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CNN International: Macron: European Savings Finance the U.S. Economy; Trump Blasts Judge Who Blocked Musk's Access to Treasury; Taylor Swift, Donald Trump Among Notables at the Game; World Leaders and Tech Executives in Paris to Discuss AI; Trump: Spoke with Putin, Hopes Conflict will end "Fast"; Portrait Found Underneath Titian Painting. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired February 10, 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]
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane, and this is CNN "Newsroom". Just ahead, U.S. President Donald Trump kicks off his week by threatening a new round of tariffs, this time on all steel and aluminum imports.
Then Donald Trump and Elon Musk take aim at America's top financial watchdog as they continue their aggressive overhaul of the federal government. But the Philadelphia Eagles deny the Kansas City Chiefs their third consecutive Super Bowl title will be live from New Orleans in about 15 minutes.
Donald Trump has been handing out tariffs left, right and center since his current term started just four weeks ago. Mr. Trump's latest tariff will tack 25 percent on all steel and aluminum imports. The U.S. consumes millions of tons of steel and aluminum each year. President Trump made the announcement Sunday to reporters on Air Force One, adding that new reciprocal tariffs are coming as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'll be announcing probably Tuesday or Wednesday at a news conference, reciprocal tariffs, and very simply, as if they charge us, we charge them -- almost immediately, but I'll be announcing the details of it highly detail. And it'll be great for everybody, including the other countries.
But if they are charging us 130 percent and we're charging them nothing. It's not going to say that --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Last week, the president posed a 10 percent tariff on all Chinese imports, prompting China to retaliate. Well, European Union Leaders say they have not yet got an official word of new tariffs. They add new tariffs are not justified, and they will protect European business interests.
In an exclusive interview, French President Emmanuel Macron tells our Richard Quest, there are more important things to consider first.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Look, I think it's not the top priority in the current environment, given all the channels we have. We have to fix Ukraine. We have a situation in Middle East. We have this competition between U.S. and China, and we have all this innovation, from AI to clean tech as well, to deliver. Honestly, I don't think it should be the top priority.
Nevertheless, what is the concern of President Trump? And you know that we have a very good relation, and we speak very regularly, he says, I'm not happy with the situation with Europe, because I have a trade deficit. When you look at the situation, my first question to the U.S. is the European Union your first problem?
No, I don't think so. Your first problem is China. So, you should focus on the first problem. Second, Europe is an ally for you if you want Europe to be engaged on this more investment and security and defense if you want to Europe to develop, which is, I think, the interest of the U.S., you should not hurt European economies by threatening it with tariffs.
Third, the integration of the value chain between U.S. and Europe is super high. What does it mean? It means if you put tariffs on a lot of sectors, it will increase the costs and create inflation in the U.S. Is it what your people want? I'm not so sure. Fourth, it's very simple.
When you look at the trade deficits, you can have the figures mentioned by President Trump, but I insisted in my discussion with him on some very small issues, look at the financial outflows. A lot of the European savings are going to finance the U.S. economy. If you start putting tariffs everywhere you cut the links, it would not be good for the financing of the U.S. economy.
Second, digital services. We are big, huge buyers of digital services. It is unfair, not to take the digital services in the trade deficit, and to say, I have a trade deficit, but I don't speak about the digital services. You will keep buying them. Why? Why?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Are you prepared to go head-to-head on this, or toe to toe on this?
MACRON: I already did so, and I will do it again. And I think we should be ready to obviously, be in the room and react. But I think more than that, the European Union has to be ready to deliver what we want and what we need for ourselves.
[08:05:00]
QUEST: Can I suggest to you that the European Union is not fit for purpose when it comes to dealing with something like President Trump, who is threatening tariffs and basically saying my way or the highway?
MACRON: I think it could be the opposite when you have direct contacts and you are clear. I think the European Union should not be the one to wait for the initiative of the authors and just react. What we have to do is to act for ourselves and to tell our people, this is our project.
This is what we want. This is why, for me, the top priority of Europe is competitiveness agenda, is defense and security agenda, is AI ambition, and let's go fast for ourselves. If, in the meanwhile, we have tariff issue, we will discuss them and we will fix it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: CNN's Alayna Treene has more now on how Donald Trump's tariff plan is shaping up from the White House.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: As you heard the president say they're on Air Force One yesterday, when he was flying to New Orleans for the Super Bowl, he said that he planned on Monday to announce 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum goods going into the United States.
And as you mentioned as well, this is really going to hit our trading partners very hard, especially the ones, of course, that are involved in giving steel to United States. The largest sources of U.S. Steel in imports are Canada, Brazil, Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam.
