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CNN International: Soon: Trump And Jordan's King To Meet At White House; Hamas Says It Will Postpone Next Hostage Release; Watchdog Warns Trump's Dismantling Of USAID Means Funds Could Fall Into Hands Of Terrorist Groups. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired February 11, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning or good evening, depending on where you're watching, I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
And ahead on CNN Newsroom, a crucial meeting at the White House this hour, as President Trump hosts the King of Jordan. This after Trump said that he wanted Egypt and Jordan to accept millions of Palestinians from Gaza. Plus, Fed Chair Jerome Powell being grilled on Capitol Hill right now. It is his first chance to address lawmakers after the President announced a new round of tariffs. And we'll take you to the border of Thailand and Myanmar for a look at the lives impacted by President Trump's decision to freeze U.S. foreign assistance.
Well, happening shortly, a critical meeting will take place at the White House with pretty big implications for the Middle East. Jordan's King Abdullah will sit down behind closed doors with Donald Trump, just as the U.S. President makes new threats over his plans for Gaza. Now, Jordan has flatly rejected the idea of evicting Palestinians from Gaza so that it can be turned over to what the U.S. -- turned over to the U.S. in what Mr. Trump has described a giant real estate transaction. President Trump now explicitly saying that Palestinians would not have the right to return to their homeland if they leave. Instead, he wants Jordan and Egypt to take them in, and now says that he could block aid to those countries if they refuse.
President Trump also making new threats over the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal. Hamas announced that it will postpone the next hostage release, accusing Israel of violating the truce, including withholding some aid. Listen to Trump's response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'd say, they ought to be returned by 12 o'clock on Saturday, and if they're not returned, all of them, not in drips and drabs, not two and one and three and four and two, Saturday at 12 o'clock, and after that, I would say, all hell is going to break out, and I don't think they're going to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right. Israel is now accusing Hamas of not living up to the deal, ordering troops to be ready for, quote, "any possible scenario in Gaza".
Let's get more now from Kevin Liptak, who is at the White House. Kevin, let's turn back to that meeting at the White House. What are we expecting to come from this?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, if you listened to President Trump, he says he wants to make a deal with Jordan to accept these Palestinians that, in his plan, would be dislocated from Gaza and be moved to Israel's neighbors in Egypt and Jordan. Of course, King Abdullah has said flatly that this is a non-workable solution. And I think he is coming to this meeting really trying to ascertain, is Trump's position a serious plan? Does the President really believe that the United States can raise Gaza, build glass towers and open it up to, as he calls, the world citizens? Or is this a negotiating tactic? Is this the start of the President's plan to try and convince other countries in the region to come up with their own alternative proposals for how to re-develop Gaza?
And I think King Abdullah is entering this meeting, probably armed with some alternative plans that would stop short of a massive wave of Palestinians moving into Jordan, which is something that he very much wants to avoid. This is something of an existential question for King Abdullah. Jordan is a country that already, by some measures, is half Palestinian, and that delicate demographic balance in the country is something that he will need to maintain, certainly as popular dissatisfaction grows in that country at his family's rule. And so, this will be an important conversation for these two men to have.
What President Trump seems to be wielding as leverage is American assistance to Jordan. The United States provides about $1.5 billion in foreign aid to Jordan. It's a country that really relies on it. Unlike many other Arab states, which have all these oil deposits, Jordan really relies on American assistance, both to prop up its own budget, but also security assistance. Jordan has been something of a stellar American security partner for the last several decades, both allowing American troops on bases there, but also helping to protect Israel. Remember, just last year, Jordan helped shoot down those Iranian missiles that were fired towards Israel. So, the King also has some leverage here as sort of a reliable American security partner in the region.
I do think it's notable that, unlike the President's last several meetings with foreign leaders at the White House, the Oval Office meeting will be closed press. We won't see these two men sitting down together, unless they decide to open it up at the last minute. And I think that just goes to show just how serious these talks will be when they get underway in about a half an hour from now.
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SOLOMON: So, Kevin, to that end, because we're not expecting a press conference, we're sort of limited, as the press to sort of what questions can be shouted to both leaders on their way in and their way out. And so, that sort of limits how much information we can really expect to come from this meeting.
LIPTAK: Yeah. I think that's true. Certainly, we'll hear potentially from President Trump later today. He has not been shy about coming out and speaking to the press. And it will be interesting to hear, if he does that, whether King Abdullah was able to sway him from his position in any way, whether he was able to provide any reasonable alternatives to what has so far, at least in the President's own telling, been quite a serious position that he does believe that these other countries in the region will need to take these Palestinians in if this plan is to move forward.
