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Zelenskyy Grateful for Europe's Support; Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) is Interviewed about the Trump-Putin Meeting; A.I. Tool tested in Police Stations; Swift Announces Twelfth Album. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: The pictures he wants. You know, local stations are out on the streets taking these pictures, getting these videos of this increased deployment. But I think we've known for a number of years at this point that Trump cares deeply about what he sees on TV, what the television networks are showing his base. And, in this case, he wants viewers far from Washington to see that something is being done.

This is something we've seen time and time again with President Trump, not just about saying what he's going to do, but he wants to show it. He wants action. He wants visuals. And I think he cannot understand this story about the crime crackdown without understanding the power of the pictures for him.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good point.

Brian, it's good to see you.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, just in, new comments from the Ukrainian president ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting about Ukraine. A meeting where, as of now, he does not appear to be invited.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:27]

BERMAN: New comments from Ukraine's leader this morning, just days ahead of President Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin. President Zelenskyy says he is, quote, "grateful to the leaders of Europe for their clear support of our independence and territorial integrity."

Now, that is notable word choice as President Trump keeps talking about land swaps with Russia.

Let's get right to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh with the latest in Kyiv this morning.

Good morning, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, President Zelenskyy has, over the past days, been reiterating his gratitude for European support, how Ukraine is unwilling to cede territory as part of negotiations. But also too his gratitude to President Trump and how they are constantly in contact with U.S. officials, his chief of staff, talking to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio just yesterday. All a bid ahead of Alaska to show unity, to show the consistent pleasure here in Kyiv with the Trump effort, even though at times things may appear to be suggested that are completely at odds with Ukraine's needs.

The European nations, 26 of them, excluding Hungary, that Putin ally their government there, today saying that Ukraine must decide its own future. Key to all of this ahead of Alaska is to the Europeans and Ukraine, a ceasefire first and then the current front lines being the starting point for negotiating territorial changes. And the idea, frankly, of concessions, an anathema to most Europeans and Ukrainians we speak to, period.

There will be a meeting between the Germans, the European allies and President Trump tomorrow, Wednesday, virtual, in Berlin, to try and shore up a unified position, or at least make sure the White House has heard how the Europeans feel moving forward. President Zelenskyy will attend that, too. And he's also been quite explicit recently that the intelligence they're receiving shows Russia is trying to prepare for further military offensive that peace is not on its current agenda.

And we've had a sort of sniff of changes in the front line in the last two or three days, in a particularly important area. In fact, one of the areas that it appears was discussed in the Kremlin with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in the Donetsk region, there are suggestions from Ukrainian bloggers and some soldiers we've spoken to that the Russians have managed to make something of a breakthrough of a significant distance to the north of a town called Dobropillia (ph). That's important because it potentially puts Russian soldiers quite far into Ukrainian positions there.

Ukrainian officials have stepped forward, denied the significance of this entirely, and instead said this is small groups infiltrating. But look, with drones in the sky the whole time, the character of the war has, frankly, changed. And that kind of infiltration, it's still a big danger. So, whatever the reality of this is, it's got people deeply concerned that Russia may be finally seeing some kind of strategic progress on its front lines.

Coincidentally, that happening ahead of Alaska. And territory changing hands, that was potentially on the negotiating table anyway, if you believe what emerged from Moscow late last week. So, heightened anxiety here, not only on the front lines, but also too as to what diplomacy that is ultimately still out of Ukraine's hands. We don't know if Zelenskyy's going. It doesn't look like he is. He may simply get a call afterwards from President Trump. And the meeting Trump described as lowering expectations, feeling out where Putin is on all of this. Real concerns about what happens in Alaska.

John.

BERMAN: Understandable anxiety, to be sure, both on the diplomatic front and also maybe on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv. Thank you, Nick, so much for that reporting,

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington. He is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, it's good to see you.

NPW is reporting that there is then trying to figure out how significant maybe this breakthrough is, as he was just discussing, of Russian forces still pushing forward with their offensive is they are -- we are now days away from this summit in Alaska. Do you think Trump should be hosting this summit?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): I don't think that this is the right approach to Putin. I think, you know, Trump has misplayed this from the very beginning. He has showed Putin weakness. He has undermined Ukraine's position. He's undermined the European alliance. And the effect of that has been to further embolden Putin.

What we need to show is the 53 nation alliance that came together to support Ukraine is holding strong, and we will defend Ukraine. Convince Putin he can't win. That's what forces him to the table.

Trump has been really sort of spouting Putin talking points.

[09:40:00]

The meeting itself, I don't know, it doesn't really hurt to talk to Putin. It's the message that Trump and his administration have sent to Putin, gosh, ever since he was elected in November. It's a message that if Putin just waits long enough, the Trump administration is going to walk away from Ukraine. So, what Trump needs to be showing right now is strength that we're going to support Ukraine, that we're going to make sure that they can defend themselves.

So, the overall message from the Trump administration has emboldened Putin by showing weakness to date.

