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Trump & Starmer Meet In Scotland For Talks On Trade, Gaza, Ukraine; Trump Again Doesn't Rule Out Pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell; U.S. Reaches Terms For Trade Deal With European Union; Trump Breaks With Netanyahu, Who Claims "No Starvation" In Gaza; Israel Eases Restrictions On Gaza Aid After Global Outcry. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 28, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Trump trying to build on the momentum from a deal with the E.U. during trade talks with the U.K. but a starvation crisis in Gaza and stalled peace talks in Ukraine take up much of his focus on the trip to Scotland.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And given another opportunity to shut down chatter about a possible pardon for convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, once again the President does not rule it out.

And later, American Airlines passengers frantically evacuating their plane in Denver watching from the tower an air traffic controller tells the pilot, quote, "You're actually on fire."

We're following these major development stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: We do start with breaking news, President Trump on the world stage touting a major victory while also facing significant challenges back home and abroad. The President meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer today after the U.S. announced a new trade agreement with the European Union. But much of their talk, as Trump acknowledged, focused on the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.

The World Health Organization says malnutrition related deaths are spiking there this month with 63 dying in July alone. President Trump announced a new U.S. plan to open food centers in the enclave, though it's unclear exactly what that means - what that would entail.

At the same time, he's pushing for peace between Russia and Ukraine. The President demanding a truce and shortening the deadline for Putin to get to one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today. There's no reason in waiting. There's no reason in waiting. It's 50 days. I want to be generous, but we just don't see any progress being made. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: President Trump is also facing severe political fallout from the Epstein file saga and today he again chose not to rule out possibly pardoning convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House.

Alayna, let's start with the war in Ukraine. What are officials telling you about this new ultimatum?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yes, look, I think even just from watching the President and listening to his tone there, he's gone from being - we know he is a bit long been frustrated with how Russian President Vladimir Putin has been handling this - frustrated with him promising one thing or saying things on the phone directly with President Donald Trump just to continue with his a very harsh and aggressive bombing campaign of Ukraine.

What you heard from the President there in that clip you played Brianna is really the President being resigned to the sense that a deal is very much unlikely at this juncture. And so, he's saying you know that 50-day deadline he issued just two weeks ago is now likely to be shortened. Of course, we'll have to see if that actually happens if he really does start to take some action against Russia in 10 to 12 days.

But what they have floated before and what they're continuing to tell me in my conversations with them here at the White House is that he is still very open to putting sanctions on Russia to having secondary tariffs on some of the countries that buy oil and gas, for example, from Russia, really ramp up the pressure on them if a deal is not possible. And part of that as well I'm told is because they recognize that that long deadline that 50 days that the President initially given Putin to try and come to the table here would give him a lot of time to try and make more advances in Ukraine. And so, that's been weighing on the President as well.

It's unclear, of course, at this point whether or not he's going to be talking to Putin anytime soon before that deadline but you can see again the President there really resigned and almost kind of accepting this idea that despite what he had talked about even leading up to him taking office before he even got into office and began his second term this idea of wanting to end the war believing that if he could sit down and have a conversation with Putin that they could come to some sort of agreement.

It seems that he has moved on from that and recognizes the new reality, which is that that is unlikely to happen and that he needs to start taking some severe action against Russia to try and put them in a much tougher spot than they have been so far.

KEILAR: And Alayna, so much of these discussions have centered on trade negotiations as the President is imposing new tariffs what more is the White House saying? TREENE: Yes. Well, we know that that deadline - the new deadline I

should say we've seen it shift many times now. But the new deadline for these tariffs is this Friday August 1st and today we had a major breakthrough when they announced a trade deal with the European Union. And I think what's so important to note about that, Brianna, is that this is actually one of the blocks he's been always looking at the European Union, that's 27 nations, looking at negotiating with each of those individual countries as one unit all under the E.U.

[15:05:10]

And he's really struggled with this. That has actually been one of the agreements that I know the President has been most frustrated about behind the scenes. He's long believed that the E.U. is taking advantage of the United States and often has criticized them more than other trading partners of the U.S.

But today he announced this deal. He said it's going to be a 15 percent levy on most imports from the E.U. moving forward. And he said that the E.U. agreed to purchase $750 billion worth of energy from the U.S. and another $600 billion on top of that for other goods. They said that they want that to be done by 2028.

Of course, this is so important because, Brianna, the E.U. is America's largest trading partner. When you take all those 27 countries together having some sort of escalating trade war with them would be very bad for the United States. The President knows that and his team knew that. And so, they have somehow made this deal now. They've come together and made this deal before that deadline. Something we saw many other European leaders across the E.U. also celebrating today.