Of course, the backdrop to all of this is that very fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which seems to be fraying over the last several days. President Trump offering that ultimatum yesterday that all hell would break loose if all of the hostages are not released. Certainly, his plan to raise Gaza, forcibly move the Palestinians out in redevelopment has not necessarily helped matters on the ceasefire front. That has lent a degree of chaos to all of this that I think the Palestinians, the Israelis and the other mediators in the ceasefire are now having to deal with. So, it will be interesting to see as well, whether the Jordanian King is able to tell the President anything on that front, as these two sides and all of the sides work to get the ceasefire back on track.
SOLOMON: Absolutely. OK. Kevin Liptak reporting live from the White House there. Kevin, thank you.
And that meeting between Jordan's King and President Trump, it's just minutes away. Of course, we will take you back to the White House later in the show. We'll bring you also some analysis from a Senior Director at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Meantime, the Trump administration's plans to dismantle USAID may have some unintended and also very dangerous consequences. That temporary freeze on foreign aid directed by President Trump could make those funds more difficult to track, increasing the risk that the money could end up in the hands of terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, or ISIS. That's according to a new report from the USAID Inspector General. It says that the agency's usual vetting process is on hold right now because of reductions to its staff.
Let's get to the State Department now and Jennifer Hansler. So, Jennifer, what more are you learning from this watchdog report? What else does it say?
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Rahel, some really startling conclusions in this new report that came out from the USAID watchdog yesterday, perhaps the most eyebrow raising of which is what you referenced, the fact that this vetting that's intended to ensure that humanitarian aid that's funded by U.S. taxpayers does not unintentionally end up in the hands of terrorist groups or their supporters. The report says that, for programming in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza and Yemen, all of that programming received was called partner vetting to ensure that the funding is ending up in the right place with responsible organizations.
But, according to this report, which is citing staffers who spoke with the Office of the Inspector General, the staffing on this, they have all been told to stay at home because they were either placed on furlough or on administrative leave, and as such, they cannot conduct any of this partner vetting. They said that this gap leaves USAID susceptible to inadvertently funding entities or salaries of individuals associated with U.S.-designated terrorist groups.
And Rahel, more broadly on this, they're just saying that because of these shortages in staffing, because of the reductions that we've seen the Trump administration put in face, there is virtually no oversight that is being able to happen right now of these billions of dollars of humanitarian assistance. They note that some 90 percent of the office at USAID that's responsible for overseeing humanitarian assistance has either been put on leave or is expecting to put on leave, and as such, this has really just grounded this oversight effort to a halt here. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Jennifer, any response from the Trump administration about this report and the concerns here?
HANSLER: We haven't heard anything from the Trump administration yet. We can assume that this was shared with them, as is often the case with IG reports. They are often shared with the relevant agencies, in this case, USAID and the State Department. However, this really seems to fly in the face of the concerns that were voiced by President Trump as well as Elon Musk of potential misuse and fraud, because here we have the independent watchdog that oversees USAID saying that because of these changes, they are not able to do this work. Now, of course, they noted in their report that there have been concerns for some time of potential misuse, but they say it is inarguable now that because of these changes, because of these shortages, that work is even harder to conduct. Rahel.
SOLOMON: OK. Jennifer Hansler live at the State Department. Jennifer, thank you.
And the impact of the USAID funding freeze is already being felt thousands of miles from the U.S., as far away as the border between Thailand and Myanmar.
Here is CNN's Ivan Watson.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what happens when the world's biggest aid donor suddenly stops sending money. Families ordered to evacuate their sick loved ones from this hospital in the mountains of western Thailand. Days later, the hospital deserted. Its front gate locked shut.
WATSON (on camera): This is a refugee camp for tens of thousands of people who fled the Civil War across the nearby border in neighboring Myanmar. The hospital here largely depended on U.S. government funding, which suddenly stopped, and now nearly two weeks later, there isn't a single doctor on duty for this community of more than 30,000 people.
WATSON (voice-over): It's a 30-minute drive from this sprawling refugee camp to the nearest Thai hospital. The director here shocked by the sudden closure of the camp hospital.
WATSON (on camera): Has this been stressful, these last two weeks for you?
DR. TAWATCHAI TINGTAWEESAK, DIRECTOR OF THA SONG YANG HOSPITAL: Yes. Yes. Yes. I think so. Very dangerous.
WATSON (voice-over): His facility has to suddenly absorb some of the refugee camp's patients, and that includes 32-year-old Mary.
WATSON (on camera): Is this your first baby?
MARY: Yes.
WATSON (on camera): You're going to be a mama soon.
MARY: Yeah.
WATSON (on camera): You're going to be a mother.
MARY: Yeah.
WATSON (voice-over): Suffering high blood pressure, she was rushed to this maternity ward this morning and is now in labor, far from her family and home at the camp.
