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Trump Blames Ukraine; Hamas To Release Hostages; Kayak Fisherman's Great White Encounter; Recognizing the Symptoms, Managing The Fear of Flying; Elon Musk Touts New Version of His Grok Chatbot; Brazil's Bolsonaro Charged in Alleged Coup Plot; NASCAR Eyes Clean Energy with Push for Electric Vehicles; Kayaker Has Intense Encounter with Great White Shark. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired February 19, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:26]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Vladimir Putin's very good, almost perfect day as Donald Trump rewrites recent history, leaving Ukrainians to fear the worst. Hello, I'm John Vause ahead on CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, USA PRESIDENT: You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: They, as in Ukraine, did not start the war. They were invaded by Russia in a war of Putin's choice. Yet somehow Moscow's diplomatic isolation is now over after resetting relations with Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Thursday really is going to be a very, very painful day for most Israelis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: With the bodies of the youngest Israeli hostages set to return home. The Beavers children, one four years old, the other nine months when they were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. Also, this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

0:01:10 UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great white. Great white.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A view to a kill for a lone fisherman and a kayak a long journey to shore as he was stalked by a great white shark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause. VAUSE: It could have been a slip of the tongue, maybe a moment of

confusion, or perhaps Ukraine's worst fears coming true. Just hours after an historic reset of relations between Moscow and Washington, as the U.S. President was talking to reporters about ending the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump falsely claimed Ukraine had started the war and if they really wanted to, could have made a deal with Russia to end the conflict during almost three years of fighting.

During his remarks at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump boasted to reporters he could have made a deal long before now. He also announced another major win for President Putin, a possible summit by the end of the month, a dramatic thawing of relations compared to the Biden administration. All of this made possible after seeing a U.S. And Russian officials met for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine, but Ukrainian and European representatives were not invited to the meeting in the Saudi capital.

According to U.S. Secretary of State, there was agreement on four key principles, including re-establishing diplomatic missions in Moscow and Ukraine and appointing high level teams to work through the conflict in a way which Marco Rubio called, quote, "Enduring and acceptable to the parties engaged."

Ukraine, though, finds none of this acceptable. President Volodymyr Zelensky on a visit to Turkey, said his country would not give in to Russia's ultimatums.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINE PRESIDENT (voiceover): I am sure that for Ukraine, for Europe for our region, it is fundamental that any negotiations on ending the war do not take place behind the backs of the key actors affected by the consequences of Russian aggression.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The (inaudible) between Russia and the United States is raising fears that the U.S. President will try to impose a peace deal on Ukraine, which is in favor of the Kremlin. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has details.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump keeping a close eye on negotiations underway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The beginning of a reset in relations between the United States and Russia, with three top foreign policy officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meeting with their Russian counterparts.

The American president vacationing in Florida, in touch with his advisers and said he does see an opening for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, but showing very little sympathy at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's discussions about not having a seat at that table in Saudi Arabia. The very future of Ukraine is being discussed without the Ukrainian leader there. President Trump, asked about that on Tuesday, said this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I think I have the power to end this war and I think it's going very well. But today I heard, oh, well, weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, that, of course, is not only a misreading of history, it is a massive misstatement of the facts. Three years ago, it was Vladimir Putin who invaded Ukraine. The world saw it and has seen it since, through hundreds of thousands of casualties and certainly so much damage.

Now, there is no doubt that Ukraine remains somewhat of the odd man out here as Trump is trying to reset relations with Russia. There are also so many questions about Europe's involvement in this, as well as security guarantees for Ukraine. But Trump making clear he wants to get jump started on negotiations, not really paying specific detail to exactly what concessions would be made. In fact, on Tuesday, he said he would be fine if European forces were in Ukraine as a peacekeeping force. That is something that Russia does not want.

[01:05:08]

But by and large, there is no question in this whirlwind of a week that began with that phone call last week between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, there is no doubt Trump wants to make a deal. And he sounds increasingly like he's favoring Vladimir Putin. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

VAUSE: With growing criticism and legal questions over the role of Elon Musk in gutting the federal government, the world's richest man child sat down for a joint interview on FOX with the world's most powerful man.

