Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Europe Seek to Take Control of Ukraine Peace Talks, While Keeping Strong Ties Across the Atlantic to the U.S.; Trump to Address Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday; Zelenskyy Says U.S. a "Strategic Partner" And Relationship "Will Continue"; Town Hall Crowd Presses GOP Senator On DOGE Cuts to Veterans; Oscars to Begin as Industry, L.A. Reels from Wildfires; Ex-Gov. Cuomo Faces Criticism in His Bid For NYC Mayor. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 02, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:57]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

We do have breaking news tonight as Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says his country is ready to sign a minerals deal with the U.S., despite the fallout with President Trump in the Oval Office just two days ago.

This coming as European leaders worked on a new peace deal to defend Ukraine, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling today's summit, quote, "a crossroads in history." We are going to have much more on all of that in just a moment.

But first, on Tuesday night, President Trump will make his first joint address to Congress in the nation since his reelection. And he's set to outline his policies on everything from the border to Ukraine after roughly a month and a half in office.

CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak is joining us now. And Kevin, our eyes turn to Tuesday. What should we expect from Trump's address?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, this is always kind of one of the biggest high-profile moments for any president when he's in office. The dynamic is a little different for President Trump. Obviously, he's someone who has kind of domineered the attention of the entire country since he's taken office.

But it does still, I think, present an opportunity for him to kind of bring together everything that he's been doing into one kind of cogent presentation for the American people. Certainly, that's what a lot of Republicans want him to do, particularly those who have been facing some heat for their constituents over this kind of slash and burn approach that the president has taken to the federal government. They want to hear more of an explanation about what exactly he's doing in that area. Foreign policy as well, trying to hear him articulate exactly what his goals will be going forward.

The other audience that the President will be speaking to are the people in the room, the actual lawmakers who are gearing up to take action on the president's agenda, whether it's slashing federal spending, rewriting tax policy, bolstering funding for immigration, all of these things that the president will want to talk about on Tuesday night.

When you talk to the president's advisers, they do say the thing that he wants to do is try and connect some of these actions that he's taken with every day, ordinary people, talk about how these actions will help improve their everyday lives. Of course, how Trump's speeches are previewed versus how they ultimately materialize sometimes are very different things.

Now, I was going back to watch some of these speeches that he delivered during his first term. It's kind of remarkable how they shifted over time. His first speech in 2017 was pretty by-the-book. It was pretty bipartisan, received generally well-received by people. Four years later in 2020, it was a completely different affair, very combative. Of course, he had just been impeached. Remember, that was the speech when Nancy Pelosi ripped up the text of the speech afterwards. It's almost hard to believe that was only five years ago. It feels like a million years.

The entire political landscape has changed. Republicans, particularly those aligned with Donald Trump, now have complete control over Washington. So I think you can expect something of a valedictory atmosphere during Tuesday's remarks.

DEAN: And, Kevin, what are we learning about Trump's job performance from these new CNN polls?

LIPTAK: Yeah, and this will be an interesting backdrop to this speech. We have seen in two key measures the negatives outpacing the positives for the president. So on the job he is doing as president, 52% disapprove. That's compared to 48% who do approve. That's about the same as the poll we took back in February. And I should note it was conducted before that fracas in the Oval Office with President Zelenskyy on Friday.

The other key figure is asking about priorities and asking these respondents whether the President had the right priorities. 40% said yes, 52% said no. And what's interesting in there is that the doubts about the president's priorities include some of those who said that they approved of what he was doing in office. 12% of those who said that they approved of his performance did not necessarily think he had the right priorities. So this will be interesting to see how his speech affects all of this.

[18:05:04]

I think it's interesting to look back in the polling. All four years of his speeches, the first time around, the States of the Union speeches, the joint addresses to Congress, did not necessarily have a major effect on his approval rating. DEAN: Yeah. All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you for that.

And joining us now is CNN Political Commentators Xochitl Hinojosa and CNN Senior Political Commentator Scott Jennings.

Good to see both of you on this Sunday evening. Scott, I want to start with you kind of where Kevin left off there with some of this new polling. And look, he's at 48%. That is, to be fair, higher than where he was in 2017 when he made his first address to a joint session of Congress. But what I'm kind of struck by is he -- so many people are concerned about the economy. It was the leading issue that they thought he would bring down prices.

