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One World with Zain Asher

Trump: Powell Is A Terrible Fed Chief; Bahrain Crown Prince On Iran: The Ball's In Their Court; Divide Deepens In MAGA Base Over Epstein Investigation; Dentist On Trial For Allegedly Poisoning Wife's Protein Shakes; A Look At The Surprising Diversity Of Bordeaux's Economy. Aired 12- 1p ET

Aired July 16, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:15:05]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You've been listening to quite a range full conversation there the president had with the reporters in the

Oval Office that he'd been sitting with the Crown Prince of Bahrain, who was just taking it all in as the president was really focused more on

domestic issues.

He started the conversation by speaking about the region, the strikes in Iran and the cooperation and longstanding relationship between Bahrain, the

United States. But the president really making some news when asked about new reports that he was considering firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell. He

continued bashing the Fed Chair as he has for a number of months now about not cutting rates in time.

But then the president, while also saying he is not considering or taking seriously firing him right now, throwing out what many of you as a

potential red herring for him losing his job. And that is an investigation into a multi-billion dollar project in renovation -- in renovating the Fed

itself and the building and structure there.

[12:20:11]

So quite interesting. Very --

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: -- notable to hear from the president weighing in on this once again.

ASHER: So much to get to. I want to bring in, CNN's senior White House reporter Betsy Klein. We have a whole team standing by for us.

But, Betsy, let me start with you because another issue that, of course, he touched on in addition to Syria, in addition to some of the other issues

that were discussed there, is of course the Jeffrey Epstein drama that has really divided as we know, MAGA Republicans.

We know that Donald Trump has tried to squarely put the blame on his predecessors, on Obama and on Biden, even though it's worth noting that

Jeffrey Epstein was actually arrested and committed suicide in 2019 when Donald Trump was president.

Just walk us through how the president is handling this fallout.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, all of this essentially amounts to a fight between President Trump and the MAGA movement that he

created. We are hearing from so many of the president's staunchest MAGA supporters, these loyalists, some of the people who are defending him

regularly on television, who have really made a brand for themselves off of being Trump supporters. And they are so frustrated by what they say is a

lack of transparency in this report that's been released.

The president defending Pamela Bondi, his attorney general, who has really borne the brunt of the criticism and the aftermath of the memo that the

Justice Department and FBI released last week that essentially concluded that Epstein died by suicide and that there was no so-called client list.

But the president earlier today posted to social media really marking a major escalation, intensification of this fight. He said, quote, my past

supporters have bought into this, his words, bullshit, hook line and sinker. Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats' work. I

don't want their support anymore.

The president had really spent the last few days seeking to downplay this controversy. He said that it was something that really didn't merit his

team's time, that they had other more important things to do, like touting his successes.

But at the same time, he is fielding this growing outrage from his face. He described it as a hoax started by Democrats.

He also expressed some openness for the first time to releasing additional documents. He said, whatever is credible, she can release, of course,

referring to his attorney general, Pamela Bondi there. He said, if a document is credible, she can release it.

But again, he said he'd rather talk about subjects like the successes that he's had. He said, quote, we have bigger problems than Epstein.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Quite a huge shift in narrative change for the president overnight now to say that this is a Comey-Obama-Biden makeup, that they

actually cooked up these Epstein files. That -- that was not the case. And we know that this was his own base and some of his own cabinet members who

had been moving forward all of these years with these conspiracy theories now. And it's causing more and more friction within the party.

I do want to go to Vanessa Yurkevich and back to this increasing concern on Wall Street now and speculation about the future of Fed Chair Jerome

Powell. The president, on the one hand, saying after bashing him repeatedly, saying that he's not going or not seriously thinking about

firing him.

But, Vanessa, a number of times the president on his own, aside from saying that Republicans want to see him fired, brought up this new investigation

and potentially a cause for him to fire him, if that's ultimately what happens into budget renovations and how much money was actually spent in

renovations at the Fed itself.

For those who aren't familiar with this, walk us through it.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So the Supreme Court essentially said that the only way that the president could

potentially fire the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, is for cause.

And the cause or the fraud that the president has pointed to, time and time again, is this multi-billion dollar renovation that is happening at the

Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, D.C.

But before he went into that, he did say initially that in terms of -- he was asked many times, are you planning on firing Jerome Powell? He said, I

don't rule out anything, but I think it's highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud.

And that comes back to what I was just talking about, is that the administration believes that Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal

Reserve, has mismanaged these renovations, that the initial plans that they put into place are now wildly different, including going over budget by

quite a bit. The initial renovation budget was about $1.7 billion. Now, it's totaling $2.5 billion.