Musk and Trump came across as sort of a buddy act, both there for the other. Musk, though, was both defensive as well as extremely complimentary of the U.S. President. Almost as much as interviewer and Trump sycophant Sean Hannity.

Many across the U.S. fear Musk and his DOGE team are gutting critical federal agencies without regard for safety or privacy. Donald Trump refusing to clarify what Elon Musk's official government role actually is. On Tuesday, saying the billionaire could be called an employee, a consultant, or whatever you want.

And confusing matters further, the Trump administration in recent court filings said Musk isn't an employee or administrator of the Doge team, but a Trump advisor working as a special government employee. In the Fox interview, Musk says that he sees himself and Doge as a kind of presidential enforcer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELON MUSK, TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: One of the biggest functions of the DOGE team is just making sure that the presidential executive orders are actually carried out. And this is, I just want to point out, this is a very important thing because the president is the elected representative of the people. So he's representing the will of the people. And if the bureaucracy is fighting the will of the people and preventing the president from implementing what the people want, then what we live in is a bureaucracy and not a democracy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: For more now on Elon Musk's job, non-job within the Trump administration, Benjamin Radd is with us live from Los Angeles. He lectures law at the University of California and is a senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations.

Ben, thank you for being with us.

BENJAMIN RADD, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: Okay, that was an interesting take by Elon Musk. They're talking about, you know, the will of the people and the bureaucracy. Clearly, they did not teach separation of powers at civics class in South Africa.

RADD: Well, it's interesting also because all this noise about him being a special adviser and, you know, with that comes the capacity to do a whole lot. Usually, though, it's limited because special advisors don't have tens of millions of followers on social media. They don't have huge ownership stakes in companies that do business or subcontract with the U.S. Government. So there's a slew of conflict of interest on top of whatever sort of mysterious role that he seems to have, any influence that goes with it. So, indeed, separation of powers comes at the forefront of the concerns.

VAUSE: And the way Donald Trump sees it, Elon Musk's job within the administration is sort of a combination of delivery boy or messenger boy and enforcer of presidential executive orders. Here's the U.S. President.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: So when he said that, he said, you know, when you sign these executive orders, a lot of them don't get done. And maybe the most important ones. And he would take that executive order that I'd signed, and he would have those people go to whatever agency it was. When are you doing it? Get it done, get it done. And some guy that maybe didn't want to do it, all of a sudden he's signing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Sounds really simple, right? The problem here is that Elon isn't just the guy who gets stuff. It's how he's getting stuff done. And it's essentially, in many cases, breaking the law.

RADD: It's breaking the law, and it's doing so without any accountability or oversight. And at this point, even what limited oversight Congress has deigned to have, in this instance, it's more or less acted as a rubber stamp allowing all of us to go through. And, you know, the other aspect with Elon Musk's role here is that he's not just a messenger boy. He's also acting similar to what a congressional whip would do, a House or Senate leader whose job it is to basically rally support behind an initiative.

So even if something isn't wholly popular when Trump speaks about it, getting Musk to post on X and to really to spread his view garners the followers and the support that he then needs to effectively make this policy, even if it goes around Congress.

VAUSE: And because of the authority which Musk sort of has by de facto, there was a lawsuit which argued that his appointment with this sweeping authority by Trump violates the Constitution. A federal court ruled against that lawsuit on Monday. Here's one of the plaintiffs, Connecticut's Attorney General, William Tong, talking about why they brought this lawsuit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM TONG, CONNECTICUT ATTORNEY GENERAL: In the Constitution, it says if you exercise significant authority, you've got to be confirmed. Nominated by the president, but confirmed by the Senate. That didn't happen. Here. His appointment, his work is in utter violation of the U.S. Constitution and the appointments clause.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:10:09]

VAUSE: This ruling went in the White House's favor because the judge said plaintiffs failed to show the actions of Musk and DOGE would cause immediate and irreparable harm, which is the legal requirement for the court to act. The judge noted even the administration conceded there's no legal source for Musk to do what he's doing, adding this. "Accepting plaintiff's allegations as true as in the Connecticut state Attorney General, defendants actions are thus precisely the executive abuses that the Appointments Clause seeks to prevent."

So in this matter, did DOGE a bullet here simply on a technicality?