KEILAR: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's dig into this trade agreement with the European Union now. We're joined by a former deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department, Aaron Klein. He's also a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Aaron, great to see you as always.

Bottom line, is this deal good for the United States and American consumers?

AARON KLEIN, FORMER TREASURY DEPARTMENT DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY: Well, look, Trump is reprising his playbook, which is to promise massive tariffs and then cut a deal so that there are tariffs, they're just not as large as he had threatened. We've seen this playbook over and over and over again. He's just reprising the same thing.

American consumers are going to pay more. If you like European cars, if you like French wine, cosmetics, you're going to be paying more for a lot of these goods. The European Union is our largest trading partner and Trump just raised prices on everything that comes from it.

SANCHEZ: Is there some net benefit though to the administration's argument that now American businesses are going to have more access to European markets that now the playing field when it comes to trade with the E.U. is more balanced.

KLEIN: Well it's not more balanced. It's certainly tilted more in America's favor by charging Europe a higher rate than our goods are going to be getting in to there. So, in that way, there are some benefits. I don't think they're net benefits, but I do think there'll be some people that will benefit. In fact American car makers may benefit because European cars will be more expensive here. The question is do consumers benefit. Overall in the aggregate, I think we're going to be losing by ratcheting up this trade war.

Look, I know Trump always promises a golden age - that once you get everything of his in place, it's just going to be this beautiful, magical golden age. And then something happens, and it's not his fault, and he moves on to the next area. So, I think, net-net, the budget lab at Yale has predicted that all of Trump's tariffs, writ large, will slow the economy by about half a percent this year. And we'll see how it comes out.

SANCHEZ: Now, we'll be watching that closely. I do wonder what you make of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying that broad tariffs will undoubtedly go into effect August 1st. We've heard the administration put out deadlines that then get extended. Should we expect any deals before then? What do you think is going to happen by the start of next month.

KLEIN: Well, look, I do think that there'll be more deals coming in and then I think deadlines will be extended because that's what we've seen in the past. These threats of draconian tariffs Trump always chickens out has become a meme and a trading thing. And in Wall Street, I don't think we're going to see the world turned upside down on August 1. I think he's closing in on a deal with England, that's reportedly 10 percent tariffs, which will be lower than the European Union. And I think we'll sow some discord in Europe.

I don't think the administration has really thought through what it means when you agree with the European Union as a bloc and each individual European country has lost sovereignty to make their own deal. You've seen the French be more upset about this deal than other people within the European Union. And this type of escalating our tariffs and our tensions with Europe who should be our closest ally, you know, that could have some long term consequences that economists haven't figured out in their in their models. But it concerns me when you think about the world and the future more generally.

SANCHEZ: And lastly, Aaron, going back to what you mentioned a moment ago about American consumers. When Trump says he wants to use some of the revenue that's been created by tariffs or excise taxes that include tariffs. How likely is that to happen? Do you think we're going to get a check in the mail anytime soon?

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KLEIN: Well, no, I mean, the American public just wrote the biggest check for debt in our history with the passage of his giant bill which was a massive tax cut and we'll run up the deficit. These tariffs will bring some money into our coffers. They'll be paid by American consumers as a tax on higher prices for those who buy or need imported goods. And that will offset some of the revenue lost with the massive tax cuts that just went through, but nobody's getting any checks in the mail.

And if you do, just know that's being funded by a bond being put out that your kids and grandkids are going to have to repay with interest.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Aaron Klein, appreciate the point of view. Thanks for being with us.

KLEIN: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Brianna.

KEILAR: Attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell made a final pitch to the Supreme Court today asking the justices to overturn her 2021 conviction for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse young girls. Her attorneys argue that it violates an agreement Epstein made that shielded any co-conspirators from prosecution. That was a deal made in 2008.

The Justice Department wants the High Court to reject her appeal. But Maxwell's attorney said in a statement, quote, "We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Gillen Maxwell for Epstein's crimes especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted."

In the meantime, a source tells CNN that Maxwell received limited immunity to speak with the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche who is formerly the President's personal lawyer when they spoke about the Epstein files last week those discussions were not mentioned in today's filing. These developments coming as President Trump was asked again whether he's ruled out a pardon for Maxwell. He's been asked now multiple times. And here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody's approached me with it. Nobody's asked me about it. It's in the news about that aspect of it, but right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We're joined now by Gloria Allred, representing women who were abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

And Gloria, you hear the President, they're not ruling out pardoning Maxwell here. One Epstein abuse survivor Teresa Helm said that if she were to receive a pardon, quote, "It would mean the complete crumbling of this justice system that should first and foremost stand for, fight for and protect survivors."

Do the victims that you're talking to share that view?

GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY FOR EPSTEIN VICTIMS: Well, I think they're more concerned frankly about other issues. And, for example, the issue of privacy: Is their privacy going to be protected? Are they going to learn the truth? Are they going to find that there's transparency in the process? Will there be justice?

And right now, we're - you know, we're talking about: Do the Democrats benefit? Do the Republicans benefit? Does Ms. Maxwell benefit? What is the President going to do? But what about the victims?

They have been on a roller coaster. In Florida when there was an investigation by the U.S. Attorney and there was going to be a case filed in Florida some years ago against Jeffrey Epstein, it never happened because instead the federal government decided, well, it can be a state prosecution. He got a sweetheart deal where he was able to work outside in his office during the day and sleep in the in the jail at night. And then - so justice was denied to the victims then.

Now, here we are, they were - they had their hopes raised. It would be a trial in New York after he was arrested and indicted. And then, he dies in prison whether it was suicide, whether it was homicide, I'll leave that for another time. But point was there was no trial. There was no justice. I was there the last time he came into federal court, Jeffrey Epstein.

And many of the victims were there and they were hoping that there would be a trial and they'd learn more about his scheme, his motives and basically the scope of what he did to child victims and victims, it didn't happen because he died. Now, their hopes are raised again with Congress wanting to subpoena the files, intending to subpoena the files.

But they're also concerned now, because I heard, for example, one elected official, I won't name him, but I saw him on the news, he said yes they want the full files and there shouldn't be any redaction. Where there needs to be ...

KEILAR: Well, why not name him if you said he's on the news. Who is it?

ALLRED: Well, okay, I'm just going to leave that for another time.

[15:15:01]

But I will say, he has to take into account, all the elected officials have to take into account that none of the child victims should be named, none of the adult victims should be named. And definitely there are videos. There is child pornography. Some of our clients, some of them may have been videoed in sexual acts to which they didn't have any knowledge. They didn't have any consent. Those videos were being taken. And so, no, as the - you know, elected officials should not be viewing those videos. Nobody should be viewing those videos.

And whether they're adults or involved in that or children, the names have to be redacted. Elected officials should not be watching pornography.

KEILAR: Yes.

Allred: But they're also that - but there has to be full transparency. There has to be some justice. There has to be some discussion of how they have been damaged. Not just that this was evil. But how did it hurt the children. How did it hurt the adult victims? And as to Ms. Maxwell, well, that's fine to have that kind of discussion. But all I can say is it should not happen at the cost of invading the privacy of the victims but also they have to be corroborated.

KEILAR: But talk about the idea of a - Gloria, the talk of a pardon. I mean, this is someone convicted of sex trafficking, who it - in all of the reporting and what we do know was instrumental in this process of recruiting girls, of grooming girls, of, you know, allegedly holding their passports so that they couldn't leave that island. I mean, do you see any problems with the talk of Maxwell getting a pardon? And what are you hearing from the victims that you are talking to that you currently represent or have represented?

ALLRED: Well, again, I don't know if - I don't know whether the President is looting this idea to see how the public or elected officials would react. I don't know if he's serious and he says he hasn't thought about it. I don't know. There's no question that Ms. Maxwell would like to either have a pardon or some commutation of her sentence or something.

But let's see what she has to say. Let's see what the Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Blanche, decides is going to be revealed and, if so, when. He said when it's appropriate. When would it be appropriate?

And we don't want just to see the grand jury transcripts. That's only a very small part of this whole case. I want to see the whole file of the Southern District of New York prosecutors who were prosecuting not only Ms. Maxwell but who intended to prosecute Jeffrey Epstein. I want to see the file from the state prosecution in Florida and also more about what was going to be a federal prosecution in Florida before they decided to pass it off to the state.

KEILAR: Yes.

ALLRED: So, those are the questions and, you know, with all due respect, I know there has to be corroboration of whatever Ms. Maxwell says. I would like to not prejudge, you know, what's going to happen, whether you give her a pardon or not. I want to know what she has to say.

KEILAR: Okay, so then ...

ALLRED: And I want to see the evidence that corroborates what she has to say.

KEILAR: Okay. The voices - the victims, right? They could corroborate, voices of victims are really what turned the tide on this story, finally. We saw that in the 2018 Miami Herald reporting.

ALLRED: I agree.

KEILAR: And, of course, many of them want to remain anonymous, understandably. But a number of them have not and they've wanted to come out. There are also people who have settled cases and signed nondisclosure agreements as part of that process such that they couldn't come forward even if they wanted to discuss the issue when it came to Epstein.

Is that the case when it comes to Maxwell? Are they going to be precluded from coming forward and talking about Maxwell whose conviction was at least seen as some sort of justice for many of these victims if they have signed these nondisclosure agreements and settlements in the Epstein matter?

