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Russia Hails Talks with U.S.; DOGE's Cuts, Firings Elicit Strong Reactions; Hamas to Release 4 Deceased Hostage, 6 Living Hostages this Week; New Video Show Delta Flight Crash Landing and Rollover; Vatican: Pope has a Peaceful Night, Ate Breakfast. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired February 19, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Russians are calling these first U.S. talks a huge accomplishment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is fundamental that any negotiations on ending the war do not take place behind the backs of the key actors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A central question here is we almost enter the first month of the Trump presidency. Who's actually running the DOGE?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You could call him an employee, you could call him a consultant, you could call him whatever you want.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thursday really is going to be a very, very painful day for most Israelis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're dealing with a very cruel enemy and we shouldn't leave anyone behind in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Christina Macfarlane.

It's Wednesday, February 19th, 9 a.m. here in London and 11 a.m. in Kyiv where the Trump administration's envoy for Russia and Ukraine is now in Kyiv. Keith Kellogg's visit comes during a critical week. Just hours ago, the U.S. president accused Ukraine of starting the conflict.

And on Tuesday, delegations from the U.S. and Russia held talks in Saudi Arabia. Kellogg says he's in Ukraine to listen and understands Kyiv's need for security guarantees. Adding, we want to ensure we get this one right. Kellogg is expected to meet with Ukraine's president. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he wants Kellogg to visit the front lines to talk to the Ukrainian military.

Well, the meeting between the U.S. and Russian officials in Riyadh reflects a stunning reversal in U.S. policy. The two countries did not include Ukraine in their high-level talks. European and NATO leaders were also left out.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while visiting Turkey, vowed that his country would not, quote, give in to Russia's ultimatums.

Meanwhile, President Trump also announced he will probably meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the month's end.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has been following all of this from Moscow, joins us now. Fred, before we get to discussing that potential meeting, I mean, as we know, yesterday's meeting in Riyadh is being viewed very much as a diplomatic coup for Russia.

And following that meeting, President Trump held a press conference in which he blamed Ukraine for starting the war and said that Ukraine should have made a deal to end the war. I mean, all of this must be very well received in Moscow, where you are.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, all of this are the talking points that the Russians have been putting out there basically since the war in Ukraine started, basically since their full-on invasion of Ukraine.

Of course, they said that there was a deal on the table in the early days of the war that the Ukrainians rejected that deal. The Ukrainians say that never happened. And so the Russians clearly believe that right now the U.S. is seeing eye to eye with them in many ways.

It was quite interesting yesterday after that top-level meeting that happened in Riyadh, the Russians were saying afterwards they believe that the U.S. is really trying to understand Russia's position, which is something that they hadn't seen before. They said both sides are trying to listen and to hear each other. So right now for the Russians, they really believe that they're back on the international scene and that in many ways, the way that the Trump administration views all this, views the conflict in Ukraine, views relations in Russia, they believe that the Trump administration's views are actually closer to Russia's views than the Trump administration's views to its own allies and to the Ukrainians as well.

And that's really reflected in some of the statements that we've already been seeing this morning. You can feel the optimism here in the air in political Moscow, Christina. You had the spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, Maria Zakharova, coming out and saying she believes that Russia and the United States could solve a lot of global problems together, that they could work together because, of course, there are big veto powers in the United Nations.

And then you have the head -- or the speaker of the Federation Council, which is Russia's version of the Senate, essentially, Valentina Matviyenko. She came out and she believes that the U.S. is working hard to mend relations with Russia, that they want better relations with Russia. But she also says that Russia's national security interests will come first and that Russia is going to keep those in mind.

That's also something that we heard yesterday from the Russians. They did believe that these talks were important, that they were positive for themselves. But they also cautioned that as far as the conflict in Ukraine is concerned, the Russians are not going to be willing to all of a sudden give up a lot that they hadn't been willing to in the past, especially as far as territory that they currently hold on the Ukrainian side of the border is concerned, possible NATO membership for Ukraine.

[04:05:04]

The Russians, for them, is an absolute red line.

And also as far as that territory that the Ukrainians still hold on the Russian side of the border as well -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: And we're hearing, Fred, now that this meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump may take place before the end of the month. That's what Donald Trump was signaling last night. But it's noteworthy, Fred, I think, from yesterday's meeting, just how much the U.S. are leaning into the potential opportunities that exist here to partner with Russia. Those were the words of Marco Rubio yesterday. And it's clear that Russia have really been successful, I think, in dangling the business opportunities here as part of the negotiations, something that would, of course, directly appeal to Donald Trump.

