A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, September 7, 2025 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: “THIS WEEK” with George Stephanopoulos starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS “THIS WEEK” HOST: The war grinds on.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Now I always said we can't trust Putin. He's playing games with the United States.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Three weeks after the Putin/Trump summit, Martha Raddatz travels to Ukraine for an ABC News exclusive with the Ukrainian president.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS “THIS WEEK” HOST: We're back in Ukraine where we sat down with President Zelenskyy and ask him about the possibility of peace since there has been no sign of it.
Still no meeting between you and Putin. He said he will meet if you come to Moscow.
ZELENSKYY: He can come to Kyiv.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Plus, warning signs.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think you’ll see job numbers that are going to be absolutely incredible.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The new report shows job growth stalled, as tempers flare on Capitol Hill over RFK Jr.'s vaccine skepticism.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I'm not --
SEN. MARK WARNER, (D) VIRGINIA: You have had this job for eight months, and you don't know the data about whether the vaccines save lives.
KENNEDY: No, and that’s the problem.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And the president's threat to unleash his Department of War on an American city. Selina Wang reports on the fallout. Plus analysis from our powerhouse roundtable.
And --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not a hoax. It's not going to go away.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Survivors pressure Congress to release the Epstein files.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The days of sweeping this under the rug are over. We, the survivors, say, no more.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Jay O'Brien reports from Capitol Hill, and Congressmen Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna join us exclusively about their bipartisan push for transparency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, it's "THIS WEEK." Here now, George Stephanopoulos.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to "THIS WEEK."
On Friday, President Trump rebranded the Department of Defense the Department of War. Saturday, he announced the department's first target, an American city. The president's words, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of War.”
Of course, criticism followed, including this from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, “the president of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal.”
And this chilling threat from President Trump comes after a week of challenges. Friday's weak jobs report. On Capitol Hill, a bipartisan grilling for House Secretary RFK Jr., and a demand for transparency from Jeffrey Epstein's victims. China's display of diplomatic skill and military force. And Russia's rebuff of another Trump deadline on the war in Ukraine.
We're going to cover it all this morning. Senior White House correspondent Selina Wang starts us off.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SELINA WANG, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Protests in Chicago as President Trump escalates his threats against the third-largest city in the nation. Trump resharing a manipulated image on social media that places him in front of the city. The image referencing the iconic 1979 film "Apocalypse Now." The caption reads, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of War.” A reference to his Friday executive order rebranding the Department of Defense the Department of War.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it sends a -- really a message of strength. We're very strong.
WANG (voice over): For weeks Trump has been threatening to increase the federal presence in Chicago after sending 2,000 National Guard troops to patrol the streets of Washington, and ramping up immigration enforcement in the Capitol.
The ramped-up deportation campaign coming amid warning signs that Trump's immigration crackdown and trade war are causing cracks in the economy. President Trump brushing off a dismal new jobs report out Friday showing a steep slowdown in hiring. Employers added just 22,000 jobs in August, and unemployment rose slightly to 4.3 percent, the highest rate in nearly four years. And revised numbers for June show unemployment actually fell by 13,000 jobs, the first decline in almost five years. Still, Trump insists his tariffs will revive American manufacturing.
TRUMP: Wait until these factories start to open up that are being built all over the country.
WANG (voice over): But the numbers tell a different story. Seventy-eight thousand losses in manufacturing since the start of the year as tariffs drive up the cost of supplies.
Meanwhile, Trump's promise to make America healthy again sparking a showdown on Capitol Hill with HHS Secretary RFK Jr. grilled by senators over Covid vaccine policy.
SEN. MARK WARNER, (D) VIRGINIA: Do you think the vaccine did anything to prevent additional deaths?
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Again, I would like to see the data and talk about the data. I'm not --
WARNER: You have had this job for eight months and you don’t know the data about whether the vaccine saved lives.
KENNEDY: No, and that’s the problem.
SELINA WANG, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): That hearing devolving into a shouting match.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D) MASSACHUSETTS: That was your promise, Mr. Kennedy, not mine.
KENNEDY: I know I -- I never promised that I was going to recommend products with which there is no indication.
WARREN: You didn’t promise? Oh, I'm sorry.
SEN. MAGGIE HASSAN, (D) NEW HAMPSHIRE: That they're going to have to go off-label --
KENNEDY: This is crazy talk. You're just making stuff up.
HASSAN: To -- to -- to prescribe -- to prescribe --
WANG (voice over): Two Republican senators also sounding the alarm. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician whose support was key to Kennedy’s final confirmation, and Senator John Barrasso, a surgeon and the number two Republican in the Senate, who rarely strays from the party line.
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO, (R) WYOMING: If we're going to make America healthy again, we can't allow public health to be undermined.
SEN BILL CASSIDY, (R) LOUISIANA: I would say effectively we're denying people vaccine.
KENNEDY: I think you're wrong.
WANG (voice over): I pressed the president on Cassidy's warning.
WANG: Senator Bill Cassidy said effectively we're denying people vaccines. Do you have full confidence in what RFK Jr. is doing?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He means very well and he’s got some -- little different ideas.
I like the fact that he's different.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WANG (on camera): And, George, turning back to Chicago. Mayor Brandon Johnson is highlighting a decrease in crime in the city as President Trump is threatening a surge in federal enforcement.
