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Zelenskyy Wraps Meeting With U.K. Leader Starmer In London Following WH Clash With Trump; U.K.'s Starmer Hugs Zelenskyy As Meeting Wraps Up After Trump Clash; Vance Met With Protests After Arriving On Family Trip; Israel Say It Backs Temporary Ceasefire Extension; Russian Officials Quick To Side with Trump After White House Clash; Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Enters Race For NYC Mayor; Pope is Resting, Still Not Out Of Danger. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 01, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

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[19:01:09]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jessica Dean in New York. And tonight Europe is scrambling to rally behind Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer giving Zelenskyy a warm embrace at 10 Downing Street in London this afternoon. After that visit, the U.K. announcing it would speed up a $2.8 billion loan for Ukraine. Zelenskyy thanking the Prime Minister and the people of Britain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: And I want to thank you, the people of the United Kingdom, such big support from the very beginning of this war. Thank you, your team. And I'm very happy that his majesty the king accepted my meeting tomorrow, and I'm thankful that you organized such a great summit for tomorrow. And we are very happy in Ukraine that we have such strategic partners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The Ukrainian president shoring up support from European leaders just 24 hours after a surreal Oval Office exchange that escalated into a shouting match and ended with Trump essentially throwing Zelenskyy out of the White House.

CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson has more now from London on that clash in the White House and what it means for Zelenskyy as he looks to Europe for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Look, I think now he's here in the U.K. and he'll be meeting with European leaders tomorrow. He's sort of moved beyond that in the public sphere, what's happening privately behind closed doors with the Prime Minister. We're not privy to that.

The readout from the Prime Minister's sort of boilerplate stuff, what he said before, reiterating the firm and strong and unwavering commitment for Ukraine for as long as it takes. Determined, the Prime Minister said he wants to find a path to the end of Russia's illegal war. One that respects Ukraine's sovereignty and security.

And one also that finds a just and lasting peace. And that's sort of boilerplate stuff from the Prime Minister. But look, I mean, I think the real message here for President Zelenskyy and perhaps two to one that should hear the Prime Minister intended to cross the Atlantic to the White House as well. That leaving the door of Downing Street, walking down the street, giving President Zelenskyy that big hug. This is not something Keir Starmer prone to doing. He's not the kind of guy that runs around giving hugs very often.

So this was a clear message signaled in front of the cameras. It was the same when Zelenskyy left a hug, a pat on the back. President Zelenskyy, for his part, thanking the British Prime Minister for all the support is getting here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you for that reporting from London. I want to go now to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh who's in Kyiv for more on how Ukrainians are reacting to that disastrous Oval Office meeting, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, the embrace from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is obviously going to alleviate some of the existential dread, frankly, that has rippled across Ukraine since the extraordinary scenes in the Oval Office.

Look, you have to remember that the Ukrainians have endured three years of Russian aggression to have their presidents questioned and drubbed, frankly, in the way that occurred at his meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance are exceptionally troubling because the United States is indeed their key military and aid backer, but also, too, because some of the tenets, frankly, of what Ukraine perceives to be the truths of this war and indeed are the truths of this war were questioned during that meeting, particularly about Russia's genuine nature in diplomacy.

And so I think the idea of Zelenskyy meeting the British king and also European leaders on Sunday and an extraordinary show of strength, frankly, after the scenes in Washington will alleviate some of the panic here. But be in no doubt, even European officials I speak to are aware that without the United States being on board with whatever plans they have, particularly those that involve providing aid to Ukraine, Kyiv will suffer significantly.

[19:05:06]

So we're into a particularly dark moment here where the future of Zelenskyy is increasingly something which people might end up discussing, particularly given those in Trump's inner circle discussing how he might need to either fix this or step aside. Him fixing this has been echoed by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has said this is something he simply must do, along with curing his relationship with Trump's inner circle. How does this indeed happen? What may be the show of Sunday amongst European allies will assist in the notion that Zelenskyy is not some kind of rogue outlier and that might make Trump feel pressure to potentially speak to him again. The rare earths deal was in some degree toothless symbolic and so easy for both sides really to sign, but it's that personal relationship that is so utterly key.

