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Rubio Arrives in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine Talks; European Leaders Hold Emergency Meeting; U.S.-Russia Peace Talks; U.S. Hit with Floods and Bitter Cold Ahead; American Support for Ukraine. Aired 9- 9:30a ET

Aired February 17, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Google.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let us see what avenues they see in terms of the legal front here. Thank you so much.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for an emergency meeting of European leaders on the future of Ukraine, as U.S. officials arrive for direct talks with Russia without Ukraine. President Zelenskyy says no deal behind Ukraine's back.

The Department of Education is now warning all schools, from preschool to college, to cut race out of all considerations or risk losing federal funds.

And the best performances from "Saturday Night Live's" 50th anniversary, plus new details about what happened backstage.

I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Very soon European leaders will meet for an emergency meeting in Paris as the U.S. closes in on its high stakes talks with Russia. Top White House officials will meet one on one with top Russian officials tomorrow in Saudi Arabia. The goal, of course, to end Russia's war in Ukraine. But notably missing, Ukraine or any officials with Ukraine.

This morning serious alarm now being raised over how President Trump plans to negotiate. Trump has said depending on how these talks go in the next 24 hours, he could be meeting with Putin very soon.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House.

We saw the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, arriving just hours ago. We're seeing him come down the stairs there in Saudi Arabia for these upcoming talks. What is the very latest on what you understand what will happen here?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, look, when I talked to Trump administration officials about this, Sara, they say depending on how tomorrow goes, as you mentioned, we could see potentially a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which they have said they want to have, in Saudi Arabia, happen sooner rather than later, potentially even as early as this month. Now, they also tell me, these officials, that those who are representing the United States delegation are going into this, trying to make sure that everything is on the table. They're not taking anything off the table. They are simply looking at this as kind of a first step to broader negotiations.

Now, to get into who was negotiating from the United States side, we know Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as you mentioned, who just arrived in Riyadh this morning, he will be there, as well as Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, who is more and more starting to have Russia and Ukraine fall into his portfolio. And then also National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.

Now, from the Russian side, we know that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, are going to be taking part from the point of view of Moscow.

Now, as you mentioned, who is not there? Ukraine. And that has caused a lot of consternation among those in Kyiv, but also throughout Europe. Many of these members and United States allies who have been really putting forward a united front in how they are approaching the war between Ukraine and Russia. As you mentioned as well, they are going to be having an emergency meeting in Paris today to discuss this.

But I do want you as well to listen to what we heard from Rubio yesterday. He tried to tamp down some of these concerns and argue that Ukraine is going to have a big role in these talks, as will Europe.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: If it's real negotiations, and we're not there yet, but if that were to happen, we're - Ukraine will have to be involved because they're the ones that were invaded. And the Europeans will have to be involved because they have sanctions on Putin and Russia as well. And they've contributed to this effort. We're just not there yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, as you could hear there, Sara, he's saying we're just not there yet. Again, kind of framing this as a first step after that call last week between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

I think, you know, today we know that the U.S. delegation is preparing for these talks tomorrow. As they lead into that, hopefully we can learn some more details about what the specific things that they are hoping to gain from these talks, you know, as that comes together.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much, live there for us from the White House.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And to the second piece of Alayna was just talking about, this morning, European leaders are holding an emergency summit to coordinate how they will respond to what's happening in Saudi Arabia without them. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling the meeting a once in a generation moment for national security and also saying that he is ready and willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce a peace deal if necessary.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is in London. She's tracking much more on this.

Clare, how worried are European leaders about the possibility of them being completely left out of talks to end this war in Ukraine?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, I think you can tell that there is significant concern by how hastily convened this meeting in Paris was. It was only confirmed by the Elysee Palace on Sunday night that it was happening.

[09:05:01]

And it includes not all European leaders, but a significant quantity. This is a measure, I think, of the level of concern after this week of political whiplash that we've seen with NATO, with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, and then with the Munich Security Conference.

I think the big fear in the short term for Europe is that they could be left to front those security guarantees for Ukraine and to foot the bill, essentially to implement a peace deal that they haven't necessarily been involved in deciding. That is the big fear in the short term. That is why I think this summit, in some ways, is a moment of counter-programming. Europe doesn't want to look like a bystander. They want to be seen to be setting the agenda here.