MARY (Interpreted): I just want to ask the U.S. government, why they have to stop helping the refugees?
WATSON (voice-over): On January 20th, President Donald Trump ordered an immediate 90-day pause in all U.S. foreign aid. He declared, the U.S. aid industry is not aligned with American interests and claims it serves to destabilize world peace. Years, Myanmar has been ripped apart by a brutal civil war, a military dictatorship that seized power in a coup in 2021 battling numerous insurgent groups. The conflicts forced more than three million people to flee their homes, and now aid organizations tell CNN they only have a month and a half of funding left to feed refugees along the Thai border with Myanmar, leaving smaller aid groups scrambling to fill the gap.
WATSON (on camera): You're going into Myanmar.
KANCHANA THORNTON, DIRECTOR, BURMA CHINDREN MEDICAL FUND: This is will go across the border. Yeah.
WATSON (voice-over): Kanchana Thornton regularly takes food, infant formula, and medicine across the border river to desperate people in the conflict zone. The U.S. funding cut made matters worse.
WATSON (on camera): Why is it affecting you? You don't get money from Washington?
THORNTON: Well, patient come to us and asking us for help.
WATSON (on camera): Because they're not getting it from the original --
THORNTON: Yeah, because they're not getting support that they should from the NGO that got the funding cut.
WATSON (voice-over): Everywhere we go in this poverty-stricken border region, we hear about basic services disrupted and aid workers being laid off.
WATSON (on camera): This clinic treats nearly 500 patients a day. It receives nearly 20 percent of its funding from the U.S. government. Washington has been sending money here for at least 20 years, but now all of that has stopped.
WATSON (voice-over): Uncertainty now felt by Rebecca and her nine- year-old daughter Rosella.
WATSON (on camera): Yeah. Can you show me your favorite pictures?
WATSON (voice-over): The residents of the refugee camp who had to move out of the hospital when it shut down last month, even though Rosella was born with a bone condition. She needs oxygen around the clock. My daughter needs the hospital to be open, Rebecca says, and so do I, because I'm pregnant. The cut in U.S. funding means this pregnant mother no longer has access to a doctor, and she doesn't know how much longer her daughter's oxygen will last.
Ivan Watson, CNN, on the Thailand-Myanmar border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And coming up for us, we'll take you live to Capitol Hill where the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair is facing senators' questions on the economy. Details ahead on hot button issues from inflation to interest rates. Plus, Trump is bringing in a new set of tariffs, this time on steel and aluminum. We'll take a closer look at the expanding trade war in just a moment.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. Investors are keeping a close eye on Capitol Hill this hour. That's where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell continues testifying before the Senate Finance Committee. This is part of his semiannual monetary policy report. Now, Powell's answers could tell us what he thinks about President Trump's tariffs and their possible impact on inflation and the world's biggest economy. Take a listen to this exchange between Powell and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren over the state of America's banking system. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): If the CFPB is not there examining these giant banks to make sure they are following the laws on not cheating consumers, who is doing that job?
JEROME POWELL, CHAIR OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE OF THE UNITED STATES: I can say no other federal regulator.
WARREN: No one, in other words. So, thanks to Co-President Musk and CFPB acting Director Vought, Wall Street banks no longer have to show the bank examiners that they're not illegally opening accounts people didn't ask for, like happened with Wells Fargo, or charging illegal junk fees like the Bank of America did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right. My next guest is the Chief Economist of Moody's, where he directs Economic Research. Mark Zandi joins us now from Florida. Mark, always a pleasure to have you, and I know you're also a Philadelphia area native. So, hopefully you are still riding high off of Sunday's win.
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S: Indeed.
SOLOMON: But, turning to -- indeed. Yes. Yes, go birds. Turning to Capitol Hill now, give me a sense of your takeaways from what we've seen so far. Any surprises? What are you making of what he said?
ZANDI: No, no surprise. I think he is -- Chair Powell is making a clear case that the Fed is on hold. As you know, the Fed cut interest rates 100 basis points, a full percentage points, between September and now, and I think it's making -- he is making the case that that's the end of it for a while. He is pointing to the strong economy. The economy is strong, creating lots of jobs, unemployment is slow, four percent, full employment. That's one of his mandates. He has achieved it. And the other factor is inflation. It's come in a lot, but it's still a bit above target, above the two percent target. So, a reason for the Fed to kind of pause here.
But, this is unstated, at least so far from what I can tell. But, I think also playing a role in his thinking is economic policy. There is a lot of uncertainty around tariffs, immigration, tax, spending policies, and as long as there is so much uncertainty, the best thing to do is just to sit on your hands, do nothing, and I think that's what he is telling markets. He is just going to do nothing.