ALLRED: Well, I would say, Brianna, that's a great question, because it also involves nondisclosure agreements for many others, you know, who may have signed. But an exception to nondisclosure agreements is always that victims can talk to law enforcement, that they can testify in a criminal trial. So, it's not like a completely silencing of victims at all if they signed those agreements because there's always an exception and some of them have spoken to prosecutors.

[15:19:59]

I want to say this, too. You know some of those videos may have been used by Jeffrey Epstein to blackmail some of the victims, child victims. In other words, if you ever tell you ever speak those videos will be shown. And that may be true for adult victims of adult sexual abuse by him as well.

KEILAR: Is that what you've heard from victims?

ALLRED: You know, I don't like to say and I won't ever say what my clients tell me, because I don't think you that's appropriate (INAUDIBLE) .,.

KEILAR: No, but you said that you've represented more than 20 of them. So, we're just trying to get a sense of their concerns ...

ALLRED: I have.

KEILAR: ... especially as there are all of these questions about what they can and cannot say if they've signed NDAs or they just want to remain anonymous. So, can you give us a sense of that?

ALLRED: Yes. They definitely can speak. They can definitely can speak to law enforcement, no question about it.

KEILAR: Well, certainly, at this point in time as you're well aware it's - this is really in the court of public opinion, because you have the President floating this idea of a pardon. And Maxwell's conviction is really seen as sort of the - some of the best justice.

ALLRED: Yes.

KEILAR: The only justice with Epstein dying that many of these victims are going to get.

ALLRED: Well, with NDAs, non-disclosure agreements, which many never signed by the way, if, in fact, they want to speak to law enforcement they can. That does not include the court of public opinion.

KEILAR: Yes.

ALLRED: That's clear. But I am concerned because they are very worried about these videos getting out. Okay, some of them by the way have learned about those videos, but they've never seen themselves in the video. They didn't want to see the videos that the government had. But they were told some of them that they were in the videos which was shocking and very traumatic and very triggering and very disturbing. They were - they have been completely betrayed by Jeffrey Epstein and they don't want to be betrayed by elected officials who may have good motives and they don't want to be betrayed by anyone else either.

What they want is they want accountability. They have received some. But, of course, it's never going to be enough and shouldn't be considered enough, even if they did receive compensation they want the truth and that's what we have to get. But it should not be done at the cost of victims. If they want to speak out. If the - you know, if for example if the Congress wants to take their depositions, if they want them to speak at a public hearing, that's up to the victims, they should never be compelled to do that. They shouldn't be subpoenaed to do that. They should do it voluntarily if they want to. And they should also be able to do it without their names being out there and perhaps not having their faces out there either.

Judging what the President should do is really for another time for them. They want to know more about what Jeffrey Epstein knew. And I know that we want to know more about any third parties, the so-called client list. Maybe there wasn't a client list. I can't say whether there was or not. But I can say this: I do believe that there were third parties who also exploited them who - people who knew Jeffrey Epstein and who came into contact with some of his victims.

So, you know, I think that should be part of the focus of this investigation, but again just because allegations were made and their names are out there in the report in all fairness to them that doesn't mean they were among those who did sexually abuse or exploit the child victims of Jeffrey Epstein or the adult victims of Jeffrey.

KEILAR: All right. Gloria Allred, thank you so much.

ALLRED: Thank you.

KEILAR: And still to come, President Trump breaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and saying there is real starvation in Gaza. We'll discuss that.

And then, later a new study finding that one simple activity can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's. We'll tell you what it is. We have these important stories and more coming up this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: The world is taking note of how President Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today or rather broke with him and his rhetoric about Gaza. Trump contradicted Netanyahu's claim that there was no starvation in the enclave. Trump also stressed that feeding Palestinians was a priority in U.S. talks today alongside the British prime minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids are - that's real starvation stuff. I see it. And you can't fake that. So, we're going to be even more involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER: There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza. We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza. Otherwise there would be no Gazans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live for us in Jerusalem.

Jeremy, Israel is now allowing what officials are calling tactical pauses in military activity to let more food aid in. But we are hearing from aid groups who are saying that some of those routes are still unsafe and a lot aid is not getting to where it needs to be.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris. We still don't have a really good handle on what the impact of these tactical pauses which basically means ceasing fire in small parts of the Gaza Strip and these safe corridors with the impact of all that has been on aid distribution.

Yesterday, we saw more than a hundred aid trucks that actually got into Gaza. That is somewhat of an uptick from what we've been seeing in the past. And so, there certainly does seem to be an intention at least now on Israel's part to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid. But the reality will be reflected based off of what actually happens on the ground and the extent to which that is sustained going forward.

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