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Trump to Implement Reciprocal Tariffs in April; Hamas to Resume Releasing Hostages; Mothers of Ex-Israeli Hostages Detail Their Daughters' Ordeal; Archaeologists Discovered an Ancient Mar-a-Lago in Pompeii. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 14, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, ahead on "CNN Newsroom."

The U.S. for the first time says it could send troops to Ukraine, but the warning is adding uncertainty to the Trump administration's approach to the war.

Donald Trump announces a plan for reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners. Hear what the White House's reasoning is and what the impact could be for consumers.

And a flurry of resignations within the U.S. Justice Department, as concerns grow over the politicization of the federal government.

We'll have those stories in a moment, but first, this is just in to CNN.

Ukraine's president says a Russian drone has struck a protective shelter at the Chernobyl nuclear plant. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the attack caused a fire, which was later put out.

He called damage significant, but said that radiation levels have not increased. They're still being monitored.

Chernobyl was the site of the infamous nuclear explosion and disaster in 1986, which spread radiation throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union. The site was later encased in concrete and steel. The U.N. nuclear watchdog says it has confirmed a drone strike there.

This comes as Ukraine tops the agenda at the Munich Security Conference and a possible major policy shift from the Trump administration on the war in Ukraine.

Vice President J.D. Vance telling "The Wall Street Journal," sending U.S. troops to Ukraine is on the table if Russia doesn't negotiate a peace deal in good faith. Vance also says there are economic tools of leverage, including increased sanctions on Moscow if Kyiv's long-term independence is not guaranteed.

Vance is attending the conference today, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the conference. That contrasts with President Donald Trump, who said he spoke by phone on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting the first talks aimed at ending the fighting might actually happen without Ukraine.

Now let's bring in CNN's Salma Abdelaziz following developments from London. Let's start with disturbing news of an apparent Russian drone strike on the site of the former Chernobyl nuclear disaster. What more can you tell us about what just happened?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this apparently just took place a few hours ago, so we're still gathering on information as to what exactly took place. But what we understand is in the middle of the night, essentially, a Russian drone strike, a Russian drone with an explosive warhead struck what is the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear site.

Now, of course, this fourth power unit is no longer in use. It's the one that exploded in the 80s that caused that massive, notorious disaster. It was later, as you mentioned, encased in concrete and steel. And it seems that that drone strike, that Russian drone strike overnight did cause a fire at the site. That fire was put out.

Now radiation levels are being monitored, according to Ukrainian officials. There is no indication that those radiation levels are going up, but they say they will continue to monitor them.

And President Zelenskyy is, of course, very quickly pointing to this incident, Ivan, to say, look, this shows that President Putin does not want to negotiate in good faith. And in President Zelenskyy's words, he's trying to deceive the world.

WATSON: Right. And I'm seeing that the Ukrainian Armed Forces is reporting that there were about 133 Russian drones fired at Ukraine in a single night, Thursday night. Of course, that's their perspective on this.

Now, let's advance to the potential for negotiations around this terrible war. It does appear that the Trump administration is sending very contradictory signals about what position it might take on the possibility of a peace solution or a negotiated solution. Can you walk us through some of the different positions that we've heard from these top officials?

ABDELAZIZ: I wish I could explain it to you, Ivan. Is it posturing? Is it miscommunication? Is it a U-turn?

I don't think anyone is clear at this time, and I think no one is trying to figure it out more than President Zelenskyy himself, who is set to meet with J.D. Vance, Vice President J.D. Vance, at the Munich Security Conference today.

[03:05:04] We heard from President Trump that he seemed very willing to negotiate an agreement with Russia. He said negotiations will begin now. When asked if Ukraine was seen as an equal partner in these negotiations, Trump said, hmm, that's an interesting question, and didn't seem to answer it.

There was a sense and a feeling across Europe that President Trump was going to unilaterally speak to President Putin with or without Ukraine.

Now we're looking at an article from J.D. Vance that seems to side very solely with Ukraine, offering to send American troops if Russia didn't operate in good faith, offering to up sanctions on President Putin and his administration.

So you have these very contradicting views, one from President Trump that says this war needs to end now, and I no longer want to spend American money or American resources on protecting Ukraine or European borders.