If USAID falls away, if the United States freezes themselves out of this conflict, it will be disastrous for Ukraine. Be in no doubt about that. And so we're into a confusing period now where the United States' most key allies are trying to persuade the United States to do something that it's been doing for the last three years whilst embracing somebody, the president of Ukraine, who's being caught in a pitch row in the Oval Office with the president of the United States, Jessica.

DEAN: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

And joining us now, U.S. Editor for the Financial Times, Ed Luce. Ed, thank you so much for being with us tonight. We really appreciate it.

I want to start off with just the sharp contracts that was obvious to all of us between these two meetings, the one in the Oval Office with President Zelenskyy on Friday and then the one that we saw today with Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street. What do you make of all of these dynamics at play and how the world is really reacting to all of this?

ED LUCE, U.S. NATIONAL EDITOR, FINANCIAL TIMES: I think the world is still digesting what was a very stunning and unique display in the annals of White House diplomacy. The reception that Zelenskyy has received not just from Keir Starmer in Downing Street, but also already once from King Charles in Buckingham Palace and then again tomorrow at Sandringham Palace. This is quite pointed as a sort of split screen one day to the next.

And then tomorrow you've got Starmer in London hosting a group of European leaders, some in the E.U., some not in the E.U., to demonstrate solidarity with Zelenskyy, who will be there, but also to try and find a way to shore up European support for him, including military support, especially if, as now seems increasingly likely, the Trump administration freezes military aid to Ukraine. So this is a whirl of activity and it's quite unprecedented to see a British Prime Minister so pointedly make such a contrasting statement, at least in terms of optics, from a U.S. president.

DEAN: It is. It is so dramatic. And just to see, you know, two very close allies be so far apart on this and, to your point, have such a contrasting experience and an optic, just what they're putting out there into the world. I do want to bring in CNN Media Analyst and Media Correspondent for Axios, Sara Fischer, who's joining us now as well.

Sara, that's kind of where I want to pick up with you is just how all of this is playing out in the media online. That, of course, is where most people are reading about this, are watching. They're watching that Oval Office exchange. How is that playing out in that media space?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: What's fascinating about this, Jessica, is typically when there are big fights between world leaders, that happens behind closed doors where you don't have an entire press corps that's filming it, that's taking pictures of it, that's rolling it live.

And so this is playing out in two ways. One, it's obviously parts of it have become a meme, whether that's the barbing back and forth, the folks on the right are hyper-conservatives using this as a way to show Donald Trump's strength over Zelenskyy. On the other hand, folks on the left using this, memeing it to show Donald Trump and J.D. Vance sort of ambushing Volodymyr Zelenskyy. People are taking clips and making of it what they will.

Also, there are other people in the room who have gone viral because of their body language and reaction. You see Marco Rubio completely slumped back in the couch, a sort of stance that suggests he's just taking the whole thing in. Him, as a lifelong politician, pretty bewildered by the whole thing himself. And then, of course, the Ukrainian ambassador on the side with her hands over her face, crouching down, sort of in embarrassment of what's going on.

This is something that you never, ever see. And so the media is eating it up like candy. People are spreading pictures and videos and memes based off of what they want everyone to believe and think.

[19:10:06]

And what's so fascinating about this, Jessica, is you can try to report this out all you want and spin it whichever way you want. Because there's so much live footage, people will make of it what they will and make their own opinion on it. That's what we're seeing happening online and in the media.

DEAN: And today, Vice President J.D. Vance was greeted by some protesters when he was on a family ski trip in Vermont. And we have a little video we can show of that. They had signs that said Zelenskyy is a hero. I stand with Ukraine. The world is watching. And there's certainly many Americans, a lot of Americans, who have that view. But there are also many Americans, and our Harry Enten went through the numbers, of Republican voters who were very much with President Trump on this issue, which is such a departure for the Republican Party that so many people have come to know.

