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Donald Trump Doubles Tariffs On Indian Imports To 50 Percent; Israeli Protesters Demand End To War In Day Of Struggle"; Donald Trump Again Threatens Sanctions On Russia, No Set Deadline; President Donald Trump Says He's Firing Fere Governor Lisa Cook; Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce Are Engaged; Grad Students Developers New Way To Restore Paintings With A.I. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 27, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:28]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, 50 percent tariffs are now in effect on most U.S. imports from India, President Trump's punishment for buying oil from Russia.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters rally in Israel for a hostage deal and cease fire with Hamas.

Plus, President Trump renews his threat of more sanctions on Russia as Putin's forces continue to advance in Ukraine.

And Taylor Swift says yes, as her and Travis Kelce's love story turns the page from dating to engagement.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. U.S. President Donald Trump is dealing a punishing blow to India with new tariffs on most imports now at 50 percent, that's double the amount set just weeks ago by the president, one of the highest rates the U.S. is charging any country.

It's a move meant to penalize India for importing Russian oil, which helps Moscow fund its war with Ukraine. Indian officials have been quick to note, not every country getting oil from Russia is being treated the same, including China facing a 30 percent tariff.

Trade negotiations between China and the U.S. are ongoing with Beijing's top negotiator expected to meet with the Trump administration in an informal setting later this week.

Meantime, Japan, Australia and Taiwan are the latest trading partners to suspend parcel deliveries to the U.S., an exemption allowing some items to be shipped duty free expires on Friday. Regardless, the U.S. is profiting from the global trade tensions. New data shows President Trump's tariffs collected $22 billion in revenue on Friday alone. Economists predict August total revenue could reach $32 billion.

CNN's Mike Valerio is following the latest on the tariffs from Seoul. He joins us now. Good to see you, Mike.

So, how's India's Prime Minister Modi planning to deal with these new punishing tariffs, and will the cheap Russian oil be worth it in the end?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, you know, he could cut taxes to try to offset the financial pain that could be happening in the next few days, months ahead.

And in terms of whether or not this is worth it, could be worth it for now, but I'll tell you, Rosemary, you know, what if more customers in the United States, one after another after another, start to cancel all of their orders from India, because it's not worth it to them. It's too expensive with these tariffs. That's an entirely different economic calculation altogether.

So, besides the financial pain, and besides the theme of some goods, lot of goods from India becoming more expensive for Americans to buy, the theme that we're looking at here and why this story is important for a global audience, is because we're wondering if this is a moment that pushes India in an entirely new direction in terms of its geopolitical alliances, if it moves India closer, perhaps, and I stress perhaps, towards Russia or even towards China.

And evidence of that, you know, Rosemary, for the first time since 2018 Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is traveling to China. China and India have historically had pretty frosty relations, especially with border clashes around the Himalaya mountains over the past few years.

But now we see Prime Minister Modi, in the next couple days, going to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. That is a regional security block founded by Moscow and Beijing in an effort to try to reshape the global world order.

So, you have Modi going to that. You have Putin of Russia going to India by year's end. And then you have the human cost. We're going to show you a sound bite. Listen to this sound bite over the next couple seconds, a leather exporter. We heard from a business owner within the past few minutes who said this could be worse than COVID for him. Listen to the pain that this exporter is experiencing right now.

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SHAHEEM AZAD, LEATHER EXPORTER (through translator): Whatever orders we had from the U.S. are now null. Customers have told us to halt previous orders. See this? A U.S. customer has told us to stop production until there is a resolution to the tariff situation. We got the mail on August 16th. The situation is really bad right now. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:05:07]

VALERIO: I think that could be the understatement of the afternoon right there. This far and away, Rosemary is the biggest economic story happening in Asia right now. Certainly, it looks like for the week ahead.

So, the question moving forward, can the United States, can India come to a trade deal, given this new, reshaped tableau, they failed after five rounds of negotiating. So, we're going to be looking for that as our next episode for how this dynamic could possibly change, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right, we'll see what happens. Mike Valerio joining us there. Many thanks for that live report.

