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CNN International: Trump: Russia And Ukraine To Begin Peace Negotiation; Hegseth Rules Out Ukraine's NATO Membership; Trump Holds Call With Putin; Alexander Vinnik Exchanged For Marc Fogel; Trump To Impose Reciprocal Tariffs On Trade Partners; U.S. Inflation Accelerates; China To Help Stop Ukraine-Russia War; Senate Confirms Gabbard; Judge Lets Trump's Buyout Proceed; Associated Press Banned From White House. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired February 12, 2025 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: -- from all around the world and to everyone streaming on CNN Max. I'm Jessica Dean.
Just ahead, President Trump says Russia is ready to begin peace negotiations with Ukraine. After a call with President Putin and another with President Zelenskyy. U.S. inflation is accelerating as the price of eggs rises at the fastest pace in a decade. And the White House is banning from -- some -- a journalism outlet from official events any reporter who refuses to embrace President Trump's renamed Gulf of America.
U.S. President Donald Trump says talks to end Russia's war with Ukraine will start immediately. Earlier, President Trump called his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, and here's what he said about his conversation with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: About the possibility, I mentioned it, of a ceasefire so we could stop the killing, and I think we'll probably end up at some point getting a ceasefire in the not too distant future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: President Trump also calling it, quote, "unlikely" that Ukraine will return to its pre-2014 borders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm not making an opinion on it, but I've read a lot on it and a lot of people think that's unlikely. Some of it will come back. I think some of it will come back, yes. Some of that land will come back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of defense throwing cold water on Ukraine's plan to join NATO, saying the U.S. does not see it as realistic. Natasha Bertrand has more now from Brussels.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Pete Hegseth visited NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, and he met with European and NATO defense leaders, and he spoke about how the U.S. is going to be taking a big step back from supporting the European alliance, as well as supporting the Ukraine and requested that Ukraine commit -- that U.S. allies commit more to providing Ukraine with sophisticated weaponry, as well as additional funding in a way that the U.S., he said, can no longer do because it has to focus more on its own internal priorities, including threats on the U.S. southern border, which the U.S. military has surged assets to in recent weeks, as well as the threat posed by China, according to Hegseth.
He said that a main priority for the U.S. is no longer going to be European security, rather it is going to be deterring a possible war with China. So, all of this to say that Secretary Hegseth made a couple stark points. He said that Ukraine, as a matter of ending this war finally with the Russians, cannot expect to become a member of NATO. He said that that is not a realistic outcome of a negotiated peace settlement. Here's a little bit of what he told members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group earlier on Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The United States remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defense partnership with Europe. Full stop. But the United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERTRAND: Now, Secretary Hegseth also said in his remarks that the U.S. remains committed to being a member of the NATO alliance, to maintaining its alliance, of course, with the European Union. But the bottom line, he said, is that the U.S. can no longer support Europe and Ukraine in the same way that it has been.
Now, it's unclear what exactly that is going to look like, whether the U.S. is going to stop providing equipment and weaponry to Ukraine altogether or if there is going to be some kind of deal worked out with the Ukrainians, perhaps in exchange for Ukrainian critical minerals, for example, that Donald Trump has been after to provide the U.S. with some kind of payment in exchange for its military support. But this message that was provided to U.S. and European and NATO allies at the NATO summit on Wednesday was very, very clear, and it was that U.S. is no longer going to be playing a leading role in any of this and that Europeans need to be prepared to step up.
Natasha Bertrand, CNN, from Brussels.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[18:05:00]
DEAN: Natasha, thank you. Joining us now is Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO. Mr. Ambassador, thank you so much for being here with us. I first just want to get your takeaway from today's developments.
IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO AND CEO, CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: Well, disturbing, to say the least, that basically is a withdrawal of the United States from the longstanding interest that we've had in Europe. I agree with Secretary Hegseth that Europeans need to do more, and I am glad to hear him say that our role in Europe is going to be to empower Europe to do more and to stay engaged. That is the good news.
The bad news is what he said about Ukraine and even worse, what the president said in his press conference later on. He made very clear, as Hegseth in Brussels, that the United States would not welcome Ukraine into NATO. That is a key demand that Ukraine has made for ending the war. He also made clear that the United States would not protect its allies if they were providing security guarantees to Ukraine, and that creates a division of security in Europe, that up to this point hasn't happened.
But I think most disturbing is this idea that the president laid out that Vladimir Putin is interested in peace. If he's interested in peace, he could walk -- he could stop the war today and take his troops out of Ukraine, and peace would reign. Vladimir Putin is the cause of this war, not a solution to it.
