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Soon, DOJ to Interview Ghislaine Maxwell for Second Day; New York Times Reports, Trump's Name on Contributor List for Epstein Birthday Book; Pressure Builds on U.S. as Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Worsens. Aired 7-7:30a ET
Aired July 25, 2025 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:00:00]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today, if a first meeting was highly unorthodox, what does that make, a second meeting in two days? The deputy attorney general of the United States said to meet again today with Jeffrey Epstein's convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell. What's being asked? What's being negotiated?
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. and Israel walk out of Gaza ceasefire talks as the United Nations warns that people in Gaza look like, quote, walking corpses, a new demand defeats starving people there.
And a new warning about the impact of the president's mass deportation on the U.S. economy.
Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Baldwin, and this is CNN News Central.
BOLDUAN: An unusual meeting, to say the least, set for round two. In just hours, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and longtime Jeffrey Epstein Associate Ghislaine Maxwell will meet again at the U.S. attorney's office in Tallahassee, Florida. That's the city where Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of conspiring with Epstein sexually abused young girls.
There are big questions around all of this and few answers at this point. Starting with yesterday's meeting, what was asked in that meeting? What information did Maxwell provide? And can she be trusted to tell the truth? Here's what her attorney said afterward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MARKUS, ATTORNEY FOR GHISLAINE MAXWELL: He took a full day and asked a lot of questions, and Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped. She never invoked a privilege. She never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly, and to the best of her ability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: So, Todd Blanche has said that the Justice Department will share any information that they learn, quote, at the appropriate time. So stand by to stand by.
So, as they are set to meet again, that bizarre kind of meeting highlights how much the White House is struggling to turn the page on the Epstein focus. The bipartisan calls from Congress are growing for DOJ to release the already existing and already redacted files that they have on the Epstein investigation.
The Republican chair of House Oversight, James Comer, has issued a subpoena to depose Maxwell. He's also now saying he's moving quickly with issuing a subpoena to the Justice Department for all of those Epstein files.
CNN's Kara Scannell tracking this one for us this morning. And, Kara, there's a lot going on here, but let's talk about this meeting today, what is known and not known about what they talked about yesterday in Florida and what's expected down today?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. Yes, Todd Blanche is returning to that courthouse for a second meeting with Jeffrey Epstein's, former girlfriend and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. And we know very little about the content of what was discussed yesterday, but they were behind those doors for at least six hours. We saw them arrive just around 9:00 A.M. and leave around. 4:00 P.M. And her lawyer said that they were, that they was asked a lot of questions, that she answered all of them truthfully. And, apparently, they're going back at this again today.
Now, it's really unclear the scope of what these questions entailed and why it requires a second meeting. What Todd Blanche said was this reason for meeting with Maxwell was because he wanted to know if she knew anything about other crimes committed by anybody else involving these victims. You know, Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking for helping recruit and groom women for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually assault, and, in some instances, sexually assaulting them herself.
She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. And the big question looming over this is what was she offered to participate in this meeting? She has long maintained her innocence and her credibility is also at issue here. When she was initially indicted on those sex trafficking charges, she was also charged by the Justice Department with perjury for statements she made under oath in a civil lawsuit brought by an accuser, in which she said she knew nothing about Epstein's scheme to abuse underage girls and that she knew nothing about any other activities.
[07:05:01]
So, why would her testimony now be credited and what is it that they're asking her that requires her to come back for a second day after already spending about six hours with her when she has always maintained her innocence?
So, a lot of questions that we're still waiting for answers for, and maybe we will get more of that after the meeting today if her lawyer does address the press again or if Todd Blanche does provide more information. But still, big questions, what were the ground rules here? What has she answered and do they believe her now and compared to what they had said were blatant lies perjury before?
BOLDUAN: That's a great point, Kara. Thank you so much. We will see what happens. John?
BERMAN: All right. This morning The New York Times reports that the president's name appeared in a contributor list for a book celebrating Jeffrey Epstein's 50th birthday. Important to note, the president has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to his relationship with Epstein, but that new reporting comes just days after the president denied writing a note for a birthday book that featured a hand drawn sketch of a nude woman.
CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House with the latest on this. Good morning, Kevin.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, good morning. This birthday book is emerging as kind of, a plot point in this larger Epstein saga and this revelation that Trump's name appears on the contributor list, I think accelerates interest in it. Although I'm not sure it really advances what we know about the president's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein back in the 1990s and 2000s.
You know, we know that we were that they were friends, but we do keep getting some glimpses that adds some more contours of what exactly that friendship looked like. So, for example, the New York Times also published a photo of Epstein, Trump and James Brown, the godfather of soul. They also found an inscription that Trump wrote on his book, the Art of the Comeback, saying, Jeff, you are the greatest.
Now, what the White House has said that this is all sort of a different era, that this all occurred before the two men had a falling out and that Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago for, quote, being a creep. The White House says that it's fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media. But at least when it comes to this birthday book, it does seem, at least within the realm of possible that it will sort of be made public at some point.
The book is in the possession of the Epstein estate. One Democratic representative, Ro Khanna, says that he will subpoena the estate to get that book, and the estate has said that they will comply with all legal processes, which could also be critical in the president's lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, which had reported that the president drew a lewd photograph or a lewd drawing in the book with a note that he's denied and is now suing them for $20 billion.
And so the president clearly trying to make this go away in some ways, he will be putting some geographic distance between himself and this story later today. He's said to leave in about an hour for Scotland. He's visiting his golf courses there. He'll also meet with the prime minister. But it's not entirely clear that, you know, the entire Atlantic Ocean will cause this story to completely die away.
BERMAN: No. I mean, even before he gets to the ocean, even before he gets on the helicopter, one might think that reporters could ask him questions about what's going on at especially these Todd Blanche meetings. Kevin Liptak, you're there. Thank you. Keep us posted. We'll talk to you soon. Kate?
BOLDUAN: Let's see if we hear from him this morning during the show.
As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza becomes more dire, there is new CNN reporting today about the Trump administration not having really any high level position to specifically focus on humanitarian aid, eliminating that position.
And the FCC green lights the mega merger between Paramount and Skydance. Why the FCC chair says he welcomes, quote, significant changes at CBS News.
And multiple affairs, lavish gifts, and a horror movie, the new details in the trial that are coming out of the Colorado dentist accused of murdering his wife, including James Craig's alleged fantasies about the movie, The Purge.
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[07:10:00]
BOLDUAN: The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has gone from bad, horrible to dire. Images are coming out, showing starving children, and they're shocking the world, as pressure mounts on the United States to do something, do more and step in.
900,000 children are going hungry. The estimates are 70,000 already showed signs of malnutrition. This is according to numbers from the Gaza Health Ministry, all from what humanitarian groups on the ground call a manmade crisis. More than 100 of those groups have come together to call on Israel to end its blockade and allow more food, water, and medical supplies into Gaza.
The U.N. now says that people in Gaza are beginning to resemble walking corpses. And there's also new CNN reporting that gets to all of this. CNN has found that there is no high level official in the Trump administration tasked with focusing on this humanitarian crisis.
CNN's Jennifer Hansler has this reporting and she's joining us right now for more. Jennifer, tell us what you've learned about this.
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Kate, under the Biden administration, there was a role called the Special Envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues. This role was created shortly after the October 7th attack, and their entire job was to coordinate the diplomatic efforts to press the Israeli government and work with them to increase aid into the Gaza Strip. They would press them to open more access points and to allow more aid and different types of aid into the strip.
[07:15:05]
Now, the Trump administration has not appointed any such official to this role. And to our understanding, we don't even know if this role even actually exists anymore. There is an official on special envoy, Witkoff's team, who has done some coordination on this matter. But former officials tell us that Israeli officials have indicated that the absence of such a dedicated special envoy indicates to them that this may not be a priority for the Trump administration.
Now, the Trump administration instead has put all of its heft and its pressure behind this controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This is a U.S.-backed private organization that has seen a lot of controversy. There have been a lot of killings around its aid sites in Gaza. But every time we ask the State Department what they are doing to increase aid into the strip, they point to this foundation. Take a listen to what Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY PIGOTT, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, STATE DEPARTMENT: We are seeing aid being delivered, despite the actions of Hamas here, and those 90 million meals are to be applauded in terms of that effort. Of course, it will never be enough until we see an end to this conflict, but the entity that is standing in the way of ending this conflict is Hamas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANSLER: Now, of course, you know, it is notable that they are acknowledging that there is not enough aid going in, but questions really remain here, Kate, about what they are going to do to increase pressure to get more aid into this strip.
