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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump & Vance Berate Zelenskyy As He Urges Caution On Trusting Putin; Zelenskyy Leaves White House Early After Oval Office Shouting Match; Trump Speaks With Reporters After Contentious Zelenskyy Meeting; Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Is Interviewed About Trump's Meeting With Zelenskyy; NM Authorities: Last Event Recorded On Hackman's Pacemaker Was On February 17. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired February 28, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:56]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Break News.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Welcome to this hour of the Lead. I am Dana Bash in for Jake Tapper.

And we start once again with the breaking news reverberating around the world. It was a hostile meeting between President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It devolved into a shouting match in the Oval Office. And tonight there are so many questions. Is this relation (inaudible)?

What does it mean for a potential ceasefire deal between Ukraine and Russia? We are going to cover all of these angles. I'll be joined by our reporters in Ukraine and Russia in just moments. But first, we want you to watch the part of today's meeting when things went off the rails.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Do you disagree that you've had problems bringing people into your military?

PRES. VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: We have problems.

VANCE: And do you think that it's respectful --

ZELENSKYY: I will answer.

VANCE: -- to come to the Oval Office --

ZELENSKYY: I will answer.

VANCE: -- of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?

ZELENSKYY: A lot of questions. Let's start from the beginning. VANCE: Sure.

ZELENSKYY: First of all, during the war, everybody has problems, even you. But you have nice ocean and don't feel now, but you will feel it in the future. God bless.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You don't know that.

ZELENSKYY: God bless. God bless. You will not have war.

TRUMP: Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel.

ZELENSKYY: I'm not telling you. I'm not saying --

TRUMP: Because you're in no position to dictate that.

VANCE: That's exactly --

ZELENSKYY: I am no dictator.

TRUMP: You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel. We're going to feel very good.

ZELENSKYY: You will feel influenced.

TRUMP: We're going to feel very good and very strong.

ZELENSKYY: I am telling you will feel influenced.

TRUMP: You're right now not in a very good position. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position, and he happens to be right about it.

ZELENSKYY: From the very beginning of the war -- from the very beginning of the war --

TRUMP: You're not in a good position.

ZELENSKYY: -- I was --

TRUMP: You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.

ZELENSKYY: No playing cards.

TRUMP: Right now, you don't have --

ZELENSKYY: And what I see is (inaudible).

TRUMP: You're playing cards. You're playing cards.

ZELENSKYY: I were series (ph). I'm the president in war.

TRUMP: You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's back to you.

ZELENSKYY: I'm -- with all due respect to you.

TRUMP: Far more than a lot of people said they should have.

VANCE: Have you said thank you once this entire meeting?

ZELENSKYY: A lot of times.

VANCE: No, in this entire meeting --

ZELENSKYY: Even today.

VANCE: -- have you said thank you?

ZELENSKYY: Even today.

VANCE: You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who's trying to save your country.

ZELENSKYY: Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you can --

TRUMP: He's not speaking loudly. He's not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble.

ZELENSKYY: Can I have an answer?

TRUMP: Wait a minute? No, no. You've done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.

ZELENSKYY: I know.

TRUMP: You're not winning.

ZELENSKYY: I know.

TRUMP: You're not winning this.

ZELENSKYY: I --

TRUMP: You have a damn good chance of coming out OK because of us.

ZELENSKYY: We are staying -- Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong. From the very beginning of the war, we've been alone, and we are thankful. I said thanks in this cabinet.

TRUMP: You haven't been alone.

ZELENSKYY: (Inaudible) this cabinet.

TRUMP: We gave you, through this stupid president, $350 billion.

ZELENSKYY: You were (inaudible) president.

TRUMP: We gave you military equipment. And your men are brave, but they had to use our military equipment.

ZELENSKYY: What am I --

TRUMP: If you didn't have our military equipment --

ZELENSKYY: You invited me -- you invited me to this meeting.

TRUMP: If you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks. OK?

ZELENSKYY: In three days, I heard it from Putin. In three days. This is something --

TRUMP: Maybe less.

ZELENSKYY: -- you in two weeks. Of course, yes.

TRUMP: It's going to be a very hard thing to do, business like this.

ZELENSKYY: I can tell you --

VANCE: Just say thank you.

ZELENSKYY: I said it a lot of times thank you to American people.

VANCE: Except that there are disagreements and let's go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media, when you're wrong. We know that you're wrong.

