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Rep. Gabe Amo (D-RI) On Trump Downplay Of A Possibility Of Breakthrough At Putin Meeting; Taylor Swift Talks New Album On "New Heights" Podcast; ICE Transfer Flights Now Becoming Harder To Track. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 14, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Sir, uh, when you meet with Vladimir Putin Friday in Alaska --

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yeah.

REPORTER: -- do you can convince him to stop targeting civilians in Ukraine?

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what -- I've had that conversation with him. I've had a lot of good conversations with him and then I go home, and I see that Iraq had hit a nursing home or Iraq had hit an apartment building and people are laying dead in the streets. So I guess the answer to that is no because I've had this conversation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: So obviously the U.S. intelligence community has been far more skeptical of Vladimir Putin going back to the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the assessment about Vladimir Putin's mindset and his goals going into the summit remain relatively the same.

We're told that Putin maintains the same territorial goals that he had at the beginning of the war, and that is to effectively conquer Ukraine entirely. He also is looking and likely will use a ceasefire to potentially refit his forces and make another run at Kyiv. So really a different Vladimir Putin as far as Donald Trump is concerned heading into the meeting in Alaska.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Which is interesting because where Donald Trump may see is asking about what's changed about Putin. I think you talk to a lot of -- a lot of lawmakers, and experts, and intelligence officers what have been dealing with Russia for decades and Putin will say -- Vladimir Putin is exactly who he has always been.

It's good to see you, Zach. Great reporting -- Jessica.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us now, Democratic Congressman Gabe Amo of Rhode Island. He's the vice ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, good morning to you. Thank you for being here with us.

I want to pick up there where Zach and Kate just left off. President Trump obviously leaving tomorrow morning. He's threatening these severe consequences if Putin doesn't agree to a ceasefire.

I'm curious if you think sitting down with Putin is the right move for the president here.

REP. GABE AMO (D-RI): Well, good morning.

I don't believe that the structure of this "summit" that has had its expectations lowered over and over again by this administration will serve the key goals here of ensuring that Vladimir Putin sees consequences to his aggression against the Ukraine and the Ukrainian people that there is path forward in lifting up the democratic values of our ally, and that their voice is meaningfully represented.

So the real challenge here is what is the president pursuing in terms of an outcome here. And I'm not certain that with the shifting sands, as we've heard from the administration over the last few days, that they have a clear and certain expectation of what they could reasonably leave with from this summit.

DEAN: The administration and I think the president himself would say look, if we're not talking to him there's no way we can get to a ceasefire. We have to talk to him to try to get there.

What do you say to that?

AMO: Look, I think it is necessary to have that engagement but it also necessary to have the voice of Ukraine at that table. The president has shifted this week from saying that there should be some concessions in terms of territory to yesterday, with European leaders, saying well, he has no intention of going into negotiate there.

Again, this inconsistent pattern of rhetoric that is supposedly all knowing about where Vladimir Putin is headed and certainly speaking on behalf of the Ukrainian people is not an appropriate way to move forward in this particular conflict. And the assurance of the United States supporting Ukraine has to be first and foremost in this conversation, and we haven't heard the president assert that with great clarity and strength.

DEAN: I also want to ask you about Washington, D.C. -- a place, of course, you spend a lot of time in. The president says he is intending to ask Congress to extend this federal takeover of the Washington, D.C. Police Department.

Are you planning to support that if it comes to you?

AMO: Let me be very clear. There is no level of crime that is acceptable. And at the same time, this is very clearly an authoritarian power grab by the president.

So I will not support an extension past these 30 days because frankly, as you have shown and the coverage we've seen over the past couple of days -- you know, the random stops in the streets, the sense of removing the District of Columbia from its autonomy to govern itself -- that is not consistent with the values that we have. And is again, the president seeking to take more power and create emergencies where they don't exist.

DEAN: And listen, you have to think that the Republicans want to use this in a way politically to be able to label Democrats as soft on crime.

What do you say to that?

[07:35:00]

AMO: I would say the only people who have demonstrated that they are soft on crime are Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump. I remember January 6. The revisionist history will not pass the test.

I also have seen this administration slash hundreds of millions of dollars from efforts to combat crime at the local level. Programs like community violence intervention.

So Democrats put our money where our mouths are. Democrats have been very clear about what we should be doing to address crime in this country while Republicans are willing to support pardons of people who have led insurrections in our country.

