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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

White House Orders Comprehensive Review Of Smithsonian Exhibits; National Guard Troops Deployed Near Washington Monument; Interview With Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD); White House: Authorities Arrest 23 People After Trump Deploys Hundreds Of Federal Officers In D.C.; Report: GOP Congresswoman Says Former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta Can Be Called Before House Committee; Pres. Trump's Summit With Putin Will Be Held At Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Anchorage. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

BILL DE BLASIO (D) FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK: Look, I think that was objectively a good moment for Andrew Cuomo.

JASON CARROLL, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Former New York City Mayor, and Cuomo Trump critic Bill de Blasio sees a striking similarity between the President and Cuomo.

DE BLASIO: What he understands and what he respects is strength. I mean, this is true of Trump, this is true of Cuomo.

CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Jason, thank you so much for that report and thank you all so much for joining us.

I'm Kate Bolduan, "AC360" starts now.

[20:00:34]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Tonight on 360 the White House lays out plans for getting involved in what's on display at the Smithsonian with an eye toward enforcing its view of American history.

Also tonight, will the man who agreed to a deal that led Jeffrey Epstein off easy face questions now from Congress, what a top lawmaker said about it today.

And later, with troops arriving tonight for police duty in Washington, D.C., my conversation with the governor of neighboring Maryland, home to Baltimore, where the President is also talking about the possibility of federal law enforcement takeover.

Good evening, thanks for joining us.

We begin tonight with the Trump administration spelling out just how deeply it intends to get involved in shaping or reshaping what we learn about this country in its history and culture. The place is the Smithsonian Institution. Today, the White House sent a letter to the head of the Smithsonian, one of the great museums of the world, which is actually 21 museums in all. In the letter, they made it clear to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III, writing that it wants what it wants and why from eight of their museums initially, with more to come. Quoting now from the administrations letter, "This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President's directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions."

They're beginning review of the Smithsonian's plan for celebrating the 250th anniversary of American independence next year, but that's hardly all. Even as it says, the goal is not to interfere with day-to- day operations.

The White House goes on to demand from each museum a full catalogue of all current and ongoing exhibitions and budgets, a list of all traveling exhibitions and plans for the next three years, and all internal guidelines, including staff manuals, job descriptions, and organizational charts, along with internal communications about exhibition, artwork selection, and approval.

The letter concludes with this: "By focusing on Americanism, the people, principles and progress that define our nation, we can work together to renew the Smithsonian's role as the world's leading museum institution," which on its own might sound like a noble ambition, but it does not, of course, stand alone. It comes as part of what has been the administrations ongoing effort to purge government websites and American historical sites of references to Black Americans, gay and lesbian Americans, and transgender Americans.

At one point even flagging for removal on a Pentagon website, a photo of the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb in combat. The plane was nicknamed the Enola Gay, a somewhat ironic control fail, apparently, but also part and parcel of a deeply serious administration effort to eliminate from government websites any mention, photograph, or video that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion.

What followed was the elimination of references to Black and Latino war heroes, gay service members, and the effort to integrate the armed services starting in 1948. And what followed in March was an executive order targeting the Smithsonian for coming, "under the influence of a divisive, race centered ideology."

Now that order signaled out one of the eight museums named in the letter today, the National Museum of African-American history and culture, and specifically something someone wrote on a museum website once in 2020 and was quickly taken down, and which the secretary, Secretary Bunch spoke about in front of congress in 2023.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LONNIE BUNCH III, SECRETARY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: I think that the document itself was wrong and flawed. I do think, however, it's important for the Smithsonian to help the country grapple with questions of race. So, I'm not going to run away from that. But I agree with you very much that that document is not the kind of document that should be at the Smithsonian.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: He acknowledged it was inappropriate and wrong and took it down. But if you've ever been to this museum, in addition to being powerful and moving, it's upsetting and it is unsettling. Just like parts of our history are. Parts of the administration has already taken steps to edit out or in, as the case may be.

In June of 2020, protesters in Washington pulled down a statue of a confederate Army General, Albert Pike, a short time later, the President, who was then running for reelection, said something that spoke to that moment. And it seems to this moment as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The unhinged left wing mob is trying to vandalize our history desecrate our monuments, our beautiful monuments. Tear down our statues and punish, cancel and persecute anyone who does not conform to their demands for absolute and total control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:05:02]

COOPER: Well, last week, the National Park Service announced that the statue of Albert Pike, who was just to repeat a confederate general, a traitor, would be restored to its place in the district to conform to the recent executive orders, including the one in March to restore, "truth and sanity to American history."

