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The Situation Room

How Drones Are Impacting Russia's War On Ukraine; Trump Hosts Philippine President At The White House; Trump: Fed Chairman Powell "Will Be Out Pretty Soon"; Trump Comments On Epstein Scandal & GOP Divide. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired July 22, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:34:18]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we have new CNN reporting on the rapid development of drone technology in Russia's brutal war against Ukraine. The drones have become an X-factor for Moscow and Kyiv.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance has an inside look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over Kyiv, the ominous buzz of a Russian drone. Before it finds its target.

Waves of these attack drones pose a nightly threat against Ukrainian towns and cities. Now we have a rare glimpse inside one highly secretive Russian drone factory where thousands of the cheap, simple, and deadly weapons are virtually flying off the assembly lines.

[11:35:11]

This is now the biggest factory in the world for attack drones, the company CEO, who's sanctioned by the U.S., tells the Russian Ministry of Defense television station. It's secret, he says, but we will show you something.

And what was shown is a vast and modern production facility employing thousands, hundreds of miles from the front lines and recently expanded, we're told, enabling Russia's escalating campaign of drone strikes across Ukraine. We must give credit to the strategic foresight of those who foresaw that this war would be a war of drones, the CEO says. And it's good, we're ready for it, he adds.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CHANCE (voice-over): There's also this extraordinary footage of the drones being test launched at speed, while their performance is remotely monitored. Of Russia's drone program, once reliant on imports from Iran, is now self-sufficient. Ukraine is waging its own drone war, of course, striking Kremlin forces deep inside Russia in highly sophisticated operations like this one last month, targeting Russian strategic bombers. While on the front lines, drones from both sides have transformed the battlefield.

But these unprecedented images from this one Russian factory shows how the Kremlin is dramatically scaling up drone production and its capacity to wage a long and devastating drone war in Ukraine.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And our thanks to Matthew Chance for that report.

In just moments, the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will have a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump. We're going to bring that to you live and hear if the President -- the two presidents actually take reporters' questions, which they almost certainly will.

We'll have live coverage coming up right here in "The Situation Room."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: All right, now President Trump is hosting the visiting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. at the White House.

I want you to listen in.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: We're going to be talking about trade. We're going to be talking about war and peace. They're a very important nation militarily, and we've had some great drills lately. We're back with them.

I think I can say that the last administration was not getting along with them too well. They didn't get along with anybody. They didn't know. Honestly, they didn't know what they were doing.

But we have some fantastic military relationships with The Philippines, and that's been reinstituted. And Pete, I would say that you couldn't be happier, right, with the relationship.

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: (INAUDIBLE).

[11:40:11]

TRUMP: So, I just want to say it's an honor to have you, we're going to talk about trade today. and we're very close to finishing a trade deal, big trade deal actually. And we do a lot of business with you, it's a lot of -- it's a lot of income coming in for both -- for both groups. But I was surprised to see the kind of numbers are very big and they're going to get bigger under what we're doing and what we're proposing.

And I just want to thank you for being with us. It's a great honor. You and your representatives, it's really a great, great honor. We have a big announcement, AstraZeneca the big drug company is going to spend $50 billion, just announced $50 billion in the United States in order to build various places all over the country, big manufacturing plants, pharmaceutical plants all over the country. So that's an honor. And he said they did that because of the election and because of the fact that the tariffs are placed. So, they're building their facilities in New York, $50 billion, that's a big investment and it's going to be a very good investment they have no doubt about it.

So, thank you to AstraZeneca.

And with that I'd like to have you say a few words, please.

FERDINAND MARCOS JR., PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES: Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Of course, we're all very happy to be here, to once again reaffirm the very strong ties between The Philippines and the United States, ties as they go back over a hundred years. And considering the context in which we live these days, especially in my part of the world, this has become -- this has evolved into as important a relationship as is possible to have.

We must remember that the United States is our only, only our the -- our only treaty partner in The Philippines. And that has -- that has stood us in good stead over the years through certainly -- for certainly through the Second World War, and the cultural memory of all Filipinos down to even the schoolchildren is that our strongest, closest most reliable ally has always been the United States. And that is something that we value, that we are grateful for and that we will continue to foster so as we go on.

