Return to Transcripts main page
One World with Zain Asher
Trump Orders Release Of "Pertinent" Grand Jury Docs In Epstein Case; Some Republicans Calling For Release Of More Epstein Info; White House Blames Democrats For Interest In Epstein Case; CNN Poll: Americans Souring On Israel's War In Gaza; Israelis Call For Release Of Remaining Hostages Held In Gaza; Former Hostage Speaks After 491 Days In Hamas Captivity; Daughter: Suspect Asked Her To Make Deepfake Video Of Her Mom; Conservative Influencer Laura Loomer Takes On AG Bondi; Inside All-Boys Summer Camp After July 4 Weekend Floods; North Korean Defectors Pursue Musical Dream. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired July 18, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:46]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: The president reverses course on the Epstein case, calling for the release of more information. The second hour of One World
starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president is absolutely furious.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, THE SOURCE: They have had a very difficult time the last few days beating back this fervor on Capitol Hill over the
Jeffrey Epstein documents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As he doesn't release this stuff, people will start giving it to reporters, things will start getting out. And none of it looks
good for Trump, including this story.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: The latest on the controversy, Donald Trump cannot seem to escape.
Also ahead, new details on the dentist accused of poisoning his wife's protein shake. Stunning testimony from his own daughters.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
JEREMY DIAMOND, JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: The thought of dying crossed your mind.
OR LEVY, FORMER HAMAS HOSTAGE: Every day. Every day. But for me, I didn't accept that because I knew that people are waiting for me.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: The face of resilience, former Hamas hostage Or Levy tells CNN what kept him going during his darkest times.
And later, they fled North Korea to reunite with family. Now, they are hoping to sail to the top of the music charts. The newcomers hoping to
become K-Pop's next big thing.
All right, coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher. Bianna is off today. You are watching One World.
Washington, D.C. has become consumed by questions about the Jeffrey Epstein case and who else may have been implicated in the investigation into
Epstein's sex trafficking. And now Donald Trump has agreed to reveal what he's calling pertinent grand jury testimony in a case against Epstein.
Though it's unclear what exactly will be released and what will be held back, and who will decide what's pertinent.
The Justice Department is expected to be in court today. And despite the U.S. president's continued promises to release the files, the White House
now calls all of this a hoax and blames it on Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
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.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: Meantime, Trump is vowing to sue The Wall Street Journal, which is controlled by his friend Rupert Murdoch, after it reported what it called a
bawdy letter to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 on his 50th birthday that bears Donald Trump's name. The letter apparently included a crude drawing of a
naked woman and Trump's signature.
Trump says the letter is fake and called the newspaper a pile of garbage. But all of the cries of fake news are not convincing. Some conservatives
who say the Trump administration needs to do more.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Jeffrey Epstein's prosecution began during the Bush administration, continued --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's blaming it on Democrats.
PENCE: -- during Obama years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a hoax.
PENCE: I know of no reason why this administration, once the victim's names are protected, should not release all the files on Jeffrey Epstein.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: Let's bring in CNN's Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid with more. I mean, so it's interesting because Donald Trump is asking for
the release of all pertinent information from the grand jury, but that's decided by a judge, not by the president. So walk us through that aspect of
it, Paula.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let's be clear. Even asking a judge to release grand jury information is a long shot
because this information is by default secretive. It's confidential. A grand jury proceeding is where prosecutors go to present just enough
evidence to get an indictment. The bar is low, so you don't give them everything you have.
But much of what is still protected from the Epstein grand jury is kept under seal because it's understood that that would help to protect victims
and accusers. I want to emphasize not only this is a long shot. We're talking about a tiny sliver of the overall evidence that was gathered in
the Epstein case.
Now, some of this came out during Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal trial. But Pam Bondi, the attorney general, still has millions of pages of evidence
that she has the power to unilaterally release.
[12:05:08]
So this appears to be sort of their next move. It's clear it's not working to tell people we're moving on and you should too. So they have to try
something else, and they're going to go to this judge. It's unlikely the judge is actually going to unseal more evidence.
It would take time even if that happened. But that is not going to sort of answer the question of why the Justice Department is not releasing more of
the evidence that it said that it would. So, again, long shot, we're talking about a tiny sliver of evidence, and it's just not clear that this
is going to work.
