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No U.S. Boots in Ukraine; Moscow Refuses to Commit to Meeting; Yehor Cherniev is Interviewed about the Putin-Zelenskyy Meeting; DOJ to Provide Records to House Committee; Jena Griswold is Interviewed about Ending Mail-in Ballots. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired August 19, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Since Trump's announcement of federalizing the D.C. police, he's already claiming victory.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All I want is security for our people. But people that haven't gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C., in two years are going out to dinner.

TODD: A Defense Department official tells CNN, West Virginia is sending about 350 of its National Guard troops to Washington. That official says some of those troops from West Virginia have already arrived.

Now, we didn't see them on the streets of D.C. on Monday, but that official says that those troops from West Virginia will be integrating with the other forces soon. That same official says that troops from Mississippi, South Carolina and Ohio will be here in the coming days. And we just heard from Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry that he is sending about 135 of his state's National Guard troops to Washington.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, new comments from President Trump on his efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine. What he's saying now about U.S. involvement in peacekeeping efforts if Ukraine and Russia reach a peace deal.

And Hurricane Erin making its way north in the Atlantic, churning up trouble all along the East Coast. The dangerous conditions residents are facing from the storm.

Creepy, domineering, with an aggressive stare. New details from former professors and classmates about the man who brutally murdered four University of Idaho students.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news. Just a few minutes ago, President Trump used words that seemed to rule out U.S. troops as part of a peacekeeping or security force in Ukraine. He had left the door open yesterday.

Now, just before that, Russia refused to commit to a one on one meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the leader of Ukraine. That meeting was to be one of the main takeaways from this historic White House summit yesterday. In fact, President Trump is still talking about setting up that meeting despite what seems to be the Russian reticence. This is what the president just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I sort of set it up with Putin and Zelenskyy. And, you know, they're the ones that have to call the shots. We're -- we're 7,000 miles away.

I called President Putin and we're trying to work out a meeting with President Zelenskyy. And we'll see what happens there. And then if that works out, if it works out, then I'll go to the tri-lat (ph) and close it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House, because there was, I think, optimism coming from these meetings yesterday. People using terms like "breakthrough." But this morning, starting to see some mixed and, perhaps in some cases, conflicting signals.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And -- and, actually, I might interpret that quote -- I'm going to play it for you soon -- I want us to play it soon, from the president when it relates to the potential of U.S. troops or boots, I should say, on the ground in Ukraine, because I think the other issue that we heard was, and he said that he had talked to European leaders who are concerned about if this president, if President Donald Trump agrees to security guarantees and to wanting to protect Ukraine and prevent Russia from coming back in and stealing land in future presidencies beyond him, he said that he tried to give them assurances that they will continue. But listen to how he put it, and then we can discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, Mr. President, what kind of assurances do you feel like you have that -- going forward, and, you know, past this Trump administration, it won't be American boots on the ground defending that border?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you have my assurance, and I'm president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, you heard him say there, you have my assurance and I'm president. Now, from that clip alone, it does seem like the president is saying, no, you have my assurance there won't be U.S. troops on the ground. But when, you know, I was trying to listen to this and get the context of it. I believe that maybe he is not actually trying to answer that way. All to say it was a bit confusing. But from my conversations with people here at the White House, John, it does seem like that door is potentially still open.

Now, it is clear that the president views Europe as the first line of defense. He believes that places like France, Germany, the U.K., they are the ones that should be, if they want it, to be putting boots on the ground. But it's also clear that the president is saying that he wants to help in those security guarantees. And that's really where I think the breakthrough that we heard from all these different leaders, including the British prime minister, the NATO secretary general is coming from, because I'd remind you that the president, in the past, has really been kind of, you know, there was a lot of skepticism whether he would actually agree to something like this. He had always said that the onus on security guarantees were on the United States' European allies. But now we're hearing that he is, you know, wanting to engage in that.

[09:05:02]

And it also comes after we had heard over the weekend, Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, a person who was in the room on Friday in Alaska with Trump and Putin while they were meeting, saying that it seemed like Russia is also willing to accept that the United States is involved in these security guarantees. And he called them, you know, guarantees akin to the Article V protections that NATO offers, even though, of course, we've heard the president repeatedly, including this morning on Fox News, saying that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO.

All to say, it's still very much unclear. And I know the details are still murky on what exactly the United States is willing to do for Ukraine to continue to protect them in relation to these security guarantees.

