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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
U.S. And World On Edge On Eve Of Trump's August 1 Deadline; Officials: U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff To Travel To Israel; NTSB Hearing On Deadly Collision Between Plane, Helicopter; Intruders Demand Cryptocurrency In Home Invasion Attack. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired July 31, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:22]
MIN JUNG LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. So glad you're with us. I'm MJ Lee. Rahel Solomon is off.
It's Thursday, July 31st, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington.
And straight ahead on EARLY START.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Today, the Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave our policy interest rate unchanged.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should be the lowest interest rate, and we're not. It's all because of the Fed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were able to take a monster off the streets.
GOV. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS (R), ARKANSAS: I want to be clear that if you commit a violent, senseless act here in our state, our law enforcement will hunt you down and bring you to justice.
SYDNEY SWEENEY, ACTRESS: But if you said that you want to buy the jeans, I'm not going to stop you.
NARRATOR: Sydney Sweeney has great jeans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And y'all don't see nothing wrong with that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
LEE: In a matter of hours, the U.S. President is set to rewrite the rules of global trade. He insists his tariffs deadline won't be extended, and claims Friday will be a big day for America.
Donald Trump's commerce secretary also confirmed there will be no more grace periods, but did indicate that the Trump administration is still willing to talk to countries that haven't made deals yet. President Trump has been ramping up the pressure on social media in
recent hours. He's now threatened to impose a so-called Russia penalty on India for buying Russian oil. That's in addition to a 25 percent tariff, he posted, quote, "I don't care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together for all I care."
He also took aim at Canada over its support for Palestinian statehood, warning that will make it very hard for us to make a trade deal with them. Midnight Eastern Time is when President Trump's pause on a list of terrorists will come to an end. He calls them reciprocal duties, saying he tried to set the rates based on trade deficits.
But many of the percentages are different than what he announced in April.
CNN's Amy Kiley reports on the rush to lock in those rates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the trade deals are working out very well, hopefully, for everybody.
AMY KILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Trump administration is doling out trade announcements hours before a list of new tariffs is set to begin. President Donald Trump is announcing a 15 percent duty on South Korean imports. He says it will be 50 percent for Brazilian goods if that country won't end the trial of a former President accused of attempting a coup.
LOURIVAL SANT'ANNA, SENIOR FELLOW, BRAZILIAN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: It's hard to make concessions in that area, and I'm sure the government is not going to make them.
KILEY: Trump also is doubling down on a 25 percent tariff on imports from India.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF U.S. DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Trump is frustrated about their lack of willingness to open specific markets to U.S. producers, and he's also very frustrated about their continued purchasing of Russian energy.
KILEY: Some analysts say it's hard to assess the latest trade news because details are scarce.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: We do not know the full effects of the tariffs yet.
KILEY: U.S. businesses have to pay Trump's tariffs when they import affected goods. He wants foreign producers to help foot the bill, but many say they can't afford that. In some cases, U.S. companies could buy from domestic producers instead, but that also could increase their costs. Several say that leaves them no choice but to raise prices for American consumers.
POWELL: Higher tariffs have begun to show through more clearly to prices of some goods, but their overall effects on economic activity and inflation remain to be seen.
KILEY: I'm Amy Kiley, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Uncertainty over the new tariffs on how they'll impact unrelenting inflation has the U.S. Federal Reserve holding interest rates steady? Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is taking a wait and see approach, and warns that cutting rates too soon could hurt the labor market. This is to the frustration of President Trump, who has long demanded that they be lowered.
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, but futures across the board are in positive territory ahead of the opening bell this morning. And the Asia Pacific markets also closed mostly down with just the Nikkei showing gains.
A six-year-old boy and his mother were among at least six people killed in overnight strikes on Kyiv, according to local officials. President Zelenskyy says the city was pummeled by more than 300 Russian drones and missiles. Scores of people were injured as authorities reported 27 impact sites. This nine-story apartment building took a direct hit.
[05:05:01]
Rescue crews have been searching through the rubble for survivors, and they say they've made contact with at least one man trapped underneath.
But they say digging him out will be a difficult process. And every step could be fatal.