U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to hold a large meeting at the White House in the coming hours to discuss the war in Gaza, according to Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The meeting comes just one day after a massive number of protesters attended a rally in Tel Aviv for what they're calling a nationwide day of struggle.

Organizers estimate more than 350,000 demonstrators took part calling for a cease fire and hostage release deal. Tuesday's protests came the same day as an Israeli security Cabinet meeting.

Sources tell CNN, the two-hour meeting ended without any major decision being taken. Qatar, a key mediator in the cease fire hostage negotiation says, "The ball is now in Israel's court." Adding the current cease fire hostage release deal, which Hamas has already accepted is in line with Israel's previous demands.

Meantime, the Israel Defense Forces claim the double tap strike on Nasser Hospital, which killed at least 20 people, was aimed at what it believed was a camera positioned by Hamas.

The IDF claims six of the individuals killed in the strikes were terrorists. CNN's Oren Liebermann reports now from Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Hostage Square here behind me is filling up incredibly quickly right now. On this Tuesday evening, what organizers have called a day of disruption across the country. And we saw that start playing out early this morning. That's when protesters blocked major highways across Israel. In some cases, they simply sat down or lay down on the streets. In at least one case, we saw protesters put themselves in a cage as a symbolic way of referencing the hostages. Still in Gaza, 50 remain in Gaza, 20 of whom are still believed to be alive.

In other cases, Israeli protesters set fire to tires to block roads. And although police say that the roads were cleared fairly quickly, we still saw major highways blocked throughout the course of the day. It all culminates in what you're seeing here behind me hundreds, if not thousands, already packing Hostage Square in Tel Aviv and more are already on their way from a march from one of the main train stations to fill this up even more.

And you get a sense, especially on a Tuesday night, of the anger and the frustration of these protesters calling on the government to accept the deal that's on the table, and to do everything in their power to bring home the remaining hostages. There was, in fact, an Israeli security cabinet meeting on Tuesday afternoon, but there were no substantive decisions made over the course of that two-hour meeting. And the latest ceasefire proposal on the table, 60-day ceasefire wasn't even on the agenda.

That in and of itself has fueled a lot of the anger we're hearing -- hearing here from protesters. Even after nearly two years of war. They see it as an obligation to come out here to make sure the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza are not forgotten, and that they do whatever it is that they can to pressure the government to accept the deal that's there right now, one that is very similar to what Israel had already accepted a month ago before those talks fell apart.

One last key point here from Hostages Square. A lot of people here believe it is President Donald Trump, and perhaps only Trump, who can put pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get to a deal and to bring home the hostages. And that is where they see a lot of the hope and a lot of the focus of their efforts.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Tel Aviv.

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CHURCH: 690 days. That's how long the hostages kidnapped by Hamas have been in captivity. Brothers Yair and Eitan Horn were taken during the October 7 attacks. Yair has since been released, but they're still waiting for Aidan to return home, and joining me now is Dalia Cusnir Horn, Eitan's sister-in-law. She joins us live from Kefa Sabah in Israel. Thank you so much for talking with us.

DALIA CUSNIR HORN, EITAN HORN'S SISTER-IN-LAW: Hi. Thank you.

CHURCH: So, the families and friends of hostages are increasing the pressure on the Israeli government, with hundreds of thousands rallying on the streets of Tel Aviv Tuesday, demanding Prime Minister Netanyahu end the war with a deal to bring home the hostages. How much impact do you think this mass rally has had on the government, and are they even listening, given they're yet to respond to a Gaza ceasefire proposal?

[02:10:13]

CUSNIR HORN: Well, that's a complex question, because if they've listened to us so, we would not be here after 690 days. But it does feel like they understand that the entire country, the entire nation, the city, the street. People just want this comprehensive deal, and we know that there's this deal on the table, but we're doing this not only for our government. We want those picture pictures to reach out to President Donald Trump and the special envoy, Mr. Steve Witkoff. We need them to put more pressure on our government, because now it's the time to end the war and bring all the hostages back.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, U.S. President Donald Trump says that the Gaza war won't have a conclusive end. What do you think he means by that? And what more would you like him to be doing to help bring this war to an end and ensure that the hostages are brought home safely.

