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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Zelenskyy To Visit Downing Street For Talks With Starmer; WH: "Significantly" More National Guard Troops In D.C.; Alaska River Surges To Record High After Glacial Outburst. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired August 14, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MJ 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 Thursday, August 14th, 4:00 a.m. here in New York.
And straight ahead on Early Start. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the countdown is on to this critical summit between President Trump and President Putin. And President Trump is tamping down expectations.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've had a lot of good conversations with him. Then I go home, and I see that a rocket hit an apartment building, and people are laying dead in the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be a significantly larger National Guard presence all around the city of Washington, and they are starting to activate 24/7 operational stance.
TRUMP: I don't want to call a national emergency. If I have to, I will.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Over 1.3 million people tuned in live on YouTube to watch Taylor Swift on her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce's podcast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she really peeled back the curtain on her personal life, on her relationship with Travis, and on her new era.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: This hour, Ukraine's president is set to arrive at 10 Downing Street for talks with the British prime minister. The visit comes a day after Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European leaders, and the U.S. held a virtual conference to discuss the upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. president issued this warning to his Russian counterpart ahead of their meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Russia face any consequences if Vladimir Putin does not agree to stop the war after your meeting on Friday?
TRUMP: Yes, they will. Yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will the consequences be?
TRUMP: There will be --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sanctions? Tariffs?
TRUMP: There will be -- I don't have to say. There will be very severe consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: During Wednesday's virtual summit on Ukraine hosted by Germany, two European diplomats tell CNN that President Trump appeared to suggest that he would push for an unconditional ceasefire at Friday's meeting with President Putin.
And President Trump says that if the meeting goes well on Friday, follow-up talks could include President Zelenskyy and happen almost immediately afterward. Ukraine and European leaders have urged President Trump to not agree to a peace deal with Putin without them.
French President Emmanuel Macron says Trump was very clear that Washington wants to secure a ceasefire and that Ukraine's territory cannot be negotiated without its president. Volodymyr Zelenskyy reaffirmed on Wednesday that he will not cede the Russian-occupied Donbas region to Moscow and laid out his terms for a peace deal.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Everything about Ukraine will be discussed with Ukraine. We have to get prepared for a three-sided format of the conversation. There should be a ceasefire first, then security guarantees, real security guarantees. And by the way, President Trump expressed his support for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Let's go live now to CNN's Clare Sebastian at 10 Downing Street in London. Clare, set the scene for us as we wait for Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with Keir Starmer, which should be any minute now.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We're expecting him to arrive at some point this hour, MJ. This -- we haven't been told the exact substance of it, but following on from that meeting between Trump and those European leaders as well as the coalition of the willing, those countries that are willing to contribute to Ukraine's future security.
That I think yielded ultimately what seems to be fairly positive results. We've got a lot of expressions of unity coming out of it. Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said that there was a real chance for the first time in three and a half years of war of a viable ceasefire. Having said that, I think as well as debriefing from that, the two leaders today will have to look forward because the job here is far from done.
President Trump is really now presenting at this Alaska summit as the beginning of a process. He says if it goes well, he'll go almost immediately to a second meeting which will involve President Zelenskyy. So the two leaders will want to discuss that if, of course, the meeting goes well.
If it doesn't go well, then I think there's a major question around what Europe and indeed the U.S. can then do to get tough on Moscow. The U.S. so far has actually done very little to get tough on Moscow. We have those 25 percent tariffs on India partly as a punishment for buying Russian oil that could go up this month.
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But aside from that, it's been only threat. So I think the discussions will also focus around how to convince the U.S. to get tough if things don't go well.
And of course, the lingering concern is something that President Trump has vaguely talked about this week, which is that if he doesn't feel like he's contributing to this process, he could detach himself entirely from the diplomatic efforts to end this war, which will again put the spotlight squarely back on Europe and leaders like Keir Starmer who have committed so squarely to Ukraine's future security.
