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One World with Zain Asher
Israel Approves Controversial Settlement in West Bank; Israel Moves Forward with Controversial New Settlement Plan; NY Court Throws Out Trump's Civil Fraud Penalty; California Governor Mimics President's Social Media Style; California Democrats Prepare to Pass Own Redistricting Plan; "The Nicest Judge in the World" Dies at Age 88. Aired 11a-12a ET
Aired August 21, 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: All right, Israel is stepping up its plans to occupy Gaza City. "One World" starts right now. As Israel ramps up its
military push to take over Gaza City will turn to the West Bank, where a controversial new settlement plan could cut the territory in two.
Plus, lawmakers in both Texas and California are taking a big step forward with rival redistricting plans. And the Menendez Brothers are about to face
a parole board making their case for freedom 36 years after murdering their parents. Coming to you live from New York. I'm Zain Asher. This is "One
World".
Israel's military escalation in Gaza and its dramatic West Bank settlement expansion is sparking international alarm and casting serious doubt over
the future of ceasefire negotiations. The IDF says the first stage of its massive assault to take over and occupy Gaza City is underway, and it's
warning health officials and aid organizations to plan for the displacement of the 1 million people who live there.
The Prime Minister calls Gaza City a Hamas stronghold, and he says the new operation is the fastest way to end Israel's longest war. The aid groups
warn the offensive will worsen the catastrophic humanitarian crisis and have a horrific impact on people already exhausted and deprived of the
basic means of survival.
Israel is also facing global condemnation for approving a controversial settlement plan that would effectively cut the West Bank off from East
Jerusalem. And in the words of the Israeli finance minister bury the idea of a Palestinian State. CNN's Nic Robinson joins us live now from
Jerusalem.
So, Nic, just in terms of this imminent sort of takeover of Gaza City. I mean, one of the biggest fears for international aid group is what it means
for ordinary Palestinians of the ground who have, of course, suffered so much, just in terms of a displacement, but also the fear of famine as well
walk us through that.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, 80 percent of Gaza is already under displacement or evacuation orders, which means,
technically, only 20 percent is safe. And this is the area that the estimated as many as 1 million people living in Gaza City are being told to
go to many of them have moved many times.
People feel that they don't want to move again. But regardless, the message coming from the international community is, not only are many of them
already starving, already hungry, they don't have access to good, clean drinking water, they're now being put in a much smaller, more confined
area, which isn't always safe, that they may have to go through desperate conditions to get there.
The IDF has said that they put hospitals in Gaza and NGOs on notice to move medical facilities out of Gaza City, further south, to these safer areas.
So, the whole infrastructure of what's left of it, if you will, that keeps people alive and gives them some shelter is now going to be diminished for
that population and squeezed in.
The IDF says they're going to try to get them tents. But the international community here has been very, very clear. Secretary General Antonio
Guterres said very clearly that there should be a ceasefire, that the humanitarian situation there is only going to get worse.
And the implications of what Prime Minister Netanyahu is telling the IDF to speed up the operation really implies, for Hamas, who put forward a peace
deal that the prime minister hasn't responded to yet, implies to them, you will have no sanctuary in Gaza City, if that's where you're hiding out.
And if you -- and therefore, because the military will go in faster, militarily harder and heavier, therefore that city, what's left of it,
could very well see a massive amount more destruction that has problems in the future. But the clear implication for Hamas is you're not just going to
lose your hiding place. You're going to lose the remains of the city.
It's area E1, in the West Bank, that is also catching the attention and the extreme ire of the international community. The British government
yesterday told the Israeli government in a statement from the foreign ministry, that Israel should reverse its decision to expand settlements
into area E1. We went there to take a look to find out what it all means and why this issue has become so totemic.
[11:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In days, these Palestinian farmsteads in the Occupied West Bank could be gone. The Israeli government has just signed
off on the demolition to make way for 3500 new Israeli settler homes expanding the nearby settlement of Maale Adumim.
ROBERTSON: When are they coming to demolish these houses?
ATALLAH MAZARA, HEAD OF VILLAGE COMMITTEE, JABAL AL-BABA: Maybe tomorrow and the night. And I don't understand.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Atallah has lived here 50 years, has no idea what to expect.
MAZARA: My prayer, for the children, for the woman, for the animals. Where you go.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): This is Jabal Al-Baba. Everyone here is waiting to be evicted now, 450 people, about 80 families, they tell us. Jabal means
hill or mountain. And for many people here now, this feels like it could be the hill upon which the idea of a Palestinian State dies.