I'm joined now by "The New York Times" White House correspondent Maggie Haberman. So, where is this coming from in the White House? I mean, is this from the President himself?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is from a lot of people around the President and encouraged by the President. As you noted, the President talked about this in 2020. He actually talked about that prior to 2020. The broader concept in 2017, when the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, happened and he started talking to aides about how he liked the idea of talking about heritage, and that became something that he would focus on in public addresses and public speeches. This is just a continuation of that.

This is not necessarily a long held belief of Donald Trump, which is something a lot of advisers have tried to insist. But it is a long held belief of a number of conservatives that they are upset about a focus on race, as you said, race and controversy around race and how Black people have been treated in this country is not really subjective. It just is -- there are ugly aspects of the history.

And so, Trump saying that, you know, people are being controlled or censored or cancelled, he is as you suggest, efforting some kind of a different approach, doing what critics would argue something similar.

COOPER: Yes, I mean, we saw early on in the administration sort of these ham fisted efforts to purge all government websites that the Pentagon of any references to Black people or gay people you know, taking books out of the library at military academies by Black authors or about the Black experience in America, whereas, I think, "The Times" noted, "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler was allowed to stay in. I think a Toni Morrison book was taken out. I think it was "Beloved."

Is there a sense of, I mean, is somebody in the White House themselves running point on this?

HABERMAN: I think there are a couple of people in the White House who are running point on this. You saw that letter was signed by a couple of advisers. One is somebody who works in the Staff Secretary's Office. One is Russell Vought at the Office of Management and Budget. There's a third who I'm not placing right now in memory, but there are a couple of people who are involved in this effort. It just goes beyond what we have seen, you know, where Trump is talking about campaign promises, right.

He repeatedly said on the campaign trail, I'm going to end, you know, DEI. And this is something Republicans have talked about for a long time -- diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And there were a lot of complaints from some of his corporate backers about those programs. I don't know that people who supported him necessarily knew that this was going to be what he intended in terms of undoing aspects or rewriting aspects or rewriting what can be presented about aspects of the country's history.

COOPER: It's also interesting because, I mean, they are focusing on eight of the 21 museums of the Smithsonian Institution, but there's no reason it would stop there.

HABERMAN: No, look, I mean, we have seen him, as you say. We have seen him expand this effort as far as he has so far, because he's not really facing a ton of pushback. And I think the institutions that find themselves in his crosshairs or in his focus, I should say aren't really sure quite what to do, because if they push back in some cases, then they feel like they're feeding into a narrative. If they submit completely, then they're feeding into a different narrative. So they're faced with a lot of imperfect choices.

COOPER: It's so interesting, I mean, it's again, it's the conflict, you know, Democrats face when talking about the policing in the District of Columbia. Do you point out statistics of out of a 30-year low as they as the statistics show and thereby sound like you're saying, oh, there's not a crime problem in Washington, D.C., where there's crime problem everywhere.

HABERMAN: Right, and I think you see that in terms of how Mayor Bowser has reacted. Look, I mean, she's not -- there is a crime problem everywhere. I mean, in multiple cities, big cities have traditionally had crime problems.

COOPER: There's crime everywhere. HABERMAN: Correct, and certainly, you know, we saw crime rates spike during COVID. In some cases we have seen it come down but there are a lot of people who feel unsafe in big cities. And so, if, you know, the mayor pushes back on the President, she sounds like she's not addressing concerns of constituents. Those are the choices.

COOPER: All right, Maggie Haberman, thanks very much.

President Trump, in his address to a Joint Session of Congress earlier this year, took credit for what he said was the end of wokeness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We've ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and indeed, the private sector and our military.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And our country will be woke no longer.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining me now for more on this is former President and CEO of the NAACP, Cornell William Brooks, who's a Harvard professor and CNN chief political analyst David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Obama.

Cornell, we've talked before about how accepting and learning from shameful periods of American history actually make this country stronger. What do you make of this now, review of the Smithsonian, or at least eight museums at the Smithsonian.

