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CNN International: 1,500 U.S. Troops Ordered to the Southern Border; Fast-Spreading Hughes Fire Raging out of Control in Los Angeles; Visas Can Mean Grueling Work, But an American Dream; Trump: "Sad Thing" Biden Didn't Pardon Himself; Soon: Trump to Make Virtual Address to World Economic Forum; Right Now: Oscar Nominations Being Announced. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired January 23, 2025 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and this is the CNN Newsroom. Just ahead U.S. immigration showdown. President Trump's team rolls out his border blueprint, setting up court battles across the nation.
Scorching new fires in California, turning the golden state's skies red again. We'll tell you which communities are impacted. And Conclave, The Brutalist and Emilia Perez are among the films getting Oscar buzz. But will they get nominated? We'll see what happens in about a half an hour from now.
But first, just days into his second term, Donald Trump is making an appearance on the world stage. Later on, today, he'll speak remotely to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Then he'll hold a question-and-answer session with CEOs there. This comes a day after the first Oval Office interview of his second term.
In his conversation with Fox News Host Sean Hannity, the president defended his controversial pardons and commutations of January 6 rioters. And he claimed that attacks against police were, quote, very minor incidents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They were in there for 3.5 years, a long time, and in many solitary confinements, treated like nobody has ever been treated so badly. They were treated like the worst criminals in history. And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged, and they were protesting the vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All this as the Trump Administration officials defend the harsh immigration crackdown that is already getting underway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: During the southern border and deporting legal immigrants from this country, President Trump is sending a very strong message to people around this world, if you are thinking about breaking the laws of the United States of America, you will be returned home. You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. Do not come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Trump says the U.S. had become a dumping ground for other countries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This was a gross miscarriage of common sense to allow people to come in. And I believe the number is 21 million people, and a large percentage of them are criminals. All over the world, this is not just South America. Countries that you don't even think of the Congo has emptied their prisons out into the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: According to a CNN fact check, his 21 million number is wildly inflated and incorrect. Priscilla Alvarez has details on these new immigration measures, and she's joining us now from Washington. Good morning to you, Priscilla. Bring us up to date on how he plans to get his new plan underway.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are two things happening at once, Fredricka, there is what is happening on the U.S. southern border and the policies that they're rolling out that are going to affect those who are in the interior of the United States.
So, let's start with the U.S. southern border. Yesterday, the defense department saying that they were going to send 1500 additional troops to the border to assist border patrol with its mission that includes, for example, operational readiness, augmenting air assets, sending Intel specialists to assist with assessing threats and the flow of migrants, among other efforts.
Again, there are already troops that are assisting U.S. Border Patrol. This is not a new idea, but it is more manpower. Another thing that they're doing sending military aircraft to San Diego and El Paso to repatriate those who are in border patrol custody, and other words, those recent border crossers.
Now we don't have a breakdown of the nationalities, but it is complicated for the United States to send some people back to their origin country because of frosty relations. Take, for example, Venezuela. The United States has been unable recently to repatriate those individuals.
So even as they are doing this show of force, there are some logistical challenges that they have to overcome. Then comes the interior. So, this is part of the deportation pledge that the president has said that he wants to accomplish in his second term in office. So, this includes, for example, policies like ice being able to arrest or do enforcement actions in and near what are called sensitive areas that could be schools, churches, hospitals.
That has been a big concern for immigration advocates, who say that this could stoke additional fear in the immigrant community. They have also widened the net of people, undocumented immigrants, who could be eligible for removal, for example, those who can't prove that they have been here for more than two years.
[08:05:00]
Again, this is for those who are undocumented. And then in addition to that, I learned last night that the Justice Department sent a memo to legal service providers telling them that they can no longer provide those services to immigrants, including those in detention.
This is a big deal, and this is a telling sign of how they plan to carry out these speedy deportations, because by taking away that legal orientation to many of these immigrants. Well, they're going to be trying to navigate what is a very tangled and complicated system on their own.
And so that too, as immigration attorneys have said, can lead to more deportations just simply, because we have learned over time and the data bears out that if you don't have representation, you are more likely to lose your case when you're trying to defend against deportation.
So, all of this, taken into totality, is how the Trump Administration plans to carry out the president's pledge. I spoke to a source last night who also told me the reason this is moving so quickly is because they prepared so much before Inauguration Day. They have learned their lessons from the first time around.
And we are seeing that come to fruition in just days of the Trump Administration, so many of his policies already being rolled out and already having swift implications. I'll give you one more example of that this week, the State Department canceled flights for refugees who were set to travel to the United States.
