Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Holds News Conference on Takeover of D.C.; Administration Rushing to Finalize Details for Friday Meeting; Kira Rudik is Interviewed about the Trump-Putin Meeting; Chip Deal for China. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 11, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning we're standing by to hear from the White House in the next hour as President Trump ramps up his law enforcement crackdown on Washington, D.C., saying just moments ago, in his words, the city will soon be liberated. We'll tell you what D.C.'s mayor is saying about this.

The White House also rushing to get everything into place for Friday's summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Can the two leaders strike a deal to end the war in Ukraine? And will Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy get any say?

Plus, flash flooding from record rainfall swamped streets in Milwaukee, and the flood threat is not over for parts of the Midwest this morning.

Sara is out. I'm Jessica Dean, along with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. And this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning we are standing by to hear from President Trump at the White House. He's expected to speak next hour about crime in the nation's capital, as he's become somewhat fixated on D.C., threatening a federal takeover of Washington's local government and its police department even. Over the weekend, the administration launched a crackdown in D.C. involving up to 450 officers.

The president posted this just a short time ago, that he was going to, today, say, well, it's another liberation day, that D.C. will be liberated today.

What is he going to do now? A source tells CNN the administration plans to put as many as 130 FBI agents on the streets to patrol alongside police there. That is not normal. Despite what the president has said, the rhetoric not matching up with the numbers per se. Crime stats show that violent crime has gone down, not up, in D.C.

CNN's Brian Todd tracking this for us. Brian, good morning.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate.

I think what everyone is going to be watching for in the next hour, when the president speaks about all of this, is, what is he going to say about deploying the National Guard? He had previously said he was considering deploying the National Guard to the streets of Washington, D.C., in addition to considering the idea of taking over, at least temporarily, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department. But will he announce a significant deployment of the National Guard in the streets of Washington, D.C.? We'll be watching out for that.

As Kate pointed out a moment ago, we do have some of an idea of the plans that are in place, and we'll see if the president speaks about this in the next hour. One source familiar with the plans told CNN that the plans do call for as many as 130 FBI agents to patrol with D.C. police as part of this increased federal presence. This was first reported by "The Washington Post."

Now, a primary part of their job, according to our source, will be driving around the city, running license plates for stolen vehicles and warrants. And as Kate pointed out, it is unusual for FBI agents to patrol with local police in any given city, in any given situation.

President Trump, in a post on Truth Social yesterday, talking about his plans for the city. He said this, quote, "the homeless have to move out immediately. We will give you places to stay, but far from the capital. The criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong."

But as CNN has been reporting, the crime stats that the president has cited, he has spoken often about crime running rampant in this city, that just does not bear out with the facts. According to the D.C. Metropolitan Police, assault with a dangerous weapon, that is down 20 percent from a year ago, robberies are down 29 percent from a year ago. The big stat, violent crime, down 26 percent from a year ago, and property crime down about 5 percent from a year ago.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, in an appearance on MSNBC, she was breaking her long and very pronounced silence on all of this by speaking on MSNBC yesterday. Mayor Bowser did respond to this by citing those crime stats, and she did say that a comment by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller that Washington, D.C., was, quote, "more violent than Baghdad," the mayor said, "that is hyperbolic and false." But up until that moment, Mayor Muriel Bowser has been silent on all of this. A source telling us that she does not want to unnecessarily provoke the president in dealing with this situation.

But up hour, guys, we're going to see what the president says. It will probably be something significant. And again, watch for what he says about the National Guard.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and then how the district, how the mayor, when these -- when this really is announced, what she says about it will be very important, as you've been tracking it. Brian, it's great to see you. Thank you so much.

Jessica.

TODD: Thanks, Kate.

DEAN: This morning, the White House also making final preparations for this high stakes summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin, including finding a venue to host the two world leaders. Friday's meeting in Alaska, being closely watched around the world by several leaders who insist Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has to have a seat at the table for talks surrounding the future of his country.

[09:05:01]

President Trump has hinted at the idea of Ukraine ceding land to Russia in order to end the war. That's something Putin has asked for. It's an idea Ukraine has flat out rejected.

Let's bring in CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who is live on the ground in Moscow.