And secondly, the idea that this be negotiated between the United States and Russia, but without Ukraine present as the president indicated in his talks is deeply, deeply disturbing.
DEAN: Yes. And I did want to ask you about that last piece that you just raised, this idea that there could be peace talks that exclude Ukraine.
DAALDER: Yes, it's remarkable. It reminds me of 1938 when prime minister -- the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, went to Munich and talked to Hitler about the future of Czechoslovakia and came home and said, peace in our time, with a piece of paper in his hand. It sounded like the phone call that the president had with Vladimir Putin leads him now to believe that pieces at hand, even though the party that is the victim, the party that has suffered the greatest, the party that we, up until this moment have supported, militarily and economically, will not be part of the very process that is supposed to bring peace. This is a dictate (ph) from two powerful countries. It has nothing to do with peace or even with ending a war.
DEAN: And so, zooming out, having that in mind, what do you think this means more broadly for NATO countries?
DAALDER: You know, I think more broadly, it means that NATO countries are on their own. This idea that, as Pete Hegseth has said, China is more important, and that we ought to be focusing on other parts of the world, and Europe should focus on Europe. I think that's real. I think it is something that Europeans should now count on. The idea that the United States may not be there in order to help defend them.
Hopefully, it will be there, but I wouldn't spend a lot of time counting on that. And that means that Europe needs to do fundamentally more, it needs to do more to enhance its own security. And we've just published a big report in the Belfer Center at Harvard and the Chicago Council on laying out an agenda how Europe needs to do that.
Now, one hopes that the United States will help and empower to use Pete Hegseth's word, Europe to do more. But ultimately, Europe just needs to figure out a way not only to spend more, which is the focus of Trump and Hegseth, but also how to acquire real capabilities that are necessary to defend not only their security, but also the security of Ukraine, which ultimately is inextricably linked to their own security.
DEAN: And what do you think -- I mean, obviously, we're seeing this playing out in real-time, but does this just serve to embolden Vladimir Putin?
DAALDER: Oh, absolutely. Because Putin can now think that with a phone call and maybe a meeting in Saudi Arabia, which is where the president said they would meet initially, he can make sure that the United States is no longer part of the equation.
The number one goal of the Soviet Union and of Vladimir Putin for the last 80 years has been to divide the United States and Europe. And Donald Trump is doing a fundamentally wonderful job in helping Russia to achieve that goal, to define the allies in a way that makes the alliance weaker, frankly, makes the United States weaker, and plays right into Russia's hands.
[18:10:00]
DEAN: And just finally, I know you've said there are four keys you see to getting a deal done. How do you see that playing out?
DAALDER: Yes, I think there are four elements. One is the decision about borders. Where are those borders going to be? Second, what happens to security guarantees that are necessary for Ukraine to be able to feel that if the war ends, it won't restart? Third, the question of sanctions and what to do with the sanctions that have been imposed on Russia. And fourth, the question of support for Ukraine, both reconstruction and defense of support.
And all the indications we heard from today point in the wrong direction. They point in the direction that, first of all, as both Trump and Hegseth said, it's unrealistic to think that Ukraine can exercise full sovereignty over its entire territory. It just has to give up territory, that on the question of security guarantees, the ball is in Europe's court, that the United States and NATO won't have a role in it, that the issue of sanctions, it was -- when President Trump a week ago or so, said that he would impose severe sanctions on Russia, it was for -- in order to have them commit to peace. They have now done so. So, I fear that he may well lift sanctions.
And then, finally, we are seeing the president saying that any aid that has been given now needs to be repaid in terms of rare earth minerals and energy that Ukraine has. So, on all four of those elements the balance favors Russia, not Ukraine. The balance favors the perpetrator of the biggest crime since 1945 in Europe, not the victim of that crime.
DEAN: Yes. And I think that point is so, so important to remember. Ivo Daalder, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, we thank you for your time.
DAALDER: Thank you, Jessica.
DEAN: A flurry of diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia led to the release of detained American teacher Marc Fogel Tuesday. A White House source telling CNN in return the U.S. is releasing Russia money launderer Alexander Vinnick, who's been held in the U.S. since 2022.