That is going to affect over 10,000 refugees who, after a years' long and often cumbersome process, were approved to come to the United States. Well, now those flights are canceled indefinitely, Fred.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, cascading effect. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. All right, I want to bring in Now Larry Sabato to talk more about all of this. He is the editor of "A Return to normalcy?" There's a question mark there. The 2020, election that almost broke America.
And he's also the Director of the University of Virginia Center for politics. Great to see you. Congratulations on your book as well.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR POLITICS OF UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you, Fred. WHITFIELD: All right, so Larry, let's begin with you know Trump's immigration crackdown, asylum seeker appointments canceled. People using the U.S. government's mobile app process have waited three, sometimes to 11 months for that appointment, and now all of that is up in the air. Shelter workers are calling it cruel. What do you see on the horizon here?
SABATO: More of it, Fred, a lot more of it. And here's why, basically, that policy was determined on Election Day last year, when Trump won, as your correspondent just noted, they'd been preparing already for what they were going to do, and they are well organized this time.
Will there be excesses? Is the pope Argentinian? Yes, there will be excesses, but the public, on the whole, supports it, and you can tell that not just from public opinion polls, but from the fact that the very first bill being sent to Trump's desk has to do with a crackdown on immigration.
And you not only had unanimous support from Republicans in both Houses, but you had a significant portion of Democrats defecting to support the immigration bill. So, people have a right and should oppose any parts of this that they think are unconstitutional or unfair. But as long as the public supports this, it will happen, and it's going to happen, probably for four full years.
WHITFIELD: And then how do you see this squaring with his pardons of more than 1500 January 6 convicted criminals? Trump is leaning on U.S. forces heading to the southern border and eventually leaning on local police to be involved in rounding up illegal immigrants on the heels of sending a very different message to law enforcement.
If you listen to the words of Capitol and Metro Police assaulted on January 6. I mean those officers feel betrayed. When did these pardons backfire for the president?
SABATO: Fred, they backfired on Trump almost immediately. This is the one area in his first week where he has struck a very sour note with the public. Even a decent portion of Republicans oppose what he has done in pardoning some of the most vicious people, frankly, in the country, who were convicted on these charges related to January 6, but also had a long history of rebellion.
You can't call it anything else. So, he's made a mistake there, and he owns it. He's going to have to own it, whether he wants to or not. What do you think the odds are that some of these people will reoffend? I think it's pretty good. It's pretty good, and already you're hearing things from the more extreme of them, that is the extreme of the extreme, talking about revenge and retribution.
-- where have we heard those words before, aimed at the January 6 committee and the police officers who were already beaten up, and in a few cases, resulting in their deaths after January 6.
[08:10:00]
So, it's going to be a grim period, a grim, grim time in America. WHITFIELD: I mean, Trump is trying to change the truth of that day with these pardons. And some Republicans, even who are saying they want to look forward that from the House Speaker, you know, or they didn't see the tape. Is Trump getting closer to changing the truth about January 6?
SABATO: Oh, he's already changed the truth for his followers, for the MAGA base. And now for Republicans generally, you have to search to find a Republican who will criticize him about anything, even this. And those who do with a couple of exceptions, like Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, she's an exception.
But most of them will not question what Trump has done. He is changing history for that base, and that's all he cares about at this point. The rest of America who didn't vote for him or who doesn't agree with him on the pardons will just have to set it out. History is another matter, Fred.
You know that. I know it. History will show the truth, and the truth is brutal for Donald Trump and the Republicans, just brutal.
WHITFIELD: And quickly, that's America. Now, he will be appearing virtually in front of a you know, world audience, with the World Economic Forum CEOs in Davos. How do you see them preparing to deal with a Donald Trump?
SABATO: My guess is that while there may be some independents there who are brave that mainly they're practicing their genuflection. They've learned that from the Silicon Valley Tech executives the near trillionaires that we have who were at the inauguration. So, you know, if Mark Zuckerberg can do it, they can do it, and they will butter Trump up to the extent they can to avoid being targeted.
And so, the opposition has melted. It's just that is this the people who have the influence to actually do something. They have melted in their opposition. And so, Trump is striding a world like Godzilla.
WHITFIELD: All right. Larry Sabato, thank you so much. You make me laugh.
SABATO: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Even though it's not a laughing matter, but that was funny. All right, good to see you. Thank you. All right. Crews in Southern California are tackling a new brush fire that broke out along a major freeway in Los Angeles as they battle another fast-moving wildfire that has exploded in size now.