RADD: Well, it appears so. And it's one of those technicalities in the law where someone bringing a suit has to show actual damages or damages that can conceivably take place. And from this judge's perspective, it's not there yet. And it's sort of maybe a panic about what harm could be done when so far there's no demonstrable harm and nothing immediate pending. It doesn't really address the fact brought up by the attorney general and by the attorney general, the attorneys general of other states, namely that this is a position that confers a tremendous amount of responsibility and power and as such, under The Constitution's Article 1 and Article 2 powers that we've seen both to the legislative branch and the executive branch.

This is something that the Congress, that the Senate in particular, needs to confirm before anyone is given this degree of authority, even if it's indirect. RADD: And this joint interview with Trump and Musk seemed kind of odd

in a way, because it's the first time Donald Trump has sat down for a joint interview. He didn't do with his vice president. He did it with Elon Musk, who, by the way, spent a lot of time during the interview talking about how great Donald Trump is like this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUSK: The president has been so unfairly attacked in the media, it's truly outrageous. And I've at this point spent a lot of time with the president, and not once have I seen him do something that was mean or cruel or wrong. Not once.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, that's good to know. Is JD Vance now effectively a vice president?

RADD: Well, I mean, you heard in the interview earlier Trump praising the genius or the brilliance of Elon Musk and saying he looked around, sort of paraphrase, quote, what he said he looked around and couldn't find anybody smarter or more capable to take on this task, which basically marginalizes anybody else that Trump has brought into his orbit, including JD Vance, who, like you mentioned, is really nowhere to be found in these moments where this type of authority is being executed and these new policies are being implemented.

So it seems like really Musk is. Is sort of the sidekick here, or maybe in fact, the driving force behind a lot of these policies. And JD Vance is really sort of left to wait in the shadows to see whatever it is he can get, which is basically, you know, being sent to Europe and act as a messenger of Trump's foreign policy objectives, leaving Musk to really do the heavy lifting and get most of the attention, which one could argue should have gone to the Vice President or somebody else, really, who was on the ballot or was part of the campaign and had Senate confirmation.

VAUSE: And just to put this in context of recent history, you know, apart from Vice President Dick Cheney, has there ever been like, a number two within an administration like Elon Musk sort of is. That has had this much influence, this much power to do effectively whatever they want?

RADD: Well, one notable example would be Secretary of State or National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, when Nixon was president, during his first term, in his second term, before the Watergate scandal brought that to an end. And there you had somebody as a national security adviser wielding tremendous power and influence over U.S. Foreign policy, really doing a lot of the job that the President traditionally would do, or Secretary of State. And in that instance, you had the entire Secretary of State and the State Department marginalized in favor of somebody in the White House because Nixon wanted that power localized within the Oval Office.

So this is sort of similar to that situation. And we saw the consequences when you have someone like that carrying that much power and responsibility, and the consequences that can be brought to bear if it remains unchecked.

So there is a precedent for this, but we're going back decades to find one.

VAUSE: Yeah, the Watergate, the Nixon presidency, the Trump administration. There does seem to be parallels. If history doesn't repeat itself, it sometimes rhymes. Benjamin, great to have you with us. Thank you very much.

VAUSE: Thank you.

RADD: Hamas plans to release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday and six living hostages this coming Saturday. The Hostages and Missing Families forum named all six of the living hostages, including two held in Gaza since 2014 and 2015.

CNN's Nick Robertson has more details now on their release, as well as the return of the hostages who did not survive the war.

[01:15:02]

ROBERTSON: Thursday really is going to be a very, very painful day for most Israelis. Everyone remembers those searing images of Shiri B. Bass trying to shield her young sons, Ariel, 4, and Kafir, 9 months old, trying to shield them under a blanket as she was taken hostage. And back in 2023, late 2023, Hamas said they had been killed. Israel could not get definitive information about their well-being. Now, their bodies being returned Thursday back to Israel, being repatriated.

And Israel is so aware of the pain of this that Shira's husband Yardan, released just a couple of weeks ago, came back to discover that his wife and two sons are dead. It's a pain for the nation.