Fogel visited the White House late Tuesday after being flown home from Russia. He said he was grateful to everyone who stood by him during his ordeal. He also thanked the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARC FOGEL, U.S. TEACHER FREED FROM RUSSIA: I feel like the luckiest man on earth right now. And I want you to know that I am not a hero in this at all. And President Trump is a hero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The Trump administration also says three detainees, including one American, were released from custody in Belarus Wednesday. Belarus is a close ally of Russia. And Fred Pleitgen is joining us now from Moscow. Fred, first, just tell us what you can about this prisoner release.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly this is something that's prisoner released that I think was a catalyst, if you will, for the Russians for the phone call that happened today between President Trump and President Putin, obviously starting with Marc Fogel being released yesterday, which really kicked things off.
And I think for the Russians, they see all of this as a big goodwill gesture. It was quite interesting to watch Russian state TV, Jessica, throughout the better part of today, went again and again, calling the fact that Marc Fogel was released a goodwill gesture by the Russian president, by Vladimir Putin. Now, at that point in time, it wasn't clear who exactly the Russians were getting back then, that it was Alexander Vinnick. Still, it appears as though it might have been the Russians that actually initiated all of this. If we listen to Steve Witkoff, for instance, saying that he got a signal that perhaps Marc Fogel might be in play and that it might be possible to get him back. So, certainly, the Russians consider this to have been a goodwill gesture.
And this morning, we were on the phone with the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. And he also said something like that exchange that you saw take place is not something that could reverse U.S.-Russia relations or bring them back on track. But he also called this a confidence building measure.
So, certainly something that in the wider context of what we're seeing today with that phone call between President Trump and the Russian president, definitely something that the Russians believe is very important and plays in their favor. Jessica.
DEAN: Yes. And I do want to ask you about kind of the wider state of play, what the mood is in Russia right now, which I know you were talking a little bit about the state TV there. Just how people are feeling and metabolizing this information about how this is all playing out.
PLEITGEN: Well, first of all, I think that the Kremlin and certainly Moscow, political Moscow, if you will, in general, is very pleased with the way that this phone call went down between President Trump and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
[18:15:00]
In fact, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, after that call took place, texted CNN and said, look, he thinks that the call was both positive and constructive as far as the Russian side is concerned. And if you look at some other politicians here in Russian parliament, in the Russian version of the Senate, the Federation Council, they are also saying they believe that this is going to jumpstart, kickstart diplomacy between Russia and the United States and possibly bring the relations back on track, which, of course, could in the longer-term lead not just to an end in the fighting in Ukraine, but also to the lifting of sanctions, which is definitely something that the Russians want.
So, from their perspective, it's definitely something that is, I wouldn't say being celebrated, but seen as a good start for the Russians. They're definitely very happy tonight.
One of the things that we saw in the Kremlin readout in all of this, which caught our eye, was that the Russians are saying that Vladimir Putin, in his call with President Trump, alluded to the fact that the root causes, as the Kremlin put it, of the conflict need to be addressed. And that's something that seems to indicate, from the Russian side, that the negotiations for a possible ceasefire, a possible peace plan, could be a little bit tougher than President Trump had let on before taking office, and now after taking office as well.
The Russians in the past couple of days have been speaking a lot about red lines, about things that are important to them and where they're not willing to budge in negotiations. Of course, a lot of that has to do with some of the territory that they've taken on the Ukrainian side. They keep talking about new realities on the ground, but of course, also territory inside Russia and the Kursk region that the Ukrainians hold right now.
And the Kremlin spokesman there unequivocally saying today, the Russian's militarily want to kick the Ukrainians out of that territory. They don't want that to be part of any negotiations going forward, Jessica.
DEAN: All right. And more to come on this. Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much for your reporting there from Moscow, we appreciate it.
Coming up, nothing to get egg-cited about in the latest U.S. inflation report. The price of eggs, and a lot of other items, still headed higher. We're going to break it all down for you ahead.
Plus, key votes in Congress for two of President Trump's most controversial cabinet picks. We'll tell you how Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fair, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEAN: U.S. President Donald Trump is about to fire yet another shot in his tariff battle with trading partners. He says he will soon be announcing sweeping reciprocal tariffs and says the U.S. has every right to do it.
[18:20:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The world has taken advantage of the United States for many years. They've charges massive tariffs that we haven't charged them. And as you know, I just did something on steel and aluminum, 25 percent, that will go up at some point, but 25 percent which will level the playing field quite a bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: The U.S. has also imposed separate 10 percent tariffs on China. Jeff Zeleny is joining us now from the White House. Jeff, of course, this is just the latest in all of the tariffs that President Trump has been rolling out.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, tariffs have certainly been one of the central anthems of the Trump administration, at least, in the first three and a half weeks or so, and the president is saying today he plans to sign again tomorrow another executive action on reciprocal tariffs.
