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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Tries To Quell MAGA Backlash Over DOJ Findings; Obama Calls Democrats To Action, Says "Toughen Up"; Trump: Russia Has 50 Days To Reach Ceasefire With Ukraine. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired July 15, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:23]

MIN JUNG LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. Rahel Solomon is off. I'm MJ Lee.

It's Tuesday, July 15th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: The war over Epstein is one of the biggest rifts between Trump and his most loyal and powerful supporters that we've seen.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I really think people deserve transparency on that, and it's not wrong to continue to push for it.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. president has issued an ultimatum to Russia.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Search and rescue operations are now even more challenging in the new rains have only made that more difficult.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will have the resources to get the job done. You know, how long is it going to take? You know, who knows?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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LEE: The U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to take back the narrative in Washington as the MAGA fallout continues over the findings, or rather, the lack of findings in a Justice Department memo on the Epstein files. Sources tell CNN the president has privately urged his team to let the story die down, but some of his most vocal supporters are refusing to drop it. The Justice Department said it found no evidence that Epstein was

murdered in prison, or that the convicted sex offender and accused sex trafficker had kept a client list. Here's what a former attorney for Epstein told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SCHOEN, FORMER LAWYER FOR JEFFREY EPSTEIN: I think it was handled clumsily. I don't believe there's a client list. I don't believe Jeffrey Epstein planned to blackmail anyone. I don't believe Jeffrey Epstein was in the employ of the Mossad or any other intelligence agency, or any of these crazy Tucker Carlson theories that are going around.

There is a cottage industry of lawyers representing victims against Jeffrey Epstein and the Epstein estate. You can be sure that if any of these famous people who haven't been sued already were with these young women, the young women would be able to identify them, and the lawyers would have brought a lawsuit against them a long time ago. So, if what people are waiting for is some smoking gun that someone famous Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and so on was with these young women, I don't think there's any such list. And he never intended any blackmail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Democrats are seizing the opportunity to hold Republicans accountable for the conspiracy theories about Epstein. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says the American people deserve to know what really happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Option one, they lied for years. Option two, they're engaging in a cover up. At this point, it seems reasonable that can only be one of the two things and so it's Congress's responsibility in a bipartisan way to ask the questions and try to get answers on behalf of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Meanwhile, deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino showed up to work on Monday after sources said he was considering resigning from his post. Sources also tell CNN his relationship with the White House has become basically untenable.

Republican lawmakers are demanding answers after the botched handling of the DOJ memo, according to one House Republican. They want those answers from Attorney General Pam Bondi, one of many officials who had touted new information on Epstein.

CNN's Paula Reid has more details on her most powerful ally at the moment.

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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, since President Trump made it clear over the weekend that he is siding with his embattled attorney general, Pam Bondi, during the biggest controversy of her tenure so far, I'm told that she's feeling more secure atop the Justice Department. An official tells me that she is in a great headspace. Her relationship with Trump is as strong as ever, and she looks forward to going on offense. But it might be a while before shell truly be off of defense because this matters so much to President Trump's base. Now, a few things we might see is an attempt to change the conversation away from the Epstein story. It's unclear what the justice department could do to get the base off of this particular issue.

Now, at least one right wing influencer is calling for the appointment of a special counsel. We're unlikely to see a traditional special counsel tapped to any sort of significant matter would likely be farmed out to a U.S. attorney to oversee. But I'm told at this point that is not something that is going to happen.

[05:05:01]

Even if it did, it would just buy some time and eventually they would have to once again deal with whatever the findings or the conclusion of that investigation is. The fact that President Trump has sided with Bondi suggests that he approves of the way they've handled this, and now he owns this controversy just as much as his top law enforcement official.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: Joining me now is Ali Bianco, playbook reporter for "Politico".

Ali, it's great to have you.

The president is telling his MAGA supporters to stop wasting their time and energy on Jeffrey Epstein. He's also making it really clear that he doesn't like that they are going after his attorney general, Pam Bondi.

All of this only seems to have really fueled the MAGA rebellion over the so-called Epstein files.