Meanwhile, Russia has reportedly gained a new springboard for more advances in eastern Ukraine. Moscow claims it has captured the key town of Chasiv Yar, which is just west of Bakhmut. Ukraine is not commenting, but it has confirmed that Russian troops attacked locations near there, while a Ukrainian mapping site shows Kyiv's forces holding only the towns western section. The capture would give Russia a high ground, which can be used to target other Ukrainian cities in the region.
And Canada is joining the growing list of countries planning to recognize a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will make the move at the U.N. General Assembly in September, in line with Canada's commitment to a two-state solution. France and the UK announced similar moves this month.
Arab and Muslim states, meanwhile, including Qatar and Egypt, are calling for Hamas to disarm and give up power in Gaza. It's part of a U.N. declaration signed at a conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. It also says the Palestinian Authority should be given an in -- should be in charge of governance and security in all Palestinian territories.
And U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff will be starting on another diplomatic mission to address the war and starvation in Gaza. Multiple sources say he will travel to Israel today.
CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman has reported extensively from Gaza for decades. But right now, the Israeli government has banned international media from the territory. So, Ben joins us live from Rome.
Ben. I want to first ask you to set up a special envoy Steve Witkoff's expected trip to Israel, because it comes at a moment when the Trump administration is deeply frustrated with the situation in Gaza.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this is Witkoff's first visit to Israel in almost three months, and it comes at a time when even the Trump administration is starting to become alarmed with the images of starvation coming out of Gaza. In fact, we heard President Trump say in his usual elegant manner that this is what he said, "That's real starvation stuff. I see it, and you can't fake that."
Now, that's in direct contradiction of the claims of Israeli -- by Israeli officials, starting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on down, who insisted that there is no starvation. But by all accounts, in fact, it's just getting worse and worse in Gaza by the day.
And it also comes at a time when there is increasing international pressure to somehow resolve this situation in Gaza. Of course, France says it's going to recognize the state of Palestine. Canada, as you mentioned, says that it will announce its recognition of Palestine at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September. Britain has said it will -- it will recognize Palestine if Israel doesn't resolve the situation in Gaza.
So, certainly, the pressure is mounting now. Last week, we were reporting that Israel and the United States had pulled their negotiating teams out of Doha, Qatar, where talks were ongoing.
Nonetheless, it does appear that pressure is mounting on all sides to somehow bring this bloodshed in Gaza to an end -- MJ.
LEE: And, Ben, what is the significance of these Arab states calling on Hamas to disarm and relinquish power in Gaza?
WEDEMAN: Well, its significant in the sense that they have joined with the members of the European Union and 17 other countries, essentially saying that the Hamas should disarm, relinquish power, and hand its weapons over to the Palestinian Authority. There's a problem, however.
The Palestinian authority is really just an empty shell. It cannot operate without the approval of the Israelis and the Israelis essentially rule the West Bank. And the Israelis have made it clear that they have no intention whatsoever to cede any power to the Palestinian Authority. So, in a sense, it's a symbolic change.
But in reality, nothing changes whatsoever. I think it's just an attempt by the Arab states as well as the E.U. and others to salve their conscience, because in effect, they talk a lot, but they haven't actually done much to change the situation on the ground in the West Bank or Gaza -- MJ.
[05:10:07]
LEE: All right. Ben Wedeman in Rome, thank you so much.
The U.S. Geological Survey says more than 100 significant aftershocks have occurred near Russia in the hours following one of the strongest earthquakes on record. Three of those tremors have been a magnitude six or greater, with the strongest reaching 6.9.
Wednesday's powerful quake, at a magnitude of 8.8, raised fears of destructive tsunami waves throughout the Pacific, places as far away as South America were on alert. The Galapagos islands saw waves more than a meter higher than normal tide levels.
Tsunami alerts are largely canceled across the region now. The waves remained relatively small, and most places avoided major damage.
And ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll take you inside a home where a terrifying attempted robbery took place. The attackers say they were seeking cryptocurrency.
Plus, Paramount says "South Park's" takedown of Donald Trump was the shows highest rated season premiere in years. We'll check those numbers.