But by -- you know, there's no question that, as for aluminum, Canada is actually the biggest trading partner with the United States on that. So, as you mentioned, going to be hitting both our neighbors, north and south, very hard, just after the president had walked away and kind of said he was going to put a one month hold on the other sweeping tariffs that he had initially post on those countries.
I also just want to talk about what he tried to do during his first year, because we know that the president, when he was in office in his first administration, he put 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. But then we also learned that he later had some exceptions and exemptions for certain countries, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, all of them had some duty-free exemptions during that policy.
So, I think the key question to look for today is, what exactly are the details in this policy, and could there be exceptions, or is he going to move forward with kind of the blanket rhetoric around tariffs that we know he's been using so far during this term? One other thing to keep in mind, as well as this all comes after he's talked about wanting to have some big investment with Nippon Steel last week.
That was after he had met with U.S. Steel at the White House. We know that Nippon Steel had originally had this deal, you know, multi billion deal, to try and buy U.S. Steel, something that President Biden actually blocked. The president last week said he said there's going to be a big investment in U.S. Steel from Nippon Steel waiting on those details as well.
MACFARLANE: Well, for its part, China says nobody wins in a trade war, but with an onslaught of tariffs from the Trump Administration, China's deeply integrated trade ties with the U.S. is getting strained. Kristie Lu Stout has a look at the back and forth between the world's two largest economies.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China's response to Trump's tariffs could be the opening salvo of a new tit for tat trade war, and they go into effect today. These are broad measures that appear to vary in terms of potential impact, and here is the breakdown. They include a 15 percent tax on certain U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas.
10 percent tax for crude oil farm equipment trucks and big engine cars. These tariffs take effect today and join other counter measures from China, including controls on metal exports and an anti-monopoly investigation into Google. Look China is striking back after us.
President Donald Trump imposed 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, on the bid to hold China accountable for the fentanyl trade. The U.S. says that China is a source for fentanyl precursor chemicals. China has called fentanyl America's problem and has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization.
So, what impact will China's tariffs have? Analysts say that the tariffs are modest, especially compared to U.S., measures and that they're designed to send a message. But new analysis from the Brookings Institution says that China's retaliatory tariffs will hurt American communities that voted for Trump.
According to the report, it says this, quote, similar to the 2018 tariffs, the industrial heartland is again bearing a disproportionate impact from Chinese retaliation. Some of the most intensely affected counties are energy and manufacturing communities in North Dakota, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama and West Virginia, unquote.
The study says between 400,000 to 700,000 American jobs could be affected by China's retaliatory tariffs. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
MACFARLANE: Donald Trump isn't just fighting with America's trading partners. He's expressing anger with some members of the judicial branch of U.S. government. Mr. Trump, his Vice President J.D. Vance and Elon Musk spent the weekend blasting a judge who has temporarily blocked Musk access to the U.S. Treasury payments system.
[08:10:00]
It comes as Musk and Trump's other appointees are trying to shut down various federal agencies as they seek to slash the size of government. The latest apparent target is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Its headquarters will be closed all week amid talk. It will be completely shut down.
Our CNN's Business and Politics Correspondent, Vanessa Yurkevich is looking into all of this and joins us live now. And Vanessa, it sounds like these employees, like many other U.S. government departments, found out that their officers would be shut at the last minute on Sunday. What impact is dismantling this department going to have for average Americans and will it in fact, happen?
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau does exactly what its name entails. It protects consumers against financial fraud. It protects consumers against junk fees, and also tries to protect them against big crises that could happen, like another subprime mortgage crisis.
But essentially yesterday, employees got an email saying, do not show up to the office. It's going to be closed. Please stay at home. This is coming on the heels of an email on Saturday that they received that essentially said, stop doing all work. You don't need to be doing any work right now.
We're going to put a freeze on the work that you need to be doing. And this, as you mentioned, is part of the effort from Elon Musk, from DOGE, at the direction of President Trump, to look at government agencies that they say, in their own words, are wasteful.
And this is really led by the effort of Elon Musk, who, on Friday, put out a tweet saying, RIP CFPB, which is the organization that we're talking about here today. And Elon Musk essentially going after government agencies that he believes are not functioning properly.
But this bureau in particular, is important for the average U.S. consumer, because about 205 million Americans are eligible for some kind of relief through this bureau. About 300, excuse me, $636 million has been recovered, monetary relief for veterans that were taken advantage of in the Bureau's eyes, and about $6.1 billion are estimated savings for Americans because of overdraft fees that this bureau has been able to catch for them.
