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One World with Zain Asher
WSJ Reports on 2003 Letter to Epstein Bearing Trump's Name; Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Vein Condition; Vatican: Pope Leo Spoke to Netanyahu a Day after a Deadly Israeli Strike on Gaza's Only Catholic Church; Trump Administration Suggests Powell Law by Failing to Comply with Government Oversight Regulations Related to Fed Renovation; Trump to Gut U.S. Department of Education; CBC Cancels "The Late Show" Weeks after Trump Settlement. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired July 18, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: President Trump tells the Justice Department to release any and all pertinent grand jury testimony related to
the Jeffrey Epstein case. "One World" starts right now. All this as the White House is pushing back hard on a story about a letter reportedly from
President Trump to the convicted sex offender.
Plus, the legal drama intensifies former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and our Trump Administration's efforts to dismantle the Department of
Education are being received by educators. All right, coming to you live from New York. I'm Zain Asher. My colleague and friend Bianna Golodryga is
off today.
You are watching "One World". U.S. President Donald Trump is turning to a familiar strategy as the story he wants to disappear has instead turned
into a political firestorm that will not simply go away. Trump is vowing to sue "The Wall Street Journal", which is controlled by his friend Rupert
Murdoch, by the way, after reported that Trump sent what it called body letter to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 on his 50th birthday.
The letter reportedly included a crude drawing of a naked woman and Trump's signature. Trump says, is fake and called the newspaper a pile of garbage.
Meantime, bowing to pressure, the president says he will release pertinent information on the sex trafficking case against Epstein.
Although it is unclear what exactly will be released and what will be held back. The Justice Department is expected to be in court today. It comes as
Trump, who has repeatedly promised to release the Epstein files now calls the whole thing a hoax, something the White House addressed on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you clarify which part of the Epstein hoax is the hoax part?
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is referring to the fact that Democrats have now seized on this as if they ever wanted
transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, which is an asinine suggestion for any Democrat to make.
Well, in terms of redactions or grand jury seals, those are questions for the Department of Justice. Those are also questions for the judges who have
that information under a seal, and the president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. That's how he feels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Let's go to the White House now, where we find CNN's Alayna Treene. So, President Trump clearly wants this story to go away, and story just
won't quit. Just in terms of this article by "The Wall Street Journal" alleging that Donald Trump wrote a letter to Jeffrey Epstein on his
birthday.
It was signed Donald, apparently, and it had an outline of a naked woman just walk us through what Trump's reaction has been to that so far.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, well, one thing I can tell you, Zain, is that they had been aware of this story for a few days. They,
as in the president, as well as some of his top aides here at the White House, and it's clear that they tried very heavily and hard to push back on
this and to kill this story.
The president had said publicly that he had called up Rupert Murdoch directly. He said that he believed that Murdoch was going to kill the
story, but then never did. And he said because of that, he is now planning to sue Murdoch, who, of course, is has a major stake in News Corp, which
owns "The Wall Street Journal", among other outlets like Fox News, and also said he would sue "The Wall Street Journal" more broadly.
Now I do want to read for you some of the president's reaction to this, because I do think you know, just being very clear on this is very
important. He had said that this was a fake letter, supposedly to Epstein. He said that these are not his words. It's not the way he talks. He said, I
don't draw pictures, and that he had told Rupert Murdoch that it was a scam.
We've now also seen people like the Vice President J.D. Vance come out and claim that this is totally fake. We've seen similar language from Karoline
Leavitt. So, it's clear that they are very angry about this. And I can tell you from my conversations with people in the Trump Administration over the
last, you know, 30 hours or so, or less than 24 hours, I should say, excuse me, so really saying that this is something that they're very angry about.
But then we saw the president say this, and this is very noteworthy, Zain, he had posted on social media.
[11:05:00]
He said, quote, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent grand jury testimony subject to court approval. We also then
heard Bondi pretty shortly thereafter post as well with a picture of the president's own post saying that essentially that he -- they are ready to
move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.
Now it is very unclear, one, of course, whether or not that will actually happen. That is something the judge must decide. It also will likely take a
very -- it will be a very long process to see whether or not that's actually something the court will do. And then the other part of this, of
course, and this isn't from conversations with some of our colleagues who are lawyers and have been covering the Justice Department.
