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One World with Zain Asher
Trump Bans Travel from 12 Countries, Partially Restricts 7 Others; Trump Issues Travel Ban for 12 Countries, Citing Security Risks; Rutte: I Will Propose a Plan for 5 Percent Defense Spending for Allies; Videos, Expert Analysis and Witnesses Reveal New Details of Deadly Gaza Aid Incident; German Chancellor Merz Meets With Trump at White House; Trump: We Want a Good Trade Deal with Germany. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired June 05, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: All right. Coming to you live from New York. I'm Zain Asher. You are watching "One World". All right, coming up
this hour, U.S. President Donald Trump is going to be welcoming German Chancellor Frederick Merz to the White House. It is the very first in
person meeting between the two leaders.
Their talks will likely focus on Russia's war in Ukraine, the Middle East situation and also trade will go live to the White House as soon as the
chancellor arrives. That long awaited phone call between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping has finally happened.
President Trump has just confirmed what he calls a very good phone call with President Xi on Truth Social he said the call lasted about an hour and
a half. Reuters is reporting the call took place at Trump's request, according to China's Embassy in Washington. It comes amid a trade war with
the U.S. President.
The U.S. President, rather, began between the two world's largest economies, but first, the humanitarian agency Oxfam is calling this a quote
chilling return to policies of fear, discrimination and division. Starting on Monday, travelers from 12 countries, primarily in the Middle East and
Africa, will be banned from entering the United States, and nationals from seven other countries will face partial bans and travel restrictions.
President Donald Trump signed the proclamation on Wednesday, citing the need to protect America against what he calls foreign terrorists and other
national security threats. And he pointed to the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado as justification for the ban. But the suspect from that attack was
actually from Egypt, country that is not on the list.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to
our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their
visas.
We don't want them. The list is subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made, and likewise, new countries can be added as
threats emerge around the world, but we will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: During his first time, Trump restricted travelers from seven Muslim majority countries, but that was blocked by the court. The Supreme Court
eventually allowed a rewritten ban. CNN's Alayna Treene joins us, live now from the White House.
So just in terms of this list, I mean, obviously President Trump used the justification of the Boulder, Colorado attack, but as we mentioned, the
suspect in that attack was actually from Egypt, and that country is not on this list. When you look at the 12 countries on this list, I mean the one
or two things they have in common is either some of them are war torn countries, some of them have had a history of conflict, some of them have
had issues with terrorism.
But it's interesting because there are other war-torn countries that have also had issues with terrorism who have been left off the list. So just
explain to us how the Trump Administration actually came up with this list to begin with.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, Zain, you're exactly right. And I think one thing to keep in mind here is that despite the president
citing that anti-Semitic attack in Boulder, Colorado as being kind of what motivated him to do this, it was really more so that it kind of sped up the
process.
Because for months now, not even weeks, months, the Trump Administration and many of his officials have been looking at doing this very closely. It
was always the case that the president has and his team wanted to revive that travel ban from his first term. Now, of course, as you noted, this
actually goes well beyond that first travel ban, where it was really targeting majority Muslim countries, seven countries.
Now it's 12 countries who are facing full restricted access, many of those across the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean, but then also another
seven countries that are facing partial restrictions. Some of those facing full restrictions include over here, excuse me, Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran,
Libya, Yemen, the list goes on, and then the seven countries that are facing those partial restrictions, those include Cuba, the Sierra, Leone
and Venezuela, among others as well.
So, different than what we saw, of course, in his first term. And I do think it's important to note here two things that this White House is
making very clear. One is, we heard the president say this yesterday, that if he believes there are other countries that pose a threat to the United
States, particularly a national security threat, a type of terrorist threat, they will likely be added and can be added to this list.
So, there's -- you know definitely the possibility that we see this list grow. But then also they said that there are some exceptions, and I think
that's really important to keep in mind here as well.
[11:05:00]
Exceptions for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain visa categories and individuals whose entry serves U.S. national interests.
All to say, just like that, first travel bans from his first term, this is likely to face significant legal challenges.
ASHER: Another piece of major news that we're following is also the fact that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping had a conversation. That conversation also
lasted 90 minutes. What I found interesting is the fact that it was Trump, as we understand it, who initiated this call.
How surprising is that the fact that it was Trump that decided to pick up the phone to call Xi, especially when you think about some of the tough
rhetoric we've heard from the Trump Administration against China.
TREENE: Yeah, I'm interested to see how the president because he is going, you know, we will have an opportunity to see him speak publicly and
actually have reporters ask him questions for the first time in a week today. I'm interested to see how he will answer that the question of
whether or not he initiated this call with China's President.
Because we know that president, Donald Trump and everyone I've been talking to at the White House has long really been trying to make this seem like
it's China that needed to reach out to the president and to this administration first. It really has been kind of this question of who
blinks first in this standoff between the U.S. Washington, I should say, and Beijing.
And so interesting that it might have been the president who picked up the phone, but not as surprising as you may think Zain, because for months now,
this administration has really been wanting and very eager to set up a call between these two countries, highest leaders.
They knew that a call between the President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping was necessary for what they argue is unlocking the current
stalemate, the current status of talks between the two countries as it relates to trade, and specifically the tariffs that we've seen Washington
impose on Beijing.