CBS' new poll shows 66% of people don't think he's doing enough to lower prices. It was similar in the CNN polling. How can he turn that around?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, number one, I think his job approval overall is actually pretty good when you look at where Joe Biden left office and you look at where congressional Democrats are in the Quinnipiac survey last week. They were sitting at 21% approval. So as a matter of public opinion, Donald Trump is more popular than any Democrat in the country right now.

On his priorities, I do think he needs to focus in this speech on Tuesday on exactly what his executive orders did on the economy and what he is doing with that Congress on this reconciliation bill. You know, they've not really passed his one big, beautiful bill yet, which is going to contain all of his legislative priorities, from extending the tax cuts to major changes in our national energy policy, which I think is actually the fastest way he can bring down prices.

So I am expecting, Jessica, a big portion of this speech to be telling those Republicans, you've got to come with me and we've got to pass this agenda together. One other thing, immigration is going quite well for Donald Trump. His taking office has effectively closed the border. I'd also expect on Tuesday to him focus on that major success. I mean, we're having barely any border encounters at all now because people are not coming here because we have a new president who's quite serious about eliminating illegal immigration.

But yes, Tuesday night, a lot of economy talk, maybe a lot of talk about what kind of shape the economy was in when he took over. And, you know, it's only been, you know, a few weeks since he took office. So maybe asking for a little dispensation for the American people to unravel a mess that Joe Biden left behind.

DEAN: And Xochitl I just want to get your thoughts on that as well from a Democratic perspective.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. And I disagree with Scott. There is normally a honeymoon period for presidents. And we are in the first hundred days of Donald Trump's presidency. And Americans already do not believe that he has the right priorities. And so I agree with Scott that I think Americans do want to hear about

the economy. What is he going to do to lower costs? He promised that he would lower costs. He promised that he would lower interest rates. He promised that he would end the war in Ukraine. He made all these promises and hasn't delivered.

And so what Democrats should be doing is they should be focusing on those things, the things that Americans care about. Republicans are not addressing those issues with the American people. So then Democrats should be talking to the American voter about how Donald Trump has not delivered on these key issues. And instead, we are heading towards a potential government shutdown that will only hurt the American people.

JENNINGS: It's amazing to me, by the way, we're having this debate because Joe Biden was president for four years and ran the country off into the ditch, and that's why Kamala Harris lost the election. And now Donald Trump's been president for about five minutes, and Democrats are like, well, my gosh, why isn't somebody fixing all the problems we caused? I just don't think voters are that silly, really.

I mean, I think they take a longer view of this. His report card will ultimately come in the midterms, which isn't until next year. Until then, he's got to get the Republicans in Congress to come along with him on this reconciliation plan, on extending and making permanent the tax cuts.

And then the American people are going to give it a chance to work. But the guy took office in January, and he's trying to unravel a mess that was four years in the making. I think he's got a little more leash than maybe you're giving him credit for.

DEAN: I hear you on the six weeks in office. But, Xochitl, go ahead, because I do think the big question here is how long will people give him?

HINOJOSA: Well, listen, he was -- this is the second time he's been president. He ran our country into a hole the last time that he was president, and Democrats had to pick everything up. They lost -- Republicans lost everything before the 2020 election and in the 2020 election.

And so I think that Donald Trump needs to be very careful. He needs to learn from the last time that he was in office and when Republicans controlled everything because they were not paying attention to what voters wanted, and they ended up losing everything. So I actually don't think he has a major grace period.

People are hurting around the country, and they currently see that he is more concerned about having Elon Musk in the White House cutting veterans' jobs. And, you know, moms and dads and single parents who work in the federal government are losing their jobs versus bringing the costs down for the American people. And that's what he should be focused on.

[18:10:10] DEAN: Scott, I do want to ask you about some of these clips that we're seeing when lawmakers are going back to their districts, to their home states. And we are seeing it across the board in red states and blue states. And, look, we've heard the claims that these are hired actors, that these are Democrats that are coming in.

But these lawmakers have acknowledged, in some cases, these are their constituents. And, you know, we just had this last one with Roger Marshall in Kansas. How seriously do you think they need to be taking this outcry?

JENNINGS: Nobody loves going to a Republican town hall meeting like crazed liberal Democrat activists. I have no doubt they are their constituents.

DEAN: But it's not just them, Scott.

JENNINGS: But these people are -- but these people are -- they hated Donald Trump before. They hate Donald Trump today. And they're professional complainers when it comes to Republicans.

