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CNN International: Trump Sanctions ICC; Palestinians Reject Trump's Plan; Federal Worker "Buyout" Paused; Trump Administration Freezes Foreign Aid; Trump Signs Executive Order Memo Reviewing Funding of NGOs; Panama's President to Talk with Trump on Friday; U.S. Lakmakers to Ban DeepSeek from Govt. Devices; Rebuilding Syria After the Fall of Assad; Trivago Commits Heavily to A.I.; Ohtani's Former Interpreter Sentenced. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired February 06, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming on CNN Max. I'm Jessica Dean.

And just ahead, Donald Trump signs an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court, a U.S. judge pausing the Trump administration's deadline for federal workers to take a so-called buyout. And travel company Trivago is hoping artificial intelligence will help you get away from it all.

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered sanctions against the International Criminal Court. Mr. Trump has claimed the ICC targets the U.S. and allies like Israel. The court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Netanyahu is in Washington, D.C. this week, while there, meeting with the president, he gifted Trump a golden pager, an apparent nod to Israel's operation in Lebanon, which targeted pagers used by Hezbollah.

Stephen Collinson is joining us now from Washington to talk more about this. Stephen, it's good to see you. Let's start first with this executive order focused on the ICC, which we noted had previously announced arrest warrants for the prime minister and the former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Tell us more about the political motivations around this for Trump.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, what the president is trying to do is to punish the court for those arrest warrants of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the defense -- former defense minister, Gallant. Obviously, the United States, even before this, didn't recognize the jurisdiction of the court, even under democratic administrations, but this is going further.

The people sanctioned will not be able to travel to the United States. If they have assets here, those will be frozen. So, it is obviously a very symbolic move and we know that President Trump has very little time for international institutions, and more broadly, I think we can also question his adherence to the rule of law, not just in international perspective but in the United States as well.

He doesn't see any constraints on either his movements or intentions, or those of the United States in this newly aggressive America First foreign policy.

DEAN: He also doubled down on his plan to remove Palestinians from their homeland of Gaza, despite outcry from Arab nations, where ostensibly he wants them to go to, and other countries. What more can we expect here?

COLLINSON: Yes, this was in a Truth Social post in which he said that U.S. troops wouldn't be needed, which contradicted what he'd said in a press conference earlier this week with Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House. I think there was quite some concern among Republicans about that issue of potentially sending troops, which appears to contradict with all of Trump's, you know, anger at foreign wars that the United States has been embroiled with over the last 20 years.

But the fact that he's continuing to double down on this is very interesting. And I think it will cause quite a lot of concern because you noted that those Arab states where the Palestinians would presumably go under any scheme do not want any part of this. And I think that's a big question for the more broad Trump agenda. Obviously, that issue of trying to get normalization between those Arab states and Israel in an anti-Iran front.

But, you know, obviously, first of all, Gaza isn't Israel's to give to the United States. The president said in that Trump that Israel would simply give Gaza to the United States. So, I think that hints really at the complete impractability of this idea, and you have to question what the fallout will be from the president continuing to advance it.

DEAN: Yes, there are still so many questions around that. Stephen Collinson in Washington, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

COLLINSON: Thanks.

DEAN: I'm joined now by Francis Richard Donahue, the former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, and the Philippines. Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for being here with us. We really appreciate it.

I want to start there on the topic of Gaza. And the central question really is at this point, what is to be done with the over 2 million Palestinians who no longer have physical homes or infrastructure to go back to?

[18:05:00]

FRANCIS RICCIARDONE, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY, EGYPT AND PHILIPPINES AND FORMER PRESIDENT, THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF CAIRO: It is a hellish, devilish, and complicated problem. And the way I would start to think about it or approach it in planning or engaging diplomacy is to ask them, ask the two and a quarter million people who live there, what do they want? We have two and a quarter million people inhabiting a space that is uninhabitable with any standard of decency, lacking shelter, water, wastewater, power, schools, hospitals, there are two and a quarter million people. And we -- many of us are speaking about what should be done to them or with them and we're speaking about them. You and I now are speaking about them. World leaders are speaking about them and their future.

