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Zelenskyy Warns The Days Of U.S. Guaranteed Support For Europe Are Over; WSJ: Vance Warns U.S. Could Use Economic, Military "Tools Of Leverage" If Russia Doesn't Negotiate In Good Faith; Vance Downplays Threat Russia Poses To Europe; Source: Trump Officials Fire Nuclear Staff Not Realizing They Oversee Country's Weapons Stockpile; Pope Receiving Treatment For Bronchitis At Hospital. Hamas Releases 3 More Hostages Including Israeli-American; Prosecutors Resign Over Order To Drop Case Against NY Mayor; Torrential Rainfall Brings Mudslides, Debris Flows Through L.A. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired February 15, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: -- on CNN.com/shows/amanpour. And that is all we have time for this week. Don't forget, you can find all our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and see you again next week.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we begin this hour with a warning from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his European neighbors that the days of U.S. guaranteed support for the continent are over.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: Some in Europe may be frustrated with Brussels, but let's be clear. If not Brussels, then Moscow. It's your decision.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: Calling for a united Europe to face Russian aggression, Zelenskyy urged leaders at a security conference in Munich, Germany to band together to create a united European army. All of this comes just days after a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, which raised fears in Kyiv that Ukraine was being frozen out of negotiations to end Russia's three-year war on Ukraine.

In an interview with our own Christiane Amanpour, Zelenskyy explained his own recent phone call with Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP) AMANPOUR: Did you tell, as was reported, President Trump that Putin is only doing this and agreeing to talks because he's afraid of Trump? Did you tell him that?

ZELENSKYY: Yes. I told Trump that Putin afraid of him. Yes, and he heard me. And now Putin knows.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt is in Munich for us and has more on Zelenskyy's big speech.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This really was a striking speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a call to arms, both literally and figuratively, for Europe, saying that Europe can no longer count on the United States as it has.

He pointed to the speech of the American Vice President, JD Vance, saying that the decades-old relationship between the U.S. and Europe is ending and that Europe, Zelenskyy says, needs to adjust to that. Here's a little bit more of what the Ukrainian President said.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ZELENSKYY: Some in Europe may not fully understand what's happening in Washington right now, but let's focus on understanding ourselves right here in Europe. We must give strength to Europe first. Does America need Europe as a market? Yes. But as an ally? I don't know.

A few days ago, President Trump told me about his conversation with Putin. Not once did he mention that America needs Europe at the table. That says a lot. The old days are over when America supported Europe just because it always had.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

MARQUARDT: He went on to say that Europe needs to band together and actually create its own military force. He called it an Armed Forces of Europe so that Europe's future only depends on Europe and the Europeans decide its future.

This, of course, coming at a pivotal moment in potential negotiations to end the three-year war in Ukraine. President Zelenskyy voicing his concern that President Putin is trying to speak with the U.S. President one-on-one and push Ukraine to the side. Zelenskyy saying firmly that there will be no conversations about Ukraine without the Ukrainians.

He said that there's a good possibility that President Putin invites President Trump to Moscow as part of this effort to curry favor with the American president. But the biggest concern for President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians are security guarantees. Guarantees, he says, he hopes from the Europeans and the Americans that would prevent Russia from ever invading Ukraine again.

In their one-on-one meeting, President Zelenskyy and JD Vance, Vance was not committal about what the U.S. is going to do, saying he wants to preserve the optionality for President Trump, essentially keeping everything on the table. But we have heard President Trump saying that he does not believe that Ukraine should be a member of NATO.

We have heard the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, saying that U.S. troops should not be going into Ukraine, not be part of a peacekeeping force. Both of those concessions, many have argued, to the Russians before the conversations even begin. Back to you.

[12:05:06]

WHITFIELD: Alex Marquardt, thank you so much.

All right, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in Moscow with Russia's reaction to the mixed messaging that they are hearing from the Trump administration on Ukraine.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Russians also seem to be trying to figure out what exactly to make of the Trump administration, a couple of days after what the Russians deem to be a very successful phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, essentially paving the way for possible peace talks to try and end the war in Ukraine, but also for a possible direct meeting between Putin and Trump in a third country.

