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CNN International: U.S.-Russia Talks on Conflict in Ukraine Begins Tuesday; European Leaders Holding Emergency Summit on Ukraine Today; Kentucky Crews Make More Than 1,000 Rescues in Under 24 Hours; Union: Hundreds of FAA Probationary Workers Fired; Understanding Emil Bove, Donald Trump's Rally at the DOJ; Eisenberg Wins Best Original Screenplay for "A Real Pain". Aired 8-9a ET

Aired February 17, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane, and this is CNN Newsroom. Just ahead setting the stage U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio arrives in Saudi Arabia ahead of talks with Russia over ending the war in Ukraine.

But where does that leave Kyiv and its European allies. Plus, millions of Americans, are under winter warm storming -- winter storm warnings, floods and extreme weather have already left at least 10 people dead. We'll have a full forecast for you. And Pope Francis remains in a hospital for a fourth day.

We're live in Rome with the very latest update on his health. As Saudi Arabia prepares to host critical talks between the U.S. and Russia about ending the conflict in Ukraine. European leaders who feel left out of the process are holding an emergency summit on Ukraine and European security in Paris.

U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is in Saudi Arabia where talks are set to begin Tuesday. Rubio is framing the meeting as the first steps of a process to see if Moscow is serious about ending the Ukraine conflict. The decision to hold talks in Riyad is underscoring fear that Europe and Ukraine will be frozen out of peace negotiations.

Russia's Foreign Minister is already implying that Moscow will not make concessions in the talks. Take a listen to what Sergey Lavrov's answer was to CNN's Fred Pleitgen earlier in Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Which territorial concessions in general, which compromises is Russia willing to make to achieve such a peace agreement?

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: You want us to have a mere thought of the negotiations on the settlement regarding the fact that some territories still need to be ceded, to seed how with people with Russians or without people with only rare earth metals. If we are still talking about serious diplomacy, it's better to first understand the history of the issue and see why the Russian language is banned in all spheres of life in Ukraine, and why the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is banned there. And here, they say that territorial concessions are necessary for what.

So that Russians can now be destroyed like they are now being destroyed in the Kursk region and in other regions of the Russian Federation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will not be at the talks in Riyadh, and he is making it clear that he would not accept any decisions that are made without Ukrainian involvement. U.K.'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 is among the European leaders attending the emergency summit in Paris today. The Ukrainian President says he will travel to Saudi Arabia this week for separate talks with Saudi officials. He reiterated that Kyiv should be involved in any discussions about its own future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Ukraine will not participate. Ukraine knew nothing about them. Ukraine perceives any negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine as those with no results. We cannot recognize anything or any agreements about us without us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, Clare Sebastian is joining us now to discuss this. And Clare, there has been a lot of mixed messaging about who is going to be in the room for these negotiations in Riyadh this week. And here we have it, cold, hard facts that Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, the invaded country, will not be there, and instead, it will just be Russia and the United States at the table.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and the U.S., Christina is couching this, certainly via Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, as sort of a first initial step, not necessarily full-blown peace talks yet, but an opportunity to gage the sort of the position of the Russian side, see how serious they are about peace.

And if you listen to that rather long-winded answer from Sergey Lavrov to Fred Pleitgen, it seems they are not keen on making any compromises at all. So, it's hard to see that significant progress will be made here. But look, this is huge from a point of view of optics, and especially for Russia.

I think it's interesting. If you look at some of the other comments from Sergey Lavrov, he said that this shows that they're leaving behind what he called an abnormal period in the relationship between two great powers where they didn't communicate those that phrase two great powers, is critical, because this allows Russia to take its place on an equal footing with the U.S.

And that is really part of what underpins the whole conflict in Ukraine, the reason why Russia launched its full-scale invasion to regain this territory that it sees as once part of its sort of quote, unquote empire, to regain its superpower position in the world.

[08:05:00]

And now these bilateral talks are allowing it to an extent to do that, the era of Western isolation of Russia now well and truly over. Not only that, but they get to watch while this transatlantic alliance NATO is sorely tested by these methods of the United States of starting the talks on this sort of bilateral basis.

And it gets to watch while Ukraine is initially sidelined a country whose sovereignty continues to deny so I think in terms of concrete steps, it's hard to see what we'll get out of this initially, the U.S. may be able to push towards the next stage, but for Russia, the optics are extremely powerful.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and as you say, Clare, all of this a challenge to Europe to not only rethink their spending on defense, but their entire transatlantic relationship with the United States, and this is, of course, playing out in this meeting being held among some of the European nations today in Paris.

