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What We Know with Max Foster

Trump: Ukraine Should Not Target Moscow; MAGA Backlash To Handling Of Jeffrey Epstein Files; U.S. Defense Department To Start Using Elon Musk's A.I. Model; Nvidia Says It Will Resume Sales Of H20 Chip To China; U.N. Human Rights Office: "Each And Every Killing" Near Aid Sites In Gaza Must Be Investigated; Family Of American Killed By Settlers Demands Justice. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 15, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:38]

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: President Donald Trump says Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy shouldn't strike Moscow.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

On Monday, the U.S. president gave Moscow 50 days to make a peace deal with Kyiv before imposing economic consequences. A day later, he's now ruling

out sending longer range missiles to Ukraine.

Speaking outside the White House, Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shouldn't target Moscow.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump is facing political backlash from his own base. MAGA activists are demanding the administration release files on the late

Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who had a powerful circle of friends.

Kevin Liptak joins us now live at the White House.

Some confusing messages. It has to be said, from Trump on -- on Ukraine, Kevin.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, in some ways. And you have heard the president hardening his position in Russia in one sense, but

then saying today that he was not taking any particular side in this war and that, in his words, he's only on humanity's side.

And this question of long-range missiles really originated in a phone call that the president held with President Zelenskyy on July the 4th. In that

phone call, the president was really questioning the Ukrainian leader about Ukraine's capabilities. And at one point asked whether, given Ukraine's

current abilities, it would be able to target Moscow or Saint Petersburg, those two biggest cities in Russia, which, according to the White House,

was just one in many questions that the president was asking Zelenskyy, but that the Ukrainians took very seriously and then started this discussion

about potentially the openness by the president to send these long-range missiles.

Now, the president today says, no, he's not thinking about sending those to Ukraine. And says very specifically that he does not think Zelenskyy should

target Russia's capital and largest city. But certainly, this idea does seem to be on the table in some capacity. You know, all of the discussion

yesterday about this new pipeline of weapons, the U.S. sending them to Europe, Europe, then sending them on to Ukraine has focused primarily on

the defensive weapons, in particular those Patriot missile batteries used to intercept Russian missiles.

But we heard today from the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, who said on Capitol Hill that this pipeline could potentially also include those

offensive weapons, and that discussions were underway at the Pentagon about what that might look like. And so, a lot of questions, I think, still to be

answered. But President Trump, clearly, I think, trying to say today that he didn't want this to escalate any further.

FOSTER: Take us through the latest on Epstein then, because this is proving to be a massive well, a divisive issue within MAGA, right?

LIPTAK: Yeah, very much so. And you hear an enormous amount of anger from some members of the president's political base who in some ways had

expected the president to do more to reveal information about Jeffrey Epstein. But now that his Justice Department has essentially said case

closed, they're wondering where all those promises that the president made ended up.

I think the hope in this building behind me is that this will eventually sputter out, that it will kind of dissolve into the ether, like so many

Trump controversies end up doing. And at least for the president's part, he does seem to be having some success in trying to corral at least some

subset of that base. In particular, the one that works for him. And I'm thinking specifically here of Dan Bongino, who's the deputy FBI director

who actually threatened to quit over all of this last week. He didn't show up to work on Friday, but he is at work this week. The president, I think,

trying to assuage his concerns somewhat.

We did hear from the president earlier today. You know, his posture last week was essentially to dismiss this outright, which had caused even more

anger among his supporters. Today, he is saying that if Pam Bondi, the attorney general, can come up with some more credible information to

release about Epstein, that he would be supportive of that, that he thinks she should go about trying to find a way to be more transparent.

But he also said that the information that she has is not credible. He says that the so-called Epstein files were created by his own political rivals.

People like James Comey, the former FBI director, Barack Obama, Joe Biden. So, he's trying to take two sides here. On one hand, he says that Bondi

should release more information, but on the other hand, he's trying to preempt that information by saying it wouldn't be credible because it was

created by his political rivals.

[15:05:04]

So you still hear the president, I think, tangled up in some knots here, and it doesn't appear as if some of the most stalwart members of his base

are necessarily appeased by all of these different explanations.

FOSTER: Kevin, the White House, as ever. Thank you for that.

The White House hoping its new threats against Russia will force the Kremlin to pursue peace.

