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One World with Zain Asher

Epstein Files Bill is Now on Trump's Desk, Awaiting Signature; Trump Attending Major U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum; White House Hosts Lavish Dinner for Saudi Crown Prince; Trump Defends Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi Killing; Nvidia to Announce Earnings as Fears of AI Bubble Grow; Saudi Arabia Invests Billions to Build Up Tourism Sector. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired November 19, 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)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: A Bill that would compel the Justice Department to release its Epstein files is now on President Trump's desk.

"One World" starts right now. So, when will the Epstein files be made public? We'll take a closer look. Plus, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader

continues his visit to Washington.

Today's agenda turns to deal making. And a test of investors' faith in the AI industry. The world's most valuable company Nvidia is reporting earnings

later today. Hello, everyone. Live from New York. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Zain is off today. You are watching "One World".

A bill requiring the Justice Department to release all files tied to convicted sex offender. Jeffrey Epstein is now on Donald Trump's desk. The

president has said that he will sign it, but it's an open question as to what comes next or how the DOJ will respond. On Tuesday, Congress did what

seemed unthinkable only one week ago, moving with lightning speed and passed the measure nearly unanimously.

Meanwhile, we're learning that Trump Administration has been secretly working with Russia on a plan to end Moscow's war in Ukraine. A source

tells CNN that U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is leading the effort. It comes as Russia launched massive strikes in Western Ukraine overnight,

killing at least 25 people.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is standing by in London for us. But we again with Alayna Treene at the White House. So, Alayna, we're learning more about the

Trump Administration secretly working with Russia on a plan to end its war in Ukraine. What more are you learning about this plan, specifically what

the president is hoping to use from his Gaza ceasefire plan to bring a ceasefire in Ukraine and the role of Steve Witkoff here?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Steve Witkoff have really been central to all talks, Bianna, with Moscow, and that's been the case

for months now. But he's been part of this renewed push to try and really work and as we've been saying quietly with Russia to try and hammer out a

potential new draft that could be part of a new framework that they're looking at.

So, what we were told is that Witkoff has a meeting with Russia officials, but also that at the president's direction in Pentagon delegation has now

traveled to Kyiv to also further this talk. It's being led by the Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and a spokesperson for the army secretary

essentially said that he's on a fact-finding mission to meet with Ukrainian officials to try and discuss and end to the war.

But we're also told that a lot of this is of course, trying to resuscitate the peace talks that have completely fallen apart. Now, we're still waiting

to get firm details on what this potential plan could include, but Axios has reported that it essentially looks like 28 plans. And I'd remind you

the president had a 20-point plan when it came to the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

A lot of that kind of serving as a jump starter for some of these negotiations as some of what is being reported about the 28-point plan, is

really focused on security guarantees, of course, for Ukraine, something that is a huge priority for them, but also security across Europe.

And from the Russia side, I think a real big priority for them is commitments on the U.S.-Russia relationship. So, all of this happening as

really, we know that in the past any sort of talks with Russia, repeated efforts by the Trump Administration had fallen apart. So, we have to see

where these could lead.

And what territorial decisions will be made as well, specifically as it relates to the war in the Eastern part of the country and what Russia

claims that they have captured, despite the fact that much of that has not been captured and is still in control of Ukraine. Clare, this is all

happening as we're getting yet another Russian attack overnight on Ukraine.

This is the western part of the country, which actually led NATO and Romania, a part of NATO to scramble its jets. What more can you tell us

about the strike?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Bianna, this was, I think obviously if it's a pattern we've seen Russia escalating its overnight

attacks. This was a very large combined missile and drone attack, more than 500 missiles and drones were used. But I think while this is a pattern,

this one was notable because, as you say, it mostly targeted, not exclusively, but mostly targeted the western part of Ukraine, which has

traditionally been seen as safer than the areas closer to the front lines.

[11:05:00]

And it, I -- so I think it underscores in that sense that nowhere in Ukraine is safe, and it also underscores the risks of this conflict

spilling over Ukraine's borders. As you say, we saw NATO scrambled jets in Poland and Romania. Romania's Defense Ministry said that a drone straight

into its territory.