FISCHER: Yeah, that protest footage is absolutely amazing and sort of speaks to the fact that this is something that has reached so many Americans.

One thing I want to note, Jessica, and you spoke about this before, this is something that has become viral around the whole world. Immediately after this happened, almost every world leader sent out a post on X, which I think is notable that X is still the platform for global conversation in support of Vladimir Zelenskyy.

And what was fascinating is he was very, very wise to, quote, "post them," meaning immediately respond publicly, thanking them for their endorsement. These types of clips, what you're showing, definitely also go viral. When somebody needs to support the idea, they're going to point to this type of footage of this is what Americans think, this is what they feel, this is what they're saying around the country.

Of course, though, as you mentioned, you're going to have the amount of media on the other side of people who are saying that Donald Trump did the right thing. It's going to become a battle back and forth over what you had mentioned was a pretty unifying issue even just a year ago amongst the country in backing Ukraine.

DEAN: Yeah. Ed, I want to get your thoughts on that, too.

LUCE: So I think that that's correct. There are two different ways of viewing these -- these 49 minutes. This absolutely gripping 49 minutes of that live press conference in the Oval Office.

I tend to think and I think the numbers are going to jump around for a while that this is probably not going to infuse the more moderate Republicans. And by that, I mean Republican voters. I appreciate that on Capitol Hill, almost without exception, the one exception being Alaska's Lisa Murkowski.

There is support for Trump. But I think if you look at just the visuals, the whole thing and the journalist -- alleged journalist berating Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit and tie. I have some sense that I cannot back up with numbers, but it's a pretty strong anecdotal one that most Americans are not going to be proud of this.

DEAN: Yeah. And we are going to see kind of, again, some of these things take time. Sara, they get them, as you're saying, on their phone. They metabolize it and it can take time to kind of start to disseminate out. And we can -- you know, and then we can, to Ed's point, do the polling, see how people are feeling and that sort of thing. But it is just to go back to the earlier point you made about this all being caught, all being on camera, very much live. These are things that normally happen behind the scenes. But this is Trump's M.O., which is to make all of this very much made for television, made for consuming on video and in images.

FISCHER: Absolutely, Jessica. And, you know, the big headline from earlier this year was -- earlier this week, rather, was that the White House was sort of taking over the press pool. One of the concerns that a lot of people had was, OK, he's only going to do far right outlets and, you know, blogs.

I don't think so, because I think Donald Trump wants to make sure that the big networks are there to visually capture these types of moments, that the big wire services that have global photography wires are going to be there to capture these kinds of moments. Donald Trump is such a visual person and a visual leader. And his body language, even, of him sitting up next to Volodymyr Zelenskyy without the suit, he wants the world to see that sort of projection. So this is a key example of what you should expect from him for the remaining four years as he kind of hosts world leaders and things like that.

One thing I will note, though, when you bring a world leader into a situation like this and you sort of ambush him live on camera for everybody else, you now set a precedent for every other world leader to say, I don't want to do a meeting publicly. I don't want to do any sort of public interviews like that. I want to meet with Donald Trump privately. That's going to be one challenge that he'll face, because if you watch what just went down in the oval between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump, and you are a world leader, you never want to be caught in that position.

[19:15:06]

I also think, Jessica, this is a big lesson learned. Zelenskyy's advisers warned him you should wear a suit in this meeting. That's going to be a sticking point between you and Donald Trump. I think this is another lesson for world leaders. You've got to suit up if you're going to be with Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, because that will be something, a very easy thing that they're going to target you for.

DEAN: All right. Sara Fischer and Ed Luce, our thanks to both of you tonight. Thank you for your time.

FISCHER: Thank you.

DEAN: Breaking news, Israel has agreed to an extension of the ceasefire deal that has paused fighting in Gaza for weeks. Hamas has not said they're on board yet. What will it take to change that? That's next.