[20:10:20]

CORNELL WILLIAM BROOKS, HARVARD PROFESSOR: Well, first of all, thank you for having me. But let us know this, that this most recent effort to censor the Smithsonian is a matter of making bad worse. So, we had an executive order that contributed to a chilling effect with respect to the Smithsonian. But here what we have is censorship tied to a celebration, namely, the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence, the founding of our country and The White House is essentially engaged in a kind of cultural micromanagement.

We have three government officials who have no expertise in curation, no expertise as historians, no expertise in terms of culture or art, attempting to micromanage the crown jewel of American culture and history, namely the Smithsonian, and to what end? We need to be very clear about this and be very honest. What they're trying to do is essentially weaponize African-Americans as Americans.

So, in other words, to the degree that we have -- we and so many others have contributed to the Declaration of Independence, the history of this country. So thinking about the fact that Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, was brilliant philosophically but flawed morally in terms of owning enslaved people. And yet the document that he wrote was cited by the grandson of enslaved people, namely Martin Luther King on The Mall in order to free this country, to advance this country.

So, in other words, we have to tell the whole truth, the complete truth, not a sanitized, homogenized, White House whitewashed version of the truth. Because when we do so, we do so to the detriment of our history and the detriment of our country. And frankly, this is, again a matter of making bad worse.

COOPER: Well, it's also I mean, I just have to say, insulting to the memory of people who fought and died for this country. And I'm not just talking about those who fought in wars overseas. I'm talking about, you know, Americans, enslaved people who died in this country, who were lynched, who were chased by mobs. I mean, the list goes on and on.

BROOKS: That's right, so, you had thousands of Black people who fought to ensure that this country could be the country that it is in the Civil War, you had African-Americans fighting to free themselves and to free the country. And in every war. The point being here is the bravery, the sacrifice, the commitment of Americans is being whitewashed by this President and to no good end.

And to be very clear here, what happens is we run the risk that the White House runs the risk of both wrongly telling the story and half telling the story, and by half telling the story, we get one-tenth of the history and one-one-hundredth of the truth. And that is -- it's a shame, it's unconscionable. And yet this White House is again attempting to engage in a kind of cultural southern manifesto, which is to say, weaponizing history, weaponizing culture on the basis of race to divide Americans based on race, but also divide our history in terms of history that is accurate, that is respected by historians and this is false.

COOPER: David, I mean, I hate to refer to a cliche or an often quoted phrase, but, you know, for those who don't study the past or remember the past, you're doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. The White House letter says: "Our goal is not to interfere with the day-to-day operations of curators or staff, but rather to support a broader vision of excellence that highlights historically accurate, uplifting and inclusive portrayals of America's heritage."

I mean, they've already put out stuff about National Parks. They want to review monuments and National Parks to make sure there's nothing that might offend anybody or be, you know, in any way negative about, you know, the behavior of Americans in the past.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, let's also remember what the Civil War was about. I mean, the statues he wants to restore are people who are fighting to retain slavery and that is just a historical fact. You know, this has just kind of a Soviet feel to it, a Stalinist feel to it, that you just, you know, you take over cultural institutions and historical institutions and you try and rewrite history. But as you pointed out before, Anderson, this is a President who is rewriting history every day and he believes that you can do that.

You know, when crime is up, no crime is down. Things cost less. No, things cost more. I mean, this goes on and on, and I think he feels as if he has the authority to impose his will. And the irony, as Professor Brooks said, is that in this instance, this is all around the 250th anniversary of our founding fathers declaring themselves free of a mad king and you wonder what they would think coming back today and watching this.

[20:15:39]

COOPER: You know, Cornell, there are some people who are going to be watching this, I guess, and say, well, look, does this matter? Is this really the lead of a broadcast? You know, okay, it's were talking about, you know, an elite institution, the Smithsonian Museum obviously a lot of Americans love it and go there. A lot of people probably haven't gone there. Why does this matter?

BROOKS: The Smithsonian is anything but an elite institution. It is elite only in the sense of its excellence. It is not elite when it comes to school children who get on busses and go to museums which are free. It is not elite for people coming all across the country to literally step onto America's front porch in terms of history and culture. And so, this is critically important because the war over history is not a war over the past. It is a war over the present and the future. Which is to say, unless we understand our history, let it inform us and inspire us, we aren't able to be the people were called to be.

