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Trump Leads First Cabinet Meeting of His Second Presidency; Vatican Issues Latest Health Situationer on Pope Francis; Ukrainian President to Sign a Deal For Mineral Resources Revenue Share with the U.S.; American Coach of Canada's National Soccer Team Slams Trump's Remarks. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 27, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.
President Donald Trump doubles down on Elon Musk's role in his administration as he leads his first cabinet meeting.
Israel receives the bodies of four more hostages as the fragile ceasefire with Hamas is set to expire soon. Plus --
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Hundreds of Catholics gather to pray for the Pope who's now been in hospital for two weeks. We'll have the latest on his health.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.
European leaders are turning up the heat on Donald Trump to realign the U.S. with Ukraine in the face of his recent overtures towards Russia. Earlier this week, it was French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. Today, it will be British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
He told Parliament Ukraine must be involved in any peace negotiations. And he wants the U.S. to backstop European peacekeeping troops if they're deployed to Ukraine.
On Friday, President Trump will welcome his Ukrainian counterpart who's expected to sign an agreement granting U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals. Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls it a framework with security guarantees to be decided jointly with the U.S. and Europe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Of course, disagreement is about economics. But I asked for there to be at least an understanding that we are seeing things the same way, that all of this is part of future security guarantees.
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CHURCH: President Trump talked about the deal during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. But he said any security guarantees would not come explicitly from the U.S. but from Europe.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We get back the money that we spent, and we hope that we're going to be able to settle this up. It's a great deal for Ukraine, too, because they get us over there.
We're going to be working over there. We'll be on the land. And you know, in that way, it's this sort of automatic security because nobody's going to be messing around with our people.
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CHURCH: I spoke earlier with CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger, and I asked him what he's expecting from Prime Minister Starmer's meeting with President Trump.
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DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST AND NATIONAL SECURITY AND NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES": Well, obviously, he's going to be pressing the President to get involved in those security guarantees for Ukraine. And the President was pretty clear yesterday during his cabinet meeting.
He said that's for the Europeans to provide, and that he wouldn't be involved in it very much other than the security around the U.S. investments in these mining operations if and when those get going.
So let's think for a moment about what that means. What would a security guarantee look like?
Well, it's intended, of course, to keep the Russians from basically taking a pause and attempting the overthrow of Ukraine again. There's no reason that they couldn't go do that unless there are enough troops on the other side to truly prevent them.
If Europe decided to send peacekeepers, that would probably be, Rosemary, 100,000; 200,000 troops. It seems unlikely that they could raise that between the British, the French, maybe the Germans.
If they just wanted an observer force, it could be a lot smaller, but it probably wouldn't be much of an impediment. And if they wanted what the military calls a tripwire force, in other words, make Putin hesitant to go kill European troops, French, British, Germans, and others, then it would need a plan for the United States and other NATO allies to come in right behind it.
And I don't think that's what President Trump sounds like he has in mind.
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CHURCH: Foreign policy falsehoods and furious efforts to slash federal spending were key themes at the first cabinet meeting of the U.S. President's new term.
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During the wide ranging question and answer session, Mr. Trump repeated his false claim that the U.S. gives significantly more aid to Ukraine than Europe does, and refused to commit to many future security guarantees for Ukraine. But he did say to expect 25 percent tariffs on the European Union, while baselessly suggesting that the U.S. is the reason for the bloc's existence.
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TRUMP: I love the countries of Europe. I love all countries, frankly, all different, but European Union's been, it was formed in order to screw the United States. I mean, look, let's be honest.
The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That's the purpose of it.
And they've done a good job of it. But now I'm president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Presidential advisor and tech billionaire Elon Musk signaled his intent to slash $1 trillion from the federal budget, the world's richest man making it clear that he's doing President Trump's bidding.
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ELON MUSK, TRUMP'S PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Last week, the President encouraged me via Twitter, social and also via phone call to be more aggressive. And I was like, okay, you know, yes, sir, Mr. President, we will do that.
The President is the commander-in-chief. I do what the President asks.