SEBASTIAN: Yeah, I think that Europe is now grappling with two problems. One is sort of short to medium term. Is what does it do if the U.S. decides unilaterally what to do about Ukraine? Because the U.S. has said very clearly, we heard this in Brussels last week by the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, that Europe will be expected to pick up the bulk of the bill for Ukraine going forward and to provide the security guarantees that will serve as a deterrent after some kind of ceasefire.

So that is the initial challenge they face. How will they manage to do that, and especially if they are being forced to implement a peace deal that they didn't agree to in the first place. Though, I should say that Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, says that Europe will have to be involved as this goes forward.

And the second problem, of course, for European leaders, is that they are now grappling with a sort of dawning realization that the era of guaranteed U.S. support, U.S. protection, may be over. We heard the repeated calls last week from the U.S. and indeed from NATO leadership itself, that Europe needs to spend more on defense, needs to take more responsibility for its own security.

So, I think that will be one of the big issues on the table today, how they present a strong and united front, and how they guarantee that they will be able to step up to this moment long term, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Clare Sebastian in London with us. Thanks very much. Let's turn to CNN's White House Reporter Alayna Treene is joining us from Washington, D.C. with more on the Trump Administration strategy. And Alayna, it's, I think, noteworthy that we've seen a lot of contradictory statements from U.S. officials in recent days over the terms for whatever negotiation is going to take place, who is going to be in the room?

What is this strategy of the Trump Administration at this point as we head into these talks with Russia, it's not entirely clear. Is there anything more you can reveal?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It's not entirely clear. Look, when I talk to Trump Administration officials about this, they tell me that, essentially, they're going into this looking at this as a first step for broader negotiations. We heard Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who we saw arrive in Riyadh this morning ahead of those high stake talks tomorrow.

Kind of say this over the weekend that he believes that this is just the beginning of negotiations. He didn't characterize them as being real negotiations yet, but that, that could come down the pike if tomorrow goes well. Now I also know that everyone is saying that I've spoken with it. Nothing is off the table.

Everything is on the table. Again, wanting to go into this with open eyes and also an open mind. However, one thing that is clear is that how those talks go tomorrow could really be the determinating factor for when President Donald Trump himself is slated to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We know that they've talked about having some sort of meeting one on one in Saudi Arabia as well. I'm told that if these talks tomorrow do go well, we could see that time line for when that meeting is kind of be sped up a bit. Now, just to get into who was going to be there from the United States side, as I mentioned, Rubio, who arrived this morning, is expected to attend.

Also, Donald Trump's Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff, who, more and more, is beginning to take on this Ukraine, Russia portfolio. We know he was integral and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week after as part of the negotiations around the release of American prisoner, Mark Fogel from Russia and then also National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.

All three of them expected to be there from the Russia side. We know that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as presidential aide Yuri Ushakov going to be there. Of course, the big question is, why is not Ukraine there? They will not be involved in these talks causing a ton of consternation among those in Kyiv, but also among the United States European allies.

This is something, of course, I know that the Trump Administration is monitoring. They know as well that many European leaders who are very concerned about not having a seat at the table are hosting an emergency summit in Paris later today. The White House is keeping track of that as well.

But honestly, to answer your question, they are going into tomorrow with a lot of things that they want to discuss, but not entirely sure of how these talks will go and where they will lead. That is going to be a key thing that we're looking for. As you know, they prepare today and get through those talks tomorrow.

[08:10:00]

MACFARLANE: All right, Alayna Treene there from Washington. Thank you very much, Alayna. Well, for more on what's upcoming between these talks, and I suppose what the strategy is with the U.S. We're joined by CNN Political and Security Analyst David Sanger. David, great to see you.

I mean, we are in uncharted territory here, aren't we, David, as we were just hearing from Alayna here? And I want to ask you about the U.S. strategy here, because everything is happening here with whiplash speed and in bypassing Ukraine and Europe, the U.S. are certainly signaling the haste in wanting to reach an agreement here.

Aside from anything else, how much does that need for speed that we can their negotiating position with Russia? Because already, as we've seen, you know, they've been announcing concessions without proper consideration.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, you know the old expression, speed kills, and you may see that here. Look, the good news out of this is that the United States and Russia have had no high-level conversations for three years. It was quite deliberate on the part of the Biden Administration.

They were trying to show Putin that he was isolated and that no major Western or world leaders would meet with him. And the result was that he receded to a relationship that was largely with China, Iran, North Korea. And that's sort of the dividing lines of the world.

I think if there is a larger strategy here, and it's sometimes hard to discern one, it is probably to try to pull Russia out of that China, Iran, North Korea Nexus, and back closer to the United States. But there are several risks that are along the way. You heard a little bit of it just now.

