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Number of National Guard Troops in D.C. Increases; Trump Administration to Release Some Epstein Files?; Hurricane Erin Impacting East Coast; Co-Deputy FBI Director Named; Russia Launches Massive Strike on Ukraine. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 19, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news: pushing for peace. President Trump is revealing details about a summit with European leaders. What he is now saying about who started Russia's war in Ukraine.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: But, as diplomacy kicks into overdrive right now, so is the war, Russia launching its largest aerial assault on Ukraine since July, and Ukraine is striking back.

Welcome to 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.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with breaking news. This morning, President Trump rules out sending U.S. troops into Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping mission.

And he's detailing his phone call with Vladimir Putin Monday during the White House summit with President Zelenskyy and European leaders. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't do it in front of them. I thought that would be disrespectful to President Putin. I wouldn't do that, because they have not had the warmest relations.

Putin told me, years, it was years that he didn't speak to anybody from the White House. And it was a long time that he didn't speak to anybody from Europe. No, it's a fractured relationship. I told him that we're going to set up a meeting with President Zelenskyy and you and he will meet and then, after that meeting, if everything works out, OK, I will I will -- I will meet and we will wrap it up.

But it takes in this case two to tango. Otherwise, we're just wasting a lot of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: And this is new video. French President Emmanuel Macron is co-

hosting a virtual meeting of the Ukrainian allies known as the coalition of the willing.

This is a debriefing of sorts on that remarkable and historic meeting at the White House. And just hours later, you had Russia hitting Ukraine with the largest bombardment and weeks. Ukraine's air force says Moscow launched 270 drones and 10 missiles overnight. Eight people have been killed and 54 have been wounded in the past 24 hours. Ukraine also struck back against Russia.

Let's go to CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House.

Kristen, what else did the president say this morning?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's quite a bit in here.

He kind of shed a lot of light on yesterday's meeting, as well as that phone call, as you noted, with Putin. One of the things that he said that was discussed was that European leaders expressed concern about security guarantees once Trump was out of office.

He used this, of course, as an opportunity to start attacking Democrats and saying you have to get a good president. But it is interesting to hear that they probably want more. At least it sounds like they want more commitment from the United States than just this coordination, and, of course, as we know now him saying, no boots on the ground.

He also said that he is pushing for a very quick meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin. He said that he believes he has a sense of urgency about this and indicated again that these European leaders were dragging their feet or did not have the same sense of urgency and he was the one who was pushing to make this meeting happen quickly.

The other thing he said, and this is something that probably would make a number of these European leaders uncomfortable, and certainly Ukrainians, is he said that there was a warmth between him and Vladimir Putin.

That coupled with the fact that he also appeared to blame Ukraine for the war, I'm sure, has a lot of people asking questions. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: This was a war. And Russia is a powerful military nation. Whether people like it or not, it's a powerful nation. It's a much bigger nation. It's not a war that should have been started. You don't do that. You don't take on a nation that's 10 times your size.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HOLMES: And, of course, as we know, Ukraine didn't take on Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022. [11:05:02]

So, of course, the question now is, what are the next steps? We heard from the German chancellor, who said that Putin agreed to this bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy likely within two weeks. Then, of course, we have heard President Trump say that he wants to have a trilateral after that.

I do think there's still a big question here. When we went into this meeting yesterday -- and we, I mean the United States, and following -- the media following what was going on, we heard from European leaders, we heard from the president himself saying the goal of this was to have a trilateral meeting with Putin, Trump, and Zelenskyy.

And it's still not clear, and you couldn't really hear this from Trump in this interview either, how they got to this idea of now having multiple steps between a bilateral with these two leaders and then President Trump. So that's one thing we're trying to get to the bottom of here.

BROWN: All right. And I know you will get to the bottom of it. Kristen Holmes, thanks so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And we're also learning new details this morning about a surprising move over at the FBI. The Missouri attorney general, Andrew Bailey, has been named co-deputy director of the FBI alongside Dan Bongino, who is already on the job.

CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is here with us in THE SITUATION ROOM.

So what exactly, Evan, is behind this move?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the question is, how much longer is Dan Bongino in that job? It appears perhaps not for very long.

And so what President Trump, what Pamela Bondi, the attorney general was doing, is bringing on a fierce loyalist to President Trump in Andrew Bailey. He is currently the attorney general for the state of Missouri, but he's shown that he is very, very much pro-MAGA, pro- Trump. He has done a number of things, including, of course, endorsing the president's claim that he won the 2020 election.

He sued the federal government repeatedly, including over student loan forgiveness, tried to sue the state of New York until the Supreme Court rejected it to try to stop Trump's sentencing in that hush money case in New York, New York state. And so now he's going to be taking place alongside Dan Bongino, that -- basically, the people who day-to- day run the FBI.

It's a very unusual thing. We have never seen something like this before. And, of course, the question is, why do you need a second co- director, deputy director of the FBI? Well, the reason is because Dan Bongino and Pam Bondi had a confrontation a few weeks ago over the handling of those Jeffrey Epstein files. He essentially threw down a gauntlet and told the White House it's

either Bondi or me and Kash Patel. And in the end, it's clear the president has chosen Pam Bondi, because Bongino is widely expected to not be very long for this job.

Now, in reaction to the announcement last night from Bondi, there was a social media posting from Bongino. He said welcome and posted three American flag emojis. Obviously, everybody appears to be trying to sing from the same song sheet, but it's clear, Wolf, that Bongino is on his way out.

BLITZER: But Bailey brings some serious controversy alongside him.

PEREZ: Right. Absolutely.

I mean, obviously he's shown himself to be very pro-MAGA. He has sued the federal government repeatedly and, of course, endorsed the president's claims that he won the 2020 election, even though, of course, he did not. And so he is what we know to be a fierce loyalist in this job, not that there's a lack of loyalists in that job right now.

You have Kash Patel and, of course, Bondi, who are both very, very loyal to President Trump.

BLITZER: Interesting.

BROWN: All right, Evan Perez, thanks so much.

And...

BLITZER: And, happening now, Hurricane Erin is bringing very dangerous conditions to the East Coast. Multiple cities are facing very strong wind gusts and waves as high as 20 feet. Take a look at this. This is a live look over Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. You can see crashing waves and strong wind gusts.

The hurricane is also bringing life-threatening rip ride currents. Officials have already made at least 75 rescues. And this new video just coming in shows lightning flashes around Hurricane Erin's cloud- covered eye. Another incredible video shows the inside of the eye.

Joining us now is someone who flew on the mission to get this video. Lieutenant Colonel Mark Withee of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron of the Hurricane Hunters is joining us right now.

Lieutenant Colonel, thanks so much for joining us. I know you were the navigator for that mission. What is it like to get footage like that in such very hazardous conditions?

LT. COL. MARK WITHEE, 53RD WEATHER RECONNAISSANCE SQUADRON: Well, we come at it and we get to see it from a perspective that's somewhat unique, in that we're flying through it and gathering data and we're not at an immediate risk as we fly through it.

So it's really a spectacular thing to be able to see the power of the hurricane from that unique perspective.

BLITZER: Can you tell us, Lieutenant Colonel, about the shape you witnessed once inside the storm's eye and what exactly is what's called a stadium effect?

[11:10:08]

WITHEE: So, Erin as it traversed the Atlantic, very rapidly intensified into a Cat 4, Cat 5, and it had a very, very small, tight eye for a day or two.

And the stadium effect is when you're down in the eye of the hurricane and you look at those massive wall of clouds that are surrounding you like you're standing on the floor of a football stadium and just looking up. You see those bleachers rising above you. And so that's what it's like being in the storm is, you're just looking up with these massive walls all around you.

BLITZER: Why do you go, Lieutenant Colonel, on these very dangerous missions?

WITHEE: Well, we fly these missions because there's data that is important for the forecasters, that's vital to the forecast models that cannot be gathered through any other means.

