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The Situation Room
Breaking from CDC Recommendations; No U.S. Forces in Ukraine for Peacekeeping Says Trump; Russian Drone Attack Kills Eight and Wounding 54; Pediatric Group Says Young Kids Should Get COVID Vax; Higher Prices Due to Tariffs. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired August 19, 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]
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REP. KEVIN KILEY, (R-CA): -- don't make a right. And so, just because some other state is doing something that we don't like, doesn't mean that California voters should be deprived of fair elections and fair districts and having the representation that they choose.
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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: What do you say to critics like Congressman Kiley who argue that this is a tit for tat and two wrongs don't make a right?
REP. AMI BERA (D-CA): Yes, I'd say let's get Texas to back off. I know Kevin, he's a friend. We may end up running against each other. But he's got a bill that says, let's not do any mid-decade re- districting. Now, I think we could all agree on that. I would hope Speaker Johnson puts that bill on the floor and we ban mid-decade redistricting.
So, I don't think that's going to happen. In which case, I think it is incumbent upon us as Democrats to push back and play by the same set of rules that the Republican majority is playing by.
BROWN: Congressman Ami Bera, thank you so much.
BERA: Great. Thanks. Be well, Pamela.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And coming up, there's breaking information coming out of the CDC recommendations. Why one leading pediatrics group is now recommending that young children get COVID-19 shots.
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[10:35:00]
BLITZER: New this morning, President Trump appearing to rule out placing U.S. ground troops in Ukraine as part of some sort of peacekeeping effort, and he is renewing his push for a meeting between the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin. And the president saying that if the two leaders make progress, he would then join them to complete the negotiations.
Joining us now to discuss what's going on, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. He was also the National Security Adviser to Trump in the first Trump administration. Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us. Do you see any realistic chance that Zelenskyy or Putin would want bilateral talks on ending this war? And could anything productive come from that?
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER AND FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Well, I've heard actually that it wasn't just Trump who suggested the bilateral, but that Putin had as well, and I'm not sure that's accurate. But I think if they did have a meeting with just the two sides, just the Ukrainian and Russian sides, Putin would be fully capable of delivering an hours long lecture on his view of the last 1,000 years of Russian-Ukrainian relations, and I'm sure Zelenskyy would be fully up to refuting that for about the same length of time.
I don't think there's any chance whatever that in a strictly bilateral meeting at this point either side will concede anything. I think there's more likelihood in a trilateral with Trump there that things might be different. But it certainly would be turning the traditional way of getting things on their head. And Trump has tried that before, for example, with his direct negotiations with North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, that didn't work out anything, and I'm not sure it would work out anything here as well.
BLITZER: Overnight, as you know, Russia unleashed its largest, its biggest aerial assault on Ukraine in several weeks. So, that was just hours after President Zelenskyy met with Trump and several European leaders at the White House to discuss the possibility of peace. So, what does that tell you about Putin's desire to end this war?
BOLTON: Well, I don't think there's been any evidence that Putin desires to end it until he's accomplished the objectives he set out 20 years ago, which is to recreate the Russian empire with Ukraine a part of it. And I would note that last night the French President, Macron, sent out a tweet where he said basically that he didn't think Putin was serious about seeking peace. Now, he did it in kind of a talking selfie and it was in French. So, my poor French may not be entirely up to it, but he sounded pretty pessimistic, I must say about the Russian perspective.
BLITZER: I want to play what's called a hot mic moment, Ambassador, when President Trump said he believes Putin is in fact willing to strike a deal because of their relationship, listen to this.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think he wants to make a deal. I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.
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BLITZER: I think he wants to make a deal, he said, you understand, as crazy as it sounds. You were in the room, I remember with Trump and Putin during this previous summit. What do you make of this latest comment on this hot mic comment as we call it?
BOLTON: Yes, I think what Trump actually said is, make a deal for me or with me, meaning, it's Putin saying as he possibly did in Alaska. Look, I can help you out here, Donald. You deserve the Nobel Peace Prize if you can bring peace here and I want to help you. You know, this war never would've begun if you had been president. And that's the way to Trump's heart, and it's an evidence of how Putin negotiated him. And Trump is so proud of it he tells Macron.
BLITZER: Yes, you're right. The exact quote he said, I think he wants to make a deal for me. You understand, as crazy as it sounds, that's what he specifically said. This morning, President Trump also ruled out putting U.S. troops in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission. Can Putin be trusted to uphold any peace deal without a robust presence from Ukraine's allies, including potentially U.S. ground troops?
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BOLTON: No, I don't think so. Again, Putin's mission here is not to gain part of Donetsk province. He didn't launch the war to get this last 30 percent that he's reportedly demanding. He launched it to reincorporate Ukraine into the Russian empire. And our recent history has told us and indeed Finnish and Swedish accession to the North Atlantic Alliance in '23 and '24 proves the only safety in Europe from Russia is behind a NATO border. Trump has ruled that out already.
Now, I think he's making sure the MAGA base doesn't get unhappy. He's ruling out boots on the ground. Let's see what he rules out next. For example, in the British French proposal, and there have been a lot and they change around, but one of their proposals was there would be British and French troops in Ukraine. But if things got really bad, the backup was the U.S. would come to their aid. Now, is that kind of thing ruled out as well? Let's see how the U.S. presence in this security guarantee gets sliced away inch by inch so that Trump doesn't upset his own political base. That's really what I think people should be concerned about.