And later, a new ad campaign draws criticism for what some say are references to discredited racist beliefs. Did their wordplay go too far?
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[05:15:50]
LEE: A U.S. Navy F-35 fighter jet crashed in Central California Wednesday. The pilot ejected safely. Video shows fire and thick black smoke rising from the crash site in open farmland. It happened around 6:30 p.m. local time near Naval Air Station Lemoore, about 40 miles southwest of Fresno. The cause of the accident is under investigation. The aircraft was assigned to a squadron responsible for training pilots and aircrew. This is the second F-35 crash this year. Another happened in Alaska back in January.
And 25 passengers were hospitalized after turbulence forced a Delta airlines flight to make an emergency landing in Minnesota. The plane was on its way from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam when it ran into turbulence, leaving a number of people injured. It was diverted to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where firefighters and paramedics met the plane at the gate. Delta says the injured passengers were taken to local hospitals.
A National Transportation Safety Board hearing got underway Wednesday to determine what caused a deadly mid-air collision earlier this year. Sixty-seven people died when an Army helicopter and a passenger plane collided on January 29th near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the deadliest crash involving a U.S. commercial flight in two decades, a hearing of unprecedented scope -- three days of testimony, 200 new documents and 10,000 pages of interviews, tests and transcripts to find out how an Army helicopter and American Eagle jet could collide over the Potomac River.
National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy.
JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: This is not an adversarial hearing. This does not mean difficult questions won't be asked.
MUNTEAN: The agency's packed hearing room fell silent as investigators showed 11 minutes of flight tracks and audio of a controller in the Reagan National Airport tower, warning the Black Hawk pilots of the incoming CRJ 700.
TOWER: Pat 25, do you have the CRJ in sight?
TOWER: Pat 25, pass behind the CRJ.
HELICOPTER PILOT: Pat 25 has aircraft in sight, request visual separation.
MUNTEAN: Just released transcripts from the helicopters voice recorder detail that exchange, prompted the Army pilots on a training flight to discuss changing course. The instructor tells the pilot, "come left for me, ma'am," and the pilot responds, "fine," but it was too late. Not a second later, the recordings captured the sound of the collision.
TODD INMAN, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: How much tolerance for safety should there be when civilian lives are at risk? How much is that tolerance? I think it should be zero.
MUNTEAN: The board grilled army officials for what they call discrepancies with the helicopter's instruments.
Following the crash, the NTSB tested three Black Hawks from the same army unit and found their altimeters displayed 80 to 130 feet lower than the helicopters' actual height. Investigators underscore only 75 feet separated the helicopter route and the approach path passenger planes fly into national airport.
HOMENDY: That's significant. My concern is where else in the national airspace does that exist?
MUNTEAN: Doug Lane lost his wife, Christine, and son Spencer in the crash.
Tuesday, Senate Republicans proposed a bill mandating harsher rules for helicopter flights near airports.
DOUG LANE, HUSBAND AND FATHER OF CRASH VICTIMS: Every meaningful step towards transparency, accountability and safer skies is a victory for every family who has suffered an unimaginable loss.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Travelers across the U.K. face major headaches after technical problems at air traffic control centers disrupted flights. Edinburgh airport in Scotland and both Heathrow and Gatwick Airports in London were among those affected. Flights were disrupted for about four hours due to a radar-related issue.
Britain's air traffic control provider said the problem was fixed by switching to a backup system and flights later resumed. The outage also caused delays in other European cities that rely on connections through the U.K.
[05:20:05]
Australia is set to ban access to YouTube for children under 16. That comes after the government had originally promised to spare the video platform from being included in a crackdown on social media. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and more must prevent children from creating accounts or face hefty fines. A YouTube spokesperson says they will quote, consider next steps and will continue to engage with the government. The new law is set to take effect in December.
Here's what Australia's prime minister had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Social media companies have a social responsibility. That's why today, we're pleased to announce that our government is tabling rules that specify which types of online services will be captured in our world leading laws. Importantly, following advice from the e-safety commissioner, young people under the age of 16 will not be able to have accounts on YouTube.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Meta stock jumped nearly 10 percent on Wednesday after posting strong earnings. The company's stock has risen 16 percent since the start of the year. CEO Mark Zuckerberg says as the business performs well, it will allow them to invest more on artificial intelligence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SATAN CHARACTER: Or not. It's weird that whenever it comes up, you just tell everyone to relax.