So I certainly don't believe they have any ground to stand on, and Republicans should do better than speak in a way that isn't consistent with any of their actions.

DEAN: Congressman Gabe Amo, always good to see you. Thanks so much for your time this morning -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is the former press adviser to then- House Speak John Boehner, Maura Gillespie, as well as Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha.

Guys, let's get into this starting with the D.C. takeover. President Trump now says, Maura, that he wants the takeover to last longer than 30 days than -- which is allowed in the order -- and he's likely to ask Congress for an extension for -- to continue his control over D.C.'s police -- which the move is unlikely to pass as it would require, one would assume, Democratic support which you also know that he knows.

Which means what about how all of this is playing out and what the president is looking for.

MAURA GILLESPIE, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, BLUESTACK STRATEGIES, FORMER PRESS ADVISER TO THEN-SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE JOHN BOEHNER (via Webex by Cisco): It makes me think about when a couple of years back there were this faction in the Republican Party who would refer to themselves as the true conservatives. What Donald Trump is doing is not a conservative policy or principle.

As a true conservative, if you want to call it that, you believe in a smaller, more accountable government. How does the federal takeover of a city constitute a smaller, accountable government? It just doesn't.

And listen, the argument to say that crime is not that bad or the rates aren't that bad -- that's not the argument to make. I believe, as a Republican, that the argument I'm having -- and I'm wondering where those true conservatives are now on this issue -- is the federal takeover -- the big overreach that's happening. And that should concern all Americans -- not the left. Not just only those who are like me and who remember what we stand for as Republicans, but this overreach.

And in that same conversation then what is being done to stop the United States -- the crime issues that the United States, the gun violence in the United States? What are we doing to curb those issues and getting at the core of our problems here, not necessarily just having a federal overreach that doesn't seek to solve those problems?

BOLDUAN: Which also makes me think that maybe the best thing going for especially House Republicans right now is that they are not in Washington and not being -- needing to face reporters on a daily basis to answer some of these questions.

Chuck, the president is definitely threatening not to just to extend it longer in D.C. but to extend this beyond D.C.

I had the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri on yesterday and the way that Mayor Quinton Lucas sees it is this puts Democratic mayors in now a no-win situation. Here's why. Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR QUINTON LUCAS, (D) KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI: This is one of the best fights to pick because what I have to sit in front of you and say is yes, there are homicides in my city. Yes, there is crime, but we don't think the same prescription of help is necessary. It's a tough position. But I think frankly, this is the situation we're in and he's not really interested in trying to save lives for us but just exploiting the political issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Hmm.

Chuck, is this a political trap the Democrats are falling for?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, PRESIDENT SOLIDARITY STRATEGIES: It could be if they fall for it. This is about one thing and let's be very clear. This is about the midterm elections and that's all what this is about. It's about messaging.

I do campaign strategy every day and this is good strategy for Donald Trump. It may not be good for America.

It's not good for me here in D.C. I'm sitting in D.C. here. I've been here for 20 years. The streets are safer than they've been in the last few years. Will they ever be safe enough? No. But this is not about the safety in the streets. It's about a

messaging war. Donald Trump wants to be able to say that he's cleaned up the cities, that he's tough, and that he's law and order, and they can run those TV commercials.

Think about this. No marginal congressional seat in America in the midterms resides in the downtown of any city in America -- almost zero. So it's not about that. It's about the suburban voters who think that crime is out of hand, and that's where all the marginal seats are and he can run ads saying I cleaned up those dirty "cities."

A friend of mine from east Texas called me three days ago after the president made his announcement and said, "Are you OK?" And I'm like, "I'm six-foot-one, 210 pounds of mean. Ain't' nobody going to mess with me. I'm fine." He was worried about me in Washington, D.C. showing that does work.

BOLDUAN: Chuck -- man, I would -- I want you to write one-liners for, like, my life -- just about -- just on a going forward basis.

[07:40:00]

Maura, let me ask you about something that came up yesterday. And I spoke with Congressman -- Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin about this because House Democrats are now demanding answers from the Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons over the recent prison transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum security prison. Of course, the very close -- very close associate and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein.

And Democrats are even suggesting that they could be -- that the Justice Department could be attempting to tamper with a crucial witness.