Look, they -- I guess you could take any of these conversations seriously. And the way to handle it is to stand up there and calmly and clearly explain that we've inherited a mess. The American people have entrusted the Republican Party to get us out of the mess. It's going to take a lot of work to get us out of the mess.

And here's what we're doing to do that. We're going to fix immigration. It's already happening. We're going to unleash American energy. That's going to be part of the reconciliation bill.

You know, we're going to have more -- less chaos in the world. And that's what Donald Trump's trying to do by negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine and get the Middle East under control. I mean, the Republican priorities are not complicated, and they're very clear.

But let me just tell you, having been to many of these town hall meetings over a 25-year career in politics, a lot of the people that show up at these things are there because they're committed partisan activists, not because they wandered in because they had some concern. I don't doubt that they are actual constituents. But if you think somebody that showed up with a hand-painted sign at a town hall meeting came in undecided, I got news for you. It just doesn't work that way.

DEAN: Xochitl, I'm going to let you have -- we're running out of time, so I want you to respond to that.

HINOJOSA: Well, I think that if Republicans would like to ignore the warning signs from the town halls or from the polls or what, you know, members of Congress, Republican members of Congress are hearing at -- you know, from their constituents, then go ahead and ignore those warning signs.

The reality is, is that when it comes to the midterm elections, I do think that the American people will make their voices heard, and they will elect Democrats in many of these front-line districts because they're not seeing the prices, you know, of eggs, the inflation, other things go down, and they're not seeing Trump care about them and make policies and put policies in place that help them. So they can ignore all of the warning signs all they want, but it will end up hurting them in the long run.

DEAN: All right, Scott and Xochitl, I -- thanks to both of you for joining us on this Sunday evening. Thanks so much.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, what's next for Ukraine as President Trump pivots away from defending Ukraine and bringing in a seismic shift to America's place in the world, a shift the Kremlin describes as something that largely coincides with Moscow's vision as it looks forward to friendlier relations with Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:52]

DEAN: Tonight, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says his country is ready to sign a rare minerals deal with the U.S. after that explosive meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office when Trump said Zelenskyy was not ready for peace. That fiery exchange sent European leaders scrambling, and today, leaders from more than a dozen European countries, including NATO and the E.U., in London embraced President Zelenskyy and signaled they would step up to secure a peace plan that defends Ukraine. CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has more on Zelenskyy from Kyiv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, after a day in which European leaders gave urgently needed solidarity and support on the world stage to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, he gave a wide-ranging press conference. His first public remarks really addressing what happened in the White House on Friday when he met President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.

First, he was asked if he thought he could salvage the relationship with the United States. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As regards salvaging the relationship that you asked about, I think that our relationship will continue because this is more than relationships in one moment. We need to be open. Ukraine is not the largest country in the world. However, everyone can see how Ukraine is fighting for its independence and freedom, and we are grateful to the people of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PATON WALSH: He was then asked to react to some of the suggestions from Trump's inner circle that perhaps he needs to step aside if he can't fix his relationship with the U.S. President. Here's how he tackled the question of his resignation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY: If I am to be changed, and I'll hear how can I put it, with what's happening with the support, to change me, it will not be easy because it is not enough to simply hold elections. You would need to prevent me from participating in the election, and it will be a bit more difficult, so they'll have to negotiate with me. And I said that I'm exchanging it for NATO membership, and then it means that I fulfilled my mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:20:20]

PATON WALSH: He also said he was willing to sign the rare earth minerals deal, even though we've heard from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that it is at present not on the table. And also, too, he struck a tone which was frankly conciliatory for most of it. Asked, though, directly by a reporter if he would apologize to President Trump, he didn't take that opportunity and instead gave an answer about Ukraine's dead and its suffering and how in response to suggestions he doesn't want peace, he said he would love the war to stop, not just today, but never have started in the first place. I paraphrase his words there.

But as he gave that press conference, too, details emerged of some of the technical aspects of what potentially these European powers have been discussing when it comes to a peace plan that they may eventually present to the White House at some point.

French President Emmanuel Macron telling the Figaro newspaper that he is contemplating presenting a month-long partial ceasefire, what he described as an in the air, in the sea, and against tax on energy infrastructure. Both sides hitting their energy grids really hard over the past months. That potentially a confidence-building measure that Macron suggested could maybe be monitored more easily than a widespread truce across all the front lines. Macron also said he'd spoken to Trump since the incident in the Oval Office.

