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Kremlin Negotiator: Summit Offers Chance to "Reset" U.S.-Russia Relations "If the meeting goes well"; Israel Advances Controversial West Bank Settlement Plan; Tropical Storm Erin Expected to be First Atlantic Hurricane; Trump Believes Putin is "Going to make a deal"; ICE Deportation Planes Hiding Data Used to Track Them; Beyonce Wins First Emmy, for "Beyonce Bowl" Half-Time Show. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired August 14, 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)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: President Trump says he believes President Putin is going to make a deal to stop the fighting in Ukraine.
"One World" starts right now. Final preparations are underway for Friday's highly anticipated meeting in Alaska.
Plus, as Israel prepares for its planned takeover of Gaza City, the prime minister says he's talking to several countries about relocating
Palestinians. And Taylor Swift is spilling the tea in a rare two-hour interview on her boyfriend's podcast. Live from New York. I'm Paula Newton,
and this is "One World".
Now, one day before a high stakes summit in Alaska between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin could decide the future of Ukraine. We are getting new
details about what's expected to be on the agenda, and they're coming from the Kremlin with the suggestion that a reset of U.S. Russian relations,
including trade and economic issues, may be very high on the list.
The Russian President, meanwhile, is also hinting about discussing a possible nuclear arms deal during the talks. But the Ukrainian Leader is
making it clear the focus needs to be on ending the fighting in his country on terms except -- acceptable to Kyiv, and he's trying to get Trump to put
more pressure on Putin.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy capped off a hectic week of diplomacy by meeting with the British Prime Minister in London earlier one day after his video call
with the U.S. President and European Leaders. Meantime, after lowering expectations earlier this week, Trump appears much more optimistic about
the meeting.
A short time ago, during a radio talk show interview, the president said he believes Putin is quote, and these are the president's words going to make
a deal. We are covering all the angles of this story. Alayna Treene is standing by at the White House.
But we do begin with CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who just spoke with a senior Russian negotiator about Moscow's expectations ahead for this summit. Fred,
good to have you with us, and I have learned to rely on your doorstepping of these key Russian officials before a big summit like this.
So, you know, you spoke to someone who was really their frame of reference is the economy. But what did -- what sense did you get about the
expectations in general?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, I think you're absolutely right, Paula, that for the Russians, this is
obviously about Ukraine, and that's also something that Vladimir Putin said when he met with some of the most senior officials here earlier today, and
also brief them on what's going to be coming up in that summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, that Ukraine was going to be important.
But that for the Russians, this is all also about possibly a broader reset in the future. And you're absolutely right. I did speak with Kirill
Dmitriev of who's the Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, but also an official member of Russia's delegation, and who has been, of course,
pretty much Steve Witkoff, the presidential envoys point man here in Russia, and was also in all of the meetings between Vladimir Putin and
Steve Witkoff as well.
I caught up with Kirill Dmitriev shortly before he flew out to the United States. Here's what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: President Trump has threatened severe consequences if there's no movement towards a ceasefire, what's Russia hoping to get out of this
meeting?
KIRILL DMITRIEV, SENIOR RUSSIAN NEGOTIATOR: Well, I think dialog is very important, and I think it's a very positive meeting for the world, because
during Biden Administration, no dialogue was happening. So, I think it's very important to hear Russian position directly, and there are lots of
misunderstandings misinformation about the Russian position, and it's also a chance to sort of reset if the meeting goes well, U.S. Russia relations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: Reset, of U.S. Russia relations, if the meeting goes well. And I think one indication of how seriously the Russians are taking all this is
if you look at the Russian Delegation, Paula, obviously, as you expect, would have the foreign minister in it, also senior Kremlin aid Yury
Ushakov, but also the Defense Minister Andrei Belarus as well.
I think that is an indication of how serious the Russians are taking all this with Putin, taking large part of his senior cabinet with him to Alaska
to meet with President Trump, and, of course, his administration as well.
One of the things that the Russians have been sort of trying to project over the past couple of days is that they say they've been making
significant gains on the battlefield in Ukraine, and they also believe that that's something that could strengthen Vladimir Putin's position as he
meets with President Trump,
NEWTON: You know, and I want to pick up where we left off there. I mean, he says that people have misunderstandings in his words about the Russian
position, and yet, I haven't seen any reporting that says that President Putin is willing to back away from getting all the territory that Russia
currently occupies in Ukraine.
[11:05:00]
I mean, what more have you been hearing, not just in the media there, but really the expectations for Russians themselves?