SOLOMON: And then, Mark, just to put a fine point on it, for people who are at home or watching this, trying to really get a good sense of what he is saying and how it impacts all of us, so, maybe no rate cut in the future, but inflation is coming down closer to target. I think most people would have hoped that by this point we would be seeing more rate cuts. Explain sort of the rational here for us.
ZANDI: Well, the economy is doing well. I mean, we're creating boatload of jobs last month -- the last three months, almost a couple of hundred thousand jobs a month. That's a lot of jobs. So, the -- I think from his -- from Powell's perspective, he is thinking, look, the economy can digest these higher rates pretty well. If I cut them, I run the risk of juicing things up, creating more wage and price pressures, getting inflation, which is already a little bit above where he wants to see it, even higher, and then he throw in things like tariffs and immigration policy that could add to the inflationary pressures. And I think he is thinking, balancing all these things out that makes more sense just to do nothing, not cut, or raise (ph) any further.
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Now, I do expect that towards the end of the year, when we get some clarity around these policies, and I think growth will be slower, they'll find room to start cutting again, but that's later in the year.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Mark. We know one person, one lawmaker who has been pushing for rate cuts for quite some time now, by my estimate, certainly more than a year, is Senator Elizabeth Warren. She has at times had a difficult relationship with Chair Powell. She admitted as much today in her comments, but she also accused Powell of playing politics. Let me play for you, Mark, what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN: I urge you to move more rapidly to bring down interest rates, beginning with a meaningful rate cut next month. You have proven you can move quickly when it is politically expedient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And Mark, what she was referring to there is the Fed scrubbing mentions of DEI from its website after Trump's inauguration, and other actions taken, presumably to comply with these new directives. But, Mark, is it a fair comparison when we're talking about cutting rates?
ZANDI: Rahel, I don't want to get in the middle of that battle. That's too heavy weights right there. Yeah. My own view is that Powell is doing the right thing here. I was a big proponent of him cutting rates back last summer. I thought, when rates -- before he started to cut, rates were too high, and he was running the risk of pushing the economy into a downturn, and no reason to do that, because inflation was coming in to script.
But, here we are today. It feels like the economy is in a pretty good spot. Inflation is coming in. Everything is sticking to script and you got all this uncertainty. So, I'm a big -- I was a big proponent of rate cuts. At this point, I'd say, let's just pause. Take a look around and see how things are going in a few months, because there is a lot of things that are happening here that could have big impacts on how the Fed should conduct policy and what rate should be. Tariffs is a good example. That deportations, immigration policy is a good example. That tax and spending policy if we get deficit and then tax cuts is a good example of that. So, till we get more clarity around those things, I think it probably
would be wise to keep rates where they are. Otherwise you run -- you do run the risk of restarting inflation then, and then what? Then you're going to start jacking up interest rates, and no one is going to like that.
SOLOMON: But then, Mark, let me take the opposite point, which is that if there is so much uncertainty and perhaps so much room for things to go wrong, don't you also run the risk of things breaking, and the strong economic growth that we've heard him talking about potentially being jeopardized? I mean, there is also that side of the argument.
ZANDI: Yeah. Sure. Absolutely. But, how do you handicap those things, Rahel? I mean, you can't. You can't put a probability on it. So, I think Policy Making 101 says, if you can't cut through the uncertainty, you can't attach a number to the things. The best policy is do nothing, sit on your hands, wait and see how this all plays out, and I think that's what -- he is following the playbook Policy Making 101, and I think that's exactly what he should do.
I mean -- and fundamentally, the economy is in a good spot. I mean, it's performing well. It has performed well, lots of growth, lots of jobs, low on unemployment. So, I think he has a bit of room here. And I think the odds of him making a mistake and keeping rates too high for too long is much reduced.
SOLOMON: Yeah. I think a lot of people's fingers are crossed that obviously all of those things continue, that people continue to be employed, that inflation continues to come down.
Mark Zandi, great to have you today. Thank you.
ZANDI: Yeah, anytime.
SOLOMON: All right. And now let's turn to Donald Trump's widening trade war, as far more expansive reciprocal tariff plan is set to be announced later this week. On Monday, President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum import into the U.S. with no exceptions and no exemptions.