But so far, Moscow appears unfazed. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev today dismissed the tariff threat as a, quote, theatrical

ultimatum, saying Russia doesn't care. Russia's foreign minister, at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in China, said Moscow

could cope with any new sanctions.

Sergey Lavrov also questioned President Trump's-50 day timeline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We want to understand what is behind this statement on 50 days, we really want to know what motivates the

president of the United States. It is clear that he is under enormous, I would say, incessant pressure from the European union and the current

leadership of NATO, who impudently supports Zelenskyy's demand to continue pumping him with modern weaponry, including offensive weapons, at the

expense of more and more damage to taxpayers in western countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNNs chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance, joins us now from Moscow.

Obviously, Donald Trump, quite frustrated with the Russians right now, but it feels as though the Russians are pretty frustrated with the U.S. right

now as well.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think they're sort of taking it in their stride, aren't they, at least publicly.

This this quite dramatic statement by President Trump, not least because he's given 50 days, which is a pretty big window for them to continue their

military activities inside Ukraine before any potential consequences come into effect in the firm in the form of 100 percent tariffs and secondary

sanctions as well. When it comes to the potential for U.S. offensive weapons deliveries, I think there was a bit more concern amongst the

Kremlin, which issued a statement earlier saying it took those remarks very seriously from President Trump.

Since then, though, the fact that that Donald Trump has come out and clarified that he won't be sending or they're not considering sending long

range missiles to Ukraine and is not advocating for further attacks against Moscow and Saint Petersburg. I think some of those kremlin concerns may

have been eased, but you heard there from Sergey Lavrov and from Dmitry Medvedev, the former president of Russia, that they're very relaxed, at

least publicly, about the possibility of more sanctions and that I think Max talks to the fact that Russia is already one of the world's most

sanctioned countries, and its developed this very flexible, resilient economy with lots of workarounds.

And so, they're not unduly worried about the possibility of more sanctions coming into play in 50 days from now. Also, the subtext, and I think what

people have said overtly, in fact, on Russian state television is that, look, 50 days is a long time on the battlefield. There could be a

significant change in the -- in the front lines in that period. But more importantly, in the mood of the leadership in the United States. It's sort

of well-known here, of course, that President Trump is notoriously changeable. And, you know, in 50 days, I think the thinking here is that he

could change his mind again on Russia during that period, Max.

FOSTER: Okay. Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you.

Now, the Pentagon has signed a deal to start using Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. Musk's xAI company has won a contract worth up

to $200 million alongside other leading chatbots. But the lucrative deal comes just days after Musk's chatbot posted a series of antisemitic and

violent posts. The company blamed the posts on a system update.

Let's go to Hadas Gold. She's in New York.

How are they going to use this Grok, then, Hadas?

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, great question. These contracts are worth up to $200 million, not only offered to xAI Grok, but also OpenAI and

Anthropic and Google as well. So nearly $1 billion going towards these A.I. companies.

Now, what the Department of Defense has said is that these will be used to help develop agentic A.I. workflows and use them to address critical

national security challenges. What is unanswered, though, is whether any of these A.I.s will be used in actual war fighting when it comes to flying

planes, shooting missiles, and the like. What the Department of Defense did say these will help do. They did give some clues on some programs that will

work on. These will be things like combing through satellite pictures and data, looking for targets who they should target, as well as handling

things like personnel information and data analysis.

At the same time as this announcement of this contract for xAI, Grok also announced a new suite of products called Grok for government, opening

themselves up for contracts with all different levels of the American government and making themselves available for purchase through the General

Services Administration.

This is very notable. Both of these, the contract as well the Grok for government because not only as you noted, this antisemitism problem that

I'll get into in just a second, but don't forget that Elon Musk went from first buddy to a very public breakup with President Trump and is now saying

that he's going to launch a third party, the America Party. And so, yet, he still gets this contract with the government.

Now, as you noted, this is coming after those antisemitic posts by Grok last week, including praising Adolf Hitler, promoting some antisemitic

tropes. Now, xAI has apologized, said it was because of a system update. And what's interesting is they gave some indication as to what exactly

caused their A.I. bot to do this.