They argue that the grand jury testimony would actually be a very, very small part of this broader case, at least when it relates to some of the
evidence in this and we know that many people, including many of the president's fiercest supporters, have been wanting, really the Trump
Administration, to publish the Epstein files in full, perhaps redacted, but really wanting to see that hard evidence.
Now, one almost inadvertent effect of all of this is that many people who had been criticizing many of the people in the MAGA movement who had been
criticizing the president's handling of this, and also the Trump Administration's more broadly, are now kind of coalescing around Trump,
saying that this is a fake story, and that they're very happy that he's going on offense.
I had caught up with Steve Bannon, one of the leaders of the MAGA movement, who essentially told me, we are finally on offense. He said that the
president asking Bondi to unseal these grand jury transcripts is a good start. We'll see where all this goes from here, as well as if the president
will end up speaking to reporters and taking questions on this today, Zain.
ASHER: Right, Alayna Treene, live for us there. Thank you so much. All right. President Trump is also expected to sign a $9 billion spending cuts
package today that some Republican lawmakers warn undermines their own authority. The House approved the DOGE bill overnight, a measure that
dramatically slashes spending that has already been approved by Congress.
It calls for a claw back of $8 billion in funding for foreign food programs and health programs as well, another 1 billion in cuts to public
broadcasting. Is a major win for the president who created DOGE by signing an executive order. Meantime, here's what the House Speaker had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We clawed back $9 billion in taxpayer funds and wasteful spending, fraud, waste and abuse. We've been targeting that every
area. This was directed to wasteful spending in the previous State Department, of course, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a couple of
other areas.
We looked at that, we thought it was a waste of taxpayer funds, and we're taking care of business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Our Political Analyst Jackie Kucinich joins us live now from Washington. So, $9 billion in spending cuts, a lot of that money, obviously
going to foreign aid programs, food programs, and, of course, broadcasting as well, public broadcasting as well. Just talk to us about how much of an
important win this is for the president at a time when you know the media narrative is against him, largely because of the Epstein situation?
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. But this is a very small part of the budget, but these are big Republican priorities that stretch
far beyond President Trump. They've been trying to get rid of public funding, of public media, for federal funding public media for quite some
time, I think, back, stretching back into the Reagan era.
But to your point, this is a huge win for the president. This is a -- the power of the purse is congresses and congresses alone, and Trump has been
able to just reach in, and they've allowed him to take that away, and the that the White House has been able to pick and choose what they think
should be funded rather than Congress.
Is a really -- it is a change. It is a big change, and something that hasn't happened, I think, since the 90s.
ASHER: So, when you think about the so called big, beautiful bill, and then on top of that, now this, these spending cuts also being passed. And
obviously this does put Democrats on the back foot. Just walk us through how Democrats just strategically should be trying to fight at this point in
time, fight politically.
KUCINICH: It is tough for Democrats to fight legislatively, to your point, because they really, they don't have any power in either body of Congress,
but trying to define the big, beautiful bill, really campaigning against it, turning it into a pivotal midterm message, which are little over a year
away, a little more unchanged than a year away, is something that they're all really, really focused on.
Is making sure that voters know what is being taken away, particularly when you're even Republican lawmakers were talking about the possible cost to
small communities, rural communities, with the loss of public media, which functions as a way to warn against inclement weather, that sort of thing.
So, a lot of people are going to wake up and find out that some of these programs that they liked are no longer funded and the loss is Trump.
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I mean, it is because of what Republicans have passed through the Congress, and Democrats will, it'll be their challenge to message that -- far and
wide.
ASHER: Especially in the run up to the midterms. I mean, obviously we are more than a year away, but CNN just actually released polling this week
saying that 28 percent of Americans actually have a favorable view of the Democratic Party right now. That is the lowest level since CNN actually
started this polling back in 1992.
So, the lowest levels in a really, really long time. And by and large, part of the reason is because Democrats largely view the Democratic Party as
ineffective, right? In the face of all these sweeping changes by the Trump Administration. So how the Democrats counteract that?
I mean, obviously there is energy among Democrats right now, especially in the run up to the midterms, but they still are battling an unfavorable view
of themselves by the American public.
KUCINICH: Right. And when you talk to Democrats, they'll acknowledge that, that the brand itself is not great, but they're really focused on, you
know, every race matters, things like congressional districts, things by state by state and the people that they put out as candidates, that's where
the focus is right now.
But you're right. That is that the fact that the brand is in such dire straits politically, is one of those things that are pushing against them.
They're hoping that some of the actions in Washington by Republicans will make them worse, frankly.
