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U.S.-Russia Talks in Saudi Arabia on War in Ukraine; UK Willing to Send Troops to Ukraine; Middle East Tensions; At Least 10 Dead After Powerful Storm Hits Eastern U.S.; Trump Firing Disable National Labor Relations Board. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 17, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: High-level, high-stake talks.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're trying to get a piece with Russia and Ukraine, and we're working very hard on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.K. Prime Minister saying he's ready to put troops on the ground in Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very clear, the two countries in lockstep.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER: We agreed that the Ayatollahs must not have nuclear weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An incredibly busy weekend as storms really came down hard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crunch. It was like eggs cracking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Monday, February 17th, 9 a.m. here in London, noon in Saudi Arabia, where top U.S. and Russian officials are preparing to hold critical talks on how to end the war in Ukraine.

Our sources tell CNN those negotiations will begin on Tuesday. The U.S. delegation includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has just arrived in Riyadh after a two-day trip to Israel. He says the next few days and weeks will determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is serious about ending the conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump confirms Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be involved. TRUMP: We're moving along, we're trying to get a piece with Russia, Ukraine, and we're working very hard on it. It's a war that should have never started.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you expect Zelenskyy to be involved in these conversations? What will his role be?

TRUMP: Yes, I do, I do. He will be involved, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: The U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, disputed criticism that Ukraine won't be involved. Here's what he told Fox News on Sunday.

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STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: I am pretty sure that, you know, a lot of our cabinet people, including Treasury Secretary Bessent, the Vice President, Mike Waltz, John Ratcliffe, our Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have been meeting with various Ukrainian people at the Munich Security Conference. So I don't think this is about excluding anybody. In fact, it's about including everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: While speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, President Zelenskyy warned that the old days are over when America supported Europe just because it always had. Meanwhile, the UK's Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, says he's willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce a peace deal if necessary. He's among the European leaders who are holding an emergency summit in Paris today.

Here to discuss all of this, CNN's Salma Abdelaziz and Clare Sebastian following the latest developments with me from Paris. So much to discuss, but first, Salma, let's just get to you. As we have seen, Marco Rubio just landing there in Saudi Arabia.

I think so many still reeling for the pace at which these meetings are taking place. And a big question still over who is going to be in the room. What more do we know about who's going to be taking part?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, I'm experiencing whiplash because this was supposed to be a trip about the Middle East. We had understood that the Secretary of State was there to discuss the details of Gaza and President Trump owning it. Instead, now, it's twisted and it's a meeting on Ukraine taking place tomorrow.

And the big question, as you know, is Ukraine going to be involved? President Zelenskyy said he wasn't even invited to this meeting. And what the U.S. is pushing is a dual-track negotiation. So, Trump's special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, will be in Ukraine this week speaking with Ukrainian officials, while others, including Marco Rubio, will be in Riyadh speaking to Russian officials. And somewhere in the middle of that, they're all going to merge. The other key people who aren't at the table are, of course, the Europeans.

It is shocking to see these talks take place in the Middle East rather than in Europe. So, talks beginning in earnest tomorrow, without Ukraine and without Europe, as far as we know right now.

MACFARLANE: Yes, and speaking of Europe, Clare, discombobulated European leaders, some, not all, I should point out, meeting in Paris today, organized by President Emmanuel Macron. And we heard just there British Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying he is ready and willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine in the event of any deal taking place. Is that an early signal, perhaps, as to what is going to come out of this meeting?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, they are sort of projecting this as the sort of first stage in a longer process. They say that talks can continue afterwards in other formats. But look, I think it's clear that there are symbolic and practical elements to this.

[04:05:00]

One, Europe has to push back against this criticism that it's a bystander in all of this, that it's willing to sort of stand by and let the U.S. take the lead here. It is not. It feels that it has a very critical stake in this war.

