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CNN International: Trump Hosting Macron At The White House; Will Meet Next Hour; Zelenskyy Hopes For Continued U.S. Support For Ukraine And Calls For U.S.-Europe Unity During Roundtable Discussion; Ukraine Marks Three Years Since Russia's Full-Scale Invasion. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired February 24, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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ISA SOARES, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Isa Soares in London.

And ahead right here on CNN Newsroom, President Trump hosting French President Macron at the White House today amid growing friction between U.S. and Europe. We have the very latest for you. Plus, after three years of war, questions mount about Ukraine's future and the security of an entire continent. We are live in Kyiv with the very latest. And Pope Francis in a critical condition and asking for prayers after a worrying new diagnosis by his medical team.

A very warm welcome everyone. In the next hour, U.S. President Donald Trump will officially welcome the first European leader of his second term to the White House. You're looking at images there from the White House. French President Emmanuel Macron, as you see there, arriving earlier and he took part in a call with Mr. Trump and G7 leaders to mark the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Macron described the conversation as perfect. The U.S. and French presidents are set to hold talks in just a little over an hour from now, and the extent of support for Ukraine, of course, as you would imagine, is expected to be a key topic.

Mr. Macron says he will warn his U.S. counterpart, quote, "not to be weak in the face of Russian leader Vladimir Putin." And his visit comes at a moment of deep uncertainty over the future of U.S.- Transatlantic ties. Three years today, after Russia's unprovoked aggression on its democratic neighbor, marked the largest military attack on Europe since World War II. The Ukrainian President is hailing the absolute heroism, his words, of his country, and he said he hopes the year ahead brings real, lasting peace. As you can see there, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said he is ready to resign as leader if it will bring a piece to Ukraine or he says membership in NATO. And just a short time ago, the Ukrainian President told a summit of European leaders in Kyiv that he hopes for continued U.S. support of Ukraine.

Let's get more context on all of these angles that we are following. Nick Paton Walsh is live for us in Kyiv, and CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House.

Kevin, let me go to you first, because we have heard from Macron just in the last few minutes, said he had a very good, very friendly conversation alongside President Trump. Perfect, as he said. What else do we know from that call?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I think it's significant what we're seeing President Macron do here, which is spend almost two and a half hours here at the White House. This morning, he is coming back in an hour to spend several more hours with President Trump, and it gives you some insight into the strategy he is employing, as he meets with President Trump, really trying to deploy what he views as a unique personal relationship with the President, that he has known now for quite some time, to try and make the case for continued American assistance to Ukraine, continued American security guarantees in Europe.

Now, of course, he is coming at a moment when transatlantic ties seem to have been at their worst level in real -- really decades. You saw, before he came here, Macron assembled European leaders at the Elysee for these series of emergency summits, and I think what he is trying to do is come to the President with something of a united voice, to try and voice some collective European opinions about how the war in Ukraine should proceed and how it should end, but also the necessity of bringing Ukraine's interest to the table and bringing Europe's interest to the table, as President Putin -- President Trump prepares to meet with Vladimir Putin.

Now, their first order of business was this G7 virtual call that began early this morning here in Washington. That is a virtual summit that had some strains as its backdrop. Heading into this meeting, the U.S. side had resisted the inclusion of the words Russian aggression in a final G7 communique, which is very different than how those have proceeded over the last three years. It's not necessarily clear yet how exactly that resolved itself.

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Also, Trump has said that he wants Russia to rejoin the G7 after it was ejected from the G8 in 2014. This isn't actually an argument that Macron and Trump have had previously at the 2019 G7 summit in Biarritz that Macron was hosting. Back then, his argument was essentially that Putin cannot be trusted to rejoin this group of developed nations. And I think the argument he is making today is that Trump was dealing with back when he was first in office is different than the Putin who is sitting in the Kremlin today. He has invaded Ukraine. He has sort of become a more authoritarian leader. This is an argument that Macron actually made to Trump when they met at the Elysee Palace back in December when Trump was in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame. So, there are some significant issues for these men to discuss.

One thing that you see Macron doing is trying to arrange with his European counterpart sort of a united front, and to that end, he did coordinate with the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is also due in Washington later this week. SOARES: Yeah. It will be interesting to see what he says and how Trump

reacts, President Trump reacts. That comment from him not to be weak in the face of President Putin.

Let me go to Nick Paton Walsh, who is in Kyiv for us. And Nick, this visit comes as we wait for this Ukraine-U.S. minerals deal. You and I were speaking about this last week. And from what I remember, Zelenskyy had some kind of reservations about this. Where are we on that deal now?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, we've gone from yesterday hearing President Zelenskyy talk about how so much of the deal was unacceptable initially, particularly the half trillion dollar figure that appears to have been put in there by the Trump administration, the total value they wanted to see themselves remunerated. Zelenskyy was clear that these weren't debts the Ukraine had to pay, that the money had been given as grants, and pushed back on the sheer volume of cash that seems to have been requested by the White House and earlier drafts of this deal.

