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Multiple European Leaders Invited To White House For Zelenskyy Meeting; Melania Trump Writes Letter To Putin About Protecting Children; Protesters In Washington, D.C. Confront National Guard Troops; A Former Spy's Take On The Putin-Trump Summit; New Orleans' Mayor Is First To Be Charged While In Office. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 16, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Good to see you all. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.

We do have breaking news as multiple European leaders have been invited to President Trump's upcoming meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As a White House official tells CNN, the meeting set for Monday comes just days after President Trump's high stakes sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

European officials familiar with Trump's accounting of yesterday's summit say Putin wants to claim all of Ukraine's Donbas region in exchange for freezing the current front lines in the rest of Ukraine. Putin reportedly also said he would promise to not attack Ukraine or other European nations again.

I want to bring in CNN senior White House correspondent Kevin Liptak, who is with us now.

So, Kevin, as we learn more about how this meeting Monday is going to play out, how does the addition of European leaders change the dynamics of this meeting?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I think from the perspective of the Europeans, this is a good sign because the one thing that they want to avoid is a repeat of the scene we saw the last time that Zelenskyy was in the Oval Office, which was back in February when President Trump, the Vice President JD Vance, who will also be in this meeting on Monday, I should note, when we saw them kind of berating Zelenskyy about the war in Ukraine and essentially kicked him out of the White House.

The view among many officials in Europe that I've been speaking to is that the presidents of other European leaders could potentially prevent that from happening again. Now, who exactly this will be remains somewhat unclear. You hear some names thrown around, like the president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, who has bonded with President Trump over golf. You also hear about potentially the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte.

None of those names confirmed quite yet, but it does sound like it will be a bigger delegation in the Oval Office than just Zelenskyy himself. And I think the objective for these leaders is to try and ascertain from Trump a little bit more of what Vladimir Putin told him when they met for nearly three hours in Alaska. We've gotten bits and pieces of that discussion, but certainly not the extent of that many hours long summit.

And we know that President Trump has told Europeans that, in his view, Putin has not backed off some of these maximalist demands for ending the war, namely that Ukraine give up the entire Donbas region. Perhaps more encouraging for these leaders is the president's, in their view, openness to providing some sort of security guarantee for Ukraine once this peace deal is in place, essentially allowing some assurances so that once the war ends, Putin isn't able to kind of regroup and go after the rest of Ukraine in a few years.

That's something that the president has sort of been open to in the past. He has laid out some conditions. For example, he says that Ukraine joining NATO is a nonstarter. He says that the Europeans will have to be at the forefront of that effort. But at least from the perspective of the Europeans, who the president spoke to overnight, he does seem open to providing some sort of guarantees going forward.

So this meeting will be very important. It will be interesting to contrast the reception that Zelenskyy receives, not only to that meeting that he had back in February, but also to the reception that Putin received in Anchorage on Friday. You know, I was there, I saw the red carpet, you saw Putin joining President Trump in the presidential limousine and kind of grinning as he drove past the bank of cameras.

Quite a warm reception for someone who had been mostly shunned by the West and has a warrant out for his arrest by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. But certainly it tells you the president's intention to try to engage Putin, to try and find a resolution to this conflict.

JIMENEZ: And one of the reasons that ICC warrant is out is over allegations of kidnaped children over this war. And we are learning tonight that First Lady Melania Trump wrote a letter to President Putin talking about that.

What more do we know about the circumstances of that letter and what was in it?

LIPTAK: Yes, and the way we understand it is that President Trump hand-delivered this letter to Putin when they met on Friday. The first lady doesn't specifically reference the issue of these abductions of Ukrainian children, but she does talk about the plight of young people in this conflict, writing, "A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, as I'm sure you agree, is that each generation's descendants begin their lives with the purity and innocence which stands above geography, government and ideology."

