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President Trump Sues "Wall Street Journal" Over Epstein Report; Trump To Sign $98 Billion Cut To Public Broadcasting, International Aid; Ukraine Calls For Peace Talks With Russia Next Week; Bill Regulating Cryptocurrencies Becomes Law Despite Some Republican Opposition; Powell Responds In Trump Spat Over Fed Renovation; Trump Eyes Fed's $2.5B Renovation To Target Powell's Job; Coldplay "Kiss Cam" Moment Sets The Internet On Fire; Inside A Family's Move To Self- Deport From The U.S. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired July 19, 2025 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:15]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and tonight, the story that President Trump has tried to turn the page on now escalating, raising new questions on what could still come.
After weeks of fending off intensifying pressure over the Justice Department's handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the issue came to a head this week after "The Wall Street Journal" published a story on a collection of letters reportedly gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday.
One of the letters, the newspaper says, included a drawing of a naked woman shape with Trump's name on it and an imagined conversation on how Trump and Epstein share a secret. The President denies he wrote the note, and now he is suing the paper's publisher. It is owned by Rupert Murdoch -- its owner, Rupert Murdoch, and the two reporters, he is suing them for libel.
CNN's senior reporter, Betsy Klein joins us now and the Justice Department is now asking a judge to release years-old grand jury testimony related to Epstein, to the public.
Betsy, what is the Trump administration hoping this will accomplish? And what comes next?
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER AND WRITER: Well, there is certainly a hope inside the White House that they can put this controversy to rest, but one of the reasons that it has been so hard for the President to change the narrative here is that President Trump, along with some of his top aides, allies and advisers, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel were among those who were propagating conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein in the podcast space and on the campaign trail for years, demanding transparency, saying that there was a there, there. And it was just two weeks ago that the Department of Justice and the FBI released a memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide and that there was no so-called client list. Since then, MAGA world has essentially been in revolt, calling for the
transparency that those officials were also asking for, demanding more information from the President and his top aides, and essentially pitting the president against the movement that he created himself.
The President announcing that he was asking Bondi to release all pertinent testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein, the government filing in court in Manhattan on Monday to do so, but that could be a lengthy process and if the judge decides to do so, this would really represent a small fraction of the overall body of evidence compiled against Epstein in this case.
But it really should not be a surprise that some of the President's most ardent supporters and loyal followers, some of those who are very vocal, are frustrated about all of this. President Trump appearing to acknowledge some of that concern in a post to social media earlier this morning, he wrote, "I've asked the Justice Department to release all grand jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to court approval, with that being said, and even if the court gave its full and unwavering support, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more."
Now, the pressure on President Trump continued to mount this week when "The Wall Street Journal" published a story about a letter, reportedly from Trump to Epstein with a drawing of a naked woman on the occasion of Epstein's 50th birthday back in 2003. The President lashing out, calling that letter fake and threatening to sue "The Wall Street Journal," a threat that he made good on this week, suing its publisher, owner and reporters for the sum of roughly $20 billion for libel, assault and slander.
But Dow Jones, the paper's publisher, saying in a statement: "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit."
So the president here, clearly reverting to a familiar playbook, attacking the media, something that he has done often, but really marking an extraordinary escalation here amid growing questions about how close he really was with Epstein and how much he knew about Epstein's proclivities -- Jessica.
DEAN: All right, Betsy Klein with the latest at the White House, thank you so much.
Meantime, President Trump is soon expected to sign a bill that would slash $9 billion of funding, which had previously been approved by Congress. That measure, getting final approval in the house early Friday morning with only two Republicans breaking rank from the administration. The Senate had approved that earlier.
This rescission bill cut $8 billion in cut $8 billion in international aid, and all $1.1 billion of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that provides support for PBS television and NPR radio stations all across the country.
Julia Benbrook joins us now.
Julia, the vote is over, but there is so much more discussion over this and what comes next, and also if they will continue, if the Republicans will continue to use this rescission tactic to claw back more money.
[18:05:10]
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and this package, it includes $9 billion in spending cuts or claw backs. It got the final stamp of approval that it needed in Congress just before the House of Representatives left for the weekend, and it is now ready for President Donald Trump's signature.
It passed primarily along party lines in both chambers, and this package codifies some of the cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and their stated goal is to weed out waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government.