The reasons, they say that best understood on this map, Jabal Al-Baba is in area E1 where there will be more evictions and a new road restricting
Palestinian movements. So, Israel's biggest settlement, Maale Adumim can grow area E1 links the West Bank to East Jerusalem. Palestinians pick for a
future capital, and connects the north and south of the West Bank.
On another hill, just a mile from Jabal Al-Baba Israeli Peace Activist Haget Ofran shows young Israelis what Israel's expansion into area E1
means.
HAGET OFRAN, CO-DIRECTOR, SETTLEMENT WATCH: The government wants to fill in the gap and to make an Israeli corridor into the heart of the West Bank.
And in fact, to cut the Palestinian territory for southern area and northern area.
ROBERTSON: So, what does that mean in reality, when you cut -- when you cut the Palestinian area like that?
OFRAN: It means that you cannot develop a viable economy, not to say, a state.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): 20 years ago, then lawmaker Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to expand the huge Maale Adumim Settlement. Today PM, Netanyahu's
pro-settler government says their area E1 evictions are legal and justified and appear intended to outmaneuver European decisions to recognize a
Palestinian State.
BEZALEL SMOTRICH, ISRAELI FINANCE MINISTER: We will continue to build a fulfilling Jewish reality. This reality definitively buries the idea of a
Palestinian State simply because there is nothing and no one left to recognize.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): On the fringes of area E1 in the bustling streets of -- Smotrich's his words are also having a chilling effect.
ROBERTSON: This is where Palestinians say the new Israeli road is going to be built on this busy highway. Thank you, and cutting across the road right
along here. So, this will be completely -- thank you, completely shut off. And these stores have closed already because of the demolition order.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Municipality Official Mohammed Mata (ph) points to stores already shuttered. Tells me demolition orders on more than 100
premises have already been served. Says the new road will destroy their fragile economy. Back on the hilltop Atallah the Bedouin Leader, tells me
confiscating these lands is like cutting a cake down the middle.
Jabal Al-Baba isn't only the end of the Bedouins dreams here, he says it's also the end of every Palestinians dream of having a state in the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (on camera): And it's really not clear when that construction work will begin, but I was talking to one person on that busy high street
there who had businesses. In fact, he owned a number of properties. Had formerly worked at the U.S. State Department as well.
And he told me he was incredibly disappointed with the United States. He said when this sort of expansion development in area E1 had been discussed
before and looked like happening. He said at that time, President Obama had stepped into to -- you know -- to tell the Israeli government, in essence,
not to do it.
He told me it invested $2.5 million in properties, there businesses, sort of going into his retirement. He told me he was 65 and this was sort of
what he was hoping to invest in and leave for his family in the future. And right now, he says -- you know, he has no idea what will happen to them. He
thinks they'll just be destroyed and knocked down and he'll have nothing.
[11:10:00]
So, he's incredibly disappointed in President Trump's Administration for not taking a firmer line with the Israeli government, and that's something
that we heard from quite a number of Palestinians yesterday. Disappointment in President Trump not exercising greater influence over Prime Minister
Netanyahu's decision making in Israel.
ASHER: All right Nic Robertson, live for us there. Thank you so much. Lior Amihal is the Executive Director of Peace Now, an Israeli Non-Governmental
Organization that advocates for a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. He joins us live now from London.
Lior, thank you so much for being with us. So, as our Nic Robertson was just speaking there during his reporting, this E1 project had effectively
been delayed for at least a couple of decades. You know, you had the U.S. really being very vocal in pushing against it in their opposition.
Obviously, things have changed now politically. In fact, Ambassador Mike Huckabee recently came out and said, you know, we're not going to
necessarily intervene. This is the decision for the Israelis to make themselves. This is for the Israeli government to decide we're not going to
intervene. What do you make of that?
LIOR AMIHAL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PEACE NOW: Well, thank you. And it's a very sad position that the U.S. is taking, because this is not an internal
Israeli decision. You know, that is regarding the Israeli people. This is basically deciding to destroy the possibility of ever having a peaceful
resolution to this area, to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, to the Israeli Arab conflict.
You know, there -- this government is doing whatever it can to destroy the possibility of a two-state solution, of a Palestinian State, but also for
ending the current war. And from a human perspective, this is the return of the Israeli hostages and killing -- and the end of the killing of the
suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza as well.
This government is really trying very, very hard that this conflict will continue, that this occupation will continue. And this latest decision
comes after many other decisions this government has already made, and it certainly is very dramatic.
