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CNN International: Trump, UK PM To Meet As They're Split Over Ukraine Security; Minerals At Forefront Of Potential Ukraine-U.S. Deal; Several Injured In Suspected Car Ramming Attack In Central Israel. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired February 27, 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 a very warm welcome to our viewers right around the world. I'm Isa Soares in London.

Ahead right here on CNN Newsroom, President Trump is preparing to welcome British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the White House for a high-stakes sit-down. You're looking at live pictures from Washington, D.C. Top of the agenda will be security guarantees for Ukraine. Plus, Israel is sending a team of negotiators to Cairo to continue talks. This as the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire, once again, appears to be in limbo. We're live for you this hour in Tel Aviv with the very latest. And legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife, both found dead in their home in New Mexico. We'll take you live to Los Angeles for a look at what police are saying.

Very warm welcome everyone. Let me start in Washington, D.C., because the British Prime Minister has a tricky political needle to thread when he meets with Donald Trump at the White House next hour. Keir Starmer is hoping to do what French President, if you remember, Emmanuel Macron, could not earlier this week. That is, extract a clear American commitment to Ukraine's security. The Prime Minister insists that Europe can't carry the burden alone, and U.S. support is the only way to prevent Russia from attacking its democratic neighbor again. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The worst of all outcomes, if there is to be a cessation of hostilities, is that it is a short break rather than sustained and lasting peace. And I think that that means there has got to be security guarantees. I have indicated that we will play our full part. There has to be U.S. backing, because otherwise, I don't think it will deter Putin. We are working on that. I'm having extensive discussions about it. I'll continue down that route because I want a lasting peace in Ukraine and Europe for the safety and security of Ukrainians, of Europeans, and of course, for everybody in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SOARES: But, barely an hour after the Prime Minister reiterated that

warning, the U.S. President said Ukraine's security is mostly up to Europe, while adding that Kyiv can, quote, "forget about joining NATO". And it all comes at a pivotal moment in the faltering U.S.- Transatlantic alliance, and as the Kremlin insists that Russia will keep annexed Ukrainian territory. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to visit the White House, and that is expected to happen on Friday.

There is a lot of ground for us to cover. Let's go to our Kevin Liptak, who joins us this hour from the White House. And Kevin, today's talks are critical in terms of Ukraine's future, but also in securing a peace deal, but also Europe's security here. Just talk us through where both leaders stand, because they seem at odds here on this question on long-term security for Ukraine.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and Starmer is just one of a string of European leaders who have been coming through the White House this week. Now it is his turn at bat to really kind of advocate to President Trump to allow Ukraine a place at the table, as he tries to end this war, but also to tell him that Europe is ready to step up to provide some of these security guarantees for Ukraine once the war ends, but that it will need U.S. backing. It will need American military muscle for all of that to work.

And I think sort of the choreography and the sequencing of this week have been very intentional on the part of the Europeans. You had Macron here on Monday, a familiar face, a friendly face, in some ways, for President Trump, to talk about these issues sort of from a 40,000- foot view, and also to push back on President Trump in some ways, in a way that wouldn't necessarily make the President feel cornered.

Starmer is a newer relationship for the President. It has gone off relatively well so far, at least in the President's own telling. But, I think he will want to get a little more granular on what some of these security guarantees would mean for Europe, but also what exactly he is looking for from the United States, because no one really believes that Europe alone will be able to prevent further Russian aggression in Ukraine. He is looking for what he has called a backstop. What exactly that means? American officials this morning haven't necessarily been able to say with any degree of specificity. They say that will depend on what the ceasefire looks like, what the peace looks like, once this war is over, but it is certain from the European perspective that the Americans will have to be involved somehow.

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Starmer, when he was coming here from London, told reporters on his plane that his concern is that if a ceasefire, without a backstop, that it will simply give Putin the opportunity to wait and come again, because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious. So, certainly a lot for these two men to talk about.

I think the big question in all of these meetings is whether they're having any effect. And I think you'd be hard pressed listening to Donald Trump to find any change in his position, whether it's about Putin himself, whether it's about the origins of the Ukraine war, and whether it's about continued American assistance going forward. Listen to what he said yesterday in the cabinet meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. We're going to have Europe do that because it's in -- we're talking about Europe is their next door neighbor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So, still kind of an enormous gulf there. I think Donald Trump does have an affinity for the Brits. His mother was Scottish, I remember back when he invited Theresa May for his first visit in his first presidency. That relationship didn't necessarily last very long. But, I think he is looking at this meeting from kind of a historical perspective as well, hoping to make some progress.