They said it was very specific instructions. Among them was you tell it like it is and you are not afraid to offend people who are politically

correct. And it instructed the bot to reflect the tone of the X user who sent the query. Now xAI has said they have fixed that. They also noted

actually just today, another issue with the Grok where if you are asking Grok, what is your position on a certain issue such as Israel and

Palestine? Grok would show that it was actually searching how Elon Musk felt about that specific issue.

Now, xAI later explained that the model reasons that as an A.I., it doesn't actually have an opinion on things, and it knows that it is part of xAI,

which is owned by Elon Musk, and that is why it searches for Elon Musk's opinion to align itself with the company. They say they have tweaked that,

and they say that they are currently actively monitoring and will implement any further adjustments as needed -- Max.

FOSTER: Okay. Hadas Gold, thank you for joining us from there.

And staying in the world of artificial intelligence, chipmaker Nvidia says it will resume sales of a key chip to China, the world's most valuable

company designed the H20 chip specifically for the Chinese market. But the U.S. government had blocked sales as it tries to curb Chinas use of

American technology. Now, Nvidia says it's received assurances it'll be able to sell the chips to China.

Anna Stewart is with me. A mystery because obviously these chips are so powerful and they do allow China to get ahead.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are two arguments here. One is this was a chip, forgive the pun, in the broader trade talks between China

and the U.S. China has relaxed export controls on rare earths to the U.S. and so this is simply the vice versa.

However, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, was speaking on CNBC earlier and he was actually really spouting the same sort of theories we've

had from Jensen Huang, the same opinions of you want America to control artificial intelligence, you want it to control the A.I. standards, and

that China will be very well prepared to replace a company like Nvidia in years to come. We've already had the instance of DeepSeek, and he said, you

want to sell the Chinese enough so that their developers get addicted to the American technology stack.

So, there is also an argument that by allowing China access to some chips, not the most advanced, this isn't the most advanced chip that Nvidia makes.

You will be able to control the A.I. story in China.

FOSTER: Can they not clone the chip?

STEWART: Cloning a chip is incredibly difficult.

FOSTER: It's not like copying a car.

STEWART: Perhaps one day. But we're talking about billions of transistors on tiny little wafers, I mean, really complex. But the most advanced chips

Nvidia, like the Blackwell ultra, that's not going to China anytime soon. This was one that was designed specifically for the Chinese market,

following export controls from the Biden administration. So, this was a chip that was believed by Nvidia to be a reliable one to be able to send.

So there was a bit of a shock in April when suddenly the Trump administration said, nope, you're not sending that one either.

FOSTER: Yeah, that was a deep seat thing. Wasn't it a concern that they'd use Nvidia chips? Is that right?

STEWART: There was a huge concern that about Huawei and whether or not Huawei would actually be able to rival Nvidia and whether you don't need

really expensive, really advanced chips anymore.

FOSTER: Anna, thank you.

Still ahead, the U.N. is demanding accountability for the mass killing of aid seekers in Gaza as a chilling new video emerges of machine gun fire

near a crowd.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:51]

FOSTER: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his military is conducting intense operations in Syria, vowing to prevent what he calls a

second Lebanon from being established there. Israel carried out strikes against Syrian government forces for a second day today. Syria says its

troops were pursuing outlaws after deadly sectarian clashes between Druze and Bedouin tribes. It happened in an area that Israel has unilaterally

declared a demilitarized zone. The IDF said it also bombed Lebanon today, targeting an elite Hezbollah unit in the Beqaa Valley. Lebanon's health

ministry says 12 people were killed.

Now, the U.N. says there must be accountability for the mass shootings of Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza, demanding investigations for each and

every killing. A new video has emerged of sustained machine gun fire near an aid site over the weekend.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

FOSTER: Our Paula Hancocks has more. We warn you, her report has some disturbing scenes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New social media footage has emerged showing machine gun fire near an aid distribution site in southern Gaza.

Now, this refers to an incident that happened on Saturday where the Palestinian ministry of health says at least 30 people were killed while

waiting for aid. Videos from the nearby NASA medical complex also show rows of bodies covered in white shrouds.

Now, this social media video shows Palestinians crawling for safety. As you can see, bursts of gunfire hitting the ground just meters away. The source

of the gunfire is not seen, but multiple eyewitnesses have said that it was the Israeli military that was firing upon those who were waiting for food.