Now, I should note that both the Biden and the Trump administration have faced scrutiny about not applying enough pressure on the Israeli government to lift these restrictions on aid to allow more people into the strip, but now the consequences are extremely dire. We see people starving to death. As you mentioned, thousands of people are suffering from malnutrition. And now with these ceasefire efforts on ice, there are even more risks that there could be prolonged suffering in the Gaza Strip. Kate?
BOLDUAN: Jennifer, thank you so much for your reporting. I really appreciate it.
Coming up still for us, President Trump is taking aim at -- is targeting now college sports with a new executive order. What's in it and why it may not be the quick fix that the White House hopes it is and promises it will be.
And flash flooding rescues in New Mexico are happening as a mobile home gets washed away. We've got new reporting on more severe weather.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:20:00]
BERMAN: So, this morning, President Trump has signed an executive order on college sports warning schools they should not allow third party pay-for-play payments to athletes.
Let's get right to CNN's Andy Scholes. Unclear exactly how this will play out, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It's been unclear for so long, right, permit, I mean, over the last few years, college athletics, I mean, it's become just a wild west when it comes to these NIL deals, the conferences. They would love for some sort of national solid framework and guidelines to go by. And President Trump, he did sign an executive order yesterday directing members of his cabinet to develop a plan in the next 30 days to, quoting from the executive order, prevent this situation from deteriorating beyond repair.
Now, a big part of the order would prohibit pay-for-play payments to college athletes from third parties. Now, the Power Four Conferences really trying to stop those pay-for-play payments. They also created the College Sports Commission in an effort to vet all third party deals.
Now, the goal for everyone is just to try to make sure that an NIL deal is actually a legit endorsement deal and not just pay-for-play.
Now, Bill Belichick, meanwhile, he's now dealing with all of this as the head coach of North Carolina. He had loads of cameras following him around for ACC Media Day in Charlotte yesterday on a six time Super Bowl champ. Didn't get into his interesting offseason, but he did talk about the differences he's already seen in coaching college kids versus the pros.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BELICHICK, HEAD COACH, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA FOOTBALL TEAM: The players are a little bit younger and less skilled. Sometimes that's an advantage. There are fewer bad habits to break. But I would say also the players are, I would say, much more receptive to the coaching. They haven't had as long with the way that they were doing it, you know, through a college career, maybe even through some pro years, where they were, you know, starting to develop some habits they were comfortable with and they were a little harder to change. I'd say, you know, with our players, they've been very receptive to everything we've asked them to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now, Belichick in North Carolina opened up against TCU on Labor Day.
Aaron Rogers meanwhile practicing as a sealer for the first time yesterday, his first pass would be an interception, but Rogers says Steelers fans should not worry that that's a bad omen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AARON RODGERS, PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK: And it's good to get that out the way. It's good to get it out the way. I mean, anybody that's watched me practice over the years, you know, you like to try certain throws at certain times, and anybody that's watched me in the games knows them. I've been pretty stellar taking care of the football over the years. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yes. The NFL preseason actually kicks off next Thursday, Berman, with the Hall of Fame game, which means that we've almost made it. This is going to be the last week/weekend without football until February.
BERMAN: Oh, yes. But I'm full into the training camp podcast, you know, following it every day. The Aaron Rogers experience, you know, the Steelers enjoying it already, I am sure.
Andy Scholes, nice to see you. Thank you very much.
SCHOLES: All right.
BERMAN: All right. New reporting this morning on how President Trump's mass deportations could backfire on the U.S economy.
And big changes to Uber, women will soon be able to request a female driver.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:25:00]
BERMAN: We are standing by to see President Trump leave the White House this morning for a trip to Scotland. One would think he will face questions about the new developments surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. As the president departs on this trip, the deputy attorney general of the United States will begin a new day of questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell, who is, of course, convicted of conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls.
With us now, CNN political commentator, Maria Cardona, also with U.S. former press adviser for then Speaker John Baer Maura Gillespie.
Maria, a second day of questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell, six hours yesterday, behind closed doors today, the first question people are asking is, you know, what is she?
