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White House Holds Press Briefing; CDC Shooting Investigation; Russian Troops Advancing in Ukraine?; Federal Takeover of D.C. Ramps Up. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: As federal agents at the streets in the nation's capital, top officials in Washington are meeting to discuss how President Trump's takeover of the D.C.'s Metro Police might work. We're going to hear from the White House press secretary in just moments.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Plus: Trump's threat. The president lashes out online against Jerome Powell, saying he could let a lawsuit against the Fed chief go forward. That's on the same day that a new inflation report shows that tariffs could be nudging prices higher.

And are you ready for it? A new era and a new album for Taylor Swift. A midnight announcement broke the Internet and set Swifties' heart soaring.

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

SANCHEZ: We are standing by to hear from the White House on what is now the federal government's first full day in charge of Washington, D.C.'s police force.

Today, we're learning that Mayor Muriel Bowser met with Attorney General Pam Bondi and other top Trump officials. The mayor says that plans are now being developed over how the city is going to use the hundreds of National Guard troops the president has deployed, with some of those troops arriving today.

We have more details to share on that meeting in a moment.

But, first, CNN's Alayna Treene is standing by at the White House as they face new scrutiny over this decision by the president.

Alayna, what are we expecting to hear from Karoline Leavitt today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, there's still a number of questions, Boris, that have been unanswered and are still unclear after this announcement from the president yesterday.

One, of course, is, how long should we expect these federal law enforcement officials to be in the city? We know that the president, he invoked the D.C. Home Rule Act. That only allows him 30 days to keep this presence up. After that, he would need congressional authority and approval to go beyond that.

And it's very much unclear whether lawmakers are willing to do that, but also whether the president is even going to want to do that, because I think a key thing that we just don't know yet is how is this going to play politically. Clearly -- and this is also clear from my conversations with people here at the White House -- they believe this is going to be a political benefit for him.

They believe that the president ran on crime. He wants to paint himself as a law and order president. We have also seen him repeatedly throughout his second term press the boundaries of his executive authority. And that's kind of all coming together with this move by his administration.

Another key question, of course, as well is expanding on what he kind of alluded to yesterday when he was addressing reporters, which is, could this potentially serve, what he's doing in D.C., as a model for other cities? When he was speaking yesterday, he said, if we're successful in D.C., perhaps he will try to do something similar in Los Angeles, in New York, in Chicago. He named other cities as well.

But I'd remind you that that'd be much more difficult to try and do that than what he is able to do in D.C. We actually heard the D.C.'s mayor, Muriel Bowser, kind of allude to that today when she was speaking at a press conference. She acknowledged that D.C. is much harder for her to try and push back on this, because it is not a state.

She is not a governor. D.C. does not have a governor, so they do not have the control over the National Guard like other states do. And so if Trump was to try to use this elsewhere, a lot of other potential problems that he could face with that. And then I think just getting back to this is, of course, why now, why is the president doing this, particularly when we have noted crime is down in Washington, D.C., particularly this year, when you look at last year, but even more so than its peak when it hit up that high in 2023.

Yes, crime is still an issue, but it's not where it once was. So what is the timing? Why is he doing this now? And I think that's going to be something Karoline ends up getting pressed on at this White House briefing.

What I'm hearing from my officials is, this is something that he's long -- it's kind of been simmering for a long time. He wanted to do this during his first term. Whenever he takes his motorcade to events in the city, he often remarks on the homeless people potentially on the streets. So this is something he's been wanting to do.

And unlike his first term, people now are not telling him he can't do it. And so that's partly why he moved forward, but a lot of questions she's going to be facing from the press score here momentarily -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: And we will bring you that question-and-answer session in just moments.

Alayna Treene at the White House, thank you so much.

Now to that sit-down today between D.C.'s mayor and Trump officials at the Justice Department, the mayor and the city's police chief speaking out just after the meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA SMITH, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE CHIEF: We have been working collaboratively. I think this is going to be a good effort. It's going to be an effort that's supported by both teams, the Metropolitan Police Department as well as our federal partners.