But I'm not aware of any really credible speaking with them. And that's no surprise because they do not have a government or recognized representatives, surely not Hamas. The Palestinian Authority is willing to speak for them, but they have -- the Israeli government have ruled out the Palestinian Authority as being able to speak for them or with them. And in any way, the Palestinian Authority isn't presenting that. So, I would start with that as a fundamental problem of practicality.

You cannot simply practically -- and President Trump, I haven't heard him suggest that anyone believes they can coerce two and a quarter million people to leave. So, I would start there and thinking about this, what do the two and a quarter million people of Gaza wish to do now and for the future and how do we find out --

DEAN: Well, on that -- so that's my question. My next question to you is, how do we find out? Because as you note there in terms of leadership, there's no easy answer there. Well, how do they get a voice in all of this?

RICCIARDONE: Well, there are potential answers. I would note that a striking development is President Trump's representative actually was the first, you know, major power person from outside to actually walk the ground and I presume has must have met with some Gazans as well as U.N. Officials and relief providers, and I suppose his security escorts. I suppose he must have met with some Gazans.

You start by speaking with Gazans, whether at a retail level, such as that, or ponder how you could find a legitimate representative body or even individuals in the absence of any such persons. Now, where do you even begin? Well, the only ones who put their hands up and said they were willing to do that are the Palestinian Authority over in Ramallah, which is not in Gaza. And they not are not necessarily accepted, never mind by the Israeli government, but by the Gazans themselves. We simply don't know when there was last an election there, nearly a decade ago, the Gazans chose Hamas.

It's not at all clear to me that the Gazans would choose Hamas now. And certainly, the rest of the world, United States and Israel and -- would not accept Hamas as speaking for the Gazans. And I'm not at all sure that many Arab governments would either.

DEAN: Well, there's --

RICCIARDONE: It's a problem, but I would go back and reconsider the Palestinian Authority's offer to represent them and then explore that.

DEAN: Yes. More to come. We really appreciate your insight into this. Former Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, thank you so much for being here.

RICCIARDONE: My pleasure. Thank you.

DEAN: A judge pausing the deadline for U.S. federal workers to accept the Trump administration's deferred resignation offers. Before the judge's ruling, eligible federal employees had until today at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time to accept. That offer would have allowed workers to leave their jobs but be paid through the end of September, as part of the administration's effort to shrink the size of the federal government. The pause stems from a lawsuit filed by several unions. Arlette Saenz is joining us now to pick it up from there. And, Arlette, what happens now?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, within the last hour the federal government actually sent an e-mail to federal workers who were eligible for this so-called buyout, the deferred resignation offer. It's telling them that the deadline is being extended to Monday. That was part of the agreement that arose from this hearing today where that federal judge in Massachusetts said that they would be pausing these offers until at least Monday when he is expected to hear more briefings and consider the litigation and the matter a bit further.

[18:10:00]

This does give federal workers a bit more breathing room. And the unions who brought this lawsuit said that they praised this move, but of course, they want to see this program and deadline overall eliminated. And that is one of the challenges facing so many federal workers as they are trying to decide right now whether to take this type of offer or a stay in their jobs.

Of course, these unions and many Democrats have urged workers not to accept the offer, saying that it may not exactly be legal and also saying that you can't exactly trust all -- everything that the Trump administration has said that they would do, that they would actually carry that out.

Now, so far, sources have said that 50,000 federal workers have accepted this offer. That amounts to about 2.5 percent of the 2 million federal workers that are currently in government positions. The target range had been for 5 to 10 percent of federal workers to accept that so-called buyouts. But that target has yet to be met.

So, these are all questions that will be facing the federal government, federal workers as they try to determine whether or not to take this offer. Now, it also comes at a time when sources have said that the federal government could soon be planning more widespread layoffs for those who have decided not to take the offers. That offers another layer of uncertainty for these federal workers.

At the same time, you've seen the federal government take steps to eliminate or to put some other positions on paid leave. For instance, there were some officials within the Environmental Protection Agency focused on environmental justice who were expected to be put on paid leave as the agency was trying to execute President Trump's orders -- executive order to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.

So, there are so many questions right now for federal workers across various agencies as they are trying to grapple with what exactly this deferred resignation offer will ultimately look like and what will happen if they decide to stay at a time when President Trump and his team have really pledged to remake the federal workforce. And so, these are all questions that many people are searching for answers for right now.