BOLDUAN: And kind of what is on the table or not is a bit of a -- is a bit of a question.

SMIITH: As Nick Paton Walsh was even leaning to with the special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who had the meeting with Putin last week that kind of led up to this. I want to read some of the CNN reporting around the special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his role.

CNN is reporting, "another question was, what precisely Putin put on the table during his meeting with Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, last week to convince the U.S. the time was right for a meeting between the leaders. While exact details of his proposal remained hazy, it was clear that major land concessions on the part of the Ukrainians would be central to this plan." And European leaders were apparently left scratching their heads after they spoke with Witkoff about what Putin actually offered. I mean it seems confused is the last characteristic that you want following you into a meeting with Putin. Do you think Witkoff is -- is helping? Do you think he's the right guy to spearhead this?

SMITH: Well -- well, not right now. And again, it comes back to the fact that what Trump is showing is division with our European allies and division with Ukraine. And when Putin sees that division, he sees it as weakness and an excuse to keep pushing forward. I mean that's the biggest problem, all this effort to sort of sidestep all European allies, sidestep Ukraine, sends the wrong message. The message we need to have is unity, strength.

Look, the 53 nation coalition and Ukraine have proven remarkably resilient to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. He's been stopped. I mean remember when the invasion started, we all thought it would be over in a matter of weeks with -- with Russia taking over Kyiv. That strength has pushed Putin back. To the extent that Trump shows division and shows weakness, that just emboldens Putin. I don't -- I have seen no evidence that Putin is sincerely interested in this summit on Friday with negotiating a peace settlement and ending his war. I keep hoping we'll see that, but we have not seen it yet.

BOLDUAN: I want to ask about the president's takeover of the police force in -- in D.C. He's sending in the National Guard. And the secretary of defense says that there are other specialized units that they are prepared to bring in as well.

As I mentioned, you're the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. What do you think of this?

SMITH: Well, I think it's, once again, Trump using the military to exert power and influence domestically in a way that should alarm us all. I mean it's similar to what happened in Los Angeles.

Look, this president is -- is trampling on basic freedoms of the American people to a degree we -- I don't think we've ever seen. You see that with what the ICE agents are doing in terms of picking people up off the streets with -- with no evidence, no due process, locking people up. This is happening all across the country.

Look, it's pretty clear the president wants his own domestic police force. And step by step he's trying to create it. And we should be deeply alarmed by that, regardless of how you feel about crime in Washington, D.C., or any other city. I mean certainly I think we can -- we can always be doing better on enforcing the law and protecting, you know, our citizens in various different places. But there's ways to do that without involving the Department of Defense. And that step is a huge step towards an autocratic government with a president who has his own domestic police force. So, that's the biggest thing that alarms me about it. You want to talk to Washington, D.C., about how to do a better job on crime? Sure. But calling in the military, as he has done over and over and over again across the country, along the border, you know, that -- that undermines the freedoms of all Americans, and we should be concerned about it. BOLDUAN: There's a question of why now. And there are two schools of

thought on that, which is, this is a pretext -- kind of a test case or a pretext for Trump to expand his power, as you kind of were talking about, and do this in other cities. He's somewhat suggested he's looking at it. Or this is the president trying to distract from other headlines that he doesn't like, the brutally bad July jobs numbers or the Jeffrey Epstein saga that he wants to move away from. Which do you think it is?

SMITH: Yes, it's a little bit of both, but I think it's more the former than the latter. And, therefore, should be more concerning. It's a pretext for what he wants to do and has done in so many different places that is a fundamental threat to our freedoms.

Look, the president's trying to distract from a bad news story is not new. Presidents wanting to use the U.S. military, wanting to greatly expand the powers of domestic law enforcement by the Department of Homeland Security to enhance power and undermine the freedoms of basic Americans, that's new.

[09:45:05]

And that is deeply, deeply troubling. And that -- that should be the focus.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Adam Smith, thank you so much for coming in.

Jessica.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Artificial intelligence is entering the police force. How some officers are already using tech tools on the job.

And Taylor Swift announcing her twelfth album, "The Life of a Showgirl." And the clues we're getting this morning about what this album might look and sound like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, police departments are testing new A.I. tools to help make the job of writing up reports easier.

[09:50:05]

But it is raising some red flags and some serious legal concerns.

With us now, CNN's Clare Duffy.

So, what's happening here?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH WRITER: Yes, so these new -- this new software allows officers to take the audio of a police worn body camera, take the transcript of that, and A.I. creates the first draft of the police report. This is something that is starting to be adopted by police departments across the country. And it's sold as a way to let officers spend less time writing reports, more time out in the field, especially in light of hiring challenges that departments across the country are facing.

We visited Fort Collins, Colorado, which is one of the cities that is piloting this new technology, and they showed us a demo of how this works. We saw some of the safeguards that are built into the technology, namely these fill in the blanks that the A.I. automatically inserts into the draft report, which is intended to get officers to really read through the report, add additional information, correct errors, and make sure that it's their own.