ASHER: When you think about the timing of this approval. It comes at a time when you have a number of European countries that have moved to recognize a
Palestinian State, including France, for example. If you take the U.S. out of the equation, what should other international governments, particularly
European governments, be doing to step up here do you think?
AMIHAL: I think that Israel is feeling very powerful right now with Trump and -- in this current government, that they're doing really whatever they
can. They have done so much to destroy the possibility of a two-state solution. I really, I don't want to advise the European governments that
they should definitely look into their own policy and understand that the Israeli Palestinian conflict is also important for them.
And realize that if they want to end the suffering of the Israeli and Palestinian people who are suffering due to this conflict, they have to see
that their condemnations are not just lip services, because we, the Israeli people who care so much for our future and are really have and had enough
of this government.
Really wants -- we want a normal life. We want to live in a democracy. We don't want to be occupiers. We want this conflict to end. But for so long,
the European policy has not managed to prevent Israeli governments from destroying the possibility of peace and a peaceful resolution to this area.
ASHER: Obviously, when you think about just how controversial these settlements are, I mean, that's one aspect of it. But it's also about what
happens to ordinary Palestinians who live in and around this area, and the fact that they risk expulsion as well? Just walk us through what happens to
them in all of this?
AMIHAL: Well, once Israel takes over the E1 plan this join -- you know a previous decision that they made a couple of months ago to establish a road
for Palestinians only. And the idea is to get this whole area, which is compromises about two and a half percent of the entire West Bank cleaning
without Palestinians. That's what they want to do.
They want to take a big portion of the West Bank, at the heart of the West Bank, just East of East Jerusalem, at the heart in the middle, between
Ramallah, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and to make this area only for the settlement of Maale Adumim, the nearby settlement, and therefore cut the
West Bank into two.
Now this is devastating, and it follows -- you know since this government was established -- you know we've seen due to settler violence, for
example, roughly 22,000 Palestinians have already evicted their communities and their homes. So, this is -- comes on a process of many other decisions
that this government has already made and enabled that is really destroying the livelihood of Palestinians in the West Bank as well.
ASHER: Now, obviously we know what you know far-right leaders, for example, like Smotrich, think about this. I mean, his thoughts are exactly what you
would expect someone like Smotrich to think. He said, the Palestinian State is being erased from the table, not with slogans with actions, every
settlement, every neighborhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea, this dangerous idea.
[11:15:00]
And his words being the idea of a Palestinian State. You know, when you think about the focus right now of the Israeli population, we saw half a
million people marching in the streets just last weekend. A lot of people are very much focused on what's happening in Gaza, and, of course,
releasing those hostages, that is the priority.
A lot of Israelis are having a lot of problems with how Benjamin Netanyahu has handled this particular war as it pertains to prioritizing getting the
hostages out. As it pertains to what's happening in East Jerusalem -- in the West Bank, in East Jerusalem, and the settlements. I mean, obviously
you can't generalize, you know, the opinions of 9 million people, but what is the sort of temperature among ordinary Israelis about these settlements?
AMIHAL: I think -- you know, it's -- you know it's really hard to generalize and also on a short TV interview, but you can definitely say
that by large, the Israeli public does not support this sort of policy, is dismayed and is ashamed of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.
And it's really -- we have to understand that Prime Minister Netanyahu has brought Israel's policy on the Israeli Palestinian issue to brought the
keys to the hands of Smotrich. He's the one who's deciding Israel's foreign policy on this. And the Israeli public is really much against it.
They get it so they understand that whatever Israel is doing right now, the government of Israel is doing right now, is against the Israeli interest.
And of course, it's -- you know we want to end the war. And you know, all Arab countries have said it, you know, we can end the war tomorrow, the
return of the hostages tomorrow, if only Israel commits to the possibility of a two-state solution, and they're doing whatever they can to prevent
that.
ASHER: All right, Lior Amihal, live for us there. Thank you so much for coming on the show. We appreciate it. All right, President Trump is
defending Ukraine's right to fight back against Russia. He just posted online that it's -- in his words, impossible to win a war without attacking
an invaders country.
Trump compares it to a sports team that's not allowed to play offense, saying there's no chance of winning. On the diplomatic front, Ukraine's
President says he's ready to compromise on his demands that a ceasefire take place before any talks with Vladimir Putin as long as some security
guarantees are put in place.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he would sit down for a talk if that happens. As for the location, he is considering Switzerland, Austria or Turkey, but
warns a meeting in Moscow is obviously off the table. As the politicians talk Ukrainians are still in fear and dying as well.