ASHER: There are very few issues that would essentially turn MAGA Republicans against the president, and that is what makes what's happening
with the Epstein files just so unique. I don't think I've seen anything quite like this, just in terms of not sort of mainstream Republicans, but
MAGA Republicans disagreeing so publicly with the president.
I mean, just what do you make of that? And no matter what the president says, the problem does not seem to go away for him.
KUCINICH: It seems like with this, "The Wall Street Journal" story that you were talking about, there is a bit of a rallying around the president,
because there's the common foe of the media is a powerful one, particularly for the MAGA base. But you're right that the issue of Epstein, more
largely, is something that it was a promise that not only Trump, but those Trump has surrounded himself with.
And in his administration, have promised them a series of releases, and they've kind of played a little cute with it. You had that moment a couple
months ago where Pam Bondi gave all these MAGA influencers these binders that were supposed to have new information about the Epstein case, and
there weren't, and that there's a lot of frustration there.
Now, will he be able to turn the page because of this journal story? We'll have to see. We do know that there is this effort in Congress called a
discharge petition. It's a procedural measure that can force the speaker's hand to make sure that a bill to release all the Epstein files gets to the
floor.
That is something that's accumulating a lot of signatures, Republicans and Democrats, and we could see that later on, this summer into the fall, have
to hit the House floor because of that support --
ASHER: Yeah, just to reiterate that just in terms of "The Wall Street Journal" reporting that Donald Trump has been calling it a pile of garbage,
but he also in the post we're putting up the social media post by the president that he's asking, as you point out, the Attorney General, Pam
Bondi, to produce any and all pertinent grand jury testimony subject to court approval.
And obviously, it's not up to Trump. It is up to the courts, just in the judge, just in terms of what exactly gets released. But give us your take
on the fact that we have not seen the president actually direct the attorney general to release all the documents that are actually in her
possession.
KUCINICH: That's the thing. They went to someone that -- they went to release something that has an intermediary, someone that they can put the
blame on. Oh, they won't let us do it, instead of these files where they actually do have control over which is why he's kind of hedged with, oh,
she's going to release what she can.
So, they're really trying to misdirect or not even just put cast the attention elsewhere. But it does seem, again, there is a segment of the
MAGA base that is focused on getting this done. And I don't think that goes away because of these other efforts that are going on that are powered by
Republicans to get these things released.
How successful they are, we'll have to wait and see, but I think we will have an answer, unlike some of these issues within the next couple of
months.
ASHER: Right. Jackie Kucinich, live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Right, in a rare acknowledgment of his age, the White House
says that President Trump has been diagnosed with a condition called Chronic Venous Insufficiency. It's basically when veins in the legs have
trouble carrying blood back to the heart, and it's usually found in older adults.
[11:15:00]
Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at other symptoms and the risks that come with CVI.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so we're talking about chronic venous insufficiency. Venous referring to the veins we know,
arteries carry blood away from the heart. Veins return blood back to the heart when there's a problem with the veins, as the president's diagnosis
suggests that means that blood cannot return as easily, and people often develop swelling, swelling around the ankles, and that's what's gotten a
lot of attention lately.
Now I will point out back in April, the president had a physical exam, and there was no mention of venous insufficiency, no mention of swelling at
that time. So now fast forward three months, we know there is a significant problem, and that is really what prompted this exam, this swelling that has
occurred over the past few months.
They looked at his blood, no evidence that there were any problems that should be causing this. They looked for blood clots, which can sometimes
block the veins, making it harder for blood to return through the veins, no evidence of blood clots.
They looked at his heart to make sure the heart had good function and that it was pumping blood well through the body. That appears to be the case.
And they did an ultrasound of the legs, and that's how they diagnosed this, again, this chronic venous insufficiency. So that is the diagnosis.
The goal of treatment really is to try and decrease that swelling and move that blood back up through the body, sometimes simply elevating the legs at
night, so sleeping with a couple pillows underneath your ankles and your feet, that can sometimes be helpful, using things like compression socks
that can be helpful as well.
And obviously encouraging the person, in this case, the president, to walk around as much as possible, sitting. That tends to be something that can
make this venous insufficiency worse. So non-life threatening, pretty common problem, especially as you get older. And also, probably has nothing
to do with what we've seen with his hands.