The Sepulveda fire ignited Wednesday night near a densely populated neighborhood. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people remain under evacuation orders in the Castaic area, north of Los Angeles. CNN's Josh Campbell spoke to our Kate Bolduan a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Our community here across Los Angeles on edge because of those red flag wind conditions that continue here. Just as you mentioned, overnight, yet another fire popping up. I'm now in the Sepulveda Pass. For those who are familiar with Los Angeles, between L.A. and the Valley area.
This fire breaking out, as you mentioned, up to 40 acres, but it's near the Bel Air neighborhood. So, near a populated area, authorities were able to halt forward containment on this to 40 acres. I want to get straight to David Ortiz with the Los Angeles Fire Department, sir, can you tell us we've got crews all around us here. What are they doing right now?
DAVID ORTIZ, FIREFIGHTER & PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER AT L.A. FIRE DEPARTMENT: Well, right now it's what we call the mop up operation. We want to make sure that we don't leave anything hot that can later be carried by wind. So, our firefighters were very effective in keeping the fire from spreading into the Moraga community, which is behind this hill.
This fire was topography driven, meaning the fuels and the angle of the hillside. The Santa Ana winds are blowing against this fire. So, we had that in our favor, and we also had available aircraft that were able to fly this. We had five medium helicopters and two heavies that engaged the fire right away.
250 firefighters from L.A. City fire jumped on this very quickly, and we were able to keep it to only 40 acres.
CAMPBELL: And then finally, the winds are relatively calm right now, but what's your concern over the next few hours?
ORTIZ: So, we're still expecting some dry humidity, and then gusts of winds possible up to 60 miles an hour before we are expecting rain, starting on Saturday and Sunday. But once that rain passes, it's going to dry up again. So, we need sustained rain. A lot of the vegetation looks like this.
It's super dry. Anyone spark will have a new start of a fire that establishes and races quickly like we had yesterday in Hughes fire.
CAMPBELL: Thanks for the update, sir. Thanks for what your team is doing here. Kate, you know this is one fire that Castaic authorities here are dealing with, as you mentioned, just north of us yesterday, this fire exploding the so-called Hughes fire up near the Castaic area.
[08:15:00]
We saw tons of resources being thrown at that fire as well. Thousands and thousands of people are facing evacuation orders at this hour.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, that's our Josh Campbell talking with our Kate Bolduan a bit ago. All right, the changes are coming quickly. Donald Trump targets diversity, equity and inclusion programs for federal workers how the impact is being felt far beyond Washington when we come back.
And its grueling work in the fields, but the farm workers who fill seasonal agricultural jobs describe it as their dream job. A glimpse at the life of legal migrants in the U.S. when we return.
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WHITFIELD: In a few hours on Capitol Hill, a key procedural vote to advance the nomination of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. The Former Fox News Host is facing new allegations about his drinking. Hegseth's ex-wife, reportedly gave a new statement to the FBI, and according to one source, said he, quote, drinks more often than he doesn't.
Hegseth was grilled about this and allegations of sexual assault during his confirmation hearing last week. He denies any wrongdoing. The Trump Administration is taking aim at Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs and protections for federal workers. And it's urging employees to report any efforts to conceal DEI initiatives by changing job descriptions or using coded language. CNN's Rene Marsh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Our country is going to be based on merit, again.
RENE MARSH, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All employees of Diversity Equity and Inclusion or DEI offices at federal agencies have been put on administrative leave. The Trump Administration also cutting DEI initiatives training offices and taking down social media and websites focused on DEI, and the changes are coming quickly.
This was the Treasury Department's website on its commitment to DEI before Trump was sworn in. Here it is now, the same at the Labor Department. The administration also set an end of the month deadline for a plan to execute a reduction in force for these employees, in layman's terms, a plan for firings.
MARSH: How many federal workers are we talking about here that could be impacted by this?
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): We have no idea. And one of the things that we hope to learn this week is exactly how many employees are working in DEI.
MARSH (voice-over): Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, is an ally on Trump's mission to eliminate DEI. He says he'll work to pass laws in Congress that make Trump's executive orders permanent.
COMER: It amounts to hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, if not billions of dollars in added payroll.
[08:20:00] MARSH (voice-over): The impact will go beyond government, cutting equity related grants and contracts and ending DEI requirements for government contractors all coming within the next 60 days.
EVERETT KELLEY, PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: People are taken to tears because they don't know what to expect. A smoke stream to really just fire a whole bunch of civil service.
