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Trump Again Threatens Sanctions On Russia, No Set Deadline; New School year Disrupted By Hoax Emergency Calls; GLP-1 Weight Loss Pill Closer To Regulatory Approval. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired August 27, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:50]
MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump has again renewed his threat of heavy economic sanctions on Russia if it doesn't end the fighting in Ukraine but is expressing hope that there's still a path for a peace deal.
The president's special envoy Steve Witkoff says he's "hopeful" that Russia and Ukraine will reach a deal by the end of this year or maybe even sooner. And in an interview Tuesday Witkoff also touched on one demand in Russia's peace proposal that the Ukrainians are not likely to agree with.
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STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: No one has done more, and I'm talking about in the last eight months, than this president in narrowing the issues between these two countries and bringing the sides close to a deal. The Russians have put a peace proposal on the table. It involved Donetsk. It may not be -- it may not be something that the Ukrainians can take.
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LEE: Meantime on the battlefield, Russia has reportedly captured two villages in Ukraine's southeastern Dnipro Pokrovsk region. Ukraine's military is dismissing that report as false.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins me now from London. Salma, what is the latest on this continued push for a peace deal?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So as President Trump sat down for a cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday, he began to make these comments to reporters about that peace process. He said that he was willing to impose economic sanctions and even allow economic war to take place with Russia if it would push them towards a peace deal.
But here's the thing -- he's made this threat time and time again. For weeks now he has issued and reissued this deadline of around two weeks' time. He said that he could potentially impose tough sanctions on Russia. But for the Kremlin this is a toothless threat, and they have in the past absolutely just spatted this away saying it is nothing new.
Still, of course, those peace efforts continue with President Trump's leadership. You played some of that sound there from the special envoy, Mr. Witkoff, talking about the possibility of reaching a deal by the end of the year.
In order to reach that deal the United States and European leaders are involved in trying to set up security guarantees for Ukraine. So these would be a backstop measure when and if a deal is reached to prevent Russia from attacking again. But Russia has already said it doesn't accept any security guarantees or any foreign troops on the ground, so that seems like a dead end in many ways.
The other thing that the special envoy and President Trump are working on is trying to have a sit-down meeting -- a bilateral meeting between President Zelenskyy and President Putin, something the Kremlin has yet again also batted away saying now is not the time. They're simply not ready. Maybe President Zelenskyy isn't the right person to sit with.
One of the things that stood out to me in President Trump's comments yesterday was when he was saying I have a certain power or a certain relationship. I'm the only one who can solve it. He seems to think that his sheer force of personality might resolve this conflict. Meanwhile on the ground, that's absolutely what's not taking place.
President Zelenskyy saying those Russian drone attacks and those Russian missiles continue to fly in and claim lives every single day. And Russia saying that it has now taken two villages in southeastern Ukraine as that diplomatic effort stalls, they are continuing to make gains on the ground. And the Ukrainian military, outmanned and outgunned, is struggling to fight back.
LEE: Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much for that update.
And coming up, the beginning of a new school year for U.S. universities is bringing with it a dangerous new problem. What local and campus authorities are doing about fake reports of active shooters.
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[05:39:06]
LEE: The Trump administration is not giving up on its demand for a half a billion dollar settlement from Harvard University. During a cabinet meeting Tuesday, President Trump told his education secretary "don't negotiate." The administration claims that it's cracking down on antisemitism on Harvard's campus and at other universities. And while several schools have given in to the demands in order to restore federal funding, Harvard is the only one to challenge the demands in court.
One cabinet member says the administration is having a blast threatening these schools. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says they are "having fun finding new ways to go after Harvard." And students and faculty at many U.S. universities should be settling in for the beginning of a new school year but instead several campuses have been shaken up by false reports of active shooters. At least one university has had two reports in just one week.
[05:40:00]
CNN's Josh Campbell reports.
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JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Law enforcement across the United States has been battling a wave of acts of so-called swatting taking place at educational universities as well as other institutions. Swatting is when someone calls in a hoax threat, such as an active shooter taking place at a location. That then prompting a massive police response causing chaos and can often be dangerous as well.
Now there were at least six of these incidents happening in the United States on Monday alone. Last week reports of shots fired at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga were called in. That prompting authorities to respond.