Satellites give a good big picture of where storms may be developing, but ultimately to make a the most accurate forecast you need that in- person data that can only be gathered by flying through the storm. So that's why we do what we do.

BLITZER: And we're grateful to you for risking your life and your colleagues for doing what they're doing. It is so critically important.

And I know firsthand, Lieutenant Colonel, the kind of damage these hurricanes can bring. We have all seen it over these many years. What safety recommendations do you have for people in coastal communities like Rehoboth, Delaware, for example, Bethany Beach, Maryland, places like that?

WITHEE: I always recommend people look at the National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service for what those forecasts are.

In particular, this storm won't be, it looks like, making landfall, but obviously those waves are going to be impacting the entire East Coast. And people need to look at those sources for what the impact will be.

BLITZER: And I'm curious, Lieutenant Colonel. Tell us a little bit about the plane that you're flying right now.

WITHEE: We fly a variant of the regular C-130 aircraft that's flown by the U.S. Air Force and militaries around the world. Our aircraft is modified with a variety of additional sensors and additional fuel tanks that allow us to fly these very long-endurance missions through the storm environments. The aircraft is really a flying sensor platform. It's gathering data

all along the course through the hurricane at flight level. We're dropping instruments down through to get a vertical profile of what's going on. That data is sent back up to the aircraft via radio link and then sent to the National Hurricane Center via satellite communication.

And then, initially, we have sensors that are looking at the sea surface. They're giving that surface level data. Then, yesterday, we were additionally dropping buoys that were going in the water in a large grid ahead of the storm. And those are giving a very high- fidelity view of what's going on with the sea surface.

The ocean is the sort of fuel tank for hurricanes. And that interaction between the atmosphere and ocean is very important to understand. So, the aircraft is really a regular C-130 that's just turned into a big vacuum cleaner for information.

BLITZER: Information is so, so critically important.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Withee, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks everyone involved with the Hurricane Hunters. We are grateful to all of you.

Thanks so, so much.

BROWN: Important work that they do.

Still ahead here on THE SITUATION ROOM: turning over documents. In just three days, the Justice Department will start releasing records related to Jeffrey Epstein. We're going to have details on that just ahead.

BLITZER: Plus, very disturbing details. What new documents reveal about Bryan Kohberger in the months before he killed four University of Idaho students.

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

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[11:18:43]

BROWN: New details out this morning. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer says Justice Department officials will begin turning over highly anticipated records related to Jeffrey Epstein beginning on Friday.

That is despite the fact that Comer's committee set a deadline for those documents today.

Joining us now is CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig.

So, Elie, what does the Justice Department's delay here signal to you? ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Pam, I'm not too

concerned with the delay itself. It's very common when anyone serves a subpoena, whether Congress or a federal grand jury, for the recipient sometimes to say, look, that calls for a lot of documents, a lot of materials. We need a little more time.

And if we're talking about four extra days, that's no big deal. But the big headline here, Pam, is that it appears DOJ is going to comply, at least in some part, with the congressional subpoena, which calls for the release of all the Epstein files.

So, finally, it seems Congress, and I'm sure the public shortly thereafter, are actually going to start seeing the Epstein files as soon as Friday.

BROWN: So what kind of information would that be, potentially?

HONIG: So we know there's a lot of information. We know from a prior memo that FBI did that there's about 300 gigabytes of information in these files.

It could be that DOJ has asked for some limitation on what they have to turn over. But, ordinarily, what you would see in the DOJ investigative file would be summaries of witness interviews. You would see FBI write-ups called 302s, which summarize other pieces of evidence. You could see phone records, bank records, travel records. There could be videos.

[11:20:18]

So this is sort of the biggest cache of records that's available out there. And it sounds like DOJ is in position and ready to start turning those over.

BROWN: What about the Ghislaine Maxwell transcript? As we know, DOJ did an interview with her recently. Would that be included, potentially?

HONIG: It could be. It depends, I guess, how they construe the request for all the documents in the files.