And on Saturday, Mayor Johnson fired back at President Trump's post saying that Trump, quote, “wants to occupy our city and break our constitution.”
But, George, the White House is defending the president's post, saying that Democratic leaders are more upset about a post from the president than with crime, and saying that that quote tells you everything you need to know about Democrats' twisted priorities.
George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Selina Wang, thanks.
Let's bring in the roundtable for more on this.
We're joined by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former DNC Chair Donna Brazile, former RNC Chair, and Trump White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and “USA Today” Washington Bureau chief Susan Page.
Donna, let me begin with you.
You heard Selina right there. You have the White House response. Twisted priorities from the Democrats.
DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, there’s no question.
Look, George, every day we look up and say, where’s the affordability? Where’s lowering prices? Instead, the president is trying to send in federal troops to Chicago. He’s not focused on the economy, which most Americans are worried about. Democrats are saying to the president loud and clear, we want you to focus on what you ran on, what you promised the American people and not trying to instigate war in the cities.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Chris, if you were a governor right now and the president made a threat like that to one of your cities, what would be your response?
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: It would be a fun conversation, George, I'll tell you that. I wouldn't let him do it. And -- and, you know, he -- he understands that Washington, D.C., is different than going into Chicago. It's the federal city. It’s a much different situation. And if he wanted to come in and try to do that in Newark or Camden or Patterson or Jersey City, there would be a big fight.
And -- and Donna’s right, I mean, the American people are tiring of this message because they're giving a 42 percent job approval on the economy, 38 percent approval on inflation. You’ve had an average of 27,000 jobs a month for the last four months. A year ago it was 167,000 jobs a month for those four months. And most of that spending is coming from the social safety net and healthcare deficit spending that he’s presiding over, which he promised he wouldn't do.
It's all tariffs, George. The reason why jobs are going down in manufacturing and mining and all over is tariffs. Let's be clear, they're taxes. They're taxes on the American people. Taxes slow down growth.
The thing Donald Trump succeeded, and what Reince was running the White House on, was the economy grew. The economy is not growing here.
STEPHANOPOULOS: (INAUDIBLE).
CHRISTIE: And that's why he's going after the Fed because he needs someone to blame. Biden’s gone. The Democratic Congress is gone. He needs someone to blame. So now it's the Fed. But that's what he should be keeping his eye on the ball on, not fighting with J.B. Pritzker in Chicago.
STEPHANOPOULOS: A distraction?
REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER RNC CHAIR, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF & ABC NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, first of all, if you look at the underlying -- the world of this economy, it's very positive. I mean if you -- right now, Donald Trump, under his leadership, added over 500,000 jobs in this country, none of which went to illegal immigrants, all of it went to United States citizens. GDP is at 3.3 percent, which is strong. Inflation is down to 2 percent.
This week I had lunch with Scott Bessent and two of the most respected investment bankers in New York. And you know what they said? They weren't partisan guys. They’re not Republicans. They're just investment bankers in New York. They said, cap x is about as high as it's ever been. Which means, capital investments that -- that -- that companies are putting into the economies, which means they see a good future.
Labor participation is -- is -- is -- is jumping, which means people are positive. The -- the build -- the big beautiful bill is going to kick in. I think the Fed is going to reduce rates by half or three-quarters of a point coming up. I think that one thing for sure in my experience in -- in -- in the Trump White House in -- what -- and even today with President Trump, if there's one thing that he's not going to miss on is an economy that runs like a rocket ship. I think this is just the beginning. It's one report and I think in the future things are going to get a lot better.
CHRISTIE: Four reports.
PRIEBUS: No --
CHRISTIE: It's four reports, Reince.
PRIEBUS: Listen to me, he --
CHRISTIE: He's averaging -- he's averaging 20 --
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: A.I. investment alone --
CHRISTIE: He's averaging 27 -- he’s averaging 27,000 jobs a month over the last four months. And it's not growing. The economy is not growing.
It’s simply not --
PRIEBUS: The GDP is 3.3 percent.
CHRISTIE: People are not hiring.
PRIEBUS: Gas is at its lowest rate that it's been in five years. A.I. alone --
CHRISTIE: Listen --
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: Your investment banker -- your investment banker friends can take whatever you want.
PRIEBUS: Chris, all you want to do --
CHRISTIE: But here's the thing, you know how they -- you know how they vote? Investment bankers aren't the people who decide the economy in this country. It's people who hire other people for jobs and they're saying with the uncertainty on tariffs and the uncertainty on the economy, we are not investing.
It's not the B.S. announcements that he makes at the White House when Mark Zuckerberg says, “We're going to invest $600 billion,” and then turns to Trump on an open mic and says, "Was that the right number to use?"
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: Listen to me, A.I. alone is investing $400 billion in chips, data centers, services. They wouldn't be doing that if they thought the economy was going to contract.
CHRISTIE: Yeah. They’re doing it for the world, not for the country.
PRIEBUS: It’s going to create 2 million jobs -- listen, the only --
BRAZILE: They’re doing it for their profits.
PRIEBUS: I know you're celebrating this report because it gives you all --
BRAZILE: No.
CHRISTIE: I’m not celebrating.
BRAZILE: Why would we celebrate --
PRIEBUS: But the fact of the matter is --
BRAZILE: -- people losing their job?
PRIEBUS: -- the Trump economy is doing well and it's going to continue to do well.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's -- let's bring Susan Page.