TRUMP: But you see, I think it's good for the American people to see what's going on. I think it's very important. That's why I kept this going so long.

You have to be thankful. You don't have the cards.

ZELENSKYY: I'm thankful.

TRUMP: You're buried there. Your people are dying.

ZELENSKYY: I can tell you --

TRUMP: You're running low on soldiers.

ZELENSKYY: I know --

TRUMP: Listen --

ZELENSKYY: Don't, please --

TRUMP: -- you're running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. And then you tell us, I don't want a ceasefire. I don't want a ceasefire. I want to go and I want this.

[17:05:06]

Look, if you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you take it so the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed.

ZELENSKYY: Of course we want to stop the war. But I said to you, with guarantees.

TRUMP: But you're saying you don't want a ceasefire. I want a ceasefire because you'll get a ceasefire faster than an agreement.

ZELENSKYY: Ask our people about ceasefire, what they think.

TRUMP: That wasn't with me.

ZELENSKYY: And that (inaudible) for you.

TRUMP: That wasn't with me. That was with a guy named Biden who was not a smart person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Go right to CNN's Kaitlan Collins at the White House.

Kaitlan, I remember when I covered the White House, Wolf Blitzer said to me, it's the best job because you get a front row seat to history. Boy, did you have a front row seat to history today?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I'm not sure that the reporters or the staff or the Ukrainian officials or the U.S. officials in that Oval Office today, as we were witnessing this, expected any of that to happen, Dana. Obviously we knew it was likely going to be tense. There were real questions and points of disagreement between the United States and Ukraine on how best to proceed here and what this looks like. All of that was evident in this Oval Office exchange, which I should note actually went for close to an hour.

It's just about 52 minutes or so. I just looked at when went into the Oval Office and when we left, it was those 10 minutes that were the most explosive and obviously have come to define this exchange.

But leading up to that, there were moments where President Zelenskyy and President Trump were disagreeing on whether security guarantees were needed in any kind of ceasefire agreement, who was, of course, the aggressor here, and whether or not Putin was going to abide by any kind of agreement. Zelenskyy pointing to all the ceasefire agreements that Putin has violated before, the Minsk agreements and dozens of times that he did so there. But it was that moment where Trump had actually said, last question, he's going to take one more question from reporters. And then Vice President Vance asked if he could speak up. And that was when things really, truly went off the rails as Vance and Zelenskyy were going back and forth. And then, as you could see there, the President jumped in and started berating Zelenskyy as well, with Vance arguing that Zelenskyy has not been grateful enough for the U.S. support that they've received.

Now we have new reporting, though, about what happened after all of this, Dana, because that's just as notable because we left that room. And on the way out, I asked President Trump, can the two of you still go in the room and negotiate after what we just witnessed, after what just happened here? He looked at me and said, we'll see. And what we've learned is that Trump actually huddled with his top advisers in the Oval Office afterward. Vance, Rubio, Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, other officials who were in that room.

The Ukrainians went to another room nearby. That's standard for these Oval Office meetings. Typically they separate and then reconvene for lunch. But the Ukrainians would not be having lunch today because it was in that Oval Office meeting that Trump decided he did not want the Ukrainians to say he did not -- to say he did not feel that Zelenskyy was in a place to negotiate with him any further. And I'm told that Rubio and Walt and delivered that message to the Ukrainians.

They wanted to stay. I was told by a White House official, but they told them that President Trump wanted them to leave the White House. And then, of course, you saw what he posted on Truth Social.

And so the real question that is hanging in the balance here is what happens next, whether or not this ceasefire deal is in jeopardy. And of course, if this relationship has any chance of being repaired between the two of them. But Zelenskyy did leave the White House shortly thereafter, Dana.

BASH: Kaitlan, thank you so much for your terrific reporting. And don't miss Kaitlan's show "The Source" tonight at 9:00 p.m. She's going to be joined by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who was in the room during that Oval Office meeting. That's tonight at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.

You're listening to air raid sirens in Kyiv moments ago.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: I hear you. Can you hear this?

BASH: And it's a reminder that while Volodymyr Zelenskyy was here in the United States, the war is still very much going on and very much a threat in his country of Ukraine. You just saw Nick Paton Walsh there. Now he is back with me live.

Nick, you have some brand new reporting about what Ukrainian officials were being told behind the scenes before this meeting.