So it is a very crucial moment in this war. We've said that multiple times. But for Ukraine, with Russia not backing down as of yet from any of its maximalist positions, with Russia breaking through defenses in part of the Eastern Front, the reality is that securing that ceasefire, which leaders have said that Trump seemed to suggest he would push for in Alaska, is very urgent. MJ?
LEE: And Clare, do you generally sense that European leaders are feeling a bit reassured by what came out of the virtual meeting yesterday? You know, we've been talking so much about how much they do not want to be sidelined heading into Friday.
SEBASTIAN: Yes, I -- look, I think it was their last ditch effort to try to get into Trump's ear essentially before that meeting. And broadly, the sense we get is that -- that it went as well as it could have done. He seemed, according to the noises coming out of that meeting, to accept the European red lines, that a ceasefire needs to come before any meaningful discussions of a settlement of this conflict, the sequencing, as Chancellor Merz of Germany put it, that they accepted that no territorial discussions can happen on Ukraine without Ukraine.
So it seems that Trump listened to the Europeans. I think there is still significant unease, though, going into what the White House said -- has said will be a one-on-one meeting between President Trump and Putin, that no one really knows what will happen there and that Trump ultimately is faced with this challenge of these two positions, the European and Ukrainian position and the Russian position being diametrically imposed and how well he'll withstand the Russian persuasion when faced with Vladimir Putin.
So significant unease, but they feel at this point, I think, that they've done all they can to put their position across to the U.S. president now just one day out from that meeting.
LEE: Clare Sebastian in London, we'll keep checking in with you. Thank you so much.
Meanwhile, the White House says there's now significantly more National Guard troops patrolling Washington, D.C. It's part of President Trump's crackdown on crime in the city. Guard members are not making arrests and their involvement could change depending on the needs of law enforcement. CNN's Brian Todd filed this report from outside a deployment site for federal agencies on Wednesday.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're at a major staging area for almost every agency involved in this expanded law enforcement operation in D.C. This is the U.S. National Park Police's major facility here in the Anacostia section of Washington, D.C., and a major staging ground for just about every agency that is involved in this deployment.
We have seen National Guard armored Humvees down there. You can see them over there by the entrance, several of them there. They've been deploying all over this city with National Guardsmen in other places in the city as well.
And over here, over my right shoulder, we'll kind of come this way a little bit. You can see a lot of personnel gathered there by the Command and Control Center and by those temporary communications stanchions over there. And you see all these vehicles. It's been a real beehive of activity here.
Just about every agency you can imagine has been deploying agents and officers in and out of this facility for several hours and several days. We have seen National Guardsmen coming and going, FBI agents, DEA agents, Customs and Border Protection, Metropolitan Washington Police, Capitol Hill Police, and other agencies.
Again, agents and officers going in and out of here for several hours that we have been here. What we can tell you is that, according to a White House official, as of Tuesday evening, the operation surpassed 100 total arrests. There were 43 arrests on Tuesday night, and that was double the number of the previous night.
Now, of those more than 100 arrests, one was for homicide, 33 were firearms violations, there were seven narcotics-related charges, and there were several other charges in those more than 100 arrests.
Starting Wednesday night, according to a White House official who spoke to CNN, starting Wednesday night, there will be a significantly larger National Guard presence all around the city of Washington, and they are starting to activate a 24/7 operational stance for the National Guard here in Washington.
According to this White House official who spoke to CNN, the National Guard will not be arresting people. We are also told that they will not be carrying firearms on their person. They may have them in their vehicles in case they need them. But, of course, every other agency has officers and agents who are armed here.
According to this official, the National Guard's role will be to assist other federal units and create a safe environment for other officers. Now, President Trump has said on Wednesday that he plans to extend this operation past the temporary 30-day mark. He's going to need an act of Congress to do that. He believes he can get a bill passed to do that. But the President committing to this operation for, at least he says, past the one-month mark.
