Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Trump Vows To Sue Rupert Murdoch Over WSJ's Epstein Report; Trump Diagnosed With Chronic Vein Condition; Former Hostage Or Levy Details 491 Days In Captivity. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 18, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:01:50]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, getting access. Today, Attorney General Pam Bondi says she'll start the process of releasing certain testimony from the Jeffrey Epstein case. The move follows an order from President Trump to, quote, produce any and all pertinent grand jury testimony.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown and you're in The Situation room.

And we begin with the breaking news. President Trump is taking a big step forward in revealing details, details of the sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein. He's now authorizing the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, to produce, and I'm quoting now, and any and all pertinent grand jury testimony, close quote. Please, go ahead.

BROWN: The Justice Department says it will go to court today to seek that public release. Even the President's loyal followers have demanded the administration make good on its promise to share more information. And new this morning, the President and his allies are lashing out at "The Wall Street Journal." It is reporting that Epstein's friends and family associates sent bawdy letters for a birthday album in 2003. And according to "The Journal," one of those racy letters was from Donald Trump.

BLITZER: And it is so graphic. The article in "The Wall Street Journal" describes the letter this way. And I'm quoting now, it contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand drawn with a heavy marker, a pair of small arcs denotes the woman's breasts. And the future President's signature is a squiggly Donald below her waist, mimicking pubic hair. The letter concludes, happy birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret, close quote.

BROWN: CNN media analyst, Sara Fischer, is here in The Situation. So, Sara, "The Wall Street Journal" is owned by News Corps, which is controlled by President Trump's once friend, Rupert Murdoch. So now, you know, we've just been talking about President Trump is threatening to sue. How significant is all of this? SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: Very significant, Pamela, because this relationship between the Murdochs and Trump has been mutually beneficial in many ways. It's also been mutually destructive in many ways. You'll recall "Fox" was the first network to call the election in favor of Joe Biden in 2020, which is what set off a rupture in that relationship.

But they came back together ahead of 2024 because it was good for "Fox" viewers and it was good for Donald Trump. What you're seeing here, though, is that Murdoch is not the ally Trump thinks he is. He's a newsman. He owns a big newspaper company and news corps that values journalism. They've also published a ton of editorials that Donald Trump doesn't like. At the same time, he's an entertainment guy. He owns a big Fox Corporation, which in it has "Fox News," and they have not covered this scandal at all.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting because "Fox News" is, of course, another major pillar of the entire Murdoch media empire and also has a sometimes strained relationship itself with the President. How did it handle coverage of "The Wall Street Journal" report? You said they're not reporting it.

FISCHER: I haven't seen it on air and I was just looking through their website, Wolf, and I haven't seen it there either. And what makes this even more interesting is that you currently have a lot of people looking at an old interview in which they claim that "Fox" edited out answer of Donald Trump's around his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

[11:05:16]

And so in light of this, there's now a lot of new eyeballs looking at that and saying, OK, is "Fox" trying to help perhaps cover up whatever there is between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein? All the while you have a vision within the media, the conservative media ecosystem of who to back. Do you go after "Fox" for not necessarily covering "The Journal" story and trying to unveil this, or do you side with the Journal? It is a very, very complicated time right now for MAGA media.

BLITZER: Because normally whenever "The Wall Street Journal" has a major story, a big headline, "Fox News" immediately reports it citing "The Wall Street Journal" but not this time.

FISCHER: Not this time. And there was a quiet moment last night where Laura Ingraham said, you know, there's a breaking news report coming from "The Wall Street Journal." But then they never followed up and actually covered it, which leads me to believe that maybe they thought they were going to break into coverage and they ultimately didn't. I'm curious to see how "Fox News" handles it today.

BLITZER: We'll see.

BROWN: Our colleague Brian Stelter wrote about an executive close to Murdoch who told him that, quote, Rupert loves to poke the President in the eye once in a while. Help us understand the history of this relationship between Trump and Murdoch and how that's playing out in the public right now. There's a lot behind this. FISCHER: Such a good question. And Brian knows this story better than anybody.

BROWN: Yes.

FISCHER: This was, as I said before, a mutually beneficial relationship. But it became very contentious leading up to that 2020 election when "Fox" called that race for Joe Biden. And what's interesting is Murdoch has two different business units. News corps makes its money from journalism, Pamela. They have every incentive to report the hard things, even if it doesn't favor Donald Trump.

Fox Corp and "Fox News" has become a lot more akin to an entertainment company. And so they have every incentive to do what the viewers want for ratings. And so Rupert Murdoch, I think ultimately his loyalty comes down to the business and that's why you see this, to split in the way his two companies are covering this.