PLEITGEN: Well, first of all, I think one of the things that we have to point out is that the Russians have been extremely silent over the past
couple of days. At least the Kremlin has been as to what exactly their aims are for this summit. However, one of the spokespeople for the foreign
ministry came out yesterday with an interesting statement saying that Russia's territory is enshrined in its constitution.
Of course, in that constitution, it says that those four Ukrainian regions are now considered part of Russia by the Russians. So, it's going to be
interesting see to what extent Vladimir Putin might be willing to back away from that, or what sort of compromises he might be willing to make.
And the other thing that Vladimir Putin said today, which I think is also very important as well Paula, is Vladimir Putin said that he and President
Trump would be aiming towards trying to get a broader peace going in the conflict with Ukraine.
The Russians, of course, from the get go have been saying that they're essentially against an immediate ceasefire, an immediate 30-day ceasefire,
and they want a longer peace process. But of course, as the Russians have been saying that the fighting has been going on.
So certainly, it's going to be very interesting to see whether or not the two leaders can come to some sort of agreement there, and what sort of
compromises the Russian side is willing to make, Paula.
NEWTON: Yeah, and so many saying that this all needs to start with a ceasefire. We go now to Alayna at the White House. And Alayna, just in the
last hour, we have again, had more information from President Trump and his expectations. It is startling to hear the president become -- he's not
really lowering expectations, is he?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No, he's not. He's raising them. And it is a bit of a turn after we've now heard consistently from White
House officials over recent days, of them trying to lower expectations. They've been trying to describe this Friday meeting with Putin as a
listening exercise.
The president himself, earlier this week, had said it's not up to him to make a deal. Very different language than what we heard him say just in the
last hour. Part of that is, he actually said he's not sure if a ceasefire is possible. He said, specifically, I don't know that we are going to get
an immediate ceasefire.
Of course, that is something we have now heard repeatedly from European Leaders and Zelenskyy himself, both groups of which had spoken with the
president on the phone yesterday, calling for that. But he did say the -- President Trump said that he does believe that Putin wants a peace deal,
again, raising those expectations, but listen to how the president framed what he believes Putin wants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I believe now he's convinced that he's going to make a deal. He's going to make a deal. I
think he's going to and we're going to find out. I'm going to know very quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, Paula he also described the meeting tomorrow like a chess game. He said that there's likely going to be a give and take when it comes
to land. He said there will be a give and take as to boundaries, and again, something that many people, many of the United States, allies in Europe and
Zelenskyy as well, are worried about.
They are worried about not having a seat in this room tomorrow in Alaska, and it is going to be, of course, a one-on-one meeting between President
Donald Trump and Putin. But some other things he said, he did say as well that he believes that there will be some sort of press conference.
We heard the White House Press Secretary say this morning that the expectation as of now is that Trump and Putin will address the press
together in a joint press conference that will follow that one-on-one meeting between the two leaders, and then also a bilateral lunch with their
respective delegations.
But the president also left kind of open this idea that this meeting could end in failure. He says he believes there's a 25 percent chance that this
does not go well, and that he expects to know whether or not Putin is serious within the first few minutes that they sit down with one another.
So again, kind of getting a lot more information about how this is shaping up, just hours ahead of that key summit tomorrow.
NEWTON: Yeah, and the fact that they intend right now to actually have a press conference is highly significant. Fred Pleitgen for us in Moscow and
Alayna Treene at the White House, I want to thank you both.
Jaroslava Barbieri is a Research Fellow at the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, and she joins me now live from Birmingham, England. And good to see
you. And I want to start with your observations going into this meeting, they're distilled in a very particular way in terms of your observations.
And it helps us frame the risks here, right, especially given the president is again optimistic. Russia has been steadfast as you write. You know it
wants to keep all the territory it has, neutralize and demilitarize Ukraine. And of course, any membership for Ukraine with NATO off the table,
given the U.S. position going into the meeting, you say it lacks a coherent strategy. So, what's the risk here?
JAROSLAVA BARBIERI, RESEARCH FELLOW, UKRAINE FORUM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Good to be with you. I mean, I think the number one risks is that there is a lot of
hope being placed on this meeting. However, we need to stress that Putin's you know maximalist demands on Ukraine have not changed.
[11:10:00]
As you were saying, he wants Ukraine to be demilitarized, which, in a way, means denying Ukraine the ability to defend itself against potential future
renewed aggression. Putin wants Ukraine to not join defensive alliances such as NATO. Putin wants legal recognitions of territories that it's
currently occupying, and it wants to replace Zelenskyy with a puppet regime.
