Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Interview With Natasha Rothwell; New Details Emerge in Bryan Kohberger Case; Number of National Guard Troops in D.C. Increases. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired August 19, 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]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): But Mayor Bowser does not seem to share that sentiment.

MURIEL BOWSER (D), MAYOR OF WASHINGTON, D.C.: Why the military would be deployed in an American city to police Americans, that's the question.

TODD (on camera): Have they told you anything about your mission, like what you're supposed to be doing around Union Station at least?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just helping out with local law enforcement.

TODD: Are you carrying any firearms?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir.

TODD: No?

(voice-over): A White House official had previously told CNN that National Guard troops in Washington may now be armed. But a Defense Department official tells us that, so far, guardsman on the street in D.C. are not armed and have not been requested to carry firearms. The official says they will be prepared to arm if they get the order.

Not everybody agrees that National Guardsmen should be sent in from other states. One Republican governor, Phil Scott of Vermont, turned down a second request from President Trump to deploy its National Guard troops to D.C. to help Trump in his mission.

The governor's office saying in part: "While public safety is a legitimate concern in cities across the country, in the absence of an immediate disaster and unless local and regional first responders are unable to handle such an emergency, the governor is opposed to utilizing the National Guard for this purpose."

Some popular right-wing media figures are saying that even the current escalation of law enforcement in Washington, while controversial, still isn't enough. CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: We need full military

occupation of these cities until the crime desists, period. We need a desisting of crime in our cities. We're not going to put up with it. I want to be able to walk Magnificent Mile in Chicago.

TODD: Data from the restaurant reservation company OpenTable shows a 25 to 30 percent drop in D.C. reservations since the surge. But one week since Trump's announcement of federalizing the D.C. police, he's already claiming victory.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All I want is security for our people. But people that haven't gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C., in two years are going out to dinner.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: So the latest we have on the deployment of National Guard troops, according to a Defense Department official who spoke to CNN, he said West Virginia is sending about 350 of its National Guard troops to Washington.

That official says some of those troops have already arrived. Now, we did not see West Virginia troops on the streets of D.C. on Monday, but that official says that those troops will be integrating soon. That official also says Guard troops from Mississippi, Ohio and South Carolina will be here in the next few days.

Yesterday, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced that his state will send 135 National Guardsmen here. And just this morning, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, as we have reported, says he is sending about 160 National Guardsmen.

It is going to be a dramatic escalation, a very visible presence on the streets here.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Wow. All right, Brian Todd, thanks so much.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I drove around Union Station this morning, as I do every day, and there's still Humvees and armored personnel carriers and National Guard troops walking outside.

TODD: That's one of the most visible presence is right there at Union Station. And you will see it more around the monuments and at Metro stations.

BLITZER: Yes, it's the main train station, yes, here in the nation's capital.

TODD: Right.

BLITZER: All right, Brian, thank you very, very much.

For more on the influx of National Guard troops here to the nation's capital, I want to bring in CNN senior law enforcement analyst and the former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey.

Chief Ramsey, thanks so much for joining us.

What do you make of more federal forces now on the streets of Washington, D.C.?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's not necessary.

I don't understand exactly what it is that they're trying to accomplish. Now, having said that, it doesn't mean that there's not a crime problem. There is a crime problem. And even though statistically we can show that there's a decrease in crime, it's never enough as far as people are concerned. And I understand that.

If you live in one of these crime-plagued neighborhoods, then statistics don't mean anything to you. But when you look at the number of people they put in -- and, first of all, in the national capital region, these agencies all work together on a regular basis. But they're not being deployed in the areas where they need them the most.

When you get east of the river, in the 7th and 8th Wards, which would be Police District 6 and 7, part of the 5th District, I mean, I know where those hot spots are. And if you're not going to put people there, then what are you doing?

I mean, it's actually I think scaring people away from coming into the District, because most people don't understand D.C. And they say, if the president is saying that it is that dangerous I got send in troops from six different states, then why would I want to come to Washington, D.C.? It's going to have the opposite effect.

BLITZER: Yes, that's a good point. It scares people away.

I want to play for you, Chief Ramsey, a little bit of what President Trump said about the situation here in Washington in earlier this morning. This is what he said. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm doing something that I'm having such fun with, because I'm helping people. I have made Washington, D.C., a -- just an incredible -- just an incredible place in literally four days.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLITZER: What's your reaction to that?

RAMSEY: Well, again, I'm not trying to say there's not a crime problem in D.C. There's not a crime -- there's a crime problem in most major cities.

[11:35:00]

In fact, if you look at the states that are sending in National Guard, Louisiana, for example, I believe Monroe has a higher per capita violent crime rate than D.C. does. I mean, they have got places they can send their own National Guard if they wanted to. You know, I'm old enough to remember, and I believe you are too, Wolf

Kent State, when the National Guard was deployed in Ohio back in, I think, it was 1970, and what wound up happening there. This isn't a game. This isn't something that's just fun. Yes, this is serious business.