With the leadership of President Trump, I am very confident that we will be able to achieve that. I think it is -- it is worthwhile to remember that it was President Trump who in his first term characterized the relationship between the Philippines and the United States as ironclad, and that has been necessarily the case since -- since that time that you made that statement, sir, and it is a one -- it is something that The Philippines will always hold close to its heart.

Thank you once again, and I -- we are honored and it is -- it is our great pleasure to be here, and to visit with the President of the United States.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

MARCOS: Thank you, sir.

TRUMP: It's my great honor. Any questions.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Yes, please go ahead. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, would you do think that (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: I think he's in a bad job, but he's going to be out pretty soon anyway. In eight -- eight months, he'll be out. But he's -- I call him too late. He's too late all the time. He should have lowered interest rates many times. Europe lowered their rate ten times, we load ours none and it's causing a problem for people that want to buy a home.

Look, our economy is so strong now. We're blowing through everything. We're setting records. You know that you see that, and whether it's The Philippines or anyone else, we're setting records at levels that nobody's ever seen before.

But you know what, people aren't able to buy a house because this guy is a numbskull, he keeps the rates too high and probably doing it for political reasons. The only time I remember him cutting rates, I mean he cut the rates just before the election to try and help Kamala or whoever he was trying to help, people he didn't know. And he's building a building. He's $2.7 billion, they have a $900 million overrun. What is that? And that was given by Biden that was another Biden deal and this guy's building this building that's severely overrun and what does he need the building for? Why does he need he needs space for more people?

So, they did a big study the other day and they called all of the great intellects and the great economists and all of the great everything, and they -- it was 71 and only two got it right, me and another gentleman that happens to be very smart, 69 people got it wrong and the Fed got it wrong, more wrong than anybody. And, you know, he has these think tanks and they build buildings for people that think. And it's really not thinking, it's a little bit of combination of thinking, but it's something you sort of have or you don't have.

[11:45:12]

They don't -- this -- this -- the job he's done is just terrible. He ought to raise interest rates. You know, we would -- we should be at 1 percent. We should be leading the world. Instead, we're paying 4 percent. And if you look at what that means, that's over a trillion dollars in interest that we have to pay. That with the striking of a pen, we would be saving more than $1 trillion.

Is that right, Scott? Do you have anything to say about it?

SCOTT BESSENT, SECRETARY OF TREASURY: Yes, sir. I called yesterday and this morning for the Fed to do a big internal investigation to understand their -- not their monetary policy, but everything else. The Fed has had big mission creep and that's where a lot of the spending is going. That's why they're building these new or refurbishing these buildings.

And I think they've got to stay in their lane. And I think that the, you know, based on the way they cut rates last fall, they should be cutting rates now.

TRUMP: It's inconceivable, I know the Fed very well, that they can be spending $2.7 billion to build a building. They don't do anything. I guess -- I mean, it's the greatest job. You show up one day, a half a day, you make a little speech, the economy is doing well, the economy is not doing well, we're going to raise interest. And he's got it wrong. That's why I call him too late, T-O-O, too late. And it's really too bad.

But it is affecting people that want to buy houses, and that shouldn't happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Mr. President --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And, you know, he should lower -- he should lower them -- those rates should be three points lower. That's what they should be, three points lower, maybe more than that.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to ask both of you --

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- one question. Mr. President Marcos, next year, The Philippines is going to be the rotating chair of ASEAN. I wonder how do you plan to balance your relationship between the United States and China?

And for President Trump, Kremlin yesterday said, if you are going to Beijing in September, they wouldn't rule out a meeting between you and President Putin. Is such a meeting possible? And how soon do you plan to visit China?

TRUMP: Well, we have a lot of meetings possible. President Xi has invited me to China, and we'll probably be doing that in the not-too- distant future, a little bit out, but not too distant. And I've been invited by a lot of people. And we'll make those decisions pretty soon.

Please.

MARCOS: Well, as you -- well be the -- as you say, we are chairing ASEAN in 2026. There is no need in a sense to balance, as you characterize it, to balance our relationship between the United States and China, simply because our foreign policy is an independent one. And we are essentially concerned with the defense of our territory and the exercise of our sovereign rights.