[12:25:04]

Jerome Powell, though, actually just recently appointed the Federal Reserve's Inspector General to re-look at these renovations, to re-look at

the budget. But this seems to be the one thing that President Trump is holding on to in terms of potential cause to fire Jerome Powell.

He has said that he wants to fire him, but he remains sort of in lockstep with the public verbiage that what he's been saying that he's not planning

on firing him, at least today.

Markets there, you see. Look at on your screen, that -- that dip, that red that you're seeing on your screen. That was when all of these reports

started swirling about this meeting that the president had Tuesday night with conservatives, with Republicans, where allegedly he held up a letter,

a termination letter that was drafted for Jerome Powell.

The president since then said that there was no such letter, but he did say that he floated the idea of firing Jerome Powell, the concept of firing

him, and he asked the members in the room what they thought. And he says that almost every one of them said, I should.

Now, President Trump said, though, that he is not planning on firing Jerome Powell, that he is much more conservative than some of those opinions that

were given in the room. And you see there on your screen the Dow recovering from that.

But you can just see how much of a worry Wall Street has and markets have, even just around the conversation of firing Jerome Powell, the head of the

Federal Reserve. This is something that is unprecedented. This is something that would have serious economic repercussions.

And, of course, this all stems from the fact that President Trump wants Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, something they have not done, the Fed

has not done all year long.

The next meeting is just in two weeks where many investors, 95 percent of investors on Wall Street, believe that the Federal Reserve will continue to

hold rates steady. That is going to be a problem for the president who believes that interest rates should be much lower, closer to one, one and a

half percent.

Ultimately, the Federal Reserve acts as a voting body. It's not just up to Jerome Powell to make these decisions. But, of course, he is the head of

the Federal Reserve. And that is the person that President Trump for months now has really focused in on calling him Mr. Too Late, saying that he's too

late to lower interest rates. But as he has said today, not firing him, he said it's very unlikely.

GOLODRYGA: Again, blaming Biden. Biden did not appoint Jerome Powell. He appointed to another term, but he was initially appointed.

ASHER: Appointed by Trump himself.

All right. Vanessa, stand by. Nic, let me bring you in because obviously we've spent some time talking about all of the domestic issues.

But if you think about what the Crown Prince of Bahrain and President Trump are set to talk about, obviously, they are going to be squarely focused on

the various crises, plural, happening across the Middle East. Obviously, a big talker is, of course, going to be the $17 billion investment that

Bahrain has promised.

But also the issue of -- of Gaza, because we know that ordinary Bahrainis do support the Palestinian population.

And one of the first things that President Trump spoke about at the start of the meeting was the issue of Iran, essentially patting himself on the

bat for the U.S. strikes in Iran. Bahrain has a complicated relationship with Iran.

We saw the crown prince there supporting these strikes, and essentially saying that, look, it is -- it is in Iran's best interest to reach some

kind of deal with the United States as it pertains to nuclear weapons. Just walk us through that, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. And he also mentioned, and we've got a sense of it, when he mentioned that the concern

that Bahrain and others in the Gulf, frankly, had had over the weekend when the United States did launch that strike on Iran.

And, you know, he said on Sunday, we were concerned about where all this was going to go. But by Monday, because there was no second round of

strikes, it -- it all began to become clear, and the situation settled.

But, you know, from a Bahraini perspective, in the days prior to the U.S. strikes, just when Israel alone was striking Iran. They had told most of

the civil servants to work from home, told the public to stay off the main highways, had tested the early warning alarm and alert system.

So there was a lot of trepidation by Bahrainis about what was happening. And the -- the way that the Crown Prince is aligning himself with the

position of the United States about the possibility, you know, and -- and the benefits for Iran for coming forward for negotiations, you know, I

think that's one part of the picture.

But the other part is quite clearly that Bahrain benefits from its relationship with the United States, that it has the protection from

patriot missile systems, that it purchased a number of years ago, clearly looking at strengthening those defenses as well, while it hosts the U.S.

Fifth Fleet, which is a huge potential target in an escalation of conflict in the region.

[12:30:59]

GOLODRYGA: All right. And another escalating conflict in the region that was raised as well, just moments ago, was what we're seeing transpire in

Syria with the sectarian factions and increased violence there. Israel even getting involved now as a border of Syria saying that it is protecting the

Druze community in Syria.

The Secretary of State, spoke out about this saying that it is of concern and that he is speaking to all sides and are hoping to have an announcement

regarding de-escalation soon.