The Russians now hearing from JD Vance, the U.S. Vice President, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, essentially threatening the Russians that if they don't sign on to a peace deal, that the U.S. would have both economic and military levers at its disposal to try and get the Russians to come to the negotiating table and to get to some sort of agreement.

Now, I texted the spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, about all this, and he texted back that he was hoping and the Russians were hoping to clarify everything through direct contacts, meaning, obviously, the Russians want to get in direct contact with the Trump administration.

Now, that is, of course, already happening. The Russians are saying they're already trying to put together and putting together teams for possible negotiations for an end to the war in Ukraine. But the main thing for the Russians, the first thing that they want to achieve, they say, is a direct face-to-face meeting between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the U.S. President Donald Trump.

Now, we heard from the Trump administration that they believe that such a meeting could take place in Saudi Arabia. The Russians have not yet confirmed that, but they are saying that they are already putting teams together to try and set something like that in motion.

And the spokesman for the Kremlin also said that he believes that a meeting like that could take place within a matter of weeks, at most within a matter of a few months. Now, the Russians are cautioning, though, that any sort of way to an end to the war in Ukraine might not be as easy as President Trump may have let on before taking office and shortly after taking office.

The Russians are saying that there are a lot of issues for them that they simply will not budge from. One of the ones, and this was also set out by the Kremlin spokesman, is the territory that Ukraine currently holds inside of Russia in the Kursk region, where the Russians are saying they want to militarily oust the Ukrainians from that territory.

They do not want that to be part of negotiations going forward. And then, of course, there is also the question of all the territory that the Russians hold inside of Ukraine and the question of possible Ukrainian NATO membership in the future.

Of course, there, again, we've heard mixed messages coming from the Trump administration, some Trump officials saying they do not believe that Ukraine will be a part of NATO. Others say that it is something that might happen in the future. The Russians certainly also wanting to clarify that.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

WHITFIELD: All right. For more now, I want to bring in Peter Bergen, a CNN National Security Analyst and host of "In the Room" podcast. Great to see you.

So as you heard there, Trump and Putin are both looking to meet. Vice President Vance also warning Russia that it needs to make a peace deal. Can you have a peace deal created between U.S. and Russia without Ukraine at the table simultaneously?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, unfortunately, there's precedent for this. The Trump administration negotiated a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban without the Afghan government at the table at any point. So the Trump administration has done this before.

Obviously, Ukraine is -- and Russia. These are, you know, bigger countries. It's more important to the future of NATO. It's hard for me to imagine how you could have a deal negotiated without the country most affected by the deal that's being negotiated.

But I would point to the fact that the Trump administration has done this kind of deal before on a matter that wasn't insignificant, which was the total U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was negotiated without the Afghan government at the table.

WHITFIELD: Vice President Vance met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy yesterday in Munich. Is it a foregone conclusion that Ukraine will have to give up territory in order to get some sort of peace deal?

BERGEN: Well, I think one piece of territory is probably non- negotiable from the Russian point of view, which is Crimea, which they took in 2014. You know, a peace deal, everybody has to give up something that they don't want to give up, generally speaking. And for the Russians, Crimea is non-negotiable. So that is certainly one piece of territory I think the Russians will hold on to in a negotiation. The question then becomes what parts of eastern Ukraine might the Russians, which are now in Russian hands, might any of that go back to Ukraine?

[12:10:08]

Don't forget, Fred, these promises in eastern part in Ukraine have been fought over for a very long time. You're handing back, you know, piles of rubble at this point. So, you know, obviously the Russians have a little bit of a military advantage right now. They feel like Trump is in their corner.

They've had a number of Trump officials, senior officials, saying things that sort of mirror their kind of positions, which is Ukraine will not become part of NATO. U.S. troops won't go to Ukraine, et cetera, et cetera.

