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Trump Heading to Historic Summit with Putin in Alaska; AG Bondi Takes Over DC Police, Installs New Emergency Commissioner; Trump Speaks to Reporters Aboard Air Force One. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 15, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In here, right along the northern periphery of the Leeward Islands. We're talking about right us into St. Martin, for instance, that's the areas that have tropical storm watches in effect because the outer bands of this system will be felt across those islands, potentially even into eastern Puerto Rico as well. But the core, the strongest part of the hurricane will move to the north of the Leeward Islands.

So where does it go from here? Everybody wants to know. We've got our Bermuda high that's expected to break down over the western periphery. On top of that, there's going to be a trough that's going to dip down from Canada.

So both of these are going to work together to help to steer this away from the east coast of the U.S. Model after model after model that we continue to look at all things point to a storm system that will stay away from the east coast.

However, there will be rough surfs, rip currents and the potential for some gusty winds along the eastern seaboard by next week -- Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Derek, appreciate it. Thank you.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Moments ago, President Trump boarding Air Force One and preparing to take off and depart for his historic summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. Officials saying this morning all options remain on the table. Does that include President Trump walking out if it's not a good deal?

Also breaking overnight Attorney General Pam Bondi taking full control of the D.C. police force installing what they're calling an emergency police commissioner and ordering D.C. To end any sanctuary city policies. What does this actually mean now?

And in moments, a key economic report will be out. And what the question is, what story does it tell now about how President Trump's tariffs are impacting how you shop?

John and Sara are out today. I'm Kate Bolduan with Erica Hill. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

HILL: The breaking news this hour. This is a live look for you at Joint Base Andrews, where President Trump just moments ago boarded Air Force One. At any moment he will depart for Alaska for this highly anticipated and in the president's own words this morning, high stakes summit with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin.

The president also expressing some optimism that today's meeting will be a major step toward ending Russia's war on Ukraine, a war that has now raged for more than three years.

A U.S. official, though, telling CNN quote all options remain on the table, and that includes the president walking out if he doesn't think Putin is serious about making a deal. Just before leaving the White House this morning, the president, as I noted, summing it up with a post on social media of just two words, all caps -- HIGH STAKES.

The two are set to come face to face later today. This will be the first time in six years that they are face to face. The place, of course, that U.S. military base in Anchorage, and it is important to note who will not be at the talks today. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy. President Trump, though, has said he hopes to quickly follow up with a meeting with all three leaders.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is there in Anchorage this morning. So Kristen, just walk us through. Set the stage today in terms of what will be happening and when for these two leaders.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erica. So it's going to be a big day. We're going to see the president and Vladimir Putin at least one time before that press conference.

How this is going to play out is in the next couple of hours, roughly seven hours, both leaders are going to arrive here in Alaska. They're going to sit down for that one on one meeting. There will be the help of interpreters there.

But at the top of that, we expect to see both of these presidents. And because it is Vladimir Putin and President Trump, we expect that they'll deliver some kind of brief remarks. That point, everything goes behind closed doors.

The two of them will meet. Then they'll bring in their extend, expanded -- expanded, excuse me, delegation will have a lunch. And then you're going to potentially see them for that joint press conference.

Now, I say potentially because both the White House and President Trump himself have said that this joint press conference might not happen if it doesn't go well. If the meeting doesn't go well. And I was speaking to one U.S. official who said all options are on the table here.

And one important thing to point out that you mentioned, this is the first time these two men have sat down together in his second term -- in President Trump's second term. And the reason why this is so interesting is because you're looking at a very different Donald Trump than you were the first time. President Trump has grown incredibly skeptical of the Russian president, particularly because he's been embarrassed by him before. But yesterday, when talking to reporters, he did express optimism in this meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe now he's convinced that he's going to make a deal. He's going to make a deal. I think he's going to, and we're going to find out. I'm going to know very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:00]

HOLMES: Now, President Trump has said it's not his deal to make in the past. And as you mentioned, there's now talk of this second meeting that would include the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as well as potentially European leaders.