You know, we did hear now from President Donald Trump giving his readout of this call a few very striking things to me. One is that he said it was very
good. That was his overall characterization of this. Of course, he often says that when he gets off the phone with foreign leaders, whether they're
adversaries or allies alike.
He also said that U.S. and Chinese officials will be meeting soon at an unspecified location to further hash out trade talks interesting, because
we have really seen this administration and top economic officials be very frustrated with how China has been acting ever since their last meeting in
Geneva in May, where they argue.
Trump Administration officials argue that China is not living up to the commitments that they had struck there. He also said that President Xi
Jinping invited him and the First Lady, Melania Trump, to China to visit. He said, he extended an invitation to Xi to come to the White House as
well.
And then this part I also found very striking. He said, quote, the conversation was focused almost entirely on trade. Nothing was discussed
concerning Russia, Ukraine or Iran. Notable, because, of course, trade is the big thing we would expect. It was really the priority for this phone
call.
But those other issues are obviously very important to this White House as well. We know they came up, of course, in his conversation just a few days
ago with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, all to say, a very important call, one that this White House and the president personally had been
wanting for a very long time.
ASHER: All right. Alayna Treene live for us there. Thank you so much. Talk more about the phone call between President Trump and Xi Jinping. Let's
bring in Steven Jiang joining us live now from Beijing. I mean, it's an interesting relationship, or trading relationship, that's evolved between
these two countries.
Because initially, obviously we had the triple digit tariffs after Liberation Day, and then there was this massive walk back where tariffs, at
least on the U.S. side, were 30 percent and that was a significant reduction. But ever since then, there's been so much finger pointing and
blaming both sides accusing the other of violating the terms of their initial agreement.
And then you had the U.S. move to revoke student visas from Chinese students, which I'm sure annoyed Beijing quite a bit. So just walk us
through what we know in terms of what came out of this phone call, and whether or not the sort of gap between the daylight between both sides is
narrowing.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah, Zain you're absolutely right. I think the post Geneva developments you just referred to were really why
there was this growing urgency for this phone call to take place. Because, as you mentioned, after the Geneva agreement, it seems to be for a while
there was this tariff temporary truce in this tariff war between the two the world's two biggest economies.
Then, of course, things just really turn for the worse in the past few days, with, as you mentioned, the U.S. holding exports of key components
and technologies that the Chinese need for their aviation and semiconductor industries, for example. Then of course, that Marco Rubio announcement, as
you mentioned potentially having huge repercussions for the nearly 300,000 Chinese students in the U.S.
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But of course, from the U.S. perspective, all of that was in response to the lack of progress on the rare earth export front from China. If
anything, the Chinese seem to be tightening their grip on the exports of these critical minerals since Geneva. That is why the U.S. felt
increasingly frustrated.
But indeed, not just the U.S. many other economies having this dependency on the Chinese supply chain of rare earths, because Beijing really has a
stranglehold on this entire industry, and they have been signaling for years that they were willing their intention, to really weaponize their
stranglehold for strategic reasons, which seems to be what had been happening.
So, it's in this context, this phone call was so important and timely. Now the Chinese readout, of course, having all the usual buzzwords, with Xi
Jinping saying it's important to put this relationship back on track, emphasizing win-win, cooperation, mutual respect. But he also said the
Chinese have been sincere but principled.
And saying they have been really implementing their end via Geneva agreement, but instead urging the U.S. to drop all those negative moves, in
his words, to have things move forward. So, it is really interesting to hear their perspective, but still, at the very least this kind of phone
call, as we have seen previously, Zain what hopefully put a floor on this potential downward spiral to stabilize things enough for talks to resume on
specific issues, which is something they seem to be saying in the readout, Zain.
ASHER: All right, Steven Jiang live for us there. Thank you so much. Let's talk more about Donald Trump's travel ban. There are 12 countries whose
citizens are now fully banned from entering the United States. This ban goes into effect on Monday. The Trump Administration is citing security
risks. They signed the proclamation on Wednesday evening.
Let's bring in Jeff Swartz, he's a Former Judge in the State of Florida and a Professor at the Thomas M Cooley Law School. Jeff, thank you so much for
being with us. I mean, obviously we have seen a version of this movie before. I mean, when you think about Donald Trump's first term, one of the
first things he did was issue a travel ban on several Muslim majority nations that got held up in the courts.
They had to revise it a number of times before it was eventually allowed in. Just walk us through what is different this time, because clearly, the
Trump Administration would have learned some lessons from the way it got held up the last time.
JEFF SWARTZ, FORMER MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COURT JUDGE: Yes, they've learned a lot of lessons. The last travel ban was continually attacked on the basis
of its lack of specificity or stating the reasons why this was happening, creating no exceptions, making it an absolute ban and that's what the
problem was.
Here they've learned the lesson. The order is very comprehensive. It's not broad like it was back in 2017. It's focused on Africa and the Middle East
for the most part. It created exceptions for things like, as was said earlier, U.S. visa hold -- U.S. Green Card holders, visa holders that he
previously existed.
It allowed for family of visa holders to bring people in on visas. International athletes, for example, which is to the benefit of the United
States because of the World Cup and the Olympics that will be coming up soon.
Refugees that had previously been granted asylum, some student visas, all of this, including Iranians who are fleeing religious persecution, all of
these things that they put in as exceptions are really important, and it makes it more towards the idea of security and international security and
national security.