This is separate, of course, than the tariff threat for Mexico and Canada that was last week, and separate of the China tariffs. These are reciprocal tariffs. He believes it's a matter of fairness. If the U.S. is charged a duty or a tariff, he believes that it should go both ways.
The central question here is, this is something that he's long believed in. It's a similar proposal to his first term in office here. But the bottom line is some economists wonder what this will do for the actual goods and services. A tariff, of course, is a tax on goods. So, with the inflation numbers today, certainly the White House won't need to talk about anything but that.
The economic questions hanging over this new administration are central, but the president going forward with this reciprocal tariff plan as soon as tomorrow, and certainly, not the last, just the latest. Jessica.
DEAN: And that's a great way to put it. Jeff Zeleny at the White House, thank you very much for that. The fight against inflation in the U.S. is still headed, though, in the wrong direction. New numbers showing consumer pricing rising 3 percent in January year over year, and a half a percent month over month.
Now, that's the fastest price raise in almost a year and a half and way above the Fed's 2 percent overall target. Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledging during congressional testimony that bringing down prices has not been easy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: We're close, but not there on inflation, and you did see today's inflation print, which says the same thing. I mean, we're -- we've had -- made great progress toward 2 percent. Last year, inflation was 2.6 percent. So, great progress, but we're not quite there yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Many fear the Trump administration's push to raise tariffs will only complicate the Fed's ability to contain inflation and continue cutting interest rates. That said, President Trump saying on social media Wednesday, quote, "Interest rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming tariffs. Let's rock and roll, America."
Paul La Monica is joining us now. He is a senior markets analysis writer at Barron's. Paul, thanks so much for being here with us. Let's start first with inflation and these new numbers. It continues to be a problem. Why is that?
PAUL LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKETS ANALYSIS WRITER, BARRON'S: Yes, these are stubborn, sticky price increases, and that is a problem for consumers, for investors, and the Federal Reserve. I think the one bit of good news, if you want to call it that, is that maybe once we get past this little problem that we've had with egg supplies, because the avian flu, that could bring food prices down. I mean, keep in mind egg prices alone were up more than 15 percent month over month and over 50 percent year over year. That is, I hate to say it, an exceptional sort of price increase in a short period of time. Once we get that out of the way, the rest of the inflation numbers are starting to cooperate.
But overall, 3 percent year over year for the headline number and 3.3 percent for the core, that's not what the Fed wants to see. They want that number closer to 2, 2.5, and it might take some time to get there, and I think that's why the market now doesn't expect the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates again in -- at its meeting in March, and it may not even cut rates in May. What the president has to say about that remains to be seen.
DEAN: Right. Well, clearly, he would like very much for them to cut those rates. But as you note, they will decide what they're going to do. And look, the president was elected for many reasons, but really top of mind in the data for a lot of Americans was for him to lower the cost of living in the United States. And I think the question is, how does he do that in this financial environment? He seems to think it's with tariffs and with, you know, telling the Fed what to do. How does he actually do this?
LA MONICA: It's going to be a delicate balance. I think, Jessica, that one of the problems he clearly has is that the Fed is an independent body, and it's going to do what it wants to do despite the political pressure.
[18:25:00]
Hopefully, there will be that relief on the food price front, and that will cause -- you know, will solve, I think, a lot of problems if you get food prices, you know, to not increase as rapidly as they have.
But to your point, tariffs could be viewed as inflationary, especially if there are reciprocal tariffs, particularly from China, and then immigration policy, deporting a lot of potential workers that might be willing to take lower wage jobs, that could push overall wages higher, which sounds great on the surface, yay, America gets a pay raise, but higher wages usually means higher inflation, and that complicates the matters for the Fed.
DEAN: Yes, and just in terms of a time frame, look, these tariffs, it's still playing out. He's going to likely sign more -- these reciprocal tariffs into place tomorrow. We're still going to see what's happening with Mexico and Canada. But in terms of a time frame, how do you see -- you know, how quickly can you start to get these things under control or start to see effects from what the actions that they're taking now?
LA MONICA: Yes, I think it remains to be seen, you know, just how quickly tariffs potentially increase prices. But the bigger issue is that, remember, there's a lag with the effect of Fed rate cuts. And even though the Fed is pausing now, they did cut a couple of times last year. So, that could have a stimulative effect on the economy within the next few months. The hope, of course, is that if these pricing pressures can get out of the way, the Fed could resume interest rate cuts, which is what I think obviously a lot of Americans, including the president, would like to see.