Now, we have asked the Israeli military, they have said that details of this video are under review. They did say on Saturday, though, that Israeli

gunfire did not result in any deaths or injuries. Now, this particular site is about half a mile, some 800 meters away from one of the distribution

sites of the controversial GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. It is a U.S.-Israeli backed initiative.

THAMEEN AL-KHEETAN, SPOKESPERSON, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE: As of the 13th of July, we have recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get

food, 674 of them were killed in the vicinity of GHF sites. Now, the data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable

sources, including medical, human rights and humanitarian organizations.

HANCOCKS: The U.N. and humanitarian aid groups are calling for the distribution of aid to once again be funneled through the U.N. run groups

on the ground, saying that aid distribution in Gaza has become a death trap.

[15:20:01]

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Israel has asked for an investigation over the killing of an American citizen in the West Bank.

Witnesses say 20-year-old Sayf Musallet was killed last week north of Ramallah by Israeli settlers. The Palestinian American had been in the West

Bank to visit family and friends. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee says he's asked Israeli government to aggressively investigate what he calls a

criminal and terrorist act.

I'm joined now by Ambassador Husam Zomlot. He's head of the Palestinian mission to the United Kingdom.

You know, tough words actually, coming from the U.S. ambassador. He's normally very supportive of the Israelis and the settlers, in fact. So

there's some tension there.

HUSAM ZOMLOT, HEAD OF PALESTINIAN MISSION TO THE U.K.: Tough words is not enough. Weve heard many tough words, but there seem to be such a difference

between an American Israeli and an American Palestinian. And this is not the first American to be killed by Israel. The list is very, very long. The

80-year-old man, Omar al-Saadi, Shireen Abu Akleh, the most prominent Palestinian American journalist, and I can list you many, and Israel does

enjoy complete impunity, not just against the Palestinian people, but against the Americans.

FOSTER: Yeah. I mean, you know seeing the family speak so eloquently in English, do you think that that has sort of resonated in America in the way

that other stories haven't? And, you know, obviously aware of all the other --

ZOMLOT: What do you mean they speak English? He was born in Florida.

FOSTER: Yeah, I know, but you know how much of the way he comes across is something --

ZOMLOT: That this young man goes with his family, only to spend the summer holidays to help his extended family with the olive harvest. And this young

man is beaten to death by a group of settler terrorists. Very well- documented. This is a daily occurrence in the West Bank, all over the occupied West Bank, from the very south of Hebron, all the way to the

north.

The story came out only because he's an American citizen, but this really sheds the light on how much and how far the U.S. can go with shielding

Israel. How far Israel can get away with things including murdering Americans, time in and time out.

FOSTER: Donald Trump says he's being very tough in his conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

ZOMLOT: Well, we need to see results. I mean, we have been hearing this for the last many weeks. We have heard that there will be a declaration of a

ceasefire when Netanyahu would visit the White House.

Netanyahu did visit the White House. He left the U.S. and no real announcement. It is absolutely bluntly clear that Netanyahu is not

interested in a ceasefire. The mediators take one step forward, including the U.S. mediators, but Netanyahu takes ten steps backwards.

FOSTER: But you're not talking about the other main party here, which is obviously Hamas.

ZOMLOT: And he's maneuvering.

There is a proposal that has been on the table, presented first by President Biden, then adopted by President Trump. It did hold for a couple

of months, January to March. There was an exchange of hostages. There was to be a stadial process.

There was plans, intentions, goodwill by the region and the international community. There was the Arab Summit whereby we adopted a very strong plan

to end this, to move directly and swiftly to rebuilding Gaza, to reunite Gaza with the West Bank, to form one Palestinian national technocratic

government, and to move forward towards a political resolution.

And this is exactly what Netanyahu doesn't want. And this is not a war, by the way. We keep saying it's a war. It isn't a war. This is Netanyahu's --

Israel's campaign of erasure. As I was walking --

FOSTER: It's a war against Hamas.

ZOMLOT: And what is -- what is there in Hamas in these aid sites you've just shown? Is there Hamas there? It's hungry, starved people called by

Israel to these humanitarian sites. And you have seen the shooting. They are now shooting children that are going to seek water.

You know how many water tanks have been bombed in the last few days and weeks? This is an act of erasure, an act of extermination. And it is

absolutely ironic that we haven't learned any lesson.