Just a few hours later a very similar incident taking place at Villanova University in the state of Pennsylvania. Take a listen here to one student who was there at the scene.
NICK NIEMCZYK, VILLANOVA LAW STUDENT: A lot of law enforcement on the scene. They were looking for the shooter or the perpetrator in the building. Um, but, you know, it was definitely a scary scene, and they did a great job of getting everyone out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the phone call like with your parents? Were they freaking out?
NIEMCZYK: Absolutely. They were -- they were very scared but they're very grateful I was OK. And I'm just very lucky.
CAMPBELL: Now even though we're talking about a hoax that didn't involve actual shots fired, these could be very dangerous. Sometimes people are injured as they're fleeing. There was at least one instance of a man being shot and killed by law enforcement who mistook him for a potential threat in a past incident of swatting.
Now authorities are vowing to go after and try to find the person or people who are responsible for these recent acts. Take a listen here to the district attorney outside Philadelphia.
JACK STOLLSTEIMER, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA: My office, the criminal investigation division, and the FBI -- we're all going to work to try to get to the bottom of who might have done this. Because if this was, indeed, a cruel hoax, this is a crime, and we will track you down if it's the last thing we do.
CAMPBELL: Now law enforcement agencies have learned from these past incidents and as they try to determine what could be a possible hoax, what could be a possible threat, they're looking at certain indicators to include if there's only one call coming in reporting an active shooter.
In this day and age when a real event occurs 911 is often flooded with eyewitnesses calling authorities. So if there's only one person making the call that can be a red flag. Authorities say that if the caller is dialing a non-emergency number rather than 911 that could be a red flag itself, as well as if the tone of the voice of the person making the call doesn't actually match the urgency of the moment. That is something that they've seen in the past as well.
As difficult as these are to investigate authorities say that often the perpetrators can be located overseas. There have been recent incidents of arrests and convictions. Here in California this year a teenager was sentenced to four years in federal prison for these very same types of calls.
Josh Campbell, CNN, Los Angeles.
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LEE: Still to come, Cracker Barrel says it's listening to its customers and stopping the rollout of a new logo design for the company amid a chorus of criticism.
And the company behind a popular weight loss drug is moving closer to its next big breakthrough. Those details just ahead.
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[05:47:30]
LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we're watching today.
President Trump says he's firing Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, but Cook is firing back. Her attorney says she will file a lawsuit challenging the president. Trump claims that a mortgage infraction allows him to fire Cook. The Federal Reserve says presidents can only fire governors for cause.
The U.S. has double import tariffs on India to 50 percent. It's one of the highest amounts that the U.S. is charging any country amid the global trade war. President Trump says this is punishment for buying Russian oil, which helps finance the war in Ukraine. India is vowing to retaliate.
And U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to hold a large meeting in the coming hours to discuss the war in Gaza. That's according to special envoy Steve Witkoff. The meeting will come just one day after thousands of protesters took part in a so-called "day of struggle" rally across Israel. They're demanding a ceasefire deal that would secure the release of the remaining hostages.
And in the coming hours Kilmar Abrego Garcia will appear before a U.S. federal judge as he tries to avoid being deported again. The Trump administration is threatening to send the Maryland man to Uganda months after he was wrongly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia is also renewing his bid for asylum in the U.S. If an immigration judge agrees to reconsider his application officials would be barred under federal law from removing him from the U.S. until the matter is resolved.
Abrego Garcia says he fled El Salvador more than a decade ago to escape gang violence.
And shifting gears now, after a week a mounting backlash it's out with the new and in with the old at the nostalgic country dining establishment Cracker Barrel. In a social media post on Tuesday the American company announced its latest minimalist logo would be scrapped in favor of the classic old-timer. This comes after corporate shares tanked 12 percent in the days following the reveal of the redesign.
President Trump, one of the chief critics, congratulated Cracker Barrel on abandoning its new logo, wishing the chain "good luck into the future."
And meanwhile, the pill form of popular weight loss injections is now a step closer to reality. Eli Lilly says it will file for global regulatory approval of its GLP-1 pill based on the results of a recent trial. Currently, their injections are used to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes.
[05:50:10]
CNN's Jacqueline Howard explains the results.
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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: The company Eli Lilly says that its GLP-1 pills were found to be safe and have compelling efficacy results in new phase three trial data. Based on these results the company says it plans to move forward with filing for regulatory approval.