And indeed, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he'd spoken to Trump twice. So clearly, the Europeans relaying their thoughts to the White House, clearly a big gulf still between Zelenskyy and Trump that needs to be healed. And many questions about Zelenskyy's future stemming from that. But the Europeans trying to step up to the plate urgently here in this very unknown territory. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Nick, thank you for that. And joining us now is an expert on Russia, Dmitri Alperovitch. He's the Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator and the author of the book "World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century."

Dmitri, thank you so much for being here with us tonight. President Zelenskyy said in the last hour that Ukraine's relationship with the U.S. will continue, that he hopes to sign that minerals deal. I want to play a clip, though, from the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, who was at that Oval Office meeting when he was asked about that earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: I don't know what President Zelenskyy was thinking. We had President of France, Emmanuel Macron, in on Monday. Great meeting. We had Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday. Fantastic meeting. They were all on board the arc of the peace agreement.

All President Zelenskyy had to do was come in and sign this economic agreement and, again, show no daylight, no daylight between Ukrainian people and the American people, and he chose to blow that up.

MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS ANCHOR: So the deal's no longer on the table, just to be abundantly clear.

BESSENT: Not at present.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, Dmitri, how does Zelenskyy salvage this relationship? Where do we go from here?

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH, RUSSIA & CHINA EXPERT: Well, I'm not sure it is salvageable, but I actually don't know that it needs to be salvaged for Ukraine to continue in this fight. This is now very clear that Donald Trump is not interested in supporting Ukraine, is not interested in giving aid to Ukraine, is not interested in providing security guarantees to Ukraine. He's made that very clear over the course of the campaign, of course, even before he went into office. It's now perfectly clear, I think, to almost everyone that that is his position.

So it's really up to the Europeans now to step up and realize that if Ukraine is going to keep on fighting Russia, if it's going to have any chance of having a durable peace that is secured against a future Russian invasion, it needs to be accomplished with European support.

DEAN: And you mentioned the Europeans were watching video from the summit earlier today. I'm curious about your view on this realignment, on the fact that all these Western democratic leaders are there together, the U.S. is not present there or being represented. Do you think that realignment is temporary in this particular case? Do you think that is indicative of a more permanent realignment that we might see?

ALPEROVITCH: It's hard to predict the future, but look, I'm fairly certain that the White House doesn't actually mind this. They've been very open that they want the Europeans to take care of the security on their continent. They want the Europeans to handle this Ukraine conflict.

So the fact that they're getting together and trying to amp-up aid to Ukraine, spend their own money, I think would be welcome news to Donald Trump. So, you know, whether it becomes permanent or not is going to be up to him, whether he wants to re-engage with Europe at some point in the future, I think that probably would be welcome because the Europeans still hold out hope that the Americans will participate in some form or fashion in this project, but it's really up to the White House to decide that.

DEAN: And this summit was focused on several goals, one of which was the guaranteed security for Ukraine. What types of security guarantees do you think need to be in place if Ukraine is to see security, lasting peace with Russia?

[18:25:12]

ALPEROVITCH: You know, Jessica, this is the most interesting aspect of this because it feels like we're looking through the looking glass and have been for the last three years since the beginning of this war because the reality is that there are no security guarantees that anyone in the West is willing to provide to Ukraine that are worth anything in terms of deterring this invasion from Russia.

Donald Trump was not willing to provide them. Joe Biden wasn't going to provide them. And the Europeans aren't willing to provide them in terms of putting troops on the ground that are combat troops willing to fight Russia should Russia attempt to invade again.

No one is willing to do that. I don't think anyone is willing to do that. Now, I don't think they'll be willing to do that in the future. So the only way that Ukraine can get a just peace is by winning this conflict and making sure that Russia never again wants to try to invade it.

DEAN: And, of course, nothing happens in a vacuum. China is watching all of this unfold quite closely. What do you think they're making of this?

ALPEROVITCH: Well, I think they're loving the fact that there's a rift between these countries and NATO, between the United States and other members of NATO, certainly in Europe. They see an opportunity to interject and to try to improve their relationship, particularly with the Europeans. I was at the Munich Security Conference a couple of weeks ago where the Chinese, their foreign minister, was jumping in at the chance to try to improve their relationship.