And I think the other part of this is that there is a level of unpredictability, right? We really don't exactly know what the U.S. plan is yet. It feels like it's sort of being formed in real time and in public. We had Pete Hegseth last week in Brussels saying, look, NATO is off the table for Ukraine as part of a peace settlement, but then hedging that and saying, you know, actually everything's on the table in negotiations. Then Keith Kellogg said that Europe wouldn't have a seat at the table, but Rubio has now couched that and said that Europe will have to be involved.

So, this is really a tightrope for European leaders, avoiding criticism of the U.S. They really don't want to sacrifice that relationship. They want to salvage something out of this, while at the same time trying to avoid, as I said, looking like bystanders in their own future. And that's why you see this diplomatic calendar filling up. Europe has added this meeting. Then we'll have the EU council president meeting with Keith Kellogg, the Trump administration's Russia-Ukraine envoy. President Zelenskyy is putting in his own meeting. And we just got confirmed by the British prime minister's spokesperson that Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, will be traveling to Washington next week to meet with President Trump. So, this is a real flurry of activity as no one wants to be left out of this process.

BOLDUAN: That's a great point. Look at their travel schedules to see how much of a priority it's come - become very, very quickly.

It's good to see you. Thank you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Ron Brownstein, CNN's senior political analyst.

Ron, great to see you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, John.

BERMAN: Alayna Treene played some sound from Marco Rubio that, on the one hand seems innocuous, but it really jumped out to me because Rubio was talking about whether Ukraine should be part of the negotiations. And he had a sentence. He says, "Ukraine will have to be involved because they were the ones that were invaded."

Now, on the one hand, that seems obvious. On the other hand, it's the type of language you really don't hear from President Trump or Vice President Vance or Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BERMAN: It's different than what you're hearing from the administration and some Republicans.

And, Ron, I just think it's a big sea change that I hope you can explain between where Republicans used to be on Ukraine and where Republicans used to be vis a vis Russia.

BERMAN: Yes. Well, look, I mean, I think you were right to pick up on that. I think Rubio's, you know, pretty clearly his role in all of this is to be the good cop, kind of papering over the clear signals from Trump, Vance and others at - at, you know, at the core of the administration with more traditional international sentiments among Republicans. I mean, if you look back at public opinion, in the '80s, even into the '90s, more Republicans than Democrats said - voters said that we should be expanding our commitment to NATO. And there is still, John, important to note, a substantial internationalist cohort in the Republican coalition.

But clearly, at the political leadership level, you know, in the Trump era, the shift has been toward those who are deeply skeptical of these relationships. Trump clearly does not really see any difference in his mind between allies, traditional allies, and adversaries. Every interaction is transactional. And if anything, he is displaying more, you know, willingness to work with the traditional adversaries, in particular Russia. And so you have this concern, I think, in Europe, which is pretty fundamental that Trump, at a basic level, is moving towards some vision of kind of division, you know, dividing the world into spheres of influence, where he is going to give Russia a lot more leeway over its attitudes toward Europe.

Last - yesterday there was a debate in Germany, you know, of the leading parties for that election coming up later this month, and the likely chancellor from the CDU (ph), which is the center right party that is likely to finish first in that election, said explicitly, Putin has NATO territory in his sights. That is not something you're going to hear from Donald Trump.

BERMAN: So, Ron, on another note, I've been trolling you on social media, which I like to do.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BERMAN: And you tweeted about 12 hours ago about a poll from the AARP that had Trump minus 19 in job approval with independents, minus 26, favorability. This is among independents. And I put that up there because a lot of the talk the last few weeks have been about how Donald Trump's numbers are good overall.

[09:10:01]

But what does that tell us, the independent numbers?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, look, I mean, you know, you have three polls taken in early February. You have the YouGov poll for the economist. You have the Marquette Law School poll, which is well respected. And you have this AARP project, which people should understand is done by the firms of Tony Fabrizio, who was Trump's pollster, and John Anzalone and Molly Murphy, who were Harris and Biden pollsters, all of them had the same results, John. I mean all of them showed Trump's approval rating among independent voters was now substantially negative, 10 to 20 points negative among independents with resistance to many, not all, but many of his key agenda ideas, such as taking over Gaza, taking - retaking the Panama Canal, pardoning the January 6th rioters, deporting migrants who don't have a criminal record. Trump's - you know, Trump's standing among Republicans remains rock solid. And I think that's why - one of the reasons why you're - you know, you're not seeing really any meaningful resistance to him among Republicans in Congress on many fronts, including those voices who should be, you know, by dint of their pervious statements, supportive of the U.S. role in these international alliances and skeptical of Russia exerting too much influence on the continent. But the independent numbers really haven't gotten a lot of attention yet. And there is a sign that you're kind of getting this backlash against the extent to which he is taking a 49 percent victory as kind of justification for fundamentally remaking policy at home and abroad to kind of the wish list of conservatives solely.

