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What We Know with Max Foster

Israel Attacks Damascus As It Vows To Protect Druze; Rubio Expects "De-escalation" After Isreal Strikes Syria; Trump Says It's "Highly Unlikely" He'll Fire Fed Chair; Trump Slams Supporters Over Epstein Fixation. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 16, 2025 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:10]

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Israel strikes at the heart of Damascus.

I'm Isa Soares. This is WHAT WE KNOW.

Israel's defense minister says the painful blows have begun after a series of powerful Israeli strikes that rocked Syria's capital.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SOARES: The Syrian health ministry says at least three people were killed and dozens more injured. Israel says the attacks, as designed to protect

the Druze minority as Druze fighters clash with government loyalists. The IDF confirms it targeted the Syrian ministry of defense. Syrian officials

condemned the strikes, describing them as a dangerous escalation.

This is what the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters just a short time ago at the White House. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's complicated. Obviously, these -- these are historic longtime rivalries between different groups in the

southwest of Syria, Bedouins, the Druze community. And it led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding it looks like between the

Israeli side and the Syrian side. So we've been engaged with them all morning long and all night long with both sides, and we think we're on our

way towards a real de-escalation and then hopefully get back on track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: We get more from our Jeremy Diamond now. He joins us from Jerusalem.

Just, Jeremy, just picking up from what Rubio said. I think he said if I heard correctly, some sort of misunderstanding. Just talk us through what

we heard from the United States and whether that matches what you're hearing from the Israeli side.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, I mean, this is the new reality that exists in the Middle East where, you know,

following President Trump's meeting with President al-Sharaa of Syria, the United States is speaking directly to Syria. It's now helping to mediate

this attack between Israel and Syria or Israel's attacks in particular, on the Syrian military, I should say. And as a result of that, we will see if

they can get them back on track to those security discussions that the U.S. has been mediating between Israel and Syria, looking for some kind of a

more stable arrangement between these two countries, and one that perhaps could even lead to longer term normalization.

For the moment, though, we are quite far away from that prospect, following these Israeli strikes in the Syrian capital of Damascus, including several

very powerful blasts that hit the Syrian ministry of defense directly, three people were killed, dozens more injured in those strikes alone. And

in addition to that, of course, we've seen these Israeli strikes targeting the Syrian military as it has been trying to send forces to Suwayda. The

Syrian government has said that it is sending forces to Suwayda to try and stop the violence that broke out there between Bedouin tribes and the

Syrian Druze minority there.

But the -- many in that Syrian Druze community saw the Syrian government troops advance as a threat. So did the Israeli military, clearly. But

beyond this incentive to protect the Syrian Druze, the Israeli government has also been quite clear that it doesn't want to see Syrian troops in

southern Syria at all, and that that is a major reason why Israel has decided to carry out these strikes. In addition to that, other analysts

have suggested that Israel simply prefers to see a destabilized and more fragmented Syria than one that actually can get its act together and unite

for a more prosperous Syria.

So, there are a couple of paths that lie ahead. The United States clearly thinks that it can destable -- de-escalate the situation here. We will see

whether or not that actually comes to fruition and how, of course, that impacts the Syrian Druze community in Syria.

SOARES: Yeah, but look, clearly, as you've been outlining there, lots of threads and clearly a very volatile situation. What have we heard from the

Syrian government? And if these attacks continue, just speak to the implications, the wider implications for the region here, Jeremy.

DIAMOND: Well, the Syrian government has called this a dangerous escalation on Israels part. And they also accuse Israel of doing this systematically

to try and, quote, ignite tension, create chaos and undermine security and safety in Syria. And that speaks exactly to what I was just referencing

with analysts -- some analysts now saying that they believe that Israel is really trying to destabilize Syria for the time being. And we know, of

course, that many Israeli officials, senior Israeli government officials have made extremely critical comments of Sharaa of his new government,

branded them all, you know, in some cases rightly due to past affiliations, as you know, a group of jihadists who would now be on Israels borders, and

the concerns that that has sparked for Israel.