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CHURCH: Interesting power dynamics were at play during the meeting. Musk, who was neither elected nor confirmed by the Senate, took on a star role and spoke significantly more than anyone else besides the President.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: If there was any question where the power lies in this new Trump administration, it became clear on Wednesday at President Trump's first cabinet meeting of this term. It is not in the cabinet, at least the most power.
The dynamics between President Trump and Elon Musk, the world's richest man, and one of his senior advisors became clear inside the ornate cabinet room on Wednesday as the President called on Elon Musk to talk specifically about his work for a government efficiency, how he's been asking more than two million workers across the government to justify their existence, which has sparked confusion and consternation.
But the President made clear Musk is his man and called for dissent and then laughed.
TRUMP: I'll let the cabinet speak just for a second. Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are will, throw them out of here. Anybody unhappy?
ZELENY: The President saying if anyone is unhappy with Elon Musk, let him know. Of course, no one voiced that concern. But the President saying there that workers are on the bubble, it raises the questions exactly of what will become of some of these federal workers who are told to not respond to Elon Musk.
But the bigger picture to all of this is as the Trump administration engages in the next step of reshaping this federal government in major ways through mass layoffs and reductions in force, who is actually overseeing these, the cabinet secretaries or Musk himself?
In fact, right after the cabinet meeting, the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, went to Capitol Hill and got an earful, we're told, from some Senate Republicans who were wondering, in fact, who is in charge. And she said Elon Musk reports to the President, not to the cabinet.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He joins me now from Charlottesville. Welcome. Great to have you with us.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA-CENTER FOR POLITICS: Thank you so much, Rosie.
CHURCH: So President Trump held his first cabinet meeting Wednesday with non-cabinet member Elon Musk front and center, defending his deep cuts to federal jobs and services while playing down his mass email threat to workers, calling it a pulse check, not a work review.
But Trump still insists that those who don't respond to the email risk termination. So how far does that go to previously conflicting and confusing advice on that? SABATO: Oh, I'd say it just muddied the waters even more than they
were already muddied. It's impossible for federal workers to know exactly what to do.
Do they listen to their department head or their secretary of their department? Do they listen to Trump? Do they listen to Musk? Do they follow the details on the emails they're being sent?
I know this personally because I have a lot of former students in the federal workforce who are having great difficulties and they're very tense. And they're tense for a reason. They're not being given clear instructions.
CHURCH: And what was your takeaway when President Trump made it clear that any cabinet member pushing back and not supporting Musk should get out?
SABATO: It was a message perhaps to the cabinet secretaries who had told their employees not to respond to Musk's email.
I'd rather think, and I'm guessing, but I'd rather think that Musk complained to Trump about what they had said and done, and he was sending a signal to him. But really, who knows?
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This is just by the seat of the pants. I don't recall in decades seeing a more chaotic and unplanned effort than DOGE. They clearly haven't thought much about what they're doing and how they're doing it.
And it shows. They're making so many strange decisions.
And they even admit, some of them, Musk admitted that they had canceled the Ebola prevention efforts. That's kind of important because it's a very deadly disease.
And they discovered their mistake and they corrected it right away. Well, my question would be, how could anyone make that mistake? This is not some minor, insignificant matter.
CHURCH: And of course, at this meeting, Musk said that if deep government cuts aren't made, then the country faces bankruptcy. But no one disputes the size of government needs to be reduced. The dispute here is how it's being done, as you point out.
And Musk admits, as you point out, too, that he's made mistakes and keeps making them. So this comes just as a government memo tells agencies to prepare for mass firings. What might be the consequences of a badly mapped out mass termination plan?
SABATO: I think people are finally going to discover what these lazy, worthless government employees actually do. And what they mainly do is to keep the government running and keep the services running and keep people getting the benefits they think they're entitled to. Those are kind of important things. But most people just think the bureaucracy is a big gray mass of
people who are sitting there twiddling their thumbs and playing with paperclips and waiting for their pension to come in. It's totally inaccurate.
CHURCH: Musk also said that he plans to pass along 20 percent of the savings made by these cost cutting exercises and give Americans tax cuts. Now, if the country faces bankruptcy, shouldn't that money go toward paying down the debt?
SABATO: Well, of course, there are so many internal contradictions and hypocrisies in what Musk has been proposing and Trump has been seconding. And I think it's going to come back to haunt them probably in the midterm elections in 2026.