DEAN: All right. Paul La Monica, thank you so much for your analysis. We appreciate it.
LA MONICA: Thank you.
DEAN: Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is praising Elon Musk's efforts to cut U.S. government spending. Our Richard Quest sat down with Johnson at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Honestly, that's of all the things that are happening now in the United States. So, I think that's the one I -- we need to have it. We need to have a recognition in European democracies in the U.K. that we are spending far too much taxpayer's money without achieving the objectives that we promise the people that we're going to deliver. And I think to go through budgets line by line and take out waste is completely right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Coming up, could China be the answer to peace in Ukraine? President Trump seems to think so. We'll explain that right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:00]
DEAN: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Jessica Dean. And here are more news headlines we're watching today.
U.S. President Donald Trump held two crucial calls today, one with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a separate call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. For weeks now, Mr. Trump has been signaling his desire to speak with both leaders and end the war in Ukraine.
President Trump also expected to unveil reciprocal tariffs ahead of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. According to the White House, the move is aimed at matching existing tariffs on American goods, and the president claims these tariffs will be added on top of those already in effect.
And back-to-back winter storms have caused disruption to hundreds of flights within the United States. In Oregon, the weight of 318,000 kilograms of snow brought down the roof of a high school gym. It collapsed under that massive accumulation of snow.
Returning now to our top story, U.S. President Donald Trump announcing peace talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine will start immediately. Vice President J. D. Vance is expected to meet with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky later this week at a security conference in Germany. President Trump also agreeing with his secretary of defense, who ruled out Ukraine joining NATO as part of any peace deal.
Last month, Trump suggested China could help stop the fighting in Ukraine, and that the U.S. would be willing to work with Beijing on that. President Xi Jinping would be an unusual ally here. Trump has already ordered new tariffs on Chinese imports. And Xi is also very close to Vladimir Putin, which might strengthen his hand at the negotiating table.
Simone McCarthy is joining us now to talk more about this. Simone, is China willing to work with the U.S. on a trade deal or on a peace deal?
SIMONE MCCARTHY, CHINA WRITER, CNN.COM: Jessica, you can be sure that there are a lot of negotiations underway in Beijing right now, discussions about how Beijing could factor into this. China has long tried to position itself as a potential peacemaker in the conflict. It's also seen as a country with unique leverage, given the close economic relationship and the dependence of the Russian economy on China, especially since the start of the war and the imposition of western sanctions. China also has reason to work with the United States. They're trying to avert a major trade war with the world's largest economy.
But I think the question really is the extent to which Trump will see that, at this point, he needs Xi Jinping in these dynamics. Certainly, Trump has said in the past that he hopes to work with Xi on this. Will he still think that he needs that leverage after his diplomacy in the past 24 hours? We need to see.
And then, on the Chinese side, certainly Xi Jinping will be thinking about whether or not he will undermine his relationship with Russia, which is so important to his own goals to push back against the West if he does work -- excuse me, if he does work with Trump.
On the other hand, I think we can think that Beijing may be a little bit concerned. What if this relationship draws Moscow closer to Washington? So, they'll be watching all of that very closely.
DEAN: Yes, there's just a lot of elements at play here. So, what are -- just for China itself, what are the stakes for China?
MCCARTHY: The stakes are pretty high for China. I think one of the things that we can really see with Secretary of Defense Hegseth when he was speaking with European counterparts on Wednesday was that he said, the U.S. really can't play this kind of role in European security because they need to be focusing on Asia. And that's obviously going to be a concern for Xi Jinping.
Hegseth specifically said, we need to deter -- excuse me, we need to deter a war with China. We need to make sure that we're focusing on China as our key rival. And that's certainly something that China is going to be thinking about, OK, what do we do next? How are we going to be able to really engage with Trump? How are we going to be able to engage the Trump administration in order to make sure that we're able to reduce that pressure, perhaps lean in on that personal rapport between Xi and Trump in order to make sure that Beijing isn't coming under as much pressure.
Because, certainly, the U.S. is not going to be as distracted by the war in Ukraine if it does end up wrapping up and if they are shifting that focus back to Asia. Jessica.
[18:35:00]
DEAN: All right. Simone McCarthy, thank you very much for that. We appreciate it. And President Trump's phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin is their first known conversation of his second presidency. Brian Todd has more now on their relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: We had a great call, and it lasted for a long time.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump sounding confident after a nearly 90-minute call with Vladimir Putin, saying he and the Russian president agreed to work together to try to end the war in Ukraine, and --
TRUMP: Do we expect that he'll come here and I'll go there?
