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CNN International: Bodies of Four Hostages Returned to Israel; Zelenskyy to Meet with Trump's Russia-Ukraine Envoy Kellogg; Hegseth Seeks Budget Cuts, Tells Pentagon to Slash Waste; Trump Aligns with Russian Narrative, Calls Zelenskyy "Dictator"; CNN Fact Check on Donald Trump's First Month in Office; Elon Musk's $44B Investment in X May Soon Pay Off. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired February 20, 2025 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Max Foster. This is CNN Newsroom. Just ahead an emotional day in Israel. Hamas releases the bodies of four hostages from Gaza, believed to include the Bibas' children and their mother they have now arrived back in Israel.
Also, the rift between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President deepens and better news from the Vatican. Pope Francis showing slight improvement after being struck down by pneumonia. We begin with a profoundly somber moment for Israel. A short time ago, Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
It's the first time the group has released deceased captives since the Hamas led terror attack more than 16 months ago. Israeli soldiers saluted the convoy carrying the bodies as it passed the border from Gaza. Here you see red cross vehicles in Khan Younis, Gaza, where the transfer occurred.
Among the victims, the two youngest children kidnapped on October the seventh, that's according to Hamas. The Bibas' children became two of the most recognizable victims of the 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 in October -- on October the seventh, she was released alive later on. Israeli President Isaac Herzog posted this on social media, quoting, agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts, the hearts of an entire nation, lie in tatters. CNN's Nic Robertson joins us live from Jerusalem. A very difficult day there.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It is. And it's one where people are grappling with the reality of what they feared for so long, with the image of Shiri Bibas clutching Ariel and Kfir in her arms as she was being hustled away and taken hostage on October 7th, 2023. That fear on her face, she's got arms around her children, trying to protect them. That's an image everyone in Israel, and frankly, probably beyond, could connect with. The simplicity of a mother trying to protect her children. And it's been a roller coaster for the country since, knowing that Hamas has said that they were killed, knowing that the IDF has not been able to ascertain one way or another if that was fact, knowing how her husband Yarden, who was also taken hostage, was used in a propaganda video by Hamas to blame the Israeli government for their death.
All of that the moments where little bits of video of her in captivity emerged the hope that these young children, innocent victims, would return home alive. Today is the day where all of that becomes a very somber reality. The sum of one of the other victims, who was returned today.
He said that this is the beginning of a moment of closure, but for the families, it's something that they really have hoped against hope wasn't the case. And today, as the bodies finally arrive at an institute for forensic medicine, they will get that a definitive answer whether or not their loved ones.
And in a way they grieving for them can begin. But it is, I think you see the people coming out on the streets today, waving flags as the convoy has traveled the length of the country, that just shows you how much this has caught everyone's attention and heart, Max.
FOSTER: Absolutely. Nic, thank you. Let's go live to Tel Aviv, where we're joined by Gideon Levy, a Columnist for Haaretz, his book "The killing of Gaza" came out in October. Thank you for joining us. The scenes of these handovers are getting more and more upsetting, aren't they in Israel?
GIDEON LEVY, COLUMNIST FOR HAARETZ: Yes, especially when you know, when you think that those rituals could have been prevented, they -- those host leaders could be alive and could be released two days after the war, if Israel would have put more energy in the effort to release them, and the state betrayed them. The government betrayed them. That's the outcome.
FOSTER: We're now -- I think there's about 60 hostages believed to be still in Gaza. We're going to the second phase of this deal, this ceasefire deal.
[08:05:00]
But there's a, you know, there's real pessimism about whether or not that phase will take place at all. What does that mean for the hostages?
LEVY: First of all, it means death penalty for the hostages. That's very clear. Most of them will not survive another year of staying in the tunnels and being prevented from food, from air, from medical treatment. But I must correct you, there is some sense of optimism ever since there is a new American envoy -- because Mr. Witkoff seems to have great influence on Netanyahu, and he seems to be quite devoted to push Netanyahu to the second phase.
And until now, Netanyahu couldn't say no, and it might very be that the second phase. I didn't say it one week ago, but now, after the last visit of the special envoy, I think that there is a good chance, because Netanyahu is quite helpless vis a vis the Donald Trump's Administration.
FOSTER: Can the Trump Administration work with those on the right wing then that are causing the blocks to these deals?