All eyes look to Friday, Fred. What is the sense you're getting of what's going on behind the scenes there in Russia?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Jessica, the Russians are absolutely thrilled that this summit is happening. And they've also been boosting Alaska, really, as a venue, saying that it's something that they believe completely makes sense. They also said, of course, Alaska used to be part of Russia. There's still a lot of orthodox churches in Alaska as well. So, the vibe that's coming from the Russians is that they're very happy that this summit is happening, and very happy about the place where it's happening as well.

However, there are, of course, a few things where there seem to be disagreements between the Trump administration and the Russians. And first and foremost is one of the ones that you were mentioning, and that is the status of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and whether or not he's going to be able to possibly attend or come to Alaska, and even whether or not there could be a three way meeting with President Trump.

Russian Leader Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the future. The Russians, of course, at the very beginning, have said that such a trilateral meeting was actually proposed by Steve Witkoff when he was here on this past Wednesday, but that the Russians didn't react to that offer at all. And it seems as though Vladimir Putin is still quite cold to the idea. But we're going to have to wait and see over the next couple of days and whether or not something can be achieved at that summit to see whether or not the Russians will be OK with a trilateral meeting.

And then as far as the fighting in Ukraine is concerned, also, we know that President Trump wants an immediate 30-day ceasefire, but the Russians are saying that they want long term peace negotiations for a broader peace deal, which obviously means that the fighting would then continue, at least until such a deal is reached. So, it certainly seems as though those could be some very difficult issues to overcome.

One of the other things that we also picked up on, by the way, is that for the Russians, this summit is about more than trying to solve the crisis in Ukraine. What we've been seeing here over the past couple of days, especially from the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, is talking about a complete reset in U.S.-Russia relations, obviously talking about sanctions relief, but then also possible business deals. Specifically business deals in the northern hemisphere, in the -- in the arctic regions. That's something where the Russians say they believe there can be big business opportunities for the U.S., opportunities for cooperation.

But, of course, the summit has to be a success first for that to happen. Nevertheless, the Russians seem pretty happy going into this summit about what they can get out of it.

Jessica.

DEAN: Yes, it is so telling, Fred, how pleased they are that this is going to happen, to literally have a seat at the table again.

Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much for that.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Kira Rudik. She is a member of the Ukrainian parliament.

Thank you so much for being with us.

What are your hopes? How much hope do you have for this meeting on Friday?

KIRA RUDIK, MEMBER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Hello, John, and thank you so much for having me.

Well, of course, here in Ukraine we are very concerned. We are concerned that President Trump, who promised peace through strength, didn't get anything from Vladimir Putin. And right now, after refusing the ceasefire, refusing the meeting with President Zelenskyy in Istanbul, after refusing anything that President Trump proposed, Putin is actually rewarded for all of that for the public slap when he attacked Kyiv with the most massive attack right after call with American president. So, he is rewarded for all of this by being invited on American soil and having to discuss something with American president.

This is a huge concern that we have here, because it is not only Ukraine and Europe watching, not only America watching, the whole world, China, Iran, North Korea, they are all seeing that if you deny whatever the American president is asking you, maybe you will get rewarded at the end and you should just simple stand your ground.

Second question is that everybody's concerned about the simple question, what they are going to discuss there and may they agree to something. The complicated question is, how do you make Putin stick to what you agree with? You know, here in Ukraine, we have been with Russia into dozens, maybe up to hundreds peace deals, so-called peace deals, and they never stick to their word. So, what are the mechanisms that American president possesses that he's able to make Russia stick to any kind of the agreement that he cannot use right now to push them and pressure them into, for example, ceasefire. These are questions that are not being answered as of right now.

BERMAN: President Trump raised the possibility of land concessions from Ukraine in a swap of land, although it's unclear what that would be. Attitudes -- according to some polls, attitudes about land concessions have changed inside Ukraine over the year.

[09:10:05]

There's a poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, which found about 38 percent of the population thinks ceding land is acceptable now. That's up from 10 percent two years ago. So, still not a majority, but up from what it was. What do you sense inside the country?

