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One World with Zain Asher
Combs Acquitted Of Racketeering And Sex Trafficking Charges; U.S. House Takes Up Senate Version Of Trump's Massive Agenda Bill; Hospital Official: Dozens Killed In IDF Strike On Gaza Cafe; U.S. Democrats Showing Less Approval For Israel; Bryan Kohberger Agrees To Plea Deal, Avoids Death Penalty; WH Official: U.S. Pausing Some Weapons Shipments To Ukraine; Paramount Settles Trump Lawsuit With $16 Million Payout; Trump Pressures Powell To Lower Interest Rates; Sales Drop 13.5 Percent Amid Musk's Political Moves; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired July 02, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:35]
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Asher. This is the second hour of "One World."
We begin this hour of breaking news, certainly a mixed verdict for the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial. The music mogul found guilty on two counts in terms of
engaging in prostitution, but not guilty of the more serious charges in terms of sex trafficking and racketeering.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Three other counts, the sex trafficking, as you just noted, and racketeering conspiracy, those charges alone could have gotten Combs'
life behind bars.
Now, Combs' attorney wants him freed today on bail. The prosecution is opposing that argument. And they say that Combs does not respect the law
and should spend more time in prison. Both sides must submit letters on their positions in the next hour. A judge says he'll make a decision on
Combs' possible release on bail once that happens.
Joining us to discuss is former state and federal prosecutor David Weinstein. So, the verdict came down a little over an hour ago, David,
sounds of happiness and joy from the Combs camp. Clearly, a major loss for the prosecution here.
Just walk us through your reaction to these verdicts. Two guilty, three not guilty, and those three not guilty, specifically the one on count on RICO
was the most serious of all charges.
DAVID WEINSTEIN, FORMER STATE AND FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: A significant victory for the defense with the acquittal on count one. He was facing life in
prison on that. And so the question remains, did they find it wasn't a criminal enterprise and they never got to the overt acts? Or was there some
issue regarding the number of overt acts that were committed in furthers of the conspiracy?
I'm a little surprised on the acquittal on Cassie Ventura with regard to the sex trafficking act. Less surprised with regard to Jane. It was
certainly easier for the defense to poke holes in her testimony, Jane, that is, and her credibility.
But clearly the jurors felt that Ms. Ventura was a willing participant at some level and that there was not enough coercion later on to have brought
her back into being the victim that was being described by the government and their charge in the sex trafficking count.
But as to the extent of the victory, he still may have dumped himself out of the frying pan and into the fire. The judge is going to look at
sentencing guidelines here to determine how much time he's looking at and because of the nature of the crime that was committed, as well as the fact
that there are two victims here, he's still looking at a significant punishment other -- under the guidelines.
By my calculations, he's looking at anywhere from 19 and a half to 20 years. And that would be as to each count being run consecutive to each
other, meaning that he could face up to 10 years under the statutory maximum for count three and safer count five.
The judge can run them concurrently together or because there's two separate victims consecutively, meaning she can -- he rather, can stack the
sentences here.
And so he could sentence him to 10 years on count one, 10 years on count two, and still be within the statutory maximum and within the guidelines.
And that is going to play a huge factor in whether or not this judge decides to let combs out on bond or bail this afternoon.
I quite frankly don't see it. Judge has to consider whether Coombs is going to prevail on appeal, whether or not there was violence involved in any of
these crimes directly or indirectly, whether or not he presents a specific or substantial risk of flight, whether he's going to succeed on his appeal.
And then ultimately, how much time he's facing? And those all are mitigating against his release on bail. I don't think he's going to be able
to attend that party he's having held down here in Miami.
ASHER: I mean, you laid it out so perfectly that this is really a mixed bag for Sean Combs, this -- this verdict. And that's what Cassie Ventura's
lawyers were essentially saying about half an hour or so.
This idea that, you know, he is still looking at significant time behind bars because of the sort of transportation to engage in prostitution. And
by the way, even though it, you know, he wasn't necessarily found guilty of sex trafficking, of -- of the RICO charges and those are the most serious
charges, it is still because of Cassie Ventura's lawsuit.
And, of course, the shocking video we saw from that 2016 -- that 2016 video out of that hotel room in California, that we even got to this point to
begin with.
[12:05:06]
Just remind our viewers about Cassie Ventura's testimony. You were pointing out that maybe perhaps jurors essentially thought that she was a willing
participant, and that is why Sean Combs was not found guilty of sex trafficking.