DEAN: Yes. And probably not going to get answers anytime soon. All right. Arlette Saenz, thank you so much. And as Arlette was talking about, all of this is about a promise from the Trump administration to both shrink the federal government domestically, of course, but also the footprint globally. The Trump administration has frozen foreign aid. That's put thousands of workers at risk worldwide.

John Oldfield is the CEO of Accelerate Global. His firm advises NGOs and government contractors and he's joining us now. John, thank you for being here with us. I first just want to ask you about some breaking news that the president just signed this executive memo directing a review of funding allocated to all NGOs that depend on federal government funding. I just want to get your reaction to that.

JOHN OLDFIELD, CEO, ACCELERATE GLOBAL: Yes, Jessica, first of all, thank you for covering this important and under recognized and developing -- obviously, rapidly developing story. I haven't had a chance to review that executive memo yet.

But let's be positive. Let's be optimistic about this. There is a time and a place for foreign aid reform. I don't think anybody's questioning that. The time is always and the place is everywhere. There are always ongoing efforts to reform, to improve, to increase the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance. I would hope that memo would push us in the right direction.

The right direction is not a stop work order. The right direction is to stop the stop work order, get back to work, and ask the grown-up questions that need to be asked about how USAID and its many implementing partners, many of whom are suffering, can actually do its job better. So, I hope that memo is a step in the right direction and let's give the president the benefit of the doubt.

DEAN: Yes. And to that end, I know you've said that the administration is asking a lot of the right questions when it comes to USAID, but they're asking them in the wrong way and in too abrupt a fashion, is what you said. Tell us more about that, because that's what you were getting at, is this idea that the work should continue and then you should be evaluating it, is what it sounds like you're saying.

OLDFIELD: Jessica, I think that's exactly right. I give the credit to the administration for asking these difficult questions. Every incoming president of the United States has a right. I would even say every incoming president of the United States has an obligation to ask these difficult questions about fraud, waste, abuse, et cetera, in any federal agency, up to and including USAID. But the abrupt stop work order, the illegality of the stop work order is concerning. On its face, it's concerning, and it's also concerning because those questions, the way they're being asked, don't give any breathing room to anybody across the spectrum of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

[18:15:00]

Take a step back. Stop the work order. Stop the bleeding. Stop the unnecessary chaos and disruption. And then I think we're going to get better answers from USAID about how it can be more effective in enhancing water security across the globe, how it can be more effective in increasing economic prosperity of our future trading partners, how USAID can be more effective in identifying and preventing the outbreaks of the next infectious diseases. Take Ebola in Uganda right now.

I think giving a little bit more time for USAID stakeholders to answer these questions is going to give us a chance to get ahead of unstable, insecure situations in the Middle East, where you have an Iraqi farmer who does not have water, cannot farm, cannot feed his family and looks to a violent extremist organization to pay him $100 to plant an improvised explosive device.

USAID's core focus is on preventing, getting ahead of these problems. And Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said it best, he said to Congress a number of years ago, if you do not fully fund the U.S. State Department and USAID, you need to give me more bullets. And nobody wants to be there, least of all the secretary of defense.

DEAN: Yes. And we, again, just getting -- as you mentioned, this is going quickly, just getting news while you were talking there that the Trump administration is expected to drastically reduce the workforce at USAID with just under 300 essential personnel staying while the rest of the agency's direct hires are being put on leave as of Friday. And that's a workforce of about 10,000 people around the world.

So, of those 10,000, which includes thousands of contractors, many of whom have been furloughed or fired so far, they want to keep just 300 essential direct personnel. Again, that's reporting from our colleagues on that.

That's a much smaller number than what currently exists. And what is the real-world impact of pulling that many people out that suddenly?

OLDFIELD: Well, Jessica, it's important to provide a little bit of background here. First of all, the USAID is a federally statutorily required agency. This isn't something that can be unilaterally -- have its head cut off unilaterally by any incoming administration.

So, first of all, this is -- the sense of Congress is not to dismantle USAID, the sense of Congress in any number of authorizing legislations and appropriations processes is not to have USAID be a rounding error in a corner room -- in the corner of the basement in the State Department. The sense of Congress is that USAID's 10,000 to 14,000 employees continue to work effectively on health, on water, on education, on democracy and governance. You know, so first of all, this is -- I look forward to Congress being more actively opposed or pushing back against the White House's stop work order here.