Today, instead, we're hearing from a Ukrainian source familiar with the negotiations that a finalized draft has been presented to the Americans by the Ukrainians, and they're waiting basically for the American response. Now, the source went on to say, it sounds like much of the thorniest stuff in that isn't really in the initial document. It's been described as a framework for Ukrainian reconstruction.

Some of the trickier parts about the numbers in which natural resources of Ukraine will pay for the U.S. to be remunerated, well, they seem to be being left to later technical agreements, further discussions down the line, and also to the source said that the Americans very strongly resisted, the idea of security guarantees being put into this initial document. That's something that's, of course, vital for Ukraine, because they don't want to give up natural resource wealth to repay the Americans if the relationship between them anyway is frozen or coming to an end. They need to see something in the future coming from that.

So, it does appear that they are going to have some sort of moment, potentially, of initial resolution. According to this Ukrainian source, we haven't heard the full American readout. The Americans have been very strident in their negotiating position as well, and framed this really as a deal in which Ukraine gets to incentivize the United States to protect it through making it dependent and interested in Ukraine's mineral wealth. But, this has really overshadowed entirely so much of the discussion, as indeed has the acrimonious free fall, if you like, in the relationship between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy.

We understand from the Ukrainian source that the security guarantee part of this is something they hope the two men might be able to dress together if indeed there is, at some point down the line, a signing ceremony around the document in which their inner circles get to meet somewhere. So, aspirations, I think, for the Ukrainians that this obviously turns into much more down the line, but certainly so far, it appears the toughest stuff may be being discussed later, and both sides get to have some kind of initial suggestion that they've got somewhere.

But, as I say, things could still change. We've gone back and forth. That's the nature of negotiations. And still, Zelenskyy today here with 13 world leaders, many of whom took days to travel in by train to Kyiv, air raid sirens going off while they were here to show solidarity, but not at the table. Senior figures on Trump administration, many have been here in the past weeks, but that change in America's role here very much the disrupter in the background throughout all this expression of unity.

SOARES: Nick Paton Walsh for us in Kyiv. Thanks very much. And our thanks as well to Kevin Liptak, who was in Washington there.

Let's get more on this. Sebastien Maillard is Special Advisor to Jacques Delors Institute and he is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House where he works on the Europe program. He joins me now. Welcome to the show. We just heard from our correspondent in the White House. We also heard from Nick Paton Walsh, who is in Kyiv, so much focus, of course, on Ukraine, and President Macron, who we heard in last few minutes saying, he had a very good, very friendly conversation. They seem to have strong relations between both of them from his first term. What do we expect that Macron want to see, or what he will say to President Trump here, because he has some very strong words going ahead to this?

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SEBASTIEN MAILLARD, SPECIAL ADVISOR, JACQUES DELORS INSTITUTE: Yes, he did have strong words before his journey last week on social media. I think he is on a wait a minute mission kind of thing. These negotiations are going too quickly for us and the Europeans are out. So, it's a way for him to squeeze in the conversation between Russia and Washington and saying we must be there. He may adopt a tough tone, I mean, be diplomatic, but he can argue that he is among the very few leaders today in a position where he had already dealt with Trump in the previous term.

SOARES: Yeah.

MAILLARD: And so, he -- I think he wants to touch on his ego --

SOARES: Yeah.

MAILLARD: -- saying, look, if you deal with Putin in the way you're saying, just by giving him all the he wants, I mean, what kind of a leader are you? And I think he wants to try to touch on that sensitive chord of him.

SOARES: I mean, that's not -- I mean, he said, to tell Trump not to be weak in the face of Putin. That --

MAILLARD: Which is --

SOARES: -- but that to President Trump, if he needs the ego being massaged, that goes against everything that President Trump want to hear -- MAILLARD: Well --

SOARES: -- because that suggests that he is weak.

MAILLARD: -- well, it's a bit touching his own sense of self pride. I mean, you will look weak if you go on that route. So, I think the purpose of his trip, and perhaps of Starmer, the follow-up, is to try to buy time first, because things are going too quickly for Europeans --

SOARES: Yeah.

MAILLARD: -- and try to buy time in order for Trump perhaps to think twice before letting in and not look weak --

SOARES: Yeah.

MAILLARD: -- towards China, towards others, because if he gives in, for instance, ruling out immediately, even before the negotiations have started --

SOARES: Yeah.

MAILLARD: -- that Ukraine will never join NATO, you look weak in that position. So, to touch the pride of Trump by saying, you deserve better than what you are doing now.

