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U.S. Senate Confirms Kash Patel as FBI Director, 51-49; Poll 52 Percent Say Trump's Taken Presidential Power Too Far; Vatican: Pope Reacting Well to Treatment and Doing Some Work. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 21, 2025 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. Here are some of today's top stories.

President Zelenskyy says his meeting with the U.S. envoy to Ukraine gives him hope. The meeting focused on the potential for peace in Ukraine. It involved discussions about security guarantees and economic promises between the U.S. and Ukraine.

Tension has been high between Ukraine and the U.S. following comments from U.S. President Donald Trump about Ukraine's future.

The Israeli military says it expects the hostage release plan for Saturday to move forward despite outrage over the last hostage handover. Israel says one of the four bodies turned over on Thursday is not Israeli mother Shiri Bibas, as Hamas has promised -- excuse me. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims it's a woman from Gaza.

Moments ago, the Hamas media office said Shiri Bibas's body was apparently mixed up with other remains under rubble after an Israeli airstrike.

Millions of Germans are expected to head to the polls on Monday to elect a new government. The candidates gathered on Thursday for a final debate. Right now the center-right party is expected to get the most votes, pushing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party into a battle for second place with the far-right AfD.

Now a federal judge says the Trump administration is violating a court order to resume foreign aid, but the judge says he will not hold the administration in contempt. During a Thursday hearing, the judge said that the White House could make individualized assessments about whether certain aid agreements can legally be paused. A group of non- profit organizations brought the case after the administration froze all foreign aid.

Yet another controversial approval for the Trump White House, the U.S. Senate has confirmed Kash Patel as the new FBI director. CNN's Mani Raju has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After weeks of battling and Democratic efforts to try to delay and derail Kash Patel from getting the job as the FBI director, ultimately Republicans prevailed, pushing him through on a mostly party-line vote. 51-49, the ultimate vote for Kash Patel to get this 10-year term leading the FBI. Remember, it is typically unusual for a new president to come in and name his own FBI director, but that's exactly what Donald Trump did.

[04:35:00]

He made clear he did not, like the previous FBI director Christopher Wray, who he himself installed to that post in the aftermath of firing James Comey back in 2017. But because of Donald Trump wanting to put someone who's a loyalist like Kash Patel in that position, Wray decided to step aside and that opened up a battle with Senate Democrats to try to get him into this position.

Now, ultimately, all Democrats did vote against him. 47 of them voted against him during that critical confirmation vote, but there were two Republican senators who sided with Democrats in voting to oppose Kash Patel for the position. Those two Republican senators, Senator Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski, who are frequent swing votes in the United States Senate and on the GOP side, this is what they said in part of their statement.

Senator Murkowski said, The FBI must be trusted as a federal agency that roots out crime and corruption, not focused on settling political scores. I have been disappointed that when he had the opportunity to push back on the administration's decision to force the FBI to provide a list of agents involved in the January 6th investigations and prosecutions, he failed to do so.

Similarly, Susan Collins said in her statement that she believes that: Mr. Patel's recent political profile undermines his ability to serve in the apolitical role of director of the FBI.

Now, notably, Senator Mitch McConnell, who announced on Thursday that he would not seek re-election in 2026, he voted in the affirmative. He voted to confirm Kash Patel. He put out a statement later saying that he hopes that Kash Patel can restore the integrity of the FBI.

And that had been the larger belief among Republicans as they pushed Patel through. They said that he is the right person at this time to overhaul this bureau that has lost credibility in the eyes of many Americans. And that's why they pushed him into this position.

But Donald Trump is well on his way to getting his full cabinet confirmed. Linda McMahon, who Trump has picked to be the next education secretary, she was approved by a key Senate committee along straight party lines on Thursday. Expect that vote to come to the floor as soon as next week.

And then watch for one vote in particular for Donald Trump's cabinet nominees, Lori Chavez-DeRemer. She is Donald Trump's pick to be the next secretary of labor. She is someone who has actually generated some Republican opposition. One senator, Rand Paul, is concerned about some of her pro-labor union positions of the past. She tried to walk that back in her Wednesday confirmation hearing.

Rand Paul told me on Thursday that he is still likely a no vote on her confirmation. And that is significant because when she gets a committee vote next week, she will need to keep all Republicans on her side if no Democrats vote for her. So if Rand Paul breaks ranks, that could potentially sink the nomination.

Unclear if that will happen. Unclear if Democrats will come to the rescue. But that's probably the one nomination that is now imperiled, is Donald Trump is seeing Republicans, for the most part, fall in line behind even his most controversial picks, with Kash Patel getting the job and others having their positions filled.

We'll see what happens in the coming days with these other outstanding picks.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: A federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to conduct mass firings of probationary federal workers and rejected a request from unions to block the plan indefinitely. Internal Revenue Service workers have been describing chaotic scenes, heightened security and charged emotions playing out across the country.