But some other very quickly things I want to point out that Trump said on Fox News. He was very clear that he believes he will be able to get this bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy on the books, and he says he hopes Putin agrees to it. And if not, there could be some very rough consequences for him. A little bit different from what we're hearing, though, from the Kremlin side today. So, all of that also, you know, still, I think, a key focus for the White House today and over the next few days as they try to really set that up.

BERMAN: Look, you do a great job explaining this. There is a lot of gray area here.

TREENE: Yes.

BERMAN: You know what do security guarantees mean? What does it mean in terms of U.S. troops? We're trying to follow everything the president says here. Occasionally what the president himself says, not totally clear. So, that's where the complications sometimes arise.

Alayna Treene, great to have you there providing the context. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And to what -- where you just ended that conversation. While the White House, European leaders and President Zelenskyy all appeared to be focused on finding that path to peace, it's not clear that Russia is at all. The Russian foreign minister, this morning, pouring some cold water on committing to a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy at this point.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow for us.

And, Fred, what are you hearing from the Kremlin now?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the Kremlin, the Russian foreign minister really not being committal so far on wanting a bilateral meeting between Vladimir Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin, or that trilateral meeting afterwards either.

It was quite interesting because, of course, yesterday you had that phone call between President Trump and Vladimir Putin as those meetings were going on in D.C. And even though -- even then afterwards the readout coming from the Russians was quite different than what President Trump was saying. The Russians certainly remain non- committal to having those meetings. Even yesterday, a senior Kremlin aide came out and said that the Russians and the U.S. had agreed to continue consultations between the Ukrainians and the Russians. Those, of course, have already been going on, so far to very little effect. And all the Russians have been saying so far is that it was discussed to possibly raise the level of the representatives, which could, obviously, mean to the top level of the presidents, but could also mean a variety of other things.

And then today there was an interview by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with Russian state media, where he also appeared to pour at least cold water on something like this happening quickly, or the Russians being committed to it.

I want to read you really quick what Sergey Lavrov said in that interview. He said, "any contacts involving top officials must be prepared with the utmost care," he said. And then, "we do not refuse any form of work, neither bilateral or trilateral." So, the Russians are saying it's something that could happen, not necessarily something that will happen. That, of course, has been their line for quite an extended period of time.

One of the things that Vladimir Putin had said before the summit in Alaska took place is that he said that he was never completely against meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but at the same time a meeting like that needed to be prepared and there needed to be several things taken into consideration. And he believed that a meeting like that was still very far off, and that the conditions for such a meeting simply had not yet been met.

One of the things, Kate, that also makes it quite difficult for the Russians to agree to such a meeting is that Russian state media, but also the Kremlin itself, has painted Volodymyr Zelenskyy as an illegitimate president because, of course, there haven't been elections in Ukraine. The Russians walking back from that a little bit now, saying that such a meeting is possible, but certainly at this point in time, at least, not saying that a meeting like that is in the books anytime soon, certainly not within the next week or two, as some have said who attended those meetings in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and it doesn't seem that it would absolutely meet the timeline that President Trump is hoping this meetings -- these meetings will take place.

Thank you. Fred Pleitgen, in Moscow for us, thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: With us now is a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chair of the Ukrainian delegation to NATO, Yehor Cherniev.

Thank you so much for being with us, sir.

Do you believe that Vladimir Putin will ultimately sit down with President Zelenskyy?

YEHOR CHERNIEV, CHAIRMAN, UKRAINIAN DELEGATION TO NATO: Hi, John.

I don't believe. But I believe in the strength of the sanctions and pressure from the U.S. and from President Trump that can press Putin and push Putin to this meeting. So, I think it can be done but with the pressure from the U.S. side.

[09:10:05]

From our side, President Zelenskyy said that he is ready to -- to meet with President Putin without any preconditions. And I think it's a good manifestation that -- that we are ready for a peace, but definitely not the peace on the -- any conditions for any (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: How -- how do you feel this morning compared to perhaps how you felt yesterday morning before the meeting at the White House with President Zelenskyy, President Trump and all the European leaders?