We later heard a similar report from Moldova saying that a drone had straight into its air space and it had summoned the Russian Ambassador as a

result. So, NATO was obviously on high alert, but this was a very deadly night for Ukrainian civilians. I think we can show you a video where you

can see the moment of impact of a Russian missile hitting a residential building in the Western City of Ternopil.

This is a city that hasn't been hit often in this war, and we know that this strike, which Ukraine's Air Force now says involved Kh-101 cruise

missiles hit residential buildings and killed more than two dozen people injuring more than 70. So, an extremely brutal night for Ukrainian

civilians, power outages.

Also, part of that as we go into the fourth winter and this war and all as President Zelenskyy is in Turkey today in Ankara on his own mission,

essentially to try and reinvigorate in his word's negotiations, pushing perhaps for a new prisoner swap. But all of this, of course, increasing the

urgency of those efforts.

GOLODRYGA: No doubt. And Alayna, a lot going on in Washington both diplomatically overseas and domestically here on the issue of the Epstein

files, that bill is now headed to the president's desk today. He said that he will sign it and then it is quickly looking to move ahead to cover other

issues.

This was a, a rare defeat for the president caving and agreeing to move this legislation forward after he saw so many members of his own party push

for just that. What are we hearing from him and the likelihood that we will actually see more of the Epstein files released?

TREENE: Yeah, look, the president has been very clear in his public comments, and I know this as well, Bianna, from my private conversations

with White House officials, that one of the key reasons that they are had moved so quickly with this vote. And I should say it's very notable that

this went immediately to the Senate and passed swiftly with unanimous consent.

That is not something you see happen often and definitely was not expected here in Washington. But part of that acceleration of this bill was because

the president so eagerly wants to move on from this. He essentially said yesterday and in posting about this, that he didn't care how quickly the

Senate moved on this.

What he cared about was that Republicans get back to talking about the issues that he believes matter. And of course, wants to be messaging on

things like affordability and other accomplishments. And so, what I think now though is the key question is the president we're told is going to

likely sign this bill today, but then it's all in the hands of the Justice Department.

And one of the hiccups, Bianna, that we've been hearing about is of course what could happen there, because the Justice Department if they have any

investigations that are ongoing tied to Epstein, that could provide some sort of avenue for them to say, look, we can't release any of these

materials because they're part of this probe.

And I'd remind you just a couple days ago on Friday, it was President Trump who asked the Justice Department to open an investigation in to Democrats,

people like the Former President, Bill Clinton and the former treasury secretary, Larry Summers and to look into their ties to Epstein.

And so that could be a potential hurdle. Now, I will say this, bill says that they have to release the files within 30 days in any redactions that

are made need to be explained within 15 days. And so, I think there's a broad expectation that there needs to be a lot of materials made public,

but the question is that they don't release all of them.

Will that actually satisfy the public? I'm am not sure it will, after we saw that vote be essentially unanimous except for one Republican in

Congress.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And notable, as you mentioned there, the president calling for the DOJ to investigate only Democrats who may have had ties with

Jeffrey Epstein. Alayna Treene, thanks so much. And for more on the Epstein files bill, I'm joined by Julia Manchester, who is a White House Reporter

for The Hill. She joins me now live from Washington.

So, this is the story clearly, Julia, that the president had hoped would go away. It's been months now, and it has not. We've gotten to the point where

the speaker even sent Congress home early for recess in August to hope to punt this issue. And now yesterday we have this stunning rebuke to the

president.

427 votes to one Republican spending months to block it, and yet a unanimous, nearly unanimous support to move this legislation forward. What

ultimately led the dam to break?

JULIA MANCHESTER, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER FOR THE HILL: Well, look, I think the president looked at House Republicans and saw that there was growing

concern that more and more House Republicans were joining with that original group of three House or four House Republican lawmakers, Marjorie

Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace, Thomas Massi and Lauren Boebert.

[11:10:00]

And there was, you know, rumblings that this dam was going to break. So, I think this was President Trump essentially trying to get out ahead of it.

Now we know that the White House, the administration has been very well aware that among the MAGA conservative base outside of Washington, there is

an appetite for these files to be released.

In fact, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace have said when they went home during that month long recess, essentially, they were hearing from

their constituents that their constituents wanted them to hold the line. So, I think this was really the only path forward that the White House saw

that was politically reasonable.