And then this morning we have this article from J.D. Vance saying seemingly the opposite. So again, we don't know at this time. This is unprecedented. It is a change in era, it is a change in scope, and I think we won't know more until we see J.D. Vance speaking to President Zelenskyy today.

But again, is it a miscommunication? Is it posturing? How does one conduct politics in this atmosphere? Ivan.

WATSON: How does one discuss diplomacy in this atmosphere? Is this intentional? Salma Abdelaziz in London, thank you for raising questions where we don't have concrete answers.

We'll be watching the Munich Security Conference very closely this weekend.

Now I spoke last hour with CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger and I asked him if he could untangle the mixed messages on Ukraine coming from the Trump administration.

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DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, AND WHITE HOUSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES": I can't untangle it. I can tell you that I have rarely seen a more disorganized set of presentations to the allies by a new administration.

Now look, when you are new, you, you know, have a while it takes to develop policy. And so you go out and you give speeches that basically leave options open.

Instead, what they've done is they've sent people out who have gone out and made declarations of what policy will be that either contradicted their fellow members of the Trump national security team or backtracked. Now Vice President Vance, who's giving a speech in a few hours here,

said that they would put -- the U.S. might well put troops in Ukraine if there was no deal. Well, Hegseth had just ruled that out. So clearly they are not coordinating.

WATSON: Yes, it does appear that way. And an interesting way to go into a negotiation, I guess. Can I ask, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now gone on the record saying that it's important that everything not go according to the Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan. How's that looking so far?

SANGER: Well, so far, not great. If you actually did say that Ukraine would never enter NATO, and if you actually did say that Ukraine would gain a fair bit of the territory, it's already taken, which is about 20 percent of the country, you've gotten two of the most important of Putin's demands given to Putin before they began negotiating.

Even if you intended to end up there, it's not entirely clear why you would start off that way. The Europeans, who I've seen since I arrived here yesterday morning, have been outraged that the President would give away that kind of leverage.

But I think the bigger concern is who's at the table. The theme has always been, Ivan, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. And yet initially, President Trump in his statement about who would engage in the negotiations talked about his own negotiating team and the Russians, and nothing about the Ukrainians, which led Mr. Zelenskyy to say, I'm not signing or agreeing to anything to which I wasn't even a party.

So then the President backtracked yesterday and said, oh, the Ukrainians will be involved in some vague way, he didn't make clear how, and other people will too. Presumably he meant the Europeans. Let's say it's not been a disciplined approach to the presentation.

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WATSON: To international trade now, President Trump has announced plans to impose sweeping reciprocal tariffs on all countries that export products to the U.S., and that could kick in as early as April.

This move threatens to ignite a global trade war and further ramp up inflation, as new costs will likely get passed on to consumers. The new tariffs could have the biggest impact on developing countries like India.

While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House on Thursday, Mr. Trump said the trade deficit in India's favor is a big problem.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I had discussions with India in the first term about the fact that their tariffs were very high and I was unable to get a concession. So we're just going to do it the easy way and we're just going to say whatever you charge, we charge.

And I think that's fair for the people of the United States. And I think it's actually fair for India.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to work on a mutually beneficial trade agreement. He said that when India and the U.S. work together, they will form a mega partnership for prosperity.

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NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): India and the U.S. will jointly work in areas of artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum, biotechnology and several other technologies. Today, we also agreed on trust, which stands for transforming relationships, utilizing strategic technology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Tech billionaire and special government employee Elon Musk also met with Mr. Modi on Thursday. The Prime Minister posted on X that they discussed issues Musk is passionate about, such as space, mobility, technology and innovation.

CNN's Will Ripley has more details on Mr. Modi's visit.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just hours after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Washington, President Trump perhaps unexpectedly announced reciprocal tariffs, which a lot of people back home in India were saying could really make Prime Minister Modi look bad if he went into the White House and was unable to get some progress made on these divisive trade issues that have plagued the U.S.-India trade relationship for years, ever since the first President Trump administration.

This is now the eighth time that these two leaders have met. By all accounts, they have a very good personal rapport.

