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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
National Guard Troops Patrol Washington; Putin Heads To U.S. Friday; CDC Targeted Over COVID-19 Vaccines. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired August 13, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:27]
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 13th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington.
And straight ahead on EARLY START.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Right now, this administration is focused on making D.C. safe and beautiful again.
GOV. WES MOORE (D), MARYLAND: I'm embarrassed, I'm angered. And frankly, I'm heartbroken for the members of the National Guard who are asked to take on this mission.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It is a race to Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Having a world leader who, with such a high body count is unsettling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an attack on the work that we do and the things that we work very tirelessly for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Expressed the shooter's discontent with the COVID- 19 vaccinations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
LEE: Residents and tourists here in the U.S. Capitol are waking up today to a new normal, at least for the next month. National Guard troops, FBI agents and members of the Drug Enforcement Administration are now out on force on the streets of Washington, D.C. The purpose is to help police officers crack down on crime, although President Trump's claims of lawlessness are not borne out by the latest statistics. The White House says 23 people were arrested on Monday, the first day of the law enforcement surge.
Maryland's governor says his state has proven that it's possible to bring down crime without going to such extreme measures.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOORE: I take very seriously about how, when and why I deploy members of our national guard in cases of emergency and in true crises. And I will not authorize the usage of Maryland National Guard forces for missions that I do not deem to be either mission critical or mission aligned. So if he truly wants to understand how to lower crime, he should pay attention to what were doing in the state of Maryland. And I did it without ever having to once operationalize our National Guard to do municipal policing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Plenty of questions remain about the operation, including who's in charge?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you answering to Terry Cole?
CHIEF PAMELA SMITH, DC METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: I answer to the -- I answer to Mayor Muriel Bowser, and I -- and let me just say this. Let us not have any controversy with that, okay? Because I know people want to build upon and create division. We're here to work together with our federal partners, and that's what we're going to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: The White House says President Trump will reevaluate the plan in 30 days before deciding how to move forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEAVITT: Look, the president is speaking about what he'd like to see take place in other cities around the country. Right now, this administration is focused on making D.C. safe and beautiful again. When the time comes, we'll talk about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has gone back and forth on the president's plan, calling it a partnership with federal authorities, but also saying it is authoritarian and a step toward fascism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MURIEL BOWSER, WASHINGTON, DC MAYOR: The quick answer would be he wants to send the message to cities that if he can get away with this in Los Angeles, if he can get away with this in D.C., he can get away with it in New York or Baltimore or Chicago. It is a step in fascism when the federal government can big foot sovereign states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: More now from CNN's Brian Todd. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDRA SEEGARS, FORMER DC ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSIONER: I think this is long overdue. I've been wanting the National Guard in this area for years. I like it, I love it, I feel safer already.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Longtime D.C. resident and community advocate Sandra Seegers is welcoming President Donald Trump's law enforcement and national guard surge in the nation's capital because of the crime she sees in her neighborhood. Much of which, she says, goes unaddressed and causes her to live in fear.
SEEGARS: I wait a while and listen for sirens or more shooting or running. Then I come to the door and see what's going on.
TODD: Seegars is one of two community leaders we spoke to in southeast D.C.'s Ward Eight, one of the city's areas hardest hit by crime and poverty.
SEEGARS: Children can't be children anymore. They're running and playing just like the police might be coming next to somebody chasing them. So, this is how bad it is.
TODD: On Monday night, according to the White House, 850 officers and agents dispatched by Trump from federal agencies like the FBI were out patrolling D.C. streets, making 23 arrests.
LEAVITT: These arrests consisted of homicide, firearms offenses, possession with intent to distribute narcotics, fare evasion, lewd acts, stalking, driving under the influence, reckless driving, and a bench warrant.
TODD: And Trump has called up about 800 National Guard troops who began reporting for duty Tuesday morning. They are expected to perform administrative tasks and manage logistics. They will also have a physical presence and be able to temporarily detain people.
