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Hamas To Release Hostages; France To Host Additional Talks On Ukraine Conflict; Russian, U.S. Delegations Discuss Ending Ukraine Conflict; Brazil's Ex-president Bolsonaro Charged in Alleged Coup; Hamas to Release Four Deceased, Six Living Hostages This Week; Israel to Begin Negotiations on Gaza Deal's Second Phase; Whales Stranded on Australian Beach to Be Euthanized; Baby Seal Found Wandering on Snowy Connecticut Street. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 19, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:40]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead. Donald Trump takes aim squarely at Ukraine just hours after U.S. and Russian officials hold high-level face to face talks.

Hamas is set to release more Israeli hostages this weekend, but before that, a final journey home for some of the youngest victims.

And harrowing new video of the Toronto plane crash as investigators try to figure out what happened the miraculous stories of survival of all 80 people on board.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. France is getting ready to hold another meeting in the hours ahead on finding a path forward for Ukraine. This comes as the U.S. president falsely claimed that Ukraine started the conflict that's killed thousands of its own people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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)

CHURCH: There is, of course, no question that Russia was behind the invasion. Nearly three years ago, Russia and the U.S. did not include Ukraine in their high-level talks in the Saudi capital, European and NATO leaders were also left out. Afterwards, the U.S. Secretary of State said the two countries agreed on these four principles which include reestablishing their diplomatic missions in Moscow and Washington.

And appointing high-level teams to help work through the conflict in a way Marco Rubio called, "Enduring and acceptable to all the parties engaged." Russia's Foreign Minister weighed in with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): I think that the meeting was very useful. We didn't just listen to each other, we heard each other. And I think the American side certainly started to understand our side of the argument, which has been many times expounded by President Putin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: kraine, is not finding that meeting useful. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while visiting Turkey vowed that his country would not give in to Russia's ultimatums.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: President Trump's remarks and the fact that Russia was invited to the negotiating table are being seen as a major victory for the Kremlin. CNN's Alex Marquardt has our report from Riyadh.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: These latest comments from President Trump will go to the deepest fears that the Ukrainians and the Europeans have about how President Trump views this conflict, concerns that he may be playing into President Putin's hand at this critical moment. They came just hours after these historic talks between the U.S. and Russian delegations here at a palace in Riyadh, the U.S. side said that they were solid and positive.

The Russian side said that they were useful, both viewing this as a jumping off point to essentially reset the U.S.-Russia relationship after it being frozen for the past three years. Now, the U.S. delegation said that there were no specific positions or decisions that were made when it comes to Ukraine, that this is really the beginning of the process that could take some time. Here's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATE SECRETARY OF STATE: We have to understand that it's been 3-1/2 years since there's been any sort of regularized contact between the United States and Russia, and in some cases, between any of the participants in this conflict and Russia. So, the goal of today's meeting was to follow up on the phone call the President had a week ago and begin to establish those lines of communication. The work remains. Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Rubio also outlined four general agreements that were struck with the Russians. The first is that both sides will try to get their embassies in Washington and Moscow back up to normal levels, essentially normalizing diplomatic relations after many diplomats and spies have been kicked out of each embassy over the past few years.

[02:05:08]

The second point was specific to Ukraine, that both the Russians and the Americans would designate high level officials to be part of the negotiating team over an end to the Ukraine war. And then, the third and perhaps most interesting point looked past the

end of the Ukraine war, essentially a carrot, a potential prize for the Russians if this war Ukraine ends. The U.S. saying that there is the possibility of historic economic and investment opportunities.

There was also pushback from the National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz about the Ukrainians and Europeans not being here at these talks. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, UNITED STATES NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We are absolutely talking to both sides. The Secretary of State just met with President Zelenskyy days ago, along with the Vice President, seven Cabinet members in Europe at the same time really showing the importance of engaging our allies. I think we'll -- the facts will continue to push back on this notion that our allies haven't been consulted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: We know that the U.S.-Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is also going to be in Ukraine for the rest of the week for more conversations. And now President Zelensky has postponed a trip to Saudi Arabia he was due here on Wednesday, clearly not wanting the appearance of being involved in these negotiations, which Ukraine was not at the table for. There's also some confusion about a potential meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin.