But already you can see the effect on Trump's poll ratings. He is dropping. And people say, well, he's relatively popular. Yes, he's relatively popular compared to his ratings in the first term.
He is the most unpopular new president since polls were taken in the 1930s.
CHURCH: And Larry, as you pointed out, both Trump and Musk are doubling down on these claims that dead and fictional people are collecting government paychecks and receiving Social Security payments. There was even a mention of apparently there are people over 100 years just still collecting this Social Security payments.
So what are the actual facts on this and what are they both trying to achieve by making these extraordinary claims?
SABATO: There are always examples of waste and fraud and abuse. And I've yet to meet a human being who wanted to continue to fund waste, fraud and abuse. Everybody wants to get rid of that to the extent it exists.
What surprises most people is that the studies that have been done show, yes, there is waste, fraud and abuse, but it's a tiny percentage of the money spent. You know, people will actually Trump said it was 200 years. So there are people 200 years old collecting government benefits. He once said 100. Now it's jumped to 200.
You can't rely on what he says. Increasingly, we're learning that you can't rely on what Musk says either.
CHURCH: Larry Sabato, always a pleasure to get your analysis on all things political. Many thanks.
SABATO: Thank you. Thanks, Rosie.
CHURCH: We are now learning the four bodies handed over to Israel by Hamas have been identified and confirmed to be four male hostages taken captive during the October 7th attack.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released the information and added in their statement that, quote, "they should have returned alive. They could have been saved and brought back through an agreement."
This comes as Israel and Hamas make their final handovers of hostages and Palestinian prisoners as part of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire set to expire on Saturday.
And Israel is releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Red Cross buses carrying them could be seen arriving in Gaza earlier.
There were similar scenes in the West Bank where families arrived to greet a group of Palestinian prisoners released in the early morning hours. Some of those expected to be released today have been held without charge in Israel, while others had been serving life sentences.
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And CNN's Paula Hancocks is following development. She joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. So, Paula, we are learning more about the four bodies returned to Israel from Gaza. What can you tell us?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it has been confirmed, as you say, by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum that the four bodies are in fact the four that were expected to be returning to Israel today. They are all four of them members of Kibbutzim that are close to the Gaza border and were killed or taken hostage on October 7th.
There was Tsachi Idan, who was 50, from Nahal Oz. He, according to his family, will be laid to rest next to his daughter, who was also killed on October 7th. He's survived by his wife and three other children.
Itzhak Elgarat, who is 68, from Nir Oz Kibbutz. He was moving to the Kibbutz to be with his brother, who has actually been a very vocal critic of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, throughout this process, saying he should have been brought home earlier.
Ohad Yahalomi, who's an Israeli-French civilian, he was shot while he was trying to protect his wife and children on October 7th during that attack, also from Nir Oz.
And then Shlomo Mantzour, who at the age of 85 was the oldest hostage to be taken on October 7th. He was one that the Israeli military had said previously that they believed to have been deceased.
So a very somber day in Israel as four more deceased hostages are brought back into the country.
And as you say, we also saw Palestinian prisoners and detainees being taken to Gaza. Hundreds were taken on Red Cross buses into Gaza in the middle of the night, this having been arranged with the Israeli authorities.
We know also that there were prisoners and detainees that were taken into the occupied West Bank. We saw emotional reunions there as many were reunited with families. So now some of these are individuals serving long sentences or life sentences, others are under the administrative detention, which is effectively being held without charge.
So this is the situation we see at this point, the end of the exchanges, the releases of this first phase at this point, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And Paula, you also have an update on where the ceasefire and hostage release negotiations stand as phase one, as you say, is set to expire. What are you learning?
HANCOCKS: Well, we have a statement from Hamas at this point. We're waiting to hear more from the other sides. But as you say that this is the end of the first phase, we know that the 42-day temporary ceasefire will end on Saturday.
And at that point, the plan had been to have this phase two already agreed upon, a phase that was considered to be far more difficult than the first. We heard from Hamas in this statement, saying that they were ready to talk to Israel on this second phase, saying that the only way that further hostages would be released would be through negotiations.