Risk Number one is that American interests in that regard may not match up with Ukrainian or European interests. The second is, as you alluded to before, whatever agreement they may come to, and I think we're a long way from an agreement, you're going to have to have full buy in from the Europeans if they are going to send peace keeping forces or trip wire forces, and full agreement from the Ukrainians if they're even going to sign it.

And you know, the days when you simply did this and handed it to a less powerful state are we think over.

MACFARLANE: So, you think that without being in the room, Europe and Ukraine will still be able to exert leverage over these talks in Riyadh, purely for the point that they need Europe and they need Ukraine's buy in.

SANGER: Well, they would certainly need Europe for a security guarantee that Ukraine would believe. Look, the truth of the matter is here, on whatever day a ceasefire is declared, the Russians are probably going to control whatever part of Ukraine they occupy that day, and right now, that's about 20 percent of the country.

The truth of the matter is, Ukraine isn't getting into NATO anytime soon, because any NATO member can veto that, and there are at least three, by my count, who have been out opposed to the idea that they would join anytime soon. So yes, the administration made some concessions they probably should not have made out loud, but they were probably speaking some truths there.

The core to this is what the security arrangement is to make sure that Russia doesn't simply use the time to regroup and attack again.

MACFARLANE: And also, ongoing today are these talks happening with European leaders in Paris? I mean, as we were saying earlier, Europe right now are reassessing their entire transatlantic relationship with the U.S. their what they're willing to commit to on defense.

What must be addressed in this meeting, and how easy is it going to be for them to find unity among European countries? And I only ask that because even in the last few hours, we've seen differing positions from Poland and the United Kingdom on the topic of supplying troops to Ukraine, for instance.

SANGER: Yeah, you're going to see that, and you're going to see a lot more of it, I suspect. The Europeans are going to have to come to a sense of reality here that Donald Trump's strategy is to deal with them individually, because in that case, he holds more and more of the cards as a far more powerful nation.

Their best hope is to come up with a common position on military affairs. They have not done a great job of that in the past few years. And in particular, they have had difficulty doing it when it comes to spending what they need to spend to build up a credible military force.

I think there is some credibility in both the Democrats and President Trump's argument that the Europeans have moved way too slowly here after the 2014 seizure of Crimea.

[08:15:00]

They had a lot of time to begin to seriously spend on defenses, and they chose not to do it, and now they're in a rush to make that up.

MACFARLANE: They're in a rush to make it up. But they've also, as you said, under invested in defense for over a decade. Their budgets trained. What resources can European leaders cobble together to bring defense spending to where it needs to be, in order to defend Europe, in order to defend Ukraine, and is a sort of a new European army, as I suppose President Zelenskyy was proposing, even a reality?

SANGER: We're a long way from it being a reality, a new European army would basically be NATO without the United States, so they wouldn't have to rely on U.S. forces. But the U.S. has some exquisite capabilities, satellite and other intelligence capability, obviously nuclear weapons, a far more powerful Air Force. And at the same time, the Europeans are way behind on the production of basic ammunition, on drones and a lot of other just tanks. They put a lot of that capability out to pasture after the end of the Cold War. And rebuilding it is something they should have begun about 10 years ago.

And we've discovered it's a very hard thing for both the United States and for Europe to get that running, that machine running again.

MACFARLANE: David Sanger, it was great to have your analysis at this time. Thank you.

SANGER: Great to be with you.

MACFARLANE: Pope Francis is to stay in hospital for as long as necessary, according to the Vatican. Officials released a fresh diagnosis of the Pontiff's condition earlier, saying he has a poly microbial infection of his respiratory tract. Pope Francis was hospitalized last week to be treated for.

And according to the Vatican, latest tests indicate a complex clinical situation. Joining us to discuss, the CNN Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb who is outside the hospital where the pope is being treated. So, Christopher, what is a complex clinical situation, exactly?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Vatican haven't specified exactly what that is, but this is the second change in treatment that the pope has received since arriving at the Gemelli hospital behind me on Friday. We're now into the fourth day of the pope's hospital visit for treatment of this respiratory tract infection, the poly microbial infection, essentially means.

There are different factors driving what is making Francis unwell? But the Vatican not saying exactly what those are. The 88-year-old pope admitted to hospital on Friday after it was clear he was suffering from respiratory problems that was making it very difficult for him to speak.

I actually saw the pope on Friday morning before he was hospitalized, and it was clear then he was struggling to speak for long periods because of these breathing difficulties. The pope is vulnerable to respiratory infections because he lost part of his right lung as a young man.

Now the Vatican have not given a timetable for how long the pope is going to stay in hospital. However, they have said that the Wednesday general audience that the pope holds each week will be canceled this coming week, and we simply don't know how much longer Francis needs to be in hospital.