So what exactly is this package targeting? It is going to take back $8 billion in funding for foreign aid programs, as well as $1.1 billion to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR and PBS, as well as local affiliates across the country, and this could have a really big impact on those stations in rural areas.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, after this passed in the House, he celebrated this as a win and said that he hopes this rescissions package is the first of many like it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The rescissions package is the first of what we believe will be multiple rescissions packages. That's our plan. I am delighted to send that over to the President's desk for signature.
We are going to downsize the scope of government. The government is too large. It does too many things and it does almost nothing well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BENBROOK: Now, Democrats have detailed the concerns that they have, calling this bill reckless, going on to say, "This legislation undermines the public health and National Security of the American people while launching an assault on public radio and television. At the same time that we are witnessing tremendous death and destruction wrought by extreme weather in this country, House Republicans are taking a chainsaw to the public airwaves that Americans rely on for information in an emergency." Going on to say, "While extreme MAGA Republicans will claim this is about eliminating so-called waste, fraud and abuse, they just jammed through a massive tax giveaway to billionaires that balloons our nation's debt by trillions of dollars."
This rescissions package is a legislative win for Trump, and it comes just weeks after Congress passed his massive domestic policy agenda bill, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, and Trump celebrated these things during an event last night with Republican lawmakers at the White House as he looks to list off what he considers his biggest accomplishments so far in the second term.
DEAN: And Julia, the critics on both sides say that the way this bill was passed gives too much power of the purse to the White House. The President has said, I think, that he wants to do this and use this going forward. What more could we see when it comes to these rescission type situations?
BENBROOK: He has indicated that he wants to see more rescissions and Congress passed this using an obscure Presidential Budget Law. It had not been used in decades. It is a measure that Trump was able to successfully maneuver, and that just further emphasizes the power that he has on Capitol Hill right now.
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle did express some concerns about the precedent that this sets when it comes to congressional authority -- Jessica.
DEAN: All right, Julia Benbrook in Washington, thank you for that.
I do want to turn back to our top story tonight. The fallout over the Justice Department's handling of the so-called Epstein files, in the backlash that President Trump has seen as a result of this.
Pollster and communications strategist, Frank Luntz is joining us now.
Frank, thanks so much for being here with us. This story seems to be sticking more than others, and the President seems to have less control over this narrative than he typically does.
I am curious if it is resonating with people you're talking to and why you think this might be sticking in the way that it has.
FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: Well, it is sticking because it is salacious. Because everyone has heard of Epstein, and they feel that they don't want anything to do with it. This is a bad guy, did bad things and was never really held accountable for it.
That said, your second story about what's going on in Washington is a much higher priority. When we asked the question, which do you care more about -- the cuts and the accountability and what is happening in Washington or this kind of salacious, scandalous information? They will turn to the scandal because it is attractive. It catches the eye and the imagination.
But what do they care about? Immigration, prices, inflation, accountability -- what Washington is doing. So I urge people as they look at this to understand and appreciate that this is one of the reasons why the public is so hostile to Washington. They want these people to do their jobs, to get it done, to stop talking and find a way to restore the quality of government and not spend all this time over things that don't have any impact whatsoever on peoples' day-to- day lives.
[18:10:19] DEAN: That's interesting. So what you're saying, it sounds like is
that, yes, this is -- people want to click on it. They want to read about it because it kind of piques their interest. But when it comes to how they're going to vote or how their support, you know, where it comes out, it sounds like what you're saying is they're more focused on who is delivering what they want and what they've been promised.
LUNTZ: That's exactly the point, and I acknowledge that it will attract views. It will attract eyes and attention, but it is part of why the public has said enough. All caps, exclamation point, ENOUGH! And that they expect these people who they are electing to focus, and this is advice to you all, to focus on the things that really matter to day-to-day lives.
Are we safer? Are we more secure? Is life more affordable? Can we get the housing and health care that we need? The stuff that is happening day-to-day in Congress is a higher priority to a lot more people than this story, even though people will click on it.
DEAN: And even though some supporters, especially that real, that very loyal MAGA base was promised transparency about it and that they did, they, I think, expected that, what do you think for that group?
LUNTZ: That group, they care more about inflation and affordability and what things cost than they do about what is happening with Trump and Epstein. They care more about immigration, whether the border is being secured and whether there is peace and control of what is happening down there than they do about Epstein.