Secondly, the impact on the ground is very, very difficult to quantify. It's a better question than you might think, simply because who can talk on the record? Who is willing to talk on the record about this right now? I derive no revenue from USAID or any of its contractors. I'm free to speak about this, but a lot of my friends and colleagues are scared to death, not just because they're losing their jobs, which is happening as we speak, but because they're losing the ability to have an impact.

Rush Limbaugh said it best. He says these folks are out there trying to make a difference. They're not out there trying to get rich. They're trying to make a difference. They're trying to improve water security, improve infectious disease responses, to improve primary education for girls across the Global South. These aren't people looking at this as a career, as job security, they're people out there trying to make a difference.

It's important to note, Jessica, that many of those people are without jobs. Many of those organizations are frankly going bankrupt. Now, you might ask, well, why don't they have reserve funds set aside? Why don't they have rainy day funds set aside? They don't have rainy day funds set aside, nor should they.

You know, they're tasked by the U.S. Congress, by USAID, on behalf of the U.S. taxpayer, to go out there and to solve today's problems with today's money. They're not -- their job is not to sit on a pile of that money and wait for a rainy day. Their job is to meet, to respond, to prevent bad things from happening right now.

Lastly, droughts will happen, but famines are optional. We can prevent droughts from becoming destabilizing famines, leading to tens of thousands of immigrants trying to cross the Mediterranean. Floods will happen. But cholera outbreaks are optional. Floods will happen, but we can get ahead of the outbreak of the next infectious disease.

[18:20:00]

But right now, we've shot ourself in the foot by almost completely removing the development part of U.S. foreign policy, and I think that's short sighted.

DEAN: Well, thank you for laying that out for us. We really appreciate it, again, and as it's happening in real-time. John Oldfield, CEO of Accelerate Global, thanks so much for being here.

OLDFIELD: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio concluding his trip to Latin America in the Dominican Republic as he walked back a claim by his department that Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees to U.S. government vessels transiting the Panama Canal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Those are our expectations. They were clear. They were clearly understood in those conversations, but I respect very much the fact that Panama has a process of laws and procedures that they need to follow as it relates to the Panamanian port.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Meanwhile, Panama's president says he will speak with President Trump on Friday. Patrick Oppmann is joining us with more on this. Patrick, this is a situation that continues to evolve now, the secretary of state kind of having to readjust those words to say that's their expectation.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and he said as well that the United States, if it's expected to defend the Panama Canal, that U.S. Navy ships shouldn't have to pay to go through the canal. But of course, a lot of the threats that have been coming recently towards Panama and the Panama Canal have been coming from President Donald Trump, who had said he would retake the Panama Canal by military force if necessary. He said that repeatedly.

And Marco Rubio, on his trip this past weekend to Panama, seemed to dial down some of the tensions there and also extract some important concessions from Panama's government including the Panama will no longer take place in Chinese economic initiatives, the Belt and Road Initiative. So, that's a big deal. And as well helping quite a bit with lessening the flow of migrants from South America through the Darien Gap into to Panama.

So, Panama's showing that is an important ally in the region, but this issue of the Canal continues to come up and Donald Trump's unproven claims that China actually controls the Canal, this is something that the Panamanian authorities have pushed back on repeatedly and likely will, in that call tomorrow, between Panama's president and Donald Trump.

[18:25:00]

Of course, you know, in terms of the costs of Navy ships going through the Panama Canal, it's a strange thing for this to cause a diplomatic incident because according to Panama's president, it only runs about $6 or $7 million dollars a year, really not very much when you consider how much the Defense Department tends to spend on things.

So, we'll see if this ends up being an item that President Donald Trump pushes for in his call tomorrow, if the U.S. government continues to push for this idea that they will not have to pay through the -- to go through the Panama Canal, that's really up to the Panama Canal authority, not even the Panamanian government.

But they have said that under treaties with many countries, including the United States, every ship from every government, every country around the world pays the same. It all comes down to how much water the places as it goes through the Panama Canal, how large that ship is. But essentially, everyone pays the same to go through the Panama Canal.