She calls on the Russian leader to protect that innocence, says, "Mr. Putin, you are fit to implement this vision with a stroke of the pen today," ending, "It is time." So an impassioned plea from the first lady, who we should note, was, you know, born behind the iron curtain in the former Yugoslavia, has taken an interest in this conflict. And you've heard the president talk about discussing it with her sort of after-hours making this impassioned plea to Putin to try and bring the suffering, at least for these children, to an end.

JIMENEZ: Kevin Liptak, at the White House, appreciate it.

We're joined now by CNN contributor and former Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty, also the author of "My Russia: What I Saw Inside the Kremlin."

[19:05:03]

Jill, let's talk about the Kremlin. How do you assess what we've seen and heard from them in the past 24 hours?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, they're thrilled, I think would be the word, with the visit. Certainly, you know, the optics were extremely good. I mean, Kevin just described a lot of that. It was a very friendly reception. And so the Russians are translating that into what's very important to them, which is they say this is the end of isolation, end of isolation for Vladimir Putin who was shunned by the West after that full-scale invasion in February of 2022.

And that, you know, Mr. Putin is back on the stage with the American president. And so they're very happy about that. They -- I would say they're not talking about a lot of the details of what went on at that meeting. That I think is notable because here in the United States, you know, already some of those details have been revealed or have been leaked. And so there's a lot of robust debate about what was discussed. But in Russia, that's not really the thing. It's more, you know, the optics and he's back on the stage.

JIMENEZ: And you know, Zelenskyy, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine is headed to the White House on Monday. We're now reporting that multiple European leaders have also been invited. What do you expect to come from that meeting? And do you think the dynamic -- how much or I guess how different do you think the dynamics are having those European leaders alongside Zelenskyy versus the first time he came earlier this year?

DOUGHERTY: Oh, I think it's totally different. I mean, you could say that Zelenskyy has a team with him. It won't be just Mr. Zelenskyy. It will be the European leaders. And they all have worked out really an approach that they wanted President Trump to take with Putin. And we can discuss this, it didn't happen that way. But they are -- they're there to really, you know, present that and try to convince President Trump of the way they think this ought to go.

And I think to back up Zelenskyy, you know, Zelenskyy in that Oval Office meeting several months ago really was all alone. And it was -- it was very difficult, as we all know. So having the Europeans is important. And also, you know, in a broader sense, even a message to Putin that the allies are united is very, very important to send.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, whether it's at this point or other points in the war, any time we approach a potential of a deal, a potential of a ceasefire, a potential of an economic security deal, we come back down to this question of what security guarantees would be involved, what security guarantees for Ukraine. We are still finding ourselves in this same position right now.

Do you think, or I guess, do you think Putin would agree to any kind of deal that involves security guarantees for Ukraine?

DOUGHERTY: You know, it's interesting because yesterday he was very brief but in those comments, and I read them very carefully in Russian today, when he had the news conference, or at least the meeting with the journalists, President Putin said the security of Ukraine must be provided for. Now he did not say how, but that actually is a step in the right direction because he's never really talked about it that I know of in that fashion.

Now, what it means is unclear, and that's where we need to get some details. Maybe on Monday. But as the state of play as we know is that the Europeans and the United States apparently would provide some type of, let's call it Article Five ala NATO style guarantees. In other words, the United States would have the allies' back and Ukraine's back if the Russians were to break a ceasefire and attack.

But again, a lot of this is complex and we don't know how it would work. But I'd say there's a glimmer coming from Vladimir Putin that he might go along with something like this. I can say up to this point, he said, no NATO forces whatsoever. And when the Europeans said, well, they wouldn't be NATO, they would be forces from the individual countries. Putin still seemed to demur. So we have to see where we go with this. But it's -- I think it's very, very obviously important.

JIMENEZ: And we're also learning more about this letter that Melania Trump penned to Putin about protecting children. What is the broader context here when it comes to children impacted by this war?