You know, I was in Brussels last week and European officials kept emphasizing that they actually contributed more to Ukraine last year than the U.S. So, they feel like they deserve a seat at this table. So, that's what they're showing with this hastily convened meeting today.

I think on the practical side, this is about, you know, really stepping up to the moment. I think if there's any consistency in what we've seen from the U.S., it's that Europe has to now pay more to fund its own security. So, they have to sit down and figure out how to do that.

But as Salma said, this is whiplash, right? They've gone from hearing from Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, last week that Europe needs to pay more because of the scarcity argument, right? The U.S. has other priorities. It needs to focus on the Indo-Pacific and, frankly, Europe's been freeloading for too long.

To then J.D. Vance, who argued that Europe's actually retreating from their shared values, suggesting that the U.S. sees the sort of edifice of the post-war security architecture as essentially crumbling.

And interestingly, the very official, Marco Rubio, who's going to be holding these thoughts in Saudi Arabia, doubled down on that yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The point of his speech was basically that there is an erosion in free speech and intolerance for opposing points of view within Europe, and that's of concern because that is eroding. It's not an erosion of your military capabilities. That's not an erosion of your economic standing.

That's an erosion of the actual values that bind us together in this Transatlantic union that everybody talks about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, of course, it's really unnerving to Europe to hear that. And then you have the other side of this, which is that officials like Pete Hegseth and then General Kellogg have said, you know, we don't speak for the president. You know, everything is on the table in negotiations.

So Europe has to grapple with the idea that all of these bombshells are being dropped by the Trump administration, but they could change the very next day if Trump himself decides. So it is a moment of critical importance for Europe, and I think they have to look through the noise and think practically about how they move forward and take greater control over their own security.

MACFARLANE: I think one thing that's been noteworthy in the last few days is the number of contradictory statements we've been seeing coming out of the U.S. administration. We saw Marco Rubio just there. I mean, he actually appeared to contradict Ukraine's envoy, Keith Kellogg, in saying Ukraine and Europe would be given a seat at the table, just one example of many mixed messaging that we've heard and seen.

What does this say about the strategy heading into these talks, and also, Clare, how important it is for Europe not to read too much into the rhetoric at this stage?

ABDELAZIZ: I think what Keith Kellogg also said a few days ago was, I'm on Trump time, and I think that was the most telling comment of all that he said. He said, I'm not working in days, I'm not working in weeks, I'm not working in months, I'm working in hours, I'm working on Trump time. And what's so important about that statement is there's this overarching idea from President Trump that the war must end, it must end immediately.

It's not just ideological for him. We have to remember, he sent one of his officials with a contract to sign over half of Ukraine's mineral wealth a week ago. Ukraine did not sign that, of course.

But we have to remember, this is more than ideological. This is financial. He is telling people to pay up, and he is finding ways to pay up. And however that happens for President Trump, if that shifts, if that changes, if that morphs, it doesn't matter as long as he attains that final goal of ending the war immediately.

SEBASTIAN: And I think for Europe, that's the sort of very tricky part of this, right? What we clearly see, even though there are inconsistencies, is that the U.S. wants to control this process, right? They want to be the ones doing the deal. We heard this a lot from Pete Hegseth in Brussels. You know, Trump is the best dealmaker in the world. He's the only world leader who can get out there and do this.

Meanwhile, Europe is being told very clearly that they are going to need to front the security guarantees, which is why the UK prime minister's statement was important and then take on the overwhelming burden for funding Ukraine after this while not potentially having much control over what the final solution is, the final settlement is. So I think that is something that they are going to have to grapple with going forward. And I think this is why you see this hastily convened summit.

They're trying to get to this point of putting their points across, because I think the other thing that we can conclude at this point is that the Trump administration don't have a clear plan at this point. We're literally, I think, watching the sausage get made in real time, in public.

MACFARLANE: I mean, it's an extraordinary week, and quite frankly an extraordinary week in diplomatic affairs, politics, across the world in some ways. Both, thank you both so much for watching to see how this unfolds.

