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Trump Warns Russia Will Face Severe Consequences if War Doesn't Stop; Trump Talks to Zelenskyy, E.U. Leaders Ahead of Putin Summit; President Trump Will Seek to Extend Federal Control of D.C. Police, Ask Congress to Pass a Crime Bill. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 13, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:28]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": President Trump promises very severe consequences on Russia if Vladimir Putin does not agree to end his war on Ukraine during Friday's summit. But it also says that if this first meeting goes well, there may be a quick second meeting. Only that time Zelenskyy will join the leaders. Plus, making his mark from a surge of federal law enforcement to an overhaul of cultural institutions. The president is increasingly putting his stamp on the nation's capitol. We'll take a look at the impacts

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And mulling marijuana, the President says he's looking into potentially loosening federal restrictions on cannabis, though some prominent voices in his MAGA base are urging him to back off citing health concerns. We'll discuss with an expert as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

FREEMAN: We begin with breaking news. President Trump issuing a stern warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of their meeting in Alaska on Friday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Russia face any consequences if Vladimir Putin does not agree to stop the war after your meeting on Friday?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Yes they will. Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will the consequences be?

TRUMP: There will be consequences.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sanctions? Tariffs?

TRUMP: There will be -- I don't have to say. There will be very severe consequences.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FREEMAN: Now, just yesterday, the White House had characterized the Alaska Summit as a "listening exercise." Today, Trump heard directly from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders ahead of Friday's meeting. Zelenskyy says he told Trump he wants a ceasefire first, then security guarantees before agreeing to any plan for peace. CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House. Kristen, the president said there could be a second meeting with Putin after the summit on Friday. What more are you learning about that?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Danny, and just quickly to touch on what you talked about in terms of punishments or repercussions, if Putin were in somehow not to come to the table with any meaningful deal or conversation. We know that last Friday, there was talk of enacting these secondary sanctions. In fact, that was the deadline. But because they put this meeting between the two leaders on the table and because they were working it through, that got pushed to the back burner. So that's likely what they're talking about there.

Now on this meeting, President Trump has been clear as has the White House. There was always going to be a sit down with just Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump. Now, he is saying that if it goes well, he wants to have another meeting that includes Zelenskyy as quickly as possible. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I would say the second meeting, if the first one goes OK, we'll have a quick second one. I would like to do it almost immediately and we'll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they'd like to have me there. And that would be a meeting where maybe it could be absolutely work, but the first meeting will not work that out. Certain great things can be gained in the first, it's going to be a very important meeting, but it's setting the table for the second meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And that's something we've heard from President Trump before, this idea of setting the table for the second meeting. I mean, one of the things that he continues to say, regardless of this meeting with Zelenskyy potentially afterwards, is that the first person he is going to call after he sits down with Putin is Zelenskyy and then the European leaders. And he has said it is not his to make a deal here. But when the White House says listening session, they have tried to clarify that by saying that President Trump believes that he can get more out of Putin, even in terms of picking up what it is that Putin -- where it is that his head is at, by sitting across from him than he can over the phone.

And that's why it's important for President Trump. He believes he needs to sit down with Vladimir Putin to see where exactly he is when it comes to a potential ceasefire. Just one thing to note, they have had a number of conversations over the past several months, and as we've seen, they've grown increasingly more uncomfortable. The president has grown more frustrated with Vladimir Putin with every phone call they have had. So now, President Trump taking this as an opportunity to actually sit down with him, which he believes more can be gleaned from that kind of a meeting.

FREEMAN: Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for breaking that all down. All right, joining us now to talk about all of this Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Host of "Cosmopolitics" on Substack, Elise Labott; also former Lieutenant Governor of Alaska and former Chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, Mead Treadwell. Thank you both for joining us to talk through all of this.

[14:05:00]

Elise, I'll start with you if that's all right. Just because you know this space so well, you're following this closely. President Trump outlining today that first meeting to figure out where we are and what we're doing, but then saying there might be a potential second meeting with Zelenskyy if all goes well. What was your take-away from that statement?

ELISE LABOTT, EDWARD R. MURROW PRESS FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, a couple of things. I don't blame President Trump for wanting to sit down with Vladimir Putin and get a sense of where he is, but he pretty much already knows. They've had five calls so far, and the administration has put out a few proposals. But let's take a look at what Putin's wishlist is, and he's already made it quite clear, so he wants de facto recognition of all of the territorial gains. He wants a declaration that Ukraine can't join NATO. He wants caps on Ukraine's military capacity, and the weapons that are getting to it. He's also talking about calling for elections in Ukraine.