DOUGHERTY: Oh, well, conservatively, it's estimated that there are 20,000 children, Ukrainian, who have been abducted by the Russians, taken to Russia and essentially turned into little Russians.

[19:10:03]

I mean, from the reports that are out there, these children are often not -- they're given to families, number one. So they're actually being adopted and sometimes in remote areas so the Ukrainian parents find it virtually impossible to find them. However, recently, there have been some reports about the Russian media and lists of those children with names and what their interests are, how old they are, et cetera.

This is -- it's really, really a serious problem because these children, as I said, are not being allowed to speak Ukrainian. They have to speak Russian, and they are being, you know, indoctrinated into life in Russia, turned into Russians. And that is one of the things that was mentioned, by the way. Kevin mentioned that President Putin has a warrant out for his arrest by the International Criminal Court, and that is one of the things that is mentioned in that indictment, the alleged kidnaping of these Ukrainian children.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Jill Dougherty, appreciate the time and insight as always. Good to see you.

Still ahead, Hurricane Erin is now one of the fastest strengthening Atlantic hurricanes on record. We'll tell you how this monster category five storms could impact the U.S., even as it stays hundreds of miles offshore. And California Governor Gavin Newsom is vowing to fight fire with fire as he threatens to redraw the state's congressional map in response to Republicans' own gerrymandering efforts in Texas. We're going to talk to former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger on the other side.

Stay with us.

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[19:16:22]

JIMENEZ: Tensions are high tonight on the streets of Washington, D.C. Demonstrators protesting President Trump, seen here confronting National Guard troops. We're learning West Virginia troops are now being sent to D.C. as well, marking really an escalation in Trump's efforts to federally take over local law enforcement there.

We're joined now by CNN senior political contributor and former Republican representative, Adam Kinzinger.

Yes, Congressman, you are a former member of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. What is your reaction to seeing what we're seeing in the nation's capital?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I mean, it's -- this was inevitable because Donald Trump wanted to demonstrate his so-called strength, which is actually weakness. And D.C. is very unique in that the president actually has control of the National Guard and he can do that under the Title 32. That's the only kind of area where he does it.

But, look, everything -- from everything I'm hearing the show of force is not really in the areas where there's high crime. It's where all the politicians hang out, where all the, you know, like Georgetown, where all the political elite are. It's all a show. And quite honestly, for the National Guard, here's what I worry about is they always have -- should have a great relationship with the community.

Instead, now the National Guard is being politicized, which means it's going to be pretty tough to recruit some people to the National Guard now. Every time you activate a National Guard member, you take them away from their family, away from their jobs. Probably a significant number of these guardsmen, by the way, are actually cops that are being taken from their job as cops to put on a National Guard uniform and go be cops.

So ultimately, this is bad and it's numbing our senses to how wrong this is. And by the way, if Barack Obama had done this, I promise you that they would be going crazy. The Republicans would be going crazy right now.

JIMENEZ: I mean, I guess from here it's we've got this initial limit that's been put forward. All right, let's do this for 30 days.

KINZINGER: Right.

JIMENEZ: But where does it go from here? Do you see President Trump in sort of being successful in whatever you want to call this? Or I just wonder how you assess what comes next here.

KINZINGER: Yes. Well, first, let me just say this. They're going to point to decreasing crime statistics and say see it was successful. Look, if you deploy the military into a city, crime will go down. The question is simply do we want to be that kind of country? I mean, we could literally put a soldier every 10 square feet in this country, and there would be not a single bit of crime anywhere. I read the book "1984." There wasn't a lot of crime there.

So do we want to be that kind of country? I think not. And in fact, the founding fathers were pretty serious about this. So what comes next? I think either the president makes the decision to basically, OK, withdrawal after that 30 days, or it sets up a constitutional crisis because I don't think Democrats will vote to keep this thing going. And I would assume they need 60 votes in the Senate to do it.