But all of those meetings up until now had not led to substantial progress in closing the huge trade gap between the U.S. and India and also getting Indian tariffs lowered in a significant manner. And so President Trump saying he thinks it's only fair that the U.S. tariffs everything at the exact same rate that India tariffs.

Of course, the U.S. is India's largest trade partner, so that could potentially really hurt their economy. Seems though, like after the two of them discussed things at the White House, they were able to agree on fast tracking trade talks in hopes of maybe closing a deal this time around.

On the Indian side, they certainly knew they're dealing with a different second Trump administration, one that is far more organized and perhaps less patient, unwilling to just accept the status quo if the trade talks fall apart. India also saying that it's going to buy a significant quantity of American oil and natural gas, something that the previous Biden administration was reluctant to do, partially for environmental reasons.

Also, U.S. nuclear technology, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotech, deepening a defense cooperation, including the joint development and production of F-35s.

So a lot of deliverables that Prime Minister Modi can take back to point to progress and success, even though these tariffs, which will kick in in the spring, theoretically could cause a big problem, depending on how the details are actually sorted out on the U.S. and Indian side of things.

Also, a big symbolic win for Prime Minister Modi with the U.S. agreeing to extradite a long wanted suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed more than 160 people.

So all in all, at least based on the press conference, the body language, the compliments between the two of them, it was a win-win in this meeting between India and the U.S. very high stakes.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Now, a U.S. federal judge has paused President Trump's freeze on foreign aid. The judge specifically ordered the White House to revive the flow of money to contracts, loans and grants that were in place at the end of the Biden administration.

The U.S. president's halting of foreign aid funding has been challenged by various USAID contractors. It's unclear if the Trump administration will comply with the judge's order.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is now one of America's leading public health officials, despite his controversial views on vaccines and public health policy. Kennedy was sworn in as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday.

He is vowing to not get rid of any vaccines, but says that more research is needed. Senator Mitch McConnell, a survivor of childhood polio, was the only Republican to vote against Kennedy's confirmation.

Still ahead, Hamas says it will release more hostages in Gaza. It comes after new signs showing just how fragile the current ceasefire is.

[03:15:00]

And later, at least six prosecutors resigned from the U.S. Department of Justice after refusing to drop a corruption case against New York's mayor. I'll have more on that story after the break.

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WATSON: Welcome back.

U.S. intelligence agencies recently warned both the Biden and Trump administrations that Israel will likely attempt to strike key nuclear facilities in Iran. That's according to sources familiar with the assessments.

U.S. intelligence says Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites could increase the risk of a wider war in the Middle East. Israel said to be considering attacks that would go further than last year's targeted strikes on military locations in Iran.

[03:20:09]

Meanwhile, in Gaza, the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to be back on track after Hamas said it will release Israeli hostages this weekend, as initially planned.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments now from Abu Dhabi. Paula, thank you for joining me.

A lot of people must be breathing a sigh of relief in the region at news that the ceasefire will, in fact, hold. What's the latest on that and the ongoing tensions in the West Bank?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ivan, we were expecting to have these bumps in the road, if you like, with this phase one of the ceasefire deal.

And that is exactly what we saw this week. Hamas had said that it was going to postpone the release of the Israeli hostages because it believed that Israel had violated the terms of the ceasefire. Israel, in return, said that it would resume the fighting if that were to be the case.

Now, both have now stepped back. We understand Hamas will be releasing three hostages on Saturday in return for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. And we've heard from one Israeli official saying it seems it will be resolved, adding that there's no appetite among the leadership of the Israeli government at this point to end the ceasefire.

We have heard, though, from Hamas that it has guarantees or at least promises from the key mediators, Qatar and Egypt, that they will be pushing Israel to allow more humanitarian aid in. This was what Hamas' complaint was, that there were certain materials that were not being allowed into Gaza.

And we also heard from one Egyptian source familiar with the matter, that they have seen Israeli violations.

They have a list, which they showed CNN, of some 19 alleged violations, including restrictions on certain types of aid getting into Gaza, including equipment for recovery and reconstruction.

And also that there have been targeting and killing of a number of civilians away from the areas that the IDF said that they were operating in along those buffer zones. And also more than 100 incidents of seeing surveillance aircraft in the air when there were times of an agreed no-fly zone.