So, this is the baseline, and of course, it's symmetrically opposed to the red line set by European Leaders yesterday in a virtual meeting with
Zelenskyy and Putin, in which the key principle laid out, particularly that that can be no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine, that can be no
legal recognitions of the forceful change of borders.
Any peaceful any peace negotiations, have to start with a ceasefire, and Ukraine will require robust, credible security guarantees, and ultimately,
there has to be a coordinated Transatlantic effort to push Putin to agree to a ceasefire. And so far, frankly speaking, the U.S. President has
displayed a zigzagging approach on Russia and Ukraine. So, a lot yet is to be seen whether Friday will be a turning point.
NEWTON: Two points I want to get to there. And first with the fact that Europe and Ukraine have articulated, apparently, to the president, and he
has taken this on board what the so-called red lines are fine. If it doesn't work out, if this does not end in any kind of compromise from
Russia. Does Europe have the leverage to back up Zelenskyy? Because it is not at all clear that President Trump would back Ukraine any more than he
already has.
BARBIERI: That's a good point. I would say that over the past few months, European Leaders have been navigating a tricky balance between trying to
keep U.S. President Trump on board and following his lead. Because, of course, European Leaders are fully aware of the fact that they're still
dependent on the U.S. security umbrella.
But on the other hand, they needed to emphasize to the U.S. administration that they cannot be sidelined Ukraine and Europe cannot be sidelined from
any negotiations about the outcome of the war in Ukraine. So currently, there are coordinated efforts to try and continue to support Ukraine, both
diplomatically but also militarily, also through this new scheme that would allow non-U.S., NATO member states to purchase U.S. military equipment and
fusion the bill.
So, this is a promising mechanism that would allow Europe to increasingly become independent from the -- it's -- U.S. -- from the U.S. security
umbrella, and therefore have more room for maneuver if the Transatlantic Alliance on Ukraine does not continue.
NEWTON: And a specific message to Putin there about where Europe sits in all of this? I want to ask you if the President, if President Trump, is
correct and Putin does at this point, want to make a deal. How do you measure the Kremlin response here? Why now?
Because we are not hearing that there is significant pressure, either on the Russian economy or from the Russian electorate. Certainly, there are
challenges on the battlefield, but even in that, in the last few weeks, Russia has had more success.
BARBIERI: I think the escalating tone coming from the White House was indeed understood by the Kremlin. The Kremlin understood that Trump's
patience was wearing thin, because, of course, for Trump, it was very important to portray himself as an effective peace broker, and Putin wants
to present himself as a negotiator in good faith, which he is not.
And so, I think that one risk potential from this meeting is that Trump thinks that Putin is entirely irrational, person with whom he can strike a
deal. And in that sense, I think we can anticipate a mix of carrots and sticks that Trump will bring to the table.
And if when you look at the recently confirmed Russian Delegation, you can see that there's an attempt to expand the conversation beyond Ukraine and
try to frame a possibility of business shared interests between the two countries.
However, Putin has never been rational about Ukraine specifically, and it has to be said that that's also politician that is in the process of
deciding his own legacy.
[11:15:00]
So, I think that this is something that should not be underestimated when thinking about what Russia wants to get out of this meeting.
NEWTON: Yeah, and the legacy issue is there, front and center. He has been the forefront of Russian power, one way or the other for a quarter century
now. Jaroslava Barbieri, we thank you, and we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.
BARBIERI: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now, the head of Israel's Mossad Intelligence. The Head of Israel's Mossad Intelligence Agency and a Hamas Delegation are in Qatar amid an
effort to restart negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza. This comes as Israel is set to approve a controversial plan to build thousands of new
homes in the occupied West Bank.
A move that a far-right minister says would, quote, permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state. We are following several developments out of
the Middle East this hour because Israel's Prime Minister says talks are underway with multiple countries about taking in Palestinians displaced by
the war in Gaza.
A senior Israeli official says one of those countries is South Sudan. Benjamin Netanyahu says Palestinians are not being pushed out, but being
allowed to leave. But critics say it would amount to a violation of international law, or ethnic cleansing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: First of all, inside Gaza we are not pushing out either, but we are allowing them to leave. It is
happening very slowly. You need the receiving countries. We are talking to several countries. I can't detail it here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a response and co-operation?
