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Trump Says He Intends to Meet Kim Jung Un this Year; South Korean Joint Military Drills Cut Short at U.S. Request; Trump Halts Talks with Iran, Signaling a New Approach in War; Tupac Witness Clashes with Defense Attorney. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 19, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: ... annual drills when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Today, President Trump says he intends to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year. That's a surprise announcement coming in the wake of their president, also with a surprise, when he decided to scale back U.S. military exercises with South Korea this week, just hours before they were set to begin. Trump citing, in part, his very good relationship with the North Korean dictator as a factor in that decision, while also noting South Korea's refusal to help with the war in Iran.

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Today, Trump says he wants South Korea to assume more responsibility for its own defense. Joining me now, retired Admiral James Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and a CNN military analyst. Good to see you, as always.

So, the president also said that North Korea has 57 nuclear weapons. He suggested that was the fault of previous presidents. President Trump met three times with Kim Jong Un in his first term, emerging mostly empty-handed.

I just want to, as a reminder, put up on the screen for folks at home what North Korea has done in that time period, since those meetings. Increase of nuclear weapons capabilities, built up its military arsenals, sent troops and missiles to Russia, and also shared missile technology with Iran. President Trump has been reiterating this week his goal with the Iran wars to make sure that country does not have a nuclear weapon. How, then, do you believe he should be handling North Korea's nuclear weapon arsenal?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Let's add one more item to your excellent list of what North Korea has done for us lately. They've also launched a series of ballistic missiles toward Japan, toward South Korea. They're aimed at the waters nearby, but they're sending a pretty clear signal.

And, finally, North Korea is also running a huge cryptocurrency criminal ring around the world. So, a thoroughly bad actor. So, what should we do about it?

Number one, we should be doing these exercises and drills, not cutting them, because that makes us better to deter North Korea. Number two, we ought to gather more intelligence on them. A pretty good place to do that, by the way, Erica, would be observing their troops in combat in Ukraine, where 15,000 are currently engaged.

We could learn a lot about how they fight, how they communicate. Number three, we ought to work with our allies, partners, and friends all around the Asia region, but notably with Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, other nations who are in the immediate area to help create some level of containment on North Korea. And then, finally, I may surprise you with this one, but we should keep open the possibility of meetings.

If the President can take a meeting with Kim Jong Un, I would support that. Keep open those lines of communication but also build your military capability.

HILL: Admiral, I'm going to interrupt you there, because I do want to break in. The President is talking now specifically about Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz, and those drills as well.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... He's not happy when South Korea said, no, they're not interested in helping us with the Hormuz Strait, and yet they get 60 percent of the oil from the Hormuz Strait. I said, would you like to help us? He said, no, thank you.

I said, that's nice. Please, thank you. He made us a lot of money.

I didn't like that. So, I felt that to do a massive -- we were doing a massive war exercise. I thought that was very insulting to somebody that, frankly, has been, during my term, at least, very well-behaved.

Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bond market, is the administration done enough to stabilize the bond market after yesterday?

TRUMP: Well, I think it is. But, I mean, it's very sad. Every time we do great, we announce great numbers. The interest rates go up.

HILL: That's the president there taking question. So, he was touching on those military exercises there, Admiral, saying fairly similar comments to what we heard from him, I believe it was on Monday. He was relaying what he said the conversation was, that he had reached out to South Korea and said, oh, hey, I don't really need you, but wouldn't you like to help us?

And that South Korea said, no. He was talking about it being insulting. Can you just remind us, this relationship, as you said, in your view, it's important to continue, not scale back, continue with these planned military exercises.

Why is this relationship so important to the United States? STAVRIDIS: Well, let's start with the economics. South Korea is the ninth largest economy in the world. Number two, they have very capable armed forces.

Number three, they contribute financially to supporting our troops that are in South Korea, working with them to contain North Korea. And number four, they're a democracy. They align with us in their values.

And indeed, worth pointing out, Erica, that the current president of South Korea, President Lee, is attempting to himself open up communications with the North. We ought to encourage that. But the bottom line is, we need to know who our friends are.

That would be the South Koreans. Who our opponents are. That would be the North Koreans. And final thought, if we are annoyed because the South Koreans don't want to come to the Middle East and participate in offensive military operations against Tehran, we could find something they could do economically.

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They could put more sanctions on. They could store more oil and help keep pressure downward on oil prices. And ultimately, we ought to work with them to find a role for them in the Middle East. But simply cutting these exercises is a way to, as the saying goes, to cut off your nose to spite your face.

Doesn't do us any good.

HILL: I also just want to get your take. The president, just before some of those comments that we just shared with you, he was also specifically addressing the situation in the Strait of Hormuz with Iran. I want to play that and then we can discuss.

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TRUMP: And you end up with total rookies in there. Nothing gets done. And I've seen it the other way where people are there too long.