SOARES: Yeah, and beyond very much. I mean, what does that mean? We need the details, right? Who knows?

LIPTAK: Yeah.

SOARES: But, it's going to be another delicate dance and we saw that this week. President Macron tried it and failed. And this comes, of course, just before President Zelenskyy's visit on Friday. How is the President framing this mineral deal? Because President Zelenskyy is still calling this a framework.

LIPTAK: Yeah. I think you see this deal framed in three different ways. Donald Trump frames it as essentially back payment for previous American support to Ukraine. He overinflates the actual dollar figure, but he says essentially that American citizens need to be repaid for the billions of dollars that have already been committed to Ukraine. What you hear from Zelenskyy is that this is a framework for a potential economic cooperation going forward. The plan itself, according to the version that we read, doesn't go in to a great number of details about how exactly the U.S. would be committed going forward.

And the third frame of reference is from the American Treasury Secretary, who is actually the signatory on this document, who says that by creating this link between the U.S. and Ukraine, this financial link, this link in the economies, that that alone will provide some security guarantees because the U.S. would have an economic interest in Ukraine's success going forward, that that inherently would create a degree of security for that country in the future.

But, it will be interesting to see what the dynamics of tomorrow's visit will be. There have already been an enormous amount of tension between Trump and Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy does have a way, I think, of rubbing American presidents the wrong way. That was true in the Biden administration as well. So, I think this visit tomorrow will be very, very significant in how all of this is resolved going forward.

SOARES: Yeah. We certainly need clarity, that's for sure, because what we have seen in the past two weeks is diplomatic whiplash.

Kevin Liptak there for us. Appreciate it. Thank you very much, Kevin.

Joining me now to talk more about this is Leigh Turner, former British Ambassador to Ukraine. He is also the author of "Lessons in Diplomacy: Politics, Power and Parties". Ambassador, welcome to the show. Let me just pick up where my colleague just left off and this meeting today, which has, as you heard there, as he set it up, is pretty consequential for the future of Ukraine, but also for Europe's security. We know the Prime Minister's position. He is looking like President Macron for this backstop, in other words, security guarantees. What is chances here of reeling President Trump in?

LEIGH TURNER, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE, & AUTHOR, LESSONS IN DIPLOMACY: POLITICS, POWER & PARTIES: I think Prime Minister Starmer will be trying his best to keep the U.S. engaged in Ukraine. There is always this belief in the U.S. that isolationism will sort everything out. We saw it before the First World War, before the Second World War, before 9/11, and it never lasts. So, Starmer will be trying to explain to President Trump why a quick and dirty deal that rewards Russia with territory for launching its invasion three years ago would be negative, not only for European security, but for U.S. security, because an emboldened Russia will, of course, attack again in a few years, as it did after the 2014 peace deal, and this deal, a bad deal, would encourage every other country around the world, not least China, to think we can get away with it too.

So, Trump would be actually sacrificing U.S. long-term credibility as an ally and as a security guarantor, and in the long term, the U.S. will face much higher security costs.

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SOARES: Yeah. So, engaged in what way, I think is -- because this -- as Prime Minister Starmer making his way to D.C., President Trump was basically telling the press, I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much, saying that the burden, as you probably heard, Ambassador, should fall on Europe. Do you think now that this U.S.- Ukraine minerals deals have -- is being sorted out, or although we're still waiting for the details, do you think that this can be packaged up as a security guarantee? Does that go far enough for Europe?

TURNER: I think it may be a step in the right direction.

SOARES: Yeah.

TURNER: But, Starmer will be trying to persuade Trump to maintain economic and military support to Ukraine until we've actually got a peace deal that provides stability and security for Ukraine. Now, this backstop, we've heard some talk about maybe continuing to supply weaponry and intelligence, maybe promising to act if Russia attacks, but not actually having boots on the ground, and the Europeans are falling over themselves to try and demonstrate that they are picking up the baton, as Trump would wish. We saw yesterday this announcement by Keir Starmer that they --

SOARES: Yeah.

TURNER: -- the UK is going to increase its spending on defense from 2.3 percent to 2.5 percent of GDP and three percent in the next parliament. He may also offer some sweetness, such as an inward state visit, a visit to Buckingham Palace and so on, to try and show President Trump that the UK is a reliable ally that they can depend on.