CUSNIR HORN: So, I don't know how does this end of the war look like. I know and I've been living in Israel my entire life, so I know that we unfortunately always had Hamas and this destructive ideology wants to destroy Israel, I guess, won't disappear all of a sudden.

But we do need to end this war, because we need to bring the hostages back. We need to bring the 50 hostages back. We need to start by the living hostages with the life is -- you know, they might get killed as we speak right now, or they might be starving to death as we speak now and then we need to bring, of course, the deceased, and then we need to make some agreements, because the entire region should have a better future, not only the Israeli part.

I believe that there are innocent people in Gaza who are being suffering a lot, and are being held hostage as well by Hamas. And we see the picture. We see the aid entering, and our homeless people is stealing everything and not allowing them to eat, and we see horrible things.

So, that's the key component for the security and the future of the region, releasing the hostages.

CHURCH: And Dalia, why do you think the Israeli government is choosing to intensify the war in Gaza rather than respond to the Gaza ceasefire proposal that is still on the table?

CUSNIR HORN: I don't know. I think you're touching a very frustrating thing in my life, because I'm a proud Israeli, and I'll keep being a proud Israeli, and the fact that my government is not accepting right now a deal that the same government has accepted two months ago, I believe it was like the beginning or the end of June. It is very frustrating, because I don't know, imagine it was your brother-in-law instead of mine.

You know, you have people that you know that can be killed in any second. So, I don't know exactly what's the reason, and they're not being very open about it.

Once again, I understand that Hamas is pure heavy we also what they've done on October 7th, and ever since then, OK, we know that they slaughtered and butchered they burned babies in open. They raped women, they abducted more than 250 people, and they killed more than 1200 and ever since, you know, and they want to keep doing this, but still, we need to sanctify life.

I think the main difference between Israel and I think the U.S. shares the same values, and what's the opposite of Hamas terror organization is that we are democratic nations who sanctify life. We see life as something sacred. And I think that's the only way to win, to bring more light to this world. That's the best way to fight the darkness.

CHURCH: And Dalia, we hope your brother-in-law, Eitan is brought home to you very soon and safely, too. Thank you so much for joining us.

CUSNIR HORN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, Donald Trump's Special Envoy expresses hope for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, even as Russian troops inch forward in Ukraine's southeastern region.

Coming up, a graduate student is using artificial intelligence to help speed up the restoration of damaged paintings. How new technology is helping expert conservationists.

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[02:19:07]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Donald Trump has again renewed his threat of heavy economic sanctions on Russia if it doesn't end the fighting in Ukraine, but is expressing hope there's still a path toward a deal for peace. The president's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff says he's, "Hopeful that Russia and Ukraine will reach a deal by the end of this year, or maybe sooner."

And in an interview Tuesday, Witkoff also touched on one demand in Russia's peace proposal that the Ukrainians are not likely to agree with.

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STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR PEACE MISSIONS: No one has done more, and I'm talking about in the last eight months, than this president, in narrowing the issues between these two countries and bringing the sides close to a deal. The Russians have put a peace proposal on the table. It involves Donetsk. It may not be -- it may not be something that the Ukrainians can take.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:20:00]

CHURCH: Meantime on the battlefield, Russia has reportedly captured two villages in Ukraine's southeastern Dnipro Pokrovsk region, where Ukraine's military is dismissing the reports as false.

While Trump is again threatening Russia with sanctions, he's not setting any type of deadline for when that could happen. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on the Kremlin's reaction to the renewed threat.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Danny. Well, the Kremlin certainly is taking all this very seriously. They say they're taking it very seriously and they understand, of course, that that threat, not just of sanctions, but of course also of secondary tariffs against countries that buy Russian oil, is still very much out there by the U.S. president.