MARSH (voice-over): Trump's order could also impact government initiatives at agencies like health and human services that use DEI funds to increase the diversity of patients in cancer clinical trials. Vaccine equity in rural communities and research that promotes maternal health equity.
COMER: We are going to abolish these DEI agencies. We feel it's a duplicative service, repetitive service. It's already illegal to discriminate.
MARSH: If the protections aren't there, doesn't it make it easier to violate a law?
COMER: I think the protections are there.
MARSH (voice-over): Right now, agencies are not required to track DEI expenditures, so it's unclear how much the government has spent overall. CNN analyzed the proposed budgets of 20 federal agencies. HHS, for example, requested 113 million in its budget for training, for diversity in the health workforce.
And the Department of Defense asked for 50 million to fund DEI related activities. That amount accounts for just .006 percent of the department's total budget request, according to a spokesperson. The Biden Administration expanded DEI protections to a broader group of Americans, including women, rural communities, military spouses and caregivers.
KATY YOUKER, LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW: What Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs do is open opportunities to qualified, deserving people who worked hard. It's not about dictating hiring decisions or filling quotas.
MARSH (on camera): Federal workers at multiple agencies received department wide memos Wednesday urging them to report efforts to conceal work on Diversity Equity and Inclusion within government agencies, warning that the failure to report this information will result in, quote, adverse consequences.
CNN first reported last week that federal employees were quietly editing job descriptions to protect roles over fears about scrutiny and cuts by the Trump Administration, and because the anti DEI effort currently underway also targets government grants and policies, the impact will be felt in communities far beyond Washington, D.C. Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: And as we mentioned, thousands of additional troops are being ordered to the southern border with Mexico, just days after President Trump mandated that the military step up its presence there. Trump's aggressive push to crack down on immigration is bringing into question what his policies could mean for those in the U.S. legally on work visas. CNN's David Culver reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Calling out to us from the back of the bus. Juan Manuel Cisneros (ph) shows us what he describes as his American dream come true.
CULVER: I said, do you always carry that document with you? And he goes, yeah, because if anything happens, he can pull it out and say, I'm here legally in this country.
CULVER (voice-over): Everyone on this bus can say the same. Their farm workers here on H-2A visas, which allow foreign workers to fill temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs.
CULVER: They come here for about eight months. All the folks on this bus who are on their lunch break are from Mexico. He says they're able to work the field. And as he sees it, it's a good solution to be able to make money and yet, at the same time, be here legally.
CULVER (voice-over): But with that visa comes ruling work.
RICK ROTH, PRESIDENT OF ROTH FARMS: Nobody local wants to work in agriculture, harvesting crop. Nobody. These are hardworking, able- bodied men, and that's what they're doing. They're doing manual labor.
CULVER (voice-over): And they're doing it in a place that might surprise you.
CULVER: That's easy.
ROTH: Yeah.
CULVER: If I go far enough, I'll hit Mar-a-Lago.
ROTH: Yeah, you will.
CULVER (voice-over): You need only travel about 40 miles from here, as Roth Farms sits just on the western edge of Palm Beach County Florida.
CULVER: Certainly, doesn't feel like the beach is a Palm Beach.
ROTH: But it has the weather.
CULVER (voice-over): Which can be brutally hot and humid for those working these fields. Yet despite his need for a reliable and cost- efficient work force, Roth says he supports President Trump's stance on immigration.
CULVER: Is it going to get more difficult to get workers you think under President Trump and the crackdown on immigration?
ROTH: No, I think it actually will get easier. We just want people to be vetted, and we want good workers that are come out here.
CULVER: So, the H-2A visa program may seem like a perfect solution to keep predominantly migrant workers employed on farms like this one here in Florida. But critics point out that it doesn't cover every person or every situation. Say, for example, those migrants who are fleeing violent and dangerous situations and don't have a home to go back to once the season is over, or those who simply want to live and work with their families year-round in the U.S.
[08:25:00]
Then you've got small farmers who say that the program is just way too costly and way too complicated.
CULVER (voice-over): For now, though, Roth sees H-2A visas as the best way to keep U.S. farms running. He hires a third-party company to handle the logistics. They recruit the workers from abroad and then place them at several different farms, including Roth's.
ROTH: You hire them in Mexico, and you transport them over here. You pay all the transportation costs.
CULVER: You are paying for that?
ROTH: I pay all the transportation costs. We put them up in housing. We pay all the housing costs. Only thing we're allowed to charge them for is the cost of the food when we feed them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
CULVER (voice-over): So, what is it like for these workers?