The spokesman for the Vatican, Matteo Bruni, did say today that the pope had a good night last night, that he read the newspapers, that he ate breakfast. But clearly this is a serious infection that the pope is grappling with. And we are expecting a further update from the Vatican later today, Christina, MACFARLANE: And despite all of this, Christopher, it does seem that Pope Francis from his hospital bed is still signaling his intention to continue on, to fight on, and to get back to his duties as soon as possible. So, I guess we can take that as a positive sign.

LAMB: Well, Francis is a very determined and some say, stubborn figure who has shown that he wants to continue in office for as long as possible, and even from his hospital bed, he sent a message for the Sunday Angeles yesterday, where he said he was sorry he couldn't be with people because of the bronchitis that he's suffering from, but the doctors have told the pope he must rest, and that means complete rest.

This is obviously something he is following under doctor's orders. But yes, he is a determined figure, and if he can get better, he will get back to work as soon as possible.

[08:20:00]

MACFARLANE: Well, we of course, are wishing him a speed of recovery and keeping our fingers cross. Christopher Lamb there in Rome. Thanks, Christopher. Still to come a look at the devastation left behind after a deadly storm system slammed the southern and eastern United States over the weekend. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: A Major Winter Storm wreaked havoc in the U.S., south, Midwest and northeast over the weekend. Kentucky, Indiana and Virginia took the brunt of the bad weather. In Kentucky, at least nine people died as the storm triggered widespread flooding. A 10th person was reported killed in Georgia.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear called it one of the worst disasters to hit the state in at least a decade. Emergency crews there carried more than 1000 rescue out -- 1000 rescues within 24 hours. And the same weather system was responsible for at least three tornados in Alabama, and now an arctic blast is expected to usher in icy temperatures to the region this week.

CNN's Danny Freeman is in Salem, Virginia. So, Danny, how are the conditions looking where you are?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Frankly, where I am right here. Conditions are, as you noted they're very cold and very windy as well. But at least in this particular area of Virginia, the flood waters have begun to recede. This is the Roanoke River behind me.

I can tell you that over the course of the weekend, when this storm was at its highest point, the waters were right over this bridge. You might be able to see there are icicles actually on parts of this bridge where the water was flowing again, not too long ago, some damage to the bridge as well.

But cars are able to travel across here. in the -- Virginia, the governor of this state, Glenn Youngkin, he on Sunday, submit a request for an expedited major disaster declaration. And the reason for that was that at the peak of the storms, there were more than 200,000 people without power.

And there were two areas just to the west of where we are right now that experienced catastrophic and historic flooding in the region. But of course, as you noted, Kentucky really taking the brunt of this storm over the course of the weekend, as well over 1000 water rescues.

They also had nine confirmed deaths because of the flooding, including a mother and a child who were swept away in the flood waters. Terribly tragic. Take a listen to how first responders described trying to rescue those two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY ROBERTS, CORONER, HART COUNTY, KENTUCKY: And it had rolled over upside down. Rescuers did rescue the 7-year-old out the name rescuer, but retrieved her out of the vehicle, but could not get to the mom because the water was coming up so fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, local and state authorities are warning people throughout the weekend, but still today in certain parts of Kentucky, especially while the river right here has receded, I'll mind you where I'm standing was covered in water over the course of the weekend, in parts of Kentucky, there are still risks of flood waters rising, especially around rivers that are getting run off from nearby mountains.

[08:25:00]

So state and local officials, they're really encouraging people, if you come across flood water, please do not try to cross it, because that's exactly what has led to some of these deaths and some of these fatalities and injuries over the course of the weekend. Plus, not only is it dangerous to be in the flood waters, because you could get swept away, the water here is just so cold and getting colder, as we're expecting to see more winter weather in the coming days. Back to you.

MACFARLANE: All right. Danny, thank you so much. Let's go to CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam for more on this. Derek, how are we expecting that to play out with this arctic blast moving in that we said --

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, Christina, is really going to be a one two punch with the storm that brought the flooding where Danny is located. Now we'll have some of the coldest air the seasons settle in, and it's going to work in tandem with yet another winter storm that will bring snow fall to the area that had rain and flooding just a few days ago.

So, we've got these cold weather alerts. They stretch from the border of U.S. and Canada all the way down to the Rio Grande. So, we're talking over 1250 miles. So, when we talk about how many people will be impacted by this cold weather. This is one statistic we like to show, but it's very effective.

170 million people or more will see the mercury in the thermometer drop below the freezing mark, so extremely cold, especially for the Northern Plains, the Midwest and eventually the east coast as well. Behind this departing storm, tons of energy, lots of wind, dropping the wind chill values.

