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Israeli Military Now has Custody of Four Hostage Bodies; Trump Ramps Up Attacks on Ukraine's Zelenskyy, Boosting Putin; Trump's Public Health Order to Target Migrants. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 20, 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)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We are bringing home four of our beloved hostages fallen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hamas is handing over the bodies of four deceased hostages.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he's not going to have a country left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. president unleashing a string of insults and lies while repeating talking points from the Kremlin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The White House claiming an estimated 55 billion taxpayer dollars rescued.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has no idea what he's talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It is Thursday, February the 20th, 9 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. in Israel, where authorities confirm they've received the bodies of four deceased hostages, including what Hamas says was the two youngest children kidnapped on October the 7th.

A crowd of militants and civilians gathered in Khan Younis where four black coffins were handed over to the Red Cross a little more than an hour ago. The Bibas children, with their bright red hair, became two of the most recognizable victims of the Hamas terror attacks. Kfir Bibas was just nine months old.

His brother, Ariel, four years old when they and their mother, Shiri, were taken from their kibbutz. Oded Lifshitz was 83 years old when he and his wife were kidnapped on October the 7th. She was released alive later that month. Israeli President Isaac Herzog posted on X: Agony, pain. There are no words. Our hearts, the hearts of an entire nation, lie in tatters. On behalf of the state of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely. May their memory be a blessing.

CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is live for us this hour in Jerusalem -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, and one of the reasons the president is asking for forgiveness is all the obvious reasons that these were four hostages who couldn't be saved, whose remains are being handed back to Israel, have been handed back today. But that's the headline of it. Dig a little deeper.

These four were all from Nir Oz. Now that was a community very close to Gaza, the kibbutz there, that saw the highest number of hostages taken, more than 70. A 117 of the people who lived in the community were either murdered or taken hostage.

That was more than one quarter of that community. And they were one of the only kibbutz that the IDF did not get to and rescue the people there. By the time the IDF arrived, the Hamas and the others had ransacked, killed, taken hostages and left.

And this is why, one of the reasons why the president feels the need to ask for forgiveness. And, of course, the nation has ridden out the trauma of the fate of the Bibas. Everyone here remembers the terror and fear on the face of Shiri Bibas. She was clutching Kfir and Ariel, trying to hide them in a blanket, if you will, as Hamas was taking a hostage. All of that is in play today. The nation has been on a roller coaster.

And the handover that has happened, some bits of it we're not able to see at this time. We may be able to a bit later. But those coffins handed over, the International Committee for Red Cross members there draping them in white sheets, transferred to the IDF.

And the ceremony taking place there that we understand that we may be able to see later. It depends if the families want that video released, because it's very sensitive at this time that the caskets will be draped in an Israeli flag. A rabbi will give prayers.

There will be shots fired in commemoration, ceremonial shots fired in commemoration. And that will begin this painful journey through Israel today. And there are people lining the roads, waiting to see the vehicles drive through.

[04:05:03]

At a point, a helicopter will pick up the caskets and take them to the medical institute, where there will be a forensic examination to see if, indeed, these are the bodies Hamas claims. Because that's something that has not been verified, and the fate of these four has not been verified until now -- Max.

FOSTER: What do we know about how they died -- Nick?

ROBERTSON: The Hamas claimed that Shiri, Kfir and Ariel is dead. and Ariel died in Israeli bombardment of Gaza in late 2023. The IDF was never able to verify that.

In fact, Hamas put on video Shiri's and the boy's father, Yarden, who was also being held captive, and had him blame on camera Prime Minister Netanyahu for their death. Clearly, that was done under duress at the time. But that is a theme that Hamas picked up again and used today.

On that handover that we saw, the caskets being handed over to the Red Cross, there were, looking more broadly at that scene, that narrative that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was responsible for their deaths was carried through again by Hamas today. There was an element of propaganda, of political positioning on Hamas' part to tell their narrative of the deaths of these four hostages.

FOSTER: Nic Robertson, thank you for joining us. More as we get it on that repatriation of those bodies.

Now, in the West Bank, Israeli forces have demolished more than a dozen apartment buildings in a refugee camp as part of Operation Iron Wall. So far, the military operation has displaced at least 40,000 Palestinians in the northern West Bank, according to the United Nations.