But, yes, I mean, this was an interview done by a DOJ prosecutor, the deputy attorney general, in fact, Todd Blanche, of a witness to the case. So it could be that part of this disclosure includes either the recording that we know is made of the interview that Todd Blanche did with Ghislaine Maxwell or some sort of written transcript or some sort of summary of it as well.

BROWN: All right, I want to turn to another important legal story. This federal judge in Florida issued the split decision late last night about that controversial immigrant detention facility that the Trump administration dubs Alligator Alcatraz.

Explain that and how the parties are responding here.

HONIG: Yes, so this really is a win for the challengers, for the detainees who were represented largely by the ACLU.

Their primary substantive complaint was basically that, in that facility, their due process rights were not being protected. A, they argued they had limited ability to meet with their attorneys confidentially. And, B, they needed a place they could go, a court they could go to contest their detention.

And what the government said -- the government agreed to both of those things. The government designated a specific immigration court in Florida that these detainees could go to contest their deportations and their detentions and the court also said -- excuse me -- the government also said we're going to continue to make efforts to allow these people to meet with their lawyers and to communicate confidentially.

So that part of the case really was taken out of the judge's hands, but it was a win for the challengers. There's also another technical legal issue about where the case needs to be heard, whether the Southern District of Florida or the Central District of Florida, and this judge has sent the case over to the Central District of Florida.

That's procedural, though. The real core of this is the enhanced due process rights or the protection of due process rights for the detainees.

BROWN: All right, finally, President Trump yesterday vowed to get rid of mail-in ballots before the 2026 midterm elections, even saying that he could do this with an executive order. Give us a gut check here. What exactly does the law say about presidential powers when it comes to voting, Elie?

HONIG: He's wrong. This is just not something that can be done by the federal executive branch. This cannot be done by the president through an executive order.

The Constitution is very clear. The states control the time, place and manner of the voting. The states get to decide how votes are cast, how votes are counted, whether and how they use mail-in ballots. Important understand there is no federal bureau of elections. That's by design. Yes, there's the FEC, but that's not what they do. They handle campaign finance and things like that.

So if the president issues an executive order saying, I hear by outlaw mail-in ballots, that will have zero legal effect. Now, what it could do, of course, is signal to Republican state legislatures and to Republican governors that this is what Donald Trump wants to do and they certainly may be reactive to that.

But on its face, an executive order outlawing mail-in ballots is worthless.

BROWN: All right, Elie Honig, great to see you, as always. Thanks so much.

HONIG: Thanks, Pam. BLITZER: And up next: More states are sending their National Guard

troops to D.C. We just learned of another state sending troops. The former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey standing by to join us live.

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[11:28:31]

BLITZER: Happening now: Hundreds of National Guard troops from across the country are now patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C.

It's just the latest escalation of President Trump's efforts to federalize law enforcement in this city. And he's now doing it with the help of Republican governors.

BROWN: CNN's Brian Todd has been tracking all of this.

And we just learned, Brian, another state will send National Guard members to Washington. What do we know about these troops, where they are coming from, and what they're doing exactly?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, guys, Tennessee the latest to announce this.

What we do know is that these are coming from at least now six Republican-led states led by Republican governors. It is a collective move that President Trump and his team say will make D.C. collectively safer, but which the mayor says is simply not necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MURIEL BOWSER (D), MAYOR OF WASHINGTON, D.C.: This is not about D.C. crime.

TODD (voice-over): D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser growing more frustrated over the escalation of federal agents and National Guard troops on the streets of the nation's capital.

BOWSER: You know what doesn't make sense. The numbers on the ground in the District don't support 1,000 people from other states coming to Washington, D.C.

TODD: Republican governors from West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio and Mississippi have announced they are sending additional National Guard troops to Washington in response to President Trump's call to increase law enforcement on the streets.

TRUMP: We went from the most unsafe place anywhere to a place that now people, friends are calling me up, Democrats are calling me up and they're saying, sir, I want to thank you, and you did that in four days.

TODD: But Mayor Bowser does not seem to share that sentiment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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