We heard President Trump just say that he's expecting to do this before the end of the month, but earlier on Tuesday, we did hear the Russian delegation saying that that is not going to happen next week, which is the last week of the month and the U.S. side saying that so far, no date has been set for that meeting.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Riyadh. CHURCH: My next guest is the author of The New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion and America's Struggle to Defend the West. CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger joins us now from Berlin. Always good to have you with us.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be with you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, President Donald Trump is falsely claiming Ukraine started the war with Russia, parroting the Kremlin's propaganda and saying this after his administration's representatives met directly with Russian officials to find a path to peace in Ukraine, without any represent -- representation from Kyiv. So, how concerned should we all be about the leader of the free world repeating Russian talking points?

SANGER: Well, certainly, Rosemary, in that press conference, that remarkable press conference, the President turned history upside down here. We all know what happened three years ago. This week, the Russians invaded Ukraine. You can make arguments about whether or not the Ukrainians had done anything to provoke it, but the fact of the matter was, it was an illegal invasion into the country in an effort to try to decapitate the government and take it over.

That history is now being rewritten by President Trump and the interesting question to ask is, why? So, one possibility is that he thinks the only way to get to a real agreement with the Russians is to basically make it sound like, oh, all sides are guilty here, so we'll just sort out land borders and so forth. The second is that he is completely uninterested in what's the critical issue for the Ukrainians which is a security arrangement for Ukraine to make sure this war doesn't start up again.

Now there were references to that goal made by Secretary Rubio and others, but the fact of the matter is, we haven't seen so far any demand on the Russians about what they would have to do to bring about a peace agreement, only the demands on the Ukrainians.

CHURCH: Yes. Let's talk about that. Because all of this has critics concerned that Donald Trump will cave in to Russian demands and shape the peace agreement in Moscow's favor, leaving Ukraine out the cold. How big a risk is this?

SANGER: Well, I think it's a significant risk and that's one of the reasons that you have seen President Zelenskyy say that he would not abide by any agreement in which he does not participate. Now listen carefully to what the American officials are saying. They're saying that they are consulting Europe and they are consulting Ukraine, but that's a different thing from giving Europe or in particular, Ukraine a place at the table to make demands and decide whether or not the agreement would come through or not.

The Ukrainians know that they're quite vulnerable here, because if President Trump reached an agreement around them with Vladimir Putin.

[02:10:05] He could then go to the Ukrainians and say accepting the agreement is the price of continued American aid. And without that aid, President Zelenskyy himself has said Ukraine would lose the war.

CHURCH: And U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that these talks offer the U.S. unique economic opportunities with Russia. So, is this about finding a path to peace in Ukraine or establishing good relations with Russia in exchange for U.S. economic opportunities?

SANGER: Well, when you're dealing with Donald Trump, there's usually an economic opportunity element for the United States. And that's not all bad. The question is whether or not you are surrendering the other values here, the sanctity of borders, the preservation of some semblance of a democracy in Ukraine for those economic gains. It's somewhat remarkable that at a moment that the United States still has extensive economic sanctions on Russia, that the President is talking about unique economic opportunities ahead.

Maybe that's to incentivize the Russians to reach a deal that would be more favorable to Ukraine. But we don't know that, because we haven't heard any objectives from the White House that would indicate that they have things that the Russians would need to give up. Also asking -- the United States is also asking Europe to put the troops in place that would essentially enforce any kind of armistice or ceasefire without having a direct voice in the agreement itself.

CHURCH: And President Trump says he thinks he has the power to end the war, but if he makes no demands or little demands of Russia, what will this likely mean for Ukraine and President Zelenskyy going forward?

SANGER: Well, the first part of it, which is the land -- the territory, probably is somewhat unaffected. My guess is on the day any ceasefire goes into effect the Russians are essentially going to control the territory that they occupy at that time. And right now, that is 20 percent of the country plus or minus.