DEAN: All right. Patrick Oppmann from Havana, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it. The world's largest shipping firm Maersk has a big incentive to see political tensions ease at the Panama Canal. It's CEO Vincent Clark telling our Anna Stewart that players in the region also understand the need for a ship shape operation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VINCENT CLARK, CEO, MAERSK: The Panamanian government has a strong interest in keeping operations running in the Panama Canal. And everything I'm hearing from the U.S. administration is, they were -- they also want the Panama Canal to function. They want it to function smoother and they would like it to be cheaper to use.

In any case, the thing that both of them agree on is that transits needs to be fluid because this is such a crucial piece of infrastructure for the world.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How significant is it in terms of global trade?

CLARK: It is, of course quite important. There is not as much traffic going through Panama as there is going through sewers, and we have seen the amount of disruption that this -- that not being able to sail through sewers has caused, but this is obviously very, very important for the United States because about 60 to 70 percent of the cargo who transit through the Panama Canal is actually cargo that either goes to or from the United States.

STEWART: A lot of the sort of concern, I suppose, from the U.S. side is the influence of China on the Panama Canal. Is that something you have ever been concerned about as someone who operates through it?

CLARK: I think from our perspective, the concerns that we have when it comes to the Panama Canal is twofold. First of all, is the quality of the service and the infrastructure that we have along the Canal. And on that front, I think that we have seen good levels of service.

The second is actually the intense pressure that there is on operations in general in Latin America with narcotrafficking and security concerns in general. And this is a problem that has, for us, an increasing surface and is more and more important to address.

So, on that, we have some concerns with what is in place today, and we think that one of the things that needs to come out of the current conversation is a much more stringent approach to how we keep this infrastructure insulated from the interest of the narcotraffickers.

But other than that, I think for us, this is an infrastructure that we use that has been going well and that has been more impacted by lack of rainfalls a few years ago than it has been impacted by the Chinese that in different parts of the operation. (END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Maersk also hoping for commercies amid tariff and trade uncertainty, the firm saying in its latest earnings report demands remain strong thanks to high consumer demand for overseas goods, but it warrants global uncertainty will weight results later this year.

China's leap of -- leap into the big league of international artificial intelligence is subject of growing concern for governments across the globe. Two U.S. lawmakers set to introduce legislation Friday that would ban federal workers from downloading Chinese A.I. sensation DeepSeek on government devices. Australia made a similar move earlier this week. Will Ripley reports on the stunning rise of DeepSeek and how it is transforming the A.I. race.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Lunar New Year message live from Beijing, a stage full of humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence. China projecting itself as the world's next A.I. superpower, just days after the world rattling announcement from tiny Chinese tech startup DeepSeek.

Last month, DeepSeek was a little-known company on the fifth floor of this nondescript Beijing office block. Now, it's making global headlines. DeepSeek's founder, Liang Wenfeng, once dismissed as a nerdy engineer with a bad haircut now hailed by Beijing is China's next tech visionary, rocking the global A.I. Industry, leaving Silicon Valley scrambling.

[18:30:00]

His company employs around 140 engineers, mostly in their 20s and 30s. Many interned at U.S. tech giants, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, NVIDIA. The same companies that lost billions when DeepSeek announced its A.I. chatbot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crushed our tech stocks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shocked the A.I. world and turned Wall Street upside down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: National security concerns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Warning users to beware about data.

RIPLEY (voice-over): DeepSeek's A.I. model is not just powerful, it's a Silicon Valley disruptor, developed at a fraction of the cost, the company claims. But there's one major obstacle, hardware. The U.S. has tightened export controls on advanced A.I. chips made in Taiwan, aiming to slow China's progress. But Beijing is determined to catch up fast.

The global spotlight is already exposing cracks. DeepSeek's servers often overwhelmed. Also, growing concern over censorship. RIPLEY: When we asked DeepSeek about one of the most sensitive topics in China, the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, it didn't just avoid the question, it shut it down. But when we asked whether Taiwan is part of China, DeepSeek did not hesitate to give us the official Communist Party line.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Critics argue U.S. A.I. models also restrict content, but in China, it's not the tech companies setting the limits, it's the government. Now, with the help of A.I., Beijing can shape conversations far beyond its borders.