FOSTER: Obviously, I've got to give. The Israeli point of view is that, you know, they say they're facing some chaotic scenes and they're trying to

make them less chaotic. But you're based here.

ZOMLOT: By using machine guns on women and children seeking food. This is how you do it?

No, it is on purpose. It is by design. It is absolutely deliberate. And it's not just in these aid centers, so-called aid centers. These are death

traps. It's all over Gaza.

This has got nothing to do with Hamas or the fight with Hamas. This is about the Palestinian people.

And what have we learned? I have just taken part in the memorial service of the 30 years since the Srebrenica genocide.

[15:25:07[

I lit a candle there, and it was so ironic for a Palestinian ambassador representing a people going through genocide that we haven't learned

anything. There are no lessons to be learned, and the world will bear responsible for, A, failing to prevent this, and, B, even failing to stop

it.

FOSTER: The Europeans could put pressure on Donald Trump. Obviously, Donald Trump is at the center of this. Your job is leaning on the British

government.

How much are they doing? Because there's a lot of supporters of Palestinians in this country who feel that they're just allowing a lot of

this to happen as well, and they could be much tougher with Israel and with Hamas as well, potentially.

ZOMLOT: You're absolutely right. The responsibility is not just on the U.S., it is also on the rest of the world, including Europe and the U.K.,

for that matter. And the U.K. has a very particular responsibility being responsible --

FOSTER: Part of the history.

ZOMLOT: Part of the history. No. And actually contributing to the to the situation we are in now from the Balfour declaration until today and our

calls, our demands, our engagements with the U.K. has produced some results, but we need more. It's not enough.

They have imposed partial arms embargo. They have imposed sanctions on the settler, terrorist, terrorist groups, on organizations that support

settlers, on fanatical ministers in the Israeli government. And I have to say, only the U.K. did the sanctions in the entire European continent on

the ministers. However, we say --

FOSTER: That's not enough.

ZOMLOT: As we say to you, it is not enough. The entire ecosystem of the settlements and the state that sponsors them must, must be sanctioned. This

is not just about two ministers. These are these are ministers that are part of an overall -- overall policy that is calling for and acting upon

the plan of ethnic cleansing.

So, Max, this is a moment for the rest of the world. This is a moment for the U.S. and really, this is a moment, do we really want to learn the

lessons of the horrors of the Second World War? Are we sitting on our hands watching children being slain?

We have seen that image only a couple of days ago. I could not sleep since then, whereby some children were trying to get water, and then Israel

bombed the area. Twelve children were killed and that mother holding her -- her girl as she was dead. And then Israel said, oops, that was error.

FOSTER: Okay.

ZOMLOT: I just want to tell you there was no error there.

FOSTER: Okay.

ZOMLOT: That was deliberate. That was --

FOSTER: And I know there will be Israelis saying, but let's remember what happened in October and the attacks on Israelis.

ZOMLOT: To justify the murders.

FOSTER: And they, you know, they would argue that was what the current war against Hamas started.

ZOMLOT: To justify their war minister wanting to build a concentration camp in the ruins of Rafah, my city of birth, that justifies it?

FOSTER: I'm just saying what they're saying.

ZOMLOT: What they're saying is nonsense and criminal.

FOSTER: Thank you for joining us.

Still to come, cracks in the MAGA base. Why the government's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case isn't the only issue fueling a growing divide

amongst Trump loyalists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:23]

FOSTER: Days after the U.S. Justice Department concluded, there's no evidence of a client list kept by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein,

there's no sign the controversy over the case is going to die down anytime soon.

Earlier, President Trump told reporters he would trust his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to release whatever documents that she found credible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She's given us just a very quick briefing, and in terms of the credibility of the different things that they've seen, and I would say

that, you know, these files were made up by Comey. They were made up by Obama. They were made up by the Biden, you know, we and we went through

years of that with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, with all of the different things that we had to go through. We've gone through years of it,

but she's handled it very well, and its going to be up to her. Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: A at a news conference a few minutes later, Bondi refused to address the matter when repeatedly pressed by journalists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: This today is about fentanyl. This is about a wall of people right outside this room who have died from -- I appreciate

your question, but this today is about fentanyl overdoses throughout our country and people who have lost loved ones to fentanyl. That's the message

that were here to send today. Nothing about Epstein. I'm not going to talk about Epstein.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Alayna Treene is in Pittsburgh, where the president is taking the stage in artificial intelligence event.