WEINSTEIN: Well, you're absolutely right about her being the center force here in getting this to the attention of the U.S. Attorney's Office in New
York, and sort of being the force behind all of this. And then her courage to come and testify and face the person who she believed victimized her and
got her into all of this.
But her testimony was both supportive of the prosecution's case and also supportive of Sean Combs, so she spent a significant amount of time with.
To me, the question became for these jurors at the beginning, did she voluntarily agree to participate in this because of her relationship to
Combs? And then -- Combs.
And then as we get down the road, did that change? Victims can always change their mind. They can withdraw the consent, but it seems to me they
weren't convinced that she wasn't still voluntarily participating in all of this and that what the allegations were about the violence, about what
happened in the elevator on the way down the hall, that that was enough to force her to do back what she was doing.
Again, they found as to both of the victims, they were transported across state line for purposes of prostitution. And that perhaps tied into other
incidents not necessarily involved in that California footage and that incident.
But is that something that's going to play into the appeal? Is that perhaps going to be his strongest argument on appeal? Too much extra evidence that
he was acquitted of judges on the courts of appeal. That unduly influence the jurors as to these two remaining counts that they found him guilty on.
Or was it enough to set to decide and say no, overwhelming amount of evidence with regard to transportation of an individual and furtherance of
an act of prostitution?
Again, not only is the court of appeals going to be considering that, but the judge this afternoon and about an hour is going to be considering that
when he hears argument about bond.
GOLODRYGA: So, on the one hand, you have the heinous charges and evidence of domestic violence. And that is something that even the defense has
acknowledged, but said that is not what he is being charged with here in these five felony charges.
We should note, though, as the judge considers factors into ultimately deciding whether or not to allow him out on bail, he would be a first-time
felon here. And I know you say that these charges for the transportation to commit prostitution carry upwards of 10 years each.
We just had Elie Honig on our program as well earlier. And he said that he highly doubts that the judge will give them 10 -- 10 years and combine the
two for 20 years. He says he's prosecuted cases similar to this where the - - the sentencing wasn't even anything more than probation, that ultimately there was no jail time served.
So, what is the likelihood in your view that that could ultimately be the scenario here?
WEINSTEIN: I don't think it's going to go down as low as probation. I'm going to have to disagree with Elie on that. Based on what this judge heard
about these crimes, I'm not sure what the facts were in the other cases that Elie prosecuted, but I both prosecuted and defended cases like this.
The government doesn't always get what they're asking for. They're not necessarily going to get 10 years as to each count, but they're going to
ask for it. And these victims are going to come into court and they are going to describe what they went through. And the judges already heard what
they went through.
I don't think this is a probation sentence on this. I think that the judge is going to use this to send a message, which is what he's entitled to do
as to deterrence to future crime of this particular defendant, similarly situated defendants and what they would have received in crimes that
occurred like this. And then a message, which is allowed to deter others from committing this type of conduct down the road.
Remember, it's not just the conduct, but some of the underlying conduct. We did hear testimony about bribery, about effects to influence what victims
were going to say or what they were going to do. That's part of the fact that this judge is going to consider.
And I understand he's been in jail for a while. I also don't see a credit time served. Again, what I'm saying is that he faces up to anywhere from 19
and a half to 20 years. He's not necessarily going to get that. Might not even be double digits. But I don't think this is going to be probation or
go home. And we'll see you again whenever we see you.
I think it's going to be a sentence that could be anywhere from five to 10 to 12 years.
ASHER: OK. David Weinstein, live for us. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you, David.
Well, in Washington, lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House are preparing to vote on President Trump's entire domestic agenda. And it could
happen as early as today.
[12:10:02]
Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to muscle through Trump's sweeping tax and spending package in order to meet the president's self-imposed July 4th
deadline, which he has said that he is willing to push back, if need be.
Now, he's doing it with a razor-thin majority and the objections of dozens of Republican lawmakers so far.
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans narrowly approved their version of the bill, with one lawmaker describing her yes vote as, quote, agonizing. That
measure includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts financed in part by dramatically slashing health, nutrition, and clean energy programs.
Yes. CNN's Arlette Saenz joins us live now from Capitol Hill. So, Arlette, we saw that the Senate obviously passed this yesterday and it was really
narrow, so narrow that JD Vance actually had to intervene for that tie- breaking vote. It's obviously now back with the House.
There have been changes to this bill since the House approved this a while ago. And now there are some GOP holdouts. We know that they are meeting
with the president today.