LEVY: This is true, but I guess that even they we understand in a certain stage that Netanyahu has no other choice, if he wants to get the American aid, people are quite scared all over the world now, from Donald Trump, you can see what's going on in Europe right now, in the other country -- obviously, I think they will have to be more cautious.
FOSTER: When it comes to bodies being returned? You know, hostages, bodies being returned. Does that -- just describe the impact of that and how that plays on this massive pressure to bring back the hostages? It's a reminder, I guess, that you know, the longer they're there, the more risk they're at.
LEVY: So, first of all, it's not only bodies of hostages. It's the -- maybe the icon of this whole tragedy, namely the children of the Bibas family and their mother. I mean, that's much more than just bodies of hostages, because those are two infants, two babies, almost whose face were familiar in every house in Israel in the last 16 months, and here they are getting home in coffins.
It's obviously a very dramatic moment. We have to remember, even in this context, that there were thousands and thousands Palestinian children killed, whose face is totally unknown to most of your viewers, I think that even in this moment, they should be remembered. But obviously, if the second phase will not be implemented, it means that another dozens of Israelis will never get home.
FOSTER: How do we know the condition of those that are left there? I mean, what sort of information are we getting about that? Because obviously the concern of the families will be that they can't be sure that they're even alive.
LEVY: First of all, they can be sure. There were some signs from some of them through the hostages who were released in the last weeks. So, there are some signs that some of them, at least, are alive. Their conditions are totally unclear. You saw in the last returns of hostages, the release of hostages, that some of them came on quite in good shape, relatively.
The others seem to be in a very bad shape. And I think this will continue. Some of them were kept in better conditions, other in worse conditions. And in any case, time is running out, that's very clear. But you mentioned before the pressure on the government. I must just tell you that there is all the time pressure on this government, but it's not a real effective pressure, because that's not the political base of this government.
And therefore, all the demonstrations which were very impressive throughout the last 17 months were not effective enough. The fact is that we waited for so long to see those releases who definitely could have taken place one year.
FOSTER: OK. Gideon Levy, thank you for joining us on this very difficult day in Israel.
LEVY: Thank you.
FOSTER: Donald Trump's Special Envoy to Ukraine is in Kyiv and due to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in about an hour. Mr. Trump doubled down on Wednesday on his staggering attacks on President Zelenskyy on social media. And at a speaking engagement, President Trump again falsely called his Ukrainian counterpart a dictator using Moscow's talking points.
[08:10:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He refuses to have elections is low in the real Ukrainian poll. 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 moves faster.
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 with Vladimir Putin after earlier saying Mr. Trump was living in a disinformation space. Elections in Ukraine are currently on hold, because of martial law imposed in response to the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, Ukrainians are worried about the future of their country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The future of Ukraine is not really bright right now, because of everything we hear in news from Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The biggest disappointment and fear for me to understand that these three years was waste of time. We lose a lot of people, friends, relatives, and nothing changed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Some prominent members of President Trump's own party are stressing what's already well known, that it was Russia, not Ukraine, that started the war. There are even some who have cautiously pushed back on Mr. Trump's criticism of President Zelenskyy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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: Let's bring in CNN's White House Reporter Alayna Treene. It is when you compare the -- language of President Trump and the Kremlin where it does sound quite alarming, a lot of what President Trump is saying. But you know, what are you understanding from people around him for the reasoning here?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Look, this is something that I think, from my conversations with White House officials, as well as Trump Administration officials more broadly, aren't exactly surprised by. One is, of course, if you take into account the president's history with Zelenskyy, going back to his first term, Donald Trump's first term when he kind of asked him to investigate Joe Biden in that infamous call that was brought up during Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
That's one part of this, but also, he's been very skeptical, and vocal about his skepticism about how much money the United States was sending in aid and funding to Ukraine. All to say that the president has been skeptical, far more skeptical than we've seen predecessors. And of course, President Joe Biden, Former President Joe Biden had been in his support for Ukraine amidst this war.
All to say, I was actually told that a lot of this tension and frustration, particularly within Donald Trump's closest orbit, had been building for a few days. One, they were keeping very close track, I'm told, of the commentary coming from Zelenskyy, specifically in regards to not having a seat at the table when the United States' delegation and Russia met in Riyadh to begin some of those discussions, and the criticism he had for being left out of that meeting.
But I'm told, really, it hit an inflection point. Donald Trump's frustration with Zelenskyy hit an inflection point yesterday when the Ukrainian President argued that Donald Trump lives in a disinformation space. I was told actually, that the President, when he was at his home in Mar-a-Lago in Florida, spoke with some aides and told him that he wanted to directly respond to that.