ALI BIANCO, PLAYBOOK REPORTER, POLITICO: Yeah, absolutely. It's worth noting that this particular issue cuts to the heart of the MAGA base in a way that a lot of other things in the Trump administration haven't yet. It has been such a huge point of contention in MAGA for several years now of bringing about these alleged Epstein files of kind of revealing the cover up.

It goes to the heart of, you know, Trump's anti-deep state, anti- establishment message that he has been, you know, winning on for a decade that has been really important to him with his base.

So, what we're seeing and what a lot of my political colleagues have been reporting is, you know, just how inflammatory this issue has been over the last several days. It's worth knowing there is no concrete evidence that there ever has been an Epstein client list. A lot of there has been -- a lot of this has been rampant speculation that has been continuing and feeding off of for years and years.

But what comes to mind is, you know, just a few months ago, Attorney General Pam Bondi handing these white binders to MAGA influencers, claiming to be, you know, handing declassified, never before seen Epstein files. You know, there was a push when Trump first came into the White House to really make good on what seemed like this campaign promise to his base to reveal some of these answers about Epstein that people have been looking for.

Influencers were outraged to realize that there wasn't a ton of new investor, new investigative information in those binders. And now today, we're sort of seeing the fallout with Trump's DOJ and FBI, led by picks who were at different points in time, sort of jumping on this Epstein train and adding fuel to the fire of some of these conspiracies, determining that there is nothing left to be sharing with the public, and that sort of fueling this, you know, campaign promise broken outcry that we're seeing in the MAGA base right now.

LEE: Yeah. I mean, speaking of that outcry, Laura Loomer, the MAGA activist and promoter of conspiracy, conspiracy theories, who happens to also have the president's ear, she has been a vocal critic of the administration's handling of Epstein. She's particularly zeroed in on Bondi. Loomer told playbook that Trump needs to do more to address the fallout, and that there should be even a special counsel investigation into the matter.

How telling is it that all of this is coming from Loomer?

BIANCO: Well, I think that she specifically has been such a pivotal force in the Trump White House in the sense that she has had, you know, input on hiring power whenever there has been, you know, really big staffing changes, especially as we saw in the national security council just a couple months ago. She has been such a pivotal voice when it comes to those staffing decisions.

My colleague Ian Ward today is writing about how there are so many different fissures within the MAGA movement, and she represents this this specific sect of loyalists of people who are perceived as Trump loyalists, who are ride or die, MAGA and any potential figure in the MAGA movement that isn't 100 percent on board is, you know, cause for some concern that were like, that was her same concerns that she was, you know, sharing about members on the national security council. Now, it seems like a lot of that ire is directed towards Pam Bondi.

It's unclear the likelihood that a special counsel will be appointed. My colleagues in playbook are getting ready to note this morning that if there were an investigation, it would mostly need to be to sort of tamper down and make it seem like, you know, the Trump administration is attempting to investigate this, but it's really not clear whether that is something that Trump is going to act on. And it actually seems like really what's happening with Republicans in Congress and with Trump, especially today, looking at, you know, this big energy innovation summit that he's going to, he's going to try to distract from this narrative as much as possible. LEE: Yeah. You can certainly understand why this seems to be really

getting under his skin right now.

[05:10:01]

Switching gears for a second, Ali, I do want to ask you about something former President Barack Obama told Democrats at a private fundraiser recently. He said that the party needs to just toughen up. He said, quote, "I think it's going to require a little bit less navel gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. We're six months into the second Trump term. Where would you say Democrats are in this current political moment?

BIANCO: I think that's one of the big questions that were going to see today, really, when it comes to the Democratic primary in Arizona. There has been so many questions about old guard versus new guard Democrats. And right now, there's a really big like "come to Jesus" moment happening with Democrats. From the reporting that I've seen, from strategists that I've talked to about, which is the best way to move forward, looking to 2026.

There's been a lot of messaging when it comes to the mega bill. We can expect to see that only continue and grow over the next year and a half. But really, as we start to get into this primary season and get a sense of who is going to be on the ballot, these, you know, so- called like generation, like continuing legacy candidates versus some of these change agents that are being backed by some of these more progressive factions of the -- of the Democratic Party. Now is the time when we're going to start to see some of those larger conversations happening.