NETANYAHU: There is dialogue and that is important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: This as Israel's military ramps up attacks across Gaza and in Gaza City, specifically, that's ahead of the planned takeover there. Jerusalem
Bureau Chief Oren Liebermann joins us now. Significant developments in the last few hours. Oren, can you bring us up to date, firstly, on the
negotiations, but obviously, quite provocatively, the fact that we just heard the prime minister say that there is an intention to try and displace
Gazan residents.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: So, there was a significant move from the Head of the Mossad, David Barnea. He made what turns out to
be a very short trip to Doha in Qatar. We heard from a senior Israeli official that, or this was not about very specifically, negotiations. The
trip itself appears to be only a few hours because flight trackers picked up his exit flight.
But he did, according to that Israeli official made clear that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interested only in a comprehensive deal, a
full deal, not the partial deals that had been talked about. However, it is worth noting that it's certainly likely to Israel take, would take -- would
take both a partial and a full deal. It just needs to be a deal that is advancing here and right now there are no negotiations that are happening.
Still, the fact that both the Head of Mossad and a Hamas Delegation were in Qatar at the same time is itself noteworthy, even more so because that
Hamas Delegation left Egypt directly talking about the possibility of ceasefire negotiations, and ended up in Doha. And this comes just a few
days after we saw U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff meet the Qataris in Spain.
Still there isn't the sort of optimism we saw only a few weeks ago, when there were -- when there was an effort to move forward some sort of deal
that would see a 60-day ceasefire. So, we're not at that point. We don't have that same sort of ceasefire. But it is worth noting that those
negotiations, or that those negotiations efforts, are still out there.
There's still -- there is still a broad international effort to try to make this happen. And the timing cannot be missed here. It comes as, frankly,
pretty much the rest of the world is trying to head off an Israeli takeover and occupation of Gaza City, Paula.
NEWTON: Yeah. I do want to get to the other issue in terms of Israeli politics here, and this is the so-called doomsday resettlement scenario.
What is it? And what could the fallout be going forward?
LIEBERMANN: Absolutely, and this is no doubt significant. This is what's called E1, it's been frozen for decades here over vociferous international
opposition, but it has been sort of the dream of the settlement movement and the far right to try to make this happen specifically because of what
it does and what it is.
E1 is a settlement block East of Jerusalem that not only splits the Occupied West Bank in half between North and South, and therefore makes a
continuous -- contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank virtually impossible.
[11:20:00]
It also, because of its location, connects Jerusalem to Maale Adumim Settlement in the West Bank, and therefore makes any sort of Palestinian
state with the East Jerusalem as its capital virtually impossible. And that, according to the far-right finance minister, is exactly what he's
going for. He said in -- on Thursday that it would, quote, permanently bury the idea of a Palestinian state. And the timing cannot be missed.
This comes as a number of states, including Australia, Canada and others, plan to recognize a Palestinian state and that far-right finance minister
Bezalel Smotrich says they may have their dreams of a Palestinian state effectively, but his reality is to -- is to create facts on the ground and
make this, or try to make this, at least, irreversible.
The Presidency of the Palestinian National Council warned that this is part of Israel's plan, to quote, of systemic -- of a systemic plan to steal land
-- and impose Biblical and Talmudic facts on a conflict. So, the warning is out there, the consequences are not just immediate. They are very long
term, if this happens, especially with the plans here for three -- I believe it's 3401 settlement housing units that would -- are expected to
get final approval next week.
NEWTON: Yeah, highly significant, especially if you see what's gone on with those settlements in a generation now, in about 25 years. Oren Liebermann
for us, thanks so much for spelling that out. Appreciate it.
Still to come, eyes are on the tropics, as the Atlantic is expected to see a major hurricane by this weekend, where forecasters say Tropical Storm
Erin is headed. That's just ahead. Plus, wildfires rage across parts of Europe. The latest on relief efforts in both Spain and Greece when we come
back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Tropical Storm Erin is on its way to becoming the Atlantic's first hurricane of the season as early as Friday. Right now, Erin is gaining
strength as it heads West. However, the storm is expected to change its track and veer away from a lot of the islands. Forecasters say Erin could,
though, explode in strength as it moves through warm waters, becoming a major hurricane.
Here, with the latest on where the storm is headed, is Meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison, good to see you. It has been a quiet season so
far, right not anymore?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, not really. We really haven't had a lot of those major storms hit yet again. I think we're all OK with
that.
[11:25:00]
But yes, Paula, we take a look at the storm right now. Tropical Storm Erin has intensified just a little bit in the last hour, so we've now got those
sustained winds a little bit higher than they were before. It's still moving off to the West, however, and that's exactly where we anticipated it
would keep going, but at some point, it is going to start to make that turn back to the North.
The real question is when, because the farther or the sooner rather, it makes that turn, it's going to be a little bit farther away from land. If
it takes a little bit longer, it's going to be a little bit closer to shore. But the things that we do know for a fact is that it's going to keep
intensifying as it continues on its westward track.