Now, what we know about the phase three trial, it included adults with diabetes who also had obesity or were overweight. Some of the participants were given the GLP-1 pill, some were given a placebo.
After 72 weeks, the company says the participants who were given the GLP-1 pill at its highest dose lost on average 22.9 pounds. And in comparison, the adults who were given the placebo only lost about five pounds. Also during those 72 weeks the company says that the GLP-1 pill lowered A1C levels on average by 1.8 percent.
So based on these positive results the company says it wants to file for approval and if approved, it wants to make the GLP-1 pill available to the public.
Now, in the trial some of the side effects were similar to the side effects we tend to see with the GLP-1 injections. This is nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation. Again, gastrointestinal symptoms. And this medication -- at its core it is a GLP-1, so it's very similar to the current injections on the market. The only difference is how the medicine is delivered.
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LEE: And love is in the air as millions of excited fans react to the news of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's engagement. Coming up, we'll bring you the latest on the proposal announcement that is taking the music world by storm.
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[05:56:25]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.
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LEE: A successful flight at last for SpaceX's giant Starship. The spacecraft that NASA is counting on to take astronauts back to the moon had a clean test flight on Tuesday, but the program has been struggling with a series of explosive failures for months. This marks the first successful test flight of Starship since November 2024. Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever constructed.
Cadillac has revealed its Formula One team for its inaugural season, signing Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas on multiyear deals. Both drivers are returning to the grid after being dropped from their previous teams at the end of the 2024 season. Between them Perez and Bottas have racked up 16 wins, more than 100 podium appearances, and more than 520 race starts.
And what's in a haircut? Plenty if you are Carlos Alcaraz. People are talking about the Spanish second-seed after he arrived for his first round match at the U.S. Open, debuting a new and pretty severe buzzcut.
Alcaraz blamed his brother for the new look saying he botched the assignment. But he joked that the new hairdo made him feel faster and more aerodynamic. And he might be right. The world number two cruised to a straight sets victory in his first round clash.
And it is finally official. Two of America's most beloved superstars, pop queen Taylor Swift and Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce are engaged. The happy couple posted these images to social media on Tuesday, which have since, of course, gone viral.
CNN's Lisa Respers France has the latest.
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LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER (voiceover): Two years in the making Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dropped the bomb with concurrent posts on Instagram in signature poetic style with a simple nod to their so high school celebrated romance alongside fairytale engagement photos with the caption "Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married."
And within moments reaction to the monumental Taylor and Travis news exploded across the screen as Swifties celebrated the spectacular engagement rings designed by Travis in what appears to be the shape of a football field -- an old mine brilliant cut rectangular diamond.
There was the elaborate floral garden forest setting and Taylor's engagement outfit, a strappy striped Ralph Lauren silk-blend dress, which is now sold out on line.
The landmark event coming on the heels of Taylor announcing her new album "The Life of A Showgirl."
TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER-SONGWRITER: It just comes from, like, the most infectiously joyful, wild, dramatic place.
FRANCE (voiceover): Eleven days before Travis Kelce's season opener with the Kansas City Chiefs and 13 days -- Taylor's favorite number -- after she appeared on his podcast "New Heights" -- an appearance showcasing the happy couple that set a podcast audience record.
SWIFT: That effervescence has come through on this record.
FRANCE (voiceover): Taylor and Travis mania now reaching a fever pitch with the anticipation of a storybook ceremony as romantic as some of her recent lyrics --
SWIFT: Singing "So High School."
FRANCE (voiceover): -- with Swifties hoping for a royal wedding and happily ever after, just like her song suggests.
SWIFT: Singing "The Alchemy."
FRANCE (voiceover): Lisa Respers France, CNN.
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[06:00:00]
LEE: Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is getting personal in season two of her Netflix show "WITH LOVE, MEGHAN," which was released on Tuesday. In episode three she admitted to her guests that she knew she loved her now husband Prince Harry on their third date. Of course, that date ended up lasting for five days as the two camped out in Botswana.
The couple moved to the U.S. in 2020, and they now live in California with their two children. Meghan also talked about missing life in the U.K., especially a radio station called "Magic."
And thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START this morning. I'm MJ Lee in Washington, D.C. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