And I want to be clear, I acknowledge that it will get you views. It will get you ratings. But I say to you, as someone who has been studying the American Dream, studying the American condition, this is one of the major reasons why so many Americans are so negative towards government, towards institutions, and towards the future because they don't see that people are serious and focused on getting real things done for the American people.
DEAN: How are they rating when it comes to those metrics, the real things, the things that they care about, this cost of living and how to get through a day, how are they evaluating the current state with Republicans now fully in control and about six months in?
LUNTZ: The problem is that Republicans love everything, Democrats hate everything, and Independents don't know what to believe and the other problem is that these divisions are getting greater and greater as we move forward into the summer months into the fall, with the American people believe that this administration, the Republicans, believe it can do no wrong, the Democrats believe it can do no right and quite frankly, the truth is somewhere in between that.
And I am just -- and I am calling on people to take a step back, to lower the decibel level, to stop trying to destroy or promote at a hundred percent and accept that there is no perfection, that there are things that need to be done, that need to be changed, and that they need to tell the truth. Jessica, if there is one message I want to communicate right now is
that the truth matters, and it has mattered more now than ever before. If the public believes it is being told the truth, they will accept tough medicine. If they believe that they're being lied to, they will accept nothing at all.
DEAN: I do want to ask you, before I let you go about this "New York Times" reporting about the Democratic National Committee's examination, this autopsy of what went wrong for them in 2024. And according to "The Times," this analysis, though, mostly steers clear of the decisions made by the Biden turned Harris campaign and will focus more heavily instead on actions taken by allied groups.
Obviously, Frank, your job is to look forward and see what people are saying now, but you were also talking to a lot of people as this was happening in real time.
Do you think that the Democrats are going to learn much by not looking at these other pieces of the puzzle?
LUNTZ: They don't learn nothing at all. What should have happened to the Harris campaign? And I've said this on CNN in the past, she never told people that she was going to do in the first hour, in the first day, in the first week, in the first month. She never came clear about what her number one, number two, number three priorities were and how she was going to get it done and in the end, inflation and affordability. You notice I keep using that word affordability.
Affordability and immigration were the number one and number two issues. And she wasn't clear about that. So you focus on these allied groups and you miss the point. The public wants you to say what you mean, mean what you say, do what you say and then be held accountable for what you do.
[18:15:10]
And the Democrats don't seem to understand that, which is why they're in the trouble that they're in.
DEAN: All right, Frank Luntz, thanks so much for your time. It is good to see you.
LUNTZ: Thank you. Appreciate it.
DEAN: The U.S. and some of its biggest allies are working on a major shuffle. How do they get the patriot missile system to where it is needed in Ukraine, while still protecting the allies who already have it? You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:20:08]
DEAN: Ukraine is proposing another round of peace talks with Russia next week. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying: "We need to do everything possible to achieve a ceasefire. Russian state media is tonight reporting a source close to the country's negotiating team confirmed they have received Kyiv's proposal.
Let's bring in former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark.
General Clark, thanks so much for being here with us. We appreciate it.
Peace talks --
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good to be with you.
DEAN: Yes, it's good to see you. Peace talks so far have not made significant progress. I mean, this is the million dollar question, but what has to happen to get to a ceasefire at this point?
CLARK: I think the administration is going to have to put a lot more pressure on Russia and take a lot more abuse and threats from Russia. And this is what the administration doesn't seem to want to do.
Putin has a game plan, and the game plan is to amass his forces, breakthrough in the center around Pokrovsk, and then try to move in the South toward Odesa and take more of the North Coast of the Black Sea. If we can get to Odesa, if we can block those shipping lanes by occupying that land, Ukraine's goose is cooked, and what the President has done is given him 50 more days to do it before the start of sanctions.
And look, the start of sanctions, that doesn't mean that Putin stops. Fifty days is the key campaign period, but it could go into sort of late October, early November, depending on the weather in the area. So we are going to see a lot more fighting, and were going to need a lot more for Ukraine other than a few patriot missile batteries.
DEAN: And speaking of a senior U.S. military commander says the U.S. and NATO are working with Germany to get more patriot missile systems to Ukraine. Russia, as we know, has been launching hundreds of drones at Ukraine. How quickly can these get into use? What are the logistics around all of this?