But this is another issue for the president to focus on and perhaps worry about because he's the one who ultimately decided to lift sanctions on the

new government there, the acting government of Al-Sharaa after the takeover of Bashar al-Assad just seven months ago, Nic.

ROBERTSON: Yes. And Israel's actions and military spokesman speaking on these issues in the past few hours, clearly indicates that they don't trust

Al-Sharaa, that they don't trust his military or his control over his military or elements in that military which they say were former ISIS

elements.

Clearly, that level of trust between countries like Bahrain, the Gulf -- the Gulf States, the United States puts a higher degree of faith in Al-

Sharaa to control his military. And what Israel has done today by hitting the defense ministry in Damascus twice, by hitting the presidential palace

in their view is send a very clear message to that leadership in Damascus that they need to get under control or back their forces off this large

Druze community in the town of Suwayda for two reasons according to this military official, one, because of its proximity 40 miles or so from the

Israeli border and wanting to make sure that you don't end up with ISIS or other similar elements on the border with Israel, but also to protect this

brotherly Druze community.

Many Druze, of course, live not just in Israel, not just in Syria, Lebanon as well. The concern -- the concern to protect that community. And we've

learned, and I think this goes to what Secretary of State Rubio has been -- was saying they're hoping to get a clearer message later this evening.

I think a lot of people look in at that situation hearing from the interior ministry in Damascus saying that they now have a ceasefire agreement around

Suwayda that one part of the Druze community there appears to buy into which would give security in that area jointly between the Druze community

and other local officials in that province.

But there are other Druze leaders, spiritual leaders who say absolutely not we need international protection look towards Israel for support in this

context.

And so it's not clear, and I think this is what Secretary Rubio is getting at whether what Damascus thinks it's achieved in terms of a ceasefire is

really going to hold, because we've seen one breakdown in recent days as well. And, of course, the stakes are high because instability here will

have an effect across the region.

ASHER: All right. Nic Robertson live for us there. Vanessa Yurkevich, Betsy Klein, thank you all so much. We'll be right back with more after the short

break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:35:56]

GOLODRYGA: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. We just heard President Trump lash out again at the amount of attention the Jeffrey Epstein files are getting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's all been a big hoax. It's perpetrated by the Democrats. And some stupid Republicans and foolish

Republicans fall into the net. And so they try and do the Democrats' work.

The Democrats are good for nothing other than these hoaxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Well, this comes as some of the President's most loyal allies in Congress aren't satisfied with the amount of information shared about files

on Epstein, an accused sex trafficker.

Time now for "The Exchange." Joining us is Republican strategist and founder of Bluestack Strategies, Maura Gillespie. Maura, it's good to see

you.

So if people are getting whiplash now hearing the President saying that the Epstein files have all been perpetrated now by the Democrats, I'd like to

remind viewers of what really happened and how this actually became a problem for the President, put very succinctly by Marc Short this morning.

He was on CNN. And he, of course, was the former chief of staff to former Vice President Pence during Trump's first term. Here's how he laid it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO MIKE PENCE: Last year itself, during the campaign cycle, you're now Attorney General, your FBI Director, your

Deputy FBI Director, your Vice President all proclaimed that there's a lot of nefarious information in those files and they're going to make sure that

they're released.

And then you come into office and you say, I have the files on my desk. And then you say that we've had an issue that released the files to a group of

social media influencers. And then your narrative becomes actually there are no files.

And yet, now the narrative is that the files were created by Comey, Obama, and Hillary. I think it's quite a remarkable narrative arc.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: And that is the actual narrative arc.

How much of a problem is this for the President and the Republican Party in his base right now?

MAURA GILLESPIE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's a -- it's actually a big problem because this is -- this idea of Trump can usually get away with it,

right? He can usually convince his supporters that it's a hoax. It was his last line just a few minutes ago. He said it's a hoax, the hoax, the hoax.

And that usually works, but it's not sticking. And now by calling everyone who is questioning him, childish and stupid people, I don't think that's

going to sit well. I don't know how much abuse that his supporters can take, but this is clearly someone who is very angry, very defiant and

frustrated that his attempts to push the blame off on Clinton and Obama didn't work.

So now, he's just going to double down on defiance and disparaging, which is an unfortunate thing because Republicans in Congress are stuck kind of

in the middle there trying to decide who do they align with?

Do they ask for more transparency, which is what they all campaigned on? And what they told their constituents they were fighting for? Or do they

stand behind the President no matter what he says and does? And so I think that that's what you're seeing play out right now is -- is a real problem.