Now, whether we do this not alone, we need to do this with our partners. And again, our strongest partner has always been the United States. But of course, we are -- we are trying to form coalitions and multilateral relations so that we, those like-minded nations who share the same values as we do, who are hue to the international law, more specifically the UNCLOS, are present that position very clearly to anyone who has intentions of unilaterally changing the world order. And that is where -- that is how we are guided in that (INAUDIBLE). TRUMP: And I don't mind if he gets along with China, because we're getting along with China very well. We have a very good relationship.

In fact, the magnets, which is a little complex piece of material, but the magnets are coming out, you know, very well. They're sending them in record numbers. We're getting along with China very well.

And I don't mind if the President dealt with China, you know, if that's meant, because I think he has to do what's right for his country. I've always said, you know, make The Philippines great again, do whatever you need to do. But you're dealing with China. Wouldn't bother me at all.

MARCOS: No, well, no, it is something that we have to do in any case. Yes, certainly (INAUDIBLE).

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, do you support the Justice Department seeing (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: I don't know anything about it. They're going to what? Meet her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to -- yes, your Deputy Attorney General has reached out to Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney asking for (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Yes, I don't know about it, but I think it's something that would be sounds appropriate to do, you know?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think (INAUDIBLE) Deputy Attorney General is your former attorney (INAUDIBLE) given --

[11:50:03]

TRUMP: No, no concern. He's a very talented person. He's very smart. I didn't know that they were going to do it. I don't really follow that too much. It's sort of a witch hunt, just a continuation of the witch hunt.

The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold, Tulsi Gabbard. What they did to this country in 2016, starting in 2016, but going up all the way, going up to 2020 of the election. They tried to rig the election and they got caught. And there should be very severe consequences for that.

You know, when we caught Hillary Clinton, I said, you know what, let's not let's not go too far here. It's the ex-wife of a president. And I thought it was sort of terrible. And I let her off the hook. And I'm very happy I did.

But it's time to start after what they did to me. And whether it's right or wrong, it's time to go after people. Obama's been caught directly. So people say, oh, you know, a group. It's not a group. It's Obama. His orders are on the paper. The papers are signed. The papers came right out of their office. They sent everything to be highly classified.

Well, the highly classified has been released. And what they did in 2016 and in 2020 is very criminal. It's criminal at the highest level. So that's really the things you should be talking about.

I know nothing about the other, but I think it's appropriate that they do go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ask you about that, Mr. President.

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tulsi Gabbard has submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice. From your perspective, who should the DOJ target as part of their investigation? What specific figures in the Obama administration?

TRUMP: Well, based on what I read and I read pretty much what you read, it would be President Obama. He started it. And Biden was there with him. And Comey was there. And Clapper, the whole group was there. Brennan, they were all there in a room. Right here. This was the room. This is much more beautiful than it was then, but that's OK.

I have nice pictures up. They came out of the vaults. They were in there for 100 years. This is much more beautiful. We have the Declaration of Independence now in the room, which wasn't here. I guess people didn't feel too good about putting it here. But I do.

But you know what? If you look at that, those papers, they have them stone cold. And it was President Obama. It wasn't -- lots of people all over the place. It was them, too. But the leader of the gang was President Obama, Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? And except for the fact that he gets shielded by the press for his entire life.

That's the one they look. He's guilty. It's not a question. You know, I like to say, let's give it time. It's there. He's guilty. They -- this was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody's ever even imagined, even in other countries.

You've seen some pretty rough countries. This man has seen some pretty rough countries. But you've never seen anything like it. And we have all of the documents. And from what Tulsi told me, she's got thousands of additional documents coming.

So President Obama, it was his concept, his idea. But he also got it from Crooked Hillary Clinton. Crooked is a $3 bill. Hillary Clinton and her group, the Democrats, spent $12 million to Christopher Steele to write up a report that was a total fake report. Took two years to figure that out. But it came out that it was a total fake report. It was made up fiction. And they used that.

Now, the one thing they weren't able to do was to and probably the only thing I respect about the press in years is the press refused to write it before the election. They refused to put it in. The Steele report was a disaster. All lies, all fabrication, all admitted and admitted fraud. She paid $12 million and the Democrats for that report to a wise guy named Christopher Steele.

He wrote a phony report and they wanted to get that report in before the election. And I'll tell you what I talk about all the time, the fake news, how bad it is. But in this case, they wouldn't do it. They saw it. They read it. And they said, we don't believe it.