So, Putin has some strong cards. But, you know, we heard in Christiane Amanpour's interview with Zelenskyy earlier today that Trump believes and understands that Putin is frightened of him. Now, was that Zelenskyy sort of, you know, puffing Trump up or not? But the fact is the United States has considerable leverage, particularly at the beginning of the Trump's second term.

WHITFIELD: European allies, you know, are still pretty shaken after hearing what the vice president said about them in a speech in Germany yesterday. Here's a little taste of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JD VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: Do you think most Western European leaders would agree that the real threat comes from within?

BERGEN: No. And, in fact, a bunch of European leaders immediately said that's total nonsense. So, you know, and also Vice President Vance was kind of vague on the specifics. I mean, did he mean migrants that are there in Europe illegally? Did he mean, you know, it wasn't really -- he sort of made some gestures to misinformation and disinformation.

But it was -- he was not very clear on the specifics. And the fact is, is that Europe, you know, countries in Europe have very robust parliamentary democracies, except in places like Hungary, where Viktor Orban, who's a close Trump ally, has basically more or less killed what was a once democratic country.

So this speech was kind of puzzling and it was an odd place to deliver it in Munich. You know, so it did not go over well. WHITFIELD: Yes. I mean, to see the expressions on many of those in the audience, they were just kind of looking each other like, what is happening here? So I wonder, you know, how puzzling was it also to you that Vance would meet with the leader of Germany's far-right party while he was there in Germany? What kind of, you know, signal is the White House sending by doing this?

BERGEN: Well, I think it's completely Vice President Vance's prerogative to meet with anybody he wants, including, I mean, the alliance for Germany, which is the far-right party in Germany, has gone from a very marginal party to a pretty large political player in Germany.

And so meeting with them, I think, is, you know, perfectly reasonable. And certainly the Trump White House looks at these populist parties in Europe and sees, you know, fellow people who share a lot of the same anti-migrant kind of policies. So what do I make of it overall? I just think, you know, it's not unreasonable for him to do it.

I mean, this party is a completely legitimate party in German electoral terms and an election is coming up pretty soon and they may well do pretty well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Vice President Vance on the world stage.

Peter Bergen, thank you so much.

BERGEN: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, thousands of federal workers with jobs ranging from medical research to wildfire prevention are fired as the Trump administration continues its purge of federal agencies.

Plus, a measles outbreak in West Texas doubles and neighboring states start to sound alarm bells.

And a wild moment caught on camera. So hard to believe. We'll hear from this man right there after being gobbled up by a whale and then spit out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:19:20]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Thousands of U.S. government workers are out of work today. The latest in a series of layoffs by the Trump administration to slash the size of the federal government. Officials have set their sights on probationary workers who have typically been employed for less than a year.

More than 200,000 workers fall into that category. But the cuts seem to be everywhere. The IRS, Forest Service, the CDC, even the National Nuclear Security Administration, which sources tell CNN officials did not seem to know that the agency oversees America's nuclear weapons. And the terminations had to be rescinded the next day. CNN's Rafael Romo joining me right now. Rafael, the CDC was hit particularly hard with nearly one-tenth of the agency's workforce targeted. So what are you learning?

[12:20:09]

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And somebody described to me over the phone that Friday felt like a Valentine's Day massacre. So that's how they're feeling about it.

And Fred, there's a lot of fear and anxiety, especially given what one CDC employee who would like to remain unidentified for obvious reasons, told me yesterday that this may only be the beginning and that the cuts may be deep and widespread.

At the CDC alone, about 1,300 employees could lose their jobs, according to a CNN source. One of those departments is a unit that has investigated public health threats here in the U.S. and abroad, including COVID-19.

We've also learned that at least one member of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency visited the Internal Revenue Service offices in Washington on Thursday as part of its mission to downsize government agencies.

And there's more, Fred. Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency tasked with managing the nation's nuclear stockpile. Although, as CNN's Rene Marsh reported later, the terminations were rescinded after the full scope of their mission became clear.