Raskin is kind of leading this effort to get information about how this transfer went down. Here's what he told me last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Even for people who are allowed to be transferred, normally that's a process that takes months. So she bypassed that entire process and has just moved over to that facility. Obviously, the administration is sending the message to her that she will be rewarded for the proper cooperation. Blanche liked what he heard her saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What happens with this, Maura?

GILLESPIE: You know, I think that there is still that stronghold in the MAGA base that is -- there are cracks there and their support with Donald Trump because they are concerned about some of these things when it comes to the Epstein files. When it comes to how they were, in many interviews, lied to and they're confused about it. I don't know that putting Jamie Raskin out there is necessarily the

best path forward to get them to continue to ask questions. They may be -- and again, I do think that when Republicans were talking about this issue it's a problem for Donald Trump. When Democrats are talking about it it's a win for Donald Trump.

And so his MAGA voters will likely just see that and -- see Jamie Raskin up there, who was on the January 6 committee, and be turned away from it and think that it's a political witch hunt. And they'll start to go back into their corners and not see that Trump is distracting them, right? Like, he's got these other things that are going on to try and distract from what's going -- from the issue that they care about, which is the transparency that he promised.

So I think that there is hopefully (INAUDIBLE). The American people want to know the answers, especially that transfer for someone who is a sex -- child sex trafficker going from a -- to a cushy prison. So we do want answers, and we'll see what transpires there.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

Chuck, Maura, great to see you guys. Thanks -- Jessica.

DEAN: Taylor Swift like we've never seen her before getting candid and emotional in a two-hour interview on her boyfriend Travis Kelce's "New Heights" podcast. One-point-three million people tuning in live. Since it aired, more than eight million views on YouTube alone have stacked up.

Swift talked about everything from her relationship with Travis to her glitzy new era and album "The Life of a Showgirl."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER-SONGWRITER: This is my brand new album. It's called "The Life of a Showgirl."

JASON KELCE, HOST, "NEW HEIGHTS" PODCAST: Love it. Love it.

SWIFT: It was something that I was working on while I was in Europe on the Eras Tour and --

J. KELCE: So while you were on tour, OK.

SWIFT: -- I was working. I would be on tour --

TRAVIS KELCE, TIGHT END, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: How on earth did she do this on the tour is still blowing my mind.

SWIFT: I just love it. I just love it a lot. I love music.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Lisa Respers France joining us. Lisa, it was so fun to hear kind of so much from her. She so rarely does any sort of interview like this, especially for two hours, especially with Travis Kelce. We learned a lot.

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: We did, and dear Swifties, this is what you came for. We got deets on the album, which drops on October 3. We learned all types of details about, you know, the collaborator that she's working with. She's got a song with Sabrina Carpenter. She's reunited with her O.G. producers Max Martin and Shellback.

I mean, this is -- album is so highly exciting and people cannot wait for it. October 3 can't get here quickly enough.

And, you know, you mentioned earlier that the album is full of bangers. I think Travis Kelce was the first one to say that and Taylor -- she confirmed that.

And here is what she had to say about how this album is going to be a little bit more fun and not as moody as some of her past projects. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SWIFT: My main goals were melodies that were so infectious --

T. KELCE: Check.

SWIFT: -- that you're almost angry at it, and lyrics that are just as vivid but crisp --

J. KELCE: Um-hum.

SWIFT: -- and focused, and completely intentional. And it just comes from, like, the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place I was in my life.

J. KELCE: Yeah.

SWIFT: And so that effervescence has come through on this record and like, as you said, bangers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCE: So she's pulling back the curtain on her life during the Eras Tour. So I cannot wait to hear what those lyrics sound like, Jessica.

DEAN: Yeah. Oh, God, I'm really excited. She's working with these two producers who did so many great songs on "Red," on "1989," on "Reputation."

She also got really emotional when she was talking about getting her master recordings back. What did she say?

[07:45:00]

FRANCE: It's all about the music for Taylor and getting her masters back was such an achievement for her. And she let us in on the backstory of that, including the family connection. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SWIFT: Rather than send lawyers or management, like in a big crew, I sent my mom and my brother who I work with to L.A.

J. KELCE: There we go.

SWIFT: And they -- sorry, they sat down and they, like -- this happened -- I don't ever really talk about it because it's --

J. KELCE: It's huge.

SWIFT: They sat down with Shamrock Capital, and they told them what this meant for me. Like, this is -- they told them the whole story. I get a call from my mom and she's like -- she's like they -- we did -- you got your music.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCE: Oh. This is Taylor as we've never seen her before and the fans could not be more thrilled, Jessica.

