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Epstein Estate to Give Documents to House Oversight Committee; Trump Signals He's Ready to Hit Russia With More Sanctions; Europe's Top Sanctions Official in D.C. On Ending War in Ukraine; Bills Shock Ravens With Late Rally in 41-40 Thriller. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 08, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:05]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Today, Jeffrey Epstein's Estate is expected to begin turning over a number of documents to the House Oversight Committee, including the so-called "Birthday Book." Now, inside that book is a collection of letters given to Epstein for his 50th birthday that reportedly includes a note bearing President Trump's name. Now, the president denies writing that letter and filed a defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal over its reporting about that letter, so a lot to dig into. With me now is a member of the Oversight committee, Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury.

Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with here -- being with us here to talk about all this. Let's start here though. Has the committee received these documents yet? And if not, what are you expecting?

REP. MELANIE STANSBURY, (D-NM) MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Well, we have not yet received the documents, but we expect them to be dropped through an electronic transfer later on today. And certainly, it will notify the public as soon as that happens. But this is the direct result of House Democratic members of the Oversight Committee issuing a subpoena to get documents not only from Department of Justice, but also from the estate.

[13:35:00]

And so, we're expecting not only the infamous Birthday Book, but also non-disclosure agreements that may have been signed by Epstein, other documents pertaining to the sex trafficking crimes that he was convicted of, financial transfers and a whole slew of documents.

FREEMAN: And what are you hoping to learn from potentially these documents from the estate?

STANSBURY: Well, I think it's important for people to understand that this is more than just a few isolated incidents that happened amongst Jeffrey Epstein and his immediate circle. We are talking about a vast criminal enterprise that was global in scope. It involved potentially hundreds, if not thousands of young women, not just in the United States, but across the world. It involves financial institutions. This morning, it was reported that JPMorgan actually knew that there were suspicious activities going on and reported sex crimes. We know Deutsche Bank has also implicated potentially foreign governments. There are FBI and CIA files that have never seen the light of day.

And I think it's important to understand that we are looking at crimes, corruption and a massive cover-up that is continuing in the White House. Right now, as we speak, the president is desperately trying to stop the disclosure of the documents that the Department of Justice has and we have to ask what is he hiding?

FREEMAN: But when it comes to what you're expecting to see from the estate today, why do you have reason to believe that that may shed light on some of the other things that you just described, whether it's financial elements or anything else?

STANSBURY: Well, we met for a couple of hours last week with the survivors, a number of survivors who felt comfortable coming forward and telling their stories. And many of them have been involved in both criminal and civil suits, and so have had access to documents wherein individuals who were involved in this vast criminal network were named. And so that includes both the FBI files, but the financial transactions, because we're not talking about like a few thousand dollars here, we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars that were money laundered through both domestic and international financial institutions. So, access to those financial records is very important to getting to the bottom of this case and exposing those who have culpability who were never prosecuted.

FREEMAN: I just want to ask the question though, because you mentioned it earlier today and we were just talking about it a moment before we got on camera. I mean, do you feel confident that you will get a fuller picture when you hear from the documents from the estate? Are you -- are you -- is that a reliable source in your mind?

STANSBURY: Well, absolutely. I mean certainly, we'll see the Birthday Book and the infamous drawing that I think we all know the president, either himself or ordered somebody to draw. But I mean, we're talking, as I said, non-disclosure agreements as well as financial transactions which happened between Epstein and other parties in this case. And those are documents that we believe have not previously been disclosed publicly. So, this is an investigation. Every piece of evidence is a piece of the investigation.

FREEMAN: Congresswoman, I want to ask you something about one of your colleagues, Ro Khanna, who told ABC yesterday, that there are now 216 votes for the discharge petition, plus now two vacancies that are expected to be filled by Democrats, which means according to him at least, that you'll have the 218 votes in order to compel, some of these documents to be released. The congressman said that that could be done by the end of September. Do you think that's feasible that some of these documents, or at least a vote in the Congress could happen prior to the end of the month?

STANSBURY: Yeah, but I think it's important to remember that Donald Trump could release these files literally right now. And so the fact that we are having to use tools to compel not just the president to release files that he has, but the speaker of the house to allow this to move forward as a vote on the floor, is indicative of the fact that they are involved in a massive cover-up scheme basically to shield pedophiles.

FREEMAN: But are we going to see this vote by the end of the month, do you think?