The National Guard will have weapons available, but are not expected to openly carry rifles. Keeping them in their vehicles, for instance. On Tuesday, Washington's Mayor Muriel Bowser met with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who Trump assigned to oversee the takeover, vowing to make the best of the situation.
BOWSER: Right now, we have more police and we want to make sure we're using them.
TODD: The D.C. police chief insisting it's a collaboration.
SMITH: We will allocate and look at the locations around our city where we have where we believe there are areas of pockets of crime that we would like to address.
TODD: Many D.C. council members and scattered protesters have denounced the takeover.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was unprecedented and unnecessary. TODD: Community activist and researcher Joy Doyle, also from D.C.'s
Ward Eight, is in favor of the increased law enforcement presence but says it has to go deeper that the intervention can't come just when violent crimes occur.
JOY DOYLE, FORMER DC ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSIONER: We are not understanding why the property owners who rent to whomever these people are that are demonstrating open air drug markets on these properties, why are they not being held accountable?
TODD: So far, the White House is saying this surge could last up to 30 days. And at that point, they'll reassess the administration. Also looking at other cities with high crime rates for these types of operations.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Germany is set to host a virtual meeting today with U.S., Ukrainian and European leaders with a focus on putting pressure on Russia to end its war in Ukraine. It comes just two days before President Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The White House says the two leaders will meet one on one at a U.S. military base in Anchorage on Friday.
Without Ukraine's president, the Trump administration says the talks will focus on ending the war, though details are still being finalized. On Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine will not give up territory to Russia as part of any peace deal. Ukrainian officials say Russia appears to be making an 11th hour push to grab as much territory as possible ahead of Friday's summit.
Let's go live to London and CNN's Clare Sebastian.
Clare, the German chancellor is expected meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy today is noteworthy because we know that European leaders are feeling apprehensive about getting sidelined from the Trump and Putin summit. What do you expect the chancellor to stress in this conversation?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. MJ, we know that initially there will be a meeting, most of it virtual, though President Zelenskyy, we now know will be in Berlin between European leaders to sort of coordinate their position and then will be the expanded meeting involving President Trump.
So, they're going to be doing just that, coordinating their position and then trying to lock it in with President Trump to sort of counter what they expect to be attempts by Russia to persuade Trump that Russia's demands, which we think may include territory that it hasn't even occupied yet in the war, are reasonable. So that, I think, is the key issue here. But the real reason why concretely, Europe says it deserves a seat at the table is because by the U.S.'s own design, any security guarantee to secure any future peace deal will be fronted by Europe. And that, I think, is why we will see a meeting later on today as well
of the Coalition of the Willing. These countries in Europe that are willing to contribute to Ukraine's future security and of course, President Zelenskyy making it very clear in the last day that any deal that involves ceding territory will, by its very nature, not be secure because it will, in his words, provide Russia with a springboard for future aggression.
So meanwhile, though we do have the White House sort of playing down expectations for this, this meeting in Alaska, saying essentially that a deal isn't going to be made. Take a listen to the press secretary on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEAVITT: This is a listening exercise for the president. Only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present. And so, this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: So, listening exercise Trump earlier this week called it a feel out meeting. But I think the risk is that its expected to be one on one. And of course, memories are still fresh of President Trump's meeting with Putin in Helsinki in 2018, where he eventually sided with Putin over his own FBI of allegations of election interference. That, as well as alarm bells that were set off earlier this week when Trump seemed to criticize President Zelenskyy for not agreeing to cede territory.
So, this is a very delicate moment for Ukraine. Zelenskyy will have to stand by that position while still keeping Trump engaged.
[05:10:02]
He does not want any further bad blood after that Oval Office spat in February. European leaders also very delicate, wanting to lock in their position. And all of this while Russia is trying to expand its position on the front lines with what we see to be something of a new push to the north of that key strategic town of Pokrovsk on the eastern front, MJ.
LEE: Clare Sebastian in London, good to see you. Thank you.