BROWN: Sara Fischer, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Thanks for me as well. Pamela, I want to bring in right now CNN political commentator, Ana Navarro. Ana, what's your reaction to this latest reporting, first of all from "The Wall Street Journal"?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it's Kind of hard to keep up with. Look, I think that it's hard to imagine that "The Wall Street Journal" and Rupert Murdoch would have published something of this nature had they not run all the legal traps and felt that they had very solid sourcing. We have seen that Donald Trump likes to sue media companies, likes to intimidate media companies. He has sued "ABC." He has sued "CBS."

We've seen where media moguls like Jeff Bezos have told "The Washington Post" tone it down. So when he says, I'm going to -- I'm -- I'm going to sue your ass off, we've seen that Donald Trump actually follows through. Now, this is one where he probably has to be very careful because does he want the discovery of that would come to him to Donald Trump from suing "The Wall Street Journal" over this story.

I also, I'm watching the reaction to this "Wall Street Journal" story and in some ways I think it's helping Trump with his base because they seem to be rallying towards him and think that he is the target of a fake news, you know, media attack. But it's just -- the -- the way this saga has now lasted for two weeks, led by Trump voters and Trump base. Because even though Trump likes to blame the Democrats for this, he wouldn't be responding to this if this was a Democrat-led effort.

He's responding to it because the people he's depended on, the people that have always supported him, that have always had his back, that have been with him regardless of the scandal and of the events that he's been involved with, are the ones that turned on him on this one.

BLITZER: This one this week, Ana, Trump has clearly been trying to shift the conversation away from the controversy surrounding the Epstein files. How much does this story complicate that effort? NAVARRO: Listen, I think he's been -- I think this is one of the things that's frustrated him. He has thrown all sorts of spaghetti at the wall. He has announced investigations into James Comey and Brennan. He has picked a fight over citizenship with Rosie O'Donnell. He has announced the firing of 20 prosecutors who worked on the January 6th cases from DOJ. He has done all sorts of things, you know, firing now the daughter of James Comey.

Yesterday, announcing, you know, being very transparent about his medical situation, which is not something he's actually known for being that level of transparent. He's tried to dissuade folks and distract folks and it hasn't worked. So this to me is just another drop in the drip, drip, drip that we have seen for the last two weeks.

[11:10:11]

BLITZER: Yes, good point. Trump also says and that he's, Ana, going to sue "The Wall Street Journal" owner Rupert Murdoch for this story. What do you make of the fact that Rupert Murdoch, someone who's put up a lot of coverage favorable to Donald Trump, decided to go ahead and proceed with publishing this story?

NAVARRO: Well, look, Rupert Murdoch and his news corporations have been sued many times before. We've seen them have to pay out nearly $800 million on the -- in the Dominion case. I don't think Donald -- I don't think Rupert Murdoch is scared of Trump's threat of suing him. And I also think Rupert Murdoch probably feels he's on solid footing.

BLITZER: Interesting. All right. Ana Navarro, good to have you back in The Situation Room.

NAVARRO: Thank you Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Still ahead, Wolf, President Trump's new health diagnosis following some swelling in his legs.

BLITZER: And The Situation Room special report, you're going to hear how former Hamas hostage Or Levy describes his captivity months after his release shocked the world. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:00]

BROWN: Happening right now in The Situation Room. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is in Nashville and she is highlighting the department's efforts to remove dangerous migrants from the country under President Trump's term. We'll keep an ear on her remarks, of course.

BLITZER: And the White House is releasing a new medical diagnosis for President Trump. Recent pictures showing his swollen legs and bruised hand that became a topic of discussion on social media. At the same time the White House is saying it's a condition called chronic -- chronic -- chronic venous insufficiency. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, walks us through what this means for the president's health and how it's treated.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we're talking about chronic venous insufficiency. Venous, referring to the veins. We know arteries carry blood away from the heart. Veins return blood back to the heart when there's a problem with the veins, as the President's diagnosis suggests, that means that blood cannot return as easily. And people often develop swelling, swelling around the ankles. And that's what's gotten a lot of attention lately.

Now, I will point out, back in April, the President had a physical exam and there was no mention of venous insufficiency, no mention of sword swelling at that time. So now fast forward three months. We know there is a significant problem. And that is really what prompted this exam, this swelling that has occurred over the past few months.

They looked at his blood. No evidence that there was any problems that should be causing this. They looked for blood clots, which can sometimes block the veins, making it harder for blood to return through the veins. No evidence of blood clots. They looked at his heart to make sure the heart had good function and that it was pumping blood well through the body. That appears to be the case. And they did an ultrasound of the legs and that's how they diagnosed this -- this again, this chronic venous insufficiency.