Now, as far as we can tell, there are not substantive if any negotiations on this phase two. At this point, we know that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar in their roles as mediators are keen to push this forward. Steve Witkoff, who's Trump's Middle East envoy, is in the region as well to try and push this process forward.
We had heard from one Israeli source familiar with the situation that the feeling in the Israeli government is that they would like to prolong phase one and try and secure as many hostages releases as possible. Because obviously, phase two is a lot more problematic from an Israeli point of view, it would mean that they would have to withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip, something which we've heard publicly does not have much support.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated war goal was to defeat Hamas can destroy them completely.
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And what we have been seeing in recent weeks with these hostage releases from Gaza is a Hamas presence that appears to be in control of at least that situation in that area of Gaza.
So it is very fragile. At this point, it is very tenuous. And there is no clarity as to exactly what the next step will be. But as I say, phase one does end on Saturday, that's the end of the temporary ceasefire. And we will have to wait to see what comes next. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi with that live report. Many thanks.
Still to come, Pope Francis has been in hospital for two weeks now fighting pneumonia, more on his health condition just ahead. Plus, the U.S. President talks about defending Taiwan and sends a
message that's unlikely to hit the right note with the island. That story and more, straight ahead.
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CHURCH: Crowds continue to gather in Vatican City and across the world praying for the speedy recovery of Pope Francis.
As we learn more about the pontiff's condition today, CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Rome with the latest. He joins us now.
Good morning to you, Ben. So what is the latest update from the Vatican?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good day, Rosemary. Well, we received the usual one line statement from the Vatican press office this morning, saying that during the night the pope slept well and is now resting.
Now, yesterday evening, they came out with the usual more detailed health bulletin, saying that the pope has experienced a further slight improvement in his condition, that the renal insufficiency that he suffered from over the weekend seems to have improved.
His blood work seems to show an improvement as well. But by and large, the prognosis in the words of the Vatican press office remains guarded, keeping in mind now that the pope has been in hospital for 14 days, that he is still suffering from double pneumonia, and that at 88 years old, over the last few years, he has consistently had health problems relating to his lungs, to mobility, to sciatica.
So his health is fragile in any event. But certainly regarding his double pneumonia, which has kept him here at Gemelli Hospital now for two weeks, as I said, they are reporting a continued further slight improvement in his health situation. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Of course, we're all hoping for a speedy recovery. Ben Wedeman, joining us live from Rome there. Many thanks.
A measles outbreak in the U.S. state of Texas grows to more than 120 cases, as officials confirm details on the first person to die from the illness in a decade. We'll have the latest.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Ukraine's President is scheduled to visit the White House on Friday. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to sign a deal with President Trump to share revenues from the country's mineral resources. But the agreement does not include explicit U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine.
Well one potential sticking point in that deal is the fact that some of Ukraine's valuable mineral deposits are in areas under Russian occupation.
CNN's Anna Stewart has more.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Ukraine mineral deal may be getting closer, but lots of questions remain about Ukraine's minerals. Where are they and how much are they really worth?
First of all, what did President Trump mean by rare earths?
Well, these are 17 elements in the earth's crust. They are crucial to the production of electronics, clean energy, and some weapons systems. But actually, Ukraine doesn't have a significant amount of these rare earths, and we don't really know which specific minerals the Trump administration is most interested in with this deal.
What Ukraine has more meaningful reserves of are the more subjective category of critical minerals. Now, each country defines this one a little bit differently, but it often includes things like graphite. This is a form of carbon, and you find it in batteries.
Then we have titanium and zirconium. These ones are critical for defense. And lithium, which is used for rechargeable batteries, so very useful in making electric vehicles.
So the big question is, where in Ukraine are they?
Now, in green, we can see the rare earths. Now, as we said, not a significant amount. But then we come to the critical minerals.
Let's have a look at graphite. We have this one in blue. These are significant.
In total, Ukraine is believed to have 19 million tons of proven reserves. In red, we have titanium and zirconium. Again, quite large areas.
And actually, it's considered to be the largest titanium reserves in Europe.
And this is the fun one. This is lithium.