At the same time, it really appears as though the Kremlin believes that time is on their side. Some of the things that we've heard here in Moscow over the past couple of days, especially from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, saying that Vladimir Putin, on the whole, is ready and is willing to have a summit, a direct meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, but that something like that needs to be accurately prepared, as he put it, and needs to be prepared in a way that actual progress can be achieved.

And the Russians, at least for their part, were saying they believe that things are still very far away from that being the case. They certainly aren't talking about this two-week deadline or whether or not there's going to be a summit in those two weeks. They are saying that it is still very much a long road ahead before a summit like that could take place.

And there's really two things that the Russians are focusing on. One of them is those security guarantees for Ukraine that, of course, the Ukrainians and their European allies keep talking about, and of course the White House as well, possible Western troops on the ground in Ukraine, possibly the U.S. also chipping in, for instance, with air power.

The Russians are saying that they don't want Western troops on the ground. They are saying that that would be detrimental to Russian security. They, in fact, want to have a say in Ukraine's future security as well. That's something that, of course, could be very difficult to breach.

And then as far as territories are concerned, the Russians still saying that they believe the Ukrainians are going to have to give up territory. And that's something that, of course, needs to be discussed.

So, right now, the Russians are saying that from their vantage point, Vladimir Putin is ready to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, but it certainly doesn't appear from the Russians that all of that is in the cards any time soon or possibly any time soon.

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CHURCH: President Trump says he's fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, but her attorney says he can't do that. The latest on the messy fight between the president and the Federal Reserve, that's next.

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[02:27:09]

CHURCH: President Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, but it's not clear if he can do that. The president claims he has enough cause to fire Cook, but her attorney says she's filing a lawsuit challenging that.

CNN's Tom Foreman reports it's just the latest shot in the President's feud with the Fed.

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TRUMP: We need people that are 100 percent above board and it doesn't seem like she was.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump says the deed is done. He has fired Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook. But Cook and her lawyer say he can't do that because the president has not built the case to give her the boot.

TOM DUPREE, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Under the law, the president clearly does have the legal authority to fire a member of the Federal Reserve for cause. I think what's a closer question, though, is whether what the president has at this point amounts to cause. FOREMAN (voice-over): At issue, in 2021, Cook purchased a home in

Michigan, then another home in Georgia, declaring both to be her primary residence, based on a CNN review of mortgage documents potentially double dipping on financial incentives for home buyers. But analysts note she has denied wrongdoing. She was never charged. That might not be a valid cause to fire her and she may have an explanation.

DUPREE: She could just say she made a mistake.

FOREMAN (voice-over): However, Trump has been fuming at the Fed for months for refusing to drop interest rates to head off rising inflation, which many economists expect to get worse as Trump's tariffs settle in.

TRUMP: The job he's done is just terrible.

FOREMAN (voice-over): So, he's tried and failed to shove aside Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. He's trying to push Cook out so he can name her replacement. And most of all, he's trying to make the seven-member independent board bend to his will, which some economists say is an awful idea.

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: We want the Fed to make decisions in the best interest of the American people rather than the political interests of the president. If he proceeds down this path, then we get a step closer to a banana republic.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Still, Team Trump has flung mortgage fraud accusations at New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James, who convicted Trump for falsifying business records, and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff from California.

TRUMP: I think Adam Schiff is one of the lowest of the low. I would love to see him brought to justice. FOREMAN (voice-over): They both deny any violations, but Trump didn't even accuse Tulsi Gabbard of wrongdoing when she simultaneously claimed homes in Texas and Hawaii. Trump made her his Director of National Intelligence.

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FOREMAN (on camera): It really comes down to that question of cause. Even if Cook did what she's accused of, is that big enough to trigger such a massive move involving the Fed, or is this just because? Because she was selected by President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump doesn't want her there. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

[02:30:00]

CHURCH: Superstars Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce break the Internet once again revealing their engagement photos on social media. The latest on Kelce's proposal after the break.