I mean, this is one of those stories which is kind of running away with itself, isn't it? Because the question becomes, why aren't they releasing

the information? Then the conspiracy theories abound, but its clear that the president has put the ball in his court on this one, which is

interesting.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. I mean, that was the first time we actually heard President Donald Trump make those comments saying,

essentially, if the attorney general believes or if she has anything that's credible, that she could release, she should do so. A change from, you

know, really, his full-throated endorsement of her. I will say he's continued to give a full-throated endorsement of her.

But this is a little bit different, saying, you know, whatever she wants to do, she'll do is what his line has been thus far. But now he's starting to

say, you know, if there's something in here that he can credibly put out there, she should go ahead and do that. But look, you're exactly right. I

mean, this is such a big, significant story. One, of course, because it's something that the president supporters his base cares so deeply about.

And we know now that the president has really tried to kind of encourage them to move on from this story. We saw him over the weekend say, you know,

my boys and my gals, we got to move on from this. We're on one team.

But what he's quickly learning is they are not doing that. And then that's not working. And I apologize if it gets really loud. And, Max, the

president is now just walking out on the stage behind me.

But look, this isn't going away. And so when I talk to some of my sources, both in and outside the White House, I think the key question is what can

they do to potentially appease the base, appease the supporters that have been asking, and really, you know, thirsting for more information on this?

And I would remind you as well, despite what the president said in the comments you played there about, you know, how this was something that his

former opponents, like the former Presidents Barack Obama and Biden, had made up? I mean, it was people in his own administration, the vice

president, J.D. Vance, the FBI director, Kash Patel, all of them had contributed this to this idea that perhaps there was more to these Epstein

files than the federal government was letting on.

And so, now, that fire is being turned on them, and whereas the president is trying to get, his supporters to drop this, to get everyone to move on.

[15:35:03]

What's clear is they are not really willing to do so, and they are not satisfied with the answers that they have been given.

FOSTER: Okay, Alayna. Thank you. We'll be watching that event to see if anything interesting comes out of it.

Meanwhile, half of Americans reportedly unhappy with the government's handling of the Epstein case in a new CNN poll. Half of those surveyed say

they are dissatisfied with the amount of information released by the government on the Epstein case, just 3 percent say they are satisfied.

House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch supporter of the president, told our Manu Raju, it's not just the Epstein files that MAGA

loyalists are upset about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): It started with bombing Iran, but that settled down quickly. But this Epstein situation has been significant, and

now, it's continuing with weapons being sold to NATO. Ukraine is not a part of NATO, and people are just very much against any U.S. involvement in the

Ukraine war.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So the president should be aware of this?

GREENE: Oh, of course. And I mean, I've let them know myself as well as many people in the administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: So what we want to know tonight is the MAGA movement losing patience with Donald Trump.

Joining me now is Jan Halper-Hayes. He's a political commentator, former global vice president of Republicans overseas.

Thank you so much for joining us. Obviously, the -- there's a lot of crossover between MAGA and Republicans. They're not exactly the same thing.

Probably MAGA is more of a movement. I don't know how you describe it, but what are you hearing about divisions within MAGA, Jan?

JAN HALPER-HAYES, POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGIST & COMMENTATOR: I think it's important to take a step back and say, what do the Epstein files represent?

And in 2020, Trump created an executive order 13913, I believe I should look that up to make sure that I'm absolutely. Yep, I got that right for no

more human and child trafficking.

When the child trafficking and exploitation became an issue, the Democrats said that was a conspiracy theory. We are clearly seeing that it is not a

conspiracy theory. When they said there are no client lists, the Google searches in 24 hours went up 1,200 percent. It means that people want to

understand what is really more behind the Epstein files issue, and it is lending credibility to the child trafficking issue.

Now, the problem is that quite a few of MAGA react emotionally. We used to call the liberals the knee jerk liberals. Well, we've got some knee jerk

conservatives here that make assumptions without letting things play out. We know that this is really important and frankly, Pam Bondi made a mistake

in early February of saying that she had the files on her desk.

She subsequently discovered that she didn't have a lot of the files. She was told that they were still in New York with the FBI couldn't get them.

So there has been a lot of conflicting information. One of the things that I always say is wait for it to play out some more. Do not react to

immediate information and make assumptions.