And I think the White House is hoping that once President Trump signs this and the files are released, depending on what's in them, they can move on

from this story. But the story is clearly very toxic and damaging to anyone who's connected with it. Of course, Larry Summers stepping down from the

board of OpenAI earlier this morning.

You have the Former Prince Andrew who has had to relinquish his titles, Former UK Ambassador to the United States, who has had to relinquish his

position as well. So, it just goes to show you how toxic this story is and how much the White House is really trying to get as far away from it as

possible.

GOLODRYGA: And what does this episode say or reveal about Trump's continued hold over the party? Are there real fissures here, or is this an outlier of

an issue?

MANCHESTER: Well, it's interesting how, when this really happened, because you had the -- you know, sort of a rumbling about the Epstein vote, when it

would happen, if it would happen, but at the same time last week, we saw the president give an interview to Fox News's, Laura Ingraham.

And she pressed him on a number of issues that are important to MAGA voters or conservative voters like H1-B visas, for example, President Trump's call

for 600,000 Chinese foreign students to come study in the United States. These are issues that MAGA is very much against, but President Trump was

defending his stance on these issues and pushing back in that interview.

So, and that's when you saw things really start to turn sour with Marjorie Taylor Greene. She pushed back on the president's remarks then, and then a

few days later, President Trump essentially unendorsed her. So, I think it comes at a time when there is some dissatisfaction among MAGA.

And the White House is very much aware of that as they're heading into the midterms next year and they need to keep the Republican base together.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, still a minority in terms of dissatisfaction or splintering among the MAGA base, but given how prominent voice Marjorie

Taylor Greene has been specifically, it is notable. As we discussed with Alayna, the DOJ has broad leeway here. They can cite ongoing

investigations, redact names, withhold certain materials.

So realistically, how much more do you think we could have exposed and how much more daylight can be brought on these Epstein files, given that the

DOJ really controls how this will be played out now?

MANCHESTER: Yeah. And we know how firm the grip President Trump has on the Department of Justice. In fact, we understand that Attorney General Pam

Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, were among those in the situation room when Congresswoman Lauren Boebert was summoned the White House when they

asked her to take her name off of that discharge petition last week.

So, I think the DOJ is going to be cognizant of the political factors at play as well. Look, we don't really know what's going to happen once,

assuming it goes to the DOJ, you know, if there are names redacted. If ongoing investigations are cited, that could lead to more political

pushback among that minority of the MAGA base that could potentially grow louder.

But at the same time, if the White House really wants to get over this story and get out in front of it and talk about the issues they want to

talk about, and they have nothing to hide, you would think that releasing the files in their entirety would be quite possible. But at the end of the

day, we just don't know at this point.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, a rare political miscalculation for the president as it pertains to his base. Julia Manchester, thank you so much.

MANCHESTER: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And still to come on "One World", a lavish dinner at the White House in an investment forum with some of America's leading CEOs, President

Trump's Royal welcome for the Saudi Crown Prince. Plus, Iran says that it's open to resuming nuclear talks with the U.S. if.

[11:15:00]

CNN reports exclusively from Tehran about what that if is later in the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Any moment now, President Trump will leave the White House to make an appearance across town at the Kennedy Center. That's where Saudi

Arabia is hosting a major investment forum. The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has promised to invest a trillion dollars in the U.S. and is

hoping to encourage American investment in his country.

CEOs from many major U.S. companies are attending, including Chevron, Nvidia, Cisco, and Tesla's Elon Musk. And last night, Trump honored the

Saudi Crown Prince with a lavish dinner at the White House, announcing that the U.S. would designate Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally.

Now, that designation, which applies to countries like Israel and Japan, makes military cooperation between the two countries significantly easier.

CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak is at the Kennedy Center. Kevin, we saw that 45-minute exchange with reporters yesterday, some of it

quite controversial.

When asked specifically about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the president had some terse words for an ABC Reporter simply doing her job. But in terms

of what we saw last night, I don't think we've ever seen such a lavish welcome from the Trump Administration for a visiting dignitary as we did

last night.