COOPER: David, I'm still stunned that, you know, people in this administration were -- did and at military academies had to go through and look at the books in the libraries, take out Black authors, take out ones that, I mean, if you're fighting a war --

AXELROD: They were removed until there was an outcry, they removed Jackie Robinson from the Pentagon archives. Former lieutenant in the military because he -- I think the episode that was reported was that he refused to go to the back of the bus when he was in uniform.

COOPER: But even for soldiers, you know, Marines fighting in a war, you want a well-educated force that understands different perspectives of cultures and countries they are serving in to better fight in the in those places, the folks who, you know, studied the life in Baghdad knew how to, you know, patrol the streets better.

AXELROD: Absolutely, absolutely, look, you know, Secretary Hegseth refers -- he's constantly referencing war fighters, but he is a culture war fighter. That's the war he is fighting and that is part of it. But, you know, also about young people, I think one of the -- they talk about American exceptionalism in this document. Part of what's exceptional about America is that we are -- that we are willing to reconcile ourselves with the past.

Yes, the founding fathers were flawed, and that was a, you know, a horrible moral blind spot on their part. That's horrifying to us today, they also had the foresight to create this extraordinary democracy, and we perfect it generation after generation, partly by understanding our history and living with our history, you know, and the Germans look at how they've handled the Holocaust. They don't run from it, it is taught because they don't want history to repeat itself. And it will if we allow it to be, as the professor says, whitewashed.

COOPER: David Axelrod, thank you. Cornell William Brooks, always, thank you, appreciate it.

Coming up next, a live report as troops deploy on the mall in Washington. And my conversation with Maryland's governor, Wes Moore.

Later, one of Jeffrey Epstein's survivor says, she went through the terrible choice she had to make to survive, she says, and what she wants to see happen now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:23:19]

COOPER: We're starting to see what the President's takeover of policing in Washington, D.C. looks like. National Guard troops arrived today. The Pentagon says about 800 have been activated in support of law enforcement agencies. Today, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters they made 23 arrests on charges ranging from fare evasion to homicide, and their role will be reevaluated, she said in 30 days.

She was asked about plans for other cities, which the President named yesterday, and she did not walk it back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, the President is speaking about what he'd like to see take place in other cities around the country. Right now, this administration is focused on making D.C. safe and beautiful again. When the time comes, we'll talk about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Among those other cities, the President mentioned in passing yesterday, which we should note are all governed by Democratic mayors, is Baltimore. Joining us now is Maryland's Democratic Governor, Wes Moore. Governor, it's good to see you.

You've said that the President's decision to deploy the National Guard, you called it deeply dangerous. What's your message to citizens who say to, you know, regardless of crime data or trends, this makes them feel safer?

GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD): Well, I'm embarrassed, I'm angered, and frankly, I'm heartbroken for the members of the National Guard who are asked to take on this mission. You know, as someone who has served this country overseas and who has led soldiers in combat and as someone who is not just the 63rd Governor of Maryland, but also the commander-in-chief of the Maryland National Guard. I take very seriously about how, when and why I deploy members of our National Guard in cases of emergency and in true crises. And I will not authorize the usage of Maryland National Guard forces for missions that I do not deem to be either mission critical or mission aligned.

And what we're seeing right now, this distraction distracting away from the fact that that Donald Trump's policies have caused unemployment to go up, have caused people to lose their healthcare, has caused children to be able to lose their food benefits, and he's now using this as a tool. He's using military personnel, these citizen soldiers as a cudgel and as a tool to be able to advance his political purposes, because if he really wants to address the issue of violent crime, he just needs to look at what we've done in the state of Maryland over the past two-and-a-half years.

[20:25:36]

Where when I first became governor in 2022, Baltimore was averaging almost a murder a day. Now, the homicide rate in Baltimore is nearly a 50-year low and we have watched how the state of Maryland has essentially helped to lead the country in drops in violent crime, in drops in non-fatal shootings, in drops in carjackings. So, if he truly wants to understand how to lower crime, he should pay attention to what we're doing in the state of Maryland. And I did it without ever having to once operationalize our National Guard to do municipal policing.