What goes through and what the president is likely to say to them to win them over?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are quite a few of Republican holdouts who are concerned about the changes that was made to President
Trump's domestic agenda bill over in the Senate. We know President Trump is meeting at the White House.
Over the course of the morning, there has been a slew of GOP holdouts who have made the way over to the White House to meet with him. It spans both
moderates who might have concerns about the Medicaid cuts, the steeper cuts to Medicaid that were included as part of that Senate bill.
But there's also some conservatives who were concerned that this does not do enough to cut spending to offset some of the spending that they might
have to do when it comes to the tax breaks for American individuals.
Now, there are still really big questions about the timing, not just the math for when the House might be able to bring this up for a vote. We had
expected that the House was going to hold a key test vote in the 11:00 A.M. hour, but that has seemed to be delayed in part because lawmakers are still
over at the White House.
But it also raises questions about whether House leadership has enough GOP support to get this bill across the finish line. They only can afford to
lose three Republican votes. And there's more than a handful who have expressed reservations about this bill.
Congressman Chip Roy of Texas has said that he has major concerns about the bill when it relates to the additions to the deficit that it would make,
and that he believes that there are a number of GOP hardliners who could prevent this bill from being brought up to the floor at this moment.
The main issue here is House GOP leadership does not want to see any changes made to this bill, because then it would have to go back to the
Senate to be approved or go into conference, and that is something that they are trying to avoid, especially as they are looking towards that
Friday, July 4th deadline that was set by President Trump and his team.
So, it still appears that there is a lot of work that needs to be done before they can even get to a key -- that key test vote. Big questions
about whether that vote on the rule could, in fact, pass.
And then if that does pass, then they still have that final passage vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated that he'd like to have that today,
possibly tomorrow, but they've also been dealing with some weather issues as lawmakers have been delayed getting back to Washington as many flights
had been delayed and canceled due to some coast -- some storms on the East Coast last night.
So, still a lot of work that the House needs to do to try to get this bill across the finish line and big questions of whether House Speaker Mike
Johnson will be able to corral his GOP conference to all get on board as they only have three votes among Republicans that they can lose in order to
pass the president's top priority.
ASHER: Arlette Saenz, live for us. Thank you so much. And we'll be right back with more after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:15:34]
ASHER: An update now on the war in Gaza. An Israeli official confirms his country has accepted the latest proposal for a ceasefire with Hamas. The
official says the updated deal provides stronger U.S. assurances about reaching a settlement to end the war in Gaza.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump posted that Israel had, quote, agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize a deal for a 60-
day ceasefire. Hamas says it's reviewing the latest proposal. It has previously demanded any deal include a permanent end to the conflict. A
condition Israel has been unwilling to accept.
ASHER: And let's turn now to the Israeli attack on the seaside Cafe in Gaza on Monday that killed more than 40 people.
GOLODRYGA: Among those killed, the man in this photo, Palestinian photojournalist, Ismail Abu Hatab. He posted this late last year with the
caption, "We Deserve to Live a Decent Life. We Love Life, too."
Jeremy Diamond has more on Monday's attack and the impact of Hatab's work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIAMOND (voice-over): Mohammed combs through the debris of another Israeli airstrike, looking for anything his sister has left behind.
This is the place where my sister was when she was killed. This is her blood, Mohammed says. 23-year-old Nita was killed at this seaside cafe
where she and other students and journalists came to connect to the internet and try to escape the reality of war.
I can't describe the shock I went through. No one can describe the shock, Mohammed says.
This teddy bear was hers, a gift her friend brought her that fateful day. Now that and her purse are all that remain.
This was the chaotic scene moments after eyewitnesses say an Israeli missile smashed into the bustling cafe. At least 41 people were killed,
according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital. Most of them women and children.
The Israeli military declined to answer questions about why it targeted the cafe, saying it, quote, "struck several Hamas terrorists," and that the
incident is under review.
Just five weeks ago photojournalist, Ismail Abu Hatab had filmed another airstrike from that very same cafe. Now his body is draped in a white
shroud. And his family cries out in mourning.
Inside Ismael's room, his father Hussein recounts the moment he learned his son had been killed in that cafe strike. He told me, Ismael is a martyr.
The words Ismael is a martyr were very, very, very hard on me. Unconsciously, I ended the call.