But what Hamas appears to be doing here by releasing on Thursday the remains of four hostages, releasing six living hostages Saturday and releasing four other hostages, remains of hostages sometime next week, they're accelerating the completion of the release of all 33 hostages they agreed to under phase one. Israel, on the other hand, several weeks late, is talking about entering phase two negotiations sometime this week. What we understand from Israeli government officials is what they'd actually like to do is really slow roll the phase two process focus on extending phase one so that they can get more living hostages released. But Thursday is going to be that really tough day here in Israel when those the youngest victims of Hamas, their bodies return to their home, a final journey. Nick Robertson, CNN Jerusalem.

VAUSE: In a moment here on CNN, new images and the latest details on a fiery crash landing in Toronto with the plane ending belly up on the tarmac. More on that in a moment. Also ahead, new medical test results are out for Pope Francis as he remains in hospital. We'll have the very latest on his prognosis from Rome in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:21:42] VAUSE: After the Pope's most recent medical tests, doctors have diagnosed the 88 year old pontiff is suffering from pneumonia. That's according to Vatican officials. Holy Father was admitted to hospital last week and for now it's not known when he'll be released. More now from CNN's Christopher Lamb reporting in from Rome.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, concerning news about Pope Francis coming this evening at the end of his fifth day here at Rome's Gemelli Hospital behind me, the Pontiff has pneumonia in both lungs, which is concerning for an 88 year old man who has in the past been vulnerable to respiratory infections. As a young man, he had the top of his right lung removed and he has in the past been hospitalized for bronchitis.

Before he came to Romeo's Gemelli hospital, he was struggling to breathe. He couldn't speak for long periods of time. The Vatican explained that he has a complex poly microbial condition that requires different kinds of treatments. They've changed the treatment on two occasions so far. The key thing here for Francis is how he responds to the drug therapy and treatment that he is receiving at the hospital.

People are looking in the Vatican for a sign that there is some kind of improvement. So far, we've been told the pope is stable, that he ate breakfast this morning. He read newspapers. He's received some drawings from children in the hospital that have lifted his spirits. The Vatican say he is in a good frame of mind, in good spirits. But of course, we are awaiting further updates in the coming days to hear about how the pope is responding to what is a serious infection. Christopher Lamb, CNN Rome.

VAUSE: Major Runway at Toronto International Airport expected to remain closed Thursday. Investigations continue into a fiery crash landing of a small commuter jet. And there are now new images of the moment. Just after a wing broke off and the aircraft rolled, some passengers can be seen dangling upside down on their seats, strapped in by their seatbelts, while others start to climb out.

Everyone on board survived. Investigators hoping these new images will provide some clues as to what went wrong. Crash landing was caught on camera by the pilot of another plane on a nearby Runway. CNN's Pete Muntean explains potential clues which may come from the images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: What is really telling here is the impact and what you see and what you do not see. What we do not see is what is called a round and flare that takes the airplane from the descending portion of the approach. And you'll have to excuse my model here. This is a 727, not a CRJ like what was in this crash, but from the descending portion of the approach to the flare and cushioning the descent and stopping the sink rate.

Usually that causes a change in attitude of the nose. Pilots pick up the nose to stop the sink and really kiss the Runway is the goal. Usually do that about 20 to 30 feet above ground level. Essentially, this airplane stayed in the same attitude all the way to the ground. The flight tracking data shows that this plane was on a relatively stable descent, pretty normal, about 800 feet a minute until this moment. This is the point where the right main landing gear, at least from what I can see in the video, touched the Runway first with a lot of force, which caused the right wing to shear off and then the airplane to essentially turn into a fireball as it tumbles down the Runway here. Why is the big question?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:25:14]

VAUSE: And those who survived the crash are now weighing in on those new images. And CNN's Jason Carroll has that report from Toronto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CAROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): New video capturing the shocking moment. A Delta commuter jet crash landed and flipped, leaving passengers strapped in their seats, hanging upside down Monday at Toronto's Pearson Airport.

DEBORAH FLINT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, GREATER TORONTO AIRPORTS AUTHORITY: The crew of Delta Flight 4819 heroically led passengers to safety. I thank each and every one of these heroes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything, drop it. Come on.

CARROLL (voiceover): Those heroes swiftly and efficiently evacuated all 76 passengers off the aircraft after it crashed. As they crawled one by one out of the plane, passengers helped each other along the way.