So, as you can imagine, a lot of very nervous people right now.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, the name nuclear was in there, so you would think, you know --

ROMO: You would think they would know (ph).

WHITFIELD: -- how important that is. OK. All right, so I also understand that you've spoken with employees who have been impacted or afraid that they're about to be terminated. And what are they telling you?

ROMO: Yes, that's right. And it was not an easy task because, as you can imagine, a lot of people would rather remain quiet about this. But in the last couple of hours, I spoke with a federal employee in California who has already received the fork in the road email, and is afraid it's only a matter of time before many people like her are terminated.

This is what she told us about the mood of her agency, making sure this is very important, to specify that she was talking to us in a personal capacity and not on behalf of any agency or union. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MT SNYDER, FEDERAL EMPLOYEE: I'm waking up every day with a pit in my stomach, wondering if I'm going to lose my job, if I'll lose my livelihood, if my co-workers will, too, and also if our agency will even exist, because that's what Musk is trying to do. He's trying to stop the services that federal workers and their agencies provide to the American public.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ROMO: On Thursday, Elon Musk defended his actions by saying that, quote, "The people voted for major government reform and that's what people are going to get." We've also heard from Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff reacting to the layoffs at the CDC.

Ossoff said the following. "President Trump's indefensible, indiscriminate firing of more than 1,000 CDC personnel in a single day leaves Americans exposed to disease and devastates careers and livelihoods for the world's most talented doctors and scientists, many of them here in Georgia".

Congressman Hank Johnson, who represents Georgia's 4th congressional district, also blasted the layoffs, saying in part that, "These reckless decisions not only harm the federal workers who have dedicated their careers to protecting us and serving our communities in Georgia 4th and metro Atlanta, but it also endangers the American public during a time of increased health concerns and looming dangers."

And again, as I said before, a lot of nervous people because they don't know what's going to happen in the next few weeks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right. Unpredictable.

All right, thank you so much, Rafael Romo. Appreciate it.

All right, straight ahead, 88-year-old Pope Francis is still in the hospital after being admitted with respiratory tract infection. Moments ago, an update from the Vatican. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:28:12]

WHITFIELD: The Vatican says it's unclear how long Pope Francis will be hospitalized after being admitted for bronchitis on Friday. His condition is being described as fair with some signs of improvement, but this is the latest in a series of health concerns for the Pope.

CNN's Christopher Lamb is joining us now from Rome. Christopher, what else are you learning about his condition?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, in the last few minutes, we've had an update from the Vatican on the Pope's condition. They say that Francis rested overnight, that he no longer has symptoms of a fever, and that some of the tests that have been undertaken on the Pope have shown an improvement.

However, the Pope will not be celebrating the Angelus, leading the Angelus prayer that he does each Sunday tomorrow because the medical team have prescribed to the Pope absolute rest. Now, in the past, Francis has led the Angelus prayer from the balcony behind me in the hospital on the 10th floor, where the Pope has a special suite of rooms.

But Francis, who is 88, has been told he must rest to recover from this severe bout of bronchitis that he has been suffering from. Francis yesterday hospitalized to have treatment and checks for bronchitis. Francis has been vulnerable to respiratory conditions. He was hospitalized for bronchitis in 2023.

As a young man, he had part of his right lung removed. And despite having these symptoms of bronchitis, the Pope was keeping up a very hectic schedule of events. Indeed, I saw him yesterday in the Vatican when he received Mark Thompson, the CEO of CNN, for a private audience.

And it was clear that he was struggling to speak for long periods due to the breathing difficulties he's been experiencing. So clearly what the doctors are saying to the Pope is he's got to stop, he's got to rest, he's got to recover and get over this severe bronchitis that he's been suffering from. Fredricka?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, Christopher Lamb, thank you so much.