It's unclear that this controversy is going to go away on its own. Some other options that the Justice Department has, the most obvious, is to
release some of the evidence that it promised to. They could also try to pass this off and buy more time, give it to a special counsel or tap a
Trump-appointed U.S. attorney to take another look at this. But that only buys time. And at some point, you're going to have to release your
conclusions and it's going to drudge all of this up again.
ASHER: All right, Paula Reid live for us there. Thank you so much.
And the furor of the Epstein case is even consuming Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson is refusing to say if he'll allow a vote on releasing all of
the Epstein information. That resolution would be nonbinding but certainly quite symbolic. Conservative Republicans are among those calling the
loudest for more information to be made public.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
TIM BURCHETT, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: This is all politics. We need to be worrying about the victims in this thing and we need to worry about justice
and these dirt bags that were involved with these kids, and we need to publicly ridicule them and possibly hang them. But the reality is there
probably isn't a list.
I've known a few criminals in my life. Heck, I've served in elected office with a few of them and they don't keep a list of their criminal activities.
And Trump's not on this list because if he was, Biden would have released it the first day.
So it's a lot of politics and a lot of hype. We just need to get to the bottom of it, ma'am. And unfortunately in this town, when it's delayed,
it's kind of like the Kennedy assassination. We're never going to get to the bottom of it.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: Despite the Epstein controversy, it's been a week of wins for President Trump. He's set to sign the DOGE budget cuts bill into law in a
move that further expands his executive power. The measure slashes $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting that had already
been approved by Congress.
On Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the government to go ahead with massive layoffs at the Department of Education. It's one step closer to
Trump's campaign promise of completely dismantling the DOE. And one of his fiercest critics will soon be out of a job.
CBS announced Thursday it's canceling "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." This comes just two weeks after the network's parent company, Paramount,
settled a $16 million lawsuit with the president himself.
Let's bring in Doug Heye, he's a Republican strategist and former communications director for the Republican National Committee. I mean, even
though you've got all of the sort of Epstein controversy swirling around the president, it has been a week of positive news for him on many fronts,
although the Epstein drama keeps on sort of rising to the surface and following him.
But walk us through how much of a big win these legislative spending cuts, the fact that it passed in the House and that it's on the president's desk,
he's about to sign it, that is a huge win for the president.
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It is, and clearly this is what he would rather be talking about, what he has done. And Donald Trump is very good at
trying to distract from bad news. So obviously the Colbert news for him was an opportunity for him to talk about anything other than Jeffrey Epstein.
But the reality in Washington is, this is the story that everyone is talking about, and they're talking about it whether they want to or not.
You have some House Republicans who are calling for documents to be released. You have others who just want it to go away, and Democrats are
smartly putting them on the record, bringing up votes in the House Rules Committee, for instance, threatening to have a discharge petition to bring
a vote on the entire House floor.
So they're making sure that this is the leading dominant conversation and that voters aren't hearing about the things that Donald Trump has done that
he wants to be talking about.
ASHER: It's interesting because Donald Trump is usually quite good at changing the narrative. I mean, we see it -- we've seen it. I mean,
obviously he's been part of -- an important part of the political landscape in the U.S. for almost a decade, at least recently this time around. And so
we've seen that he is very good, very astute at changing the narrative. Why are his strategies not working this time?
HEYE: I think in part because you have his own base speaking out against him. You know, when you have members of Congress like Tim Burchett, who are
very fierce Trump supporters, and certainly people like Steve Bannon and so forth, when they're asking questions like this, it's bad news for the
president, and it means that it's likely not going to go away.
[12:10:00]
And so if more documents are released and there are redactions, which there probably should be to protect victims' identities and so forth, that only
takes you further down into conspiracy theory. Why was this blacked out? What is being hidden from us here and there? And so, really Donald Trump
has backed himself into a corner here on this without any real good answers or escape routes.
ASHER: The fact that you have MAGA Republicans turning against the president, that provides a very interesting opportunity for Democrats here.
I mean, Democrats have been on the back foot for quite some time. A lot of people have been viewing them as ineffective, just in terms of the ways in
which they've tried to stand up to the president to no avail. Why aren't they sort of capitalizing on this split within the Republican Party?
HEYE: Well, I think it took them a while to get to where they wanted to be. You know, Hakeem Jeffries didn't speak out for this for a while. And
ultimately Democrats, I think, are much more poll-driven than Republicans are. So they were, I think, waiting to see what poll results would suggest
would be the proper things for them to say and do.