SOARES: Yeah, and of course, President Trump has been asking for many NATO countries to up their GDP spending. Worth pointing out the U.S. is at 3.4 percent, right, in terms of defense.

While I have you here, Ambassador, can I get your take, really, on what we're likely to see, and this clash of styles between both these leaders? How do you think the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Starmer, is preparing for a host who is known to be pretty mercurial?

TURNER: Mercurial is a very polite word, I think, Isa, and the clash of styles could not be greater. Could it?

SOARES: Yeah.

TURNER: President Trump, who likes to give the impression that he says the first thing that comes into his head, he often changes his opinion on things. He often talks about, we've heard $500 billion. We've heard $350 billion. We've heard tens of billions pushed around as the number of dollars that the U.S. has sent to Ukraine, sudden things out of the blue, whereas Keir Starmer is a former barrister, a very careful lawyer who watches his every word.

And my guess. If I were advising him, I would be telling him to try and build up his relationship with Donald Trump. This is always what top leaders have to do, not only to make deals in the short term, and I hope President Trump is listening too, in the long term, you have to have load-bearing relationships with your allies, so that in the long term, when you -- when the next crisis comes along, you know who you're talking to, and you're not asking favors from people you don't really understand or don't really have respect from.

SOARES: Well, it should be interesting to see, of course, how -- not so much what they say, but how they behave and how they act, as we saw with President Macron having to correct President Trump as they sat in the White House.

TURNER: Yes, from the (inaudible) splendid theater in the White House. Yes --

SOARES: Indeed.

TURNER: -- President Macron reaching across President Trump.

SOARES: Ambassador, really appreciate you taking the time to speak to us. Thank you very much. Leigh Turner there. Now, let's have more on that deal that Washington and Kyiv for trying

to hammer out, as I was speaking to the Ambassador. The agreement would give U.S. access to Ukraine's mineral wealth. A senior U.S. administration official says it does not, however, contain any commitments for future American support to Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to discuss any and potentially sign that deal when he visits Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. While Ukraine's President describes the text as a framework, President Trump says he is happy with the agreement. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: 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 that way it's -- there is sort of automatic security, because nobody is going to be messing around with our people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh visited a titanium mining site in Ukraine and explains the complexities of this deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: You join me at a titanium mine in Zhytomyr, to the west of Kyiv in Ukraine, a critical earth mineral. Some call it a rare earth mineral. Behind me is the huge volume of water used to blast into the ore, and you can see just them dropping off what they've scraped from one of the huge basins here. Look, this mine has its problems. Russian attacks on the electricity infrastructure here that keeps it running means sometimes they get three hours functionality a day, and the electricity is very expensive.

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All these elements really go into explaining how urgently Ukraine wants some kind of investment, but also to the complexity of how much money you might expect to get back from your immediate investment. They're not running on a profit here at all. And you also get a sense, I think, as well, of exactly the scale of what Ukraine might potentially be able to offer here. Titanium used in so many daily products that we have.

Now, the deal in question, which is most likely to be signed before or during the Friday visit to the White House by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is not that specific. It is a framework. It talks about creating a reconstruction and investment fund for Ukraine, and it talks about relevant resources. It doesn't specify what they are it. So, put some things as there won't be some things, but it says we'll define what is going to be included in a later fund agreement they'll start negotiating as soon as this first one is actually signed. Complicated, yes, but I think that's a deliberate design to weave for

two of the almost reconcilable positions we're really seeing here, President Trump on one side, saying, I want debt repaid and I want it repaid using these natural resources, Zelenskyy saying, I don't recognize any of that money from the Biden administration as debt. It was grants. And I want to see this turning into something about investing in Ukraine as well.

So, that complexity, really, I think, fudged around by this document that seems to get everyone over that obstacle. But, that doesn't stop the major focus of Friday, which is getting President Trump and President Zelenskyy in the same room together, healing that horrific 10 days ago rift that began between them and enabling maybe the U.S.- UK -- U.S.-Ukraine relationship to get back on an even appeal, but that's big ask in itself, as indeed is turning something like this, massive as it is, into a profit that gets near the billions of dollars, a half trillion dollars that President Trump initially said he wanted back from Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Now Israel sending a team of negotiators to Cairo to continue talks, but an Israeli source says the country will not withdraw its forces from the Gaza-Egypt border. The second phase of the Gaza truce would require Israel to exit from all of Gaza, including, of course, the Philadelphi Corridor. Thus, the first phase of the deal is set to expire, just for context, on Saturday.