Now, Israel on its part has said that they are fulfilling their obligations. They're keeping their side of the deal, saying that more than 15,000 humanitarian aid trucks have been allowed into Gaza since the agreement began. But it shows just how fragile this truce is.

And this, of course, remember, is only phase one of this three-phase deal. The two sides have not even started, as we understand it publicly, to make any meaningful progress on phase two, which is supposed to kick in in just a few weeks' time.

And on top of that, you also have the U.S. President Donald Trump saying publicly that he believes that all hostages should be released instantly by Hamas or the entire deal should be off, something the Israeli prime minister welcomed but didn't explicitly agree to. Ivan.

WATSON: All right. Paula Hancocks, live in Abu Dhabi, thank you very much for that update.

We're going to take a break now. But when we return, top officials are stepping down from the Department of Justice, claiming they were told to drop a high-profile case in New York.

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[03:25:00]

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WATSON: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Ivan Watson, in Hong Kong. Let's check some of today's top stories.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance tells the "Wall Street Journal" the U.S. could send troops to Ukraine if Russia does not negotiate a peace deal in good faith. Vance also says the Trump administration could increase economic pressure on Moscow with more sanctions.

India's Prime Minister took a page out of the U.S. President's playbook during a visit to the White House Thursday. Narendra Modi said he wants to make India great again and that together the U.S. and India can become a mega-partnership for prosperity.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday. He faced criticism for his controversial views on vaccines and public health policy. The Senate voted mostly along party lines for his confirmation.

President Trump is following through on his campaign trail threat to impose reciprocal eye-for-an-eye tariffs on all countries that send goods to the U.S. The tariffs were put into motion via an executive action but won't take effect until April at the earliest. That gives countries time to potentially negotiate new trade terms with the U.S.

[03:30:00] WATSON: President Trump's nominee for Commerce Secretary defended the need for these new tariffs.

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HOWARD LUTNIK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY NOMINEE: When you understand how brutally unfair the world's trading has been since we opened ourselves up after World War II. Right. We tried to export the power of our economy to rebuild the world.

And what happened since then is everyone else has taken advantage of us. We are going to address each country one by one.

But here's the key. They'll get an invitation to trade with the greatest consumer economy in the world and in exchange for trading at the greatest consumer economy in the world.

You have to treat us the way we're going to treat you. It's going to be the same but no more inviting bad people to the party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Reciprocal tariffs are likely to further increase inflation. The U.S. President admitted short-term price hikes were possible and he warned Americans to prepare for short-term pain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If prices go up, Mr. President, because of these tariffs, who do you think voters should hold responsible?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think what's going to go up is jobs are going to go up and prices could go up somewhat short-term but prices will also go down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now, the U.S. Justice Department is facing a flurry of resignations. Several officials left their jobs after refusing to dismiss federal corruption charges against New York's Mayor Eric Adams. That includes the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

President Trump says he had nothing to do with the department's decision to drop the case.

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REPORTER: The U.S. Attorney has resigned over the DOJ's request to drop the case into Eric Adams. Did you personally request the Justice Department to drop that case?

TRUMP: No, I didn't. I know nothing about it. That U.S. Attorney was actually fired. I don't know if he or she resigned but that U.S. Attorney was fired. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: CNN's Kara Scannell has the latest developments.

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KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a growing crisis at the Justice Department with multiple top officials resigning over a directive to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, and at least five other prosecutors resigned Thursday.

Sassoon said in a letter to the Attorney General that she could not carry out those orders because they are inconsistent with her quote, "duty to prosecute federal crimes without fear or favor and to advance good faith arguments before the courts."

Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bovee ordered Sassoon to dismiss the charges not based on the merits of the case but because he said it was politically motivated and impedes Adams from doing his job, including carrying out Trump's immigration agenda.

Sassoon said that amounted to a quid pro quo, something Bovee and Adams' attorney both deny. Bovee put the prosecutors working on the case on administrative leave while they are investigated by DOJ.

He transferred the case to Washington for prosecutors there to carry out his directive. But that snowballed into additional resignations by officials in the public integrity section who quit in protest. Bovee could move to dismiss the case himself.