And an Israeli negotiating team is on its way to Cairo to discuss keeping phase one of the ceasefire with Hamas on track.

Meanwhile, Israel's security cabinet is expected to discuss phase two in the hours ahead. All of this comes after the U.S. Secretary of State's meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, where Iran was high on the agenda. CNN's Nic Robertson has those details.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Very clear, the two countries in lockstep, and on Iran absolutely joined up in their thinking.

[04:10:00]

The Prime Minister of Israel saying very clearly, the Ayatollahs cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. Marco Rubio doubling down on that.

RUBIO: The common theme in all of these challenges is Iran. It is the single greatest source of instability in the region. Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people who live who call this region home is Iran.

And by Iran, I mean the Ayatollahs. By Iran, I mean its regime. A regime who, by the way, its people don't support. The people of Iran are victims of that regime.

ROBERTSON: He also spoke about Syria, about Lebanon, that neither of those two countries will be allowed to have a footing or a place for forces that would target Israel's security. And on Hamas and Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu saying the United States, Israel in lock step and that Hamas could be no more.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I want to assure everyone who's now listening to us, President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us. We have a common strategy and we can't always share the details of this strategy with the public, including when the gates of hell will be opened as they surely will if all our hostages are not released until the last one of them. Israel is determined to achieve all the war objectives we set after the horrific attack on October 7th, the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

We will eliminate Hamas's military capability and its political rule in Gaza. We will bring all our hostages home.

ROBERTSON: And on that all important question of what happens next in the hostage ceasefire negotiations over Gaza, Prime Minister Netanyahu sending a delegation, a negotiating delegation to Cairo on Monday to discuss the phase one, the first six weeks part of that deal. The security cabinet here in Israel, Monday evening, will meet to discuss what to do about phase two, the much harder to grapple with phase that could bring about an end to the war. And on that, Prime Minister Netanyahu indicating once the security council has discussed phase two, then he will instruct his negotiators who have gone to Cairo how to discuss that further.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well meanwhile, Mr. Netanyahu says he knew about U.S. President Donald Trump's vision for a U.S. takeover of Gaza before it was announced and praised the idea as revolutionary.

CNN has learned that Saudi Arabia is open to mediating a new nuclear agreement between the U.S. and Iran. The kingdom is concerned Iran may be more inclined to pursue a career -- a nuclear weapon, now that its regional proxies have been weakened.

Well this comes as U.S. intelligence agencies say they believe Israel will likely attempt to strike Iranian nuclear facilities this year. But Israel's willingness to use military force runs counter to U.S. President Donald Trump's current desire for a nuclear deal with Tehran. Earlier, CNN spoke to former Israeli consul general for New York about the geopolitics here at play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: The Iranians are facing a simple -- well it's not simple, but a major critical dilemma. Do we negotiate under unfavorable conditions because the Iranians realize that they have been weakened geopolitically and militarily in the last year and they are to a large extent isolated. So do we negotiate, deal and abandon a nuclear option, a military nuclear option, or do we go full steam ahead with the option and risk war?

Israel, on the other hand, is trying to, as I said, lure the U.S. into this, but can go at it alone because a deal which seems to be what President Trump is going for, and he said that in his own voice, a deal would not be received well in Israel.

The Americans face a similar dilemma. We use coercive diplomacy. We impose even more sanctions, but we want a deal. The question is what kind of a deal?

And the Saudis, in one sentence, the Saudis, they want stability. And so I think that the Saudis who have a major sway on Trump way, way, way more than Mr. Netanyahu would dream of having, the Saudis may end up driving or impelling Trump to negotiate with Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Millions across the eastern U.S. are still under flood warnings after a powerful storm swept through eastern United States this weekend. Water levels reached historic highs in Kentucky, where at least nine people, including one child, are dead. And officials say emergency responders rescued more than 1,000 people in under 24 hours.