RUDIK: From -- from my constituencies and from people that I talk to, I don't sense that the situation has changed. Moreover, when you are asking about people, about the end of the war, it's, of course, very painful. Everybody is exhausted. And we all want the war to end. But I want to make the very straightforward point that, as of right now, there is no peace deal at the table that we can discuss. There is no agreement or proposal to cede some territories and for the war to end. There is none. So, whatever people are asking right now, it's actually very insensitive saying, would you like to cede something, and then for the war to end, because we, as a nation, have chosen not to capitulate in 2022, and we are not intending to capitulate right now.

People are exhausted indeed. But right now there is no offer that would tell us that the war would be over. If we stop fighting, Putin will just march forward and there will be more territories that will be captured by Russia. This is why we continue fighting and we continue supporting our troops.

BERMAN: What presence do you feel that Ukraine needs to have in Alaska on Friday?

RUDIK: We, at least, need President Zelenskyy there to stand on one specific point. The issue is not with Ukraine. It's not Ukraine who doesn't want peace. It has been and is Russia. Russia is an aggressor. They have started the war. And it is in their capacity to end the war.

Also, that Russia didn't move for any of the requirements in 2022 till right now. And if President Trump is saying that he has cards in his hands to pressure Russia, it will be a time to use those cards, and not by trying to give up on some Ukrainian territories, but actually on showing the peace through strength.

BERMAN: Kira Rudik, member of Ukrainian parliament, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, it is an unprecedented agreement. The new deal over A.I. chips and why the Trump administration could essentially be making a commission on this.

And the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, is upping the ante -- I just bit my tongue -- ante in the state's congressional redistricting fight. He says the standoff with Democratic lawmakers could last for years to come.

And he is 11 years old, and he's already showing all of us up. The young mountain climber who just broke a new record, summiting one of the tallest mountains in Europe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:35]

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, word of a highly unusual deal. Maybe even unprecedented. An agreement, "The Financial Times" reports, that would allow chip giants NVidia and AMD to sell certain technology to China that is crucial for A.I., artificial intelligence, in return for a promise of a 15 percent cut of the business that would go to the U.S. government. Now, there are some people who support this, but there are others who have concerns about helping China in its race for A.I. dominance.

CNN contributor Kevin O'Leary is with us this morning.

What are the possible rewards, Kevin, but also the possible risks to a deal like this?

KEVIN O'LEARY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first of all, there's two issues here that you brought up that are very important. Number one is, should we ship any chips that give China an advantage in the A.I. race or the A.I. war, or whatever you want to call it? Yes or no to that.

Then secondly, this industrial policy of taxing a specific company to have the right, granted by the government, to ship product to a specific country. That, for lack of better words, is a little funky chicken. But, at the same time, it's a form of tariff.

So, let's go back to issue number one, should we ship chips to China, or any adversary? And the answer to that is, yes, because we want all of these countries using American technology and developing on the American tech stack. We do not want to give Huawei a chance to catch up to what's going on, on the firmware and software development. That is crucial. That means you ship it even in North Korea. Everybody gets it because that keeps them under control of the American tech stack.

We can deliver them two generations back, three generations back, one generation back, doesn't matter, but they have to spend all of their energy developing on the technology and the software developed in the U.S. That keeps the U.S. in control. Number two, the 15 percent tariff, well, I call that very creative, a

form of blackmail if you wish, but it's no different than a tariff. And the companies are going to pay it. And if you're a shareholder of AMD or NVidia, you like it because it's still incremental cash flow, even though it's eating into the margin of those chips shipped. It's still incremental, and the market has already decided both stocks are up.

BERMAN: It's a little bit different than a tariff, right? Tariffs -- tariffs tax you on the way into the country. This is taxing you on the way out of the country.

[09:20:03]

And as you say, it's funky chicken. Another way of saying it is, pay to play, right?

O'LEARY: Tomato, tomato. It doesn't matter. It's a tax. And I would hope that the administration would take this -- all of these tariffs and taxes and shakedowns, I don't care what you call it, and reduce the deficit with it. That's what the market is hoping for. Because if it's really true that we added on 3 trillion with the big, beautiful bill, how are we going to reduce that and get back to balanced budgets?

I would hope the next phase of all this, and I'm not the only person hoping for this, is deficit reduction.

