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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Witkoff Visits Russia As Trump's Sanctions Threat Looms; Sources: Top Trump Officials To Meet At VP's Residence; Netanyahu, Israeli Security Cabinet To Discuss Gaza Thursday; U.S. Coast Guard: Deaths Of Five Men "Preventable". Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 06, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MIN JUNG LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. Thanks so much for being with us. I'm MJ Lee. Rahel Solomon is off.
It's Wednesday, August 6th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.
And straight ahead on EARLY START.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The governor of Texas is demanding they come back. So, a lot of people are demanding they come back.
STATE REP. GENE WU (D), TEXAS: This is not my seat. And it sure as hell not Governor Abbott's seat.
STATE REP. RAMON ROMERO (D), TEXAS: We're standing up. We're standing tall.
TRUMP: We are there now, trying to get people fed. Thats what I'm focused on. As far as the rest of it, I really -- I really can't say. That's going to be pretty much up to Israel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima.
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The 80th anniversary of Hiroshima does serve as a very stark reminder of what's at stake here should these weapons ever be used again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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LEE: We begin this morning in Moscow, where Donald Trump's foreign envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrived some hours ago. He is expected to meet with Russian officials, including possibly Russian President Vladimir Putin. We are told the Kremlin requested this meeting ahead of the U.S.
president's Friday deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face punishing new sanctions.
Let's go straight to CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who joins me now from outside the Kremlin in Moscow.
Fred, what are you expecting to come out of Witkoff's visit, which comes right on the heels of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying that he had a productive conversation with President Trump.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. First of all, for the Russians, they've already acknowledged that they for them, this meeting is going to be extremely important. Steve Witkoff touched down here in Moscow, I would say around 7:00, maybe a little bit after 7:00 a.m. local time, and then actually went to exactly where I'm standing right now. This is sort of a park outside the area of the kremlin and the Red Square.
You can see behind me is the lovely Saint Basil's Church and the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin. And that's exactly where Steve Witkoff is located right now. His motorcade was seen as it went inside the area of the Kremlin. It's unclear whether or not those -- it's unclear what time those top level meetings are actually going to start, and as you mentioned, whether or not he is actually going to be meeting with Vladimir Putin himself, but it's certainly something that is expected because of the importance of this meeting.
Ever since Steve Witkoff touched down, it's been followed by Russian state media, who have basically been showing his every move. We're tracking his plane. Nevertheless, I'd say the expectations, at least from the Russian side, are not really that high. They've been very reluctant to talk in detail about the sort of fraying relations between the Putin administration and the Trump administration, of course, first and foremost over Ukraine.
And the Russians have certainly also showed themselves to be quite concerned about the threat, not just of those sanctions that the Trump administration has said that it could put in place, but also on those secondary tariffs on Russia's main trading partners for oil and gas, like, for instance, India, like for instance, China. But, of course, some others as well.
So, there are a host of issues that are certainly difficult. And I would say that the Kremlin definitely wants to move forward with better relations with the Trump administration. But the Russians have also made clear that as far as Ukraine is concerned, there are a lot of red lines as well. So, it's unclear whether or not substantial progress is going to be made on that topic.
Apparently, Steve Witkoff was asked by Russian state media while he was here on the ground what his expectations are for the day here. He was not willing to share those expectations, the Russians say. But certainly, both sides, I think, would agree that this meeting for them is a very important one. As Steve Witkoff is on the ground here in Moscow, MJ. LEE: Fred Pleitgen outside the kremlin in Moscow. We'll keep checking
in with you throughout the day. Thank you so much.
And now to the Jeffrey Epstein case with multiple sources telling CNN that top Trump administration officials will meet tonight at Vice President J.D. Vance's residence to discuss their strategy.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel are all expected to attend.
The sources say the need to craft a unified response will be their main focus.
CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig says tonight's meeting has dangerous implications.
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ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: The wall of independence that has existed between DOJ and the White House going back 50 years between both parties, that is just gone.