Ultimately, it's up to a judge to decide whether to grant the motion. It's unclear if more resignations will follow.

Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.

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WATSON: OK, I'm joined now by Ron Brownstein. He is a CNN senior political analyst and he joins us from Los Angeles.

Very good to see you, Ron. I'd like to ask first about these resignations that we're seeing in the Department of Justice. The acting attorney, U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, who published this letter accusing the New York mayor, Eric Adams, and his lawyers of suggesting a quid pro quo.

You drop charges against me, corruption charges, and I'll help enforce the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. That, of course, that narrative has been rejected by a senior Justice Department official. What do you make of this?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST, AND SR. EDITOR, "THE ATLANTIC": Well, first, let's level set. The Southern District of New York is the crown jewel in the U.S. attorney's office around the country. It's traditionally handled the most important cases, particularly involving fraud and corruption.

And the woman who resigned, Danielle Sassoon, is someone who comes out of impeccable conservative credentials. I mean, she clerked for Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, who was probably the patron saint of conservative legal minds for the last half century.

We have seen in the opening weeks of the Trump administration some extraordinary not only attempts, but in fact, efforts to politicize the workings of the Justice Department more overtly than we have, I think, seen at least since Watergate.

[03:35:06]

WATSON: And it is worth noting that President Trump was asked about whether or not he had asked for the case against Mayor Adams to be dropped. And he said he said no.

That said, Mayor Adams has reportedly opened up prison facilities for immigration agents to go into them this week. I guess it gets to a different question, and that's, are you seeing a different pattern?

We saw the disgraced former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, pardoned this week by President Trump. That comes after, you know, these are separate cases. January 6th, rioters who were convicted, pardoned.

Are you seeing a pattern there?

BROWNSTEIN: No. Well, look, I mean, I think, as I said, I mean, Trump is very clearly sending a signal that he intends to use the machinery of federal law enforcement to reward his friends and punish his enemies.

I mean, in addition to the pardons of the January 6th and former governor Blagojevich and this dropping of the charges against Adams, you have had all of these steps under the guise of efficiency, under the rubric of efficiency through Elon Musk to hollow out aspects of federal consumer protection and other forms of oversight of business that Trump allies, including Musk, prominently object to.

I mean, The "New York Times" noted that there was almost three-dozen active complaints that were under investigation by federal agencies that Musk is now trying to reshape.

So yes, I mean, I think you have a very clear pattern here. And look, we are in early days. We are less than a month into this administration, and we are in deep water very quickly.

WATSON: I want to take a bit of a left turn into a completely different area of policy, and that is the tariffs that the Trump administration announced, these kind of reciprocal tariffs. And this is coming, of course, after imposing a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods, tariffs on aluminum and other products coming in from around the world. At the same time, we have gotten reports of inflation coming in for

the month of January, which the Trump administration has blamed on the former Biden administration. But I'm curious, as somebody who looks closely at polls, what are you seeing in these early days from Americans, many of whom, when they went to the polls, cited high inflation and cost of living as reasons behind casting their ballot?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, and in fact, more Trump voters cited inflation as the principal reason for their vote than any other issue, even immigration.

One of the core tensions in the Trump campaign was he was elected, above all, because voters felt that their cost of living was out of control under Joe Biden and he mismanaged inflation. And they remembered life being more affordable under Donald Trump.

The phrase the Democratic pollsters kind of came to dread in their focus groups was that you could not go through a focus group without someone saying, I don't like Donald Trump as a person, but I felt like I had more money in my pocket at the end of the week. That was a really powerful argument and tailwind for him.

But the tension was that all the way through, basically every economist and Wall Street firm that looked at his agenda worried that Trump, too, might do more to accelerate than tame inflation, largely because of mass deportation and the tariffs.

And so now you have kind of this theoretical construct. I mean, Harris and Democrats were unable to get voters that look forward in that way. They remember life being cheaper under Trump just a few years ago.

So it's kind of hard to convince them that his agenda might make things more expensive for them. But now he's the president and now he is responsible for results. I think voters will give him some time. I mean, the idea that he inherited high prices, I think, you know, is something that will have resonance with a lot of voters.