But I could see the president and his team saying, we're just going to ignore the-30 day limit. And as always, setting up a court fight.

JIMENEZ: Mm. I want to ask about a different topic because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expected to come into town Monday. But now as we're learning, multiple European leaders were invited to the White House as well.

I wonder, what do you believe President Zelenskyy needs to get out of this meeting for it to be a success?

KINZINGER: Well, first off, I hope they roll out a red carpet for him like they did Vladimir Putin. We all have seen the pictures of soldiers on their knees rolling that out, which is humiliating. And I feel bad for those soldiers. I think Volodymyr Zelenskyy needs to come here and be very clear what his lines are.

[19:20:03]

Only Ukraine, by the way, can determine how this war ends on their terms. Ukraine is winning this war. Let's think about this. Russia has been attacking them for three and a half years. A million casualties, and they only occupy 20 percent of the country. After occupying 30 percent of the country in the initial stages of the war.

If we would have done -- if we would have attacked Iraq in 2003 and three and a half years later would have lost a million people and only occupied 20 percent of the country, nobody would say we're winning. So Volodymyr Zelenskyy can set his terms. He gets to determine what happens with land. And I think ultimately he needs, and this is essential, a security guarantee, because that's the only way you can rebuild a country is if companies that are going to invest in it know that this war is not going to start again and the security guarantees are necessary for that.

JIMENEZ: You know, Putin has been consistent in his goals in this war. And, you know, some of the reporting we've gotten to this point is that part of what was discussed, according to what was relayed to European officials after the Trump-Putin meeting, was to give Russia the Donbas region in the east and to freeze sort of where the front lines are right now. But Putin has been consistent in saying he doesn't want NATO expansion, which he has cited as sort of the beginnings of this war.

What makes Trump believe he can get a peace deal done now? Do you see the geopolitical forces having changed significantly since the beginning of this war to now?

KINZINGER: Well, they have changed in that there's now two more members of NATO, and they've expanded NATO membership now on the border of Russia. So, look, I think ultimately when we look at this, it's going to be, you know, how does this end up turning out? And again, Zelenskyy gets that choice. Now giving up the entire Donbas, again if he decides to do it, that's a Ukrainian decision.

But that is the area that the Russians have been fighting for and losing tens of thousands of people to try to take. And there's natural defensive barriers right now where they're fighting there. So if Putin offers to freeze the line, that's one thing in terms of taking the Donbas and then putting a red line and saying no NATO membership, I don't think anybody is saying Ukraine is going to join NATO tomorrow, but you can't take that off the table.

And again, Ukraine determines what their red lines are. I think certainly in all of this, they need a security guarantee and they need weapons continue to be sent to them.

JIMENEZ: And before you go, Congressman, I want to ask you about the redistricting effort underway in California because Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell tonight told me Democrats have to fight fire with fire of course in response to what Texas is doing.

Is that the right approach you believe?

KINZINGER: You know, usually I don't believe that. In this case I do because they're playing outside of the rules. Think of this. North Carolina had a mid-cycle redistricting because their North Carolina Supreme Court, the Republicans won it. They forced a redistricting. They went from seven-seven to 10-4. And by the way, the Democrats today do not have the majority in the House by three seats.

So would that not happen, I mean, who knows where we'd be right now in the House, but it would be tied. They cannot, I mean, if I'm a leader of the Democratic Party, you cannot unilaterally disarm on this. The sad thing, though, is every time you break a norm in politics, it's really tough to get back and the Republicans are playing with fire here.

JIMENEZ: We will see what happens moving forward.

Adam Kinzinger, appreciate the time as always.

KINZINGER: You bet.

JIMENEZ: Meanwhile, the historic summit between President Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin is shaping up to be one of the most scrutinized meetings between two leaders really ever. Next, we're going to talk to a former spy about what he thinks really went down in Alaska.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:28:12]

JIMENEZ: Russian President Vladimir Putin said his meeting with President Trump in Alaska was, quote, "timely and very useful."