Overnight, Russia launched its largest drone attack and missile attack in more than a month, killing nine people. In Kyiv, Ukrainians fled to subway
stations as air raid sirens sounded and explosions rocked the capital.
All right breaking news into CNN a New York appeals court has thrown out the $0.50 billion judgment against President Donald Trump. Trump was found
liable in 2023 of civil fraud for overvaluing his properties in order to take out loans with more favorable terms.
The prosecutor in the case, New York Attorney General Letitia James, has been attacked by President Trump and is under investigation by the Justice
Department as well. We'll have much more on the story in just a moment.
All right, in about nine hours from now, the Texas Senate -- State Senate, rather, will reconvene to take up the bill to redraw the state's
Congressional maps. The bill has already passed the Texas House and a Special Senate Committee, despite earlier Democratic efforts to block it.
The new maps could get Republicans five more U.S. House seats in next year's midterm elections, but it's triggered fights, not just in Texas.
Democrats are threatening to withdraw maps in states they control, like New York and California, because Republicans are defending their bold move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TODD HUNTER (R-TX): What's wrong with Republicans standing up and Republicans stepping up and Republicans being honest, which you don't like,
which is Supreme Court, says we can use political and partisanship to do Congressional redistricting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Let's go to the Texas State Capital of Austin. There we find CNN's Arlette Saenz, who joins us live now. So, Arlette, it passed in the House
it could pass the State Senate soon as the end of the week, and then we have Governor Abbott signing it, and actually, after his signature, we do
expect some lawsuits to be filed from Democrats who are really upset with this move. Just walk us through what we expect to take place over the
weekend and into next week?
[11:20:00]
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yeah, this new Congressional map that was drawn by Republicans appears to be essentially on a glide path to
passage. It will still need to go through the Senate, which is set to convene here in just under nine hours. But there really is nothing the
Democrats can do in the Senate to block this from passing.
There will be enough GOP support then the Texas Governor plans to sign it soon after, and Democrats have already signaled that they will be filing
lawsuits almost immediately after this is signed into law. Democrats had little that they could do to stop this bill from moving forward.
You saw those Texas House Democrats flee the state for more than two weeks, trying to at least delay this from passing. But ultimately that is going to
become a reality in just a matter of days. But Democrats say that part of their goal in all this was also just awakening and sparking a national
conversation about the threats of redistricting and spurring other states to act. Take a listen to what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. GENE WU (D-TX): What you have just watched are Democrats who are willing to go to any lengths to suffer threats to ourselves, to our
families, to our friends, we are standing up and fighting against those who seek to take the American dream from us.
REP. NICOLE COLLIER (D-TX): Today is not the end. It is the start of a new beginning of the new Democratic Party, where we won't back down. We won't
put up with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: So quite some vocal moments from Democrats. Now, while this is all playing out in the State of Texas, Next up will be California. They are
taking action on their own maps, which could draw or pick up as many as five Democratic seats in next year's midterm elections.
It's expected that it will pass through the California legislator today, and then Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, will sign it into law.
But the thing that will still need to be finalized is the voters in California will need to weigh in on those maps. That's a big difference
between what's happening in Texas and California.
Texas lawmakers can push this through, but voters will have the final say on whether these maps can move forward. They will vote on that in November.
And then there's a lot of questions about what this -- these two fights between California and Texas does for redistricting nationwide?
As you have both GOP and Democratic states weighing their options about whether they can have more redistricting in their state to squeeze out more
seats for their parties in Congress heading into next year's midterm elections.
ASHER: Yeah, that is the big question. And what happens? How does all of this change? What happens in the midterms next year? Arlette Saenz live for
us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. And later on, I'm going to be speaking to CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein, about California's
tit-for-tat measures in terms of what Arlette was just speaking about there, in response to Texas Republicans.
But still ahead, Hurricane Erin is pulling away from the North Carolina Coast. But the threat certainly is not over. We'll tell you which areas are
at risk next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:25:00]
ASHER: All right, back to the breaking news. A New York appeals court has thrown out the $0.50 billion judgment against President Donald Trump. Trump
was found liable in 2023 of civil fraud for overvaluing his properties in order to take out loans with more favorable terms.