CULVER: So here it is about 5 o'clock in the evening, and these workers have just finished their shift at Roth Farms and arriving back at their housing complex.
CULVER (voice-over): Juan Manuel (ph) and the others invite us to meet them after their work day is over.
CULVER: What do you do you do this time of the day? Yeah, when you get here -- dinners at six.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
CULVER: We can go with him. He's inviting us up -- They've been working 10 hours today. They work six, sometimes seven days a week. They have just a few things that they need few changes of clothes, some snacks and not much privacy.
CULVER (voice-over): Juan Manuel (ph) shows us his setup.
CULVER: He says, what he makes is about $16 an hour. So here, what you make in an hour, as he puts it, is an entire day's work in Mexico. CULVER (voice-over): This is his third year on the visa work program.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER (on camera): He said, the money that he makes here, he's able to support his family in Mexico as well and help his mom and dad and brother and sister. And he said, that's what you need to do to survive. You can see all the workers now are gathering from all the different buildings.
Most of them all work at different sites, but they come together to eat and then sleep, and then they will be back at it on the fields in about 10, 11, hours from now.
WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much. CNN's David Culver for that reporting. Very insightful. All right, still to come. Graced for the new Trump era. Leaders in Davos, Switzerland will soon hear from the new U.S. President, just days after he said he's got his eye on Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal.
And Donald Trump takes a tougher tone with Russia's President. Details of his new warning to Putin over the war in Ukraine. Stay with us.
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[08:30:00]
WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. We're just seconds now away from one of Hollywood's biggest moments Oscar nominations are being announced at any moment in Los Angeles. This announcement ceremony was delayed because of the wildfires in Southern California.
So, among the films likely to get multiple nominations today are smaller movies like Emilia Perez, Anora and The Brutalist, as well as more mainstream hits like Conclave, Wicked, Dune 2 and A Complete Unknown. And of course, we'll check back in just a few minutes to see which films are on the short list for these major awards.
All right. Meantime, all eyes are on Donald Trump in Davos, Switzerland. The new U.S. President is set to address the World Economic Forum in a few hours. He won't be there in person, but he is expected to take questions from business leaders via video conference.
Mr. Trump has been back in the White House less than a week now, but Europe is already bracing for a new era. Observers say the Trump Administration adds to the uncertainty facing one of the world's most stable regions, closer to home, Mr. Trump gave a wide-ranging interview to Fox News.
And he didn't directly answer whether he thought Former President Biden should be investigated, but he did say it's sad in his view that Biden didn't pardon himself. Let's get the view now from White House with CNN's Alayna Treene. All right, good to see you. Alayna, sorry. I thought we were throwing to a sound bite before talking to you.
All right, so tell me more about what President Trump said about Former President Biden and his pardon moves?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, he really kind of toyed with this idea of potentially wanting to open an investigation into Former President Joe Biden, as well as some administration officials. As you mentioned, he said to Hannity last night in that interview in the Oval Office that he thought it wasn't a smart decision to not pardon himself. I want you to take a listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is, he didn't give himself a pardon. I went through four years of hell by the scum that we had to deal with. I went through four years of hell. I spent millions of dollars in legal fees, and I won, but I did it the hard way. It's really hard to say that they shouldn't have to go through it. Also, it is very hard to say that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: Now Fred, as you could hear him saying there, he almost opened the door to thinking that perhaps he is owed retribution on a Joe Biden for what he characterized was kind of the investigation and persecution against him, something we have heard from Donald Trump kind of characterized those investigations as before.
But look, this is a departure for what Donald Trump has said even as late as last month, when he did an interview with NBC News and he said that he would leave the question of whether to investigate Joe Biden and others in his administration to his department of justice.
But one thing that I want to add as well is just if we look at what Donald Trump has done this week with all of the early actions, particularly those first executive orders that he issued on Monday. Many of them were designed to really feed his base, to deliver on the promises that he promised his fiercest supporters, that he would do, including the pardons for those who played a role in the capitol attack on January 6 of 2021.
Also sending thousands of active-duty troops to the border on trying to gut DEI, all of that is playing to his base, and one thing I've learned from covering Donald Trump's campaign meeting with many of his supporters over the last two years is that a lot of them are out for blood for Joe Biden for what they argue was the weaponization of government against Donald Trump.