And I think that this particular order will not face the kind of blowback from the courts that the first one did. I don't think it's even become
close, but I think it will be upheld by all the courts.
ASHER: So, Jeff, you listed a lot of exceptions there, like a lot of exceptions.
SWARTZ: Yeah.
ASHER: Who is actually banned, just in terms of who cannot enter from those 12 countries?
SWARTZ: Everybody that doesn't fit the exceptions, that's the best thing. Best way to say it OK.
ASHER: OK.
SWARTZ: I mean, just the refugee who wants to come in. People who have been here but their visas have expired, will more likely than not be excluded.
They're just not going to allow people to for like we had the old wet, dry idea from Cuba and from Haiti. That's not going to work anymore either.
I think that they're looking more at the international picture. That's why Egypt isn't there because we need Egypt. Egypt is, for lack of a better way
to put it, an ally to a certain extent.
[11:15:00]
So, it's going to expand. In the end, there will be more countries. The idea is to set forth our xenophobia in little increments, as opposed to
overall. It's not about religion. It's about don't want you here. It's that simple.
ASHER: I mean, he said it. He said it. He said we do not want he literally said that. So just in terms of how --
SWARTZ: He did.
ASHER: -- this is different from the first time. And obviously, in Donald Trump's executive order during his first administration, he didn't mention
that it was a Muslim majority ban. He didn't actually say that in the executive order. But obviously, when it came to campaigning leading up to
his presidency, he said that quite a bit.
And so, it was clear to a lot of people watching, especially the courts, that there was a discriminatory element to these orders, and that was part
of the reason why it was held up.
SWARTZ: Right.
ASHER: -- just in terms of how this list actually came to be. I mean, you know, when you look at what these countries have in common, obviously, yes,
Middle East and Africa, a lot of them are dealing with conflict. A lot of them have issues when it comes to terrorism.
But as I was saying to our reporter on the ground outside the White House, there are a lot of countries which also deal with conflict and who are also
dealing with terrorism that were not on this list. So, I mean, doesn't there have to be some rhyme or reason in terms of how this list was. You
know how this this was formed?
SWARTZ: Well, this was more direct. When you take a look at, for example, Somalia. They clearly are involved in pirating. They clearly involved in
terrorism. The countries that are named clearly have those problems. Now, does Egypt have that problem? Sure. I mean, we go all the way back to 2001
--
ASHER: Central African Republic also has that problem, they're not on the list.
SWARTZ: There --
(CROSSTALK)
ASHER: There are a number of countries that have same problems that are not on the list, and I think that's what's confusing.
SWARTZ: That's correct. But don't be surprised that the list expands over time. I think that they picked on the best examples that they could, and
the easiest, the low hanging fruit, for lack of a better way to put it to do this. Will they go after other countries?
They will find reasons to not like other countries, and they will start expanding this to the point that they will get to where they want to go.
They wanted to avoid the idea that was all about Muslims the land the first time, it was all Middle Eastern Muslim countries, for the most part.
Now they've expanded over to Cuba and Haiti and other countries in Africa, so that they can say that we're being more objective about it. But you
know, how do you pick out who isn't subject to it? That's going to be pretty hard to do.
I mean, Venezuela engages in forms of terrorism yet, you know, they're on the maybe list. They're on the easier list because we're doing business
with them. We do business with Egypt. There are other Gulf states in the Mideast that clearly are engaged in terrorism, but we do business with
them. So, security threat, even though they are.
ASHER: Well, this ban takes effect on Monday. It's Thursday.
SWARTZ: Yeah.
ASHER: I'm wondering, actually, whether or not we're going to see a massive surge of visitors rushing in to get in before the 11th Hour. We'll see.
Jeff Swartz live for us there.
SWARTZ: Have a great day, Zain, thanks very much.
ASHER: You too. Thank you so much. All right, just minutes ago, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a series of significant decisions we didn't get
the eagerly anticipated rulings on birthright citizenship or states that ban gender affirming care in minors. Those will almost certainly come in in
the next few weeks as the court wraps up this term.
Among today's decisions was a key case on reverse discrimination. It came from a woman who claimed workplace bias. She says that she was denied
promotion in favor of gay candidates because she is straight. The court reached a unanimous decision that there is not a higher bar to reach to
prove reverse discrimination.
In another unanimous decision, the court threw out a lawsuit by Mexico on whether U.S. gun manufacturers can be held liable for the weapons they
produce. Mexico wanted to sue gun companies, accusing them of aiding and abetting gun violence in Mexico, the court found that the lawsuit is barred
by 2005 federal law shielding gun companies from legal liability.
All right still to come, with a new scene analysis of video, audio and ballistic evidence reveals about a deadly shooting over the weekend.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry and Hospital Officials, left at least 31 people dead near a food distribution site in Gaza. Plus, NATO
Defense Ministers meet in Brussels to talk boosting military spending. How much the U.S. is expecting allies to -- that's next.
[11:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right, NATO's Secretary General says he proposed a plan to raise defense spending across the block. Mark Rutte is addressing the press now
after the defense ministers meeting in Brussels. Rutte says he's proposing to allies a 5 percent spending target over a number of years with gradual
increases.
