in person, so you can understand this is not a hoax.

TRUMP: So, this is a Democrat hoax that never ends. You know, it reminds me a little of the Kennedy situation. We gave him everything over and over again, more and more and more, and nobody's ever satisfied.

And from what I understand, I could check, but from what I understand, thousands of pages of documents have been given. But it's really a Democrat hoax, because they're trying to get people to talk about something that's totally irrelevant to the success that we've had as a nation since I've been president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And again, that was the president speaking moments at live in the Oval Office right after these women begged him to force the Justice Department to release the documents and said it wasn't a hoax.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And on top of that, I mean this line that is a democratic hoax is new in the last several months. And this isn't something that President Trump had been calling a hoax for years and even heard the attorneys for Epstein survivors. They're talking about how Donald Trump used to be helpful to him back in 2009. And we know that President Trump had, at certain points said that they should be released. All the files should be released.

[12:10:00]

Now, we're in this point. It's not just the Republicans and leadership. It's also the White House, that is their line as well. The Department of Justice is doing everything already. We don't need this petition. That is what they are saying, because, of course, we heard the Massie accusation that the White House was putting on a pressure campaign on these Republicans, not to sign on to this petition.

There is one other part of that outside press conference that I did want to bring up, because I think it does play into the Justice Department and President Trump, which was, when the survivors were asked about Ghislaine Maxwell sitting down with Todd Blanche.

And it did seem as though at least some of them wanted to speak after they heard her voice, after she got this big public platform, because the Department of Justice had released those tapes. And it was really emotional hearing them talk about Ghislaine Maxwell and all the things that she had put them through, in addition to Jeffrey Epstein, and comparing it to the fact that she then had this platform and that people shouldn't be listening to what she had to say because she was part of this as well.

All of this is to say that whatever the Department of Justice is doing, whatever they're doing on Capitol Hill in terms of turning these over. It's not going away. And now you're hearing it from the survivors themselves, many of whom, as you noted, hadn't spoken out before, meaning that the tide is just rising.

BASH: I just wanted you to weigh in in one second. But you cover this White House. You sort of understand Donald Trump and the people around him. What kind of impact is that going to have on him? I mean, I would say that you could hear the tone of his voice, not just his words that seem to have a little impact. But are there going to be ramifications that will make anything change? I know, that's maybe a hard question to answer now.

HOLMES: I mean, they think maybe have the more of an impact is the fact that news networks were taking the Epstein survivors on TV, instead of his meeting right now in the Oval Office. Meaning that, you know, he was seeing it show up on his multiscreen, that people were listening to these survivors.

I also think that we've come to a point, particularly the last several months, where it's not that the survivors themselves are the ones who are going to necessarily have an impact on him, but they are now coordinating with these right-wing fans of Donald Trump, who also want the information out there.

BASH: It was notable because I was watching, it was on the screens, except for -- a screen that has three letters, and it's an animal.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: I agree with you that the president's frustration was clear. It doesn't sound like he was frustration with the Justice Department for not releasing the information. His frustration, that was very clear in the Oval Office today is that he knows this is not going away, and he has no which is a very odd position for Donald Trump to be in.

He has no way to program this away from attention, and that clearly is frustrating him. I would also note, I mean, first of all, if you ever thought, in a million years, you would see like a Ro Khanna, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie press conference, I mean, it's just like.

BASH: I know.

CHALIAN: And so, when you hear the survivors say, this is not political, and you heard that was a repeated talking point here. What Johnson, as you noted, is trying to give Massie called it a fig leaf. All things can be true. That measure can go forward. The oversight committee can continue to do its work, but why should that negate?

The Justice Department, heeding the call of the survivors and releasing more information. Why does that have to be one or the other? And that, to me, is the question that the administration, Pam Bondi and Donald Trump will need to answer.

BASH: Yeah. I mean, The Justice Department -- the president has said over and over again, we don't want -- we want to protect people. Well, it's hard to imagine anybody more important to be protected than survivors, and you have them all out there saying, yeah, you can redact to protect people like us, but we want the information out.