TODD (voice-over): -- Trump once again embracing a relationship fraught with potential danger.
RICHARD HAASS, PRESIDENT EMERITUS, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: The phase in which Vladimir Putin was a pariah from the American perspective, that seems to be over.
TODD (voice-over): Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, had not even spoken to Putin in almost three years, and an American president hasn't set foot in Russia since Barack Obama went to a G20 summit in St. Petersburg in 2013. But Trump's approach to Putin has always been distinct.
EVELYN FARKAS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE MCCAIN INSTITUTE: We have seen time and time again that he has tried to somehow stay on the good side of President Putin.
TODD (voice-over): That dates back to before Trump was first elected president, when he touted his ability to strike deals with the former KGB lieutenant colonel.
TRUMP: I think I'd get along very well with Vladimir Putin.
TODD (voice-over): Part of that mindset, analysts say, stems from Trump's affinity for strongmen.
MAX BOOT, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS: Trump has seemingly never met a dictator he doesn't like, and not just like, but he seeks to emulate, which is the scariest thing of all. TODD (voice-over): But many analysts believe Putin has played Donald Trump from the start, with flattery and favors, deftly using his training as a spymaster.
SAMUEL CHARAP, SENIOR POLITICAL SCIENTIST, RAND CORP.: He does at least reportedly employ some of the tactics he learned when he was in the KGB, in terms of assessing -- trying to find weaknesses in those who he's talking to and trying to exploit them.
TODD (voice-over): Helsinki, July 2018, at a high stakes summit, he inexplicably let Putin off the hook for Russia's 2016 election meddling.
TRUMP: I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.
BETH SANNER, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL: That was the kind of thing where Putin was able, I think, in some ways to very craftily control the room.
TODD (voice-over): Trump has denied being a mark for Putin's manipulations.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States.
TRUMP: No puppet.
CLINTON: That it's pretty clear --
TRUMP: You're the puppet.
TODD (voice-over): How might Putin try to shape the relationship this time around?
FARKAS: I think that President Putin will try to convince President Trump that he doesn't need the international order that they can just make deals, the two of them, and leave the rest of the world out of it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DEAN: Brian Todd, thank you. Still to come, one of the President Trump's most controversial picks is now the Director of U.S. Intelligence. How Tulsi Gabbard secured her Senate confirmation. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:40:00]
DEAN: Tulsi Gabbard has been sworn in as the U.S. Director of National Intelligence. This after the Senate confirmed her nomination Wednesday. The former House Democrat was one of President Trump's most controversial picks. That vote was 52 to 48 with former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. voting against her confirmation.
Meanwhile, the Senate advanced Robert F. Kennedy Jr's nomination as secretary of health and human services, setting the stage for that final confirmation vote. Manu Raju is joining us now from Capitol Hill. Manu, this was a big one for the Trump administration to get through.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a very big one. And in fact, it led to -- it was part of months of battling behind the scenes and a public pressure campaign, with some wavering senators, uncertain whether they could get behind her, given her past statements about Russia, sympathetic statements about Russia, about Edward Snowden, her meeting with Bashar al-Assad back in 2017. She was able to tamper some of those views in her confirmation hearings. And ultimately, Republicans decided to be deferential to the president.
Now, one Republican didn't, Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader, who said that her views were alarming and said that he was concerned about the Senate giving its consent to her. But, nevertheless, the Senate Republicans, 52 of them, voted to confirm her. She now is the Director of National Intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is on his way to getting that position to lead the nation's health agencies by tomorrow because of Republicans also following in line despite their own concerns about his views, particularly over vaccines.
One person to watch in that vote, Jessica, tomorrow, Mitch McConnell himself has not said how he would vote on that. But even if he votes no, Robert Kennedy Jr. is virtually sure to get at least 52 votes.
DEAN: Yes. And of course, Mitch McConnell who suffered from polio as a child. And, Manu, I also wanted to ask you, Trump has fired government watchdogs just across the U.S. government there. He has done that in violation of a law, that means that there should be 30 days consent. What's been the reaction on the Hill?
RAJU: Yes, there's been some concern among Senate Republicans because, you're right, there is a federal law that says 30 days is required to give notice to Congress of any firing of any of these government watchdogs, and there need to be specific reasons, case specific reasons about why these watchdogs have been fired.