[04:10:17]
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
LEE: Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are demanding answers from the U.S. attorney general. They want to know why Ghislaine Maxwell, an accomplice of the late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, was suddenly moved to a low-security federal prison camp in Texas.
The transfer came after Maxwell met in private with the deputy attorney general to answer questions related to the Epstein investigation. House Democrats are requesting all documents and information related to Maxwell's transfer. They say it raises concerns of potential witness tampering or a government cover-up and may also potentially violate the Board of Prisons policies. Here's what the congressman who is leading this effort had to say.
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REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-WA): Normally, that's a process that takes months. You've got to demonstrate why there's some compelling reason you need to be moved from one facility to another, a change in the facts of your case or a change in the law.
And then, even if you're granted the permission to switch, it generally takes months to get off the wait list. Well, she bypassed that entire process and has just moved over to that facility. Obviously, the administration is sending the message to her that she will be rewarded for the proper cooperation.
Blanche liked what he heard her saying in terms of Donald Trump. And we know that's all they have been concerned about. They're not concerned about the victims. They're not concerned about ongoing sex abuse trafficking, if there's any that's taking place. What they're concerned about is Donald Trump, because they had an army of more than 1,000 FBI agents working around the clock searching for any mention of Donald Trump's name or any photograph or any video glimpse of him in all of these documents.
So we want everything turned over, and we want a transcript and the original recording of all of his interviews with her, because they sacked one of the attorneys who had been on that case for a long time. He didn't bring any of the line prosecutors with him, and Todd Blanche engaged in that questioning or that conversation totally on his own.
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LEE: Up next, a woman got stranded while driving through flash flooding in Tennessee, but then a law enforcement officer sprang into action, taking her to safety. That story is ahead.
And glacial melt is sending floodwaters surging in Alaska's capital city. And the Israeli military is moving closer to its planned takeover of Gaza City. We'll have details on the next phase of the operation after the break.
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LEE: A highway camera captured a law enforcement officer helping a woman during a flash flooding in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her vehicle became stranded in floodwaters after heavy storms on Tuesday. The officer picked her up and carried her on his back, trudging through knee-deep water to take her to safety.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the flooding has risen to four. That's after emergency crews found the remains of a man who was swept away by floodwaters. The other victims include two adults and a child whose car was crushed by a falling tree.
And in Alaska, a glacial outburst has caused a record-breaking river surge. Waves of water rush from a lake formed by the Mendenhall Glacier, flowing into a river running along the west side of the capital city of Juneau. CNN's Stephanie Elam has this story.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This glacial outburst is of concern for more than one reason. For one concern is the fact that this is water that is inundating down and close to the west side of Juneau. It is coming down from the Mendenhall Glacier.
And what has happened here is that there is a basin. It's called Suicide Basin. And this is where there's been some retreating of the glacier in this area. And so, in the time that it's cold, we see water and ice and snow accumulate there, until eventually it takes over, it goes over the edge of the glacier, and that water starts to seep out in large quantities.
This is the third August in a row that this has happened at this particular glacier. And so, because of that, there was much concern about flooding. The good news is, is that they hit their cresting point on Wednesday. And since then, the town is saying that it looks like the flood barriers that they put in place in 2024 have worked.
They're still keeping people on alert, because the flooding concerns go into Thursday. But, still, it looks like the barriers have done their job and have helped keep things out. Still, they're telling residents to stay safe. There's about 1,000 businesses and people in that part of Juneau that are close to this Mendenhall River that they're asking them to be safe, because things could change quickly.
But, overall, it does look like things have been OK, considering that, in 24 hours, the river rose seven-feet. That is a huge number, when you think about it. And this is also just another sign, this other concern here, that human-induced climate change is wreaking havoc on the globe.
We know that the Arctic, which includes Alaska, is warming at a pace that is two times as fast as the rest of the Earth. And so what we have seen in other places, not just here in Alaska, is that these glaciers are starting to thin and recede. And they're releasing a lot of that water, and that's part of the concern that we have here, in Alaska, for this event, and whether or not it will happen in future years. Back to you.