OK. Manu Raju was at that press conference as usual, asked them some important questions. Manu, what are you hearing about the reaction now in the building where you are?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, look, I just walked in the building out of this pretty, rather intense, very emotional press conference. And I just caught up with Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, as you noted there, played -- is playing a key role in all of this, someone who's been a Trump ally for so many years, one of Trump's closest allies in all of this.

And I asked her about the warnings that are coming from the White House. We heard one coming from an anonymous White House official last night saying that signing on to this effort by Thomas Massie to force a vote to release these Epstein documents would be a hostile act. She responded to that, and she also pushed back. She pushed back on that criticism, and she also revealed, Dana, that she had a conversation with Trump about this issue today.

[12:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): And this isn't a hostile act towards the administration. The hostile act has been against these women for so many years now, for in -- the hostile act is covering up for Jeffrey Epstein and everyone else that's been involved in this. And that's the real hostile act. I look forward to talking with President Trump about these women that I've met. I also encouraged him already this morning, that he should have these women in the Oval Office. They deserve to be there.

RAJU: You spoke to him?

GREENE: Yes, I did. And I told him I'd be happy to set that up, arranging with their attorney by sharing his phone number.

RAJU: What was his reaction there?

GREENE: I haven't got an answer back on that, but I am continuing to encourage him that these are the people that deserve to be in the Oval Office, not any of Jeffrey Epstein's rich, powerful friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But the ultimate question is this going to change the calculus, move the dial, at all on Capitol Hill. And it's just really not clear yet. I can tell you, before this press conference, I talked to a lot of the Republicans who are in line with Massie on this effort, actually want the release of those files, want more disclosure from the administration. But they're also very close to Donald Trump, some of the more MAGA Republicans in the House, GOP, and they simply are not yet ready to buck the president.

They're saying they want to weigh this information that has come out last night. They're approaching this very, very carefully, and frankly, worried about the political blowback that could occur if they do sign on to this effort. And as Massie noted in this press conference, there are just two more Republicans who would need to sign on to this effort to put this bill on the floor of the United States House.

And it's not clear if those two Republicans will ultimately go there, some Republicans, though, did indicate to me, though, Dana, that they wanted to watch this press conference before deciding how to proceed. So, we'll see if Massie is ultimately successful here. But interesting moment there with Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying she's taking this directly to Donald Trump, who's made clear what he thinks about all of this.

BASH: So interesting. Everything that you just reported is really interesting, including the fact that you had members saying that they wanted to watch. We'll see if those survivors changed any minds. Thank you so much, Manu. I really appreciate it.

Back here at the table. Tia, I just want to play one other moment from one of the survivors who has not spoken until today. And she spoke specifically about what Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, as David pointed out before. She was actually convicted, and she is in prison or is moved to as one of the survivors, called it a prison spa. Regardless, what she said about the relationship that Epstein and Trump had.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAUNTAE DAVIES, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Jeffrey and Ghislaine were always very boastful about their friends, their famous or powerful friends. And his biggest brag forever was that he was very good friends with Donald Trump. He had an eight-by-10 framed picture of him on his desk, with the two of them, like, they were very close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I just want to underscore, they were asked multiple times if Trump or other people we've heard of, were perpetrators, for lack of a better word and they would not answer that.

MITCHELL: Yeah. I think it's interesting. I mean, we have to remember that moment in time where Trump was probably at the height of his celebrity when these allegations were first coming to light and first being investigated. And so, you can envision someone saying, hey, you know that superstar who's got a hit TV show, that's my friend.

And the survivors, what they were saying is that was part of the intimidation factor for them. It wasn't just Jeffrey Epstein's wealth, it was all the people they knew. And we heard the survivors say, why would they believe me when this guy knows all these people?

I also wanted to make the point that Donald Trump rose to power in part because his ascent coincided with this conspiracy theory that the Jeffrey Epstein case was an indication of the deep state covering up for rich and powerful people. And he was put into power partially because he promised to expose the deep state and get those people, get the survivors the justice from the rich and powerful. And that's part of the reason why people like Marjorie Taylor Greene are saying, no, we've got to move forward.

BASH: And I just want to say for the record, there's no evidence that Donald Trump did anything wrong, and that's number one. And two, the lawyer said that he was helping the lawyer of the survivors back in 2009.

