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Zelenskyy Returns to White House Today After Disastrous February Visit; Trump Pressures Zelenskyy to Cede Territory to End War; Key Europe and Leaders to Join Trump, Zelenskyy for White House Meeting; Former Attorney General Barr to Testify Before House Committee on Epstein Case. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 18, 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]

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ron DeSantis and his Executive Director of Emergency Management, Kevin Guthrie, among other officials, say the state of Florida has pushed back, saying conditions at the tent facility are in good working order and that the claims to the contrary are false -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Rafael Romo, keeping an eye on this for us, thanks so much.

Brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, we are standing by for high-stakes meetings at the White House. President Trump, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, set to meet Trump, laying out new conditions for Ukraine overnight as they're about to head in.

And Hurricane Erin intensifying as it barrels up the Atlantic Ocean. This morning, mandatory evacuations are in place for parts of North Carolina.

And one of the largest protests in Israel since the Hamas terror attacks and the war in Gaza began. Nationwide, people taking to the streets pleading for an end to the war.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

So the breaking news, all eyes are on the White House, where President Trump will hold really mission-critical meetings with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and several top European leaders today, all over finding a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine. With so much at stake, where is Donald Trump's focus in the lead-up to these talks? Laying out new conditions, or conditions, for Ukraine just as Zelenskyy is about to walk into his office.

Posting on social media saying that Zelenskyy could, quote, end the war with Russia almost immediately if he wants to. Hard to find Trump ever saying the same to Russian President Putin. Trump also called on Zelenskyy, as you saw there, to agree to what are some of Russia's conditions. Essentially, forget about Crimea and forget about joining NATO. The last time that Trump and Zelenskyy met in the White House, you will remember, it is burned into everyone's memory, is that image from February when their whole -- when the entire conversation deteriorated into a shouting match.

But this time, Zelenskyy has some support. He's bringing some friends along. Leaders from France, Germany, Italy, and the UK as well, all joining -- all are among those attending the talks. And in terms of messaging, Russia sent a very clear message last night as well.

New strikes that Ukrainian officials say hit a residential building, leaving at least seven dead, including a toddler. President Zelenskyy posting about that attack just a short time ago, saying, this is why reliable security guarantees are required. That is why Russia should not be rewarded for its participation in this war.

We have full-team coverage of today's meetings, CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House, CNN's Clare Sebastian is in London. Alayna, let me start with you. What are you expecting today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, look, I know from my conversations, Kate, with people here at the White House that their goal is, of course, to try and make progress today and try to get buy- in from Zelenskyy and the European leaders about moving forward. And the big goal as well, and we've heard the president now say this publicly, is that they are hoping this could result in a eventual second meeting with Vladimir Putin, getting Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin in one room together for a trilateral meeting with President Trump. That is the goal.

And I know as well that they want to move swiftly here at the White House. They believe they, you know, can seize on this momentum to try to keep the pace and eventually find an end to this war. But there's a few things we know as well.

I would argue, you know, some of the agreements that we heard the president reference on Friday when he was in Alaska, he was tight- lipped about. Today we're actually going to have an opportunity to have reporters question him directly on it. But we are getting more details, really, of the parameters that were kind of set up and how the president himself here is thinking about what needs to be done in order to reach a deal.

One, he said over the weekend that he does not believe anymore that they need to get a ceasefire first. He said a mere ceasefire might not be enough. We'll move straight directly to a peace deal.

It's still unclear whether or not that's something that Zelenskyy and European leaders are comfortable with. And then also what we heard last night from the president. I think this is really a key thing, particularly, you know, him previewing this message before Zelenskyy even arrives here.

He said that to end the war, Zelenskyy must seize -- or cede Crimea, something that we know Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and also commit to not becoming a member of NATO, things of course we know that Zelenskyy had previously argued were off the table, unclear how he's going to respond to those conditions today. We also know these are conditions that Putin had laid out as being unnecessary for him in order to reach a deal on Friday.

[08:05:00]

Another thing as well, of course, is we don't really know yet if the president's threats of sanctions and economic punishment are still something that they are going to try to use to leverage with Russia.

For now, we've heard from people like Secretary of State Marco Rubio that when you keep them on the table at this point, it might push Russia further away. So for now, they're arguing that's not currently being considered.

I do want you to listen, though, to something else Rubio said about him, you know, kind of tempering expectations as we see all of these leaders convening in Washington today.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remain some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off.