[12:40:58]

But I will say too, you know, I think that for Republicans talking about it, right, you had -- Mike -- Speaker Mike Johnson talked to reporters in

interview yesterday, Republicans talking about this, that's a problem for Trump.

When Democrats, you know, take this up and want to focus on it so heavily, that actually benefits Trump. So it's probably better for them to focus

more so on the Big, Beautiful Bill didn't like. The polling there seems to be in their favor.

Democratic strategists, I wouldn't tell them to focus on this. I think Republicans talking about it is the actual problem for the president.

ASHER: Yes, absolutely. And when -- obviously over the past sort of eight years or 10 years almost, we've gotten to know President Trump quite well.

One of the strategies that he employs when he's cornered or when there are headlines that he doesn't like is the sort of tried and true strategy of

deflecting, of coming up with sort of other headlines for the media to talk about.

How likely is it that Donald Trump is going to in the coming days and months, employ that strategy, i.e. make news for other reasons, something

outlandish that we might see in the press, for example? And that just being a strategy to get everybody to stop talking about Epstein.

GILLESPIE: I would expect that to happen. It doesn't happen today. It will happen by tomorrow. I truly believe that he has seen that work in his

favor. But he also likes being part of the -- the new cycle when it serves him well.

He enjoys kind of riling it up and seeing how much control he can have over the media. And what they talk about from one minute to the next. He likes

to play the stock market, right? He likes to say that, you know, again, with the whole tariff deadline moving from April to July to August.

You know, he's playing with things as he knows that he has that kind of power and that control. And I think that it then becomes incumbent upon

members of Congress, those in leadership, to take the step back and to not necessarily feed into that because it's going to be really important.

And the media as well, not necessarily always feed into his attempts because I do think that you're going to have some of those in the MAGA base

that he is now calling stupid people, getting very upset about this.

I don't think they're going to let this go because so much of the campaign focused on the Department of Justice being, you know, Trump constantly said

it was being weaponized.

Well, then what is happening now is he's now weaponizing it by concealing the truth. And so for many in MAGA, that's how they feel. They feel it's

happening right now.

GOLODRYGA: Perhaps maybe that's why the president, though he's repeatedly bashed Fed Chair Jay Powell in the past, all of a sudden, as there's more

pressure on him about Epstein, come more reports, perhaps, of firing Jay Powell.

That is quite a deflection. And again, this is something the president has spoken out again on in the past, but it is worthy of considering, as we

know, that this is one of his tactics as well.

Maura Gillespie, thank you so much.

GILLESPIE: Thanks for having me.

ASHER: All right. Still to come, the trial of a Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife with protein shakes and cyanide. New text

messages to his alleged mistress, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:47]

GOLODRYGA: Well, witnesses are being called today in the case of a Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife in 2023.

ASHER: Yes. An opening statement on Tuesday prosecutors told the jury that an affair and a growing financial scandal led defendant, James Craig, to

kill his wife. They say that he drugged his wife's protein shakes, then filled a pill capsule with cyanide and made sure that she took it.

The defense giving a very different version of how Angela Craig died and calling the case against her husband speculation.

Jean Casarez, CNN reporter, joins us live now. She has been following this case very closely.

I mean, Bianna were just -- and I were just talking about this case during the commercial break. I mean, some of the details are fascinating. This

idea that he sort of googled on his office dental computer essentially is arsenic detectable in an -- in an autopsy.

How many grams of pure arsenic could kill a human being? I mean, walk us through, you know, the details of this case and also what is happening in

the courtroom right now, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're exactly right. Well, testimony today about being on that computer, just what you're saying. But

this, you know, both sides agree on one thing, that she died of toxic chemical poisoning.

But the question is, who did it? How did it happen? The defense alluding to that she had tried to commit suicide before and was potentially doing it

again. This is a circumstantial case. So they -- they can build on that. Of course, the prosecution saying no, he searched this and he purchased this.

And pivotal witness to down this stand, Caitlyn Romero, office manager for Dr. James Craig, that's right him -- that's him right there in the suit.

He's the dentist, former dentist at this point.

But she was the office manager and she stayed late one day on March 6th. And he was saying that he'd given his wife a protein shake that morning.

She wasn't feeling well. And he -- she had to go to urgent care.

He said it was a stressful day. But she sees that evening. He's in the exam room on a computer doing something, but he has an office computer. He's the

dentist of the practice, but he wasn't in his own office. He was in an exam room.