STANSBURY: It's possible. But in the past, I'll say where leadership in the House, the speaker has not wanted something to happen, he has used procedural maneuvers to try to bury certain other discharge petitions. So while it's important that we have bipartisan support for this discharge petition, we can't hang all of our hopes on this one vote is actually compelling the production of the documents because DOJ has those documents, they need to release them. We've already subpoenaed them and they're breaking the law right now by not doing so.

FREEMAN: Well, congresswoman, thank you for joining us to talk about all of this and please keep us posted as you receive these documents from the estate later on today.

STANSBURY: Absolutely.

FREEMAN: Appreciate your time.

STANSBURY: Yep.

FREEMAN: All right. Forget the camaraderie we saw in Alaska for a moment, President Trump says he's ready to move forward with his long- threatened sanctions on Russia. That's coming up next.

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[13:44:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Today, Europe's top sanctions envoy is in Washington, discussing ways to dial up the pressure on Russia. The meetings happening after Moscow launched more than 800 drones at Ukraine, striking a government building in Kyiv for the first time. In the meantime, President Trump appears to be signaling his administration is ready to hit Russia with phase two of sanctions. We are joined now by Edward Fishman. He's a former State Department lead for Russia Sanctions Policy. He's also the author of "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare."

Thank you so much for being with us. You hear what Trump is saying now and normally, his sanctions threats are totally empty. You helped construct sanctions after Russia sees Crimea in 2014. What would this process look like if Trump is actually serious?

EDWARD FISHMAN, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT RUSSIA SANCTIONS LEAD: So look, Brianna, the Trump administration is saying all of the right things, saying that if they work together with Europe, we could impose really substantial pressure on Russia's economy.

[13:45:00]

The problem is, since January 20th, we've seen absolutely no new sanctions on Russia imposed by the Trump administration. And I just want to stress how big of a change that was from precedent, because in the first three years of the war, from February 2022 all the way up until Inauguration Day of this year, the U.S. imposed about one new package of sanctions every single week against Russia's, about 150 packages in that three years period. But in the last six months, Trump has done absolutely nothing. There have been zero new sanctions.

So I'm hopeful that this time, Brianna, the Trump administration, there's more beyond the rhetoric than just talk because effectively, the pressure on Russia has been weakening over the last six months.

KEILAR: For sure. And Trump has put a steep tariff on India as punishment for their purchase of Russian oil and gas. He hasn't yet put sanctions on China for this. They are Russia's top customer for oil and gas. Would more tariffs on Russian oil buyers be enough to bring Putin to the table?

FISHMAN: I'm glad you're asking this because I think there's a very important distinction between tariffs and sanctions. Tariffs are attacks on imports. So the secondary tariffs that have been imposed on India, that's a blunt instrument. It's being targeted across the entire Indian economy from everyone from shrimp farmers to garment factories. But it's actually not targeting the actual decision makers. The refineries that are buying Russian oil. Sanctions are much different. Sanctions target the specific companies involved. So actually, the E.U. has already imposed sanctions on the -- one of the biggest Indian refineries that's buying Russian oil, a company called Nayara Energy. They did this in July.

That approach, I think, is much more likely to bear fruit than what the Trump administration has done. I think it's important to stress that in the weeks since Trump has imposed this secondary tariff on India, Indian oil companies have come out and said they're actually going to increase their purchases of Russian oil in the month ahead. And I think that's because these tariffs are actually not affecting the key players in this process, which are the refineries themselves.

KEILAR: So the Kremlin insisted today, it was -- there's this key meeting between Europe's top sanctions envoy here in Washington meeting with Trump administration officials, that nothing is going -- no sanctions will impact what Russia is doing in Ukraine. Nothing's going to change its mind in its approach here. It's hard to believe that that is true. How are you seeing that assertion?

FISHMAN: Look, I think it's very easy for governments to say that no sanctions are going to affect them. But what happens if Russia were to dip into a massive economic crisis? Already this year in 2025, the Russian economy is poised for stagflation at best. The economy's going to grow by probably less than 1 percent and you've got inflation that's well into the double-digits. So what happens if Russia was in a substantial recession and you had inflation at 20 percent or 30 percent, the type of economic crisis we saw Iran suffer in the lead up to the nuclear deal in 2015. At that time. I mean, that's something that Putin himself could not ignore, right? He would have to divert attention at the very least away from the war to the home front. So I don't want to say that sanctions are a silver bullet, but certainly, if Putin had to contend with a massive economic crisis at home, it would dramatically change the leverage that the West has at the negotiating table with Putin.