U.S., Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that a defense spending commitment of 5 percent of GDP across the NATO alliance will happen, and
that NATO has to keep combat ready capabilities and be more than just flags and conferences.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The reason I'm here is to make sure every country in NATO understands every shoulder has to be to the plop,
every country has to contribute at that level of 5 percent to -- as a recognition of the nature of the threat. It can't be about the flags that
we love. It has to be about the formations that we have. It's that hard power that actually deters and it can't just be U.S. capabilities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Russia plans to retaliate against Ukraine for last weekend's bold drone attacks on air bases deep inside Russia, according to President
Trump, Vladimir Putin delivered that message in a phone call on Wednesday, saying he was obligated to respond. A Ukrainian parliament member slammed
that call as disgraceful.
Ukraine's President, meantime, warned world leaders not to show weakness towards Putin. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says when Putin senses weakness, he sees
it as an invitation to commit new crimes. Nic Robertson joins us live now with a closer look at some of these developments.
So, Nic, I think that a lot of -- a lot of people would expect Putin to respond somehow. But obviously, out of that phone call between Trump and
Putin -- you know we heard it from Putin himself, via Trump, that Putin is absolutely going to respond. How is Ukraine bracing itself for Russia's
response? I mean, we know that, if -- we know that Vladimir Putin's tendency is to catch people by surprise.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin Spokesman today, said that this will be carried out essentially
at a time and place of the military is choosing, but it is coming, and that's what Putin according to Trump, relayed to Trump in that phone call.
How is Ukraine preparing? Just two weekends ago, they had to the sort of biggest air on slots on the Saturday into Sunday, it was the biggest
combined drone and missile salvo, more than 360 on Ukrainian territory, many -- much of it aimed at cities.
[11:25:00]
So, I think they'll be aware of that. The following night, it was 355, drones against -- again, a record of Russian drones sent against Ukrainian
targets. And again, most of its citizen. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv is warning U.S. citizens there, and anyone else who listens to them, just to
be aware of the possibility of a sort of an increased threat level.
So, you know, for Ukrainians, there's a real awareness that this is coming when, again, where, precisely unknown. I think they will possibly expect it
to be cities, perhaps places of Russia perceives the missile defense shields perhaps at their weakest. But again, that isn't clear.
Interesting, though just to get some headlines from Mark Rutte there out of the NATO Defense Ministers meeting there, which precedes by a few weeks the
Leaders' Summit, where President Trump will be coming to The Hague for that -- for that big meeting, where there'll be some big decisions made.
But Rutte laying it out there, NATO nations must make a commitment of 5 percent of GDP on defense spending. That's the U.S. expectation. He says he
has a coming way to achieve that in a way that it wasn't achieved in 2014 when NATO countries committed to 2 percent GDP spend, he said each country
will be expected to lay out a plan year by year by year, building to that 5 percent.
The 5 percent to be broken down 3.5 percent on core defense spending and then security and other types of defense spending will make up the other
1.5 percent here is talking about cyber is talking about defense against hybrid type attacks, of which Russia is doing many in Europe at the moment.
So, this is the way that he's moving forward. And he was asked a question, where does the U.S. stand on this? Because, of course, the U.S. doesn't
have a commitment like that of 5 percent at the moment, although Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania have already made the commitment. He said, yes, the U.S.
will make that 5 percent commitment too.
ASHER: Yeah. It's interesting, because, as you pointed out, the current targets are 2 percent and a lot of members haven't even hit that. So
obviously 5 percent is going to be a tall order for many countries. Nic Robertson, live for us there. Thank you so much.
An Israeli source tell CNN Hamas is expected to respond to the latest ceasefire proposal from U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff within 24 hours. This
comes as the bodies of two Israeli American hostages have been recovered from Gaza and a special operation by Israeli security forces, Judy
Weinstein, Haggai and Gadi Haggai were killed near their home in Kibbutz -- during the October 7th attacks.
Of the 56 remaining hostages in Gaza, only 20 are still believed to be alive. We've learned a controversial aid operation reopened two of its
sites in Southern Gaza today after a day long hiatus. The U.S. and Israel backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says the aid distribution was completed
within an hour.
Wednesday's pause follows three straight days of Palestinians coming under deadly gunfire on their way to a food distribution site. GHF said it would
use the time to focus on logistical work to better handle the massive number of Palestinians who need food.
Also, the foundation said to give Israeli forces the opportunity to make preparations on the access routes to the centers. The first shooting was on
Sunday. Palestinian health ministry and hospital officials say that at least 31 people were killed. The Israeli Ministry has said its forces did
not fire on Palestinians at or near the distribution sites.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has expert analysis of the sound, video and witnesses accounts of what exactly happened. I want to take a listen to his exclusive
report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Palestinians take cover as pulses of automatic gunfire crackle overhead. Others try and crawl
to safety as explosions ring out. For several hours on Sunday, this was the terrifying reality Hungary Gazans faced as they tried to reach an American
backed humanitarian aid site in Southern Gaza.
We are bringing our food, drenched in blood, we are dying to get food. Amin Khalifa (ph) says, amid a hail of gunfire. The aftermath is grisly. Bullet
riddled bodies lie scattered on the beach as others emerge carrying sacks of aid these men died trying to get.
Health officials and doctors report at least 31 were killed. 17 eyewitnesses told CNN it was the Israeli military that opened fire on the
crowd. A CNN analysis of video from the scene, audio of gunfire and ballistics evidence all point to the Israeli military. In Gaza, more
families made to mourn. They lure us in just to kill us there this man says.