You see that right there. But listen, many employees have now filed lawsuits against this essentially shut down is what they're anticipating. And we know that a lot of Democratic leaders have sent a letter to the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asking them to stop this from happening, and also stopping Elon Musk and his employees at DOGE from having so much access to this bureau.
We know that they have access to a lot of the internal systems at CFPB. Also worth noting the website. The front page of the website is completely down. Their X account is completely removed. So, Christina, to your question, is this going to happen? Well, it certainly looks like it's in the process of happening.
But you know that these lawsuits can move pretty quickly. Judges can pause these efforts by the Trump Administration pretty quickly. It's another wait and see. Unfortunately, that's the news to share there, but it's a wait and see. But a lot of these employees wondering, am I going to have a job at the end of the day, on the consumer front, Christina, what protections are now in place if this agency goes away?
MACFARLANE: Yeah, feels like there are so many waits and sees right now, doesn't it, Vanessa, but we'll continue to follow this one closely see where it ends up. Vanessa Yurkevich there for us, for now, but for more on the sweeping changes Vanessa was talking about that Donald Trump and his team are making to the U.S. government and the foreign policy.
We are joined by Leslie Vinjamuri. She is the Head of the U.S. and the Americas Programme for the think tank Chatham House. Thank you so much for joining us. I want to talk about the bigger picture, Vanessa touched on there about the fight taking shape between the Trump Administration and the judicial branch.
And on that point, I want to show our viewers a quick tweet that was put out on X by J.D. Vance over the weekend, mentioning here or alluding to the fact, that judges aren't allowed to control the executives legitimate power. This as judges have stepped in to hold a number of executive actions Trump has taken in recent weeks.
So, I mean, how much is this a signal that Trump and his team are not only willing to defy the courts, but are preparing, actively preparing to do so here, with all of these fights we're seeing emerging.
LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF U.S. AND THE AMERICAS PROGRAMME FOR CHATHAM HOUSE: Yeah, it's very disturbing to see the Vice President of the United States of America pushing back on judges, which are, you know, of course, responding to courts, to attorney generals, that are, you know, raising cases through a formal, legitimate and legal process that is there to do exactly you know, what we know.
[08:15:00]
It says on the tin in America for the courts to push back against things that they that might be an infringement of the legal authority, including of the executive branch, that is baked into the U.S. Constitution. And so having the vice president challenge that, you know, what we should be hearing from the vice president is, let the court to do their work.
We believe that we have the legitimate authority to execute on this agenda, but of course, we will respect the rule of law in the United States of America. That's the most important message to signal, not only to the people of the United States of America. It's the most important thing that the vice president can signal to the rest of the world, because the rest of the world is watching this.
They're watching the United States. They want to know that the rule of law is functioning, that the United States is a functional power, not a dysfunctional power. And it matters for America's global footprint, but it matters for Americans who are deeply engaged in a variety of ways. It not only the U.S. economy, but very far afield.
MACFARLANE: Yeah, it's an important point. But what is also clear is that much of this is going to be headed to the Supreme Court, and it's an open question as to how far the Supreme Court will go in checking Donald Trump's authority given the ruling, some of the rulings we've seen over the past year.
How much is Donald Trump and his team gambling on the Supreme Court's expansive view of executive authority? VINJAMURI: Look, I think that, right now, we've got to watch the court support, you know, the independence of the judicial branch, not only the Supreme Court, but the number of courts the federal court system that are working on these cases. There have been times when the Supreme Court has taken decisions that are not in support of Donald Trump.
They allowed that decision to go forward that held him essentially confirm that he was a felon on one of the cases. And so again, I think that we have to trust and work to support the system such as it is to push back against allegations that the courts don't have the right to hold injunctions, to follow those cases.
This is, you know, probably, this is undoubtedly right now, that the judicial system is undoubtedly the most important check that exists on efforts to expand the use of the executive beyond what must -- you know, what is likely to be to determine what's legal and what's expansive authority.
MACFARLANE: Yeah.
VINJAMURI: So, you know, pushing back the treasure, the push back on access to private information by the DOGE officials who access treasury records absolutely critical to privacy rights of U.S. citizens that will go through the courts, but any number of one of these appeals, again, that process is incredibly important, that the trick now is to support it, rather than to assume that it can't work.
MACFARLANE: And reflecting on the other big announcement overnight as a new raft of tariffs coming in. It's interesting to note, and I think our reporter did at the top of the show that, during his first term, Trump put tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and European Union, but then a year later, reached a deal with those countries to end those tariffs.