And of course, then we saw his tweet where he characterized Zelenskyy as a dictator, also argued he would not hold or he's a dictator because he's not holding elections. I'd point out, of course, just a quick fact checks there, that they declared martial war soon after Russia invaded Ukraine.
It's something very similar. We've seen other nations do, like the U.K. during World War Two, hold -- not hold elections during martial law. All to say we saw the president continue with his taunts throughout today. The key question, of course, now is, where does this go from here? This meeting today between Keith Kellogg and Zelenskyy in Kyiv is going to be crucial. And Max I actually just caught up with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. I asked him, what should Kellogg's message be for Zelenskyy, particularly in the aftermath of this, you know, this taunting from the president and criticism of Zelenskyy.
He said, one, is that he needs to tamp down, or they need to tamp down the rhetoric. This is from Michael Waltz. But also try to convince him to sign that rare mineral's Earth deal. Something that's also been a source of frustration for many people at the White House, that Zelenskyy rejected that initial deal with Ukraine.
So that was really his message to me. He said that was part of one of the top priorities that Kellogg has today in meeting with Zelenskyy. So, we're going to have to see where this leads. But of course, and I would argue again, despite some of Donald Trump's past history with Zelenskyy and some of his skepticism.
[08:15:00]
His words have an entirely different meaning now that he is president, and particularly at this crucial time when they are trying to bring sides together and actually find an end to this war, Max.
FOSTER: Alayna, thank you. Let's get reaction from Russia. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow and joins us now. It does feel you know, if you look at the headlines, Russia is getting everything at once from the United States, but these are the way these two administrations operate is entirely different. Isn't it? Just give the Kremlin's point of view.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Kremlin seems to be agreeing with everything that President Trump said last night. In fact, Dmitry Peskov the spokesman for the Kremlin, he was asked about all this earlier today, and he then ripped into the administration in Kyiv, into Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself, saying that, of course, they were taking international contributors' monies.
Of course there was no oversight, basically all of the things that President Trump said last night when he was giving that speech, not the same time, Max, there is, of course, a lot of optimism, a lot of excitement here in the air in Moscow, not just in political Moscow, but also on the streets, among people who are praising President Trump for his stance on not just the war in Ukraine. But in general, towards Russia, and in Russian media as well. Here's what we're seeing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Breaking news on Kremlin control TV, even the anchor can hardly believe her eyes. U.S. President Donald Trump calling Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quote a dictator in a social media post. Attention. This is incredible, the host says.
Trump is obviously angry, having had modest success as a comedian, Zelenskyy writes, the U.S. President couldn't have won in the Ukraine conflict, and the U.S. was giving him money in vain. Zelenskyy is doing his job poorly. Donald Trump now called Zelenskyy a dictator. This is what he wrote.
Many Russians now hoping that Trump induced thaw in U.S.-Russian relations could bring fast sanctions relief at the Skazka souvenir shop in Moscow, boss Alexander (ph) is rearranging the matryoshka dolls according to what many here hope could be the new world order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our president and American President, and also, we have the Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud also. So, all friends of Russia.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): On the street, much praise for President Trump, sometimes maybe a bit too much.
PLEITGEN: What do you think about Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think maybe small stallion.
PLEITGEN: You think small stallion? Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? But character.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump --
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Of course, I like Donald Trump, this man says. He's a positive president. He will change America and make it great again. Moscow's leader is optimistic, saying they believe the Trump Administration understands their view of the Ukraine War.
Where Russian troops continue to make modest gains, this Russian Defense Ministry video purporting to show drone units hitting Ukrainian positions in Russia's Kursk region. Russian leader Vladimir Putin visiting a drone factory, also praising Trump, saying a face-to- face meeting is in the works.
We're not in a position where it's enough to meet each other, have tea or coffee and chat about the future, he says. We need to make our teams prepare issues that are crucial for both Russia and the U.S., including the Ukraine conflict, but not only it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (on camera): So, there you see, Max, the Russians aiming, not only for ending the war in Ukraine on terms favorable for Russia, but essentially a whole reset of U.S.-Russian relations, which they now believe is very much within their grasp. And at the same time, you do see the Trump Administration apparently also very open to having such a reset, as well.
And quite interesting when you speak to some folks here on the ground in Moscow, some Russian politicians, some of them actually believe that the position on the Ukraine war from the Trump Administration is actually closer to that of the Kremlin of Moscow than it is to America's own European allies, Max.