[15:05:02]

But at the same time, there is this other path of security discussions with the Syrians. We know that the Israeli prime minister has tasked his

national security advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, to engage in those talks, which suggests a certain level of seriousness to them. So, we'll have to see

whether these Israeli strikes in Syria are simply a speed bump along the road towards that path, or whether a very different path is now presenting

itself in the region.

SOARES: Jeremy Diamond for us in Jerusalem -- thank you, Jeremy.

Well, Israel says hundreds of people from the Druze minority have crossed from the Golan Heights into Syria, apparently to support their community in

the clashes in Syria. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling on the Druze not to breach the border for their own safety.

Our Salma Abdelaziz has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Israel says it may now intensify its attacks on southern Syria if government forces do not withdraw from the

area, and already Israeli forces have struck the entrance of Syria's military headquarters in Damascus and bombed government forces in the south

of the country. So why is Israel bombing Syria? Well, the flashpoint here is the Syrian province of Suwayda in the south. Clashes broke out there

between members of a minority group called the Druze and Bedouin tribes over the weekend, leaving dozens of people dead.

The Syrian military responded by deploying forces to quell the unrest. But Israel, which claims to be the protector of the Druze community, accused

the Syrian government of violating a demilitarized zone. But here's the catch. It was unilaterally declared by Israel in southern Syria. The Syrian

government has rejected Israel's declaration of a demilitarized zone and has, along with the international community, repeatedly called on Israel to

cease its military actions in Syria.

So, in a nutshell, Israel is intervening with military force in what is a domestic clash between two Syrian ethnic groups. And here's why that is

dangerous. Syria's longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad, was only deposed last year and the country's new president has vowed to heal sectarian

divisions. But Sunni extremist forces loyal to former President Assad have violently confronted the Druze and several major outbreaks of violence this

year. And foreign interventions have made the already unstable country a tinderbox and Israels latest strikes may only pour more fuel on that fire.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, U.S. President Donald Trump says it's highly unlikely, his words, he'll fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but he's leaving the

door open. Mr. Trump was responding to multiple reports that he recently told congressional Republicans on the matter and planned to sack the Fed

chair.

The president also suggested, without evidence, that Powell may have committed fraud. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't rule out anything, but I think it's highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud. I mean,

it's possible there's fraud involved with the $2.5 billion, $2.7 billion renovation. This is a renovation. How do you spend $2.7 billion?

And he didn't have proper clearance, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, that's going on. So, you know, there could be something to that. But I

think he's not doing a good job.

He's got a very easy job to do. You know what he has to do? Lower interest rates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, our senior White House reporter, Betsy Klein, has now more for you on this from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Now, President Donald Trump has long said that he does not believe Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome

Powell is doing enough -- fast enough to lower interest rates. And what we are witnessing now is essentially a maximum pressure campaign coming from

the White House.

We had reported that President Trump met with a group of about a dozen Republicans from Congress on Tuesday, and during that meeting, the

president told them whether they believed he should fire Powell. The group responding overwhelmingly, yes, but the president asked about this on

Wednesday in the Oval Office during a meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain, said he believes he is a little bit more conservative than that

group. He said he didn't rule anything out, but that firing Powell is, quote, highly unlikely to happen.

The president, of course, also offering an important caveat there, quote, "unless he has to leave for fraud." And that is important because his

office of management and budget director, Ross Vought, just last week sent a letter to Powell, essentially accusing him of breaking the law as he has

overseen these multimillion dollar renovations to the Federal Reserve headquarters here in Washington that are now significantly over budget. The

White House, believing that Powell has mismanaged those renovations, the president said he believes that Powell is, quote, already under

investigation for his handling of that, and this could lay the groundwork for the president to potentially fire Powell, a move that, of course, could

roil markets.

[15:10:02]

The president has been advised by some of his advisers to hold off on that, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his chief of staff, Susie

Wiles, even as he is publicly ratcheting up pressure on Powell. Powell's term ends in May of 2026, and he has been adamant that he is not going

anywhere. He will not step down.

But the president says he fortunately gets to make a change in about eight months or so, alluding to some of the people that he has in his short list

for a potential replacement for Powell. He pointed to Kevin, referring to Kevin Hassett, one of his economic advisers, as well as the treasury

secretary, Scott Bessent. He says he's been fielding numerous calls from people who want that job.