PETE CARLSON, PASSENGER: You could see kind of row by row or area by area, people were checking one another out, making decisions about whether we would help one another with their straps or if by doing that, would they be landing on somebody else?

CARROLL (voiceover): One passenger told out front that all seemed normal as the aircraft was on its final descent. But then suddenly, a hard landing. The new video, filmed from another plane on the tarmac, captures the jet erupting in flames as it skids down the Runway and flips over.

JOHN NELSON, PASSENGER: When we hit, it was just a super hard, like I hit the ground and the plane went sideways and I believe we skidded like on our side and then flipped over on our back. Where we ended out there was like a big fireball.

VOICE OF PETE KOUKOV, PASSENGER: There was no, like real indication of anything. And then, yeah, we hit the ground and were sideways and then were upside down hanging like that.

CARROLL (voiceover): In the few days leading up to the crash, Toronto received more snow than it had the entire previous winter. But officials say it's too early to answer if that was a factor in the crash. FLINT: This would not be a time for us to have theory or to speculate

on what caused the crash.

CARROLL (voiceover): Canadian officials say 21 people on board were injured. None were life threatening. And on Tuesday afternoon, officials said only two remained in the hospital. The incident comes as the aviation industry is still reeling from recent accidents involving an American Airlines commuter jet and a military chopper near Washington, D.C. A medevac jet in Philadelphia, and a Bering Air flight near Nome, Alaska. Passengers on board Flight 4819 say it's remarkable everyone survived.

CARLSON: I think the most powerful part of today was there was just people, no countries, nothing. It was just people together helping each other.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: The plane is still out there on the Runway behind me, still in the same position where it crashed. Investigators have been on board. They have retrieved the cockpit voice recorder as well as the flight data recorder. But even with all of that potential information in their hands, it's still going to be some time before they come up with an exact cause of this crash. Jason Carroll, CNN Toronto.

VAUSE: Monday's crash landing in Toronto is the fourth major aviation incident in North America in recent weeks, which is only increasing anxiety among millions of people with a fear of flying. CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more on how to manage those fears.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aerophobia is one of the most common phobias out there. It affects more than 25 million adults here in the United States, and it most commonly affects people between ages 17 and 34. That's when we typically see this phobia develop. And this phobia manifests in different way.

Some people may be scared when an airplane takes off. Others may be most scared when it lands. And some people may fear the plane crashing, while others may fear getting trapped on a plane. But the symptoms are typically physical or behavioral. Physical symptoms include a rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling, dizziness, nausea, sometimes even shortness of breath, chest pain or vomiting.

Behavioral symptoms include, for instance, if someone cancels a flight at the very last minute because they have this phobia, or they may avoid flying altogether and decide to take a train or to drive extremely long hours instead of a more convenient flight. And to be considered a phobia, these symptoms need to last for six months or more. Seeing a therapist can help, so definitely talk with your doctor if you do experience overwhelming stress, fear or anxiety around flying. And if that persists over time, it can also be helpful to try virtual reality treatment. Sometimes medication may be prescribed or physically When you expose yourself in some way to flying, practice relaxation techniques to help manage your response.

[01:29:47] An example can be deep breathing. Inhale through your nose for five seconds. Hold for two, then exhale through pursed lips for seven seconds. Doing that for at least ten minutes may help calm symptoms.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Well officially, shrinking the federal governments workforce in the U.S. is being done in the name of efficiency. In a moment hear from one of the thousands of fired National Park and Forest Service workers raising questions now about what the real impact could be.

[01:30:36]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: The U.S. Defense Department looks to be the next target for Elon Musk and his acts, with multiple U.S. officials saying job cuts are coming. First to go likely to be the civilian probationary employees.

CNN has learned these workers are now under review and could be terminated this week. Major U.S. military command posts globally have been asked to submit their list of civilian employees by Tuesday.

Two officials say the Pentagon could exempt some workers on national security grounds.

With us now from the great state of Montana is Arianna Knight, who was until this past Saturday, a ranger and wilderness trails supervisor with the U.S. Forest Service.

Now she's one of more than 3,000 workers who've lost their jobs as Donald Trump guts the U.S. Federal government.

Arianna, thanks for being with us.