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But Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear believes the death toll is going to grow, as a severe weather event is expected to continue for several more days.

In Atlanta, Georgia, one person died after a tree fell on a home amid tremendous thunderstorm activity, a local official said. And Atlanta faced dangerous overnight conditions brought on by the storm.

Here's one local resident recounting the moment a tree fell on his home.

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It was crunch. It was like a eggs cracking. It was definitely some eggs. And luckily it didn't kill my wife or my nephew.

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MACFARLANE: Well, in Virginia, thousands of customers are still without power, and the National Weather Service warns that frigid water temperatures could pose a risk of rapid hypothermia for anyone caught in the flooding.

And in Virginia, first responders helped dozens of people and their pets relocate to safety in overnight water rescues. The severe weather threat is far from over, though.

Our meteorologist Allison Chinchar has the latest on the incoming arctic blast that could break dozens of records low temperatures this week.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The cold front that brought all of the flooding rains across portions of the Ohio and Tennessee valleys now pushing out, but behind it, you've got some pretty significant cold air that's going to infiltrate portions of the central and the eastern U.S. And with that cold air in place, as our next system begins to arrive, it's going to bring snow to some places that are pretty far south.

Here you can see by Tuesday morning, you've already got snow and even some ice developing across portions of Texas and even Oklahoma. The system itself will continue to slide east so that by Wednesday morning, as many folks are headed out on their commute in Nashville, Louisville, even around Huntsville, Alabama, looking at some snow showers into the mix.

Farther south, it's mostly going to be rain for places like Atlanta, Montgomery, stretching down towards New Orleans. The system continues to spread eastward, eventually impacting portions of the mid-Atlantic, like Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and even into the northeast, like New York and Boston, bringing some additional snow there as well.

Here you can see some of these spots. You are looking at pretty substantial amounts of snow. Lots of these locations across the central U.S. and even perhaps over the Carolinas and Virginia could be looking at at least half a foot of snow before this finally pushes back out of the area. The cold air we talked about is also going to spread.

So even for the areas that don't necessarily get the snow, per se, your temperatures are certainly going to drop. Look at Dallas, for example. 57 for the high on Monday, looking at a high of only 28 on Wednesday. Their normal high would be in the 60s. They won't get there until the end of the week.

Similar scenario for Omaha. The average high is 39 degrees. They are looking at barely getting just into positive numbers. By the time we get to the middle portion of the week, they finally rebound once we head into next weekend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now, less than three weeks after a deadly mid-air collision over Washington, D.C., hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees are being fired. That story and more after the break.

And the Trump administration is ready to present a new plan for tackling bird flu outbreaks without killing chickens.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. The Trump administration is now slashing jobs at yet another critical government agency. They've started firing hundreds of probationary employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Now, these are not air traffic controllers, but they are part of the workforce that maintains radio and computer systems and develops new flight procedures. The head of the union says several hundred workers began getting the notices on Friday.

It's been less than three weeks since the midair collision over Washington, D.C. killed 67 people. CNN has reached out to the FAA for comment.

The White House has gutted workers' rights across the United States since Donald Trump became president. One of his targets is the National Labor Relations Board.

It's an independent agency that enforces labor laws and protections for American workers. After an unprecedented firing, the board cannot now function. And critics say Elon Musk has everything to gain.

Rafael Romo explains why.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The board normally has five members. With the firing of board member Gwynne Wilcox late last month by the Trump administration, the National Labor Relations Board now lacks a quorum to make any decisions at all. Among the main objectives of the NLRB are overseeing elections to form unions, investigating complaints about unfair labor practices, encouraging businesses and employees to reach settlements to avoid litigation, and enforcing judicial orders that have to do with labor practices.

The terms of two board members had expired, but the board could still make decisions with the other three that remained. When Wilcox was fired, the number of active board members fell to two, which means that even if the board still exists in practice, there aren't enough members to have a majority on any decision. As for why she was fired, Wilcox said the e-mail she received late one night specifically said that the Trump administration wanted someone more aligned with the president's policies.