SOARES: But, I wonder. I mean, the argument would be, Sebastien, that Europe has had three years. Europe has had three years. I mean, last week they had two emergency summits. They're still talking. They're agreeing they need to be quicker, putting arms, creating arms, but this is the conversation that we've been hearing for three years, and nothing has come of it. So --

MAILLARD: I won't say that nothing have come of it.

SOARES: Well, in the sense of no peace negotiation, right? I'm saying --

MAILLARD: Oh yeah.

SOARES: -- that they all agree they need to be producing faster weapons, but still no agreement as of last week of boots on the ground in terms of a peace accord. But, what does Europe want to see from the United States? What would be -- what -- can it -- what kind of carrot can it give the United States here in these negotiations?

MAILLARD: Well, the carrots that and perhaps the offer that, in coordination with the UK, that France and with through Macron will deliver today, is saying that if the U.S. is ready to stand at the back stop --

SOARES: Stay as a back stop. Yeah.

MAILLARD: -- we can perhaps build up a European peace corps. We can be ready for this and get ready for this, and we are increasing our spending on defense. We are have -- we agree unanimously on new sanctions today, as they have -- (inaudible) 27 have done. So, you need us because we're not going to lose those sanctions right away. We have frozen assets we can also still use. So, you need us, and we -- you -- we can build together a peace corps if you back us. We're just asking for you to back us. I think that's the kind of --

SOARES: What would be the red lines then for Europe, who clearly, as we saw, as we heard that from Nick, 13 world leaders in Kyiv today standing alongside Ukraine, very strong message being portrayed right around the world? They'll stand with Ukraine throughout, which is what we heard from the previous administration. So, what would be the red line? Is NATO membership for Ukraine, does that have to be on the table? How far is Europe prepared to go?

MAILLARD: The red line is giving away things to Putin with no concession, and if -- that's not a negotiation. And the red line also is not to lift the sanctions against anything. If -- as Trump has suggested, if Trump -- if Putin was to join back G7, if it was to occupy the territories of Ukraine without any concession, that's a red line, not only for Ukraine, but for Europeans. And also, the other red line is that if we are going to have to support the border of Ukraine on our own --

SOARES: Yeah.

MAILLARD: -- then don't expect us to buy any weapons from you. I mean, that also must be a deal. And so, we -- if you want a ceasefire, a stable ceasefire, and you want to be a peacemaker, then we need also some security guarantees from the U.S. along with ourselves, because otherwise we don't -- get won't get anywhere, and you don't want to have Putin at this level with you, because --

SOARES: Yeah.

MAILLARD: -- otherwise you're just too quick.

SOARES: This transactional element probably resonate, probably makes sense to him. We shall see what comes out of that meeting, of that press conference a bit later.

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We know that they've had, over the years, kind of amicable relationships.

MAILLARD: And I think he enjoyed also being -- not being seen as a lame duck as last year, but --

SOARES: Yeah.

MAILLARD: -- have now been being speaking in the name of the Europeans.

SOARES: Yes, indeed. Sebastien, really appreciate coming on.

MAILLARD: Thank you. SOARES: Thank you very much indeed, Sebastien Maillard there with that analysis.

Now, we've heard stunning words from the man expected to be Germany's next chancellor. Friedrich Merz says Europe must seek to achieve independence from the United States, and he says U.S. President Donald Trump's comments last week showed his administration is, quote, "largely indifferent to the fate of Europe".

Preliminary results show Merz's centralized CDU and his sister party came out on top in Sunday's elections. Merz says he wants to form a coalition government with his long-term rival, the Social Democrats, by pairing up with the SPD, this far-right Alternative for Germany, which came in second in the election.

Now, Frederik Pleitgen is in Berlin. He joins us now. So, Fred, just take a step back and just, for our viewers catching up right now, in terms of what -- it wasn't a surprise. You and I were talking about Merz for weeks, right? Not a surprise. What was the surprise is how close the AfD did? How well, I suppose I should say, they did?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, that was one of the maybe not necessarily a surprise, but they certainly did solidify their position here. And I do believe that for them, it was a very good election result. As far as Friedrich Merz is concerned, it certainly wasn't a surprise that he won the election. But, the big nail-biter that we had going on last night as the votes were being counted is what coalition he might be able to form. And sort of as the chips were falling and as things became more clear, it certainly does appear as though right now he is going to be able to form a coalition with one party, that only party being the Social Democrats, which of course, have Olaf Scholz as the chancellor right now.

But, certainly for Germany, it appears as though it is going to be possible to have a two-party coalition government, which certainly appears to be a lot more stable than what Germany had in the last term. So, as far as that is concerned, there are certainly a lot of people here in Berlin who right now are breathing a sigh of relief at that, and Friedrich Merz at that press conference, when he was also talking about transatlantic relations, he did say that he believes he needs to get going as fast as possible to try and form a government to become the chancellor as fast as possible to tackle those issues, migration, of course, being one of them, the German economy, which has been stuttering for a very long time, but then also relations with the Trump administration. And I asked Merz about that, how he wants to define those and here is what he said.