CLARK: If the Germans are willing to let go of what they have, they could be in there in a matter of a couple of weeks. Now, the question is, what missiles do they have? Do they have the version two or the version three of the missile? And how many do they have?
These patriots are really not used against drones. So when 400 or 500 drones come in a night, the patriots are just sitting there. They're used against the Iskander missiles and other missiles supplied by North Korea, or in some cases, Iran ballistic missiles that are non- ballistic intermediate range missiles, hypersonic in some cases. Patriots are the only system that can handle these.
There are other air defense systems that Ukraine has. The Arrows system and others that can handle these lesser threats, but every missile is extraordinarily expensive and 400 or 500 drones a night, you can't use missiles on them.
DEAN: So what do they do? What can you use for those drones?
CLARK: So what they have been doing is they've got a network connected by cellular phone that identifies by sound the incoming drones. Then they have a number of teams, hundreds of these teams with 50 caliber machine guns on trucks that are alerted and then engage. Now, this works when the drones are at low level, flying at, let's say, a hundred to 140 miles an hour. You can see them, but, you know, they're getting more sophisticated. So the drones are now painted black so you can't see them. They come in at night where they don't show up. They come in at higher altitudes where the machine guns don't engage them.
And the drones used to have high explosive warheads, now they have, many of them, thermobaric warheads, which are much more destructive, suck the air out and burn people to death. So the Russians have continued to innovate. The latest drones are not jammable. They have inertial guidance and they have some degree of artificial intelligence with U.S. generated chips guiding them.
So this is a real technology race, Jessica, and we've got to move beyond 50 caliber machine guns and patriots. So we need directed energy weapons in there. We also need larger caliber guns. The Germans have got some of these guns, 20 millimeter, 30 millimeter guns that will reach up to, let's say 4,000, 5,000 meters in altitude. But you need a network of them.
The drones patterns now come in, they circle around, they look like they're bypassing Kyiv, and then they come in from the back side against Kyiv. Some of them are decoys, so they want us to waste ammunition against decoys. It has become a very, very sophisticated cat and mouse game. It is highly destructive. And here is the thing --
[18:25:10]
And here is the thing, it is all illegal by the laws of land warfare. Ninety percent of the drones are targeted against civilian targets. They're going after shopping centers and hospitals and apartment buildings. If Ukraine did that, there'd be a global outcry, and yet Russia has gotten away with it because everybody is sort of used to it. It is a war crime. Putin is a war criminal.
DEAN: All right, General Wesley Clark, always good to have you. Thank you. That's really great and valuable context. We really appreciate it.
CLARK: Thank you, Jessica.
DEAN: Cryptocurrency front and center at the White House this week. We are going to dive into it all, next here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:13]
DEAN: President Trump has signed a first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency bill into law. The GENIUS Act provides a framework laying out some clear rules for the industry, and it passed the House this week after some delays from conservative Republicans, and was one of three bills around regulating cryptocurrency.
We're joined now by crypto reporter for Axios, Brady Dale.
Brady, thanks so much for joining us.
Okay, look, we're going to take this down to kind of basic level here, because I had to do some reading to make sure I had a working knowledge of this, and I think for anybody watching, it's totally okay if we don't know what stable coins are, how they work and what this legislation does. So, can you just walk us through that first?
BRADY DALE, CRYPTO REPORTER, AXIOS: Well, stable coins are really digital cash. You know, when you pay with your credit card, it goes through a bunch of different banks, and they take a bunch of tiny little cuts. Stable coins are a way that you can basically just hand a dollar bill over to someone, you know, just like you do a normal dollar bill, except for it's all digital. It's just - it's on the blockchain, but it's really the first time we've had true digital cash that's useful.
DEAN: Right, and it's anchored, right? Isn't this what makes it unique? It's anchored to something - to an entity that exists, as you're saying, a dollar. It's not just floating out there.
DALE: Exactly.
DEAN: Right?
DALE: Yes.
DEAN: Okay. And so how does ...
DALE: They're a hundred percent backed by dollars, yes.
DEAN: Right. So, how does this legislation - it sounds like mostly what it's going to do is kind of set up regulation around it, but help us understand what this legislation does.
DALE: So, the thing is - I mean, we've had stable coins for a while, and they get used all over the world in a big way. But, you know, here in America, the big financial entities don't want to do anything unless they have very clear permission from the federal government. And that just didn't happen. There - that didn't exist. There was no law saying you couldn't have a stable coin, but there also was no law saying that you could.