RIPLEY: What happens if China wins, definitively wins?

MATT SHEEHAN, FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: They could use that to impose all kinds of controls and costs on the United States, on all competitors.

RIPLEY (voice-over): China A.I. researcher Matt Sheehan says artificial intelligence could revolutionize productivity, cure diseases, drive economic growth. It could also spiral beyond human control, potentially destabilizing the world.

RIPLEY: Are you nervous?

SHEEHAN: I'm very nervous.

RIPLEY (voice-over): DeepSeek just overtook ChatGPT as the most downloaded A.I. app in the U.S., once again triggering national security fears over data privacy and the growing power of another app controlled by China's Communist Party.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Coming up, Syria is rebuilding after the fall of the Assad regime, but it's going to take time and money. CNN is on the ground.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

DEAN: Turning now to Syria, the country is taking stock after the fall of the Assad regime. Syria's devastating civil war has destroyed so much, and rebuilding will take time and money, and that is in short supply, especially now that the U.S. has put a freeze on foreign aid. Clarissa Ward has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're just about a 15-minute drive here from Central Damascus, and these suburbs of Damascus really were essentially the heart of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad. And you can see how they've just been smashed to bits. They've been bombed. They were besieged. People were starved. They were forcibly displaced. And now, being here on the ground, you get a sense of the full scale of the devastation, the kind of rebuild and reconstruction that we're talking about. Estimates had been around 250 billion, which once seemed like a figure no one could get their head around. But when you're here on the ground and looking at it, it's clear that it is going to cost hundreds of billions to rebuild.

WARD (voice-over): What's not clear is where those dollars will come from. Syria's economy has been hollowed out by years of war, corruption and crippling sanctions.

In the suburb of Darayya, life has returned to the streets, but making a living is hard. Emad Abu Kalam (ph) runs a shawarma shop. Like most here, he is optimistic about the future but realistic about the challenges.

WARD: So, he's saying that it's going to take a lot of money and a lot of time to start to really rebuild the Darayya.

WARD (voice-over): Much harder to rebuild are the broken lives. Darayya is a town of widows and orphans. Schools are starting to reopen, but few are paying salaries.

WARD: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

WARD: Thank you. According to UNICEF, 2 million children are now not going to school inside Syria. These kids told us that they actually just got out of school and were heading now to a place that's been set up by a charity. Essentially, it's a safe space where kids can come and play.

WARD (voice-over): It opened just weeks after the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad and is run by INARA, a charity whose work I support, that focuses on children affected by war.

Child psychologist Rahaf al-Bilad (ph) says that many of the kids here show signs of aggression and are lacking love and attention at home, a result, she says, of the grinding hardship of 12 years of war.

Most women of Darayya are widows, so the mother took the role of the mother and the father, she tells us. So, she has to work, support, and raise the children. This all affects her wellbeing.

As the euphoria of liberation begins to subside, the hard work ahead is becoming clear, and communities like Darayya will need all the support they can get.

Clarissa Ward, CNN, Darayya, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Clarissa, thank you, and stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:40:00]

DEAN: What do Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, the Paris Olympics, and the Euro 2024 soccer tournament all have in common? Well, they were all popular in travel searches last year, that's according to Trivago. The travel platform says search functionality is key, so it's investing big in artificial intelligence. From now on, users can search using conversational style terms instead of just ticking boxes.

While Trivago says it is on the path to sustainable growth, its latest earnings reveal It's been a while since we've economic pressures remain as U.S. consumers look for value for money in the face of stubborn inflation.

And Johannes Thomas is the CEO and managing director of Trivago and joins us now. Thanks so much for being here with us. Let's just start first in the early months of 2025, what is the state of play for travel?

JOHANNES THOMAS, CEO AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, TRIVAGO: Travel looks very solid again. Last year, we had a record year in travel compared to pre-pandemic. And this year looks very promising as well and can be another record year ahead of us. Across the world, America's Europe, Asia all look very strong.

DEAN: And as we were saying leading into your interview, you all have been experimenting with A.I. Tell us more about that and how it might work with your company.