But Trump has fired 19 of them, he's only been president for three weeks, and some of the protectors of these government watchdogs on Capitol Hill, even some Senate Republicans, say they want answers.
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SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): The president should do this, and he'd be within the law and accomplish what he wants to do, put these people on administrative leave for 30 days and then tell us why he's firing them.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Certainly, inspector generals play an important role.
RAJU: Do you think they should provide that rationale to Congress?
CORNYN: Yes.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): They're pressing. And in some cases they'll win and in other cases they'll lose.
RAJU: But should he -- when he loses, should he comply by those orders?
TILLIS: Well, he will. He said he's going to abide by the law. And I think if he doesn't, he runs afoul of the law, that's something that I don't want our president to experience. He will not openly and knowingly break the law. That sets up a lot of challenges for him that he doesn't want.
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RAJU: And that last point by Senator Thom Tillis has been one that has actually been debated a lot in the last several days in the aftermath of J. D. Vance, the vice president, suggesting that courts cannot exercise legitimate control over the executive branch. What exactly that means has prompted a lot of debate about whether they would defy these court orders to act on a range of issues there, but that one, senator, believes that ultimately Trump will comply with these orders if he loses, but that has not always been the case so far, which is raising a lot of questions about how any -- whether these courts can check the president's power as he tries to expand it in the early days of his administration. Jess.
DEAN: Yes, I think the key question is, yes, exactly, what will he do if he does lose and we're going to find out soon. Manu Raju, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
Coming up after the break, the White House bars the Associated Press from media events for two days in a row over the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. We'll explain the differences, next.
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DEAN: Welcome back. The White House confirms Associated Press reporters were blocked from events in the Oval Office because the news agency reversed to the Gulf of Mexico instead of the Gulf of America. President Trump changing the Gulf's name through an executive order. Apple Maps, Google Maps have gone along with it, at least for users in the United States.
When CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked about why the AP was being punished, the press secretary laid it out like this.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I'm not sure why news outlets don't want to call it that, but that is what it is. The secretary of interior has made that the official designation in the Geographical Identification Name Server, and Apple has recognized that.
Google has recognized that. Pretty much every other outlet in this room has recognized that body of water as the Gulf of America, and it's very important to this administration that we get that right, not just for people here at home, but also for the rest of the world.
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DEAN: U.S. government agencies have implemented the name change, but the AP operates around the world and has decided to stick with the traditional name, and it is now hinting at a legal challenge over this.
In his latest article for CNN, Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter likens Trump's edicts on language to newspeak. That's the big brother tactic used to wipe out dissent in George Orwell's dystopian novel, "1984." And Brian is joining us now.
It is -- Brian, to listen to them say it like that, I just -- listening to Karoline Leavitt there, this -- you know, just -- they are very bent on this language, this particular language.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST AND AUTHOR, "NETWORK OF LIES": Right. Remember in the first Trump term, the phrase alternative facts became popular? This time it's a little bit different because in the United States, it is now a fact that the government recognizes the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. But that is not a fact around the world. And the Associated Press has had to figure out a policy about this, just like a lot of other global news outlets have done.
The AP says it acknowledges Trump's executive order but calls it the Gulf of Mexico because a lot of its other customers in other countries don't recognize the name the Gulf of America. So, the AP is just trying to cover the news as fairly as possible, given this is a complicated matter.
And this is not the only a body of water that's contested. This is not a new problem. Apple and Google, they deal with this as well. Usually what happens as, in this case, with the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America is that you see different results based on where you are. And if you're in some parts of the world, you see both names. That makes sense to me.
But the Trump administration is using the tech company's decision as a weapon kind of against the Associated Press to say to the AP, you're doing it wrong, we're punishing you. And this is a very concerning moment, to see the American government saying to a news outlet, we think your editorial decision is wrong, and thus, we're going to ban you from covering events.
The AP usually gets access to all press pool events with the American president because the AP serves thousands of customers. It is one of the standard bearers of American media. So, to block out the AP, it could have a chilling effect more broadly. And I do expect the AP will probably go to court to fight this.
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DEAN: Yes, and you put it together with the other pieces, like seeing news outlets kicked out of their spaces in the Pentagon. They still have credentials, but don't have workspaces there. People -- or outlets that the Trump administration has tangled with in the past.
STELTER: Right.
DEAN: Brian, you can't help but think that they are really -- they really kind of want to have this fight, the White House.