BLITZER: Yes, the stakes clearly right now enormous as we're watching all of this unfold. Ambassador John Bolton, thanks so much for joining us.
BOLTON: Glad to be with you.
BLITZER: And, Pamela.
BROWN: Just ahead, Wolf, dramatic rescue captured on camera. The Coast Guard saving four girls stranded on a rock in the middle of Lake Superior. That story up next.
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[10:45:00] BROWN: Well, new this morning, a dramatic Coast Guard rescue caught on video right here. You're looking at four girls ages 14, 13, 10, and eight who were stranded on a large rock in Lake Superior, right near Silver Bay, Minnesota. The girls have been paddle boarding but were reported missing by their parents Saturday evening and weather prevented their rescue until Sunday morning around 1:00 a.m. And here they are being airlifted into a Coast Guard helicopter. All four girls were then safely reunited with their families.
BLITZER: Thank God for that.
BROWN: Yes.
BLITZER: Really dramatic video indeed. Also new this morning, a leading national pediatrics group is now recommending that infants and young children get a COVID vaccine.
BROWN: That's a break from the current CDC guidelines. The group is raising concerns about the CDC vaccine advisory panel. So, let's go live now to CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell. Why is this group making this recommendation, Meg?
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, they've always been making their own recommendations for pediatric vaccine immunizations. So, they've had their own schedule. But typically, it hasn't differed significantly from the CDC's. This is the American Academy of Pediatrics, but now they say there have been so many changes to health policy around vaccines under the Trump administration and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including the replacing of all of the outside experts on vaccines to the CDC.
So, saying in a statement this morning as they're putting out this recommendation, quote, "Their schedule differs from recent recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC, which was overhauled this year and replaced with individuals who have a history of spreading vaccine misinformation.
And so, what the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending is that babies and small children between six months and just under two years they recommend that all of those children get a COVID vaccine. So, either a primary series if they haven't been vaccinated or an updated booster shot if they have already been vaccinated. And the difference is the CDC essentially calls it shared clinical decision making. So, saying that if parents and caregivers want to get a vaccine in consultation with a healthcare provider, they can get one for children who are not immunocompromised. And so, that is a break.
And the American Academy of Pediatrics saying it's clear that vaccines -- these vaccines are very safe for all populations. We did reach out to HHS on that comment about their vaccine advisers and they called on the APP, they said to strengthen their conflict-of-interest safeguards and said that they're undermining national immunization policymaking. Guys.
BLITZER: A quick question, Meg, before we let you go. When should adults start getting the COVID vaccine booster shots, and when should we start getting the flu shots?
TIRRELL: Well, we are waiting on the COVID vaccines for sort of the regulatory go ahead. And there is still some question about who exactly is going to be eligible and able to get a vaccine. But typically, as we head into the fall and COVID levels are rising nationally, there should be an updated COVID vaccine, especially for people over the age of 65. For flu, we'll also get an updated vaccine, and the recommendation is any time before Halloween, typically closer into September and October, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Good advice. Meg Tirrell, thank you very much.
BROWN: All right. All thank you so much, Meg. And just in, prices could soon be rising at Home Depot due to President Trump's tariff war. What the company is seeing this morning, up next.
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BROWN: Just in, higher prices at Home Depot. Until now, America's largest home improvement retailer had offered limited guidance on the impact of tariffs. However, the company's CFO told CNN that some of its prices could be going up because of the cost of the Trump administration's taxes on imports. For more, we're joined now by CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich. Tell us more about this, Vanessa.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, America's largest home improvement retailer cannot escape tariffs. As you mentioned a few months ago, they really were waiting and seeing, not really commenting on how tariffs might infect prices, but now we know they are going to have to raise prices on some of their inventory.
Here is Billy Bastek. He's the executive vice president of merchandising. He spoke just moments ago on the earnings call about raising prices. Take a listen.
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BILLY BASTEK, EXECUTIVE VP OF MERCHANDISING FOR THE HOME DEPOT: Some of the imported goods. Obviously tariff rates is significantly higher today than they were when we spoke in May. So, as you'd expect, there'll be some modest price movement in some categories, but it won't be broad based.
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YURKEVICH: And so, here's a state of Home Depot's inventory right now. Less than 50 percent of the inventory they get from abroad, some of the majority they're getting from right here in the United States. But for a while now, the company has been aiming to diversify their supply chain so that one single country only produces up to about 10 percent of the inventory. That really helps move the supply chain around for the company. [10:55:00]
But look at Home Depot's stock price up almost four and a half percent right now. And that is because despite tariffs impacting prices, the company went ahead with their full year guidance. They didn't make any changes to that. In addition to Home Depot's stock price, there's been earnings that have really boosted markets in the last couple weeks, and we're watching the Dow very closely eight now. We are in record territory. This is the last U.S. index to hit a record this year. Investors have been largely putting the trade war behind them and have been really focusing on these earnings.
And Home Depot, despite announcing that they will have to raise prices, still really showing sort of a stable future for the company. Investors obviously like that. So, that's good news this morning. We'll have to see if eventually at the end of the day, of course, Pamela, the Dow does notch that record. It'll be the first record of this year, the last one set in December of 2024. Pamela.
BROWN: We'll see. Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks so much. Wolf.
BLITZER: Dow up almost 200 points. Pretty good.
BROWN: Yes.
BLITZER: Yes. We're watching that as well. Also coming up, inside the eye of the storm. We'll speak to a hurricane hunter on what it's like to go into major storms to gather lifesaving data and what they make right now of what's going on with Hurricane Erin.
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