And I think today, specifically, depending on the results of this primary, is going to set the tone a lot for what that conversation is going to look like.

LEE: Yeah, that Arizona race is going to be really fascinating to watch.

Ali Bianco, thank you so much for joining us.

BIANCO: Thank you so much for having me.

LEE: Millions of people across northeastern U.S. remain under a flash flood warnings today. Slow moving storms continue to threaten major metropolitan areas and travel hubs, and flooding has already been reported in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.

In New York, several trains were suspended, delayed or rerouted after water seeped into the station and surrounded passengers and air travel was impacted. In New York, Washington, and Boston as well. And in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, cars were struggling to navigate flooded streets. Multiple water rescues have been reported in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, and the weather service is warning that more rain is expected Tuesday in some areas.

President Trump has a new ultimatum for Russia on the war in Ukraine, and he's threatening if Moscow doesn't agree to a cease fire within 50 days.

Plus, the U.S. National Park Service is under scrutiny after critics say it allowed a wildfire to ravage the Grand Canyon's North Rim.

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[05:17:13]

LEE: U.S. president Donald Trump is turning up the pressure on Russia. During a meeting with NATO secretary general, the president threatened severe tariffs and secondary sanctions if Vladimir Putin doesn't agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine in the next 50 days. He also announced a new plan to get weapons to Kyiv. NATO countries would buy them from the U.S., then transfer them to Ukraine. A U.S. diplomat says the focus would be on defensive weapons, including Patriot anti- missile systems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are very unhappy, I am, with Russia. We're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, tariffs that are about 100 percent, you'd call them secondary tariffs. We want to see it end. And I'm disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago. But it doesn't seem to get there.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments live from London.

Clare, tell us more about Trump's proposals and importantly, how they are being received.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Good morning, MJ. This is really a sort of plan in two parts. On the one hand we have this weapons plan whereby, as you said, non-U.S. NATO members will buy American weapons and send those to Ukraine. I think they can also send their existing stockpiles to Ukraine and then buy American weapons to replace them. And we're already hearing some willingness to participate from some European NATO members. Germany, whose defense minister was in Washington, D.C., to coincide with the trip of the NATO secretary general.

He said that Germany would make a decision in days or weeks on whether to send more patriot systems. We're hearing this morning as foreign ministers have been arriving for a meeting in Brussels, Denmark, which doesn't have its own patriot systems but says it could be willing to fund new ones. Netherlands is also signaled openness to be a part of this plan, so they are broadly welcoming. This, and especially the sort of shift in tone from the Trump administration that this represents.

I think on the second part of this, the essentially the ultimatum that secretary tariffs will be slapped on Russia's key trading partners, namely or not, namely according to Trump. But the main ones are China and India, in 50 days, if a deal isn't reached to end this war, were hearing some unease around that, that the deadline might be a little bit long. The Dutch foreign minister this morning described it as rather long,

and then the E.U. foreign policy chief, while welcoming the decision. Also, her praise was somewhat qualified. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: It is also, I mean good signs that we see from United States that they have also realized that Russia does not really want peace. So, in order to have peace, we need to support Ukraine, and we need to put the pressure on Russia.

[05:20:00]

And I also hope that Americans will move also with their sanctions package or tariffs, so that pressure is on Russia to really stop this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, you can hear sort of a gentle push there from her for the U.S. to go ahead and follow through with these sanctions. I think the Europeans also want to act in lockstep with the U.S., as they did throughout most of this war, but have sort of diverged since Trump took office and have had to go their own way with their own sanctions. They are looking to agree on an 18th package of sanctions on Russia. That could happen in the coming days.

But I think the concern in the meantime is that the speed of European decision making will not match the speed of Russia's centrally run defense industry or its single minded focus on achieving its goals in Ukraine, that Russia will use this 50 days as a window of opportunity to escalate further. And perhaps that Trump, given his sort of shifting mindset on this war throughout his presidency so far, will maybe not follow through on that threat to impose these secondary sanctions -- MJ.

LEE: All right. Clare Sebastian in London, thank you so much.

Steven Erlanger is "The New York Times" chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe. He joins me live from Berlin.