What is your feeling, about how we're going to see these Paris play out this time around? And Why is Trump continuing to wage a war against some of the United States biggest trading partners right now?
VINJAMURI: Well, we know that Donald Trump feels very passionately. It's the one thing that he is almost theological about is his commitment to tariffs is a very effective tool of U.S. economic state craft. What he's trying to achieve, trust me, everybody here in Europe is trying to work this out.
What is he trying to achieve and what's the best way to respond? Is it to retaliate vociferously and publicly, or is it to quietly negotiate behind the scenes with, you know, some strength, but also with the goal of remaining United China, Russia, many other countries would love nothing more to than to see the Trans-Atlantic Partnership of the West fall apart over these tariffs.
And remember that this the steel and aluminum tariffs are many of those are launched against U.S. partners and U.S. allies. So, what is he trying to do is, you know, partly given that these are going to affect Canada, he's clearly saying this game is not over. He's partly presumably looking for a win that he can communicate back to Americans and certainly to his base.
But he clearly also feels that there is something that is unfair at the heart of the trading relationship with respect to these particular items. And so, this is why we're seeing, you know, again, the return to tariffs.
[08:20:00]
The interesting thing I think here is again on how is Europe, how are North American, Canada, Mexico and China responding? And it's quite clear that, you know, there is a scramble. There is a strong interest in seeing de-escalation, not escalation. I think that's what China's particular measures tell us, that the rest of the world right now is saying to the U.S. President, we'll work with you.
We have to show strength. We don't want this to escalate in a way that works, quite frankly, to nobody's interests. And -- but it has all the potential to turn in the wrong direction, unless all parties, and that includes, obviously, most importantly, the United States and President Trump, to really see that as the most important part of the agenda.
MACFARLANE: All right. Leslie Vinjamuri, we appreciate your thoughts today. Leslie, thank you.
VINJAMURI: Thank you.
MACFARLANE: All right. Still to come, the French President promises to fight for artificial intelligence as he co-hosts an AI summit with the Indian Prime Minister. Live report from Paris ahead. And from the celebrities in the stands the action on the field. We'll give you a complete wrap of the spectacle that was the Super Bowl. Stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: A Super Bowl that was supposed to crown the Kansas City Chiefs has backed back-to-back NFL champions. Instead, it turned into a route by the Philadelphia Eagles. Eagles' defense dominated Kansas City Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, harnessing him into two interceptions, one of which was a return for a touchdown.
At one point, the score was 34 to nothing, and the game was really never in doubt in the second half for Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts took home the MVP award, rightly so, after he passed two touchdowns and ran for another. CNN's Sports Coy Wire was at the big game. Has been up all night and is joining us now still from New Orleans.
We appreciate you being with us, Coy. Tell me, did anyone expect this to be the demolition derby? It turned out to be for the Eagles against the Chiefs -- because I didn't.
COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: First of all, well done reading those highlights. Christina Macfarlane, bringing it this morning. No, no one saw this type of beat down coming. If anything, most people thought the Chiefs are probably going to win it again and pull up that first ever three peats in Super Bowl history. Instead, those Eagles came out and whoop the Chiefs like they had been talking bad about their mamas, embarrassed of the stars, the celebrities. They were out and so was the President Donald Trump, first sitting President ever to attend a Super Bowl. Of course, Taylor Swift was in the building cheering on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, but Kelce, Mahomes and the entire Chiefs offense ran into the buzzsaw, that is the Eagles defense.
Mahomes getting sacked six times, running for his life all night, see Mac, and he threw two interceptions as well.
[08:25:00]
In the second quarter, listen to this, a rookie, Cooper DeJean on his birthday, picking off the Patrick Mahomes, taking it 38 yards for the touchdown. Have a happy birthday. Wear your birthday suit, young fella. The other one was Zach Bond, getting an interception. He spent four seasons playing in this stadium in New Orleans.
Last year, he was a backup for the saints. Said he'd cry at times. Second, maybe he didn't have it anymore. When his first season in Philly, he became a first team all pro. Short while later, Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts, continuing his takeover, touchdown to A. J. Brown made it 24 to nothing.
Hurts through two touchdowns, led the team in rushing, as you mentioned, see Mac, he did have that rushing touchdown as well as 72 yards rushing is a Super Bowl record for a quarterback. Eagles dominate 40 to 22 Hurts takes home Super Bowl MVP. Here he is after the big win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JALEN HURTS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK: It's been a journey of ups and downs and highs and lows, and I've always stayed true to it in the end and having this vision of just being the best that I can be, and that evolving over time, until this desire and this flame inside to win.