Now, you can hardly see it. It's these tiny little splotches here. But Ukraine is thought to hold one of Europe's largest deposits.
According to the Ukrainian government, it could be three percent of global supply, but none of it has been extracted. So actually, it is hard to say definitively how much it could be worth. Let's talk about some of the problems because much of what we know
about the rare earth deposits here are based on Soviet era assessments. So it's unclear if it can actually be mined, and it would involve a lot of money.
Then of course, we have complications with some areas under Russia control. You can see some of the deposits around there.
[03:35:05]
President Trump originally put a $500 billion price tag on Ukraine's mineral reserves. The draft deal no longer mentions this number. And frankly, no one knows how much it could be worth.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
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CHURCH: U.S. President Donald Trump is refusing to commit publicly to defending Taiwan if China invaded. Here's his exchange with a reporter on Wednesday.
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REPORTER: Is it also your policy that as long as you're president, China will never take Taiwan by force?
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I never comment on that, I don't comment on any. Because I don't ever put myself in that position. And if I said and I certainly would be saying it to you, I'll be saying it to other people, maybe people around this table, very specific people around this table.
So I don't want to put myself in that position. But I can tell you, I have a great relationship with President Xi and I've had a great relationship with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The U.S. has a longstanding policy to be intentionally ambiguous about whether it would protect Taiwan from a Chinese attack.
But former U.S. President Joe Biden said in 2022, the U.S. would intervene. Mr. Trump's statement came after the State Department removed a line from its website saying the U.S. does not support Taiwan's independence.
Well Taiwan says it had no word or warning about China's new live fire zone southwest of the island. Officials say China has set up the training zone about 74 kilometers from Taiwan's largest port without any advance notice.
Taiwan called the move a blatant provocation which could jeopardize international shipping. It happened a day after Taiwan detained the Chinese crew of a cargo ship suspected of cutting an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait. Last week, China conducted live fire drills between New Zealand and
Australia without giving those countries proper notice. The drills forced dozens of commercial flights to be diverted. China says it complied with international law, but New Zealand's foreign minister still raised the issue in Beijing on Wednesday.
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WINSTON PETERS, NEW ZEALAND FOREIGN MINISTER: We've mentioned the recent event with respect to the naval exercises from China and the irony of the use of naval weaponry in the Taiwan situation just in the last 24 hours and talked to them about the lack of notice that you'd expect for a country like ours in relationship with China to have had.
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CHURCH: More mass layoffs are expected across the U.S. government with new memos issued by the Trump administration guiding agencies on exactly how to downsize their workforce. CNN's Rene Marsh has more.
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RENE MARSH, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Two memos, two directives with the goal of shrinking the federal workforce and ensuring the people who work for these federal agencies are loyal to President Trump's policy agenda.
The first memo walks agencies through how to prepare for large terminations, which the president nodded to when he was in his cabinet meeting. He mentioned that the EPA would be cutting some 65 percent of its staff.
Now, the Office of Personnel Management instructed agencies to submit lists of divisions and employees who are not considered essential during government shutdowns. And for divisions and agencies that are considered essential, these agencies have been told to come up with a plan to reduce their staff.
Now, OPM is also asking that agencies come up with talking points and strong arguments to convince Congress to agree with the major restructuring efforts that they're proposing.
Now, the deadline for all of this work is just two weeks from now. And while all of that is happening, the Trump administration is also making moves to ensure more people who are on staff at these agencies agree with his policy.
So a second memo sent out this week instructed these federal agencies to begin the process of reclassifying top senior career positions as political positions appointed by the president.
Now, by law, there must be more than 3,500 of these career positions government-wide. But we know that there are about 8,000 career roles. So that could mean thousands of jobs across the government could be changed to politically-appointed positions.
Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Health officials in Texas say the first death from a growing measles outbreak in the western part of the state was an unvaccinated school-aged child.
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It's the first measles death in the U.S. in 10 years. 124 cases have now been confirmed in Texas, most of them in children ages five to 17. Measles is an airborne illness that can cause rash, fever, red eyes and cough, and in severe cases, it can lead to blindness, pneumonia and death.