Ismael is the 228th journalist to be killed by the Israeli military during the war, according to Gaza's Government Media Office. The 33- year-old's
photos had been featured in exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. But beyond his talents, his parents say the world has lost a kind person who never
hesitated to help others. And his mother has lost her eldest son and confidant.
After she buried him, she says, she came directly to his room and lay on his bed.
I remembered everything beautiful, everything beautiful, she says. Everything he had was beautiful.
[12:20:01]
That beauty, now ripped from this world.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: And CNN's chief data analyst, our friend Harry Enten has been looking at what people in the U.S. think about Gaza, Israel, and the
Palestinians. It's a pretty deep and loaded question here.
But, Harry, if anyone can answer it, you can. So let -- let us know what you found.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes. I would say that in this country, historically speaking, at least over this past 20, 25 years, there's been a
real pro-Israeli consensus. That pro-Israeli consensus has absolutely collapsed. And we'll take you through the numbers. We're going to look at
Democrats first, and this gives you a pretty good understanding of what's going on.
Who Democrats sympathize more with? The Israelis or the Palestinians? You look back in 2017. You could see it right here. It was the Israelis by plus
13 points. Democrats sympathize more with the Israelis than the Palestinians.
But look at where that number is now. Look at this. Who do the Democrats sympathize more with in this conflict? They sympathize more with the
Palestinians by 43 points. That is a sea change. That is a change of 56 points over the course of just eight years.
What had been the pro-Israeli consensus within the Democratic Party is adios amigos. Goodbye. See you later. Why has this number changed?
It is being driven by younger Democrats. What are we talking about here? Let's take a look here.
Who aged 18 to 49 Democrats sympathize more with, the Israelis are the Palestinians?
Back in 2017, it was the Israelis by a 14-point margin. Look at where we are now in the past month. It's the Palestinians by 57 points. That is a
71-point shift in the margin.
You guys know I look at a lot of polling data. When you see shifts like this, it makes your mind go, wow, this is a real shift in opinion.
I don't really can recall a shift of this magnitude on such an important issue, but we are seeing it among young Democrats in particular, but it is
not just young Democrats, it's young people in general in the United States. It doesn't just contain itself to the Democratic Party.
What are we talking about? All right. Who all aged 18 to 49 year olds sympathize more with, the Israelis and the Palestinians? You go back to
2017. It was the Israelis by 38 points. Look at where we are now. It's the Palestinians by 19 points. That's a nearly 60-point shift over the course
of just eight years.
So, what we're seeing here is you're seeing Democrats, young Democrats in particular, but also younger folks in particular who had traditionally been
on the side of the Israelis when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And now they are on the side of the Palestinians.
And I will note in closing, when we look at the entire electorate overall, when you ask who do you sympathize more with the Israelis or the
Palestinians, it is still the Israelis, but just by five points.
So, what we have seen in this country, during the course of this conflict, over the course of the last eight years, is the pro-Israeli consensus has
gone away. And now Americans, even Americans overall, not just Democrats, are split on who they sympathize more with the Israelis or the
Palestinians.
And I think that might be a little bit of a PR problem for Israel. And Benjamin Netanyahu, when he tries to get legislators in the United States
in his side, the bottom line is the voters aren't with Israel in the same way they used to be, guys.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Harry Enten, now we have the Prime Minister coming back for another White House visit on Monday as well. It could be
consequential.
Thank you so much, Harry. We'll see you tomorrow.
ENTEN: See you.
ASHER: Thanks, Harry.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Well, the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students is expected to enter a plea deal in the next
hour to avoid the death penalty.
Bryan Kohberger is expected to plead guilty to four counts of murder, according to a person familiar with the details.
ASHER: And a family of at least one victim has condemned the court's decision. He previously pleaded not guilty to killing the students in their
off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho back in 2022.
Joining us live now is soon as Marybel Gonzalez at Boise, Idaho. Maribel, just walk us through this because this plea deal essentially removes the
possibility of a death penalty for Brian Kohberger.
What can we expect during this hearing?
MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good afternoon, Zain and Bianna. Well, this is expected to be a very straightforward hearing. Now, if the
judge accepts that plea deal, then the next step in this case would be sentencing.
Now, this is significant for several reasons. You heard the opposition of the Gonzalez family. They actually just were here walking into the
courthouse moments ago.
And one of the reasons why they oppose this plea deal is because this takes the trial also off the table. This marks an abrupt end to this legal saga
that we know has been ongoing for more than two years now.
