Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Three Killed in Texas Parking Lot Shooting; Pennsylvania Steel Plant Blast Kills Two, Injures 10; WH; Prepares for Trump-Putin Summit; New Technology Aims to Detect Possible Drone Attacks; Supreme Court is Asked to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Ruling. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

STEW LEONARD JR., PRESIDENT AND CEO, STEW LEONARD'S GROCERY STORES: -- beef price at $3:99, you know, for the families that want to make hamburgers for the summer. And that's a little bit of a cost. Lobster has come down in, in price. We used to export a lot to China and that sort of dried up a little bit. So, the U.S. is getting more lobster. Prices have gone down. You saw eggs have cleaned up right there.

And you know, I mean, the big thing is people love these lobsters right here for the holidays. So, you know what we're seeing is the Caesar (ph) come with tariffs right now, but, you know, I talked to even our liquor suppliers, the European buying the Bordeauxs and Barolos from Italy and everything, those are all going to be tariffed. A lot of our suppliers have brought stuff over in inventory pre tariff, those inventories are running out. So, we're going to be at a critical point, I think, next month. That's going to determine the price of food for the holidays.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we'll definitely be checking back in with you next month. How are consumers changing their grocery store shopping habits? You know, we just showed that poll that 53 percent of American consumers are concerned about grocery prices right now.

LEONARD JR.: You know what? We have a hundred thousand customers a week coming through the store and we're on the floor pretty much. But one of the things you find, we have an app and we put specials on that all the time I would recommend because we've noticed our app purchases of things that are on sale have increased.

The other thing is our private label that we have at the store, you know, those -- that has gone up quite a bit. People are switching over to private label. We notice our demos aren't as effective. You know, we got everybody tasting stuff. Sales usually double or triple when you sample it in the store, it's not as, like, people aren't just grabbing stuff and throwing it in their cart. They're more price conscious for sure. It hasn't changed their behavior radically. They're still looking for good fresh food that's high quality. They're not going to buy something less expensive or day old or something.

So, customers are pretty much doing the same thing they've always been doing, except they're very conscious of food prices. And, hey, my fingers are crossed. You know, the retailers don't want to raise prices. We're sometimes get choked a little bit by what we are allowed to buy it at and what we have to retail it at in the store.

BROWN: All right. Stew Leonard, Jr., thank you so much. And like I said, we'll check back in with you next month when you predict things could change.

LEONARD JR.: Hey.

BROWN: Yes.

LEONARD JR.: Hey, one thing that's exciting, you see this? I'm throwing this out at Yankee Stadium tonight at 7:00 for the Yankees game. I got Bon Jovi who gave me some tips. Willie Randolph gave me some tips. Martha Stewart's giving -- everybody -- I got it on Facebook there, but everybody's giving me tips. I can't throw a ground ball. Otherwise, the whole stadium boos from what I hear.

BROWN: Wolf, do you have any tips?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I have a tip. Just throw a strike.

BROWN: Wolf -- did you hear Wolf's tip? Throw a strike.

BLITZER: All right. Good luck. We'll be watching.

BROWN: Good luck.

LEONARD JR.: Hey, love your show. And, Wolf, my mom's a Holocaust victim also.

BLITZER: All right. Well, give her our love.

LEONARD JR.: You bet. Have a good one, guys. Take care.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BROWN: Take care.

BLITZER: And just ahead, President Trump says part of his plan for Friday's meeting with Vladimir Putin is to, quote, "see what he has in mind" about ending the war in Ukraine. But is that a strong enough strategy to walk away with a deal? We have details, that's coming up next

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:35:00]

BLITZER: New this morning, authorities in Austin, Texas are investigating a shooting in a Target parking lot. Three people were killed including a child before the suspect was taken into custody. Here's a police dispatch audio after the first shots rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All units (INAUDIBLE) on (INAUDIBLE). It's going to be a white male Hawaiian shift and cargo pants at large somewhere in the close to the 1050 on Research.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The motive for the shooting isn't known. Police say the 30- year-old suspect has a, quote, "mental health history and a criminal record."

BROWN: And, Wolf, happening now, investigators in Pennsylvania are trying to learn why a steel plant exploded on Monday. Two people were killed and at least 10 others were hurt. Authorities say several smaller blasts followed that initial explosion. And one witness said it, quote, "felt like thunder" and even shook the entire buildings. Timothy Quinn was one of the workers killed. His coworker spoke to our affiliate KDKA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID WHEATLEY, CO-WORKER TIMOTHY QUINN KILLED IN EXPLOSION: He had kids. I mean, he loved his family. He talked about his kids all the time, and then it just comes down to it. Just -- he was a good dude. I mean, like I said, I really can't say much more. I mean, he was one of the best guys that I've ever worked with in operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The CEO of U.S. Steel says the company will thoroughly investigate what went wrong here. Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela, also knew this morning, new footage coming into the Situation Room of two Chinese military ships crashing into each other. Watch this.