And now you're bringing people in that have no idea where they are, what they're doing. Are they going to be armed? I don't know. How are people going to react out in the neighborhoods? It's just a matter of time before something bad happens, in my opinion.

And so you want to help D.C. police, give them 1,000 extra cops, give them more money. They cut their budget in terms of money. Deal with mental health issues and other types of social services. I mean, there's a variety of things that you can do that will have a long-term impact. These people can't stay forever. What happens when they leave?

How are you going to sustain? Even if you do make progress, how do you sustain it? You're not going to sustain it this way.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: And I was going to say, Chief, you know this subject. You're not only former police chief here in Washington, D.C., but also in Philadelphia, which is an even larger city.

Can the current chain of command between the D.C. Metropolitan Police and the federal government work long-term?

RAMSEY: I think it can. I mean, these agencies, not so much the National Guard, but the law enforcement agencies work together on a regular basis.

D.C. police chief needs to be in charge of how they're being deployed. They have them. There's nothing they can do about it, but they need to have control over how they're deployed so that they put them in the spots where they need them the most and then work with the community to better understand what it is they're doing.

Are they serving arrest warrants for wanted felons? I mean, what are they doing? Just standing around Union Station or the Jefferson Monument, I mean, there's no -- nothing's happening around the Jefferson Monument. You need them over east of the river in some areas of the city that really do have a serious issue. That's where you need to put them, but you don't need to be bringing in other states.

The D.C. Guard works with the D.C. police on a regular basis. They know what they're doing. They're great for backup and support, but these other units, I'm not so sure. In fact, it concerns me greatly.

BLITZER: Yes. OK, Chief Ramsey, as usual, thanks so much for your expertise. We appreciate it.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

BLITZER: Pamela. BROWN: All right, just ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM: shocking

behavior.

We're learning much more about the man who murdered four University of Idaho students -- why by people at the school said they felt like they needed to shield each other from Bryan Kohberger in the months before the killings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:42:15]

BROWN: We are following some new details in the overdose death of Matthew Perry.

A woman known as the Ketamine Queen has now agreed to plead guilty for selling the "Friends" star the drug that killed him back in 2023. As part of the deal, Jasveen Sangha will plead guilty to these five federal criminal charges, including distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

BLITZER: Prosecutors will drop four other counts against her. She's still facing up to 45 years in prison. Sangha's attorney says she's -- quote -- "taking responsibility for her actions," a direct quote.

She's the fifth and final person charged in Perry's death to strike a plea deal.

BROWN: All right, new this morning, really disturbing details from a trove of documents about Bryan Kohberger, the man who murdered four University of Idaho students back in November 2022.

Fellow students described him as creepy and domineering and the months before the killings. Kohberger pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. And at the sentencing hearing, the victims' families and friends spoke directly to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me be very clear. Don't ever try to convince yourself you mattered just because someone finally said your name out loud. I see through you. You want the truth? Here's the one you will hate the most. If you hadn't attacked them in their sleep in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would have kicked your (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN's Jean Casarez has covered this case for us, was there in the courtroom.

Jean, the Idaho State Police released more than, what, 500 pages as part of the public records requests. What more did these documents reveal?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So much, because they interviewed people after the murders, but before Bryan Kohberger was arrested and then after he was arrested.

And it was really the classmates because he was a doctoral candidate for his Ph.D. at Washington State University. And it was his fellow classmates that really gave such important information now that everyone knows. At the time, it was just confined to the university.

But they said, just like you said, that his demeanor, he was arrogant. He was cocky. As they had discussions on criminal justice, he always had to be right. He acted like he was a macho man. He was not nice to female professors, disrespectful to female students at points of time.

And there's one story where a classmate said that they had a meet-and- greet at the beginning of the school year, and then after that she had a party at her apartment during a football game. And she invited everybody and she invited him. She had met him and she said that after that party he was going around telling people what prescriptions by a doctor that she took.

[11:45:15]

She said, I didn't tell anybody about my prescriptions. Then she thinks he went into her bathroom, looked in her medicine cabinet, got the names of the prescriptions, then just started telling people.

Another thing they all focused on were the stares. They said that he would just stare at you, whether he was talking to you or not, just stare. And there was one student that watched him stare at a female student for nine different times during one class. Now, when I was in the courtroom, and I saw him in person, he stared.

And it even came up before there was going to be a plea deal. His defense attorney talked about that he would stare. And she said it was because of his autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. Now, we didn't -- it didn't go to trial, so we didn't hear testimony from doctors. We don't know if that was true, but that really was a focus of students.

And then there was the blocking of the exits. Many students, primarily females, said that he would come to their office because, as a doctoral candidate, they'd have their own office, and he would just talk. And he would talk and talk and talk and talk, and finally they wanted to leave, so they would try to get out of their office, and he would block it physically.