COOPER DEJEAN, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK: It's crazy, World Champs. Best birthday ever, best birthday ever. I think everybody in my family would agree too. I'm just happy they going to be here to be a part of it.
HURTS: Defense played off -- they played how they played all year, you know. And I truly believe offense wins game, but defense wins championships.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: And they certainly did win this one. The Chiefs, in the first half, see Mac, only had 23 yards, while the Eagles had 24 points. Now, Patrick Mahomes, he falls to three and two in Super Bowls, certainly not going to taint his legacy. He's incredible, but that struggle was real for him, and for that offense, he was obviously upset about the way he played. He took it all upon himself after the loss, listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: Credit to the Eagles man. They played better than us from start to finish. We didn't start how we wanted to. Obviously, the turnovers hurt and, I mean, I just kind of, I take all the blame for that. I mean, just those early turnovers swing the momentum of the game, and then they capitalized on them and they scored.
I mean, they scored on the one, and then they got the touchdown immediately after. So that's 14 points that I kind of gave them, and it's hard to come back from that, and the Super Bowl, and so just didn't play to my standard, and I have to be better next time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Handled like a true pro. Christina, Patrick Mahomes just had his third child with his wife, Brittany, just a few weeks ago, newborn baby gold, and he'll be able to spend some time with her. She was here at the game. Something tells me he will be back on this stage once again.
But congrats to those Philadelphia Eagles, the birthday boy, Cooper DeJean, his teammate, the star running back Saquon Barkley, it was his birthday as well. There are all sorts of celebrations, plenty of it to go around for all of Philadelphia today.
MACFARLANE: Yeah, the old adage is true. Defense wins championships. Doesn't it, Coy? And no one reads the highlights like Coy Wire. So, we appreciate you, Coy. Thanks for you've done this Super Bowl.
WIRE: -- see Mac.
MACFARLANE: See you later. And for the non-football fans, there was, of course, plenty of buzz during the half time show as well. Who caught it? Actor Samuel L. Jackson introducing headliner Kendrick Lamar with the rapper celebrating a victory of his own after last week, winning five Grammys for his Drake diss track, "Not Like Us".
That's right, that was Serena Williams dancing on stage. She and Kendrick Lamar grew up in Compton, California together. Great to see them share the stage. Still to come, U.S. President Donald Trump says he's spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he's hoping the conflict in Ukraine ends fast.
And now Russia appears to be responding. And surveillance flights are surging over the US Mexico border, how President Trump is using the military to crack down on drug smuggling, when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:00]
MACFARLANE: French President is hoping this week's AI summit in Paris will be a wakeup call for Europe. Emmanuel Macron says Europe needs an artificial intelligence agenda to bridge the gap with the U.S. and China. World leaders and tech executives are convening in Paris to discuss how to safely embrace AI.
J.D. Vance is there a two on his first international trip as vice president, as is CNN's Melissa Bell, she's at the summit Paris, joining us live now. So, Melissa the EU hoping to gain ground, I guess, from the U.S. and China in the AI race. I mean, how far are they currently lagging behind?
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The fear is that substantially. So, what we've heard from President Macron, you're quite right, is that 109-billion-euro investment, which doesn't of course, match what we heard from the United States, the $500 billion invested in the Stargate project.
But still, what they hope is that this is going to provide some of the funds that will allow Europe to make up for that, short, for some of it simply in building infrastructure. In fact, one of the things they've announced are the Emirates building what should be the largest digital Park here in France to provide some of that key infrastructure that's necessary for AI development.
But you're quite right. Christina, this is about showing that Europe can and should needs to compete against the giants that are the United States and China with some of its own companies. We've been speaking earlier with the Head of Mistral, the French start up started only last year that is seeking to do just that, compete with the giants.
And this is what Emmanuel Macron had to say more generally about AI, the fears that ordinary people have, and the fact that what people here at this summit are focusing on is the need for adoption by company's individuals' engagement with the technology, in order to de mystify some of what has seemed so far beyond many of our intelligences, just to get our heads around. Have a look at his video.
Quite a fun -- at some of those fears that the public have had about deep fakes and so on, embraced by the French President say, look, this isn't just about being afraid or regulation or worries about AI as legitimate as they are, it's about understanding the need for people now to adopt this and make the most of the promise of these technologies for things like medicine, teaching any kind, many kinds of different companies, whether they are big or small in Europe, the United States or China.
And the collaborative approach that is needed to make it a success. That's very much part of the message. There are 800 participants in this summit, as you said. We'll be hearing from J. D. Vance, the American Vice President. It will be his first foreign trip as vice president. He used to speak tomorrow, and this is a summit remember, co-hosted when Narendra Modi, Again, a strong signal from the French.