Now we also know that Trump talked about a number of other things during that interview, he downplayed some of the national security concerns regarding TikTok, arguing, is it really that bad to have TikTok spying on young people? We also heard him talk about a number of other issues. So really a wide-ranging interview in his first Oval Office interview since being sworn in on Monday.
[08:35:00]
WHITFIELD: All right, yeah. It's only been three days.
TREENE: Yeah.
WHITFIELD: I mean, I think I said it's barely been a week. No, it's only been three days. That's how much has happened in such a short amount of time. Alayna Treene, thank you so much at the White House. Appreciate it. All right, the easy way, or the hard way.
That's how U.S. President Donald Trump is spelling out Russia's options as he tries to push the Kremlin into making peace with Ukraine. And he says there will be a big economic price to pay if Moscow chooses the difficult path. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Powerful barrages of deadly Russian thermobaric missiles raining down on Ukrainian positions in Russia's Kursk region. As Vladimir Putin's army continues its assault, President Trump now changing his once positive tone towards the Kremlin threatening Moscow with tough sanctions.
If we don't make a deal, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States and various other participating countries. Trump wrote on his social media account and then added quote, we can do it the easy way, or the hard way. Trump also criticizing Putin himself.
TRUMP: Zelenskyy wants to make a deal. I don't know if Putin does. He might not. He should make a deal. I think he's destroying Russia by not making a deal? I think Russia's going to be in big trouble.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The president's remarks breaking news on Kremlin control TV, ripping into what they call Trump's ultimatum to Putin. Neither in 100 days or in 180 days, will trump resolve or settle the conflict in Ukraine, this member of parliament says.
The Russian army will do this within the time frame set by its supreme commander in chief, our President, Vladimir Putin. On Moscow's frigid streets, what had been real optimism about the Trump presidency and a possible improvement of U.S., Russian relations seem to be fading fast.
He's a businessman, after all, not a politician, this woman says. He will pursue his goals and put pressure on us. He will strengthen the sanctions and will keep supplying Ukraine with weapons. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukraine's President upbeat, saying his country not only wants its territory back, Ukraine also wants NATO membership fast.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: If Trump is ready to see Ukraine and NATO, we will be in NATO.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Everyone will be in favor, Zelenskyy says. President Trump has never committed to admitting Ukraine into NATO and is highly skeptical of the alliance, but he has said he wants a fast end to the Ukraine war, although he now says it might take six months. And while Russian Leader Vladimir Putin continues to insist, he's open to talks about a possible peace agreement. He says that will only happen on Moscow's terms, and if the U.S. makes the first move. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The British Defense Secretary, says the Royal Navy tracked a Russian spy ship in the English Channel earlier this week. John Healey is promising robust action to protect undersea cables which have been damaged recently in suspected sabotage attacks.
He dispatched a maritime patrol as well as surveillance aircraft and an advanced AI system to help deter any potential threat. The Russian ship has since moved into Dutch waters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN HEALEY, BRITISH DEFENSE SECRETARY: Foreign vessel Yenta is currently the North Sea, having passed through British waters. Let me be clear, this is a Russian spy ship used for gathering intelligence and mapping the U.K.'s critical underwater infrastructure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Russia's Embassy did not reply to a Reuters request for comment. Healey says the same ship was caught loitering over undersea cables in British waters in November of last year. Still to come, the most coveted piece of hardware in Hollywood, the Oscar. The Oscar nominations are being announced live right now, and we'll tell you which films are the major contenders.