BERMAN: The new DNC chair, Ken Martin, is about to travel the country, and the Democrats have been engaging in a lot of self-flagellation, which is part of what Democrats do. But is there anything in these numbers among independents that gives him a direction as he travels and meets around the country?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, Democratic numbers in these same polls are often pretty bad too. Worse than among - worse than the Republican Party, which is - which is extraordinary. I mean the Democratic image is really in a difficult place right now.

But, you know, if you look back, I mean, the precedent that I think is most relevant here is Bill Clinton after 1994. You know, Clinton's approval rating cratered in the summer of '94. It produced this historic Republican landslide in the fall of '94, which, you know, surged the GOP into control of both chambers of Congress, including the House, for the first time in 40 years.

And Clinton tried a lot of things through 1995 to recover, and none of them worked until the fall of '95, when he was pushed into a fundamental battle with the Republican Congress over priorities. When the GOP, as I wrote recently on cnn.com, for the last - that was the last time, John, that Republicans put tax cuts and spending cuts in the same reconciliation bill, and Clinton came out strongly against what he basically argued was cutting programs for the middle class to fund tax cuts for the rich. That was what allowed him to recover. He went back over 50, went back passed Bob Dole, ultimately won that 1996 re-election pretty easily.

I would - I would think that is the most likely road for the Democrats, if they are going to be - if they are going to improve their image in 2025, it's likely going to be through a fight with Republicans about priorities because, again, it is worth noting that what the House is driving the GOP toward is a repeat of the '95/'96 strategy where they cut taxes and spending, particularly on Medicaid, at the same time. They didn't do that in '01, '03 and '17 with those tax cuts. With those tax cuts they just did sugar, no spinach, but now they are, you know, driving toward - they're pushing themselves - at least the House Freedom Caucus is pushing them toward a position where they are going - Democrats are going to have the opportunity to say they are targeting benefits for the middle and working class to fund tax cuts for the rich. And that may be, as it was for Clinton, their best chance of revising - reversing their fortunes.

BERMAN: It bears watching in the next few weeks.

All right, Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, a deadly coast to coast winter storm slamming the south particularly hard. At least ten people are dead. And officials are worried that number will go even higher.

Plus, why some people say President Trump and Elon Musk are leading a quiet revolution to dismantle civil service as we know it.

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[09:18:39]

SIDNER: This morning, millions of residents across the central U.S. are bracing for bitter cold. Potentially record-breaking lows and dangerous wind chills will take over from the northern plains to the Gulf Coast. That plunge happening just as the region comes off a deadly winter storm that wreaked havoc on the south and Midwest. It killed at least ten people. Some areas got more than eight inches of rain. And in Kentucky, the flooding led to more than 1,000 rescues in a span of just 24 hours. The storm also spawning at least four tornadoes in Alabama.

CNN's Danny Freeman is in Salem, Virginia, one of the places that has been hit by this storm and expecting more terribly cold temperatures in the near future.

Danny, what are you seeing this morning as the sun rises there?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here's how I would describe it out here, Sara, it is windy, it is cold, but at least for the moment it's dry.

This right here, this is the Roanoke River behind me. It's been raging pretty intensely for the better part of 48 hours, though it has receded. Earlier, over the weekend, though, Sara, this water was going completely over this bridge. You can even see that there are icicles that have stayed from where the water was going over there.

Cleanup continues in this particular area. We actually saw some local crews come by to find road signs that have been swept away and caught up in trees and debris right here on the riverbank.

[09:20:02]

So, it just goes to show you how intense some of these storms have been over the weekend.

This area of Salem, relatively unscathed at this point, but other parts of southwestern Virginia and certainly Kentucky not as lucky. The governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, he, yesterday, submitted a request for an expedited major disaster declaration because at one point over 200,000 people were without power, there were 150 water rescues and two communities in western Virginia had catastrophic and historic flooding.

But then, of course, Sara, we need to talk about Kentucky, because they really face the brunt of this particular storm. As you noted, over 1,000 water rescues over the weekend and nine people sadly confirmed to be killed. That includes a mother and her child out in Hart County who were swept away in the floodwaters.