FOSTER: OK, Fred, thank you. Spain's High Court has found Luis Rubiales, the Former Head of the Spanish Football Federation, guilty of kissing player Jenni Hermoso without consent. The infamous kiss took place amid celebrations after the Spain team won the women's world cup in 2023.
Rubiales said he asked for and got Hermoso's consent before kissing her during the medal ceremony. Hermoso said Rubiales did not have her consent to kiss her. We'll have more details on the developing story later this hour. Still to come, the latest federal agency to face big budget cuts the Pentagon.
But wait a minute, there are signs Donald Trump might not want to slash military spending. That story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:20:00]
FOSTER: Donald Trump's plan to shrink U.S. government could be about to impact the largest federal agency of all, and that is the Department of Defense. CNN has obtained a memo sent by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering his deputies to work out plans to cut the military budget by 8 percent each year for the next five years.
That would mean cutting spending by tens of billions of dollars per year. However, the budget plan submitted by House Republicans and endorsed by Donald Trump calls for a $100 billion increase in defense spending, making unclear which way the administration actually wants to go.
CNN, National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand is here with more. Presumably, this is a back-office jobs.
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I mean, this is a major disconnect from pretty much everything we have heard over the last several weeks of the Trump Administration, including from Hegseth, as you note, who said just last week that he would like to see U.S. military spending actually increase.
And of course, when he was at NATO headquarters in Brussels last week, he was also pushing NATO and EU allies to increase their defense spending by quite a lot. And so, this memo really is coming as quite a surprise, particularly given the steep cuts that it is proposing here, 8 percent every year over the next five years, that would amount to tens and tens of billions of dollars cut from the Defense Department budget.
And importantly, you know, it is making exceptions for some of the Trump Administration's biggest priorities, including border security. But in the memo that we obtained that Hegseth sent to the work force, he said that he is asking the military departments and DOD components to resource the capabilities and readiness necessary for a wartime tempo, and cut things that he described as low impact and wasteful, including DEI and climate change programs.
But he has only given the entire U.S. military about a week here to submit proposals for what actually can be cut from the U.S. military, something that is going to be quite a burden for the U.S. military to figure out, because the budget right now is about $850 billion for the Pentagon. And while I think a lot of Americans would agree that there is quite a lot of spending at the Pentagon that is wasteful and that is often difficult to account for these steep, steep cuts are going to be difficult to achieve, not only logistically, but also politically, because congressional Republicans in particular, have been pushing pretty much year after year to increase the defense spending as much as, you know, a couple billion dollars per year, getting it to about over $1 trillion per year.
So, this is bound to create some consternation here, and as you said, pretty much conflicts directly with something that President Trump had endorsed just recently, which is that House budget plan that increases the defense spending by about $100 billion.
[08:25:00]
FOSTER: It does speak to the idea, though, you know, we've heard from different administration figures that America will interfere less in other countries business, less wars, for example, that narrative. Perhaps they don't need such a large defense budget because they won't be traveling as much.
BERTRAND: Yeah, I think that's definitely part of it. However, I would note that what Hegseth appears to want to focus on in these cuts are those DEI programs, Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs, as well as climate change programs, so not necessarily cutting things that would potentially impact military operations and readiness.
However, a lot of national security officials would likely argue that climate change programs are actually pretty integral to the Pentagon's you know, work -- work -- day to day work because of the impact that climate change can have on military installations around the world, civil unrest around the world, migration patterns.
So, this is all going to be very carefully scrutinized by the military over the next week or so. But still, you know, this is all part of DOGE's efforts, Department of Government Efficiency efforts to slash funding at the Pentagon and also slash the work force at the Pentagon, which they could do as soon as this week, Max.
FOSTER: OK, Natasha, thank you so much for joining us from there in D.C. One more note about Donald Trump's effort to slash the federal government. CNN has learned that more than 6000 IRS employees will be fired today. A source tells CNN they are recent hires still in a probationary period, making them easier to let go.
And most work as auditors and support workers, a previous executive order by Mr. Trump bars the IRS for making any new hires leaving the agency's workforce dramatically reduced as the April tax filing deadline actually approaches. Now accident investigators will get to work on Thursday establishing why two people died in a plane crash in Arizona.