Basically, he wants Ukraine to just admit that they lost and move on with less territory and possibly even elections. So, he wants basically Trump to declare him the winner. And so I think, if President Trump wants to sit down one last time and make sure that that's still where Putin is, OK. But I hope that the cynicism that we've seen from President Trump over the last call it month or so, will he still have that when President Putin is sitting across from him. Putin could make some more noises about being willing to do things. But ultimately, we know that President Putin is not interested in a ceasefire. He thinks he's winning the war and he has no reason to capitulate

SANCHEZ: You've seen no evidence that Putin has changed his position on this, that that --

LABOTT: No.

SANCHEZ: -- Trump may somehow feel that Putin is no longer stringing him along. So I wonder, are we going to see further sanctions on Russia, specifically on its trading partners?

LABOTT: I think if President Trump comes to the realization that Putin is continuing to play him, and he goes back and forth, right, depending on the day, depending on what he sees on the ground in Ukraine. I think if he comes to that realization, I'm not getting anything out of this guy, then yes. Remember, President Trump did walk away from his lover boy, Kim Jong-un --

(LAUGH)

LABOTT: -- all those years ago. So if he's willing to say, I'm done here, then maybe he'll launch those sanctions and then that could move Putin a little bit. But right now, even though Putin, he has 20 percent of the country, he doesn't have 80 percent. So to give him what he has and maybe even more of what they're talking about, I just think, President Trump doesn't really need to do that. And President Zelenskyy doesn't think he can do that without going to the Ukrainian people. So, that's why there has to be a meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy because President Trump can't say, oh, here's a piece of Ukraine.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

LABOTT: Have at it. President Zelenskyy has a vote here, and President Putin doesn't want to meet with him.

FREEMAN: Mead, I want to bring you to this conversation because this first meeting is happening, of course, in Alaska, your home. Talk to us about the significance of not just hosting it in America, but specifically in your great state.

MEAD TREADWELL, FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: Well, both presidents have to fly about the same distance to get here. Moscow is 12 time zones away, but it's actually, if you could go through the great circle route, it's about the same distance that President Trump will travel. It's in Alaska, which used to be owned by Russia. We bought it fair and square in 1867. And so, I don't think we're on the table in terms of land trades. But I will say this, Alaskans have a lot of former Russian citizens and a lot of former Ukrainian citizens, and all of us want peace.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, no doubt about that. I wonder how Alaskans are feeling about having this take place there. It's an event that has global implications. I mean, all eyes are going to be on Anchorage come Friday.

TREADWELL: I think we're very excited about it. We're used to having foreign leaders stop through here. We're on the great circle route. So, many times when presidents are going to Asia, they stop here. We had Reagan and the Pope meet here. We've had Nick and Hirohito meet here. So we're used to that. But I think what's very important here is with Russia, they're our neighbor. And we used to have very good relations with Russia. In fact, the Russian ambassador once said to me when I was Lieutenant Governor that Alaska-Russia relations were about the only good news in U.S.-Russia relations. And they're not good now because of Ukraine and we'd like to see that come back.

FREEMAN: You know, and I -- you know this and others have known this. I mean, it's a reminder of Sarah Palin saying that famous, I can see.

LABOTT: I can see Alaska from my house. [14:10:00]

I mean, look, Alaska is not only significant because of the past, but also because of the future. The Arctic is very important to both Russia and the United States. This could be -- President Trump does have things to offer Russia, lifting sanctions, more economic deals, cooperation in the Arctic. These are things that could make Alaska a very symbolic and significant place to meet. I think President Trump has a lot of leverage here. It's just a question of whether he is willing to use it.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. And whether Putin views economic considerations as outweighing his vision for Russia's place in the world and Russia's influence on Europe. Before we go, in 2018, when Putin and Trump met in Helsinki, it was just the two of them. There weren't other folks taking notes. Trump didn't really have any advisers with him.

LABOTT: Right.

SANCHEZ: We are anticipating a very similar setup here. No readout of that Helsinki meeting either. Does that benefit the United States?

LABOTT: A hundred percent no. And I think that's one of the concerns of a lot of Russia watchers and Europeans watching this meeting, that outside of Marco Rubio, who has a foreign policy background on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, there aren't a lot of people who are Russia experts, who are Ukraine experts. We don't know really who's going to be in that meeting and who's going to be able to advise the president. Listen, this is -- I think a lot of times, President Trump goes with his gut.

This is a very comp -- this is not a land deal. Steve Witkoff was a former real estate tycoon. This is not a land deal. This has a lot of implications for the security of Europe, for the security of NATO. And so, I think that's a concern. Who's going to be with Trump and is he going to make concessions without consulting a larger team of advisers, before going to President Zelenskyy?