I was also in Taiwan just last week meeting with their leadership, and I can tell you that they're also very nervous about the increasing exercises, military exercises the Chinese are conducting around their borders, around their seas. And they're very worried about whether America would come to their aid.

DEAN: And so knowing all of that, going back to Russia and Ukraine, how does Russia come out of all of this? And how concerned do you think the world should be for an emboldened Putin if that is the outcome of this?

ALPEROVITCH: Well, certainly if Russia is able to win this conflict, now they can't militarily occupy all of Ukraine. They don't have the offensive capacity for that. They can't even take these small towns like Pokrovsk and Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, even though they've been trying to take it for months.

But if they can get a peace deal done that not only gives them more territory, because they're not just demanding the territory they've already captured, they want all the four regions that they've annexed, even those that are currently occupied by Ukraine. They're, of course, part of their territory. And they want political reforms in Ukraine.

Putin made it clear this past week that he doesn't want to see Zelenskyy in charge post this conflict. And that probably means that he wants someone who is more pliable, a puppet perhaps, that he can put in Kyiv. So if he comes out of this with a victory, I think it spells really severe security problems for much of eastern Europe, for the Baltic states, for Poland, for Slovakia, and others.

DEAN: All right. Dmitri Alperovitch, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

ALPEROVITCH: Thank you.

DEAN: A growing number of Republican lawmakers are facing anger and backlash from worried voters as the impacts of the government job cuts spread far beyond Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 70% of Americans want us to save the American taxpayer money and balance the budget.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there are many ways that --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all want that, and we don't want an unelected, non-civil servant person in charge of it.

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL (R-KS): Well, hiring anybody. Thanks again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Next, we're talking with the man who recorded these tense moments at one town hall in Kansas. We'll talk more about that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:33:09]

DEAN: The impact of widespread layoffs by Elon Musk and DOGE in an effort to shrink the federal government is having ripple effects far beyond Washington, D.C. In Kansas this weekend, Republican Senator Roger Marshall was confronted by a larger than expected crowd that pressed him on a number of issues. But it was a number about DOGE job cuts impacting military veterans that prompted this moment and then the senator's abrupt exit. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you're doing right now, what the government is doing right now, as far as cutting out those jobs, a huge percent of those people -- and I know that you care about the veterans -- are veterans. And that is a damn shame. That is a damn shame.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a Democrat, but I'm worried about the veterans.

MARSHALL: Well, I yielded to one my elders, and I appreciate his comments. I think it's a great -- I'm not going to -- we don't have time for everyone to stand up. I do got two more commitments today. I appreciate everybody making the drive out, and God bless America. Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

(BOOING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to vote you out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So as you heard and saw there, there was an abrupt end to that town hall. We heard some people yelling, we are going to vote you out.

I do want to bring in someone who was there who filmed that moment you just saw. This is Kansas resident Collin McRoberts, who's joining us.

Colin, thanks for being here.

COLLIN MCROBERTS, ATTENDED CONTENTIOUS TOWN HALL IN KANSAS: Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure.

DEAN: Yeah. So we watched that. A spokesperson for Senator Marshall's office said it was Democratic operatives who sabotaged that town hall.

[18:35:03]

Are you a Democratic operative? Were there Democratic operatives there?

MCROBERTS: I am not a Democratic operative. I do not believe any Democratic operatives were there. Frankly, I paid out of my own pocket to be there. I had to drive four hours because he won't come to our part of the state and stayed overnight in a lovely little motel in Oakley at my own expense because it was the only way to see the senator. I don't think any operatives were there. Anybody from the Democratic Party and the people I talked to afterwards were mostly Republicans and locals.

One woman was a farmer in the seed business and she was very unhappy with the way the town hall had gone because she had questions he wouldn't answer. DEAN: Yeah.

MCROBERTS: And so while a lot of people drove in from the rest of the state, I don't think anybody came from the party or some conspiracy theory.

DEAN: Are you a Democrat?

MCROBERTS: I am a Democrat, I believe. I have to check this. I think I joined the party a couple of years ago. Prior to that, I was an independent.

DEAN: And so walk us through what happened here because obviously we have the clip from what you saw. But was it kind of a regular town hall before this set the scene for us, essentially?

MCROBERTS: So I showed up about 20 minutes before the scheduled start time and we came to a very small county hospital in Oakley, Kansas, and they had us in a small conference room with room for about 30 people, which seems to be more than they were expecting given the number of chairs they had out.