I mean, we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement. We're not at the edge of one. But I do think progress was made towards one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So as you could hear there, he's kind of lowering the expectations. He said they're not on a precipice of an agreement. And really, today is about trying to make sure that they are continuing this momentum to move toward a potential deal and keep the conversations ongoing.

So hopefully we'll be getting more information as we see Zelenskyy as well as these seven other world leaders coming here today to discuss this further.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Alayna, thank you so much. And on that point of the European leaders that are joining these talks, Clare Sebastian with us from London.

Clare, what are you hearing in terms of how European leaders are approaching this today?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's very delicate, Kate, because the bottom line is they are in a worse position than they were last week. Last week there was a lot of lobbying going on. You'll remember specifically focusing on the sequencing of events that they wanted, as Alayna was describing, a ceasefire first and then a decision on a final settlement. Obviously, that seems to have gone out the window in Trump's mind after the Alaska summit. He now wants a final settlement. It's interesting reading the tea leaves of the public statements and speaking to officials.

It does seem that the focus has shifted away from that towards the one potential chink of light that came out of Alaska, and that is a U.S. contribution potentially, as Witkoff spoke to CNN about this on Sunday, a U.S. contribution to what he called NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine, which he said would be game-changing. There's not a lot of detail on that yet.

The Russian side certainly hasn't talked about that, but that is the one thing that I think looks like a positive for Ukraine coming out of Alaska, and we're certainly hearing a focus on that.

But I think this is also certainly in terms of the optics of these seven European leaders, you know, upending their schedules and all coming en masse to Washington is a show of solidarity and, crucially, strength. Take a listen to the French President Emmanuel Macron on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): If we are weak today with Russia, we are preparing the conflicts of tomorrow, and they will affect Ukrainians. We must enter a new diplomatic phase, one in which we assume responsibility for having and defending the interests of Europeans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So I think, Kate, the big fear, of course, and especially looking at that Truth Social post from Trump this morning, essentially offering up some of Putin and Russia's demands, is that Zelenskyy will be backed into a corner here, forced to accept what they discussed in Alaska as a done deal, or risk angering the U.S., and we all know how that went last time.

So I think this is a show of strength, a sort of backing group for Zelenskyy to avoid a repeat of February and to push forward for details on those security guarantees, which, you know, Zelenskyy has used today's attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine as evidence of how crucial those are.

BOLDUAN: Yes, as David Sanger wrote in The New York Times, this time Zelenskyy's bringing backup. Clare, thank you so much. Alayna Treene at the White House for us -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is the former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. Mr. President, thank you so much for being with us. You've spoken a lot over the last few weeks about the need for a ceasefire before any further discussions with Russia. President Trump has taken that off the table, now saying a ceasefire is not important before a larger peace deal. Why do you feel a ceasefire is so important? PETRO POROSHENKO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Because Putin and I have this exact experience in the year 2014-2015 when we were discussing the Minsk Agreement. This is the most clear message on how to stop the war. A ceasefire you can make immediately, within a very short period of time.

A ceasefire means stop killing Ukrainian innocent civilian citizens. Ceasefire means stop losing time. Ceasefire is extremely important step for launching the peace process.

And Putin want to have a blah, blah, blah about peace process because he could continue without any limits the war.

[08:10:00]

Putin is feeded by the war. And with that situation, I definitely count on President Trump because President Trump is a deal maker. And unfortunately, Putin is a troublemaker.

And it's very difficult to negotiate peace when every single hour you have a missile on your head. When this night we have people killed in Kharkiv, in Odessa, attack on Kyiv.

This is not a position for providing a ceasefire.

BERMAN: So what do you think, Mr. President -- what do you think then of President Trump taking the ceasefire off the table? What do you think of President Trump no longer demanding that ceasefire?

POROSHENKO: First of all, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. And with that situation, I have absolutely positive experience how to work with President Trump for three years during my presidential term. And I just want to remind that during my term, me together with Trump issued so-called Minsk -- sorry, Crimea Declaration.

That was issued by State Department of United States under the instruction of President Trump. And when we have this declaration, original is in my office. And we have a signature that United States never recognized occupied Crimea as a Russian territory.

This create absolutely dangerous precedent. But you cannot find any other nation in the world who wants peace more than we, Ukraine. And today we're keeping fingers crossed and pray that we have a success in the White House.