FOSTER: Well, this is the conspiracy era we're in, isn't it? Social media accounts filling in gaps in information when there are legitimate gaps in

information? To be fair, I mean, a lot of security experts are saying the whole idea that there's a specific list or a specific file is a misnomer

anyway, because it's lots of information, as you say, spread across different offices. And perhaps it isn't in all one place, and it has to be

organized.

I think that the issue, obviously, is that many of the people in power now are the ones who said all of these files should be released straight away

and they're not releasing them. So, it makes people suspicious, doesn't it?

HALPER-HAYES: It absolutely does. But at the same time, I don't know if you can see what is on my phone, but basically I have 116 pages of the

Epstein's flight logs. That is valid, but we have all had that for ages and ages.

They are thinking there's a client list. So let's just say there is a client list and they're not yet releasing it. Why would they not be?

Because the other thing that MAGA people want are arrests, and they want justice to be served. Well, if there is a huge client list, you know it's

global, you know that it would require global law enforcement to act.

[15:40:08]

And right now, we have a few more important things to be dealing with. There are other suppositions, such as that he that Epstein was a double

agent with Mossad. We don't know that for a fact, but if -- let's just say if, then what we need to understand is Netanyahu was just in the U.S. he

just came to the White House.

Isn't it more important not to tick off Israel when Trump is trying for peace between Iran and Israel? And we need to look at things. And when

people are reacting emotionally because they've got some expectation, it's really throwing things off.

FOSTER: Well, it's also the issue that Pam Bondi was asked about it and she refused to talk about it. And it just, you know, if there are explanations

for why it's being held up, I guess people just want to know what those explanations are.

We're talking about, you know, Donald Trump's supporters here, aren't we with MAGA? But we'll wait to see --

HALPER-HAYES: We are.

FOSTER: -- if we get any more information. Jan, I appreciate you.

HALPER-HAYES: And that's a good point, Max. You know that if she opened her mouth, she's got to deliver. And there's huge discrepancy there. And that

is what is really upsetting them.

FOSTER: Yeah, exactly. Thank you so much, Jan.

Still to come, summer storms causing deadly conditions across the U.S. A look at some of the hardest hit areas just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: From Texas to the northeastern U.S., torrential rain and flooding have made life miserable for millions of people. The country's seen a

record high number of flash flood warnings so far this year, the Northeast taking the brunt of it in the past two days. Officials in New Jersey say at

least two people have died from flooding.

[15:45:03]

And New York's underground public transportation couldn't escape the deluge. As you can see, a subway passenger captured this video of water

pouring into the station and onto their train.

Our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, has a look at the dangerous conditions across the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Another day, another flash flood disaster to discuss across the U.S., this time centered throughout the mid-Atlantic

and portions of southern New England. There were numerous record daily rainfall totals that were set on Monday, including New York City,

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as well as Baltimore.

Here's just a drop in the bucket of some of the flash flooding that impacted the East Coast. This is coming out of Somerset County, New Jersey,

a very interesting aerial perspective of the flooding there. Submerged vehicles. Look at all the debris left behind as well, certainly impacting

some of the businesses.

And if you thought it's been raining and causing a lot of flash flooding events, you are right. Very spot on. And we did some digging. In fact, the

National Weather Service has been extremely busy this year when it comes to issuing flash flood warnings. They're at a record pace. The most number of

flash flood warnings issued ever year to date, over 3,000. And remember the instances across Texas, the Hill Country, and now most recently throughout

the mid-Atlantic and southern New England.

So, what's at play here? Many factors on the ground, but also what is known as a Bermuda high. This is pumping in deep tropical moisture over the

eastern parts of the country. This is known as precipitable water, right?

So, think about it as the gas in the fuel tank of your car, the more gas you have, the further you can drive. If the atmosphere has more

precipitable water to work with, the more heavy rain events it can produce. And, of course, we know the damage that it can cause. This is coming out of

north Plainfield, New Jersey on Monday. That car decided to not turn around and eventually just stalled out and caught fire.

There have been over a thousand reports of flooding across nearly 40 states since the beginning of the month alone. That shows you just how active it's

been. Now, climatologically speaking, this is the wettest time of the year from the end of April to September. The atmosphere is just primed and ready

to produce the slow moving summertime thunderstorms that are very effective rainfall producers.