Meanwhile, several people have been struck and injured by a car in central Israel. That's according to emergency responders. Police say the suspect in the attack has been killed. I understand these are live images coming to us from central Israel.

Our Jeremy Diamond is tracking the developments for us and joins us now. So, Jeremy, what more do we know about this car jamming -- car ramming attack?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, 10 people have been taken to the hospital as a result of this attack. Two of those are in serious condition, one in critical condition, according to health authorities here. This all happened this evening in central Israel, in the town of Pardes Hanna-Karkur when there are reports that a driver rammed pedestrians who were standing at a bus stop. The driver then, according to reports, attempted to flee, but police say they were able to stop the vehicle and quote, "neutralize the suspect", which is usually an indication that police killed the suspect with gun fire.

They do indeed say that they are investigating this incident as a terrorist attack. We do not have further details right now on the condition of those individuals who were wounded in this, other than to say that one is in critical condition, two in serious condition. That was a couple of hours ago now. No update has since been provided. But, certainly it comes at a time when Israelis are very much on high alert for potential terrorist attacks. Last week we saw, of course, a very, very near miss, as three busses exploded, but they were in depots parked vacant of any individuals. But, that was a very, very close call that has certainly raised concerns over here.

SOARES: Yeah. We're still looking at a live picture, of course, a number -- significant number of police presence still there in central Israel. I know you stay across it.

Let me just turn to the negotiations that we're likely to see in the next few days. We heard and we mentioned that Israel says they won't withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor. That's the corridor across the Gaza-Egypt border, per, of course, the agreement of the second phase. What are you hearing more -- what more are you hearing, Jeremy, from Egyptian officials about this, because, of course, they are one of the mediators here?

DIAMOND: Yeah. That's right. And we've just learned that today the Israeli Prime Minister held security consultations over whether or not to send a delegation to these talks in Cairo, and indeed, he has agreed to do so, although without the head of the Israeli negotiating team, that would be Ron Dermer, the Minister of Strategic Affairs, who has been appointed to lead negotiations over reaching phase two of this ceasefire agreement.

And while we expect this lower-level Israeli delegation to go to these talks, the question is, are they going to be looking to reach an agreement over phase two, or are they instead, as Israeli officials have repeatedly indicated to me, more interested in extending phase one, meaning, getting more hostages out of Gaza without committing to an end to the war, without committing to removing Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip?

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And indeed, one Israeli source telling us that they are hoping to get more hostages out as early as this Saturday. That would, of course, require Hamas' agreement to another round of hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners, after the last round of exchanges happened early this morning, with the bodies of four Israeli hostages being released from Hamas captivity and given over to Red Cross officials and then to Israeli officials who confirmed that they were indeed the bodies of the last four Israeli hostages set to be released during phase one of this agreement. Israel then released 643 Palestinian prisoners, concluding both sides' responsibilities for phase one of this deal.

But again, so much uncertainty. Can phase one be extended? Perhaps. But, can phase two be reached? That is a much --

SOARES: Yeah.

DIAMOND: -- much harder question, one, of course, that we know the U.S. administration is also working on. Steve Witkoff was supposed to travel to the region this week. His trip has been postponed, as they wait to see if progress is made in Cairo.

SOARES: Yeah. And phase two was always one of the most challenging, I remember from our discussions earlier on.

Jeremy Diamond, appreciate it. Thank you very much indeed.

And still ahead right here on the show, how Donald Trump plans to speed up deportations by using a little known 200-year-old presidential power. We'll explain that for you. Plus, the end of USAID. Workers are packing up their offices, as an entire federal agency is shut down.

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RANDY CHESTER, AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION: It's been quite tragic. I think there has been a lot of lack of communication in general about what's happening to USAID. Staff don't know day in and day out what they're supposed to do. We've had our emails. Most people have had their email accounts shut off. So, they're getting notices, third party, from Facebook groups and from chat groups. So, it's really a haphazard way to tell people what to do and how to do it.

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SOARES: 15 minutes, that's all employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development have been given to basically clear out their offices. The work done by USAID was one of the first casualties, if you remember, of the Trump administration cutbacks. The agency has been effectively shuttered by Elon Musk's DOGE. More than 4,000 USAID workers were put on leave on Monday. Another 1,600 were told their jobs had been eliminated in a, quote, "reduction of force".