During President Trump's first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the new U.S. health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., mistakenly said there had been two measles deaths. And Texas health officials also refuted other misleading comments Kennedy made. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Incidentally, there are four measles outbreaks this year, and this country (inaudible) over 60. So it's not unusual, we have measles outbreaks every year. They were watching it, and they're about 20 people hospitalized, mainly for quarantine.
DR. LARA JOHNSON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, COVENANT HEALTH LUBBOCK: We don't hospitalize patients for quarantine purposes. Quarantine is not familiar with half in any healthcare facility. We admit patients who need acute support treatment in our hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: An American Airlines flight arriving at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its landing to avoid another aircraft. This came less than a month after a mid-air collision killed 67 people near the same airport and roughly 90 minutes before a close call in Chicago.
CNN's Brian Todd has more details on that and other recent air travel incidents.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New details on hair- raising incidents like this one. A Southwest Airlines jet has to pull up at the last minute on Tuesday to avoid a private plane crossing the runway at Chicago's Midway International Airport.
Newly released data says the planes came as close as about 2,000 feet from each other before the Southwest plane initiated the go-around. Just about 90 minutes before that, another incident occurred at Washington's Reagan National Airport. An American Airlines jet approaching from the north had to cancel a
landing and turn away when it was just 450 feet off the ground after it came within one and a quarter miles of a plane preparing to depart on the same runway.
AIR CONTROL TOWER: American 2246, just go around. Turn right heading at 250, climb maintain 3000.
TODD (voice-over): One passenger on the flight telling CNN it was terrifying.
All of this after a series of other plane mishaps. Toronto, February 17th, a Delta Airlines jet slides and flips over in a fireball upon landing. Incredibly, all on board survived.
January 29th, an American Airlines regional plane and an Army Blackhawk helicopter collide over Reagan National Airport. All 67 people aboard both aircraft killed.
Two days later, a private medevac jet crashes into a northeast Philadelphia neighborhood, killing seven people.
Passengers we spoke to shaken by these recent incidents.
UNKNOWN: I don't really have much choice in the matter, but I'm not as confident as I was.
UNKNOWN: You know, it does make me nervous just because I travel a lot.
TODD (voice-over): On Monday, passengers aboard a Delta plane were forced to evacuate down slides at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport when smoke or haze permeated through the cabin.
In early February, the wing of a Japan Airlines jet struck the tail of a Delta Airlines plane while taxiing at Seattle Tacoma International Airport.
UNKNOWN: Right now, I'm very scared to even get on the plane. I'm being honest with you. There's too many mishaps going on.
TODD (voice-over): Some of this is coincidence, safety experts say, but there is also an underlying crisis.
PETE GOETZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: It's an underscoring of just how stressed the system is. We've got a lot more traffic going on these days. We've got controllers and pilots under stress because of the increased use of runways.
TODD: What's the most immediate problem that needs to be fixed right now?
GOETZ: We need to make sure that our air traffic controllers have the personnel to do their job so that they are not forced to be doing overtime, forced to be staffing more than one position at a time. TODD: Reflecting the overall volume of air traffic and what air
traffic controllers have to keep track of, between January of 2023 and September of 2024, the NTSB investigated 13 runway incursions in the U.S. involving so-called for hire flights, meaning smaller chartered flights. Those incursions ranged in categories from some with no immediate safety consequences to others where a collision was narrowly avoided.
Brian Todd, CNN, at Reagan National Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And we have this report just in from Reuters. Internet personality Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have left Romania on a private flight headed for the United States. That is according to the Romanian news website G4 Media.
[03:45:02]
The brothers are under investigation for alleged human trafficking and had been banned from leaving the country. But today, Romanian prosecutors said they accepted their request to travel to the U.S. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
And we'll be right back.
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CHURCH: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wants a stronger, more modern army ready for war. That's according to state media. He said the remarks Tuesday while visiting an elite military academy where he was critical of the school's management and educational facilities.
[03:50:04]
South Korean intelligence believes Kim may be preparing to send more troops to support Russia in its war in Ukraine, where they have reportedly suffered heavy losses.
North Korea is not high on most tourists' bucket list, but it has admitted a limited number of Western visitors in recent weeks after COVID restrictions kept the country largely sealed off for years. As Will Ripley reports, some of the tourists are Americans who found a way to get around a U.S. travel ban.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first glance, this could be any elementary school recital until you notice the backdrop.