And clearly they get in their own way sometimes on messaging as well. Nancy Pelosi yesterday called the Epstein issue a distraction, which she had to
walk back, but it's still out there that she said that. For Democrats, this is an opportunity for them. They should seize it and talk about this all
day, every day, to keep the president politically on his heels. But they're late in doing so and aren't as disciplined message-wise as they should be.
ASHER: And also, you have the fact that there's only -- just according to a recent CNN poll, only -- Democrats only have a 28 percent favorability
rating right now. That is historically low. Even though there is a lot of energy within the Democratic base, obviously you've got the midterms coming
up in a year and a half or so, they are still not viewed favorably by the majority of Americans. How do they change that?
HEYE: I think they seize capital where they can. So if an opportunity is presented to them, they've got to take advantage of it. We were in a
similar situation when I was at the Republican National Committee. In May of 2009, Time magazine ran on the cover the Republican elephant logo with
the headline Endangered Species. Eighteen months later, which is an eternity in politics, we won 63 House seats.
Nobody would have predicted that then, and certainly nobody's predicting huge Democrat wins at this point. But when issues come and are handed to
them on a platter, you've got to really use that opportunity and message that as hard as you can.
ASHER: So if you were advising Donald Trump right now, what would you say to him to try to change the narrative on the Epstein drama? Because, you
know, calling out the Wall Street Journal, you know, filing lawsuits, blaming the Democrats, none of that is working right now.
HEYE: You know, I typically find with Donald Trump the more ridiculous something is, the more effective it can be for him. He brings up ancillary
issues that aren't really important to anybody, and everybody gets distracted by them. So when he was talking about real sugar and Coke, I
think that was an attempt to do that, just didn't really land, in part because this story has become so captivating to so many people throughout
the country.
But we know Donald Trump is a matador. He waves a red cape, and the bulls in the media usually follow it. Democrats do as well. So we'll have to see
what he does in these coming days, but I would expect he would not want the conversation for this weekend and going into Monday then to still be first
and foremost about Jeffrey Epstein.
ASHER: No, he would not.
Doug Heye, live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
HEYE: Thank you.
ASHER: And just in terms of another poll, a brand-new poll suggests that Americans are souring on Israel's war in Gaza. Half of them now believe
that Israel is using too much military force against Palestinians in Gaza. That's according to a poll by CNN and SSRP. 10 percent of those polled say
that Israel is actually using too little force, and about 39 percent say it's actually just right.
CNN asked the U.S. State Department spokesperson about these polls a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
TAMMY BRUCE, U.S. STATE DEPT. SPOKESPERSON: The fact of the matter is it's difficult when you inherit a world that is in disarray and at war. And the
Americans were not used to seeing America stepping in and making a difference. That's what they voted for when they voted for Donald Trump
last year, giving this man a mandate who was very clear about his agenda and his approach to the world.
We also know what he accomplished, of course, in his first term. So, yes, we're looking at a framework where the president, not to his design, has
had to become a peacemaker.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: All right, let's bring in our data cruncher, Harry Enten. So, Harry, just talk to us about the trend in these numbers. So a lot of people feel
that Israel is using too much force. In fact, the majority are exactly half, but a majority when you look at what other people are saying. But
walk us through when the shift occurred. When did things change? Give us your take on the trends.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, I think the trends are what are so notable here, and I'm always amazed by the trends. And, you know, we
have polled this issue. We polled it at the beginning of this conflict, and obviously we polled it now.
[12:15:01]
And I just think the change has just been so fundamental. Israel's military's answer to the Hamas attack. You go back to October of 2023. It
was 50 percent who said it was fully justified, compared to just 8 percent who said not justified, at all justified.
Look at where we are now. On this question, we get a split between 23 percent who say fully justified and 22 percent who say not justified at
all. And you basically have this middle ground, this 27 percent, the plurality as you see it running across my banner here, who say partially
justified.
So basically, we've gone from a situation in which you basically had, as you said, right at 50 percent of the American public saying it was fully
justified. That number has completely fallen down, and now what you get is essentially this middle ground where either, a, you believe it was only
partially justified, or this increasing percentage, 22 percent, who say not at all justified.
Now, on the question that you were specifically talking about, right, which is too much force being used by Israel in Gaza, I think it's so important
to note just how much of a partisan split there is on this issue. OK, Israel using too much military force in Gaza. You pointed out at the top,
right, it was 50 percent overall.