And here is what one student said. "Preventing him from leaving his office was a way of controlling." So that's what he believed. And then there was also -- students filed H.R. against him. They filed civil right violation within the confines of Washington State University.

So the professors would be talking about their students. They would have meetings. Suddenly, Bryan Kohberger was the point of discussion with all of the professors almost every week. One professor said this: "Mark my word. I work with predators. If we give him a Ph.D., that's the guy that in many years, when he is a professor, we will hear is harassing, stalking, and sexually abusing."

BROWN: Wow. CASAREZ: Couple more things. He told his colleagues that he wanted to be a professor, wanted to work with a graduate professor that did the studies on the serial killers, and also he said that he favored the death penalty. And he said that he believed in it, but he believed the families of the victims should have a very big say.

BROWN: Chilling.

BLITZER: All right, Jean Casarez, thanks very much for that update.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:52:19]

BLITZER: The Emmy Awards are less than one month away. This year's most nominated shows include the "White Lotus" from our sister channel HBO. It scored, get this, 23 nominations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATASHA ROTHWELL, ACTRESS: Hi. Good evening, everybody. Really sorry to interrupt, but do I know you? I work at the White Lotus in Maui, and I'm pretty sure I met you there.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I don't think so.

ROTHWELL: Craig, isn't it?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's Gary.

ROTHWELL: Huh. Really? Did you date a woman named Tanya McQuoid?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Me? No.

ROTHWELL: Craig. Well, you must have a doppelganger then.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister sat down with the actress who saw there, Natasha Rothwell, for a SITUATION ROOM special report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: What did you do when -- I'm talking about real life now, as Natasha -- when you got your first big paycheck...

ROTHWELL: Yes.

WAGMEISTER: ... after -- this is not an easy industry.

ROTHWELL: No.

WAGMEISTER: As a theater actor, writer, producer, what did you spend that first paycheck on? Or what did you -- maybe you didn't spend it. What did you do with the money?

ROTHWELL: I paid off my college loans.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTHWELL: It's not that glamorous. I literally -- I was just like, oh, my God, I get to pay off my college loans, and I had credit card debt because I was a struggling artist in New York, and I remember I had -- I have not talked about this in an interview, or maybe I have.

I wrote a check to myself for like $40,000, because that would pay off my student loans or a portion of it. And I just carried around with me in my wallet while I was broke picking up Metro cards in New York and hoping one of them could get me home. And it was just that I was like, one day I'm going to be able to cash this check and pay off -- and I just remember when I was on the phone with Sallie Mae and closing out my account, and I had that check in my hand, it was just emotional, because money is emotional.

And I think, especially if you have been preoccupied with how you're going to get it and how you're going to live, and I had -- I graduated with a theater degree during a recession. So it was scary times. And it just took a lot of faith to make sure that that could happen. But, yes, I didn't do anything overtly fun.

I just made sure that I was stable.

(LAUGHTER)

WAGMEISTER: But, I mean, look, that is living proof for anyone watching this.

[11:55:01]

ROTHWELL: Yes.

WAGMEISTER: Like, stick to your dreams, work hard in your goals, and...

ROTHWELL: That's right. And just I think it's pretty delulu to write a check like that to yourself and put in your -- but I think it helps a little bit. A little delulu never hurt nobody.

WAGMEISTER: Yes, I don't think it's delulu. I like it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Wow. Love her. Love Natasha.

All right, all week, Elizabeth sits down with more of this year's Emmy nominees. You can catch more of her conversation on CNN.com. What a fun assignment for Elizabeth. All right, so before we go today, Cambridge is adding 6,000 words to

its online dictionary. So, Wolf and I are going to see if we know what some of them mean.

We just heard Natasha Rothwell use one of them, delulu.

BLITZER: And I know what it means because it sort of means delusional, right?

BROWN: Yes, it means delusional.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: I actually did not know what this meant until yesterday when I was doing it, when I was doing it, when I was also explaining this on Jake Tapper's show. And I thought, wow, I could have used that word many times in my life. I have felt delulu, right?

BLITZER: Yes. You are definitely not delulu.

BROWN: No, but I have been very tired and feeling delulu.

All right, next one.

BLITZER: Skibidi.

BROWN: Do you know what that is?

BLITZER: I have it translated here, but go ahead. Tell our viewers.

BROWN: Apparently, it can have a lot of different meanings such as cool or bad or it can be used with no real meaning as a joke. So I guess it can mean anything? I don't know.

BLITZER: An example that they gave me is, what the skibidi are you doing?

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: What the skibidi are you doing, Wolf?

BLITZER: I'm sitting here anchoring a show together with you.

BROWN: All right.

BLITZER: And that's it for us. Thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @WolfBlitzer, @PamelaBrownCNN. We will see you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning, 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

BROWN: And I will be filling in for Jake Tapper again tonight on "THE LEAD." That airs at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

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