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[08:40:00]
WHITFIELD: All right, the Oscar nominations are about halfway done now. We're just seconds from learning the nominees for big awards like best actor, actress, best director, of course, best picture. We've heard so far, some of the names for like supporting actress. Ooh, let's listen in right now and hear what they're saying.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- You know, Bowen is such a huge star on SNL. He's in the hit movie Wicked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, thanks. And Rachel is Fatima.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks so much. Let's keep going. So anyways, the nominees for achievement in Music Original Song are "El Mal" from Emilia Perez; "The Journey" from The Six Triple Eight; "Like a bird" from Sing Sing; "Mi Camino" from Emilia Perez; and "Never Too Late" from Elton John: Never Too Late.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smashed it. You smashed it as the Brits say. And now the nominees for Best Documentary Feature Film.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Black Box Diaries, No Other Land; Porcelain War; Soundtrack to a Coup D'etat; and Sugarcane.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next for Best Documentary Short Film, the nominees are Death by Numbers; I am Ready, Warden; Incident; Instruments of a Beating Heart; and The Only Girl in the Orchestra. Those are some stuff -- serious stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Serious stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Serious stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. For Best International Feature Film, the nominees are, I'm Still Here, Brazil; The Girl with the Needle, Denmark; nothing for Denmark, Emilia Perez, France; The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Germany; and Flow, Latvia.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And for Best Animated Feature Film, here are the nominees, Flow; Inside Out 2; Memoir of a Snail; Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl; and The Wild Robot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here are the nominees for achievement in Production Design, The Brutalist; Conclave; Dune: Part Two; Nosferatu; and Wicked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next up for achievement in Film Editing, the nominees are Anora; The Brutalist; Conclave; Emilia Perez; and Wicked --
[08:45:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And for achievement in Sound, here are the nominees, A Complete Unknown; Dune: Part Two; Emilia Perez; Wicked; and The Wild Robot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next the nominees for achievement in Visual Effects, Alien: Romulus; Better man; Dune: Part Two; Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; and Wicked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lot of monkeys in those films, I just realized. For achievement in Cinematography. The nominees are The Brutalist; Dune: Part Two; Emilia Perez; Maria; and Nosferatu.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. The nominees are Adrien Brody in The Brutalist; Timothy Chalamet in A Complete Unknown; Colman Domingo in Sing Sing; Ralph Fiennes in Conclave; and Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. The nominees are Cynthia Erivo in Wicked; Karla Sofia Gascon in Emilia Perez; Mikey Madison in Anora; Demi Moore in The Substance; and Fernanda Torres in I'm Still Here. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For achievement in Directing. The nominees are Sean Baker, Anora; Brady Corbet, The Brutalist; James Mangold, A Complete Unknown; Jacques Audiard, Emilia Perez; and Coralie Faregate, The Substance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, y'all for our final category.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our final category. I cannot wait. I feel like we should read them together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like we should.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, here are the 10, 10, nominees for Best Motion Picture of the Year. Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here they are. Anora, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Brutalist, nominees to be determined.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Complete Unknown, Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Conclave, Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman Producers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dune: Part Two, Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya LaPointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Emilia Perez, nominees to be determined, Producers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Still Here. nominees to be determined.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guys, paperwork, let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on. Come on. Nickel Boys, nominees to be determined.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PGA, The Substance, nominees to be determined.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Wicked, Mark Platt, Producer --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- you all -- congratulations to all of this year's nominees. It's been such a privilege to share the news with you and movie fans around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are rooting for you all in equal amounts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, watch the Oscars live hosted by Conan O'Brien on Sunday, March 2 at 07:00 p.m. Eastern --
(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: OK, very exciting. Those are the nominations for best leading actor, actress, best film, director, all of that. And I got with me now Michael Musto, because he's seen all of it, and he knew a lot of this was coming. I've seen nothing so far. So, you have to school me from top to bottom.
I recognize a lot of the titles, but again, I have not been to the movies. I haven't been watching the movies, so I got to get with it.
MICHAEL MUSTO, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST OF VILLAGEVOICE.COM: -- good --
WHITFIELD: All right, so where do we begin? It's very good. I mean, all of these things that got the buzz, here they are. What do you want to start with? You want to start with the actors, actresses? Or do you want to start with the pictures? What do you like first?
MUSTO: Sure, I would say a lot of these are pretty predictable. I did very well in my predicting. I'm very proud of myself.
[08:50:00]
WHITFIELD: -- you --
MUSTO: Because I've seen the movie -- I have links, and I watch them over and over again, and I don't see a lot of shops here. I really thought maybe September 5th would be a picture, and it wasn't a real pain.
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
MUSTO: I thought would be a picture, isn't and Daniel Craig, I thought would be up for actor for the movie queer, but they went for Sebastian Stan, who plays Donald Trump in the apprentice. That's an interesting choice. Other than that, these are all high quality. It's great to see Denise Moore get noticed.
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
MUSTO: She's someone who obviously was famous and really was underrated, and even underrated herself, and now is in a movie called The Substance, which is also -- director, and it's about how show biz and society limits women and makes them feel irrelevant at a certain age. I love that movie.
WHITFIELD: I can't wait to see that one. I mean, just listening to her speech, you know, during the Golden Globes, is just so profound and powerful, and now she's getting the Oscar nod. I mean, she's got to be in tears and at the same time joy too. But in that director category, it for a second looked like it was going to be all men.
And as the Director of The Substance who gets a nod here too, Coralie, I can't even say her last name. It's so beautiful. You can say it for me.
MUSTO: I think it's very good mentor. WHITFIELD: -- Faregate.