And then today, once again speaking, before a number of U.S. top CEOs just lay out what a success for MBS this trip thus far has been.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and you can kind of see from his checklist that he has gotten from the president, he has gotten

everything that he came to Washington to achieve. Whether it was the sale of those F-35 fighter jets with flew over the White House yesterday, or

whether it was the president's commitment to partner on AI or nuclear energy.

The Crown Prince is really going to leave Washington with a lot of what he was hoping to accomplish. And I think he was successful in sort of

interpreting what was going to work with President Trump. You know, he came armed with this pledge to now invest a trillion dollars into the United

States.

He didn't put a timeline on that, which I think is probably a careful recognition by him. You know, a trillion dollars is about the size of the

entire Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund.

[11:20:00]

It's almost the size of the country's economic output and Saudi Arabia's in a cash crunch rate right now, you know, as, as oil prices linger around 65

dollars a barrel. And so, it's not exactly clear when those investments are actually going to materialize, but certainly in his view and in President

Trump's view, that is the way to rewriting the U.S.-Saudi relationship.

After so many years in isolation, after the death of Jamal Khashoggi, he seemed to correctly intuit that President Trump would react positively to

this massive influx of theoretical at this point Saudi money. I think it's an interesting sort of statement about where President Trump stands as he

assesses all these U.S. alliances around the world.

Clearly the idea of human rights and shared values, taking a back seat at this point to financial cooperation and that moment in the Oval Office

yesterday, I think probably put the punctuation mark on that entire concept. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that

gentleman that you're talking about, whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at

that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So, the list of CEOs and executives at this summit today really kind of illustrate what the president is trying to accomplish. It's all the

different buckets that they talked about, whether it was defense systems, you'll have the executives from General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin, which

makes the F-35s.

You also have energy executives from Aramco and Chevron, but also in this panel just finished behind me, the CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, and Elon

Musk the Founder of Tesla, but also himself very in depth into the AI field, which gives you a sense, I think, of how MBS is trying to move his

economy away from the petrochemicals and towards AI.

And really trying to integrate into the U.S. systems of that e essentially as a way to ensure that U.S.-Saudi partnership will last going forward as

he sort of fully intertwined into these U.S. technology assets.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, the Crown Prince really focused on building and investing in AI powered data centers in the kingdom as well as part of this visit

here to the United States. Fair to say that he has been rehabilitated here in the United States following his last visit in 2018 and then the murder

of Jamal Khashoggi shortly after that.

Kevin Liptak, thank you so much. Well, that's Saudi Investment Forum comes as Donald Trump is working on numerous deals with the kingdom. He says he

plans to sell F-35 fighter jets to the Saudis, despite Israeli concerns about putting such advanced weapons in the hands of an Arab state.

He says that he has designated the Saudis as a major non-NATO ally, giving them the same kind of military cooperation status as Israel or Japan. And

he says that he is open to a deal to give the Saudis access to important nuclear energy technology. And it all comes as Donald Trump's company has

been growing its presence in Saudi Arabia with multiple Trump branded hotels and resorts being built.

These, of course, being controlled not by the president now, but by his family. And for more perspective on all of this, let's bring in Rachel

Bronson. She has written extensively about U.S.-Saudi relations and is the Senior Adviser for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Rachel, welcome to the program. So, we just listed out a number of the deals, or at least the verbal commitments made between President Trump and

the Crown Prince. How should we interpret all of these moves and what, if anything, surprised you?

RACHEL BRONSON, SENIOR ADVISER FOR THE BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS: Yeah, thank you for that. It's really an extraordinary meeting and there's

so much on the agenda. And I think your, the analysis is correct. MBS couldn't have asked for a better reception, and he got really had the red

carpet spread out for him with Saudi flags flying to go along with his motorcades and all of that.

So, it's been extraordinary. What the Saudis are smartly doing. And I think what the president is really driving towards is this focus on artificial

intelligence, data centers, data intensive industries where the Saudis have really realigned their economic development plans to be right in the sweet

spot of what the president also wants.

The president on AI and data intensive technologies has made that clear. It's a huge priority for his administration and for where he wants the U.S.

to go. He thinks the U.S. should go, and the Saudis are realigning themselves to be right in the sweet spot of that.