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PLEITGEN: You spoke about some of the concerns that you have about the Trump administration, sir. How do you want to position Germany as far as the United States is concerned, to prevent confrontations with the Trump administration, for Germany, for Europe, and how concerned are you about Donald Trump's efforts at rebuilding relations with Russia to the detriment of both Europe and Ukraine? FRIEDRICH MERZ, LEADER, CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC UNION (Interpreted): I am

quite concerned about what we hear from Washington, especially over recent days, but I personally don't believe that what we heard were the last words. I also heard very clearly different voices from the Congress. Many Americans see the view of their own government quite critically. But, it is important for me that we have a common attitude on the European side of the Atlantic on the topics that need to be tackled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So, first and foremost, going for a European position. One of the things that Merz said is, he said, for instance, Eastern European countries, or Central European countries like Poland and the Baltic countries, very important, he said, to get their opinion on where they stand, especially on European security, and also, of course, have a common commitment with them as well. So, that definitely one of the big things that he says he wants to tackle, as far as European security is concerned.

But also reading between the lines, and I spoke to a lot of people in the Christian Democratic Union yesterday that won the election, and they did say they are, of course, going to try and mend ties with the Trump administration, certainly try to get that -- those relations between Germany and the United States on a solid footing, if you will, Isa.

SOARES: Yeah. I'm not sure whether you heard my conversation just beforehand, Fred, with Sebastien Maillard, of course, looking ahead to President Macron being at the White House and clearly feeling -- he is feeling clearly that he is there as representing Europe, and what we've heard from Merz today in the sense that he wants to strengthen Europe. He wants to achieve independence from the United States. What does he say in what relates, Fred, to Ukraine, and what Europe must do to support Ukraine?

PLEITGEN: Well, one of the interesting things that we got from that press conference, actually, is that, Friedrich Merz that he actually spoke to Emmanuel Macron as Macron was on the plane on the way to Washington, and obviously Macron congratulating Merz on winning the election here in Germany. But, he also said, of course, it's very important that Emmanuel Macron is going there, and also he is going there together with Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom.

And so, there he says, once again, that there has to be a common position as far as that is concerned. But, he also said that there could be no mistake that Europe needs to keep supporting Ukraine. Merz has been a big supporter of the Ukrainians. He has called for the Germans to deliver weapons, for instance, cruise missiles that can hit further than some of the ones that the Ukrainians have right now.

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And that, of course, is also one of the big factors for the Christian Democratic Union why they say they could not have a coalition with the AfD, with the far-right AfD, which, of course, is favored by Elon Musk. And he says, look on the topic of Ukraine, the AFD says that they do not want Germany to support Ukraine. They are very close to Russia as well. And I actually also caught up with the leader of the AfD, Alice Weidel, and talked to her and about the AfD's relations with Musk and with the Trump administration. Here is what she had to say.

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ALICE WEIDEL, LEADER OF THE ALTERNATIVE FOR GERMANY PARTY: Fire walls are undemocratic, and there should be no fire walls at all.

PLEITGEN: Elon Musk saying congratulations to you. How would you like to work together with the Trump Administration?

WEIDEL: To be a very good partner and to have serious and proper conversation with our U.S. -- American partner, and for us, very good international relationships are a pre-condition for a good international dialog.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So, there you have Alice Weidel speaking to me earlier today, and definitely the relations of Germany with the Trump administration, one of the big topics here in Berlin is, of course, one of the biggest exporting nations in the world, it is something that they're looking at very, very closely, and it certainly is a lot of concern on the ground here in Berlin, Isa.

SOARES: Yeah, on the ground and across Europe, no doubt.

Fred Pleitgen for us there in Berlin this hour. Good to see you, Fred. Thank you very much.

And up next right here on CNN Newsroom, USAID has nearly shot Donald Trump and Elon Musk, get their wish, as they successfully lay off almost everyone at the foreign aid agency. And as more and more employees leave the federal government, are classified secrets walking out the door with them? The security risk from all these cutbacks in just a moment. You are watching CNN.

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SOARES: While Elon Musk and Donald Trump's effort to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development is pretty much complete, on Sunday, about 2,000 USAID employees were given notices that they had been laid off. Most of the remaining full-time staff were placed on administrative leave. The move effectively ends the work of the U.S. agency tasked with providing humanitarian assistance really on all corners of the planet. A judge on Friday lifted a temporary injunction that had blocked the government from laying off the USAID workers.