But among Republicans, among Republicans and obviously Donald Trump is a Republican, and this is a Republican administration, only 16 percent say
too much force is in fact being used by Israel in Gaza, compared to Democrats. Democrats have changed just fundamentally on this issue.
We've seen it in poll question after poll question after poll question. They have consistently become much more skeptical of Israel and its
conflict against the Palestinians and Israel's force within Gaza.
Now I think the other important question to note here is America and how America plays into all of this. And I think that this question gets at it
pretty gosh darn well. U.S. help for Israel and the Hamas conflict. Look at this. What do we see? We see 14 percent who say it's too little.
Now that makes up a majority when you combine it with the 42 percent who say about right. So that's 56 percent on the whole who either say about
right or too little. But there is this slew of Americans. We're talking about more than four in 10 Americans, Zain, who say too much. We have had
too much help from the U.S. for Israel.
And I think to just put this all into a historical context and to wrap it up in a nice bow, what this polling indicates to me is, yes, there is still
a lot of support for Israel within the United States, but it is shrinking and there's a lot more skepticism, especially from those on the left and
especially younger Americans, Zain.
ASHER: Yes, a trend that we've seen for many months.
Harry Enten live for us there. Thank you so much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
ASHER: All right, the U.S. ambassador to Israel is calling the killing of a Palestinian American in the occupied West Bank a terrorist act. 20-year-old
Saif Musallet was beaten to death by Israeli settlers wielding sticks, clubs and guns last week, according to eyewitnesses. The Palestinian Health
Ministry says he was one of two men killed that day and among the nearly 1,000 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October
7, 2023. That's according to the U.N. as well.
Mike Huckabee has called for an Israeli investigation. He also says that those involved will face consequences, but he stopped short of calling for
an American inquiry.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: I've spoken to the father, had a long conversation with him, planned to meet with him in person. I've spoken
to almost every Israeli official. They're very, very concerned about what happened, getting to the facts of it. And I'm confident that there's going
to be a legitimate, thorough, and very responsible investigation and that whoever is responsible for his death will have the consequences of that,
which I think everybody wants.
Terrorist acts, criminal acts are unacceptable. It doesn't matter who does them and who receives them. None of us want to see that as being ever
acceptable.
CROWD: (Speaking in Foreign Language)
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: Bring them all home. In Israel, people are taking to the streets once again, demanding the release of hostages still being held in Gaza.
Some stood on the main highway in Tel Aviv during morning rush hour holding photos and banners. About 50 hostages are believed to still be held captive
and 20 of them said to still be alive.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
TSIPI HAITOVSKY, PROTESTER: We're calling from -- for the state of the government of Israel and the entire world, especially Mr. Trump and
Witkoff, to please help seal the deal, bring all of them back home now.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: A former Hamas hostage has given his first international media interview since being released in February. CNN spoke to Or Levy about the
more than 16 months that he spent in captivity in Gaza. Jeremy Diamond has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language)
[12:20:00]
DIAMOND (voice-over): Five months ago, these images of Or Levy shocked the world. His emaciated body, a testament to the 491 days he was held hostage
by Hamas.
LEVY: And I must say it's after three weeks of a lot of food that got into, like, that we got.
DIAMOND: Meaning, had you been released three weeks earlier, you would have looked a lot worse.
LEVY: For sure.
DIAMOND: That's hard to imagine.
LEVY: It's hard to understand how difficult it is to live on one pita a day for 491 days. It's something that no human should live like that. And for
the people that are still there, I know those days were even worse than what I was -- I've been through. And it's scary.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Just as difficult as the physical toll was the emotional burden of captivity, being ripped away from his then two-year-old
son, Almog.
LEVY: When his birthday came and I was there, it was my worst day of my life.
DIAMOND: What did you do on that day?
LEVY: So I sing to him. And crying most of the day. Thinking and telling stories about him, about what we went through. Promising that I will do
whatever it takes to go back and doing his next birthday together.
DIAMOND (voice-over): That wish came true two weeks ago, a birthday that came five months after Or was reunited with his family and with Almog.
LEVY: I remember seeing him, hugging him, hearing his voice. Crazy.
DIAMOND (voice-over): But he says that day was also the hardest of his life. It was the day he learned that his wife, Einav, had been killed on
October 7th.
LEVY: I met this woman from the army, and I asked her about my wife. I told her that I think I know, but I'm not 100 percent certain, and that I want
to know. And then she told me.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Or and Einav were huddling inside this bomb shelter when Hamas militants began throwing grenades and opening fire.