And it was only after substantially like a month and a half after the election that it got printed. And it was a big wisp. It was just like a bang of nothing because the election had ended.

If that report had gotten published by the New York Times or somebody and I respect the Times for maybe only this because they're crooked as you can be. They're a terrible paper, a crooked, corrupt paper. But for this one moment, they said this is bullshit, we can't put this in. And neither could any other, but Wall Street Journal's a lousy paper. Very, very dishonest paper.

[11:55:19]

As you see I'm suing them for a lot of money because they do things very badly. It's a really -- it's got a nice name, but it's really in my opinion, it's a terrible paper. And it can be corrupt, but just so you know, they didn't take the Steele report was the dossier. Remember the famous dossier. I called it the fake news dossier. The news wouldn't publish it and I'm amazed they had two and a half months. It was finished two and a half months. That was supposed to be what was going to happen. And it got published a couple of months after the election and frankly, nobody cared too much about it. But that was a big thing.

No, no, we caught Hillary Clinton. We caught Barack Hussein Obama, they're the ones and then you have many, many people under them, Susan Rice. They're all there. The names are all there. And I guess they figured they're going to put this in classified information and nobody will ever see it again, but it doesn't work that way. And it's the most unbelievable thing I think I've ever read.

So, you ought to take a look at that and stop talking about nonsense because this is big stuff. Never has a thing like this happened in the history of our country. And by the way, it morphed into the 2020 race and the 2020 race was rigged and it was -- it was a rigged election. And because it was rigged, we have millions of people in our country. We have we had inflation, we solved the inflation problem, but millions and millions of people came into our country because of that. And people that shouldn't have been -- people from gangs and from jails and from mental institutions, people that we don't want in our country and people that we're getting out dangerous people, 11,888 murderers. Many of them 50 percent, more than 50 percent murdered more than one person.

I hate to say this was such a distinguished guest, but you know, they asked me a question, I got to answer the question. No, Barack Hussein Obama is the ringleader, Hillary Clinton was right there with him and so was a Sleepy Joe Biden, and so were the rest of them. Comey, Clapper, the whole group, and they tried to rig an election and they got caught. And then they did rig the election in 2020 and then because I knew I won that election by a lot I did it a third time and I won in a landslide every swing state won the popular vote.

But I won that all the same way in 2020 and look at the damage that was caused.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how crucial is the ammunitions hub in the U.S. plans to build in Subic and the Luzon Corridor considering that these will be built in areas that hold -- that hosts strategic ports as well as military air bases.

TRUMP: You took an ammunition?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. The U.S. House Congressional Committee --

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- on Appropriations approved a budget.

TRUMP: Which is very important.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right.

TRUMP: Otherwise, we wouldn't have approved it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry.

TRUMP: Yes, it's very important. Otherwise, we wouldn't we need ammunition, we're going to end up in a few months. We'll have more ammunition than any country has ever had. We're going to have more missiles than any country has ever had. We're going to have all the speedy missiles. We'll have the speedy ones to slow ones, the accurate ones, the ones that are slightly less accurate, we have everything. But we will have more ammunition than any country has ever had.

It's very important to me.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Go ahead, please red.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, when you say that you're close to making a trade deal, what gaps remain?

And for President Marcos, sir, I was just wondering, do you not think that perhaps you -- The Philippines hosting U.S. missile systems could be considered escalatory by China such as (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: Well, it's an honor to be with this gentleman. You know I've known him and I've known his family actually, but I've known him and he's -- I assume you're from The Philippines? Are you from the Philippines?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: It's good. You're very lucky to be from The Philippines, right? It's a great place. But -- but we have a very good relationship. I mean, I know you had some problems with another president and it was -- not your fault, it was the president's fault. And the country was maybe tilting toward -- toward China.

MARCOS: Yes.

TRUMP: But we untilted it very, very quickly. But you know you did have -- you had a country that was tilting toward China for a period of time. And I just don't think that would have been good for you. You could deal with China. You should deal with China, but -- but when I got elected everything changed and they came right back to us.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Say it again? Yes, Brian (ph), go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, Mr. President, I just wanted to piggyback off (INAUDIBLE) --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry, I had a question to President Marcos.

[12:00:01]

MARCOS: Yes, yes. I'm sorry what was the question again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was about whether having U.S. missiles hosted in The Philippines would be considered --