PLEITGEN: Yes, I think that's exactly the strategy that they're following. I mean, one of the things, of course, that we know is that Kirill Dmitriev, who is the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, he came out yesterday and he was on Russian TV several times yesterday and he kept going on about $300 billion that U.S. companies had allegedly lost because of the sanctions against Russia by the U.S. government because of the Biden administration.

And when you listen to Russia's talking points, it's quite interesting because he came out early this morning again today and said he believes that several U.S. companies could come back to Russia and start doing business here in the second quarter of the year 2025, so in just a couple of months from now. And that's definitely something that the Russians certainly have been laying out there on the table, the business opportunities that are out there, the economic opportunities, of course, also in the oil and gas sector, which is interesting that the Trump administration went for that.

Because one of the things, of course, that we heard from Donald Trump after he took office is that he doesn't believe that the U.S. needs Russian oil and gas or Russian lumber. That was one of the things that he made a point of saying.

So there does appear to be somewhat of a reversal there on the part of the Trump administration, but the Russians really are pushing this along. If you listen to some of the talking points that we've been hearing, the bad state of relations between Russia and the United States here in Moscow is constantly blamed on the Biden administration, Sergey Lavrov calling it an unnatural state of affairs. And the Russians certainly very keen also to make that meeting happen between Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump as quickly as possible.

And I think for them yesterday after the meeting ended, after that meeting in Riyadh ended, it didn't seem as though much headway was made on getting that meeting going between the two heads of state. But then when Donald Trump came out last night and said he wants to meet Vladimir Putin before the end of the month, that's obviously fueling that effort once again to try and make that happen as quick as possible.

Of course, leaning into trying to get these relations back on track because for the Russians, obviously, this is about much more than ending the conflict in Ukraine on terms favorable to Russia. This is about a complete reset of U.S.-Russian relations to the detriment, of course, of Ukraine and to the detriment most probably also of the U.S.'s European allies as well -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yes. Fred Pleitgen for now. Thanks very much.

A U.S. federal judge has ruled against a lawsuit seeking to block Elon Musk and his DOGE team from accessing federal data systems as well as firing or placing federal employees on leave. Judge Tanya Chutkan says the Democratic plaintiffs did not prove that they would suffer imminent irreparable harm by Musk's actions. She did say the larger constitutional case against Musk is strong.

Chutkan indicated she was skeptical about Trump's administration's statements regarding Musk and his powers in DOGE. She also warned the Department of Justice to make truthful representations to the court.

Now U.S. President Donald Trump is refusing to clarify what Elon Musk's official government role is. On Tuesday, he said the billionaire could be called an employee, a consultant, quote, whatever you want. 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 adviser working as a special government employee. Here's how one top White House official addressed Musk's role during an interview with CNN's Brianna Keilar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Who is in charge of DOGE?

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: The president of the United States.

KEILAR: He's the administrator of DOGE?

MILLER: No, the DOGE is what was formerly U.S. Digital Services. It's an agency of the federal government that reports into the office of the executive office of the president, which reports to the president of the United States.

KEILAR: Does Elon Musk know he's not in charge of DOGE?

MILLER: Again, the president runs the government, then the president appoints advisers, including Elon, including myself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Trump supporters claim Elon Musk and DOGE are working to make the government more efficient with their mass firings and budget cuts. But critics say they're taking a wrecking ball to critical agencies without understanding the serious danger that poses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:10:00]

MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He's the world's wealthiest person volunteering his time to assist the president of the United States to implement and advise on implementing one of his key objectives, which was taking on the administrative state.

I mean, look, I'm a lifelong conservative. Most lifelong conservatives have been waiting a generation to cut down on the size of the federal bureaucracy and government to actually decrease the headcount. And in one month, you're already seeing President Trump, along with Elon's advice, getting that done. I mean, you had four percent, almost four percent of a reduction in the headcount from the buyout process alone that they had put in place, let alone the rifts that are undergoing right now.

Ultimately, it's going to result in a streamlined federal government that's going to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are getting a heck of a lot more for their dollar that they're putting into than they were in the last few administrations.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: There's a lot of problems here. First of all, there's no transparency. How many people have actually been let go?

Where are they being let go from? It's incredibly chaotic. If you hear from federal workers themselves, some of them don't understand their status.

Some of them have been forced to go into office when there isn't office space. You know, the entire way that this is being done is with a sledgehammer. And the fact is, if there is no transparency, you're talking about, yes, working for the American people.