[10:40:00]

It happened Monday in the South China Sea. The Chinese Coast Guard was chasing down boats from the Philippines. A Chinese warship then hit its own Coast Guard boat, and did very heavy damage to its bow. China isn't talking about the incident. The South China Sea has been a flashpoint for disputes between China, the Philippines, and several other nations. Pamela.

BROWN: And happening now, Wolf, the White House is preparing for President Trump's meeting Friday in Alaska with Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine. It will mark the first time the Russian leader has been on U.S. soil in a decade. Trump previewed the summit Monday during a news briefing on this show and predicted that Ukraine will have to concede land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: This is really a feel out meeting a little bit. And President Putin invited me to get involved. There'll be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody to the good -- for the good of Ukraine. Good stuff, not bad stuff. Also, some bad stuff for both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, however, has said that Ukraine will not be conceding land to Russia. Joining us now is New York Congressman Gregory Meeks. He is the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, thanks for coming on. You have been very critical of this Alaska Summit. Is there anything though that could come out of it that you would support?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY), RANKING MEMBER, FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: No, I don't think that it could be conclusive at all because President Zelenskyy is not there. I mean, if you really want to put pressure on Russia and you want to get something done, the person that you should be talking to first is President Zelenskyy and our allies, our European allies, and we should be telling Russia and Putin what they must do and so that they can -- they have to stop the aggression.

They are the first to -- they're the ones that are trying to take land from Ukraine, not the other way around. And when we talk about strength, the strength would be coming from the United States working with Ukraine and our European allies, giving the Ukrainians what they need to support themselves and to defend themselves as we have, not allowing Russia to dictate what's going on in this war.

And it seems to me at every step of the game that the president of the United States have shown weakness when it comes to Russia from when he -- his first term as president when he said that the Russian intelligence was better than the United States to when he was campaigning, where he said, Russia, do what you will, and Russia has been doing just that, to the embarrassing situation in the White House how he attacked President Zelenskyy, to even now this summit in the -- on United States territory in Alaska. It is the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

BROWN: I wonder what you say to President Trump who has repeatedly said, and of course there's no way to know this for certain, he has repeatedly said that if he had been in office, this war would've never happened. What do you say to that?

MEEKS: Well, you've seen that what he would do been on Russia's side. You know what? We would be in much worse shape, in my opinion. Why? Because NATO would not be strengthened as it did under Biden administration, where we had Sweden and Finland become part of the NATO alliance. Because what Trump and Putin wanted to do was to make NATO weaker. So, he would've taken Russia's side from the first -- from the beginning and tried to weaken our allies and weaken NATO against Ukraine, allowing the taking of territory as opposed to what did in fact happen where NATO became stronger.

You know, we had countries who were not part -- they had been neutral for a long period of time, and they decided because of the threat of Russia, they came together. And what President Biden did do when he was making the steps that he made was making sure that NATO was together and would not be divided. Putin thought when he entered, NATO would be divided because of them utilizing Russian energy. Nope, that did not happen.

So, if -- and the first term when Russia wanted to come in as they have and continue their aggressive behavior they would -- President Trump would've taken Russia's aside from the very beginning. And we'd be in completely different world order and in bad, bad shape as far as our unity with our NATO and European allies.

BROWN: So, clearly, you are not in favor of this meeting happening without our European allies and Ukraine at the table. President Trump said yesterday that if he is unhappy with what Putin says, he may leave and that'll be the end of it. Does that quell any of your concerns?

[10:45:00]

MEEKS: No, because what again is happening is the United States is not standing up for our allies and not standing up with Ukraine. You know, when we were given Ukraine what it needed, they were completely holding off Russia, in fact, they were winning. It is when some of my Republican allies in the House and in the Senate decided to stop funding and giving the Ukrainians what they need, and that's when the tide started to shift to a large degree and Russia continued its aggression in a very big way.

What we should be talking about, and I hope that some of my Republican colleagues would join onto my bill, which is stronger either than the Graham and the Blumenthal bill, which puts sanctions directly on Russia, not on third parties like India, and which does give the Ukrainians the kind of equipment that it needs, like ATACMS so that they can knock out some of the weapons that the Russians are utilizing to attack Ukraine. That's what we were doing when we were giving them what they needed to defend themselves.

BLITZER: All right. Well, Congressman Gregory Meeks, thank you so much for coming on the show.

MEEKS: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Pamela, the transportation department is now clearing the way for more drones in the skies over the United States, but as drone technology grows, so do the security concerns, especially with major events like the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics to be held here in the United States. CNN's Pete Muntean has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're good to go. You can launch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what it looks like when drones are flying where they shouldn't and are about to be taken over. This demonstration by Israeli company D-Fend Solutions comes as drones are taking off as a tool of war. ZOHAR HALACHMI, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, D-FEND SOLUTION: They are a threat for airports. They are a threat for critical infrastructure.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): CEO Zohar Halachmi says even off-the-shelf drones can now be easily outfitted to drop grenades or carry explosives, like during the Ukrainian attack on Russian air bases in June. It is the latest concern of lawmakers on Capitol Hill as they're calling for greater coordination from federal agencies to protect large events like the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): With minimal skill, bad actors can use these drones to launch attacks or create chaos.