A staffer came in a few minutes before the scheduled start time, seemed a little bit alarmed to see how many people were there and some of the signs, and moved us to a slightly larger space, which we also overfilled. You can't see everybody in the video. I would guess maybe 50 to 100 people, not a lot, but it's a very small town and far away from population centers. So a lot of people made the effort to drive in.

He immediately, within a few minutes of starting, told us that he was maybe going to leave if people were asking questions openly. He only wanted to read pre-screened questions than writing.

DEAN: Oh, interesting. And so that, and then as we saw from this gentleman who asked about the veterans, that was obviously not a question in writing. Were you able to talk to that man that asked the question?

MCROBERTS: I was not. And frankly, it's hard to imagine anybody less like a Democratic Party operative than that old man. Forgive me, a gentleman who was extremely charismatic and very outspoken and just cared. And the same with the person right behind me who spoke up and said, I'm not a Democrat, but I care about the veterans. These people had something to say. And the only way they could be heard was to raise their voice in the town hall.

DEAN: And so was that -- would you say that issue was the veterans issue, being concerned about the impact on veterans? Was that brought up multiple times or was this the first time that he'd been asked a question about that?

MCROBERTS: It was brought up several times, but it was primarily in the context of the DOGE firings and the chaos and how that's affecting everything else. And so questions about USAID had come up first. Some of the Ag Bill questions had come up first. And the senator started by talking about Ukraine. And I think that kind of soured the audience because some of what he said just was not credible.

DEAN: And so what was his answer? We didn't get to see an answer at that point because he left. What were his previous answers when people were expressing concern over how these cuts might impact veterans?

MCROBERTS: His answer to the cuts generally was that he thought that everybody wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, which seemed to be a phrase that he had practiced. And he did not speak to how random firings really have anything to do with waste, fraud, or abuse. And that really seemed to make the crowd unhappy.

And I think the campaign and the senator's office have tried to make this sound like the town hall was extremely aggressive and extremely outspoken. And I want to emphasize this was not an aggressive or unfriendly audience beyond what you'd expect at any politician's town hall. People raised their voice to ask questions because there was no other way to have those questions heard. But nobody was shouting the senator down. Nobody was shouting each other down. It was a moderately boisterous room.

DEAN: All right, Collin McRoberts, thanks for that color. We really appreciate it. And we appreciate your time.

MCROBERTS: Thank you so much.

DEAN: It is typically a night to celebrate the silver screen in Hollywood, but the destructive wildfires in Los Angeles and the controversy surrounding the film that has the most nominations are sure to give the Oscars a little bit of a different tone this year. We're going to have a live report from the red carpet straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:53]

DEAN: A few minutes from now, the Oscars will begin amidst some controversy and crisis. The much-celebrated film Emilia Perez, which has 13 nominations, is out of favor after controversial past tweets by its lead star threw open the race for best picture. And of course, the ceremony taking place as Los Angeles and so many people in Hollywood are still reeling and affected by those devastating wildfires.

Let's go now to Elizabeth Wagmeister, who is on the red carpet as we speak. And Elizabeth, obviously a celebratory night, but there are these other things floating in the air. What's the mood been like?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You know, the mood is very upbeat. You just brought up the in Los Angeles and firefighters did walk the red carpet and they got a huge round of applause just from everyone that was here on the red carpet.

Now, Samuel L. Jackson just walked behind me, Andrew Garfield. I mean, the stars are here, Jessica, and the mood is very upbeat. Everybody is excited to celebrate cinema.

And I have to tell you, there are going to be a lot of surprises tonight because some years in Oscars, you kind of know what's going to win. This year, no pundit is predicting the same thing. So when it comes to best actor and best actress and also best picture, it's really a toss-up for who can win.

[18:45:14]

Now, another category that is going to be interesting to keep an eye on is the documentary category. One of the documentaries nominated is called Porcelain War. It's about the war in Ukraine, and it's actually the front runner in that category. Just a few moments ago, I got a chance to speak with the filmmakers specifically about what transpired last week in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: How does your country feel after what happened with President Zelenskyy and President Trump last week?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not ready to talk about this, not yet. But we are here to share about our movie, and I hope our message is important for everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pressure is enormous because this war is the largest conflict in Europe since World War II.