STELTER: Yes, definitely. It reminds me a little bit of when you go to the doctor and you get your blood pressure checked, you put that the thing on your arm, and it gets tighter and tighter and tighter, little by literal, you know, minute by -- moment by moment it gets tighter and tighter and tighter. That's what we're seeing from the Trump administration in the last few weeks. Well, the first few weeks of the new Trump term. It's getting a little tighter every week, every day. And this action against the AP now, two days in a row, it is an escalation.
The AP said today this is a violation of the First Amendment. It is -- it says it will do whatever it takes to remedy this. That's a hint that a lawsuit is coming. But this is also broader than any action against any media outlet. The Trump administration is trying to say that it has control over language. That it decides what a body of water is called and a news outlet better get in line.
We've also seen the Trump administration say there are only two genders. We've seen the administration try to eradicate DEI. We know that in agencies they've used keyword lists in order to make searches to scrub unacceptable keywords from scientific papers and from databases. We've seen government websites deleted. This is all part of a broader effort to weaponize language to advance the administration's agenda.
And yes, lots of conservatives are cheering for this. They want the idea of two genders to be accepted in the U.S. and beyond. But it raises a thorny question, when news outlets write about transgender people, for example, is the government going to punish those news outlets? Are they going to revoke credentials? That's the kind of question that I think this effort against the AP raises.
DEAN: And the other thing that I think about as well is this idea that the Trump administration, Elon Musk, talk about First Amendment rights, freedom of speech, not censoring things, right? And at the same time, you're describing, like, using a transgender story as an example, like, are you allowed to say that that exists? Because it does exist, even if they don't want to acknowledge it.
STELTER: Right. In George Orwell's "1984," there's that idea of double speak, of double think, that words take on different meanings, that you say you're eliminating censorship when you're actually conducting a form of censorship. And certainly, that is what editors at the AP believe is going on right now. This was not a one off -- the news outlet was not just blocked one time or twice, it's now been three times, and I expect it will continue.
So, the courts will be the remedy, as has been the case for scientists, for doctors, for others who believe their rights have been violated, when government databases have been deleted, when websites have been scrubbed off the internet, we've seen courts intervene in the past few days. This is probably going to be a case where the courts will be tested.
And we've seen that before. We saw in the first Trump term, when credentials were revoked by this White House, by the Trump administration, courts intervened and sided with the press. We will see if that is the case again this time.
DEAN: Brian Stelter, thanks so much. Good to see you.
STELTER: Thanks. You too.
DEAN: A marathon of storms has started dumping rain, snow and ice on parts of the United States, and it's only just begun. The back-to-back winter storms have left hundreds of flight cancellations across the U.S. as Derek Van Dam explains.
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DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A trio of winter storms is impacting the country, the first of which brought snowfall to the D.C. area. They're going to get rain on top of this snow, making a sloppy mess on the ground, by the way, picked up nearly a half a foot of snow at Reagan National, that bumps the D.C. area up to some of the snowiest winter seasons we've seen in several years, at least to date.
Other areas saw over a foot of snow, across Virginia, all driven by an active jet stream pattern that is pushing these storms from the West Coast to the East Coast, lining up one storm after another after another.
So, the secondary storm starting to exit the equation, not before leaving a swath of snowfall across parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes, up to a half a foot even, locally higher amounts. By Thursday morning, it will be well off the East Coast and a trailing cold front will bring some remaining showers to the southeast where we've had several inches of rain already and more to come. So, the potential there for flash flooding still exists.
Now, speaking of flash flooding, what's happening on the west coast with storm number three is getting very interesting. I'll mention the snowfall first, because the Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges, it will be nearly impossible to drive across some of those mountain overpasses because it will measure in feet, not inches.
But then, the rain will move into Southern California where we've had our recent wildfires in L.A County. So, additional rainfall in this area means that burned areas could form into mudslides and debris flows very easily. So, we're going to monitor that situation very closely.
[18:55:00]
Nonetheless there are still flood watches in place for this area as several inches of rain will impact the coastal communities of the state of California, eventually moving into Southern California, and there's the winter weather alerts for the higher elevations, again, several feet of snow possible. Back to you.
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DEAN: Derek, thank you Now, to a very good boy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I choose the giant schnauzer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, Monty. He did it. Three years and he's finally earns best in show. What a --
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DEAN: Monty. Monty, a giant schnauzer from New Jersey, won the prestigious Best in Show award at this year's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York. Having triumphed in the working group for the last three years, Monty finally became the first in his breed to claim the top prize. Around 3,000 dogs from around the world compete in the annual contest. Congrats, Monty.
Thanks so much for your company today. I'm Jessica Dean. Stay with CNN.
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