CHERNIEV: Well, I think it was quite successful meeting, which was in friendly and mutual respect -- respectful atmosphere. And two main outcomes that we have after this meeting is yet was agreed at least with Trump and European leaders trilateral meeting with Russia. But we don't see the readiness from their side yet. And the second one is, it was discussed the future security guarantees for Ukraine. And that was agreed that it should be developed in the ten days. For us, it's important to have these security guarantees, not only from European leaders, but also from the U.S. I hope that this security guarantees will include not only the support

of our -- our army and military industry, but also boots on the ground, troops in Ukraine, probably European troops. We already have this coalition of willing. So, we have to -- have and -- you know, for me, it's important to hear that it should be the same as Article V of Washington treaty. So, let's see what we will have in the ten days about security guarantees.

BERMAN: Would you like to see U.S. troops? President Trump just made a comment, it's difficult to interpret, but it made it sound like there would not be U.S. troops there. Although again, it's hard to be certain, but would you like to see U.S. troops in Ukraine?

CHERNIEV: Well, we would like to see any western troops here in Ukraine, probably if it will be just European troops, but backed by -- by the U.S., I don't know, the U.S. fleet from Mediterranean Sea or the U.S. Air Forces or something like this. I think it will be much more better than without U.S., even not having the boots on the ground of the U.S. soldiers here in Ukraine.

BERMAN: How important is it for Ukraine to hang on, to keep the part of Donbas, Donetsk, which you still control, Kramatorsk, other key cities there? How committed are you to keeping them inside Ukraine?

CHERNIEV: Well, first of all, it's our -- it's our people. Not only (INAUDIBLE), it's our people. And we cannot betray them just to leave these territories and -- and give these people to -- to Russians. And, you know Russians spend ten years, 11 years to capture the -- the whole territory of Donbas or Donetsk and Lugansk (ph), but they cannot do it still.

And, you know, I can give you just one simple number. During the last 1,000 days, it's about three years, they managed to capture one percent of our territory. Just one percent. So, their success is more than modest here. And they cannot, you know, continue these negotiations from the position of the power of the strength.

So, they understand that they cannot do -- cannot capture this territory by force. That's why they are asking it -- just asking us just to give up this territory. It's not (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Yehor Cherniev, member of parliament, again, ambassador to NATO, or part of the delegation there, thank you so much for being with us.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: President Trump is vowing to get rid of mail-in ballots nationwide, announcing that he's drafting an executive order to make the move before next year's midterms. One of the states that has long used mail-in balloting as the main form of voting, that state's top elections official is our guest.

And this week the Department of Justice will begin handing over records related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. But how much information will be shared with Congress? A lot of questions this morning around that.

And an entire church is on the move, literally, this morning in Sweden. It's currently going over a bridge too? Oh my gosh. Why the 113 year old building is being wheeled across town.

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[09:18:57]

BERMAN: This morning, the House Oversight Committee chair, James Comer, says the Justice Department will begin handing over some files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case by Friday. Now, the actual deadline for the DOJ to comply with Comer's subpoena was today. So, DOJ missing that. Exactly what and how much information they will release on Friday remains to be seen. It comes after former Attorney General Bill Barr complied with a subpoena and provided closed door testimony to the panel.

Let's get right to CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz in Washington for all the latest on this.

Good morning.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Is anybody going to disclose anything about Jeffrey Epstein that hasn't been disclosed before? That's the question over this entire probe that the House Oversight Committee is conducting.

Now, Bill Barr, the first of several people that that committee has subpoenaed to come in and testify under oath to the committee behind closed doors. The committee chair, James Comer, he did say after Barr gave this testimony, this deposition yesterday, that Barr said a couple things about Epstein.

[09:20:01]

Things that we largely have been told before, that Epstein died by suicide, in jail, after he was indicted. That there was no foul play around his death. And that Barr didn't know anything about any conversations -- or he didn't have any conversations with then President Donald Trump, who he was serving under as attorney general, about a client list related to Epstein.

Here's a little more from Comer yesterday in the middle of that deposition of Bill Barr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Barr said he's never seen any information that -- that showed that he was in the files and that he would -- he would be shocked if there was anything pertaining to President Trump that was negative that the Biden administration wouldn't have leaked out prior to the -- to the presidential election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: Comer there, he is a Republican. There have been Democrats that are also seeking information about Jeffrey Epstein in that case. And they're also being critical of how the Republicans are running this, saying that they are just going through the motions and that they're not really digging in to get anything new about Jeffrey Epstein.