People have noticed bruising on his hands really going back several months, even to February. The doctors commented on this as well, and said,
basically, this looks like it is primarily irritation to his hand, maybe due to lots of handshaking on top of the fact that he takes aspirin as a
blood thinner, those things in combination, could cause that bruising that we see in his hands.
They try to cover that up with makeup, but you can see that bruising on his hand there in those images. Again, common problems, non-life threatening,
but guys, that's a little bit of a sense of what the president's dealing with.
ASHER: Sanjay Gupta, there for you. Still to come, we are tracking developments in Brazil, where police have raided the home of Former
President Jair Bolsonaro and ordered him to wear an ankle monitor. Plus, the Vatican says the pope had a conversation with the Israeli Prime
Minister after the only Catholic Church in Gaza comes under attack. We'll have that report for you ahead too.
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ASHER: Right, Brazilian police have raided the home and political headquarters of Former President Jair Bolsonaro. This is video of the
police search today in Brasilia. Bolsonaro has been ordered to wear an electronic ankle tag and barred from speaking to foreign officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAIR BOLSONARO, FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT: I am a former president. I am 70 years old. It's a supreme humiliation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: This comes a week after the American President Donald Trump threatened Brazil with 50 percent tariffs, linking the threat to what he
called a witch hunt trial against Bolsonaro. He's accused of calling to overturn Brazil's 2022 presidential election, but denies any wrongdoing.
Our Stefano Pozzebon joins us live now from Bogota, Colombia. So, part of the reason that Jair Bolsonaro has been ordered to wear this ankle bracelet
and also barred from speaking to foreign officials is that there is some concern that he could flee to the United States, especially given his close
relationship with the U.S. President, Stefano.
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, exactly, Zain, and among the other provisions that I think it's worth noting is the fact that he's been barred
from speaking with his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who's currently in the States, and he's trying to lobby the White House to take even stronger
action against the judiciary of Brazil, calling these just like he said, calling this trial a witch hunt.
Bolsonaro has called the fact that he cannot even speak to his son a humiliation. But yes, the prosecutors seem to be very concerned that the
Former President of Brazil might flee the country, and that's why they ordered him to wear an electronic ankle tag. They ordered him to stay at
his residence from 07:00 p.m. till 06:00 a.m. the following day, so all night and across the weekend and on holidays.
And they've also seized up to $14,000 in cash. We learned from his house. This is clearly a risk that was present, and it's a risk that, by the way,
the Former President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has addressed in the past. This is what he just said, just on Wednesday, when they asked him if he was
considering leaving the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOLSONARO: I'm not considering doing anything. I'm not considering anything, nothing at all. I'm not a criminal. The criminal is the one
persecuting me. I'll face the process. Let's see how far they go. They're rushing the process. The deadline is 5 days, 15 days, more 5 days, it's
now.
END VIDEO CLIP)
POZZEBON: And so, on one side, you have the former president who is awaiting verdict. We're hearing that, that verdict could come at any time,
at this point, and saying that he's innocent. On the other one, you have the Brazilian judiciary, who says that they are independent, that they're
just prosecuting.
But all over these, frankly, these ugly mess in Brazil is the shadow of Donald Trump, just like he said, the President of the United States,
threatening a 50 percent commercial tariff in retaliation on this trial, specifically because this trial is going ahead, and so that is what is
going -- it's pretty much on everyone's mind when it comes to Brazil. How will that tariff -- target the imports and the Brazilian economy, Zain?
ASHER: Right, Stefano Pozzebon, live for us there. Thank you so much. The Vatican says the Pope Leo spoke to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu today after a deadly Israeli attack on Gaza's only Catholic Church. The pontiff renewed his calls for a Gaza ceasefire and expressed
his concern about the dire humanitarian situation there.
In a -- senior leaders from the Catholic and Greek orthodox church visited that church in Gaza today in a show of solidarity. Three people were killed
in Thursday's strike. Israel says the incident is under review. Church leaders say about 600 people were actually sheltering inside, most of them
children. One Gaza resident says that no one there, is safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FOUAD AYAD, GAZA RESIDENT: For more than three weeks, we have been under constant bombing and destruction. The Israeli occupation makes no
distinction between Christians and Muslims. Now, both mosques and churches are being targeted. Christians and Muslims alike are under attack.
This is the enemy, the Israeli occupation. This is what they now consider their target bank, houses of worship, without differentiating between
Christian or Muslim sites.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Nic Robertson joins us, live now from London. So, Nic, I mean, this was the only Catholic Church in Gaza. Three people were killed.