Well, what the American people actually demand is, if you are working for them, we should understand who you are, what is your security clearance, what is the purpose of what you're doing. I mean, these are all things that are incredibly important. And the reason we demand transparency, the American people, is because if something goes wrong, then who should we understand is to blame? Where does the buck stop? How do we understand who's going to be taking responsibility? You know, they are meddling in things like who deals with our nuclear arsenal.

This isn't just a casual thing, you know, firing people at Twitter. This is actually dealing with America's national security. And so who is in charge? Why is this happening? And who is doing what is incredibly important for all of us to understand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: President Trump is celebrating another Cabinet victory. The Senate confirmed former Wall Street executive Howard Lutnick as Secretary of Commerce on Tuesday. Lutnick was the longtime chairman and CEO of the global financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

The fate of one Trump nominee remains uncertain, though. His pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, is hoping to be confirmed next week. However, Senator Susan Collins, a key Republican swing vote, revealed to CNN she's undecided on Patel's nomination.

Meanwhile, her colleague and fellow key GOP swing vote, Senator Lisa Murkowski, would not say on how she intends to vote.

Hamas says it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday and six living hostages on Saturday. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum named all six of the living hostages, including two held in Gaza since 2014 and 2015, respectively.

CNN's Nic Robertson has more details on their release, as well as the return of hostages who didn't survive the conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Thursday really is going to be a very, very painful day for most Israelis. Everyone remembers those searing images of Shiri Bibas trying to shield her young sons, Ariel, four and Kfir, nine months old, and 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 Shiri's husband, Yarden, 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.

[04:15:00]

Nic Robertson, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now a major runway at Toronto International Airport is expected to remain closed through Thursday as investigators continue looking into the fiery crash landing of a passenger plane on Monday. Investigators are reviewing the scorched and overturned aircraft on the scene and they can perhaps glean some answers from new videos of the incident, including a recording from the pilot of another plane on a nearby runway. CNN's Brian Todd has been looking into this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dramatic new video of the fiery Delta plane crash outside Toronto showing the moment of impact, the flames, the right wing tearing off and the left wing flipping the plane over. First, the approach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does seem to be slightly right wing low. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was no attempt to flare at all, which slows

the plane down and puts your back wheels on the runway first. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why was that? Was there some sort of what we call wind shear?

TODD (voice-over): The weather at the time, cold, some blowing snow and wind gusts up to 38 miles per hour.

JOHN NELSON, PASSENGER: It was routine, but like the winds were super gusty. The snow had kind of blown over the runways.

TODD (voice-over): Then the impact.

PETE CARLSON, PASSENGER: It was just a very forceful event where all of a sudden everything just kind of went sideways. It sounded, I mean, it was just cement and metal, you know.

NELSON: 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 up. There was like a big fireball out this left side of the plane.

We were being tossed around. I was just trying to hold on to everything at that point.

PETE KOUKOV, PASSENGER: We were upside down, hanging like bats. Some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being held down.

TODD (voice-over): Passenger Pete Carlson got a gash on his scalp.

CARLSON: Took my seatbelt off and as I took it off, crashed down onto the ceiling, which had become the floor because we were upside down.

TODD (voice-over): Even as passengers evacuated, the danger was not over.

CARLSON: You could smell the gas. There was just liquid pouring over the, you know, the small windows.

NELSON: There was another explosion, but luckily the firefighters got out of there.

TODD (voice-over): The fuselage doused in foam as passengers moved to safety.

DEBORAH FLINT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, TORONTO PEASON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: I cannot commend enough the crew, the flight attendants, pilots, and our emergency responders for their quick and effective response.

TODD (voice-over): The injuries.

CORY TKATCH, PEEL REGIONAL PARAMEDIC SERVICES: Back sprains, head injuries, anxiety, some headaches, nausea and vomiting due to the fuel exposure.

TODD (voice-over): Another angle showing the impact in this video obtained by TMZ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's extraordinary to see the collapse of that landing gear. That must have indicated a lot of impact or maybe some problem with the landing gear itself.

TODD (voice-over): But officials not yet commenting on a possible cause.

KEN WEBSTER, SENIOR INVESTIGATOR, TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD OF CANADA: We've already removed the cockpit voice recorder, the flight data recorder, and we've sent them to our lab for further analysis. At this point, it's far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be.