Separately, some government agencies are pushing back on Musk's efforts to slash their workforce. The FBI, the State Department and the Department of Defense are among a handful of U.S. agencies who told employees not to respond to a threatening email that Musk apparently ordered. The Office of Personnel Management sent a mass email to federal employees just over the weekend, demanding they respond with five bullet points detailing what they did on the job just last week. The email doesn't mention any consequences, but a tweet from Elon Musk does.

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As you can see, the man heading the Trump administration's government of -- Department of Government Efficiency, pardon me, said, if workers don't respond in time, it will be considered their resignation.

Let's get more on these agencies, really, and what they're doing to try and push back on Elon Musk. The Pentagon is one of them, and that's where CNN's International Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand is today. So, Natasha, there seems to be a lot of confusion still over this email. Just talk us through which departments that -- what they're telling, their workers, and how they're going to respond to this.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far, we've seen a number of agencies push back on this order from the Office of Personnel and Management to provide a list of five bullet points of what employees did last week, including the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, HHS. All of these departments saying, look, we're going to actually wait and see what exactly OPM wants here and then issue guidance on just how we're going to respond.

But, a lot of agencies are also a bit affronted by the idea that OPM and Elon Musk are going to be determining who is employed at these different departments. In fact, the Department of Defense put out a very stark statement over the weekend in an email to all federal employees, telling them to pause on responding to this email. They said, quote, "The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures. When and if required, the Department will coordinate responses to this email you have received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled, 'What did you do last week?'"

And in one of the more stark responses that we have seen to this OPM email, Kash Patel, who is the Director of the FBI, who is an extreme MAGA loyalist, who is very much inside Donald Trump's inner circle, he even told his employees over the weekend not to respond to this email from OPM. So, you're seeing, really, from all corners of the federal government here, a lot of hesitancy about just what kind of risks this might put their employees at if they do respond, and whether there actually is any tangible threat here that they are going to be fired if they don't respond.

We should note that just this morning, the Transportation Department actually told its employees to go ahead and respond to this email. So, you also are seeing some conflicting advice here across the federal government. But, I can tell you that defense officials, over the weekend, they were reaching out to me, and they were scrambling, saying that this really upended their whole weekend trying to figure out what kind of guidance to give to Department of Defense employees. And so far, we're seeing -- they're telling people to pause on responding, but ultimately, by the end of the day here, there remains to be seen whether that guidance is going to change.

SOARES: Yeah. I can see why getting that email will leave you confused, right? It just leaves a lot to deal with right there.

Natasha, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Well, there is growing concern in U.S. intelligence community that Elon Musk's gutting of the government is creating a dangerous security risk. A source tells CNN, the CIA is conducting a formal review to assess really any damage over an email that was sent to the White House on an unclassified server and that contained the first name and last initial of some CIA workers, including those preparing to work undercover. Officials are also worried that the access that Elon Musk's DOGE has gotten to the federal payment system could reveal classified CIA payments. And then there are the widespread layoffs happening across the federal government. Experts say disgruntled workers about to being laid off present an enhanced security risk.

Covering these trends for us is Katie Bo Lillis, who is tracking this. So, Katie, just tell us at this stage of what you're learning about these concerns over the exposing -- potential exposing of CIA secrets.

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Yeah. So, earlier this month, the CIA sent a highly unusual email to the White House. It was trying to be responsive to one of President Trump's executive orders about downsizing the federal government, and it sent over a list of probationary employees, listed by first name and last initial, identifying them for potential cuts. The problem was that they sent this email over an unclassified network, potentially exposing the list to foreign government hackers. Current and former officials told us that this risked not only making it impossible to send some individual officers into undercover roles, it also risked exposing the jobs themselves as CIA jobs.

In a lot of cases, CIA jobs are disguised publicly as State Department roles in foreign embassies. So, if a foreign government was able to learn that a given role was actually a CIA job, they might be able to reconstruct who had met with past occupants of that role. So, it risked exposing CIA assets and maybe even endangering them, according to our sources.

So, now what we've learned is that the CIA is conducting a formal damage assessment to determine the potential harm that could take place from a counterintelligence perspective, if this information were to be hacked or exposed in any way.

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This really underscores the depth of concern for at least some current CIA officials that Trump's kind of move fast and break stuff approach to cutting the U.S. government might be creating some unique counterintelligence risks when applied to the CIA specifically.

SOARES: Yeah, and expand on that, Katie Bo Lillis. Just what other concerns are there beyond this email? LILLIS: Yeah. So, some officers on the agency's seventh floor are also quietly discussing how mass firings and the buyouts that have already been offered to staff risk creating a group of disgruntled former employees who might be motivated to take what they know to a foreign intelligence service. Remember, unlike most other fired federal employees, anyone fired by the CIA has had access to classified information about the agency's operations and its trade craft. One U.S. official said to me very bluntly, you take whatever number of employees who are going to get cut loose and they have knowledge of sensitive programs. That, by definition, is an insider risk. You're just rolling the dice that these folks are going to honor their secrecy agreement and not volunteer to a hostile intelligence service.