But ultimately, he is going to be judged by results and he faces the risk that as that broad array of economists argued last year, this agenda could actually intensify inflation. And certainly he is on a pretty lonely island when he's arguing that it is foreign countries and not American consumers that will ultimately pay the price for higher tariffs.

WATSON: Ron Brownstein, thank you so much for your analysis coming to us from L.A.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

WATSON: The Trump administration has carried out more mass firings at U.S. federal agencies. CNN has learned that the Department of Energy has dismissed scores of probationary workers.

[03:40:05]

One employee told CNN that their leaders were visibly shaken by the layoffs.

Meanwhile, at the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 1000 people were dismissed. The V.A. defended the move, saying it would save the department nearly $100 million a year.

And the Internet and the Internal Revenue Service could be next. Sources say at least one member of Elon Musk's DOGE team visited the IRS to evaluate workers.

Employees were purportedly questioned about their duties, goals and the risks they face. There was no indication that DOGE accessed sensitive IRS information, but the visit clearly put staffers on edge. It's part of Elon Musk's efforts to downsize regulators, which critics say could benefit his businesses.

Still ahead, the mothers of three young Israeli former hostages speak to CNN and describe the harrowing ordeals their daughters experienced in Gaza.

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[03:45:00]

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WATSON: The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to be back on track after Hamas said it will release Israeli hostages this weekend, as initially planned.

Earlier this week, Hamas accused Israel of violating the truce and postponed the release of more hostages. In response, Israel said it would resume fighting in Gaza. After Hamas talked with key mediators Egypt and Qatar, it said this week's hostage release will proceed.

One Israeli official said it seems the dispute will be resolved and that Israeli leaders don't want to abandon the ceasefire at this time.

Family members of freed hostages say they're overjoyed to have their loved ones home, but they know there's a long road ahead for healing. CNN's Bianna Golodryga spoke with the mothers of three young Israeli former hostages. They shared what their daughters went through in captivity.

First, a warning. This report contains disturbing video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR AND SR. GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice- over): It was a homecoming that captivated a still traumatized nation. Young female hostages finally reunited with their families after 477 grueling days.

ORLY GILBOA, MOTHER OF FORMER ISRAELI HOSTAGE DANIELA GILBOA: Daniela, she's happy. She's at home. She's free. And this is what's important.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): On the morning of October 7th, Hamas terrorists attacked the IDF military base where 22 female soldiers were stationed as spotters along the Gaza border.

Naama Levy, Liri Albag and Daniela Gilboa can be seen wounded, bound and threatened by their captors, surrounded by the murdered bodies of 15 of their friends.

GOLODRYGA: Did your daughter tell you about the specific horrors that they endured in the video that we saw?

GILBOA: October 7th is the most hard thing for her to speak about. She lost a lot of good friends of her and the loss of them is very hard for her, even more than the period of time of captivity.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Images of Naama's capture in particular took the world by storm as she was dragged by her hair, wearing bloody sweatpants. Somehow, her mother says, she saw the video in captivity and also heard her family's pleas for release.

AYELET LEVY SHACHAR, MOTHER OF FORMER ISRAELI HOSTAGE NAAMA LEVY: She saw the video. She knew about it. And she did see myself and her father in different interviews. She heard sometimes on the radio her brother speaking, her grandfather speaking.

So it wasn't an everyday thing. But sometimes she was exposed to the media and it did give her a lot of strength and support and helped her throughout those days.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Shira says Liri was sometimes held with Nama and another recently released hostage, Agam Berger.

SHIRA ALBAG, MOTHER OF FORMER ISRAELI HOSTAGE LIRI ALBAG: Liri, most of the time, was in apartments with civilians, with families, with the women of the captivities, with the children. It was difficult because they need to stay to clean the house and to cook for them and to teach the children, to sit with the children and to try to teach them.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Just days after her own return, Daniela watched as her cousin, Eli Sharabi, along with two other hostages, came home appearing emaciated and frail, their condition shocking almost everyone.

GILBOA: Daniela told me, Mama, just know that if we were released two months ago, I was look like Eli because she also lose a lot of weight there.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Daniela told her mother that until recently she shared one plate of food with three other women. Prior to her release, she says she only had to share the plate with one other.