We cannot allow anymore the catastrophe on the 28th of February in the Oval Office when they tried to undermine the trust between Ukraine and United States. That's why it's so important. And I'm absolutely calm that the position of Ukraine can be listening and I can give you within one minute.

So on contrary, the territorial swap is off the table. And we should protect not only Ukrainian land or Ukrainian borders, 1991 territory. We should protect Ukraine as a free and democratic country. We should protect our armed forces who is protecting peace and security in Europe. We should protect in our language and our national identity. And we should protect our faith because Putin attack even our church.

And with this situation, we should keep the door to NATO and the door to European Union open, not accepting any blackmail from Putin.

BERMAN: Well, you know, overnight, President Trump said that Crimea is not part of this discussion and that NATO should not be part of this discussion. So two of the things that you deem important, he just took off the table.

POROSHENKO: No, I'm ready to say that Crimea and NATO is not the part of discussion today. Because today, the most important part of the discussion is the ceasefire. But we never rejected from Crimea.

We never accepted the NATO. But that would be the future negotiation point. And because of the fact that this is definitely in our constitution, this is important.

And other things you should understand. So this is not the opinion of President Zelenskyy or President Poroshenko. Ukrainian people never accept the situation with the Crimea land swap.

And that means that Putin -- and this is the Putin who insists on that -- Putin want to bring to our country house, because he don't need territory of Donetsk and Luhansk. He need whole of Ukraine. And the only way how he can receive this Ukraine is house and that help him to bring pro-Kremlin government, which is impossible.

BERMAN: Let me very quickly --

POROSHENKO: We need to understand that.

BERMAN: We heard from Steve Witkoff over the weekend, suggesting, again, some kind of a land swap might be discussed in Donetsk. If Vladimir Putin were to provide guarantees that he would not invade further, in exchange for that, all of Donbas, all of Donetsk, would you trust him? Would you trust the promises from Vladimir Putin?

[08:15:00]

POROSHENKO: First of all, from all my experience, please don't trust Putin. Second, don't be afraid of Putin. And third, I have, as a president of Ukraine, I have a security guarantee in form of Budapest Memorandum. This is not working.

Any other security guarantee, except of the binding, this is unacceptable. And only after Putin and Russia, a permanent member of Security Council of the United Nations, attack us. This is ruining all post-war security system. And the only guarantee which exists in this world is a NATO membership.

But until we will not be waiting for the opening door of NATO, we accept Finnish type of security guarantee. That would be Article 5 until we become a member. This is absolutely binding. This is absolutely effective.

And we will discuss it after ceasefire, when will we prepare the peace agreement. And this is the only way how we can stop the war. This is the only way how we can save the world, save the peace.

Putin knows that. Everybody knows that. And he simply do not want to stop the war.

And as a fact, when Putin do not accept this condition, should be Trump Plan B, with more weapons, more money, de-freezing the Russian assets, not accepting the blackmail of Putin for NATO and EU membership, and make impossible for Putin to finance the war. War against Ukraine, war against Europe, war against United States, which has already happened.

BERMAN: Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, I know you'll be watching this very closely today. It does seem, what we've been hearing from President Trump, very different from the things you would like to see coming out of this meeting. Thank you so much for being with us this morning -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, former Attorney General Bill Barr is headed to Capitol Hill. He's going to testify behind closed doors as Republicans and Democrats in Congress continue their push to get more detail released from the Jeffrey Epstein case.

And hundreds of Air Canada flights are already canceled today as the airline's flight attendants remain on strike, defying the government orders to go back to work.

And the United States is the world's largest importer of coffee. Why that could now change because of President Trump's trade war.

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BERMAN: Happening now, Hurricane Erin threatening deadly rip currents and rough surf for the East Coast, also Bermuda. It is currently a powerful category four hurricane. It hit category five over the weekend.

It caused flash floods and power outages in Puerto Rico. It is forecast to remain offshore, but it could strengthen again. North Carolina's Dare County has issued a local state of emergency that includes a mandatory evacuation for Hatteras Island.

This morning, hundreds of Air Canada flights are canceled as the airline's flight attendants union defies a back-to-work order from the Canadian government. The union represents more than 10,000 flight attendants. They want a pay increase and compensation for when passengers are boarding the plane.