This isn't a new concern. It's something the CIA thinks about any time it fires somebody. This was something agency leaders worried about when a top aide to the agency's deputy director was indicted for fraud in 2009 after putting personal expenses on an agency credit card and he was fired. But, ultimately, there is not much that the CIA can do in these cases to legally monitor former employees or to mitigate that risk.

SOARES: I know you will stay across this story for us. Katie Bo, I really appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Now, Catholics around the world are praying for Pope Francis' recovery. We'll have an update on his condition, next.

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SOARES: Welcome back everyone. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Isa Soares right here in London. Here are some of the international headlines we are watching for you today.

In less than an hour from now, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House, and it comes on the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The French President says he will tell Mr. Trump not to be weak in the face of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Mr. Macron was at the White House earlier, taking part in the call with Mr. Trump and other G7 leaders.

Ukraine's President, meanwhile, is praising his country's absolute heroism, as it heads into its fourth year of war. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he hopes the year ahead brings a real as well as lasting peace, and he says he is ready to resign if it will bring peace to Ukraine or membership in NATO.

[11:35:00]

During a summit with European leaders in Kyiv earlier, the Ukrainian President also said he hopes the U.S. continues its support for Ukraine and he called for U.S.-European Union -- Unity, pardon me.

Mainstream conservatives are set to take the reins of government in Germany after elections on Sunday. The center-right Christian Democratic Union and its sister party came out on top, and party leader Friedrich Merz says he wants to form a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats. The Alternative for Germany came in second in the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II.

The Vatican says Pope Francis remains in critical condition at a Rome hospital with blood tests showing mild signs of kidney failure. Vatican officials add, the condition is under control, but the Pope is still batting pneumonia in both lungs. The 88-year-old pontiff was hospitalized 10 days ago with a respiratory infection.

Let's get more on this and bring in CNN's Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb, who joins in now from Rome. So, Christopher, gives a sense of what the update is, how the Pope is doing today. What are you learning?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isa, this is now the longest time that Pope Francis has spent in hospital since his election in 2013. The Vatican said that last night was a good night for the Pope, that he slept, and has been resting. Vatican sources saying the Pope is being receiving treatment, that he is awake. He is eating. But, clearly, it's a critical condition that Pope Francis is in. He has pneumonia in both lungs. There was an update last night talking about the possibility of kidney failure, but that was now under control, we were told. He has also been receiving high flow oxygen because he had a respiratory crisis on Saturday. That subsided. It's a very complex picture, clearly.

But, as the Pope's health has been getting worse, Catholics around the world have been expressing their support for the Pope, praying for him, and this is my look at how they have been responding to his health condition.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAMB (voice-over): Sunday masses in St. Peter's Basilica where concerns for the Pope's health are center stage, even as he remains in a Rome hospital battling double pneumonia.

ARCHBISHOP RINO FISICHELLA, PRO-PREFECT OF THE DICASTERY OF EVANGELIZATION (Interpreted): We feel Pope Francis close to us. Even though he is in a hospital bed, we feel his presence among us, and this compels us to make our prayer even stronger and more intense. So, the Lord may support him in this time of trial and illness.

LAMB (voice-over): The faithful have been gathering outside Rome's Gemelli hospital, keeping vigil underneath the statue of former Pope John Paul II, and waiting for word on the patient being treated on the 10th floor. Over the weekend, the Vatican says the pontiff's condition remains critical. New blood work shows mild signs of kidney failure, which is said to be under control, and he is still receiving high flows of oxygen after suffering an asthmatic respiratory crisis. Disheartening developments for those praying for his speedy recovery.

NORMANDO BIZERIA, CATHOLIC FROM BRAZIL: I came here for the Pope, and it's a symbolic time, and I think that all the prayers and the support that he can get, we must support the Pope at this moment. LAMB (voice-over): That support in the form of prayers, get well wishes and masses, is spreading throughout the world. In Buenos Aires, the city where Pope Francis was born and served as Archbishop, a special service was held for the Pope that moved some parishioners to tears.

IVETTE RODRIGUEZ, CATHOLIC (Interpreted): For me, he is an idol between these people who spread good, kindness and love for others. Why do these idols have to go? These are true idols who give so much, who dedicate their lives to others.

LAMB (voice-over): Another mass for the Pope was held in Nairobi, Africa having one of the fastest growing Catholic populations in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our prayers to God for Pope Francis.

LAMB (voice-over): And in the Philippines, where about 80 percent of the country is Catholic, a global outpouring of care and concern for the Pope. And in a written message on Sunday, the Pope acknowledged those prayers, saying he was grateful for all of them, prayers, if not affecting his physical condition, seemingly lifting his spirit.