Because something I learned in this process is just how central police reports are to the criminal justice process. They, as you know, are used by defense attorneys, by prosecutors, by judges, by the public to understand what happened in a given incident. So, the accuracy and the completeness of them is really important.

And this, of course, comes at sort of a fraught time for the use of A.I. by law enforcement. We've seen elsewhere the way that facial recognition has led to false arrests. So, this is something that experts are looking at really closely.

The ACLU is already recommending that police departments don't use A.I.-drafted police reports. Elsewhere there are calls for transparency. And in Utah, they've actually passed a law requiring that departments label, they add a disclosure onto reports that were drafted by A.I. so at least everybody is on the same page about how they were created.

BERMAN: Seems like it's inevitable it will be used in some way. The key is to make sure it's used the right way going forward.

DUFFY: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Clare Duffy, great to see you. Thank you very much.

Jessica.

DEAN: We are officially in a new era for Taylor Swift. At 12:12 a.m. on August 12th, Taylor Swift's twelfth studio album finally got a name, "The Life of a Showgirl." Swift making the announcement in a trailer for an upcoming episode of Travis and Jason Kelce's "New Heights" podcast, in which she will be a guest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What have we got?

SWIFT: We got a --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A briefcase.

SWIFT: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mint green with TS on it?

SWIFT: Yes. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's in it?

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TS 12.

SWIFT: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: TS 12. Here now joining us, CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister.

Elizabeth, this is big.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: This is big. I mean it really is Taylor Swift's world and we are just living in it.

So, by the way, that video that you just saw, I think it was about 10 seconds, already has 100 million views overnight in less than ten hours.

Her website also crashed, but that is to be expected.

So, let me take you through how Taylor went about this announcement. What we're looking at right here is a social media post from Taylor Nation, which is her official fan site. This is what set off the world of Swifties yesterday morning. So, they wrote on their thinking about when she said see you next era. Era, of course, is her tour. So, those are tour pictures there. And you see she's wearing sparkly orange, right, Jessica?

Now let's move on to the next easter egg that Taylor laid out there. As you said, she was on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's podcast. Well before it was revealed that she was on, as you see right here, their podcast, "New Heights" said that they will have a mystery guest. Well, that silhouette was not good enough for the Swifties because we all knew right away that that silhouette was Taylor Swift.

Moving on. Then she had a countdown clock that was on her website. You see it here again, sparkly orange. Again, nobody does marketing like Taylor Swift. So, sparkles and orange is going to be all over the world. I'm calling it right now. Orange will be the color of 2025.

Now, even the Empire State Building got in on the action. OK, you see right there, the Empire State Building lit up in orange and tweeting about her era. So, you know, she's not just taking over her own website, she's now taking over New York City and the world.

And then, finally, finally, at 12:12 a.m., when it was announced, here what you see is the landing page on her website. Again, it crashed. But when it finally was back up and running, it has merch. So, you see the vinyl there, the cassette tape and, yes, Taylor's fans will buy a cassette tape and vinyl. This is all, you know, already sold out.

Now, 12:12, let me bring you through this. As you know, Taylor is an expert with easter eggs for her fans. And the album is her twelfth studio album. It was announced on August 12th at 12:12 in the morning. Genius.

[09:55:01]

Now, what you see here is a Spotify playlist called "And, baby, that's show business for you." That, of course, a play on words on the title of her new album. And this is the biggest indication at what type of music we are going to possibly get on the album. The reason why? Well, all 22 songs on this playlist -- yes, 22, one of Taylor's favorite numbers, is all of these 22 songs are produced by two producers that she has collaborated with in the past, who really helped her transform from country to pop.

So, now all the Swifties, including myself, are very excited that it seems that we are getting pop Taylor back. This is not going to be, you know, sad, somber Taylor. This is happy Taylor, because she's in love. She's with Travis. And, as you said, she is going to be a guest on Travis and Jason Kelce's podcast tomorrow. So, we have more to talk about tomorrow. I hope you're not sick of it yet.

DEAN: We're not.

BERMAN: It's a good -- it's a good booking for them. I will say, it's a good booking.

BOLDUAN: Yes, a good booking. A good booking for them.

DEAN: Solid.

WAGMEISTER: It's OK. It's all right.

BOLDUAN: The symbolism, I'm overwhelmed with the symbols.

DEAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And the symbolism, regardless.

BERMAN: It's like getting out of an escape room. Like, figuring out what Taylor Swift is doing. It's like getting out of an escape room.

DEAN: You know, we're -- wait, wait, you know red and yellow equals orange. The Chiefs colors.

BOLDUAN: What? Oh, my God. Yes, they do.

DEAN: They do.

BERMAN: There you go. Taylor. Like this.

DEAN: (INAUDIBLE) looks good.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE). BERMAN: JB 12.

BOLDUAN: Bye. Oh, "SIT ROOM." Bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)