Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

White House Holds Briefing as Trump Takes Over D.C. Police, Deploys National Guard; Putin-trump Meeting to Take Place in Anchorage, Alaska; Trump Nominee for Labor Data Suggests Suspending Monthly Jobs Report; Inflation Holds Steady but Trump Tariffs Driving Some Costs Up. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:44]

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- homeless encampments as well. So we will be using these regulations and code that already exists to clean up our streets. And we've already had great success. Not many of you picked up on this, but the United States Park Police has actually done remarkable work in terms of removing homeless encampments from the city. Since the president signed this executive order in March, 70 homeless encampments have been removed by the U.S. Park Police. There are only two homeless encampments remaining in D.C. federal parks under the National Park Service's jurisdiction and the removal of those two remaining camps is scheduled for this week. So, the U.S. Park Police will be leading this effort alongside MPD.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just very quickly, he had talked in one of his social media posts about moving them very far outside of the city. Is that off?

LEAVITT: Nope. It's not off. We're exploring how we could do that. But again, homeless shelters, offered addiction and mental health services, or jail if they refuse, are the options on the table right now, and we'll continue to explore that option.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. Thank you so much, Karoline. President Zelenskyy said moments ago that he thinks Russia is preparing for a new offensive on at least three different areas of the front line. Is this something that you could confirm based on U.S. intelligence? And if the president sees that Putin is indeed planning major new offensive or moving troops, would he call off the meeting on Friday?

LEAVITT: I'm not in a position to confirm or deny or comment on that intel at this time. Monica?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, Karoline. My question involves Russiagate. A whistleblower alleges that then Congressman Adam Schiff approved leaking classified information to smear President Trump's image during the Russiagate scandal. Does the president plan to investigate Adam Schiff? And would -- what would accountability look like if more information confirms this report? LEAVITT: The president has already said he wants to see Adam Schiff held accountable for the countless lies he told the American people in relation to the Russiagate scandal. I brought Tulsi Gabbard out to this podium to talk to you about all of that. And this administration is taking accountability very seriously. As for this new FBI whistleblower report, I understand Kash Patel, last night, declassified a 302 FBI document, showing that a whistleblower, who is a Democrat, a career intelligence officer who worked for Democrats on the House Intel Committee for more than a decade, repeatedly warned the FBI in 2017 that then Rep. Adam Schiff had approved leaking classified information to smear then President Donald Trump over the Russiagate scandal.

This is obviously a bombshell whistleblower report. Hopefully, more people in this room will cover it as such. And I have a quote from the FBI director for all of you. He has said this, "For years, certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives. It was all done with one purpose, to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain. Those abuses eroded public trust in our institutions. The FBI will now lead the charge with our partners at DOJ and Congress will have the chance to uncover how political power may have been weaponized and to restore accountability." That's what the administration is focused on. And hopefully we'll see some more media reports on this whistleblower allegation. If this were reversed, if this were -- if this were allegations against the president or any of these cabinet officials, I'm sure everyone in this room would cover it as such.

Elizabeth, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, Karoline. After yesterday's action to federalize the D.C. Police, is the president still interested in working with Congress to end the Home Rule Act, something you talked about in the past. Senator Mike Lee has a bill on it. Is that something he's still interested in?

LEAVITT: The president is very much still interested in working with Congress to address many of the issues that have plagued Washington, D.C., such as the Cashless Bail Policy, which has been a complete disaster for the city. Juvenile delinquency is another major problem in the city that Congress can address. So, I know Congress is on recess right now. When they get back to work to Washington, this president looks forward to having these conversations with our friends on Capitol Hill, so we can work with them to make D.C. safe and beautiful again.

And again, we encourage Democrats to join us in this effort. Perhaps their approval ratings would move up a little bit if they did. I saw a new poll today. Democratic approval rating is at an all-time low, 32 percent. If they could just stand by the basic notion of law and order, perhaps they would see that tick up a bit, and we welcome them to do that. Dacia (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, Karoline. President Trump yesterday, at this podium indicated this, so has NATO Secretary General Rutte, that in order for peace to happen, it is very likely that Ukraine will have to cede some land to Russia. Zelenskyy has repeatedly said, no land for peace. That's not going to happen. Has this administration communicated to Zelenskyy that he's going to have to change that position?