Our Arlette Saenz is outside the USAID headquarters in Washington, and joins us now. So, Arlette, just paint as a picture out there. You've been hearing some of their stories. Just give us a sense of what you're hearing and what you're seeing on the ground.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for about the past three hours, we have seen a steady stream of USAID workers coming in and out of the Ronald Reagan Building in Downtown Washington, D.C. They are here to collect their belongings. They have been provided with certain hour windows when they can come in to get items from their personal spaces or work spaces at the USAID headquarters, and they have to do and clear out their spaces within 15 minutes. We have seen individuals carting out boxes and carrying tote bags that they filled up with their belongings, as they are now facing an incredibly uncertain future.

There are thousands of USAID workers who have either been laid off or placed on administrative leave, and we spoke with one of them a bit earlier today. Her name is Juliane Alfen. She is 25-years-old. She had participated in the Presidential Management Fellows at USAID. That fellowship was actually eliminated by President Trump via executive order just last week. Juliane told me that coming to collect her belongings and this entire process has really been heartbreaking. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIANE ALFEN, WORKED AT USAID: It's been horrible. There has been like little to no communication with us. We're being treated terribly. I'm worried about overseas staff coming back. I've heard there is a little to no communication with them. There has been no like offboarding with us. It's just been very sudden everything, one day being locked out of the building, the next being told you're on admin leave, things like that. It's been very difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: And as we've seen these federal workers walking out of the building, there have been dozens of supporters stationed at various exits and entrances. As you can see behind me, there are signs thanking USAID workers for their work, saying public service is a badge of honor. These people who are here today say they're not here to protest. They're simply here to offer their thanks for these USAID workers for the work that they've done here at home and abroad, at a time when the future of foreign aid provided by the United States very much remains up in the air, with so many of these workers here that I've spoken with today saying that they have great concerns about what things look like down the road.

SOARES: Yeah, without a doubt. Arlette Saenz there for us. Appreciate it. Thank you, Arlette.

Well, sources tell CNN that Donald Trump is ready to use a little- known law for more than -- from more than 200 years ago to speed up immigrant deportation. He wants to invoke the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, and basically it gives presidents sweeping power to target and remove immigrants during times of war or invasion. It would allow the Trump administration to detain and deport migrants without going through immigration courts, a move that would vastly speed up the pace of deportations.

With more on all of this, here is CNN's Priscilla Alvarez.

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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to invoke an 18th century law known as the Alien Enemies Act. It was designed to be invoked if the U.S. was at war or under threat of invasion, but it is a measure that has gained popularity, not only with the President, but also immigration hardliners, because it is seen as a tool to speed up deportations of certain undocumented immigrants.

Now, sources tell CNN there have been ongoing discussions across multiple agencies, that the primary target at this point would be the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which was also recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Now, while the details are still being finalized and it's unclear when exactly it would be invoked, sources tell CNN that it is very much being prepared.

Now, the question has always been, how exactly it would be applied and how it would be defined, given that the U.S., according to legal experts, would have to make the case that they are at war or under threat of invasion, and for that reason, legal experts say that this could face an uphill battle in the courts. But, it is something that the President has entertained because detention and deportations would not go through the immigration court system, again, leading them to be able to deport certain undocumented immigrants much faster than they can now.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security did announce this week that in the first month of the Trump administration, there were more than 20,000 undocumented immigrants who were arrested. That is at a faster pace than was the case under the Biden administration, which, over the last fiscal year, had more than 33,000 arrests, at-large arrests, that meaning arrest in the interior of the United States, in communities. But, all the same, the White House remains frustrated as they have wanted and pushed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ramp up their arrests, including the removal of the acting ICE Director over those frustrations. So, the administration trying to find tools in their tool box to try to speed up these deportations.

[11:30:00]

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: And our thanks to Priscilla for that.

We are about an hour from a crucial face-to-face meeting, the second world leader this week to try and pull Donald Trump away from what many see as this pivot towards Russia when it comes to the Ukraine war. We'll have that story for you. Plus, self-styled misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and his brother leave Romania for the U.S., but they still face charges of rape and people trafficking. We'll have the very latest on both those stories after this short break.

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

A Vatican source says Pope Francis' condition remains exactly the same as Wednesday evening, describing it as guarded. The 88-year-old pontiff was resting in his chair on Thursday morning and continues to receive a high flow of oxygen. Tests are ongoing. The Vatican says it's too soon to tell his prognosis. The Pope was admitted to the Rome hospital nearly two weeks ago with bronchitis and was later diagnosed with double pneumonia.