Take a listen to how first responders described that incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ROBERTS, CORONER, HART COUNTY, KENTUCKY: And it had rolled over, upside down. Rescuers did rescue the seven-year-old out. They didn't rescue her, but retrieved her out of the vehicle, but could not get to the mom because the water was coming up so fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, while some parts, Sara, are doing a little bit better in the light of day, the governor of Kentucky and the government of Kentucky maintains that there is still a risk of flooding, especially some rivers that might see some flood cresting over the next 24 hours or so. But we're going to get an update from Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky at 10:00. So, hopefully we'll have more answers and also hopefully the number of those killed and impacted by the storm stays right where it is.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and we're looking at these pictures from Pikeville, Kentucky, cars underwater. Just a whole mess there.

Danny Freeman, thank you so much. Appreciate your reporting there from Virginia.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, can Ukraine survive without military backing from the United States? Why President Zelenskyy says there's very little chance.

And we're also looking at a dear colleague letter sent by the Department of Education warning federal funds could be at risk for any school that considers race in any aspect of student life. The potential impact of all of that and how the schools are responding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:44]

BERMAN: All right, brand new this morning, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Saudi Arabia for negotiations with Russia over the future of Ukraine. Absent from these talks, Ukraine. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he will not accept a deal made behind his back. Be that as it may, what do Americans think about all this and how has U.S. public opinion changed on this subject? One man knows the answer. CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten.

When we talk about support for Ukraine, there's a bunch of different ways to ask about it.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes.

BERMAN: But it is clear there has been some movement.

ENTEN: Yes, I think the real thing to note here is the trend line, Mr. Berman, and just holy Toledo. Look at this trend line here. U.S. support for Ukraine is too much. Back when the war began, back in February of 2022, it was just 7 percent, up like a rocket ship. My goodness. Up now in February of 2025 to 41 percent. And the clear majority of Republicans, and, of course, Republicans are in charge of the U.S. government now, 62 percent of Republicans say that the U.S. support for Ukraine is too much. What a difference from just three years ago. I can remember, John, all those backyards in the United States with those Ukrainian flags. Far fewer of them today as Americans opinions on Ukraine have changed dramatically.

BERMAN: What about opinions of the Ukrainian president?

ENTEN: Right. You know, obviously, if you would expect changes amongst the public on feelings towards Ukraine, feelings towards Zelenskyy have changed also dramatically. Look at this. Confidence Zelenskyy will do the right thing when it comes to world affairs? Back in 2022 it was the clear majority, 72 percent. Through the floor. Through the floor in - by 2024, just 48 percent of Americans say that they're confident that Zelenskyy will do the right thing when it comes to world affairs. And GOP confidence has also plummeted dramatically. Now the clear majority of Republicans are not confident, not confident that Zelenskyy will do the right thing when it comes to world affairs. Really a real trend line, ones you rarely see in the American public when it comes to Ukraine and Zelenskyy, confidence in both going down to the ground.

BERMAN: Look, some allies of President Trump have targeted Zelenskyy with harsh criticism over the last few years, and it could be that that's having some impact here.

ENTEN: Absolutely. The Republican establishment, the Republican electorate has moved as the Republican establishment and Republican leaders have moved on this.

BERMAN: All right, let's talk about the idea of a peace deal. And again, the way you ask this matters, but go ahead.

ENTEN: The way you ask it is important. So, we can talk about this a little bit.

So, the poll question essentially is, do you support a Russia-Ukraine negotiated peace deal? The vast majority of Americans, this is what they want, 78 percent say that they support this idea versus just 16 percent opposed. Of course, as we were talking about, does this question actually get at what's going on right now? I think you would say that it probably does not necessarily get what's going at right now.

BERMAN: No, the question asked, do you support a Russia-Ukraine negotiated peace deal? Ukraine's not there at the negotiations in Saudi Arabia this week. So, the people were not asked this.

And I do think, in general, if you ask anyone in any poll, do you support peace, peace tends to rate pretty highly.

ENTEN: Peace tends to win. You rarely get 78 percent of the country agreeing on anything. They do agree on the idea of a negotiated peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

[09:30:01] Whether the majority would agree on a Russia peace deal with Ukraine where Ukraine has nothing to do with it, that might be a different question.

BERMAN: Hard to know.

Harry Enten, thank you very much.