And so now we have the law saying that, you know, national banks can create these stable coins, and they really are legal to transact with in the United States, sort of taking any ambiguity about that away, which makes a lot more of these players comfortable entering into this industry.
And so, for the average person, what does this do? How does this change things for them?
DALE: Sure. I mean, it could - we should see people start saving some money. You know, what I'm really watching are small businesses. If they figure out a way to start accepting stable coins, and if consumers really start getting their hands on them, which is another big question, you know, it could shave away that tiny little percentage that credit and debit cards take from them. And a lot of these small businesses have very, very tight margins.
And so, if they can start having electronic transactions that are like cash transactions, you know, that's just a few more percentage points on their margin, but that can make a difference for a lot of these enterprises.
DEAN: Yes, that's a really interesting point. And just more broadly, look, we're seeing this become a little more mainstream, but it also is pretty unregulated, all things considered at this point. I know Congress is clearly trying to get a handle on this. Where do you see this going? How involved do you think the government is going to get in cryptocurrency?
DALE: Well, you know, the next thing that has to happen is this clarity bill that the House just sent to the Senate. If that happens, we're going to basically have a regulatory framework for the whole industry. And so, that will mean that the SEC and the CFTC will be keeping an eye on all these, you know, new crazy cryptocurrency tokens that you hear about out there.
The truth is, there just hasn't been clear rules made for this industry, even though it's worth several trillion dollars now. And so, once these bills are passed and the regulators have clear instructions from Congress, they'll start stepping in and they'll be making real rules around disclosure and transparency and all that stuff for the industry. And folks will know what they can and can't do.
DEAN: And what about for, like, say, retirement accounts or investing for 401K, do you think we could see that?
DALE: Sure. Well, I - you can already see it. I mean, on that one, and that's a sort of a separate question. You know, the Trump administration just rolled back the guidance from the Biden administration that people weren't allowed to put, you know, Bitcoin in their retirement account. So, folks are doing that to a limited degree now. Fidelity has had that product for a while. I don't think the uptake has been huge yet because it's been, you know, unclear if it was okay or not. But I think we'll see some more of those things start to happen.
DEAN: Very interesting. All right, Brady Dale, thanks for joining us.
DALE: Thanks for having me.
DEAN: Yes. The chairman of the Federal Reserve is showing no signs of bending, despite pressure - a pressure campaign from President Trump to cut rates. Trump has said he'd love for Jay Powell to resign, but that he probably won't be firing Powell. The Trump administration is criticizing the Fed's two-and-a-half-billion-dollar plan to renovate its Washington headquarters, even suggesting - it may be against the law - Chairman Powell says, quote, "We have taken great care to ensure the project is carefully overseen since it was first approved by the Board in 2017."
[18:35:07]
CNN's Brian Todd has details on this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sitting on a coveted property alongside Washington's National Mall, two stately marble- facaded buildings now ringed by construction fencing, covered in scaffolds, so-called blue-skin waterproof coverings on the windows.
The two buildings, headquarters of the Federal Reserve and their costly renovation, are President Trump's latest weapon in his war against Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I mean, it's possible there's fraud involved with the $2.5- $2.7 billion renovation. This is a renovation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): The President indicating today that while it's unlikely he'll fire Powell, it could still happen if fraud is involved in the $2.5 billion renovation, a project that's been hammered on by the President and his allies for weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The one thing I didn't see him as a guy that needed a palace to live in. I think when you spend $2.5 billion on really a renovation. I think it's pretty disgraceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): Of course, Powell doesn't live in the building, but that hasn't stopped Trump from tying him to the renovation, the cost of which has shot up in recent years, from $1.9 billion to $2.5 billion. The Fed says the buildings had to be upgraded because their electrical grids, plumbing, HVAC and fire detection systems were antiquated. The buildings were constructed almost a hundred years ago.
There have been claims that the renovation would include expenditures for lavish items like rooftop gardens, water features and VIP elevators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): It sends the wrong message to spend public money on luxury upgrades that feel more like they belong in the Palace of Versailles than a public institution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): But Powell and the Fed say those were either not in the plans or were scaled back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Some of those are just flatly misleading.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.