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LAMB: Well, now tonight is there will be a prayer service for the Pope's health held in St. Peter's Square and led by Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Cardinals based in Rome, the leaders of the Vatican, with people gathering in the square to pray for the Pope's health. Now, this is going to be a very poignant service. It has echoes of a similar service that took place when Pope John Paul II was very ill in 2005.

[11:40:00]

But, it's not just Catholics who have been praying for the Pope. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, who has a close bond with Pope Francis, has worked with him on interfaith initiatives, he says he is praying for the Pope. Clearly, a huge outpouring for Francis at this time. We are expecting a further update from the Vatican later this evening. Isa.

SOARES: Yeah. We're all praying for a swift recovery for the Pope. Thank you very much. Christopher Lamb for us there in Rome.

Well, the U.S. is looking to Turkey, the country, for some help. Will an influx of Turkish eggs bring the price down at your local grocery store? We'll take a look at that next.

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SOARES: Welcome back everyone. U.S. businesses are stepping up egg imports from Turkey to help ease the egg shortage at home. This as many Americans are facing sticker shock at the grocery store with skyrocketing egg prices that are expected to jump an additional 20 percent this year. Turkey plans to export a record 420 million eggs to the U.S. This as the avian flu has killed millions of egg-laying birds in the U.S. Meantime, economists tell CNN the imports won't put much of a dent in the shortage until the bird flu outbreak is controlled.

And Vanessa Yurkevich this joins us from New York with more, and that is the crux of it, right, Vanessa? It doesn't really matter how many millions of eggs or billions of eggs come in from Turkey. If you don't get to the crux of the problem, the prices will continue to surge. And I was looking at prices, and I think it's up like 50 plus percent just on the year. Just add some context here for us.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, absolutely, and the reason that American businesses have to turn to Turkey right now for eggs is because of the avian flu, which has killed so many egg-laying birds, which has led to shortages and then higher prices for consumers at the grocery store.

So, the U.S. actually produces a lot of eggs, 7.5 billion eggs every single year. However, that number is going to take a hit because of this avian flu. So, U.S. businesses are looking to Turkey. This is the only country that we get eggs from to increase the supply coming in from Turkey. You see it right there, 71 million eggs coming over in 2024. This year, the projection is 420 million eggs. That is six times what we normally get from Turkey. And Turkey is a major exporter of eggs. So, it's not unusual that Turkey is sending eggs abroad. If you look at them in terms of the rankings, they're just behind the Netherlands, U.S., Poland, Germany, right there.

But, I think the real question is, as you mentioned, will this make a dent in things? Well, economists tell me that for now it's a good sign. It could help with supply. But, if the avian flu is not under control, then it's not really going to help. So, the White House says that they are working on a plan for the avian flu. Agriculture experts that I've spoken to say that what is really needed is a comprehensive plan for funding and research to try to study the avian flu, but also to surveil it, understand exactly where it is in the U.S. right now.

[11:45:00]

But, as you have been reporting on, there have been a lot of federal employees that have been laid off in the last several weeks, including some at the CDC and the USDA, Department of Agriculture, that so much so that the USDA had to rescind termination letters that they sent to employees who are working on the avian flu. So, this is such a critical time for the government to try to get this under control, at the same time that they are laying off workers.

Also, one thing to mention that is kind of controversial, a lot of farmers are very interested in a vaccine for their birds, for chickens. The only question that that raises is, when you start to vaccinate birds, the virus itself becomes endemic, and then other countries are less likely to want to trade with the U.S., and that presents a problem, Isa, because the U.S. is the number one producer of poultry and the number two exporter of poultry.

So, a lot of nuances, a lot of layers here. The hope is that this influx from Turkey can kind of stave off price increases for a little bit. But, at the end of the day, the government has to get the avian flu under control -- SOARES: Yeah.

YURKEVICH: -- in order to make a big dent in things, Isa.

SOARES: Yeah. That seems like the crux of it. That seems the only solution right now.

Vanessa Yurkevich, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

SOARES: Now, let's stay in the United States, because Apple has just announced a giant expansion in its U.S. operations. The tech giant says it will invest $500 billion, that's half a trillion dollars, in the U.S. facilities over the next four years. According to Apple, it will create 20,000 jobs. And this comes after President Donald Trump announced a 10 percent, if you remember, tariff, 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports, The President thanked Apple CEO Tim Cook for the investment, saying Apple has, in his words, faith in what we're doing.

Anna Stewart joins me now with the details. Anna, just -- let's -- before we start talking about the politics, tell us what's in this deal. What exactly has been announced?

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a deal that was not so much teas, but really sort of almost announced by the President himself on Friday with very little detail. He actually said he hope that Tim Cook had already announced it, but he hadn't. He has to do it right anyway.