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TRUMP: It's 25 percent without exceptions or exemptions, and that's all countries, no matter where it comes from, all countries. If made in the United States, however, United States of America, there is no tariff. It's zero. So, if it's made in the United States, there is no tariff. All you have to do is make it in the United States. We don't need it from another country. As an example, Canada. If we make it in the United States, we don't need it to be made in Canada. We'll have the jobs. That's why Canada should be our 51st state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right. Although the U.S. gets most of its steel from Canada, Brazil and Mexico, the tariffs are largely aimed at China, the world's largest producer of steel. And in Donald Trump's first few weeks in office, he has arguably been
able to do almost anything he wants, largely by executive order, almost. The biggest pushback we have seen on the President's power has come from the judicial branch, the courts. On Monday, federal judges dealt a series of blows to Mr. Trump's agenda, blocking him, for now, from implementing his buyout program, ordering him to unfreeze billions of dollars in federal aid and preventing the White House from firing the head of a watchdog agency that enforces ethics laws.
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It has all led to President Trump and his most vocal allies to begin raising questions about judicial authorities, setting the stage for potential constitutional showdown between the courts and the White House.
Well, still ahead, a meeting that could have huge implications for the Middle East now just minutes away, Jordan's King Abdullah visits the White House, as President Trump pushes his plan for Gaza. Plus, Vice President J.D. Vance has a warning over future AI regulations. We are live in Paris with his comments, when we come back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
And any moment now, President Trump is expected to greet the King of Jordan and the Crown Prince at the White House. We'll take you there as soon as it happens.
But first, here are some of the international headlines we're watching for you today.
Former Spanish football Chief Louis Luis Rubiales has testified that he asked for permission before kissing female footballer Jenni Hermoso. Now, Hermoso maintains that Rubiales did not have consent to kiss her during the World Cup celebrations in 2023. His sexual assault trial is taking place in Madrid, with prosecutors seeking a two and a half year prison sentence.
More than 50 people were killed after a bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a ravine below in Guatemala's capital. This happened early Monday morning. Emergency teams had to work in the dark to rescue people. Guatemala's President called the tragedy, quote, "a national pain". An investigation is now underway to try to determine the cause of the crash.
The body of water, formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico, is now listed as the Gulf of America for U.S.-based users of Google Maps. The switch was made after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to honor what he called American greatness. Google says that its policy is to apply name changes when they're updated on official government sources. Now, to make things slightly more confusing, Google users in Mexico, well, they'll still see Gulf of Mexico on their maps, and everyone else, well, will just see both names. Any moment now, Jordan's King is due to meet with President Trump at
the White House. He is under pressure to take in Palestinians from Gaza as part of Trump's plan to evict Palestinians from their homeland and turn Gaza into what Trump calls the, quote, "Riviera of the Middle East". Jordan has flatly rejected that, but Trump suggests that he could block billions in aid to both Jordan and Egypt if they refuse. The U.S. President also now explicitly saying that Palestinians would not have the right to return to Gaza if they leave.
All right. As we continue to watch that meeting, let's now get some perspective from Firas Maksad. He is a Senior Director and Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, and he is joining us now from Miami.
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Firas, great to have you. Unfortunately, no press conference today. So, there are a lot of questions that we probably won't get answered. But, what are you watching and what are you expecting?
FIRAS MAKSAD, SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR STRATEGIC OUTREACH, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Thank you, Rahel. Yeah. I mean, there is a reason why there is no presser today after this very crucial meeting between the King of Jordan and President Trump, and it's because the stakes are that high, and the two men do not want to be put in a situation fielding questions where it actually undermines the talks that are currently taking place. Jordan in a very difficult position, reliant on the United States for something to the tune of $1.6 billion a year in assistance at a time when its economy faces great difficulties. It already is a haven for refugees, not only Palestinians. Some 60 percent of the population there is Palestinian, but also from next door, Syria and Iraq, given the conflicts that have taken place there.
And also for the United States, this is a very important relationship. Jordan is America's number one Arab security partner. It provides the United States basing rights for the military, but also security and intelligence sharing, again, in an area surrounded, not only just to the east flank of Israel, very much a buffer country between Iranian- sponsored militias in Iraq, and Iran farther afield, but also empowering U.S. involvement in crucial places like Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. So, it's very important to get this relationship right. He is the first -- the King of Jordan is the first Arab leader to visit Trump since the inauguration on January 20th.
SOLOMON: So, Firas, I mean, just following up on that point and just how important Jordan is, even just for Israel in terms of the security cooperation, should it be a concern for Israel if you were to displace millions of Palestinians from Gaza into Jordan and now suddenly you have them forcibly being moved to a different country? Does that create a concern for Israel?
MAKSAD: Well, it should, is the answer to the question. We haven't seen that yet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He has got his own political agenda. But, Jordan and the Hashemite monarchy there has been a crucial stepping stone, a crucial sort of pillar of American- sponsored stability in the region for all the reasons that I have outlined. There are some in Israel and beyond who view Jordan as an alternative state to the Palestinians. The argument goes that it's already some 60 percent Palestinian population. So, why not have Jordan become Palestine? That's a non-starter. It's very short-term thinking.