[11:25:00]
It's drawn a lot of consternation from not just Pope Leo, but also the U.S. President. You've got Pope Leo now, renewing calls for a ceasefire, calling
the Israeli President too, and Israel essentially saying it was a mistake, or you know that something went wrong here clearly. Walk us through what we
know.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, look, I think the background to all of this are obviously the incredibly high tensions, this
sort of seesaw back and forth, almost by the day that there's going to be a ceasefire, the desperate humanitarian situation, increasing malnutrition, a
scarcity of food.
Protests today on the streets of Gaza, because the price of food has gone so high. So, into all of that, when President Trump has is appears to be
putting pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to a ceasefire deal a church gets hit. You see the sensitivity around it that the Israeli Prime
Minister understands because he was relatively quick to come out and say -- and essentially say that it was deeply regrets what had happened, that
there was going to be an investigation.
Of course, the phone call with the pope again another indication of that. But to have these two patriarchs go from Jerusalem into the war zone of
Gaza, to be given permission by Israel for this incredibly rare trip, it again shows the pressure, I think that's the international pressure that's
on the Israeli government at the moment.
Shows the solidarity of the church behind the Christian community within Gaza. Shows their solidarity behind the predicament of all the Palestinians
in Gaza, particularly when the pope emphasized with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the importance of bringing to an end, you know, the humanitarian
situation in Gaza right now.
Three people were killed in that strike on the church. Nine people were injured. But again, another striking detail about this particular church,
the Paris priest there was one of those injured. He was a friend of the last pope, late Pope Francis, who would call every day after the October
7th attack and strikes on Gaza began.
He would call every day to check with the church about the community there, about the situation in Gaza. So, this is a church and a community that's
been under incredible scrutiny at a time of incredibly heightened international pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister.
And I think what we're witnessing today again pushes that pressure further on Israel towards a humanitarian and a ceasefire, a humanitarian resolution
and a ceasefire in Gaza, it appears.
ASHER: Right, Nic Robertson live for us. Thank you. The Syrian President says militant groups keep violating the ceasefire and is calling for
restraint there. This as the UN Human Rights Office is urging Syrian authorities to ensure accountability for the violence in the Flashpoint
City of Suwayda.
Syrian troops forces went in after fighting between the Druze and Bedouin communities. They have since pulled out. Meantime, Israel launched air
strikes on Damascus, claiming its aim was to protect the Druze minority. The Israeli Prime Minister says he won't rule out further strikes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The air force struck both the murderous gangs and the armored vehicles. I also added a target to strike
the Ministry of Defense in Damascus. As a result of this intensified operation, a ceasefire took hold, and the Syrian forces withdrew back to
Damascus.
This is significant. This is a ceasefire achieved through strength, not through pleas, not through begging, through strength. We acted and will
continue to act as necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Thousands of Druze residents in Israeli controlled Golan Heights crossed the border into Syria during the conflict in the hopes of helping
fellow Druze. Right still to come here on one world U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell responds after the Trump Administration accuses him of
mismanaging renovations at the central bank's headquarters.
Plus, more than 1000 employees within the U.S. Department of Education will soon be out of a job. What this means for students when they head back to
school.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher in New York. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, is defending the fed's
multibillion dollar renovation project. It comes after the Trump Administration accused Powell of mismanaging the overhaul of the central
banks, Washington, D.C. headquarters.
Powell has been a frequent target, of course, of the president, particularly for not lowering interest rates fast enough, in his view. For
more on this, let's bring in CNN's Brian Todd in Washington for us. So, you've got Fed Chair Jerome Powell, essentially responding to OMB Director
Russell Vought's.
Letter saying that basically he regrets that. He regrets that the initial project in terms of renovations for the building had exceeded its budget,
but he denied there was any sort of luxurious extras that were being paid for here. Walk us through it, Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Zain, he's pushing back pretty hard now to encapsulate this for our viewers, President Trump and his
allies have been absolutely hammering Jerome Powell over this renovation of the fed building complex in Washington.
The president himself has spoken out several times, implying that there's been fraud involved in this renovation, which has, we should say, gone over
budget by about $600 million. The cost of the renovation of those marble facade buildings has reached about $2.5 billion.
It includes updates to aging infrastructure of the complex, like its electrical grids, plumbing, HVAC and fire detection systems, which the fed
says were antiquated. Other outdated systems needed technical modernization, the fed says. Now Russell Vought, he is the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget and a staunch Trump ally.