One of the things that could complicate this is we're coming up against a deadline at the end of the month for possibility of another government shutdown.
SUSAN PAGE, USA TODAY WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Which we, I think, are likely to have because Democrats are reluctant to make a deal because they've had their previous deals undermined by the president's unusual, sometimes unprecedented action to not spend money Congress has agreed to appropriate. So, we could have a shutdown. A shutdown is not good for the economy.
And you know, you can talk about capital investments and investment bankers. Americans at home care about kitchen table economic issues and that would be inflation. There are some warning signs there.
PRIEBUS: Which is lower.
PAGE: And jobs. And this latest jobs report, alarming not for August which showed stalling, for the revision in June which showed actual negative --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Reverse.
PAGE: -- growth in -- so -- which we haven't think -- seen I think since COVID.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Core inflation is actually up, but I want to bring this something else to -- something else to Donna right here.
Democrats faced a fair amount of criticism from their ranks over going along with keeping the government open back in the spring. Will they hold the line this time?
BRAZILE: Look, I think the Democrats are very clear that they want to compromise. They want to work with Republicans in areas where we agree, especially on healthcare. They're worried about the Affordable Care Act and making sure that those -- those priorities stay strong, especially the ability for people to afford their health care.
You might talk to investment bankers, but as someone who goes to the grocery store, and Chris knows I'm famous for talking about the price of eggs and bacon and, of course, my favorite cornbread, but I was shocked this week just the cost of meat. This is football season. I was trying to grill some burgers for the kids and I -- I needed to call you maybe get some of the money from those investment bankers.
PRIEBUS: And eggs a year ago were $4.95 a dozen. Today, they're $3.60 by -- on average. So, eggs are actually over a dollar --
BRAZILE: Bacon is still high. You want to talk about bacon? You want to talk about hotdogs?
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: Almost $1.40 lower today than they were under your president.
BRAZILE: Look, look, let me just say this --
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: You’re just making stuff up.
BRAZILE: Under Joe Biden, we -- the economy was growing. It was recovering from COVID.
PRIEBUS: Okay, oh, yeah. That’s why he got slaughtered in the election.
BRAZILE: In December -- he wasn't on the ballot. In December, we had 323,000 jobs created.
We're losing jobs in the manufacturing sector. We're losing job in the construction sector. It's because the president has no strategy.
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: Look, I just -- I just say this. I think -- I think the Democrats need to be careful here.
Closing the government is a failure. It's always a failure. And this -- the country says, we send you people down there to run it, not to close it.
And so, I'd be very careful if I were the Democrats. They're not seen as accomplishing anything by their own party or when you look at the poll numbers by the majority of the country.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, what should they demand in return? The president has not been spending money appropriately.
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: That's -- that’s -- look, that’s -- that's a negotiation.
PRIEBUS: That’s it.
CHRISTIE: That's a negotiation they have to have, and they're going to have to be patient about the fact that courts and others will restrain the president in places where they think he's acting outside the law.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It doesn’t happen, though --
CHRISTIE: George, I understand. But let me tell you, in politics, when you close the government, you fail. And -- and if the Democrats are the ones mouthing these talking points right now, they're the ones who are going to take the blame for closing.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I guess the question is who's going to get blamed if the government shuts down?
PAGE: Yeah. And in the past, you know, when we had the shutdown with Clinton, the Republicans in Congress got blamed. But the -- rep -- Democrats have conflicting forces here. One is the desire to get things done to keep the government open. The other is to stand up to Trump.
And you see this huge hunger among Democrats across the country for Democrats in Washington, the congressional leadership to take a tougher stance like they see Pritzker taking, Governor Pritzker taking in Chicago.
So, I think -- I think it’s not clear who would take the blame. Democrats are at risk because they can either make a deal or not. And there are going to be people who will criticize them either way.
PRIEBUS: One thing I know from running --
BRAZILE: The bottom line is Republicans control Congress, not the Democrats.
PRIEBUS: One thing --
BRAZILE: The Democrats can provide the margins. That's if the Republicans can't unify. But what we saw earlier this year is that the Republicans unified because Donald Trump really went back and said, you better vote for these bills.
Democrats need to stand up for the working people, for -- stand up for healthcare, stand up for the jobs. But the last thing we need to do is sit down and wait for the Republicans to wreck the economy and then try to bail it out.
PRIEBUS: Well, one thing I know from running the RNC for six years, and Barack Obama was president, is that it's very hard to win a narrative in a government shutdown because no matter who is actually to blame, the president -- and especially Donald Trump -- it's going to be Donald Trump every day, all day. That is a narrative that the Democrats won't be able to win on a government shutdown no matter what happens.
CHRISTIE: I agree.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's bring it back to RFK Jr. He faced a grilling, including from some Republicans, on Capitol Hill this week. Are those cracks real or show?
PAGE: Yes, I think they're -- I think they’re real. And they're just -- it's really a first sign where we see Republican senators who have been so compliant for President Trump, stand up against not him perhaps but his -- but his health secretary. You know, I -- the criticism from Democratic senators, we’ve heard that before, but the fact that Bill Cassidy and John Barrasso and Thom Tillis were standing up and asking really tough questions, clearly concerned about what's happening with the vaccine regimes in Florida and elsewhere, that was the significant thing about that hearing.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The president didn't seem rattled by it.