But that's only the curtain raiser, because it will get colder from here, and it's going to set the stage for a significant winter storm over the same areas that have gotten hammered by heavy rain and flooding. I want you to pay close attention to the state of Kentucky. So, this is a winter weather watch, a winter storm watch, and this is the area where we currently have seven river gages under some sort of major flood as it stands.

So, this area got hit hard with heavy rain fall through the course of the weekend. Now we have snow on top of that, so the storm system will evolve over the next 36 hours. Pull up some moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, bring snow to the Tennessee and Kentucky areas and then exit off the east coast, but not before producing some ice for portions of North Carolina as well.

All in all, an impactful winter storm snow all the way to the coastline. But this storm that just moved through brought several feet of snow to California, the flooding across portions of Kentucky. And of course, we cannot forget about the tornadoes that spun up across portions of the South, including here in Alabama, quite an active weather pattern to say the least, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, very active indeed. Derek, thanks for running it up for us. We'll be back and obviously following the weather patterns in the hours ahead. Now still to come, Donald Trump and Elon Musk turned their attention to the skies, what the latest round of government layoffs could mean for air traffic safety when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]

MACFARLANE: U.S. and Russia officials are preparing to hold talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Minister is already implying that Moscow won't be making any concessions. U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, arrived in Riyadh earlier, noticeably absent from the table.

However, is Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv will not participate, but said he would travel to Saudi Arabia this week for separate talks with Saudi officials. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron is convening an emergency summit of European leaders in Paris to discuss Ukraine set to begin soon.

William Taylor is Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. And a short time ago, he explained to my colleague John Berman why Ukraine will be so concerned by a meeting between Russia and the U.S. without Ukraine at the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: It's been very clear all along that the way to end this war is for Putin to stop and for there to be conversations eventually between Putin and Zelenskyy. So, Zelenskyy has been very clear that they're not going to give up.

Ukraine has to keep fighting until there is agreement that Russia won't fight again, that Russia won't invade again. So, they legitimately want to be part of these negotiations. Now, there can be other discussions between the United States and Russia on different things, but when they're talking about Ukraine, Ukraine has to be represented.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, the Trump Administration has started firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration probationary employees. They're part of the work force that maintains radio and computer systems and develops new flight procedures. The firings do not include air traffic controllers.

The union says several 100 workers began getting notices on Friday. It's been less than three weeks since a mid-air collision over Washington D.C. killed 67 people. Meanwhile, President Trump is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him to fire the head of the government ethics Watchdog agency.

A lower court ruling on Saturday keeps the leader of the Office of the special counsel on the job for now, despite Trump firing him. The DOJ is calling the court's ruling an unprecedented assault on the separation of powers. Well, with more on the firings at the FAA and how it might impact airplane safety in the U.S.

Let's bring in Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean. And Pete, this move even more of a concern, given that it's coming so soon, just three weeks, as we said after the air disaster in Washington.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And the latest development here Christina, is that now engineers working for Elon Musk will be visiting the FAA's air traffic control command center on Monday. That plus these firings are truly uncharted territory for the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees an air travel system in the U.S. that's really stress to the max right now.

Remember, the FAA's air traffic control equipment is aging, and the system that delivers mandatory pilot safety alerts failed just days after that crash that killed 67 people over Washington. Hasn't been even three weeks since that crash, and DOGE has had its eye on the FAA ever since.

Now, the concern is when these federal workers return from the long weekend tomorrow, they could be barred from FAA facilities. The workers impacted here are members of a union called PASS, that is the Professional Aviation Safety Specialist union. It's part of the AFL CIO. And Union President David Spero tells me between 2 and 300 FAA workers started receiving firing notices from the Trump Administration late on Friday. These are the workers who helped maintain the critical infrastructure that keep the air traffic control system operating.

Union President tells me, not only were these workers fired without cause, but this was hardly a surgical move by the Trump Administration, that it's dangerous to public safety, he says, especially in the unconscionable aftermath of the crashes that have been grabbing headlines over the last month.

It's important to note here that these are probationary employees, meaning they've been on the job for less than a year. So, this is the next generation of FAA employees at the agency that had a really hard time keeping up with retirements and attrition. So far, no comment from the FAA after my request for comment, but we know this from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who announced this visit by Musk team.

He posted on X, that President Trump is ordering a new air traffic control system, and called for help, not just from private industry, but also any high-tech American developer in overhauling the FAA. So, we're talking not just private industry, but also private individuals.