[11:30:00]
What's happening is wrong, wrong. Why? Why are they doing this? We go there just to get our daily bread, and they kill us. In the pre-dawn hours of
Sunday, masses of Palestinians began trekking down Al Rasheed Street, hoping to be among the first to reach the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site
in Tel-al Sultan before limited aid supplies run dry.
But as they reach the Al-Alam roundabout, a hail of gunfire forces people to the ground. Eyewitnesses say much of the gunfire came from tank mounted
machine guns.
DIAMOND: We asked the forensic audio expert to analyze the gunfire in that video, and this analysis shows bursts of gunfire at a rate of 15 rounds per
second. Weapons experts say that's consistent with the FN MAG, a machine gun used by the Israeli military and commonly mounted on Israeli tanks.
Those experts say that rate of fire also appears to rule out weapons used commonly by Hamas. And then you have bullets like this one, which doctors
at Nasser hospital pulled from the bodies of dead and the wounded. Weapons experts also say this bullet is consistent with the FN MAG.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The Israeli military said they did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the aid site. But that statement
is misleading. An Israeli military official acknowledged Israeli troops did fire toward people about one kilometer away from the aid site.
The Al-Alam roundabout where people were killed, is also about one kilometer away from the site. This entire area, with an Israeli military
base right here, is under Israeli control. This post warns the Israeli military would be active in the area at the time of the shooting.
It's from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates the aid site and closely coordinates with the IDF, alerting Palestinians that using the
passage before 05:00 a.m. is prohibited, but they posted it at 04:00 a.m. as people were already being fired upon.
Eyewitnesses described volleys of Israeli military gunfire. From snipers, tanks and drones, beginning as early as 03:00 a.m. on Sunday, more were
shot at 04:30 a.m. others described being shot as late as 06:30 in the morning. They were shooting directly at us everywhere, this man says, from
the sea, from snipers and from all directions.
Four people were injured and one was immediately killed. I tried to stand up and escape or go back, but I was hit in my left side. I've seen a lot of
soldiers in this war when they want to clear an area or warn you, they shoot around you, but yesterday, they were shooting to kill us.
At Nasser hospital fear and pain are still etched across the face of 13- year-old Yazan Musleh who was wounded by gunfire from a tank his father and brother say, was stationed near the aid site. I saw the tank from a far.
Ihab says he was standing, waving his hands to the tank, and within seconds, gunfire was directed at him, and he was lying on the ground.
Two days later, despite the dangers, tens of thousands of Palestinians continued to stream towards that same aid site, a testament to the hunger
and desperation still gripping so many. And once again, in the early hours of Tuesday, dozens were killed enroute. This time the Israeli military,
acknowledging it fired warning shots and then opened fire, claiming suspects advanced towards troops in a threatening manner.
The military said it was looking into reports of casualties. It need look no further than this boy crying out over his mother's body, begging her to
wake up. Today, she went to get aid. She went to get aid to feed us. He cries, and this is what they do to us. The Americans said, come to the safe
area to get your aid, who should trust them?
As for Ameen Khalifa, the man who documented Sunday's gunfire, his quest for survival ended abruptly on Tuesday, he was killed while trying to reach
that aid site once again. He was 30 years old.
DIAMOND: The Israeli military declined to answer questions related to our findings. But as recently as Tuesday, the Israeli military's top spokesman,
General Effie Defrin, categorically denied that the Israeli military opened fire on Sunday, saying it, quote, simply didn't happen.
But after a week during which more than 60 people were killed while trying to make it to that aid site, according to the Palestinian Ministry of
Health.
[11:35:00]
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation now says it is having conversations with the Israeli military to, quote, support civilian safety. Among them, a
spokesman tells me that they are asking the Israeli military to quote, enhance force training and refine internal IDF procedures. Jeremy Diamond,
CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher, New York. Here are some headlines we are watching for you today. Israeli forces have recovered the
bodies of two Israeli-American hostages abducted by Hamas. Officials say 72-year-old Gadi Haggai and 70-year-old Judith Weinstein Haggai, were
killed near their home during the October 7th attacks.
The couple had four children and seven grandchildren. 56 hostages remain in Gaza. 20 are believed to be alive. Egyptian national Mohamed Soliman is
expected to appear in a Colorado courtroom in a few hours from now. He's facing attempted murder charges in what authorities call an antisemitic
Molotov cocktail attack in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday.
Officials are translating a manifesto they say Soliman wrote partially in Arabic, ahead of the attack. Some critics are slamming U.S. President
Donald Trump's new travel ban as discriminatory. Trump says it's about national security, announced on Wednesday, the ban fully restricts U.S.
entry of nationals from 12 countries.
All right, you're looking at live pictures here outside at the White House where Donald Trump is waiting for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to
arrive. One of the key issues that is going to be discussed is trade. Trade is one of the most important issues between these two nations.
Germany is very, very export dependent in terms of their economy. The U.S. is their largest trading partner. It's actually surpassed China now as
their largest trading partners.
[11:40:00]
There's so much at stake, especially because German economy is heavily dependent on steel exports and also autos as well. Remember that Donald
Trump, on Wednesday, raised tariffs on steel to 50 percent that's going to be a key issue, as well as what is happening in Ukraine.