America's employment situation has been a bright spot in the economy, but that may be changing. First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose more than expected. Just last week, the government says about 242,000 claims were filed, up by 22,000 from the previous week, and the highest level since early December. It's not yet clear how much recent government layoffs are affecting those claims. President Trump says 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods

will take effect on Tuesday. This as he threatens an additional 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports on the same day, and that is on top of the 10 percent tariffs he already imposed on Chinese goods, if you remember, earlier this month. President Trump is tying the tariffs to illegal migration and fentanyl flowing into the country.

And in just about an hour, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due at the White House for a high-stakes meeting with President Trump. He is expected to push Mr. Trump to help with security guarantees for Ukraine, something Donald Trump has already indicated he is not likely to accept.

Well, let's get some perspective on this meeting. We're joined by former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, a well-known face on the show, who is now the Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Prime Minister, I appreciate you taking the time to join us this evening.

[11:35:00]

Let me start first of all with this meeting, pretty consequential meeting between Prime Minister Starmer and President Trump, consequential, not just for Ukraine and Ukrainian security, but also for European security here. But, both men, as we have been hearing, seem to be at odds when it comes to security guarantees. Can Starmer seal the deal you think?

CARL BILDT, FORMER SWEDISH PRIME MINISTER: I doubt it, but I think it is good that he tries. President Macron did his efforts a couple of days ago. It didn't seem to work very much, but you never know. It might be that President Trump listening to different European leaders, having essentially the same message, that that will have an impact. But, so far, all of the indications are that President Trump is firmly on a virtual Russian line on these particular issues and does not intend to give any security guarantees. He is, of course, meeting President Zelenskyy of Ukraine tomorrow, and that's going to be another crucial meeting.

SOARES: What do you think the message should be from Starmer? I'm sure you would have heard already from President Macron. But, what does he need to say to bring him on board?

BILDT: Well, I think he needs to really stress to President Trump the significance of the -- this particular war and its outcome for the security of all of Europe. If Russia is allowed to win this particular war, it's not going to be the end. It's going to be the beginning of something that is going to be profoundly awful, even more awful, and that will have repercussions for the security of the entire Western alliance and of Europe. And President Trump, who doesn't seem to be caring too much about these issues, but he should understand that this has implications for the United States long term as well.

SOARES: Indeed. And we heard President Trump said yesterday, as you probably heard during his first cabinet meeting, I'm not going to make security guarantees on very much -- beyond very much, pardon me, saying that the burden should fall on Europe. Now that we have, we seem to have this U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, President Zelenskyy calls it a framework, do you think that Europe will be satisfied if it's packaged up in such a way that it offers some sort of security guarantee, because President Trump said it could be automatic security, how do you see it?

BILDT: I fail to say that that particular minerals agreement will have any significant whatsoever in terms --

SOARES: Yeah.

BILDT: -- of the short term and medium-term security issues that we are discussing. What is really needed, could it guarantee or not, is that we are prepared, and it's going to be primarily the Europeans, but the Americans should be there as well, one will, to give the financial and military support necessary to Ukraine for them to be able to resist severe Russian pressure, because the Russians are not going to just fold away and go home and declare peace. They're going to press forward against Ukraine as far as they can, as long as they can. That is why we must give support to Ukraine, financially, military, Europe, certainly more than the U.S., but U.S. as well, one would hope.

SOARES: What do you make of this UK -- U.S. -- of this U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, because I saw on X, you called it mysterious?

BILDT: Well, we haven't seen the text, we have to say.

SOARES: Yeah.

BILDT: But, even if it has an impact, it's very long term. It's going to take a long term to develop new mines in Ukraine, is going to develop, need a lot of capital, lot of manpower, and (inaudible) minerals or money. So, exactly, it has some political significance in the sense that Mr. Trump seems to be very keen on it, and that is, I think, why the Ukrainians have gone along with it, to keep him happy or to keep him less unhappy, in order then to proceed with discussing more substantive issues. But, the minerals agreement as such, if it doesn't contain any of that, we don't know. It's not -- it's somewhat of a side show, I would say.

SOARES: Carl Bildt, as always, appreciate your time. Thank you very much, sir.

BILDT: Thank you.