CHRISTIE: No, because he knows if it gets much worse he can just can him. And that's what he will do if it gets much worse.
I mean, let’s face it, you looked at that appearance before Congress and it just confirms what all of us around this table have known for decades. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a foolish man, full of foolish and vapid ideas. And that was on display again this -- this week in front of Congress.
And I really don't want to hear about Bill Cassidy because he is a co-conspirator with the president of the United States for putting this wholly unqualified man in charge of 25 percent of all government spending. Without Cassidy’s vote, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would not be in. And maybe he’s feeling some guilt from what he did.
But I'll tell you this, the president did this. He knows. The president’s smart enough to know, RFK Jr. doesn’t belong in that job. But after he won, he wanted to show everybody, I can do whatever I want to do because this Senate will be compliant no matter what I do and I’ll put the greatest vaccine and public health denier of the last 20 years in charge of public health in America. It's a human middle finger, George, to everybody who opposed him.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The president did seem -- he did seem caught off on the one, and he wants to brag about Operation Warp Speed on the vaccines. On the other hand, he's promoting a vaccine skeptic.
PRIEBUS: Well, on one hand, for sure Operation Warp Speed was a marvel, and I think the president deserves a lot of credit for it. But he also had no time to think. They had to move forward at a record pace, and they did it.
But where I disagree with Chris is, I watched all three and a half hours of that -- of that hearing and I saw somebody different. I saw a decent, humble, caring guy. I think he's trying to do the right thing.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Humble?
PRIEBUS: Yes.
CHRISTIE: Yes.
PRIEBUS: I think he is. And you know what, he's trying to balance the benefits of the Covid shot versus the -- the -- some of the admitted risks that the CDC has --
(CROSSTALK)
PAGE: You know, after -- after the hearing you saw -- you saw --
PRIEBUS: That’s actually true.
Oh, OK, so you all know better then.
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: I'm (INAUDIBLE). I'm just going to listen to what --
BRAZILE: We -- we watched it also.
CHRISTIE: I'm just going to listen to what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said for 20 years. For 20 years, he has been a vaccine denier. And now what you're seeing around the country is people like Ron DeSantis in Florida saying, let's get rid of all vaccine mandates. This would not be happening if Donald Trump had not put the greatest public health denier of the last 20 years in charge of it.
PRIEBUS: You don’t need to mandate a Covid shot.
CHRISTIE: It’s not Covid. No, no.
PRIEBUS: We don't have to mandate?
CHRISTIE: But, by the way -- I'm not talking about Covid. (INAUDIBLE) --
PRIEBUS: Look, that’s what we’re talking about.
CHRISTIE: No. No. No.
PRIEBUS: That’s what we’re talking about in that hearing.
CHRISTIE: Maybe that's what you want to talk about. No. No.
BRAZILE: Well, first of all, before --
(CROSS TALK)
PRIEBUS: And the CDC pointed out their own statistics on vaccine injury and vaccine death. It’s their chart.
CHRISTIE: Yes, the CDC versus (ph) who he hired and fired in 29 days.
BRAZILE: Well -- well, here -- you know what, he just undermined his own agency by cutting over half a billion dollars from these life-saving vaccines. Lifesaving.
PRIEBUS: They can get the shot.
BRAZILE: Millions --
Popular Reads
Archive: 'This Week' Transcripts Sep 26, 12:06 AM
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sunday on "This Week" Sep 6, 10:18 PM
PRIEBUS: They're not taking away the shot.
BRAZILE: Do you -- do you know how tough it is -- that's what Senator Kennedy was -- Senator Cassidy was saying --
PRIEBUS: Certain groups of people in the United States actually don’t need to take the shot. Do you agree (ph) with that?
BRAZILE: It’s -- you know how tough it is to get a prescription because you --
CHRISTIE: Absolutely. Of course I do.
BRAZILE: Do you know how tough it is to get a prescription when you don’t have a primary care physician? How many people can afford to go to see a doctor? These -- these drugs should be available.
PRIEBUS: (INAUDIBLE). What percentage of -- what percentage of kids do you think actually take the Covid shot today? What -- what percent?
STEPHANOPOULOS: But, these -- Reince, he’s raising questions about vaccines across the board. It’s not just Covid.
CHRISTIE: It's not just COVID. That's my point.
PRIEBUS: And so we should -- we should dismiss any person on the face of the earth that has a question about vaccine mandates?
BRAZILE: If they're scientists, we should listen to the science.
PRIEBUS: But some scientists say something different, Donna.
BRAZILE: Listen to the facts.
PRIEBUS: You're not a scientist.
BRAZILE: Listen to the facts.
PRIEBUS: You're not a scientist.
CHRISTIE: No, Reince, let me just -- Reince, let me just ask you this because I'm very confused by you this morning.
BRAZILE: But I do know a little bit about it.
CHRISTIE: Hold on. I'm very confused by you this morning. So I want to know. You think Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the best man to be leading public health -- no, no, no. Answer the question.
PRIEBUS: It's not my decision.
CHRISTIE: No, no, no. But you're supporting the decision.
PRIEBUS: It's the president's decision. No. I support his decision.
CHRISTIE: You're supporting the decision. You just called him a humble qualified man.
PRIEBUS: He was.
CHRISTIE: So you think he is the best person to lead public health?
PRIEBUS: I think he's the best person.