This is what she told CNN.

GWYNNE WILCOX, FORMER NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD MEMBER: He wanted people who were loyal to him and would issue decisions more consistent with his views. And that is actually in violation of the National Labor Relations Act, which is an independent agency that is to be free of influence, both presidential and other political influence.

ROMO: It's important to mention that Wilcox's term would have expired in 2028. Her firing makes her the first person to be removed from the board in its 90-year history.

Elon Musk's SpaceX brought a case to federal court last year arguing two points. That NLRB structure was unconstitutional and that it shouldn't be allowed to act on unfair labor practice complaints. Apparently, that suit was an attempt to block the agency from moving against SpaceX for firing some employees who complained in a letter about Musk's behavior on social media. Neither SpaceX nor Tesla responded to a request for comment.

SpaceX is not the only major company that has fought the NLRB in court.

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Amazon in recent years has also sued over the existence of the NLRB with the e-commerce giant still fighting the results of a union representation vote it lost in 2022. That was the first time workers at one of Amazon's facilities had voted to join a union. Amazon did not respond to requests for comment either.

Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now, the Trump administration's Department of Education is threatening to defund schools that don't cancel diversity and inclusion programs. The department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights wrote a letter Friday directed towards the schools that receive federal funding. The letter said schools have quote, toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon systemic and structural racism and advanced discriminatory policies and practices.

Republicans have long argued that white Americans, particularly white men are losing their rights to minorities and women.

The Trump administration is ready to present a planned account of bird flu without killing chickens, unlike other countries. Until now, the U.S. has chosen not to vaccinate chickens. Instead, the U.S. normally culls flocks and birds when it detects bird flu. But the impact is sending the price of eggs soaring, which became a talking point during last year's presidential election. Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett says he's ready to present a new plan to President Trump.

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KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: So what we need to do is have better ways with biosecurity and medication and so on to make sure that the perimeter doesn't have to kill the chickens. We have a better, smarter perimeter. And so having a smart perimeter is what we're working on, and we're finalizing the ideas about how to do that with the best scientists in government, and that's the kind of thing that should have happened a year ago.

And if it had, then egg prices would be, you know, a lot better than they are now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: And the first vaccine for chickens may soon be on the way. Authorities said they gave conditional approval to a vaccine from drugmaker Zoetis.

Now this week marks the end of Donald Trump's first month in his second term in the White House. It's been a wild month, to say the least. A CBS/YouGov poll finds that 53 percent of Americans approve of the U.S. president's performance so far. 47 percent disapprove, whether or not they agree with his flurry of executive action.

70 percent of Americans say Mr. Trump is doing what he promised in his campaign. But a whopping 66 percent believe he is not doing enough to lower the prices of goods and services. And this comes, as we were saying, as egg prices skyrocket and thousands of people are losing their jobs from his federal job cuts.

U.S. President Donald Trump himself attended the Daytona 500 NASCAR's premier race in Florida on Sunday.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, thank you for joining us this year's great American race. And the Daytona 500 has started. the radio is yours, sir.

TRUMP: This is your favorite president. I'm a big fan. I'm a really big fan of you people. You people, how you do this, I don't know. But I just want you to be safe. You're talented people and you're great people and great Americans. Have a good day. Have a lot of fun and I'll see you later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: That was Mr. Trump addressing the drivers over the radio as the presidential limousine known as the Beast did ceremonial laps around the track before the race. Mr. Trump's appearance at Daytona comes shortly after he made history as the first sitting U.S. president to attend a Super Bowl.

Now West Texas is grappling with a measles outbreak. We'll have the latest on this after the break.

Plus, top U.S. officials are starting to arrive in Saudi Arabia while high-level talks are set to begin over Russia's war in Ukraine. We'll break down what to expect next.