Let's go to New York and we find our Kara Scannell. So, the appeals court essentially said that this $0.50 billion fine was excessive and violated
the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Just walk us through that.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Zain, that's right. I mean, this is a huge victory for President Donald Trump. This was the civil lawsuit
brought by the New York Attorney General Letitia James and a judge had found Trump liable for fraud, and then imposed the fine, which, with
interest, now puts it at about $0.50 billion.
So, the five panel member of this appeals court throwing out that judgment, saying it is excessive, that it violates the U.S. Constitution. But the
judges otherwise say that they could not agree on a number of different issues here, but they came to reach this agreement in order for the case to
proceed for appeal if that is the next step that the Attorney General's Office wants to take.
But the judges wrote in three dissenting opinions across five judges that there were profound differences. Four of them agreed that the New York
Attorney General had the authority to bring this investigation, and some of them did withhold -- uphold this liability. Another judge wanted a new
trial, certainly a lot of disagreement, but they did say that they came together in order for this case to move forward.
It was nearly one year ago that there were oral arguments at the appellate level in this case, and it was highly unusual that it took so long, which
really reveals the difficulty that they've been having in trying to reach any sort of agreement here.
But you know, there is kind of this, no collective majority, but a significant victory for Donald Trump. He had posted $175 million bond after
the judge had initially ordered this judgment, and at the time, Trump was facing criminal investigations, he was under a lot of financial pressure.
Had two other judgments involving Eugene Carroll for the defamation case, so he was really under the gun. Now the situation has changed. He's in the
White House, and this judgment is being wiped away by these judges, so a clear victory for President Trump, Zain.
ASHER: Absolutely. Kara Scannell live for us there. Thank you so much. All right, Hurricane Erin is barreling up the U.S. East Coast after pushing
past North Carolina. The massive category two storm is not expected to make landfall, but it's is triggering tropical storm conditions across several
states.
Erin is packing sustained winds of up to nearly 170 kilometers per hour and is churning up dangerous waves and rip currents. It is forecast to weaken
in the days ahead, but Meteorologists are already tracking a new storm threat behind Erin.
Let's go to CNN's Derek Van Dam, he is joining us live now from the Weather Center I believe in there we have it, Atlanta. So, Derek, I think what
we're seeing here is that we are incredibly lucky that this storm did not actually make landfall given the effects we're seeing?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Fortunate, blessed all the words come to mind, right? I mean, this could have been so much worse, even though we're
feeling impacts from the storm, if the core of the hurricane came ashore, that's a whole other story. But that's not what we're talking about, right?
So, it is quickly exiting the Atlantic seaboard, but not before creating quite the spectacle. Look at the satellite image. This is really
impressive. It was taken this morning of a very sprawling hurricane. I mean, the cloud deck from north to south, we're talking about over 1500
miles enormous, and it's churned up an enormous amount of wave energy as well over the Western Atlantic.
And that's expected to continue for the days to come. It's like setting a stone into a lake and watching the ripples go out. It doesn't stop
immediately. It takes time, right?
[11:30:00]
Well, it's going to take time for the Western Atlantic to settle down once Hurricane Erin moves on. So, here's the latest radar. We're about 250 miles
from the Outer Banks. That's when it made its closest approach to the Eastern United States earlier this morning, about 06:00 a.m. which
coincided with high tide.
And you can see some of the impressive wind gusts that we've been registering here right along the coastline. These are buoys, but
nonetheless, they're tropical storm force. That buoy just offshore, it registered a 45-foot ocean swell. Now that's impressive.
And of course, that's why we've been warning about the potential for these large, damaging and dangerous waves along the Atlantic seaboard. It's
because this thing so huge, right? 550-mile-wide diameter in terms of the tropical storm strength winds. So, when you factor all these in the high
tides, the direction of the wind, the large sprawling hurricane.
And then you've got that push of the Atlantic Ocean from the north, northeasterly winds behind this hurricane, and that has realized some of
the storm surge that has created the over wash issues across the Outer Banks and some of the local beaches here in Virginia.
So, let's take you there. This is Maryland Ocean City, and you can see the large breakers in the distance, but you can also notice the kind of foam on
top of this beach surface here, just how far that water has traveled inland. So, the entire eastern seaboard with these high rip current risks
improvements from the south to the north through the course of the weekend, but it's going to take some time.
Saturday and Sunday really will be the only safe time to get back into the ocean, if you're any -- on any of those Atlantic beaches. Hey, here's a
quick look at the Atlantic outlook. We do have a system over the Central Atlantic, but expect that to be more of a fish storm, not a concern for any
land mass. So that's the good news Zain.