LEAVITT: Look, I appreciate your asking that question in a different way than your colleague Michael in the back. I don't want to get into the details of these negotiations and these discussions that have taken place out of respect for where we are right now. And I'll let the president speak on it further if he wishes to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do have one more about Israel.

LEAVITT: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know the president has -- had a call with the Prime Minister Netanyahu recently. Netanyahu is planning to seize the remainder of Gaza City. What is the administration's position on this move by Israel's government?

[13:35:00]

LEAVITT: Look, this is an incredibly complex and complicated war that, again, was inherited by this president by his predecessor, Joe Biden. October 7th was one of the worst days in history. We saw innocent people slaughtered, murdered, kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. This administration has taken extensive time and effort and resources since Inauguration Day in January to end this conflict. We have given many flexible arrangements, backed by Israel to Hamas, and unfortunately, Hamas has never agreed.

Looking ahead, I will let the president speak on where he sees this going. But this is, of course, an incredibly complex and complicated situation. The administration has made our goal clear. We want to see this (inaudible) end. We want to see the hostages released, and we've tried -- the president and his national security team have given extensive effort and time to doing that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is the president (ph) comfortable with how Israel has used those resources and the assistance that you've provided?

LEAVITT: Look, I'll let the president speak on the further actions that Israel may or may not be taking. Good to see you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good to see you as well, Karoline. Thank you. The president is expressing interest that Friday's meeting will move beyond just terms to end the war, into improving bilateral relations. There's talk over how they're interested in potentially restoring direct flights between Russia and the United States. Is President Trump open to those kind of peripheral conversations, or is this directly focused on ending the war in Ukraine?

LEAVITT: I think this conversation on Friday is focused on ending the war in Ukraine, as far as the president's perspective goes. Those conversations, I think the president is interested in having, but his main priority right now is ending this war and to stop the killing that has gone on for far too long. You're welcome. In the back, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Karoline. Yeah, two questions on the economy. So first, we've had small businesses tell us that it's not foreign exporters who are eating the tariffs, it's them. And they've held off on raising prices, but soon they're going to have to raise prices. What is the White House's message to them?

LEAVITT: The White House's message to our small business owners across the country is you have never had a better ally or a friend or a supporter in this White House than President Donald Trump, who is a businessman himself, who understands your concerns and who wants to restore wealth back to our country through the powerful use of tariffs. And that's what he's focused on doing, while simultaneously driving down costs. You have to remember that we are six months into this administration, and we had a president who had no business experience, had no idea what he was doing, and who funneled billions of wasteful spending dollars into our economy, which created the worst inflation crisis in a generation.

Now, this president is focused on tackling inflation, deregulating, cutting costs, cutting red tape to make it easier for small business owners to thrive. And again, the economic indicators show that we are moving in the right direction. In January, when this president showed up to the White House, the six-month annualized core inflation rate was 3.7 percent. Today, six months later, the six-month annualized core inflation rate is 2.4 percent. So we are trending in the right direction. Moving forward, since President Trump took office, for another six months, inflation will be tracking at 1.9 percent at this trajectory. You look at grocery prices, they fell, energy prices fell, fuel, oil fell, ship fairs fell, propane fell, butter, margarine, eggs, non-prescription drugs. You go through the list of items that are falling.

And then I would also point to that report this morning showing that small business optimism has reached a five-month high. So look, we inherited an economic mess from the previous administration, but this administration is focused on fixing it every day. And part of that is signing the largest tax cuts into law to put more money back into the pockets of these small business owners.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more, just on the BLS, they collect the inflation data, obviously, if the Jobs Data is not reliable, should Americans trust the inflation data?

LEAVITT: Well, look, the Jobs Data has had massive revisions. We want to ensure that all of the data, the inflation data, the jobs data, any data point that is coming out of the BLS is trustworthy and is accurate, which is why the president has restored new leadership at the BLS. Sure. Go ahead. Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Hi. Thank you. So, Gavin Newsom has said that California is going to sue in response to the government's demand for $1 billion from UCLA over the DOJ's anti-Semitism, findings. Newsom has called this extortion and ransom. So, I'm wondering what the White House's response is to Newsom on UCLA.

LEAVITT: Bring it on, Gavin. This administration is well within its legal right to do this, and we want to ensure that our colleges and our universities are respecting the First Amendment rights and the religious liberties of students on their campuses, and UCLA has failed to do that. And I have a whole list of examples that I will forward to Gavin Newsom's press office, if he hasn't seen them himself. Brett?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Karoline. What was the reason that President Trump chose to move on from Billy Long as IRS Commissioner?