But at the end of the day, he said, quote, I'm only interested in lower -- low interest people, essentially saying there that his number one priority

is and remains getting interest rates down.

Betsy Klein, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, before the president said it was "highly unlikely" he would fire Powell, U.S. markets took a tumble. We had heard reports that

President Trump was moving closer to removing the fed chair. The markets now seem, as you can see, to have bounced back up 100, 195 points or so.

Wall street analysts have warned a move to fire Powell could provoke a severe market reaction, and those fears have been echoed by one Republican

senator.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): If you fire the chairman of the Federal Reserve, you will see the stock market crash and you will see the bond market crash.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Vanessa Yurkevich is here with more.

And, Vanessa, look, we have been seeing these attacks against Jay Powell for quite some time. They are stepping up in terms of the rhetoric against

Jay Powell. But just for our viewers around the world, can he even fire him?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is the question on everybody's mind. Does he have the power to do so? The

Supreme Court said that the president may have the power if he finds cause, and that is why, as Betsy explained, he has pointed to this overbudget

renovation of the federal reserve headquarters in Washington, D.C.

But as you heard from that Republican member of congress right there, there are people within the president's own party, within his own administration,

that are very much against firing the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. And that is because of what we saw just in the half hour today when

reports were swirling that he was likely to do so. If you look at any of the indices, if you look at the Dow right there on your screen between

11:00 and 12:00 Eastern Time, you see that significant drop. The Dow is down about 250 points, as investors became increasingly nervous that the

potential for the firing of Jerome Powell was imminent.

You also saw bond yields spike and you saw the dollar weaken. And the problem is, is that this was just the rumor that this may happen. And you

see what happens. The -- if this actually happened, it would be really, really bad.

One chief investment strategist, Sam Stovall, who I've been speaking to for months now about policy and what's happening on Wall Street, told me this.

He says, I think it would be bad. The bond market would tank as yields spike over worries that Trump would overstimulate the economy and reignite

inflation fears.

And that is because he has been calling on the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, to lower interest rates. Jerome Powell has said that

lowering interest rates in a climate of uncertainty around tariffs could actually fuel inflation. The exact thing that President Trump has really

been fighting against, saying, look how low inflation is, we should lower rates. It actually could have the opposite effect.

But most investors on wall street right now, in the federal reserves next meeting in just a couple of weeks, believe that the federal reserve will

continue to hold rates steady about 97.4 percent of investors on Wall Street believe that rates will remain unchanged. So, no cut coming.

This will obviously be very disappointing for the president and likely we will hear more pressure from the president on Jerome Powell, he said. In

that awful Oval Office meeting that its unlikely that he will fire him. But of course, that's not off the table.

But as you pointed out, Isa, can he actually do it? It's never been done. So we don't know. And markets there as you can see. Look at that turnaround

after just that half hour of uncertainty, markets climbing back after just really a wild sort of one hour of news today around whether or not Jerome

Powell was going to be in his position for much longer.

SOARES: And Jay Powell's term, I think, ends in about ten months or so. And, you know, what was a bit of a head scratching moment for me is when he

was talking about this, the White House.

[15:15:04]

And then he responded to a question like this, have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's a terrible -- he's a terrible Fed chair. I was surprised he was appointed. I was surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended

him. But they did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: So I was surprised he was, you know, he was appointed -- he appointed him.

YURKEVICH: Right, right. He did. He appointed him and he liked him at the time. And then he's gone on to say he got a bad recommendation from

someone.

Biden did reappoint him. This was, remember, during the pandemic when things were unprecedented, no one knew what was going on with the economy,

and it was important to have a steady hand, someone who had been in that position for a little bit and was going to continue on.

And even before Trump was elected, he really turned on Jay Powell and did not like what he was doing, and continues very much not to like what he was

doing.

But unfortunately, Jay Powell, while he's the head of the Federal Reserve, there are other members of the board who vote, so it's not necessarily up

to Jay Powell. It's just the problem that if you were the face of the Federal Reserve, you're going to take the heat.