Two light aircraft collided in midair near the City of Tucson on Wednesday. One plane hit the ground and caught fire, killing both people on board. The second plane is reported to have landed safely with no injuries to its crew of two. Crews have begun removing the wreckage of the passenger jet that crash landed on a runway in Toronto on Monday.
Everybody on board survived. Only one of the 21 people injured remains in hospital. Meanwhile, Delta says it's offering $30,000 to each passenger. It says there are no strings attached, and accepting the money would not affect the passengers' rights. Still to come, more on the escalating rhetoric from President Trump targeting the Ukrainian President, a report from Kyiv just ahead.
And our fact checker looks at President Trump's first month in office. What are the biggest false hoods that he's told this time round, the answer, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:00]
FOSTER: In less than an hour, the U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine is due to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv as Donald Trump escalates his attacks on President Zelenskyy. Mr. Trump has called on the Ukrainian called the Ukrainian President a dictator, warning him to move fast or he won't have a country left.
One issue -- beneath the surface, Ukraine's valuable deposits of rare earth minerals, the Trump Administration wants access to them in exchange for aid. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh filed this report from Kyiv.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is extraordinary over the past two days, really, just to speak to Ukrainians who are offering time struggling to catch up with the things they're hearing from the Trump Administration. We've understood from various sources familiar with the proposal offer that indeed, it wasn't just payback for future aid.
It was essentially the Trump Administration saying, well, you owe us for the stuff that the Biden Administration gave you. Give us access to your rare earth minerals. And that document 16 pages long, two or three pages legals and then a dozen pages of specific places and assets that they had in mind.
So quite specific, the notion that Zelenskyy was asleep that President Donald Trump said there and didn't meet Bessent. Well, that's not true. There was a joint press conference they gave an extensive one. I'm sure at some point during the time best and was here, Zelenskyy went to sleep, and I'm sure Bessent did too.
But it's an extraordinary comment to make, suggesting that essentially, Zelenskyy himself has rejected that deal. He has said, yes, I wouldn't sign it. I have to guarantee Ukraine's interest. It wasn't a ready legal document. They haven't rejected it outright, but I'm sure they want to see better terms there.
And they've said publicly they want to see security guarantees. As part of that, Zelenskyy said to me yesterday, look, if you go and give us boots on the ground, you won't give us more military aid, necessarily to fight, then give us air defenses to defend our skies. Ukraine hit constantly at the moment.
And so, there's growing concern here about the phrase dictator being used around Zelenskyy, about how he's refusing elections. Yes, Ukraine has not had elections during war time. That isn't far from abnormal in European history when countries have indeed been attacked.
And we've seen European leaders come to his aid, essentially, the British suggesting that they didn't have elections throughout World War Two because they were under bombardment. And we've heard European leaders to come forward and say they do not believe that Ukraine is run by a dictator.
And some suggesting that's, in fact, Vladimir Putin, the one man who Trump is very eager to not criticize, it seems at the moment. So, a startling turn in foreign policy for the United States here. A lot of bewildering rhetoric. The future of Ukraine's mineral resources on the table here, essentially, I think, their arm twisted if they want to keep the aid that will keep them fighting.
But above all, you know, you heard at the start there, ordinary Ukrainians. People are dying as I'm talking to you now here, hundreds a day on the front lines. That is often missing from the discussion here, the sort of Twitter burns we're seeing between world leaders and statements at press conferences.
And I think that is going to hove, more clearly into view as we see Western support, particularly from the Trump Administration --
FOSTER: As Nick mentioned, European allies were quick to express support for President Zelenskyy after President Trump's barb. The German Chancellor posting Ukraine has been defending itself against a merciless Russian war of aggression for almost three years, day after day.
Olaf Scholz adding, it's simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskyy democratic legitimacy. The British Prime Minister echoing those remarks, calling Mr. Zelenskyy Ukraine's democratically elected leader. A spokesperson said, Keir Starmer supports U.S. led efforts to get a lasting peace in Ukraine that will deter Russia from future aggression.
Kurt Volker, a Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, spoke to my colleague Kate Bolduan in the last hour. She asked him about the rift between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: It's really striking. It is such a divergence from what Trump himself said just on his first full day in office. If you remember that tweet on January 21, he said that Putin needs to stop the war, that it should never have happened, and that he's prepared to escalate with sanctions if he doesn't.
And now he launches this tweet where he doesn't mention Russia at all. The real dictator in the room here is Vladimir Putin. Has been in power for 25 years, not Zelenskyy, and it is Russia that launched this unprovoked invasion against Ukraine, not the other way around. So very, very strange and divergent from where Trump himself was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Let's get him on nuance on all of this. I want to bring in CNN's Stephen Collinson. Thanks for joining us, Stephen.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah.