Later she finds out that he's ordered a personal package, he said. Put it on my desk, nobody should open it. Well, there was a dental hygiene

technician that opened it and saw that it was potassium cyanide.

The office manager took it, saw it, placed it on his desk, but immediately called his business partner, and that is how authorities began to know that

maybe this was a poisoning.

She's a pivotal witness, she's a heroine in a sense for doing this, but it all started with those opening statements that we want to show everybody

because it just shows where both sides is coming from in this very tragic case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN BRACKLEY, DENVER, COLORADO ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: He went into that room to murder her. To deliberately and intentionally end her life

with a fatal dose of cyanide.

ASHLEY WHITHAM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They never find any arsenic or cyanide. Angela was a very broken person.

You may not like him, you may not think he's a good husband, but that's not what you're here to decide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And the prosecution points to a fellow dentist that he met at a convention just days before. Four thousand texts in those few days, lots of

love notes, building a future together. Let's show some of the texts that he sent to this fellow dentist.

"The problem is that I might be completely in love with you after three days." And then a little bit later on, he says, "Maybe she'll decide to

stay gone for a long time." She was visiting her family right then. "It would definitely make my life easier."

And then a third one, he said, "Just for the record, I will never drug you."

So, what did he tell her right there? And that's the date he initially made that protein shake for her that landed her in the hospital.

This love interest is going to be a star witness for the prosecution because he was talking to her in those 4,000 texts. What was he saying? And

what will she be required to testify to on the stand?

[12:50:03]

ASHER: Bianna and I were literally hanging on to your every word, Jean. This is an unbelievable story.

CASAREZ: Yes. And it's true.

ASHER: Fascinating but in the worst possible way, you know, just this idea of a man drugging his wife, murdering her essentially, possibly. Obviously,

he hasn't been convicted. And then obviously, there's other love interest being involved as well.

GOLODRYGA: No one can tell --

CASAREZ: Right.

GOLODRYGA: -- it better than you, though, Jean. I've told you that before.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And I'll tell you that again now. It is stunning.

CASAREZ: You're very kind.

GOLODRYGA: It is chilling. And the fact that he drugged her in the past, too, another layer.

CASAREZ: And he's pleaded not guilty. There was no arsenic found in the protein drink containers. No potassium chloride or arsenic actually ever

found. And so the defense has some things to build on, reasonable doubt.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. All right. Jean Casarez, always good to see you. Thank you.

ASHER: Thank you, Jean.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

ASHER: We'll be right back with more after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: To Bordeaux, France, a region known for its wine. Bordeaux is positioned to play an important role in European security. Here's our

Richard Quest with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Give it a swirl and smell the bouquet. This is Bordeaux.

The vineyards here turn out both world-class wine and impressive profits.

QUEST: Wherever I look, there is a chateau selling quality wines.

QUEST (voice-over): Here grow the great reds of Medoc. On the west bank of the Garonne, you can taste the plummy merlots from Saint-Emilion.

We'll travel south to Entre-Deux-Mers for a floral white.

France began shipping its wine to England back in the age of King Henry II, but ever since, Bordeaux has been synonymous with what many consider to be

the finest wine on the planet.

Winemakers can't rest easy because there is increased international competition and, of course, tariff threats from President Trump.

TRUMP: The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That's the purpose of it, and they've done a good job of it. But now I am

President.

QUEST (voice-over): Bordeaux is lucky that the rest of its economy has aged like its fine merlots.

QUEST: Wine is a significant part of the local economy, but it is not the only part by any means. Tourism is a vast industry and growing in Bordeaux,

as you can see during these Bastille Day celebrations.

[12:55:15]

QUEST (voice-over): More than six million travelers will come here this year, enjoying a region with so many layers to explore.

This region will be crucial in Europe's efforts to boost its own defense, with huge extra spending now underway.

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Europe finds itself on the edge of a vast arc of crisis stretching from the Gulf of Guinea

through the Sahel to the Middle East and Iran.

Let's be clear, we, Europeans must now ensure our own security.

QUEST (voice-over): Aerospace with firms like Dassault Aviation that have given the region an industrial edge.

Thanks to the University of Bordeaux, more economic diversity is being uncorked, if you will, by the day. Students have helped make Bordeaux a

fertile ground for startups.

Indeed, Bordeaux is just like the fine wine it produces. It rewards those who look around and go beyond the first sip.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Now that is a fun assignment for Richard Quest. He looks --

ASHER: He loves it.

GOLODRYGA: -- very much at home there.

All right. That does it for today's "One World." I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. "Amanpour" is up next. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:00]

END