THOMAS: So, I think, for me, it comes down to what companies are able to turn this techno technological opportunity into user value. So, I returned together with a new leadership in 2023 and made this a top priority for the company. It start with gaining productivity. We have now 70 percent of our employees claiming they say 30 percent or more on a daily basis. So, it's a big productivity impact already.

And what you can see here is that we have brought this in front of users as well. There's whole new ways in how you can search and, you know, how you can search hotels on Trivago. So, you don't have the typical type of city, date, and search. You can now look at, you know, I want hotels next to the Route 66 with a pool. So, you can do semantic searches. And it's pretty exciting.

And what we did is we connected it with the user experience people are aware of. So, that's basically increasing the probability that people will adopt and have a good experience.

DEAN: Yes, it's so interesting. And just the idea of being able to be more conversational about it, as you note, and really let people kind of explore it that way without having to, you know, just do -- you know, clicking on a box like we're used to.

THOMAS: Yes, that will make a big difference. And the latest innovations we have seen of self-improvement and going into meaningful conversation with an A.I. that is really unlocking opportunities that our teams are on top of and are exploring and how to increase adoption.

I think reality is still until people change their behavior, it will probably a gradual adoption. We don't expect a step change, especially in travel. You're booking two, three trips a year. So, the user behavior until it really kicks in, it will probably take time, but we are very focused on that.

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DEAN: Yes, it sounds like this could be a big part of the future of your company.

THOMAS: It is. We launched a specific A.I. features where you really get the highlight and condense distilled information about what's important to know about a hotel in front of users for 300,000 hotels. And that is already making a difference.

Every search that people are doing on Trivago is today A.I. powered, what search results you're getting, what hotel, what content is being displayed to you. So, you see it today and how companies are more productive and how users experience different products and in travel exciting to see this evolving quickly.

DEAN: Yes, it is really interesting. Johannes Thomas, CEO and managing director of Trivago, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

THOMAS: Thank you.

DEAN: Amazon CEO said last year's holiday shopping season was the best on record for the online retailer. The company's profits nearly doubling last quarter, but cloud computing revenue falling short of estimates and its current quarter sales outlook also came in weaker than expected. Amazon shares are under pressure and after-hours trading.

Still to come, the consequences of stealing nearly $17 million from one of the world's biggest sports icons. We're going to have details on the case of Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter. That's next.

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DEAN: Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani former interpreter sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. Ippei Mizuhara pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud after stealing nearly $17 million dollars from Ohtani.

Sam Blum covers Major League Baseball for The Athletic. Sam, thanks so much for being here with us. I know you've covered this trial extensively. Now, we have the sentencing that has taken place. What stood out to you today about that?

SAM BLUM, MLB WRITER, THE ATHLETIC: Thank you for having me. Yes, what stood out to me was that the judge really kind of laid into to Mizuhara on his pre-sentencing letter to the court, basically saying that the letter was filled with misrepresentations and omissions. And that ultimately was the reason for his sentence, which was exactly what the government had requested. Mizuhara had requested 18 months and he got 57 months.

So, yes, I mean, basically, the gist of it was, you know, he -- his gambling addiction wasn't as extensive dating back to his teenage years as he had claimed. You know, he hadn't attempted to repay Shohei Ohtani anything, and in fact, had pocketed his own winnings, and instead continued to steal from Ohtani throughout this process. So, that was the reasoning for the sentence that he got and it was exactly what the government had asked for.

DEAN: It is such a fascinating case. What happens next for Ohtani in all of this?

BLUM: Well, Shohei Ohtani did file a victim impact statement with the court. It is up to the victim if they want that statement to be publicized or if they want it to be filed under seal. And so, this was filed under seal. So, we're not sure of what he -- what exactly he said, or, you know, the sentiment that his letter took.

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You know, I think generally this case has been very detrimental to Ohtani and his reputation that was brought up in court quite a bit today, just the speculation surrounding his involvement throughout the last year. Now, the case is kind of put to bed. So, I think, you know, for the most part, this hasn't really stuck with him over the last six or seven months, but for several months after the initial allegations in March of 2024, this was a huge part of his story and a huge part of his life, and, you know, he's since won MVP, won the World Series, you know, 50/50 season, 50 home runs, 50 stolen bases. So, he's done quite a bit since then, and I imagine he'll be able to move on now that this -- you know, this kind of final moment has kind of happened in this case.