FOSTER: This idea of the dictator, I mean, it's a very powerful Trumpian sort of slogan, isn't it?
[08:35:00]
But it's, just explain why it's so profound, because, obviously, Europe has always, you know, been on Ukraine side, because it's defending democracy. If you undermine the idea that this isn't about democracy, then it does undermine a lot of the support that Ukraine would have.
COLLINSON: Yeah, and I think the point here is that Donald Trump doesn't necessarily care that much about democracy. If you look at a lot of the foreign policy positions that he's taken since he took office, it's about attacking American allies, many of which are themselves democracies.
So, I think the way to read what Trump has been saying over the last few days is that he wants a solution or a deal, as he would say it, to the Ukraine war, because it's advantageous to him politically. He doesn't really care. I think about what that would look like. The problem with that is, of course, that this eventual peace process is existential to Ukraine survival as a nation.
And for European nations, it's also about deterring Vladimir Putin from trying to bite off more territory in Eastern Europe or in the Baltics, and to laying down that predicate that a big country cannot just invade a small country and get away with it. So, I think the motives of Trump are completely different from Ukraine's and Europe's.
And actually, they're in alignment with what the Russians want. And I think that's why this has caused such a kerfuffle.
FOSTER: Is this going to blow up when we have Macron and Starmer visiting Donald Trump in the White House? Or will there be some way of resolving this? Because obviously, Donald Trump works much better to people -- with people face to face, doesn't he, traditionally?
COLLINSON: That's true. And oddly enough, even though he is very vociferous on social media and in his press conferences, he tends to shy away from direct confrontation. I think a lot of it will depend on what Macron and Starmer bring with them. Can they give Trump something that he thinks is advantageous to him?
If, for example, Starmer were to show up and say, well, we're going to boost British defense spending to well above that 2 percent NATO threshold. I think Trump could then turn around and say, well, look, my tough rhetoric got something. So, it's unclear what Macron would be able to do, but what the Europeans want, it seems, is some kind of U.S. backs up, as Starmer calls it, to any eventual European force after a peace deal in Ukraine.
And I think it would be very difficult for them to deploy that force without U.S. logistical and intelligence support. So, the thing to watch, I think, will be how Trump talks about that, he said already that he's in favor of European troops monitoring the eventual truce, if there is one, but he's not said whether the United States would be prepared to support them. So that, I think, is the key issue as Macron and Starmer head to Washington.
FOSTER: I just want to talk about a poll as well Steve and the majority of Americans saying they're worried about Donald Trump's push to expand power is according to a new CNN poll, of course. At the one- month mark of his second term, Mr. Trump's approval rating is tipping to the negative, and optimism about his return to office has slipped since December.
We too -- are we wrong to focus on this? Because, you know, after an election and after the sort of honeymoon period, if you like, polls do tend to go this way.
COLLINSON: Yeah, and that said, generally, U.S. Presidents get some kind of honeymoon when they come into office. Trump is slightly different, because he was president before, and this is not a typical second term. But Joe Biden's approval ratings were pretty good until the -- us withdraw from Afghanistan, which was the point that his presidency started heading down the hill in terms of public approval.
The other issue we see is that presidents often, at least in the last 20 years or so, they often tend to over reach they do things in Trump's case, for example, perhaps this gutting of the government that they weren't necessarily elected to do by voters who were in 2024 very concerned about rising grocery prices and rental prices for houses and high mortgage rates, for example.
So, I think there is a worry that Trump is over reaching, that he's wielding too much executive power.
[08:40:00]
But then again, he doesn't really have to worry, because he is a lame duck, he can't run again 2028 because his term limited. And I think Republicans understand that there's a very good chance, because of history's mark as that they will lose the house in the midterm elections next year.
So, I think there's always an assumption here that they're working on a two-year clock, and they want to get as much done as they can in that two-year period before potentially facing losses in congressional elections. So, I think that explains the speed of this, and I don't think necessarily that Trump is going to be too worried about those approval ratings in the short term. FOSTER: OK. Stephen, thank you as ever for joining us today.
COLLINSON: Yes.
FOSTER: Still to come, as Catholics around the world pray for the pope's recovery from illness, the Vatican has an encouraging update. We'll have details when we return. Also, ahead the disgraced Former Head of Spanish Soccer, Luis Rubiales is found guilty of kissing without consent. What the court ordered as punishment, next.