He suggested in a social media post last week that Powell had broken the law by not complying with government oversight regulations related to this
renovation. Vought sent Powell a letter saying the president was quote, extremely troubled by Powell's management of the fed, and he accused Powell
of, quote, plowing ahead with what Vought called an ostentatious overhaul of those buildings.
And he gave Powell seven days to respond. Well, seven days later, Powell is now pushing back pretty hard, saying in a letter to vote that the
renovation and its costs have always had careful oversight from the fed's board and its own watchdog. Now, there have been claims that the renovation
would include expenditures for lavish items like rooftop gardens, water features, VIP dining rooms and VIP elevators.
In his letter back to vote, Powell said, quote, there are no VIP dining rooms being constructed as part of the project. There are no special,
private or VIP elevators being constructed as part of the project.
[11:35:00]
Powell also said that while water features were included in the initial design those have been eliminated. One analyst we interviewed, David Wessel
from the Brookings Institution, said this whole controversy of the renovation is what Wessel called a side show.
That it's an excuse for Trump and his allies to make life miserable for Jerome Powell, because President Trump is, of course, livid that Powell has
not moved aggressively enough to lower interest rates in the United States, Zain.
ASHER: And actually, that's one of the things that economists really fear, this idea that even though it would be a legal mess.
TODD: Right.
ASHER: That somehow the President would try to remove Fed Chair, Jerome Powell from his post. We had that press conference in Wednesday where Trump
said it was unlikely that he was going to fire Jerome Powell, but left the door open and said something like, you know, unless he had to leave because
of fraud.
Walk us through, what the likelihood at this point that he could actually try to fight him?
TODD: Well, Zain, the only way a president can remove a Federal Reserve Chairman is for quote, cause. Now, there have been suggestions that the
controversy over this renovation could be used as cause to remove Powell. But David Wessel from Brookings says if President Trump tries to do that,
Powell is likely going to take him to court.
And Wessel believes the controversy over this renovation would not stand up in court as a credible cause for removing Powell. And as we know also, if
he removes Powell before his term is up in about 10 months, that would really roil the financial markets in the U.S.
ASHER: Oh, absolutely. Even the suggestion of it.
TODD: Yeah.
ASHER: Even the hint of it, we see markets getting really nervous.
TODD: Right.
ASHER: Brian Todd live for us there. Thank you so much.
TODD: Thank you.
ASHER: All right, still to come, the Trump Administration is making good on a campaign promise to cut the Department of Education. How schools will
carry on with less government funding and who will be most impacted. That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: The White House is taking steps to reduce the U.S. government's role in educating children. This week, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump
Administration its goal of ultimately dismantling the Department of Education. Some 1300 employees, about half of the Education Department
workforce will be out of a job as of August 1st.
Conservatives have been trying to shut down the Department of Education more lessons. It was officially created back in 1979 individual states have
already responsibility for what students learn. However, Trump wants more deregulation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs.
[11:40:00]
And this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it's a common-sense thing to do. They want it so badly they want to take their
children back and really teach their children individually. Probably the cost will be half, and the education will be -- maybe many, many times
better.
LINDA MCMAHON, U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: That is the goal of the president, too, is to have as few strengths in regulation as possible. He
wants to improve education for children. He wants to get those dollars, even more dollars, back to the states, without the bureaucracy of
Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Let's get some perspective in our local impact segment with Albert Llorens. He's the President of the Illinois Education Association, which is
the state's largest union. Albert, thank you so much for being with us. You know, obviously this administration is waging war on education on multiple
fronts.
I mean, we've seen what's been happening with this administration trying to control college campuses and making threats to college campuses and arrests
on college campuses, even against green card holders. And now you have to nobody's surprise, because obviously he told the Department of Education
Secretary Linda McMahon that she should put herself out of a job.
So, we knew this was coming, but now you have the Supreme Court essentially giving the administration the go ahead to dismantle the Department of
Education. Formally, a lot of people are going to be losing their jobs in a few weeks. Just give us your reaction to that.
ALBERT LLORENS, PRESIDENT OF THE ILLINOIS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION: Well, first of all, the premise of kind of taking over education so that kids
will get a better education. I don't buy the initial premise, because, quite frankly, decisions made about curriculum are best made at the state
and local level, and so whatever is coming out of Washington has nothing to do with that.