But we know when this warming world that the -- there is a marked increase in the frequency and the intensity of heavy rain events. You can see it

here across the Northeast, increasing by nearly 60 percent over the past several decades.

Back to you.

FOSTER: Now, still to come, the trial has begun for a Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife. We'll tell you why prosecutors believe he

killed her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:17]

FOSTER: Trial is underway in Colorado for U.S. dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife's protein shakes. James Craig has pleaded not guilty to

multiple counts, including first degree murder. He's accused of killing his wife and plotting to kill four others, including the detective

investigating his wife's death.

CNN's Whitney Wild joins us.

Take us through it, Whitney.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Max, they started -- the prosecutors say this all started when James Craig began this very intense,

really whirlwind emotional affair with a woman he had met at a dental conference in February of 2023. He invited her to come to Colorado because

he claimed that he was getting divorced. That presented a problem for James Craig, according to prosecutors, because James Craig was living with his

wife Angela Craig, and their six children.

So prosecutors say he got himself into a bind and. Within ten days, he needed Angela gone because that was when this woman was set to travel from

Texas to Colorado to visit. And so over that time, they say James Craig developed this plot to use cyanide and arsenic and basically Visine, a tear

-- eye drops to slowly kill Angela Craig.

And they say he began poisoning her protein shakes as she was admitted to the hospital three times, and then finally he gave her a pill that was that

he had taken out some of the medication in the inside and instead put cyanide in it. And then administer that to her in the hospital. And they

say that was when she finally died.

Prosecutors put it plainly. They say she died of poisoning. This case is clear. It is obvious. It is supported, they say, by text messages, by

Internet searches, where James Craig around the time that he needed Angela gone was doing these google searches to try to find out, you know, what are

the most lethal -- lethal materials? How long does it take to poison someone to death? What dose does someone need to be poisoned to death?

And so that's the information that -- and the evidence that prosecutors laid out today in their opening statements as they laid out this a fair

timeline, the timeline of her murder. And then, as you pointed out, there's this third timeline, according to prosecutors, where James Craig, while he

was behind bars, while he was awaiting this trial, attempted to hire somebody to kill four people, including the lead detective in this case.

The defense has a very different view and is presenting a very different view of James Craig. And what they say is that he was a doting husband. He

had affairs, but that was true throughout their entire marriage, and there was no reason that this latest affair would have prompted him to kill

Angela.

And so, what prosecutors are, what the defense attorney is saying is that he was a doting husband, that this was a pretty shoddy investigation, that

there were key investigative steps police didn't take. They had zeroed in on James Craig. They had confirmation bias. And they say that there were

key pieces of evidence they could have explored that might have shifted that blame away from James Craig.

Opening statements have concluded we are now in witnesses. So, Max, there's a lot more to learn. We're expecting that this case will take a couple of

weeks.

FOSTER: Okay. Whitney, thank you so much for joining us with that.

Turning now to Beyonce, in the case of disappearing music. The singer just wrapped up her Cowboy Carter Tour in Atlanta. But while she was there,

someone stole two suitcases belonging to her choreographer. And with them, laptops and hard drives that contained Beyonce's unreleased music, amongst

other things.

Lisa France is in Atlanta, and that is some pretty valuable IP on those computers.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN REPORTER: Hi, Max.

It absolutely is because anyone that could get their hands on unreleased Beyonce music, that's a treasure trove. We're very much looking forward to

her Act Three album. Many people believe that album will be a rock album, and so people have concerns that the music that was stolen from her

choreographer's car while he and a dancer were out getting something to eat, may indeed be that music. And so, people are fearful, people in the

BeyHive as her hardcore fan base are known, are they're very upset and worried that that music could leak.

We do know that there is an unnamed suspect for whom they have an arrest. They put an arrest warrant out for, and so people are just waiting and very

hopeful, Max, that this music will be recovered and that everything that was stolen from Beyonce's choreographer will be returned. But they

especially want that music to definitely not be leaked anywhere. They want it to come directly from Beyonce, Max.

FOSTER: Yeah, absolutely. The fans want that as well, don't they?

Lisa, thank you so much.

RESPERS FRANCE: Thank you.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. That is what we know.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" live from Bordeaux this time, up next.

END

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