[08:35:00]
Not only about placing Europe at the forefront of these innovations and this technology, but also about the need for collaboration amongst governments, Christina.
MACFARLANE: Can't quite get that image of Emmanuel Macron in pigtails out of my head right now, Melissa. But as you say, the much-needed regulation discussions happening there, along with everything else, as the race heats up in AI. We'll be back with you, I'm sure to follow this up. Melissa Bell there live in Paris. Thank you for now.
Well experts say people worldwide lost more than a trillion dollars to scammers last year, among them a French woman who fell prey to a scammer posing as a deep fake Brad Pitt, which ultimately cost her $850,000. Now one former scammer uses his skills to catch perpetrators. And now Saskya Vandoorne caught up with him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I shared everything with you.
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (voice-over): This AI generated fake Brad Pitt swindled a 53-year-old French woman named Anne, out of $850,000 in a scam that would become a viral sensation. Meet the man who says he found the scammers behind the elaborate hoax.
MARWAN OUARAB, FOUNDER OF FINDMYSCANNER: I learned all my skills in the dark side.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Marwan Ouarab is a now reformed scammer who not only helps victims get their money back, but helps track down the bad guys to catch Anne's scammers. He emailed them a booby-trapped link.
OUARAB: By clicking on it, he revealed to us his exact GPS coordinates.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Marwan says it was not one but three people behind the fake account.
OUARAB: This is the house.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Prosecutors have since opened an investigation and are using the information Marwan collected to bring and scammers to justice. But tracking down online criminals comes at a cost.
VANDOORNE: Have you received threats?
OUARAB: Yes, we've already received threats. I've already moved house, so it's part of daily life.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Marwan started his company FindMyScammer four years after he was convicted of fraud and handed a suspended prison sentence. Since then, he says he has been inundated with cries for help. On a normal day, he receives up to 150 requests. According to the global anti scam alliance, over $1 trillion was lost to scams globally in 2024 and yet 70 percent of victims didn't report the crime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- so nice --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the girl who was in contact with me, the so- called Zara. VANDOORNE (voice-over): Zara is a fake persona who stole both Lucas heart and $70,000. He's another scam victim who has been helped by Marwan and wishes to remain anonymous.
"LUCA", SCAN VICTIM: I don't want to do an interview with my face uncovered because I saw what Anne went through in the case of the fake Brad Pitt, the cyber bullying she suffered. And I don't want to go through that too.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Scammers rely on this shame, so victims don't come forward. Anne try to take her own life after being ridiculed online.
"LUCA": The whole world makes you feel like you are stupid. I don't want that. Marwan conducted his investigation so we were able to find out that this girl, in the end, she was not in London as she said she was. She was in Dubai, and after that, he was able to get in touch with the authorities in Dubai.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): He says she was then arrested after Marwan helps track down his clients, scammers, he also helps them go over their banks obligations to reclaim their stolen funds.
"LUCA": I was able to recover some money.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Marwan says, if someone you haven't met in real life asks you for money, even if you've been talking to them for months or years, then that's a big red flag.
OUARAB: I very much regret it. I think that this is also the path of redemption that I have chosen.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: And turning to the U.S. now, where the Pentagon has significantly increased its surveillance of Mexican drug cartels. That's according to sources at open-source data showing sophisticated U.S. spy planes for at least 18 missions over the southwestern U.S. and across the border around the Baja peninsula over the last two weeks.
This, of course, is a dramatic escalation in activity, the Pentagon normally flies about one such surveillance mission a month around the U.S.-Mexico border. So, to tell us more about us, Katie Bo Lillis joining us from Washington. So, Katie, what more do we know about the trajectory these fights, how many they are and what they can see?
KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Well, I really want to emphasize the scale of the ramp up here. As you mentioned, the U.S. military, up until now, had really only done maybe one of these flights along the southwestern border a month, compared to now, what we've seen is at least 18 flights in just a 10-day period starting in late January.
[08:40:00] All along either the southwestern border, on the U.S. side of the border, or in international air space around the Baja Peninsula. And it's really important to remember here that the kind of planes that are in use here, these are a finite resource for the Department of Defense. And so up until now, Pentagon leaders have really seen a better use for these planes, prioritizing them in either collecting intelligence on the war in Ukraine, for example, or perhaps hunting Russian or Chinese submarines.
So, what we're seeing here, this escalation, really underscores the willingness by the Trump Administration to shift finite national security resources away from overseas threats and to use them on the U.S. southern border, where Trump has declared a national emergency, and in particular, to focus on the cartel issue.