One of the reasons that I'm pointing out the European leaders, because that's something President Trump said, is you're seeing, again, this shift in the mentality around the Russian president. President Trump really relying more on his European allies, these leaders, this time around, than he really ever has before -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, it is an important note, Kristen, appreciate it, thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is retired four-star general and former director of the CIA, David Petraeus. General, it's very good to see you, especially on this important day.

What is, in your view, the most important aspect of this meeting? What happens during and afterward?

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET.), FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Well, the most important aspect is whether or not there's a second meeting. I think that probably is likely. You see an awful lot of negotiating before the negotiations, saying that this may not work, trying to set the bar low.

President Trump, very importantly, saying that if Putin does not agree to move on with the process, that there will be severe consequences. Presumably, that would mean a combination of U.S. sanctions to follow the latest European sanctions. It would mean more assistance for Ukraine, etc.

And so I think that it is most likely that Putin will recognize that he's in a bit of a difficult position. He was enticed here to a degree by the prospect of getting land that his forces have not actually been able to seize. In particular, the so-called fortress belt of cities in Donetsk, in the southeastern part of Ukraine, anchored on Sloviansk, that are very, very heavily defended and very fortified.

They've not even been able to get to the approaches of that yet. They do make incremental gains, but the cost has been exorbitant. And the Russian economy is showing the strains.

I was told the last time I was in Ukraine, about three months ago, by the intelligence chief, that they believe that the National Welfare Fund in Russia could run out of money this coming year. So I think the threats, well deployed, by the way, I think will lead him to conclude that he needs to do another meeting. The question then is, will he fall off the maximal goals that he has always had, which, again, to get that additional land given to him, some kind of land swap, although it's not clear what Russia would be willing to give up on the battlefield or in their own territory.

But also, he wants to replace President Zelenskyy with a pro-Russian figure and to demilitarize Ukraine. Those, obviously, would be totally unacceptable. So I think while there's a chance you'll see another meeting, I think it would be disastrous for all involved, were President Trump to walk out and say this is a dismal failure, it would reflect a bit on him as well.

And he, I think rightly to a degree, has some confidence in his abilities. Look at what he just did between Azerbaijan and Armenia, for example. So that's how I would think this will play out, Kate.

BOLDUAN: And also just the sheer number of casualties that Russia has suffered on the battlefield alone. I mean, as a man who has led forces, can you wrap your mind around that and how that contributes to how they got to today?

PETRAEUS: No, you know, I was privileged to command two wars, or five combat commands as a general officer. Almost every single night of those commands I was writing letters of condolence to America's mothers and fathers. I can't fathom what it would be like to be the president of a country that has sustained over one million killed and wounded, of which some 500,000 were unable to return to the front lines. In other words, they were killed or seriously wounded.

This is the most lethal front line, I think, in the history of warfare because of the extraordinary presence of unmanned systems and constant surveillance from either side. With these various types of drones, it really is the future of warfare in many respects.

And Russia has, despite taking all these losses, really only achieved incremental gains for well over a year, year and a half or so.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I've been hearing that more and more of the gains and progress that the breakthroughs that Russia is making seem to be overstated by some.

Leaning on your time at the CIA, President Trump seems to think that no matter who it is, he can sit across from them and get them to a deal. Putin has a reputation kind of like no other, it seems, on the world stage right now for not just being a tough negotiator but being manipulative and untrustworthy when sitting across the table and also being better prepared than anyone in the room.

How different is it, Trump negotiating with Putin?

[08:10:00]

PETRAEUS: Well, I think President Trump now, as opposed to the President Trump of Helsinki in 2018, is much, much more experienced. He has more confidence in himself. He's come back from a series of reversals. And I think that he will sit down in a way emboldened by his sense of himself.

And again, he spent his life doing deals. He sees this as yet another deal. He's going to try to figure out what are the specifics that would enable this first to move forward to a point where they could have perhaps President Putin, President Zelenskyy, and some of the other European leaders who, as you noted earlier, are back working with Trump.

They had a virtual summit, all of them, with President Zelenskyy earlier in this week, and it apparently went quite well.