How is Putin using the opportunity to meet with the sitting president -- a sitting U.S. president on U.S. soil to his advantage?

We're joined now by Naveed Jamali, a former spy and intelligence officer. He's also the author of "How to Catch a Russian Spy: The True Story of an American Civilian Turned Double Agent," and now hosts "Unconventional" on Newsweek.

Naveed, good to see you. You are a former spy. Help us get inside Putin's head here. How does his time in the KGB as a counterintelligence and foreign intelligence, how does that play into his goals during a meeting like this with the U.S. president?

NAVEED JAMALI, FORMER SPY AND INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Well, I think the first thing you have to understand that for Russia, the Cold War never ended. Putin is a former KGB Soviet officer, and he thinks very much in that paradigm. So while we're talking about Ukraine, you know, you think about to the Cuban missile crisis, right? The Cuban missile crisis was kicked off because the United States wanted to put missiles in Turkey and Italy, and the Russians and the Soviets responded by putting missiles in Cuba.

So for Russia and for Vladimir Putin, he's always going to negotiate from a position of strength. So that Cuban missile crisis analogy, they look at Ukraine very much, it's completely unfounded, but they look at us -- look at it as us encroaching in their sort of territorial area. So for Putin, he always wants to negotiate from that position of strength. And also he is just incredibly distrustful. And I don't think he fully understands what our intentions are. And I think that perhaps is the problem here in kind of closing a deal.

JIMENEZ: You know, going into this summit Friday, it did seem the priority, at least from a European and Ukrainian perspective, was working toward a near-term ceasefire deal. But coming out of this summit, President Donald Trump seems to be posturing toward a lasting peace agreement, which some see as another opportunity for Putin to keep pushing into Ukraine.

[19:30:06]

I wonder how you assess the dynamics that came out of this particular summit here?

NAVEED JAMALI, FORMER SPY AND INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Well, you know, look, the pictures from the -- when the two men met, I think that is very telling sort of sign of how this is going. You had F-22s lining the runway. You had a B-2 and an F-35 flyover Putin. This is all, you know, some might say that's bluster, some might say that's stroking the President's ego. I would say, actually, it's sending a very clear message to Russia, right?

Whenever you're negotiating with Russia, whether it's tariffs or whether it's Ukraine, you're negotiating with a nuclear armed adversary and the context of strategic deterrence plays into everything. The longer the war in Ukraine goes on, while the risk is not high, it's also not zero. The risk for escalation always remains. So, I do agree with the President that a long-term solution has to be here.

And look, when it comes to a successful compromise, usually the best compromise is when all the parties leave a little dissatisfied. And I think that's probably what's going to happen here. But at the end of the day, Omar, nuclear adversary, we have to understand that and respect that and know that that is very much part of the calculus here.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, in the background of talks in meetings like this, there are obviously moving pieces along this deterrence through line. Coming into the summit for example, we know President Trump ordered two U.S. Navy nuclear submarines to appropriate regions, as it was described in response to some posts from Russia's former President and current deputy chairman of its Security Council. You're actually one of only a handful of people to film inside all three legs of America's nuclear triad by land, sea and air as part of your "Newsweek" show, "Unconventional".

You were just on board a ballistic missile submarine in the Atlantic. What sticks out to you from those trips, and what sort of leverage do you believe that dynamic brings to sensitive negotiations or meetings, like some of what we just saw happen here?

JAMALI: Yes, I mean, the first thing, Omar, is people say, we hope we never have to use those weapons, and that's absolutely true. But the reality is we use them every day for deterrence. We use them to make sure that Russia and China know that today is not the day for them to launch an attack, and tomorrow is not looking much better. When I was on the USS Wyoming, a ballistic missile submarine somewhere in the Atlantic, the thing that struck me is that right now that that submarine is out there patrolling, and there are only two people in the world that know exactly where in the Atlantic ocean it is, the captain of the navigator.