But there are several other voting members that make these decisions about whether or not to cut rates or keep them the same or even raise rates. It's

not all on Jay Powell, but, of course, the face of it takes the heat.

SOARES: Yeah, and he'll continue getting the heat. I think like you said in the next Fed meeting, we shall see.

YURKEVICH: For sure.

SOARES: Vanessa Yurkevich -- thanks very much, Vanessa.

YURKEVICH: Thanks.

SOARES: And still to come, Donald Trump addresses the death of a Palestinian American man killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. We'll

give you that story -- bring you that story after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: President Donald Trump says he will have a meeting tomorrow about the American Palestinian man killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Saif Mussalet was just weeks away from celebrating his 21st birthday when he was killed while visiting family and friends north of Ramallah.

[15:20:06]

Another man was also killed, with hundreds attending their funerals, as you can see. Hs family says he was attacked while trying to protect their land.

Israel's military says it is investigating, but his family wants the U.S. government to intervene. The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has

called for an aggressive investigation. Israeli investigation, I should say.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Huckabee has made a surprise appearance at the corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President

Trump has denounced the trial of Mr. Netanyahu. He is facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The ambassadors move could be seen as

another sign of support for the Israeli leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Mr. Ambassador, why did you decide to come today?

MIKE HUCKABEE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Because I wanted to see what was happening. Why did you come?

REPORTER: What do you think of this trial? And what did you -- what did you find?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: So, what we want to know this hour is will the Trump administration put pressure on Israel to investigate the death of Saif Musallet?

And joining me now is Edward Djerejian. He was U.S. ambassador to Israel.

Ambassador, welcome to the show.

As you just heard us lay out there, we are hearing calls for an investigation into the West Bank killing of Saif Musallet. Do you think you

will see those investigations? How confident are you that this will be thoroughly investigated and that the U.S. will press the Israeli government

on this?

EDWARD DJEREJIAN, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL: Well, there's no question in my mind that this murder, this killing of an American citizen

in the West Bank should be investigated thoroughly effectively, and that justice be done, that there should be no holding back on bringing the facts

public and determining who the perpetrators are, and that those perpetrators who are obviously, according to the videos and according to

the reports, Israeli settlers, that they should be brought to justice and meted out the appropriate penalties for which a killing of an American

citizen.

SOARES: And U.S. ambassador, in fact, Mike Huckabee was the first to call for what he said was an aggressive -- calling for an aggressive

investigation. In fact, he actually called Musallet's murder criminal and terrorist act. And that was yesterday.

Today, Ambassador, he was sitting on Prime Minister Netanyahu's criminal trial. I'm guessing this is pretty unusual and possibly even unprecedented.

How do you view it?

DJEREJIAN: Well, things have changed with the Trump administration. We're seeing things in our conduct of diplomacy that we haven't seen in the past.

And the United States ambassador represents the United States of America and represents the U.S. national security interests in the country to which

he's assigned. His country is the United States.

We usually do not interfere in these internal political issues and legal controversies in a country that were assigned to. So, I find it -- I find

it rather surprising that the American ambassador would show up at the trial. I don't know what type of symbolism they're trying to convey in

this, but I think it's important. It's -- can I give you an anecdote? When I was assigned it, my -- my first ambassadorial post to Syria, then later

on to Israel, George Shultz was the American secretary of state, and he had this custom where he and his wife would invite outgoing ambassadors to his

office for an informal tea with their spouses, and he would ask each one of us, he had this big globe of the world in his office, an illuminated globe,

and he said, please go to the globe and point out your country.

Most of us pointed to our country of assignment. There was one ambassador, Mike Mansfield, former senator, who put his hand over the United States and

said, Mr. Secretary, this is my country. This is the country I represent. I think we have to keep that in mind.

SOARES: Given then, given what you've just said and what we have seen with Mike Huckabee, you know, the messaging, what is the message from the United

States, given that Mike Huckabee is representing this U.S. administration? What is it sending in terms of message to Israel's judicial system here?

DJEREJIAN: Well, I'm not sure what the message is, but obviously the president has come to Prime Minister Netanyahu's defense in these trials.