ARIANNA KNIGHT, FIRED U.S. FOREST SERVICE EMPLOYEE: Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: Sorry you lost your job. Here's how you were actually notified that your job at the Forest Service was among thousands and tens of thousands, which have been eliminated from the federal government.

"The agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest. For this reason, the agency informs you that the agency is removing you from your position."

Just personally, how much of a gut punch was that letter when you received it and when you read it?

KNIGHT: I think we've been knowing -- a lot of people have been knowing that these terminations have been in the forefront. And so it didn't really help at all, actually knowing it. When that letter came, I mean, it was absolutely devastating. My

livelihood was taken away and all of my crew, my crewmates as well. And thousands of other employees across the United States.

VAUSE: Apart from being badly written and brutally blunt, is it even accurate? Does anyone from the Trump administration have a clue what you and 3,400 other fired workers at the Forest Service actually do, let alone how effective you may or may not be in that job.

Well, the letter is based off of false accusations in the first place. I've written the performance evaluations for my employees, my two employees, and I've given them nothing but exemplary reviews. And my own performance evaluation, I also was fully successful.

And so to fire these people, myself and my crew and all of my other colleagues, and I'm sure thousands of other people are in the same boat, that's all based on false accusations off of performance evaluations that they even haven't looked at.

VAUSE: The Forest Service manages 193 million acres of land in the U.S., about the size of Texas.

Politico has this reporting on the job cuts. "While firefighting jobs appear to be unaffected, other roles that support wildfire prevention are being cut. Employees who work on road and trail maintenance, timber production and watershed restoration are also impacted. At the same time, a freeze on federal aid, which was an executive order, means more than $2 billion, which Congress allocated back in 2022 under the Inflation Reduction Act, to clear excess vegetation on federal land, that's now on hold and in possible jeopardy."

So put all of this together with the job cuts which have taken place at the Forest Service, as climate change is causing more intense, more frequent, more deadly, more destructive wildfires. What will be the likely impact here? And how does this all fit in with the reasons for the cuts in the first place of greater efficiency?

KNIGHT: I mean, I can only speculate to what's going to happen in our wildfire season. I am a type two firefighter myself, along with many of my other colleagues and coworkers, and we act as backup firefighters during the season when wildfires are egregious.

As far as our public lands, though, it's not my main -- my main concern or my main job. I'm a trail maintenance worker. I've -- and my crew and I, we maintain up to 800 miles of trail in a small Montana season, along with other people, there's developed recreation who also had their red cards and were also type two backup firefighters.

And there are only two people left now to manage millions of acres across our Custer Gallatin National Forest.

VAUSE: So what does that mean for people who want to visit, you know, the public lands and enjoy, you know, the national forests if the trails are not being adequately maintained?

KNIGHT: It means that there's no one to take out the garbage. There's no one to keep our waters clean. There's no one to clean the bathrooms. There's no one to clear the trail.

Trails don't just exist because people walk on them. They exist because there are people with boots on the ground clearing trees, putting in structures and making sure that everything is up to maintenance and up to code so that people can enjoy their public lands.

[01:39:47]

VAUSE: And just in terms of the work that you are doing, this seems to be in many ways a dream job. Are you likely to get anything like this anywhere else?

KNIGHT: It's a hard position to get into. We're already severely underfunded in the first place working with only a crew of five people to cover those 800 miles.

And as far as nonprofit trail crews, all of those trail crews are through grants and agreements through public land agencies in the first place. So it's really hard to get into a career of the same -- of the same value because they're being cut right now, whether through funding or just for slashing all of the employment opportunities that we have.

VAUSE: Yes. I'm really sorry you lost your job because it seemed like a pretty good gig.

Arianna, thanks for being with us and sharing some of your experience.

KNIGHT: Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: It's not all about cost cutting and firing government workers and taking away U.S. foreign aid from babies in refugee camps for Elon Musk. The world's richest man is also rolling out a new version of his artificial intelligence chatbot called Grok. Musk is making some big claims, in particular, Grok-3 can in some cases outperform other leaders in the A.I. industry.