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[19:20:22]

DEAN: We do have breaking news tonight, as Israel says it has agreed to extend its ceasefire deal with Hamas. The ceasefire, of course, pausing fighting in Gaza for weeks as dozens of Israeli hostages were released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being released. It will extend the current ceasefire, which would have expired tonight through the end of March, which would include the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Former State Department Middle East Negotiator Aaron David Miller is joining us now. Aaron, thanks for being here. I first just want to get your reaction and also how likely you think it is that Hamas agrees.

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: You know, I haven't seen the full proposal, assuming it is a full proposal. The Israelis announced it, and that's, in some respects, a little strange. It's a U.S. proposal. I'm assuming that Stephen Witkoff, who was Donald Trump's deployed special envoy, briefed the Qataris and the Egyptians, who presumably briefed Hamas. So I'm not entirely sure what's in it. If you looked at it, it seems to be a way, essentially, to extend the first phase.

On agreement, 10 living Israeli hostages would be released and then half of those who were presumed dead. Six weeks later, the remaining living hostages Hamas would release with the remainder of the bodies of those Israeli males, soldiers, presumably, who are no longer alive. There's very little in the proposal reported by the press about what Israeli requirements and obligations are.

Does it involve an asymmetrical number of Palestinian prisoners? Presumably that's what Hamas would demand. And does it require the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza after a, quote-unquote, "permanent cessation" of hostilities negotiated?

So I suspect there'll be a lot of toing and froing on this. There'll be more negotiating. If I were to make a prediction, there may be one additional hostage release if Hamas can be induced and pressured to do that.

But I think there's a high likelihood that, at some point, the Israelis will resume their military campaign. And by all accounts, once the new chief of staff takes his position first week in March, it's going to be a very aggressive military response.

DEAN: And as you noted, the Israeli Prime Minister's office said that the U.S. made this proposal for the extension. Do you think that Israel will continue to lean on the U.S. for its role in any other possible ceasefire deals? It is really playing a pretty aggressive role at this point.

DAVID MILLER: I mean, I think there's absolutely no doubt about that. I mean, who knows what Benjamin Netanyahu concluded from watching, as all of us did, J.D. Vance and Donald Trump deal with a U.S. ally under pressure from Russia. I mean, the takeaway for Netanyahu, I'm sure, is if Donald Trump is capable of doing that to Zelenskyy, at some point, if I'm not cooperative, is he willing to do that to me?

The reality is, if you look at what the Trump administration has done for the Israelis over the course of the last five weeks, it's really quite remarkable. It's been a collection of pro-Israeli moves on the political side, on the military side.

So I think for now, yes, I think Netanyahu welcomes Donald Trump's role. He's preternaturally pro-Israel. But somewhere in the back of his mind, if Donald Trump is interested in an Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement, Donald Trump, at some point, figures that the war in Gaza should end. The Israeli Prime Minister has to ask himself the question whether or not that pressure is going to be directed at me. But for now, it's Israel all day, every day.

DEAN: All right, Aaron David Miller, as always, thanks -- thanks for your thoughts. We really appreciate it.

DAVID MILLER: Thank you, Jessica. Take care.

DEAN: You too. While Trump's fiery exchange with Zelenskyy is prompting either shock or support here in the United States, the response from Russia tonight is notable. We'll have more on that next.

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[19:29:09]

DEAN: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy preparing for a high-stakes summit in London tomorrow with leaders from more than a dozen European nations. And that summit meant to find a path toward peace in Ukraine following Zelenskyy's meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer today, who pledged to speed up a $2.8 billion loan for Ukraine.

That friendly face-to-face, a far cry from the tense fire exchange in the Oval Office between Zelenskyy and President Trump Friday. And while European leaders have been quick to rally around Ukraine, the response from Russia is obviously a different story.

CNN's Matthew Chance has more now from Moscow.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Kremlin's been tight-lipped about the spectacle that unfolded in the Oval Office, but reactions from other Russian officials are essentially supportive of Trump and his Vice President. That President Zelenskyy alone was disrespectful. The Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman said she was surprised that Trump and Vance didn't slap him. A Senior Russian official said it was brilliant that Zelenskyy has kicked out the White House. And a key Russian envoy called the spat historic. I believe that very public fallout between the U.S. and Ukraine represents a sea change in U.S. relations with its allies and with Russia.