POWELL: The idea of elevators, you know, we - it's the same elevator that's been there since the building was built. So that's a mischaracterization, and some of those are no longer in the plans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): The Fed says the cost overruns are really due to things like the cost of removing more asbestos than anticipated, soil contamination and inflation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID WESSEL, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I think the building is just a sideshow. It's an excuse to make life miserable for Jay Powell because President Trump, who, of course, appointed him, doesn't like what he's doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): What Powell is doing is not moving aggressively enough for Trump's liking to lower interest rates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He's a knucklehead. He should have cut interest rates a long time ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (voice over): Powell's resisted rate cuts out of concerns that Trump's tariffs could spark more inflation. But Trump and his allies continue their relentless pressure on Powell. Trump's budget director Russell Vought sending a recent letter to Powell saying the President was extremely troubled by his management of the Fed, including his, quote, "ostentatious overhaul" of the headquarters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD (on camera): Now, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN, Jerome Powell has asked the Fed's inspector general to conduct an additional review of this renovation. Powell has only 10 months left in his term unless Trump can find cause to remove him sooner. Analyst David Wessel says he doesn't think the controversy over this project would stand up in court as a credible cause for removing Powell.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: The CEO of an A.I. company walks away from that company just days after going viral at a Coldplay concert. You've seen this video. We're going to talk more about it. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:42:54]
DEAN: The CEO of an artificial intelligence company has just resigned tonight after that moment at a Coldplay concert put him in the spotlight. Andy Byron was caught in a quench with one of his employees during a kiss cam moment and afterward they kind of awkwardly pull apart. They realize they're on camera. Coldplay's singer Chris Martin joking they're either having an affair or they're very shy.
Forty years ago, rock stars Bob Geldof, Bono, Sting and many more performed at a landmark music event to raise money for famine relief in Africa. CNN's Bill Weir sat down with the Band Aid Trust co-founder and musician Bob Geldof to discuss how the legendary concert came together and how the movement and its impact continues decades later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: I just finished the series on Live Aid. I was a high school senior in 1985, so Live Aid was my Woodstock. You know the moments in this documentary that made me the most emotional was remembering a country that could rally around starving children on the other side of the world.
BOB GELDOF: Yes.
WEIR: And that was cool and was part of the MTV generation and it was easy to get swept up in this and how far we seem from that today.
GELDOF: After Live Aid, we got the - in today's money the equivalent of about $480 million dollars within a week. Last November in Montreal my wife ordered breakfast. She got a call saying, is it all right. I'm one of them - I'm not your normal waiter guy. Can I come and say hello to your husband. And he said hello. He said I just wanted to say hello to you. And I said, yes. Hey, man. I said you look like an Ethiopian. He said he said yes, yes. And he stood up straight and he said I wanted to thank you very much. And I said, thank you, you know? And he said, I had no idea who my parents are. He said they died. But someone put me in a Band Aid hospital and Band Aid paid for to make me better.
[18:45:05]
And then, I was brought up in a Band Aid orphanage. And he said, I made my way to Paris and I studied catering. And he said, and I came here. And I said, great. Well done. Congratulations. You know, are you married. You got a family. He said, yes, I married an Ethiopian girl. And he pulled out his thing and he showed me he put in his pocket and he paused. And then, he just ran forward and clutched me. He didn't hug me. And he came up right here and he buried his head in my chest and he said, thank you for my sons. Thank you for my life.
WEIR: Wow.
GELDOF: So, even if it was for that guy. Just that guy. It was just for him, forty years, worth it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: A new episode of "Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took on the World" airs tomorrow night at 9 Eastern Pacific only here on CNN.
Coming up, inside one family's move to self-deport from the United States. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:50:41]
DEAN: ICE is having a hard time retaining employees and is struggling to meet President Trump's deportation quotas. According to an email obtained by CNN, officials are pleading with former ICE agents to come back even offering a lucrative incentive of up to $50,000 if they return. And it comes as the crackdowns on immigrants in this country lead some families to make a drastic decision choosing whether or not to voluntarily leave the U.S. out of fear. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has one family's story.
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SASHA MENDOZA, U.S. CITIZEN: These are the main pictures from our house that we didn't want to just throw away.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sasha Mendoza has the impossible task of packing up her family's life in Pittsburgh into a handful of suitcases.
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S. MENDOZA: It's really hard to tell a four-year-old that they can't bring their toys or their stuffed animal. There's just not enough room. We can't put a stuffed animal and then have no pants.