COOPER: I mean, you said Maryland has reduced its violent crime rate. According to the FBI crime database, Baltimore is still among the top three big cities for violent crime, isn't it, along with Memphis and Detroit?

MOORE: Well, I've been very clear that the number one priority for our administration is making sure that people can feel safe in their neighborhoods and safe in their communities. And if one person does not feel safe in their neighborhood or their community, that is one too many.

But it's the reason that we've done things like making historic investments in local law enforcement, making historic investments in predictive analytics and technologies, and making sure that if someone commits a violent crime, particularly with a handgun, I want them in handcuffs in 24-hours and making sure were making commitments and partnership with the mayor, with our county executives, with our local community members, and making sure were stopping the retaliatory nature of violence.

And so, while we are very encouraged by the numbers that we have seen, we have seen how the homicide rate in the state of Maryland is down upwards of 20 percent. Since I have been the governor, that the homicide rate in Baltimore City is now reaching 50-year lows. I know we still have work to do, but I also know how to use the right tools for the right mission and usage of the National Guard is not the right tools to be able to address what we're seeing and the encouraging progress that were seeing in the city of Baltimore.

COOPER: The governor of New York sent the National Guard into New York City to the subways and she says that that was successful. That crime actually went down in the subways. There are other groups that say, well, they were already heading on the way down once they when they were sent in. Would you ever foresee a role for the National Guard in even just making people feel safer on the streets or in the subways?

MOORE: I've mobilized the National Guard since I have been the Governor, but I also know it's a weight that I take very personally, and it's a weight that I take very seriously. Because the people of Maryland know, you know, my background is not as a politician. My background is as a soldier, and I take how we use our citizen soldiers very seriously. And it's important for people to remember that every time you mobilize the National Guard, there's two things that become important.

One, there is a cost to it, and it's not an unlimited cost. And so you have to understand that when we are utilizing the National Guard for things like municipal policing, that means that National Guard and resources that are not being used towards things like natural disasters, that's not being used towards things like utilizing utilization of the National Guard for foreign conflicts.

And also, the second thing to remember is this, the members of our National Guard, these are citizen soldiers. These are people with other jobs. These are people who have just chosen to take on this additional responsibility and raise their hands to serve the people of their states, because the state knows how and when to use them wisely. And so, the people of Maryland know that while I will be unafraid to utilize or mobilize members of the National Guard when there is a case of emergency, I will also not use it as just some type of political ploy or some political tool.

And they also know that this decision is being made by people who, frankly, have never worn the uniform themselves, that the only uniform they have worn are Brooks Brothers suits. And so, there's a lack of seriousness that is going to the decision making process about what you are doing and how you are impacting the lives of these men and women and their families.

COOPER: I was looking at crime stats in Washington, D.C., and with carjackings, it seems like actually a lot of young people are involved in it and often they're armed. I heard you speak recently about in Maryland, the attention you are paying to the plight of young men in this country and in your state. Can you just speak to that a little bit? It's a little tangential to what -- to this issue. But I was struck by some of your focus on, on the plight of young men these days.

MOORE: Yes, we've been very clear from the first days of our administration that in Maryland, we are going to put a focus on what is happening with our young men and boys. And I say it not just because of the data that we are seeing how the suicide rate for young men is four times what it is for young girls that we're watching over overdose rates, that we're watching job placement and college completion is the same as it was for young men in 1964.

But I also know a very personal experience that I'm a governor who had handcuffs on my wrists by the time I was 11 years old, that I'm a governor who watched my immigrant single mother have to raise us because my father died in front of me when I was three. That I was a person who joined the military when I was 17 years old after getting sent away to military school, when I was just becoming a teenager.

[20:30:39]

So I understand and we are going to put a real focus on addressing what is happening with our young men and boys and unearthing their talents.

It's the reason we made Maryland the first state in the country that now has a service year option for all of our high school graduates. It's the reason that we have a program called Thrive, an award-winning program that's targeting the young people in our state who either have the highest chance of either being the victim or the perpetrator of gun violence. And I know that over 95 percent of them are young boys.

And so in our state, we are focusing on helping our young men and boys. It is a necessary thing to do. And if you do that, it's not to the exclusion of what's happening to our young girls, but it's making sure that if you want to have strong families and strong communities, you have to be able to uplift the young men and boys who live in them as well.