So, we anticipate that it will become a hurricane on Friday. It will undergo rapid intensification from Friday into Saturday, and it's expected
to become a major hurricane by the time we get to Sunday. Now, there is still some discrepancy amongst the models of when it makes that right hand
turn.
So again, as we mentioned, the earlier it makes the turn, it tends to be a little bit farther away from shore. But if it takes a little bit longer,
it's going to be a little bit closer to the coastline, meaning it's likely going to bring some bigger impacts in the form of very strong rip currents,
some very high surf, but also could be close enough to push some of those outer bands along shore.
And look, here's the thing, it's still summer in a lot of these places, so maybe folks are planning to head out some last-minute trips to the beach
over the weekend. So, these are the things we'll kind of have to keep a close eye on because it could end up impacting a beach weekend or even just
a little bit further inland having some of those showers.
Again, the models vary on exactly where they want to take this storm, but the key things to note is that it's moving into incredibly, incredibly
favorable environments. So, it's going to head from low 80 temperature wise into mid-80s. So, the water is just going to get warmer the farther west it
goes, meaning those conditions, it's just fuel for a lot of these hurricanes as they continue their westward track.
And it should be a hurricane by the time it moves into those slightly warmer waters. It's also going to enter into an environment that doesn't
really have a lot of sheers. Sheer are things that typically prohibit further development in tropical systems. It's not really going to face
that.
In fact, again, it's kind of almost just follows along behind it, which generally doesn't really impact these storms. So again, it's moving into a
much more favorable environment for further development. That's why we anticipate that on that timeline of Friday into Saturday, it would undergo
rapid intensification and likely become the very first major hurricane of the season by the time we get to Sunday.
NEWTON: Allison, thank you. We will continue to stand by see when that right turn happens. Appreciate it. Now in Europe, a spike in temperatures
is fueling heat waves and wildfires. In its 10th heat wave of the year, Spain is asking for help from its European partners to tackle wildfires
raging right across the country now.
Officials say a volunteer firefighter has died from severe burns, and several people have now been hospitalized. Firefighters in Western Greece,
meantime, are battling blazes for a second day. Flames swept through all of groves, forests and industrial areas, forcing mass evacuations from
Greece's third largest city, Patras.
In Canada meantime, firefighters are trying to get a handle on raging wildfires in Nova Scotia. They're deploying planes and helicopters to the
site of one fire that is very close to the City of Halifax. Officials say the wildfire is about 25 to 30 hectares, or about 75 acres in size, adding
that progress has been made, but it is still considered out of control.
There, as also, fires are burning out of control in the Province of Newfoundland, this is, I will remind you, on track to be Canada's second
worst wildfire season of all time. Now, in just over 24 hours, two of the world's most powerful leaders will sit face to face. Look at what might
come out of their summit on Ukraine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
NEWTON: And welcome back to "One World". I'm Paula Newton in New York. Here are some of the headlines we are watching today. We're learning more about
Friday's Summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska. A senior aide to the Russian President says the two leaders will first have a one-on-one
conversation, followed by more talks afterward it says they will hold a joint news conference.
Now ahead of that summit, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is rallying support in the UK. He met earlier with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in
London. Zelenskyy says they discussed expectations for Friday's Summit and security guarantees for Ukraine a key issue heading into this meeting.
Now, residents in one Washington DC neighborhood expressed outrage over a traffic checkpoint. Protesters lined the street where police and federal
law enforcement were stopping cars. One police commander told CNN, this was a routine operation, residents dispute that. President Trump has
federalized DC police in what he says is an effort to reduce crime.
Air Canada is canceling flights starting today as it winds down operations ahead of a weekend strike by its more than 10,000 flight attendants.
Canada's largest airline said it would suspend operation Saturday and could remain shut down until a deal is reached. The union says it's striking over
pay and other issues.
Now, as you just heard, we are learning more details about the high stakes summit between the U.S. and Russian Presidents now just one day away. CNN's
Nick Paton Walsh joins me now from Kyiv. And you know, Nick Ukraine, for days, has tried to lay down the conditions of any deal, as far as it is
concerned with Russia.
I mean, what are they? And I am wondering what you make of this new found optimism by President Trump saying he believes Putin does want to make a
deal.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure Putin wants to make a deal. If the deal isn't the deal that Putin wants to
make. The question is the substance of that, and where it leaves Ukraine? Trump's optimism about some kind of progress a 25 percent chance of
failure, he hasn't really set the threshold for success yet, and I think that's what brings anxiety to here.