[19:30:18]

The big question now is how this episode may affect talks between U.S. and Russian officials, aimed at rebuilding the relationship between the two countries. Will it hold them back or maybe even bring them forward? A much touted summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Matthew, thank you. Let's discuss this further now with our next guest. Joining us is Jill Dougherty. She is the CNN former Moscow Bureau chief. She's also an adjunct professor at Georgetown.

Jill, it's good to see you. Thanks for being here.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Sure. Glad to be here.

DEAN: I am glad we are talking to you because as we were watching all of this play out yesterday in the Oval Office, you couldn't help but think, how is Russia going to see this? How is Putin going to see this? And it has to be just with jubilation.

DOUGHERTY: Oh, definitely. In fact, two seconds ago I was looking at a tweet, you know, on X and it was a Russian propaganda outlet that said full video, how Trump and Vance destroyed Zelenskyy. So, that's -- you know, they're jubilant.

And I think, you know, seriously, why they are jubilant is because Zelenskyy is the person that they have wanted to, at the very least, depose, if not kill. They tried to kill him. He is a problem for them. He is actually one of the core objectives that Putin has talked about, denazification.

And that's what they mean by denazification. Calling Zelenskyy, who is Jewish, a Nazi. So, if this conversation in the Oval Office hurts Zelenskyy, undermined Zelenskyy, or made it really difficult for Zelenskyy going forward to even deal with the United States. Score one for Russia.

And then also, think of the other things that it helps Russia on. It divides Europe and the United States because you can see you are just talking about the reaction in Europe right now. It potentially could stop military aid from the United States to Ukraine.

And then also, I think on another level, it kind of gets President Trump to look at the world the way Putin does. And that's kind of, you know, the world, the relationship with the United States. And then finally, just the war itself.

DEAN: And how seriously concerned do you think the West should be about an emboldened Putin?

DOUGHERTY: Oh, I think the West should be very concerned because, you know, if you look at Ukraine right now, let's say that the aid from the United States ends, the Europeans want to pick up. They want to, you know, provide as much help as they can, but it will take a very long time for them to create, even make the weapons.

I mean, it's really -- the role of the United States is crucial. And if Putin is able to take over Ukraine, then where does he stop? You know, then he's on the border of Poland and we're into a different situation entirely.

I go to those countries like the Baltics and that area quite frequently, and they are very obviously, you know, very, very worried about this.

DEAN: Yes and as you know, look, Russia is looking at this and take away what's actually happening with Russia and Ukraine and the war there. They're looking -- if they look at this more broadly, the U.S. is now on a very different page than its allies in Europe. You know, China is now looking and watching to see what happens as it looks at Taiwan and other moves it might potentially make, maybe that emboldens China as well.

If you're Russia, this is doing far more than just what's happening in Ukraine.

DOUGHERTY: Oh, that is very true. I mean, if you look at the immediate issue, you know, Ukraine, that is one thing that President Putin has really kind of obsessed about for years and years. So, that's number one.

But Ukraine is part of an even bigger play that Russia has, which is and its happening right now. Improve relations, get back on track, have a reset with the United States, get back at the at the world table deciding things be one of its -- they can't be a superpower. There's no way. But they can be kind of, you know, as influential as they wanted to be and as Putin definitely wants to be.

And then the ramifications of this are really broad, you know, what happens to Europe? Europe economically, militarily, et cetera, not to mention, as you mentioned, China. And China is watching very carefully, actually kind of, you know, not saying a whole lot at this point, but watching and taking lessons from how this is playing out at this point for Putin.

[19:35:20]

DEAN: Yes, it is. It is truly fascinating and there's just so many layers to it. Jill Dougherty, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

DOUGHERTY: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: When we come back, New York's former governor wants to get back into politics. He's launching a bid to become New York City's mayor to replace the embattled Mayor Eric Adams.