CHRISTIE: He is a joke.
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: And I think that the president of the United States --
CHRISTIE: He's a foolish man. He's a joke.
PRIEBUS: -- has the mandate that you don't, and he made the choice.
CHRISTIE: Yes, that's right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Guys, last word right now.
BRAZILE: Many people will get sick because of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you all very much.
Up next, Martha Raddatz speaks with President Zelenskyy from Ukraine. It's an ABC News exclusive and we're back in two minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you talked to Vladimir Putin about the fact that yesterday a big U.S. factory was hit in a Russian air strike in Ukraine? What's your reaction to that?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told him I'm not happy about it, and I'm not happy about anything having to do with that war. We'll see what happens. I say over the next two weeks we're going to find out which way it's going to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: That two-week deadline for Vladimir Putin from President Trump has now passed with no relief from Russian attacks on Ukraine, including a massive air assault overnight.
Chief global affairs anchor Martha Raddatz is on the scene in Ukraine for an exclusive interview with President Zelenskyy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The first strike was here.
MARTHA RADDATZ, CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANCHOR: And then the second --
ZELENSKYY: Yes. Yes. Now we will see.
RADDATZ (voice-over): We met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at this hollowed out American owned factory here in Western Ukraine, destroyed by Russian cruise missiles two weeks ago. All 600 employees made it to the nearby bunker, but 23 were injured.
This American-owned building, do you think Putin targeted this on purpose?
ZELENSKYY: I think nobody knows. Maybe only God. Yes, but Putin knows what he's doing. Here 1,000 kilometers, the distance to the front, even a little bit more.
RADDATZ: Not an area that's usually hit?
ZELENSKYY: No. No.
RADDATZ (voice-over): In fact, this region in Southwest Ukraine hundreds and hundreds of miles from the front line has rarely been hit over the course of the war. The factory produces everyday items from coffee machines to lamps to printer cartridges and is the largest employer in the region.
ZELENSKYY: This is confirmation really -- I'm not sure that it's dangerous for Russia, second biggest army in the world.
RADDATZ: President Trump said he wasn't happy with this attack and set a two-week deadline for Zelenskyy and Putin to meet.
Mr. President, you talk about more sanctions and more tariffs and more help from President Trump, and you have told him you think he has the power to do this, and yet the deadlines pass again and again, and another one has passed.
ZELENSKYY: We all understand that we need additional pressure on Putin. We need pressure from the United States. And I said that I think that President Trump is right about that Europeans, they -- I'm very thankful to all the partners but some of them -- I mean, they continue buy oil and Russian gas. And this is not fair if -- to be open and to be clear, it's not fair.
So we have to stop buy any kind of energy from Russia, and by the way, anything, any deals with Russia. We can't have any deals if we want to stop them.
The most power has White House and I really count that President Trump will do it, will pressure on Putin and this is only, one way how to stop the killer. You need to take off his -- I mean, this -- to take off his weapon. Energy is his weapon.
RADDATZ: You saw the meeting this week though between Modi and Putin and Xi and President Trump has said that they have gone to the dark side with China. When you saw Modi there who has helped Russia -- so, did the plan backfire of trying to put sanctions on them?
ZELENSKYY: No. I think -- what I think -- I think the idea to put tariffs on the countries who continue make deals with Russia, I think this is right idea.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Presidents Trump and Putin met three weeks ago in Alaska. But on the ground here in Ukraine, little has changed.
Russia continues to pummel the country.
The summit in Alaska, what was that like?
ZELENSKYY: I was not there.
RADDATZ: You were not there.
ZELENSKYY: No, I was not there. What can I say?
RADDATZ: You were here and you were watching that summit. What did you think when you saw that, and you saw the red carpet and you saw Putin arrive to talk about your country?
ZELENSKYY: I don't know. I think that it was bilateral summit, and it's a pity that Ukraine was not there, because I think that President Trump gave -- gave Putin what he wanted. He had -- he wanted, you know, he wanted very much to meet with President Trump, with the president of the United States. And I think that -- and I think that Putin got it, and it's a pity.
Putin doesn't want to meet with me but he wants very much to meet with the president of the United States to show everybody video and images that he's there.
RADDATZ: He said he will meet if you come to Moscow.
ZELENSKYY: He can come to Kyiv, you know?
If -- if a person doesn't want to meet during the war, of course, he can propose something which can't be acceptable by me or by other -- but it's understandable. I can't go to Moscow, when my country is under missiles -- under attacks each day. I can't go to this capital of these terrorists. It's understandable, and he understands it.
It’s the same proposition as I said that he has to come to Kyiv. Yeah. So, it's understandable that he is doing it for -- to -- again, to postpone the meeting.
We said, I always said we can't trust Putin. He play games and he's playing games with the United States. I think so. It's to my mind.
RADDATZ: Do you think the possibility for a bilateral meeting is dead at this point?
ZELENSKYY: No. It was -- it was -- it was signal from the -- from the president and from President Trump, and I said, look, Mr. President, I'm ready for any kind of meeting but not in Russia. Any kind of meeting, bilateral, trilateral, we’ll be happy if you will be, and even preconditions which we had at the very beginning of the year that ceasefire and then meeting. Then we spoke about security guarantees and then meeting.