LEVY: And the last picture that I remember seeing is the Hamas terrorist shooting inside the bomb shelter.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli later executed by Hamas in captivity, was also kidnapped from that shelter. They
would spend three defining days together in Gaza's tunnels.
LEVY: He said to me, he wears a Y, can bear any how. And for me, when I was in captivity, I understood that I have a Y, and this can help me survive
any how.
DIAMOND (voice-over): When he got back from Gaza, he got the mantra tattooed on his arm.
DIAMOND: What or who was your Y?
LEVY: Almog. Every rough day that, you know, you're about to crack, I was to touch here, right where I did my tattoo, and talking to Almog and saying
to him, yes, you're my Y, and I will go back for you. And I remember on rough days, I would like to do like this, feeling stronger, feeling
stronger, and not wanting to die.
DIAMOND: The thought of dying crossed your mind.
LEVY: Every day, every day. But for me, I didn't accept that, because I knew that people are waiting for me. My kid is waiting for me, and I don't
want him to grow up without mom and dad.
LEVY (through translation): I turned off the water.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Or is home, but he must now answer his son's questions alone.
LEVY: Just the other day, he asked me why I didn't take him to this far place I was in.
DIAMOND: That's how you describe it to him, you were in a faraway place?
LEVY: Yes, yes. So he asked. He asked about his mom, about what happened to her, about who caused it.
DIAMOND: What do you tell him about her, and how do you carry on her memory?
LEVY: So, first of all, I explained to him every time that his mom did want to go, that his mom loved him from the bottom of her heart.
[12:25:05]
I'm showing him picture -- pictures of her every day, of us three. Telling the story behind this photo. This is something that I promised to myself.
Even when it's hard to get him to know her, because it's harder for him.
DIAMOND (voice-over): But Or's ordeal won't be over until all the hostages are home.
LEVY: The fact that people are still there haunts me in the night, for sure. I think that nothing is worth more than getting those people home. I
know that we need to push on to get a deal that gets everyone home, and finish everything.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Giv'atayim, Israel.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ASHER: All right, breaking news into CNN. At least three people have been killed in an explosion at the sheriff's training facility in Los Angeles.
Live pictures here outside that facility. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted to social media that federal agents are on the scene. They are
investigating this cause.
Again, three people killed at a sheriff's training facility in Los Angeles. We'll bring you more on this breaking news story as soon as we get it.
All right, still to come, the latest in the murder trial of a dentist accused of poisoning his wife. One of his daughters testifying, he asked
her to make a deepfake video of his wife to help him. We'll have that story ahead.
And later --
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
KATIE FINESKE, OWNER AND DIRECTOR, CAMP LA JUNTA: Water does not rise this fast here, and it's just something that was beyond belief.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: The owners of a summer camp for boys hit by the devastating floods in Texas show us the destruction left behind.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right, court has resumed in the murder trial of the Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife after bombshell testimony from two of
the suspect's daughters on Thursday. One daughter actually testified that her father asked her to -- for her help creating a deepfake video to make
it look like her mother wanted him to order the dangerous chemicals that killed her. Another daughter testified the suspect did not want an autopsy
conducted on their mother.
[12:30:02]
CNN's Whitney Wild joins us live now. So what more do we know about the suspect allegedly asking one of the daughters to help him with this
apparent deepfake video?
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: This was a really significant part of the witness testimony yesterday because prosecutors are
trying to, you know, move forward this theory that James Craig tried to manufacture a theory that Angela Craig was suicidal and basically
prosecutors say it was all a lie. They know that the idea that Angela Craig was struggling, that she may have been suicidal, is central to James
Craig's defense and so what they were doing very early on is trying to refute any notion that Angela Craig was suicidal.
And so, one -- again as you point out, one of the early witnesses here was the second oldest daughter. She testified yesterday and she went through in
great detail this request from her father. It came in the form of a letter and it was very specifically detailed about how he wanted her to create a
deepfake video of Angela requesting these materials that would aid in her suicide, these poisons that would have aided in her suicide.
And so what he asked her to do was to get a computer, to get a browser, basically, you know, a private browser, log into the dark web, create this
deepfake video, then pretend that she had found it on a thumb drive among Angela's personal items and then claim to investigators that she just
happened upon this thumb drive that had a video of Angela requesting these poisons.
And he also said that he wanted her to make it look like she had created this video several weeks before her death. So again, a really critical
witness testimony as the defense is trying to put forth this idea that James Craig did not do this, but in fact Angela may have poisoned herself
because she was suicidal.