I've literally never felt anxiety the way that I have in the last few years here.
ALVAREZ (on camera): So, you are saying bye to the U.S. for good?
JULIO MENDOZA, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: For good, yes. Yes, for good.
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ALVAREZ (voice over): Fearful of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, Sasha, her husband, Julio, and their three kids are leaving behind the life they built together.
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S. MENDOZA: What are you the most excited for in Mexico?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The pool.
S. MENDOZA: The pool?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the beach.
S. MENDOZA: The beach?
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ALVAREZ: Julio is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Sasha and their three children are all U.S. citizens. They decided to make the move together only moments after Trump took office.
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J. MENDOZA: It was an executive order being signed, and that was her call first said, like, what do you think about moving to Mexico? And I said, honestly, at this point, yes, let's do it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to move to Mexico.
S. MENDOZA: We're going to move to Mexico, not today.
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ALVAREZ: And with that, the family began to wind down their lives, sifting through keepsakes and moving out of their home.
S. MENDOZA: Say bye to the house.
ALL: Bye, house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll miss you.
ALVAREZ (on camera): When you were dating, did your status as being undocumented come up at all?
S. MENDOZA: In our first date, we kind of like were mentioning it without mentioning it. And at one point, he ordered a drink and he asked for extra ice and I said, no, we don't do ice here. And he was like, hmm. That was like the only thing we needed to say.
J. MENDOZA: So, by the way --
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ALVAREZ (voice over): Julio crossed the U.S. southern border when he was 11 years old, and he's lived in Pittsburgh ever since.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) S. MENDOZA: One of his first concerns when we talked about moving is
like, how am I going to watch those Steeler games?
ALVAREZ (on camera): You're a Pittsburgh native for all intents and purposes?
S. MENDOZA: Oh, my God. Yes.
J. MENDOZA: Yes.
ALVAREZ: What made Trump a second term more nerve-wracking for you, that to come to a decision that you had to leave the country?
J. MENDOZA: There are no limits. There are no limits on being a target. The only main concern is like, he looks brown, he looks different, he doesn't speak English. He's the one. It doesn't matter.
ANDREW COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: That's where things stand tonight in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
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ALVAREZ (voice over): They were confronted with their worst nightmare when Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador.
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S. MENDOZA: I can see myself in that, and I don't want us to wait until we're in the same situation.
ALVAREZ: There are people who will say, you came to the U.S. illegally, why didn't you do it the right way? What do you say to people?
J. MENDOZA: If you were to be put in my situation at my age to tell me to do it the right way, the whole process pretty much takes about 15 to 20 years. By that time, I don't think my kids or anyone's kids who are starving or in a dangerous situation can wait 15, 20 years for you to come here and start working.
S. MENDOZA: What did we say that we could get when we get there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A PS5?
S. MENDOZA: No, we did not say that.
ALVAREZ: How did you approach the conversation with your kids?
S. MENDOZA: They know the realistic part of it, which is that it will be very difficult for them to adapt to, especially mostly language- wise. That's like our biggest thing. They're not anywhere near fluent. And they are going to be going into a school that is Spanish-speaking.
Who's that? That's you.
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ALVAREZ (voice over): For Sasha, leaving the U.S. also means saying goodbye to the places she's called home.
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ALVAREZ (on camera): You grew up at this house. What is it like for you to leave this house and what it represents to you?
S. MENDOZA: It is definitely hard because, yes, there's a lot of good memories. This has always been like the kind of comeback place. As far as we know, we won't be able to do that. We've kind of all decided that today's most likely the last time that we'll all be like in the same place at the same time.
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ALVAREZ: Hours of research behind them, the Mendoza family spent their final days in Pittsburgh saying goodbye to family and friends.
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J. MENDOZA: Stay in touch. I love you, too, (INAUDIBLE). Stay safe. Stay safe.
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ALVAREZ: It's a decision not taken lightly, but for Julio, no other choice.
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J. MENDOZA: Rolling the dice will be staying here. That will be rolling the dice, playing with my life, playing with my kids' life, playing with my wife's life. That would be a gamble. I would say, it's taking a gamble. Well, I'm taking a certain win on this one, for sure.
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DEAN: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much for that.
President Trump taking on The Wall Street Journal. We're going to talk about it with one of the President's former attorneys. That's next. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