By the way, I'm thankful to the United States that in the Washington, D.C. when we had meeting, the president said that America will be in security guarantees. I hope that it will be --
RADDATZ: I know you don't want to give any details about what you specifically discussed in Paris, but they -- they have said they will provide security guarantees if there is a ceasefire, if there is peace.
Tell us what you can. Does that mean thousands of troops, European troops, not U.S.?
ZELENSKYY: The first is a strong Ukrainian army, and I think that everybody understand it. Generals from the E.U., United States, they understand that any security guarantees in Ukraine can be based only on our army. Then, American weapon which only United States has. It's air defense, Patriots, priority missiles and HIMARS, and --
RADDATZ: How about air support?
ZELENSKYY: Some -- yes.
RADDATZ: Any kind of air support in addition?
ZELENSKYY: Yes, and -- plus Europeans. And of course, we spoke about air support. We need air defense shield. But shield is not only air defense systems, and it's also about the jets. Jets, we used F-16s. We have old F-16s, to be open, but they're good. We can work with that.
RADDATZ: Better than nothing for sure.
ZELENSKYY: Sure. We are thankful for everything. Yes.
RADDATZ: Are you confident, 100 percent confident, that the Trump administration will see you through to a realistic peace?
ZELENSKYY: No, I think that -- that president wants to finish this war and I think -- I think he has all the issues to do it. It's not simple, but if we speak about just and lasting peace, it's important to finish and not to have possibility that to have -- to have aggression again in six months, you know, in one year, in two years. It's not only important only to stop the war. Yes, it's very important, but to have a lasting peace, to have a security.
RADDATZ: What does victory look like in Ukraine?
ZELENSKYY: Victory, to my mind, Putin's goal is to occupy Ukraine, this is to destroy us, occupy, and did he occupy it?
RADDATZ: No, but --
ZELENSKYY: It's mean -- it's mean that he didn't win. It's mean that we have Ukraine.
RADDATZ: But he still wants to win.
ZELENSKYY: Yes, but still, he didn't occupy us, we win, and I think so, because we have our country. And of course, he understands it very clearly. He wants, of course, to occupy us totally. For him that's victory. And until he can't do it, the victory is on our side. Very painful in the war because a lot of losses. So that's why for us to survive is a victory because we are surviving with our identity, with our country, with our independence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ (on-camera): And, George, of course, President Zelenskyy and Ukraine have suffered tens of thousands of deaths and injuries here and that attack overnight was the largest air attack since the war began. Sirens sounded across the country, including where we are, sending people to the bunkers, but the attacks were largely in the east in the capital of Kyiv. There were more than 800 armed drone strikes and more than a dozen missile strikes leaving at least eight people dead and 59 wounded.
Peace here seems a very long way away. George?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks to Martha for that.
You can see more of her interview in an ABC live special, "WAR OR PEACE: THE ZELENSKYY INTERVIEW," tomorrow night on "ABC NEWS LIVE."
Up next the members of Congress leading the fight for the release of the Epstein files.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RO KHANNA, (D) CALIFORNIA & HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEMBER: Nation that allows rich and powerful men to traffic and abuse young girls without consequence is a nation that has lost its moral and spiritual core.
REP. THOMAS MASSIE, (R) KENTUCKY & JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEMBER: This is not a hoax. This is real. There are real survivors. There are real victims to this criminal enterprise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: That was Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie this week speaking with survivors of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein. They join me next on their push to release the Epstein files.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: A group of Jeffrey Epstein survivors came to Capitol Hill this week demanding more transparency from the Trump administration as members of Congress from both parties tried to force the release of the files. Jay O'Brien is tracking the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAY O'BRIEN, CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On Capitol Hill this week, pressure mounting.
CHAUNTAE DAVIS, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I ask you, President Trump, and members of Congress, why do we continue to cover up sexual abuse and assault? Who are we covering for?
O’BRIEN (voice over): Ten women who say they were victimized by billionaire convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein coming together for the first time. Tearfully telling their stories and making a public plea for a House vote to release the FBI’s Epstein files.
Jena-Lisa Jones says she was just 14 years old when Epstein assaulted her in his Palm Beach mansion.
JENA-LISA JONES, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I remember crying the entire way home thinking about how I couldn't ever tell anyone about what actually happened in that house. This guy was so rich and had so many pictures with so many famous people and no one would have ever believed me if I told them.
O’BRIEN: President Trump, who was friends with Epstein for a decade in the ‘90s, once promised to release the Epstein files.
As the women told their stories, President Trump was in the Oval Office.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a Democrat hoax that never ends.
O’BRIEN: Back on the Hill, I asked their reactions.
The president has said that this Epstein issue is a hoax is the words that he used. Can we get your reactions to what you think when you hear him say that?
HALEY ROBSON, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Mr. President Donald J. Trump, I am a registered Republican. Not that that matters because this is not political. However, I cordially invite you to the Capitol to meet me in person so you can understand this is not a hoax. We are real human beings. This is real trauma.
O’BRIEN: The women calling Trump's words devastating, like, quote, “being gutted from the inside out”, and later, sitting down with ABC's Linsey Davis.
LINSEY DAVIS, ABC NEWS LIVE PRIME ANCHOR: By show of hands, who's satisfied at this point up to this day with the current administration's reaction to the Epstein case?
No one is satisfied.
O’BRIEN: Linsey asking about that unusual interview between the number two official at the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the president's former lawyer, and Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, currently serving 20 years in federal prison for child sex trafficking.