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[19:40:18]

DEAN: And he's back, today, New York's one-time governor Andrew Cuomo announcing his bid for New York City mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO, FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: It won't be easy, but I know we can turn the city around, and I believe I can help. And that is why I announce my candidacy today for mayor of New York City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: This new campaign, coming nearly four years after he resigned from office following allegations of sexual misconduct from 11 women, allegations he still denies. But the controversy surrounding New York City's current Mayor Eric Adams, could be the opening Cuomo needs to stage a comeback, and politically and potentially unseat Adams.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is joining us now from New York. Gloria, what's the reaction been so far?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, so far, candidates who are running in this race against Mayor Eric Adams have all been extremely critical of the former Governor, highlighting his record and the scandals that he weathered while he was in office and basically saying that Cuomo is not the answer to Eric Adams and all of the problems that he is facing while he's in office right now.

But the question here is going to be ultimately decided by New York City's voters. They're the ones who get to decide whether or not they believe Andrew Cuomo should have another shot at holding public office.

As you said, he stepped down from office in 2021 after being accused of sexual misconduct by 11 women, including two former aides in his office. And although he has a long record of accomplishments and leading the state of New York, there are also a lot of criticisms and a lot of questions for him to answer as he embarks on this campaign.

He made it official today. There had been a lot of speculation in recent days about whether or not he was going to jump into the race, but today he sort of talked about New York City as being in crisis. He talked about homelessness, public safety. Clearly taking a shot at the administration, saying that he believes he has the solution for this moment.

Now, we'll see what happens over the next several months as this election plays out. He doesn't have much time. The primary will be held in June. The general election is in November.

So for now, we've yet to hear back from mayor Eric Adams' campaign. He has made it clear he intends to run. But as of this hour, we've yet to hear a response. So, we'll see if the mayor is able to compete given the amount of scandals that he is facing, He still has a federal corruption case that is hanging over his head. And it's not clear just yet whether or not he's going to be able to put on a strong campaign, given the circumstances so far -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for that.

Today, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside more than 50 Tesla showrooms across the country protesting Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.

The world's richest man and owner of Tesla has been leading a massive operation, of course, laying out, laying off thousands of federal workers and cutting off funding for agencies including the National Institutes of Health and USAID.

Today, protests were organized by a group called Tesla Takedown. Its goal is that people sell their Tesla vehicles and stock and join the picket lines.

This week, the shock after this week's firing of hundreds of the country's foremost experts in weather forecasting is still reverberating among those who still work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Some are calling it an enormous, self-inflicted wound at NOAA, roughly 800 of the agency's employees have now been fired, and now scientists are warning that could be dangerous.

Here is CNN's meteorologist, Allison Chinchar with more. ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The National Weather Service and NOAA provide a variety of critical data, and that includes the observed weather data that we get from surface stations, like weather stations on top of schools and businesses and buildings.

Ocean buoys and hurricane hunters are critical for getting information about tropical systems as well as hurricanes.

But by far the most vital form of the observed data comes from weather balloons. These are launched twice a day, every day across the entire country, and they not only provide what is taking place in the atmosphere at that moment, but also that information gets then fed into the forecast model data, and that really helps us with accurate forecasts.

Now, one of the concerning things about the weather balloon, specifically for Kotzebue, Alaska's National Weather Service office, is that they are now indefinitely suspending weather balloon launches simply because they do not have the staffing. Another thing that's concerning is the equipment maintenance and the upgrades. Every time a radar or computer breaks, they have to have somebody come out and fix them just like they would if your home computer broke.

[19:45:12]

The problem is, it may end up taking longer to get these things fixed, because we don't have the staff to be able to get out quick enough.

The other thing, issuing weather forecasts. So all the things like winter storm warnings, tornado warnings, those aren't issued by the TV meteorologists, those come from the National Weather Service.

The same thing with the hurricane forecast cones. Those specifically come from National Weather Service employees and the National Hurricane Center. And we have a lot of National Weather Service offices. There's more than 120 of them across the entire country.