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LEE: A spike in temperatures is fueling heat waves and wildfires across Europe. This video was taken in Western Greece, where flames swept through a cement factory and olive tree orchards and forced mass evacuations.
In northern Portugal, hundreds of firefighters have been working to put out a blaze burning since Saturday. Helicopters have been called in to dump water on the flames. And not just residents, but livestock have been evacuated in Albania as high winds force farmers to move their animals to nearby rivers to avoid the blaze. The country's defense minister says it's been a critical week as forests and farmland burn across Albania.
The Israeli military has been hammering Gaza City ahead of its planned takeover. Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says 123 people were killed in a 24-hour period. Meanwhile, the IDF says its chief of staff has largely approved a new attack plan for the enclave, although it's not clear when it will begin. CNN's Oren Liebermann picks up this story.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Israel's military chief has approved what the military called his main concept for a new attack plan as part of the next phase of Israel's operation in Gaza, which will mark a major escalation after nearly two years of war. It was just days ago that the security cabinet approved the decision to occupy and take over Gaza City in northern Gaza over the objections of Israel's military chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir.
He had warned that such a phase in the military operation would risk the hostages, it would risk soldiers, it would also burden a military that's exhausted after nearly two years of war, as well as worsening Israel's international standing and risking worsening the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Despite his warnings, the security cabinet led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed forward with those plans, saying the first phase is the evacuation of Gaza City, up to a million Palestinians, and then the military part of the operation will begin. Now, the IDF didn't give any details about what this plan is that the military chief had approved, but the intention is clear. Israel is pushing forward with this plan, despite the warnings of the military.
As we see this happening, New Zealand's leadership, saying Netanyahu has lost the plot when it comes to the war in Gaza, and saying these plans for Gaza City are, quote, utterly, utterly unacceptable. So you see another member of the key U.S.-led security alliance, Five Eyes, warning of the consequences here, but realistically none of this has been able to head off Netanyahu and his plans for the next phase, an escalation of the war in Gaza, a takeover of Gaza City.
And he said just a few days ago that after that might come the occupation and takeover of the central camps in Gaza, signaling that at least, as the situation stands now, an end of the war is not something we will see imminently.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Jerusalem.
LEE: Israel is discussing the possible resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to South Sudan, according to the Associated Press. It's unclear how far the talks might have progressed with South Sudan, a country that's also struggling with war and starvation.
The South Sudanese foreign affairs ministry called the resettlement report baseless. Israel and the U.S. have encouraged voluntary migration from Gaza. The Israeli prime minister told i24NEWS that Israel is talking to several countries about this and that Palestinians are not being pushed out, but rather being allowed to leave. But most Palestinians remain deeply opposed to permanent resettlement, as do rights groups and regional allies.
On the eve of a highly anticipated meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents, there's growing concern about whether it will result in more than just tough talk. That's still ahead.
[04:24:12]
Plus, immigrant deportation flights are skyrocketing in the U.S., but the planes that are used to carry out those missions are getting harder to track. We'll explain why.
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LEE: European leaders are rallying behind Ukraine ahead of Friday's high stakes meeting between the U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The British prime minister will be hosting the Ukrainian president for talks at 10 Downing Street any minute now. This meeting in London comes a day after Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined his terms for peace talks with Russia during a virtual conference with the U.S. and European heads of state. President Trump issued this warning to his Russian counterpart ahead of their summit in Alaska on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Russia face any consequences if Vladimir Putin does not agree to stop the war after your meeting on Friday?
TRUMP: Yes, they will. Yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will the consequences be?
TRUMP: There will be --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sanctions? Tariffs?
TRUMP: There will be -- I don't have to say. There will be very severe consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: We spoke earlier with Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, about his expectations for Friday's summit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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STEVEN PIFER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Mr. Trump has given Putin at least four deadlines in the last three months and calling on Russia to change action.