COOPER: Governor Wes Moore, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.

MOORE: Thank you so much.

COOPER: Coming up next, new reporting on the Epstein investigation on Capitol Hill and who still might be called to testify before a House committee.

And later, from peace talks to now a listening exercise, the new expectations from the President's team for Friday's summit with Vladimir Putin, plus new details on where they'll meet in Alaska.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:36:26]

COOPER: Tonight, a Republican congresswoman from Florida says that a former federal prosecutor, Alex Acosta, who decided back in 2007 not to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges, can still be called to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

Back then, Acosta was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida and later was in President Trump's first-term Cabinet where he served for a short time as Secretary of Labor. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna tells the Palm Beach Post that even though Acosta is not currently on the committee's witness list, calling him is not off the table.

Acosta worked out a deal with Epstein's defense lawyers that resulted in Epstein pleading guilty to low-level prostitution charges. He served only 13 months in a minimum-security prison in Palm Beach. Joining me now is CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig, former federal prosecutor. In your view, how vital -- I mean, how important would it be to hear from Acosta?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: In my view, Alex Acosta is one of the true villains in this case, and if Congress is serious about getting the truth and accountability, he should be first on their witness list. So Acosta, as you said, was the U.S. attorney, chief federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida, which includes Miami.

The local police, along with his prosecutors and the FBI, put together a case they bring to him with three dozen identified child victims.

COOPER: He had a prosecutor who I think brought like 60 -- wanted to bring like --

HONIG: Yes.

COOPER: -- 60 charges.

HONIG: A prosecutor based on that drafts a 60, 6-0 count indictment, federal indictment, which would have included sex trafficking charges would -- which would have had Epstein, if convicted, locked up for a minimum of 10 years and probably closer to the maximum of life.

With all of that evidence, Acosta decides to give Jeffrey Epstein a non-prosecution agreement, meaning you don't have to plead to anything federal, you just have to plead to these minor state charges. As you said, Epstein ends up doing 13 months.

During that time, he's spending 12 hours a day on work release, scare quotes here, because he's at his attorney's office, something called the Florida Science Foundation, which, by the way, did not advance any science and was disbanded as soon as his sentence was done. It's an injustice.

COOPER: And did Acosta ever face any consequences or any --

HONIG: Barely. There was an OPR -- there was an ethics review by DOJ done years later that said, well, he should have handled things better. It's a softball report. But another thing that Acosta has to answer for, he mistreated victims. That report by OPR, by the Justice Department, found that Acosta, in his office, affirmatively misled.

COOPER: They lied to --

HONIG: They lied to them.

COOPER: -- victims.

HONIG: Yes, because they --

COOPER: Saying we're not going for -- saying we're -- this is still -- this case, we're still working on this case, when, in fact, they'd already -- they were pursuing the deal. HONIG: Exactly right. The ink was already dry on this sweetheart deal that they had given Epstein. And Acosta's office reaches out to these child victims and says, things are still pending. Please be patient. I mean -- and later, that report found that that was affirmatively misleading.

One other detail about that deal that Epstein got, part of that deal that's truly outrageous is Acosta said, not only are you, Jeffrey Epstein, going to get this passed, we also promise that your co- conspirators will never be prosecuted. And guess what's happening with that now? That is the hook that Ghislaine Maxwell is using to challenge her conviction.

She's trying to get the Supreme Court to take that right now. So, again, that's on Acosta. He has serious questions to answer.

COOPER: Yes.

Elie Honig, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

HONIG: Thanks, Anderson.

COOPER: Tonight, CNN's Randi Kaye speaks with one woman about her experience with Jeffrey Epstein when she was just 16, the trauma she has continued to experience and what she hopes to see happen now.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

HALEY ROBSON, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: It was a room inside of his master bedroom, and there was a steam shower, and he came out in a towel. I ended up in my underwear.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How did you end up in your underwear? Did he ask you to take your clothes off?

ROBSON: Yes. He asked me to take off my skirt.

[20:40:03]

KAYE (voice-over): Haley Robson still remembers the moment she met accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

ROBSON: Things got really uncomfortable. As I was in my underwear, he was naked. And that's when he was touching me in some very private areas on my body. And it went on for about an hour. He pleasured himself, made me watch.