The reason that is, is that if Russia or China or any adversary decide to attack us, they would never be able to take out those submarines. That assures a second strike. It sounds very bleak, but honestly, these young women and men are committed to that mission. And that mission has done nothing short of separate the world from peace and catastrophe since the 1960s. And it's a mission that's going to continue on. And even as we're -- as Putin and Donald Trump are negotiating, those submarines are patrolling. Putin understands that he is also negotiating with a nuclear adversary, and that absolutely comes in.

The thing that struck me the most about the triad and covering the three legs is the young women and men who are absolutely committed to this mission. You know, I met a young airmen at F.E. Warren Air Force Base and one of the things when I asked him, I said, what do you think? He was 20 years old. What do you think of this enormous responsibility. He said, I worked really hard to get here. They're enormously proud of the mission that they're doing, and they literally, as we sit here, they're literally keeping the world safe.

JIMENEZ: You know, there's this moment that you brought it up already, too, when Putin first arrived and President Trump greeted him on the tarmac, you know, you had this flyover of American military planes, including fighter jets, the B-2 stealth bomber, as well. A lot of people online looking into it in a whole host of different ways. Oh, this was projecting strength. This was a veiled threat. Oh, this was to show off. I wonder what did you make of that moment?

JAMALI: Everything is about posturing and communicating. It is telling the Russians that Donald Trump, the President of United States is negotiating from a position of strength. We have a B-2 bomber. They do not, it's a capability that we have, they do not. And there's a very clear message and, I mean, the timing of it flying over in that precise moment, all of this, every single thing is messaging, when it comes to strategic weapons.

So, people understand that B-2 bomber is part of the nuclear triad. It is a nuclear capable bomber. It is the one that avoided, you know, detection to bomb Iran. It is a it was designed to go into Russia. It is a clear message, Omar, and it is part of the position of the President of the United States trying to make sure that Vladimir Putin understands that we, too, are negotiating from a position of strength.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, we kind of breezed over it in the intro, but I should just ask you, can you just tell us your story quickly about, you know, being a double agent, your intelligence work and how it all ended in you being in the work you are here. I have to ask. We like breezed through it.

JAMALI: Absolutely, well, spoiler alert, I'm still here, I'm alive, I made it through. I spent three years working counterintelligence for the FBI against Russian military intelligence, the GRU, here in New York. And that was from 2005 to 2009 and when, you know, we were in Iraq and Afghanistan, so everyone was watching the global war on terror. And what I can tell you, Omar, is from those days, what I realized is that Russia's posture, even the fall of the Soviet Union, it went from the KGB to the GRU. They were just as much -- there was no change. So, if you fast forward

from 2005 to where 20 years later, we are today, my experience is that the Russians still look at us as their primary adversary. We are the blocker for Vladimir Putin's desire to expand. And so, they are going to do everything that they can to undermine us, to attack us without short of going to war.

[19:35:47]

But yes, I mean, look, when those Russian intelligence officers who, by the way, are still operating today, a few blocks from where I'm sitting when they step foot in the United States, they act as if they're behind enemy territory and they're not wrong and they were good. We just happen to be a little better.

JIMENEZ: Naveed Jamali, appreciate you being here. The host of "Newsweek's" "Unconventional," thanks for taking the time.

JAMALI: You got it.

JIMENEZ: All right, coming up, New Orleans Mayor is facing multiple charges, including fraud over an alleged hidden romance with her bodyguard. The secret messages that led her to her indictment. We will have the details coming up.

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[19:41:00]

JIMENEZ: We are following the latest in the Atlantic where Hurricane Erin has intensified to a rare Category 5 with 160 mile per hour winds. Erin is now one of the fastest growing Atlantic hurricanes on record, and is incredibly rare for a storm earlier than September.