Now, one thing to note, with the recent layoffs is that there's roughly a dozen managers of roughly 40 weather service offices that took the buyouts. The other concerning thing is many of them came from what we refer to as the central region. Here's the concern. We are now headed into peak severe weather season. And most of that severe weather happens in the central region.

Another concerning thing is looking at advancements in technology. Behind me, this is the original forecast track of Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. If we were able to add in some of the advancements that research has been able to help with, this is what the current track would have looked like. You can see how it shrunk down in size, which have made it much more accurate for folks back then to know where the storm was going to go.

A more recent comparable event would have been Milton from last year. The black line here was the original forecast track. The red line was the actual track that Milton took. You can see the landfall location was very close from the original track compared to where Milton ended up going.

The other thing, we are seeing more and more of these extreme weather events take place across the country, leading to billion dollar disasters.

Take, for example, in the 80's, the 90's and the 2000's, we had three, five and six billion dollar events respectively, take place roughly every year. Fast forward to the 2010's, we had 13, roughly the same number that the three decades combined had.

Then, from 2020 to 2024, we had 23 on average every year, which was more than the previous decade. The concern here is that more and more of these events are taking place, but we have less and less staff. What implications and impacts that could mean to saving lives and buildings?

DEAN: Allison, thank you.

It has been a more peaceful day for Pope Francis, who is spending his third weekend now in the hospital. But his doctors warn he's not out of danger yet and that his medical picture remains complex.

We'll have an update for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:18)

DEAN: New tonight singer and actress, Angie Stone has died at the age of 63. Her publicist says she was killed in a car crash in Alabama this morning.

The Grammy-nominated singer is best known for songs like "More Than a Woman" and "Baby." She also had more than 40 TV and movie acting credits.

Vatican sources tell CNN Pope Francis is resting after last night's sudden episode of respiratory difficulty, saying that his medical condition remains complex and he is still not out of danger. The faithful gathering today to pray for his recovery. CNN's Christopher Lamb has an update.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, a positive update from the Vatican on Pope Francis' health on Saturday. The Vatican saying that he remains in the stable condition, that he hasn't had any respiratory crises on Saturday, of course.

Yesterday, Friday, we were told that the Pope had this bronchial spasm that required advanced oxygen treatment. Tonight, the Vatican saying the Pope's without a fever and that his blood test results are looking positive. But he is on a mixture of high flow oxygen therapy and this more advanced treatment of a use of a mask which is attached to a machine.

So, the Pope still in need of oxygen because he is battling pneumonia in both of his lungs. He is 88 years old, and he has a history of respiratory infections. The Vatican sources saying, though, that the Pope is able to move around. He spent 20 minutes in the chapel on Saturday.

So again, all positive signals. Yet the Pope's health does hang in the balance. He's been in the hospital since February the 14th -- 16 days now, and there's a lot of concern and anxiety in the Vatican and in Rome. And people have been gathering to pray again on Saturday evening for the Pope in Saint Peter's Basilica. They've been gathering in Saint Peter's Square each night this week, and also at the hospital to pray for the Pope's health.

Now, this is an evolving situation, and we are expecting a further update from the Vatican on Sunday -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Christopher Lamb, thank you for that update. We're going to have more news for you when we come back.

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[19:54:14]

DEAN: Tonight you can catch a brand new episode of "Have I Got News for You" with host, Roy Wood, Jr. and team captains Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black. The guests this week are Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and actor and writer, Dave Foley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROY WOOD JR., AMERICAN COMEDIAN AND ACTOR: If you want to know how Zelenskyy is handling all of this, just watch his eyebrows anytime you see him on camera in America. Just look at his eyebrows right here.

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They respect me. Let me tell you.

REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): My eyebrows get me in trouble, too.

AMBER RUFFIN, AMERICAN COMEDIAN AND WRITER: It's like in a cartoon where your eyebrows raise up off of your head. That's how high the mugs got.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The eyebrows can give it away.

That new episode airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

I wanted to say thanks so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. I'm going to see you again tomorrow night starting at 5:00 Eastern right back here.

"Real Time With Bill Maher" is headed your way next. Have a great night, everyone. We will see you tomorrow.

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