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): Potential for a coordinated drone attack on an airport, seaport, or mass gathering is a credible and growing threat.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Here, D-Fend system uses an antenna to detect radio signals emitted by drones from the moment they take off, feeding information back to a command center in real time.

MUNTEAN: You essentially just create your own no-drone zone.

HALACHMI: Correct, it's a no-fly zone.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): First, a demonstration of a lone, unfriendly drone flying into our airspace. The system detects the drone, then with the push of a button, takes control, sending the drone to land in a predetermined spot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, this is our unfriendly drone here.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Next, a demonstration of multiple hostile drones in the air at one time, what's called a drone swarm.

MUNTEAN: It looks like they're all coming towards us now. Once again, the system pulls the drones into its metaphorical tractor beam, setting them down in a safe zone and providing the location of the drone operator whose controls have gone dark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pilot has no idea that we're doing this.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): D-Fend says this is based on the science of attacking computer viruses, filtering out good and legal drone users from malicious ones. Even the Federal Aviation Administration has tried this system and similar technology from other companies during a series of tests this spring.

BRYAN BEDFORD, FAA ADMINISTRATOR: I can assure you that government's focused on making sure that we get the technology right and we get the security right.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): The cost to buy this system? Hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. D-Fend calls it a small price to pay to protect against a growing threat in our skies.

MUNTEAN: Why not just shoot it down?

HALACHMI: Because it's really dangerous. What you would like to do is to take that in the safest and controlled way as possible.

MUNTEAN: Drones are such a new threat that there's another problem. Rules and laws are struggling to keep up. Members of Congress say the federal government has limited authority to disable malicious drones, leaving what they call a glaring gap in our national preparedness.

Major sports leagues are also pushing Congress to give them more authority over drones. In June, a Maryland man pled guilty to flying his drone near an NFL playoff game when he knew he shouldn't have.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: All right. And coming up right here on the Situation Room, 10 years after the landmark decision, there is a formal push for the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling that allows same-sex marriages nationwide. We'll discuss with a constitutional attorney just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

BROWN: For the first time ever, Texas sits on top of the preseason AP college football rankings, but the Longhorns are still considered the underdog and their seasoned opener against the Ohio State University.

BLITZER: The Ohio State University to be sure. Let's go to CNN Sports Anchor Andy Scholes. Andy, help us get ready for the kickoff.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, guys, you know, it's wild that Texas is number one in both the AP and coaches poll, yet they are not favored in that first game. It's because it's a monster opener. You know, the Longhorns are going to be at Ohio State to open the season August 30th. They're going to be two and a half point underdogs. The Buckeyes, they come in at number three in the AP preseason poll. Penn State opens at number two. Clemson and Georgia are going to round out that top five now.

And Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day, he was asked if he's sleeping any better these days coming into the season as raining champs.

[10:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN DAY, OHIO STATE HEAD COACH: No. No. If we didn't open up with Texas maybe, but you want to take a deep breath. I mean, the first game is a monster right out of the gate. And you know, I'll just say this, you know, we're excited about playing in that game. I know Buckeye Nation is fired up.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCHOLES: Yes, it's going to be a good one on August 30th. Can't get here soon enough. All right. Baseball meanwhile, Milwaukee continues to deal with historic flooding in the area, some areas around the city getting more than a foot of rain over the past few days. Now, the Brewers luckily play indoors and they were still able to play last night against the Pirates. They just continued their incredible run beating Pittsburgh 7 to 1 for their 10th straight wins, their second 10-game winning streak of the season. They got the best record in baseball by a full five games.

Now, Red Sox, their baseman. Alex Bregman, meanwhile making his return to Houston last night for the first time. He played there for nine years of his career, the first nine years of his career, winning two World Series. Bregman big standing ovation before his first at bat, and then he hit a two-run homer. Well, the fans there in Houston were like, OK, it was nice but now we're going to boo you the rest of the night, which is what they did his next three at bats. The Astros and what was also Carlos Correa's returned home to Houston, won that game seven to six.

But guys, Bregman had some fun with it afterwards laughing that he loved that the fans there were booing him after he hit that home run because he hoped they would as coming in as a Red Sox player now.

BROWN: What do you think about that?

BLITZER: I think it's good.

BROWN: Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

BLITZER: I'm getting ready, Pamela, for the opening game for the State University of New York at Buffalo. My alma mater. They got a good football team too.

BROWN: Do they? You know a thing or two about Buffalo?

BLITZER: I know you -- and you know something about your college.

BROWN: About UNC Chapel Hill. That's right.

BLITZER: Yes. They got a football team.

BROWN: And Kentucky Wild Cats. You got like a split my allegiance there.

BLITZER: All right. Still ahead, the announcement that crashed the internet. New music on the way from Taylor Swift. What we're learning, that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]