KAYE (voice-over): Haley was just 16 years old at the time, a high school student.

ROBSON: The only thing I could think about was, how am I going to get out of here? Like, how am I getting out of this situation?

KAYE (voice-over): Haley says Epstein tried to use sex toys on her, and she refused. That's when she says he made this proposition. ROBSON: He just looked at me and said, well, you can bring me your friends. And for every friend that you bring me, I will compensate you for.

KAYE: So he was going to pay you to bring other young girls?

ROBSON: Correct.

KAYE: How much?

ROBSON: 200.

KAYE: Per girl?

ROBSON: Per child. Per girl, yes.

KAYE (voice-over): Haley agreed. And for two years, she recruited girls like herself for Epstein.

ROBSON: I think at the moment, it was an act of me trying to just survive and get out of the situation because I didn't know what to expect next. I didn't know what was going to happen. I think I brought around 8 to 10 girls, but I brought them to his house more than one time.

Haley remembers feeling devastated in 2007 when Epstein, who was facing federal charges for allegedly abusing young girls, cut a sweetheart deal with the government to avoid federal prosecution. Years later, when he was arrested again in 2019 in New York to face federal charges --

ROBSON: I wanted to have hope because it happened in New York. And I was like, OK, New York's going to come in. They're going to fix what Florida did or didn't do. This is going to be OK.

KAYE (voice-over): But it wasn't. A few months later, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell. Haley never met Ghislaine Maxwell. Still, when Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking, among other charges for her role in Epstein's alleged crimes, Haley says that felt like justice.

Maxwell appealed her conviction. And now with Epstein and Maxwell back in the news, it's been a struggle.

ROBSON: It delays your healing because you get to a point where it's like, how can I move past this trauma when every day I wake up, it's in my face, it's in the news, it's on my phone.

KAYE (voice-over): The fact that Maxwell has been moved to a minimum security prison, plus all the talk of a possible pardon for her and testimony before Congress hasn't helped.

ROBSON: I don't think Ghislaine has anything to say. I think it's all rubbish. I think it's dishonesty. It's a huge mistake for her to have been moved in the first place. If you pardon her, you will be making a huge error. KAYE (voice-over): And as far as that so-called list of names goes that many wanted to be made public --

ROBSON: The government has been gaslighting the public with a list that doesn't exist for political gain.

KAYE (voice-over): Until this all blows over, Haley will build on her years of therapy.

ROBSON: I'll probably be in therapy for the rest of my life. Just from this whole situation with Jeffrey.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KAYE (on-camera): And Anderson, Haley does, of course, want full transparency from the White House in this case. She said she would even like the grand jury testimony from the Ghislaine Maxwell case released with the names of the victims and the survivors redacted. She thinks that's very important.

She does not believe that the White House has been transparent in the Epstein case. In fact, she would like to see the whole case unsealed, let the public have a look at it so she can move forward. She has been trying to rebuild her life, Anderson, and all the while raising her 11-year-old daughter, who she told me she has been pretty open with about the man, she says, who destroyed her life, that being Jeffrey Epstein, Anderson.

COOPER: Randi Kaye, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Just ahead, we have more breaking news. We now know the exact location of President Trump's summit on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

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COOPER: Well, that's not good. Two Chinese ships collide in one of the world's most highly contested waterways. Details next.

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[20:48:51]

COOPER: More breaking news tonight. The White House says President Trump will hold his summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Anchorage, Alaska at Joint Base Elmendorf- Richardson. Now, the Trump administration has scrambled to find an acceptable site.

They wanted to avoid hosting Putin and his entourage at a U.S. military installation. They concluded it's the only viable option. It's a short notice and it's just three days to go. The White House appears to be lowering any expectations of major breakthroughs in trying to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a listening exercise for the President. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present. And so this is for the President to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: In the meantime, Russian forces are ramping up their attacks in eastern Ukraine. More from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forget a moment about Alaska and imagine being here, where Russia is advancing, where its drones could not reach when we were there a week ago, despite the endless talk of a peace deal. It's exactly here that land might be swapped.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There'll be some land swapping going on.

[20:50:05]

PATON WALSH (voice-over): His special envoy's visit to the Kremlin, leading to reports Ukraine might just give away Donetsk. And sparking panic among real people here yesterday at a Donetsk railway station and, frankly, all over Ukraine.