A local official tells CNN that the destroyed buildings had housed dozens of families over several floors. Here's how residents responded.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm watching our house getting demolished, and our house is one of the oldest houses in the camp. It was suddenly wiped off the face of the earth. They wiped all our memories of life in that house, of all the good and not so good days, all gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I came home, but I own nothing now, nothing at all. All my house is burned. I found nothing, not even a scarf or a paper. There is nothing. Everything is burned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Israel launched Operation Iron Wall two days after the Gaza ceasefire began, saying it was aimed at eliminating terrorists and terror infrastructure.

Ukraine is taking a wave of Russian attacks ahead of a meeting between President Zelenskyy and a U.S. envoy in Kyiv. Officials say Russia launched more than 160 drones overnight, striking the city of Odesa for a second straight day. Officials say close to 90,000 people in the area are now without power. Ukraine says Russian missiles also went after critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, while a guided bomb struck the city of Kherson, damaging a high-rise building. That's happening as President Trump's envoy, Keith Kellogg, is set to

hold talks in Kyiv amid the White House push for peace.

The U.S. president has been lashing out at his Ukrainian counterpart with a series of taunts that are alarming European allies and delighting the Kremlin. In written and verbal remarks filled with falsehoods, Donald Trump branded Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator and accused him of prolonging the Russia-Ukraine war to, quote, keep the gravy train going, meaning U.S. military aid.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He refuses to have elections. He's low in the real Ukrainian polls. Somebody said, oh, no, his polls are good. Give me a break. The only thing he was really good at was playing Joe Biden like a fiddle.

A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he's not going to have a country left. Got to move. Got to move fast. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: President Zelenskyy says the world must choose between peace and Vladimir Putin and suggested Mr. Trump was repeating Russian disinformation.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I believe the United States helped Putin get out of many years of isolation. Unfortunately, President Trump, I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for. The American people who always support us. Unfortunately, he lives in this disinformation space.

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FOSTER: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has been tracking all of these developments. Just on this meeting of the envoy in Kyiv, obviously tensions are at an all-time -- you know, relations actually between Kyiv and Washington at an all-time low. What's going to come out of this meeting?

[04:10:00]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You don't envy General Kellogg's position today, would you? Sitting down after President Trump and President Zelenskyy have been trading barbs. This started in President Trump's mind, according to his officials, because of that comment you just played right there with President Zelenskyy saying that President Trump lives in a disinformation space. According to sources speaking to CNN, President Trump felt he needed to respond to that strongly.

That's when you saw that message on Truth Social accusing President Zelenskyy of being a dictator. That is a falsehood. He did win elections.

There is martial law right now in the country because elections can't be held, because as you mentioned, there are literally bombs and drones falling on cities every single day.

He repeated several other falsehoods about President Zelenskyy's approval rating, about President Zelenskyy's standing, about who is behind the conflict and who is behind the war. So while you're thinking of that rhetoric being traded back and forth, General Kellogg's position is going to be extremely difficult because his task is to carry out dual track negotiations.

You have these negotiations that happened alongside Russian officials. You saw the Secretary of State in Riyadh just a few days ago. It's supposed to be that there are also simultaneously negotiations happening with Ukrainians via General Kellogg.

But here's the catch with that as well. There's a question mark over the special envoy himself, over General Kellogg himself. There are reports that he's being cut out of the process. He wasn't even at Riyadh himself. So for President Zelenskyy, he's not even sure if he's speaking to the right person.

FOSTER: This discussion about minerals, President Trump making it clear that America wants access to those minerals, President Zelenskyy being very clear that, you know, this is part of a negotiation.

ABDELAZIZ: For critics of President Trump, this looks like quite a advantageous moment, if you will, taking advantage of a country that's struggling, that's on its knees to sign over 50 percent of its rare earth minerals. That's what Mr. Trump is asking for. And he says he is asking for that because he wants Ukraine to pay up for the billions of dollars worth of weapons that have been sent to Ukraine.

Now, President Zelenskyy isn't outright saying no, although he sent the contract, the deal back several times. What he is saying is, let's make a deal, President Trump. I want to know what I can get in exchange for those rare minerals.

