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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Signs Bill To Release All Epstein Files; Prosecutor: Full Grand Jury Never Reviewed Final Charges; Source: Meeting In Kyiv Aims To Revive U.S. Push For Peace; Israeli Strikes On Gaza Kill 32 Palestinians On Wednesday. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 20, 2025 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:24]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. Thank you so much for being with us this morning. I'm Brian Abel. Rahel Solomon is off.

It's Thursday, November 20th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: President Trump has signed the bill compelling Justice Department to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: They now have 30 days to make all of this public. There's a huge loophole in the law itself, though.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: The case against James Comey in serious jeopardy. The U.S. attorney admitting that the full grand jury never saw the final indictment.

TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: And it is grounds to have the case immediately terminated.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A potential new avenue for diplomacy that's been pushed by senior Russian officials and indeed encourage, it seems to by the White House.

OLEKSANDR MEREZKHO, CHAIR, FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE IN UKRAINE'S PARLIAMENT: This plan seems to be aiming at surrender of Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

ABEL: The countdown is on until the release of all the Epstein files, after President Donald Trump signed a bill directing the U.S. Justice Department to make all material related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein public. The president shared the news on social media, calling the move a push for transparency while also taking jabs at some Democrats for their past connections to Epstein.

The DOJ now has 30 days to release the files, but some lawmakers are concerned the administration may find a way to block it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Recourse if the Justice Department does not release these Epstein files?

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): I hope that doesn't happen because that would, of course, defy the act of Congress and the stated intention of the president to release this information.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): I don't think they'll do that, Alex. I think I'd be really surprised if they tried that.

SEN. ERIC SCHMITT (R-MO): I've been saying for a long time that I think that all the credible information that can be released should be released, and so that's where we're at.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): At the end of the day, it will all come out because those investigations will be concluded at some point. And then the president, leadership of the Department of Justice will be held accountable if it fails to disclose what needs to be revealed.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Just release the damn files, period. I don't care about how the sausage is made. I just want it out in the open for everybody to consume.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says the administration is committed to following the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What changed since then that you launched this investigation?

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Information that has come for -- information. There's information that -- new information, additional information. And again, we will continue to follow the law to investigate any leads. If there are any victims, we encourage all victims to come forward and we will continue to provide maximum transparency under the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: CNN's Evan Perez has details on the next steps for the Justice Department.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump has signed the bill that requires the Justice Department to release documents from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The question now is what happens next?

The Justice Department has an ongoing investigation. Pam Bondi, the attorney general, has assigned that to prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. And that investigation is now ongoing.

During a press conference, the attorney general addressed what happens now that that investigation is ongoing. And now that Congress is requiring the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.

Here's what she had to say.

REPORTER: Does the new investigation by the Southern District of New York, U.S. attorney prevent the department from releasing all of the remaining files?

BONDI: Wo we have released 33,000 -- over 33,000 Epstein documents to the Hill, and we'll continue to follow the law and to have maximum transparency.

PEREZ: Now, within the next 30 days, we anticipate that at least some of these documents are going to be released by the justice department. What is not going to be released is some of the terabytes of material that the Justice Department collected in its investigation of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his accomplice, who allegedly helped traffic some of these young women, those any videos or any material that depicts child sex abuse is not going to be released by the Justice Department.

Now, what is in play are some of the documents that might show some of the communications with people that were associated with Epstein, even people who are not credibly accused of any wrongdoing, people who continue to associate with him even after he was convicted in Florida for sex crimes.

[05:05:18]

Those documents are likely now to see the light of day. The question is, how soon will that happen? Because there is an ongoing investigation, that material is now part of that investigation. And we anticipate that there might be some delay in when we see some of that material.

Now for the Justice Department and certainly for the attorney general, there's a bit of whiplash, because just a few days ago, the president ordered that investigation. And then just a couple days later, he ordered Republicans or told Republicans that they should vote for the release of that very material that the Justice Department now is trying to figure out what to do with it.

And so now, we wait to see when we can see that information. The attorney general says that, that she's going to comply with the law. How soon that happens is everyone's guess.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ABEL: Evan Perez reporting there.