ASHER: All right. Derek Van Dam, live for us there. Thank you. All right still ahead on the show, it has cleared the Texas State House now a
controversial GOP redistricting bill moves to the State Senate. How California Democrats are responding after the break?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:35:00]
ASHER: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Zain Asher in New York. Here are some of the headlines we are watching for you today. The Israeli military
says its new military offensive to take over Gaza City is underway as it calls up tens of thousands of reservists.
And the IDF is warning health officials and aid groups to prepare for full evacuation of the area, which is home to a million people. Humanitarian
groups warn the mass force displacement will exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Donald Trump's nearly $0.50 billion civil fraud penalty has been thrown out by a New York Appeals Court. Today's decision, which was not unanimous,
leaves Trump still liable for fraud and allows the case to potentially move forward for further review.
In Texas, the State Senate is considering a bill to redraw Congressional maps. It passed the House on a party line vote Wednesday in what President
Trump called a big win. The redistricting bill could give Republicans as many as five new U.S. House seats in next year's midterm elections.
In response, California Democrats have taken up their own countermeasure. They want the power to redraw the Congressional map, abandon existing
boundaries drawn up by an independent commission. The new map would likely net the Democratic Party five seats as well in the U.S. Congress, but it
will only go forward if the bill proposed in Texas or other states passes.
And California Governor Gavin Newsom is leading the charge when it comes to pushing back against the Trump Administration. And he's taking a page from
his chief adversary when it comes to social media attacks. CNN's Tom Foreman has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The strongest wall Trump ever built is his bronzer line. He's low energy, the best friend of Vladimir
Putin, from cracks about Trump stumbling to digs about the Texas redistricting plan. California Governor Gavin Newsom is imitating the toxic
social media game Trump pioneered in politics, and he's hammering the president and his party in the process.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Right now, with all due respect, we're walking down a damn different path. We're fighting fire with fire, and we're going
to punch these sons of bitches in the mouth.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Little Marco Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren, I call her crooked Hillary.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Trump built his political brand on schoolyard taunts, and now Newsome social media feed is full of references to Press Secretary,
Karoline Leavitt, Vice President, J.D. Just Dance Vance House Speaker, Little Man Johnson while calling Trump little hands.
Donnie J., the Criminal President and Donald Taco Trump for Trump always chickens out. He's even taken Trump's all cap style and catch phrase. Thank
you for your attention to this matter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it with the Twitter thing.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Conservative media, which has long cheered Trump trolling the left is coming unspooled over Newsom, ridiculing the right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I were his wife, I would say what you are making a fool of yourself. Stop it. Do not. Do not let your staff tweet. And if
you're doing it yourself, put the phone away and start over.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Newsom's response. They still don't get it.
NEWSOM: If you've got issues with what I'm putting out, you sure as hell should have concerns about what he's putting out as president. How have we
allowed the normalization of his tweets through social posts over the course of the last many years to go without similar scrutiny and notice.
FOREMAN (voice-over): In the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires, the Governor and President were briefly civil but with the White House having
sent troops into California over immigration protest with almost every post Newsom is making it clear, the niceties are over.
NEWSOM: It's not about whether we play hardball anymore. It's about how we play hardball.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Some of his jabs are very sharp. For example, a few years ago, Donald Trump invited the Russians to hack into Hillary Clinton's
e-mails in the name of finding out things Americans might want to know. Well, now Gavin Newsom is saying, hey, Russia, if you're looking around, a
lot of Americans would like to see the Epstein files that Donald Trump has yet to release. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right, joining us live now from Los Angeles CNN's Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. He's also an Opinion Columnist for
Bloomberg, and he argues that California Governor Gavin Newsom is betting voters want a fighter, not a purist.
You know, Ron it's interesting because I remember during the debates, during Trump won, right before Trump won, we saw a lot of the other
candidates and rivals to Donald Trump trying to sort of beat him at his own game, trying to sort of taunt and insult President Trump, like he did to
them.
And it just didn't quite work, because it wasn't authentic to them, the same way it's authentic to Donald Trump. Do you know what I mean?
[11:40:00]
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, that's correct.
ASHER: And when you see Gavin Newsom trying to do the sort of same thing, what do you mean? Obviously, yes, Democrat -- Democrats do have sort of
their lowest popularity in the polls for the past three decades according to "The Wall Street Journal", they are desperate for a shot in the arm.
They need a leader. Is this the right way to go about it do you think?