[13:05:00]

MURIEL BOWSER (D), MAYOR OF WASHINGTON, D.C.: What I'm focused on is the federal surge and how to make the most of the additional officer support. How we got here or what the -- what we think about the circumstances right now, we have more police and we want to make sure we're using them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: All right, joining us now for more on this, we have senior justice correspondent Evan Perez and national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand.

Thank you both for being here.

Evan, just tell us first, what more are you hearing about the specific meeting that took place?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The meeting has now taken place. And the attorney general called it a constructive meeting, but very little new information about how exactly this is going to work.

And there's a lot of potential problems here, including, of course, the fact that federal law enforcement, they're not --- most of these guys who are now being put on the streets aren't trained as street cops, right? And so you have FBI agents who spend their days, a lot of them, working on national security threats from China, Iran, and other places.

And they're now being put onto the streets. That could be a recipe for disaster if you have some kind of situation develop. Metropolitan Police are very, very good at their jobs. And that's the reason why a lot of people are a little perplexed about the fact that crime is down 26 percent,.

If you look at some of the numbers from the violent crime from the Metropolitan Police, you see robberies down 29 percent. And a lot of these numbers are down beyond where Trump -- the end of the first term of President Trump was. So we heard, obviously, from some of the local officials. Brian

Schwalb, who is the attorney general of the District of Columbia, spoke about how unnecessary this is. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN SCHWALB, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We as public officials need to do everything we can to drive crime down, and we have done that. Unfortunately, the president's characterizations of what's happening on the ground here in the District of Columbia is not consistent with the facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And as far as those facts are concerned, right, D.C. does have a crime problem. It's a big city. Like a lot of big cities, they have these issues.

But if you look at nationally where D.C. is, you're talking about number 17 in terms of violent crime. Overall, there's a lot of places that have a lot more violent crime, including Houston and Memphis, Tennessee, and you're not hearing the president and some of his supporters talking about a federal takeover of those cities.

SANCHEZ: Natasha, Evan alluded to the idea that there could be problems having service members in policing situations, or at least in environments where policing is needed. I wonder what kind of guidance, guidelines, directions they're getting about what they're going to be doing.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that they're still finalizing the exact tasks that these Guard members are going to be performing.

But we know broadly that 800 have been activated. Roughly 100 to 200 at a time of these troops are going to actually be deployed in the streets at any given time. And some of them may not even be supporting law enforcement in a physical capacity. Some of them may be doing things like administrative tasks. So they're not all going to be out on the streets patrolling all the time.

But at the same time, they are operating under Title 32 authority, which gives them a little bit broader leeway to conduct kind of law enforcement-adjacent activities than, for example, if they were on active duty under Title 10. As Secretary of Defense Hegseth said last night, they are not expected to perform law enforcement activity, like make arrests, for example, but they can detain people temporarily if they need to.

For example, if a police officer is not present, if an agent, a federal agent, is not around, and someone needs to be detained because they have either attacked a National Guard member or something else, then they have the authority to do that.

And, importantly, I think there's been a lot of concern about whether they're going to be armed, for example, because seeing armed troops patrol the streets of D.C., that is not likely to help matters and de- escalate tensions. As of right now, the plan is not for them to be carrying their rifles around as they're patrolling the city.

They are expected to have weapons nearby, for example, in their trucks if they need them for self-defense, but they're not going to be, as of now -- again, it could change -- walking around the city with their big long guns at any given moment.

FREEMAN: Got it.

Well, Natasha Bertrand, Evan Perez, thank you both so much for bringing that all down for us. A lot still to monitor.

We have new details right now. Just days before the high-stakes summit between President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian defenses appear to be in trouble. CNN has learned that Russian troops appear to have breached Ukraine's defenses in Donetsk.

SANCHEZ: Yes, this coincides with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who, by the way, is not invited to that summit later this week between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. He had actually warned earlier that the Kremlin was preparing to launch a new military offensive.

Let's take you now live to Kyiv with CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.

And, Nick, you have new reporting about this Russian push.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it's important to put this in context because there appear to be persistent reports that Russia has made some progress in the very areas that appear to be under discussion, according to some reports, between Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in his meetings in the Kremlin, the remainders of Donetsk.