WALSH: Yes, just before we get to that, a reminder to those watching that since President Trump called President Zelenskyy a dictator falsely 10 days ago, 47 Ukrainian civilians have died and 222 have been injured by Russian airstrikes. But as you were saying, Dana, we've been hearing that there was some pressure from, according to a source familiar to talks, some pressure from Zelenskyy's team for this Oval Office meeting, despite suggestions from Trump's envoy to the Ukraine and Russia conflict, Keith Kellogg, that maybe the relationship wasn't quite there yet. And now a senior U.S. official saying to me, well, they can't fix this. This is up to Zelenskyy to fix. Another saying, this is basically new territory that we're in.

Some urgent moves, according to a Ukrainian source we're speaking to to try and heal this potentially. French President Emmanuel Macron speaking to Zelenskyy in the last hours, as did NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the European Council president cost many European countries their leaders putting statements of solidarity with Ukraine, the foreign minister of Estonia even suggesting that maybe Europe could go it alone, using frozen Russian assets to pay for the aid that Ukraine urgently needs. But we are in extraordinary new territory here. Lindsey Graham's suggestion, sort of a very close to Donald Trump as he is, that potentially Zelenskyy might need to step aside or heal the relationship, somehow will throw into the mix here in Ukraine. The question of how do they heal this relationship?

[17:10:46]

Is Zelenskyy the person who can indeed do it?

And Dana, you know, so much of this remarkable whiplash of the past week to 10 days has involved very powerful men in offices disagreeing or roasting each other on social media. We're going to see a new chapter here where aid is in doubt, where morale potentially collapses on Ukrainians, very troubled, beleaguered front lines and people lose their lives as this war takes a new phase where the key plank of Ukrainian support, the United States, is now really in peril. Dana?

BASH: Yes, it sure is. And just to underscore your amazing reporting that Zelenskyy wanted to have this Oval Office meeting even though there was a top official inside the Trump administration who said maybe it's not a good idea, the relationship isn't ready for it. I mean, that's really, really stunning. Thank you so much for all your terrific reporting, Nick.

I want to now bring in former White House chief of staff during the Obama administration, former ambassador to Japan under the Biden administration, Rahm Emanuel. I wanted to get that ambassador title in because from the perspective of a diplomat, never mind an American --

RAHM EMANUEL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN: That meeting will need -- that meeting needs -- that meeting needs diplomatic immunity.

BASH: Yes. I mean, OK, so talk us through what your reaction is to that, particularly as somebody who nevermind when you were ambassador, but when you were chief of staff to President Obama, you've been in many meetings like that -- many meetings in the Oval Office, none like that.

EMANUEL: No, listen, I mean there's three things I was -- when I was watching that, three things or three meetings that I said, I've never seen that before. That meeting, the time in the Cabinet Room where Nancy Pelosi stood up and said all roads about Putin, all roads with you lead to Putin and Russia. And then the meeting in Helsinki between President Trump and President Putin where the president of the United States took the side of President Putin and his word against the American National Security and Intelligence Committee. Those are three times I said I've never seen something like this. In foreign soil, you're taking the side of a foreign leader against your own national security apparatus or in that effort.

But so what's the common theme here in each meeting when the president gets hostile or a new low or new precedent's been setting because we've gone into what we call unchartered water, it's President Trump, President Putin and the veracity of President Putin's word. Each time there's been an explosion, whether that's with President Zelenskyy, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or in the case where the press is aghast and seeing President Trump take the side of President Putin and believe him and not the voice and the caution by the American intelligence community.

BASH: And knowing all --

EMANUEL: That to me is earth shattering.

BASH: And having all of that as a backdrop, what people in and around Donald Trump who are pushing him for this meeting wanted, and clearly what Vladimir Zelenskyy wanted, was to reestablish a relationship with the goal of finding peace. And how off track is that now, given what we saw and given what happened?

EMANUEL: Well, two things that I think are real important to keep in mind. One is trust is everything. You can't do anything if -- and I remember when we were trying to negotiate and this is not even in the close to this realm, but between Japan and South Korea that have deep history, our own relationship without that trust that President Biden had set up with the two leaders, they would have done the bare minimum, not the maximum. That was true with President Clinton. And when I saw in both the Wye plantation agreement also at Camp David between Prime Minister (inaudible) and Yasser Arafat.

BASH: There's no trust here at all.

EMANUEL: So trust -- right. Zero. So moving forward, you may have to have other people have communication, not the two heads of state in that area.

