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The Situation Room

U.S. Coffee Farmers Hope For Boost; Trump Hosts Zelenskyy at White House; Brooklyn Shooting. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 18, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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[11:33:17]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We have breaking news coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now about a deadly mass shooting over the weekend at a Brooklyn nightclub.

Police now say two of the three people killed were among the shooters. Two more shooting suspects are still on the run. That's what we're told right now.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: CNN's Gloria Pazmino is in New York.

Gloria, what more can you tell us about this shooting?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pam, Wolf, this newest information is significant development, because even though New York City is seeing a record drop in shootings, there is a persistent area of crime when it comes to gang-related shootings.

And it appears so far in the investigation that that is exactly what was at the center of this mass shooting that happened in Brooklyn early on Sunday morning. Fourteen people in total were injured, including two people who just checked into hospitals in the last 24 hours. In the last hour or so, police have also identified two of the shooters, which were three -- two of the three fatal victims.

We have also learned that one of the shooters is believed to be associated with a local gang, according to police officials here in New York City. So, for now, as police are looking for two more likely suspects, the concern is around the fact that this was a gang-related act of violence and whether or not there will be more in potential retaliation.

We heard from the police commissioner just a few minutes ago describing the suspects. They said that they had a brief interaction outside of the club, and about 10 minutes later, one of them approached the other, opened fire. The other person opened fire as well, and two other people that were inside the club joined in, in the shooting.

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This happened inside a small space so it's really sort of a miracle that more people were not injured, and, as I said, two of the people who were killed officially identified as the shooters -- Wolf.

BROWN: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thank you.

BLITZER: And just ahead: negotiation whirlwind, European leaders, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and President Trump all meeting today here in Washington with so much at stake. Will anything concrete be decided?

"The New York Times" columnist Thomas Friedman standing by to join us live.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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[11:40:00]

BROWN: Just moments ago, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser talked about the increase of troop presence in her city.

Here's the exchange with our Brian Todd.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you tell us how you feel about the additional National Guard troops coming from other states, West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio? Do you feel that this has kind of usurped your authority even more, given the president's federalization efforts?

MURIEL BOWSER (D), MAYOR OF WASHINGTON, D.C.: We don't have any authority over the D.C. Guard or any other Guards, but I think it is kind of makes the point that this is not about D.C. Guard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right, so there you heard Brian Todd asking Mayor Muriel Bowser about the increase of troops in Washington, D.C.

We have been talking about this, Wolf. And there has been some criticism about this, because there are some residents who feel like they are stationed in places for more visibility versus actually combating crime.

BLITZER: A lot of tension and nervousness, what's going on here in the nation's capital right now even as we speak.

There's other important news we're following right now as well. Just minutes from now, seven European leaders will begin arriving over at the White House for a critically important meeting with President Trump and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. They will discuss a possible end to Russia's war on Ukraine. And the stakes, once again, are clearly monumental. All this comes just days after President Trump met with Vladimir Putin in Alaska and as the president appears to be pressuring Ukraine to strike a peace deal with Russia 3.5 years after its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

I want to discuss all that and more with "The New York Times" opinion columnist Thomas Friedman. He's the author of several major bestselling books, including from "Beirut to Jerusalem."

Tom, thanks so much for joining us on this important day. It's a critical day for Ukrainian and European security all around.

And President Trump posted this on social media last night. Let me put it up on the screen: "President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to or he can continue to fight."

What does that tell you about the President Trump's mind-set right now heading into these all-important new round of meetings?

THOMAS FRIEDMAN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, he easily could have written a tweet that said, President Putin can end the war right now by getting out of Ukraine and stopping raping the country next door.

So what it tells me is that we have a president who is kind of neutral between the rapist and his victim. And I find that very troubling going into this. But Trump is so mercurial and can shift on a dime -- I mean, just a week ago, he was talking about punishing sanctions on Putin -- that we don't know where he stands.

And, Wolf, that's the core problem. We don't know where the president of the United States stands on an issue of a country invading its neighbor and ally in Europe and threatening the rest of Europe. And that's deeply troubling. So, going into this meeting, I would say two out of three -- one out of things could happen.

One is, Trump basically decides that Putin won't give him -- Zelenskyy won't give him what he wants, so he washes his hands of it. The other is, Trump decides that he's going to impose Putin's conditions on Zelenskyy. And Zelenskyy will, of course, resist.

And the third, which we have never heard from Trump, is that he defines what he believes is the outcome in Ukraine that is in America's values and interests. And what that would be would be, I believe, a kind of cease-fire in place, where the United States and its European allies guarantee the future security of Ukraine in a very tangible way that Ukraine cannot be invaded by Russia again and that Ukraine be fast-tracked into the European Union, not NATO, into the European Union.

What would that do, Wolf? It would, first of all, ensure that Ukraine can never be invaded again by Russia. And if Ukraine joins the European Union, it would be, to me, the ultimate punishment for Putin. He would have to wake up every day, look across the border, and see a successful, Westernizing, modernizing Slavic Ukraine next to his kleptocratic, declining Slavic Russia. And that would be in America's interests and values. Whether Trump

lands there, I have no idea.