All right, let me bring in Kimberly Dozier to talk about all of this now. So just in terms of the key issues that are going to be discussed,
obviously, I outlined what is at stake for Germany in terms of this trade war. There's so much at stake, when you think about the sort of daylight
that exists between Europe and the U.S. right now, it is a wide one.
The German Chancellor is somebody who only became chancellor about a month ago. He has extensive experience in German politics. He was also a lawyer
at one point, he was also head, you know, one of the sorts of regional heads of Blackrock. But just in terms of him being chancellor and him being
in this position, he is new to this job.
I think one of the biggest questions that everybody's wondering is whether or not we're going to see a similar type of ambush that we saw with the
South African President and obviously Zelenskyy. I mean, what are you expecting when the cameras, when both men enter the Oval Office, and we get
the sort of live view of the two men discussing some of these issues?
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think now we've all come to expect that any world leader who walks into the Oval Office is
going to go through this ritual humiliation, this running the gauntlet of Trump's public demands, and they surely have to red team at home before
they get here.
How they're going to handle that? They will likely come with offers. It will be interesting to see what Merz comes with. I mean, the King of Jordan
came with the offer to take 2500 Palestinian children into his country from Gaza, different people, the British Prime Minister came with the offer of
an unprecedented, as he called it, second state visit to the United Kingdom for Trump.
So, let's see what merits has up his sleeve. He is a former businessman, and as you saw as he entered there, he not only sees eye to eye with Trump,
he's taller than Trump, so in some ways, this should be a formidable pairing.
ASHER: It's interesting because he does have quite a bit of respect for people who have a background in business.
DOZIER: Yeah.
ASHER: And so, we saw that with the Canadian, the new Canadian Prime Minister. Obviously, you know these two leaders, as you touched on, they do
have quite a bit in common. Friedrich Merz is conservative. He also does have an anti-immigration policy that he supports as well.
DOZIER: Yeah.
ASHER: So, the two leaders do see eye to eye. One of his biggest priorities, though, is reviving the German economy, which has been sluggish
and is actually projected to contract this year. He's also going to bring up the issue of Ukraine. And I assume that more details about the Trump and
Putin phone call yesterday is going to be discussed between these two men.
What does he need to say? What do you think he will say on the issue of Ukraine, because obviously, Friedrich Merz is a key supporter of Zelenskyy.
DOZIER: Well, the German military's Chief of Staff just came out with an interview with the BBC where he talks about Russia as a threat that could
conceivably attack a NATO member within the next four years. So that's the kind of advice that Merz is getting from his own defense officials.
He will come into this trying to convince Trump that Putin is not to be trusted, and that Germany wants to meet this demand that the White House
has put out there that all NATO members invest 5 percent of their GDP in their own defense. Merz will say, look, we want to do that.
We need to improve our economy first. We understand the threat, and you would be best suited working with us than with this guy that is going to
turn on you, like he's already turned on Ukraine.
ASHER: Just in terms of, you know, the NATO defense spending at 5 percent when you think about the previous, or rather the current target at 2
percent of GDP, a lot of members of NATO can't even meet that, right?
DOZIER: Yeah.
ASHER: That is hard for a lot of it, so, let alone raising it to 5 percent. How hard is that going to be for a significant number of members, do you
think?
DOZIER: Well, for Germany, they're under 2 percent right now, and they want to reach five the current government has said, though, that they're going
to have to raise it at about 0.2 percent per year. That is not going to be good enough for this White House. That may be something that Trump calls
Merz on the carpet over.
And other NATO members, especially those who don't feel the threat of Russia right on their border. They are dealing with social issues, health
care, et cetera, and a population that wants spending on those things, doesn't want to see their social safety net diminished for defense
spending.
[11:45:00]
So, you're going to have that divide within NATO countries, if you're in a Baltic state, and the people there are seeing constant Russian harassment
in terms of jets overhead, et cetera. They are more willing to say, OK, we're going to have to reduce our spending on these things in order to
improve our military, but it's going to be a patchwork, and that is frustrating for the White House.
But as the last NATO Secretary General said to me, and this one has said publicly as well. Trump's nagging of NATO members helps provide a drive to
increase spending, and that can only be a good thing.
ASHER: Right. Kimberly Dozier, thank you so much. As I understand it, we're going to be going back to you in the next hour after we hear from both
leaders in the White House. Friedrich Merz and Donald Trump are going to be sitting down in the Oval Office any moment now. And right on cue, there we
have it. Let's listen in.
TRUMP: -- but I want to thank you very much for -- First of all, I want to thank you for that.
FRIEDRICH MERZ, CHANCELLOR OF GERMAN: My pleasure.
TRUMP: That's beautiful. Thank you very much -- Fantastic. We'll put it up in a place of honor. I don't know, maybe we can -- Let's see to -- put it
up there someplace. It's an honor to have you.
MERZ: Thank you.
TRUMP: As you know, the chancellor just won a great election, very, very strong election, very respected man, I can tell you, we've been on the
phone many times talking about some of the problems of the world outside of Germany, and it's very sad. What's going on? We both feel that way.
What's going on with Russia, Ukraine and other things we talk about, but Russia, Ukraine in particular, I'd like to see it end, and maybe it'll end,
but we get some news, there'll be some fighting. Something happened a couple of days ago, and now they do a return. And you know, here it goes.