BOLDUAN: General David Petraeus, thank you very much for your time, sir -- Erica.

HILL: Breaking overnight, the Trump administration tightening its grip on Washington D.C.'s police force with a new directive from Attorney General Pam Bondi, ordering an end to D.C. Sanctuary City policies and naming a new emergency police commissioner. Already, though, the pushback has been swift from the city's mayor and also the city's attorney general.

CNN's Gabe Cohen joining us now. So, Gabe, yes, very swift pushback. And specifically, when we're looking at what we're hearing from the attorney general for the district.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erika, this was a significant escalation overnight, and it is really setting the stage for a dramatic clash, potentially even a legal battle over D.C.'s autonomy. As you mentioned, Attorney General Pam Bondi issuing that order, appointing Terry Cole, the head of the DEA, as this emergency police commissioner for D.C. Essentially ousting D.C.'s police commissioner, their police chief, Pamela Smith. Also, we saw Bondi issue this order trying to essentially eliminate all of D.C.'s sanctuary policies just after just a couple hours after D.C.'s police chief had issued her own order, essentially saying that police officers can work a little more closely with federal immigration officers.

Though -- well, first, I want to play a little clip of what Pam Bondi had to say last night. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: They're trying to protect criminal aliens. And what's going to happen if we keep this up criminals are going to flee to D.C. and we're not going to let that happen. You must comply. You must give the information to our ICE, to our homeland security officers.

If they have information of an illegal alien living in D.C., they must give us that information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So So, Erica, in recent days, we have really seen the leaders here in Washington use very tempered language, trying not to antagonize the president. The mayor and police chief have previously said that they welcomed collaboration. They welcomed more federal resources.

But this may be where they draw the line. We saw this tweet from Mayor Bowser overnight saying, Let us be clear about what the law requires during a presidential declared emergency. It requires the mayor of D.C. to provide the services of the Metropolitan Police Department for federal purposes at the request of the president. We have followed the law, but there is no statute that conveys the district's personnel authority to a federal official.

Essentially saying the president can ask us for help for resources, but he cannot unilaterally come in and appoint his own police chief, take control of the Metropolitan Police Department.

We also saw the district's Attorney General, Brian Schwab, sent his own letter to the mayor and the police chief, saying, It is my opinion that the Bondi order is unlawful and that you are not legally obligated to follow it.

So that really teases up, Erica, for a day where we could learn a lot more about how local officials here in Washington are going to respond to this federal order. Is it going to head toward a court case? And are they going to resist? And at the end of the day, who is calling the shots when it comes to local law enforcement here? It still depends who you ask.

And so we'll see how it plays out in the hours ahead.

HILL: Yes, certainly adds to the confusion on the ground there for officers. Gabe, appreciate it. Thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And on the possible legal battle joining us right now is former Manhattan prosecutor Jeremy Saland. I've got a whole host of questions on this. Like when you're talking about this emergency police commissioner in your view, -- and yes, D.C. Is unique. We say that, of course. Is this legal? I mean, what authority would this commissioner have?

JEREMY SALAND, FORMER MANHATTAN PROSECUTOR: Right. Well, you have to look at Home Rule, Section 740. And what the mayor had tweeted or said the other night is that the police shall or the mayor shall give or provide that service to the president as he asked.

But there's nothing in that Home Rule legislation that says that I can usurp as the president, the power of the mayor, the power of the police chief that put my own person in power to then enact whatever I want as an executive, meaning the president.

[08:15:00]

So I think that there is solid footing for sure for D.C. even though it's in a unique position, even though that Congress can regulate the District of Columbia, unlike it has other 50 states of the nation for the D.C. police, the D. C. mayor, the D.C. attorney general to say this is not lawful. And if we have to, we'll go to court. Because until now we -- meaning the D.C. establishment and government is in control.

BOLDUAN: What do you make of the suggestion that came from the D.C. attorney general that the current police chief does not need to comply with this order?