All right, up next. An authoritarian show of strength America's most powerful rivals. They're all smiles as they gather in Beijing. President Trump is accusing them of conspiring against the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Moments ago, a military flyover in the nation's capital as the president of Poland arrived at the White House. The meeting between the two leaders is focused on Poland's neighbor, Ukraine and the ongoing war with Russia.

President Trump last night, posted this message to the world's leading authoritarians who are gathering in Beijing, quote. May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against the United States of America. Russian President Vladimir Putin, says, President Trump's claim of a conspiracy against the United States shows he has a sense of humor.

[12:25:00]

My panel is back now. David?

CHALIAN: I mean, warm regards, clearly his sarcasm was on display there. But we also know from Donald Trump's own telling, that he has some admiration for authoritarians that he -- there is something that he sees as positive to ruling with a firm hand. And you know, I think it is interesting to me that he chooses to engage the way, even with sarcasm, even with -- because he understands the power of these optics.

These images that we were seeing are astonishing, right? I mean, this is -- this is America's most vocal and vociferous opponents joined together in China. This is on the turf of our global competitor. And Donald Trump has no part in this. And so, the fact that he wants to play from the cheap seats here, if you will, you know, and sort of lob attacks. To me, is very telling that this is a geopolitical problem, several of them there, not yet resolved.

BASH: And just to underscore the visual point. He is the most visual -- I think he's probably the most visual president we've ever had in terms of, you know, what he sees --

CHALIAN: Part of his success.

BASH: It's totally part of his success. Obviously, Reagan wasn't terrible at it, but he's obsessed understandably so, with imagery and optics, as you said. And what we're seeing there is really in his face. Kristen, listen to what the president said about this just moments ago in the Oval Office.

OK. I don't think we have it. So, I'm just going to read part of it. He said it was a beautiful ceremony. It was very impressive. And he said I understand the reason they were doing it. They were hoping I was watching, and I was watching. My relationship with all of them is very good. We're going to find out how it is over in the next week or two. There it is the two weeks again.

HOLMES: So, we talk a lot about sarcasm. There's something sarcastic in the fact that he's saying that he watched it and he thought it was, you know, an amazing performance. This is the military parade that he wished that he had on the streets of Washington, but it's also a military parade that you can likely only have under an authoritarian leader.

So, he's definitely watching, he's seeing the optics. He's seeing the relationship between the three of them, and he does believe or has believed the times that he's had a good relationship with all three of these men.

I do want to point out one thing, and we're talking a lot about what this means in terms of our global competitor and China. I want to point out what happened the day before, which I think was actually probably one of the most critical moments in the geopolitical landscape, which was Modi, the Prime Minister of India, also going to China.

Modi, who has had a very strong relationship with the United States, who is considered a trading partner, who is democracy, but also who wants to be higher up on the economic scale, who is trying to continue to build their economy. And right now, the United States is standing in their way.

And I think that in itself, the combination of these three authoritarian leaders is one thing, but also bringing in Modi, and you're seeing these enormous superpower economies all together trying to find a way to continue to build each other up, while the United States is left out, that changes a lot of the dynamics.

BASH: And you said, the economies. I mean, there's the national -- the military might that we were just seeing on display there, intentionally, but the economies, I mean, that is really the key here. David was saying in the break.

I'm telling everybody what goes on in the break here, about -- don't forget the very real thing that is happening, the number one goal of President Trump economically, which is tariffs. And I can't imagine Modi went to China. Maybe it's because, I don't know, 40 percent tariff that President Trump just slapped on India. Never mind what we are seeing going on with China.

MITCHELL: Yeah. And I think that is where there's a lot of concern that this, you know, not to be glib, but this new world order, this re -- you know, jiggering of America as the top world power. And we know that Putin is very cognizant in wanting to -- also President Xi, like, I think, looking at this and looking at these leaders.

And now America is literally, you know, outside of this club of world powers, so to speak, at least temporarily. And I think there is concern, not just economically, but again, there's these foreign wars that Trump pledged to stop on day one. And Putin is not, you know, he met with Trump, but they haven't circled back around and that two weeks is already.

BASH: I'm so glad you -- did you see what I have on my phone. I'm so glad you brought that up, because I don't want to lose sight about the war between Russia or the attack that Russia.