What does that mean? It also means that there are critical questions here that will remain unanswered. Questions like, what was the connection
between the suspect and the victims? Why were two of the roommates spared inside that house? How did this crime exactly evolve and happen inside that
house?
[12:25:14]
All of those details would have likely been presented during the trial that I should mention was set to start next month. And now it is unclear if the
judge will ask -- to ask Kohberger to disclose those details as part of the plea deal. And it's unclear if the family will indeed get the closure from
those details that they are so desperately seeking.
I will say that there are already several dozens of members of the public that are lined outside of the courtroom waiting for those doors to open.
And we're seeing more family members of those victims arrive. And we will just have to wait and see what happens during today's hearing.
ASHER: As you mentioned, you know, closure is a really big piece of this for the families. Some of the families are really upset about this idea
that he could enter a plea deal and essentially be spared the death penalty. And, of course, their loved ones were brutally murdered about over
two years ago now.
Marybel Gonzalez, live for us there. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: And we'll be right back with more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher.
Back to our breaking news. Lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs have asked the judge to release him from custody until his sentencing. This comes after
the jury found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, but actually acquitted him of the more serious charges. Combs
was found not guilty of racketeering, conspiracy and sex trafficking.
[12:30:16]
GOLODRYGA: And let's go to our Leigh Waldman who's standing by outside the courthouse and in about 30 minutes time the -- OK, well we should note as -
- all right. Let's go to Leigh Waldman now. In about 30 minutes time, the judge should make his decision or at least get written letters from both
the defense and the prosecution on the issue of whether or not Sean "Diddy" Combs should be allowed to be released from prison on bail. Let's go to
Lee.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm getting a bitsy signal. They need to hang up.
GOLODRYGA: Technical issues with Leigh outside of the courtroom there.
ASHER: Yes.
GOLODRYGA: It's been a wild morning outside. And we have our Laura Coates and --
ASHER: Right.
GOLODRYGA: We have Laura Coates outside who had been reporting over the last hour just the mayhem that -- that really ensued following this
decision. Family members coming out obviously cheering and support, a number of passersby obviously so much invested in this story, in this case
over the last seven weeks.
We will stay on top of this and, obviously, bring you any information once this judge ultimately does decide on whether he will allow or won't allow
Sean "Diddy" Combs out on bail.
ASHER: All right. We're moving on now to some other stories that we are following. Kyiv is calling the Trump administration's decision to pause
some weapons shipments inhumane.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. White House official telling us the decision comes after the Pentagon conducted a review of spending and military support to foreign
countries.
CNN's Kristen Holmes reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Pentagon is pausing some of the weapons shipments that it was making to Ukraine after
it did a review of military spending along with what they were giving in support to foreign countries.
Now, this one's weapons would include air missiles. We're trying to get more information about what else is being paused here.
Now, we heard from a White House official -- official, a Deputy Press Secretary, who said that this decision was made to, quote, put America's
interests first. So, there's, of course, is coming at a time where we have seen increased attacks in Ukraine.
And we had heard lawmakers discussing giving more weapons to Ukraine. And source telling me that a lot of this was done in a larger picture that Pete
Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense signed off on this decision. It was a review that's been in the works for several months. And it wasn't just
about Ukraine. It was again about all of foreign spending.
So we are still trying to learn more details about what exactly this means. This, of course, comes after we saw President Trump meeting with Russia
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in Amsterdam just last week.
He raved about the meeting when it comes to President Trump. We know that he is not always positive about Zelenskyy, but instead, he said that he was
-- had a good meeting with him and he also talked about how Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, has been difficult to deal with.
This, of course, goes against some of what we have heard from President Trump and his administration, this pause in this military supply to
Ukraine.
I did hear from one White House official who wanted to stress that not all support from Ukraine is being pulled. This is just a pause of some weapons
that were being sent to the country. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: OK. Our thanks to Kristen Holmes there, reporting from the White House.
Meantime, the Trump administration is proclaiming a major victory on cutting costs. The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, was
officially moved under the State Department this week. It was already stripped of much of its budget.
ASHER: Yes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is saying in a Substack post, "The era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an
end promising a quote, foreign funding mission that prioritizes America's national interest."
The study in "The Lancet" medical journal predicts the loss of the programs could lead to 14 million additional deaths globally just in the next five
years.
CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke to the agency's former administrator, Samantha Power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA POWER, FORMER USAID ADMINISTRATOR: It's important that the facts actually be stated in -- in the context of Rubio's claims. They have cut
80, 90 percent of the lifesaving programming going on overseas. It depends on the program. You can go through specifics, but whether it's HIV/AIDS or
malaria or TB, right now, there are families not getting malaria bed nets even as they prepare for the onslaught of mosquitoes.
That's going to mean hundreds of thousands, if not millions of kids who are at risk of dying from a mosquito bite. That's not something that any
American should tolerate.
But what Secretary Rubio continues to state publicly is that the lifesaving assistance is continuing. It is not. What he is saying is false.
[12:35:01]
So far what he has done, in the name of efficiency, is cut this lifesaving programming.
And as the Lancet studies shows, it does not just a retrospective on the lives that have been saved, it also warns that 12 million lives will be
lost. Two-thirds of whom are kids under the age of five if these cuts continue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: And Power says the loss of USAID doesn't just impact millions of lives, but it hurts the United States reputation as well.
All right. The parent company of CBS News, Paramount Global, has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump. That many legal
experts actually said was for the less in the first place.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. President Trump claimed that a "60 Minutes" interview with then Vice President Kamala Harris was deliberately edited to benefit her
and hurt him. Paramount says, "The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret." The money will not be paid to Trump directly, but
allocated to his future presidential library.
CNN's chief media analyst Brian Seltzer reports that critics are not happy with the settlement.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Hey there, yes. Journalists at CBS News have been dreading this news for months. And now, it is finally
official.
The parent company of CBS has struck a deal with the president, essentially paying to make his lawsuit go away. Critics of the settlement deal say that
CBS was hurting its reputation by caving to Trump.
The president's lawsuit was always legally dubious, with first amendment attorneys telling CNN that it was, quote, frivolous and ridiculous. But the
lawsuit was taken seriously by the owners of CBS, because those owners have been rushing to complete a multi-billion dollar merger between Paramount
and Skydance.
The merger requires Trump administration approval, because CBS owns local stations that are licensed by the government. And so this is a case of
corporate priorities trumping journalistic principles.
Now, this entire legal battle stems from one question and one answer on a "60 Minutes" interview last fall. The interview was with then Vice
President Kamala Harris. And out of the dozens of questions and answers, one particular answer stood out. CBS aired a part of a Harris answer about
the war in Gaza on one day, and another part of her answer on another day. This was a weird discrepancy. And Trump alleged that CBS was trying to help
Harris and hurt him by editing the show in order to help the Democrat.
He called this election interference. And he filed a lawsuit in Texas under a pretty unusual consumer protection law.
Again, legal experts said Trump didn't really have a case, but CBS took this seriously, in part because of concern that Trump would try to delay
its Paramount and Skydance merger.
So, settlement talks went on for months. Trump's attorneys reportedly asked for tens of millions of dollars. And the deal ultimately ended up somewhere
in the middle. The price tag of $16 million, which is exactly the same amount that Disney's ABC agreed to pay Trump to settle a different lawsuit
last December.
Now, notably Paramount said overnight, it is not agreeing to apologize to Trump. That stands out because "60 Minutes" correspondents were especially
concerned by the prospect of an apology, given that the news magazine did nothing wrong.
The raw tapes and transcripts from that Harris interview showed that CBS engaged in perfectly normal editing practices.
Nevertheless, CBS is paying quite a bit of money in order to resolve Trump's claims. The company says in a statement that, "In the future, "60
Minutes" will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after such interviews have aired."
Now, if CBS had done that last fall, when Trump demanded to see the Harris transcript, it might have avoided all of this legal maneuvering.
Of course, there are many observers who say that Trump is using this as part of his broader battle against the media, trying to bring major media
companies to heel.
CBS says that there is no connection between this settlement payout and the ongoing attempts to get that merger approved. But again, there are lots of
outside analysts who believe otherwise.
Some Democratic lawmakers have even raised questions about whether a settlement payout would amount to a violation of an anti-bribery law. So,
even though this settlement is now official, this may not be the end of the legal questions for Paramount and CBS.
Brian Stelter, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Many thanks to Brian Stelter for that. We'll be right back with more after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:40:09]
ASHER: This week, we've been exploring a burgeoning industry and Senegal centered around space for the Senegalese Space Agency, a key piece is
education and educating the next generation.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. That's the inspiration behind its SPACEBUS program which travels across the country to engage and educate students all about space
and astronomy. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): In Senegal, Dakar's national plaza is preparing for an astronomical takeover. With the last details in place,
it's time to roll in the SPACEBUS caravan. The brainchild of astronomer Maram Kaire and his team. It travels all across Senegal to teach the
spectacles of space.