BLITZER: As you know, Tom, President Trump has now publicly abandoned his demand that Putin agree to a cease-fire after Friday's summit. Trump has been on the defensive, slamming critics of the summit on social media.

What's your assessment of who benefited from that Trump-Putin meeting?

FRIEDMAN: You know, it was really all optics, Wolf. It certainly looked to me that Putin benefited. He felt comfortable there. After all, he is an indicted war criminal, warmly embraced by the president, breaking out of his isolation.

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No question that Putin got a sugar high from it. But what really matters is what happens today and in the next few weeks. What matters is not who Putin is. We know who Putin is. What matters is, who is Donald Trump? Is he a traditional American president aligned with our Western allies in Europe, or is he basically someone disconnected from those values?

And it's very disturbing that we even have to ask that question, Wolf, but we do.

BLITZER: Key -- several key European leaders, as you know, are joining President Zelenskyy here in Washington today. How do you ultimately see this playing out? How likely is it that we will see an end to this war as a result of these current discussions?

FRIEDMAN: Well, that would be -- these current discussions can't end the war.

Obviously, what you need now is a consensus Western stand on what the outcome of the war should be, which I believe is some kind of permanent cease-fire in place, but with Western security guarantees that Russia can never again invade Ukraine and will not be rewarded with any more territory than it's already stolen, and integrating the E.U. into the West, because that is what would basically make a smaller Ukraine more integrated, more secure, and more prosperous.

And, ultimately, that is what would really punish Putin.

BLITZER: While I have you, Tom, I want to quickly turn to the Middle East.

Over the weekend, as you know, hundreds of thousands of Israelis held some of the largest protests since the start of the war in Gaza. They're demanding an end to the war and a deal to free the remaining hostages. But is there any reason to think these protests will have any impact on Prime Minister Netanyahu's plans to expand the war and to go into Gaza and occupy Gaza City?

FRIEDMAN: Unlikely, Wolf. The only thing -- the only vote that Netanyahu would care about is from Donald Trump. And Trump seems to have basically given him a green light to go into Gaza and to try to destroy Hamas militarily and extract the hostages, which very few experts believe is possible. You probably can't do either one. Doing two together will probably be impossible.

And that's what those protests were about.

BLITZER: Yes, huge, huge protests throughout Israel, maybe a million Israelis all over the country not just in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but all over the country, protesting right now.

Thomas Friedman of "The New York Times," thank you very, very much.

FRIEDMAN: Thank you.

BROWN: All right, Wolf, still ahead, an all-American cup of joe. Stiff tariffs on Brazil aim to make that a reality.

We have a SITUATION ROOM special report for you next.

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[11:52:20]

BROWN: Now to a special SITUATION ROOM special report.

President Trump's tariffs on Brazil are already hitting millions of American coffee drinkers. Earlier this month, billions of dollars worth of goods, including coffee, were slapped with a 50 percent tariff.

BLITZER: And now some farmers here in the United States are hoping those tariffs could help boost their business.

Here's CNN's Julia Vargas Jones with our report.

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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Against all odds, 100 percent American-grown coffee.

(on camera): It's like a cherry.

DAVE ARMSTRONG, COFFEE FARMER: I believe we're the largest farm in California, coffee farm, and, you know, if the experiment works, I would love to expand.

JONES (voice-over): David Armstrong is part of a group of farmers trying to make California a synonym for specialty coffee.

ARMSTRONG: We're in Ventura County, so we're going to go up to the foothills. We have multiple canyons where we grow coffee.

JONES: This is part of the only 1 percent of coffee consumed in the U.S. grown domestically. Thirty-five percent of what coffee is imported comes from Brazil, now slapped with tariffs of up to 50 percent on some goods, including coffee.

You would think it would be a great opportunity for all-American beans, but other nations can deliver a product just as good for a fraction of the cost.

ARMSTRONG: Brazil's been hit very hard with tariffs, but they're looking at somewhere around $4 a pound for coffee, and we're in the hundreds of dollars a pound.

JONES: You want Ventura County to be the next Napa Valley, but for coffee.

ARMSTRONG: Correct. That's a great way to put it.

JONES: And could California ever produce a product that could be competitive with Brazil, with Colombia, Ethiopia?

ARMSTRONG: I think that our costs of production, our labor, our water, everything else mean that we can never get to that point where we could be a worldwide competitor.

JONES: For 23 years, Jay Ruskey has been challenging the norm of where coffee could be grown by championing California. All of this was his vision.

JAY RUSKEY, CEO, FRINJ COFFEE: In terms of growing locations, wherever avocados can grow, we have a good chance of growing coffee. And so there's over 45,000 acres of avocados, last I heard, in California. But even if we planted all that, just be a drop in the bucket in the whole coffee industry globally.

JONES: Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Ventura, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Julia.

And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @WolfBlitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN. We will see you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

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BROWN: "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" is next after a short break.