Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

FBI Agents Not Trained for Community Policing; Jerry Jones Reveals Decade-Long Battle with Melanoma; Netanyahu Denies Israel is Forcing Palestinians to Leave Gaza; American's Alcohol Consumption Drops to Record Low. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 14, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: ... they're not really trained to do, right? But, you know, being a Metropolitan Police Department a cop is actually a completely different type of training. You know, you are trained to de-escalate. That's not something somebody who works at a desk at the FBI usually has to do. Many of these agents go through their entire careers without ever putting cuffs on anybody because that's not what the FBI's job is anymore, right? They're not anymore chasing down bank robbers. That's the old- fashioned FBI.

And so, that's part of the issue that you have right now. The real concern, you also hear from agents, is that this mission was put together so haphazardly. The president just threw this on everybody. Here we are, day four, and they're still trying to figure it out. They don't know who's in charge of anything. They're not really being given any specific tasks.

You know, I've covered, Danny, a number of these types of deployments by federal agents into cities in Memphis, in Kansas City, in Chicago, when there's been spikes in crime, right? And this is so different from that because in those cases, what you normally do is you work weeks and months ahead of time trying to isolate who you're going to go after, and they have specific targets that they're looking for.

That's not what they're doing here.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Right, it's targeted. That's usually what these folks are up to doing.

The other interesting thing that President Trump said in regard to the National Guard and also criticism that this is not what they're trained to do is he said that, well, they're trained in common sense. That was his response.

Evan, I just want to get your perspective because I understand that Attorney General Pam Bondi just announced a firing over at the DOJ a short time ago, specifically over something that happened in D.C. What can you tell us?

PEREZ: Yes, I mean, there's a video that went viral of a young man who apparently is trying to confront some of these officers. You've seen it, the video on social media. He ends up throwing a sandwich, a deli sandwich, against a church.

FREEMAN: On a sub, right? A sub sandwich.

PEREZ: A sub sandwich. It looks like a Subway sandwich of some kind. Against the chest of a federal law enforcement official and then runs away. There's now been an arrest, and that person is being charged with a felony, appearing in court I think right about now, actually, in federal court.

And she says that he is an employee of the Justice Department, and he has now been fired as a result of this.

FREEMAN: Got it. All right, a lot going on right now in the nation's capital. Evan Perez, thank you so much, as always, for your time.

Still to come, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealing for the first time that he's been battling stage 4 melanoma for a decade. More on the experimental trial drug he credits for saving his life.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has revealed a decade-long battle with stage 4 melanoma, including two lung surgeries and two lymph node surgeries, but now he says he's tumor-free, and he's crediting an experimental trial drug for saving his life. Jones made the revelation about his treatment at MD Anderson in Houston on the new Cowboys documentary, which comes out on Netflix next week. The 82-year-old then told the Dallas Morning News he was saved by a miracle drug called PD-1 therapy.

Let's discuss with Dr. Muneeb Shah. He's a board-certified dermatologist. Dr. Shah, thanks so much for being with us.

Jones' case lasted more than a decade. It was a very advanced one. How common is that?

DR. MUNEEB SHAH, BOARD CERTIFIED DERMATOLOGIST: So melanoma in general is not entirely uncommon. About 1 in 50 people in the United States will be diagnosed with melanoma, but when it gets to his case, which is stage 4 metastatic melanoma, where it basically goes over the entire body, that's much less common, and the survival rate for stage 1, which is that very superficial form, is 98 percent in five years. When you get to five-year survival for the stage 4 that he had, it's normally about 20 percent.

So for him to survive now 15 years after the diagnosis, that's incredibly rare.

SANCHEZ: What can you tell us about this treatment, this experimental trial drug, PD-1 therapy? What do you know about it, and is it only available to the ultra-wealthy like Jones?

SHAH: Well, it's a very expensive medication, and at the time that he got it in 2010, it was experimental. It was then approved in 2014, and now it's become very common therapy in advanced cases of melanoma, and sometimes even earlier cases of melanoma. It's a fascinating medication.

If we look at the way that we used to treat skin cancers or melanomas or cancers in general, we would use some type of chemotherapy agent that would basically kill the cancer, but it would also damage a lot of the tissues in your body because it had no way for the chemical to know what was cancer and what was normal skin cells.

But what these new medications are able to do is that cancer is actually very good at adapting to the environment, and so a lot of cancers will develop and trick your body into thinking these are normal skin cells, so they produce a protein that basically tells your immune system, don't kill us. We're normal skin cells, and what ends up happening with these therapies is that it turns that off, and so it allows your immune system to kill the melanoma skin cancer.