One air traffic controller described it to me, is making a major change at the FAA is like turning around an aircraft carrier with a singular boat. Or we will see how this goes, although it could be very, very difficult.

[08:35:00]

MACFARLANE: Yeah, these are extraordinary developments. Pete, and as you mentioned, DOGE, I noticed that they have said they will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system. And what do you make of the need for those safety upgrades? And is there any indication as to what they're actually proposing to do?

MUNTEAN: There are two big arguments here. The biggest one is that you don't want to do anything super-fast at the Federal Aviation Administration, because the rules in aviation are written in blood, and safety is always paramount. So, you want to do things very intentionally and very surgically to make it so that you do the right things at the right time.

The air traffic system is really moving at a blistering pace right now, and just this past Thanksgiving here in the U.S., the Sunday after we saw a record-breaking air travel day, 3 million people pass through security at America's airports, and it's hard to think about now that we're in the depths of winter, but we're already seeing that summer time will be huge for air travel in the U.S. and beyond.

So doing something in the middle of a major rush may be a really big problem. There is an argument to be made for overhauling the system, because the agency's infrastructure is so lagging, and in some cases, some systems we're told are running on floppy disks which Gen Z may not even know what they are. So, this is really significant, that they need to make some changes. And that is true, but you don't want to do it too fast.

MACFARLANE: All right. Pete Muntean in Washington, thank you so much. The Trump Administration's Department of Education is threatening to end federal funding for any school that takes account of race in decisions involving nearly every aspect of student life.

The department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights wrote a letter Friday to educators -- education officials across the U.S. The new directive would affect everything from admission decisions to graduation ceremonies and school housing choices. The letter says 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.

The directive is almost certain to face legal challenges. Joining me now is Todd Belt. He is the Director of the Political Management Program at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Thank you for your time.

I just want to talk big picture here, because it feels these days increasingly difficult, head spinning, in fact, to follow the Trump Administration's actions in real time, be it the blizzard of over 50 executive orders Trump has issued in recent weeks, or the speed with which the peace talks now are being accelerated in Saudi Arabia, but this chaotic strategy is one that appears to be working for the Trump Administration. Do you agree?

TODD BELT, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF POLITICAL MANAGEMENT AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Hi, Christina. It's great to be with you. Thanks for having me on. You're absolutely right that this is going at break neck speed, and that is entirely the point. This is political shock and awe like we have never seen. And of those 50 executive orders, remember that just one of them overturned 72 Biden orders.

So, this is even broader than it looks like, and the reason for this is to keep Democrats off balance. The Democrats are still pointing fingers about the last election, and they haven't really reconciled where they're going to go. They just have a new DNC chair was recently elected, and they really have no plan, and they have very little power.

What power they do have is at the state level, and you have a number of different governors and States Attorney General bringing lawsuits, and that seems to be where they do have the power. There are other Democratic leaning interest groups bringing lawsuits against some of these executive actions, particularly the firings that we saw.

And, you know, you even have, you know, some governors who are, you know, sort of getting close and cozy with Donald Trump, because they know that they do need that federal funding, and they don't want to land in its crosshairs.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and I want to discuss the legal ramifications all of this with you in just a moment. But first, I mean, Donald Trump, as we're saying, has been very active, but is he delivering on what the people wanted or the people voted for? In particular, when we look at the cost of commodities, of goods, you know, all we've been talking about latest, the sky rocketing price of eggs?

BELT: Right. You're absolutely right. This is really different than what Donald Trump promised. There are a lot of things that he did promise on the campaign trail that lot of people did not think he necessarily would come through on, such as the birthright citizenship. One of the things that's trending on social media now is hashtag.

He said he was going to, meaning that, you know, he said he was going to do it, and he has ended up doing it. Unlike in the first term, when a lot of people thought that a lot of this was just a lot of rhetoric, and he wasn't going to follow through. But in our GW politics poll that I helped to direct, we have a lot of really good information about what people really wanted.

Of course, groceries were a primary concern. Not surprising, the economy is always the number one issue.

[08:40:00]

But people were very interested in immigration, and they were also very interested in some of those tax reductions, particularly on overtime and wages, not so much on expanding U.S. territory and renaming the Gulf and a lot of these other things that the Trump Administration has been doing.

MACFARLANE: You mentioned the sort of paralysis among the Democrats over how to deal with this, but what do you make of how the Republicans are viewing this, the sort of evolution of the GOP towards Donald Trump and DOGE, you know, and Elon Musk themselves. What is the view within the Republican Party of what's transpired?