Meanwhile, Harvard University is investigating one of its professors and president emeritus for his past ties with Jeffrey Epstein. A Harvard spokesperson says that Larry Summers will not finish teaching this semester.

Now, this comes after the release of emails last week that showed years of communication between Summers and Epstein. Prior to the announcement, Summers had said he would continue teaching.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY SUMMERS, PROFESSOR & PRESIDENT EMERITUS, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Some of you will have seen my statement of regret expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein and that I said that I'm going to step back from public activities. But for a time, but I think it's very important to fulfill my teaching obligations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Summers says he is also resigning from his position on the OpenAI board.

Well, prosecutors have run into another problem in their case against former FBI Director James Comey. Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan now admits the grand jury never reviewed the final set of charges. Only the foreperson signed off on indictments after Halligan removed one of the three counts. Prosecutors say that shouldn't matter because the grand jury voted to indict Comey on the two remaining counts.

Comey's attorneys also claim Halligan misled the grand jury about Comey's rights. The evidence and the law. Comey is accused of lying to Congress during a 2020 hearing about whether he authorized leaks. He says it's a vindictive prosecution because he's been an outspoken critic of President Trump.

Comey wants the charges dropped.

CNN spoke with former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb about the case against Comey, specifically the fact that the entire grand jury never saw those indictments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: It's a per se constitutional violation, and it is grounds to have the case immediately terminated. That's what will happen here, I believe, and only somebody, you know, wholly inexperienced and inept would have taken that approach. And that's what happens, you know, in a vindictive prosecution where the president orders a revenge prosecution, the attorney general appoints -- the attorney general and the president appoint somebody who has no criminal experience. And, you know, she takes the case into the grand jury. And you know,

does a dumpster fire worth of constitutional violations. This wasn't the only one. As we know, earlier in the week, we found out that she misled the grand jury with regard to James Comey's Fifth Amendment privilege and also urged them to go ahead and indict no matter what they thought of the record, because the government would have more and better evidence at trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: President Trump says he will host New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House on Friday. The president has clashed repeatedly with the self-declared Democratic socialist over the past few months, often calling him a communist. And Mamdani had short, sharp words for Trump and his election night victory speech. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: So, Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you. Turn the volume up. Hear me, President Trump, when I say this to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Now, Trump threatened to withhold federal funds from New York City if Mamdani was elected. Mamdani says he hopes their meeting will benefit New Yorkers who struggle to afford the most expensive city in the U.S.

In the coming hours, a meeting is expected to get underway in Kyiv that aims to bring stalled U.S. peace efforts in Ukraine back to life. The White House has been working on a new peace plan. Behind the scenes, according to a source familiar with the talks.

[05:10:04]

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet a delegation from the Pentagon to discuss the U.S. push for peace. We're also getting first reactions from E.U. foreign ministers who are meeting in Brussels this morning. While Mr. Zelensky says the death toll from Russia's strikes in western Ukraine is growing and scores of people are still missing,

CNN's Clare Sebastian is live in London with all of these late developments for us, Clare.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Good morning, Brian.

Look, we don't know what's in this purported peace plan that has been discussed, according to U.S. and Russian sources, telling us that these talks have been going on behind the scenes. We don't know what's in the plan as of yet, but I think the very fact that those discussions have been taking place for Ukraine creates really a sense of whiplash here, because this comes just weeks after we saw the Trump administration shelve plans for a Trump Putin summit in Budapest, slapped sanctions on Russia's biggest oil companies.

We saw this week Ukraine openly talking about the fact that it had deployed U.S.-made ATACMS missiles on Russian soil. So, I think, you know, this is a bit of a turnaround. It's a bit confusing, and its raising old fears that the U.S. is trying to end this quickly by forcing Ukraine potentially into concessions.

Of course, again, we don't know what's exactly in this plan as of yet, but its causing alarm in Ukraine and its certainly causing some alarm, albeit carefully worded in Europe this morning, as foreign ministers gather to meet the E.U.'s top diplomat, saying, look, we support any efforts to end this war, but with a major caveat.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: Of course, for any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board. So, this is very clear. Also, we have to understand that in this war, there is one aggressor and one victim. So, we haven't heard of any concessions on the Russian side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: Not only no concessions on the Russian side, but they are actually escalating the violence and the news of these talks happening behind the scenes in this potential new plan came as Russia had launched a major combined drone and missile attack on Western Ukraine. You can see the pictures there this morning in the western town of Ternopil. The death toll from strikes on two residential buildings, now up to 26.