Again, this is a pro-American monarchy that is the lead security partner for the United States, and an instability within Jordan because of this Trump plan of taking in many, many refugees from Gaza will undermine the American security umbrella in the region and the standing of perhaps America's leading Arab ally.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Firas, talk to me about what success would look like coming out of this meeting for Jordan and Trump. I mean, we'll only really have Trump's comments. But, what would a successful meeting look like from the Jordan perspective?
MAKSAD: Thank you for that question. That is an excellent question, because I think what needs to happen right now is that the Jordanians, together with the other Arabs who have coalesced in support of not only Jordan, but also Egypt, both targets right now for President Trump in terms of his push to take on refugees from Gaza, they all collectively need to come up with an alternative to the Trump proposition that mass transfer of Palestinians out of Gaza and not allowing them to return, something that is a workable plan that then allows President Trump to retreat, perhaps from that stated position, which not only undermines the security of those Arab partners of the United States, but his own vision and objectives of wanting to get to normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Only they can come up with an alternative plan.
There is an emergency Arab summit that has been called for on the 27th of February. I would look to that as potentially an opportunity for the Arabs put forward a plan that then Trump can begin to get behind.
SOLOMON: And then, Firas, if I'm not mistaken, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also planning to be in the region at the end of this week. I mean, how much more do you think he can do in terms of coalition building, support building among Arab leaders for perhaps a different idea altogether, a different plan altogether, other than what we're hearing from the White House?
MAKSAD: Yeah. I think that visit is going to be crucial. We've seen the Secretary of State play, in many ways, sort of a clean-up role after many of these comments that have been made, sometimes off the cuff, by President Trump, put it in phone calls to the King of Jordan, the day after that presser with Bibi Netanyahu in which Trump unveiled his vision for Gaza, putting in phone calls also to the Saudis.
[11:35:00]
He will be going to Saudi Arabia as a stop on February 18, and other countries. Again, we know that the first phone call with a foreign leader that Trump put in after becoming President is with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. The normalization being a key objective here for President Trump. So, the Secretary's visit will be important in trying to get some sort of coordination with the Arab allies of the United States at a time when the President is very much going in the direction of what Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu wants to see take place in Gaza, and also possibly with annexation coming down the road in the West Bank.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Firas, before I let you go, just on a more practical matter, I mean, if the U.S. were to withhold aid, Jordan is one of the top three recipients of U.S. aid. I mean, who steps in to fill that gap. What happens then?
MAKSAD: Yeah, a big question. $1.6 billion that goes to Jordan at a time when the Jordanian economy is perhaps in its most fragile state, tourism being the cash cow for Jordan, and tourism taking a significant hit over the past year and four months because of the ongoing conflict in Gaza next door. And so, I think there is a crucial role to play here for the Arab states, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and others who do have resources and do not want to see Jordan and Egypt bow down to the kind of pressure that President Trump is putting them under.
And so, as a Plan B, if, in fact, we can't come up to an agreement, there isn't an Arab plan that President Trump can then get behind, if, in fact, he does exercise that financial leverage over Jordan and Egypt, I wouldn't put it past these Arab states to then step in and try to bridge that financial gap, at least in the short term, to make sure that we don't have some catastrophic instability in Jordan and Egypt.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Really fascinating. Great to have you as always. That's Firas Maksad. Thank you.
And as we let you go, just a reminder to our audience at home, we are continuing to watch the White House. As soon as we see the President, as soon as we see the King of Jordan, we will, of course take you there.
But, in the meantime, let's turn to some other news.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, he is in Paris for the AI Action Summit. In his first major international speech, we heard him say and warn Europe against too much regulation, which he said was killing the industry. The Vice President also warned against allowing AI to be used for, quote, "authoritarian censorship".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Over the last few years, we have watched as governments, businesses and nonprofit organizations have advanced, unpopular, and I believe, down right, ahistorical social agendas through AI. In the U.S., we had AI image generators trying to tell us that George Washington was black, or that America's Doughboys in World War One were, in fact, women. Now, we laugh at this now, and of course, it was ridiculous, but we have to remember the lessons from that ridiculous moment, and what we take from it is that the Trump administration will ensure that AI systems developed in America are free from ideological bias and never restrict our citizens' right to free speech. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And CNN's Melissa Bell has more now from the summit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The idea of this summit here in Paris was very much to kick start France as a center of the AI, but also to make up for what the French President described as some of the lost time for the European Union when it came to the field of artificial intelligence. It's been an opportunity to have leaders of Big Tech companies from all over the world gather with world leaders to talk about the future of AI.