This is a meeting where Ukraine will not be present, despite wanting to be, despite European Leaders saying they should be that's something Putin has
rejected. He rejected it back in May as well, when a trilateral summit was also offered, he rejected the unconditional ceasefire demands of Europe
back then to Trump doesn't think he's going to get a ceasefire out of Alaska anyway.
So, the bar for what success could be is already fairly low. And we already hear the Kremlin phrasing this much as a U.S. Russia Summit, holding out
the possibility of maybe some kind of strategic weapons deal, perhaps complementing the U.S.'s efforts to work energetically to find a solution
to Ukraine.
But ultimately, we've seen Russia in the past use moments like this to just buy more time, which is being very effectively used by the military forces
on the Eastern front lines now. Ukraine's big concern is that Trump meets with Putin. Trump's very happily repeating the things that European Leaders
imposed upon him during their virtual summit yesterday.
[11:35:00]
The need for a ceasefire. I won't negotiate Ukrainian territory on behalf of Ukraine. We need to be sure that there's some kind of wider European
happiness with anything that comes out of this summit.
But instead, if he gets in the room with Vladimir Putin, we have in the past seen Trump often recite things that are quite close to the Kremlin's
narrative. And I think the fear here is that Putin will be able to bring to the table deals or ideas that are very attractive to Trump in terms of
America's unilateral interests, potentially drag him off topic from Ukraine.
Or offer him very little on Ukraine, or offer him enough to keep him thinking there's a deal to be being done, but mess it up with other ideas
that are more America centric. So, the Ukrainian concern, I think, is that, yes, we don't see a ceasefire, maybe we see some kind of land deal
potentially presented, which is unacceptable to Ukraine.
But Trump feels he might be able to impose to get other benefits from Russia in other separate parts of that bilateral relationship. Trump said
that if the meeting doesn't go well, he may not call Zelenskyy or the European Leaders. It's not clear if that immediately means secondary
sanctions.
A European official I spoke to yesterday said, look, they felt that the threat of secondary sanctions against India had had an impact on Russian
thinking, and that the threat is on they said. So, there's hopes, certainly, that that may be the consequence of a failed meeting.
But you know, you have to remember how good we've seen the Kremlin be in the past, at playing to Trump, trying to continue this dialogue in their
favor to buy themselves time. And the concern here is that we will see that again, maybe plans emerging that are completely anathema to Ukraine and the
European ally's position and just broad anxiety about how unpredictable that Trump Putin relationship is and how often it works in Moscow's favor.
NEWTON: Yeah. And Nick we are getting new reporting from CNN that Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, is saying that even as I speak, even as we
talk now, there are changes happening on the battlefield which have an impact on what one side uses as leverage, very significant developments
there in the last hours. Nick Paton Walsh for us from Kyiv, thanks so much.
Now, as U.S. immigration officials step up deportation flights, there's growing concern that the flights are being carried out in secrecy. Coming
up, CNN's Rene Marsh tries to track down the information.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
NEWTON: Now, a federal judge has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to immediately improve conditions at a holding facility in New
York City by limiting capacity, cleaning cells three times a day and providing sleeping mats.
The ruling comes after detainees complained of dirty conditions with cell phone video showing about two dozen men crowded into one room with little
more than blankets. This comes as the number of ICE deportation flights is skyrocketing and also becoming harder to track. CNN's Rene Marsh has more
now in this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENE MARSH, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More than 30 migrants detainees handcuffed, walk up those steps and get on board. 1, 2, 3, 4 more
detainees. You can tell that their hands are restrained.
MARSH (voice-over): This is 1 of about 6000 ICE flights since President Donald Trump took office. We were able to find this plane here in Richmond,
Virginia, but most of them are hidden from the public and operating with little transparency. Virtually every ICE flight carrying detainees blocks
their tail numbers from flight tracking websites, making it nearly impossible for families and advocates to find their loved ones once they're
in ICE custody.
This is one of the tail numbers that we think could possibly come here, and right now it's in Youngstown. Oh, look, I think it's taking off because the
altitude is increasing. Yeah.
We studied months of flight paths, got a tail number and made an educated guess about which flight would arrive in Richmond. Then, using a crowd
source database that monitors aircraft radio signals, we track the suspected flight, revealing every city and state it stopped in within 24
hours.
This is the plane we're tracking, a Boeing 737, operated by Eastern Air Express with the tail number N668CP. It has up to 148 economy seats a
bathroom in the front and the back. But it's unclear how many people are on board this flight or any other ICE flight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- five one, continue on.