GOLODRYGA: So, what does the United States get in in return, aside from this $1 trillion pledge? It was 600 billion earlier this year when the

president visited the kingdom. It is important to note what Kevin said, this $1 trillion pledge did not have a timestamp on it.

[11:25:00]

So, we don't know over what period of time how many years this investment will be. What does the United States get otherwise?

BRONSON: Yeah, that's exactly right. Let's just be a little bit cautious about those numbers. I mean, he could say one gazillion and it would be

about the same. The Saudis don't have that kind of money right now. And it's not clear where that's coming from. But even if it's a half or a

quarter, it's still an extraordinary number of resources.

So, what the U.S. is gets out of it is, it's a really advancement in terms of looking at AI and how that we're going to build an AI infrastructure

globally that uses U.S. technologies to be kind of superior globally in this space. That's very clear. I think it's really interesting at today's

session that Pfizer is there and others.

The administration is really thinking about where AI is going also in biotech. And so, it's interesting that Pfizer is there and the Saudis are

investing in it. So, we're getting a lot, the U.S. is getting a lot of investment but we're not getting a lot of some of the other things that I

know the -- what we know that the president wanted, right?

So, the president wanted Saudi Arabia as part of the Abraham Accords and things like that. But we are getting huge investments, and it is on

especially this tech space where the administration is really focused. What the Saudis didn't get, what the Saudis were looking for was more -- even

more significant defense relationship.

It is very important that there are now major non-NATO allies, but pretty much every country in the region already is. So, Jordan is, Qatar is,

President Biden put Qatar in. Every president has added a Middle Eastern country. So, it's about time, honestly that Saudi Arabia is part of that.

But certainly, for the last nearly 10 years, they couldn't be because they were still dealing with the Khashoggi consequences, which unlike what

President Trump said, he had an enormous following globally.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And there was sort of language around a potential agreement down the road on sharing nuclear technology as well. Though we

didn't get a firm commitment on that front, that was something that was also important for Mohammad bin Salman.

But what are the risks that the U.S. still faces though with some of these commitments? Because it did seem that MBS said, listen, if I don't get what

I want from you here I have China knocking on my door as well. So, the leverage that the U.S. may have had a few years ago may not be there.

And in addition to that and what China could potentially bring to the kingdom. There's also concern that if we are sharing so much, including F-

35 jets technology transfer and in other key information from the U.S., could then go to the Chinese as well. How much of a concern is that?

BRONSON: Yeah, that's absolutely right. I think the biggest concern in all of this is as the administration moves speedily and hastily into these new

technological innovations, there's very little discussion of governance. What are the rules? What can actually happen? How can we build something

they talk about a global governance structure around AI?

How do we advance tech transfers? There's a lot of ideas out there. The president is getting a lot of advice from the tech community who has

thought about some of this, but not at the level that previous administrations had cared about and has have driven. So, some of these

benefits that the Saudis are getting now, they didn't get in previous administrations because we were concerned about it.

I'm not as worried about China. China is all over the region, so there is real player, but the Saudis don't want the Chinese as their primary backer.

They really do want the U.S. working with them. And we saw what happens when other countries play around in the margins.

The Turks were playing around with inviting Russians in and bringing in Russian technology, and we withheld the F-35s from them, which is exactly

what they wanted. So, the Saudis can talk about the Chinese and we have to pay a lot of attention, but they really want to be with us.

The tech transfer, once it's there, you're a hundred percent right to point it out. And that's why I am worried about governance. I don't really see a

lot of attention or interest in governing some of these huge deals that are being signed this week.

GOLODRYGA: I was glaringly not focused enough on, or at least many at hoped that would be Saudi's role in the rebuilding of Gaza. And also going along

with the president's ceasefire plan there. We didn't hear much from them at all in terms of details. Rachel Bronson, thank you so much. Really

appreciate your analysis.

BRONSON: Thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: Just ahead on "One World" for us, have the profits to be made from artificial intelligence been overhyped. Some investors are nervous as

a major AI player gets set to report earnings after the bell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:00]

GOLODRYGA: Welcome back to "One World". I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York. Here's some headlines we're watching today. A bill compelling the Justice

Department to release all documents tied to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is now on Donald Trump's desk.