We see that all the time. I see both. I always like to say that a term limit is an election.

You know, the public's pretty smart. You see that last night. We had some great success last night.

The Republican Party had tremendous success last night. But I like to say the term limit should be elections. But I'm OK with term limits.

Remember, the people that have to pass term limits are the people that are going to be voting on them to get out of office. So it's a little bit tough. That's not the easiest vote to get, is it?

But I'm OK with it one way or the other. I do think elections really turn people out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, I want to ask you about Canada. But first, the Treasury Secretary says that we could see the most impactful sanctions on Iran this week. When will they come?

And what else could be sanctioned on Iran?

TRUMP: Well, we have things that we could sanction. We have very draconian sanctions. And we'll see what happens.

Right now, the Strait is open. A lot of boats are coming through. People aren't reporting that.

And that may slow down a little bit at some point. But right now, a lot of boats are coming through. The naval blockade has been extremely effective.

Zero, I mean, literally, while it's up, and it's been for quite a while, you know, except for a couple of little pauses where we opened it purposely at -- with a deal. But the deal didn't terminate -- you know, the deal didn't turn out to be what they said, you know, when they tell us one thing and they do another.

But the blockade has been 100 percent successful. No boats have gotten into Iran, but they are getting in for other places. But we'll see.

We're going to see what happens. It'll either be extremely good and oil prices are going to drop like a rock, or we'll continue to do exactly what we're doing. You know, they were talking about $350 a barrel.

And it's today $84, $85. And we are getting a lot of oil out. But the other thing that's happened is people have found -- President Trump addressing there.

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HILL: President Trump addressing there. We did get a little term limit in there as well, Admiral Stavridis. We don't have to talk about term limits. But when it comes to what is happening in Iran, right -- we also have the UAE suspending at this point all trade with Iran.

Iran's foreign minister has said that the U.S. blockade had contributed to shortage in price increases. So there's some evidence, right, that this economic pressure is working. And that, sources tell CNN, is really becoming the focus for the administration, not so much the military campaign.

The question, though -- how long do you believe the hardline IRGC can actually wait out that pressure?

STAVRIDIS: Months, but not years. And that's the good news for the administration. They'd love to get this over with in a matter of weeks.

But that, unfortunately, is not how sanctions work. It's not how blockades work, not how embargoes work. They take time to build economic pressure.

But I think that is the president's best option at this point, is patience, keep the blockade in place, put economic pressure on Iran, get them back to the table that way, and force them to open the Strait. It's a tale of two blockades. They're blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

We're blockading their coastline. We're going to have to wait them out if we want to get them back to the table. Months, months, but not years.

HILL: Admiral James Stavridis, always appreciate your insight, thank you.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks Erica.

HILL: The trial continues for the man accuse of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur 30 years ago. What's expected in court today?

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SANCHEZ: It's now day three of testimony in the Tupac Shakur murder trial, which resumes at the top of the hour. Jurors witnessed a testy exchange yesterday between the defense and a former associate of Death Row Records CEO Marion Shug Knight. Here's that explosive moment with James McDonald, a former gang member who ran security at Knight's Vegas nightclub.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that what you're telling me?

JAMES MCDONALD, WITNESS: I'm telling you the people that was at 662 --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Answer my question, sir. Yes or no?

MCDONALD: I can't answer that without a whatchacallit. You trying to tell me to say something that you're not going to understand if you let me explain to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, answer my question.

MCDONALD: I'm not answering nothing. I don't know what you're talking about. You ask me something I don't want to talk about, you're going to have a problem. Treat me as a hostile witness.

You're not going to talk to me and tell me as a grown man what I have to do up here. I'm not going to send him to prison. You are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with former criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Mark O'Mara. Mark, great to see you, as always. McDonald was in part describing how beef and this rivalry between Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records had led to more tension between actual street gangs, the Bloods and the Crips.

How does his testimony fit into what the prosecution wants to prove?

MARK O'MARA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, in effect, just remember the premise of this is we're starting with the fact of a 30-year-old cold case. Difficult to prove because age never helps the prosecution. And put on top of that, you have witnesses like this one that we heard yesterday and others that I'm sure we're going to hear from that do not want to testify.

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It makes the state's case much more difficult to prove, because in effect, they've got to convince that jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the death occurred and who's responsible for it. And when they have recalcitrant witnesses, those who do not want to speak, those who won't show up or those who will simply not tell the truth, even if under oath, it's going to make the prosecution much more difficult.

SANCHEZ: What I found partly interesting about that exchange, it was with the defense attorney. It wasn't even with the prosecutor. And he told the defense attorney, as you saw there, you're asking me questions, I can't answer those questions.

And then he turned to Duane Davis and he said, talk to your lawyer. This guy is tripping. What do you make of that exchange?