ANOUSKA DE GEORGIOU, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: She was 100 percent involved. She was complicit. She was enabling. She was enmeshed with Jeffrey Epstein.
The women throwing their support behind a petition from Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie and California Democrat Ro Khanna to compel a vote to release the Epstein files. Defying the White House, three Republicans, including top Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene joining the effort.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson adamantly opposed, citing victim privacy concerns.
Today, some of those Epstein victims said that they don't feel that you and other leaders are doing enough.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That's very unfortunate. I think they have been misled. We will follow the truth wherever it leads, and we'll do it as quickly as possible.
O’BRIEN: For “This Week”, Jay O'Brien, ABC News, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANOPOULOS: And we are joined now by Congressman Massie and Khanna.
Thank you both for joining us this morning.
Congressman Massie, let me begin with you and get your response to Speaker Johnson right there. He says you've been misled.
He also suggested at one point this week, seemed to suggest that Donald Trump, President Trump, was an informant to the FBI about Jeffrey Epstein. Your reaction?
REP. THOMAS MASSIE, (R) KENTUCKY & JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEMBER: Well, they haven't been misled. And the speaker's point that the victim's safety is compromised, their privacy, is false because when we asked the survivors at our event, did they support the legislation that Ro Khanna and I have introduced, they all said yes.
Now, I don't know if the speaker misspoke when he said that Donald Trump was an informant. The lawyers for the victim said that Donald Trump had been helpful in 2009 in their case by giving them information. But being an informant implies some formal connection and ongoing relationship with the FBI. I don't know what that's all about. I think the speaker needs to clarify that.
And if it's a hoax, why was Donald Trump an informant to a hoax?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman Khanna, the effort to pick up Republican signatures appears to have stalled right now -- right now. Are you still confident you have the 218 votes needed to force a vote on this discharge position?
REP. RO KHANNA, (D) CALIFORNIA & HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEMBER: We have the 218 votes. Two hundred and sixteen already support it. There are two vacancies that haven't been reported as much, but two Democrats are going to be joining, and they are both committed to signing it. That's going to happen by the end of September.
But I want to just say this is not a political issue. This is nothing to do with Donald Trump. This is a moral issue. It's about standing with survivors. It's about protecting children.
I admire Congressman Massie's courage. I admire Nancy Mace's courage. Marjorie Taylor Greene's courage. Lauren Boebert's courage. They are standing with survivors.
We have the votes. Let's get a vote this month and get their files released.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman Massie, even if you pass this through the House, the Senate Republican leader, John Thune, has made it pretty clear that he's going to block passage in the Senate. Can that be overcome? And if not, has anything been achieved?
MASSIE: Well, it's highly irregular for the Senate majority leader to talk about legislation that hasn't even passed, but the pressure that's on House -- the House of Representatives right now is going to go to the Senate after this passes the House. I think we're going to get a resounding vote on this, and I think he's going to be under more pressure than he realizes. He should do the right thing.
You know, there are some people saying that our effort is redundant, that the House Oversight Committee is doing all the work that needs to be done. If that were true, why would the administration and the establishment be so opposed to doing our legislation? The fact is, it's not redundant. Our legislation is necessary. And Senator Thune should bring it up.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman Khanna, speak -- the speaker and President Trump are saying that if the Democrats really cared about this you would have forced release under President Biden. What's your response to that?
KHANNA: First of all, we did in 2019, called for an investigation. I was on the Oversight Committee. Elijah Cummings called for that.
Secondly, some of the files were being released by judges under President Biden. You had Pam Bondi and Donald Trump say we're going to release all the files. And not a single Democrat then contradicted them or criticized them. It is only when they said that nothing there -- there's nothing there that Democrats began to speak up and Republicans began to speak up.
But, again, this is not something to score political points on Donald Trump. Many of the survivors actually pleaded with him. He could be the president who says, look, I'm the first president releasing these files. No -- none of my predecessors did it.
When I introduced the resolution, I actually didn't even think that this was a hostile act against him. I thought this would be a bipartisan move. And I've been surprised that he has taken it in that way.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why do you think, Congressman Massie, the president is resisting the release?
MASSIE: I think it's going to be embarrassing to some of the billionaires, some of the donors who are politically connected to his campaign. I also think Democrats are going to be implicated in this. Democrat donors. And when you get to the billionaire level, a lot of these folks give to both parties anyway. There are probably intelligence ties to our CIA, and maybe to other foreign intelligence. And the American people would be shocked, I think, to know that our intelligence agency was working with a pedophile who was running a sex trafficking ring.
So, these are the reasons, I think, that they are resisting this. But we’ve -- you know, we can't -- we can't avoid justice just to avoid embarrassment for some very powerful men.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman Khanna, the Justice Department is controlled by President Trump, it's pretty clear right now. Are you concerned that even if you force the release there will be some scrubbing of the files, Democrats will be implicated and Republicans won't?
KHANNA: It's a concern. But the victims' lawyer, Bradley Edwards, has seen the files, as have many people who are career officials. So, if they try to do something that is political, then many other people would call them out on it.
You know, you could get away with things, George, you know, if the American people aren't paying attention. The American people are dialed into this. They want to know that is a country we can stand with survivors. The amount of messages I got from women who had been assaulted, who said, thank you for standing up for survivors, was overwhelming. And they want to know that we can protect our children. And they want to know that there are no two Americas. That rich and powerful people are going to be held to account for assaulting underaged girls.