Here in the capital, it's making the last stop of the season.
MARAM KAIRE, DIRECTOR GENERAL, SENEGALESE SPACE STUDIES AGENCY: Today is just the final step of the SPACEBUS tour. We just come to finish our road
map around Senegal. It was 38 days, you know, running all around the cities and maybe discussing about the importance of space science.
So, it's a sort of way for me to give them the chance that I didn't have in my past, you know. And it's just another way to give a hand to the young
generation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Among the educators on hand present a workshop today is Hasnaa Chennaoui, a professor, geochemist and planetary
scientist visiting from Morocco.
HASNAA CHENNAOUI AOUDJEHANE, PROFESSOR AND PLANETARY SCIENTIST: Our continents and our region need science. It's not a choice. We have to
develop science if we want to develop our countries.
And for me, it's very important to develop fundamental science because it's the base of everything. So, we have to do it.
And to do this, we have to inspire youth and young generation to make them love in science and to make science attracting them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Encouraging young students in the sciences can help encourage continued education in a country where fewer
than 50 percent of boys and girls complete secondary education.
AOUDJEHANE: When you talk to youth and to children about meteorites, about dinosaurs, about these kind of things, they are immediately attracted by
the topic.
And this is something that we can work on to introduce different kinds of science, going from mineralogy to climate change to the history of
astronomy in our countries.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: All right. Still to come on "One World," Elon Musk's on again, off again friendship with Donald Trump is hurting Tesla. The latest sales
report from the EV maker when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:43]
GOLODRYGA: Well, interest rates in the United States could be lower now if it weren't for Donald Trump who's loudly calling for them to be cut. And
that is because the view of the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve says that a potential decision to lower rates had to be put on hold because of
uncertainty caused by Trump's global trade war.
ASHER: Right. Jerome Powell says the Central Bank is focused on delivering economic stability and will do so in a non-political way.
Here's our Vanessa Yurkevich.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Jerome Powell was asked at this central banking forum really point blank whether
or not President Trump's public pressure on him and the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates has made it harder for him to do his job. And this is
what he said, quote, I'm very focused on just doing my job. So very much brushing off the president's comments of late.
And the president really has been putting this public pressure on Jerome Powell for months now to lower interest rates. So much so that just on
Monday, he wrote this handwritten note to Jerome Powell on a sheet of paper that had world Central Bank rates.
And on the piece of paper, you can see that there are 34 countries that have interest rates lower than the United States.
And on this note, President Trump wrote essentially that Jerome Powell was costing the United States hundreds of billions of dollars and made the
suggestion for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to one percent. Currently, interest rates are four times -- more than four times that.
But at the Central Banking Forum, Jerome Powell was asked whether or not the fact that the Federal Reserve has not lowered interest rates had much
to do with the trade war. Here is what he said about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chair, would the Fed have cut more by now if it weren't for the tariffs?
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE: So, I do think that -- I think that's right. We're -- in effect, we went on hold when we -- when we
saw the size of the tariffs and were -- and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the
tariffs.
So, we didn't overreact at all. In fact, we didn't react at all. We're -- we're simply taking some time.
YURKEVICH: Jerome Powell went on to say that the current interest rate levels are moderately restrictive and that's by design because the Federal
Reserve is in wait-and-see mode to see if the tariffs start to show up in the economy.
[12:50:06]
Jerome Powell does believe that -- excuse me, that inflation will rise in the next few months. But he didn't go on to say that they would be making
cuts in July. That was very much left open. But he did say he believed that there would be cuts at some point this year. There are four more meetings
this year.
There are some though within the Federal Reserve, people who vote on what to do with interest rates, who are saying that there should be a cut in
July. One of those people is Vice Chair Michelle Bowman, who said that if inflation pressures remained contained, that I would support lowering the
policy rate as soon as our next meeting, those are her words.
And also voting member Christopher Waller, who said that they're in a good spot now for bringing down rates.
Now, investors on Wall Street, about 20 percent of them believe that there will be a cut in July. That rest of the 80 percent think that it's
unlikely.
Just one thing to keep an eye on is how much more pressure the President puts on Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. It has been a steady
campaign, but Jerome Powell, for his part, saying he's very much focused on his job and keeping the independence of the Federal Reserve very much
separate from the Federal government.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Vanessa Yurkevich reporting there.