GILBOA: It's important to understand that it's not that we see Daniela, how she looks like right now. It doesn't mean anything about what happened there and how she fell there.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): The priority now for these mothers, along with the majority of Israelis, is the urgent release of all the remaining hostages. And their appeal is largely directed at one man.

[03:50:05]

LEVY SHACHAR: President Trump had a key role in mobilizing this deal and for her to come back. And we know now his influence is crucial for this continuation of the deal and for the other hostages to come home. And we know how urgent it is. We see how urgent it is.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Bianna Golodryga, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: And we'll be right back.

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WATSON: Welcome back to the show.

I would like you to check out this astonishing moment captured on camera, a man kayaking in Chile was suddenly swallowed by a humpback whale. He was dragged into the water for several seconds before the whale let him go.

Now, the man told CNN he thought he would not make it, but then he felt his life vest pulling him up. It happened as he was kayaking with his father at a popular tourist destination on Saturday. And despite the terrifying moment, both said they would, in fact, kayak again.

Archaeologists say they've discovered the remains of a 2000-year old Roman basilica in the center of London. Officials say the building was uncovered during work on an office block in the city's financial district.

Historians say the basilica was likely the political, commercial and social hub of Roman Londinium. The forum is about the size of a soccer field. There are plans to eventually open the site to the public.

New Roman ruins have also been uncovered at Pompeii in Italy, including what could have been an ancient version of Mar-a-Lago. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Around noon in A.D. 79, it's not clear whether it was the summer or the autumn. Mount Vesuvius began to erupt within 48 hours. If they were lucky, residents of the city of Pompeii managed to flee. The rest were dead.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): For centuries afterwards, Pompeii was largely forgotten until the middle of the 1700s, when digging began in earnest.

GABRIEL ZUCHTRIEGEL, DIRECTOR GENERAL, ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF POMPEII: Minerals coming through humidity.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): For Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, the work here never ends.

ZUCHTRIEGEL: Yes, the site is so vast and it's, you know, 13,000 rooms excavated in two and a half centuries.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): There are still new discoveries.

[03:55:01]

The latest, this lavish complex of baths, including a caldarium, a hot room, a tepidarium, a warm room and a frigidarium, a room with a pool of cold water and a banquet hall.

Archaeologists presume the owner was a wealthy businessman turned politician, busy whining and dining, winning friends and influencing people. Sound familiar?

ZUCHTRIEGEL: I think it's a bit like Mar-a-Lago, right? It's not really a public place, but at some points people would invite stakeholders and potential supporters and friends.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): This Roman Mar-a-Lago was under renovation. With the eruption, the work came to an abrupt end.

WEDEMAN: This could be a modern construction site with tiles and bricks and gravel, lying around. But these were the materials left behind by construction workers 1946 years ago.

Now, one of the reasons why Pompeii is so well preserved is that when the eruption of Vesuvius took place, it was covered by this pumice, lightweight, solidified lava.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Anna Onesti runs the dig site here. She says archaeologists at Pompeii need to pace themselves as technology advances.

Pompeii still holds many surprises, she says, and that's why at a certain point excavations have to conclude so that we can allow future generations, after 100, 200 years, to resume digging and uncover more data.

Stay tuned. There's more to come.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Pompeii.

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WATSON: OK, from the Frigidarium in Pompeii to South America, that's where an indigenous community in Brazil has opened their first movie theater.

The premiere in a modest thatched hut featured eight original indigenous short films and a documentary by the project's creator. It gives young people and other community members a chance to see themselves on the silver screen.

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PURE MINA, INDIGENOUS YOUTH COMMUNITY MEMBER (through translator): Despite the isolation caused by the drought of the rivers and the pollution of the air, we become stronger and more active. We are a small village, but we are visible in the eyes of those who value and seek our art.

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WATSON: The cinema's coordinator adds that movies are empowering and give people here the chance to act, create programs and be the stars of their own story.

That wraps this hour of "CNN Newsroom." I'm Ivan Watson. Christina Macfarlane picks up our coverage from London right after a quick break.

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