All right, new today, Hamas releasing three more hostages as part of the ceasefire deal, including one Israeli American. Here's the moment he was reunited with his wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Israel says it released 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of this round of the ceasefire agreement, 24 of them were -- are -- are being exiled rather to Egypt. Nic Robertson is with us from Jerusalem. Nic, what more can you tell us about what we've just seen playing out there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, look, that was really quite a moment when Sagui Dekel-Chen, whose 36 now, got to hug his wife, Avital. And one of the, you know, while they were hugging there, he asked her, what -- what have you called our third daughter? Because of course, his third daughter was born a few weeks after he was taken hostage. He's never seen her. He doesn't know anything about her.

So she told him. And it was, you know, just that moment. It was such a beautiful moment. I've known that family, met with Avital, met that young baby, Jo -- met Jonathan, his father, who campaigned so hard at -- in the White House, in the State Department, all over and up and down Capitol Hill and everywhere he could go in Washington, you know, to help make this happen.

So, you know, a really beautiful moment, a moment for them to cherish. And -- and other moments for the other hostages that were released as well. The Argentinian-Israeli, 46 years old, Iair Horn, bittersweet, bittersweet because he got to hug his family, but his younger brother is still held hostage.

And bittersweet for Sasha Troufanov as well, the -- the Russian- Israeli, 29 years old, bittersweet because he came back too. He got to hug his family. But you know what? Today he found out that his father, his father was killed October 7th.

So, yes, really -- re -- re -- really -- really tough moments, but beautiful moments, moments the country enjoyed in. But, of course, a country worrying, fragile ceasefire deal. Are the other hostages going to -- going to be released? That's a big question. And, of course, as you say, many, many Palestinians least -- released, 333 back to Gaza, where they've been detained from. Many of them complaining that they've been mistreated, that they've been tortured. Of course, similar scenes of hugging families there.

Now, the Israelis -- Israelis, the IDF has said they haven't mistreated prisoners in the past when these complaints have been made. And those 36 life sentence prisoners who, Palestinian prisoners who were in Israeli jails, they were serving sentences for murder. And 25, we understood by the end of the day now, actually will be forced to leave. They won't be -- they're being released, but they're not being released in -- into Israel.

WHITFIELD: Nic, just a few days ago, you know, this handover was looking pretty shaky. And that -- that -- so far has been the pattern, right, just ahead of an exchange or the -- the release of -- of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, there is a hold up. Does this say anything about the fragility of the overall plan as it enters phase two?

ROBERTSON: You know, I think the way today went ahead, it -- it showed that things can keep moving and -- and quite smoothly. Hamas and Palestinian, the Islamic Jihad, which staged managed to hand over there in Gaza, worked together. They kept big crowds away. It was a controlled environment. It was a big show of force by them there.

Some of them were holding actually Israeli weapons. So they're -- they're showing domestically and internationally, that they're still got control. There was a message there as well for president Trump. It said, you need the only place we're leaving to is we're going to leave to Jerusalem.

So there's a real level of -- of defiance there, which is going to rankle Israeli authorities for sure, probably rankle president Trump as well. But it -- it -- it does show that this can move forward. But the reality is when -- we're now two-thirds of the way through phase one, but we're less than two-thirds of the number of hostages that were supposed to be released during this phase to be released and no real traction on the next two phases and -- and where it all goes from here. And that's what makes it fragile.

What I guess worked about today, there were no major hitches and -- and -- and the hostages didn't seem to be emaciated. So the -- the -- these complaints and criticisms that have been springing both ways, today, not so much there. But look, it -- it -- people feel on a knife edge still. Today was a beautiful moment for both sides. Today, people still feel on a knife edge because they don't know where this is going.

[12:35:21]

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson in Jerusalem, thank you so much.

All right. Still ahead, senior U.S. Justice Department officials resign instead of complying with orders from the Trump administration to dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:40:15]

WHITFIELD: All right. The Department of Justice has made it official, filing a motion to dismiss the federal corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams. This after a trail of resignations within the DOJ. Yesterday, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove and two other prosecutors signed the motion to dismiss the charges.

Adams was indicted last year on bribery, fraud, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. In this motion, Bove said the prosecution would disrupt the mayor's ability to help assist the Trump administration with its immigration policies. Manhattan's former top prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, said in her resignation letter it amounted to a quid pro quo.