So, we finally got a bit more detail, and here we do have half a trillion dollars being invested in the U.S. over the next four years now. Now, this includes a facility that will make servers in Houston and that will support Apple Intelligence, which is Apple's version of AI, also expanding data centers in numerous states, making more Apple TV+ shows in 20 states, they're saying, growing R&D and so on. What we're not seeing here, despite this being half a trillion dollars, is any manufacturing being shifted from China. We're not seeing iPhones being made by Apple. Of course, they outsource all that to Foxconn. So, I'm not seeing any huge transformation in terms of global trade. So, in terms of this being a response to tariffs, it doesn't really feel like that.

SOARES: Then that begs the question, was this going to be announced even without President Trump being in office, because he is kind of touting it as his own push, right, like it was his idea?

STEWART: I mean, absolutely. If you look at Truth Social today, Donald Trump has actually said the reason for the investment is faith in what we are doing, without which we wouldn't be -- Apple wouldn't be investing even 10 cents. Apple actually announced a $430 billion investment four years ago that was going to span a five-year time period. So, it's unclear, actually, whether the half a trillion dollars being announced today actually includes some of that, whether there is overlap, and also investment announcements like this in the U.S. from Apple happen every four to five years. So, it is questionable as to whether how much of this is directly a result of President Trump. Maybe it's being brought forward a year.

SOARES: Who knows? He's certainly selling it, and that would be music to his supporters' ears.

Anna, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Now, in the Sean "Diddy" Combs case, the defense is trying to get crucial evidence against the music mogul thrown out. We'll have the very latest, and we'll tell you why, next.

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[11:50:00]

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SOARES: Lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs want some of the evidence in the case against him thrown out, specifically all evidence obtained from searches of his homes and from his electronic devices. In a court filing, they say prosecutors misled and withheld crucial information from the judge who approved the search warrants. The rap mogul remains in jail on a host of charges, including sex trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty.

Our Kara Scannell joins us now from New York with the very latest. So, Kara, just break it down for us. What are lawyers here calling for, and really what grounds? What are his chances here?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, this is the latest legal filing from Sean "Diddy" Combs' legal team, and they're asking the judge to suppress, so not allow into trial any of the evidence that they obtained from these court authorized searches of Combs himself, of his cell phones, of an iCloud account, of his two homes, one in Los Angeles, one in Miami, and of the hotel room where he was arrested in September.

Now, the reasoning is they say that the prosecution had withheld information that would have balanced out some of the evidence and probable cause that they put forward in order to get a judge to sign off on the search warrant, some of the witness -- credibility issues of witnesses, other things that they think the judge had been -- should have been informed on before signing off on these searches. And in the filing, his lawyers write, "The government hid evidence undermining these witnesses' credibility and presented misleading and selective accounts. We are not dealing here with omission of a few ancillary facts. This is a case of systematic deception."

Now, if successful, that would put into question whether some key evidence, including video recordings of these alleged assaults, the freak-offs that the prosecutors say were part of the sex trafficking operation, where women were coerced or forced or drugged into having sex at times with male prostitutes. It would also involve a number of firearms, AR-15s that were found in Combs' s bedroom, as well as drugs and other materials that were used in the freak-offs, including what prosecutors say was more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant. Now, this motion is something that defense lawyers often bring up.

It's usually a long shot, but it is part of Diddy's defense here. They've been trying to knock out evidence. They've been trying to knock out some of these charges, as we are now in the home stretch, because this trial is about two months away, and of course, Diddy has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges. Isa.

SOARES: Kara Scannell for us there in New York. Thanks very much, Kara.

Now, the last Hollywood awards show ahead of the Oscars has thrown all the best picture predictions for a loop. Conclave won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble, the acting equivalent of Best Picture. Actors represent the largest voting bloc for the Academy Awards, and SAG will now put Conclave -- puts Conclave alongside an aura as the frontrunners for Oscar's biggest prize.

There are also a pair of surprises in the lead acting categories as Demi Moore and Timothee Chalamet posted wins. They were both considered underdogs. But, the supporting acting prizes went to Zoe Saldana and Kieran Culkin, who continued their successful march through award season with SAG wins. Congratulations to them.

Legendary soul singer Roberta Flack has died. She passed away at home, surrounded by her family, a publicist tells CNN.

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SOARES: What a clear voice, beautiful. She was known, of course, for romantic ballots, like "Killing Me Softly With His Song", and others such as "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face". Her success led to 14 Grammy nominations and five wins, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. She earned a music scholarship to Howard University and started performing at clubs in Washington, where she was discovered at Mr. Henry's Bar on Capitol Hill. Three years ago, she revealed she was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. Roberta Flack was 88.

And thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Isa Soares in London. Do stick right here with CNN. One World is up next.

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