TODD: While officials are not saying at this point if weather was a factor in the crash, Deborah Flint, the president and CEO of Toronto Pearson International Airport, did say that on Thursday and on Sunday, right before that crash on Monday, that this area was experiencing extreme weather. She said two storms, one on Thursday and one on Sunday, brought more than 20 inches of snow to the area around the airport, more snow than they had had all winter last year.

Brian Todd, CNN, Toronto.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now Pope Francis had a quiet night after concerning new medical test results about his lungs. We'll have a live update from Rome coming up.

Plus, the pressure is growing for embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams to resign or be removed by the government. New details on a key legal hearing set for today.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Turning now to the health of Pope Francis, who has been in hospital in Rome since last week. In the latest update, the Vatican says the 88-year-old pontiff had a quiet night and has eaten breakfast. This comes one day after the test showed the Pope has pneumonia in both of his lungs.

For the latest, let's go to Barbie Latza Nadeau, who's in Rome. Barbie, pneumonia a very serious condition, but especially for someone who is 88.

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes, you know, and also the fact that one of his lungs is compromised. We know that part of one of his lungs was removed because of an infection when he was 19 years old. So he's got mobility problems. All of these things add to the concern.

But we do have a glimmer of good news this morning. A Vatican source said that the Pope is actually getting out of his hospital bed and sitting in a chair in his hospital room. Now, that's the first time we've heard that kind of, that he's moving, that kind of good news. So there is some glimmer of hope.

But, of course, there's so many questions about how he'll be able to go on if he does make this recovery, how long it's going to take, how long he'll be in the hospital. But we do understand that he is doing some work. He's reading the newspaper. He's trying to keep up on things.

He's not been holding any sort of meetings or anything like that that we've heard of. He's just focused, and his doctors are very focused on him getting better. And they've switched his treatment now twice, the new treatment for this bilateral pneumonia, hoping that that starts to take effect soon.

We're expecting another report a little bit later today. We've heard that perhaps even we're going to hear from a doctor who's treated him. And so we're hoping for some more details with that -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right, an encouraging update then for now, Barbie. Thanks for those details.

[04:25:00]

More than 900 former U.S. Justice Department prosecutors have signed on to a letter criticizing the decision to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The federal judge overseeing the case has scheduled a hearing for today to consider the DOJ's controversial motion. Meanwhile, the governor of New York is considering removing Mayor Adams from office.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Governor Kathy Hochul here in New York held a series of high-profile meetings in her Manhattan office. She summoned several of the city's top Democrats in order to talk to them about the next steps in this process. The governor has made it clear that she is concerned about the recent developments regarding the mayor after the Department of Justice issued a memo directing federal prosecutors here in New York to dismiss the charges against the mayor.

Now, that has resulted in significant fallout from the resignation of U.S. attorneys in the Southern District to the resignation of several high-ranking officials in the Adams administration after criticism that he had struck a quid pro quo, essentially made a deal with the Trump administration to help them out on immigration enforcement in exchange for the charges being dropped.

We should say that the mayor and his attorneys have denied having done that. They have said that there was no deal made and that the mayor simply wants to focus on public safety here in the city.

In the meantime, several lawmakers here in New York City are calling for the mayor's resignation. The mayor has said that he has no plans to step aside. On Tuesday, we are expecting to learn more about the fate of this case.

Although the Department of Justice has issued that directive, the charges have not been officially dismissed. Judge Dale Ho, who has been overseeing the federal corruption case against Adams, called the parties into the court on Tuesday. Both of them are expected to appear, and they are set to present their sides of the arguments.

The judge will eventually have to decide whether or not he will follow the directive and dismiss the charges, but there is a possibility that we do not get a final resolution on this tomorrow.

In the meantime, the pressure continues to increase for Mayor Adams, as well as Governor Kathy Hochul, as there are several lawmakers who are encouraging her to use her executive powers and remove the mayor from office.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: A California jury has found rapper A$AP Rocky not guilty in his felony assault trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the jury in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Rakim Mayers, not guilty. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Screams erupted as Rocky moves to the back of the courtroom to hug his longtime partner, singer Rihanna, the mother of his two children. Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, was accused of assault with a semi-automatic firearm during a 2021 shooting incident with a former friend in Los Angeles. His attorneys argued the weapon was a prop gun that fired blanks borrowed from a music video set. They said Rocky carried it for security.

Ahead, why new remarks from President Trump and high-level talks about ending the conflict in Ukraine are being seen as a major win for the Kremlin.

And Argentina's president defends his tweet, prompting a pump-and-dump crypto coin, saying those who lost money were buying it at their own risk.

Stay with us to find out more.

[04:30:00]