MACFARLANE: So, what's the scope of what these planes can sort of see and how much intelligence can they take in on one flight?
LILLIS: Right. So, there's three different kinds of planes in use here, including, interestingly, a U-2 which was a high-altitude surveillance plane developed during the Cold War designed to take really exquisite photographs of stuff happening on the ground and our -- according to our sources, this plane, as far as their experience tells them has never been used in the southern border context, at least in the context of their careers.
These are planes that are capable of doing everything from hoovering up communications, digital communications on the ground, to taking imagery photographs, right? So, they could be looking for everything from images that could help them identify logistics hubs or other operational elements of what the cartels are doing on the Mexican side of the border to collecting communications, potentially in between cartel members.
All of these planes, even though they are only flying in U.S. air space and in international air space, they're all capable of essentially seeing sideways. They can collect intelligence deep inside Mexico. The big question here is, what does the Trump Administration intend to do with the information it gathers here? Is this about building a body of evidence to place a terrorist designation on members of a cartel, for example?
Is it about building a body of information about cartel operations to hand to Mexican authorities for them to take action on, or at the far end of the spectrum, is this potentially about developing cartel targets for the U.S. military to take action against directly, something that President Trump has indicated publicly is something that he might have some interest in doing? At this point, we just don't know the answer to that question.
MACFARLANE: -- I was going to say and something we may not know the answer to, although it's an important question. Katie Bo Lillis there for us with the latest. Thank you. Still to come, President Trump doubles down on his plan to take over Gaza and calls the war-ravaged territory a big real estate site. Details ahead.
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[08:45:00]
MACFARLANE: The Kremlin appears to be responding to a comment by President Donald Trump over the weekend about how he wants to get the conflict in Ukraine ended soon. According to Reuters, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister is praising the Trump Administration for indicating its interest in dialog, but says ultimations will fail.
Andy said all of Vladimir Putin's conditions for ending the conflict must be met before any settlement is possible. But it comes days after U.S. President said he had spoken to his Russian counterpart, but didn't provide a lot of details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know you don't want to tell us about your conversation with President Putin. But you can clarify whether you had that since you've been in office? Or whether it happened before you became president?
TRUMP: I've had it. Let's just say I've had it, and I expect to have many more conversations. We have to get that war ended. It's going to end. We have to get it ended, and we have to get it ended. Should have never happened. Would have never happened if I was president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: The Kremlin would neither confirm or deny the call has taken place, and as you may recall, Mr. Trump initially promised to end the conflict in one day of his first term. Meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is saying that he's ready to negotiate with Putin, but only if certain conditions are met.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: If I had an understanding that America and Europe would not abandon us and that they would support us and provide security guarantees, I would be ready for any format of negotiations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well CNN's Fred Pleitgen is joining me now live from Moscow. And Fred, given Russia's recent comments to this, it's worth reminding viewers that the terms of which Russia would only -- would accept for a peace deal that Russia must be allowed to keep all the land it occupies and be handed out -- handed all the provinces it claims but does not fully control.
I mean something that clearly, in President Zelenskyy's view, is never going to happen. Do we have any indication yet? Because clearly there has been communication between the Trump team and Putin in Russia, of the plan that is being formulated here between Special Envoy Keith Kellogg and the Russians at all. Do we have any idea? FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know, Christina, I'm not even sure that a plan is being formulated with yet. It does appear as though there are contacts going on at various levels. It's been quite interesting to see sort of the Russian messaging in all of this throughout the entire weekend.
We just heard there from Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, saying, look, he cannot confirm or deny whether or not there had been any direct phone calls between President Trump and Russian President Putin. But at the same time, the Russians are saying that contacts are taking place on various levels.
But they are not saying that anything is in the works on whether or not there's going to be a direct meeting, for instance, between President Trump and the Russian Presidents. Quite interesting. I just got back from a press conference from the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, and he once again said, look, right now, something like that isn't even in the works yet.
And one of the things that the Russians keep saying, and I asked specifically about this, what are Russia's red lines? How likely is it that the Trump Administration is going to be able to at least help end this conflict within the next couple of months as Keith Kellogg said? And clearly, the Russians are saying, look, all of this is going to be a lot more difficult than the Trump Administration thinks.
The Russians keep saying, as you just noted, that there are new realities on the ground that they hold certain territory. They're going to want to want to hold on to that territory. And of course, there are other areas, like for instance, in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, or the Kherson region of Ukraine, where they don't even control all that territory.