It's not going to improve education. What it's really going to do, is take resources out of educator hands when it comes to what's best for kids. And
based on what's happening, we could lose, based on the amount of money that's being withheld, over 180,000 teaching jobs nationally.
And that would nearly affect up to 3 million students. Here in Illinois, 90 to 95 percent of our students attend public schools. We're already seeing
districts preemptively cut staff in anticipation of what may come out of Washington. And so, at the end of the day, I think kids are going to have
higher class sizes.
They're going to have fewer resources and less support. And so, we are going to be in a situation where schools are already 80 percent of public
schools in Illinois are underfunded. So now, rather than put more resources there, which, by the way, parents, over 90 percent of the parents in
Illinois, whenever we poll them, say they would like to see more investment in public education, not less.
And so, this is going to hurt urban, rural, suburban, all kids. And so, at the end of the day, I guess the American dream, which many of us believe is
what you use to level up, is going to be denied, hope is going to be denied to our students. And I think that's just wrong.
ASHER: You know, there's this -- thank you for laying that out so wonderfully. But you know, there's this narrative coming out of the
administration, as you touched on at the start of your answer, this idea that you know what kids learn, i.e., the curriculum needs to be returned to
the States.
But actually, when you think about the truth, it is the states that already decide what students learn and the curriculum, what the Department of
Education does, and I think it's important to note, because we have a lot of viewers who are watching internationally, is that it manages the federal
student loan program, it investigates discrimination.
It doles out billions of dollars in federal grants. I mean just the fact that you have the administration sort of sharing a different narrative with
the American public as to why this particular dismantling of this department is happening. I want to get your reaction to that too.
LLORENS: Well, to be frank with you, I don't see that it's any different than many other things where one narrative is being told and another thing
is actually happening. So, it's across the board, right? I was listening to a piece earlier on your broadcast about what's happening in Gaza.
And I won't go there specifically, except to say that you know, you always have to, as you know, vet your -- the integrity of your sources, and we
here on the ground that do the work of educating all kids, any kid that comes in a public education facility door, we educate them.
[11:45:00]
No matter where they're from, no matter what they look like, whatever their special needs might be, we educate them. And so, we are the only
institution across the country that takes anyone that walks to the door. And so, at the end of the day, I don't see replacing something that in the
very beginning, what they did was fire all the civil rights attorneys.
So that if a kid had a problem and wasn't being, you know, treated adequately, they would have somebody to represent them, and those folks
will also not have access to financial aid. So those are the things we're talking about. We're talking about taking the miles out of Title One kids,
taking the food, out of Title One kids miles.
And at the end of the day, this is not going to help communities. It's not what parents want, and they need to have to say over what is happening in
their communities.
ASHER: So, when you've laid out what the consequences are going to be, just in terms of, obviously, educators being laid off, 1300 department employees
are going to lose their jobs by August 1st. You've got larger classroom sizes you've talked about. I mean, obviously, given that the department is
in charge of investigating discrimination, there's also issues on that front.
And also doling out billions of dollars in federal grants, there are all sorts of issues. What's the plan B? I mean, obviously the administration is
going forward with dismantling this department. What sort of recourses, do people like yourself and associations across the country have to limit the
sort of negative impact of this particular move?
LLORENS: Right. Well, we have joined 25 states that are filing suit against the Department of Education to return the funding that was already
allocated. And so that is a first step. I think the second step to me is make sure that everybody knows what's really going on and what the impact
is going to be on your child.
We got to involve those folks also in this discussion. So, when we talk about this, it's not only are we talking about it with our fellow union
members, we're talking about it with parents and community members, because we need them to understand. We want what's best for your kids like you
want.
And in order to do that, we need to be able to have some solidarity across the board in representing the rights of children.
ASHER: Right. Albert Llorens, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
LLORENS: Oh, you're welcome. Thanks.
ASHER: All right. Still to come. CBS calls it a financial decision, but does the cancelation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" have something
to do with, maybe his criticism of the network's cash settlement with the U.S. President. We'll explain after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:50:00]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher. I want to get you some of the headlines we've been following today. President Trump
is directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any quote, and all grand jury testimony regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case subject to court
approval.
Directive comes hours after "The Wall Street Journal" published a report detailing a birthday letter sent to Jeffrey Epstein, allegedly from the
U.S. President. And Donald Trump, is also poised to sign a $9 billion in DOGE spending cuts before midnight, House lawmakers approved the bill
overnight.