BELT: Right. And the Republicans, there are a lot of them who are, you know, not necessarily in sync with what Donald Trump wants to do, particularly on Ukraine. I mean, we've seen somebody like Lindsey Graham talk about trying to get some business deals and mineral rights in Ukraine, to try to slow Donald Trump a little bit here, and to put more U.S. business interests, which he does respect, into Ukraine.

And this is sort of like some of these Republicans are trying to find ways, like some of Donald Trump's advisers did during his first term, when they couldn't get him to read the Presidential Daily Brief, they started mentioning him a lot more, and he would -- that would continue his attention.

There are other things that Republicans really don't like. Some of these appointments they haven't liked very much, but we saw what happened to Joni Ernst, who is a senator from Iowa, who just said that she was skeptical about Pete Hegseth, and then the whole force of the whole MAGA movement came down on her, and they were threatening her with primaries.

And this has really kept there's the Senate in line, and there's a lot of people who are worried about their jobs, and they prefer to stay quiet right now.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

BELT: Some of those Republicans who know that some of the things Donald Trump is saying and has been doing are not quite constitutional.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. You will have seen the post on X over the weekend, Donald Trump appeared to channel Napoleon in saying, he who saves his country does not violate any law. I mean, aside from what Donald Trump might have been watching on TV that day. What does it reveal to us about how Trump views his remit and his untouchability, especially when it comes to these cases that are headed for the Supreme Court?

BELT: Right. I don't know if make America great again was make America an empire, but certainly if you're quoting Napoleon, it seems to be going that way. The court said last July in U.S. v. Trump, that Donald Trump has absolute immunity for his constitutional powers and presumptive immunity for his official acts and no immunity for unofficial acts.

And when he says that he had, if he's trying to save the country, then it can't be illegal. I mean, this really sounds like when we had David Frost interview Richard Nixon, and he said, when the president does it, it can't be illegal. And that was just laughable. And it is still laughable.

What Donald Trump is saying goes beyond what the Supreme Court has said, and this all has to do with this court case that's going on, which your report reported on earlier about a solicitor who is now has been fired and is suing to keep his job. This really goes back to the early republic, when George Washington tried to get rid of some of the people that had Senate confirmation.

And the question was, can they do that? The Supreme Court weighed in, in 1935 and said, if the Congress makes a rule saying there are rules under which you must follow to get rid of that person, you have to follow them. Donald Trump is trying to counter that, and this will give him a broad power for removing a lot of those people that they've talked about.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, a lot to watch in this space, especially as the first case is reaching the Supreme Court this week. But for now, Professor Todd Belt, sir, we really appreciate your thoughts on this. Thank you.

BELT: Thanks so much. Great to be with you.

MACFARLANE: All right. Still to come a close up look at one of Donald Trump's closest allies, how this man is trying to reshape the Department of Justice. Stay with us.

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[08:45:00] MACFARLANE: Welcome back. The first few weeks of Donald Trump's second term have been times of major change and generous helpings of chaos, but perhaps nowhere more so than at the Department of Justice. As many as half a dozen prosecutors resigned last week rather than carry out an order from their boss driven by what they saw as political considerations. That boss is Emil Bove. And CNN's Randi Kaye explains more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Following the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, Emil Bove helped track down and prosecute suspected rioters. At the time, Bove was helping lead the counter terrorism section in the U.S. Attorney's Office for New York Southern District.

A former colleague told CNN, Bove was appalled at what was going on during the riot and was leaning in to fully support the FBI efforts to investigate, locate and arrest the subjects. In a stunning turn, four years later, Bove is now acting Deputy Attorney General under President Trump.

Bove had left the U.S. Attorney's Office and became a member of Trump's criminal defense team in 2021. In 2023, Bove teamed up with Trump's Defense Lawyer Todd Blanche in the hush money case. Trump was found guilty and is appealing the conviction. Now, Bove is leading a new Justice Department effort called the weaponization working group.

According to a memo, Bove wrote the FBI actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as a grave national injustice by investigating the January, 6 U.S. Capitol riot. Bove is expected to be named principal associate deputy attorney general in Trump's Justice Department.

He's hardly waiting until that role to make an impact. This week, Emil Bove ordered federal prosecutors to drop federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was done at the directive of Emil, so that case should be dropped.

KAYE (voice-over): The move to drop the case resulted in the resignation of Acting U S Attorney for New York Southern District Danielle Sassoon, along with other top prosecutors. In her resignation letter, Sassoon made it all sound like some sort of quid pro quo, writing in part, Bove proposes dismissing the charges against Adams in return for his assistance in enforcing the federal immigration laws.