[13:10:12]

And what we have been hearing from sources over the past days, more vociferously in the last 24 hours, the Russian units appear to have made quite a substantial push to the north of a town called Dobropillya. We were in there about a week ago, and they appear to have surged significantly forwards.

Now, Ukrainian officials accept that there have been some advances by Russian units, but they characterize this as being an infiltration, small groups of Russian soldiers getting behind Ukrainian positions, but essentially being isolated on their own, and therefore vulnerable to being picked off. They don't characterize this as an advance, so to speak.

But then you have to remember how warfare has changed so much here in Ukraine. It's no longer two trenches facing off against each other, and one makes a break through the other. There are tiny groups of soldiers hiding in trees, away from the drones both sides have, meaning that everything is such a gray zone and mix that an advance of this degree, well, one side might be able to say it means nothing, the other might say it's a huge deal. And, indeed, the Russians have in the past both been stuck and found

themselves unable to make a big deal out of a small advance because they lack resources, but also too more recently been quite good at capitalizing. And so there's been some very loud denials about this seeming advance here in Kyiv and reinforcements being sent, but it does appear to be suggesting there's some momentum on the front lines for Russia.

We have been seeing that over the past weeks, frankly. This looks like a particularly fast breakout. Unclear now what it really means, but it comes, coincidentally, I should say, the timing of things like this is never dictated by the Kremlin. It appears to be something fortuitous in terms of diplomacy coming round the corner here.

But it comes ahead of Friday's summit. And we have been hearing from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the fact that he believes that American weapons are still available, will still come to Ukraine, that they're going to buy about a billion dollars potentially a month that Ukraine will pay for, sounding bullish and optimistic in a briefing with journalists ahead of this meeting in Alaska, but again quite clear that Ukraine should make decisions about itself.

That's the message we have been hearing echoed, saying that this relationship between Putin and Trump is one that will -- and I paraphrase here, one that will progress by itself and that Trump is in the middle between both sides potentially. So, a lot moving here in terms of how Ukraine is positioning itself, but also too a lot in the coming days that will be designed to try and shore up assistance and support for Ukraine.

Tomorrow in Berlin, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will join other key European leaders and virtually U.S. President Donald Trump in a meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend. That will clearly echo the demands for an immediate cease-fire we have heard from Europe and Ukraine in the past, the desire that any negotiations involve the current front lines as they stand, not the swaps potentially that we have heard President Trump talking about.

It's unclear what President Trump will take away from that meeting when he attends virtually, but it's another effort by Ukraine and its European allies to lay out their position ahead of, frankly, what is a bit of an unknown in Alaska on Friday -- back to you.

SANCHEZ: Nick Paton Walsh live for us in Kyiv.

You can bet that the White House press secretary is going to be asked about the breaking news in the Eastern front in Ukraine.

FREEMAN: Yes, Sure.

SANCHEZ: We are monitoring that briefing as we speak.

Back here in the United States, we're learning more details about a gunman opening fire at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta on Friday, killing a police officer. Investigators just released this photo of the shooter, who was previously identified as 30-year-old Patrick White.

Officials say he fired nearly 500 rounds during the rampage, about 200 of those hitting the agency's buildings.

FREEMAN: We have also learned that five guns were recovered all belonging to White's father. Officials say he broke into his dad's safe to get them.

CNN senior national correspondent Ryan Young joins us now from Tucker, Georgia.

Ryan, tell us, what more are you learning?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we learned about those five guns last week.

I think the new news that has everyone shocked is the amount of rounds that were fired. We also know he was carrying two backpacks full of ammo, shooting 500 rounds, 200 of those rounds, by the way, hitting six buildings at the CDC.

As you look behind me, you can see this memorial. But before we get there, let's just talk about this investigation. We will show you the photo of all the rounds on the ground. That was released by the GBI. At first, we thought there was a couple hundred, but that 500 number tells you just how serious this was when in terms of the impact in the area, people hearing shot after shot as they ran for cover.

Then, on top of that, we know they went to the suspect's house. At the house, what we have learned is the family's cooperating with the GBI fully, but the suspect apparently broke into his father's gun cabinet, took all these guns, then went on this rampage. Apparently, he also called 911 to say they believed that his son was suicidal.