[13:40:00]

LEAVITT: Look, I think the president wants to see Billy Long as the Ambassador to Iceland. As you know, that is where he will be headed. And the president loves Billy Long, and he thinks that he can serve the administration well in this position. For now, Secretary Scott Bessent will be the Acting IRS Commissioner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a timeline for announcing a new pick?

LEAVITT: Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

LEAVITT: Ed, go ahead. But then, in the back. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go in the back first.

LEAVITT: OK, sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, Karoline. One foreign policy and then one domestic question, if I may. There are roughly 30,000 children from Ukraine who have reportedly been abducted and are kind of dispersed around Russia. They've been showing up on these websites for adoption. Is their return a red line for the president in any deal ending the war?

LEAVITT: The administration is aware of these reports. I don't want to set red lines for the president on his behalf from this podium. However, the president did encourage Ukraine and Russia to speak directly to one another in terms of these humanitarian issues. And we have seen progress. You have seen prisoners of war swapped between these two countries as a result of these direct talks, as well as children and that remains a concern. But it's one that Russia and Ukraine need to iron out together, which is why this president has encouraged them to speak.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Thank you. And then if I can.

LEAVITT: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The D.C. action real quick. The president said yesterday that this is a model federalizing the National Guard that could be used to combat really high rates of crime in other cities like Chicago, L.A., Baltimore. What sort of authority would he have to deploy forces like that, absent the Home Rule Act?

LEAVITT: Look, the president is speaking about what he'd like to see take place in other cities around the country. Right now, this administration is focused on making D.C. safe and beautiful again. When the time comes, we'll talk about that. But I will note that the president wants to see all of our nation's cities be safe. But I think starting with our nation's Capitol is a great place to begin and it should serve as a model for the rest of the country.

Ed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to (inaudible) a few of the D.C. things because a lot of them (inaudible) in talking with Congress about potential changes to the Home Rule and whatever else, would he also push the House to finally pass --

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We've been listening to Press Secretary Karoline Levitt at the White House, answering reporters' questions, a number of key takeaways, perhaps most notably, a resetting, a tampering down of expectations from the White House when it comes to this meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as of just a few days ago, as reporters in the room noted, the White House had sort of set this up to be a moment where the president would try to bring peace to Ukraine, as he said many times on the campaign trail that he would do that within days of taking office.

Now, months later, the president has suggested that Putin is stringing him along. And now, according to Karoline Leavitt, this is going to be a listening session where Trump plans to hear directly from Putin on these key issues.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah, this is fascinating. A listening exercise for the president was the exact word that the Press Secretary used right there. Karoline Leavitt was also asked, why not invite President Zelenskyy? That's been a big question that a lot of folks have been asking. Certainly because this is, Ukraine and Zelenskyy are a key player in this conflict. And Karoline Leavitt emphasized that this will just be a meeting between President Putin and President Trump, and that there are hopes that there may be a trilateral meeting, but for now, these are going to be the two players who are going to be sitting down in Anchorage, Alaska.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

FREEMAN: Which is also something that we learned in this press conference as well.

SANCHEZ: Absolutely. Let's go to Nick Paton Walsh, who's live for us in Kyiv. And there was an interesting question, Nick, that was asked of Leavitt whether the United States and President Trump had directly communicated to President Zelenskyy that the United States' position was that there would have to be some kind of land swap, some land that Ukraine would have to give up to Russia in order to secure peace. She said she wouldn't speak for President Trump on that end, but that appears to be the central issue that needs to be resolved in order to end this conflict. And perhaps a big part of the reason that Zelenskyy is not planning to attend this meeting.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yeah, I mean, Zelenskyy is not planning to attend the meeting because he hasn't been invited. Ultimately, Trump was very clear yesterday where he said they felt that there could be land swapped, that one party would have to give up something, the other something else. But it's really unclear is exactly what he means. What is clear is that Ukraine does not feel it should be giving up territory voluntarily, parts of the country that it hasn't actually lost to Russia through Russia's military conquest. That's been their position from the start.

Just then, you heard the question about whether or not during their conversations, Trump and Zelenskyy, Trump had conveyed to the Ukrainian president that he might have to change that position. And the response was, well, they didn't want to get into the private conversation itself. So, it's entirely possible that that has been reiterated in a private phone call from Washington to Kyiv.