SALAND: Well, I think you have to look at the words. The D.C. police chief must, shall -- again, looking at the Home Rule -- meaning it must comply with in terms of providing the services as asked by the president during the state of emergency. But it does not say that they shall or must give over their power and their ability to monitor to police to regulate their authority within the District of Columbia. So it's an overstep, I think, at least on its face.

And unless there's something else compelling in the law that the president hasn't provided that the attorney general is correct.

BOLDUAN: And then what -- then as part of this, they were also ordered to end any policies akin to being a sanctuary -- any sanctuary city policies of cooperating with federal immigration officials.

How does that -- what does that add to the complexity of any legal fight or legal standing that they will have going forward?

SALAND: Well, I think you have to again parse this all out in which the president is great at just sort of shooting out something and it gets confusing and an effort to maybe get a little more control than he's entitled to.

First of all, you had the mayor who was looking into her in her own budget ways to say, let's sort of roll back some of these sanctuary city policies. You have Congress, which has the authority to regulate the District of Columbia saying, let's consider removing some of these sanctuary city policies. The House looked at that. The Senate has not done it yet.

But you can't unilaterally tell D.C. as a government, as an agency to say you must stop these policies. D.C. has to comply with the law, meaning the police force. But Washington can't just tell without further legislation, saying the District of Columbia must adhere to the law in the following ways.

But to be clear, Congress does have some oversight in the District of Columbia, unlike it would with the states like New York and Texas, for example. So they can institute certain policies, but this is not the mechanism to do it via some unilateral emergency declaration by the president. BOLDUAN: It is complex, and that's why I'm so thankful for you, Jeremy. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it -- Erica.

HILL: Just moments ago, President Trump departing Washington D.C. Air Force One, of course, now taking into that historic summit in Alaska with Vladimir Putin. We'll continue to monitor those developments.

Plus, the Supreme Court greenlighting a Mississippi law which requires social media apps verify the age of their users and also make sure minors have parental consent. So how will that work?

Plus new details this morning on the growing tensions at one prison on the heels of Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer to the facility.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: President Trump is aboard Air Force One and speaking with reporters on the plane. This is just from moments ago. Let's listen in.

(AUDIO ONLY)

TRUMP: We're not putting up any money. We're making money. They're buying our weapons, and we're sending them to NATO, and NATO's sending us big, beautiful checks.

But I don't care about that. I care about, it was a big factor when Biden spent $350 billion and got nothing. But what I do care about is they lost, last week, 7,011 people were lost, almost all soldiers. 36 people in a town which got hit by a missile. But 7,000, over 7,000 soldiers. It's crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you describe a little bit, Mr. President? Because I know you've had a lot of phone calls with President Putin. What's the difference in a face-to-face, in-person meeting?

TRUMP: Look, he's a smart guy. Been doing it for a long time but so have I. Been doing it for a long time.

And here we are, we're president. That was much more difficult than what I'm doing today, believe me.

So we get along. There's a good respect level on both sides. And I think, you know, something's going to come of it. I noticed he's bringing a lot of businesspeople from Russia.

And that's good, I like that, because they want to do business, but they're not doing business until we get the worse out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to talk about business? Would you talk about business?

TRUMP: We have the hottest country on Earth. We have the hottest economy on Earth. We have the hottest company in the country. We just set a new stock market record again. We have hundreds of billions of dollars flowing in from tariffs.

We're the hottest -- we were a dead country, like dead like doornails, a dead country. One year ago, we were dead as a doornail. And now we have the hottest country. And he wants a piece of that, because his country is not hot economically.

In fact, it's the opposite. And China's not doing well economically. But we're all, look, I want everybody to do well.

The war's going to stop and the killing's going to stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, before you stop, thank you for coming back to take questions. We saw that Russia continued its violence into Ukraine last night, launching even more drones. What did you make of that?

[08:25:00]

TRUMP: I think they're trying to negotiate. He's trying to set a stage. I mean, in his mind, that helps him make a better deal. It actually hurts him. But in his mind, that helps him make a better deal if they can continue the killing.

Maybe it's a part of the world. Maybe it's just his fabric, his genes, his genetics. But he thinks that makes him -- gives him strength in negotiating.