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FOSTER: As we've been discussing today from Washington to Europe, Donald Trump is drawing criticism for his latest attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including his claim the Ukraine started the war, something which is objectively not true. With Trump now, exactly one month into his term, CNN decided to highlight his 13 biggest false hoods since taking office.
You can read all of them @cnn.com. CNN's fact checker Daniel Dale helped complete that list. He joins us now. Just highlight a few of the most significant one's for you, Daniel.
DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: I think the biggest one was that claim about the war in Ukraine. I had this list all done, it was filed, it was edited, and then with a couple days left to go, in the president's first month. He made this claim about who started this war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think I have the power to end this war, and I think it's going very well. But today I heard, oh, we 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 VIDEO CLIP)
DALE: Russia started the war. That is obvious, and I think the brazenness of this lie is yet another example of Mr. Trump's willingness to lie, not only about complicated policy subjects, like tariffs, for example, but to lie about things the whole world witnessed with its own eyes. A lot of this is very obvious stuff.
FOSTER: Daniel, Trump has spent a lot of time working with Elon Musk, obviously reshaping shrinking federal government. Do you have anything to show there?
DALE: Yeah, there have been a lot of lies on the subject of U.S. federal spending. I think the most brazen one on that subject was about condoms in Gaza. And this is an example of something I think of as Trump inflation, and that is this president's years old habit of making his inaccurate stories more and more inaccurate over time. So, listen to how the saga of condoms for Gaza evolved over the course of about a week.
[08:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: DOGE and OMB also found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza.
TRUMP: He identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas, 50 million. And you know what's happened to them? They've used them as a method of making bombs.
$50 million, plus another $50 million for condoms for Hamas. You know that, a $100 million for condoms?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DALE: So, the story went from 50 million in condoms for Gaza to 50 million in condoms for Hamas to make bonds to 100 million in condoms for Hamas. None of this was true. The White House had zero evidence that any U.S. aid money was spent on any money for Gaza, let alone condoms for Hamas.
FOSTER: Daniel Dale, thank you. Fascinating. Now the Vatican says Pope Francis is showing slight improvement just days after he was diagnosed with pneumonia in both of his lungs. Earlier, the Vatican said the 88- year-old pontiff had spent another peaceful night in the hospital in Rome where he was admitted last week. CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is in Rome with more details on his condition.
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: He's 88 years old. He's got mobility problems, and he's got pneumonia in both lungs, one of which is compromise. He had half of one of his lungs removed when he was a young man. But there is optimism. You know, this incremental good news.
We understand this morning, he was able to get out of the hospital bed, sit in a chair and have breakfast there. Yesterday, we understood he only got out of the bed and sat in the chair. So, these are improvements. We also understand from the Vatican Press Office that he's meeting with his close collaborators.
He's making decisions on behalf of the church. He's reading correspondence. He's answering. He's in charge, basically, is what they're trying to say. Yesterday, he had his first outside visitor. That was the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who spent 20 minutes there.
Her -- after her reflection was basically that he was reactive and that he still had his sense of humor. So, these are all good signs, but a lot of the information, of course, we get from the Vatican Press Office is highly curated. They're very -- they keep their, you know, their cards close to their chest, let's say on these things.
So, we don't really know necessarily how long he's going to be here. Next week, of course, is the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday. That's a hugely important time for any pope, especially this one, and during a holy Jubilee Year, which started at the end of last year.
So, all of -- everybody's hoping he gets back on his feet, hoping that he makes a recovery. But it is with any 88-year-old elderly person with health -- compromise health. It is just really, you know, wait and hope, and as most of the world is doing right now, praying for the pontiff.
FOSTER: Yeah. Spain's High Court has found Luis Rubiales, the Former Head of Spain's Football Federation, guilty of kissing the footballer Jenni Hermoso without consent. It sentences him to pay a fine of more than $10,000 but turned down the prosecution's demand to send Rubiales to prison.
It also -- him on the charge of coercion. The infamous kiss took place after the Spanish team won the women's world cup in 2023. Rubiales said he asked for and was given Hermoso's consent before kissing her during the medal ceremony. Hermoso said Rubiales did not have her consent. Pau Mosquera is live in Madrid with more details. How's the public reacting to this sentence?