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Well, I think overall, Newsom is doing something very interesting and important. As I said in that column, I think he's doing two
things at once. He has moved to the front of the line among Democrats in finding ways to effectively push back on Trump, particularly filing over 35
lawsuits against them and this redistricting initiative.
And he's really caught the attention of grassroots Democrats at a time when many of them are frustrated that the party has not been more resolute in
resisting Trump's aggressive agenda. But at the same time, he is moving to the center on issues. He is moderating on a lot of issues that have hurt
the party in recent years.
And I think he is trying to demonstrate a challenge really. One of the core beliefs on the left that the only way to effectively resist Trump is to --
is to move -- is to move left. Now is this kind of posting an effective way of advancing that confrontational strategy? I don't think I'm the target
audience for it.
Certainly, there's a group of online activist Democrats who respond to it very well, but in the long run, I think it somewhat trivializes the gravity
of the case that he is mounting against Trump, that he's an aspiring authoritarian who is undermining American democracy, and also Newsom is
someone who many voters may be predisposed to view as slick and glib.
So, I think he has to be careful about how far he takes it, even though it is clearly been an effective piece of a larger strategy that I think is
working in convincing Democratic voters that he is been more creative and effective in pushing back on Trump than anyone else in the party.
ASHER: Yeah, there's sort of multiple prongs to his approach. There's the social media aspect of it, where he's kind of -- you know is making fun of
Trump. There's the fact that he's sort of embracing right wing media, for example, doing interviews with them. And then there's the redistricting
fight, where he is now fighting fire with fire.
If you've done this in Texas, we're going to do the same thing in California. What are the political risks? I mean, obviously it's different
in California, because voters get the last say. It's different from what we're seeing in Texas. If voters don't decide not to get on board with
this, what are the political risks for Newsom going forward?
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, I mean, the big risk is that it fails at the ballot in November. You know, there's conflicting polling. I think in the end, you
would have to say Democrats would be favored to pass a ballot initiative that they can frame as an attempt to stop Trump from undermining the
midterm election by -- you know forcing Republican states to redraw the lines across the country.
Zain Democrats can't keep up. I mean, there almost certainly are not as many seats that Democrats can squeeze out further in states that they
control if Trump really does get a lengthening list of Republican states, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Florida to do it.
Democrats probably can't keep up in the end, but the fact that Newsom is out there pushing, I think, is really, you know, part of what is allowing
him to, I think, elevate his position among 2020 Democrats. The tragedy in all of this is that most experts who look at redistricting will tell you
that the lines drawn after 2020 in total were probably fairer than any we've seen in four or five decades.
Not the Democratic and Republican states were angels and how they drew the lines, but they largely canceled each other out, to the point where I think
almost all experts agree that the party that won the most votes was most likely to win the majority in the House, which hasn't been true in recent
decades.
One way or the other, and now, at the president's behest, we're engaging in this kind of civil race, civil war race to the bottom that is going to undo
all that. And also withdraw the ability of Americans to claim reasonable representation, the number of competitive seats is already near an all-time
low. Only 37 of the 435 were decided by five points or less, and that number will probably be even lower at the end of this process.
ASHER: That's such a good point. I mean, also on top of that, is this an issue that voters across the country are truly paying attention to, or is
it more -- I mean, obviously, what's happening in Texas and California, you and I are talking about it, but are ordinary American voters paying
attention to it? Or is it more of an insider political game do you think?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, A, they're not paying that much attention to it. But B, even if they are, you know, the ability of the map make -- the map makers
have the ability to draw districts that produce very few surprises. As I said, even in the current maps, only 37 of the 435 seats were decided by
five points or less.
And that's, you know, that's part of the tragedy here. I mean that, you know, in this process, mid-decade redistricting has been historically, very
rare in American history. And now. Trump is, you know, precipitating kind of an avalanche of it.
[11:45:00]
And you've got to see this as part of the broader set of moves that he is making to tilt the playing field in the 2026 and 2028 elections toward the
Republican Party. The Justice Department is doing a lot of things like requesting voter rolls, threatening prosecution local officials.
He's putting out -- he's potentially putting out an executive order on mail voting. He probably doesn't have the authority to do that. There are a lot
of ways in which he is moving to destabilize our elections. And also, I think, the set for predicate for claiming if Democrats win the House
anyway, after all this gerrymandering, that the election was stolen.