He says that he will sign it, but it's unclear exactly what the Justice Department might do next. Both the House and Senate nearly unanimously

passed the measure on Tuesday with only one Republican voting against it. Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince is hosting the leaders of some of America's

biggest businesses at an investment forum in Washington, D.C.

It comes today after meetings with Donald Trump in which they strengthen both military and business ties between the two countries. Ukraine is

recovering from massive Russian attacks that left at least 25 dead and dozens injured. The overnight strikes hit multiple cities across the

country.

In the Western City of Ternopil, a strike on a residential building killed 16 people. Energy infrastructure was also targeted, causing blackouts in

several areas. The UK Defense Secretary says that activities of a Russian spy vessel that entered British waters in the last few weeks are extremely

dangerous.

John Healy says, ship directed lasers at British Air Force planes that were sent to monitor its actions saying it was the second time this year that

the spy ship has been in British waters.

[11:35:00]

Let's take a look at the U.S. markets this morning. The DOW down just barely at the S&P 500 up a bit as is the NASDAQ perhaps recovering from

yesterday's selloff as investors are watching for earnings from Nvidia, the breakout star of the AI boom. The microchip giant will unveil its quarterly

earnings report after Wall Street closes today.

But tech stocks remain under pressure this month, with investors concerned that the surge in AI linked shares is a bubble that could be set to burst.

Market's still nervous and looking for signs of AI fatigue. Joining me now from London, the Head of Investment at Interactive Investor, Victoria

Scholar.

Victoria, good to see you. So, in terms of AI fatigue, what does that mean? Are we seeing it and how will that translate to the economy overall?

VICTORIA SCHOLAR, HEAD OF INVESTMENT AT INTERACTIVE INVESTOR: Well, I think essentially since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, the market has been

totally obsessed with AI and how it's going to transform the economy. And stocks that have invested heavily in AI have been rewarded for doing so,

but there are now concerns that the market has gone too far and too fast.

And this is sparking fears of overvalued tech stocks and even a bubble. And that's why we're seeing quite a lot of selling this week in the UK. We saw

the fastest sell off since the disastrous mini budget S&P 500 suffering its longest losing streaks since August. And then we saw Bitcoin break below

that 90,000 level.

But I think what's interesting is that rather than seeing that pace of declines accelerates, we are actually now starting to see those slow down.

So, we're seeing that investors are coming back in to buy the dip, so not necessarily convinced that we are in this full-blown sell off.

It is also important to remember of course, that markets do go up and down and corrections are sadly part of the process. But we do sometimes see

quite swift reversals if there is a selloff as well.

GOLODRYGA: When people think about bubbles, they think at least I do, back a few decades ago with the tech bubble. Is there any correlation between

these two? Is there something to be learned from the tech bubble that we could be looking for in terms of early signs of one in AI?

A lot of those companies we know were companies by name only. These AI companies actually are producing results. I guess the question is how much

value do they truly have? What are you looking for in terms of their value?

SCHOLAR: Yeah, so there are comparisons like the fact that we've seen prices rise drastically over a short period of time. We've seen investors

dependent on a single sector rather than across the market. We've seen a lot of the price action driven by just a handful of stocks and there's been

quite a lot of speculation as well that said to very high valuations in both cases, but they aren't the same.

And the .com bubble was probably a lot worse. There are a lot more positives today. The tech giants behind the AI boom have been hugely

profitable and cash rich prior to getting in on the AI action. Valuations aren't as extreme as they were back then. And then there's this core belief

that AI is going to be part of this massive technological revolution and economic expansion.

I think most believe that AI is going to integrate itself into most parts of the economy. So, there are lots of reasons why AI is here to stay and it

isn't just a phase unlike many .com startups back then.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah. And Central Bakers keep arguing that AI could be a major productivity driver for the economy and consumer as well in the years to

come. We'll be looking for those Nvidia earnings at the end of trading today after the closing bell. Victoria Scholar in London. Thank you so

much.

Well, global tourism revenues just hit a record $2 trillion in 2024 according to recent data shared by the U.N.'s World Tourism Organization.