Meanwhile, Russian state media has been promoting the upcoming summit between President Trump and Putin.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the details reporting from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Kremlin controlled TV feasting on U.S. President Donald Trump's comments, calling Russia a, quote, "warring nation" ahead of his landmark summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska. TRUMP: They beat Hitler. They beat Napoleon.
PLEITGEN: The U.S. president is heating up interest with loud statements, the host says. Trump said that it is impossible to defeat Russia. State TV with a countdown to the summit sending a clear message -- Russia is winning in the trenches, showcasing recent accelerating Russian advances in eastern Ukraine. Moscow saying its forces are close to taking several strategic towns there.
And the defense ministry releasing this video of evermore new recruits signing contracts with the military undergoing medical checks prepared to go into battle for Russia's president, while Ukraine deals with serious manpower shortages.
Putin will go to the summit in Alaska as a winner, who holds the strategic initiative, this analyst says. The Russian armed forces are moving forward. Ukraine is retreating and leaving its territories. This is the most important factor that will influence the general background and the results of the negotiations.
Just days ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, the Kremlin uncharacteristically silent. The last official comment coming last Friday when Moscow vowed it hasn't changed its position on Ukraine, meaning no quick ceasefire. But demands for a major territorial concessions as part of any long-term peace deal.
On Moscow's streets, folks optimistic Vladimir Putin will get results.
We support our president, this man says. We are for Putin because he is our president, president of the Russian Federation. We are defending our position.
I think they will both have an equal position at this meeting, he says. But President Putin won't make concessions if they will harm his interests. Therefore, I think his position is quite firm.
A firm position bolstered by recent battlefield successes, Russia's leader recently showing little appetite for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: Outrage is growing over the killing of journalists in Gaza. We'll have reaction from the U.S. State Department.
Plus, Illinois has unveiled a new plan for public school students. We'll discuss the pros and cons of mandatory mental health screenings for kids.
And later, from saving the world to taking over the world. How a new animated film is making history on Netflix and setting its sights even higher.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:17:59]
LEE: The U.S. state department is refusing to condemn the deadly strike on Al Jazeera, journalist Anas al-Sharif and four of his colleagues in Gaza. Israel says it targeted and killed al sharif after accusing him of leading a Hamas cell, which he and his network had denied. Al sharif was one of the most well-known Palestinian journalists in the enclave, and his killing on Sunday has triggered global condemnation and calls for accountability.
CNN's Nada Bashir is following all of this live from London.
Nada, the world is going to certainly take note that the response from the State Department could not have been further from condemnation.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, MJ. Once again, we are seeing the U.S. government position increasingly isolated from what we have been hearing from others across the globe, including human rights organizations and, of course, the United Nations.
We heard from the State Department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, speaking yesterday while acknowledging that the U.S. is concerned around any loss of innocent life. She deferred that question to the Israeli authorities and also highlighted the evidence that the so-called evidence that has been provided by the Israeli military, which they claim highlights Anas al-Sharif, the al Jazeera correspondent's links to Hamas.
Take a listen to this statement from Tammy Bruce yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMMY BRUCE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Israel has released evidence that sharif was part of Hamas and was supportive of the Hamas attack on October 7th. They are the ones who have the evidence. They're the ones who can be reached and will hopefully talk with you and certainly talk with others who -- who reach out to them.
I will remind you, and this again, as were dealing with a complicated, horrible situation, is that Hamas historically has had members who are embedded in society, including posing as journalists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHIR: Now, what we have seen over the last few days is that outrage that you mentioned, MJ.
[05:20:04]
We've been hearing from world leaders, we've been hearing from human rights organizations. In fact, prior to this attack, which killed Anas al-Sharif along with his colleagues on Sunday night, we had heard warnings from the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression around what many have described as a smear campaign targeting these particular journalists, as well as other journalists across the Gaza Strip, linking them to Hamas without any credible evidence. In fact, the U.N. special rapporteur described this as unfounded claims that he had been a member of Hamas. They said that the purpose of this was to endanger his life.