[13:15:17]

So, all this was a part of the information that we learned today. Take a listen to the GBI talking about this investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS HOSEY, DIRECTOR, GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: Evidence in this investigation indicates that the shooter had recently verbalized thoughts of suicide, which even led to law enforcement being contacted several weeks prior to the incident.

A search warrant executed at the residence of the shooter revealed written documentation that expressed the shooter's discontent for the -- with the COVID-19 vaccinations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Something the GBI director made clear, and I can tell you so many people who I have dealt with for years have wanted to make sure the officer was not forgotten about this. Yes, 500 rounds is a lot. But you can see the outpouring of support

here in this community. Since we have been here over the last 30 minutes or so, we have seen dozens of people not only drive by, but sign this memorial. You see this picture right here of the officer, Rose, and his daughter.

And it hits you. You think about his wife, who is pregnant. And (AUDIO GAP) many people said was a leader in this community. And you can see some of the notes that have been left behind. If we will show you right here, you can see that people say: "Thank you for your service. May God comfort your family during this time."

You understand the impact that this is having, not only in this police community here, but so many folks, especially in law enforcement, have been talking about the hole this has ripped in them because of obviously this man not only served this government, but he served the military as well.

So this is really standing out to folks across the way just about how this has been so hard, 500 shots, 200 hitting the CDC. It's an investigation that's still ongoing. But, guys, you can understand why this family has been torn apart.

SANCHEZ: Yes. No, our thoughts are with Officer Rose's family right now.

Ryan Young live for us in Tucker, Georgia, thank you so much.

I want to take you straight to the press Briefing Room at the White House. Karoline Leavitt is answering reporters questions. Let's listen.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Thanks for being here.

Gabe.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline.

Regarding the opening of President Trump's summit on Friday, why not invite Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to that summit? I know the president said yesterday that he's going to speak with him right after the summit and even before, but why not invite Zelenskyy? And whose decision was it to not invite him? Was it the president or was it President Putin?

LEAVITT: Well, this meeting came about because the president of Russia asked the president of the United States to meet through his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who, as you all know, traveled to Russia to have a conversation with Putin at his request.

And so the president is agreeing to this meeting at the request of President Putin. And the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war. And the president said at this podium yesterday when he joined all of you in the room that he hopes in the future there can be a trilateral meeting with these three leaders to finally bring this conflict to an end.

But this administration has really used every lever, has taken every measure to achieve peace through a diplomatic solution. And I think the president of the United States getting in the room with the president of Russia, sitting face-to-face, rather than speaking over the telephone, will give this president the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed.

QUESTION: And another question on something that happened yesterday, but I wanted to get the White House response.

A judge ruled that the grand jury transcripts in Ghislaine Maxwell's case should not be released. What's the White House's response to that? And do you plan to appeal? And what do you tell President Trump supporters who want that information released?

LEAVITT: We think that decision is unfortunate. Of course, we moved to unseal that information because the president has said he wants to see credible evidence released. As for the appeal process, I would defer you to the Department of Justice for that.

Rachel.

QUESTION: Thank you so much, Karoline.

We are learning that President Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. I was curious if you can share any more details about their call. And did Zelenskyy give President Trump any red lines, any nonstarters ahead of the summit on Friday?

LEAVITT: Look, I don't want to reveal the private conversations between the president and President Zelenskyy.

But what I can tell you is that the president has deep respect for all parties that are involved in this conflict and are trying to bring this conflict to an end. After special envoy Witkoff returned from his meeting with President Putin in Russia, his first phone call was to President Trump.

And President Trump's first phone call was to President Zelenskyy and to our friends in Europe to keep everybody in the loop about where the United States can see moving the ball forward to end this conflict. And so we continue to be very much engaged with President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians, but also our allies in Europe as well.

QUESTION: And then just one more for you. How does the president measure success coming out of this meeting? The president at times has suggested that Putin might be tapping him along.

[13:20:05]

Is he prepared to walk out of this meeting if he senses that Putin is not serious about ending this war?