In that period when they're boarding, these Canadian flight attendants are not paid for working during that time currently. Air Canada is the country's largest carrier and says it hopes to resume flights tonight. It's Canada's largest carrier, but at the moment, it is not clear how that would work -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So in just a few hours on Capitol Hill, former Attorney General Bill Barr is expected to appear before a House committee. He's meeting lawmakers behind closed doors as he was one of many issued a subpoena to provide, quote, testimony related to horrific crimes perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein. It's unclear what information, if any, Barr can provide the committee to advance their demand for more detail into the Epstein saga.

Barr is the first of 11 subpoenas issued by the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee for testimony and records. Other big names that we've known, of course, that also were issued subpoenas and called to testify, Bill and Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, and the Attorney General under President Biden, Merrick Garland.

Joining us right now for more on this is CNN legal -- senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

So, Elie, what relevant testimony could Bill Barr give Congress about the Epstein case?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Kate, I can see two areas that Congress may want to ask Bill Barr about. First of all, he was Attorney General of the United States during the second Jeffrey Epstein prosecution by the Southern District of New York in 2019. Of course, that prosecution ended early with Jeffrey Epstein's death.

He also was AG during the early phases of the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell in 2020. Now, it's questionable to me how much actual detail he would have about those cases. He surely would have been briefed by the people who are handling those cases, but I'm not sure he would have deep levels of detail that are worthwhile to Congress.

The thing they're definitely going to focus on is the death of Jeffrey Epstein in prison in 2019. When it happened, Bill Barr was the AG. The Bureau of Prisons is part of the Justice Department.

Barr said publicly he was, quote, appalled by the death of Jeffrey Epstein. He ordered an internal investigation. And then Barr's conclusion was that it was a, quote, perfect storm of screw-ups.

So I think you're going to see some questioning of Bill Barr by Congress on the circumstances around Jeffrey Epstein's death.

[08:25:00]

BOLDUAN: One thing that has become the trend is when issued a subpoena by Congress on a sensitive issue, many people fight it, right?

So do you expect to see others who receive these subpoenas to come testify, or do you expect people to start mounting legal fights against them?

HONIG: So I think we'll see a mixture of both, Kate. I think we might see other people come forward, like Bill Barr, and give testimony. But I certainly do expect some people to contest their subpoenas.

Hard to see Bill Clinton voluntarily walking into Congress to face questioning from James Comer. Their negotiations, if they want to fight, they can try to negotiate with Congress, or they can go to court. And the argument you would make in court, essentially, is that there's no relevant information that could be related to some legislative purpose that Congress has.

So we could see a series of court battles over these subpoenas play out over the coming weeks and months.

BOLDUAN: There are notable omissions from the list of people who receive subpoenas. Who sticks out most to you?

HONIG: Yes, to be sure. So, by the way, they've subpoenaed a lot of big names here, essentially every attorney general of the 21st century. However, who's not on that list?

Alexander Acosta, right? The U.S. attorney down in Florida who gave Epstein, essentially, a free pass back in 2006, 2007. And one Republican representative, Representative Luna, actually called the other day and said, we ought to be, or we could be, subpoenaing Alexander Acosta.

Another name I would add to the subpoena list, if they're serious about getting answers, here is a woman named Maria Villafana who was a prosecutor in that office who was pushing internally to bring serious charges against Jeffrey Epstein based on evidence that he had molested over three dozen child victims and she was essentially ignored. I think they need to hear from her as well.

BOLDUAN: Real quick, how -- what about the subpoena that was issued from the House committee that went to the Justice Department?

HONIG: Yes, so they've subpoenaed all documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein. It puts Pam Bondi in a tough spot. Either she can provide those documents, but she could have done that up till now. She could do that today. She's chosen not to. Clearly, there's some reluctance to do that.

Or she can fight it in court, but that's going to look terrible from an AG who claims to be in favor of transparency. So that subpoena puts the AG in a tight bind.

BOLDUAN: That's the one that could, yes, that's the one that seems like the most necessary that could give them everything that they were looking for in one fell swoop. But the Attorney General, let's see, is not -- not going to do it, at least not right now. It's good to see you, Elie, thank you.

Coming up still for us, three Republican governors announce that they are sending in their own National Guard to the nation's capital to support the president's police takeover there.

And the manhunt continues in New York City for multiple shooters. There's new details coming out about a lounge shooting that left three people dead and multiple people injured.

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