BERMAN: That -- I haven't heard much about that, Kevin. You know, Josh Hawley, Republican senator, has floated the idea of rebates, sending some of that money back to taxpayers. The White House hasn't decided one way or another on that, but they say it's in front of them. But, obviously, you know, the $3 trillion to $4 trillion increase in the national debt, why does that concern you?

O'LEARY: Because we're getting to the limit of how much we can burden the long bond. In other words, as long as the world has confidence that America is the number one place to invest, it's going to continue to allow us to have capital at low cost, right now under 5 percent on the long bond. The minute they think we're completely out of control, and I don't know when the tipping point is, nobody does, then we're in trouble. And we're -- we -- we're spending a ton of money that we don't need to, many people feel, because we've overstimulated right through the pandemic five years ago. It's time to sober up and start paying down the debt. So, this idea of -- of money for nothing and chicks for free starts sending checks out to everybody, I hate that idea. Many people hate that idea.

I want to see the confidence of America maintained in terms of it being an investment location.

BERMAN: Yes.

O'LEARY: That's what I care about. I'm an investor. I want the world to continue to send $0.52 of every dollar to America, because that's the number one place to invest. And it won't be if all of a sudden we get into hyperinflation or the long bond goes crazy because they think we're drunken sailors spending money.

I'm not the only person bringing that up. That's what should be happening. No free checks to anybody. That's my view.

BERMAN: There were a lot of people bringing up the deficit and the debt in the discussions over the huge tax and spending bill.

Finally, Kevin, what are your concerns about the revised jobs report that came out? You know, downward revisions to growth of 14,000, 19,000 jobs in May and June? What do those numbers mean to you?

O'LEARY: Well, first of all, I didn't support whacking the commissioner. That's just a bureaucrat that gathers data. What's fair to criticize is how the data is gathered, and why is it so inefficient and requires such massive, you know, reviews.

BERMAN: But my question, Kevin, is what if it's right? What if it's right? What -- what if there were only 14,000 and 19,000 jobs added? How much of a concern would that be to you?

O'LEARY: The rest of the data sets don't support it. Even data sets this morning have taken off. Credit card spending shows we still have a pretty buoyant economy and the consumer is still healthy.

I'd need to see a lot more data sets in a row for this to concern me. And I do care about jobs, but what I care about more is the data being clean. And I think a lot of people are saying, wow, these data sets are getting a little crazy. The variability and the lack of resolution must be that we don't -- we're not using the internet, we're not using the correct way of digital technology to gather the data in the first place.

Remember, we've been gathering this data since the Second World War. We could do a better job of it. It's just another bureaucracy that's probably using old technology. And I'd like to see it cleaned up.

But whacking the commission was unnecessary. But no, it doesn't concern me yet. It hasn't concerned the market. Why? We have other data sets that are far more au courant, so to speak, including that consumer purchasing power today, just stripped from clean, credit card data. The consumer is looking good. The economy is looking good. Let's reduce that deficit and keep sailing into the future.

BERMAN: Dropping dire straits and French in the very same interview.

Kevin O'Leary, good to see you this morning. Thank you very much.

Jessica.

DEAN: Very shortly, President Trump set to speak from the White House on crime in the nation's capital, saying earlier, quote, "Washington, D.C., will be liberated today." We're going to bring it to you live when it happens.

Plus, record-breaking rains across the Midwest have sparked dangerous flooding. We're getting a closer look at that damage. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:08]

BOLDUAN: We're standing by right now for President Trump. He's expected to be speaking next hour from the White House about crime in the nation's capital.

The news conference comes as he has been threatening a federal takeover of D.C.'s local government, even the police department. Maybe there's talk of even possibly sending in the National Guard.

Now, over the weekend -- over the weekend he sent forces to the streets of Washington, D.C. There was an operation involving up to 450 officers. The president has portrayed violent crime in D.C. as being out of control, despite the data saying something else. A 26 percent drop in violent crime, for example, from this time last year.

Let's bring in CNN's Josh Campbell, who is also a former FBI supervisory special agent, who's been tracking this.

[09:29:54]

And there are talks of now, Josh, that he could be announcing, sending in, I think it's upwards of 130 FBI agents into the streets of D.C. to be patrolling along with local police.