We've had a speech from the American Vice President, calling for less regulation, criticizing the European Union for its efforts to legislate and regulate when it came to artificial intelligence, but more still, to regulate also when it came to privacy laws. He said that many American smaller companies had entirely chosen to ignore European consumers because of GDPR rules. And having criticized the European Union of its approach, he went on to say that the United States would continue to champion its Big Tech.
The idea then for Europeans had been to say that they too can stand up in this industry where they feel they've lost time so far, not just the French President announcing EUR 109 billion package that will involve private money from foreign and French companies investing here in France, but there was also an announcement at European level about further funds that Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission President, believes could help foster innovation here on the continent as well.
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Today, I can announce that with our invest AI initiative, we can top up by EUR 50 billion.
[11:40:00]
So, thereby, we aim to mobilize a total of EUR 200 billion for AI investment in Europe. We will have a focus on industrial and mission- critical applications. It will be the largest public-private partnership in the world for the development of trustworthy AI.
BELL: The hopes of organizers had also been the signing of a series of non-binding commitments on the future of AI and the need for it to be built in an inclusive and sustainable manner for the whole world. Those non-binding commitments signed by most people here, although not crucially, by the United States.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And the battle for the future of one of the most prominent AI companies is getting personal. Elon Musk is part of an investor group trying to buy OpenAI, the parent company of the popular ChatGPT service. Musk is leading a group of investors who have made a bid to buy OpenAI for nearly $100 billion. But, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, says there is just one problem. It's not for sale.
While at the AI summit in Paris, Altman told Bloomberg TV that he thinks Musk is trying to slow down his company. He also said he does not think that Musk is a happy person. In a post on X, which is owned by Musk, Altman rejected the bid for OpenAI, saying, quote, "no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk fired back with a simple reply, saying, Scam Altman.
All right. Still ahead, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is in Germany. We will have details of his trip in a live report. Plus, the Kremlin largely echoing comments made by President Trump about Ukraine and its future. So, could those remarks impact talks this week between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance?
We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says that Elon Musk and DOGE are welcome to find savings at the Pentagon, while still working with Congress to increase defense spending. Hegseth is in Germany for the start of a week-long trip, and he has also been talking about the audit of USAID and its work globally.
Let's now bring in from the Pentagon, CNN's Natasha Bertrand. Natasha, Hegseth just finished making comments in Germany. What did he say?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, he said that he welcomes Elon Musk and DOGE to the Pentagon to conduct an audit similar to the kind of audits that Elon Musk has been doing at other agencies in terms of eliminating programs that are deemed wasteful or inefficient. And Secretary Hegseth said that while he will not be willing to cut programs and initiatives that may affect actual war fighting capabilities and things that are critical to military success, he is willing to discuss with Musk the possibility that certain programs within the Pentagon including, he said, climate change programs are wasteful.
[11:45:00]
Here is a little bit of what he told reporters earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We've been talking to them, in partnership with them, and as I said on social media, we welcome DOGE to the Pentagon, and I hope to welcome Elon to the Pentagon very soon, and his team, working in collaboration with us. There is -- there are waste redundancies and headcounts in headquarters that need to be addressed. There is just no doubt. Look at a lot of the climate programs that have been pursued at the Defense Department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERTRAND: Now, obviously the Pentagon has the U.S.'s largest portion of discretionary spending within the U.S. budget. So, there are a lot of areas that Elon Musk and DOGE could potentially look at to see where there are redundancies and things that could potentially be cut to save taxpayer money.
However, I will note that climate change has been a pretty top national security priority for the Pentagon for several years now, because it does have, of course, real-world impacts on conflict, on migration, on impacts to military installations around the world. And of course, it is very key in the Arctic, where climate change is causing the ice to rapidly melt, thereby creating more opportunities for China and Russia to operate there. So, it does have a lot of real- life national security impacts that the DOGE team will have to consider if and when they decide to cut this program and its affiliated initiatives from within the Pentagon's budget, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Natasha, where to next for this week-long trip, and what do we expect for him to accomplish in these other places that he is visiting?
BERTRAND: Well, Hegseth that will travel to Brussels, where he is expected to participate in a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. And importantly, it's going to be the first meeting of that group which coordinates military assistance to Kyiv that the U.S. is not chairing. That group was founded by former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin just after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the U.S. has chaired every meeting of that forum ever since. Well, this time, the United Kingdom is going to be chairing that meeting in what appears to be a sign that the U.S. is willing and trying to step back from the Ukraine conflict a bit and let Europe and NATO allies take the lead on it.
Now, he is also going to be meeting with other defense ministers at NATO on Thursday, where they are going to be discussing increasing defense spending, building up defense industrial capacity, so, producing weapons and equipment more quickly to send to Ukraine and to backfill their own stockpiles to protect Europe. But, ultimately, the big message here and the big takeaway is going to be Hegseth telling European and NATO allies that they need to do more, that they need to take more responsibility for their own security, and they need to do more to help Ukraine fight off the Russians, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Natasha Bertrand reporting live at the Pentagon. Natasha, thank you.