O'MARA: Well, it's very intriguing and you want to get caught up in the drama of it. But when you look at it from a legal perspective, this is a witness who, in effect, either is going to not tell the truth and maybe help the client, or he's saying, I do not want to tell you what I was aware of, the rivalry, that was the whole point of it, the rivalry that was going on between the two camps, if you will, the two gangs. Stop having your attorney ask me questions you don't want to know the answer of.

And quite honestly, I'm a bit surprised that the defense attorney wasn't more aware, one, of what he was going to say and what he did not want to say, and two, how to walk him through it that would have been more beneficial to his own client.

SANCHEZ: The prosecution zeroed in on McDonald because his brother was involved in the attack on Orlando Anderson, so Davis's nephew, on that night at the MGM with the huge fight, soon after which Tupac was murdered. On the witness stand, McDonald says that people in his gang knew right away there would be immediate payback. How does this fit into the idea that this was a revenge killing and that Duane Davis was calling the shots, getting revenge for his nephew?

O'MARA: Oh, I think it works very well. I think that's why the prosecution put him on, even though they knew he was not going to be a witness that they wanted. You still have to take a witness as you find them, right?

The timing was so tight as far as the revenge -- if that's what it was. And look, we're going to hear from the prosecution in the closing argument saying, look, we don't have perfect witnesses here. We brought you the witnesses that we had. They come with their biases, their predispositions, but you have to look through what they didn't want to tell you, what they did tell you, their own prejudices that they may have come to this courtroom about. Because the state knows they're going to have a very difficult time because nobody, not many people actually want to testify about something that was 30 years ago, particularly with all of the social nuances that are there about how these groups of people are interacting, not interacting 30 years ago. I mean, McDonald said, look, I'm raising my grandchildren now.

You want me to talk about something 30 years ago. Nobody really wants to be there, but the state has decided to prosecute them. They have to carry the day and it's going to be very difficult.

SANCHEZ: Mark O'Mara, appreciate the expertise. Thanks for joining us.

O'MARA: Great to be here.

SANCHEZ: Yep. Still ahead, Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios apologizing after testing positive for cocaine. The details when we come back.

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HILL: A player once considered a rising star in tennis is now provisionally suspended from competition after testing positive for cocaine.

SANCHEZ: Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios received the punishment after submitting to a drug test earlier this summer in Spain. CNN's Coy Wire joins us now. Coy, Kyrgios, no stranger to controversy.

How's he responding?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: He's pretty being blunt about it all, to be honest. He's one of tennis's most recognizable and unpredictable stars, right? And he's facing now potentially a career-altering setback.

He once climbed as high as 13th in the world with his booming serve, jaw-dropping shot-making. He also became known, though, for his fiery confrontations and controversial moments on court. In recent years, his biggest opponent has been his own body, injuries limiting him to only a handful of matches, as he's tried repeatedly to return to the sport's biggest stages.

Now another setback, this one self-inflicted. In a lengthy statement on Instagram, Kyrgios apologized to his family and friends and said in part, "I'm not going to make excuses, but I do want to give some contest about where I've been. The last couple of years of injuries have taken a huge toll on me, both physically and mentally. My body hasn't been able to do what my mind expects it to do, and coming to terms with being near the end of my career has been harder that I every imagined."

Now Kyrgios says that he's taking all the responsibility. Provisional suspension isn't necessarily the final word on his punishment. The case will now move through tennis's anti-doping process.

Boris and Erika, for a player whose careers always seem to live on this edge between brilliance and turbulence, this may become one of its defining moments. We'll see what's to come for Kyrgios, both on and off the court.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we shall see. Cory Wire, thank you so much. Great to see you.

HILL: We are going to end with this. A hairy situation at the Iowa State Fair. One drawing big crowds.

Yes, this is the lineup for the finest-looking facial hair competition this year. A number of contenders, as you can see. But only one really impressed the judges.

SANCHEZ: Bulmaro Martinez came out victorious. Look at that.

HILL: Wow.

SANCHEZ: Like the great beard of Zeus. The longest beard also scoring third place for the best groomed beard.

HILL: It doesn't even look real. It's like so long. It's the one you put over your ears for the last --

SANCHEZ: That's got to be hard to eat with. Got to be hard to sleep with. Sometimes I find crumbs in mine.

HILL: Yes.

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SANCHEZ: And that's when I know I got to trim this thing.

HILL: Right.

SANCHEZ: You know. Get some sheen. But that's --

HILL: That's a lot of beard.

SANCHEZ: That's, yes, yes.

HILL: Congratulations, sir.

SANCHEZ: Good for him. I wonder what he wants.

HILL: You're not entering next year?

SANCHEZ: I mean if you give me time to grow it. I'm not sure the bosses would enjoy that.

HILL: They may not like that.

SANCHEZ: I just hope they're here with like a Rip Van Winkle kind of like, ZZ Top.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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