Meanwhile, sources are saying the new Secretary of Defense could soon move to fire more than half a dozen generals and admirals. It's part of an effort to purge the Department of Senior to be too close to the previous secretary of defense.

And finally, it appears NASA has struck a deal over the layoffs of recent hires. The space agency says job cuts will be performance-based or voluntary.

President Trump is one month into his new term, and a new CNN poll suggests his approval rating is higher than at any point during his first time in office. But it's not all good news. CNN's political director David Chalian has more.

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DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Our brand new CNN poll shows Donald Trump one month into his second term as president is upside down in terms of his job approval rating with the American people. 47 percent of Americans in this poll tell us they approve of the job that Donald Trump is doing. 52 percent, a slim majority, disapprove.

Now, that 47 percent is actually the highest number of approval we've ever had for Donald Trump throughout the entirety of his first four years in the White House. But it is still an approval rating that is upside down and on the low end of any of his modern day predecessors at the start of the new administration.

We also went inside and looked at some of what is keeping his numbers sort of tilting to the negative.

This number is probably the most important number in our poll. 62 percent of Americans in this poll say Donald Trump has not gone far enough to bring down the prices of everyday goods.

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That is a warning sign for the Trump White House because it was inflation and the sky high prices of everyday life that really propelled him back into the White House for a second term.

We also tested some other actions here and a slim majority, 52 percent, say using presidential power is something he's gone too far with. 51 percent say cutting federal programs is something he's gone too far with.

So some of the work you're seeing with cutting the agencies and getting rid of federal workers is not resonating broadly with the American people, though it may be popular with Donald Trump's base.

And on a slew of items, we asked the country, do you think it's a good thing what Donald Trump is doing on this or a bad thing? And look at this list.

Nothing tops higher than 37 percent in terms of being called a good thing. In fact, if you look at the column on the right hand side here, a bad thing, a majority, 53 percent say it's a bad thing to shut down government agencies. Fifty four percent say it's a bad thing to give Elon Musk the role he has in the Trump government.

And 58 percent, nearly six and 10, saying that the U.S. taking over Gaza is a bad thing that President Trump has proposed.

David Chalian, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Africa needs to manufacture more of its own medications, including prescription drugs and vaccines. Advances in technology are helping them to do that. CNN's Eleni Giokos has today's edition of Connecting Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CONNECTING AFRICA (voice-over): In the small cluster of warehouses in Cape Town, scientists are busy at work researching and developing new treatments for a range of diseases.

PETRO TERBLANCHE, CEO, AFRIGEN BIOLOGICS AND VACCINES: African is a biotech startup. We've been founded about eight years ago to localize the manufacturing of the TB vaccine for the African continent. So ingrained in the strategy and the fabric of African is the quest for local manufacturing. GIOKOS (voice-over): In 2021, the mRNA technology transfer hub was established here. Its goal to develop, produce and supply a range of new vaccines for the continent.

HAPILOE MARANYANE, SENIOR SCIENTIST, AFRIGEN BIOLOGICS AND VACCINE: It was set up here in South Africa, and the plan was to really disperse the knowledge and the know-how for making mRNA vaccines to aid in our ability to respond to pandemics.

GIOKOS (voice-over): Vaccines to fight diseases have been around for over two centuries, with a smallpox vaccine developed in 1796. More than 200 years later, in 2020, during the COVID pandemic, scientists developed a new type of vaccine, mRNA or messenger RNA.

CARYN FENNER, MRNA HUB EXECUTIVE, AFRIGEN BIOLOGICS AND VACCINES: It does what its name says, messenger. Most people know COVID-19 and we say spike protein with mRNA and the COVID-19 vaccine. We gave the message that says make the spike protein of the coronavirus.

And so it trains your body how to -- what to do when it sees a spike protein, and then when you get exposed to it, your body will naturally be able to respond.

GIOKOS (voice-over): Afrigen scientists are conducting research that should lead to the manufacture of a range of vaccines to treat diseases that are prevalent across the continent.

TERBLANCHE: We have prioritized specific disease targets. HIV, it's 30 years, we still don't have a vaccine, it's a priority, a difficult one. Tuberculosis, again, there is a vaccine now in development from GlaxoSmithKline, but we need vaccines for TB.

GIOKOS (voice-over): Important research that could lead to improved healthcare across the continent.

[04:45:00]

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The Vatican says the slight improvement in Pope Francis' condition indicates he is reacting positively to his treatment for pneumonia, and we learned that he had another peaceful night, got up and ate breakfast as well. CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau live for us in Rome.

He is up. That's positive news, but you're not getting much more.

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: No, we're just being sort of drip- fed incremental bits of information, basically, but it's always positive. It's always he had a good night. He got up. He had breakfast.