DEAN: Yes, 57 months in prison. That starts March 24th, right?

BLUM: That is correct, yes. Any time before now and March 24th he'll have to report to, you know, the marshal's office here. He requested to be imprisoned in Southern California.

DEAN: And I just want to ask you, since you've been covering this, were you in the room when this came down and did -- were you able to see how he responded at all?

BLUM: Yes, we're in the room. You know, he was very stoic the whole time. There was -- there's a ton of -- particularly Japanese media, you know, that follows -- followed Ippei from the moment he, you know, walked into the courthouse to the moment he walked -- he got into his car and drove away, you know, he was very stoic, I would say.

He didn't take any questions. He didn't, you know, make any acknowledgements. I haven't said hello to him. I've worked alongside Ippei for years and he really made no acknowledgement then. But yes, he was very, very stoic. He did -- you know, he made no visible reaction to the sentence, just was looking ahead.

You know, they arrived at court about 45 minutes early and he sat there the whole time, didn't really make any statements outside of a couple brief conversations with his lawyer.

DEAN: Very fascinating. All right. Sam Blum, the MLB writer for The Athletic. Thanks so much, Sam, for being here. We appreciate it.

BLUM: Thank you for having me. Take care.

DEAN: From a baseball scandal to the controversy rocking Hollywood, Netflix has reportedly distanced itself from the star of "Emilia Perez" over her past remarks on social media. And the film's director says he's now not in touch with Karla Sofia Gascon. She is getting the cold shoulder during the heart of awards season. And Elizabeth Wagmeister reports.

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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Emilia Perez," Netflix's big Oscar contender with 13 nominations, now reduced to a tearful apology from its breakout star, Karla Sophia Gascon, whose controversial tweets shocked Hollywood at the height of her Oscar campaign.

The tweets, uncovered by an independent writer, include this 2016 post. Islam is becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured. Alongside a Muslim family photo, she called Islam a deep, disgusting humanity.

During protests over the police killing of George Floyd, Gascon called Floyd a drug addict swindler, whose death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. They're all wrong.

In an exclusive interview with CNN and Espanol's Juan Carlos Arciniegas, Gascon apologized and said she's not a racist.

I have been condemned and sacrificed and crucified and stoned without a trial and with no option to defend myself, she said, tearfully adding that she felt the public made her out to be a terrible monster.

It's a stunning turn of events for Gascon, who made history just last month as the first openly transgender actor to ever be nominated for an Oscar.

CLAYTON DAVIS, SENIOR AWARDS EDITOR, VARIETY: The reconciling of the moment is like this historic nomination we're supposed to be celebrating, she would have been prominently displayed and cut to during the Oscar telecast.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): In another resurfaced post, Gaston mocked the Oscar telecast itself, calling it a vindictive film awards ceremony. I didn't know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration, or March 8th. Apparently referring to International Women's Day.

The Academy immediately unfollowed Gascon on social media, and her co- stars and the film's director are distancing themselves, too. ZOE SALDANA, ACTRESS: He desires to remain anonymous.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Zoe Saldana, who won the Golden Globe last month, is now vying for her first Oscar, and spoke to Variety's Clayton Davis.

SALDANA: I'm very sad. I'm also disappointed.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Despite the growing backlash, Gascon says she won't pull out of the race.

I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination, she said, because I have not committed any crime, nor have I harmed anyone.

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Few doubt the power of Gascon's performance. She plays a complex role, a cartel leader, both as a man and a woman. But now, many are asking how Netflix missed a huge landmine on its road to Oscar gold.

DAVIS: All that work and money was flushed down the toilet just a week ago.

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DEAN: Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you. And finally, baristas at Starbucks starting to scribble on customers to go cups again. The new CEO, Brian Niccol, has ordered employees to write simple, personalized messages on the cups to humanize the global chain. And it is part of a plan to turn around falling sales for the last four quarters.

However, not everyone's on board with the idea. Some employees say it's too much hassle or it could even be misconstrued for flirting. But that aside, we'll leave you with a message of our own, enjoy your weekend and stay with CNN. Thanks for watching everyone. Bye.

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