CNN's Anna Stewart has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELON MUSK, CEO, XAI, TESLA & SPACEX: The mission of xAI and Grok is to understand the universe.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Elon Musk's A.I. Company has launched its latest model, Grok-3. Musk has claimed that this is the smartest A.I. available, and of course, it comes at a time of fierce competition between the likes of Google, OpenAI and China's DeepSeek.

Musk has a big vision for Grok and it aligns with his other businesses.

MUSK: If all goes well, SpaceX will send Starship rockets to Mars and with Optimus robots and Grok. Musk envisions a future where machine intelligence supersedes human

intelligence and combined with humanoids, leads to an era with an abundant workforce potentially making money meaningless.

Now, this version isn't yet super intelligent, but early reviews suggest it is highly advanced. It's currently available for those with a premium X subscription and will later be available on a Grok app and Web site.

The A.I. will keep improving according to xAI and will soon be able to chat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you hear me? I'm so excited to finally meet you. I can't wait to chat and learn more about each other.

STEWART: Anna Stewart, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come. Gentlemen, start your electric engines. NASCAR planning for a future without cars fueled by oil. But with President Trumps agenda, could that stall the push for net zero emissions?

[01:42:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro has been charged over an alleged coup attempt, which was part of a plot to cling to power despite losing the 2022 election. Prosecutors filed a 272-page indictment Tuesday, which includes allegations of a plan to poison the current president, who defeated Bolsonaro.

More now from Stefano Pozzobon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Well, this is a story we were monitoring for quite some time that just broke late on Tuesday out of Brazil. The former president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been formally charged for his participation in an alleged coup d'etat around the beginning of 2023.

You might remember the images of Bolsonaro's supporters storming the palaces of power in Brasilia on January 8th, 2023 to try to prevent the current President Luiz Inacio "Lula" Da Silva from taking office. This was the immediate aftermath of the election in Brazil in 2022, which Bolsonaro lost against Lula.

Now, the justice over the last -- the prosecutors in Brazil over the last two years have conducted their investigations, and they feel confident enough to present charges against Bolsonaro in front of the Supreme Court.

Together with Bolsonaro, there are at least more than 30 other people have been charged, including the former defense minister Walter Braga Netto.

And our colleagues at CNN Brazil are reporting that Bolsonaro is being accused of criminal association, the attempt to overthrow the rule of law and, of course, the alleged coup d'etat for his participation in those criminal activities.

Now, this is not the first time that Bolsonaro gets in trouble with Brazilian justice. According to the CNN Brazil, our affiliates in Sao Paulo and the rest of the country, Bolsonaro has been facing at least five different investigations.

But this is, of course, the most serious one due to the nature of these charges, we don't expect the Supreme Court to take on the matter and rule in a matter of days. It will probably take weeks, if not months. And it's a story that is just developing now.

We'll bring you the repercussions of what's happening in Brazil over the next few hours and days.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon in Bogota.

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VAUSE: OPEC Plus is getting a little bigger with Brazil set to join the group, which represents the world's biggest oil exporters. Government approval came Tuesday. President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva is pushing Brazil to become a major oil state, even though when he was elected he described himself as an environmental defender. Lula now says new revenue from oil exports could finance a transition to green energy.

[01:49:49]

VAUSE: The latest OPEC Plus member is also hosting the U.N.'s annual climate summit later this year.

Well, for NASCAR, it's all about the rumble of the engines and the smell of the exhaust fumes. But now, new electric vehicles are set to take their place and they should be faster, quieter and cleaner than the current internal combustion engines. But will the fans get on board?

CNN's Bill Weir has an up-close look at one of the prototypes at the Daytona 500.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Just outside the cradle of American racing automobile history was made this weekend When Formula drift Superstar Ryan Tuerck swapped out his rubber burning rig for a machine with twice the power, over 1,300 horses but with a fraction of the noise and not a whiff of exhaust.

Behold, the first electric NASCAR.

This is so surreal. Normally, this event would come with a thunderous sound of that internal combustion engine, but all you hear Is this high-pitched whine and then Just the tires being shredded by those electric engines.

RYAN TUERCK, FORMULA DRIFT DRIVER: The power is just out of this world. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before.

WEIR: It's like twice as much horses as one of the regular NASCAR.