President Zelenskyy saying this morning that 22 are still missing and the injury toll approaching 100. So, this was a massive attack.

I think the one of light for Ukraine in this is that we do have a high level Pentagon delegation in Kyiv at the moment, set to meet with President Zelenskyy, that suggests that the Trump administration is still engaged, still keen to find out what's happening on the ground. But of course, a lot of confusion about the way forward here. I think the one piece of clarity we do have, of course, based on those images there, is that Russia's war goals have not changed -- Brian.

ABEL: All right. Clare Sebastian for us in London -- Clare, thank you.

And moving now to Brussels, where we are joined by Polish foreign minister and deputy prime minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, who's been attending the meeting of fellow top E.U. diplomats in the Belgian capital.

Mr. Foreign Minister, I know you are busy, so thank you very much for your time.

And I'll get right to it. Ukraine's chair of the foreign affairs committee talked with my colleague Jim Sciutto about President Donald Trump's secretly drafted peace plan. I want you to hear what he said and then get your reaction on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLEKSANDR MEREZKHO, CHAIR, FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE IN UKRAINE'S PARLIAMENT: We don't know much yet about the details of this so- called plan, but to me, it looks really suspicious and ludicrous because to me, it looks like a summary of the previous Russian ludicrous and absolutely unacceptable for Ukraine demands. Well, this plan seems to be aiming at surrender of Ukraine, and for us, it's totally unacceptable. And I do hope that it's not serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: So ludicrous is how he characterized the proposed plan. How would you, sir?

RADOSLAW SIKORSKI, POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, we commend all efforts to end this bloody war, and it really is bloody as you've just reported.

But of course, as Secretary Rubio says, for peace to be durable, it has to be fair, and it has to leave Ukraine able to defend itself. I won't comment on the leaks, but the Ukrainian foreign minister has just told us that any attempts to put a cap on Ukraine's ability to defend itself against aggression would be unacceptable.

ABEL: Do you see from any information you've received this new proposal as anything different than previous ones? Any information on the rumors that this plan is being crafted without Ukraine input?

And also, can you -- can you give us a sense of how you and your fellow European counterparts are interacting with the U.S. to either craft a plan or try to turn the head of the U.S. president away from one that's favorable to Russia?

SIKORSKI: Well, look, this is a matter of European security.

[05:15:00]

Poland is a neighbor of both Russia and Ukraine, and the E.U. is helping Ukraine more, including militarily, than the U.S., and also financially more than the U.S.

So, we have a much bigger stake in this than the U.S., and therefore, Ukraine, but also Europe has to be involved.

ABEL: And, Foreign Minister, your country, sir, has become more involved in the war's escalations as of late between the train line attack and scrambling jets to protect NATO airspace. What is more concerning to you at this moment? Deliberate attacks or miscalculations as a scale of this war appears to be increasing?

SIKORSKI: We've just been a victim of Russia's deliberate attempt to cause a rail crash. By incompetence and miracle, a train was not derailed, but it -- but the intention was clearly to kill Polish citizens. We've had arsons before. We've had assassinations in other E.U. countries before.

But this was an attempt. And we know which GRU unit tasked the perpetrators to cause mayhem and death. It's completely unacceptable. And as part of our response, I've just decided to spend $100 million on American weapons to be delivered to Ukraine.

ABEL: Okay, did you and your -- and I want to follow up on that in a moment, but did you and your counterparts learn anything new about Russia's evolving hybrid tactics from that rail attack?

SIKORSKI: Well, Russia hires assassins and saboteurs in Ukraine. They sometimes pick Ukrainian citizens to do these kinds of things in Ukraine and in Europe. And then they escape back to Belarus or Russia. We share all the relevant information with our allies.

ABEL: Okay. Poland is closing the Russian consulate in Gdansk, the last in the country. What more needs to be done? You just mentioned some of it. The $100 million in arms going to Ukraine. But what else needs to be done? And do you share the opinion of President Zelensky that President Trump is actually the only person with real power to end this war?