The melanoma was actually tricking your body into thinking it was normal, so it's a fascinating medication, and by doing that, it doesn't -- you don't have to use these chemotherapeutic agents that kill the rest of your normal cells.

SANCHEZ: That's so interesting.

[14:40:00]

Obviously an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, doctor, so how do we prevent melanoma, and what signs should we be looking out for?

SHAH: Yes, prevention always, sun protection is going to be very important, so sunscreen, staying covered when you're outdoors, avoiding sunburns.

A lot of those sunburns you get when you're younger, those are the ones that can manifest in skin cancer later on in your life. And then some people are just genetically predisposed to this, so even if you do everything right, you can still get melanoma, so wearing sun protection is the best thing that any individual at home today can do to prevent melanoma.

SANCHEZ: It sounds like you do not subscribe --

SHAH: And then getting --

SANCHEZ: Go ahead, go ahead.

SHAH: And then getting tested, getting checked your skin regularly, especially if you're somebody who has lighter skin tones, you have a history of melanoma in the family, or if you have some type of changing mole, getting tested regularly and getting a skin check by a dermatologist and catching these very early while they're stage one before they get to the stage four, that's very helpful for people as well.

SANCHEZ: That is really good advice. I just wanted to ask because it's been -- we talked about it this week, it's sort of been in the discourse, this conversation about sunscreen, a lot of people concerned about potentially harmful chemicals that are in their sunscreen. It sounds like you are fully supportive of the use of sunscreen.

SHAH: 100 percent in support of it. You know, a lot of people are afraid of the chemicals in their sunscreen causing skin cancer, and that is yet to be proven. But what we know for a fact, and we can tell you on a molecular level, that the sun damages your DNA and it causes mutations that can cause skin cancer, and that is a verifiable fact.

The rest of the notion online and some of the buzz that you'll hear online about concerns around skin care ingredients and around sun care ingredients, those have yet to be proven, and it's always worth doing more studies on those things, but what we know for a fact is that the sun causes skin cancer, and that is one of the most preventable things that you can do by wearing sunscreen.

SANCHEZ: Dr. Muneeb Shah, a pleasure to have a conversation with you. Appreciate your time.

SHAH: You're welcome. Thank you for having me on.

SANCHEZ: Coming up next, Israel says it's talking with other countries about them possibly taking displaced Palestinians from Gaza, something critics say would be a violation of international law. We have details in just minutes.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREEMAN: As the desperation deepens in Gaza, Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says he is talking to, quote, several countries about them possibly taking in Palestinians displaced by the war. In the meantime, Israel is moving forward with plans to take over Gaza City. Now, the move to relocate Palestinians from their home has ignited outrage among humanitarian groups who say that doing so would violate international law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAINA LOW, COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: The idea of forcing them, pushing them, coercing them to leave to any other foreign country is not only a war crime but just morally abhorrent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: CNN Jerusalem bureau chief Oren Liebermann has the latest on Netanyahu's next steps.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has several times talked about what he has described as a voluntary emigration from Gaza, something he says other countries should accept and be willing to take in Palestinians who want to leave. But he's never given any real details on this, and it's never been clear if this plan might actually come to fruition or if there's even any traction behind it.

Well we've learned from a senior Israeli official that Israelism talks with at least five different countries about the possibility of this plan. Those countries include South Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia, Somaliland and Indonesia. The problem is a number of these countries have already rejected these talks. For example, South Sudan just a few days ago rejected the idea of talks about the displacement of Palestinians.

Somaliland did the same several months ago. And Indonesia within the last week or two said they could take in about 2,000 Gazans, but it would be for temporary treatment and then they would return to Gaza.

So it's not clear that any of the countries with which this official tells us Israel is discussing this plan are willing to entertain this beyond mere discussions.

Still, Netanyahu is pursuing this. We first really heard about this in terms of a goal of Israel when it was in fact President Donald Trump who mentioned it earlier in his term at the beginning of the year, but he appears to have since cooled on the idea. Israel, meanwhile, is pushing forward, insisting this is not an ethnic cleansing of Gaza. It's not forcing people out. Netanyahu is saying this would be voluntary.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): First of all, inside Gaza, we are not pushing them out either, but we are allowing them to leave. It is happening very slowly. You need the receiving countries.

We're talking to several countries. I can't detail it here. The most natural thing would be for all those who say they're concerned for the Palestinians and want to help the Palestinians to open their doors.

Why are they coming and preaching to us? Open your doors.

LIEBERMANN: Israel has never laid out a clear day after plan for Gaza, what would happen for more than two million Palestinians in the besieged territory. This potentially is as close to a day after plan for what to do with the Palestinians in Gaza as Israel has ever come. The problem is it's unclear if this really has any possibility of happening, not to mention the fact that for this to happen, you need Palestinians willing to permanently leave their home and permanently leave Gaza, and it's simply not clear that that's the case.