And all eyes are on where the next boom will come from. And Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is making its pitch from giga projects to heritage sites to becoming

the world's next must visit destination. CNN's Yara Enany has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YARA ENANY, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): It's not even 10:00 a.m. and the hallways and meeting rooms at tour rise are already packed. Saudi Arabia's

first global tourism summit has pulled in the industry's heavyweights. CEOs, investors and ministers all chasing a piece of Saudi's next big bets,

tourism. And among them Rixos Founder Fettah Tamince.

FETTAH TAMINCE, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN OF RIXOS: So, this is a new downtown of Istanbul, 2.2-kilometer waterfront.

[11:40:00]

ENANY (voice-over): His new Istanbul project offers delegates here a glimpse of the scale of his work.

ENANY: It looks like a city.

TAMINCE: Yeah, it's a city actually --

ENANY (voice-over): And it's exactly this kind of development, Tamince says he wants to bring to Saudi Arabia.

TAMINCE: We invest big in Saudi because the vision has been introduced to the world tourism industry is very attractive.

ENANY (voice-over): That investment comes as Saudi builds a tourism sector practically from the ground up from airports to retail and resorts. The

kingdom has invested billions of dollars and count.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For us in Saudi Arabia, tourism is a main pillar of Vision 2030. It helps to diversify our economy.

ENANY: 2030's plan was to have a hundred and million visitors, right? Now it's 150 million visitors. What drives that confidence?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We started back in 2019, and we announced our ambitions to reach to 100 million visitors by 2030. We exceeded this number in 2024,

we revised of our targets to 150 million by 2030, out of which 50 million from 30 million arrived last year. We're very confident with the

experiences we are building and this will put Saudi Arabia as one of the top most visited thing countries in the world.

Tourism isn't just about vacations and beaches. It's one of the world's most powerful economic engines. According to the WTTC, it represents 10

percent of the global GDP. That's one and every $10 spent globally is linked directly to travel and hospitality.

GLORIA GUEVARA, INTERIM PRESIDENT & CEO OF WTTC: And of this year, we're going to be contributing $11.7 trillion. That's equivalent to the third

largest country in the world.

ENANY (voice-over): And the Middle East wants to be part of this trend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here in Saudi, probably they are not talking too much, but you see the action everywhere happening not only to travel and tourism,

but in every single segment in the country.

ENANY (voice-over): The kingdom isn't just attracting tourists. It's reinventing its tourism landscape from infrastructure to hospitality. And

for global hotel brands here like -- the question isn't if they'll expand, but how fast. Yara Enany, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:00]

GOLODRYGA: Hearing has just wrapped up in the case brought by the Justice Department against Former FBI Director James Comey. And there has been a

big revelation. The full grand jury never saw the final indictment that it handed up against Comey. Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz,

was in the hearing.

She joins us now from outside of the courthouse. This is information that the prosecutor Halligan had admitted to the judge when asked. Just talk

about how significant and how big of a misstep this apparently could have been for the DOJ in this case?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I mean this -- yeah, this could be recasting the entirety of the case going forward. It is

something that there are going to be arguments about. There's going to be a lot of discussion about, and the judge is going to have to make a decision.

Is this indictment against James Comey, the Former FBI Director, valid? Can it even survive? This was a set of facts that the judge pulled out of the

prosecutors in the courtroom today. There were arguments over whether Donald Trump and all of the public statements he's made saying he does not

like James Comey.

He thinks Comey should be prosecuted. If that was enough to have the case dismissed, that is what the defense had been arguing. And more than an hour

into the hearing, that is when this judge, Judge Michael Nachmanoff had the prosecutor stop from sitting down and say, I have a few other questions.

And those questions were about how this case had been brought, how it was charged, and how the grand jury had been handled by the Eastern District of

Virginia's Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan? She was only four days into the job when she went to work with that grand jury to get this

indictment.

What happened then, is that the judge asked repeatedly if there had been an entire a presentation of the indictment against Comey, which had two

different charges in it. If the entire grand jury had been shown it and that they had approved it. And the answer was no.

The prosecutors in this case said that the grand jury had not approved an earlier version of the indictment, and then there was no further discussion

with the grand jurors about it. The prosecution then Lindsey Halligan and others then decided that they would trim down the indictment and present it

to the court, just having it signed by the foreperson of the grand jury.