SIKORSKI: We need to issue this reparations loan, to Ukraine on frozen Russian assets that would sustain Ukraine financially for three years. And I don't think Russia can sustain this war for another three years.

We also need to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats to the countries where they are accredited in the E.U. Poland has already done so.

ABEL: And, Mr. Foreign Minister, you've this week accused your own president of fueling anti-E.U. rhetoric. How concerned are you that Polish unity is fraying at a time when its needed most?

SIKORSKI: Polish foreign policy is run by the government, and we have agreement in our coalition to continue to support Ukraine.

ABEL: Okay. Radoslaw Sikorski, appreciate your time. Thank you very much for joining us.

SIKORSKI: Thank you.

ABEL: Well, just weeks into a delicate ceasefire, Israeli strikes on Gaza killed dozens of people and prompt a grim warning from Hamas. The details ahead on CNN.

And later, more on the law requiring the U.S. Justice Department to release the Epstein files and the potential roadblocks to making everything public.

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[05:23:03] ABEL: Hamas is warning of a dangerous escalation in Gaza after Israeli strikes across the enclave killed at least 28 Palestinians on Wednesday. Health officials in Gaza say nine children were among those killed.

It is the latest episode of violence amid a fragile ceasefire in the enclave.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Jerusalem for us and joins us live now.

Nic, what is Israel saying about what prompted the attacks in the first place?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. And just -- just to give you an update from here as well, we have got new numbers from Palestinian health officials inside of Gaza. They say 32 people were killed. In total, 12 of them children. Eight of them women, 88 people injured.

What the Israeli authorities have said and the IDF has said is that they responded to an attack by terrorists, they say, against IDF on the ground inside of Gaza. They say no IDF personnel were injured in that attack, but that was why they responded. The most deadly strike just south of Gaza City, Khan Younis as well, was the location for other deadly strikes.

But Hamas is rejecting that. Hamas is saying they did not attack IDF forces, and they're saying they're calling on the U.S. now to step in the U.S. administration to step in and follow up on its commitments to keep a ceasefire in the language Hamas uses is that the United States should be forcing Israel to halt its attacks in Gaza. That's their perspective.

But all this sort of plays into a narrative now where both Hamas and Israel are very clearly divided over the issue about what happens next in Gaza, which has taken a step forward with that new U.N. Security Council resolution, which gives legal authority to President Trump's 20-point plan, which calls for an international stabilization force and an oversight body, the board of peace.

This is what Hamas is objecting to doesn't want the board of peace calls it international guardianship, doesn't want an international stabilizing force that's going to disarm it.

[05:25:07]

And Israel is calling for that same body to be instrumental in forcing Hamas to get rid of their weapons and remove Hamas's threat from based in Gaza against Israel.

So there's already, you know, a strong disconnect over the views of how this security council resolution should go forward. So, in a way, you're seeing those tensions play out on the ground. It's become clearer. Both sides are making very clear what's important to them out of that Security Council resolution. And we see the differences. And that said, there is no international stabilizing force. And I

don't think anyone is even putting a timeline yet on when that could be in place. At least months would be the best expectation from what I understand from sources I'm talking to here.

So, the potential for more breakdowns in the ceasefire are real. They're live. They can happen. They could happen at any moment. For right now, though, no fighting, no strikes going on.

ABEL: All right. Nic Robertson for us in Jerusalem -- Nic, thank you.

Saudi Arabia is announcing a flurry of joint ventures with U.S. tech companies worth billions of dollars. The kingdom is hoping to stake its claim in artificial intelligence through partnerships with Cisco, AMD, Qualcomm and Elon Musk's xAI.

Meanwhile, the son of a U.S. citizen held in Saudi Arabia says President Trump has secured his father's release, Saad Ibrahim Almadi was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2022 for criticizing the Saudi government. He was released a year later, but remained in Riyadh under a travel ban. His family said late Wednesday he was on his way back to the U.S.

Just ahead, former Vice President Dick Cheney will soon be laid to rest, and politicians on both sides of the aisle will be at the funeral, with some very notable absences. We have more on that after the break.

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