However, John, there is going to be some document productions from the Justice Department. James Comer, the House Oversight chair, he did say yesterday as well that the Justice Department, they had a deadline today to turn over documents, but they're going to begin producing things on Friday, records to the House.

The Senate, a Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, also looking for records there. We're going to see again there if anything would be new that has not been previously made public before.

John.

BERMAN: Stand by I think is the answer there.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you very much for your reporting on this this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: This morning, states are now pushing back after President Trump announced yesterday he will be signing -- signing an executive order aimed at banning mail-in ballots nationwide ahead of the 2026 midterm. Trump has long blamed mail-in ballots for his 2020 election loss. It's a topic that he says actually came up during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Vladimir Putin, smart guy, said you can't have an honest election with mail-in voting. And he said, there's not a country in the world that uses it now.

Mail-in ballots are corrupt. Mail-in ballots are -- you can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Several countries do use mail-in balloting for their elections, and election experts have been very clear that there is no evidence of widespread mail-in ballot fraud or widespread voter fraud, period.

One of the states vowing to fight Trump's order if and when it comes. Colorado, which votes almost universally by mail.

Joining me right now is Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold. She's also running to be attorney general of Colorado.

It's good to see you again, Secretary.

And Colorado has very successfully run elections with almost entirely by mail for a decade, I believe. Does the president have the authority to tell Colorado to stop?

JENA GRISWOLD, COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, good morning.

And, absolutely not. The Constitution is extremely clear. States oversee elections, not Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is trying to power grab ahead of the '26 elections. That's what this is about.

We will stop him, just like I've stopped him from rolling back mail ballots multiple times. And we will fight any attempt to disenfranchise millions of Americans all across the country.

BOLDUAN: He says he's drafting the executive order. It has not been, obviously, clearly he has not signed it yet, but are you already preparing a legal challenge, just knowing that it could and likely will be coming?

GRISWOLD: We are in conversations with our attorneys to make sure we're defending Colorado's elections.

Look, mail ballots are secure. They cannot be hacked because they're a piece of paper. That is increasingly more important, as Trump has made our elections less secure since taking office again. He's disbanded much of the federal government's work on countering foreign disinformation, and is obviously taking cues about democracy from a dictator, Putin.

And more than that, Kate, Trump himself knows that mail ballots are safe. He used a mail ballot to vote in 2020, as did his family members. This is not about election security. This is about a weak president trying to grab power ahead of '26 and escalating his attacks on our democracy and Constitution.

BOLDUAN: And also in 2024, the then candidate Trump also promoted mail-in balloting. I mean we found just two -- two examples very quickly. He -- the president, then candidate, putting out a statement, "Republicans must win and we will use every appropriate tool to beat Democrats because they're destroying our country. Whether you vote absentee, by mail, early in-person or on election day, we are going to protect the vote."

[09:25:06]

Also, putting out on social media, "absentee voting, early voting and election day voting are all good options. Republicans must make a plan, register and vote. "

This was just from April and June of last year. I mean, if the president was able to successfully stop mail-in voting, would that benefit one party over the other in your state? GRISWOLD: To make it very clear, he will not be successful. I have

beat him over and over and over as he has attempted, in 2020, to roll back mail ballots.

But mail ballots do not help one party over another. That's what all the data shows. It just helps voters vote in a secure and accessible way. And to put it in perspective, we do have vote by mail. We send it to every active voter. But we have weeks of early voting. Same day voter registration. A lot of in-person voting options. And in 2024, 92 percent of Republican voters chose to use their mail ballots.

This isn't about security. This is about, again, a weak president grasping at straws, trying to hold on to power. He has escalated his attacks on our elections, from weaponizing the DOJ, to trying to keep MAGA control of Congress through corrupt redistricting.

We need to fight back. I will do everything in my power to stop them. But your viewers really need to get involved too. Make their voices heard, and make it clear that this corrupt power grab will not succeed, and Americans will reject what's happening in this nation right now.

BOLDUAN: I will say, 92 percent Republican voters voting by mail in your state, that's quite a number to contend with, percentage to contend with, if the president does want to make this move.

Secretary of State, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it.

Coming up for us, a new evacuation order is in place for the outer banks as Hurricane Erin makes its way north, bringing dangerous conditions with it, from the Carolinas through New England.

And newly released police documents are shedding new light on Bryan Kohberger and his behavior leading up to his murders of four Idaho college students.

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