PATON WALSH: Speaking to European officials over the past days, one of the challenges seems to have been for them, trying to clarify exactly what it was that U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff was offered by the Kremlin. What are the bones and details of that potential deal? And that just adds to how unconventional this whole process feels.

A meeting of this grandeur would take months, normally, to prepare with the agenda and details ironed out by teams of diplomats for months. Instead, at this point, so much is still unknown.

TRUMP: This is really a feel-out meeting, a little bit.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): President Trump has lowered expectations for their first meeting in six years. While Russia keeps flaunting claims it's captured towns like this.

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE (through translation): He is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire or ending war.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): President Zelenskyy clear, as the evidence supports so far, Putin does not seek peace.

ZELENSKYY (THROUGH TRANSLATION): There is no sign that the Russians have received signals to prepare for a post-war situation. On the contrary, they are moving their troops and forces in such a way as to launch new offensive operations.

PATON WALSH (voice-over): On the eastern front line, near this town, Dobropillia, reports Tuesday emerged of a notable Russian advance. The extent or permanence unclear, but enough to spark denials and reinforcements from Kyiv.

Wednesday, Zelenskyy will join German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other key European leaders, and this time, President Trump to pre-game Alaska. Clarifying, if the White House hasn't heard it yet, that Europe wants a ceasefire first and Ukraine at the table.

But what awaits in Alaska? Likely only Putin and Trump. And from that, a roll of the dice between two men whose relationship is impenetrable, but could decide the fate of tens of millions of lives in Ukraine and beyond.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER: I want to check out this wild scene in the South China Sea. Watch closely.

Chinese Coast Guard ship collides with a Chinese warship while both move at high speeds. Now, the Chinese ships were chasing a Philippine Coast Guard vessel. The South China Sea is one of the world's busiest waterways. It's the site of frequent territorial disputes between China, the Philippines, and other nations in that part of Asia.

China has made no mention so far of the incident.

Coming up next, the cryptic social media post, a mysterious countdown clock, and a special podcast appearance sent Swifties into a frenzy. Details ahead.

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[20:57:34]

COOPER: Taylor Swift surprised fans and announced her 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," the first new album since her record- breaking Eras Tour ended late last year. Elizabeth Wagmeister has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TAYLOR SWIFT, AMERICAN SINGER: So I wanted to show you something.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a brand new era for Taylor Swift fans. In the middle of the night, the Grammy-winning superstar made a huge announcement that has Swifties all over the world going wild.

TRAVIS KELCE, PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLER: OK. What do we got?

SWIFT: We got -- KELCE: Briefcase?

SWIFT: Yes.

KELCE: Mint green with TS on it.

SWIFT: Yes. Yes.

KELCE: What's in it?

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Swift appearing in a new teaser for boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce's New Heights podcast shared on social media at exactly 12:12 a.m. on August 12th, no less.

SWIFT: This is my brand new album, "The Life of a Showgirl."

KELCE: TS 12!

SWIFT: Yes.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): To announce her 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," which follows her 31-song double album, "The Tortured Poets Department." It'll also be her first since the end of her record-breaking Eras Tour, which surpassed $2 billion in ticket sales, making history as the top tour of all time.

And also her first album since becoming the owner of her entire catalog of music following the contentious sale of her masters from her first six albums in 2019. Swift's legion of fans seem to know something big was coming with several clues or Easter eggs on Monday, including a very prominent color theme.

First, the Kelce brothers revealed that a very special guest would be joining their podcast this Wednesday. Swifties immediately speculating that the silhouette in the picture was Swift. Then a countdown clock appeared on her website with a sparkly orange background.

Another clue? Her official social team, Taylor Nation, posted 12 photos of Swift in, you guessed it, orange outfits from her Eras Tour, with the message, "Thinking about when she said, 'See you next era.'"

No word yet when "The Life of a Showgirl" will be released. But after the album reveal overnight, pre-sales crashed her website. And the site says pre-orders will ship before October 13th, 13 being a favorite number of Swift's, and possibly indicating a fall release.

And just to solidify the power of Taylor Swift even more, the iconic Empire State Building got in on the action, lighting up New York City in orange overnight and sharing the message on social media onto the next era.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER: Can't wait to hear it. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.