[13:45:00]

Although Trump has stated openly that he feels some kind of swap maybe necessary or underway here. He's also held out the possibility that in his meeting and we know now will be Anchorage, he may in the first two minutes speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin and discern immediately pretty much that a deal is not in the offing. But at the same time, he holds out the possibility there may be progress in that meeting, and he may afterwards call European allies and Ukrainian Zelenskyy and convey that to him if he likes what he's hearing.

So we have on one side, European allies meeting tomorrow alongside Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, all virtual with President Trump attending, in which they will reiterate their position, which is -- was once held by the United States, ceasefire first, and then the front lines freeze and negotiations after that. He'll hear that very concretely tomorrow, President Trump.

But at the same time, it's clear that despite all these warnings and this protest, that there will still be a bilateral meeting which may address Ukraine without Ukraine being there. It looks increasingly unlikely that the sort of suggestions over the weekend that maybe Zelenskyy might get an invitation, but that's actually going to result in something. And indeed, Zelenskyy speaking to journalists earlier on today, described President Trump more as a middleman, not on Russia's side, not necessarily entirely on Ukraine's side, although he is always been very appreciative of American support and indeed suggested that they'd be able to Ukraine buy a billion dollars a month of American weapons with their own money going forward.

So, Kyiv treading a very delicate line here, but little we heard, frankly, about the specifics of this summit, about what's been said beforehand, about what's expected out of it apart from to hear that it would be indeed an honor for the United States to have Russian President Vladimir Putin on American soil, even with the issue of whether the Ukrainian children abducted during the Russian occupation and taken to Russia, that their return was a key red line, demure really on that issue as well, even though it's subject, frankly, to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, part of that particular move.

So, interesting to hear this vital summit being discussed, but even as we edge towards it, we know exactly the town it is going to be, the day it's going to be in. But just imagine the norm, frankly, that a key massive summit like this would have months in the preparation that we would see lots of public posturing beforehand. What we are really seeing now, day by day, is the slow organic play out of this event coming towards us, but we're increasingly less enlightened as to what it's really going to bring.

FREEMAN: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much for breaking that all down for us. I want to quickly toss to our own Kaitlan Collins who just asked the Press Secretary about Russia. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: In D.C. with the Federal takeover, what we've heard from the mayor and the police chief is that their understanding is there has been no change in the leadership structure. In the White House's view, who is in charge of the MPD right now?

LEAVITT: If you read the executive order, it will tell you. The leadership structure is as follows. We plan to work with the Metropolitan Police Department, but ultimately, the chain of command is as such, the President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, our DEA Administrator Terry Cole, who is now serving Head of -- the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department and they will be working together. Nope, Terry Cole, as you heard from this briefing room yesterday, is in charge of the Metropolitan Police Department and he's working with the Chief to ensure that law enforcement officers are allowed to do their jobs in this city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, thanks, Karoline. I know you've said earlier the hope is to maintain monthly job reports, but the president's new nominee for BLS --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So, Kaitlan Collins' question there having to do with the federal takeover of policing in D.C. Karoline Leavitt saying that essentially the chain of command is what is in the executive order, that we should not anticipate any surprises. She was previously asked about the timing of how long this will go, and she said that timing will be re-evaluated after 30 days. She says our entire focus is that this is the most efficient operation possible to clean up the streets. Earlier in the briefing, she talked about there having been 23 arrests in D.C. last night as the president deployed hundreds of police officers across the nation's -- federal officers, I should say, across the nation's Capitol. She also answered a number of questions on the economy and Jobs reports.

FREEMAN: That was the topic of the day.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. FREEMAN: The economy and Jobs Reports, including the replacement and the new announcement of a new head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which was a big controversy when the old one was fired not too long ago.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Let's discuss those economic headlines with Douglas Holtz-Eakin. He's served as Chief Economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush.

[13:50:00]

He's also with the American Action Forum. Doug, thanks for being with us. So, one of the things that Karoline Leavitt was --

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH.: My pleasure.

SANCHEZ: -- asked about was about whether E.J. Antoni, this nominee to lead the BLS, who a few days ago suggested that Jobs Reports, monthly Jobs Reports should be paused until their methodology is reviewed, whether his view of pausing reports was something that the president supported. She essentially, said that they wouldn't necessarily go after that kind of policy, but the White House appears to be open to having Antoni lead the department and potentially going in that direction. I wonder what you make of it.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, I think that, ultimately, that's going to be a call that goes to the Secretary of Labor and up to the White House itself. And I don't think that any nominee can really make that decision once confirmed. You can be sure he'll be asked about it during his confirmation hearing. That's certainly something the Senate ought to look into. More generally, I think the issue is not the timing of the data so much as ensuring its ongoing quality and improving the quality of the data.