It's not good where he's unhappy about it, I'm unhappy about it, but I think eventually we're going to be successful in stopping the bloodshed.
It's pure bloodshed. 5, 6000 young soldiers a week are being killed. You know that there's numbers?
MERZ: We know the numbers.
TRUMP: They're staggering. They're staggering numbers. But chancellor, I just want to congratulate you, and I want to welcome you to the Oval
Office.
MERZ: Thank you.
TRUMP: It's an Oval Office that's in very good shape. We like fixing things up and having them tippy top, like they have in Germany. They do that in
Germany very much, and we do it here. We're having a very good run. We had a -- I also had a great election. Great win. Won everything, won the
popular vote the all seven swing states, which is a big deal.
MERZ: Yeah.
TRUMP: It's pretty unusual to do that. And we have a great mandate from the people, and part of our mandate is we're going to have a great relationship
with your country. So, I just want to thank you very much for being here, and if you'd like to say a few words --
MERZ: Absolutely -- thank you first of all, Mr. President, for your kind invitation to come to Washington, D.C. I was in this building first time
ever in 1982. I told you when Former President Ronald Reagan was in office. So, I'm very happy to be here again and to offer our close cooperation with
the United States of America.
TRUMP: Yeah.
MERZ: We are having so much in common our history. We owe the Americans a lot. We will never forget about that. And so, with your German provenance,
I think this is a very good basis for close cooperation between America and Germany.
TRUMP: Yeah.
MERZ: So again, thank you. Thank you for the hospitality and thank you for having your guest house for a night. This is a great place, great place.
Many thanks for that. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.
TRUMP: It's a wonderful place. It's a landmark also and Blair House, it's a nice place to -- Thank you very much for saying that. Would you have any
questions, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, on your new travel ban, why now? And if the Boulder attack was part of your reasoning, why not include Egypt on
that list, where the suspect was from?
TRUMP: Well, because Egypt has been a country that we deal with very closely. They have things under control. The countries that we have --
don't have things under control. And why now I can say that it can't come soon enough, frankly. We want to keep bad people out of our country.
The Biden Administration allowed some horrendous people, and we're getting them out one by one, and we're not stopping until we get them out. We have
thousands of murderers. I hate to -- I even hate to say this in front of the chancellor. Of course, you have a little problem too with some of the
people that were allowed --
It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It shouldn't have happened. I told her, it shouldn't have happened, what she did. But you have your own
difficulty with that, and we do, and we're moving the out, and we're moving them out very strongly, but it can't come fast enough.
[11:50:00]
We want to get them out. We want to get them out now. We don't want to have other bad people coming into our country. But using the word bad, I'm being
nice. OK --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You put out on Truth Social a post regarding your conversation with President Xi.
TRUMP: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you talk about whether or not you feel that trade talks, trade relations are back on track after appearing to be a little bit
off track last week.
TRUMP: A little bit off track. It was only the complexity is, it's pretty complex stuff. We had a very good conversation with President Xi a little
while ago, just before -- I don't in fact, we just hung up and they said, you're here. I said, that's pretty good, two great leaders of the world in
a very short period of time, we had a very good talk, and we've straightened out any complexity.
This is very complex stuff, and we straighten it out. The agreement was we're going to have Scott and Howard and Jamieson will be going and meeting
with their top people and continued forward. But no, I think we have everything. I think we're in very good shape with China and the trade deal.
We have a deal with China, as you know, but we were straightening out some of the points, having to do mostly with rare earth magnets and some other
things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those reduced trade tariff rates, they remain in effect.
TRUMP: We have the deal. I mean, we've had a deal. We announced the deal, and we'll be I guess you could say, I wouldn't even say finalizing it up,
Scott, I would say we have a deal, and we're going to just make sure that everybody understands what the deal is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK --
TRUMP: We had a really good conversation, by the way, he invited me to China, and I invited him here. We both accepted. So, I'll be going there
with the first lady at a certain point, and he'll be coming here, hopefully, with the First Lady of China.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Did you talk about the Chinese students? Are you allowing them to come to the U.S.
TRUMP: -- Chinese students are coming. No problem, no problem -- It's our honor to happen, frankly. Look, we want to have foreign students, but we
want them to be checked. You know, the case of Harvard and Columbia and others, all we want to do is see their list.
There's no problem with that. This is anybody outside of our country, international students. Because when we see some of the people that we've
been watching, we say, where do these people come from? How is that possible? We want to have foreign students come. We're very honored by it,
but we want to see their list.
Harvard didn't want to give us the list. They're going to be giving us the list now. I think they're starting to behave, actually, if you want to know
the truth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- on Russia, are you willing to put more pressure on Putin to end the war by imposing new sanctions on Russia and also on China?
TRUMP: Well, remember, I'm the one that ended Nord Stream 2, going to a place called Germany to come to think of, sorry, I did that, but I ended
Nord Stream 2 nobody else did. And then when Biden came in, he immediately approved. That's the largest, essentially the largest pipeline in the
world, going to Germany and other countries.
And by the way, we have so much oil and gas. You will not be able to buy it all. I mean -- literally we have so much, and I hope we're going to make
that a part of our trade deal, because we have more than anybody else. We have actually the most, by far in the world, probably double what anyone
else has. So, we'll work on that. I'm sure that's something we'll discuss today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what do you expect from Germany? And what do you expect from the chancellor?