It was really gripping testimony from the people who were closest to Angela and the most affected. Another daughter, their oldest daughter, testified
as well and she gave really heartfelt testimony about how close she was with her mother, saying that they were best friends, they talked all the
time. She admitted that, sure, Angela had struggles like any mother did, but never gave anybody any indication that she was potentially suicidal.
And then as you pointed out, she -- once Angela died, this oldest daughter had asked James Craig to ensure that there would be an autopsy of her
mother and James Craig did not want to do that. He said that he didn't want to satisfy anyone's curiosity, and the oldest daughter was really taken
aback by this. And she said, well, you know, and I'm paraphrasing here, but she basically told her father, we need to know how she died in case her
illness is hereditary.
She was concerned for her health and for the health of her siblings and she said when she brought that up to her father, he became very quiet. And so
these are, again, really some of the most gut-wrenching, the most compelling and really the most significant witness testimony that we've
heard so far as they lay out this fact pattern that James Craig not only killed Angela Craig by poisoning her over the course of 10 days, but also
attempted to manufacture, you know, this theory, this completely fake theory that she was suicidal when in fact she wasn't and was nothing more
than a blameless victim.
Back to you.
ASHER: Which pokes holes in -- pokes many holes in the defense argument.
Whitney Wild live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
ASHER: All right, still to come --
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
KEN BENSINGER, NEW YORK TIMES REPORTER: If you get the wrong side of Laura Loomer, she can ruin your career. She can end your career. She can cancel
you.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: Who is now blasting one of Donald Trump's top Cabinet members, Laura Loomer versus Pam Bondi when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:37:14]
ASHER: Welcome back to One World. I'm Zain Asher.
We've, of course, been talking all hour about the Jeffrey Epstein case and how it simply will not go away despite Donald Trump's best efforts to move
on. One reason Trump has struggled to put it aside is that the influencers who speak to his MAGA base remain convinced there is more to see here. They
think there are famous names connected to Epstein. Among the loudest of those is Laura Loomer and she is refusing to let up in her criticism of
Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
LAURA LOOMER, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Appoint a special counsel and please let's talk about other things so we don't have to say Speaker Hakeem
Jeffries next November.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a big warning coming from an influential voice in President Donald Trump's orbit.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a lot of great friends and a lot of great people. Laura, how are you?
SERFATY (voice-over): Far-right activist and Trump confidant Laura Loomer telling Politico, President Trump's handling of the swirling Jeffrey
Epstein controversy could, quote, "consume his presidency." Lashing out at Attorney General Pam Bondi and advising Trump to appoint a special counsel
to investigate the matter.
LOOMER: She has created an embarrassment and also a PR crisis for the president of the United States and now people are talking about they're not
going to support the president and they're not going to show up to vote in the midterms. Totally insane.
SERFATY (voice-over): Potent words from Loomer whose loyalty to Trump has been absolute. It represents a big fissure with Trump coming just as the
White House says Trump would, quote, "not recommend a special prosecutor." The president is clear he wants to move on.
Firing off this Truth Social tweet wondering, "What's going on with my boys and, in some cases, gals? They're going after Attorney General Pam Bondi."
Topping the list of Trump's, quote, "gals," Loomer whose power within the MAGA world cannot be overstated.
LOOMER: I'm with the greatest president ever, President Donald Trump, who is killing it right now.
SERFATY (voice-over): Just 32 years old, the right-wing provocateur has gained a massive following with 1.7 million followers on X, a powerful
megaphone with a direct line to the president.
LOOMER: You're the best. I love you.
SERFATY (voice-over): That Trump has often called on as a barometer for what the base wants.
TRUMP: You work hard and you are a -- you are very opinionated lady. I have to tell you that. And in my opinion, I like that.
SERFATY (voice-over): In April, Loomer brought into the Oval Office a binder full of people she believed Trump should fire. He immediately fired
six of them. Loomer, she coined the phrase afterwards, boasting about her influence later going on to trade market with the U.S. government.
TRUMP: That's a woman with courage.
SERFATY (voice-over): Her brazen approach making her a useful political weapon for Trump.
BENSINGER: There is just a feeling that she would be too hard to control from the inside. She'd have a Twitter account perhaps, but she wouldn't be
able to use it the way that she uses now. It would stifle her communication ability that they hold so dear.