[15:25:11]

And obviously, I'm assuming that the American ambassador has been given the green light to attend the trial. Hopefully, he hasn't done this on his own

initiative. So, I think there is a possible narrative here that is to show of support for Netanyahu.

SOARES: Yeah. Let me stick with ambassador, Ambassador Huckabee, who certainly has seems to be very busy. He has been accusing Ireland, and I'm

quoting him here, Ambassador, of diplomatic intoxication. This is a country appears closer to passing a bill that will ban trade with illegal Israeli

settlements in occupied territories in the West Bank and we're just showing viewers what he actually said on X, and he said, I'm just going to read it

out, in case you haven't seen it. Did the Irish fall into a vat of Guinness and propose something so stupid that would be attributed to act of

diplomatic intoxication? It will harm Arabs as much as Israelis. Sober up, Ireland.

Your thoughts, Ambassador, on this language?

DJEREJIAN: Well, it's a powerful marketing tool for Guinness, I must say.

SOARES: And I'm quite a stereotype.

DJEREJIAN: That's quite a stereotype.

Look, this is again, it brings a question forward. The United States ambassador is representing his country's interest in Israel in this

instance. Yes, the United States is opposed to these BDS boycott initiatives by any country against Israel. But for the sitting ambassador

in Israel to make a statement on what Ireland is doing, I would have thought that if the administration wants to make a point of opposition to

what Ireland is doing, that message should come out of Washington and not out of our embassy in Israel.

SOARES: And it's one of the U.S.'s closest allies. Of course, that message should come from that side. But while I have you here, actually, I really

do want to tap into your expertise because you were the U.S. ambassador to Syria. I think under Reagan. Today, as you would have seen, Ambassador, we

have seen Israel carrying out quite a series of powerful strikes on Damascus, a campaign, it says it's in support of the Druze community.

Secretary Rubio seems to be concerned about this.

Just your thoughts on what you are seeing and the fears, of course, of escalation here.

DJEREJIAN: Well, this is a very serious crisis, an incident in Syria, because what we're seeing is this new government under President al-Sharaa,

who obviously has an Islamist background, but who has been making every effort now to put together a centralized government in Syria and bringing

all the various ethnic factions and classes in Syria under the supervision of a centralized government, including the armed forces, getting the

various militias in the country united under a Syrian army.

This incident, following some of the incidents against Alawites earlier on, after he took power, is a serious threat to the unity and the security of

Syria as it makes this transition. Now, President Trump has met with al- Sharaa. He seems to have been impressed by al-Sharaa. Some of our key allies in the Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are supporting

Sharaa's transition to bring Syria together -- to make Syria stable, which is very important. Syria lives in the heartland of the Arab world, and

instability in Syria just has all sorts of unintended consequences, like migration flows to Europe during the civil war.

So, this is a serious conflict between -- it's really tried to turned out or originated in a dispute between Druze community members and Bedouins in

southern Syria, in the Suwayda area. It then just grew into a massive factional ethnic dispute between the Druze, the Bedouins and with the

Syrian army supporting the Bedouins against the Druze and then the Israelis coming in and saying that they actually have launched military strikes on

Syrian targets, including near the Syrian armed forces headquarters near Damascus -- in Damascus.

So, this can blow out of control and can be a very consequential threat to what the United States and other countries are trying to do is bring Syria

together.

[15:30:08]

SOARES: Yeah, we shall see how the U.S. responds to this. Of course. Ambassador, I really appreciate your time and your perspective. Thank you

very much indeed.

And we're going to continue with that already tense situation that the ambassador is talking about in the Middle East. And as that escalates, we

keep a close eye on Syria's capital after Israeli launched a series of powerful strikes. We'll have much more on this story after this very short

break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Returning now to our top story. Dramatic images coming out of Syria after Israel carried out a series of powerful strikes on the capital. Have

a look at this.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SOARES: The Syrian health ministry says at least three people were killed and dozens more injured. The U.S. views the situation as, quote, worrisome.

Israel says its strikes on Syria are meant to protect the Druze and ethnoreligious group who live in Israel, Syria, Lebanon and the Golan

heights.

My next guest is Colin Clarke is director of policy and research at the Soufan Group.

Colin, great to see you.