Mayor Adams firing back at a statement saying this, I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers, I never offered nor did anyone offer on my behalf any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case, never. I am solely beholden to the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I represent and I will always put this city first. Now, we must put this difficult episode behind us so that trust can be restored, New York can move forward, and we can continue delivering for the people of this city, end quote.

Joining us now, political reporter for New York-1, Kelly Mena. Kelly, good to see you. So this trial is set to begin in April. But with this motion now filed, what potentially happens next?

KELLY MENA, NY-1 POLITICAL REPORTER: Thank you for having me. Well, basically we're halted. That trial was supposed to begin the 21st, right in the middle of what's known as petitioning process, where the mayor would be gathering signatures to appear on the January, or on the June ballot for this year's primary. Now basically the mayor has an open route.

He's now able to freely gather those signatures, also able to fully campaign. He had, and his defense attorney, Alex Spiro, had mentioned that this trial would impede his ability to meet with voters, to be able to fundraise. And now he's able to do that, and move without being distracted, without trying to have to fundraise for his legal defense.

His lawyer, he's in the red, almost a million dollars. So that also moves off of his plate. He's facing about seven to eight other primary challengers, and with this case halted, that opens that entire ability for the mayor to do that, and kind of get this monkey off of his back, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So prosecutors have -- have filed this motion to dismiss Judge Dale Ho, a Biden appointee, would still have to sign off on the deal. Does anyone think that that will ultimately happen?

MENA: You know, it's unclear. This has been a week of a little bit of confusion. We didn't even know when this -- this was going to be filed, this motion to dismiss, because there's been so many federal prosecutors, as you mentioned, that have been resigning in protest, because they so passionately believed in this case, and their ability to go to trial. We'll have to see. The judge can either call a -- a court hearing, and hear from both sides before he signs.

I've been in court with Judge Dale Ho. He's somebody who really believes in the rule of law, follows the rules, follows procedures, so we'll have to wait and see. It's unclear, if that could come next week, or in the coming days. But we're all waiting and watching at this point.

WHITFIELD: So the -- the former prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, is, you know, alleging a quid pro quo, you know, between Adams and the Trump administration to tackle immigration issues. I already mentioned the statement that Adams put out, and he's calling the claim silly. But politically speaking, how are these accusations, this ongoing case, whether a motion filed or not, how is it really impacting his electability for this fall?

MENA: Well, it's weakening his voter base. We have to talk about those voters that, you know, supported Adams in his first term. These are Black voters. These are voters of color, who don't align at all with many of the executive orders and policies that are coming out of the Trump administration. And they fear that if the mayor gets too close to Trump, that he's going to not believe in those priorities, and really sell them out. And that's really where his electability is in danger.

How does he build or rebuild this coalition that he had the first time around? Union workers, Black voters, these faith leaders, you're already seeing some of them saying that these actions are concerning, like the Reverend Al Sharpton, that he wants to see what else is going to happen. He still believes in the mayor as his friend. But is the support there? Is the belief there? We know that the Reverend Al Sharpton is a political figure in New York City and has a lot of influence over that. And if you aren't able to move somebody like him, you probably won't be able to move your own voters.

[12:45:08] It's unclear how the mayor is going to do that. I was speaking to sources earlier this week that said the mayor has already started to reach out to Republicans to see if maybe they can join in on a coalition that he'll have to put together if he looks to run for reelection. It's unclear how he'll do that. He's still on the Democratic Party line. He insists that he's going to run as a Democrat in the June primary. But if he loses in that primary, he'll have to seek a different route to getting reelected in November.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kelly Mena, we will leave it there for now. Thank you so much for being with us.