The harder part is, how do you make sure that Russia doesn't simply use the time to rebuild its forces, figure out the mistakes it made in 2022 and then reinvade to take the country or try to engineer an election. And you heard discussion of that yesterday as well in Ukraine that would bring in a Russian friendly leader, what Russia has tried many times before. It's interesting that President Trump talked about the need for elections in Ukraine and not the need for free elections in Russia.

CHURCH: Yes. Very interesting indeed. David Sanger joining us from Munich. Many thanks. Appreciate it.

SANGER: Thank you

CHURCH: U.S. President Donald Trump says he plans to impose new tariffs in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, he said tariffs of around 25 percent would apply to auto imports as well as semiconductor ships and pharmaceuticals shipped to the U.S. and could come as early as April 2nd. Now that would be on top of the 25 percent tariffs he recently enacted on all steel and aluminum imports and his 10 percent across board tariff on goods coming from China.

Economists and industry experts warn the steep new tariffs could have far reaching effects extending beyond the specific industries where taxis are levied and would likely hurt consumers with higher prices and drive up costs for U.S. businesses.

U.S. President Trump and Elon Musk sat down for a joint interview with Fox News where they Praised each other with help from host and Trump sycophant Sean Hannity. Now this comes as many Americans fear Musk and his DOGE team are gutting critical federal agencies without regard for safety or privacy. Mr. Trump is refusing to clarify what Elon Musk's official government role is.

On Tuesday, he said the billionaire could be called an employee, a consultant, "whatever you want." Confusing matters further, the Trump administration, in recent court filings, said Musk is not an employee or administrator of the DOGE team but a Trump adviser working as a special government employee.

[02:15:01]

In the Fox Interview, Musk says that he sees himself and DOGE as a presidential enforcer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TESLA MOTORS: One of the biggest functions of the DOGE team is just making sure that the presidential executive orders are actually carried out. And this is -- I just want to point out. This is a very important thing because the President is the elected representative of the people, so he's representing the will of the people. And if the bureaucracy is fighting the will of the people and preventing the president -- the president for implementing what the people want, then what we live in is a bureaucracy and not a democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The interview aired hours after a U.S. federal judge ruled against a lawsuit seeking to block Musk and DOGE from accessing federal data systems.

A fiery crash landing at Toronto's International Airport captured from multiple angles in new video.

Plus, passengers dangling from their seats in the overturned plane. We'll have details after short break. Stay with us.

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[02:20:30]

CHURCH: The runway where a plane crash landed at the Toronto International Airport is expected to remain closed through Thursday. The crash was caught on camera by the pilot of another plane nearby. The plane's landing gear appears to fail, causing the aircraft to topple onto its side, breaking off a wing before coming to a stop, belly up on the runway. Everyone on board survived.

Investigators are reviewing the scorched and overturned aircraft on the scene. Incredible footage there.

And CNN's Brian Todd has the latest now from Toronto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does seem to be slightly right wing low.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was no attempt to flare at all, which slows the plane down and will put your back wheels on the runway first.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Why was that? Was there some sort of what we call wind shear?

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

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

TODD (voice-over): Then the impact.

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

NELSON: When we hit, it was just a super hard light, like I hit the ground and the plane went sideways and I believe we skidded like on our side and then flipped over on our back. Where we ended up there was like a big fireball out this left side of the plane. We were being tossed around. I was just trying to hold on to everything at that point.

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

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

CARLSTON: Took my seat belt off, and as I took it off, crashed on to the ceiling, which had become the floor because we were upside down.

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

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

NELSON: There was another explosion, but luckily, the firefighters got out of there. TODD (voice-over): The fuselage doused in foam as passengers moved to safety.

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

TODD (voice-over): The injuries.

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

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

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

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

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

Brian Todd, CNN, Toronto.

CHURCH: Now to the latest on the health of Pope Francis, who has been in hospital since last week. The Vatican says a C.T. scan on Tuesday showed the 88-year-old pontiff has pneumonia in both of his lungs. More now from CNN's Christopher Lamb reporting from Rome.