So that is the diagnosis. The goal of treatment really is to try and decrease that swelling and move that blood back up through the body, Sometimes simply elevating the legs at night. So sleeping with a couple pillows underneath your -- your ankles and your feet, that can sometimes be helpful. Using things like compression socks, that can be helpful as well.

And obviously encouraging the person, in this case the President, to walk around as much as possible, sitting, that tends to be something that can make this venous insufficiency worse. So non-life threatening, pretty common problem, especially as you get older. And also probably has nothing to do with what we've seen with his hands. People have noticed bruising on his hands really, you know, going back several months, even to February.

The doctors commented on this as well and said basically, this looks like it is primarily irritation to his hand, maybe due to lots of handshaking on top of the fact that he takes aspirin as a blood thinner. Those things in combination could cause that bruising that we see in his hands. They try to cover that up with makeup, but you can see that bruising on his hand there in those images.

Again, common problems, non-life threatening. But guys, that's a little bit of a sense of what the President's dealing with.

BROWN: All right, our thanks to Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent.

BLITZER: We are always grateful to Sanjay. Up next, CNN's Jeremy Diamond speaks to a survivor who was held hostage for nearly 500 days by Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The thought of dying crossed her mind?

OR LEVY, FORMER HAMAS HOSTAGE: Every day. Every day. But for me, I didn't accept that because I knew that people are waiting for me. My kid is waiting for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:19:46]

BLITZER: We'll have more on how he says he got through this very, very dark moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It was difficult to watch a gaunt looking Or Levy was released by Hamas along with other hostages after being held for more than a year, Levy would be soon reunited with his young son, but he would also learn that his wife had been killed during the October 7th terrorist attacks. Or Levy spoke with CNN's Jeremy Diamond about his captivity in this Situation Room Special report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[11:25:01]

DIAMOND (voice-over): Five months ago, these images of Or Levy shocked the world. His emaciated body a testament to the 491 days he was held hostage by Hamas.

LEVY: And I must say it's after three weeks of a lot of food that got into like that we got.

DIAMOND: Meaning had you been released three weeks earlier, you would have looked a lot worse.

LEVY: For sure.

DIAMOND: That's hard to imagine.

LEVY: It's hard to -- to understand how difficult it is to live one pita a day for 491 days. It's something that no human should live like that. And for the people that are still there, I know those days were even worse than what I -- I've been through. And it's scary.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Just as difficult as the physical toll was the emotional burden of captivity being ripped away from his then two- year-old son, Almog.

LEVY: When his birthday came and I was there, it was my worst day of my life.

DIAMOND: What did you do on that day?

LEVY: So I sing to him and crying most of the day, thinking and telling stories about him, about what went through, promising that I would do whatever it takes to go back and doing his next birthday together.

DIAMOND (voice-over): That wish came true two weeks ago, a birthday that came five months after Or was reunited with his family and with Almog.

LEVY: I remember seeing him, hugging him, hearing his voice. Crazy.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But he says that day was also the hardest of his life. It was the day he learned that his wife, Einav, had been killed on October 7th.

LEVY: I met this woman from the army, and I asked her about my wife. I told her that I think I know, but I'm not 100 percent certain and -- and that I want to know. And then she told me.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Or and Einav were huddling inside this bomb shelter when Hamas militants began throwing grenades and opening fire.

LEVY: And the last picture that I remember seeing is the Hamas terrorist shooting inside the bomb shelter.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Hersh Goldberg-Polin. An American Israeli, later executed by Hamas in captivity, was also kidnapped from that shelter. They would spend three defining days together in Gaza's tunnels.

LEVY: He said to me, he who has a why can bear anyhow. And for me, when I was in captivity, I understood that I have a why, and this can help me survive any harm.

DIAMOND (voice-over): When he got back from Gaza, he got the mantra tattooed on his arm.

DIAMOND: What or who was your why?

LEVY: Almog. Every rough day that, you know, you're about to crack, I was touch here, right where I did my tattoo. And -- and talking to Almog and saying to him, yeah, you're my why, and I will go back for you. And I remember on rough days, I would like to do like this, feeling stronger. Feeling stronger and not wanting to die.

DIAMOND: The thought of dying crossed your mind.

LEVY: Every day, every day. But for me, I didn't accept that because I knew that people are waiting for me. My kid is waiting for me. And I don't want him to grow up without mom and dad.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Or is home. But he must now answer his son's questions alone.

LEVY: Just the other day asked me why I didn't take him to this far place I was in. DIAMOND: That's how you describe it to him. You were in a far away place?

LEVY: Yes, yes. So he asked -- he asked about -- about his mom, about what happened to her, about who caused it.

DIAMOND: What do you tell him about her? And how do you carry on her memory?

[11:29:53]

LEVY: So first of all, I explained to him every time that his mom did want to go, that his mom loved him from the bottom of her heart.