He's looking for security guarantees. He's looking to ensure that the United States provides something in exchange for those rare minerals. But again, critics are looking at this deal and saying this is just not how the U.S. conducts foreign policy, trying to get valuable minerals out of a country that's on its knees fighting Russia.

FOSTER: OK. Salma, thank you.

Prominent members of President Trump's own Republican Party have been stressing what's already widely known, that it was Russia, not Ukraine, that started the war. And some have been cautiously pushing back on Mr. Trump's criticism of President Zelenskyy.

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SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I would like to see that in context because I would certainly never refer to President Zelenskyy as a dictator.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): The president speaks for himself. What I want to see is a peaceful result, a peaceful outcome.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Make no mistake about it. That invasion was the responsibility of one human being on the face of this planet. It was Vladimir Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: President Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, echoed that criticism, posting that it was Russia that, quote, launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.

President Trump has been signing executive orders since he took office, of course, working to shrink the size of federal government and cut the budget, too. His latest order directs three government entities that work in foreign assistance to dramatically cut their staff and eliminate functions.

Mr. Trump ordered the United States Institute of Peace, the U.S. African Development Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation to reduce their work and their staff to the minimum presence. The affected groups work to reduce international conflict and promote development in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

We're going to go back to our top story now, though. The bodies of four people taken captive by Hamas on October the 7th. They're now back in Israeli custody. Israeli defense forces are in the process of transporting the bodies back to Israel.

You're looking at live images at southern Israel, where the families of the hostages are waiting for them to arrive. Dalia Cusnir Horn's brother-in-law was freed by Hamas just a few days ago. She joins me live from Tel Aviv.

And you can't really imagine, can you, what's going through the minds of the families here on this day?

DALIA CUSNIR HORN, SISTER-IN-LAW OF FREED HOSTAGE IAIR HORN (via phone): Yes. Hi. Good morning, everyone. This is a horrible day for us, the Israeli society. We're torn apart. We're broken.

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And watching and understanding that those terrorists, they didn't only kill and rape and burn and took hostages. They are now playing with the bodies, and they're doing the ceremony. And they're bringing their own kids to watch the bodies of babies, baby Jewish kids being murdered. I mean, there's not a word to explain.

FOSTER: Yes. I'm going to show you the images of the handover of the bodies. I mean, they are incredibly difficult to watch, as you say. The tone doesn't feel right, considering who's in those coffins. Hamas claiming that they were killed in -- we'll have to bring you

those images later. But Hamas claiming that these four people were killed by an Israeli strike, Israel saying there's no evidence of that. What's your view on those discussions?

CUSNIR HORN: First of all, I want to say that I wish you won't show those images, because I believe that showing those images in a way is giving Hamas what they want, and we should all come together and put the right things and go according to the right values. I want to say that I don't believe Hamas for anything they say. I don't know if they killed them or they were killed because of an air strike.

I want to say that on October 7, 2023, Hamas has invaded Israel, and they took them hostage. And they are the only responsible for everything which has been going around since then. So I think we'll know later on the identity of those bodies, which they're not a body. They are souls, you know, people, family who had dreams and plans for the future and families and hobbies like you and me, you know, we should talk about them like this. And later on, we'll know or maybe know exactly what happened.

But Hamas started this massacre on October 7. And this is part of the result. And I want to remind you that after bringing back those four people, those four souls, we still have 69 people held hostage. One of them is my brother-in-law, Eitan.

They liberated Iair last Saturday after 198 days, and we're at the hospital right now because he's still in the rehabilitation. But Eitan, his brother, is still there, and so are other 68 people. We need to bring them back.

Most of them are alive. Part were killed by those terrorists, but we need to bring them back. And we need the entire world as you watch those scenes and understand who Hamas is. Please help us bring them back, everyone.

FOSTER: I think the vast majority of the world is obviously in support of you there. I mean, how does it happen, though? What's going wrong here? Who's to blame for those hostages not coming back? Because there are negotiations taking place, aren't they? I mean, the other families, I mean, what's their view of these negotiations and how America and Israel are playing it?