In accepting Sassoon's resignation, Bove responded with allegations that the SDNY weaponized the Justice Department under the last administration. In just his first week on the job, Reuters reports that Bove instructed federal prosecutors to investigate local officials who refused to assist federal immigration authorities, announced an investigation of a local sheriff in upstate New York over the alleged release of an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally. And traveled to Chicago to witness the arrest of at least one migrant. Bove has since ordered the firing of all prosecutors hired on a probationary basis to work on January 6th related cases.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): The Deputy Attorney General was trying to demonstrate to everybody in the Department of Justice, there's a new sheriff in town, and that's Donald Trump, and the Department of Justice no longer has any independence at all in executing the criminal law enforcement function.

KAYE (voice-over): Bove got his law degree from Georgetown University. He served more than nine years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York Southern District. And will now leave his mark in the nation's capital. Randi Kaye, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Still to come, Donald Trump identifies another threat to American greatness, paper straws. The latest on the paper versus plastic debate, just ahead.

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[08:50:00]

MACFARLANE: Well, as a change we were all just getting used to so maybe not for much longer. Paper straws have been adopted over the last few years as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic, but President Trump is now moving to reverse that trend. Allison Chinchar explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Could a sipping war be brewing?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're going back to plastic straws. These things don't work. I've had them many times, and on occasion, they break, they explode. If something is hot, they don't last very long.

CHINCHAR (voice-over): U.S. President Donald Trump declaring it's the last straw for paper straws, at least those bought by the U.S. government. Trump rolled back a Biden era plan to buy more eco- friendly utensils and phase out federal purchases of single use plastics.

And even though the reversal applies to government spending, some people at this New York diner seem to agree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless Donald Trump.

CHINCHAR (voice-over): With some patrons describing paper straws as soggy and unnecessary.

NIKOLETA NIKOLAKAKOS, CUSTOMER: I am a very big fan of recycling, but I don't think so we are going to say the word over the plastic straw.

CHINCHAR (voice-over): But environmentalists say straws are just the tip of the problem. One Watchdog group says global production and use of plastics is set to surpass 700 million tons by 2040, an increase of 70 percent in 20 years. Plastic straws are hard to recycle because of their size, and commonly end up in landfills or washed up on beaches.

Health experts say they can be ingested by birds and marine life and become a toxic part of the food chain, but Trump played that down when signing his executive order.

TRUMP: And I don't think that plastic is going to affect a shark very much as they're eating as they're munching their way through the ocean --

CHINCHAR (voice-over): In 2015, a viral video of a sea turtle with a plastic straw lodged in its nose captured the world's attention, and a marine biologist behind the video says this is a giant step back for their efforts to protect sea life, and much more.

CHRISTINE FIGGENER, MARINE BIOLOGIST: Even if you don't care about sea turtles or ocean we should care about human health. And I really think that caring for our environment should not be a political issue, really.

CHINCHAR (voice-over): Several U.S. states and cities have banned plastic straws, but some studies suggest paper straws are hazardous as well, with some saying they contain harmful forever chemicals. It's an ongoing debate, but not at the White House, where plastic straws are back on the table. Allison Chinchar, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now turning to more lighter issues, the lead up to the Oscars, all eyes of the cinema world were on London Sunday night for the BAFTA Awards, the brutalist won big for leading Actor Adrien Brody and Director Brady Corbet, but Papal selection drama "Conclave" took home the gong for best film.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say, a heart attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know how rumor spreads, and one and a quarter billion souls watching.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, though no Lawrence, it seems the responsibility for the conclave falls upon you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: But predictions for the Oscars are still hard to make. In addition to the favorites, there were some surprises, "A Real Pain's" Writer, Director, Jesse Eisenberg took the best original screenplay award. He spoke to our Max Foster about the broad appeal of the movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE EISENBERG, WINNER FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY OF "A REAL PAIN": I guess the unusual thing about it, but I can't even parse it, because it's my own thing, is that perhaps it takes the kind of well-worn theme, which is like Holocaust themed movies, and maybe comes at it from an angle that feels a little, I don't know, newer or more modern, more welcoming, less sanctimonious than a lot of the movies made on the similar theme. So maybe that's right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:55:00]

MACFARLANE: And in the Best Actress category, Mikey Madison edged out the favorite Demi Moore who's been riding high off her comeback performance in the substance. Madison spoke to Max about the film she stars in "Anora".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Why do you think the film hit a nerve? You got any feeling for that?

MIKEY MADISON, WINNER OF LEADING ACTRESS FOR "ANORA": I mean, I think Sean makes films about humanity and touches on really interesting subject matter. And I don't know, I mean, I think that there was just something really special in the air when we made this film.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: I still need to see that film, and I definitely need to get on it. Thank you for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Christina Macfarlane. "Connect the World" with Becky is up after this short break. Stay with us.

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