MARSH: OK? Tyson 51 is this one right now? That's a call sign that they're using for this flight.
MARSH (voice-over): Many ICE flights go by Tyson, the same call sign used to identify Trump's personal plane after he was elected in 2016. Here's the
flight path it took on August 6th, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania to Louisiana, back to Ohio, then New York, picking up and dropping off
detainees at every stop.
MARSH: If it's actually coming to Virginia, it should be here very soon. It's on approach. It's on approach right now. Its altitude is like,
literally 50 feet over there --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Over there.
MARSH: All right, I think, I think that might be it. This is a plane. This is a plane that we've been tracking all morning. This is it. And we just
saw like more than 30 detainees handcuffed walk up those steps and get on board. There's 1, 2, 3, 4 more detainees. You can tell that their hands are
restrained, another, another one, another. OK, so they're unloading another vehicle here, multiple detainees walking up to get on board this Eastern
Air Express flight.
MARSH (voice-over): The Trump Administration has used more than 70 airports across the country for domestic shuffle flights so far, moving ICE
detainees between detention centers before deportation. In the past three months, the number of these flights spiked 90 percent compared to the same
time period last year, according to an immigrant rights group. And that trend is expected to continue after the Department of Homeland Security
recently earmarked $14.4 billion for ICE flights.
MARSH: We know that the tail number of the flight that we've been tracking today is N668CP, and we want to see if this public tracking site that gets
its data and information from the FAA has any record of the flight. Nothing comes up.
MARSH (voice-over): But we were able to track the flight as it made its way back to Alexandria, Louisiana, the busiest hub for ICE deportation flights.
At this point in the journey, some of the first detainees on board were possibly on this plane, handcuffed for nearly 10 hours.
As this ICE flight completes its 24-hour trip, Louisiana is likely the last stop in the U.S. before the people on board are deported.
MARSH: Well, the reality is, it was not very simple to track this ICE flight. We weren't even sure we had successfully done it until it was
coming in for a landing at Richmond's Airport. And the point is, these flights really have virtually no eyes on them. Families and advocates have
no idea where their loved ones are going once, they are in ICE custody.
Now one of the airlines flying the flights for ICE Avelo Airlines told CNN in an email quote, flights operated on behalf of the United States
government are often unidentified as at the government's request.
[11:45:00]
So, we reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, that's the agency that oversees ICE, to get a better understanding as to why these
flights are blocking their tail numbers, but the agency did not comment. Rene Marsh, CNN Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Pop Icon, Taylor Swift got candid on boyfriend Travis Kelce's podcast for nearly two hours Wednesday, revealing new details about her
upcoming 12th studio album. Quote the "Life of a Showgirl" end quote releases on October 3rd. Swift said the 12 tracks describe life on the road
during her historic heiress tour. Here's just one snippet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON KELCE, CO-HOST, "NEW HEIGHTS": So, we're going to ask the question everybody watching the show is currently asking, why are you coming on the
show? You have so many better things to do with your time.
TAYLOR SWIFT, MUSICIAN: This podcast has done a lot for me, I owe a lot to this podcast. This podcast got me a boyfriend ever since Travis decided to
use it as his personal dating app about two years ago.
KELCE: It worked pretty good?
SWIFT: Yeah, OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Pretty funny, right? Joining us from the Music Capital of Nashville, Tennessee, the reporter who covers all things Taylor Swift for
USA Today. Bryan West, good to see you. Now look, let's get into this OK. Your key takeaways, I want to hear first about the album, and what do you
think it says about her music.
BRYAN WEST, TAYLOR SWIFT REPORTER, USA TODAY/GANNETT: Hi, Paula, thanks for having me. I want to start with the clip that you just played. I think she
was being self-deprecating on saying I only went on this podcast, because it's where Travis used as a personal dating app.
But I really, truly think it was because it's a space she feels incredibly comfortable. Swifties were able to get two hours of content, which is very,
very rare for the singer. I think the most she's ever done maybe in a broadcast piece, is about 10 minutes, so two full hours peeling back the
curtain on their relationship, her personal life, and this new album, the "Life of a Showgirl".
She told us, it is 12 tracks. Normally she might do a second album, extended tracks. She said, this is just going to be 12 tracks. It's going
to come out on October 3rd, and it's going to be a return to her pop up beat eras. She's working with Max Martin and Shellback. Those are two
producers that were on 1989 and reputation.
[11:50:00]
What I found most interesting, though, is she wrote this on the EROS Tour, and then in between stops in Europe, she was flying back to Sweden to
produce this. So, think about doing a three hour show in heels, and then as you're recovering, your body's recovering, you're just hopping on a plane
to record a new album.