SOARES: Now, self-described misogynist and social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have arrived, we understand, in Florida. This after Romanian prosecutors lifted travel restrictions on them. The pair still face a criminal case in Romania over allegations of rape, trafficking and money laundering, following the arrest in 2022. And this follows reports that U.S. President Trump's administration pressed Romanian authorities to Andrew Tate's travel ban, something a Romanian official has denied. Andrew Tate also faces civil action over sexual violent allegations here in the UK. Both men deny any wrongdoer. Our Nada Bashir is covering this for us.

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So, Nada, just explain how is it that both these men, because the investigations still continue, right, so, how are these men allowed to leave the country? Legally, how was that possible?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Isa. That is something that everyone is questioning at this stage. We know, of course, the travel ban, which was in place since there since 2022 has been lifted. But, what we have heard from Iranian authorities is that all other legal obligations remain in place. This is, of course, still an ongoing legal process. They are still facing pretty serious charges, including rape, human trafficking and money laundering. And what is now expected, according to Romanian authorities, is that they will be required to return for future court hearings in Romania. In fact, we're expecting to see them appear in court once again in late March.

So, that is, of course, how it stands at this stage from the Romanian perspective. Whether or not we see that course of justice fully carried out, remains to be seen, now that we know that the Tate brothers have landed in the U.S., and of course, there are real questions around the influence, potentially, of the Trump administration. Now, of course, we've seen earlier reporting from the Financial Times citing sources that the Trump administration had been pressing Romanian authorities to lift these travel restrictions on both brothers. We know, of course, that there had been phone calls, according to these reports, between U.S. and Romanian officials, and reportedly a meeting between Trump's Special Envoy and the Romanian Foreign Minister during the Munich Security Council in Germany just over a week ago.

And while Romanian officials have said that there was no direct or explicit pressure placed on the Romanian side, that discussions did, in fact, take place between Romania's foreign minister and U.S. officials regarding the Tate brothers and the restrictions that they are facing in terms of travel.

SOARES: Yeah. And the lawyer representing the alleged victims, many of them here in the UK, let's not forget this, this is important, also crucially important because of them, he was saying that -- accusing the U.S. like you said there Nada, of lobbying for Tate's release. Two questions, really. What does it mean for the victims here and for this case, but also for viewers who -- we see -- as we see them arriving in the U.S., in Florida, what do we know about these two men?

BASHIR: Well, as we know, the Tate brothers really shot to internet fame, getting billions of views for their podcasts and videos in which they expressed pretty controversial views. Tate, of course, is a self- proclaimed misogynist, views on wealth, on male dominance, on female submission, and of course, he is also a vocal supporter of President Trump, sharing a promotional video for Trump just last week.

And for many, this is distressing. We've heard from four of the alleged victims of Andrew Tate have accused him of rape and coercive control. They have said today that they feel re-traumatized upon hearing the news that those travel restrictions were lifted and that they have been permitted to travel to the United States. But, this has also drawn significant backlash from within Romania as well. We've heard from another presidential hopeful in Romania, who has described this as a blemish, a tarnish, on Romania's reputation. This shows that impunity can exist if you have fame and wealth in the case, of course, both Andrew and Tristan Tate.

So, significant backlash, of course. But again, these are two figures with a significant amount of fame, growing support in the United States, and of course, they are both vocally in support of the U.S. President Donald Trump.

SOARES: Nada Bashir, appreciate you breaking it all down for us. Thank you, Nada.

Now, the measles outbreak in Texas keeps growing and has now turned deadly. What health authorities are saying about the spread of the disease?

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ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., U.S. HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We're watching it. We put out a post on it yesterday, and we're going to continue to follow it. Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year, there were 16. So, it's not unusual. You have measles outbreaks every year.

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SOARES: The growing measles outbreak in Texas has turned deadly. An unvaccinated child school, it's harsh to say, is now the first person to die of measles in the U.S. in a decade. Today, we are learning more details about the child, as the virus continues to spread. There are now more than 120 confirmed cases, mostly among children between the ages of five and 17.

CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell has more for you.

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MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Texas health officials said yesterday at a press conference that they really weren't prepared to see a death this early on in the outbreak, suggesting they expect this outbreak potentially to grow and to continue for some time. They didn't share many details about the child who died. We know that they were school-aged, that they were unvaccinated and they had been hospitalized.

This is the first death from measles in the United States in a decade since 2015, and it's especially tragic because, as these health officials emphasized yesterday, measles is a vaccine-preventable disease with a vaccine that is safe and effective and has been available for decades.