I hope that this actually brings us together. I mean, I -- you know, the roll call had Marjorie Taylor Greene and me hugging after an emotional moment. Some people criticized me, but other people said the survivors are actually bringing this country together around fundamental values.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you both for your time this morning.Up next, the Middle East negotiator for three presidents on the failure of the peace process.
We’ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: In their new book, veteran diplomat Robert Malley and a Mideast analyst Hussein Agha offer a candid assessment of the failures of the Mideast peace process based on their firsthand experience over decades in the region.
"Tomorrow is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine" is out next week and Robert Malley joins me now.
Thanks for coming in.
ROBERT MALLEY, CO-AUTHOR, "TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY": Thanks, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, you have spent your career working on the Israeli-Palestine process, and adviser to three American presidents, president of the International Crisis Group, and it appears that the core argument over your book is that nothing has changed over the last three decades.
MALLEY: I wish that had been the case. Things changed, but for the worse on almost every dimension you look at. The situation on the ground, the feelings between Israelis and Palestinians, you know, I could go through the list, but everything has deteriorated since 1993 when you and I were on the White House lawn watching Yasser Arafat and then Israeli leaders shake hands on a peace deal.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That appeared to be a moment of change. It turned out not to be the case. Over these three decades, was there ever a moment when peace could have been solidified?
MALLEY: It's a great question and we explored it in the book, always the what-ifs. It's hard, after all this time, when you see so many combinations of Israeli-Palestinian and American leaders to think at some point there would have been a perfect alignment of the stars. But certainly, I think with a firmer American hand we would have been closer today than where we are. But the U.S. mixed incompetence, impotence, and, you know, complicity which masqueraded as moralism.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You are tough on the United States, well, including your own failings over the last three decades.
MALLEY: Sure.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What was the biggest mistake?
MALLEY: I think the biggest mistake is to continue to speak and speak in ways that were completely divorced from what was happening on the ground. Everything on the ground was moving in the direction that was opposite to a two-state solution, which is what every American president I served said they wanted to achieve. And they watched as things were moving in one direction, and they spoke as if they were not.
And if the U.S. was really committed to a two-state solution, if it really wanted to make it happen, it had leverage, it had pressure, it had things it could do to force the parties to do what they were not willing to do by themselves.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you argue now that a two-state solution is basically impossible.
MALLEY: I think at this point if only because of what's happening on the ground if you just look at the landscape, if you look at the settlement constructions, if you look at -- and then you look at the psychological dimension, the emotions between Israelis and Palestinians, the notion that Israel will accept an authentic, meaningful, sovereign Palestinian state in their -- as their neighbor, that seems implausible.
And the notion that Palestinians are going to agree to something that is a -- you know, a Swiss cheese of a state, a Bantustan-like with degrees of autonomy but no real sovereignty, that just seems unrealistic today. And so, rather than continue to say the same thing, two states, two states, while everything on the ground is moving in the opposite direction, it's time to think of something new.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you struggle in the book to say if there really is anything new that can work.
MALLEY: Well, the fact that what's -- that it's hard to think of an alternative shouldn't leave us to stick and cling to something that we know hasn't worked and for 30 years has not worked and, in fact, as we say, as you say and I say, has led to where we are today.
It's hard to escape the conclusion that if after 30 years of a peace process, we end up with the (INAUDIBLE) violence of October 7th, and the unspeakable horrors that have followed that, to say, well, let's go back and resume the quest for a two-state solution, we need to think of something different, something new, something that will provide equal rights to all Jews and Arabs who live in the land between them.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I guess the question is, what kind of process can create that? Because you were pretty honest in the book about the -- how any possible alternatives also have huge problems.
MALLEY: Every alternative, whether it's a bi-national state, where it's confederation, a federation with Jordan, all of them have problems. And the truth is that, as you say and I say, we failed, both of us have failed for the last 30 years as well, and in Hussein's case he goes back longer than that. So, we're not going to be here and say we have a roadmap, we have a prescription.
I think we need to -- the first step is to be candid about what failed and then to put on the table all kinds of different options, not just options about where to go but the process itself. Why have the Arab states been so absent for all these years? Now may be the time where they step up and do what they haven't done and what the U.S. has not allowed them to do for years.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, before you go, you know, you had your security clearance suspended amid allegations that you mishandled classified documents. You've also faced criticism from Republican members of Congress for being too close to Iran, too hard on Israel. What's your response?
MALLEY: Well, first on the security clearance, you know, I don't know that much. I know that my security clearance was suspended. They started an investigation without telling me what it was about. To this day, I don't really know what it was about. I may never know what it was about. What I do know is that after about a two-year investigation, the Justice Department told my lawyers that the investigation was closed.
As to my positions, I think, you know, people could look at them for themselves. I believe in diplomacy. I believe that there are ways to achieve solutions that don't entail war, that don't entail the killing of innocent civilians, and that's why I have always felt that a diplomatic outcome between the United States and Iran was better than the alternative. I think we had one under President Obama. History will judge whether that was better than the alternative course with President Trump.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Robert Malley, thanks very much.
MALLEY: Thank you, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday" is available for preorder right now. And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: That is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Check out "WORLD NEWS TONIGHT," and I'll see you on "GMA."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)