SANCHEZ: Elise Labott, Mead Treadwell, thank you both. Appreciate you joining us.

TREADWELL: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser changing her tone about President Trump's federal crackdown on her city. Why she's now calling his actions a "authoritarian push." Even though this morning, she did say that some benefit may come to these federal resources being in the nation's capitol. Plus, what the Israeli military is now revealing about the future of Gaza, including new IDF attack plans.

FREEMAN: Also, we're watching this, the White House could soon decide if marijuana should be reclassified as a less dangerous drug. But what are the pros and cons of doing so? We'll talk to an expert. That and much, much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:17:13]

SANCHEZ: We're following some new developments this hour on President Trump's federal takeover of the police force in the nation's capitol. The President just a short time ago saying he would seek to maintain control of D.C. Police much longer than the 30 days that his emergency order allows. He again suggested that Washington, D.C. may be the start of a broader nationwide plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to need a crime bill that we're going to be putting in, and it's going to pertain initially to D.C. It's almost, we're going to use it as a very positive example and we're going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can't have 30 days. We're going to want extensions. I don't want to call national emergency. If I have to, I will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Note importantly, the president deliberately using the word initially, when talking about a potential expansion of these plans going beyond D.C. CNN's Gabe Cohen is live for us on the National Mall. Gabe, are you hearing any new reaction to some of the scenes that we've been hearing about around town, especially those Humvees near the Washington Monument earlier today?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, so far, the mayor's office has not wanted to comment on the president's criticisms today. I will note, we have been seeing this U.S. Park Police helicopter circling the National Mall for hours. And we just watched a traffic stop a few minutes ago, right behind us here, Park Police along with five vehicles from Homeland Security pulling somebody over. The driver said it was an insurance issue. I spoke with her, they released her and just towed the car way.

But it shows the presence of federal law enforcement and folks in D.C. better get used to it. Because as you said, the president talking about extending this potentially through executive order, though it's possible he will also turn to Congress for approval. The president also criticizing police data that D.C.'s Police Department keeps which has shown that violent crime has been declining over the past couple years pretty sharply after a spike back in 2023. The president saying that data is inaccurate. Here's what he said a little while ago. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We've worked with the mayor for six months and she's been here for many years, and the numbers are worse than they ever. Don't let anyone tell you they're not. And the whole statistical charts that they made, the whole thing is a rigged deal. They got rid of the guy that --because he didn't want to do the numbers the way they wanted to, and they put their own numbers out. They said it's the best in 20 years. No, it's the worst in 20 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FREEMAN: Yeah. So Boris, you could hear the president criticizing D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser there. Bowser was a fierce vocal critic of Trump during his first term. But so far, over the past eight months or so, the mayor and other officials here in Washington have really tried to tow the line, tried not to publicly antagonize the president because, frankly, President Trump and Republicans in Congress hold the cards when it comes to D.C.'s fate.

[14:20:00]

Last night though, we heard a bit of a shift in tone from the mayor who called this, as you mentioned, an au authoritarian push. Although then this morning, in an interview, the mayor and police chief said, you know what? It's possible that surging these federal law enforcement resources is going to benefit the district. But there is this power struggle right now over who actually calls the shots, like who does the buck stop with, essentially, because the mayor, the police chief has said at the end of the day, they are still the ones in charge. But, tell that to the White House because they are arguing that Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Head of the DEA, ultimately they are the ones with the final call here.

SANCHEZ: Gabe Cohen, live for us from the National Mall. Thank you very much. With us now to dig deeper on this, CNN National Politics Correspondent Eva McKend. Eva, Gabe just alluded to the delicate dance that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has to go through walking this tight rope of describing it as an authoritarian push while also saying the federal resources might help. And we just learned as Gabe was speaking, that the federal resources being brought to D.C. are going to expand tonight. We are anticipating, according to a White House official speaking to CNN, that there will be additional National Guard brought in. So talk to us about the calculus for Bowser here, how she's approaching all of this.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Boris, right now, Mayor Bowser is facing the toughest test of her leadership to date, how she navigates this White House. That is why the comments from her all this week have been arguably inconsistent. In one breath, she described the president's actions as unprecedented. And then just a few minutes later, saying that actually more law enforcement resources in the city would be a good thing and take a listen to what she told community members last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER, (D) DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: It is a step in fascism when the federal government can big foot sovereign states. We all need to do what we can in our space, in our lane, to protect our city and to protect our autonomy, to protect our home rule, and get to the other side of this guy and make sure we elect the Democratic House, so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: Now, Boris, something that has struck me as I've been reporting on this is that at least publicly, she is getting a lot of grace from fellow council members as well as the activist community across this city. As you know, the anti-Trump sentiment among activists everywhere in this city is high. And yet, they tell me they understand the position that she is in because D.C. is not a state. But ultimately, I do wonder if she eventually is going to have to pick a side.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, that's fascinating. And she keeps making the point. And she even said it there, sovereignty over states, making it clear that because D.C. is not a state, her hands are tied. Eva McKend, thanks so much for the reporting. Danny?