PAU MOSQUERA, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Max. We're still waiting to see how the public, how the society, is going to react towards this sentence, because we have to remember that, that in August 2023 this case prompted a lot of controversy and a lot of debate around the sexism and masochism, not only in sports, but in different -- of life.
Now, as you were saying, Spanish National Court has found Luis Rubiales is guilty of sexually assaulting Jennifer Hermoso, also by kissing her on the lips during the celebrations that took place once the women's national team won the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in August 2023.
Now, the court has ordered him to pay a fine of more of $11,000 but also has ordered him to not to go within 200 meters of her muscle during a year and to refrain from contacting her during the following 12 months. The judge believed that the sexual assault was consummated by Rubiales after, surprisingly, kissing her on the lips, doing something that violates the sexual freedom of the victim.
But we have to remember that during the trial, Max, both the prosecutors and the complaining lawyers asked one year in prison for Rubiales for the count of sexual assault, but another year and a half, not only for Rubiales, but for the other three defendants for the count of coercion, as they both defended that they pressed her muscle to downplay the kiss.
[08:50:00]
But -- have been acquitted of the crime of coercion. Now why is Rubiales is not going then to prison for the count of sexual assault? Well, the judge justifies that this sexual assault is of a lesser intensity, as there was no violence and intimidation. And it's important to say, Max, also that we are trying to gather the reaction of both the defendant and complaining lawyers, because this sentence can still be appealed, Max. FOSTER: Pau in Madrid, thank you. Fascinating to hear how the court came to that decision. South Korea's Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in court in Seoul on Thursday for the first hearing in his trial. Yoon is charged with leading an insurrection after he briefly imposed martial law in early December.
It's the first time the country subjected a sitting president to a criminal trial. Still to come, when Elon Musk took over Twitter, it triggered a slump in the company's value. End of story, not quite, I will look at what happened next.
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FOSTER: First, he wanted to buy it. Then he didn't, but in the end, he had to. When Elon Musk still to buy Twitter went through it looked like first, like a lot of money down the drain. In June 2022, the company, famous for its blue bird, was worth almost $29 billion they Musk offered a lot more.
44 billion after he sacked most of the staff and renamed the platform X, the value of the company plunged. At rock bottom, it was valued at just over 9 billion. But there are signs that Musk is on the verge of pulling off a turn around. CNN's Clare Duffy told John Berman what's happening.
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CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: It's kind of insane, because even though $44 billion was always considered likely an overpayment for Twitter when he made that deal in October 2022. Then just back in December, three months ago, fidelity valued the company at just 30 percent of what he paid for it $12.3 billion.
But now Bloomberg is reporting that Musk is in talks to raise funding for X at a valuation of $44 billion. And I think the thing that nobody was betting on when Musk took this platform over is the way that he would use it to get close to Trump, to help Trump get reelected, as he did over the summer.
And now X has really become the place to be, to follow what's happening inside of the White House. Musk is using it to broadcast what he's doing inside of the government. At DOGE, Trump is using the platform again to talk about what he cares about. And so, it really is the place to be for that conversation, in a way that it really hasn't been in the past few years, it had been replaced by Twitter.
Look alike platforms, TikTok, had become a really important place to follow the news. But again, X is sort of back at the center of the conversation, and I think that is really what's playing into this renewed valuation.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anything about the business itself, the Twitter business itself this change?
DUFFY: Yeah, so we are seeing some advertisers returning to the platforms. Big names like Apple and Amazon have said they will start advertising again on X, but I think there's a question about whether they're doing that to be close to Trump's first buddy, Elon Musk, or whether it really is a place that lots of advertisers will return to.
We are still seeing lots of hate speech and extremism on this platform, and there are many ways in which I think that X will never be what Twitter was. Again, we've still seen users de camping to other platforms. Some of the platform's core features, like its Twitter spaces feature, continue to have glitches and really important moments, like when Elon Musk was interviewing Trump around the election.
[08:55:00]
There was a massive glitch, and they had to shut that down. And so, I do think that it's unlikely that this platform will return to its former self. And I think big questions about whether this valuation is really a reflection of the fundamentals or just of Musk's position in the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now, investigators are trying to figure out what caused a massive sink hole to swallow up part of a road in the south of England. Authorities evacuated people from around 30 homes in the Surrey village of Godstone after the hole opened up on Monday. Local officials say parts of the community may have been built on sand pits.
They're checking to see if nearby homes are structurally sound. Thanks for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster. "Connect the World" with Becky is up next.
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