The other thing, I think we're all reacting if I could, you know, traditionally in America, from President Wilson forward, you've had two kind of themes between an internationalist outlook versus an isolationist outlook. You're now getting a new paradigm, one of predatory versus principled. And it's a whole new world. And what we're reacting to, we've never seen the United States tell another country we want your minerals. I mean, this put Lend Lease program under World War II in a whole different category.

[17:15:09]

We're telling Greenland you're not going to have your sovereignty unless we have your minerals. Panama, we want our canal back. We've become predatory in our foreign policy rather than principled. And it's a different variation of the historic framework between the internationalist outlook versus an isolationist outlook.

President Trump is not an isolationist. He is predatory in his behavior and actions when it comes to other countries and their resources. And he believes, like President Putin, like President Xi, that might makes right. And you either accept it or we're going to deal with you accordingly. And that's just a different language and a different perspective. That's not how we see ourselves. And to be honest, it's not how other countries and other people see us. And I take up one event from when I was ambassador, I was hosting an event for all the ambassadors from Africa, and he says, you have to understand America is our benchmark. And so we're changing the way people view us.

BASH: Rahm Emanuel, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

EMANUEL: Thank you very much. Yes.

BASH: And we have a lot more on this breaking news ahead, including reaction from Russia. We're not going to surprise you, officials are reacting with glee watching that contentious meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy. CNN's Matthew Chance will be live from Moscow in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:37]

BASH: Back with our lead, and that of course is what happened in the Oval Office today. And the question now is what is happening in Russia? Officials there are reacting to that contentious meeting between the U.S. president and the Ukrainian president, the former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says on telegram, quote, "The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office. And Donald Trump is right, the Kyiv regime is gambling with World War II -- World War III," rather.

Let's go now to Matthew Chance who is in Moscow. What else are you hearing from Russian officials?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well there's been a muted response from the Kremlin but there's been some, Dana, Russian officials that have come out just heard Dmitry Medvedev there. There's also been a couple of reactions. One from the Russian Foreign Ministry saying that how Trump and Vance restrained themselves and didn't hit this scoundrel is a miracle of self-control. That's from Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry. There's been a senator, a senior lawmaker in this country calling the, a brilliant result that Zelenskyy was kicked out of the White House in the way that he was.

That's the public reaction. Privately though, I can tell you, I spoke to Russian officials, other sort of nonofficial Russians as well as this spectacle unfolded on their screens. I can tell you they were all absolutely gobsmacked at the idea that national leaders were behaving with each other in this way and using this language with each other in front of the camera. It's just not something that any Russians or any of us in fact have seen before. So that was pretty astonishing.

One Russian official, Kirill Dmitriev, who's a prominent envoy at the U.S. Russian talks and the head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, he just tweeted historic, the word historic. And I think, you know that sums up that sense in Russia that there's been a -- over the past six weeks or so since the inauguration of Trump, a really historic shift in the stance of Washington towards of course it's, you know, supposed Ukrainian ally and towards its supposed rival in Moscow. And so that's how this is being sort of treated in Russia today.

BASH: Matthew, thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it.

Let's discuss with former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger and Lauren Tomlinson, Republican strategist and former Homeland Security Deputy Assistant Secretary.

Adam Kinzinger, I will start with you. What was your takeaway as you watched that?

ADAM KINZINGER, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I mean, this was shameful. This was really, you know, I've never been embarrassed to be an American, and today was embarrassing, and it was awful. I mean, let's keep in mind, Volodymyr Zelenskyy had an opportunity to flee Ukraine when Russia attacked, and he stayed. Is there anybody that has any doubt whether or not Donald Trump would flee the country if we were attacked? He stayed.

He's led his country through the most horrific time in recent memory of any country in Europe. And he comes to the United States and he is talked down to. He is intentionally -- J.D. Vance intentionally triggered Donald Trump by saying the thank you thing. Have you thanked us?

By the way, Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanks us all the time. We should be thanking the Ukrainians for standing in the gap and fighting the Russian horde that's coming into their country and that would come into NATO next. Today was very shameful. And there's a reason that every cabinet member under Donald Trump has had to tweet how strong he was today, because they got the memo from the White House that they better come out and support Trump because this is a really bad day for them and they know it.

BASH: Well, on that note, not a member of the cabinet, but a senior member of the Republican Party, the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, put a post out there, Lauren, saying, thanks to President Trump, the days of America being taken advantage of and disrespected are over. And he said, it's an American president putting America first.