The package claws back billions in approved spending for foreign aid and public broadcasting. Parts of New Mexico are dealing with dangerous flash
flooding for the second time this month, several people had to be rescued from rising water. Since last year, there have been at least 12 flash flood
emergencies in the area.
And just last week, three people, including two children were killed by floodwaters. Officials say damage from wildfires in 2024 are to blame.
Right, CBS is pulling the plug on one of the most popular late-night shows on television, "Late Show with Stephen Colbert" will end in May of next
year.
The network calls the decision financial. It made the surprise announcement just weeks after Paramount, CBS, parent company, settled a $16 million
lawsuit with the U.S. President. Colbert shared the news with the audience at his show taping on Thursday night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST OF "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": The network will be ending the "Late Show" in May. And -- yeah, I share your feelings.
It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of the "Late Show" on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: This is all just going away. CNN's Hadas Gold joins us live now from New York. I mean, a lot of people are speculating, and this is because of
that Paramount merger that, by the way, needs the administration, the Trump Administration's approval. And obviously Stephen Colbert was a very harsh
critic, of course, of the U.S. President. Walk us through it, Hadas.
HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, two things can be true at the same time. You know, CBS is saying this is a purely financial decision.
And yes, that, you know, the math, the value of late-night television is not the same as it was a few years ago.
The ad money is not there as much. And a source telling CNN's Brian Stelter that the show was just not profitable anymore, but this Stephen Colbert
show is still the highest rated broadcast late night show compared to NBC and ABC. They got 2.4 million average viewers for the second quarter of
2025 compared to Jimmy Fallon's 1.2 and Jimmy Kimmel's 1.7 million.
So even if it's not necessarily profitable, there's obviously still some sort of audience there. And it doesn't seem as though Stephen Colbert was
given any chance to try and cut costs. Maybe go down to a couple shows a week, maybe cut the size of the staff, cut his own salary. It just seems as
though they just said no, thank you, not anymore.
And then there is, of course, all of this overhang of the politics of all this and the timing of this announcement you just cannot ignore. Nothing
happens in a vacuum, and of course, CBS says parent company Paramount is trying to complete this merger with Skydance that needs Trump
Administration approval in order to be able to be completed a few weeks ago, which is seen as all part of the same story.
CBS settled with President Trump for over a case that most legal scholars saw as completely bogus over their editing of an interview with Kamala
Harris. They settled that for $16 million. And listen to how Stephen Colbert described that settlement just a few days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLBERT: Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles. It's
big fat bribe, because this all comes as Paramount owners are trying to get the Trump Administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner,
Skydance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLD: So, Colbert has been a frequent critic of the president, and you can imagine, I mean, I don't have any evidence of this, but that as part of
this new merger, they want it to go as smoothly as possible, and it needs approval again by the Trump Administration.
Trump, for his part, celebrating the cancelation, writing in a post that he's absolutely loves that he's got fired, but others are, of course, not
celebrating Colbert's actually own competitors, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, both posting in support of Stephen Colbert.
[11:55:00]
And there's also members of Congress who are calling for investigation, Senator Schiff, who happened to be on the show yesterday, the day that it
was announced that it was going to be canceled. He said, if Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know.
And Senator Warren, Elizabeth Warren saying America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons. So perhaps we might see some more
investigations into this. Stephen Colbert does have until May of next year to be on the air, so I'm sure it's not the last we will hear from him on
this cancelation, Zain.
ASHER: Yeah. I mean, worth noting that this was yes maybe it wasn't profitable, but it was very, very popular. In fact, it was one of the most
popular, just in terms of ratings, one of the most popular late-night shows here in the U.S.
GOLD: Yeah, yes, by far. And as we showed on the ratings earlier, that it is beating out its direct competitors on ABC and NBC, both of whom we don't
have any indication that they're going to be canceled any time soon. Now, again, it's true, the logistics and the math and the profitability of late
night has changed dramatically, and now most people are consuming clips from late night on social media.
But Stephen Colbert is still a very recognizable name, very recognizable face, and yes, maybe now his audience is a bit more segmented to people who
might not be a huge fan of the Trump Administration. There's still an audience there to be had. So, I'm sure there will be a lot of attempts to
lure Stephen Colbert over to a new network of some kind.
ASHER: Right. Hadas Gold live for us there. Thank you so much. And stay with CNN. I'll have much more "One World" after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