TRUMP: Well, first of all, I'm glad to meet, because I've been dealing with the chancellor, and he's very good man to deal with. He's difficult. I
would say, Can I say that? It's a positive.
MERZ: -- go ahead.
TRUMP: You wouldn't want me to say you're easy, right? He's a very great Representative of Germany. I think all we want is just going to have a good
relationship. The rest will just sort of follow very easily. We'll have a good trade deal. I mean, I guess that will be mostly determined by the
European Union, but you're a very big part of that.
MERZ: Yeah --
TRUMP: You'll be involved, but we'll end up, hopefully with a trade deal or we'll do something, you know, we'll do the tariffs. I mean, I'm OK with the
tariffs, or we make a deal with the trade, and I guess that's what we're discussing now.
MERZ: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President -- OK. Is Germany doing enough on defense? Mr. President, is Germany doing enough on defense?
TRUMP: What?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defense spending?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Germany doing enough on defense?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chancellor wants --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Germany doing enough on defense --
TRUMP: Well, I don't know. I mean, I haven't discussed it very much. I know that you're spending more money on defense now and quite a bit more money.
MERZ: Yeah --
TRUMP: That's a positive thing. I'm not sure that General MacArthur would have said it's positive.
[11:55:00]
You know? He couldn't like it, but I sort of think it's good. You understand what I mean?
MERZ: -- understand --
TRUMP: He made a statement, never let Germany rearm. And I said, I always think about that. When he says, sir, we're spending more money on defense,
they say, oh, is that a good thing or a bad thing? I think it's a good thing. But you know, at least a certain point. There'll be a point when I
say, please don't arm anymore. If you don't mind, we'll be watching him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Biden, Mr. President -- Your predecessor dismissed your auto pen investigation. He said he made all the decisions during his
presidency. I'm curious reaction to his dismissal.
TRUMP: Well, look the auto pen, I think is the big scandal outside of the rigged election of 2020. I think the biggest scandal of the last many years
is the auto pen, and who's using it. I happen to think I know OK, because I'm here and I'm not a big auto pen person, fortunately.
I'm glad, I'm very glad it's an easy way out. But it's very bad thing, very dangerous. You know, I sign important documents. Usually when they put
documents in front of you, they're important, even if you're signing ambassadorships or I consider that important. I think it's inappropriate.
You have somebody that's devoting four years of their life or more to being an ambassador. I think you really deserve that person deserves to get a
real signature, not an auto pen signature. And I can tell auto pen easily. I can look at it like two little pinholes from pulling the paper, right?
MERZ: Yeah.
TRUMP: You always see the pinholes. It's really easy to tell, about auto pen. I think it's very disrespectful to people when they get an auto pen
signature. Outside, auto pen to me, are used when thousands of letters come in from young people all over the country and you want to get them back.
And, you know, people use auto pens for that to send a little signature at the bottom of a letter. We have thousands of them. We get thousands of
letters a week. And it's not possible to do -- I'd like to do it myself. You can't do it to me. That's where auto pens start and stop.
But I don't think, I'm sure, that he didn't know many of the things. Look he was never for open borders. He was never for transgender, for everybody.
He was never for men playing in women's sports. I mean, he changed all of these things that changed so radically. I don't think he had any idea that
what was, frankly, I said it during the debate, and I say it now, he didn't have much of an idea what was going on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --
TRUMP: He shouldn't be. I mean, essentially, whoever used the auto pen was the president, and that is wrong. It's illegal, it's so bad, and it's so
disrespectful to our country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Mr. President, will you leave your troops in Germany? And if I may ask it a question to the chancellor, to answer in
German for the German audience, how is your first encounter --
TRUMP: The answer is, yes. We'll talk about that. But if they'd like to have them there, yeah, we have a lot of them, about 45,000 it's a lot of
troops. It's a city, when you think that's good economic development, they're highly paid troops, and they spend a lot of money in Germany. But
the relationship with Germany is very important. Yeah, we'll be doing that. No problem.
MERZ: May say few words in German to the Germans --
TRUMP: Yeah.
MERZ: -- Oval Office --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --
TRUMP: You speak English. Because you speak such good English. Is it as good as your German? Would you say?
MERZ: No, it's not my mother tongue, but I try to understand almost everything and to speak as good as I can.
TRUMP: Yeah. Very good -- It's an achievement, actually.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you've made --
MERZ: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. President. The criticism that I've seen, and I'm sure you've seen, regarding Elon Musk and your big, beautiful bill,
what's your reaction to that? Do you think it in any way hurts passage in the Senate? Which, of course, what is you're seeking?
TRUMP: Well, look, you know, I've always liked Elon, and it's always very surprised you saw the words he had for me, the words and he hasn't said
anything about me, that's bad. I'd rather have him criticize me than the bill, because the bill is incredible. It's the biggest cut in the history
of our country.
We've never cut. It's about 1.6 trillion in cuts. It's the biggest tax cut. Tax you would say people's taxes will go way down, but it's the biggest tax
cut in history. It's we are doing things in that bill that are unbelievable. And when you look at what we're doing for small businesses,
for people, for middle income people, all of the things that we're doing, nobody has ever seen.
END