LAUREN TOMLINSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: So, you know, I don't disagree that this was a pretty awkward thing to watch unfold underneath the lights of the camera. I mean, this is very rarely. These are the type of conversations that you normally see behind closed doors. And to find -- to watch this unfold in front of the cameras was, I mean, a unique moment in transparency and the diplomacy and sausage making that happens behind closed doors.

[17:25:23]

But I do think that, you know, Zelenskyy came in pretty hot. And if there's one thing you know if you're, you know, if you are trying to get something done with this administration, with this president, you know that he is very transactional. This is a very transactional administration. And the fact that he did come in and didn't bow down the way that we've seen other foreign leaders do so in order to make sure that they have good relations with the United States, you know, I think of Claudia, the president of Mexico, and the way that she's dealt so far with Trump's demands on tariffs and dealing with the cartels and the fentanyl coming into the United States, she kind of knows a little bit better how to play to Trump's tendencies. And I think that, you know, for Zelenskyy, this was a moment in which I don't know that he necessarily wanted the critical minerals deal to go through.

And so this was either calculated or a misstep on Zelenskyy's part to rile Trump up in this way.

BASH: And Adam Kinzinger, I want to read you a quote from the European Union foreign policy chief, quote, "Today it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It's up to us Europeans to take this challenge."

KINZINGER: Yes, look, let me be clear about something. No foreign leader should come and bow to the president of the United States. They lead a foreign country, a country that is sovereign, and especially a foreign leader that's in the middle of a war, frankly, standing in the gap, he has to for the morale of his people, stand strong for Ukraine. If he comes here and grovels to a toddler that needs to be groveled to, like, what is that sending -- what message is that sending to his troops in the trench? It's sending a message that, boy, our future really depends not on your ability to stay and fight, but on whether or not I can grovel to a toddler that wants to be -- that wants to be held and coddled.

And so what you see from Europe, they're correct. I mean, I'm sorry, I hate to say this, but the United States right now is not the good guys in this. We have back -- we have been clear, Donald Trump has said everything nice about Russia. I can't think of a single time he said something bad about Vladimir Putin. And it's very rare.

We were so shocked yesterday when he said that, oh, did I really say Zelenskyy was a dictator? This is the moment we're in, and this should be an embarrassment to all Americans.

BASH: Lauren, real quick, final word.

TOMLINSON: Listen, Biden fought with Zelenskyy as well. I think this is not something new, but just something that we saw on camera today. And I think the Ukraine situation is difficult and we want to support democracy, but ultimately, Zelenskyy's got to come to the table and negotiate with Trump in order to end this war.

BASH: OK, thank you both. I really appreciate it.

So, where does the United States go from here? Where does Ukraine go? Can this all be fixed? I will talk to a top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:32:44]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: In three days, I heard it from Putin. In three days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And we are back with more on our World Lead, the contentious Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York is with us now, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

And Congressman, I just want to tell you in advance that we are waiting for Donald Trump for some tape -- playback of the President speaking to reporters on this issue as he left the White House. But in the meantime, your quick reaction, and we'll get more on the other side of that tape.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D-NY): I've never been more embarrassed and ashamed of a President of the United States than what took place today. You know, he -- the President of the United States acted like he was a mob boss, and there was no real office to take it or leave it or anything of that nature. The Vice President, his inter -- interactions in there to try to, seems to me, to ratchet it up in that regards. The Secretary of State sitting on the sidelines, and I think he knows better.

TRUMP: Thank you very much. So, I just want to say we're going down to Florida. We have a big event tomorrow night, a big MAGA event, Make America Great Again. And it's setting records and otherwise I'd rather be right now at the White House. But we're doing the big event tomorrow night. We had some big news this week, as you know, because Apple is investing $500 billion. Think of that. And that's going to be a lot -- it's going to be a tremendous investment. I guess the biggest investment anybody's ever made in the country at one time. But they're going to be investing a lot of money, $500 billion. We have many other companies have just announced they're coming in.

A lot of it's because of how we're doing. We've done a great turnaround in a little more than 30 days, but the country's really doing well, really doing well. We're respected again all over the world. If you look, we had the Japanese Prime Minister. We had the Prime Minister yesterday of U.K. As you know, we had the Prime Minister of India. We have another 20 prime ministers and presidents wanting to come. And it's very good, very good feel. I think our country is really turned around. We had a meeting today, as you know, with President Zelenskyy. And I would say it didn't work out exactly great from his standpoint. I think he very much overplayed his hand. We're looking for peace.