Now, this video shows the eye of the hurricane. It always looks incredible as the hurricane hunters gathered weather data on the storm yesterday. The storm is expected to produce life threatening surf and rip currents along the beaches of the Bahamas and much of the East Coast, including the Canadian coastline next week even if you see the path here, threats to watch out for nonetheless.

Meanwhile, the New Orleans Mayor is adding another entry to the city's history books. After being sworn in as the city's first woman to hold the office of Mayor, LaToya Cantrell is now the first New Orleans Mayor to be indicted on federal charges while still in office.

Cantrell and her former bodyguard are now facing 18 felony counts combined, including conspiracy, fraud and obstruction. Prosecutors accused the pair of scheming to hide a romantic relationship and using taxpayer money for personal use. Both have said their relationship was strictly professional.

CNN's Rafael Romo is following this story for us.

So, Rafael, you finally heard back from Cantrell's lawyer, as I understand. What is he saying? RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Yes, that's

right, Omar. He finally replied to her e-mail saying that, "It's too soon for a comment. Still, studying the indictment," but without addressing the allegations, local media reports about the relationship and the couple's alleged conduct began circulating in November 2022. But it was not until yesterday, Omar that a federal grand jury indicted New Orleans' Mayor LaToya Cantrell on 18 counts, including conspiracy to commit fraud, obstruction of justice, and making false statements.

According to Michael Simpson, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Cantrell and her former bodyguard, identified as Jeffrey Vappie, engaged in a nearly three-year fraud scheme that, in his words, exploited their public authority and positions.

The city of New Orleans told the associated press in a statement that it was aware of the indictment and that the mayor's attorney is reviewing it. Until his review is complete, the city will not comment further on this matter, the statement said.

According to Simpson, the couple took many steps to hide their alleged scheme and perpetuate their fraud, including using WhatsApp to exchange over 15,000 messages, pictures and audio clips in an eight- month period. Using the platform to intimidate subordinates, harass a citizen and lie to colleagues and associates. They are also accused of lying to FBI agents and giving the government an affidavit with false statements.

According to the indictment, the scheme started as early as October 2021, when the relationship began until June 2024, when Vappie retired from the Police Department.

Simpson said he wanted to make it clear that the indictment does not allege that a relationship constitutes a crime, or that the alleged criminal activity occurred on merely a handful of days, or involved discrete actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL SIMPSON, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA: Rather, it reflects the prosecution of two public officials alleged to have engaged in a years-long continuing fraud scheme that used public money for personal ends by exploiting their power and their authority.

JONATHAN TAPP, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Citizens of New Orleans work hard to provide for their families, and they expect their public officials to be honest stewards of those funds. And today's indictment outlines a betrayal of that trust by Mayor Cantrell and Mr. Vappie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Vappie, who retired from the Police Department in 2024, was already facing charges of wire fraud and making false statements and as The Associated Press previously reported, has pleaded not guilty. Cantrell was known for being the first female mayor in New Orleans'

300-year history, and was elected twice. With this indictment, Omar, she has also become the first mayor to be charged while in office, less than five months before her term comes to an end.

Now, back to you.

[19:45:20]

JIMENEZ: All right, Rafael Romo, appreciate the reporting.

Still to come, a look at how John F. Kennedy, Jr. entered a cultural movement of the time with the launch of his own political magazine. We're going to talk to one of the writers who was personally hired by JFK, Jr. after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:10]

JIMENEZ: A new CNN Original Series: "American Prince: JFK Jr.", explores the story and legacy of John F. Kennedy, Jr.

In this week's episode, JFK, Jr.'s stardom reaches a new peak as he launches "George" Magazine, which quickly became the center of the cultural zeitgeist in the 90's. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It must have been hard for him to grow up with a father who was mythical. The only things he remembered from his father were the memories that people told him. He has none of his own memories. His dad was a trailblazer, the first Catholic President of the United States. He was pushing boundaries all over the place. So, I think of John as having a little of that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think part of the desire to do a political magazine was to be able to learn about his father's presidency in the first person and understand it on his own terms.