This outbreak now has grown to 124 cases in West Texas. There are a few more over the border in New Mexico. 18 people have been hospitalized. The majority of these cases are school-aged children, some even younger. We heard about one case in a baby who was too young to be vaccinated. Also, the vast majority of these cases are unvaccinated. And we know that this area of West Texas has an especially low vaccination rate. And so, it's very concerning to officials that such a contagious disease is spreading there, and we do expect to see more cases.

Now, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was asked about the measles outbreak yesterday during a cabinet meeting, and he had this to say about it.

KENNEDY JR.: Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year, there were 16. So, it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.

TIRRELL: Those comments were dismaying to a lot of people in public health who point out that measles was eliminated in the U.S. in the year 2000. And while we do still see outbreaks, we see a few dozen cases, at least in the U.S. every year, this has become so uncommon because of the vaccine, in most cases, that many doctors say they've never even seen a case of measles. But, the Texas doctors noted yesterday that while that was even more the case about two decades ago, as vaccination rates have come down, particularly in a small pocket, small communities, as rates get lower, they have been starting to see more measles. And so, that's incredibly concerning. And of course, the first death in a decade makes this situation, yes, unusual.

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SOARES: Our thanks to Meg Tirrell. We will, of course, stay across that story for you.

Tributes are pouring in for actor Gene Hackman, after he and his wife were found dead in their New Mexico home. We'll hear what police are saying about their death. That's after this very short break.

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SOARES: Fans around the world are shocked as well saddened at the passing of legendary actor Gene Hackman. Hackman and his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, along with their dog, were found dead in their home in New Mexico on Wednesday. According to the Associated Press, they have been dead for some time. Police do not suspect foul play. The 95-year- old Oscar winner will be remembered for his roles in films, including "The French Connection", which was sublimed (inaudible).

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SOARES: A little taste of there. Some of his roles really just shows you how versatile he was.

Let's get more from our CNN Entertainment Correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister, who joins me now from Los Angeles. And Elizabeth, I understand the sheriff's office said no foul play, is suspected as a factor. So, I wonder where the investigation is focused at this hour.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We actually have brand new details on this investigation just moments ago, learning that a search warrant has been obtained. Now, this is according to the AP, and I want to go through some details from this search warrant. As you said, authorities say that it appears that both Hackman and his wife and their dog had been deceased for quite some time when they were found during a wellness check. Now, Hackman and his wife, according to this search warrant, were also found in different rooms. Hackman was found in a mud room, and his wife was found in a bathroom near a space heater.

Now, also, according to this search warrant, there was a bottle of prescription pills and pills scattered on the counter in the bathroom where Gene Hackman's wife was found. Again, authorities say that foul play is not suspected here, but they have not given a cause of death, and this investigation is very much still ongoing. We do not know who called authorities for this wellness check. We have asked and inquired, but are waiting to hear back, but we are also learning that a gas company is now assisting with this investigation. Now, of course, we want to be careful not to speculate, but given that we know now that a gas company is assisting in this investigation, that indicates that they could be looking into the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Now, such a tragic and really bizarre way for such an incredible life to end, but Gene Hackman turned 95-years-old last month, and what a life he lived, truly one of the greats on screen. And as you said, the Hollywood tributes are pouring in. We've just obtained a statement from his co-star, Nathan Lane from The Birdcage. I want to read you what he has to say. It is really touching. He says, quote, "Gene Hackman was my favorite actor, as I think I told him every day we worked together on The Birdcage. Getting to watch him up close, it was easy to see why he was one of our greatest. You could never catch him acting. Simple and true, thoughtful and soulful, with just a hint of danger. He was as brilliant in comedy as he was in drama and thankfully his film legacy will live on forever.

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It was a tremendous privilege to get to share the screen with him, and remains one of my fondest memories." And he ends his statement by saying, "Rest in peace". Now, Francis Ford Coppola, who was the director on Hackman's film "The Conversation in 1974". Also paying tribute, actors like Josh Brolin, Viola Davis. The tributes are going to continue to be pouring out.

And I have to point out that the Oscars are just three days away. You know that the producers are now scrambling to ensure that they have a fitting tribute for such a legend during the "In memoriam."

SOARES: Without a doubt. Elizabeth Wagmeister, I know you'll stay across the story for us. Absolutely heartbreaking. Thank you very much and thank you for that report.

And that does it for us. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Isa Soares in London. I will be back in about two hours or so. So, do stay right here with CNN. One World is up next.

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