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The fact that you have a strategy session between leading officials in the White House, the vice president, the chief of staff and the leaders of DOJ and the FBI about how do we deal with this political mess shows me that that wall has just been completely eviscerated. DOJ has been entirely politicized.
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LEE: A number of Epstein's victims are objecting to what they say is the Trump administration publicly legitimizing Epstein's coconspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. President Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out a pardon for the convicted sex trafficker. Here's what he said last week.
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TRUMP: We'd like to release everything, but we don't want people to get hurt. That shouldn't be hurt.
INTERVIEWER: Ghislaine Maxwell serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking -- for sex trafficking. Is clemency on the table for her in exchange for testimony?
TRUMP: I'm allowed to do it, but nobody's asked me to do it. I know nothing about it. I don't know anything about the case. But I know I have the right to do it. I have the right to give pardons. I've given pardons to people before, but nobody's even asked me to do it.
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LEE: And CNN got this reaction from Eric Lerner, the attorney for one of Epstein's accusers.
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ERIC LERNER, ATTORNEY FOR EPSTEIN ACCUSER JENNIFER ARAOZ: The president is genuinely considering a pardon for Maxwell. The responsible and compassionate action is to meet with those affected and consider the gravity of their trauma before making any decisions. And for us, this isn't about politics. It's about respecting the victims' perspectives and giving them a chance to be heard.
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LEE: More now from CNN's senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Sources tell CNN that the Trump administration is considering releasing parts of a transcript, or even parts of audio of an interview conducted between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Now, this has been part of an effort for the White House to try and get in front of the Epstein story. They have spent a majority of the time over the last few months since the DOJ issued that memo, playing defense. They want to now be playing offense.
So, here's what we know: we know that there's no final decisions have been made on what they're going to release from this interview, but the department of justice has been combing through the audio, combing through the transcripts, making sure any sensitive material has been redacted as they move forward with the potential of releasing this information. I talked to one White House official who said it could be as early as this week, another saying it could be in several weeks. They don't want to try and bring the Epstein story back into the forefront after it has kind of subsided.
But we know one thing is certain, there are multiple administration officials, multiple White House officials who feel like they've been playing catch up. They feel frustrated by the way that this rollout has occurred with these Epstein files with the Epstein case, and they want to take control of the narrative and the optics. And they believe this is one way to do it. Now, another part of this, President Trump was asked if he knew about Ghislaine Maxwell's move from a maximum security to a minimum security prison. Here's what he said earlier today.
TRUMP: I didn't know about it at all. No, I read about it just like you did.
REPORTER: And do you believe that she is --
TRUMP: It's not a very uncommon thing.
HOLMES: Now, one thing is certain. When I talk to sources, not just within the administration, but also some of President Trump's most ardent allies and staunch supporters, they all want more transparency and more information, and they believe that the Epstein case and the information around the case is not going away.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.
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LEE: House Republicans are keeping the Epstein case in the spotlight with nearly a dozen new subpoenas. They are asking the Justice Department to turn over any files on the late sex offender with victims' names redacted. They also want to hear from six former U.S. attorneys general, former FBI director James Comey, former special counsel Robert Mueller and Bill and Hillary Clinton.
The move by the House Oversight Committee runs counter to Speaker Mike Johnson's efforts to delay the release of the Epstein files.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says the seats of house Democrats who left the state will be declared vacant if they are not back by Friday. The Democrats are preventing a legislative quorum to block a redistricting plan that would give Republicans more seats in the U.S. House.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott says bribery may be used as grounds to replace those Democrats.
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GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: Another thing, though, that Democrats don't seem to know, and that is taking or receiving a payment like they have to escape or not take a vote, subjects them to forfeiture of their seat. That's going to be one of the legal grounds you're going to see asserted here immediately to seek the vacation or elimination or abandonment of these House seats by the Democrats. So, we will remove them from office and call for elections to replace them.