FREEMAN: The White House also says it is giving homeless people in the city a "choice of going to shelters or addiction services, or facing jail time." With me now is the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, Donald Whitehead. Thank you for being here with us today, because this has been one of the perhaps on the national scale, less covered elements, but it's been very much front and center of the administration. So let's talk about right this way.

Again, leaning on local D.C. laws, the White House says, for removing homeless encampments, threatening fines though and jail time if folks don't seek out help. What's your take on this?

DONALD WHITEHEAD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: Well, I would say that you can't arrest your way out of homelessness. And homeless people are not criminals. We need to address the issue of homelessness and not put it on the backs of homeless people. So when you arrest, fine or even jail people experiencing homelessness, what happens is it doesn't change the fact that they're homeless. They're still homeless after that happens. D.C. shelters are at capacity.

Actually, they're over capacity because beds have been added because of the president's EO and the president's statements.

FREEMAN: Well, and talk to me a little bit more about the shelter element, because that was directly something that was said, I believe by the White House Press Secretary. Oh, we'll just put them in shelters. Can -- in D.C., they're at capacity, you said over capacity, but also some people rather, it's hard to get everyone to even willingly go to a shelter, right?

WHITEHEAD: I think if you offer someone a housing unit, which is the way you solve homelessness, 90 percent of the people are going to say yes. There are some people who have mental health issues that don't allow them to make decisions that are rational. But most people would go to a shelter if it's available. The issue is, in most cities, almost every city in the United States, there's not enough shelter for the population that needs it.

FREEMAN: One of the other things that has been talked about by the White House in this conversation is President Trump said, we will give you places to stay, but far from the capitol.

[14:25:00] And the Press Secretary said that they're exploring how to potentially remove folks who are experiencing homelessness out of D.C. What would that look like in practice? Does that seem plausible or feasible?

WHITEHEAD: I think it's a violations of people's due process. It's a violation of protections for people with disabilities. I think that if we in this country allow citizens, even though they're citizens that are in poverty, to be moved from one place to the other without their own permission, we are entering into a terrible phase. And that, again, is not the solution. If you move them somewhere, you still haven't solved their homelessness. This actually is a detriment to the services that are already being delivered. Many of those people are already connected. They're just waiting for units to open up, and if they're moved, they don't have those connections anymore. So, it actually undermines all the work, all the resources that are put into this issue.

FREEMAN: Well, and we were talking about this earlier that, I used to live in California and there, I remember a time where Republicans were accusing big cities of sending homeless folks to their perhaps more rural areas. But now, President Trump is saying that he wants to do this. I guess my question for you is, do you think this could give permission to other cities to try and take their homeless population and send them somewhere else?

WHITEHEAD: Well, we're already seeing that trend. Last year, there was a Supreme Court case, Grants Pass, Oregon versus Johnson, where the Supreme Court decided that even if there's not enough shelter in a community, it was OK to criminalize people. And that already gave 320 cities permission to do this. Again, over and over again, we'll say that this is not a solution that, benefits people experiencing homelessness or the community. It certainly takes the issue into a different direction, and we have to stand up. We can't allow citizens, whether they're citizens below the poverty line or above the poverty line, to be forcefully put into institutions or removed from the city of their choice.

The other issue is that, if you look at the president's budget, if the president really wanted to solve homelessness, he wouldn't have a budget that zeroed out most of the programs that benefit people experiencing homelessness. He called for a 80 percent cut in the programs at HUD that oversee people experiencing homelessness. So, the president really needs to put his deeds where his mouth is. He really needs to actually provide the resource. We've never had resources at the level of need for people experiencing homelessness in this country and that's the only way we can solve it.

FREEMAN: Well, Donald Whitehead, thank you for joining us and, and breaking down kind of the reality of what is facing so many people experiencing homelessness in the country. Thank You.

WHITEHEAD: Thank you for having me.

FREEMAN: You bet. Still to come, a Jeffrey Epstein survivor is speaking out. She tells CNN the federal government is gaslighting the public when it comes to the Epstein files. More from her coming up next.

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