MIKE O'KENNEDY, BRITISH SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER: It's not until moments where you see a group of seven-year-old children doing synchronized dancing in front of a giant, you know, LED screen showing missiles, you know, blowing up boats, you know, and it's like, oh yes (expletive). I'm in North Korea. RIPLEY (voice-over): British travel influencer Mike O'Kennedy, one of
the first Western tourists to visit North Korea since before the pandemic. State-controlled Western tourism is making a limited return to Rason, an isolated region near China and Russia.
O'KENNEDY: One of the most interesting parts for me was that, you know, given the fact that tourists haven't been allowed in for five years, there was a sense of isolation in the air.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Strict COVID-19 protocols kept already isolated North Korea even more sealed off from the world.
JUSTIN MARTELL, TOUR OPERATOR, YOUNG PIONEER TOURS: But there seems to be a rumor that COVID-19 got into the country via a balloon sent from South Korea that was infected with COVID-19.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Bizarre theories aside, American tour guide Justin Martell says COVID paranoia is still everywhere. And yet, despite five years of near total isolation, North Koreans aren't entirely in the dark.
MARTELL: So they're aware that Donald Trump is now the president once again. And they are aware of the fact that talks broke down last time during the first Trump presidency.
So when I asked the question, would you like Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump to meet again? The response I got was, if Kim Jong-un wants to do it, then of course we support it.
RIPLEY (voice-over): He says traveling to the secret state is not for everyone. Sightseeing feels more like a school field trip.
Itineraries are tightly controlled. Unauthorized photos are forbidden. But any glimpse of the hermetically sealed nation is social media gold --
UNKNOWN: I am in North Korea.
RIPLEY (voice-over): -- which may explain why so many social media influencers are snatching up seats.
Ever since the death of American college student Otto Warmbier in 2017, the U.S. State Department has banned American tourists from visiting North Korea. But that's not stopping some from trying.
WENDY ARBEIT, U.S.-GERMAN TRAVELLER: I do have a U.S. passport and I also have a German passport. So that was my ticket in.
RIPLEY (voice-over): American Wendy Arbeit calls herself an extreme traveler. North Korea is her 195th country.
RIPLEY: So how does North Korea stack up?
ARBEIT: It was definitely one of the more unusual places to go. You know, I have to be honest, I was surprised how good the food was. They were very lavish in the food that they gave us. There was a flaming snail that was brought to me and I was like, I
don't know what to do with this, but it's cool.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The United Nations says nearly half of North Korea's population is undernourished. For them, flaming snail is almost certainly not on the menu. But for Western influencers, a country sealed off from the world is the ultimate feast for content.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
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CHURCH: The American coach of Canada's men's national soccer team is speaking out. His sharp words for U.S. President Donald Trump's call to turn Canada into America's 51st state. That's next.
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CHURCH: Breaking news, actor Gene Hackman and his wife have been found dead in their home in New Mexico. This according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office. Their cause of death has not been confirmed, but it is not believed to be foul play.
U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks about turning Canada into America's 51st state have already been booed at international hockey games. Now they're boiled over again into the world of sports. The head coach of Canada's men's national soccer team, American Jesse Marsch, has also spoken out against the president's comments.
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JESS MARSCH, HEAD COACH, CANADA SOCCER'S MEN'S NATIONAL TEAM: Canada is a strong, independent nation that's deep-rooted in decency, really. And it's a place that values high ethics and respect, unlike the polarized, disrespectful, and often now hate-fueled climate that's in the U.S.
If I have one message to our president, it's lay off the ridiculous rhetoric about Canada being the 51st state. As an American, I'm ashamed, right, of the arrogance and disregard that we've shown one of our historically oldest, strongest, and most loyal allies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Marsch was speaking at an international soccer event in California. He was born in Wisconsin and played 14 seasons in major league soccer and has coached Canada's men's national team since last year.
Speaking to CNN, he defended his right to free speech and says he's not concerned about any potential blowback from President Trump.
I want to thank you for part of your day with me. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Christina Macfarlane in London.
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