Oren Liebermann, CNN in Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: And our thanks to Oren Liebermann for that report.

[14:50:00]

Coming up next, we'll tell you why a record number of Americans are now rethinking alcohol. Don't miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Americans appear to be rethinking drinking. A new Gallup poll shows fewer U.S. adults are picking up a drink these days, just 54 percent, the lowest point since Gallup started tracking this trend back in the 1930s. This next poll may explain why. The poll shows a record number of Americans, 53 percent, say that moderate drinking is bad for their health. That's up 25 points from just a decade ago.

FREEMAN: Joining us now is Chris Marshall. He's the founder of Sands Bar, North America's first sober bar. And he's also the author of Faster Than Light, A Memoir of Finding Sobriety and Sparking an Alcohol-Free Revolution.

All right, Chris, it seems like the revolution is here. Tell us, why'd you decide to open the first sober bar?

CHRIS MARSHALL, FOUNDER OF NORTH AMERICA'S FIRST SOBER BAR, SANS BAR: Well, I decided to start the first sober bar in 2017 because I realized there was a real gap in the market. People want to go to a place that feels like a place where they can socialize and meet new people. They don't always want to be surrounded by alcohol.

SANCHEZ: Talk to me about how you came about that, how you figured out that there would be a market, a customer base for a place like this.

MARSHALL: Well, at the time, I was a substance use counselor here in Austin, Texas, and I would work with people from all walks of life, farmers, lawyers, politicians. And they would often say that they missed drinking, not because of the intoxication, but because of the social community part of drinking.

They missed having that happy hour cocktail. They missed being able to have mimosas with friends. There seemed to be a real need for people to find socialization sans alcohol.

FREEMAN: Well, and your menu, as I understand, this includes items like the nata colada, a non-alcoholic, of course, on the pina colada. Talk to us about the non-alcoholic wine, beer, and spirit options that are out there because I understand, and I've had some, they taste pretty good.

MARSHALL: I think they're pretty tasty. It's amazing. When I started Sans Bar, there were just a couple of options of non-alcoholic beer, and the non-alcoholic market is the fastest-growing segment in the beverage world.

It is growing at an incredible rate because people are demanding sophisticated, elevated non-alcoholic options.

SANCHEZ: You've also helped coach dozens of people who are trying to open their own sober bars.

[14:55:00]

Would you say that we can expect to see more of them?

MARSHALL: Oh, absolutely. I think people are connecting the dots between alcohol misuse and public health, and I think there's just a groundswell of people who are excited about bringing Sans Bar or something like it to their neck of the woods. And so we see people from all over the world signing up for our 10 week course because I think people are understanding that we need these spaces to be everywhere, not just in Austin, not just in the big cities, but we need spaces where people can connect everywhere.

FREEMAN: And, Chris, you know, I know we're talking about this almost in a fad sense, but can you actually talk about your journey to sobriety itself and how important that was for you?

MARSHALL: Oh, absolutely. I think I was, like a lot of people, looking for community and connection. The first drink I ever had, I was 16 years old living in outside of Houston, Texas, and all of my friends were drinking, and I felt this pressure to be like everyone else, and so I picked up that first drink, and it really became the way that I connected to other people. It became the currency of connection for me.

And the same thing happened in the rest of high school and college, same thing during fraternity, and felt like I could not belong with people unless I was consuming alcohol. And so that just kind of became the way that I socialized. The problem with that is that over time, alcohol pushed me away from the people and the things that I cared about the most. I got sober at 23 and then became a counselor.

FREEMAN: Man, well, again, it's a wonderful story and a wonderful initiative. I'll drink it. I'll drink the alcoholic.

SANCHEZ: I'll have a shot.

FREEMAN: Yes, how's about it. Chris Marshall, thank you so much for joining us and for talking about your journey. Really do appreciate it.

MARSHALL: Thanks for having me.

FREEMAN: All right, coming up for us in just a moment, a day before his big summit with Vladimir Putin, President Trump says he's convinced the Russian leader wants to make a deal and end the war in Ukraine. We're following the very latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: From a listening exercise to making a deal. The president says he believes that Vladimir Putin is heading into tomorrow's summit wanting to make an agreement to end the war in Ukraine.

FREEMAN: Plus, as one fight begins, another may be ending soon. Texas Democrats signal they are ready to end their redistricting standoff and return to the state. While California Governor Gavin Newsom ramps up efforts to redraw his state's congressional maps.

And ...

END