DEAN: It is exciting stuff for all the Taylor Swift fans out there.

Lisa France, thank you so much for that.

Still ahead we are tracking Erin. It's the storm making its way across the Atlantic and it could become a major hurricane by this weekend.

Also, ICE deportation planes flying in secrecy. As the number of flights are skyrocketing, the planes are becoming impossible to track -- until we found one.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:50:30]

BOLDUAN: So right now Tropical Storm Erin is gaining strength over the Atlantic. It's expected to become the season's first major hurricane as soon as tomorrow.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has been keeping a very close eye on this one. What are you seeing now? What's the latest update?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. So the big key is really going to be from Friday into Saturday because that's when we really expect this storm to start ramping up.

So here is a look at where it is currently. You can see the Windward Islands just there off to the lefthand side of your screen and that's kind of where it's headed right now just to the due west. But then it's going to start to change its track a little bit and veer away from a lot of the islands -- the news you want to hear.

But as it does that it's also going to be entering a much more favorable environment -- very low shear, very warm water. So we anticipate that it's actually going to undergo rapid intensification from Friday into Saturday and likely just keep strengthening from there.

So again, making it up to a category one hurricane as we head into Friday, and then a major hurricane by the time we get to Sunday. So again, very quickly here you're going to start to see that thing strengthen.

Now after that, especially once it starts to make that curve, that's when we have a little bit of disagreement in the models. Some make that turn a little bit earlier, so it ends up a little bit farther off to the east. Other models make that turn a little bit later, pushing it a little bit closer towards the coast of the United States.

The concern here would be the closer it gets to the North Carolina coast specifically, the more likely it is to bring some rip currents, very high surf, and things like that closer to the coastline. So we'll have to keep a closer eye on it.

Again, this is one of those forecast models. Again, this is the European model and you can see again, it gets awfully close there not just bringing up the increase of rip currents and high surf but even some of those outer bands kind of pushing in some of the rainbands along the coast. So any folks that may have some last-minute beach plans and things like that -- you may end up having to contend with some showers and even some thunderstorms as well.

Now this is the American model. It also makes that curve but notice how it's a little bit farther away from the coast. With that said, still close enough that we could still have, as I mentioned, the rip currents, the high surf, and perhaps even some of those showery conditions.

But here's the thing. It's going to be entering very favorable conditions and the stronger the storm can get earlier the more it's likely to maybe see a shift in pattern. So again, here's what we know. We know it's going to be heading into the low 80s then eventually into some sea surface temperatures that are even warmer into the mid-80s.

Again, this is fuel for these types of storms and the faster it can kind of intensify the more the models are going to likely start to come into a least a little bit of a disagreement. Some may want to make that turn even closer or even sooner, making it a little bit farther away from the U.S. Others may hold off thinking that the storm is strong enough it can kind of keep powering through and make the turn a little bit closer to when it gets to the United States.

All of this just to say we've still got to keep a close eye on it over the next couple of days.

BOLDUAN: And thank God we have you to roll through all of it for us and keep a very close eye on it. Thank you so much, Allison -- Jessica.

DEAN: A man in Washington, D.C. has been charged with assaulting a federal police officer with a sandwich. The man seen here allegedly walking up to D.C. police calling them fascists and then throwing a sub directly at an officer. He fled the scene but was quickly arrested.

But the incident does highlight the escalating tensions in the nation's capital in the wake of President Trump's takeover of the police force.

A massive cocaine bust off the coast of the Canary Islands. The Spanish Civil Guard saying it pulled over a tugboat-style vessel named the "Sky White" and found three tons of cocaine on board. Five people were arrested -- four from Bangladesh and one from Venezuela. American, British, and Portuguese authorities helped with that arrest.

And a van bursting into flames causing a traffic headache for travelers at the world's busiest airport. Video shows the van engulfed in flames while parked alongside a curb at the south terminal of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The fire causing a brief disruption for Delta passengers there but thankfully, nobody was hurt. The cause of that fire though is still under investigation.