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

Before he came to Rome's Gemelli Hospital, he was struggling to breathe. He couldn't speak for long periods of time.

[02:25:03]

The Vatican explained that he has a complex polymicrobial condition that requires different to breathe. He couldn't speak for long periods of time. The Vatican explained that he has a complex polymicrobial condition that requires different kinds of treatments. They have changed the treatment on two occasions so far. The key thing here for Francis is how he responds to the drug therapy and treatment that he is receiving at the hospital.

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

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.

CHURCH: Still to come, Hamas will release another group of hostages to Israel. Why this time is different and comes with a somber reminder of the lives lost in the conflict.

Plus, prosecutors in Brazil bring charges against former President Jair Bolsonaro. What he's accused of? That's just ahead.

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CHURCH: Brazil's former President, Jair Bolsonaro, has been charged in connection with an alleged coup to overthrow the 2022 election. That is according to court documents filed at the supreme court on Tuesday. Prosecutors alleged the plot began in 2021 with an effort to undermine public trust in electronic voting machines. They also claim Bolsonaro approved a plan to carry out the coup, which they say included the death of the newly-elected president.

Bolsonaro supporters stormed and vandalized three government buildings in Brazil's capital on January 8th, 2023. Prosecutors say this was the last attempt to overturn the election. 33 others also faced charges. Bolsonaro still denies any wrongdoing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAIR BOLSONARO, FORMER PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL: Look at my face. What do you think? I have no concerns whatsoever about the accusations, zero, zero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The charges undoubtedly will result in a high-profile trial if they're formally accepted. Hamas says it will release the dead bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday and six living hostages on Saturday. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum named all six of the living hostages, including two held in Gaza since 2014 and 2015, respectively. CNN's Nic Robertson has more details on their release as well as the return of the hostages who did not survive the conflict.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Thursday really is going to be a very, very painful day for most Israelis. Everyone remembers those searing images of Shiri Bibas trying to shield her young sons, Ariel four and Kfir nine-months-old, trying to shield them under a blanket as she was taken hostage back in 2023.

Late 2023, Hamas said they had been killed. Israel could not get definitive information about their wellbeing. Now, their bodies being returned Thursday back to Israel, being repatriated, and Israel is so aware of the pain of this that Shiri's husband, Yarden released just a couple of weeks ago, came back to discover that his wife and two sons are dead. It's a pain for the nation, but what Hamas appears to be doing here by releasing on Thursday the remains of four hostages, releasing six living hostages Saturday, and releasing four other hostages -- remains of hostages sometime next week, they're accelerating the completion of the release of all 33 hostages they agreed to under phase one.

Israel, on the other hand, several weeks late, is talking about entering phase two negotiations sometime this week. What we understand from Israeli government officials is what they'd actually like to do is really slow roll the phase two process, focus on extending phase one so that they can get more living hostages released. But Thursday is going to be that really tough day here in Israel when those, the youngest victims of Hamas, their bodies return to their home, a final journey.

Nic Roberson, CNN, Jerusalem.

CHURCH: "CNN Newsroom" continues after a short break.

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CHURCH: Wildlife officers have been scrambling to save more than 150 whales that were found stranded on an Australian beach. By Wednesday morning, only 90 whales were alive, and although rescuers tried to send them back out to sea, they returned to shore because of the strong wind and rough seas. Now, authorities have made the difficult decision to euthanize them. They say they want to minimize the false killer whales' suffering as they have become disoriented at -- distressed after many hours on the beach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. Hello. Hi.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: A baby seal found wandering alone on a street in New Haven, Connecticut has a new home for now. Police say a passerby saw the seal and contacted them, saying the animal might be injured. The seal was more than 300 meters from the nearest river.

[02:40:00]

A local aquarium later took in the pup for rehabilitation, where it's now recovering. Police say aquarium staff plan to release the seal somewhere along the eastern shoreline once it reaches a more ideal weight.

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with much more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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