LEAVITT: I think I just answered that question for you and what the goal and the expectation of the meeting is. And I won't jump ahead of any hypotheticals, and I will leave it to the president to speak to all of you after the meeting, which I'm very confident he will.

Steve.

QUESTION: Is he optimistic that a deal will emerge from this meeting, or is he simply going to listen?

LEAVITT: I think 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.

QUESTION: Karoline, how did you settle on Alaska as a site for this? There were some other sites being discussed, but is this like a midpoint between the two leaders?

LEAVITT: There were many sites discussed, but, of course, Alaska is a state within the United States of America, so the president is very honored and looks forward to hosting President Putin on American soil.

QUESTION: Last thing. Is there a joint news conference planned, or will the president have a solo one? What sort of scheduling...

(CROSSTALK)

LEAVITT: Yes, the mechanics and the scheduling, Steve, are still being ironed out for Friday. We're working with our Russian counterparts to put those plans into action, and, of course, we will keep you all apprised on the logistical details of Friday as soon as we get them.

Charlie.

QUESTION: The president said at the podium yesterday twice that he was planning to go to Russia.

Was that a verbal slip-up, or does he actually plan to go to Russia?

LEAVITT: Perhaps there are plans in the future to travel to Russia, and on Friday the president will be meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska, as you know.

Phil.

QUESTION: Last week, the president said the CEO of Intel was (INAUDIBLE) seeming to cite his past investment with Chinese companies that were in business from the Chinese military.

Yesterday, he called his meeting with the CEO a success. So what can you tell us about what the Intel CEO said to President Trump that changed his mine?

LEAVITT: The president put out a statement that you cited, Phil. I will leave it at that. He shared his thoughts on that meeting and how it went.

And for any further comment on that, I will leave it to him to make.

QUESTION: Will the Bureau of Labor Statistics continue to put out monthly jobs reports?

LEAVITT: Well, look, what I will tell you about the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I believe that is the plan, and that's the hope, and that these monthly reports will be data that the American people can trust.

As you know, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has made massive revisions after the last several points -- reports that they have put out, and there has certainly been a decline in the quality and the reliability of data coming from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And there's been an increase in revisions.

And this president and the administration is finally tackling this problem that so many have talked about. And the president is actually doing something about it. We need to restore new leadership that we can trust. As you know, the president has appointed someone new to take over the BLS. And so we need to look at the means and the methods of how the United States is acquiring this very important data.

And all of that is going to be done. And the goal, of course, is to provide honest and good data for the American people to make very important economic decisions on.

Michael.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline. Two questions, if I may.

The president has talked about land swaps between Russia and Ukraine. Vladimir Putin says he wants Russia to hold on to Russian-occupied territory in Eastern Ukraine. Is the White House at all concerned about the messaging that potential -- potentially giving over or allowing Russia to maintain its occupied territory in Eastern Ukraine, what that might say to other U.S. adversaries like China?

LEAVITT: Look, right now, the president of the United States has done more to end this war than his predecessor, Joe Biden, who allowed this war to take place.

This war, don't forget, happened at the result of the weakness and the incompetence of the previous administration. And so the president inherited this conflict, and he is determined to end it. And it's a very complex and complicated situation. As for the details of the plans that have been kind of tossed back and forth, I won't get into those. And I will let the president of the United States discuss those plans with the president of Russia, with our European allies, and the president of Ukraine, Zelenskyy, himself as well.

Sure. Go ahead in the green.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline.

(OFF-MIKE) LEAVITT: Need you to speak up.

QUESTION: Is there a timeline. Do we know what success looks like? Is it going to last longer than 30 days? And, also, is there going to be an immigration enforcement aspect to this?

LEAVITT: So, can you speak up a little bit? The air conditioning is bumping in here for all of you today after yesterday's heater. So we have got to talk up. You're welcome.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Is there a timeline for the security operations here in D.C.? And also, is there going to be an immigration component to this? And what would that look like?

LEAVITT: Look, if law enforcement officers encounter a criminal in the city, and they are an illegal alien, of course, the appropriate measures to detain and deport that individual will be taken, as they should.

[13:25:07]

No city should be a sanctuary for anyone other than law-abiding American citizens. And that's been the -- that has been the position of this administration since day one.