NEWTON: Honestly, I can't fathom it, and it's one of the reasons that the two of them actually described their jobs as being kind of the same as if
she was training like a pro athlete. I want to get to the romance part of this. I mean, they're like a rom-com reality show for those couple of
hours. We got one limited edition episode. I want you to listen to a portion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWIFT: OK, so he's got, which is an incredible like a huge green flag, is that Travis has had the same friends since he's probably four years old.
KELCE: Yes, literally.
SWIFT: And he's incredibly good at maintaining friendships, and he's so loyal, and his friends are equally loyal. They're just the funniest, most
hilarious group of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: You know, Bryan, I honestly think we're almost underplaying moments like that. This thing pretty much broke the internet, right, getting the
insight into this couple that so many people were craving.
WEST: It literally did. At 01 hour and 45 minutes into it. I mean, the YouTube link went down and New Heights was scrambling to be like, we're
going to be up shortly. Thankfully for Spotify, the full episode was out, but it really peels back the current on their relationship.
They are very cozy. They're very comfortable. You know, two years ago, the rhetoric and the narrative was, is this relationship even real? And of
course, it was, and that's what fans really got to see, is how they interact with each other, how they kind of finish each other's thoughts?
How they've made each other better?
She's introduced him to Shakespeare and Hamlet and larger words like esoteric and effervescent. And I feel like he's allowed her to be herself
in a public sphere. And so, we got to see how they have their dynamic 45 minutes in, he said, I love you, which was also a neat moment.
NEWTON: You know, it's so interesting. The haters are always going to hate, right, Bryan? But I do feel as if you kind of got the sense that this was a
safe space for both of them, like they are each other's bubble, and they're very, very content with that. You know, for Swift fans, they know we deal
in eras here. OK, so which era are we in here do you think with Taylor Swift?
WEST: So, we're in the era that Taylor is just happy and upbeat. She said that this album is such a reflection of that I love, also that she had this
really great quote about haters. She said, now I want to get it wrong. Think of your energy as if it's expensive, as if it's a luxury item that
not everybody can afford.
She said, just for mental health, she turned off her Instagram comments 10 years ago, and it was one of the best decisions that she's ever made. And
there was a joke that Travis was saying, well, I found that out when I tried to write you because I thought I'm going to write in the Instagram
comments.
NEWTON: He actually thought he was going to get a date that way. Hilarious. I did -- you know this podcast is a football podcast. The men in my house
listen to it, not to get Taylor Swift, I can tell you that. So how do you think the manosphere took this in? And what was interesting here was, you
know, Taylor Swift made light of that, even when she talked about it.
WEST: She had on one of the promo videos, she said, you know, a lot of your fans are male sports fans, and I think what they've been wanting is seeing
more of me in their spaces. She's very self-aware. I think they like it because it also, as much as it was showing Swift's personal life, it was
showing Travis Kelce and also Jason Kelce's dynamic.
There were football questions. I found it really interesting that when he put her on blast, her inner circle, like her dad was talking to his inner
circle, like Coach Andy Reid saying we got to get these two together. We have to get them to meet.
So, I can just say a lot of sports journalists, from personal experience, have been coming up and asking me questions about the football season. Is
she going to appear at more games this fall? And I think more people are interested, even if they say they're not.
NEWTON: Certainly, the dads, the boyfriends, the husbands, the brothers, they should all take.
WEST: The brads and chads.
NEWTON: There you go. Bryan West, thanks so much on that Taylor Swift, primer on album 12. Appreciate it.
WEST: Thanks.
NEWTON: Now, it's a major victory for South Korea's Pinkfong, the creators of the iconic children's song. Here it comes guys. Baby shark. I apologize
to the entire audience now for that, the Korean Supreme Court cleared the company of any plagiarism charges after an American Songwriter claimed his
work had been copied.
The catchy song I don't have to remind you adore by children and yes, dreaded by most parents went viral on YouTube, clocking billions of views,
spawning TV shows and Merch of course, that brought in millions of dollars for Pinkfong. And finally, for us, this hour, Beyonce has added a first
ever Emmy to her long list of awards.
[11:55:00]
She received the prize for Beyonce Bowl, the Halftime Show during the Christmas NFL Game on Netflix. Her team received it for outstanding
costumes in the category of variety nonfiction reality show. She's now halfway to EGOT status reminder earned by receiving an Emmy, a Grammy, an
Oscar and a Tony. That was a fun show. Stay with us. I'll have more "One World" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