So just give us your reaction to these strikes. Rather powerful as we've just outlined there for our viewers, strikes by Israel there in Damascus.

Just your thinking on this.

COLIN CLARKE, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND RESEARCH, THE SOUFAN GROUP: Thanks, Isa.

I think there's a few things going on. I think, you know, this is our, you know, really, our first look at Israel as a regional hegemon, without the

Iranians, without the access groups to stand up to the Israelis, you know, a post-Assad regime dealing with Syria.

[15:35:04]

There's probably some domestic politics in here for Netanyahu with his own Druze population. And I think as well, this is the Israeli governments

attempt to establish red lines. After all. You know, al-Sharaa was the leader of al Qaeda in Syria. It makes sense that after October 7th, the

Israelis are going to leave nothing to chance.

The question for me becomes, you know, is this counterproductive? Does this actually destabilize Syria and make the problem worse in the long run?

SOARES: Are you saying that Israel potentially is overplaying its hand here, Colin?

CLARKE: It very well could. You know, unless the strategy here is to keep Syria destabilized, to keep it off balance, to be able to kind of,

quote/unquote, manage what's going on. But again, that's a dangerous game. And I think there's second and third order effects here that, you know,

Netanyahu can't plan for.

The other piece of this is you have far right ministers coming out making very inflammatory statements, very provocative statements. And it could

lead to a slippery slope where the Israelis bite off more than they can chew.

SOARES: Yeah. Look, so potentially undermining security in Syria, destabilizing Syria. Equate that for us with the efforts that were seeing

from the United States to do the very opposite.

CLARKE: Yeah. So, the U.S. is attempting to exactly stabilize the situation, try to persuade cooler heads to prevail. And I think, you know,

behind a lot of this, there may be folks in the Trump administration, perhaps including President Trump himself, who see this as quite an erratic

Israeli foreign policy.

After all, there's still no deal on Gaza, you know, is this the Israelis now starting another new adventure in the region when they haven't closed

out other issues or other files? We know that that is really important to President Trump. And so, Secretary Rubio and others are going to do

everything they can to try to get the Israelis to back off a bit here.

SOARES: Yeah. And we've heard Secretary Rubio said he expects de- escalation, but we haven't heard anything else. Do you think that the United States can press Israel on this front? Because this doesn't seem

were nowhere near into some sort of ceasefire? So far, there were talks of it. They'll talk about it, but that's not clear at this stage.

CLARKE: I'm not sure even the United States can get a handle on Netanyahu again. This is the coming out party for Israel as a regional hegemon with

the Iranians and all these axis groups weakened. Theres a certain level or a sense of impunity that we see the Israelis operating in.

SOARES: Can I -- can you take us back to how this all started? Because this, you know, this is this started with sectarian violence, right,

between the Druze and the Bedouin tribes in southern Syria. What do we know? What led to this moment? What caused this? What was this over?

CLARKE: Look, this is not uncommon in any kind of post-conflict scenario or post-conflict country. You know, you've got all of these deep wounds that

still need to be healed. We see this in almost every situation where we have a kind of post-conflict setting.

We saw it very early on in Syria with the Alawites. We're now seeing it with the Druze. Theres a certain level of score settling that goes on,

particularly, you know, among minority groups in the country. And so, some of these things are going to play out.

But I think the United States is a bit taken aback that the Israelis are so active in meddling in Syria. And again, highly counterproductive in terms

of, you know, there's so much that's gone on and so much that's gone into trying to stabilize this country, post-Assad, you know, airstrikes in

Damascus is not going to help that.

SOARES: You say active. Some may even go as far as saying emboldened here, Colin, speak to the implications if these attacks continue regionally, that

that that is vital.

CLARKE: Yeah. So, a lot of this could spill over borders. It could energize groups in other countries. And let's not forget, the Syrian government is

attempting a very precarious balancing act at the moment, where its attempting to integrate all of these foreign fighters from different parts

of the world into their armed forces. If those groups, those kind of subgroups, you know, from the Balkans, from the Caucasus, from central Asia

and elsewhere, really don't see this governing project as worth their time, that could set off a whole chain of events where you have this kind of

roving band of militants, almost in the mold of an al Qaeda or Islamic State that go on to commit attacks elsewhere. So, I think, you know, some

very dangerous second order effects, potentially here.