CUSNIR HORN: Yes, so that's a very good question, and I want to say that for the past 503 days I've been also very, you know, criticizing my own government when things are going wrong. On one hand, I know that Israel is negotiating with evil, which is Hamas, and on the other hand, I wish they had done more. We believe and we know that since President Trump was elected, the fact that he was very, you know, decisive and he said that everything should be solved before he enters office, and the fact that Steve Witkoff, his special envoy, is so supportive of the cause and with us.

So we saw a huge difference. We saw a deal being signed and we saw people started coming back. One of them, as I said, Iair, my brother- in-law. I mean, I wish that in the time from now we'll be able to look back and understand exactly what happened. Right now we need all the energies and all the world leaders to come together and to push for that deal, to push Qatar, to push Egypt, to push Hamas, to push Israel, everyone. We need to bring an end to the suffering.

And this will also bring a possibility for the people in Gaza, you know, to start living something different, because they're also being held by Hamas, as I guess you know. So I don't know who to blame. I just know that we have 69 brothers and -- brothers, not sisters anymore, unfortunately, only brothers waiting for us, screaming from the depths of the tunnel, tortured.

Right now, as we speak, they're being tortured. They're starving. They need us. They need us to reach out. We cannot come later and say, do nice ceremonies and say never again and all those kind of things. They're starving. They need us. They need us to reach out. We cannot come later and say, do nice ceremonies and say never again and all those kind of things.

We need to stop everything now and just bring them back.

FOSTER: Dalia Cusnir, really appreciate it. Dalia Cusnir-Horn, thank you for joining us from Tel Aviv. Really appreciate your time with us on what is obviously a very difficult day.

Migrant children who cross the southern U.S. border by themselves may now have to face immigration courts alone. I will explain the latest move by the White House. It will likely give them no other choice.

Plus, the Trump administration makes a new move to crack down on migrants at the border, and it's using the same strategy that faced pushback during the COVID pandemic.

And as Germany gears up for elections, some young people tell CNN why they support a far-right party and its Nazi-inspired ideas. Stay with us.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: In a move that could clear the way for the first U.S. Supreme Court showdown over one of President Trump's controversial executive orders, an appeals court says it will not remove a court-ordered hold on the administration's plan to end birthright citizenship for certain children of immigrants.

A Seattle judge blocked the order, saying it runs counter to the Constitution. The 14th Amendment states anyone born in the U.S. is an American citizen. Mr. Trump says that shouldn't apply to children born to parents who are undocumented or in the U.S. on temporary visas at the time of birth.

The Trump administration is also moving to cut access to legal services for migrant children and teens who cross the border alone. That's according to a memo sent to a non-profit legal group that was obtained by CNN.

The document orders legal service providers that are helping unaccompanied migrant children to stop their work. The move is unlikely to affect those who already have legal representation.

Meanwhile, more than 140 migrants have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The Trump administration wants to detain tens of thousands of migrants there, but officials say the facility is far from ready to receive that many people.

The White House is also stepping up its crackdown on migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in a move that's a flashback from its policies during the COVID pandemic. Priscilla Alvarez has the details.

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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration is expected to issue a public health order labeling migrants as risks for spreading diseases as soon as this week, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Now, this is a callback to the first Trump administration when a public health order was issued during the coronavirus pandemic. That, at the time, was a controversial move because coronavirus was already within U.S. borders and had received pushback from health experts, CDC officials, as well as some homeland security officials who said that it later fueled repeat crossings because there weren't the same level of consequences as there would be with the usual immigration law.

But it has been something that has been floated for some time in the Trump orbit, particularly by Trump advisor Stephen Miller, who floated this before the coronavirus pandemic and moved along with the administration to invoke it during the pandemic.

And in 2023 told the "New York Times" that President Trump, or if he were to win at that time, would do it again. Now, this has been something that has been worked on behind the scenes and it really is a part of a string of moves by the Trump administration to double down on the U.S.-Mexico border, to strengthen their posture, even as crossings have plummeted.

According to the White House, borders are -- crossings are just under 300 a day. That matches a trend of the decline over the last several months, but it's still a remarkably low number compared to where they have been over the last several years. All of this, of course, intended to seal off the border to migrants, essentially making it almost all but impossible to seek asylum, according to legal experts.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Donald Trump says Americans could end up getting a piece of the savings recovered by Elon Musk's DOGE team. What the president says people might be able to expect and where else the money may go, coming up. [04:30:00]