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WU: This is just purely insanity. First of all, this is not my seat, and it sure as hell not Governor Abbott's seat. This seat belongs to the people of the state of Texas.
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LEE: Reporters asked President Trump, who says he is entitled to five additional House seats for his take on the situation.
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REPORTER: Do you want the federal government and the FBI to help locate and arrest these Texas Democrats who have left the state?
TRUMP: Well, I think they've abandoned the state. Nobody's seen anything like it, even though they've done it twice before. And in a certain way, it almost looks like they've abandoned the state. Looks very bad.
Yeah. Go ahead, please? REPORTER: Should the FBI get involved? Should the FBI get involved?
TRUMP: Well, they may have to.
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LEE: Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who oversees the state senate, predicts that Republican lawmakers will pass their redistricting plan next week.
And up next, Donald Trump is reacting to reports that Benjamin Netanyahu is urging a full conquest of Gaza. But what the U.S. president had to say just ahead.
Plus, the U.S. Coast Guard says a toxic safety culture and poor maintenance contributed to the implosion of the titan submersible in 2023. We'll have more details from their new report on the tragedy.
And later, the world marks 80 years since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. I'll speak with a journalist and an author who interviewed survivors.
Stay with CNN.
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LEE: This could prove to be a consequential week for the war in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is gearing up to meet with his security cabinet amid reports that he is expanding or leaning towards at least expanding military operations in the enclave. Netanyahu huddled for three hours Tuesday with top security advisers, with the prime minister's office saying options for continuing the military campaign were discussed.
CNN 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, so how much support does the prime minister have right now for potentially expanding this war?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: MJ, his support comes mostly from the extreme hard right wing of his cabinet. However, if you look more broadly in Israel, it doesn't appear that there is much enthusiasm for what he's reportedly looking to fully reconquer Gaza and occupy Gaza. That is something that it appears most Israelis are not interested in. In fact, last month there was an opinion poll conducted in Israel which found that 74 percent of those who responded to that poll said they would prefer some sort of deal whereby all the hostages are released in exchange for an end of the war.
And we also know that the top echelons of the Israeli army are also very unenthusiastic about this proposed full reconquest of Gaza, simply because after 22 months of this war, Israeli troops are exhausted, demoralized and as I was reporting yesterday in July, seven Israeli soldiers committed suicide.
Now, as far as the United States is concerned, we heard from President Trump yesterday who claimed his focus at the moment is on humanitarian situation in Gaza.
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TRUMP: We are there now trying to get people fed. As you know, $60 million was given by the United States fairly recently to supply food and a lot of lot of food, frankly, for the people of Gaza that are obviously not doing too well with the food. And I know Israel is going to help us with that in terms of distribution and also money. We also have the Arab states are going to help us with that. In terms of the money and possibly distribution.
So that's what I'm focused on. As far as the rest of it, I really -- I really can't say. That's going to be pretty much up to Israel.
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WEDEMAN: So if he's saying it's pretty much up to Israel, that would probably be interpreted as a green light for Israel to conduct this operation. Although keep in mind, of course, that this if this proposed reconquest of Gaza will be done with American weapons, American ammunition, with the full political backing of the United States government. So it's not as if the United States has nothing to do with it.
Now, we also are seeing the amount of destruction that has already taken place in Gaza. Some aerial footage that has been taken by journalists who have been able to fly over in some of those airdrops, show that Gaza has really been turned into a barren moonscape, that much of it is unrecognizable.
For some -- any of us who spent so much time in Gaza, it appears that almost everything has been destroyed. Keep in mind that 90 percent of the population has been made homeless there multiple times. The death toll has now topped 61,000, and of course, now many people are suffering from disease, lack of food, malnutrition, very little in the way of health care and scant shelter as well.
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So, a full on military operation as the Israelis are suggesting, just will pile more suffering on top of the mountain of suffering that is Gaza today -- MJ.
LEE: Ben Wedeman in Rome, thank you for that update.