One of the things this episode has brought to the forefront is longstanding problems in the sample sizes, the response rates and other details of the monthly collection of employment and price data. And I think it's a good thing that for these to be brought to the surface, the Congress needs to make sure that these agencies are appropriately funded. And certainly, there's a place for stepping back and asking, can we do it better in the 21st century than we have been? So, I think this is a great chance for a restart (inaudible) firing was unfortunate and misguided, but there's a chance to go forward and do better.

FREEMAN: Doug, I'm curious though, one of the main sticking points on this particular issue is, again, the accuracy and the amount of revisions that have happened when it comes to these Jobs Data. Do you feel that there -- I guess, what could he do substantively differently to get a better result? Because revisions are only in place to get the most accurate numbers, no?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Yes. Revisions are actually not evidence of an inaccuracy. They're a step toward accuracy. The revisions occur because there is more information. There are more firms that get their responses in, the sample size grows. Ultimately, you'd like to know what every single firm in the country's doing, but that's not feasible. So, the first job is to educate the public on what causes the revision. Well, it's new information that's valuable for policy makers to know. If it turns out to be bad news, that's unfortunate, but you do need to know what's going on out there in the economy.

The solution to this in the end is simply time and money (inaudible) samples, that takes time. It's going to require some resources, need to work on the response rates. We've seen this decline in firms responding to the survey. So, those are the mechanics of collecting the data. Nothing much is going to change in the near term. I admire the idea of stepping back and asking, can we supplement those data with private sector data, things like that. There's a place for that, but there's no substitute for going out and asking firms what's going on. They just need to ask more firms.

SANCHEZ: And we should also point out the White House has not actually backed up the suggestion that the previous numbers were being manipulated for political reasons, the way that the president has suggested. I want to ask Doug about inflation, because Karoline Leavitt suggested today that it is moving in the right direction. The numbers, the CPI coming out today lower than expected overall. What's your read of inflation and the overall economy?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, I think inflation's not moving in the right direction. The Fed was moving toward the 2 percent target. It's now stalled out for a long period and headed back north a little bit. It's not dramatic. But certainly, we've stopped making progress on inflation. And the concern has been that the tariffs, which will raise the cost for American businesses, will show up as higher prices for American households. And it is happening in the places you would expect it to happen.

If you look at the prices of goods, traded and non-traded goods, they're going to -- they're rising faster than the services. We've gotten a huge break in that gas prices went down, energy prices in general, but underlying that top line is -- are real inflation pressures. That makes it a tough job for the Fed, right? They've got, simultaneously a labor market that has really slowed to a stall, outside of the health sector. We've had a decline in private sector employment in the past three months. So, the labor growth is not what they'd like. The inflation is not what they'd like. And they have to make a tough call, which is more important at this moment, cutting rates and trying to energize labor force growth and employment growth, or holding onto the rates where they are and fighting inflation.

FREEMAN: Well, and Douglas, just quickly, we have a little bit of time left before we go, one of the things that the Press Secretary was asked about specifically was, what do you tell small businesses who are starting to feel exactly what you're talking about right there, as these inflation numbers are stalling, if not creeping up a little bit?

[13:55:00]

They said, we're going to make the country wealthy and cutting regulations. Is that going to be good enough? Or I should say, how long will that be a good enough answer?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: The president did a remarkable job of controlling regulatory costs in his first time in office. Really something that I didn't anticipate, most people didn't appreciate, and it was astounding. We haven't seen the same kind of performance thus far. And it's a bit mysterious as to why. We've seen regulatory costs go up somewhat, about $100 billion so far. But we haven't seen any dramatic deregulation that's going to take costs off the books for small businesses. So of the three things, tariffs, taxes, and, and regulatory costs, we've seen the tariffs making things more expensive, no relief on the other fronts yet. And so, they're caught in the bind. There's no question about it.

SANCHEZ: Douglas Holtz-Eakin, always appreciate the perspective.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead on CNN News Central, more on Friday's summit between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The meeting now being framed by the White House as a listening exercise, certainly setting expectations relatively low. Stay with CNN. We're back in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)