A little bit of sheer madness as a sheep made, well, a run for it, escaping a butcher shop in Chicago's West Loop. Video shows the fuzzy fugitive on the lam, running through cars, running through streets. It was eventually corralled into a parking lot by Chicago Animal Care and Control. It is now with a local nonprofit where the co-founder says they are looking for a permanent home for him.

So I guess he did escape, Kate, in a way.

BOLDUAN: He got out. He got out. And by the way, doesn't he or she already have the hairstyle that every teen boy has right now? So she's like don't mess with my look. I get it. I get it.

[07:55:05]

All right, let's turn to this. A judge has now ordered ICE to immediately improve the conditions at a holding facility here in New York City, including limiting capacity, cleaning cells three times a day, giving and getting sleeping masks. The ruling comes after detainees complained about dirty conditions and cellphone video showed about two dozen men crowded into one room with only blankets.

This comes as the number of ICE deportation flights is skyrocketing and also becoming harder than ever to track.

CNN's Rene Marsh has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than 30 migrants -- detainees -- handcuffed walk up those steps and get on board. One, two, three, four more detainees. You can tell that their hands are restrained.

MARSH (voiceover): This is one of about 6,000 ICE flights since President Donald Trump took office. We were able to find this plane here in Richmond, Virginia, but most of them are hidden from the public and operating with little transparency. Virtually every ICE flight carrying detainees blocks their tail numbers from flight tracking websites, making it nearly impossible for families and advocates to find their loved ones once they're in ICE custody.

MARSH: This is one of the tail numbers that we think could possibly come here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Um-hum.

MARSH: And right now it's in Youngstown. Oh, look, I think it's taking off because the altitude is increasing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it rising?

MARSH: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

MARSH (voiceover): We studied months of flight paths, got a tail number, and made an education guess about which flight would arrive in Richmond. Then using a crowdsource database that monitors aircraft radio signals we tracked the suspected flight revealing every city and state it stopped in within 24 hours.

This is the plane we're tracking, a Boeing 737 operated by Eastern Air Express with a tail number N668CP. It has up to 148 economy seats, a bathroom in the front and the back, but it's unclear how many people are on board this flight or any other ICE flight.

PILOT: Tyson 51, continue on.

MARSH: OK. Tyson 51 is this one right now. That's the call sign that they're using for this flight.

MARSH (voiceover): Many ICE flights go by Tyson, the same call sign used to identify Trump's personal plane after he was elected in 2016.

Here's the flight path it took on August 6. Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, to Louisiana. Back to Ohio, then New York, pick up and dropping off detainees at every stop.

MARSH: If it's actually coming to Virginia, it should be here very soon. It's on approach. It's on approach right now. Its altitude is like literally 50 feet so --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, I think over there -- over there. Go, go, go.

MARSH: All right. I think -- I think that might be it.

This is the plane. This is the plane that we've been tracking all morning. This is it. And we just saw, like, more than 30 detainees handcuffed walk up those steps and get on board. There's one, two, three, four more detainees. You can tell that their hands are restrained. Another one, another -- OK. So they're unloading another vehicle here. Multiple detainees walking up to get on board this Eastern Air Express flight.

MARSH (voiceover): The Trump administration has used more than 70 airports across the country for domestic shuffle flights so far, moving ICE detainees between detention centers before deportation.

In the past three months, the number of these flights spiked 90 percent compared to the same time period last year, according to an immigrant rights group, and that trend is expected to continue after the Department of Homeland Security recently earmarked $14.4 billion for ICE flights.

MARSH: We know that the tail number of a flight that we've been tracking today is N668CP, and we want to see if this public tracking site that gets its data and information from the FAA has any record of a flight. Nothing comes up.

MARSH (voiceover): But we were able to track the flight as it made its way back to Alexandria, Louisiana -- the busiest hub for ICE deportation flights. At this point in the journey some of the first detainees on board were possibly on this plane handcuffed for nearly 10 hours. As this ICE flight completes its 24-hour trip, Louisiana is likely the last stop in the U.S. before the people on board are deported.

MARSH: Well, the reality is it was not very simple to track this ice flight. We weren't even sure we had successfully done it until it was coming in for a landing at Richmond's airport.

And the point is these flights really have virtually no eyes on them. Families and advocates have no idea where their loved ones are going once they are in ICE custody.

Now, one of the airlines flying the flights for ICE, Avelo Airlines, told CNN in an email, "Flights operated on behalf of the United States government are often unidentified at the government's request."