Steven, we had you on the program yesterday to preview the president's announcement. So, it's great to check back in with you to dissect what Trump did announce. First is this proposal that Claire was talking about for European nations to buy American weapons and then transfer them to Ukraine. How significant of a shift is this for President Trump?

STEVEN ERLANGER, NEW YORK TIMES CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, EUROPE: Well, it is something of a shift because he understands that pressure has to be put on Putin, and Ukraine needs to be defended, in the meantime. I mean, in a way, it's very odd for him to say, well, I'm very generously going to offer you the chance to buy my weapons to send to Ukraine so I don't have to pay for them. But it is important.

And what is also important is that American operational intelligence continue to help Ukraine understand what's coming at them from Russia and what Russian military goals are.

But I think it is a good idea. The Europeans have a lot of money. The problem is the delay in getting stuff built. I mean, there is a big backlog, particularly on Patriot missiles, for example.

So I mean, this is a big issue, but if NATO countries will provide weapons from their own stockpiles to Ukraine, which needs them now, they can wait to buy them from America, presuming that Russia doesn't get militarily aggressive in the meantime, it sort of buys Ukraine time, but it makes European NATO members a bit more vulnerable. At the same time.

LEE: That's a really interesting point about the building of these kinds of weapons.

Steven, the other part of the president's announcement was the threat of economic punishment on Moscow, a 100 percent tariff on Russia. If there's no peace deal within 50 days. But does that have any real teeth, given how little Russia sells to the U.S.?

ERLANGER: I don't think it does have much teeth. No. I mean, it's about $3 billion a year. So, if it's $6 billion, what's the difference? It is tiny.

I mean, what would hurt Russia is what Trump likes to call secondary tariffs, which are really secondary sanctions that might be imposed on countries that buy a lot of Russian oil and gas. The problem is, as your reporter said, that could include India and China, which would raise trade tensions further.

And there's also another problem, which is that while Trump is agreeing to do this, Putin can do what he wants for the next 50 days. And even if it arrives at a 30-day ceasefire, that doesn't bring an end to the war. And as we've seen in Israel and Hamas, ceasefires are broken all the time, full of mutual recrimination.

So even if you get agreement with 30-day ceasefire, it doesn't mean that it will last or that the war will come to an end. And Trump said nothing about putting pressure on Putin now. He said nothing about seizing Russian frozen assets. He said nothing about a plan to end the war.

LEE: So, what is it that ultimately pushed the president to this point? You know, he said in the Oval Office yesterday, he complained, really? I felt we had a deal about four times, but it meaning the war just kept going on and on. You know, you definitely sense that he is finding, dealing with Putin more challenging than maybe he thought it would be.

ERLANGER: Well, that is certainly true. And, you know, he's frustrated with Vladimir Putin. I mean, he thought he could push Putin along.

[05:25:01]

But clearly Putin has no interest in ending the war. Putin thinks he's winning the war. Putin thinks the West will get tired.

And so partly, Donald Trump, I think, is just personally insulted and wants to push up against this. But he also, I think, has come to believe that Putin has been, in Trump's own words, tapping him along.

He also, I think, does feel sympathy for Ukrainian civilians who are being bombed by Russia, particularly in civilian areas. I mean, Trump has said his whole idea in trying to end the war was to stop the killing. And I think he's quite sincere about that.

LEE: The president is a big fan of issuing deadlines. So, 50 days for Russia and Ukraine to land a peace deal. How realistic is that?

ERLANGER: Well, I don't know. I mean, why not 60 days? Why not 90 days? Why not 30 days?

I mean, Trump tends to issue deadlines and then they fade away. Maybe he means it. He's very vague, though, about what would happen after such a deadline. And you know, one can imagine certainly Putin agreeing to talks on a ceasefire within that deadline and then everything falling apart.

There are endless ways to keep talking without the war ending. So, I think Trump, you know, means to give Putin time. But I think it would have been probably more effective had he started sanctioning Russia and Russia's consumers and its clients more quickly.

LEE: Steven Erlanger, great to have you back on. Thank you so much.

ERLANGER: Thank you.

LEE: After the catastrophic floods in central Texas, new details are emerging about the tragedy at Camp Mystic.

Coming up, what we know so far.

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