[17:35:25]

We're not looking for somebody that's going to sign up a strong power and then not make peace because they feel emboldened and that's what I saw happening. I'm looking for peace. We're not looking to go into a 10-year war and play games. We want peace. And it was just my impression that if we do that, if we sign up, he's looking for something that I'm not looking for. He's looking to go on and fight, fight, fight. We're looking to end the death. Two thousand people died this week, soldiers, more than that.

But 2,000 approximately people died this week, young Ukrainians and Russians. And somebody would say, why do you care about Ukraine and Russian soldiers? I care about them. I care about everybody. And we're not doing that. Now, if we don't do anything, he's going to have to make peace. But he's dealing with a very weak set of cards. If we sign, he's dealing with very strong set of cards and then he doesn't want to make peace. So that's where we are. It's very simple. I'm not looking to get into anything protracted. I want immediate peace.

President Putin is going to want to make and he wants to make -- he wants to end it. And you saw what I saw today. This is a man that wants to get us signed up and keep fighting. And we're not doing that. Not for this country. So we're setting a lot of records. Economically, we're setting records. And I think every way we're setting records. One of the best is the right track, wrong track. You saw that. We're on the right track for the first time in over 27 years. People are impressed with that. The other thing is the feeling about our country.

The feeling is great. It's up 48 percent on feeling on business. And that's the record we've never had. There's never been a record where we've ever gone up that much in such a short period of time. So we're doing really well. And I guess some of you are coming with us. And if you are, I hope you can have a good flight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What does Zelenskyy (inaudible)?

TRUMP: He's got to say, I want to make peace. He doesn't have to stand there and say about Putin this, Putin that and all negative things. He's got to say, I want to make peace. I don't want to fight a war any longer. His people are dying. He doesn't have the cards, just so you understand that. OK, I can tell you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

TRUMP: I don't have to tell you that. Go ahead. I think -- I think you know the answer to that. What? Wait, wait, wait.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

TRUMP: Look, I don't trust or distrust anybody. I just want to get a deal done. And if the deal happens, good. But you can't embolden somebody that does not have the cards. And all of a sudden, that person says, oh, well, now I can keep fighting. I can -- we're not going to keep fighting. You're going to get the war done or let them go and see what happens. Let them fight it out.

I want anybody that's going to make peace, if he's capable of making peace, which he may or may not be. But I want somebody that's going to make peace. Again, he doesn't have the cards. When we sign up, he's got all of the cards. That doesn't mean he can fight. He's got to stop the fighting, stop the death. He's losing hundreds of thousands of soldiers. It's time to stop the death.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

TRUMP: Well, he says he wants it now. He wants to come back right now. But I can't do that. I can't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

TRUMP: They should have an immediate ceasefire. That was the other thing, he didn't want to do about ceasefire. A ceasefire could take place immediately. A contract, if you want to end the war, you sign up an agreement. That's going to take a period of time. It takes time. I want it to end immediately. And I think if you had a ceasefire, it would be a ceasefire, a real one that would end it. But he doesn't want to do that. That's fine. Do a better deal. I want it to end immediately. I want a ceasefire now.

He says, oh, I don't want a ceasefire. Well, all of a sudden, he's a big shot because he has the U.S. on his side. Either we're going to end it or let him fight it out. And if he fights it out, it's not going to be pretty, because without it -- without us, he doesn't win. Let me tell you.

[17:40:15]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you considering cutting military aid in Ukraine?

TRUMP: It doesn't matter what I'm concerned about. I'm just telling you, you saw what I saw today. That was not a man that wanted to make peace. And I'm only interested if he wants to end the bloodshed. Thank you very much everybody.

BASH: That was President Trump at the White House moments ago speaking about his contentious meeting with the Ukrainian president. We do want to continue our conversation with the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We will do so after we sneak in a quick break -- quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Moments ago at the White House, President Trump spoke about today's contentious Oval Meeting. He said the Ukrainian president overplayed his hand. I want to bring back Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York to continue our conversation. Thank you so much for being so patient. Sir, your reaction to what you heard just now from President Trump?