All right. Southern California is digging out from torrents of mud that buried roads and cars after the most intense rain of the season. Now millions of people are preparing for flooding and tornadoes as that monster storm roars east.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:35]

WHITFIELD: A measles outbreak in West Texas has doubled in cases and is spreading to neighboring New Mexico. The Texas State Health Department has now identified 48 cases in that state, which is twice as many as the number last week. Three cases have shown up across the state line in New Mexico. Health officials say most of those sick are children between the ages of five and 17, 13 of which had to be hospitalized. Measles is highly contagious and can lead to blindness, brain swelling, pneumonia, and even death.

A powerful storm is bringing severe weather from the Tennessee Valley into the Deep South this weekend. The system already brought the most intense rain to hit Southern California in over a year and is expected to bring tornadoes, flash flooding, even ice. The worst is forecast to hit peak strength overnight into Sunday morning. Let's go now to California CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is live for us in Malibu where officials are cleaning up after that same bad weather brought mudslides and debris flows to the fire burned zones. So Julia, what are you all experiencing there?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, the rain has stopped, thankfully, Fred. But the work is very much still ongoing. We are in the Palisades. The Palisades fire ran through the sides of these hills. So this is all burn scar, part of what caused the severe mudslides. And you see the water still pulling here. This is where the mud and debris flow came down.

We are at this iconic location, though, in the Pacific Coast Highway. This is Duke's restaurant. It is an institution here in Los Angeles. And the incredible thing is that they made it through the fire. And they were so lucky to not have been hit with the Palisades fire. Just on Wednesday, crews were here cleaning up the inside of the restaurant.

I just spoke with one of those cleaners who told me that they were almost done. And yet now the restaurant is covered with mud. This is -- these are firefighters from both Cal Fire and L.A. County Fire. They said that this was also used as a staging area during the response to those fires. So they're trying to get this parking lot open again so that they can continue with this response now for the mudslides.

This was, Fred, more rain than L.A. had seen in the last nine months combined. It started on Thursday, and it just pummeled through the entire city. And now another concern on top of all of this. You know, we've talked about the toxicity of the ash and the debris from these fires. Now all of this has now been mixed into this water. We're watching now as these crews are actually pushing.

I don't know if you can actually see this, but the water and debris, this is going straight into the ocean. It's not like there's really a good other place for it to go. We've been just watching as this all goes in. And -- and that is yet another challenge that Los Angeles and Southern California will have to deal with, as we still don't know the full effects of this debris, of this ash. You know, we have been told, and we were following as authorities were starting to clean up residences and residential areas, and we've been told to be very careful and to wear masks and gloves in these situations.

So what will happen now as all of this debris is still flowing and people so eager to get back into their homes, just another challenge for Southern California as they come to heal from all of these tragedies.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, this was the nightmare scenario, you know, after those fires that you would have this kind of, you know, land movement, mudslides. And then here we go. I've been to Dukes. It is an institution. And I mean, remarkable that it endured the fire only now to be subjected by all of that mud. All right, Julia Vargas Jones in Malibu, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much.

[12:54:27]

All right. And this biblical encounter caught on camera. Yes, you saw what you saw there. A kayaker swallowed by a whale and then spit right back out. What he's telling CNN about that encounter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. This one's hard to believe. The mother of all fishtails caught on camera in southern Chile. Adrian Simancas was out kayaking with his dad, as you see right there, when all of a sudden, a humpback whale took a page from the Old Testament and simply gulped up the 24-year-old. His father was filming that whole thing. He was totally stunned. Adrian told my colleague, Erin Burnett, what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIAN SIMANCAS, KAYAKER, "SWALLOWED" BY A WHALE: When I turned around, I -- I saw some blue dark colors and white blushing right through my face. And I felt a -- a slimy texture in my cheek. And then it shut up down on me and took me underwater. I closed my eyes because I thought that something would crash into my face. It was like one second of that strange feeling where I thought that I was already eaten by some kind of giant fish. But then I started to feel my -- my water vest that was pulling me outside of the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:00:51]

WHITFIELD: Unbelievable. And after a few terrifying seconds, even on describe, you know, that Adrian was back on the surface, swimming toward his dad's pack raft. And when asked about if they would keep on kayaking. Yes. They both said, of course.