TUERCK: Yes. Beyond that, you Have the power on demand at all times, like a Power drill --

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TUERCK: There isn't a power band, it's just -- there's just all the power at all times.

WEIR: This is one of three electric prototypes unveiled this year as NASCAR pledges to be net zero by 2035.

But while this Chevy Blazer was supposed to be the first electric pace car in Daytona 500 history, it was literally cut off by Donald Trump's armor-plated motorcade, a fitting metaphor from a president who was vowing to destroy EV incentives, charging networks and tailpipe pollution standards as he promised to fossil fuel executives.

Has the politics made your job harder these days.

RILEY NELSON, HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY, NASCAR: We have very clear corporate goals around sustainability, and so our job is to focus on getting those done no matter who's in office or what's going on.

So our focus is on right now again, energy. And right now the race track you have behind you that keeps you up at night and how do we decarbonize that within the next ten years.

And so that's everything from energy efficiency, LED lights, bringing in different (INAUDIBLE) technologies, other partner technologies so that we can reduce our own operating footprint as a sport and then bring that to the fan and educate the fan on how can we bring some of these technologies into our communities and help support the growth of sustainability across the country.

DAVID RAGAN, FORMER NASCAR DRIVER: I guarantee you there's more EVs in the parking lot today than there was five years ago. And in another five years, there's going to be a lot more.

WEIR: David Ragan is a third generation NASCAR racer who now drives an electric Ford Mustang in retirement simply because it's fast, fun, and cheaper to fuel and maintain.

He believes this fan base is destined to make that same discovery, so the market, not the president, will decide.

RAGAN: And I think the manufacturers really -- they've got their finger on the pulse. Chevrolet, Ford Motor Company, you know, Toyota, the big partners here in NASCAR -- they've all got their different plans for how they're going to attack that.

And again I think NASCAR is just saying hey we want to be prepared when that evolution takes place.

JOHN STAHLBUSCH, EVP OF SALES, ABB: So Daytona, they just electrified their parking lot. So their -- whenever their employees pull up, they'll be able to charge their vehicle.

Once charging becomes more ubiquitous and it sort of gets integrated into the fabric of the everyday American, I think it'll become more and more accepted, and it will be utilized more and more by everybody.

WEIR: You're telling me this is a conscious effort to win hearts and minds of folks who pay extra for the fumes and the noise of it.

CHRIS CHIGAS, VICE PRESIDENT, ABB: We're in The energy transition right now in this country. The energy transition isn't for some people, it's for everyone.

So I think we need to have better conversations about how we use energy in the United States. And we welcome all the opinions and all the opinions out here today, because these are important decisions to make our country stronger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys are watching Ryan Tuerck right now.

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VAUSE: Thanks to Bill Weir there for that report.

In a moment, a fishing trip takes a terrifying turn. A kayaker's terrifying encounter with a great white shark off the coast of New Zealand.

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VAUSE: It was perhaps a little too up close and personal with a great white shark for one kayaker in open water off New Zealand. He was there fishing when the shark began circling. Seems the roles may have been reversed as the kayaker headed to shore.

CNN's Ewan McKenna has details.

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MATT WELLS, KAYAK FISHERMAN: What the -- great white -- great white -- great white shark cutting the live bait off this. I'm out of here.

EWAN MCKENNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Matt Wells inadvertently caught the attention of a great white shark off of New Zealand's northern coast.

WELL: There's a huge, great white behind me.

MCKENNA: The 19-year-old kayaker was fishing with live bait at the time.

WELLS: I just noticed a small swirl behind my kayak and I thought, oh sweet, there's a kingfish feeding behind me as they typically do on the surface.

The swirl had increased in size to maybe the width of three cars. It sent a bit of a shiver down my spine.

Leave me alone.

He just really seemed very, very curious in what I was doing.

He's still behind me. Please don't attack me, bro.

I've got about an hour-long paddle before I can get anywhere on dry land.

And he's still behind me. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

MCKENNA: The shark followed Wells for several minutes until it eventually moved on.

WELLS: I don't know where he's gone but I don't want to be anywhere near him. That was one of the scariest things I've ever seen.

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VAUSE: You're going to need a bigger boat.

Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with Rosemary Church, my friend and colleague, after a very short break.

Hope to see you right back here tomorrow.

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