And we have this just in to CNN. Poland has sworn in its new president, Karol Nawrocki. The conservative historian is expected to block the centrist, pro-European union agenda of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Nawrocki had proposed tax cuts likely to be popular with the Poles. Despite budget problems for the government. The new president has said he doesn't see a place for Ukraine in NATO or the E.U. The political newcomer is a former amateur boxer and a vocal supporter of President Trump's MAGA movement.
Nearly 2000 firefighters are battling a fast moving wildfire in southern France. It's now scorched more than 11,000 hectares, about 27,000 acres across 15 municipalities. Officials say the fire has already killed an elderly woman who didn't want to leave her home, and crews are fighting the flames from the ground and the air. Authorities say the wildfire remains very active and that weather conditions are expected to be bad again later today.
And still to come, a damning new U.S. Coast Guard report details the many issues that led to the implosion of the Titan submersible and the deaths of five people.
Plus, the U.S. is hoping to pull ahead in a new space race. Why officials want to build a nuclear reactor on the moon. That's just ahead.
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LEE: Investigators with the U.S. Coast Guard say the deaths of five people in the 2023 implosion of the Titan submersible could have been prevented in a more than 300-page report released on Tuesday. They found the subs operator, OceanGate, had a toxic workplace culture plagued by what they call critically flawed safety practices, and that the company falsified data on the craft's reliability.
More now from CNN's Jason Carroll.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A preventable tragedy. That's how a scathing new report from the Coast Guard describes the 2023 implosion of the Titan submersible that instantaneously killed all five people on board. The report also stating the Coast Guard believed former OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was criminally negligent.
JASON NEUBAUER, DEPUTY CHIEF, OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS AND ANALYSIS, U.S. COAST GUARD: Mr. Rush had somehow survived, we would've made a recommendation that the Department of Justice do a separate inquiry criminal investigation into the matter.
CARROLL: What led to the implosion, the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation finding the primary contributing factors were OceanGate's inadequate design, certification, maintenance, and inspection process for the Titan. In one example, the board found OceanGate ignored warning signs and did not bother to investigate safety issues with Titans hull after an incident in 2022.
During that previous incident, a loud banging noise was heard during Titan's ascent, a possible sign the hull was not structurally sound. The report's findings echoing accounts from OceanGate's former employees, several of whom testified last year about cutting costs and safety issues, issues they say Rush ignored.
DAVID LOCHRIDGE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF MARINE OPERATIONS, OCEANGATE: There was a big push to get this done and lot of steps along the way were missed.
STOCKTON RUSH, FORMER CEO, OCEANGATE: I've broken some rules to make this.
CARROLL: Rush was a highly controversial figure among deep sea explorers well before the catastrophic implosion.
RUSH: I have no desire to die.
CARROLL: A recently released Netflix documentary explored his vision for Titan and its eventual demise.
Submersible experts were critical of Rush's approach to building Titan, saying its construction was not founded in tested science. The Coast Guard accused Rush of gross negligence in its report, saying his company did all it could to avoid oversight by the scientific and maritime community, saying he exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of four individuals.
NEUBAUER: I think it was very serious. The fact that the vessel was operated, in our opinion, illegally, you know, with paying passengers with no certification, no even registration for the vessel itself, really, I haven't seen that before.
CARROLL: In addition to Rush, the four others who were killed in included fame deep sea explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British adventurer Hamish Harding, businessman Shahzada Dawood, and his 19- year-old son, Suleman.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
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LEE: The U.S. is accelerating plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon. Transportation secretary and acting administrator for NASA, Sean Duffy, made that announcement on Tuesday. A reactor would help power exploration efforts on the moon and give the U.S. a leg up on China and Russia, who have announced similar plans. Duffy told reporters if the U.S. is to have a base on the moon, they need energy to power it.
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SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARTY AND ACTING NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We are in a race -- we're in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon. And to have a base on the moon, we need energy. Energy is important, and if we're going to be able to sustain life on the moon, to then go to Mars, this technology is critically important.