So not the full collection of grand jurors that would need to approve that document. This seemed to catch the judge if not off guard, it certainly

left him speechless for a good bit of time. And he had Lindsay Halligan then herself stand up in court and confirm that this was indeed what

happened.

That the entire grand jury was not shown the indictment against James Comey. Comey's team very quickly grabbed onto this, as something that could

help them win the entire dismissal of this case. Defense Attorney Michael Dreeben stood up and said, it appears the operative indictment in this case

was never shown to the grand jury and was never returned.

We are going to hear more about what the Justice Department has to say about this in the coming hours and days. They are supposed to argue more to

the judge on this today through Friday, but we will not get a resolution, or at least we didn't have a resolution of this today. It just was a very,

very significant revelation in the federal courthouse.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, potentially big blow against the DOJ in their case. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much. Well, President Trump has signaled that

he is open to resuming negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. And a senior Iranian official is now echoing that sentiment.

And an exclusive interview with our Fred Pleitgen, the Senior Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader says Tehran's conditions are still the same as they

were before the U.S. and Israeli attack back in June.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Who do you think needs to make the first move if you want to start talking? And do you think

they need to come to you, or would you be willing to contact them also?

KAMAL KHARRAZI, SENIOR POLICY ADVISER TO THE SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN: They have to make the first move to show that they are ready to engage with us

on the conditions that we put?

PLEITGEN: What does that mean as far as Iran's nuclear program is concerned?

KHARRAZI: The nuclear program of Iran is indigenous and cannot be moved simply by force.

PLEITGEN: What are your red lines as far as the enrichment of uranium is concerned?

KHARRAZI: We have to continue our enrichment because we need to produce fuel for our power plants as well for our medical activities. Therefore, we

cannot just stop enriching uranium. The degree of enrichment is the question of negotiations.

PLEITGEN: And do you think that there could be a common understanding here?

KHARRAZI: I think so.

[11:50:00]

If there would be genuine negotiations between Iran and the United States, there are ways and means how to ensure that Iran can continue its

enrichment and in the same times, assure the others that it's not going to look for nuclear weapons.

PLEITGEN: One of the things that Iran prides itself on, and one of the things that's very important to this country's defense, is your ballistic

country's defense is your ballistic missile program. How are you looking to enhance that program?

KHARRAZI: Certainly, we have to defend ourselves. Whatever we can do in producing our missiles, certainly we do not neglect and that's I mean

weapons that can defend ourselves and safeguard on national security.

PLEITGEN: So, Iran is going to continue to expand its ballistic missile program, because I know that some of the ballistic missiles are very

sophisticated.

KHARRAZI: -- no question about that. And it is only nuclear issue that we are ready to engage with the United States and others. We are not going to

speak to with others or negotiate with others on the other issues, including missile activities.

PLEITGEN: What as we sit here, what is your message right now to U.S. President Donald Trump?

KHARRAZI: Start with a positive approach with Iran. If it would be positive, certainly it would be reciprocated. But for that, they have to

refrain from any force against Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Thanks to Fred Pleitgen for that report. We'll be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, it's another reason to look forward to summer. Disney is giving us a first look at the live action remake of Moana. According to

Media Reports, Australian teenager Catherine Laga'aia stars as the film heroine alongside Dwayne Johnson, who reprises his role as the demigod

Maui.

Only 10 years are between the animated version and live action version, making it Disney's tightest turnaround to date. Well, Sotheby's first

auction out of its new headquarters here in New York was a record smashing success. Bidders battled it out for 20 minutes over the painting by

Austrian artist Gustav Klimt titled Portrait of Elizabeth Lederer.

[11:55:00]

It sold for over $235 million, making it the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at auction. It beat out a previous record set by an Andy

Warhol work in 2022. And finally, this hour basketball's reigning king is back on the court. Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James began his 23rd season

and the National Basketball Association Tuesday night, the longest career in the league's history.

The NBA's all-time leading scorer missed the first 14 games of the season with a sciatic nerve issue. After Tuesday's game 140 to 126 win over the

Utah Jazz. The 40-year-old says it's just fun to be out there with the guys. That is incredible 23 years. All right, stay with CNN. I'll have more

"One World" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END