I really, you know there are a lot of early signs that we are heading towards something like what we saw after 2020 when Trump is going to be
leaning on Republican officials in the states in the same way that he's doing now, to claim that there was fraud in elections that Democrats won.
This is just one stage of what I think is a rolling and gathering crisis.
ASHER: All right, CNN Senior Public Analyst Ron Brownstein, appreciate you being with us. After the break, a major moment in the Menendez Brothers
fight for freedom as their parole hearing gets underway.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right, starting today, a California parole board will weigh whether Erik and Lyle Menendez should be released from prison after more
than three decades behind bars for killing their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.
The siblings will have separate hearings with Erik's currently underway, while Lyle's will take place tomorrow, if they are granted parole, their
release still could be denied by California's Governor. The brothers became eligible for parole after they were re-sentenced back in May.
CNN's Nick Watt is live now from Los Angeles. So, Nick, just walk us through what are some of the factors that are going to determine their
eligibility for parole here?
NICK WATT, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, how they have behaved in prison in the 35 years that they have spent in prison, and also the details
of the murders themselves. And also, according to the DA Los Angeles, their insight.
You know, do they understand the gravity of the crime? Do they have remorse for that crime? The DA says they don't. But interestingly, here, the family
of the Menendez Brothers are fully in support of them being released. The brothers, sisters of Kitty and Lyle Menendez who were murdered, the
Menendez cousins, they will all be appearing at these parole hearings arguing that the brothers.
Yes, they did a terrible thing, but they've done their time. It's enough. Interesting to note that those murders were actually 36 years ago last
night. And the details, you know, it grabbed public attention right from the beginning. This was a Beverly Hills Mansion. These were two young men
who used shotguns to brutally murder their parents.
I mean, Jose, the father was shot six times with a shotgun, once in the back of the head. The Mother Kitty was shot 10 times, once in her face with
a shotgun.
[11:50:00]
So, you know, the details of the crime are horrific, and they will be brought up, of course, in the hearing today. Now there was a preliminary
assessment of the brothers which graded them as moderate risk. And it's important to note that the recent stats would suggest that only about 20
percent of prisoners who are deemed moderate risk will actually be given parole by the parole board.
And of course, also important to note that this is not the end of the road. This is a recommendation, essentially from the parole board and the
Governor of California. Here in California, the Governor has this power. He is the one who will make the final decision as to whether they get let out
-- let out or not.
So, as you say, it's Erik today, who's now 54-years-old, Lyle tomorrow, who's now 57-years-old. They will have these hearings, and we will hear
today we should get an answer today on Erik. We should get an answer tomorrow on Lyle. But then there's 120 days for -- you know facts and
legality to be assessed, and also 120 days for the governor to give his ruling thumbs up or thumbs down.
So, we're not going to see the Menendez Brothers, walk out, but they obviously feel they've done their time. Their family feels they've done
their time. The DA of Los Angeles does not. He basically wants them to admit in public that they killed their parents because they wanted their
parents' money.
The brothers have argued over the years that they killed their parents in self-defense and that they killed their parents because their dad was a
serial sexual abuser, and abused them. So, we should hear in the next couple of days. But as I say, we're not going to get that shot over the
Menendez Brothers walking out. That might, in fact, not come for a few years, but we'll be on its Zain.
ASHER: Yeah, I mean, you mentioned that it's the Governor in California that has the final say.
WATT: Yeah.
ASHER: In his office has remained very tight lipped on which way the governor is leaning. We'll see what happens. Nick Watt live for us there.
Thank you so much.
WATT: Thanks.
ASHER: All right, he was known as the nicest judge in the world. Still ahead how Judge Frank Caprio, made his courtroom a place where people and
cases were met with kindness and compassion. That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Finally, this hour, Judge Frank Caprio will forever be remembered as the nicest judge in the world because of his compassion while serving on
the bench.
[11:55:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE FRANK CAPRIO: You are charged with a school zone violation. You were taking your son to the doctor's office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, I take him for blood work every two weeks because he's got cancer.
CAPRIO: You are a good man. I wish the best for your son, and I wish you good health and your case is dismissed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The Retired Rhode Island Municipal Judge passed away this week after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Clips of Caprio's courtroom show
"Court in Providence" had more than 1 billion views on social media. Oftentimes he addressed issues like unequal access to the judicial system.
He once said almost 90 percent of low-income Americans are forced to battle civil issues like health care, unjust evictions, veteran benefits and yes,
even traffic violations alone. Judge Caprio was 88 years old. Stay with CNN, we'll have much more "One World" after the short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