MUSTO: But yeah, that's wonderful that she was nominated.
WHITFIELD: -- Faregate. Yeah.
MUSTO: I think the winner will be Brady Corbet for The Brutalist. I'm predicting The Brutalist to go all the way for picture director and for Adrien Brody. It's a fictional story about an immigrant after World War II, comes to America and works for a tycoon and is an architect, and creates this incredible complex it's all about art versus commerce. It's a 3.5 hour, pretty brilliant film, and it just screams Academy Awards.
WHITFIELD: Yeah, and then I mean Wicked as just dominated a lot of these categories, didn't it? The Conclave as well. We heard it a lot, everything from production design to -- you know, best pictures, sound, I mean, Wicked is getting a lot of nods. And also, in best leading actress with Cynthia Erivo and supporting actress with Ariana Grande.
MUSTO: Yeah. I mean, they did a beautiful job with Wicked nobody knew us Broadway people weren't sure if they would do a good job. This is the first of two Wicked movies. It's part one. It's the back story about Elphaba and Glinda, and its eye popping, and its mind blowing. So, I'm very happy for the nominations. Ariana Grande, Oscar nominee.
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
MUSTO: Think about it. Demi Moore, Oscar nominee.
WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh.
MUSTO: I love that things happen --
WHITFIELD: The journey, right? Isn't there something to be said about their journeys?
MUSTO: It's all about the trajectory. And that's part of why you win. That's why I think Demi Moore, her trajectory is irresistible. But I also love Emilia Perez, which got a lot of nominations.
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
MUSTO: And that's a really original, thrilling sort of lesbian trans drug cartel musical. That's just something extraordinary musical --
WHITFIELD: Oh, I know that' a musical -- oh my gosh,
MUSTO: Yeah. And Karla Sofia Gascon is a trans actor who is up for best actress. She is the first out trans actor to be known for an actor for an Oscar.
WHITFIELD: -- And so, Emilia Perez, yeah, I love that. I mean, I love the Emilia Perez's, I mean, it's in sound as well category. I mean is that kind of -- is that one of the surprises, because that too, Emilia Perez is kind of the common donator, common denominator, nominee in so many categories that one in Wicked seem to get the most.
MUSTO: It's not a surprise. It was so acclaimed and it's so original. I really recommend you check it out --
WHITFIELD: I got to get --
MUSTO: -- Zoe Saldana, I feel is a lot to win best supporting actress. She plays the frustrated lawyer who is hired by the trans character to handle her case and becomes, you know, a little too excited by all the jet setting and all the you know, the wildness of her jet set lifestyle. Zoe Saldana is extraordinary in this film.
WHITFIELD: Yeah. Oh, I love it. Congratulations -- Oh --
MUSTO: -- the Oscars are going to be a different tone this year.
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
MUSTO: They're going to be more serious because of the -- and they're not going to do best song performances. They're going to focus on the song writers, and they're also going to talk a lot about Los Angeles as a city of dreams, and try to build up Los Angeles, which is really the pain right now.
WHITFIELD: Oh yeah, it really is. That is beautiful Though I love the -- I love that even, yeah, through the art, you know, this message of carrying on, and that's what this will also symbolize in the Oscars.
[08:55:00]
Michael Musto, you got me so excited about all these movies that I haven't seen, but I'm going to, now, and I got a little bit of time before this early March date of the Oscars to be revealed. Right? I got to get with it.
MUSTO: -- time --
WHITFIELD: I can't wait. Thank you so much.
MUSTO: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: The VillageVoice, appreciate you. Thank you. All right. In Thailand, hundreds of same sex couples have been walking down the aisle for the very first time. Thailand has just become the first Southeast Asian country to recognize marriage equality, with some couples waiting years for this moment to come.
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NATHNICHA KLINTHAWORN, LGBT SPOUSE: The most important thing is that love is beautiful regardless of gender, no matter what gender someone identifies as, love is beautiful. Everyone wants to experience good love. So, I hope people can stop limiting love to just men and women. People of all genders deserve to have beautiful love.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Thailand passed its landmark marriage equality bill last year, giving same sex couples full, financial, legal and medical rights. Some of the newly married couples say they're hoping that other countries will be inspired to follow in Thailand's footsteps.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a good example for another Asian countries, and I think many, many southeastern countries will follow example of Thailand and make people life happier, more -- give them the more opportunity in their life.
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WHITFIELD: Love is love. Thank you so much for joining me here in the CNN "Newsroom". I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "Connect the World" with Eleni Giokos is up next.
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