WAGMEISTER: And tell me about Frodo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a very brave guy. He's brave on the shell, and he's patient in journey, and he really loves people. He's a very Ukrainian dog. I hope he represents every Ukrainian pet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WAGMEISTER: So, ending there with a message of hope, and Frodo, he was on the front lines. He is a big part in the documentary. And I do have to tell you, so far, Jessica, the only dog that I have seen on the red carpet tonight.

DEAN: I will say that is a unique accessory, to have a dog with you on the red carpet at the Oscars. Elizabeth, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

When we come back, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo hitting the ground running in his newly launched bid to become the next mayor of New York City. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:37]

DEAN: The Vatican says Pope Francis is in stable condition and has no fever, but that the risk of crisis remains. A small crowd gathering this morning outside the Rome Hospital where he is being treated, praying beside a statue of Pope John Paul II. The Vatican saying Pope Francis had a peaceful night's sleep and took part in Holy Mass this morning. The 88-year-old pontiff is battling double pneumonia and using an oxygen mask after a bout of respiratory difficulty Friday. But Vatican sources say he is not intubated. It's unclear how much longer he'll have to remain in the hospital.

Earlier today, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo holding his first rally since announcing he's running for mayor of New York City. He's eyeing a political comeback after he was forced to resign in 2021 following sexual misconduct scandal. He has denied all wrongdoing.

Cuomo's entry is heating up in an already overcrowded field of candidates, which includes sitting Mayor Eric Adams, who of course is facing corruption allegations.

Gloria Pazmino is joining us now with more. Gloria, look, if he wins, this would be quite a comeback. But again, first time we're seeing him out on the campaign trail since he made this announcement.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT Yeah, and it was a very controlled event, Jessica. You know, they really did put a lot of effort into making sure that the press was kept at a distance. We tried to ask several questions. We tried to get close, but we couldn't. He did make a campaign speech today announcing this run, specifically focusing on issues of public safety, quality of life, transportation, the state of the subway system, much of what we saw in the campaign video that he rolled out yesterday. You saw there on stage his three daughters who introduced him.

And this event was held at a union hall, the union hall for the Carpenters Union here in New York City. So something that Cuomo has done in the past, which is to use the power of the city's labor unions to support his candidacy.

Now, there was a lot of support in that room for the former governor. But we'll see what happens. It's going to be very interesting from now until June, which is when the Democratic primary is going to be held, just how the Cuomo record will be scrutinized, not just by us members of the press, but also by people who are running against him.

I want you to take a listen just a little bit to the focus that this speech had today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: We need more police in our subways, more police in our high crime areas, more police to stop the number of recidivists, because nothing works if people don't feel safe and public safety is still job one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: So this is a message that has worked in the past. We saw it be very effective when Eric Adams first ran for mayor. And the issue and the focus of quality of life and safety here in New York City remains a very significant thing that voters here in New York say they are worried about.

Now, one thing that Cuomo has is near universal name recognition. So that is certainly going to help him. But because he has name recognition, those who oppose him also say they remember his record and they remember it well, and they're going to keep reminding New Yorkers over the next several months about what he did while he was in office.

[18:55:02]

Take a listen to Ana Maria Archila. She is with the New York Working Families Party and held an event outside of Cuomo's campaign event today to protest his entry into the race. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANA MARIA ARCHILA, CO-DIRECTOR, NY WORKING FAMILIES PARTY: We remember Andrew Cuomo's records, and we refuse to accept his rewriting of history. We refuse to accept this collective amnesia of the political class. And we are here to say hell no to Andrew Cuomo. A lot of the crisis that we are facing is a crisis that he helped create. And in his video yesterday, he talked about this crisis as if he had had no hands in it. He maybe wants to rewrite history. I'm sure he needs it for himself, for his own soul. But we are not stupid. We remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Jessica, the other major factor in this is, of course, Eric Adams. His campaign has yet to respond to the former governor's announcement. We've heard Mayor Adams say before that he welcomes anybody else who might want to get into this race. He expects to run for reelection as a Democrat, even as the federal case continues to hang in the balance and remains unresolved, at least for now.

Jessica?

DEAN: Gloria Pazmino with the latest. Thank you very much.

Still ahead, how European leaders are uniting to take control of Ukraine talks away from the U.S. and provide a united front against Russia in a move that one prime minister called a "crossroads in history."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)