I think it hurts him, but I'll be talking to him about it later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the table for discussions today, Mr. President, are the territorial swaps on the table? Will you be discussing that?

TRUMP: They'll be discussed, but I've got to let Ukraine make that decision. And I think they'll make a proper decision. But I'm not here to negotiate for Ukraine. I'm here to get them at a table. And I think you have two sides.

Look, Vladimir Putin wanted to take all of Ukraine. If I wasn't president, he would right now be taking all of Ukraine, but he's not going to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what did you mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just one thing. What about the possibility of the United States providing security guarantees to Ukraine?

TRUMP: Along with Europe and other countries. Not in the form of NATO, because that's not going to, you know, there are certain things that aren't going to happen. But yes, along with Europe, there's a possibility of that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you mentioned the number of businesspeople that President Putin is bringing along. Is that something that you want to discuss with President Putin at this meeting?

TRUMP: If we make progress, I would discuss it, because that's one of the things that they would like. They'd like to get a piece of what I've built in terms of the economy. Just so you know, we were a dead country with our economy.

He wouldn't be interested. He wouldn't have been interested a year ago with the Biden economy. But he is interested in the Trump economy, because we're doing -- wait until you see where those factories start opening up.

We have hundreds of factories all over the country, and that includes auto factories, AI factories, and every other. They're all coming in because they want to beat the tariffs. Because if they open here, they don't have to pay tariffs.

If they don't open here, they have to pay, in some cases, 200 percent, 300 percent. I haven't even set some of the tariffs yet. I'll be setting tariffs next week and the week after on steel, and on, I would say, chips.

Chips and semiconductors, we'll be setting sometime next week, week after.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you looking at? What rate?

TRUMP: Well, I'm going to have a rate that is going to be lower at the beginning, then that gives them a chance to come in and build, and very high after a certain period of time. And if they don't build here, they have to pay a very high tariff, which doesn't work, so they'll come and build.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, you had said earlier --

TRUMP: Isn't he a gentleman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You tell me.

TRUMP: Isn't he a gentleman? He's a nice --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's helping me out.

TRUMP: He's a very nice -- he's one of the few nice ones yet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You had said earlier this week that Putin would face severe consequences if you get the sense from him that he's not interested. What do you mean by that?

TRUMP: Economically severe, yes. It will be very severe. I'm not doing this for my health, OK? I don't need it. I'd like to focus on our country, but I'm doing this to save a lot of lives. Yes, very severe.

Thank you very much, everybody.

BOLDUAN: President Trump aboard Air Force One, speaking to reporters with some important remarks, really setting the tone as they're on their way to Anchorage, Alaska, where he will be meeting in hours with Vladimir Putin, a man he called a smart guy, that they get along, that there's a good respect level.

But he also noted that Putin, he says, is bringing along a lot of businesspeople because that's what he wants to discuss, he says, in part with Donald Trump. But we're not doing business until we get the war settled.

And also the president said very clearly that he is not here to negotiate for Ukraine, which is regarding land swaps, is what they were talking about, which was an important aspect of the conversation between Donald Trump, Ukraine, and European leaders in that kind of pregame huddle that happened just days ago. Very important what we heard from President Trump and the tone he is taking as he's heading in to meet with Vladimir Putin -- Erika.

HILL: Joining me now is Ivo Daalder. He is the former U.S. ambassador to NATO. Ambassador, good to have you back again.

I also want to pick up on another comment. The president was asked, as Kate just noted, an important moment when he said, he was asked specifically about whether land swaps would be discussed. He said, maybe it'll be discussed, but I'm not here to negotiate. Ukraine has to do that.

How important is hearing that from the president in this moment heading into the meeting?

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, I think it's very important because clearly the Ukrainians are the ones to decide their future, not the United States, frankly, not even Russia. It is something that the Ukrainians will have to do, and the Europeans will have to guarantee whatever comes out of it. So it is important for the president to say that he's not negotiating on behalf of Ukraine, which is nice to know for the Ukrainians.

It does raise the question.