And they still believe that at the end of any negotiating process, that territory should be there. So, the Russians are already saying that, as of right now, they are sticking with their maximalist demands that they've had over the past couple of months, where they say that Ukraine essentially needs to disarm, essentially needs to give up, is not allowed to be part of NATO.
That is something that they've reiterated once again today, at the same time they are saying that, look, of course, they are open to dialog. They're open to direct talks with Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has even said he would be willing to speak to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, even though the Russians, of course, don't consider Zelenskyy to be a legitimate President of Ukraine.
While Zelenskyy is saying, look, he's also ready for talks, but he wants security guarantees from the United States and from the Europeans as well. In any case, what the Russians seem to be indicated is they are interested in starting a process, but at the same time, they're also saying that, look, all of this is definitely going to be a lot more complicated than some people in Washington might think.
At the same time, you do feel momentum gaining steam for a possible round of talks, and also even for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and the President of the United States in the not-too-distant future, Christina.
MACFARLANE: All right. Fred Pleitgen, there live from Moscow. Thanks, Fred. President Trump is doubling down on his controversial proposal last week to evict 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and create what he called the Riviera of the Middle East. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One yesterday.
[08:50:00]
The president described the war-ravaged enclave as a big real estate site. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think that it's a big mistake to allow people, the Palestinians, or the people living in Gaza to go back yet another time. And we don't want Hamas going back. And think of it as a big real estate site, and the United States is going to own it and will slowly, very slowly, we're going to rush develop it. We're going to bring stability to the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, vice -- the president also, once again, suggested that other Middle Eastern countries would take in displaced Palestinians. Regional leaders, however, have rejected the president's plan, which breaks with decades of U.S. foreign policy.
Meantime, 16 of the 33 hostages expected to be released in phase one of the ceasefire deal have been freed. Three of them reunited with their families on Saturday. Israel is calling their gaunt, frail appearances shocking. The family members of Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy are speaking out about what they've been through, and they're demanding the release of all the remaining hostages.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL LEVY, BROTHER OF RELEASED ISRAELI HOSTAGE OR LEVY: Yesterday, after a year and four months, I saw my brother again. I hugged him, but he wasn't the same old who left home on October 7th. He came back in poor physical condition. Anyone who saw the pictures and videos couldn't ignore it. For 16 months, he was hungry, barefoot, and in constant fear that every day can be his last.
YULIE BEN AMI, DAUGHTER OF RELEASED ISRAELI HOSTAGE OHAD BEN AMI: He survived hell. The return of the hostages yesterday leaves no room for doubt. They all must return. We will not stop fighting until the last hostage come home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: We will not stop fighting. Now up next a hidden masterpiece, what experts found beneath the surface of a painting by famed Renaissance artist Titian. Coming up the discovery that was right before their eyes.
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MACFARLANE: Welcome back. A painting has been found after hiding for centuries under another painting. Researchers in Cyprus discovered the hidden portrait under an oil painting by the 16th century Renaissance master Titian. CNN's Nick Valencia explains how they found it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This work of art has been hidden for more than 400 years. The portrait created by Renaissance master Titian remain undetected beneath another painting since the 1570s.
NIKOLAS BAKIRTZIS, CYPRUS INSTITUTE PROFESSOR: It was like uncovering the puzzle. We said, OK, maybe this is a part of something and then the artist changed his mind. But then, once we started realizing that there is a complete work underneath, we became extremely excited, happy and intrigued also.
VALENCIA (voice-over): The newly discovered portrait depicts an unidentified man bearing a thin mustache, a quill in hand and standing beside a stack of papers or books, an ordinary image compared to the one of Jesus Christ bound wearing a crown of thorns that Titian ultimately painted over it.
BAKIRTZIS: Titian is somebody who was reusing his canvases.
[08:55:00]
There have been other paintings discovered or partially painted works under some of his other canvases.
VALENCIA (voice-over): The painting of Jesus called Ecce Homo, was undergoing a conservation process when researchers, using a microscope spotted varying pigments through the fine cracks of the old painting. Using a combination of imaging X-ray visuals and other non-invasive methods.
Researchers in Cyprus were able to detect the full buried portrait and created a new oil painting version of it.
BAKIRTZIS: Discovery and mapping of this under painting has helped us to understand a lot more than what we knew until this day about the reuse of canvases and the reuse of paintings in Renaissance studios.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Titian's original painting, along with the recreation of the once hidden portrait, are now on display in Cyprus until March 10th. Nick Valencia, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Quite a find. I wonder how many other hidden paintings there are in the world. Thanks for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Christina Macfarlane. Stay with us for "Connect the World" with Eleni Giokos up next.
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