So, there had been that growing concern before the attack took place. What we have seen in response is, of course, that outrage. The U.N. has described this as a grave violation of humanitarian law. We've seen two human rights organizations focused on Palestinian rights submitting a case to the International Criminal Court.
They believe that this was a clear cut criminal act, in their words, but also they believe that this was part of a wider pattern of targeting journalists in the Gaza Strip. And we've been hearing similar messaging from the committee to protect journalists as well, who has for some time now issued warnings in their statements around what they believe to be a systemic plan to target journalists in the Gaza strip who have, of course, become the eyes and ears on the ground documenting what is happening and important to remember and remind our viewers that international journalists, like our colleagues at CNN, have been barred from accessing Gaza independently to report on the ground.
So, the burden really has been placed on these Palestinian journalists on the ground to document what is happening to their people, their homes, their family members for the last 22 months, like Anas al- Sharif and his colleagues, we have seen that growing outrage. But whether that turns into any sort of tangible action or any sort of accountability, that remains to be seen.
Both the United Nations and Amnesty International have both called for an independent investigation into the attack -- MJ.
LEE: Nada Bashir in London, thanks for that update.
We are following developments across Europe as the latest heat wave sparks wildfires across the region. Temperatures in some areas have hit above 40 degree Celsius in recent days. That's 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and places like Madrid, Rome and Milan are coming dangerously close to those temperatures today.
High winds fueled fires in some of Greece's western islands on Tuesday. Several villages and a hotel were evacuated due to the threat to tourist destinations.
And in Turkey, officials called an emergency aircraft to try and douse the flames as they threatened a forest in Izmir province. Blazes there have also prompted evacuations, forcing hundreds to flee their homes.
LEE: Investigators are sharing more details about the deadly shooting at the CDC, including the shocking number of rounds fired by the gunman. We'll have a report from Georgia after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:27:34]
LEE: New details now on Friday's shooting in Atlanta Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Investigators say the suspect fired almost 500 rounds, killing one police officer. Five guns were recovered from the scene.
CNN's Ryan Young has more on that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we learned about those five guns last week. I think the new news that has everyone shocked is the amount of rounds that were fired. We also know he was carrying two backpacks full of ammo. Shooting five rounds, 200 of those rounds. By the way, hitting six buildings at the CDC.
As you look behind me, you can see this memorial. But before we get there, let's just talk about this investigation. We'll show you the photo of all the rounds on the ground that was released by the GBI. At first, we thought there was a couple hundred, but that 500 number tells you just how serious this was in terms of the impact in the area.
People hearing shot after shot as they ran for cover. Then on top of that, we know they went to the suspect's house. At the house, what we've learned is the family is cooperating with the GBI fully, but the suspect apparently broke into his fathers gun cabinet, took all these guns and then went on this rampage.
Apparently, he also called 911 to say that they believe that his son was suicidal. So, all this was a part of the information that we learned today.
Take a listen to the GBI talking about this investigation.
CHRIS HOSEY, DIRECTOR, GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: Evidence in this investigation indicates that the shooter had recently verbalized thoughts of suicide, which even led to law enforcement being contacted several weeks prior to the incident. A search warrant executed at the residence of the shooter revealed written documentation that expressed the shooter's discontent for the -- with the COVID-19 vaccinations.
YOUNG: You can see Officer Rose served in the military as well. He gave so much of his life to serving others, and you can see the reflections written here on these massive cards to CDC workers showed up in the last half hour, very upset, in tears, thinking about the officer who gave his life to protect them.
At the same time, they talked about the call today with an all hands on deck CDC call. They were upset because they didn't feel like they got enough of a security update. Their concern moving forward for their safety at the CDC building.
So there's still a lot of questions as this community thinks about what could have happened with 500 rounds being fired near the entrance of the CDC.
Ryan Young, CNN, Tucker, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: And days after the gunman opened fire on the CDC, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the agency headquarters in Atlanta.