We also understood from last night's bulletin, the medical bulletins that come in the evening are a little bit more detailed. He doesn't have a fever. He's responding well to the therapy, and that his heart is in good shape, that he's not having any difficulty of that nature. So, you know, what we're understanding is that he's working with his

collaborators who are there in his hospital room with him. He's in a suite of rooms up there, but his particular room on the 10th floor of the hospital behind me, and that he's making decisions. He's signing off on things.

He had a visitor outside of the church circle with the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, two days ago, and, you know, we're just waiting for more information. We don't know if he's going to be delivering the Sunday Angelus, for example. That's something that he may do from inside his hospital room, something that could be televised.

One thing I think important to note, though, we haven't seen any images of him at all since he's been in the hospital. He was admitted one week ago today -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, and in terms of how the public is reacting here, when I talk about his public, it's all over the world, isn't it? People do speculate social media is full of conspiracy theory.

[04:50:00]

How are the authorities there managing that?

NADEAU: Well, you know, they're basically saying stick to the bulletin. You know, whatever the information is that the Vatican press office gives you is as far as they'll go. So any of these sorts of rumors about him resigning or anything like that, you know, that's absolutely kind of off the table when it comes to the Vatican spokesperson and the information that we're getting that way.

One thing that's probably really important to note, though, is next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. That begins a very important Lenten season that leads up to Easter. That is traditionally a very busy time for the Pope.

And, you know, it's very -- we don't know if he'll be out of the hospital by then, but it would seem that since we haven't even seen a photo of him yet, he may still be in hospital another period of a short period of time.

But all, you know, we've got hundreds and eventually thousands of visitors coming to Rome this year for the Holy Jubilee. So those coming at Easter time are, you know, hardcore pilgrims, let's say. They are here to see the Pope, to take part in these Jubilee celebrations, to be part of the -- to take part in this holy year. And so his absence will be felt incredibly by those people who have made plans and far, you know, far in advance to come to Rome during this particular time of the year to take part in these celebrations that they had hoped the Pope would be leading -- Max.

FOSTER: Yes, I mean, he does obviously, you know, he's a head of state as much as anything, isn't he? He has profound responsibilities in the Vatican and internationally as well. What is the process for if he has to have an operation or if he's incapacitated for some period of time? NADEAU: Well, you know, the Vatican is a fine oiled machine. There are -- there's a plan B, a plan C, and then there's a, you know, a plan beyond that.

So if he's incapacitated in any way, there are people who will take care of the decisions to be made, that lead the prayer services, that take care of those Jubilee masses, who will take care of the, you know, the Ash Wednesday celebrations next week. That's all in place. Those types of things are in place.

It's just sort of, you know, looking ahead at will he be able to travel if he recovers fully from this? How busy can his schedule be? You know, he's 88 years old. He has mobility issues. This pneumonia in both lungs has been a very difficult setback for him -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Barbie, thank you so much.

Luigi Mangione will appear in court in the hours ahead to face murder and terror charges in his New York case. He's accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges but has yet to enter a plea on federal murder charges.

The first degree murder charge alleges he killed the executive in furtherance of an act of terrorism. That's defined as an intent to intimidate or coerce the civilian population or a government unit.

The Manhattan District Attorney says Mangione faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. We'll be back in a moment.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The political tension between Canada and the United States hit the ice on Thursday, and Canada won. Canada's Conor McDavid scored the game in overtime to win the first ever Four Nations Cup. Canada defeated the U.S. 3-2.

The tournament added spark to the political tension between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over tariff threats. Trump has also talked about making Canada America's 51st state.

Now, after the game, Trudeau posted this on social media. You can't take our country, and you can't take our game.

In the NBA, San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama is expected to miss the rest of the NBA season with a shoulder injury. The team announced on Thursday the 21-year old has been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a form of blood clot in his right shoulder.

The condition was discovered when the young Frenchman returned to San Antonio following the All-Star game in San Francisco. The reigning Rookie of the Year was having another impressive season and was considered a frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year prior to this injury.

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano has erupted again, shooting lava more than 120 meters, or 400 feet, into the air on Thursday. This is the 10th eruption since late December, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Those eruptions can last anywhere from 13 hours to eight days, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory status report. Officials say it's not a major threat to people outside the volcano's national park on the Big Island of Hawaii but could impact air travel in the region.

Another one of the world's most active volcanoes is drawing thousands of curious sightseers. Sicily's Mount Etna has experienced spectacular lava sprays for more than a week, but officials are now warning that the sudden influx of tourists has become a safety risk of its own. They are blocking rescue workers from doing their jobs.

On Monday, eight people who were hiking up the mountain without a guide got lost for several hours before rescuers were able to reach them.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up after the break.