SOARES: Colin, really appreciate your insight. Sad to have missed you last time you were in London. Let us know next time you're in town. Thank you.

Colin.

CLARKE: I will. Thank you.

SOARES: Now, for the first time, a U.S. and Israeli backed group distributing aid in Gaza is acknowledging deaths at one of its sites. It

says at least 20 people were killed in a crowd crush today.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says armed agitators affiliated with Hamas instigated the chaos. But Palestinian health ministry says tear gas was

fired at the crowd, triggering the stampede. It says 21 people were killed, including 15 who died from suffocation. The foundation denies firing tear

gas, but acknowledges that pepper spray was deployed. One Palestinian man says this humanitarian aid program is anything but.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You send aid but you are killing us or you want to starve us, or you want to insult us. Explain to us what

exactly do you want so we can understand. Close it and that's it. But don't call it humanitarian under the name of U.S. and Israel while you kill us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, after the break, Donald Trump says what he calls credible Jeffrey Epstein documents should be released while still labeling the whole

situation a hoax. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: U.S. President Donald Trump is telling his supporters to stop wasting time worrying about the Jeffrey Epstein case. This comes as many

demand transparency into the investigation of the late financier and convicted sex offender. Earlier on social media, the president lashed out

at those asking for documents surrounding the case to be released.

In a post, the president called them weaklings who are doing the work of Democrats. He says he no longer wants their support.

While many Republicans who have enthusiastically supported Trump are starting to back away from that, according to a new CNN poll, 75 percent,

you can see there of Republicans now say the president has the right priorities. That's down from 87 percent in March. And this is not just

after the Epstein file controversy, but also the president's spending bill.

[15:45:03]

His overall approval rating, as you can see, now at 42 percent, according to our latest data.

What we don't know is will Donald Trump hurt his base with this Epstein saga?

Joining me now is CNN political commentator Jackie Kucinich.

Jackie, great to have you here.

Let me start with that question. I mean, we definitely see a number of Republicans breaking with him, including, of course, Speaker Johnson. Is

this hurting his base at all?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it does seem like a lot of his base is not sated by his explanations, by his direction to dismiss this

entirely. And the difference between Donald Trump and some of his biggest congressional defenders is that Donald Trump doesn't have to run again.

They do. And if their constituents are saying they really care about this, then you're going to see that divide.

Now, whether or not that means that they'll end up taking it out on someone like the attorney general, Pam Bondi, who might find herself in front of

Congress. That remains to be seen.

Right now, you're not seeing any Republicans, except maybe Thomas Massie, who is a frequent critic of the president from Kentucky, really come at the

president about this. But, you know, we'll have to see as the heat is ratcheted up on them from their constituents.

SOARES: Yeah. And it does seem like the White House is hoping, Jackie, that this will all go away. But in fact, it's done the very opposite. It's

picked up steam now calls for transparency. How do you think -- how do you rate the way they've handled this thus far?

KUCINICH: Trump has an amazing ability to make things go away when he would like them to go away, particularly with his base. And the fact that you

aren't seeing them walk away. I mean, he was ratioed on his own social media platform when he initially told them that this was an important.

But this is -- what is happening here is this is a conspiracy theory that he and those around him have fomented for years and have really whipped

people up over about, you know, shadowy connections, particularly some of Dan Bongino, who is the deputy director of the FBI, people who are

promising all of the secrets to be released. And now, they're saying that those secrets don't exist. So, it's kind of the chickens are coming home to

roost for a lot of these Trump officials.

SOARES: Yeah. Which then begs the question, did they create this conspiracy or are they hiding? Are they -- are they hiding something? That is the

question so many are asking.

And I'm not sure whether the president's wording -- his language, at least in the last 24 hours of maybe release, what we think is relevant, whether

that actually clarifies anything.

KUCINICH: I mean, you're right. And if you -- if you're watching some of his supporters, it's not. And they have tried. I mean, they've been kind of

cutesy with this, right. A couple months ago they let all these conservative influencers have these binders, right? That were supposed to

have all of these secrets in it, and it actually turned out to be redacted materials or materials that were online unredacted and things that were

released before.