Moscow is echoing U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion that Ukraine, quote, "maybe Russian someday". The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says that a significant part of Ukraine already wants to become part of Russia. His comments come three years into a conflict that has devastated both Russians and Ukrainians. Later this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to meet with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister says that peace negotiations must include ownership of annexed Ukrainian regions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SERGEI RYABKOV, RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER (Interpreted):
Undoubtedly, Ukraine joining NATO is one of the root causes of the special military operation. In terms of Kursk, our President has said it all. This is an issue that is so obvious to everyone, even to those who live outside of Russia. I want to say that the certain cunning with which our Western opponents, mainly the U.S. primarily, discuss these topics, is also quite understandable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: CNN's Fred Pleitgen was in Moscow and has a look now at what Russians are saying about President Trump's push for negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Thank you, soldier, the song goes, the crowd chiming in at an event in support of Russian veterans and troops fighting in what Moscow still calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
Valentin (ph) fought for the now defunct Wagner private military company, and says he is not unhappy President Trump is in office and Biden is out. Biden, I don't want to offend him, of course, but my personal opinion is that he was like an oddity in the country like the U.S. Trump is a commercial man. He is a businessman. He does everything for his own benefit.
Nina (ph) wears a Team Putin t-shirt, but also likes what she is hearing from the new U.S. President. Of course, I like him, she says. You have to be tough and have discipline in everything so people can live well without wars.
[11:50:00]
Do you think he can help resolve the conflict with Ukraine, I ask? It's long overdue, she says. He promised it, and we're waiting for it. Hurry up. Don't waste time. People are dying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our grandfathers want to save the world.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Russian intelligence following up with a very open influence operation targeting Americans. This slick ad showcasing Soviet and U.S. troops defeating Nazi Germany together --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't trust those who would divide us. Remember, we all fought together for the truth. Our grandfathers' flags matter.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): -- urging Americans not to support further military aid for Ukraine. At the end, the symbol of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR. All this as President Trump this weekend claimed he is already in talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the war.
TRUMP: And I want to stop it just because I hate to see all these young people being killed. The soldiers are being killed by the hundreds of thousands. PLEITGEN (voice-over): While Russia says its forces are making steady progress on the battlefield in Ukraine, the costs are high. The Ukrainians publishing this video allegedly showing a Russian war plane crashing during battle in the same area. The Russians won't confirm or deny whether President Trump and the Russian leader have already spoken directly, and Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister making clear, peace talks with Moscow will be tough, when I asked him at a precedent. There is no hidden agenda or purpose in our position, he says. There is no element of grand standing. Our position is derived from a full understanding of internally felt and deeply experienced tragedy and seriousness of what is happening to the national interests of our country. Music to the ears of those attending the veterans' event in Moscow, vowing to fight on as long as the Kremlin says.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: Well, he just won the Super Bowl. Now, Jalen Hurts is having a little fun in the happiest place on Earth. We'll have more on celebrations for the Philadelphia Eagles, when we come back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. Football fans in Philadelphia still riding high after the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Quarterback Jalen Hurts celebrated with a trip to Disney World in Florida. He was selected as the game's MVP, the most valuable player. The rest of the team flew back to Philadelphia on Monday, greeting a crowd of excited fans and airport workers. Dozens of people waited hours just to get a glimpse of their hometown heroes. Some saying that they still hadn't gone to sleep since Sunday night's victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
And while the Eagles were celebrating the big win, the NFL celebrated a huge ratings win. It's estimated 126 million people watched Sunday's game. That is up about two percent from last year's Super Bowl. Fox says that viewership peaked during the second quarter, with more than 135.5 million viewers tuning in, and streaming viewership on Tubi also hit an all-time high. Next year's Super Bowl will air on NBC and Peacock.
And before we go, one more thing. Philadelphia officials have just wrapped up a news conference from City Hall, revealing details of this Friday.
[11:55:00]
It will be Friday's planned victory parade for the Eagles. It will start at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. And we have heard it a lot this week, but Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker making it clear that fans know yet again, please don't climb the light poles. This is, of course, happening on Valentine's Day, and there will be lots of love to go around for the Eagles. And the Eagles and Philadelphia, of course, known as the City of Brotherly Love. So, perhaps there is, I don't know, maybe it was all destined. Maybe this was the year they were supposed to win in the City of Brotherly Love. All right. Thank you for being with me today. We know your time is
money. So, thank you for spending some time with me. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next.
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