TRUMP CHARACTER: I'm not telling everyone to relax. Relax, dude.
SATAN CHARACTER: No, I need counseling. You remind me more and more of this other guy. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: "South Park" is celebrating some of its biggest ratings in years. Paramount says the season 27 premiere attracted 5.9 million viewers, the best for a season premiere since 2022. The Trump takedown also notched the show's biggest share of the cable audience for a season opener since 1999. The White House has dismissed the episode, saying the show hasn't been relevant for more than 20 years and is hanging by a thread.
A police manhunt has ended as a suspect is arrested in the double homicide of a couple hiking in a state park. Details later this hour.
Plus, a popular online gamer says she was targeted in a terrifying home invasion because of her cryptocurrency investments. That story after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:26:58]
LEE: In March, a well-known online gamer and OnlyFans model endured a terrifying home invasion. The attackers, who entered the home she shares with her husband, demanded their cryptocurrency in what's come to be known as a wrench attack. And they're happening with greater frequency.
CNN senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Kaitlyn Siragusa's attackers came under the cover of darkness, guns drawn with one demand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just do it. Go, go, go. Where's the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) crypto?
Give us the crypto. I swear to God. I will cut you and kill you.
KAITLYN SIRAGUSA, WRENCH ATTACK VICTIM: They point the gun at me from the hallway and they tell me to stand up. And so, I'm freaking out and I'm standing up, and there's a chair over here. And so they kind of just all come towards me, because there's three of them, and they corner me into the chair and that's when they start like pistol whipping me, you know, asking where the crypto is, holding me at gunpoint.
PROKUPECZ: Siragusa is a famous streamer and OnlyFans model, known to her millions of followers as Amouranth. And while she's no crypto kingpin, she believes that a tweet nine months earlier, alluding to her investments in crypto, is what prompted the attack.
So, you are sitting there and the three of them are like around you, like this sort of --
SIRAGUSA: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: -- masks on.
SIRAGUSA: Oh, yeah.
PROKUPECZ: Guns. And then one guy --
SIRAGUSA: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: Is it here?
SIRAGUSA: Yeah. He was -- no, he was -- he was on this side of me, holding the gun to my head and the other one was here hitting me.
PROKUPECZ: What Siragusa's assailants didn't realize the entire attack was being captured by surveillance cameras. And Kaitlyn wasn't alone. She called her husband, Nick, when the attack began and he was listening to the entire frightening episode from another part of their home.
NICK LEE, WRENCH ATTACK VICTIM: I got to hear kind of all the dialogue that was happening and then even them hitting her. I'm running over here. I go to the little safe thing I have here, and I type in my code and then it pops open. I grab the handgun and then I slip this on, grab this, and then I'm rushing downstairs.
PROKUPECZ: Fearing for her life, Siragusa decided to lead her attackers towards her husband.
PROKUPECZ: So you, at this point, you're up. What do you tell them?
SIRAGUSA: Like, oh, I remembered where it is. I'll take it to you two. Like, it is so comical, honestly.
It's in -- it's in the pool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not in the pool. Stop playing.
PROKUPECZ: And so, how does this -- this is blood here.
SIRAGUSA: Yes. Those were my hand bleeding after it was touching -- it was my head dripped onto my hand.
PROKUPECZ: Surveillance footage captured Siragusa sprinting across her driveway.
SIRAGUSA: Over here. It's in here.
PROKUPECZ: Leading them to what she hopes is in ambush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go.
SIRAGUSA: As soon as I turn the corner of these stairs, he's there waiting at the top and he tells me to get down. And I'm about like right here when I do, I just hugged the side of the wall.
LEE: I fired three shots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got shot. I got shot. I got shot.
LEE: I hit the guy once, I believe, in the lower abdomen area.
PROKUPECZ: Attacks on prominent crypto holders have been growing. Police say in May, a man in New York was kidnapped, held hostage and tortured for three weeks by men --
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