As for the timing, we will reevaluate and reassess and make further decisions after this 30-day period is up. But within these 30 days, our entire focus is making sure that this is the most efficient operation possible and that we are removing as many criminals from the streets and we are cleaning up D.C. as best as we can and working with the Metropolitan Police Department to do that.

I know the mayor just spoke several minutes ago, I was watching her on television and she said that an increase in law enforcement officers on the streets will be helpful to deter crime in this city. And we look forward to working with these brave men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department to remove criminals off of our streets and to keep law-abiding citizens in the District safe -- Josh.

QUESTION: Thank you.

The president weighed in on Jay Powell again today, you might have seen. He said that he's considering allowing a major lawsuit against Powell to proceed because of the -- quote -- "horrible and gross, incompetent job he has done."

Can you tell us about that? What lawsuit is he talking about?

LEAVITT: He's considering a lawsuit. And I won't speak or on it any further. I will allow the president to do that himself.

QUESTION: Is it fair to say the administration is considering suing the Fed chair over this renovation thing?

LEAVITT: That is what the president is saying.

QUESTION: Has he had discussions with it about -- with anyone about this or is it just -- like, what -- how advanced is this right now?

LEAVITT: At this moment in time, the president is considering a lawsuit against the Fed, and I will leave it to him to comment further on it.

Tamara.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: We talked about -- sorry, but, yesterday, we talked about the Nvidia chips deal that the president has struck here as well with AMD, the 15 percent stake that will go to the government.

Do you have any detail on how that came about? The president, did he ask for 20 percent from Nvidia? Did he make the same 20 percent ask to AMD and/or is this something the administration is looking to do with other either chips or products going forward? Is this a model that wants to build on it?

LEAVITT: Well, look, right now, it stands with these two companies. Perhaps it could expand in the future to other companies. I think it's a creative idea and solution.

The legality of it, the mechanics of it is still being ironed out by the Department of Commerce and I would defer you to them for any further details on how it will actually be implemented, but again this was another idea of the president and his brain trust on his trade team to try to get good deals for the American people and the American taxpayer.

QUESTION: Did you see the report that China is discouraging the use of the H20 to some companies since this reporting overnight there was private guidance said to companies, not banning the chip, but urging them to steer away from it? I wonder if you any response to that.

LEAVITT: I haven't read the report. I will and we will get you a comment on it.

Tamara.

QUESTION: Thank you.

Last week, the meeting with Putin was sort of described potentially as an opportunity for a deal. Now it's a feeling out. Is there -- has there been a shift in expectations within the White House or an effort to temper expectations about what success looks like for this meeting?

LEAVITT: I mean, look I think both can be true, right? The president has always said he wants a peace deal, he wants to see this war come to an end.

But this bilateral meeting is a bilateral meeting between one party in this two-party war, right? You need both countries to agree to a deal. The president is accepting this bilateral meeting with Putin on Friday, and I will let him speak further to it after it concludes about how he felt it went.

QUESTION: Also, completely unrelated topic, regarding the president's efforts in Washington, D.C. Do you have any specifics about how homeless people will be dealt with, where they would be moved to? What does this look like.

LEAVITT: I do, yes. And it's an important question. So thank you for raising it.

The Metropolitan Police Department, with the support of the new federal agencies who have been surging on the streets of the District of Columbia, are going to enforce the laws that are already on the books here in Washington, D.C. For far too long, these laws have been completely ignored and the homelessness problem has ravaged the city.

So, D.C. Code 221307 and D.C. Municipal Regulation 24100 give the Metropolitan Police Department the authority to take action when it comes to homeless encampments. So homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services, and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time.

Again, these are preexisting laws that are already on the books. They have not been enforced, which is part of the reason for this nationalizing of the -- federalizing of the National Guard to bring in this assistance for law enforcement. While we are targeting criminals and trying to remove criminals off of the streets, we also want to make D.C. safe and beautiful and that involves removing mentally disturbed individuals and homeless encampments as well.

So, we will be using these regulations and code that already exist to clean up our streets. And we have already had great success. Not many of you picked up on this.