All right. The most valuable car maker in the world is having trouble selling cars.
GOLODRYGA: Earlier today, Tesla reported a steep 13 percent drop in sales compared to one year ago.
Analysts pin much of the decline on Elon Musk's high-profile jump into politics that initially angered liberals, but has lately put him at odds
with conservatives in Donald Trump.
Wall Street had been expecting the sales slump, and Tesla stock was actually up a bit at the opening, rebounding from recent losses.
CNN's Anna Stewart has more on the Tesla slump. So, Anna, there are a few factors involved here. Yes, it's politics, of course, but it's also this
idea that Elon Musk is squarely focused on self-driving autonomous vehicles. He believes that that is Tesla's future.
And on top of that, Tesla's been facing steep competition from Chinese electric vehicle companies too that are much more affordable and also newer
as well.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's facing quite a few different issues, isn't it? In -- in various markets around the world.
And today, we got the sales decline of 13.5 percent for the second quarter. But we didn't really get a breakdown from Tesla in terms of how sales are
in different parts of the world.
It's been interesting. In Europe, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, car sales were down 45 percent in the first sort
of five months of this year.
In China, there was also a big decline in Q2 from their comparable association, but sales were slightly higher in June, maybe because they
brought out the new version of the Model Y.
But you're right about competition. They are facing huge competition in China, of course, with the big Chinese car makers. BYD also Xiaomi is
actually very, very competitive, particularly on price with some electric vehicles.
And in Europe, it's facing the same. It's no longer just the sort of big European traditional car manufacturers. It's actually BYD as well. BYD is a
Chinese car maker, but it actually makes some cars in Hungary.
And then you can add in the politics, which of course has been an ongoing saga really for Tesla. And it's not just the U.S., although we can come on
to that, but also how Musk has waded into politics.
In Europe, for instance, very much so, in Germany, here in the U.K. And that has certainly put off some people.
It's been interesting that we had a report out this week from the electrical -- sorry. The Electric Vehicle Intelligence. And they have said
that both Republicans and Democrats are now less likely to buy a Tesla car since Elon Musk joined the White House.
GOLODRYGA: We -- we have already seen some pushback from shareholders and even the board during some of the previous back and forth and political
wrangling that Elon Musk and Donald Trump found themselves in.
Elon Musk had said, listen, I'm going to leave now. I'm going to leave DOGE. I'm going to focus solely on the company.
What are we hearing once again from shareholders and board members about his impact on the company and its viability?
STEWART: Well, I think more importantly, what are we hearing from Musk and Trump? Because they are still sparring online, particularly on social
media, of course.
And, yes, we were told from Elon Musk that he was going to focus much more on Tesla once he stepped back. But of course, we're still seeing the soap
opera continue.
And as our digital reporter, Allison Morrow, put it so beautifully, you can take the CEO out of D.C., but you can't seem to take the D.C. out of the
CEO.
You know, just in the last 24 hours, we have Musk saying that 80 percent of people that he polled on X would like to see a new political party formed.
Responding to that, we had something from Donald Trump on Truth Social saying Elon may get more subsidies than any human being in history by far.
And without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back to South Africa.
So this is continuing. And that is not what investors want to see. If they lose credits in the U.S., it will be hard, maybe even impossible to make a
profit on selling a car in the U.S.
[12:55:08]
GOLODRYGA: All right. And once again, to reiterate to viewers what is so obvious, and this is not normal, even from the most quirky of executives of
a major company, this type of behavior going back and forth, finding themselves mired in politics, once again then straddling both their
companies as well. And it's under --
ASHER: And so publicly the fallout with the U.S. president.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And it's so understandable why you do have shareholders and board members concerned about what that does to the value of the stock and
the company.
We'll see where things end up over the next few days as well. Things change by the minute, it appears, especially in the world of social media.
Anna Stewart, thank you so much.
ASHER: Thanks, Anna.
GOLODRYGA: Well, the Dalai Lama says that he will come back and he will not be under Chinese control.
The 90-year-old spiritual leader of Buddhism declared in a video message that he intends to be reincarnated and that he says the body he will
inhabit will be someone born outside of China.
ASHER: Yes. One of the ways China has sought more control over Buddhist Tibet is to point its own versions of various important Buddhist figures.
Tibetan Buddhists believe in a cycle of death and rebirth. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th person to hold that title.
GOLODRYGA: Well, that does it for "One World" Today. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