[12:40:05]
SERFATY (voice-over): Fighting battles for him from the outside.
BENSINGER: If you get the wrong side of Laura Loomer, she can ruin your career. She can end your career. She can cancel you.
SERFATY (voice-over): Loomer is known for her brash, feisty, and controversial theatrics.
LOOMER: They want to shut me down. And I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving anytime soon.
SERFATY (voice-over): Rising in notoriety with viral on-camera confrontations with political figures.
LOOMER: You wouldn't be governor if it wasn't for President Trump. You betrayed President Trump.
SERFATY (voice-over): Confrontations that caught the president's eye and started in a typical powerful relationship.
TRUMP: If you're Loomer, you're in deep trouble. That's the end of your career in a sense.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
SERFATY (on-camera): And to that point, Loomer is claiming credit for the firing of two people this week. Maurene Comey, who helped prosecute Jeffrey
Epstein and Sean Combs, and another official for Customs and Border Protection. She had called them out online in the past and told CNN she
believes the public pressure campaign she created led to their firing.
This certainly an acknowledgment of the power that she believes she has and the power she's clearly trying to exert here and how the White House
handles the Epstein investigation. And Loomer did of course say she remains in support of President Trump.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
ASHER: Growing outrage in Eswatini after the Trump administration sent foreign deportees to the tiny nation in southern Africa. The government
there confirmed that five migrants sent by the U.S. are being held in isolated units in the country's jails. The Trump administration says the
deportees are nationals from Cuba, Jamaica, Yemen, Laos and Vietnam. Their home countries, according to the administration, refuse to take them back.
The spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said they were convicted of various crimes including child rape, murder and robbery.
The move has been met with widespread public anger in Eswatini. One opposition party tells CNN, quote, "Our country must not be treated as a
dumping ground for those deemed unfit to live elsewhere." The government says there are no timelines at present for repatriation.
The K-pop craze is going in a new direction. Just ahead, you'll hear from two members of the group Universe about their journey from North Korea to
musical stardom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:01]
ASHER: For so many families in Texas, the pain and grief of losing loved ones to flooding has been unimaginable including the parents who lost their
children attending the all-girls camp Mystic in this terrible disaster. Earlier today, CNN's Pamela Brown spoke with the mother of this girl,
eight-year-old Blakely McCrory. She's one of the summer campers whose life ended tragically way too soon. She explains why she's now wearing her
daughter's necklace.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
LINDSEY MCLEOD MCCRORY, MOTHER OF BLAKELY MCCRORY: I gave this necklace to my daughter right before camp and I advised her that if she didn't want to
lose it because she's eight years old and of course they lose jewelry, I told her to wear it, you know, during the whole time at camp, so she wore
it. When they found her and that was one of the ways they were able to identify her.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ASHER: The girls' camp was hit particularly hard by this tragedy but at the boys camp nearby it was a very different story. Pamela Brown reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
K. FINESKE: To see the growth and the giggles and the fun and the friendships that form here, that's what this is supposed to be. This is not
supposed to look like this. This is not what we're supposed to be filled with.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Almost two weeks after catastrophic flooding hit Central Texas, the owners
of Camp La Junta, Scott and Katie Fineske, are opening up for the first time to CNN and reflecting on how quickly deadly waters overran their
idyllic campground full of campers on July 4th.
SCOTT FINESKE, OWNER AND DIRECTOR, CAMP LA JUNTA: This was our dining hall, so this was a walled building. It had all of our tables. We had 35 giant
wooden tables.
BROWN (voice-over): Awakened by the thunder in the overnight hours, the Fineske started planning for rainy 4th of July activities until Katie
looked out the window.
S. FINESKE: A lightning bolt came across the sky and lit up the athletic fields and she looked at me and said I think I see our dining hall table
floating across the athletic field.
K. FINESKE: Water does not rise this fast here and it's just something that was beyond belief.
BROWN (voice-over): So the Fineskes jumped into action splitting up and going to each of the 18 cabins on the main grounds because there was no
other way to communicate.
K. FINESKE: We've got speakers all through camp and we also have our own radio station that we broadcast announcements but all that stuff washed
away.
S. FINESKE: Evacuation is one of those things that's on that emergency plan. And so, when the counselors got the directive to pull the kids out of
the cabin to go to the maintenance road, they knew exactly what to do. They knew how to do it. They knew the path that they were going to go.