JOSEPH PONTEROTTO, AUTHOR, A PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN F. KENNEDY, JR." : His search was, in search of my father finding myself, and George gave him the material or the tools to further engage that search in a different way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Joining us now is Lisa DePaulo.

Lisa, you were personally recruited by JFK, Jr. to write for "George," right? Can you just tell us what it was like?

LISA DEPAULO, FORMER "GEORGE" MAGAZINE WRITER: Oh, it's pretty exciting. I got a message from him. At the time I was working at "Philadelphia" Magazine. It was on my machine. It said, "Hi. It's John Kennedy. I love your work. I want you to be part of the 'George' family." And I thought it was a prank.

I walked outside and said to the people in my office, okay, who's arse who did this? And I really did not believe it was him. And then he left another message saying, "Hey, Lisa it's John again -- John Kennedy, again. I know you're really busy ha-ha and can you call me back?" And I was like, wow, it's really him.

JIMENEZ: You know, there was such a spotlight --

DEPAULO: I was excited --

JIMENEZ: Yes, no, I would be excited too and I would think it was a prank as well. If someone called me like that and said, hey, yes.

DEPAULO: Yes, thanks, Omar. Thank you.

JIMENEZ: No, I'm with you. Look, there was such a spotlight on the magazine when it when it launched, but JFK, Jr. chose not to run some high profile interviews, including Cuba's Fidel Castro and filmmaker, Oliver Stone. Can you just tell us about some of those interviews, and why JFK, Jr. decided not to run them?

DEPAULO: You know what? The Castro thing, I'm still baffled by, I don't know, because he went down there. He spent so much time with him. I kind of get the Oliver Stone one because Oliver Stone was like a jerk to him and I get that. But the ones that I was most concerned with, there were two things that were huge that "George" didn't cover.

One was Princess Diana's death, and one was Monica Lewinsky and the truth is, both of those things were so close to home for "George" and for John, and therefore "George." I mean, John, when you think of Princess Diana, I mean, all of us were just wrecked by that thinking that could have easily been John.

We all saw him being chased, John and Carolyn were like, hunted down, like animals. And with Monica, it was too close to home. But he brought us all together, all of the staff. He invited us to his racket club. He reserved the racket club, and we had this big dinner. And then we watched the Barbara Walters' interview on the big screen. And oh, God, he was so uncomfortable. It was hard to watch.

He was, I think, partly because it was too close to home and partly because to John -- John like loved -- he believed politics was a noble profession and that the idea of this is what the world has come to, that there's a young girl on Barbara Walters talking about sex in the Oval Office, I think it just bothered him so much.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and you know, we've got about a minute left here, but I want to ask you, although "George" Magazine was a way for JFK, Jr. to come into his own in the public eye, I wonder what you make of it being a way for him to tap into his father's legacy as well.

DEPAULO: Absolutely! Think about this, I mean, his father had a great sense of humor. I think he would have loved "George" and his father also had a background in journalism and writing. He would have gotten it and I think john knew that. And in some ways he saw "George" as very much something that his father would have felt connected to and no question that he wanted to use "George" as a launching point to public office.

[19:55:06]

JIMENEZ: And I can't wait to watch more of sort of this chapter unfold. Lisa DePaulo, thank you for sharing the story of how you got recruited. I think, you know, everybody who's been recruited here in that voicemail would have been on your side.

DEPAULO: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Be sure to tune in to a new episode of the CNN Original Series: "American Princess: JFK, Jr." Tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

I appreciate you all for being with me this evening.

A lot of headlines we've gotten through. I'm Omar Jimenez, you'll see some of that JFK, Jr. documentary as well. I will also see you again tomorrow night starting at 6:00 P.M. Eastern.

Stay with CNN, though. We've got "Real Time With Bill Maher" coming up next.

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