KEILAR: And Edward, as I mentioned, the E.U.'s Top Sanctions Envoy, David O'Sullivan here in Washington. What does he need to walk away from these meetings with Trump administration officials for you to say, yeah, that was a productive meeting?

FISHMAN: Look, the E.U. has been acting. I think this is one of the more unusual narratives I've seen come out of the Trump administration in recent weeks, which is we're willing to do sanctions, but only if the E.U. does two. Well, in July, the E.U. actually did a massive round of sanctions. They lowered the price cap on Russian oil from $60 to $47.60. That's not something the U.S. has done. As I said earlier, they imposed secondary sanctions on the second biggest refinery in India, Nayara Energy. That's again, not something the Trump administration has done.

And even China, which you mentioned earlier, Brianna, the E.U. imposed secondary sanctions on two Chinese banks back in July. And again, that is not something that the U.S. has done. So, I think for these talks to be productive, it's good for the two sides to align on policy. But what will really matter is, are we going to seek actual sanctions coming out of this Trump administration Treasury Department? Because we have seen absolutely zero since January.

KEILAR: All right, Edward Fishman, thank you so much for taking us through all of that. We really appreciate it.

FISHMAN: Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me on today.

KEILAR: Last week, he was coaching youth football. Last night, he nailed the game-winning kick for the Buffalo Bills.

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[13:54:10]

FREEMAN: How about we call it an unbelievable comeback. The Buffalo faithful still trying to piece together how their team stormed back from 15 points down in the fourth quarter. The unlikely hero who sealed it all, a 41-year-old kicker who was just signed to the team last week and didn't even know half of his teammates names. CNN's Don Riddell joins us now. Don, I was watching the game. I fell asleep. I woke up and everything had changed. What happened, man?

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Danny, at least you got to see the end of it.

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RIDDELL: Because if you are one of those sports fans that sometimes leaves the game early to beat the traffic home, or simply because you think you know how the game is going to finish, then Josh Allen and the Bills have a message for you. Stick around, have some faith in your team because as you say, the Bills just pulled off the most improbable comeback on the opening weekend of the new season. Have a look.

[13:55:00]

Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens were rolling, start running back. Derrick Henry was a human wrecking ball rushing for 169 yards, two touchdowns. Lamar seemingly put this one out of reach just before the fourth. An unreal catch there from his new target, DeAndre Hopkins, a sensational one-handed grab extending the Ravens lead to 15. But here's where it all changed. All Baltimore had to do was wind down the clock. But of all people, Henry lost the ball, forced fumble, recovered by the Bills. And while Lamar played like an MVP, the Bills' quarterback Josh Allen is the reigning MVP, huge pass to their blocking tight end, Jackson Hawes setting up a score, 394 yards, passing four total touchdowns, including that leap over the top, making a two point game.

Allen got the ball back with less than two minutes to go. Look at that. Throw hitting Palmer on the sideline, bringing it within field goal range, and then enter their new kicker, Matt Prater, less than a hundred hours in Western New York, a field goal from 32 yards for the win. He doesn't even know all of his teammates names yet. Buffalo scoring 16 points in the last four minutes to pull off an extraordinary comeback. What a squeaker that was. Josh Allen had some things to say after pulling that one out of the fire.

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JOSH ALLEN, BUFFALO BILLS QUARTERBACK: There's a no quitting in this team. Welcome to Buffalo. I mean, what a vet (ph), kicking the game winning field (ph) going a tough weird situation you don't see too often. He came in prepared, ready to go. Our team didn't quit. I mean, I think there's people that left the stadium. That's OK. We'll be fine, but have some faith next time.

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RIDDELL: Yeah, they won't do that again. Danny, this score, an incredible 41-40. I'm going to teach you possibly a new word. You might not have heard of this, a scoric army. That is a score that has never happened in the NFL before.

FREEMAN: Yes.

RIDDELL: This was one of them. We'd never seen it before.

FREEMAN: Oh man, love it. Dan Riddell, thank you so much for breaking it all down. Appreciate you. All right. Still to come, Prince Harry is back in the U.K., but it is unclear whether he'll meet with his estranged family. We'll tell you what we know about his visit. Coming up ahead.

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