BROWN (voice-over): One of the counselors helped campers climb onto wooden rafters to escape the rising waters in their cabin, as you see in this
picture shared with CNN.
K. FINESKE: Water was rushing by with huge force and was about chest deep on Scott when we came down. We were on the high ground screaming at the
counselors to get their kids in the rafters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's people in it.
BROWN (voice-over): As the water rushed through the camp, one of the cabins for adult staff was ripped from its foundation and began drifting away.
S. FINESKE: Never made it down to the river. It just floated down the back sidewalk and stopped at the tree right there.
BROWN (voice-over): The Fineskes emphasized the bravery and heroism of the counselors, mostly teenagers.
S. FINESKE: We were very fortunate in the fact that all of our kids were able to get out safely. And it's -- without them and without the way that
they reacted, it would -- it could be a completely different story.
BROWN (voice-over): That reality of a different story becoming abundantly clear to them once the sun rose on July 4th and they say a little girl from
camp mystic was found alive next door after floating 5 miles in the torrent.
S. FINESKE: It was very shocking that she was there. It was very shocking that she was in good spirits and it was very shocking that she wasn't
injured.
BROWN (voice-over): Now they're grappling with the loss of friends from nearby camps. Jane Ragsdale from Heart O' the Hills and Dick Eastland from
Camp Mystic, along with 27 campers and counselors.
K. FINESKE: It's a really strong community. So losing Dick and losing Jane is just -- we have -- it's unthinkable.
S. FINESKE: Our heart goes out to everybody at Mystic, everybody in the community. This is a disaster that's hitting a whole lot of people.
BROWN (voice-over): Despite the physical toll of the storm, they say the camp spirit of grit and resilience is unchanged since its founding nearly
100 years ago.
K. FINESKE: We plan to be back in 2026. Feel like the work we do here is too important to miss and it's just not an option for us to not rebuild and
be back for the kids next year.
S. FINESKE: It's not camp right now. It will be, it will be, but it's hard at this moment to see and to know what it has been for so many years. And
it's difficult.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:52:56]
ASHER: Pair of 20 somethings in soul are looking for musical success on the world stage. They're off to a good start. Not bad considering they actually
fled to South Korea from North Korea. Mike Valerio has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are two North Korean defectors who could be on the verge of K-pop superstardom. Meet Hyuk and
Seok, two 25-year olds who each escaped North Korea when they were teenagers. They're now living in Seoul determined to launch the next great
K-pop band.
VALERIO: You both have come so far from North Korea. What parts of your journey have affected your music the most?
HYUK, 1VERSE MEMBER (through translation): After coming to South Korea, I like writing down lyrics or phrases that I wanted to remember. A teacher
saw me jotting things down and said, "You seem to like writing. Why don't you try rapping?"
SEOK, 1VERSE MEMBER (through translation): I liked music when I was in North Korea. I liked singing songs or lyrics about mothers. I also wrote
lyrics of songs I used to sing.
VALERIO (voice-over): They're both members of the group Universe with bandmates Aito from Japan, Kenny from California and Nathan from Arkansas.
Seok and Hyuk have trained for more than two years now united in a love of songwriting.
VALERIO: What's a lyric that comes from a memory, and when you sing that lyric, it hits pretty deeply.
SEOK (through translation): In shattered, there's a high note part, who's going to save us now?
(SINGING)
SEOK (through translation): That line reminded me that sometimes we all need someone's help.
HYUK (through translation): Our songs come from our own stories and experiences. They're like puzzle pieces we put together.
VALERIO (voice-over): They already have more than 22 million likes on TikTok and are planning to debut in America. Perhaps even teaming up with
U.S. artists down the road, like we saw with Bruno Mars, for instance, and K-pop icon, Rose.
[12:55:04]
VALERIO: If you two could collab with any American sensation, Ariana Grande, JLO, Mariah, who would it be?
HYUK (through translation): I really like Post Malone songs when I was younger. I'd love to work with him.
SEOK (through translation): The first person that comes to mind is Charlie Puth.
VALERIO (voice-over): For Seok and Hyuk, taking a leap into the unknown from unlikely beginnings is something anyone can relate to. And through
their music, they hope fans worldwide will find the same courage, daring to dream.
HYUK (through translation): When those people see that we came from tough circumstances and managed to grow and share something with fans, I think
that process itself can be meaningful and give others the courage to try.
VALERIO (voice-over): Mike Valerio, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ASHER: And that does it for this hour of One World. I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. Amanpour is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