[17:45:16]

MEEKS: Well, President Trump does not want a peace deal. What clearly he wants is, he wants Ukraine to surrender to Russia. That's what he wants. It is clear. You know, he's undercut Ukraine at every step of the way by negotiating with Russia without Ukraine, and making deals and asking for no concessions from Russia. We know for a fact that he's done that before.

We've seen it happen in Afghanistan, where he brought the Taliban, and not the Afghan government, to negotiate anything, undercutting them as he's undercutting Ukraine right now. We know that President Putin was waiting for the national election, for our election to take place, praying for his friend Donald Trump to win. And that now, just this week, for example, when it's the third year of the aggressive attack by Putin into Ukraine, and on that Monday, Russia had an assault on Ukraine like never before. He said nothing about that.

So it is clear that the President of the United States is working on behalf of Russia. And that becomes evident and clear by the vote that we took in the U.N., where the United States voted with Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Something has gone amiss, and our allies see it, because he's turning his back on all of our allies, and supporting all of these dictatorial governments.

BASH: Sir, real quick, what the Republican chair of the committee on which you sit as ranking Democrat said in a -- in a tweet, he said, America won't be taken advantage of, and America won't be taken for granted. Thank you -- thank you President Trump and Vice President Vance, for standing up for America.

MEEKS: Yes. And America, if you go by that, will be isolated on by ourselves, on an island by ourselves. The whole idea of America is our -- our values and who we are, and working very closely with democratic countries around us, and close -- working closely together to prevent the taking of land, as Russia has gone forward.

You know, so much so that NATO is stronger today because Finland and Sweden was afraid of the aggression of Russia. So all of our allies and all of our friends in the democratic societies around the world clearly sees who the aggressor is, and it changes what has been a peaceful state in regards to not having one country going and invading another country and taking land. That is only happening with Russia, and it seems as though the President of the United States agrees with it.

In fact, he wants to emulate it. And you hear him talking about taking Greenland and making Canada the 51st state and doing what he's doing in Panama. So it is that two peas in a pod, it seems, if you want -- and Congress got to stand up, because we need to be the voice in Congress. I need my Republican colleagues who went with me to Ukraine time and time again, some recently telling that -- telling President Zelenskyy that they will be with him. Well, this is the time for you to be with him.

BASH: Congressman, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

MEEKS: Thank you for having me.

[17:48:42]

BASH: And up next, breaking news on another major story, what actor Gene Hackman's pacemaker is revealing about his death. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Breaking news now from New Mexico, where authorities have just shared new details on the investigation into the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife. I want to go right to CNN's Josh Campbell in Santa Fe. Josh, what are you learning?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we did just get a significant update a short time ago, Dana, from the Santa Fe County Sheriff, who is obviously running his part of the investigation, trying to determine what exactly happened at the residence of Gene Hackman and his wife. What we learned from the sheriff is that he's been working with the medical examiner. They learned that Hackman actually had a pacemaker. They were able to pull some information from that. Take a listen here to what we just heard from the sheriff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF ADAN MENDOZA, SANTA FE COUNTY, NEW MEXICO: Both individuals tested negative for carbon monoxide. An initial interrogation --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Wow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MENDOZA: This revealed that his last event was recorded on February 17th, 2025.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: So what we just learned there is that the pacemaker, its last known registered activity was well over a week ago. There was a question about how long Hackman and his wife Betsy may have been deceased at the residence. That is an important clue, the sheriff says, as they try to work back. He said essentially they're doing a reverse timeline, trying to find the last known time that someone either saw or spoke to the couple.

[17:54:59]

But now we're getting that computer technology coming from his actual pacemaker, which is giving them that important information. Now, there's still a lot that authorities are trying to determine. They are nowhere near getting the results from the final autopsy. They'd have sent records out looking for whether there was any type of carbon monoxide poisoning, looking for what the toxicology records might say because we know that Betsy, his wife, was found in a bathroom with pills scattered about. This is a tragedy. It remains a big mystery, Dana.

BASH: Yes. I mean, it's really amazing that it was a week, a week since the pacemaker was pinging, I guess is the best way to say it. Just so incredibly sad. Thank you so much for bringing us that update. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:02]

BASH: Please join me on Sunday for State of the Union. I'll be talking with House Speaker Mike Johnson as well as Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. That is Sunday morning at 9:00 and again at noon Eastern right here on CNN. And a major programming note for this show, starting on Monday, March 3rd, The Lead with Jake Tapper will air in a new time slot 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern every weekday right here on CNN. The news continues right now with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room.