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[02:35:00]

CHURCH: It's official. Two of America's most beloved superstars, pop queen Taylor Swift and Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce, are engaged. The happy couple posted these images to social media on Tuesday, which have since gone viral. Surprise. CNN's Lisa Respers France has the latest.

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LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Two years in the making, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dropped the bomb with concurrent posts on Instagram in signature poetic style with a simple nod to their so high school celebrated romance. Alongside fairy tale engagement photos with the caption, your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.

And within moments, reaction to the monumental Taylor and Travis news exploded across the screen as Swifty celebrated the spectacular engagement ring designed by Travis in what appears to be the shape of a football field, an old mind brilliant cut rectangular diamond. There was the elaborate floral garden forest setting and Taylor's engagement outfit, a strappy striped Ralph Lauren silk blend dress, which is now sold out online.

The landmark event coming on the heels of Taylor announcing her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl."

TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER-SONGWRITER: It just comes from like the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place.

FRANCE (voice-over): Eleven days before Travis Kelce's season opener with the Kansas City Chiefs and 13 days Taylor's favorite number after she appeared on his podcast New Heights, an appearance showcasing the happy couple that set a podcast audience record. SWIFT: That effervescence has come through on this record.

FRANCE (voice-over): Taylor and Travis mania now reaching a fever pitch with anticipation of a storybook ceremony as the as romantic as some of her recent lyrics. With Swifties hoping for a royal wedding and a happily ever after, just like her song suggests. Lisa Respers France, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And what a wedding that will be. Well, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex is getting personal in season two of her Netflix show "With Love, Meghan," which was released on Tuesday. In episode three, she admits to her guests that she knew she loved her now husband, Prince Harry, on their third date.

Of course, that date lasted for five days as the two camped out in Botswana. The couple moved to the U.S. in 2020 and now live in California with their two children. Meghan also talked about missing life in the U.K., especially a radio station called Magic.

Well, a new technique may soon help art conservators speed up their painstaking work. With the help of artificial intelligence. An MIT gradu researcher has developed a method using AI that can restore artwork in a fraction of the time that a manual job takes. Listen as he explains how it's done.

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ALEX KACHKINE, GRADUATE RESEARCHER, MIT: What I've created is a method to restore paintings that is the first time we've been able to apply digital tools to restoring a painting physically. This technology is most relevant for conservators. This is a means for them to address paintings with tons of damages that with a manual approach, they just wouldn't have the time to properly restore.

The way we begin the process of constructing the mask is we scan the painting in very high resolution to construct a virtually reconstructed version of the painting. Once that restored version, that image exists, we find the different areas in the painting that need to be inpainted based on what humans perceive as the major damages.

So that means that of the hundreds of thousands of damages in the painting in the study, only a few percent of them are actually inpainted because they're the most visible ones to us humans. That mask is then made on a very thin membrane that's placed over the painting. And that restores the damages on it.

The transparent parts of these membranes is only 30 microns thick. And that's thinner than a human hair. You can see the regions that survived underneath it. And it is a very easily reversible bond. It only took three and a half hours to apply the full mass to the artwork. And thus inpaint it way quicker than the estimated manual restoration time of 270. Most conventional restorations nowadays for paintings involve manual

inpainting of damages by brush, painstakingly inpainting each individual damage, finding the colors needed to do so. And that process can take months, years, and sometimes decades for especially large and damaged works.

One of the interesting parts about conservation is trying to make sure that you are restoring an artwork to the way that the artist originally intended.

[02:40:00]

We sometimes have to balance basically what an artist intended with what conditions an artwork is going to be in and making sure that we are going to preserve the artwork for people to see it and really honor the way the artist represented it.

But really the intention was overall to try and get more damaged paintings out from storage and into public view because there are many paintings that are damaged that I would love to see, and it's a real shame that there just aren't the resources necessary to restore them for us as viewers to go enjoy them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Fascinating process there. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. World Sport is coming up next. Then I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN Newsroom.

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