So, and they're not having it. So how this ends, we don't know at this point, but he hasn't made it. It is very noteworthy that he is getting

pushback from people that really take his word for anything in any -- in any other circumstance. This appears to be different right now.

SOARES: Jackie, appreciate it. Jackie Kucinich -- thank you, Jackie. Good to see you.

KUCINICH: Thank you.

SOARES: And still to come, the main stage at Tomorrowland Music Festival catches on fire just days before it's meant to start. What we know so far

after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:19]

SOARES: The main stage at the Tomorrowland Music Festival in Belgium has caught on fire just two days before the event is actually due to begin. It

happened as organizers prepared to welcome 400,000 attendees over the next two weekends. Tomorrowland says nobody was injured, thankfully, and the

festivals campsite will open as normal tomorrow.

The electronic dance music festival added that it was working and finding solutions before the big opening.

I want to bring in Morgan Hermans, who lives in the town of Boom and saw the smoke coming from the festival grounds.

Good to see you. Just talk us through what you saw, because the images we're seeing are pretty staggering.

MORGAN HERMANS, BOOM RESIDENT: Yeah, we just -- we just heard like, fireworks going off, which was a bit weird because the festival only starts

tomorrow. So, we went outside and there was just a big cloud of fireworks and smoke. Yeah, very near us. So that was a bit scary. But yeah, luckily

nobody's hurt, so that's good.

SOARES: That's very good news, Morgan. Actually, we're looking -- I think it's your video that you sent to us, and we can hear the fireworks in the

background. What are you hearing from authorities as to what led to this? What caused this? What are you hearing?

HERMANS: Yeah, they say it started -- they said like it started with a small fire at the main stage. And they thought it was just very small, but

just in like five minutes, the entire stage was on fire.

So, yeah, but they're saying it's probably from the fireworks.

SOARES: They think its possibly from the fireworks. Yeah. Because I'm looking as well to see if the authorities have said anything on this front.

And I know we're expecting something like 400,000 attendees.

Do we have a sense of whether this is going ahead? Because on their, you know, on their page on X, it doesn't actually talk about this at all.

HERMANS: Yeah. We just got a message just recently that everybody -- everything is going ahead. So hopefully it will. And I know a few people

who are still working there now and they're still continuing -- setting everything up and hopefully to be ready tomorrow for all the people coming.

SOARES: Wow. Going ahead still in the same location. So, what -- is work -- what have you? How close have you been able to get? What are you seeing in

terms of work being done right now?

HERMANS: Yeah, I just live about 200 meters away from it. So very close. And I know a few people who are there now, and there are a lot of stages at

Tomorrowland, so it's a very big place. So only the main stage was hit, which is good. So, everything else is still there. And yeah.

SOARES: And, Morgan, for viewers around the world who don't know about Tomorrowland, who've never heard of Tomorrowland, what does this mean for

Boom, for the -- for the town? How big is this?

HERMANS: Yeah, it's one of the biggest events in the entire year because like, also, our town is very small. So, to welcome people around the entire

world, it's crazy. And it's so much fun. And so, it's a big deal. So, everybody in Boom was a bit terrified for a few seconds. Yeah.

SOARES: Well, I hope -- I hope that everyone is okay. And I hope that it can continue. And everyone can obviously attend. Morgan, appreciate it.

Morgan Hermans, thank you.

And finally tonight, "Superman" hit theaters last week. But perhaps its biggest and unlikeliest star is a four-legged hero, my favorite, that has

even his own cape.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

The unlikely hero there. That was Krypto the Superdog, and his star turn has driven up interest in dog adoption. More than 500 percent. Oh, I love

this. That is according to news site "The Wrap". Krypto's character is based on Superman writer and director James Gunn's rescue dog, Ozu.

Warner Brothers Pictures got together with best friends Animal Society to cover pet adoption fees earlier this month, and that helped 454 pets find

homes across the United States. Warner Bros. Discovery is CNN's parent company.

And that does it for me for this hour. This is WHAT WE KNOW.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next with Richard Quest. I'll see you tomorrow.

END

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